Nizam cleared his throat. "This is our semi-final match of the Class C tournament! Welcome our fighters!"

Cheering. Cheering. More cheering. They were animals. "Lyra of the Highland City and Sekai of the Relic City go head to head in a cracking of skulls that will SPLASH BRAINS ALL OVER THE WALLS!" The cheering grew a little confused, startled perhaps, but continued on. "Er..."

What to say...

"FIGHT...NAOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!"

Lyra was nervously happy to the point of semi-sadistic giggles.

This was it; one more round before she'd be fighting Kiwi. She'd made it so far by now that she could barely remember who she'd fought the first couple of rounds; only the last two increasingly difficult matches were clear in her mind. And now, ironically, she'd be fighting another person that she knew, however vaguely. 'It makes sense though,' she chuckled to herself, 'what better way to ensure I'm the best than to surround myself with them? If I'm constantly challenged by the people around me, my skills won't have a chance to deteriorate.'

The fox grinned at the thought, the expression plastered on her face even as she spoke with the tournament operator to get shipped off to the field. A few words later, her body disintegrated, leaving her screen black and her alone with only the sound of her breathing to distract her for a moment.

This was it.

This was the last place on earth she could afford to lose. She had to make it to that final round, had to prove herself again, had to win even against those close to her this time, instead of just with them alongside her. “I can do this,” she whispered, breaking the silence as light filtered back into existence around her.

The first thing she noticed was the dappled shadow pattern covering her arms. She took a deep breath and looked up, peeking through the bamboo reeds that all but surrounded her, ending just a few inches above her ears. Her lip curled a bit as she wondered if some official had chosen this field specifically for her match, or it was just random chance – either way, it would be frustrating to swing her weapon around here unless she chopped a few paths.

'I'm sure I've got a few seconds before Sekai finds me, so I'll go exploring,' she decided, reaching up to take hold of her sword and starting to weave her way between the stalks. Her assumption was based off what she knew of Sekai – which in fact wasn't Sekai at all, but Kira – and how easily distracted the girl had seemed when she'd met her before; she didn't exactly seem like the sort of person you'd send to find a fat kid in a public swimming pool, let alone a needle in a haystack, so she expected to have a while before she came under attack.

Of course, this opponent brought her own odd challenge that she hadn't encountered before: she was an Archer. She'd hardly met any members of the relatively new class, and she'd certainly never fought one. A long distance physical class definitely posed an interesting puzzle to Lyra, and she also knew that she was out-leveled for once, which would only make it harder. From what Kiwi had told her about Archers, they still had a fair amount of Magic ability (she had expected as much from a Light class) which meant trouble for Lyra on several levels. Really, she only had one choice, one solid strategy in this match: catch up to the other girl and then not let her out of range for even an instant. To her knowledge, bows were a bit difficult to use in close quarters.

The key to that – and to memorizing the battlefield faster, before she and Sekai found each other – was on her forehead, but was also no different from how she started every battle. “Ap Do.” The sensation of suddenly being much faster was so familiar by now that normal speed was the alien feeling; it was relieving to stream so smoothly between the bamboo reeds.

She reached the edge of the grove suddenly, and stepped out into an open area, larger than a football field and empty aside from a pair of willow trees. She couldn't see what lay on the opposite side of the grove she'd emerged from, but she imagined it was something similar, and that the grove itself couldn't be more than 100 feet across. Before stepping out into the clean light of the grass field, she pulled a card out of her pocket to complete her preparations. If she didn't use the Beast Blood right now, she probably wouldn't get another chance before there was a barrage of arrows on her.

She now had superior speed and an enhanced Magical Defense stat on her side. As far as she was concerned, this match was all formalities from here on out. After all, between her own experience and the equipment she'd been loaned, Sekai was already as good as beaten.

For now, the fox was simply going to do as her species tended to: hide and wait amongst the reeds for her prey to come along.

--------
SP: 108/122
HP: 630/630
Speed increased, Mag Def increased

[As I previously did, I will be editing each post right after, to prove I'm not editing later.
And my comment of the day is that I've had this done since Saturday and was only waiting because Kiwi had hoped to post first for this round, haha.]

Waiting like this was going to be the very end of her.

Sekai paced back and forth, the very epitome of the so-called basket case, within the small room she'd been placed into before her hopefully second to final match in this tournament. At first she'd been unsure of herself, unwilling to harm another opponent because of the risks involved, of her current... situation and the potential danger of accidently revealing it in front of the entire audience. But watching Hacorie-san and Raven-san fighting so bravely, so fiercely despite the handicap they had in common with herself, it inspired her to actually try, to put effort into it and not let that hold her down.

In a way, it forced her past her reluctance to battle against another person because, well, if she didn't... she'd end up dead. And without being in a party? Sekai shuddered, recalling the last time she'd been caught without being in a party and deciding that failure wasn't an option.

A dull roar reached her ears just as her body began to disappear from the waiting room, her heart picked up speed and the blood started a rhythmic pounding inside her ears. Opening her eyes as the transfer, the period of utter nothingness that always unsettled her, ended with a soft chime, the barely five foot tall Archer found herself utterly surrounded by bamboo stalks as thick as her wrist and taller than she was by a good deal.

Not to mention she rather liked the pretty blue-green hue near the bottom of the large shoots.

Shaking her head to get herself back in a focused, battle oriented mindset, the tawny eyes searched her surroundings and began making quick, calculating notes about the area and the pros and cons about being where she was. On one hand, the Heavyblade she was facing had an obvious advantage in all the physical stats, save maybe for the accuracy, she wasn't quite sure how that worked when one's weapon was swinging a katana or something that looked like it belonged in a shounen anime. But on the other? She was probably faster and had a bit of a level advantage over her opponent, not to mention the one thing she was good at in battle was shooting and running away to take cover somewhere.

A scroll was removed, the seal broken as adrenaline pumped through her system, her feet suddenly feeling lighter as she moved through the bamboo thicket as quietly as possible. Maybe she could do that predatory stalking thing that Kira was always so good at and sneak up on her opponent, get in the very first shot and make her, at least she thought it was a female she was against because of the name, play by her rules.

...if she'd thought of any rules for this battle anyways.

'I'm not very good at this tactical thing, that's more of Kira's territory.'

Speaking of which, the AI'd been more than a little... skittish when the name of her opponent had been announced and hadn't been able to look her in the eye since. That meant one of two, maybe three things from her experience and time spent with the Rue affiliated woman. One being that she'd accidently or purposefully offended her during the time she'd been... away and they had no idea it was someone else entirely, two being that... well, something along the similar lines and three just had to be-

Never mind; this was Kira she was talking about here. It was most definitely option number one, reason being because, well, there weren't any other options she could think of that would cause Kira to act in such a guilty manner.

With the Speed Charm in effect for the next small while, the snowy haired girl swallowed hard and contemplated a difficult decision. On one hand, she could use a spell to start things off and make it a little harder for her to track her down... or she could go with the fire an arrow from the bamboo lines and really start off some very dangerous game of 'find-me-catch-me' with a class that could probably kick her butt into next week.

Better to be safe than sorry... or dead, Sekai thought to herself and began looking for an exit, weaving in and out of the gently swaying bamboo shoots until she'd discovered one that came out into a rather lovely grassy area that stretched out. Her eyes traveled around, taking in the open field until something rather out of the ordinary caught her attention and sent a surge of 'oh shoot' panic through her system.

She'd come out about twenty to thirty feet away from where the fox eared woman- wait, fox ears?- was standing. Shoot shoot shoot shoot and shoot, the small girl thought to herself wildly, looking left and right for a place to hide in plain sight without getting busted. An idea struck her, crazy and far fetched as it was, and the green garbed girl began to quietly retreat backwards into the bamboo thicket. No one said she had to fire off the first shot and, well, besides; hiding and waiting for an advantageous shot was definitely more along the lines of what she was used to.

Now, all Sekai had to worry about was the fox lady turning around- holy crow was that a tail too?!- and spotting her during her retreat.

'I'm not fighting someone blessed by Inari-sama... am I?'


((HP: 535
SP: 227
Speed Charm used, one non-restorative left))

The fox noticed a rustling nearby and turned, but saw only reeds swaying in the wind. 'She's got to be here somewhere;' she reasoned, taking a deep breath and turning around to check the other side of the field. 'Otherwise, she'd be disqualified by now, and even if they're giving semi-finals extra time to arrive, this is a little absurd.' She took off, bent half over and keeping low to the ground as she ran through the grove. Her posture was rather practical for staying hidden in such a battle, of course, but Lyra, being Lyra, hadn't thought that far yet and was just doing what allowed her to snag on the leaves the least.

Whatever else was going through her mind, the fact that she had some extra time because she couldn't find her opponent anywhere definitely found its way there. Given the time she chose to add one more spell to her preparations list and cast Rig Saem. She had other Aps at her disposal as well, but she wanted to conserve her relatively meager SP – Sekai was also a higher level, after all – until it was really needed. Now she would be regaining her health even as she diced large sections off her competitor with her sword's special ability... that seemed like a reasonable plan to the fox.

Eventually she came to an almost identical open area, leaving her to conclude the field was either divided more-or-less into thirds, or was continuous like some of the normal areas of The World. Either way, there was a tree, and that would be a good spot to use to check for people.

...Except that if she did spot the Archer from up in the tree, what good would it do her? She wouldn't easily be able to catch up after spotting her, so her only real choice was to try and make Kira – 'Sekai, Sekai,' she repeated, 'Kira's just what she likes her friends to call her, but the judges will only know her as Sekai' – come to her.

She stood just inside the shadows and examined the tree, thinking. Enough noise would certainly entice the other fighter out, right? But on the other hand, Archers were some sort of stealthy version of WaveMasters, and that meant she might just use the opportunity to shoot Lyra while she was up a tree. And up a tree was some place that neither foxes nor Heavy Blades really needed to be.

What she needed was some terrain more suited to her own battle type. She grinned and turned back into the grove, weaving in a little way before she began to swing her blade at a low level, slicing through the stalks all around her. Lyra's tall boots guarded her shins from the sharp edges that remained as she began to carve out a path, stomping down on whatever stumps that got in her way. Within a few swings, she'd begun to arrange an arc through the bamboo. “Crop circles, eat your heart out,” she chuckled, swinging out in a different direction to change the angle and create a corner. While the fox generally had little else going for her in terms of tactics, she almost never got lost, and was doing a fairly successful job of visualizing the shapes she was making as they'd appear from within that tree.

What Lyra was hoping for was, first of all, to create enough noise to make Sekai curious and come running, and secondly for a few spaces she could tuck into and leap out of once the shorter girl was wandering through these paths. She couldn't risk cutting down everything, though, because there was certainly a chance that Sekai would climb one of the trees and use it as a sniping booth; so any open space definitely had to be flanked with narrow ones, places that an arrow couldn't easily penetrate.

