[ACT] Corban vs Titan

[soulbrand]

Participants: Corban vs Titan
Area Info: Elrux

Fight!

[Corban]

In the past, the ore was as plentiful as the earth was bountiful. Years of extraction had drawn down the reserves, and the local druid union had long been disenfranchised: what could they do against the lifeblood of an empire? However, that was a problem easily solved by one enterprising earth mage. Beneath the noonday sun, the crystal ribbons woven in his black robes shimmered. Their striking patterns were reminiscent of electrified smart threads from a distant realm.

"They didn't dig deep enough," Corban said dryly in the bottom of the pit. "However, I see why they abandoned this mine. Uneconomical to extract the flecks by conventional measures. The terrain wheezes from this scar." Brushing his knees off, he stood up beside the river.

<You begin to sound like him.>

"The Treehugger? Indeed! Perhaps that's why I liked him so much." With a pat, he closed the clear vial and swished it in midair. The flecks of Aragane luminesced in the fluid, magnetizing into a single marble. "This ore actually replicates under the right circumstances, you know. No one's tried it before, because it's so endoergic. With sufficient feedstock, however, it could be regenerated. No plantlife here, but tremendous surface area under the sun. I sense an opportunity."

<Is this the time? You did sign up for that contest.> The sword at his side vibrated softly, its black lacquered sheathe concealing a most miraculous weapon.

"I'm in no hurry. They'll find me soon enough, and I'll feel them coming." He tapped the collar nestled over his neck. "In the meantime, we have more pressing issues." The master transmuter surveyed his 'little' hole in the ground. "...Should I seedbomb this place?"

[Titan]

The collar wrapped about his throat, not obstructing the organic tubing that led from his jawline to the spiked-armored piece settled at the apex of his chest plates, had after a brief moment of failure in delivering its mental message to its wearer found a means of communication. It vibrated against his neck. The unique tremble was interpreted via the armor itself by the AI in Titan's Control Medallion and passed on the required information.

"Elrux/Muhir."

It didn't need to elaborate or give instructions for Titan had spent a significant amount of time after the Sun's return merely exploring the planet's surface. Odd it was how a being of such imposing stature could get around as he did without causing major disturbances in local population centers. Then again, there were plenty of freaky individuals to be found on this world.

Originally he'd hoped he would have known who his opponent was supposed to be; Elrux in Muhir was a far cry from Casper in Terrenus and Titan would have been kind enough to offer his challenge transport to the place. As it was, it seemed the man in question had made his way there on his own with some speed, for Titan was the second half of the equation to be added to the mix.

First he had begun to explore the town, waiting for the tracker to kick in; near the city's edge it had and lured him further out into the barren wasteland-like environment surrounding the location.

Were it not for the gentle illumination of blue from the small globe at his waist the only visual indication of his impending arrival would be his large, chocolate form passing through the air far overhead. His AI guided him for there was no way the collar could directly interface with his mind. It quivered and the CM translated the vibrations into usable data that allowed Titan to go where needed.

Despite his alien and obviously armed, hulking appearance his airborne body posture betrayed no sense of aggression or eagerness to fight. Lacking in humanoid facial features made judging his emotional state even more difficult. Even so, with a sense of impassiveness clearly visible across his form, once the horizontal distance between Titan and Corban was cut to what could be measured as a perfect 25-feet from the closest part of Titan to the closest part of Corban, the giant dropped the remaining hundred feet from the air the moment the light from his waist died out.

Like a rock he dropped down and hit the ground with the slightest flex of his legs, kicking up dust and chunks of rock, none of which came even close to the other man. Standing tall with body symmetrically facing the other warrior, Titan broke the symmetry with a casual and rather friendly looking(if not taking into account the large spikes on the upper side of that appendage's forearm) wave. Then the arm dropped back down and he maintained silence.

[Corban]

People with common sense would’ve been unnerved by the suit: without those nonverbal cues, they have nothing on which to infer, and no one likes their investment of time invalidated. Corban, however, was not one of them. Seeing as how the collar was pinging him, he knew his field trip was ending early. He calmly hid the vial in his robe, setting aside laboratory studies for the onerous task of dueling. Responding back with a nod, his eyes scanned the bio-armor’s features with a stroke of his chin.

