Balatbat

Warmongering Serpent

Alberticus 2.0

Cromwellsbane

Enemy of Existence

Nemesis of the Nine Realms

Nemesis of the World

### Goal

Bring forth the Nox Eternis, plunging the world into a state of darkness and madness (temporarily succeeded)Vanquish his arch-rival, the god-emperor Cromwellius (failed)

Destroy all of creation(failed)

Reunite the Nox Shards and reform, retrying his attempt to destroy the gods and purge all the realms of life (ongoing)

### Personality

Overwhelming desire to destroy, high levels of voracity and constant hunger. Habitually tempts others (avatars and shards)

### Powers and Abilities

Hatred and Destruction Embodiment Nigh-Impervious Scales

World Venom

Elemental Manipulation

Portal Creation

Self-Size Manipulation

Rune and Shard Creation

Avatar Projection

Mind Lecture

Area of Doom

Healing Factor

Semi-Immortality

### Status

Inactive (?), currently billions of Nox Shards slowly trying to reform.

### Type of Character

Force of the Apocalypse

**Balatbat** is the reincarnation of Alberticus and the nemesis of Cromwellius.

Balatbat is a malicious, malignant and malevolent chaos monster hellbent on the destruction of Cromwellius and all of the world, he brings upon The Nox Eternis (the second phase of Ragnarok) and aims to destroy Cromwellius and all of life (or all of existence, some versions differ).

## History

### Reincarnation

When the fiendish monstrosity known as Alberticus was slain by the mighty Cromwellius, the latter was so injured after the fight that he couldn't finish him off by destroying the monster's soul. As a result Alberticus' soul fled, strong enough despite the discorporation to resist the pulls of the afterlife.

Alberticus would divide himself into pieces and store himself within numerous Nemesis Runes, precious runic stones meant to empower his underlings and fuel his cult's dark rituals.

When Cromwellius was assassinated by his brother Ceazure, he (Cromwellius) would reincarnate as a boy named Mark Atum (also known as Marcus Ra).

But fate would have it in a different way, if Cromwellius would reincarnate then so to would Alberticus. Alberticus' divided soul would all at once leave the Nemesis Runes and as dark spirits flee to Nidlor, entering the womb of The Mother Serpent, Mamagi.

### Birth and Early Years

Mamagi would lay six eggs, the first to hatch was Balatbat himself and eat his still incubating siblings. Mamagi would see the malice that the young Balatbat promised, undisturbed that her other children were devoured. Mamagi would teach Balatbat the ways of the Giga Serpents, and fueled his passion for destruction.

Soon Balatbat would have a following of his own known simply as The Serpent Bloc, numerous serpents and elf cultists performing Alberticus' old dark rituals and causing horrific events across all of the nine realms.

Plagues, floods, a month-long darkness, eruptions, the fall of kingdoms and war, just to name a few. Balatbat's godly power would bring back the Dark Elves and his entire Serpent Bloc would wreak havoc and chaos in his name, preparing the world for Ragnarok.

### Road to Nox Eternis

Balatbat had a new creation, the Nox Shards. Powerful shards as dark if not darker than midnight. Absent of both life and light these shards hold the power to end civilizations.

Balatbat would roam the planets of Nidlor, the Nox Shards that grew out of his body sometimes chipped off and entered like tiny meteors into nearby planets. The shards would send those worlds into ruin, creating black blights and numerous hordes of undead, as well as attracting his demonic worshipers. Life all across said planets would be completely drained of life, the air would become toxic and brand-new predators would hunt all that remained to extinction. Soon galaxies became entire intergalactic sectors, and soon those too turned into the universes held within the realm.

Balatbat would combat the mighty King of the High Elves, the leader of the powerful skyfathers that guarded Nidlor. The mighty god-king fought bravely, but his prowess was incredibly insufficient in defeating the enemy of existence. Reality within Nidlor began to shake as Balatbat consumed stars and either destroyed or enslaved planets with his Nox Shards and growing army.

The legendary hero Mark Atum would soon learn of the High Elf Kings' demise(s) at the jaws of the most powerful Giga Serpents which terrorized the reality of Nidlor and potentially all of the Nine Realms. Alongside an army of his elite warrior legions, Mark Atum would travel to Nidlor and face off against his fated nemesis.

The two would clash, but Balatbat would give his old foe a taste of true power, devouring his elite legions and almost crushing the hero to an untimely demise. Mark Atum would however be saved by the god Tsar Gon, sending him off to the realm of Milruar. The god and the serpent would then battle, much to the former's surprise however the latter would be more than a match for him. Injecting the god with his vicious World Venom and coiling around him, attempting to constrict the god to death.

