The Arena: A clearing in a thick pine-forest, the ground is soft from the recent rain, and a large fallen tree trunk bisects the clearing.

The rain pattered down around Adrienne as she entered the clearing from the west, shrugging off her long coat and satchel, eyes scanning the ground in front of her. Not ideal conditions for a training session, the ground was too soft, any rapid movement would send her skidding. She took a deep breath and drew her sabre, letting the dull sunlight reflect off the blade, the rain-water falling into the runes etched into the steel, causing the whole sword to shiver, as if it were alive.

With soft steps, Adrienne slipped across the clearing and up onto the tree trunk, flicking the sword around her body in a loose figure of eight. It had been a while since she'd been in a protracted duel, she'd spent too long with her nose in a book. This would be a learning expirience for both her and Kynne.

Snapping back to reality, the demon hunter braced her feet against the trunk, bringing her sword into the classic en-guarde position. From here, she could either attack or block with very little effort.

OOC: Lets see if I can do better this time. I'll start us off with the opening attack. :/

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Kynn walked into the clearing from the opposite east end of the field. He was dressed in his Excel swordsman gear with the single right hand glove, and the tan military suit. He looked around a bit until he saw Adrienne standing on top of the tree trunk. He smiled and nodded his head to her in greeting. This was a practice session for him to perfect his skills, he was looking forward to it.
He had his two swords with him, the Fantasia whisper and the Silent serenade.
He contemplated which one he wanted to use, and decide to go with the saber to match Adrienne's sabre. He kept Fantasia in his scabbard as he prepared to draw the Serenade with his right hand out of the left thigh scabbard. He slowly walked over to her to get within talking range.

"Ready? I'll start us off." Kynn ran forward to attack her, left hand gripping the Serenade's scabbard to hold it in place. Instead of jumping on the trunk after her, he decided to play things safe and keep a bit of distance. He abruptly stopped running, using the wet ground to slide forward into position. His right leg forward to help stop his momentum, left leg back and slightly bent to keep his balance and to allow him to make a quick step back if he needed to. He drew his saber with his right hand and slashed at her left leg, swinging upwards towards her right shoulder in a single handed Iaido style slash. The effects of getting hit by it were quite obvious. As soon as his right arm was extended from the slash, he moved his left hand from his scabbard and up to the bottom of the sword's hilt to prepare to change stances for his next attack.

Adrienne smiled at the rather dynamic approach, the smirk concealing the laugh she would have let loose in any other situation. Despite this bold claim, this man was clearly an amateur. The dramatic runs and slides were the work of a child. All the expirienced swordmen Adrienne had encountered in her life had been like predatory felines. Lazy and laconic, but incredibly skilled and deadly when part of the hunt. This man was like an otter cub, undeniably powerful, but reckless.

The sabre strike aimed at her leg and shoulder had been designed for a katana. A completely different weapon and way of striking. The sharpness of the Katana made the laido a one hit kill. The sabre, however well balanced was a fencing weapon, designed for a protracted battle of stabs and slashes. Adrienne swept her left leg back, clearing it out of the strike's arc, beating the strike away with a firm arm. The affect of this would be two-fold. Firstly, the strike would be deflected from lacerating her shoulder. Second, it would halt all momentum of the arm, leaving him stranded and over extended.

With a brief grunt, Adrienne lashed forward, extending her empty left hand to try and grasp his sword arm. Due to the elevation of the hulking tree-trunk, Kynne would be over-extended and off balance. The beat would add to this, allowing her a fair chance of commanding his sword arm. Providing the grab was successful, she would yank the sword past her, and lunge over the top his guard, sword slashing for his unprotected throat.

