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 Posted: Thu Apr 30, 2009 2:53 pm
As the steel ball and chain closed in, he stood his ground, and then he saw the whirl of the chain. His body turned sideways, falling on the ground, and he rolled towards his offender in that position. The chain fell on him a few seconds later, and that was his signal to get up, and he did. He pushed the chain off, got to his feet. He stood still, one foot on the chain, the other with the rest of his weight on it to the side of the chain.
"Pretty to not be." he uttered. "Chains of will metal to break."
It occurred to him his left hand was holding the blade, as usual. He switched to the right, and then back to the left. It felt more natural now in his left.
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Posted: Thu Apr 30, 2009 3:17 pm
The soldier rushed at Chad in his final charge, it was a sloppy rush, the soldier obviously angered by Chad's earlier displays had left himself wide open to a counter. Chad ducked under the spearhead and plunged his killing edge into the soldier's chest. The soldier slumped over Chad and he withdrew his blade pushing the soldier over. He stood up removing a vulnery from his side pouch. Afyer taking a quick swig he poured some over the wound wincing at the pain a little.
As he was applying the vulnery he heard a gushing of wind behind him. A little confused he turned around and noticed the blades of wind heading straight for him. "Oh sh-" Dropping the vulnery and trying to bring his killing edge up he was able to get a slight block but recieved a pretty much full hit. This is where Chad's lacking in physical presence let him down as he was thrown backwards by about 10-15 yards, into and through some of the opposing soldiers, until he was finally stopped by another tree. He now had gash across his torso, with some smaller gashes over his arms and legs. He was also now nursing a wound to the back of head from the tree he just smacked into. Placing a hand to the back of his head he felt something sticky and drew his hand back to see the blood. Oh that... That's not good. His vision a little fuzzy, Chad fished around his side pouch for another vulnery. He found one, taking another quick swig. His vision was still going a bit black but atleast he felt a bit better. Perhaps... perhaps no one would notice him, just sitting there against the tree, perhaps no onewould notice the theif as he drifted into unconsciousness. Perhaps...
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Posted: Thu Apr 30, 2009 3:52 pm
Ganon hissed as Rappahannock stepped on the chain, but wasn't too worried. Ganon was monstrous, and he gave a hard, swift yank on the chain, wrenching it out from under Rappahannock's foot. This was not working, and Ganon was going to have to change his tactic-- which meant changing his weapon. A quiet violin chord rang in the air as, with a soft clink-clink-clink, the chain slid back toward him, moving quickly but still taking time. The blade slid into the wooden bow again and as the weight came up to his hand the chain snapped and reformed into strings and horsehair once more, reforming into his instrument. Ganon was at his most vulnerable during this period, when he changed his weapon, and he kept a close eye on Rappahannock, ready to lunge and dodge his attack.
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Posted: Thu Apr 30, 2009 4:30 pm
"..."
Well, Dan had a point. Somewhere along the line, Ghis had lost a good amount of that ambition by now, but there had always been a good bit of rivalry between the two of them. Maybe it was that Ghis hadn't had quite as much of a moral backbone. Maybe it was his odd fighting style of dual-wielding a lance and an axe, which other people found a bit difficult to take seriously. Or (most likely) he'd just lost ambition after being placed as merely the captain of the Constables, who for the most part... on average weren't much stronger than an average bandit. Sure, occasionally people like Charice showed up who were actually decent fighters the castle guard missed out on, but otherwise they truly weren't much to look at.
So, no. Ghis wasn't proud of leading a bunch of bottom-of-the-barrel amateurs. But that was... beside the point right now.
Putting a bit more effort into his hands, Ghis' axe and lance pressed more firmly on the greatsword. He then twisted his hands to the left, bringing the sword with the other weapons in a wide arc. While Dan recovered from the sudden twist, Ghis raised the lance in his left hand, point towards the ground as a guard against the counter-attack, bringing the axe down hard on Dan's shoulderplates. He at last making a dent of his own, a very deep cut. It hadn't broken through the armor plating either, but another full-fledged strike from the axe would likely get the job done--axes put all the damage they could do into slashing, and a hefty Steel Axe went a long way into dealing damage.
