City Of Shadows: Quincy Bloodstorm [WW4 Start Event] [Antarctica]

The Replica Shell detected a high amount of spiritual energy approaching the vicinity. Therefore, it used this common sense to know that someone or something was about to attack them with a dangerous amount of force. Ergo, rather than let her invasion force be nothing but fodder, the woman decided to utilize her grand mastery of Za Koa and Demonic Magic to otherwise summon up a potent amount of metaphysical force into reality. With the additional external output of The Demi-Network, Mana was then able to forge a dome around the Cero: Sosogikominasu which otherwise served to contain the majority of the blast within a contained radius.

In the meantime, many Shadow Fall operatives were instructed to fall back for the time being so that The Demon Queen's shell could have room to fight without worrying about getting anyone consumed in her way. Ergo, most of the soldiers scattered out across the city and started to flood out into the Antarctic continent to otherwise focus their efforts on the bigger objective away from this battle. And, to greatly minimize casualties, most Shadow Fall operatives were consumed by a thick armor of Za Koa to otherwise cease them from being killed by raw energy alone. Yes, a few platoons here and there fell to their injuries, but the majority of them were able to otherwise pull back with the oversight of their Queen.

"Shut up and act then, boy."

Even if this was nothing more than a shell, it had little patience for over bravado. If the male believed he could sincerely slaughter Shadow Fall and their God, then let actions speak louder than words. For now, The Demoness saw fit to call upon the excess external energy from Za Koa And The Demi-Network to otherwise give her a boost in power to otherwise better manage this threat. In one bolt of thunderous power, the body of The Demon Queen had been struck from the heavens above and her shell was filled with a blinding gem green light which radiated thick blobs of oil black around her being.

[Note: At this point she is now comparable to a 0-2+ character from these external factors amp'ing the shell for the event since heavier opposition came.]

"If you want to have at me, by all means, but let me change things around~"

With a clench of her hands, The Demoness then summoned a sub-dimension all around them. The world would appear to become black and white around them as she sought to otherwise contain the opponents now fighting her within a pocket realm to otherwise contain the battle without it otherwise harming the external universe outside of it. She doubted either of them would have a problem with this as it allowed both Stefan and Sophia time to savor the battle solely against the shell without interface from the external world.

"Fast one, aren't you?"

Even in this form, the shell of the Queen possessed some of her abilities. Ergo, by the time he reached to cut her in half, The Demoness had already utilized her immaterial form to otherwise scatter herself into a million pieces so that she may dodge him and reform atop of Stefan with an eruption of decaying death energy to otherwise begin the process of eating away at his duraiblity, health and energy reserves to begin draining him of his power and sending him back to the earth with an explosive bang if all went according to plan.

And based on pure luck alone, The Demoness's excess amount of DE Energy which was bleeding out of her would form as a makeshift barrier to otherwise neutralize huge chunks of Sophia's attack. It still deafened the woman, but most of the attacks reach seemed to otherwise allude her. Since The Royal Demon was seen having her ears bleed from both ends as a result of otherwise being near the eruption. Forunately for her, regenerating such a small area as the ears was rather easy to mend and repair to make like new.

So, for now, she'd merely use the excess DE energy in the air to otherwise transport a dozen spikes at mach five speeds towards the vicinity where Sophie was located to otherwise pierce her body with corrosive force. As, if she were within one hundred meters of the impact zone, the intent was to otherwise corrude and break down her energy so that she may begin to have a lot more difficulities summoning her supernatural abilities and energy. Additionally, the impact from the kinetic force could induce broken bones, rip open skin, pierce organs and otherwise send the woman hurdling a fair distance away from taking such a strong impact.

Regardless of how these attacks otherwise cemented themselves, The Demoness continued to have her body coated in DE Force as she chuckled grimly to herself while relishing the fight in this shell of a being.

"Y'all havin' fun kiddos? Rage n' shit aside, I rather enjoy the thrill of being hunted. Keep me entertained."

If Mana would coat her body in Death Energy, then Stefan's Bankai was a natural equivalent. While in his second release Stefan's clothing morphs into antimatter which covers his body head-to-toe, a material which even against something like DE could stand it's ground. Thus when she released her Death Energy to try to eat away at his body and Spiritual Pressure it'd be met with volatility that could shake the Earth as a powerful explosion erupted between the two, one possessing the strength of both Stefan and Mana's power due to both seeking to blow the other sky high. Enhanced by his Hollow side, this explosive force would likely result in damage to both of the fighters even through their defensive layers and abilities; a temporary draw in a conflict not even close to ending.

