3042/WMAT B2 Satsuki Kiryuin vs Wind Dancer

WMAT B2 Satsuki Kiryuin vs Wind Dancer
Date of Scene:	17 September 2015
Location:	WMAT Arena - Yunzabit Heights
Synopsis:	Wind Magic against Willpower. Sword and Strength against Axe and Spirit. Who will win? Read on to find out!
Thanks to:	Laer for awesome commentary, and Satsuki for being an awesome opponent.
Cast of Characters:	162, 353, 430
Tinyplot:	WMAT 2015

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Satsuki Kiryuin (430) has posed:
    During Satsuki's qualifiers match here, the camera crowd was more or less nonexistent. Very few stations were willing to make the flight out to Yunzabit for what was simply a qualifying round, and it left the place feeling even more barren than usual. This, however is different. There are numerous camera crews out and about, the second round of the B-bracket drawing quite some interest indeed.

    Especially after Satsuki's last match, a clash with someone from her own world, her own /school/ even - Ryuko Matoi, her world's other Kamui-user. It was a close-fought match, and turned some heads to be sure. So people are interested in what's next after Satsuki has already gotten her 'grudge match' out of the way.

    In this particular case, 'what's next' seems to be 'standing on a spire of rock, hands planted on the top of Bakuzan's grip, with the tip of its sheath resting against the ground'. To be fair, it's a good spot to stand. Easily visible for the crowds, and the wind is blowing her hair just right. If one wanted to cut a dramatic figure while waiting, one could hardly pick a better place.

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Dramatic figures are all well and good, but Zephyr is a girl of action. High above, a dark purple spell seal forms, and with the deep resonance of her 'Tournament' music, Zephyr leaps down toward the ground. "Divine Wind Storm. SET UP!"

    Plummeting at terminal velocity, the teenager is engulfed in a glowing purple sphere. This shatters about 10 meters above the ground, and with a deft little step, the mage alights on the ground, lofting her axe skywards to the cheers from her fans in the stands.

    Mismatched eyes then turn toward Satsuki, looking up, like almost everyone else has to. She smirks, then sets her stance. "Lets make this a good one, huh?" she offers out, as the Bits from Mistral Form orbit lazily around her. <MISTRAL SQUALL, DISPERSION MODE! SET!>

Laer (353) has posed:
    Laer does not look like she's at her happiest, in person. This is mostly because she's huddling under a coat within the plexiglass camera/commentators booth, having no actual crowd to play to. The elf manages to mostly hide it in her voice as she starts the broadcast, however.

    "Ladies and gentlemen and others, welcome once more to the stage of destiny. Tonight, I've been assigned to this scenic desolate hellhole to bring you a match between the Confederacy's own Satsuki Kiryuin, Student Body President-For-Life, and the mysteriously anonymous fighter known as the Wind Dancer! It's certainly completely fair that we're in the arena best known for high winds at all times, and there's no chance that I was tricked into agreeing to come out here under the belief that they were the Wine Dancer and there would be free drinks! Join us in spirit, but not in person, on multiversal frequency nine oh oh point seven."

Satsuki Kiryuin (430) has posed:
    Satsuki's eyes turn upward at the appearance of a spell circle, but other than that she does not move. Not when a girl appears to plummet straight towards the ground, not when a magical girl transformation briefly lights up the sky, and not when she's called to from the ground. The only sign of movement, is the faint hint of a smile in response to Zephyr's words of 'greeting'.

    And then the Council President tips herself forward and falls off the spire of stone.

    On the way down, her fingers go to that blue bangle on her left bicep, pressing in three catches with a quick snapsnapsnap! Crimson floods her uniform, fibers expand outward, soar around her, pull tightly around her body, forming a flashy white 'armor' that envelops her entirely by the time she hits the ground boots-first.

"LIFE FIBER OVERRIDE! KAMUI JUNKETSU!!"

    And no sooner does Satsuki touch the ground than Bakuzan is out of its sheath and she's charging towards Zephyr at full speed, swinging the blade as she charges - and unleashing a single pressure wave from the blade, a sharp 'cutting arc' that will cut just as keenly as her sword itself.

