8/18/2014

Bleach Kombat Round 20: Shao Kahn vs. Baraggan Louisenbairn (Masters of Evil Pt. 1)

VS.

Welcome to the Masters of Evil Trilogy presented by MechG. For today's, Wednesday's & Friday's BK Posts ~ MechG will be deciding the victor of the Masters of Evil from Bleach & MK. Let us start off the MET trilogy by introducing the men shadowed in fear, bringing about your children's worst nightmares, and above anything else ~ watching from their thrones as they see your suffering come into fruition. As they gaze upon you, it appears as if a part of your soul is withering away; your humanity is eluding you by the second and your hopes come tumbling down because you know and they know you can't do sh*t about it. Today's 20th BK Post & the 1st of the MET Trilogy is between MK's Shao KAHN! going up against Bleach's Baraggan Louisenbairn. Story, Powers/Abilities, & Verdict will be included as usual.The scoreboard, as of August 15th, is Bleach leading MK 11-8. Let's jam! 

Story (Shao Kahn)
Before sitting on the throne of Outworld, Shao Kahn was the chief advisor to the one true Emperor, the Dragon King, Onaga. By this time, Outworld’s Empire dominated the realms and Onaga was seeking a way to become immortal. Shao Kahn then plotted against Onaga, poisoning him, and claiming the throne. Shao Kahn continued the plans Onaga left behind, but on his own terms and lead the remaining forces of Outworld to invade inferior realms by conquest or through Mortal Kombat. One of Shao Kahn’s milestone victories was the invasion of Edenia. Outworld’s warriors bested the Edenian warriors in Mortal Kombat, allowing Shao Kahn and his forces to invade the realm. Kahn killed the reigning king, Jerrod and took his wife and daughter, Sindel and Kitana as his own. Kahn raised Kitana and trained her to become a highly skillful assassin, however, Sindel committed suicide before her and Shao Kahn could be pronounced husband and wife. Sindel’s suicide was successful, but Kahn put her soul in a stranglehold in Outworld so it doesn’t transition to the afterlife. Kahn then turned his attention to Earthrealm and sent Shang Tsung and Goro to participate in Mortal Kombat. Goro’s dominance gave Outworld a nine tournament winning streak in the span of 500 years. Somewhere in between those events, Shao Kahn made an ordeal with Quan Chi and Shinnok to help resurrect Sindel in Earthrealm so if something were to happen, he would break the rules of Mortal Kombat, weaken the dimensional gates, and extort Earthrealm.

This came to be when a young Shaolin Monk, Liu Kang defeated Goro and Shang Tsung, ending the streak and crushing Outworld’s hopes of invading Earthrealm. As Shao Kahn had Shang Tsung at his mercy, the sorcerer proposed to him to hold a tournament in Outworld so that they would have the home field. Shao Kahn reluctantly agreed and restored Shang Tsung to his youth. They successfully put two plans in place: capturing the Earthrealm warriors Kano and Sonya Blade as bait and sending Baraka and the Tarkatan horde to terrorize the Shaolin temples to provoke the defending champion, Liu Kang. The Earthrealm warriors avoided the trap of Outworld and despite Shao Kahn’s intimidating stature and brute force, Liu Kang’s will and determination bested the Emperor. Refusing defeat, Shao Kahn ordered his Outworld troops to kill the Earthrealm warriors, but they successfully escaped the Emperor’s wrath. In between, Shang Tsung and his shadow priests resurrected Sindel and allowed Kahn and his extermination squads to cross the dimensional barriers to invade Earthrealm and forcefully merge it with Outworld. However unknown to Shao Kahn, Raiden protected the souls of his chosen warriors and prepared them for combat. As the fight raged on, Kahn was challenged by Kung Lao, but Shao Kahn unleashed powerful magic on him, easily destroying Kung Lao and mortally wounding him. This would prove to be the wrong doing as Kung Lao’s supposed death angered Liu Kang and Liu Kang was able to unleash his rage on the Emperor and defeated him again. Weakened from his battle with Liu Kang, Shao Kahn ordered his squads to retreat, stopping the merger. With Outworld’s defeat, many soldiers gave up their loyalty to Kahn , leaving the realm’s empire in a state of influx. Many realms taken by Outworld rose up against Shao Kahn, especially Edenia lead by Kitana and Sindel. Outworld became inactive during Shinnok’s invasion of the realms. The Edenians made an alliance to the Shokans, demoralizing Kahn even more as the race was his most trusted group. As the Edenians and Shokans were ready to finish Outworld off, Kano and Noob Saibot successfully ward off the Shokans, wounding Goro and the battle resulted in a stalemate between Outworld and Edenia, giving Shao Kahn some fresh air. However, the Deadly Alliance of Quan Chi and Shang Tsung was formed and they showed false allegiance to Kahn, catching him off guard and killing him. Although it was revealed Shao Kahn knew of this and created a doppleganger to sit on the throne. In between events of Deadly Alliance and Deception, Shao Kahn found the wounded Goro and helped revive him, gaining the favor of the Shokans once more. After Onaga’s defeat, Shao Kahn reclaimed the throne of Outworld again, defeating Mileena and the Edenian army with Goro and Shang Tsung’s help. Later, under the guidance of Shinnok, Shao Kahn formed an uneasy alliance with Shang Tsung, Quan Chi, and Onaga to help each other reach Argus’ Pyramid and defeat Blaze to gain his immeasurable power. During the Battle of Armageddon, Shao Kahn managed to escape Onaga’s clutches and continued to make his way to the top. Shao Kahn defeated Blaze and gained his power. To demonstrate his newfound supremacy, Shao Kahn toyed with Raiden, knowing he has the power to crush the gods and the Elder Gods and unleash his terror on all the realms. Before he could deliver the final blow, Raiden sent a message to his past self, resetting the timeline. In the alternate timeline without resistance from Raiden or the Forces of Light, Shao Kahn successfully merged Earthrealm with Outworld. This caused the Elder Gods to take action and give their power to Raiden. With the power of the Elder Gods, Raiden killed Shao Kahn, making him a threat no more and altering the future.

