Clashing Blades [Sparring with Wolfie]

Kei found himself waiting on a grassy plain for his first opponent. He had been itching for a chance to test his own skills a bit for a while, so when he got the request from a person by the name of Callie, he couldn't refuse. He set up the time and place for their sparring match in a reply. 2:30 PM near the large pond of the grassy plains just outside the city... So, he sat down, near the pond, waiting for his opponent to arrive, about 1 meter away from the pond itself. The area around it was rather featureless, the only real obstacle around him being said pond. Other than that, there was nothing that one could really trip over, or latch onto. A perfect setup for something like this... Now if his opponent would just show up... He looked at his clock... 2:25 PM... There was still time for her to show up. For now, he kept an eye on his surroundings. He doubted she would be foolish enough to try an ambush with these surroundings, and honestly, he hoped that she would at least have the chivalry to face him head on.

Callie knew she had to get some practice in or train up her skills somehow or another, so she was glad that someone by the name of Kei had accepted her offer for a quick sparring match. She had never really done anything like this before, but... She was optimistic about it. She didn't really care about what the outcome would be, she just wanted to stretch her legs and have some fun. At 2:31PM she spotted her opponent sitting by the pond and began to head in that direction. "Ya ready for this, Terra?" she whispered into her mind to hear the joyful response of a simple "Mhmm!"

She stopped around 10 meters away from her opponent from the direction as if his back would be facing the pond if he'd look her way. "Hia!" She called out to him before bowing respectfully. "I take it you're my opponent for today?" She gave him a pleasant smile before drawing her blades and standing in her attacking stance, waiting for him to be ready and make the first move.

"Hm?" Kei turned around once he heard a voice behind him. "Ah, so you're Callie, eh? Glad to see you're fired up about this. You're one minute late, but eh... It's trivial at this point as you actually showed up." The persona user grabbed the handle of his sword which hung from his waist, taking a fighting stance. She seemed to be willing to let him go first. Nice of her. He would return her bow with a slow nod of his own. "Heh. Brace yourself!"

From his empty hand, golden flames would erupt and converge to form a copy of his own sword, except whenever it was swung, a trail of fire would be left behind. Even the handle was completely set ablaze, but strangely enough, Kei himself wasn't burnt by it. "Here we come!" Kei's bracelet flashed for an instant, only to summon Kei's persona. "Homusubi! Show her what we're made of!" The persona nodded, his eyes focused on Callie as he swung his sword, sending out a 5 meter wide cresent shaped wave of fire towards Callie. Meanwhile Kei himself got ready in case Callie decided to counterattack.

Kei:

"Of course I am, why else would I call for this duel!" Was he really complaining about being a minute late? Guh, what a sour puss. Nevertheless he took up the notion of attacking first as she'd planned, she always hated being the one to start things off. "Will do, let the best swordsman... woman-Person, u-uhm... Win!"

Callie eyed the blazing sword that emerged from Kei's hand, she'd be sure to keep note of it as she'd prefer not to be set on fire if she could help it... Doesn't really sit well with the hair and what not. Speaking of fire, there seemed to be some heading in her direction, well then. "Come on Terra, let's fly." With that she leapt up into the air, sending a gale of wind beneath her launching her even higher out of the way of the attack. The gale rippled out in all directions beneath her, including towards Kei himself, although by the time it reached him it would have died down quite a bit. Without hesitation however, Callie used the force of the wind to propel herself towards Kei, she had hoped he'd try to jump out of the way of the wind so aimed her blades to hit just above where he himself stood. It was a clear and sunny day anyway and the sun was starting to set behind her so she'd hope it would be hard for him to look up at her properly. She wanted to make Kei jump out of the frying pan and into the daggers... Or however that expression goes. However if he chose not to dodge by jumping she would land 1 meter behind him.

Callie:

Hm... Alright. He could work with this. The gale sent towards Kei was immediately swallowed by Homusubi's fire, but the wind attack itself seemed to have filled another purpose entirely. She shot up into the sky, aiming to stab him it would seem... Good thing he had his fire sword prepared beforehand. The sun's position made it a bit difficult for him to see her properly, but her shadow was enough for him to gauge where she was going. Seeing as she was aiming for him, and the lake being 1 meter behind him, he took a quick step to the right, just outside of harms way, a sword-arms (about 130 centimeters) length away from where she had aimed, after which he struck using his fire sword, aiming to hit her on the back, slightly below waist height. This swing would also push her into the pond, water splashing everywhere. Any water that made contact with Kei's sword would instantly vapourize into steam, clouding the enitre area for a brief moment. On her way up, Kei would swipe his other blade at her feet, knocking her off balance again. Homusubi himself floated right next to Kei on standby, in case she would try something. The pond itself wasn't paticularly deep, only reaching up to Callie's thighs while standing up.

