Ardere vs Akryn (DUEL/Repost)

Battle Stipulation: Hand to hand only, equal rank hits.

Akryn was already sitting on his side of the arena, cross legged with his bare hands on his knees. He was a short man, incredibly short, standing in at 5'1". But he was incredibly well muscled and solid. Thick white hair which was starting to grow out and was currently pulled back into a small tail, and an eye patch dominated his head. The other most prominent fact about him was the white and gold blue Pegasus tattoo on his abdomen. Akryn smiled as his opponent entered the arena and he quickly rose up, dusting off his black pants and wiggling his bare toes in the arena sand. Akryn was easily one of the most dominant, powerful physical fighters in his entire guild, with strength, speed, and stamina far beyond a normal humans. A god slayer should be able to keep up with him easily however.

Akryn suddenly slid his right foot back in a small crescent movement, sand flying as he did so, and he raised his hands, his left hand extending out towards Ardere, palm out, and his fist drawn back to his ribs. "One hundred foot circular arena, thirty foot high walls, sand bottom. Excellent place for a good bout. The name is Akryn, Akryn Motomiji of blue Pegasus. I warn you, I have no intention of losing here today."

Ardere stood at the center of the arena, where he was met by a short man, who seemed to be in good shape. Being a hand to hand fight specifically, he did not expect an out of shape opponent. He expected someone who had been training long and hard like he hard, which meant this was not going to be an easy fight for either side. His opponent, now revealed to be named Akryn took a fighting stance. The fire mage took note of the man's stance, and slid back his right leg and bent his knee. Turning his left leg so his foot was pointing towards the other mage, he lifted up his fists and bent that knee slightly as well. One fist was crossed over slightly, close to his heart. The other fist was out, he could use it to block oncoming attacks. I'm Ardere from Sabertooth, and I don't plan on losing either. So come at me. Tightening his fists, the fire king was ready for battle. They were only about a meter away from each other, as was standard in an arena fight such as this. If one mage attacked the other, they would have just enough room to create a full length attack. Narrowing his eyes slightly in observation of his opponent, he kept a calm and laid back demeanor. It was obvious he took this fight seriously, but there was no anger in his movements at the current time. His black aura began to shimmer across his body, signalling his readiness.

Akryn smiled broadly at the invitation before suddenly seeming to disappear. If Ardere was fast enough to pick up the sudden movements, and sharp enough to keep up with Akryn, he would see a white haired little devil bolt across the field at a ridiculous speed, before suddenly stopping cold just in front of Ardere. The resulting redirection of momentum sent the sand from the floor shooting up into the air as a tall, but thin, screen of sand up at Ardere. Instinct would likely tell the martial artist to shield his eyes from the sand, to preserve his sight for the rest of the fight. Akryn was betting on this though and allowed his body to somewhat whip forward at the stop, bringing the arm that had been back by his waist to swing up and forward, putting as much momentum and power as he could into his elbow and stiffened forarm, aiming to drive them straight into Arderes chest with bone jarring force.

As soon as Ardere saw his opponent bolt forward, he waited until his opponent was close to pivot his body. Just as the sand began to fly towards him, he performed a spinning back kick, kicking his leg straight back rather than at an arc, aiming his heel at his opponent's solar plexus. The brunt of the sand would hit his legs and back, but not his eyes. Even if his opponent threw some form of a strike, his leg would likely go right under that strike if from a fist, or above it if a kick. He was always taught when an opponent was charging you, a back kick was a great defensive move. Even though he had no idea sand was going to be flung at him, the back kick was instinctive. If the back kick was successful, he would follow through by dropping low and sweeping at his opponent's legs, but keeping his hands up high to block any strikes. He had opponents try to kick or punch him while he had dropped low before, and his intention was to not let that happen. Hmph. It seemed his opponent was fighting dirty, and that would not go over well for him, the fire mage thought. Using sand was disrespectful, but he would give him another opportunity. It took a lot to piss off the flame god slayer, but some specific things did it for him. He didn't like to show it, but he possessed a strong sense of honor, especially in combat.

