Blade In Hand[Prodigal Swordsman/NoM]

Job Name: Blade In Hand
Job Rank: B
Job Location: Reim
Job Reward: 200xp | 15k huang
Job Prerequisites: Practice What I Teach
Job Overview:
You have proven to Breaker that you wont hurt yourself or be a total embarrassment with a real sword. He allows you to register for a proper match using a true blade. Your opponent is a colleague of Breaker's named Korinna.

Enemy Name: Korinna
Rank: B
Needed damage to take down: A
Description/background: Korinna is a Reim native who grew up learning to fight from her Gladiator father. When her brother died at a young age, her father decided his daughter would learn, same as a son would have. She has had countless fights in the Coliseum, mostly at the lower ranks as she learned to hone her skills and has an impressive win record.

Abilities: Korinna wields a segmented sword that inflicts B-tier damage. When the segments are all connect, the sword is 1.5 meters long, when extended, the whip-like sword is approximately 4 meters long with segments of the sword every .5 meters.

Deflecting Whip – Korinna twirls in a circle, her blade extended to twirl around her, deflecting up to A-tier damage.

Stabbing Whip – Korinna drives her blade into the ground at her feet and the blade extends at high speed, coming up in a location of her choosing up to five meters away to inflict B-tier damage.

Sharp Jab – With her sword not segmented, she jabs the blade forward to inflict B-tier damage.

Painful Constriction – Korinna extends her blade in a whip-like fashion to wrap around an opponent’s legs, dealing C-tier damage and immobilizing them for two posts.

Razor Boa – Korinna extends her blade in a whip-like fashion to wrap around an opponent’s throat, dealing A-tier damage.

Besting the ten novice gladiators had brought Zion a bounty of confidence. Though he still had sore bruises from where they had managed to land blows upon him, the swordsman in training still thought himself to be a competent warrior by now. It was not quite arrogance, but it was close. Zion marched into the dining hall of the barracks with a wide grin hidden beneath his cloth wrapped face. The joy could be seen in his eyes however, in the pep with which he stepped. Atticus and Bear quietly moved over to grant him a place to sit. Unlike before, there was no jeering or joking at the masked rookie's expense. No pranks bumping him off the bench. Just silent acceptance as the men all kept their heads down and stuffed their faces.

The ten rookies were not united in thought. Some of them were embarrassed at having lost to Zion. Some had come to respect him. A couple of them feared him.  But regardless of their reasoning, there was now not a single one among them who wanted to find trouble with the youth. Zion found this to be a pleasant change of pace and joined in the meal with eager haste to fill his belly.  Yesterdays training had managed to take a lot out of him and his body was still slightly injured. The youth was used to eating plenty in order to rejuvenate his magoi. It truly fascinated him that building up his body required the same sort of fuel. Eating and drinking were crucial parts of being alive. Despite having an artificial form these principles still held true for Zion.

As the rookie pondered to himself, Breaker shouted from the entrance. "Rookie, I've listed you for a match with an old friend of mine. You'll be fighting Korina in three days. I'm lifting your ban on real weapons." The words dropped like a bomb across the table. The sound of moving utensils went silent and the ten gladiators all turned to stare at Zion with horror in their eyes. Zion himself was oblivious to their gazes at first, too caught up in excitement as he closed his eyes and silently shouted joy in his mind. but eventually the gazes grew too hot. He opened his eyes and realized the others were all either sighing or shaking their heads looking at him with the pity one gives a man on a suicide mission.

"What did I miss?..."

His response was everyone turning to look at Breaker, but the man's back was already receding down the hallway. "Let the kid find out for himself." These departing words made the then exchange a quick series of glances between each other. After a few breaths, they all nodded at once and then went back to eating having collectively agreed with their looks to not say another word until the match. This was an unspoken rule between the students of Breaker. When Breaker arranges a match himself, it never spells good for you. But try to warn someone of what to expect? You're the next one he is arranging matches for and isolates you so nobody can give you any information. To make matters worse, the old man stays with you the entire time and puts you through hellish training right up until the match!

"What...? Come, what am I not getting here!? Is this Korrina person strong?"



"Get out there, Rookie. Show me what you've learned." Said Breaker with a malicious smirk. Zion eyed the veteran fighter for a long moment. The past few days he had noticed Breaker wasn't expecting him to win this fight at all. But now the man's intentions were so plain on his face it hurt to look at. The youth felt indignant, looked down upon, underestimated. With a huff, he walked past his sword tutor and stepped out onto the Coliseum battlegrounds. A new weapon and shield were in his hands, a new leather cloak about his body, and familiar white bandages covering his face. The crowd saw him arrive and boos instantly sounded across the arena as Zion's "fans" recognized him.

