Erebus stared at the floating figure as it grew larger and entered the Frey— when the voice broke out, Erebus was modestly surprised. He had ears all over Fiore, and was one with the Underworld. So the thought hadn’t donned that Konstantin himself would show up, he had undergone many forms. The last of which was a female, before this one here. But it was undoubtedly him— thankfully the passing rumors proved true.
Erebus had known this character, for what seemed his whole life. He was quite satisfied with finding the old foe had made a 180°, or perhaps, he truly was more than man. He was what the rumors had made him out to be a cyborg construct, with the indignation of Godly blood coursing his veins. Erebus had tasted the power of Gods, and was stripped of it. He was denied his deal with the War Pact, to spark the world into War— was no easy task on a deadline. So that God had bailed on his dreams, but it was fine. Nothing but a bump in the road really…
Speaking of bumps in the road,
Erebus had suffered a loss to the Dark Worlders, and in escaping them, unlocked all the secrets of this Universe and the next when his memories and his old identity returned to him. He was not from this universe at all, and in the most twisted turn of events, his mind has replaced the Erebus of this timeline or rather, merged them into one being, thanks to Odin’s matriarch HER. Erebus now has the combined experience of his former incarnations, inhabiting one deranged vessel. A husk with voices and whispers, disturbia and horror.
HER— Morrigan— Another God— that Erebus now owed a deep debt, not only for his life. But for providing him his close friend, that was taken before the final act could be unveiled, and her resurrection complete.
Apartheid— Odin was a hero to the dark races, and to Erebus himself.
Where Crowley went, where Icarus died, and where all the others ended up, was now of no more importance to Erebus— as he had found them through his journeys in high and low places, even if they’d never known it. Watching them all, while he was slowly held in contempt, was where Erebus refined what it meant to be Dark… What if he had just taken things into his own hands he often wondered, and attacked Blue Pegasus when he desired it? Then perhaps, Erebus could have died, so that Odin may live.
In a perfect world, that would have been Erebus’ parting wish.
But this wasn’t the perfect world, and it wasn’t that timeline.
This was present timeline, where Erebus watched the creation of the strongest dark guild on Earthland, be replaced by another band of misfit children plying pretend.
Phantom Lord— but oh, how there was new avenues opening up all over Oak— what a change for the old bandit town, thanks to the policies of Erernal Nightmare, Erebus had stakes in that town. Perhaps yet, there was a story there for Ere should he go home.
No more games, and false hopes like Jin Tatsumi’s to plague his mind. No more optimism, no— there was no justfying the new means. There is
HELL to pay, for all of Fiore.
Erebus managed a chuckle, at his foes words. The Don was going to jail by no means if he had anything to say about it, until his own goals were recognized in full. Erebus leaps four meters suspending himself in the air, Â defying physics due to the nature of his items. Bouncing with the balls of his toes, he leaps up, annd back angain. Placing him 8m over the building’s roof— the distance between Kon and Ere was not too far apart, around 30m.
“I should probably tell you, my place in this world doesn’t allow me to just hand myself over. You would be coming for everything I work for,” The nonchalant and poised response was not merely grit. But said from a place of faith in oneself— showing that at all costs, and points of extremity, Erebus chose battle— he hungered for it even.
The Underworld was what Erebus called home, and Erebus himself— lived through the trade— fostered by it, pulled up from the grave to be its champion. So why now, did this other fellow think he would fall into line? Face life in prison if not death? Did he think there was nothing here.
In another flicker of light, this time— a dark blue liquid slime, conjured a sticky pulsating black bow into Erebus free-hand.
Staring forward, and in much the same way Kon could see Ere’s mana— his light as you might call it, Erebus too could see Konstantin’s, a chilling and yet monstrous sight. If Erebus was the Sun, Kon was a Red Giant. Apex indicated that Kon’s mana pool was at least double the size of Erebus’ own, and on his helmet’s HUD (head-up display)— both of their numbers were listed side by side to highlight this fact back to Erebus.
Besides that— Erebus could read into Kon’s stats. The most notable fact of the Holy Knight in question, perhaps, was that Kon’s physical capabilities matched Erebus’— a sight rarely encountered, albeit, Kon appeared to possess a vast intelligence acute to the laws of magic. Where Erebus possessed something of a mastery with weapons, he was never very magically gifted. APEX also registered all of Hespa’s stats and mana.The Don would keep this information at the forefront of his mind, just what tricks did this opponent bring to the table.
