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Nall

Ramza and Nighthand VS Duranth and Seraphim

Post by Nall » Wed Jun 25, 2003 2:40 am

(OOC: You get to be creative here! :D YOU get to chose what your enemy is like! Everything from appearance to skills to their own special hacker abilities! (you are all fighting hackers remember :D) Obviously the way you're gonna get levels etc in this tournament isn't going to be how well you can solve my riddles. This is more of a fun thing where you can be uber creative! The more creative and intersting you make your opponents and your fight the more you will be rewarded! It might seem unusual but you get to be creative and it should be lots of fun to make the whole fight with none of my boundries! anyways, I hope you all enjoy lol :D)

ramza
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Post by ramza » Wed Jun 25, 2003 3:27 pm

ramza and nighthand warped into the stadium for their battle. it was them versus a pair of hackers, duranth and seraphim. these hackers slightly resembled the appearences of them themselves. the smaller one, seraphim, greaatly resembled ramza. he had a great, seemingly powerful staff, short, scruffy hair, and a misnight blue cloak, completely concealing his body. his face gave off a decieving look of friendliness. the taller one, duranth, had a long, thick sword, with long black hair, and red, thick armor.

seraphim's cloak seemed to be glowing with an erie light. duranth's armor seemed thick, and was gleaming even in the dark sky. his whole body was covered with, and a weak spot was not easily found. apparently, some kind of defensive special ability was givin to these hackers by there outer pieces. ramza and nighthand would see as the fight went on.


"okay, ill take the smaller one, u get the bigger one," ramza said out of the side of his mouth to nighthand. he quickly smiled and jumped up toward the bigger hacker, twirling his sword and bringing it down upon the shoulder blade of duranth. once the sword reached skin, it was repelled and sent nighthand flying back to where he started.the armor was sliced through, yet it regenerated itself and he was unharmed. "physical resistent, duranth is. and they both have regen."

ramza was testing a theory he had, and tried a small rai rom on the ever still, seraphim. the bolts jumped off him every which way harmlessly. "this one is magic resistent. "i say we switch who we attack," said nighthand, "ill take the small, you take biggy."

and so the four fighters commenced battle.
Last edited by ramza on Wed Jun 25, 2003 8:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Rod of Darkness(Custom)
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Dark Vest(Custom)
Red Beret(Custom)
OrmeAni Kruz, ani rom, meani zot, ani kruz
ola repth, rip maen
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ramza
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Post by ramza » Thu Jun 26, 2003 2:12 pm

nighthand ran toward seraphim, the wavemaster. he brought down his sword, but hit nothing, as seraphim swiftly evaded nighthand, and leapt back, attempting to jam his staff into nighthand. nighthand evaded this and attacked with his special. a few shots were blocked, yet some of the strikes hit the hacker. the attack did some damage, yet it was all soon enough healed by his rig saem. the hacker chuckled lightly and then counterattacked with his staff. they continued to go at it, meanwhile, ramza and duranth had just started.

ramza quickly shot forward his staff, and called meani kruz on his hacker opponent. the first column hit, doing some damage, yet the second one missed greatly as duranth jumped toward ramza, and slashed down. ramza rolled aside and performed rai rom, once again striking partially, though only slight damage was caused do to his rig saem. duranth jumped toward ramza again, although this time bringing his sword over his head, but perfomed a loarge sweep in stead of an overhead swing. ramza was caught by surprise, and as he jumped the bottom of his boots were caught, flipping him over and landing him on his back. he rolled back onto his feet and caught duranth off guard, getting full contact with an ani don.
Rod of Darkness(Custom)
Night Cloak(Custom)
Dark Vest(Custom)
Red Beret(Custom)
OrmeAni Kruz, ani rom, meani zot, ani kruz
ola repth, rip maen
Ap anid
Dek anid
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700gp

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Nighthand
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Post by Nighthand » Wed Jul 02, 2003 12:24 pm

Seraphim didn't seem at first glance to be much of a threat, but nighthand knew better than to trust what his eyes told him alone.

throughout the battle so far, the hackers had been quiet. eeriely silent. nighthand could tell that they wern't elites, because they weren't constantly babbling about how great they were. they were the muscle-bound underlings, so to speak, and they knew it. but they were also hackers, and had a bit of an advantage over us. This too they knew.

