I as many other did, loved the game so much on release. Maybe it was our favourite game of last year or maybe not. I suspect it was close for many right after completion. I decided to not play any more and just wait till the NG+ content comes out when ever this year, I'll still be patient. Althought something weird has been happening.
Over time I'm growing to see the many flaws in this game. I'm liking less and less to the point I'd rather replay 2018 over Ragnarok, but why? I guess its a whole can of worms to jump into and strip apart a game but I don't know why I overlooked so many glaring problems with the game at first only to discover them later on.
The first big red flag for me in hindsight is I realized I didn't cry once through out Raganrok, no even early moments with Fenrir or the ending. I was close with Kratos letting Atreus go, as a father lets his son off to college, but I did. I started to think and that was true for the entire game, I never really felt much emotion , but when I look at 2018 every single moment feels so perfectly put together and just works while to be honest Ragnarok feels to be written by someone completely different. Written by A.I. maybe? Who the fuck is Birgir? why he is the reason to bring Kratos and Atreus to side quest in the The Crator, how did he survive the fall? He rolled, ah yes awesome joke. The game has very little reason for many things to actually happen, it underpowers every single character multiple times in the game and makes it super annoying to play it on its terms when one moment Thor is a cocky father trying to regain the split blood of his sons who then is a drunk goofing around with the kid who killed one off them to fighting the world serpent to being grounded to fight Kratos since Kratos can't fly.
Its just disappointing, I know people in the community hate hearing it but its Marvel writting. The constant quipping and scenes that just make zero sense or just super stupid. Lets bring back Athena in 2018 to do nothing with her in Ragnarok, when it seemed her and the mask was going to connect but nope. I truly believe that 2018 wrote them into a hole so when they tried to write themselves out they were on the right path with the first two hours of the game, which fell apart right as you went to the Huldur Brothers hide out.
Characters just pop out of no where to be nothing characters. No matter what anyone says you can't convince me that Angrboda wasn't a complete waste of time, she offered nothing to the story and could be removed with nothing being lost. She existed for Atreus to have a main story side quest which is the worst kind of side quest. Then she just pops up when ever she wants. I guess his ravens that you're supposed to take out and you know Mimir tells you in the first game are always listening dont listen or care when she pops up, you know a fucking giant, out of no where with her magic and speaks to Loki which Odin should've already been watching closely, but nah. Birgir? Nothing character. Freyr has zero personality or character so why should we care for his sacrifice? Its just super silly. You only care about Freya, Atreus, Kratos, Sindri and Brok. Thrud is just wtf, they wanted a love interest and love triangle for Arteus? I thought God of War was mature now and not about using women to hold doors open and they die when it closes? It feels super marvel for zero reason as nothing is gained. Thor literally follows Marvels thor by being a fat joke for no reason. Again none of these things really end up in a better place. Thor wouldve worked better being a threat, Thrud wouldve been better if she never tried to be friends with Atreus but under Odins orders didn't kill him. For damns sake it seems only Heimdall and Sif truly hate Atresus and they should as does everyone. You know more for the reason for them to turn on Odin.
The game just lacks the moments of emotion from 2018. Baldurs fight still is the best story fight in game. Nothing comes close to the many reveals of 2018 its sort of embarassing. I played the game wanted a tight story that grows out of control as ragnarok is there but when every thing is about to go down ... Kratos gives a speech to lke 6 FUCKING PEOPLE, 1 BEING ATREUS? WTF. How lazy could they be, they just ruin a speech that was pretty cool but theres 6 people for this war, but I guess they ran out of money so you dont really see it. The game feels like its building up till you find Tyr but it sizzles out and trys to hang on for nothing like the best f ight in the game is that dragon in crator but if you remember you're only there because BIRGIR A NOTHING CHARACTER needs saving oh and how did he live? Dark Souls joke time, so funny. Its lazy writing through out and you can only enjoy it as it is, a Marvel film and thats perfectly okay. Its great at that but as for someone who wants something that doesnt feel like it was written by an AI i'm just disappointed, also disappointed that I started to hate this game more over time. Maybe if I didn't think too hard into it like a Marvel film my suspension of disbelief wouldve been sustained for the many times I replay it. Yet I will only do that for NG+ than leave this game alone to play the better game in the series GOW 2018 :/

For the purposes of this question, I don't just mean areas of the game. It could be enemies, events, questlines, lore bits, bosses, mechanics, general themes, NPCs, even items or weapons. What, out of everything else in the game, made you shudder the most?

The gems I'm referring to are the main equipment ones, not the ruby, citrine, etc. that go on secondary gear. I have no idea what's "good", let alone what to rank up. I thought Trickshot Gem would be good to increase Resonance. My CR (at Paragon 582) is only 7,315. Resonance is 235
So far I have:
1* Seled's weakening Rank 3
1* Ca'arsen's Invigoration Rank 2
2* Lightning Core Rank 2
2* The Hunger Rank 1
1* Trickshot Gem Rank 2
and
1* Chained Death Rank 2
equipped
The gems I have available (all are Rank 1, BTW) - multiples of each
1* Respite Stone
1* Zod Stone
1* Heartstone
1* Beserker's Eye
1* The Black Rose
1* Defiant Soul
1* Nightmare Wreath
1* Pain of Subjugation
1* Everlasting Torment
1* Freedom & Devotion
1* Blessed Pebble
2* Fervent Fang
2* Bloody Reach
2* Kir Sling
2* Folloer's Burden
2* Volatility Shard
2* Chip of Stoned Flesh
Thanks in advance for any assistance/help.

Okay so I’ve decided to start my journey as a tarnished. And I want to know what build will be for fun to play with. I don’t care about it getting to easy I just want a fun build. So will I get that with either magic or bleed? Just finished Dark souls 3 and Nioh 2 and it was amazing. So I need help to decide before starting
View Poll

Previous
Everyone looked where Frisk pointed. It was Alyx !
Alyx : It seems that Reaper sacrificed himself for nothing…
Tony : First of all, his name is Gabriel Reyes ! Second, it’s okay. Thanks to him, Bethany did the Purification earlier than expected.
Alyx : … Honestly… I don’t even know why you started this in the first place. You destroyed our complex TWO TIMES. This little b**** caused a riot for the second time.
Mary : HEY !!! DON’T TALK TO ME LIKE THAT !
Alyx : CLOSE YOUR MOUTH ! I’m talking ! And… Not only Bethany destroyed our complex… SHE ALSO CAUSED A GENOCIDE IN OUR ENTIRE CREW ! We lost practically everything !
Keinss : You know that Karma always gets you ? If you didn’t steal the Dark Amethyst, maybe none of this would ever happened ?
Alyx : Possibly… But I just have something to ask… You think you are above consequences… Don’t you ?
Tony : If you have a good look, you would know that it was because of my HATE that Fina is here. Otherwise, she would still have her friends… AND HER WORLD !
Fina : …
She started to cry because Tony basically told the truth.
Tony : Hey… Don’t cry. At least you are still here. Even though it wasn’t happy after what happened to you…
Fina : No… *snif* It’s fine. Thanks Tony.
Alyx : Grr… Why you are forgiven easily ?! Did you see all the mistakes that you’ve made in your adventure ?!
Tony : At least, unlike you, I’m learning from my mistakes. And I try to protect those who has suffered long enough.
Alyx : You know what ?
She bring out her sword and she pointed right at Tony.
Alyx : I think it’s time to reveal the truth !
??? : Stop there, Alyx !
She turned back to see that Dmitri arrived. And of course, she was surprised about his arrival.
Alyx : D-Dad ?!
This single word did react literally everyone in shock. Dmitri approached her daughter calmly.
Dmitri : Let me take care of this one, okay ?
Alyx : But Dmitri… Tony is really strong. Remember that he destroyed the Airship ?!
Henry : First, it was me, not Tony. And second, we almost died due to him !
Dmitri : So I have more reasons to attack you.
Alyx : Dmitri… Don’t…
Dmitri : I’ll take care of this ! GET OUT !
Alyx turned her face in sadness. She didn’t want to abandon her father because Tony was basically younger and stronger than him.
Alyx : Just… Be careful, okay ?
Dmitri : I will. Now get out !
The Ice Queen immediately leaved the aftermath and trapped Bethany, Tony and Amina into the magical arena.
Amina : Oh no !
Keinss : Dammit ! Looks like you have to fight him without us, Tony.
Dmitri : Hehe… I know that Amina is practically useless in fighting and Bethany doesn’t have anything to protect herself. Simply because I can take you to your Abandoned Form with this stone.
The Warden activated the stone to affect the Trio. But strangely, only Bethany did get affected.
Dmitri : Well… I didn’t expected this…
Tony : Are you stupid ? I can’t get into this form because I don’t have HATE anymore and Amina… IT’S A DEFENSE MECHANISM, YOU IMBECILE !
Ruby : Hey, your language, Guardian !
Dmitri : Alright… *summons his pistol* I hope God is with you. Because I won’t give you Mercy…
SOUL BATTLE START !
Dmitri : You did knew that you had a chance to stop. But unfortunately, you didn’t… And now, you have to pay the price for your consequences, Tony VJ…
Dmitri armed himself with his gun and a lance and pointing it towards the trio.
Dmitri : I’ve said that I’ll stay on my morals on my members. But for you, I’ll make an exception, Guardian.
*Dmitri is looking through you…
The Soul Battle is resembling to the Papyrus fight in REVENGE : The Unseen Ending. (The first version actually.)
Dialogue :
- You know ? Maybe in an another timeline, we did became friends.
- With your own powers, you could have benefit the Wall in it’s entirety.
- Remember the Dark Amethyst ? Well… When I discovered this gem, I knew what to do with it.
- The Government couldn’t resist to our attacks according to the plans. And even the Toppat Airship had zero chance against it !
- It could have ended well… Until you came.
- And I don’t count Mary, Bethany and Amina too. A woman that managed to pass her trauma is impressive. More if she did get along with it.
- A girl that managed to lure towards a deadly trap that I’ve caused myself due to you…
- And an artificial experiment that did get feelings towards Henry and did everything to hide him from me and my complex.
- Even Henry himself… This man is probably the embodiment of Luck itself.
- You imagine what would happen if I had the same Luck as him ? I would be INVINCIBLE.
- Also… Henry does most of the job. Ellie does help but not as much.
- And Charles is not that talented. Seriously. How his ‘Greatest Plan’ is supposed to work ? It’s just a kamekaze attack.
- His own sister, Sarah… Clearly abandoned due to a simple mistake.
At the 13th Attack however, his weapon seems to loosen in resistance and starts to break.
- All of those people. That suffered in their own way.
- Heh. I don’t even know if it’s your fault or not.
- After all, this has gone for long enough…
And at the last attack, Dmitri’s lance did break and lost completely it’s HP. Dealing 1582 Damage. The barrier disappeared and the Warden, fell.
Dmitri : Even with that… It’s not enough ?!
Bethany : You’ve lost ! Give up, Warden !
Alina : You are also alone ! And as the daughter of the person that protects the city, you are under arrest !
However… Dmitri started to laugh.
Monika : HEY ! WHAT’S SO FUNNY ?!
Dmitri : You think I’m done yet ? Well… Try to catch me.
And then, he run away, which surprised everyone.
Henry : He… Left ?!
Charles : GUYS ! CATCH HIM ! DON’T LET HIM CAUSING MORE HARM !
And the entire team pursued the Warden into the city. To arrive into an unfinished place.
Next

So I've been on HRT over a month now about a month and a week. But already within this first month things have been really rough emotionally it started about 2 to 3 weeks after I got on HRT. So I'm one of those people that started to have those emotional changes early on. What I will say that's interesting is that it seems like HRT pretty much ripped the lid off of so many suppressed emotions. When I first started noticing I was having really intense emotions I was very scared and I even had a panic attack. I'm noticing that sometimes highs feel higher but lows definitely feel a lot lower if everything is much more physical. Sadness is sharp it's tense and tight and happiness is very euphoric I feel very giddy when I'm happy.
It seems to me though that HRT hasn't so much added something entirely different emotionally instead it seems like everything that I had suppressed has come up and I have to face it. It's been so scary at times I've even thought about going off HRT in fact I did for about 2 weeks. The kind of realized that I don't really like being off HRT. it's really confusing in a way because it's like on one hand I'm closer to my feelings in such a way that I can actually own my feelings I can actually feel in my body and feel like these emotions are mine where he's before it felt almost as if I was watching my feelings from a distance and they were very smothered.
Anyway at the core the pain feels like stuff that got suppressed from years back I'm in therapy. I guess I want to ask if anybody else had their childhood trauma or just trauma in general intensified by HRT and what did you do to process the emotions and feelings love all of you ❤️

WWS Ground Zero
January 17, 2023
Intrust Bank Arena, Wichita, Kansas
The show opens with pyro and we move straight to commentary where the commentators recap all the advancements in the tournaments.
After Round 1 of 5, the Scott Hall Memorial Tournament, the standings look like

1. Moose - 2 points
2. Matt Riddle - 2 points
3. Cody Rhodes - 1 point
4. Kota Ibushi - 1 point
5. Daniel Garcia - 0 points
6. Mike Bailey - 0 points

