[IC] The Guardian and The Ghoul (Ranked fight at The Ambassador's Ball)

[MelonHead]

His breath steamed out into the bitter cold night air, satisfying his unnatural fear of life leaving him when he least expected it. It was one of the many insecurities the finely dressed Ghoul struggled with on a daily basis, the last vestiges of life and humanity fleeing his grasp without him having a say in the matter. The smoky essence of his life’s breath reassured him that for now at least he was still very much part of the living.

With that business out of the way, he walked around a low cut wall and up marble steps, striding towards the entrance of the Ambassador’s ballroom. He cut a striking figure, black hair flying free in the wind, his features sharp and handsome. However, on closer expection budding suitors would no doubt be put off the greyish pallor of his skin and the near constant shaking in his limbs, his eyes roving like a predator. The guards at the door looked down on him, but saw no reason to detain him in his fine red jacket and embodied white undershirt, suit trousers completing the look of just another fop attending the Ball. Perhaps they were overly assured in their own abilities, or perhaps had surrendered any hope of keeping violence from the Ballroom, as he passed by without incidence. Underneath his jacket, two Queen Anne flintlocks rested at each hip, and a deadly steel mortuary sword dangled from his left side. There was no need for a stake tonight however, he wasn’t doing any business immediately and even if he were his target was no Vampire.

“Lord Adrian Valdovsk, Baron of Damask.” The announcer ushered him in with far more fanfare than he would have liked on a reconnaissance mission, but he couldn’t help giving the name of his Master, so that any nuisance he made of himself at the Ball would fall at that bastard’s lap. Damaging the Master’s reputation was an ongoing project for Isaac the Ghoul.

He swept into the ballroom, earning himself a few appraising glances before his bloodshot eyes and unhealthy complexion forced even the more desperate ladies in the room away from seeking his company. He sighed inwardly, always a narcissist the loss of his good looks still pained Isaac after all this time. He consoled himself with the knowledge that he would look far less pretty by this point if he had aged naturally regardless. His eyes began to seek his target as he moved amongst large crowds of people, seamlessly blending in with any other number of well-dressed gentlemen.

Princess Rosella, young, only fifteen by his most recent reports. She would make a fitting pawn for the master’s plan… though getting to her would be difficult. Isaac clenched his fists silently, jealousy mounting as he considered the girl receiving the gift he had been promised on surrendering his freedom. His Master would never turn him, why would he? Vampires were individualistic and dangerous, hard to manipulate and control regardless of who sired who. The Master knew the day his fangs drew Isaac into the dark embrace, transforming him into a Vampire, Isaac would come closer than any before him in delivering the final death.

Isaac shook himself from such pitiful musings, realising it was unlikely he would ever taste freedom again, the chance of being human again long since passed. There, was that the princess dancing with the King of somewhere or other? He sighed and looked around, his hand unconsciously reaching up for a vial of the Master’s blood. It was at that moment he remembered he hadn’t brought any with him, he hated it after all. His hand dropped, the shaking intensifying.

[rush99999]

Princess Rosella was indeed dancing with the king of a foreign country. But someone else was standing near her. It was a hooded man wearing a carved ivory mask. This man stood at exactly 6 feet. No more, no less. He had 2 short swords strapped to his waist, 2 daggers strapped to his arms, and a 3rd dagger in his right hand. He wore iron armor on his torso and had a pair of leather gloves on his hands. This man was the mute warrior known as Guardian. And right now, he was staring directly at Isaac. His stare was cold and piercing, just like it was described in the stories told about Guardian. If the rumors were true, this was Guardian's way of giving potential threats their only warning to leave before Guardian made them leave.

[MelonHead]

Isaac had never really prided himself on being a particularly accomplished spy. His appearance was too unusual, it tended to stick in people’s minds, a poor quality in any aspiring participant of espionage. When he had a moment to really consider it, he wasn’t that accomplished at anything, being the best tactician or fighter held no interest to him, he preferred simple pleasures.

Business, business, he had to stop getting side tracked with these foolish periods of self-pity that seemed to be growing more common day by day. Back to the princess, who was still dancing with a worryingly guarded expression, as if engaging in combat. He supposed that was what politics was, some sort of wordy battle of wits, it was beyond him by some measure, but he had little else to do for some time but muse on concepts he had very little interest in. His eyes swept the people around the princess, looking for the more alert stare of a bodyguard. He certainly hadn’t expected to find one staring right back at him. His eyes immediately darted away, settling on a potted plant.

Was he made? Had he been spotted as a fraud, as a threat? What was the likelihood that the man, he presumed, knew who he was or what he was there for?
No, it was more likely he knew how to recognise the gaze of another with hostile intent, even when the expression was guarded. That was the problem with the blood, it picked at the wits, making it hard to hide one’s emotions. He stopped looking at the plant, realising probably too late that it wasn’t an ordinary thing to spend so much time looking at it.

“Alright mate, keep calm.” He muttered to himself, barely moving his lips as he looked back over at the man. He quickly took in his apparel, decided he wasn’t particularly interested in combat right then, and then began to wrack his brain for any information he had dug up prior to this night. Someone who had made him this quickly, provided he had, was someone with considerable skill. Someone like that working on the light side of the law was bound to have a reputation, was there someone like that in the Princess’ employ?

There was. He had a stupid name, more like a job title, Guardian or something along those lines. Apparently he was good at killing assassins, just his luck. Well, he hadn’t come to assassinate anyone, not tonight, but if he was asked it would be good to test beforehand just how formidable this guard of hers was. He began to move towards the princess, over-exaggerating his intent with some ease due to the natural shakiness of his body. He made his way towards her carefully, often glancing at the guard but mock assured by his own stealth. His right hand crept under his coat, seeking the hilt of the blade hidden by its length, the point at which any good bodyguard would make his move. He was just fifteen feet from the princess…

[rush99999]

Guardian's left hand moved to the short sword on his right side. As his fingers closed around the grip, a roaming pack of debutantes blocked him from view. Once the crowd passed, Guardian was no longer there.

Then, as mysteriously as he disappeared into the crowd, Guardian emerged behind Isaac. In his left hand was 1 of his short swords, 1 of his daggers was still sitting in Guardian's right hand.

A cry went up as Guardian raised his short sword and aimed a strong blow at Isaac's neck in an attempt to decapitate him. As this happened, people began to scream and run from the fighting, other assassins desperate to carry out their attempts leaped at their targets or began fighting bodyguards, and the few guards that were present in the room at the time began to try and restore order.

[MelonHead]

Isaac’s hand drew the smooth white handkerchief from his pocket with a flourish and he raised it to his face, obscuring a bitter smile.

Unsurprisingly, Guardian had reacted to his all too obvious assassination attempt. Isaac was hesitant to assume that this suggested naivety, not with his reputation, it was more likely he just did not care if he killed an innocent bystander who happened to be blowing his nose, on the off chance that he had instead been drawing a sword. It had taken Guardian some time to flank around Isaac, not by ordinary human standards, but by the standards of Vampire. So, just before the blade plunged towards his neck it was easy to feign tripping, his face turning in mock surprise to watch the glistening blade slide over his head, slicing a single strand of black hair free. Chaos was erupting around him even as he hit the ground and seemingly clumsily rolled over his right shoulder, hoping the lack of any weapon or skill would throw the guard off, for, as he reassured himself, he had no real interest in a confrontation here with no blood.

No blood. Damn the blood, he wouldn’t need it anyway.

He rose from his ungainly acrobatics quickly, perhaps the only trait betraying some small skill in his otherwise unimpressive display. He was half turned already towards his aggressor, but now he turned fully, the handkerchief dropping from his hand as he assumed a mock expression of abject terror, he didn’t even have to fake the shaking, wondering if it would divert the assassin’s attention elsewhere. From the corner of his eye he spotted an assassin diving from an upstairs balcony, down towards where he had last seen the Princess and the lowly King, it would seem he had some competition tonight.

Come on Guardian, your charge is in danger, he thought to himself, smiling inwardly even as he backed away from his would be murderer.

[rush99999]

Isaac's display of cowardice may have fooled an ordinary bodyguard, but Guardian wasn't an ordinary bodyguard. He knew a ghoul when he saw one. Even more so when he was announced as Lord Adrian Valdovsk, a noble who was rumored to be an ancient vampire.

"Guardian! Help!". Guardian's head snapped in Rosella's direction as the assassin struggled with the king that Rosella was dancing with. The king's efforts were valiant, but if help didn't arrive soon, then the king would surely be overpowered.

Guardian ran towards Isaac, seemingly with intent to continue his attack. But at the last possible second, Guardian leaped over the ghoul and ran to help Princess Rosella. However, Guardian had left behind a note for Isaac. It floated down from where Guardian had leaped over Issac and landed at the ghoul's feet

Ghoul

If you value what's left of your life, you will return to Lord Adrian and tell him that he will not lay so much as a finger on Princess Rosella.

Guardian

[MelonHead]

Isaac watched with trepidation as the bodyguard ran straight towards him, his body shaking in fear.

Dropping the handkerchief had been another amusing Highwayman trick, freeing his hands as they snuck incognito under his jacket, hands resting upon the well-used handles of two flintlock pistols. Jesu, this man seemed to want to die, Isaac thought fervently, watching the man carry out pretty close to ever action he had predicted up until this point. The cry from behind him was telling, the bodyguard was constrained by rules of conduct that Isaac himself was free from. Easy to predict, easy to counter, better to eliminate this obstacle here and now while it was easy.