APEX HUD wrote:CURSE OF MALVOX HAS BEEN EQUIPPED— DO YOU WISH TO PROCEED?
“Occula. Zoom in.” Erebus said, as the tiny prototype creature’s eye magnified like a lense, allowing Erebus to read any movements much quicker. It flew downward one meter, and outward ten meters with it’s movement speed so that it was just at 20m from Kon and therefore able to keep a registered eye on him as well as potentially distract Kon in the nearing moments.
Erebus was sure that if Kon fired the gun, Occula could stand in as a defense mechanism for the first bullet, so with his companion’s spell essentially trained at the Machia, Erebus maintained just enough foresight to hold up a defense against his foe.
“I see you’ve changed since last time Rune Knight Dog, but I‘d recognize you anywhere these days… Big name, even bigger contract.” Erebus spoke with a loud voice, able to travel on the wind and command lesser men, with a slight rear  of his shoulder Erebus moved into his first series of engagement with the foe as he bent backward tapering the only strand in his claws, he pointed the bow directly to Kon in front of him— it’s darkness was such a curse, that any who quarry the mystic quiver would be met with ossification, and using his needle-like claws on his spare hand, Erebus pulled back on the sticky, inky bow string.
“You know, I think we could do business— you and I.” He would speak up again,
“but what I’d love right now is nothing more than test myself against you, legendary Sokolov, I have studied on you very well. Konstantin.”Erebus thrusts his arm back and lets three spells go forward, not using much power, Erebus needed to send out some test shots before anything got too overzealous.
Mana: 3600/4250
Companion’s Mana: 820/1000
- Spells & Stuff:
Name: Occula's Eye of Observation
Rank: A
Mana Cost: 200
Requirements: Occula
Type: Supplementary
Element: Arcane
Range: 20 Meters
Cooldown: 1 Post
Duration: Sustain
Effect: Occula can use Occula's Eye of Observation to link their own view with their partner. The partner will then view everything through both Occula's eye and their own while the spell is sustained. This can be used to observe certain areas via Occula without alerting potential enemies or have Occula hover high up in the air to watch the area from above through a helicopter view. (180MP after MCR)
Name: Spatial Step
Rank: S
Mana Cost: 500
Requirements: None
Type: Supplementary
Element: Wind
Range: -
Cooldown: -
Duration: Sustain
Effect: The user can move across air or vacuum as if standing on solid ground. They can walk in any position and angle without a surface. They could do things like walk upside down in the air or even in the water, sideways, or even diagonally, allowing them to reach areas or combat others from different angles. At most, the user can reach heights of 25 meters with this method. - (250MP after MCR)
Ossify: Basic shots from Curse of Malvox binds the target for the equivalent damage of the spell over time for two posts. This effect cannot stack with itself, however it can be reapplied or extended. Additional spells will only extend the bind of the highest ranked attack that landed. Additional damage from modifiers does not impact this effect.
Name: Arrow Shot
Rank: B
Mana Cost: 100
Requirements: Curse of Malvox
Type: Offensive
Element: Darkness
Range: 20 Meters
Cooldown: 3 Posts
Duration: Instant
Effect: The user holds the bow steady with one hand and begins to pulls the string with their other hand. As the string is being pulled back, a 30 centimeter arrow of mana begins to materialize. The user then releases the string and shoots the magic arrow at the aimed target. (50MP after MCR)
Name: Arrow Shot
Rank: A
Mana Cost: 200
Requirements: Curse of Malvox
Type: Offensive
Element: Darkness
Range: 25 Meters
Cooldown: 4 Posts
Duration: Instant
Effect: The user holds the bow steady with one hand and begins to pulls the string with their other hand. As the string is being pulled back, a 30 centimeter arrow of mana begins to materialize. The user then releases the string and shoots the magic arrow at the aimed target. (100MP after MCR)
Name: Arrow Shot
Rank: S
Mana Cost: 500
Requirements: Curse of Malvox
Type: Offensive
Element: Darkness
Range: 30 Meters
Cooldown: 5 Posts
Duration: Instant
Effect: The user holds the bow steady with one hand and begins to pulls the string with their other hand. As the string is being pulled back, a 30 centimeter arrow of mana begins to materialize. The user then releases the string and shoots the magic arrow at the aimed target. (250MP after MCR)