Smiling in a smiley sadistic way, Hijinx does a handstand and holds the mike to her mouth. " WELL NOW WE CERTAINLY ENJOYED THAT ONE DIDN'T WE." Splitting into two people she answers the other hijinx's question. "YES WE DID! AND NOW FOR THE FORTH CONFRONTATION! IN THIS CORNER WE HAVE CYPHER OF THE DARK ARMY! IN THE OTHER CORNER IS MATSUEI OF THE SWORD BREAKERS! AAAAAAAAAAANNNNDDDD FIGHT!

I await your presence here at 11 eatern time...

Oh BTW, I am watching out...are you?

(Ooc: I might not respond right away…I will be online and offline…I told you to be here at 11…)

As Cypher approaches the vast battle field, random thoughts pop through his mind. A bit shaky, this being his first match of his life, he kept reassuring himself with his abilities with his sword. He walked in silently, setting a firm mood for the scene. A bit of wind blew through his hair, rustling it, and adding a slight bit of comfort.

He scanned the area for his opponent, not seeing him around. As he waited, he unsheathed his sword and began to practice basic sword techniques; thrusts, parries, slashes, the works.

As he did so, all he thought about was fighting his opponent.

Taking a break, he turns his head, and mutters an:

“I await you my friend. Swords will clash soon, and I will make sure our match is a memorable one. So be ready”

He continued to practice, his mind trained on only one thing: To win.

Not wanting to waste any time, Cypher begins to look for a good place to hide. Noticing rock formations and murals around him, he quickly begins to make strategies in his head.

“AP DO!!!”

Using his Time Headband, the blade master speeds himself up, and begins to anticipate Matsuei’s next move.

As his speed increased dramatically, he casts a Warriors Blood on himself, feeling the power increase greatly in his weapon. He hears a noise, and quickly turns to face what he knew was coming.

Matsuei stands up on a large rock pillar. He finds Cypher skidding along the ground. "I'm here so let the duel begin." Matsuei propped his sword on his right shoulder. "You ready?"

Cypher takes his stance as does Matsuei. "You know Matsuei, this isn't fair, you being on a high plain and all." Matsuei smirks and jumps off his high perch. "Then let it start." Matsuei jumped up and does a vertical slash toward Cypher as he approaches.

Expected…

Using his speed form the Ap Do, Cypher quickly sidesteps his opponents quick attack, and makes a small slash at his back, making him stumble and fall.

“Nice try”

Instead of hitting him now, Cypher jumps back to the rock which served for Matsuie’s high grounds, and casts Ap Juka on himself, raising his wood element.

Starring hard at his opponent, who was now recovering and getting up, he begins to run quick circles around him in an attempt to confuse him. Once Cypher notices his opponent begin to look for him wildly, he casts a giant JUK ROM, turning the arena into a wood fest, and then retrocedes back on top of the rock. He checks his SP to notice it almost run out. He let’s his body wait let him fall back, as he continues to run around, regaining his SP.

He looks back to see Matsuie get up, and Cypher readies for the next attack.

Here we go...

"I'll beat you, I know I can." Matsuei stabbed his sword into the ground. He put his hands around the hilt. "Rai Rom!" matsuei shouts. A few seconds pass as the sky becomes shroudded in dark clouds and the sun is blocked out. Lightning forms at Matsuei's hilt as it swiftly becomes a tornado. The vines catch fire from the lightning turning the field into a giant inferno. Only a large area is left where Matsuei and Cypher are. Everything else is a large bonfire.

Matsuei jumps up and lands in front of Cypher. As Cypher quickly tries to slash at Matsuei, he ducks under his blade and tackles him towards the ground. He then kicks him as they are falling to the ground.

Feeling Matsei’s heavy weight push him down, he casts a JUK ROM on both of then, then uses leverage and kicks him off into one of the bon fires he made himself.

Getting up and putting out the small fire on his shirt, he realizes he took a bit of his own HP off.

