With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Thread Fourteen)

[Azzy Rael]

Fighting Succbi can be a pain, especially if they try to make it awkward.

 

[Mr Zoat]

and it trying -> and is trying

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'She looks at me'

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Thank you, corrected.

 

[Duke Long]

And… Huh. This places looks like a… Training arena? Torture chamber?

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'This place'

A Lantern can destroy an Industrial Age planet's defences. That doesn't mean that they can effectively conquer it.

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He could build von Neumann robots to provide occupying forces, no?

 

[Handlewithcare]

So in a way she is still doing her job. She is giving him joy.

Also, maybe she was brainwashed or something? Wasn't she some kind of rebel?

 

[Mr Zoat]

'This place'

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Thank you, corrected.

He could build von Neumann robots to provide occupying forces, no?

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He'd effectively need to build a superhuman AI to run them, though. And that's something that a lot of non-Lanterns across the galaxy can do. In the comics, that's what one incarnation of L.E.G.I.O.N. consisted of.

 

[crazygrox]

I don't believe that I can talk about the state of Argentina without breaking site rules. What I've heard does not recommend the place to me for anything. And not just because the citizenry once rose up en masse in a spirited attempt to murder the entire Top Gear production team.

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That's fair, it's not like I know enough about the place to argue on the subject, my total knowledge of the country is limited to a handful of historical and world economics edu-tainment videos.

 

[Mr Zoat]

That's fair, it's not like I know enough about the place to argue on the subject, my total knowledge of the country is limited to a handful of historical and world economics edu-tainment videos.

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A certain thing may have happened there recently which has certain people interested.

Also, they're why the United States calls its 25 cent coins 'quarters'. They used to buy silver coins (argentum) from Argentina, and would cut them in half or quarters for small purchases.

 

[Vaermina]

A certain thing may have happened there recently which has certain people interested.

Also, they're why the United States calls its 25 cent coins 'quarters'. They used to buy silver coins (argentum) from Argentina, and would cut them in half or quarters for small purchases.

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Pretty sure the US calls it's quarters quarters because 25 cents is a quarter of a dollar.

 

[Prince Charon]

I think he would disagree with you. He is a civilization god. He just starts with war to remove all resistance to him civilizing the barbarians.

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OK, now I'm imagining Grayven being dropped into some place like Westeros, or one of the nastier parts of Warhammer Fantasy's world (post-New Goding, so the Paul that's already in WHF doesn't count).

 

[Mr Zoat]

1st March 2013
04:21 GMT

"That's what-"

The lash darts out, aimed at my face. I shield myself and raise my daiklave to better parry whatever her follow-up attack is. The metal links themselves deflect off the construct as expected but the barbs bite into it, scoring lines across the front.

"-I am for!"

She lashes again, metal coming down from above. I move the construct up to block and step forward, the lash being blocked about half-way along its length and curling around-.

I jerk my head to the side, but a barb still catches my cheek. Bypassing my resilience and environmental shield, which is irritating but I am in Hell. I see a tiny droplet of my blood on one of the barbs as she pulls her weapon back and-.

I raise my left arm, fusion cannon construct forming and firing, scintillating beam striking her in the face just before she sticks my blood in her mouth, because I'm not that slow off the mark. A demon drinking my blood would not be good, especially as I have no idea how strong she is. I had assumed that she was relatively weak given how her mortal vessel was killed, but if it was all part of a scheme…

Let's see if she's any good with that axe.

I take two heavy steps forwards as she blinks to clear her vision -she's tough at least if that didn't burn her- and give my daiklave a one-handed swing across her body. She steps back and to her left, twisting her axe so that the spikes on the stop and the toe point trap it against the brick wall.

"Are you a master of the blade as well?"

"Honestly?" I shake my head as I try to pull my sword free. "No. Far from."

She grins as my sword remains trapped, so I clench my right fist and lunge forward, abandoning the daiklave in an attempt to force her back. She gets her lash arm up in a rushed block but I power through, construct gauntlet breaking the barbs and my fist slamming into her helmet. Her helmet takes it, but she staggers back and loses her grip on the axe.

