A test of Strength! [Frog]

Dane Evans walks down the street confidently, reaching the Arena nearby. Today was going to be a fun day for him... Fighting was something he really enjoyed. The thrills... He wanted to get his adrenaline flowing again. And nothing did this more effectively than a fight to the death. Sure, being chased by the cops in real life was adrenaline filled as well, but here, he truly felt alive. Or... As alive as he could feel within a game...

Once he reached the arena, he would await his challengers. If it was going to be a one sided match, he had no idea, but that wouldn't be very fun, now would it? Dane wanted a real challenge... Hopefully his adversaries could provide that. Because regardless of who or what they were, he would not hold back in the slightest. Dane's eyes scanned the nearby area, making sure he would not get ambushed. The area seemd segmented, like a moutain, where each segment progressively narrowed until they reached the top, where he was standing right now... Perhaps they lurked above... Whatever the case may be, he still liked to keep his code of honor, and await his challengers before the fight would officially begin... and Besides, a stare off was a good way to start things. Would he have the upper hand? Maybe. It all depended on what his challengers had to bring to the table...

Dane Evans:

"You're late." A young girl's voice, barely discernable from a soft whisper, made its way to Dane's ear several moments after he entered the arena. Despite the message of annoyance, it carried no malice nor actually any emotion. Her voice was almost mechanical in deliverance. If he were to look towards the far side of the ring he had just entered, he would see someone, or rather, someone in something's gentle embrace, gazing back at him with clear, purple eyes, and he would know why he hadn't noticed that person earlier.


A delicate looking girl clad in the robes of a scientist with long, beautiful lilac hair and fitting eyes, seemingly of Indian origin sat on the arm of what could only be described as a fortress of a man. Was it her Persona or was it something else entirely, one could wonder, yet the girl just continued staring at the other, only motion being whips her eyelashes made as she blinked every once in a while. The giant man gave no movement either and just stood there, like some sort of a statue, blending perfectly into the colorful background of the city arena. One could easily overlook the duo as they glanced over their surroundings and that was apparently what had happened to the man she was about to face. Anyways, after a few moments in which she made sure the other fighter had registered her existance, she closed her eyes and jumped off her gigantic companion's arm, landing nonschalantly onto the cobblestone below. She dusted herself off briefly before looking up straight at her opponent. They were still waiting for a third party to arrive. She was perfectly fine with that. It wasn't like she had anything better to do. It was just fight fight fight for her. That was the most entertaining way to fill up her day to day life. Letting out a slight sigh all of a sudden, she crossed her arms and continued gazing at the man, blue skies reflecting off her glasses. The red man standing behind her was still very much present, only it kneeled behind the girl on one knee. It didn't look like any of the two were going to say anything anytime soon. All that was left was to wait for the second opponent before they could start the fight.

Rani VIII:

"Tsk... I'm late? Say that to the no-show..." He would say with gritted teeth... He couldn't exactly wait much longer, and his patience was growing thin. He wanted this to start already... "Guess it's just you and me then... Alright. I'm down with that." He would say with a cocky smirk on his lips, the Fire Coil wrapping itself around his arm. "Hehehe... This is gonna be fuuun... Keep me entertained, would ya?" He started stretching out his legs and arms, getting ready for battle. However... something was... off with this girl... Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon perhaps? Might be... In which case, it would be that much more fun.

He would not give her much time to react, Quickly Spawning a Sulfur bomb in his hand and hurling it towards the girl with all his might in an arc. The tiny black mass soared through the sky and landed right next to the girls feet, exploding in a vile cloud of Sulfur and smoke. Had she been human, this would've been more devastating, but at least the cloud would keep her from seeing him. The smoke quickly spreaded over a 3 meter area, and would lower her vision, along with causing her skin to recieve harsh burns, had she been human.

Meanwhile, Dane would sprout his black wings from his back, looking similiar to that of crow wings, but a bit larger. The wingspan roughly 2 meters, he would take a slight dash to the left a good 1.5 meters away from his original position, and braced himself for battle, and shrouded himself in the enhancing aura he was know for using...