Nighthand wondered when their powers would show. So he knew what to expect later, he decided to taunt seraphim.

"Hey, you! Seraphim, was it? sounds like you're supposed to be some kind of angel. Huh. I didn't think someone like garaa would stoop so low as to scrape someone like you off the bottom of the barrel. He must really not have any confidence in my abilities. Or have any idea of what they truly are…"

but despite nighthand's taunting, seraphim just calmly looked on. He didn't even give a twitch of his facial muscles. Apparently nothing nighthand could do would elicit any response. At least, not verbally.

let's see what this baby can do… nighthand said, hoisting his new magnifier.

It hadn't worked on the other guy, and this guy was fast, but he hadn't met with nighthand's own made up skill before. In fact, no one had, since he had just there, in the spur of the moment, made it up.

(OOC:
---little skill bio thingy---
I just threw this in here so you kinda know what I'm doing. In real life, for nighthand's character, he use to pretend that he was a swordsman. He wasn't really good at the normal ways of fighting though, and he didn't let anyone know about his practice. So basically, when he found out he wasn't any good with normal swordfighting, he decided he would make up his own style. He used a large blade, made of wood early on because he wasn't very rich, like a heavy blade sword. This was all before he got into the world, by the way.

Anyway, what he did in real life carries over into the game, to a certain extent. The game gives him talent with normal sword fighting, but he can perform this skill/stance in the world by carrying over his life experiences.

What he does is he reverses his sword. So instead of holding it point up, like a normal heavy blade, he holds it point downwards, like a twinblade. In this stance he can use certain skills he made up, which aren't really anything more than normal attacks strung together in a different way, so they have no bonuses or anything that a skill might have. His metaslash is basically one of those skills that he adapted for normal fighting.

So that's basically what he'll be doing for a while.
---end little skill bio thingy---)

nighthand pulled his sword from a defensive stance to a relaxed stance, letting the point drive down into the ground a little way. Then he shifted his grip on it's handle, holding it upside-down. Ths was his shifted stance.

This finally elicited a response from the wavemaster in from of him.

"Giving up already? But we barely even got started. I have to show you my powers still."

The wavemaster raised his hands, and started casting a spell.

"Vak Kruz!" he shouted, grinning smugly as the flames from his attack closed in on nighthand.

But nighthand just laughed. The flames hurt him a little, but his new blade protected him from the worst of the damage. He had a talent for picking the proper items to carry into battle, sometimes.

"Hmm. A fire mage, eh? Well, as you can see, it doesn't work too well on me."

"You haven’t seen the least of it, nighthand."

He raised his hands, and in a rapid flurry of movement, he unleashed several spells one after another.

First was another fire, which nighthand just let pass him over. but almost before it was done, an ice attack materialized in the air above him, and slamed down hard. Nighthand staggered back, barely avoiding the main blow. Thunder started dancing around him, but was channeled away by the melting ice. But the dark claws the emerged from the ground were no laughing matter. The rose up, tearing at nighthand's clothing and flesh alike. Suddenly the claws were replaced with earthen columns, which nighthand used to shiled himself from the rain of thorns that came from the wavemasters final spell, of the wood element.

Overall, he took less damage than he would have thought, but he was still in fairly good health.

"So you seem to have a little more in the spell department than I had realized at first. So what? You still aren't a match for me."

"Of course I'm a match for you. That's why we were put against each other in this tournament. That's what you people always seem to think, that you're better because you are on the side of good. Well, I hate to break it to you, but we have a whole torture chamber full of people who were on the side of good, and expected it to help them in some way."

"And that's the thing I always hated about video game villains. They always seem t think that they can come out on top, no matter that they don't actually have to power to."

"ah, but therein lies the crutch. You see, neither you nor I are truly on the side of good or evil, but merely on the side we see as right. I find that being a hacker is all I could have hoped for in the game, when it fell up short the first time I tried it. hooking up with garaa just makes it that much easier for me."

For the first time nighthand became uncomfortable with the situation. The hacker was right, and had placed doubt in the mind of nighthand. He decided that it was time to show a few skills of his own. Keeping his sword in the reverse position, he charged at the wavemaster. Seraphim didn't move, expecting an attack that would some from above like any other heavy blades attack would. But instead of falling prey to a pre-set defense, nighthand pulled his sword from his side in an upwards slash, slicing the wavemaster across his chest. his cloak parted, for the first time in the battle, and it revealed a suit of every color, mixing and merging constantly. For an instant nighthand saw a glimpse of things to come, but then the cloak fell back into place, and the colors were covered.