It wasn't the best strategy she could have used in the situation, but it had potential, and it would work until she came up with something better. When Sekai came around, she'd find some place just inside the grove to hide and then, of course, to attack; until then, she'd continue to carve a six-foot-wide line through the reeds.

--------
SP: 95/122
HP: 630/630
Speed increased, Mag Def increased, HP Regeneration Active

[Standard issue no-need-for-edit thingy.]

The first thing Sekai thought about was that she'd managed to sneak away rather successfully despite the ears perched on the woman's head.

Second was that the other woman obviously wasn't comatose like she was or else she'd have probably turned around by that point and started chasing after her with a gleam of a predator hunting prey in her eyes.

Quietly hidden behind a particularly thick patch of bamboo growing somewhere in the middle of the small grove, Sekai strained her own senses trying to locate where her opponent was with a rapidly beating heart in her throat. The wind didn't help much, as soft as the breeze seemed to be, and just made it all the more difficult for her to distinguish the difference between a person made rustling and the bamboo shoots moving naturally against one another.

Well, at least until the blatantly obvious sound of bamboo poles crashing down and being sliced into started somewhere to her upper right. Nearly jumping out of her skin out of the noise, the small girl flattened herself as close to the ground as possible, owlishly large gold-brown eyes searching this way and that for any indication of where the fox eared Heavyblade might have been while trying to come up with some sort of plan; attack or defense didn't matter right now so long as something came to her that appeared brilliant.

'The only thing I have even remotely on my side is my level advantage, which isn't much, I'm small and wearing green, and that she has no idea that Kira and I are two separate individuals.'

She was going to throttle the taller AI when she got out of this; be it as the winner or loser.

Too caught up in her own thoughts... and imaginings of how she was going to throttle the overconfident woman when she got a hold of her, Sekai didn't hear the overly loud cracking of bamboo until it was too late, the leaves rustling as they crashed down upon her tiny frame. Bruises were going to suck after this, she thought with a wince and pushed herself up, poles falling right and left as she rubbed grit out of her eyes and blinked rapidly to clear the dust caused tears. Only to see the blade swing at something slightly off to her side and right in front of her.

“!”

There were no words and, to be frankly honest, Sekai wouldn't have been terribly surprised if there really was an exclamation point over her head like in that fighting game cut scene Mika had showed her at one point and the both of them had been giggling over.

So, as she was wont to do and knowing deep down inside she'd regret it much later, Sekai panicked and threw up her scroll she'd planned on saving for later. Jungle Rage, a level three Wood based tornado spell and something she was hoping to have save her ass just long enough for her to get a head start on running away... and coming up with a plan.

However shoddy that plan was going to be.

The spell roared to life with a yelp from its wielder, hovering in mid-air before dissolving into an expansive tornado glowing brightly with summer-grass green light and several rather pointed stakes of bamboo that had been left lying around on the ground. She'd sent it in Lyra-san's general direction but... if it hit, she wouldn't be around to see the damage considering she was running like hell in the opposing direction from the spell itself.

This was going to be one hell of a chase-me-find-me battle, she could already tell that much.

((HP: 535
SP: 227
Jungle Rage used; no more non-healing items remaining.))

The vixen caught sight of the flash of silver just a hair too late; she turned towards Sekai just in time to see the girl bolting in the opposite direction.

What happened in the next few seconds was definitely one of the most confusing events of Lyra's life. In the same instant that her ankle twitched and her arms rose – the start of the necessary motions to chase down the little Archer and inevitably lop her head off – a shock of green all but exploded in the air in front of her. Her only reaction, the only thought at all in her mind, was, 'Turn around and get the fuck out of here!'

It was her wings that saved her from certain demise. Only by escaping gravity was Lyra able to spin around fast enough to avoid being trapped within the rapidly forming whirlwind – but in her panic, she was unable to maintain her controls to do anything but run like hell itself was on her tail, which it essentially was, though in a different color spectrum. With more time, the fox might have considered whether it was better to run through the thicket, where there were shafts still intact to partially shelter her, instead of taking off across the area she'd cleared. But instinct was her only mover now, and so she nearly sailed across the open area, managing to stay at the edge of the ever-expanding tornado even as it nipped quite rabidly at her back, tail, and wings.

By the time she plunged, flailing arms first, into the far side of her clearing, she'd regained enough thought to come up with, 'This is gonna hurt!' And hurt it did indeed, as a few steps in she half-stumbled, half-threw herself to the ground. The hand not currently clutching her sword covered the back of her head, her ears flattened into the spikes of her hair, while the other clutched tightly to the weapon as though it might blow away.

Then as quickly as the storm had advanced, it retreated, taking with it most of her HP and leaving behind most of the chopped-off bamboo stalks, topped with a fine layer of dirt, sawdust, and leaves.

Lyra rolled over and took a deep breath, trying to still her panting and her pounding heart. Swallowing to clear the panic and the thought of dust from her mouth, she stared upwards for a moment, certain she'd be safely hidden where she was for a few moments. Sekai had, after all, gone running in the opposite direction, ironically in fear of her own spell, so she couldn't be too close by.

Another of the bamboo spears came sailing back to earth, a little too close to her peripheal vision for Lyra's comfort. “Mommy...”

