Aggressive Recruitment

    Ever since the apocalypse, there has been an open invitation for people to go to a certain place, at a certain time (it started out as weekly, but has become monthly lately due to Things Happening), to find the famous dueler nicknamed Zekken.

    That place is a grassy field outside of the city of Alne. Specifically a certain hill that is an island of white flowers in the sea of green grass. That time is now. And sure enough, lying atop the hill amidst the flowers is a black, purple and red individual. It's Yuuki!

    Yuuki is lying on her back, staring up at the sky, a flower stem poking out of her mouth as she appears to be chewing on it out of boredom. It looks like there's currently no one else here, likely meaning that Yuuki is free for a duel.

A small Spriggan, tiny really soon could be seen approaching the designated area, dressed in a Kimono, with a bodysuit underneath, the violet-haired spriggan walks in with something with a dignified stride, while under five feet tall, she carries multiple blades, all of them looking worn out or at least in a moderate state of disrepair, a katana at her hip, a Falcata at her opposing hip, and an enormous, wide bladed great-sword that sits on her back in a baldric at an angle to prevent it from grating agaisnt the ground and inhibit her movement as it longer than the little Spriggan is tall, she looks around, then spots Yuuki in the distance, and she offers a polite bow. "Oh, you must be Zekken. I heard you look for duels. I happen to be looking for an exciting fight. Something to test my skills." her accent is clearly not natively japanese, but carries something of a mature, steady feminine tone to it.

    Yuuki tilts her head, glancing at the arriving person. As Viviene expresses an interest in an exciting fight, Yuuki grins, "Yup, that's me! And I think I can help you with that."

    Yuuki swings her legs up, pulling herself into a backroll and then into a handstand. With a push and a 'Hyup!' she flips up and over onto her feet. She dusts her hands off as she explains, "Rules are pretty simple. First one into the the red zone of their HP loses. No killing. No bringing in other people, though summons are fine if you've got them. Everything else goes!"

    Yuuki proceeds to draw the dark blade sheathed at her waist. The famous Absoute Sword. Rumours are she had it before the apocalypse. And even when the dark wave hit, it wasn't destroyed like most equipment, probably just reduced in power to something appropriate for a level one item. Yet all these years and levels later, she's still using it.

    Yuuki points to the flower stem she's chewing on, "Once this is destroyed, we go. Sound good?"

Viviene grins, and draws out her katana first, positioning herself, she holds the Katana in a manner that is an extreme resemblance to real martial arts and swordsmanship, she takes in a deep breath as she speaks. "Those terms are acceptable." if she recognizes Yuuki's sword, its hard to say. Her own equipment seems to be basic equipment most level 5-15 adventurers have, just ..really worn out and well used. "I am Viviene. Something of a mercenary." she introduces, a small flourish of her katana is done to incorporate a bow into the motion, then she is back into that practiced, and natural stance, breathing steadily, waiting for the stem's HP to hit zero.

    An introduction! Yuuki grins, "Yuuki. Sleeping Knights guild leader. One of the three founding leaders of the Olympus Alliance. Champion of the first Adventurer tournament after the apocalypse. Wielder of the Absolute Sword. And all-round badass." There's a twinkle in her eyes as she says, "Good luck. Have fun!"

    Yuuki proceeds to spit out the flower stem. It spins through the air as it falls towards the ground. As it does so, a dark wind engulfs Yuuki's blade, before rising up her arm and moving to engulf her entire body.

    The stem hits the ground, proceeding to shatter into a thousand tiny pixels of sparkling light.

    Yuuki crosses the distance between the two in practically a blur of whooshing darkness. As she reaches Viviene, she launches into a quick series of strikes to try and overwhelm Viviene's defenses, before finishing off with one large one to try and cut a deep wound of glowing red light.