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Posted: Thu Apr 30, 2009 5:47 pm
Violin. Instrument. Music. Sound. Vibrations and waves. Rappahannock was ready to kill Ganon more than ever. He hates music, no one knows why, it does strange things with his brain- an object already fouled by humanborne events. "Grkcligk!!" he spat out before lunging at the direction of Ganon. He usually kept a loose grip on his blade, but now, he was clenching it with about 70 pounds of pressure. You would probably have to break his hand to get it out. His lunge was cut short by a trip, a stone in the way, but he still deftly rolled and sprawled out while getting up, running at Ganon. When he arrived, a slice was made towards his side, and given his uncontrollable, inconsolable rage, it could have destroyed the sword if blocked with a sturdy, forceful object.
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Posted: Thu Apr 30, 2009 6:18 pm
The clanging of weapons and footsteps and screams and yells and dammit there was too much noise all sound and sight and bodies upon bodies upon bodies. The stench of iron. Blood in puddles and splashed on his boots. Aidan's breathing came ragged: he'd ran the last mile, maybe more, to get here. He'd heard about all of this too late, much too late. His friends, where were they? They...they couldn't be...gone.
"No, no no no...Blossom, Abel, Alihi, Rath, Sue, Soren, Victoria and Rei and Nino and Sain and Ayra and--"
He felt sick almost rise up to his throat; a man, headless and disemboweled, was sopping in his own blood. The tactician choked and coughed and sputtered. He couldn't slow down now.
You're all alive.
He rubbed hastily at his blue eyes.
You have to be.
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Posted: Thu Apr 30, 2009 9:11 pm
Aidan arrived to the main part of where the current fighting was taking place. Abel, after seeing that he had taken care of the thief had mainly been watching how their progress was going, and how much longer it would take for a victory to come. All the other enemies were already preoccupied with somebody, leaving him nobody to take on.
He Sighed. "Oh well... At least I know now."
He looked over to see Aidan run in and stop in his tracks, as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing. In fact, he looked pale for some reason. Abel's eyes then widened, having just seen one of his closest friends for the first time in a while. Even though he was darkened, he had no reason to hate Aidan. He had made a vow to him.
"....Hey, Aidan!!" Abel trotted over to Aidan and relaxed his blade over his shoulder. Abel hadn't noticed, and probably wouldn't have cared, but his sword was stained with blood on some parts of the blade. "I've been wondering where you've been! Why're ya so pale?! Nevermind, anyway, check it out... I.. I can do it now! I've got the power! I can avenge Cain! I'm sure of it! What'dya think?!" Abel gave a big smile at his friend, despite it looking somewhat menacing at the moment, knowing that surely HE of all people would understand.... surely he could.... surely...
[speeding up time, here]
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Posted: Fri May 01, 2009 9:56 am
Clang was already hurting and off-balance when Ephraim went on the offensive, and with his weapon disadvantage he was forced back under the prince's assault. When he was slammed back against the crumbling wall, the impact was indeed enough to bury him, trapping him and rendering him unconscious.
Large did not take kindly to this turn of events, and his blade flashed wickedly as he ran at the prince, weaving and flitting from obstacle to obstacle until he came at Ephraim from the right side, swinging fiercely, his sword clashing with the shaft of Ephraim's steel spear. The prince seemed more ready for him this time and was able to keep him effectively at bay-- until Large swiped one hand past his belt and threw a knife at Ephraim's leg with one fluid motion.
Chickenwire leaned back quickly, ducking around the blade, though it sank into his arm once and cut a shield strap. With the shield hanging off a bit, he dropped it off his arm, caught it in his hand, and darted back. Holding the large shield by his side, he spun and threw it right at the pesky Pegasus Knight like a discus. Now down to his shoulder plates and armor sash, Chickenwire seemed to move noticeably faster. Dropping weight will do that, but he was still unarmed. Nonetheless, it became much harder to keep Chickenwire from getting behind her. And with a nickname like his, that could mean serious trouble.