This was not the first time he had seen a suit of this design. If the pedigree was the same, that inferred a nacred exoskeleton grafted to a muscle suit; SCADA and executive control were centralized in the forehead; and sharp grooves on the armor were possible exit points for blades used a la muay thai. Although the exact details of his previous fight were a blur, he recalled multiple energy projectors hidden somewhere. It had a dizzying plethora of ways to kill someone with a flex, but its armor was built for repelling very large foes…not precise ones. That was its flaw. In an ecosystem where the apex predators defied a clean power-weight curve, it had a liability.

Corban did not give off a killing aura. Reaching into his robe, he took out a large amber visor and donned it. It booted up in a stream of jargon before overlaying his line of sight in a spectacularly informative cheat sheet. The Scan Visor was an expert system that contained a fraction of Corban’s know-how. Inscrutable jargon awaited the uninitiated, but not its crafter.

“Since I know a bit about your armor, it’s only fair you should know that I specialize in anti-armor, and that its biological nature in no way deters me. Should you commit to fighting me, know that you cannot walk through my fire, and that I give a killer case of pins and needles. I will use your armor to compost this place in a circle of life. You will live to fight another day…preferably a couple weeks in the future. These are my terms of engagement.” He adjusted the gauntlets and greaves adorning his limbs, the fullerene pieces fully articulating.

[Titan]

Even without possessing a throat and the contained therein vocal chords, nor for that matter any sort of normal humanoid sensory organs Titan was fully capable of hearing Corban's words; and responding. Because of the nature of the man's battle-visor, he would notice a slight peak in electromagnetic energy directed towards the focal point of two horizontally placed crystalline globes at the giant's mouth region, just before they began to generate vibrational wavelengths.

"Though now would be best to say I'd appreciate you not trying to tear apart my body," and the conviction with which he said it could lead one to believe the armor was an integral part of his physiology, "I can't promise I won't try to do the same to your's."

Rather than making some presumptuous boast that he was going to rend Corban limb from limb, the imitated tone of voice he spoke with, accompanied by a harsh but well meshing cybernetic undertone, made it clear he had the intentions of winning; not that he believed without doubt that he would win.

One hand coiled digits in to make a fist, clenching it tight enough that his body gave a groan much like when one stretched leather. His other hand, the right one, rose up enough to give a flex of fingers as if beckoning the man forward. This made it apparent he was providing Corban with the chance to initiate the battle.

As Corban sized up his opponent the visor would provide him with other tidbits of data. Where the armor plating of his body was most predominant his body was cooler like that of a hibernating animal. The other spaces where the ropey tendrils filled in the gaps between plates were noticeably warmer, closer to fever levels of temperature.

[Corban]

His conviction wavered, as tearing apart someone's body surely was gruesome. At the same time, he reminded himself that 1. He would keep the man alive and 2. He was going to boost the local economy. Plus, the bio-armor knew the risks when he joined the tournament.

Corban was henceforth absolved of all guilt!

IR signature indicated a refractive coating on the armor and that it wasn't metallic: metal conducted heat well, and this didn't. Over time, he'd establish a baseline and be able to read its tells. Until then, he had to engage it. No pain, no gain! Seeing as how his opponent was so courteous as to give him the first move, Corban decided not to create a stalemate. Having already investigated the ground, he knew its exact composition. With a crackle of lightning, the earth rose up and elevated itself into a pedestal, revealing two holes. Actually, scratch that: it was most definitely a turret.

"Fire!" The Guardian cried, dropping his hand like a guillotine. The bioboosted armor would be subjected to 36 rounds, each one different from the last. Harder or softer; liquid core or hardcore; light or heavy, it went through every permutation. The last few were the heavy, hardboiled rounds that were definitely armor-piercing. They had reinforced ceramic tips for punching clean holes through knights.

Let the analysis begin.

[Titan]

Corban was readying himself mentally for the oncoming conflict while Titan had arrived fully prepared to commit himself to battle. To most it wouldn't have been noticeable. Titan knew humanoid physiology very well though, and there was the most minute shift of body as Corban nearly repulsed himself with the thought of decimating another living creature. Had he not proper discipline, Titan would have laughed.