Kei:

Whist trying to formulate this plan in her head, Callie noticed the fact that her wind attack didn't even come close to hitting Kei... Also she didn't really take into account how close he was to that pond, or that she'd land in it... Welp, that called for a change of plans, as she was still hurtling towards him where he could now very easily counter her attack... Well then... Callie quickly slashed the air in front of her to create another gale of wind directed at Kei just before she would impact with him, this newly formed gust of wind would send herself back a few meters from him and surround Kei in a strong gust of winds. She had hoped this attack would cause Kei to be knocked off balance or he would try to avoid it instead of hitting her. But if he chose to stand and take the gust of wind to the face his first strike could possibly still hit her before she got away. After landing, damaged or not, Callie didn't want to waste her opportunity and lashed forwards at Kei whilst he still had to deal with the winds that were now surrounding him. (If he hadn't of moved that is.) She would strike quickly, watching for any sudden moves he might make to be sure this time her hit was on target.

Callie:

The moment Callie's wind attack burst forth, Kei would continue with his onslaught, however, he was far from alone. Homusubi noticed her changed course of action, and just as his master had commanded, he would step in the moment any wind skills were used. Bright, golden flames from his persona enveloped Kei like a suit of armor, staying mere inches away from him, but close enough to cover his entire body with the flames, nullifying the wind that Callie had tossed at him. This makeshift armor of fire would then expand quickly, almost like an explosion, engulfing Callie's wind, causing it to peeter out before she was flung away by it. Kei's own Sword slash didn't stop either, and hit Callie right where he had aimed prior, and knocked the girl down into the pond. Tch... Not a paticularly fun stratergy to use, but it was necessary... And it seemed to work rather well. She was pushing his limits, just like he had hoped she would. The slash would continue as per usual, but the fire from Homusubi wouldn't hit her, as it was used to directly deal with the wind.

Kei:

Callie watched helplessly as her wind attack was eaten up by Kei's sudden explosion of fire. By this point she had no real way or time to counter the hit that was about to strike her. As such she merely braced herself and took the damage, landing in the pond shortly afterwards. However, re-emerging from the pond and regaining her balance, Callie felt a sudden surge of power through her body, as her eyes turned red and her tail extended in size and split into nine that wove around manically in the gales of wind that started to surround herself. "Think you can play dirty, huh?" She muttered to herself, returning her gaze to Kei with a sadistic smile on her face. "Well see how you like me now!"

With that, Callie would unleash her gales to form a ring of wind around them both with her standing directly in the middle of it and it expanding 3 meters in a circle around herself, the gales reaching up 5 meters into the air. Trapping Kei inside and sending water from the pond flying up with it. She kept her gaze on him the whole time, never dropping her smile. With a sudden snap, the ring of wind quickly enclosed and would forcibly push Kei towards Callie and into the pond himself if he had no way to clash with the attack. She stood, ready this time for his counter attack if he had one. Or if she were to successfully push Kei into the pond with her, she would stab at him whilst leaping out of the way, trying to make it back to dry land and leaving him instead as the submerged one.

Callie:

So... His first strike did indeed hit her... And pretty hard it would seem too... Her appearance changed dramatically too... Could it be related to the damage she just took? Perhaps so... And if that was indeed the case, he had a way to get rid of it. But first, he had to deal with this sudden gust of wind that she had conjured. It would seem that she tried to force him towards her. Well, ranged combat wasn't exactly his forte, but he couldn't exactly take the wind hit either. That would just work in her favor... So, instead, he took a different approach. Rather than trying to clash with the wind, he would instead try to outmanuever her by using a skill he hadn't been forced to use in a very, very long time... "Heh... Well done!" He shouted to let his own voice carry through the whipping winds. "It's about time I got serious!"


A sudden burst of flames erupted around Kei, dirt flying everywhere as he shot up a whopping ten meters up in the sky in a matter of seconds. Having dodged the attack outright, with his Persona returning back into his bracelet momentarily as he activated his Human Skill. Homusubi would then return, and a faint, green light would glow around Callie, mending her wounds slightly. He assumed that her physical state was the trigger behind the sudden surge of strength, which meant that if he pushed her back up a bit, perhaps it would lift. He'd eventually start falling back down after the winds had died out. Now was his chance to take her out...

Kei:

"You have a fair few tricks up ya sleeve don't cha?" Callie would call out, as she watched Kei air right over her wall of wind. She then suddenly felt a wave of relief as she felt some of her wounds be mended and her body returning to it's usual form. "Oh and thanks for the heal! It's easier to move like this, and you're in my domain now!" Callie wanted to make use of the fact he was in the air to the best of her ability, she didn't know if he had any other tricks he may be hiding but from what she's seen so far, her abilities allow her to traverse the air much easier than his own. However she didn't want to send herself flying at him defenceless, so would decide to pick up on a tactic Kei used earlier.

Dashing out of the water, Callie once again leapt up into the air, this time surrounding herself with her wind attack as a kind of armour as she used the initial blast of it to launch herself towards Kei. She would keep the gale of wind as protection to clash back any potential fire attacks he may send her way as he had done in the past, however, the shield would erupt once she became in reach with Kei if he did nothing to break the attack before hand. Then in her usual fashion, she swung her blades twice towards Kei, the first strike aimed for Kei's own weapon to try and knock it out the way for a clear strike directly at Kei with the second attack. She was attacking him from below, trying to keep him up in the air for as long as possible and making it difficult for him to reach down at her without changing his position. She was more confident this time that he had no easy way to dodge this strike, unless he somehow hit or stopped her before hand.

Callie:

So, she decided to continue her offensive? Very well then. Ask and you shall recieve. A faint smile made it's way on his face as his adversary closed in. She seemed to have picked up on the technique that he had used earlier to protect himself from her winds. A smart tactic, but Kei's flames were too much for her wind. He knew that. But instead of staying predictable, he decided to go with a different tactic altogether... One that didn't involve fire...


The moment he called out the name of his Prime Persona, Homusubi vanished, only to be replaced by a slightly larger, bewinged warrior, wreathed in blue flames. "Take this!" The 6'5" tall persona swung his blade twice, sending out two, sharp looking projectiles at Callie. One of them swept down below her, and attempted to strike at her belly, while the other would try to hit her from above. Sure, it wouldn't stop the wind attack, but it would most certainly knock her out of the air, giving him time to dampen his own fall... "HYRYAAAAHHH!"

The wind blast kept going though, and hit Kei, albeit not as hard as he thought it would, but still, it hurt. He was knocked up a couple of feet though, halting his descent momentarily

Kei:

Damn, she knew he'd have something else to throw at her. It seemed impossible to actually get close to this guy without something bad happening first... Hmm, maybe she should try something a little different herself.

Right, change o- "I got this!" Callie felt a sudden surge of warmth spread through her body, she felt lighter, stronger because of it. "Heh, thanks Terra." With this new found speed, Callie managed to let go her grip on her armour and kick herself out of the wind torpedo that continued on its course towards Kei, sending herself out of harms way of the incoming slashes. She would had kicked off of the top of the wind shell, sending herself back downwards toward the ground, landing safely and waiting in watch for Kei's own decent. She felt as if she would have the upper hand now if the time came with this new found speed and strength, and was glad to see at least her torpedo actually hit him. However she didn't want to risk anything yet, he could come to her for a change, her perusing him constantly was getting old. Callie was standing ready for Kei's decent around 5 meters back from where he would land if he was to continue to fall straight down and ifrom the direction away from the pond. She was not about ready to get her clothes wet again.

Callie:

Crafty use of the wind, he had to admit... But this was far from over. Now, he had started to fall downward, but not before he switched back to Homusubi, who swung his sword at Kei himself, with the broadside of it, he would smack Kei in the direction towards Callie, accelerating his decent as well. Kei summoned the Burning Blade once again, after cringing from the pain. The fire sword crackled as if possessed when he hurled it towards Callie, it's flaring up so intensly that his adversary would've been blinded by the flames right before the sword made contact with her right shoulder, digging deep into her soul. A ten meter drop stung like hell, but at least he was still alive and kicking. The moment before he landed in front of Callie, he would swing Flametongue at her left arm, attempting to disarm her. This wasn't a very fun stratergy, oh no, and if it failed, he was not looking too great... But hey, at least he had gotten the challenge he had craved so much.

Kei:

Yes, exactly what she wanted. Kei had switched his game up to offensive as soon as she stopped her own pursuit. It was an interesting tactic to hit himself to go faster, but I guess that's the best thing he could do in his situation. Either way Callie wanted to try to take this attack on. She was becoming bored of the constant dodging and wanted to put a real impact in. As she thought this she could feel a surge of energy refuel her body as Terra boosted back up her health in case she were to take any damage from whatever Kei was about to send her way.

It may of been a good call too as she noticed a blazing object hurtle her way, it was so bright that she could hardly keep her eyes on it. However, she knew the general direction it was coming from and instead closed her eyes to fully concentrate on the sound of rushing fire, she waited until she could hear it just above her before slashing her daggers up towards it to knock the burning sword off to one side. Gees, she had relied on her hearing before but that was a step up. Reopening her eyes, without the fiery blaze blocking her vision she had to act fast to react to Kei himself who was still coming right for her. In a quick and sudden motion, Callie would swing her blades back at Kei's oncoming sword, she wasn't ready to be disarmed that quickly. Although she wanted him to be close enough after this parry to use a final burst of speed to strike to strike past his own sword and pierce into his torso before he had a chance to land. She likely expected him to try and strike back as well, but she was determined to get that hit in at all costs.

Callie: