Walking out to the center of the ring, Hijinx pulls the a mike from the air by magic. "THAT LAST FIGHT WAS CERTAINLY WORTH THE WAIT WASN'T FOLKS?! UNTO THE NEXT BOUT! THIS NEXT MATCH WILL BE A FIGHT TO THE FINISH BETWEEN ANRUI OF THE THE ARMY OF DARKNESS AND THE SWORD BREAKER CREST! READY, SET GO!" :lol:

[OOC: Ready whenever you are....seriously. I'll be lurking around for most of the day, so the time's up to you..]

(OOC:I can go till 6:00 central then maybe later ooc:)

Rings flowed from Crests head, the sun was shining and the smell of Aromatic grass was in the air.

Crest-"This is going to be a good day."

Crest looked over to see Anrui,Crest walked over and shook hands with Anrui.

Crest-"Good luck,May the best player win."

Crest smiled as they prepared for battle.

[OOC: AIYA! Sorry this took so long, but the board refused to work for me since 3...-_-;;]

A tiny, mischeivous smirk spread across Anrui's black-tinted lips. "Don't go easy on me just because I'm a girl, alright?", she said by way of reply. Armored digits curled around the bar of her axe, stubby wings flared and barbed tail snaking behind her as she sized her opponent up.

-Okay, he's doubtlessly got better range than me. I am *so* screwed if I let him keep me back, so I won't. I'll just have to stay in his face as much as possible, and outlast him if I can. Yep. That's just the way it's gonna be.-

With those thoughts in mind, Anrui giggled, tilting her head slightly to the side a moment so that she looked like a macabre, axe-weilding version of a cutesy schoolgirl. It was all a game to her...at least for now. Besides, if it *looked* like she was just playing around it was all to the good. She *liked* messing with people after all. "Ready or not, here I come!"

With that she abruptly swung her axe in low, turning it around so she'd smack her enemy in the legs with the bar rather than the blade, hoping to knock him down, or at least get him off balance.

Battle on!

Anrui swept Crests feet, Crest hit the ground and Anrui lifted her axe and swung it at Crest's head, Crest rolled to the side as the axe landed beside his head.

Crest-'I need to not be so careless.'

Anrui-''Dang,I was so close."

Crest-"Nice move, you almost had me."

Crest swung his heavy sword at Anrui, Anrui blocked the attack.

Anrui-"He's stronger than I thought,I'll have to be more careful."

Crest attacked again this time swinging his sword upward, Anrui's axe clanked as she lost the balance of the axe and it raised above her head,Crest saw his opportunity to attack and kneed her in the stomach. Anrui gasped in pain as she countered and jabbed Crest in the side with her axe. Anrui and Crest backed up and stared at each other each waiting for one to attack.

Crest-"Those were some good moves you pulled."

Anrui-"You too."

Anrui swung her axe at Crest,Crest blocked the attack and countered with a slash that Anrui also blocked.

Anrui-"Your a pretty good fighter."

Crest-"Thanks, you are too."

-Okay, change of plans. Getting up in his face is conducive to added pain on my part. Thus, bad. Might want to be less predictable too..-

She didn't really have a speed advantage, considering her class was the slowest of them all. Sticking and moving wouldn't work to her advantage at all, since her rate of movement wouldn't allow for him to simply blitz him. Attempting it was more likely to get her cut up than it would let her take control of the fight. She could take a hit if necessary, Heavy Axemen were made for that, but she'd rather not if she didn't have to. It was better to give than recieve after all, and Anrui was in a very, VERY giving mood today.


She was a bit sore from getting kneed to be sure, but she fully intended to repay Crest in full and then some for it. Not about to let him get another attack in and thus put her on the defensive, she took the offense. Lifting her axe again, she swing the implement in an arc at his left shoulder, a shot that would be easy for her opponent to see coming, and naturally, he'd try to block it. But, while he was busy doing THAT, and thus open to an attack on his lower body, she'd return his earlier favor with a nice, wonderful, hard kick to the guts. If she played her cards right, she could send him sprawling with that..

Crest stared over at Anrui wondering what she was thinking.

Crest-'I don't think ill be able to get another attack like that in, not to mention the fact that counter to the side hurt I do see a open point though when she swings her axe for a heavy attack, there is time to attack her before she gets it off, but my only problem is if I make a mistake it could all be over.'

Crest caught a glance of Anrui running towards Crest, but by the time Crest realized she had made a move she had kicked him in the stomach.
Crest gasped in pain and fell to one knee, and yelled.

Crest-"Dang,That was powerful."

Crest stood back up trying to regain his balance as Anrui charged for another attack she raised her axe for a heavy attack.

Crest-"Now's my chance if I can get her knee it would give me time to heal."

