Cor vs Lei(Plantorsomething Version
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Note to self; don’t take weird ‘red potions’ from strangers. Even if you think you’re dying. 

Glancing down at their hands, Lei scowled at the sickly pale skin, reminding them of the small amount of Cardon that’d gotten mixed up with their mind. Shaking their head, Lei rubbed the luck charms on their wrist and turned their attention back to the foggy ground looming below. The opponent could be anyone, they reminded themself. Their new vampiric strength was a boon among the curses, but Lei couldn’t rely on it. The old castle ruins remained dead silent while they reflected on the possible opponents they could face. An overpowered elf, an overpowered rich girl, an overpowered cyborg…

Fuck.

The vast majority of the opponents Lei couldn’t even scratch. The only possibility would be tricking them or relying on some sort of trick or attempting full domination again. That was assuming they could even find-

“If you like food in Crenada, and flying to Spahrain. If you’ve been to Ganada, and are living in Bain.~”

Lei’s thoughts were interrupted with loud, high-pitched, obnoxious singing and the sounds of an engine and tires crunching against dirt and gravel. The bat they’d linked to almost immediately fled at the approaching noise, so Lei connected to a worm near it instead. But despite the removal of the element of stealth, they felt sweat running down their back as they realized which of the opponents they would be facing today.

You’ve got to be fucking shitting me!?!? THIS KID OF ALL PEOPLE!? Fuck my life!!!

Lei yanked at their wrist, tearing the bracelet with luck charms off with a grimace at how easy it was with their new strength. Those vendors were godsdamned scammers! ‘Ancient indigenous traditions’ my ass! Taking a deep, shuddering breath, they couldn’t suppress the slight whimper at the thought that they’d been completely outmatched again. And this time, it was by the little tanned child energetically skipping off toward the castle, right through the main entrance without a care in the world. 

Blinking away tears and rubbing at their neck, Lei frantically tried to calm down. It was just a thousand year old immortal dragon, no big deal; it was at least better compared to their last opponent, right? He didn’t even know about Sage’s true intentions if what Thorn said was accurate. Regardless of maturity though, they couldn’t risk entering a mind that old; they’d learned that much from Kid-Cardon. However they settled this, they would have to rely on the very special arrows that they’d, erm, borrowed. Several of which were already scattered around the courtyard multiple days in advance.

 Lei could not win this with brute force, but there were more ways to beat up a giant hunk of metals than just punching it hard enough. Well, more like one very specific way. And that was by rapidly freezing and heating the steel over and over again until the whole thing fell apart. They would have dealt with En the same way, too.

Closing their eyes, Lei reached out with their mind and grabbed on to the sentient mold that they now attached to almost all of their arrows. This time it was different though; the mold last time was only special in its sentience, allowing Lei to link to its mind. But this new white-ish gold species was an extremely rare hive mind, and resilient as hell too! 

Through their shared link, the mold activated the magic within eleven arrows they’d previously shot up to the rooftops of the various ruined stone towers. They simultaneously began releasing a steady stream of energy into the sky, and a handful of seconds later, a small drop of white landed on the windowsill Lei was looking out on. The temperature of the surroundings gradually dropped, though Lei could sense the change much more quickly due to being higher up in the air. 

Cor blinked surprised at the sudden snowflakes raining down around him, but rather than turn serious and scan the surroundings like Lei thought, the kid stared up at the sky and smiled. Then as the small snowstorm began to kick up, he spread his arms out and spun around, even trying to catch some flakes on his tongue!

Kid, this is Ilbina, snow doesn’t even exist around these parts! How naive could you be!?

Lei ducked behind their windowsill again and wracked their brain to figure out the next steps of their plan while the boy jumped into a thin snow pile and waved his hands to make angels, not questioning the unusual volume of flakes comparable to a storm. It was now freezing outside, but that wouldn’t be enough for Lei’s plan. Not to mention they had very few arrows that packed any real heat to them. 

I have four shots of explosion arrows, and I’ll need to land each and every one to win this fight. Argh, fuckin hell, I’ll just stop stalling. 

