Tournament: Goldenblade vs Xander

    Wisteria stands above the arena floor and a bit of magic there allows her voice to carry. The tall albino girl with the black bun tattoo on her neck, dressed in a kimono covered in purple flowers. "Greetings! And welcome to this the Grand Balancing of the Scales!" she announces to the roar of the crowd. The magical screens around the arena panning across the crowd before settling on the striking albino woman. "I'm Wisteria of the Scale Emblem Aliance, but it's not me you've come here to see today! Our next match is between the Scale Emblem's own, the Salamander XANDER!"

    The roar of the crowd increases as the magical screens move to focus on Xander. "And the Crescent Moon's young and up and coming GOLDENBLADE!" the screens panning to the human before half focus back on Xander. "Are you READY?" the crowd roars it's approval even if that comment is intended for the fighters.

    When his name reaches out to the audience, the dark scaled Salamander walks out into the sandy, stone floor. His hand extends up to the crowds as they cheer as his name calls.

He flashes them a smile and then can't help but have a boyish grin on his face. Though once Goldenblade comes out, he gives them a proper bow, before drawing out his sword and shield.

"Pleasure to have this chance to fight you," He says with a smirk on his face to Goldenblade. "Let's give them a show, shall we?" He then gives his sword a bit of a twirl in his hand.

Among the crowds, there are certain groups that seem to be cheering for each of the combatants. A gathering from Scale Emblem roars at Xander's name, flags of their alliance being waved in the air. A similar group from Olympus Alliance seem to be grouped together, wooping louder than the others when it is Goldenblade's name called. Among the Landers, it is a more even split, with both combatants being allied to the local kingdom.

Rylen has taken a place near the bottom of the stands, clustered amongst a group of other eager watchers. The Pooka cups his hands around his mouth to cheer, waving a hastily thrown together flag that has a black dragon on a red background. It seems that the Pooka is cheering across Alliance lines for this fight.

Goldenblade exits when her name is called, hands held over her head, and she trots out, soaking in the cheers. They don't know her very well, obviously, but she'll take it, and she'll do her best to give them a good show. She bows formally to Xander, drawing out both swords and flourishing them.

She smiles and says to Xander, It's good to have a chance to practice this. I'm not entirely sure how it goes, so we'll see. I've fought a few monsters, but never any people before now."

Goldenblade squares off with Xander as the crowd quiets in anticipation, her shoulders angled, the tips of her swords swaying slightly as she awaits the command for the fight to begin. She's expressionless for the moment, all of her concentration tied up in the moment, and as soon as the fight is stared, she leaps into the fray, both swords coming down together in a twirling blow that reveals why her class is often called Blade Dancer.

    The Salamander watches Goldenblade closely, he twirls his sword in his hand once more. His shield was at ready, so when Goldenblade came rushing in, he braced his leg behind him.

One of the swords slides past his shield and clips him against the arm, but Xander was not slowing down. Instead he moved his foot slight, and skid around. His blade scratched across the surface of the ground, and as it rose up, runes danced across the air.

The dust became that of thorny vines that attempted to coil themselves around Goldenblade to inject their vile poison, as Xander prepped himself for the next incoming attack.

    The magical screens keep half on Xander and half on Goldenblade until she crosses the distance in her first rush, once the screens showing Goldenblade just get a glimpse of Xander they all switch to the combined footage. "Oooh and Goldenblade comes out swinging showing that energy and reckless abandon we've come to expect from the Bladedancer!" she says.

    As Xander blocks and counters with envenoming magic. "Well blocked!" Wisteria calls "It's going to be an interesting match folks, speed and grace against armor and Wave Arts!"

As the fight begins in earnest, Rylen does what he does best. He uses his experience to add to the show. He starts by stomping his feet, nudging a couple of nearby Salamanders to do the same. Soon enough, the entire group of watchers around him start to join in, the sounds of boots hitting against the stone floor starting to echo around the Arena. It almost sounds like drumbeats. As first blood is drawn, there is a roar from the direction of Crescent Moon, followed by shouts of challenge from those cheering on the Salamander.

