Bound To Illusions (Open)

[Arden]

Bound To Illusions

1994



Closed Now To Silence Sei.

The lonely swordsmen Arden Janelle stole away his own desires and placed them on a metaphorical gobbet in the corner of his own mouth. With a flexing motion, he jettisoned the spit and watched it fall aimlessly to the cobblestones of the faux city that rose up around him. Dreams had fruited, lies had been sewn, death had been suffered and agony survived; now, all that remained for the silent swordsmen, was a long road to salvation through the victory and conquest of his own daemons.

He, like many others before him had chosen an enemy in his life and brought his strength and wits to bear against it. Without thinking, he had come to the Citadel once more and taken to the illusionary domes like a duck to water, a murderer to slaughter, a mother to love. His bare feet padded against the cold stone and his naked torso glimmered with the effluence of the light downpour which seemed to permeate every nook and cranny of this false yet tangible Scara Brae.

He bore no tools other than the Rheilhand, and wore no armour other than his own skin, but he was prepared for whatever cataclysmic conflict the fates had ordained for him. At the back of his mind, a secret wish for a fateful reunion with old enemies and new friends blossomed, but he did not hold up for long and considered the other many possibilities.

Catching his breath, he took in the damp air and the aromas which strolled like living beings along the dense matrix of streets that formed his own home - irony would have him fight in a mockery of the business district of the distant island, and he wondered if perhaps he would face someone he knew all too well and brotherhood would be tested to it's absolute limit. With a click of the neck and a loosening of sinew in his limbs, he arrived at the edge of Market Square and felt inexplicably welcomed and warm towards the sparkling waters pouring from the many statues at the it's heart - the fountain was as much an anchor to reality as the unbearable likeness of being.

One thing that the monks had not deemed fit to copy however was the crowds one might usually find at midday in a city like his. With a cocked ear he drew in the ambience, realising that there was no other sound except the distant bobbing of the ocean waves and the dense, rugged heartbeat of his own soul. He was, for the time being, alone. No cut of his blade nor battle cry could conjure his opponent, he had nothing to do but wait - Arden Janelle was most accustomed to waiting, praying, preparing himself...bound to the illusions of this make belief world in eternal servitude, and caught in the web and thrill of blood-lust that his cursed existence betrayed him with.

[Silence Sei]

Quiet. The soft sounds of the ocean brushed across his ears, tempting the telepath with promises of rest and relaxation. The desolate streets of Scara Brae made for a most ironic battle between (quite possibly) the two most silent warriors on Althanas. The wind from the sea continued to blow past Sei Orlouge's form, catching his vlince cloth in an updraft.

He shifted his eyes to the cloth, watching as it whipped about in the wind, threatening to tear from the clasps that connected it to his right shoulder. He became distracted; mesmerized by the dance the winds had beckoned him to watch. It was not until the breeze died, and with it the flapping of the material, that Sei regained his focus, and moved his blue orbs back towards his opponent.

The last time that 'Silence' Sei had fought the warrior Arden Janelle, also known as Blank, the mute had barely escaped the encounter alive. This was partially due to the environment in which the two warriors did battle was in and of itself, a war on a different front. Blank had fallen before the might of the meteorites that day, and a few weeks later, he had pledged his allegiance to the Ixian Knights. Whether it was because of their similar skill, or simply because the Tantalum as a whole did the same, Sei was not sure of.

The mute watched as Arden entered an almost trance-like state over his choice of arena. Sei leapt off of the rooftop he was standing upon. As he fell, he sprouted two butterfly wings from the slits in his shirt. The magnificent blues and oranges helped glide the telepath down silently, as to not alert his opponent of his presence. Careful to take small steps, Sei withdrew reached down to one of his chakrams, the one known as 'Ter'Thok'.

He approached Arden until he was around fifteen feet away. Unsure as to whether or not his former fellow mute had been alerted to his presence, Sei slammed the chakram against its brother, which still rested at his right side. Arden turned around to find Sei placing a single finger on his lips, a sign that he wished for this battle to be done without speaking. This was a match that was more appropriate if the two allowed their weapons to do the talking.

After all, it seemed as though the citadel monks wished for silence on the blank streets of Scara Brae.

[Arden]

The clash of metal dragged Blank's gaze to meet a familiar vision, and the fates indeed had forged a reunion for him to suffer. Times, however, had changed. Duffy had inflicted a fake death upon him in the arena, and he had burnt in the flames of a friendship rekindled by later pledges of brotherhood, but he had died for real since then. It had transformed him, corrupted him, alerted him to a higher and morally better way of living one's life.

