Calamitous Avatars: Darquesse vs guess who

[Monarch_Laciel]

After BB fails to defeat the AoC, Darquesse is contacted by Godoka to stop the evil. Laughing at being told to do good, but interested in the promise of new magic and driven by pride, she shunts over from her world to battle the horror.

Darquesse

Avatar of Calamity (True Body with Duplicates, Wraith arc abilities only)

Speed Equalized

Battle takes place in Mikitahara City.

Starting distance 4km

In character mindsets, but both are aware of the threat the other poses.

 

[Kaltias]

I knew it. That was the "plan" you were referring to isn't it

 

[Monarch_Laciel]

Oh yes indeed. I have poured over the Skulduggery Pleasant books for feats, and almost at last made Darquesse reach her true strength.

 

[Monarch_Laciel]

One bump to rule them all

 

[Monarch_Laciel]

One bump to find them

 

[Phoenix821]

Can Darquesse finally be the one to bring an end to the Calamity

 

[Monarch_Laciel]

I don't even know.

All I want is a good fight for Darquesse, seeing as she haxstomps 90% of the characters in the 7-B range

 

[Sir_Ovens]

What's stopping the Avatar from power draining or making copies of Darquesse to fight her?

 

[Monarch_Laciel]

Darquesse has resistance to the ranged aura power drain, and precog+teleportation combo to dodge the 2-A version that requires physical contact.

And I believe the AoC needs to read the memories of a person to copy them? In which case, best case scenario it sees static, and worst case scenario it gets its mind broken and bent to Darquesse's will from entering her mind.

Even if it doesn't require memory reading though, Darquesse also has precog + power null to stop it from doing so, or use her power mimicry to cancel out the clones with her own.

 

[Sir_Ovens]

I'm gonna wait for the Madoka backers to counter for now. But it looks like we found someone that beats AoC without outright stomping it.

 

[Monarch_Laciel]

God I hope so.

I hope even more that this gets Darquesse on the board, by which I mean people appreciate her, and begin making matches with her, and then even more matches, and then she gets spammed, and oh god no what have I done.

Anyway, I am unfortunately requiring the human biological need of sleep, and I am also one of the only people who knows SP on the wiki (DontTalk knows a bit, but I've made several additions since he left and came back), so any questions on the subject of Darquesse will need to be postponed.

Let's just try not to hit 7 votes before i wake up.

 

[ThisIsMySwagPack]

It seems that aura-like drain doesn't have 4km range, from what I've seen in other threads.

 

[Kaltias]

For the record, AoC absolutely spams time stop.

It can also mindscrew magical girls who are all mind resistant (scaling from the rumors in MagiReco, but they don't have a page yet so I understand if that's not a legit argument)

Also the mind resistance of the magical girls comes from Mami resisting her own mind hax while she was becoming a witch during Different Story (because as we know well, witches can mind hax while incomplete).

 

[SomebodyData]

AoC probably just uses time stop to get Dar in her tentacles.

Wait let me restate tha-

 

[Arrogant_Schmuck]

Yeah see the PMMM posse already beat me to it. Was gonna come in here and be like "Oh but just wait for that good old 'time hax gg' garbage" but I snooze, I lose.

 

[Kaltias]

I mean.

The MO of 7-B AoC is "time stop gg".

 

[Arrogant_Schmuck]

In fact, believe it or not, I was going to make this a couple weeks ago but deliberately didn't because I knew that's exactly how this was going to play out.

Hope you got some counter for that Monarch or else our only hope is lost.

 

[SomebodyData]

That moment when, the only people spamming AoC, are the ones trying to end the spam.

And Homu.

 

[Monarch_Laciel]

You think I'm trying to end the spam?

Ha! Nay. The AoC is merely a stepping stone for the elevation of Darquesse.

Anyway, Darquesse's resistance to mind manipulation come from:

1) A Sensitive (psychic) tries to break into Valkyrie's mind to extract secrets She stumbles too deep, and Darquesse pops up, and screws the woman's mind. The woman starts obeying Valkyrie, and Valkyrie also sees that she could completely shatter her mind.

The Sensitive smiled. I'm going to have to push a bit deeper now, OK? I apologise in advance for anything embarrassing I might uncover."

"Is that part of it?" Valkyrie asked. "Do you use a person's embarrassment and shame against them? That doesn't really seem fair."

The woman shrugged. "Exposing uncomfortable truths breaks down the biggest walls. You should save yourself the trauma. Just let me in."