Goldenblade acks at the vines, and rather than using a spell or power, she tries to just tear her way out of them. It doesn't go so well for her, unfortunately, the mail she wears is just a costume piece, she's not high enough level to have actual armor yet. That's in the plan, but it's not something she can manage now.

Once free of the vines, stricken by the poison, she fights on, peering a moment, planning carefully, then leaping in with another wild, fierce attack. Seems she's given up all pretense of caution and is fighting as aggressively as she can.

    Goldenblade moves in for another attack and the Salamander is ready to meet the human with that shield of his. The sheer force of her energetic strike /slams/ into his shield with a loud CLANG. It was enough force to cause his feet to slide back slightly, but he holds his own.

Goldenblade has Xander pinned there, with her sheer force, but on the screens, people can see a hungry smile crawling up on his face. He was enjoying this match.

    Eventually she would push past his defense and her sword would cut across his armored plating, that is when Goldenblade would spot sudden runes directly from the Salamander's shield that would travel the distance between them and attempt to send a little 'zap' to try and give Xander a little room.

Though it was not going to be much breathing room, but it might be enough.

    Wistera OOOHs! "Look at that folks, it's an all out offensive from the Goldenblade, looks like she has Xander on the ropes." As red lines open on the Salamander in the wake of the dancing blades. Those backing the human roar loudly.

    The sneaky zap elicits a chuckle "OOoh looks like Xander isn't completely on the back foot, neatly done with that trap wave." she announces to more roars from the crowd in support of Xander.

Goldenblade does not understand magic at all, it seems, or the game system very well, she swats with her off sword at the runes creeping up from Xander's shield. Clearly, she's not sure what to do about it. Also clearly, she's not as skilled in the fight, but it seems she's putting all her effort into overcoming that gap. She'd said she was signing up to learn, and that's definitely the case, but she's also going full bore in attempting to win. Her furious assault has already started to even the tide, but it's not even up yet, and who can say if she will be able to even this out and gain the upper hand? She slashes fiercely at Xander, swinging with one blade and then the other in alternating strokes.

    The fight wasn't going well, which Xander knew that. A tank early level was great for tanking in groups, but alone, they have weakness till later in the game. Those weakness were obvious.

However, the Salamander refused to give in. The cut was draining his strength from earlier, the debuff icon was up there and it was making his movements sluggish. His ignites his shield on fire, so as Goldenblade slam down, the flames attempt to engulf her in return.

    His sword ignites on fire as well, as he attempts to swing in, and swing again; All readable thanks to te damn debuff. With each step though, it wasn't the flames that Goldenblade would need to worry about, no, the human had to look out for the sudden spin and the electrical charge that fires out across the distance between them attempt to drain her of strength and stamina.

    Wisteria watches and listens to the crowd "It looks like Goldenblade has some difficulty with the wave arts, will this let Xander turn things around? OOoh right back into that all out attack!" The crowd chanting Goldenblade gets louder.

    Xander's sheild and sword igniting in flames. "OOoh there we go fire from the Salamander lets see if that hot heritage is able to pull Xander back into the match!" The chants for Xander pick up volume as well.

Cupping his hands over his mouth, Rylen calls out, "Come on Xander, push back!" The Pooka puts two fingers into his mouth, whistling to try to cheer his friend on. The response from the others seems a little more muted, perhaps disheartened by seeing their chosen fighter on the ropes. However, a group of fans start to chant from the stands, spelling out Goldenblade letter by letter. Nearby, a couple of heavily armored men begin to smash the hilt of their weapons against shields, adding to the tumult.

Goldenblade literally doesn't know the right way to defend against a lot of the complicated attacks, she's just relying on her native speed, or her character's native speed anyhow, and a sort of ferocity she hasn't had to display in years. Xander's flaming sword and electrical charge are met with a rapid evasive dancelike step that seems at once practical and graceful as she catches his blade in a hard parry with her offhand blade, and swings at him with her other sword.

