[color=E0115F][center][h3]Zander Louvier – Frenzy Plant Camp[/h3][/center][/color]

On a day that most of the guildmembers had journeyed to the colosseum called Doma Flau to watch the day's events unfold, several members had stayed behind for practice.  Though all of Frenzy Plant's soldiers used magic, this session involved purely the art of martial melee combat.  In attendance were Zander, the instructor, Hyun, Cecilia, Heisty Beardo, and Mercury.  Zander, as usual, wore his armor, and he'd instructed the rest to do the same.  The day was beginning to warm, and already everyone here was beginning to perspire.  According to talk relayed to them, the streets of Crocus had been converted into a maze for the competitors to face, but such proceedings would not interrupt here unless the warrior guild suffered a profoundly unlucky stroke.

Zander drew his gleaming ruby sword, looked at it for a moment, and lay it on the ground.  [color=E0115F]”Though I have magic, I have always been more interested in pure weaponplay itself.  It is what all magical weaponship is built upon, and it is what the world will return to if ever magic leaves us, as it threatened to do in the Tartarus incident a hundred or so years ago.  Nowadays, most magical warriors use power over skill, making everything flashy and impressive rather than effective.  We cannot be those people.  We never know when magic will fail us, and so we must train ourselves for every detail and perfect our technique rather than rely on magic.  Take my trademark ruby blade for instance.  It is a two-handed longsword.  I wield it in one hand sometimes, but that is wrong of me.  Longswords, with hilts of this length, are meant to be two-handed.  It is also too heavy, poorly balanced, and too thick.  Size doesn't make a weapon strong.  Furthermore, since this crystal is inflexible, it will break under pressure instead of flexing.  I only use it when I'm not serious.”[/color]

The knight spent a moment scrutinizing the weapons rack before selecting a thin, tempered steel sword with a slightly rounded tip and a wide crossguard that branched off to the center on one side.  Brandishing it, he showed the others.  [color=E0115F]”This is called a messer.  It is technically not a sword, but a long knife.  This metal outcropping, here, is called a nagel, which means nail.  It allows for a versatile fighting style.  Mercury, you're roughly on the same page as Cecilia given you usually fight with kamas, so take a blade alongside her and strike at my armor.”[/color]

Predictably, the soldiers were a little hesitant to just hit him.  Zander, however, was insistent.  [color=E0115F]”Just do it.”[/color]  At his bidding, the pair swung their swords at him, and were surprised to see their weapons bounce right off.  [color=E0115F]”See?  That is armor's purpose.  Properly made armor cannot be cut.  Try this instead.”[/color]  The knight maneuvered the sword in his hands with deft quickness until he was holding the blade itself with both hands and the hilt was extended.  He moved forward and swung, a controlled strike, that brought the handle into Cecilia's helemt.  The young woman staggered backward, her head ringing and her helmet dented.  [color=E0115F]”The way to deal with armor is with blunt force—to crush it.  Hammers, with or without spikes, maces, and this technique, the Murder Guard, are effective against armor.  With blades, the only way is to thrust between the gaps.  Hyun, put aside one of your blades for now.  Your dual [i]ronin[/i] style has peaked.  Two blades is not necessarily better than one.”[/color]

[color=DA70D6]”You sure?”[/color] the swordswoman wasn't convinced.  [color=DA70D6]”I beat you with two this morning.”[/color]

Zander performed a double practice swing with his weapon.  It moved fluidly, able to change direction without expending time or effort.  He did not smile.  [color=E0115F]”That you did.  Now, however, I have a real weapon, and we're not using magic.  Test yourself once more.”[/color]  The other soldiers stepped back to watch the clash.  It was brief; Zander found blended patience, finesse, and strength, while Hyun favored a stylistic offense.  Each time she attempted to spin to bring both swords into play, Zander was there to punish her.  It took a surprisingly small amount of extra attention to deal with two blades rather than one.  They simply got in each other's way.  When the duel was over, Hyun was shocked to see that the man she'd beaten had turned the tables.  [color=E0115F]”Now, we do it my way.  “[/color]

[center][color=9ACD32][h3]Xyster- Crocus Streets[/h3][/color]
[@soren][/center]

For the fifth time, Xyster darted in, sliced at the creature's ankles, and backpedaled.  In a one-on-one battle royal with one of the largest carnivores to ever live, every move was dangerous.  Despite being born for the weapon, Xyster could not be as effective as other melee weapon users due to the sheer nature of a scythe.  It was unwieldy, plain and simple, even in the bony hands of one exceptionally talented in its use.  The muscle and bone of the Majungasaurus did not sever easily, and the monstrous dinosaur's brain was hardwired for carnage.  It was fast enough to pluck her out of the air and bite down if she attempted to flip, as new wounds in her side could attest.  Her darkness was not proving as much of a help as Xyster had previously thought.

Narrowly avoiding a snap of the atrocious jaws that would have crushed a human head like a fruit, Xyster saw an opportunity.  She quickly raised her scythe upward, balancing it carefully, and dug it into the dinosaur's flank.  With one tug she hoisted herself up onto the thing's back, and quickly got down to business before the beast could locate her and shake her off.  Putting her muscles on overdrive, Xyster grabbed her scythe near the head, making it into more of an axe than a polearm, and cut back and forth like a swinging guillotine, slicing into scaly flesh and piercing the spaces between vertebrae.  The Majungasaurus roared in pain and began to collapse as its vertebra was severed.  With the danger severely reduced, Xyster leaped into the air, muttering [color=9ACD32]”Floating Death oughta get me a lot.”[/color].  As a black aura emanated from her body, she hovered in midjump, suspended as if by puppeteer strings.  Crying, [color=9ACD32]”Yagh!”[/color] she swept her scythe in a powerful horizontal cut that let off a [i]whoosh[/i] as it bit into nothing.  

A moment later, the dinosaur's midsection blew apart.  The two halves of the dinosaur lost their texture, turning gray, and burst into clouds of dust.  Xyster landed on the ground, smiling grimly while the dust settled on her and the cracked cobblestones surrounding, and the Harvester slipped from her fingers to rust rapidly and age away into nothing.  With nothing further to do, the Dullahan continued on her way.  

By happenstance, in the next two minutes of wandering she happened to pass directly in front of where Merlina currently hid, unmoving in a fetal position.