Where Fate Guided Us (Mizzy)

If Monroe knew anything, and he knew a lot, then it was quite clear that he had drawn the only somewhat fair battle. Still, given both of their outlandish dress for this place, a lot of people wouldn't see anything otherworldly coming in this battle. Or would they? After all, there were a few people in the crowd who were somewhat knowledgeable about the fighters. Not many, but a few.

The Quincy's mantle floated idly in the wind as he kept a poker face about himself. So his foe was a vampire, that didn't make him any different from the mass number of other blood drinking creatures out there. Heck, there were even some good vampires out there, but that wasn't a consequential thing at this moment in time. Although, Monroe had forgotten one thing about his foe.

The dark clad man kept his arms crossed as he watched the vampire and readied to move. A few seconds seemed to dangle as the two stared at each other. No movement. Nothing. Well, if things stayed like this too long, this would be very, very boring. Still, to any good warrior, one would probably assume that the two were fighting the battle not on the field of battle, but in their mind.

In reality, this probably wasn't the case, but it didn't matter. Still, now was the time to fight. In an instant, the two fighters stood on opposite sides of the arena from where they had just stood, seeming to have simply switched places. "Not bad," Monroe commented as he turned to look at Cain. "Maybe you will keep me entertained."

“Maybe, maybe,” Cain replied, turning to look at Monroe. So this human was more powerful than he’d thought. Good. Maybe the Quincy would put up a better fight than the drunken Cadenza had?

Adonai shifted his footing and cracked his neck. He undid his tie and tucked it into a pocket. No sense in ruining a good tie, right? The Class S vampire started to walk, slowly circling his foe. It was time to feel his opponent out and see what he was capable of.

Monroe kept his eyes trained on the vampire as he finished the circle. Cain kept walking, seemingly starting another circle. However, three steps into this new circle, he suddenly lashed out with the Wirevein attack, fully expecting to catch his opponent off guard.

Instead, to Cain’s mild surprise, Monroe dodged the strike with ease. The Quincy leapt into the air, mantle fluttering in the wind, and launched some kind of projectile at the vampire’s face. Adonai couldn’t get a good look at what it was until he’d shifted his head to the side to dodge it, finding an arrow made of energy whizzing by his face.

“Hmm… Neat,” Adonai thought, lashing out with another Wirevein strike. Monroe dodged this as well, and fired a retaliatory arrow, which Cain nimbly evaded. This was going to be a nice test.

Monroe held his bow firmly in his left hand as he watched the vampire. So far, the two had done little more than cleverly try to strike at each other from a safe distance. The one eyes man simply lashed out with what looked like some kind of metal whip from his wrist, and the dark clad man responded thusly with photon arrows. The responses to each other’s attacks hadn't been effective, but the fight was just starting.

Wirevein erupted from both of Cain's wrists as he began to lash out quickly at the enhanced human with speed that would have cut a normal person to ribbons. However, for the Quincy, it was just a matter of responding with the right timing. After all, there was a slight delay between one attack and the next, which gave just enough response time for a potential counterattack.

And counterattack the Quincy did. With each miss, he fired off a photon arrow. The blasts from the arrows colliding with the Wirevein that was being used as defense offset both of the warriors. After a few moments of fighting like this, the two backed off and allowed the dust to settle. "I must say, impressive," Monroe noted as he smiled, ready to fire his next arrow. "Don't worry, though. This fight will get more interesting."

With that, Monroe vanished. The afterimage left from his movement quickly had a Wirevein strike through it, revealing that Monroe had gone. The archer appeared behind his foe and smiled. Hirenkyaku has put all the edge he needed. "Nice try, but dodge this!" Monroe said, firing an arrow at the man's back.

“I don’t have to,” Cain replied, a humanoid figure darting out of the crowd and into the path of the arrow. The figure, one of many ghouls planted in the audience, was eradicated the instant the arrow struck it. The only proof that the figure had ever existed was the small pile of ash on the arena floor, which was quickly disposed of by the wind.

Normally, outside interference would result in a no-contest. In this case, the ghoul had moved too quickly for most of the audience to even notice. With the exception of a select few viewers, it seemed to everybody that Adonai had blocked the attack with some kind of invisible shield.