"It's not up to me."

"Then who is it up to?"

"Me," said Darquesse.

Valkyrie opened her eyes. The Sensitive opposite her sat ramrod straight, her eyelids fluttering, her mouth open. Her nose was bleeding. It was dark outside. The barn was empty apart from Valkyrie, Tanith and Donegan and the three psychics who were trying to break into their minds.

"Release me," Valkyrie said. The Sensitive moaned, then shifted forward and fell to her knees. She took a key from her pocket, undid the ankle restraints first, then the wrist shackles. Magic flooded Valkyrie's body and she stood up. The Sensitive whimpered. Valkyrie could see into her mind. It was such a fragile thing. Easily broken.

"Release my friends," she said, and the Sensitive scampered over to Tanith to do just that.

She waited until Donegan was free, and then ordered the Sensitive to stand. Blood was now running from the woman's ears. It would have been so easy to reach a little further into her mind and wrench everything sideways.

2 - A group of Sense Wardens (dystopian psychics) try to force feelings of hopelessness and despair into Darquesse's mind. It initially works, but then Darquesse realises what is going on, adapts, then screws them all over

Darquesse took a step and scowled. Her hands went to her head. She turned, saw white robes, lots of them, and then she gagged and dropped to her knees. The Sense-Wardens surrounded her, flooded her mind with pain and misery, made her want to curl up into a little ball, just surrender, stop fighting, beg for the instant release of death. The struggle wasn't worth it. The anguish wasn't worth it. Everything hurt and everything died and nothing was worth it. Give up. She should give up. Oh, God, she wanted to give up. She was crying. Of course she was crying. Why wouldn't she? Life was nothing and nothing meant anything and everything was meaningless and she should just lie down and die. Just die, for God's sake, and let the Faceless Ones judge her in death. Just lie down here, and stop fighting and accept the end.

But she didn't worship the Faceless Ones. She didn't believe they straddled life and death. She didn't believe they would judge her. These weren't her beliefs. These were the beliefs of the Sense-Wardens, the men and women surrounding her and forcing these thoughts into her head. Oh, they were clever, these Sense-Wardens. They crept in there and force-fed her these feelings and made her despair. It almost worked, too. But they weren't strong enough. Not against her. Not against Darquesse. She was quickly becoming a god, quickly becoming strong enough to kill the Faceless Ones should she ever meet them again. These Sense-Wardens didn't have the first idea who they were dealing with. But they were realising now. And some of them were already trying to pull out, but it was much too late. Now she was in their heads, and she was overpowering their puny little minds, crushing them with an ease that was frightening, terrifying. They tried to retreat but she caught them, one by one, and she was turning out the lights inside their minds. One, two, three and look as their bodies dropped four, five, six and they were all gone now, their minds ruined, their bodies shutting down, and Darquesse stood up and willed away the headache.

3. Darquesse resists being possessed by thousands of Remnants at once. Remnants are evil souls that crawl inside you and merge with your soul, gaining all your memories and powers and taking control of you. When this happened, Darquesse was on the verge of death from having been beaten down by Lord Vile and Melancholia, and had exhausted almost all her magic, having barely anything left.

A Remnant swooped down, attaching itself to Darquesse's face. She grabbed it, pulled it away, and another latched on to her back. She reached behind her and a third was suddenly in her hair, its little claws tearing at her scalp. A fourth Remnant flew at her, and a fifth, and they were at her face and prising open her mouth and Darquesse stumbled and cursed …

And when her mouth opened, the first Remnant slipped in. Then the second. Then the third. And then a stream of Remnants flowed down from above, straight into her open mouth, and her hands were at her bulging throat and her eyes were wide, but there was nothing she could do to stop the flow. Hundreds of Remnants ― no, thousands ― flying into her, faster and faster, overpowering her, taking control even as black veins started to rise beneath her skin. Then the flow ended, and Darquesse gasped, staggered, and Vex watched the whole thing with his hands in his pockets.

"You're going to deliver what you promised," he said. "You're going to give us a playground that will be ours forever." The black veins faded slightly.

"You think you can … you think …" She gasped again and the black veins rose. Her lips darkened.

"You're one of us now," said Vex. "It took practically all of us to do it, but I think it's been worth it, don't you? Now it's time for you to do what you do best. Kill. Destroy. Have fun." 'Darquesse smiled, but the smile turned sour, and she frowned. The veins faded again before rising. She was fighting it.

