A new challenger steps forth....

It was a beautiful day outside, the air crisp and cool, the birds chirping with their usual wanton abandon, the clouds drifting lazily across the sky, the sun none too hot. A lazy day, based on Sky's prior experiences. However, try as he might, he could just not sit still. He had been trying to nap on a nice shady section of the grounds, but he was filled with an excited energy that just wouldn't leave. Sighing, because he really just wanted to laze about, he hopped to his feet. He decided to head over to the training rooms, there was always people in there. Even before he reached the building the clanging of steel could be heard. He opens the doors and walks in, eying the people inside with a curious air.

He walks over to get a training bot, then stops. He was really tired of beating up dummies and only slightly more intelligent bots. He would fall out of practice if that's all he ever fought. Sky decided to try a tactic that had seemed to draw aggression in the past, he thought it was called: being cocky. Hey, anybody else in here tired of fighting bots and dummies? I don't expect you to bring too much of a difference from those dopes, but I welcome any and all to try and prove me wrong! Man, just saying those words made Sky feel like a douche, and he immediately opened his mouth to recant them, but forced his mouth closed. The tactic would hardly work if he apologized for it, now would it?

Lothric had been at the training area for the most of the day, just to keep his skills sharp or well rather not dull them down with no training at all. Not noticing the new arrival he continued slashing his way through the numerous bots he had activated by fault earlier in the day. When Lothric heard the challenge being issued he let out a hearty laugh before he conjured a pillar of fire around himself as he spoke "Just one moment my friend." the moment he had finished the pillar of fire erupted into several smaller bolts that sent the rest of the bots he had been fighting crashing to the ground in soon to be slag heaps.

Sheathing his sword and removing his helmet Lothric moved over towards the challenger  before stopping a meter away from him and bowing his head slightly as he placed his right hand onto his chest while keeping his left on the pommel of his sword.

"Now for what manner of reason doth thou just barge in here and simply insult those that find this a challenge. I must say good sir you are gravely in the wrong here to just act like this, but alas if to silence your tongue I must silence your heart then let it be so." When he had finished speaking Lothric attached his helmet onto his belt before raising to his full height and turnings his gaze upon the others eyes as he awaited his answer.

Sky's eyes snapped to Sir Lothric as the man laughed at him. There was no ire at him from it, Sky was if anything slightly amused. Sky turned to face the man as he conjured up a pillar of fire and annihilated three bots, resulting in a single eyebrow being raised. This aught to be interesting.Sky smoothed his composure and stood up straight as the man walked over to him and bowed, bowing his head in return. In response to the mans question, Sky grew sheepish.

"Well, you see, I was really bored and I figured that a good way to draw aggression was to act cocky, because who likes A-holes?. You are by all means correct, I was in the wrong to act so, and for that I do apologize. Now, for the matter at hand, you seem ready to oblige," he says nodding at Lothric with his hand on his sword.

Sky shifts his feet ever so slightly and lifts his hands to his waists, bending his knees slightly. Shall we?

Lothric placed his helmet back onto his head and tightened the few leather straps he head which kept the helmet secured to his head. Drawing his sword he drew his left gauntlet over the magnesium strip and used the sparks created to conjure forth fires which made his sword go ablaze as he took his stance, holding the hilt up towards his right shoulder and the tip towards his left foot he moved his right foot backwards lightly. When he moved the flames roared as they grew quickly to cower both of his arms from his fingers to his shoulders and started to flow behind him as well.

Focusing on the flames Lothric let out a heavy sigh as he narrowed his gaze and the fires turned blue in hue and increased their heat, not wanting to hold onto this temperature and the danger his blue flames would be to him self and those around him not to mention if he kept this up he would fuse his armor to his own flesh.

Lothric lowered his stance lightly before letting out a small chuckle as the flames grew in size and let out a massive roar of their own before he spoke with his calm tone "I doth hope that thee can give me a proper duel so that we can at least enjoy our selves."

