Welcome to Gaia! ::

Reyin Nova, ever the excitable one, was the first to arrive on the scene. This year he was dealt the additional burden of shouldering some sort of expectations. Compared to the 1000:1 odds he was getting last year, Reyin was coming in somewhere between 20:1 and 50:1, depending on the bookie. After all, his only two losses came in the shortest fights of the entire tournament, while the longer bouts gave Reyin's creativity and fighting prowess time to shine.

The blonde sported a slightly more defined physique than last year. Probably in the best shape of his life, Reyin was about as college pretty-boy as you could get without looking like a weightlifting junkie. He couldn't have been an inch over six feet in height, and he filled his frame rather well, so it wasn't exactly obvious to see what Reyin's "specialty" was physicality-wise.

His attire hadn't changed much from last year, either. Given the nature of the arena, however, Reyin had foregone the use of a shirt and just donned a pair of athletic shorts. His shoes were gone too, since the sand wasn't exactly rough terrain he doubted he'd be needing the additional protection, not to mention that getting the sand out of his shoes was a pain. He did do himself a bit of a favor by wrapping his ankle and midsole with athletic tape, though.

He did still have his sword, though. The weapon was looped over his right shoulder, held in place by means of a leather strap that connected to a hard leather scabbard. Aside from the fact it was probably sharp, Reyin's weapon didn't have any sort of special markings or auras surrounding it. Neither did Reyin, for that matter.

Unsure of what to do while waiting for his opponent, Reyin waltzed to the middle of the arena and knelt down, tracing a little design into the sand with his index finger and keeping himself entertained, acting more or less oblivious to the crowd cheering around him, even though in truth he was just trying to hide how nervous he was.

"Won't be long now..."

Reyin stood up, dusted off his hands, and waved to the crowd.

A quick glance to his side and Reyin realized where half of the crowd's eyes happened to be directed towards. His opponent had finally arrived, and that could only mean the fighting was just about ready to take place. Reyin simply placed his hands on his hips, waiting for the guy to to get about five feet away before he did anything to garner much attention.

"Take it you're the strong, silent type."

Reyin reached up with his right hand and ran his thumb along the side of his nose, giving a half-assed snort as he did so. He had met a lot of similar people in his travels, people that really weren't there for the social aspect of things, people that just liked to show up, do what they were hired to do, and go home.

"That's fine. I'll talk enough for both of us."

Reyin's right hand dropped and he shook out both of his arms, bouncing up and down a little bit as he did so. Just a simple little muscle loosening gesture before he settled down into what could best be assumed as a 'ready' stance, with Reyin up on the balls of his feet and his right hand clenched and up near his chin. His left hand was open, at about waist level, and held out about a good foot or so further than his right.

"So whaddaya say we get started?"

Reyin was always pretty civil when it came to fighting. He wasn't going to attack just because the guy had shown up.

"Name's Reyin."

There was a period of silence between the two fighters, as Reyin silently debated whether or not Seth was ready. Seth seemed more than content to stand there, and after about ten seconds of absolutely nothing happening, Reyin nodded his head and hunched down in preperation for a sudden surge.

"Pleased to..."

The right hand near his chin cocked back as Reyin moved in to deliver the first strike. Typically it was common practice to throw a jab or something similar, but Reyin was good at just going all out right off the bat. Reyin took one step, trying to get right up and personal with his newfound 'friend' and opponent. Kind of a weird move, considering Reyin was holding a sword and all, but in the name of fairness Reyin wasn't going to try and gut an unarmed fighter.

"MEET YOU!"

As he took that one step forward Reyin's right hand delivered a hook that had the blonde's entire weight behind the punch. The knuckles on Reyin's fist were aimed to strike Seth right across the temple, capable of causing all sorts of discomfort. Whether or not it landed flush, Reyin would end up turning roughly ninety degrees to his left, essentially putting his back right smack in front of Seth's chest if he just simply whiffed on the punch, and putting his right shoulder alongside Seth's left if he connected.

Despite Reyin's turning as a result of his punching, he was doing a good job of keeping track of his opponent. The sudden puffing of sand (not to mention a sudden gust of wind), was not natural by any means, and upon realizing just how far away his opponent had gotten, Reyin was quick to assume that magic was at play here.

