Post by Raem Kichishima on Oct 2, 2009 9:49:55 GMT -5
Before we start, let it be known that I am about to completely beast on this post. Therefore, to save you all some trouble, I've taken the liberty of separating the two sections of this long post with three asterisks. For those of you unfamiliar with those, the marker is these: "***"
Everything above the asterisks is most important to Corina, and should be read by her very carefully. Everything below is important to Altair, and should be read by him carefully.
With that said, let us continue...
Well, it almost worked, at least.
Raem had kept forgetting that he was currently fighting an opponent who, by various standards, is considered quite amazing. After all, she was blind. How many blind people out there could swing a sword and attack, let alone have the skill and technique of a trained swordsman in every blow?
It was a puzzling aspect, but Raem had finally come to a theory as to how the blind girl could evade his Serial Nos hand and know where to jump to get out of the dark mist of Serial Pitch.
Usually, if the body looses the abilities of one of it's five senses, it compensates by putting more effort into the other five. Since miss Lucifer has lost her sight, there must be another way, another sense, that she uses to "see" the world. It was just a matter of finding out which.
Taste? Can't be.
Touch? If you have to touch your opponent in order to see them, then the only thing you'll feel is their cold blade cutting through your body.
Smell? Possibly. Even though smell had some limitations, it was somewhat possible to train it to such a degree it can compensate for sight. Though I would hate to be in the same room as a fart, if that was the case.
Hearing? Again, probably. In fact, the most probable, because it would actually explain a lot. Such as how she was able to get through the first wave of Serial Pitch that covered the entire site a couple of posts ago.
Even though Raem still couldn't be entirely sure what it was, he was able to figure out something. Whatever sense it was, it created a barrier around her. Anything that passed into the barrier she could "see," and she could attack. How wide that barrier was, Raem couldn't say, but, judging from the way miss Lucifer did battle, it probably covered the entire room they were in right now.
In conclusion, unless you were an incredibly skilled mage who specialized in illusions (which we're about to see in this exact same post) it was impossible to try and get away from her once you were in that barrier. No matter how many magics you use to try and hide, she will find you.
Therefore, guerrilla warfare against such an opponent was out of the question. Instead, the best tactic to use was a full frontal-assault.
So that's what it would be. A straight up, classical duel where each opponent charged at each other with all the force they could muster.
Of course, Raem isn't that kind of fighter, as you probably know by now.
Not only could Raem use the fundamentals of swordsmanship against Corina, but he could use the mere physics of it against her as well.
Allow me to explain. Stance is about the most important thing a swordsman can have next to an actual sword and her life (I say "her", because we are in fact, fighting a woman and it's easier to visualize). With the proper stance, a swordsman can increase the power of her blows ten fold. But stances serve another, more important purpose.
A weapon is heavy, no matter what weapon it is. It's very easy for someone who is untrained with a sword or a spear to loose their balance simply because of the weight of the weapon. Any swordsman/fist-fighter/mage knows that balance is everything in a fight. If you fall down during a battle, especially a battle of life and death, chances are your opponent is going to pounce on you like a lion does a newly fallen wildebeest. What happens then? Usually, your dead.
Stances, the specialized positions of the body, are taught to a swordsman so that she can know how to move while holding a sword, so she doesn't fall on her rich, well-to-do knightly butt while she's fighting.
This is true for not only swordsmen, but for any kind of fighter or martial artist.
So, what kind of advantage does this give Raem over his opponent? Let's find out...
Raem walked-charged toward his opponent, the mist of Serial Pitch completely gone now and he was in plain view of everything. He knew that the next blow could possibly finish the entire fight, and that would have to be very, very careful this time around.
Since it was impossible to try any deceptive maneuvers against miss Lucifer, the only thing that would work was an attack that would rend her "sight" completely null. That is, an attack that would have to be initiated at point-blank range.
Raem's body movements could be read as completely neutral. He didn't have an offensive, or a defensive. There were multiple openings in his positioning, yet, one could tell that he wasn't entirely defenseless.
Engaging a swordsman in close-combat is a very, very bad idea, especially if you were unarmed. But Raem had something more than confidence underneath that pointy hat and those thick clothes.
He was having fun.
Even though, like miss Lucifer, we are taught that battle, that killing, is not a fun thing, Raem was taught something in addition. It is very important, especially if it's a life or death battle, to have some fun while fighting. Only in this way can you out-imagine your opponent, which is a thousand times better than merely out-thinking them.
