Warped Gardens

((As the judges didn't see fit to give us a really accurate visual idea of what we were fighting in as far as size, I whipped this up really quickly based on a Dungeons and Dragons Map. Each square is effectively a 5x5 foot square, and each person should occupy one square when they stand around. The middle section is obviously the clearing with the fountain. The statues are, well statues. The large green area outside that is the "Extra Area" we have to fight in that is considered "inbounds." Those areas, obviously, are not as pretty and clear as they look, but I figured SOME representation rather than none would help. Anyway, without further adieu, let's get this s**t started! EDIT: THIS IS ALSO NOW 100% ACCURATE.))

Edit by Panda: 100% accurate except there aren't exactly 10 statues in the area. There's probably more, (I probably should've added benches, but forget it), but obviously the point of those graphics are to indicate that statues are in the area rather than an exact number. That part is more of a "use your imagination" thing.

"Pretty easy when they can't move."

Oh yes, Ryugi was dramatic and thoughtful and emotional. He was also full of s**t, or at least that was the opinion of the vampire sitting on the edge of the fountain. Reaching out to pat the head of a stone frog with a gloved hand, KB chuckled to himself. Couldn't blame the kid for getting lost in the nostalgia of it all. The statues were poignant reminders of a glorious past that had fallen to ruin. When had he even gotten there? It was impossible to say. The vampire had a knack for simply appearing after all.

"Like beating off on a dead girl, hero. You can do as you like, talk dirty, put your hands all over her - she won't talk back. Won't complain a bit. You can call her a whore and piss all over her and she'll just smile that stony smile~" He laughed harshly and stood to regard the little frog. Then he reached out and tapped it with the end of the machete he'd requisitioned from the ringside staff. It sung quietly for a few moments as he made his way over to an overgrown but monumental piece of art and looked up at it.

Latent stood, proud and timeless. The vines entangling his marble incarnation writhed and hissed unnaturally as the vampire started clearing them away. Occasionally he'd chop a stalk or pull away at a vine eliciting squeals of dissatisfaction from the blighted plants. The process took a few minutes but they had plenty of time to spare. Eventually, the statue stood weathered and stained by plant blood but uncovered and with an ounce more dignity. The vampire stepped back to appraise his work with a smile.

Lookin' good, ladykiller.

Satisfied, KB would squat down and reach out with his free hand to run it over the ground. One eye squeezed shut as he peered across the landscape as if looking for something. Getting a feel for the arena, he poked the end of the machete into a crack in the pathway and pried loose a chunk of cement. He hefted it up in front of his face and paid close attention to the marks of wear on the stone where it seemed like the plants had been gnawing on it. In the background, the sounds of gardeners being strangled to death became almost methodical. Slowly he grew accustomed to the 'heartbeat' of the garden, started to understand they were situated at the core of a deadly, hungry beast.

KB smiled.

Code: To : S. Lasanti

From : O. Abbey

Subject : Yo.

Had a great fight in the Prelim. I dunno about all the shiny weirdos you're paired up with, but you got this st. I best see you up in the finals to kick your a, bro.

Track 2: Fear Not This Night

Stephen had arrived quietly around the same time as Ryugi had and was sitting against one of the statues in what appeared to be something of a meditative state. The garden maze was clearly not the only labyrinth in this select arena as the man quietly sat and sifted through his own mind before the battle. His headphones lay in his lap, with quiet music tinkling out of them. Last round had been nothing more than a fun little bout (something that his opponent apparently shared due to an email he had received on the matter). But it was a preliminary test before the true challenge began, nothing more. This was the real deal, and his face showed that he knew it.

In the past, he had been something of a chipper lad, with the tourney being fun and games more than anything. But now it was clear that the road had owned this man and that he was not the naive child he once was. This was real - the fight ahead demanded his respect unlike many others he had so casually thrown around. It was time to truly give Heaven or Hell the honor it deserved.

And if his opponent didn't do the same, they would be in for a world of hurt.

He opened his eyes as his teammates and opponents bantered, slowly rising to his feet and putting his headphones back on as the music played, fading out as the track came to an end. He put his music list on hold on his MP3 player to return his hearing back to the world of the tournament while still wearing his signature headgear and wandered towards the center of the arena.

"As delightful as all of your chatter is to listen to, I believe we should get started sooner rather than later. We do have something of a time crunch, and I'd hate to have one of our opponents left with a case of the blue balls because of it."

Just Naota Wrote:

"After this," he told KB, removing the oversized scarf and tossing it to the side. "We're going to have a talk, Leech."

Stephen finally cracked a smile as his opponent gave his teammate the threat of a lecture, drawing Sharvashtyr elegantly and twirling it in his right hand for a moment. His body and mind now prepped for the fight, he was feeling the energy and adrenaline coursing through him. It seemed that the vampire was not the only one out for blood this day, though the intent and use was obviously different for each person.

"Your attitude intrigues me, sir. I hope you prove to me that it's more than just posturing."

He drew his short blade from its sheath in his free hand and flipped it into a more defensive downward position. He wasn't entirely sure what his opponent had in store for him, but judging from the look of that crowbar it was better to be safe than sorry as far as blocking was concerned.

"Let us begin."

With that, the dervish moved in quickly to attack Dr. Queensborough. He kept the short blade up to protect his head and face, for once he was in range he would drop the rest of his body down and slash at Edward's right calf with Sharvashtyr, hoping to deal some notable early damage and potentially reduce the man's mobility.

[SP]:10/10

[Turn 1/17]

MagnusXL Wrote:

"Anyways, the choice is entirely up to you. We can either wait for these girls to stop their incessant flirting or we can take up arms alongside them out of the way."

"Ha!" KB had a little laugh at Ryugi's expense. That guy sure was a tool straight up. At least, that was the opinion of the vampire who'd seen the guy KOing rocks like a BADASS.

Reaching back, the sunlight glinted off his reflective glasses for a moment frozen in time. His mouth split open unnaturally wide and he screamed at his opponent, indicating it was time for them to fight. His FIGHTER beeped in strained annoyance as all his strength was mustered.

"SWEET BOSOM OF MOTHER EARTH STYLE ATTACK!" The vampire screamed, before chucking his volleyball-sized rock at Moonblade's chest. It was an unconventional start to a fight, but nonetheless the projectile was quite deadly. Nothing magical about it - just pure force plus hard object equals crying pansies.

Code: [Excessive Strength]

As a vampire, KB's primary attribute is sheer strength. He is many times stronger than a human being, able to lift and move ( slowly ) with up to 1000lbs in his hands. In spite of his amazing strength, his power is proportionate to his humanoid form, so there are limits to what he can do. ( He couldn't lift 1000lbs at arms length and hold it there, for example ). This physical power lends itself to his strikes as well, making him able to dent conventional metal armor with direct hits, or punch through unprotected flesh completely.

By the time the elf had time to really process it all KB would already be running away. He would sprint to the hedges immediately after throwing his rock and attempt to disappear into the maze.

Like a sissy girl!

[1]

Hono had been both annoyed and elated as she found that the fight she was most interested in this round was on the Ark, and spectators were not invited to be up close and personal due to dangerous terrain… It was the perfect excuse not to step foot on the damn over-grown boat again … unfortunately she had a very personal stake in this fight

KB was on the one team.. and keeping an eye on her former co-worker was just plain good sense, and the opposing team had Ryugi and Stephen, a pair of former team-mates… now that made her have to figure out some way to be close enough to the fight to lend a hand to the injured after they were done with their fight, and far enough out of the way to keep the tournament staff from getting all bitchy with her… not to mention having to resist the urge to feel sea sick the moment she set foot on the Ark.

Her solution, was not exactly as much fun as being there in her human form, wearing something extremely slinky that managed to cover all the important parts and leave very little to the imagination… but then again she wasn’t sure what team she wanted to distract, so the loss of the fun outfit was not too bad.

The solution was truly advantageous, as it allowed her to gain a perfect view of the fights, and conserve a large amount of energy… So it was that Ryugi might recognize the small black raven that glided over the clearing before settling on the statue of Sunstrike, Rae doubted that KB would recognize her, most people tended to forget that she was first and foremost really a bird.

There was a creeper vine that was trying to work its way up Sunny’s back that seemed to almost sense the black bird as it landed, it made a very unhealthy sound as the bird turned its head to glare at the plant, lighting it’s reaching tip on fire…. She doubted that the plants would be stupid enough to try her again any time soon.

It had to be a hedge maze. Of all the possible places to kick off the tourney they had to drop the only team with a changeling in supernatural hedge maze. While not everyone could fully appreciate the irony of such a thing it wouldn't take long for someone to notice something amiss in the 7'3" ogre of a man. His usual careless expressions and easy demeanor tightened up as he crossed the final threshold of the arena. His heavy boots plodded heartily against the stone and debris, haphazardly scattering about whatever bits of vegetation or loosened gravel laying in his path. A few deep breaths, rapid in succession, drew his brigandine back and forth for a few heaves. With one final heavy breath he'd finally allow his body to relax despite the sheer chaos of constant pruning drifting about in any given direction.

"Just like home." He muttered to nobody in particular as he drew himself forward, swinging his dark, heavy, engraved bat over his shoulder before casting his gaze towards the center of the ring where his opponent awaited. The changeling would take a moment to look him over and then another second or two to look over his environment. It didn't take long for him to catch sight of the marble depiction of Ryugi. Figuring it was a good as any way to break things off he'd calmly walk across the way and gaze over the plaque and statue for the moment. Being as unfamiliar as these people as they were with him it only seemed right to get a firm grasp as to what he was getting himself into before diving right in. Circling the statue for a moment he'd tap his bat against his shoulder for a time and call out to Ryugi with a light tone of interest.

"Been around huh? Might feel a little surreal, I imagine, seeing all these statues of your friends strung up like this."

((Sorry for the delay and the short post, sort of had a lot going on yesterday and I'm running too low on time to make this post significantly long.))

Ah, the good doctor was just full of surprises, wasn't he?

The blade clanged off of the prosthetic leg, and Stephen was immediately punished for it, although it was not as harsh as perhaps it could have been. A kick to the abdomen was never pleasant, and the metal leg only made matters worse.

He landed on his back with a "HOUGH" as he was caught off guard, but instinctively raised his guard with both blades for a follow up attack.

After deflecting an attack (or a moment of pause if Edward gave it) he would roll to his left and rise to his feet again, turning to face Edward with a vicious slash of Sharvashtyr to the left side of his face, using the extra momentum to come full circle and have his short blade up for defense.

This was one dance the dervish was already beginning to enjoy.

[SP:10/10]

-Turn 2/17-

Zeo Hiroboshi Wrote:

It had to be a hedge maze. Of all the possible places to kick off the tourney they had to drop the only team with a changeling in supernatural hedge maze. While not everyone could fully appreciate the irony of such a thing it wouldn't take long for someone to notice something amiss in the 7'3" ogre of a man. His usual careless expressions and easy demeanor tightened up as he crossed the final threshold of the arena. His heavy boots plodded heartily against the stone and debris, haphazardly scattering about whatever bits of vegetation or loosened gravel laying in his path. A few deep breaths, rapid in succession, drew his brigandine back and forth for a few heaves. With one final heavy breath he'd finally allow his body to relax despite the sheer chaos of constant pruning drifting about in any given direction.

"Just like home." He muttered to nobody in particular as he drew himself forward, swinging his dark, heavy, engraved bat over his shoulder before casting his gaze towards the center of the ring where his opponent awaited. The changeling would take a moment to look him over and then another second or two to look over his environment. It didn't take long for him to catch sight of the marble depiction of Ryugi. Figuring it was a good as any way to break things off he'd calmly walk across the way and gaze over the plaque and statue for the moment. Being as unfamiliar as these people as they were with him it only seemed right to get a firm grasp as to what he was getting himself into before diving right in. Circling the statue for a moment he'd tap his bat against his shoulder for a time and call out to Ryugi with a light tone of interest.

"Been around huh? Might feel a little surreal, I imagine, seeing all these statues of your friends strung up like this."

((Sorry for the delay and the short post, sort of had a lot going on yesterday and I'm running too low on time to make this post significantly long.))

((No worries. We've got loads of time left. Isn't ending till Monday at any rate. So, I'm in no rush. You take the time you need, dude. No pressure.))

Ryugi chuckled and stood, stretching his arms up and over his head before he gripped Ragnarok and headed over toward the large ogre man. You might say that. He looked once more to the statue of himself. Me, first Heaven or Hell. I've been around a while, seen many fighters come and go. He then turned to the large man who stood a full foot and three inches taller than him. Though I can't say I've ever met or seen you. I'm sure that means you'll surprise me. He smiled and offered a hand to the man. Ryugi Kazamaru, Team Ryugin's Vice-Captain. I assume you're my opponent. A pleasure, I'm sure.

((Just a note, I made an update on the front page regarding the sky/weather. It's supposed to be at day, but the ******** has made the sky all grey/cloudy so its not sunny, even though the visibility isn't limited. It's not totally dark or anything, though.

I'm really sorry for the inconvenience in my lack of full description. ._.))

((I also clarified something about the floor/walkway/walkable area of the garden in case you all thought you were walking on grass. >< Perhaps just mentioning concrete wasn't enough to make sense of that. I hope this didn't cause any trouble.))

With a grin, the detective lowered his left foot to the ground, enjoying the sight of the aftermath of the match's first exchange. It was hardly indicative of where the rest of match was going to go, for Stephen would surely wise up to the cybernetic nature of his opponent as the fight progressed, or at least Edward hoped as much. Of course, he wasn't planning on losing his advantage just yet, nor was he the sort to hit an honorable opponent while he was down... Well, not this early into the fight anyways.

