[Quarter] Second Bracket: Akechi vs. Reyin

Forest Arena

Description: One hundred yards in radius, a grassy arena with some trees scattered about, making it look like a small forest. This allows for many places to hide and any other tactics one can think of. Bushes and shrubs are here, too, but nothing exotic, such as flowers. There are no animals, here, either. The only person you should watch out for is your opponent. There is about three wide open spaces in this forest. However, the trees don't offer really enough coverage to where a person can effectively stay hidden wherever they are.

Starting Positions: Each fighter starts at the center open space, facing one another with about ten feet between them.

Out of Bounds: Out of bounds is anything that touches the stands and beyond.

[I've been very busy these past few days. Will post soon]

Reyin quirked an eyebrow upon spotting his opponent. The guy didn't look to be in too great of shape for any sort of physical activity, let alone fighting. But hey, who was he to judge?

"Man, you sure you're good to fight?"

Reyin himself looked surprisingly well. There was a small patch of white across the bridge of his nose, though judging by the position it could just as easily be a breathing strip as it could have been a bandage. Other than that, he looked pretty much A-okay. Probably not what his opponent had wanted to see, but hey, at least Reyin wasn't a living embodiment of flames.

Then the guy across the way decided to throw out a threat, and Reyin relaxed a little, taking a step back and holding his hands up in front of his chest as if he were about to be struck by a punch or something.

"Whoa whoa, calm down bud."

After shaking his hands, he dropped his left and thumbed his nose with his right hand, a bit of a tradition that warranted a little wince on Reyin's part as the action pulled on the adhesive keeping the cut on his nose sealed up.

Reyin settled into a fairly relaxed stance, turning his right side towards Akechi while reaching up to grasp the hilt of his sword with the right hand.

The left remained straight and at his side, not really doing anything important.

"But hey, if you think you're ready to dance then who am I to stop ya?"

Reyin frowned, if only because it turned out his opponent was in a sour mood. He hated fighting people that had a stick up their ass about something. All about the pain and not about the ride.

"Tch."

The fingers on Reyin's left hand curled inward slightly, as if grasping onto some sort of invisible object before he unsheathed his longsword in preparation for Akechi's advance. The maglite hardly looked like a very threatening weapon, but it was a blunt weapon and was going to be treated as such. It had much shorter reach than Reyin's sword, and so...

Oh fuck, sticks and stuff.

Reyin took two steps back, first with his left then with his right, a rather calm motion for someone who was all about jumping around the damn place. The sticks and dirt pegged and bounded off his chest, and as Akechi lunged forward, Reyin took a single step forward and, much like a fencer, thrust the tip of his longsword in towards Akechi's right shoulder.

He was still facing Akechi with his right side forward, so he pretty much remained profile with the mercenary as he pulled back both his sword and his foot shortly after the stab.

"Hah!"

Reyin's celebratory cry was a result of disarming the man of his flashlight. Not exactly the most triumphant of victories, but a small victory nonetheless. Then the guy went and revealed the weapon in his left hand.

Oh.

Well that changed things for the worse. Still, with the whole 'fencing' thing going on, Reyin was going to be pulling his extended hand back in rather quickly. The knife would swipe and probably clang against the flat of the blade before Akechi ducked into his roll.

Which was probably a bad move, all things considered. Akechi wanted to close the distance, but Reyin's sword was double edged for a reason, and he didn't need a lot of space to make use of those sharp edges. Sure, he didn't want to get stabbed, but he wasn't completely defenseless in close.

The grip on his sword shifted as Akechi ducked forward, the sword hovering in the air for a moment as his right hand released and then reaffirmed its grip on the hilt of the weapon. Where Reyin had originally been holding the sword with his thumb pointing towards Akechi, he was now holding it with his thumb pointing towards himself, making it easier to lift the sword up and then stab it straight down at the rolling mercenary.

