Potamos and Fights, and the Wave of Hatred
So. The thread battling yesterday had a lot of people trying to figure out just WHAT Potamos was hitting them with, off-camera. So expounding on that. And how she "fights", far as I know. Stuph |D
Devil's power goes quite a ways in this series, unlike most mahou shoujo. While others "create dimensional space" (Sailor Moon), or "influence the protagonists" (Rayearth), it's not often that the power of the bad guys outright infects the environment around them, even the canon fodder. The Akumazoku are special, apparently.
The Wave of Hatred is what mostly makes this possible. At the basest level, it's an energy source. The deviation of it and youki, as far as I can guess, is that it's tainted with dark emotions and intention, a more literal adaptation of "evil energy". The Akumazoku, even before Raindelvia's coup, need this Wave to live. (though speculation's aplenty on just how the Akumazoku existed prior to Raindellvia--anime clues us in that they might have existed in a sect community--higher clans, commoners, errants, etc.) That's also quite literal; should any Akumazoku ever run out of their Hate Wave, they will quite horribly expire (revealed to audience in Potamos' last TV ep--she doesn't accept that she can't have Yousuke, so she tries to commit suicide and take everyone with her). It makes them stronger, and able to feed off of some of the more aggressive negative emotions in other beings (while they can be empathic to the broad spectrum, it's mostly hatred, loathing, agitation, and surliness they feed off of the most). They can also wield it into physical attacks, which get more powerful, depending on the clan (Potamos' is potent, as she's the Water Devil Tribe. Viento is the Raafal Tribe, and strongest bar Raindellvia--who we never get a clan placing from).
As for its abilities, they can vary as well, from clan to clan. Most clans have adapted their waves into elemental gifts as well (Water, Fire, Wind, etc). Familiars are known for their extra-special abilities, instead of their outright power. In general, the wave can be used to attack, corrupt, and destroy.
Attacking is just that, manifesting the Wave into a visibly dark energy, or dark lightning, and casting it at someone. This is its most lethal form, since given too much of a dose, even other Devils would die from the assault (the trick of turning their lifeblood into a solid force of destruction--there's irony in that but too lazy to articulate). Most humans (granted, I count "most" being "those not in Camp") would be KO'd from a moderate attack. A higher concentration would kill them. For the sake of safety, assume that if Potamos ever blasts someone with Dark Water, it's actually under the moderate dosage versus a pure Hate Wave blast (water vs visual black energy/lightning). The trick is, she could keep up the Dark Water attack with less of a drain on herself than she could an outright dark energy blast. Viento is another cup of tea completely, given who and what he is (THIS is why he was able to kill Mercury and Peach--or at least Mercury. She's never trained herself to withstand such a suppressing force of dark energy, and ended up having her heart give out on her. If it were Sailor Moon, Viento would have had to endanger himself severely to kill her).
Corrupting is the fun part of the Hatred Wave. This is one of the radiation affects, and the more potent effect. The area with the wave will literally turn PURPLE with the amount of corruption. Essentially, it makes that area a beacon--I'd think--for those attracted by dark energy. It also makes it hazardous for humans and Angels to stay for long. In the later case, it's more poisonous to them if they do not have an adequate defense/Love Wave. Also, the corruption makes it possible to wield/warp the area to the Devil's whim: things like moving a corrupted building, or shutting out the space in a subpocket dimension become feasible.
Destroying is the second part of the radiation, and concerns those lifeforms who would get extremely sick with the introduction of the Hate Wave to their system. Generally, it can either knock a healthy human out, and make even stronger-than-average ones grossly sick. Too much exposure, just like regular toxic radiation, means death. To point, a person hit with the radiation could also have their condition aggrivated with the presence of errant youki (Yuusuke's pissed off powerup actually made his mother's condition somewhat worse, which is why Ami told him to take it outside and away from her).
Versus other beings (yokai, shinigami, etc)...I'd say it varies. An attack WOULD harm anyone (except Kenpachi, Death, and Delirium, because fjkdl;sfajdsk;afj), but the radiation and corruption vary greatly on their own physical/mental stamina. An interesting thing to note--The Wave of Hatred isn't too much like magic, so Goku's natural immunity would only provide so much cover.
Another sidenote for people with extra-sensing abilities: Potamos is very unlike Viento. Viento can HIDE his Wave of Hatred in his humanity (half-human, half-devil), but Hiromi cannot. Because she's pure Akumazoku. So anyone who can vaguely sense youki would realize right away This Girl Is Not Normal. As to why it's a concern--humans aren't very sensing-adept, in Wedding Peach. And only a few Angels actually exist on earth (Sakura, Limone, the Love Angels), none of whom have particularly adept sensing abilities (Salvia and Limone are special cases, they usually need to be transformed to detect any disturbances).
Essay subject to change when I get my grubby little mits on the manga.
I'll divide this up into reasonable sections, and then blah blah blah here we go.
