Brucenorris007

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Bruce saw the change- he might not have Nexus' experience, but a killer was a killer, and in survival, one prerequisite was knowing that you looked first to the eyes for intention.

And when you fought against the Order, the first thing Bruce needed to know was that he had to be able and willing to disregard anything about fighting he'd previously regarded as fact at a moment's notice, if not sooner.

"Are they?"

Bruce snapped his wrist down, bringing the spiked ball into his left hand, catching it such that he didn't hurt himself. Instead of swinging it in an arc, Bruce slid his blade upward so that Nexus' katana were applying pressure to a midpoint nearer the hilt, and he pressed his weight forward. He brought his left arm up, pushing the spiked ball narrowly around Nexus' guard toward his face.

Bruce hadn't produced the chain on his forearm for offensive purpose- rather, should Nexus seek to take his arm off, the Ki would provide some protection while he pushed his unorthodox attack.

'You wanted to see resolve, Nexus. Here's a piece of it.'

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Bruce caught himself on one hand and both feet, skidding to a halt.

His music hadn't been returned full volume, but he could at least hear it. He straightened, took a deep breath to center himself, and reforged his blade in his right hand. On his left, chains lined his forearm and circled his wrist, a long length falling to the floor, a spiked ball attached at the end. Separate, lighter chains wrapped his fingers.

Bruce sighed, neither in contentment nor exasperation. He lifted the spiked ball off the ground, and began spinning the chain on his left side, steadily faster.

Without comment, he ran forward, no foreplay or indirect approach, just a straight shot, his right arm upraised in front of him with his blade set to intercept Nexus' katana.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Bruce didn't get the chance to wonder why Nexus was so insistent on preventing a clash of weapons- that, or having his back taken. Nexus hardly had the physical strength Jenso did, so no one could say he was being manhandled. Still, the experience he boasted wasn't an empty claim either.

Instead of attempting retreat or outright grappling, Bruce crouched slightly and shifted his weight to the right, as he had been pulled anyway, to let the dagger narrowly cut his face. Rather than backward, he surged closer, keeping one leg behind him to use as leverage should the next moment require it. He snaked his left arm past Nexus' right, thumb erect. Bruce shot his hand toward Nexus' face, his blunt digit on a path for Nexus' right eye.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Bruce didn't get the chance to wonder why Nexus was so insistent on preventing a clash of weapons- that, or having his back taken. Nexus hardly had the physical strength Jenso did, so no one could say he was being manhandled. Still, the experience he boasted wasn't an empty claim either.

Instead of attempting retreat or outright grappling, Bruce crouched slightly and shifted his weight to the right, as he had been pulled anyway, to let the dagger narrowly cut his face. Rather than backward, he surged closer, keeping one leg behind him to use as leverage should the next moment require it. He snaked his left arm past Nexus' right, thumb erect. Bruce shot his hand toward Nexus' face, his blunt digit on a path for Nexus' right eye.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Bruce drew back his blade, sidestepping the dagger to circle around Nexus.

'If this can't even hurt his body, the direct clash of weapons would...' Bruce paused mid-thought, puzzling over the fact that Nexus had deviated from expectation by not trying to just destroy Bruce's blade.

'Granted, a killing blow would be more efficient,' he conceded. Nonetheless, Bruce pivoted his foot such that he could thrust his blade toward Nexus' dagger from behind and above his armored shoulder, looking to see how a meeting of their weapons would actually play out.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

'Just the one, then.' Bruce thought, theory more or less confirmed.

He ducked forward and rolled once beneath Nexus' spear, springing to his feet in one motion. As he came up, he swiveled the sword in his hand to aim for Nexus' hand and stabbing toward it.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Bruce strafed left to avoid the oncoming arrow- eye contact was clearly not going to make or break Nexus' suppression of his power, so he abandoned that avenue.

'Strange,' Bruce mused as he sprinted forward, zig zagging to avoid giving Nexus a target. 'He only manifests one weapon at a time.'

"9000 years of weapons you've seen up against my imagination," Bruce said. "Could be interesting."

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Compared to Zelriane, anyone who wasn't Jeff would have seemed slow. Still, Bruce knew from Nexus' tread that he was still too far away to roll past him. Taking the pace Nexus appeared to be setting for granted would be unwise.

Bruce leapt up and overhead, peeking briefly to hurl down a cloud of dust onto Nexus' head before rolling clear on his opposite side.

'Hands, feet, eyes.' Bruce recounted the three places, fortunately all with plenty of nerve endings to exploit, that Nexus' armor either didn't reach or was significantly thinner.

Bruce's hand right hand buzzed, an unrefined, single-wave blade taking form. It was even weaker than before the training he'd done with Ross and Mikey.

'At least it's a weapon.'

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Bruce waited. He listened.

'He'll be least likely to have armored his feet,' Bruce thought, eyes still shut as he reached in his soul for his Ki to manifest again. His blade, concentrated and singing such that the air shook from sheer decibels- Bruce aimed for that.

Bruce reached into his bag for another handful of sand, anticipating Nexus' approach. Without a weapon, he would be on the defensive, but he had no doubt that the music raging to be heard in his soul would find a way free.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Bruce raised a brow at seeing Nexus allow Jenso past. It was neither what he anticipated nor entirely unexpected.

He sighed, his thought about Nexus' ability reaffirming itself. He tapped a finger against his once-again empty sheath. The worst part was being forcibly removed from his Sage state- it felt like a violation.

Bruce knew that his Ki and arcane powers were still there. He had no evidence and couldn't feel them, but it wasn't quite blind faith, either.

He had a sense that it was like muting music versus shutting it off- even if it was the same on the surface, with the former, it's still playing.

He just had to un-mute his music.

Nexus' glare, and his sky blue eyes provoked an idea. A soft smile grew into Bruce's face.

'If the eyes see all, what happens when they don't?' Bruce pondered, reaching into Jenso's bag to pull out a handful of sand. He filled his other hand with dust that had once been earth. He splayed his fingers out, letting the sand fall while he paced in front of Nexus, and blew the dust out toward him.

Even if he couldn't sense the Earth quite how he did, he knew the subtle differences in sound of a tread over different materials.

This done, Bruce closed his eyes. He couldn't know for sure how Nexus' ability worked, but if it wasn't solely a matter of Meta Energy, and was anything like Shaidra's teleporting, there was a possibility eye contact was linked to muting Bruce's powers.

Bruce waited. Until he was un-muted, he could only react, but he kept reaching out with his soul for his Ki and his Sage state. When he fond them again, the volume was going to come out blaring.

"I appreciate what you've done for me, and for Jenso," Bruce said, eyes still shut, easy smile still present. "So I'm going to do something for you, Nexus."

"I'm going to give you that missing ending."