Well, Fire wasn't exactly Sky's friend. He frowns, this was going to be... interesting. The frown was a result of him thinking, doing some mental calculations. after a moment, he smiles and nods fractionally to himself. His mentality was simple: fire hurt, so avoid the fire where possible. even more than that though: Fire was insubstantial, so go through the fire when you cant dodge it. he could feel the heat radiating of the man from here. he lets out a chuckle of his own as he draws his swords slowly. he crouches a bit deeper and lets sparks build up underneath his feet, building up pressure between them and his metal plated boots.

Oh believe me, despite what my appearance and manner might suggest, I am more than capable and willing of holding a proper duel.

He says this and then bows from the waist, his face transformed into a mask as he rises.

"Lovely, well then let us start!" Lothric said in his calm tone yet at the end of his sentence his voice turned slightly more sinister, the moment after he had spoke lothric lifted his sword and pointed it at Sky. As if on instinct the blue fire flew towards him as it crashed into the ground creating the movements as if a sea of fire was crashing towards Sky, Lothric wanted to see how well his opponent would do with this little test and to be honest if he couldn't withstand this attack then Lothric wouldn't belive him to be someone he would want to go all out against.

The fire had completely left Lothric's form and he was glad that it had for the heat alone from the blue flames was painful and he was still worried that if he had held it for too long he would be just a walking suit of armor and flesh welded together and that was not something he found to be interesting.

Moving back into his stance Lothric watched the fire and the areas around it as he was wondering where this person would be coming from and readied himself for any high speed counter or attack that might come from within the flames as he did not want any surprise attacks hitting him this early in the battle.

Combat:

Interesting, Lothric gave him a heads up. Noble sentiments, But The swing of his tone at the end there suggested something different, more brutal. Sky wondered if he could bait this guy into acting beastly, or if that was just a fire type cliche. Well one way to find out. Before this thougit process could continue Lothric punctuated his statement with a wall of fire. Before the flame filled the space between them Lothric would see sky's lip curl as if in disdain. As the sea of fire rushes forward a him he envelopes his blades in the electricity he had been building up. He taps the blades ends together and watches the jolt spark between them with a zap. Then spreads them apart and slams them together before the sea of flame reaches him. The percussive shockwave rips through the flames and scatters then and sends sky sliding backwards about five feet. He still has the curled lip affect, trying to bait this lothric. is that all?

Spoiler:

Lothric chuckled lightly at the small comment which was made at him, well at least this would provide a bit more entertainment then what he had thought at first but alas he had to respond to this so by moving his right hand outwards the dying embers of the blue fire sprung to life once more as they started to grow in size. Lothric would toy a bit with this one before committing any true intent on harming him noticeably or well at least not in any degree Lothric would consider it being harmful.

The fire had once more grown to their former size as they now once more crashed towards him but before reaching him they twisted and turned as they moved to enclose him before falling upon him from every side and angle, Lothric would want to know his opponents plan before he would attack properly and at least with this he would keep him at arms length before committing his sword and body to the duel.

Thinking about several strategies and attempts to be made Lothric was wondering just how far he would have to go this time before he would simply not dare conjure his flames any more, he was still slightly worried about the potential chaos his blue flames could create should he loose control of them for a second and if Sky was trapped within them at that time it would not be pretty. Lothric returned his complete focus to the fight and made up his mind that he would deal with that problem if it arrived and only then.

Combat:

Well, that didn't work. he only managed to mildly amuse his opponent. Sky shrugs and build his electricity beneath his feet again even as lothric revived the flames. Sky noted that he seemed to control the flame with his hand gestures. if Lothric were occupied with swordplay could he still conjure flame? best not to risk it yet. as the flames rushed torwards him again sky bolted using the electricity beneath his metal plated feet to shoot him faster than he normally should have been able to.as he runs he rubs his swords together, and uses the friction from that and his greave plates to help him generate a large bolt of electricity which he shoots out from his crossed blades torwards Ember once he was within ten paces of the man. he had halted to shoot the bolt but was ready to dodge the fire should lothric continue his assault with the blaze.

Spoiler:

Lothric chuckled slightly as he noticed the movements of Sky just in time to leap sideways avoiding the bolt of electricity just barely, it was indeed fast. Standing up he started to walk towards Sky as he let out a heavy sigh, playing around was fun and all but it was time to get a little more serious, Lothric held his sword at the base of the blade with his right hand and had the blades point facing behind him while resting at waist height.