So Raem, the most neutral person imaginable at this very moment, waited and watched to see where Miss Lucifer's blow would land, like a practice dummy that could only move forward into it's master's sword.
End Corina's section.
***
Altair should begin reading now.
Light streamed into the room, dazzling the vigilante swordsman/mage named Altair for a brief moment. Heroically, he charged into the fray and began to assault his opponents from behind.
And then, suddenly, he would find himself lying on his back with a massive headache and the white marble pillar he just ran into at full speed looming over him.
Once he got up, he would find himself in the same room as he was before, with the same people still fighting each other. The giant oak doors were still undamaged, and he was lying off to their right.
How did this happen? Let's look a little to the left and ask the corpse who only has one eye that's staring right at Altair.
It would tell us that, upstairs, a strange girl and a man with a bag over his head were laughing hysterically.
"That was great!" Hooted Nestor.
"~What should I make him run into next~?" Asked Amy.
The laughed and laughed as the projected image of Altair and the entire area below them was displayed in a very hologram-like manner out of the corpse's other eye, which Nestor had in his possession.
Allow me to explain.
The members of Crimson Lotus are professionals. Which means they are good, some of them the best, at what they do. Therefore, first of all, they're not as stupid as to leave one of their teammates out hanging in the middle of an open room without any support what-so-ever and leave him to battle against all odds and probably die. Even though Jaffar had great confidence in Raem's abilities, the fact remained that he was still mortal. Raem could die.
It was part of a strike team's responsibility to look out for all of it's members.
Second, a strike team is not composed of a rag-tag jumble of powers randomly selected out of a hat. At least, that's not the way it's done in Crimson Lotus. Every strike team of mages not only had powers, but powers that complimented their teammates.
For example: Amy is an A-rank mage that specializes in powerful illusions that can fill up an opponent's senses and literally immerse them in a world of her choosing. However, she must be looking at her opponents at all times. If she glances away from them for even an instant, the spell is broken and she's wide open for an attack. This also leaves her vulnerable to attacks from behind when she initiates her illusions.
Nestor is an A-rank mage who uses a weaponized version of the ancient clerical arts. He can manipulate the bodies of the dead, as long as they have been dead for only 30 minutes. If time has passed beyond that, then the corpse is too far into death's reach for him to do anything. One of Nestor's abilities allows him to be able to pluck an eye out of a corpse and use magic to let him see what it sees. Like a surveillance camera.
Now, both of these abilities are obviously quite useful, right? Well, when used together, they cover up each other's faults.
Right now, Amy is using Nestor's "surveillance camera" to transfer her illusions to the floor below them, more specifically at Altair. In this way, Amy can use her illusions to trap people at a distance, away from potential back-stabbers who could ambush her.
With Nestor and Amy working in tandem with one another, they cover up each other's weaknesses. Do you see how they compliment each other's abilities? Every strike team in Crimson Lotus is assembled with this in mind. Alone, they are formidable. Together, they are unstoppable.
Which, again, puts into perspective how utterly foolish it is to try and take them all out at once by yourself.
"Alright, well, as much fun as this has been" Nestor said, tossing the eye at Amy, "the carriage will be here soon, so I'd better help Raem clean up."
As Nestor got up and moved to go downstairs, Jaffar said: "No."
Nestor looked at him through the peep hole in his back with a puzzled expression.
"Jaffar, as skilled as you believe Raem to be, the odds are against him. You would risk his death?"
Amy giggled a little. Then, not taking her eyes off the image of Altair on the holograph projected by the dead man's eye, she said: "~Remmy's too smart to die. At least at the hands of those guys.~"
Jaffar smirked.
"Amy, make sure not to interfere too much in Raem's battle. If that Altair guy or the girl try and make a pass at the door again, stop them, but that's it.
Nestor, you stay here. I'm going to prep up the last of the treasure stores and wait for the carriage at the rendezvous point. It should be here in 2 more minutes."
Nestor sighed, and took his seat back next to Amy as Jaffar left the room.
"I guess I don't know him like you do," Nestor said, "but leaving that boy to fight off two dangerous mages like that is reckless, in my eyes."
Amy smiled, not taking her eyes off the screen of the dead man's eye.
"~Out of all of us, Jaffar knows the most about Raem. When they met, it was Jaffar who recruited Raem into the Crimson Lotus. I guess you could say he saw some...potential in him. A very cutting, intelligent potential. Potential that he didn't want to have to fight again.~"
"Hmmmm..."
"~Don't worry about Remmy! He'll be fine! He always is!~"
"You also seem to know a lot about him," Nestor said.