The battle begins in an instant, and Viviene starts with a series of parries, attempting to deflect away and mitigate the incoming strikes, her body movements and posture is central, even if a strike gets through, she keeps resolute, the maneuvers used in the parry are practical and more of technique rather than anything flashy, and when she finds a possible opening to strike, a single hand goes to the greatsword on her back, and with a single hand she attempts to sweep the sword out in a massive downwards slash with monstrous strength that will crater the ground where it strikes, but is no more than a really forceful, simple slash. "Big Name, Big Titles! Now that has me more excited!"

    Yuuki nods approvingly as Viviene is able to withstand a lot of those quick blows, keeping up with the infamous speed that Zekken is known for. Yuuki finally finishes her sword arte combo, giving Viviene the opening she was waiting for.

    The large blade comes swinging in towards Yuuki.

    But the speedy imp is able to react fast, bringing her own blade up to meet it. The two clash in a shower of sparks, before Yuuki shifts her grip and lets the forceful blow slide off her sword, to hit the ground beside her in a large puff of white flower petals.

    The quick deflect and overcommit of Viviene's blow gives Yuuki an opportunity to quickly lash out in a counterattack, getting a small amount of damage past Viviene's guard.

    Yuuki then leaps back, the dark wind around her fading. Yuuki grins as she replies, "I honestly don't use them much. But they're fun to say, sometimes!" Yuuki then sweeps her blade out to her side, flames beginning to dance across it.

    Yuuki then pushes forward, closing in once more this time to unleash some flame-powered strikes!

Viviene is caught by a light wound, and reeling back from the force of the clash, she grimaces, but manages to keep herself steady. Her large sword is left in the ground as she seeks to try and catch the blade between her hand, and her katana in something of a pincer-grapple, twisting it away, and trying to throw Yuuki a distance away from that, giving her time to tend to her bleeding wound, taking a split second to shrug off the effects of the wound, as the red outline of the cut quickly fades, and she readjusts, moving back into a two-handed stance with her katana, standing beside her large sword embedded in the ground.

    Yuuki's blade is briefly caught, then twisted. The speedy imp leaps and twists in the air with her blade, to keep the weapon from being torn from her grip. She goes flying a short distance before landing on her feet once more and skidding to a halt.

    Unfortunately for Viviene, while she takes the time to recover from the wound Yuuki had inflicted, Yuuki is given an opportunity to prepare something just a little stronger.

    The dark imp moves her free hand to grip her sword with both. She raises it up to her chest. The already dark blade suddenly turns completely black. Darkness begins to seep out from it, spreading and wrapping around the blade, causing it to grow in size. The darkness is so intense that it begins to suck up the light around it, creating a slight bending effect.

    With the blade of her sword now enlarged by the darkness, Yuuki dashes forward towards Viviene. She leaps at the last moment, unleashing a battle cry as she swings the sword up behind her head and then down towards Viviene.

    Even if the other fighter is able to defend against the heavy blow, it turns out there is an additional affect as a poison DOT appears on Viviene.

Goldenblade has arrived late at the dueling grounds, perhaps deliberately as she's not a known PVPer. She took place in the first tournament, was knocked out in the first round, and has had little interaction with the duelists guild since then. She's known more as a builder, within Olympus, and to a lesser extent as an armor and weapon crafter, but she appears to be here simply as a spectator.

She watches Yuuki clash with Viviene, and winces, feeling the difference in level almost at a gut level. But perhaps that's the best way to train? She's got a few ideas about PVP, but they're just notions until she can speak with someone about them. Of course that's not going to happen mid-fight, so she stands by the edge of the duelling ground to watch.

    It was too fine a day to remain indoors. Many would agree, but none more than Hyuga, who had decided to go for a walk. Having recently decided to make more of an effort to progress in this crazy world that had become their new lives, he decided to make way for the dueling grounds. This, of course, took him a bit of time, new as he was to doing much in the way of basic exploring. Geared up, he had started his way.

    So it was that a tall man with an absolutely ludicrously large shield came into view, a hammer on his belt, and close-fitting plate armor meshing well with his movements in the right places. His eyes took in the area, its people, and the scene at large at a glance, and after finding a pleasing place to stand and enjoy what was happening, the man set his shield into the ground and found himself a seat, using the greatshield as a seatback.

