Leone vs Mercury is a Death Battle by Peep4Life.
Leone vs Mercury | |
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Season 2, Episode 6 | |
Vital statistics
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Air date | April 3, 2019 |
Written by | Peep4Life |
Directed by | Peep4Life |
Episode guide
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Description []
Season 2 Episode 6! Akame ga Kill vs RWBY! A follow up of Akame vs Tyrian: These assassins need no weapons to get the job done, but who would win this hard hitting contest?
Interlude[]
Wiz: Martial arts. Perhaps the most core technique and skill of all combative situations. But what happens when you pit two extremely talented practitioners of these arts in a bout to the end?
Boomstick: One of them eventually finds out their breaking point. So will it be Leone, Night Raid's busty assassin?
Wiz: Or Mercury - the successor of world renowned assassin Marcus Black.
Boomstick: He's Wiz and I'm Boomstick.
Wiz: And it's our job to analyse their weapons, armour and skill to find out who would win a Death Battle.
Leone[]
Boomstick: Oh my god...
Wiz: This is gonna be Cammy White all over again.
Boomstick: It would be rude not to give them a look. I mean ju-
Wiz: Leone grew up in the slums of the Imperial Capital, and worked in a massage parlour from being very little. But it was her capability of protecting the weak from the nobles that got her scouted by the Revolutionary Army.
Boomstick: Don't be fooled though; Leone was still a cunning thief beneath that. She conned Tatsumi when he wandered into the capital and robbed him blind.
Wiz: Which she would eventually repay to him when she saved Tatsumi from Akame in a mission. Leone would bring Tatsumi along with them as they recruited him into Night Raid - recommending him to Najenda.
Boomstick: Leone also seems fairly comfortable when it comes to acknowledging the darker side of what Night Raid stands for. Killing is kinda what she was good at. She was one of the more experienced members of Night Raid at the time.
Wiz: She would also be sent on scouting missions, spying on General Esdeath but having to retreat when she was unable to conceal her aura from her.
Boomstick: She made it out alive, of course, and was important to Night Raid as more and more pressure piled on them at the hands of the Empire and the Jaegers.
Wiz: Depending on what media of Akame ga Kill you view, Leone also proved to be full of resilience; she had to confront General Esdeath in a head on battle and survived brutal torture at the hands of Esdeath.
Boomstick: The general was a mean bitch when it came to torture; she knew exactly where to cut someone to keep them alive, which I suppose is part of Esdeath's yandere training course.
Wiz: The events of Akame ga Kill would come to a peak when the Imperial Capital was conquered; Leone would go after the manipulative Honest, who she was able to subdue in hand to hand battle at the expense of her own life.
Boomstick: Yeah, the sneaky bastard managed to get a clean shot on Leone, ensuring her death was inevitable. But Leone made him pay before she went down.
Wiz: She murdered him pretty brutally as well depending on the media. In the manga, she ripped his guts out or in the anime, she pummels his face in.
Boomstick: She's the complete package isn't she? That skill... and that sweet rac-
Wiz: Let's just get to her skills and weapons.
Boomstick: Leone is a powerhouse of a combatant. However, she mainly seems to prioritize sneak attacks.
Wiz: As an assassin she is very open about the preference of killing a foe before they have a chance to react. Although, she has an aura that can be detected if she does not conceal it.
Boomstick: Not too much of an issue if she does get caught though; she has the strength to one shot a giant Danger Beast and was capable of killing three men in a single kick. Now that's effective.
Wiz: Her paws seem to serve more as clubbing weapons than they do strikes and punches, hammering down on opponents guard until she breaks through. A training method of hers was working alongside Tatsumi to cut down multiple waves of Danger Beasts. These were extremely fierce creatures, but Leone was very capable of killing them off.
Boomstick: But Leone has a tool that can help enhance her odds in battle further than her raw skill. She has the Teigu Lionel: The King of Beasts. Fair enough, cause if she can't seduce them, she can sure as hell crush them into submission!
Wiz: This particular Imperial Arms is located on her belt and offers Leone heightened senses, strength and can eventually transform her body. She obtains a set of lion ears as well as the tail, but these features are not just for show. She essentially gains the traits and might of Danger Beasts as well.
Boomstick: But that's not all; in her manga battle against Honest, she loses the Teigu - which did suck - but she was able to fuse it with herself, which actually made her more animalistic than the previous modifications.