That’s smart…

As he regains himself, he sees his Warrior’s Blood and Ap Do are still there. Wanting to make use of his sword, he get's it reay and says:

“Now for a sword battle”

As soon as he got up, Matseui began slashing slowly, but furiously at Cypher, his Slayer being blocked and often left to pass him, for fear of breaking his sword. He notices Matseui raise his arms high to crush him down with a mighty blow, and he takes advantage of the opening.

Jumping to his right, the rolling behind him very quickly, Cypher unleashes an ANI SLASH right on Matseui’s back, just as his Slayer digs into the ground, sticking in and making him fall with it.

As Matseui recovers from the sword attack, he runs over and knees him, then jumps back and begins to jump in any random direction, providing a hard to hit target.

Let’s see what happens now…

Matsuei runs toward Cypher. He runs around like on a sugar high. He runs toward the left, then suddenly to the right, then suddenly to the left agian. Then he slows to a walk. Then starts to spin around like Excel(From Excel Saga). Cypher looks at Matsuei. "My opponent....has lost his mind. Must've fried in the fire."

Cypher seeing this as chance, charges toward Matsuei. Matsuei continues spinning in one spot. Cypher gets ready to stab him. Matsuei Spins out of the way of Cypher's thrust and kicks him in the back of the neck while he passes. While Cypher falls forward due to his speed and the force of the kick, Matsuei grabs his sword and casts Death Bringer while attacking Cypher in the back. He then laughs menacingly and runs around.

Wow…

Knowing that last attack took away half his HP, he slowly recovered, his opponent still laughing at him.

Feeling the ashes of the flames grow bigger and float closer, he devises a plan. Knowing that he would come after him, he let the determined heavy blade knock him back slightly by trying to block his frontal attack. Even though he did not get hurt, the force of the shot pushed him back slightly. As he went back, he felt the heal of his boots drag along the floor, and his neck began to burn, signalling he was approaching fire. He noticed a tree that was burning beside him, so instead of getting up, he lied on the ground pretending to be hurt. Just as Matseui readied another attack, Cypher rolled and cut the tree, the burnt bark letting go and falling easily.

As soon as he cut the tree, Cypher re-casted Ap Do, seeing his speed was back to normal. He took advantage of this and gave himself a healing drink, recovering almost his entire HP.

Cypher noticed his opponent cut through the bark, as he got up. Not wanting to give him another chance, he re-casted the JUK ROM, sending Matseui flying. Knowing he was off guard, he took his sword and began to wisp it through the nearst fire, until it burnt a bright red, then all the way to a blue.

With a sprint he ran towards the downed heavy blade, and began to attack the heavy blade. He had a hard time blocking his attacks, but he did, until the last one where he slashes at his shoulder.

Cypher drew back and ran towards the fire, jumping into it.

As he felt the flames almost engulf him, he landed on his desired location: the boulder.

Knowing he could be protected here, he ducked low, staying out of his opponent’s site. Looking back he noticed his oponent begin to search for him, as his speedy jumped was not seen by him.

Matsuei knew he wasn't going to find Cypher. He stood there, waiting as the flames slowly grew. Then, Matsuei ran up to a tree and quickly kicked it. Due to the weakend state it fell. It happened to fall right where Cypher was. He jumped out of the way quickly. Matsuei saw Cypher and aimed a Rai Rom right at him. The tornado reached him. Cypher landed, putting his hand on his left arm as he began to bleed.

"I'll get you for that Matsuei..." He ran through the burning forest. He quickly found his way back to the firey arena. He saw Matsuei spinning around again. "I won't fall for that again." He looked frantically for his sword. He saw it among some burning trees. He quickly picked it up and got ready for another assault.

Matsuei stopped twirling around. He looked at Cypher, as Cypher looked at him. Both opponents ready to get serious.