Dane Evans:

Passives and Buffs:

Skills Used:

"That is unfortunate..." The girl whispered, staying aloof. "Perhaps I should apologize then. It seems like you were not the least punctual of us, after all." She shifted her gaze at him, locking her eyes with his as he said they weren't going to wait any longer. A fight was a fight, even with only him and her. Hearing the man's final remark, she nodded. "Understood." And took a fighting position.

Mere moments later, the man had already sprung into action, but his motions were easy to read. Despite her analytical strenght, Rani could barely dodge the smoke bomb while it was being thrown and detonated by jumping to her left and emerging out of the cloud of smoke that had almost completely envelped her. She got engulfed by the cloud for a moment but made her way out of the smoke's range. In the ruckus, however, she lost sight of her target. Unfazed by all of that, she stepped forwards in order to be able to glance around the spreading cloud and towards the enemy, who had dashed further to his left, meaning that they were once again positioned diagonally across the ring, with her on one and him on the other side. The red man followed her movements and was always behind her as she ran various tactics through her mind in order to find a way how to break through the man's possible next move. Her eyes shone as she extended her hand in order to pull something from under her coat. To the man on the other side of the 15 meter ring, the object she pulled out would be invisible, but she knew what it was-a thin, glass disk. She threw it infront of herself as her guardian braced himself, bluish spark gathering around him and his master and charging up their next move with extra power. Gracefully blasting her hand straight at the glass disk in the air in front of her, she shattered the object in a flash of blue which seemed to dissipate the very air she was touching, making it glitch for a brief moment, sending glass shard straight at her winged opponent. The shards spread in an arch from the ground to 3 meters in height and 5 meters across with Dane being the focal point of her aim. She could've spread them in a wider angle, but the shards would have been much more apart from one another, granting more escape routes. The glass shards were barely visible, only reflecting sunlight when it hit them at the right angle and possibly disorienting the opponent if he wasn't ready. They would hit him, dealing him various cuts as they would slice at his skin if he wasn't going to guard or evade. With the gargantuan's boost, they held even more power in them.

Meanwhile, she sent her Persona running towards Dane through the cloud of smoke which would lead him to the right from her and eventually he would emerge from the left of Dane. Dane was faster and stronger than her now. He was most likely going to evade her shards, but that was why Berserker was there with her. She could win this regardless of how many boosts that guy bathed himself in.

Strenghts:

Rani VIII:

So she was quick witted huh? That was all fine and dandy, and made this a bit more of a challenge. Although, the sulfur bomb had already served it's purpose rather well. And he had gotten his setup done, so he had the advantage for now. The cloud would still loom over the same area, almost as if frozen in time... "Not bad, kiddo! Not bad at all. You'll prove to be quite the challenge." Dane really liked this. What he then noticed was her weird action... What was she...? A moment later, he noticed the shower of glass coming toward him... And her persona emerged shortly after from the cloud, attempting to cut off his escape routes. As far as he saw it... He had a couple of options. He could take the hit, and attempt to counterattack with his own offenses, he could try an evasive manuever, and sway to the left, or simply take a chance and leap over the Persona. Each of his three options did sound viable, but judging by the kind of attack she was using, taking her on in close quarters might not be a good idea... Right now, he should focus on dodging both threats at once... Here's hoping this works.

Or perhaps... there was another way... Being much quicker and more agile than his brutish opponent, he simply waited until the right moment where he would simply dodge to his left, hopefully dragging the brute into his master's own attack. Dane then would look at the persona's master, blasing a large wall of Fire towards her, about 5 meters high and 7 meters wide, gaining speed as it burned everything in it's way. Dane would simply follow the wall of fire, keeping a close eye on both his targets. He was very well aware that he was technically fighting two enemies at once... Which made everything that much more exciting. His lips widened into a large grin. This was exactly what he was looking for. Oh Joy! As the wall approached his enemy, the chain around his arm sprung to life, uncoiling itself from his arm slightly, giving him the 1.5 meter range of it's strikes. He would swing his soulbound weapon in a downwards motion once within range, attempting to strike at her left shoulder with it, attempting to force her back in the cloud.

Stats:

Actions:

Just as suspected, her target avoided her attack. What she didn't expect was that he would move to his left rather than right. While that didn't make him directly bump into Berserker since he couldn't have possibly reached the man at the same time as the shards of glass and was still enough of a distance away to let Dane escape the shards succsesfully, moving to the left definitely put Dane into the range of Berserker's attacks. Still running fiercely and letting out a tremendous roar as his head broke the edge of the cloud of smoke, a gigantic polearm flashed into Berserker's grip.

"Could he have expected us to be unable to wield magic, Berserker?" Rani muttered a question mostly to herself. If that was the case, then she had been overestimating her opponent and this wasn't going to take long.


The polearm named Houtengageki, was longer than Berserker was tall, and Berserker was about 2 and a half meters in height. The polearm was somewhat over 3 meters in lenght and carried a tremendous weight and force. When Berserker was close enough he swung the polearm around his axis straight at the wall of fire Dane had conjured. The air around the polearm shone a vivid purple for a moment before slicing through the flames and making them dissipate, as if they ran out of oxygen to burn. That didn't stop the attack and Berserker swung the energy filled polearm straight at Dane. It was going to hurt if it hit, but he would be able to avoid it as most of the power was maintained in the narrow area around the polearm's shining blade, creating a sort of energy-filled purple eliptic orb of a half meter radius. It would explode in contact with Dane or if it hit the ground.

Meanwhile, Rani could just stand aside and expect a new assault from the enemy. Her unusually frail body would not hold up in close combat so she let Berserker do all the dirty work while she avoided attacks with her predictions. Against Dane, however, she had her concerns. He had made himself blazingly speedy with his skill, so speedy she could barely keep up with his motions, let alone analyze and avoid them. Now, if Dane decided to still follow up with his dexterity attack, Rani would summon up her own Soulbound weapon again, this time not to break it but to defend herself. Up close, one could see that her weapon was a piece of glass shaped like a shild she held stripped on her right arm ((like Homura's shield, pst pst, but glass)). The shield looked as tender as her and it would seem like it would shatter upon contact with another weapon. However, it wouldn't and she would have used it to deflect Dane's attack, flinching to the side because of the impact force. She would call back Berserker and prone him to start running back towards where the two were confronting each other. If Dane decided not to do the dexterity attack thingy after getting interrupted by Berserker, she would just stay put and watch the fight unfold. Berserker was going to keep Dane away from her. If anything bad happened, she presumed her opponent's forte were magical skills, so she could easily divert him by using Berserker's physical assaults. Her victory was assured.

Strenghts and Weaknesses:

Rani VIII:

Now that... was unexpected... She broke through his fire attack with relative ease, and she did it so quickly he had barely any time to react. But luckily, his defeneses kept him pretty safe from any major damage. Right now, it was much better to keep up his onlsaught. He could deal with any reprecussions later on... She was well within reach... Poor girl... trying to stop his attack with one of her own. Due to his enhancing aura, the Iron Chain broke through her strange weapon and carried on, hitting her dead on. He would then carry on his flurry with three more strikes of his chain, aiming to deal as much damage as possible, pushing her further into the cloud. Sure, the blast had taken him off guard, but he was still very much in a good condition to fight.

Dane's soulbound weapon would strike her once on her neck, and the second strike was aimed directly at her legs, the chain wrapping itself around his opponents leg like a snake after striking it hard. Dane would then yank his chain back towards him in a quick motion, making the girl loose her balance, and most likely fall down. After which, he would aim one final strike against her chest with brutal force before coiling itself around Dane's arm once again. She would most likely be on her last legs at this point... What do you do now, toaster?

Dane Evans:

Actions:

No way, his blows carried too much power! The glass shield broke into pieces when Rani attempted to deflect Dane's attack from herself. And now, the iron whip hit the hand she had used to try and guard herself with her weapon, pushing her off towards the black cloud. Berserker faded as she lost focus. But that wasn't all, as Dane continued shooting blow after blow of her chain. The second one struck her neck. She wasn't going to be able to endure even another one! Her health was too low! Yet, she could only stare blankly at the weapon closing in on her. That was when it happened, mabe instinctively or something, but Berserker burst behind her in a blast of red light and she could feel her energy restored as he roared a bellowing roar. The chain twisted around her leg moments later and Berserker disappeared again as she was thrown off balance. However, she had recovered more than just her health. She knew even with his speed, it would still take a moment to redirect the chain back towards her and hit her now that he had tried throwing her to the floor. Reacting momentarily at her one chance, she conjured another shield, crushing it straight at her assailant's face. Shards formed from the beautiful craft and shot directly at Dane. There was no way for him to avoid at such close range as the shards spread in a wide radius and he was mere centimeters away from her.

This was hopefully going to distract him long enough for her to extend her right hand backwards, using it to push herself away before falling to the cobblestone. She did a backflip using her hand  and pushed herself towards the wall of the ring, avoiding the sulphurus cloud. It seemed to be slowly vanishing, the same as Dane's power boost. She turned quickly and ran away from Dane and around the cloud, following the edge of the arena. It meant she was going to enter it for a brief moment before it disappeared for good, but she was sure in her escape as Berserker burst out of thin air behind her, 2 meters in front of Dane and between him and Rani, getting ready to deflect any sort of attack coming from Dane next turn. He wasn't going to catch her and she was going to get enough distance between the two again! Then she would be able to go back to being on the offense.

Damage Taken:

Strenghts and Weaknesses:

Rani VIII:

"Ugh! Damn it!" He took the full force of her attack but kept going with his onslaught regardless... And she could heal too. Infuriating... And his Aura faded as well... She was clever. And quick on foot too... But nowhere close to his own strength. And that Brute... He was in the way. He realised what had to be done... She wanted to break away from him after her little attack it would seem. All the better for him. With a slight smirk on his face, he would re-ignite his aura again... She was going to pay for this... And he had just the perfect plan to do so.

Dane was not to be underestimated. He had recovered from her suprise mere moments after, the aura now glowing around him again. Next time he would not fail. Another smoke granade was tossed, and it soared through the air, landing right next to where she stood, creating another smoke cloud mere moments after she had recovered from her little acrobatic trick. That large Persona of hers was his first target... He posed quite a problem for him, after all... Now then... What's your move... Rani?

Buffs:

Stats:

Skills Used:

"...!" Rani froze in place when she saw the bomb land right in front of her. She wasn't expecting that. She didn't see it flying. And now... The bomb exploded in a thick cloud of black smoke which enveloped her completely. Berserker bellowed in rage, leering at Dane with his mad eyes as Rani fell to her knees in surprise, still concealed by the smoke. When she regained her composure, several moments have already passed, but Berserker had acted on his own by then.

Readying his polearm which switched into the form of a bow, Berserker drew power from his master and the moment he let go of the tip of the polearm-now a enormous arrow, dozens of cannons and other projectile launching devices appeared behind him and on the other end, behind Dane. "!!!!!!!" He bellowed once more and fired. The cannons fired along him, launching a barrage of more than dozen various projectiles, from cannonballs to arrows at the man. The attack spread 7 meters high into the sky and in a 10 meter radius across the battlefield and out of it, with Dane finding himself in the middle as the main target again, but none of the projectiles were aimed at Berserker and none were going to hit him no matter what, despite him standing in the line of fire. Still, there was little room for escape for Dane unless he had enough speed to find an opening between the projectiles, but even then, Berserker was waiting, enraged and ready to throw another attack at Dane as soon as he escaped this one.

Rani stood up and backed away until her back hit the wall. The cloud had enveloped the area all the way to there... That wasn't good, she needed to get out of it, and quick.

Strenghts and Weaknesses:

Rani VIII:

Everything seemed to go silent for a moment as the projectiles struck Dane on both sides. The attack did negligable damage, but enough to tick him off... And Besides... It would seem as if the bomb had taken her by suprise... Very well done... But not well enough. Dodge this if you can. Dane gritted his teeth as a vast amount of smoke emmited from his body. moments later, he seemed to grow fangs, and small claws. His eyes were now glowing the same color has his dark red flames, and whenever he openend his mouth, flames would erupt from there as well, as if his innards were spouting flames constantly. A pair of pitch black wings grew out from his back. No more playing around. That one would have to die first. "You've angered the beast... Mwehehehehe! GYAHAHAHAHAHA!" His fiery fury would be unleashed on the poor persona... That thing tipped him over the edge, and was a major thorn in his back.

Before neither of his opponents could even react, Dane was on the move, Firing not one, not two but three intense blasts of fire on Rani's persona. She would not even be aware of what had happened before it was too late. The three walls of fire was almost as wide as the entire arena they were fighting on, and they surged quickly towards Rani's persona, and was aimed in such a way that if she would call her persona back to her, she would find herself in right in his line of fire, for these flames would not stop at anything. If any of these attacks would hit, it marked the end of the battle... Don't play with fire... You will get burned... Severely.

Passives and Buffs:

Dane Evans:

Skills Used:

Berserker watched as the odd creature before him tranformed into something even more unnatural. "!!!!!!!!!!!" He let out a raging roar as a response to Dane's shout which only served to piss off the Berserker more. Not even paying attention to the fires he spouted at him, Berserker lounged his polearm straight at Dane from above. The polearm seemed to slice through the air itself, leaving a red trail behind the swipes as Berserker released all his anger at his target, throwing his weapon left, right, up and down at Dane. "!!!!!!!!!!!" Still, the fires were too much for it to handle after the third hit and, with the sound of breaking glass and the roar still lingering in the air, Berserker bent backwards and disappeared. At the same moment, Rani realized what had just happened. She had heard the roars of both men on the field and saw flashes of burning red even through the cloud, followed by mighty explosions, interrupted only once by a loud roar of her Persona, but she never knew what was going on. Her instincts screamed at her not to leave the cloud and her belief in her victory kept her sure that Berserker would destroy any and all enemies of hers. Until she felt him fall. "Berserker!" She shouted out, suddenly struck by panic, holding her hands tightly against her chest. This just couldn't have happened! She was supposed to win. She was designed to win!

Now, whatever happens next will determine Rani's next action. She had realized Berserker had been defeated and that she was all alone now. She could also sense the immense power Dane's attacks harbored. She had been too sure in her abilities, this man was a monster...

Rani VIII:

Berserker's Retaliation was expected. So much so that Dane had more than enough time to react, and effortlessly dodged the onslaught with two powerful wingbeats, he launched himself forward, dodging one swing as he soared above Berserker, leaving the slashing attack behind him to do nothing but harm the ground, as he dashed towards the cloud, now mid-air... She was still in there. He could see her faint aura emmiting through the cloud. She was distressed by the fact that her guardian had been defeated so easily... She could probably guess what was going to happen next. His entire body seemed to catch on fire as he made his way towards the cloud as if shot out of a cannon. His flames would serve as make-shift Jet engines to further boost his velocity.

What happened next would be instantaneous for the unsuspecting Rani. Dane would slam into the ground, feet first, in a fiery inferno, the explosion covering a good 2.5 meter radius. He would grab ahold of her face, lifting her off the scorched earth under them. His glowing red eyes were full of animosity and anger. She would learn to fear him. He would then spray a vast cascade of fire all over her, leaving nothing but ashes behind. If this attack went through... This battle was indeed... over...

Passives and Buffs:

Dane Evans:

Actions:

After Berserker's fall, everything turned into a red blur. The area around Rani all of a sudden turned into a flaming inferno as the monster dropped heavily onto the cobble before her. She would only be able to glance at his figure for a moment before he grabbed her by her head and pulled her up. For a brief second, Rani's mind was filled with errors as the clench tightened, cutting off her controls one by one... and then she woke up, only to find her VR head gear smashed on the wooden floor next to her bed in the small room she called hers, illuminated only by a lonely lamp hanging from the ceiling, as the windows were closed shut and covered. She could still hear the chirping of the birds outside though.

She was breathing heavily and rapidly as she stared at the headgear. It was still turned on. Kneeling over, she picked it up, hands wrapped inside the sleeves of her oversized black sweatshirt she wore IRL when playing the game in contrast to her white in game outfit. She didn't think much of the fight that just occured, but it was definitely a shock... Who would expect such a brutal move? That man was sick... And not only that, he also broke her wining streak... Not to mention all the in game funds she would lose now. She was gonna have to work on it again from scratch, it was really high. She stared for a moment into the visor of the headgear before throwing herself back on her bed, staring up into the ceiling while grasping the gear with both her hands.

And then, with a slight sigh, she put it back on...

-Rani has left the scene...