ERIDANI (Sci-Fi/Fantasy MMO Roleplay) IC THREAD

[Aona]

Apsis nodded dully at Azure, grunting something along the lines of "Nice to meet you." Halfway through this action, he found himself distracted by the sudden dramatic music blasting from the television screens. Two newscasters, their faces both smiling brightly, stared back at each fighter. To Apsis, the grins looked almost predatory.

"Good evening, Ladies and Gentlemen! Welcome to Io Combat Sports Network's LIVE coverage of the annual Arena Combine Invitational!" The newscasters introduced themselves and shuffled around small tablets, as the waiting room fell silent.

"As always, this Combine is broadcasted live, and unaltered. Promising fighters across Io have flocked to the inner workings of the Central Arena, in order to truly test their meddle for a chance at glory." The newscaster continued. "Combatants will compete in a series of athletic trials in an attempt to impress and intrigue guilds and their leaders." The screen suddenly cut to a waiting room similar to Apsis's. The arrangement of the sofas in rows made it seem more like a luxurious classroom than a lounge. Each sofa was packed, save for the very front, which only hosted four people.

"..And we can see here the leaders they will be competing for! We have over 25 guilds here in attendance, today, but of course, the the four royals are on everyone's watchlists.."

"That's right, Nova, each of the top four guilds' leaders are here with us today. Saja's Kingkiller.." A relaxed-looking young man in black punk attire winked and made an "okay" gesture with his right hand, as he cocked his head forward in a smug greeting.

"Vilharskare's Lionheart..." A man with red hair and slightly hawkish eyes smiled warmly, nodding towards the camera. A massive tower shield sat beside him.

"Jupiter's Ramhead..." A woman, the sides of her thick hair shaved and a tattoo sprawling across her stern face, sat quietly. She caught the eye of the camera, scoffed, and opened her inventory.

"...and finally, the leader of Hoseki, Majesty! He's currently the top rated player in all of Io, and is often considered to be the endgame for many competitors tonight." Majesty sat calmly, his white hair perfectly coiffed. He raised a gloved hand to wave and smiled invitingly, but his eyes hid a deep coldness to Apsis. He didn't trust the guy, but trust didn't matter.

The screen returned to the announcers, with a graphic of an arena. "Now, let's break down for the audience at home what this Combine will be. Players will be called in pairs, and will emerge onto the arena floor. Each player is given an assistant, who will only follow their commands. The two players will then battle against one another following street duel rules, not arena. This can often mean that the matches end after barely any blows have been exchanged, Nova."

That man named Nova spoke next. "Indeed. After all players have fought, each opponent will be privately graded by each guild, who will then discuss amongst themselves and begin their private draft. Tomorrow, we'll be here bright and early to report the results, but we'll be bradcasting each and every fight to you, live, right now." Nova smiled, and the screen cut out with static. A red screen, cold and uninviting, was brought up. The Io Arena watermark was in the background.In bold letters, the screen read:

NEXT COMBATANTS:
[Porphyrogenitus] VS [Echo]


TIME UNTIL BROADCAST: -00:00:30

Apsis stared at the screen, as the 30 seconds began to count down. "Damn," he muttered. "Must be randomly determined. Bad luck, I guess. Good luck out there....friend." He nodded, offering a hard smile of reassurance. Thirty seconds, and then those doors open. Just enough time to get nervous. Damn those recruiters.

[Ormata]

Dinemis Zaremuk
Official Arena Combine - East Lounge

NEXT COMBATANTS:
[Porphyrogenitus] VS [Echo]

TIME UNTIL BROADCAST: -00:00:30

Din listened to the announcement, watched the view and saw the people. Jupiter was high-holding, with a cold demeanor. Saja was a mess, as always. Vilharskare was less of a mess, strangely enough. Hoseki was cold. The announcement came, of who was going first, and she raised her eyebrows at this. Max going first, what a surprise. Din hoped that Echo wasn’t female. If she, he, it was, then so, so many things would happen.

Smiling, she nodded to him, giving Max a thumbs-up. “Good luck, mate. Don’t die.” Looking at the clock again, she cocked her head. “And you also have thirty seconds. Better run.”

[The Valyria Empire]

---

KILL-A, Koji Higashikata

---

K.A smiled when the announcements came on. At last, the show has finally begun. Now I can begin my studying. K.A thought as he adjusted his tie and stood up. He looked over to the next contestants, he then walked over to the girl that had been chosen. His smile expanded across his face, and his left eyebrow rose. He stood next to her and looked down at her. He placed his hand on her shoulder, then spoke. "Good luck, make your family proud." K.A spoke softly then removed his hand and walked past her to a seat that had opened with the moving of the people wanting to look at the screens.

K.A sat down, and pulled up his UI. He then began to examine his puppet, Q. The puppet was his only defense, while his explosive magic was his only offense. K.A started to think how he could combine his puppet with his magic. He pulled out a notepad and began to write down all the different ideas that came to his mind. All the while, the timer began to tick down.