Yuuki's counter attack is a dangerous one, and It takes Viviene commiting whole hardly into retrieving her large sword, bringing it up with a one handed swing, shielding her tiny body behind it as it reverabtes the force back towards Yuuki, but the area around her is blanked in darkness, and she does stumble some to gather herself back together, but her motion of the sword continues, in a vicious horzontal slash to cut across Yuuki's midsection. "Ha! This is so much better than doing pushups everday! Now.. where are ya.." the eloquence in her tone is fading, and taking more of a rough, street-like accent or tone. One might notice that greatsword doesn't look to be doing so well, after her previous large attack, as it has a long fracture across its center, visible now that its torn out of the dirt, and its durability must be getting pretty low!

Goldenblade nods a greeting to Hyuga, casting a look his way, then a quick Inspect. Just in case there's anything there she should know. Oh! "Hey, Guildie," she greets him with a grin. "How's it going?" Watching the fight, she winces at Viviene's blade showing signs of breaking. She's fixed one of the ones Viv gave her already, now with new stats that should serve her much better, but now is not the time. Also, she didn't bring it with her. But she recalls Viviene having a large number of spares, hopefully she's got it under control.

    Hyuga returns the greeting with a nod, also giving the other person not fighting a once-over. "Guildmate. Well met." Leaning against his makeshift chairback, he goes back to watching the duel in action, part of his mind already partitioned off to observe it and attempt to learn something about PvP and duels. "How long has this contest been going on?"

    The slash to Yuuki's gut finds its mark, cutting a line of red through the imp. There's a hint of a wince on her face as Yuuki notices the DOT appearing in her own view. But the pained expression is quickly gone, replaced by a grin as Viviene expresses her enjoyment, "That's the spirit! And yeah, normal exercise seems sooo boring in comparison."

    Yuuki darts to the side, circling around her opponent a bit to move to a better position before leaping forward again, sword at the ready. The strikes that follow are quick than the first, thus less powerful. But they look to be attempts to break through Viviene's guard to deliver another strong cut into her.

Goldenblade says to Hyuga, "I /think/ it's just started. I just got here a bit before you. It's pretty even so far. Viviene, the one Spriggan, has some decent moves." Left unsaid is an unstated assumption that she won't be able to hold on against Yuuki, though they seem pretty closely matched at this point. "Call me Goldenblade, by the way" she says, in case Hyuga's puzzling over the name in her Inspect window, which is so long it overflows that window.

Viviene='s movements and pacing seems to be that of someone conditioned to practiced combat and muscle memory, in a way, it benefits her, but she reacts more like a warrior from the real world would, rather than something a super-powered VR mmo adventurer could do. able to keep a resolute defense and catch Yuuki's incoming blade aside at the last minute, as the darkness surrounding her shifts and spreads, the darkness from Yuuki's attack is weaponized, and suddenly, Viviene seems to fade from sight, as she currently has something sneaky up her sleeve!

    Nodding, Hyuga continues to watch the fight, though he does grunt appreciatively at the moniker. "Much easier to do, thanks. I am Hyuga. These two... well, they seem decently matched, unless one is holding back for the other." Reaching to a side pouch on his belt, Hyuga begins to snack on some dried fruit as he watches, trying to identify maneuvers used and tactics planned.

Goldenblade nods to Hyuga, "Good to meet you, Hyuga. They do seem evenly matched it's true. Yuuki's the first year PVP tournament /champ/, though. She's wickedly badass. But Viviene's a total unknown, so I guess we'll all find out how it goes when it happens. It's a bit of a challenge sometimes facing an unknown, because you never know what they've got. But I've never really watched Yuuki fight, I just know by reputation, so I guess we find out how this will go."

    Yuuki is a big PVPer. She certainly enjoys PvE content, but there's nothing quite like the thrill of fighting an actual player. Which means Yuuki has gotten pretty good at spotting things about people's fighting style. Viviene's is very realistic, it seems.