If silence, however, was what Sei wished for, then silence is what the Hero of Radasanth would get. He had spent too many years muted by the curse of Magnarion, his eloquent and villainous father to be able to much express pain or suffering. He had lived, in equal measure, just long enough with a voice to begin to express his contempt for those sceptred sons of the world that thought better of themselves than was dually, and coarsely reality.

Blank had fallen once before, this time, however, he would not make the same foolish mistakes. He still held the mute's discarded blade, and he vowed, in the most apt of moments, to reveal it's ironic prang of death and strike it back into the Ixian General's heart. He would forever be the thorn in Sei's side, free now of Duffy's command, bound by shadow and silence, but relentlessly pursuant of a new and more challenging goal.

He nodded pluckily, and wondered how far he could stretch himself to go in the absence of Sei's usual able-tongued companion. They were, after all, utterly alone, free of the dogma of polite conversation, unravelled by the silence of stoic determination, and at one another's mercy. He thought Sei better in that regard, but Blank would hold back nothing, he had killed, and would kill again many more men in the pursuit of the fame and glory he hungered for.

With a quick one-two step, he potter pattered across the cobble stones of Market Square, legs splayed wide as he flapped with nimble strides. He snapped his mouth shut and breathed through his nostrils, which flared along with the beat of his chest as he closed the gap between himself and his opponent. He sped forwards to narrow the space between the single-edged blade Rheilhand and the mystical chakrams that had scythed through the lemon grass glades of the battlefield they had first crossed paths on.

Here, in Scara Brae however, he would require an altogether more sharpened blade to cut through the thick steel and diamond hard granite of the tall and rickety towers and the amiable innards of the Old Harbour Inn. With a cutaneous snarl, Blank brought this blade silently up at Sei's chest with a right to left swing and a sudden gluttonous stop to his advance. Only the physical constructs of their being rang out across the shattered tiles and the damp, glistening and glib lawns of the bourgeois landscape.

[Silence Sei]

Sei's challenge had been accepted. Arden had answered with the whistle of his blade heading straight across the telepath's chest. Sei responded in kind, moving his chakram so that Rheilhand was within the emptiness of the mute’s weapon. He jumped back and forced the chakram downwards, bringing the sword downward with it. Without the distraction of talking, the Mystic warrior took more notice to the sparks that flew off of the length of the blade as his Chakram slid off of it.

He could also hear his clothing rip. Though Sei had thought he had reacted fast enough, Arden's sword still found a destination in the form of the mute's pants. Though there was no physical damage to the Hero of Radasanth, Sei shuddered at the suddenly heightened sound of cloth ripping against blade. He smiled as he looked to his foe, jumping back a few more feet. He did not have time to face Arden in a straight sword fight last time, so the mute was not too keen on engaging up close at the moment.

While he had not had enough melee experience to fight his opponent, Sei did have enough general expertise to know of the former mute's abilities. He reached for his spare chakram, throwing both of the weapons straight towards Arden. Sei noticed that in the midst of the silence, his throwing speed seemed slower than what it usually was. Perhaps it was because this battle of the buttoned up behemoths was off to a slow start, or maybe without any communication to deter him, the Mystic youth was truly seeing his skills with a clear vision for the first time.

Though the ringed blades still seemed slower than normal, they were still heading towards Arden at a rather advanced speed. The whistles that howled out as they tore through the wind filled, empty streets of Scara Brae. Sei continued to smile, thinking about his true target.

He was not aiming for Arden.

[Arden]

With reflexes as tactile as a puma, Blank rolled to the side without consideration. The wind slipped past his ears and his auburn hair spiraled into a roiling mess. At the apex of his movement, he came to a standstill and found himself suddenly dumbfounded. The silence added to the ominous atmosphere, and he drew his breath as if to expect a sudden exegesis and betrayal.

Whilst he had taken Sei's silence as both a challenge and condition of their confrontation, he had been too occupied with balancing the need to curse with the need to stay his tongue to notice the slight imperfection and adjustments to his throw. The Chakram flew past, and suddenly the rules of the game were blown wide open.

Silence was golden, and Blank missed it so.

He drew his blade upwards as he rose, and turned his head over his shoulder to observe the true target of the weapon that had already come close to ending his life several times before. The red brick houses and towering structures that rose all around them felt suddenly closed in and claustrophobic.