Amy just giggled a bit and watched the fight continue, waiting to see if that cute vigilante was going to try anything again.
[9/4]
Everything above the asterisks is most important to Corina, and should be read by her very carefully. Everything below is important to Altair, and should be read by him carefully.
With that said, let us continue...
Well, it almost worked, at least.
Raem had kept forgetting that he was currently fighting an opponent who, by various standards, is considered quite amazing. After all, she was blind. How many blind people out there could swing a sword and attack, let alone have the skill and technique of a trained swordsman in every blow?
It was a puzzling aspect, but Raem had finally come to a theory as to how the blind girl could evade his Serial Nos hand and know where to jump to get out of the dark mist of Serial Pitch.
Usually, if the body looses the abilities of one of it's five senses, it compensates by putting more effort into the other five. Since miss Lucifer has lost her sight, there must be another way, another sense, that she uses to "see" the world. It was just a matter of finding out which.
Taste? Can't be.
Touch? If you have to touch your opponent in order to see them, then the only thing you'll feel is their cold blade cutting through your body.
Smell? Possibly. Even though smell had some limitations, it was somewhat possible to train it to such a degree it can compensate for sight. Though I would hate to be in the same room as a fart, if that was the case.
Hearing? Again, probably. In fact, the most probable, because it would actually explain a lot. Such as how she was able to get through the first wave of Serial Pitch that covered the entire site a couple of posts ago.
Even though Raem still couldn't be entirely sure what it was, he was able to figure out something. Whatever sense it was, it created a barrier around her. Anything that passed into the barrier she could "see," and she could attack. How wide that barrier was, Raem couldn't say, but, judging from the way miss Lucifer did battle, it probably covered the entire room they were in right now.
In conclusion, unless you were an incredibly skilled mage who specialized in illusions (which we're about to see in this exact same post) it was impossible to try and get away from her once you were in that barrier. No matter how many magics you use to try and hide, she will find you.
Therefore, guerrilla warfare against such an opponent was out of the question. Instead, the best tactic to use was a full frontal-assault.
So that's what it would be. A straight up, classical duel where each opponent charged at each other with all the force they could muster.
Of course, Raem isn't that kind of fighter, as you probably know by now.
Not only could Raem use the fundamentals of swordsmanship against Corina, but he could use the mere physics of it against her as well.
Allow me to explain. Stance is about the most important thing a swordsman can have next to an actual sword and her life (I say "her", because we are in fact, fighting a woman and it's easier to visualize). With the proper stance, a swordsman can increase the power of her blows ten fold. But stances serve another, more important purpose.
A weapon is heavy, no matter what weapon it is. It's very easy for someone who is untrained with a sword or a spear to loose their balance simply because of the weight of the weapon. Any swordsman/fist-fighter/mage knows that balance is everything in a fight. If you fall down during a battle, especially a battle of life and death, chances are your opponent is going to pounce on you like a lion does a newly fallen wildebeest. What happens then? Usually, your dead.
Stances, the specialized positions of the body, are taught to a swordsman so that she can know how to move while holding a sword, so she doesn't fall on her rich, well-to-do knightly butt while she's fighting.
This is true for not only swordsmen, but for any kind of fighter or martial artist.
So, what kind of advantage does this give Raem over his opponent? Let's find out...
Raem walked-charged toward his opponent, the mist of Serial Pitch completely gone now and he was in plain view of everything. He knew that the next blow could possibly finish the entire fight, and that would have to be very, very careful this time around.
Since it was impossible to try any deceptive maneuvers against miss Lucifer, the only thing that would work was an attack that would rend her "sight" completely null. That is, an attack that would have to be initiated at point-blank range.
Raem's body movements could be read as completely neutral. He didn't have an offensive, or a defensive. There were multiple openings in his positioning, yet, one could tell that he wasn't entirely defenseless.
Engaging a swordsman in close-combat is a very, very bad idea, especially if you were unarmed. But Raem had something more than confidence underneath that pointy hat and those thick clothes.
He was having fun.
Even though, like miss Lucifer, we are taught that battle, that killing, is not a fun thing, Raem was taught something in addition. It is very important, especially if it's a life or death battle, to have some fun while fighting. Only in this way can you out-imagine your opponent, which is a thousand times better than merely out-thinking them.
So Raem, the most neutral person imaginable at this very moment, waited and watched to see where Miss Lucifer's blow would land, like a practice dummy that could only move forward into it's master's sword.
End Corina's section.
***
Altair should begin reading now.
Light streamed into the room, dazzling the vigilante swordsman/mage named Altair for a brief moment. Heroically, he charged into the fray and began to assault his opponents from behind.
And then, suddenly, he would find himself lying on his back with a massive headache and the white marble pillar he just ran into at full speed looming over him.
Once he got up, he would find himself in the same room as he was before, with the same people still fighting each other. The giant oak doors were still undamaged, and he was lying off to their right.
How did this happen? Let's look a little to the left and ask the corpse who only has one eye that's staring right at Altair.
It would tell us that, upstairs, a strange girl and a man with a bag over his head were laughing hysterically.
"That was great!" Hooted Nestor.
"~What should I make him run into next~?" Asked Amy.
The laughed and laughed as the projected image of Altair and the entire area below them was displayed in a very hologram-like manner out of the corpse's other eye, which Nestor had in his possession.
Allow me to explain.
The members of Crimson Lotus are professionals. Which means they are good, some of them the best, at what they do. Therefore, first of all, they're not as stupid as to leave one of their teammates out hanging in the middle of an open room without any support what-so-ever and leave him to battle against all odds and probably die. Even though Jaffar had great confidence in Raem's abilities, the fact remained that he was still mortal. Raem could die.
It was part of a strike team's responsibility to look out for all of it's members.
Second, a strike team is not composed of a rag-tag jumble of powers randomly selected out of a hat. At least, that's not the way it's done in Crimson Lotus. Every strike team of mages not only had powers, but powers that complimented their teammates.
For example: Amy is an A-rank mage that specializes in powerful illusions that can fill up an opponent's senses and literally immerse them in a world of her choosing. However, she must be looking at her opponents at all times. If she glances away from them for even an instant, the spell is broken and she's wide open for an attack. This also leaves her vulnerable to attacks from behind when she initiates her illusions.
Nestor is an A-rank mage who uses a weaponized version of the ancient clerical arts. He can manipulate the bodies of the dead, as long as they have been dead for only 30 minutes. If time has passed beyond that, then the corpse is too far into death's reach for him to do anything. One of Nestor's abilities allows him to be able to pluck an eye out of a corpse and use magic to let him see what it sees. Like a surveillance camera.
Now, both of these abilities are obviously quite useful, right? Well, when used together, they cover up each other's faults.
Right now, Amy is using Nestor's "surveillance camera" to transfer her illusions to the floor below them, more specifically at Altair. In this way, Amy can use her illusions to trap people at a distance, away from potential back-stabbers who could ambush her.
With Nestor and Amy working in tandem with one another, they cover up each other's weaknesses. Do you see how they compliment each other's abilities? Every strike team in Crimson Lotus is assembled with this in mind. Alone, they are formidable. Together, they are unstoppable.
Which, again, puts into perspective how utterly foolish it is to try and take them all out at once by yourself.
"Alright, well, as much fun as this has been" Nestor said, tossing the eye at Amy, "the carriage will be here soon, so I'd better help Raem clean up."
As Nestor got up and moved to go downstairs, Jaffar said: "No."
Nestor looked at him through the peep hole in his back with a puzzled expression.
"Jaffar, as skilled as you believe Raem to be, the odds are against him. You would risk his death?"
Amy giggled a little. Then, not taking her eyes off the image of Altair on the holograph projected by the dead man's eye, she said: "~Remmy's too smart to die. At least at the hands of those guys.~"
Jaffar smirked.
"Amy, make sure not to interfere too much in Raem's battle. If that Altair guy or the girl try and make a pass at the door again, stop them, but that's it.
Nestor, you stay here. I'm going to prep up the last of the treasure stores and wait for the carriage at the rendezvous point. It should be here in 2 more minutes."
Nestor sighed, and took his seat back next to Amy as Jaffar left the room.
"I guess I don't know him like you do," Nestor said, "but leaving that boy to fight off two dangerous mages like that is reckless, in my eyes."
Amy smiled, not taking her eyes off the screen of the dead man's eye.
"~Out of all of us, Jaffar knows the most about Raem. When they met, it was Jaffar who recruited Raem into the Crimson Lotus. I guess you could say he saw some...potential in him. A very cutting, intelligent potential. Potential that he didn't want to have to fight again.~"
"Hmmmm..."
"~Don't worry about Remmy! He'll be fine! He always is!~"
"You also seem to know a lot about him," Nestor said.
Amy just giggled a bit and watched the fight continue, waiting to see if that cute vigilante was going to try anything again.
[9/4]