Sett screeches loudly into a cackle, the entire stadium shivering. Pandora hides behind Icarus a little but he quickly steps out of the way. "Sett is so… scary…"
Icarus crosses his arms. "Yeah. He is. That's probably why he's here. That musician of yours doesn't seem scared of him though."
"Oh, mine? Beethoven isn't MINE! He belongs to humanity as a whole! He's amazing!" Beethoven sways his baton briefly and the metal orchestra jerks and moves its instruments around before firing another wave of musical notes toward the god. Sett doesn't waste a single second, rushing forward, dodging under a few of the notes, swinging a kick at one, and it slams into the ground. Beethoven throws out his arms in a rather imposing stance as the tempo of the song seems to speed up, the piano, harps, and violins firing faster than before creating a carpet-bombing of notes, Sett refusing to stop his advance. As he gets close the bandages all shoot out in front of him turning into shield-like scales and deflecting nearly every note just BARELY making them not hit Sett. The scales jerk around almost mechanically, perfectly deflecting all the notes that Sett doesn't dodge on his own. As he gets in close Beethoven's drums beat loudly to try and force him back.
the scales transform once more, into snake heads which shoot into the ground biting it tightly to keep Sett on his feet. "Grrrrr…. RAAAAAAWR!" Sett screams and laughs as he slowly steps forward through the constant barrage of shockwaves. He feels immense pressure on his skin with every beat. His foot caves into the ground as he raises his other foot.
Beethoven steps back out of range of Sett's attack, but he finds his sleeve being grabbed by a snake in the brief moment the music stops! "?!" He's pulling back in, Sett striking him in the stomach sending him tumbling back with a grimace. "-…" He rolls and before he can even raise his baton Sett is right in front of him, ready to kick again, Beethoven steps to the side just barely, feeling Sett's powerful kick whizz past him, and with a swift little swing of his arms Sett is blasted away again, Beethoven gripping his stomach a little where Sett kicked him.
Icarus grits his teeth. "This isn't good. Sett's starting to get the upper hand. I knew a musician was a bad idea."
Pandora looks a little confused. "A bad idea? What do you mean!? He's doing good so far!"
"ONE solid hit from a god like Sett could kill him. He's not a warrior like Ivar or Ali. Why didn't you give his weapon to someone more suited to fight?" He complains, Pandora looking a little confused.
"That's not… that's not how the box works! Metal Orchestra is Beethoven's perfect weapon! It wouldn't work for anyone else! Look!" She points down as Beethoven begins another combination attack, the wires from the flutes shooting out, winding around Sett as the god dodges and weaves, before being struck down by a note, that the scales didn't deflect in time. "The brass section accelerates his notes, the piano and string instruments fire 'bullets', the drums create shockwaves and the flutes create wires for deflecting," She explains and Icarus scoffs.
"I can see that! But he's using them so sparingly! He could constantly be using ALL of them!"
Sett closes in again but a well-placed drum beat into a large cacophony of flutes firing countless wires at Sett, forcing him to dodge. "You're wrong Icarus. One mistake and all these abilities will interfere with each other. One wrong note and everything falls apart. The drum beats will destroy the wires if they're used together too much, they'll launch the notes in the wrong directions, and they'll overpower the brass sections. The wires need to be placed perfectly to deflect the notes right. And so they don't block the brass horns and notes on the approach. The brass horns need to be timed with the notes to not mess with anything else. It might look like it's an invincible quartet of abilities but…" Beethoven holds Sett at a distance, the god stepping back down looking with an almost shocked expression on his face. "It's ONLY possible to be this strong because it's HIM!" Sett rushes forward but he's pushed back again.
"RAAAAAAAAAWWWWWRRRRR!" Sett grins, grinding his sharp teeth together as his straitjacket flickers and pulses almost. "Youuuuu… you're too fun," He says. One would expect him to be angry or annoyed that he cannot get close enough to his opponent. However, Sett simply displays one emotion. Joy.
Meanwhile over on the side of the gods, Osiris scratches his chin. "That Sett is a curious case."
Sobek looks over at his fellow god. "What does THAT mean?" He asks, folding his arms. "He's doing good. Winning like always. What's so curious about that?"