Steely Dan growled as Ghis' axe struck a jarring blow to his shoulder plate, and he staggered back once before whipping his sword in a circle by his side, and another circle after another step, and then he brought it down powerfully against the other general's axe, in hopes that he could break it, or at least knock it out of Ghis' hand.
Ganon roared with pain as a long gash opened in his side before he could dodge, but as Rappahannock passed, Ganon lunged and staggered aside, but used his tail to keep from falling. Quickly, he straightened up and lifted his reformed violin to his neck. The reptile's eye glowed with determination as he lifted his bow and began to play quickly, darting back to avoid Rappahannock's attacks, keeping himself balanced with his tail, the music began to intensify.
Dust still hung over the battlefield, along with a light haze of smoke. Quite suddenly, whirling toward Rappahannock, if you looked just right through the dust and haze...
A spinning sword. Barely visible, hardly there at all. Until it cleanly sliced off several of the wild locks of hair that stuck out from the right side of Rappahannock's head, then slammed into the wall behind the berserk assassin and left a gash six inches deep.
And two more followed it as Ganon leaped back and away, and then a third! It wasn't magic, no-- it was blades of music.
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Posted: Fri May 01, 2009 1:12 pm
Alihi couldn't help but grin slightly. Chickenwire's shield was gone, tossed at a Pegasus Knight. This made harming him a bit easier. Sure, he got faster, but she could deal with that. She could do this! She could really beat him!
But... she found herself weakening, her energy slowly wearing out. Hesitating occasionally before a strike, doubting if it was the right move or not. Underanalyzing, being too cocky and overestimating her own abilities and underestimating his. Overanalyzing, when she really should be just taking what she get and just acting.
All the things she scolded others to not do were her mistakes now. She was pushing herself too hard, switching between not thinking enough and thinking way too much. The little wounds, the ones that didn't even cross her mind at the beginning of the fight, were now holding her back. She bit her tongue, moving the sword to slice across his chest.
She really didn't know how much longer she could keep fighting.
Keep moving... Just keep moving!! Alihi lunged forward, blade raised and pointed at the middle of his chest.
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Posted: Fri May 01, 2009 1:13 pm
The knife to Ephraim's leg was definlently unexpected and it stabbed the noble straight in the left thigh. He cried out in pain and fell backwards but before that, slashed his spear toward Large, striking him near the head. Ephraim used his good leg to support him a bit and charged at Large, lunging his spear straight toward the heart until the pain in his leg gave in and pierced his shoulder area instead. Blood slowly dripped down from the head toward the shaft and Ephraim pulled away, watching Large jump back away while clutching his shoulder.
Taking this chance, Ephraim looked at the knife that was still in tact to his leg and gripped it. He screamed, LOUDLY from the pain and managed to pulled it out. He threw the dagger to the side and held his left hand over the wound as the blood spilled, staining his clothing and glove. Ephraim had two sets of Vulunery left on him and he couldn't afford to use them up now. Taking a part of his tunic, he ripped the bottom hem off, using it as a support bandage for now. It wasn't much, but it should hold him a bit until he needed to use his vulunary.
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Posted: Fri May 01, 2009 1:58 pm
It was bad enough he loathed music, but musical swords? He did NOT feel like dancing, he just felt hate, and hate hate hate, killer instinct directed to the one causing it.
Unseen forces swarming his space too close, it's time to be slippery like his opponent. He jumped, fell to the ground belly first, rolled three times to the left, got up, mashed in a circle, and dodged the blades he could only hear; his sight was poisoned from long use. Soon, one cut his left arm, bad news. His grip was loosened, and he let out no noise, just a flicker of his eyes. Then, a sword danced up his leg, cutting the support from his Kris that hit Abel. Blood dripped and trickled, only making his ferocity more infamous to Ganon. He continued his odd style of dodging until he was close enough to strike his nemesis again- which he feigned a blow with his left, and then rolled the blade of his fingers and caught it with his right, which he shot forward while switching his bodily direction.
(Usually when you stab someone, you lunge your chest to extend your arm, well, he lunged to the left, and then the right, and the momentum is also in that stab. Just letting those know that can't understand what I wrote here.)
