Your match starts now.

“When you walk away
You don't hear me say
Please, oh baby, don't go
Simple and clean is the way that you're making me feel tonight
It's hard to let it go”

The song began, again... The song that Slicer had been listening to for the past half-hour. Sitting under the bridge, near the Weapons Shop within Mac Anu, Slicer had been listening to the song. This was the seventh time that it was playing.

“You're giving me too many things lately
You're all I need
You smiled at me and said,”

The player sighed slightly, as he opened his deep blue eyes. Why couldn’t my real life be more like a game? Why can’t it be filled with love, magic, and everything in between...

“Don't get me wrong I love you
But does that mean I have to meet your father?
When we are older you'll understand
What I meant when I said,
‘No, I don't think life is quite that simple.’”

The player underneath the bridge was Aqua Blade Slicer, member of the Swordbreakers, and a semifinalist of the Swordbreakers intraclan dueling. There were two reason why he had been staying under the bridge. 1. He was calming him mind for his next duel. The duel against a former ally. A duel against FireX. The other reason? He didn’t want his opponent to get the jump on him, literally. FireX was a Twin Blade. A character class with amazing speed and some powerful magic attack stats. It would most definitely be a tough match, even with a two level difference.

“When you walk away
You don't hear me say
Please, oh baby, don't go
Simple and clean is the way that you're making me feel tonight
It's hard to let it go”

FireX... I wonder... Slicer began thinking back to their quest together. They had traveled to a fire field, but for some reason, the monsters there used various water based spells. There were even Snip Snaps. After getting to the bottom of the dungeon, though, they found out it was a hacker who caused all that trouble. They fought him away, but they never did figure out what he was doing there. Heck, Frame, as Slicer now knew him as, had came to Slicer’s quests. He had PKed Slicer once. Slicer didn’t talk to the people at CC Corp. about it because he knew they had a tough enough problem with PKers and hackers already, and Slicer would just have to figure out something on his own.

“(So simple and clean...)

The daily things
(Like this and that and what is what.)
That keep us all busy
Are confusing me
That's when you came to me and said,

Wish I could prove I love you
But does that mean I have to walk on water?
When we are older you'll understand
It's enough when I say so
And maybe, some things are that simple”

Slicer moved himself out of his comfortable spot. He crawled out from under the bridge and stretched himself. The sun was shining brightly in the sky, but that was to be expected. After all, this was Mac Anu, which should have been renamed Sunshine City, Mac Anu.

“When you walk away
You don't hear me say
Please, oh baby, don't go
Simple and clean is the way that you're making me feel tonight
It's hard to let it go”

Slicer started walking away from his spot, onto the bridge. It was crowded, as always. After all, this was the most popular MMORPG they had out. Yawning and stretching himself, he looked around at the groups of people here, there, everywhere. They all minded their own business, not bothering anyone else, and if they were, everyone could tell that it was a newbie.

“Hold me
Whatever lies beyond this morning
Is a little later on
Regardless of warnings the future doesn't scare me at all
Nothing's like before”

After getting across the bridge, Slicer walked a small ways to the Chaos Gate. It would have looked odd to any newbie, but Slicer had seen this structure countless times already. He could probably draw it in his sleep, even with his crappy drawing abilities. It looked like it was a circular and transparent blue piece of glass surrounded by a ring of gold. It was an odd structure to be sure. Slicer had never figured out why they made it look like this.

“When you walk away
You don't hear me say
Please, oh baby, don't go
Simple and clean is the way that you're making me feel tonight
It's hard to let it go

Hold me
Whatever lies beyond this morning
Is a little later on
Regardless of warnings the future doesn't scare me at all
Nothing's like before”

Slicer began checking his equipment and such, to see if he was truly prepared for the test he was about to face. A test in the form of FireX.

His Nomad’s Hood was attached to his default black jacket through some mysterious sowing technique. There wasn’t any line in-between the two, but when the Nomad’s Hood was unequipped, the physical appearance disappeared without leaving a mark. If Slicer needed to throw his jacket away, for whatever reason, the Nomad’s Hood disappeared, but the stats and spells offered by it still stayed.

A Brigandine was covered up by Slicer’s jacket. The armor had been placed there for various reasons. 1. To keep opponents from damaging him there. 2. There was none. Frankly, he only needed the armor there for protection and nothing more. He didn’t need for it to seem cool. It was just the simple matter of survival of the fittest.

Leather Gloves covered both hands over Slicer. Why he still had these relics were a mystery even to himself. They provided scarcely any protection in any way, except for rope burns, which Slicer had gotten at the Back to School Event. He still hadn’t gotten a notice saying if he had won anything, so he probably wouldn’t be able to use it here, even if he did get anything, which he seriously doubted. I failed three of the six events...

