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Owner Pose
Gawain Inside the Kramer Memorial Library, the sounds of screams and crashing furniture emanate through the hall. Employees of the library lie 'slain' across the halls, what looks to be blood (actually ketchup) covering their wounds. A helpless employee backs into a bookshelf, trying to escape his pursuer, but fails to save himself, as a blade strikes down on him and he's tossed across the hall into a conveniently placed pile of pillows. The roars of laughter come from his attacker, a large man clad in floral armor that seems to have been painted black and gold, in the pattern of an eclipse. His face has gold veins popping out of it, and his large and incredibly magical sword is black and gold (also painted), as it scrapes across the floor. The knight begins tearing through books, tossing several of them carefully to the ground where they only get a few dings, as he roars and shouts. "These books are MINE! All the knowledge in the world will be MINE! Muhahahahahahaha! Nothing can stop me!" Eclipse Knight will continue his destruction of the library for several minutes, looking over his shoulder every few seconds to see if someone's coming.

Meanwhile, in a corner of the room, there is a Heartless in a dress wielding a sword, dancing and spinning without a care. Several other Heartless, which suspiciously look like library employees, dance with her. It would seem there are two Heartless here!

<================================> - <X3 - <=================================>

                     - A FORCE OF DARKNESS HAS ARRIVED -                      

                      - ECLIPSE KNIGHT & IMP MASTER -                      
                - THE SUNBURNT SHIELD & THE SHARP SHOWMAN -                

                           - PREPARE FOR BATTLE -                          

<================================> - <X3 - <=================================>
Yuuki Konno     A little bit of moving darkness follows along after Gawain, or rather after the Heartless Commander Gawain's portraying. Not just the dark form of would-be Heartless, but an actual small patch of moving darkness, quite unnatural and obvious. It's not a particularly effective spell, fortunately, because Yuuki's not a particularly gifted mage. Higher level Darkness casters can create actual cover, or a form of invisibility. This is just something that makes it hard to tell the identity of what's inside without actually applying any real stealth to the caster. A cosmetic effect... but at least a dramatic one. She maintains it until they actually enter the library, whereupon she drops the veil of shadow and begins to dance.

    Yuuki assaults several library staff in turn, effortlessly dancing to them, around them, then commanding them at swordpoint to 'join my dance or die'. This said with a stern expression and a voice only a few degrees shy of laughter. The violet-haired girl, with pointy ears and red eyes, looks fairly demonic actually. Like something that could easily be a Heartless or could command them. She's wearing a dress of black slashed with crimson, but otherwise there's nothing at all different from her normal impish appearance. And yes, her dance looks like she's simply having fun... for now.
Sanary Rondel      So this was the fight event... Thing that Sanary had heard so much about! Or some rumblings about, at least. She hasn't been at the school for that long, but it's still long enough to know of the existence of this mock defense battle. As a proud student of the Academy, it's only natural that she'd take place as a defender her first time around, and she's dressed for the part as well: A student's uniform rather than her usual combat gear, a backpack full of textbooks and recovery drinks, her hair in twin tails instead of the usual ponytail, and a sledgehammer slung over her shoulder!

     That's what every day school students carry around, right? Right.

     She looks towards her partners for reassurance, actually looking a little disturbed by the rather convincing blood effects on the employees in front of her. "We'll be okay. Just stick close, and your trusted senior will protect you!" She's sounds just a little too put on as she says that, laughing broadly and giving the sledgehammer an experimental swing for emphasis. It's no axe, but it'll have to do if she wants to avoid accidentally dismembering anyone. Spotting the flowery-armored... Is that Gawain?