"So now you see my true form, nighthand. You should feel proud; not many before have even managed to scratch me, let alone dislodge my cape. For you see, I am Seraphim the Rainbow, and I have the ultimate control over the elemental spells."

"Well, Rainblow geek, I'm Nighthand the Silver Blade, and also I will be your end."

Unperturbed by this vague threat, seraphim again prepared to cast a spell. However, this time the motions were different, unike any spell nighthand had ever seen before. Then suddenly nighthand knew why.

Ultimate control of elemental spells, not the elements. Which means…

Nighthand was knocked off his feet by an explosion of power that took place in front of him. The ground was double melted by both fire and thunder spells coming together. But it was more than simple casting two spells.

"As you have no doubt deduced nighthand, I hack the spell itself. When I cast a dual element spell, even merging the level one spells, it forms a two-element spell of level three power. And it is near unavoidable."

Nighthand scoffed, but inside he was trembling. How can he avoid spells like that? It was clear that the first one had missed on purpose, to show him the power of the spell.

(ooc: sorry for kinda leaving ya high and dry, ramza, but I wanted to get a bit of an intro going before we really get down to business.)

ramza
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Post by ramza » Thu Jul 03, 2003 9:11 pm

ramza continued his bout with the heavy blade. ramza managhed to land a few spells, but duranth was now on the offensive. slicing and dicing at ramza, he striked ramza hard a few time, and knocked him back. ramza tried to remain cool, after healing himself.

"that all you got?" said ramza as he got up and dusted himself off. the reply was cold and hard, said with no emotion.

"you aint seen nutin yet....ramza"

duranth ran toward ramza and unleashed a common, well known attack by ramza...calamity. he has seen his teammates use it often. ramza scoffed, but so did duranth.

his heavy blade started to glow, and became elongated and much thinner. this confused ramza, as apparently the hacker hacked and manipulated his blade. it was now a spear. duranth unleashed repulse cage and spun around. ramza, now stunned, was hardly able to snap back in time to evade. now the spear began to glow again, but this time the end thickened and the rest became shorter as to form a handle. an axe! ramza had no idea what was coming, he had never seen a heavy axeman in action before. "axel pain." and unleashed a brrage of attakcs, which ramza somehow managed to escape with only a chunk of his hp gone.

this changes things
Rod of Darkness(Custom)
Night Cloak(Custom)
Dark Vest(Custom)
Red Beret(Custom)
OrmeAni Kruz, ani rom, meani zot, ani kruz
ola repth, rip maen
Ap anid
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Nighthand
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Post by Nighthand » Sat Jul 05, 2003 2:06 pm

Nighthand jumped back, narrowly avoiding yet another spell blast from his opponent. He couldn't keep up with this for much longer. His hit point level was draining, while Seraphim's was rock steady at 98% nighthand had managed to connect with a small slash, just when seraphims regen effect wore off. ever since, he had been casting too many offensive spells to have time for another regen. He also didn't seem to use a repth, though he had no need at the moment. He was doing well enough alone.

Dodging yet another blast of thunder and fire combined, nighthand ran right into a wall of ice and earth. It was still rising, so nighthand grabbed on and let it carry him into the air. when it stopped, it didn't fade, like a normal spell would have. Instead, it stayed in place, like some kind of wall. Nighthand crawled on to the top of it, and crouched there for a moment, regaining his breath. His hp level was at a low level, around 34%. Gasping for breath, nighthand managed to cast repth, raising him back to almost full. It wasn't enough, however, because most of the strain of the fight was on his mind, not his body.

Seraphim seemed content to let him get a moment's rest in, so nighthand glanced at ramza, to see how he was faring.

Ramza kept blasting away with his spells, but his opponent just walked through them, barely being hurt. Ramza seemed to be a bit better off then nighthand, but still it was a challenge. As nighthand watched, ramza dove to the side, avoiding another slash from his enemies sword, and returned the blow with a quick tap with is wand. It didn't do anything, due to the physical tolerance, but it threw the swordsman off-balance. Ramza followed up with another spell, taking another chip out of the hit points of his foe. Nighthand couldn’t see more, for seraphim chose that moment to attack again.

