2351/A Deadly Debate

A Deadly Debate
Date of Scene:	31 May 2015
Location:	Njorun Station - Ring of Philosophy
Synopsis:	After Xiaomu's two sparring bouts with Fayt, Reiji steps in to personally put Fayt through his paces at greater length.
Cast of Characters:	319, Reiji Arisu, 707

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Reiji Arisu has posed:
    Reiji Arisu waits in an unused section of the Ring of Philosophy. Through the magic of Union Technology, the arena has been reformatted into a vast bamboo forest. Shoots of green, growing things stretch from earth to sky, obscuring the holographic heavens with a dusky, jade canopy. The ground is positively thick with the things- moving more than a foot without needing to dodge a shoot is nearly impossible.

    The only exception of a single, raised wooden platform, set up in a jarring gap in the vast emerald sea. Reiji Arisu waits in the clearing, his knees and shins bent underneath him. He waits in seiza, it seems, for his opponent to arrive. His mobile arsenal is set upright at his side, the blade Darkdrift is strapped over one shoulder.

    A small incense burner glows in front of him, releasing a thin contrail of fragrant smoke that rises inexorably toward the invisible sky. His shoulders rise and fall as he cycles through deep, calming breaths. He can enjoy the tranquility for a little while, at least.

Fayt Ravus (319) has posed:
    Right on time, Fayt shows up, the tiny timid trader looking just a tad nervous as he climbs onto the platform. He's come prepaired however, haveing already taken his staff off of his back and letting his wing scarf switch from scarf to wing form as he climbs on to the platform. he comes ot a halt as he spots Reiji. "Um... Hello?"

Reiji Arisu has posed:
    Ah, and there's his opponent. "Are you ready?" Reiji asks, utterly motionless on the platform, except for the steady rise and fall of his shoulders- and the movement of his jaw. His eyes remain closed, his hands and arms are relaxed, folded atop his knees.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
Xiaomu is presently sitting cross-legged on a corner of the platform behind Reiji; an unopened bag of fried tofu rests in her lap.

Why unopened? Basically, because Reiji is taking this so seriously and she doesn't want to break his focus by treating it like a common sporting event. She's nominally here to cheer her partner on, and possibly to help drag him down to Medical if Fayt should happen to pwn the fsck out of Reiji in their imminent bout; more likely she'll have to help carry Fayt down if Reiji goes too hard on him.

And speaking of the trader, she raises an arm to wave politely to him. Still trying not to distract Reiji, it seems like.

Fayt Ravus (319) has posed:
    Fayt looks to Xiaomu, offering a small wave back to the fox person.

    He then looks back to Reiji, Watching him quietly for several moments before saying simply. "Well, about as close as I can manage at least." Fayt to be honest has no idea how it got to this, He jsut offered ot spar someone a few weeks ago, next thing he knows he ends up owing Xiaomu a rematch, nearly blowing her eardrums out and getting one hell of a surprise when literally knocked the surge out of him, and now? now Reiji has gone all scary serious mode. How'd it ever get to this?

    with that said, Fayt's wings start flapping as he begins to take off, no waiting for an opening this time, if he can help it, he's starting things airborn.

Reiji Arisu has posed:
    'If he can help it' indeed. Xiaomu is correct that Reiji seems to be taking this seriously. Deadly seriously. He intends to test his opponent with all the strength he can muster. She could tell that he's not just sitting there- his muscles and tendons are primed, coiled like springs or the cord priming a catapult.

    Reiji explodes into motion just as soon as Fayt finishes speaking. His eyes fly open. His foot shoots forward, toes digging into the wooden arena. He vanishes into a haze of forward momentum. Chirai tears out of its sheath with a crack of thunder. Lightning spills over the platform, licking against distant bamboo shoots, blackening leaves and wood. The wakizashi sweeps out, aimed...

For Fayt's scarf- and his throat!?

Fayt Ravus (319) has posed:
    Fayt's not a fighter. Well, that's not quite true. He can fight, and he's not half bad, he's just not as dedicated it to as many other elites are.