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Zephyr watches the drop, tracking, judging. She's not watched any of Satsuki's matches, so when the sword slash comes, she's not entirely ready. The pressure wave scores a direct hit, tearing into her Barrier Jacket and leaving a ragged gash in the metal chestplate. "Gnnh... Wind fighter huh? Lets see how y'like a /real/ Wind Mage!"

    She takes a step back, drawing her handax behind her like she's about to throw it. <TEMPEST RAZOR!> She swings it around, and spalls off a pair of spinning wind-blades, compressed pressure waves infused with mana that spin like boomerangs. These are more impact than slicing damage.

Laer (353) has posed:
    Laer says, "And we're off in a hurry, with Madam President scoring the first hit after a slight costume adjustment, swinging her sword in Wind Dancer's general direction and landing a blow! But it appears that at least two can play at that game; with a pair of some sort of magical projectiles lashing back out from Wind Dancer. This could be a quick one, folks, I hope the camera can pick up all the action!"

Satsuki Kiryuin (430) has posed:
    "'Real' wind mage?" Satsuki's tone of voice is almost derisive. "You say that as if I'm acting the part of a false one." She continues straight ahead despite the attack, taking the first across her shoulder and the second directly to her abdomen - both earn grunts of pain, but neither slows her down, and very shortly she has closed the distance entirely, running at a good few times ordinary human speed. "Satsuki Kiryuin has no need of magic... not when I have the might of my Kamui!"

    But rather than swing Bakuzan around for a slash, she brings the weapon down pommel-first, attempting to flat-out hit Zephyr across the head with the weapon. It's a simple use of her incredible strength, as much a show of force as an attack. And indeed, the dust around them kicks up from the simple blowback of Satsuki's strike.

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Zephyr spins with the momentum of her attack, shifting her stance to take the pommel strike to her shoulder, letting it glance off the armoured pad there. She adjusts her balance, then plants her off-foot to drive in towards the Kamui-user. "Kamui Shamui, sounds more like a crutch to me!" she snaps back, grinning as she tries to simply shoulder-check Satsuki in the gut with a backlash wind blast of her own, purple 'wings' flaring to add drive to her muscle speed.

Laer (353) has posed:
    Laer says, "And my fears of an all-ranged fight are relieved, as Satsuki makes her way in, attacking both with confidence and in the third person! It's hard to be certain, but I don't think her blow lands cleanly; Wind Dancer seems to be going for ramming speed, trying to go for strength instead of speed!"

Satsuki Kiryuin (430) has posed:
    The shoulder-check slams into Satsuki hard enough to drive her back a good ten feet or more, more than hard enough to crack concrete, and definitely hard enough to leave a fierce bruise for later. It's like ramming into a block of solid steel, however, and if Zephyr looks upward, she will see a brief grimace of pain that turns into a rather cruel sort of smile. "If my Kamui is a 'crutch', then what does that say of your Device and Barrier Jacket, mage?!"

    This time, it's not even a smack with the pommel. Down comes Satsuki's left fist, aiming for Zephyr's back or the back of her head. Aiming to punch her right into the ground. And hit or miss, this time the ground below the two of them outright /craters/ from the kinetic energy.

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    A purple barrier intersects that punch, cracking from the impact, before it bows inwards and shatters completely. It gives Zephyr enough time to skip backwards, blasted clear of the crater by the concussion wave.

    She flips n the air, landing on her feet before having to bleed more speed. Instead of a backflip, she shoves herself skywards, arcing back in a high arch, before stopping her momentum about 5 meters above the ground. "Guess we both need a bit of help, huh?" she says with a big shiteating grin.

    "Lets make this a bit more interesting." <YES! IMPULSE CASCADE, CONCUSSION SHIFT!> intones the Device, as the Bits gain 'cores' of glowing purple mana, and more identical mana spheres appear around the mage. "FIRE!" commands Zephyr, which causes a great fusillade to lash out at Satsuki, dozens of purple mana bullets firing with heavy kinetic thumps, that, if they land, would feel like getting struck by a baseball pitching machine set to 11.

