Kiku Vs Zenmedi (Weapon Duel)

A light sigh left the lips of a man that sat against one of the walls that would lead into the area. This man was dressed in clothing that was obviously not meant for battle. A simple white t-shirt, with a denim jacket sat over it. His lower body was clad in a pair of jeans fit just right for his movement. His feet clad in normal shoes. On his right hip seemed to be a sword that was possibly standard length for a katana if you were looking at the sheath, but the handle was odd. It would give either the idea to those looking at it that either Kiku wielded the sword with two hands, or there was more to the weapon. The guard of the blade was similar to his guild symbol, a hydra eating another.

His discolored, black and red eyes gazed out onto the battle field before he stepped 10 meters away from the gate, leaving a 40 meter gap between him, and his possible future opponent. His left hand curled over his body, and rested upon the grip of Joyuse as the sheathe was held in his right, already detached from his body. Time to wait.

Tanik Takita; A man who had just immigrated to Fiore, needed to make a name for himself. He already joined the wizard guild Sabertooth, but he needed to prove his strength, so he entered himself to a duel at the local arena. He walked in as his name was called through the speaker lacrima, to be greeted by a standard flat arena, and a mysterious looking man at the other end."He looks strange." Tanik thought. "But he also looks strong."
Tanik recognized this as the perfect opportunity to show the people of Fiore how strong he was. He unsheathed his katana, Fuchida. As he did his hair turned from white to jet black, and an aura of shadows surrounded him as his eyes turned from emerald green to a scarlett red.
Tanik took a defensive stance as he waited to see who would make the first move.

Kiku cocked his head for a moment at the man. His eyes scanning him over, trying to put together a manner of how he was going to fight the man just by taking in the manner that he decided to fight the man. He quickly advanced, his hands never moving from their positions, nor his arms changing in the way the muscles prepared to move. His head cocked some. “ I do hope we both come out of this with little injury. My name is Kiku Dax, and as you can see from my sword, I’m from Infinity Hydra. Keep in mind, we are allies.” He said aloud as he still stood 5 meters closer to the man than he had before, leaving a now 45 meter gap between them as he awaited the boy to move to him.

Kiku was far from stupid, and in fact in his time in the earthlands, and in his prior realm, he learned that the first attack was not always the best idea.

This man on the other side of the arena told Tanik that they were allies. Tanik yelled back," Were not allies while in this arena!"

Tanik began to analyze the situation. This guy, he said his name was Kiku, had advanced towards him stiffly but also swiftly, but hasnt made a move yet. There was something about his movements... Tanik could definetely tell now that this guy was stronger than he was currently letting on.

Tanik began to run towards Kiku. He had Fuchida raised, ready to strike. He would make it look like he was going to swing at him once he reached him, but in reality he was going to feint the attack at the last second. This would hopefully prompt Kiku to swing back in retaliation... only to be hit by a counter attack.

Tanik had to rely fully on his skills as a swordsman since he couldn't use his shadow magic. He hoped that they would be enough.


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Hp: 100

There was a sigh from him as the man exclaimed that in the area they weren’t allies in the arena. The man thought with his ego not honor. Kiku’s expression showed his lack of interest by relaxing some, but not all the way. He counted the man’s steps as he moved. Measuring in his head till the boy was within 20 meters of him. The moment that measurement was set, Kiku’s left hand twisted the sword in his hand some before his mana pulsed for a moment. The sheath detached instantly from blade before within the blade, the Lacrima pulsed as well. With an intense rate, it shot outwards, causing Kiku to pull the sword across the air before him, delivering a fast horizontal swing. Though, the swing wasn’t to hit the boy. Instead due to the rate that the sword shot from the ‘sheathe’, a wave shot forward at the boy. ”Stigmata of the Wind”

The wave that was shot from the sword would travel out 30 meters infront of him with a width of 15 meters. It covered the area before him, going from the surface to the air, making a 25 meter tall wall of wind. It travels at a rate of 15 m/s, leaving the boy little time to avoid this, but hopefully this would make the boy rethink his words. Now in Kiku’s left hand, was the sword, but it wasn’t. The boy would now be able to see that the blade of the sword, all 7 feet of it was invisible, as it was generated by the wind. Kiku still held the sheath in his right hand, where he would use as a guard if needed.