Edward didn't pounce on the dervish, instead he chose to do something a tad more impressive. He lifted his left arm and suddenly the reinforced section of his outer forearm rose a few inches off its normal level. The piece of metal parted in two, making room for the cyberpunk's insignia (a cartoonishly smiling skull wearing a pair of green-tinted goggles - its mouth open wide revealing a small hole) before the two opposing segments fused back together around it. In moments, the cyborg's reinforced forearm began to expand outwards until its shape was clear. A part of Ed's arm had just become a circular shield (two feet in diameter), composed of the same chrome-plated steel as the rest if his arm. And it did so in a matter of seconds.

His grin widened.

As Stephen came to his feet and moved in for another attack, the cyberpunk quickly burst into action. Pointing his right arm to the right and slightly behind himself, the Sentinel-Pattern Gauntlet (which covered his right arm/hand) opened up on top and launched its grapple hook; it clamped down on a chunk of marble about seven feet away (one he had noted earlier and particularly on his first survey of his surroundings) and began to reel it in. Fast.

Simultaneously, Edward moved to meet his opponent, raising his shield arm and taking the hit from Sharvashtyr fully. The cyborg braced himself for impact and took the force of the blow quite well before pushing outwards with the shield, attempting to knock Stephen's scimitar back and wide. Which opened things up for Ed's counter.

Dragging the chunk of marble across the air, the detective awaited the opportune moment which came once there was only 3 feet of wire left and the grapple hook simply stopped reeling in. Using the immense momentum leftover from the reeling along with slight redirection via a twist and swing of his right arm, the cyberpunk sent that chunk of expensive rock on a straight path towards Stephen's left quadriceps. Of course, the high-tensile wire was still attached.

Go Go Gadget Improvised Ball and Chain Weapon.

-Dos-

A roughly twenty foot jump from standing still would make any professional long jumper green with envy. Hell, if Wigi didn't have to keep up with the fight he might've gone slack jawed for a moment. He didn't have time for that sort of thing though, and as such was already well at work with a counter of his own. Rather than coming forward and charging into whatever it was Ryugi was planning the ogre would reel back his bat and come in for another swipe at the upper-portion of what remained of the statue, sending a sizable chunk of marble, roughly 8-9 inches in diameter, to come hurdling towards his opponent's chest a split moment after he landed.

Things worth mentioning Wrote:

Lil Slugger: A large, 5 pound, 56 inch Iconel 625 bat. The surface of the bat is detailed with several runic Celtic engravings which dimly glow shades of green while in the grip of a changeling or fae. These markings reinforce the durability of the bat and amplify the kinetic force of each swing, increasing the strength of every blow times 1.5. In the hands of Wigi, a strong blow could shatter concrete, break bones, dent conventional metals considerably, or send an unprepared fighter flying for a few feet.

Between the changeling's already massive amount of strength and the upgraded power from every swing of his bat that chunk of rock was going to be flying like a fast ball after the VC. But Wigi wasn't going to stop there, he'd continue reeling back and firing off more chunks of rock at his opponent every 3 seconds, every hit aiming to catch his opponent somewhere along his torso. He'd continue with this pattern until something really forced him to do otherwise. After all Ryugi just set Wigi up for the batting cage experience of a life time. There was no way in hell he was passing that up on a simple whim.

[2/17]

MagnusXL Wrote:

It was impossible to be stealthy when one radiated like the goddamned sun, but that wouldn't stop this combatant from trying!

[2/17]

Needless to say the vampire kept track of the spellcaster even as he sailed through the air and landed gracefully. Due to positioning however it put the target a bit ahead of where he wanted. Not quite expecting to be back on even ground with his opponent didn't factor into what followed. KB couldn't afford to give his enemy a moment's rest.

He ran over ( now at full height ) and spun his weapon up to full speed, causing it to whistle loudly. The distance between the two was closed to around 6-7 feet before he loosed the attack by letting go of the vine with his right hand in a motion that lead the line ahead of his body. The result would be the machete shooting pointfirst at Moonblade's body with the length of vine trailing behind it. It was obvious he intended to impale his opponent with the weapon by means of sheer force.

!!!

[beep striker call]

[3/17]

The King of Monsters KB Wrote:

Unspeakable Tragedy Wrote:

Funny. The cyborg was apparently attacking a phantom because there was nobody named Magnus at the given location. Seriously though, I'm just giving you s**t.

In Moonblade's mind, he finally had the vampire where he wanted him. Which was really anywhere he could see and actually engage it.

The first order of business was to halt the momentum of K.B.'s improvised weapon. Chain or rope weapons such as this were extremely effective, but relied on centrifugal force to deliver their damage. They had relatively long "start-up" times, leaving them vulnerable to interruption attempts. This sort of maneuver was precisely what the magus had in mind.

Ammiel was still completely unaware of the oncoming assault of the cyborg, who's mechanical arm threatened to shatter every bone in the poor homunculus' body. If K.B.'s projectile could puncture his armor like an arrow through a Kleenex box, Darren could reduce the body beneath it to a bloody, mushy paste with relatively little effort. Though he wore a suit of armor with durability similar to non-magical titanium, Team Ryugin's effete captain was not known for his physical durability or endurance.

As K.B. stepped forward to lash out (and the cyborg came down to obliterate the unfortunate spellcaster's shoulder), Moonblade immediately took a knee on his left, leaning his head forward and down as the vampire's attack narrowly sailed overhead. In a simultaneous motion, Moonblade's left fist was brought to the stone turf hard. The entire forearm had suddenly enveloped in a silvery energy veil shaped in a form similar to a dragon's claw.

Lunar Talon Wrote:

-Lunar Talon: Ammiel slams his magically charged fist into the ground, causing an eruption of lunar energy to throw everything within five feet violently skywards while potentially staggering grounded targets within ten feet with the shock-wave. Lunar Talon causes limited damage on its own, but has enough force to throw a 500 lbs object eight feet into the air. If used from midair, Moonblade will plummet towards the ground at incredible speed, automatically using Lunar Mystic to its full extent. CANNOT be augmented with Emerald Fire/Frost.

Cost: 20%

Limiter: This ability is unaffected by Arcane Regression.

((*Note: Realistically, nobody would be thrown more than around fifteen feet in the air unless they were literally made of paper or something.))

Silvery lunar magic surged from the ground, creating a shock-wave of energy along the earth. This shock-wave was violent enough to stagger someone who was caught unawares, though its actual range didn't extend further than ten feet in any direction. The front end of the vine-weapon would be caught in the upward force of the spell, causing it to fly wildly in the air. Though it was unlikely for the vine to break, it would make regaining control of the weapon a far more arduous task.

The corrupted hedge maze walls bristled under the force of the spell, but were otherwise unaffected. Moonblade swore he could hear them rumble and hiss out of protest, but that was most likely his imagination...

As an added bonus, the updraft of magical energy caused by Lunar Talon would also effectively stop Darren from shattering his clavicle into a million pieces. The magus attempted to hide the very obvious element of surprise found in his initial facial expression with a quick retort.

"Nope."

Assuming the spell proved effective, Moonblade would pay no additional mind to his opponent's STRIKER; if they cyborg still decided to set the warp-corrupted shrubbery ablaze as he departed the battlefield, that was his prerogative. If asked about it later, Ammiel would claim that it all went according to his plan. This claim would also be complete and utter bullshit.

Moonflair Wrote:

-Moonflair: The Silver Moonblade can utilize the excess magical energy left over by Ammiel's spells, channeling it back through the blade. This energy can either be used to increase the strength of his next spell by roughly 10% or to power any of the weapon's specific abilities, such as Silver Eclipse or Lunatic Spellflair. This power cannot re-absorb any energy from weapon encompassing effects like Wyvern Fang, nor can he re-absorb energy from a spell empowered by this ability.

A subtle and faintly visible flow of mana was beginning to stream into his sword. Depending on K.B.'s experience with the arcane or if he had other supernatural energy senses, he might be able to discern that the elven weapon was recycling energy left over from his previous spell. The silvery shine around the enchanted blade grew the slightest bit brighter, making it clear that the energy was being preserved within the weapon itself.

Not waiting to see the havoc his spell caused, Ammiel immediately rose from his downed position, first taking a step forward with his left. At the same time he sword was brought back behind him, obviously preparing to strike at his opponent. It was now that blade of the elven weapon was suddenly engulfed in a brilliant emerald blaze.

Emerald Fire Wrote:

-Emerald Fire: One of Moonblade's specialties. Due to the unique arcanic makeup, he has the innate ability to manifest emerald flame in virtually any form around most of his techniques. Though this energy takes fire in form, its function is a bit different. While it produces a substantial amount of heat (up to 800 degrees Fahrenheit), the real damage comes from the corrosive properties of the attack, causing fire and heat resistance to be only half as effective against it. For characters with ultra high temperature tolerance (as opposed to percentage-based resistance), Emerald Fire ignores 600 degrees Fahrenheit of the victim's heat resistance. If the target can withstand temperatures above 1400 degrees Fahrenheit, they will still feel as though they have suffered a first degree burn in the affected area for up to a minute, but otherwise take no lasting damage. The burning sensation and wounds are caused by the corrosive energy slowly consuming the target's matter. Damage is caused in the form of 'burns' and charred/destroyed flesh. Emerald Fire does not normally effect materials like metal or stone and, unlike regular flames, will not spread over flammable surfaces. Emerald Fire will not 'ignite' the target, though it is possible for an object to catch fire (regularly) if their combustion threshold is under 800 degrees Fahrenheit. This ability CANNOT be used simultaneously with Emerald Frost.

Ammiel's right leg lurched forward with his second step. The Silver Moonblade would rise, only to immediately be brought down again upon K.B.'s form in a mostly-vertical slash. The strike was aimed around the vampire's left shoulder. Assuming K.B. didn't somehow resist the effects of the shock-wave, he would probably find traditional evasive maneuvers to be difficult with his loss of footing.

Character Status Wrote:

Unrefined Mana: 20% (35% + 5% Natural - 20% Lunar Talon)

Refined Mana: 0%

Arcane Regression Stacks: 0/5

Moonblade Charges: 1/10

[3/17]

Official Panda Ruling Wrote:

Igniting Moonblade's weapon on the same post as using Lunar Talon was deemed legal, despite Lunar Talon's clause:

((*Note2: For HoH, Moonblade cannot use other spells in conjunction with Lunar Talon during the same turn. Lunar Mystic doesn't count.))

This is due to the fact the Emerald Fire was properly classified as an inherent ability and is not actually a spell in any way.

Huh.

Something alerted Magnus of Darren's presence, maybe the Cyborg wasn't that quiet, or it may have been the fact that KB's opponent sensed him somehow. It was almost a complete waste of time; however, one thing would definitely still be accomplished, and that was what came after Darren's daring performance. Though before that happened, the Drug Lord fell, and quite hard. Magnus' counter attack left the man very surprised, it was as if gravity turned in the hat wearer's favor, pulsing around his very being in a defensive manner. As Darren flew through the air toward his target, he was lifted up suddenly, and the force that lifted him ended almost as quickly as it presented itself. Forcing him to free fall just above the Hedge he previously leaped from; though, it wouldn't hurt him nearly as much as Magnus probably assumed. Darren's robotic leg(s) absorbed most of the landing as he went into a crouch right as he landed, pushing his body forward into that of a roll to absorb even more of the fall, and then he began running. Finishing the idea he originally planned, lighting the Maze on fire, and that went exactly according to plan. Leaving KB, and Magnus to fight it out in a bright orange flickering light.

"Can't take the heat, get your pointy eared a** out of the kitchen, ahahaha!" A shout came from the distance.

The King of Monsters KB Wrote:

MagnusXL Wrote:

Zeo Hiroboshi Wrote:

[3/17]

Well s**t, indeed. Ryugi, honestly, was astounded at just how effective that move had been. Unknown to everyone, that was the first time he'd ever used it in an actual combat situation. The damage dealt was surprising, even to the dragon man. Now, Ryugi was something like an Eldrich Knight of sorts. He could channel his energy through his body as easily as one breathed, and he could also strike with terrible physical and martial prowess. Fighting from a distance was something Ryugi could do with ease, especially with his fire attacks. His light attacks could be used in a similar way, to a degree. However, on the whole, they were more close range, with only a few exceptions to that rule.

Ryugi had not grown up in fighting pits. He knew how powerful his abilities were, except in rare cases when he really managed to surprise himself. He was not a ruthless killer, nor had he ever been. And as he watched the ogre man being thrown through the air like a ragdoll, rolling around on the ground, trying to extinguish the flames that had engulfed him, Ryugi couldn't help but, well...feel compassion for the guy. Every tactical instinct told Ryugi to strike while the iron was hot. To charge in to deliver a solid strike while his opponent was vulnerable, and to be honest with himself, Ryugi knew he had many ways to press the assault. To take advantage of the man's down time to channel another attack, or prepare for a follow-up. In the few fractions of a second where the man had been thrown through the air, Ryugi came up with dozens of possibilities, some direct, others indirect. The field was his to dominate with his area of effect abilities or brute strength tactics...

And yet, Ryugi could not bring himself to do it. The man had given him the honor of a handshake at the beginning of their fight. He had taken the time to share part of his life story with Ryugi, where other opponents might have simply thrown a taunt and attacked with all they had, ruthlessly. The burning ogre man before him had done none of that. As such, Ryugi did not attack as the man flew through the air, rolled across the ground to extinguish flames, and picked himself up. He would not even attack as the man readied his charge. He had promised to himself that he would fight with all that he was, to show everyone what Team Ryugin was made of. But Ryugi, and Team Ryugin, were not merciless. Ryugi's right hand gripped Ragnarok, the legendary draconic greatsword. The man before him had brute strength, and a baseball bat. Ryugi had brute strength, and a weapon that was as iconic to his image as his scarf. The man wanted to test Ryugi's strength directly? He would give the man that honor, to return his honoring of Ryugi at the start of their fight. Would the ogre have given Ryugi the same courtesy? Probably not, but that didn't matter. For the moment, Ryugi would fight with only the weapon at his side as he had done with Athan, and all the tenacity and determination for which he was famous.

