A lightning bolt streaked across the sky in 'The World'. Upon a field somewhere in the Theta Server, a revamping sparked to life. The field began deteriorating away, the chaos portals disappearing, the Grunty food repeating their names over and over before being disintegrated into nothingness. After seconds, the whole field was blank. All it was, was just white space. But, amongst the snowy background, a speck of black appeared with three rings of gold encircling him. Brandishing two Blademaster swords of his design, he walked.

He walked on the nothingness that the duel official created for him. Covered in a dark blue battlesuit, the hacked player pondered. Asgard wondered. He was given the liberty to choose the battlefield for his battle, even though he absolutely dwarfed his opponent level-wise.

But as he has heard before, the ones who are overlooked tend to surprise.

The white around him began to shift. Little by little, the backgrounds were changing. Changing to his design. He closed his eyes and thought.

The mental image of his opponent, Lyra, shifted into his mind. It was a good time to plan. She was a Level 18 Heavy Blade. He would have to try a magic based plan. Asgard knew first hand, because he used to be a Heavy Blade before his 'change'. He'd have to either play keep away, or try and stand up to the gigantic blade that HB's were notorious for. In his opinion, a little from column A and a little from column B would be a good way to fight the battle.

His thought was interrupted as a crash of thunder sounded not far away from him. However he was safe. He stood now atop a tower which, from the ground, seemed to reach to the heavens. A gigantic lightning rod which seemed to skewer the tower, rose from the middle of the cylindrical tower. However, the roof was flat and separated from the lightning rod: A perfect place for a fight. The weather around him was absolute chaos, as the lighning flashed in the sky, the rain fell like falling pebbles, and the clouds fashioned their darkest grey.

Now all that was left was to send the party invite.

=============================================

Dearest Lyra,

Your battle is ready. Please enter the battlefield at Θ Sinking Talisman's Paradise. I will be waiting. Keep your wits amongst yourself and expect no mercy. Tell your friends too. I expect an audience of some sorts.

Sincerely,

Asgard

=============================================

A snicker crossed the Dualist's face.

Flashmail sent

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OOC: If people want to spectate, they can. But you can't interfere. There will be a cordoned off section of the tower for spectators.

The familiar beeping of a FlashMail roused a HeavyBlade from the slight doze she was in, having slipped out of consciousness as she stroked her Grunty. Her eyes opened with some effort, and she shifted her shoulders to rid the cramp gained from resting against her large sword. A few simple motions brought the letter into view before her, in the form of elaborate floating script bearing an invitation.

It was the last line that made Lyra's jade eyes narrow, an irritated spark coming into them. Overconfidence in the form of taunting your opponent was one thing, an act she participated in readily. But overconfidence in the form of expecting an audience to witness your battle was something entirely separate, something that made the fox's throat tighten so that she snarled in disgust. The Grunty Mokona was frightened away by her "mommy's" sudden change in temperament, and she scampered away, squeaking out a call of, "good luck," for she knew of her master's activities.

As she stood and marched off for the Chaos Gate, Lyra's tail began twitching in anticipation. It'd been quite some time since she'd had a real fight… The tournament had been an enormous disappointment for her, as one after another of her opponents had failed to show up. Only Kiwi, her rival and partner, had actually dueled her thus far, and what a duel it had been… She longed for another match like this, or like those against Gojira and Rayo. Something that would honestly challenge her, get her blood flowing, no matter if it meant a tally in the losing column or the winning. She knew nothing of her opponent Asgard, aside from his level, more than double hers, and that he belonged to the Avantgarden der Dämmerung, or Vanguard's of Twilight, The World's self-proclaimed upper class. Both of these facts labeled him as an actual challenge, something she could actually sink her teeth into… But would she be fortunate enough that these weren't just labels?

The golden glow of Dun Loireag's Chaos Gate, distorted slightly by the root town's ever-present wind, seemed to call to her, accompanied by the melodic whoosh that the spinning portal emitted. She stepped carefully into the bronze ring surrounding the Gate, raising one hand toward the axis, and with the other, gripping her Green Sword's hilt tighter, the crossbar resting instinctively on her bicep. She had to be careful… He'd reached the field before her, and was likely lying in wait to strike her the moment she materialized. Her hand returned to her forehead, checking the position of her Time Headband, before pointing back to the Gate once more, drawing in a sharp breath. Her spells were mostly Rue, but her physical attacks were another matter… But using Dek Ganz on her opponent would leave her without Repth due to the difficulty of changing leg armor in relation to hand and head armor. She was thankful that she didn't have separate body armors to choose from as well, or she'd be another hour reaching the field… For now, she'd just chosen mostly her strongest armor to face the double-wielding Blademaster, a class designation to her no different than saying Twin Blade on growth hormones.