Stigmata of the Wind:

Tanik was running towards Kiku with his sword raised and ready to strike. But Tanik hesitated a bit when Kiku put his hand on the hilt of his blade. In one lightning fast move, Kiku had drawn his sword, and now Tanik was watching as a wall of wind was rushing towards him at breakneck speed. Time seemed to freeze as Tanik's mind was racing to decide his next move.

Almost instinctively, Tanik dove to the left, hoping he would be quick enough with his shadow swiftness to dodge the wind wall. He wasn't even close. He was hit by the full force of the wind and he was sent flying back to the wall of the arena.

He was'nt injured, he didn't think. But he was in quite a bit of pain from the impact. Tanik got back on his feet and he noticed that the blade Kiku had was gone. This puzzled him, but he wasn't about to complain. Tanik charged once again towards Kiku and this time was planning on taking advantage of the situation by going at him with some lightning fast sword swings while his blade was gone.


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Hp: 70

Kiku watched the boy sail away from him by the gust of the wind from the attack before he brought the sword back down, allowing it to rest just at the angle for the tip of the 7 foot blade of wind not to touch the ground. He did this so to not let the boy know that there was more to his sword than what he had already shown. From Kiku’s the sight of red and black wings began to manifest behind him. The wings were large, and after the full manifestation, they spread out, giving him a wingspan of 9 feet. An aura of what people would say belong to that of an angel began to resonate from his body. Though after one beat of his wings, they were gone again.

He watched the boy advance at him again. He quickly rose his sword upwards, using it to cross over his chest before his right hand moved some, aligning his sheathe to be able to move around in case it was needed to defend. In the back of his mind, he was greatly disappointed in the boy. Ardere spoke highly of Sabertooth, and this boy was spitting on that image. While he couldn’t exactly give him a proper lesson, Kiku would at least embarrass him. Perhaps send him home, nursing the wounds to show the pussycats that the Hydra's didn't just play.

Counting again in his head, he waited till the boy would’ve been able to cross over the line that would’ve separated the side of the arena. His right hand rose, bringing the sheathe to be before the blade, as to allow the idea he was going to attack with it while he had turned Joyuse itself around, pointing it in reverse so that the blade was pointed behind him, but only would the boy be able to see that he turned the handle around before he would move towards the boy. Meeting him soon after, Kiku quickly brought the hardened cover for his sword downwards towards him, or at least that was the start of the action. In the middle of the swing, Kiku’s body twisted off to the right, as to catch anything he was attempting to try, and also would cause Joyuse to make hard contact with boys side, slicing at him easily.

As Tanik was running towards Kiku, he noticed that Kiku was taking a very strange stance. His sheath was in front of his blade's handle. Tanik assumed this was to block his sword strike he would undoubtedly try. But there was something about the way that Kiku was holding his blade handle, as if he was going to use it for a swinging motion. Tanik decided not to take any chances, so he unfastened the sheath that was at his waist and held it in his right hand. He held the sheath parallel to his side in order to be ready to use it to block whatever trick this guy had up his sleeve.

Tanik held Fuchida in his left hand with the intent of slashing it toward Kiku's right side. He knew Kiku would probably use his own sheath in order to block that strike. So if he did, Tanik would do a leg sweep in order to knock Kiku to the ground.

Tanik had to admit he was impressed with the level of combat prowess that this Kiku guy was showing. His heart was so enthralled with this duel, that all he could think about was beating him on this day. But on a deeper level than that, Tanik was glad that he was able to fight such a worthy opponent. But as usual, Tanik's pride got the better of him as he only really thought about the glory that awaited him back at the guild if he won.


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Hp: 70

Little did the boy realize that the pride that he had would cost him a hand this day, for the moment that his sword would make contact with the sheathe, Kiku’s wrist twisted lightly enough to allow his blade to slide up the material of the boy’s sheath, scratching it till he would reach the hand. As logic would dictate, there was no guard for his hand, meaning that the violent blade of wind quickly rose up, tearing into the knuckles before he used his greater strength(1.25x greater than your own) to push into his hand, and thus pushing himself back.

