Fiona Tears Through DEATH BATTLE!

               

Fiona Standish, Dragon of the Library

The Fantasy Book Club was created by The Evil Nae it can be read on Webtoon or Tapas

WARNING

This blog will discuss themes of trauma, abuse, and portrayals of mental health disorders. Viewer digression is advised

Welcome back to the blog! Last blog was in line with the spooky vibes of October, so here's another blog to keep up the autumn vibes! This webcomic quickly rose to be one of my favorites as I started reading it, so I hope y'all give this one a shot too. Given how story focused this one is, spoiler warning in case you wanna read it, which I highly recommend. Huge thanks to the author Nae for answering the questions I had regarding Fiona and The Fantasy Book Club. They were very helpful and great to chat with. I mentioned this before in the Islabelle blog, but if you're a webcomic creator that wants to collaborate with me on one of these blogs, let me know!! I try to cover ones that have a sufficient amount of VS viable content and has unique potential that would be fun to see on a VS show like Death Battle. Anyway, let's get on with the blog!

Background

"If my life was going to be destroyed regardless… I was gonna be the one to do it! Because nobody tells me what to fucking do."

Monsters, magic, dragons, and spirits. All these are simply the works of fiction, right? To some, sure, but not to the sophomore library assistant Fiona Standing.

Attending Crossroads University as a library science major, many quiver in fear at the sight of the gothic book enthusiast. Labeled by some as the psychotic "bitchy librarian," she's notorious for her standoffish, antisocial, and at times aggressive attitude. Looking past her moody personality, she's best known for her love of all things fantasy. Unlike many, she has an authentic belief in the supernatural and mysterious.

A lot of her characteristics stem from her ASPD, or Antisocial Personality Disorder. In recent years she has been trying to improve her attitude the best she can—and her job as a librarian has really helped out. But aside from her librarian boss Jayla, the only other person in school who tolerates her presence is her childhood friend Tristan. Her relationship with Tristan is… complicated. Six years ago when Fiona was living with her abusive father, she and Tristan were great friends. However, Fiona was at her breaking point and believed there was no way out of her abuse. She decided she would kill her father and told her plan to Tristan. Worrying that she'll jeopardize her future, he ratted her out to her mom and she was arrested for planned murder. Thankfully her dad is out of her life now and Fiona's back to her normal life, but the entire situation put a rift between the friends. To this day Tristan hasn't given up on Fiona, no matter how much she tries to push him away and his attempts to persuade her to join his Fantasy Book Club. She doesn't understand why he's persistent in maintaining her friendship, convinced that she let him down.

She didn't know at the time, but her belief in magic made her a target for a dangerous alchemist from the 12th century named Metordain. To keep it brief, in old European times, Metordain stole all the blood of the last living dragon and scion of the goddess Tiamat. For his crimes, he and his monstrous followers were sealed away within a book detailing the story of his downfall. Before being trapped, he added a counter-spell at the end for any unlucky soul to read to unleash him back into the world. His powers would only be able to influence those that truly believed in magic, and Fiona happened to be the perfect subject for the job.

Fiona discovers the book in her boss' special collections, and over time succumbs to his thrall. The curse renders her increasingly emotionally dependent of the evil alchemist, as her traumatic memories amplify. She steals the book to read it in its entirety back at her house. Upon finishing it the counter-spell activates, releasing Metordain and his followers in a fiery explosion. Fiona miraculously survives, so Metordain decides it's the fight time to experiment with his dragon blood after centuries of being trapped. Giving her a single drop would bestow her with a dose of the dragonling's untold strength, but its immense power would likely be too much for her and eventually kill her. A temporary spark of might deserves a fitting name, so he dubbed her Fire.

