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 Posted: Sun Dec 10, 2006 1:53 am
The blade snapped through the air, and it snapped straight through Joshua's neck, drawing a string of blood out behind the blade as it cut clear through to the other side. For Joshua, that satisfied smirk still sat on his face... satisfied that the Reaper had finally decided to bring out his desire to fight.
It was almost unnoticeable, because it happened in the shadow of the blade and as the weapon had passed through it seemed to leave no mark, but trailing only a fraction of an inch behind it the whole way through a light had burned across Joshua's neck; the light of healing, like tape applied to paper, it mended a clean cut like that as if it were nothing. There was no tearing of flesh or battering of the body, it was simply something being separated, and then brought back together...
"Mine."
Joshua's right hand snapped out for the brim of the hat, and his left followed immediately beside it intended for Maximos' nose. He'd punch the man straight out from under his hat and take it back.
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Posted: Sun Dec 10, 2006 2:07 am
::Was the only responce as the swordsmen completed the cut. His left hand sliding off the hilt to let his right finish the motion. He knew he wasnt going to kill him with this, he thought perhaps it would be to a defense of some sort, but in effect it was a defense of sorts. He noticed the same basic responce to the small cuts and nicks Joshua had taken down below. This was sort of the final resolution, thre was no need for surprise. He had zero hesitation.:: ::With his left hand free he gripped Joshua's holding it in place just before the fingertips reached for the brim of the hat. His smirking face meeting Josh's, his white and black eye meeting Joshua's.:: Not quite.::With one arm held, and the other in such close proximity, the nameless was brought up in a quick fan like spin flat spin, with a flick of the wrist. His left hand would provide the tension to pull one limb back and hopefully distance it enough from its socket that gravity wouldnt hold it in place. Though in note of the neck, he was sure to put a but if a twist at the end of his cut, sliding the blade so that it wasnt a clean cut but instead dug at an angle near the end of the slash like a wedge. Sort of aiming to not only cut through, but provide the distance to push the limbs off their base. He'd cut at the easiest to seperate points, the elbows. As for that right arm. He had no intentions of letting go, if he felt it give he had every goal of pulling it clean out of place. He gave no quarter, and he took no steps back, retreating was not an option.::
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Posted: Sun Dec 10, 2006 2:23 am
A spin of the wrist to bring the blade up between them from underneath. A nice little trick, but it would be stopped short. Joshua was not 'naked' anymore, he was wearing the armored bracers that had deflected better blades than that one before. His left hand turned briefly outwards to twist the armored plates into contact with the blade before it made it very far; a dribble of blood running down to the hilt as it cut shallowly through the leather where the plates did not cover.
"Quite."
He shoved the hilt downwards with the back of his arm and then snapped his hand upwards immediately. Even if Maxi answered back with the blade again he had no room to get up the momentum for a penetrating strike anymore... and the prize was worth more than a few drops of blood in the end.
His left hand would lift the hat just a few inches, and then his forehead would say hello to Maximos' own.
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Posted: Sun Dec 10, 2006 2:33 am
Ryugi Kazamaru With the two fighting men gone, Ryugi sighed, and took up a seat on one of the chairs that HADN'T been destroyed in the fighting. Things were suddenly much quieter after the two had left, almost eerily so. He shrugged, and looked around, wondering what he would do now. He could always start a conversation with Walter, but it would seem that Walter was going to be very busy for a while as he cleaned up the mess. Maybe he could try and talk to Ruuvan, since he seemed to be bored out of his skull as well, and the girl seemed to have vanished among the chaos of the fighting. "You seem lonely..."
The child was sitting in a chair beside Ryugi, casting a sidelong glance towards him as her legs swung back and forth over the chair's edge. The moment her words reached his ears the burning sensation came back once more... that Reaper mark burned into the back of Ryugi's neck pumping fire through his veins.
It had to be because of what was happening upstairs... there were no Reapers in the room after those two had left.
"Did your friends leave you behind, boy?"
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Posted: Sun Dec 10, 2006 2:40 am
:: Not this time. Not the same way as last time at least. Maximos wasnt running, unless he was budged, he wasnt budging. And he wasnt going to make it easy to be budged. Swordplay came easy, very easy, for him a sword had moved beyond the level of "weapon", it was not an extension, it was a metal limb. A product of training. Metal being a hard surface, tough to break. Like Joshua's head, but he wasnt backing down. Joshua had stopped the blade and Maximos immediately jerked his right arm to the left, close to his body. Joshua's head came and hit with a vicious clash, Maximos didnt dodge, he slammed his head right back against Josh, his teeth gritting and grinning right back at him. No backing down. Never again. All or nothing. The hit stung, like a bat to the skull, but he'd hurt worse before, he had to grin and bear it. He had lost the hat....a temporary setback. Joshua was only a foot or less from him, he didnt have the room to stab. But he had the room to slash, both Joshua's hands were above the waist, and the waistline is exactly where he aimed to slash. He couldnt stab, but he could sure as hell dig that slash in as deep as possible as he brought that sword from left to right. Slipping his left hand from around Joshua's arm and using it to push his upper body back, against the cut. Hoping to put a nice fat space in that slash, he'd dig as far as he could even if that meant trying to cut him in half. Meanwhile a trinkle of blood dripped from above a small cut in his right eye, the sheer intensity of the impact tearing the skin open. The blood dripped down his cheek and acros his lip as he seethed a word through his teeth.:: Indeed...
