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Match Start: June 6th, 2011 @ 9:00PM
Match End: July 5th, 2011 @ 9:00PM

Post Response Limit: 4 days
First Post: Drakus Flavaar

Stage Description:
The clouds on the planet Sylixzan are quite different than the ones on Earth. For starters, they hold as much weight from above as needed, and aren't very hard to break through on the sides, in spite of increased resistance. Secondly, the stage shifts constantly, creating new platforms for fighters to jump up on, altitude changes, and other interesting features. Up in the sky, the weather is rather cold, but bearable on this planet. One can see the sun and the moon from on top of the clouds, as well as an open atmosphere.

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May the strongest grass blade emerge tallest.

"Now, don't get me wrong ... I'm taking this seriously and all, but standing up here? Walking on clouds? I'm just waiting for the theme from 'The Snowman' to start playing in the background. Too bad I didn't bring my pyjamas, or we could turn this into a parody!"

Aeryn had appeared on the battlefield with only a momentary distortion of the air around him. His cloak shifted in the rush of displaced wind as he gained his bearings, tossing his hair and letting his eyes come to rest on Drakus. "It's almost a shame we're matched up!" he called, "You seem like a nice guy! I always feel bad when I beat up nice guys, and Elante tends to have a go at me."

The silvis drew his sword out from its sheathe without ceremony, holding it ready as he reached around and took hold of his shield. "I think considering the circumstances, he'll make an exception, though." Aeryn grinned. He glanced down for a moment, casually kicking at the cloud surface. "Seems like pretty solid stuff." he mused, "Weird how things work out here, but I try not to think too hard about it."

Raising his eyes to Drakus once again, Aeryn smirked, slipping seamlessly into a subtle ready stance, his muscles tensed. "Shall we do this, then, or am I gonna stand around monologuing all day?"

Aeryn raised an eyebrow at Drakus, before shrugging. "If you say so. Proper gentleman, aren't you? Elante'd like you." he said, grinning. The silvis re-sheathed his sword and lowered his shield, eyeing up Drakus' posture before stepping forwards. He closed the distance in a few steps, coming to a halt in front of Drakus and awkwardly extending his own left hand -- because trying to shake with opposite hands made you look quite stupid, Aeryn knew from experience.

The silvis took Drakus' hand with a smile, meeting the other's eyes. "Jolly good. Too bad Elante isn't here."

The only warning Drakus would get of the decidedly despicable attack that followed would be a momentary flash in Aeryn's eyes. From the silvis' grinning face shot two beams of silvery white energy, searing through the air and crossing the short distance in moments where they were aimed to shoot straight into Drakus' eyes. The heat of the energy was equal to that of a flamethrower, and would likely cause significant damage to the man's vulnerable eyeballs. Aeryn tightened his grip on Drakus' hand, so long as he had taken it in the first place, attempting to hold him in place for further damage. If this attack was successful, Aeryn was pretty confident that the battle would be a lot easier -- after all, a blind opponent wasn't likely to put up much of a fight!

It wasn't very nice, no. But then, Aeryn wasn't the most honourable of people. In the Silver Dimension, you killed or you got killed (and/or eaten, depending on who did the killing). The concept of gentlemanly duelling was an alien one to him. Elante would probably disapproving... but what he didn't know, didn't hurt him!

Regardless of the results of his attack, Aeryn would follow it up by moving to the side and backwards, attempting to pull Drakus forwards and offset his balance with the grip he already had on his hand.

"Sorry, buddy, I'm in it to win it. Not just to have good, honourable fun."

Aeryn's already planned backwards movement might not have been exercised in the manner he had intended, but it still turned out to be useful. Rather than tugging Drakus forwards, he instead managed to largely avoid the tackle that the man attempted. As Drakus' momentum likely carried him downwards anyway, Aeryn attempted to dart backwards, but found himself unable to get far -- his hand was stuck, and fuck, that was cold! "Don't fucking think so..." he growled. With a moment of focus, Aeryn's hand erupted with a burst of energy, that would shatter the ice and potentially send shards of it spearing into Drakus' own hand, as well as battering the extremity with force.

Trying to use Drakus' failed tackle to his advantage, Aeryn swung his booted foot out towards the man's face, aiming to deliver a solid kick to him before jumping backwards away from him, drawing his sword as he landed and dropping into a ready stance with both sword and shield raised. "Nice try, but I'll bet I'm better at fighting dirty than you are, mate." Aeryn said, winking cheerfully.

