[center][h2][color=d7d7d7]Roland[/color][/h2]

Level 8 Roland (2/80) - Holding 1 level up. 
Location: Eseka
Word Count: 1112
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Well... It was time for Roland's second round. After seeing his next opponent, Roland didn't know what to think about them. What he could tell off the bat though, was this Dampierre was a con man. Just by the way he moved, the way he acted, it was clear to Roland he was faking everything and that made him dangerous. Well, if he wanted dangerous, the Floor of Literature was really dangerous. 

Once the round started, right off the bat Roland learned this guy was someone who liked to be up close and personal. He also learned really quickly that he jabbed at Roland with quick kicks and stabs from hidden blades in his robes along his wrist. Roland had daggers, but he didn't rely on only them, but this man seemed to nearly exclusively rely on them and his own kicks. Roland found this out as he clashed with Dampierre's knives before he followed up those knives by flipping under Roland like a goofball, and taking his opportunity as Roland missed his downward hammer swing to kick Roland into the air and juggle him with kicks.

Round one ended with a Ring out by Dampierre after he used a fiery roundhouse kick to push Roland back, breaking his guard that he had raised with his Lance. These brief flurries though managed to get Roland to emotion level 2 and partway into 3. And this was the floor of Language, which spoke the universal language of violence. His first anomaly page was Fear of Water, a blood crazed vampire saying "Blood… I want vivid blood!", and his second power was The Role of the Wolf, a wolf's voice saying "No one ever wished to get close to the scary wolf…"

Round two started with Dampierre looking at how he was able to outspeed Roland and started to get an inflated head. So much so he went for larger, riskier moves that could knock Roland about and ring him out. However around this point Roland's slowdown from his spirit weakness had expired and his emotion level had gone up enough to start dodging these fast attacks. Fast attacks that Roland learned once dodged would cause Dampierre to fall flat on his ass and get easily one sided countered by Roland's followup attacks. This made getting emotion levels... difficult this round as Roland knocked Dampierre out with a blast from his shotgun after he had done a kick to Roland's jaw and missed, leaving himself open to said blast.

Round 3 started and Dampierre went back to faster, less risky moves starting to take things seriously again. Roland at this point was emotion level 4, getting Riddled Welts, a gruff girl's voice saying "The more scars you get, the stronger your will to survive becomes.", and Laughter, the voices of many corpses saying "All… are smiling… we… are happy…"as well as the EGO Smile and Cobalt Star. That last page spooked Dampierre. Instead of taunting Roland like he had been doing, he said "OK, I thought the first three voices were weird. But what the hell was that?" Not wanting to know what Roland was up to, Dampierre locked in this round countering both EGO pages with a skillful use of his daggers and attacks that would've normally knocked him on his ass, but by countering the EGO attack, would just cause a slight knockback as he clashed. While Cobalt Star and Roland donning what seemed to be a furry costume didn't bother Dampierre much, Smile and its accompanying outfit made of decaying bodies really took Dampierre back. Even though Riddled Welts made Roland stronger as he lost health, through some cunning and intentionally flailing to lure Roland in, only to capitalize with a sidestep, Dampierre got another win via ringout. 

Now Round 4, and with it Roland reaching his final emotion level partway through as the two clashed with their blades. Roland getting Goodbye, the voice of a many faced monster saying in a child's voice "Is anyone… nyone… there?! ANYONE THERE!!!" as well as Mimicry. This made Dampierre start to freak out, asking Roland "Are... are you a monster?" with Roland only rolling his shoulders saying [color=d7d7d7]"I'm only human."[/color] in a confirming voice. He then went in with Mimicry, turning the stage into a breached containment unit with eyes and flesh everywhere, the eyes staring at Dampierre as Roland donned the horrific look of Mimicry and slashed at Dampierre  with its scythe arm, a resounding "GoodBYE" coming from Roland, but in a voice of a calm man instead of his own and spoken as if someone who had never spoken before said it. Even while blocking, the chip damage from such a massive attack knocked Dampierre back and nearly off the stage. As he tried to right his balance, Roland knocked him off with a shot from his pistol ending round 4.

Final round, and this one Dampierre was convinced that Roland was some kind of monster playing with his food. But he did start out human... and with that Dampierre got a plan. Roland was fully powered up now and Dampierre had no hope of challenging any of Roland's attacks at this point, especially when Roland said "GoodBYE" at the end of every combo doing insane chip or damage. Nor would he fall for the ringout trick anymore as he'd pepper Dampierre with his guns if given the chance with even the guns getting that "GoodBYE" thing as well! But Dampierre had saved one move, his best move, a move that could make anyone cry if they had even the slightest bit of a heart to them. Making his way close to Roland, Dampierre started his final gambit. 

Getting on his knees, he pleaded with Roland to help him. He started to spin a story about his sick daughter, whom he needed money for and who was the reason he was fighting here and tried his best to convince Roland to just walk away. This was when Roland came closer and told Dampierre [color=d7d7d7]"Thats just life in the City. It has taken far, far worse from me."[/color] and struck Dampierre down with a Furioso, the word "GoodBYE" being said every time Roland swung one of his weapons to finish off Dampierre and the fight with quite a bit of overkill. Roland didn't actually believe Dampierre's story, he had run into people like him in the City many, many times and had grown numb to their tall tales. He had a job to do, and he'd get it done. 

With Dampierre on the ground, swirls in his eyes from the massive overkill that was Roland's furioso, Roland moved onto the next round.