Not wasting any time, Lei’s second body burrowed through the two inch sheet of snow towards the kid. Even Cor had realized something was up with this snowstorm by now and had left his snow…circle, behind to jog toward the nearest tower. Connecting to him, Lei felt the kid’s clear annoyance; probably at the fact that he couldn’t keep playing and had to actually fight. They didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at the fact that the child had a mind size almost comparable to Cardon’s yet he was still this immature.

But Lei had enough experiences with immortal children to not let their guard down; Cardon wouldn’t let them hear the end of it if his accidental first kin turned out to be that stupid. Ugh! Why should I care about that monster! Sure he’s just a lonely bastard, but…! Lei shuddered and slapped their cheeks to get back in the game.

Connecting to his line of sight, they made Cor glance to the side with a random shining light and made a loud bang as if a bullet had been fired. The kid immediately darted toward the light, zig-zagging along the way. Lei ‘fired! once more and waited for him to reach the area they’d set up the trap before activating the sentient mold in question. He passed the gothic archway into some kind of barracks, and the arrows embedded on the inside of the rotting door exploded into a mess of spiked ice and arctic air. 

It was a clean hit, surprising Lei just as much as Cor. Did this mean they could actually- 

“Ah, geez! That’s cold, sniper person! I didn’t even get to say hi! I know you’re so eager to play hide and seek, but you can’t just decide the rules on your own.” 

Saying that, he promptly punched the entryways to seal himself in before lighting the fireplace with his molten breath. You little immortal shit, god damn it! Wait, what’s that he’s thinking now? Ooh, maybe I could use that…

*** 

 Cor realized the snow was unnatural a long time ago; he may have been immature, but he wasn’t an idiot. But despite making snow angels in the open for almost a full minute no one arrived to attack him, much to his annoyance. It was only when he started walking toward the main building that he finally encountered the opponent. That may have been because he wasn’t in range until then, but when the ‘bullets’ didn’t hit anything behind him after dodging, he realized something had to be up. But the main building of the castle was huge, and there were plenty of places to check. So he figured it would be better to wait here and dethaw while keeping a close eye on the corridor that connected the side and main areas. Maybe the opponent would come to him after all?

It was important to warm up slowly anyways, or else… wait, what’s that smell? Something was burning, and it was just barely masked by the molten iron they’d thrown up in the fireplace. Just as he started searching, his crappy heat vision actually kicked into gear for once. Looking at the debris blocking the corridor he’d been so worried about, Cor could see a frighteningly large mass of heat building up into one area, along with small wisps of white smoke. Not sticking around to find out what that is! 

Cor ran up and Newfoundland-style football tackled the debris surrounding the entrance he’d originally walked through…only to be met with an explosion of heat and flame. Oh god, what the hell!? The heat was supposed to be on the other side! If only he’d actually listened during the speech at the coalition, maybe he could’ve figured out what was going on. It was too late for that though, and the opponent clearly knew his own weakness to rapid temperature change. The one hit was enough to make his entire body ache as if he was going through intense growing pains.

A determined, competitive grin formed on his lips as his body began shifting and expanding, his skin being enveloped in thick steel scales. He needed to finish this fast, before the opponent can lure him into anymore of those stupid traps. Before that though, he had something to take care of.

Unfurling his long metal wings, Cor took a deep breath and roared like he hadn’t in years. It was both an acknowledgment and a warning toward his sneaky opponent wherever they were hiding. Shortly after which, he thrust down his wings to launch into flight, aiming straight for the skies while the winds pelted him with a swarm of snowflakes thick enough to be called a blizzard. It didn’t take long for him to reach the clouds, where he began chanting under his breath while shaking off the water from the melted snow on his burning scales.

 This spell would be a bit wasteful and unnecessary, but he felt the need to show off a little to make up for his previous embarrassment. When he felt the mana in his lungs churning towards its metaphorical boiling point, he whispered the name under his breath. Solar Flare 

Cor exhaled, releasing a beam of golden light dense enough to sever the skyline. 