Corban found his unadulterated resolve and initiated combat. In his excitement caused by the thrill of battle Titan's heart beat strongly just once before its pace began to gently increase. The resulting flow struck up his nerves and set them alight with an inhuman quickness. His view of the environment changed as though a slowing of the passage of time resulting from his heightened reflexes allowed him to gather more specific details about all that around him.

The ground puked and the contents spilled displayed themselves as a threat much greater than any human's vomit. Titan had risen partially onto his toes as two holes made themselves apparent. "Fire!" The Guardian cried; "Jump!" Titan thought; dropping his hand like a guillotine; crushing the dirt and sending himself soaring up and forwards through the air towards his foe. 36 rounds began to loose themselves from the cannon as the giant flew on a low-height far-distance jump that sent his body into a 180-degree twisting front flip. The action would allow him to keep eyes on Corban the .2318 seconds it would take him to traverse the intended 34-feet.

As he passed over Corban he'd reached out with his right hand so fingers could caress the other man's forehead and use the weight of his descent, which caused another crack in the ground where his left foot and the toes and knee of his right leg met the valley floor, to drag Corban down onto his back and smash his head into the dirt. Titan's left arm had itself in a position of mid-chest and facial defense in front of the giant, back of his forearm facing his opponent.

If Corban had not the reflexes to move out of the way he'd be drawn into a painful meeting with the ground he stood on. If the turret tried to track the passage of the mammoth and didn't fully expend its ammo too quickly, there was more than one possible outcome.
If Titan drug Corban down or if the man moved the bigger of the two would have to face the end of its barrage. Each round that found purchase on him would impact his carapace that was designed to first compress and then squeeze to better absorb the power of the strike and then provide resistance to its intrusion. The ceramic points would provide greater bite but in all, nothing would fully penetrate his dense breast plating.
If Corban avoided Titan's hand but remained inbetween his foe and the turret, then Corban would have to brave the bullets.

[Corban]

The "safe" thing to do was to circle strafe a stationary target. The dangerous thing to do, then, is to be that stationary target. Yet interposing in fire was exactly what was expected of Guardians. When one constantly chose danger, what kind of man did he become? A man with fast reflexes and a faster draw.

Corban's right hand would tilt to the side and meet Titan's until they intertwined like lovers. If that was so, this was to be a lover's quarrel. Their positioning gave Corban better leverage: one had no leverage in midair. He kept his center of gravity low and used their hands as a fulcrum. If his opponent wanted him on the ground, so be it. Physics would work in his favor. With his entire body pushing back (and a kick to the chest if necessary), this would force his armored foe into a single handstand above him for a fraction of a second. That was long enough for the turret to track.

As expected, the armor held up. More importantly, the shots were linked to his visor. He had varied the shots fired and watched how the armor bounced them away. The harmonics were different for each shot, and it was that difference that he focused on. Mapped to a grid, these vibration curves formed a relationship, like iron filings aligning in a magnetic field. There was an underlying pattern to their individuality! That pattern was the natural resonance of the armor. As a consequence, Corban also found the hardness of the armor. As expected, organic armor was not meant to be super hard but super robust. It dented, but not enough to penetrate.

He now knew the natural resonance of the armor plating and could attack it laterally. While he'd still have to beat on it, each strike would not be a deflection but would reverberate through it in the most damaging way.

But first, there was the concept of free-body momentum. Titan was still flying, and Corban was much lighter. It was now his turn to be airborne, and he let go as his trajectory sent him skipping across the brook bisecting the hollowed mine, forty feet away. As he landed on the other side with one knee, the ground turned into permafrost beneath his feet.

"Tell me, how well do you know yourself?"

[Titan]

Corban managed to use Titan's hand against him and keep his body perpendicular to the ground longer than the man had wanted. It was definitely in Corban's favor as it allowed his weapon to get the proper beading on the giant and batter his back with its rounds rather than his chest. The result had been the same. With each successive impact of the bullets their impact on him was less pronounced as if from the previous strikes his body was better able to adapt to it. The first shot had pushed the furthest into his armor whilst the last merely depressed itself against him. The continued momentum of his body falling downward would cast them from his back and allow the plating to retake its usual shape once he hit the ground. A curling of his lower body would enable him to land as he'd originally intended.

Corban might have been taken aback by the feel of the limb he'd grasped. Despite just given proof that the armor could withstand significant stress, its touch made it seem as smooth and fragile as an egg's shell. The tendrils covering most of his palm and the underside of his fingers was likened to rough and heavily scarred skin. Then, he might be taken aback by the feel of the limb he'd grasped. Titan squeezed his digits around Corban's hand with an unrelenting might. The giant's original intentions had been to batter the man about into either submission or unconsciousness, but there was a part of him that nigh sadistically enjoyed the feel of breaking an opponent.

The grip Titan applied to Corban's hand had first been one that would be incredibly uncomfortable, enough to squish bones up against one another and make it very hard to escape from. With Corban in hand Titan would increase the pressure as he came to his intended landing the tiniest fraction of a second after he'd been shot. A strength was applied that could dull the edge and bend the length of an iron sword. With the man to be held in place before him, his defensively raise left arm would take a much more dangerous form.

A gentle illumination of blue quivered out from between the layers of the disc at Titan's forehead to be followed a negligible amount of time later by the electromagnetic surge at his forearm, just at the base of the forward-most spike. The point would lance out to a meter and a half length with a tremble running along its razor edge. The vibration was a two-fold mechanic. It gave it a greater cutting capability than its sharpness alone would provide, but also cast a high-frequency shockwave who's purpose was the shattering of bonds holding molecules together, essentially cutting the target before the blade even touched it. This shockwave was audible as a soothing hum.

Unless Corban was standing in a very awkward bent backwards position he would most like to be facing Titan, allowing the blade to impale his shoulder just beneath the collarbone. If the man had still tried to use Titan's body as a swing point to cast himself airborne, he'd be rather defenseless in the face of the blade that would seek to dice its way through his elbow and sever the arm from Corban's body.

[Corban]

Would the wonders of carbon never cease? Just by modifying its arrangement slightly, it can act completely different! For example, by shedding a layer of his gauntlet into highly ordered pyrolytic graphite, he quite literally slipped out from the vicegrip like a bar of soap. A second application of carbokinesis came as the vibroblade was thrust at him. It was a prime example of molecular disintegration by direct energy transfer. So what would he do when he was transferred energy? Same thing he did with those pesky fire mages.

Back on ground, he blocked the backhand/backstab sword by crossing his arms and keeping it on his left side. In this bind, Titan could admire his handiwork. But what was there to admire? The exact point of contact of the armor and swords revealed a slight crystal glaze, yet the man's arm was intact.

Fullerite. Corban was transmuting his gauntlets using his vibroswords! For free!

This was change Titan could see for himself. But Corban had also seen Titan's changes. While they maintained contact in the air, Corban could feel the armor's adaptation to his slugs, to become harder and closer to ceramic or crystal. It was always a profitable opportunity to observe a transformation from its beginning to its end, for it said more than just seeing either end's snapshots. But why wasn't every turtle and bullette infinitely hard? Ah, that's right: the tradeoffs.

Two people could play at the disintegration game. Much as he did with the earth, Corban sought to turn his vibrosword and left arm's plating into dust, leaving only singed muscle. It was literally in his hands. Hypothetically, what could Titan do?

He had superlative armor...which Corban was calibrated for.
His armor was now harder...in a phase state Corban used everyday.
He had an adaptation mechanism...which Corban had already seen.

Well, there was always regeneration, the selling point of bio-armor. Corban wouldn't have a counter to regeneration...would he?

[Titan]

Contact! Yet, things had seemed to become quite askew. Rather than his blade lashing out to impale Corban's left shoulder the man was deft enough to have adjusted his stance in prevention of the impact's completion and even placed his own arm defensively between his torso and the blade. The accumulating energy build-up resulting from the vibrations against his gauntlet was diffused and directed towards plans other than the disintegration of his molecular structure. The man would get to keep his arm. Then a most strange sensation came through the blade as it maintained contact with the smaller warrior. In truth, it kind of hurt.

