Tournament: Tian vs Uta

    So, somewhere around two hours before the match is scheduled, Asuna appears in the area. She's not the first, though. That's a little Lander girl, who is actually giving it her best to drag The Flash here. "Mama, come on! I want to get the best seats!"

    When you are really short that kinda thing does matter! But honestly, Asuna has never had issues getting to the front for Yui. For one weird reason or another, there are still a lot of people who fanboy over her. Though now a lot of adventurers appear to be fans of Yui even more than Asuna.

    Regardless, they are the first people here. So early that those here to make sure things are setup and cleaned for the duel come after. With a proper Japanese upbringing, Asuna does her thing. She busts out her maid suit and helps them clean the benches, prep the field by removing some of the leftover debris from previous fights, and generally keeps herself occupied. All the while, Yui is helping. Sure, she's small, but anyone who has ever cleaned any area knows that small is a total advantage.

Goldenblade has shown up to a mostly filled set of stands, as people have been arriving pretty constantly, thohugh none quite as early as Asuna and her little girl, and she steps into the middle of the dirt arena surrounded by bleachers; the fans are already a dull roar by this point, and the noise picks up further as she enters the field, both for her own fame as a hero to Landers, a Westelande officer, and because it means the fight will be starting soon.

She, once again, has forgone an announcing magical device, and simply bellows enough to be heard, aided a bit by the shape of the statium, "Welcome, Ladies and Gentlemen, to the Maaaaiiiin Event! The Uncrowned Cup match between, in this corner, Yamato's Musical Kung Fu Nurse, Uta Furore," and she'll gesture, and the crowd gives a roar of approval, "and Palace Lands Crownbreaker Tian Lang!" There is another roar of approval for Tian that buries any further comment she might have added. "Fighters," she calls, looking to Uta and Tian, "are you ready to fight?" She'll look to both for a nod, and then bellow, "Then, FIGHT!" and she will dash out of the arena and leave Tian and Uta to it.

It was probably no surprise that Lunaris had tried to make this particular duel, weaving through the stands to find any nice seat she could manage. It certainly wasn't the easiest, the stands nicely filled out even by the time she got there. Crowds, loud crowds, were not really her thing but this was important! After all, she had a fun 'bet' with Tian, no matter what they had said. Also to cheer the tournament on, of course. Finally finding a seat, wiping it down a little before taking a place. Besides, like anyone could say no to watching what was going to be an excellent fight.

    Before the whole announcement and excitement starts, Asuna realized that people have started to show up. Granted, it's The Flash in maid cosplay. It was highly requested by her fans. She pauses, ready to preen under the attention. Errr, that is. She doesn't need attention. Not at all. That stuff is kind of a bother, right? So yes, she pauses and smiles and waits to be spoken to and fawned over and then .... nothing happens.

    Yui, meanwhile, has no less than five adventurers helping her clean and vying for her attention. One of them even gives her several new cloth dolls to add to her collection. Yui had been carrying Soujiro and Uta around this morning. Now she has Tian and Goldenblade, too.

    Before too long, though, it is time to get into the stands. Asuna swaps into a more normal outfit (the new bodysuit that Gwen made for her!), goes to collect her daughter and sits down in the best spot on the bench, setting Yui in her lap. Not far away, some of Yui's new fanclub joins them. These are hulking adventurers and they are appreciated. Heavy tanks are great security.

    Asuna makes sure to buy these new friends some food while they wait. There are always food vendors working the fights! As usual, Asuna came fully-prepared with additional treats. It's hard to say just how many times she's visited Pela's cafe this week, but The Flash can say that she's tried literally everything her mentor makes at this point. Twice.

Shiruba already fufilled her committment as a combatant, so now she was just here to watch as part of the audience. After loading up on snacks and drinks to enjoy during the viewing process, of course. Foodie gotta food.

"Wait, wait, we're here to -Fight-?!", Uta exclaims, startled, head perking up from staring at a pair of blank pages.

Her head snaps left and right in panic, while she holds an open notebook in one hand and her pencil in the other, in a pose that would not be out of place for a tabletop RPG miniature of a sorcerer with a grimoire and a wand. "I thought we were having Sign Language Lessons today!"

Some frantic menu navigation later, the pencil is shimmered away, replaced by Uta's staff, Heartsong, so named because of its musical properties and because it features an anatomically correct heart in gem form at the top.