    Xander can hear the crowd. He can almost hear Rylen, but his focus was on the fight. There was an old trick and it was one he was trying to execute, though he was not sure if it would work.

As Goldenblade continued to dance with him, he used the flames and the electrical charge to get some distance, so when the human came back in, his shield shifted with the runes once more.

This time, Goldenblade would find his shield taking the full force, but some of their attack comes back at them. Xander then jumped back, muttering a few words under his breath, as a breeze of light whipped around him. Slowly healing a few of those red, digital lines on his body.

Goldenblade keeps up her assault. Finding Xander healing himself, she grumbles for a moment that she doesn't have a talent like that. But doing that means not attacking her, and that leaves her free to whirl around in a tight spin, twirling until she's built up a head of steam, then exteding her blade to strike with all that built-up momentum.

    Once more the slam comes, once more it places that debuff, and once more, Xander takes a bit of a hit, that leaves a glow line across his exposed right arm, as the sword from Goldenblade slides off to make impact.

The Salamander growls lowly, and this time, he goes to dance around her, before the exhaustion kicks in to kick up more sand and like before, vines leap out from the sand to wrap around her; To inject that darn poison.

Goldenblade doesn't have anything she can do about poison, so she does nothing, meeting his attacks with attacks of her own, slashing, stabbing, blades flying back and forth furiously as she tries to keep pace and set the tone of the fight in her favor. Her fierce blades have started to balance the tables, though the as the vines' poison starts to affect her, she flags for a moment before renewing her deadly assault.

    The Salamander continues to stay on the move, he knows with that debuff, he won't be able to really give it is all, but he can once more try to turn Goldenblade's attacks against them.

As the weapon comes to strike, it first meets a brilliant glow of light, as a shield of magical energy is called forth. Then as the next attack comes in, he raises his real shield up once more, as flames yet again dance across its surface.

All this time, while hoping that some of Goldenblade's attack will come back to bite her, that he once again whispers words as he begins to heal himself yet again.

    Wisteria lets the crowd go for a bit "Ohh look at our heros folks, going at it hammer and tongs, which will wear out first, Goldenblade the hammer, or Xander the Anvil!?" she announces to cheers from both groups of fans and quickly becoming fans.

Goldenblade is, despite all her efforts, getting the worst of the fight. The magic and the poison and her being clueless all conspire against her. But she's not a quitter, nor one to give up, hacking at Xander and slashing furiously with repeated, heavy blows, one after another, relentlessly raining down on his defense. If she can't win this, she can at least give a good showing, and not let her Guildies and other erstwhile fans down. But that's negative thinking, and that's not her way. Hope and effort and hard work will win the day for her, and she's going to give her damnest to see this through.

    Goldenblade continues to pound and pound on Xander's defenses. Each swing finding a mark here and there. The shield rises once more with flame and light, all a repeat before of the same.

Trying to use Goldenblade's own attacks against them. Though this time, the vines come for her once again, even as her own attack, leaves a nasty 'gash' that if not dealt with could have nasty consequences.

It would have to be something he'll need to do deal with soon...

Goldenblade is starting to get edgy as the vines come for her again. She can't really do much about them, though she tries to stay ahead, and to attack furiously. It's like she knows she's going down, but she's determined to go down fighting. She fights fiercely, blades reaching out, steel bared to cut and slash if not countered.

    The Salamader's eyes narrow slightly. His body is exhausted, thanks to the debuff that is hanging in there and the bleeding effect is trying to take hold.

His thick, scaly black tail flicks, as he brings up the magical shield and attempts to deal with the bleed effect. However the lack of ability to focus fully to keep the shield open, leaves him open for the strike coming in from Goldeblade to make it in.

