Time to kill[open]

It was just past midnight as a cold wind spread over Syne, biting at Roux's arms as he made pulled open the doors to the arena. Inside, a single light lingered on in the center, appearing almost as a stage for an opera or dance. For the past few week, the paperwork assignments and extracurricular odd jobs had afforded Roux little time for live combat practice and he was starting to feel it in his skin. He needed, at the very least, to have a refresher. From its holster, Roux took Bas Pushka, giving it a few experimental swings to reacquaint himself with the weight as he walked on to the center. Hmm...I posted a notice on the dorm bulletin about tonight’s training session, but if nobody comes, I guess I’ll just have to content myself with the bots.

As he reached the center, Roux pointed his sword forth, beckoning over the 5 bots standing in the adjacent arena, three wielded a standard sword and shield, the other carried dual tomahawks, and the last had nothing but its gigantic fists. Charging forth, Roux swung wide, cutting deep into its chest and sending it flying off to a wall before holing up into an ox stance. The four bots took the opportunity to strike, having surrounded Roux a moment before. Spinning back, Roux lunged in at the tomahawk bot, running it through and creating ample space to evade in. The shield bots gave no quarter, however as they let loose on Roux with a flurry of sword strikes and shield bashes. The hits kept coming, some blocked or parried by Bas, but a good number breaking in through his guard, eliciting pained grunts before he could get away. Damn. Can’t defend against this many after all. With a disappointed sigh, Roux extends Bas to its full length before coiling it taut around and behind him. The bots charge again, seeming to attempt the same tactic. As they entered range, Roux stepped forward, unleashing a full swing onto the bots. It doesn’t cut past the shield, but it sends them all flying and toppling onto each other. Incapacitated as they were, Roux managed to plunge his sword into the remaining bots without much trouble.

Five bots down before him, Roux wiped sweat from his brow, looking at his scroll to see his condition. Hmm...I can do better with that, he signals over another set of bots, before assuming a plow stance.

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OOC: Just past midnight? More like past sky's bedtime...XD
Sky huffed to nobody in particular as he walked brusquely in the chilly nighttime air, his breath freezing a little and swirling about. Who in their right minds holds a training session after midnight? Sky's inner monologue grumbled. Normally, he'd have been long in the world of dreams, but the notice in the dorms had roused his interest A training match, open to all comers. A bracket would be started if enough people came, otherwise fights would ensue from solos through to team on team fights. This much excitement warranted the lack of sleep. He really hoped the night wouldn't be a let down, however...

By this time, he had reached the training arena. He walked inside quietly, he didn't have to look around to realize the young man fighting the training bots was the only contender. Sky moved away from the door and to the wall, watching and waiting for the man to finish with the bots sharply, analyzing as always.

OOC::

Four new bots enter the stage, one armed with a long spear, two with massive warhammers, the last wielding a thick towershield. Careful to avoid their predecessor’s mistake, they form up all infront, spacing a meter apart so as to avoid another heavy sweep. The shield took the fore, being flanked on both sides by the hammers. The spear paced slowly behind them, waiting for Roux to overextend himself. Slowly, they advance, as Roux inches back, eyes darting about, scanning for any opening in their guard. There. Reversing his grip, Roux lunges forward, leaping as he brings Bas into a skyward slash. Roux’s feet make contact with shield’s height, the sheer weight of Roux, Bas, and the shield crashing down on the bot. From behind, the Warhammer bots came down on him at full throttle as the spear bot met Roux with a lunge of its own. Nowhere to go, Roux braced for the worst, kneeling down to meet the spear with his helm, and holding Bas overhead to meet the hammers. The hammers came hard, straining Roux’s arms but ultimately failing to crush through his guard. The spear crackles the glass for a moment, threatening to punch straight into his face, but gives way to the side as Roux quickly turns his head. More or less stable, Roux takes the opportunity to swing back, tearing through the two hammer bots and just narrowly missing the spear bot. Roux’s vision was compromised. As the spear bot pulled back, Roux undid the straps on his helm, pulling it off with a relieved sigh and a nervous sweat. That was too close. There’s got to be a better way to handle that. At the least, I didn’t get hit that time.  Dropping the helm to the floor, Roux refocuses, pulling Bas to rest over his shoulders. The two charged at each other. The spear overextends early, hoping to catch Roux by surprise. Roux pulls into a halt, catching the spear between his side and kicking the bot clean of it. Disarmed and grounded, the battle was decided. Roux plunged the spear into the bots head, whispering something about it needing its own helmet. Breathing deep, Roux relaxed, finally noticing the bystander on the wall.


“Hey, are you here to train? Thank god, I thought I’d have nothing but these bots to play with all night. Oh, I hope you don’t mind, but I’m just sharpening my swordsmanship technique, so I won’t be using my semblance.”