The commentators remind us that the top two will go on to wrestle in the final of the tournament for the Intercontinental Championship and also announce the matches for Round 2 of 5
Cody Rhodes vs Moose
Kota Ibushi vs Matt Riddle
Daniel Garcia vs Mike Bailey
They also reveal that Orange Cassidy and Darby Allin both have qualified for the fatal four way ladder match at WWS Genesis and another qualifying match is scheduled for tonight. It’s Karrion Kross making his debut against Cody Deaner.
(10 Mins)
___________________________________________________________________________
The proper show opens with THE QUEEN.
CHARLOTTE FLAIR HAS ARRIVED IN THE WWS!
She makes a grand elaborate entrance to the ring to a mixed reaction. Some boo, some cheer and some simply don’t care. She makes her way to the ring as she awaits her opponent.
Her opponent is ATHENA!
Charlotte Flair vs Athena
(The two women circle each, Charlotte puts her fists up for a guard while Athena crawls at her licking her lips. Charlotte goes for a boot on a grounded Athena but she leaps to the side and hits a kick on the back of Charlotte’s leg. She quickly gains control with a combination of heavy attacks and has Charlotte in the corner. Athena walks up and hits a flurry of shots but Charlotte blocks most of them and she pushes her away with great force and lands a big boot to gain control back. As Athena gets back up Charlotte charges at her with a spear. Athena is reeling as Charlotte deadlifts her and lands a big back suplex. Athena rolls out of the ring with the impact. Charlotte scales the top rope and goes for her corkscrew moonsault to the outside but Athena dodges.
Charlotte, however still manages to land onto her feet, she reels back but Athena takes her head off with a jumping sidekick. Athena smiles a sadistic smile as she grabs Charlotte by the hair and smashes the back of her head onto the steel steps, again and again and again before she sends her back into the ring to meet the count at 9. Athena sadistically stalks her prey before locking in a crossface. Charlotte struggles for a bit but manages to get out. Athena still isn’t done as she gets Charlotte up and puts her down, smack on her knees. The modified lungblower!
She crawls over a pin but Charlotte kicks out. Athena grabs her arms and is about to stomp into Charlotte but Charlotte breaks free and lands a big punch square in the face. Flair gets up and headbutts Athena hard. Flair hits a front cartwheel lariat. Charlotte takes her leg looking for the figure eight but Athena grabs her neck and initiates a small package pin but Charlotte manages to break free but a spinning elbow knocks Charlotte out cold.
Athena climbs the top rope as she waits for Charlotte to get to her feet when Athena leaps and flips for the O-face but Charlotte catches her in mid air and drives a couple knees to her back. Athena is on her knees as Charlotte hits a Natural Selection Outta nowhere.
1,2,3. )
Charlotte Flair def. Athena
(21 mins)
We see the first proper advertisement for WWS Genesis which is scheduled for January 29 and it features the already established matches.
Roman Reigns vs TBD (World Heavyweight Championship Tournament Quarter Final)
Kenny Omega vs TBD (World Heavyweight Championship Tournament Quarter Final)
Orange Cassidy vs Darby Allin vs Karrion Kross/Jake Something vs TBD (Fatal Four Way Ladder Match for the Television Championship)
And a new match is also announced - Charlotte Flair vs Toni Storm (Semi Finals of the Women’s Title Tournament)
(4 minutes)
We come back from commercial for Maxwell Jacob Friedman
MJF walks out dashed in a suit with Moose by his tail and in his hands, a devil mask.
He takes to the microphone, “Now all these marks on social media, are complaining how Max Jacob Friedman has no purpose being here and how he should aim for the top, he is made for gold. You really do worship the devil, don’t ya? You see for all the actions that I do, I do it with a purpose and I’m here for a reason. You see, no one is born the devil. Everyone is an angel until they’re bogged down and they need to become the devil to rise back up again. I was an angel and I was made the devil and I am here with vengeance, I am here with a hit-list. I have been on the receiving end of a lot of sins and now as the greatest sinner of them all, I am going to purify all of them, starting of course with Orange Cassidy.
You see Cassidy, you are everything that’s wrong with this industry. I treat this as an art form, you treat it like a joke. I’m gonna put you through hell and then we’ll see how much sloth is left in your style. ”
MJF drops the mic and leaves the devil’s mask alongside it and heads to the back with Moose.
(15 minutes)
ALL BASK IN HIS GLORY
Keith Lee makes his way to the ring for his hoss fight with
SOLO SIKOA
Sikoa comes out alone.
This is a big match with big stakes. Winner gets a place in the fatal four way ladder match at Genesis.
Keith Lee vs Solo Sikoa
(The crowd cheer at the amount of meat in the ring as the two behemoths walk towards each other. Solo hits a big chop on Keith Lee’s chest and he barely flinches, Lee hits a big slap on Solo’s chest and he takes it in like a champ. Solo hits another chop, this time Lee staggers back for a bit. Lee hits a big mongolian chop and Solo falls to the ground. He gets right back up and hits a hard headbutt to Lee and that knocks him down as he falls to the corner. Solo runs and hits a big hip attack followed by another. As he charges for a third one, Lee gets out of the corner and runs to hit a big shoulder tackle which turns Solo inside out. Keith Lee grabs him by the throat and hits a big chokeslam followed by a running senton. Solo gets up but Lee hits a running dropkick sending him flying through the middle rope to the outside.
Keith Lee runs the ropes as the crowd cheers and he hits the tope con hilo as the folks go crazy. Keith picks him up and looks to go for a spinebuster but Solo elbows him and hits Lee with a superkick followed quickly with a spear. He sends Lee back to the ring. Solo climbs the apron too but instead heads to the top rope as he hits a big samoan splash. Solo scrambles for the pin but Lee gets a two count. He gets Keith Lee up and irish whips him and hits a savate kick on the rebound. Solo taunts Lee to get up and he tries to lift him for the samoan drop but Lee is too heavy and he gets out of the predicament. He hits Solo with the rolling elbow. Lee climbs the middle rope and hits the big moonsault.
Lee goes for the pin but Solo kicks out. Solo gets up but Lee hits a Belly to belly suplex and Lee doesn’t even fall back to his back. Lee gets Solo up and hits the Big Bang Catastrophe, he goes for the pin but Solo kicks out at 2.99. Lee gets Solo up as he lifts him up for a spirit bomb but Solo gets off his shoulders and hits a hard headbutt. He grabs Lee’s neck and hits a big samoan spike but Lee doesn’t fall but Solo hits another samoan spike. Solo goes for the pin and he gets the W. )
(20 mins)
Solo Sikoa def. Keith Lee
And then there was darkness.....
The lights go out. Bray Wyatt’s mask forms on the titantron as in the background all the toys from the Firefly Funhouse are hung on nooses and Cult Leader Bray’s rocking chair on fire. Bray Wyatt walks out with the same old lantern but the new mask. He walks to the ring as there is dead silence in the arena.
He enters the ring and blows the lantern and removes his mask. He takes to the mic and he just stares down the lens and says two words. “I’m Sorry”
He circles the ring grabbing his head and then he speaks again.
“I am a sinner. I have committed eternal sin.I have done bad, bad things all in chase of glory. At first I was just a messenger but then over time, I sold my soul to the devil. My soul belonged to The All Father. He was my dark passenger but I have failed him time and time again and he left me at my lowest point. Alone, a shell of myself, a broken, deadbeat man but my devotion didn’t waiver. I am still his pagan and I’ll do anything to have him take me back. That brings me to Edge. Edge, Consider yourself lucky. The Dark Father must have truly seen something special in you for he offers you his protection, all you have to do is stop hiding. Darkness is often portrayed as the voice of evil, it’s not that, it’s a way of life. You need to accept the Darkness inside you Edge. Embrace it, Embrace him. ”
Wyatt drops the microphone and puts on his mask again but he doesn’t leave, however he takes a steel chair as he sits on the ringside as if someone told him who was coming next.
The clock ticks zero.
Karrion Kross and Scarlett have arrived
Kross and Scarlett make their entrance, almost not even acknowledging Wyatt’s presence. Kross gears up in the corner for his qualifying match against Cody Deaner.
Karrion Kross vs Cody Deaner
(The match starts when Deaner just charges at Kross but he sidesteps as Deaner crashes hard in the corner. Kross smashes the forearms to Deaner’s back and hits a big Saito Suplex. Deaner gets up but Kross catches up to him and hits another Saito Suplex. He boots Deaner in the face and deadlifts him with a powerbomb. Kross mounts Deaner and starts a ground and pound attack. Deaner throws Kross out and then starts to make a comeback but its stopped dead in its tracks with a belly to belly suplex. Deaner gets up as Kross runs at him from behind to hit the Kross Hammer as he falls face first on the middle rope facing Wyatt. Kross chokes Deaner out with his knee as he makes eye contact with Wyatt. He picks Deaner up and locks in the Kross Jacket and Deaner passes out pretty quickly.)
Karrion Kross def. Cody Deaner
After the match, Kross and Scarlett celebrate in the ring. Wyatt gets up, removes his mask and slides it in the ring. He blows a kiss to Scarlett and leaves.
(20 mins)
Before the main event, the commentators announce next week’s card
Guerrillas of Destiny vs Varsity Athletes
Alexa Bliss vs Io Shirai
Kota Ibushi vs Matt Riddle
Kenny Omega’s in-ring debut in the WWS
They also recap the WWS Genesis card
Roman Reigns vs TBD Kenny Omega vs TBD
Orange Cassidy vs Darby Allin vs Karrion Kross vs Solo Sikoa - Ladder Match for the Television Title
Charlotte Flair vs Toni Storm
It’s Main Event Time.
The coin flips
The first notes of the guitar in Shinsuke’s WWE theme play but it's quickly cut by distortion to be replaced by
Subconscious
The King of Strong Style has arrived.
Nakamura comes out to his NJPW theme in his NJPW WrestleKingdom 9 gear.
Kazuchika Okada vs Shinsuke Nakamura
(From opposite corners, Okada and Nakamura stare holes into each other’s souls. Nakamura mouths, “No Punches?” from his end as Okada replies “No Punches”. The bell rings as the two faces of CHAOS walk towards each other. Nakamura takes one hand to his back and extends the other for a handshake. Okada hesitates but gives in but Naka withdraws his hand at the last moment to fix his hair. Okada looks pissed as he grabs Shinsuke Nakamura’s head and starts caving in forearm strikes. Naka quickly gains control with forearms and a knee to the gut which sends Okada back. Nakamura shrugs and hits a big knee lift to Okada’s chest. Nakamura grabs Okada from behind for a back suplex but Okada lands on his feet and knocks Nakamura out with a lariat. Nakamura gets to his knees but Okada grabs him in the front headlock and hits a big DDT. Nakamura sells the damage and gets right back up as Okada gets him up with a fireman’s carry and looks for the Death Valley Driver but Nakamura elbows him repeatedly to get out of it followed by a huge roundhouse kick. Okada falls to his knees as Nakamura hits a big knee strike right at Okada’s face. As Okada is down, Nakamura starts attacking his arm to soften the Rainmaker. Okada however, mounts a comeback and gets back up to his feet attacking Nakamura but a combination of elbows and knees fells Okada again.
Naka picks Okada up and goes for the back suplex but Okada rolls back to his feet. Picks up Nakamura and hits a big emerald flowsion but it only gets a two count. Okada picks up Naka again and irish whips Nakamura into the corner but Nakamura springboards up to the top rope and goes for a moonsault but Okada catches him and turns it into a tombstone piledriver. Okada goes to the top and hits a big elbow drop on Nakamura but that further aggravates his arm injury. Okada crawls to get a pin but only gets a one count and Nakamura kips right up too. Okada gets up as Nakamura unleashes a combination of strikes his way repeatedly kicking Okada’s injured arm. After one such kick, Okada no sells it and slaps Nakamura square in the face followed by a big dropkick. Okada picks him up and finally hits the death valley driver. Okada goes to the corner and looks for Nakamura to come up as he hits a Bomaye of his own. Okada follows this up and goes for the Rainmaker but Nakamura ducks and hits a german suplex as both men are down.
Both men get to their knees and have a forearm battle in the middle of the ring. Okada gets the better of this exchange with a wicked headbutt. Okada has the upper hand as he hits a gotch style piledriver on Nakamura, goes for the pin but Naka kicks out. Okada grabs his arms and gets him up, he looks for another rainmaker but in a last ditch effort, Nakamura grabs his arm leaps and turns it into a cross armbreaker. Okada struggles in the submission but doesnt tap out. Nakamura rises and wrenches the submission even harder but this lights a fire under Okada as he gets up and smashes Nakamura’s head in with forearm smashes and breaks free. Nakamura is on his knees as Okada walks to him and hits a few more forearm strikes and he gets him up and hits a hard looking german suplex dropping Nakamura on his neck. Okada doesn’t leave it as he turns the german suplex into a rainmaker with the other arm. He crawls for a pin and gets the win.)
Kazuchika Okada def. Shinsuke Nakamura
The crowd give both of them a standing ovation as medical personnel help carry both of them on the ramp. Okada offers a handshake and Nakamura takes this one as they get free from the medical personnel and help carry each other’s limping to the back.
CHAOS is forever.

Trades
​
Some of the cards in the link above:
​
Elemental Hero Prisma
Elemental Hero Storm Neos
Psychic-End Punisher
Stardust Charge Warrior (scr)
2x Kashtira Unicorn
3x Kashtira Fenrir
Dragoon
D Fissures (scr)
Gameciel (uscr)
3x Forbidden Lance (gold)
3x Enemy Controller (scr)
2x Warrior of Atlantis (utr)
3x Photon Sanctuary (scr)
Runick Fountain
Dingirsu
Blaster
Marincess stuff
Generaider stuff
Evil Eye Stuff
Time-Space Trap Hole (scr)
Tellarknights stuff
Constellar stuff
Rikka/Sunavalon stuff
Naturia Stuff
Superheavy Samurai Stuff
​
I will always check your list if you see sth from me. Not buying ATM but could paypal for trade difference. If you do see anything please indicate what you have from my want list or what your offer. Thanks :).
​
Wants:
Hopium
1 Droll & Lock Bird (cr) (have a triple tactic thrust could be used to trade for it)
2 Ghost Reaper & Winter Cherries (utr)
3 Aluber the Jesper of Despia (utr)
2 Fallen of Albaz (utr)
1 Water Enchantress of the Temple (utr)
1 Black Luster Soldier - Soldier of Chaos (utghost)
3 Cosmic Cyclone (cr)
​
Highest Want
2 Machina Metalcruncher
1 Emergency Teleport (LC5D scr)
1 Naturia Bamboo shoot (DREV ur 1st)
2 Adamancipator Researcher (scr 1st)
1 Ancient Gear Ballista
1 Sangan (LDS3)
1 Amorphage Sloth
3 Gizmek Orochi (scr)
1 Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo (scr)
1 Prohibition (PSV 1st)
1 Traptrix Myrmeleo (JOTL 1st)
1 Superheavy Samurai Soulclaw (DOCS 1st)
1 Predaplant Spider Orchid
3 Rose Archer
3 Psy-Framegear Delta
​
Higher Want
​
[BLCR]
2 Token Collector
1 Chaos Creator
2 Chaos Space
1 Dream Cicada
All original crystal beast stuff (not “advanced” ones) and rainbow bridge
​
[MAMA]
1 Lightning Storm
1 Evenly Matched
1 Apollousa
2 Ice Dragon’s Prison
3 Gozen Match
3 Skill Drain
3 Light-Imprisoning Mirror
​
[S-Force]
3 S-Force Rappa Chiyomaru
2 S-Force Pla-Tina
1 S-Force Edge Razor
1 S-Force Dog Tag
2 S-Force Bridgehead
2 S-Force Showdown
3 S-Force Chase
​
1 Naturia Butterfly
1 Naturia Hydrangea (HAC1 DT)
2 Interrupted Kaiju Slumber (BROL)
3 Allure of Darkness (BROL)
2 Evil Hero Infernal Prodigy (LDS3)
1 Evil Thorn (GFTP)
1 Uni-Zombie (BLRR)
3 Transmodify (scr)
3 Ally of Justice Cycle Reader (HAC1/HA01)
2 Star Seraph Sovereignty (WSUP)
1 Drill Driver Vespenato (ROTD)
3 Synchron Carrier (MGED)
1 Borreload Furious Dragon
​
Lower Wants
1 Mekk-Knight Crusadia Avramax (scr)
1 Bahamut Shark (scr)
2 Ready Fusion (scr)
1 Catche Eyes L2
1 Monster Gate (sr or ur)
2 Archlord Kristya (DESO)
1 Black Rose Moonlight Dragon
3 World Soul - Carbon
3 Sol and Luna
1 Book of Taiyou (RP02)
1 Evilswarm Exciton Knight (scr 1st)
2 Eradicator Epidemic Virus (LCKC 1st)
2 Red Blossoms from Underroot
3 Gemini Imps
1 Charge of the Light Brigade (SDDC unlimited)
2 Laval Archer
1 Magicalibra
1 Phantasm Spiral Dragon
3 Whitebeard, the Plunder Patroll Helm
1 Goldenhair, the Newest Plunder Patroll
1 Stardust Synchron (scr)
1 Allvain the Essence of Vanity (MP22)
​
[Metalfoes]
3 Metalfoes Goldriver (TDIL)
3 Metalfoes Volflame (TDIL)
1 Metalfoes Crimsonite (TDIL)
1 Metalfoes Mithrilium (INOV)
2 Metalfoes Combination (TDIL)
2 Parametalfoes Melcaster
1 Fullmetalfoes Fusion (INOV)
MTG Wants: (normal print preferred)
1 Wrenn and Six (MH1)
1 Solitude
1 March of Otherworldly Light
1 Lion Sash
3 The Restoration of Eiganjo // Architect of Restoration
1 Otawara, Soaring City
1 Boseiju, Who Endures
3 Leyline Binding
xX Triome Lands from New Capenna
​
​
Thanks for going through this long post :)

1. The theory doesn't explain what caused the Big Bang: While the Big Bang Theory explains the early stages of the universe's evolution, it doesn't explain what caused the singularity that led to the Big Bang. This argument suggests that the theory is incomplete.
2. The cosmic microwave background radiation is not uniform: The cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB) is often cited as evidence for the Big Bang. However, some critics argue that the CMB isn't uniform, and this inconsistency suggests that the Big Bang Theory is flawed.
3. The universe appears to be too homogeneous: The Big Bang Theory suggests that the universe expanded rapidly, and this expansion would have caused matter and energy to be distributed unevenly. However, the universe appears to be relatively homogeneous on a large scale, which some argue is inconsistent with the theory.
4. The theory is based on assumptions: The Big Bang Theory is based on several assumptions, such as the uniformity of the universe and the properties of dark matter and dark energy. Critics argue that these assumptions may be incorrect and that the theory's conclusions are therefore unreliable.
5. Alternative theories exist: Some individuals may argue that alternative theories, such as the steady-state theory or the cyclic model, are equally valid and should be considered alongside the Big Bang Theory.