Covering his feet, Jungle Boots were found. They were an odd mix of brown and green, forming the color of a dense jungle. They covered up some of Slicer’s blue jeans, but the jeans were there just for looks. The boots were, unlike the Leather Gloves, useful. They had decent protection and was his best armor, stat wise.

The weapon of choice for Slicer was his Magnifier. He had gotten it in The Figment Raider’s Recruitment Part 2. Nobody else needed the weapon, so Slicer took it. It was a mighty weapon, compared to his old Slayer sword. The Slayer only had one thing that the Magnifier couldn’t match up to. The Death Effect. The ability to incapacitate an enemy with a single blow, but the Magnifier also had an effect. Skill Drain. It wouldn’t have seemed useful to some of the other classes, but for Slicer, it was almost dire. Heavy Blades got some of the lowest SP in the game, so the ability to suck it from opponents and keep it as your own helped you out alot if you used Skills quite a bit. The Magnifier was an SP drainer, though. It had a spell and a skill. Ap Vakz and Vak Drive. Almost every single person would use Ap Vakz and then Vak Drive in a combo, draining 40SP! Slicer only had 50 max SP, so this took 80% of his available SP. Yet, if the attack hit, it was a surefire way to take a bit chunk of HP out of the opponent.

“Hold me
Whatever lies beyond this morning
Is a little later on
Regardless of warnings the future doesn’t scare me at all
Nothing’s like before”

Slicer moved up to the Chaos Gate as soon as he finished his final inspection. “Delta: Cursed Hopeless Fertile Land.” Slicer said. He didn’t shout. He wanted to act cool, calm, and collected going into this duel, even if he was scared silly. He didn’t have a reason; he just was. Three golden rings circled around Slicer, scanning him, and sending him to the field.

As he was reassembled from the bits of data that he was transformed into, Slicer looked around the field, scanning it for his opponent and, hopefully, something that would help him in this duel.

The field was a darkness field, but it looked a bit like an earth element field. The ground seemed to be dry, even though rain was falling onto the ground. Dead trees littered the field. Perhaps an ill omen? There wasn’t anything special about this field.

Al, in the Real World, turned off the music. He wanted silence to help him concentrate in this duel. As the music turned off, the only sound was raindrops and the background music...

SP: 50/50

(OOC: I'll return your Leather Armor very soon... start working on your post :) )

Sitting atop the highest roof-top in the entire town of Mac-Anu, I stared out into the open, just looking at nothing in particular. I had just logged in, and had hopped directly to my vantage point. And quite usually, my trickster zone. I loved to get the element of surprise into the match, and actually, I had an idea to get my old pal, Slicer, of whom I was to duel in a short while, into a bit of a 'fear-factor' mode. Get the jump on someone once, and they really won't be comfortable when you are hostile and have disappeared from sight.

A flash of steel caught my eye as a lone player slowly walked from his spot under a bridge.

Slicer, holding a new weapon, was making his way to the Chaos Gate, floating as an artifact that has probably been used more in this game then the many trips that ever person in the world has to do to commute from home to work and back. He input his keywords and disappeared with the flash of many golden rings embedded with digitized runic enscryptions.

I jumped down from the high roof-tops to the ground below, landing in a low cat-stance. Ejecting my blades from my belt, I quickly flipped them around into their katar forms as I dashed for the Chaos Gate, its golden ring magnificent and its blue tinted liquid form mysterious.

"Delta: Cursed Hopeless Fertile Land!" I quickly muttered under my breath as I dove into the portal, disappearing as the golden rings spawned from the Chaos Gate appeared and took me away, as if I was gone with the wind. I could be almost sure that some newbies were staring with their jaws dropping to the digital floor that they stood upon.

The so called 'high' feeling of being whisked away by the portals lasted for only a few moments, as I popped out into a darkness elemental field still in mid dive.

My head was driven straight into the semi-dry surface of the field.

Pulling it out, the rainfall quickly washed away the sandy earthen soil from my face.

Taking a quick inventory over my equipment, I found that only one thing was up to date amongst them.

My nomad's hood, which was overly worn but always seemed to come out looking brand new when I log off and back in, was my source of healing power, giving me the ability to cast 'Repth'.

"After this duel, I gotta get better equipment..." I thought, "Otherwise, the next quest I do that is little more than two levels above me will get me obliderated within the first 10 seconds of my digitized existence on that field!"

