Round One: Nishaio VS Falkan

[A Dragonian]

Legends of Dragonia: Tournament 2006--
Esperanza Edition:
Round One: Viva la Dragonia!

Match: Nishaio VS Falkan
Final Score: 2 - 3
Location: The Zolan Lands
Judge: Aiedan

Reminder - Be sure to be well informed of the Rules and Format of each match. Be sure to include your surrounding area; remember, YOU ARE NOT FIGHTING ON THE TOURNAMENT GROUNDS! The first person to post can set any additional conditions, such as the weather or the exact location of where the two are fighting, to further the enviornment. Also, be creative with what you do, and be sure to have fun!

[Garoten Reklor]

Falkan Reval had spent the last fifteen hours leaning against the wall in the shadows in the gathering area for fighters, watching every single contestant as he or she entered the room. Only a few of the other warriors merited his interest, and of those few only two or three caused him any concern. Most were the usual rabble that show up at such an event: out of work mercenaries and thugs, ego-laden hero wannabe's who never had a meaningful fight in their lives, and desperate fighters who were gambling their lives against a prize that would solve their financial problems. Not one in those groups would make past a couple of rounds.

Then there were the others: battle-hardened warriors with nothing to prove - just looking for a good challenge; heros from the recent war seeking to add to - or regain - their honor; some seeking revenge against another contestant; and some, like Reval, with reasons entirely their own. Those were the ones to watch out for. One warrior in particular caught the V'alcan's attention: a blond-haired man in a red cloak, also hidden in the shadows, also silently watching every move of each new arrival. For Falkan, it was like looking into a mirror at a blurred reflection of himself. He had never seen the man before, but somehow he knew who he was...

Nishaio Shimata

...his opponent. This would be a match to remember.

Suddenly, the crowd in the stands erupted as the tournament MC began the ceremonies. An hour and a hundred meaningless traditions later, the matches were ready to begin. Falkan felt himself tense as the anticipation built. Finally, the announcement was made.

"The warriors will now be transmitted to their respected fields of battle! LET THE TOURNAMENT BEGIN!"

In a flash of blue light, the stadium and its occupants disappeared. In thier place came the vast, empty wastes of the Zolan lands. Falkan slowly turned and took in his surroundings. Desert, desert, and more desert as far as the eye could see.

Well, at least the scenery won't be a distraction.

Something caught Falkan's eye on the horizon...the red-cloaked warrior from the room was slowly walking toward him across the desert. He had to have been miles away, and at this rate, it would take hours for him to reach Reval...who was more than happy to let him tire himself out with the walk. Judging from the crowd's reaction to the match between Aiden and Ryan, nobody would be paying much attention to this fight for awhile anyway.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Falkan checked his weaponry one last time. At his left side hung the sword Rhiannon, already humming with a hunger for battle. Opposite the legendary blade of Faerdone, the sword Pravent had left behind hung on Falkan's right. It too, hummed softly, though in a very different tone from Rhiannon. The two swords created a sort of eerie harmony in the silent desert air. On his back was Falkan's trusty staff, his weapon of choice in most situations. And finally, the Talon was secured in it's place on Reval's right wrist. All was prepared for a battle.

When Falkan returned his gaze to the horizon, the Red Warrior was closer...much closer than he should have been, but still walking with that same disinterested walk. There was no way anyone walking that slowly could have covered that much ground...Reval wrote it off as one of the desert's many tricks. Suddenly a torrential winds roared across the barren plains, carrying sand and tumbleweeds across the V'alcan Warrior's field of view. A second later, all was quiet again, but something was wrong...

Nishaio Shimata had disappeared.

[Tidus Revok]

For his part, Nishaio's approach to the tournament had not been so different from his enemys. Falkan was looking for Saiyans to punish for their crimes. Nishaio Shimata was seeking to settle a score of his own. Some time ago, a maniacal android calling himself Pravent had attacked and obliterated Nishaio's people and their homeworld, then simply disappeared. The attack was unprovoked and undeserved in every way. The Falcomes didn't even have a chance to dfefend themselves. As the last of the Falcomes, Nishaio swore to take vengeance on the android, even if it was with his dying breath.