    Yuuki smirks.

    Viviene reappears with a rapid series of strikes that completely bypass Yuuki's defense... Because she didn't make any attempt for one. Rather than try, Yuuki turns her focus entirely to offense.

    In a repeat of earlier, a dark wind engulfs Yuuki as she launches into a series of strikes back against the revealed Viviene.

    But then something unexpected happens... The dark wind splits into two. Along with Yuuki! There are TWO YUUKIS!?

    One engulfed in a green wind launches an assault from one direction, the other bathed in darkness from a different. The two rapidly move in between each other, a blur of speed as they alternate their attacks. Trying to catch Viviene off guard from multiple directions, with multiple strikes, to overwhelm he realistic fighting style with the unrealistic.

in what looks to be a deadly dance of the realistic vs the unrealistic, Viviene demonstrates something of a Spriggan's classic technique: Edge of Shadow, moving in with sudden slices while dancing around incoming strikes, and parrying others, it was hard to make out which was the true Yuuki, but she struck with ferocity even as she struggles to counter Yuuki's incoming strikes, and her HP bar drops, and drops, stopping just in the dark Yellow zone a little bit before reaching the red. Viviene was still in the fight, wind was channeled and she continues striking, following up with a series of slashes with her Katana, extended in length by a nearly invisible blade of wind. "Nngh. What was that? Ain' see anythin' like that 'fore!"

    The man munches on his dried fruit and nods at Goldenblade's spoken words. "I am new to PVP, and it seems I have much to learn." As he says this, Yuuki's arte fires off, and he drops his pouch of dried fruit. Almost in sympathy for the damage being dealt, he holds his side, wincing, his other hand crossing to retrieve the blessedly unspilled fruit pouch from its place on the ground. He seems to adjust how he is seated, watching things unfold as they happen, with a snack... but he seems to have withdrawn in upon himself, watching quietly.

Goldenblade looks wildly impressed as Yukki pulls an amazing and stunning move out of nowhere, it seems to her. But of course she'd been expecting something /like/ that, which was why she'd been hedging before in saying the fight looked even. "And that," she says to Hyuga with a dry chuckle, "is more like what I was expecting." Looking to Hyuga, she sees him double over, then go quiet. She's no medic, so she'll have to leave him to recover on his own, though she'll do an Inspect again to see if he's just low on HP? No, it's not that, so there's nothing she can do. Falling silent, she continues to watch the fight, to see how it plays out.

    That's the thing about Yuuki's newest ability. They're both the true Yuuki. A speed illusion that makes it look like there's two of her. But is actually just her moving fast enough to seemingly attack from two different directions at once. A skill supported by the mysterious ability that is Sword Artes, of course.

    As Viviene channels the wind to speed up her strikes, Yuuki has a smile on her face as she deftly leans, twists and steps her way around the blows, until she leaps backwards into the air, twisting over the final sweep before landing on her feet again a short distance away.

    Yuuki chuckles at the question, "Just something I've been working on recently. I call it 'Twin's Soul Reflection'. Cause, y'know, there's two of me!" The name actually has a deeper meaning than that, but Yuuki doesn't go into it right now. She does add though, "You're the first person I've used it on!"

    Yuuki's blade turns black again, though doesn't expand this time as she goes into some more strikes at Viviene, culminating on a strike for the other duelist's gut.

Viviene is a bit confused "Two of ya? How's that work? Is that some kind of new game mechanic?" with the way its said, perhaps Vivi doesn't grasp some of the more complicated mechanics of ETO. The thought of coming up with something personally being worked on is now stuck in Vivi's head as she is definetly considering her next actions, rolling and weaving around the attacks. She's definetly feeling the wear of the constant poison and other effects, but her physical stats must be through the roof, as she just keeps Pushing through them, with a level of grit and determination that shines in her expression, that daring grin. "Comin' here to fight has been worth it. Are all of your guild just as strong?" she asks as she finds an opening, there is a short distortion of dark magic, and a rapid chant, as she directs a hand towards Yuuki, seeking to try and bind her within a curse. "Thorn bind Hostage!", swiping with a another series of gale-force slashes, parting grass and plants in the process.