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Posted: Sun Dec 10, 2006 2:52 am
"No." Maxi slashed across Joshua's stomach with the blade, and the slash was clean, leaving nothing to be desired at all in execution or positioning... yet nothing happened. It didn't cut, not even the clothing. Two cuts... one through the neck, with the tip of the blade... one through the wrist with the base of it. Blood had run across the sword's edge, and now that blood that was on the weapon coated it like a shell. The beast had no fangs to bite with; his blade had been dulled. He snapped his wrist back, tossing the hat into the air above them with his left hand as he drew it back sharply; hardly even further than Maximos' nose protruded from his fleshy, human face... and immediately Joshua slammed it forwards. His entire body torqued into the movement, his left foot sliding forwards as he dug the ball of his right into the soft earth; twisting his hips and shoulders in unison as soon as the arm extension had completed. It was a one inch punch in the eye.
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Eloquent Conversationalist
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Posted: Sun Dec 10, 2006 2:59 am
themightyjello "You seem lonely..."
The child was sitting in a chair beside Ryugi, casting a sidelong glance towards him as her legs swung back and forth over the chair's edge. The moment her words reached his ears the burning sensation came back once more... that Reaper mark burned into the back of Ryugi's neck pumping fire through his veins.
It had to be because of what was happening upstairs... there were no Reapers in the room after those two had left.
"Did your friends leave you behind, boy?" Ryugi jumped and moved away from the girl, not because of the pain, which receded once he backed off, but because he hadn't seen her, and she suddenly appeared out of nowhere! It was just plain creepy! He quickly collected himself and moved to speak, keeping his distance, and the pain at a tolerable level. My apologies Lady Jennifer. I didn't see you there.He smiled sheepishly and responded to her question. Not lonely exactly, but it does seem that most everyone has their own plans at the moment.
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Posted: Sun Dec 10, 2006 3:04 am
The child adjusted herself in the chair so that she could sit, facing Ryugi, without having to turn her head. Her hands were folded neatly in her lap, and she had the pleasant smile of an innocent child on her face... but she did not stir at all: not one tilt of the head, not one single blink, and she seemed to draw breath only when speaking.
"That's a pity, Mister Kazamaru. Were you just here as a dinner guest, then?"
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Posted: Sun Dec 10, 2006 3:09 am
::It all happened to fast, Maximos was fast and he was pushing his body. He felt like a bridge was being extended across a river, as it stood he could run up to the edge of the bridge and then he had to jump. He might make it, he might not. If he kept pushing the bridge would be complete and he could run straight across...then he'd have his speed back. Right now, he could clearly see the fist coming, it was an inch from his eye how could he NOT see it?! But there wasnt a heck of a lot he could do.
This was going to hurt, this was going to hurt alot. Whats more, he might not be able to see clearly out of that eye for a bit so he had to brace for that. He had fractions of a second, not nearly enough time to do anything more than slightly tilt his head so that the impact wasnt centered on his head, but more towards the side...not by alot, but just by enough.
SMACK!
That sound of flesh wapping into cushiony flesh. The eye saw red, and for a moment the usual sight of spirits gliding through the air was blanked out as the eye shut. He had given his head an angle, enough angle that the impact jerked his head to the right and down, it would have taken him flat to the ground.
"Uugh--
No. No quarter.
Stop being so damned weak!
--Gggraaaah!!!"
He jerked his shoulders with his head, followed by his hips. He had to push, he had to push past the pain. Though it was peaking on levels he hadnt felt in years he could not give in to agony or the bliss. His body spun on an angle like a top, to the right and down in a full 360. Though at the 180 mark he flicked his feet just slightly off the ground giving him enough lift to follow through with his arch, bringing the blade around from the opposite side aiming to send it crashing down on Joshua's head. To cleave it in twain.
Maximos was hit in the eye, he was used to this sword cutting through flesh without resistance, he expected the man had tougher skin in such a muscle dense area as his gut. And a slash like that likely wouldnt slow him...he had no idea the blade was blunted.::
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Posted: Sun Dec 10, 2006 3:17 am
themightyjello The child adjusted herself in the chair so that she could sit, facing Ryugi, without having to turn her head. Her hands were folded neatly in her lap, and she had the pleasant smile of an innocent child on her face... but she did not stir at all: not one tilt of the head, not one single blink, and she seemed to draw breath only when speaking.