Before he could give her a drop, Fiona breaks out of his spell. She knows what she's getting into, and while it's awful, she's been through far worse pain. If her life is going to spiral out of control, she might as ruin it herself instead of letting someone do it for her. She drinks the entire vial of blood, gaining all of the dragonling's strength. It gives her the ability to transform into a draconic humanoid with burning locks. Now posing a great threat to Metordain, the recently freed villains are forced to flee as Fiona's house burns to the ground.

During all this, Fiona didn't realize that she accidentally passed the curse onto Tristan. Thankfully his Fantasy Book Club has a magically inclined seer named Eremis who cures him. Figuring out Fiona passed the curse onto him, she convinces the club to search for her. By the time they reached her house, Fiona and her mom had already headed for her aunt's house. Eremis attempts to see Fiona's future with her future sight, but Fiona's branching fates are blocked by an otherworldly presence that briefly takes over her. This "prophecy pal" instructs the group to make sure Fiona doesn't die. Otherwise, the entire city is doomed.

Fiona's the only one who knows what happened, so Tristan attempts to convince her to talk to the club about what happened. After what transpired, she's been trying to lay low and treat it like nothing happened—even if horrible rumors spread that she caused the fire herself. While they did momentarily bond in spite of the horrors of last night, she immediately shuts him down when he brings up the fire. She didn't want to open up not just because of what she saw, but that night she lost practically everything she treasured went up in flames. Her favorite gothic clothes and her prized book collection were all reduced to ashes. Tristan's trying to approach her as delicately as he can, even if he is being urged by the club to interrogate her about one of the worst nights of her life. Eventually she's open to hearing him out and learns about the events that transpired with his group. However, she doesn't wanna be involved with the club since she thinks they see her as a means to ending a vague cataclysm instead of actually wanting to help her. Eventually she's cornered by the rest of the club, telling her something dark is unfolding and she's in the center of it. She finally spills the beans about Metordain existing, but hides all information about Fire.

Their conversation is cut short by Metordain's monstrous underlings in the area. They're tracking her down to bring her back to Metordain, along with any people that truly believe in magic. Anyone who doesn't believe in magic—or doesn't believe enough—isn't able to see the creatures causing havoc. The entire club are genuine believers in magic, so that makes them able to see the lackeys and are susceptible to being harmed by them. A while after departing the group, Fiona turns into Fire and takes both head on. They attempt to persuade her to come with them, making her think there's a way out of the situation she's in. They recognize she's coming apart at the seams, so they give her time to think as they depart. As Fire flies away, the club spots her, thinking she's a minion of Metordain as well.

Since the attack, club has been trying to keep an eye on Fiona. She realizes it quickly and starts avoiding them. The one she can't shake off however is the ever persistent Tristan. He knows so much about her yet she can't figure out how to make him give up on her. Eventually, the two of them are confronted by Metordain's monsters again. Apparently the alchemist craves for believers more than he wants Fiona, so they want to take Tristan with them. Before anything bad can happen, Fiona learns that they aren't trying to give her a way out, but trying to trick her into coming with them so Metordain can completely drain her blood. Bleeding to death peacefully would be a way out compared to what else Metordain can do. Enraged that they'd give her false hopes, she forces them to flee.

She tried her best to not involve Tristan, but not only does he know her secret, but the ensuing fight led to him getting injured. As she decides to fly him somewhere safer the club arrives at the worst possible time to see Fire kidnapping him. Fiona could have explained herself, but she doesn't want to involve anyone else in this situation more than they already are. Not only that, but she doesn't trust them due to how much they invade her privacy. Everyone wants something from her, and everything she does is perceived as negative or hurtful towards others. Shooting her in the chest with an arrow doesn't help the Fantasy Book Club's case, but not even that puts her down as she escapes.

