Halloween Bash 2012 Finals - Desert Warrior vs. KuraiKeybladeMaster

Keiko sat atop the roof of a dilapidated shack staring up into the night sky. The moonlit prairie made her smile, genuinely, for the first time in a long while. The area reminded her of the prairies near her hometown. The air was soothing, cool but not cold. The dead trees and abandoned shack gave her a bittersweet sense of loneliness that Keiko savored. Keiko switched her gaze back to the arena and began to survey the area around her. Nothing there really, just some sparse dead trees, swaying grass, and an oddly-placed patch of gravestones.

Looks like I've got to search for my opponent, Keiko thought to herself. I'm not the best at sneak attacks anyway. They only work once, after all. Keiko shoved herself off of the roof and onto her broomstick, which appeared under her as she jumped. She then ascended to just above the treeline. From there, she had decent view of most of the arena. The rows of raving fans in the enormous seating area around them were impressive, but also a bit daunting. Keiko smiled as she mentally braced herself for the fight to come. She reached into a small pouch and pulled out a scroll that contained some information about her opponent, as well as her summons to the arena.

Name: Leon, Category: Vampire, Keiko read mentally. So, he's an undead, like me. This will be interesting.

Keiko started to feel a pain in her chest; the feeling slowly spread through the rest of her body until she felt like she was on fire. A second or so later, the pain slowly receded. Keiko gasped for breath. What... is this place?! It's draining my energy... Keiko started to worry a bit. I need to find my opponent soon. She started to fly slowly toward the middle of the arena, keeping a keen eye out for the vampire along the way.

 

The trees Keiko was floating above were not completely bare. In fact, they weren't bare at all. There were bats, hundreds of them. They hung from the branches, completely covering the trees. From a distance one would think that they were leaves on the trees. As Keiko floated away from the trees, the bats took flight. All of them flew into the air at once, swarming Keiko as she floated throughout the air. Whether they made her surprised enough to fall off of her broom was difficult to tell. The bats swarmed around her to the point of completely covering her from the audience. What also made it difficult to tell if she was surprised was her missing eyes. These bats were fairly silent so you could only be surprised if you saw them swarm you. Not only were they silent, but another strange thing was the fact that they all moved in unison. When one bat flapped its wings, so did every other bat.

It was then that the bats began to fly into each other. At the front tip of the broom the bats collected together, their bodies shrinking and loosing form until they became a black mass. As they collected together more and more the mass became bigger and bigger and began to resemble a human body. When the final bat joined the mass, the action of them coming together taking only a few seconds, the mass was no longer unidentifiable. There was a person standing at the end of the broomstick, staring directly at Keiko.

 

Looks like my opponent found me, Keiko observed as the silent black bats swarmed her. She was a bit surprised at first. As the bats started forming into a mass in front of her, Keiko knew she had to act. She quickly threw herself off of the side of her broom; as she did so, the broom disappeared in a puff of purple smoke. After falling for about ten feet, she re-summoned her broom underneath her, landing on it gracefully and distancing herself from the opponent.

Keiko quickly sped to the ground. She hopped off of her broom and bit open her pointer finger in one motion, immediately drawing an Amaya symbol in the grass beneath her. A torrent of purple needles rained down on top of her opponent. Keiko stood atop her bloody seal, watching her opponent in the sky.

 

As the broom disappeared Leon simply glided towards his enemy. As he headed towards Keiko he heard the sound of her skin tearing, the blood flowing through the open wound. Leon grinned, amused at the idea of somebody willingly drawing their own blood when fighting a vampire.

As the needles began to rain down on him, Leon's body simply turned into a swarm of bats again and spread outwards in an attempt to avoid the needles. A couple of the bats were hit by the needles but surprisingly the majority of them avoided the needles. The bats collected together again to form Leon, standing in front of Keiko.

Strangely enough, Leon's body was injured when he took shape again. Something that didn't really happen when he transformed into multiple bats. The curse of this arena had began. Simply staring at Keiko, Leon stomped the ground between them. The result was reminiscent to artillery fire. The ground around them completely burst, the dirt giving a moment of blocked vision. Leon rushed into the dirt to continue his attack on Keiko.

 

As the vampire stomped into the ground, Keiko summoned her broom, sat back onto it, and dashed backward. She moved just quickly enough to avoid the powerful shock waves. Leon dashed into the fray, but because of Keiko's movements there was still a bit of distance between them. Kieko summoned her signature Shadow Weapon, a pitch-black one-handed sword.

