Post by Mirai Tempestus on Jun 15, 2015 15:18:03 GMT
Zanza hastily twisted out of the way of the ice daggers that Kotone had thrown at him, earning two shallow cuts on his cheeks as a result of his efforts. He was trapped with her now, in this ice dome. He could feel the cold biting into his skin, sapping away at his strength even as Kotone herded him towards the edge of the dome. He growled when his back pressed against the wall of their icy arena, racking his thoughts desperately for a way out.
He didn’t want to try his scream and risk it just reflecting off of the walls or something and from the looks of things wind blades wouldn’t cut through the dome fast enough for him to escape her. She had him cornered, simple as that.
“Congratulations on cornering me Mrs. Lazarus, but you should know that a cornered devil is a dangerous one!” He called out, preparing to do something stupid yet also exciting at the same time. With a wordless shout, he span into his Heavenly Rotation for the third time that day, this time pumping more and more power into the technique and forcing it to expand exponentially, almost reaching the same size as the ice dome before he called out to Kotone in case she hadn’t escaped yet.
“Sorry about this by the way!” He yelled, before giving one final push as the rotating winds outgrew their icy prison and shattered it, launching chunks of ice everywhere as the winds died down to reveal Zanza, who was looking quite green.
“Urgh, note to self: Don’t keep spinning like that!” He grumbled, forcing down a gag as he regained his wits and shot off into the air, charging a scream in his lungs.
Post by Kotone Lazarus on Jun 15, 2015 15:34:46 GMT
At first it appeared her attack had been successful. Well, technically it had. Zanza's back hit the all, her blades made minor contact, no one was dead, and she had an undeniable advantage. But then there was the top thing that was going on. He spun like a fan, the wind whipping up violently again. Kotone dropped the daggers, allowing them to return to the icy dust they wre formed from as the dome shattered. This was the first time it hadn't worked exactly as expected, and truth be told, that both impressed and angered the dragon slayer - she'd been sure she'd won when the dome encased Zanza!
At this point, the high amounts of wind had left Kotone's hair looking like she'd just survived a hurricane. Her ankle throbbed dully, and her sword was somewhere in the distance. The back of her knee probably had a bruise, her arm was slightly twisted from her attempt to touch Zanza while he'd been tossing her... and she was having a great time. Kotone had a grin on her face and a fire in her eyes. "See you can't do this with trees and training dummies!" she chuckled, breathing heavily. "I don't know if you're that good or I'm just out of practice, but either way this is fun!"
Kotone flicked her wrists, the daggers reappearing in her hands as she did so. "Time to finish this, one way or another." By then, her opponent had recovered and shot off into the air. Kotone gathered the wind around her feet and hands, the same way he had. He looked like he was about to roar. "Oh no you don't." Well, she'd planned to charge with her daggers, but instead it looked like she had to use a different tactic. She inhaled quickly. "Ice dragon roar!" Time to see who's roar was stronger!
Post by Mirai Tempestus on Jun 15, 2015 15:57:21 GMT
Zanza let out a barking laugh as Kotone escaped the destruction of her dome, seemingly pleased with how the battle was going. Zanza too had to admit that he was having a blast, for once capable of enjoying a fight that hopefully wouldn’t end in death. He shot a grin at Kotone, his teeth flashing blue with power as he smiled down at her.
“I think you’ll find that I am just this good, bet you’ve never had a tree hit back this hard!” He yelled, gathering more and more power in his lungs in preparation to fire. This would be quite possibly his biggest Scream ever, he was anxious to see how the Dragon Slayer would block this.
So imagine his surprise when she instead launched her own Roar at him, the icy beam shooting straight towards him. “So that’s how it is huh? Fine, I’ll play your game!” He yelled, grinning devilishly in excitement as his Scream built to its zenith in his lungs, before finally…
“Wind Devil’s Scream!” A pure white blast of swirling winds launched from his mouth, grinding and slamming against itself as it sped towards the Roar of Kotone, clashing in an explosion of pure power as the two beams pressed against each other constantly. Neither Slayer seemed to be giving an inch and Zanza was sure that Kotone could feel the exertion of keeping a Roar stable for so long just like he was. A bead of sweat dripped down his face as Zanza poured more and more power into his Scream, before having an idea.
