The Reluctant Alliance X 2 [Duke of Clubs; MaskedLegend; Zorolo]

“Huahh . . . Why . . . of all places . . . did Kellson choose here? I should kill him just for this.” Roery grumped to herself as she trekked her way up the narrow stairway. It was so slender, she had to walk up it with her back pressed up against the mountain cliff. “Freaking winged jerk.” The young blond had parked her motorcycle at the base of the enormous plateau, hidden well under a mound of rocks, and she had now been climbing the treacherous ascension for about an hour. If not for the increased stamina her biomechanical suit provided, she would have been completely exhausted by now. Not that it wasn’t starting to take effect.

She tilted her head up to see how far she still had to go “Hummmm . . . Screw this.” She mumbled to herself. The female soldier threw her arms up over her, digging her fingers into the hard rock surface of the cliff wall. She then pulled herself up into a back flip, planting her feet into the wall above where her hands had been. She dug her feet into the wall, pushed off hard with her palms, and fired off her thrusters. The blond shot up threw the air. After about ten feet up, she started to drift away from the cliff. She quickly put her feet into position and fired off another short burst from her thrusters. She then flipped her body around, slamming a foot against the mountain side. She pushed off hard with her left foot, shooting herself strait up, then with her right foot. She continued this for while, running up the side of the cliff. After she would start loosing momentum, she’d push off, up and away form the cliff, then thrusting her way back up at the cliff and continue to run up its surface.

“Hunng . . . Crap!” She was starting to lose momentum while running up the mountain and her feet were starting to scald from the constant use of her thrusters. She quickly slammed her fingers into the rock surface to keep from falling backwards. Without warning, the stone crumbled under her hands, causing her to slide down the cliff wall. She dug both hands and feet into the wall, franticly trying to stop her dissension. The girl started to panic as her fall accelerated. Suddenly her feet hit hard rock and she crumbled under the unexpected stop. She had just barely been able to keep from falling backwards by her fingertips. Heart racing, she pulled herself up and hugged the cliff wall. She looked down to see the narrow stairway that spiraled around the mountain under her feet and thanked the heavens above. After a short while of catching her breath, the girl continued her slow assent up the stone steps. Her brief fly up the mountain had definitely saved her a good thirty minutes but she was too shaken to go for another try. After another half hour or so she finally reached the top of the plateau. She glanced around at the flat roof of the mountain that was about the size of two football fields. Small heaps of rocks where strewn across here and there, a few dead trees, and a couple of small hills of earth. Knowing she was the first one there, the female soldier strolled around the mountain’s top, searching for just the right place. She soon found it and subconsciously activated a pitch black, mat skin over her armor. She shook her head as her blond hair turned to black. Her skin and eyes soon followed suit, the white of her eyes turning a dark gray. She then crawled into the small crevice in the side of a hill of boulders. The girl crouched low, almost entirely invisible, and waited.

As it had been a good couple of week’s sense it had been arranged, Roery thought about how exactly she got herself into this mess . . . J. It was J. man he was good at getting her in good sized messes. Her mind wandered over to why exactly she had agreed to take part in this mess . . . Kellson. Kellson was to be on her team . . . why the crap did she agree to this? Oh yes, Kellson could get hurt. A devilish grin played on her lips.

Let’s see . . . Her opponents; Green and grumpy staff wielder. They both appeared to be worthy opponents. More then that they had the air of being battle hardened warriors. Personally, she nothing against either of them, at least, nothing she’d want to kill them over. Her ally on the other hand . . . well, that was a different story. Of course the man from the maelstrom did seem to think a little much of himself, so did the green man for that matter. But they had been forced to converse with Kellson so it was rather understandable. In any case, both her opponents certainly did seem worthy to test her skills.

The faint sound of movement drifted to her keen ears. Anticipation for battle built up inside her as she readied herself for her own, personal ambush.

Thunder echoed in the distance as dark, bulbous clouds rolled across the plains and over the lonely plateau abruptly jutting from the scrublands. A wind blew cool air across the ground, rustling the short grass. Very little wildlife populated this land; the area was to barren for vegetation and water was hard to come by. When it did rain, however...

"'S gonna be a damn fine gullywasher."

Inky-black feathers shaking imperceptibly in the breeze, Kellson stood, eyes closed. He inhaled deeply and stretched. Light, strong chain mail clinked underneath his shirt as the regicide moved. He'd leave soon, but now, it was nice just to enjoy the pleasant air.