    Yuuki grins at Viviene, "Nope. I'm just that fast!"

    Yuuki has fought enough people to recognize the magic that Viviene is using. On her. The glowing thorny vines appear across Yuuki's body, helping to restrict her movement.

    Unfortunately it's not enough! The skilled Yuuki swiftly brings her blade up to meet Viviene's, preventing the strikes from getting through to hit the thorns on her body they were aimed at.

    With the final block, Yuuki twists her sword to throw Viviene's stance off and get a quick counterstrike in again. She then presses her attack further, flames dancing across her blade as she does so. While doing so she chuckles, "Yup! The Sleeping Knights are the smallest of the nine guilds that founded the alliances. But what we lack in numbers we make up for in quality!"

Viviene with the incoming attack, Vivi is starting to get real low on HP, and its getting to the point she was near the point of the fight being called, but with a last ditch effort, she brings her Katana down into a swing, seeking to knock Yuuki's blade into the ground and hammer with a stomp, causing the localized area to shudder and shake around Yuuki to threaten her footing, while it was a definate application of earth magic, the physical stomp alone left a small crater, and she swipes again, seeking to harry Yuuki with another series of rapid-fire, wind enhanced strikes. "Ya need any newcomers in ya guild? beside fightin, I spend my time seekin' facts, secrets, and items." which might bring out the question why her gear is so shoddy. Even with her HP so low, Viviene remains resolute, looking to play every advantage and trick she could. It isn't over until it's over!

    Yuuki blinks a little in surprise as her sword is knocked down into the ground, a ground which is shaking beneath her. Yuuki drops down to one knee, the lower center of gravity and additional contact with the ground giving her the stability to keep herself from being overwhelmed by the unstable ground.

    It also puts her in a good spot to counter, as she reverses the grip on her blade and pulls it from the ground. Some quick swipes with the reversed grip continue to intercept Viviene's attacks, preventing them from breaking through.

    As sword clashes against sword, Yuuki replies, "You've already passed the first requirement for joining. Fight me in a duel. And there is no second requirement."

    Then after a block, Yuuki pushes up, shoulder charging Viviene with a for a low damage impact and hopefully throwing Viviene off balance.

    Yuuki smirks, "Check and mate!"

    Yuuki unleashes a rapid series of strikes straight for Viviene's heart. After which Yuuki finishes, "Welcome to the guild!"

Viviene is caught by the retaliatory defense, set to the brink, Yuuki follows up with a series of strikes that She works to counter to the best of her ability, parrying and shifting aside, but some of the strikes hit, and her HP ticks right into the red zone, able to break away at the last minute, she blocks the last strike with her larger sword, only for it to shatter apart into shards of data as that final hit had shredded the last of its durability, and she just offers a hand up, admitting her loss. "Have to say, Yuuki, you're quite the fighter, and if thats all it takes, I'm Honored to join The Sleeping Knights." she looks to her disseminating greatsword and sighs. "I really need to get gear my strength doesn't just break." Vivi's gear seems to overall, be gear that she has outgrown ages ago. "Ever met a Lady named Goldenblade? She's fixin' up a new sword for me from all my old broken ones."

    Yuuki grinning as she accepts the victory. The loss of the Viviene's sword is unfortunate, but Yuuki could tell that it was near its end anyway so she's not going to worry about appologizing over it. Especially as weapon durability is a thing they all have to deal with.

    Except Yuuki it seems as she pats her sword, "It's a shame that Swords That Don't Break are few and far between." Of course Yuuki's would be one of those...

    Yuuki then nods, "I've run into Goldenblade a number of times! I'm sure she'll make you an awesome one! As for the rest of your gear..." Yuuki rubs her chin as she looks Viviene over, "We may just have to see about finding some more unique stuff for you."