Crest quickly attempted to hit Anrui's knee with his sword before she hit him with her axe.

Luckily for Crest, his sword managed to slice deeply into her knee *just* above her armor-plated boot. Anrui yelped, drawing back from her opponent and dropping to a crouch, one hand over her wounded knee and a childish pout on her face like he'd just shoved her backwards into the mud or poured sand in her hair. Not like he sliced her knee wide open at all, no. Still, that didn't change the fact that it hurt something awful, and she wouldn't be able to continue the fight unless she tended to it. Couldn't very well expect her to have the same degree of mobility if she had an injured knee, right?

She was loathe to use a Health Drink this early on, but unfortunately it was necessary considering the condition of her knee. Later on she could afford to be more conservative with healing herself. With that in mind she fished one of the aforementioned items out of her pack and used it, sighing with relief as the injury knitted itself back together, allowing her to get to her feet.

*Just* in time to see Crest heal himself as well. Wouldn't you *just* know it.

"Not bad! I see this is going to be more fun than I expected..."

-Let's see how he can handle an attack from behind...-

Getting a few steps running start, Anrui vaulted up into the air, glad she'd healed herself before attempting such a thing and somersaulted over Crest's head, landing behind him. Not wasting any time she grasped her axe firmly, taking a full two-handed swing at his back, attempting to catch him by surprise once more.

Crest saw the attack coming and tried to dodge it,but Anrui had already hit his arm,
Crest yelled in pain as the axe made a deep knash in his skin.

Crest-'The only way I might be able to win this is if I can get some surprise attacks in, this person is too strong to attack head on."

Crest casted repth,but before it could take its affects Anrui was there hitting him with the back side of her axe sending him flying.

Crest-"Dang, One more hit like that and im done for."

Crest looked over at Anrui, waiting for her to attack.

Crest-'If she starts to attack maybe I can escape.'

Anrui ran up and tried to sweep Crest again, Crest hopped into the air, and over Anrui he kicked her in the back of the knee,then casted repth.
Crest leaped into the air and swung his sword at Anrui's head.

(OOC:I used repth once she attacked before i could get it off the other time:OOC)

Since she'd performed a similar maneuver herself only a short while ago, Anrui was fully prepared to be on the recieving end of the same. Being duped by one of your own tricks would be *quite* embarassing, after all. So when Crest jumped, Anrui recoiled in order to evade. Since he'd struck a little earlier than she had, he succeeded in tearing one of the red ribbons that held her hair up out, but other than that, she escaped unscathed. Shrugging, Anrui raked the other ribbon out, tucking her hair behind her pointed ears. No sense in having just one pigtail now.

-Mmm..he likes casting "Repth", doesn't he? But he hasn't attacked me with a single spell, or any sword techs. Could it be that he doesn't HAVE any offensive skills? If that's so, I can most definitely afford to spare some SP for a spell every now and then. I'm not a Wavemaster by any means, but it should be enough to keep him guessing. Besides, he's got to watch his SP, same as I do. He can't keep casting Repth forever...-

That was the ticket. She had offensive spells and Axel Pain at her disposal. Not that she had all that much SP to use on them, but they'd make a pleasant addition to the mind games she was playing right now. Better yet, it would help her to see if her theory about her opponent was correct or not. The fear of having spells thrown at them, even weak ones like hers, was just the kind of edge she needed. And once he exhausted his SP healing himself...he was *all* hers. Oh yes.

-Here we go then...-

She began to chant, hoping all the while that her intuition'd been right and she wasn't opening herself up to eat a return magickal attack.

"GAN ZOT!"

Crest noticed that Anrui had casted a spell, and leaped to avoid the attack, but as soon as she casted it Crest had jumped into the air to avoid it, but to his surprise he landed in it.

Crest-'Huh! She anticipated my move, dang!'

Crest took the hits from the Gan Zot,and as soon as he was back on his feet Anrui had charged Crest avoided her first two attacks and jumped back, Anrui had this strange rage in her eyes, he could see she wanted to beat him,and he couldn't let that happen.

Crest-'I think if I can get her off her feet I can finish her off.'

Crest attempted to leg sweep Anrui.

The sweep caught her full in the legs, and thus Anrui went down like a sack of potatoes, landing in an ungainly sprawl on her back. The sudden impact with the ground dazed her, leaving her open and vulnerable to an attack from Crest. Of course, this was exactly what he wanted, slicing deeply into the Heavy Axeman while she was still in the Twilight Zone.

*THAT* woke her up. Anrui yelped in pain, feeling warm, wet blood oozing out of a slash on her right side. Damn ground sweeps.