*** 

Following the low shockwave from one of their four exploding arrows, Lei’s body shook with a deafening metallic roar. Oh, he’s mad alright. Sure enough, after peaking through the windowsill they could just barely peek through the snowstorm enough to see a beautiful metallic dragon unfurling its wings. With a single flap he lifted himself into the air almost faster than they could see, and judging from the trajectory he was flying straight for…the sky? 

As Lei was questioning whether or not they should move up a floor to get a better view, the hairs on their arms raised at the sudden dense concentration of mana that they could feel from Cor’s senses, and the low, complex chant that made them dizzy just trying to keep track of all the different sounds. 

When the mana reached its apex, Cor released a bright beam of light that pierced straight through the clouds, before dragging it in a slow spiral around himself. No way, he can’t be seriously trying to attack the damn weather!? Checking in with the snow arrows, Lei realized that it wasn’t as crazy as it sounded; the clouds were made of mana, and a mana-based attack like he seemed to be using was enough to disturb the complex spells. But the mana required to dispel it all at once, let alone with some kind of breath attack…

The report from Thorn did say he could use any kind of magic, but what the fuck is this kid’s mana pool!?

As they thought that, the beam disappeared as quickly as it manifested, revealing beautiful sun beams and a bright blue sky. They didn’t get a chance to admire the view however, as the dragon immediately began chanting again to manifest twelve blazing orbs surrounding him like a halo. Twelve giant fireballs which he promptly launched towards each of the castle’s most prominent windows and terraces. 

 Shit!   

Lei scrambled inside just as a wave of heat enveloped their back, blasting them forward into the hallway. “Ow…fuckng -cough- anscestors damnit!” Picking themselves up from the rubble, they grimaced at the vague thoughts they could read from Cor. It didn’t seem like they’d be coming down any time soon, and Lei couldn’t shoot him from here even without him trying to actively defend himself. There was one thing they could do to get him down, and it would only work once. Because of that, they no longer had enough wiggle room to slowly wear him down over time. They had to finish this in one move, all or nothing. 

Lei walked off toward the spiral staircase leading down to the ground floor, using the moment to admire the deteriorating stone walls and old furniture. It was more than a bit frightening to think that one day, they’d be older than even an abandoned building like this. That was, if they survived that long.

I didn’t think I’d try attacking an immortal’s mind again so soon, but the key difference between then and now, is preparation.

*** 

Cor had this in the bag. It was unlikely the opponent would be able to attack him this high up in the air, and all he needed to do was his fourteenth favorite pastime- wreck the crap out of old castles. That was, until he started to have a weird feeling tugging at the back of his mind. He didn’t know what it was, but it felt like something was building up, maybe even forming a bridge between- 

Cor passed out, his vision turning black before his eyes opened to what looked like a small training room. He was even back in his human form. Ah, I see what’s going on. It’s kind of like that dream warrior technique I fought back a while ago. I could easily just beat them at their own game then. As Cor considered winning the fight right then and there, he heard the sound of something striking sand. Assured of his own victory, he gave in to curiosity and turned around.

“Ha!…ha!…kiai!”

Standing there, thrusting spear-hands down into a bucket of sand siding on a low stool, was a young teen with short hair, maybe fourteen years old, wearing a sports bra and sweatpants. Wow, she looks pretty into it. Is that my opponent? All thoughts of the fight fell away to Cor’s curiosity, and he asked the kid a question.

“Excuse me miss, are you my opponent? Pretty cool technique you have here, haven’t been in the mindscape for a long time now.”

The opponent didn’t answer though, and when Cor looked closer he saw that her figure was actually somewhat transparent. Just as he was getting bored, a new figure with dark skin opened the door to the hall, looking around frantically until they found the girl and looked relieved. Walking up to her, the new figure began talking.

 “Ah, Lei, there you are! Are you okay? Took that fall pretty hard back at the…”

The first girl, who Cor now knew was named Lei, raised her head with a blank look at the other person. After a moment of silence, she answered.