What he hadn’t expected was for the guard to leap high and clear over him, and Isaac couldn’t quite believe his luck. With people running every which way it may have been difficult to ensure he could shoot his foe if he had both feet on the ground, but when one is sailing through the air it’s fairly difficult to change direction. Isaac had heard people could peg birds with the more accurate muskets being produced every-day. With two flintlocks at this distance against a target as large as a man? Child’s play, even with his hands shaking.

He had drawn the moment Guardian’s foot touched the ground and prepared to force himself airborne. Even with his moment of surprise Isaac had still turned around and brushed some paper out of the way, both flintlocks levelled and the hammers already dropped. His target still some distance before the ground, maybe six feet away, and the weapons discharged near simultaneously, bucking in his left hand and causing one shot to swing just wide of his intended target. The musket balls sailed through the air with unerring speed, and the shot from his right weapon seemed ready to hit its mark, dead centre through the man’s spine as he was close to landing.

The second shot careered off and caught the nobly fighting King clear through the chest, he fell back with surprise on his white face. Isaac smiled.

[rush99999]

Guardian's strong sense of smell had picked up the scent of gunpowder on Isaac long before the flintlocks were drawn. Guardian's stronger sense of hearing managed to pick up the sound of Isaac drawing his guns. It may be difficult to change direction mid-air, but it was easy for Guardian to turn around quick enough to swat the bullet away with his short sword. The swatted bullet continued traveling at a lethal pace and lodged itself in the throat of the assassin attacking Princess Rosella.

Upon landing, Guardian turned to face Isaac as 10 more guards arrived. 2 of the guards escorted Rosella out of the ballroom while other guards descended upon those who were fighting.

[MelonHead]

“Well, fuck me.” Isaac swore as the smoke cleared, having just witnessed his agile opponent literally bat his shot straight into the assassin attacking his charge. To the Ghoul it all looked completely intentional, and it actually worried him a little.

Usually Isaac would have just dropped his pistols immediately and drawn his sword, striding forward to skewer his foe the moment he hit the ground, ensuring he was finished. However, the Ghoul was so put out by his opponent’s apparent superhuman speed and skill that he remained stationary, slowly holstering the spent pistols.

He was ever aware of his opponent’s movements as he dropped about six feet away, so it was unlikely he could be caught unawares as his right hand dropped to the hilt of his sword and he considered his options. The screaming all around him as people dropped and assassins were sliced to ribbons by highly trained guards became a niggling irritation as he eyed up his foe.

I really don’t want to fight this guy, Isaac thought, weighing up his chances of escaping the bite of one of the bastard’s blades if he just legged it out of the building. The confusion would be an ideal cover, but then again after what he had seen thus far he wasn’t fighting even an extraordinary man. He was fighting a goddamn pariah of guarding perfection. Fucking Guardian, he hadn’t realised how apt that name was until then.

“Fuck it.” He muttered, drawing the blade from its sheath with a leathery rasp, holding it at a forty five degree guard position pointed towards his foe. There was an advantage here for him, his sword was longer (way-hey! He inwardly chuckled) and so far this supreme-guard hadn’t seen how quick Isaac himself was. He’d get a taste of that now. He advanced quickly on his right foot, his left behind and turned in a classic fencer stance, perhaps betraying his fighting style if Guardian was familiar with it. One swift step brought him within range to strike out at Guardian with a cautious thrust, high and towards the left side of his torso. Isaac was prepared at any moment to abandon his own strike and retreat, as he was taught, but should Guardian not react well Isaac’s blade would smoothly pierce through his flesh and cause a grievous wound.

[rush99999]

Being a master in all forms of combat, Guardian knew fencing when he saw it. Compared to other fighting styles, fencing was a delicate wine glass. But even wine glasses could prove fatal in a fight.

Guardian pushed the incoming attack to the left with his short sword and lunged at Isaac. While his short sword was still locked with Isaac's, Guardian attacked with his dagger. The bodyguard swung the blade from left to right, aiming for the neck in an attempt to decapitate the ghoul.

[MelonHead]

Isaac expected the parry, and indeed was hoping for it, because as soon as his opponent moved his left arm to deflect the sword strike he exposed Isaac’s true target. Isaac twisted his sword-hand so his knuckles were facing leftward, forcing his blade to dart leftward and underneath his opponent’s own sword, hopefully cutting a groove into the flesh of his forearm. As he did so he sought to ‘fly back’ which was in his school of fencing the preferred move after any strike, regardless of success. The intended outcome of all of this was for Isaac to take a step backwards with his sword cutting a line along the outside of his opponent’s left forearm and wrist, a painful and potentially disabling attack. Considering Gaurdian had already committed to his parry, as opposed to just stepping back or even darting around the weapon with longer reach, there was a good chance Isaac would have opportunity to draw first blood here.

Regardless, his opponent was likely to reconsider advancing after realising the true intent of Isaac’s thrust, but Isaac was stepping back regardless, followed by a quick anti-clockwise circling that put him just off to his opponent’s hopefully weakened left side, but only a step away.

[rush99999]

Suddenly, the entire universe ceases to exist.

The End.