[1st/10th] Week ---: Round One: Echo LaSalle versus Mineto Mitsuyo

Time Lady Katie · Jul 29, 2013

I stole this device from LiR

In the entire world, no more iconic ideal of what a jungle should be exists than the Amazon Rainforest, a tropical grove so full of life that most of what lies within it remains unknown to modern science. Its beauty and majesty is unmatched, and much of its wonder is untainted by human hands. The oxygen living things need to survive comes, quite heavily, from this rainforest and the life that teems within it so elegantly displays the brutality of nature. Now, it will also bear witness to the brutality of combat thanks to the protective enclosure placed around this segment of the land for the test of strength heralding the age of cooperation between Reaper and Man.

Echo stood on a branch a few meters off the ground, looking down at the dense undergrowth of the world around her. It was humid, the air was heavy and the sounds of nature echoed through the forest, though honestly the Lilum didn’t know if they were real or recordings added for atmosphere. Of course this place was being controlled, right? Steps would be taken to protect the fragile ecosystem? Real animals were evacuated, and omeone would come in and repair the damage. Of course they would. Right? Echo wasn't finding her reassurances convincing.

The space was in the heart of the Amazon, with a crashing waterfall not far from the combatants and unsteady terrain not settled or worked by human history’s march of progress. This was nature. This place was what the natural world looked like, unmarred by human hands.

That was about to change.

With a breath of the heavy air, Echo decided that such an event was definitely a way to gain some honor for the LaSalle family. She could win a title of some sort, not really caring for what that title was at the moment, and it would be a political gain for her father. With a slow breath, she drew her rapier and held it in front of her. Someone was coming to face her. She hoped it was that person she found herself patching up after all was said and done.

344 Words
344 Total

THE FIGHT BEGINS

Inks · Jul 30, 2013

Mitsu’s heartbeat drummed hard and heavy in his chest as he walked, all but wading through the knee- and chest-high foliage blanketing the jungle floor. Even in his new summer uniform (a modified shihakusho that bore about as much resemblance to shinigami robes as his winter uniform – which was to say, ‘basically none’), the air was almost oppressive, hot and unbearably humid.

Ataru floated at the shinigami’s side, unsealed – its dual scrolls flit back and forth, idle movements that betrayed his nervousness in a thousand small ways. Not that it was hard to tell Mitsu was nervous; his hands all but trembled, and every so often he’d glance this way or that, staring through the undergrowth.

This shit was exactly why he hadn’t signed up for the tournament; just because it was supposed to be a friendly event – just because he’d even agreed to wear a limiter to make things fair – didn’t mean whoever he was fighting was going to be polite about attacking him.

Of course, with his friends, it’d been fucking inevitable that he end up participating anyway. Not one, not two, but three people had apparently registered him on his behalf. As he climbed over a giant outcropping of tree roots, Mitsu scowled. “Fuck you, Raury. Fuck you, Sayis. Fuck you, Kyu. If I die I’m haunting all three of you assholes.”

Up ahead – and far, far overhead, a source of reiatsu nudged at the edges of his awareness.

Mitsu stopped in mid-climb, cringed slightly, and focused on looking as un-ambushable as possible as he scrambled into a better position. Using Ataru’s scrolls as stepping-stones, he worked his way up towards the rainforest canopy, and settled down on a tree across from the figure: a small (like he had any room to talk), delicate-looking shinigami with golden hair and some sort of western-style thrusting sword.

“Ah, er, hello,” he called out, his voice echoing back at him through the treetops. “My name is Mineto Mitsuyo. I’m the Third Seat of the First Division. Um...I don’t think we’ve ever met, so... It’s nice to meet you? ...I guess?”

Please don’t murder me? he added silently.

[357 / 357]

JESUS TAKE THE WHEEL

</insert>

Time Lady Katie · Jul 30, 2013

“Did you steal one of Doctor Frey’s cosplays, Mitsuyo? Your outfit reminds me of that Kingdom Hearts game I’ve seen lying about her office.” Though Echo snickered, she had to admit it looked a hell of a lot more comfortable than wearing a shihakushou in this environment which was, safe to say, unpleasant. She was lucky she had some water kidou prepared in case she needed to cool off. Who ever would’ve thought that she’d want to use Diamond Dust on herself? She was going to make a point ot learn that spell one day.

The blond waved politely after her joking was done, though, and offered the best smile she could. “I’m Echo, a medic of the Fourth Division. I was just taking in the sights. There’s a waterfall nearby!” she offered the information excitedly.