Sky nodded as he pushed off the wall with his foot into a step towards the young man. very well, in that case I'll refrain from using mine as well. I'm sky. Why'd you have to make the training session so late at night? he queried as he stopped before the man, right hand extended, left hand perched on Rains hilt at his hip. This should be fun, though a part of him wanted to get a snack(read:meal) and then go to bed. Speaking of snacks, his stomach grumbled audibly. He threw his hands up affably and says I'm afraid I require sustenance,first, if you'll excuse me. He turned and headed over to the refreshments area, and made himself a chicken, cheese, eggs, tatertots and bacon burrito with salsa, and nuked it in the microwave for a few seconds, just long enough to get the cheese all nice and gooey, asking Roux as it was cooking if he wanted one, which he would prepare after consuming his own. He refrained from inhaling the burrito as was his usual wont, but instead consumed the delicious item with carefully measured bites. Didn't want to give himself the cramps, after all. thanks for waiting, I'm ready now! He took his stance and drew his swords 5 feet away from Roux, close enough so the could cross swords.

Ivory was curious, what kind of person starts and participates in a cold, after dark, past midnight training session? She made her way to the arena, her chilly breath clouding the air as she took step after step while the rest of her body stayed warm under her dark apparel. Chained Edge was at its place on her back with the handle jutting out from behind her right shoulder so she could grab it easily. Its chains clinked lightly with each inevitable sway as it hung off of the pommel. She must’ve looked like an eerie figure out of a ghost story with her differently colored eyes, white complexion, dark cloak, and chains.

She entered the arena with her slowly unravelling Chained Edge’s chains and wrapping them around her arm. She paused for a moment to take in the scent of someone else’s meal, reminding herself to eat after this was over. She drew out Chained edge and let the tip drag lightly against the ground’s surface as she made her way around halfway towards the center before lifting the blade onto her shoulder, chains rattling with the movement, and giving a small creepy smile while tilting her head slightly to the side.

“I heard there was going to be a fight here, mind if I get in on that?” She declared.

As Sky approached, Roux stuck Bas into the ground and leaned against it. His eyes zipped up and down as he scanned his new opponent over, looking for gaps in his armor or places where his movement might stall.
“Nice to meet you, Sky, I’m Roux. I wouldn’t normally be training at this hour except that my day schedule’s been so filled up with odd jobs these past few weeks that I’ve had to give up practice time just to keep up with my academics.”

Roux declined Sky’s offer, saying that it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to eat just before fighting. As Sky returned to the ring, Roux lifted Bas off the ground, acquainting his sword with Sky’s. Just before Roux could move, a chill slowly crawled up Roux’s spine as the rattling of a chain by the door drew his quickly widening eyes. As a stifled squeak left his lips, Roux pulled back and away from the advancing figure, almost forgetting his sword. “G-g-g-ghost!”, he yelled, nearly sprinting for the door before the figure came to the light, revealing herself, not as a ghost, but as a human, whatever else her appearance suggested. Calming the shaking in his legs and hand, he answered her query. “S-sorry about that, for a while there, I thought you were…nevermind. But, yeah, you can join. The fight. Three way. I’m Roux. Let’s fight.”

Needing to drown out the fear and embarrassment, Roux lunged forth with a yell to announce his heavy sweep, attempting to scatter his foes.

Sky tried not to laugh at Roux's overreaction and was mostly successful, a small snort escaping his lips. Should be fun, He said as his attention fixed upon the newcomer, his eyes rapidly appraising her, making note of weapon and armor, muscle mass and other various factors. He was interrupted by Roux's wild yell and charge. Sky's first instinct was to create sparks underneath his feet, but he let them die immediately as he remembered that they had agreed not to use their Semblances... It cost him a second in which to react, so Sky ducked under the sweep, using Rain in his right hand to come up underneath the big blade, pushing it up and towards the area above Roux's head as the much smaller blade slid down the bigger one, aiming to bite into Roux's hand even as Wind came in to slash at the mans gut. Sky would keep moving, using the momentum to carry him along past the man and out of his reach, spinning as he did so to keep both his opponents in view.

Ivory took in her other opponent’s stances and weapons before backing off some distance quickly when one of her opponents yelled to declare his intent to attack. Chained Edge Was held out as she let out more of her chains. She watched as the dual wielder assaulted the other and thought this would be the perfect chance to set things up. Holding chains in her other hand she charged at the pair, intent on cutting down the dual wielder first. Her reasoning was that she would be hard pressed to keep up with the dual wielder since he looked rather flighty to her.

Halfway to her quarry she stabbed her claymore into the ground to anchor itself as she sped up, she was holding her weapon by its chains now. As she neared her target she sharply tugged her sword free by yanking its chain as hard as she could, sending it shooting forward to Sky. Chained Edge flew blade first towards Sky’s torso. She had the advantage in distance and was intent on using it. She kept her grip lax on the chains, letting Chained Edge have as much length as she needed. She was indeed ready to tighten her grip and pull back her weapon regardless of her hitting her target or missing entirely.

Sky’s counter-offensive came unexpectedly, and, if not for Bas’ parry hook, would have surely succeeded. Rain pushed up on Bas as it raced down the length of it, naturally catching for a moment on the parry hook and signaling Roux to play it to his advantage. With practiced efficiency, Roux continued his swing as he twisted at Bas, momentarily wedging Rain between the cross-guard and parry hook. Wind’s path, however could not be deterred, advancing on Roux’s midsection with distressing imminence. Giving up on countering it, he decides to give as hard as he’d get, clenching his teeth to stifle the incoming pain as he pressed his charge forward into a shoulder tackle as Wind strikes at his side.

Roux maintained his footing, but found himself situated where Sky previously stood, preparing to bring Bas down on him when he noticed the incoming claymore flying in his direction. Still feeling the momentum of his tackle, he had little chance of evading safely and so held Bas wide against his chest, bracing for impact and jumping back to minimize traction as well as damage to his sword. Crap baskets. She’s got range on me. Need to close the distance.

Rather than resist, Sky moved with the shoulder charge, accepting the force and rolling with it. This sent him rolling in a somersault backwards over his shoulders, his keen eyes noticing the chained claymore whistling through the air towards where he would have been if Roux had not charged him. Angling himself so he didn't pop to his feet in the path of the claymore, but rather right beside it. Arrgh, he couldn't resist! He sheathed rain as the claymore shot past him and built up as much electricity as he could in his free gauntleted hand, before grabbing the chain just as the claymore struck Roux's guard, sinking as much aura as he could into it to zap both his opponents. Taking advantage of the momentary lull he hoped his attack would have he would dash towards Ivory angling to the side so he could have a moments notice if she brought her chained weapon to bear on him, bringing rain back out as he ran.

Ivory gave out a loud yelp as she was suddenly electrified by Sky. She quickly clenched her teeth tightly and pulled back her claymore and caught it by the hilt with her left hand. “Oh, so that’s how you want to play huh?” She said as she passed Chained Edge to her waiting right hand. She gave a few movements to shake off the pain while she unraveled the rest of the chain and wrapped it around her arm. She gave a savage grin towards their direction. “Well then, who am I to say no?” She said as she tossed her claymore upwards.

Giant hands materialized in the air. Giant right hand caught the claymore and held it easily. “This is going to be fun.” The hands scattered to two different locations, three points in total. The hand passed her weapon to the other hand before it, in turn, passed it back to her, each of the hands was holding on to the chain. Her two opponents were now inside a triangle of her chains. With a strong yank the triangle collapsed in an attempt to ensnare the duo before taking her claymore by the chain and following the attempted snare, lets loose a wide horizontal slash.

Chained edge smashed onto Bas Pushka with electrifying force, sending Roux flying back and rolling off the floor before he could find his feet again. Shaking off the dizziness and numbness, Roux eyes widened at the sight of two gigantic hands reaching out around the arena, carrying Chained edge with them. Deciding to ignore the implication, he held Bas like a battering ram as he made for a bull charge, taking the opportunity to close the distance between the three. Closing off my escape. Reducing my manoeuvrability. Smart, but she’s just lost her reach advantage. I’ll-

His thoughts are interrupted as he sees Ivory yank at the chain, collapsing the triangle around him and Sky. “What the!?” From the side, Roux’s eyes went wide with panic, seeing the claymore coming right for him and Sky. With no time to think, Roux brought his charge to a grinding halt as he plunges Bas into the ground by the tip, using it almost like a vaulting pole. As Bas was struck by the claymore, it spun, tangling together with the chain in between blade segments. As Roux came to ground, he noticed the predicament of his sword. Well, it’s not ideal, but I can make do.

“Time for some Roux-ver kill!!!”

At that, Roux ran back, bringing Bas into a heavy overhead, consequently sending Ivory flying towards Sky. Looking back, Roux crouches down, angling his sword like a spear at chest level as he breaks into a sprint to slam into Ivory if Sky dodged or Sky, if he didn’t.

One thing was evident-three way battles were fast! The girl with the Chained Edge activated her own Semblance in response to his own, two giant hands which she used to ensnare the two melee fighters in a triangle of chains. An effective maneuver, but easy to dodge, he thought as he vaulted over the chain in a lazy flip, landing back on his feet with his swords up. Roux had sent the chain girl flying over his way. The chain still by his side, Chain girl inbound, Sky reacted. Wind, in his left hand, sought out the chain by his side even as the blade began to glow with electricity. He ran, Wind sliding down the length of the chain, pumping as much Electricity as he could at once into it, even as he brought Rain around to meet the falling girl in a vicious slash, jumping into the blow so the force of the blow had her fall, his jump, and his swing adding to the strength. He would, even in the air, seek out his other opponent, he couldn't afford to not keep track of either one. He would back up, putting some space between him and his opponents. He wasn't too worried about either of his opponents reach advantages.