Fortunately, Rig Saem kicked in about then, recovering a decent section of her HP, though not enough. “Good god,” she muttered, taking another deep breath and considering a few things. 'I knew Archers were a light class, but this is crazy, for her to have a level three spell at her disposal. She must be extremely powerful...'

It was dreadfully obvious to the fox, even as dense as she was, that she'd come to this match relatively unprepared. She was overconfident despite her opponent's level advantage – essentially the same gap she'd used to help herself decimate all her previous opposition – and despite the somewhat obvious class advantage Sekai had against her. Simply put, she hadn't done her research.

But she knew someone who had done his research; and that someone had given her not only the information she needed to win this match, but some of the tools as well.

If only she'd paid more attention.

The most pressing matter, at the moment, was to get herself healed so that another blow like that wouldn't instantly cut her down. She had a couple of good healing items stashed away, but those were best reserved for emergencies, which this seemed barely – though only barely – shy of in the HeavyBlade's mind. 'No, I should switch my equipment and then use Repth.' The choice was both obvious and unfortunate, since it further lowered her defense against Juk spells: she'd have to give up her Green Guard for the Mountain variety.

Within a few seconds, she'd changed her leg armor and cast the spell twice, listening carefully for any noise around her in between uses, to be sure she wasn't giving away her position.

Her HP now back to a reasonably safe level – as much as she felt she could afford to get to without wasting SP – she shifted her grip on her weapon to one that would let her swing it more easily with a single hand. For now, the safest course of action was to play dead and lie in wait that way, attacking her opponent when she came in to examine her kill.

--------
SP: 77/122
HP: 413/630
Speed increased, Mag Def increased, HP Regeneration Active
First equipment change used; Green Guard -> Mountain Guard

[Standard issue no-need-for-edit thingy.]

So far so good, no sign of pursuit.

....wait, had she accidently... maybe killed her opponent? It was reason enough to give the small girl pause, worry suddenly surging forward with anxiety as she stood still, torn between wanting to go check to make sure she hadn't... just... well....

Sekai shook her head rapidly from side to side, hard enough that she could feel the sting as her hair whipped across her face and neck. No no, she shouldn't make assumptions, shouldn't let herself get drawn into such thoughts when an important battle was still raging around her. Swallowing hard, clearly trying to choose between her guilty conscience and her absolute determination to survive, Sekai felt her heart sink in her chest as she gave into the former.

The small girl quietly slipped through the bamboo poles, the leaves and shoots rustling as she frowned and looked up at the smooth, darker green-blue plants with a mix of contemplation and curiosity in her expression. Would it even be possible for her to climb such a thing without, well, making a fool out of herself? Probably not, she decided after a moment's thought and dismissed the strategy from her mind. Maybe if worse came to worse, she'd got find those other trees she'd seen and hide up in there somehow.

For right now, she'd work with what she had... even if she didn't see much at the moment- wait! Her eyes lit up as she pulled one of the pulls back, testing the recoil strength and felt something sweep through her, leaving her slightly giddy and definitely pleased with herself at the idea that just struck like lightning. Biting her lip and carefully preparing a spell, ready to fire it off at a moment's notice like she believed strongly that she would need to, the wide eyed Archer peeked from the place where the... Heavyblade made clearing of bamboo started and searched for where the woman might have been.

A fox shouldn't be too far away... right? Not after such a hit... unless she'd ghosted, in which case she hoped she could find her and cast a Rip Maen before someone noticed it. After all... it was poor sportsmanship to, well, annihilate one's opponent in the very first attack. She had her hand tightly holding a clump of the smaller branches together, pulling down to keep it bent in an arc not unlike the curve of the bow she'd placed on her back for the time being. If things went according to her plan, she'd be charged first... and then fire off her spell as a distraction of some kind and when the moment was right, she'd loose the poles and let them swing forward sharply to smack her opponent in the face.

And then she'd run like hell and find a place to camp and hide until she could get a good shot in from her bow.

It seemed like a good idea, the proof was in the... oh drat and bother, what was that saying again? Mochi? No... mochi was a Japanese treat and didn't fit. Darn it, Sekai thought frowning.

That incomplete saying was going to drive her absolutely nuts.

“L-Lyra-san? A-are you alive? Please say you are.”

Her voice was shy and sweet, hesitant with more than a small hint of guilt filled hope as she called out. She knew it was going to give away her position but... well, sometimes one had to listen to the stupid guilty conscience.

((HP: HP: 535
SP: 227))

It had already been a while, and Lyra still hadn't seen a single sign of the little Archer skittering around the field. 'Crap, she's probably gone and hidden somewhere, same as me.' Her realization came with a barely audible grumble as she continued to stare vacantly in all directions, in futile hope of spotting Sekai. 'She is a long-distance class, after all... She's got no reason to try and get near me, she can just sit and wait all day for me to come into range, and then I'm screwed.' Still, every second they were separated meant another potential increase in Lyra's HP, and thus her chances of survival, thanks to Rig Saem, so for now the HeavyBlade was trying very, very, very hard to have patience.

Sadly, it was a virtue she had been poorly blessed with, and the fox's head began to twitch from side to side, yearning to stand, as Nekkiko's thumbs twitched impatiently at her controller.

'Okay,' she decided, taking a deep breath and renewing her will to lay still, I'll wait here until I've gotten two more heals – that'll put me high enough to survive another one of those whatever-that-was. Then, I'll get up and go looking for her!' The fact that her switch in equipment upped her slightly lowered her Juk stat and also slightly decreased her odds of survival registered somewhere in her subconscious, but it didn't rank high enough on her oft-skewed priority list to actually be considered; if it had, she might have had the insight to use her second equipment switch now and improve her stats a bit. It probably wouldn't be until Kiwi lectured her about it later that she'd even realize that her Beast Blood had saved her life in that first strike of the duel...