    He's also not stupid. Xiaomu immediatly charged him in both fights, and he suspected Reiji to do the same, hense going airborn immeidatly. Fortunatly, he also has just the spell for dealing with situations like this. He points his staff at Reiji as he rushes in, and says calmly. "Force wave."

    A shockwave suddenly fires from Fayt's staff, quickly fanning out to cover the area in front of the little mage and hopefully knock Reiji away if he doesn't back off on his own.

Reiji Arisu has posed:
Fayt is not the only one who studied his previous fights.

    One thing that Reiji noticed is that speaking before deploying a spell is either an inconvenient tendency of Fayt's magic, or a bad habit. His first word causes Reiji's brow to twitch. Fayt's second- and the sudden whoosh of air- has him slam his foreward leg into the floor. Reiji leaps skyward, his eyes fixed on his foe. The exorcist twists like a cat, or like a leaf in the wind, curving overtop the wave of force.

    One leg kicks through the air, pressing against the back wall of the force-wave. Once more, his trajectory shifts, using his opponent's spell as a platform to continue pursuing his foe.

...And the pursuit of an opportunity to cripple his opponent's wings.

Fayt Ravus (319) has posed:
    Fayt frowns as Reiji jumps OFF the wave. Quickly he starts to pull back in the air, staff twisting about in his hands as he takes aim and calls up another spell. "Burning hands."

    This time there's a loud *FWOOSH* as a wave of fire errupts from Fayt's staff again fanning out to cover the area in front of him. So help him he's not letting Mr. 'no holding back' anywhere near him!

Reiji Arisu has posed:
Fire.

    A wave of flame washes over Reiji as he continues his chase. It swallows him up entirely, the exorcist vanishing into the pyre. For a moment, it seems as though he might have been consumed- burnt to a crisp like a pile of tinder.

And then a shadow appears in the midst of the inferno.

A split second later, Reiji emerges a mere foot from Fayt.

    His face is burnt, the tips of his hair are charred. His clothes are singed and parts still burn. But his arsenal is held up as a shield. lightning crackles around his body, hungrily devouring the flame like a starved wolf. Chirai is held in a thrusting stance, the electricity draining the surrounding fire deep into the steel.

Fire turns to ash. In doing so, it feeds the Earth.

    His shift in position means he can swing the arsenal to try and hook into Fayt's head. Chirai shrieks and pops as he plunges the blade in, seeking the scarf around his opponent's neck!

Fayt Ravus (319) has posed:
    Fayt... Fayt's eye go a bit wide at that. "What the..OH GODS!" Fayt ducks, letting out a small yelp as the arsenal skims the top of his head, drawing blood. As for his neck? There's nothing there. as the Scarf isn't actualy a scarf right now, instead taking the form of a harness with a pair of wings on it's back, though for obvious reasons, Fayt's quick to jerk his head away.

     "GAH!" Fayt sounds unnerved now. "No beheading allies please!" and he honestly means that. He doesn't want to test how good the safeties here are if he can help it. The paperwork would be a nightmore if he died.

    plus, you know, he'd be dead. That'd suck!
    With that request out of the way, Fayt suddenly thrusts his staff at Reiji, trying to jab it into his gut before saying quickly. "Shock bolt."

    This time, a small bolt of electricty fires from Fayt's staff. If he did things right he'll be too busy having a staff in his gut to make with the fancy dodging.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
It would be fair to say that Xiaomu's loyalties are just a little divided at this point.

On the one hand, Reiji is her partner, and she's kind of obligated to root for him - even if she's doing so quietly, and not trying to distract him in the course of his match with Fayt.

On the other hand, she's developed a modest soft spot for the trader-mage, and the fact that Reiji is going for Fayt's neck pretty consistently actually has her worried ... at least, until she remembers that the Ring of Philosophy is set to prevent serious 'training accidents'. At least it SHOULD be, and she didn't see Reiji trying to mess with the settings.

