Duelist League: Yuuki vs Merek

    It's another day in the floating city of Fort Ouph. The sun is shining, though small comfort given that temperature is currently sitting at a cosy 32 degrees. A tad on the chilly side. But that doesn't seem to bother Yuuki as she happily wears her usual combat outfit, standing out on a large floating platform typically used for duels within the city. Clearly she has a significant amount of willpower to withstand the temperature in her clearly not very warm clothes.

    Or they're enchanted with the Fire element to provide some warmth.

    Either way, Yuuki happily waits for her opponent today to ready himself for their fight. A grin on her face in anticipation.

    Merek walks along and to the place, to begin with the duel of the month. He takes time to draw along the sword from the back, a greatsword which he keeps with him. The man nods a bit along to Yuuki, "Alright, looks like we will begin!"

    Yuuki claps her hands together with a grin, "Great! Let's do this!" A few finger swipes in the air and an invitation to a duel pops up in Merek's view.

    After the duel request is accepted, a timer pops up in the air between the two. It starts to count down from ten. As it does so, Yuuki proceeds to draw her blade, lowering herself down into a ready stance as the count quickly reaches zero.

    A horn sounds, signalling the start of the duel!

    Merek waits, then when it looks like the duel will begin, he will nod. He will lift up a hand while he draws a thunder fury that strikes along the field and into Yuuki, taking the time to try and maneuver away so that he can find a place to take a stance and prepare with that fight.

    As soon as the horn sounds, Yuuki is off and running! Initially she takes a direct path towards Merek. However, as he starts to draw out that magic, Yuuki realises she's not going to be able to close in quickly enough. So she quickly changes course.

    Yuuki leaps off the ground just as a lightning strike hits the spot where she had just been. She lands on the side of a pillar, bouncing off it with another leap to avoid another strike. Yuuki then hits the ground in a roll, avoiding the third before coming up on her feet once more and charging Merek, her sword beginning to glow a sickly green.

    Yuuki reaches the other swordsman, launching into a series of rapid strikes against him that are fast, making it difficult to follow them.

    Merek looks to the maneuvering that Yuuki will do, while he takes the time to lift up his greatsword to create a shield which begins to work on keeping away the strike. With that, he will begin to lift up a hand to shock the woman's mind with dark magic energy.

    Yuuki's assault doesn't seem to break through Merek's guard, but thankfully the poison gets applied, making it not a complete loss.

    Yuuki backs off for a moment, looking at Merek with a grin before asking, "Now that I think about it, we've not dueled before, have we? It can be hard for me to remember, sometimes."

    Yuuki charges in again, though Merek's spell is quickly as he gets off his Mind Shock. Yuuki stumbles for a moment, moving a hand to hold her head as her mind becomes muddled. Instincts take over though, Yuuki quickly lashing out with a wind swing, her sword glowing from the activating Sword Arte.

    Though it also has a little extra behind it.

    Merek looks then to Yuuki while she will throw that potion at him. The man takes a look while he watches that HP, then he nods along with a shift of the greatsword. With that, he will take a potion and will throw it into the woman as well. "Two can play at that if you would like!" Then he draws up a divine shield about him.

    CRASH!

    The potion shatters against Yuuki, the liquid inside splattering across her and sinking in. She notices the poison icon appearing on her HUD and her HP beginning to drop. Even through the queeziness of the poison, Yuuki manages a laugh, "I suppose that's only fair!"

    Yuuki eyes her opponent up. She's still having trouble concentrating from the Mind Shock and so she simply charges Merek after a moment. It's another wide swing, this time from the opposite direction. A repeat of the previous attack.

    But Yuuki quickly follows it up with a second strike, aimed to slip through Merek's guard and slice him in the gut, applying the bleeding DOT.

    Merek looks then to Yuuki, and will take a moment to begin drawing his greatsword along. Then he's lifting up his weapon to use it as a shield while he draws up a rock cradle in front of him. Then he begins to charge magic and will take the time to lift his weapon to begin swinging that at the woman to use that spell.

