Gilgamesh vs. Ashe-0

[Gilgamesh]

Gilgamesh was relaxing on his throne, idly toying with a goblet of wine when he heard a large explosion that shook the palace and spilled his drink. He clenched his fist in anger and reached for his phone, calling the communications room.

“What is the meaning of this?!” Gil screamed into the smartphone. The surprised soldier didn’t respond for a brief moment. “Well?!”

“My king, reports are coming in saying that there is a large, four-armed, robotic woman who had broken past the north wall,” he spoke, with disbelief in his voice.

“Ashe-0…” Gilgamesh sneered, the memories of the sewer flooded back to him.

“E-excuse me, sir?” the radio operator stuttered.

“Nothing,” Gil dismissed. “Inform the soldiers not to engage, they will not be able to handle her,” he scowled.

“Yes, sir!” the operator said, before hanging up the phone. The golden King wasted no time before sprinting towards the northern wall.

***​

“Where is Gilgamesh? Where is your King?” Ashe-0 demanded one of the soldiers, who was futilely swatting his ax against her hand.

“I’d rather die than tell you!” he shouted worming his way to try and escape her gip.

“I do not wish to harm you,” she stated.

“What do you want, you she-behemoth?” Gilgamesh strode with fury in his eyes towards her.

Ashe-0 dropped the soldier gently on the ground, who frantically scrambled away, and turned towards the Golden King. “I have been informed of your misdeeds towards these citizens. My objective is to prevent further suffering,” she stated plainly.

Gilgamesh rolled his eyes and brought his hand to the bridge of his nose, rubbing it in frustration. “How many times do I have to tell you filthy mongrels, I am not oppressing my people,” he sighed. This was clearly not the first time that this had happened.

“Negative,” the robot stoically said. “I am not a dog and you are a tyrant.”

This is merely setting the scene. The battle won't officially begin until Adam posts first in response here.

 

[The Future Warrior]

"....what?" For but a moment, the golden king's indignation and exasperation at these repeated incidents of the self-righteous breaking into his city was replaced with sheer, unbridled confusion and bewilderment. "What on earth are you even babbling about now?"

"A mongrel. A beast resulting from the crossing of differing types and breed of animal," Ashe-0 spoke plainly and in perfect monotone, reciting the literal definition of the word from memory. "Most closely associated with dogs. Synonymous with mutt."

Gilgamesh's confusion was immediately replaced with a deep loathing, as his frustration rekindled itself anew. "Ugh...have you absolutely no capacity for creativity or any ability at all to accept simple insults?!" He dropped his hand from his face and swept it out to the side. "I am well aware of what the word literally means, you insufferable mechanical wench! I am insinuating that you are beneath me!"

If the revelation had any meaning or impact at all on Ashe, it didn't show in the way her expression remained completely unflinching. "Then you are an idiot as well as a tyrant," was her inevitable response. "This is unfortunate."

Gil's expression contorted into an ugly scowl as his outstretched hand curled into a fist. "I was willing to simply remove you from my city with whatever force was necessary," he growled through gritted teeth. "But now you have proven to me that your mere existence is an affront to my presence, and your method of speaking is completely unacceptable." He sneered, letting his arm drop to his side again, as his opposite hand rose to rest at his hip. "However, out of sheer generosity, I will make you one offer: You have one chance to change your choice of words and reverse my decision."

The towering war machine simply remained utterly silent for several long seconds, only the faint sound of the desert winds blowing beyond the city walls providing any sound to the scene at all. Finally, she stirred again, rousing herself to move into a standing posture at full height. "Would you prefer it if I called you a despot, then?"

The flash of anger in the golden king's eyes signaled that no, he would not prefer it at all.

 

[Gilgamesh]

“You barge into my city, break my walls, and have the nerve to call me a despot?” the Golden King seethed, extending his arm. Golden portals shimmed to life from behind his back, his ornate weaponry peeking out from within. “I will make sure there isn’t a single atom of your corpse left, you filthy cur!” he shouted, his voice full of rage.

“That outcome is highly unlikely,” Ashe-0 responded. For a robot, she seemed to have grasped the concept of sarcasm very well. It could also be that her responses, were extremely literal. In either case, it was exactly that type of language that infuriated the golden king.

“Argghh!” Gil screamed, before aggressively nodding his head to the glorified tin can. The weapons from behind him shot at high speeds, to meet their target. Ashe reacted rather quickly, sprinting behind the closest building, with only a few of Gilgamesh’s projectiles scratching her metallic ‘skin’. Gil didn’t ease up on his assault, continuing to bury his weapons into the building. Though unfortunately, that gave the robot some ideas.