Kellson preferred cities and towns to the wilderness. There were more people, easier living, and more things to hit people with, like chairs and beer mugs. But when he'd been searching for an place to duel, he'd chosen the wide open spaces of a plateau, the ideal location for a winged creature. No trees, no buildings, just free air. Of course, one of his opponents could fly, too...but he flew like a baby robin: badly. The second opponent flew like a brick.

Extending his wings, Kellson lifted into the air and lazily ascended. In practically no time at all, he had reached the top of the plateau, setting down with hardly a bump. Yes, wings were definitely the best tool he had.

The demi-angel hefted a pebble and languidly tossed it over the edge. It fell, dwindling from a speck to invisibility. Nice and high, this plateau was. Nice. Maybe he could throw someone off.

Turning, he strolled off towards the center of the plateau. At least it wasn't too sunny, or disgustingly hot. A good day for someone else to die. Kellson unslung his modified crossbow from his shoulder and gave it a thorough once-over, cocking it and firing a few shots out of a cartridge. No problems.

"All right," he muttered to himself, standing in front of a group of large boulders. How the hell had boulders gotten on a giant mesa, anyways?

Someone grabbed him around the neck and pressed a round tube to his head. The regicide tensed and brought his crossbow up, but the person behind him growled, "Not a good idea."

Kellson relaxed, lowering his weapon. "Jesus Christ. That you, Roery?"

The woman released him and snorted. "That was hilarious. You nearly jumped out of your skin."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," he mumbled. Her entire body was black and grey. He blinked and mentally shrugged. She's crazy; who cares what color she changed too? "I'm surprised you showed up. I mean, I could kill both of them myself, but it's nice to have someone watch my back. I'm going after the green one, by the way. You take the other."

"I'm not doing it to 'watch your back,'" Roery replied scathingly, and turned. Kellson's eyes lingered on her, and he muttered under his breath, "Just as long as I can watch yours."

"What?" she asked venomously, whirling and raising a gun. Kellson shook his head.

"I didn't say nothin'!"

She glared at him before turning away. Kellson followed. "Uh...look," he began, cocking his crossbow and checking his bandolier of knives unconciously. "I think you and I just got off on the wrong foot. I'm actually not a drunken pervert, just like you're probably not a pyscho-girl from hell. Nothing personal," he added quickly as she raised a plasma launcher in warning.

The forest, all to natural a place to find Zorlo sitting at peace, but today was slightly different from the average day. Today, he had agreed to settle a score with a demi-angel and a strange woman with futuristic weapons and armor. The fencer pulled his hood down, revealing his faced, not that his foe wouldn't recognize him anyway. It's almost time, the fencer thought silently. He would have been to the chosen spot sooner, but something continued to come up.

"There's no way I'm letting you get away!" a voice rang out through the forest. The green haired man moved his head slightly to the right and opened his eyes as an ice shard flew past, splitting a tree branch and becoming lodged within it. "I haven't been following you three days to simply let you escape in peace," the youth muttered, exhausted from chasing down Zorlo. "It's time we settled things. Right here, right now!" the swordsman ordered.

"I don't have time to play games with you, Zachary," the Aura Master told the boy, looking towards the plateau not too far in the distance. "I need to go deal with a nuisance, you must understand," the fencer said, turning his head and smiling at the ice warrior.

"I don't care! I'm going to defeat you, whether you like it or not!" the young warrior stated, looking at the fencer with a burning passion in his eyes. The passion of desire, and the fencer couldn't allow such flames to be left unchecked, although an idea came to Zorlo.

"Why not come with me. I'm about to do battle with a strange man with black wings, and I know you know him. Why not join me and you and I can fight there?" the green haired man asked, looking down at the boy, who merely looked up at him angrily.

A man with black wings... must be that damned guy with the strange powers. I was nearly certain I killed him, the boy thought silently, looking up at the fencer again. "What's wrong, too weak to defeat him yourself?!" the ice innate mocked.

"Not at all, more to the contrary, I want to make this fight a little more fair for him," the fencer stated in a most serious tone. "Your advantage against that man last time was wholly setting based, so I am interested in seeing if you'd have such determination fighting he and I," the Aura Master stated wisely, looking down at the youth who merely stared back. "What do you say?"

"Err..." the boy growled, looking up at the green haired man, pondering what the fencer was actually planning. "all right, I'll be able to kill two birds with one stone. Well, one bird man and you, to be more exact," the red haired youth stated in whole seriousness. "So, where is this battlefield? I want to get this fight over with before the end of the century," the boy stated full heartedly, looking up at the fencer.

"Okay, follow me," the Aura Master stated standing upon the branch and pushing from the branch towards the plateau that stood a good deal away.