After countless hours of searching, dead ends, and red herrings, Shimata had finally tracked the androids energy to this pathetic little planet...but shortly after Nishaio's arrival on Dragonia, Praven't energy faded to a nearly imperceptible level. When Nishaio finally located the source of the android energy, it had been a surprise. Pravent himself was nowhere to be found - instead his energy resonated from the man who was now staring carelessly at the Falcome's approach. Whatever the connection was not imprtant to Nishaio...only that he destroyed even the infintesmal trace of that accursed android. If it was tied to this warrior, then he would die as well. See, Nishaio Shimata had no interest in winning a tournament. He was only there to face this one man, and destroy him. Any others he had to fight in that vein were incidental.

The fool in the black cloak was impossibly stupid. He actually took his eyes off Nishaio to check his weapons. Even from such a distance, he coiuld have killed the careless one in the blink of an eye...but that would be too easy. So Nishaio continued his slow approach, waaiting for the right moment.

That moment came in a strong gust of wind. Nishaio smiled grimly, then surged forward with a small burst of speed. In the blink of an eye, he had closed the gap between himself and his enemy and was standing behind him. Even if the man was capable of seeing the movement, there was no way he could hope to stop him. Nobody ever had.

In two movements, truly faster than thought itself, the Falcome warrior drew his swords and threw two blows. The one he swung one directly at the man's neck, and immediately followed it with a thurst for his chest. Only three of Nishaio's opponents over the last several hundred years had managed to block or evade the first attack. None had survived the second. Like nearly all of Nishaio's opoponents, this man would be dead before he ever knew what hit him.

[Garoten Reklor]

Reval was surprised when his enemy disappeared, but at the very moment Nishaio vanished from his sight, Falkan sensed him - behind him? Reflexively, Falkan drew Pravent's sword with his left hand and spun to the right, putting all of his strength into blocking the blow he knew was coming. Oddly enough, when the stranger's sword should have collided violently with Falkan's...nothing happened. Odder still, Falkan watched the tip of Nishaio's blade pass within an inch of his face - his spin had put his neck just out reach - in spite of the fact that Pravent's sword was right in its path.

A sharp pain in his chest alerted Falkan to yet another surprise. Stunned, he took his gaze from the upright blade of Pravent's sword and searched for the cause of this new pain. The devastating truth caused even the mighty Reval to stumble backward in shock. Somehow, while he was still seeing Nishaio's blade swing past his head, the sword was acutally being thrust into his chest. There was only one explanation...

Nishaio Shimata was faster.

Much, much, faster.

As if in response to the questions racing through the V'alcan warrior's mind, the blade of Pravent's sword suddenly quivered, then - fell apart, cut clean through by Nishaio's first attack.

So that's why I didn't feel any resistance - why there was no shock from the blow - I didn't stop it. He's that fast? Impossible!

Wth a bloody cough, Falkan looked from the broken drail sword in his hand to the sword in his chest, and finally to the nearly expressionless face of his opponent. The man's features were a mask of complete unconcern. Clearly he expected no challenge from Falkan, and it appeared he was right. The Warrior of Reval stumbled back again, and slid free of Nishaio's sword.

That kind of speed...it's absurd...

He dropped to one knee, gasping for breath. Still the enemy just stared.

He's not making a move to finish me? Oh, so that's it. He thinks I'm finished already...

Even as he thought, the wound in Falkan's chest from being run through had already scabbed over on the surface. The inner injuries were themselves completely healed.

"FOOL!"

In a flash Falkan was on his feet. Having discarded the broken drail sword, he whipped his staff from his back and, even as he ran, attached two spearheads to the ends. A surprised Nishaio would soon find himself being relentlessly assailed on every side. Falkan lashed at his opponent's neck with one end of the staff, then whirled the other around into a stab for his gut. This was followed by slamming one end into the ground and using the weapon as an axis to slingshot himself around into a flying kick at the Falcome's head, with the staff being dragged along as a secondary attack.