Story (Baraggan Louisebairn)
Baraggan, prior to being the 2nd Espada under Aizen Sousuke, was the respectable ruler of Hueco Mundo. Bored with his rule, he was about to have his own Army fight one another just for his entertainment and to fill in time. However, everything changed when Aizen, Gin, & Kaname entered Hueco Mundo, cut down one of Baraggan's men, and introduced Kyoka Suigetsu. With Aizen's Zanpaktou, he & his men swiftly cut down Baraggan's army prior to meeting one-on-one with Baraggan ~ leaving Baraggan's empire to crumble right before his eyes. Given the opportunity for more power, Baraggan believed Aizen's words to be comedic as Baraggan stated that there's no higher power other than Baraggan's rule itself. It wouldn't be long before Baraggan was under Aizen's tutelage as the 2nd Espada.

Baraggan was first introduced at the Espada meeting where the Intruders (Ichigi, Uryu, & Chad) first entered Hueco Mundo. Baraggan believed they weren't a threat, but Aizen says otherwise as he explicates that they entered Hueco Mundo to save Orihime Inoue and that the Intruders challenged the Gotei 13 and were on par with Captain-class Shinigami. As soon as the 9th Espada died by the hands of Rukia Kuchiki, Baraggan commented that the fool died too young. However, Baraggan doesn't play much of a pivotal role until he, Harribel, & Starrk were the last remaining Espada in the Fake Karakura Town Arc. As Aizen was trapped by Captain Yamamoto's flames, Baraggan assumed command as his temporary replacement and watched as his Fraccion fought and fell one-by-one by the Gotei 13. This angered Baraggan as he had no choice but to do everything himself ~ challenged the 2nd Division: Sui-Feng & Omaeda. He seems to have had the upper hand, explaining that each Espada controlled an aspect of Death and his was Age. Everything ages and begins to wither ~ that was Baraggan's aspect of death and, representing his Aspect, released his Resurrecion ~ a Black Skull figure cloaked in Black. However, after the Visored entered the fray ~ it seems as if the King of Hueco Mundo found his match as he died by his own power. Hachigen, planting the disintegrating hand inside Baraggan, began to wither away by his own power. Before his impending death, he tried one last attempt to attack Aizen, but failed as Baraggan's blade decayed before it got the chance to reach him. Even in death, the King himself, as explained by Hachigen, was afraid of aging and wanting to keep death at bay.

Powers/Abilities (Shao Kahn)
Being Emperor of Outworld, Shao Kahn is immensely powerful, possessing powers, abilities, and skill sets that are equivalent to that of a god. He is highly proficient in magic and possesses incredible prowess in superhuman strength, agility, and durability due to his intimidating stature. With his magic he is able to throw conjured spears, shoot energy balls from his eyes or mouth, and create a barrier to block opposing projectiles and reflect them back at the opponent. In addition, Shao Kahn can use magic to create a doppelganger of himself as evident in Deadly Alliance. With his superhuman physicality and brute force, he can charge his opponent with a combination of speed and power leading with either his shoulders or his knees. He specializes in the fighting styles of Tai Tzu and Lui He. Like his subordinate Shang Tsung, Shao Kahn has the ability to consume souls as well to increase his power. Throughout the span of 10,000+ years as Outworld’s Emperor, Shao Kahn has consumed billions and billions of souls due to his many conquests of inferior realms. Shao Kahn’s weapon of choice, the War Hammer is able to knock an opponent off with such force with one swing due to his immense strength, sending them flying and he has used the hammer many times in his war campaigns. However his one weakness is his ability to taunt his opponents, condescending on them. If Kahn taunts too much, it allows his opponent to recuperate and give a free hit on him, however once he notices his overconfidence he starts extorting his brutality once more. In MK9, it is said that Shao Kahn is influenced by the most powerful entity in the MK universe known as the One Being, an entity as powerful as the Elder Gods, giving Kahn the power to merge realms by conquest or through Mortal Kombat as means to make the One Being whole again and destroy all life and the essence of the realms. As mentioned in his story, Shao Kahn officially won the Battle of Armageddon in the original timeline, absorbing Blaze’s power and easily decimated those who stood in his way of total conquest.