All in all, the only things on the vixen's side right now were that the chances of Sekai having another such scroll were relatively low, and the fact that Rig Saem passed another cycle then and put her HP at a total of 476. Given that, especially when bored, her powers of deduction weren't really the best, only the second fact registered.

Yes, indeed... regardless of her chances of winning this particular tournament, Lyra had a ways to go before she actually stood a chance of being “The World Champion”, at least in terms of time spent considering anything other than whether one-onethousand or one-locomotive was a better method of counting seconds.

Just when she was sure she couldn't take the wait anymore and that she wanted to jump up and go looking anyway, she heard something.

Something very, absurdly, cute.

“L-Lyra-san? A-are you alive? Please say you are.”

'Oh god, why?' she whimpered internally, having to bite her lip to keep from squealing. She still remembered the first time she'd run into Sekai – when she'd carelessly glomped her out of sheer delight at her avatar's cuteness, only to quickly be verbally smited. 'I know she's really two shades shy of a she-devil, so why am I still so hurt by this?' The utter worry in the girl's voice pulled at the fox's motherly heartstrings in a way that induced guilt equal to, if not greater than, that Sekai was feeling. Duel or not, it suddenly seemed mean to be tricking the girl...

'It's just a trick!' she insisted to herself, taking a deep breath and willing herself to ignore it. 'She's trying to draw you out! Stay calm, stay down, wait for her to pass close enough, then grab her!' She could barely make out a light silhouette moving through the stalks not to far from her. “Come here, come this way,” she hissed, trying to will Sekai's movement without actually being heard. But she didn't seem to be going the right way...

Frustrated with waiting, Lyra did the only thing she could think to from where she was laying.

“Gan Zot!”

The words left her mouth at what she hoped was a low enough volume for her not to be heard, the hand not gripping her sword pointed in Sekai's direction to aim the spell. As was her habit she was aiming it not to actually hit the girl full on, but instead to distract and herd her – it was aimed just on the opposite side of the Archer's feet, close enough to likely still do damage but definitely just beyond her, to try and make her react.

The reaction the vixen wanted her opponent to have was to run away from the spell – she'd now be certain that her opponent was alive, which had been the goal of her call, so she'd have no reason to keep exposing herself. She'd run for cover where she could wait and snipe, and hopefully Lyra's spell would make her think the fox was in the other direction, so she'd run away from where it had nipped at her. That was why the HeavyBlade used the moment of the noise of the spell to roll up onto her knees, crouched so she was out of sight but still more than capable of either running or attacking. If her little opponent came charging at her as she hoped, she'd be prepared to make a swing at her own shoulder level – prime for striking Sekai in the waist or arm.

If on the other hand, Sekai chose to stand still or take off in any other direction, the vixen would do as her instincts told her: lay chase. Lyra didn't know what their actual speeds were compared to one another, but she was prepared to slow Sekai down with another Gan Zot if necessary. Either way, the moment her opponent came into range, Lyra planned to take her down.

SP: 59/122
HP: 476/630
Speed increased, Mag Def increased, HP Regeneration Active

[This post brought to you by: one very, very bored, very cramped fox sitting at 34,000ft! Duel posts on a plane! So yes, I really was this friggen ADD. To be completely clear, the two action options stated at the end are just run-at-and-slice or stand-still-and-slice, depending on where/if Sekai runs; I'm only casting one Gan Zot. Oh yeah, and no edits were done.]

When the rustling of the bamboo leaves, the stalks of the blue-green plants bumping hollowly into each other, continued to be the only sound after her hesitant inquiry, the small girl felt her lower lip start to quiver, the all too familiar sting of tears forming in the corner of her eyes to blur her vision. She moved forward a little more, tawny eyes scanning anxiously for any sign of her opponent and bit her lip in frustration. Misery flooded her as she felt her shoulder slump forward, somewhat defeated at the impending doom she felt at having just... just... one shotted Lyra-san. She'd killed her opponent in one shot, how unkind and horrible and unsportsman-like and, and and...

Why was she suddenly in pain?

Blinking as a second spire of earth rumbled, beginning to jut out from beneath her feet, Sekai's heart and mind leaped in a rather twisted and strange combination of joy and “Ohshit” that Lyra-san seemed to be alive... and was apparently close enough to smack her good with a spell.

The first spire had raked up her leg from her shin to the middle of her thigh, a shallow enough wound but one that still hurt like she'd scraped it falling off a moving bicycle. The second was almost directly where her right foot was and it took a clumsy jump back to avoid getting speared by that. The third was right where she'd stepped to get out of the way; thus limiting her options and, to be fairly honest, wound up right where Sekai'd hoped not to be and scowled slightly as she 'oofed' when she landed on the ground rather hard on a now bruised rear end.

Her HP hadn't taken too bad of a hit, she thought with a minor, quiet breath of relief.

'I suppose this is what I get for stepping in the complete opposite direction of where I was apparently supposed to.'

She checked her injury, risking an attack to judge the severity of the injury and frowned at the ugly looking scrape that turned into a gash about mid-way up her leg. Not deep but, it definitely hurt and was going to leave a very, very nasty bruise while it healed. Swallowing hard and wincing when she shoved her injured leg beneath her to prepare to take off running like the proverbial bat out of Hell, Sekai's eyes scanned the bamboo and the ground around her, looking for some trace of the rather good at hiding Heavyblade she's sworn was at least a foot taller than she was-

There!