-Okay, I admit what I'm about to do is rather evil, but I don't think he's about to let me up without me doing something drastic...-

Before the next blow could come, Anrui sat up and grabbed hold of Crest's forearm, digging the pointed tips of her gloves in so he wouldn't try to pull away for fear of ripping his arm up. Smiling in a cute, yet somehow VERY sadistic manner, she simply uttered one word.

"Gotcha."

With that, she abruptly jerked back down, holding her axe horozontally across her abdomen with her other arm, blade facing up. Anyone could see what she was planning to do here...pull him down onto it.

Crest saw what was about to happen,but there was nothing he could do as he headed toward the axe his stomach was going to be sliced open and he would probly die.

Crest-'Maybe if I can hit on it with my side I'll take less damage.'

Crest hoped this would work while he was falling, he tilted his upper body a bit, he landed on the axe, but with his side. Crest saw no opportunity to counter in the position he was in as Anrui removed the axe from him. Crest despertly grabbed his sword and aimed it at Anrui's side he had hurt and thrusted it at her side, hoping it would connect.

Crest's sword struck true, landing smack-dab in the gash he'd already given her. Pain shot like lightning through every nerve in Anrui's body, causing her to go wide-eyed and rigid, a choked gasp escaping her as a slight trickle of blood oozed from between black-stained tiers. As soon as he removed the blade she slumped over, coughing a few times.

Dear Goddess, look at her HP! There was no way she could afford to take another hit like *that*, and as long as she had that wound, Crest would know that it would be the perfect thing for him to target.

Time to use another Health Drink. Anrui fished out another from her pack, downed it and was relieved to feel most of the pain dissapear, leaving only a lingering soreness and a bit of bruising where that ghastly wound had been moments before. It was bothersome, but nothing she couldn't deal with. Time to get back on the offensive. Couldn't give him an opportunity to respond, or predict what she was about to do.

Anrui darted forwards, making it seem that she had every intention to attack Crest from the left, but that was merely a feint. Knowing he'd try to evade or defend the incoming attack he expected from said direction, he'd be completely unaware of getting hit from the *right*.

And this of course, was exactly what Anrui was planning on doing.

Abruptly she brought her axe up, swinging it in an arc at the right side of his upper body, *not* the left.

Crest was shocked to see what she had done, Crest raised his sword to block the attack and hit the pole holding the axe causing the axe to connect into his shoulder a little less than it would of.

Crest-"Nice try."

Crest and Anrui stayed locked up for a little bit then,Crest pushed up with his sword causing Anrui to go off balance, Crest took the handle of his sword and pushed it towards Anruis knee cap.

Off-balance, Anrui got thumped in the knee with the hilt of Crest's sword and squeaked, falling back onto her rear in the dirt. Well, *that* wasn't much fun.

-Dammit, I'm getting predictable. I SAID I wasn't going to do that..-

Well, now it was time to make him start guessing what she was thinking again. Once again, her expression became that childish, carefree smile she customarily wore, effectively concealing whatever was going through her head. She bounced to her feet with a bit of a giggle, brushing herself off and flicking stray wisps of loose hair out of her face.

Again grabbing up her axe, she raised it high, angling it diagonally down. For all intents and purposes, it looked like she was planning to strike downward this time. Crest, now thinking that he'd figured out her pattern would guard high, expecting her to change direction once again and attack high while he blocked low. After all, he had no reason to think she WOULDN'T, right?

The axe swept down with a whistling noise as it sliced through the air. But this time, Anrui *didn't* fake and change direction.

This time, she really *did* strike low, aiming diagonally downwards towards his left hip.

The Axe came down and smacked Crest's hip as he tried to hold the yell in.
Crest thought about using repth but decided not to yet.

Crest-"I thought I had her figured out, this is getting harder as it goes."

Crest noticed his Sp had refilled a little more, enough to use two things.

Crest-This worked for you,My turn,GAN Zot.

He hoped this attack would get her if it didn't he would have just wasted his Sp.

-Ah, so he DOES have offensive spells. That'll teach me to jump to conclusions..-

Anrui realized this as the Gan Zot came up from under her, the happy fun rocks of much hurting tossing her up into the air, causing her to land on the ground with a painful *thud* once again.

-You know, I'm REALLY getting tired of eating floor. What is this, the *third* time in the last five minutes?-

Her SP was starting to refill...Rai Rom or Axel Pain? She had enough for either one, but which one to use was the question. Axel Pain had the potential for more damage, but if he blocked and countered it was just a waste of her SP. Not having any Mage Souls in her possession, SP was something she really *couldn't* afford to waste, so everything she did that consumed it had to count. Rai Rom offered her greater flexibility for a follow-up attack than Axel Pain did. The latter would be something she'd hold in reserve for later.

Rai Rom it was then.

