Tournament: Kauchemar vs Haru

Fighters from all over the world compete in a battle in the Streets. Street Fighter 3.14, Pie fighting edition. Wait. Checking our notes here. Not integrated. Instead we a rhythm battle game between the darkest of dark. Nocturnal nonsense in music and murder form. The Crownless Cup continues on with Haru's second match and Kau's first.

The arena has been set to a night time enchantment to befit the two and little light bottles that are totally not glowsticks have been handed out as part of the preparations. Despite the lack of lighting, it is easy to see the contestants as they walk on out. For Haru it is his silvery hair that glows in the near-blacklight effect along with his clear blue eyes and purple monocle. His white cloak flows behind him. The Shibuya Shuffle served him well in the cosplay battle with Gwen, but can his sweet dance moves keep up to the Nightmare's tempo?!

    So this is without a doubt the most amazing setting for a duel that Asuna has seen. She has a glowstick, because it's honestly really awesome and her little girl, settled in Asuna's lap, has one, as well. Yui's other arm is full, or she'd have two. It seems she talked Asuna into getting more stuffed toys.

    Yui is hugging both Kauchemar and Haru dolls tight. Her favorite (the Souji doll) is also along for the ride. "This is amazing, mama!" She's elated. The atmosphere is so strange and exciting. Adventurers are just the coolest.

    Asuna grins, nodding in agreement. "Shibuya has definitely raised the bar with this one. I'm not sure what we're going to figure out to keep taking things to the next level when it's our turn to host again."

    Granted, she has ideas already, fed by some of the weirder dungeon challenges she's faced. And some of the obstacle courses she's trained on.

    "Will you ever fight these two?" the little Lander asks suddenly.

    The Flash looks thoughtful as she considers her reply. "Well... I'd have to make it all the way to the finals, so probably not in this tournament. But certainly after. It'd be fun to duel Adventurers with very different styles."

    Out in the crowd, walks a form familiar to many, the fairly average man in a chef's clothing has a large wooden backpack that bears a Sashimono with the symbol for the Isekai Ryokan. "Yakisobapan! Nothing's better at a duel than Yakisobapan!." there's no baseball so he's got to sell Yakipan somewhere and duels seem to hold the same place in his new world.

    He's handing out wrapped sandwiches in exchange for gold as he walks through the crowd.

Of course, Kauchemar has to make an entrance. Just for once that entrance is an actual entrance as much as it is her showing off.

It is a spectacle that is entirely on brand for her style of mischief. A wash of shadow rolls over the arena grounds. There's there eerie riff of chords somewhere between guitar and theremin, followed by a crack of thunder and clatter of hooves.

Then the shadows fade and there she now stands where no one stood moments before. The psychedelic purple glow from her eyes stand out in the nocturnal atmosphere.

"Well, I had not expected to share a stage with you again so soon Nox." She snaps her fingers and in a dramatic puff of ash and sulfur Grindcore Staff appears in her hand. "But the show must go on and what a show it will be!"

    Okay, that call for yakisobapan gets Asuna's attention. That's just what she needs to make sure her little girl doesn't get hungry. The Flash raises a hand to flag down Hifumi.

    "Over here! I'll take.." She pauses, considering the amount of food, and then finishes her order, "two please!"

    Gold is provided without a fuss. "I have to say, New World has some great food options. Hopefully I can share some of my own cooking after the tournament is done."

    Yui remains utterly focused on the match, though. Kauchemar's entrance and memories of Haru's earlier performance definitely creates an impression of what is going to come. "Woah... This is going to be amazing!"

If there is one thing she learned from their previous duel it was not to give Haru an easy time to set up. So as soon as the duel system formalities are done she charges across the arena swinging her staff while making the most horrific of noises, a shrieking whinney that could put banshees to shame!

    Hifumi happily sells Asuna a few Yakipan and heads off into the crowd. "Yakisobapan, get a taste of the Otherworld! Yakisobapan the taste of Koshien!" he shouts, trying to garner attention from Lander and Adventurer alike.