There wasn't a lot of aim involved, but since there was a relatively prone body coming out of a roll not too far away from his feet, there was a lot of flesh to stab at.

Not like Reyin couldn't see what was going on, though. As soon as he stabbed down and realized that this joker was still very intent on stabbing him, he'd pull his left leg back, because there was a knife stabbing its way into his right leg and, well, he needed something to balance on.

"GHK!"

His right knee buckled, but he kept upright due to having two things to really keep his balance. His left leg shifting backwards slightly was actually more of a preparation, because right now his sword was balancing all of his weight, and that sword was still in Akechi's shoulder. And as soon as the knife was pulled out, Reyin reacted.

The foot would pass in front of Reyin since he never fell down, and while that was going on, Reyin brought his right leg up, pained as it was, and stomped down on Akechi's left wrist.

Meanwhile, his left foot would come back, and he'd start stomping the hell out of Akechi's face, all the while keeping him pinned down by the sword in his shoulder.

Fierach Wrote:

> As Reyin lifted his leg up, Akechi stabbed downward at it again, threatening to cut an extremely sizeable gouge.

Wait, what?

Designated Hero Wrote:

> Reyin brought his right leg up, pained as it was, and stomped down on Akechi's left wrist.

Reyin was lifting his right leg, y'know, the one that had been stabbed, and then stomping down on the wrist of Akechi's left hand, y'know, the one holding the knife. If Akechi was stabbing downward when Reyin lifted his leg, then he was just making it all the easier for Reyin to step on the wrist and get to a-stompin'. Because, according to positioning, Akechi was on his back at some weird angle. Stabbing downward in any way wasn't going to be good. Stabbing at the leg itself would have probably warranted an extra wound, but as long as Reyin pinned that forearm down he didn't really care. 'Cause Reyin wasn't an idiot, and if some jackass with a knife was going to keep stabbing his leg, Reyin was going to do something about it.

Since Reyin had been profile to the guy, it was obvious he was closer to Reyin's right leg. For a stab to be in any way effective, he'd probably be laying with his left side closer to Reyin unless he was trying to reach across his body to try stabbing, which would be all kinds of awkward with a sword in the way.

So, as a result, Reyin was practically leaning overtop of Akechi, both hands on his sword to provide support, right leg, wounded as it was, on the hand and keeping some semblance of balance, with his left foot pistoning up and down on top of Akechi's face.

Which he kept doing, even when blood was thrown on his face and he had to resort to wiping his eyes out with the sleeve of his t-shirt by ducking his head down.

Because it just seemed like the right thing to do.

And if, for some strange reason, that arm was just really elusive, he'd back the fuck off and stumbled back a good six or so feet.

The moment Akechi pushed Reyin's foot off, Reyin was moving backwards. Probably not from his own choice, because it took him awhile to realize that he had lost his balance as he delivered one more, slightly off-target stomp before he started stumbling backwards. The sword was ripped rather awkwardly out of Akechi's shoulder, and Reyin backed all the way into a tree.

This didn't do a whole lot to really get him the hell out of the way of the knife coming in towards him, but it bought him some more space. An attempt to step to the side resulted in the knife slicing through his t-shirt with relative ease, followed by a spurt of blood as the knife sliced into and through his flesh. Thankfully the knife didn't pierce any organs, and just cut a nice gash into his side.

"Ghh..."

Fairly obvious that Reyin was favoring his right leg as he turned back to face Akechi, but his upper body was for all intents and purposes ready to shoulder the load, but he wasn't going to be running anywhere anytime soon.

Unfortunately this meant he couldn't jump on Akechi and start smashing his face in again, either.

Well, what was Reyin supposed to do? He was hobbling around on one good leg and tenderly testing out how much weight he could put on his right without an amazing amount of pain shooting its way up his spine. Fortunately most of the wounds were beneath the knee, so at least the femoral artery hadn't been sliced open.