Laer (353) has posed:
Laer says, "They're really moving now; grappling both with fists and words. Satsuki manages to do quite a lot of damage both to the arena and to Wind Dancer's psyche, landing a cutting retort that will undoubtedly have Wind Dancer crying themselves to sleep tonight, but in return she appears to have driven the mage to use some more actual magic, a spread of projectiles slamming into Satsuki!"

Satsuki Kiryuin (430) has posed:
    And now her opponent is airborne, leaving Satsuki at a distinct mobility disadvantage. She doesn't seem perturbed by it, however; she simply shifts her stance slightly, Bakuzan behind her, and replies, "I wouldn't call it 'help'. If a power is within your grasp, then using it is the most natural course of action there is."

    The barrage of projectiles rains down on Satsuki, who covers her face with her left arm and leaps backwards - but far too late to avoid being hit, and even with Junketsu's physical bolstering, she's feeling it, enough for that grimace of pain to return. As soon as her feet hit the ground, however, she's running full tilt, headed for the nearest cliff edge she can reach, only to leap straight off for the canyon below...

    ...and turn in mid-air, slinging Bakuzan around to release another series of those pressure cutters, one after another!

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Zephyr can't see through the impact dust, but then, Satsuki's leaping out of the cloud with a rapid swinging sword! She turns, dodging the first wave with a nick in her skirt, though the next slams right into her back, sending her flying away, into the middle edge of a third, which knocks her upwards, spinning until she rights herself with a blast of magic. "Hah, that's more like it! Finally finished warming up? We gonna get serious now?" she asks, letting herself drop back to the ground with a click-clack of her boots against the ground. <AREA MODE!> states the Device, and with a flitting motion that ordinary humans, and most cameras would likely miss, the Bits vanish from near the Mage.

    The rolling dust from the last attacks begins to float in odd ways, marking entirely artificial wind directions. "I'd go and monologue about my ability, but I'm sure you hear enough of that already." she remarks, then gathers her legs in a semi-crouch. With a gust of wind at her back, she leaps forward, digging up the ground and moving at a speed comparable to Junketsu at full tilt! She gets in close, and begins a series of melee strikes, punching, sweep kicking and hacking with her axe, all the while, purple trails following her strikes!

Satsuki Kiryuin (430) has posed:
    Satsuki seems more than happy to dash into melee range with Zephyr, flourishing Bakuzan around herself before charging in full-tilt. The first blow takes her square in the jaw, however, putting her off-balance for the sweep to come in and slam the back of her calves - but in the time it takes for her to hit the ground she's /already/ recovered, reaching behind herself to plant a hand, turn the fall into a backwards cartwheel, come back up and block the axe strike entirely with Bakuzan.

    This time, there's no snappy reply - the grin on her face says all it needs to. She uses that moment of parry to swing her leg up, snapping a vicious kick straight for Zephyr's abs, whipping up a cloud of dust and sending a shockwave into the canyon wall in the process!

Laer (353) has posed:
    Laer says, "And it appears that Satsuki has come ready to deal with an air-based opponent, as she continues to slice so hard she hits without hitting, cutting into the Wind Dancer and getting her to come back close in, using an axe in ways that were never really intended to cut through all other colors and force her opponent to bleed purple! This is enough to force Satsuki out of witty reparte, doing a series of impressive acrobatics to block the axe with her sword and then kick out at Wind Dancer. Both of them continue to dish out the punishement, but which will get their fill first?"

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Zephyr is sent skywards again, propelled by that kick. A spiderweb of cracks appear on the chestplate of her Barrier Jacket from the force of that kick. She'll definitely be feeling it after the match is over, and likely a few days longer.

