Sword & Shield Beta

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Chana sits on the chair underneath the Captain's Pavilion. She can't help but hope that this meeting will explain their new, shiny, running horses that are fantastically used to being around a war. They have been remarkably calm, and Chana is grateful, but suspicious. Her horse is beautiful and solid--very fast. She's tested him on several occasions.

Still..why did they have the entire Unit of Altair train for riding horses? And who were these two, new, tough battlemages that have shown up a few hours earlier with horses of their own, with reassignment papers? Horses this trained and groomed are not common, as well as expensive....so what the hell is going on?

It's a bright day, early morning as the sun is just rising over the tree tops of the forest, making the dark place look beautiful, despite its depressing purpose in this region. The grass is green and alive here, thankfully, on this side of the wall. The trees of the forest are starting to look pretty bad...

At least she's used to being outside, now. Several buildings around the wall's fortification are still being built, so they've had to camp here for the past month as they hold the Kurian's to the forest. Luckily, no Earth Kurian's have shown up, or she'd probably have hated sleeping on the ground. She can still hear the sounds of fighting on the other side of the wall...so much screaming and clashing metal upon metal. A Kurian's roar shakes the pavilon's tent, bringing her attention back to the current situation, where she is left wondering why she is up here, instead of out there, fighting with the other units.

Her head jerks to the side as the two new members that showed up in the night sit at the meeting table. The pavilion sways to the side as the wind swishes through, blowing her hair to the side just as she stares at the strangers with interest. They look noble, to say the least. Great. The Guys'll love having newbies. Though....they sure as hell don't look like newbs.

Isadore knew he had to concentrate when it came to this battle, so he tried to push aside the distracting thoughts he had from his talk with Regulus. He nodded in agreement with Takato. "Yes, a flexible strategy is probably best. We know nothing about our opponents, and if that doesn't change we will surely be defeated. I suggest staying on the defensive at first and letting them come to us. We need to observe them."

He glanced at the girl, who appeared to be attached to Mihael. It made sense that a child felt comfortable with him; Mihael was mentally a child himself, as far as Isadore was concerned. He didn't really have any objections to bringing the girl along, as long as she didn't get in the way.

Mihael smiled when Sarah grabbed his shirt. "We'll be glad to have you along, you can be our good luck charm," he said. He put one arm around her shoulders, keeping the other one linked with Regulus'. He then listened to his brother and nodded. "I think that's a good idea, Isa," he agreed. "You're so smart."

Takato nodded as well. "Yeah, I like that. They have the advantage of having apparently seen us before so... that'll help us get a leg up. Good thinking."

"This sounds like the best strategy to me too," Regulus agreed. "It will certainly be to our best interests if we try to put ourselves on an equal level with this other unit. We'll also need to try to change things up a little, since they probably know what to expect from us. I don't know how many of our spells they know about, either."

He didn't particularly like the fact their opponents had been watching them and knew them well, while his unit didn't know anything about who they were fighting. It definitely gave the other group an advantage, but it was his duty to overcome such challenges and lead his unit to victory.

Isadore chose to ignore his brother's praise and kept his attention on Regulus. "Agreed. We won't be able to devise a solid strategy until we learn more, so there isn't much preparation to be done at the moment. I suggest that we start moving now, unless the captain has any other business to attend to first."

After Isadore said his piece, Takato expressed his eagerness to get going and Mihael was happy to go wherever Regulus went. Satisfied, the captain headed out with his unit members and Sarah in tow.

As specified in the letter, the group made it to the Seadon's Training Room just as the sun began to go down. Regulus knocked on the door, then waited to see if the other group was here to answer it or if his group had made it there first.

Takato was looking forward to the duel. Fighting Kurians was all well and good, but he was far more accustomed to fighting human beings.

Mihael happily walked arm in arm with Regulus and Sarah. However, once they reached the training room, his nerves kicked in. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been nervous before a fight, but Isadore's words had really rattled his confidence. He unconsciously brought his sleeve to his mouth and nervously chewed on it as they waited for the others.

They hear the knock and it is opened as Sir Hendrix shakes hands with the group. He smiles at each of them, and the seats around the area are already filling up with those who wish to watch.

"Greetings, everyone!" Sir Hendrix says loudly, "I'm going to get this started by stating that you will be seeing two separate duel types here tonight. We will begin with a full, Unit Duel, and then go with paired duels, the pairings chosen by my opposing Captain, whom you all should know very well."

The crowd claps and cheers, several of which are looking expectantly with drinks and food in their hands. It seems that this has become a huge event for entertainment. The crowd falls instantly quiet as the doors open to invite an unexpected guest into the room. Sir Hendrix pales, his speech halted.

