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View Full Version : Round 2 - Auki v.s The Imposter [J - Awean8]



Awean8
02-11-2012, 05:34 AM
"Guests, you are now allowed to awaken."

The vision of the two combatants faded in from black as they began to regain their senses. The first thing coming in to view being a young man dressed in formal attire, and wearing a regal crown while sitting on a throne. The dirt here was strange. The air that was breathed felt foreign, and cold. The grass was almost certainly alien. As far as the eye could see nothing existed save for the two combatants, and the man on his throne.

"Look up."

It was a shocking sight. The sky was so vast that it had felt as if it could swallow them up, and their were simply too many stars to even begin to comprehend. The most shocking part of the spectacle however was a bright blue star that had outshone the others which at first seemed small, and unrecognizable but with closer inspection it could be inferred that the pebble sized globe was growing larger. The ground shook as if a great pressure was building up in the beneath their feet.

"This is Round 2, and we are currently on a special little moon that actually has breathable air", the man's voice was devilish and rather apathetic to their cause, "That blue star is Earth. The moment I leave this battleground is the moment that this moon will begin to hurl itself into the Earth's surface.....Destroying it along with all it's inhabitants. However, depending on how entertaining this battle is......perhaps I could give the moon a little push in the other direction if you catch my drift."

"Abel, shall go first. Have fun......."

The Imposter
02-16-2012, 02:25 AM
When Abel opened his eyes the sole expression he gave was that of scorn. Scorn for the way the last round had ended, scorn for the judges and their trivial rules, scorn for his inability to complete his masterpiece. His mind recalled the events: first the appearance of the judge during his duel with the Nemean Lion. The match was stopped on a stipulation, seeing as Mittens was the last of his kind from the realm he was from he was subject to the procreation laws of the tournament. In short he was sent to another realm to mate with a fellow Nemean to carry on the species as the judges’ care little for causing the extinction of a whole race. The ordeal sent Abel into a fit as the match was glossed over and stopped from coming to the conclusion it deserved. All for the sake of carrying on the line of Nemean Lions, the whole incident was stupid from Abel's perspective but because of the rule he was given the chance to carry on to the next round.

Abel's silent rage was transferred to the new judge who began speaking. Seemingly unable to disobey Abel's eyes glared at the terrain he was on. The vast emptiness of it all proved to give no advantages over gaining upper ground or the like which Abel took note of. Then his eyes moved to the ocean of stars in the sky the innumerable balls of light blanketed the heavens and gave an almost transcendent glow to the battlefield. As the judge's voice continued Abel couldn't help but catch the threat. If he was not entertained the world would be destroyed by the very battlefield Abel was on. The scene of such mass destruction danced in the one armed swordsman’s mind causing his lips to curl. Such an image would be greater than anything Abel could ever create and yet a great distaste lingered in his mind. Those judges in their omnipotent egos considered such things as destroying worlds as trivial and almost mockingly seek entertainment in the battles that were taken place. Abel’s pride deflated seeing himself now as only a toy to the judges and one to be played with and then disposed of...there was no honour in this tournament but only a means to satisfy the insatiable morbid desires of those that dictated who lost or who won.

Abel took a deep breath trying to calm the agitation that had boiled up from the judge’s ramblings. He could not let such things get under his skin and shake up his resolve. He would win the tournament and create his most beautiful piece yet. Speaking of which...my opponent is the champion from the last rumble. Ruan I do believe, they should prove to be most formidable. Abel's eyes began to descend from their gaze at the starry sky but didn't make it far before they rested on his opponent. The pearl scales of the dragon glistened in the starlight taking Abel's breath away. He never would have thought such a creature would be here let alone be an opponent. His second thought was that perhaps he was the only humanoid in the rumble and everything else were various creatures that would only be increasing in size after every round. When the shock of the majestic creature wore off Abel found he was unable to move. This was not the cause of any prior injuries however as he seemed to be healed through the judge’s power. He stood now back in his cloak and with Mitten's energies gone missing one arm. His breath came in short spurts and despite his mind's willingness he was unable to budge. Sweat beaded from his head and ran down his face as thoughts of the battle played through his mind. Was this fear? Have I finally encountered a creature so terrible that I’m afraid? This feeling had gripped me only once before, yet it was so long ago this feels foreign to me.

