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Bruno's test of spirit (Bruno vs Illaoi)

I figured this was a cool fight thematically and could feasibly happen despite tier differences.

Bruno Buccellati vs Illaoi

Fight takes place in a collesuem, both around 15 meters away from each other. Speed is equalized, SBA.

Bruno:

Illaoi:

Inconclusive:

Transparent bruno (1)-1-1
Bruno

Illaoi 2
 
He's got an assassin mindset so his goal is to dispatch his target as quickly and efficiently as possible. He himself is reasonably athletic and very acrobatic.

His Stand, Sticky Fingers can open zippers onto objects when touched. These can be unzipped or zipped on command, allowing him to essentially disable opponents with a barrage of bunches as they find a majority of their body unzipped with limbs going limp and in a variety of directions.

Beyond its primary use for fighting, he can use it to halfway unzip parts of himself to extend range and completely unzip temporarily to dodge incoming attacks. Aditionally, he can hide within unzipped objects in some sort of pocket dimension. Leaving his range will cause his zippers to dissappear and everything tto revert back to normal.
 
Him punching the tentacles with Sticky Fingers rendering them disabled.

He doesn't need to parry them, he just needs to touch them and have it split apart like an egg before it collides into him. He can match their range by extending his own via unzipping the length of his arm (and therefore having it resemble a slinky).
 
The tentacles are Low 2-C in durability, intangible beyond what he can hit, and Danmaku level spawned
 
He ignores durability. I don't see why they are intangible as it's not listed on her profile. I also don't recall danmaku when I played her, can you show me where she does it?
 
Is the untargetability because of gameplay mechanics or? There's no intangibility listed on her profile for them.

Assuming Leap of Faith does...

> Bruno hesitates for a second confused as to why he can't hit them anymore. Before they can slam down onto him he uses his ability onto the colloseum floor, dissappearing into void created by his zippers.

> Illaoi looks around even more confused as she doesn't know where he is anymore, it looked like he vanished into the floor. She can't really do anything.

> Zzzzzip... Illaoi looks down and she sees Bruno crawling from a small hole created directly underneath her. Before she can retaliate... arivideci .
 
HierophantDeluxe said:
Is the untargetability because of gameplay mechanics or? There's no intangibility listed on her profile for them.
Assuming Leap of Faith does...

> Bruno hesitates for a second confused as to why he can't hit them anymore. Before they can slam down onto him he uses his ability onto the colloseum floor, dissappearing into void created by his zippers.
I mean, the moment he punches the tentacles again(and realize that he cant affect them anymore) it would be too late, since the tentacles would be already smashing him.
 
""Behold!" Illaoi intoned.

She reached out with her mind and called forth the energy of the Mother Serpent as she swung the giant idol forward. A glowing mist vomited from the icon's mouth and swirls of blue-green energy formed around the Mother Serpent's face, solidifying into ghostly tentacles. Touched by gold, these tendrils were as beautiful as the sunrise over water, and as horrifying as the darkest undersea abomination. More tentacles grew from the icon, replicating around the room as if born from some unknowable mathematics. Exponentially they grew larger, and somehow each one's growth seemed to hold all the promise and horror of the world.

"No!" Gangplank screamed. But the whirlwind ignored his cries as the storm of tentacles took him.

"Face Nagakabouros!" she yelled. "Prove yourself!" The tentacles grasped at Gangplank, then dived into his chest. He shuddered as ghostly images of his past lives shook around him.

He screamed as his soul was ripped from his body. His doppelganger stood unmoving before Illaoi. The spirit of Gangplank smoldered an almost blinding blue, its body crackling and flickering through his previous lives.

The mass of tentacles attacked the wounded captain. Gangplank rolled and stumbled to his feet, dodging what he could. But for each one that missed, more and more appeared. Reality twisted and churned around him. The swarm of tentacles crashed against him, pushing him down, pulling him further and further from his soul - toward oblivion."


Just gonna leave this here for you to read while i write up the rest of my explanation.
 
Misogi2 said:
HierophantDeluxe said:
Is the untargetability because of gameplay mechanics or? There's no intangibility listed on her profile for them.
Assuming Leap of Faith does...

> Bruno hesitates for a second confused as to why he can't hit them anymore. Before they can slam down onto him he uses his ability onto the colloseum floor, dissappearing into void created by his zippers.
I mean, the moment he punches the tentacles again(and realize that he cant affect them anymore) it would be too late, since the tentacles would be already smashing him.
I doubt it, remanifesting his Stand in front of him is depicted as almost instant - a blink. Keep in mind he can punch objects and have the zippers be pre-opened, so one punch to the ground and he instantly has an escape route.

That and the fact that he should be able to dodge with his acrobatics alone, I don't think he's going to be easily hit before he can dissappear.
 
How likely is it for Illaoi to actually start out with her test of spirit ability VS deciding to kill Bruno herself? Is she obligated to do so or something?
 
@Heriophant Speed is equalized, they can summon their stuff at the same speed as a result

Given that there's going to be dozens upon dozens of tentacles filling the arena and an ever increasing amount, that seems highly unlikely
 
HierophantDeluxe said:
How likely is it for Illaoi to actually start out with her test of spirit ability VS deciding to kill Bruno herself? Is she obligated to do so or something?
100% she always leads with is as yes, it is her obligation to do so
 
She waits for it to finish

Also just want to point out that having Sticky Fingers try to intercept the tentacles is a very bad idea, about as bad as you can get when youre throwing your soul at someone who is trying to pull your soul out to test it. If he does that there's a very good chance it just ends up getting erased and him along with it.
 
Okay, so the fact that the tentacles are intangible not being listed on her profile is an error on my part, that was actually supposed to be added about a month ago when we had a whole revision thread about Nagakabouros and i forgot to add it. The excerpt from her lore showcases both intangibility (phasing through Gangplank's chest to rip out his soul) and Danmaku (An ever increasing number of tentacles will be spawned when she's using her ability until there is so many that the opponent is unable to dodge)

As for fleeing into his alternate dimension to try to escape, that wont exactly work either as Nagakabouros' tentacles have cross-dimensional travel, they would follow him
 
Then I believe Bruno wins this easier than I expected.

If Illaoi is certain to use test of spirit, then she shoots her tendril out at Bruno and pulls out his soul and (quote from her profile) "places it before her".

The problem? It's a very bad idea to pull out the soul of a Stand user. His soul can be defended/replaced by his Stand - Black Sabbath tried it to Giorno and he got his shit wrekt.

So Illaoi pulls out Sticky Fingers and places it directly in-front of her. Do you see why this is a bad idea now? Sticky Fingers gives her a punch barrage and completely disables Illaoi, turning her into a pile of limbs and digits. Doesn't matter if she tries to guard or use tentacles to block herself, he unzips her trinket and her tentacles too.
 
The litteral attack description says:

"ACTIVE: Illaoi lashes out a tentacle in the target direction that stops at the first enemy struck. If the enemy is a [1] champio, their Spirit is pulled in front of Illaoi. The target is tethered to the Spirit, and [2] revealed while it remains."

And as you can see, it's clearly pulled in front of Illaoi in the video.
 
Yeah, it cant move or attack, it can only stand there and wait for the owner to retrieve it

Basically if Sticky Fingers gets pulled it cant do anything other than stand there and Bruno has to physically retrieve it all while being bombarded by an ever increasing number of tentacles
 
That's only demonstrated with normal human souls which by default, can't be controlled.

Stands can be controlled though. You saw Giorno had his soul pulled out and Gold Experience was able to fight regardless.
 
That aside, there's a good chance that Bruno passes the test. I'm sure Naga K can see that he has ambition and is willing to (literally) sacrafice himself to achieve his goals.

I don't see any criteria according to Illaoi's beliefs and ideology that would disqualify Bruno.
 
WeeklyBattles said:
If Giorno's soul and Gold Experience arent the same thing then thats even worse for Bruno
Consider a Stand the shield of the soul.