Tsar Gon however would escape, Balatbat would gain a large confidence boost in having defeated legion, hero and god with ease. This surge of confidence would be the last few pavements in the road to Nox Eternis, as Balatbat would decide to take his battle to the rest of the realms, having already overtaken Nidlor.

### Ragnarok

The world venom within Tsar Gon could not be healed, and the god was corrupted, pushed into madness. Mark Atum would soon take his place as Cromwellius reborn, taking upon his reincarnation's name once more.

Tsar Gon would rally many of Cromwellius' enemies against him, his council and Milruar. Bringing forth Ragnarok. The realms would be plunged into an era of battles, planets destroyed, remade and then destroyed again. The gates of Deshai would open, warriors be it heroes or mercenaries would charge back into the now perilous multiverse.

Naturally Balatbat would take interest in this, the Nox Shards growing far more powerful than ever before and along with it the desire to destroy. A second chance at his nemesis' destruction was clear before his eyes, together with his conquered realm he too would join Ragnarok.

Balatbat would drink up all the water of Xavonas, the realm of the mermen, and breathe cyclones of fire and sulfur, scorching the once beautiful forests and jungles of Urthar (realm of man) as well as melt the icy world of Weisnart (realm of the giants) into nothing. His shards seemingly reaching their zenith, he would finally bring forth the Nox Eternis.

The Nox Eternis, the moonless and starless night, the time where all of the multiverse was plunged into darkness. A nigh-irresistible evil would cover it all, driving all to even more depraving acts of sin. None but those either truly pure of heart or those powerful enough to resist were spared from this. The casualties would rise as all light was snuffed from the Cromwellian multiverse, leaving only life to end.

Wrapping around the Nine Realms themselves, he would constrict it, choking the multiverse, planets and planes would collide. But before all were to be destroyed by the Giga Serpent, Cromwellius would rise and pierce the dark sky with his spear, Morkulas. A shaft of light would be cast upon what remained of Urthar, the serpent would be prevented from crushing all of life.

Soon the manifestations of legend and oblivion would clash, the two old nemeses would have their true battle once more. God and Anti-God, Eagle and Serpent, Light and Darkness. The powerful serpent would destroy Cromwellius' godly relics throughout the battle, his powerful blasts of Nox Energy would overwhelm the Pinipigunur (an amulet that could turn back attacks) and shred the White Fleece (a potent defensive armor). He would even atomize Cromwellius' signature firearm. All that remained was Cromwellius' spear, Morkulas.

Cromwellius would plunge Morkulas into Balatbat's hide, managing to pierce the Giga Serpent's supposedly indestructible scales, shattering it. Cromwellius, with both rage and the desire to vanquish his nemesis, would spear the serpent again, this time burning out the serpent's potent healing factor and ultimately shattering the serpent much like his scales before him.

Cromwellius would sustain mortal wounds as well as lethal doses of World Venom, this would send the victorious god into a comatose state.

### Shards

With Balatbat's death the Nox Eternis was over, what remained of life was small, with enormous amounts of empty space where the Realms used to be.

Balatbat would explode into numerous shards, ranging from billions to trillions of miniscule Nox Shards. Like dust in the wind it was scattered all across the multiverse, in space and in separate planes would the shards lie, where future civilizations would be built upon.

Balatbat's Nox Shards would be used by these future civilizations, uniting the pieces, weaponizing them or perhaps accidentally ending their own worlds. But slowly and slowly the serpent remains, his shards gathering and ready to render him complete once more so that he may perform yet another Nox Eternis.

## Trivia

* Balatbat's name is derived from the Elven words *Baltur* and *Abatr*, which mean Warmongering and Serpent respectively, thus his Elven name *Baltabatr* means Warmongering Serpent.
	+ For a much more meta explanation, Balatbat could be taken from the Filipino language. The name is a combination of the words Balat (meaning Skin/Scales) and Bato (stone). Thus the combination is normally around the lines of "Balat na Bato", "Balat' Bato" or "Batong Balat", all of which mean "skin/scales of stone".
	+ As for some comedy, Balatbat also just so happens to mean skinny in Filipino. In the Cromwellist Manifesto it was mentioned that the newborn Balatbat was skinny, even for a giga serpent, which adds to the etymology.

* Unlike other villains of Cromwellian Mythology, Balatbat doesn't appear to be much of a tactician, in some ways he doesn't appear to act *sentient* either sometimes. This is due to a design choice, having him more as an awesome and uncontested force of nature rather than some scheming villain behind the shadows.
* When Balatbat was slain, he would divide his soul into the many dispersed Nox Shards, explaining how no soul remained after his supposed demise.
* It is said that Cromwellius in his comatose state is having a nightmare, that nightmare actually being a battle between what remains of Cromwellius psychic consciousness and what remains of Balatbat's soul that did not divide and imbue itself into the Nox Shards.