The nice thing about tournaments was that she felt less likely to be assassinated here, since all of the fights she was going to have were going to be head-on. Given the shortening life expectancy of a LaSalle, this was little more of a gamble on her life as anything else was, so she didn’t find it overly concerning. If anything, she seemed remarkably relaxed, standing up on the tree and looking down on her opponent.

“So,” she said, names exchanged and greetings given, “should we count to ten, or something?”

227 Words
571 Total

Stats

Fisher · Jul 31, 2013

Raury sauntered up a good way off from where the fighters were squared up, finding his ideal spot atop a fairly steep incline. The trees were obscuring a bit of his field of vision, but the fighting had yet to start, so that didn't really matter yet. What mattered was what he had brought along with him. Friends. And they all had a little something as well.

Signalling his followers, Raury beamed.

"Play away boys and girls, play away."

Lifting the fine instrument to his lips, Raury began to lead the troupe.

And the triumphant sound of the vuvuzela could be heard for miles. Again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpXN8BvGp_o

Inks · Aug 1, 2013

Mitsu honestly had no idea what kingdom hearts were, and Echo’s cheerful, almost excited disposition was a little off-putting...but, really, he was just relieved the girl wasn’t a bloodthirsty psychopath. Well, probably. Her relaxed posture seemed to be settling his own nerves a bit, too. Maybe he’d be able to get through this thing relatively un-traumatized after all.

Echo, huh?

Very briefly, he wondered why she’d only given the single name; his curiosity was swiftly washed away by Echo’s suggestion of a countdown, and Mitsu hurried to reply. “Yeah, I guess that’ll work,” he said, because it wasn’t like he had a better suggestion. “Er, should you...? Or, I mean, I could...”

The redhead trailed off, his gaze drifting. His expression went blank.

Off in the distance, a sound could be heard – a horrible, wavering hum of noise that send birds scattering from the forest canopy and instantly triggered some deep, primal anger in Mitsu.

Mitsu knew that noise – it sounded like someone had just upset the world’s largest, most annoying bee hive, but, in actuality, it was just—

-Ah, Raury is here.-

The shinigami whipped his head around, scowling fiercely in the direction that the vast, horrible buzz seemed to be coming from.

“Raury!” he shouted off into the distance, even though it was doubtful the drunk would be able to hear anything over the sound of those terrible instruments. “Raury, don’t you fucking dare--!

“...I’m... I’m really sorry, Echo-san.” Even though the vuvuzela band was too far away to really be an issue, Mitsu raised his voice to drown out the sound. He turned back to Echo with a sheepish look. “My friends all have issues.”

[278 / 635]

(this fight will never get started. not ever. never. i blame ry this round, tho.)

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Time Lady Katie · Aug 6, 2013

Sorry, I had no internets.

Caught by the remarkable and rather horrible sound that hit her, she lost balance and stumbled down from her perch. “Materialize, Fidelacchius!” she shouted rather taken aback by the sudden lack of anything beneath her feet. Thankfully the weapon released quickly, turning her silvery rapier a crystalline clear color and granting her momentary silver lights at her back, easing her down to the ground.

Without meaning to, Echo had started the fight.

The power of her shikai spilled out like a cloud, an almost unnoticeable addition to the air around them which already seemed so heavy. The Lily was weaving belief into the world unconsciously already. She was already making things more plausible, more undeniable, and she hadn’t even raised her blade against Mitsuyo.

She exhaled a rather large breath and stood straight from the crouch she landed in. “It’s alright. It took me by surprise, but honestly, my leader is Lucia Frey. I’m used to unusual behavior.” She was still fairly cheery and upbeat, but her words took on a subtle twinge of guilt. She knew what looking on Fidelacchius or her released form did. She knew things started unfairly. So, she drew the crystalline rapier and began to will kidou into it, “Perhaps you should start, since you’re the seated officer and all.” She hated lying, but she considered herself decent at it. And this was only sort of a lie, he was really getting things started. She just was setting the stage.

245 Words
816 Total

Fidelacchius

Inks · Aug 6, 2013

“Oh... Are you sure?” Mitsu frowned down at Echo, a little uncomfortable at how abruptly their positions had reversed. “I’m, uh...not sure what being seated has to do with anything...but if you're cool with it, then I guess...that's...fine?”