As he flew through the air, sent away from his and Mana's combined powered, Stefan launched a ranged attack by swinging his Zanpakuto in the direction of the flying spikes with as much power as he could muster. This resulted in dangerously powerful mixture of an air-based concussive blast and antimatter on the level of her Death Energy, or perhaps even superior due to the enhanced Hollow energy flowing through his body from his Mask, which would explode outward like a volcanic eruption on impact with it's target, sending forth gale force winds in every direction. Such an explosion would likely consume all the spikes at once as the Death Energy and Antimatter ate at each other, leaving nothing in it's wake.

Between the discomfort from Sophie's attack and the concussive force of his and Mana's powers colliding, Stefan was a bit rattled to say the least. However one does not survive as many wars and battles as him without the ability to overcome such a thing, and so he quickly righted himself a dozen or so meters away from his opponent and glared at her through the slits of his Hollow mask with a fierce determination, eyes glowing a bright green against the black background of Mana's creation. His clothes remained charred, though due to the antimatter quickly fixed itself as his appearance returned to what it'd been just a moment ago. With a grimace splattered across his face, Stefan eyed his foe and to the best of his ability sized her up. With the recent power boost she was even more dangerous; possessing the attributes and skills of Mana Asthavon made her a threat regardless, however. Still, from what he could tell her reserves were not on Mana's level, nor his for that matter. Yet her attacks possessed incredible power, almost comparable to his own though that was more an assumption on his part. Whether inferior, equal, or superior to his own, the truth was yet unclear.

What was clear to Stefan was how he stacked up to others in this world of logic-defying fighters. He had never been the fastest, or the most versatile, or perhaps even the strongest given he wasn't entirely sure how himself and the shark man compared in that; he never had the most dangerous abilities or magic that could end the world. To others his specialization probably seemed lackluster, too bland or human to compete against the metaphysical monstrosities that populated the world. But put a blade in his hand and Stefan could rule the world. He knew none could compete with him in his chosen field and to deal with his otherworldly foes he had to work harder, longer, and more strenuously in order to perfect his art to even stand a chance. Today Stefan would prove his effort and conquer all with the blade he'd strengthened against Colin, James, Moonie, Radioactive, Austin, the Gotei, Inami, Tsubasa, Hell, Heaven, and every other adversary who'd stood against him.

With blade in hand, Stefan coated both himself and it in Antimatter and once again began his assault. Quickly crossing the distance between the two, Stefan brought his Zanpakuto down upon Mana like a sledgehammer striking concrete, full of all the Bankai and Hollow mask-enhanced power he could muster. The Antimatter would serve to protect himself from her Death Energy as both would eat away at each other, essentially canceling out their intended effects. The physical force brought out by him would be monumental to say the least as his grandmaster level strength would send reverberations throughout the altered zone Mana had created, igniting the very air from the friction which would cause flames to erupt at random locations around them.

Following up quickly, Stefan gripped his Zanpakuto with both hands and aimed a stab directly for his opponent's head. This attack smoothly transitioned into a series of rapid strikes against the demon, each as mighty as the last. The goal of this assault was to wear down his foe's limited energy pool and defenses, using all the power and prowess at his disposal. If she tried moving away or pushing him back Stefan would press on, closing the distances and continuing his attacks with ferocity few could match. Any damage or exhaustion he'd sustain would be wholly ignored thanks to his grandmaster Focus skill which kept him focused and clearheaded. While he clearly couldn't just shrug off his enemy's attacks, he could keep fighting through them; as such, he would.

After several successive blows aimed to slice Mana into ribbons, Stefan leaped back and readjusted his form and grip so that his Zanpakuto was held to the right of his face by both hands, feet were shoulder-width apart, and his posture remained aggressive but not tensed. Afterward he once again rushed Mana and ran her down, attempting a downward slash meant to split her entire body in two. The sheer physical power alone used in this swing was colossal, far greater than even his previous attacks, and caused his Reiatsu to flare out from the volume of force applied. Fire ignited around his Zanpakuto's blade from the attack's friction which interacted with his Antimatter in such a way so as to cause another massive explosion, potentially consuming both fighters entirely along with a hundred meters in every direction. Though Stefan could feel the exhaustion of continuous assaults racking up, such a thing would not stay his hand; it was his goal to end this fight swiftly in order to move onto other battlefields. Such a thing would only be possible if he pushed himself to his limits and cut down this possessed shell.