STAMINA/SPEED/STRENGTH: She has one out of three. Assuming that Love Angel Salvia is quite trained with a sword, Potamos can reasonably duck, dodge, and scramble away from fast-paced movement (but nothing on Ranma's level, say). She also has the advantage of teleporting, so her speed is actually very damned good for a defensive measure. The other two, however, she severely lacks in--her healing factor usually makes up for her stamina, but she can be easily overwhelmed by displays of power (that actually contact--see speed). And the girl can barely pull herself out of a sink when she's stuck, so strength is a non-issue.
POWER: Her Wave of Hatred is pretty damned potent, just because of her personality. Her whimsical, impulsive behavior often gives her access to more Hate Wave than the avg Devil, and she capitalizes on that (seemingly subconsciously). She's no Viento or Petora, but she can still give even Yuusuke a bad day when she absolutely has to (she'll just have a worse one).
WATER POWER: The corruption/destruction/attack was already explained, as well as her possession abilities. But getting to water--she can morph her body into water to negate some attacks (she does this to avoid Wedding Peache's Saint Crystal in their first encounter). She can transport herself THROUGH water. She can make ice sculptures of varying shapes and sizes, use ice to shield against energy attacks, and apparently can create a Water Coffin (she froze Yousuke in solid ice, and encased Momoko in an ice shell, and filled it with water. FUN). Sources of water are usually her choice, but she can and will make her own, if necessary (for those watching, she was threatening Ying with a Water Coffin :D)
TACTICAL: This is where you think she wouldn't excel. But she does. Her best actions come from scheming (as shown in her "WHO KILLED ME?!" thread, she was very much NOT using her head, and Momoko's presence only aggitated her worse). She's not dumb--she'll do what's necessary for her pride and her livelyhood (fleeing from Thor until she can think of a way to deal with him). In battle, her concern is the suffering of her opponents, and making sure not to get hit while they're suffering. Off the field, she's better at making and hatching plans than she would be spur-of-the-moment. But her whimsical nature goes hand-in-hand with all of her plotting--instead of killing Anko, she very much pokes her with her boot and laughs a lot, since the loudmouth nin is down for the count, and can EASILY be put back down again. Kodachi is dangerous, especially in an open field, but nothing beyond Potamos' handling. Yuusuke she'll have to relearn to watch for, since she couldn't remember him killing her the first time. And then there was the initial Massive Multi Showdown with the Putties--she was elsewhere while the assassination was going down--being assaulted from six different directions.
In short, she's crafty, but her biggest weakness--and danger to everyone else--is pissing her off. She then becomes an unpredictable loose cannon.
OVERALL: She's not the most dangerous or powerful of her series, but she still gave the Angels more hell than others did. She's the one that got the closest to them, in all regards. It just goes to show, never send a man to do a woman's job, y'know? ♥
Devil's power goes quite a ways in this series, unlike most mahou shoujo. While others "create dimensional space" (Sailor Moon), or "influence the protagonists" (Rayearth), it's not often that the power of the bad guys outright infects the environment around them, even the canon fodder. The Akumazoku are special, apparently.
The Wave of Hatred is what mostly makes this possible. At the basest level, it's an energy source. The deviation of it and youki, as far as I can guess, is that it's tainted with dark emotions and intention, a more literal adaptation of "evil energy". The Akumazoku, even before Raindelvia's coup, need this Wave to live. (though speculation's aplenty on just how the Akumazoku existed prior to Raindellvia--anime clues us in that they might have existed in a sect community--higher clans, commoners, errants, etc.) That's also quite literal; should any Akumazoku ever run out of their Hate Wave, they will quite horribly expire (revealed to audience in Potamos' last TV ep--she doesn't accept that she can't have Yousuke, so she tries to commit suicide and take everyone with her). It makes them stronger, and able to feed off of some of the more aggressive negative emotions in other beings (while they can be empathic to the broad spectrum, it's mostly hatred, loathing, agitation, and surliness they feed off of the most). They can also wield it into physical attacks, which get more powerful, depending on the clan (Potamos' is potent, as she's the Water Devil Tribe. Viento is the Raafal Tribe, and strongest bar Raindellvia--who we never get a clan placing from).
As for its abilities, they can vary as well, from clan to clan. Most clans have adapted their waves into elemental gifts as well (Water, Fire, Wind, etc). Familiars are known for their extra-special abilities, instead of their outright power. In general, the wave can be used to attack, corrupt, and destroy.
Attacking is just that, manifesting the Wave into a visibly dark energy, or dark lightning, and casting it at someone. This is its most lethal form, since given too much of a dose, even other Devils would die from the assault (the trick of turning their lifeblood into a solid force of destruction--there's irony in that but too lazy to articulate). Most humans (granted, I count "most" being "those not in Camp") would be KO'd from a moderate attack. A higher concentration would kill them. For the sake of safety, assume that if Potamos ever blasts someone with Dark Water, it's actually under the moderate dosage versus a pure Hate Wave blast (water vs visual black energy/lightning). The trick is, she could keep up the Dark Water attack with less of a drain on herself than she could an outright dark energy blast. Viento is another cup of tea completely, given who and what he is (THIS is why he was able to kill Mercury and Peach--or at least Mercury. She's never trained herself to withstand such a suppressing force of dark energy, and ended up having her heart give out on her. If it were Sailor Moon, Viento would have had to endanger himself severely to kill her).