"Leon, the vampire," Keiko spoke just loud enough for her opponent to hear. "It's a shame that they would pit two undead against each other. Though, you vampire types tend to look down on us minions. I'm what you'd call a minion gone wrong... I kept my mind, but lost my soul." During the short speech, Keiko wrote a Kiru symbol on her forearm. As she spoke the last word, soul, the last mark of the symbol was complete; vertical waves of purple aura ripped out of the ground and shot out in a cone pattern in front of her.

Keiko, still on her broom, flew after the purple waves directly at the vampire. She un-summoned the broom after picking up a bit of speed and landed dashing at Leon. When she got into range, Keiko feigned a stab; at the last second, she brought her blade upward for an underhand vertical slash.

EDIT: Kiru wasn't italicized.

 

"Minions? Looking down upon them? You keeping your mind? I don't care about any of that." Leon spoke as he rolled to the side to dodge the attack. "In fact, there's not much that I really do care about." As Keiko's blade came up, Leon clapped his hands together and caught the blade between his hands. Pulling the blade out of Keiko's hands was a simple feat that was done in one swift motion. As the blade was in his hands Leon pulled back, doing a backflip that pulled Keiko towards him until the blade left her hands. In mid flip the vampire threw the blade away from them while simultaneously having his foot move to kick Keiko in the face.

 

Keiko smirked when her opponent grabbed her blade with a lightning-quick motion; Leon obviously didn't know the effect of her Shadow Weapons. They dealt damage whenever they connected, rather than having to pierce or cut like a normal weapon. Leon grasping the blade should have caused him a fair amount of pain, but even so he was able to continue his attack into a backflip.

As soon as Keiko had been tugged by her weapon, she let it go rather than letting it move her forward. This put her just out of range of the kick, or so she thought; the very tip of the vampire's foot still caught Keiko's chin, which still meant a damaging strike due to the Vampire's inhuman strength. The hit knocked her a couple inches into the air, then she immediately fell and stumbled backward.

"Oh that's right," Keiko said, regaining her stance. "We're so close to death's door that our emotions might as well die too, is that it? I envy you. My damned emotions turned black, but they wont die." Keiko looked around. She realized that their motions had taken them into a patch of gravestones, some now reduced to just stones from both combatant's attacks. Keiko knelt to the ground, still keeping eye contact with the vampire, and activated her Golem Familar underneath her.

A pillar of earth jutted out from under Keiko, raising her several feet into the air. Then, broken rubble and in-tact gravestones came together with the earth column and combined into a human-like form with long arms. The original pillar now gone as part of the Golem's body, Keiko knelt atop the construct's head, resting upon a platform of two gravestones. She then hopped into the air and summoned her broom underneath her. She floated above the Golem and pulled out her notebook. She began to write a Jirai symbol as she mentally gave the Golem the "kill" command.

Keiko's body began to ache again. The flaming pain came back, full force. She could see that small patches of black veins could be seen on her sickly, pale arms. The arena... damn it, Keiko mentally cursed. Thankfully, the pain receded a couple seconds later, but it lasted longer this time over all. Keiko knew she had to act as fast as she could.

The mass of stone and earth stomped toward the vampire. When it was close enough to attack, the Golem spun around, swinging its arms in wide arcs around it. It attempted to slam its stone appendages into the vampire.

EDIT: I had originally intended to put in the paragraph where Keiko suffers from the arena's effects, but I had forgotten it in my first post. So, I edited it in.

 

>How tall is the golem? I'm assuming no larger than twice the size of a regular human. I've got two ideas for this post. One for a golem about twice the size of a human, and one for a golem that's about 20 feet tall or so. I'm gonna go with the smaller version. Also, is the Jirai symbol in the notebook or on the golem?<

Due to the damage not being physical, Leon didn't see any actual damage to his hands from grasping the blade. Of course, the white gloves on his hands could do a good job at hiding damage if they themselves aren't damaged from the shadow weapons. In addition, the pain lasted longer than it should have. Just like him receiving wounds when he normally wouldn't, Leon figured there was something wrong with this area. "It would make sense that this area isn't exactly friendly to either of us. Therefore she should be feeling some sort of pain. If we are both going to be harmed by this area, then that gives me the advantage. Especially since she has to use her own blood to fight."

Unfortunately for Leon, Keiko had a tendency of keeping a certain amount of distance from him. For him to get in that one perfect strike, Leon would have to think of a way to put Keiko in a more favorable position while keeping a couple tricks up his sleeve.