"VakAni Kruz!" he shouted, and nighthand was forced off of his perch by a tornado of skulls and fire. But instead of jumping down, like the wavemaster expected, he jumped upwards, high into the air. his silver outfit was ill-suited to blend in with the dark sky above them, but he came down on top of seraphim like a meteor. His sword reversed in his grip, he struck seraphim on the shoulder, bouncing off and performing a flip, landing on his feet with his back to the wavemaster. He spun into a crouching position, and rocketed at the wavemaster again. He was ready this time, but nighthand was too fast for him to have a chance to cast a spell. Nighthand sped at seraphim, stopping just in front him and ducking under his the counter-blow that had nothing to counter. Then nighthand rose, slashing, spinning like a blademaster performing revolver, his blade digging into seraphims chest. then nighthand flew back, landing behind seraphim. He jumped again and rocketed at his back. Again nighthand struck the wavemaster, but his blow was weak. Nighthand stumbled, his momentum leaving him, and he rolled to the ground some distance away from seraphim.

Nighthand still had nearly full health, and seraphim was taken down to 73%. But nighthand was down. His mind just couldn't handle the strain, and so it shut off. nighthand blacked out, with the last image of seraphim, a huge grin on his face, walking towards his inert body.

---blackout conversation---

"Where am I?
-you are here-
'Where is here?"
-the World-
"how am I here? I thought I was in garaa's tournament."
-you are-
"then how am I here?"
-your mind was broken by the strain of your battle-
"then shouldn't I be dead?"
-you cannot die-
He was silent, waiting for the voice to elaborate.
-your mind is all that is interacting with the world at this moment. Your mind, your consciousness, was separated from you body during the first encounter with the hacker group. It is tied to the body you operate in the game, not to the body you used to operate in life. The strain you put on your body during that last battle was too much for it to handle, but there is no way for the game to compensate by lowering your hit points, so the strain compounded on your mind. You mind couldn't handle it, so it fled-
"so where am I now?"
-your body, in life, is in the hospital-
"That's not what I meant."
-your digital body is in garaa's tournament, resting inert on the ground, locked in a data loop. It cannot move, but for the moment it cannot be harmed-
"And what about my mind? Where are we? "
-we are not together. You are in a limbo state, while your mind rests. I am not actually here-
"What are you?"
-I am a program in the game, made to handle the stray data that doesn't have any use anymore-
"and I fit in that category?"
-no-
Again he waited.
-you are a member of the group that has been touched by the hackers, but has not been captured. You, and the rest of your group, are the last hope of stopping the hackers.-
"We are really that important?"
-yes-
there was a pause, while he thought about what he had been told. There wasn't really much new information, but his mind still had to sort through it all.
"How do I return?"
-your mind must settle it's stress-
"And when I return? What will happen?"
-the place we are in now is in an accelerated time, compared to the world. When you return, most likely only a few seconds will have passed.-

then the voice was gone. he didn't know how he could tell, because he couldn't see anything, but somehow he felt alone. It wasn't the bad type of being alone, either. It was more as if it was a comfortable bedroom and he was there to rest. So his mind again blacked out, this time truly, without moving.

*** Two seconds later, world time, Ten hours later, Limbo Time. ***

Nighthand woke, but couldn't see. He reached for his sword, but he had no sword to grab. It mattered little, however, for he had no arms with which to grab it. he had no body to defend. He realized that he was still alone.

His mind felt rested, and he was back to thinking at full power. He had no idea how long he had been sleeping there, but he still had some thinking to do. So he thought.

Moments later, the presence of the program returned.

-my diagnostic tells me that you are ready to return-
"I am."
-I shall send you on your way then-
"Wait!"
-what is it?-
"How can I defeat Garaa's minion? He is stronger than me."
-you are wrong. He is not so powerful as you think. In this rested state, you should have no trouble against him.-
"Thank you."
Somehow, nighthand could tell that the presence approved of him. There was nothing there to tell him that, but he felt it inside, like a fire burning inside him. A confidence had lacked before.