Despite sense of despair that gripped him Abel forced his body to take a step. He had no intention of just giving up and giving the victory to the former champion. No, Abel would show the judge something worthy of being called ‘entertainment’ even if it meant his own destruction. In Abel's mind the chance to defeat such a creature on his own seemed impossible but nonetheless he would fight until his dying breath. His new resolve becoming an unshakable foundation Abel raised his left arm and pointed his short sword at the giant lizard.

'Ruan is it?! Well shall we show the judge what a battle truly looks like?!'

Abel's words echoed in the great expanse as he spoke loudly trying to mask the quake of fear still evident in his voice. Abel quickly took the first action by looking into the spiritual realm searching for the energies that radiated from the great dragon. Using his own energy he tapped into the roaming powers and manifested them into a right arm. In the moment the energies were pulled out of the spiritual realm an emerald arm shot forth from the right side of his cloak and from its shoulder sprang a wing mimicking that of the typical dragon. The arm hung elongated with its green scales shining brightly with long sharp claws extended from the tips of the four fingers that moved together but not synchronized. The wing spread a good five feet fully extended and flapped as if stretching itself from a slumber. Abel grinned admiring the manifestation thinking that it may prove to give him some edge in the battle.

Before he would allow anything else to transpire Abel began forging a blue sigil in the air with the tip of his sword. The blade seemed to cut through the physical space and pull the cerulean lines from out of nowhere until the formed a complete symbol. The draconic hand raised and placed its palm on the symbol releasing the energy. In the blink of an eye a large shard of ice formed hovering in front of the small man. His eyes narrowed and brow furrowed and he flicked his wrist towards the large reptile. The shard spun clockwise and then burst forth splitting the air as it soared towards his new enemy.

Auki
02-17-2012, 02:04 PM
"Guests, you are now allowed to awaken."

She was back.

That stale sweat stench of anticipation drew her in - clung to her - and, once again, she felt alive; it did not seem like it had been a year. As eager as she was to reinstate her dominance, the subsequent exertion on the body itched at her nerves. Her pride would rather shun the existence of weakness, but wisdom refused to let her act like a hatchling. She was old. She was ill. It was all reason enough in itself to be anxious.

Touch and sound returned to her with scent, a stirring of consciousness, yet the world still cloaked itself in shadow, hidden from her hungry eyes.

Her joints creaked as she rose, straining from a rest too long, screaming weakness to the world. She resisted their plea, her talon-ridged feet planted firmly on the ground, tickled by foliage she did not recognize. Even the soil that sifted beneath her toes felt foreign, not fitting into any memory of recognition enough that she could find certainty. Blood pulsed, agitated, her body poised to move at the whisper of attack.

"Look up."

She had remembered the tradition of the judge’s voice, echoing across the arena, no source that she could name in her black-stained world. This individual seemed to have a sick sense of humour. Her options folded out in front of her, tactical planning in the breath of a second, but many served no use other than to satisfy her own irritated nature. It would not do well to fall to impulse; there was a particular façade she wished to maintain, one that would not advantage from it.

She knew how she appeared, bound on four limbs with skin adorned in age-cracked scales. Bestial, was it? A word that summed up the presence of one like herself, herding her into a category of lesser intelligence and lustful urges. Some might consider it injurious to her pride, but she did not feel the same; it was only the stupidity of her opponent at fault.

Her first instinct was to look up, despite her lack of eyesight, a disguise to shelter her handicap from scrutiny. Animals did not understand words though, did they? If she imagined losing comprehension, then the sentence became just a noise, an annoyance on the silence of the battlefield.

"This is Round Two, and we are currently on a special little moon that actually has breathable air. That blue star is Earth."

She twisted her head to stare in the direction of the voice, instead of skywards, praying that there was someone there and not just empty space. Curiosity grew over his explanation, but she didn’t allow herself to show it. Her mind focused on pretending the words were just jumbled mutterings, that she didn’t understand their significance. Her throat reverberated in a growl, starting at the mid of a sentence and continuing into his next, deliberately jarring against the flow of the judge’s words. Her stance adjusted as the ground began to tremble, but she kept it as intimidating as she knew how, a copy of lesser predators she had observed before.

“The moment I leave this battleground is the moment that this moon will begin to hurl itself into the Earth's surface...destroying it along with all its inhabitants. However, depending on how entertaining this battle is... perhaps I could give the moon a little push in the other direction if you catch my drift."

A twisted concept, a sudden life-or-death scenario. Should they fail to meet his quota, the only place for her to live would fall. Regardless of whether she held sentiment over her planet, survival was important. Her expression was angered but, thankfully, no more so than the seconds before. It was as if the judge’s threat was only buzzing at her ears, unable to penetrate her apparent animalistic mind.

"Abel, shall go first. Have fun..."

Abel. A dull name; it told her nothing about her foe. It was her senses that had to gather the information instead, although her eyes were lacking in their contribution. She inhaled – human; male, if scents could be trusted. The salty taste of sweat appeared with remarkable swiftness, storming through her nostrils, although she couldn’t tell why; anger and fear were most likely, but she couldn’t dismiss the idea that he might be silently labouring, working towards the offense. She hoped it was merely a reaction to the judge’s words – even she felt her heart pound faster when she contemplated their situation.

"Ruan is it?! Well, shall we show the judge what a battle truly looks like?!"

His voice was strong, yet not firm. Male, almost certainly.

She replied with a wordless snarl, moving her snout to focus on her opponent, peeling back her lips to reveal the fangs beneath. Primitive, the kind of beast that yearns for the ecstasy of blood-soaked flesh. She did not like that her given name was so well-known; knowledge such as that was not to be shared frivolously. His question went unanswered.
There was silence and his scent shifted, merging into something different than before. It was not a smell she could recognize, yet it caused her blood to boil in apprehension. Not threatened, but cautious. Her only comfort was the musky odor of a human that remained layered on top. She heard a whisk of the air – a stirring – like the beat of a wing, but she did not want to play a game of guesswork.

The judge had allowed him the first move, and so she allowed herself hesitation, like a beast analyzing the weak points of its prey. In truth, there was little she could do but wait. His direction lay just before her, but she could not know with precision. Until he drew closer, she needed to be careful.

His projectile was almost undetectable; its only warning was a slight whip of wind as it forced the atmosphere out its path. It smashed into her shoulder, unrivalled speed unhindered by its size. As it made contact, so did it splinter, cracking against her hardened scales. She felt its brittle chill, the damp that it left once it fell to the ground, and knew it to be ice. A strange choice of attack against a dragon of the snow-paved mountains, but it was not entirely ineffective. The barrage of its weight was enough to bruise the skin beneath her natural armor, to cause the muscle ache where she was rather there was none. If ice was his arsenal then she had an advantage, but she was nowhere near invincible.

Soon, the pain would come.

She could feel it stalking her, hiding in the shadows of the passing time.

Her only hope was to act whilst she still had full control of her body.

Should she take offense at the audacity of his attack? The instinctual beast inside her seemed to scream for retaliation. The wiser dragon in the fore-front reminded that caution was vital, at least while they were still ignorant of their opponent.

She combined the two ideals together.

Her body jerked to the side, powerful legs moving with a grace that would fade in the growing minutes. Her tail used the momentum to its advantage; muscles tensed, it dragged in parallel to her turning, pushed into the ground and dishevelling it. By the time it had finished its path, a pile of dirt had mounded before its length, collected in its purposeful sweep. The move’s finale came when she continued its journey, lifting it as she did so. The earth – or whatever you could call the planet they were on – soared into the sky, showering towards where she knew this ‘Abel’ to be. The attack was not made to do damage, but to keep the battle moving. It was vital that she did not reveal her weaknesses until the man was close enough for it not to matter.

Kris
02-28-2012, 10:52 AM
Since The Imposter has left the site and is past the time he needs to answer, Auki wins this battle and will move on to the next stage.