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Posted: Fri May 01, 2009 5:20 pm
Ghis had plenty of time to react to the blow--powerful strikes were slower strikes, and slow strikes were defendable strikes. In fact, this might be his best chance to turn the tide of this fight, here and now.
Ghis lunged forward, the sharp edge of his axe turned upward, facing the sharp end of the blade. He moved the lance underneath it, leaving little space between his left hand and the intersection point of lance and axe, having something to catch the blow underneath--
CLANG.
Both weapons SLAMMED into each other.
The greatsword cleaved a large wedge into the middle of the axe, finding its way halfway down into the blade. The blow came with such force that it pushed both axe and lance down, the sword making its way to the helmet, sparks flying as it carved a thin line down the plate armor, coming to a halt just before it could reach Ghis' brow.
Yet the greatsword suffered a huge disadvantage now; creating such a narrow wedge so far down meant that the sword could neither be pulled out nor up and out, at least not so easily.
With Dan's sword trapped, Ghis had a temporary edge--with just his right hand guiding the axe, he could do some sword-guiding of his own. Straining a bit from keeping the sword back, Ghis' left fist sailed forward to land a good punch in Dan's face. If this blow could hit, well... Dan was a bit tough to be falling unconscious with a single punch. But with an armored gauntlet hitting a man in the face, Ghis would probably gain the upper hand.
Chickenwire's shield-turned-discus forced Charice to move up, gaining height to evade the shield. This, in turn, was a bad move--Dan had a few good archers lying back, along with one solid Sniper. Until that point, a low-flying Pegasus could stay hidden from enemy eyesight due to the buildings and vegetation that remained standing. Now, however...
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Posted: Fri May 01, 2009 8:12 pm
Blood streamed from Dan's nose as he stumbled back from the hit, wrenching Ghis' axe away, still wedged on his sword, and he wiped his bloody nose instinctively on his own left gauntlet, leaving a red smear with little boogery bloody chunky bits on it. "Cheap shot," he growled, his voice a bit muffled by the stuffed nose and blood running down over his lips, and he wrenched the axe off his sword, then threw it at Ghis' chest before charging after it and swinging his deadly greatsword up diagonally under his opponent's spearless arm.
Large was already charging again, but his wound was serious, and when he slashed it was much slower than before. He lunged and thrust forward, but that wound was crucial, and he made the terrible mistake of lunging too far. His back arched instinctively as pain lanced down his arm and he stumbled, leaving himself open to a potentially crippling attack.
Ganon could see progress, or thought he did. Rappahannock was so soaked with blood that it was hard to tell if the freshly dripping blood was new or if it had just been fermenting in the horrible man's clothing.
Rappahannock's quick dash gave Ganon very little time to get out of the way, but after lunging right into the assassin's feint, he managed to whip his tail and pull himself to turn the lethal blow into a deeper gash in his side, a few inches higher than the first. Still, he played his instrument, leaping back and climbing up onto a huge pile of fallen debris while blades flashed through the smoky air. Occasionally, something larger would sweep through the dust, giving for just a split second the impression of a fist or mace before impacting a wall or the ground and leaving a fairly deep, round crater.
Ganon's arm moved like lightning, drawing the bow up and down the strings. All other sound seemed a bit muted as he played his high, pure notes. As Rappahannock approached, Ganon growled low. It was difficult to determine where to make his next shot each time, with such an unpredictable opponent. His arm became a blur as he began to play for his very life, blades whipping through the air so quickly that the air itself began to heat up and crackle.
Chickenwire smirked as Alihi moved just as he wanted her to, and he prepared to dip around the sword, after which he would lunge, grab her face, and slam her to the ground-- an ancient disarming technique he'd learned from Large. It would have left the fight decidedly in his favor.
That is, had one of the solid shots of music Ganon had fired not ricocheted off the ground and caught him in the chin with an uppercut. Alihi's forward thrust struck to the left of where it was supposed to as Chickenwire was lifted nearly off the ground by the force of the blow, and she punctured his right lung. He gasped in pain before falling off her blade and collapsing on the ground. His hand moved to his chest, holding it as he wheezed, struggling for breath, trying not to choke on his own blood. Now he just had to hope that Alihi had enough conscience not to strike a fallen man.