With all four of her arms, she punched into the wall and ripped it out. The nicely decorated shelves and potted plants sadly fell and crashed onto the ground. A Babylonian couple cowered at the other end of the room, the man trembling with a rusty sword in his hand. “This was not my intention,” the robot blurted out, even though she was not capable of feeling guilt.

“I just had that built!” Gilgamesh wailed, unleashing another barrage of spears and swords aimed at Ashe-0’s head. The robot quickly turned, using the freshly broken off wall as a makeshift shield. Each of the king’s treasures stopped just short of hitting Ashe, their heads inches away from her face.

“I doubt that you had any hand in the construction of that building,” she grunted as she pressed forward, charging towards the monarch with the wall still held up. She then swung around and using that momentum, she lobbed the wall.

The Golden King’s eyes went wide as the hunk of clay drew closer. Instinctually, he leapt backward, barely avoiding being squished. As the wall hit the ground, it sent out a wave of dust. Gil uncontrollably coughed, his body fighting to get the massive amount of sand out of his lungs. By the time he caught his breath and the dirt had settled, he was greeted by an enormous metal fist. Ashe-0’s punch sent him flying, skidding across the dirt as one would skip a stone across a pond. Though his golden armor saved his skin from being peeled off, there was nothing he could do about his likely broken nose. Leaning up from his position, Gil felt something trickle down his face. He quickly brought his hand to the source of the liquid just to see bright red blood staining his hand.

“You, an insignificant insect, dares to make me bleed? I am the King of Kings, you fucking heathen!” he growled, clenching his teeth and his fist trembling in anger. “Be grateful when I put you down, like the abomination you are!” he pushed himself to his knees and glared at the approaching robot. With a quick flick of his wrist, portals opened above Ashe-0 and quickly unleashed a torrent of weaponry. She raised two of her arms to shield her head, and while most of the swords and spears glanced off of her natural armor, a few embedded themselves into her shoulder and forearms. Gilgamesh smirked. Finally, the beginning of her downfall. However, this satisfaction was short-lived as Ashe-0 used one of her other arms to shatter the weapons that were buried into her shoulder.

“Tch,” Gilgamesh sneered at his opponent as he rose up to his feet. He extended his hand, summoning an axe into his palm. He tightened his fingers around the grip, getting used to the feel of it in his hands. The Golden King advanced, with ire in his eye, with various weapons flying out from behind him, effectively giving him suppressive fire.

Ashe-0 lurched forward and began to sprint, knocking the flying swords aside with her arms. If Gilgamesh wasn’t so hell-bent on destroying her, he would have been impressed. Despite her enormous size, she was quite adept and agile, especially when dealing with a large number of projectiles. Unluckily for him, this 25-foot tall machine was barreling towards him. Gil just barely managed to dodge the enormous fist, and he spun and slammed his axe into Ashe’s leg. Instead of satisfyingly cleaving into her flesh or well gears, it sadly slid off. The robot turned and extended her arm next to Gilgamesh, her palm opening up to reveal a small hole that was glowing blue.

“Fuck.”

792 words

 

[The Future Warrior]

With all the grace of a drunken hippo, Gilgamesh frantically threw himself quickly backward and to one side as he hit the dirt. The concealed weapon in the golem's outstretched hand fired, with a high-pitched phhthwoom that made his ears ring with his proximity to it. The brief flash of scalding heat as the bright lance of light passed him spoke volumes about what an actual hit would do.

The grounded monarch was only flat for a moment before springing back to his feet with rage written plainly across his features. "So, you have a few tricks that you didn't show in that competition." He swung the axe in his hand in an arc as he readied to return to the fray, a light flick of his opposite hand heralding the shimmering return of his weapon-spewing portals at his back. "An impressive light show, but it won't help you any." His first step forward was matched by an almost dismissive wave of his empty hand signaling another onslaught of his myriad weapons.

Ashe-0 stood resolute against the onslaught, simply folding her arms in front of her to guard her head and upper torso from the worst of it. Numerous weapons sailed past her, struck the ground nearby, or glanced off her body in showers of sparks. Those were of no concern. A smaller, but still significant number of them however managed to strike far more directly. Axes, swords, daggers, lances, and far too many other designs of combat implements to name readily poured forth like a golden-hued rainstorm.

The flecks of silver and blue that began to spatter the ground near the android as she continued to rack up damage were easily missed in the chaotic display, even as she was forced to grudgingly begin to backpedal. "Your capability for large-scale and rapid fire destruction with such a vast array of weapons is immense," she finally spoke up again. The flat, near-monotone of her words immediately ground out any hint of actual praise or compliment to them. "....but it is unfocused and sloppy."

"You think I would waste any true precision or effort on the likes of you?" the golden king sneered, as he marched forward toward the slowly-retreating behemoth. "You should learn your place, you mechanical wench." And the final few paces were covered in a quick two-step bound, the axe lifted overhead and grasped in both hands as he swung it down in a brutal chop. The sight of the blade finally finding purchase, biting through the amazonian golem's synthetic skin and drawing a spurt of bluish-green fluid brought a smirk to his lips, and--

--and a sudden, shocking jolt that coursed through his body and turned his victorious grin to a shocked rictus of agony.

The shock to his system caught him by surprise, halting the onslaught of his treasures and leaving him reeling back as if drunk. "What in the...?" Smoke faintly rose from his body, and he shook his head to clear the haze.

The momentary lapse in focus was the only opening that Ashe needed, as she loomed over the golden king. One fist came down, hitting the gilded monarch directly in his dome and driving him flat to the earth with a hefty CRUNCH of metal grinding against stone. Her fist lifted only to be immediately replaced by a second, equally earth-shaking impact as her opposite arm rained down a follow-up strike.

A third one never came.

The moment her fist lifted away to make room, there was a shower of bright blue-gold sparks as a lance shot from one of the king's portals, the precious treasure striking Ashe in the corner of her huge cyclopean eye. The resulting flash sent electrical arcs and a spray of silvery fluid in all directions and made the she-behemoth break off the attack, quickly jerking back and away as several more weapons scythed through the air her head had just occupied.

Rising from the crater that his body had been used to make, Gilgamesh hung his head as he heaved several deep breaths. Blood and dirt now stained his armor in several places, the once magnificent appearance reduced to a broken and dented wreck. "You...insolent...!" he seethed. In the shock and pummeling, he had lost the axe he one held. Both hands now free, he lifted them to either side and formed his hands into grasping claws. Countless portals began to form behind him, a huge wall of shimmering gold and the wickedly gleaming points of weapons in equal number. "I have had enough of you!" His head snapped up, revealing the insane glare in his eyes, matching the droplets running down his face.

There was a visible flicker of static across Ashe's eye as she righted herself, and sparks crackled from the jagged rupture in her head as she reached up and almost nonchalantly plucked out the offending lance, throwing it aside. "You are growing exceedingly angry," she said quietly, as if making a simple observation. "Logic dictates this will lead to a decrease in your overall combat efficiency and effectiveness. Potential for--"

Whatever her estimate may have been was cut off with an inarticulate scream from the king of kings as he swept an arm out before him and let loose an all-new salvo of his treasures to fill the air with death.

892 words

 

[Gilgamesh]

Gilgamesh roared as he launched another barrage of assorted weaponry. “To think I’d have to go all out for the likes of you?” he growled beneath his breath. Ashe-0 raised her arms to protect her vital functions. While her torso and head were spared the damage, her arms were cut open and impaled by Gil’s immense wave of weaponry. The oozing silver liquid, which he could only assume was her equivalent of blood, gave him small satisfaction. He grinned, his bloodstained teeth shining from the bright sunlight. He hated to admit it but beating her down was getting his blood pumping, and it was exhilarating. Though the destruction of his city was unproductive, he should end this.

He opened a golden portal next to him, a familiar golden hilt unsheathed itself into his palm. Gil hesitated, unsure of whether or not Ashe-0 was worthy of his most sacred blade. Ashe-0 noticed that Gil had let up on the onslaught and took her chance. She broke out in a sprint, her heavy frame shaking the ground beneath her. The Golden King finally unsheathed his enigmatic blade with vigor, decisive on taking Ashe-0’s life. However, the robotic warrior had leapt in the air and dropkicked the King.

Like a ragdoll, Gil was sent flying across the street until he crashing into a nearby fruit stall, splattering the contents all over his golden armor. Gilgamesh coughed out blood, as his ribs cracked underneath the large force and punctured a lung. He planted Ea into the ground, using it to prop himself up. His arm was staggering, threatening to fail underneath his weight. Ashe-0 slowly advanced towards his position.

“Enough,” Gilgamesh shouted. “I’ve grown quite bored with you,” he hissed, gathering his composure and erecting himself.

“Was this event supposed to be entertaining?” Ashe-0 responded in her classic monotone.

“Your death will be, you scrap metal,” he growled in response, extending his hand. His Gate of Babylon flickered to life behind the mech. Chains burst forth, wrapping themselves around Ashe-0’s limbs and torso, immobilizing her completely. Her body groaned and creaked as the chains pulled her backward.

“You underestimate me,” the robotic warrior declared dryly, her cyclopean eye beginning to light up. She yanked one of her arms with all of her force, breaking it free.

“You overestimate yourself, mongrel,” Gilgamesh spat, winding back Ea, its distinctive parts starting to rotate with increasing speed. “Now die, Enuma Elish!” he cried out, thrusting Ea in front of him. The red beam of energy burst out just as Ashe-0’s eye finished its final charge, blasting forth with a blue beam of its own. The two rays collided with such force that the knockback made Gil almost lose his footing. It created a momentary brilliant blast of purple before each of their attacks went up in smoke.

The mechanical wench emerged from the ashen cloud, free from Enkidu’s bonds. “What?” Gilgamesh stepped back in surprise. “You’re still alive?”

“As I have stated previously, you underestimate me,” the robot snarked back, her eye still glowing. Gil’s heart sank and he snapped his fingers, surrounding his foe with portals. This didn’t faze Ashe as she let out another blast. The Golden King ran to avoid this blow as fast as he could, but the enormous blast zone threw him. As he tumbled across the ground, singed and bruised, he heard an audible crack along the way. As he got onto his knees, he tried to move his left arm but met resistance. Of course, his arm was broken.

“Your disgusting eye will decorate my throne room,” the Golden King bellowed in agony.

“Your cries are ineffective at lowering my morale,” she declared, her eye winding down and her iris losing the powerful light. It was then that she had noticed the plethora of portals that surrounded her. Before she could prepare herself against the brunt of the damage, Gilgamesh yanked down his good hand and roared, demanding all of his weaponry to descend with all of his hatred. Ashe-0 flinched as swords and spears rained down from above onto her head and shoulder, severing into several of her working motors. Her body whirred in agony as it tried to circumvent the damage, sparks aggressively flinging from out of her body.

The robotic warrior ripped out one of the spears that had implanted itself into her shoulder. The wound attempted to heal, but her nanobots were overwhelmed at the massive amount of damage and were spread out too thin. With the remaining energy in her systems, she launched the spear. It flew cleanly in the air before piercing Gilgamesh’s left hand, pinning him to the ground.

He yelped in pain, his eyes fixated on his spear. “Who do you think you are to put your hands on my treasures!” he cried out in frustration, raising Ea with his good hand.

Ashe paused for a moment, with confusion on her face. “I was unaware that you were ignorant of my name. I am Ashe-0.”

832 words

 

[The Future Warrior]

"I...am aware...of your name..." Gilgamesh hissed, his eyes slowly returning to face his foe.

"Simply another display of your arrogance and irreverence, then." Ashe's tone remained as inscrutable as ever, even as her body started to wear out. A creaking groan of stressed servos sounded, heralding her collapse as she fell to one knee, supporting herself with two arms to prevent falling over entirely. A cascade of sparks fizzled and burst from several wounds and tears in her synthetic flesh, and thick rivulets of iridescently flashing oil dropped from many of them.

She tried to rise, pushing herself up and made it into a bare crouch before a squealing whine of distressed machinery sounded. A loud, jarring mechanical crunch sounded as one of the swords imbedded in her body snapped in two and she jerked upright. Her posture was noticeably more unsteady and off-center, which the gilded king took as a clear sign of damage finally beginning to really set in.

"Finally starting to wear down, I see," he sneered, as he carefully hefted himself up onto one knee. "Then this shouldn't take much longer." With a whirl of golden dust, the spear impaling his hand and pinning it to the earth vanished. He rose up to stand, his left arm hanging limply, and simply brandished his blade as he prepared to leap back into the fray.

"This level of damage is trivial," Ashe announced, as she stepped forward. "It impedes my functionality to a minimal extent."

"Your lies are pitiful," the gilded monarch snarled, as the segments of his blade began to spin up again and he drew back to ready another blast. "Perish already, you miserable wretch! Enuma Elish!" And a thrust of his blade released the gathered power in another huge burst of red light.

"No time to counter..." Ashe muttered, and simply scowled as she backpedaled and dove to the side. Her efforts were of minimal success, and only served to avoid a direct hit. The sheer force of the attack still caught her in the side, sending her spinning crazily about and smashing through one building to be buried under the rubble as it collapsed atop her.

Dust and smoke hung heavily in the air after the glare of red light faded, and Gilgamesh slowly lowered his blade. "As it should be..." he muttered, beginning to pace toward the site where his foe lay. "I doubt you can simply shrug off a hit like that. Perhaps that will put an end to your insufferable confidence. Now get up, if you are still alive!"

In response, the pile of rubble shifted, several chunks of it tumbling and falling aside. One arm finally punched through, followed by another. Slowly but surely Ashe-0 dug herself out, rising up to a sitting position among the rubble. Her right side had been heavily impacted, scorched and ruined by the blast. One of her arms had been stripped almost entirely of its synthetic skin, exposing the underlying mechanical structure and cybernetic 'muscle' that allowed it to function. The muscle that had unfortunately been all but severed, and which was coating the entire limb and everything below it in a murky blue-gray slurry as it poured its precious fluids out.

