Ban's Vassal! One Strike to Victory!

Another Secret Still:

Caelus took a moment to catch his breath, before standing up straight to face the mysterious man.  Countless questions ran through his mind.  Who is he?  Why is he following me?  And who the hell is Ban?  The last one seemed a good place to start, and so Caelus asked, "Who is Feiyan, and why is he, or she, having you follow me?"

The man smirked and suppressed a chuckle.  "She, prefers to be called Ban.  And i am afraid i will not be answering your question just yet."  He swept his cloak to the side and put his hand to his hip.

This swagger made Caelus furious, and he yelled out before the man could continue, "What the hell is that supposed to mean?!  You follow me for days but you won't tell me a thing?"  He clenched his fists tight at his sides, fighting the urge to tear into the man.



Lifting his other hand from his side, the man held it up in front of him.  "It means what i said before.  I will not be answering your question, yet.  Do not let your anger numb your thoughts."  Caelus took a deep breath at the mans words and released his grip.  The man smiled and continued, "There, now we can talk.  I said before that i am a Vassal of Ban.  And she has instructed me to test you, for reasons i will not yet explain.  I propose the following, that you and i are to spar, without the use of weapons.  And if you are able to strike me once, i will reveal all the rest that i know.  Do you find this acceptable?"

Caelus put on a sly grin.  "You want to fight me?  Are you sure?  I'm a well known gladiator back in Reim, and i won't be holding back.  You might get hurt."  He said, as he took Ripple off of his belt and laid it on top of a nearby stone.

The Vassal smiled.  "I promise to hold true to your standards."  He removed his cloak, revealing a black Keikogi underneath.  The cloak he merely tossed to the side, where it landed on a dried log.

Caelus sized up his opponent, noting his height and reach advantage on him.  "My best chance is either a strike to an unusual area, or a combination of blows to draw his attention away from the real one."  His hand felt too light, ripple's missing weight making him feel slightly off balance.  Caelus always had a weapon of some kind when he fought, because going bare-fisted into the arena was a death sentence for all but a true fanalis.  He had grown jealous of his mothers raw power when his career started, and now those feelings came rushing back.

With a serious look on his face, Caelus initiated the brawl.  He rushed in straight forward, fist raised to strike the vassal in the face.  This was of course parried easily, the vassal merely knocking it to the inside.  Grunting from the exertion, Caelus kept his momentum up and vaulted up and over himself to bring a hammer kick down on the vassal's shoulder, only to realize that the vassal had moved underneath him during his jump.  A quick upward palm struck Caelus in the spine, and sent him sprawling.  He recovered quickly, but the vassal was already on top of him, another palm strike coming in towards his rib cage.  Instead of dodging, Caelus grabbed the vassal by his arm and turned to throw him, using the vassal's arm like a lever.  But something was off.  when he pulled the vassals arm bent inwards, dissipating the force.  It then suddenly flipped around and Caelus found himself being thrown the other direction.  He landed badly, his arm pushing into his gut and knocking the wind out of him.

He struggled to get up, gasping for air.  Caelus' mind was racing to figure out how the vassal managed to reverse the throw.  "Are you confused?"  The vassal taunted.  "I thought you were a renowned gladiator.  Surely you were able to see through my attack?"  Caelus could feel the bile rising in his throat, but forced it down.  He had to relax or he would never be able to win.

Wait, I don't need to win.  I just need to strike him...  A plan began forming in his head, one that would require a lot of endurance and commitment.

Standing again, Caelus waved the vassal in, inviting him to strike.  The vassal crouched slightly, and Caelus swore he saw the man's muscles shift slightly.  The vassal then exploded forward at incredible speed using an offensive form of Avoid and Evade, and threw his palm into Caelus' jaw before the gladiator could react.  Caelus spun around, but somehow managed to stay on his feet.  His lip hurt, and he tasted blood, but the plan was already working.  He waved the vassal forward again, but this time rolled beside his frontal assault. and came up around to launch a jump kick at the vassal's back.  Impossibly, the man merely twisted the joints on his elbows around completely, blocking and redirecting the kick to the ground with Denied!, before whipping himself around to face Caelus again.

Once more Caelus invited the vassal to strike, but found this time that the man had a disappointed look on his face.  Instead of attacking directly, his arms and legs became like rubber, and wound around Caelus' body with Constrictor before he could react.  The man squeezed tightly, and Caelus found himself totally immobilized save for his head.  The vassal brought his own head close to Caelus', "What a shame.  I know Ban had high hopes for you, but i fail to see what she found so interesting.  Your heart is in the right place surely, but you lack everything else a true warrior requires.  Now then, i'll be relea-"  There was a sick crunch, and a flash of blood, but in the next moment the vassal had released Caelus and clutched at his own face.

Caelus shakily got to his feet, and wiped the blood off of his forehead from the headbutt.  "I didn't... Have to win.  I just, had, to pass."  His breathing was ragged, but despite that and his injuries Caelus had a crazy smile on his face.  "You said it yourself, that i only needed to land one blow.  And when it became clear that victory wasn't an option, i let you think that you had won.  I drew you into a moment where you had all the power, and then stole it from you."  He laughed for a moment but fell backwards onto his ass, prompting a grunt of pain and then another chuckle.

The vassal looked over at him with a mixture of bewilderment and intrigue, and then he too started laughing.  "Very clever, Caelus.  I was completely enraptured by your performance.  Never did i imagine being taken for a fool as such.  If you like, i will tell you now whatever you ask of me that i am able to answer.  Well done."

~WC: 1228/1000~