If she missed the arm, Adrienne would strike for the sword arm and shoulder, in the hope of using the Sabre's curved tip to open up the muscle on the upper arm, rendering the arm useless.

kynn favored rapiers and sabers for their light weight and quick strikes, which was why he started with the Iaido slash. His sword was not a heavy weapon to do massive damage, but for quick slashes and thrusts. You could bring the weapon out for a fast slash and back in without the weapon dragging your arm around. As she attempted to sweep his sword away to extend his sword arm, he simply let it happen. The tip of his blade being swatted away from hitting her. He had aimed for her foot, not her shoulder. When returning from a Iaido slash to place the blade back in the scabbard, the attacker would often times spin the blade around using their wrist and fingers to reposition the blade. And that was exactly what he did. He turned the weapon downwards in a half circle so that its blade was aimed backwards facing his forearm, making her outstretched fingers miss the blade as she tried to grab it.

His left arm came across his chest near his right shoulder to keep his balance so that he wouldn't fall over. He had moved his right leg forward earlier in case she tried sweeping his arm away like she did. As it happen, he simply slid his right foot through the mud and to the right side slightly to compensate the new change. He leaned his weight forward and twisted to the right a bit for when she hit his sword, so that he moved down and to the side with the weapon instead of trying to keep it in place. It helped so that his arm wasn't hyperextended from the blow because he was purposely moving his arm around as she was swatting his blade away, and was following the motion.

He noticed her preparing for her attack, but he thought it best to throw her off balance to misguide her attack instead of blocking or deflecting it. As his sword arm was still moving away from when she swatted his sword, he twirled the blade a second time so that the point was now facing her again. He bent his right elbow and his right knee at the same time, bringing his sword arm back and down to his right side, pulling it away from her grasp and tucking it in close to his side. He had bent his left leg earlier to prepare his attack. He was now slightly crouched. He kept his right foot planted on the ground. He would then push off with his left leg, taking a step forward. His left arm that was once reaching to his right shoulder would then move forward and outward in a slashing motion to his left to meet the outside of her wrist, palm open and thumb facing the ground. If she didn't move her hand that was once lunging for Kynn's sword then he would slap her arm to the side, moving her arm to his left side and downward. This move would give him a bit of time to reset his right arm and twist his body forward once more, so that he could extend his sword arm forward in a thrust aimed at her left exposed rib. If she did move her hand away from his own, then he would still try to go for the trust and go for a semicircular parry to deflect her blade.

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OOC: Does my post make sense? Seeing the move makes it look simple, explaining it is complicated. The move is simply a half-clockwise slash upwards from 7:00 around to 1:00. Spinning the blade twice while bringing it around and back down to your side at 6:00, and taking a step forward to do a basic thrust forward to 12:00. I think what his left hand did was easy to understand.
X_____X

As the complex dance of blades began, Adrienne smiled. She had made the right choice of taking the high-ground on the tree trunk. Although it should serve to extend his strikes, and against an opponent wielding a heavy broadsword or claymore, she would have a distinct advantage, but against rapiers and sabres, she'd be badly positioned to block most strikes, and be left at a disadvantage when it came to manouvering around and placing her feet.

Kynne's fancy bladework and footwork would count for nothing as she lurched backwards, dropping from the tree-trunk with a small lead, bracing against the limited traction in the mud below. She had woefully underestimated him. He had clearly been expecting the beat, and he had countered it accordingly. She landed facing him, eye to eye, the sword that had been aimed at her ribs was now at the level of her throat, with about a foot of distance between the tip and her neck.

Assuming he had not expected her to drop back, she would take advantage of the extended sword arm, and quickly dart out her blade point, aiming to slash all the way down his outstretched arm, opening up a wide gash, causing loss of function in the arm, along with severe blood loss. Even if the strike was unsuccessful, she would bring the blade back into a guard position, stepping out from the trunk, to prepare for his next attack.

The attack aimed at her foot was meant to make her jump back in the first place, but things didn't go as planned and had become very complicated. He was finally successful though. Now for stage two. Kynn didn't bother sticking to traditional attacks, when you were in the heat of war, one didn't go for one style, you used whatever could dispatch the enemy quickly so that you could move on to the next one. If they didn't die, the saber's double edge blade would whip around, most likely causing small lacerations to the target and eventually leading to a 'Death by a thousand cuts'. Many people underestimated him because when they saw him with two fencing weapons, they assumed him to be a fencer. The change of styles normally threw his opponent off guard, and by the time they caught on they would normally be dead. That wasn't the case this time though.

