A Twisted Figure Stands In The Moonlight [OPEN]

[Noctis Corvo]

He could almost feel the Monk's frustration. In a way it was palpable and almost made the Heretic smile. In fact, it did make him smile. The monk would put up a fun little fight at least, keeping the heretic enjoyed. He saw as the monk's first punch flew towards him, twisting quickly out of the way "We can't have that now can we!" A smile sat upon his face as he turned loosely about, "Well that was a close-"

The monk's second hand came flying out, too late for the crazed heretic to dodge. As the fingers grasped at his neck, a wheezy "Ello Poppet" came out from his lips. The arm retracted a few seconds later and, as he came face to face with the monk only the most appropriate of lines came to his twisted mind, "Tighter daddy!" He let out with a vicious chuckle before the monk's grip tightened and began to lift him off the ground. "No sense of humor I see," He wheezed out. "Well its too bad Kaiba! You activated my Trap Card!" With a sickening laugh, the miasma appendage he had summoned earlier shot out from under his drooping scarf, sucker punching the monk to the crotch just hard enough to make him loose his grip and the heretic "Attack the enemy crab's weakspot for MASSIVE DAMAGE!" With a rather sickening grace to backflip a bit out of the way, just in time for the earlier sigil he placed to activate right before the chains collapsed, dousing the monk in even more corruption, with a loud and cheerful "Mazel tov!" To emerge from the heretic as he threw up his hands in joyous celebration. 

Noctis Corvo:
HP: 94%
MP: 98%

Corruption levels:
Noctis: 200 points - Stage 5 
Shuwen: 15 points - stage 1
Kaizoku: 4 points - stage 0
Lamenta: 4 points - stage 0

[Shuwen]

Words: 402

So, how tight do I need to squeeze before he shuts up? He wondered as Noctis Corvo continued to ramble. He generally tried to avoid listening to what the people he was fighting said, unless it was a friendly spar. However, one thing the Heretic said did catch his attention. A certain meme that strongly indicated he still had a trump card left to play. Ugh, what's it gonna be this time?

Shuwen had been already been expecting an attack of some sort. To be specific, he'd been expecting kicks aimed at his torso or crotch. Since that position allowed the victim to move both legs without compromising their balance, that was typically the first kind of attack people thought of in that position. His use of a relevant meme merely tipped him off in regards to his opponent's timing. Of course, he'd forgotten about the claw that he had generated earlier, well, more like he hadn't realized he could maintain it for that long. As it zoomed towards his crotch, Shuwen backhanded the claw with his free hand, knocking it off course. Unfortunately, the contact counted as the attack landing on his hand, so it still dealt damage and such, but the amount was notably smaller then it otherwise would have been, and it wasn't as distracting. To be honest, the Heretic's inappropriate quotes and jokes were more bothersome.

He also didn't let go of the Heretic, at least not yet. Unfortunately, he had forgotten about the sigil his opponent had planted, and when it went off, he retracted his arms into a defensive posture out of habit, inadvertently freeing the heretic and giving him a (very) short amount of time with which to gain some distance. He probably wouldn't have as much time as he was probably expecting though; it wouldn't be long before Shuwen went after him again.

Okay, time to take the initiative.  Before this headache gets any worse.  While it probably wouldn't effect his physical abilities noticeably, it would like as not hinder his concentration and his ability to think rationally, which could be a real problem when fighting another adventurer.  Even if that adventurer was a corruption-crazed heretic.  Leaping upward and forward, Shuwen activated the skill Wyvern Kick, coming down with a fast flying kick.  Hopefully, the skill would allow him to eliminate the distance between them, so he could follow up with more damaging attacks.

[Noctis Corvo]

"Oh so you wanna go punk?" The heretic cackled out, the miasma converging on him as he activated Vessel of Chaos. The blackish mist began to swirl and solidify around his arms producing (of all things) a metal pair of monk gauntlets. As they formed the monk closed in with his flying kick, the heretic once again using spellwalking to move out of the way. Thanks to his corruption level, the weapons were also level 49 gauntlets, which meant that he could at least pose a minor threat. He had just finished his cast time as the monk landed beside him, and not a moment too soon. As soon as thw monk landed he wohild start off with a hard right hook and whatever the monk would thow at him next, he would use parry to block it and follow up with another strong punch combined with a strike from his Miasma Appendage. At this point he was past words, just driven by pure ecstasy of the fight.

Noctis corvo:
Hp: 86%
Mp: 95%

[Shuwen]

Words: 483

As Heretic was a magic attack class, Shuwen was expecting Noctis Corvo to use every trick he had to wiggle out of close range and keep him too tied up to use melee attacks. That was what he'd been doing up until that point. However, he seemed to have run out of skills that would help him do so, because instead of that, he used a different skill to create some kind of heavy gauntlets that were clearly intended for close combat. I guess he's ready to scrap, hmm? This should be good.

Fighting another person gave Shuwen mixed feelings. He generally considered PVP to be a zero sum game, so he didn't usually engage in it. He'd only engaged the heretic once the tension and danger levels of the situation had reached what he judged to be a critical level. On the other hand, it meant that he could use his marital arts training to it's full effect. Martial arts were intended to be used against other humans, so in a world were the vast majority of your opponents were only vaguely humanoid at best, martial arts training was of limited use. However, it was a different story when you fought another human. So while the situation was of the type that Shuwen favored the least, it was actually a match up that favored him the most. All in all, the Monk found that rather ironic.

When the heretic swung one of his armored fists in a hook punch, Shuwen simply pulled back a half-step. Hooks didn't have as much range as "thrusting" punches such as jabs and crosses, so he didn't need to move back very far to evade it, he then stepped back in and threw a light jab with his right hand aimed and the heretic's shoulder on the same side. Assisted by the Parry skill, Corvo blocked it with his armored forearm, but the Monk wasn't done. Bringing his right arm up and forward, while bringing his right leg behind Corvo's left leg. He then pushed on the heretic's upper body with both arms, tripping the heretic over the Monk's as he was pushed backwards. These actions would likely result in the heretic landing flat on his back.

Let's see if that extra arm of his gets him out of this. The Monk thought with some satisfaction. Assuming his previous actions were successful, he would continue his attack. Grabbing both of the Heretic's legs by his ankles, he proceeded to life the heretic's body upwards, only to slam it back down against the ground. He would then continue to assault the heretic in this manner, slamming him against the ground until he gave some indication of surrender, or he died. The excessive motion and successive impacts would probably would probably leave the heretic too disoriented and/or nauseous to cast any more skills or operate his Miasma appendage.  Before the apocalypse, the main way of fighting was to just stand there and strategically use skills on your opponent. It was simply all the system was capable of. But now, there were a whole bunch of options available. This was one Shuwen had been waiting for a chance to use.

[Noctis Corvo]

If the Heretic had any sense left about him, it had apparently left. his muscle memory and technique he had managed to all but disappear within the depths of his now twisted mind. In short, he never saw the trip coming. It was lucky for him though that the Miasma Appendage existed as it did, snaking its way through the stitching holding together his almost undead form. it shot out from the small of his back almost like a tail, supporting him, and launching him back up into the air a bit from the trip. A strange cackle coming from within his lips, the dark mist of the miasma pouring out heavily from between crooked teeth. "Muda, muda, muda, muda!" He thought that for a moment he had gone back to holding the upper hand. What he didn't count on however was the Monk's speed. The heretics eyes grew wide, his grin only growing wider as the monk dashed forward grabbing his legs. He knew full well, even through the dark haze that he has just boarded a one way train to Suplex City, and he wanted out. As the monk lifted the heretic, he quickly used the miasma appendage to quickly snake around and strike at the back of the monk's neck, right where it met the cranium. Assuming it worked, regardless of damage, it should at least hurt being a pressure point within the human body, and should allow the heretic some time at least to get a few feet away from the monk. Either way, he knew he'd at least be smashed face-first into the ground at least once, but if he did manage to escape, he would quickly take advantage of the fact that Shackles of the Sentenced had just run off its cooldown so that he could use it again.