His right foot came forward from that quickly, shoving against the ground HARD pushing him from before the boy, and avoiding the swing, and the kick to knock him down by a hair’s fall. He moved back, and sharply turned from the boy before running at nearly full speed away from him. (1.60x faster than you if you’re curious). A tactical retreat in this case was needed, and it would be a funny in the long run how this went. As he ran, his lips turned upwards for him to shout out. ”You’re putting your guild’s name in the dirt. My guildmaster Ardere Kasei was a member of Sabertooth before he left to found Infinity Hydra. You’re just a step away from a Dark mage right now, so I suggest you rethink your strategy, or the manner you fight before the final ballad begins young one.”

In his mind, he was once again building a new map of the area, planning what to do next, but in each plan that went through his head, it was all the same ending, overkill. He was sure he wouldn’t kill the kid, but it would be a bit overboard with what he wanted to do.

Tanik was so angry at how badly he was losing this fight. But there was no way around it. He was getting absolutely demolished by this guy. After what he just yelled about dragging his guild's name in the dirt, Tanik was finding it harder and harder to contain his anger. Especially since this guy was running away from Tanik while saying it. But as much as he hated to admit it, He had a point. Tanik was going about this fight the wrong way. Instead of giving chase like he has been doing, Tanik backed up a few steps and stood his ground. This time he would wait for Kiku to make the first move.

He left about 30 meters between them, leaving Tanik plenty of time to react to any other trick Kiku had up his sleeve. Tanik spread his feet apart and got into a defensive stance. This time if he used that wind wall again, Tanik would have enough time to dodge. Tanik kept kept the sheath in his right hand despite it bleeding profusely. And he kept Fuchida raised in his left hand.

By the beginning of this fight, Tanik was so bent on winning he didn't think enough about how his opponent outclassed him completely. A mistake he would be sure not to make again. But the way he was insulted brought on a hatred in Tanik that would not be easily quenched by the healing waters of time. No, this was a hatred that would most likely brew for many fortnights to come.

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Hp: 39

Kiku would grin as he watched the boy move back, and take a neutral stance. He stopped in his spot, positioning himself directly across from the boy before he took the sheathe of Joyuse, and brought it to the tsubasa, in a sense disabling the wind sword, putting it back into training mode. He was grinned because the boy had backed off from his previous wild attacks, meaning it didn’t seem Kiku’s that he needed to go all out. With the sound of a click, the sheathe attached back to the tsubasa, leaving it in safety mode, as such.

He brought the sword down, pressing the end of the sheathe lightly into the ground before his weight would shift as to lean on it before his head cocked. ”Tell me young one. Why do you fight? Do you fight for power, or for fame? Do you fight to protect those that you care for, or do you do it to revel in the fear from your opponent if they are on the losing side?” He would ask. His darkened eyes stared at the boys as he spoke.

Don’t think for a moment that Kiku wasn’t prepared for anything that he would pull. His hand, despite leaning on the sword, was ready to pull it at any moment that he wanted. His intention wasn’t to beat the boy to death. It was more to teach a lesson. After so long anyways, it was good to teach others instead of being lectured or beaten to teach. ”Also, do you want to go any farther? If you give up, all that will be hurt is your pride. It won’t hurt me if you decide that now would be a good time to stop. I’d hate for more to happen to your hand. It could get a bad infection, or worse.”

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Stigmata ¾ on cooldown

Tanik was in probably the most pathetic state he had been in for a while. He came into this fight with such high expectations of himself, only for them to be dashed to pieces by this guy that he was fighting. Tanik hated nothing more than losing, everyone that he knew had known that. But this was probably his greatest loss since he came to Fiore. Tanik had a couple of options. He could continue to fight, or he could just surrender now. He thought these options over for a moment and came to a decision. One day he would come back and take kiku on again when he was stronger, but for now he was helpless. There was nothing he could do to even have a chance of winning. He saw Kiku's curious face as he waited for an answer to his question. But he would not get one now.

Without saying a word, Tanik sheathed Fuchida, and walked away, through the entrance of the arena, as his body turned back into the form that it was in originally. He was pathetic right now, not knowing what to do or where to go. But what he did know is that the next time he saw Kiku, the outcome would be different, he was sure of it. As he walked out of the arena, Tanik thought of the pain of returning to the guild hall after this defeat, but he knew he just had to accept it and move on for now.


[Exit]