Even as he hit the ground on the other side of Nishaio, Reval was kicking off for another attack, the staff held out crossways in front of him in a clothesline sort of motion for Nishaio's chest. Just before he would hit, Falkan opened both palms and let fly a flurry of blasts point blank for his target. A forward roll would land him behind his silent enemy, lined up for either a defense or another attack, whichever opening presented itself first...

[Tidus Revok]

Nishaio watched silently as his enemy's eyes widened in surprise at his attack. The sword the man used to block his attack proved to be inferior, as expected, and gave way instantly to Nishaio's superior skill. Then came the moment that ended every battle for Nishaio Shimata - the moment he planted his sword in his adversary's chest. There was always a certain satisfaction about watching one's opponent stagger backwards, feeling his energy slip away, and knowing his best efforts were just not enough. This time should have been no different...

But something was different. At first, the warrior facing NIshaio had reacted just like all the others. He styumbled backward and grabbed at his chest, looked at the sword in surprise, then at Shimata like they always did. Then something new happened when Falkan pulled himself free of the sword and kept standing.

It was Nishaio's turn to be surprised when the V'alcan's wounds healed right before his eyes. Then came the attack. It's speed was surprising - much faster than Nishaio could have predicted...but still slow. The use of a double ended weapon was what made the onslaught interesting.

Effortlessly, Nishaio leaned back and let the swing for his head glide by. He had plenty of time to sidestep the spearhead aimed for his stomach, and he could have taken a nap before the swinging kick was ever a threat. He simply rolled out of the way of that one. Finally came a rushing attack - Nishaio's favorite kind to ignore. He jumped straight up, then kicked forward off of Falkan's extended staff and landed behind the warrior before the beams finished firing from his palms. It was unfortunate this warrior had decided to make speed his own strategy - for that was the one area in which he could never hope to win. Still, Nishaio was grateful for the possibility of a challenge for once. He stood, arms crossed, and waited for his challnger to realize where he was. WHen the man turned around, he stared him in the eye for a long moment, then took a defensive stance. Nishaio needed no further invitation.

Instantly he was in front of the warrior, both swords crossing in a scissor-like cut for his mid-section. A whirling kick would follow for Falkan's head. In another of his classic moves, Nishaio dropped to a kneeling position and aimed to pin Falkan's feet to the ground with his swords, then rolled forwards into another kick. To end it all, he threw a punch for his enemy's lowerr back, then retrieved his swords and took one last shot at a cut for the man's neck. If that didn't do it, then there may be a challenge here after all.

[Garoten Reklor]

Falkan wasn’t at all surprised by the ease with which Nishaio dodged his attacks. He already knew the silent stranger was fast – now it was just a matter of finding out how fast. Still, when Nishaio actually managed to jump off of his staff, Falkan was impressed. Not only would this be a challenge; it might actually be a difficult fight.

There was little time to contemplate the matter, for Falkan’s opponent was upon him the instant there was an opening. Given the unfortunate result of his first attempt to block an attack from this enemy, Reval decided to spare his other weapons and revert to dodging as much as possible. Not surprisingly, Nishaio’s opening move proved to be the devil to dodge. Still, it was possible with a quick backwards roll, which also put him beneath the range of the incoming kick. That was where Falkan’s luck ran out. By the time he was upright again from his roll, the fiery pain of two blades shot through his feet. In spite of the sudden shock, he kept his wits about him enough to lean backwards under the kick aimed at his head. However, the faster Falkan dodged, the faster the onslaught came. Nishaio’s punch connected solidly with Falkan’s back, throwing him forward and tearing several tendons in his back and legs. Thankfully, the swords were removed from his feet the next instant – which tipped the pained V’alcan off in time to avoid a life-threatening swing for his neck.

With the pain in his limbs subsiding as his V’alcan healing abilities kicked in, Reval knew he had no time to lose. He had to launch a counter-attack before Nishaio could come at him again…and he had to find a way to land a hit on the ridiculously fast man.
By now Falkan had come to realize that speed was not an option in this fight. He had to slow things down enough to hit Nishaio – and the hit had to connect with overwhelming force. In his years of fighting, sometimes for his very existence, Falkan had learned one truth: There was no perfect warrior. Some were better than others, to be sure, but there wasn’t a creature in existence without a weakness. It was a law of nature. Every strength could also be its own weakness. Massively strong fighters, more often than not, were also massively cocky – and occasionally considerably slower than they could be. Excessive speed had its own set of weaknesses, any one of which could be exploited. That was why Reval had spent his life striving for balance. He would never be the strongest warrior on Dragonia – but neither would he be the weakest, nor the fastest or the slowest, a master of beams or a master of melee. He would find the center of all forms of fighting and plant himself there, always able to counter an enemy’s strength and exploit his weakness. It was his secret of survival in a world where his mortal enemy was in charge…

Nishaio Shimata was fast. The fastest warrior Falkan had ever encountered. And he expected the stranger in red wasn’t at his limit. The question was, how strong was he? Could he match Falkan in a battle of raw power? Reval expected not. The key would be to draw him into a contest of strength and keep him there long enough to land the one, devastating blow that would end the match…

With a plan still forming in his mind, Falkan began his assault by launching a flurry of ten seeking beams from five different positions via teleportation. All ten would zero in on Nishaio from their respective launching points: two from the front, three from the back, one from each of Nishaio’s sides, and three from above. The blasts were precisely aimed at a slightly different point on Nishaio’s body – meaning even if the warrior escaped the center of the blasts, they would miss each other and simply arc after him again. Still intent on cornering his opponent, Falkan didn’t stop there. He raised his power and subtly transformed into his rage state. The only outward sign of this transition was the color of his eyes changing to blue. The brief moment the transformation had taken would give him time to track Nishaio’s reaction to the beams. Wherever he had moved didn’t matter – only that he had. The two were fighting now on a wide, flat, open area. No place to corner anyone. However, a mile off in the distance, a huge rock rose from the desert sands and cast its shadow over the land, providing a perfect wall into which one could back his opponent.

Falkan fired several more beams at Nishaio with that goal in mind: force the warrior against a wall and lock him into a battle of strength. It wouldn’t be easy. A warrior with the kind of speed Nishaio possessed would be hard to make feel trapped into fighting..but it could be done.

Falkan now turned his attention to realm bending. He pulled Rhiannon out and slashed across the ground in front of him. Leaping high into the air, Falkan extended his right arm…beneath him, a thirty foot long wall of earth sprung from the ground. His arm still extended, Falkan kicked off the wall and surged through the air toward his opponent. The wall of earth followed, rolling over the desert floor like a massive wave on the ocean. The wall increased in size and speed as Falkan neared Nishaio. When he was only inches from being within reach of Shimata, Falkan teleported to behind the wall of earth and charged his ice cannon attack – given the heat and lack of water in the air, it wouldn’t be the most devastating realm bending attack ever, but it wouldn’t have to be. All he needed was a continual onslaught of large-looking attacks to intimidate Nishaio into falling backwards. As soon as the wall hit, was evaded, or was destroyed by Nishaio, Falkan would let go the ice cannon at him.

Finally, Falkan charged another beam - a huge one – and swept it across the sky toward Nishaio. A moment to gather more energy, and he shot a second one, just as large, sweeping from the opposite direction, again toward Nishaio. If the man reacted like most opponents, he would have to move out of the way of the beams…and toward the cliff behind him.

[Tidus Revok]

((OOC: Nice))

Nishaio was almost impressed. The arrogant black-clad warrior had managed to evade several usually fatal attacks, and managed to take a few with little or no damage.

Then the fool stooped to the predictable. He tried to corner Nishaio. Whenever a warrior was confronted with the superiority of Falcome speed, they always tried that strategy. It was disappointing to be fought with the same old tricks. Still, Falkan at least had some style to his methods, mundane and transparent though they be.

The ten beams that came hurtling toward Nishaio the next instant were a simple matter to avoid. He simply reached up to his chest and activated the amulet around his neck. In the blink of an eye, three things happened. First, Nishaio became invisible. Second, his power level became hidden. And finally, he moved. Before the beams ever reached his position, Nishaio was out of the way. SInce his energy was also hidden, the beams had no way to track him and slammed into the ground without ever presenting a threat. The next two moves were more impressive. Falkan did nothing for a moment, but the second Nishaio reappeared, a massive wall of rock was charging toward him, with the sneering face of the enemy leading the charge. Nishaio raised his swords to defend himself...