Still, her attention is very much on the fight between Reiji and Fayt to open her bag of fried tofu; it's not even just a matter of respecting the event, she's that caught up in watching. (And still debating who she should be 'cheering' for, however quietly she might do it.)

Reiji Arisu has posed:
    It's not like Reiji's trying to kill the mage! Not permanently, anyway. That's why they're doing this here, instead of at Shinra HQ or somewhere similarly unprotected by the Union's miraculous training technology.

    "You are not an ally today," Reiji hisses in reply, his eyes narrowed tight. Fayt's staff jabs into Reiji's abdomen- dodging in mid-air can be somewhat difficult when one cannot fly on one's own power. As Fayt speaks his first word, though, Reiji swings his arsenal down into the wooden shaft--

Too late.

    The shock bolt surges down the staff. Reiji managed to knock its tip into his right leg, but that doesn't help matters. His body seizes as the bolt courses through his body... Which is about when Fayt might notice a similar sensation blossoming from the point where his neck meets his collar.

As well as the distinct feeling of cold steel pressed flat against the flesh there.

    Chirai acts as a conductor, the lightning coursing through Reiji's body pushing back up the right side of his body, through the sword and back into its caster's body. This... is one hell of a counterattack.

Fayt Ravus (319) has posed:
    Cue a screma from Fayt as the electricty runs through him. worse yet, it's enough to make his wings seize up, as he drops back to the ground like a stone, landing with a loud THUD!

    Fayt's alarmingly quick to scramble back to his feet however, "Look, I get you're a hardcore badass but seriously." he says, a little shakey as he aims at Reiji again. "The safeties don't-cold bolt-fix everything so a little-split-caution on the lethal-turn-tactics, eh?"

    Yes, Fayt is casting and talking at the same time. He normally doesn't but well, it's a warning wroth giving, though god only knows if Reiji can understand hFayt as he keeps abruptly interrupting himself.

    On the upside, Reiji might not see the spells coming for the exact same reason, Fayt's suprisingly good at switching between casting and talking on the fly. Even if the results sound REALLY weird.

    And what's Fayt actually casting? Cold bolt causes a small bolt of pale blue mist to fire form Fayt's staff, it's cold, REALLY cold, enough to form ice whever the bolt lands. The real weird part is the extra commands Fayt gives, however. Split causes the one bolt to suddenly split into many, and turn makes them scatter, flying off in several different directions before turning to converge on Reiji.

    Each additional command is met with something else however; there's an odd eletric buzzing sound as multi-colored electricty starts to build up around Fayt's head. There's that surge building up again.

Reiji Arisu has posed:
    Reiji drops not long after Fayt. His body continues to convulse as he falls, and the exorcist lands hard on the platform. He bounces once, before he fights his way back to his feet, flesh smoldering a little more than it was a moment ago.
    "A cornered rat can kill a cat," Reiji replies cryptically. His brow twitches at Fayt's sudden spurts of language. His suspicions are confirmed when the mage releases a wide array of bolts. The soft crackle of freezing moisture reaches his ears, just as the faint notes of water and metal sing against his mystical senses.

Ice, is it?

    The magic missiles sweep out, twisting through the air in wide, erratic patterns. He can't possibly follow them all with sight and hearing alone. Even his more magical senses can't track so many projectiles simultaneously.

And so he doesn't.

He elects instead to leap into the bamboo forest.

    Reiji bobs and weaves through the shoots of emerald bamboo, trying to use them to block and absorb the freezing bolts. Chirai scythes out of its sheath, hewing through shafts both thick and thin, obstructing their pursuit with as much wood as he can manage.

But defense is not his only goal.

    His mobile arsenal is clutched in his teeth, freeing both hands. One clutches tightly to his electric blade. The other has found his handgun. Gold roars, sending heavy, penetrating bolts towards Fayt upon the wooden platform.

He saw that corona of lightning surrounding his head once before.

What happens if it builds until it bursts?

Fayt Ravus (319) has posed:
    "I'm told I'm more a mouse."