Fiona brings him to the ruins of her old house so the two can recover. Things turn south when her lungs start collapsing and her body severely overheats. At this moment, Tristan is the only person she truly knows, and decides to place a bit of her trust in him. Despite his wounds and being kidnapped by the person that inflicted said injuries, Tristan won't give up on her. He utilizes his pre-med background to deduce that being infused with dragon blood is actively killing her. Fiona is burning from the inside and out, so he does what he can to stop her from overheating. After Fiona recovered, she agreed to let him keep treating her so long as he tells no one about Fire. Tristan agrees, but wants her to join the club regardless to build up trust. After swearing he won't share her secret with anyone unless she trusts them enough to tell them herself, it suddenly creates a blood oath between both that they have to honor. They agree to this compromise. Deciding to give his friends a chance, she flies him back to the city so his friends could pick him up.

The following day, Fiona and the club are called in by Fiona's boss, Jayla, to explain what's going on. She realizes one of them took her book and knows they all have something to do with the strange happenings across the city. She connected the creatures she witnessed back to her 12th century readings, which she provides scans of. As Jayla is sharing her scans with the students, Eremis recognizes one of the symbols on one, which she has been seeing ever since the prophecy pal took over her to instruct the club to protect Fiona. Eremis comes to revelation that Fiona must know what the symbol means and who is blocking her future sight if she read the contents of the book. Turns out the symbol is the mark of Tiamat herself, the very dragon goddess that imprisoned Metordain. In a moment of vulnerability, Fiona admits to stealing the book and explains the curse to the group and what she went through—leading to the club to sympathize with her more. Whatever the case, the college students now have an adult figure they can trust with this information.

That's the story up to this point. Tristan was worried that after everything she went through, she'd be a different person now. Despite the overwhelming odds, she's still unapologetically herself.

Equipment

Trollkors

A Nordic cross worn as an amulet. Its function is to protect its wearer against dark magic. In the case of Fiona, it should be able to repel her curse at least once and make her difficult to track through magical means

Abilities

Fire Transformation

This is the result from drinking all of the scion's blood. This dragonling body was dubbed Fire by Metordain for her existence's fleeting nature. However, this flame won't die out without a fight. Her driving force to push forward burns as brightly as the flames that replace her orange locks. She's easily the toughest out of Metordain's experiments, sporting highly durable wings, razor-edged teeth, scaly appendages with sharp claws for nails, and a long tail with a spiked end. After becoming Fire, she automatically gained the ability to speak fluid Sumerian.

Body Temperature Manipulation

Fiona's body produces an alarming amount of heat, able to raise over 400˚ F. Through touch or vicinity, she can heat up to the point where she can give people burn wounds or melt small objects. She's much better at regulating her temperature in her dragon form than in her human form.

Resistances

• Emotion manipulation resistance (Fiona broke through Metordain's curse, which replaces the driving force in the cursed one's life with his approval. She is the only one to have ever broken the curse)

Flight

With her large wingspan, she can soar through the skies without a hitch

Fire Manipulation

Staying true to the name given to her, Fire can generate great amounts of fire from her body. And yes, she can breathe fire too.

Perception Manipulation

The visibility magical beings are highly dependent on the viewer's belief in magic. Either they're completely invisible to humans, or their perception of them is adjusted so they're viewed as something in the realm of reality. Fire is the exception to this. Her very presence warps the perception of non-believers. Props to Nae for clarifying this, they described it as the following: "It's like your brain is trying to deny what you are seeing and fill in with something you can accept. But with Fire… it just can't."

To elaborate on true belief, the side story The Drake dives into the intricacies of it in its lore section. There are several ways to be a bona fide believer or a wielder of magic, such as…

• Conjuration, or being a practitioner of magic. Magic is essentially the power of belief harnessed by mortals. To be something akin to a wizard or fortune teller, one must be a mortal who has faith in themselves with the knowledge of everything that shapes their reality. Belief and knowledge are required.
• Veneration, or people who desire to guide reality rather than control it, such as wiccans and shamans. To achieve this, one must be a mortal who has faith in reality and knowledge of themselves. Belief and knowledge are required.
• Manifestation. When many mortals have faith in a religious idea, a deity manifests from their collective faith. A deity has a will of their own and bestows magic to their followers "limited only by what their believe it to be."