[The Inritus Extraho]

Azure looked at the pair he had been introducing himself to, after the announcement finished. A nod and half a smile to Echo, and a quiet "Best of luck" was all he offered for the upcoming fight.

He turned to Apsis, offering a hand to shake. "Since she'll be off to a fight - hopefully to win! - why not strike up a conversation, eh? I'm Azure, and focus on ranged magic. What about you?"

[WaRtArIa]

Blake Sanderson

Blake nodded in acknowledgement at Mikhael’s statement. Well, at least that person apologized. The conversation was getting personal on her part, and he barely even said anything about himself. It was rude, in a way. “It can be lonely at times, but I have my neighbors and my cat with me, so it is not so bad. I guess the company of aristocracy can just tire me out, you know? Anyways, I suppose this was a nice conversation. You’re pleasant to talk to.”

Glancing at the television screen, Blake was pleased to learn that the show finally started. It was about time. She needed to study and plan carefully for this event. After all, it was the one thing she had been looking forward to her entire life. “Well, I hope to see you on the arena soon, Mikhael. I’m sure things would go quite... interestingly. Until I get called up, I will simply plan and study in the meantime. Events such as this are extremely important to me, and I don’t want to fluke this at all. Oh, and by the way... I’m a multiclassing CLO.com and a LA.com user. Very useful, I may say.”

Being a close-combat user, Blake relied mainly on her scythe, which was supposed to be hidden away in her inventory. There were many different people here, and thus there could be many different classers with many different fighting styles facing her in combat. However, in the meantime, Blake can observe the people around her and attempt to discern how to combat them.

The nearby green-haired man with the strange puppet seemed like one of the likely candidates for her battles. Being a puppet-user, he was likely to rely mainly on his puppets and puppetry skills, while his physical technique would be rather weak. Blake had an advantage over him; after all, she specialized in physical technique, and her magical prowess was decent enough in cases of emergency. It was likely that he would make his puppets try to disarm her; thus Blake will use quick strides, disable him, and watch her weapons carefully. Puppets were rather weak. Likely, Blake could easily destroy it, and the rest is practically history. In the case in which the green-haired man attempts to use her as a marionette, she will keep her mental defences up, and will electrocute him as a last resort if he tries anything.

Next to Blake, there was her friend Mikhael. Mikhael, apparently not thinking straight, had revealed to her that he was a magic lancer. Magic lancers are the type that tend to spam magic missiles at a long distance, avoiding close combat. Luckily for Blake, she can easily initiate close combat, and also being a magic user, she knows their tricks. In fact, she knows their tricks very, very well.

And as for the illusionist entertainer who had changed the room design, Blake could assume that she didn’t know very much about that type. All she knew was that they tended to hide. To confuse. To ruin the order. Blake knew that was a bad match-up for her. One thing is for certain; an enemy that she does not know is the most dangerous enemy. This is going to be aimed towards most of the people in this room, sadly enough.

[Aona]

Azure looked at the pair he had been introducing himself to, after the announcement finished. A nod and half a smile to Echo, and a quiet "Best of luck" was all he offered for the upcoming fight.

He turned to Apsis, offering a hand to shake. "Since she'll be off to a fight - hopefully to win! - why not strike up a conversation, eh? I'm Azure, and focus on ranged magic. What about you?"

Apsis glanced at the extended hand questioningly, as if he wasn't sure what it was. Reaching out to shake it, he offered a loose smile. It seemed like smiling was hard for the fighter to do.

"Sounds good to me. Apsis, as you, uh, heard. I specialize in close combat. Scythework." He moved his hand in a slight shopping motion, as if to accentuate his specialty. "What's your specialty, spell-wise? I...consdered going down the path of magic. Never really figured I had the patience, hah." He half-snickered and shrugged sheepishly.

[Sindrya]

Awaken.

A young, blond-haired man snapped open his eyelids. His vision was slowly adjusting, changing from blurry to clear. He felt like he was sleeping for a long time. However, now that his memories rushed back to him, he remembered that he actually fell asleep for a while after walking around Io looking for the Arena, and found himself sitting on the East Lounge of the Official Arena Combine. There was a reason to why someone like him, an Alchemist, decided to pay the famous Arena of the City of Io a visit. He wanted to see and meet fellow Alchemists who had the same ideals like him, and like the old man who he inherited those ideals from. The Arena somehow sounded like a solid place for that to him, however, he had to make his way through a number of players by competing against them. So be it. He had been toying with the idea of testing his new mix of Lust and Poisonous Potions anyway.

Speaking of potions..

The Alchemist opened his UI. It was a customized UI.

Interactions | Inventory | Abilities | Gyro

He tapped at his name. Another screen popped open, now displaying his full appearance and stats. Below the blond-haired model of his, the words "Level 1" appeared. Hm. Gyro huffed. They really want us to fight for that, huh?

Closing the screen, he returned to his UI, before deciding he should go and check on his things, just in case. Yet another screen popped up, showing a list of the items he brought with him.