"I've heard she ripped that heart right off the chest of a Siren," a member of the audience mutters to the neighbour.

"I've heard it's actually an advertisment sign for her services as a nurse. Kind of like a barber pole."

"Oh, I'm betting you five coppers she found it inside a slime."

"Deal!"

In her other hand, Uta has a small sheet of paper, which she's completely absorbed by. "Ok, ok, stay calm. Duel cheatsheet. Step 1, go to arena."

She looks up, and around.

"Done. Step 2, psychological warfare. Establish confidence and intimidate the opponent with your opening words."

"I am here to triumph! I have trained extensively for this day, focusing all my energy into it, forging every single fiber of my muscles, every single oscillation of my Song Magic to achieve success! So," she exclaims, slamming the metal tip of her staff against the ground with determination, raising a cloud of dust and producing an impact far louder than one would expect, with the mandatory dramatic camera angle, "at this point, there is only one question I have for you."

Her eyes narrow. She's challenging Tian.

"How do you say 'Hello, My name is Uta Furore' in sign language?"

Tian cannot hear the roar of the crowd, at least not in the same way that her hearing counterparts amongst the Adventurers might be able to. However, they can still feel it. There is a slight rumble in the air, in the ground, in the environment. Their ears do swivel, reacting as if there may be some sound filtering through, though what it may sound like is anyone's guess.

The Cait Sith is dressed in their usual dark leathers and metal breastplate, face painted in dark makeup and forehead and eyes covered by the lupine mask that has become one of their defining characteristics.

Stepping out onto the sands, Tian raises a hand towards the audience. Their golden eyes sweep through the sea of faces, offering a grin towards Yui and later a wink in the direction of Lunaris.

Then, they look across towards Uta, offering a bow which sweeps their hair forward, the ombre strands lightly swaying with the motion. After rising again, Tian signs, "<I have been looking forward to this.>" The question surprises them, though.

With a confused tilt of the head, Tian gives a saluting motion, then follows it by touching their chest, tapping the first two fingers of each hand together, followed by a longer finger-spelling of Uta's full name. That part is likely harder to follow, however. Since it is not meant to convey actual speach, the translation system doesn't seem to pick it up, and just shows the motions.

"<Once the match starts, I will no longer be able to speak. I wish us both luck, my friend.>" That said, Tian reaches for the two daggers sheathed at their side, spinning each one in their hands. There is a flash of sunlight on the blades as they get into position.

    Hostess duties are such a major pain! With her responsibilities, Fuka might have ended up missing her friend's match! Not that Fuka begrudges such things... the tournament's been amazing so far, and she's happy to have contributed what she could. But... well, if she can't be there for her friends, what's the point?

    She rushes in, using elbows and shoulders if need be to find herself a place where she can see from. She'd climb up Asuna or someone else tall if need be, but her hands are full. She's got one of the official dolls of both fighters. Yes, both. She may be more Uta's friend than Tian's, but she has nothing but respect for the Uncrowned and their accomplishments. Besides, the wolf-fox is rather cute, if Fuka's any judge. Who wouldn't want a plushie - er, action figure, of the mighty duellist?

    "I didn't miss anything did I?" Fuka demands breathlessly of the nearby audience members, likely including adventurers she may know. "Oh! There's Uta being psych... well, either psyched up or psycho. Who knows? It's Uta!" she grins, and waves her plushies in the air and has them both facing each other and apparently posing menacingly. As menacingly as a pair of dolls can pose anyways, and probably somewhat more menacingly, somehow, than the rather amiable combatants.

"I have been looking forward to this as well!", Uta confirms.

She was already focusing a lot of attention on Tian, something... that Uta doesn't always do; so, when the Cait Sith begins their lesson, she soaks in all the movements, and begins repeating them immediately after. The saluting motion, the hand to the chest, the double-finger tapping. As well as her stats and skills, combined with her status as a beginner, allow. And then-

Hesitation.

"...I think I will need a refresher for the next part." The finger-spelled name. "And- well, fair! I think it's only fair if I don't talk either then.", she nods. And then beams. "This is going to be interesting!"

As soon as the duel is started, Uta loses no time. A scream, that Tian might not be able to hear in the traditional sense, but so powerful they will certainly be feeling the vibrations of. And then a fusillade of punches, kicks, and staff swings and jabs so rapid that if cameras were already invented, one would likely capture a whole forest of limbs and sticks on paper.