If your soul is drawn, you can bring forth your Stand from it and defend yourself.
 
Thats great and all but if his method of fighting afte rhaving his soul pulled out is trying to run into his alternate dimension that would basically instantly cause him to fail the Test as he's trying to run from his fate rather than face it
 
He's not running away from Illaoi, his goal would be to actively approach her but underneath the ground.

That's like if you made the hospital your goal and you disqualified someone for walking backwards from it a few meters... so you could get in your car and go to the hospital.

He's not running away from Illaoi he's doing the opposite.
 
So to summarize so far:

> Illaoi is extremely likely to use test of spirit to pull Bruno's soul directly in-front of her.

> As seen with Giorno and Black Sabbath, Bruno is able to replace/defend his soul with his Stand if it is pulled from his body.

> Sticky Fingers is now directly in-front of Illaoi and is able to be controlled by Bruno, whom would certainly have him feed her a barrage of punches which would turn her into a pile of limbs and digits.

> Bruno is very likely to survive the test of spirit as his entire character and personality does not contradict (and in fact, supports) the ideology of Naga K or Illaoi

Is there anything wrong with this analysis?
 
That would be an instant failure. To pass the Test you need to retrieve your soul manually, no tricks or gimmicks, trying to use them goes against Nagakabouros' will and gets you erased
 
Also youre kinda ignoring the fact that even if he goes into his alternate dimension he would still be attacked by a ton of tentacles
 
Okay well where does it say you must retrieve your soul manually or you fail? Doesn't test of spirit end once Illaoi is killed and defeated anyway - it does in game.

Not so much ignoring it, I just don't think he'll have the chance to go into this alternate dimension if Illaoi starts with test of spriit.
 
The Test of Spirit ends one of two ways: Either you retrieve your soul and are deemed 'In motion' by Nagakabouros or you fail to retrieve your soul and thus you are erased from existence and your life energy is recycled back into the universe. How it happens in-game is a bit different from how it happens in-lore, mainly due to gameplay balancing.

"Second, Illaoi is tasked with seeking out individuals of great potential and challenging them with the Test of Nagakabouros. This task is the burden Illaoi's title reflects. With her massive, holy relic, The Eye of God, the Truth Bearer strips the subject's spirit from their body then forces them to stand against her to prove their worth. She does this knowing those who fail will be completely annihilated, for the great Kraken has no tolerance for cowardice, doubt, or restraint. But destruction is never the goal. Survivors of the ordeal are forever changed and often find the will to pursue their true destiny."

"Face Nagakabouros!" she yelled. "Prove yourself!" The tentacles grasped at Gangplank, then dived into his chest. He shuddered as ghostly images of his past lives shook around him.

He screamed as his soul was ripped from his body. His doppelganger stood unmoving before Illaoi. The spirit of Gangplank smoldered an almost blinding blue, its body crackling and flickering through his previous lives.

The mass of tentacles attacked the wounded captain. Gangplank rolled and stumbled to his feet, dodging what he could. But for each one that missed, more and more appeared. Reality twisted and churned around him. The swarm of tentacles crashed against him, pushing him down, pulling him further and further from his soul—toward oblivion.

Illaoi wanted to look away. More than anything, she wanted to turn her eyes. It is my duty to witness his passing. He was a great man, but he has failed. The universe demands—

Gangplank rose. Slowly, inexorably, and unrelentingly he forced his broken body to stand. He ripped himself from the mass of tentacles and advanced step by painstaking step, roaring through the agony. Bloody and exhausted, he finally stood in front of Illaoi. His eyes bulged with hate and pain, but full of purpose. With his final ounce of strength, he walked into the glowing visage of his spirit.

"I will be king."

The wind fell still. The tentacles ruptured in bursts of light. Nagakabouros was satisfied.
 
Okay but nothing about this tells me that you can't attack Illaoi and it's in fact contradicted in-game. I think lore takes precedent before gameplay, but I still don't see anything about this story that lets me know attacking Illaoi is forbidden and will make you fail.
 
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