The ice innate trudged on behind the green haired man, trying vainly to keep the green attired man in his sights, which proved much harder then Zachary had ever imagined possible. What luck, fate will allow me to kill two people I hate the most in this world, and in one strike as well. How lucky can one guy get? the ice warrior pondered.

In no time, the fencer found himself at the bottom of the plateau, where he waited for the ice innate to appear, who burst from the forest a few seconds later, managing to keep the fencer within his sight range. The two warriors looked up the plateau, getting ready to scale it.

"Are you serious?" Leos asked, his eyes following the massive cliffed sides of the plateau. "I don't see how you plan to get up there," the ice innate asked, watching as the fencer stepped face to cliff face with the plateau.

"Very easily," the fencer stated plainly as he pushed himself upwards and began to jump from ledge to ledge every so gracefully, quickly pushing himself towards the top.

"You've got to be kidding me?" the boy asked blandly as he began to climb up the cliff face, intent on not missing this fight. It would be far too good.

It took only a few minutes and the fencer landed at the top, looking down to see the ice innate at about the middle of the cliff face, slowly nearing the top. The fencer looked over at his two foes and half smiled. "Let's get started, I'm sure you're both quite ready for a battle of epic proportions," the Aura Master stated, focusing his energy and adjusting his armor. This was bound to be fun.

"You want to do what you simple fool?!" asked Marcus, his sarcastic and cynical voice echoed through Ciaran's silver and obsidian crafted gauntlet.

"I'm going to see how well these mortals fight and a good way for me to hone my skills as well, it's been a while since I fought any worthy opponent," Ciaran remarked, standing in a forested meadow that Marcus had warped him too.

"That's all you care about isn't it, you can't afford to damage my father's staff or you'll never come home from exile!"

"We've discussed this already, I'm not going back, I'm keeping the staff and staying here," the halfbreed argued. "is it so wrong that I like it here?"

"You know what, I will bring you there and watch as you get a lesson beaten into you," Marcus scowled.

"Gee... you got me all teary-eyed with that heartfelt message," Ciaran joked. "Ok, you remember what that fallen angel Kellson guy said, right?"

"Yes, my memory isn't tarnished, ok..."

"And try not to use my energy while warping me, I'll need my strength for this," he finished.

"Anything else, some wine and a book maybe?"

"Once I'm finished here, why not?" he chuckled.

With that, the gauntlet slithered around Ciaran's wrist and jumped off of his hand, then folded into itself. Only the two sapphires remained and they radiated an exuberant basking blue glow as Ciaran stepped into it's gleaming maw. All of the world around him faded into a void, pure nothingness. There was another flash of blue light and the halfbreed was tossed onto a mountainous regain, crumbling stairs kept him from falling to oblivion below.

"Well this sure isn't accommodating, then again, I've never seen a battlefield that was... ah well," he sighed.

After several cautious steps, bits of rock were falling from under his feet. There's no way he's going to miss out on this battle, not for the world. Time to use of a few of the little tricks up his sleeve. Ciaran held out his hand an the gauntlet loosely unraveled and formed the long and deadly staff as it assembled. Ciaran held his weapon high in the air and slammed the staff onto the stairway beneath him. He was propelled high into the air and caught the stairs above him, continually.

Finally, he made it to the top of the strange rock spire and was surprised at what he found. There stood that girl, Roery, in her strange armor and then that despicable Kellson already there. He was both thrilled to teach the fallen angel or whatever freak of nature Kellson was, a lesson, but yet was too chivalrous of actually fighting a girl in a team deathmatch. But then again... maybe his teammate, Zorlo wasn't. Ciaran sat behind one of the boulders, hidden from them and waited for his partner so the battle could begin.

"Let's get started, I'm sure you're both quite ready for a battle of epic proportions,"

Roery snapped a gun into her hand and fired it at a pile of rocks at the other end of the plateau. Confused, Kellson looked around to see Ciaran stepping out of the settling dust.

“Hee, look Roery, our friends have arrived.”

“Kellson! You screwed up my ambush!” She shouted, glaring at him.

He turned to face Zorlo. “What took you so long?!” He said with a smile, “Couldn’t find the massive plateau?” he asked mockingly, gesturing at the plateau under their feet.

“Just keep on talking knave, it will only make your death all the more pleasurable.” Zorlo stated in a steady tone.

“If you don’t mind, Zorlo, might I have the first round with the winged freak?” Ciaran called from the other side of the mesa.

“I apologize,” he called back, “but I’ve waited to long for this” he said under his breath as he drew his sword and equipped his buckler.

Roery folded her arms across her chest. “Oh Kellson, you’re so popular with the guys.”