The redhead’s mind was still on the glittering lights that had briefly appeared at the girl’s back, mitigating her fall. Wings? For some reason, they hadn’t seemed very real. He couldn’t place it, but they felt off, somehow.

Actually, the moment Echo had released her zanpakutou, he’d started to feel—to feel like— What was it? An effect of her shikai? The anxiety from earlier was beginning to creep up on him again; no matter how many times he fought, it couldn't be avoided.

Urrgh, fuck it!

Mitsu wasn’t supposed to sit there thinking things out; the girl had prompted him to fight, and he’d be finding out what her abilities were in just a second, so...

“Okay. I’ll, um, be going, now.” The redhead swallowed and took a slow, deep breath, tasting humidity and the vibrant energy of the surrounding plant life on the back of his tongue.

“Mitsu,” he exhaled. The arcane symbols on the back of his left hand lit with a soft glow.

Then they, along with Mitsu’s hand, the boy himself, and a portion of the surrounding rainforest, were engulfed in an all-consuming black that colored the very air. It spread from the redhead like a plague of darkness, and from the center of the spell a second was spoken: “Bakudou number five, Mage Eye.”

Mitsu stepped backwards in the dark, landing lightly on his green-backed scroll several feet down; its red twin circled just overhead. His eyes, hidden in the confines of Break of Dusk, flickered with radiant blue light.

[294 / 929]

HRRRRRRRRNNGG

so uhhh SPOILER: I am pretty sure my Action-Scene-Writing muscles have become severely atrophied. BUT I CAN'T AFFORD TO PROCRASTINATE ANYMORE AND SO

okay now for like, ability shenanigans

Mitsu used Mahoubai to dual-cast Break of Dusk (via his Signature of the Arcane) and Mage Eye - the blue-eyes/reiatsu-vision version.

(heh. vision version sounds funny in my head. vision version.)

Mahoubai

Numerous powerful symbols are formed into small serrations around the outside of the Signature. The wielder of this mark gains a deeper understanding of the connections between kidou, allowing the user to bind two separate kidou to cast them at one time. The caster may combine kidou of the same class -- hadou or bakudou -- by paying an additional 25% to the reiatsu cost.

Since Bakudou and Hadou are fundamentally different, it is more difficult to combine the two. The user may do so, but must pay an additional 50% of the normal cost.

Kidou that require four or more slots may not combine with others.

Break of Dusk - Bakudou #12, 75 Kidou

Description: Shrouds an area in low-visibility darkness within a 5m radius, starting from the user.

The user locks his/her fingers together and, as the incantation finishes, spreads them widely around his/her area, bursting out several wavelengths of Kidou and Reiatsu that shade the air particles about the area pitch-black. Useful especially for those who favor the darkness and adapt well to low-visibility. Lasts for 3 rounds plus one round per 1,000 Kidou.

When the user becomes skilled (reaches 2000 Kidou) they then have the ability to double Break of Dusk's range.

Incantation: Blacken the night deeper, o watcher of life. Veil, hide, cast away your foolish pride. Bakudou #12, Break of Dusk.

Mage Eye - Bakudou #5, 35 Kidou

Description: Upon casting, the user selects a spectrum, either Red, Blue or Green. The user's eyes start turn the selected color, distorting their vision.

With red eyes, the eyes are tuned to track heat signatures, viewing things in the infrared spectrum.

With green eyes, the eyes are tuned to see in relative darkness, acting like night vision goggles. Ambient light is greatly magnified, allowing the user to see in great darkness.

With blue eyes, the eyes are attuned to a spectrum of reiatsu, similar to heat vision. Objects which have no reiatsu or have cloaked reiatsu will appear as black, while sources of reiatsu glow blue.

The spell lasts until the user cancels it.

Incantation: Give vision life, make the intangibles tangible. Bakudou #5, Mage Eye.

Time Lady Katie · Aug 6, 2013

The darkness meant that the vuvuzela crowd couldn’t see Echo’s smile. She couldn’t see a damn thing in the darkness that surrounded her, so she closed her eyes and focused on hearing. She took a defensive posture and focused on the sounds of the jungle. The undergrowth would be a dead give-away as to a vector for attack, all she had to do then was either evade or defend. It wasn’t a perfect strategy but it was something that she felt comfortable enough doing until she figured out how to drive back the night.

So why was she smiling? Because in the dark, imaginations tend to run wild. Children believed in monsters under their beds or hiding in their closets because darkness obscures the truth. In the dark, you only have the things you believe in. And that was something Echo could use. When the lights went out, all sorts of fun could be had.