    Another burst of magic arrests her motion, and grins broadly at Satsuki. "Pretty fancy moves, gotta admit, I was worried 'bout fightin' you, but this? This is /fun/! This is what I live for!" <STRIKE MODE!>

    The intonation causes those odd wind patterns to cease, and with a pair of resonant clanks, the Bits attack to the counter-weight side of that little handaxe. A drawing of the haft makes it a two-hander grip, and a sweep back of the blade sets the stage. <MISTRAL CUTTER! STRIKE FLARE!> The 'Bits' begn to spin rapidly, bleeding wisps of purple magic, before the Wind Mage surges forward, screaming down from above with a twirl, and a heavy roundhouse chop from that augmented axe!

Satsuki Kiryuin (430) has posed:
    "Worried?" Satsuki says, allowing herself a derisive snort. "At this stage of the tournament, the weak have been weeded out and the overwhelmingly strong would have long since revealed themselves. The only worry that matters is-"

    She lunges into the attack, cocking Bakuzan as if to parry... only to suddenly lunge to one side at the last moment, the axe blade just barely clipping across her side as she moves.

    And that's when it becomes apparent why the Council Prez chose to take things down into the canyons.

    With Junketsu's enhanced strength, Satsuki /leaps/, hard enough to shatter the ground under her takeoff point, straight up towards a canyon wall. From here she springs again, rebounding to another wall, giving her a completely different angle of attack, enabling her to come down on Zephyr from /above/ boot-first, in an odd direction, with impressive speed. Down here, the mobility gap is almost completely closed.

    "-WHETHER YOUR OPPONENT IS CAPABLE OF BESTING YOU!"

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    <MISTRAL STORM.> Intones Divine Wind. A third 'Bit' spalls off of the Device, and it whips up and around to project a shield, taking the brunt of that boot strike, turning it aside so it clips the Mage's shoulder. "I was worried, I wouldn't be strong enough to give you a CHALLENGE!" she roars back in response.

    She turns with the blow, and as she comes around, her right hand balls into a fist, gathering the air itself around it like a giant gauntlet of cutting razor winds and seething purple energy. <MACH PUNCH!> Aiming right for Satsuki's head!

Laer (353) has posed:
     Laer says, "And now their defensive skills are on display, as they take only the slightest of blows from each other's lunges, with Satsuki showing off some particularly fancy footwork to gain a height advantage over the flier! But.. Oh! It's a clean, fierce blow! Can the President recover, or are they doomed to be a lame duck in this tournament?"

Satsuki Kiryuin (430) has posed:
    All the momentum of Satsuki's descent from above meets the full force of Zephyr's Mach Punch, and the impact probably jars Zephyr's arm. There is no defense, no turning aside. There is no rolling with the blow, no grimacing and continuing. The fist takes Satsuki in the solar plexus, and right through the enhancements Junketsu gives her, she /feels/ it, hard, her eyes going wide with alarm, her breath temporarily stolen from her. The blow sends her back a good ten or fifteen feet; by the time she comes back up, she's breathing raggedly again, free hand clutching at her chest. "...Like I said..." Her voice is a tad hoarse after that. "By now, all the weak opponents have been culled. All that remain..."

    It is perhaps a miracle that she can gather herself so quickly after taking such a crushing blow. One of her ribs is almost certainly cracked. And yet, she brings Bakuzan up, drops into an aggressive one-handed ready stance, and raises her voice up in stark defiance of her own lungs and ribs. "...are opponents WORTH FIGHTING!"

    Quite possibly the world's most aggressive complement.

    And then the ground buckles beneath Satsuki. It shatters. She pushes Junketsu to the limit and closes the distance impossibly fast, launching herself at Zephyr like a missile. This time there is no fancy air pressure attacks. No brutal hand-to-hand. Satsuki brings Bakuzan around at point-blank range in a simple and straightforward horizontal cut, an attack with such ferocity behind it that the stone around them splits outright. "TAAH!"

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Zephyr sets her stance, bracing herself for the return, and a return it is indeed. She meets sword blade with axe head, the reverb of the clash making the terrain shatter further with a concussive blast, cratering the walls of the canyon. Sparks fly, and the Mage, on the back foot, is pushed back enough that she loses her footing, and gets knocked into the wall of the canyon behind her, cracking the stone and leaving a Wind Mage-shaped dent.

