Broken Blades [Zorolo]

[Puck]

OoC: Finally, the long awaited rematch is here. Lets the flames of battle erupte, and engulf the world.

IC:

The wind seemed much colder then, as it blew through the tree tops sending wisps of brown and gold leafs twirling down to earth. The sun set quicker that day then I had ever seen before, ever the animals seemed against me as I heard the angry howls of wolfs and other deadly beasts from all side. The season was changing, I could feel it. And I was not sure if my body could keep up much more. So many years in fighting, and my body was weakening. It seemed at lonely days like these the only reassurance that I was alive was the sound of my lone foot steps down the haunted path.

Sighing I stopped for a second. The forest I was standing in...I had been there before. It seemed like a millennium ago. When was it my mind could not gather, I had been in countless forests in my life time, each one looked so similar, yet I couldn't help but think that this strange feeling of nostalgia was not just my ageing mind playing tricks on me.

I looked around slowly, picking up every detail in the landscape. There was a battle here some time ago, it seemed a powerful at that. Trees where knocked down in rows, and it seemed that the ground was scorched by fire. Sword marks lavished the trees all around me, and a sense of doom filled the air. Even some old horse prints. It seemed odd. Judging by the thin marks I would guess that the battle was nearly a year, yet the marks where all untouched. As if there was no one dared to touch this holy ground.

Then like a flash of lightning I remembered where this forest was, or better what it was. I saw an image of a heroic kid, in all his arrogant glory, bright green hair topping his head. I couldn't help myself from smiling as the memories came back to me. It seemed fate had told me to come back here, to this haunted land, the place where I first met him.

I would never forget that battle, it stuck with me for so long. The boys courage, and tenaciously, how he stood up to impossible odds, and almost over came them. Such reckless abandon in his fighting style, and yet I always wanted to take blades against that man once again. I never did though...perhaps fate told me that day that I was to seek out the green haired man, and draw blades once more with him.

Its not as thought I never took words wit him, I reminded myself as I continued down the path. I fought along side him against that witch, Stacia. And I saw him later at the dome. Maybe if I sought out the dome once again, then maybe I could find Zorlo there to. He spoke about being a teacher there, so it seemed the most likely. My whole body seemed to tingle with electricity, for so long have I waited for this fight, our long awaited rematch. I needed to take arms against him once more, to prove to myself that despite my age I was still able to take on whatever stood in front of me, to prove to myself that my age hasn't come and gone.

Maybe it was Maria's odd words that brought these self betraying thoughts to my head. I could remember the moment, and It still took me by surprise.

--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--

“Tsuukai,” She said slowly, walking over to me her golden hair flowing in the wind.

“...Yes,” I spoke coldly, perhaps too coldly.

“I don't think...I can follow you around...any longer,”

“...What...do you mean?”

“I love you...I know I do. But I have my own path to follow, and my own questions that need answering...we should go our separate ways,” I looked at her with my cold eyes, and simply noded, who was I to tell her how o live her life.

“Thank...you,” She said turning away from me, “We'll meet again...okay,” She said taking off down the road at her blinding speed. With a deep sigh I watched her leave, and said nothing.

--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--

It seemed a sudden departure on her part. No real notice, no real time for me to figure out what was going through her head. Just there then gone. I couldn't help but wonder where she went, what she went to do, and how she planned to do it, or most importantly why she had to do it alone. Then I figured that all those thoughts where week that one day, so I stopped thinking them. I cleared my mind of all things, other then trying to find Zorlo, and I would find him. I had to, if for nothing else then to feed my blood lust.

The dome was not a place easily found, I soon found out, after days of searching since my decision I still had found nothing. Not a wisp of wind gave me a hint, it seemed fate had only tricked me before into believing that I should face the green haired boy. I looked wearily through my extra sense, but still nothing, I heard once that the dome had a mind of its own. I know now that it was true beyond all things. Not a minute since those thoughts crossed my mind they where suddenly rebuked, for when I heard a strange sound behind me as I walked, I turned quickly to see two fancy wooden doors, that seamed to lead to no wheres. Of course I knew better then that, calmly I walked over to the door, and placed a hand on the oddly warm Handel. I had known enough of the paranormal, and mystics that something like this no longer phased me, it was only destiny giving me a go ahead to fight.

I felt a tingly sensation coarse through my entire body as I sauntered through the enchanted door way. It seems that I had seen so much magic, and wonder in the world, that it didn't effect me. I often pondered the reason anyone could accept such things as reality, even myself knee deep in supernatural used to think nothing of the myths and stories of such. And now I accept it as the norm, the medium that attaches the world to the heavens. It seems odd that I would want such a thing, to delve into the supernatural, knowing full well that I could never go back to that calm life I lived in until adulthood. I never really wanted to go back, I reminded myself. This was the life I chose for myself, and I could never go back to a quiet life. Even if I wanted to, Destiny has a way of changing your mind.

The boots clunked easily against the marble floor of the dome. It seemed that door had brought me into a seemingly random hallway. Eyeing around I saw a few students lounging about, probably trying to avoid their teachers. Walking down the hall causally, I took careful note of a pair of students who whispered amongst themselves as I walked by, I was not sure their exact words but I could tell by their faces they must have known who I was. Sighing deeply I continued on, I hated it when people recognized me, it was irritating, I mused the thought of scaring them away with an attack, but quickly decided I had more pressing matters to attend to, namely finding the green haired warrior I so loved to fight. Of course as I reached a four way intersection I casually realized that I had no idea where he was, the dome was far to large to search with my sixth sense.