His weapon in hand, Ryugi marched forward, his red eyes strong and determined as he sidestepped the thrown head of Dzan with little trouble, and continued to march ahead into the man's charging advance. Ryugin, Silver Dragons, we ride...

Stamina: 100

Energy: 30+10=40

[3/17]

((I mentioned this in the Debug and Pause thread, but one more time can't hurt. I'm ready, able, and really want to make a post. However, I need to discuss more than a couple of issues with Sutiiven first, and that's really the only reason for any delay on my part. This'll also be the placeholder for my future post.

Edit: My reply will not be here but rather will be an entirely new entry as to not cause any confusion.))

MagnusXL Wrote:

"You'll pay for that one."

With that the man took a deep breath. If the vampire had supernaturally keen senses, he might note that Moonblade continued to draw in breath, though it wasn't a completely overt action one usually paid mind to. The pain of expanding his chest in such a manner with a fractured rib would be excruciating, but it was nothing more than he had handled in the past.

"...!"

There was a gash in the shoulder, the coat split and the pale flesh beneath revealed. It burned as the caustic flames both charred and boiled undead flesh. Normally his undead resilience would have helped to dull the wound but in this case the weapon used was ideally suited to hurting him. This caused KB some concern, though it was only apparent as a tight lipped straight face where usually he wore a smile.

Pushing the thought out of his mind as Moonblade reeled back and the energy surrounding him dissipated, KB stood to full height and thrust his right palm out towards the homonculus. Standing roughly perpendicular but with his head turned to the injured elf, his left hand moved in a circular motion unlooping the vine on his forearm even as his right exploded with negative energy. There would be no mercy afforded as the attack coalesced in his palm and then lashed out in a twisting bolt of three ribbons leaving a smoky aftertrail.

After Moonblade bounced off the wall slightly, the ranged attack would already be in motion. It was aimed to impact the center mass, simply due to it being the most reliable target. That being said, it was also close enough to the rib wound that that would be an added bonus. This punishing strike had roughly the same strength as the shoulder check had, although without the danger of direct piercing damage. Nonetheless, it carried an insidious secondary effect of its own.

Code: [Magus]

KB has mastered the ability to manifest his Negative Energy in short, ranged bursts. Using Godhand KB can direct a small blast towards a target with limited tracking ability. The ability can be fired in one of two ways, either x1 shot or x3. When fired x1 the cooldown is 2 posts. When fired x3 the cooldown is 5 posts. The maximum range of the attack is 30ft.

This attack applies the Negative Energy effect on-hit and x1 does as much damage as being punched. x3 does as much damage as being shoulder-checked.

x3 charges fired

Code: [Energy Drain]

A living creature physically struck by a vampire suffers energy drain, which is the effect of negative energy on the soul. Each time a living creature is hit by the vampire a part of its soul is immediately consumed, causing numbness, and atrophy in the enemy. This ability has no effect on undead or constructs. This effect can be blocked by armor. ( but not clothing ) Blocking an attack counts as being hit but has reduced effect ( 50% ). Effect lasts 1 post. Consecutive hits to the same area cause this effect to stack up to 3 times. ( 1 tired, 2 weakness, 3 paralyzation ) after which there is a 2 post cooldown before the person can be affected again.

[5/17]

(( For the sake of clarity not attempting to apply energy drain from the dash since it was the weapon ( gauntlet ) that hit, so don't worry about that. ))

The King of Monsters KB Wrote:

As the en-spiraled bolt of negative energy coursed towards Ammiel, he swiftly held the Silver Moonblade in front of himself to protect himself from the attack. The flames around the sword would be extinguished as he braced his open left hand behind the blade portion of the weapon to better fortify himself against any potential force of the projectile. The projectile was successfully blocked, the physical damage being completely mitigated.

Unfortunately, the energy drain effect bypassed the protection his weapon otherwise afforded. The magus immediately found himself exhausted, his teeth gritting at the sudden loss of stamina. This effect was somewhat greater than KB would have otherwise expected a blocked attack to have. Despite being a spellcaster, it was clear that Moonblade was highly vulnerable to magic himself.

Spellflair Wrote:

Spellflair: The Silver Moonblade can utilize the excess magical energy left over by the opponent's spells, drawing the energy directly into the blade. This absorbed energy can either be transferred directly into Ammiel for 5% mana or to power any of the weapon's specific abilities, such as Silver Eclipse or Lunatic Spellflair. This power cannot absorb any energy from auras or passive effects.

((*Note2: If multiple abilities or spells are used by the opponent, he may receive mana multiple times. This does not include a single ability with multiple projectiles or the like, however.))

The leftover energy from KB's attack was drawn into the Silver Moonblade, causing the brilliant artificial sheen around the weapon to glow ever so slightly brighter. While not as overt as Ryugi's "Legendary Sword" Ragnarok, it was apparent that the Silver Moonblade was a drinker of all things magic.

Arcane Regression Wrote:

-Arcane Regression: Moonblade's original body was born completely devoid of magic, which makes him far more susceptible to magical effects and energy-based attacks. However, this also allows his new-found magical influence (namely that of draconic nature) to have a more profound effect on his body. As Ammiel is subjected to external magic and energy, the dragon portion of his body automatically attempts to respond to the threat, effectively making him 'more draconic' for a short period of time. Each time Moonblade is hit by a magical attack, his magic resistance is increased by 25% (from a base of around -50%) and overall physical statistics are improved by 10%. This lasts for two posts since the magic last attack made against him, then slowly reverts by the same amount per post. Can have a max of five stacks for a total of 75% Magic resistance and a 50% bonus to his base stats. However, this draconic defense isn't purely beneficial; having a massive physical response against magical influence blocks the casting of his more powerful mystic or anti-draconic spells (see the 'Limiter' tags below each ability).

Building up a large store of refined mana in his body also triggers a potential response from Arcane Regression, locking him into a minimal number of stacks. When those mana levels go down, he will begin to lose stacks at his regular rate.

Moonblade's body, on the other hand, was faaaaaar less receptive to outside magical interference. Underneath his armor and gauntlets, small silver scales were beginning to breech the surface of his skin. This would more than likely go unnoticed to the vampire, though it would be far more noticeable as the 'condition' worsened.

Inhaling air with the pain of a fractured rib and physical exhaustion caused by the vampire's draining technique was already proving to be far more difficult than the magus had anticipated. As such, the man exhaled, releasing the energy he had already stored.

Breath Weapon (Emerald Fire) Wrote:

-Breath Weapon (Emerald Fire): Mixing his inborn ability to use the emerald fire and the Dragon Knight's skill to emulate a dragon's breath weapon, Moonblade can shoot off a gout of Emerald fire in either a cone form or a straight burst. The longer he brings in air, the more powerful the blast is. However, there is a maximum to how much air his lungs can hold before he's forced to release (must release on third turn). If Moonblade is somehow prevented from releasing his breath weapon, he takes internal damage as his lungs are stretched beyond their limits. Ten seconds passed the normal maximum and Moonblade risks bursting a hole in one of his lungs.

Cone - Increases range and maximum diameter by ten feet per round of charge, up to three rounds.

Burst - Not being used right now.

Cost: Charge time only.

Limiter: This ability is unaffected by Arcane Regression.

A brilliant gout of the familiar emerald flames would billow down the narrow passageway of the maze in a ten foot diameter cone. The flames themselves would penetrate the warp-corrupted shrubbery, sparking more then one small (non-magical) fire within the drier vegetation in the center of the maze wall. With that the cyborg's interference was made completely irrelevant in every way as smoke began to billow out... and inwards.

As the mystic dragoon exhaled, a brilliant silver aura surrounded the blade of his weapon. Using the cone of fire as a (rather deadly) distraction, the silver moonblade was arched back, igniting in emerald flames again as the weapon was brought downward in a diagonal slash.

Silver Eclipse Wrote:

-Silver Eclipse: A weapon encompassing spell only useable by the Silver Moonblade. While active, silver lunar energy surrounds the blade, adding two inches of effective range to both its width and length. When Moonblade swings his sword, he may activate the second part of the spell, causing the blade to launch a crescent-shaped silver bolt of energy at the opponent with width equal to the length of the Silver Moonblade. Silver Eclipse has enough force to break a human's skin and leave a nasty cut, but not enough to cleave through them or penetrate bone. It has no effect on materials like metal and is (at least partially) stopped by armor. Using the second portion of the spell removes the enchantment. Can be augmented with Emerald Fire/Frost, but not Wyvernfang.

Cost: 5% OR one stack off of Moonflair / Spellflair.

Limiter: As this ability is 'cast' by the Silver Moonblade itself, it is unaffected by Arcane Regression.

The enchantment Moonblade had placed on his weapon was immediately released with a single sword strike. The crescent shaped bolt of emerald flaming energy flew towards the vampire at roughly 65 miles per hour behind the tail end of the breath weapon, poised to stripe across his entire torso in a diagonal. While this wouldn't cleave through KB or penetrate any armor, it would inflict a nasty cut in any unprotected skin. Regular clothing struck by this attack would be completely ruined as well. As an added bonus, more fire damage.

The magus was lucky that neither component of his one-two combo was dependent on his physical strength, of which he had virtually none of at the moment.

Character Status Wrote:

Unrefined Mana: 35% (30% + 5% Natural)

Refined Mana: 0%)

Arcane Regression Stacks: 1/5

Moonblade Charges: 2/10

-Moonblade is exhausted (1 post remaining).

[5/17]

MagnusXL Wrote:

Inhaling air with the pain of a fractured rib and physical exhaustion caused by the vampire's draining technique was already proving to be far more difficult than the magus had anticipated. As such, the man exhaled, releasing the energy he had already stored.

No.

Moonblade had been drawing in breath even through the process of blocking the attack, which ultimately proved troublesome as it was the key to unleashing his counterattack. There was no way KB could have guessed the spellsword would be breathing fire at him. All that could truly be accounted for was the brief falter of strength in his opponent. Yes, he could almost taste his opponent's soul from a few yards away. A preternatural sense of weakness riled the vampire's bloodlust.

The last bit of vine trailed off his gloved fingertips as he charged at Ammiel. Red hot fire engulfed him, the cone enveloping his body and roiling around to splash on the hedges surrounding them. The light of the fire cast a hellish glow across the lenses of his glasses as he pounded through the charring blast, steely soles sparking up where they hit hot rocks below. Within moments the suit and overcoat the vampire wore were burnt to ash causing them to cling to his smoking flesh.

NO.

There was a roar as his right arm pulled back, silent save for where it raged in his mind. Godhand persisted through the flames even as the clothing around it was reduced to nothing. When the magical slash from the sword itself came through the fire to impact KB's chest it didn't seem to stop his charge. Instead, it split his roasted flesh wide open from shoulder to hip exposing blackened bone and boiling, rotten entrails.

Pain did not exist. He wouldn't allow it.

As the sword came down finishing its strike, the vampire would close in and attempt to punch behind the premature sword slash. His fist was aimed to impact his opponent dead center in the chest.

Code: [Executioner Strike]

KB focuses a large amount of Negative Energy into a single melee attack allowing the Energy Drain effect to bypass armor. Overall attack damage is unchanged. Cooldown: 2 posts.

Code: [Excessive Strength]

This physical power lends itself to his strikes as well, making him able to dent conventional metal armor with direct hits, or punch through unprotected flesh completely.

With any luck he would be able to deal... significant damage. The same armored fist that aimed to impact his opponent's chest would rear back immediately if it struck. Then it would strike the same spot again ( assuming he was keeping Ammiel up against the wall, as it were ) though with an open palm. Successfully planting his palm would carry a nasty surprise.

Code: [Executioner Choke]

After grabbing a hold of an enemy KB forces Negative Energy to explode in his hand, dealing explosive damage to the area held. This damage is not variable, and can be considered equal to being punched directly. Cooldown: 3 posts. ( 10ft knockback avg sized/weight person )

Either way, a curious detail emerged as his shirt and such were destroyed. A crude cord necklace with a bunch of burnt out FIGHTERS hung around his neck. The flames didn't spare the sentimental trinket any mercy, and so the cord broke, spilling the momentos onto the ground at their feet. Testaments to his past failures in Heaven or Hell, both his own and that of the teams he'd led. Pain. He felt no pain. Burnt, slashed, corroded, unrecognizable as a person... blackened and motivated only by a nexus of hate and destruction - that was his fate. The vampire would never experience pain. Only relentless and unquenchable rage. He was an engine of destruction all fire and death.

[6/17]

Where there was fire... there was...

"My teammates!" Aoi brightened up. Truly, the battle must've already begun, and it looked like it had heated up quite a bit. Aoi could tell, because there was smoke rising from a section of the maze. See what I did there?

He was slightly disappointed that his comrades had started without him, but then he grinned, thinking that late was better then never. After all, he could always drop in to lend a hand, right?

Aoi made a beeline for the area with great euthusiasm, the smoke having helped given him some bearings in this maze. As he ran, he dropped the bag of water bottles to speed up, and hit the striker button as he closed in.

Taking one giant last step the Blue Storm leapt the last tall hedgerow between him and his objective with a single bound, demonstrating his martial prowess to great effect as he cleared the obstacle, roaring "Captain!". In midair, Aoi sighted Moonblade backed up against the wall, looking to be in dire straits attempting to fend off his opponent, and the large man landed solidly between his team captain and his oncoming opponent right in the tail end of a breathe of flame!

"OOORAHHH!" the fighter rose up and roared as he immediately slammed his hands together to catch the deadly strike. KB might've had the all the advantages and strength being a vampire could garner him, but even on a good day, he would be hard pressed against the sheer power and determination present in Team Ryugin's Aoi Kushinada, the Raging Blue Storm!

The man's armored gauntlets snapped together on the offending arm like a vice, and although he wasn't completely successful stopping the blow, which now impacted into the much more manly and muscled chest of Aoi himself, the maneuver was more then capable of taking the meat out of it, the spikes only digging into his flesh a short bit of the way. Aoi was physically, much tougher then his limp-noodle faerie captain, and though he suffered searing heat from the remainder of his Captain's own attack, and felt strangely exhausted from the act of blocking such a simple (if powerful) punch, the boisterious bruiser refused to let it show, his trademark grin always on his face even as the corners of his lips and eyes displayed his strain.

Moonblade would find his salvation as Aoi greeted the KB cheerfully despite the intense pain. The Blue was a man's man after all! Pain was nothing!

"Yosh!"

In the brief time that Moonblade had come to know his teammate though, he'd recognize that word to mean, "Go!"

It also meant, "Hi" "Yes!", "Sure!", "Alright!", "Okay", "Lets do this", "Bring it on", "I'm ready", or even "Laugh out loud". It was a pretty variable catchphrase for everything Aoi did but the point was that was that Moonblade would find his spear strapped on Aoi's back, facing him. The intense emerald flames would do more then just burn the man however, they also served to burn away his shirt, and the straps that held the spear to him. Thousands of women swooned at a freeze-still of Aoi, vailantly and joyfully blocking the vampire's blow for his captain, his muscular form laying heated and bared to the air with emerald flames licking at his back, as if it was his aura of manliness made manifest!

Striker 1/2

"..."

Out of nowhere a wall of meat fell from the smoky sky and intercepted the fist. Spiked knuckles would bite into flesh where the attack landed. Despite a lot of the power being diffused by the grab, the strike had the intended effect of weakening the enemy - just the wrong one.

Moonblade was already moving away and readying another problematic spell. Through an orange haze of the glasses lenses fused to his black skull KB watched the insufferable mage. There was no time to relent, however. With both of Aoi's hands occupied holding KB, the vampire took advantage of the situation by shooting his left hand under and into the ribs of the 'Raging Storm'. By the time Moonblade had gotten into position and conjured the nearly uncontrollable spear KB's burnt palm would have already landed, then momentarily become alight with a flash of familiar power.

Code: [Executioner Choke]

After grabbing a hold of an enemy KB forces Negative Energy to explode in his hand, dealing explosive damage to the area held. This damage is not variable, and can be considered equal to being punched directly. Cooldown: 3 posts. ( 10ft knockback avg sized/weight person )

The idea was to essentially kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. By literally sending Aoi flying into his own teammate, interrupting the attempted stab from the spear. There was little doubt in KB's mind that the sheer weight of the living brick would bowl over the more willowy mage. There was also the fact that against unprotected flesh the attack had the capacity to simply blow a small hole through someone, though in the case of Aoi's obviously durable body it would probably only result in opening up a patch of torso to spill blood/guts and drive broken ribs through whatever organs weren't effectively reduced to paste.

Not that his technique was flawless. Moonblade was pretty quick, so chances were the spear would at least be thrust at KB before Aoi smashed into him, if things went that way. Due to the trajectory of everything involved it was more likely the spear would stab into the vampire's right shoulder area, effectively piercing through it and causing the arm to fall slack as bone structure was demolished.

Finally though, KB smiled at the state of things. His mouth that had been seared shut split wide to reveal the cooked interior. Then it split wider, until it seemed to go from one side of his skull to the other. Smoke billowed from the corners of his mouth as he made a giant smile, followed by a violent expulsion of boiled maggots that splashed on the ground in a wanton display of gore mastery.

Code: [Ghoul Maw]

KB's signature ability is to change the dimensions of his mouth to surreal proportions, while maintaining biting strength. Using this ability KB can easily make his mouth three to four times bigger than that of a normal person. When in use, blood and maggots cascade from his mouth and spill over his chin, and his throat seems to be a dark void without bottom. His teeth twist into enlarged, sharp, serrated things that line his mouth.

[7/17]

If it's not stupid and recklessly heroic, then its not Ryugin!

The Raging Blue Storm, so titled for his usual color of dress and his first name, easily sensed the danger inherent in staying longer. The vampire was a formidable adversary, and any advantage of surprise that he might've had while dropping in was fading fast, and with it, a chance to get out unless-scathed then he already was.

With the last of the strength he could muster, Aoi pushed outward, stumbling to his right, and away from KB, putting enough distance between them to avoid the anticipated counter-stroke. Surely enough KB's attempt to grab and maim him just grazed his side, unable to get a hold. There was no loud warcry this time, just a ragged growl as Aoi glanced back at his handiwork, holding in the sensation of pain that arched through his entire body.

It was too bothersome to reply to his captain, and Aoi figured he didn't have enough time either, so he just let his ever-present smile do the talking, and then he was off, running for the exit. As he did so, Aoi's voice and resolve finally faltered as he yelled out, "I'M BURNINGGGG WITH THE VIGOR OF BATTLEEE!!!"

Where the hell did he leave those water bottles!?

Striker 2/2

Striker Over

MagnusXL Wrote:

KB's predictions were correct, but that wasn't all. The chaotic spear cackled as near deafening bolts of purple energy coursed wildly through the vampire's penetrated shoulder, discharging all of the energy within Omega Lance directly into KB's body in a single, glorious torrent of magic. The affected area would be damaged further by the sudden influx of mana, similar to the effects of an extremely high voltage electrical burn. Presuming the vampire still operated on a system of muscles like everyone else (seeing as he wasn't a skeleton), he would find the majority of his body paralyzed by the sudden influx of mana for three seconds unless he possessed a hefty resistance to electricity.

Code: Being Undead also confers a 25% resistance to Electricity, Cold, and Poison

The shock power of the spear was still quite effective in its own right, but the effect was reduced to a degree. His right shoulder area bucked a couple of times as the 'electricity' worked against burnt flesh. It was common knowledge that the vampire's body didn't operate in the same fashion as mortals as far as the nervous system was concerned. To note, the effective means of disabling him seemed to come from breaking bones or cutting muscles.

MagnusXL Wrote:

The man took a step forward with his left, swinging the Silver Moonblade down and to the right. Silver Eclipse was finally expended as the crescent-shaped bolt of lunar energy and emerald flame was hurled towards his opponent, poised to stripe from the top of the vampire's destroyed right shoulder across his entire torso. While this would possess enough force to leave a nasty cut, it wouldn't be enough to actually cleave through KB.

Taking another step forward with his right, the "Mystic Dragoon" continued with the momentum of his first swing, bringing the still flaming silver sword back down towards the vampire's uninjured left shoulder. With four feet of range on his opponent, who currently lost the use of his primary arm, Moonblade felt that he had a lot less to fear from that horrible maw of KB's. Despite what Ryugi thought, Moonblade wasn't nearly as lenient in combat as his totally-not-a-paladin Vice Captain. While he would occasionally take mercy on some people, KB wouldn't be one of them.

It was partially luck and partially a growing shrewd appreciation for Ammiel's techniques that assisted the foul vampire in his evasion of the Silver Eclipse slash. He was growing wary of the glowing sword and its various tricks, and of course with his right arm out of operation for the most part he needed to gain an edge. To that end he dropped to a knee and reached with his left hand for what had been so... graciously delivered. With any luck the smoke of the mounting fire that had alerted Aoi to their position would help obscure the vampire's intention.

MagnusXL Wrote:

The straps mounting the Dreadnaught to Aoi's back would weaken under the corrosive fire's heat and fail, causing the wicked spear to detach and fall to ground with a decisive CLANG.

Dreadnaught Wrote:

Dreadnaught - This polearm resembles a spear with a wicked curved blade sprouting from the base of the original blade, perpendicular to the haft and main blade of the weapon. The enchanted steel weapon itself is oddly lightweight, and the blades shine with razor keenness. After the Dreadnaught was beaten up a few times, Moonblade imbued the weapon with the power to reforge itself when damaged. As the weapon may completely reform itself (removing any damage or alteration to the weapon) in the duration of a single post, the Dreadnaught is rendered functionally indestructible.

Dreadnaught Dimensions

-Shaft: 72 inches / 182.9 centimeters / 6 feet

-Spear Tip: 12 inches / 30.5 centimeters / 1 foot

-Curved Blade: 30 inches / 76.2 centimeters / 2.5 feet

-Weight: 2.5 lbs

His hand closed around the shaft as the energy crescent skimmed by overhead, sheering away some of his burnt scalp and maybe a thin layer of skull in the process. Eyes burning red with a desire to see the mage absolutely destroyed, KB would rise to meet the challenge of the advancing swordsmen. The four feet of reach afforded by the Silver Moonblade would be countered by the superior reach of the Dreadnaught. With all his might KB stepped into his opponents advance and thrust the spear at the man's chest, aiming to bury its point in its true owner. The secondary bladed protrusion on the Dreadnaught would assist in this task by 'catching' the Silver Moonblade in order to push it back against Ammiel himself and pin it to his body, or at the very least stop the sword from misdirecting the spear thrust. At least that was what KB expected from his experience with similar polearms. There existed many other possibilities as the elf's knowledge of magical techniques seemed nearly inexhaustible.

"This place is for the dead, and I am their king." He muttered under his breath through the sizzle and pop of boiled blood and roasted maggots. If there was any mercy to be afforded between the homonculus and the vampire it would be only choice words.

[8/17]

Zeo Hiroboshi Wrote:

He'd grunt with some effort to get up, but it wasn't impossible or incredibly difficult to move just yet. He'd have a little pain from his legs, but most of the wounds were only minor lacerations and burns, nothing that was going to keep him from moving around. After all, he'd only been hit twice. If he couldn't keep pushing forward after two hits, strong or not, then he had no business being in HoH, big as he was.

Up he went, but not before grabbing a handful of dirt and gravel in his left while drawing his bowie with his right. He was expecting his opponent to be close to striking distance by the time he was on his feet, but if he wasn't he'd soon close the gap to get into striking distance.

Time to see if he could do more with that sword than fling power through it.

[5/17]

His opponent was, indeed, on the move. As soon as the wave was unleashed, Ryugi wasted no time recovering from the attack, pulling Ragnarok out of the dirt as he pushed off with his legs, propelling him toward his recovering opponent. In two or three powerful strides Ryugi was at his top speed and already closing the distance while his opponent attempted to pick himself off the ground.

Then, he threw his right leg up on top of the lip of the dried up fountain and hurled himself into the air with a running jump, swinging Ragnarok down in an overhead slash as he came down. His aim? To strike his opponent with the tip of the blade along his right arm for maximum damage before he could fully recover.

The pressure was on...

Stamina: 100

Energy: 20+10=30

[5/17]

This was starting to feel like a Rocky movie, as both fighters rained down some murder shots on each other - broken nose for broken jaw wasn't exactly the best trade, but as the dervish went careening to the side from the blow (for gravity + uppercut = someone just got ********) he was pleased enough that he had landed an attack at all.

He lay on his back for a moment, watching an upside-down Edward stumble back a bit, bleeding just as much as the blonde swordsman was. If he could move his mouth, Stephen would likely have made a smart comment, but at this point the fight was not looking good for him - though anyone with a bit of blood lust in their bones was likely enjoying just how brutal this fight was getting and how quickly it was doing so.

Since he had actually landed a shot on Edward, he had to do something to give himself a little extra breathing room to get on his feet, and snapped his left hand and arm back towards the stumbling Edward's chest.

Quote:** Wrote:

Shock Shell: Stephen launches an orb of energy from his hand which detonates on command or upon collision with a solid object. The explosion releases a 25 sq. ft. spherical shock wave intended to knock anyone in range off of their feet. 2 SP. Cooldown: 2 Turns (Spiritual Ability)

Assuming he didn't dodge or miss, the good doctor would likely be smacked full force by the shockwave - Stephen wasn't immune, but the fact that he was on the ground already would mitigate some of the damage from what normally would be him being blasted off his feet. He would skid a bit across the labyrinth floor along with his dropped weapons, but beyond the scrapes that he might incur, he was likely in better shape from taking his own attack than Edward was.

Which, seeing as he had a broken jaw and aching leg, was a minor victory.

[SP]: 6/10 (+1 regen, -2 ability)

-Turn 4/17-

Where was Hoggle when you truly needed his guidance? After setting KB's portion of the Maze ablaze, the Cyborg was on the move again; though, he never really stopped moving as the orange hue grew drastically. By now thick smoke hovered atop the many Hedge's that made up the entirety of the very confusing arrangement of vegetation, if it hadn't been for Darren's FIGHTER he probably wouldn't of had the slightest clue where everyone on his Team were located, but luckily for the Drug Lord the piece of technology gave an exact coordinate of his Teammate's position. Using his peripheral vision, Darren navigated his way through the Maze, whether it was taking an ideal shortcut through an opening in a Hedge, or simply taking the correct turn. Locating Wiji Ouija wouldn't be a problem at all.

Zeo Hiroboshi Wrote:

"You ******** pus--."

Darren was getting closer, and closer by the minute. With every step he took the more sound of battle he heard, he'd continue his approach up until he had the two of them locked in his gaze, watching as they battled it out. Now wasn't the time though, paranoia struck the Cyborg as a he remembered what happened the last time he "helped" a Teammate, it ended in failure. Moonblade's magic kept the Drug Lord from dealing a sufficient amount of damage; where as, it may have been Darren's own fault for not sneaking up on the Magus. Discouragement, guilt, and yet he was obligated. Team Ryugin was going to pay for that, their Captain embarrassed him in front of everyone, this time around it would be different. This time something good would come of his offensive tactic. So he waited, for the opportune moment, peeking out from a Hedge just enough so that his target wouldn't see him. Wiji would suffer until Darren's chance revealed itself, that was unfortunate, but it was a must. "Come on you big oaf, give me my chance, lure him in..." Repeated over, and over.

And so Wiji did, drawing Ryugi into a near clinch distance sword fight. Ryugi had his back to the metal monstrosity that was Darren, and with a grin wide enough to make the Cheshire Cat gasp in horror. He pushed off his metal leg, sprinting full force toward Ryugi. Darren was fast, really, really fast; at 30mph he covered the distance between himself and Ryugi almost instantly. He didn't stop to throw a blow or anything of the sort, he slammed chest to back into Ryugi and wrapped his arms around Ryugi's waist. Right metal hand grabbing his own left human wrist, making the grip nearly impossible to break.