There is no reaction to the scream from Tian, as if the system doesn't even bother picking up the sound at all. However, the quick movement is met with a tensing of their muscles and a flattening of ears back against their dark, ombre hair.

At first, Tian seems to be able to avoid some of it, moving along with the flow of Uta's strikes so that a punch grazes by one cheek, and a kick barely avoids catching them in the side. However, they are simply unable to keep up with the tempo of those attacks. Eventually, blows start to land. One strikes Tian across the jaw, leaving a smear of makeup on Uta's hand. The other thrusts hard into their stomach, causing the Blade Dancer to double over slightly, coughing once.

Then, raising their eyes with a determined glint in them, the Cait Sith starts to motion with one hand, the motion of their weapon sweeping up sand and debris. Those who saw their match against Lunaris may recognize the motion, stirring up a vortex of elemental energy.

It nearly causes tian to disappear from view for a moment, replaced with simply a blinding sandstorm that moves inevitably towards Uta. At first, it seems to just impact with that debris which doesn't seem the true force of such an attack. No, it comes a moment later as blades flash out from within, quick strikes meant to catch a person off-guard.  

Shiruba is chewing on a yakitori, but she still manages to wave to Fukaziroh, and to Asuna with her little girl... and then her attention is taken entirely by the fight as it starts. She hasn't seen much of Tian outside of helping with Palace Land efforts, and while she knows Uta really well has not actually seen the combat side of her often. So her focus is mainly on the duel. And then on her eating.

    Leaning up against the barriers, Lunaris looks on in absolute delight as the fight starts to get off the ground. She might not have the best position, but she really was quite keen to see Tian's fighting style from.. Well, out of reach of their daggers this time around. Plus she had heard some very good things about Uta's fighting as well.. Also from Tian, she supposed, but that seemed pretty high praise coming from the person who beat her, right?

    She's utterly shocked when the Blade Dancer actually spots her amongst the crowd, and though the two fighters are likely too busy to see her response, the Cait Sith can't help but go a shade of pink at the wink. After the Cafe, she was definitely in that awkward stage. Still, it was hard not to get caught up in the energy of the crowd, cheering in excitement, the atmosphere only growing and growing as they greeted, and soon began.

    Asuna looks over her shoulder to Fuka, "Over here, girl!" She has a frontrow spot on the bench and there's room where Yui would be sitting. But Yui much prefers Asuna's lap. Those extra inches of height are helpful!

    Without much ado, the fight is underway. After, well, a moment of pure Utaness. Yui laughs, "Uta-Sensei is so funny..." a moment later and the Lander observes, "... and she's scary in a fight just like you, mama!"

    "Well, we do take our dueling seriously." Asuna settles her focus on the fight. This is a chance to learn, after all. And if a stray range attack should head her way, she wants to be ready. Though, again, the huge werefangs nearby are probably quite ready to shield the entire area.

Silence falls. No, drops.

It is not a good idea to keep your mouth open in a storm flinging debris around. You might be swallowing sand. A rock. Sometimes a tree or a cow, if the wind is strong enough. There are fairy tales of the Tornado Chasers of FM World who specifically go hunting for massive elementals, have them throw wegetation and cattle at them, and whoever can swallow the largest wins.

These stories should likely be discounted due to them having been told by Bob the Drunkard at the Hostess of Fertility after a particularly generous serving of beer.

As for Uta, she keeps her mouth shut. She closes her eyes, hands crossed in front of her face to block the debris as the blast makes her hair and skirt flutter at a breakneck rate.

And then, the steel. It lands, leaving glowing marks on the Nurse's body.

Uta spins and leaps into the sandstorm with a grimace of pain, storm where she disappears.

Silent like a Ninja, deadly like a Ninja, dependable like a Ninja who seems to have run out of original similes, Uta will make her presence known... when, reappearing within Melee range, she'll move in, a syringe brimming with Dark elemental energy firmly in her clutch, ready to be pressed into the Forger's flesh.

For a moment, the two seem to be trading uses of the cover offered by the sandstorm, with first Tian's strikes and then Uta vanishing into it. As the magic begins to fade, the Blade Dancer lands in a crouch, gold eyes looking around for where the next attack will come from.