They seemed to be equal in power, but he was sure that if this kept up any longer both of them would drop unconscious pretty soon, so he grit his teeth and condensed his Scream. He watched as his attack was seemingly consumed by the Dragon’s Roar, but he knew better. Even as the outer edges of the ice attack hit his face he could see the now blunt condensed Scream heading straight for Kotone.
The attack had knocked him out of the air and onto his back, slamming him into the ground with bone jarring force. he could tell he hadn't broken anything, but it would hurt later. Shakily, he pulled himself to his feet and tried to make out if he'd hit Kotone despite the numbness of his face.
Post by Kotone Lazarus on Jun 15, 2015 18:11:45 GMT
The attacks connected, just as Kotone had hoped. Over the next few moments, concentrated beams of elemental energy slammed into each other, and it was impossible to tell who was doing better. Something changed though; perhaps how Zanza had shaped his blast, if it was actually possible for him to reshape it midair. Either way, Kotone was actually kind of surprised when the stalemate ended so quickly. The wind attack sliced through the center of her own attack, slamming into Kotone as well, and while he fell, she shot backwards.
The attacks were similarly named possibly because they had similar levels of power. At least, that was the theory Kotone would come up with in a few seconds. Right then she was focused on not slamming into a tree twenty feet away. Kotone's hand touched down and she used her ice to grasp the earth, slowing her movement as she skidded to a stop. The explosion had kicked up a ton of smoke and dust, and now it was impossible to see, though not impossible to hear and smell.
Oh, what a surprise. Kotone reached over and picked up the katana that had been discarded. She'd conveniently landed right next to it, which was fine with her. She stood up as the smoke cleared, her katana folding once again to fit in its proper place. Her hair was messy, she was sweating, and there was a tear in her hoodie. "Nice try, Windwalker." She'd never given up her desire to give people random nicknames without their permission. "I think you might have had me if I was a little slower."
Post by Mirai Tempestus on Jun 15, 2015 18:53:29 GMT
Standing on shaky feet Zanza felt a ripple of satisfaction when he heard Kotone’s voice echo throughout their little battlefield, proving that he hadn’t gone too far with that final desperate move. He smiled with confidence when she then continued to taunt him, having the gall to try and make him believe he’d have got her with that last attack.
“Ha! Don’t make me laugh, we both know who would’ve won had this been truly serious. Still, nice to know I can keep a wizard saint at bay.” He grinned a tired grin, pushing his fatigue backwards as he sent a gust of wind to retrieve his trident for him, twirling it and pointing the business end at Kotone.
He couldn’t just lie down and admit defeat, or even a draw. No, there had to be a definitive winner here. This would only be settled when there was a winner and a loser. “Let’s end this in one final move. I’m running on empty here, so this has to be the final attack!” He declared, giving his trident a few experimental swings before levelling his gaze at Kotone.
“Let’s finish this now, Snowstorm.” He whispered, the sound barely carrying across the clearing before he shot off in a final Carrying Step. Before he could reach Kotone however, the Carrying Step fizzled out of existence without the magic to fuel it causing Zanza to slow down earlier than he’d expected, forcing him to aim a strike at the Dragon Slayer’s head with the blunt side of his trident.
Post by Kotone Lazarus on Jun 15, 2015 19:15:05 GMT
Kotone had to admit she was impressed. The man was definitely as stubborn as any sort of slayer should be, at least in her opinion. He was standing again, and even wanting to continue to fighting. She sighed quietly, grinning as he started to charge forward again with his trident. One final attack... that was all they were doing, and it would determine the winner. It was a sure sign he was truly running on empty. He burst forward at a high speed, but he faltered at the last moment. In a desperate attempt, the end of his trident struck at the side of her head.
