Torack

The Guild

Kaito Fen’s eyes widened as the blades dissociated into snakes that wrapped around his sword, and was further shocked by the fact that Grey Skies disappeared into the shadows. He expected something like that to happen during the fight, but seeing it happen in reality was unsettling.

But he was quick to recover.

He flipped his sword once more and quickly chopped at the snakes to free his sword when a fist struck him from behind in the kidney. A sharp, agonizing pain flashed through him and he instinctively spun towards where he’d thought the hit came from to see nothing there. He blinked and cursed to himself; this magic of Grey’s was unsettling and he knew he needed to adapt, somehow draw her out in front of him if he could.

Then he plunged forward into a roll from the adjacent shadows and once again towards the center of the ring and coming up to a stand and fluidly shifted into a wider stance. His heart hammered in his chest and his side was flaring up in pulses of pain, and yet he still chuckled lightly. This was turning out to be far more fun than he’d thought. Fighting someone like shadow challenged him, and the way she kept disappearing – it was spectacular. He knew the audience was enjoying this.

The Guild

As Kaito Fen ran towards Grey Skies, he saw shadows writhing around her arms to become elongated swords and he also noted the armor. He took all of this into consideration in the few moments it took him to cross the distance between them.

Then he was before her.

His left sword went into a fierce upward arch, connecting with her crossed shadowy blades in an effort to draw them up to expose her abdomen wherein the pommel of his right sword would smash against ideally forcing the air out of her lungs, then he would ease the pressure on his left sword spin it on its axis so that the pommel faced her and would slam it into her face followed by a quick slash at her face with the blunt side of his right sword and another swing from his left before drawing back in a spin where his foot would strike her head for a final blow.

The Guild

Shiiiit! That's awesome, yo! Some mad drawing skills! I like it.

The Guild

Kaito Fen raised his left sword in a defensive maneuver on instinct as Grey suddenly moved into action. He didn’t expect at all for her to roll into his shadow and disappear, only to reappear at the other end of the circle. He breathed out, and lowered his swords. He recognized that she didn’t want to get close to his swords, and he also recognized the folly in running after her. So he stood where he was and cocked his masked head when she started singing.

The melody coming from her voice was magnificent, he could see how those same melodies could sway the rhythm of his dance. If only they had been fighting together. He reminded himself it wasn’t the time to be lamenting such things, and this was further pointed out by the two shadow snakes making their way towards him, somewhat ethereal but becoming more and more solid as they slithered their way towards him.

He started walking backwards towards the opposite end of the large circle, always keeping the snakes more than a sword’s length from him, and swing his sword occasionally to keep them at bay, and occasionally enticing them on. He thought to end it, to swing his sword and lop their heads off, but they didn’t look completely real yet, as though they were flitting in and out of reality, which meant his swords were going to be pretty useless. But did that mean the same for them? He wasn’t going to risk it to find out, they could be poisonous for all he knew. Could she even conjure poison? That was another thing he wasn’t willing to test.

Close to the edge, yet some distance from the nearest shadow, he started going around the ring, and began twirling one of his swords in a dizzying pattern slowly getting faster and faster, then joined the other hand in; before long both his swords were twirling fiercely in his hands, the blades jumping from hand to hand in an effort to draw everyone’s attention to his swords. To witness his deadly skill. A waste of time, he knew, but every good show needed suspense.

Then, He turned his head subtly and grinned savagely beneath his mask and after a moment looked back and noted then the snakes looked more or less… real? He could be wrong, but he needed to risk it…

Then, with sudden motion, now only half a dozen paces from Grey Skies, he swung the sword in his right hand across the snakes’ heads and let the sword go near the end of its arch, letting it fly directly towards Grey’s thighs and pivoted towards her, unsheathing another sword as he burst into a run, in full speed, directly towards her.

The Guild

Within the large circle, Kaito watched as Grey Skies made her way to stand in front of him, all the while slowly following her with his head. There were similarities, he noted, between them, many things that they shared together. A sort of, separation from the rest of the world, from the way they dressed. Grey Skies with her shadows, and of course him with his mask. He found these things interesting; but there were also vast differences.

Despite his mask, Kaito Fen was sociable and tried to befriend everyone, something that wasn’t entirely too easy for obvious reasons. It was after all an estrangement of sorts, but that never stopped him. However he hadn’t seen much of Grey Skies before, he knew of her, and what little he knew was and could piece together himself was that she was a shy – and nocturnal – individual, only a few had the privilege of befriending her in truth. Perhaps this would create that bond of friendship between them.

Kaito Fen looked down at the hand offered to him and he took it, then looked directly into Grey Skies’s eyes. “Let us make this a spectacle,” he said low enough that only the two of them could hear. “One which no fight after this will be its equal in grace and beauty.”

He stepped back then, turning his back to Grey Skies and walked to his spot of the circle, then turned back around. Truthfully, he cared little for winning or losing. It was a fight among friends, there were far more important things at stake. Like dazzling everyone around him. What would be the point in winning a bout through brutish strength? Everyone would be stunned, no doubt, but such a fight would have been a grave injustice. Its soul would have been stripped away, robbing everyone of witnessing the beauty and the art that came with martial prowess.

Kaito Fen, however, would give this fight its due rights. It’s been too long since he sparred, thus it demanded – just as well that he was first to fight – something the others would never forget.

He drew two of his swords from their scabbards and got into his stance, his swords humming into the windless morning air. Without moving too much of his head, he noted the shadows around him and those closest to him as well as the various shadows around the ring. He would need to take careful note of their positions in this fight. He twirled his swords a couple of times warming up his wrists and advanced on Grey Skies.

The Guild

I don't know. But I'll work on my post when I get home regardless. Hopefully Bell answers by then

The Guild

Hey, what's good SR?

The Guild

He woke before dawn and stood from his bed in the dark room with a grin on his lips and made his way to his nightstand where perched nearly two dozen scented candles. Grabbing them all, he placed them in a large circle in the center of his room, proceeded to light them, then sat in the center, within the amber glow of the candles. On his lap rested his for large swords, and above them, his porcelain mask.

Kaito Fen studied the mask, holding it before him, gazing into its empty sockets. His breathing changed then, deeper, fuller, allowing the air to travel into his stomach as he brought a cloth damped with scented oil and began wiping it over the mask. Once he was done with that, he proceeded to unsheathe one of his blades, brought out a whetstone and began, rhythmically, gliding the stone along the single edged blade. Over and over, until it seemed with each thrust, the blade sang, screeching its dreadful promise.

He did this for all of his four swords, and by the time he was done, his naked upper body was sheathed in sweat, a deadly calm settling on his shoulders. He rose in one smooth motion and looked out his singular window. False dawn had arrived, and the smile returned to his face.

Walking over to the wardrobe, he picked out a particular set of robes, the left half of the upper body cut away – like most of his robes. This particular set was a mottled blue and white, stitched at the right shoulder and upper arm with small square plates of leather and steel; the flanks at the waist were also stitched with pyramidal steel studded leather. Underneath the robes, he wore loose pants of the same color and a sash across his waist where his swords hung.

Putting on his mask and slipping on a pair of slippers, he walked out of his rooms and out to the back of the guild house where he saw the tournament grounds prepared. He saw Artura in her armored splendor seated on a throne and smiled internally.

Then she called his name.

He regarded Grey Skies for a long moment then turned his head and walked over to the circle, hoping it looked somewhat ominous and foreboding. He was going to make a show of this, how could he not? Everyone was watching. They were here to witness.

The Guild

I'm down for the guild morning tournament session. It's gon be fun seeing how Kaito Fen fares against the others from the guild, considering he's the only one without magic lol

The Guild

I was thinking of making a tank, but I kinda wanted to have fun with combat, so...