If she was right, she saw something that looked similar to the hair color she'd seen on the fox eared woman, naturally it might have been a trick of the light but... it was a chance she'd have to be willing to take. Frowning to herself and giving a slight 'oh well', she squeezed the golden bow in her hands and concentrated on the Rai based magic she knew was in there. Eyes directly on where she thought the other woman was, the bow began to glow brightly, flickering and humming with energy before she spoke the name of the spell and swung the bow to direct it towards her target.

“Rai Kruz!”

From both ends of the bow, two spheres of crackling golden-white energy shot forth, twisting over one another as they converged on or near the target she'd sent them at. Only luck and the Gods would actually know if that spell was going to hit, Sekai thought to herself and proceeded with the final stage of that hastily made up plan.

The little Archer up and ran like hell, using the torn up ground from the Gan Zot as a sign that she really didn't wanna run the opposite way of where it had come up from. The bamboo was definitely thick enough and the further one went in, the less light was able to come through and thus, would make it both more difficult but more easy to hide from an opponent in. Maybe... maybe she needed to get to one of those trees, as horribly cheap a maneuver as she believed that would be.

Although she did have to wonder during the headlong run-like-hell into the thicker parts of the forest, favoring her left leg a little due to the damage sustained from the spell as she attempted to escape and buy herself a little time.

...did foxes, or was it foxi, climb trees?

((HP: 442
SP: 219/227
No items used, no need for an edit either Stupid tags. Dx.))

Her shot had hit and now the chase was on; sword at the ready, Lyra launched after her injured prey, traversing the cleared stretch quickly before once again having to weave her way through the bamboo. It was a pretty big hassle to have to haul her huge weapon through the narrow gaps, but her determination – and the faint trace of her opponent's silver hair shining through the stalks – kept her going.

Still, the girl was moving frustratingly fast; she didn't seem to be gaining on Sekai any, though she wasn't losing ground either. She was just sort of trapped at a consistent distance behind her opponent. 'I have to slow her down somehow,' she decided, mentally scanning her inventory even as she continued her chase.

There was a holler suddenly, drawing the fox's attention. The words sounded familiar... 'What is she-'

“Oh.”

Circumstances throughout her adventures in The World had left Lyra most paranoid not about her opposing element of fire, but instead of lightning. Regardless of if the blow actually struck or not, the sheer memories it drew up would leave her twitching for a few minutes afterward. And currently, there was a pair of lightning balls headed straight for her, just noticeable from the corners of her vision.

Dodging was most definitely a possibility, but one that would slow her down. Right now, caring about whether or not she got hit would slow her down more than any damage she took from an attack would, unfortunately. So she just kept running, knowing that her increased Magical Defense would keep the Rai Kruz from being anywhere near fatal, and that Rig Saem would quickly heal any damage from it.

Her health still safely above the halfway point, Lyra continued her charge after the little Archer. The girl was trying to slow her down, but she was too much of a tank to care about smaller spells or attacks.

The light filtering through the grove began to thicken, until the meadow became visible just beyond. The fox frowned, biting her lip and slowing finally. If she stayed put, she could manage to keep the element of surprise mostly on her side, whereas if she charged out into the open, Sekai's arrows would surely find her quickly. She had one severe disadvantage here in that, while Sekai seemed no faster than her, neither could Lyra catch up to the little Archer. A long range fighter that could keep themselves at long range stacked the odds against the vixen pretty severely.

...But the little girl was headed for a tree... one hand slid into her pocket as Lyra pondered a way to trap her opponent and make her a sitting duck, free for the beheading. If she could even manage to kill such an adorable thing.

Scroll comfortably in her palm, she began to slip along the edge of the grove, trying to remain out of sight...

Something in her inventory caught her eye right before she closed the menu, though, and she was forced to grin. 'She used a powerful Juk spell before... so she should be kind of weak to Gan, right?' How long had she had that sword, anyway? Strato had to miss it by now... she'd need to return it after the match. Or at least to the armory. But for now, it had a double advantage that just might be her ticket back into the winner's circle. She hated to give up using her precious Mimiru's Sword, of course, but there didn't seem to be many options at this point; whatever would put her closer to her opponent was more important than what would follow her “style”, and if her calculations were right, this would only increase her accuracy further.

Besides, she didn't think it'd be against the rules to switch back later.

So she held the Life Sword now instead, and the slightly smaller sword not only let her navigate the reeds more easily but gave her – hopefully – all the ammo she'd need to take out Sekai.

The Ol Repth the weapon brought was also extremely tempting, but she knew she needed to hold onto as much SP as possible, for her inevitable meeting against the girl soon after.

She crouched and watched the girl, scroll between her fingers, whispering: “C'mon, little girl, climb on up to snipe... just try and hit me... just try and find me...”

--------
SP: 61/122
HP: 417/630
Speed increased, Mag Def increased, HP Regeneration Active
Second Equipment Switch used: Mimiru's Sword -> Life Sword

[I'm officially enough of an idiot to change my work schedule just to get a post up on time x.x' Also, no edits.]

Apparently she'd had enough of a head start that, despite the crash of limbs and things being cut down and hacked out of the way behind her, her plan of getting behind that bigger willow tree might have just succeeded. Pacing herself as best as possible, remembering all the times that a dead run had completely wiped her out and left her vulnerable to attack, Sekai found herself out in the open sunlight. Her white hair took on a bit of a glow as the rays hit, her feet moving swiftly through the grass as her eyes landed on the intended target and focused on getting herself there.

As soon as she reached it, hands scrambling to prevent herself from rushing past the safety of the tree, Sekai leaned against it and gave into the need to catch her breath. Her heart was fluttering wildly halfway up her throat as she gasped, shoulders heaving and her forehead leaning against the smooth white bark of the tree. When some semblance of normality returned to her heartbeat and her brain managed to get itself out of panic mode, the small girl with rather... owlishly over-sized big golden-brown eyes peeked a little out from behind the tree and looked for the woman who'd been in hot pursuit.

It took her a few minutes before she'd actually manage to spot where the fox eared Heavyblade was lurking in the treeline, swallowing hard as she hunched her shoulders a little and tried to figure out exactly just what in the name of the six elements available to her in this world that she should do now that she had distance on her.

“I don't suppose she'd be willing to play games of hide and seek in order to finish this match.”

She muttered to the tree, biting her lip and trying her best not to look too terribly frustrated as she dug the fingers of one hand into the bark. What in the name of all the eternal Gods and her ancestors should she do?

Checking her inventory didn't give her much, she had healing items and that was it available for her to use. She did, however, have her Rose Thorn bow, the Gan skills might be useful on that... especially when she could use Dek Ganz and put a little more damage than normal into it. Breathing deeply and trying to ease the shakiness out of her system, she switched her armor piece into the one she'd need and focused her attention.

“Dek Ganz.”

Sekai whispered softly, a glyph beneath her feet appearing a moment before racing out, hopefully to lower her opponent's tolerance for the Earth element and switched her bow out. There was a small plan; hit her with that and maybe a spell to confuse her if she didn't react to the Dek spell, then, if she charged, she could act and hopefully manage to draw and shoot before the Heavyblade reached her.

If not?

This was going to end up getting rather painful very fast.

((HP: 442
SP: 219/227 ))

'Climb... the... damn... tree... already!' Lyra ground her teeth together as she stared at her opponent from the shadows. She was getting extremely impatient and downright irritated by the situation – she couldn't afford to sit around and wait all day; sure, every few seconds her health increased, but with every few points of HP that ticked up, her Ap spells ticked down. If she lost her Magical Defense increase, she'd be doomed, and she could only either use the scroll in her hand or another Beast Blood.

Growling in impatience, she shoved the scroll back in her pocket. A different situation called for different actions, so she'd have to choose something else now.

It was time for the equipment Kiwi had lent her... it was a desperation move, in her opinion, but it was also the best thing to do, given the now utter failure of her other plans. She'd have to throw Sekai a disadvantage equal to her own advantage.

As soon as the girl's silver hair caught light – she was moving, possibly towards Lyra – the fox stood and pointed in her direction, activating her Goblin Gloves. “Duk Lei!” she called, then began to reach for her sword. Before she could reach the second hand to the weapon, though, a dull glow washed over her body. “...Duk Lei!” she repeated, within at most three seconds of the first; her first casting of Duk Lei had come almost simultaneously with Sekai's of Dek Ganz, and the Archer's spell had in effect sealed her own doom. Originally, Lyra had been planning to cast the spell once and charging with a Gan Smash regardless of if it hit or not. Now, she would leave nothing to chance – Sekai would be poisoned, for the heinous crime of weakening the only physical attack the fox had at her disposal for the moment.

'I'm a physical class, I can't keep playing around with this at-a-distance bullshit. If she's not going to come to me, I'll just go knock her head off... and if that fails, I'll just keep her moving until she's out of HP!' The chances of both casts of Duk Lei having missed were pretty slim, so the Heavy Blade felt confident that her opponent was now on her way to death, 54 HP at a time. Even that would take a bit, though, so Lyra was eager to go help that number along – after all, her Aps wouldn't last till the girl was dead if she left it to poisoning alone.

She reached back into her pocket, planning on rearming herself with the Mimiru's Sword. The Ol Repth from her current weapon was still a pretty prospect, but Gan Smash was considerably less useful now that her Earth stat was reduced. She needed a real weapon again, and she only had two she thought of that way, since they were both rare-

[Warning: This move is in direct violation of tournament rules, and would result in a penalty on your judging. Do you want to continue?]

She growled in annoyance; she didn't have time to read long-winded messages from the friggen Administrators, not when she had people's heads to chop off! “No!” she spat, readjusting her grip on the Life Sword she already had equipped. 'So this makes switching to this weapon just about the dumbest mistake I've ever made. Nice.' This was certainly an exaggeration, but right now, Lyra just craved blood, and for it to be time for the final round already, and this wasn't going to go fast enough for her tastes.

Certain that her attack must have taken effect already, Lyra rushed from the grove and took off flying after Sekai, as high as her wings would take her: “Here I come, ready or not!”

--------
SP: 23/122
HP: 480/630
Speed increased, Mag Def increased, Earth Element decreased, HP Regeneration Active

[Standard-issue-I-didn't-edit-thingy]

Did it work?

Sekai thought, hope beginning to spring into visible form within the wide eyed face peeking at Lyra-san from around the silvery bark of the willow tree swaying gently to and fro. Hope that quickly turned into something terrible and knocked her breath nearly away in one fell swoop. A hand clamped over her mouth, face draining of color as she glanced back up, knowing immediately what that odd glyph had been from Lyra-san's hiding place. Shivers began to wrack her body and bright spots of color appeared high on her cheeks, eyes taking on a glassy sheen with dilated pupils in a classical, physical representation of a very, very nasty and very miserable start to a horrible sickness.