Eyeing a lone student in the hall, who looked fairly bored, a walked over to him, and grabbed his should slamming it against the wall with a thud. Judging by the look on his face I could tell he was scared, or at least surprised. Excellent, the more scared they are, the easier they are to interrogate. “You, Kid. Where is Zorlo's room,” He looked to shocked to answer, but after he felt his feet rise above the ground by what he saw as a stranger, he quickly opened up, and gave me direction. Dropping him down my feet took onto the path he had given, walking away I made sure to thank the boy, and warn him that his information better be correct.

Following the complicated set of direction I found myself at a rather large ominous door. Putting my hand on the door I knew who it belonged to immediately, I could sense his presence so clearly, and vividly. Without a second thought I opened the door to some greenery, almost an entire forest. I should have figure little much more from the Aura Master. He was in there...somewhere. And I would find him.

[Zorolo]

"Aura Getsuga!" I yelled as the beasts tried to overpower me, but with a fierce and strong slash, my blade released a massive blade of aura, quickly throwing the monsters into the ground, crushing their bodies. A small bit of sweat dripped from my hair. "Not done yet," I whispered as minotaur emerged from the four doors the arena this time. "Good," I whispered as I held Apollo tightly, preparing for my next round.

All four of the minotaur roared and readied to strike, but just as my next round of training was about to begin, the room faded from me, leaving me in a hot spring. I looked around with slight surprise as I found myself in my new surroundings. A well attired man approached me and handed me a towel, smiling at me as he bowed. "Sir Zorlo, please, take some time to rest. You have a special guest coming to visit you, so please, allow yourself some time," the man said as he thrust the towel into my hands.

I spent the next two days lounging in the hot springs. Students passed in and out, looking at me as I stared into space, trying to figure out who would be coming to visit me. As my body rested and regained its full strength, my mind wandered as to who could be coming. I simply couldn't figure it out, but still I felt it was necessary to answer this question. Who would be searching for me?

My mind wandered to the fact that the Dome seemed to summon rivals for me to fight. Nikudemon had been the last one that I had fought, and he grew much stronger during our battle. Aside from Niku, I had also met up with Mesfido, the fallen angel and Master of the Seven Elements, and the gypsy, Cadenza, both of whom were unrealistically powerful. Even so, I knew that neither of them were coming in search of me. Then whom?

I allowed my eyes to close, and the world drifted from me. I think, I dreamed, for a little while.

0=)----------Several months earlier----------(=o

The sound of blades clashing echoed throughout the empty battlefield as Niku and I exchanged blows. Even in his weakened state, his resolve was more then enough to match my will to fight, and all that I recalled about him and his fighting style changed. The echoing of swords striking swords and blood being spilled by our attacks made the battle all the more vicious, and all the more difficult for me. I knew that I had met a man that had grown beyond even my powers of simple combat, and, even with my last ditch attack, I now understand that had the battle gone on any longer, I would have lost.

As the battlefield disappeared, I found myself somewhere else. That plateau, that man with black wings, and the blood that was split for merely the sake of proving that justice had played its part in stopping the crimes he committed. Even so, fate has a funny way of allowing itself to continue. As the bruised man walked on, his body burst into familiar golden flames and flesh and bone both dripped from his body. From what had once been merely a gnat came something noticeably more dangerous.

In that moment, the plateau vanished, and the sound of greater weapons clashing echoed as his white blade clashed with my golden sword. The power from our attacks and the lights from my aura and his flame filled the sky. Nothing could seem to stand up to the destructive power of myself and this divine warrior except the other. Even then, the tides were never even. They always suffered from the imbalance of power that couldn't be filled, no matter how hard the undead tried.

With another clash of mine and Johnny's blades, the world changed again, and I found myself reliving it. The greatest attack used by my friend, Rain, that nearly killed me. The shear force of the attack had been enough to shatter even my strongest shield, and now I found that I heard learned much. His superior swordsmanship had forced my powers to their limit, and I found I truly enjoyed fighting the odd angel/vampire hybrid.

As the sandy beach and the town resting in the background faded, I saw something. A great city, engulfed in perpetual night that found itself enhanced by the shadow realm summoned by the black sword that the gypsy held. I felt my power straining, and my peak being pushed, and then, a bright flash of shadow and aura. It was at that point I awoke!

0=)---------Where Zorlo had fallen to sleep----------(=p

I awoke after my most odd of dreams, sitting in a small room, my clothing piled next to me. Apparently I had passed out in the hot spring, then again, I suppose that is what two days of sitting there will do to a person. Anyway, it wasn't like I could return to my room yet. It was still in ruin after my "training" with Mesfido. Well, anyway, that stopped being a concern. I knew who was coming.

I dressed myself and exited the hot springs, heading for my room. Knowing my luck, I'd get there after he had arrived, but even so, my room still had a seal on it. The stupid Domerri had decided it would be a good idea to keep me out of my own room simply because Mesfido and I became a bit too serious with our training and reduced a large section of the forest to ash. Well, that had been bad luck, but still, had it been really necessary to lock me out?!