Health Recovery Potion: x10
Mana Recovery Potion: x5
Poisonous Potion: x10
Lust Potion: x5
Bubbling Emulsion: x5
Vaporizing Emulsion: x5

Yeah, looks good enough to me. He mentally nodded. Closing the screen before someone peeked over his shoulders and caught his preparations, he looked around, before his eyes set on the big main screen used for the Arena's broadcasting functions.

NEXT COMBATANTS:
[Porphyrogenitus] VS [Echo]


TIME UNTIL BROADCAST: -00:00:30

Gyro grinned.

"Nyoho~" Looks like I managed to be awake just as the show was about to get started. "Ho~!"

In his seat, Gyro kicked back and relaxed, waiting for whatever kind of fight this one will be.

[Zyvalia]

The red clock seemed more like a doomsday countdown than an arena broadcast. The people he saw on screen, aside from the commentators, didn't seem the friendliest sorts, aside from a select few. Star didn't care regardless - he didn't care about celebrities, even if they were the best of the best at fighting. The day would likely come where he could face them, but that day wasn't today.

"Max, you're up?" He asked, knowing the answer with a surprised expression. "Good luck out there, friend. Come back in one piece - I need to have a go at you too." Star teased with a strong pat on Max's back, encouraging him.

[The Inritus Extraho]

Azure looked at the pair he had been introducing himself to, after the announcement finished. A nod and half a smile to Echo, and a quiet "Best of luck" was all he offered for the upcoming fight.

He turned to Apsis, offering a hand to shake. "Since she'll be off to a fight - hopefully to win! - why not strike up a conversation, eh? I'm Azure, and focus on ranged magic. What about you?"

Apsis glanced at the extended hand questioningly, as if he wasn't sure what it was. Reaching out to shake it, he offered a loose smile. It seemed like smiling was hard for the fighter to do.

"Sounds good to me. Apsis, as you, uh, heard. I specialize in close combat. Scythework." He moved his hand in a slight shopping motion, as if to accentuate his specialty. "What's your specialty, spell-wise? I...consdered going down the path of magic. Never really figured I had the patience, hah." He half-snickered and shrugged sheepishly.

Azure shook Apsis's hand emphatically, before shrugging. "A bit of everything, but mainly summoning and illusions. Building up walls around people, turning the ground under them into traps, you know. Never know what's going to come in handy, after all."

"Have any hobbies outside of, well," Azure gestured to everything currently going on, "this? I've been cooped up learning magic, but I'd assume you have other things you enjoy?"

[Achidyemay]

Serena Rose Michelle
"Well, speakin' of the devil." She mumbled to herself as the combine started.

Dinemis Zaremuk
Official Arena Combine - East Lounge

NEXT COMBATANTS:
[Porphyrogenitus] VS [Echo]

TIME UNTIL BROADCAST: -00:00:30

Din listened to the announcement, watched the view and saw the people. The announcement came, of who was going first, and she raised her eyebrows at this.
Smiling, she nodded to him, giving Max a thumbs-up. “Good luck, mate. Don’t die.” Looking at the clock again, she cocked her head. “And you also have thirty seconds. Better run.”

Serena glanced around as the newscasters came on, noticing her butterflies evaporating as they began they commanded the room. How ominous.
As the camera panned over the audience she noticed Robert sitting in the middle left. Then they reached the camera reached the royals and a thought slipped into her mind. It was the doubt she had faced before. A month after she had announced to Robert that she was leaving the Sushila Chi, she had come back, realizing how hard it would be to start from nothing, realizing how hard it was to bring glory to just herself. So she rejoined and found herself a high-ranking member again in no time, but looking at the royals she couldn't shake the feeling that if she could capture their attention then maybe she would be better off with them.
Din pulled her back from her thoughts.
"Haha, yeah," she affected a smile, "and remember that you're fighting." She spoke slowly, "Fi-ght-ing, so punch 'em." She laughed, giving him a brief half-hug.
"Do me proud out there, you horn-ball."

[Vesperis]

Echo was caught up in watching the broadcast as it started. The entire room was also paying attention of course, along with most of the city, but she especially focused on it. There was a bit of anxiety welling up in her as they commenced the events. Hopefully she would have some time to just relax and watch a couple of matches before her own. Though she had familiarized herself with what information she had of the combatants before, it wouldn't kill her to see what she was up against. But that red screen scared her with how suddenly it came up, and how in bold letters it spelled out her name as one of the first combatants. She felt a jolt of surprise as the timer started ticking down.

With a curt nod she left the group of Azure and Apsis. "Thanks, friend." She responded to Apsis. The timer ran out and a pair of featureless double doors opened up. They had been informed before that only ones allowed past that point were competitors. And indeed as soon as she passed through the doorframe a translucent shimmer of blue seemed to break open just for her, closing itself after she passed through. It scanned herr ID and inventory without her having to do anything, allowing her through as it confirmed that she was in fact Echo and didn't have any items illegal for the match in possession.