As Drakus' dagger speared towards his foot, Aeryn reacted in a manner that was less than disciplined (it was more of a panic than anything, resorting to raw force) but still effective. From his foot, this time, a sudden pulse of force shot outwards with a flash. Again, this pulse threatened to batter Drakus' arm where it contacted his foot, but most significantly it would most likely bat the dagger-wielding hand away. Aeryn retracted his foot and completed his escape backwards, smirking.

While Drakus remained on the floor, Aeryn intended to press his advantage. The silvis swept his leg around a second time, but this time a safe distance away from Drakus and his knives. A wave of white light shot out in an arc where his leg passed, cutting through the air swiftly to fly towards the fallen man, aimed to strike his face with force akin to having a cinderblock thrown at you. The results weren't likely to be pretty.

"Flattery will get you nowhere, not least when you're thrusting your dagger at me at the same time! I mean, really, save that for at least the third date." Aeryn said, laughing to himself. But there would be time for mockery later, right now he needed to focus on beating a man while he was down. Hm .. when he put it like that, it sounded sort of bad.

Aeryn narrowed his eyes at Drakus' words, licking his lips with distaste. "Right." he said, "You go ahead and think that." The silvis grinned, "I'm sort of a wanker, to be fair." he added. As he spoke, he was readying his next attack already, focusing his gaze on Drakus himself. Aeryn lifted his sword ready to strike, holding his shield defensively, and chuckled. Without warning, he moved, but not in the direction Drakus would likely be expecting. Instead, he turned tail and sprinted away.

But not far, or for long. As he ran, Aeryn spread his arms, and two beams of light shot out to meet in the air a short distance ahead of him, quickly shifting and twisting in the air until it formed a shape that was vaguely recognisable... as a springboard? Aeryn leapt into the energy, twisting in midair to slam into it forcefully backwards. The spring compressed, tilting downwards slightly as it pressed backwards. All of this happened in moments -- only two or three seconds passing between the start of his sprint and what was inevitably to come. The rebound.

It was with an exclamation along the lines of 'Woohoo!' that Aeryn was launched back towards Drakus like a cannonball, the spring pushing him backwards with all the force of his charge and more channelled from his own energy reserves. He shot towards Drakus, his sword ready and thrusting forwards, aimed straight for the man's stomach. His shield was lifted to cover his upper body and neck, and to deliver a nasty smack to Drakus' jaw if he impacted the man. Drakus would only have moments to react after Aeryn met the springboard for him to cross the short distance to where he stood.

And if Drakus was paying any attention to his hearing, he might just be able to make out Aeryn yell "Catch me, o' warrior!" as he flew.

Aeryn's reactions were fast, but there was a limited amount that you could feasibly do when you were rocketing through the air. However, thankfully the silvis was intelligent enough to realise that a ball of magic -- whether it was aimed for the floor or not -- couldn't exactly be a good thing to run into, particularly when you didn't have much control over the direction you were moving in. Seeing as he didn't know what the spell was going to do, Aeryn quickly resorted to a basic but universal defence. His entire body lit up as he covered himself in a hasty shield of energy, layering on top of the protection his amulet offered and reinforcing it.

When the ice exploded outwards, though, he wasn't going to get out unscathed. Thanks to the shielding, and the relatively brittle nature of ice as a substance, the ice suffered more than he did -- shattering as he plowed through it. The spikes did pierce his shielding in places, however, leaving several surface cuts on his arms, torso and legs. The ice also served to largely negate his momentum, stopping his charge and causing him to land on the far side of the spikes. He dropped into a roll to avoid falling, and by doing so avoided the dagger that sailed down from above him.

Rising without pause from his roll, Aeryn jumped to his feet and shot his shield arm upwards, aiming to grab hold of the thin chain attached to the blade before Drakus could do anything more with it and jerk it towards himself, either pulling Drakus forwards or pulling the weapon from his grip. In the same motion, Aeryn moved the rest of his body forwards to close the small gap between where he had rolled and where Drakus had backpedaled too, thrusting his sword upwards with unnatural ease and speed considering the size and length of the weapon, aiming to stab Drakus through the stomach from a low angle as he was pulled by the chain.

Aeryn had no intention of attempting to wield Drakus' dagger, and once the man had released it, he simply released it and let it fall. With a grunt of effort, Aeryn threw his shield hand forwards towards Drakus' foot, bringing the round buckler just barely into its path of descent. Ordinarily, the stomp would have clipped the shield and simply fallen slightly to the side of its mark, but Aeryn's shield wasn't 'ordinary'. Where Drakus' foot met the shield's surface, the force of his stomp would be reversed back at him, pushing his foot straight back in the direction it had come and potentially seriously unbalancing him just as the iced-over sword jabbed him forcefully in the stomach, which in turn could potentially knock him backwards.

Not about to let this momentary advantage go to waste, Aeryn took the chance to send a pulse of force shooting from his eyes to shatter the ice on his blade, the shards bouncing harmlessly off of his amulet's shield and potentially causing more unpleasant scratches on Drakus himself. Rather than attempting a strike, however, knowing that Drakus had almost certainly recovered enough to avoid what would be an obvious move, Aeryn instead feinted forwards. He swung his sword in a slash towards Drakus' neck as he gathered energy for his actual attack, but at the last moment pulled back seemingly effortlessly - Feather Edge's lightweight enchantment once more proving its usefulness - and released his actual attack.

A burst of fiery energy exploded outwards from Aeryn's chest, searing in a wide cone aimed to cover Drakus' upper torso and face with extreme heat that could easily severely burn him if it connected. Aeryn might not be a master tactician, but he had ample methods of attack to fall back on until one worked!

Sidestepping Drakus' kick by rotating on one foot, Aeryn swept his hand out and sent a beam of energy flying for his torso. Due to his downed state, it would likely be difficult for him to avoid what wasn't a damaging strike, but rather a construction similar to the springboard he had created earlier. If the energy hit Drakus, it would spread out to form a pinning bar of solid energy, meeting the floor and holding Drakus down firmly by the torso. While it was true what Drakus said - Aeryn tended to go all out - he still had more to give. It was easier to channel his own inherent energy than it was for a mage to cast a spell by utilising external sources. The silvis did make a mental note to at least try and conserve his energy from now on, though, which largely involved sticking to constructions like this. Extreme force and heat took more energy than shapes. Aeryn almost laughed at the fact that his opponent had given him a useful reminder.

All of this thought whirred through Aeryn's brain in an instant, however, as he moved for another attack. Keeping a careful eye on Drakus' hands (after all, he'd already pulled one dagger out of that cloak), Aeryn stepped away from the man's legs and made to thrust his longsword down at his chest. The length of the weapon and its lightness meant that Aeryn could cause serious damage without having to fully commit to hunching over Drakus, giving him more room to avoid a counterattack.

"Spells? What, do I look like a mana muncher to you? This is allll me, baby, no magic involved." Aeryn grinned, "You talk pretty big for a man laying down on the job, don'tcha?"

It wouldn't be his reflexes or his powers that saved Aeryn this time -- but rather the little amulet he wore around his neck. The passive magical shield that it provided was weak, capable of deflecting at most a glancing sword blow. Thankfully for Aeryn, this dagger attack was just that -- glancing. The blade grazed his hand indeed, even though he tried to adjust his strike to aim further downwards to avoid it, but the shield provided by Heart's Promise meant that the blade never touched his flesh. It had slightly upset Aeryn's aim, however, and now his sword would be aimed at Drakus' midsection rather than his chest and heart.

The man's movement upwards further skewed the aim of the attack, but the speed of the blow meant that it wasn't by much. The sword would meet Drakus low in his stomach, the sharp blade most likely piercing through all the layers of clothing the man wore and causing some serious damage. His actions might have saved him a fatal wound, but this would still be grievous. Aeryn continued to put force behind the strike, aiming to run Drakus through completely. As he did so, he swung his shield forwards, bringing the bladed edge forcefully towards Drakus' face with the intention of breaking at the very least, his nose, if not doing more severe damage.

The silvis' face had lost its grin and set in a determined grimace -- despite his taunting, he didn't enjoy sticking his sword through someone who hadn't done anything worse than been on the wrong tournament roster at the wrong time, but he was reassured that there was some method of reversing the damage back at the lobby. That was the only way he'd convinced Elante to let him enter, after all.