Needles sat on a rooftop some way off, watching and waiting for a chance to strike. The expert Sniper shook her head a bit, blowing upward to get a loose strand of blonde hair off her face, then narrowed her eyes at the sight of Charice suddenly peaking above the rooftops on her pegasus. She stood quickly, lifting her massive longbow, and drew one of its huge arrows out of her quiver. Needles sighted the pegasus down the shaft, then mentally calculated as she raised the angle, keeping wind in mind, and she began to draw the arrow back...
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Posted: Fri May 01, 2009 8:35 pm
Ghis restrained a chuckle at Dan's words. Despite losing the axe, humor in battle was still precious, and one didn't waste a drop of it. You never knew if you'd get the chance to hear or see something funny again, after all.
He brought up the lance to block the flying axe, shoving forward, letting the blade strike the lance shaft and bounce off. But he couldn't block the sword swing, and it connected at Ghis' armpit, slashing through the muscles in his right arm. It failed to reach bone, but a loud "GYAAAAH!" revealed to all that Ghis' right arm was, for all intents and purposes, disabled.
He fell backward from the pain, trying to get up, but there wouldn't be time! Dan was already raising the sword in triumph, ready to make his own coup de grace...
Katherine, Charice's mage gunner, watched the battlefield. Among fighters, she and Charice had been a rare dynamic duo; combined, in between Charice's maneuverability and Katherine's magical prowess and light weight, few enemies could match them.
As Aphrodite climbed higher, Katherine could see the scene around her:
A man on a distant rooftop. A man with a bow, in fact. He was no friend of theirs. He was already taking aim.
Below, she saw the swing, saw the greatsword connect with Ghis' flesh, saw him go down. She saw Dan's sword raised, ready for the kill.
..."Tell my brother I'm sorry," she said, concentrating as magical flames soared down onto the battle below, catching Dan squarely in the chest, the flames roaring around him, giving Ghis time to recover from the blow. For his part, he managed to stand again, putting distance between himself and Dan, his lance in his left hand.
"...What?" Charice asked, unable to see the arrow coming closer...
WHUMP.
Katherine's eyes closed for the last time as she tumbled from Aphrodite's back, falling to the ground, an arrow between her ribs.
"Katherine!? KATHERINE!?"
The mage didn't move.
"KATHERIIIIIIINE!!" Charice screamed in pain. You want some of this!? Cowards, every one of you! I'll see you all...! I'll see you all...!!
"N-no... Javert, it's--all my fault!"
She skimmed the ground once more, her heart heavy from the loss.
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Posted: Fri May 01, 2009 8:45 pm
Luck seemed to favor Alihi sometimes. This was definitely one of those times. When she saw Chickenwire smirk, she knew that she had screwed up. She would have to pay the price, no matter how heavy. All she could do was follow through with her move and hope she wouldn't die. Amara...
Her blade made contact with flesh, and it ended up piercing his right lung. She blinked, staring at the fresh blood on her sword. She didn't understand how it happened, but he was hit by something that caused whatever he had planned to fail. A light sigh escaped her lips. I'm alive... somehow.
The tactician took a few steps towards Chickenwire. She couldn't help but stand and stare down at him, blade held tightly by her side. He looked in so much pain (then again, who wouldn't be in pain after getting stabbed in the lung?)... Her gaze was a mix of anger, relief... and pity.
... Finish him. It won't be that hard! Just a simple downward motion, and it'd be all over... he tried to kill you. His friend tried to hurt Amara. It'll be justified! He deserves it! Hell, with the pain he's going through, he'd probably thank you!!
The blade began to rise slowly, tip pointed directly at his chest.
Just strike.
It came down, a few inches away from his left side. She stared at him for a moment, silently and emotionlessly, before pulling her sword back to her and re-sheathing it. "... Feel lucky. Even though you tried to kill me... I can't bring myself to kill you." She turned away. The chances of him getting up were slim, and if he did try anything, then she wouldn't hesitate. Alihi didn't want to kill unless she absolutely had to.
She walked away, applying a vulnerary to her wounds while she could.
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