I back up, recover my daiklave and check the thurible. Still in one piece, good.

"Hm."

I watch as she tosses the lash aside and grabs a spear and a round shield from the wall.

"Should I assume then that your aim was for your children to die young, come here and begin their training?"

"I was hoping that they would grow strong enough to form a toe-hold on Earth. Dying was an acceptable second choice."

The spear-tip darts out in a probing thrust. I try knocking it aside with a construct, but the spear just absorbs the orange light and I'm forced to awkwardly move the daiklave to bat it aside. Even at my level of strength it's a lot easier to thrust with a spear than move a sword like this back and forth, and she's clearly competent enough to realise that. On the other hand I am stronger, so if I actually hit her spear I could knock it out of her hands. Knock it loose, at least. Figure of eight ward and slowly advance.

At least if she pierces my armour she can't lick the spear tip without being sliced in half.

"Why don't they remember?"

"I had to have room for making improvements."

I advance more aggressively before I-.

I jerk my head to the side as the spear tip darts at me, just about getting my neck out of the way. She smiles at my loss of control.

See if you smile about this. Implacable Advance.

I stop warding, lifting my daiklave to a high position and maintaining my advance. My right hand is gauntleted again as I bring it forward to slap the spear aside if she thrusts at my chest. If she thrusts -even if she pierces me- I can press forwards and cut her in half before she can recover her weapon. Her weapon is almost certainly enchanted, but most weapon enchantments I've studied require that the user be holding them to receive a direct boost. The worst it can do is poison me and since it's not radion I can fight it off.

She smiles, and decides to take the trade.

She steps forwards and thrusts as she does to, aiming at the centre of my chest. My right hand moves to slap the spear up but she twists it so that the edge of the blade cuts through my construct and into my armour gauntlet.
Quail Before My Advance!
But to her surprise my gauntlet takes it, hand twisting around to the flat of the blade and tapping it aside.

I step forward again, swinging my daiklave down at full force! She tries to step aside but I'm now far enough forwards that my right hand can grab the haft of the spear just below the head. To her surprise it doesn't move when she does and she has only a fraction of a second to adjust her plans.

Her shield comes up.
Shatter!
My daiklave hits it, battering her to the ground and splitting the shield in two, her spear still in my right hand!

I toss it behind me as she jumps back to her feet.

"What about their father?"

She grabs a mace and tower shield from the edge of the arena, then jumps up onto it.

"A useful source of bloodlust and something to bind them to the Earth." She sneers. "You didn't think I loved him, did you?"

"There are lots of vampires. I assume you chose him as your children's sire for a reason."

"He was the first I met who fit the requirements. He was fun, and savage, but succubae do not form romantic attachments."

"Chantinelle would rather-."

"Don't compare me to that… Madwoman."

I walk over to the steps up to the arena and she takes a defensive position in the centre. No sense jumping up and leaving myself vulnerable.

"So, that's it? You get slightly better henchmen and women?"

"Bound to me by blood and magic."

"By blood-? Because they fed on you. You… Perverted what looked like an act of kindness into a ritual binding." I reach the edge of the arena and she bangs her mace against the front of her shield. "I'm genuinely impressed."

"It's not complicated magic. Though you are right: I did use it well. Now. Fight-"

I twist my left wrist and stab my daiklave into the ground, point first.

"-me? What are you doing? I won't indulge you if you want to fight bare-handed."

I bring my right hand up to the cut on my cheek and wipe off a small amount of blood. Then I raise my left hand and dab the top of the thurible with that blood before pressing my orange ring against it.

"You backed up and lost your weapons, conceding to me three times. This contains your bones, and the blood of children you bound to you. And I have an orange power ring. I bind you." Know Your Place.

"What?"

Orange light envelops the thurible, shining brilliantly out of the little holes in the side! The warrior succubus stares for a moment, then drops her mace and shield and clutches her forehead!

"AAAAAAAGGGGGGGggggggghhhhh..?"

Her hands drop, revealing the orange sigil burned into her forehead.

"Summon your children here, now."

"Yes, master."

 

[Darko]

One the other hand I am stronger

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"On the"

This contains you bones,

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"your"

 

[Agumentic]

She grabs a made and tower shield

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*Mace.