Looking mildly cross at falling for the same thing she'd thrown at him, Anrui began to chant again, but this time concentrating on lightning, not earth.

-Better make this count...-

"RAI ROM!"

As soon as she'd recovered from casting the spell, Anrui turned her axe so that she was holding it as one would a battering ram, or a spear before stabbing someone with the latter. She thrust it towards Crest's midsection, attempting to follow up her spell with a physical strike and send *him* sprawling for a change.

The Rai rom hit Crest as Anrui hit Crest sending him flying back.

Crest-"Now,Repth."

Crest hit the ground and hopped up, using the repth caused some of Crest wounds to heal up.

Crest-'Ouch that hurt,I'm still kinda low on Hp though,but maybe I can distract her distracting would help I can cause some major damage if that happens.'

Crest waited for Anrui to attack letting his Sp replenish,Crest's Sp had just enough.

Crest-'I can follow upwith a huge blow after the magic attack that would deal some damage.'

Crest casted Gan Zot, and rushed in going to thrust his sword through Anrui's stomach maybe to finish her off.

The sword went clear through Anrui's body like she was no more than gossamer. Spitted on the blade like a piece of meat, the girl coughed, spasmed and coughed again, looking in disbelief down at the implement of her demise that was now slick and red with her blood.

Done in by her *own* trick. Dammit, he'd had the *audacity* to learn from her! She should have seen it coming....stupid of her not to. She, who prided herself on her ability to effectively mess with the minds of others had fallen prey to something she'd pulled only a few moments before.

God, irony was a sick thing.

Well, if she was going out, she was going out with a bang, and she wasn't going out alone. Her SP had had a little time to recharge before she got skewered, and she had *just* enough for one last Rai Rom. If his HP wasn't at full, she still stood a chance..

"Heh..you....used my own attack against me. I....commend you for putting one over on me...it's *not* an easy thing to do.."

She smiled, eyes glazed over, and blood oozing out from between her lips, bubbling horribly in her throat and turning her voice raspy.

"But now it's over....and I'd like you to tag along with me.... on my journey to Hell."

Skewered though she was, she slid herself a bit further down the sword, driving it through her abdomen even more and wrapped her arms around Crest.

"Rai.....Rom."

The spell kicked in just as she slumped over, blacking out and probably dragging him down with her.

[OOC: I am SUCH a drama-queen. XD Well roll the credits, 'cause we're done. Mods, if you'd be so kind as to judge us?]

Anrui was on the ground dead,but she had managed to take Crest with her.

*Before Anrui used Rai rom on Crest*Crest-[I]"I should of used Repth when I had the chance, now she is going to take me down to,Stupid me ahhh!


(ooc:I'd like to congratulate my opponent on a wonderful job of posting.ooc)

Anrui

Tactics - 8

Explanation: Though your tactics weren't too unstoppable by any standards-- the fact that you explained your intentions with every blow and technique was applaudable. Good job with your tactics section.

SP Regulation - 10

Explanation: Nothing more to say-- not much magic was used by you as should be expected from an axeman.

Fairness - 9

Explanation: Nothing was done unfairly-- you even allowed Crest to dodge or parry attacks that were specifically explained in 'thoughts' to be more difficult to evade or parry without some specific strategy.

Post Quality - 9

Explanation: I would expect nothing more from Anrui. Your posts were great. You deserve this 9.

Technicality - 10

Explanation: PERFECT 10. Not once did you not follow the 2 actions per post rule. Good job, Anrui. I'm impressed.

Overall - 9

Crest

Tactics - 7

Explanation: The only reason you're getting less of a point value is because some of your tactics you used directly from her. Other than that, great job!

SP Regulation - 5

Spells were thoroughly overused whether you regenerated or not. You seem to have forgotten that you're level 4.

Fairness - 7

You should not have tried to anticipate her techniques using her thoughts. That's what creativity is for. I have no choice but to lower your points in this category. Also, your attacks were doing way too much to her, who was 2 levels above you. And you had her critical hits to your stomach do too little. Also, turning to your side when she pulled you to her blade would not have done anything to lower the damage. Sorry, kiddo.

Post Quality - 8

Not bad at all. Even though it wasn't top quality posting-- I did ENJOY reading your battle.

Technicality - 10

Both of you did a great job on this category. No complaints from Tokki-sama. :D

Overall - 8

Although Crest may have written himself giving the first final blow, this belongs to Anrui in my book. Crest, you did a GREAT job too, so don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Both of you did awesome, but Anrui gets the points to back up the win. Thanks for a good duel! And enjoy your victory fanfare, Anrui! :D

The taste of victory fanfare is like a fine wine!

Anrui + 2 Lvl.!!!

Crest + 1 Lvl.!!!