The journey begins [PM To Join]

[Jason Arilani]

Arlan was surprised by the protection spell that the knight had used. Tilanis was blocked from the protection spell and couldn't attack him. The knight started to attack toward Arlan when a voice came from a nearby street as another person entered this fight. Using his own sword, the newcomer had blocked Basch's attacks and then held his hand up toward Arlan. He wasn't sure what to expect from this, but quickly dodged to the side, growling toward Arlan and speaking to him in a wolf tongue. 'Get the new guy. Leave Basch alone.'[/color] He said to Tilanis before recomposing himself.

He threw the purple sword to the air and controlled the energy once more, forming a shield this time, now fighting like a knight himself. The sword that was held by the newcomer was quite larger then both the sword the knight used and the sword that Arlan used. He knew nothing of this man, or even why he randomly joined their fight. But things were different now that there were two other people. Granted, it seemed that Arlan, Tilanis, and Basch were all fighting for the same side now. Tilanis quickly ran around to Arlan's side, waiting for a chance to strike as Arlan waited to see what could come next.

[poseidon]

Basch was surprised for sure by the new fighter- an adult, no less. Having no idea on the intentions of this man, he decided to treat him like any attacker- fight to incapacitate. Basch, having his Protect ability on him, jumped back and held his hand to hischest once more, charging his magick, and waved it casting Protectga on Arlan and his wolf.

Basch readied himself to help AA when the Firaga attack was fired. Using his Cover ability, Basch leapt in front of his new ally, taking the damage of the attack. It hurt bad, but he was sure AA could retaliate. Of course, now he was regretting not donning his Maximilian armor beforehand. Perhaps, if AA could cover the new man... no, it was too much of a risk. He turned with a wince from the burn on his arm and readied to defend himself and AA again.

[shadow117]

Cloud's firaga balls were able to cause some damage to the knight who seemed keen on protecting the card user because he had taken most of the damage, he noticed a small burnt mark on the swordsman's arm. Taking this time to seperate the First Tsurugi into two swords he stood holdiing one blade above his head slightly for attacking, while holding the second near his knees his feet were spread out slightly as though he were ready to dash, which he did he was about to deliver a diagonal slash with the blade he held slightly above his head, then a horizontal slash with his other blade.

Even if the knight was able to move out of the way he would still manage to strike the card user with his horizontal slash, then he would flip over his opponent and strike with both blades at his back.

(Sorry about the delay...i've fixed it now.)

[Jason Arilani]

Arlan nodded to Tilanis as he watched the new man start running toward him and Basch. He knew that they would need to act quickly if they wanted to avoid further injury. Tilanis quickly dashed to the side only to start running behind the new man, well out of range of the swords. He stood behind him and waited for the chance to strike. Basch and Arlan would need to subdue him long enough for that to happen though.

As Arlan stood there, his purple shield disappeared and the green light on his holster lit up. 'Damn!'[/b][/color] He shouted in his head as he quickly jumped back. "The luck of the draw!"[/color] He said as he reached to his holster and pulled out...

[Dice roll for Card draw. Range 1-52. Result... Number... 29. Card - Unholy]

... An Unholy card. Thinking that it was a waste of time as it did the exact same thing as he Energy card, he held it up and said "Unholy!"[/color] With that said, the symbol on the card glowed before turning into a sphere of dark energy. The blank card was returned to his pocket as he molded the dark energy into another shield, this time black instead of purple. If this guy had an affinity toward light, then it would help him. Darkness? Not so much.. But he wasn't sure at the moment, hoping that Basch would move. Arlan didn't need to protection that the knight thought he needed. But he needed an opening before using this Unholy spell in better ways then this little shield.

Tilanis growled, feeling a rush of wind around him. He was slightly confused by this as he hasn't been able to use his former power of wind the entire time he was a wolf. But then he realized that Arlan hadn't been in this much danger before. The wind picked up slightly around the wolf as he waited for the strikes of the sword to start before rushing toward the newcomer, jumping at the end and attempting to bite down hard on his shoulder. With him so intent on the diagonal and horizontal strikes, he shouldn't be able to dodge or counter, but anything was possible.

[poseidon]

Basch was relieved when AA drew his card and formed a shield. Hopefully, it'd give the Dalmascan knight time to recover. He mentally ran through his inventory of spells, frantically trying to choose one which would help him. As it happened, the only thing that came to mind was Shellga, which would help at first, but wouldn't particularly do much in the long run.

He briefly considered using one of his Quickenings, Fulminating Darkness or Ruin Impendent, but discarded the thought quickly. They'd damage the assailant in the meantime, but it'd use up magic which could prove valuable later.

So, what did he do? He did nothing, of course. Well, besides run around AA. The man obviously planned on going over them, judging by his speed and trajectory. He may or may not have been planning to strike on the way over, so he decided to defend on the backside. AA would just need to have enough sense to block the possibly attack from above with his shield. As soon as the man landed, Basch struck at him multiple times, trying to get at least one good hit.

((Protect: Basch- Last post; Arlan & Tilanis: 2 posts left))

[shadow117]

Cloud reached his opponent and was about to deliver some heavy slashes until he noticed the wolf leap at him, aiming for his shoulder he was able to roll sideways though part of the wolf's fang scratched his un-clothed shoulder, leaving a small red cut it stung a little though he was able to tolerate. Coming out of the roll he felt the swish of the knight's sword narrowly missing the tip of his hair, it appeared that the warrior had switched behind the card user in an attempt to block his air attack and deal some damage, though Cloud was smarter than that when he was out of the roll he backflipped away from them, when he was a few meteres away he pulled both of his blades back while standing sideways and swung them forward. Sending four crescent waves of energy towards them hoping to seperate them.

He then ran after the beams and casted several Thundaga spells at them once he was close he would swoop in with some quick but strong slashes, mainly aimed at the Card user since they were working together now he would have to seperate them and take them down one by one, though he was only testing their skills so their was no need for him to go all out. But he wasn't going to go easy on them either.

[Jason Arilani]

As Tilanis' fang connected with the shoulder of Cloud, he landed right in front of Arlan with his newest victim rolling away. Arlan looked to Tilanis and nodded, telling him to stay put. He looked toward Cloud who had started to send crescent shaped waves of energy toward the two of them, who were now back to back. He wasn't sure what to do as he figured they were there to separate Arlan and Basch. Little would the man think that it was better for the two to be separated. Rather then both attacking from one side, they would now attack from opposite sides.

A quick jump to the side happened as he dodged the crescent shaped energy. Tilanis jumped as well, staying near Arlan. However, the magic would start to come next, the Thundaga spells being targetted to Arlan. He was hit with one of the lightning bolts as he held his hand with the shield above him to prevent himself from being hit again. A smile came on Arlan's face as the lightning finally stopped and Cloud closed the gap. Now it was time to use his Unholy energy in a different way.

Tilanis quickly ran around Cloud once more, again with enough distance to prevent being attacked. With Basch behind Cloud and Tilanis to his right, Arlan held his hand out, the dark energy turning into a partial box that came from the front and left side of Cloud as well as the top. If it were to connect with Cloud, it would cover him completely and immobilze him. However, if he were to go to his right, Tilanis would be there to meet him. And Arlan figured that Basch would cover from behind. The dark energy was strong and wouldn't easily be cut down by Cloud's blades. Something would be needed to disrupt the energy, or Cloud would need to primarily be based off of a path of darkness for it to not have much effect.

In case either of those happened, Arlan still had his sword to use if needed. If by some chance he made it out of this situation, Arlan would use his sword to block the attacks that Cloud would unleash. Arlan may be young, but he was always watching his dad, who was a great sword fighter, fight and learned most of his techniques. He learned that the smallest blades can be the most deadly, and while Cloud had massive blades, Arlan's would be able to block them despite the small size. It was long and it was strong, and thats why Arlan loved it so much. So he would be able to block it as Tilanis would run from behind and attempt another attack on the same shoulder, trying to weaken one spot over and over again. Arlan just hoped that Basch would aid from behind or this attack would not work. It all depended on what Basch would do.

[poseidon]

Basch, instead of dodging the crescent-shaped attack, sliced down at it with his own majestic sword. It was quite similar, in power, to blocking a sword's attack, so it was easily done. He was about to go around Cloud to the left, but he saw that Arlan and Tilanis were executing a plan and stayed in the same spot.

As Arlan executed the unholy's box magic, he saw what he was meant to do. He quickly took up his position opposite Arlan in the cross, with AA at the top, Tilanis at the right and him at the bottom. They had effectively cornered the blonde with the long sword. Closing in slowly towards the man, he wondered: Would he give?

[shadow117]

While he was running casting Thunaga which managed to strike Arlan though the rest was blocked, he noticed the werewolf move to his right he could see the other knight move behind him and he looked ahead at the card user who seemed to have created a partial box of dark energy in the shape of a triangle around him. Whatever it was it didn't look good and Cloud wouldn't allow himself to be caught in this trap. He also noticed he was using Unholy with one hand while he was able to block most of his attacks. Cloud could feel that he was in a tight situation as soon as the wolf jumped at him, aiming for his shoulder and with the knight behind him, who would probably intercept him if he tried moving to the left. Their teamwork was impressive considering they just met they could prove to be valuable allies.

Cloud re-attached the two blades together so he was now holding one, he could feel the dark energies closing in, he figured his blade wouldn't be enough to destroy them. Therefore with his free hand Cloud formed a reflega shield around him when the time was right, the dark energies were reflected back at the attacker though when he released the shield he felt a painful bite on his shoulder, which made him wince Ngh...darn wolf. was the thought that came to his mind as he knocked it off with a quick fireball from his hand.

His shoulder was injured blood could be seen running down his arm, taking this breif moment to stop the bleeding with a Cure spell he was ready to resume the battle. Since he reflected the Unholy spell and a healing magic he could feel his energy running low, he decided to switch to physical combat now. He looked at the knight and dashed towards him then he jumped in the air performing a Braver attack, afterwards he would deal two heavy blows with his blade, then jump over him since he would most likely block the attacks and strike with another jumping slash.

[Jason Arilani]

A spell that was unexpected was used as the Unholy Magic was reflected back to Arlan. With his hand being the one that was controlling it, Arlan felt himself pushed back as well. He had hoped that the box would capture him, if only for a moment. But he felt his control over the magic fading as the dark energy dissolved, the green light on his holster lighting up once more. A quick curse in his head came as he realized that he needed to help. Not only did his Friend just get attacked by a fireball, but now Basch was who was being attacked by the man before him... The man who had not given a name or reason for attack... He just started to attack. Arlan quickly shot his hand to his card holster to draw another card.

[Dice Roll. Range 1-52. Dice Roll Result. Number.... 18, Card: Energy. List Modified to renumber those not used]

"The Luck of the Draw! Energy!"[/color] He said, using a card that he had used once before. Holding the card up, the purple symbol glowed, transforming into a ball of energy once more. This energy, unlike the Unholy spell, was different as it held no affinity for Dark or Light. But this time, it would not be used to create a shield, a sword, or a box. No.... This time, he had plans for the Energy spell, plans that would be on the offense. A quick wave of his hand cast Cura on the wolf, removing the burn from his flesh. Arlan then ran forward as Cloud started his attack on Basch.

His hand extended forward, controlling the energy and changing it into a hundred arrows of pure energy. He quickly ran forward, the arrows following behind him. But he soon fell to his knees as a surge of energy ran through him. His ring started to glow slightly. It was a feeling he had never felt, but as quickly as it ran through him, it was gone. Arlan quickly stood, continuing to control the arrows, unaware the the large card on his back started to form its symbol. He knew that if he didn't move quickly, his arrows would disappear. Realizing this, he decided to cut the arrows in half, forming those arrows into an orb in his hand to be used for the second part of his plan. His hand shot forward as the arrows launched past Cloud and Basch, reaching Cloud's backside.

The 50 arrows arranged themselves to cover Cloud's back, 10 releasing to his back but Arlan was watching Cloud's movements very carefully. His arrows would move instantly to follow Cloud should he try to dodge. They wouldn't be cut through should he try with his sword, but the would be knocked away, only to continue their attempt to attack. Energy was not easily disrupted, and Cloud had already used much of his own from the attacks he had done. Arlan was lucky that if needed, he could use all 52 cards without wasting much energy, as he wastes that energy when forming the symbols on the cards. However, he just hoped this would keep Cloud from Basch, hoping to take care of this little problem.

[poseidon]

Basch was ready to receive Cloud's attack, however he was interested in the way his sword glowed with energy. Interesting. Again as expected, Basch parried the two attacks, and he now expected the blonde stranger to jump over him, as he was getting used to it. He spun, but not fast enough to avoid a nice deep cut on his arm. Trained to deal with pain, he fought on.

He slashed twice at Cloud, and jumped back. Just in time, too, as fifty arrows of energy flew to the back of Cloud. He watched as the ten were released and flew towards Cloud's back. Basch himself decided to help, keeping him occupied in the front by slashing horizontally, then vertically, following the same pattern multiple times, willing AA to keep going.

[shadow117]

Cloud was getting more and more impressed by their teamwork it didn't take them long to read his movements and quickly set a counter, impressive he thought as he blocked the knights attacks without much effort, while he blocked them he noticed about 50 golden arrows appear behind the knight who jumped out of the way in time to avoid the arrows, which were clearly aimed at Cloud.

After blocking Cloud seperated the First Tsurugi into two blades again and quickly attempted to block each arrow that came his way, they surrounded him and flung towards him fast but since he had two blades it was easier for him to block them. He was able to deflect most of them but he could feel some of them make contact.