As I walked through the halls, I noticed many a student whispering about something. Quickly, I knew what they were speaking of. He was back. So I had been right, and it even seemed that he was heading towards my chamber. I had to get their.

I arrived at where my door was minutes later, looking at my opened door. Well, apparently the useless Domerri had finally finished repairing my room. There, in the doorway, he stood, merely glancing in. My hand reached out, and I smiled. "Hello there, my old friend," I spoke as I rested my hand on his shoulder, knowing why he had come here.

[Puck]

I could feel his hand on my shoulder suddenly, I could tell by the power emitted from the man, that it was the one I had been searching for. It had been so long since I fought I him, I could feel the adrenalin pumping through my veins, it had been a long time since I felt that good. Turning quickly I lightly knocked his hand off my shoulders, and looked coldly at the man, planning my words carefully. “Zorlo...It has been a long time hasn't it?” I said smirking, “I believe, you owe me a rematch,” I knew he was expecting the question, his eyes didn't change, and his posture remained normal. I toyed with the thought of just attacking him instead of waiting for a response, but I quelled my battle hunger, and waited for his reply.

“Of course old friend,” he said with his usual irritating smile, “But we cannot fight in the halls,” He said turning towards the far end of the hall way, and pointing towards a wooden door at the end, “That is where we should fight,”

“As long as I get to taste blood, I would fight in the pits of hell,” I lived for fighting, still do really. It was how I determined my own reality, to do battle. That clank of sword against sword, the sound of ripping flesh, the pain that coursed through my body as I was struck. I loved it all too much. It was how I determined my own reality, without it life would be dull and listless. Fighting was my way of testing mortality, a way of testing the lines between reality, and fiction. I fight, therefore I am alive.

“Of course, I would expect no less, nor no more.” He said starting towards the room at the end of the hall. For the life of me I could never figure him out, he never seemed worried, or depressed, angry or sad. Always he could be seen with a smile on his face, it was almost sickening. He always seemed to want to fight, I found it odd. Fighting was my way of becoming real, and yet a man so lively, and happy could do so much else, and he chooses to pick up blades and come inches from death daily. It didn't click. Some people I could never understand.

I entered the room wordlessly, I never was much of a talker, my mind was to intuitive, too watchful, and it kept my mind distracted and my mouth closed for the most part, contrasting fully with the man who I considered my rival, he never seemed to keep his mouth closed. To each his own, one would say, and I suppose it works well n a situation like this.

The room was rounded, and very large. It looked to be about five hundred feet in diameter by my judging, wit a ceiling high enough for me not to greatly care for measuring with my mind. I took in everything around, it seemed to be a plain room, but I should have known better then to think something like that. Looking at the walls I saw various pendants imprinted into the wall. For each a different symboled was carved into it, for most they looked foreign, and strange, but I did recognize one before I turned to my opponent. This was looked like a tear drop, but the bottom sort of flailed out, it was the symbol for shadow.

Looking at the man, who seemed to cover himself in green drab, I mused the thoughts to him, “This room. That fixtures on the wall have some sort of significance doesn't it?”

“Mayhaps, but then we shall seen soon enough,” I could tell he already knew. Anyone who spent that much time in a place such as this didn't just forget the workings of a room he chose for a battle. Most likely the markings where used as trap, perhaps involving the symbols meaning, but I couldn't be certain. In any case I thought it best to stay away from them, the unknown is dangerous mistress, and I would not want to be caught in a cleverly made trap.

Looking at my opponent coldly, I knew the battle was about to begin. My hand reached for the cold Handel of my blade, and with a quick jerking movement I drew it from its scabbard. I did enjoy that blade, it was simple, yet held and air of mystery about it. I had found it laying on my doorsteps many years before, and for all these years it has never broken, never cracked, it had not even been scratched in battle. I had not the idea of where it came from, but destiny permitted me to have that blade, and I had to oblige.

My opponent followed my suite, drawing his aptly named “Apollo”. If I remember correctly that was the same blade that I had fought before, it looked the same, and felt the same. I knew he had other weapons, so I could only guess that he wanted to start of in his slowly, as he always did he wanted to reserve energy for later, a commendable trait I must admit.

Then like a flash of lightning, he was already on me, he was much faster now then he was before. He leapt high in the air, and was coming down for a kick, but even at his blinding speed I could follow with the greatest of ease. I turned my blade so the flat was facing the attacking, causing him to kick my sword, and bounce off, but I wouldn't let him touch ground, as he jumped away my reflexes took hold slashing upwards as he flew backwards. My opponent twisted out of the attacks way, and landing smoothly on the ground, ready to restart the attack.

[Zorolo]

I slid to a stop, after narrowly evading his blade. My feet followed on the ground, but my body didn't stop until I was near the wall. Actually, I had hoped for that. After all, where we were fighting, it did have a special quality. I hadn't actually investigated this quality, but I knew about it from other people that used this room.

It turned out that the markings on the wall filled the room with an elemental power. "This room is called the "Pit of Elements". A very aptly named room, since all of the medallions along the wall are associated with an element, and will transform the room when they are touched. The room will remain that element for a little while, and when the pendant runs out of energy, the room will return to normal, and the pendant will recharge its energies. It makes the battle more fun this way, I feel," stated I as I smiled and pointed my sword at the dark fencer.