Damaged arm moving only spasmodically, Ashe worked at freeing herself from her predicament only to be halted by the sudden shadow that fell over her as Gilgamesh stomped into view. "How the tables have turned, mongrel," he sneered, with a bloodied smirk plastered on his face. Given the towering golem's predicament, and the gilded monarch's elevated position on the pile of rubble...they were very nearly level with one another. It provided the perfect opportunity for the king of heroes to deliver an uncontested strike, the blade of Ea striking out with a swift thrust to crash directly into his foe's face.

A harsh, grating sound of metal tearing metal sounded, a shower of sparks went up and a spattering of silvery-green dripped wetly to the dusty sandstone rubble as Ashe's head jerked back and to one side. A huge gash had been opened along the side of her face, from the corner of her nearly-shattered eye all the way back to her left ear.

....where her left ear had been, at any rate. As it was now skewered on the end of Gilgamesh's sword.

He had scarcely begun to draw it back to another strike before Ashe reacted. One arm shot out and grasped hold of the golden king by his leg and wrenched it to one side. With an extremely undignified shout of surprise and agony he was torn from his feet. A heavy, wet-sounding splat-crunch echoed in the area as his head hit the rocks.

...and several more nearly identical sounds followed, as Ashe whipped his body around and used it as a flail, smashing and battering him into and against the rubble that trapped her before simply flinging him away down the street and into the wall of another building, with enough force that it began to crumble around him. The king of kings coughed and spat up a mouthful of blood, his eyes momentarily rolling back into his head to display nothing but white as the agony rolled over him.

Out of some mixture of inhuman resilience and sheer stubbornness...he remained not only conscious and standing, but retained his grasp on his weapon even as he staggered away from the wall.

"Your skills are commendable. Your resilience and tenacity are unprecedented," Ashe noted. There was a clear hint of static in her words, and her tone finally wavered with the same distortions a damaged speaker might. "Victory is...not assured."

"Not...assured?" Gilgamesh sputtered, spitting out another mouth full of blood. He rose up to stand at his full height, his expression alight with pure, incandescent rage. "You honestly still think you can win?!"

"I do not think. But I estimate there is still a chance."

"A mongrel such as you...you have no chance!"

994 words

 

[Gilgamesh]

The Golden King staggered forward, planting his sword in the ground to hold himself up. He wasn’t sure how many of his bones were broken, or how much of his blood was pooling in his skull, but he understood that he was not in a good position. His robot adversary, on the other hand, while her body looked beaten and destroyed, her demeanor had not changed. While he despised every atom of her body for defying him, he had to admit that the man-made craftsmanship of Ashe-0 was a testament to mankind’s potential. This meant Gilgamesh could not afford to lose. For he was superior to all of man.

Ashe-0 kneeled on the ground, her head tilted down. “Have you come to your senses?” Gilgamesh couldn’t help but chuckle, each word spraying the blood that had pooled in his mouth. The robot warrior did not respond, but her gears whirred and groaned. “Unfortunate. You would have been a good asset, but your punishment remains death,” he seethed, scrunching up his nose. He nodded his head, summoning a few portals from his Gate of Babylon behind him. Ceremonial spears peeked out from their sheathe.

“Negative. I placed my reserve energy into my legs,” she stated, before she bolted towards Gilgamesh, her large strides catching him off guard. In a panic, he clumsily shot out his weaponry, each completely missing their target. Within seconds, she was at Gil’s feet, raising her arms in preparation. Chains quickly shot out, wrapping themselves around her limbs, the steel groaning against the massive strength of the metal behemoth. Gilgamesh shot her a bloody grin before he could hear her mumble something.

“Overclock limb D.”

The King’s eyes went wide as he had not bothered to chain up Ashe-0’s limp arm. However, as she finished the sentence, sparks and excess fluid sprayed out from the destroyed appendage.

“Why you-” he managed to get out before the massive fist collided with his face and sent him further down into the rubble. He groaned, the searing, white pain making his mind go blank. He didn’t want to move anymore, his broken bones protested with every action. But Gilgamesh could not fail again. He was the King of Kings, and he would not be beaten again by another damnable piece of scrap metal.

Gil emerged from the rubble, spitting the blood that had flooded from his mouth. Ashe-0 still struggled to escape the chains of Enkidu. The chain was slowly giving way, her legs and torso had been freed. The metal behemoth pulled at the final chain that refused to let go of one of her arms. Gilgamesh commanded the chain to tighten with the remainder of his mana and Ashe pulled with all of her might. The sound of metal scraping metal echoed throughout the street as the chain tightened its grip. The chain went limp and Ashe was suddenly free from its bound. However, Enkidu had managed to claim that arm, dragging it back into Gilgamesh’s treasury and disappearing forever.

Ashe-0 turned her head in shock, “This was not a predicted outcome.”

“I am the King of Heroes,” Gil responded with a lighthearted tone, though he punctuated the sentence with a heavy cough. “I make everything possible,” he boasted before the robot sent out another powerful punch. The Golden King raised Ea just in time to block the brunt of the attack, though it forced him back.

Gilgamesh almost stumbled back but managed to stay on his feet. “I will admit this,” Gil sneered, “you are indeed powerful.” He drunkenly waved his arm, in his blood-deprived state, creating his portals behind him. “That will be your only victory,” he growled before he unleashed another barrage.

615 words
Gilgamesh used 1 point of focus to rip one of Ashe-0's arms off using Enkidu

 

[The Future Warrior]

Ashe's suddenly missing arm greatly threw her off, the stump of the limb sparking and sputtering heavily as it spewed thick gouts of rainbow-hued fluids. It was a further reduction to her overall combat capabilities, which was worrying given the already-present levels of damage she was suffering through. Missing one arm, and another one mangled to a point of sluggishness and less than half efficiency...

The situation was eerily familiar to another incident which had occurred previously.

The renewed barrage Gilgamesh unleashed at her was enough to swiftly snap her from any such pondering and worry, however. Her two remaining fully functional limbs came up, doing her best to ward off the onslaught. She punched and slapped and batted aside as many as she could, but it wasn't enough. Slowly she was overwhelmed and forced back, as first one weapon got past her desperate defense and then another and another...until she was borne back and finally toppled over against a building as she was riddled with countless weapons and reduced to something more akin to a gargantuan pinchushion.

Sparks weakly flickered and crackled from every wound and impact size, streams of silvery nano-fluid slowly dripping from numerous places. Her frame went through harsh spasms and jerked irregularly, the light in her eye flickering and threatening to go out altogether.

"As it should be...broken and defeated...laying there to die," the gilded monarch spat, glaring at the downed war machine.

For her part, Ashe just slowly lifted her head and fixed her foe with a steady gaze. "I am not yet...rendered inoperable," she intoned.

The statement elicited a harsh growl from Gilgamesh, as he wavered in place again. "Stubborn cur...why won't you just give up already?!" He lifted his shaking arm again, waving it sloppily in a loose circle as he summoned more of his portals. "Die already!" And he lurched forward with a swing of his arm, releasing another barrage of his treasures at the amazonian golem. The torrent of blades struck the ground in front of her first, slowly moving forward to wash over her entirely, kicking up huge clouds of dust as the sandy ground was blasted and the building she toppled against was pulverized into rubble.

After the devastation had gone on long enough that he was sure there was no hope of survival, the golden king swept his hand aside and put a stop to the barrage. With a heavy cough, he leaned against his blade to support himself and heaved several deep breaths as he watched intently to await the dust clearing.

The sight that was left behind was an utter horror. One of the golem's legs, perforated and torn to pieces by the sheer volume of weapons, lay staked and pinned to the ground. The other, from the knee down, was in a similar state. The once-mangled and near useless limb now lay discarded among the rubble, fingers still weakly curling and uncurling with erratic jerks. Huge chunks and shreds of her synthetic flesh and clothing lay scattered over the mess, the entire scene spattered thickly with an unruly mess of silver, blue, green and amber fluids.

....but the rest of her was nowhere to be seen.

"What?!" The realization took a second to settle in, but when it did it made the gilded king straighten up with wide eyes. "Where...how?!" He swept his head from side to side, looking frantically for where she could have possibly gone to. There were clear signs of the myriad fluids she had spilled leading away from the mess, away from the street and out of sight. It finally clicked. "She...used my own attack against me..." The dust kicked up by it all had been co-opted as a smokescreen for her to crawl away, even while she was being utterly torn to pieces.

"As I...told you," a voice haltingly spoke up. From above him. "I am not yet...in.operable."

Gilgamesh's blood boiled as he jerked around to look up at the roof of a building. Perched there like some nightmarish gargoyle of mangled flesh and crackling steel, was the miraculously still-functioning remains of Ashe-0, her eye blazing with a fierce glare of electric blue. One hand gripped the edge of the roof hard enough to splinter the sandstone structure, the other curled into a fist to help support her in a semi-upright posture. "You...how dare you...!" the monarch spluttered in outrage.

Even as he made to prepare another strike, he could only feel his blood run cold as he saw the sudden glow of white in the center of the machine's eye. "Nothing is certain. Not even the outcome of this," she said softly, before releasing the blast.

There was a mangled scream of inarticulate rage and agony as both combatants were engulfed in the blaze of blue-white light from the laser's explosion, as the air turned to nothing but dust and smoke.

813 words

 

[Arthur Morgan]

FIGHT JUDGEMENT

Feedback for Ashe-0

In general, I feel that your posts for this fight were very strong. Your descriptions of the interaction between Ashe-0 and Gilgamesh were hilarious and badass in equal measure, and you really seemed to devote a lot of time in your posts to ensuring each character had the opportunity to land a hit (which had the added benefit of giving your writing partner cool stuff to write about). You also had some great descriptive passages in your posts that created excellent mental images in my brain, so overall I enjoyed your writing for this fight very much.

The only issues I noticed were that, occasionally, your paragraphs were a little convoluted. Some could have been broken up into several shorter paragraphs. For example, there were a few instances where dialogue began in the center of a paragraph after a lot of action had already been described. It made the dialogue seem a lot less poignant and kind of blur together with the action. I would suggest trying to separate dialogue more cleanly from action to prevent this. A little action paired with dialogue is fine, but too much can turn everything to idea soup.

In addition, you had a few run-on sentences that could have benefited from some punctuation. I realize this was a mock fight so you probably didn't spend too much time on editing, but I would recommend slowing down and checking to ensure your sentences aren't too lengthy/confusing to read.

The parts I really liked:

- "Rising from the crater that his body had been used to make, Gilgamesh hung his head as he heaved several deep breaths. Blood and dirt now stained his armor in several places, the once magnificent appearance reduced to a broken and dented wreck. 'You...insolent...!' he seethed." [ This was a very anime moment that was fitting as hell for Gilgamesh, haha. ]

- "There was a visible flicker of static across Ashe's eye as she righted herself, and sparks crackled from the jagged rupture in her head as she reached up and almost nonchalantly plucked out the offending lance, throwing it aside." [ Bad. Ass. ]

- "A cascade of sparks fizzled and burst from several wounds and tears in her synthetic flesh, and thick rivulets of iridescently flashing oil dropped from many of them." [ RAD! ]

- "'Finally starting to wear down, I see,' he sneered, as he carefully hefted himself up onto one knee. 'Then this shouldn't take much longer.' With a whirl of golden dust, the spear impaling his hand and pinning it to the earth vanished. He rose up to stand, his left arm hanging limply, and simply brandished his blade as he prepared to leap back into the fray." [ You gave Gilgamesh some really badass moments in your posts. This is always good to see. Sometimes it feels like most fights between two players devolve into just their characters hurling insults and one-upping each other from one post to the next. But you took the time to really let your opponent shine. Mad respect. ]

- "'Your lies are pitiful,' the gilded monarch snarled, as the segments of his blade began to spin up again and he drew back to ready another blast. 'Perish already, you miserable wretch! Enuma Elish!' And a thrust of his blade released the gathered power in another huge burst of red light.

'No time to counter...' Ashe muttered, and simply scowled as she backpedaled and dove to the side. Her efforts were of minimal success, and only served to avoid a direct hit. The sheer force of the attack still caught her in the side, sending her spinning crazily about and smashing through one building to be buried under the rubble as it collapsed atop her." [ These two paragraphs were excellent. The perfect mix of dialogue and action, working together to shape a great combat scene. ]

- "One of her arms had been stripped almost entirely of its synthetic skin, exposing the underlying mechanical structure and cybernetic 'muscle' that allowed it to function. The muscle that had unfortunately been all but severed, and which was coating the entire limb and everything below it in a murky blue-gray slurry as it poured its precious fluids out." [ LOVE THESE ROBOT PARTS. ]

- "...and several more nearly identical sounds followed, as Ashe whipped his body around and used it as a flail, smashing and battering him into and against the rubble that trapped her before simply flinging him away down the street and into the wall of another building, with enough force that it began to crumble around him. The king of kings coughed and spat up a mouthful of blood, his eyes momentarily rolling back into his head to display nothing but white as the agony rolled over him." [ I can't freakin' believe you pulled a Hulk. ]

- "Ashe's suddenly missing arm greatly threw her off, the stump of the limb sparking and sputtering heavily as it spewed thick gouts of rainbow-hued fluids. It was a further reduction to her overall combat capabilities, which was worrying given the already-present levels of damage she was suffering through. Missing one arm, and another one mangled to a point of sluggishness and less than half efficiency..." [ This was a great opening image for the final post of the fight! Really, there were so many good descriptions in this last post, I couldn't list them all. I REALLY liked the Ashe-hand jerking and sparking in the dirt, though. ]

Feedback for Gilgamesh

Your mastery of dialogue and characterization was really showcased in these posts. I really enjoyed Gilgamesh's general complaining about Ashe-0 busting up his city, it created a lot of opportunity for funny moments between your characters. The back and forth between y'all's characters was phenomenal and truly a joy to read. I also enjoyed your descriptions of how both characters handled their injuries, that was some good stuff.