He glanced a glare at her and turned back to his opponents. “You two make me sick. Oh, if you wouldn’t mind, Oh I apologi-” he was cut short as Roery pushed him hard, sending them both away from the attacks on either side that collided where he had been standing. Kellson flapped his black wings, keeping himself from touching the ground and swung his crossbow into his hand, pointing it at Zorlo.

Roery skid to a stop and immediately fired at Ciaran. Surprised, He brought his staff down, hitting and exploding the incoming plasma disk. “I do not wish to fight you Roery, but it looks like I’ll have to wait my turn for the fallen. Don’t expect me to go easy on you”

“That is if you survive to fight the Kellson, which wont happen if you go easy on me” she said, spinning her gun on her finger and snapping her other gun into her left hand. The half-breed nodded once and took a few quick steps forward, spinning his staff and jutting it at her, unleashing a massive blue fireball. The ink black girl casually fired off both guns, creating an immense explosion as the blasts collided between the two. The staff rocketed itself out of the settling smoke as Ciaran followed behind it. Surprised, Roery fell backwards, dodging under the blow. She quickly jumped into a back flip, kicking the staff away from her. Ciaran spun his staff up and slammed the other end into the ground. A fissure snaked along the ground from the point of impact, spreading bigger and creating a crevice where Roery was about to land. She fired off her thrusters, jumping in mid air and flying back at her opponent. She fired off both guns again as he jumped back, dodging the first and swiping the second with the end of his staff. The staff wielder brought up his other hand over his face as the disk exploded, showering him with plasma.

“Oh, is this it, Levitation and explosives? If so, my turn with the fallen wont be long at all.”

Roery landed a few feet in front of him, cocked her head to the side and smiled. “Oh? Then why don’t we try without them?” she asked, snapping her wrist as her guns folded and slipped back into her arms. He raised an eyebrow to her and jumped back as she rocketed herself at him. She ran forward, throwing punch after punch, all of which he skillfully blocked with his staff. But he was loosing ground, finding himself getting too close to the edge of the cliff. Roery threw a particularly hard punch that made the half-breed slide back a ways further.

“Heh, not bad.” The staff wielder crouched low, holding his staff up behind him. Perplexed at his odd stance, knowing she could easily reach him before he was able to spin his staff around, Roery took the bait and lunged forward. He quickly slammed the ground behind him with the end of his staff, rocketing himself up into the air. He brought himself into flip and whacked Roery hard on the back as she passed under him.

“Hung, crap,” she said as she tumbled near the edge of the plateau. She slammed her hand into the ground and slid right over the edge, barely holding onto the cliff’s edge. With her momentum, she flipped her body around and swung herself backup at her foe. She came down and slammed the ground hard where he had been seconds ago. The cloaked man jabbed his staff, releasing another blue bolt at her. Roery threw her feet to the side, firing off her thrusters in an attempt to dodge the blast but was too late. The blast slammed into her legs, spinning her threw the air and sending her crashing into the ground. Hrr, I hate magic. She winced as the flames singed her armor, severely stinging her legs. Taking advantage of the situation, Ciaran jumped foreword, bringing his staff down in a large arc at her. She pushed off the ground hard with her palm, spinning to the side and landing and sliding shakily on her feet, falling to one knee. Ignoring the pain, she lunged again at the half-bread as he came at her. She blocked the staff and warped her arm around it, trying to pull it away from Ciaran but he held tight and dug his feet into the ground. He shifted his grip on the staff and a blast of wind sent Roery back through air. She immediately jumped in air back at the man as he dodged to the side, narrowly dodging a fist as it scraped his cheek. She then backhanded him with the same arm, causing him to fall hard to the ground.

OoC: I left out Kellsons and Zorlos fight, feel free to fill it in

Edit: Ooooo, 100 views and only 4 posts, thats a lot more then most threads ^^ we's popular

OoC: That's because this fight is gonna be badass and they're all jealous of our mad skillz.

IC: Dust plumed into the air as Kellson touched down to the dry ground, wings beating slowly and majestically. Crossbow pointed towards Zorlo, the regicide allowed himself a quick grin. "All prior smack talk is irrelevant now, mate. Just you 'n me."

"Not quite," someone behind him countered. Kellson whirled, firing his crossbow instinctively. The figure barely dashed out of the way in time as the bolt zipped through the air, clattering off of the rocky mesa surface. The demi-angel lifted into the air again, hovering several feet above the ground. "Hey, it's that kid. The one that tried to kill me and cried like a little girl when he did it."

"You think you're so funny," Zachary Leos growled, unsheathing his triangular-shaped sword. "I've got my chance for revenge, and I'm taking it."