Commander Leo Thuban enters the room, his head raised with confidence as the entire room quietens at his presence. He seats himself at the very front on one side's edge, where he can see everything clearly. The room is tense--as if confused on whether or not they should be glad he is here or fearful. Generally, if a Commander is near, then it means something bad is going on. Yet, here he is, with naught a word, as if to spectate. Then, another follows and sits next to him--Taldor Caelum Eridanus. Now the room is really paled and quiet.

"W--will you be spectating, Commander?" Sir Hendrix asks, his body confused between a Knight's greeting and a military's greetings.

"Yes." He says shortly, "Let's see this."

Sir Hendrix looks like he's going to barf.

The door was opened not long after Regulus knocked by a man whom he thought he may have seen a few times but had never gotten his name. He shook the Captain's hand and smiled back, then stepped inside.

When Regulus saw how many were in there, his stomach dropped. There was such a crowd in there; it looked like this was some big event. He could only hope that he didn't look as terrified as he felt.

However, the crowd soon grew quiet. Confused, Regulus looked in the direction they were all looking and saw that the door had opened. When he saw who had entered, he thought he was going to pass out. If he had been scared before, now he was absolutely petrified. He wanted to run away, to hide, to do anything but stay in this room.

He watched as his father crossed the room followed by his bondmate. The pair took a seat at the very front, and Regulus knew his father would be watching him closely. It made his knees feel weak, because he knew if he failed here his father would have his head. He realized he was staring at the two men so he looked away. He grabbed onto Mihael's arm tightly and tried to stay steady.

"Oh man, oh man..."

Takato grinned when he shook hands with Hendrix and was unfazed by the crowd. Having nothing to lose here, he was excited by the prospect of the duel. Maybe he'd manage to catch the interest of some chicks while he was fighting. "This is gonna be badass," he muttered into his bondmate's ear as he looked around.

Normally, a crowd wouldn't have bothered Mihael but he really didn't feel overly confident today thanks to his brother. He suddenly felt Regulus' grip on his arm. "Reggie...?" he whispered. "Are you nervous too?"

[Collab with Leah]

"Can we head back, love?" Chana asks, her head tilted to the side with guilt, "I think we could find something to do that is less painful."

"Sure." Demitri replied, trying to hide his frustration. He hopped nobody would see him on the way back. From the looks of it, Demitri was a mess. "Do I have anything on my face?" He asked.

Chana tugs on her pouch, opening it up and witdrawing a small, circular mirror. She hands it over to him with a wink. "Just charming."

Demitri looked into the mirror to find that his fears really were true. The dirt hadn't come off at all. He let out an exasperated sigh before chuckling to himself. "Okay, let's try sneaking in so nobody sees us like this, okay?"

Chana sighs, "Fine, fine. You can hide behind me."
She leads on and heads towards the men's barracks. It seems some sort of cheering can be heard elsewhere in the distance.

Demitri closely followed Chana back to the barracks, keeping his head turned away from anyone that came into view. Cheering was heard elsewhere, which stirred Demitri's curiosity.
"Is there anything going on today? I don't remember any events that's planned for now."

"Me, either." Chana says with confusion, "No wonder it's so quiet around here...I wonder what's going on."
They reach the barracks and she waits at the edge for him to go in and do what needs to be done.

Demitri hurried inside and quickly washed his face and hands at the sink, looking into a bathroom mirror before stepping outside. "Alright, I'm all ready. You want to check out where that cheering is coming from?"

"Yeah, sure." Chana says, trying to feign nonchalance. However, by her raised head, tensed shoulders, and look of impatience, you can tell that that is exactly what she already wanted to do. "Lead on, Demitri."

Demitri gently took Chana's hand and followed the sounds of cheering. The noise led him to the training room, where he could already tell the place was packed. Demitri looked back at Chana with a grin and walked inside after seeing a few commander type personnel step in.

After seeing her own unit members in the duel, her eyes widen in surprise. "Holy biscuits, that's Captain Thuban!"

Demitri looked out far to see Chana's exclamation was true. He was completely shocked. "What's he doing in there?" Demitri looked around to find any familiar faces so he could ask what was going on. "Do you see anybody else from out unit?" He asked.

"They're all there but us." She says quietly as she takes a seat, "What the hell..."

Demitri took a seat next to his bondmate, trying to make sense of what was going on. He then saw Regulus' father sitting at the front with his bondmate. He pointed the man out to Chana, feeling almost a sense of dread. "Look who showed up to the party."