    Yuuki seems to get another strong blow in, even as her own HP ticks down. She wonders out loud, "You're not much of an attacker, are you?" Apparently she's drawing some ire though as she notices Merek winding up for a big swing.

    This could be dangerous.

    Yuuki ups her speed, switching to a more defensive stance as she dances around Merek, fleet on her feet. That doesn't mean she doesn't try to strike him first though, unleashing another series of rapid strikes that are hard to follow. Hoping to disorient Merek before he can really get that solid blow in.

    Merek does take a look Yuuki, while he seems to think about it. "I don't know. I don't do all this to win, I think it's wonderful to learn new things when we can." Then he begins to adjust that weapon while he draws the greatsword along. Then he lifts up a hand even while he takes a strike, "THORN BIND HOSTAGE." Then he follows up with the, "FIREBOLT!"

    Yuuki thinks about that for a moment, before grinning, "Not exactly how I'd do it. But I like that!" It's true that learning new about new styles of combat is interesting. And can help improve one's own form. And despite her skill, Yuuki is always still in need of learning more.

    As evidenced by this latest exchange of attacks.

    Yuuki quickly jumps aways as she finds those glowing thorns wrapping around her, expecting Merek to strike with his sword to break them. But then he breaks out those fireballs. Yuuki's eyes look shocked for a moment, but the imp reacts with impressive speed. Leaping into the air, she twists her body around the first fireball, letting it sail off into the distance.

    Unfortunately, the second proves to be better aimed, striking Yuuki in the chest and exploding one of those vines attached to her.

    Yuuki bounces across the ground once, thrown by the fireball explosion. But she plants her hand against the ground before hitting it a second time, twisting around onto her feet and skidding back a short distance. She looks down at the red glow of damage splayed across her chest and then grins at Merek, "Not bad."

    Yuuki darts forward, closing in on her opponent once more. Her blade takes on a dark sheen, wisps of shadow leaking out of it as she launches into another quick series of strikes.

    Merek looks along to Yuuki while she begins to swing the weapons along at him. The man takes a look and will begin to roll along with flame that shimmers along his frame, and after he will come about with a lift of a hand, while he casts a spell, "Sanctuary!" A shield will begin to frame him while it also will heal.

    Yuuki finds her strikes hitting nothing but air and, unfortunately, flames. Blotches of red form along her arms where the flames burn her for her failed attacks. A rather troublesome move for the fast hitter.

    Speaking of troublesome moves, Merek's HP bar actually starts going UP! That's totally not fair!

    Yuuki takes it in stride though, grinning at Merek, "Not something I typically see in duels. But it's certainly effective."

    Yuuki charges in again, darkness continuing to seep from her blade as she unleashes another rapid set of attacks, during which she asks, "Do you duel a lot?" She finishes up with a rather long strike though, to apply a Bleeding debuff.

    Merek looks to the preperation that Yuuki will make, "I don't duel a lot, I usually work on things that are a lot different." While he watches, the man begins to shift the weapon, then he maneuvers while he will bring two water discs that he swings along at them and lifts up the weapon to parry!

    Yuuki's strikes bounce off Merek's sword, her combo ending only to find herself with a pair of spinning water discs heading her way. She could spend effort dodging them, hitting the ground in a roll, letting them sweep overhead mostly avoiding her...

    ... Or she could just let them hit her.

    And they do!

    Yuuki takes the full brunt of the twin water assault, her HP bar dropping down considerably. But without that effort spent dodging, Yuuki is able to focus her efforts on attacking, her sword glowing with light with another Sword Arte, one Merek is likely familiar with now as Yuuki raises the blade over her head and swings it down in one solid blow.

    Merek has a glowing blood affect from the strike before, though as for the strike from the weapon that Yuuki does, the man lifts up that greatsword while he tanks the whole of that. Then he shifts the weapon and will begin to strike with dark magic energy!

    Arrrgh, magic! Yuuki's one weakness!

    Well, weakness in that she can't actually cast any. She can still technically avoid it, if she wants to. But like last time, she chooses offense over defense. A tactic that Yuuki is somewhat known for, as if she was some kind of unknown Berserker class.

    Yuuki charges into the blast of dark magic, briefly disappearing in the explosive void, before coming out of it, her blade glowing once more. Another strong swing, Yuuki trying to batter Merek's HP down into the red before he can do the same to her. But this time Yuuki quickly follows it up with another fast-moving-hard-to-track series of rapid strikes.

    Merek looks to the sweep from Yuuki, then he seems to become pretty nice and all calm. The man draws the sword along while he begins to take it to deflect, then he lifts a hand up, bringing about magic, then he prepares the weapon.

    Yuuki finds the calmness of Merek a little unnerving, causing her to become rather cautious. She quickly dives away from Merek's strike, only for it to turn out to be a feint! Well played, Mister Merek.

    Yuuki rises to her feet again and looks at their respective HP bars. It's getting close. Yuuki grins at Merek, "This has certainly been an interesting fight. I hadn't expected it to go like this. A rather refreshing difference from the duels I'm normally involved in."

    Yuuki leans forward, darting towards Merek once again. Her blade glows with the sickly green of her poison attack, as she tries to pin it onto Merek with her fast strikes. Something that's probably been more of an annoyance than anything, but with so many of them, it adds up!

    Merek takes a few of the strikes, while he then will back up a little bit, then he nods a bit to Yuuki. "Well, I worked as a Beta Tester. You need to know a lot of methods that people don't generally think about," he will note. Then he begins to lift up that weapon which he will swing along and into Yuuki with what looks like a light strike then a dark strike, a duality of the magic.

    Damn! So close! Yuuki can see that Merek's HP bar is just clinging to life outside of that red zone.

    It's okay, it's okay. Don't panic. He's poisoned, it'll go down eventually on its own. You just need to-oh crap!

    Yuuki quickly ducks her way under Merek's first strike, the light passing over her head. Then as the dark comes around to finish off the symmetry of the double attack, Yuuki brings her own blade up to meet Merek's. Sparks fly as Yuuki struggles against his much larger weapon, but the Imp uses that to her advantage, letting it slide off her weapon and to the side of her, letting her get in a quick counter strike to Merek, thus bringing his HP down into the red even before the poison could do so.

    Another horn sounds, this time signalling the end of the match.

    Merek leans back away from the match. He knew he would not win probably at that point, all the same he tried all he could to win. The man nods a bit to Yuuki, "Wonderful match," then he offers a hand along to the woman. "You really are the Champion that people all praise!"

    Yuuki visibly relaxes as the duel ends. She wasn't quite so confident by the end of it as she was at the beginning! But thankfully she managed to pull through.

    Yuuki laughs at the compliment, rubbing the back of her head, "I dunno. I mean it's been a while since I won that tournament. And we were all pretty newb-like with our wiped stats and newbie equipment back then. I'm sure many people have gotten a lot stronger since then..."

    Yuuki briefly thinks back to her duel with Uta... Where Yuuki lost.

    Annnnnyway, Yuuki grins at Merek, "You did pretty well though for someone who doesn't do much dueling. Just goes to show that there are different ways to accomplish the same goal of getting stronger!"

    Merek nods along a little bit to Yuuki, "Well, if you ever need anything, feel free to ask," he will note to that woman, "I do like to duel, although I don't even do it a lot. I am trying to learn to become powerful so that I can protect people."

    "I noticed!" Yuuki laughs, "You've got some serious defense. It was tough to break through." She rubs her chin, "I'm not as good at protecting people unfortunately. But that's the role of DPS!"

    "Anyway, same goes for you. I'm happy to help out. Especially if it involves killing mobs!"