[Silence Sei]

The rings ripped down the street, only a few feet away from the inn they occupied, before they hit its target of choice. The fountain located just a short distance from the two had its azure streams interrupted by the weapons. The chakrams were forced into the water, causing a loud splash as they entered the water. Sei smiled as he looked to the Blank warrior, who had become distracted by Sei's feint attack.

Following suit, Sei now withdrew a battle fan in each hand, throwing the weapons towards his distracted opponent. While the chakrams had been meant to occupy Arden's attention, Sei had now thrown the fans as hard as he could at each of his foe's wrists. It was an attempt at disarming, as well as an attempt to ensure the other mute would not pick up his weapon again for the rest of the fight. Shattered wrists would do that.

He next raised his hand, smiling as two seaweed strands shot up from the ground and attempted to bind the (now possibly hurt) wrists of Arden Janelle. Sei had casted this spell in his last fight with the swordsman, and he had teleported out of it. Sei was unsure of just how many times his opponent could pull off such a stunt. However, Arden was human, and as such, he would tire if he used any attack enough.

The winds picked up once more as Sei cracked his knuckles, prepared for seizing a hopefully wounded and weary enemy.

[Arden]

Blinded by the timorousness of Sei's tactics, Blank snarled and pulled against the ropes that grappled with his limbs. In a flash, as the mute had no doubt expected, Blank vanished into thin air in a roar of drums and tropical tom toms. With a flash of blue light, he was gone, and with it the bondage and risk of pain.

His wrists were no longer there to snap, and the fans flew harmlessly through the empty air where the Akashiman assassin had been only moments before. As the spiralling efferfescence lingered, and the split seconds which signified the drawing on the Aria in it's weakened state, Blank thought long and hard on the imaginary pier in the other world about his understanding of the 'silence.'

Did he really want to resort to Sei's mind games? Who was he to bid him silent. Who was he to fall into line beneath his 'superior's' gaze?

He re-appeared with a fiery convocation of blue flame and a rhythmic, courtly melody, sword crossed over his waist and eyes ablaze with a determination he had discovered in the cold caress of the Howling Ziggurat. "No more, Sei. I am not going to abide by your wishes to gratify some secret fantasy - we fight on explicit, natural and unbound terms."

He stepped forwards and readied his weapon in a more offensive stance, cocked his head with a hint of arrogance, and kicked into a run. As he neared, the menagerie of weapons at Sei's disposal glinting in the twilight, he snarled and cut his own lip with a fang. The blood trickled down his chin and enveloped him with a formalistic fury; with every ounce of rage in his bones, Arden Janelle renounced his bonds to the illusory chains of power, and with it, all restraint and humanity.

[Silence Sei]

Sei grew confused as to the order that things had happened. He was sure the fans were supposed to seize Arden before the effect of Octopus' Garden would have. As Arden snapped back into reality both physically and metaphorically, he seemed to be able to free himself from the seaweed that should have still bound him as well as completely bypass the following onslaught of boulders that were now raining down towards him.

Was Octopus' Garden really that useless?

Sei bit his lower lip and cursed to himself in the silence. Arden had not only managed to shrug off the telepath's attacks as if they were nothing, but he had broken the unspoken rule. Now, the warrior was coming at Sei with all that he had, ready to strike the telepath down. Something seemed to take possession of the man as he came at Sei, and the Mystic had no choice but to defend himself.

Clenching a fist, the orange haired hero sent his right hand flying in an underhand motion at his foe. The feat was a simple enough tactic; one he was hoping would catch Arden off guard. Nobody really knew Sei to rely on hand-to-hand combat unless it was the last possible scenario, and hopefully Arden could be counted among that lot. If his blow connected to ho his now savage opponent, Sei would follow it up by activating the ring worn on the fist.

This would activate Sei's emei piercer, a sharp spike made of pure Mystic light energy. With this punch, Sei was planning to puncture his opponent's intestines. It was a brutal move, but Arden had become a wild animal. Wild animals had to be put down.

There would be time for apologies when Blank woke up in the citadel infirmary.

[Arden]

The piercer struck, and Arden's eyes widened with a blemish of pain and a sparkle of inner satisfaction. He whelped, drove the blade down and closed his eyes as he was consumed by the blood lust of the Lao Sheng curse.

Time slowed.

"Clever," he spluttered, spitting the violet and crimson flecks of blood from his gum line into the chill air. He felt the paralysis slipping over his bones almost instantly, and stumbled back with jagged movements to cleanse himself as quickly as he might.

