Death, carnage, and donuts? Oh sweet lord donuts...

[Eternal Mage, Aether.]

The air is tense and the crowd is screaming for blood. Newbie gladiators often die just from the pressure of the crowd lone. It's midday and there's a high chance of rain. Despite knowing this, arena is sold out. The space for the fighters to duke it out is extremely large. The arena is in shape of a circle with 50meters long and wide. The arena has no ceiling so the weather may give someone an advantage or disadvantage. The battle ground is cover with scars of past battles. There are large boulders and tall trees scatter all over for cover. Man made mini lakes are place randomly throughout the battle grounds. Each lake is about 30m deep so being trap and be drown is very possible. On one side is the first fighter. ----

I come out with my expensive armor, demonic gauntlet on my left and a sword in its sheath still on my right side. On my face is a killer smile. The smile looks so natural, but yet unnatural. My eyes are wide open like I'm on some of drug, but it's the very opposite of it. On first glance, I may appear regal and noble to others. However, one look at my face will say something completely different. I stand in the middle of the arena waiting for my opponent.

“EVERYONE, TONIGHT YOU WILL SEE SOMETHING TRULY SPECIAL. YOU WILL SEE THE END, THE ENDER!” The crowd bust in joy in my rant. They shower me in confetti and roses all around me. I take a gentlemen bow to all angles of the arena. “Human true nature, these are my people. My adoring fans.” I mutter to myself.

The original personality and weakest of them are is not here. For I am here to give these people a show. Maybe murder them all later too, yeah, that's what I will do. It's been so long since I brought anyone to the end. I desire blood, I desire, begging, I desire destruction and I desire a donut. Yes, a donut would be great right now. Sweets in general be the most amazing thing to have right now. Where is that bitch opponent of mine? I heard this suppose to be a challenge for me.

Though I doubt that, after I am the strongest in the world. Admittedly, I no longer have access to my dark arts. SOOOOOOO MAYBE, I am weaker compared to myself three years ago. No matter the world is trash. Maybe I should learn to recycle, protecting the environment and stuff. “Where is that bitch ass opponent of mine?!” [Right, you should kill some of the crowd in the meantime.] As much as I love to do that, they might cancel the fight. [Curses, where is that bitch? We've been waiting for like, four seconds already!!!1] My voices get me, and man do I love them.

Rules: No one allow to attack until the next round.

[Merc]

"Don't worry, I'm here." Riley called, appearing in the entryway, she strode out of the darkness wearing her usual outfit. Eyeing up her opponent with an expression somewhere between boredom and distaste, she rolled her thin shoulders and came to a slow halt, allowing her bright green eyes to take in the scenery.

"Charming." She murmured, sounding unimpressed, though it was difficult to pinpoint what exactly she was referring to given the plethora of things that she was faced with. Allowing her eyes to settle on Ender, she crossed her arms over her chest, watching him intently.

She couldn't help but think that this person somehow seemed troublesome. Something about his expression made him seem detached, cruel even. Perhaps it was all just an act for the crowd? No, she was pretty certain that the feeling of blood lust that he gave off was genuine enough.

Unfolding her arms and allowing them to hang at her sides, she fell into silence, waiting for him to say or do something more.

[Eternal Mage, Aether.]

Finally my opponent comes out and GUESS WHO IT IS?! “Holy shit it's you. As these young kids say, OMFG!” I begin to laugh uncontrollable. To think the one who caused my release is in front of me. I get to kill her, and this crowd! I reach into my pocket and grab the medication that would hold me back.I begin to pour the contents out onto the ground. “To think I have this chance. You've release me from my prison! I must say thank you miss Riley! A simple rejection was sufficient to make that Aether to go back in slumber! YES THANK YOU SO MUCH!” You know, I reckon I might be due for a bath, a blood bath.