Keiko's current distance setter would be the golem she summoned from the ground. The golem swung its arms towards Leon. Leon quickly bent backwards, the arms swinging right above him. As the arms came back to hit him again, Leon continued his bend into a cartwheel and slammed one of his legs into the first arm of the golem it came in contact with. The arm shattered when Leon's leg hit it. As the second arm came around, Leon pushed himself off of the ground while being completely upside down. With nothing to use for resistance, Leon was able to catch the golem's arm as it came in contact with him. Leon twisted his body around the golem's arm until he was right-side-up again and in a better position to do something.

The golem changing actions to get at Leon as he was holding onto the golem was Leon's chance to get rid of it. He planted his feet on the ground and quickly pulled back. The golem was pulled along by Leon before being spun a good 110 degrees and being thrown.

 

Keiko had prepared for the worst when she commanded the Golem to attack; she didn't expect the mindless beast to deal much damage to the vampire. She kept her finger poised over her notebook, ready to write a seal at a moment's notice.

The vampire dodged the first of the Golem's attacks with an acrobatic, backward-arching movement. Keiko hesitated, seeing that the Golem's other arm was coming around for a follow up strike; She was amazed when she saw Leon react by kicking the arm of earth and stone, shattering it upon impact. Keiko's finger touched paper as an Amaya seal was drawn. As the Golem was thrown, another wave of purple needles came down on Leon.

Keiko's head drooped. I can't keep doing this... my energy is too low... She thought as she tried to center herself. It wasn't working. Damn this arena...!

Keiko's didn't have many options. She took several deep breaths, readying herself for what she had to do. Her broom dashed forward toward the continuing rain of needles. The Amaya spell only had a second or so left, so she had to act quickly. Keiko looked down and spotted Leon. She flew right above him and threw her notebook at him, aiming the best she could. As long as the notebook got close it would work, she didn't need a perfect shot. As soon as the book neared the vampire, Keiko said "Jirai!" in a harsh whisper. The notebook exploded in a burst of deadly purple energy. Her flight continued until she was on the opposite side of Leon, with a fair amount of both distance between them.

 

>I'd like to continue for a bit. The last time I looked for a new post on this thread was probably right before Kurai posted, so I wasn't aware that a more recent post had been made.<

Leon had to catch his breath as he dived and rolled away from another needle rain. Throwing the golem had a greater strain on him than he expected, and the pain had begun to show itself. The leg he used to kick the golem with buckled underneath him as he tried to stand up, another unexpected result from the golem. It was at this moment, while Leon had fallen down, that Keiko had gotten above him and threw down her notebook. He threw his cape over him to give the appearance of shielding himself from whatever attack while he began his next movement, something that had to be done with perfect timing or he would either get himself blown up or gravely injured.

The notebook burst. When the aura faded, there was nothing that remained. Not even a shred of cloth to show that the vampire had in fact died.

Everything remained silent for a few minutes. There was no movement except for anything that could be blown by the gentle breeze that moved across the area. It was during these moments of silence that Leon appeared again. Directly below Keiko, where her shadow covered the ground, Leon rose. His body rose directly out of her shadow, a place Leon expected to get a sneak attack in due to Keiko not knowing of this skill Leon had. The vampire's body burst into another swarm of bats, each flying away from Keiko's line of sight. They traveled behind her and up before again collecting themselves on Keiko's broom, similar to the beginning of this fight. Landing on the broom, Leon quickly grabbed Keiko to bite her and end the fight.

 

Keiko watched intently as her notebook exploded. There was nothing there, not a trace of the vampire to be found. She frowned. Having used the Jirai many times before, she knew that the blast wasn't powerful enough to completely destroy something like that; there would have been some residue. Keiko knew that Leon had somehow evaded the attack.

She expected a sneak attack, because why else would one conceal their presence in the heat of battle? Then again, the vampire hadn't tried a sneak attack yet. All of his previous attacks were relatively straightforward. Keiko began to list forward on her broom. She scanned the ground in front of her and to her sides as she thought about how the vampire might attack her.

Then it hit her. The bats from earlier. They swarmed her without her even noticing. Shouldn't she have been able to hear them? As all of the pieces came together in Keiko's head, she immediately pointed her broom at a steep vertical angle upward. She sped forward, raising in altitude. She then stopped and turned around, looking at where she was a second ago. There was a swarm of bats coalescing into a humanoid form. She had acted just quick enough to avoid the assassination attempt.

Keiko then angled steeply downward and sped to the ground. She hopped off of her broom and onto the grass of the arena. Keiko wanted to create another weapon, but it was too soon; if she didn't give herself a rest from casting, she would faint from spiritual exhaustion. Keiko's fists balled up.

