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Character of the Season
Frail in body but dangerously quick of mind, Nikandr is the sort of character who proves that curiosity can be just as perilous as any weapon. A necromancer, inventor, and problem-solver with more ambition than self-preservation, Niki approaches the world like a puzzle box begging to be opened, even when what’s inside has teeth. Blunt, dry-witted, fiercely independent, and carrying a history best left partially buried, he has a knack for making even failure feel fascinating. Whether he’s raising the dead, moving across Caido to King's End, or experiencing a hangover for the first time, Nikandr brings a wonderfully strange spark to Caido, and we can’t wait to see what trouble his brilliant mind wanders into next.
Congratulations, Niki!
Credits
Court of the Fallen was created in October of 2018 by Odd, Honey, and Crooked.
OG Skinning provided by Kaons, with functionality and many custom plugins made by Neowulf!
/// sorry, but you just got in my way i promise honey, i can feel your pain
As he sends his flame, he watches as Deimos conjures up water - but not just any water. Before he knows it, the element begins to shift and change, twisting and turning with a gale-like wind billowing throughout it. A like a mini cyclone, the butcher watches as the fireball he’d launched gets sucked up into it, the heart of its golden red center melting away with a hiss and crackle.
Amusement flickers briefly in the butcher’s face before he has to focus again - hands sweeping across each other as he summons more flame with the magic still heading his way. Conjuring a wall of flame, he aims to try and cage it around the incantation Deimos has sent his way, hoping to leave behind humid air in a kind of draw.
2/4
Astaroth
and maybe i enjoy it just a little bit does that make me insane? ///
the ocean does not apologize for its depth and the mountains do not seek forgiveness
His brow arched at the response, just as amused; the corner of his mouth turning upwards, a light snort following through. Deimos had quite a few possibilities and probabilities at his disposal as the flames sought to cage his enchantments and intentions, but his eyes narrowed, focused, as his mind went through the feasible efforts.
In the end, he opted to alter tactics briefly – collapsing the earth so dirt and loam drifted away, and sending more power, more prowess, more distinctions, into the water and air. Combining those factions, and not dissipating them into a lacquered three, meant he could harness and finesse the qualities adhering, and instead of letting them be surrounded and caged, encouraged the elements to fight back. For the water to smother the fire, expanding in dual form amidst the rolling, billowing air.
/// sorry, but you just got in my way i promise honey, i can feel your pain
It’s a lot, truth be told. As the butcher watches one portion of Deimos’ magic fade away, he can see the way the water within the cage of fire he’s crafted begins to warp and sizzle, steaming in ways that create patches of nothing but clouds in their wake. It forces him to work harder, to send more of the flame out to try and fill the gaps. He finds himself on the backstop now, trying to recover rather than press on the offense.
Which is a surprise for the butcher, if he’s being honest, so used to striking first again and again.
But for the work he tries to do in recovery, he decides to try a brief little distraction, sending a few shooting embers back toward Deimos to force him to focus on that rather than force the water through his cage of fire.
3/4
Astaroth
and maybe i enjoy it just a little bit does that make me insane? ///
the ocean does not apologize for its depth and the mountains do not seek forgiveness
The embers firing back prospered a larger grin; concentration honing in on other tactics. The whole purpose of the exchange was to ensure he had practice and expertise in multiple layers – in being able to utilize incantations in a variety of ways, and stretched across pieces, portions, of themselves.
Certain he could rely upon his power, his focus had to bend into two places at once – a risk, but with greater reward. He pressed once more with his water and air along the makeshift cage – far more prowess, far more brawn, into the figments and elements. But then he did the same in front of his figure – conjuring more pieces of earth to rise against the shooting flames – hoping to shield and absorb, focus difficult and straining, far more difficult to place them all where he demanded, commanded, them to be.
/// sorry, but you just got in my way i promise honey, i can feel your pain
The sparks of fire flit off of the cage that Asta tries to keep contained, watching with amusement of his own as it begins to sizzle and steam even more. But the flickering embers that fly off of the cage in the process sink into the earth that Deimos conjures up to become a shield - such that Asta repeats the action.
Forcing more flame at Deimos, the butcher’s focus shifts from containing into spreading. A shield of his own making, releasing and spreading out wider around him to blot out any points of attack or retaliation from holding back the water and air. “You certainly have a hold on it.” The butcher compliments, his voice strained with focus.
4/4
Astaroth
and maybe i enjoy it just a little bit does that make me insane? ///
the ocean does not apologize for its depth and the mountains do not seek forgiveness
“Trying,” Deimos uttered around the beats of concentration, eyes narrowed; feeling his mind pulsing in many different directions. Not unlike his constant calculating stances, but also pulled and tugged, like when things were on the brink of control and harnessing them held on knife points and tripwires. He hadn’t felt that way in some time – so it was good, to expand, to strive, to not linger in complacency, to broaden and burden that strength until even then, it didn’t feel difficult any longer.
The flames came towards him again while Astaroth built up his shield, and the Sword laughed, amused, conducting his own watery abyss as he altered the form to also blot out any incoming embers, forcing the rest to ricochet and bind, anchoring and tethering those elements firmly to his wielding prowess. By the end of it, they’d both have their fixtured guards, ready to dissipate when they both acquiesced to the thresholds. “Thank you for letting me practice that,” when all was said and done, nodding at the inclusion of multiple points.
From there, as all those into eventualiy, they’d either make their ways homeward bound or chiseled elsewhere; but Deimos would certainly snag at the lessons learned.