Reyin was leading with his left foot now, his right foot barely even touching the ground with its toe as he leaned forward, sword still held in the right hand.

And if this guy was just going to stand there and wait, well...

Reyin took a quick step forward, obviously favoring his right leg as he planted, quickly shifted his left foot forward, and then launched himself forward.

The movement forward would put Reyin about five feet from Akechi as he came to a stop, planting on his left foot as he swung diagonally across his body, from (Reyin's) left to right, aiming to catch Akechi's upper torso with the tip of the blade's edge before exiting near the man's waist.

"Sh!"

Reyin's sword practically dropped to the ground as he stabbed the pointed end into the soft forest floor. There wasn't much he could do to stop his sword from being pushed out, after all the push was going along with the natural motion of the swing. And bringing a hand up to stop a hammer just wasn't going to fly, so he he had to do something, and do it quick.

Reyin ducked as he plunged the sword into the ground, the hammer sailing overhead and somehow hooking onto a few stray hairs, yanking them out and sending small fits of pain through Reyin's skull. Because, manly man or not, getting your hair pulled out hurt, however temporarily the pain lasted.

He shifted his weight to his left foot, again showing how much it pained him to rest on his right, before turning at his waist and attempting to snag ahold of Akechi's extended swinging arm. Assuming he could, his left hand would grab ahold of the arm at/near the bicep, while the right would take more of a supportive role in grabbing at the wrist.

Then a typical judo throw, turning and using his hips to upend Akechi and send him tumbling back-first to the ground.

Except unlike last time, Reyin wouldn't be delivering stomps. He'd grab his sword, and limp/backpedal away.

The turn was designed to put his back towards Akechi, so he wouldn't get kneed in the face. If Akechi was raising his leg to knee at Reyin, it was going to make things a little bit easier for a throw.

Apparently, though, this guy was pretty quick to recover, and next thing Reyin knew he had a knee coming up into his crotch.

Not cool.

Reyin immediately buckled forward, instinctively clamping down on the knee with his thighs as he struggled to retain his balance. A sickening feeling rushed through his stomach, his vision swam for but a moment before the disorientation was replaced by sheer anger.

Reyin straightened up and, with his right hand still holding to Akechi's arm, shot his left elbow back into the man's face, more specifically the nasal region, where the already broken nose became a prime target.

Reyin wasn't a big fan of being in a tangled mess of limbs, and as much as it pained him to fight for the sake of injuring people, he was getting really sick and tired of this guy. His right hand let go of the trapped limb he had been holding onto, moved out to his right, and snagged ahold of the sword he had stabbed into the ground just as Akechi attempted to pitch the two forward. It wasn't much, a single step forward on his right leg, more of a hobble really, but Reyin was able to catch a tree limb and keep himself upright.

"Rrgh..."

His eyes would shoot downward, and after a moment of searching, found their target.

That was when Reyin would act again, stabbing the point of his sword straight downward, aiming to stab straight into the foot of Akechi's only planted leg. His head would come straight back next, a reverse headbutt of sorts, aiming to knock the mercenary's head back and provide some sort of breathing room.

"You..."

And then lastly he'd relinquish his grip on the sword, and drive his right elbow back into the guy's face, attempting to bloody it up even more.

"FIRST!"

Reyin spun around and pulled his sword from the ground, supporting himself with the aid of the tree that was now at his back. His left hand was to his throat, as if holding to his neck was going to help him regain his breath any quicker.

Not to mention getting kneed in the family jewels was taking a toll on his posture.

Probably why he looked so off balance, slumped up against the base of the tree as he was. But hey, he had sword, and he had his breath, and Akechi wasn't moving in on him. So at least there was time to catch his breath and his wits.

"Teh.."

He spat up a wad of blood, then licked his lips. The metallic taste of blood didn't settle well with Reyin, and wasn't helping his upset stomach in the least.

"And you're a bit of a punk for an old guy."