"So, you think to use this rooms elemental base to give you an advantage?" the dark haired fencer asked as he and I began to walk in a circle, both of our blades pointing towards the ground. "Intent on shining light down upon me and trying to seal up or weaken my shadow powers?" the Master of Shadows asked me, but I merely smiled.

"You misunderstand," said I with a smile, "I brought you here to make the battle more exciting. What fun would a regular battle be, in this room, we can manipulate our own fates and change the battlefield to make the fight more interesting. Personally, I have no plans to ever press the button for light. Mostly because... I don't know what each of these symbols mean," quoth I as I rubbed the back of my head in embarrassment.

Quickly, however, I moved my sword to block a downward slash from the purple haired foe before me. Mayhaps it was me, but that attack had come just as I thought it would. Then again, that hadn't been the first time I had wound up blocking an attack after saying something like that. Mayhaps people don't enjoy hearing what you don't know. I don't know, but it seemed as if every time I made a statement like that, I wound up guarding myself from a sword.

"Sometimes, I wonder about what goes on in that brain of yours, and I'm terrified to think," the Shadow Master stated as he pressed his sword against mine, and I pushed back, the metal of our blades finally breaking from each other as we both used the force of the other to push each other back.

I landed and skidded slightly again, watching as the tip of Tsuukai's sword whizzed past my face, barely missing me. I stepped back and knocked his sword upwards, having to step back again as a fierce swipe narrowly missed my chest. I thrust my sword forwards, but a quick move had the dark clad man knocking my sword away and spinning into a quick slash. I narrowly moved my sword in time to stop the downward movement of his blade with my own. Now, we were stuck.

Tsuukai placed his left hand against the back of his sword, and I placed my right hand against the back of mine. Green flame and purple mist began to gather, and a sudden upsurge in energy followed, as shadow and aura clashed, and myself and the Master of Shadows were pushed to the edges of our battlefield. "That was a good warm up, ready to begin?" I asked, smiling with a strong feeling of enjoyment. That had been good fun in only those few attacks.

[Puck]

I could feel my energy expelling around me, just as clearly as I could see his on the other end of the room. The green flames around him flickered violently around him, he was much stronger then the last time we fought, and I knew, he had even more in store. I couldn't help but smirk at that last exchange, the power rush was something of a dream, so strong, I knew at that instant that this battle was going to be fun, I could hardly wait to see how strong he had become. “I am always ready,” I answered his call.

“Then let us begin, it shall be enjoyable,” He said reaching for a pendant on the wall. It seemed my earlier musing where close but not entirely correct. Instead of a trap, it was more akin to a change it battle, and interesting twist I must admit. It also added a new level to the battle, I was able to quickly determine one of the symbols, but the others where a secret, if we could figure them out then we could use them to our advantage, so it seemed I already had the upper hand.

I could see clearly as Zorlo's outstretched hand tap on a symbol of three outwards facing triangles that made a sort of hazard sign. As the world around me started to twist, I felt a white light bath over me, so fierce I had to close my eyes in order to stop from going blind. As I felt reality, space, and time meld around me, I opened my eyes when I felt the light bath ceasing.

“Hmmm....Ice,” I mused looking around the frozen wasteland that seemed to stretch for miles. It was something from The Soviet Union, or the New world. It was cold enough that even I, who for the most part felt little of the climate changes was close to shivering. There where small drifts of snow, but for the most part it was dead grass covered over by a thin, but sturdy layer of ice. With ice comes the higher risk of tripping up, the ice was slippery, I could tell by how it shined in the cold light, and that could be a problem. Dead trees seemed to be sparse across our frozen wasteland battle field, I quickly decided that it would be best to take to the SKS, to avoid the small possibility of slipping on the ice. Better safe then sorry, a mistake like that would look foolish, and could be fatal.

Channeling energy beneath my feet, I could feel my body lifting into the air, ah the sensation of flying. The wind through my hair, my cloak blowing behind me maliciously, there was nothing like it. I could see my opponent Running forward, and leap at me with his blinding speed. It really was impressive his speed, he was much faster then me, hell I heard once that he could out run bullets, now that was speed.

Apollo was already drawn when he was in the air, and he leapt even higher then my flying height, using gravity, and his Aura he slammed down at me. I did get my blade out in time, but his force was so powerful I could feel my height lowering as I withstood his Aura powered attack, to the point my feet where only an inch above the ground. Damn, he was strong, his aura seemed to boast his potential strength to much more then any normal human could obtain. Of course, I to, am no normal human.

Focusing a fraction of my energy to my blade, it quickly started glowing a purplish color. I could feel the tension weakening as he saw this, and the green haired opponent quickly bounced off my blade into the air, just as a wave of energy released through the blade, twirling through the sky until I could no longer see it. Glancing down, I could see my opponent sliding on the ground, just barely dodging my attack. This was already fun, but I had to figure out a way to use the environment against him, or this would become to repetitive.