“Doesn’t matter. It was my fault.”

"Lei, your hands! What-“

I needed to train more. It’s fine.”

Cor took a closer look at the hands and gaped in surprise. The nails were so chipped and cracked that ‘broken’ couldn’t accurately describe them, and blood and sand traced along countless scrapes and small bruises. Cor couldn’t empathize with human suffering too much, but it was obvious just how much something like that hurt.

 Is she crazy or something?

 “Are you crazy or something!?”

He let out a laugh as the dark-skinned girl mirrored his thoughts. But when the scene transitioned with the blink of an eye, the next memory took all humor out of his thoughts. An oppressive, suffocating air bore down on him from a stoic man with rigid narrow eyes at the head of an eastern dinner table. Everyone was kneeling, but no one touched the food. Instead, all of their indifferent eyes were staring straight at Lei, who opened her mouth to say something.

 “…So that’s why, I don’t want to be treated like a girl. Nor do I want to be a boy.”

The silence was deafening. Cor looked on with baited breath, as if engrossed in a story. Ah, so they’re androgynous. I remember a few decades ago, this kind of thing- Lei’s head abruptly bowed, slamming down into the food on the table with unprecedented force.

“The crap!?” Cor’s outburst went unnoticed by the family. 

“Are you crazy? You think you’re a fairy or something? I always knew your mind felt strange. Train your mental fortitude more so you don’t get these strange ideas anymore; it was pathetically easy to take control of your body.”

“Yes, father.”

The rest of the family took that as their cue to begin eating, none sparing so much as a glance at Lei except for the younger boy sitting to their right, who grasped their hand reassuringly in his. The scene distorted again, and time flew forward at a rapid pace; getting closer to Cemile, battling familial expectations, and even the time on the run as Lei fled their clan with only their partner and little brother. Just as Cor was starting to get bored again, they eventually met a small group named Nova Ordo. 

So this is where the bad guys come in. Am I gonna finally have that dream battle that I was promised? Where the heck is the main consciousness?

“You called?”

“AAH! Geez, you scared the scrap out of me!”

Watching the memories with him was an adult version of Lei with pale skin and red eyes, wearing a beautiful androgynous gown. They looked at him with that permanently neutral expression they always wore, but their eyes held a trace of amusement. 

 So does this mean we can fight now?”

“Why? You’re going to win no matter how hard I try here, we might as well have a magical dream chat first.”

Cor felt a sense of a complete truth in Lei’s words, and he too had to admit they had a point. He had enough of an ego to surmount Lei’s in a single hit.

“Sigh, you got totally out matched huh? Sorry about that.”

“Tell me about it.”

Lei’s attention drifted back to the memories unfolding, and Cor followed their example. Nova Ordo gave them and their family safety, shelter, a good job, and even friends.

“I guess even if you are bad guys, you aren’t all bad. I can see why you joined.”

“Mhm. We do have our bad parts though; the resistance can hardly be called a unified organization. I’ve even worked to take down some of the more tyrannical branches myself”

The memory shifted to show a wealthy businessman ordering troops to invade a village, but when he entered the war tent his neck was slit by Lei.

“Huh. So you’re saying the whole tournament is a misunderstanding, and the Nova Ordo we’re fighting is one of the better branches? That doesn’t change the fact that your modo is literally the Sage Coalition is bad.”

Lei only smiled mysteriously, and the memories took a dark turn. Mangled corpses of their friends dumped in the streets, deemed ‘an accident’ due to no witnesses. Records of forged ledgers, embezzled taxes, and overheard plans to rule the world so blatantly evil that they sounded like fairy tale villains. 

“The Sage Coalition… No way, you’re not trying to get me to change sides, are you?”

 “Feel free to provide counter evidence. This mindscape is available to you too.”