It seemed Corban had turned the tables and was putting his skill to work in destroying Titan's armor in a more subtle way than direct vibrational resonance. The once resolute length of the blade wavered and began to dip as Corban tried to chemically transmute its molecular composition into dust. By the time half of the vibrational blade had been affected its droop removed it from contact with Corban and halted the chemical warfare. That half of the sword fell from the remaining, stable portion and eventually was corroded to the point the wind carried it away.

Even though his physical assault on the man in such a manner as he currently planned had just led to the loss of one of his blades, Titan lashed out with all of them; minus the one sprouting from his chest. Another photonic dance from his CM and the remaining 5 arm-bound high-frequency wave vibration blades lashed out to strike the man across his chest and waist. With forearms crossing his torso, left above the right and slightly angled, there was a precise placement of attack despite the speed of it.

The blade closest the elbow of his left arm targeted the space between the ribs just beneath Corban's right pectoral muscle, the middle blade of Titan's same arm angled to strike the center of his left pec. The targets of the giant's right arm were the left and right kidneys with his elbow-closest and wrist-closest blades respectively, the middle laid one spearing towards the center of Corban's pelvis. If this one punched through his body it was likely to sever the man's spine.

Even if their trembling tips didn't pierce Corban's body, provided they did impact him he would likely be thrown back by the force of the combined blows. Regardless of what action Corban took in his defense, or even if he was suddenly run through by five blades, Titan would bring his weight back onto his stretched right leg and fully stand, putting some distance between the two fighters, allowing all six of his blades to fully retract. Only in avoidance would this action be different. Should Corban traverse towards the peripherals of Titan's vision, his body would rotate to follow his movements.

"Ouch, you jerk."

[Corban]

Fascinating! Titan was a macroorganism that possessed a microorganism's ability to adapt. Actually, it was more than that: bacterial adaptation usually happened when a bunch of brethren died a terrible death, and their brothers ate up their plasmids to figure out what the hell happened. Titan apparently did not have to die in order to develop that.

However, even bacteria had limitations: for example, many gram-negative bacteria could resist most antibiotics up to vancomycin, yet host defense peptides could still punch holes in them. Beneficial mutation had a harder time coming by because resisting peptides meant killing yourself a lot. Seems Corban knew this as well. This insight would've taken ranged shots to ascertain. However, the brave could learn it with a touch. To the brave go the fair!

But how brave was Corban? He was caught off guard by the counterattack, stabbed the graphene plating woven in his Reinforce Robe. The carbonaceous surface ablated in Titan's direction with superheated molecular buckshot, sending Corban flying backwards thirty feet. Their combined distancing actions left sixty feet between them and a cloud of dust. When the dust was cast to the wind, Corban's relatively-less-imposing form stood in all its dusty glory. Hell, he seemed to brush the dirt ONTO his chest. The ground rumbled beneath his feet.

"I'll say. You are quite the hedgehog, with all sorts of pricklies hiding in that shell. But it's only a matter of time!" Such words coming out of that mouth! Almost makes it sound like he needs another beatdown.

[Titan]

The heated crystalline shrapnel pattered off of Titan's defensive/offensive forearms, a few inflicting slight nicks in his flesh that would be gone not long after he'd stood up.

Then, there was movement upon Titan. Even as his body remained absolutely still as though a statue rather than a living man. Upon either side of his cranium mirror imaged semi-spheres of apparent crystalline design shifted forwards as if they were eyes turning towards Corban. Through these protectively shelled organs the unit interprets surrounding electro-magnetic fields into a visual representation for Titan. Though he would possess a vague notion of everything around him, whatever he focused on specifically would be rendered into a fully detailed three-dimensional scan; Corban was now his focus. The gravimetric sensors of the organs would allow him accurate knowledge of an object's weight and density.

Already the damaged spike was beginning to reconstruct itself; though, it would be several moments more before the regeneration was complete.