"I'm popular as ever I see."

Shaking his head, the warrior stepped towards the center of the fighting grounds to meet his opponent. A woman, beautiful and dangerous at once. Her aura was like that of a thorny rose. Zion remembered how the ten gladiator bros acted and his foot steps hesitated. Gulp. Zion swallowed down his fear and took the last few steps forward to take his place. "Fufufu~ Don't look so scared of me. Breaker said you had guts, this wont be any fun if you cry or piss your pants little boy~" Her raspy voice had an implicitly seductive tone, but her works only made Zion feel repulsion and disgust. "Breaker you bastard, what have you gotten me into!?" The announcer had been introducing the two to the crowd all this while and it was at this moment his voice boomed.

"FIGHT!"

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WC: 839/1500

Equipment:

Korrina licked her lips and advanced with sword in hand drawing a straight line for Zion's head with a Sharp Jab. Not to be outdone, Zion stepped forwards as well in rejection of his preference to retreat. Though it went against his nature, the youth was determined to win using the principles of fighting he had learned in recent days. To put Breaker's teachings to the test. "Take the initiative, don't let her set the pace." Zion reminded himself as he hefted the bronze shield up to bat away her sword. From behind the shadow of his shield, Zion saw his opponent wide open!

The rookie flashed a grin beneath his mask of bandages. He stepped forward and drove his blade up towards Korrina's exposed stomach in a vicious stab. He sough to settle this battle in one bow to prove his strength to Breaker. It was far too late by the time he noticed the strange whistle of steel coming from his left. Korinna had already performed a swift whipping motion with her wrist. The segmented sword snapped down and slashed Zion's left calf. The Rookie didn't even feel the hit at first. All he knew was that his left leg was suddenly buckling mid step.

"E-Eh?"

Zion was shocked for a moment but that same whistle of steel sounded again. He looked up in time to see Korinna's segmented blade in action with his own eyes. The specter of death seemed to manifest behind that serpent-like blade. Zion quickly hid behind his bronze shield to block the attack. He felt the segmented blade land on his shield but was stilllicked by a flash of steel which had reached beyond his defenses. He felt his leg now for sure. The searing hot pain along his back from his latest wound had woken up his nerves.

"I need to interrupt her!."

Zion thought to himself with time paid for by another lash against his shield and back. As the wicked blade receded, Zion put all the strength he could into his left leg and forced it to work with all its might. Many strands and fibers of muscle had been severed. The remaining few damaged themselves and screamed with pain. But the Rookie grit his teeth and stood. He let that agony become a roar that echoed throughout the stadium even among the fervor of the crowd.

Wild eyes and the Gladiator's Blade emerged from behind the Bronze Shield in a relentless gambit. Korinna had already taken a step back the moment she saw Zion struggle to his feet. The sadistic woman covered her mouth and made an expression of sick joy. "Fufufu~ How wonderful! I love it when a toy has spirit!"  She  began to spin and her Deflection Whip danced in a circle around her. Each revolution of the whip expertly defended against strike after strike from Zion. The rookie tried swinging and stabbing his blade from every angle he could think of but it was all unable to break Korinna's defense.

Breaker watched from the sideline and shook his head with a sigh seeing how the fight was going. "Just as I thought, you play right into that bad taste of hers..." The old veteran had smug smile on his face as he counted down the number of strikes Zion made. "Thee, two, one." After twelve consecutive strikes Zion was winded and his flurry of attacks came to a halt. The moment he stopped, Korinna's twirling stopped in kind and she stood there admiring the sight before her.

Zion had been aggressive trying to step into Korinna's range too deeply. The consequences he reaped for this was a body covered in scratches and scrapes. Even his mask had been cut up here and there. Red stains spotted his clothing and the wrappings around his head. A few tufts of silver hair even escaped their cloth bindings. Anxiety filled the rookie's heart. He feared a defeat well enough, but having his identity exposed was an even deeper terror. Thankfully, he had earned some time to catch his breath as Korinna appreciated her handy work.

"Ah, the look of a battered young man on the end of his rope."