Kellson rolled his eyes. There was no stopping this kid. It wasn't bravery...the kid was just a damned idiot. He turned his back to the boy and faced Zorlo down once more. The fencer was smirking. "Bringing help along, are we?" Kellson called, firing a few bolts towards the fencer, more of a warning than an actual attack. The green-haired man easily danced out of the way.

"Of course not. He's been following me for a time, and I decided it would benefit all of us if we dueled each other here and now. 'Twould clean the air," the fencer continued, sword held loosely by his side, "of all past arguments."

Kellson shrugged imperceptibly and dropped his crossbow to the ground. He didn't need it, anyways. Drawing both his long and short swords, the regicide dropped to the ground, landing in a crouch.

The boy will be easier, easier than last time, he thought as he rose, coat fluttering in the breeze. There's no water in this parched land, unless it rains. I don't really care. Rain would be nice. It's damn hot out here.

Looking up into Zorlo's eyes, he grinned a humorless grin. Roery seemed to be doing well for herself, by the sound of it. Let's show her, the hellspawn, the kid, and this civilized ape what I can really do.

Still grinning, he bounded forward, glittering swords raised.

The fencer allowed himself to smirk slightly as Kellson came barreling at him. Although the fencer held no love for this man, it was cruel to merely allow him to believe that the green haired man had brought the boy to equalize this battle in the Aura Master's favor, but it was even more cruel to allow this man to believe that he could defeat the fencer. The green haired man slid one of his feet slightly back, and readied himself to attack.

"Just gonna stand there?! I knew you were scared of me, but not this scared," the demi-angel stated boldly as he readied to swing his blades down upon the fencer.

"So many moves I could make," the green haired man said calmly, looking at the ground for a second, his eyes closed, following the energy emitting from the pseudo-angel as it drew closer, waiting for his chance to strike. Not yet, the fencer told himself as the regicide's blades were raised over his head. Not yet, he repeated as the man's arms readied to fall. NOW! he told himself as the man's arms were half way down, and the fencer finally made his move, driving his elbow hard into the divine warrior's chest.

The clash of the titanium armor the fencer wore against the steel the regicide wore created the loud sound of scraping as the steel was bent and misshapen by the extreme density and hardness of the fencer's armor. A little more force and the fencer could have probably shattered the links that held the demi-angel's armor together, but that wouldn't be needed right now, especially as the fencer looked up at his foe, a surprised look overwhelmed him as the green haired man pulled his arm back to his side, allowing his foe to fall to his knees, his swords still in his hands.

"I can't say I'm impressed you held onto your blades," the fencer said, pointing his sword at the regicide's neck, awaiting a snide remark or any other form of insult from the partially divine being, but the man was still catching his breath, but then the Aura Master heard the man utter a few words.

"I've... met... four... year... olds... that... hit... harder... then... YOU!" the regicide insulted as he shifted his hand and readied to thrust his long sword at the fencer.

The fencer smiled as he noticed the movement of the man and responded first, quickly spinning and smacking the regicide in the face hard with his buckler, knocking the man to the ground as the green haired man moved a strand of hair from his face and jumped back, slowly turning to face Zachary. "I told you you'd regret fighting me," the fencer said in a serious tone, no hint of mocking or insult abound. He wasn't joking anymore, and although he knew Kellson would get up and continue to fight on, that display of power was more for the ice innate then the demi-angel. Zorlo would show this boy power like he had never seen before, and then, perhaps, the boy would understand why his efforts were in vane. Who knows, maybe the boy would even become the fencer's apprentice, but the green haired man didn't know what would happen, he'd merely wait and see.

Zachary stared at Kellson, purely astounded at what he had just seen. He... with just... how? The youth's thoughts were erratic, confused and slightly terrified at what he had just seen, but slowly, he allowed more rational thought to return as he changed his expression from one of fear to one of bravery. He took down that loud mouthed guy with wings with just two attacks. It took me using every bit of strength and ingenuity I had, and he does it with two hits. I'll show him how strong I am! the boy told himself confidently as he charged at the fencer, his blade held tightly as he readied it to fight with the green haired man.

The Aura Master saw the look of determination on the face of the young ice innate and smiled himself. This boy has amazing potential, and if he could learn to channel his powers, he'd be much more powerful then he is now. All it would take is time, so I just need to hope he continues trying to defeat me, it appears to have made him much more powerful. I don't like the idea of him chasing me for vengeance, but what I cannot prevent, I will not try to. I just wish I knew why he wants to kill me so badly? the fencer asked himself as the boy swung his sword down and the green haired man stepped to the side, evading the attack with ease.