Wiz: However, there was a catch. When Leone fused with it, she basically accepted she was going to succumb to her gunshot wounds. The fusion meant that she traded off durability for more strength.
Boomstick: Doesn't seem like a bad trade off.
Wiz: It did result in her death.
Boomstick: Don't you remind me!
Wiz: Luckily, she also has a Trump Card for her Teigu: Regeneration. The ability sees Leone become able to undo massive portions of damage she suffered in the middle of the battle. It's weirdly powerful in that she was able to heal her removed eye, missing breast.
Boomstick: She did what?
Wiz: Yes, she undid a chopped off breast.
Boomstick: Atta girl!
Wiz: She could also reattach missing limbs, which she needed to do after Kurome cut off an arm. However, that was requiring Lubbock's help to stitch the limbs together.
Boomstick: Man, Leone was a badass. It's not hard to see why she's so loved; she's perfect.
Wiz: Well, not entirely becaus-
Boomstick: PERFECT!
Wiz: If you ignore her habit of tunnel vision. She didn't see Honest's fatal attack coming or Kurome's disarming move because she was so focused on what was happening right before her.
Boomstick: Yeah, but she still has a tough streak a mile long. And keeping her down is not going to be easy.
Leone: The stronger the enemy, the more I wanna take 'em down.
Mercury Black[]
Wiz: Born to a renowned assassin, Marcus, Mercury was raised with only one endgame in sight. That was to ultimately become an assassin in his own right.
Boomstick: And he's followed quite capably. I mean hey, every legend wants to leave some kind of a legacy.
Wiz: Unfortunately for Marcus, his legacy would soon be his undoing. He taught his son how to be a ruthless killer, and then one fateful night, Mercury would kill Marcus in a fight that destroyed their house.
Boomstick: His skill caught the eyes of Cinder Fall and Emerald Sustrai, who just happened to have a vacancy for a skilled assassin. And Mercury slotted right in.
Wiz: Mercury would play a valuable role in Cinder's plan to bring down Beacon Academy; during the semester, he and Emerald were deployed as feelers, getting used to the students' skills and abilities and reporting back to Cinder. This would help them massively as they were able to scout Pyrrha in particular, who was said to be the best of Beacon Academy's students.
Boomstick: And then around came the Vytal Festival. And the tournament to match. Mercury would be drawn against Coco Adel and Yatsuhashi alongside Emerald in an early round match... And Mercury was single handedly kicking their asses!
Wiz: He brushed aside senior students as if they were nothing, and qualified for the finals where he came up against Yang Xiao Long.
Boomstick: After throwing the fight, Yang cruelly assaulted the innocent Merc and-
Wiz: Yang was framed after she 'defeated' Mercury and 'attacked' him after the match.
Boomstick: Wiz, we both saw the tainted perfectly legitimate footage: that ruthless - albeit hot as fuck - bitch snapped his legs for no good reason!
Wiz: Oh no! Not the poor defenceless highly trained assassin...
Boomstick: ...
Wiz: ... Thought so. Anyway, he then helped record the downfall of Beacon in the coming days and would return to Salem's realm relatively victorious.
Boomstick: Hey, it's not his fault Cinder got tased by Silver Eyes.
Wiz: At the attempted fall of Haven, Mercury would prove he was still a supreme fighter, easily defeating Yang a second time, though they never fully reached a conclusion in their battle as Yang was more interested in confronting Raven.
Side Note: Mercury being 2-0 against Yang are from my own analysis of the scenarios. They do seem to be the commonly believed results as well, but I respect some people genuinely think Yang won. Fret not; it doesn't change too much of the result here.
Boomstick: Mercury is defended by a soul based defense mechanism called Aura. This essentially shields his organic body from hazards and damage on the battlefield. Of course, it can not last forever, as seen against Yang at the Vytal Tournament, but it can be enough to shield fatal blows.
Wiz: He was able to sponge a large portion of Yang's assault in this state, only really succumbing because he needed her to win the fight for the scheme to progress.
Boomstick: A surprising feature of Mercury's arsenal was his metal legs. They seem to hold chambers to fire dust rounds off in as well, and he can deliver pretty violent onslaughts with them.
Wiz: They are pretty durable as well; he was able to raise his legs to block Yatsuhashi's leaping slam in the tournament, which sent a shock wave strong enough to erupt the geyser fields around them. Yatsuhashi had all the momentum, was a far heavier character than most, and had just displayed the strength to launch Mercury across the stage. Realistically, Mercury's legs should never have held off Yats, but they did.
Boomstick: Which sorta ties into the question of if his aura defends his legs. See, aura protects the body whereas Merc's legs are enhancements. Sorta similar to Cinder's Grimm arm. It's doubtful aura covers it, meaning that metal is some tough shit.
Wiz: Mercury uses a Taekwondo style of fighting, focusing on kicks and acrobatic movements. It matched up well against Yang's all punching style, and he was very capable against Pyrrha in volume two, resigning from the match as he was able to gather enough information on the fighter.
Boomstick: Which makes him a bit of a nerd when it comes to combat. But hell, he would need to put in the work to be that badass. Especially considering where he lacks...
Wiz: Mercury was trained brutally by Marcus from a very, very young age. And a part of training in Remnant is to one day unlock a Semblance - which is kind of a unique superpower.
Boomstick: Turns out Marcus' was confiscating things, and he stole Mercury's semblance from him when they sparred.
Wiz: He promised to return the Semblance when Mercury became stronger, but it turns out killing the guy who owes you something doesn't give you it back.
Boomstick: Hold on. This ruthless assassin has been working without powers and making huntresses look like chumps?
Wiz: He has been doing exactly that. Mercury is an absolute prodigy of a fighter, and while he has suffered one or two set backs to the hands of Tyrian for example, he comes back stronger than ever. He has speed, as seen when he was able to counter Ruby's semblance and he has buckets of strength.
Boomstick: Mercury also shares some quick wits as well, and loves to get in his opponent's head with trash talk. It comes in handy as well, as he lured Yang into a narrow minded assault during the Battle of Haven, he also shattered Pyrrha's mood when he reminded her of her status as a celebrity.
Wiz: Mercury seemingly has talents in all aspects of the battlefield; he is smart, fast and very dangerous. He may be half the man others are thanks to his legs, but he makes that up as being twice the fighter.
Mercury: I've had to work harder than anyone to get where I am. You may not like it here without Cinder, but I think I'm right where I'm supposed to be!
Intermission[]
Wiz: Alright the combatants are set, let's end this debate once and for all.
Boomstick: It's time for a Death Battle!
Fight[]
Location: Forest Filled With Danger Beasts (Akame ga Kill!)
The sounds of grunts and cries emitted the wooded area as Mercury rained down kicks on the beast before him. Ferocious as it may be, Mercury was up to the challenge of keeping it down. One swift and incapacitating kick later, and the foul thing was down to its knees. Mercury sneered, when he suddenly heard someone pounce from behind him.
Of course it was Leone, and the assassin planted a palm in the skull of the beast, crushing it. She landed on her feet, smirking. "What chance I happened to be in the area?" Leone smiled, turning to Mercury, who had an unsettling smirk on his face as well. "Not really; you were the one I was sent here for."
"That so?" Leone asked, as she faced Mercury side on. "Then I guess you know what to except happens next."
Merc nodded as he flew in with a rolling kick, which Leone met with a huge punch, creating a shock wave that violently shook the nearby trees of their leaves. They both pushed hard against the other, before Leone flipped Mercury back, and the prosthetic legged assassin landed a few feet away, rushing back in for a follow up.
FIGHT!
Mercury's legs struck at tremendous speeds, but Leone used simple movements to sponge the attacks on her arms, and counter with clubbing swats. Merc showed his own defensive pedigree though, weaving his shoulder back from each strike. He then went very low, almost to a sitting position, as he dragged his left leg across Leone's hind leg. Leone landed hard, but she quickly sprang up and threw a kick which Mercury again met with a prosthetic. "I'll bet you're with the guy Akame killed!" Leone snarled, as she pressed the attack. Mercury began backing away, still using his defense to minimize Leone's efficiency.
"He was pathetic. Luckily, it turns out I'm good at cleaning up after his mess." Merc snapped, going for a sudden transition into a round house kick. Leone ducked and then finally scored a hit right on Mercury's chest. She then grabbed him by the collar and lifted him, ready to punch through his head. Black raised his arms, blocking the striking arm of Leone and then fired dust rounds from his boots into the ground, freeing himself from her clutches. He then flipped away into the trees, forcing Leone to give chase. She pounced at the branches Merc was positioned on, but every time she got near him, the assassin found herself being ducked.