Shuddering with a sudden bone aching chill and the sense that she needed to get to cover somewhere fast, Sekai glanced back up to see... what looked like Lyra-san snarling at something she couldn't quite figure out.

A moment and a half later, one that seemed to take forever for some reason, the fox lady was tearing up in the sky... only about two feet but still, it was enough for an “eep!” to escape from the young girl as she paled, winced and threw her hand into the air with a panicked squeal of the spell on her bow. Sure, it didn't seem like it had done much damage but, dammit, it had to do something, even if it was just to slow her down.

“R-Rai Kruz!”

And it was time to run as the crackling balls of lightning zoomed forward, intend on totally smacking into her opponent. As for her? Sekai didn't stick around to find out; her Speed Charm was going to wear off in the next few moments and she really didn't want to stick around to find out just how angry Lyra-san was. Her bow was gripped tightly in hand as she made a made dash for the opposing end of the field; it would go full circle and lead her back into the bamboo. Then, she thought to herself as roiling nausea caused a whimper to slip out of her and tears to sting her eyes, she'd somehow circle back around Lyra-san while the woman was, hopefully, slashing through the stalks in hopes of finding and pinning her there.

But first, she needed to really distract her.

Whirling around after a few more attempted bursts of speed, Sekai drew back the string of the bow, aimed, and fired off the most potent skill on the thing. She wouldn't switch the weapon, not yet. She had to save that for later.

“Shocking Arrow of Voltage!”

In a shrieking burst of energy that shot forth from her bow, the white-gold energy flickering with lines of blue and occasionally a hint of pinkish-violet as the second level skill zipped towards the target. Personally, she'd been aiming for a shoulder or one of the black wings... would have been satisfied with either if she'd bother to stick around and watch.

But for now; it was time to put her plan into action and get to the bamboo.


((HP: 336/535
SP: 179/227
Poisoned, Speed Charm wears off next post ))

As she came soaring towards the little girl – if one could really call being barely above your normal height soaring, but hey, the intimidation wings brought was awesome anyway – Lyra could plainly see that her spell must have taken effect. Sekai's whole appearance seemed to have changed into a somewhat sickly one, and she didn't seem to be trying to escape...

But over the next few seconds, in that nasty way they tended to, things started to fall apart and turn the tables back against the fox.

The first of these things happened too closely in conjunction with Sekai's next move for Lyra to even know what had happened at first, but the moment it all came together, she was filled with dread. Her Ap Vorma failed suddenly, its time coming to an end, and Sekai slapped her with a Rai Kruz before she could react. Last time, the lightning attack had only found just over 100 of the vixen's HP; this time it robbed her of nearly 200. The difference caused her heart to skip a beat, even as she slid to a stop within a few feet of Sekai. 'That's the only thing that saved my ass earlier. If she's got another one of those level three spells around...' She gulped, feeling afraid for perhaps the first time this tournament, and preparing to hightail it back out of there.

Luck of all kinds clearly loved her, as suddenly part of her HP reappeared. She was a little safer...

And in her distraction, her prey had escaped. “Damn't!” she screeched, instantly trying to chase after the Archer... 'But wait! This gives you time to fall back and heal!' Common sense kicked in almost like a different voice altogether, as uncommon as it was in Lyra's skull. On one hand, she'd finally caught up to Sekai, and this was her chance to pin her opponent and finish her off! She was an Archer, after all, so keeping her at close range kept her from attacking with physical attacks. 'Not that that matters too terribly, since it's her magic that's dangerous to me...'

The decision was made for her when another of her spells finished it's course: Ap Do ran out and Sekai's rapid sprint away from her seemed all the more rapid. Even if she could ignore the rest of her skills' demises, without Ap Do the fox, and the entire battle, would literally be going nowhere fast. It was time to retreat, reset her priorities, and fix her problems.

And of course, risk within that time that Sekai could heal herself or plan a sneak attack or most anything. All Lyra could really do was hope that she was about to have the same problem, and if nothing else, they'd be on even grounds for a bit.

She ducked back towards the reeds, crouching within the shadows and taking a second to gain her composure. The question of where her opponent was crossed her mind repeatedly, but each time she squashed it, reassuring herself that her hiding place was good enough for that moment, and that simply choosing a course of action was a far, far more important task than actually killing her opponent right now.

“Ap Do,” she whispered, getting that much out of the way – she was fast again, hopefully faster than Sekai, because Time equipment was awfully rare, wasn't it? 'If I can catch up to her, I need to be able to fight her... I could heal, but it wouldn't use the full 400 that my spell provides... and I need SP to do that to begin with...'

So she restored her SP and went back to lurking along the edges of the grove, hunting once more. Unlike her other moves, Rig Saem had a while yet to live, so she'd rely on it to finish healing her until she got attacked once more. Right now, she needed to find Sekai and use every point of her SP to tear her down and win this, before the girl could light off another impressive spell.

--------
SP: 122/122
HP: 353/630
Speed increased, Earth Element decreased, HP Regeneration Active

[I and Sekai both were without internet from the evening of the 31st until late on the 8th. By my calculations, I got one late point off of this whole ordeal. And no, I didn't edit.]

Lyra wins by default.