"Oh, shit." Chana says, her face paling. "What is he doing here??"

"Regulus must be ready to piss himself right now." Demitri muttered. "His dad must be using this duel to judge his worthiness. I feel pretty bad for Captain Thuban..."

"Dude, that guy he's facing looks pompous." Chana says, chuckling under her breath, "The Captain can take him."

"He does look pretty overconfident," Demitri admitted. "But underestimating a foe can lead to a good ass kicking." Demitri laughed a bit at his own words, knowing how little he swears.

Isadore shook hands with the opposing captain and then took in the sight before him. The crowd was huge, but he knew he would have no problem tuning them out. However, when Commander Thuban made his entrance, Isadore became a bit more uneasy. He knew the man would be judging them, so there would be no room for error. Isadore took a deep breath as Takato spoke to him. "Just stay focused," he whispered back, sounding more as if he was reassuring himself rather than his partner. Isadore composed himself and waited for further instructions.

"Mihael, that... that's my dad who just entered," Regulus replied, trying his best not to sound terrified. "I didn't think you'd meet him like this..."

He didn't even notice Demitri and Chana enter the area. He didn't even really notice the crowd so much anymore. He knew he had to pull himself together and just go through with the duel, but he couldn't bring himself to do it.

Takato grinned at Isadore's comment. "You don't have to worry about me," he assured his bondmate. He eyed the opposition, looking forward to getting this show on the road.

Mihael's jaw dropped when Regulus pointed out his father. As if he wasn't nervous enough already, he had to not only impress a commander, but his bondmate's own family member as well. "Whoa, really? Oh no... this is going to be so intense." He glanced over at Regulus' father. He could see on the man's face that he was all business. "He looks like you," he said suddenly. "...except scarier."

Within seconds, Isadore has a man in his face, two blades moving towards his throat with amazing speed. There is fire around Thuban and where Mihael and Takato are, everything seems to be going so extremely fast, that they cannot make out the blurs or what is happening around them.

The fire's flames lick so violently fast that is not natural--or right. It seems that either all around them has sped up incredibly, or they have been slowed. They soon find their answer as Takato finds blood on his arm.

Before Regulus knew what was happening, there was fire all around him. As he looked around, he felt like he was dreadfully slow, or maybe time itself had been sped up. His mind immediately went into action and he forgot his father was watching.

First things first, he had to try to see what was going on around him. Since things were going so fast, there had to have been some sort of spell cast on at least him. He focused for a moment, then cast Break Enchantment. Immediately, things went back into focus and they were moving at normal speed again.

He still had the problem of being surrounded by fire, though. He had to get to the enemy unit, but the fire was blocking his way. The only thing he could see was to run through it as quickly as he could and maybe he wouldn't catch. He took a deep breath, then sprinted.

When he made it through, he was relieved to find that he hadn't been burnt. However, he did find that his heels were warm, and he saw that the fire was following him. Of course, it was magical fire, so he wouldn't be able to shake it that easily. He needed to find the one who was making it.

He made his way toward Mihael, but didn't get too close because of the fire. He held out his sword and looked over his opponents.

Isadore was shocked when an enemy was suddenly in front of him, the man's two blades coming toward him. He didn't know how it had happened so quickly but he knew he had to react fast. Isadore teleported and reappeared right behind his attacker. He then reached out to cast Touch of Enfeeblement, but the enemy had already turned around and avoided him. Time seemed to be moving at a normal pace again, but this man was still one of the fastest enemies Isadore had encountered.

The enemy's blade was flying toward Isadore again, and he barely had time to lift his glaive to block it. However, he didn't have time to block the other blade, which sliced Isadore's arm. Frustrated, Isadore teleported behind the man again and attacked with his glaive, but his opponent was already prepared to attack. The man fired magical lightning at Isadore, which struck him and knocked him off his feet. As he was trying to recover, the enemy lunged, and Isadore had to scramble out of the way.

Takato was stunned by the sudden rush that seemed to surround him. Eventually things returned to normal and he realized that someone had landed a hit on him amidst the chaos. After licking the blood from his arm, he tugged his gauntlets on and eyed their opponents. He grinned a little too widely as he saw a glint of metal on one of the opponents' knuckles. Without hesitation, he ran at the man and unceremoniously socked him in the jaw. The man recoiled slightly, but regained himself in time to land a punch to Takato's nose. Unfazed by the blood dripping down his face, he aimed a hit at his opponent's stomach. The other man dodged and attempted to retaliate, but Takato managed to narrowly avoid the hit.