A big smile spread across his face. "Finally. I got you off of that dreaded tree trunk!" He quickly took two steps back and away from her before she could attack his arm. He then drew the Fantasia Whisper from his scabbard on his right side with his left hand. The weapon didn't need a scabbard, it was so thin he could have just stuffed it into his sword belt, but he found that a second scabbard could be used as a weapon in itself, and had one made for the golden rapier in case he dropped both of his trusted swords. He slowly walked all the way around the tree trunk to his left until he was on the west side to join Adrienne, so that if she was still looking at him, the tree trunk would be on her left side and on his right.

He twirled the Silent Serenade around once more in his hands, and placed the blade back in its scabbard. He then proceeded to exchange the rapier from his left hand to his right. He walked over to her so that they were both in lunging distance. He wouldn't be able to do fancy Japanese sword work with this blade because the hand guard hooked around to protect his fingers so that he wouldn't easily drop the blade if he were attacked, making it very difficult to twirl or spin the weapon around with his fingers. Fantasia was made purely for thrusts and lunges, so that was what he would do.

"Now that we are both on even ground, things should be a lot more fun. Let us continue-" He changed stances, left hand up and back near his head, sword hand facing Adrienne with both knees slightly bent. He had his left leg back, moving his right leg forward. The basic stance was best known as- "En garde!"

Adrienne grinned broadly, dropping into a predatory low crouch, her eyes flashing. The "en-guarde" stance was all well and good when both combatants had similar weapons. However here, the playing field was far from level. Her sabre was broad and heavy, built for hacking and slashing, leaving deep, yawning wounds. Kynne's rapier was almost the antithesis of this. A slight, nimble weapon built to make precise stabs at the vital organs. This would appear to be a problem, as Adrienne's heavier blade would be easier to manouver around, but one clean hit on the slender blade, and the sabre would snap it in two.

a wolf-like hunger in her eyes, Adrienne began to circle away from the tree trunk, twirling her sword in a fluid figure of eight, the blade flashing in the still air. She would stop when the was directly behind her and Kynne. Stopping, she bent at the knee and reached out, grabbing something from the ground and curling into her left hand. She adopted a less formal "en-guarde" position, with her sword arm forward, left arm a little lower, knees bent.

As the stillness passed around the two combatants, Adrienne sprang into motion. She swept her sword arm back, hammering the blade down towards Kynne's shoulder, angling the blade so any rapier thrust at her chest would be dashed aside by the heavier blade. As the blade swept down, Adrienne stepped forward, so that there was only around two feet of distance between them. With a swift motion, her left hand darted forward, casting a handful of soil and mud at Kynne's eyes, in an attempt to blind him and halt any counter attack.

Should the mud disorient him sufficiently, Adrienne would grasp for the katana on his belt, in an attempt to yank the keen blade from its sheath, pushing it into his gut as she drew it, hoping to spill his guts out onto the ground. If the mud was not successful, she would dart backwards, blade held centrally to cover any riposte from her first strike.

As Adrienne circled around, Kynn followed, making sure not to corner himself by placing his own back to the tree trunk. His goal was to keep enough room to sidestep either left or right in case she tried trapping him. He could jump backwards on to the trunk, but that might make him slip and fall. He had taken the basic en garde stance earlier for a reason. He could have attacked her, but he was planning on dodging in the first place. As she sprang forward, slashing her sword down for his shoulder, he moved his right foot backwards in an angle to take a step back from her initial slash, and then pushed off with his left foot to hop back to keep his distance. The mud was slippery and he almost lost his balance, but he kept his ground. However, he hadn't expected the cheap shot with the mud. It completely threw him off guard. The mud slapped him in the face, some of it running into his mouth and covering his right eye. He flinched and quickly closed the eye so that it wouldn't run inside. He spat the watered dirt out of his mouth.

