Fight against fantasy - IC

Skógur town - "Dueling Arena"

Azeruk around the area. It really wasn't what he had in mind, but he wasn't complaining. Besides, they were next to the school and they had plenty of mach battles, right? Either way, Azeruk was curious about the school and the knowledge of the student he was about to duel. He remembered how one of the teacher here offered to take him in and train him, but Azeruk proffered to be alone. It wasn't because Azeruk was a loner by nature, it was simply that he just wanted to be alone and work at his family's forge.

Azeruk turned his head over to Sidna and replied to her words.

"Don't worry about me. Just because I didn't go to a magic school, doesn't mean I'm weak with magic.", Azeruk playfully remarked as he walked over to the other side of the arena.

Azeruk then stood there, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. To some, Azeruk's actions might have been mistaken as him being nervous, but it was quite the contrary. Azeruk was calming his mind and charging up his magic for the battle. As Azeruk slowly exhaled, an aura of light could be seen forming around him. It wasn't big or incredibly powerful, but it did show that he was ready for battle.

(Remember Azeruk, this is not a battle against bandits. DO NOT use anything that can injure or kill her.), Jason thought as he opened his eyes and nodded at Sidna, showing that he was ready to duel.

Skógur town - "Dueling Arena"

"Remember that this nis no combat school. We are not taught things like that here. Fighting we have to learn ourself". As she said that she laid the bow right outside of the Arena. For now it was only for training. She didn't grab any other weapons either as she only intended to play with him for a little bit.

As he got ready Sidna began forming a plan. For this battle she mostly wanted to show how universal void magic was and how raw it was if she managed to. She would first play with the light hitting the arena, and because of that he was a light mage hw would just make it easier for her to accumulate light. She just had to be careful so he wouldn't get her before she did the lockdown.

As he nodded that he was ready she made her first move. She removed time in random pockets of air around the arena. This caused everything, including light, going into it to freeze. When she would release the area all the light would go out all at once and blind the opponent while she simply removed the light going towards her. If you looked at the areas while they were still frozen you would just see a black hole there instead.

At the same time that she removed time from some areas she also removed herself from the lights path so it would pass right trough her making her invisible. She wasn't stupid tough she began moving around the arena, removing any traces that could be used to track her and find her position.

Skógur town - "Dueling Arena"

Azeruk saw something quite strange about the voids around him. The most obvious one was the fact that they were giant black holes, only that they didn't suck anything up like a vaccum. Azeruk looked for the girl, but saw that she wasn't there. Azeruk heard many things about void magic, and this was one of them.

(The removal of time... Not only that, but she seems to have turned invisible. Two can play at that game.), Azeruk thought to himself as he started using his magic.

Azeruk suppressed his aura and bent the light around him. Azeruk had done this many times before, so many times that this was one of his easiest spells, and one that he was very proficient at. The light passed around Azeruk, causing a faint distortion in the air. The only way to see Azeruk would have been to be right up against him. Once that was done, Azeruk moved around the arena, being careful not to bump into any of the "black holes". As Azeruk walked along, he would create a light clone of himself being invisible by stopping the light and freezing it in place. This would give Azeruk the opportunity to attack the student when she chose to strike.

Now, it was just a game of hide-and-seek.

There I was in the pub. It was rather noisy. Just like it always is. The men are talking to eachother cheerfully in a strong voice and the women are laughing at eachother's jokes. Sounds crazy, but this is the most peaceful place in town. That's because I put a special additive n the drinks. Now, not only are they drunk, but the additive makes them happier. It does me good to see such cheerful faces.

"Aye, Frankie! Come on! Whaddya say?!"

I turn to a man that regularly comes around.

"... Ah, now I get it. I'll set up the table then."

The people are hooting and hollering and for one reason only.

It was time to play a custom Myrkur Bar card game called Horah. The cards were set.

"Who knows, Frank. I might just beat ya this time!"

The game begins.

Skógur town - "Dueling Arena"

Just as expected he turned invisible shortly after. Now she just had to capture him. The first step would be to know about where he was. She couldn't find his location on the ground and she couldn't cover the whole ground at once as she either as that could be dangerous. The safest way would be to get him somewhere she knew where was. The first step to this was removing a bit off dirt under the ground in the middle allowing the piece of dirt and grass to be moved around freely. The next step was to remove all the gravity in the arena, except right around herself. If this was where he was hiding she would be able to see him anyway and he would have to be extremely lucky to stand in just the right spot.

When the gravity disappeared all lose things, including Azeruk and the piece of dirt would fly up. When she felt that she had him at a nice height she rapidly removed and allowed the gravity to coma back, suspending him in the air. Nect she wanted to scare him a little, she removed time all around the area where he could be. He wouldn't be able to see a thing inside that bubble, and just as a last touch she created random holes of vacuum around the area that was immediately filled up again. The resault would be something along a popping sound.

The man stares at his card. He looks as if he recieved a christmas gift. I smile.

"Go on. Say it."

The man grins widely. Then he gets up, pumps his fist in the air, and gave out a hearty cheer. "HORAAAAAH!!!!!!"

He repeats it over and over agin. Soon, the entire bar joins in with him. I hand him a freshly cooled drink.