It's worth noting that most of these arguments have been thoroughly examined and debated by the scientific community, and the overwhelming consensus is that the Big Bang Theory remains the most accurate and well-supported explanation for the origin and evolution of the universe.
POST BY: u/Cryliyx

Selling my sets for below mentioned price in items.
Feel free to add me/discuss.
Why u should trust me ?
Sold over 1000 TI6/TI7/TI8/TI9/TI10/Nemestice/Aghanim's/Diretide 2022 Collector's
Proof of gifting Caches Sets?
Check comments on my profile & check their inventory for my sets gifted by me.
Buyer always goes first or we can use middleman from this Sub.
Also, why would scam ? I got like 800+ cache sets to sell.
Profile https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198107212373

Diretide 2022 Collector's Cache

Set name	Hero	Quantity	$$
Shadowleaf Insurgent	Hoodwink	20+	$15
Scarlet Subversion	Riki	20+	$15
Whippersnapper	Snapfire	20+	$10
Hounds of Obsession	Chen	20+	$10
Seadog's Stash	Clockwork	20+	$10
Starlorn Adjudicator	Dawnbreaker	20+	$15
Spoils of the Shadowveil	Spectre	20+	$15
Chines of the Inquisitor	Faceless Void	20+	$10
Trophies of the Hallowed Hunt	Ursa	20+	$10
Crimson Dawn	Phoenix	20+	$10
Forgotten Station	Terrorblade	20+	$15
Dirge Amplifier	Undying	20+	$15
Champion of the Fire Lotus	Monkey King	20+	$10
Deathstitch Shaman	Witch Doctor	20+	$10
Blue Horizons	Marci	20+	$30
Angel of Vex	Invoker	20+	$35
Dark Behemoth	Primal Beast	20+	$50

Aghanim's 2021 Collector's Cache

Set name	Hero	Quantity	$$
Silverwurm Sacrifice	Dragon Knight	22	$20
Scales of the Shadow Walker	Phantom Lancer	23	$15
Perception of the First Light	Dawnbreaker	22	$15
Apex Automated	Clockwerk	22	$15
Test of the Basilisk Lord	Razor	25	$10
Secrets of the Frost Singularity	Ancient Apparition	23	$8
Perils of the Red Banks	Chen	22	$10
The Chained Scribe	Grimstroke	24	$10
Widow of the Undermount Gloom	Broodmother	23	$10
Forgotten Fate	Mars	22	$5
March of the Crackerjack Mage	Rubick	24	$10
Cosmic Concoctioneers	Alchemist	23	$20
Days of the Demon	Axe	22	$10
Blightfall	Abaddon	23	$15
Pyrexae Polymorph Perfected	Ogre Magi	25	$35
Wrath of the Celestial Sentinel	Chaos Knight	8	$60

Nemestice Collector's Cache 2021

Set name	Hero	Quantity	$$
Twilight Hex	Dark Willow	23	15$
Litany of the Damned	Doom	24	15$
Astral Terminus	Enigma	23	10$
Caerulean Star	Enchantress	22	8$
Arcane Inverter	Gyrocopter	22	20$
Creed of the Skullhound	Lycan	22	25$
Desert Bloom	Nature's Prophet	23	20$
Silence of the Starweaver	Oracle	23	10$
Eyriebound Imperator	Skywrath Mage	23	10$
Anthozoan Assault	Tiny	23	25$
Vision of the Seraph Scion	Vengeful Spirit	23	35$
Defender of the Brumal Crest	Winter Wyvern	10	10$
Red Sands Marauder	Shadow Shaman	23	20$
Indomitable Legacy	Sven	23	60$
Footfalls of the Sporefathers	Witch Doctor	12	60$

Collector's Cache I 2020

Set name	Hero	Quantity	$$
Ravenous Abyss	Underlord	20+	$10
Apocalypse Unbound	AA	20+	$10
Beholden of the Banished Ones	Warlock	20+	$5
Fury of the Righteous Storm	Disruptor	20+	$5
Lineage of the Stormlords	Juggernaut	20+	$35
Silent Slayer	Silencer	20+	$10
Mindless Slaughter	Pudge	20+	$20
Heartless Hunt	Bounty	20+	$10
Herald of the Ember Eye	Grimstroke	20+	$10
Fissured Flight	Jakiro	20+	$5
Flashpoint Proselyte	Husker	20+	$15
Signs of the Allfather	Nature prophet	20+	$15
Glory of the Elderflame	Lina	20+	$25
Lineage of the Stormlords	Juggernaut	6	$35
Origin of the Dark Oath	Night Stalker	6	$25
Songs of Starfall Glen	Enchantress	20+	$5
Ancient Inheritance	Tiny	20+	$30
Forsworn Legacy	mars	20+	$50

Collector's Cache II 2020

Set name	Hero	Quantity	$$
Evolution of the Infinite	Enigma	20+	$6
Beast of the Crimson Ring	bristle back	20+	$10
Clearcut Cavalier	Timber	20+	$6
The King Of Thieves	Keeper of light	20+	$10
Horror from the Deep	Tide	20+	$20
Ire of the Ancient Gaoler	Arc warden	20+	$25
Talons of the Endless Storm	chaos knight	20+	$15
Carousal of the Mystic Masquerade	Rubick	20+	$6
Crown of Calaphas	Shadow demon	20+	$10
Wrath of the Fallen	doom	20+	$20
Blacksail Cannoneer	Sniper	20+	$10
Secrets of the Celestial 📷	Skywrath mage	20+	$5
Blaze of Oblivion	Phoenix	20+	$6
Steward of the Forbidden Chamber	Templar Assassin	20+	$25
Claszureme Incursion	Void	20+	70$

Collector's Cache 2019

Set name	Hero	Quantity	$$
Echoes of the Everblack	Abaddon	19	15$
Paean of the Ink Dragon	Grimstroke	18	10$
Scorched Amber	Dragon Knight	20	20$
Allure of the Faeshade Flower	Dark Willow	1 M*	25$
Priest of the Proudsilver Clan	Chen	18	10$
The Arts of Mortal Deception	Enigma	21	10$
Poacher's Bane	Tidehunter	20	10$
Soul of the Brightshroud	Death Prophet	21	10$
Curse of the Creeping Vine	Undying	21	20$
Appetites of the Lizard King	Slark	18	25$
Riddle of the Hierophant	Oracle	20	10$
Defender of Ruin	Disruptor	22	25$

​

Collector's Cache II 2019

Set name	Hero	Quantity	$$
Sight of the Kha-Ren Faithful	Drow Ranger	31	15$
Tribal Pathways	Warlock	30	10$
Directive of the Sunbound	Clockwerk	31	10$
Endless Night	Abaddon	30	10$
Dapper Disguise	Pudge	27	15$
Fury of the Bloodforge	Bloodseeker	30	10$
Automaton Antiquity	Broodmother	31	10$
Grim Destiny	Wraith King	29	10$
Distinguished Expeditionary	Tusk	30	10$
Verdant Predator	Venomancer	31	10$
Prized Acquisitions	Batrider	31	5$
Fowl Omen	Necrophos	34	30$

The International 2018 Collector's Cache I

Set name	Hero	Quantity	$$
Trail of the Sanguine Spectrum	Bloodseeker	20	8$
Insights of the Sapphire Shroud	Dark Seer	18	4$
Pillar of the Fractured Citadel	Spirit Breaker	21	$5
Stonemarch Sovereign	Wraith King	21	$15
The Murid Divine	Necrophos	22	15$
Primer of the Sapper's Guile	Techies	22	10$
Molokau Stalker	Venomancer	21	$10
Morbific Provision	Witch Doctor	22	10$
Raptures of the Abyssal Kin	Queen of Pain	20	15$
Grasp of the Riven Exile	Weaver	20	5$

The International 2018 Collector's Cache II

Set name	Hero	Quantity	$$
Pitmouse Fraternity	Meepo	37	10$
Fires of the Volcanic Guard	Ember Spirit	37	10$
Shackles of the Enduring Conscript	Axe	37	6$
Shimmer of the Anointed	Nyx Assassin	29	5$
Loaded Prospects	Brewmaster	39	15$
Ire of Molten Rebirth	Phoenix	36	10$
Pattern of the Silken Queen	Broodmother	26	5$
The Rat King	Chen	28	10$
Raiments of the Obsidian Forge	Underlord	22	20$

The International 2017 Collector's Cache

Set name	Hero	Quantity	$$
Eternal Testament	Death prophet M*	19	15$
Rumrunner's Carronade	Brew master	20	15$
Abyssal Vortex	Enigma	27	10$
Samareen Sacrifice	Huskar	22	10$
Pressure Regulator	Clockwerk M*	24	20$
Spoils of the Vodou Rover	Witch Doctor	27	10$
Shadowforce Gale	Luna	24	10$
Mechalodon Interdictor	Gyrocopter	27	10$
The Dread Prophet	Nature's Prophet	23	20$
Cunning Corsair	Riki	24	20$

The International 2016 Collector's Cache

Set name	Hero	Quantity	$$
Rising Glory	Magnus	1 M*	20$
Nightsilver's Resolve	luna	2 M* dtygod*	20$
Oni Knight the Dark Conqueror	Chaos Knight	2 dtygod* dopey*	20$

I am no longer entertaining joy riders so I prefer you give $3 in items when u add me as deposit.
Those $3 will be subtracted from you're total sets cost.
Don't add me if you don't like the prices.
​

• prices are subject to change.*
• sets may go out of stock even if you're waiting for one if someone else buys it before you.*

*if you don't reserve the sets.

Back again I see?
Wanting more of the amazingly exciting recountings of my life since I came to your world?
I am not surprised dear reader, after all, I am a seventy three thousand year old immortal demonic being who looks absolutely fabulous in a little black cocktail dress… in any form, so who can blame you?
Now, where was I? Oh yes…
“So you want vengeance upon those who have wronged you? I unquestionably can relate to that as I have a long history in smiting my summoners enemies,” I said with a casual air.
It’s true, revenge was one of the main reasons I and many other demons are summoned as we are the perfect assassins. And we are very good at our job as it is a win-win-win for us. We get to kill, causing agony and mayhem, we get to siphon off our victims soul and of course because we have been tasked with murder, we get our summoners soul as a bonus! The symmetry is perfect, I love it. This will be a wonderful summons and hopefully one I could stretch out for as long as my Magus lives. I will have to do something about that as he looks far too soft for my liking and him having a long and healthy life is in my interests.
“Revenge? Nope.”
Now that was unexpected.
The Magus folded his arms, giving me a blank look as he leaned back in his spinning leather throne. I now regretted not taking that seat. It seems so much fun! Never mind…things always change.
“What!?! You want me to kill people but not for vengeance? Why? You said, and I quote, “your life blew apart two years ago”, so I assumed that someone harmed you so deeply that you committed yourself to the Black Arts, finding a way to summon me from Avernus the second circle of hell also known for lust and envy, just to indulge yourself in murder? My… that is so infernally delicious Magus! You have the makings of becoming a Prince indeed.”
“I need no revenge, I have no need for anything as melodramatic or prosaically trite and cliched as that. I may as well explain my motivation so you completely understand what I am asking of you. Just over two years ago, my wife who was the centre of my life, was killed in a car accident while travelling back from her work, in a place thousands of miles from here. The only fault was hers as I had constantly warned her about the dangers of driving on that particular stretch of highway. She was everything to me, my one and only. My world ended. I think you understand this as being a demon who fully knows the human heart, how all-consuming love can be. It can drive us to madness.”
“This I know. Go on.” I nodded in agreement – love can make humans do insane things. This is how I often could ensnare my victims, by making them fall hopelessly in love with me.
His story rang true so far however I still had a lot of difficultly in understanding why his grief had led to him wanting me to murder people. It made no sense to me.
“Anyway, I lost all my joy for life. I became a wreck as you so eloquently pointed out but not writhing in my own filth. I was too cowardly to end my life yet too broken to move on, mired in a purgatory of my own making. Then one day, while shuffling around in my miasma, a book fell from the shelf. I don’t know how or why it did. It was a book I picked up decades ago when I was a student in a shop that has long since closed. It is a book on magic. When I first picked up and read the book I was amused as it seemed like someone was genuinely trying to show how the Art worked. As a rationalist and skeptic, I dismissed the contents back then as pure fantasy. However, for some reason I never got rid of the book, keeping it for all this time. Still, the book had literally dropped at my feet that day so I decided to reread it as that was the only thing keeping my mind focused on walling out my despair from consuming my thoughts.”
My Magus paused then sat up, took his beer from the table and drank deeply then continued,
“Imagine my immense surprise Meridiana, when I decided to follow one of the easiest rituals and spells and found that it worked. At first I thought I had fully lost my mind because it shouldn’t be possible yet it was. I made the most basic of charms, a simple Talisman of parchment that contained the utmost rudimentary Healing spell. Upon completion I pressed the parchment charm to my forehead and it vanished in a flash of magical flame to my stunned amazement. My despair was gone but the hole in my soul was ever present. I felt a sense of achievement but no wonder or joy. That was gone but my thirst for knowledge was invigorated as it become the bulwark against my all-consuming desolation.”
“Hmm… this is all rather nice but it still does not explain why you wish me to kill people that have not injured you.”
I folded my arms and gave him a hard examining look as my patience, which was always limited, was running out... fast.
“True. I shall tell you. I want you to kill certain people across the world in the name of Justice.”
“Huh!?! You cannot be serious?” I guffawed, laughing loudly at this ludicrous pronouncement.
The look he gave me sent a chill down my spine.
“I am deadly serious Meridiana. You see there are always powerful people, mostly men, who commit the most evil acts simply because they can. You know this to be true. I realise that they will suffer after they have departed this world. Yet I want them gone, on an express highway to hell. Governments are unable or unwilling to act against these monsters that wear human skin. And the monsters know that they are, for all practical purposes, untouchable. As an ordinary man, I can do nothing to stop them, however I am not an ordinary man anymore. I have totally embraced The Will and The Way, the desire for power and accept the consequences. In addition, I have bound myself to you as you are bound to me. There will be repercussions if you do as I ask, this is assured but I do not care. The old saying “the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t” is utter bullshit. You know the devil in front of you is a monster, so why not rip his heart out and watch the light fade from his terrified eyes as you burn it before him with hellfire, sending his soul to Hades or worse? And if the next one is a devil as well… see step one and repeat.”
I almost fell off my seat of power, slacked jawed in staggered incredulity. This Magus was compelled, driven by something so totally beyond my comprehension. And yet… he made sense in a gloriously evil way. I had to again reappraise this human. Maybe he had gone insane with the grief of the death of his wife? That would make more sense. Still… he was rational, focused and in perfect control of himself. I could not detect any signs of insanity within him at all, this I would know having driven thousands beyond that point. There was nothing but the will to power in his eyes. A dawning realisation fell upon me: this could work.
“Magus, let me see if I am fully understanding you; you want me to kill evil doers who are powerful people because they are evil and untouchable and that offends your sense of Justice?”
“Yep. You got it in one. Even though I posses the power of the Arts, The Will and The Way, I myself lack the knowledge and power to strike at those who have drawn breath for too long. Instead I looked for another way to fulfill my… childish need for Justice, becoming a Supernatural Vigilante in a sense for want of a better description. In a delicious irony, by using you, I will be the hand of vengeance for those who are denied justice. A great philosopher said that you should take care in fighting monsters less you become the monster itself as if you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back into you. Yeah… fuck that. I will become the monster that is so awful that all monsters will quake in terror and as to the abyss, I will stare right back at it, giving it a truly uncomfortable long staring look, making it turn away. I am sure you are familiar with Psalm 23/4?”
“Yes… I am,” I nodded in almost breathless awe of my Magus.
“Right well, I’m adapting it, changing it to what the US Marine Corps often say, “Yay though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, I fear no evil, for I am the meanest and most dangerous Motherfucker in the Valley.” This is my mantra now.”
I don’t think my jaw could have dropped any further dear reader when I heard that. I had no idea as to who or what the US Marine Corps were and, if that was one of their mottos, I truly admired them for it. Only the most powerful of Demon Lords and Princes would embody that level of Will to Power. My Magus had that drive, that strength of personality of self-determination, a yearning for Power to strike out at those he despised.
Perfection!
I quickly gathered myself as I needed to appear strong and unshakable.
“I can work with this…” I replied casually.
The Magus gave out a dry, cold bark of a laugh.
“Of course you can. You know I could compel you but I would rather you be my willing partner in this endeavour. I see this as a win-win-win situation. You get to kill and reap the souls of the damned. By doing so, you may regain favour with the one who imprisoned you. Yes I know not to speak his name. And the evil fuckers who abuse their power, causing untold suffering to mostly innocent people, will painfully die screaming and then continue that scream for eternity. It’s all gravy as the saying goes.”
The Magus drank the rest of his beer while mine still sat upon the table, barely consumed.
“Your scheme… is breathtaking Magus. When do I start?” I asked with barely restrained enthusiasm.
“Ahh… well not immediately.”
He saw my disappointment that I could not keep of my face.
“Firstly you have to learn more about the world my dear Meridiana. As I said to you earlier, the world you last knew is gone. You think this is a palace. It is a moderately luxurious home, nothing more than that. There are luxuries and treasures that will drown your need for satiation so utterly, that it will make you feel sick. Yes… it is true. Also, I will never lie to you Meridiana. Never. I recognize that is an alien concept to you, that lies and manipulation are embedded with the fabric of your being yet you MUST understand that everything I say is the truth and trust me when I tell you things. Do you understand that?”
I nodded again but didn’t complete believe it… I just couldn’t. The Magus saw the doubt in my black eyes and shrugged.
“Meh… it’s a start I suppose. Skepticism is a healthy trait to have anyway. Question what you hear and see but know I will never lie to you. This I vow and pledge this to you, this I vow and pledge this to you, I vow and pledge this to you!”
My eyes widened as he invoked the chant of three. He was making a binding oath to me, unbidden and freely. No one had ever done that for me before. For the first time in my life… I could trust someone.
“I accept, I accept, I accept… Magus,”
The oath was complete.
We were bound more tightly than I ever could have thought possible. The feeling of elation… something I had not experienced in millennia bubbled up inside of me.
A broad smile beamed from my lips as I regarded my Magus.
“So then, if you do not wish for me to start our scheme, what do you wish to do? I am eager to learn Magus of the new world I exist in,” I said as I twirled a strand of my silky black hair in what I hoped what a tantalising way.
“Perhaps I should show you around the rest of the house and demonstrate some of it’s functions. Yes, that’s probably a good place to start. See the device above you?”
I looked upwards and for the first time noticed a three bladed… thing, that was in constant motion, moving the air around the room in comforting and pleasing way.
“That’s a fan. It is powered by electricity. You know of lightning?”
I nodded.
“That is electricity. Humanity has learned to harness that power in order make machines work replacing muscle power to drive devices and machines at a much more efficient rate.”
“Oh… I recall back not long after Alexander the Great had passed, some wiseman in the city of Ctesiphon in Parthia invented a device that created the spark. It was regarded as a novelty and never really achieved anything. And you say now that humans have harnessed this power? Intriguing. Go on,” I said as I watched the ‘fan’ spin relentlessly above us.
The Magus then leant forward and picked up a small white object that had been resting on top of the low table between us.
“This is a control for the fan. With it you can turn it on or off, increase or decrease the speed,” he said as he showed me the buttons with little icons upon them. As he pressed one, it made a tiny beeping sound and the fans’ speed increased. Marvellous!
“Electricity is also used for lighting. We no longer need to burn oil or candles for illumination at night time,” he said as he stood and took a few paces over to the wall where there we a few steps that descended into an area I hadn’t paid attention to. On the wall, just below shoulder height, was a shiny extrusion that had tiny… switches?.. upon it. He flicked one and lights above me flashed into life.
“Wonderous!”
I smiled in delight at seeing this. No more smelly oil lamps giving off the smoky acrid stench of rancid animal fat or oil. No more gutting candles either. Simple clean bright light at the flick of your finger.
“The fridge you saw is powered by electricity. The cooking devices, which I will demonstrate later, are also powered by electricity. You might say that human civilisation has become so dependent upon electricity, that if it were taken away, we would plunge back into the dark ages in a terrifying way. Moving on… oh follow me please,” he said politely, indicating we go back towards the stairs.
In my initial amazement, I had failed to notice many things such as the stairs that I ascended the basement from, curled around and continued upwards. Also, the Magus had many works of art adorning the walls of his home. I never really paid attention to human art although I have done so to many artists, driving their desires to be the greatest only to see their dreams to ashes when I finally betrayed them.
Another thing that I took note of was how light, airy and clean this house was. It was most likely early afternoon and sunlight shone throw multiple windows, reflecting off the pristine white tills and off white walls. This was nothing like the dingy, dank, dark and reeking, smoke filled halls I last encountered while on this world a thousand years ago. It was… refreshing.
“Just past the kitchen is my office,” he said as we walked forwards.
I stopped and stared again as there were more books lining the cabinets and shelves! There was another large metal framed window that was partially shrouded in wooden slated blinds, keeping out the harsh mid afternoon sunlight and heat. Papers and books were everywhere and a black device, much larger than the ‘phone’ was open upon a long bench that had a seat on wheels in front of it. The device had a glasslike window and was lit up, displaying the summoning circle and text alongside it.
“Oh that’s a computer. A more powerful device than the phone. I’ll demonstrate that too later.”
Again I wordlessly nodded but paid thorough attention to every detail now.
“Lets head upstairs, oh there is a bathroom here, as well as a pantry and spare bedroom,” he said offhandedly as he gestured briefly to his left to a small recess that had three closed doors within it.
Ascending the tiled stairs, passing by yet another large window that looked out onto the atrium, we arrived at the top. Plush white wool carpet lined the floor. It felt so glorious under my bare feet amd stretched the entire length of this level of the house. He took a few paces and we came upon a very large…alcove is the best description I could give it. Within this space were a chair exactly like the one my Magus sat on downstairs as well as another extremely comfortable looking upright couch. In front of that, just 7 feet away and bolted securely upon the wall, was a huge black…metal and glass screen.
“That’s the television,” he said.
I understood Greek and could piece the words together.
“Far… sight?”
The Magus smiled at my. I saw his amusement and… it pleased me.
“Yes, that is correct. This device is for visual entertainment. It uses electricity of course and I’ll demonstrate it to you in a minute. Follow me.”
He made a few more stepped and opened up a double doorway that led into a bedroom, one of which I had not seen before. A massive bed dominated the space. Off to my right was another set of double doors that opened into a marble and tile covered bathing room was my best guess. And there were another set of double wooden doors, all of which were painted in a glassy white colour off to my left. In front of me was a wall of glass and metal, with a balcony beyond looking over the street and trees below. Heavy curtains were drawn up on either side.
“This will be your room Meridiana. That’s your bathroom where you can wash yourself and a toilet for the necessary ablutions. We don’t shit in pots and throw them onto the street anymore by the way. That porcelain seat you see, that’s called a toilet which you sit on that and do your business and flush it away.”
“Oh where the fun in that Magus? It used to be dreadfully amusing to hit unsuspecting passers-by with the contents of the chamber pot!” I laughed with a demonic mischievous grin.
He didn’t seem all that amused, barely cracking a smile.
“We just don’t do that anymore and I tell you now, don’t do it here or anywhere else for that matter. We don’t want or need the attention that would bring upon us. Do you understand?”
“Yes Magus,” I said demurely, still with a small but infernal grin upon my pouty lips.
“Over here is your wardrobe,” he said as he opened the second set of doors that were to my left.
I walked over and gasped as it was full of the most amazing clothing I had yet seen. Opulent, gowns obviously made for a woman hung neatly in a long row. There were shelves and drawers filled with even more garments.
“There were my wife’s clothes. I think you might have to adjust your body’s shape to fit them as she wasn’t as shapely as you are now,” he said with a sad look as he gazed upon his dead wife’s clothing.
“I can do that. That will not be a problem,” I replied as I examined her dresses and gowns, all of which would have been worth a fortune back in Gerbert’s time as they were so well crafted as the colours, patterns and materials would have made the Byzantine Empire’s female nobility go mad with envy at seeing such fine clothing. His wife had excellent taste I may add. I was eager to try on her clothing now.
I turned back to my Magus and gave him the brightest smile.
“This will do nicely!”

Disclaimer: This is a post examining how the current meta will be impacted by the upcoming rotation. It will NOT contain any opinions on how rotation is being implemented or if it'll be good for the game. Instead, it will contain a surface level comparison between each region's current decks and the tools being removed/added tomorrow in an attempt to speculate on what kinds of decks each region will have come tomorrow.
Bandle City:

Lulu Poppy Rumble Ziggs Aloof Travelers Arena Kingpin Arena Mechacaster Assistant Librarian Babbling Balladeers Bomber Twins Bouncing Bomb Cloud Stance Curious Shellfolk Double Tap Ember Monk Entrapment Event Horizon Fix-em-Uppers Flamespitter Friendship! Gruff Grenadier Gust Monk Heroic Charge Hexplosive Minefield Hidden Pathways Hothead Inventive Chemist Keeper’s Verdict Loping Telescope Mega Inferno Bomb Minion Mushroom Ring Papercraft Dragon Pokey Stick Pompous Cavalier Primal Strength Prowling Projectile Purpleberry Shake Quick Quill Rainbowfish Rissu, the Silent Storm Safety Inspector Scholarly Climber Shell Game Spirit Portal Stress Defense The Arsenal The Bandle Tree Thunder Fist Tornado Warrior Transposition Wizened Wizard Yordle Newbie Yordle Ranger Yordle Smith 

The most relevant removals here are the 4 champions, Pokey Stick and most of the multi-region followers. Given that Taliyah Ziggs was one of BC's strongest decks, this is a pretty big blow. Darkness and various flavors of Norra Control should survive, but BC/Demacia style swarm decks appear to be struggling. I predict BC will continue to be niche in the upcoming meta, as they lost quite a lot and aren't really getting anything in return. They might be able to make something happen with Prize Fight in Bilgewater, but the loss of Pokey Stick removes a major incentive to try and force that.
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Bilgewater:

Gangplank Tahm Kench Twisted Fate Abyssal Guard Black Market Merchant Bone Skewer Boxtopus Crusty Codger Double Up Fortune Croaker Golden Narwhal Hunting Fleet Jack, the Winner Jaull-Fish Loaded Dice Lost Riches Lounging Lizard Marai Songstress Mind Meld Monkey Idol Monster Harpoon Mystifiying Magician Pick a Card Pilfered Goods Pocket Aces Prowling Cutthroat Ripper’s Bay Ruined Rex Shakedown Sleight of Hand Smooth Soloist Strong-Arm Sunk Cost The Dreadway The List Wise Fry Ye Been Warned Yordle Grifter Zap Sprayfin 

Bilgewater got off relatively lightly all things considered. The entire nab package is being shipped off, so value plunder is pretty off the table. They also lose Fortune Croaker + Zap Sprayfin, who made their way into virtually every BW deck to ensure they didn't run out of gas. That being said, they still have card draw in the form of Eye of Naga, they still have a large collection of extremely potent 1 drops like crackshot and jagged butcher, and their staples like Make it Rain and Mirai Warden are still very much intact. In addition to whatever Jack brings to the menu (I think pablo is gonna be real strong), pirate burn appears to be alive and well, despite Gangplank leaving. Deep and Lurk were mostly untouched.
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Demacia

Fiora Lux Poppy Back to Back Brightsteel Formation Captain Arrika Cithria the Bold Concerted Strike Dragon Chow Egghead Researcher En Garde Field Promotion Gallant Rider Golden Aegis Greathorn Companion Laurent Bladekeeper Laurent Chevalier Laurent Protege Loyal Badgerbear Mageseeker Conservator Mageseeker Investigator Mageseeker Inciter Mageseeker Persuader Mobilize Molten Breath Petricite Stag Pompous Cavalier Radiant Guardian Radiant Strike Ranger’s Resolve Redoubled Valor Reinforcements Sharpsight Silverwing Diver Stalking Broodmother Stand Alone Succession Swiftwing Lancer The Grand Plaza Vanguard Bannerman Vanguard Firstblade Vanguard Lookout Vanguard Redeemer War Chefs Winds of War Yordle Ranger 

Scouts actually got hit surprisingly hard this rotation, losing Concerted Strike, Ranger's Resolve, Yordle Ranger, and Golden Aegis. The loss of Aegis in particular will be felt across virtually every Demacia deck. Demacia's 3 drop slot also took a surprising number of hits, losing important options such as Vanguard Redeemer and Laurent Protege. While most of the dragon package remains intact, losing Dragon Chow will be deeply felt and pretty much single handedly kills off any hopes for SI dragons being good anytime soon (Targon dragons still have some hope though). Lux/Jayce is very dead, even if Jayce himself is doing fine. Last but not least, Demacia loses an important anti-burn card in Radiant Guardian, making them far more susceptible to just being burned out. Fortunately for Demacia players, Vayne with all her flexibility is still here, meaning Gwen Vayne, Aatrox Vayne, and more are all very much on the table. Elites got hit in the patch, but virtually their entire package is still right there and I don't see them going anywhere either. While they lost the easy tech answer to aggro decks, they should still be very strong in the upcoming meta.
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Freijord

Anivia Braum Trundle Abominable Guardian Ancestral Boon Ancient Yeti Augur of the Old Ones Avarosan Marksman Avarosan Outriders Avarosan Sentry Babbling Bjerg Blighted Ravine Call the Wild Catalyst of Aeons Caught in the Cold Ember Maiden Entreat Faces of the Old Ones Feel the Rush Feral Mystic Gift of the Hearthblood Hearthblood Mender Iceborn Legacy It That Stares Kindly Tavernkeeper Pack Mentality Revitalizing Roar Rimefang Wolf Scarmaiden Reaver Scarmother Vrynna Scarthane Steffen Spirits Unleashed Stalking Wolf Take Heart Tarkaz the Tribeless The Howling Abyss The Scargrounds They Who Endure Troll Chant Troll Ravager Troll Scavenger Troop of Elnuks Unscarred Reaver Voices of the Old Ones Wyrding Stones 

I'm gonna level with you, this one hurt to look through. Their easy in-region ramp payoffs in FTR and Anivia are very gone, but I'm not actually all that worried on that point, win conditions will be found. What's more concerning is that many of their strong board stabilization options are gone. Kindly Tavernkeeper, Hearthblood Mender, and Trundle are all key cards in ramp, control, and even some midrange decks to give the region a fighting chance against burn while they try to survive to their ramp payoff. These removals mean that Freijord goes from being a very important check to burn decks to honestly being rather vulnerable to burn, and given how strong burn traditionally has been in this game, that's very concerning. I'm willing to be proven wrong, but I think any sort of Freijord control/ramp gameplan is pretty dead now. On the bright side, frostbite midrange was essentially untouched, but I still fear that Freijord is about to become a rather 1 dimensional region starting tomorrow.
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Ionia

Irelia Lee Sin Lulu Yasuo Blossoming Blade Charm Claws of the Dragon Dawn and Dusk Deep Meditation Defiant Dance Dragon’s Rage Emerald Awakener Eye of the Dragon Flower Child Fuzzy Caretaker Go Get It Greenglade Elder Greenglade Lookout Health Potion Homecoming Inspiring Mentor Jeweled Protector Ki Guardian Kinkou Lifeblade Kinkou Wayfinder Lead and Follow Memory’s Cloak Mushroom Ring Navori Highwayman Pix! Ribbon Dancer Ritual of Renewal Scattered Pod Shadow Flare Solitary Monk Sown Seeds Steel Tempest Storm of Blades The Mourned Twin Disciplines Vanguard’s Edge Whimsy! Windfarer Hatchling Windswept Hillock Yone, Windchaser Yusari Zephyr Sage Zinneia, Steel Crescendo 

Ionia lost a lot of combo tools. Stuff like Eye of the Dragon and Deep Meditation leaving are going to be pretty substantial blows to the region. Blade Dance is completely gone, so no more azirelia. Yasuo rally is also gone. It's a good thing Sett's getting added, otherwise I'm not sure what the region would have going for it outside of elusive aggro. On the bright side, most of the region's control tools like Will of Ionia and Deny are very intact, so splashing it into other control regions to enable their wincons is just as strong as it was before.
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Targon:

Aphelios Soraka Taric Zoe Against the Odds Arbiter of the Peak Battle Bonds Blessing of Targon Crystal Ibex Earth Elemental Fledgling Stellacorn Freed Colossus Frightened Ibex Giddy Sparkleogist Gift Giver Gifts from Beyond Ground Slam Loping Telescope Mentor of the Stones Messenger’s Sigil Mountain Goat Mountain Scryer Mountain Sojourners Out of the Way Paddle Star Rockfall Path Scholarly Climber Shards of the Mountain Sleepy Trouble Bubble Sneaky Zeebles Spacey Sketcher Sparklefly Spell Thief Spring Guardian Star Shepherd Star Spring Starbone Stargazer Starlit Epiphany Starry Scamp Startipped Peak Supercool Starchart Targon’s Peak The Fangs The Flight The Sky Shadows The Veiled Temple Wish 

RIP Da Fangs. Ok on a more serious note, the big losses here are Zoe + Aphelios, two champions that made up the backbone of countless Targon Value decks, and Mountain Goat, a surprisingly critical card in Fated decks. On one hand, the excellent Daybreak package was untouched, so Targon still has an excellent midrange deck to stomp around with. Dragons could potentially make a comeback, especially with Targon being one of the few remaining regions with strong anti-burn cards to slot in. While The Winding Light has largely taken back seat to Demacia's Champion Strength in terms of "Big midrange wincon", the card is still there for folks who want to experiment with midrange outside of Demacia.
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Noxus

Draven Katarina Rumble Vladimir Arachnoid Host Arachnoid Sentry Arena Bookie Arena Kingpin Arena Mechacaster Arrel the Tracker Battering Ram Black Rose Spy Blade’s Edge Blood for Blood Captive Yeti Crimson Aristocrat Crimson Awakener Crimson Bloodletter Crimson Curator Crimson Disciple Crowd Favorite Culling Strike Death Lotus Death’s Hand Decimate Draven’s Biggest Fan House Spider Hunt the Weak Legion Grenadier Legion Rearguard Legion Veteran Legionary Charge Mimic Noxian Guillotine Ravenous Flock Ruined Reckoner Shiraza the Blade Shrieking Spinner Shunpo Sigil of Malice Survival Skills Thorn of the Rose Thrashing Snapper Whispered Words Wild Claws 

Noxus is a strange case. It feels like they got hit hard and not hard at the same time. Swain control decks are going to be extremely sad with the loss of Ravenous Flock, and a pretty wide variety of decks are going to miss Wispered Words, House Spider and Legion Grenadier. Burn decks will finally be forced to cut Decimate, and the loss of Rearguard is going to incentivize them into Bilgewater even more than before. That being said, Noxian burn still feels pretty intact? They're getting an excellent plunder package, Crimson Pigeon is still terrifying, imperial demolitionist and saboteur still push the damage, it feels like most of what's being lost are midrange to control tools. The loss of flock does make it particularly difficult to level up Swain in region though. I recommend players still looking to use him to either look at PnZ and try to force control to work or to look at strike spells like Brutal Skirmish or Prize Fight.
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PnZ:

Ezreal Vi Viktor Academy Prodigy Aloof Travelers Amateur Aeronaut Ambush Assembly Bot Astute Academic Ballistic Bot Bandle Painter Boomcrew Rookie Calculated Creations Caustic Cask Chempunk Pickpocket Chempunk Shredder Concurrent Timelines Counterfeit Copies Coup de Grace Death Ray – MK 1 Defective Swapbot Eager Apprentice Eminent Benefactor Fallen Feline Fanclub President Flash of Brilliance Get Excited! Give it All Glorious Evolution Hexcore Foundry Hextech Transmogulator Insightful Investigator Intrepid Mariner Iterative Improvement Jae Medarda Mechanized Mimic Midenstokke Henchmen Parade Electrorig Patrol Wardens Poro Cannon Professor Von Yipp Progress Day Rising Spell Force Scrapdash Assembly Shady Character Statikk Shock Stinky Whump Stress Testing Suit Up! Sumpsnipe Scavenger The University of Piltover Thermogenic Beam Trail of Evidence Tri-Beam Improbulator Unlicensed Innovation Unstable Voltician Used Cask Salesman Vault Breaker Volunteer Elnuk 

I found the burn nerfs guys, looks like they were just concentrated almost entirely in PnZ. Get Excited, Boomcrew Rookie, Cask Salesman, pretty much all the classic PnZ burn cards save for Jynx herself are getting rotated out. I'm not sure what the logic of this was, imo PnZ has been the weakest of the 3 "burn" regions for a long while and this rotation cements that. Obviously an entire archetype is going away in the form of Ezreal combo. Control got off lighter, but the loss of Static Shock and Thermo Beam are definitely going to be felt. Jayce Heimer should survive, but I'm not seeing a whole lot else here in the region. Darkin Harp + Vayne might also be able to live without Vi, but at that point it's less a PnZ deck and more a Demacia deck that splashes one or two PnZ spells. At least Ekko might finally be able to branch out of Shurima (clearly we should run him in Bilgewater so that Ekko can predict off of Prize Fights).
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Shadow Isles

Elise Hecarim Kindred Thresh Absorb Soul Ancient Crocolith Arachnoid Horror Astral Fox Atrocity Blighted Caretaker Brood Awakening Crawling Sensation Cursed Keeper Doombeast Fading Memories Frenzied Skitterer Fresh Offerings Gluttony Go Hard Hapless Aristocrat Haunted Relic Iron Harbinger Lamb’s Respite Minion Mistkeepers Mistwraith Neverglade Collector Oblivious Islander Onslaught of Shadows Pesky Specter Phantom Prankster Possession Ravenous Butcher Risen Mists Shroud of Darkness Song of the Isles Soul Sheperd Soulspinner Spectral Matron Splinter Soul Stirred Spirits Stygian Onlooker The Box The Twisted Treeline Thorny Toad Tortured Prodigy Unspeakable Horror Unto Dusk Vile Feast Withering Mist Withering Wail Wraithcaller 

I will never understand why Kindred had to go. Anyway, the three big headlines here are spiders are extremely dead, ephemeral burn is dead (and with that ephemerals as an archetype most likely), and Vile Feast is going to drastically weaken the aggro matchup of any SI control deck. Fortunately(?) Hallowed was almost literally untouched, so most of your favorite Gwen decks should still be on the menu (Red Gwen losing Kat will def sting, but I doubt the deck is dead). As mentioned earlier, if any control deck can survive the loss of Vile Feat, it'll likely be Darkness. Blighted Caretaker, Ravenous Butcher and Cursed Keeper leaving pretty much kills any sort of slay midrange ideas, as you can no longer do the "SI Special" of Barkbeast into Keeper into either Caretaker or Butcher to instantly create a massively threatening board that heavily swings the game into your favor. Atrocity leaving doesn't help that either. Viego is still here, even if his primary wincon of Atrocity is gone. Depending on where the meta goes there might still be a home for Viego control.
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Shurima:

Sivir Xerath Ziggs Zilean Acolyte’s Reliquary Bomber Twins Boomerang Blade Callous Bonecrusher Careful Preparation Chronoshift Construct of Desolation Desert’s Wrath Endless Devout Herald of the Magus Hothead Imagined Possibilities Inner Sanctum Payday Preservarium Preservationist Profiteer Raz Bloodmane Ricochet Risen Altar Rite of Calling Rite of Passage Rite of the Arcane Ruin Runner Ruinous Acolyte Ruinous Path Sai Scout Sanctum Conservator Sandseer Shaped Stone Spirit Fire Stoneweaving The Absolver The Time Has Come Thrumming Swarm Treasure Seeker Unleashed Energy Unraveled Earth Unworthy Waste Walker 

Man almost every Shurima archetype got hit here. Shurima Girls is gone with Sivir and Ruin Runner. Acolytes are dead and buried. Sun Disk probably returns to meme tier without Xerath (won't stop me from trying though). Preservium leaving is going to hit a lot of decks, and Taliyah in particular got utterly pummeled this rotation. She lost Ziggs, Herald of the Magus, Endless Devout, and even Shaped Stone. I'm not calling the gal dead, but if she does manage to hang on, I'll be impressed. Even Akshan managed to get hit with Absolver getting removed. If I had to find a silver lining here, it's that Azir got some neat support this expansion and Akshan isn't gone gone. That being said, I don't see too many obvious routes for Shruima to go. Maybe Prize Fight Renekton? (I really like Prize Fight, can you tell I really like Prize Fight?)
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Anyway, that's all I really got today. Bilgewater appears to be the obvious winner of this rotation and expansion, with Demacia and Noxus getting through relatively unscathed. The rest of the regions got hit pretty hard and don't have obvious directions to go post-patch. Freijord in particular is really struggling, even more than it was in the previous meta. Anyway that's all I got, night folks.

God is a morally perfect entity. His love/mercy and his justice cannot be compromised. If people weren’t held responsible for wrongdoings, he wouldn’t be a morally perfect entity. As such, God must respond to sin. And this dovetails with my further point, which is that all people are imperfect, or miss the mark sort of speak. A person may question and ask: why can't God create heaven to begin with? But it’s possible that no matter what world God creates with free creatures, we would go wrong anyway. (If this is even a possibility, then if true it would be impossible for God to create people who always freely do the right, since it's logically impossible for God to make someone freely do good. Omnipotence is traditionally defined as being able to do anything logically possible.) Spiritual forces (e.g., the fall of Satan) only propounds the issue. This all means that heaven could only be at the final stage of history.
Support for this argument comes from the logical impossibility for God to create an impeccable free will (a libertarian free will with the impossibility of sinning). Since God contains such a will, God would be creating another God in that case. And due to the logical impossibility of creating the uncreated, He could have not created such a will. This could support the idea that God couldn't have created a free will that He foreknew would always freely do the good. It's possible that any person with libertarian free will would eventually go wrong.
One could come back and say that someone who is always placed in circumstances that God foreknew would lead to good (free) choices is possible. But there would be absolutely no soul-building on this view. Timothy Pawl points out an illustration in his 2009 paper "Incompatibilism, Sin, and Free Will in Heaven," "suppose that Smith is prone to adultery. But Smith’s wife knows this about him. Suppose she knows the precise circumstances he would have to be in to commit adultery, or even freely will to commit adultery. Now suppose she is very good at keeping him out of these circumstances such that he is never again in adultery-prone circumstances. Extend the example a bit more and suppose that she knows what circumstances he would have to be in to perform any other sins as well. ... No matter where he finds himself, provided that his wife is watching over him, he won’t sin." This seems absurd in the extreme. Further, is one really free on this view? One certainly wouldn't have any morally significant free will. As Alvin Plantinga defines it; a person has significant free will only if that individual is “free with respect to an action that is morally significant for him,” where an action is morally significant for a person at a given time “if it would be wrong for him to perform the action then but right to refrain, or vice versa" - Plantinga, The Nature of Necessity, p. 166. Significant free will is thus a robust, non-trivial freedom of the will. If God were to create beings who could choose freely only once, and then only between two morally neutral options, it would be true to say that such creatures have free will, but it would be false to say that they have significant free will. But we would lack this if God always simply placed people in certain situations that he foreknows would lead to good decisions.
Since we all miss the mark and have done wrong things, none of us deserve heaven. In fact, many people curiously ask the question: “how could an all loving all powerful God send anyone to eternal hell”? But a better question could be: “how could an all just God send anyone to heaven”? This is especially since Gods justice cannot be compromised by his other characteristics. Thus, He can’t just forgive wrongdoings, which we all do. So what is God to do in this dilemma? He cannot make anyone freely choose to believe in Him. That is logically impossible, and theologians have always affirmed that God is omnipotent in the sense of being able to do anything logically possible. In my view, the only way to reconcile this philosophically is for God himself to become a human and to bear the justice that his own nature enacts wrongdoing being punished with. In other words, God cannot simply forego imposing the requisite penalty or extracting the debt owed. Instead, because of the relevant divine attributes, God must endure the payment of the debt or impose the just punishment for human sin in order to be able to forgive human beings and accept reconciliation with them. The whole reason why Christians say that Jesus is the only way. If one doesn’t accept the offer of mercy only made possible by God becoming a man to take on the punishment that His own nature demands their sins punished with, they fall back on Gods justice. As such, God's doesn't send anyone to hell, people send themselves.
And this is what all makes Isaiah 52:13-53:12 so beautiful. It's not a righteous third party that dies for our sins. It's God Himself who became a man who died for our sins to take the just wrath that we all deserve, so we can all go free. And this text was written over 500 years before Jesus!

^\God Speaks:]) See, my servant shall succeed; he shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be very high. Just as there were many who were astonished at you—so marred was his appearance, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of mortals—so he shall sprinkle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of him; for that which had not been told them they shall see, and that which they had not heard they shall contemplate. ^\Israel Speaks:]) Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by others; a man of pains and acquainted with sorrows; and like the hiding of the face for him, he was despised, and we held him of no account. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed. We all like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own ways, but the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By a perversion of justice he was taken away. Yet who of his generation even considered that he was cut off from the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people to whom the blow belonged? They made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him with weakness. When you make his life a guilt offering, he shall see offspring, and shall prolong days; and through him the will of the Lord shall prosper. Out of his anguish he shall see light; he shall find satisfaction through his knowledge. ^\God Speaks:]) The righteous one, my servant, shall make many to be considered righteous, and he shall bear their sins. Therefore I will allot him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the multitudes; because he poured out his life to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of the many, and will intervene for the transgressors.

Within the dramatic movement of the Servant Songs, the Servant emerges as an individual, and as a representative individual. This individual is representative because he is mysteriously identified and united with Israel and the world, acting for Israel and the world in their stead, doing what they could not do for themselves, and that in the culminating fourth Song this representative individual suffers, is rejected by his own people, is unjustly executed, is put to death for the sins of the many, buried, and then raised to life and glorified, all this that he might redeem the remnant of Israel and bring the gentiles to God. This is Jesus!
There is huge debate and controversy over the identity of the Servant in Isaiah. On the one hand, Isaiah says Israel is the Servant outside of the Servant songs. On the other hand, the Servant reads like an individual in the Servant songs. There is a quite simple resolution to this. While the Servant is identified as Jacob-Israel outside of the songs, the nation of Israel is revealed within the dynamic movement of the four Servant songs as being embodied in a suffering individual figure. So, the Servant never stops being "Israel," but "Jacob-Israel" undergoes a reduction down to one within these songs. This is not my invention but is rather a prominent scholarly opinion. For example, Ricki Watts writes in his 1990 article: "In cognizance of the individual traits . . . it would appear that true Israel has been reduced to one (cf. 53:6 and ch. 48)" - Rikki Watts, 1990: p. 55. Jan L. Koole writes that Deutero-Isaiah's "reproaches to the Israel of his day, esp. in chap. 48, are so sharp and so much aimed at the people as a whole, that this 'true' Israel has undergone an extreme reduction (Simon, Sawyer) and must, it seems, be confined to an individual" - J.L. Koole, Isaiah III, Vol. 2 (Peeters, 1998), pp. 12-13. Brevard S. Childs writes: "what is crucial to observe is that one, bearing all the marks of an individual historical figure, has been named servant, not to replace corporate Israel—the servant in Second Isaiah remains inseparable from Israel—but as a faithful embodiment of the nation Israel who has not performed its chosen role (48:1–2)" - Brevard S. Childs, Isaiah: A Commentary (OTL, 2001), p. 385. Paul R. Raabe writes: "the reader should understand the “Servant of Yahweh” who is to restore collective Israel and atone for collective Israel as Israel-reduced-to-one, God’s Israel-in-one" - Paul Raabe 2018: 331.
The Servant within the Servant Songs can't be Jacob-Israel as a collective, because there are numerous points of contrast between the Servant and Israel as a nation.

1. For example, in Isa. 49:5-6 the Servant has a mission to the nation as a group. This means that the nation as Servant is understood to shrink in size. But is this shrinking in size down to one person, or a righteous remnant? Isaiah 49:6 qualifies Israel as the remnant, so the reduction of the Servant seems to be down to one person.
2. One also can't so easily compare the individual language applied to Israel outside of the songs with the Servant in the songs, since Israel as Servant is intentionally shrunk down in size so as to be distinct from Israel as a nation (as indicated by Isa. 49:5-6), along with the heightening of the individualistic language in each successive song. This combination of shrinking and heightening seems to signify an intentional reduction of what the prophet considered true Israel down to one.
3. Further, the switch from the "Servant" in Isaiah 40-53 to the collective "servants" of the Servant motif in Isaiah 54-66 (see the "servants"/"offspring" section below) through the Servant's offspring implies that the Servant Songs have, in the context of the book as a whole, both a (primary) individual sense, referring to the Servant, and a (secondary) collective sense, referring to the faithful remnant, (cf. Isaiah 50:10-11), the servants of the Servant.
4. Lastly, the people of Israel and its remnant in the context of Isaiah are transgressors (e.g., Isa. 46:1-12; 48:1-11), while the Servant is faithful and righteous (Isa. 53:9, 11).

Many other points could be raised. Isaiah 49:3 does not preclude this, unless one begs the question against the "Israel-reduced-to-one" view. Plus, in Isa. 49:3, the name of Israel is probably a predicate: "you are Israel" (Jaap Dekker 2012: 38-39). As a result of arguments like these, Joseph Blenkinsopp writes in his Yale commentary on Isaiah 40-55:

"Ever since Christopher R. North surveyed the range of opinion on the identity of the Servant in 1948 (2d ed., 1956), no significant new options have emerged. While there was then and still is a strong critical preference for an individual rather than a collective interpretation, none of the fifteen individuals named as candidates by one commentator or another and listed by North has survived scrutiny" (Joseph Blenkinsopp, Isaiah 40-55 [AYBC; Yale University Press, 2002]: 355).

So, is the Servant an individual or Israel? Both. This fits with corporate election in the OT. As Brian J. Abasciano writes in his 2009 ATJ article: the "notion of election is rooted in the Old Testament concept of corporate solidarity or representation, which views the individual as representing the community and identified with it and vice versa" (p. 70). Thus,

"For God’s Old Testament people were chosen in Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob/Israel. Jacob was chosen in the womb, and at the very same time his descendants were chosen; they were chosen in him. “And the Lord said to her, ‘Two nations are in your womb. And two peoples from your belly will be divided. And one people will be stronger than the other people. And the older will serve the younger’ (Gen. 25:23). Notice how Jacob is wholly identified with his people before they exist. His election is their election; his destiny is their destiny" - p. 73.

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Some Notes on the Details of Isaiah 52:13-53:13.

• Isaiah 52:13: The Servant as YHWH Himself.