    As Reiji runs into the Bamboo, Fayt doesn't bother to command the bolts any further, Instead taking his departure as a good time to get himself airborn again.

    Thisi s followed by a pained yell as he taeks a bullit to the shoulder. qucikly he points his staff at Reiji in responce. "Fireball."

    It's the old magic-users standby, a large ball of explosive flame fires from Fayt's staff, quickly headed in Reiji's direction. Granted, throwing a fre that big around a bamboo forrest might be a little insane, but between the wings an his own ice magic, Fayt's not too worried about that at the moment.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
As she's just watching rather than fighting, Xiaomu has the leisure to take mental notes on how the fight is going. Reiji is certainly using all of his advantages - and arguably, he's holding his end of the fight better than Xiaomu did with either of hers. But at the same time, Fayt's playing to his strengths as well, and it seems to be working out for him ...

Then again, she reflects, Fayt *DID* tick her off in their rematch, and so far, Reiji seems to be keeping his temper about him. Apart from the whole 'going right for Fayt's neck' thing earlier, at least.

She can't see Reiji as well while he's running around the forest, but her ears are perked up so that she can at least *hear* where her partner is. She's not going to give Fayt any help pinning Reiji's position down, though.

Reiji Arisu has posed:
    Flame blossoms through the forest. The bamboo smolders, catching fire and spreading, leaping from shoot to shoot. It quickly fills the air with clouds of choking, smothering smoke. And Reiji is ostensibly caught in the middle of it all.

Ostensibly.

    The first sign that something may be wrong is that the exorcist fails to emerge from the inferno, even when it would probably be wise to pull away before he burns to a crisp. The second is the chanting. It starts, low and firm- a tone that is simultaneously commanding and reverent all at once. It seems to come from all directions at once, the words occluded by the roaring flame.

But they're words that Xiaomu would recognize immediately.

Wood fuels Fire
Fire returns all to Earth
Earth holds within Metal

    A figure walks from the inferno, his clothes and patches of flesh blackened, smoldering, cooking. Fabric is merged to his skin in places. Still, he stands strong, his eyes burn with cold fire. He lifts Gold one more time.

    The bamboo provides the Wood. Fayt set it all alight, giving Fire. In Reiji's hand is Chirai, the blade of Earth, and Gold, blessed with Metal. But...

He lifts the gun. Gold crackles with power, driven by the churning elemental cycle. But one's missing. One is missing... Isn't it?

The gun fires. A slug of metal erupts from the barrel. It spirals through the air... The air, still thick with the lingering motes of ice magic Fayt had conjued only moments ago.

There.

Metal carries Water

    There's a flash as Gold's slug suddenly seems to ignite with the power swirling in this place. Ice crystals follows the round. Swirling leaves and flame and ash all follow soon after. If the bamboo is real enough to burn, it seems that it's real enough to do... /this./

"Whatever people say, you are a man," Reiji growls as he looses the bolt of raw, elemental power. "Not a mouse. Now, defend yourself!"

Fayt Ravus (319) has posed:
    Fayt blinks as he hears the chanting. Elements? Hmm... There's a pause, before forwning, Fayt points his staff behind himself and says quietly. "Black bolt." A bolt of black energy fires from Fayt's staff, flying off into the distence.

    Fayt Unfortnatly, has no defences. He relies almost entireally on blasting things and making sure they never get close. so it's no surprse as there's a terrified Scream as the slug tears through him, the ice adn ash following behind him. Whne it's over, Fayt's sprawled out on the floor. he's not out yet though, He starts to stand up, proping himself with his staff as his one arm hangs uselessly at his side. "I... really, REALLY didn't want to do this part. turn." There's a buzz and more electricty around Fayt's head, The bolt from eariler makes a wide turn weaving through the bamboo as it aims to apprach Reiji from the side. "Split." another buzz, more electirty, The bolt suddenly splits into several and it's...