So, while she prepared to be attacked, and readied her rapier to defend, she also made sure to let Mitsuyo hear a hissing noise from above him before he felt the slick skin of one of the most fearsome creatures of the Amazon, the anaconda, slithering down from a tree now hidden from sight. This was already way too much fun for being the person the spell was meant to disadvantage, she couldn’t wait to introduce some more critters if the snake proved successful.

239 Words
1055 Total

More Fidelacchius

Inks · Aug 7, 2013

Mitsu looked down at a landscape stippled in blue. Reiryoku thrummed through the rainforest foliage, lighting the plants and trees in darker, muted tones; it was a visual representation of the life force that flowed through all things. Echo herself glowed like a beacon, her reiatsu pulsing in brilliant shades of near-white blue to Mitsu’s augmented vision. Like this, he didn’t need to be able to see the medic – all he needed to track her was the energy she gave off.

“The arrows that fell a hero. Falling sun.” As the redhead murmured his incantation, Ataru’s red-backed scroll fluttered away, weaving silently through the air towards Echo. “Mourn, precious moon, for the withering earth.” Dozens of arrow shafts materialized in the air around him, invisible in the oppressive dark.

There was...something else, though; Mitsu still didn’t know what, exactly, but it kinda reminded him of—

...the fuck?

Something was hissing at him from the vicinity of his shoulder. He ducked away from the sound, dropping the green scroll lower and to one side, and then turned, blue-lit eyes narrowed.

A snake?

A big snake, granted (a really fucking big snake), but...just a snake? A snake that bothered him in the same way those lights had, before. Still suspended in mid-air, a reasonable distance from where Echo stood, Mitsu straightened and turned to face her.

Is it hers? Maybe it was a facet of her shikai. Some sort of...abstract summoning ability. Either way, she was his target, not some no-legged lizard.

“Hadou forty-four, Hadou forty-four,” he whispered into the black. “One Hundred Wooden Arrows.”

Arrows hissed through the air from where Mitsu stood...and rained down upon Echo from directly overhead, pouring from the parchment of Ataru’s red twin scroll. Unseen under the cover of Break of Dusk, each arrow tip glittered with the threat of extra reiryoku.

[306 / 1235]

wait what

Time Lady Katie · Aug 7, 2013

You know what hurt more than getting stabbed with two hundred arrows?

Getting stabbed with two hundred arrows that exploded.

Thankfully, the impacting nature of arrows that burst upon impact tossed her backward and downward, out of the way of a lot of the double-onslaught, and it gave Echo something to zero in on in terms of where Mitsuyo was. He clearly wasn’t the arrows which came from above her, which meant he was the arrows that came from in front of her. She could work with that. “Chiyudou one, Mend!” shouted the medic through gritted teeth as she stood back up. And then she counterattacked. Without being able to mend her wounds, this would’ve been a much easier win for the arcanist, but thankfully for the Lily she knew she was going to get hit. She had prepared for it. She had expected it and was using it to determine where exactly the caster was.

The arrows gave her a vector. Distance was harder to work out. She had heard muttering and she hadn’t heard movement meaning he had to be about as far away as he was before. Probably exactly as far away as he was before. Exactly as far away if her snake was freaking him out efficiently enough.

A little cross at being ignored, the large snake began to wrap itself around Mitsuyo’s leg. It was so heavy, so sturdy, and so clearly deciding he was in its domain. Echo counted on the fact that it was a native to this part of the world and Mitsuyo clearly wasn’t to keep him buying in to the illusion at least long enough to immobilize him as she threw herself into a flash-step. Her goal was to create the idea that she was bull-rushing him, but swerve to his right at the last second and come at him from his flank. Delivering a hit would let her get a little revenge for him blowing up arrows in her face. Which was so rude. At least if her blade made contact with the poor lad, he wouldn’t hurt nearly as bad as she did right now. In fact, he would barely hurt at all.

365 Words
1420 Total

MAGIC!

Inks · Aug 9, 2013

Shit – a medic, right. Forgot she’d just heal after...the fuck?

Something was at his leg, curling its way down his thigh and calf – Mitsu looked down sharply, letting his gaze drift from Echo’s glowing blue figure just long enough to identify the new threat.

It was that goddamn snake again.