Falkan disappeared, leaving Nishaio to deal with the wall of earth. Easily handled to a Falcome. He raised his feet and kicked off the wall, aiming for the cliff which Falkan was clearly trying to push him toward. Then he kicked off the cliff and somersaulted over Falkan and his wall. He noted the clever tactic his enemy had employed in reappearing behind the wall with a cannon charged. It was smarter than he'd expected from that one. Even while he was rotating right-side-up, Nishaio had his bow drawn with his most powerful weapon ready to fire...the crystal arrows.

Made from crystalized drail, the heads on the arrows Nishaio was using were volatile beyond all reason. Each one exploded with nuclear force on contact with it's target. Even if Reval could avoid being hit directly by the arrows, the explosions were sure to do some damage. In a flurry of movements, he fired off ten of the deadly arrows at his opponent. This would be fun to watch him avoid.

[Garoten Reklor]

Falkan was disappointed, but not surprised, when Nishaio pulled another trick out of his seemingly endless bag and disappeared completely. Still, he carried on with his plan the moment the red warrior reappeared. THe man's speed only ever increased, no matter what Reval threw at him. The biggest surprise was yet to come. While Falkan was busy firing his two huge beams, a spike in energy behind him grabbed his attention.

What? But I didn't even see him move!

Suddenly an arrow came slicing through the air toward Falkan. He knew better by now than to underestimate the old-fashioned weaponry of his opponent. Heaven knew this arrow had a million different ways to overcome whatever dodging Falkan tried. So he decided on a more direct approach. The arrow was coming fast, but not as fast as Nishaio had been moving so far. This was perhaps the slowest attack he had launched. Arrows were one thing he had experience with from Faerdone. And it always surprised an opponent when he grabbed one out of the air and threw it back. Maybe surprise would give him an opening...a way to hit this impossibly fast enemy.

The arrow was upon him! In a flash of his own speed, Falkan spun sideways to avoid being hit, then reached out and closed his fist on the arrow's shaft. So far so good. Now it was time to get showy. Sensing a second arrow only moments behind the first, he swung his left hand, still holding the tail of the arrow, and hit the second arrow square on the tip with the first.

It was hard to tell what happened next. The massive jump in energy was the only warning Falkan received before being blown sideways into the rock that loomed over the desert. The force with which Falkan hit the rock, combined with his own harder-than-rock constitution, actually caused Falkan to travel a good distance into the cliff before he was stopped. That may have been what saved his life. Seven more arrows slammed into the rock around the hole Falkan had left, destroying most of the face. One arrow actually shot straight into the hole and detonated upon touching a jagged edge left by the V'alcan's entry. The ensuing explosion reduced the entire formation to a pile of rubble. In the blink of an eye, the single variance in the endless desert landscape, which had been so for thousands of years, was no more. And somewhere in the debris was what remained of the Lone V'alcan Warrior.

For a long time, there was only silence and settling dust. In the arena, the small part of the crowd that had been paying attention to this match waited with baited breath for some sign of life within the smoke...there was none. Finally one person sighed and looked away, hoping to catch the action of another battle. A second, a third, and finally several more followed suit. Only one little boy and his mother, an Esperanzian by the name of Alyana, continued to watch the screen. The boy clutched the black cloak his mother had made for him when he got out of the hospital as if it contained the hope to which he was clinging. The man benath the mountain on the screen had saved his life and his mothers all at once...he couldn't be dead...

*****************************************

Darn it...what was that? Those arrows...explode? What's wrong with that guy?

In the blackness beneath fifty tons of rock, Falkan's thoughts were all the sense he had left. He heard nothing, saw nothing, felt nothing...

My body won't respond...no matter. Even if I could move, I wouldn't have the energy to fight yet anyway...just need a few more minutes.

As his battered, broken body started its healing process, something occured to the V'alcan warrior. His enemy, Nishaio Shimata, wasn't fighting the same way he was. Falkan had been sparring, fighting casually in a simple contest of strength...something he didn't do often anyway. But Nishaio - he was fighting with deadly seriousness. To him, this was no contest, it was a battle.