With his last strength, he drove Gerhard into his shoulder, the dagger of his family line which he had secreted under his waist sash, and felt it's steel caress pierce the back of his shoulder blade. He fell to his knees, and grunted. The turgid cleansing power of the Mystic's light magic was working adversely against the Blood Magic which now drove Arden Janelle to the brink of extinction, beyond and back.

With a peppered spray, blood gushed from the wound on his shoulder and formed together into a vibrant, living, pulsating wing of his own self. He flapped it as the corruption in his being drained away, like a leech sucking the poison from a snake bite, or a feverish woman suffering from the placebo effect without the knowledge to know how it truly worked.

Blank forgave himself the momentary savagery that had allowed Sei the easy casting aside of his advances. He had broken his oath, and as a consequence, he had been broken in turn.

He looked down at the wound in his stomach and shook his head. "I'm normally so careful, Sei Orlougne. Normally, I am so profoundly...ready." He pushed upright and wobbled on uneasy legs for a moment, the wing bobbing to and fro in his stride.

"But I am not to be so easily bested, even by one such as yourself. A man's blood, after all, is both his power and his weakness, his blade and his shield, his life and death..." he spat once more and admired the pattern the gobbet made on the cobbles.

"Here we are, a behemoth cornering it's injured prey...in the home of homes, the city of cities, you stare me down once more...there shall be no comet, no crushing wind of flame and fire...my death, it is yours, and by wing, fang, blade and claw, I shall take that humanity from you..."

He smiled wryly, and advanced. The Rheilhand caught the light from nearby buildings as he held it aloft, and he cut his dagger into a defensive position over the emei piercer's strike.

"Take it, if you dare, give my blood the power it needs to consume all before it!" He stepped forwards once more, and the wing clotted, fell to the ground in a sickening shoal and vanished.

Arden hoped his theatrics and his metaphorical anthropomorphizing worked against Sei's good and heroic nature...whilst the assassin lacked any of those things on the surface, he hoped that his own inner morals were the same as the mute's...either way, his end would be swift, and he would die once more a puppet of a higher power.

[Silence Sei]

There was an evil sort of sting to Arden's words. Sei had indeed spilt the blood of the man before him, and to let him bleed out was a thing the Mystic did not have the heart to do. Then again, Sei also held himself in a higher moral standard, never trying to actually kill his opponents during fights, not even in the citadel. Arden beckoned for an end, pleaded with Sei, continuing to go back on his word to remain hushed.

Sei had not gone back on such a vow. During being attacked and attacking, he had continued to not utter a single word through this encounter. The sound of Blank's dripping blood filled his ears, the sight of the crimson rubies as they slowly poured to the ground, staining the cobblestones. Sei had ended this fight already, to finish off his opponent just seemed wrong.

Arden was who he made himself to be; a warrior, a killer, and a rule breaker. All of these things were what Sei's opponent had shown him today.

Sei Orlouge, on the other hand, also exemplified his attributes through this encounter. He stayed true to his word, he fought with non killing blows, and when he did deliver a wound that would eventually turn fatal, it was in self defense.

Sei had offered Arden a chance to show Althanas something spectacular, something truly beautiful. A fight that had not needed dialogue in order to have a graceful and honorable battle. Arden had spit on the concept much as he was currently bleeding on the ground. Sei's foe had gone back on his word, allowed himself to succumb to the temptation of words simply because he was weak.

Sei was not weak, but just as Arden had not done what Sei asked, so now would Sei not fulfill his opponent's request.

The mute kneeled to the ground, picking up a solitary pebble. Placing the rock over his thumb, Sei flicked it upwards, a vicious fury in the motion. The pebble came back down in the same direction it had been shot up. Before the stone made contact with Sei's hand, however, it stopped, and fell harmlessly to the ground.

The trademark sound of Sei Orlouge. The glass shattering to show off that the Mystic had just activated his trademark spell. There was cracking all around the mute's form, distorting his image in the eyes of Blank. Sei turned and began to walk away, the cracked covering following him for a few moments before firing outwards towards Arden.

The Mystic Protection had never been truly deadly for the most part, especially not at the range the two warriors had been. Sei's goal was to cause enough small cuts on his foe, enough pain to overload the senses of Arden Janelle, that the man would pass out.

At one time, Sei believed Arden deserved better than death because he was a good man. Now, the telepath believed the silent swordsman a coward who sought death as a babe seeks its mother’s bosom.