Quickly looking at a reference window that was running the newest version of Netscape, I found a few weapons and pieces of armor that would be my preference for the destrution of my foe's lives, or quite simply, the preservation of my own.

"He who cannot get hit cannot lose," I quickly said to myself, starting to think up of strategies as I absent-mindedly wandered across the dark landscape, dead trees in greater profusion than even the dead forests of some games... Of course, I was standing in a gigantic world of a field, not simply some small patch of forest. Actually, I betted that I could use my superior speed and agility against Slicer within the tops of some of the still standing trees.

Finally, I saw out in the distance the same figure I had seen walking away from the old bridge that spanned the only river in Mac Anu. Slicer stood waiting like a wall.

"Heh, let's see if I can jump him..."

I was still amongst the many dead trees, and Slicer had his head turned away. His black jacket made him nearly invisible in the dark and dreary weather. The only way I would have noticed him was because of the way the light just hit the hilt of his sword, and also because of his pants, for some odd reason.

Pulling my dark clothing even closer to me, I even pulled up the black ninja-like clothe that lay hidden as part of the sash that I wore as a belt. It was quite rain-resistant and didn't limit any of my movement, its looseness a great plus in this type of weather. Not only that, but its fluttering as I moved would create a sort of a mirage, or illusion, that could possibly help me in my tourny quest to annihilate Slicer. Well, not brutally annihilate, but more of a kind, honest, and caring oblideration that would secure a spot for me in the finals for the Swordbreaker's tourny...

"What did I just say to myself?" I wondered as I continued to dash from tree to tree to ensure that Slicer wouldn't see me until I came up from behind and cut a bit of his jacket with my katars, which were already secured in my fists.

Finally, no more than about 5 feet away from my adversary, I leapt, and dearly hoped that Slicer wasn't simply faking it.

80/80 SP

Slicer walked around the field slightly, while waiting for his opponent. Cursed Hopeless Furtile Land... sounds like this field... Slicer thought, as he walked across the ground. The field went on for miles on end. Slicer knew that fields went on for a continuous circle, never ending, just like the earth.

As he walked around, the rain slowly got to him. Al had loved the rain, even though he got a cold when he was out in it too long. He loved the cool refreshing breath of water. It soaked into his cloths and somehow gave him a feeling of freedom, and here, in "The World," that feeling came true. He could walk forever and no one could tell him to stop.

The problem was that he couldn't have anything interfering with his duel. He would have to be in tip top condition to defeat his next opponent. Sighing, Slicer put the Nomad's Hood up, so the water stopped getting into his eyes and hair, even though his hair now was nothing but strips of wet noodles.

After a while of walking, he heard a sound in the distance. It sounded to him like the sound a Chaos Gate made after finishing a transportation. That's probably just the wind... but I should be on guard, just incase it wasn't. Slicer strained his ears, listening to anything he could hear. Suddenly, he heard a sound different from the droning of the rain. It sounded like footsteps. Slicer stopped for a split second to see if they were his own. They weren't.

My opponent's here... Slicer began wondering if he was the only person in "The World" who didn't do sneak attacks on his opponents. He had always done direct confrontations, and never done a sneak attack in the game.

Slicer stopped, standing by some of the trees. He listened to his opponent as he came closer. Slicer gripped his weapon harder using his left hand, which was hard to do under the constant beating of the rain that came down from the heavens, but his Leather Gloves did their job. His Jungle Boots began to sink into the soft earth, moisturized by the rainfall.

He heard the footsteps become louder and coming faster. Trying to time the move as best he could, Slicer closed his eyes and tried to block out the sound of rain. The sound of the footsteps wasn't in a perfect rhythm. Sometimes rising and falling, but that would be enough. Suddenly, the sound of a footstep stopped. FireX had been extremely close during that time from the sound of the footsteps. Slicer quickly used his right hand, and pushed against the tree, causing his body to move away. Then, he moved his right hand over to his left and turned three hundred and sixty degrees. While he was still spinning, he noticed that FireX was still in the air, giving him no way to dodge the next attack. As he spun, Slicer moved his sword above his chest, aiming straight for FireX, hoping to kill the ninja in one attack and end the duel.

SP: 50/50

(OOC: Yeah... My posts crap :P
Here's my current equipment and such: Weapon: Magnifier(equipped), Slayer | Armor: Nomad's Hood, Leather Gloves, Brigandine, and Jungle Boots | Items: Health Drinksx2, Resurrectx2, Antidotex4, Fortune Wirex14, Fire Tempestx3, Meteor Swarmsx3)

(OOC: O crap o crap o crap... I should have done this earlier...)

I was flying in the air, twisting so that I would be able to hit with maximum force. I no longer needed an invitational strike... Slicer had already seemed to know I was there, what with him having spun out of the way of my initial strike, in turn, creating his own counterattack. His blade, a Magnifier, could drain my SP, and I couldn't allow that at all... My spells were what combined with my skills to create my ultimate combination attacks. Not only that... But even one hit with his weapon would do great damage, what with my nearly 'ancient' armor by game standards.

As I spun around the second time, I saw his blade being positioned right under me, moving as I moved. Slicer didn't seem to want to let the battle drag on for more than a few seconds... If he stabbed me straight on, it would be lights out and I wouldn't be able to make it to the finals.

Flashback:
"Hey! Think fast!" I listened to a voice behind me as I spun around, seeing a baseball heading straight for me, getting bigger and bigger as the moments passed. The only thing I could have been able to do was to block it. Only, it was too late... The ball ended up smacking my in the head, knocking me into the cold ground. All around me were mixtures of emotions, going from giddy, to sympathy, to anger, and back. It was all just a maelstorm of memories now, however...
End Flashback

Shifting my weight and curling up backwards, making a 'U' shape with my body, I quietly, buy very swiftly, mumbled a few words. It probably would have been quite a surprise to my opponent, Slicer, when all of a suddenly a huge burst of wind came from nowhere and leaves started to slice across the landscape. It was a Juk Rom spell, and I had cast it with good reason. The wind pushed me back out of my current position, nearly throwing me away from Slicer. I even hoped that it had hit him, but it wasn't likely... I had aimed the wind funnel on myself, probably meaning it was just floating harmlessly above Slicer's head. But, one could never be sure...

I was formulating random plans in my head at the very moment, and each of them seemed to have to travel in funnels that represented the parameters of the battle. Grains of metal made it through all the plastic funnels, but never made it past the magnetic one that seemed to represent Slicer's magnifier. Pure sand seemed to make it through everything, but were too small for gravity to pull it through a really wide and shallow funnel. Only one plan made it through them, and it was just waiting in the back of my mind, waiting to initiate so that on my next go around, I would be on the offensive and Slicer would be helplessly dangling from wherever I get him...

Now, just to get the battle started a bit more officially.

Spinning around I said, cheerful and bouncy, "Well! That certainly was an invigorating hello!"

A great smile went from ear to ear on my character's face as I awaited a response in words, or in the shape of really sharp metal somehow finding its way through my face and out the back of my head...

70/80 SP

Unbelievable... The duels going to end a couple minutes after it started. FireX can’t seriously make it this easy, can he? Slicer wondered as his weapon was headed towards FireX. Slicer watched as his Magnifier headed for the Twinblade. He began wondering if maybe there was a lag or something on FireX’s end of the connection. That would make sense. Maybe there’s a lag and FireX has thought of a counter, yet couldn’t make it work because of the lag. It seemed a logical conclusion, but perhaps it was just FireX faking it. His second guess seemed right on the mark, as a tornado of leaves started to move a slight ways away from Slicer. It was still close enough to do some damage though... They quickly became a torrent of leaves. Each blade could cut through paper, easily. The problem, for FireX anyway, was that Slicer’s armor wasn’t made of paper. It was made from data that was suppose to represent metal.

Slicer moved the sword away from it’s intended opponent to help block some of the leaves from doing damage. The attack seemed to have been aimed between Slicer and FireX, so the damage from the spell was almost minimal. You can never be too careful... Slicer thought, as he blocked a couple of stray leaves, that only made a slight cut to appear on his soaking wet jacket. The tornado seemed to kick up some rain from the sky and some ground from the... ground. It seemed almost like a mix of Juk, Rue, and Gan Rom. Slicer was a bit tempted to throw in a Fire Tempest scroll, but resisted the urge. The attack created a small crater within the earth, before it disappeared.

Slicer watched the final moments of the tornado disappear before he looked over at his opponent, FireX. FireX didn’t seem to have been phased by the attack either. He quickly said, "Well! That certainly was an invigorating hello!"

Slicer pulled back his Nomad’s Hood, to reveal his face, which was quickly drenched by the rain. He smiled a bit, before replying. ”If you say so. Well, hope you don’t die too quickly.” Slicer made a big grin, before saying a few more words. ”Now that the introduction is finished, lets get this duel underway.” Slicer quickly removed the smile from his face, putting on his game face. This wasn’t the time for pleasantries. That could wait until after the duel...

Slicer grabbed his Magnifier in both hands, moving it infront of his body. He held it with the tip pointing at a forty-five degree angle. He watched his opponent for a while, before charging towards him, sword swung to his right shoulder, yelling as if he was in an anime.

There’s no way my attacks will hit. Frankly... it’s almost impossible for a Heavy Blade to hit a Twinblade. Well, when I do, I’ll just have to put as much force behind the attack as possible. Slicer wondered if this was the thinking of a genius or of a newbie.

As Slicer got close to his target, he finally swung down. He barely put any force behind the attack, because he didn’t want his weapon to get stuck in the mud underneath, but it was still enough force to knock out a chunk of HP if it hit. If...

SP: 50/50

”If you say so. Well, hope you don’t die too quickly.” I watched as slicer continued to speak, a grin spanning from ear to ear on his face. ”Now that the introduction is finished, lets get this duel underway." His face almost turned instantaneously into a serious frown, something that could be used to concentrate with.

He quickly secured his sword in a two handed grip, the blade of his magnifier somehow glinting in the nearly non-existent light on this forsaken field. He was charging me. His armor was dark, like the field, creating the sort of effect of a bright warrior clad in the dark robes of an acolyte to the dark. It was the combined effect of his shining sword and his ominous armor that created such a feeling. However, I found something odd about the way he was beggining the duel...

"He can't trully believe that is the way to open up a battle, can he?" I wondered. I could almost tell by the expression on his face that he knew that his strike wasn't going to hit, however, I knew that just as I had my book of dirty tricks, Slicer had his own, if slightly more unblemished, tome of tactics.

As he neared me, I finally saw he hadn't opened up his book yet, so I quickly flipped to a mental page and wrote out a new tactic, as I set it into motion. As he approached me, I saw him ready a swing. I swiftly dashed towards him, right into the incoming blade. Slightly tapping it with my left blade to create a resonating sound, I dug my foot into the mud as I receded into the darkness to the right of my opponent, kicking up dirt into his face, which I hoped would blind him for a short while as I drew up a cleaner offensive...

Dashing behind a tree, I knew that I would probably have to use either guerilla tactics to avoid a single hit from his blade, as the weapon had enough strength to drain at least half of my hit points in a single, maximum power blow, which I really wished to avoid. Then again, I could also get up close and personal and do all sorts of crazy tricks...

"Yeah, I could get in close enough to use speed against him, hopefully making him waste his energy while I just play in the mud..."

Dashing to the next bush to get slightly closer to my opponent before I charged, I hesitated as to the merits of my attack. However, this short period of time lasted no longer than a second, as a latin motto for the county of Fairfax came to mind.

"Oh well... Farae Fac." The voice coming from a small slit between my lips, I charged, and leapt into a low dive with my right leg slightly bent to cushion me if I were to fall short, and possibly increase the power of the dive at a closer range.

71/80

(OOC: Aw crap... I guess that's a .5 taken off my score, isn't it?)

(OOC: Actually, its 1 point...)

Slicer slowly neared his opponent. Droplets of cool water hit his face, rushing past him, flying out from behind his hair. His blue-green hair swung behind his head, slowly letting out it’s own water, only to be replaced by more from the heavy rainfall. His hands were snugly behind his Leather Gloves, but they were still going numb from the sting cold. His left arm was held over his chest while his right was just bent at a ninety degree angle, both holding the sword firmly by the handle of the metallic weapon. His black jacket slowly was tightened snugly around his body, giving him enough room for his heavy breathing. Cold wisps of air escaped from the lungs of the Heavy Blade, as his body took in all this pain just for one measly duel. His jeans had been completely soaked a while ago, already. The water trickled through the close to microscopic holes within his jeans. Mud had stained them terribly. The wet, brown, object of earth had seemed to take a real liking to his jeans, and attached themselves to his pants, covering up parts of it. If it had dried, then Slicer would have been a bit grateful, because it could keep out some rain, but it didn’t turn solid. It was stained his pants terribly, and the mud slowly moved down the jeans, right into his Jungle Boots. His feet felt weird, like they couldn’t be moved, yet he pushed on.

As Slicer moved towards FireX, the Twinblade moved forward, charging towards Slicer. As he got closer, Slicer swung and FireX moved his left weapon towards Slicer’s Magnifier, hitting it, and creating a hollow echo to resonate across the field. Suddenly, FireX moved towards Slicer’s right, sneaking under Slicer’s weapon. It would have been a perfect time for an attack, but FireX chose something alot more low. He kicked mud into Slicer’s eyes. Slicer saw the clot of mud coming at him. They smacked his eyes, covering up most of his vision. He quickly moved his hand over towards his eyes to clean out the mud. What the heck!? That was cheap! We’re suppose to be Noble throughout Eternity. Is this his way of Nobility!? Slicer thought, as he cleaned out the mud from his eyes with some help from the rain.