"Stop running and fight me, DAMMIT!" she roared, turning her target to the trunk of the tree instead, sending it tumbling and dropping Mercury to the floor. Merc landed, and quickly planted a boot into Leone's stomach as she closed in, but the Night Raid assassin beamed. "Nice try." she smugly taunted, grabbing the ankle and flinging him at a nearby stone structure. Mercury landed hard, and Leone leapt up, ready to drop down with a double stomp on his chest, but again Mercury's prosthetic legs came in clutch, nullifying the blow and sending the shock wave into the surrounding area.
Leone didn't back away, however, and she began raining down hammering arm thrusts, which Mercury struggled to defend thanks to the leverage the Night Raid assassin had gained. Leone finally managed to pry the arms apart, and began thumping down with brutal punches, smashing Mercury's head into the ground repeatedly. Merc grabbed the arms, pulling them over his head to unsettle the balance of Leone's attacks. With his legs, he then squeezed around Leone's head, trying to rip her off him, but Leone fought back, violently jerking away from the attempts, before springing up, looking to plant her feet in his stomach. Mercury rolled aside, letting Leone's feet slam into the floor, before kicking some of the resulting debris back at the assassin.
Leone snarled, as the rock bounced off the jaw, sending a tooth flying but angering her more than paining her. She began her combination of punches and kicks which Mercury was happy to catch with his own. "You remind me of another wannabe hero." Mercury said. He then ducked a kick, planting a punch on the side of Leone's head. "She's pathetic. And a hothead too..." Merc added, as he then slipped several thrust kicks into her chest, lifting her into the air. He followed her up, kicking her back down with a heel planted right on her scalp. But Leone no sold the attack, bouncing off her side and landing in front of him, surprising Mercury before palming him in the face. Now she sensing dominance take over as she whacked him aside, where his body crumpled against a tree. He got back up and fired off successions of dust rounds, which swarmed Leone and forced her to dodge from side to side. They were too slow, and Merc retracted his leg in time to catch her fist. He then caught the second, but now was at a supreme disadvantage; Leone was much stronger.
She spun around on the spot, lifting Mercury who braced for impact. Immediately after Leone released him, he curled into a ball, as his metal legs slammed through a rock structure again. This time he was slower getting back to his feet, but had a new plan. He jumped behind cover, and began brewing up a storm of dust. He then let loose with the projectiles, which the pouncing Leone could not counter. They rained down on her, hammering her defence but Mercury didn't let up. He imitated a skating motion, kicking her in the chest several times and paint brushed her face with a swift boot. With all his might, he dropped her with a two legged vertical dropkick, sending her flying into the nearby tree trunk, bending it as she sat there, remaining still.
(Music Stops)
Mercury went to walk away, scuffing his foot into the floor to ensure it was still properly working, when from behind him, a familiar voice sounded. "I didn't realise the party was over." Leone said in a low voice. She looked different in someway. Maybe it was the lion features? Or a haircut maybe. But either way, Mercury knew he had to clock back on. "You are exactly like her. Because just like blondie..." he then let out a cry as he dropped a kick at her, which her forearms blocked.
"You don't know when to QUIT!"
Leone clothes lined Mercury, turning him inside out, but she would be a fool to leave him. She kicked him across the floor, and into a corner. Mercury kipped up, firing off dust rounds but this time Leone was able to match them with the debris she threw. With her strength, she even managed to punch some of the shots back at Mercury. The assassins attacked each other with flying kicks, but Leone was the one to come out ahead this time. She sent him crumpling against the nearby logs, which Merc immediately sensed as a weapon. He hopped behind them, kicking the pile at Leone. She simply barged through them, and then grabbed the final pieces, flinging it around and slamming it into Mercury's chest.
Mercury was panting as Leone charged in towards him, so he rolled past her and began rushing towards the more populated area of the woods. "Where are you going, speedy?" she snapped, bounding after him. Mercury knew he couldn't run forever, but that wasn't the plan; this was!He planted a super kick right into Leone's chin, one Shawn Michaels himself would be proud of. But if Mercury was Shawn Michaels, then Leone was Hulk Hogan at SummerSlam '05. Or, a better way of describing it, Leone did not even budge. She did however offer a straight right hand, sending him skidding on his ass and into a tree.
(Music Stops)
"Pretty impressive, ain't it?" Leone smirked. "Lionel always wins." she confirmed, patting the Teigu. Mercury glared at her, getting back to his feet. His aura began to crackle, but he reckoned he had enough. "Let's see how long I can push it for." he said smugly. Leone shrugged. "Your funeral."