Noctis Corvo:
HP: 70%
MP: 97%

[Akira]

It late at night. The moon shone brightly in the dark clear skies over Sarum city. Akira was sitting on a bench near a pub and munching on the slices of lemon pound cake she had bought earlier while all the food establishments, other than the pub, were still open. She took hungry bites of the cake and savored each bite. She hadn’t really had a chance to eat much food in her real life with all that hiding and trying to disappear throughout her whole life. It was probably one of the reasons she was so awkward and gangly aside from, obviously, her tallness. Akira laughed a little bit. She shouldn’t be thinking of her old life it was done and over with. Honestly, she would love it if she could live in Elder Tale forever. She was finally beautiful.



About thirty minutes passed by as Akira finished eating her slices of pound cake and mulled around in her thoughts. After she finished Akira stood up and smiled a little. Her tummy felt happy now. So much so that Akira decided she would go on a walk. She started walking north and out of Sarum city. She kept walking for a while yawning here and there during her journey into the night and into the forest. Everything was dead silent. Akira kept walking around in the forest. She stayed on the dirt path as she walked deeper and deeper into the forest. Soon she heard sounds, though. Little bit odd sounds for the middle of the night. Were they sounds of battling? Akira frowned. That wasn’t exactly good. It didn’t sound like the battle between an adventurer and a monster but that of an adventurer and another adventurer.



Akira used her keen fox ears to follow the sound of the battling until she came upon a small clearing and saw a short guy with long dark blue hair righting a tall guy with long black hair. The guy with black hair was surrounded by a black sort of cloud. What had she heard it called before? Miasma? Corruption? Something along those lines. Akira quickly rezzed her two red katanas into her hands. She wasn’t one for fighting, in fact, she was terrified of it and what it would do to her mentally. But she might as well have her weapons out just in case. She was a level 16 after all. She could see that the two guys fighting were very high level but the swords she had out were mostly there to make her feel safe. Like a placebo or something.



Akira looked at the guy covered in miasma or whatever. He had the craziest smile on his face and he was laughing. For some reason it made her smile a little maniacally. She smiled big and walked towards the two men fighting. “Hello!” she called out to them brightly. When Akira got within touching distance of them she smiled even bigger. She took on a fake southern belle accent for the hell of it and started talking. “Now why are y’all two purty boys fightin’ like this? Ya think it’s funny to fight? It’s down concernin’ really y'all.” Akira smiled big after she asked her question and took the arm of the miasma covered guy. She started pulling him out of the deadly position that he had put the blue haired guy in. She kept pulling him further away and as she pulled him she whispered softly in his ear, “Hiii~! My name is Akira. I don’t know what happened or why you’re fighting but I like you. You’re downright insane and out of your mind. I like that. I see myself in you.”

After they were about twentyish feet away from the blue haired guy Akira grabbed the miasma covered guy’s hand and held it. Then she called out to the blue haired guy, “DON’T ATTACK. I’M HELPLESS BUT I’LL GET THIS GUY TO STOP ATTACKING IF YOU DO!!!” After which she smiled as big as she could at both guys and used her free hand to wave at the blue haired one.


Word Count: 687 words
Tags: Noctis Corvo Shuwen
Notes: Sorry it took me so long to get this up. Not really sure what I ended up doing here but I tried.. Uh Italics mean her thoughts and Blue means stuff she spoke. It would be a little helpful if y'all did that too but it doesn't matter if you don't. PLEASE ENJOY THIS WEIRD THING :D

[Shuwen]

