Another day, another investigation that Aeris followed through the lands of Fiore, strange to her the difference from her home countries seemed to draw her in, she knew she should go back into hiding, yet she found herself unable to leave despite finishing the business that brought her to Fiore in the first place. No matter, she was alone anyway, although that meeting with Khalfani was rather interesting along with his offer. A guild huh? It sounded simple yet excited when coming from him, it lit the fire of curiosity she had for it.

But today was not the day for that, Aeris business was in the city of Baska, amongst all the interesting things she heard about it by far was the one thing that attracted tourists from afar and provided quite a profitable sum for others, A fighting tournament at the Great Baska Rock, even after twenty years of walking along the  lands the one thing she always saw draw excitement from the crowd, violence. In a way she resented her once fellow humans, they hunt the vampires and call them monsters, but what is one that receives the thrill of excitement from such violence? Perhaps Humanity was just a different type of monster, in either case she obviously wasn't one of them anymore for sure.

Red hair flowing down to her mid-back, her cool blue gaze on the arena area in the distance Aeris was preparing to face the two reasons that brought her all the way to Beska. Two brothers, Orion and Belt, the two particular fighters had committed arsenal of their village by burning the few of the neighbors inside, the living seeking retribution for the murders of their non-relative kin, Aeris would love nothing more than to see her village rise once again so someone killing there own. That stirred a fire in her she knew she was going to let loose, she just had to join the tournament..it was that simple to get to these guys, She was going to make them regret thinking the tournament could protect them!

A fire in her belly, Aeris eys glimmered red as she began walking in her black boots, her hands in the pocket of her burgundy jacket as she speed walked her way to the sign up area for the tournament. She didn't enjoy violence against other people but sometimes special cases could be made, like right now.

Inching closer to Great Baska Rock entrance, which in this case was just some sturdy wooden steps secured with a very thick roping, she wasn't the only one walking on it either, she began to think maybe a sorcerer had enchanted it with greater durability, it was a impressive feat nonetheless either way. Stopping sort of a small line Aeris waited patiently for her time to come, finally arriving at the sign up desk.

"I would like to join the tournament please." Aeris asked the brown haired lady at the desk with some green eyes, "Name and age please."
"Fio, 19" The women waved her off as she wrote it down with one hand, "Go on then." Aeris continued to walk deeper into the area where the fighters waited, settling into a corner while closing her eyes until the match began.

WC:550

The winter air was really starting to piss off the scholar from Desierto. His home country never had to deal with the frosted water that hurt his lungs. The coldness was the second worst thing about Fiore. The first would be dealing with the swill they called alcohol. It was a downright shame as a stiff one would have really warmed him up. The best he could do was pull up his coat a bit. It was a rare occurrence that Amir was not showing off as much skin. His current attire was more battle ready than sexy.

The current wolf found himself in Baska handling some business. Amir wanted to prepare himself for the future of the guild Khalfani was building up. He could not stay weak forever and actually wanted to get some sparring in. The best place to get training he was told would be the great baska rock. That was why Amir came to sign up for the competition. He would use the chance to look for talents as well. The guild would need a certain amount of offensive mages that could help defend the place.

Amir found his offensive magic taking a severe beating recently. The experiments that made his magic unstable had finally settled. He pretty much lost all his magic to an extent. Amir found himself able to heal better. That was it. The curse magic he was so proud of became weaker by tons. Amir was almost driven mad with disappointment. The mage sucked it up and was able to get over it when he realized being a healer was just as useful. Amir speculated that the magic would not go far if he did not utilize it properly. Amir decided it would be in his best interest not to fight alone.

Amir was being honest with himself as he was feeling nervous. The butterflies in his stomach were trying to gnaw out of him, some of them even tried coming out of his throat, it was making him feel nauseous and a little woozy. The scholar still moved forward. He refused to allow himself to give up before he could even start.

“Hello. I would like to sign up for duo battles.” The sign up official gave him the paperwork. It included a section on asking if he had a partner available. He filled out the paperwork marking that he was alone. Amir was moved to the stage to wait for his partner and his enemies for the battle.

On the stage feeling the wind blowing, Amir started to stretch. The fight did not start and he was getting ready. Amir did not turn around to greet his partner, as the enemies were coming on stage as well. “I can handle all the support. Feel free to blast them to your heart's content. If you have more support let me know. The fight will become a lot more difficult if I have to go offensive. Not impossible, just more difficult.” Amir spoke while seizing the enemies up. His mind is already looking for possible weaknesses to exploit.

[516]

"Mmm, it seems we only have double battles scheduled today, is that alright?" Aeris simply nodded to the question she had fought many times in recent years, humans and wild creature's alike but she had rarely, nay she couldn't recall the last time she had someone side by side with her, she was a bit excited about it deep down, "Great, there's a match about to happen right now, you're partners up ahead, go on now girl"

Walking through the corridor of the arena, Aeris could feel the winter chill that Baska had rumbling through it's heath and hearth this time of year, Aeris hair gently swaying in the wind as she made her way down,  she took careful steps she recalled a memory of watching her dad practice his blade and martial arts skills, she thought of it so silly back then but now after all this time..she appreciated the dedication he had to keep training everyday despite no longer being a Jayan soldier, with Khalfani's offer she imagined she would need to get stronger, learn more things, it would be the first time she had a proper home in a long time and she would like to make sure it was well equipped both with weapons and armor, as well as good fighters if such a event that called for force transpire, she would be ready.

A figure down the hall near an exit Aeris could only guess that would be her partner for the day. Walking up to the lone figure they didn't exchange much in pleasantries, she imagined with the way the fights were set up a friend today could be a enemy tomorrow.

"A supporter huh? I suppose today is thy lucky day, I happen to excel at offensive play. Today shall be a good day for both of us." she replied turning a side eye to the man before her, "Fio." She muttered as the opponents on the other side revealed themselves, "A tid bit of information, are opponents are brothers named Orion and Belt, Orion possesses Fire Magic, while his brother Belt, uses Quake magic. easy enough to handle, big guy?" Aeris asked as they continued walking towards the center of the arena.

Closer in view the new duo would see a pair of two dirty blonde hair men, to the left one with shorter hair and the longer one to the right sporting a small ponytail as most of there hair was left hanging in front. The announcer asked if both teams were ready and Aeris nodded, waiting for her partner to nod as well, then the brothers.

"Alright...the match begins in..1..2..3! START!" The announcer began soaring upwards to not get caught in the battle. Immediately Orion opened his left hand with a gleeful smile as a magic circle appeared underneath him as a fireball grew around the center of his palm expanding before it turned into a raging fireball that shot forward nearly at the same time as the other brother spell caused the ground to extend and grow into sharp pillars jolting out from the ground. In almost the same fashion Aeris hands extended out as a magic circle appeared underneath her but than another forming around the first, she was dual casting spells.

The first spell created a dome like structure, the dome have split between darkness and ice as it enclosed as the two spells hit, the dome holding out for a few seconds to decrease the power of the spell long enough that both her dome and their spells disappeared into the ether as Aeris successfully defended them. "Going in."

Rushing in, Aeris secondary spell finally kicked in as a scythe was created in her hands, moving forward Aeris swung her hips in a circular motion while swinging, the scythe extending to cut into Belt's side causing a large enough gash that they began to bleed enough for medical aid to come, she was leaving the other guy for her partner to handle.

-Exit-
WC:694
TWC:1,244

“I am…. I wish we would have come up with a plan first.” Amir did not have enough time to introduce himself to his partner. The fight had started too quickly. Amir was on the slow side. He could not run and keep up with the way she had moved. The speed in which this mysterious partner took out an opponent was interesting. It was a bit sad that she did not wait to come up with a semi decent plant. Amir had to give her props for the strength of her offensive magic. Amir could remember the times when he could do stuff like that. This time he was holding the place back. She took out one but did not stop the other from preparing to punch her with a flaming fist.

“Your weary bones require sleep. Let the night embrace you and grant your rest.” Amir muttered the spell quickly. He indicated right next to his partner. She would be embraced by the spell but it would also envelop the enemy. The enemy running towards her was slowing down a lot. Amir had taken a careful aim at Orion’s neck. His magic was weak but a critical hit would be enough to take him down. Amir was using the example of being flexible with the weak taking on the strong. The concept was what Amir wanted to test in the battle anyway. He went with a specific spell to slow the enemy down to grant him more casting time, as well as increase the chance for him to hit.

“Scheherazade” The spell that was uttered gathered mana to the tips of his fingers. He pointed towards the neck of Orion, he could only hope his aim was true as the spell took off. The spell that was normally used to heal flew at the man’s throat. The spell was only a split second to slow it and hit Orion in the throat. It did not stop Orion from getting his fiery fist off on smacking his partner in the back. Amir was unsure of the power of the spell that hit her. Amir was lucky his hit was critical. The normal healing spell started to choke him. The spell choked Orion and he passed out. Amir made sure to retract the spell before any damage could be permanent. Amir had no reason to kill an opponent that did not wish to kill him.

“The winners of this duo battle are the Amir and Aeris team! Give them a round of applause.” They had won the battle and Amir got a decent amount of experience. He would help Aeris heal up as needed. He did not want her to be scared. It would ruin her beauty. Amir went to collect his portion of the reward after she was healed up. He did not get the chance to talk to her too much as he had to prepare to head north. This battle did not take too much time but he was already running late.


[Exit]

[505 | 1,021]