The human Servant in Isaiah 52:13 is implied to somehow be YHWH Himself, as recognized by many scholars. The phrase ר֧וּם plus וְ plus נִשָּׂ֛א appears only in Isaiah 6:1; 52:13; 57:15 out of the entire Hebrew Bible, and in Isaiah 6:1 and 57:15 they refer to God. In addition, Isaiah 57:15 and 52:13 seem to refer to the earlier text (Isa. 6:1, which unambiguously refers to God). Moreover, the words ר֧וּם and נִשָּׂ֛א almost always apply to YHWH in Isaiah, and Isaiah 2 makes it clear that only YHWH should be ר֧וּם or נִשָּׂ֛א, as do other Isaian texts. In the exceptions where these terms are applied to other entities, those entities are to be humbled (e.g., Isa. 2:13). Thus, the Servant in the narrative shares the glory of YHWH, which however only belongs to YHWH alone (Isa. 2:11, 17; 42:8; 48:11). For example, Isaiah 2:11, 17 says that: "Yahweh alone will be exalted." Isaiah 42:8 and 48:11 says that YHWH shares his glory with no other. For all these points, see: Mark S. Gignilliat 2008, pp. 131-132; Daniel J. Brendsel 2014, p. 143; and Jaap Dekker 2017, pp. 475-491. Additional points can be raised as well, such as the fact that the Servant calls upon the nations to "listen to me" (Isa. 49:1), even though every time the word "listen" is followed by אֵלַ֔י ("to me") as the direct object, "it is always God who draws attention to himself, 46:3, 12; 48:12; 51:1, 7; 55:3, and so 'listen to me' in this v. also suggests a speaker who transcends the merely human" (Jan L. Koole, Isaiah 49-55, p. 7).
​

• Isaiah 52:14: The Appearance of the Servant.

This verse alludes to the suffering the Servant goes through later in the very same song (e.g., "stricken," "smitten," "afflicted," "pierced," "crushed," "punishment," "wounds," etc.). It is not saying that the Servant-Messiah was the ugliest man of all time. It is reminiscent of the Psalter in Psalm 22:6 who says that "I am a worm, and not human." It would be a mistake to interpret this physically.
​

• The Speakers in Isaiah 53:1ff.

I think it is the followers or "offspring" of the Servant = the "servants" of the Servant = the new Israel that speaks in Isaiah 53. That Israel in some form is speaking is indicated by the following points. First, 'every time the words ‘we,’ ‘our,’ or ‘us’ are introduced without an explicit identification of the speaker, it is always the prophet speaking on behalf of the people of Israel (1:9f.; 16:6; 24:26; 33:2, 20; 42:24; 59:9-12; 63:15-19; 64:3-11; etc.).' For this point, see G.P. Hugenberger, “The Servant of the Lord in the ‘Servant Songs’ of Isaiah: A Second Moses Figure,” pp. 6-7.
More significantly, the words "my people" in Isaiah 53:8 also shows how it the prophet speaking on behalf of Israel, as elsewhere in Isaiah (e.g., Isaiah 1:3; 3:12, 15; 5:13; 10:2, 24; 14:25; 21:10; 22:4; 26:20; 32:13, 18; 40:1; 43:20; 47:6; 51:4; 52:4, 5, 6), with Isaiah 19:25 being the only exception to this (which proves the rule, since the whole point of Isa. 19:23-25 is that gentiles, who are here represented by two neighboring superpowers, are grafted into Israel, as shown by the application of the bundesformel to Egypt). In fact, "my people" is always applied to Israel in the Hebrew Bible, except when contextual factors demand otherwise (such as in Isa. 19:25), which is lacking here.
Lastly, as Brevard S. Childs points out: "the confessing ‘we’ of the Old Testament is always Israel and not the nations (Hos. 6:1ff.; Jer. 3:21ff.; Dan. 9:4ff.)" - Childs, Isaiah, p. 413, including in Isaiah itself (see, e. g., 16:6; 24:16; 42:24; 64:4–5). Heskett writes that the nations being the speaker would result in a "sui generis because nowhere in the entire Old Testament does the voice “we” pertain to the nations but always to Israel" - Randall Heskett, Messianism Within the Scriptural Scroll of Isaiah (T&T Clark, 2007), p. 176.
Other points could be added too. However, it is the new Israel which speaks in Isaiah 53 (or at least the nations are included in the benefits of the speaker), as made clear by Isaiah 54-55 and by the fact that Isaiah 53 is a confession of those who believe the Servant and identify with the Servant (hence the name "servants," see below). Some scholars however think that the nations/kings speak in Isaiah 53 due to the natural flow between Isaiah 52:15 and 53:1, as well as lexical connections which establishes continuity between the two verses. However, this continuity serves to include the nations/kings in the confession rather than identify the speaker with the nations/kings. In other words, gentiles are grafted into the new Israel = the "servants" (something explicitly expressed in e.g., Isaiah 56:3-8), who speak in the main body of Isaiah 53.
​

• Isaiah 53:5: The Pierced and Crushed Servant.

Here, "pierced" is the best translation. If we see how the root chalal is used in biblical Hebrew, we see that it primarily means either "profane" or “pierced.” See Job 26:13; Jer. 14:18; 41:9; Ezek 6:13; 9:7; 28:7, 9; 32:26; 2 Sam. 23:8, 18 and especially Isaiah 22:2; 51:9 for a piercing. Since the context suggests a connotation stronger then "profane," it seems like "pierced" is our best bet. Most importantly, in Isaiah 51:9, "pierced" (applied to a chaos creature) is the best translation due to the parallelism present with how Rahab is said to be "hacked in pieces" (הַמַּחְצֶ֥בֶת). Kristin Joachimsen writes that the word ְמחָֹלל in Isa. 53:15 "is most often taken to be חלל II “pierce”, cf. Isa. 51:9" - Kristin Joachimsen, Identities in Transition: The Pursuit of Isa. 52:13-53:12 (Leiden: Brill, 2011), pp. 113, fn. 95.
Regarding the min, there is nothing wrong with translating the min as "because of," but that is meant vicariously. The preposition in itself denotes cause or reason. The nature of the cause or reason is determined by the context. In Isaiah 53:5 the cause or reason is substitutionary and vicarious: e.g., "The Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all" (verse 6). Also, see the bet pretii in verse 5b ("by his wounds we were healed").
Regarding the word that is sometimes translated as "crushed," מְדֻכָּ֖א, often denotes death or oppression/inner humiliation in the Hebrew Bible, including in Isaiah (3:15; 57:15). And this is not a matter of "literal vs. metaphorical" interpretation. It's taking seriously the semantic range of the word, especially in the genre we are dealing with.
​

• Isaiah 53:10: The "offspring"/"servants" of the Servant.

In Isaiah 53:10, it says that the Servant will "see offspring" and make many righteous. Ever since. the JSOT essay by W.A.M. Beuken published in 1990, many scholars have widely realized that, after the reference to the servant "seeing" offspring in Isaiah 53:10, the figure of the individual servant is replaced by a community called the “servants” in the plural (Isa. 54:17; 56:6; 63:17; 65:8, 9, 13-15; 66:14) and “offspring" (e.g., Isa. 59:21; 61:8-9; 65:9, 23; 66:22), who identify with the Servant and form a new Israel (W.A.M. Beuken 1990: pp. 67-87). Thus, the "offspring" in Isa. 53:10 (and the reference of the Servant making "many" righteous in 53:11) serves as a fulcrum for this entire shift in focus from Servant to this community called the "servants" or "offspring" - the followers of the Servant who identify with him. Regarding the "offspring" and the "servants of the Servant," they fit Jesus and his followers. Regarding the "offspring" and the "servants of the Servant," they live throughout the whole earth (Isa. 54:1-3; 56:6-8; 65:17ff.), include gentiles (Isa. 54:1-3; 56:6-8; 66:18-23), are rejected by un-believing ethnic Israel (Isa. 63:16-17; 65-66), are given a "everlasting," "new," and "different name" (Isa. 56:5; 62:2; 65:15), are proselytes to serve as a light to the nations (Isa. 66:18-23), and form a new and redeemed Israel for anyone who so chooses. These are the true followers of the Servant/Jesus!
​

• Isaiah 53:10-12: The Resurrection and Spoil of the Servant.

James P. Ware writes: "that the Servant is portrayed in the fourth Song as restored from death to life is recognized by the majority of interpreters. The text is explicit that following his demise the Servant “will prolong days” (53:10) and “will see light” (53:11). [The word] אוׁר (“light”), omitted in MT, is attested by IQIsa-a, IQIsa-b, 4QIsa-d, and LXX, and is doubtless the original reading. References to “light” thus recur in all four Servant poems (42:6; 49:6; 50:10-11; 53:11)" - James P. Ware, Paul and the Mission of the Church, Philippians in Ancient Jewish Context, 2011, p. 75. The Servant also "divides spoil" after his death.
The spoil that the Servant divides is his salvation, exaltation and unique role in continuing the plan of YHWH. This is supported by the "because" that follows this clause. Thus, the "servants" of the Servant participate in the Servant's redemptive mission and shares his victory (cf. Isa. 55:1-3).
"The many" who have their sins carried by the Servant include gentiles. The "many" recalls the use of "many" with reference to the "many nations" that the Servant sprinkles in Isa. 52:15. That gentiles are included is proven by the fact that Gentiles are included in the Servant's Kingdom and mission (Isa. 42:4, 6; 49:6-7), and the fact that Isaiah 54-56 describes the people who are redeemed by the Servant as including those of the nations (54:17; cf. 56:3-8).

I just downloaded the game less than a week ago and I must say I'm absolutely enamored with it. The art style and super in-depth customization system caught my attention right from the start. I am playing a strength build and am having a great time with it.
The bosses and even some of the normal mobs are reasonably challenging so far. The learning curve isn't too steep at all and the combat feels fantastic. I don't have much experience with this sort of combat system (I played Dark Souls 3 once but it was a long time ago) but I must say it has definitely sparked my interest. I am quite intrigued by the story so far as well.
At the moment, I'm level 43 and working through the second part of the Cathedral (screw this place btw) just after the Queenslayer memory sequence. I'm incredibly excited to get out of this part of the game and experience what the rest of the story has to offer.
I haven't tinkered with the co-op element yet, but probably will once I git gud.
Any tips and advice are of course welcome!
TL;DR: This game rocks.

Overall, it meets the standards. If you're a Harry Potter fan looking for a game with a story experience, this is it! The combat is not very clear. You can't cast spells and counterattack simultaneously.

Gameplay

Basic game design

The story takes place before Harry Potter's time at Hogwarts, and has nothing to do with the books, so it's best not to compare it to them. Although the plot is very cliché, it is effective and follows the process of the "hero's journey" in the book "The Hero with a Thousand Faces": the hero sets out, encounters unfortunate events, practices various skills, and defeats the boss. I give it a 6 out of 10.

Combat

Combat involves using four spells from your equipment. However, it's confusing because you can change your spells during combat and each has its own cooldown. There are up to four sets of spells, so you can quickly cast 16 different spells. What's the point of this system? I don't mind the hassle of dragging all the spells to one side, but I lose the fun of building(like Diablo 3/4).
As for the enemies, there are many types, but they are not very distinctive. By carefully reading the collection, you can see that each type of enemy has 1-2 spell weaknesses, but it's difficult to tell the difference between a ashwinder soldier and a ashwinder assassin. Some are good at shields (scouts), some are good at chantings (executioners), some just stand far away and cast Levioso, and I think the game originally intended for you to face these combinations and prepare your four spells to deal with them. But in reality, it's chaotic to cast spells (even if I always assign control spell to 2,4 keys and assign dmg to 1,3), and with enemy waves, it takes time to recognize their movements, resulting in confusion. Frankly speaking, hardcore players should be able to distinguish enemy types and come up with strategies, but I finished the main story at level 30 without distinguishing between human and fairy troops. I give it a 5 out of 10.

Missions

The mission system seems well-designed and has learned a lot from open-world games like "Assassin's Creed". There are often apparel treasure chests, enchantments, or collectibles between tasks, and they are reasonably distributed. The main storyline takes about 30 hours, and the side missions take about 10 hours. The collections are also diverse, with Merlin trials, various puzzles, and racing distributed densely. Doing a task often deviates from the intended path, but the game time is guaranteed. I give it a 7 out of 10.

Controls

I tried the game with both a gamepad and a keyboard. The gamepad was difficult to operate during combat because it was not very sensitive. Additionally, why doesn't the gamepad display all four configurations like the keyboard does? Instead, you have to keep switching back and forth. I mentioned some combat operational problems earlier, and another problem is that when you dodge at will, the scene is very messy, making it difficult to observe the situation. Countering is purely reactive, and without locking on, the gamepad often gets hit. It's frustrating.

Levels

Difficulty

The overall difficulty is ok. I chose "hard" but it wasn't too hard. I only had failed some times in the last two final bosses. But for those who have suffered from soul like games, it's not a big deal. After all, I still have a bunch of magic potions and plants.
I recommend group pull and push are required, and you can choose other damage depending on your preference. There are also many combos in online videos. A problem with the talent system is that you don't need to unlock them all at once. It's better to wait and unlock higher levels. Even though you can learn three unforgivable curses, I don't recommend going all out on dark magic, the ideal operation is to constantly attack the most vulnerable targets and spread your curses until the last one where you finish off everything. However, the talent is limited, and the long cooldown is a hindrance. I give it an 8 out of 10 for difficulty.

Map

The map structure is very simple, and the distribution of teleportation points is reasonable. Flying is very convenient early on, but there are some tunnels and tasks that require walking. There are many points in the castle, but the depth is difficult to discern, and the nearest point to the mission may not actually be the closest. I give it a 7 out of 10.

Conclusion

Overall, it's a game with a lot of sincerity. It's a little expensive to spend 298 CNY to experience for 30 hours of the storyline. This gap is made up for by the addition of Harry Potter fans.

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I got him into souls recently via Dark Souls 2, the superior souls game. He then played 1 and 3 and then did 100% achievements for all three of them.
Since he has a PS4 he went BB next, and he streamed the whole thing to me because I only played it via PS Now (thus no DLC). Bloody Crow was the hardest enemy for him in the base game.
I just watched him 1st try both Maria and Laurence. He parry locked Maria, but Laurence surprised me.
From what I heard and watched, Laurence was supposed to be one of the hardest bosses, but all he did was do slow flails and grabs and in 2nd phase crawl and spew lasagna all over the arena.
He was using the Burial Blade. I never gave him any tips, just explained mechanics and stuff.

5'11 215lbs
A few weeks ago I woke up with back pain, didn't think much of it and thought I just slept wrong and I would feel better in a few days
Less than a week later, I started having some mild stomach cramps and some wicked constipation. Last weekend (about 10 days ago) I drank a bottle of magnesium Citrate and drank a bunch of water and was able to have bowel movements, through the day was pooping water and some
Since then I've had fairly decent bowel movements, no constipation
However I've been having wicked back pain and cramps, some mild discomfort in my lower abdomen or colon and have had this weird dull pain on my upper left rib cage, its like the pain is coming from inside the rib case
Last week I went to one of those walk in clinics, the MSN there pressed against my stomach and sides but didn't really feel any abnormal pain, then she pressed against the lower abdomen and it felt weird and she believed it may be diverticulitis
They took a urine test which came back fine, and ordered a CT scan which I have on Friday
Over the last few days I've had a stiff back with dull pain and cramps, took some GasX today and I was passing gas today. Also eating was difficult because when I ate sometimes I would get feelings of nausea
However after work today I got up and went outside and suddenly my back felt like it had like an extra 100 lbs of pressure on it which is crazy, it was hard to walk, I had to bend over and walk, it wasn't crippling pain but it still hurt and felt as if I had pulled something
I was worried about it being serious, just in the last hour I ate a Banana and some Mac n Cheese and was able to keep it down so that's good, although I had very mild nausea, I know being unable to keep is a red flag
Over the last week I've dropped about 3-4 lbs but I'm also fasting this month and not eating for 14 hours of drinking water so that might be why
About 30 minutes ago after I ate the banana, I went for a quick 5 minute run and was it help alleviate my back pain, although it still has that dull pain it wasn't nearly as bad as it was earlier when it was nigh crippling
I've also taken Prilosec on and off over the past week and also took some L Glutamine yesterday just one 500mg pill
As far as stool goes, pretty standard, nothing out of the ordinary that I could tell.
I have a CT scan later this week but If possible I'd like to hear some insight on any ideas on what may going on down there.
Right now the biggest issue is the back pain, my stomach can cramp but its nothing compared to the back pain, it isn't the lower back, its the mid back or its aligned with the middle and upper ribcage
Few other things to share, in September 2014 I had an endoscopy and had H. Pylori, took some meds and a few weeks later I was fine
Early 2015 I believe I was diagnosed with GERD
Late 2015-Early 2016 had another Endoscopy, was having wicked stomach pains to the point that anything I would eat would have this sharp burning pain in my stomach, turns out I had a polyp or an ulcer and after that I was fine
I will say that the back pain I'm feeling now is nothing compared to that stomach burning pain I had 7 years ago
Update: I did vomit some liquid from a fruit drink I had but the solid foods have stayed down and after I vomitted the water I'm not feeling nausea anymore, maybe I had too much? Or maybe running for 5 minutes had something to do with it?

​

Table of Contents
Chapter 17 l Chapter 18 l Chapter 19 l Chapter 20 l Chapter 21 l Chapter 22 l Chapter 23
Chapter 24

​
St. Michael
Failure.
The thought hit me hard. I watched as Xyphiel crested over the wall and stared down upon me. All I could see in his visage was my failure.
Once, so long ago, at the edge of the memory of eternity stood a Niten Dragon whose passion for God and his kind rivaled my own.
He was to be, in truth, my successor.
A man born of peace, not war. A man who would sacrifice everything unto his family, his kin, and at the end of the day, smile and request if there were more he could give.
Now the abomination before me glared at me with contempt and downright glee.
Corrupted by Pride and by my Brother Lucifer. The Fallen Prophet Xyphiel stood before me, in his most impure form.
The darkness in his eyes was an abyss that knew no true depth. Hovering over those twin pits of pitch-black void sat a pair of dark crimson embers. His once scaled, Seraphim wings, were replaced by the Cherubim wings of my Brother Lucifer, yet even those Xyphiel had altered.
No more were they white, nor even blackened by soot as they could easily become. Nay! Now they rose behind him in a charred crimson, catching the fading light of the sun here and there.
His armor, stained with the blood of millions as his hand, clad in a golden gauntlet, wielded the Puriel Blade.
I would free that blade from his hand by the end of this day, one way or another. I knew that within, he drew from the demons imprisoned in the Puriel Blade.
The Puriel blade housed legions of demons, lost souls, and Fallen angels. Xyphiel had not let it out of his sight all this time. Likely drawing from Lucifer and God knows how many other unholy powers which were trapped within.
I knew my goal and my hand was outstretched, waiting for the tool I could use to achieve it.
Geoffery placed my original sword in my hand.
As it touched my gauntlet I could feel the blade’s spirit emboldened. Through Geoffery’s works over the millennia, he had tempered it in Justice and Goodwill, as I had instructed him.
Though far from my disciple, I turned to Geoffrey, appraising the blade and hearing it resonate with the songs of its use as it defended the helpless and smote the wicked by Geoffrey's hand.
As if the blade itself took me through Geoffrey's life as he battled against man and old Gods alike.
This particular blade was forged once from the remains of a defeated Old One. The spirit purified in God’s divine power, its essence cleansed of darkness and void and replaced with unending light and hope.
I had missed this blade, my Blade of Ohr Tahor. With it and my shield of Chazak Choma, I readied myself to do battle with Xyphiel, as it was foretold.
For I knew that Xyphiel wielded the power of my Brother, Lucifer of Pride, and now I would have to defeat him.
If I failed this day, all was lost.
“Geoffrey Karkade, you have done well. Now, return to me my blade, so that I may try and fulfill my Father's prophecy,” I praised Geoffrey, my eyes never leaving Xyphiel.
“Done well??!” Xyphiel scoffed, laughing as he approached, landing several meters from myself, The Metatron Timothy, and Geoffrey. “Do you not know what he is responsible for, Michael?”
I narrowed my eyes at him, readying my shield and sword, “I have had enough of your venom, Fallen Prophet! This ends today!” I shouted.
Xyphiel did not acknowledge me, addressing Timothy, “Ask your supposed mother, Boy! Your dear uncle is the one who destroyed all of Nite at the behest of Lucifer! Now he claims to be Michael’s disciple. Yet…” Xyphiel’s brow furrowed in fury as his eyes fixed on me, “When I came to the Guardian Council, I was offered no mercy…”
Before I could speak, Geoffrey called out, “There’s a difference between you and me, Xyphiel! Though it is true, I did as you said long ago! I set myself upon a path to atone for my misdeeds, rather than wallow further in the mud of corruption!”
I couldn’t help but smile. Of all the people, I never thought a former child of Lucifer would be able to hold a moral high ground over a Niten Dragon.
That being said, neither Geoffrey nor Timothy of Enoch could yet stand against Xyphiel. “Go, now!” I shouted, “Aid your comrades!” I turned to Xyphiel once more, “This fate is mine to face.”
“Archangel, I’ll fight by your side!” Timothy of Enoch protested, “I’m the sundered child, this is my fate as well!”
Geoffrey, for his part, pulled Timothy away, “St. Michael knows what he’s doing. If he says you’re needed elsewhere, then elsewhere you go! Come on, there’s plenty to defend!”
Timothy was pulled, reluctantly, from my side as I approached Xyphiel.
Xyphiel scoffed, “Geoffrey ought to burn for lying to the boy,” he chuckled as he fixed his gaze upon me, “You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into, Michael.”
I charged ahead, not wanting to listen to Xyphiel’s putrid words a moment longer. My sword was raised high, my shield ready to parry or deflect. The time for speaking had ended.
The Sword of Samael had been drawn and now it was time for the wrath of God to descend upon the damned.
Even if one of those fallen were once our own brightest.
I felt a sense of Déjà vu.
Xyphiel blocked my strike with the Puriel blade and I could hear the blades sing a ballad of anguish and despair as they collided.
“Michael,” Xyphiel tsk’d me, his wrist holding firm, though at its limit as I clashed with him, “Striking first? What happened to turning the other cheek?”
“That is meant for those who might be forgiven for their transgressions, one day!” I growled, pushing my shield against Xyphiel, forcing him back, “Not for the likes of you!”
Xyphiel took a step back, gripping the Puriel blade in both hands, raising it upwards as he crouched down, the point aiming towards me. A Lancing pose, of sorts, like a viper ready to strike, “Ah, yes. I can never forget! I am The Unforgiven, after all.” Xyphiel lunged forward, the tip of the Puriel blade rocketing towards me.
I parried it with my shield, turning and swinging my blade down towards his wrist.
To my shock, his gauntlet-clad hand caught my wrist before I could sever his. I felt the claws of his hand digging into my flesh and wisps of blue mana seeped from my wounds.
“You see, Michael? You think you have the advantage in this battle, but you’re sorely mistaken,” Xyphiel taunted.
I twisted my wrist from his hand and pushed him back once more with my shield.
Xyphiel withdrew, though he continued his verbal onslaught, “While you sat high above in Heaven, singing lovely choirs to God Almighty, I was fighting,” Xyphiel grinned, looking to the chaos unfolding around us, “As were they,” he motioned to the armies of darkness seething around us.
I kept my focus on Xyphiel, waiting for his next strike.
“Ever embattled, even with one another, fighting day in and day out,” Xyphiel grinned, “Growing ever stronger, longing for the day they would destroy you.”
I flexed my hand behind my shield, waiting to make my strike. If I could pull the Puriel blade from him, or better yet, shatter its hilt, then Xyphiel would no longer hold the legions of Demons imprisoned within.
While he wouldn’t be defeated, it would be the first blow to land upon him. I would take his dark powers, piece by piece.
“We have not been resting, Fallen Prophet. We have been preparing as well, for the day to finally set the world right!” I called out, charging forward.
Xyphiel stood firm, pridefully believing he had anticipated my attack.
As I charged forward, I did not attack with my blade, instead moving to strike with my shield.
Xyphiel was caught off-guard, and as he blocked my shield with the Puriel blade, I thrust my sword into the gem of its hilt.
I watched as the jewel was struck firmly, and cracked. “I am sorry, brother Puriel. It had to be done.”
The gem let out a shockingly pitiful spat of light sparks and white smoke before it shattered, crumbling to the ground.
Something was wrong.
I felt no shift in strength from Xyphiel, no change in his temperament.
The Puriel Blade didn’t even feel different as it scraped and trembled along my shield.
“Confused, Michael?” Xyphiel said with a vicious grin.
I leaped back, keeping my guard up as Xyphiel’s grin remained. “Where is the true Puriel blade? The blade that you used to imprison Lucifer and his armies!” I demanded.
It had to be a replica or a fake. Did Xyphiel have the blade elsewhere on him and refused to fight due to the risk it would put him in?
Xyphiel glanced at the sword in his hand and back to me, “This is the Puriel blade, of that I can assure you, Michael. Did you think I would take anything else into battle?” His grin grew ever more contemptible, “My goal was, after all, to slay angels.”
I growled, “If that was the true blade, then the prison would have broken when I shattered the seal upon it!”
Xyphiel took his gauntlet-clad hand off the blade, his eyes locked on mine, “Puriel’s Seal, perhaps, but…” Xyphiel opened his palm, and at its center was the Greater Seal of the Scribe Lord, “But whoever said I was using his seal when I have my own?”
The seal on Xyphiel’s hand now pulsed with horrific energy, a darkness I had never seen before.
But even so, the seal was once used to lock the Damned and Fallen deep within Hell! Unless… Could he have been so mad?! “You couldn’t…” I stammered.
The seal began to rotate slowly on his palm, as a key turns in a lock, “It is as you have said, all those years ago, Michael! I am the Seal!”
Xyphiel’s eyes shifted from his deep crimson to violet, to red, and back to crimson, “You imprisoned those demons within yourself?!” I cried out in shock and horror.
“All at my disposal, but I wouldn’t be a fool to rely on all of their power,” Xyphiel chuckled, “I only needed to leverage one.”
“One?” I asked though I knew who.
Lucifer.
“But, perhaps you’re right, Michael,” Xyphiel spun the Puriel blade in his hand and I watched the jewel pieces lift from the ground and merge once more unto the blade’s hilt. Now the insignia within it was that of a Mobius Crest. The symbol Xyphiel had adorned himself with often.
A reminder of his immortal existence and a perceived curse.
“Perhaps they shouldn’t be imprisoned,” Xyphiel snapped his fingers, grinning at me, “Let us compromise…” I watched as the center of the seal on his hand, opened once more, “I shall release all but one.”
I rushed towards him.
My new goal was clear: I had to take his hand. I had to sever his connection with the seal. I had placed it upon his hand all those eons ago, it was fitting that I remove it.
Xyphiel turned, his seal-bearing hand facing behind him as he blocked my strike with the Puriel blade. “It’s rude to interrupt, Michael!”
A cone of blackened light erupted from Xyphiel’s hand as I watched, powerless, as he unleashed yet more potent demons.
Xyphiel turned to me, grinning wickedly, “You’ve done exactly what I wanted, Michael. All of Heaven is here now… and I can unleash the true breadth of my army!”
I heard a horrific roar as I saw the mighty wings of the gigantic demon of Destruction and Chaos, Abaddon, unfurl into the air.
“I have released you!” Xyphiel called out, “Serve me, Xyphiel, Lord of Pride, and today, you shall feast on the flesh of angels!”
Abaddon soared into the air and bellowed back, “Prisoners of Lucifer - our new Lord gives us freedom! Let us reward it with death upon the children of God!” Abaddon's massive form crashed through one of the walls of the city, roaring in celebration as yet more horrors poured out of the seal upon Xyphiel’s hand.
The flood stopped and I witnessed demons tearing into the forces of God, their numbers more than I could imagine.
“Seems it is far easier to get into Hell than Heaven, dear Michael,” Xyphiel boasted, “While you were busy singing and training, the armies of Hell swelled and readied themselves for this day.”
My eyes widened as Xyphiel’s golden-clad hand took hold of the Puriel blade.
Xyphiel rushed towards me, the Puriel blade readied at my chest, “The day that Heaven itself shall fall!”
…
Ragna
I lay there on the floor where Zepherina had fallen.
She came to save me and now she was trapped here.
Could I have failed her more?
Zepherina, Rachel, Eva, or Timothy?
My regret reached even further back.
Moira, Alyssa, Xahara, and Soradoria?
How many did I let down or fail? Over and over again.
I curled up in a fetal position, a half-empty bottle clutched to my chest.
I envied Alexander of Macedonia.
How death came for him so easily. I wanted nothing but darkness to take me, swallow me up, and ferry me away.
I’d rather feel nothing than an ounce of what I felt now.
The ground shook and I looked around me, the entire room shaking.
“Mom!” I heard Zepherina shout from below.
Ripping out of the floor was a sight I had thought I would never see again.
My eyes went wide as I gazed upon a strange figure rising from the shattering floor.
Was this another illusion from this damned place? Was I just dreaming in a drunken stupor? This figure rising from the floor had the wings of a Nite but the body of a Dei.
She looked like my mom or a version of her. But it couldn’t be, I saw my mother die, Guardians know how long ago.
No, this figure had the face of Zepherina.
This representation of Zepherina had white Niten Dragon wings, and her head adorned with white horns. Her eyes sat in her seemingly empty eye sockets, a glowing white mist around a pair of solid amethyst spheres which gazed upon me with a surprising level of authority.
But it wasn’t authority or pride holding those eyes on mine. I saw hope looking back at me.
“Z-Zepherina?!” I gasped, “What-What is this?!” I stammered.
Zepherina hefted me off the floor like I was nothing more than a cardboard cutout, “Time to sober up and get out of here, Mom!” She declared as she ferried me out of the bar and towards the throne room.
I let the glass bottle and tumbler slip from my fingers as I grabbed a hold of her, unsure if the glass was what I heard shattering or if that was the tower around us crumbling to pieces.
I could hear Madison shouting now, “Zeph, what the fuck did you do?!”
“It wasn’t me!” Zepherina protested, but still running, “Okay, it was but not-Nevermind! Come on, we have to get out of here! The whole tower is coming down!”
Zepherina was right and I glanced around us frantically, unsure where we were or what was what.
I still had some drink in me, my vision wasn’t fully clear and I was still groggy.
All I could do was gaze up at Zepherina’s potent form, holding onto me firmly and securely.
Every step, every movement she made exuded confidence and prowess.
There wasn’t a single moment where I held a shred of doubt in her resolve.
We weren’t in danger, I knew that much. Not with Zepherina here. Not with my daughter here.
I heard the sound of a slight animalistic whine and turned to see that under Zepherina’s other arm was Stalphous, glancing at me, uncertain, his eyebrows raised in concern at the chaos going on around us.
“Madison, get it in the air!” Zepherina shouted as I watched Madison rush into a transport vessel.
The Tower of Mourning was all crumbling around us and Zepherina’s hands were full, Madison was doing all she could.
I could hear Stalphous whine.
I felt the same.
Helpless, unsure of what was going on.
Then the transport started to slip off the edge of the tower!
No! I wasn’t helpless!
I thrust my hand out, something I hadn’t needed to do when using my telekinesis in so long. Addled as I was, I needed a guiding hand to help me focus.
I held the vessel as best I could.
I could feel Zepherina tense up as we flew towards it and we stopped as we came to the vessel, which I held in place with my mind.
Barely, I might add.
We were still collectively falling, just a bit slower than we would had I done nothing.
“I’m not… Completely… Useless…” I stammered, my primary focus less on talking and more on holding the ship in place while Madison got its engines warmed up.
Thankfully, it didn’t take long.
Soon, the vessel was hovering on its own and I could release it.
Zepherina flew in, dropping Stalphous into the loading area and sitting me upright in a passenger seat, “Madison, you got them from here?” Zepherina asked.
Distracting me from the events next was Stalphous rushing me and licking at my face, the foul scent of his breath helping me sober up, “Stal, Stop,” I tried to instruct him as his smooth yet slimy tongue slid over my face.
I had to keep his tongue from my eyes, I wasn’t going to want the bacterial soup of his saliva getting in there. Weakened as I was, I might get an infection.
“I gotta go, Mom,” Zepherina informed me with a reassuring smile.
I had to slow her down or at least get some idea of what was happening before she left, “Zepherina, look at you! What form is this?!” I demanded.
Zepherina’s face remained warm, serene, and confident, “I’ll explain later, I gotta go save Themyscira from Xyphiel, okay?”
Zepherina was going to face Xyphiel? Now? She said the words with such conviction. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind.
Zepherina was going to stop him? My daughter planned to fight Xyphiel head-on?
The fight of her life lay before her, and here I was, holding her back. Yet she still came for me? She saved me? I could not let her go alone.
“You did this, didn’t you? You defeated what was holding me there?” I said, motioning to the collapsing tower below us.
Zepherina simply nodded, stretching out her shimmering Niten wings, getting ready to leave. Standing there, she looked like my mother, Yuki.
I reached out to caress her cheek, “Zepherina…” I wanted to say so much. ‘I’m proud of you,’ ‘you’re incredible,’ ‘that’s my girl!’
So cliché but still, I could barely speak. I was so taken aback by how powerful she had become.
“We’ll talk later,” Zepherina said comfortingly.
I moved to stand, but I was strapped in. I immediately began to undo the belt buckles holding me in place.
I wasn’t going to sit back, drinking myself into a stupor, feeling sorry for myself.
Zepherina’s face fell as she spoke in a concerned tone, “Mom? I gotta go. I don’t have time-”
I didn’t let her finish, “Take me with you,” I demanded.
Zepherina paused for only a single moment before she smiled at me, opening her arms, “Then let’s go.”
Madison shouted over the hum of the engines, “Uh, hey, guys?!” She said as she pointed northward.
There a massive pillar of light reached out from the horizon and high into the apex of the firmament above. A grand spectacle of swirling glowing white clouds at the top with many streaks streaming down from the heavens above.
Zepherina’s voice cracked through the hum of the engine, “They opened up Heaven’s Gate,” she said in awe.
The battle hadn’t just begun, it was well underway.
Even I knew what that meant: Sofia had sacrificed herself to open the gates. Despite my disdain for her, I had to respect her for it. It was certainly no easy feat to give yourself over to a greater cause.
“Well, my old foe, Godspeed to you,” I thought as I turned to Zepherina. “What are you waiting for? Let’s not be the last ones to get a shot at Xyphiel.”
Zepherina smiled, grabbing hold of me, “Hold on tight, Mom.”
I turned to Madison, “Make sure Stalphous is safe, Captain!”
Madison shouted back, “It’s Colonel now!” She shouted as she gave me a thumbs up, “And Stal’s safe with me!”
Stalphous sat calmly on a passenger seat, his thick lizard-like tail wagging back and forth as he licked his snout happily.
“Be good for your auntie!” I shouted as Zepherina and I took off.
I had to hold on tightly as we soared faster and faster toward the pillar of light.
I couldn’t even see the world around us, the wind was so intense. I shut my eyes, holding onto Zepherina for dear life.
I could feel the feathers of my wings being ripped off by the sheer force of the air, we were traveling so fast.
Yet, somehow, I knew those were feathers that would fall regardless.
I could feel my strength returning. Whether that was by my power or Zepherina’s, I didn’t know. Nor did I care, to be honest.
We slowed and I opened my eyes, watching a final white feather flutter off of my blackened wings.
I smiled at my dark wings, noticing my hair had darkened as well.
I turned to Zepherina, her smile had turned into the stone-cold look of a warrior.
My attention was caught by the sounds of clashing blades, weapons firing, and the din of war cresting over the battlefield.
We landed on the top of the capitol building, Zepherina setting me down.
“Mom, wait here until you’re ready to join in. I’ve got scores to settle,” Zepherina said, a pair of glowing white blades of pure light materializing in her hands.
“Zepherina,” I said, slowly getting to my feet.
Zepherina turned to me, an aura of divinity surrounding her.
I smiled at her, “I’m so proud of you. Thank you. I love you.”
Zepherina’s stone-cold face cracked a smile, “Love you too, Mom.”
Without a moment’s hesitation, she jumped from the rooftops and dove into the fray.
I moved to the edge of the capitol building’s roof, and looked around, “Rage, confirm you can hear me.”
“Confirmed. Welcome back, Mother,” Rage reported.
I sighed, turning to a door on the roof, “I’m not at full strength yet. How functional are the old armature systems?”
“Fully maintained in storage mode at this time. Would you like to exhume it?” Rage asked.
“Yes, Rage. Please do,” I ordered, heading down into the capitol. “I’m not going to be useless. I will fight, to my last breath.”
“Oh, I am so happy to hear that, little Sellenia!” My eyes went wide as I looked out into the distance to see Zelletia’s massive form descend from the sky, landing on the battlefield.
Zelletia’s huge head turned right and left, searching for me below.
Had she not seen me yet?! I rushed into the Capitol building, moving to the stairwell.
Normally, the elevator would be my first inclination, but all things considered, I had to hurry.
The armory was in the basement.
I jumped over the railing and sprung my wings straight up, falling down the center of the stairwell as quickly as gravity could move me.
“Come out, Come out, wherever you are… Or is little Sellenia too afraid to meet her doom with the rest of her supposed empire?!” Zelletia’s voice taunted.
I growled to myself as I landed below, rushing through the hallways as I felt the ground shake under my feet.
Rage was keen enough to know that I needed the doors unlocked and I slammed my way through as many of them as I could while I made my way to the armory.
To where Esmeralda and Brittany should have been.
I smashed into a lab to find only Esmeralda sitting calmly on a stool drinking a glass of wine, a bottle next to her.
I was about to admonish her but it struck me that up until a few minutes ago I was doing the same thing, “Esmeralda!” I shouted.
Esmeralda turned to me, bowing her head and lifting her glass, “My Mistress, however, can I be of assistance?”
“I believe you had considered armor for Zepherina that would nullify demonic power, yes?” I asked.
“Yes my Empress, but I believe you said she was not yet ready…” Esmeralda mused.
“I need it,” I ordered.
“You?” Esmeralda turned to me, confused, “But you do not need such-”
“Did I stutter, Esmeralda?” I growled, narrowing my eyes at her.
Esmeralda flinched, dropping her glass, “O-Of course, My Mistress. My humble apologies… Allow me to fetch it.”
“Now!” I commanded, glaring at her.
Esmeralda was on her hooves and moving quickly through the lab as she did I hurriedly removed my shirt and boots.
Within, Esmeralda opened a large chamber where a set of plate armor stood on a mannequin about Zepherina’s height. Luckily we had similar builds.
Esmeralda was careful not to touch the armor, as she unveiled it to me, “The engineers did well enough where I cannot touch the blessed armor. An alloy made of blessed metals plated in pure silver, with every aspect of the forging, even the plating, performed in the sacred waters of the Guardian Temple, courtesy of the Temple's custodian, what was his name? Juan or Jorge...? Yes, I think it was Jorge. Some Spaniard," Esmeralda turned to me, “Well either way, were you a demon it would burn your skin upon first touch…” Esmeralda looked me up and down, “Or a Fallen.”
I moved towards the armor, hesitating for a moment as my reflection stared back at me from the shined silvery surface. Etchings across the shoulders and chest bore the sigil of Penthesil and etched along its sides were holy symbols and runes.
I paused for a moment, then the ground under my feet shook, “Fuck it. If it burns me the entire time that means it’ll burn anything else I touch.”
My hands moved to the buckles and I quickly slipped the armor on, being as careful as I could to not come into contact with the outside portions of the armor whenever I could.
Esmeralda gave me a curious expression as I donned the armor.
I finally picked up the helm, my hands properly protected by the gloves, “What are you staring at?”
Esmeralda looked me up and down, “...By all accounts, if you were a Fallen Angel, that should burn you. At least as far as I know,” Esmeralda’s eyebrows rose in thought on her otherwise flawless face, “Unless that only applied to Fallen whom were cast down into Hellfire?"
“No time to debate the how or why,” I said as I looked around, “Weapons?”
“There wasn’t much need for a weapon with Zepherina having the so-called Dragon Slayer blade you designed for her,” Esmeralda said with a shrug.
I glanced at my wing and focused on a feather, pulled one out, and tested if I could form it into a blade.
My feather was a proper sword. I nodded and formed a second one. “Taking another method to slay this dragon.”
“Good luck, My Empress,” Esmeralda said with a bow.
“Where is Brittany?” I asked.
“Brittany is aiding Lady Dmitria in the Atlantic States in the Americas, My Mistress,” Esmeralda informed.
I moved past her, “I won’t force you to fight your brethren.”
“I had no intention to do so,” Esmeralda admitted, “You had given me no order to defend the Capitol nor to fight. So I shall remain here.”
I nodded to her, “If you should be captured, you are to claim you never stopped serving my father, make no mention of our pact, and assume your previous responsibilities while avoiding my brother, until I call upon you. Do I make myself perfectly clear?”
Esmeralda’s face soured, “I would have rathered you to order me to fight… But very well, My Mistress,” Esmeralda bowed low to me, “It shall be as you command.”
I rushed out of the labs as the ground shook again.
I could hear Zelletia’s voice in my mind, but I could somehow tell this was not a message just for me. Her voice was ringing out to all those in the city, “Is this how the Empress of Penthesil addresses a challenge?! She hides on the battlefield!? How cowardly of you, Little Sellenia!”
I rushed to the stairwell and jumped up into the air, flying up through the stairwell until I reached the roof.
I did not bother with the door and just crashed through the doorway and into the air, spreading my wings wide to slow myself down once I was over the Capitol building.
I responded as Zelletia did, in the minds of all around me, “Not running from you worm! Just waiting for you to be exactly where I wanted you to be!”
Zelletia was there, where I expected. Standing at the center of my capital city. The last place I wanted to see her, but for my attack, she was just where she had to be.
I dove towards her, my armor blinding her at first as I swung my blades at her eye.
Even as she swatted me away, I could hear her roar in pain as the flesh on her massive paw burned.
That being said, I was still swatted down to the ground.
I pushed myself to my feet and slammed my swords together, reforming them into a polearm as I rushed towards her towering front paw.
I let loose a war-cry as I drove it between the scales on her toes, causing her to lift her foot instinctively. As she raised her front paw, I was riding along with her, my polearm impaled deep into her flesh.
Just as I was about level with her chest I pushed off of Zelletia’s scales, watching as my boot caused her scales to burn and wither.
Zelletia let out a deafening roar, the power of which knocked over a building before her, blowing any soldiers, demons, or angels away as she did.
I was luckily away from the blast as I dove towards her ear.
Zelletia’s head thrashed slightly and I had to adjust, landing on her horn. I wrapped my legs tightly around her massive tree-sized horn and took a firm grip of my polearm, swinging down and thrusting the polearm into her ear.
My blade pierced through her flesh and I felt as I struck her eardrum.
Zelletia’s thrashing increased wildly now, as she stumbled, her equilibrium thrown by my strike.
“You vile little insect!” Zelletia’s voice bellowed as she slammed her horn, and me with it, down into the ground.
I rolled over, pushing myself away from Zelletia as a cloud of dust and debris burst into the air.
The ground shook once more and rising out of the cloud was a surprisingly smaller sight.
Zelletia was in her Rex Dragon form still, but now an eighth the size. Still, Zelletia was over twelve meters tall.
I glared up at her, “What, did I make you dizzy, snake?”
Zelletia growled, turning quickly, far faster than I expected, sending her tail whipping at me at high speed.
I gasped as it collided with me, knocking me through a building’s wall as I tumbled across the battlefield.
I landed in a mass of demons and soldiers.
One large demon grinned down at me. It was some kind of towering goat-like creature with burning green eyes. It reached a massive hand towards me moving to hold me down while it rose a bloodied cleaver the size of a small car in its other hand.
The moment its free hand touched my armor, however, the flesh on the demon's skin burned.
The goat demon reeled back, screaming in pain.
I reached out, grabbing at its wrist as more fur and flesh burned, “The Ragnarök has come for you all!” I pulled hard on its wrist, ripping its arm from the socket and causing the huge beast to tumble forward.
As it fell I whipped the polearm through its body, slicing the creature in half, allowing both sides of its body to fall on either side of me.
I turned to the demons around me who quickly turned and began to run, my soldiers all crying out in joy, “Let none escape!” I shouted.
Zelletia landed before me, roaring at me and the soldiers around me.
They took up arms quickly, ready to fight her.
I shook my head, “Leave this one to me!” I ordered, “Kill the retreating Demons!”
My soldiers quickly took up my charge.
“Oh Sellenia, you must feel so special! Having little pathetic creatures listening to your every command as if it matters…” Zelletia taunted, “How fitting that you become a queen when you have robbed me of my right to rule at every turn!”
“I am no queen! And you have no right to call me Sellenia!” I shouted, readying my polearm, “I am Empress Ragna Misho,” I narrowed my eyes at Zelletia’s, “And I’m going to end you.”
“Try it, Little Sellenia!” Zelletia roared in anger at me, her foul breath making me dizzy.
I held firm and rushed towards her, only to be swatted aside by her paw before I could get in range of her.
The blow carried the same force as she had when she was larger. This time I had to drive the base of the polearm into the ground to stop myself from flying backward.
“My size change was tactical, insect!” Zelletia grinned, spreading her wings, “I was too large to keep track of you before… But now,” Zelletia’s maw turned up into a wicked grin filled with snaggle teeth, “I can find you easily.”
I groaned as I got to my feet, “Just means I can inflict more damage on you.”
“Try it, flea!” Zelletia snapped at me.
I took to the air, polearm at the ready now, dodging her strikes as best I could.
Zelletia was right, however. She was far faster now.
I barely missed her massive jaws as they snapped near my shoulder.
With a swift motion I struck at her cheek with my polearm, but her tail once again swatted me out of the air.
I was sent straight down with such force that I bounced upwards for a moment before I turned and fell onto my back.
Zelletia loomed over me, my vision tunneling and blurred as her voice rang in my ears.
“I will admit, watching you languish in the Tower of Mourning was enjoyable… But I will take just as much satisfaction in killing you. When you get to your mother’s realm of the Dead, do tell her that her throne will be the next I take!” Zelletia laughed heartily, “All that was robbed from me shall be mine at last!”
I heard a roar of pain, followed by a flash of brilliant yellow light.
Landing next to me was one of Zelletia’s massive horns, severed completely from her head.
Zelletia roared in pain and anger, her voice shrill as she cursed, “You pathetic little Niteling!”
Landing next to the horn I saw a pair of draconic paws, with yellow scales and tan claws. Wrapped around them were white leathers and silvery shin guards.
My eyes followed the legs up, looking to see an outstretched claw of a Niten Dragon reaching down towards me.
My vision cleared and my eyes focused on her brilliant blue eyes as she spoke, my heart caught in my throat.
Tears filled my eyes as I looked upon a face I had all but forgotten to time long ago. But now, before me, there was no mistake, it was her!
“You’re lucky I got here in time,” Tassel’s smiling face looked down at me as she took my hand, pulling me to my feet and greeting me with a wry and friendly grin, “Why am I always saving your ass, Sellie?”