Words: 508

It seemed the end was in sight. It seemed to Shuwen that he had Noctis Corvo on the ropes and unable to retaliate. However, he'd underestimated the Heretic's ability to operate that third limb of his. After almost managing to recover from being tripped, used it to keep striking him as Shuwen slammed him. The damage wasn't all that great, and the monk was able to slam him against the ground twice. But his opponent's choice of targets forced him to let go after the second slam, freeing up his hands so he could rub the spots he'd been hit. Corvo attempted to take advantage of his distraction to get some distance and cast another binding on him. However, Shuwen didn't give him that much time. Shuwen toggled on the Heated Combat skill, then struck him once again with the Lightning Straight skill. Last time, the heretic had been a significant distance away, so the two skills had landed more-or-less simultaneously. However, as there was now only a very short distance between them, Shuwen was able to cross that distance and strike the Heretic is relatively little time, interrupting Corvo's casting. Alright, time to open up on this guy. He'd spent most of the fight maneuvering himself into a favorable position, so neither of them had really dealt a decisive amount of damage yet. He intended to change that starting now. To build up the damage bonus granted by Heated Combat, he tried attacking with skills that involved a relatively large number of hits. The first was Bullet Punch, one that locked the user's arms into a punching animation, but allowed him to attack somewhat faster then normal.

However, his plan to lay it on the guy was interrupted by the sudden arrival of a swashbuckler newcomer. One who's status bar identified her as Akira . She asked why they were fighting, then without waiting for a response, grabbed Corvo by the arm and started to dragging him away. In addition to throwing Shuwen for a loop, it was kind of suspicious. "He was acting all crazy and wanted to 'experiment' on people. The tension level reached a point that violence was the logical response. Please don't interrupt. However, what he heard her say next changed the situation entirely.  She whispered something to the heretic that, thanks to his Hearing Aptitude, the monk was able to catch. "You're just bailing him out!?" Shuwen's brows furrowed.

"Don't"

His legs tensed

"screw"

he jumped

"with"

he activated the skill Wyvern Kick

"meeeeeeeeeee!"

The flying kick went high, and in his frustration, the monk telegraphed the kick, so there was a pretty good chance they'd manage to avoid the flying kick aimed at Corvo's back. However, even so, he'd blocked off Akira's planned path of retreat, so she'd need to come up with something else to escape, or at least a new route.  Because he overheard what Akira said to Corvo, he didn't wait for her to get far enough away to try to mediate with him as she intended before attacking.

[Noctis Corvo]

The monk was fast, the heretic would give him that. Normally the pain would be a little too great for any normal man to come straight at him again so quickly. He was lucky though. What the heretic lacked in physical damage he made up for in ingenuity, as the miasma appendage forked its way around. He saw the straight coming and quickly abandoned his charge on the shackles, instead cutting quickly into a Parry and a strike at the throat with the black appendage. That being said the monk quickly adapted, throwing punches at a much faster speed. In his twisted mind he was ready to go at it again and take this monk straight on, but something suddenly interrupted, started pulling on his right arm and seemed to throw off the monk. With a hint of confusion in the back of his mind, the heretic turned to look and saw the form of a girl clutching his arm amd calling them purty. For now, his mind had, quite honestly fully switched off from the fight. This new, interesting, unafraid face had seized his attention for now, and it seemed to be pulling him slowly farther from the monk. "Hello there," the words seemed to fall out between his teeth with a dark but strangely hypnotic quality. "And what dark star did you happen to fall from, my angel?"

The girl began whispering in his ear about calling off the fight, and to be frank, he was fully ready to. In the back of his mind he knew that if this kept up much longer, his fun would most likely be cut short, and he wanted none of that. However just as his mouth opened to agree he heard the rather insipid monk open his mouth, still fuled by his insatiable sense of wrath and pride. The heretic knew what was coming and mafe a move to move the smaller girl out of the way. Something within him, something the miasma could not overthrow welled up inside him. He began charging up miasma bullet in an open hand. He knew it wouldnt be at full charge, but it would be enough to cause some damage. "Now, now, not in front of the lady!" As the monk came down, the heretic sidestepped with spellwalking, and, having been able to tell where the monk would land thanks to his rather obvious telegraphing, the heretic managed to place the bullet right into the lower softspot of the monks back, right on his kidney.

"I am done playing with my food monk. Leave. I have no further quarrel with you."

---
Notes: miasma bullet at 2 sec cast time + 1 sec = 125% damage + 25% from corruption mutations + 5% from his party skill + 5% from race of ritual = 160% damage