Korinna watched the blood drip from Zion's figure and his legs quivered just to keep himself upright. It brought a perverse smile to her lips as he unleashed her Razor Boa technique upon him. The desperate fighter rose his shield  to block the attack. The segmented blade wrapped around the shield and ripped it from Zion's arm dislocating his shoulder in the process. Zion muffled a groan of pain with a clenched jaw as he watched Korrina toss his defenses aside. Despair came over him. Now there was only the blade in hand.  Would that along be enough with a body so broken? The thought broke spirit and for a moment all was lost. Zion stopped moving. The light of hope faded from his eyes and he did what he had boasted he wouldn't. He gave up.

The Gladiator's Blade fell in sadness to Zion's side as his stance crumbled. Korinna lost the sadistic joy in her own eyes and made a disappointed frown. "Done already? I thought you could do more than this since Breaker had sent me a new pupil." The woman flicked her wrist and the segmented blade retracted back to sword form. She took two steps towards the defenseless Zion who simply stood there looking down in shame. "That old bastard only trains people who catch his eye. Usually they've got more guts than this and go down fighting." Korinna rose her sword to finish the blow, punctuating her speech alongside an overhead slash. "It's a pity you broke so easily.

The youth was not even aware of Korinna's approach nor did her words find his ears. Zion's lifeless gaze wasn't here, it was lingering on the scene of his father's death. Mikael kept his eyes one Zion right up until they had closed for the final time. Tears were falling from Zion's face as he recalled how Mikael had looked at him with such pride. When Mikael made that request of Zion to become a "Great Person" the elderly magician gave Zion the sense that he would surely achieve this  goal with ease. But the road had not been easy. The world beyond that tower he knew was one full of danger and deception. He was tired of face the winds of a never ending storm. His heart yearned for those peaceful days back home with his father. But those times were long gone. Only a grave and memories remained to mark them.

A golden white bird of light fluttered across Zion's field of view. It tore down the projection of his past and a mysterious draw pulled his chin upwards to see Korinna poised to perform an attack. A ludicrous confident bubble up from within Zion without warning as he chose to advance towards his fate once more. Give up? He had become a storm kitsune. Zion was now one who lived within the storm and reveled in its destructive whirlwinds. Zion chose to fight and squeezed his grip on the Gladiator's Blade tighter. Even in his self defeat, his hand had stubbornly refused to drop his only weapon.

The birds grew in number as a small flock of fate followed his arm as he slowly brought his sword to center and shifted his feet to reset his stance. Korinna's slash then come down across empty air as Zion side stepped at the last moment.  A crescent slash arced across Korinna's arm and then returned to the center point between Zion and herself. His eyes were calm now, the last of the tears had shed and what remained was fast drying. A slight smile of faith in himself painted Zion's expression like a radiant sun. It was too bright for Korinna.

"No. No, no, that's all wrong. This isn't how you're supposed to look!"

Korinna grasped her wound as she stepped backwards a couple steps only to stop and used the same hand to dishevel her platinum hair in frustration. Red stained her locks and forehead as well as her forearm which wielded the Segmented Blade. Zion stepped forward without sympathy and pursued her with a stab to the shoulder. The aggrieved Korinna had totally lost the focus of her mental state. She snarled and lunged to thrust her blade into Zion's own shoulder and the two exchanged blows. Blood spilled out of both parties as the broke away from each other.

"Why!? Why don't you grimace in pain? Where did the quivering in your legs go?"

Korinna was in disbelief as the resolve hardened Zion strode towards her again. Korinna screamed out loud and whipped her arm back. The segmented sword curled back in preparation to strike. Swoosh! The steel swept for Zion's neck, but failed to hit anything as the warrior suddenly fell forward flat on his face. Zion had lost too much blood and his body was running on adrenaline. But now he was a spent candle. "..." Korinna was speechless. In her panicked state it was an undeniable truth that her control over the segmented blade faltered. Has Zion last just a bit longer, would it now be her face first in the sands? A chill ran down her spine at the thought.

Booming cheers erupted from the ground assaulting Zion's ears as his consciousness failed him slowly after his body had. "Aaah....I lost. Just listen to those cheers for her..." Zion muttered to himself. But his gradually shutting eyes opened wide for a brief second as he heard voices among all the shouting. They were chanting his name. "Sword! King! Sword! King! Sword! King!" The cadence was undeniable. "They are cheering...for me?" This was the last conscious thought to run through Zion's mind before all turned to dark and his defeat was decided. Though Korinna had won the fight, Zion had won the crowd's adoration over after his display of grit and skill.

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WC: 2512/1500