     That's totally Gawain, but Sanary's not going to break the act just for that. At least she doesn't recognizee the violet-haired girl, and the pigtailed healer points at the two with a dramatic gasp. "Fiends! Are you here to taint the sanctity of this place?"
Lina Brand     Lina grins, finally some action after a long while of being idle. The archer-mage makes her way alongside of Sanary, at least recognizing that one person there. "Oooy! Sanary! Wait up!" She unslings her bow and pulls out an arrow, notching it into her bow to get ready... "Alright, this... this is going to be strange, I haven't seen anyone attack the place before!" Lina's new, forgive her. "But hey, you look nice in that."

    The archer waits a bit, sticking next to Sanary while using her as cover, that's what a person with a sledgehammer is... cover for the squishy archer. "I don't got much in the way of protective magic, but... if you get hurt, I can cure you~" ... "By shooting you." she smiles widely and gets herself ready at what's in store... now, was she supposed to load up her blunt arrows for this?
Rebecca Chambers     When you're a paramilitary elite, especially within S.T.A.R.S., you have to make sure you're always on top of your game. No matter how long you've been with the unit for, or even if you're just a Union Ally, it's important to keep your skills up to date. Which was why Rebecca opted to take part in this event. Unlike some of the others who are taking part, Rebecca's making her affiliation known by keeping her S.T.A.R.S. uniform worn. But she maintains a calm and well-maintained presence at the same time, not showing much emotion on her face at times. Which is why when the event starts, her abrupt snapping to attention for a moment may seem a bit strange at first.

    After snapping to attention, Rebecca realizes what she's supposed to be doing, and gets into a battle stance type of pose, with her handgun loaded and ready. "So it looks like things are getting underway. Everyone stay alert and stay focused!" It's less of an official order and more of advice being called out to the defenders. "We can do this!"
Gawain And here comes the heroes! Gawain grins briefly as he recognizes Sanary, before quickly fixing that into a snarl as he roars and laughs, lifting up his blade. "That's right! As the Heartless Eclipse Knight, I will steal all the knowledge of this school in order to become SUPERSMART! And then, with my supersmartness, I'll come up with a way to take over the Multiverse! Don't you love my foolproof plan?" He gloats as he slowly walks towards her, towering over the shorter warrior. "Stop me if you dare! With the power of this eclipse, I am invincible! You cannot even scratch me!" While he is indeed more durable due to the time of day, he's playing it up to be a good villain, as he tosses a very predictable strike of his sword at Sanary. Looks like he's going to start easy, as he keeps his eye on the other two combatants during his strike. "Now, die!"
Yuuki Konno     Yuuki spins and whirls, using the 'converted' librarians (and perhaps students who were unable to put up a fight) as living cover. Not that she hides behind them exactly. They're dancing as much as their skill and enthusiasm allows... and Yuuki's pretty much dancing with all of them simultaneously, whirling and spinning among them tirelessly. She's not precisely a good dancer, lacking some obvious practical experience, but there's undeniable agility and grace in her movements... and of course there's speed.

    As she pivots and whirls, Dark Imp seems to notice the arrivals. "I'm an Imp, not a fiend." she claims. Oh well, Eclipse Knight is taking care of that one. "A Dark Imp." she adds, trying to stay in character. "And you, uh..." she pauses, whirls, and points her blade dramatically. "You shall join my dance. Or DIE!" she insists, breaking off into clearly faked malevolent laughter that mutates into pure girlish giggles midway through.

    "You, minions. Keep dancing." Yuuki orders her captives. "Or, you know, have fun, do the best you can." she adds in a whisper, giving them a wink. She then twirls towards the door, towards the new arrivals. "Who will dance with me?" she asks, gesturing with her sword. "Come on, give it your best shot!" she adds, winking again.
Sanary Rondel      Healing by getting shot? Lina did mention that sort of magic application before, didn't she? Laughing again, Sanary actually looks flustered for a brief moment at the compliment before reaching over to pat her archer on the shoulder. "You think? Hm. I should probably keep this after we're done, then..."

     It never hurts to expand her wardrobe some. Hearing Rebecca's more militaristic shouts, the healer grins before snapping the woman a quick salute with her free hand. "Aye aye, ma'am!" Although she doesn't recognize the woman, she still has to make sure to show the proper respects to someone she might have to face on the battlefield for real another time.

     The theatrics must go on, of course, and her gaze goes right back up to the Ga-er... Eclipse Knight standing before her. "Is that possible? Hnn. That's not a bad plan, actually..." It'd certainly help with her taking tests, at least. She doesn't have much time to mull over how to pass her tests without effort, though, with that sword coming straight at her. "But if this is you and the A Dark Imp's goal, then we'll just have to stop you!" Instead of trying to avoid or block the sword, the healer instead lowers the sledgehammer before swinging it upwards to try and meet it head on. Not the most strategic move at all, but...

     Wait. They're being graded on this, aren't they?
Lina Brand     Lina gives a grin and nods towards Sanary, then the STARS member's order and she gives a salute, "You're talking to one of the worlds best trackers, I'm /always/ alert!" and with that, she starts taking aim... wait, Sanary's getting aimed at! This isn't nice. Lina backs away to join the other ranged weapon user, allowing Sanary to tank for the two. "Good luck Sanary~" She gives a bit of a chant and a protect spell washes over Sanary as she glows a light blue for a brief bit.

    With that out of the way, she points towards the 'Imp' and smiles, "Hey, IMP! Never met an archer before have you!?" she rears back and draws, Almost like magic, something appears in her vision, a targeting reticle. It's only a bit late when it bursts into view on Yuuki that the arrow is loosed, a Ranger's signature Aim ability, Aim: Leg! It's determined to try and slow or stop the movements of that imp.

    "You, with the gun, be careful, don't want to accidentally fire at someone and kill them." a pause, "I wanna look at that later. I have an idea for it!"
Rebecca Chambers     Even as the enemies make their appearance, Rebecca can't help but sneer a little at how cheap they sound. But she knows that this is supposed to be serious business, so the sneer quickly vanishes from the S.T.A.R.S. member's face, replaced with a stern looking frown. "It doesn't matter what kind of imp you are, or even what type of creature you are. We are going to take you out!" She looks to Lina and smirks a little bit. "I appreciate the concern, but I've been using this for many years. It's served me well and I know how to shoot properly, so don't worry."

    Rebecca then turns to face the 'Imp' with her weapon still at the ready. "You picked the wrong soldier to mess with!" Rebecca adds, using the term because she is paramilitary after all, and then fires a single shot.
Yuuki Konno     "Huh?" Dark Imp says, surprised. "Of course I have." she says dismissively. In fact Yuuki's faced several archers before. While most of her duels have been against melee fighters, some speedy sorts thought to try to use range against her. This has, for the most part, ended poorly for them.

    An arrow is well within Yuuki's ability to track visually. She snaps her sword out and down, intercepting the arrow, neatly knocking it aside. She couldn't have done that AND defended against the bullet however. Yuuki's moves are impressive, but she doesn't have the experience she needs to reliably cut bullets when she's also under assault from another source. She's left evading as best she can. The bullet grazes her as she spins not quite out of its path, the strike drawing a wince of pain. The wound itself is painted in a pixellated red rather than the crimson of blood, though the representation appears significant rather than a graze.

    Yuuki knows she can't face two skilled opponents, both armed with ranged weapons, not like this. Not across an open room, at least. She has to change her tactics. "You don't have to take me out!" she calls. "We can dance right here~" she grins, waltzing off among the shelves and beginning to circle towards her opponents. Not letting them off the hook at all... she's going to test them, to see how they work together. By appearing and disappearing, she hopes to use them against each other. She can try to get them to block each other's line of sight, or perhaps to run into each other when trying to get a clean shot. All the while she advances, trying to get into lunging range. It's hopefully not TOO hard. This is a library after all, not an open field.
Gawain Eclipse Knight nods enthusiastically, as he continues to boast. "Indeed! I'll be so smart, they'll accept me into MIT! And I don't even have a high school diploma! With this smartness, I could cure cancer! Stop world hunger! Bring world peace!" Wait...he's starting to sound less like a villain...well, he's still attacking Sanary anyways, but as she swings her hammer at his blade, he has it take the hit, quickly moving it away and side stepping to get at Sanary's side. "Not bad! You are truly a hero! But can you TAKE THE HEAT?"