Haru had a far less flashy entrance. His stage performance may have all been spent as Haruphael in Gwen's match. There is a cool night wind about him as he stands at the end of the arena, looking at Kau. "Perhaps it is the arrangers that thought it would be amusing to have two forces of Dark face out against each other," he says, not moving as the charge begins, "or the Goddesses themselves the dice in that direction." His right hand clenches, "There is history between us. When I walked this path once again it was yourself and my sister that were there to test my mettle. Shiruba was there to help me find a way of fighting unlike no other." The winds. They -howl- now.

Haru braces for the impact, constructing a wall of alchemical ice only capable of stopping a fraction of the oncoming force. He staggers backwards, a knee buckling but not hitting the ground. Not down. He looks up. "So the show -must- go on. She must not lose her match, and neither shall I." The arcane energy in the air is thick enough to raise hairs on end. Whatever is going to happen it is going to happen soon, and quickly.

It was a great opening movement but Kauchemar knows better than to take Haru or that building sensation lightly. She takes a step back, the Nightmare's presence becoming harder to focus on in the darkness as she moves away from the Artificer. For someone that loves attention she is good at avoiding notice she wants to.Her voice however is as sound and haunting as ever. "o/~ Darkness, Divination, Deceeeption... o/~" She steps back into view, but the real issue is the cascade of water that erupts around her, surging towards Haru with its payload of very small but very poisonous marine life. "o/~ You can't stop tidal inceeeption! o/-"

Haru acknowledges that the sentiments that he holds towards Kau may not be in equal measure. Being ignored only fuels into his Darkness. A step back. Forward. The side two times. An amazing little trick as he phases through the surging waters to the other side with a Wave Arte making its way directly towards Kau. All on this trap-like delay structure that makes it difficult to tell what exactly the Enchanter is doing.

    It's a style utterly different than her own, so Asuna is very curious about this fight, indeed. The Flash uses darkness in one of her own signature moves, but as more of a, uh.. stab-based duelist, this is a learning opportunity.

    But Asuna has other things to pay attention to, as well. She shifts Yui slightly and collects the not-a-glow-stick from her. This is replaced with partially unwrapped yakisoba pan. And being a child, Yui has no problem devouring this new kind of food in dainty bites.

    "This is so good, mama!"

    Asuna makes a note to see about trading some culinary knowledge with Hifumi. Anything that expands her daughter's palette worth looking into. Plus yakisoba pan is especially tasty.

    "She's singing and he's dancing..." whispers Yui. For a time, she completely forgets to keep eating.

The sudden stone spikes were enough proof that keeping on the move had been a good idea. But it doesn't stop Kauchemar from stopping to examine Haru's own movements as he tends with the waters and it contents, while shuffling his steps and trying to set up more of his own. "Not bad, not bad at all Nox my boy." But then the wicked grin, showing her viper-like fangs, returns. "But let's see if now you can -keep- up."

A hand is thrust over her head, holding her staff up in what could be a 'I have the power!' pose if it didn't look more like the weapon of Skeletor if it's horned skull. There's a peal of thunder, and a bolt of lightning splitting the faux night to strike the staff. It crackles as she pulls it back down into her hands, imposing over the staff what appears to be a jagged Flying-V made of electricity. Electric Air Guitar.

"o/~ The time for games is over... but that's not really true
Because tonight my show will toy with your mind until we're through. o/~"

The crackle of lightning accompanies the riffing that follows, sparks flying as hardened fingertips jam across the image. At the same time Kauchemar breaks into motion once more, a fluid rhythmic movement that combines the grace of a dance with the evasive motions of battle. Step, slide, tap, twirl... she can't avoid the onslaught that comes entirely this time, so instead parades into it fearlessly, as it is all part of the show to take some of the beating for the thrill of the audience.