Suddenly, he heard footsteps coming from behind him. He turned around, to see FireX charging towards him, in a diving sort of move. Bad move... Slicer thought, as he did a quick leap, flipping backwards. His jump was just high enough to avoid the attack. As he turned around, he unequipped his Magnifier and pulled out the Slayer. ”Death...” Slicer began to say. As he was about to touch the ground, his head was facing the way where FireX had came. He moved the sword onto the ground, cutting through the wet earth, causing a large piece to be almost torn open, when in reality, it was only maybe a few inches into the ground. ”...BRINGER!” Slicer shouted, as the SP finally got released from Slicer. As soon as the word was said, he moved his body weight forward, hoping to bring his weapon crashing down upon his opponent and ending the duel.

SP: 41/50

"Oh crap..." I whispered to myself as the blade started to come down on my head. It was like in the old movie 'Spirited Away' where the river spirit made his low dash straight through to his hiding place, only... I was coming forth to meet a steel blade now mere inches from my neck. It was like a slow motion anime movie... and I was the one who was about to die.

Digging my leg into the soft earth, I pulled my body down as I was forced to crash down mere inches from the blade, currently positioned above me. Twisting my body, I flew dirt backwards as I spun straight towards slicer and curled into a ball so that I went right past him. I wouldn't allow him to get a chance to drag his sword out of the ground. It would be too much of a threat, as wet dirt and mud now covered my body. Wiping some of the mud from my face, I brought up my steel blades close to me, the metal reverbrating with my heart beat. A small trickle of sweat made its way from my forehead and to my chin as I conjured up a counterstrike to my foe.

My decision was quite distinctively bilateral, deciding either to continue to play cheap, or to get in face on, or try to. My last attempt at a face on attack was unsuccessful because I had never even considered the thought of such a skill being used. I actually almost considered myself a newbie for not knowing such basic skills...

I decided to go a third way instead, tossing out my two party system to vote for a sort of a nazi party. A long range extermination would work best at the moment. I would only be able to get in close while the odds were on my side, and currently, they were quite obviously not.

Calling forth a storm that violently started to whip around nearby my opponent, I let a windstorm loose that housed a million cutting leaves to slice my opponent with the simple utterance of, "Juk Rom," escaping my lips. Before I could let the spell release itself from its infancy, I brought about a past strategy. Death by fire was quite actually so pure, that I couldn't let go such a thing. Whispering "Vak Kruz," I started to run to a nearby tree, putting my back up against it as the gargantuan fire balls impacted with my Juk Rom spell, the intermixing creating a combination effect. Wood damage intermixing with fire damage to create a whirling storm of impending oblivion. Actually, the only thing I hoped it would do was to blind my opponent... As most people with common sense know how to put out a fire without being too far fazed. Of course, the key words 'too far' meant that he would be at the least partially fazed, hopefully. At that time, I would move in for my share of powered carnage...

52/80 SP

(OOC: Woah... I'm gonna lose a WHOLE point? I thought it was .5... 1337!!!)

(OOC: I’m going to lose anyway -_-)

Slicer watched as his weapon dropped towards the sprawling Twin Blade. He wondered what was going on in his mind, when he saw the Slayer coming at him. It whistled through the air. Wind and a speeding blade could do that. It seemed to cut straight through the rain. Drops of water that stood in the way were quickly cut in two as the weapon cut through the air. He wondered if it was possible to kill cells, or whatever it, was just by swinging his sword in the air like this. Well, if it’s possible, then I’ve become a mass murder...

Slicer saw FireX think of a counter. Sort of... Fire quickly pushed his leg into the ground behind him, quickly pushing his body weight onto his leg, sending his body to fly towards Slicer, yet going past him. The Slayer dug into the ground, before Slicer could stop it’s momentum from carrying it towards it’s doom in the mud.

While trying to pull out the Slayer, he felt a spell begin. A tornado of leaves began to form around him. Another something also began to form. Three fireballs began to form around Slicer, mixing with the fireballs. Juk Rom and Vak Kruz... Slicer thought, as the spells began to go towards him. As the Juk Rom carried the Vak Krus towards him, he bent his legs a bit. He then quickly leapt onto his Slayer, which was made easier without having a weapon equipped, and jumped out from the tornado. He breathed a sigh of relief, as he watched his Slayer being torn to pieces from the combined might of the two spells. He’s going to have to pay for that...