With a flick of his wrist, Excalibur Galatine sets on fire...and the paint instantly begins melting. Not that Eclipse Knight notices, but HOPEFULLY there won't be awful poisonous fumes...right? Either way, he strikes at the tip of her hammer with the flames, being careful to not actually burn her, as he puts the blade in defense position. Apparently, fire's a good shield!
Sanary Rondel      Sanary's grin grows as she feels that wash of protective magic covering her, managing to give Lina a quick thumbs-up before turning her attention back to Gawain. She'll just have to trust Rebecca to handle the A Dark Imp for now, but that's just the way she likes it!

     "Is that your plan? You can't be allowed to succeed! Cancer will live on with war and world hunger until..." Wait. Isn't she supposed to be the hero here? Backing away from the Eclipse Knight as his sword lights aflame, her weapon is deflected easily and she's forced to keep her distance for the time being. She doesn't notice the paint melting just yet, although the fumes do cause the girl to wrinkle her nose some and gag a little. Gradual posioning!

     "I'll take any heat you can bring! I'll just have to put you on ice!" She raises the sledgehammer dramatically, and... Nothing happens! Right. This isn't her gunaxe. Plan B: Time to charge straight at the Knight and swing her sledgehammer at his legs!
Gawain "You evil fiend! I'll stop you!" Wait, wait, isn't Gawain supposed to be the villain? Either way, he begins to notice the poisoning, and waves his blade in an attempt to get it away, which tends to not only make the poison worse, but also leave him open. Well, that was a failure! He laughs as Sanary gets ready to use a special attack, but pauses when he notices it fail. "Wait, wait, did that malfunction? Do you want to try agai- AAH" Before he can finish his sentence, the sledgehammer is coming at his legs, as he's knocked upwards and back into a bookcase. The flimsy wooden furniture breaks under his strength, as he slowly rises from the pile of furniture. Silently putting out the flame, which reveals that Galatine's paint is all screwed up, he takes the blade in two hands...

And charges forward at Sanary, moving to disarm her. Guess it's time to play serious, as he shouts a battlecry. "FOR THE HEARTLESS, I BRING WORLD PEACE!" Wait, something's still /just not right/.
Lina Brand     Sanary's getting attacked.... but she's going in head first. Gawain... err the KNIGHT is going at her friend. The IMP is going after her and Rebecca... well, it's about time to show them what the archer can do. "Thundara..." she grabs four arrows, charging them up with lightning energy before jumping into the air, "Taste THUNDARA BARRAGE!" Lina rapidly fires four arrows, two at Gawain and two at Yuuki, seriously unaimed so they won't do much damage but the lightning spell attached should give them a 'shocking' reminder that someone else is positive-ly in 'charge' of the area.

    As she lands though, the lunge from Yuuki does get in there, grazing the archer's shoulder and sending her back a ways, "EH?! Hey, where did you come from, you were over there a moment ago!"
Sanary Rondel      "Try if you can!" Cackling madly, Sanary seems to have forgotten just what her role is here, but at least she's having fun with it! She's actually somewhat surprised when Gawain goes flying, but she doesn't have much time to revel in that before coughing again. She's definitely noticing the odd fumes, but just where is it coming from?

     As the Eclipse Knight comes in with his blade, the healer prepares to parry it valiantly with her sledgehammer! A second later, her sledgehammer is way on the other side of the room.