The force of the clash was probably enough to topple Ryugi over, but Darren was far from done. He dug his feet into the ground when they collided, dropped his weight low and kneeled, placing his forehead in between Ryugi's shoulder blades. "TIME FOR A RIDE, YOU ANIME LOSER!" He launched off his poised legs, arched his back and hauled his arms upward, the force was so impressive he literally launched himself into the air along with Ryugi.

BELLY TO BACK AIR BORNE SUPLEX! Kevin Randleman would be proud.

Ryugi would find himself sailing through the air helplessly, and then landing hard on his head and neck. The hard ground made this suplex likely highly damaging, the combined weight of the linked fighters and the force of gravity meant Ryugi would be lucky to still be conscious after this.

Zeo Hiroboshi Wrote:

Ryugi Kazamaru Wrote:

The King of Monsters KB Wrote:

To that end he dropped to a knee and reached with his left hand for what had been so... graciously delivered. With any luck the smoke of the mounting fire that had alerted Aoi to their position would help obscure the vampire's intention.

Moonblade's vision was obscured, but he wasn't completely retarded. There was only one reason KB would be bending down in front of of the magus in such a manner.

show spoilerhide spoilerIt wasn't to give Moonblade a friendly neighborhood b*****b.

That being said, there was little that the magus could do to prevent this action while swinging wu-wu magic sword beams at his opponent. He didn't have much in the way of cast times, but he wasn't omnipresent or anything equally ridiculous.

The King of Monsters KB Wrote:

With all his might KB stepped into his opponents advance and thrust the spear at the man's chest, aiming to bury its point in its true owner. The secondary bladed protrusion on the Dreadnaught would assist in this task by 'catching' the Silver Moonblade in order to push it back against Ammiel himself and pin it to his body, or at the very least stop the sword from misdirecting the spear thrust. At least that was what KB expected from his experience with similar polearms. There existed many other possibilities as the elf's knowledge of magical techniques seemed nearly inexhaustible.

As Moonblade's own spear came to shuffle him from this mortal coil, he couldn't help but feel a tinge of sincere irritation. Having few other options, he dropped his left forearm in front of him to intercept the blow. While this might seem insane, the magus was about to prove the vampire's suspicions correct once again.

Impact Ring / Impact Shield Wrote:

Impact Ring - This ring takes the form of a coiling silver eastern-style dragon worn over Moonblade's left ring finger. Simply put, this ring allows Moonblade to cast Impact Shield (see below) as a free action without much actual thought on his part. However, since the ring requires time to recharge between each use, this ability can only be utilized once every six posts.

-Impact Shield: When cast, an invisible ward of mana surrounds one of his forearms. When struck with a weapon or a physical attack, the ward 'explodes' with sufficient force to repulse the attack, knocking it away. While the force is enough to stagger someone if they're caught off-guard, it doesn't have enough force to actually throw them. Since the magic is consumed with a single, instantaneous burst, it's almost immune to the magic absorbing effects of certain weapons. Each cast is good for a single use, though with the Impact Ring it doubles as a semi-permanent 'shield' on Moonblade's left forearm.

Cost: 5%

Limiter: This ability is unusable without the Impact Ring due to Arcane Regression.

There was the unmistakable sound of shattering glass, intermixed with what might be heard as a burst of contents (in this case energy or wind) under intense pressure being released in an instant. This sound would accompany what might be visually mistaken as a highly localized pressure wave, capable of stopping even something like a straight-on spear thrust by the powerful vampire. The repulsive effect that safeguarded Moonblade wasn't entirely one-sided, however; an effect that could stop KB's "full force" was enough to send Moonblade sliding across the stone pavement roughly three feet.

As he slid back, the artificial flames surrounding the Silver Moonblade were extinguished, shortly there after being replaced by an emerald aura of intense cold. This was of course coupled with another application of Silver Eclipse: the enchantment that keeps on giving.

Emerald Frost Wrote:

-Emerald Frost: One of Moonblade's specialties. Due to the influence of his new body, the magic that makes up Emerald Fire can be corrupted and manipulated to instead create a thick layer of frigid-cold energy in virtually any form around most of his techniques. This energy can be solidified into emerald-colored ice, giving augmented attacks a physical property before they impact. Abilities enveloped by Emerald Frost are -80 degrees Fahrenheit in temperature. This ability CANNOT be used simultaneously with Emerald Fire.

The King of Monsters KB Wrote:

"This place is for the dead, and I am their king." He muttered under his breath through the sizzle and pop of boiled blood and roasted maggots. If there was any mercy to be afforded between the homonculus and the vampire it would be only choice words.

His opponent's horrible, grotesque visage was accented by the raging inferno taking place around them. With a backdrop of flames and growing cloud of horrible black smoke to accompany him, Moonblade had to hand it to KB: the vampire certainly looked the part. Squinting his eyes through the heat and irritating smoke, Moonblade gave his opponent a condescending grin.

"Challenge accepted, your highness."

As he spoke, a pair of gorgeous, draconic wings of pure azurian magic outstretched from behind the magus from seemingly nowhere, sprouting from his back without so much as an auditory warning. While they appeared to have something around an 18 foot wingspan, they would effortlessly and harmlessly pass through any object they came into contact with, being merely a metaphysical representation for the desired effect. This included the maze wall in accompanying flames, which the wings ignored entirely.

Mystic Wings Wrote:

-Mystic Wings: Ephemeral 'wings' of mystic magic are formed around Moonblade's frame. With a mighty flap, he emulates the force of a Great Wyrm's wing-beat, unleashing a wind-blast capable of tossing characters of medium to large size up to ten feet with relative ease. These 'wings' have no physical mass and cannot be used for flight in any form, as they are merely representation of the emulation.

Cost: 10%

Limiter: This ability is unaffected by Arcane Regression.

The wings would slam forward with thunderous force, creating a gust of wind powerful enough the hurl the vampire ten feet into the now-burning maze wall. The wind blast itself would do little but fan the flames, but at least it would send the majority of this insufferable smoke away from Moonblade with KB for the moment, granting him a temporary reprieve.

As the vampire (presumably) flew backwards from the gust of wind, Ammiel would bring his sword down once more, sending another crescent shaped projectile towards his opponent. This time, however, Silver Eclipse would take the form of a thin sheet of magical ice that threatened to slam into the vampire at 65 miles per hour. While the vampire would be resistant to the cold aspect of the attack (which was moot given the sheet amounts of fire and heat surrounding them), he wouldn't be so resistant to the physical force behind it.

The smug kind of expression Moonblade wore at this moment was one that normal people got their asses beaten for.

"Did you honestly think that you could withstand my magic?"

The man reached back with his left hand, grabbing his cape and bringing it across his front, wearing it over his pauldron like a proper cloak. He managed to intentionally brush his hair to the side as he did so, causing it to flow majestically (read as: fabulously). Conveniently, this movement also caused the feather of his really nice hat to sway in an aesthetically pleasing manner.

Sunglasses sold separately.

Cloak of the Silver-Born Dragon Wrote:

Cloak of the Silver-Born Dragon - An enchanted, jet black cloak with extravagant silver embroidering along the entire trim of the material. The magical cloak is enchanted in such a way as to be impervious to all forms of fire and heat; the cloak is constantly cool to the touch as heat is rebounded away from it and the wearer. Worn mostly as a cape, Moonblade can bring the cloak in front of himself, creating an effective barrier against conventional fire-based attacks. The cloak completely blocks heat and fire-based attacks up to 600 degrees Fahrenheit. Attacks of higher temperatures can be defended against for up to five seconds, minus one second for every 200 degrees above the original threshold. The cloak reacts in a similar manner to ALL draconic breath weapons, completely protecting the wearer from such attacks regardless of elemental alignment.

The cloak itself would help make overwhelming heat coming from the surrounding blaze almost bearable. Though it did nothing to protect his actual face, it did help keep his core temperature down immeasurably. Of course, this meant that his left hand was trapped under the cloak; he would have to stop protecting the front side of his body from the heat if he wanted to act with two hands.

Character Status Wrote:

Unrefined Mana: 15% (25% + 5% Natural - 5% Impact Shield - 10% Mystic Wings)

Refined Mana: 0%

Arcane Regression Stacks: 0/5

Moonblade Charges: 1/10

-Impact Shield is recharging (6 posts remaining).

-The effectiveness of Moonblade's next spell is increased by 20%.

[8/17]

Stephen would drag himself to his feet, taking his weapons and returning them to their sheathes in case he needed to get them at a later point. Unlikely, since this fight was looking to turn into a rock-em-sock-em-throwdown due to the sheer fact that Edward seemed to be more machine than man with the exception of his now bloodied pretty face, but better safe than sorry.

Spraying blood from his mouth as best he could, he tapped his mp3 player and started up the next track of his playlist.

Track 3: Halo

Oh yes. It was on now.

The monastic chants started up and he watched his opponent work to get on his feet. His eyes were now filled with purpose, a blood wrath welling up inside his beaten and partially broken body. This was going to get messy.

The drums kicked in and the dervish charged, going full tilt at his opponent. When close, he would leap at his opponent from whatever side was most easily available and attempt to grapple him around the neck. The left arm would be used to hold on for dear life while the other started attempting to rain shot after shot of punches on the good doctor's head.

He didn't expect to be allowed to stay there, but he didn't particularly care - if he expected Stephen to go down, he'd see that it would be kicking and screaming.

[SP]: 7/10 (+1 Regen)

-Turn 5/17-

The cyberpunk maneuvered his feet underneath him, and began to push up. Had he held a sense of urgency in getting to his feet, Edward would have jumped to an upright position in an energetic fashion, and probably would had enough time to more properly defend himself against his opponent. However, he held no such sense, for he felt safe at that very moment. Sure, his opponent had struck him with a ball of energy, but the cyborg supposed that was simply to buy the dervish more time. The cyborg had supposed wrong.

Edward heard the quick footfalls of Stephen's charge, and turned his head to find his opponent coming towards him. Then, the dervish leaped, presumably in an attempt to land right atop the detective. From such a slothful position, there wasn't any chance for him to avoid Stephen's pounce, so he did the only thing that came to mind. He raised his shield-arm, poising it to intercept the dervish's attack. Unfortunately for Stephen, that was only half of what Edward's plan entailed. At the center of the shield, the skull wearing a pair of green-tinted goggles with a goofy and toothy grin wasn't only emblematic. It served a purpose.

Suddenly, while Stephen was in mid-flight, a cone of flames erupted from the skull's open mouth. The flames reached out towards the airborne fighter; the dimensions of the cone (4 feet in length, and 2 feet in diameter) only big enough to wash over a good bit of the dervish's torso. The fire was hot enough to make it difficult to breath, for both combatants, and would easily cause Stephen's coat and some of his clothes to catch fire. Not to mention the plethora of 1st and 2nd degree burns that would surely follow such an attack.

Crash and Burn Wrote:

At the center of the shield, there's the unmistakeable shape/picture of a skull with a pair of goggles on. The skull is painted in a bleached white color, while the goggles' lenses are painted green much like Ed's own goggles. It's mouth is grinning cartoonishly, and there's a hole in the middle of the shield where the skull's teeth are slightly parted. At first glance, the hole seems inconspicuous at barely an inch in diameter and with nothing seemingly inside. However, that's a mistake. Within, a barrel is housed which on command fires a one-time cone of flames in a manner similar to a flamethrower.

It's capabilities are as follows:

1. The flamethrower can only be used once a match. This includes strikers.

2. The cone is only fired for two seconds, which is long enough for some decent burns and to set things that are flammable on the opponent's person (like clothing) or other things it might hit (like carpets, drapes, wood.)

3. The cones diameter is two feet and it's range is 4 feet, making it a close-quarters attack.

4. The heat from the flames from the fire, and the burning of the liquid fuel heats up Ed's metal arm like a frying pan on a stove. This effect lasts for two posts.

The built-in flamethrower would only fire for two seconds, still firing after Stephen collided with the detective (sending the pair back to the ground) but not long after. Edward's back hit the floor once more, lifting his legs to plant the soles of his sneakers onto his opponent's body as he did so. The cyberpunk did very well in keeping his cybernetic arm away from him, which was now burning hot (along with the shield itself) like a pan on a stove, keeping his opponent at bay and preventing him to space needed to initiate his grapple. Of course, if the punches still rained down even through the flames and the flaming hot shield against his chest, then surely the dervish would find his mark over the cyborg's shield.

Edward would curl up, lowering his head and allowing his opponent to pound down on his forehead and top of his skull. It would certainly hurt, cutting open his scalp a couple of times, but the detective was sure that the feeling would be mutual. The top of his skull, including the thick forehead, was entirely composed of a dense steel.

Metal Skullcap Wrote:

[Metal Skullcap] Edward’s entire Calvaria has been replaced by a dome-shaped plate made out of very dense steel. It protects the cranial cavity and the brain that resides within better than bone could ever hope. Theoretically, it could take a blade but whether the cyberpunk would be knocked out cold from the blow as opposed to being killed is a completely different story. This Skullcap isn’t something you want to punch head-on or take a head butt from.

Burning Arm: 1/2

Cool-down 1: 1/4

-Five-

Zeo Hiroboshi Wrote:

Whatever tipped Ryugi off to Darren's approach the ogre couldn't say nor did he try to take the time to piece it out. With the tables turned on who was retreating and who was on the attack the changeling didn't have the luxury of waiting around and pondering the play by play of the match.

As Ryugi dodged Wigi would be coming in hot pursuit right after, bolting as fast as he can towards his enemy so he didn't get room to get comfortable. He wasn't going to give his opponent time to get a good look at him and Darren from a distance. No, he was going to use his dodge against him. Ryugi had one arm off his sword, the other bracing himself against the ground which allowed Wigi to take advantage of his opponent's lowered position. He'd leap into a full-on flying knee to the VC's face with his right leg as soon as he got into the inside of Ryugi's sword. He didn't need the VC trying to impale him or anything crazy after all.