((OOC: This will continue to tomarrow due to Cypher's real life duties. Thanks for your patience ^_^ ))

LET THE BATTLES SURGE ON!

can you maybe not interupt the flow of the duelist posts. thank yoou

Taking his blade and passing it through the fire, he again warmed it. He did this for about 5 minutes. Matsuei, loosing his patience, began to attack when Cypher sidestepped it, making good use of his speed. Again Matseui attacked, this time zigzagging to confuse Cypher. While still heating the blade, Cypher againg dodge another attack by Matsuei, using all he could of his remaining speed. Before waiting for a third attack, Cypher spoke in a low voice:

“Wait. I have an idea”

After about a minute of heating his blade, he put it over his bleeding arm, burning it slightly to cause callous, and stop the bleeding. Raising his view, he notices his opponent heaving heavily, gripping his sword mightily, ready for another assault. Determination filled his eyes, as well as fatigue.

“You don’t look so good. Seeing that you haven’t healed at all, you are near death my friend. I’m not in perfect shape, but I have enough. Now I have a proposition. Here”

As he says those words, he casts an Ap Do on his opponent, speeding him up.

“As you can see, I have made you much faster. See that fire around us? Let’s make that our judge of who wins. In you’re current state; the fire will not even touch you. But the minute you stop, or fall, it will engulf you into the very pits of hell. I propose a sword match. We battle it out, all while moving around the fire, and the first to fall looses. Ready? Let’s begin.”

As he finishes his small speech, Cypher raises his arms and cats another Ap Do on him, bringing him back to bullet speed. Then he proceeds to use his last Warriors Blood, as the others effect began to wear out. The combined strength and speed made him feel good and elevated.

I’m already faster than him as a blade master, and his Ap Do effect will wear out before mine…

With that thought in mind, they both stared each other down menacingly. Each readied their weapons, everything they believe in cast aside, only instinct will act now. Without saying a word Cypher dashes into the fire.

As he runs, the tongues of the fire kiss his cheek, no burning happening, but the presence of it being clear. Making circles in an attempt to confuse his foe, he could see a dark shadow also run around, small ashes flying as he runs in search of his opponent.

Cypher broke his pattern to begin attacking his aggressor, bringing his blade with newfound strength right on Matsuei, making him stumble. Each attack Cypher made was a run by, knowing not to stop, and knowing each hit he scored made him stop slightly. This was confirmed by the small grunts made by Matsuei. Another dark shadow loomed closed, this one staying still. Judging by its size, it was a tree burning down. Knowing he should end his battle soon, he made Matseui follow behind him.

Cypher constantly hit his sword on the ground in an attempt to confuse him with the ashes it produced. As soon as he neared the tree, he slid down, his boots burning from the friction and ever present heat of the fire. As soon as he hit the tree, he pushed himself back, sliding underneath Matseui and in the process cutting him on both shins with his Unicorn Blade.

The last he saw of his opponent was his dark large shadow fall down from the cuts, the fire beginning to burn him. As Cypher ran out, he felt burning on his back, knowing his speed had come back to normal.

Approaching the end, he jumped in an attempt to save himself form death. He rolled on the small circle, putting out the fire. Trembling as he got up, he did not see his opponent follow him. As he checked his body, he observed burn marks all over. With an unsteady hand, he grabbed the flask that heal his second health potion and drank him, bringing him back to life. As he threw away the flask, he made sure of his opponents demise by casting as many JUK ROMS as he could, his SP almost empty when he was done. The whole place was in flames, the tight circle that made safe ground getting smaller as the time passed.

Waiting to see if his opponent had made it through that hell, he pulled his sword out and got into a battle stance, the time passing by more and more.

Is he alive….

Matsuei, saw the firey pillar falling towards him. Matsuei quickly drank a health drink and raised his sword. His wounds quickly healed as he cut the tree asunder. Matsuei jumped up high. He landed in front of Cypher kneeling. He then tripped him and flung his sword in the air. Cypher fell sideways and dropped his blade. Matsuei stopped, his extra speed gone. His Slayer landed next to Cypher's blade. Matsuei watched as Cypher picked himself up. Sweat ran down both opponents.

The ring of fire closed in on them. Trees quickly started to fall with in the ring. They both had to dodge them. Cypher dodged out of the way of one tree as another fell toward him. Matsuei ran towards Cypher in a desperate effort to get him out of the way. Matsuei pushed Cypher out of the way just as the tree landed on him. The burning tree weighed him down. Cypher looked at his opponent, shock at what he had done. He quickly ran to retrieve his sword. He picked up both his Unicorn blade and the Slayer. He then ran over to Matsuei and kicked the tree off of him. Matsuei laid life-less. Cypher's eye's widened as he heard Matsuei let out a short breath. Cypher helped pick up Matsuei. "This place isn't a suitable battle ground anymore."

"Repth" Matsuei mutters, leaning on Cypher's shoulder. Matsuei regains most of his HP. He then takes his Slayer from Cypher and walks in the opposite direction. He turns around and takes his defensive stance. "I think it's time we finish this." Cypher nodded in agreement. "Yes, we shall." Both rushed toward each other, swords at the ready. Matsuei saw his chance and stuck his sword into the ground. He then swung around the handle and drop kicked Cypher in the chest.(XD)

The blow had knocked him down. The fatigue of near death experiences was beginning to wear on him.

Alright, heal yourself…

Cypher drank the last health potion, his internal fortitude regained; a new player was present. The tension in his muscles had loosened. His eyes, which were partly damaged form the fire, now, brought him clear images. His breath went from fast, short, and heavy heaves to nice, slow, and deep breaths. The burning feeling and numbness from his boots had faded as all feeling was regained.

As he stared at Matseui, a whole world of anger filled him. He wanted to end the battle, knowing he had the ability to do so.

“This is a glorious day. To good fighters have meet, clashed, fought, healed, and even saved another. Now is the time to determine. Now is the time that one rises, while the other shall fall. Titans of their class, and heroes to their clans, one small second in time and one large hour in space will witness this. Godspeed and good fighting!”

As he ended his speech, they both ran at each other. Cypher noticed Matseui’s boot’s dig more and more into the ground as he ran, the weight slowing down. Instead of attacking him, he slid down and knocked him off balance, making him fall down. As Cypher rolled back to his feet, he felt the back of his neck prickle from the heat of the fire growing behind him. As Matseui recovered from the fall, Cypher ran to him and kneed him down again to the ground. As he prepared to dig his blade into his large armour, his heavy sword knocked Cypher back. Instead of re-attacking, Cypher gave his opponent the hand. Lifted him up and both looked over to the judges, awaiting a reply.

The End Cypher

Tactics - 9

Explanation: Great job on explaining your methods and reasons for your attacks. I loved how you used your environment to advance your techniques.

SP Regulation - 7

Explanation: You may have overstepped your SP boundary a bit.. but that will be explained in...

Fairness - 7

Explanation: When posting in a duel, you may not take control of time. Saying things like "He heated it for 5 minutes" and making the judge assume that your opponent would just sit there is outrageous. Also, there is one statement that I shook my head at.

Tsk tsk at that. 2 actions per turn, no abuse of SP like that, and no assuming that the Juk Roms all hit, or that he would sit there while you casted them all.

Post Quality - 10

All I'll say is High Five.

Technicality - 8

Argh-- you really stretched the 2 actions per turn rule, but you didn't lose too much. Watch out for that, Cypher.

Overall - 8

Matsuei

Tactics - 8

There wasn't too much in the way of strategy in your techniques, but of what there was, you did a great job. Nice creativity with the tree, lol.

SP Regulation - 9

I saw no real problems here, great job utilizing your SP correctly, I'd say.

Fairness - 9

You did a great job with fairness, though Tirath and I did question the 'happened to land where Cypher was' tree, but that's fine to me. As long as you thought of it, it was done well. Other than that, I saw no forced hits.

Post Quality - 8

Not too bad of a job on your post quality either, Matsuei. I'm impressed. You didn't need to make them as long as Cyphers, because you kept the quality high and got off what you needed to in the right amount of time.

Technicality - 9

I can't take any points off of you on this category. Great job, evabebody!

Overall - 8

Well we have our first TIE in Duel history. So the prizes will be given equally. Whoopsiiiiie. :)

Victory Fanfare it up!

Cypher + 2 Levels

Matsuei + 2 Levels