    The light shield shatters into sparks of light. Xander's eyes focus directly on Goldenblade's. Those fiery, gold draconic eyes meeting her own. He tries to step out of the way as the weaken debuff fades, but her swing cuts across his face. A nice red mark trailing there from forehead, across the nose bridge, down the other side.

Xander let's out a roar, before his sword lights up on fire once more. This close in, he attempts to swing his sword a few times in attempt to allow their blades to meet and maybe get a beat on her.

From the crowd, cheering continues. Each time a blow hits home, there are 'ooos' from those gathered. Strong blows get a round of applause while others have gasps or sounds of shock. Rylen's voice continues to sound amongst many, intent on continuing to cheer Xander on until the battle ends.

However, just by the sound, there is more enthusiastic cheering on the side of those waving Olympus banners. Goldenblade had the larger, more dynamic hits, and Xander's defensive posture doesn't bring as much enthusiasm. Yet, Rylen still whistles his encouragement.

Goldenblade seems not to have anything to counter Xander's attacks, she launches into some random evasions not specifically counter to the attacks, and she puts up a stop-thrust when he gets too close. Reaching into her beltpouch, she pulls out something small and round, and flicks it at him, hoping to catch him by surprise.

    Goldenblade's coin doesn't seem to catch his attention, as Xander is quick to bring up his shield against her strike. Though while the debuff comes into play, her attack doesn't really get past his defense fully.

As she is close in, Xander smiles at her. "You're flashy. I'll give you that... and you done a good job thus far. I'm impressed." He says but his eyes narrow, as he leaps back and allows those damn vines to come between them.

"But you serious need to work on your magic defenses!"

Goldenblade does need to work on her magic defenses, she knows that. She needs to learn a bit more about how the game is played. Back in the old days, you just hit people and they hit you back, that's been her experience. Now they've got magic this and special that and it's wildly confusing. "Have some make-beleive sword," she grumbles, hacking at Xander with furious strokes.

    Xander chuckled a little at Goldenblade's words. So, when she comes in, he steps back from one of her swings, and as she goes to strike again, he whispers a word.

Runes form under his feet and then like a flash, a magic orb surrounds him. Goldenblade would find her swings bouncing across the surface, with the Salamander narrowing his gaze. It was taxing keeping the orb of magic up, but he was-- waiting.

His eyes tracing her swings, each impact, then just as she swings again, he lowers the bubble orb, and goes to strike in from the side, before swinging his body around and coming in for another strike.

Goldenblade counters the strikes from the side well enough, though the poisn is weakening her. Her HP bar is lower, much lower than before, and sinking preceptitiously. She fights back, slashing, striking, blades seeking flesh, or virtual flesh, doing things Goldenblade could never do. Though mostly, she can't seem to do them here, either, meeting Xander's solid defenses except for a few lucky strikes. She's fighting a losing battle, but she's not going down easily.

    What Xander was not expecting was for her to manage to sneak a few hits in here and there, during his strikes. A few minor cuts, but he does not let up.

Once Goldenblade comes in once more, he slams his sword against his shield to create a massive light shield barrier between them. As he goes to jump back.

His feet slide against the dirt on the stone, as he breathes heavily. His smile on his face turns into a devious once. It was about here that runes on his sword shift and electric surge plays along the blade.

    About then he rises up his sword and the sky above crackles with thunder, as lightning dances down from the heavens, along his sword, before he swings it around like a whip.

The first electrical bolt comes blasting in for Goldeblade. The next two come streaking down from the very heaven's above, leaving scorch marks in the sand.

Goldenblade is mostly able to deflect the lightning and thunder coming at her, though her HP bar sinks lower and lower from the attacks that she can't block or dodge. The conctest seems to be coming to a conclusion now, or will be soon, her health almost gone. She fights on just the same, making the same decisions and fighting as aggressively because she doesn't actually know what else to do. You fight furiously until the contest is done and that's that.