As this was happening he was going to swap the bowie into a reverse grip with his left hand in case Ryugi decided to try to do something with that big sword of his. Wigi speculated that by the time he was in range for his knee there wasn't much Ryugi could do with that sword anyways, what with the close range and all, but the dragon was never short on ammunition to throw out it seemed and the ogre wanted to make sure that there weren't going to be any physical surprises he couldn't at least hinder.

If all went well then Ryugi was about to get over 300 lbs hurdled at him via flying knee to the face.

[7/17]

Heart of a Ryugin - Climb to the Heavens...

There is a saying that says when a beast is cornered, one must be wary, for when its back is against the wall, it has but one way to move, and that is forward, and with all the ferocity and power in its heart. Ryugi Kazamaru was a Heaven or Hell Veteran. He had fought in every single tournament in one way or another since the very beginning. That year, Team Ryugin was fighting hard. They were a new team composed mostly of underdogs no one expected to get anywhere, and yet, against all odds, Ryugin had fought, tooth and nail, kicking and clawing their way through the ranks. Each round came and went, eliminations came and went, and yet, Ryugin continued to advance, all the way to the Heaven or Hell Finals to face of the soon to be legendary Team Glacier. Vahn Fah had fought against Meryl Tomorrow, and had decimated her, clinching the first win for Team Glacier. In the second bout, Cristopher Reinhart trounced Sunstrike in the ring, tacking up the first victory for Team Ryugin. It was tied, one to one, and it came down to the final fight between Ryugi Kazamaru and Shouyin Velvel...

Ryugi fought and fought hard, but his inexperience in dealing with someone that fought like the young stone elemental ultimately caused the downfall of his entire strategy. In that one, single fight, Ryugi had caused the downfall of his team when they had come so far, done so much to get to where they were. Every year after that, Ryugi fought, and fought with all his might, and yet, no matter how hard he tried, something always seemed to stop the advance of his team. Some were his fault, others were not, but that changed nothing. Each failure stacked on top of itself, pushing Ryugi to try harder, push farther, forcing him to move forward with his now legendary Unbreakable Resolve.

Now, in Round 1 of Heaven or Hell 2012, in the seventh tournament, Ryugi Kazamaru once more stood on the field with a reborn Team Ryugin. There was no Team Glacier standing in their way. They were no longer a team of underdogs. They had grown, he had grown, evolved, and as the blurry figure moved across the battlefield, as if in slow motion as Ryugi began to react, Ryugi's resolve solidified. He was a Ryugin, a Silver Dragon. This was their show time, their go time, and on the wings of a dragon, they would ride, all the way to the top, and grasp the victory that had been denied to them for so long. People would laugh at them, mock them, seek to make them out to be less than they truly were, but in his heart, Ryugi knew that few teams had the camaraderie, and the strength that Ryugin carried. Their spirit would not be denied. This was the first battle in a long line of them to come. And in order to push his team to the top, Ryugi would pull deep from his reserves, and defeat all who would threaten that dream that all of them fought for.

Ryugi's red eyes flashed, and in an instant, a literal wall of energy would flash up between him and his opponent...

Ryugi's Profile Wrote:

Light Manipulation -

This technique allows Ryugi to call on light energy to form any number of solid objects for attack or defensive purposes, much like a shadow elemental, but using light energy instead. Stamina is used to manifest objects based on their size and complexity. ((10 Energy for small objects [knives, brass knuckles], 25 Energy for medium objects [shortsword, katana, light shield, longsword etc], 40 Energy for large objects [energy walls, heavy shield, greatsword, greatspear, lance, large ball and chain, tower shield, buster sword etc], varying on overall construction)) If the objects are not destroyed in combat, the energy can be reabsorbed by Ryugi and used to replace some of the Energy / Health lost during their creation (50% energy/health refund). Any Energy/Health refunded is refunded as Energy, and does not add to Ryugi's HP/Stamina.

The wall would intercept the flying knee, cracks in the construct showing the force that had been dropped into it by the ogre as it threatened to give way. But Ryugi was not done. He was going for broke with this move, giving everything he had... On the other side of the wall, Ryugi had dropped Ragnarok, his right hand pulsing with energy as he pulled it back, his legs pushing off of the ground, blurring at a speed that was seemingly impossible for someone as bulky as Ryugi...

Ryugi's profile Wrote:

Lightspeed Dash –

Despite the name, Ryugi does not move at light speed. This technique allows Ryugi to boost in a direction for better evasion and speed. Each boosting action drains a small bit of Energy from Ryugi varying on how long the boost is maintained. Ryugi's form appears to blur slightly during this boosting, and Energy drains from his pool. A full post of "Cooldown" is required after the use of a dash before another may be used, preventing spamming of the attack, and dashes can be used no more than 5 times per battle due to the difficulty of accelerating Ryugi's body to these speeds using his own energy. In addition, this ability can be used to increase the speed of a sword strike made by Ryugi, therefore increasing the collision force. The cooldown and total still apply to uses of this technique in this manner. ((20 Energy))

In just a moment, while Wigi would still be dealing with his sudden stop into the wall, Ryugi would be surging forward with pure unbridled force, his right fist tearing through his own wall of energy while his opponent would effectively be blind to his exact location for a thunderously powerful punch into his opponent's body. Ryugi did not weigh 300 pounds, but his momentum was incredible, and the force of his punch, combined with that movement speed would make the attack far more powerful and direct than anything else the dragon man had thrown at the ogre so far. So powerful was the combination of the dash and Ryugi's launching motion, that even if Ryugi made contact, he would continue to move with the power of the Lightspeed Dash behind him.

Regardless of the punch connecting or not, Ryugi would literally be thrown into the air, as would his opponent if it hit, causing him, or he and his opponent to climb skyward and into the air from the forces involved. Ryugi was not holding back his strength, aiming to strike the ogre with every ounce of his body's might, a body capable of lifting 700 pounds over his head that had given everything it could to make this punch happen and be as damaging as possible. In fact, the impact force from the punch, if it connected, would be so great that Ryugi's arm would take shock damage and shock trauma from the force of impact regardless of the damage to his opponent's body.

As Ryugi passed the area of effect of the wall of energy from Light Manipulation, the wall of energy would detonate from a signal given by Ryugi in the form of a snap from his left hand.

Ryugi's Profile Wrote:

Attack List and Specials

While these are the most commonly used attacks by Ryugi, he may use his fire or light energy to create improvised attacks with his abilities for different situations not specified within the profile, but nothing on par with his finishing moves.

This detonation would be created from the remaining energy. If Wigi was still standing there somehow, he would be hit with an explosion of burning light energy, hitting a temperature of nearly 600 degrees Fahrenheit, and a concussive burst that would cause him to be knocked to his feet. If he was being carried by the force of Ryugi's punch, the detonation would do no harm to him, or to Ryugi, but it would actually serve to propel the both of them higher into the air from the wave of force acting upon them...

It was time to finish this...

Stamina: 100-20=80

Energy: 40+10-50=0

[7/17]

Aoi's big ole book of definitions Wrote:

Definition of Subtly: Searching.... searching.... searching.

Error. Definition not found.

((Red Card OP - Nerf TF plz))

Zeo Hiroboshi Wrote:

With the wind knocked out of him briefly and his knife stuck in his opponent, there wouldn't be a lot of swinging back the ogre could do at the moment. So he and his opponent would continue onwards in the same direction, presumably until they hit the bushes. Being as how they were going to be body-to-body he'd do what little he could to keep his opponent from moving around and throw his arm over his left shoulder in a weak overhook around his shoulder to try and buy some time.

[8/17]

Heart of a Ryugin - And Burn through all Obstacles to grasp Victory

Both Ryugi and Wigi hurtled through the air, the man's knife sticking solidly from Ryugi's gut, but as the blood flowed forth, Ryugi's eyes flashed with red orange light. The pain only served to make him push harder. He'd win this no matter what, fight with everything he had. His spirit and blood was BURNING RED, and he would show the man before him the full power that he had at his disposal! As his eyes flashed with light, his entire body burst into searing hot, and roiling flames...

Ryugi's Profile Wrote:

Blazing Aura -

In short, this ability is more for show than actual combat effectiveness, except in very certain situations, or when augmented with more energy to bolster the effect. Ryugi is capable of manifesting an aura of flames of approximately 500-600 degrees Fahrenheit, safely, out to a range of 2 feet in each direction. This aura can be maintained indefinitely at the cost of Ryugi's passive energy regeneration. Ryugi's regeneration does not return until a full turn after the aura has been taken down (the regeneration resumes as normal after a post of delay). The aura can be used to attack with heat and flames as well, similar to a pulse of fire, heat, and light around Ryugi as an epicenter, with a corresponding energy cost to accompany it. ... ((10 Energy each turn to maintain - disables energy regeneration until one turn after aura is halted. After three turns of continuous use the drain is increased to 15 energy per turn.))

As Wigi went to grab hold of Ryugi, he would find that he would fail SUCCEED. He hooked Ryugi around the shoulder, but, he suddenly found himself hugging a furnace as he became engulfed in Ryugi's fiery aura. Normally, the flames would sit at a toasty 600 degrees, harmless temperatures for the fire elemental to which Wigi was clinging. In fact, Ryugi's body was immune to fire damage at at or below 600 degrees Fahrenheit. The average human body would suffer second degree burns at that temperature in roughly 1.5 seconds. But Ryugi was going a step further as his own left arm wrapped around Wigi and held the ogre to his body, which in turn would pin the knife into his stomach, and prevent the ogre's other arm from moving. While that hurt like a b*h, Ryugi was determined and fought off the pain. For that matter, what happened immediately after the grab was going to hurt like a b*h for both his opponent, and Ryugi himself... While his left arm did that, Ryugi's right arm would fight with all his physical strength to plant itself firmly over Wigi's mouth, eyes, and nose, cutting off his air supply.

The temperature of the aura spiked and the flames burned with a golden white-blue hue as the air distorted from the massive jump in temperature and oxygen rushing to feed the flames. The flames that now erupted from Ryugi were burning at the absolutely tremendous temperature of 1,100 Degrees Fahrenheit. Exposed human skin would receive second degree burns in one tenth of a second at that temperature, and third degree burns in approximately half a second. But Ryugi was not human, and his elemental resistance allowed him to withstand the intense heat for three full seconds before even he would begin to feel the burn. Ryugi's hand planting firmly over the ogre's mouth, eyes, and nose would serve to spare Wigi's lungs, eyes, and nasal passages the incredibly harmful internal burns that would happen if he tried to breathe in the super-heated environment around Ryugi, and spare the skin over his eyes from burning as well. It was a cruel mercy, but Ryugi did not wish his opponent that much harm.

The ogre's chest armor would very likely be super-heated depending on its composition, or might ignite if it was made of leather or something else. The metal bracers on his arms would also super-heat in the inferno. Luckily for Wigi, the pair would strike the ground, hard, in a flaming body slam at high speed near the hedges BEFORE the full three seconds had elapsed, sparing him from the full brunt of the ability that Ryugi had unleashed as Ryugi dropped the temperature to roughly 100 degrees Fahrenheit. He wasn't trying to kill Wigi, but he was trying to deal significant damage and hamper movement or chances of attack. With the full weight of Ryugi crushing down on him, combined with the force of impact, Wigi would likely suffer some nasty impact injuries, outside of the serious burns from the aura, and likely have a few broken ribs. The impact would be, luckily for him, spread out across the whole of his body, rather than focussed only on his head, which could still give him a possible concussion, or knock him out, but he would not be struck with lethal force by the impact. Ryugi, however, would have the ogre's body to cushion his fall, taking much less damage from the sudden stop.

The only problem? Wigi's knife had just been slammed sideways through Ryugi's gut, causing a tremendous wave of pain to surge through Ryugi as he felt the blade cut through the skin of his stomach and nearly disembowel him. If the cut had been much larger, it very well might have done just that... The pain was so intense that his eyes lost what little focus they had, and he nearly blacked out. But he grit his teeth and threw himself off of his opponent as quickly as he possibly could after he regained his senses, which would be approximately two full seconds, and that was just for him to be capable of thought outside the mental statement of something similar to "******** OW."

Of course. that was assuming Wigi would let go, even with Ryugi using his face as a hand-plant to pull himself free using all the strength he could muster in his heavily wounded condition.

Stamina: 80-60=20

Energy: 10-10=0

[8/17]

[JUDGE RISE] - BGM: [x]

Time rippled around Darren, frozen safe himself. A rift tore the air itself open, dumping a mass of metal onto the ground which manifested into a humanoid form: a sharp edged knight with a massive blood red cape flowing outward in one rapid fall.

A loud, raspy voice boomed outward: ".. you may replace your fallen. But there must be equality in all things, Darren. To earn the right of battling Moonblade, you must suffer beyond pain. Here is your reward, born from your desire for blood."

And then.. muscles exploded.

"BEGIN."

It was instantly, that this monstrous knight had stepped directly into Darren's vicinity, and lodged a gauntlet fingertip into the man's mouth-- smoothly removing several of the man's teeth out of his gums. Bone and nerves, removed as though useless.

That was the right hand though.

The left would fracture half of Darren's jaw, coating gray metal with red blood.

Then it would expand into a palm, groping the fighter's face-- and slamming it along with the poor cyborg's body straight to the ground, proceeding to give it a little loving treatment.

After making sure his skull was rather ... roughed up a notch, the judge decided to slide backwards, and give the cyborg a help up onto his feet -- dropping so low to the ground that it was but an iota away from falling.

Darren was uppercut back onto his feet, blood showering wildly,

And then, a metallic foot smashed Darren's chest, knocking every singular bit of air out of the cyborg's lungs and sending him flying over 20 feet into the [Warped Gardens], also causing internal hemorrhaging.

The judge's foot remained flat-first in the air for sometime, before calmly descending to the ground, resting itself even.

"...Good luck, and fight well, Darren."

Then, said judge departed back into the rift, time returning to the battle.

[KB DOWN!]

[DARREN EMERGES]

[-FIGHT RESUME-]

The raven, sitting up on the perfect perch that was the statue of Sunstrike would have winced... instead it only thought to itself as it watched the annoying metal man go flying... I'm not healing that one... way too much work will the injuries that her friends were suffering with already today.

Moonblade's Mystic Wings were more effective than he initially, hurling the wounded vampire through the burning maze wall out of sight. Before he could pursue his opponent, he promptly received an official message from the tournament staff to his FIGHTER.

Ammiel's FIGHTER Wrote:

To : A. Moonblade

From : HoH Judge

Subject : You're not done yet, scrub.

FILE ATTACHMENT

Understandably perplexed, Moonblade ducked back and began to travel away from the CORRIDOR OF FIRE, making a considerate physical effort to increase his store of energy. While it was clear that the vampire was no longer his opponent, the match was similarly never officially called, so it made little sense not to draw the mana advantage where he could get it.

Once clear of the majority of the smoke, Moonblade clicked the attached file, only to be treated by the brief spiel spoken by the armor-clad Judge of Justice. What followed was what could probably be described as the worst a** beating of the cyborg's life... all in a time frame so short that Moonblade could barely track what had happened. The accompanying music somehow made it even better.

"..........."

Looking up from his FIGHTER as he turned another corner, he found himself face to face with the heavily injured Darren with roughly ten feet of playing room between them.

"Pff....pfff...."

Immediately, the homunculus found himself fighting to stifle a laugh. The cyborg's swollen and bloodied face mixed with the video he had just witnessed struck a sort of humorous cord within the magus. Ammiel failed to keep his composure in the end as Darren took a particularly drawn and exasperated breath.

"Bahahahahahahahahahahaha!"

Clutching his side, Moonblade couldn't help but point his left hand at his new opponent and laugh. It didn't help the man's case that he had been effectively shut down from his STRIKER attempt prior. To top it off, the music from the attached file was still playing clearly in the background, at least loud enough for Darren to hear. Wiping a tear from his eye (at least partially caused by the excruciating pain of laughing with a fractured rib) with his left hand, the hysterical magus spoke.

"That's classic. Seriously though... I think this look suits you much, much better."

Of course, the man spent too much time laughing to actually preemptively blast his opponent, allowing the man time to recover stamina a bit. While this may seem unintentional, Moonblade didn't have the heart to completely wail on the man the instant he stepped out of such a titanic a** beating; he didn't want to leave any questions as to who the superior combatant was.

Naturally, that means that the bonus effectiveness to his next spell he gained from KB expired completely.

Character Status Wrote:

Unrefined Mana: 35% (15% + 5% Natural + 5% No Cast Bonus + 10% Mana Charge)

Refined Mana: 0%

Arcane Regression Stacks: 0/5

Moonblade Charges: 1/10

-Impact Shield is recharging (5 posts remaining).

[9/17]

Darren sighed, and sighed hard. His FIGHTER was flashing, telling him Wigi had been eliminated, and now Darren was stepping in for the oft delinquent vampire known as KB, and worse then that? He had to fight Moonblade, a magus of no compare in the this circle of fighters. Darren possessed no magic, no powers, and tragically, no such defense to powers. Normally, Darren would indulge, play along with the jests and the fun, but he no longer had that choice. Wigi had failed, KB had failed, and for all he knew Dr. Edward was about to fail. He stepped forward one step, and arched his back slightly, arms at his side. His head cocked and he looked down his nose at Moonblade. His wounds ached, his jaw was a mess and he barely managed to close it. His missing teeth were still bleeding, for all he was worth he was likely already spent.

"Moonblade. I'd like to have fun with you, really I would. But I've been left no such option. I have to defeat, and I need to do it quickly. So forgive me, I NO LONGER HAVE THE LUXURY TO PLAY WITH YOU!" He screamed, blood pouring from his mouth and head.

Very dramatic, but not without its truths. Darren roared as he suddenly burst into rapid motion, his mechanical leg slamming hard into the earth below him as he launched himself into a full tilt sprint between the pair of them. This was no half effort charge, it had everything Darren had to offer in it, and the speed as immense, it was somewhere in the neighborhood of 30mph, but at this rate he may well have been charging above it. What little defense he put up in the charge was throwing his left metal arm diagonal in front of him. It would deflect or absorb, buffer at the least, whatever Moonblade was sure to throw at him to prevent the closing of the distance. Darren knew, and he knew Moonblade knew; that if Darren got into a melee range he'd crush the fragile elf like man.

The distance between them wasn't massive, and with any luck he'd get into closer range quickly. This was desperation, but it wasn't without its tact. Few expected the bullrush, fewer still expected it to continue, Darren did not make any effort to stop if Moonblade let him get close. He intended to barrel into his opponent, metal arm in front of him and the rest of his form ready to pounce and strike and grapple and claw his way to whatever could be called a victory.

There was no time for caution, for playing, Darren was going to crush Moonblade. Or be crushed in the process. He wasn't thinking about the frustration of failed strikers, the frustration of being beaten down, the anger at his team-mates for failing him. He surely didn't care that Moonblade had laughed at him. North had trained Darren well, but this was a turning point for the young metal limbed grappler. Winning or losing here determined whether he strode confidently forward with his team and his pride, or if he would become crushed and wallow in self pity and doubt, likely never to recover.

Live or die, Darren wasn't going to stop. He didn't have the luxury.

[10]

Unfortunately for Stephen, the pounding percussion of Martin O'Donnell's work was not enough to prevent the beat down that the dervish was about to receive.

Smashing his fist into the hard skull cap full force was enough to leave the poor sap more than a little shocked, especially when he was expecting something a lot less sturdy to be struck - it was so bad he could already feel some broken bones in his hand from just how hard he had intended to smack Edward upside the head.

But then the fire came. Not a shock really; up close and personal fire attacks seemed to be a theme in this tournament over the years. Of course, that didn't make them hurt any less.

[And then someone threw the contents of water bottles on him and caused a mini earthquake for some reason. Cause... uh... helping?]

Using his not damaged hand, Stephen pushed himself off of Edward and rolled on the ground to put the [remainder of the] fire out. Charred hair, skin, clothes and all could be smelled by anyone close enough. Once he was certain he wasn't ablaze, the dervish would just lay on his back and catch his breath [like the drenched cat he was], spraying more blood from his mouth to the side so that he didn't choke to death on his own fluids.

<God damn... I'm getting to old for this s**t...> he thought to himself quietly. He most definitely was not winning any points for dominance this round... every fiber of his being wanted to get up and keep fighting, but with a broken jaw and crippled right hand he was not really looking to be able to do much.

He would take his arms and drag himself over to the nearest statue and prop himself up as best he could, blood and sweat dripping from his body. He looked like hell and smelled like death.

<So... this is how it's gonna go, huh? Disgraced in the first round... Utterly shut down for the first time in 6 years...>

He would tilt his head to the side and look at Edward with a glazed stare on his face, almost forlorn if it weren't so... defiant.

<Your move... you cybernetic sonofabitch...>

[SP]: 8/10 (+1 Regen)

-Turn 6/17-

North recoiled in his chair as the Magus jumped, latching onto the cybernetic grapplers arm. "Is that guy an idiot?" was about the only thing North managed to slip out as the coming carnage flashed across his screen. Poor, poor little mage.

Moonblade was less climbing the cyborg in the literal sense as he was jumping up and decking the man in the face. That being said, he was rather surprised as the cybernetic arm latched onto his enchanted cloak. While the sudden movement was partially throw Moonblade's aim off course, the enchanted fist would still connect with the side of Darren's jaw, but would be more or less a glancing blow with far less of a direct impact.

Rather, as much of a glancing blow as Quicksilver Eruption was capable of being.

Seeing as the cybernetic arm was FIRMLY ATTACHED to Moonblade's clothing, he was dragged along for the ride as his opponent was hurled by the repulsive properties of his spell. Metaphysics are fun like that. He was still in a tight spot, but it would be (slightly) harder for the half-metal monster to overtly force feed the magus concrete.

SLAM!

Moonblade rebounded off of the concrete hard. As the pair sailed through the air and he was swung around by his assailant as though he were little more than a wet noodle, his left hand would move towards the facets that kept the cloak attached to his person...

KRRRRRCHT!

This time Moonblade was dragged through one of the corrupted hedges. While his armor would absorb most of the damage caused by the vegetation, various articles of clothing were ripped up a bit as his upper arms and parts of his face were torn up. It was at this point that his REALLY NICE HAT fell off rather unceremoniously.

SLAM!

Pushing through the pain of meeting the concrete a second time, he frantically undid the clasp, freeing Moonblade from his own cloak. This caused Darren's third slam attempt to hurl Moonblade into the stratosphere. Or in a more likely scenario, over the nearest maze wall, where he would painfully land back-first, completely winded by the sheer force of the assault and writhing in pain. Depending on Darren's sense of hearing, he might hear a somewhat raspy voice over the raging fire and screaming in the distance.

"....oww."

If Moonblade had learned one thing today, it was to never, EVER try that s**t with a cyborg again.

Character Status Wrote:

Unrefined Mana: 30% (20% + 5% Natural + 5% No Cast Bonus)

Refined Mana: 0%

Arcane Regression Stacks: 0/5

Moonblade Charges: 1/10

-Impact Shield is recharging (3 posts remaining).

[11/17]

Striker

Once again, the cyberpunk found himself inside the hedge maze. For reasons unbeknown to Edward, the vampire had been removed from the garden, and was promptly replaced by an injured Darren. The sudden change left the unprepared cyborg as the new designated striker; a mantle which he took up quite eagerly. Traversing through the maze, Edward closed one eye and soon his vision faded and was replaced with Infrared sight. His eyes turned towards the direction of the fighting, picking up the heat coming off both of the combatants. Quickly, the detective differentiated the colorful humanoid shapes, noting the cold colors of Darren's metallic limbs in particular.

Jogging along a path (parallel to the combatants but not visible due to the hedge walls) as the pair were hurled down the lane by magic and Darren began to slam his opponent around powerfully, Edward watched the battle progress with keen interest and awaited the perfect time to strike. Which came soon enough as Moonblade detached his cloak and was thrown over the wall violently. The cyborg tapped the screen of his FIGHTER a few times and leapt powerfully into the air.

Goomba Stomp.exe Wrote:

[Goomba Stomp.exe] When the detective’s cyber-brain sends a sharp signal to his legs, the hydraulics and motors inherent turn to their optimum capability. This sends the cyborg straight into the air in a burst of mechanical speed and strength. The vertical jump can go as low as eight feet and as high as twelve without any aid, the horizontal jump is extremely similar but could be used for different purposes. You don’t want Ed to land on you. That’s a killer curb stomp waiting to happen.

Note: This ability can be performed on one foot, albeit at only half the power. I.e. A jump that on two feet would take you twelve feet would only take you six on one.

Cybernetic/Implant of Origin: Cyber-brain and Prosthetic Legs

Duration of Move: Instant

Cool-Down Time: 3 posts

Bubblegum punk blaring loudly, the cyberpunk jumped over the wall which separated him from Darren, his brown greatcoat and scarf flapping in the wind as he soared several feet overhead. Edward gave his fellow cyborg a swift salute before pulling back the right sleeve of his greatcoat, revealing the majority of the Sentinel-Pattern Gauntlet.

He disappeared over the next Hedge wall, and began falling towards what Darren could only assume was his opponent.

A hatch on his gauntlet's forearm opened up and his grapple hook was launched. The high-tensile wire reached outwards like a snapping serpent, aiming to grab a hold of the magus by his shirt/armor. If it latched on successfully, Moonblade would quickly find himself being pulled upwards (rather easily as it could pull as much as four hundred and fifty pounds though not as easily as it would an inanimate object) as the cyberpunk fell. Edward's aim was obvious. He meant to land atop the magus in mid-air like some sort of surfboard, riding the injured man's body back down to earth (which would only prove to be a couple of feet).

Such a violent landing - apart from delivering three-hundred pounds of Cyborg onto Ammiel's abdomen and chest - would surely knock the breath out of the magus. It wouldn't surprise Edward either if he heard the distinct cracking of ribs and perhaps even a sternum if his landing was lucky. But the results hardly mattered to the cyberpunk, just as long as Moonblade was in a world of hurt once the dust settled.

1/2

Zeo Hiroboshi Wrote:

Between being grappled and turned into a human lighter this was going to be unpleasant as hell, enough to fire up all kinds of screams were his mouth not being muffled. However he wasn't just going to sit around and take it laying down. Through all the pain and punishment he'd taken this match he FINALLY had an opening, something he could actually do to hurt the guy. Well... other than accidentally stabbing the guy in the gut. Unintended as that might have been, any sympathy he had for Ryugi was lost when he turned himself into a living furnace.

His pants would go up in flame, his leather shoes went up in flame, but most importantly... his underwear ((His precious, precious piss-stained underwear he stole off a hobo on the way to his match)) went up in flame. But his armor and weapons did not. For while leather and cloth disintegrate at lesser temperatures steel ((Which is what almost all of Wigi's equipment is made out of)) doesn't melt until it hits 2500 F. This was fortunate because if it was melting temperature then Ryugi would have just melted a knife inside his gut.

Well it wouldn't be in his gut for long. With a slight twist to the left, knocking it up a tiny bit, the blade would be in his liver instead. It would be inside of it about an inch or so and it would likely be one of the most painful things Wigi could possible do after landing the unintended gut blow. After all, if a left hook to the liver could knock a boxer out from sheer pain then getting stabbed there couldn't be all that more pleasant. Was this survivable? Yes. If Ryugi's guts weren't spilling out by this point then repositioning the tip of the blade wasn't going to end his life. It was just going to be sheer agony for the VC to endure.

Wigi was no stranger to that. Aside from the emotional agony he'd suffer ((and inflict upon others)) from having his junk flop around for all to see he was going to need aloe vera by the truck load to deal with all the burns he'd endure. Being scolded by super hot metal wasn't going to help in that regard, but it wasn't like he had the luxury of stripping those off at the moment. No... he'd have to fight through the pain a little longer for everything to go as intended.

Utilizing the momentum of the collision Wigi would utilize his leverage from the overhook and lean back as he fell down, forcing Ryugi to lean forward further because of his grapple. Due to their quick forward motion this would throw the VC overhead into a lateral drop, tossing him clear of Wigi and further potential burning.

Despite all of this, the pain and the burning, Wigi's only thought was how he'd never be able to regrow his rasta hair after this fight. Were he in a better state of mind he might also wonder how Ryugi's clothes fared under such conditions. If by the end of the fight he was the only one standing there was no doubt he'd take such things into consideration.

[9/17]

Ryugi had to wonder why his opponent was leaning back into the ground more. Granted, while this would indeed be capable of sending Ryugi flying, the ogre would likely take severe head trauma from the impact. As Wigi used his overhook, Ryugi used what was effectively his underhook, combined with a curling and kicking motion from his legs in midair to force a turn upon the two men, orienting them back into a flat landing moments before impact, negating the attempt by his opponent to throw him off of him, and force his control upon the man. Wigi's skin would be burned black and red from the severity of the burns he'd received from Ryugi's incredible heat. All stretch would effectively be removed from the burned skin, causing tearing and rips in his skin to open if he tried to thrash about.

The pair would land flat, however, as his opponent was still attempting to fight back, and was not nearly as wounded as Ryugi believed, Ryugi's grip upon the man's mouth, nose, and eyes would continue, effectively attempting to suffocate him into unconsciousness (First was initiation, this is post one for choke-out, out of three). As if that was not enough, Ryugi's legs shot to either side of the man to prevent a roll to escape the rough pin, and his grip held strong. And, while Ryugi had initially attempted to lessen the heat, thinking his opponent would be more injured from the attack, he instead opted to lessen the temperature to 600 degrees Fahrenheit rather than 100, still incredibly hot, but unlike the previous move, this heat was sustainable, and would not bring harm to Ryugi. Even if Wigi managed to pull Ryugi's right hand away from his face, if he breathed in, the intense heat from the super-heated air would surge into his lungs, burning them from the inside out and doing terrible damage to his respiratory system.

The pain from his gut was already excruciating, and, in fact, forced Ryugi to cry out in a pain-driven rage, dampening his senses as adrenaline coursed through him, and amplified the might of his grip against Wigi's face as wounded right arm muscles cried out in pain as Ryugi forced them to obey. His left arm flexed at his full strength, holding literally nothing back to pin the man's hand hard against his midsection to halt any further movement of his hand or wrist between the two bodies as he flexed to his maximum to keep the both of them in place. It was the only way to halt the knife from dealing any further damage. The only thoughts rushing through Ryugi's mind were "Hold the choke, hold the pin, hold the burn." Over and over, like a mantra these words were chanted in his brain. Wigi was an incredibly tough fighter. He had taken a large chunk of damage, and was still kicking. The man had Ryugi's respect for his tough skin and fierce tenacity, but he was not going to let up until this fight was over...

Stamina: 80-60=20

Energy: 10-10=0

[9/17]

The detective was promptly dispatched by a fierce wind, thrown off course and away from his teammate's opponent. It was a bummer. But not entirely. By some unsolvable mystery of physics, the winds that so easily hurled Edward away did not have the same effect on his grappling line (which wasn't even a tenth of the cyborg's weight) and he soon found himself in possession of an awesome diamond-encrusted straw.

"This thing. Is. ********. Amazing!" Edward exclaimed, crunching the cement underneath his feet with his violent landing. Ignoring the battle which now underway, not even caring that Moonblade had been jacked twice in a row, the cyborg made his way out of the Hedge Maze, taking photographs of his new relic with his FIGHTER the entire way.

2/2

Moonblade's eyes narrowed dangerously as Darren kicked off towards him once more. The short distance between them was closed in a very brief period of time, leaving the man with a small repertoire of actual available options; without access to his sword, his spellcasting ability was somewhat... restricted.

Restricted, but not gone.

Lunar Mystic Wrote:

-Lunar Mystic: This technique allows Moonblade to use Lunar magic to propel himself in any direction for greater aerial mobility and speed, though this does not allow him to make blatantly unreasonable changes in direction, nor may this be used for flight in any form. When used at the start of his jump, the boost in momentum is extremely noticeable, effectively tripling his initial 'take-off' speed while increasing his maximum standing jump height to sixty feet. Each boost drains a small bit of mana from the Mystic Dragoon varying on how long the boost is maintained.

Cost: 5% initial with a 10% cumulative upkeep every turn maintained.

Limiter: This ability is forbidden with 4+ stacks of Arcane Regression.

The 'insufferable mage' kicked away from his opponent in a low to the ground backwards hop. The exaggerated movement kept him out of range of Darren's reach. While the initial dodge would be close, the accelerated movement would surely out-speed that of Darren's natural dive. Not having exhibited this ability during the course of the tournament, the sudden increase in Moonblade's jump take-off speed would more than likely surprise his opponent.

Landing only a few feet from his opponent's position, it would turn out to be another narrow escape for the homunculus.

Without a moment's hesitation, Moonblade immediately dropped to a knee as he landed, bringing his left fist to the concrete hard. Darren would recognize this ploy as the magus' entire forearm was enveloped in silver energy shaped to resemble a dragon's talon.

"Get lost."

Lunar Talon Wrote:

-Lunar Talon: Ammiel slams his magically charged fist into the ground, causing an eruption of lunar energy to throw everything within five feet violently skywards while potentially staggering grounded targets within ten feet with the shock-wave. Lunar Talon causes limited damage on its own, but has enough force to throw a 500 lbs object eight feet into the air. If used from midair, Moonblade will plummet towards the ground at incredible speed, automatically using Lunar Mystic to its full extent. CANNOT be augmented with Emerald Fire/Frost.

Cost: 20%

Limiter: This ability is unaffected by Arcane Regression.

A familiar burst of lunar magic erupted around Moonblade's form, causing a torrential updraft of energy. Darren would once again be sent skywards, giving the magus a brief opportunity to act without the threat of getting his teeth kicked in. Moonblade would naturally take this opportunity to finally recall his sword in peace, but not before swiftly tapping his FIGHTER with his right hand.

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!!!

STRIKER REQUEST ACTIVATE

Character Status Wrote:

Unrefined Mana: 5% (25% + 5% Natural - 20% Lunar Talon - 5% Lunar Mystic)

Refined Mana: 0%

Arcane Regression Stacks: 0/5

Moonblade Charges: 1/10

-Impact Shield is recharging (1 post remaining).

[13/17]

Suddenly...

Except you know... smaller.

Heeding the call to striker, Aoi grabbed the closest thing he could find, which was a smaller, but properly scaled replica scupture of the infamous ambulance that was driven, and often misused in past Heaven or Hells, and, dashed toward the area where Moonblade was fighting.

Vaunting over the corrupted shrubbery, and into Mike, none would deny the impeccable style and delivery of Team Ryugin's resident big man on campus as Aoi Kushinada brought the statue down on his captain's airborne opponent, smashing and riding Darren down into the ground.

Firmly situated ontop of his target, one could hear the stirring background music starting up from Aoi's fighter as the elder Kushinada brought his fists up and for the next few seconds began to utterly beat Darren's half-mechanical a** into the floor.

a**-beating delivered, Aoi stood up and struck a primal pose, calling out to the heavens.

"WWWRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYUUUUUUUUGGGGGIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!"

And then he got the hell out of there, leaving his target laying there in the floor admist the shattered pieces of the statue that was used to land upon him.

Striker 1/2

Striker Over

"Get--"

It was here that Moonblade was interrupted by his opponent's well-played counter punch, effectively countering his use of Lunar Talon and knocking the man skyward. The magus's jaw was fractured instantly and several of his teeth were destroyed in the impact sight. A fresh stream of redish purple blood flowed from his face in a grisly display of damage. Fortunately, since Moonblade was interrupted half way, his tongue wouldn't suffer any ill effects itself. For reference, try saying the word "get" and seeing where the tongue rests in the back of your mouth. Had he been punched in the face during the word "lost", this might have ended very differently.

As the magus was hurled off of his feet, Darren might notice that his opponent was falling decelerating at a rate faster than he would have expected... and falling at a rate much faster than expected. The swift-thinking magus was attempting to make himself fall faster (with an emphasis in direction away from his opponent) than usual. While his overall vertical distance traveled would be much lower, his lateral distance traveled would be somewhat greater.

The force of the blow still caused the man to completely flip over backwards in midair. He barely had the time to correct his fall, instead opting to absorb the majority of the impact with the armor on his back. While this would result in knocking him slightly out of breath, it also put him in the perfect position to immediately slam his left fist into the concrete like a judge slamming his gavel, activating Lunar Talon to throw his opponent skyward regardless.

Draconic Acrobatics Wrote:

-Draconic Acrobatics: Heavily trained as a Dragon Knight in his youth, Moonblade is capable of making incredible leaps and bounds, even in the confides of his Dragoon Armor. Unaugmented by magic, Ammiel is capable of jumping twenty feet vertically into the air from a complete standstill. While impressive in its own right, this jumping ability can be augmented much further through the use of Lunar Mystic, making Moonblade a true master of aerial combat. He is also capable of performing any manner of acrobatic feat at a world-class gymnast level.

Lunar Mystic Wrote:

((*Note2: Using Lunar Mystic twice in a row doesn't incur the cumulative upkeep cost if he somehow lands between uses. 'Landing' on a wall doesn't count.))

Character Status Wrote:

Unrefined Mana: 5% (25% + 5% Natural - 5% Lunar Mystic - 20% Lunar Talon)

Refined Mana: 0%

Arcane Regression Stacks: 0/5

Moonblade Charges: 1/10

-Impact Shield is fully charged.

[14/17]

((Sorry for the lack of detail concerning Moonblade's state of pain; I leave for work in a couple minutes and didn't want to leave you hanging.))

There would be no head trauma, Wigi Would tuck his chin in upon impact with the ground. But this was a minor point in the orchestra of the fight. With a body to body collision it would be impossible to stop the knife going forward. Between Ryugi holding the underhook and trying to choke him out he'd have no free hand to stop the body collisions from forcing the knife all the way through his body. Wigi didn't just attempt the throw to get away from the fire, he was doing it to save his opponent's life. With Ryugi refusing to back down there would be no stopping what was to come.

The knife would go through him. Completely. No if, ands or buts. One full foot of steel is what Ryugi would land on, and that full foot of steel was going to come out the other end. Wigi, not wanting to be the product of pain to such a thing, would release, forcing his hand to flatten as the two collided.

Liver, kidney, a few inches into the latter. It wasn't going to be pleasant and it was going to be very, very bloody. In effect... Ryugi just turned himself into shish kabob, toppling enough pain on himself to enfeeble the strongest of warriors. The kind of pain Wigi, himself, would pass out from. Damage that would kill him.

Did Wigi need to do more? He wasn't sure as it was likely that Ryugi's blood would be pouring on him from the open wound, possibly some other less pleasant things that indicate a very untimely end if medical attention didn't reach them quickly. VERY quickly.

Either way, if Ryugi decided to persist even then so would Wigi. He didn't really have an option with how things were going. So, ignoring the pain the best he could, the ogre would wrap his left leg around the back of Ryugi's right leg before pushing up with his body, forcing whatever was left of the knife up into his opponent's body, handle and all. He'd turn his body to the left, using the leverage with his leg to throw his opponent to his left side, pushing forward with his left to aid in shoving Ryugi off his body.

If all went well, then Wigi would get a little breathing room. And Ryugi.... Well... hopefully the staff would be close at hand to attend to that issue.

[10/17]

The cyberpunk just stood and stared, awaiting cautiously for the dervish to make the first first move. To make his choice. Would he stand and fight and risk turning out worse for wear, only for the fame and glory (two pointless pursuits) that a tournament provides? Or would he yield the match to the cyberpunk, and leave their makeshift arena on his own two feet? Edward truly, truly hoped for the latter. He had caused harm to so many, had killed so many throughout his life that the mere estimation of his death tally left him ashamed. He didn't need the weight of Stephen's injuries on his conscience as well; the detective could live with the damage he already caused as such was the nature of the competition (and his opponent could still move by his own power and his injuries would more or less heal rather well), but that would soon change and things would become messy if the fight continued.

That said, if the dervish chose to fight, then a fight he'd get. And a ferocious one at that.

He watched his opponent with a hard look, removing the bloodstained goggles from his eyes and dropped them to the ground as Stephen came close. The cyberpunk was ready for anything the other man had to offer. Just like the start of the match, he was willing to surrender the first blow to his opponent. But unlike the start, he was also willing to accept his opponent's surrender. Edward stared into Stephen's eyes, seemingly fearless of what lied ahead for them, and allowed (though to the detective's surprise) himself to be embraced.

His features softened and he hugged his respectable opponent back. Luckily, Edward's cybernetic arm was no longer superheated, so the dervish didn't have to worry about being burned further.

As Stephen released him and departed, the cyborg reached over and snatched up his goggles, looking towards his departing opponent with a great measure of admiration. He didn't know much about Stephen Lesanti, but one thing was for certain. He was a better man than most, and likely a much better man than Ed would ever be. Once his opponent disappeared into the hedge maze, Edward began making moves to depart as well.

He removed his destroyed flannel, using it to wipe the blood off his face before tossing it onto the cement. Adjusting his bloodied goggles back on the top of his head, he lugged his backpack over to his crowbar and collected the weapon, and slowly made his way back to the fountain where the round had begun for him. The detective donned his brown greatcoat over his naked and tattooed torso, and firmly wrapped his long scarf around his neck.

Then he departed as well, making his way through the twisted maze, ignoring the yells of battle that issued from various restricted portions of the garden the entire way.

-Seven-

END