 

[Oglymogly]

I do love the Renegade segments. The same ruthlessness at his core, but his actions are different because what he cares about is so different.
Paragon changed Hell by secretly installing a puppet ruler. I have a suspicion Renegade is going to help his children conquer Hell directly, once they're grown.

 

[Ngamer11]

"You backed up and lost your weapons, conceding to me three times. This contains you bones, and the blood of children you bound to you. And I have an orange power ring. I bind you." Know Your Place.

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Orange light envelops the thurible, shining brilliantly out of the little holes in the side! The warrior succubus stares for a moment, then drops her mace and shield and clutches her forehead!

"AAAAAAAGGGGGGGggggggghhhhh..?"

Her hands drop, revealing the orange sigil burned into her forehead.

"Summon your children here, now."

"Yes, master."

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That was an interesting way to brand a person. It takes preparation, but once done, you could theoretically brand multiple individuals without having to go through the trouble of doing it in person. Will we be seeing this more in the future? Or is this just a one-off?

I do love the Renegade segments. The same ruthlessness at his core, but his actions are different because what he cares about is so different.
Paragon changed Hell by secretly installing a puppet ruler. I have a suspicion Renegade is going to help his children conquer Hell directly, once they're grown.

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Mr Zoat has mentioned that the Renegade will be Harrowing Hell, so I think it will be a resource to be exploited rather than a land to be conquered.

 

[Enochi]

Renegade is the superior timeline.

 

[Mr Zoat]

"On the"
"your"

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*Mace.

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Thank you, corrected.

 

[KaiKolo]

This was one hell of a custody dispute. One parent dominating the spirit of the other and demanding that they give them custody of the children does seem appropriate given that this is taking place in hell.

I do love the Renegade segments. The same ruthlessness at his core, but his actions are different because what he cares about is so different.

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Same here. Grayven-Paul has a passion to him, for better and worse, and embracing these feelings makes for some exciting segments.

 

[Lord Ernest]

It was missing a bit of a cathartic curbstomp but I guess this is satisfactory enough. Nobody messes with Grayven's children, not even their biological mother, or more like especially not her, given that she conceived them just for a scheme. I thought for a moment he would just Assimilate her, no complicated work-around needed.

What's next or what's the idea, now? The elder children are still demons and don't remember their life on Earth. And there's still the Queen Succubus to take care of, right?

 

[Chojin Patriarch]

1st March 2013
04:21 GMT

"That's what-"

The lash darts out, aimed at my face. I shield myself and raise my daiklave to better parry whatever her follow-up attack is. The metal links themselves deflect off the construct as expected but the barbs bite into it, scoring lines across the front.

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And of course she's strong enough to damage Spectrum Constructs. Because why should this be easy for him? Then again, she was strong enough to operate on Earth with minimal bindings or contract. Time to show her who's stronger.

Spoiler: Commentary spoilered for length

"-I am for!"

She lashes again, metal coming down from above. I move the construct up to block and step forward, the lash being blocked about half-way along its length and curling around-.

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Best not to get tangled up, Renegade.

I jerk my head to the side, but a barb still catches my cheek. Bypassing my resilience and environmental shield, which is irritating but I am in Hell. I see a tiny droplet of my blood on one of the barbs as she pulls her weapon back and-.

I raise my left arm, fusion cannon construct forming and firing, scintillating beam striking her in the face just before she sticks my blood in her mouth, because I'm not that slow off the mark. A demon drinking my blood would not be good, especially as I have no idea how strong she is. I had assumed that she was relatively weak given how her mortal vessel was killed, but if it was all part of a scheme…

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No doubt she's got a knack for blood magic. She'd have to, living with a vampire.

Let's see if she any good with that axe.

I take two heavy steps forwards as she blinks to clear her vision -she's tough at least if that didn't burn her- and give my daiklave a one-handed swing across her body. She steps back and to her left, twisting her axe so that the spikes on the stop and the toe point trap it against the brick wall.

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One-handed combat axes are surprisingly dextrous, yes. Lots of potential protrusions to hit and block with...