Slicer began looking around for his opponent. Seeing no one, he came up with the bright conclusion that his opponent was hiding. He pulled out his Magnifier again, before whispering a spell. ”Ap Vakz. Spirit energy began to emerge from Slicer in the forms of white orbs. They slowly escaped Slicer. They looked like fireflies. The power zoomed around Slicer body, almost like how a bug was attracted to light. Suddenly, the white orbs turned a different color, becoming red. The formed together, slowly molding together, forming a couple large red orbs. They began to move about, around Slicer, giving him his advanced fire protection. ”Come out come out, wherever you are...” Slicer whispered to himself, as he started surveying his surroundings.

SP: 33/50

(OOC: Almost at the last second but he makes the post!)

Fazed seemed to have been a most underestimate of my foe, as instead of getting at all knocked around, he had escaped at the cost of a damaged blade, his slayer. Slicer was in fact in a sort of a rage as I looked out from my position amongst decaying bushes and rotted trees.

He had even put up spell protection against fire!

"That's almost a way of creating a demeanor of defiance around him..." I thought, as I stealthily creeped around the dying brush until I was behind my opponent. He probably wouldn't even know what I was about to do.

Quite actually, even I didn't know what I was going to do.

Spinning my blades back and forth from katar to knife formation, I thought about what I could do to get Slicer into a weakened state. I needed an entire list of things to do whenever something doesn't go right or when it works correctly but in an odd fashion. Something that I lacked.

Finally, saying to myself, "To heck with it," I leapt out of the bushes and charged head long towards Slicer's broken slayer, the metallic forms shining with the reflective light of a nearly unexistent moon that shed its unholy brilliance upon this forsaken field.

Dashing ever faster towards the pieces, I was sure that my opponent heard me, but I kept on running, eventually scooping up the broken shards and throwing them towards my opponent, following up with one of my blades, and finally, I charged as well, creating three waves of attack that were hopefully too fast for my opponent to dodge.

The rain almost seemed to come down even harder as I continued on my mad dash towards my opponent, even my own vision being blinded as I crashed through many hundreds of rain drops nearly every moment, each of them taking more than an eon to pass.

Holding my remaining blade in front of me, in katar form, I pulled it back and readied for a punch that would cause the most unfortunate of piercing pain to my opponent's character, and take off a large chunk of his health...

53/80 SP

(OOC: I lost, gained, and then lost, momentum :))

”Come out come out, wherever you are...” Those words rang in Slicer’s ears, almost as much as the beating of the raindrops upon his skull. Both seemingly trying to force it’s way into Slicer’s brain, to control him, for whatever reason it may be. Those words came out the oddly, making Slicer think about the stupidity of his last remark. He was even given ample time, due to the disappearance of FireX.

I don’t think such stupidity ever came from a man. Were his first thoughts. His words would have sounded like the pinnacle of stupidity, no matter when or where it was spoken. It was almost as though his mind had shattered from his weapon’s destruction or from the beating of the raindrops, like in that old story, “The Tell Tale Heart,” where the killer was revealed because of his own guilt. That or the sudden shatter of his sword, meant the shatter of his unmentality, meaning his true form was finally going to be revealed. I guess it’s time for me to start getting serious. With a slight snicker, Slicer wondered how the thought of one phrase could lead to this, yet, perhaps it was a final act of his craziness that pushed him towards his true power.

Slicer remembered an old character. He was called... Inuyasha. A Half Demon who wielded a magical sword, called the Tetsusaiga. When the sword was taken or destroyed, Inuyasha would transform into a full demon, whose strength increased, but also lost his humanity. Slowly, with each transformation, more of his human heart, which contained his humanity, was attacked and slowly, but surely, making the humanity inside the heart disappear. Slicer wondered if perhaps this was what was happening to him.

Slicer smiled to himself. Just stories. Nothing more. Nothing less. He told this to himself, yet he wasn’t sure if even he, himself, believed it. Yet, before he could finish his thought, he heard a rustling of bushes behind him. He swiftly turned his body around, trying to find the source of the sound, yet only seeing bushes and trees. That was just my imagination... Slicer thought to himself, noting the sudden increase in rain. It seems that this place will be flooded very soon. He thought, as he moved his hood back onto his head, covering his hair, so the rain wouldn’t butcher it up.

So... is this how it ends? Slicer wondered to himself again, minutes afterwards. His patience was wearing thin. He was usually fine with waiting, but for some reason, he was getting annoyed very quickly. His grip tightened around the Magnifier’s hilt. The Leather Gloves creased along with his bending hand. They slipped a bit, but it was all intentional. It gave Slicer a slightly better grip on the Magnifier, just incase worse came to worse. And it seemed that that’s exactly what happened.