Where it does come from is unexpected, the syringe jabbing into Tian's neck where the armor doesn't cover. With a snarl, the Blade Dancer pulls back, giving a show of teeth as one hand comes up to touch the area that now glows red at a single point. From that point, a few dark lines stat to flow up along Tian's neck, following the path of arteries and veins.

Feeling the effect of whatever was in that syringe, Tian reaches to their belt and pulls out a potion, chugging the contents and then tossing the vial down onto the sands. There is a flare of a healing effect that shows in a faint glow that passes up and down their body.

Then, Tian moves. The motions are quick enough that they nearly become a blur, causing it to be difficult to tell exactly where the next strike will come from. This time, however, Uta has some signs in the shifting of the sands as Tian's feet leave behind impressions. It gives only a moment's notice before weapons strike out, trying to target Uta's arm, intending to force her to drop the unusual weapon.

Haru has been around the stands for some time, thought it only until now that he has decided to change his seating position. He walks to Asuna and gives her a greeting, "Hi Asuna, Hi Yui," but respects that wave down to spend time with another and keeps going a bit further in the stands to greet and settle near the next group, "Luna, Shiruba." And. Seat. A nod to the announcing Goldenblade.

    And here it is! The part of the fight where things get really interesting. Asuna is happy to see damage flying. She's biased, of course, but she thinks defensive battles go a tad too long for a six year old child to enjoy.

    Asuna throws up a shield (as do others) whenever anything remotely dangerous happens. Sure, others are better at it than she is, but this is her daughter. Granted, Yui is, for lack of a better word, going crazy with excitement.

    The usually quiet girl is cheering wildly, not just for Uta, but for Tian, too. She likes the unusual fighting style of the Palace Lander. It's not something she's seen before. Besides, she was taught everyone is happier if someone is cheering for them.

    Asuna turns to nods to Haru, "Heya, dance instructor! Glad you could make the duel!"

"Wouldn't miss my sister's duel, no matter what got in the way," Haru says to Asuna over a chim from a bit away. "Yui seems spirited today. She liking the tournament?"

It's one clean move, there is glinting of metal. The syringe plants itself on the ground, needle first. It's going to need a good run of disinfection before being used on patients again.

Uta frowns . She opens her mouth as if for saying something, but catches herself. Promises were made.

Show, don't tell. It is not only a writer's credo, it is this battle's theme. And so, Uta's displeasure manifests not with encoded messages, but with her assuming a pose one would expect from The Hulk: feet at a distance, leaning forward, a neat arc formed by her arms and shoudlers, fists pointing down.

And then, as she begins intoning a powerful, staccato, ostinato war chant, stone begins to grow on her hands, both the one clutching her staff and the other, to a concerning level so that the diameter of her fists grows to match the length of her thighs; Her wrists and forearms, likewise, grow to match the size of her hand.

If this continues, she'll soon be the size of, to remain with the superhero theme, The Thing from the Fantastic four.

The Thing is- Sorry, I mean, The thing is, she doesn't.

The magic stops, and she stands there, oversized fists and the beginning of forerms (reaching almost to her actual elbow) dangling there, lopsided, while the rest of her body is the same.

The crowd, holding its breath waiting to see what the next development would be- wait, what happened?

Blink and you'll miss it: Uta charged in to Suplex Tian!

There is a long moment where Uta is charging up that strange earth-aura around themselves. It's strange enough to cause hesitation from Tian, who seems uncertain about charging into it.

However, just as a decision seems to be made, a shifting of Tian's weight, the bulked up form of Uta comes charging in their direction. There is a desperate attempt to avoid the incoming attack, but Uta manages to catch the Blade Dancer by the leg. Tossed skyward, the wolf-fox flails before being slammed back into the ground, skidding across the battlefield and leaving a deep streak in the sands.

With a thud, Tian lands against the walls surrounding the battlefield, just below where Asuna and Yui are sitting. It gives them a very up close and personal view of the aftermath of that attack.

Thankfully, Tian still has some fight left in them and quickly scrambles to their feet, though one leg does seem to buckle slightly. With a growl, the Cait Sith clenches their grip on the twin daggers.

Charging off of the wall, the two daggers seem to flash with light. This time it is not from the sun's reflection, but from light energy that is charged into the blades. It's something that may remind some of the more well traveled Adventurers of what they have seen in Kallamore. One point of light seems to hone in on Uta, as if creating a target on them as part of a laser light show.