Enhanced Strength

Fire is a powerhouse. She can easily overpower anyone in her way with her magnified strength.

Healing

If she is injured as Fire, her body attempts to seal the wound the best it can when transforming back into Fiona. It's not perfect, but she's lucky her transformation has such an ability.

Enhanced Senses

Since becoming Fire, Fiona's senses became extremely heightened. She's hyper aware of her surroundings, such as the movement of air, scents, noises, etc. Between that and her quick reaction times, she's able to easily anticipate and evade attacks. There is a limit to this, which Nae clarified for me. As long as she's able to predict the moves of her opponent, she can avoid them. Comparing someone shooting her up close to a sniper shooting her from afar is where her chance at dodging them falters.

Blood Oaths

This is a recently discovered ability that has yet to fully be explored. Fiona accidentally learned that by making a promise with someone while shaking their hand, she forms a blood oath with them. Cuneiform is inscribed in blood on the hands of those she makes a promise with. This ensures that both parties are locked into whatever oath they made. It’s unknown what happens if the oath is broken.

Non-Physical Interaction

It hasn't been outright confirmed yet, but it's heavily implied Fiona can also see and hear entities like ghosts—the likes of which can only be seen by seers. Of course, this also relates to how she can see and interact with magical beings.

Techniques

N/A

Feats

Overall

• Blinded Osrick the amphiptere in one eye before scorching him, scaring him and Ebissa the Lamia away
• Carried Tristan away despite having an arrow sticking out of her chest
• Managed to outlive Metordain's expectations, in spite of the grueling pain she has to endure thanks to the transformation
• Despite everything she went through, Fiona didn't let her experiences change her for the worse

Strength

• Burned Osrick, a 60 ft long amphiptere
• Slammed Ebissa so hard against a brick wall, causing damage to it
• Her glaring body heat can leave burn wounds
• Caused a huge fire vortex that overshadowed Osrick
• Her claws are sharp enough to damage the scales of an amphiptere
• Burned a playground, along with Osrick

Speed

• Dodged an arrow
• Dodged being shot at by cops with guns (subsonic+). It wasn't explicitly mentioned in the story if they shot and missed or if Fiona dodged them, so thank you Nae for clarifying this!

Durability

• Survived her room exploding point blank
• Was whacked in the gut by the 60 ft long Osrick
• Her wings can block sword strikes
• Survived being shot through the chest

Weaknesses

• Fiona's trauma has led to her push the people she cares about away and occasionally lash out at others. She’s learned to regulate her bad habits and improve her social skills the best she can, but now that her life is turned upside down even more than ever before, they catch up to her now and again.
• While it’s easy for Fiona to switch back and forth from her dragon form and human form, it’s maintaining her human form that’s difficult
• The transformation itself hurts. In fact, it’s actively killing her over time. Her dragon form needs heat to function, but her human body doesn’t have a means to vent that energy. Thus, fever-like symptoms creep their way over time and her organs start to fail as her body tries to vent it out. Metordain expected her to live a few days at most, so it’s a miracle she has lasted this long already.
• The more volatile her emotions become, the more she overheats

Matchup Potential

I think Fiona would be a fascinating character to include in a VS show. An analysis on her would be cool, seeing how they discuss her personality and development along with the modern fantasy aspects of her comic. Fiona/Fire would also be a great addition due to her contentious personality. With how visually stunning Phoenix vs Raven turned out with a scorching lady flying around, I'd imagine Fire would look amazing when animated. Especially if hand drawn elements are included.

I'd want her to fight someone who's thematically comparable, in that both are in the center of a potentially huge shift in the world and have to deal with external conflicts as much as they do with internal struggles. Preferably someone that offers a simple, but fun fight dynamic that lets her fly around and gradually torch the area… and of course matches her scale in combat.

NEXT TIME ON WCAB… whenever I feel like it