Fine, you won't give me my openings, I'll fucking make them.
It had been about 40 seconds of fighting, but by now I had this asshole pegged.
Clearly, he attained a skill that made a single strike very fast, and he must have some high perception to track my movements so well, which meant one conclusion; filthy damage tank.
The bane of all fair gamers, a broken tank. Sure, they had lower health, but only relative to fucking tanks. With this in mind, I knew he's level 1 meaning his first move will more than likely be his entire bag right now. The problem was, he got way too damn close every time I closed the gap, regardless of my speed or angle.
After a couple more fruitless engagements, I'd grown fed up. Call it a short fuse, call it pride, but the guy would not have been such a challenge without magical class skills, halberd be damned. He's smart I'll give him that, but his movements were sloppy. His stance wasn't, but clearly he was unpracticed in it.
That indicated to me his defenses were primarily for show. He too had adopted the art of whimsically overpowered counter-attacking, but never learned defense as backup. Of course, this was probably a given. Not because of talent but, why the fuck would he before this? There weren't a plethora of opportunities to practice with these sorts of weapons before this tournament, not without risking serious injury.
Confident in my resolve, I switched my mentality from hyper aggression to a more fluid approach. I knew using my water stance was pertinent, my muscles pulsing with the shuffling of my feet, tapping into my agility stat. It was something I meditated on while enjoying my haven of H2O.
Sure, you might've found how I cataloged my style to be dorky, bordering corny even, but here? It appeared I had the last laugh, being rewarded for my diligent faith in the elements making concepts stickier. After the molly-whopping delivered in the first fight and meditated on my stance, a prompt pinged at the corner of my vision.
Skill unlocked -> Water Stance (common) - user exerts far less energy while in this fighting stance that revolves entirely on perpetual motion, and receives a +3 in agility, and a 3% boost to perception whenever an attack closes in. Endurance receives a -6% debuff for a time dependent on the duration the skill is active.
3% was far from shabby for a common skill, but the debuff upon deactivation definitely made the ranking make sense, and +3 agility was the more believable aspect of the skill in my opinion. It was like that pre-global kidnapping too.
Now, if in Flow for too long however, a wave of exhaustion would crash over me soon as I stopped moving. If anything, this -6% endurance debuff would be a softer landing for now, ending up just 1 less point down. Later on if those numbers got a lot larger however, I'd needed to tread carefully, or mediate the after effects somehow. Just, not now. Still, the tiredness felt…deeper than stats. I'm not sure how to put it, other than something within the pit of my gut was spent, indicating it couldn't be used frivolously.
With said stance skill active, I put in motion the second part of my plan, using my lightning straight.
See, I'd begun adding another elemental concept into my fighting stance. One which I'd practiced rigorously in hopes to interpolate its forms with my water stance. Something deadly, quick, and unpredictable; lightning.
It was a gamble in my mind, trying to convert the conventional unarmed punch I'd practiced under lightning concepts to a stab on the fly, but I had little option. The sooner this is done, the sooner I can fight the next, and maybe some God will actually like my abilities enough to see utility in choosing me. Then, I can get tools to be that utility, at least for a while.
Not too keen to that specific strain of blind commitment.
Circling my opponent while feigning stabs and stepping motions with my lead hand Wakizashi, my hope was he'd flinch enough for me to skip the lightning debacle and get an easy opening, but to no avail.The evasive tank would step out of my range to maintain his defensive integrity.
I'd step off center between stabs to get his body more squared to mine. He'd remained unshaken by my prior fake lurches and steps, until I'd crept close enough for him to throw a swipe that keeps me away from any feasible openings.
An odd sensation, fighting someone so large in frame compared to me in truth, and I depended on my range to win most of my tougher battles throughout my short life.
Right before I formed the flow from my left side to explode into my lightning-like strike, he did the unthinkable; he feigned a slash.
Part of me was taken aback, so I recoiled, but another was excited. Finally, someone with a little prowess.
Wondering what Korbin would do, I decided the openings were there, I simply hadn't got to them yet.
Be patient, go at your pace.
I continued circling again, this time throwing a stab with my lead hand Wakizashi, twisting my hips to generate speed as I lunged the blade forward. There was a moment during the lunge where he appeared to teleport a bit.
I couldn't really tell at first, but now with each parry from my blade onto his polearm, his position instantly shifted ever so slightly. It didn't feel like he moved a muscle, the water affinity in the air mixing with my Water Stance by now allowed me to see things much slower during attack sequences, and now that he was feigning, it triggered.
What the fuck, is this guy a mage or something?
Maybe his agility and strength are his best stats, maybe neither, either way I was beginning to abandon trying to read his stats from the outside, and focused on his actions.
After some poking and prodding with my blades, and the occasional calf kick when I got close enough, the fight grew in intensity. He elusively on full display, denying me the gratification of stabbing his stupid magician face, using his defensive counter-strikes and instant relocation.
It's because of this annoying skill set that I found myself rather fulfilled when he finally succumbed to the leg kicks. He shuffled with the proverbial dead-legged limp after a series of parried slashes and questionable near-misses left his calf ripe for the kicking. He suddenly jolted his body lower after I landed another leg kick, before Water Stepping away from a downward overhead swipe.
Calf kicks are brutal, in that they sort of deactivate your muscles, rendering them dead weight for a period of time that varies by how and where you got caught. Clearly, this was his first experience with them as well, which was always the worst. I nearly felt bad.
Now that the magical menace was slowed, I knew there's no way he could react in time for another strike. I stabbed again, stepping back as I lunged my lead hand. The lead Wakizashi launched forward, stabbing it a quarter inch into his chest. Feeling my back foot reach touch the ground, I coiled my flow into my left side as I bounced back at him on the balls of my feet. I exploded forward, twisting my body clockwise in my southpaw stance, lunging the Wakizashi out like a bullet train.
No, faster, like lightning was about to strike this poor sap right through his eye. For a moment, my weapon glowed a dark red hue. As my blade neared my opponent's body however, it sped up considerably now illuminated white. It felt like a star was burning in my palm as energy rifled down my arm and through my body.
Warmth overcame me as the blade traveled through his eye socket. I'd moved faster than I've ever had before. My mind began to ponder why before the large mages entire body dissipating from his eye outward before my blade could find purchase stole back my attention. Rapid motion at the corner of my peripherals triggered me to slide away, dodging a strike flying to my arm from my right side.
My body's twitch reaction leapt away before my mind could react, like I had been puppeteer'd to safety. I turned to see the same halberd wielding magic man I had just murdered in less than half of a second.
"Hahaha, I thought you'd be tougher lil' guy. You can't even see me!"
Oh, oh hah. HAHAHA. Oh okay motherfucker.