"o/~ Oh what hellish chords I have... The better to sear where you are... o/~"

And somewhere in those graceful movements, even without fading in and out of view, she manages to position herself back into Haru's personal space.
And swings the faux guitar in a hefty arc with some of that equine might.
"o/~ So I can SHRED your HEARTSTRINGS, like a ROCK GUITAR! o/~"

    Hifumi continues to work the crowd, extoling the virtues of Yakisobapan and the further virtues of buying it from him to eat while watching the fight.

Haru takes a step back from the first beat, the second, the third. The music in the moonlight is all to the rhythm of the Artificer with noodle arms. "Your songs are too predictable, Kau," he says as he steps out of the way of one. "Once you find the tempo, you've given up the whole melody," he explains as the next attack finds only the graze of his arm. Meanwhile there is a problem the way he is casting his magic. He has had the time to set it up now. "You ended it before it even began. I can dance this tune all night long." A surge of energy fills the arena that crackles to the beat and electrifies the stage with purple, arcane energy.

Kauchemar finishes off her little display with some more epic riffing, drawing the remaining energy from the Air Guitar and turning it into another disorienting sonic assault. Once it's gone she takes a step back, staff held in one hand as she flicks the other forward, and her Binder Shield leaps from her back to place itself in front of her.

"Maybe I am. Maybe that's what I want you to think," she retorts as she moves. Though her movements are only to keep the shield between herself and her opponent as much as possible. She's not attacking him directly.

That's when the large insectoid, a netherwig much like the creature that inspired the dark summoning, emerges from the ground and makes vicious snapping slashing motions towards the artificer with it's oversized pinchers.

"A weak bluff," Haru intones with the sort of venom reserved for villains ready to deliver a lengthy monologue. The crackling display of arcane energy enervates and leaves the stage in a calm. The eye of the storm. Both of his hands raise upwards as a shell of colorful magic panes surrounds him, doubling down at his feet as he hops to give the little chomper raw magical glass to gnaw on. "Or maybe you can't see it yet. All this darkness, left you blind," as a foot steps atop the layered glass and sends him upwards into the air. In the moonlight. Monocle glinting. Awoooo!

There it is, the most obnoxious of Haru's abilities. The one that totally messes with most of her cooldowns at the most inoppritune of times. It's annoying. It's also slightly amusing in that it seems tailored to deal specifically with people who use a style like hers. "Cute, making speeches now too. You've come a long way in chuunidom." She's keeping the binder between them as it continues to ripple with darkness, even if it's going to mostly useless if Haru doesn't make any actual direct attacks. Kauchemar knows she's on both back hooves now, but like a good performer she's not showing it.

The Netherwig retreats. But as it does, it cause a rather violent tremor to go shaking through the arena floor as it disappears back underground and into the very nether it came from.

    Hifumi watches the chunnioff as he tosses Yakipan and coins back and forth with the crowd. Sometimes having to go long to get a Yakipan up to someone in the cheep seats.

Haru floats up there like the darkness itself has lent him wings. Arms are open to either side as the blue color of his eyes is overshadowed by that of his monocle. A purple glint. A red glare beyond. "Kauchemar Tenebae," Haru says as red vines rip from the ground like hellish tentacles, "you have not begun to see the depths of my power." They seek out the mare, burning, gripping, as if to hold a weakened fighter in place. They cut. They /bleed/ like a thousand shards of glass. "Allow me to give you a taste!"

Terra. Magna. Fortis. Trabem. Conuenerunt. Tenebris. . . Annihilatio!

The four ioun stones come to his hands, two around each, circling quickly like that of arcane cannons coming to full power. Unleash. ULTIMA! KADOOOOSSSHHHH. Such devastation. This was certainly his intention.