“Let me officially introduce myself. I am Joker, but otherwise known as Ender!” He hehe, I'm having trouble not to laugh. “I am a found and one of the strongest member of a guild once called Shark Fang. I'm also the adopted father of the current master. Who destroyed that shitty guild of yours!” Before I let her take that in I snap my fingers and begin my chant. “~MY BONES ARE MADE OF STEEL. MY BLOOD IS MADE OF IRON. I'VE TASTED BLOOD, I'VE TASTED VICTORY, BUT NEVER DEFEAT. I AM A WEAPON AND I CANNOT BE DEFEATED~”

A large number of shurikens appear. The numbers are not part of the tens, not in the hundreds, but in the thousands. I cannot really count how many I've exactly made. The shurinkens are rapidly spinning and able to move at my thought at an alarming speed. The move towards Riley to surround and overwhelms her in numbers. If Riley does thing they not only surround her, but tear her body to pieces.

[Merc]

"Yeah, yeah, everything is my fault." Riley shook her head softly, trying to ignore the man's rambling. She had already blamed herself once for a man losing touch with reality and getting himself killed, it was kind of hard for her to get worked up over it a second time, after everything that had happened to her and how little she had known Aether.

At least that's what she thought until he brought up the downfall of Griffin Wing and the fact that, even if by extension, he played a part in it. She didn't say a word more and her face was expressionless but the air around her began to change. It became heavy, feeling thick and suffocating. Her hair and clothes began to whip violently against her skin as she watched with listless eyes as he made his first move (after spouting more annoying nonsense).

Glinting metal began to appear in the air, and Riley soon came to realize that the arena was rapidly filling with hovering shurikens that she could only assume was the work of Ender or Joker or whatever the hell he wanted to call himself at this particular moment. Either way, she wasn't about to stand around and let herself become his pincushion.

Her body began to glow yellow with the aura of her Stellar Body spell, which granted her a speed boost as well as the ability to fly. There were a lot of knives, sure, but she was pretty fast and her reflexes were pretty good, so she was confident that she could dodge enough of them to keep going in the fight.

Bringing herself into the air, she flew up into the sky, keeping a wary eye on the shurikens as she did so and preparing to dodge any that might slip free of the pack.

[Eternal Mage, Aether.]

This spell doesn't cost a lot of magic to keep up, but it does have it's drawbacks. This version of the spell makes it hard for me to move. I also cannot use any other spell while it's active. Finally, this spell has another physical drawback. It's causing a lot of burden to my body. It's as if I'm trying to hold up a lot of weight. I'm trying to hide this from my opponent, but I'm struggling. It won't take her long something is wrong with me while using this spell.

“Stop flying like an insect! It's making it harder for me to kill you!” I move the swarm of shurikens to her current location. The crowd is screaming for blood. Obviously they are not happy that she decided to run and dodge. She's quite fast, even though my attack is fast, but she much more faster.

I'll just make it seem like this is the only thing I can do to trick her. For now, I'll try to get smaller hits in and take her off guard. The stream spreads out a lot further out. Making it much more thinner compare to before. I move the wave in an attempt to surround Riley. She can just pass through the wave, but will most likely to get small cuts here and there. Come on slip up you bitch...

[Merc]

Whatshisface was pretty mad that she didn't want to turn into his personal pincushion, but that was all pretty irrelevant to Riley as she zipped around in the sky, dodging shurikens that seemed to move along with her. She briefly found herself wondering if he was controlling them all or if they just had some kind of homing spell on them that narrowed in on her, but in the end she had no idea how to figure that out, given her current situation. Whatever the case, she really didn't want to end up pierced by one of those things - several had already skimmed across her flesh and clothing, leaving slim cuts along her pale skin. She didn't want to find out how much taking a direct hit from a bunch of them would suck.

Riley slipped through the air, eyes dancing wildly as she felt a shuriken slash deep into her cheek, even severing some of her hair and brushing over the top of her ear before disappearing somewhere behind her. The tips of her fingers began to glow slightly as long tendrils of light extended from them, glinting slightly against the dark clouds above. Her Stellar String extended around her, and she began to use the hard to see threads to disrupt the flow of shurikens. Bringing her arms around, the threads batted away some of the shurikens that neared her, allowing her to more easily dodge those that managed to make it through.