The fist fight continued, neither man wanting to waste his magic at a noncrucial moment. However, Takato soon caught a glimpse of Isadore out of the corner of his eye. It seemed his partner was struggling and could use a hand.

The other man took advantage of Takato's momentary distraction and knocked him to the ground. As Takato was pulling himself to his feet, the guy lunged at him for another round. Takato managed to leap to the side. He grabbed a handful of the man's hair and kneed him in the stomach. While his opponent was stunned, he hurried a bit closer to Isadore and cast Smoke Shroud on his partner, which seemed to addle the enemy a bit. He hoped it would buy Isadore enough time to collect himself, if nothing else.

Mihael found himself overwhelmed by both his nerves and what was going on around him. He clutched his staff tightly, too confused and apprehensive to act. When his surroundings calmed down, he noticed Regulus suddenly standing near him, with fire rapidly approaching. Isadore and Takato were engaging two of the men. One of the others seemed to be moving his hand, which Mihael soon figured out was guiding the flames near Regulus.

Mihael bit his lip and snuck up behind him. He whacked the man in the back of the knees with his staff as hard as he could, taking Takato's advice from earlier. Surprised, the guy let out a pained cry and reeled forward, temporarily unable to keep control of the flames as he tried to regain himself. They stopped following Regulus and slowly began to dissipate. The man turned to face Mihael, whip in hand. Mihael held his staff in a defensive position, planning on interrupting his every attempt to cast a spell against Regulus.

The fourth man, seeing his allies occupied and their spells trumped, opted to simply charge at Regulus, his sword straight in front of him.

Isadore was growing more and more frustrated by his inability to do anything right in this battle. He was quickly trying to get up when smoke suddenly obscured his vision. The enemy was no longer visible, but Isadore was relieved to see the smoke. It meant that his opponent would need a moment to take in what had happened, so Isadore took the opportunity to get to his feet. He took a deep breath and focused; he and Takato had used this strategy many times before and he had grown accustomed to fighting in smoke. Isadore created a phantasm of himself, knowing that the sound of two sets of feet would be confusing.

Suddenly, the man broke into the smoke. To Isadore's surprise, his opponent came straight for him and moved quickly to his side. Isadore had no time to react before being stabbed in the side. He tried not to double over in pain as the blade slid out. The wound wasn't deep enough to be fatal as far as he could tell, but it would definitely slow him down.

Regulus had been trying for quite some time to avoid the flames, but they just kept following him. He couldn't concentrate long enough to figure out which of their enemies was controlling it. However, he noticed Mihael take out one of the guys and it was just at that time that the flames dissipated. He gave him a thumbs up, then turned back to the fight.

He turned just in time to see a man charging at him, sword pointed straight ahead. Regulus managed to sidestep out of the way in time to avoid injury. He then whirled around and went for the man's exposed side with his own sword.

"Shit," Takato muttered when the man broke through the smoke. He didn't have time to figure out a new tactic, as his opponent had regained his senses and wasted little time tackling him down. Takato springboarded back to his feet and the two picked up their hand to hand combat where they had left off.

All Mihael could hope to do was wear his opponent down and prevent him from using his magic. Every time the man started to cast a spell, Mihael darted over and struck him with his staff. Eventually, he gave up on trying to cast and instead decided to focus on taking Mihael out. He lashed out at Mihael with his whip, but Mihael managed to dodge. He dodged a couple more strikes, but the next time he wasn't so lucky. The tail of the whip struck him, stunning him long enough for the man to entwine his legs with it.

With his free hand, he conjured up a bird made of ice and directed it toward Mihael. It stabbed at his arm with its beak several times in rapid succession before the man directed it to fly up in preparation to launch a more powerful attack. Mihael clutched his arm and swallowed; he had to get rid of this thing. He concentrated on the man and firmly commanded him to 'clap'. The man clapped his hands once, looking a bit started by his own behaviour. Since he was no longer controlling the bird, it disappeared. He'd also dropped the whip and Mihael wasted little time darting over to hit him with his staff before he could cast again. The damage done to his arm meant his strikes were weaker than before, but they were still interrupting the spells.

Regulus' opponent cried out in pain as the sword pierced his side. He glared at Regulus, backing off in order to regain himself. He then cast a spell on his own sword. Sparks of electricity danced on the surface of the blade. Still at a distance, the man swung his sword, sending sparks flying at Regulus.

Regulus felt his sword hit his opponent with satisfying force, then he quickly whirled around in anticipation of the counter-attack. Instead his enemy backed off a bit, then appeared to be casting a spell on his own sword. Regulus could see the sparks flying off the weapon and knew it wouldn't be fun to be hit by that.