    Reiji and Xiaomu might remember Fayt firing a few healing spells in their last fight. That was positive energy, very nice stuff, very usefultends to heals things. These black bolts are negative energy and it's honestly some pretty nasty stuff. Whatever the bolts touch tends to start to break down and decay.

Reiji Arisu has posed:
    The fact that Fayt is still conscious after taking a Great Cycle enhanced shot from Gold is pretty impressive in and of itself. That he's still able to direct his magic is even moreso. The bolts of negative energy register like orbs of raw /wrongness/ in Reiji's spiritual awareness. Areas of pure, blighted oblivion, mobile counteragents to life itself.

He can see them. But can he defend against them?

...Perhaps.

    One of the bolts sails close. He feels it through the flame, a void of utter nothingness swaddled in warmth. The exorcist pivots, his joints screaming in protest. There's a sound unlike any other, halfway between a whisper and a cat's footfalls. Reiji's hand moves, tracing a line through the air. Negative energy meets... Empty air?

No. There's something else there.

    A blade forged of death and shadow- Darkdrift slices into the bolt of pure unlife. A burst of shrapnel follows as Hollywood looses a cloud of shredding, blessed wood. Another bolt chases in, Reiji meets it with that same combination.

Again.

And again.

    This is an attack he cannot afford to be struck by- and so he fights against it with the best tools he has at his disposal. Hollywood is a weapon infused with Wood- green, growing, LIVING energy. Darkdrift is a weapon forged of death by death. Wielded together, Reiji might just get out of this one in one piece.

...Hopefully. His spiritual resistance might absorb one or two bolts, but all of them? Certainly not.

Fayt Ravus (319) has posed:
    Figures he'd have soemthing for That.

    If Fayt REALLY wanted, he could ry hiting Darkdrift with positive energy, but that means thrwing what would basically be healing spells at Reiji, bad idea.

    fortunatly for Fayt, there's a much simplier solution. Wobbling on the spot, a bleeding mess barely able to move as he leans on his staff with his good arm. Fayt says weakly. "Turn. Split. Turn. Split. Turn..." It's simple, each turn redirects a few bolts away from Reiji so he can't stop them, and each split brakes them up into new bolts. Bit by bit, Fayt's building up a massive cloud of bolts to try and flat out overwhelm Reiji.

    This unfortunatly comes at a high price. Each command is met with a buzz and mure electricy around his head, and wit hthe sheer numbero f bolts he's controling, it's building up FAST. It's bad enough that some of it has started to run down his arm towards a blue armband he's wearing, a little something he had built to help control the surge.

    Somebody might want to stop things soon, because Fayt's either too far gone to realize what he's doing, or he's stoped caring.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
And Xiaomu is thinking that maybe - just *maybe* - she should step in. They're both putting up a pretty impressive fight, but if Fayt's chaos magic passes the critical point - and just the fact that his armband is working to drain it off suggests that it's a lot higher than it got in either of his bouts with Xiaomu - then, well, the sage fox *IS* sitting pretty close to what's going to be 'ground zero' for the surge in question, just by virtue of the fact that she's still sitting on the platform, and Fayt is standing on it - not THAT far away, really.

Taking a deep breath, Xiaomu gets to her feet, grabbing her staff with one hand (rings jingling audibly as the staff is moved) and her bag of fried tofu with the other ... but only so it doesn't fall off her lap; she sets it down right where she was sitting, as if to reserve her seat. "Hey, uh ... Fayt? Reiji?"

She thumps the butt of her staff on the platform, eliciting a louder jangle from the rings attached to its headpiece.

"You're both putting up a REALLY good fight here, but I think it's time to call a halt - Reiji's pushed you more than I did, Fayt, and I'd say you've lived up to the challenge just by *you're still standing* at this point."

Reiji Arisu has posed:
    A few dozen bolts, he can handle. But there are more than just a few dozen here. Still, the invisible blade that is Darkdrift whirls invisibly through the swarm, knocking as many aside as he can manage. Hollywood screams as he begins going through his ammunition at an unsustainable rate. Shards of shrapnel peel through the dense cloud of negative energy, their high concentration meaning each shot shatters several at once.

