Round 3: Ashiakin vs. Yamihara

[Atzar]

This battle will end on Wednesday, May 23rd, at 11:59 PM EST.

Have fun, and good luck!

[Yamihara]

Chirps of the early birds sang through the tranquil morning forest, the maze of green bursting to life with the first rays of sun filtering through the canopy. A thrush whispered to another as they foraged for grasshoppers trapped in the morning dew, taking off for shelter in the nearby tree as the undergrowth rustled behind them. The crashing of branches and leaves hushed the morning revelry of the forest animals, their watchful eyes trained on the two strangers entering their domain.

Grumble~

"Uweh~ But I was so hungry~"

Asuka flopped down on a fallen log as the Akashimans reached a small grassy clearing, the lass wanting nothing more than to rest up and hush her riotous stomach. The red-hair lass grumbled quietly as she cringed, wishing for the pain to end with the passing of time.

The pain did not think so.

"I've told you, haven't I" Her burly friend heaved a sigh as she stood there in the morning rays, an imposing figure casting his shadow over the moaning lass. "Not every kind of fruit animals can eat are ones that humans can. Besides, that was not a healthy amount you ate."

"Oh~ But..." Asuka objected, still gripping her stomach as if fearing her entrails would burst out spontaneously if she did not do so. "But they're strawberries! And so... delicious..."

"And luckily, not poisonous." The large man retorted, shaking his head in disdain at the groaning maiden. Had Tokita not known the Akashiman gal for almost his entire life, it would come as no surprise if she was just some city girl lost in the woods who started eating random fruits they found along the way. Then again, she was raised as any nobility would - How she managed to survive for a whole year away from the Estate when only a fit of strawberry binging gave her stomach pains was a mystery.

Tokita sighed and shook his head, wondering why they were in this predicament in the first place. The trip to Radsanth for information regarding the recent uprising was moot, the officers at the main governing building refusing entry to them both. And to make matters worse, they decided to take the road less travelled out of Radasanth and subsequently became lost in the woods. Wherever they were, it was not a familiar sight.

"Fine fine, your highness." Tokita finally spoked up after watching the maiden groan helplessly for a full minute as they rested within the forest clearing. At first, he had believed the lass to be faking it. But doind so for a long period of time just seemed too unnatural for a ruse. He would have to remedy her illness, somehow. "I'll go look for some herbs to ease that stomachache of yours. Just stay put and I'll be back in a while."

Asuka watched out from behind a cringing face as her self-appointed bodyguard disappeared into the foliage, in search of a cure to her pain. But as soon as the man was out of sight, the lass finally removed her hand and heaved a sigh of relief.

"Hah~ Boy, was it hard to convince him to leave me alone." Asuka muttered to herself as she sat there on the decayed log, soaking in the warm morning sun. Touching her stomach briefly, she noted how it did not really hurt that much at all from the wild berries she had eaten a few hours earlier. Some of them may have not been ripe enough to eat, but she thought the pain had more to do with her body than just what she ate.

"Boys are so defensive." She mused, listening to the birds sing their morning duets to one another and the various cries of the woodland creatures.

I love this feeling...

A rumbling in her stomach caused the maiden to let out an audible groan, her body doubling over as the pang shot through her gut like an arrow through her slim frame.

Except I shouldn't have eaten all those wild berries...

[Ashiakin]

Drab, utilitarian boots kicked the last of the dirt into the shallow grave. When Ashiakin looked down, he cringed at both his footwear and his handiwork. He was dressed in everything contrary to him—plain, dark work clothes covered with a discolored cloak. The stark whiteness of his skin and the deep blue of his eyes made for a painful contrast. Somehow he seemed trapped by his garb. He tried not to dwell on these things as he pressed the dirt with the soles of his boots, the raw earth submitting to them quietly.

He slumped against the trunk of a nearby tree and sat down, stretching his legs out in front of him. Dawn limped in through the limbs above like a drunken lover. When he looked at the carefully concealed grave, this time he could not help but smile. No one would ever be able to tell that the body of a wealthy count was hidden only a few feet below the surface. Slowly, he would rot into nothing and would become indistinguishable from the soil. There would be no memories of his crime, no reminders.

It’s strange, he thought to himself absently, I often insist that I’m not a murderer and here I am all the same. But it’s no matter. I’m not some petty brigand. There’s a marked difference between killing a man and killing the Count of Tolachwyn.