"Are you a master of the blade as well?"

"Honestly?" I shake my head as I try to pull my sword free. "No. Far from."

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With a sword that big, you don't really need skill, just momentum. And good luck getting it if she's aware of that.

She grins as my sword remains trapped, so I clench my right fist lunge forward, abandoning the daiklave in an attempt to force her back. She gets her lash arm up in a rushed block but I power through, construct gauntlet breaking the barbs and my fist slamming into her helmet. Her helmet takes it, but she staggers back and loses her grip on the axe.

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Armour doing its' job, though I suspect her ears are ringing a little.

I back up, recover my daiklave and check the thurible. Still in one piece, good.

"Hm."

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Might be awkward of that gets broken, given the effort Constantine went to assemble it.

I watch as she tosses the lash aside and grabs a spear and a round shield from the wall.

"Should I assume then that your aim was for your children to die young, come here and begin their training?"

"I was hoping that they would grow strong enough to form a toe-hold on Earth. Dying was an acceptable second choice."

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So a 'gain either way' plan, huh? Crafty. Angling for a promotion, is she?

The spear-tip darts out in a probing thrust. I try knocking it aside with a construct, but the spear just absorbs the orange light and I'm forced to awkwardly move the daiklave to bat it aside. Even at my level of strength it's a lot easier to thrust with a spear than move a sword like this back and forth, and she's clearly competent enough to realise that. One the other hand I am stronger, so if I actually hit her spear I could knock it out of her hands. Knock it loose, at least. Figure of eight ward and slowly advance.

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Yeah. Fighting with a surfboard-sized hunk of metal is tricky, but often all you need is that one good swing...

At least if she pierces my armour she can't lick the spear tip without being sliced in half.

"Why don't they remember?"

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Especially the oldest, who might have overheard grown-up talk any time.

"I had to have room for making improvements."

I advance more aggressively before I-.

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Gee, how loving of you, lady.

I jerk my head to the side as the spear tip darts at me, just about getting my neck out of the way. She smiles at my loss of control.

See if you smile about this. Implacable Advance.

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This should be interesting, seeing how she reacts to Godspeech.

I stop warding, lifting my daiklave to a high position and maintaining my advance. My right hand is gauntleted again as I bring it forward to slap the spear aside if she thrusts at my chest. If she thrusts -even if she pierces me- I can press forwards and cut her in half before she can recover her weapon. Her weapon is almost certainly enchanted, but most weapon enchantments I've studied require that the user be holding them to receive a direct boost. The worst it can do is poison me and since it's not radon I can fight it off.

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Still, getting hit isn't desirable. Best to press the attack.

She smiles, and decides to take the trade.

She steps forwards and thrusts as she does to, aiming at the centre of my chest. My right hand moves to slap the spear up but she twists it so that the edge of the blade cuts through my construct and into my armour gauntlet.

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Cocky, given that she has no idea what kind of tricks you have in the sword.

Quail Before My Advance!
But to her surprise my gauntlet takes it, hand twisting around to the flat of the blade and tapping it aside.

I step forward again, swinging my daiklave down at full force! She tries to step aside but I'm now far enough forwards that my right hand can grab the haft of the spear just below the head. To her surprise it doesn't move when she does and she has only a fraction of a second to adjust her plans.

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Yes, get her off balance, both physically and mentally. Once she's on the back foot, it gets much harder to be aggressive.

Her shield comes up.
Shatter!
My daiklave hits it, battering her to the ground and splitting the shield in two, her spear still in my right hand!

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If she's lucky, she didn't break her arm. But now she has two hands to swing blades at you...

I toss it behind me as she jumps back to her feet.

"What about their father?"

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I foresee her not giving a damn about him. We'd been assuming it was more of a love match between two monsters, but...

She grabs a made and tower shield from the edge of the arena, then jumps up onto it.

"A useful source of bloodlust and something to bind them to the Earth." She sneers. "You didn't think I loved him, did you?"

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Ah, of course not. So it was entirely a business association.

"There are lots of vampires. I assume you chose him as your children's sire for a reason."

"He was the first I met who fit the requirements. He was fun, and savage, but succubae do not form romantic attachments."