It would have been easier if I was proficient in ice, or water magic, but I could do no such thing, it looked as though I had no choice, but to fight this area out until I could find one that better suited my tastes, or at least one I could formulate a strategy for. The frozen wasteland did nothing for, or against me, and I knew it. As Zorlo got ready for an attack, I quickly drew a dagger I kept hidden in my cloak, and whipped it towards the man at a speed, akin to a bullet. I knew the attack would miss, but that was not what I cared for, using his momentary distraction, I slipped into the shadow world, using the shadow of a half dead tree as my gateway. Now I had the playing field, you cannot hit what is not there.

[Zorolo]

Well, that was fun. My feet had met with that shadow energy, and I had been thrown away like fiercely by that attack. After that, a powerful moving dagger came towards me, and I elected to evade; I wasn't a big fan of shadow magic, since it did disrupt my aura, but still, aura waves could meet with shadow and stop it. Even so, just the slightest bit more shadow magic, and my aura will be overwhelmed, but still, the clash of the powers still generally would prevent any attack from moving too far.

Suddenly, as soon as I looked, Tsuukai had disappeared. I had seen this skill before, I think. Cadenza had used it, and Mesfido as well, if I recalled correctly. Well now, if I could completely recall how he did it, I would have began my search, but I was still at a loss for how in the world a person could simply dive into the shadows around them. Still, this meant I had to be careful, and simply not moving was a good enough way to do that.

When the realm had finished forming, I had felt a brief instance of the cold bite of winter, even through my jacket, but I quickly used my aura to stabilize the temperature around me, returning it to a normal temperature and warming my body up. Now then, I actually had to get to finding the Master of Shadows. That would be a bit tricky, but I felt I had more then the ability to know when something was coming.

I closed my eyes, and the world of auras opened up. The movements of anything in the dark corners of this realm would be easily found from here, mostly without a sun to create shadows beneath or around me. I let my mind's eye search for the warrior that I found myself in conflict with. Suddenly, I felt a change, a movement of a mass of shadow magic, and knew where Tsuukai was coming from.

Quickly I spun around, moving my sword to block the attack from the Master of Shadows. The clash of swords sparked it off and we both stepped back, my sword thrusting forwards, and Tsuukai ducked, thrusting his blade upwards. I stepped back, spinning my sword around, knocking the sword away and dragging my golden blade along the ground in a slash. The Shadow Master jumped back, avoiding the blade of my sword. After his feet touched down, the dark clad man vanished again, probably hiding into the shadows.

That skill was clearly going to become annoying, and I knew it. Sadly, there was nothing I could do, for so long as there was shadows, that meant places to hide. All I could do was close my eyes and rely on my Spectral Sight to keep an eye on the attacks the dark clad man was making. Even that could be unreliable, since I was certain that Tsuukai had probably come up with some kind of skill to create puppets or something similar out of shadow magic.

A sudden mass of shadow energy came towards me, but it wasn't enough to be the Master of Shadows. Still, common sense told me to move, and as I moved, I felt him appear, forming behind me from a nearby tree and making a slash at me from behind. Crap, no time to defend!

I could hear and felt the grinding of the dark fencer's blade against my armor, and the force that cut a few of the links. I jumped forwards and turned, slashing my own sword and narrowly missing the dark haired man as he stepped back. That had been definitely close, and the fact I had missed him stated several things. However, I did hear a clank from him as he landed from his backwards jump. He had his own armor.

"So, you wear chain mail as well?" I asked him, getting ready to attack. Tsuukai made no move, which meant I'd have to find out for myself. My blade split the air and moved towards the dark haired man, who quickly moved from my sword, finally vanishing again as we drew close to a tree. I leapt back, putting myself in the center, away from the shadows. This wasn't going to be easy.

[Puck]

This pattern went on four a couple minutes by my reckoning. I would attack from the shadows, for a swift attack, then I would retreat back into them. It wasn't the best way to fight, but it did its part. I needed to do as much damage as I could, and even if my attacks mostly missed, or where blocked, it helped. Beside the cold air above would get to me, and slow my movements if I stayed in the otherworld. Looking around the shadow realm, I could clearly see the calm fencer just standing still waiting for me to attack, his golden blade shinning in the light.

Moving over to him I appeared out of his own shadow, attacking his back with a slash of my blade, only for it to hit his armour again, presumably by the clicking sound I cut through a few more links, but he didn't move, crap I left myself open. Stepping back as fast as I could I could feel his blade connect with my chest with a thud, and a clank.

“So you are wearing armour now, Tsuukai.” He said with his usual cocky smile, oh how I hated that smile.

“I need to protect myself, don't I?” I said without smiling, as I took a few steps back to gain some ground.

“Indeed, I would expect nothing else from you, my friend,” Zorlo had an odd way of speaking, I've always noticed. It seemed almost too formal, and too friendly. It gets annoying quickly, as I finds it gives him a very arrogant, and smug air about him that I wasn't fond of. As I watched him take on a battle stance, I felt a strange tingling sensation in the atmosphere, like the world itself was rejecting me.

Then another blast of bright light, it seemed to enjoy blinding people, and when I opened them again, I saw we where back where we started. We where in that frozen wasteland for a good twenty minutes. But I couldn't be certain if every time it would go by that fast, or if instead they changed the time at random, in either case it at least gave me a feel for what I would have to endure for the rest of the battle. It seemed you would have to fight not only your opponent, but also the environment, not an easy task by any means, but not impossible. Tightening the grip on my sword I carefully watched the movements of my opponent, he seemed calm, and cool, but I could tell he was up to something.