The ice innate's sword hit the ground, causing the crack to freeze as the blade hit, and the red haired swordsman turned and faced the green haired man. "I can't be defeated by the likes of either of you! I am an avenger, and I shall avenge all the people you've both killed," the ice innate said with great fury, grasping his sword tightly.

"Yeah," the demi-angel said as he slowly stood up, holding his own blades tightly. "Didn't I tell you? I only kill people that deserve to die, like you and greeny," the divine warrior stated, spinning his short sword in his hand. "And what in the world makes you two think you've got any chance of defeating me?!" Kellson asked, fully sure he would defeat the two of them.

The fencer laughed, greatly enjoying the humor he found in the man's sense of humor as he saw it. "Yes, this will be a good deal of fun. I think we'll enjoy this fight," the fencer stated, spinning his golden blade lightly, readying himself to fight these foes, although the fencer had an... ulterior motive here, although he wouldn't think about that now. He had more pressing matters, and that was about to start when someone struck next.

The plateau had become another battlefield for the halfbreed. Just another place to fight, another place to kill, another place to die. It was almost symbolic of sorts. A battlefield is a sort of sanctuary to some, a fear to others. Most don't enjoy the scene of battle, others are desperate for its taste, relish in it. It's call drove most away, yet beckoned some.

Ciaran was between the lines that divided the bloodthirsty-savages from the reluctant warriors. He had longed to fight a mortal to fight, to test himself against their best and to see what they're best was. Plus he had especially longed to kick Kellson to where some shamed individual such as him belonged- Hell. Then to go against Zorlo, whom he wanted to fight from a long time ago.

Yet something stood in his way, something he was reluctant to remove. Roery, it was wrong got him to willingly fight a woman, yet she was a truly challenging opponent. Oh well, he'd have to go easy on her and didn't want to use his best moves he was saving for Kellson on her either. A troubling predicament he was in.

While he was busy pondering, Roery had struck him with the back of her hand and he nearly slammed to the ground, but caught himself on his hand. Perhaps a trick would help immobilize Roery long enough for a shot at Kellson. Ciaran stood up and charged at Roery and quickly pole vaulted over several incoming plasma disks and caught a breeze of wind to soar over Roery's head. She took the bait and rocketed upward toward him, pulling back a fist.

Ciaran quickly absorbed a piece of a boulder from the plateau and it flew straight at Roery. While they were in the air, he sent a powerful gust of wind at her, merely blowing her back, but distracting her long enough. The rock struck Roery in the back and she fell forward, stunned. She headed for the ground and Ciaran shot another wind gale at her, sending her over the edge of the plateau.

Good thing Roery could fly. Ciaran turned around and prepared for one of his more powerful techniques. This would be sure to get Roery away and have enough time for a shot at Kellson. Unfortunately, Roery's rockets kicked in and she rose to the top of the rocky plateau, firing numerous plasma disks at Ciaran. Dammit, it was too early for Ciaran to unleash a transformation technique.

Roery deactivated her guns and started to swing at Ciaran, fist on fist, hand to hand. Ciaran nimbly dodged and blocked, but she was surprisingly stronger than an average female human. How strange.

"You're... fairly strong m'lady," Ciaran said, ducking an incoming kick.

"Yeah, I train a lot," Roery replied, blocking Ciaran's roundhouse.

"You're as agile and strong as one of my species' women," Ciaran commented.

"Well... thanks," she returned, delivering numerous jabs and a flying front kick.

Ciaran rolled out of the way before Roery flew through the air again. This was going to be another challenging fight. Hopefully he didn't have to waste too much energy on Roery before Kellson.

OoC: Omfgoutoforderlol.

IC: He smelled something in the cool, breezy air. Something blowing in. Ah, well. If it was rain, let it come. If not, all right.

The regicide was disgusted with himself. He knew Zorlo possessed strength and speed. Why the hell hadn't he at least tried to block his shots? And what on earth was all that foolishness about Zorlo and Zachary deserving to die? Kellson nearly slapped himself, but he restrained himself just because Zorlo would have laughed. No more of this self-righteous nonsense. Just do it.

Actually, maybe a bit of talk would be good. And as much as he hated to admit it, Zorlo could probably best him in a duel with swords. Used to enemies he could dispatch with only a few well-placed attacks, Kellson knew Zorlo wouldn’t go down so easily (not to mention that his jacket or whatever it was seemed rather strong). Kellson sheathed his swords calmly. If you’re on the bad side of an uneven playing field, blow something up and make the damn thing level again.

“Got to give you a chance, Z,” he said, pulling out two sets of brass knuckles and slipping them on. Zorlo seemed amused.