Finally she called out the field's name, feeling a jolt in both the system and her own chest as the words seemed to echo through the game. The rings felt to be almost in slow motion as they surrounded her and rose one by one over her head, and she at first considered it to be only the high level of adrenaline in her blood stream.

As the transportation ended and her feet tapped against the shingles though, this assumption was immediately proved false. Her spine arched and her fur stood on end as her mind screamed over and over, hacker, hacker! She snarled and spat out her Ap Do before she could even locate Asgard, as her ears, and then her eyes, darted to the lightning rod, then to the giant Green Sword slung over her shoulder. She was on top of a gigantic tower… a freaking tower! He'd had to have modified the field somehow, and the connection between that and the double wielding came into play instantly, making her sure her initial mental accusation was correct. This close to lightning was no place for her to be running around with a six-foot blade, and the moment Asgard caught her eye, her sword was up and its razor sharp tip was pointed for the shingles, where a moment later it landed, accompanied by a jump from the fox, together forming enough power to splinter the roof. She growled as she inhaled again, now frantic, and then half howled, half screamed in a hurried rage, as she drove the blade back down, and followed it almost involuntarily through the newly formed hole in the roof.

She landed with slight difficulty below, and immediately felt the floor shift beneath her. It was nothing near as steady as the roof had been, meaning both it'd be easier to break through, but that one bad move might cause her to break through it on accident. Still growling, Lyra glanced around, her pupils now expanded in the darkness of the tower until her eyes appeared as black as her fur. She could hear the thunder outside, and Asgard's footsteps above her… She found the stairs and backed up to the wall, where she could easily race either down or away from them at a moments notice.

"Why do I have a feeling I'm up against another lightning otaku…"

********
SP: 81/95

Asgard wasn't surprised at Lyra's first move. Swinging a gigantic, metal lightning rod of a sword during a storm wouldn't be a prime tactic to adopt. Thusly, going down through the tower seemed to be a nice stopper to the storm problem. The dualist calmly strode over to the hole, looking down into the black of the shadows below. A bolt of lightning struck the tower and illuminated the small crevase underneath slightly. Yet, there was no sign of his opponent. He got down on all fours, sliding his blades into his hip sheaths, all the time peering into the dark unknown beneath him. Mockingly, he cupped his hands in front of his mouth.

"Hello! Anyone down there?" he said mockingly. He hadn't had this much fun ever in his world life. "If you don't answer me I am going to come down and get you!" Lightning again. This time, it struck far away, but with deafening noise. The conditions in this field were extreme, but he felt they were just. This tower was nothing compared to the hell he had seen on Yamiya. Hearing no reply from his opponent, he started wailing again. "Come on! I haven't got all day!" He waited again, but nothing but the crackle of thunder echoed in his ears.

Asgard got back to his feet, brushing dust off of his navy blue/black bodysuit. His leather hip sheaths dangled slightly from his body, clicking against each other as Asgard straightened out. Even if this was starting to turn boring, there was still potential for a good fight. But there had to be a spark. A spark of battle. Lyra was obviously on the run from him.

She must be hiding down there. The heavy blade had a perfect oppurtunity to surprise me when I looked down to see if she was there, he thought. I guess that it is time that I showed her the real way to fight...

Asgard stuck his sword in between his arm and his body, holding it so that he could have a hand free. He stuck his free hand down into one of his side pockets. The lightning flashed in the background, striking a tree and prompty setting it alight. Such was the power that Asgard was going to bring down in this duel. Bringing his hand out from his pocket, he procured a lengthy piece of paper. Written upon the parchment were archaic symbols, illegible in text, but an aura of mysteriousness still clouded it. Asgard let the parchment drop to the floor, the scroll strangely floating slowly downward in the storm. Lightning and thunder again were background events, almost terrorizing the field. The paper stopped still on the ground. Grabbing his sword back from his under arm, he struck the point down upon the paper.

"Ap Do!"

The speed charm exploded into a shower of sparks, all exiting outward, ascending to the sky. However, they stopped far short, surrounding the Dualist. But, like a drain collecting water, the power of the speed charm flew dead on into Asgard, encasing his body in a colorless aura of agility. Ap Do, his savior in countless battles, made him feel light all over. He could see a lightning bolt in the distance strike down upon the ground, but it felt much more punishing, as the bolt of energy, in his eyes, did not dissipate in the split second instant it used to.

"The storm above rages, and the creatures down below feel the suffering of that rage. Child, prepare to lose," he quietly stated.

Jumping back from the hole with a backflip, Asgard grasped his lightning sword and his shadow blade tightly. With cat like speed, he saulted straight forward, descending into the hole. As his feet touched the ground, he sprinted down and to the side. He still needed for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. A side effect yes, but an unavoidable one. Asgard could hear the rumbling of the storm through the walls. The squall sounded as intense inside as it was outside. Amazing.

His eyes now quaint with the darkness, he crouched into a tiptoe stance, slowly making his way around the darkened room, with one sword grasped firmly low and the other sword grasped firmly high.

The hunt was on...

Her feet slid silently across the wooden floor, consciously working not to lift her feet up so that the boards couldn't creak. Her movement coincided carefully with each crash of thunder, the lightning flashing just frequently enough to prevent her eyes from thoroughly adjusting to the darkness of the room. She heard and felt the vibration as Asgard landed on her floor, and Lyra crouched lower, her sword held carefully over her shoulder. The tip of her blade hovered carefully an inch from the center support of the tower as she inched away from the staircase, counting each step mentally, waiting for another sign of her opponents silhouetted form through the darkness.

There, a noise, too suspiciously timed to be weather induced. Her eyes and ears locked on and she raced toward the BladeMaster, focusing instantly and swinging in an arc over her head, from behind her right shoulder to reach Asgard's skull. He would likely move to avoid being struck through the head by her attack, in which case he'd find his shoulder sliced instead, or if he blocked with his sword… she'd have to move before the other one could take aim. No matter what she had to move, and this fact came rushing into her mind only as she swung, so she followed through, carrying the sword's momentum into a horizontal movement back around to her right, and she followed it far enough away to be out of his range.

The lightning flashed and she dropped low and to the side afterwards, crouched on her haunches, one hand on the hilt of the Green Sword to balance the 5' long blade's weight, the other hand spread on the floor as a third leg so that she could reposition her feet to leap up from the squat. Her balance now formed, Lyra raised her left hand up off the boards again and held it out toward where she'd just leapt from, casting Rue Rom with a low snarl as the thunder from the flash rolled through the building, the blue glow faintly visable through the dark as the ice and water swirled around where she'd last seen Asgard. She lowered her head, her left hand gripping the hilt an inch below her right, holding the blade parallel to the ground carefully to keep herself as low as possible.

Her tail twitched, and she took a slow, deep breath as the humid air from the Rue Rom reached her nose, irritation at the lightning without rain setting in. Her next thought though, was of the fact that this meant the only scent of water for the rest of the match would be her opponent... she smirked slightly. The pupils of her eyes opened slowly, refocusing in the darkness as she tensed up her legs, ready to leap. Her eyes were designed to focus quickly, to work best in darkness, but this wasn't her starlit wastelands, but a much different, more complete black, almost blinding her as she waited for the next sign of movement… It had her on the edge.

*********
SP: 73/95

Asgard plodded slowly along the rough, wood flooring, the storm still raging like the apocalypse outdoors. With his swords at the ready and the magical adrenaline in his system, known to players as Ap Do, the Dualist was waiting for anything. All he needed was a sign of movement, as even the abyss of the circular room was even making him wonder where she was.

Don’t waste time, the dark sword Awaikage spoke to him, we have much more pressing matters to deal with. Not some pointless battle. Ultima agreed. Asgard didn’t want to deal with this. For his sacrifice, he had to deal with two backseat drivers, both as annoying as parents who will NEVER leave you alone.

Listen, mortal, the lightning sword Ultima began to debate in Asgard’s mind, promptly backing up its counterpart, we are far more than just children on horseback. We provide you with your power. You are nothing without us. Asgard took offense.

Quiet, Asgard thought in his mind, if you do not cooperate with me, your goals will never be achieved. I am seriously considering throwing you both into the Mac Anu River after this duel ends. I don’t need to be your personal taxi around this plane of existence. In unison, the voices in his head died down and the thunder of the storm took their places, ravaging the field on the outside. The Dualist had to stop wondering about the outside of the arena. He had to concentrate on the duel.

That is when he could hear a multitude of footsteps. Footsteps coming straight at him like a herd of rampaging wildebeest were on a collision course with his midsection.

Speak of the Devil, he noted.

Asgard turned in the direction of the noisy footsteps to see Lyra, charging at him with a katana as green as the purest pine. The fox was moving as fast a cheetah, most likely the benedictions of Ap Do. Lyra was attacking upon him faster than he could prepare both of his defense parameters, but could only raise the sharp left side of Ultima flat across the side of his left arm, slivers of seconds in time to block.

The heavy sword and the Blademaster weapon met mere feet before Asgard’s left arm. The left edge of the sword clashed with Lyra’s Green Sword, defending him. He could feel sparks ejecting between the two grinding blades and dancing around on his bodysuit, their momentary lights illuminating the battle slightly. The pressure from her body, projected from her sword, was almost unbearable. But Asgard couldn’t fall to such a straightforward, yet powerful attack.

However, the time to strike, or repel, was now. Asgard’s legs were starting to buckle and bend down under the pressure. Clutching Awaikage in an iron grip, he brought his right armed sword up and over the blade of Ultima, making an X pattern with both of the blades. But even with the two swords holding the sword back, he was still trying to hold an inevitable doom away.

But doom never came.

As he held his ground, she shoved her sword down one last time and took off back into the shadows. “Not so fast,” he said to no one in particular but himself. Putting Ultima back in its back sheath and preparing himself for the best, he took off like a sportscar on nitro down the Heavy Blade’s path.

I can’t remember having such difficulty wielding my weapons, he began thinking again. Why am I so weak today? If I didn’t get Ultima up in time, then that could have seriously been a crushing hit… The fighter carried onwards, parading forward at Ap Do speeds, Awaikage’s pointed tip facing the floor. Asgard heard a growl bellow from his left. He slid and turned to the direction of the snarl, his sword in front of him precautiously. She must have been too fast, as she was now over near his left, far far away.

What the… Before he could notice, a ring of cyan fury surrounded him, as blue shards of pain erupted from the ground and icy crystals appeared out of nowhere and began swirling around in a tornado pattern. Asgard could feel the miniscule clips of ice cut at his suit and at his skin, trickles of blood appearing over the cuts. Even though his health overall would be fine, he could still feel every shard slice thinly against his skin and muscle: One of the major disadvantages of being a comatose vegetable in the real world and an entity trapped in “The World”.

He could barely see now, still holding his dark sword in front of him. Got to…concentrate, he thought, trying to block out the pain as best he could, Even though this…doesn’t do a lot of damage…It still hurts. God it hurts. Pointing the Awaikage forward, where he last saw the faint outline of Lyra, he grasped the sword with both hands, squinted his eyes, trying to aim for the Heavy Blade…

…And prayed.

“Suvi Lei!”

=====================================================

SP: Dualist has same SP as Twin Blades.

=15+(5*level)
=15+(5*40)
=15+200
=215

SP: 195/215

She spun to charge back at Asgard again, using the darkness and both their increased speed to her advantage, wanting to attack him again almost instantly. The circular form of the tower, and thus the room they were in, meant she could run in any direction and reach him still. Her ultimate goal was to knock him through a wall, sending him plummeting, but this would likely take time, and it would likely be less dangerous to her own well being to attempt simply killing him within the room. After all, gravity was a much less discriminating fighter than any human opponent.

The blue glow of her Rue Rom rose and fell around Asgard's form, a radius away, as Lyra repositioned her feet and readied herself for the new advance. A swift blow from right to left this time, coming in low, maybe digging in beneath the ribs and leaving again before he could swing back. Something fast; this would be more or less a game of slappers until one of their Ap Do spells wore off and left them at a disadvantage.

She shoved off…Step, step, st-

"Suvi Lei!"

An orange-ish glow fell over her, stopping her mid-stride and disallowing her from any more movement aside from breathing, though somehow her heart and stomach managed to fall about a foot lower than their normal locations. Lyra's eyes tried to open wider in alarm, the rest of her struggling against invisible binds as she whimpered in horror. She'd been paralyzed at possibly the worst moment, right as her arms locked in preparation of swinging, right as she was most off balance. All she could do now was hope the spell wore off quickly enough Asgard couldn't get very many strong hits on her, or else she'd be doomed.

**********
SP: 75/95

(OOC: You guys still doing this?)