Duelist League: Merek vs. Mikage

    Merek takes the time to work on dueling, which means that he will invite the person he knows, Mikage. He seems to be wearing that nice dark attire with the sword within a hand. He nods a bit to Mikage, "It will be nice to get a little bit of that training in," he notes.

After the tournament, Mikage has largely utilized her abilities in real combat against the monsters of the game, but the duelist league had offered some encouragement for her to continue working on her PVP skills. The invitation from Merek had offered a pleasant enough distraction from her current worries in regards to the growing goblin menace in the southern parts of Yamato.

"I appreciate the chance to try to keep my skills sharp. After recent events, I certainly feel like I could use someone to push me in combat." The Ranger stands, her lynx companion just behind her, one hand on her sword as she rolls her shoulders, trying to loosen her muscles a bit.

    Merek takes a moment to nod to Mikage, while he seems to think about it. "That's definitely a thing to consider," he notes. When it looks like both will be prepared in for combat, the man draws the sword while he begins to advance upon the woman when it begins.

The moment that the duel starts, Mikage's eyes flick up to the countdown timer, waiting for Merek's impending attack. It seems that recent events don't have her charging into combat quite so quickly, so her initial play is to take the first attack to guage her enemy.

So, when Merek's sword strikes out towards her, some part of the force of the blow impacts against a shield that seems to hang in the air. It isn't enough to completely eliminate the power of slash, as it eventually breaks through and leaves a red gash across her abdomen, but Mikage stands as if she had intended for this result. Her teeth grit in pain, and Rama growls.

"Pretty strong." She acknowledges, but then steps back a bit, moving with agile feet to get a bit of distance between them before she slashes her sword through the air, creating two large discs of wind energy that fly across the battlefield, trying to slice into Merek. "Let's see how you handle something just as powerful..."

    Merek looks then to Mikage when the woman takes one of the strikes, then begins taking the next. There's a nod, while he begins a stance, "Alright," then he shifts a hand to draw up the same shield of light, beginning to weave along a little healing magic, then he swings along into two sweeps of the twin dragons.

The exchange of blows is nearly identical in power, though in the end it seems that Merek's manages to break through just a little bit more than Mikage's own. She seems momentarily surprised that healing magic is being brought out this early in a fight, but that is a tactic that some certainly utilize.

Rama moves along with her, making sure to stay at her side as if he were preparing for a counter attack. However, it doesn't come from the lynx. Instead, when he slashes in her direction, the very ground pushes Mikage back out of reach of the blade, leaving only a scratch on her health.

In the aftermath, she stabs the blade into the ground, channeling white magic through it and a circle of light to appear beneath Merek. It blinks for a second before surging upwards, surrounding him in a powerful blast of magic.

    Merek seems to be thinking about his next maneuver even as both of his strikes are defended against. A look from the man to Rama, then he shifts along the hip while he begins to shimmer the darkness upon that weapon. The man draws a magical shield aero about him, then he swings the weapon into the woman.

Mikage grits her teeth as she moves forward, as if meeting the challenge that Merek brings with his strange shadow technique. Rather than blocking it, she allows the weapon to swing into her side, wincing slightly at the bite of it.

However, it gives her an opportunity to retaliate with a more powerful blow of her own. Bits of earth crackle along her sword as she slices it at him, the edges sharp like needles made out of stone. Then, she draws it back, making a quick motion to pour some kind of potion along the blade before slashing out again. This time, it seems to be tainted by some kind of poison, which lightly glows purple from the magical effect.

    Merek looks then to Mikage while he nods a bit. He knows that the woman will use this likely expecting a counter, instead he tries to meet that full on while he shifts an airstep, with him maneuvering while he tries to draw along rocks of his own with which to defend with.

As the attack lands, there is a slight quirk of her lips as she steps back, shaking the rocks free from the sword. They tumble down to the ground like little more than bits of dirt. "You should be careful going full on defensive like that, Merek. You'll play right into the hands of an enemy."

The two are part of the same Alliance, so in reality, they are not enemies. In a duel like this, however, she is his opponent, which means that Mikage has no qualms about taking full advantage of the opportunity that is given to her.

Her sword lights with almost a rainbow of different elemental energies, as if she were allowing some part of her own spirit to be channeled through it. Raising the blade skyward, she gives a shout, calling down rain from the sky above. Rain that all too quickly turns into shards of ice. Then into blades of ice that threaten to slice into the swordsman if he doesn't find some cover, quickly.

    Merek looks then to Mikage while he watches that quirk into a smirk. Then he nods a bit. The man begins to shift the weapon forward, while he waits. "You are right." He doesn't offer anything in expression to credit, while he waits for the strikes to come. When both do, empowered as they are, he waits, taking each one.
    He doesn't try to defend or even fight. When the bar of his HP would begin to shift down, he nods when Mikage wins. "Well fought, Mikage."

The fact that Merek doesn't seem to mount anything close to a proper defense has Mikage's eyes narrowing slightly, even as his health drops inoto the red. << WINNER >> shows above her head in rainbow lettering, causing her to step back, slowly sheathing her sword.

"Don't give me that bullshit, Merek." Mikage offers up, shaking her head. Turning, she crouches to ruffle Rama's fur, "Sorry, buddy. You'll get your chance, next time." Then, as she rises to her feet, she shoots the alchemist a look. "If you want to fight, either come at me with everything you have, or don't come at all."

    "I don't think that I was going to win that without what I had in mind, apologies," Merek notes then to Mikage. "I tried, I don't think it was best for me to challenge at you without waiting until I was at maximum HP. I will need to work on a few stats getting back to where they were."

There is a long look as she seems to mull over his words, "This is our life now, Merek." The Were Fang shakes her head, "There's never going to be an ideal day where all the stars align. Some days, you're going to be tired. You'll have come off another fight, or had a long journey, or didn't sleep well, or your mind is distracted with other things." The girl explains, "In a real fight, none of that shit matters. All that matters is here and now."

Resting her hand on her sword, the Ranger takes a deep breath, then lets it out again. "Someday, someone won't stop at the red-line. Maybe a monster. Maybe a PKer. If you want to prepare yourself for that day, then you should always bring everything you can into a fight."

There isn't any real anger or venom in her words, just a stark honesty of the situation they all live in, now. "Do what you need to do. Just make sure that if you challenge me again, that you don't pull any punches. I certainly won't."

    "I am well aware of that Mikage, because that was the case last week when I had to give my life to cover retreat of the party," Merek then notes to Mikage. The man nods a bit, while he takes a moment to sheath the weapon, "Anyway. I need to work on a few things, thank you," he states.