Faster then I could blink an eye, he slashed at me. He must have been using his aura to increase his speed, but it mattered not. I had heard the footsteps fast enough that I managed to jump over the attack, and by turning my body in mid air like A flip, I was facing the back of my opponent as I sailed through the air upside down, drawing one of my hidden daggers, I through it as hard as I could towards him, then continued my flip.

As my eyes moved with my body I saw a glimpse of Zorlo jumping, and twisting through the air to dodge my attack, luck bastard. Landing softly I turned on my heel toward Zorlo, just in time to see my dagger smack into on the pendant on the wall, then clank to the floor. Then it was that tingly feeling again, followed by the white light, I could do without that.

OoC: Man...this thread moves like the wind.

[Zorolo]

That had been rather interesting. The setting returned to normal and set in, Tsuukai took the offensive, and tossed a dagger I presumed he knew would miss. For what cause it didn't occur to me until the white light hit my eyes. The blinding, echoing sensation filled my body as I felt me feet touch down. I really hoped he hadn't hit something that would be annoying, although my senses told me he probably had.

As the light faded, I found myself and my rival standing upon a very uneven landscape, full of jagged rocks and uneven earth base. Odds are, Tsuukai had struck the seal of earth, which would make sense, since it also seemed we were on a plateau, several hundreds of feet in the air. The air was thinner up here. It wasn't, however, very clear, since the midday sun seemed to beat down on us. Either way, this was a very interesting place to fight, even if it had been completely luck based on its being chosen.

As I looked around, I felt a sudden blitz and barely managed to sidestep an oncoming shadow blast. As my feet touched the ground, I slipped with the least grace and barely managed to catch myself with my empty hand. This was going to be frustrating, I could already tell. Almost as soon as I had caught myself, I pushed myself upwards, avoiding a downward slashed sword. Quickly, the Shadow Master pulled his sword from the rock and swung the blade perpendicular to the ground that I quickly blocked by turning my sword sideways.

The pressure between our blades created sparks, but I quickly found myself overpowered, and with an extremely powerful push, Tsuukai thrust me forwards, skidding through the rocky plateau we were on top of. My boots scraped up the rocks fiercely, as well as my partially exposed armor taking a brunt of the damage from rocks that threatened to tear my flesh to shreds. I flipped myself upwards and landed on my feet upon the higher up rocks that were behind me and scanned the area.

Tsuukai had no place to hide. The midday sun meant no shadows. So, he had to be some-... At that moment, I turned quickly, avoiding another downward slash that followed with a purple energy ripple cutting through the rock that I had been standing on, and then through the path my body had carved and off the edge of the cliff. That had been dangerously close. I used my aura to push me back and skidded to a stop, looking at the Shadow Master who stood up as well, resting his saber on his shoulder. This was getting interesting.

My rapier scraped along the ground, aura spurting from where the tip cut. I began to gather aura into my blade, forming an attack as quickly as I could. "Try this!" I yelled as I slid my right foot back and let loose a mass of power towards the Master of Shadows. "Aura Getsuga!" I yelled as I unleashed a blade of energy four times the size and volume of normal Aura Slash through the ground in a forward moving arc. The Getsuga cut through the ground as it barreled towards Tsuukai. I greatly desired to see how he'd get out of this one.

[Puck]

Crap, that attack wouldn't be easily dodged, my mind raced. It large, and tearing through the ground, I've never seen him do anything like that before, so I knew I was in trouble. Holding my hand out as fast as I could move it, I could feel the heat protruding off it. Such a form of aura power, it looked powerful and I could only trust my shield to do its job as a Thin transparent black shield spurted out from around my hand in a circular fashion.

Thud. I could feel am self skidding across the ground slowly, as I strained every muscle in my body to hold the attack back. Sweat was dripping down my brown, and I was well aware my shield wouldn't be able to hold up much longer, and pumping more energy into it would just be wasting my reserve power. Using the strength in my right arm, pushed my arm away, causing the shield to move, and the attack to be deflected into the sky flying upwards until it disintegrated.

Turning to my opponents smug face, I offered up a snickering smile in response, “Impressive, you nearly broke through my shield.” I scoffed, “Now let me show you something.” There where no shadows around, that was true, but I didn't need them, they just help. Sheathing my blade in its scabbard, I held both my arms out forward in such a way that it looked like I was holding something. Then like something you would call a fairy tail I channeled my energy into a physical form, two long thick spears, pure black as is my custom, but in reality though they are made from shadows I could change there color at will.

I could tell by his eyes he was not that surprised, but I had more in store, with a good amount of strength I threw them at the area right before his feet, he simply looked and smiled at me probably thinking I missed. Yet he didn't see my plan, he was standing only a few feet away from the edge, and as I brought my hand in front of my face, and snapped my fingers the two spear I created exploded in a massive explosion, the shockwave even causing me to take a step back.

The explosion my weapons made had a two pronged effect, first the explosion should have been enough to at least scratch up the Aura master, and with any luck on my part distract him, and secondly it tore up a chunk of earth under neath him in a rather neat platform, sending it flying of the elevation, and into the air with my opponent still on it. As I watched the platform spin in midair, so Zorlo was underneath it as it fell towards the ocean below, I took that time to leap after him from above.