I think that in general you kind of struggled similarly to Adam in that your paragraphs became a bit convoluted. Some of them contained too many actions performed by different characters-- in general, it's useful for the reader if you split up a paragraph each time a new character does something. You also could have spent a little more time on establishing where your characters were in relation to their environment, I was left a little confused on what was happening a few times whenever new environmental things were introduced out of the blue (for example, the fruit stall).

Things I really liked:

- "With all four of her arms, she punched into the wall and ripped it out. The nicely decorated shelves and potted plants sadly fell and crashed onto the ground. A Babylonian couple cowered at the other end of the room, the man trembling with a rusty sword in his hand. 'This was not my intention,' the robot blurted out, even though she was not capable of feeling guilt." [ FUNNY AF. ]

- "'I just had that built!' Gilgamesh wailed, unleashing another barrage of spears and swords aimed at Ashe-0’s head. The robot quickly turned, using the freshly broken off wall as a makeshift shield. Each of the king’s treasures stopped just short of hitting Ashe, their heads inches away from her face.

'I doubt that you had any hand in the construction of that building,' she grunted as she pressed forward, charging towards the monarch with the wall still held up. She then swung around and using that momentum, she lobbed the wall." [ This back and forth is great. Ashe-0 is stone cold. ]

- "'Tch,' Gilgamesh sneered at his opponent as he rose up to his feet. He extended his hand, summoning an axe into his palm. He tightened his fingers around the grip, getting used to the feel of it in his hands. The Golden King advanced, with ire in his eye, with various weapons flying out from behind him, effectively giving him suppressive fire." [ This was a good little bit of description, very strong and fitting for a combat situation. ]

- "The oozing silver liquid, which he could only assume was her equivalent of blood, gave him small satisfaction. He grinned, his bloodstained teeth shining from the bright sunlight. He hated to admit it but beating her down was getting his blood pumping, and it was exhilarating. Though the destruction of his city was unproductive, he should end this." [ This was some good insight in Gilgamesh's mindset during the fight. Mad props. ]

- "Like a ragdoll, Gil was sent flying across the street until he crashing into a nearby fruit stall, splattering the contents all over his golden armor. Gilgamesh coughed out blood, as his ribs cracked underneath the large force and punctured a lung. He planted Ea into the ground, using it to prop himself up. His arm was staggering, threatening to fail underneath his weight. Ashe-0 slowly advanced towards his position." [ A very strong image! I like that you let your character genuinely struggle against his opponent, that's always great to see in a fight. ]

- "'You underestimate me,' the robotic warrior declared dryly, her cyclopean eye beginning to light up. She yanked one of her arms with all of her force, breaking it free.

'You overestimate yourself, mongrel,' Gilgamesh spat, winding back Ea, its distinctive parts starting to rotate with increasing speed. 'Now die, Enuma Elish!' he cried out, thrusting Ea in front of him. The red beam of energy burst out just as Ashe-0’s eye finished its final charge, blasting forth with a blue beam of its own. The two rays collided with such force that the knockback made Gil almost lose his footing. It created a momentary brilliant blast of purple before each of their attacks went up in smoke." [ NOOOOOOOOOOOOO DON'T CROSS THE BEAMS! But in all seriousness, this was a great exchange between these characters. ]

- "The mechanical wench emerged from the ashen cloud, free from Enkidu’s bonds. 'What?' Gilgamesh stepped back in surprise. 'You’re still alive?'" [ I love that he's surprised. Kills me every time. ]

- "Gil’s heart sank and he snapped his fingers, surrounding his foe with portals. This didn’t faze Ashe as she let out another blast. The Golden King ran to avoid this blow as fast as he could, but the enormous blast zone threw him. As he tumbled across the ground, singed and bruised, he heard an audible crack along the way. As he got onto his knees, he tried to move his left arm but met resistance. Of course, his arm was broken." [ This could have been split up into at least two paragraphs, since several things were happening at once, but your description of your character's injuries are rad. ]

- "Ashe-0 flinched as swords and spears rained down from above onto her head and shoulder, severing into several of her working motors. Her body whirred in agony as it tried to circumvent the damage, sparks aggressively flinging from out of her body." [ Good stuff! Robot parts yeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaah!! ]

- "The Golden King staggered forward, planting his sword in the ground to hold himself up. He wasn’t sure how many of his bones were broken, or how much of his blood was pooling in his skull, but he understood that he was not in a good position. His robot adversary, on the other hand, while her body looked beaten and destroyed, her demeanor had not changed. While he despised every atom of her body for defying him, he had to admit that the man-made craftsmanship of Ashe-0 was a testament to mankind’s potential. This meant Gilgamesh could not afford to lose. For he was superior to all of man." [ Although this was a very lengthy paragraph, it was some RAD stuff. Excellent work. ]

FIGHT RESULT!

AND THE WINNER IS...

ASHE-0!

+1 Point to Ashe-0