    Xander whistles gently as Goldenblade manages to deflect the lightning with her sword, "There ya go!" He says with a grin. Then he watches her come in, he attempts to meet her aggressive strikes with a defensive block of his shield.

Each hit causing the shield to sheen a little, with a few blows managing to get him across the upper arm, thigh, and even across his back.

    Though her last strike, is met by his blade this time, as he locks their swords. Xander looks Goldenblade dead on, keeping her sword locked with his as long as he can. "Don't look now," He says with a chuckle. "But you may want to jump back."

Sure enough runes formed on the ground between them, as then suddenly the vines from thorny hell of poison came ripping up between the two of them, trying to wrap around her once more.

The warning comes to late, it seems, the poison sapping the last of her HP bar and triggering the WINNER animation over Xander. The fireworks are kind of cool, actually. She takes a step back, panting a bit, and bows her head. "That was a good fight," she says as Xander's cheering section are going wild. It might've looked for a bit like she had a chance, but the unfamiliarity with the game system and the limitations of her build conspired to restrict her opportunities. "Hopefully it was a good show," she says, looking up into the crowd. "I guess that's really what we're here for."

The sounds from the crowd begin to grow louder as it becomes clear that the battle is getting close to the end. It also means that it becomes harder to tell exactly which way the battle will go. Cheering begins in earnest again from the Scale Emblem side, people coming to the edge of the arena to bang on the barriers and shout their encouragement. It really feels like it could go either way, one good hit enough to change the flow of battle.

Rylen is all too familiar with just how hard it is to break through the Salamander's guard. And while those small thorny vines might not seem like much, they can be deadly if given the opportunity. He remains at the lead of the cheering group for Xander, "You've got this, Xan!" He shouts, waving the flag above his head.

When the winner is declared, the group around him erupts, but Rylen just sort of stands back, grinning like an idiot. "Had me worried for a while." He murmurs to himself. "Guess I owe the man a drink."

    Xander watches as the vines come and even as Goldenblade attempts to get a final swing in, he uses his shield to deflect it away.

The Salamander's tail twitches, even as winner appears over his head. He still held his weapons out a little longer, till he sheaths away his sword. He walks over to Goldenblade and extends out his hand to her. "Good match." She can tell he is a little winded himself "You fought well and didn't back down. I can admire that. Keep at it and you'll get it yet."

Xander then gives her a wink, "Trust my words. I've been doing Pvp since I got near max level back in the original Elder Tale Online, before this damn expansion."

    When the people cheer, Xander turns to the Scale Emblem side and raises his fist them, before he let out a loud victory yell to the group. This is also about when he spots Rylen, and points to him directly, before giving him a mock, two finger salute. However, in a crowd of people, Xander could be easily believed giving that little salute to everyone.

That is when Xander stands back, gives a few waves, and watches the fireworks. The only question on the Salamander's mind now was-- Where can he find a damn decent drink and who was he going to be up against next.

Goldenblade shakes Xander's hand firmly, and nods, "Good match." She'll raise a fist in the air to the grandstands also, a show of strength for the Crescent Moon fans who cheered her on. She may have lost, but she doesn't want them to lose the faith. She hrms at Xander's words, and noda about keeping at it. "I've learned a bit," she says obliquely. "I guess I've got a lot to learn, since I'm new to the game. I didn't realize how long the match would go, for one. My son did kendo, and the exchanges were done quickly. I was expecting something more like that. This made much more out of the defense."

    Wisteria has been watching as the back and forth continued. The crowd ebbing and flowing with waves of sound as the momentum of battle shifted and changed direction. Then there is a bright chime sound as WINNER appears over Xander's head. A cascade of fireworks fly up in a rainbow.

    Wisteira shouts into the microphone "WE HAVE A WINNER! It's the Scale Emblem's very own Xander! Well fought Goldenblade! We all appreciate you participating and we look forward to seeing great things from you. Let's all hear it for Xander!" She says letting the crowd build to a creshendo.