Corrupting is the fun part of the Hatred Wave. This is one of the radiation affects, and the more potent effect. The area with the wave will literally turn PURPLE with the amount of corruption. Essentially, it makes that area a beacon--I'd think--for those attracted by dark energy. It also makes it hazardous for humans and Angels to stay for long. In the later case, it's more poisonous to them if they do not have an adequate defense/Love Wave. Also, the corruption makes it possible to wield/warp the area to the Devil's whim: things like moving a corrupted building, or shutting out the space in a subpocket dimension become feasible.
Destroying is the second part of the radiation, and concerns those lifeforms who would get extremely sick with the introduction of the Hate Wave to their system. Generally, it can either knock a healthy human out, and make even stronger-than-average ones grossly sick. Too much exposure, just like regular toxic radiation, means death. To point, a person hit with the radiation could also have their condition aggrivated with the presence of errant youki (Yuusuke's pissed off powerup actually made his mother's condition somewhat worse, which is why Ami told him to take it outside and away from her).
Versus other beings (yokai, shinigami, etc)...I'd say it varies. An attack WOULD harm anyone (except Kenpachi, Death, and Delirium, because fjkdl;sfajdsk;afj), but the radiation and corruption vary greatly on their own physical/mental stamina. An interesting thing to note--The Wave of Hatred isn't too much like magic, so Goku's natural immunity would only provide so much cover.
Another sidenote for people with extra-sensing abilities: Potamos is very unlike Viento. Viento can HIDE his Wave of Hatred in his humanity (half-human, half-devil), but Hiromi cannot. Because she's pure Akumazoku. So anyone who can vaguely sense youki would realize right away This Girl Is Not Normal. As to why it's a concern--humans aren't very sensing-adept, in Wedding Peach. And only a few Angels actually exist on earth (Sakura, Limone, the Love Angels), none of whom have particularly adept sensing abilities (Salvia and Limone are special cases, they usually need to be transformed to detect any disturbances).
Essay subject to change when I get my grubby little mits on the manga.
I'll divide this up into reasonable sections, and then blah blah blah here we go.
STAMINA/SPEED/STRENGTH: She has one out of three. Assuming that Love Angel Salvia is quite trained with a sword, Potamos can reasonably duck, dodge, and scramble away from fast-paced movement (but nothing on Ranma's level, say). She also has the advantage of teleporting, so her speed is actually very damned good for a defensive measure. The other two, however, she severely lacks in--her healing factor usually makes up for her stamina, but she can be easily overwhelmed by displays of power (that actually contact--see speed). And the girl can barely pull herself out of a sink when she's stuck, so strength is a non-issue.
POWER: Her Wave of Hatred is pretty damned potent, just because of her personality. Her whimsical, impulsive behavior often gives her access to more Hate Wave than the avg Devil, and she capitalizes on that (seemingly subconsciously). She's no Viento or Petora, but she can still give even Yuusuke a bad day when she absolutely has to (she'll just have a worse one).
WATER POWER: The corruption/destruction/attack was already explained, as well as her possession abilities. But getting to water--she can morph her body into water to negate some attacks (she does this to avoid Wedding Peache's Saint Crystal in their first encounter). She can transport herself THROUGH water. She can make ice sculptures of varying shapes and sizes, use ice to shield against energy attacks, and apparently can create a Water Coffin (she froze Yousuke in solid ice, and encased Momoko in an ice shell, and filled it with water. FUN). Sources of water are usually her choice, but she can and will make her own, if necessary (for those watching, she was threatening Ying with a Water Coffin :D)
TACTICAL: This is where you think she wouldn't excel. But she does. Her best actions come from scheming (as shown in her "WHO KILLED ME?!" thread, she was very much NOT using her head, and Momoko's presence only aggitated her worse). She's not dumb--she'll do what's necessary for her pride and her livelyhood (fleeing from Thor until she can think of a way to deal with him). In battle, her concern is the suffering of her opponents, and making sure not to get hit while they're suffering. Off the field, she's better at making and hatching plans than she would be spur-of-the-moment. But her whimsical nature goes hand-in-hand with all of her plotting--instead of killing Anko, she very much pokes her with her boot and laughs a lot, since the loudmouth nin is down for the count, and can EASILY be put back down again. Kodachi is dangerous, especially in an open field, but nothing beyond Potamos' handling. Yuusuke she'll have to relearn to watch for, since she couldn't remember him killing her the first time. And then there was the initial Massive Multi Showdown with the Putties--she was elsewhere while the assassination was going down--being assaulted from six different directions.
In short, she's crafty, but her biggest weakness--and danger to everyone else--is pissing her off. She then becomes an unpredictable loose cannon.
OVERALL: She's not the most dangerous or powerful of her series, but she still gave the Angels more hell than others did. She's the one that got the closest to them, in all regards. It just goes to show, never send a man to do a woman's job, y'know? ♥