Powers/Abilities (Baraggan Louisenbairn)
Being the 2nd Espada under Aizen's army & former King, Baraggan possesses an enormous amount of Spiritual Power and is proficient in Sonido usage. Like I said above, each Espada represents an Aspect of Death. Baraggan represents the Aspect of Aging/Time and, just like his ability states, he was able to deteriorate anything that he touches and comes in contact with: Aging Sui-feng's bones just by tapping her shoulder and the surrounding buildings crumbling just from standing on top of the roof. In his Resurrecion form (Arrogante), his power is amplified as he is more durable, everything around him withers away, and he wields a Double-bladed Axe. It's safe to say that wherever he stands or breathes - anything decays. 

Verdict (By MechG)
And the winner is...
A true despot has an unlimited drive of conquering through conquest. Even though he has conquered all that is left to conquer, he is still driven to wield his weapon and his forces into battle. A true despot imposes fear physically and mentally at those who oppose him and those who fail to carry out his successful plans during a campaign. And also, a true despot should never be satisfied even though he has gained ultimate power and authority over the whole universe. If one of these characters fit what I say in terms of story, powers/abilities, and overall in terms total ambition to exert their authority through conquest, that character would be Shao Kahn. I’ll borrow some things that I said the last time I evaluated a matchup with Baraggan against Emperor Mateus during Bleach Fantasy. Baraggan felt satisfied with his empire in Hueco Mundo and the feeling of complacency would draw to a decline in an empire and instigate an impending surprise attack from someone else, in this case, an attack from Aizen. With Shao Kahn, yes he had to go through Onaga to claim the throne of Outworld, yes he failed to conquer Earthrealm three times, but he exemplifies the mantra of eat, sleep, conquer, repeat (Brock Lesnar reference). Unlike Baraggan’s lazy fat @$$, Shao Kahn is driven to expand Outworld’s empire by any means necessary: by conquest, by Mortal Kombat tournament, or by breaking the sacred rules of the Elder Gods to force a merger between the inferior realms and Outworld and once he’s conquered all, he’s never satisfied. In my honest opinion, Hueco Mundo’s empire would’ve easily been conquered by Outworld’s empire because of how vast it was. Even though Onaga and his undead army built it beforehand, Shao Kahn perfected the establishment of Outworld’s vast empire, claiming milestone victories over realms, such as the realm of Edenia. Also, Shao Kahn won Armageddon and claimed ultimate power and supremacy among the realms and the entire universe before Raiden put the timeline on reset to eliminate Shao Kahn as a threat to the realms begging with the help of the Elder Gods. Even though Baraggan has the power of age and anything deteriorates whenever someone comes into contact with him, Shao Kahn has billions of billions of consumed souls in his possession from 10,000+ years of conquest and dominance of realms to safeguard his youth and powerful stature. ~ SHAO KAHN WINS!

So who do you think won the 1st in the MET Trilogy ~ Shao Kahn from MK or Baraggan Louisenbairn from Bleach? Comment below and let us know. Look forward to the next 2 MET Matchup(s) this Wednesday & Friday decided by MechG. Monday's final BK Post will be decided by yours trulyUntil then, you all stay classy now. Here's the current Scoreboard for BK Month:

1) Jax Briggs vs. Yasutora "Chad" Sado ~ MK (July 4th)
2) Jade vs. Yoruichi Shihoin ~ Bleach (July 7th)
3) Johnny Cage vs. Mask De Masculine ~ MK (July 9th)
4) Sonya Blade vs. Sui-Feng ~ Bleach (July 11th)
5) Kenshi vs. Byakuya Kuchiki ~ Bleach (July 14th)
6) Mileena vs. Bambietta Basterbine ~ Bleach (July 16)
7) Kung Lao vs. Uryu Ishida ~ Bleach (July 18th)
8) Reptile vs. Sajin Komamura ~ Bleach (July 21st)
9) Sektor vs. Renji Abarai ~ Bleach (July 23rd)
10) Sindel vs. Tier Harribel ~ MK (July 25th) 
11) Sub-Zero vs. Rukia Kuchiki ~ MK (July 28th)
12) Baraka vs. Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez ~ Bleach (July 30th) 
13) Fujin vs. Candice Catnipp ~ MK (August 1st) 
14) Quan Chi vs. Toshiro Hitsugaya ~ MK (August 4th) 
15) Scorpion vs. Ad Nodt ~ MK (August 6th) 
16) Goro vs Kenpachi Zaraki ~ Bleach (August 8th) 
17) Kitana vs Orihime Inoue ~ MK (August 11th) 
18) Shang Tsung vs. Kisuke Urahara ~ Bleach (August 13th) 
19) Raiden vs. Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto ~ Bleach (August 15th) 
20) Shao Kahn vs. Baraggan Louisenbairn ~ MK (August 18th) 

Bleach currently leads 11-9 against MK.

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