She continued down a featureless white hallway that split in to two. One had her name on a screen clearly above the doorway, so she followed it. At the end there was a small waiting room with a single doorway leading to the arena. The noise of the crowd was already apparent. They wanted their match. A voice came on in the room as a countdown slowly ticked down above the doorway.

[I]"Match will begin in exactly 2 minutes 45 seconds. All item and ability use is suspended until the sound of the bell. Please be inside the arena before the bell, failure to do so will forfeit the match. Any melee attack before the bell will count as a foul and will reduce total health points. First to zero hitpoints loses. Announcing a forfeit will forfeit the match. Good luck and please procede in to the arena.

The doorway lightened as the veil preventing her from moving disappeared. She took a deep breath and walked out through the small tunnel out in to the arena. The crowd steadily drew louder and louder as she emerged, becoming a thunderous roar.

The arena looked very different from the field than it did from the cameras. The field was massive, already set up with large platforms in odd mismatched geometric shapes. Some were floating in mid air, others piled up against the side of the 15 feet tall arena walls in dark greys and blues Though some were incredibly complex geometric shapes, there was no visible place to hide under things,just around and on top of. There were large openings in between these pieces of cover however, making it impossible to always stay under cover. The spectator seats seemed to almost engulf all 180 degrees of space above the combat fiel, leaving just enough space to see out in to the IO sky. Very far away on the exact opposite side of the arena she saw her opponent emerging from his door as well. Even with all of the different levels and features of the battlefield, she had a straight line of sight to him.

A large holo projector counted down above their heads. She stood there as it counted down, unmoving. Fifteen seconds, ten seconds, five seconds. At two seconds remaining she made a run for it. Sprinting hard right behind a cluster of platforms before sliding down to hide. The bell rang out and the crowd went wild, eyes darting around madly to find the two contestants.

Echo began by immediately casting her main ability, creating two puppets of herself. Upon close inspection, one would be able to see their faces were too still to be real, but most of their body seemed accurate. She and the other puppet boosted the third up on top of the platform, after which Echo made her start hopping and running between platforms on top of things. The second ran towards the center of the arena, and Echo herself laid low, darting from cover to cover and trying to find her opponent.

[Max Empire]

Max Prophyrogenitus
Happily preparing for combat

NEXT COMBATANTS:
[Porphyrogenitus] VS [Echo]

TIME UNTIL BROADCAST: -00:00:30

Max looked at the flashing announcement and then heard what the others said. "Thanks guys! I'll try my best!", he beamed after the others encouraged him and then began blushing furiously after Clef gave him a half hug.
"Aw... Thanks for giving me the courage I need!", he said softly before pulling her in and giving her a normal hug. He then ran towards the arena doors. He was really excited! He could show everybody how much fun fighting was! Maybe it would hurt a little... But it would still be fun!

As soon as he got into the arena, he waved happily at his opponent from across the arena and yelled out to her: "Good Luck!", sounding as happy as ever. This was his first actual fight. Oh, this was so exciting. He'd need a good place to stand at so he could direct his puppets' actions. Though his current spot seemed alright. He had a clear line of vision to as much/little of the arena as he would have anywhere else. He moved a little around his area in order have a better idea of what his immediate surroundings looked like, or in case he needed an escape plan.

He then returned to his original spot with he view across the arena and summoned Four Terracotta Soldiers with a camouflage out of the colors of the arena (shades of dark grey and blue), a spear/javelin on their backs and a sword with a shield in their hands. Not wasting any time, he went behind one of the nearby shapes and used a potion of explosion resistance on his terracotta soldiers, also using it on himself, before giving two of them an explosive potion. This was going to be fun!

He walked back to his original spot a little bit away from his arena entrance between some shapes where he had that nice view across the arena. With his terracotta soldiers marching in unison around him, making a large marching sound as they stomped their feet on the ground. He stopped with his soldiers in a square formation a little bit away from him, two in front of him and two behind him (the ones that carried the explosives in the back) with enough space in between them all and him in order to allow him to dodge dance any blows the enemy would try to pull on him if they got that close to his person. With an Explosive Potion in one hand and a Health Recovery Potion in the other, he stood there with his soldiers raising their shields, looking around the arena, especially to the top of the shapes. Wouldn't want the opponent to come from above after all.

[Vesperis]

Echo watched through the eyes of her puppets as Max positioned himself in a fortress of his own puppets. She kept a very close eye on each of them, making sure she each puppet did not stay in one spot for too long. Her original plan was to just not be seen for as long as possible, but it seemed like he was the type to hold off until the other side attacked as well. Or at least it seemed so from what she could gather from her limited peeks at his formation. He was going to defend until she ran out of firepower, and she had to figure out a way around it. She moved her real self up one row, being very careful not to be seen.