God damn it, why?! Why is this arena sapping my energy? Keiko looked up at the endless crowd watching and cheering. For the filthy demons' pleasure, is that it? I've been reduced to a hellion's jester... Keiko's head hung as she contemplated the situation. Her shoulders began to bob. Was she crying?

No. Childish laughter came from the sullen form. It raised in volume until it became raucous. A Shadow Weapon again formed in her hand, the same one-handed sword. Keiko swooned and almost fell over, but she caught herself and lifted her head. She wore a confident smile. Keiko took a shaky stance and waited for the vampire's next attack.

 

"Damn she's hard to catch." Leon silently cursed as he glided down to the ground after missing Keiko. He calmly stretched his body as he waited for Keiko to come down again. "Just take it easy. No point in exhausting yourself when this area puts such a strain on everyone involved. One bite and I can bring myself back to peak conditions. Luckily I still have the shadows as an advantage since she hasn't seen me use them. If the fight gets too bad I'll get in a bite with her own shadow."

Leon watched Keiko as she laughed with the weapon in hand. "That thing again. Can't touch it or I'll have to suffer a bit. She may give off the appearance of somebody who is confident but she's shaking too much. I could probably knock her down without even touching her." Leon stretched his injured leg a bit more, feeling what condition it was in. It returned to a point where he wouldn't collapse from standing up. But if he were to immediately and quickly rush in, something he first thought of doing, he may injure the leg even more. Instead Leon put up his own appearance of confidence and calmly walked towards Keiko. As he walked, something fairly obvious dawned upon him. Because their conditions were worsening as time went on, Leon taking his time to reach Keiko would only weaken her. Not only that, but she clearly didn't have a way to heal herself or else she would've done it by now in an attempt to stave off the arena's curse. That was Leon's second advantage over Keiko, behind the use of the shadows. Leon considered a third advantage he had. Something that, while always pulled through when he needed it, was not something that he enjoyed gambling with. But if the arena weakened him too much, he would have to take that gamble in order to win.

 

As Leon slowly approached Keiko, the witch was steeling herself. Breathing deeply, Keiko focused herself and massaged her aura. As long as she abstained from casting, the toll of the arena would be less intrusive; in other words, she would be able to fight. Keiko watched with the eyes of a hawk as the vampire strutted closer and closer.

As soon as Leon was within attacking range, Keiko dashed forward and made a swift horizontal swipe, aimed at the vampire's damaged leg. Not waiting to see if the attack landed or not, she then leapt backwards, re-distancing herself from her opponent. Distance was still good for Keiko; while it is true that the arena would eventually knock her out if Leon waited for too long, it also gave her a chance to steady herself. Her confident smile changed into a calculated poker face.

Keiko caught something out of the corner of her eye and momentarily glanced at her sword arm. Her veins had turned black. The decaying effects of the arena were getting serious. I can stay in this... Keiko thought, trying to assure herself.

The booming roars of the demonic spectators echoed into the chill night. A gentle breeze began to sweep through the moonlit prairie.

 

Leon simply jumped over the attack. Considering her target was lower to the ground, Leon didn't have to jump high and risk injuring himself again. And of course on the way back down he made sure to land on his good leg so he wouldn't fall down again. Leon continued walking towards his enemy as she furthered the distance between them. It was when Keiko glanced down at her arm that Leon decided to quickly make a move.

He kicked at the ground again, causing it to burst up from the impact of the hit. With the dirt in the air providing cover so Keiko couldn't see him, Leon's body quickly sank into his shadow, vanishing completely. When the dirt settled, Leon's body was nowhere to be found.

It was from Keiko's shadow that Leon appeared again. He slowly rose out of her shadow, rising up behind her. He quickly grabbed her so she wouldn't get away and went to bite at her neck.

 

The vampire nimbly dodged the attack by jumping, even with a hurt leg. Furthermore, Leon was somehow able to muster the power to either a.) stomp his bad leg into the ground, undoubtably causing immense pain on his part, or b.) balance on his hurt leg while stomping with his good one, which would cause less damage but still hurt quite a bit. Either way, the effect of the maneuver was similar to the beginning of the battle, where Leon tried to use the ruse of dirt to shield his frontal attack. However, Keiko knew how tricky the vampire could be; he disappeared when dodging her Jirai attack. Could he reappear wherever he wanted? If that was the case, she would have to defend more than just her front.

Keiko performed a spinning slash in a full 360 degrees around her. If the vampire was trying anything sneaky, it should at least give her enough time to get a visual on him and react. Keiko was fatigued, but abstaining from casting allowed her to stay on her feet, if only to make these seemingly-ineffective sword maneuvers.