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How mercenary of you. So did you feel anything for the children at all, or were they just tools all this time?

"Chantinelle would rather-."

"Don't compare me to that… Madwoman."

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Ah, yes. Safe to assume she's still persona non grata around there.

I walk over to the steps up to the arena and she takes a defensive position in the centre. No sense jumping up and leaving myself vulnerable.

"So, that's it? You get slightly better henchmen and women?"

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And there's no rush, since it looks like no-one's paying attention to the fight.

"Bound to me by blood and magic."

"By blood-? Because they fed on you. You… Perverted what looked like an act of kindness into a ritual binding." I reach the edge of the arena and she bangs her mace against the front of her shield. "I'm genuinely impressed."

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Oh, that's nasty. I expect the Renegade will be takings steps to remove said bindings once he gets back to the surface.

"It's not complicated magic. Though you are right: I did use it well. Now. Fight-"

I twist my left wrist and stab my daiklave into the ground, point first.

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Ah, Renegade not going to engage her martially, now that he's taken her measure?

"-me? What are you doing? I won't indulge you if you want to fight bare-handed."

I bring my right hand up to the cut on my cheek and wipe off a small amount of blood. Then I raise my left hand and dab the top of the thurible with that blood before pressing my orange ring against it.

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Oh-ho. Remember, Constantine did say it could be used to channel his Godhood and possibly the Yellow or Orange Lights with it...

"You backed up and lost your weapons, conceding to me three times. This contains you bones, and the blood of children you bound to you. And I have an orange power ring. I bind you." Know Your Place.

"What?"

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Sympathetic magic, bitch. It works both ways, and you rolled low on your initiative.

Orange light envelops the thurible, shining brilliantly out of the little holes in the side! The warrior succubus stares for a moment, then drops her mace and shield and clutches her forehead!

"AAAAAAAGGGGGGGggggggghhhhh..?"

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Yep, the Renegade's controlling influence being rammed right into her brain. That would sting.

Her hands drop, revealing the orange sigil burned into her forehead.

"Summon your children here, now."

"Yes, master."

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Well, that simplifies matters somewhat.

Now, how will those above her in the hierarchy interpret such a gathering? The more suspicious might well consider it a prelude to an attack, I suspect. And there is still the matter of the Queen of the Succubi to be dealt with. The best hope the Renegade has is that she's amused by his taking control of the muscle-girl and lets him take his winnings with minimal payment... The worst case, she's annoyed.

 

[Signaller]

The worst it can do is poison me and since it's not radon I can fight it off.

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Radon or Radion?

 

[Duke Long]

Let's see if she any good with that axe.

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'she's'

She grins as my sword remains trapped, so I clench my right fist lunge forward, abandoning the daiklave in an attempt to force her back.

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'and lunge'?

 

[Mr Zoat]

Radon or Radion?

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'she's'
'and lunge'?

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Thank you, corrected.

 

[Handlewithcare]

ParaPaul's Timelne is all about strengthening the whole.

RenePaul is about personal power.

Both can be Interesting, imo

I liked the use of angic in this update and the last. It's basically magic hacking, neat.

 

[Agumentic]

ParaPaul's Timelne is all about strengthening the whole.

RenePaul is about personal power.

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I suppose, looking at the bigger picture, Paragon's NEMO is stronger than Renegade's Vega Empire. On the other hand, comparing the respective states of their Earths, you'd have to ask who was doing the better job strengthening the whole.

 

[Wivk]

Best part of the entire story was fighting off the antil ife with the elements of harmony.

 

[Lord Ernest]

On the other hand, comparing the respective states of their Earths

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I'm sorry, but objectively, Grayven is definitely doing better than the Illustres. Sheeda invasion? Relatively contained and repelled, there weren't as many casualties. The Light? Already more than dealt with. There was no Heaven invasion nor massive Anti-Life infection. The Team? Has a bunch of New Gods, not the least of which is Kid Flash being a God of Speed, so even if Earth 16 doesn't have a Speed Force, he is a Speed Force unto himself; and I know that Connor has that Helios blessing, but on Grayven's side he is a full Kryptonian and that doesn't prevent him from getting the blessing as well. Earth has a Space Force with its corresponding Fleet, Grayven has a new and more effective Light, plus the Justice League now also has The Shade among its members.