The spectators watched as her puppets moved up to surround Max's wall of defense. She waited for a moment before focusing in on them. They had crawled up halfway on the platforms, still not visible. With a surge of power she sent two running straight at his back line of defense from an angle. They both attacked with light swords, low level solid forms of magic that would do just a bit of damage each. But the attacks were met with shields, and she caused quite a clamor on both sides in the back. A third puppet ran out from cover straight down the middle, charging at Max and brandishing another light sword. All the while, Echo herself moved up along the right side of the arena, taking it slow as to not get caught.

[Aona]

Max's HP: 100%
Echo's HP: 100%
Max's Defense: Four Puppets
Echo's Attack: Three Puppets

Echo is rolling for successful attacks against Max and his Puppets. This is Street Rules, meaning a well-placed hit can finish a match.

---

From the screen in the lounge, the match exploded in vivid color and speed. The announcers' voices, once thick and melodic, were now pulsing with excitement and haste.

"And Echo's soldiers descend on Purpleborn's soldiers behind him! They make SOLID CONTACT! Oh my!!! While the attacks would normally not be enough to kill, their POTIONS EXPLODE, SENDING EVERYONE TOWARDS THE WALL!! TWO OF PURPLEBORN'S SOLDIERS, AND THE TWO ECHO PUPPETS THAT ATTACKED THEM, ARE ALL DOWN!!

"And here comes the final Echo puppet!! But oh, my!!! PURPLEBORN DODGES FLUIDLY!! The strike meant for Purpleborn himself hits ONE OF HIS SOLDIERS, DESTROYING IT!! THE REMAINING ECHO AND PURPLEBORN SOLDIERS ARE IN A STALEMATE!!"

Both combatant's magic stores are now severely drained.

---

"Have any hobbies outside of, well," Azure gestured to everything currently going on, "this? I've been cooped up learning magic, but I'd assume you have other things you enjoy?"

"Magic is productive. Productive is good," he shrugged, leaning against the soft cushions.

"I drive a lot. Most of my teenage years I remember driving my motorcycle a lot. Didn't do much else," he half-chuckled, seeming to remember these memories fondly. "That, and...I guess I'm politically active. I have a lot to say in Io, to make sure everyone's being treated fairly. Getting the life they deserve, I guess."

[Max Empire]

Max Prophyrogenitus
Happily in combat!

The explosions ringed in Max's ears as he and the two remaining puppets were launched at the wall by the explosion. They didn't seem to waste any time getting back up to fight each other though. Max, still a little shaken up from the explosion and the impact on the wall, got up and shook his head before smiling again.

"Tiiiiiiime to end this!", he yelled out happily as he took out an explosive potion and threw it at puppets.

He had however made a critical mistake earlier in the match. Normally, it would just have blown both puppets up and he wouldn't have been damaged, but his still intact puppet was the one with explosives that hadn't been destroyed yet. And to make matters worse, he had accidentally put more than an entire explosive potion's dosage into the bottle he had put into it.

The resulting explosion would awe the entire Audience. A giant mushroom cloud engulfed half of the arena. With enough power to end somebody with over 50 times Max's HP from where he was standing, it launched him as well as half of the geometrical shapes in the arena towards the other side.

Max was catapulted across the arena and as sheer luck would have it, crashed into Echo, who had just had the formation she was standing on and hiding behind blown to the ground. Sending both of them flying towards the wall near her entrance of the arena and then crashing down to the ground. Landing hard, Max's back hit the floor before Echo herself landed on top of him. Unaware of the fact that he was now face to face on the floor with Echo and with his eyes closed, Max's face displayed an expression of utter pain, matching the agony he felt from being near the epicenter of the large explosion he had accidentally caused.

[Vesperis]

Echo felt a wave of fear run through her as Max announced that he was going to end the match. He did so with a haughty intention, of course, but she knew that meant he had something up his sleeve to try and end it. She sprinted out from cover to try and catch him off guard doing whatever he was going to do, but it was too late. The explosion threw her across the arena and by the time she caught her bearings she was blearily looking around. Her name was in lights above the cheering crowd. Had she won? God she didn't feel like it.

She looked down and found herself on top of Max himself. With a raised eyebrow watching his pained expression she wondered how the hell that happened. She unceremoniously rolled off of him. His HP had hit rock bottom, and she was barely holding on.

[The Inritus Extraho]

"Have any hobbies outside of, well," Azure gestured to everything currently going on, "this? I've been cooped up learning magic, but I'd assume you have other things you enjoy?"

"Magic is productive. Productive is good," he shrugged, leaning against the soft cushions.

"I drive a lot. Most of my teenage years I remember driving my motorcycle a lot. Didn't do much else," he half-chuckled, seeming to remember these memories fondly. "That, and...I guess I'm politically active. I have a lot to say in Io, to make sure everyone's being treated fairly. Getting the life they deserve, I guess."

Azure nodded, looking up to the screens as the climactic moments of the battle played out. "Looks like Echo won, after all. By a razor's edge, though." Azure paused, as he watched the victory announcements, and then nodded. "Well, who do you think will be up next?"

[Aona]

Azure nodded, looking up to the screens as the climactic moments of the battle played out. "Looks like Echo won, after all. By a razor's edge, though." Azure paused, as he watched the victory announcements, and then nodded. "Well, who do you think will be up next?"