Then, Tian leaps, both blades coming down, each illuminated with a flash of radiance that lights up the sands.

    "She's loving it, honestly," replies Asuna on the chim. "She's still going to follow in our footsteps as a samurai, it seems."

    This is about the time that Tian comes flying over. Yui gasps, her eyes going wide. There is fear in those eyes. But The Flash is watching like a hawk.

    A shield of air harder than steel forms in front of the child. It turns out to be unnecessary, but it brings immediate comfort to the little Lander. On either side of that shield, even stronger defense springs into being a fraction of a second later. The tanks know their business, too. Even the strongest attacks in the game would have a hard time getting through /that/ layered defense.

    Sensing the tension in Yui, Asuna gives her a comforting squeeze.

    "No need to be afraid, remember? You will always be safe in my arms."

    It's been a while since Fuka's seen Uta duel. Sure she's seen her battling mobs and bosses, but usually while also engaged in battle herself. It's different, gripping, seeing it as a member of the audience. Still pretty wild, but she can't help. Not directly at least. She holds up her dolls and cheers wildly however, and perhaps that'll be enough!

    The cheers last until Tian goes hurtling towards the wall right beneath her, Asuna, and Yui. Fuka, on the edge of her seat if not bouncing out of it already, goes all the way up and slightly to the side, not exactly in front of Asuna and Yui but braced to protect them. Only, of course, it's completely unnecessary. Her merely physical defenses, in this case, pale beside the defenses she *knows* are part of the tournament arrangements, not to mention Asuna's own mama-bear fierceness.

    None of that matters however. Fuka is Fuka, protector of small cute things. At least small cute things not currently trying to murder her that is; some monsters just don't count! As Tian recovers and charges in to the attack, Fuka glances down at Yui, then over at Asuna. She grins sheepishly, shuffling to the side as if unblocking their view, then sits down again. Well sort of. She's still barely in her seat!

Uta looks up at the Cait Sith. That is her first a mistake.

The light is blinding, so she lifts her hand to shield her eyes. That is her second mistake: forgetting her gigantic stone gauntlets, she smacks herself in the face and sends herself toppling over with a massive THUD.

When the dust settles, Uta, supine, blinks.

Glance of surprise at one stone gauntlet. Pull. Look of horror at the other gauntlet. Pull the other hand.

Her massive stone fists apparently hard to lift from a standstill position, as opposed to being swung around while already dangling.

And then, to spare our audience what Tian is then going to do to the immobilized Uta, we switch to more relaxing images. How about some food?

*Cut to a close up of various vegetables being rapidly chopped on a cutting board by an expert chef*

Cut back to a screaming Uta who, tense as she struggles to free herself from her self-inflicted Power Manacles, has been keeping her eyes shut.

Only to open them to reveal two massive pools of Darkness, which, with her scream reaching an unprecedented volume, unleash a blast of Dark Energy.

Haru has a cup of coffee with him as he watches the show. That is a classic Uta move right there. Still it makes him smile as he is proud of her all the same. "You can do it, Uta!" he cheers in his low energy, but high authenticitity, fashion.

At times, there are things you just don't expect to happen in the turn of battle. In fact, Tian is mid-leap when they realize that Uta may very well be struggling under the impact of their own Wave Arte. It's just not possible to pull back at that moment, so once the blades strike, Tian shifts to try to roll away, giving Uta some space.

Concern is written on the features of the Cait Sith. That is, until those twin black pools of darkness look in their direction. It is like a jolt of electricity runs up their spine, causing their already bushy tail to puff outwards.

The blast of dark energy impacts Tian directly in the chest, sending the Cait Sith backwards a few steps as the effect causes their breastplate to crack. This forces the crafter to raise their own weapon to slice off one of the support straps, dropping the ruined armor to the sands.

Heavy, panting breaths come from the Blade Dancer as they give a whistle. Head tilting, Tian seems to wait just a few heartbeats to make sure Uta is actually okay. If nothing else, the crafter is not as bloodthirsty as many others might be.

Only once Uta has the chance to somewhat recover, does Tian spin those two daggers again, a flicker of their fingers causing one to ignite with flames while the other remains glowing with those rainbow colors.

Charging back in, Tian blows the flames from one dagger towards Uta with a breath, following up with another flashy sweep of the illuminated off-hand blade.