As the drum roll of raindrops fell from the sky, creating some of the purest music in the world, another noise interrupted. The sound only shifting of feet and the movement of leaves could make. It seems that my friend has arrived... Slicer thought, as he looked over towards the sound, seeing a figure dash towards the fallen Slayer. The person was none other than FireX... Nice of you to finally show your face... Slicer thought, as he rushed towards his opponent. This was a fatal error...

As Slicer followed, FireX was able to reach the shards, which he quickly took into his care, only to throw them at Slicer. He knew that it was too late to dodge the attack. Time to take a chance... Slicer stopped, and moved his arms over his eyes, to hopefully block out the broken pieces of his weapon. Pieces quickly slashed Slicer’s body. His Brigandine protected his body, but it seemed that the Slayer’s ability was still able to be activated... As a final piece came at Slicer, a dark aura seemed to glow around it. It touched Slicer’s body, and suddenly, it seemed that all the life from within him was being drained away. So... this is what the Death Effect feels like... Slicer thought, as his body almost dropped to the ground.

He was just about to cast his repth spell twice, when FireX came at him, with his weapon drawn. ”One final stand! Vak Drive!” Slicer shouted, as he faced the up coming attack. He moved right as much as he could, so the weapon was shoved into his left shoulder, draining all but about one one hundredths of his energy. His weapon began to ignite. Swirls of flames appeared, licking the blade, forming a protective covering over the weapon. Slicer could feel his last bits of energy begin to disappear. He could feel his body begin to go away. He knew he only had time for this one final attack; he would have to put all his strength into this one final attack.

Slicer jumped back quickly. Using the last bits of his he pulled the sword back, and went for a flaming stab. Being this close, Slicer put the last bits of energy and the power of the entire attack behind one final attack, hoping it would end the duel. ”This is it...” Slicer whispered, as he closed his eyes, hoping it would be a draw...

SP: 5/55

(OOC: Dead as soon as my Vak Drive ends...)

"What the..." I thought as I saw the shards smash into my opponent, a dark orangish and yellow mix of color emitting into a word: Death.

I had inflicted on my opponent what he had tried to do upon me. Something I was not hoping to do. I actually was thinking more along the lines that he would just somehow slash them away while my thrown dagger would keep on going to hit him. However, all plans seemed to have flaws, and though those flaws may lead to victories, I was starting to find myself being a little 'beardy' as those in the United Kingdom used to say, but in more blunt terms for the ignorant american, 'cheesy' was the better word to describe my actions.

Still, not wanting to miss a chance for a straight out melee, I flew across the ground, wind throwing my loose black robe backwards, and the rain drops pattering my face.

My right hand gripped my katar tighter until the knuckles were white as I finally reached my opponent, where I found I had made a dire mistake.

”One final stand! Vak Drive!” Slicer had shouted, his blade glowing with the energy of a burning flame, even in the dreary rain that continued to fall, a blazing beacon in a thin veil of darkness.

With its intense light as I approached, I found myself blinded all of a suddenly, and with the blaze of near daemonic intensity, I was on the ground, labored breathing and life points draining as fire ate away at my clothing, eventually burning right through and turning it into ash, only my armor remaining.

Eventually, the fire grew hungry as it somehow rippled across nearby brush into my face, and blazed it. So bright and so hard to keep my eyes open, I swiftly grasped at my VR-Helmet and disconnected all nerve impulses, the burning sensation being too much.

Staring at the room around me, and finally looking at my feet, I wondered how Slicer could have destroyed my character with that one fell blow with his last few ounces of energy. I guess it had to have been some sort of a thing that happens when one has enough will power that it somehow overloads certain processes before allowing them to start back up again.

Putting back on my VR-Helmet, I found the duel to be over. I was in a spectator format, and I shifted the game camera around to see both the ashes of my character and the bleeding corpse of my enemy.

Duel over, the entire thing a draw.

Then again, split second differences are quite easily used, so I kept a little beacon of hope lit in my head that I had died at least a second later then my opponent. It could have actually been the other way around, however...

54/80 SP

(OOC: You dead, me dead, we dead, so I guess that finishes the duel? :) Great duel!)

Slicer

Tactics 7

SP Regulation 9

Quality 8- Nice, you’re improving. Good job!

Technicality 9

Fairness- 10

Total: 8.6


FireX

Tactics 8

SP Regulation 8

Quality 8- I like how you pay attention to detail. Nice job!

Technicality 8

Fairness- 10

Total: 8.4 – 2 = 6.4

Slicer wins!