She went to punch through Mercury's head, but he ducked and sprang back with both metal legs, clocking her right in the stomach. As she sorta staggered, Mercury opened fire with a swarm of dust. The rounds pelted Leone into a corner, but the rounds were not indiscriminate; they were all homing in on her Imperial Arms. Leone saw this, but Mercury leapt overhead, drawing her eye and allowing the attacks to find their home. He then fired a final shot, wiping out the Teigu entirely. Leone froze for a second, but snapped into reality when a rolling kick nearly rendered her toothless. She may be without Lionel, but that didn't mean she was out of this.
They traded brutal punches and kicks, resulting in Leone eventually catching a leg and going to break it. But to her horror, she found out too late that the boot was indeed metallic.
BANG!
And now, there was a dust round nestled in her eye. She clutched the bleeding socket as the red and white of her eyes oozed through her fingers. Mercury smiled; he had this. He hammered away with kicks on the top of Leone's guard, prying her arms open, and then dragging his boot across her face. He then jumped up, with her in hands, planting his feet into the side of her head, crushing it. To be absolutely certain, he made sure to overwhelm her with dust, pummeling her corpse, and leaving her Teigu in tatters.
He dusted himself off, and turned to a Seer Grimm which had apparently been keeping tabs on him. "There you go..." he said coldly, spitting at the Night Raid assassin's corpse.
KO!
Conclusion[]
Boomstick: Just went to get a snack, so how did Leone get o- OH MY GOD!
Wiz: I'm so sorry Boomstick...
Boomstick: Someone undo this! Please! Tell me it ain't so!
Wiz: It.. is Boomstick. Let's just get into the reasoning, okay?
Boomstick: You might have to go solo here Wiz...
Wiz: Okay. Firstly, yes: Leone held the physical edge on the attack quite comfortably. Her success in mauling several enemies in quick succession will tell you that. And she was also supreme at stealth, but the issue was that she simply lacked the final piece of the puzzle to get her over the line and get the job done. Mercury was certainly capable of holding the line against Leone for long enough to gain an understanding of her style. Considering Leone's approach is very physical and full on, it didn't take him too long to pin down; Mercury has fought a similar enough enemy in Yang Xiao Long to transfer his approach from those battles to this one.
Boomstick: Sure, Leone has fought similar to Mercury, but the difference was in Mercury's much more analytical mind. He was able to decipher even the subtle differences in Pyrrha Nikos' style during a sparring match that was shorter than five minutes.
Wiz: Leone didn't have the versatility of Yang or Pyrrha, so couldn't shake off Mercury's understanding fast enough, but that does not make her completely incompetent; when Mercury was in close proximity, Leone only needed to land a few hits to unsettle him. The hard part was going to be hitting him significantly. As we have established, Mercury is incredibly fast - fast enough to block Ruby Rose's semblance and go blow for blow with the speed of a Fall Maiden, however inexperienced she was.
Boomstick: Leone may have had Mercury topped in experience thanks to her age. She was trained from young, as was Mercury, but Leone was trained around the use of an Imperial Arms whereas Mercury was trained to combat semblances without the use of his own.
Wiz: Semblances offer similar perks to Imperial Arms as they are their own superpowers, so Mercury was not too far out of his depth. And considering Imperial Arms users' tendencies to show off and full on explain what their Teigu does, it was likely Leone was going to make that mistake if she thought Lionel had given her the win over Mercury.
Boomstick: And it's not like Mercury was unable to break it; Honest managed it during his battle with Leone and Mercury had both dust and metal legs to fall back on. Asshole.
Wiz: So that only leaves the durability of Mercury's legs up for discussion. Considering he was able to hold off Yatsuhashi's full body weight, and a slam that was powerful enough to make the geyser fields erupt, we figure his legs should be able to resist Leone for long enough to gain the advantage.
Boomstick: Leone's punches and kicks are quite similar to Yatsuhashi's motion as she too leads with all her weight and strength. Meaning Mercury was not facing something unlike anything he has faced. His legs also survived a beating and scorching at the hands of Amber during their fight.
Wiz: Ultimately, for all of Leone's skill and power, Mercury had smarts, speed and just edged versatility. Though it wasn't necessarily easy, Mercury was never truly in danger of losing the fight. Hey, maybe he could have included the Kitten Killer 9000 for-
Boomstick: I AM NOT IN THE MOOD, WIZ!
Wiz: My bad! Sheesh.
Boomstick: There goes another waifu - done and dusted...
Wiz: The winner is Mercury Black!