"Practically all of you?" she rasped. "Should've brought more." She stood up straight, eyes locked on Vex. "I'm killing your brothers and sisters." For the first time, Vex lost his confidence. "Impossible."

"I'm killing," Darquesse said slowly, "every last one of them. I'm burning them inside me. They want to … they want to get out …"

"Stop," said Vex. "Stop!" Energy burst from his hand, but Darquesse caught it in her palm. Her skin sizzled, and healed.

"They're making me stronger," she said. "Every one of them I kill makes me that little bit … stronger." The last of the veins faded. Her lips returned to their full, natural colour, and she smiled.

 

[Arrogant_Schmuck]

That's great and all Monarch but unless she can counter time manip it means nothing, quite unfortunately.

 

[Monarch_Laciel]

As for timestop GG, is that with Homura's shield, or is it a power of its own?

 

[Kaltias]

AoC's version is via thought (it's done by False Sayaka if memory serves)

Also tbh I brought up mind resistance mostly due to the thing that you said about resistances and how they seemed assumed (admittedly that could use a bit more explanation)

 

[Monarch_Laciel]

If it's done by thought and not by the shield, then Darquesse can see what AoC is about to do before AoC does it, and power nulls it, then mimics it herself. I asked because Darquesse has been lightly implied to be unable to see and copy the magic in magical artifacts (lightly because the only artifacts she has come up against are either basically magical voids, or there is the possibility that she is bluffing, having already seen the artifact used)

Sorry about the resistances section. It used to have all the justifications, but I thought it made the page too messy. Seeing as the page is pretty messy now, maybe I'll add them back. If you need clarification on any of it, just ask

 

[Kaltias]

Technically it could also do it via Homura's shield, it's inside the eye but it still works. And there are multiple to negate given that not only Fake Sayaka has it.

Oh no, I meant the resistances of the magical girls lol.

 

[Monarch_Laciel]

Which does it prefer to do it with though? Because if it does it with thought first, Darquesse would see and analyse the way the magic "moves" and know what is about the happen, then stops it from happening. And is probably overjoyed that she can now learn to stop time. If it does it with the shield first, then sure, Darquesse wouldn't be able to stop it (unless she can stop the gears from turning with TK of course)

What did you mean by "there are multiple ways to negate"?

Oh, my bad lol

 

[Kaltias]

It leads with the thought based one (I think)

I meant that she needs to nullify multiple Wraiths + main body

Also how she went from fighting Mami to AoC in a week and a half

 

[Monarch_Laciel]

And how does the AoC do against sub-atomic matter manipulation to reduce it to elementary particles, or turn it into a chair or a rubber duck?

Because that's what Darquesse tends to start with once she actually wants to kill something (i.e. she can't learn anything from it, or it becomes legitamately dangerous to her)

Or existence erasing black flames that also erase the soul? Because that's what she does next.

 

[Monarch_Laciel]

It leads with the thought based one (I think)

Ok, that gets power nulled and mimic'd then

I meant that she needs to nullify multiple Wraiths + main body

Oh I see. Would multiple Wraiths try to use it at the same time though? And if Darquesse senses multiple things trying to go for timestops, she might just null one and atomise/black flame existence erasure the rest of them (which happens basically instantly), because as long as one remains for her to copy, what does she care about the others?

Also the **** she went from fighting Mami to AoC in a week and a half

• grins*. Don't mess with the Darquesse

 

[Kaltias]

It can probably save itself with body hopping.

To be fair there is a ton of stuff that AoC can do so at least the can't learn anything part shouldn't come up.

That would kill it (although I don't think that AoC has a soul, it's more like a vessel filled with curses).

A legitimately interesting thread including AoC? Monarch what have you done? ovo

 

[Monarch_Laciel]

Darquesse could probably see it body hopping too, considering she can see magic, energy and souls. So she'd realise that physically killing it isn't working out and just go for the black flames.

True. But as soon as she realises how dangerous it is (and time stop is pretty dangerous if she can't adapt her defenses to it), she would stop holding back and just try to kill it.

Cool, that's her second go-to attack once she stops having fun and starts trying to kill things.

I have done the will of ... Order I guess? ovo

 

[RKGenki]

But she need to notice it first and then react, i doubt she would have enough time to counter

And yes multiple wraiths will start with time stop

Edit: referring to time stop in the first sentence

 

[Homu_Sweet_Homu]

I have seens Darc speed, reaction feat and she has shown nothing that indicating she can react to a thought triggered ability.