Osiris pats his chin. "Have you not noticed? Those bandages. They seem… smarter… than Sett is," He gestures forward as Sett dodges more of Beethoven's projectiles, his gaze almost completely fixated on Beethoven as he charges in recklessly. "He's not looking away from his opponent whatsoever except to glance at some of the notes. Yet those scales and snakes. They block and deflect them in ways… unbefitting of his current mental state."
Ra scoffs. "Sett is one of the finest warriors in The Duat. Do not underestimate his prowess,"
Osiris gently bows. "Of course, lord Ra," He taps his chin again. 'But I am not wrong. Sett's movements are spontaneous. Erratic. Wild. But the bandages are smoothly moving into the ideal positions!' He thinks as one of the bandages warps itself into a scorpion tail, waiting for a few moments before stinging at one of the notes coming at Sett, the scales already in position before the notes would hit. 'They also shapeshift into the correct forms BEFORE they are used. Strange. Very strange.'
Beethoven sees Sett coming in again, the feral god throwing a 'punch' as one of the bandages, a snake head, shoots forward, striking the ground next to Beethoven before a drum-beat can go off, Sett jerking his body down with a kick, landing next to him. With a sway of his wand the flutes swiftly flare up into the melody and the wire is shot under the human's feet he rides it away, just in time before Sett grins and kicks at him. He leaps onto the wire, chasing after Beethoven while he glides through the air to a better position. "?!" Beethoven looks back seeing Sett perfectly balancing on the wire without his arms, rushing down along it. He jumps! The Orchestra is behind them! A drum-beat will do nothing! He flicks the wand and a single piano note is loudly struck, Beethoven bracing himself as he's struck by his own attack, sending him flying out of Sett's way. As he lands he rolls, panting as he gets to his feet, the wires disappearing as quickly as they had appeared and the Orchestra rolling around the arena to be back behind him.
In the resting area, Sun Tzu sits with Jing sitting behind him on the bed, massaging his shoulders. Xiang crosses her arms. "That Ludwig Van Beethoven. He is quite the strategist. I did not expect that from a musician!" She mutters and Sun Tzu chuckles.
"I've my doubts," He says and Xiang angrily hits his arm.
"Shut up! Don't disagree with me!"
Sun Tzu laughs. "What I mean is… to me it is not as though he is forming a battle strategy. Each movement, each attack, each defense. It's not a battle as I have seen. He reacts and keeps him at bay. But he is not retreating to a strategically better position. Any position is the same when that weapon is behind him."
Jing gasps somewhat dramatically. "Gosh. you're so smart, Changqing,"
"Don't encourage him! His ego's already too large! Explain!" Xiang demands.
"Well, it's not like he's planning into the future. He's completely in the present. He's EXACTLY like his opponent. They're both just using their instincts to move forward. The difference is that Sett's instinct is focused on murder. Beethoven's instinct… is completely focused on creating his music!"
"Wooooow…" They both look as Beethoven closes his eyes a little just to listen to his melody, swaying his wand as every sound and vibration is just flawless. He opens them again as Sett is coming back to strike at him.
"..." This moment here. This is the ideal place for a grand explosion of sound! With a dramatic point forward and flick aside, and push upwards, Beethoven unleashes another series of strikes with his notes. The trumpets and tubas blare wildly and send the notes careening through the air at incredible speeds! The flute section blasts forth a network of wires all of which avoid Sett in a large arc, striking the ground behind him, wrapping him in a cage of wires almost. The only opening is in front. Right, where he was going anyway! s for Sett to avoid. VERSE OF THE TENTH: ALLGEGENWÄRTIG! The notes and wires all collide in the EXACT right spot, sending them flying back as Sett all at once, from nearly all around him! Sett's eyes widen as he truly cannot see an opening to slip out of! An utterly unstoppable combination! But does Sett despair upon faced with an attack such as this?
No. His widened eyes are only accompanied by a wide grin from ear to ear as everything appears to slow down as jerks, pulses and jitters appear under Sett's straitjacket. "So… beautiful. I love this fight… SO! MUUUUUCH!" And suddenly, as the notes fully close in around him a giant explosion erupts from its epicenter, Sett himself, the notes getting launched away and disappearing before Beethoven is struck by his own attack again, yet his cheek is cut by… something. Something he didn't even see coming! As the explosion occurs something else pulses out. A wave of… fear. Almost in order from closest to furthest away, the arena spectators get chills again.
"!?" He prepares another symphony as Sett flies towards him landing a few meters in front of him, surrounded by a sphere of… sand?
At the library of Babel, Giza grips Thoth's skirt tightly. The pulse seems to even have reached Babel. "L-Lord Thoth… what IS that?!" She points at the screen as the sand sphere
"The end of that human," Thoth says almost melancholic.
Just as Beethoven is about to move, the sphere is broken rather dramatically as Sett comes shooting out at incredible speeds! MUCH faster than before! That straitjacket was HEAVY! Beethoven raises his hands in almost in panic and the drums beat faster, pinning Sett in place, the god not having his bandages anymore as they are scattered to the winds, and the sand is BLOWN off of him revealing his true form, Beethoven relaxing as he feels he's at a safe distance when suddenly! With incredible veracity and power Sett's arms and furry, clawed hands SLAM around Beethoven's head, his ears popping with blood and his vision goes dark briefly, the whole metal Orchestra shutting down as Sett does a tiny jump and uses Beethoven's body as a spring-board into a long backflip, landing in the middle of the arena.
"BEETHOVEN!" Beethoven's teachers all scream, Pandora looking shocked from the top of the arena, holding her hand over her mouth.
Sett licks his lips as he looks down at his arms are free! And the bandages that were blown to the winds almost float down naturally towards his body, wrapping him up loosely themselves around his upper body and left arm. Beethoven grits his teeth, tapping his ears as his eyes widen, blood dripping from them.
"? … !" His eardrums burst! Sett's clap on his head burst his ears open! He stays on his knees, looking at Sett. He notices why he misjudged the distance between them. How Sett got that strike in so easily! His arms are freakishly long, nearly reaching his knee if he were to stand up straight.
Sett chuckles as his right arm is surrounded by sand, floating around like a flame. He laughs maniacally. "This is AMAZING! My hands! I can feel my haaaaands!" He grips his face. "My face! My faaaace! AHAHAHAAA! So! SO SO SOOOOO LOOOOOOONG! It's been soooo looooong! KYAAAAAAA!" He grips at his cheeks, digging his filthy black claws into it and almost tearing into himself, as tears of joy spill from his eyes. "So goooood. To touch myself agaaaain." His tears however are not water, but rather… blood. He's crying blood.
Icarus grabs the railing and grits his teeth. "This is BAD! Sett burst his ears! He can't hear a thing!"
"It'll be fine, Icarus," Pandora says, oddly calm as Beethoven slowly gets back to his feet.
"WHAT?! No it won't! You said it yourself! Without making the PERFECT music there's no way for him to use that weapon! You're completely insane if you think he can win NOW!"
Pandora steps up to the railing. "No. I'm not wrong. This is fine. Because Beethoven…" Beethoven stumbles left a bit, stumbles right a bit, before firmly setting down his foot firmly, flinging his head back to glare at Sett with his powerful cold eyes, a few strands of hair having gotten loose from his bun hanging down over one of his eyes, as he extends his arms into his composing stance. The Metal Orchestra rumbles and shakes. He does a single quick flick of his baton. "... IS USED TO BEING DEAF!" The orchestra fires a SINGLE dramatic hard plink of the piano forcing everyone in the arena to cover their ears by how insanely loud that was and yet Beethoven simply nods, satisfied with this outcome. METAL ORCHESTRA: CRESCENDO! Sett grins happily, as if he's excited to see what comes next. Holding up his right arm as the sand begins to swirl into the air, compressing itself into large curved blades similar to Egyptian pole axes with ornate carvings, and a large eye in the middle of the blade. First one, then two, then four, then fifteen, floating above Sett, all pointing at Beethoven, the two seemingly in a stand-still, glaring each other down. GUARDIAN'S BLADES!
Ra smirks lightly. "This is going to be more entertaining than I thought."