Looking down at the rocky mass, and sea below me was a nauseating feeling, it was much higher then I had expected but t worked. Drawing my bow I readied three arrows on the same string, and tensed my fingers as I sent my energy through them with a slight burning sensation on my fingers. Pulling my arm back in mid-air I couldn't help but smirk as I let my fingers go loose, as the bow swing twanged.

The first arrow that hit the rock was the one in-between the two others. Like I had planned it exploded with enough force to send the entire rock into various shards of rocks, leaving room for the next two to cut through the smoke towards Zorlo. Though I couldn't possible see through the smoke, and dust I was positive the Aura master had dodged or blocked the attacks, so quickly I sent down a few more arrows, then put away my bow. I figured that I I rained projectiles down at him one would have to hit. Quickly creating two more Spears I tossed them down through the smoke as I fell downwards with him. Then shot three or four shadow blasts, one had to hit, I was sure of it.

[Zorolo]

I fell. The sensation of falling overcame me very quickly. Sharpened rocks rained down on me, followed by a hail of arrows. My body was still in shock from the first blast, and the proceeding arrows all exploded as they hit me, leaving holes in the fabric of my jacket, and even burning into my skin. I could do nothing as I was hit by at least six arrows. Finally, a split second break, and I managed to move a little, but only enough to block the two spears that came towards me. What happened next, I had no time to counter.

Four blasts of shadow magic came and struck me hard, sending my body spiraling down towards the water. The layers of cloth on the front of my jacket had mostly been burned away, and my chest had been bruised and burned by the arrows and blasts. My eyes stared blankly at the water, and I barely managed to create a strong enough aura buffer so that when my body hit the water, my neck didn't snap.

A plume of green flame shot out as my body hit the water, and my daze finally went away. My body floated to the top, held up by the strength of the aura I forced under me. I smiled and slowly stood up, looking up at Tsuukai. My armor had been seriously singed by the shadow magic on the front and had suffered several cuts on the back. Hell, at least my armor was still holding. After all, the battle had just gotten very intense in no time.

The Shadow Master continued to fall towards me. Well, it was time I got him back for what he had just done. My Aura Getsuga didn't shatter his shield, but he'd have no chance of defending himself now from my onslaught to come. Quickly, I spun on my heels and dug my sword along the rock face, throwing up aura slashes in waves. "Aura Slash!" I cried as I created at least six different aura waves heading up towards the dark haired man.

And now, for the coup de gracie! "Aura Getsuga!" I yelled as I released another massive wave behind the Aura Slashes. It would hit before long, but the aura slashes would hit first. At the speed Tsuukai was moving, there would be no evading that Getsuga wave, and it would carry him back up to the top of the plateau and drop him off for me. Now then, I had to beat him there.

Now then, to scale this plateau. I leapt into the air, landing with one foot on one rock and leapt up again to the next. While I leapt from rock to rock, I recalled the moments before I fought with Kellson for the first, and only, time. The young, red haired, swordsman, Zachary following a little ways behind. The poor lad had to climb that entire, massive plateau, while I nonchalantly leapt up. Actually, I have to thank Roery, since during every encounter that I had with her, I had a chance to examine those things on her feet, and they had actually given me an idea of how to move through the air, either up or in a direction, very effectively.

Finally, I hopped over the top of the plateau and landed, walking over towards the edge and smiling. "Tsuukai, I know that didn't kill you, so you'd better get back up here and continue," I yelled at my traveling Getsuga. It was getting closer. WEll, better step back and get ready for the fight.

[Puck]

I made no attempt to stop me decent towards the ocean, and my opponent. I am not sure why I didn't do something to stop myself, I knew Zorlo was strong, and I should have expected an attack. Yet for some reason I didn't, I would go on to curse myself, I am usually so thoughtful yet I left such a huge gapping hole I should have expected what was to come. I knew what was coming as I saw him floating above the water, and looking up at me, I didn't know what he said when he yelled up at me, but I could guess.

Without a second thought I saw blasted with six waves of aura strikes, I Dodged one, and blocked another, but I wasn't fast enough as I fell downwards to dodge the next four. They bashed into me with a thudding sound against my armour, each one I felt a sense of impending doom. As my headache from sense a great attack, I knew what was next, it felt that before. Aura Getsuga. Crap.

I felt the attack smash into me, its really hard to explain what's it like, riding a blade of energy two hundred feet upwards. All my sense seemed to betray me, all I can really tell you is that it hurt. A lot. As I rode the blast upwards I could hear Zorlo calling down to me, though I couldn't hear a word he said it was safe to assume it was some pretentious. As I reached the top I landed with a thud on the rocky landscape, my entire body ached in pain, as I shakily got to my feet, and stared at my opponent in wonder. He looked just as beat up as me, his jacket, and armour was ripped, and he had dust residue on his face.

“Impressive move Zorlo,” I smirked sliding one foot back.

“The same for you,” Zorlo said following a similar pattern, “Old Friend,” There was his speech again, It always bothered me. Now I know I mention it a lot, but its the truth. Suddenly reality did its thing again, and I felt myself being dragged back into the medium room with the standard white light. It always nauseated me going through that, it was like being sucked through a black hole, it didn't hurt but it disoriented me.