    "Heh... Thanks, I think." she says offhandedly, as she pulls herself out of the wall, rock chips falling around her.

    "Ragios Razgriz Lethim. I call upon the Great Winds." she begins, aiming her Axe like one might a heavy cannon. <MISTRAL STORM, FOCUS MODE!> The blade shifts, mana gathers into the gemstone, and the three Bits form up in a triangle formation, extending a seties of rotating frames like a barrel. They gradually get smaller the further out from the source they are. <MISTRAL BUSTER!> announces the Device next, as a torrent of pure magic energy floods out and into the 'barrel', Compressing down to a more confined beam of energy.

Laer (353) has posed:
    Laer says, "I'm afraid I'm having trouble seeing them, but it appears that they've collectively decided to take their aggression out against the arena as well as one another! If I had to guess, I would say that Satsuki gets the better of this exchange, but there's a lot of dust and I'm pretty certain they're nearing the point where they should attack each other, then dramatically pose until one collapses of their wounds! Preferably without all the dust blocking the cameras!"

Satsuki Kiryuin (430) has posed:
    Leaving Zephyr room to prep an attack is probably dangerous, but at this stage Satsuki doesn't care. She's interested to see what the mage can bring to the table as the fight goes on, so all she does is start in on a straight-ahead run once again, her sword held out to one side. Faster, faster, like a train building up speed, straight towards a charging laser - until for a split second her body jerks, twisting aside such that the shot just hits her along the left abdomen rather than square on. With all the impact damage she's taken, however, even that much is painful, potentially dangerous. But the danger only makes things more interesting.

    In the next instant, Satsuki is in Zephyr's face, swinging Bakuzan once, twice, that one-handed grip giving her an impressive range of movement to make up for the lack of power two-handing it would offer. Each slash throws off more pressure cutters from the sheer force of its passing, but each strike is thrown somewhat wild, making it easy to spot, easy enough to just barely dodge...

    ...until the moment Satsuki suddenly stops, and grins. And then opens her mouth, and releases a powerful kiai. "HA!!"

    It's like a wall of force, but the Council Prez is not releasing that force at Zepyhr. No, it's going towards the shredded cliff face, which finally comes apart, raining down on the TSAB mage as tons of stone while Satsuki leaps backwards.

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Zephyr dodges, weaves and parries. She knows this isn't the real attack, but by the time she's figured out th Prez's plan, it's too late. Tons of rock come crashing down around the Mage, with no room to maneuver and no hope of escape. It looks like she's about to be crushed as a massive chunk comes careening down right for her.

    WHAM.

    The dust begins to settle... could that be it? Could Satsuki have clinched it?

    Rumble. Crack.

    The debris shifts, then suddenly explodes outwards, shattering stone flying in all directions. "SATSUKI KIRYUIN!" roars the Mage's voice, her Barrier Jacket tattered, Device cracked in places, the Bits jittering and sparking from damge... but she's still standing.

    Panting, she eventually grins, then sets a stance again. <JETSTREAM IMPULSE!> Motes of light appear around the mage once more, but this time, instead of bullets of energy, they elongate into seeking lasers that rain down and home in on the Council President!

Laer (353) has posed:
Laer says, "Oh, and there, that finally does it! A cliff comes tumbling down on the pair, undoubtedly killing both of them... But wait! There they are, surviving and fighting on, with Satsuki looking just a little surprised by the ferocity that Wind Dancer brings, and all of those lasers as well."

Satsuki Kiryuin (430) has posed:
    Satsuki is no fool. She's not going to assume that landslide finished Zephyr off. When the mage explodes from the debris, she even allows herself another smile, sliding her right side back and holding Bakuzan out behind herself. Allowing Zephyr that moment to compose herself is seemingly a favor to make things more interesting, because as soon as the wind mage preps another attack, the Kamui-user begins to walk forward. When she realizes what the attack is, she decides to lunge, trying to undercut the attack, assuming the shots are targeting her /position/ rather than her...