“Sorry about that,” the vampire said with a smirk. He took advantage of the temporary lapse in action to take off his jacket and shirt, leaving only his white tank-top undershirt. A few of the women in the audience cheered for the Class S Vampire’s disrobing. “They’re a tad protective of me. They’d sacrifice themselves to save me from the slightest amount of damage. It’s a little sad, really.”

Cain neatly folded up his discarded clothing and set it down, taking note of its location so as to avoid destroying it in the ensuing fight. “I promise it won’t happen again. I’ve just sent them a mental message telling them not to meddle in this fight. You can go ahead and take a free shot, if you want. There‘s a slight chance that arrow may have hit me if that ghoul hadn‘t interfered.”

Adonai took a few steps away from his jacket and shirt, and put his arms straight out to his sides. He flashed his opponent an arrogant grin, fangs gleaming. “Go ahead. I won’t move an inch, human. Just make it a good one. Anything less than fantastic, and I might decide to end the fight a little quicker than I wanted.”

"You're some piece of work," the Quincy said as he opened his bow hand and his weapon flashed and vanished. "Still, that isn't my style. I don't care how you fight or what you use. What I'm looking for is someone that'll be worth an exciting fight. There aren't many people here who could do that. You might be one, but there are two men I know that are extremely strong here."

The dark clad man raised his finger and pointed at them. One of these two was Zorlo, and the other was Mercutio. "You and I are strong, that's for certain... but I don't think even we could hold a candle to those two if they decided to fight seriously. Then again, that's why you're such a fun foe..." the archer said as he crossed his arms and took a few steps back. "I'll use you as a stepping stone to those two. After all, there is only one other person here that's even threatening, and he's too stupid to fight well!" the Technological Quincy stated as he vanished.

Monroe now stood back to back with Cain and smiled. "We could probably fight all day, just toying around and throwing tools and untested skills at each other... but what good would that do us? We'd just be wasting time trying things that won't work. Why don't we turn this fight up and decided a winner faster. After all, if we don't, someone else is bound to try," the Quincy said as he started walking forwards.

The Enhanced human chuckled as he turned quickly and reformed his bow. "What do you say?! Let's put our very existences on the line!"

“Somebody here’s threatening, but too stupid to fight well?” Ziran asked nobody in particular, twitching his ear. A perfect example of something going right over somebody’s head.

“I suppose. I wouldn’t have a clue who he’s talking about though,” Mercutio said, feigning ignorance.

~

“Seven,” Matt thought, looking at the tourist. He gritted his teeth. As the man droned on and on, Rosencruex imagined himself breaking a slab of cement over his own head. “Eight…”

Now as the man talked about whatever the hell subject his mind was currently on, Matt pictured himself drowning. “Nine…”

The tourist laughed at some joke he’d just made, and lightly nudged the Legend Killer with his elbow. Matt wondered how it would feel to be decapitated. “Ten. Ten things that are better than sitting next to this guy.”

~

“Let’s put our very existence on the line?” Cain echoed, turning around and looking at the quincy. He laughed and cracked his neck. “You’ve got a flair for the dramatic. I guess that explains the outfit.”

Adonai lightly squatted, staring at Monroe with his good eye. Now it was time to turn things up a notch. Direct beatdowns were always fun. Nothing quite like good old fisticuffs, the vampire believed. Kicking it old school.

“Fine. Just remember that you asked for this,” Cain said, before he disappeared.

Monroe cracked a smirk as he watched the man vanish. A punch nearly grazed the Quincy from seemingly nowhere. This fight would be one that wouldn't end soon, he noted. It wasn't fear that gripped him, but a heightened sense of things. If that hadn't been his advantage, this fight would have been over a while ago. Still, the proceeding battle moved at such a speed that people could easily say it never occurred at all.

Aside from the flashes and cracking noises, what most of the crowd could say is that they didn't really see anything but blurs. Still, the quick blows from the two hit either nothing or another fist or leg when the blows were made. If it weren't for the fact the two found themselves moving after each encounter and clash, the audience might have had some idea that the two even existed at all. Still, until the dust settled and the two appeared again, life seemed to have stopped for a few moments.

The sand settled and Cain and Monroe stared at each other as if nothing had happened. Aside from the noticeable wounds and injuries on the two, they still stood firm and confident. "Round one is over. I feel plenty warmed up now," the Quincy stated as he stretched slightly and knelt down mildly, looking at Cain. "Ready to go?" he asked, smiling.

OOC: For an awesome soundtrack to this fight, listen to "Little Crazy", by Fight. It's the song Mercutio's listening to. : 3

BIC: “It’s all right, it’s all right, it’s all right, I’m just a little crazy,” Mercutio listened to the song playing on his MP3 player. He watched the fight with a decent amount of interest, though he was a bit more preoccupied with the song at the moment. “It’s all right, it’s all right, it’s all right, I’m just a little crazy…”

Back in the arena Cain and Monroe were going at it again. Destruction Incarnate watched as the two exchanged blows. Most of the attacks were either blocked or dodged, with the exception of a few glancing punches and kicks.

“Under my skin, and into my bones. I’m feeling insanity begin to make it’s home. Into my vision, and through my mouth. Somebody’s working to get me all strung out!”

Monroe blocked a kick from Cain and held onto the vampire’s leg. A quick sweep of the Class S’s other leg knocked the vampire down. The Quincy tried to capitalize on the situation with an axe kick, only for his opponent to catch his foot and twist his ankle, bringing him down as well.

“It’s all right, it’s all right, it’s all right, I’m just a little crazy,” Mercutio popped another jawbreaker into his mouth and watched. It looked like Adonai was going to shift the pace of this fight. This would certainly be interesting. “It’s all right, it’s all right, it’s all right, I’m just a little crazy. There goes my reason. Where’s all my hope?”

Cain grabbed Monroe’s leg and trapped it between his own legs before rolling over to twist his opponent’s ankle. He knew that keeping the Quincy in this position for too long wouldn’t be a good idea. One of those arrows at such a close range would leave quite a mark. Still, he felt like doing a bit of damage.

“I’m just a puppet with my strings to make me cope. I’m seeing nothing. What’s all this noise? Will someone get me something just to get me through this poise?” Mercutio smiled. There was the methodical violence that Cain was known for. Damaging his opponent’s leg, even in the slightest bit, would slow him down enough for the vampire to have a speed advantage.

“It’s all right, it’s all right, it’s all right, I’m just a little crazy. It’s all right, it’s all right, it’s all right, I’m just a little crazy. Under my skin, and into my bones. I feel insanity begin to make its home. Into my vision, and through my mouth. Somebody’s working me to get me all strung out!”

Adonai grabbed Monroe’s foot and twisted it until he was sure the human was in pain. He relaxed his grip and returned Vossler’s foot to its natural position before wrenching it once more. The Quincy kicked at Cain with his free foot in vain. This vampire wouldn’t be deterred, wrenching his opponent’s ankle again and again.

“Say it’s… It’s all right, it’s all right, it’s all right, I’m just a little crazy. It’s all right, it’s all right, it’s all right, I’m just a little crazy. Just a little crazy.”

Sure that he’d done some damage, Cain let go and hopped back onto his feet. He dodged a few arrows and put some distance between himself and Vossler before stating, “Round two, over. I think that one goes to me.”

OOC: A little much damage being done to Monroe in this one, but I can see the upper hand shifting back and forth between the two of them as the fight goes on.

The sound of muscles and bones popping wasn't anything new to Monroe. After all, he was all too use to such things. Sure, his ankle would hurt, but even so, he couldn't think about it. It wasn't what had gone wrong, but what could go right he had begun focusing on. The Quincy glanced as the vampire who had put a good deal of distance between himself and the dark clad man.

Still, all in all, Monroe found this fight exceedingly exciting. However... this wasn't the foe he wanted. This wasn't the man that the Quincy was driven to fight. More like the stepping stone. A good stepping stone, but a stone nonetheless.

Sand kicked up under the dark clad man's feet as he appeared next to the vampire and threw a very fast kick at the man. The S-Class Vampire blocked the blow with his forearm, using his other arm to brace against the force, but still being pushed back slightly. A powerful straight punch moved towards the dark clad man who began to lean back.

It was a split second decision, but it was still one that could work. Monroe's other leg came up and drove right between the vampire's shoulder and neck, forcing Cain to one knee as Monroe floated a few inches from him, pointing his bow at the vampire. At this range, evasion was highly unlikely.

Drawing the string back, the arrow formed, and Monroe grinned as he prepared to fire. "Dodge this!"