“back again,” Twenty minutes again, maybe there was something to my thinking. Zorlo attacked fast without responding to my musing, I managed to block his attack, and watched as he jumped over me, using my blade as lever. I didn't see where he attacked, but I could hear the sound of his blade, and quickly blocked the troublesome attack. Pushing him back the best I could with the awkward position of my arm, I turned and slashed casing him to do something akin to a backhand spring to dodge it.

I watched as he backed up into the wall, and touched yet another pendent. Damn it there was that light, and feeling again. Opening my eyes I saw that I was floating high above the ground, in what looked like a cloud. I felt an odd tingling sensation around me, and by looking at Zorlo I could tell he already figured it out. He touched the lightning symbol, we where flying in a thunder cloud high above the ground...now this would be interesting.

[Zorolo]

That was odd. I had kinda fallen against one of the pendants and my hand had touched it, but what had I hit. Not looking in this battle seemed to be the most foolish thing a person could do. I must admit that, for a few seconds while I looked around, I was a bit shocked. Now that might sound odd, but hear me out.

What I meant is that I was literally shocked. No more then two seconds after we arrived did I find myself hit by a bolt of lightning. I teetered back and forth for a few seconds before I shook it off. I was a little bit singed, thanks in part to my auras quick work of slightly shielding me and then healing me afterwards. Still, it's quite a feeling to be electrocuted after being immune to electricity for so long. Actually, in this case, it was a bit refreshing, since it got my impulses going just a little bit more.

See, I've learned that a little bit of electricity can be good for you if you know what you're doing, but in this case, some of my nerves were damaged, so I had to deal with that first. Tsuukai stared at me for a few seconds after I got shocked and healed myself up. I felt good as new in body, even if I was a little roughed up. Still, I wasn't about to be shocked again.

I thought to myself for a moment, and quickly my aura sprang to life. The emerald green flame that surrounded my body glowed brightly in the thunder cloud, and I could see the dancing electrical bolts all around us. I didn't have to worry any longer, because my aura would act as a buffer, but Tsuukai wouldn't be so lucky. Also, given the unstableness of this setting, I had a chance to think about this fight so far. I had to examine exactly what I was doing before I moved on.

The Shadow Master got ready to move, and quickly leapt to the side of a crashing lightning bolt. The sound of thunder crashing and lightning cackling was all but lacking here, and it made the battlefield very serene, actually. I moved as well, blocking the dark eyed man's blade as I continued to think. He pressed his blade against mine, and shadow energy emitted from it. Seconds later, I found myself being shot backwards into the endless space of the cloud, actually breaking a few lines of lightning along the way.

When I finally hit the ground and rolled to a stop, my aura still burning brightly, the way I had been fighting occurred to me. I had been fighting a battle to try to over power Tsuukai in a similar fashion to how he was fighting. I had been trying to fight his power and magic with my aura and power. Clearly, so far, that didn't seem to work. I wasn't fighting how I fight; I was fighting how he fought. If I continued down that path, I'd only wind up defeated. If I wanted to win, I'd have to fight the way I fight, and not fight the way he fights.

I stood up and dusted myself off, smiling. He walked towards me slowly. "Very impressive, Tsuukai Ita, the Master of Shadows. Now then, I think its my turn," I told the slowly approaching Shadow Master. Suddenly, my body burst forward towards him like a bullet. He moved quickly, blocking my sword, but just as the clang rung out into the area, I had already moved myself, striking with a downward slash this time. He moved his sword upwards to guard, and as my attack fell, I pushed his blade, and my own, downwards.

As soon as my feet hit the ground, my body vanished. I had moved to the side, and then quickly dashed to sideways again, moving in to attack from behind. "Tsuukai, can you keep up?" asked I as he turned and locked swords with my oncoming horizontal slash. We both built up energy in our blades again, and, as had happened earlier, we released our powers at the same time. "Aura Slash!" I yelled as our powers collided and exploded. Even if it wasn't my style, I still loved doing that.

[Puck]

I could feel my body get sent flying backwards through the sky, as the world turned to a grayish blur around me. Landing on the ground still sliding backwards at an amazing speed due to the clash of powers we just ignited, I slammed my sword into the ground, and as it dragged through the ground finally cause me to slow and stop. He was moving faster now, using his over whelming speed to force me into retreat, I had no choice but to match that speed or die in a furry of steel, and blood.

My sharp eyes caught him start a dash, so I followed suite towards him. Each time he switched the direction, I followed, he may have been faster then me, but not by enough. At the last second I leapt towards him, my blade drawn, and he like wise jumped in my direction. As I stabbed forward, he simply used his Apollo to push me, and my blade away, or at least that is what it felt like, its hard to say at such speeds what it really going on.

I landed with a hard thud on the ground, not losing an inch, but he was faster, by the time I had steadied myself he was already upon me. I tried to counter attack, my arm shooting forward, and twisting into a stab. Time seemed to slow down for a few second, I could vividly see his golden blade push mind away with a simple flicking motion, and saw him leap over my head. Time to strike. Or s I thought, turning and slashing at the figure behind me, I found my sword went right through it, slashing it away. An Illusion. I didn't have the time to think of where he was, he had me beat. He was too fast, and even if I knew I wouldn't be