"I forget to put on deodorant or something? Not quite sure why you gotta get away like that."

Still, one little setback like that wasn't going to deter Reyin. Taking a quick backwards step with his right foot, Reyin clenched his left hand into a fist and pivoted the remaining 270 degrees to get back to facing Seth completely. With that left hand, Reyin did little to c**k his arm back or actually show that he was going to punch with it until he had actually completed his spin, delivering a quick uppercut-esque shot aimed towards the body, just below the sternum, with the intent to drive the wind from his rival's sails.

Reyin had no idea what the guy was up to, but playing keep away had to mean that he was planning something. He had seen too many cartoons to think otherwise.

So the punch landed, and Reyin continued pressing his advantage. He didn't think too much about the fan because...honestly, it was a fan. Being scared of something like that would have made him a wuss at the very least. Sure, he had played a lot of Mortal Kombat in his time, but metallic fans were a woman's weapon. Reyin stepped forward with his left foot, trying to keep things close (after all, his punch to the sternum was pretty short-range as it was). By the time Reyin stepped in there was less than a foot of space in between the two.

As luck would have it, Reyin would learn that steel fans were unisex weapons. As he began pulling back his left arm in preparation for an onslaught the likes of which the crowd had yet to see, the steel fan slashed right across his bicep and drew a thin line of blood.

"SSSH!"

Reyin hissed through his teeth, doing a quick glance to his arm to ensure that it was still attached, then responded by firing his right forearm up into Seth's throat. Just as soon as the forearm struck, Reyin brought up his left leg, pressed the sole of his bare foot against Seth's chest, and kicked straight out with the intent of sending himself stumbling backwards and pushing his opponent away, creating a decent sized gap between the pair of men.

Once separated, Reyin would look to his arm and check the wound more carefully, making sure he didn't miss something with his glance from earlier.

"Well, now that I know those fans aren't just for looks..."

Reyin pulled his right hand away from the cut on his arm and settled back into the fighting stance he had assumed at the start of the fight.

"Let's try this again."

Always waiting, Seth didn't seem to be doing too much on the offensive front. That was fine with Reyin, as it seemed to mesh just fine with his own style of pure offense. In response to the second steel fan being drawn, Reyin's right hand moved to the hilt of his longsword. If the fight was going to end up coming to bladed weapons, well, Reyin was happy enough to oblige.

"Don't get too excited about that cut, I lived with a cat for six years."

The longsword on Reyin's back had a good four feet of reach beyond Reyin's natural reach. So, at the very least, even though Reyin had one less weapon, he had the reach on his opponent. So with this in mind, Reyin moved in again, crossing his sword in front of his body, holding the weapon vertically up near his left shoulder as he ran in, stopping only when he was about six feet in front of Seth.

His right foot planted and he straightened out his arm, swinging the right arm all the way back across his body, slashing from left to right with the intent of drawing a cut across Seth's upper torso. Given the nature of the slash and Reyin's position, the cut wouldn't be extremely deep, but as Reyin finished the slash he managed to tuck the weapon's hilt down against his hip, preparing for either a follow-up attack or defense, depending on his opponent's action.

Reyin's eyes narrowed upon seeing that his sword missed, and his weight came fully forward, resting on the ball of his left foot in preparation for a lunging stab. That all changed, however, when he caught notice of the condensed air floating in front of his opponent. Normally, this would catch somebody off guard, as they'd be pretty curious about the whole spectacle. But Reyin had wasted his youth (and much of his time at the hotel) by watching a hell of a lot of animated television.



As soon as Seth pushed that fan against the gathering wind, Reyin used the coiled up muscle in his left leg to push himself forward and to the side (moving towards Seth's left) by way of a short hop.

The push itself brought Reyin inside the sphere, and the resulting momentum caused Reyin to slide just a few inches, barely enough to carry the blonde to the side of the forming wind ball as it erupted out of the semi-dense air sphere. From there, Reyin thrust his sword forward, aiming to stab into Seth's left shoulder. His left hand remained free, obviously expecting some sort of retaliation.