He continued his retreat in a angle away from the tree trunk, taking slight hopping steps backwards to keep her from attacking him while he was blinded (or in this case from grabbing his sword). He used his left arm sleeve to wipe the mud out of his eye. "Well, that was different..." He sniffed with a scowl as he did a quick figure eight with his blade to readjust himself. He then took several quick steps forward to cover the distance between them, keeping the En garde stance, and whipped the sword towards her right shoulder and moving it to her left. If she didn't move, the thin blade would literally whip her as the blade came in contact with her skin and then cut as the point of the rapier passed through. He followed the motion around by bringing the blade back to his side, and then thrusting forward. As soon as the blade point was out, he used his right foot to take a lunging step forward, point aimed at her right shoulder. His left leg was now stretched out slightly, but if he needed to he could simply push off with his right foot again for a retreat backwards. The thin blade whistled in the air as the fluent motions of his golden rapier whipped towards her.

Bastard should have gone for the heart, Adrienne thought as the blade embedded itself in her shoulder. Due to the slim cross-section of the blade, the wound would bleed very little, and as the strike had hit her shoulder, there would be no vital damage. Unfortunatly for Kynne, the shoulder held a great deal of cartilidge and bone, which would trap the point long enough for Adrienne to execute her next move.

She had learned to exploit the flexibility of the rapier in dueling, as the slim blade was rather fragile. Putting all her weight on her back foot, she charged forward, pushing against the resistance provided by his sword arm. Even if he retreated from the lunge, he would not be able to withdraw the blade, as she was moving too fast, combined with the suction created by the small puncture wound. The result of this rapid charge would be to bend the whippy blade of the rapier, eventually snapping it like a twig.

As she closed on him, she slashed her blade across his guts, utilizing the distance, and his limited room for manouver to make the attack.

Kynn ground his teeth as he prepared for his very dangerous tactic. He could let the weapon go to try and flee, but with the limited room he may still get cut. Besides, if he let go she would then have his sword. Either way he was going to get cut. He decided to try something else instead. The entire thing caught him off guard, he didn't think his attack was actually going to land. He had predicted wrongly that she would parry his blow. And to make things worse, more mud was now running into his mouth and down his face. Instead of retreating or pulling the weapon free, Kynn dug it in deeper by sliding his left foot forward a bit, and then pushing off; forcing her backwards.
His right foot now moving forward and locking in close to her own feet.

While she was bringing her sword up, Kynn didn't let go of his own sword, he instead twisted his wrist and bent his elbow down, the blade bending up in a slight arc and forcing the tip to cut into bone as it tried flicking itself free from the wound. The weapon however held fast and stayed in place as he forced it in deeper. The runes on the blade were now straining a bright orange as the weapon was forced to bend back close to breaking point. As his leg was lunging forward, he let his fingers slip free from the hilt, ramming his sword arm's shoulder into her body to try and knock her off her feet, hoping to halt the attack of bringing her slashing blade into his gut. If done successfully, her blade would cut into his side, but stop any further momentum from cutting too deep. Sadly it was all he could do with the weapon stuck in bone. If her attack were successfully stopped, he would wrap his arm around her sword arm to keep her locked in place, face to face. The two would then end up being locked in a very awkward grapple...

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OOC: This is about to turn into a very deadly sparing match...
X___________X

As his fingers left the grip of the blade, Adrienne would dart away, drawing her sword up from his side, the flourish of her arm pressing the curved tip of the blade from his side up to his shoulder. If he did not pull away, a long gash would be opened up from his hip to his shoulder. This spring was almost timed perfectly with his shoulder charge, causing him to stumble, and possibly making him more vulnerable to the slash across his body.

The jump backwards would put a meter or so between the combatants, giving Adrienne some breathing room. Dropping her sabre into a low guard position, she grimaced as she pulled the rapier free, yelping like a small animal as the tip finally came free from the bone. It was at this point, while she weighed the beautiful weapon in her hand, that she made an executive decision. WIth a flick of her sword arm, she buried the sabre point down in the mud, switching the bloodied rapier into her sword arm. Kynne had missed a beautiful oppertunity to take her throat or heart, and he had lost his weapon.