He noticed that even though he was able to block the arrows they continued to attack him, he couldn't keep this up much longer he winced slightly as several more arrows made contact with his body either tearing parts of his clothes while he moved, or causing minor cuts on his skin. Though some of the cuts were caused by the knight the blonde tried his best to avoid them, he needed an opening to attack the card user with the knight attacking from the front and the arrows attacking him from all directions, even reaching the card user proved to be a challenge.

Cloud defelected more arrows and just enough for him to cast Meteorain, a storm of meteors suddenly fell from the sky crashing down onto the arrows creating a small opening for him to attack. While the meteors fell Cloud dashed and leaped over the knight and attacked the card user with a cross-slash.

[Jason Arilani]

Arlan's plan seemed to be working perfectly. He had a feeling that Cloud would start to deflect the arrows with whatever means necessary. Even Basch attacking still to provide more of a threat was part of Arlan's plan. What exactly was this kid planning? Well the second part of it was about to be revealed as he watched Cloud coming closer and closer toward Arlan while trying to dodge and deflect the arrows. Cloud was receiving damage from both Arlan's arrows and Basch's attacks. A devious smile came across Arlan's face as Tilanis looked up at him, wondering what was running through his friend's mind.

Now came the second part. As Cloud dashed and leapt over Basch, coming straight for Arlan, he held his left hand behind his back, hiding the orb of energy. With Cloud being too preoccupied with the arrows, Basch's attacks, and casting his spell, this would most likely go unnoticed. He held his sword in front of him as if to deflect whatever attack Cloud would release. However, just as Cloud started to initiate his attack, Arlan would quickly flick his left hand foward as the orb of energy would release, opening up as though to create a blanket of purple energy, trying to cover both swords, and if lucky, Cloud as well, and immobilize both. His arrows allowed this to happen too as they were still rushing after Cloud. They quickly combined and formed another blanket of energy to cover from behind.

Now it was time to see how Cloud would stop this. For the orb was released upon Cloud when the attack was already made. It played through in Arlan's head several times. Since he had already made the attack, it would be incredibly difficult for him to stop the attack so suddenly and move out of the way. He had also already used a lot of his energy from the spells that he had cast. Knowing that he had used up a lot of energy from the few spells he had used, Arlan deduced that he was primarily a man who uses physical attacks. Plus, Arlan, showing that he would deflect with his sword would only further the attack from Cloud as he would believe he could overpower Arlan. And most likely, if Cloud connected with his attack, it would overpower him.

But Arlan had a mastery over observation, and he knew what this man primarily did while fighting. He was physical with a bit of magic use. His swords were big, providing a form of shield if needed, as shown when he deflected the arrows. But he was also a good swordsman, knowing when to combine and separate his two swords to use them to maximum effectiveness. The only reason that this attack wouldn't work is if he happened to expect it. But Arlan even had a back-up plan. For whatever way he may try to dodge the attack, Tilanis would quickly rush after him and strike, the two orbs of energy both turning into arrows once more and all arrows, totalling roughly 75, would rush after Cloud, hoping to connect. Now... It was Cloud's turn...

[poseidon]

Basch was upset that the stranger was able to block his attacks and still come out mostly unharmed, but he sensed that Arlan was planning something even bigger. He was prepared to do whatever it took to take this interrupting man down.

As expected, Arlan sent the orbs at Cloud and set Tilanis to guard from escape. Going opposite the wolf on the other side of Cloud, Basch carefully covered him opposite Tilanis and the orbs flew upon him. Basch was positive that this strategy would get him down.

[shadow117]

Cloud was about to strike the card user with a cross-slash, but his opponent struck back quickly with a orb of energy knocking him back a few meteres causing most of the arrows to strike him on his back, he could feel them pierce his back like sharp needle tearing his outfit slightly though he noticed that they dissapeared after they hit there mark. He took the blow of the arrows which made him kneel down on one knee while holding his swords to keep him up. He would have to think of something fast.

Hopefully the rain of arrows stopped and he struggled to his feet since he was getting weaker, he was beginning to feel the weight of the First Tsurugi and had to hold them tightlywith both hands. Parts of his attire were torn especially on his stomache when the orb of energy hit him. He breathed heavily slowly trying to recover from the damage.

Coud smiled he very rarely smiled, unless he was fighting a strong opponent. He tried to move but something was holding him back it seemed that attack the card user had immobelised him, Cloud didn't know how long but he wasn't about to give up yet. As soon as he was released from his enemies grip he would continue to rush attack at the card user, striking with both blades. Then he would follow up with a Blade Beam.