Sure enough, that's exactly what Haru does, using a batch of burning briars to get around her defenses. They dig in, they sting, they burn. The status effects and debuffs, the banes of any defensive build, are building up. Though after a bit of jerking and shaking about she manages to pull free and stomp out the fiery foliage. Damn, the cooldowns are still slogged. The best she can do is summon a few shamblers and send them lurching towards the Artificer. She tries to bluff. "Is that the best you got in that bag of tri--"

The bluff fails, ears splaying back at the callout, and the chant. "--Sorry I asked!" She hunkers behind her shield like Wile E Coyota trying to hide from a falling boulder under an umbrella. "This is gonna sting."

A few moments later she's going to be left sprawled out, halfway across the arena.

Insert Laharl Laugh here.

Haru descends down onto the arena as gravity would have him do. Just in time for a few shamblers to start mauling on him like he was an idol signing autographs, "Get off me!" he says in still Laharl voice before whatever audio trick that was about fixes and he dances away. Thriller!

No Thriller. Haru pops them and turns his attention back to Kau with the tempo reset. "Do you still have time for your final verse. The show. Must. Go. On," he grins with a clenched fist. Haru looks like he might be enjoying this, albiet a bit too, uh, villainy in the process.

Slowly Kauchemar peels herself off the ground. The dread horse hasn't been completely kicked yet.... though she certainly looks the worst for wear after that arcane nuke. Sweeps a hand back through her now very scorched mane. "Curtain call hasn't quite dropped yet." She flicks her hand, and her staff leaps back into her hand from where she dropped it in the previous exchanges to focus on her defense. "Though I'm starting to think the fates just didn't want a repeat performance. Oh well. The show still needs it's final act."

It's possible she's lost by this point, but Kauchemar is not one to stop swinging until the very end. The Binder Shield has nothing left after that barrage, so she just conjeals some darkness into a small barrier. It's at least an attempt at defense. The other hand points Grindcore Staff forward, unleashing it's trademark power, and then firing a beam of blackness from the maw of the skull.

Haru stands there on the ground. It is not as lofty as the one before up in the air. More mundane. He doesn't even attempt to get out of the way of the attack that Kau levels in his direction as a natural shield washes over him like he was thrown a water balloon of darkness and fire. "If the fates desire a repeat performance, Kau," he puts a hand to his face in full Chuuni style. "Then it is I who shall answer their call."

Like the sound of a drop of water hitting a still lake, the fabric of the Arcane Ripples. "Arcane Echo," he hisses upon the wind. The hand is pulled from his covered monocle as a beam of darkness erupts. He is, in fact, firing his laser. At Kau. In full chuuni fashion.

"That's the spirit. You can only win if you give it everything you can. Chuuni or otherwise." Kauchemar may be beat, but the Spirit of the Rival still burns strongly. "You shall go forth, power from what you have learned to defeat me..." And then it literally burns as she stomps a hoof to the ground, hellfire igniting around her like a little fiery rave of her own. "But don't think I'm going to just stop and give you that win! You have to earn it, even at this point! So bring it on!"

"Besides..." At the same time she aims Grindcore Staff towards him once more, unleashing it's full fury of the deafening sonic dubs and blistering arcane lights! "I may drop like the beat after this, but a good song never dies!"

Though the performance likely will end with her in another nightmare-shaped crater either way.

The audience is treated to a tremendous spectacle. Magic and sound, arcane and laser lights! Rave wubs and bass boosts galore! As close as you can get to a Beam-O-War as there is!

But in the end it does indeed end with Kauchemar flat on her back on the ground, staff sticking up like some sort of weird surrender flag because her arm has locked in the position holding it. Even with all her extravagant showmanship, there is only one way to sum all that up.

"... ow ..."

Crowd goes wild! Display and delightful daring darkness. "You alright over there," Haru says when the show is over, talking over to the surrender flag. He would help Kau up but those noodle arms are not exactly built for physical support.

Kauchemar eventually peels herself off the ground, once the victory causes the duel system to reset. "Yeah... I just need a drink after all that. Good job, Artificer. This encore performance is yours." At least despite all the darkness she's not a poor sport, turning to shuffle off the field so other fights can eventually happen.