Nearby voices struck him like an arrow and he was on his feet in an instant, his meandering thoughts all but forgotten. There were at least two people nearby. There was a good probability that they had seen what he had done and were at least suspicious about it. Dammit! he thought. Nothing like this can ever go easy for me.

He slipped one of his long knives out of its sheath and ran a pale finger along its edge, testing its sharpness. He held it up to the growing light that was now unabashedly slipping through the overhead canopy. The knife no longer held even a glimmer of the count’s blood, but he had the uneasy feeling that it would soon be stained with someone else's.

Gripping the knife firmly in one hand, Ashiakin took off on a sprint in the direction of the voices he had heard. He ran gracefully, his feet finding their way around rocks and large branches without him hardly having to think about it. He was swift and quiet. If there was more than one person waiting for them, he knew well that the element of surprise would be vital and he could not lose it at any cost. No one could know his crime.

When he burst into the clearing, he was a little shocked to see what he did. There was a groaning red-haired woman who seemed terribly ill over something, but there was no one else in sight. He was sure he had heard two voices. He knew that he could have run up to her and slit her throat, doubled over as she was, but he hesitated. There was something about murdering a young woman in cold blood that made him uneasy.

Still, there was no question in his mind why the woman was ill. She had obviously seen some part of his murder of the count and had gotten queasy over it. Some people could not stomach the site of blood. Evidently the woman in front of him was one of them.

He slipped into an aggressive stance with the knife held out toward the woman. His other hand rested carefully on the hilt of his sheathed longsword. “Speak your name, woman!” he hissed. “Where is your companion? Do not lie to me. Tell me everything that you saw. Leave nothing out. If you do, I will know, and you will die.”

[Yamihara]

Urgh... I swear, I'm never going to eat another wild berry again...

Asuka let out a quiet sigh as the pang in her stomach subsided, fading into a dull aching in her abdomen. She kept her hands pressed against her body, wondering how long the discomfort would last.

A rush of leaves startled the maiden from the daze and almost immediately she knew something was wrong. At the sound of a threatening voice, she leapt off the log and rolled into a crouch a few feet away from where she had been sitting. Looking up at the would-be aggressor, the first thing she saw was the starkness of his skin. Then came his frigid blue eyes, the bitter coldness betrayed only by the intense hostility radiating forth.

"My name?" The maiden glowered, her copper braid settling on one of her shoulders as she slowly got up. "What right do you have to be throwing demands at me and threatening my life, sir."

Her fist clenched inside the punching gauntlets, the steel-plated leather armgloves warming up under the bright morning rays showering the small grass arena. Her mind raced to make sense of what the pale-looking man was demanding.

"I do not need to tell you anything, sir." She retorted, turning her right shoulder away and bringing her left arm up perpendicular to her body. "I have only arrived here a few moments ago and know nothing of which you speak of! But if you threaten my life any further, I will have no choice but to knock you senseless."

I really wished I didn't need to fight him... But why did he just ask me that-

It suddenly struck her that the man's clothes were soiled and muddy, akin to someone who had been digging all through the night. Her mind clicked and her chocolate orbs flickered, coming to realization of what had been going on without her being aware of it.

"You're..."

Her eyes narrowed as she trained her eye on the pale-looking man, watching his sword hand expectantly.

"Are you the gardener who planted those berries here? I'm sorry if we're intruding on your master's property, but we're kinda lost and I was hungry. I'll pay you for the berries I ate from your trees."

The maiden grinned apologetically, scratching the back of her head in embarassment.

"Oh, and my name is Asuka. Please send my apologies to your master, sir. Heehee."

[Ashiakin]

Ashiakin listened to the woman impassively, the features of his face as still as the knife he held in his hand. Although he did not show it, he was beginning to have doubts about his assumptions. It was very possible that Asuka could be telling the truth. Either she was a very bright, convincing liar or just daft and naïve. I just killed a man and I’ve been out in the woods all night, he thought. I could be jumping to conclusions.

After a moment’s hesitation, he lowered his knife and then slid it into the sheath on his belt. He turned over his pale hands quickly, as if to show that he held no hidden daggers up his sleeves. Dirt sloughed off him like the skin of a leper. He did his best to smile, the icy white of his teeth just barely visible through the gentle curl of his dark blue lips. “You’re right, my lady,” he said, the edge in his voice replaced with a calm, musical tone. “I’m afraid I’ve had a long night and must be jumping at shadows.”

He hoped that he was doing something to console her. He needed to lead her away from the tension he had created so that he could put her at ease and knock her off her guard. “The fact is, you see, these trees are my life’s work,” he continued, deciding to present himself as the gardener she thought him to be. “I tend to get very angry when people tamper with them. Especially when they are strangers who wander into my territory, however pleasant they are.”

Behind Asuka the limb of a small began to creak and tremble, like the arm of an aging man. Silently, while he had been speaking, Ashiakin had cast a spell. He had summoned just enough ice to cause the limb to become brittle. The limb now creaked louder and snapped with a sharp crack, tumbling down toward the earth and the fallen leaves. He hoped that it would be enough of a distraction to make Asuka turn her head or look around. Such a momentary misstep would be all that he needed.

“Oh dear!” he cried out. “That’s no good. Because, you see…” In an instant, Ashiakin pulled his longsword from its sheath and he gripped it firmly with both hands. He dashed toward Asuka and swung the flat of the blade directly toward her head. He did not intend to kill the girl, only to knock her unconscious. If she had really seen him murder the count, his tale combined with knocking her out should be enough to muddle her memory. If she had not, at least he was not murdering her in cold blood.

“I’m not really much of a gardener.”

[Yamihara]

The braided red-hair lass smiled meekly as the "Gardener" spoke, crossing her arms behind her as the breeze bounced the thick braid against her shoulder. Garbed in her usual travel gears consisting of earth-colored armless jacket, leather tank top, cotton pants and worn travelling boots, she looked just like any other wanderer in this neck of the woods.

As the Salvic Murderer had hoped, Asuka caught the sound of the tumbling tree limb and stole a glance over her right shoulder just as the man had unsheathed his blade and made the attack.

He did missed one important detail.

Clank!

Steel met steel in a furious clash, the longsword blade bouncing off half an inch of solid steel plate lining the entire backside of Asuka's forearm as she crouched back into her fighting stance and brought up her guard. Her arm went numb from the impact and she could not even feel the clenched hand at the end of her arm.

"This won't do, either." The maiden tried to brave a few choice words as the clear ringing waned inside her head. "I'm not really much of a hungry wanderer, either."

Not wasting another second to be used for his follow-up attack, Asuka leapt backwards and away from the deadly blade, putting some distance between herself and the "Gardener" wielding it.

Oh, shoot. And I was hoping he wasn't gonna do that.

"Why are you attacking me?!" She shouted and twisted her arm into a defensive stance, the left arm parallel to the ground and ready to deflect anymore of his sword tricks. Her right hovering near the pouches along the side of her belt. "I told you, all I did was eat a few of your berries! Are you really going to kill me over them?!"

No, there's something else...

"Then again, you're not really a gardener, anyways..." The maiden mused, turning her scowl into a knowing smirk of anticipation as the thought came to mind. Things slowly clicked into place, one by one, but not coherently enough.

Her instincts had been right all along - That man was no gardener, nor any regular Coronian making a living in unmarked woodland. His skin was far too pale to be a laborer, as there were no visible tanning along his face or hand. His hair far too white, like none she had ever encountered before even in this land of remarkable diversity. His eyes far too frigid, too cold for a man enlightened by nature.

She had, however, read a book during her years before the exile about a nation that had such a people befitting the trait. Most notably about their gripping, frigid glares.

"You're one of them Salvar people, aren't you? What are you doing here in Corone in the first place?!"

[Ashiakin]

Ashiakin cringed as the flat of his blade collided with the girl’s metallic bracer. Shockwaves pulsed up his arms, little spirals of pain slipping up along his bones. He tensed and retreated a step, watching his adversary carefully as she moved away from him. Evidently the woman was cleverer than he had been hoping. It also means that she more than likely saw me and knew exactly what I was doing, he thought.

He listed to her speak with impatient amusement, dark lips curling only slightly. He never debated stepping out of his combat stance. His sword hung there between them as they spoke, quiet and menacing. “I owe you no answers,” he said when she finished.

Unfortunately, he knew that his accent would likely give him away. Although they were speaking Common, Salvic had been the language he learned first upon awaking in this time, and he spoke all other languages with a Salvic accent. But there was something else in his voice, too—something deeper and more musical that might prove confusing.

“Let me explain something to you, woman,” he continued, his voice level but not venomous. “I’m going to try to knock you unconscious again. Once you are unconscious you will not be harmed. However, if you resist me, I will no longer play games with you. I will kill you and your death will be your own stubborn fault.”