As ivory sailed through the air, there were a few things going on in her head. ‘Oh no oh no oh no oh no’ was one of them. ‘Weeeeee!’ was another. But the most important thing to go on in her head was to move her hands to spin her out of this situation. The hands moved onto the chain to lessen the shock that she would’ve taken by yanking the chains very hard. With a sudden mental command the hands suddenly yanked her chains into the sky, bringing her up to their level and using them like a platform of some sort.

“Okay.” She breathed out quietly as she stood on her hands, scathed but still raring to go. “The way I see it I’m out matched if I have to deal with both at the same time, a strong electric current around my weapon would be all it took to take me and the other one’s strength isn’t anything to shake a stick at.” She analysed as she caught her breath. A very insane idea popped into her head, something so ridiculous it just might work.

The hands hid her as she began her plan. The other hand suddenly moved about, positioning itself into looking like it was about to catch something. She hopped onto the other hand, sword at the ready, before the hand began to close. It reeled back and threw her, sending her rocketing towards the two. Chains rattled as she began to spin in mid-air. A spinning tempest of chain and blade came for the two, mostly at Sky’s direction.

From the chain to the sword to his body, electricity surged through Roux in a stream, causing his muscles to slowly fail him. His grip and footing were on the verge of failure when Ivory yanked upon the chain, pulling it loose from Bas' hold. Falling to ground, Bas dragged along a while before coming to rest just over a meter ahead of him. Damn it, can dodge chain but can’t dodge electricity. Need to incapacitate Sky first. I'll just get zapped again if I strike with Bas, though, so that's out of the question. Unless…

In an instant it came to him, and Roux could only grin widely with excitement. With renewed vigour, a fiery orange glow starts around him, a pair of burning wings forming on his back. Elevating just half a meter off the ground, he bursts forth in a fit of speed and fire, catching his sword before long, gripping it overhead by the ricasso.

“Hey, Sky! What’s the square root of 42?!” At that, he hurls his sword forth like a javelin, aiming straight for Sky’s thighs. Chasing after his sword, he traces Sky’s movements, aiming to dropkick him in the face when he dodges.

OOC:

Sky could only grin as it seemed both his opponents seemed focused on him mostly. He heard and saw the chain attack out of the side of his vision, and his grin split further as Roux used his Semblance in response. Sky wills twin sparks under his feet as he dodges, away from the oncoming chains and the sword, using a hand to stabilize his slide, then jumps, the force of his electricity pushing against the metal in his boots all of a sudden giving his feet force. He jumps so that Roux is inbetween him and the chained claymore and came in for a vicious one two strike to Roux's midsection, Wind in his left going across while Rain came in for a brutal chop, Even as he jumped into the fighter with his knee headed straight for the squishiest available target, hopefully causing roux to get hit by the claymore or at least the chain, even as Sky dashed backwards.

Ivory, not aware of her surroundings because of her spinning and the constant motion of her weapon, went on unaware of what was happening. The chain’s rattling and the sound of her blade slicing through the air was all she could hear. She couldn’t have known that her target had already out of the way and she was heading for a collision course towards someone else. She had done this spinning move before so she wouldn’t be hindered by its aftereffects that much, it was just going to make her dizzy for a bit. She tightened her grip on her chain as she gauged how far she was currently.

At her mental command the hands landed on the ground by their sides and prepared for her next plan. They put themselves into the form of paper from ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors’ and started to close in on whoever was left for her to hit.

OOC:

Bas Pushka pierced into the ground, fixing itself a good meter into the ground before stopping. A frustrating ‘tsk’ parted Roux’s tongue from the roof of his mouth as his freight train of a dropkick flew harmlessly past Sky, his wings vanishing almost simultaneously. At the least, even with fading velocity, he was still moving much too quickly for Sky’s counter-hits to catch up to him and, without wings, descended towards the ground, unintentionally sliding narrowly under the spinning Ivory, dragging on for a moment until finally rolling into a prone position. However, his time to recuperate was cut short, as Ivory made her next move, sweeping towards him. Looking towards his closed fists, a sense of sudden dread shot through his chest. Crap, paper beats Rock!

Activating his wings a second time, he soars up high, seeing his own sword stuck only a meter or three from Ivory, Roux plummeted down, using his wings to accelerate his descent, aiming to shoulder tackle Ivory into the ground if he hits or retrieve his sword if he misses.

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