“This is a duel,” he smirked, “not one of your barroom brawls.”

“What’s the matter?” Kellson quipped, black feathers ruffling in the wind. “Are you afraid to get your nice sword dirty? You had no hesitation the other day in the Dome. Should I lay down on the rocks and just let you cut my wings again?”

The boy, Zachary, stood to the side, sword raised and head cocked quizzically, watching silently. Zorlo sneered. Oh, to wipe the sneer off that face. “I’ve told you, cretin. Your wings will be feather dusters by the end of the day.”

“Selene must be proud.”

Zorlo was spurred to action. “I’ve warned you about insulting my love!” he cried, stalking forward. Kellson stood his ground and curled his lip. “Aye. You did. I didn’t insult her…I insulted you.”

Leaping into the air, the regicide twisted to avoid the fencer’s quick slashes and landed behind him, pivoted, and lashed out with a warm-up roundhouse kick. The blow, hitting Zorlo in the leg, sent him staggering, but just barely. Despite himself, Kellson was impressed…barely. It was just a start, after all. His strongest kick had dented a tree. He grinned to himself. He had had a helluva time getting his leg unstuck.

“What’s so funny?” Zorlo asked, slicing towards Kellson’s head. The regicide bent backward and performed a handspring, flipping back up after the rapier swept past harmlessly.

“That,” Kellson replied. “Swing and a miss.”

Zorlo’s golden sword, gleaming in the sunlight, zipped through the air like an angry hornet. Kellson bent and swayed out of the way, dodging the sword easily but only by centimeters. It didn’t matter, though; the fact that the fencer missed was what was important.

Quickly, the regicide, dodging another swipe of the sword, dashed forward and caught Zorlo with a brass-lined bunch across the face. Something went crackle in the fencer’s surprised face. Before he could react, Kellson went to work with his strong legs once more, kicking once, twice, a third time, before dancing out of the way again. Each blow hit home on Zorlo’s thighs and calves with a sickening crack. It was one of Kellson’s favored tactics. Most men went for the chest, neck and head. Good idea, but hard to master: your opponent would be guarding his vital areas closely. Go for the legs and the enemy would collapse like a cripple.

Something hissed through the air behind him. Without turning, Kellson blasted two beams of holy energy over his shoulder. Someone cursed loudly and there was the sound of a flying body hitting a boulder. Kellson grinned. “Zachary, Zachary, Zachary…attack from the front like a man.”

Zorlo’s blade whipped towards him while he spoke; the demi-angel barely got away in time. As it was, the sharp point nicked his bicep…just a scratch.

Kellson fired two more blasts of energy towards Zorlo’s face, savagely kicking the fencer’s unprotected legs. The fencer staggered. “Is the hypocrite hurting?” Kellson taunted, flapping his wings to blow sand into the green-haired man’s face. “I know the kid is.”

Not bad, the fencer admitted to himself, clearing his mind of his anger. He's trying to get me mad, trying to get me to not thing before I make an action, and then take advantage of it. If he wants to fight hand to hand, then I'll grant him such a thing. Its been a long time since I've had a worthy foe for purely hand to hand combat, the green haired man told himself sheathing his sword and removing his buckler from his right arm and tossing it off the cliff. He no longer had need of the small shield, its use wouldn't be very high here.

"If its a fist fight you want, then I'll gladly oblige you. Let's go," the fencer said as he unzipped his jacket and threw it to one side.

"What's that gonna..." the demi-angel stopped short, watching as where the jacket hit, the rock cracked, leaving a massive fissure in the form of the man's jacket where the metal lined creation had struck the ground. "The hell?" Kellson asked as he moved towards the jacket and looked at the crater it had just made.

Zorlo cracked his shoulders, then his back, and finally, he patted his legs down, check their status. He hits hard and aims low, I've got to keep that in mind, but I've just more then evened out the playing field now, the fencer thought silently as he took a combat stance that was identical to his sword fighting stance. Last time I faced someone in purely hand to hand combat, that impressed me, was Sakuraneko. I haven't had a worthy foe in hand to hand combat since. This will be good exercise, the green haired man told himself, mentally laughing.

The fencer grounded his legs, pushing the bones in his knees and his achilles tendons back into place. His legs were strong, no doubt, but for someone who was trained in purely speed based combat, even kicks like those weren't likely to bring him down any times soon. The fencer slid his left foot forwards, adjusting his right foot to get in optimum positioning to attack. If the regicide had been amazed at Zorlo's first attack, this was bound to make him crap himself.