Ashiakin slipped into an attack stance with his sword and strode forward in a slow advance. The clearing was still and tense, as if the trees and the wind were somehow distracted by the scene unfolding before them. Not even the dead leaves under Ashiakin’s feet made a noise as he advanced. His cold eyes watched Asuka carefully, alert to any sort of movements that she might try to make.

“There’s no reason for either of us to die today,” he said, a hint of pleading in his voice. “Curiosity would be such a silly thing to die for. There’s no romance in it. Certainly your life means more to you than that.” He laughed a little as he moved forward, trying to put her at ease. But it was an eerie laugh—one that echoed coldly down the steel of his blade, piercing the forest around him like the wail of a dying man.

[Yamihara]

And you're the one to say that...

Asuka grunted as she edged away uneasily, her eyes darting from the frigid steel and the equally frigid eyes of her assaulter. An odd chilll shot through her spine at the chuckle, her body locking up all of a sudden and sweat coursing down her face.

Shimata... This feels bad...

All of a sudden, the maiden felt that she should have complied with the white-hair Salvarian.

No... No way I'm going to give in to someone like him.

It was a disturbing thought. To lose to someone with such an ominous feel. And how could she? Here, before her, a man whose moral she knew none of and only that he harbors a dark secret within these woods. If that was so, she might become one more notch in his long, dark history.

"You wish, mister! I'm not exactly known for being compliant, I'll have you know."

Her lips turned up in a wry smile, twisting her left fist up and bringing it to her face. If she was to survive this encounter, the maiden thought as she circled the grassy arena off to her left, she would need to keep her distance. If the madman could not reach her with his sword, she would be safe.

But the silence was unnerving. No rush of morning wind. No chirping of the larks or wrens. No chatter of the squirrels. No rustling of the leaves.

It only compounded upon the heavy beating of her rapid, unsteady hearbeat.

~groan~

Oh, great... Now's not the time to start hurting, stomach...

[Ashiakin]

As the girl began to circle around the clearing, Ashiakin watched her carefully and allowed his advance to slow. He began to mirror her movements. He kept his sword extended and edged ever closer to her in a spiral, like she was some lost castaway caught in the midst of a maelstrom. It’s a pity that it’s going to have to end like this, he thought. Even if she lets me strike her unconscious, I’m going to have to dispose of her in some way. This had gone on too long for me to do otherwise.

A look of distinct disappoint crossed his face when the woman shouted her defiance. He seemed to frown, gently chewing the insides of his lips in consternation. “I’m sorry that you feel that way,” he said, sadly. “I can’t guarantee that this will be painless.”

His circle around the quiet clearing continued, blades of grass gently bowing to his feet as he moved. There were no sounds, everything had fallen silent. Ashiakin appeared intent and calculating, studying his opponent to see if she would make any sudden wrong moves. She doesn’t appear to be inept with a weapon, he noted. I must be careful. This may end up being more of a fight than an execution.

All of a sudden, Ashiakin charged forward toward Asuka. At the same time, he conjured up spiny tendrils of ice from the earth, summoning them to embed their sharp points in the backs of his opponent’s legs. Hopefully she would be too occupied with the fact that he had charged to sense that anything else was wrong until it was too late.

His sword swept forward on a clean, powerful arc toward his adversary’s chest.

[Yamihara]

Run away!

The thought immediately dawned in her mind as the man charged at her - It was a purely instinctual train of thought, neither tactical nor provisional. She saw neither the formation of icicles behind her nor the deadly gleam of the attacker's eyes. Even still, she had guessed that the man already wanted her dead.

Gasping in shocked surprise, Asuka whipped her right hand out from her belt and launched the content in her hand at the attacker's face. Three spherical projectiles shot forward towards the white-hair man in a flat plane just as Asuka came within range of the sword, her eyes closed tight to avoid being caught in the cloud of dust that would soon follow. She also saw the blade coming and raised her left arm up to deflect, but the mistake was made when she tried to move away.

"Ikh-!" Freezing pain was the first thing the maiden felt as the tendrils of ice dug into the calve of her right leg, the numbing clash following soon afterwards and literally killed her left arm of all sensation. Even as the two weapons clashed, Asuka realized she would not be able to run away. With what seemed to her as an endless fence of freezing thorns blocking her escape, the lass drew back her right fist and did the only thing she could do.

"RRRRAAAAAAH-!"

Asuka lunged forward at the attacker, her eyes still closed from the perceived existence of the cloud of talc powder, her right fist lancing out for what would be his face.

One of them had to go down. Asuka was determined it would not be her.