Titan knew he would have to be more careful when interacting with this man. He was dangerous, for rather than trying to overpower the giant with force, be it physical or energetic, he attacked on a less detectable chemical level. Had Titan to venture a guess, he'd assume his enemy had used the energy of the vibrational blades to accelerate the production of an enzyme or specialized chemical designed to break the molecular structure of his armor. A hard task to accomplish indeed without previous experience; but Corban had revealed beforehand he'd encountered at least one Guyver before. Titan wondered how that Unit had fared. Once this was all over, he'd ask.

For now, even with the short amount of time that had passed and the rather insubstantial movements the two had made Titan's body would be noticeably warmer than when Corban first looked at it. As blue luminescence claimed the globe at Titan's waist there would be an initial spike and then continued flood of energy from it. His desire coerced a broadening of its connection with Hyper-Space to allow a greater flow of energy than it normally provided. Likely to be more interesting than this was the way in which his body had begun cooling back down. Meanwhile, the gem set above the large disc on Titan's brow had begun increasing in temperature steadily.

If Titan had felt goaded by Corban's boasting it wasn't made apparent. In fact, if Corban didn't have his helpful visor, it would have only looked like two silver spheres had shifted position and blue light started shining from Titan's waist.

[Corban]

Those eyes were upon him. He was being watched. What Titan would see, however, is incongruous with what a penetrative scan of the human body would reveal. Density was above water, but internal organs could not be observed. This might have something to do with Corban's sword. On the surface it just looked like a nice sword, but its entire length constantly shifted.

He did not let himself get complacent with his newfound trump card to win his battle. Max intensity, min frequency: that was the key to beating adaptation, which relied on data points. Multiplying the sterics by a very large prime number would guarantee at least three separate shots; better make them count. Although xenobiology was not his forte, he could make an educated guess: to adapt to his loaded enzyme, the Guyver would need to alter its cellular membranes. This would make it more inert yet inhibit muscle action too. The logical extreme of this adaptation is making the extracellular matrix totally inert and hole-free...which would also starve his cells. Foregoing this option made it have good power, speed, and scope. What was the compromise, then?

Then it hit him: duration. Vibroswords did not recycle energy, and had high upkeep. Using ranged attacks would only exacerbate this. The Guyver likely knew this, so how he was counteracting that? What would keep him in the fight longer? This was where the helpful visor earned its keep. Thermals were incongruous; the Guyver had a heat sink, but it wasn't wasn't the surrounding air. His Kinetic Barrier worked on a similar principle.

Was this not in the same problem class as summons or clerical magic? How had he countered these before?

So many precedents! So many courses of action to choose from! Corban suffered the tyranny of choice. For now, he chose to observe. Something was different about this Guyver. It was...well, more observant. It had not broken out its ranged weapons either.

"You're smarter than the other one. Did I fight an atavistic beast before?"

Titan could make his own educated guess what happened to that Unit.

[Titan]

Corban's internals weren't of concern to Titan as he focused the precision of his Hyper-Sensors upon the man. No, that level of knowledge wouldn't be required. It was merely his body itself he was overseeing. The use of the Hyper-Sensors provided Titan with a sort of double vision that most people might find distracting; for the giant it only served to peak his reflexes. Even more confusing to one not used to it was the manner in which Titan could observe the targeted location from any angle. At the moment, while his eyes looked dead ahead at Corban, Titan was viewing the man from behind and could see himself. There was a purpose to this method of observation.

Titan could see both sides of his opponent and ensure they tried nothing behind their back that could bring him harm. It also gave him a sense of precognition. By observing the way his own attacks were brought to bear against his foes he could better predict how they were like to try avoiding it and prepare a follow up. Things were about to get interesting.

Titan felt that trying to defeat Corban with any individual attack could be quickly turned to the man's advantage, even if there was still a chance of success.

By now the gem settled above Titan's Control Medallion had taken into itself a dazzling pinkish-red inner strength; Corban's visor would be able to detect an alarmingly high level of heat focused there. The direction of energy from the Gravity Controller at his waist remained set in an upward path, but the energy accumulation began to knit itself into the twin spheres at the giant's mouth. As a result of this energy's presence the globes would begin to tremble and produce vibrational waves through the air. Corban would be able to hear their presence as a slight hum, words mixing with the sound momentarily.

"The better the host, the better the Guyver."