"That jacket is designed with the express purpose of not only defense, but also weight training. I wear it at almost all times, and it creates a perpetual sense of my body being heavier then it is. Once I remove it... well, you can figure out the rest. Before we continue, I must say, I'm impressed. You are a lot stronger then I thought. I'm not going to underestimate you anymore," the fencer stated. Although these were the words he spoke, he knew all too well that using his Ancient Aura here was not needed, but not just that, it would cause the plateau to break apart if he used it. That energy was unstable, and unless the foe needed to be defeated, using it wasn't likely.

"Ready?" the fencer asked, and Kellson, ever so slightly, nodded. In a flash, Zorlo had vanished delivering a quick kick to Kellson's right knee. The demi-angel swung his left hook, but almost as soon as his arm started moving, Zorlo was gone again. In an instant, another extremely high speed blow, this one a punch that hit Kellson hard in the left cheek, causing him to collapse onto his left arm to keep himself upright. Now Zorlo had momentum, and his blows were bound to hurt more, even without a weapon.

Kellson tried his best to keep his eyes on the Aura Master, but the green haired man was moving at such a speed that he left afterimages of his movements, cloaking which attacks were real, and which were merely illusions. This skill had been adapted to the fencer's free range attacks after mastering the Mirage Thrust Rain. Duplicating it with the rest of his body proved much harder, but it wasn't like learning this skill was impossible.

Only two attacks had hit, and Kellson was still on the defensive. "And now!" the young Aura Master said as he appeared above the man with black wings, driving his foot powerfully down on Kellson's head. The regicide smirked, grabbing the fencer's leg.

"Gotcha," he said with a smile. In this instance, he would have to be even more careful, because any counter attack would be as deadly to Kellson as it was to Zorlo. The fencer could easily make a counter move to end the regicide's, but it was worth the risk. The warrior of God quickly moved his other hand and threw the fencer by his leg, aiming to launch the green haired man off the ledge.

The fencer had encountered attacks like this before, and countering them always seemed to be a pain, especially now that gravity was against him. The Aura Master had to think quick, and it hit him. Quickly, he began to meld his aura into his feet, placing them on the ground to stop him from sliding and bring him to a halt. "Not-" was the only word the fencer got out as a blast of holy energy came towards him. "Quite!" the fencer finished his thought as he deflected the blast of holy energy with his hand, now covered by his natural aura, making his hand appear to be engulfed in green flames. He'd been practicing doing that for some time, but it had now paid off, knocking way the attack.

The Aura Master was now ready to attack again, and this one would be the big one. Again, like a bolt of lightning, Zorlo vanished and reappeared in front of Kellson, thrusting his palm upwards into the regicide's chin, launching him into the air. As Soon as Kellson found himself about ten yards in the air, the fencer went into action, pushing himself into the air and appearing behind Kellson, placing his arms around the demi-angel's chest. "Evade this!" Zorlo stated, as the two began falling towards the ground, and the fencer released Kellson, ever so calculatedly, right into his jacket, causing the part of the plateau the green armor sat on to fissure further.

The fencer spun in the air until he landed, looking over at Kellson, but moving no closer, knowing the man probably planned the fencer to, as he imagined Zorlo would gloat over this attack. The Aura Master knew the demi-angel wasn't defeated, and now he would wait for him to emerge and continue to fight on.

Zachary had been launched off the plateau and had only avoided falling to his death using his sword and freezing it in place. "I can't believe that bastard just tried to flick me off this cliff. I'm gonna kill them both," Zachary stated, pulling his blade from the cliff face and scaling the wall of it more, using the sword to help produce things to grab.

It took the ice innate a few minutes, but he did reach the top, but by that time, Zorlo had already finished his attack on Kellson and now stood a few feet from the crater, awaiting the black winged man to emerge again. Perfect! the red haired youth thought as he charged at Zorlo with all speed. "You are mine this time!" he yelled foolhardily as he began to swing his sword wildly at Zorlo.

The Aura Master dodged and weaved around the rune blade with great ease, not allowing the boy a chance to hit him. As quick as Zachary had begun his attack, Zorlo had ended it, appearing behind the boy and thrusting his elbow into the back of Zachary's head, knocking him forwards.

"If you couldn't hit me with my armor, what makes you think you have a chance now?"

"What?" the boy asked confused, beginning to make ice needles to prepare to attack the fencer.

"Before I was wearing my armor, and now I'm not, you can't hope to hit me. the only hope he has, right now, is to counter attack after I attack," the fencer stated, pointing at Kellson, who was still in the crater. "Actually, that is a lie, I'm not sure what he's got planned, but he's got more then enough of a chance to hit me, you can't hope to," the fencer stated.

It