The Road to Understanding (Kichiro's Exam Thread)

Yukine grinned as all he saw Marick seemingly unable to perform a move other than swipe over a card. "Gotcha" Yukine thought to himself as he crossed the two swords before what seemed to be Marick's neck; though it was actually a copy of himself (which Yukine did not know, obviously). It was moments later that Yukine felt lightning hit his back, which he surprisingly laughed at. "You impress me, Marick." Yukine commented, his lineage activated to heal the wounds from the lightning. Of course, Yukine only had the power to do this once, though he felt in perfect shape after the healing. In a godlike reaction, Yukine lunged one sword through the stomach of the doppelgagner, which he hoped would annihilate him. "It's funny..." Yukine added, "Even during this exam, I thought fighting was this easy, yet it was all just foolish thoughts." Yukine grinned and locked his eyes on Marick's. One of his eyes turned completely black, with a golden ring as a replacement for the pupil. This was the call of his more powerful self, who was addicted to fighting. "Marick! This duel has only just begun!" Yukine declared, "I am going to show you the new me! The Number One ReQuip Mage!" Yukine combined Hanzo with himself, which deactivated the boosts over his two swords. Additionally, the two swords had met their duration, meaning Yukine held only two regular swords. On the contrary, Yukine still had many powers left, and from what he saw, Marick was limited.

Mana: 35%
Health: 95%

Ryuunosuke: 4 posts
Duplication Sword: 3 posts
Yato: 3 posts
Hiyori: 1 post

A healing power...that's a handy little tool right there. Marick found himself thinking, before quickly snapping himself back to business. "I should hope I impress. I don't want to go embarrassing Zenshin now do I?" the Solitaire replied with a chuckle. He watched as Yukine's eye glowed, a smile creeping across his face as he sensed the burst of confidence flowing through his younger guildmate. Finally Yukine was beginning to step out of his comfort zone a little more and try new tricks. Marick stepped forwards and pulled his sword out of the ground, wielding it backhand as normal.

"Come on then Yukine...show me what you can do." He gripped three cards and launched them through the air now, all aimed at Sabertooth's young requip mage at high speed. He lacked any usable cards at this moment in time, but he'd make up for that soon enough.

----

Discard Throw:

MP: 85
HP: 95

Cooldowns:
7: Fireball - 2 posts
Black Joker - 4 posts
4: Chain Lightning - 3 posts
Discard Throw - 1 post

5 posts til Quick Shuffle

7 cards in hand. 3 cards played, 4 remaining.

Yukine clinched his teeth when Marick threw three cards his way. He sprinted to his left (198 FPS) in attempt to avoid the cards. With the two swords still in his grasp, Yukine proceeded to rush towards Marick, and perform a swords dance. To start, Yukine front-rolled while he held the two swords, then used the Duplication Sword as a spring to aim what Yukine liked to call an "Aerial Ace" in Marick's direction. Upside down, Yukine performed a side flip, then prepared to attack Marick by swing his swords downwards before Marick. However, this was not all that Yukine had to offer...

Marick brought his sword up rapidly in an attempt to block Yukine's attack and, were it not for the young mage's sideroll, he'd have easily blocked the strikes aimed at him. The result however was a slash down the Solitaire's arm. He cursed at his bad luck - and admittedly from the initial pain - before sidestepping clear of Yukine. He glanced down as his arm and chuckled before turning his attention back to his opponent. "You're starting to see now aren't you...it's good to have a plan, but sometimes you need to be able to step outside of the box and switch things around. Try out new things to catch your opponent off-guard. So long as you have confidence in your own abilities and your eyes set on paradise you will never fail to complete your movements, even if they don't necessarily hit the target."

Marick placed his sword back in it's sheath and grinned. "Now...as much as I'd love to continue this duel, I'm afraid I must bow out at this point. You've learned what I wanted of you, and even managed to deal a fairly strong strike...I have no qualms whatsoever with considering you an equal in rank." The Paragon put his hand out for his student, a warm smile across his face. "Zenshin was correct in his praise of you."

----

MP: 85
HP: 85 (-10%)

Cooldowns:
7: Fireball - 1 posts
Black Joker - 3 posts
4: Chain Lightning - 2 posts


4 posts til Quick Shuffle
5 cards in hand. None played.

Yukine smiled warmly when three blades collidedly intensely with each other, though in a glimpse, Yukine saw that he still had managed to leave a cut in Marick's arm. With this, Yukine descended gently to the ground, prepared to block swiftly as he predicted an immediate strike from Marick. However, this did not seem to be the case. The fight seemed to come to a pause- or an end- as Yukine noticed Marick turn his attention to him instead of the fight. Yukine had an epiphany the moment Marick began to talk. "I've changed again, haven't I? I've matured." Yukine thought to himself while he listened to Marick. "You sure are a worthy competitor, Marick." Yukine remarked, "It's amazing to see someone with such incredible intellect in the guild. You seem to know your stuff!"

Though these words may have sounded weak, Yukine was proud to stand before someone who knew Sabertooth so well. Marick would definitely be someone Yukine would acknowledge as an honourable member of the guild, and indirectly wished him all the best. "You definitely are my rival now, Marick." Yukine commented, "You're free to spar with me anytime." As the fight came to a conclusion, Yukine transported his items back to his pocket dimension, and continued onward back to Sabertooth's guild hall. While he walked away, however, he gave Marick a big thumbs-up, then turned back to him quickly. "May our fates intertwine again!" Yukine concluded.

[Thanks for the test!]