As Uta is straining to pull herself free, the effect of the Arte runs out. That was her third mistake: with nothing to hold her back, Uta accidentally flings herself -towards- Tian.

More screaming ensues as Uta finds herself mid-flight with no clear sense of where is up, where is down, and where is opponent. So, she does what safety rules dictate in such situation: she reaches for the nearest floatation device.

Said floatation device happens, as it is common, to be a slime. A slime that Uta has summoned. All around her.

When you're in doubt, summon your own escape pod, and fly towards your enemy while iniside a bubble of air inside a slime.

Tian's eyes widen at the sight of Uta coming straight at them, encompassed in 'safety' by a massive orb of slime. It is like looking at a gelatenous cube that is coming straight at you.

A surprised sound is startled from Tian, who is normally quiet other than for growls and snarls and other more animal sounds. It is a squeak, like a surprised fox.

Raising no real means of defense other than to try to blast some more of that flame towards the slime, it impacts Tian and seems to cause the Blade Dancer to just stick to the outside of it. It rolls them around like a katamari.

Then, there is a strange motion from beneath, where Tian is uncomfortably pressed against the slime. Wind magic starts to whirl up again, except that this time it seems to almost act like a blender. Bits of the slime start to be tossed off in all directions, splattering the crowd with goo.

That is just one of the sort of collateral damage effects that come from this sort of battle, it seems.

The attack seems to pull Uta down towards it, eliminating the slime defenses in the process, while also making quite a mess of the arena. Look out!

Haru offers a low whistle in commentary on the exchange. A slime appearances are a fan favorite, if not a goopy one. He puts a hand over his cup to protect it from any 'extras' before taking a sip after. Obviously. (Snapevoice)

Luna really was trying to keep herself looking the best as she watched with various 'oohs' and 'ahs' at each monumental exchange, barely having had the time to even nod in greeting to Haru. No, her eyes were locked on the fight, like she was trying to imprint each strike and dodge into her mind. Solidifying it. Anyone listening in close enough might however distinguish her cheering Tian on from the crowd around her. And even pulling a card in an attempt to form a wall of wind, sending the explosive slime sailing far and away above the arena.. She hoped it didn't rain back down on people, but.. Well, she did it in a rush.

While inside the slime, Uta had begun to intone a sophisticated song, which causes tendrils of light and magic to dance on her staff, and focus in the gem; an alternation of sublime and ominous, which, once the final notch of HP is docked from the slime and the whole thing shatters into polygons, hits a particular accent -- two beams, red and white, shoot out from the crystallized heart, the red one engulfs Tian, whose HP bar begins to tick downward; the other beam, green, engulfs Uta, whose HP bar ticks in the opposite direction; said green beam also creates a brief barrier around her, as she, in the general confusion of the close combat, tosses the staff to the sky (the two beams continuing undisturbed), and grabs Tian for a second suplex.

Whoa, they're really throwing down the attacks now! And making a mess of the arena. Which is what the arena is for. But still, Shibuya and the area near it doesn't have the protections the Root Towns do. So she still casts one of her magic barriers, just to be safe in case any debris is flung towards the part of the audience she's in. No collateral casualties on New World's watch!... that would be terrible PR.

Thankfully, it doesn't seem to take that long for the slime to lose all of its remaining health, causing Tian to drop back onto the sands. All the splattery goo bits seem to go along with it. Other than for a few special people in the audience who manage to get a drop from the monster, including a couple of jellopies (a type of crystal) and some apples. But do you really want to /eat/ an apple that just came out of a slime?

Tian is an easy target for Uta to grasp and toss up into the air, however with the winds still swirling around the arena, the Cait Sith also gets caught up in the motion. It seems to surge a second time, meaning that as the Blade Dancer comes down again, the sandstorm impacts against Uta.

It's less about Tian's knives intentionally striking out, as the motion being chaotic enough that they just so happen to catch things in their path.

Surely, this wasn't what was intended, but really, in a match like this, expect the unexpected!

Uta attempts to dodge, but the wind impacts against her. She spreads her wings in an attempt to get away as quickly as possible, and while it succeeds, this is her sixth mistake (the fifth mistake is skipping the fourth mistake). The spriggan flies to impacts against Tian, like a cow or a tree impacting against a Tornado Chaser of FM World; and while Uta attempts some magical motions, the tangle of limbs that's the Tian/Uta conjoined system hurtles across the pit like a tumbleweed..