Only thing Paragon's Earth has over the other is the Magi-Tech revolution and the magical knowledge being more widespread because of it. But considering how many people have died, I think they would trade.

 

[Coda]

Also, they're why the United States calls its 25 cent coins 'quarters'. They used to buy silver coins (argentum) from Argentina, and would cut them in half or quarters for small purchases.

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You're confusing it with why we call them "two bits." The Spanish Real was the currency of trade at the time, and one Real coin was often cut into 8ths for small transactions. These 8ths were called "bits" -- or, more famously from pirate literature, "pieces of eight."

As mentioned, we call them quarters because they're a quarter of a dollar. It says it right on the coin: "Quarter Dollar".

I'm sorry, but objectively, Grayven is definitely doing better than the Illustres. Sheeda invasion? Relatively contained and repelled, there weren't as many casualties. The Light? Already more than dealt with. There was no Heaven invasion nor massive Anti-Life infection. The Team? Has a bunch of New Gods, not the least of which is Kid Flash being a God of Speed, so even if Earth 16 doesn't have a Speed Force, he is a Speed Force unto himself; and I know that Connor has that Helios blessing, but on Grayven's side he is a full Kryptonian and that doesn't prevent him from getting the blessing as well. Earth has a Space Force with its corresponding Fleet, Grayven has a new and more effective Light, plus the Justice League now also has The Shade among its members.

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It depends on how you measure success. Thanks to the Anti-Life, Grayven's Earth is in better shape at the moment. But before that? The Illustres's Earth was broadly farther along in terms of geopolitics and technology. The things that Grayven considers success are in many ways things that the Illustres thinks are non-goals; indeed, the recent discussions with the League show that he's starting to reconsider that.

 

[Agumentic]

But before that? The Illustres's Earth was broadly farther along in terms of geopolitics and technology.

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Before that, Renegade's Earth had a space fleet and kicked Sheeda off without much damage, while Paragon's Earth was so damaged society mostly worked out of inertia and hope.

 

[Coda]

Before that, Renegade's Earth had a space fleet and kicked Sheeda off without much damage, while Paragon's Earth was so damaged society mostly worked out of inertia and hope.

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The Sheeda invasion wasn't nearly as traumatic as the Anti-Life infection. It sucked but it didn't really hurt OL's plans; it just set them back a little, and in some ways it actually helped.

The Anti-Life infection on the other hand shows the weakness of the Illustres's more hands-off strategy -- it leaves the world in a less-developed state for longer, so if a massive threat arrives BEFORE the uplift is complete, a lot more damage can happen.

 

[Lord Ernest]

It depends on how you measure success. Thanks to the Anti-Life, Grayven's Earth is in better shape at the moment. But before that? The Illustres's Earth was broadly farther along in terms of geopolitics and technology. The things that Grayven considers success are in many ways things that the Illustres thinks are non-goals; indeed, the recent discussions with the League show that he's starting to reconsider that.

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I'm sorry but I can't agree, the presence and implementation of new Magi-Tech and a few pieces of advanced technology can't really justify, to my eyes, the number of casualties Paragon's Earth has suffered due to certain events. And while those events are not solely responsability of the Illustres, some part of them were reaction or product of his presence and actions. I can't really comment on the geopolitical status, but I wouldn't agree much either, seeing how the UK got better served by Grayven and allies, Brazil collapsed and Kahndaq got attacked and decimated by Apokolips, etc.

Now the Anti-Life infection have further cut the entire human population. Meanwhile Grayven's Earth has all the elements required to eventually catch up with what the Illustres has implemented on his; Cranius' town and his technologies, Clea's integration, Lex's "corraling", Circe's school with Sunset's presence and interests, Grayven's assistance of so-called Mad Scientists, all things that will advance the general technological and magical level of the planet at a steady pace. Without having suffered as many horrific events as the Illustres'.

The argument that the tragedies don't matter because now they can rebuild better or that they "helped" sounds like something the Light would use to justify their actions.