Closing the gap he stopped as the blue flames suddenly flared to life and quickly spread to surround the two fighters in a ring of fire as it started to grow rapidly in height, ah yes his ideal surrounding. Lothric let out a small chuckle as he felt the heat from the flames as he readied his stance once more, Looking at sky there was something within Lothrics mind that made him wonder if he should go all out against him but for the time being he wouldn't entertain the thought.

"Well then shall we entertain the idea of a little swordplay?" Lothric spoke with his signature calm tone but it had a slight sinister undertone as he locked his gaze upon sky.

Combat:

Sky blinks as Lothric dodges the bolt. He was fast. When Lothric surrounds them with flames, he makes a show of pulling his collar away from his neck and fanning his face. He was glad he didn't wear traditional armor, he d have been baking by now. As it was even with the open vents his disjointed armor had he was still pretty hot. Still, he keeps his cool. The sinister undertones spoke quite loudly to him. I don't know, bro. It seems kinda hit in here. Was that ring of fire always there? despite the goofy tone and the exaggerated posture, Sky was by no means off guard. He makes an exaggerated shrug and readies himself. He still had some electricity pent up and all at once he crosses the space between them, almost as fast but not quite as the lightning bolt he had shot earlier. His sword strikes were no less quick and precise. Left was headed straight forwards the throat while the right was headed forwards the gut but was a fake for the legs.

Combat:

Keeping his focus on Sky, Lothric was waiting for him to do something and as Sky seemingly suddenly bolted up to him Lothric acted on the instinct and leaped backwards avoiding the sword strikes. Stumbling a bit as he landed Lothric let out a chuckle as he regained his composure, this was a major weakness for him, Sky was fast and he wielded two sword which was a good counter by default for Lothric's two-hander, in the end skill and experience would win but Lothric knew he would have to force Sky into blocking his attacks and then attempt to crush the block because if he where to be danced around sooner or later Lothric would slip up and then there would be trouble. There was no way he could easily block and parry two swords being used almost at the same time but also their speed would be a major annoyance and countering their blows would be almost impossible, no he had to make sky defensive.

Covering himself in normal yellow flames he conjured forth by dragging his left gauntlet over the magnesium strip Lothric used these flames to dash towards Sky as when he quickly closed the gap he swung his sword in an over-head swing going downwards, after going past the point where Sky's waist would have been Lothric grabbed the base of his blade and made an ax like chop towards Sky's lower torso before spinning around Sky's frame and using the movements of the spin to launch a horizontal strike aiming at Sky's shoulder region. After the swing the flames covering his body burst towards Sky in an attempt to scorch him as they crashed against teh ring of fire.

This was starting to take it's toll on him but Lothric would not give up this easily, he would force Sky on the defensive or at least do his best to do so and if that meant creating an inferno within the area then so be it.

Combat:

The two strikes were a test and sky wasn't let down. It appeared that lothric did indeed require the use of his hands to conjure fire, specifically needing contact with his weapon. As much as he knew it put him at a disadvantage sky had to react defensively to Lothrics attacks. He had the speed but lothric had the heavier weapon. He waits as Lothric charges and narrowly avoids the brutal overhead swing As he dodged to the backwards to avoid the chop he had an idea-he might be able to use the same spark that Lothric did to generate an attack. So as lothric spun around into a horizontal swipe, sky leaps into the attack, meeting Sanctus Ignus with his deep blue blade Rain even as he ducked underneath the slash, using the friction generated Sparks from his sword across Ignus' magnesium strip in order to sound an explosion of electricity, tanking Lothrics flames in the process. He closed his eyes for a second as he creates the burst of electricity, that quick and at this close range it was sure to leave a mark like a flash bang grenade. He grunted as the flames rolled into him. As he did so Winds silvery form slashed in for a strike towards Lothrics gut even as Rain slid up the blade and torwards Lothrics arm, and then would slash rain across Lothrics body for a third attack.

Combat: