Jaeger Saga: The Dancing Cat
by revanninja

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Few things in the world can compare to stepping out into the sun and hearing people cheer for you. As the Imp stepped from the shadows of the tunnel his eyes swept over the arena. It was a stone area simple and plain with more than enough space to fight in. Several feet from the floor a wall arose which then led to the seats of the stadium where several dozens of players could be seated. All and all it was a place that made no bones about what it was. A combat arena where Players could battle players.

His eyes traced to his opponent , a tall Cait Sith Player. She was garbed in lose Ninja like armor that was clearly meant for a female form but was not the typical sexy garb most RPGs used. It had Armor plates on the shoulders long sleeves that came down to her wrist. Her legs were garbed in a tight pants with flexible armor covering the thighs tucked into armored boots. All of it was in shades of grays, Blacks, and with some lining of red along seams.

But it was the presence of the Odachi and her brown hair pulled up in a simple practical ponytail that really told him who she was. Raziel the Death Cat.

Death Cat Raziel was a vicious PVP player known for cutting through whole tournaments. She wasn't a ganker always her duels and fights were official and agreed upon. She was said to have fought Eugene 5 times lost 4 and one win. The one win from his understanding was before he claimed Gram.

As the both moved to take their places and as he studied her he knew she would study him. The question would be how much could they gleam from that. He reached down and drew his sword the Silver blade glittering in the sun. Raziel also drew her sword. It was attached via a belt to her waist with a simple flick the sheath was unhooked from the belt and with a pull the long blade was laid bare for him to see. The sheath clattered to the ground as the counter began the numbers floating between them.

With a mounting tension he observed her stance the blade was raised and pointing from her shoulder, her right hand having dominance in the grip. With such a long blade he had an advantage in reading her moves since from start of the blade movement to its transfer into a real swing the length would alter the timing meaning he had a better window to seeing openings. But she wasn't a well known PVPer for nothing so he doubted it would be that simple.

The counter reached Zero and with a screech the battle began. She launched herself at him in a pure power thrust. It was a move that left oneself too open so he dodged instead of deflecting intending to come in on her back. Well that was the plan her tail reaching up and hooking him by the throat as she passed completely derailed that.

The move yanked him off balance and caused him to fall on to his back. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Raziel turn her hands low. Rolling to avoid the low coming blade he barely dodge the blade as its tip scrapped off the ground and sliced towards his face. As he tumbled he could see out of the corner of his eye the tip stream by almost mockingly in how close it came.

Recovering from his tumble he planted his feet and brought his blade up his left hand resting on the flat of the blade to accept the second move of the Combo a downward swing. Odachis were Long swords and their weight and length was best used in downward swings that were difficult to avoid but they had issue his block took advantage of.

Since the edge was against the flat of his smaller one hand sword he pushed forward letting her sword scrape across his blade. Since all Katanas were curved and his blade was straight it created a lever like build and since the weight was behind him the swords energy was not pressing on where their blades crossed. Suddenly inside her guard with her blade out of position He took full advantage of it.

A quick pop up of the blade forced Raziel's sword away from him creating room for him to swing his sword. Bringing it around and down from his shoulder to hip he sliced from his crouched position aiming for her legs. She stepped back still trying to recollect her blade only the scrapping of his blade against her thigh armor saving her from taking it full on. He transferred his Blade from his right hand into his left in a reverse grip and swung tracing a path back from his hip to just under his ribs. Again She stepped back her armor keeping her legs intact. As his blade came around he brought his right hand up to catch the pommel of the hilt in his palm and then pushed the blade into a thrust.

A solid hit as her step back did not bring her legs out of range of the longer thrust. He popped his wings forcing himself into a tumble to avoid the sword Raziel had regained control of and brought down where his back was. Coming out of the tumble his Sword back in his right hand, his left came out from under his short cloak clutching 2 throwing blades, which he promptly threw at her.

Throwing blades weren't powerful weapons instead often being used to poison or give some other like status effect. In this tournament such things were not allowed so they were untainted with status effecting powders. They did make handy distractions though.

As Raziel set herself and deflected the airborne missiles with an expert wiggle of her sword he chanted a quick spell. The spell Dark Fire was a common Darkness spell that did only a moderate amount of damage but weakened those afflicted with it making them more easier to hurt and able to deal out damage less. It was allowed in the rules but just barely.

Casting it he launched the Black Flames at Raziel which exploded in front of her trying to engulf her in the splash damage. Proving that she was indeed worthy of her reputation she jumped up, taking to the air to avoid the flames and their effects. He looked up and set himself to receive her blow.

What he was not prepared for was her to throw her sheath at him. In the tussle of the battle he had lost sight of it and somewhere along from deflecting the Daggers to now she must have retrieved it. It slammed into him knocking his stance open. Desperately trying to reset himself and handle the swiftly falling Raziel her Odachi's lethal blade bared and raised.

Both knew this exchange would most likely be it and it all came down to who can strike first.

As both Swords swung their edges keen and deadly a wall of white swept over them both and everything around them.