The battle would require a completely different approach than she was used to, and that was okay. Sophie was not Sofia. Had her creator been there, then perhaps she would be in the front lines, trading blows alongside Stefan and hammering the husk down. But Alas, Sofia was needed elsewhere, and Sophie had no intention to let her down. It was clear from the levels of energy that simply pushing herself closer to the enemy would just lead to her own swift destruction, and possibly get in Stefan’s way. And besides, regardless of how ferocious the Mana husk looked to be, Sophie couldn’t imagine it would compare to Sofia’s wrath when she discovered her aid had not helped in the battle sufficiently enough.

Luckily for the girl, despite the husk’s power, her abilities and her actions were actually pretty predictable. They lacked the element of surprise she was so used to from training with Sofia. You couldn’t just order hundreds or even thousands of soldiers to move out in multiple directions, and away from a singular area without drawing some obvious attention to it; specially with anyone that knew anything. Putting a stop, and pulling back was as simple and clear a choice as there was. On top of that, Stefan seemed to be ready to head in for a potentially semi physical strike she did not want to test her limits with. Instead, she’d allow him to take the battle up front while she responded from afar with both attacks and support of varying degrees of usefulness.

Still, she had her own peril to contend with. Several spikes of DE had been sent towards her with intentions that were all but bening. Could she had have the time to dodge or use a technique to stop them? Maybe or maybe not, and certainly. But alas, Sophie would employ no tactic to ensure either of those. Either through a lack of research on their opponents or otherwise, it seemed the enemies had failed to look into the toolset Sofia possessed. Granted, Sophie couldn’t access the major goodies such as the Vollstanding, but she had enough resources to not shy away. Instead of meeting force with force, the Quincy used the speed of her Melody and the mere nature of the music and its kinetic force for the required effect. She did not need to stop the attack or destroy it. Instead, she planned to do what Sofia once used, back when her powers could not compare to today. She simply planned to use the Melody to apply enough force to shift or push the attack the slightest bit of course. The great thing about her music was that unlike blasts, it was controlled, continuous, and ongoing. It would essentially allow her to dance and slip into the clear gaps created by the music and in between the attacks. The girl would go through with the motions, but as it turned out, Stefan was on top of that too. He had dealt with the spikes in his own way, though her own maneuver was still needed. It allowed her to create some distance by using the Melody to push away from any potential fallout that led to the destruction of the spikes.

The motion did create some very obvious warnings though. Sophie was well aware of the nature of Death Energy and its formats. She knew it could corrode and destroy at a certain level, and she was prepared for it for future attacks. Sofia had already battled DE users, and she made sure to create techniques and ways to combat it, and share that information with Sophie prior to the battle. The husk of Mana may have thought she came to corner her enemies, but she’d soon find out that her power, much like that of the little Queen was about to take a hit and a fall from grace, just like her people and her organization soon would too.

With her ornate blade raised. Rain began to pour within the area the husk had sealed all of them in. There didn’t seem to be anything too out of the ordinary about the rain other than it kept on pouring, heaven knew for how long. Although there didn’t seem to be any outwardly clear effects on Sophie, one could notice that she appeared to be ever so more nimble than before, for whatever that was worth. More importantly, by bringing her Rona blade down once more, she’d start a peculiar technique. Having created well over 50 of distance from her opponent, and waiting until after Stefan had made his move, she acted. From the ground or wherever the base of this location they were at was, several thick and thin spikes of highly dense water would project upwards. At the same time, from the opposite end, usually the sky, the same amounts of spikes would project downwards. Every spike, accounting for 5 in each direction, was made to appear over the general direction of the husk, and made to target her. Each spike could essentially grow to the length it needed to be for the attack, though none could grow longer than 100 meters for a combined measurement of 200 if taking both sides.

Unlike those on the ground, the spikes from above would not project from a location, but simply create themselves where they needed to be, as if feeding on the moisture present and the one she engineered. Each spike was meant not just to produce grave injuries, but also to impale through and potentially destroy quite sizable and sturdy forms of defense. Had she been struck, each spike would have likely pierced through, creating wounds that would be possess thinner or thicker channels depending on her position and how close to the ground or up in the sky she went. Keeping a place of balance would only have made it easier to be hit by both. Beyond that, she couldn’t believe Stefan would just allow the Demon time to sort herself into a sense of security, and use that opportunity. The spikes would certainly remain thereafter for an unforeseeable but finite amount of time. While they could not move, they were still capable weapons that would make the field a bit more daunting, this time mostly for the prey that had made the mistake of coming to the wrong city.

With a quick glance, she eyed over the girl that had just arrived. Though her energy was a bit lower, she could certainly still contribute if she desired. There was much that could be done either on this field or the next. More importantly, Sophie knew that sooner or later she would be destroyed and she would return to Sofia as techs normally did. But alas, she had no intentions of disappointing her owner. If she had her way, she would make it last as long as possible, and perhaps even make it to the end. The battle was essentially a test to show Sofia she could trust the girl to fight her own fights without having to worry about being in two places at once.