-you shall be returned-

---end blackout thing---

Nighthand opened his eyes wide at the sound of approaching footsteps. Wary of what was to come, and remembering what he had just been told, he struggled to rise, feigning fatigue.

Seraphim was still coming, and it looked as if nighthand had only been out for an instant. He staggered to his feet, still playing the role.

"You seem tired, nighthand. Why don't you let me kill you, so you can rest."

"I don't need to rest, actually. You have it the other way around. You, seraphim, are the tired one."

Nighthand raised his sword, upright in his grip. Then he took the stance of someone who was ready to fight for everything. Seraphim halted in his approach, and raised his wand to guard. This was the first good look nighthand had gotten at his foes weapon.

Always before nighthand's vision had been obscured by clouds of magic or speed. Finally, he was able to look at the wand his foe held.

It had the look of something pieced together, as if there were a number of other weapons melded into one. Parts of it glowed with the powers of wood, earth, and water, whereas other parts burned with flames, or crackled with thunder. And the other part was black as night, drawing in the power of darkness. The handle was made of wedges of colored material, one for each element. If you took a cross section of the handle, it would look like a pie of each color as a slice. The opposing elements were across from each other. Nighthand shuddered, looking at the pieced together affair.

Seraphim noticed his gaze, and held up his wand for a closer look.

"Nice, isn't it? I made it myself. And, I made this."

Seraphim threw back his cloak, and tore it loose. It settled to the ground and disappeared, much like nighthand's own had when he lost it.

Revealed underneath the cloak, seraphim was wearing a set of armor that pulsed with glowing colors, again one for each element.

"I made this armor as a set. It protects me from the elemental spells, as well as the status effects. It is much like having a constant ap everything. You like?"

nighthand silently shook his head, and cast a pair of spells on himself.

"Ap ruem. Ap Vak." Nighthand said to himself, and felt the water and fire resistances take hold around him. They mingled, forming an elemental barrier to the opposing element. Nighthand prepared to fight, once again. But this time, he was at a higher power than ever before. He knew he could win.

(OOC: my dad isn't letting me get on very often at the moment, so I have to write my posts off line and put them online. I don't have too much time to post, to I have to make each one a good one. Unfortunately, that means writing novels, almost. And trust me, I have enough experience in that. I had to physically pull myself away from this post, or else I would have written even more. And this alone is three pages in Microsoft word. I guess I should let ramza get in his part now… man that took a long time.)

ramza
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Posts: 203
Joined: Sun Mar 30, 2003 11:26 pm
Location: the world

Post by ramza » Sat Jul 05, 2003 9:14 pm

duranth continued his onslaght of special attacks from different job classes. ramza was managing to avoid most of the blows, but had no time to counter at all. he was patient though, he was always waiting for his chance. the blade of his enemy kept glowing and changing shape. the sword resumed its normal heavy blade state and used calamity, but as ramza dodged the last blow, the butt end of the sword jabbed him in the face.

"hahah, you havent seen the extent of my power yet, i will now go all out, you should be proud, i dont do this for just anyone."

duranth got ready to pounce again, as his blade glowed, yet this time didnt change shape. as he unleashed calamity, the sword continued to glow, but before the attack even ended it molded to a spear and continued the calamity attack with the spear, and without even stopping he went into yet another attack, repulse cage, blade still glowing, still ever more powerful, and once again changing shape in mid attack, to this time a very long axe. this axe caught ramza off guard. it swiped off a piece off his cloak and gave him a slight gash in his hip. except he still didnt stop, the long axe started to form a medieval blade, and he started to spin into revolver before he finished molding the blade. once again, as the blade continued to glow, it split into two, forming daggers in both hands. once he stopped spinning he went straight into a blurred flury of wild attacks, every motion trailed by a glowing flame. ramza was knocked afar by the last of the attack, greatly weakened now, but still able to fight. duranth kneeled down on the ground, breathing very deeply now, obviously worn out. it showed in his blade too, as it it was now just a regular, dull heavy blade.

i think i just gained the advantage. yes. he has run out of sp. no more attacks from him. i wont even bother healing ayt all, although i am only at 14% health. ramza got up to one knee with his staff, then staggered up to his feet. he flung himself up to a proud, strong defianty pose, clutching his staff close to him.

