Erebus stood in a wide backward which belonged to a tavern, the sky was cloudy out with a slight drizzle. The time was roughly half an hour past six, and Erebus was limbering up for a good reason. Oak Town was normally pretty quiet, but even stiller at this time in the evening. Recently, Ko Lesalt and Erebus Gresham had been getting to know each other, learning what each other did, and what they could do to get better in each other's presence for group fighting. However even with two quests, and a heist behind them; they were pretty much around equal footing, and both were competitive souls naturally. Erebus was finally making friends and regardless whether Ko ever had to think differently, Erebus trusted the integrity of his friend. Should he get mopped, then he'd just try harder than ever before to fit in beside his new friends.

Both Steel and Ko certainly had fire power. They had that bonus strength from those rare draconian creatures popping up; though the rogue knew of Dragons merely by spoken word. He'd only seen Nancy, the closest to this point, and even she was a lesser species. Wyrms and Dragons differed in their volume, with Dragons spanning larger mass and being wildly large entities.

He wondered if that dragon slayer edge would send him for a quick and painless loss, or if his speed could blitz such chances first. The area was a flat surface, and the sun wasn't out, but it wasn't dusk yet, the zone would be compromised of a clearing. With a two foot Tavern around thirty meters from where Erebus stood, stretching his legs. He pondered if Ko would make himself known, or attempt an ambush, either way the Rogue kept his wits about him, they were scheduled to meet at this time after all.

306


STR || 151(101) S
SPE || 126(66) S
CON || 121 S
END || 156(115) S

• Faruz Earrings +20 STR
  
• Great Stealth Cloak +30 SPE
  
• Phantom Dancer +30 STR, +30 SPE
  

Watching the Dragon Rider come outside, our Rogue took extra note that Nantosuelta wasn't here. Could it be that Ko was leaving her out of the fight? Erebus let his knife fall from his sleeve as Ko spoke, He aimed the dagger at Ko during this time, waiting patiently for his ally to finish, so that he could answer, though any sneaky behavior and Erebus would fly off before his own dialogue could be given. If he could get his speech in, then clearly Erebus would speak but at his last word, he would be on top of Ko; leaving absolutely no room for Ko to start any odd movements or behavior to warrant spells. Like many before him, Erebus had noted spells always came after some sort of gesture, command, or on-set. They were like coded messages even, so it wasn't going to work, not today.

"We can fight til one of us can't anymore, there's no need for us to hold back. The tavern is right there, where we can drink some health potions afterwards." Erebus smiled, his gaze narrowing to reveal a latent intent to get physical. "Go!" Erebus had counted his distances up, him and Ko? A good twenty meters separated them.

Unavoidable, Erebus was not your average dagger man, he wasn't a master just yet, but he was no beginner. He had been learning the dagger most of his young adventuring life, and thus, was a Novice. So Erebus could quickly spin his daggers around his hands, and do a few tricks, but he was still disarmable at this point. Leading him to take a more serious approach to combat, rather than a natural fluid one. There would be time for that someday, but to get to that point, effort had to be made.

Erebus would start his turn by shooting off by the force of his dagger's magic, if he could manage the time without worrying about Ko's spells, Erebus would strike at Ko as many times as relatively plausible, swinging the dagger in his right hand diagonally, slanted upward in case he'd need to parry at any moment, this was aligned before he'd need to be lunging out of such a close frame rate, he'd then bound for another lunge and turn to running a circling motion about the enemy next, though he could slam the brakes if need be, his main priority for the moment, was to give himself a window of opportunity, or an advantageous position if you will. Granted, every time he could, Erebus was a taker, a selfish opponent. He would always make strides to damage the enemy if he could, and if he could, he'd pinch twice.

Spells:

Mana: 1250/1450

435

Ko's next thought surprised the Rogue, who moved like a bullet to the location Ko and himself would collide at. The clash between gauntlet and dagger was like fireworks, with the yellow sparks seeming to show their vigor at that very moment. In this position, Erebus had a few routes he could take, but instead, Ko moved with the grain and Erebus liked that so he moved his feet into a firm planting and when the parry went through and Ko's gauntlet would be sent upwards and over the Rogue's shoulder, Erebus would take to the stalking lion position. Each of their weapons would receive A-rank damage. Much like as Erebus had imagined, Ko and the Rogue fought similarly, they were unafraid of pain because glory was worth so much more.

Ko seemed to be bouncing on his footing backwards, perhaps to bait the Rogue out, very well. Erebus grinned, lunging, he lunged and stayed four feet to Ko before his form would seem to give out, and turn nearly invisible. Erebus rolled to Ko's left, creating an adjacent flank. With his dagger having been trained to follow and stay pointing, All Erebus needed was a pause for Ko to realize he hadn't predicted Erebus, but rather Erebus was going to resort to his full technique. One that gave him the edge against Steel. In a much brighter lit area, it was less effective as it had been against Steel, but it would prevent those timed blocks like earlier, except for the instant in which Erebus himself were making it happen. It's because Erebus would have the advantage of depth perception, his form was hardly traceable so finding his knife's tip, actually gauging where his knife was even, at the speeds the Rogue was privy to moving, would be incredibly difficult.

Then again, Erebus wondered if Ko had an out for it, if not, Erebus would shred his backside with Phantom Dancer, sheering off some armor, and hopefully inflicting some worthwhile damage against his fellow Nightmare's armor.

Spells:

Mana: 850/1450

346

-1 A-rank against both Erebus and Ko's items.
-1 A-rank against Ko's Armor. (Entry Slash)
-1 A-rank against Ko's Armor. (Punched)
-1 A-rank against Ko's Armor. (Knife-Jabbed)
-1 A-rank against Erebus' Armor.

----------------------------
Erebus grinned when his knife attack slid effortlessly against the back of Ko's back, with his form stopping there (the spell causes me to stop moving, leaving me in this location), Erebus took a fist and planted it aggressively into Ko's back side pushing him with S-rank strength, hooking the dagger outward quickly to cut a second time in addition to the punch, before the force propelled Ko, not much granted, just a few feet forward where Ko was facing, Erebus being there behind him and Ko being turned around, this punch was placed accordingly and the multi-thought to jab the dagger in last second was aimed in an Unavoidable location, Ko may even find it hard to catch his breath after it would leave his back, Erebus could keep going, but he felt that to be a quick ending; instead he would stand still, using Ko's force to garner the distance separated between them and halting so he could watch Ko cast his invisibility, it would set the Rogue up better as he extended his dagger at the mage, this was done as Ko channeled his spell and displayed it. This would add an extra layer of 'detection' protection to his target, sure. However, Ko didn't have the speed to make his target's lose focus as Erebus did, and he didn't have the mastery to guess where to block from, Erebus didn't really either, but he was a little better at positioning in a crisis due to being a Novice at his own weapon. Erebus retained his acrobatic bonuses after all, and in addition, was a soundless assassin.

He watched the purple mist cover his friend, which seemed to profuse off the black-rider's form, blurring out and as he became a transparent mass. But Erebus would lunge there as the spell was occurring, to meet Ko in the center at lunge speed for another up close and personal fight. He brutally began striking upward and downward at the mage with his knife, unrelenting, if a hit landed, he could follow-through with more. Ko seemed to be a more cunning adversary taking this opportunity to plant a calculated blow as opposed to a barrage like the rogue himself had opted into.

When Ko landed his shot on Erebus' thigh, the Rogue felt it and his attention became much more focused on how exactly to react in this new window, opting into his wits and the moment given, The Unavoidable Rogue could assume Ko was now bent because of punching low, Erebus would bring his knife downwards and smash/slash where he could only guess Ko's neck and head area would be.

However if Ko moved out of line of sight, Erebus would follow the now near-invisible's silhouette form when it traveled and rain hell on it, and if he didn't travel within this form, he would follow the glint of the slayer's eyes as he bobbed or weaved in place. Using his slightly higher mastery to attempt some kind of logical answer to how the body was positioning in respect to the movements. Ko was no amateur, if he got away, Erebus might have trouble following the mage down, especially had Nantosuelta ambushed. Something Erebus was keeping on the back-burner of his thoughts.

Using any green flags given, Erebus would snatch those opportunities just as if they were the wallets of pig-headed men, any red flag and he would react to those too. Should Ko cast any offensive spells for example, Erebus would be forced to react with what his own abilities allowed and demanded. Keeping as short a distance from each other, at all times possible, was crucial in this situation for the Rogue. Erebus losing distance would be the equivalent of surrendering his advantage overall, and from an enemy as talented as Ko Lesalt-- Erebus wouldn't dream of it, such an endeavor would have him scrambling to find his target again.

Spells:

Mana: 650/1450

667

-1 A-rank against both Erebus and Ko's items.
-1 A-rank against Ko's Armor. (Entry Slash)
-1 A-rank against Ko's Armor. (Punched)
-1 A-rank against Ko's Armor. (Knife-Jabbed)
-1 A-rank against Erebus' Armor.
-1 A-rank against Ko's Armor. (Durability Down/Armor Break)
-2 S-rank against Ko's CON. (Neck Stabs)

----------------------------

After Erebus would slash diagonally, his blade came back around to draw blood again between the neck and spine. He moved his feet for a tough hold on his ground support, Using his free arm as Ko would try to pull out of point blank range, Erebus nimbly showed what his superior strength was capable of, locking Ko's extended arm between Erebus' left ribcage and his own bicep, which would slide around Ko's forearm and tightly close. Unless stopped now, Ko would have his attacking arm stuck, hanging limply behind the Rogue's spleen, although the cloak would protect Erebus if Ko attempted any pinching or funny business.

To interrupt and close the fight unless Ko had a proper out on Erebus near instant follow through, Ko would feel his body lift off the ground and be slammed like a wrestler; traveling with Ko's entire body over Erebus own shoulder for a might avalanche of momentum. The movement was fast, aggressive, and of obvious martial stature. The ground, should this final blow connect, would crater the dirt. Revealing just how superhuman these two actually were in their current forms.

Due to the 13 centimetres of knife sliding through Ko's cervical spine region, he would feel the encompassing stun and have little chance to properly stop Erebus from combo-ing to end the fight, though, Erebus, would react accordingly in the off chance something happened, and something he could not foresee. But worst come to worst, Erebus would get his friend medical attention, Ko should drop as his vital was enough to win this fight already, as Ko's endurance wouldn't be able to handle the rapid blitz of damage that he was taking to his body threshold right now.

Spells:

Mana: 450/1450

(Claiming the win on this post due to a vital hit, Endurance compared to Strength, and allotted time frame given, Erebus would keep his combo going.)

321