     Right. Because sledgehammers are... Not really good for parrying at all. Shit. "Hnn... That won't be enough to stop me, Eclipse Knight!" As she issues her boast, she promptly ducks when Lina fires her arrows, letting them pass overhead before charging forward to try and just tackle the knight!

     The heavily armored knight. The one with the sword. This will go well, won't it?
Rebecca Chambers     The lunge gets to Rebecca as she attempts to jump backward. The blade pierces through her kevlar vest, but just misses touching the flesh underneath. She leaps back, yelping a little, although it's more out of shock than pain. She looks and is relieved to find she's not actually injured, but it was definitely too much of a close call. If she hadn't been more careful, she could've been seriously injured. "Barely even a flesh wound!" Rebecca comments.

    She then focuses on the target again and fires off several rounds this time. "You will have to do better than that!"
Yuuki Konno     Yuuki's lunging strikes are careful. Though she hits with impressive speed and force, she's not putting her slight weight behind the strikes either, and not trying to skirt armor. It's easier to do that actually, though mostly she's just not interested in doing major damage. The instructors who hired her were clear... she didn't have to hold back if she didn't want, so long as no one was seriously harmed. But neither does she have to strike with her full might either, not if she doesn't want to.

    Still, she has to do SOMETHING. Driving her opponent back, making glancing blows, forcing openings, these are all fair game. Someone skilled enough at this sort of thing should be able to show their stuff even when Yuuki gets serious, so she isn't about to go too easy on anyone.

    "The dead don't dance, dear!" Yuuki says cheerfully. She whirls, leaps, dances around Rebecca and mostly out of Lina's path. Mostly. The electricity from the arrows catches her, staggers her, breaks her rhythm. In her current straits that's probably worse than actually damaging her. "Ah! How can I ..." she gets shot, then she whirls again, bringing a foot up and planting it on Rebecca's arm. She pushes the arm down and herself up, both bringing herself out of line of the attack, and hopefully getting a clean vault up and over the gun-girl to protect herself further. "... make you dance..." she complains. Whirling, she feints before cutting across with the flat of her blade, attempting to knock Rebecca's feet from under her, to give her some time and space. It costs her another hit, but what of it? The bullets don't slow her, though the damage is worrying. "... if you're dead?"

    Nope, Yuuki's no NecroDancer. And while she COULD stand toe to toe with the gungirl, she's not sure that's the best tactic. Besides, she's supposed to test her opponents, and teamwork's an important part of the test. Rising up from her attempt to sweep Rebecca's leg, she blurrs forward, aiming for Lina once again, putting herself squarely between the two ranged fighters as she makes her attack run. If she were to dodge, either fighter risks hitting the other. And if there's any sureness in this duel, it's that the purple-haired imp can and surely will dodge.
Lina Brand     Lina smiles, though while she's bad at dealing with a melee opponent, even if she has her wing edge dagger, she's trying her best NOT to kill anyone here. Those lunging strikes hit home and send the archer mage back quite a ways, tumbling. "Nngh, owie!" she sprawls on the ground a bit... her bow out in one hand... chanting a small spell. "Cura..." and with that, she's slowly picking herself back up. Lina doesn't normally come here and she's not going to be happy when she will probably get in trouble for this but... threat first, preservation of surroundings later.

    "Yes but the dancing ones can't dance on a slippery surface now, can they?!" A good part of being a Red Mage is one specific little ability they can do. Doublecasting. Lina's bow starts glowing from both ends, an earthen color and an icy blue color and LIna just reaches back for an arrow. "Though I'd love to see you try!"

    Lina starts ... running away to run up a bookshelf and aim directly at the ground, the twin energies of the spells pulsating in the arrow which, soon, is shot into the ground! And it does... nothing? "Hmm. I didn't put a delay effect in there..." shortly, the arrow's magics dissipate and the ground starts rumbling and from the epicenter, the ground starts to freeze over and crack, creating icicle pillars to try and knock the two interlopers loose from their footing for her allies to finish up!
Gawain As he strikes at Sanary, suddenly, two electric arrows fly into the back of his neck. He's struck hard and jolts with electricity, but his Numeral of the Saint keeps him up. He moves to strike at Sanary again, but before he can, she's charging at him...CRACK!