    ...and, as a result, when they curve around to hit her, they have a completely unobstructed shot at her back. Each and every shot hits, and Satsuki goes from a lunge to 'digging up a furrow in the ground'. With the hits she's already taken, that particular blunder has cost her badly. By the time she stands up again, the Queen of Honnouji is spitting out blood.

    "...impressive indeed... To think that I would be so hard-pressed. But I think it's high time that we brought this to a conclusion!"

    Once more does Satsuki charge in, pushing her body hard to get that speed out of it despite her injuries. It looks as if she intends to ram straight into Zephyr, or perhaps transfer all that momentum into a sword slash, but at the last second she /leaps/, going clear over the mage's head, slamming into the stone wall behind her, and rebounds to come in from a blind angle for the second time this match.

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Zephyr anticipates, judges the angle and brings herself around, letting the blow strike into her chest. However as the impact bites, the defensive plate buckles, shatters, and explodes outwards in a cushioning blast that absorbs a good portion of the blow, though the mage does still stagger backward. "Yeah... shame though, this has gotta be th'best fight I've had in a long while."

    She smirks, then sets herself. Several things happen at once now. The three Bits form up and latch onto the axe again, the wind picks up along the canyon, blowing from behind Zephyr as she channels magic into her axe blade, the cutting edge glowing a baleful royal purple, boiling wind seething across the entire surface. <STRIKE MODE! HURRICANE THUNDERCLAP! OVERDRIVE, SET!>

    "My name. Is Zephyr Windstar. And I. Am the Wind Dancer of March." she states, as her flight spell erupts from her back, four blazing white 'jets' of energy as she kicks up off the ground, and surges forward, aiming to bring that axe around in a roundhouse chop again. This time, the blade /explodes/ with suppressed kinetic force.

Satsuki Kiryuin (430) has posed:
    Cautious of counterattack, Satsuki takes a short hop back, holding Bakuzan in a wary, more defensive posture, but grinning nevertheless. "It has been interesting," she replies, and then says no more; because there's no more to be said. She doesn't need to be able to sense magic. Just /looking/ can see that's a powerful attack. And this late in the game, running to try and undercut the attack would simply look terrible, would practically be an insult to her opponent. So Satsuki does not run. She watches, she waits, she prepares herself. She resolves to try and counter that move at the last moment, to try and find an opportunity.

    And when Zephyr rushes in, so does Satsuki, a fountain of rainbow thrust erupting from Junketsu's shoulder pauldrons to hurl her forward across the ground.

    She tries to duck, to fend off the attack with Bakuzan and to drop low enough that she'll be out of danger, but the sheer explosive force at point blank... there's nothing she can do about it. It throws Satsuki into the canyon wall, shattering the stone with her back, the Queen of Honnouji wide-eyed. "Ghk!" Her form falls to the ground, still for a moment, until one hand plants. Shuddering, shaking, she pushes herself up, bit by bit. Every fiber of her being wants to continue. To fight back.

    But she can feel the deep, numerous injuries through just about every inch of her body, and the mounting toll that Junketsu exacts on her. It's just too much.

    "I... hereby concede this match. I can no longer fight."

    She can at least be on her feet when she admits her loss.

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Zephyr lands from the attack, magic flickering out as she grasps at her chest. "Ghnn..." She staggers a moment, before she stabilizes her Linker Core and lifts her axe to the cameras. "Good match... I'd like to have another go atchya sometime." she says, then walks over to help the President over to the Medical area. "C'mon then princess, lets getcha patched up huh?"

Laer (353) has posed:
    Laer says, "And Satsuki manages to get in behind, landing a good clean cut, but managing to get out of the way before Wind Dancer could counterattack. However, with a blasting takeoff, Wind Dancer has landed a devistating blow, prompting the President to resign. Congratulations to Wind Dancer for her victory!"

Satsuki Kiryuin (430) has posed:
    Satsuki shakes her head, holding up a hand to forestall Zephyr. "A REVOCS med-evac is already approaching. I have somewhat... unique medical needs."