"That's a pity, Mister Kazamaru. Were you just here as a dinner guest, then?" Ryugi leaned up against a nearby wall, as it was much more comfortable than simply standing. What about you Lady Jennifer? What brings you here?
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Eloquent Conversationalist
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Posted: Sun Dec 10, 2006 3:30 am
They'd separated enough so that Joshua could see anything coming, especially something so wide as that. Why are you relying on that thing so much?He brought his right arm up over his head, using the bracer to block the blade as it came down on the back of his arm. There was no way a dull blade would be able to cut through that armor, and no way that a simple cut like that would break his guard. You are not your weapon. It's just holding you back.Chht! " Get this thing out of my sight!" He threw the sword off to his right with the bracer; letting his arm fall to his side with disinterest. His left hand snatched the hat out of the air before it could fall past him, and set it back upon his own head. The blood was running again... the black ichor slowly dripping over the hilt of the weapon and Maxi's knuckles. Black blood from the black blade, it was almost like ice melting.
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Posted: Sun Dec 10, 2006 3:37 am
"He was dead. Everyone knows that."
The child spoke matter-of-factly, not a hint of doubt in her voice at all. It wasn't like what someone would say if they had only heard about it on the news or from hearsay... there was no doubt in it at all. Maximos had been dead, and now he wasn't, and that concept did not seem at all odd to the child.
"Mister Kazamaru, you do pry, don't you? Nevertheless, I'm here because I wanted to give Mister U-... Mister Maximos a proper hello."
She had almost said something else, and even at the first letter of that something the Reaper mark reacted violently. It was for just an instant, but that most definitely had been the beginnings of the name of the one who had marked him.
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Eloquent Conversationalist
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Posted: Sun Dec 10, 2006 3:45 am
Ryugi winced as the first bit of the name had been uttered. Of course, his attention had been drawn away from the name, to the pain, just long enough for him to miss what she'd said, before her saying Maximos.
Hmm, well, I suppose that's normal enough. If you don't mind me asking, how do you know Maximos?
It was a normal question when one's friends were to meet. Of course, Ryugi didn't know if "Jennifer" was really one of Maximos' friends, but he was quite sure that she was an acquaintance at least.
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Posted: Sun Dec 10, 2006 3:48 am
With teeth gnashing and with all his force coursing through his hands he sent the blade soaring down. Even dulled it seemed beautiful, glistening read. But in the end, thats all it was. Dulled. And thats all it was ever going to be. Dull. The shadow of a memory, the memory of a friendship. A friendship that died with him. Somewhere deep as the blade struck the armor, in those few seconds of pause, he felt something deep inside, deep perhaps in his soul, something disconnected. It didnt die...it simply was no more. Maximos knew that sound, he knew it all too well. He had caused that sound in too many pieces of metal for him to count. The sound of a crack, along a sheet of metal. As the blood loosened and Joshua flicked his arm to the side Maximos saw, silver tears and black blood. Shards of broken metal falling to the ground. The blood dripped down his hands and across the hilt, staining the blade broken end of the blade. The Nameless was bleeding its final drops. It died Nameless, it died as nothing. But a broken memory of people that had no longer remembered him...just as he would no longer remember the trinkets that reminded him of them. He knew Joshua wouldnt just bluntly attack like that, he'd give him his moment. And Maximos took that moment, he placed the hilt in the sheath closing it for a final time with a snap, and tossing the remnants of the broken sword directly off the island. The weapon spun before falling down. Worthless... He raised his fist and pointed it at Joshua, the inky black tentacles writhing off of it, lashing and tasting the air. Maximos Only one weapon would do in a match like this... And this was it. His own hand.
He needed nothing else.
He needed no one else.
He would rely on his own strength and no one elses. " My apologies Joshua, I slowed our contest with that child's toy...it wont happen again." A new day had dawned, and with it a new Maximos.
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Posted: Sun Dec 10, 2006 4:01 am
Joshua waited patiently until everything had been completed... The man was shedding his old life, something he couldn't have done with just his death, it took a complete rebirth to do that. Body, soul, mind, and heart... The old trappings must be left behind so that they wouldn't weigh him down in the things that lay ahead of him.
"Put your past behind you."
He pulled the edge of the hat down, his own hand brushing past the hilt of the sword over his left shoulder, but not drawing it. No, that was not the kind of weapon that would let itself be used in a fight over pride. Not as the two of them were now. Maybe, once a few of those old shackles came off...
"It's time for you to live without those regrets."
His right foot slid back once more, taking the same left side stance that he hadn't taken advantage of earlier. Maximos was losing the weight of his old life, and he was learning quickly what it was like to have a mortal body again. He had nothing left to slow him down. No past, no present, only the future.
"Come on then," the Reaper said, turning his lead hand up and beckoning the opponent towards him.
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