Arden would not die this day, at least not by Orlouge hands.

[Arden]

The glass fragments sparkled slowly through the air as Blank's eyesight keened and repealed the notion of time passing. In those brief, final moments before his opponent delivered his mortal blow, he considered himself lucky in his endeavours. He had simply needed to draw Sei's wrath, however slight, to allow the artefact awaiting the Mute to bond to his soul.

He could not wield Wainwright's Sword after all, without malice kindled and malice wrought in his limbs and bones. Only one who wielded the light as strongly as Sei did, yet also one who accepted the darkness could strike Lucian down in the final moment. Sei had promised long ago to be the hero for Duffy, he and Arden had only hoped that the Mute would accept the deal...a life for a life.

The glass hit, and Blank let his silence repeal itself once more.

He screamed in shock.

He had no strength left to blink from existence, no mettle prepared to pull them out and deliver a coup de grace. This, he thought, was exactly what was intended to happen.

"Good, Sei. Good."

With a flop, Blank fell to the ground in a slump, arms forward, sword scattered to the cobbles and hair matted with sweat and blood. His injury on his shoulder and stomach congealed before their eyes and cast away his life-force on the rock.

A mystical power kindled in the remnants of Arden Janelle's body, still held in his fingers despite the release of his father's curse. With one last request, he looked Sei in the eye and smiled a bloody smile of quasi-victory.

"When Duffy hands the reigns of power to you, gives you the chance to save Scara Brae when he cannot rise to the occasion...do it. No matter who must die to save the day..."

A wisp of wind rolled through the streets, carrying with it the fake scent of Banbury Buns and meat rolls, fresh from the distant street pedlar's backs. The city, at least in the illusionary world of the Citadel was waking up to a fresh new day, breaking through the dawn to be eclipsed by activity.

"I ask this of you, to show you something. I wish you to know that act as I do through an ancient imperative, for I am bound to the illusions of past lives, parts written centuries ago I can do nothing but recite. Though free will yet remains in these bones, in this rippled skin and auburn hair...we are all merely actors on the stage of the world...please, play your part, Sei...one" he slumped forwards groggily, in a pool of magenta, "last..." his head connected to the pavement with a crack, "time..."

[Silence Sei]

It seemed as though once Arden Janelle started to speak, he would never remain quiet. Like his friend and one of Sei's Nine Generals, Duffy Bracken, the allegedly silent swordsman spoke of prophecies in which Sei would possibly have to make great sacrifices to achieve. Though the Mystic remained with his back turned to his foe, he was sure that his opponent could understand what his reply would be.

Sei would save Scara Brae if he had to, and he would do it without any forfeit of lives.

Then again, it seemed as though the mute Mystic underestimate his own prowess. Mystic Protection, it seemed, had grown stronger and delivered a killing blow to Arden. Though Sei himself did not see the death of the one known as Blank, he was sure the sound of the man's head cracking beneath the Scara Brae ground was more than enough to defeat his foe.

Sei maintained his quiet demeanor, walking out of the newly awakened city. This illusionary world was meant for the illusionary people who were bound to it; both the ones created by the citadel, and the ones who could not believe in changing their own fate. Sei Orlouge was neither of these things.

After a few ours of contemplation, Sei would find himself in his chambers, reflecting on the pinnacle of the day. His fight with Blank had proved eventful, and provided more insight into the now talkative warrior. It seemed that everybody wanted the Dragon of Drantrak to shoulder one sort of destiny or another. When one had the weight of the world on one's shoulders, one does not simply shrug.

Instead, you share the burden with others. One was never meant to be bound to illusions alone. After all, was Althanas itself not an illusion for the Thaynes to have sport with? No, illusions were meant to be shared together, so one man would not have to carry such weight on his form.

Until Arden Janelle understood such things, he would be trapped to his own self-induced misfortune for the rest of his life...


((Spoils:

Stronger Mystic Protection: Sei's MP has proven to be able to deliver killing blows, much as it had at one time done during The Cell. The MP glass is now compariable to Fallien Cillu Glass, making for deeper, sharper cuts to the point that the spell can actually finish off weakened mid-leveled foes.))

[Breaker]

Mood: Pensive
Music: Robot Heart by HW

Opening commentary... well, a very short and to the point battle, my commentary will most likely reflect this nature. Mostly I was disappointed more interesting things didn't happen, but it was an easy read so I guess we can call it even ;)

We'll do Blank in blue and Sei in red.

Story ~ 6 ~ 5
I don't feel like either of you excelled or made a special effort in this area, but between the two of you a tangible storyline was crafted and executed. Since the story was mostly about Blank, I gave him the advantage here.

Continuity ~ 5 ~ 6
Sei noses ahead here largely because he did a better job of explaining his references. While both of you were offhand and casual with the whole thing, Sei at least threw the reader an occasional bone.

Setting ~ 5 ~ 6
Don't have much to say about this. Each of you had some neat moments, again Sei went a little above and beyond, but the setting was mostly underutilized so although you both wrote it well, the scores reflect that.

Creativity ~ 7 ~ 5
Blank, I rewarded your effort with the literary devices here, but your style (which I'll go into more in clarity) really hampered them. A great example is at the very beginning of your first post. That was a very cool metaphor, but you ruined it by calling it a metaphorical gobbet. By reminding me that it was a metaphor you confused me as to whether Blank was actually spitting or not, and made me stop reading for a moment. This is the opposite of what you want in your first post, and it's not the only place where your thick style ruined what would have been some sweet imagery.

Sei, I didn't notice as much of an effort from you to employ advanced writing, but I can't deny your creative approach to writing. As usual, you made this story your own without making it anything too mentionable.

Character ~ 5 ~ 7
Blank was present but didn't do much to stand out or become memorable, which is unfortunate because in a big way he was the main character of this story, not Sei. Sei (again as usual) dripped persona.

Interaction ~ 4 ~ 7
Blank, if you're going to keep calling your character an "assassin" he should maybe learn to fight like one. Frankly, nothing your character did really seemed to click with the things you, the writer, said about him. What really lost you the point here though was your little monologue at the end. Blank ran around carrying a sword, teleported, ran some more, got stabbed in the stomach, and then somehow had the lungpower left to say everything, word for word, that he wanted to say. This is equally as unrealistic as when someone has their character come back from the brink of death to fight for another couple posts. If you don't believe me, do some wind sprints, get a boxer to punch you in the gut, and immediately try to recite Shakespeare.

Sei, the whole silent battle thing was a neat concept, and I liked that you stuck to it the whole time. It was an interesting and original way to solve "the dialogue problem" which so many Althanians struggle with in battles. Hopefully it won't be come a thing, though.

Strategy ~ 3 ~ 4
First of all... if there is going to be bunnying throughout a thread, you need to make a note of it in your first post. If there are specific instances, you need to make a note of it in those specific posts. It all seemed somewhat even and agreed upon so I just docked you each one point here as a reminder to communicate with your judge properly.

Blank, your character had very few physical actions when compared to the number of words you wrote, and the few actions he did have weren't clearly described. Sei, while your overall strategy was good some of your posts went a little bit too far past the fourth wall and took me out of the context of the story. If you're going to write an entire story that constantly breaks the fourth wall, that's one thing, but doing it randomly in the middle of an ordinary story is very difficult to pull off.

Clarity ~ 3 ~ 5
This is a very interesting meeting of too much vs too little. Blank, you need to use less words in general. Way too many adjectives in your writing. You frequently go to the point where the words keep piling up but they no longer have any meaning, because the reader is just trying to remember what you're talking about. While the style you're working towards does have its place, it really needs to be executed properly, and in any case its place is not in a battle. I think the only way to improve your writing style without completely stripping it down is very, very close editing, and by focusing more on what is physically happening in the story rather than all the intangibles in your character's mind.

Sei, your writing was mostly clear but there were places where you phrased things so awkwardly I had to stop and go back. In such a short thread, a few of these can do a lot of damage.

Mechanics ~ 8 ~ 7
Aside from the little grammatical mistakes which can only be caught by close proofreading, you both did pretty well here. Blank, you had several severe run-on sentences, which compound the other problems in your writing style, so be very vigilant for those. Sei, again your errors held a little bit more weight because of the lesser amount of content you provided. All in all the mechanics are solid though.

Wildcard ~ 6 ~ 6
Solid battle overall. I thought the scoring would be closer, but my notes seldom lie. If you both take what I've said here completely seriously and battle again in six months, I wouldn't be surprised to see a different end result with much higher scores.

Total: 52 ~ 59

Blank receives 400 EXP and 100 GP
Silence Sei receives 1200 EXP and 150 GP

[Silence Sei]

This exp-gp for this was added a long while back, I'm surprised nobody else has moved it.