    Yuuki then grins at Viviene, "You'd be surprised how many people don't want to duel me because of my reputation... And I don't like it. So being able to do so, win or lose, is a requirement so that I know you're the kind of person I want! Plus fighting someone is a great way to learn about them as a person."

Viviene rubs the back of her head "I've been under a rock. I wasn't even sure of your reputation when I came here. I just wanted a good fight, and maybe its about time I get into a guild and get to know people anyway." she said to Yuuki, she doesn't lament her sword, as she accesses her inventory and equips a replacement, that is an exact copy of the one that was destroyed. "Last one of these." she noted to herself, then shakes her head. "I think a lot of people could learn a lot fighting people like you, its how it works even in martial arts on the other side. The more people you fight, especially more experienced ones, the more you learn. I was.. big on martial arts, Mh?" she explains. "Just know this won't be our last duel! I plan to duel you again sometime. You gave me some ideas on how to improve, but I still am strugglin' to grasp some of your moves. Just that fast, huh? Speed doesn't create doubles!"

    Yuuki crosses her arms and sagenods as Viviene mentions that fighting people is a good way to learn, "Still, a reputation can still dissuade people. Especially those who aren't as dedicated to whatever it is they are trying to accomplish."

    Yuuki then pumps a fist as Viviene shows determination to duel again in the future, "Excellent! That's what I like to hear, Vivi!"

    Yuuki then simply laughs at Viviene's claim, "Maybe in the outside world! That's something you've gotta learn. Here, we're not limited by the rules of that world. Once you really grasp that, you can start to do things you can't do there!" There are still Other rules by which they ARE limited. But even those aren't set in stone, Yuuki always looking for ways to bend or break them.

    "Annnnnyway. I suppose I should let you know that the Sleeping Knights guild HQ is in Eas castle." Viviene has probably heard of one of the few Adventurer-owned castles before.

    "Oh, I should also do this..." Yuuki raises her hand and swipes. No doubt bring up her menu. Some presses here or there later and Viviene receives an official invitation window offering her to join the Sleeping Knights guild.

Viviene does tap her head, considering Yuuki's words. "You know, I know you're right, but sometimes it just doesn't click with my brain. Maybe from too much fighting on the other side." she admitted, just scratching the back of her head. When the invite pops up, she taps accept to join the guild, then mentions. "About gear..So long as I got a sword, I'm pretty good, so don't worry about rushing that, yeah?" she offers modestly. "Eas Castle? Can't say I've been there.." she mentions. "Since the Apocalypse, I've kind of been, Turtling, I think gamers call it? ETO is my first serious game." Now that the fight has ended, and her adrenaline isn't pumping, she's adopted her more calm, and eloquent style of speech again.

    "You'll get the hang of this kind of thinking! We just need to expose you to more of the weird stuff that people can do. Thankfully most of the Sleeping Knights members qualify for that in some way or another." Yuuki grins, clearly proud of that fact.

    When Viviene mentions she hasn't been to Eas, Yuuki ohs, "Well, it's in the Fourland Dukedom." Which is another one of the larger islands of Yamato, "Beyond that... Uhhh... It's kind of hard to explain where." Yuuki seems to be thinking intensively for a moment, before shrugging, "I guess I'll just have to take you with me when I head back. Which won't be too long! Probably best anyway so you can pick out a room for yourself. Meet some of the others. Try some of the cooking of Wake's fiance. It's really good!"

    "Annnnyway, after all that I'm STARVING. I'm going to go and crash the Plant Hwyaden HQ to see if they have any good food cooking. I'll catcha later, okay?" Yuuki starts to head off, giving Viviene a smile and a wave.

Viviene just lets out a rich laugh, and nods. "Suppose so, can't let all the badass kids get the better of me, huh?" she said with a grin at Yuuki, and nods. "Some good food does sound nice.. I usually just forage stuff up and menu craft something. Been that way for as long as I remember." she said thoughtfully, as she makes her realization. "... I really need to get out and actually meet more people. Has it really been so long already?" it was mostly an after thought to herself, then shakes her head. "Thanks for the match, Yuuki, Happy snacking."