Apsis's eyes were glued to the screen, watching the battle unfold. He found himself internally cheering for the girl, despite the fact that she was possible competition. He was more focused on the brash, cutting voices of the commentators.

"AND THERE YOU HAVE IT, FOLKS!! By a hair, Echo is our first winner!! Both combatants displayed excellent prowess, and it seems like our recruiters are noticing!"

The screen flashed to the room with the faction leaders. Most remained stone-faced, even the cocky Saja leader. Some typed dutifully on their UI's.

"Yeah," came Apsis's response. "I guess they'll let us know soo-" His reply was cut off abruptly by the screen once again cutting with a snap. In the dim red text, the next match was listed:

NEXT COMBATANTS:
[Mikhael Phria] VS [Azure]

TIME UNTIL BROADCAST: -00:00:30

"Damn," Apsis said, resigned. "Looks like they're gunning for us, eh? Good luck in there." He clapped Azure on the shoulder, nodding, unsure of what else to say.

[Finsternia]

Mikhael Phria
The Soul of Avarice

NEXT COMBATANTS:
[Mikhael Phria] VS [Azure]

TIME UNTIL BROADCAST: -00:00:30

Mikhael stared at the screen for a few seconds, before cracking a single finger. He then looked at Blake, his newfound friend, and handed her Uriel. "Seems like it's my turn to fight. Please look after him." Uriel jumped off of Mikhael's arm and hopped into Blake's shoulder, the falcon's sharp talons gracefully placed so that they won't accidentally harm her.

He then pulled Seraphim from the its strap and twirled ir in his right hand. It was light in his grip, like as if you're just carrying a hallow tube. 'This is going to be a pain in the ass.' Nikubim slowly floated back to his left hand, the ever shifting cube started to glow in the shades of black and purple. "Well then... I'm off!" He said as he smiled towards Blake, before vanishing and reappearing right in front of the double doors after the timer as ran out.

'It is time...' He said as his expressions changed into a ruthless facade. He then entered the arena.

[The Inritus Extraho]

The screen flashed to the room with the faction leaders. Most remained stone-faced, even the cocky Saja leader. Some typed dutifully on their UI's.

"Yeah," came Apsis's response. "I guess they'll let us know soo-" His reply was cut off abruptly by the screen once again cutting with a snap. In the dim red text, the next match was listed:

NEXT COMBATANTS:
[Mikhael Phria] VS [Azure]

TIME UNTIL BROADCAST: -00:00:30

"Damn," Apsis said, resigned. "Looks like they're gunning for us, eh? Good luck in there." He clapped Azure on the shoulder, nodding, unsure of what else to say.

Azure nodded, half a smile showing up on the mage's face before blossoming into a full-blown grin. "Well, I'm up then! Thanks for the luck, I'll probably need it." He looked across the room for the other competitor, and found the mercantile competitor preparing for battle leaving his pet out of the fight. Wonder if that'll come back to bite him. Could've been useful to have a pet scouting in the arena. Note to self: scrying magic! Figure out something to see at a distance, beyond just normal illusion stuff.

Wide smile still present, Azure stepped over to the double doors into the arena, and lazily saluted Mikhael with a bright "Good luck!" as the two of them stepped into the tunnel to the battlefield.

---

Azure stepped out into the bright arena, looking around carefully. A series of standing stones encircled a grassy knoll, making for a much smaller arena than the ranged-focused Azure was hoping for. Still, there's no helping it... he thought, raising his hands and stretching with a yawn, Gotta make a good showing, get into a good guild. He split off from Mikhael, walking to the opposite side of the arena, putting the circle of stones between them.

Azure looked up at the crowds, carefully counting down as the timer to the beginning of the match ticked down above their heads. At three, he ducked behind one of the stones, leaning back against it and looking up at the crowds while breaking line-of-sight with his competitor. At two, he shook his sleeves out and raised his hands, preparing to cast his standard macro set. At one, he looked left, then right, judging the distance to the next few stones on each side.

The timer hit zero, and Azure reached inside of himself, dragging up the mana that flowed through him like his own lifeblood. Circles of arcane power blossomed from his hands, runes alighting on them as he turned his wrists and reached out with one ring finger and the opposing thumb to select some. To be fair, most of it was showmanship, the macros being set from his intention, but half of magic is looking impressive. Three copies of Azure stepped out of his own body, so smoothly that it was indistinguishable which one was real, and nodded to one another simultaneously, before Azure set the second half of his plan into action.

One Azure rolled out to stand behind each stone adjacent to where he had begun, while the presumed original casually saluted the audience before vanishing in a flare of blue magic and re-appearing two stones to the left. The last Azure turned back against the stone, held out a hand behind him, and held out three fingers, counting down. As his last finger curled into a fist, all four copies stepped out from behind their respective standing stones, raised their left hands, and pushed towards where Azure had last seen Mikhael, a series of blue runes etching themselves between the stones on that side of the arena. That should be enough, I'd hope... three decoys and a series of explosive traps. Can always add more if I need to... Azure thought to himself as he and his copies ducked back behind their stones, hopefully dodging the counterattack from the self-styled merchant mage.