"And your prize."

He drinks it all. "Ah, Frank, yer the best! Yer the light of town, ya know that? Makes me wanna freakin live here, away from all the crime!"

"Oh, come on, you're too kind."

"Hellz yea, but it's the truth!"

I get up and go back to the bar.

"Everyone, feel free to grab a drink or challenge me in a card game! I'm here all night!!!"

Everyone cheers. It warms my heart to see this.

It really takes the pain away from my ever aching head.

Skógur town - "Dueling Arena"

Azeruk was surprised that he was stuck in a bubble of darkness with popping noises around him, but he had been in worse situations, such as the time when he was heavily wounded by one of the bandit assaults. Azeruk looked at the inside of the bubble and thought a moment.

(Hmm... The removal of time...)

Azeruk may be stuck, but he wasn't defenseless. All of a sudden, Azeruk began to charge up the light inside of his body. A brilliant aura of golden light filled up the bubble and caused everything to get bright. Next, Azeruk bent all the light away from his eyes, protecting his eyes and allowing him to see without being blinded. The light inside of the bubble got brighter and brighter, to the point that it was as if Azeruk was encased in a miniature star. As Azeruk expelled light, he also charged up more, allowing his attack to become even brighter. Sidna wouldn't be able to see what was going on inside, so this would definitely take her by surprise and disrupt her magic. All Azeruk needed was a single instant. In that single instant, the duel would be over.

Skógur town - "Dueling Arena"

After waiting for some time Sidna decided that the battle was over. "Lockdown" she whispered quietly for herself. At the same moment Azeruk lost control over both his body and his magic, Sidna had removed all magic and motion off his body. What magic he had already been charging up would disappear. Now that Azeruk was safe and down she proceeded to removing the bubbles of removed time. The first one she restored was the small one at ground level. What light they had catched was released all at one in a bright light. However Sidna was prepared for this so she simply removed the light heading for her.

The last thing to do was removing the big bubble that Azeruk was inside of. When she removed it however something she did not expect happened. A big amount of light appeared, much bigger than she was prepared for. As a resault she lost control over the other magic she was using. The most noticiable thing was that Azeruk fell all the way down to the ground, maybe 7 feet. In the meantime Sidna tried to get up her magic as fast as possible again. First off was the field that protected the building around them. Luckily ther hadn't been any damage from the light.

Skógur town - "Dueling Arena"

At the very instant Azeruk was released, the light exploded forth, bathing the whole arena in light and disrupting the student. Azeruk was blinded, but he closed his eyes and easily memorized the student's location. All the voids disappeared as the girl tried to regain control of her magic, allowing Azeruk a split second to react. He may not have had any magic reserves left, but for his next move, he wouldn't need any. In a single instant, Azeruk traveled by the light from his explosion and the "lockdown" and flew straight for the girl as pulled out his black, foldable combat knife. As soon as he got within arm's reach, Azeruk stabbed at her chest with his knife, only that he never opened up the blade. This was a duel after all, it wasn't like he'd actually kill her.

Southern side of the river between Blómlegt Forest and Myrkur-5:00pm

Wen Xuan contemplated the simple wooden bridge and the dark and dismal-looking town that it led to. The squirrel had left earlier, just before he arrived at this swampy area. He still had not found anything to trade, he knew he could have just shot a few animals or somethings, but he found that repulsive. So instead he had been searching for herbs or spices to trade, but his woodcraft left a lot to be desired and he had not been able to find any that he had recognized in Blómlegt Forest. But now that he was in this swampland, he recognized some edible plants: torch ginger, arrowhead and cat tail. He set about collecting them, he would prefer to trade them for a warm meal and possible some other things, but if not, he supposed he could always eat them himself.

Before long, he had collected enough cat tail shoots, arrowhead tubers and torch ginger buds to fill the space previously occupied by the protein bars which he had already eaten or given to the squirrel. " There really is not much space for other things than my archery stuff in this bag...I wonder if i could acquire another bag in this town." Wen Xuan put his stabiliser back into the bag, he had heard that most towns like this resented the SYSTEM and although he was no longer part of it, the high-grade metal might give the wrong impression. He left an end of it sticking out the top of the bag where he could easily pull it out though. Just in case.

He glanced up at the branch where Madge was perched, she was busy tearing at something that he took care not to examine too closely. He waited until she had done with her meal, then he set off across the bridge towards the town with her perched on his bag so as to not accidentally scratch him with her claws, there was not much space for her to fly due to the dense canopy.

As he entered the town, he saw many locals looking at him. " of course, I am a stranger with a great big bag and a falcon, of course everyone is staring." since he had already drawn attention, he approached one of them and asked for directions to an inn or pub.

He paused at the door of the pub, even from out here, he could here shouting and laughter. Looking at the low doorway and Madge's uniqueness, he told Madge to just fly off and maybe enjoy another meal. Once she left, he tried to as silently as possible push open the door and stepped in, ducking as he did so to avoid whacking his bag against the frame. He noticed that most of the noise seemed to be coming from a crowd with two men playing a card game. Dismissing this,Wen Xuan headed straight for the bar to speak to the owner of the pub.