Platform: Android/iOS
Genre: Gacha, MonsteCreature Collection (like Pokemon/Digimon), Match 3 gems with slide mechanics (you could match in diagonal and could even match more than six gems)
Estimated year of release: 2015-2018
Graphics/Art style: Anime style
Other details:
You had to register with a mail or with Facebook to be able to play. Game was divided in two screens in battle mode, on the top you could see your monsters and the opponents. You could have three or four monsters from your team on the stage at the same time, and on the bottom there was the gem matching game. Each gem had a color referencing the type of power.
The more gems you matched the more powerful the attacks would be.
In every Stage/World you could only see a selected type of class monster. There was a Stage specifically for Fire, Grass, Water, Light, Dark, etc
Each world had three stages and a final boss, that was a creature you could find in the first stages but it was bigger and stronger.
After each world raid you could see the cretures you captured, there wasn't a capture mechanic, you just defeated them and some of them would appear as captured.
It had a gacha mechanic where you could get rare monster if you paid for diamonds with real money, or if you earned the capsule by login in continuosly
To evolve a creature you had to make it fight to get more exp or merge it with another creature with the same typing class. If the monster had a Fire type you had to use another fire type to make it gain exp
I remember there was a sime creature that when it evolved it looked like a turnip and it came in every typing class (Fire, Grass, Water) these were easy to capture so I always used them as "fodder"
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I think the icon was a brown block with a round blue stone with a spiral inside
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Went looking for it recently but I couldn't find it anymore in the App Store (Google/Android)

I've beat all of dark souls 2 and 3, sekiro and elden ring.
So far the original dark souls has been nothing but pain and misery, and not the fun kind but I still do want to beat it, this game is so frustrating I have not had a game bring me so much rage in a while.
i've been fighting ornstein and smough on and off for the past two days, I just can't figure out what Im doing wrong. Did I miss items? am I not using a good build? I've watched tons of boss guides but nothing has helped me.
My build is as follows.
Flask 5, +1
+5 claymore two handed with the grass shield on my back (not upgraded)
Brigand set (not upgraded)
Vitality 19
Attunement 9
Endurance 19
Strength 28
Dex 19
Resistance 12
Intelligence 9
Faith 9
what on earth should I do, I'm so lost and helpless, I cant find the summon sign either every other boss in the game was a piece of cake I've not suffered with any boss this much EVER, I beat nameless king on my second try....... what am I doing wrong, why is this game so much harder then ANY other souls like.... please help.