A less than pleasant turn: Damian looses the key!
Disclaimer: The following fight is to demonstrate that while Charlie and Zayn are strong, they couldn't take on Damian head on so they out thought him. Please keep in mind Brod wanted it that way.
Damian finished his latest set of forms with a series of quick thrusts that ended in a powerful overhead slash and sighed. It was nice, being out here to just train and review. Even if there was some big danger, war as he'd told Samir, around the corner, he enjoyed himself. Besides, it never hurt to train, as it kept your skills sharp. Sheathing the two cutlasses, Damian goes to reviewing the maps once more, pulling out an old code book so he could see if any would fit for the guild. As he studied, the purple window erupted opened in the sky, next to Damian, and out flew through two unknown figures. They landed with a big thud, a dust cloud covered the two assailants with mystery. Through the dust was tiny arcs of electricity.
"Charlie, it seems like you got us to the exact location." Came a voice of slight surprise.
"Careful Zayn, you almost sounded surprised." The cloud had faded into nothing, Zayn and Charlie both stood side by side, staring at Damian with ill intent.
"So this is the one with the key?" Zayn asked, with a simple nod from Charlie. Damian sighed, setting both the maps and the code books out of the way and standing up.
"Guess I shouldn't be surprised someone showed up looking for it, though I am surprised it's outside help. Ah well, suppose I should do what I promised to do." He turned to the pair, his Ares Blades forming in his hands.
"You two want the first move or shall I?" He stepped away from the table and the lacrima he'd turned on when he went to lunch with Samir activated, keeping the pair away from the camp and a second set shielded it from hostile magic. He then slid into a ready stance, waiting for an answer.
Zayn's face turned into a massive smile.
"Damian. I've been hired to do this, but with all due respect, i would fight you for free." He said, finally confronting a powerful wizard. Zayn dashed forward, both hands covered in lightning blades while Charlie threw a portal in front of her, coming out above Damian, sword at the ready and pointed right for his shoulder. The power in the area was intense and Zayn was getting chills from the thought of this fight. Damian reacted accordingly, side stepping Charlie's attempt at his shoulder and kicking her away while spinning around Zayn's attack and unleashing a Blade Rain on the pair, around twenty blades falling towards them. Following that up, he closed with the lightning mage and unleashed a flurry of slashes, thrusts and straight up punches and kicks on him before dropping into a crouch.
"Radial Blade, Burst!" A circle of decently large sword blades surrounding him before exploding away from him, the tips facing outwards. Charlie kicked herself up right while Zayn jumped high in the air. This wasn't going to be easy and they both knew this. The two stood side by side once more, Charlie, observing the area and watching Damian with every muscle move. Charlie nodded to Zayn and it seemed like they both knew what to do. Zayn started to rush towards Damian, his lightning hand blades at the ready, he was close to Damian, arms length when a purple portal came in between them. Zayn was gone before coming out of nowhere behind Damian. Charlie dashed fast towards the two men, sword at her side.
The Ares blade in Damian's left hand intercepted Zayn's pair, which he quickly knocked up before slashing with the right in a spin towards his gut, forcing him to either dance back or take the blow. As Charlie closes in, Damian uses a Triple Strike, three ethereal blades flying out from him and heading straight for her in a triangle form, giving her up and down as her only escape. When there was another lull in the fighting, Damian shook his head.
"You know, anything that is being hidden is being hidden for good reason. But then again, bad guys and mercs never think that far ahead."This time, he took the initiative, rushing towards the pair in a zig-zag pattern before reaching Zayn and slamming a knee into his gut and doubling him over. He took this opportunity to use a sweep on Charlie and then use a Twin Piercing blade, a pair of large sword blades flying straight on at the pair. Zayn was shocked when the knee connected with him, he was equally surprised when he was flipped over, looking up towards the sky before shooting up onto his feet. The blades were coming in fast and Zayn had no choice, Charlie wasn't going to be quick with her portal. He spun in front of his partner, both blades piercing his back, blood slowly dripping from the entry wound. He looked down quick, no exit wound, perfect. He put his foot on CHarlie's knee and kicked of, backflipping in the air and throwing the blades back at Damian, easily dodgable but a distraction for Charlie to get herself together. Zayn had landed behind Damian, he was in between the pair. Both Zayn and Charlie didn't move, only settling into a stance.
Damian didn't move right away, opting to swap up blades to his Hermes Blades. Looking between the two, Damian went over what he knew for sure.
Alright, so there's our friend behind me who likes lightning and it's easy to see he's holding back right now. Who knows what else to expect from him. On the flipside, the girl uses portal magic and is likely decent with that blade of hers. Let's keep them on their toes. Spinning both blades in his hands he turns and slams them both into the ground, one towards Zayn, the other towards Charlie.
"Blade Geyser!"A field of large spear and sword blades sprouted up towards both dark mages and as they went do dodge, Damian closed with the lightning mage again, his Hermes Blades boosting his speed. As he struck with his swords and body parts, smaller blades strike from random directions, showing Damian's proficiency with his magic as well as his martial skill. Charlie quickly dodge the incoming attack and watched as Zayn locked blades with the monster. Zayn held his hand against the sword, the lightning cloak making the sword play manageable. It was an intense moment and Charlie almst forgot to attack. Zayn moved into Damian, faces only mere inches apart. Eyes locked and Zayn's mouth opened, ready to say something but he was cutoff when a blade struck his face. An attack shot past the side of his right cheek, cutting deep and sharp and forcing to take a couple steps. Then Zayn got serious, he was holding back as to not damage the key but he didn't care anymore. If he was playing this serious then so was he. Zayn shot forward, his speed almost double and lightning striking around around him, he kick was heading towards Damian's face.
Damian ducked down, the kick passing through the space previously occupied by his head.
"Left yourself wide open." His fist shot straight up, catching Zayn in the chin and lifting him up. While they're still in the air, Damian uses Zayn to give himself some momentum and deliver a round house to Zayn's side, sending him flying off to one side. As he lands, he turns to Charlie and unleashes a barrage of piercing blades on her, using the resulting distraction to close the distance and connect a solid punch to her.
"Give it up, you aren't getting this key."Charlie smiled after taking the hit, she smiled, "You're too close!" She dropped her sword from her hand and punched Damian in the gut, her foot flicking the sword back into her other hand. She took a swing at Damian but it was easily dodged but a duck. Zayn was still in the air, before turning and shooting down with great force at both Charlie and Damian.
Damian caught the girl's sword arm with his left arm and pivoted on his left leg, slamming his elbow into her gut to knock the wind out of her gut and flipping her onto her back before backflipping away from the lightning mage's super charged charge and slides a couple feet after the last flip. Sighing, he focuses for a moment, closing his eyes.
"Release Skill Lock Alpha. Confirmation Beta-Delta-Epsilon-Ceta." A magic circle appeared under the Blades Magic wielder, the green it was changed to black before vanishing.
"Last chance to just walk away."When it became apparent that the pair wouldn't quit, Damian summoned a Striker blade, getting into the air. From there he just hovered a moment before zipping in and riding low along the ground, attacking with a series of high speed back and forth slashes and thrusts before flipping over the pair and using an Alpha Piercing Blade, which exploded into several smaller ones upon reaching where the pair was when he launched it.
The rapid flurry of attacks was amazing and the two only just managed to avoid the onslaught.. Well, Charlie gripped her right arm, a big cut and blood ran down. She turned to Zayn and Zayn knew what she was implying. He simply nodded back and turned to Damian. He rushed fast and got in close, throwing a right left, the two locked in a fist fight. While the two fought, a small portal appeared between the two, a small hand reaching through and got hold of the key around Damian. Damian saw the hand and slammed his head into Zayn's nose, knocking him back before grabbing the offending hand and pulling, flinging Charlie through the air. However, when he reached down to check for the pouch holding the key, it was gone, Charlie holding it triumphantly.
Shit. Damian didn't hesitate, swapping to his Hermes Blades and closing with Charlie, slicing open the pouch and catching the piece before slamming his foot into her side.
"Sorry sister, but letting you get that to your bosses is bad." Placing it in another pouch, he makes sure this one can't be pulled off again before sliding into a ready stance.
Charlie fell the ground, angered with her actions. How could she let this happen!. She got back up, she had done it once before, she could do it again. Zayn slowly strolled over to Charlie's side. Both of their looks changing to the look of battle. Their stance too was different, almost complimenting each other. Damian kept focused between the two, measuring them up. The change in attitude and stance was obvious, the realization that two on one wasn't as much of an advantage as they'd thought it would be. Damian, in response, changed stances as well, the twin blades coming up a little higher and the one in his left hand pointing at them.
"Let's go." Dashing forward, his right blade crosses with Charlie's as his left one caught Zayn. After a moment of blade lock, Damian pushes the pair off and kicks Zayn away and uses a flurry of slashes, thrusts, and kicks to try and push her back.
Charlie spun quickly her hand flicking out towards Damian, a quick portal opened in blink of an eye, grabbing the bag and Charlie's hand was filled with success. Charlie came to a stop and looked at Zayn, before opening a portal to who knows where. But Zayn didn't care for such thing. Zayn went head first towards Damian, his lightning hand gunning for Damian's chest.
"Son of a-" Damian reacted, the Hermes Blade in his left hand disappearing as he used a hand-to-hand technique to deflect the hand away from him and the blade in his right arcing up and slashing across the lightning mage's face, leaving a gash that crossed over the guy's left eye, and kicking him back as he made another grab for the key, but she was already gone.
"No!" He turned to try and catch the lightning mage, but he was gone as well, likely portaled to safety while Damian was going for the portal mage. He growled, throwing the blade in his hand point first into the ground and squatting.
"So much for a good day..."Charlie's portal was hazy and they only just entered the tree line before the two mages came tumbling out into a roll. Charlie layed defeated until she heard Zayn growl with anger. Her body still slowly coming to life arose like Frankenstein. She saw the cut across is left eye, she could tell right away it was serious. Zayn was almost biting his tongue, his breathing was heavy and his eye was shut closed. He raised his right hand to the eye, and then his hand glew a bright blue as the sound of skin sizzling danced through the trees. His hand lowered and the cut remained a scar, one that Zayn promised to give back.
Damian Gerard|Secluded Park
Damian stayed like he was for several minutes, thinking of a dozen different ways that he could have kept them from getting the key. But, in the end, he knew agonizing over it was pointless, so he opted to, instead, make something of the day. Standing and dismissing the Hermes Blade, he makes sure that the camp was locked down before heading towards the stadium, stopping to get a kabob along the way to replenish his strength some after that fight. The skill lock was still released, but he wouldn't need to close it back up for several hours yet, and he wasn't entirely unsure that he wouldn't get attacked again anyways.
Arriving at it, he took a moment to figure out which way he needed to go before going into the tunnels and up the stairs. The Frenzy Plant stands weren't hard to find, though he noticed that Hyun wasn't there.
Ah well, suppose checking up on her can wait. Approaching them, he makes sure to make himself known, ignoring any attempts at intimidation.
"I'd like to speak with your guild master, if he has a minute."James Hunt|Phoenix Wing Hotel
James held up a hand, stopping the defensive mage.
"Slow down, it wasn't the guild those two women were a part of, it was one called Promised Butchers. They're now, as of yesterday, shut down. As for your lesson, we're going to cover some more advanced blocking manuevers, since I get the sense that it would fit your style better."Jack Goran|Ice Cream Shop
Jack chuckled at Jackie's question.
"No, it just helps to teach them what the proper behavior is. It'll be less necessary as they get older, but for now, food is a powerful motivator to behave." Turning back to Jamie, he sighed.
"Perhaps I'll talk to Sanders after we've had a chance to relax. For now, let's agree to enjoy why we're here."
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