    He doesn't respond to Xiaomu- but only because he's presently busy trying to fend off the storm of dark magic. Even so, one bolt penetrates his guard and slams into his shoulder. Reiji winces as he pushes back against the encroaching chill with a flash of will and raw spiritual resilience. The position he's in is untenable, but...

    He can't fire on Fayt. Xiaomu is far too close- Hollywood's spread would catch her as well as his target. So the only remaining choice is to fight through and strike a definitive, finishing blow.

    Darkdrift and Hollywood whirl and dance, shattering as many negative-energy orbs as they can. Reiji lunges, twisting like a leaf through the narrow gap his weapons can open. Several more spheres slam into his body as he rushes through. His will pushes back, dispelling much of their power, but still he feels one shoulder go numb, the flesh there deteriorating beneath the necrotic touch.

    But the swarm can only follow him now. Reiji leaps around the still-burning forest, swinging Darkdrift into the still pursuing orbs of negative power. All the while, he lines up a shot. With the orbs chasing him instead of swarming all about like some kind of nightmarish cyclone, Reiji trades his shotgun for his handcannon.

...And Gold is much more well suited for lining up a final, precise shot.

Fayt Ravus (319) has posed:
    "Turn. Split. Turn. spl-huh?" with Xiaomu standing near by, the ringing get's his attention. Slowly he turns to look at her. THe looks... out of it. "Yes?" He looks alarmingly close to surging, might want ot do something about that.

    Fortunatly for Reiji, Fayt turning away means the bolts are no longer being redirect after him, making breaking through realtively easy, once he closes in however, he suddenly looks back slowly raising his staff up to pointi at Reiji... and then unless someone catching the little guy quickly, he'd immeidatly fall over due to no longer having his staff holding him up.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
Fortunately, Xiaomu IS standing right there next to Fayt when he starts to collapse -

And in the process of catching him, her staff brushes up against his hair. Right through the cool little cloud of doom .... er, of stray chaos magic.

*ZOT*

Fortunately, Reiji's bullet doesn't hit either of them, and Xiaomu goes cross-eyed for a few moments from the combination of unfamiliar stresses. "Ugh. Okay, if I have to be the referee, I'm gonna call this for Reiji just because Fayt went down first ..." She pauses, blinking a few times to try and clear her vision.

"Fayt? Why is your hair blond all of a sudden?" asks the now-bluenette sage fox.

Reiji Arisu has posed:
...Or rather, Reiji would have lined up a final shot, had Fayt not collapsed, leaving his necromantic bolts without direction. Reiji lowers his gun, allowing him to focus entirely on defense, knocking a few remaining spheres away. He leaps away from the rest, letting them slam harmlessly into the ground.

    In a few moments, he makes his way back to the central platform, Darkdrift looming invisibly in his right hand. "...Not bad," Reiji murmurs, his eyes narrowing. "But you kind of wore yourself out, huh?"

    He's... Not quite sure what more to do about the crackling electrical halo besides what Xiaomu is doing. Or... Or why Fayt's hair has turned gold. Doesn't that usually happen when things are powering up?

Fayt Ravus (319) has posed:
    Fayt's head rolls around weirdly as Xiaomu catches him, his entire body limp as he currently has no strength left. At Xiaomu's question, he jsut makes this weird murmuring noise. The only other reaction he gives is a slight twitch as Xiaomu's attempts to draw the excess energy off of him ends in a minor surge, causing the two to swap hair colors.

    Here's hoping Xiaomu likes blue.

Reiji Arisu has posed:
Reiji squints at Xiaomu's head, too. "Uh." He says. "Xiaomu. Why are you blue?"

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
"Because it's not easy being green," Xiaomu replis to her partner ... then pauses. That was a serious question that probably warrants a serious answer.

So she gently tugs one of her tails forward so she can see its color for herself. "... Or that might explain why Fayt's a blond," she amends. "Huh. Interesting ... Hopefully not permanent."