There was no way this wasn’t part of her shikai – the damn thing was chasing him down and immobilizing him now. How the fuck had it found him so fast in the dark? Taste? Smell? If Echo was summoning it, did it even function like a real snake? It didn’t seem very dangerous on its own...but if it knew where he was, then did she—?

A trap...?

The snake coiling tighter and tighter around his leg needed to fuck off. Now. His red scroll fluttered up, curling around beneath him. The officer closed his eyes and, like a ghost, flickered out of existence. The effect lasted only a moment, but it was enough: the redhead dropped down, out of the coils of that stupid snake, and onto Ataru’s red-backed twin. The drain from his reiatsu hit him like a physical punch as he re-materialized, and he dropped into a crouch to catch his breath as he jerked his head up, searching for his opponent. He half-expected to find a sword at his throat.

Teiryuu -- that might buy you time to--

A moment passed. Another.

And then Mitsu was just confused. Echo was beneath him, her blade cutting a swath of blue through the dark of the forest floor. She must have guessed at his location from the arrow-fire...but she didn’t know where he was.

The redhead straightened and, with a short, sharp gesture, the red scroll darted through the air, weaving them through the blue-tinted foliage of the rainforest’s upper layers and putting some distance between the two fighters once more.

He left the green scroll behind to circle down towards the girl. Then he knocked it into one of the surrounding tree branches – let the chattering leaves mask the words he whispered. “Bakudou number twenty-five, Atlas.”

A box of weighted air materialized in the space above Echo’s head and fell, carrying with it an oppressive weight. And, as Mitsu quickly stepped off Ataru onto another stupidly-oversized branch, he added, “Hadou number thirty, Big Bang,” under his breath.

Ataru was already a couple of meters away from him when the spell shot from its rippling parchment, streaking through the dark.

[412/ 1647]

412. Really? REALLY?

Time Lady Katie · Aug 9, 2013

The moment her sword didn’t make contact with a person, this stopped being fun for her. Somethin was amiss, he was moving soundlessly. “Banshisei!” she said in a hurried tone as she continued her run arching away from where the thought Mitsuyo to be. Shattering outward from her body the darkness cracked and broke, letting light in. Her illusions were a bit harder to buy into in the light of day, though she also could be seen and foster more belief in them.

Her initial tactic had proven unwise. Even now she was aware she was pushing herself harder than she’d tell a patient to. She was bleeding fairly badly and it would be another minute or two before Mend could seal those wounds, at least the ones that Mend was able to seal. Some she’d just have to heal with bandages and antiseptic. But now, in the light, she stood a better chance.

The rustling of branched snapped her head around and she was lucky enough to see the tiny sun forming. Shit shit shit shit shit! was all she really had time to think before she had to react. Calling on the silvery light she thought of as wings, Echo pushed off the ground, her forward momentum combining with her upward thrust to throw her clear of the coming blast.

Mitsuyo liked blowing things up, that much was certain.

She couldn’t exactly stop and turn around mid-air, so instead she focused on her illusions. The snake went back to seeking out Mitsuyo while the Lily pointed a hand in Mitsu’s general direction and yelled “Hadou Twenty-One Reaper!” Okay, she didn’t actually know the spell, but she wasn’t actually casting it. It was a spell small in effect, focused. If it ‘hit’, it might’ve caused some pain, even the perception of injury. If it missed, the damage it would inflict on the world would be too small to be conspicuous in its absence.

324 Words
1744 Total

Magic, real and fake

Inks · Aug 9, 2013

Ataru! Gonna need you!

With a small tch of frustration, Mitsu ducked to one side. Fuck, shit – if she was just gonna break my bakudou why didn’t she do it earlier—

The redhead skipped from branch to branch, fleeing to the far side of the towering capirona he’d taken refuge in, and threw himself against the smooth grey trunk. “Forbidden hand formed of the soul, strike with the might of a titan,” he panted under his breath. His fingers curled into fists against the tree bark. “Hadou number twenty-five, Breaking Palm.” The many-colored translucent glow of his reiatsu flared to life in his palms and spread over his hands like fire – brilliant, bright blue to his altered sight.

A second later, Echo’s hadou impacted against the front of the tree and dispersed in a flurry of angry cobalt.

That still left her and her stupid snake pet -- but Ataru was almost in place.

Mitsu stepped forward, back onto Ataru’s awaiting, undulating surface – the greener of the twins. His distraction hadn’t really worked (had mostly just provoked Echo to kill the stealth game altogether), but that was fine. As Mitsu chanted, the scroll wove smoothly away from Echo’s anaconda friend’s slithering form.

There.

“Hadou forty-four,” he said, the words nearly a blur, “One Hundred Wooden Arrows.”

The ever-shifting writing that graced Ataru’s parchment lit in a kaleidoscope of color, a flash of warning before the hadou-casting scroll that had taken Echo’s back unleashed a barrage of arrows at her.

[249/ 1896]

2 turns, 1 day

Time Lady Katie · Aug 10, 2013

When the light flashe on the scroll, the light faded from Echo’s back, causing her to fall out of the way of the hundred arrows – she wasn’t about to go through the whole exploding arrow routine again. He couldn’t kep this up forever, could he? He had to be burning up fast. That first attack alone was massive! Her doubts kind of broke off when she hit the ground hard. That was the downside to her brilliant dodging plan, she traded stabbing of arrows for the impact of hitting the ground. And that aggravated the wounds and burns from the first attack. This wasn’t going at all well.

She placed her hand over her most painful wound on her left leg, which bore the brunt of the rough landing as well. She knew Mend was slowly working at the burns, but the pain was becoming a problem all its own. “Chiyudou Twenty-Seven, Numbing Touch.” And her leg felt suddenly like it was calm, not even there, honestly. The worst that could be said of it was the tingling feeling of anesthesia. She could walk. Running was a bad idea but she could do it. She was functionally able to fight, though it would take a lot of work to patch herself up for the next fight.

Chiyudou was a useful tool, it made Echo able to keep going far longer than her adversary, and so a new strategy was born. Outlast. She knew he was tracking her, she’d seen the blue eyes. She couldn’t stop that from happening, so she needed to come up with another plan, and to do it fast.

272 Words
2016 Total

Question

Magic

Inks · Aug 10, 2013

“Freeze the warrior's blood. The planets stand still in horror, and look upon their own futility.”

...Again.

Mitsu hovered in the air, a field of blue-lit leaves at his back. He’d missed – and every moment she had free was a moment Echo was using to patch herself up. If he didn’t stay on the offensive, she’d let him wear himself out on her and win the fight through sheer survivability.

So hit her again.

This was why he hated fighting.

“Bakudou fifty-two, Teiryuu.” The writing beneath his feet came to life, and light flickered briefly across the surface of his scroll. His fingertips tingled with the steady flow of Kidou energy; the redhead flexed them and then curled his hands into loose fists. Echo was below, her snake-pal above, Mitsu caught somewhere in-between.

Then Ataru’s red-backed scroll slammed into the hissing serpent, coiling around it in an intricate tangle of parchment. Mitsu didn’t wait to see how strong the earth-animal was – the redhead, still standing on his other scroll, dropped from the rainforest canopy in a swift, controlled fall, hair and uniform jacket billowing about him.

“Hadou eighteen,” he breathed, his gaze fixed on Echo’s rapidly-approaching figure. “Star Shriek Blast.”

Then he leaped from Ataru’s back, a ball of condensed light hidden in the palm of one hand. A low, ominous hum of charging energy filled the air. Mitsu landed on a massive buttress root, straightened, flung his arm up – and light exploded from his fingers in a blinding array.

[251/ 2147]

We've broken the 2000-wordcount barrier!

Time Lady Katie · Aug 10, 2013

Nope. Wasn’t dealing with blindness. Not happening. Echo turned and ran away from the explosion of het at her back, flash-stepping through the forest to put distance between herself and the arcanist. And then she added a new level of her illusion play – she dropped behind a fallen tree at the end of her flash-step but sent the idea to the explosive Mitsuyo that she didn’t. Instead, she had an illusory copy of her running through the forest still. Her goal was to exhaust him. She wanted, more than anything, to burn him out totally while she replenished her reserves and tended to her wounds. This was her best bet, her gambit in this fight, and she was going all in.

But she needed to start pacing herself better as well. She couldn’t keep adding complexity, crafting new illusions, and hoping to outlast him, especially with how taxing her shunpos were today. Hopefully, leaving Mitsuyo fighting a fake Echo, if she had done enough to convince him that the real her went running off into the woods, would allow her to actually replenish her own diminishing reserves.