           Cor huffed, and the hazy dream-like scenery faded to a more realistic and defined memory. After taking control, his own slideshow of the countless memories he had of the Coalition. Old men in robes in various times and cultures patted his head, saying “We’re going to save the world one day.” “Those Nova Ordo terrorists are getting in the way of our goal of no more wars, no more bloodshed! We must resist those fools!” He gazed up at Lei smugly, but they only raised an eyebrow. 

“So your evidence comes from word of mouth, from these random old dudes?”

Their mental argument moved back and forth like this multiple times, until in the middle of giving their statement, Lei suddenly zoned out and gazed into this distance. Shaking their head, they turned to look at Cor with a troubled gaze. 

 “You know what, if I get rid of the childlike shackles on your mind, would you agree?”

“You can do what!?

Lei nodded. “Only if you’re comfortable with it though. It’s sort of a big-ish deal; depending on how you look at it, I’m essentially overriding that portion of your mind for a few hours real-time. But I don’t have the power to do anything more than that to you, I promise.”

 Cor sucked in his breath. Lei had made a lot of convincing arguments over the hours or so of mental time, and he could tell their words were genuine. He couldn’t see why he couldn’t trust the old geezers he’d been living with for the past few centuries, but even if he didn’t agree, he felt like he could understand Lei at the least. Enough to trust them, if not Nova Ordo.

 “…Yes. Please, do it.”

Lei nodded. “Hold still then, please.”

A beautiful golden pink lotus bloomed in the palm of their hand. He could tell that it was filled with concepts like freedom, maturity, growth, and introspection. Kneeling down, Lei reached forward and touched the flower to the metal collar around his neck that he’d forgotten was there after so many years. He heard a metal click, and the colar fell away. Cor braced himself for the mental impact and…nothing changed. He glanced down at his hands and back up at Lei.

“What? Did it work?” 

A slight grin formed on their face and they simply said “look down again.” What did they mean? It was just his hands…

“-Huh!? What the hell?” 

he bud of a plant grew from his neck, and his body turned hazy as his mental image shifted, growing from a child to a pre-teen. The bud bloomed into the same golden lotus that Lei had been holding, and Cor noticed that there were multiple growing along his neck like a new colar. He grew and grew, until the flowers were all in full bloom and his body had formed into that of a middle-aged man.

“…Well, fuck.”

“Indeed. The flowers look beautiful, don’t they?” Lei replied in a tone that he couldn’t tell if they were joking or not. 

“…I’ve been played for centuries, haven’t I?”

“Sorry about that.”

Cor brought his hands up to his face in exasperation.

“I signed the contract that declared the beginning of the entire Sage Coalition. Fuck my life...”

Looking up, he could see Lei looking uncharacteristically shy, like they wanted to say something but weren’t sure how to say it. “What’s up? Something wrong?” They met his eyes with a nervous smile. Something was definitely weird; they hadn’t emoted this much through the entire time he’d met them.

“Ah, no. It’s just, now that you’ve had your revaluation I have to say I’m running out of psychic energy really quickly; that curse thing was stronger than I thought. So, before you wake up I should probably tell you; I prepared a contingency plan in case I couldn’t convince you here.”

“Ah, that makes sense. What was it?”

"Welll…”

Lei turned their face away from him and revealed a long rat’s tail that had been tucked under the dress part of their clothes. 

“The other me has been working really hard, so you might be a bit, um, frozen when you wake up.”

 

I do feel a little bad for Ren Lei, they keep getting matched up with the most powerful combatants from the sages. Unfortunately, there aren't any more immortals left to match them up against... or are there?

The mindscape is a really good place to showcase backstories, eh? Maybe we should just give everyone psychic powers so the authors can flex their amazing backstories on us. 

Both fights were certainly full of interesting mindfuckery, but which one is the mindfuckeriest? Cor Ferrum certainly had a slow but overwhelming takeover, but Lei had a pretty convincing victory. It's time to vote once more!

 

Which chapter shall be declared canon?
  • Rén Lei wins(Plantorsomething version
  • Cor Ferrum wins(Carpio version)
Total voters: 6 · This poll was closed on Apr 27, 2022 04:31 PM.
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