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There was a low whistle which came out of the mouth of the shell as the collision of Death Energy and Antimatter screamed in the heavens above. The collective force of these two powers smashing into one another certainly caused the body of Mana's avatar to otherwise strain itself in terms of feeling the fallout of having unleashed such a ghastly attack. Blood exited from the pores of her skin, the bones in her body groaned with aches and pains and the woman summoned forth a layer of emerald energy which otherwise protected her from any more ill effects through her potent magic summoning.

And while this was going on, the spikes which Stefan sought to otherwise destroy would have half of it's intended effect go into existence. Sure, it was able to obliterate roughly half of the remaining spikes, but this wasn't something which Mana was opposed to. After all, they were being fed her chaotic energy and she knew that the destabilizing aura of her maddening energy would be useful as particles of this energy scattered all across the battlefield after Stefan destroyed the spikes.

[Abilties used from here on out are in the spoilers below]

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Then, for the other remaining half, Mana merely decided to outright self-destruct the spikes so she could take advantage of her area of effect probability that her potent energy could do for her attacks. As, when they were triggered, these spikes could otherwise consume the entire vicinity where Sophie was in absolute fire which was enhanced enough through her chaos and death energy to otherwise induce heavy damage to her being. Skin could begin to melt as if it were butter, defenses could be burned through and this sense of further destabilization in the air could cause powers to malfunction and breathing in this essence could otherwise blacken the lungs of the woman and make it further difficult to sustain herself.

Furthermore, being in the presence of her maddening energy could cause the clone to have a difficult time focusing into her energy. There is still the fact that the aura of Mana's presence in it's amplified state could outright make it hard for her to stay in a calm or poised state of mind. Given that the will of even the original did not compare to The Queen's own (Mana should have a master in willpower), these effects could serve to slow down the time it takes to summon her attacks, induce more mental damage to her opponent and otherwise make it harder to make rash decisions and possibly have more thoughts of maddening terror induce itself into her mind. Indeed, it didn't matter if the woman could weave and move her way through obstacles if the whole vicinity was a battlefield waiting to consume her whole.

"Ya' two really haven't an iota of 'da devil ya' are fightin'"

The blood was starting to pump through the veins of the lone Asthavon. This conflict was making her more than pleased as the demoness's boorish laughter echoed throughout the entirety of the sub-dimension the group were sealed in. It is why she then was more than prepared to handle whatever blockade of attacks decided to scorch itself into the path of war the mad woman was on. As soon as Stefan went in for his next attack, the excess amount of chaotic energy in the air allowed for Mana to swiftly summoned forth a forcefield compromised from her chaos force to otherwise prevent herself from taking direct damage from The Vizard's attack. With it being reinforced by her death energy, demonic force, and Za Koa; it was hard to imagine this thing easily shattering even against his own raw strength.

In fact, Stefan may outright find portions of his attack being reflected back on him as the Madness Materialization ability of Mana's chaotic arsenal of powers allows for the momentum, kinetic force, and impact of an attack to be redirected on an opponent when they make direct contact with her forcefields. Furthermore, with the destabilization effect of her energy, this factor of her power could translate into the muscles and bones of Stefan's body being influenced by this element. Being in such close contact with Mana wasn't an ideal thing because of the fact that his body may begin to otherwise have issues summoning forth the physical strength needed to wield his colossal attacks. The male may find himself exhausting more energy to wield his blade, having vast amounts of blood leak forth from his body summoning the strength to fight against the Queen or outright having bones break in his limbs from having such a vast quantity of her energy hit him straight in the face and otherwise bring down his durability. After all, Stefan was released in and his masked form, so the woman's own energy was in a chaotic state of being having to contend with two opponents and she was in a state of raw power which could otherwise be akin to a bankai that was vastly augmented much like his own Vizard state by her chaos and death energy being influenced by the vast scene of death, destruction and instability across this war.

Of course, this didn't mean Mana would come out of this exchange without an injury on her. There was still aftershocks and shockwaves from these forces once again having such daunting collsions against one another. So Stefan would notice that exerting this much effort to sustain herself in this battle was steadily taking it's toll on her. This is due to the fact that more acidic blood was spewing forth from The Queen's battle; though she still decided to use her pain to otherwise blind Stefan by directing her burning blood straight into his eyes to otherwise make the male stripped of his vision. Though, regardless of whether or not that hit landed, the woman was seen sweating a great deal from the immense heat Stefan's energy produced and blood was dripping from her mouth as she felt the aftershocks of such hellish attacks harming her body. Indeed, Stefan was not an opponent she wanted to engage in too long with his release form and he was a major threat if he wasn't dealt with soon enough. Energy based combat was his strongest suit, but that didn't mean she could sustain this effort for an eternity and she knew the longer this battle waged on the harder it would become as fighting against Mana was akin to a war of attrition.