"heheh...thats it huh, now im supposed to be happy i survived? hah!" ramza rubbed blod out from his lip with the back of his torn glove. "thats nothing. you're just a player. a hacker, but never the less a player with limits. just like us. i guess mine and my friends limits are higher than you and your bunch. look at yourself, cant even take your own special attack. too much for you. i think ill finish this now."

the huddled mass that once stood tall, and proud, and strong. now was just a small heap of nothing. his blade lay next to him. his health still solid, yet the strain on him and his mind was too much. he could only look up at ramza. his eyes asking for pity, for mercy. he, duranth, the great hacker was now scared. he was outmatched
Rod of Darkness(Custom)
Night Cloak(Custom)
Dark Vest(Custom)
Red Beret(Custom)
OrmeAni Kruz, ani rom, meani zot, ani kruz
ola repth, rip maen
Ap anid
Dek anid
Level 28
700gp

ramza
Exalted Player
Posts: 203
Joined: Sun Mar 30, 2003 11:26 pm
Location: the world

Post by ramza » Mon Jul 07, 2003 10:50 pm

"hahah. you thought you were tough stuff ey? well, look at you now. reduced to nothing. now youve reached the level of dirt. physically and figuretively." ramza chuckled after this last comment. but there was a look of serious remorse on his face. he looked at the stands, ravaged, and beaten up from previous duels. "look out there. it looks like we're coming out on top." ramza pointed at his teammates from the stands, then shifted his gaze toward nighthand, also doing well, nearly in position for the kill. "hah, looks like my partner is beating down your partner too." all the while ramza was slowly staggering toward duranth, who had the blank look of beaten man, with no pride left. he swung out with his dull blade, which ramza evaded, and made it look easy though still tired, and hurt.

why didnt he heal? two reasons. first, he believed that his foe was already beaten. second, he needed all his sp for his finishing move. he neede a strong attack because he knew that although duranth was extremely tired, and worn out, he still had good amount of hp left. he backed up slightly and called out to duranth, with power in his calm voice.

"now, you must be thinking, how can i, the good guy not feel mercy, like on tv, or in movies, where the good guy always waited for the police to arrest instead of killing the bad guy themselves. ill tell you why i can. cause our team is on a mission. it isnt just to contain the problem, of the hackers of course, but it is to eradicate them, so to speak." ramza had an intellecctual tone in his voice. "when i look at you, i no longer see a player, with a person behind his actions. i know that when i...'kill' you, your real world persona will also die. but thats not my problem right now, its yours." ramza chuckled once again, paused, and resumed, " you see, now when i look at you i see one of the water fairies that i so willingly, and easily defeated. you are another data casualty now."

ramza looked at duranth, now stripped of a dignified death. his life passed before him. he was never such a bad person in life. he never got detention. but he was picked on. he wanted to feel like the powerful one, the one holding every card. now his cards were dropped, and dissolved, and he would die. he was only a kid.....

"IT ENDS HERE, NOW!" ramza took his staff, and gripped it tightly with both hands. all signs of fatigue were gone, only now were rips in his cloak, and some gashes in his skin. "dark lightning!" he unleashed a rai rom and meani kruz together. it was something he has been working on. an experimental attack.

the dark columns raised up below duranth, as usual, except this time encircling and entrapping him. now there were dark clouds, swirling counter clockwise, like a mini hurricane, surging with energy. lightning came down, one bolt for each column. the lighning started to swirl, and mixed with eachother, at their origin. they retracted from the columns, back in to the hurricane. as they left, the columns seemed to be sucked out of all energy, and color (if black is a color). now there were dull brown columns encaseing duranth. all of a sudden a swirling bolt of dark energy came down, to fast to describe. it hit its target. duranth yelled and screamed, and his body burst into shards of data.


this whole attack was too much strain for ramza to bare, as he fainted to the ground, he thought, ill never do that again...
he was back home, he was at the beach. with his surfboard, carving waves like nothing. he was doing what he loves most. once again.
Rod of Darkness(Custom)
Night Cloak(Custom)
Dark Vest(Custom)
Red Beret(Custom)
OrmeAni Kruz, ani rom, meani zot, ani kruz
ola repth, rip maen
Ap anid
Dek anid
Level 28
700gp

User avatar
Nighthand
Master of Games
Posts: 1265
Joined: Mon Mar 31, 2003 9:23 pm
Class: Bladesmage
Location: ...Tracking...please wait...

Post by Nighthand » Thu Jul 10, 2003 6:25 pm

(OOC: this happens immediatly after the last post, no time elapsed between them.)

Nighthand blinked. Time seemed somehow different from before. It was as if he had a small ap do cast on him, not at full strength, but enough to change his perceptions. It seemed almost as if the server was experiencing a slow down, but not on him.

He calmly held his sword before him, ready to meet any attack that seraphim would throw at him, but seraphim wasn't buying it. he simply stood there, holding his wand in much the same way nighthand was holding his sword. So nighthand took the initiative. He charged.

Seraphim had been expecting the move, so nighthand's overhead blow missed. But, his second blow, the one he put his force into, struck as intended. Nighthand's blade bit deep into seraphim's side, and seraphim fell. He screamed, and lost his balance, falling heavily to the ground. His hp wasn't hurt very badly, but his armor was damaged, and so was his physical form. Nighthand stood over him, his sword leveled at his face. Seraphim grimaced, but didn't try to attack or rise. He knew he was beaten. He gave up, letting his wand fall to the ground next to his crumpled from. His head drooped. He let out a sigh, and spoke.

"Finish me now, nighthand. I know when I'm beaten. I only request that you kill me. No matter what you do, Garaa's punishment would be a hundred, no a thousand times worse. So… Kill me, nighthand."

"Seraphim," nighthand replied. "you were never powerful. You were never truly a good fighter. That is why I won this fight. You rely on your powers, your hacks, and let the true abilities you have fall to waste. Maybe you could have had a better experience playing this game if you hadn't joined garaa's crowd, but you would never have lasted in ours. You have given up, and that is what we never do.

"no matter how hard we are pushed, no matter what you hackers throw at us, we always win. The general in mac anu, the reiketsu, the banshaku, the shinja, all were sent by your best hackers, your elites. And still we, a group of inexperienced newbies, have defeated each and every one of them. And the reason? It is our spirit. We are united in one cause, and we have dedicated all to this one cause. And the reason we have dedicated everything is because you hackers put all of us into comas, and won't let us return to our bodies. So in a way, it is the fault of your elites that we are here, fighting you, destroying you. It is your fault. And you cannot change that."

"It is all very well for you to say this, nighthand, but I had no choice. Almost from the day I first logged into the world, I have been with garaa. It isn't because I wanted too, either. You see, I added a small character mod to my original form, and they noticed me. They hadn't sponsored the mod, and they wanted to know where it came from. It was this small hack that drew me to garaa. It was this hack that kept me alive.

"for you see, nighthand, when garaa came looking for me, I was powerless. I was a level one wavemaster with the basic equipment, and I stood no chance against his hacking powers. It was only because I could hack that he kept me alive, and forced me to join his ranks. Otherwise he would have killed me. Most of the others have items, special twilight items. I don't. I'm not powerful enough to have one. They lent one to me for long enough to create my effects, make my wand and armor, but then they took it from me. I didn't have a chance; I never got to play the game. The first field I ever went to was garaa's. so I return to my original request. Kill me, before garaa gets to me."

Nighthand however, couldn't kill him in cold blood. It was only in the heat of battle that he could kill, when his mind was hazed with chemicals. He had never killed a player before, either, only creatures. He lowered his sword.

"No."

seraphim let out a cry of anguish, and scooped up his wand. He swung it madly against nighthand, but he sidestepped easily and thwacked him solidly with the flat of his blade on the back of his head. Then he put his blade on his shoulder, and stood over seraphim again.

Seraphim struggled to rise, coughing up blood with every breath. He fell, and rolled over, so he was on his back. He gripped his wand, and began to speak.

"If you won't kill me, I'll have to destroy us all. This is my final attack. You cannot survive. But it's too powerful for me to control, so I'll be destroyed as well. RaiAniDekGanVakRue Terra Blaster!!!"

everything erupted in chaos. It was as if all the spells of the level one attack variety struck all at once. Nighthand could still move, the hold effect wasn't in place, and he was dodging like a madman. He was bombarded from all sides with hail, thorns, thunder, skulls, and all manner of other elemental items. He leaped over spikes and rocks rising from the earth, and dove out of the way of lightning bolts and falling ice chunks. Through the chaos, he could see seraphim being struck from all sides, not even making an effort to dodge. Nighthand, still being hit, ran towards the fallen hacker. His honor wouldn't let him pass seraphim by. As he ran, nighthand scooped up the hacker's light body. He ran to a place where the spell had buckled the arena floor, and threw the hacker under the ledge, sheltering him from most of the damage.

The spell was short enough range that it didn't affect the fight ramza was having, but it did follow nighthand, keeping him in the epicenter of the storm of elemental damage. He ran off to one side, away from seraphim and ramza. Ramza was never touched my the damaging spell, and seraphim somehow survived. Finally, the spell ran it's course.

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Nighthand
Master of Games
Posts: 1265
Joined: Mon Mar 31, 2003 9:23 pm
Class: Bladesmage
Location: ...Tracking...please wait...

the heart-wrenching ending...

Post by Nighthand » Mon Jul 14, 2003 11:25 pm

Nighthand, with the spell finally over, staggered over to the place where he had hidden seraphim. His own hp was down to critical, with only 3%. If seraphim decided to attack again, nighthand would be destroyed. But taking one glance at the hacker laying under the stone slabs, he realized he was safe.

Seraphim was in almost as bad a condition as nighthand himself was. He was unconscious, having blacked out from the effort of casting the spell. His left arm was broken just below the shoulder, and his body was bloody, where several balls of thorns had struck him. Nighthand himself didn't have any broken bones, but quite s few cuts and bruises. He cast reppth a couple of times, restoring his health and healing the minor injuries. Then he showed some mercy.

"Repth." He said, healing seraphim.

The hacker's eyes fluttered, and he groaned. His leg was pinned under the slabs, where they had shifted at the end of the spell, so he couldn't move. He finally regained his senses, and opened his eyes, gazing at nighthand.

"Why, nighthand…why would you…save someone… like me?"

"Because, seraphim, you weren't in this willingly. You were effectively kidnapped. You shouldn't even be here, and you wouldn't be, if not for a small mistake. I am offering you freedom."

"Wha…What? Freedom? How…"

"I'll deplete you hp to zero. You will lose the tournament. This would happen anyway, so you have no choice. But afterwards, when you lose, and we are restored from the tournament. You will come with us. Once free of garaa's server, you should be able to log out. you aren't enough of an asset for him to use up extra effort to restrain. Once we leave garaa's server, you will log out. you will delete this character, and make a new one. Then you will go on with the game, as if none of this had ever happened. If you do this, you will be spared of garaa's control, and life will be back to normal. Will you do this?"

"y…Yes…anything for freedom!"

Ha ha ha ha ha. You fools! said garaa from the sidelines. you cannot hope to escape my grasp. As soon as a player's loss is declared, I will keep my promise, deleting the loser. Your plan won't work.

no! how can save him now?

"Nighthand… I appreciate it. thank you for your concern… but I am prepared. I knew this wouldn't work. You don't understand that garaa won't let anything out of his grasp. There is only one option. One of us must die, and you must survive, to defeat these hackers. I must die. And I am prepared."

"Seraphim… I see. If only… if only you could have joined us. You would have been an asset, I can tell. I'm truly sorry. Goodbye."

Nighthand, his face full of regret, slid his blade in between seraphim's ribs, through the armored breastplate, and into his digital heart. Seraphim's hp count lowered to zero, and his body faded to ghost form. True to his word, garaa's power forced seraphim's ghost apart, scattering his digital form into bits of random code with a hissing sound. It was like the wind rustling through dry grasses. Such a quiet event for the end of a noble person's life.

As the rustling died down, nighthand thought he could hear the words.

"Thank you…"

nighthand closed his eyes, mourning the loss of a human soul. Then he opened them and turned to garaa. He raised his sword, pointing it at the gathering of hackers above the arena floor.

"You will pay for this, all of you. Garaa, Royce, kuja, all of you will pay. I will not allow you to take another human life!"

garaa merely laughed, a grating sound that chilled nighthand. He turned away, looking to see if ramza needed any help. he turned to find him unconscious on the ground. nighthand picked him up and carried him off to the edge of the battleground, where he was looked after by the rest of the group.

(OOC: i hope you all like the ending. i tried to make it as moving as possible in such a short time. enjoy!)

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