He...he's playing for keeps. That was an all out attack with intent to kill...doesn't he realize it's a tournament?

Pain suddenly shot through the V'alcans limbs, a good sign for him. In another minute or two, he'd be able to move again, and then, maybe he could fight. A low hum and a dim glow suddenly sparked to life in the pressing darkness, a few feet from Falkan's position. His first thought was that Rhiannon had come loose from its sheath and was recovering itself from the attack, but the growing light soon proved him wrong, since he could see Rhainnon's hilt at his side. Then what was this new light? The source of the glow grew intensely bright for a moment, theneased back down to a comfortable level. Only then did Falkan recognize its form...

Pravent's sword, no longer broken.

The handle was almost within reach. Somehow, Reval felt that if he could only grab the sword... Feeling came back into his left arm. Holding back the urge to scream, Falkan fought through the pain and stretched his hand toward the still glowing sword. It took a long, agonizing fight, but finally he reached the weapon and closed his hand on it.

PAIN! HEAT! The handle of the sword was hotter than fire, but Falkan couldn't let go. Then, through the pain, something new. Strength, greater strength than he had felt even before the battle, coursed through the V'alcan warrior's body. He felt his injuries healing and his senses returning. He could fight again...Nishaio had been giving all he had in this battle, and now, so would Falkan. He grit his teeth, and a black aura exploded around him. It was time to end this fight.

In the stadium, Alyana and her son were finally feeling their hope wither when the impossible happened. The screen had focused in on the silent, motionless form of Nishaio Shimata staring at the rubble, when suddenly the rock pile exploded in every direction. Even the unflappable Nishaio seemed surprised when, from the rubble, a creature resembling his opponent flew towards him. This man, however, had blazing blue eyes, longer silver-streaked hair, and a deadly gleam in his eye. Now fully transformed, Falkan ran across the desert with such speed that he actually appeared to be flying just above the ground. While he ran, Falkan executed his stonewall technique, bringing both arms out, then into his chest. The earth around rose and flew alongside him for a moment, before whirling in towards him and bonding with his body. Now Falkan was nearly impervious to physical damage.

He drew both swords and slashed at Nishaio's chest - Rhainnon flashing an angry blue, while Pravent's drail blade glowed red with the flame coursing over the blade. Falkan didn't stop - he continued running past Nishaio, whether the swords found their marks or not, and whirled around with ki balls formed in his hands. A barrage of ki beams sailed toward Nishaio before Falkan teleported to his other side. There, he began his attempt to end the battle...

"Warrior's Wrath." he said through gritted teeth. Suddenly, his aura exploded to immense proportions, and then began to swirl into a sphere in front of him. The sphere grew as Falkan's rage and anger was converted into energy until, without warning, it exploded into a massive beam, headed straight for Nishaio. This was the V'alcan Warrior's Ultimate weapon. For five hundred years, it had not been used...because for five hundred years, a V'alcan Warrior had not encountered an opponent that merited such force. Nishaio was that opponent.

[Tidus Revok]

((Good fight, Falkan. May the best man win!))
When his enemy grabbed an arrow, Nishaio had actually been somewhat surprised. Surprised turned to amusement when the hapless V'alcan attempted to bat one arrow away with another. The following explosion was enough to cause Nishaio to back a long distance away. Even then, he had to brace himself and keep his swords in front of him to absorb the excess energy from the blast. The other eight arrows produced a similar effect. When the dust settled, the giant rock in the middle of the battlefield was gone, and so was Falkan's energy, along with that of the wretched android, Pravent. Nishaio's goal had been accomplished.

With nothing to do now but wait for the same strange system that brought him to the desert to return him to the city, Nishaio sheathed his swords on his back, crossed his arms, and stared at the rubble that testified to his victory. It was almost a shame. Falkan Reval had been the closest thing to a challenge that Nishaio had encountered for over a century. If only he hadn't made that one mistake.

Some time passed before Nishaio was startled by the energy coming from the rocks. It wasn't possible, but:

Falkan exploded from the rocks and rushed toward Nishaio! FOr a moment, the Falcome was frozen in place from utter surprise. He watched as his transformed opponent performed some sort of armoring technique, then brought two swords to bear on him. He managed, with some effort, to jump up and clear of the attack. That was when he felt the other energy...Pravent's. Suddenly it became clear to him. It was only the android's sword that remained, and it was now in the hands of Falkan Reval.

Nishaio landed lightly, just in time to dodge and deflect a stream of ki attacks. Again, it took some effort to do so. As Falkan teleported and prepared another atack, Nishaio reflected with gratitude on this strange twist of fate. His wild goose chase for the now dead android had been rewarding after all. He had found an opponent worthy of his attention.

A gigantic black and silver beam was coming at Shimato like a freight train. It was immensely powerful, but he wasn't worried. This type of attack was easy to handle as well. He drew his swords again and whirled them once before crossing them in front of him. Mikael, the metal from which his swords were made, had a unique property among Civaen metals...the ability to absorb energy. This attack would simply be sucked harmlessly into the blades and fade away. Then he could end this fight with honor.

THings didn't go according to plan. Maybe he underestimated the strength of Falkan's attack. Maybe it got stronger mid-flight. Maybe
Mikael had limits of its own. Whatever the reason, the huge beam was only slowed by the swords, but not stopped. In disbelief, Nishaio watched his swords shatter before his eyes. Only a faster than usual teleport kept Nishaio from the same fate. To his chagrin, the beam changed course and came after him again...but fortunately he waas still faster, if only by a hair's breadth. Nishaio began to run, with the Warrior's Wrath in close pursuit. He drew his bow again, and, careful to keep his enemy in sight, let fly three arrows at once. Two crystal arrows and, betweeen them, one infernal arrow. The fire from the infernal arrow would make the crystal explosions all the worse if tey found their mark. If Nishaio's impression was correct, the attack that Falkan was using would require his focus to keep going. If the arrows did their ob, that focus would be broken.

Nishaio changed course and headed straight for Falkan, his arrows slightly ahead of him and the Warrior's Wrath attack slightly behind, and all three on a collision course with the V'alcan. Now only one thing remained to do. One more time, Nishaio reached for his amulet, and disappeared. When he teleported to a new position just behind Falkan and swung at the warrior with a poison tipped Obsidian dagger, he was still invisible, and there were only moments left before the holocaustal attacks made impact. If the dagger connected, Falkan Reval would have a much harder time getting out of the way. Nishaio, however, was already teleporting again to a safe distance.

[A Dragonian]

Many people had stopped watching the match between Falkan and Nishaio, for they had felt they would see a more interesting match in other opponents. However, had they chosen to focus their attention on the two fighters combating in the Zolan Lands, they would have seen a match worthy of remembering. Alayna and her son were glad to find that their hero, Falkan, had returned from the rubble, and his greatest attack, The Warrior's Wrath, had proven almost successful against the V'alcan's opponent. However, before any devastating damage could occur to Nishaio, he teleported away and used three of his arrows in attempt to block the attack from following him.

This match could have easily continued for a long enough time, but the tournament officials found that they had decided the winner of this fight. Apparently, Alayna and her son were not the only ones watching the match.

"Ladies and gentlemen," spoke the announcer calmly, looking up at the many people packed in the stadium. Everyone hushed for a moment, as the response to this man's statement continued. "I would like to give you the results of the next match. After a few moment's of decision, we have decided that the winner is...

"Falkan Reval!"

Cheers did arise, but not in as mass amounts of numbers as there had been for other matches. There were two cheers from a mother and a son, but their tones could not be heard loudly against other people who were cheering for other matches. But, nonetheless, Falkan had won.

((Good read, I must say; I was rather impressed by both of you; when I read the transition from one post to another, it felt like this could easily have been the chapters in a book. I gave this match to Falkan because I felt he gave more of a show in the match. He always came back, even when everything seemed bleak, and, he took more blows than Nishaio did (I didn't really see many blows taken from Nishaio's side of things.) However, I felt that Nishaio had a definite control in the match, so it reflects in the score: Falkan - 3, Nishaio - 2))