It is why the woman than sought to let out an ungodly scream that may outright rupture the eardrums of both Stefan and Sophie. As the shockwaves of her tapping deeper into her supply of sinfully potent demonic energy may outright oblierate everything around her and destablize the air further. Since Stefan and Sophie may find themselves having the weight of entire moutains being thrust upon him by her sheer force of power. All the while, with this ungodly strength augmented, Mana had another burst of raw chaos energy repel the advances of Stefan by creating a wall of burning energy which could otherwise negate his blows and thrust before of the opponents backwards from one another by about one hundred meters by his blade and her burst of energy colliding with one another.

In exchange for this action, the shell would endure more damage, but move itself out of the way of being sliced or diced ratherly easily. It is why bruises started to appear across her body, though her regenerative factor did play a role in otherwise healing some of the damage for the time being as she sought to get the superfical damage out of the way. By this point most of her dress was burned and tattered, but The Queen hoenstly didn't give a damn how she outwardly look so long as her body could function and perform. So while there were groaning pains from this battle extending onward, she was still in prime condition and high off her own mania to otherwise endure the strain.

"ARE YA' AN ENERGRIZER BUNNY OR SUMTHIN'? YA' JUST DON'T STOP N' I LOVE YA' FER IT!"

Something was off. Something was very off. Despite how intensive this battle was, The Shell still seemed rather confident of it's position. And in a few moments, Stefan would begin to understnad why. In a matter of moments a replica of her trust Dead Master scythe appeared in the woman's hand, and before he could get to her, the woman produced another forcefield of chaos energy to otherwise block and impede his efforts. As, this entire sub-dimension was a product of that essence of her nature and it was only becoming stronger the more particles of her energy were being ignited with each attack. So it was far out of the question that her instability could cause the explosion which Stefan desired to outright redirect and implode itself on the male so that he took the damage instead given how the environment was only becoming more chaotic the longer this battle carried out and the more potent her presence became as Stefan pushed the shell, and by proxy, Mana's will to fight harder.

[Chaos Probabiliy is in the spoilers below]

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And this was all coming to a head as the rain which Sophie summoned would find itself fizzling out in moments. Why? Mana had the enviormental advantge. This sub-dimension was hers, the amount of chaos/death/demonic energy was off the charts and the control she had over the enviorment in addition to the gap in power and will of the two fighters was not something easily bridged. Ergo, the Rain Dance would be outright negated by the will of Mana as she felt it's presence beginning to try and surface in the world around them. All the while, the spikes which were forming would outright be subject to her Chaos Probability and be redirected away from Mana into random directions across the city; exploding in burst of immense flame which could catch Sophie in a chaotic eruption of electricity, fire and energy from her chaotic element outright taking hold in this vicinity.

"Ya two...are really pushin' me. Ya' just won't quit, ya just won't stop n' ya just won't yield. Yet, what ya' fail to realize is that I'm only gettin' stronger the more this acursed world is consumed in chaos......"

Even as the woman was panting a bit from exerting herself, there was something off with this picture as the depths of her energy was only swirling upward. And why was this? It was something the two forgot to pay attention to: Antarctica. Indeed, while the two were busy fighting Mana inside the dome, the reinforcements of Shadow Fall were busy establishing control over Antarctica since the heavy resistance of Stefan and Sophie were contained inside this sub-dimension for as long as the two desired to fight Mana's will. And in this way they were importing a variety of different machines, magical devices, troops, bases, and resources to otherwise seize control as they were slaughtering thousands of citizens across the continent as the scarlet glow across the continent only grew stronger and the city outside the walls was clashing against the forces.

Perhaps The Queen may not take over this city in particular, as it honestly wasn't even her primary objective at this point given how much resistance was had here. But, the greater hand of the war was still in her favor as there weren't many resources to go around on the Quincy side to otherwise protect these regions. So it was a choice: they were going to have to either choose to fight this shell, or quit and try to refocus their efforts on the world around them. Yet, either way it went, the two were now fully sealed in the realm and this shell wasn't exactly going to let either of them easily escape at this point with how much dominance she gained over the world around them throughout these posts.

"...so let's take a moment to think: I'm an entity of chaos and discord. What do you think a world war will do to my will and power, boys and girls? Riddle me that, my lovely s'ugahs~!"