Adrienne backed away further, dropping into the en guarde position, trying to push the pain to the back of her mind, testing the balance of the rapier with a few quick jabs and flicks. Most modern sword fighters started with fencing, and Adrienne was as acomplished with the rapier as she was with the sabre.

She was quite the slippery one. She escaped his grapple and had jumped away from him, taking the sword along with her. As the sword came up to meet his side, he tried to dodge away from the blade, but because of their close proximity, it still cut deep. It hurt, but it wasn't fatal. His dodge kept the blade from slicing up to his shoulder. He slid back a bit from the mud and watched as she armed herself with his own weapon. His eyes drooped low as he squinted his eyes. What he didn't want to happen still happened. At least she had a deep puncture wound in her shoulder. He wondered how bad her wound was after having the sharp rapier dig in so deep?

He put a hand to his side, only to see it stained with red as he pulled it away. He grimaced from the pain. He used his right hand to grip his saber's hilt, sliding his hand up to the cross guard as close as he could possibly get it. He then used his thumb to push the blade free from the scabbard so that he could draw the slender double edged blade. He decided to play on this new change of weapons. She would now pretty much be trapped. He dashed forward as fast as he could, trying his best to ignore the gash in his side.

He used a feint attack, another Iaido slash exactly like the last one he did, going from her left up to her right shoulder. But the attack wasn't an attack at all, it was used to simply draw her attention. The blade came no where near being close to striking her. As the blade came upwards at the top of its slash, he quickly jumped forward in the air, pushing off with both feet. He followed the motion of the slash by swinging the sword up over his head, grabbing the short hilt with his left hand down near the pummel end of the grip, and then brought the blade straight down in a devastating two handed strike. The blade was not thick enough, nor strong enough to actually slice her down the middle, but it was strong enough to force his own rapier to bend back to the point of his attack still slicing her head if she tried using it to block. Because of the small one meter gap, he figured his unexpected strike would be most effective within their close range.

Adrienne's fencing instinct kicked in as he reached for his katana, trying to keep back the grimace brought on by the pain. Rather than watching his sword arm, as a less expirienced fighter would, he watched his torso, gauging from the way that he transfered his weight for the dash, that his attack would come largely from the front.

Thankfully, the puncture wound in her shoulder was not bleeding that much, however, it did hurt like hell, the throbbing pain radiating down her arm. Adrienne had no idea how long she could last before the function in her arm was reduced. Unfortunatly for Kynne, he had made an elementary mistake. You would think that he would know the strengths of the rapier. Namely, the swiftness of the blade.

As he charged forward, Adrienne took a single step back, transferring her weight onto her back foot. As he leapt into the air, she pushed forward off this foot, driving her now extended sword arm forward with massive speed and power. The fact that he was airbourne, and moving towards her aided the rapier point as it plunged towards him.

Kynne would be airbourne, raising his sword to brutally cut down as her high lunge reached the point where his heart would be. Unless he had some unexplicable trick up his sleave, his momentum would carry him onto the sword point, which would slide neatly between his ribs, puncturing his heart and killing him.

OOC: I could counter this move, but because of laziness I shall play along. I have gathered enough research to continue writing. Because of the few battles I have conducted, it has given me a bit more insight to add more detail on to my characters and their equipment. Before I post though, I would like to point out that the reason I did not bend and break his sword, was because the runes on it makes the weapon to be unbreakable (check bio), and therefore he had no choice but to let the weapon go, or plunge it deeper. Otherwise he would have broken the tip of the sword and used the sharpened half to stab her in the gut or heart like a normal rapier.
Thanks for the fight. :)

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Kynn landed on the sharp tip of the blade as he came down from his jump. His own momentum carried him down and plunged the golden sword deeper into his heart. The average rapier would have bent or broken from his weight, but the enchanted Fantasia stayed rigid as he sunk deeper. He let the silver saber fall from his fingers, and then slowly slumped to his side to fall face first into the muddy waters...