His opponent didn't move from where he was, opting to send sparks flying at him instead. He tried to cast Stone Wall as quickly as he could to block them, and succeeded for the most part though he was struck by a few before the wall was fully formed. He rubbed his shoulder where the spark had hit, then peered out around the wall at his enemy.

If he wanted to cast another spell out at him, he'd have to wait a little bit. He backed away from the wall so that his enemy wouldn't be able to surprise him, then waited for him to come to him.

[RPing as the NPC's on Leah's behalf]

The man facing Regulus held his sword out, the blade glowing a warm red as sparks danced across its surface. The man's impatience was evident on his face as he prepared to make his charge. He dug his feet into the ground and tightly gripped his sword, eyeing Regulus with the intent of murder.

Without a moment of hesitation, the man darted, pushing his legs to move faster than ever. But it wasn't Regulus he was going after; the man made a beeline for Mihael. The man that could conjure ice grabbed Mihael's staff and muttered a word. Ice began forming on the end of the staff the man was holding, increasing its weight dramatically. All the while, the man with the electric sword grew closer and closer to Mihael, envisioning his target split in half.

When the man with the sword was only a foot away from Mihael, he thrust his blade forward, putting all his momentum into the single attack. Before the tip of the blade touched Mihael's torso, Leo called out in a booming voice "Enough!". The man with the sword barely managed to stop himself as the edge of the sword lightly pierced Mihael's side. Because the sword was red hot, it also left a burn mark on the wound.

"I've seen enough," Leo commented. "This fight is over. I want everyone to return to their posts immediately. Is that understood?" Without even waiting for a response, he stood up from his seat and marched out the door, all of his men trailing behind him. The opponents merely shrugged and walked off scene. The one with the sword, however, hissed before walking off as well.

Regulus was caught off guard when his opponent ran away from him and toward Mihael. He kicked himself inwardly; he hadn't been thinking about the big picture, just the one-on-one fight. He ran over to his partner, but pretty much all of their opponents had turned on him.

Before he was able to do anything, the man with the sword was going in with a nasty attack. However, a voice called out and halted the match, though not before Mihael received an injury to his side. The voice, it turned out, belonged to Regulus' father, who then ordered them to all go back to their regular duties.

His father then left the room, followed by his bondmate and all the others. The opposing unit left as well, leaving just Regulus' unit standing there. Regulus hadn't expecting anything from his father, so it didn't surprise him when he left without saying anything.

Regulus then went over to Mihael. "I'm really sorry, I should've been paying better attention."

This whole thing had really been a nightmare.

Mihael had been focused on his part in the fight and hadn't noticed Regulus' opponent come charging at him until it was too late. Suddenly, he felt his staff being weighed down. All in all, the situation didn't seem good. Caught off guard, he was at a loss. By the time Mihael realized that he could probably ditch his staff and try something else, the hot sword had already pierced his side.

He cried out in both surprise and pain, but luckily the commander called off the duel. Their opponents withdrew before the sword had been able to plunge in too deeply. Still, there was something about the attack that unnerved him. While everyone had been fighting hard during the duel, that attack seemed malicious. He wasn't sure what to think; it was scary to know that he could have been killed by a member of a fellow unit.

Just then, Regulus came over and apologized. Mihael shook his head and forced himself to smile at his partner, though he was unable to hide his agitated state. "It's okay, Reggie... it's not your fault," he said. "I... guess I wasn't paying very good attention, but that guy was being really vicious, why do you think he-- Oh, I think Isa is hurt." Without even waiting for Regulus to answer his question, he wandered over to his brother and cast his healing spell on him.

"That could have gone better..." Takato didn't really know how to feel about what had transpired; their group hadn't done a great job, but at the same time there had been something strange about their opponents. He hadn't seen the move that had caused the commander to end the duel as he'd been too caught up in his own fight, but he knew it must have been something pretty serious to warrant that kind of intervention.

Isadore was surprised when the opposing unit opted not just to gang up on Mihael, but to attempt to kill him. For a training session, they were being quite rough. The commander then ended the fight and abruptly left. Isadore knew that the man was not happy with his performance at all; he hadn't landed a single hit on his opponent. However, when he thought about it, it was Mihael's situation that had caused the match to end. If he had been more capable, the situation would have never taken place. Obviously, Mihael was the source of the commander's disappointment, Isadore tried to convince himself.

His thoughts were interrupted when Mihael began to heal him. "Why did that just happen? Were you even paying attention?" Isadore kept his voice down, not wanting Regulus to hear. The pain from his wound was going away, but he was very disappointed to see that the blood was on his clothes.