Sanary's elbow goes straight into Gawain's groin, creating anguish on his face as he tumbles backwards. And then, the earth starts quaking. This causes him to step on a pile of blood (ketchup), which causes his foot to slip...which causes him to go flying out a window.

CRASH!

Well, good news is, he's alive. Bad news is, he's stuck upside down in a trash can and not moving. Woops.
Rebecca Chambers     Rebecca can only scowl with disdain as the dance continues, keeping her weapon trained. "Dancing at a time like this? You certainly are arrogant, aren't you?" She starts to load another clip, but the blade catches her feet and down to the ground she goes. "Owww... damn it!" Rebecca curses, trying to pick herself back up again, finding a bit of pain in her side. "This is worse than when I messed up during that bioterror drill in New York-283 a few days ago!" Indeed, there are drills like that conducted, albeit with coordination from the official agencies. But that's a story for another time.

    Dusting herself off, Rebecca sighs and watches as Lina uses some of her magic to aid in the battle. "All right, now let's finish this!" Rebecca says as she properly loads a clip for real this time, before firing upon both targets this time. That is, after making sure Lina's out of the way first, even if Rebecca has to move a bit first.
Sanary Rondel      That went significantly better than expected! So well that Sanary actually cringes when the Eclipse Knight goes out the window on top of getting elbowed right in the bits. Leaving the A Dark Imp to Lina and Rebecca, she hurries over to the window to peer outside and make sure Gawain's alright.

     "Uh... You alright down there? Didn't mean to hit you... Er. Down there!" She calls out, mildly relieved that he's landed somewhere and hasn't become a smear, but she does look back at the the remaining three in the room. She clears her throat and audibly whispers, trying not to be too obvious about it despite being... Well, obvious that she's whispering.

     "I... Uh. I'm gonna go check on him. You three take it easy now." And then she cries out in a louder, more theatrical tone for whomever might be watching all of this going on! "Ah, my balance! I'm falliiiiing!"

     And with that, the healer 'accidentally' flings herself backwards out of the window, sending magic power into her anklets to slow her fall enough to not break her legs on landing! Afterwards, it's time to check on Gawain to make sure he's actually alive in there.
Yuuki Konno     Yuuki's attack on Lina has two purposes. The overt one, of course, is to threaten harm to the archer-mage. The less obvious purpose is to make it difficult for either opponent to shoot, for fear of catching the other due to the crossfire. It's a lucky thing for everyone involved that Rebecca's being particularly careful! It gives Yuuki time to finish up her lunging attack on Lina, but as she moves for that inevitable dodge she ends up putting herself in a position where the soldier woman can use her nearly-supernatural aim to best effect.

    Bullets fly, and a couple of them flare into the Dark Imp. She'd underestimated her opponents. Well, no. Not really. She's been beaten fair and square, rather than taking her opponents for granted. Her health is low. Even her armor, somehow still protecting her despite her wearing a dress, can't entirely stop such hits. If she continues, she'll hit zero health. Be reduced to a Remain Light. It's not really in keeping with the non-lethal nature of this contest. Besides, it might freak people out.

    As Lina completes her spell, Yuuki finds herself slipping, stumbling. She COULD fly out of this, but why? She was looking for an excuse to go down with style. And in this case, if she can't manage style, at least she'll manage to go out with a bang! "Noooooo~!" she wails theatrically as she crashes to the ground. "My dance. You stopped my dance~!" she wails. Or, of course, it could be the streaks and blotches of digital red pockmarking her body that stopped her. Certainly anyone shot that many times is going to be suffering badly. Fortunately the Imp girl doesn't seem to be in any real pain as she hams up her fall.