As she whacked away the shurikens, she continued to keep herself on the move, trying to close some of the distance between herself and Joker.

[Eternal Mage, Aether.]

Tch, she's really getting closer. Damn it, and my main wave attack is not fast enough to touch her. Only by spreading it out from me to her is the only thing I can do to keep piling up damage on her until she completely get close to me. That will be dangerous for me, but it can be dangerous for her too. After all, she's more likely to be caught into my attack. The strain of the spell is getting worse for me. The burden has actually forced me to go down on one knee.

Damn it all! “Struggle all you want, Riley! It's not going to change anything! Just like your old lover, your friends, and your guild! You might as well give up now, just like you did to them! Just die already!” I close together the shurikens just a tab make it harder for Riley to pass through. From here, I can see that my tactic is working. She's getting some cuts here and there. I'm about 20 meters away from her at this point. The more closer she's getting to me, the thicker of a net of shurikens are getting.

[Merc]

Riley was no fool. She knew when someone was saying things to try to trip her up, it was a trap she often lay out to lure in her own opponents, but damn, did what he was saying hit close to home and rip open a few festering wounds. Her teeth grit, her expression remaining impassive as she swung her arm, using the string to bat away some nearby shurikens that had clouded her view of him.

It was then that she realized he was on one knee - the constant drain of his magic was burdening him, as it was her. Fortunately for her, the brunt of her own draw back would not take place until after the spell had ended, and given how much time she had spent in this form already...

Well, it was best that she end the fight and get the hell away from the area before even thinking about ending the spell.

Seeing an opportunity to attack him while his spell overburdened him, Riley whipped the strings around before taking off for Joker, flying straight at him for the most part, ignoring the little dips left and right to avoid being impaled. One of the blades left a decent sized gash in her arm, but she did a good job of ignoring it - or perhaps she didn't feel it at all, given the adrenaline coursing through her.

Once she got within a few feet of Joker, she suddenly redirected herself, zipping around to the side of him and swinging her leg around - using the momentum build from her spell and the speed that she had approached him with in hopes of ending the fight in one blow.

[Eternal Mage, Aether.]

My tactic is no longer working as planned. She's just zipping right through my attack and not any more slowing her down. She's ignoring all the cuts and decreasing the distance between us in seconds. “You know your former guild master thinks of you as a failure?! I know this because Eve is my little sister!” Actually, I haven't seen her or spoken to her in years. So I do not have anyidea how she feels about what happen to her guild.




What is true that she is my younger sister, Eve Justice. If anything to sting it be that to her, or at least, I hope. The next thing I realize is Riley right next to me and sending a powerful kick. I quickly release my spell to remove the burden on me. I'm not going to be able to dodge or get away. What I can do is put up a small guard and reduce the income damage. I shift my body and take the kick. The kick sends me flying across the arena. “Gaaaaaaaaah!!!!” My body hits the ground like a rock skipping water and then slides across the arena.




I'm hurting all over. It's only thanks to a few things that I am alive still from that kick. The main reason is my armor. It has a moderate protection to both physical and magic attacks. What saved the attack from being lethal putting a quick guard at the last second. I had put arms and brace for the attack. I feel a warm liquid dripping from my head. The warm liquid is crimson red, my blood. I begin to have a coughing fit as I stand back up on my feet. My body is shaking a bit from the trama. I draw out my sword from my sheath and put up a defensive stance.




“Damn gurl.” I try to put up a brave face and smile at her. There's no way I am about to lose “No wonder Aether was after you. If you were little more bat shit insane, heh.” I can't use the same attack as before. In fact, it be pointless if I do at this stage. I already know she's too fast for that spell. I can't keep up a mist like an attack forever or the same thing will repeat. I am not sure if I can take another blunt blow. I've got an idea, but it's going to be risky.