She wasn’t going to keep channeling faith through Fidelacchius. The level the arcanist was at was going to have to be enough. She needed to focus on her chiyudou. She was already feeling better thanks to Mend and Numbing Touch, but the bleeding hadn’t stopped, and there was a lot of pain still in other parts of her body. Drawing off her adversary would allow her time to heal more completely. It would, she hoped, even buy her enough time to apply another level of Mend after this first had run its course. If she kept him distracted enough, he might even burn out on her doppelganger, leaving the medic to heal herself.

That was, of course, dependent on him actually having amassed enough faith to believe she wasn’t hiding behind a tree, but was actually running away from him. Turning around to look, the Lily figured, would be a massive tactical error.

340 Words
2356 Total

Nothing new used. He had, what, five or six turns of faith? I'd think that'd be enough to even fool Mage Eye...
Also, we have until 11:59 Monday.

Inks · Aug 11, 2013

Oh, come on!

The blond was running.

Of fucking course she was running – the more distance there was between them, the more room she’d have to tend to her injuries as she got them. Even though Mitsu had shot into a flash-step the moment his bakudou had gone off, Echo had been fast enough on the draw to get a head-start.

The two flashed through the forest undergrowth, knocking through overgrown ferns and crunching through a mulch of dead leaves.

Typically, Mitsu wasn’t one for chasing people around – it was a waste of energy, and he did better at range anyway. But this fight was different, and he seemed to know something Echo didn’t; he was faster than her. He’d noticed from her earlier shunpo.

So why did he still feel like he was missing something?

A sudden, growing rush of sound threw that train of thought from his mind; for a split second, he was just confused. Then the first drops of water began to make their way through the rainforest’s canopy and upper layers, and Mitsu just wanted to punch something.

It had started to rain – from the pattering overhead, it had started to rain pretty damn hard.

With a newfound sense of urgency, Mitsu surged forward; in a matter of seconds he’d drawn up alongside the fleeing, blue-lit shape of his opponent. A bit of careful timing, a quick step – another – and then the redhead reared back and slammed one kidou-infused fist into the space between the girl’s shoulder blades.

“Sorry!” he gasped, like a dumbass.

[258/ 2405]

HURPA DERPA

Time Lady Katie · Aug 11, 2013

And the Echo he punched behaved exactly like he thought she would, she went down hard. Which probably wasn’t good for the idea of prolonging the fight, so that fake Echo was probably going to have to fight back. Somehow.

The rain was a slight concern for the real Echo, it might’ve made hiding her actual position slightly harder if Mitsuyo started to hunt her down. Then again, she recognized Mage Eye well enough, if he started to hunt her down the rain wasn’t going to do anything his bright blue eyes weren’t going to do better. She had to bank on the false her keeping him busy, the way the snake kept one of those massive... what were they, scrolls? The way her snake had kept a scroll busy. She would have to reapply Mend soon too, thankfully doing so was a very fast prospect, but it would also complicate hiding if the exploder and his imaginary friend were too close to the real Echo.

No sense worrying about that now, the healer thought, and embraced the idea of stillness as best she could. The sound of the rain would have to be her ally as much as Mitsu’s own expectations were.

And the illusion that hit the ground? She shrieked in pain, then rolled over and tried to rise, sword first, in Mitsuyo’s direction.

236 Words
2592 Total

Literally used nothing this turn.

Nargles · Aug 12, 2013

R-R-R-RULING TIME.

Anyway, the winner of this fight is Mitsu.

There were a few considerations that went into this decision. Firstly, the pace of the fight seemed to be mainly dictate by Mitsu's actions, as he was on the offensive quite well throughout. Echo seemed to constantly be on the back-foot on these engagements and even though she took very minor damage and healed with mend, Mitsu was also relatively unscathed by the end of it.

The blooming double cast of One-Hundred Wooden Arrows seemed to rather sketchily avoided in my opinion. Each blooms outwards and are relatively closely packed to one another. A barrage like that would most likely have cascade explosion and rip. Illusion play is fun (trust me, I know how fun it is to illusion troll) but you always need to keep in mind the limits and determine whether an opposing action will break faith in it.

Echo's Points	Mitsuyo's Points
+200 Equalizer	+200 Equalizer
+100 Addle	-100 Ether
+200 Torment	+100 Shield Break

[Addle] Base Technique Costs Doubled	[Ether] Restore 100% Reiatsu
[Torment] Cannot use the same technique or ability in consecutive rounds	[Shield Break] Defences halved (barriers block only half of the cost in damage)

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[1st/10th] Week ---: Round One: Echo LaSalle versus Mineto Mitsuyo

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