 

[Monarch_Laciel]

Darquesse can sense how magic moves, and has used this ability to know what people are about to do and how they are doing it. She can also observe people to know what they are capable of, even without them doing it.

"He made a decision, the magic solidifying around his body, but when he went to attack, the magic betrayed his intentions and she dodged it easily."

and

"His magic thrashed, waiting to be unleashed. She watched it, and when she saw how he was going to use it, she moved, batted his arm down even as it was rising."

and

"She examined his magic from where she stood. His power was impressive. She saw no hint that he had discovered his true name, contrary to so many rumours. Instead, she noted the level to which he had risen as an Elemental, surpassing every preconceived notion of how strong a mere human could become

She can also control other people's magic, having learnt to do so from Argeddio

"I can see the energy that's propelling you. There's just a little remaining, enough for maybe two more trips. It's going to need some time to build up momentum, but that's the thing about magic. Once you see it, you begin to understand it. And once you understand it, you can affect it."

His magic surged and Darquesse gasped, felt her arm suddenly throb, and then the world flickered, flickered, and he reached out for her and they were standing in darkness, in ruins.

and

She looked closer, deeper, saw how Necromancy inhabited it. The armour was a living thing, though not a living thing with any degree of sentience. Magic lived in it, and magic was alive, and so the very nature of the armour was transformed as a result. She saw it and understood it, and once she was ready, she focused her mind and called to it. Vile inclined his head, and stopped tapping his leg. She called again, more forcefully this time, and the armour reacted, straining against Vile's command. Black droplets of shadow splashed to the ground and Vile struggled, the armour turning solid again, solid and sharp. Darquesse ducked a swipe at her throat. She moved in but he was fast, grabbing her and twisting and smashing her head through the wall. He pulled her on to his hip and flipped her. The world tilted and the floor spun into her face. She started to laugh as Vile knelt on her back. This was fun. She threw him back with a simple pulse of energy and she called to his armour and it flowed to her hand, collecting into a spinning spinning ball of shadow and substance.

and

Another roar from Star as she staggered, her magic boiling within her. Darquesse could have killed her from where she lay on the ground. She could have burst her like a balloon, or taken her head off with a stream of energy. She could have got up and grabbed her and torn her heart from her chest. She didn't do any of that. What she did do was to reach out with her magic and smother Star's, keeping it from boiling over. She saw the confusion in the renegade girl's face, as something that should have happened didn't happen.

Darquesse also learns at an incredible rate and can process information instantly

"I read a lot," Darquesse said, shrugging, "and absorb information instantly. It's a talent."

So honestly, I don't think her "noticing it first and then reacting" is going to be a problem.

Also fun fact, she can even use magic on things that are meant to be resistant to magic.

Before powering up: "She reached out with her magic, tried to pluck the sword from his hands, but it resisted her attempt. Annoying."

After powering up: "The vampires broke off on cue and Skulduggery brought the sword down in an overhead swing— —and Darquesse raised a hand and the sword hit an invisible barrier, centimetres from her skull.... The silver light wrapped round the sword and she was about to cry out, to warn Skulduggery, when the blade shattered."

 

[RKGenki]

So precognition? Isn't that useless against acausals?

 

[Monarch_Laciel]

I have seens Darc speed, reaction feat and she has shown nothing that indicating she can react to a thought triggered ability.

Because it happens like this

1) the decision is made, the thought that controls the magic happens

2) the magic begins to move

3) time stops.

In the span of the second step, Darquesse can tell what is about to happen, and nullify and/then mimic the power.

 

[RKGenki]

And btw there's no magic flow before the activation, it just activates as soon as it thinks about it

 

[Monarch_Laciel]

And here we have an example of verse equalisation.

All powers in SP are thought triggered. The person wants to use their magic, and the magic happens. Darquesse can still see them coming and react to them. We just don't list her as having "speed of thought reaction speeds" because it's unquantifiable.

 

[Monarch_Laciel]

So precognition? Isn't that useless against acausals?

Nope. I asked about this before.

And even if "seeing the future" precog was useless, Darq's version works by reading the magic and knowing what is about to happen.

 

[RKGenki]

AoC has immunity to power null in various forms (its from various memoria from magia record, and it should have all of them), so actually she won't be able to nullify its magic

So AoC via time stop

 

[Monarch_Laciel]

This is Wraith Arc showings only, not the full potential composite PM character

Edit: and SD is questioning Memoria being game mechanics or something on the discussion thread.