He wanted a definitive answer? Fine. Kotone could give him one. Kotone, who still had her own enhancements active, easily dodged the attack, flipping her sword back out of its sheath as she moved. The sword had a 'non-lethal' setting, which hid the blade and allowed her to use it like a rather painful, thin stick. She moved to slam it into Zanza's stomach, pushing him back off of his feet to make him slam back onto the ground. For a moment, she held her pose, but then her expression broke once more into her competitive grin. "Even we have our limits," she told him with a chuckle as she bent down to help him up. "I learned that about five years ago. Got my butt handed to me by a kid too dumb to even look where he was sprinting."
Post by Mirai Tempestus on Jun 15, 2015 19:56:10 GMT
Zanza groaned in pain as he allowed Kotone to help him to his feet after she’d just finished the fight, a slight smile on his face as he regained his balance and managed to stand on his own two feet, muttering a quick “Thanks.” towards his ex-opponent.
He panted for a few seconds, desperately trying to gulp down the air he was lacking, before thinking on what Kotone had told him and doing a double take at the information he’d just gained. “I’m not entirely sure I understand. He didn’t look where he was sprinting? Who was this kid? Surely there aren’t many people that can claim ever having beaten you.” He chuckled out despite himself.
In no way did he want it to sound like he idolized her, he just didn’t see how it was possible for a non-Slayer to beat such a high calibre Slayer like Kotone. Unless the boy in question was also a Slayer of some kind. Shaking the thoughts from his head, Zanza rolled his shoulder until he heard it crack, sighing in satisfaction and grabbing his trident, leaning on it as if it was a cane.
“You know you hit like a train, right? I’m sure my bruises have bruises. Good fight, I’m pleased to know I can give you such a work out. Now let’s see about those snacks, eh?” He grinned kindly, setting off in a slight limp and motioning for the Dragon Slayer to follow him.
Post by Kotone Lazarus on Jun 16, 2015 1:25:08 GMT
"To be exact, he's the lightning dragon slayer," Kotone told Zanza with a chuckle. "To be fair though, I was hardly even A-rank material back then. I'd gotten so cocky I was actually weaker than when I'd started because I wasn't taking the time to train or stay in proper shape." She broke into a grin again as she crossed her arms. "To be equally fair, I flattened him in our next fight. It was the last time we fought. We didn't exactly part on the best terms though."
Kotone shrugged, following the man with the limp. He'd be fine. The guild had more than one person with the ability to heal wounds if he needed it, and even without that, he'd only be sore for a couple of days. "As for how I hit, if I'm only hitting like a train I'm not hitting half as hard as I aim to." She chuckled again. The funny thing was she wasn't exactly lying. She still felt out of practice, and was more than a little bit insecure in her new life, so she was extra hard on herself. "So does this mean you're buying my snack?"
Post by Mirai Tempestus on Jun 16, 2015 17:25:21 GMT
That explained things greatly. The lightning dragon slayer was the one who’d beat the arrogance out of Kotone that time apparently. It was understandable that at one point she’d managed to grow overconfident considering what she was able to do now. The prodigies often knew of their own talent and usually thought that all they’d ever need was that natural talent of theirs.
The fact that they didn’t part on good terms did confuse him slightly, but he figured that prying into something like that would probably be encroaching just a bit too much, so he left the subject alone in favour of something else entirely. “As for how hard you’re hitting, it just means that you have more to work on now. You don’t regain power by willing it to appear, I should know that better than anybody…” He said, though the last part was muttered in a slightly bitter tone.
The fact that there was a spell he couldn’t use without sacrificing his power each time stung slightly, considering that it was his strongest spell ever. “Power responds to a need, not a desire. But I’m sure you knew that already. All we can do is keep training and honing ourselves, so that when we NEED that power, we can handle it.”
Breaking himself away from his highly philosophical thoughts, Zanza instead turned his mind to enjoying himself. And snacks. Definitely snacks. “Sure, I’ll pay for snacks. It’s the least I can do, I did lose after all.” He chuckled as they walked through the woods, getting closer and closer towards Cerulean Town once again.
As they broke the treeline and got to the outskirts of the town, Zanza turned to Kotone with a confused look on his face scratching the back of his neck. “You mind leading the way? I have no clue where we should go so I’ll just follow you.”
Post by Kotone Lazarus on Jun 16, 2015 20:22:49 GMT
"I'm a dragon slayer," Kotone responeded to Zanza's little speech simply. "I command my power, it doesn't command me." Despite having just used so much energy, she raised her hand to create an incredibly intricate-looking snowflake in her hand, made entirely of her dragon slayer magic. The idea that her power responded to a need and not a desire was... at best half wrong, at least to her. She understood that just wanting to be strong didn't make you strong, but she also knew that hard work was what had gotten her where she was, more than any amount of talent or need. Unless you counted that whole... thing with the dragons a couple of years ago. That had been more luck than anything.
She brightened up once again when he offered to pay, and even requested that she lead. Kotone found the fact that he didn't have somewhere in mind kind of amusing, though it wasn't for any particular reason. She just thought it was funny he hadn't either assumed something or asked. "Snowcone stand on the main street," Kotone told him simply, walking past and taking the lead. Her favorite treat was snowcones. It always had been, what with getting the extra benefits for being a dragon slayer. She could literally live off of snowcones, though she generally didn't. She made sure that Zanza caught her triumphant grin, just to give him what was to her a friendly jab. A little competitiveness was just what she needed. "As the victor, I want grape."
Post by Mirai Tempestus on Jun 17, 2015 16:50:12 GMT
Zanza tried to supress a smirk, he really did, but the fact that the ice dragon slyer wanted snowcones just tickled his funny bone a bit too much. So he burst out laughing, pointing a trembling finger at Kotone, admittedly rather rudely.
“Ahahaha! The ice dragon slayer wants snowcones, what’re the odds!?” He laughed out, having to lean against his trident to support himself. It hurt to laugh, which was probably obvious by the way each laugh wheezed slightly. He did let off a mock glare when he caught her triumphant grin quite obviously directed at him, raising his hands in mock surrender and walking off to order their food from the vendor.
A quick transaction later, at the expense of his wallet, he returned with Kotone’s grape snowcone and a chocolate one for himself, handing the grape one to his companion silently with a smile. It was quite relaxing if he was honest, to be simply spending time with somebody he knew.
He paused, taking a spoonful of his snowcone into his mouth and leaning against the wall of the closest building. “You know, this is probably the most normal moment I’ve ever had before. You think life will stay like this for long?”
Post by Kotone Lazarus on Jun 17, 2015 17:47:54 GMT
Kotone raised an eyebrow at the man's laughter. "Dragon slayers can eat their element to regain strength," she explained matter-of-factly. "It's like a flavored super vitamin or something to you. How could I not love them?" She didn't feel she had much choice in the matter; the ice dragon had given his slayer the same properties ice dragons had, and it had the side effect of making her adore both cold and ice itself.
A few moments later, her companion calmed down, bought the treats, and handed one to her before leaning on a wall and commenting on how relaxing the aftermath of their battle was. Kotone just licked at her snowcone quietly for a moment before answering, leaning most of her weight onto one leg. "My life wasn't normal until after the dragons and stuff either. To be honest, I don't know what to do with it." She sighed, eventually leaning her shoulder against the same wall. "I want it to go on forever for the sake of others important to me, like Eri, but... me, I'm just lost without something major to focus on. It didn't used to be that way. I used to stop criminals a day at a time like anyone else..."
Post by Mirai Tempestus on Jun 17, 2015 18:15:09 GMT
Zanza spared a glance at Kotone, a small knowing smile finding its way onto his face. It was a sad truth that most slayers were just designed for combat and war, lost without chaos to throw them into the heat of battle at regular intervals. Not many had anything to tie them to a normal life, many previous Devil Slayers had gone insane in times of peace, so the fact that Kotone had something to tie her to a normal life, was something he found incredible.
And scary. Very scary. She had no real clue of what was coming and only he really had a vague idea based off of the cryptic warnings given to him by the order. Suddenly the snowcone seemed that much more out of place, a scrap of normalcy in a sea of chaos.
“Hehehe...” It was a chuckle, a long sad chuckle that managed to escape his mouth after a moment of silence. It wasn’t fair that the world would drag her back into strife again, even if there was obviously a small part of her that missed it.
“Far be it from me to be a worry wart, but things’ll probably get hectic around here soon. I’m not entirely sure when, but it’ll happen in our lifetimes, that’s for sure.” He stared off into the distance, a melancholy feeling emanating from him. He chuckled, turning towards the ice dragon slayer with gratitude in his eyes.
“I’ll admit I’m pretty envious of you and the guild master. After the coming carnage, you both have something to return to, whilst I’m stuck walking the path of a warrior.” He sighed before smiling brightly, the sun glinting off of his sharper than average fangs. “I guess until I find something I’ll just protect what you want to protect as well. I’m already working on developing my own secondary magic, something unique to me and maybe an apprentice if I take one. You’ll see it when it’s done and I beat you with it.”
Post by Kotone Lazarus on Jun 17, 2015 18:41:07 GMT
"People want peace, for the most part," Kotone countered Zanza. "There are some people who barely know it and they really want to have the lives their parents had, that sort of thing." She wasn't exactly disagreeing with his sentiment. If anything, she was saying she would fight even harder the next time. "Me? I dunno. I think I'd rather be lost and frustrated if it meant I didn't have to leave Eri alone to go play hero again."
Kotone had always had interesting terms. One of her more common phrases for being the person she was was saying that she went to 'play hero.' and protect people. It was a play on the fact that for a short time, she forgot to be the hero she claimed to be, and entered her own hall of fame for the worst hypocrites until she could straighten out her life and her training. In a way, this period was the same. She once again had no idea who she was overall, other than Kotone the lost mom. She also felt out of practice and rusty, tough not as bad as before the fight.
"I don't know," Kotone couldn't help but argue with Zanza's claim he'd be stronger than her. "I fight even harder when I come down to the wire, and I still don't actually know how much the fight with Nox actually increased my raw abilties. Though... I suppose that doesn't matter if I don't have the skill to harness it, hm?" Maybe Kotone should work on another magic... but she was pretty well set, honestly, and an expert with both forms she already had.
Post by Mirai Tempestus on Jun 17, 2015 19:05:42 GMT
“Some people may want peace, but there are a lot of people that want nothing more than control. Perhaps peace is an illusion that nobody is immune to. One that comes in waves before abandoning the people when they start to embrace it.”
Depressing as the thought may be, Zanza found it hard to believe in true peace, where people could live together happily and respect one another. “Maybe it’s the devil in me speaking, but maybe the world is doomed to repeat itself, drenching its fields with blood so that fresh flowers can bloom in the future.” He said, staring off into the distance, clutching his trident in his hand.
“Oh, you don’t believe I can overtake you, eh? What’s ‘a matter Dragon, scared of losing to a Devil? You haven’t seen me fight to the extreme yet. I can assure you I’ll win next time, you won’t be top of the food chain for too much longer!”
The idea of a pseudo rival exited Zanza. Somebody to test himself against and push himself to his very limits. He’d only get stronger by fighting tough opponents after all and Kotone was about as tough as they came.
He sent Kotone a gentle smile, wise beyond his age would suggest. “The world doesn’t need a hero. It just needs ordinary people with the drive and courage to stand up for themselves and each other. Perhaps it’s time for the slayers to take a bit of a break and let the regular humans take care of themselves?” He offered, licking at his snowcone again. He felt the afternoon breeze and sighed, settling into a companionable silence.