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[Finsternia]

Mikhael Phria
The Soul of Avarice

As Mikhael steppedout of the tunnels and into the vastness of the arena, he was greeted by the blinding light and the roar of the crowd. He shielded his eyes until they adjusted to the light. The arena looks weird, like as if gravity was wrecked and the stones around them proved that somehow. Mikhael waited as the timer painfully counted down to zero, his eyes focusing at the circle of stones. 'There... He'll be waiting for me there.'

Focusing his mana towards the tip of Seraphim, Mikhael made a swift and aggressive circular motion. A magic circle formed afterwards, the churning black magic focused at the center. He then jumped towards it, going through the portal as another opened at the top of one of the misshapen stones that were floating around the arena, just right on top of the circle stones. He can feel the hum of magic in the area, like as if there's a spell being conjured. But he didn't know what it was but he knows that distance is the key.

"Come out now... Wherever you are..." He called in a singsong voice before aiming Seraphim's tip, the pronged top glowing in a blue light before the same magic circle formed at the tip. From the magic circle, nine magic lasers blossomed, travelling in an arc as they sought targets to hit. "Nine Tail Laser!"

[The Inritus Extraho]

Mikhael Phria
The Soul of Avarice

As Mikhael steppedout of the tunnels and into the vastness of the arena, he was greeted by the blinding light and the roar of the crowd. He shielded his eyes until they adjusted to the light. The arena looks weird, like as if gravity was wrecked and the stones around them proved that somehow. Mikhael waited as the timer painfully counted down to zero, his eyes focusing at the circle of stones. 'There... He'll be waiting for me there.'

Focusing his mana towards the tip of Seraphim, Mikhael made a swift and aggressive circular motion. A magic circle formed afterwards, the churning black magic focused at the center. He then jumped towards it, going through the portal as another opened at the top of one of the misshapen stones that were floating around the arena, just right on top of the circle stones. He can feel the hum of magic in the area, like as if there's a spell being conjured. But he didn't know what it was but he knows that distance is the key.

"Come out now... Wherever you are..." He called in a singsong voice before aiming Seraphim's tip, the pronged top glowing in a blue light before the same magic circle formed at the tip. From the magic circle, nine magic lasers blossomed, travelling in an arc as they sought targets to hit. "Nine Tail Laser!"

Azure, counting once more, stepped back out from behind the stones with his clones, and looked around for a moment before seeing the lasers curving around towards him. It became easily apparent as to which one was the real Azure - while as the clones raised their hands as if to cast, the real one dived back into cover behind the rightmost rock. Explosions from the lasers blossomed against the rock he hid behind, while passing through the illusory clones to seemingly no effect.

Azure grimaced, and made a sharp, cutting motion with the flat of his hand, and the illusions burst apart into swirling motes of mana, flickering out like fireflies. Azure groaned, looking up at Mikhael's position, and then looked at the slowly-rotating set of stones above his own place in the arena. He paused for a moment, calculating, and then held out each hand, circles the spectators would recognize blossoming on each. One copy of Azure spawned this time, running across towards the left, passing stone after stone, running counter to the rotation of the floating stones and rapidly closing with Mikhael - and Azure's own pre-laid trap. The other crouched down behind the stone, hoping Mikhael wouldn't notice the short pause before he ran out.

However, Azure skidded to a stop before reaching the set of blue runes, and pressed one hand against the earth as a entirely different circle sprang up in front of him on the earthen floor of the arena. He looked up again, almost seeming to panic about his moment of distraction and trying to keep an eye on Mikhael.

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[Finsternia]

Mikhael Phria
The Soul of Avarice

As Mikhael steppedout of the tunnels and into the vastness of the arena, he was greeted by the blinding light and the roar of the crowd. He shielded his eyes until they adjusted to the light. The arena looks weird, like as if gravity was wrecked and the stones around them proved that somehow. Mikhael waited as the timer painfully counted down to zero, his eyes focusing at the circle of stones. 'There... He'll be waiting for me there.'

Focusing his mana towards the tip of Seraphim, Mikhael made a swift and aggressive circular motion. A magic circle formed afterwards, the churning black magic focused at the center. He then jumped towards it, going through the portal as another opened at the top of one of the misshapen stones that were floating around the arena, just right on top of the circle stones. He can feel the hum of magic in the area, like as if there's a spell being conjured. But he didn't know what it was but he knows that distance is the key.

"Come out now... Wherever you are..." He called in a singsong voice before aiming Seraphim's tip, the pronged top glowing in a blue light before the same magic circle formed at the tip. From the magic circle, nine magic lasers blossomed, travelling in an arc as they sought targets to hit. "Nine Tail Laser!"