A tumbleweed who's actually a Ninja in disguise! Yes, the same ninja as before, the one who's out of similes.

Uta's activated Wave Arte opens a hole in the ground, one where the 'Utianball' can lodge itself into: a smaller pit within the main pit. After rolling around the rim for a bit, the tangle of combatants revs down and stops. Pitception.

Unsure what to do at this point, in the embarrassment of being part of a Gordian knot, Uta, assessing the current position of her arm through propriocetion and that of Tian's head with a sideways glance, just attempts to straighten her arm and punch Tian in the face.

As the storm seems to finally blow itself out, the two combatants are left there in a tangle of limbs. Tian's chest is heaving beneath the layer of padded armor and cloth that is beneath their armor.

Just need a moment to catch their breath.

Wham. The fist slams into the side of Tian's face. It leaves another section of makeup smeared and their mask skewed as the Blade Dancer gives a oof of sound.

Then, looking upwards, their eyes widen again.

Suddenly, Tian rolls to the side, just out of the way of a rain of random debris from around the battlefield. There are drink cups, apples, bottles, a few pieces of headgear and even... a few plushies.

They all pummel down onto Uta, burying her comically beneath the debris.

The pile of debris rain down from above, like a ninja out of similes, and hit Uta all over the Uta.

Tick after tick her HP bar reaches the yellow- no! NO! There is still -one- notch! She can still make this! She- Look out!

Despite her dizzy and stunned state, Uta instinctively pulls aside; just in time to dodge what seems to be the last of the debris: her syringe, which goes to plant itself neatly in the ground again.

She can make this! She can make this! She-

Crash

The empty vial of healing potion Tian had discarded after Uta injected them comes crashing on her head, and her HP ends in the yellow. This is sufficient to declare the match over, and Tian the winner.

"...Uh...okay...", Uta asks, eyes swimming in and out of focus. "So, er... what did that mean in sign language? Seemed like a rather articulated sentence..."

Shiruba cheers along with the rest of the crowd as the fight comes to a powerful conclusion. Not for one fighter or the other, but for both, and the show they put on overall.

Haru stands and finishes his coffee off. Then he joins in with the clapping to cheer on the contestants. He will have to treat his sister and crafting partner to a drink and hear their thoughts on the match later. They seemed to enjoy it.

    So Yui is a little disappointed about Uta losing. But it was still fun to watch, even if her teacher of uhh philosophy got 'knocked out'. As a pleasant surprise, though, this weird crystal fell in her lap. Well, after some friendly tipping from someone nearby, anyway. They 'fumbled' it.

    "That was so amazing! It's like no fight I've seen before!" It seems Tian and Uta both have a fan in Yui.

    Asuna winces, and also laughs a bit at the end. "That... was certainly a unique twist on things, wasn't it?" Still, it's time to cheer. She can ask for details about the techniques later!

Would you believe that expressing pain is more about facial expression than about signing. So, the expression that Tian offers is one that looks like a person going 'ooo' while wincing.

The translation system easily notifies them that the match is over. A bit uncertainly, Tian pushes to their knees, pushing some of the debris off of Uta in the process. "<Are you okay?>" They ask, head tilted.

Then, offering out a hand, Tian moves to try to help the Spriggan to her feet. Afterwards, the Blade Dancer lifts a hand to wave at the Audience. It had been a very close match, and the fox-wolf seems more than a little worse for wear.

The Cait Sith was all too happy to join in on the cheering, watching both give it their all in the fight was certainly worth the loud applause that almost made the stadium tremble. She can hardly stop a gleeful smile encroaching on her face, shouting at the top of her lungs, "You both did great!" Lunaris was tempted to add more, but it was their time to shine after all. No, for now, she could be just another spectator.

"...that whole rigamarole was to ask if people are ok? By sinking their HP into the Yellow?", Uta asks, still confused. No, it's nothing serious. She just needs some time to recover her bearings. "Interesting grammar, we'll have to deepen this later." She waves to the audience, imitating Tian. "Sorry, if I won't stick around for long. I've signed up for the Balancing of the Scales tournament, and I need to be there for the opening ceremony. Haven't checked my calendar recently, but I am pretty sure there still is time..."