Azure, counting once more, stepped back out from behind the stones with his clones, and looked around for a moment before seeing the lasers curving around towards him. It became easily apparent as to which one was the real Azure - while as the clones raised their hands as if to cast, the real one dived back into cover behind the rightmost rock. Explosions from the lasers blossomed against the rock he hid behind, while passing through the illusory clones to seemingly no effect.

Azure grimaced, and made a sharp, cutting motion with the flat of his hand, and the illusions burst apart into swirling motes of mana, flickering out like fireflies. Azure groaned, looking up at Mikhael's position, and then looked at the slowly-rotating set of stones above his own place in the arena. He paused for a moment, calculating, and then held out each hand, circles the spectators would recognize blossoming on each. One copy of Azure spawned this time, running across towards the left, passing stone after stone, running counter to the rotation of the floating stones and rapidly closing with Mikhael - and Azure's own pre-laid trap. The other crouched down behind the stone, hoping Mikhael wouldn't notice the short pause before he ran out.

However, Azure skidded to a stop before reaching the set of blue runes, and pressed one hand against the earth as a entirely different circle sprang up in front of him on the earthen floor of the arena. He looked up again, almost seeming to panic about his moment of distraction and trying to keep an eye on Mikhael.

CO2plWMz0pTHdVlyNtgPgTxMIbkmU7wO7oEj9LXXcujaOFK8WYd2w7wEz8FpjUYfDMFslE6zbq/SZtEZhBA8zCLGVUSCpQzV6jjTMp37ktCBMEtVLlFiu0D0JFPN7eHM/RkjM2P0MnH9SoXGJYaNrwBGAv4ytc9A6TC7jYeKIFFjN+Hq1ongsS3EtWm3VyP/nRcVB+hNpaCz5hNgo7LBHSUXGyw9pN1oWPcjetbDuc0=

Mikhael Phria
The Soul of Avarice

Mikhael made a tsk sound as he saw his lasers do no damage to the clones, signifying that they are illusory copies. But seeing the real Azure flee his lasers made him smile and the fact that all the illusions were dispersed cemented his thoughts of where is his opponent. Twirling his staff in his hand, Mikhael waited for his opponent's next move and another Azure ran for him, dodging the stones here and there.

Mikhael jumped down his floating stone, his gravitational powers slowing his fall as he met the arena's floor. "Come at me!" He then raised his Seraphim, dark energy starting to swirl and gather at the staff's pronged tip, a ball of compressed gravity magic forming. He then threw it at where he saw Azure last, at one of the large stones. "Gravity Ball!"

[The Inritus Extraho]

Mikhael Phria
The Soul of Avarice

Mikhael made a tsk sound as he saw his lasers do no damage to the clones, signifying that they are illusory copies. But seeing the real Azure flee his lasers made him smile and the fact that all the illusions were dispersed cemented his thoughts of where is his opponent. Twirling his staff in his hand, Mikhael waited for his opponent's next move and another Azure ran for him, dodging the stones here and there.

Mikhael jumped down his floating stone, his gravitational powers slowing his fall as he met the arena's floor. "Come at me!" He then raised his Seraphim, dark energy starting to swirl and gather at the staff's pronged tip, a ball of compressed gravity magic forming. He then threw it at where he saw Azure last, at one of the large stones. "Gravity Ball!"

Azure threw himself to the ground, seeing the dark ball of magic Mikhael was preparing, landing squarely on the earthen rune he had laid down. As he did, the ground vanished underneath him, his dive turning into a roll as he expected it. As it turns out, his caution was unneeded - the dark ball instead shattered the rock the other Azure hid behind.

The other Azure, however, simply crouched in the shrapnel of the stone, a grin plastered on his face even as the center of the illusion wisped away into flickers of mana, absorbed by the Gravity Ball. Hearing the sharp crack of stone, the true Azure poked his head up out of his hidey-hole, and pointed a single finger at the set of blue runes spread throughout the arena and under where he had baited Mikhael down to. Arcane Dart he thought, and watched as a normally negligible darts blossomed from his outstretched finger and lanced towards the sharp blue runes he had laid down earlier.

The rune, set up to be activated when so little as a footstep landed on it, had its delicate magic interrupted by the dart... and exploded, rather violently. Azure - the real and only one - dropped back into his pitfall to hide from the arcane explosions, as each rune set off the ones near it in a chain reaction. Really hope that got him... Azure mused to himself, bringing up his prepared spells screen amid the unexpectedly musical chimes of the rune-traps detonating. Don't know I can face him one-on-one, and I'm running low on Illusions.

[Vesperis]

Echo came out from the arena to little or no real confirmation that she won. Sure, she had read it on the screens and in the crowd's cheers, but all of that was immediately taken away as she walked back through the tunnels. All the noise and bright lights were immediately cut off from her. Within no time at all the next match would start. The sport itself was so fast paced that it didn't leave any time at all for spectators to wait around and get bored. She entered back in to the waiting room, the next match already being broadcasted on the screen. She wandered back over to Apsis, standing beside him as he spectated.

"That Azure guy...he's pretty good."