Akryn had wisely pulled his open hand back when he struck, and so when the spinning back kick came in Akryns open hand was ready to catch and stop it. However Akryn was smart, and seasoned, enough to see the low spinning kick come in and before it ever connected Akryn was gone, hopping back and away to create distance before dropping into a crouch, his left hand resting on his bent knee and his free hand held in front of his chest, palm open. He was griining at Ardere to. "Forgive me, that was dirty. But a good way to assess a foe is to throw a dirty trick at them and see how they react. You reacted marvelously. Allow me to introduce myself properly. I am Akryn Motomiji, son of Marcus Motomiji, student of Thorsfell the Dragon, Gongen Waizen, and Fenix Motomiji, and the sole master of the Hasu Ken. Ardere of saber tooth, allow me to test your abilities and show you the might of the hasu ken."

Ardere's kick missed, causing him to land and slide to the side a couple of feet. Quickly looking to his opponent to judge what his next move would be, he found him talking rather than attacking. Looking slightly confused, the fire mage kept his hands up just in case. My name is Ardere Kasai, full name anyways. So...thanks. Sliding back another foot, he bent his front leg slightly, and his back legs and bit more while he kept his hands up. A fist close to his heart, and a fist a bit outwards. Student of Prometheus and Hephaestus, so I'll show you the might of a God and a Titan. His black aura began to shimmer across his body, as if he was preparing to fight. Sliding his foot forward quickly, he pivoted his entire body to throw a punch, then quickly brought his leg up, and down. His leg coming up and down would allow his heel to strike his opponent as he brought it downwards, if the move successfully landed. His first move was a normal punch, but if the punch was not interrupted then his second move was an axe kick. The fire king preferred not to start a battle, but it seemed his opponent also wanted to test him. Performing two simple strikes did not display his technique at it's fullest, but it should get the fight truly started. His next moves would depend on his opponent, and how he reacted. The trick was constantly watching the other man's hips, shoulders, and feet for movement. Whoever the other fighter was, he was extremely experienced. However if he was looking for a fight, he had come to the right place. Ardere was quick on his toes, and could react to swift attacks.

Akryn didn't even react to the punch as he had been watching Ardere closely for a feint. An experienced man like Ardere would not have come at Akryn so early with something so simple and predictable as a punch, not if he respected Akryn. The axe kick was good, allowing for a lot of power. A normal opponent would have stepped back out of the range of the axe kick but Akryn was far from normal. Instead he stepped in with his right foot, pulling his left hand from his knee and closing it mostly, so that only two fingers were still extended, which he would then jab upwards aimed at the back of Arderes descending leg, at the knee. The force of the blow would likely numb Arderes entire leg and cause a lot of pain, with little damage. Ardere would be able to dodge most of the blow though by shifting his weight on his pivot leg, but Akryn wouldn't give that chance, as at the same time he was attacking with his left hand, he would swing his left leg low and along the ground in a sweep aimed at the back of arderes standing leg.

Ardere had been tested Akryn's capabilities, and so far he was not disappointed. It seemed as he went for an axe kick, a strike was coming up towards his leg. Noticing that his opponent was also dropping low during the hit, he jumped slightly arching his body forward, which would change the position in which his opponent's strike hit him, closer to his thigh than the back on his knee. The hop would go over his opponent's leg that was sweeping, and even though that his striking leg was hit, the extra force due to his slight jump would add extra force to his kick. This extra force would help his axe kick smash through his opponent's strike to his leg, and even though it hurt his striking leg, the axe kick would not more than likely come crashing down into Akryn's head. The force of his kick coming down so harshly would help soften the blow, but he knew the scorching pain through his leg would not be good. However, unfortunately for his opponent there was not much of a way for him to stop the kick crashing down now. Even if the strike had numbed his leg, the dead weight of his leg would be crashing down with the full force of his body, and the force of gravity. A kick of this power, if crashing into his head would cause some fairly decent damage.

(OOC: Pm me if anything is confusing, I was half asleep xD)

Thankfully for Akryn the blow did not hit his head but his shoulder, causing the white haired wizard to wince in pain. Blow for blow, not bad really. Akryn quickly shoved away from Ardere, several feet away before rushing back in, jabbing two fingers from his right hand out in rapid, dagger like strikes, aimed at the crook of either shoulder on his opponent, or more specifically the nerve bundles in those areas, aiming to numb his arms before he would suddenly spin and whip his leg out, aiming a round house kick at his opponent, before suddenly dropping down and spinning again, aiming another sweep at his likely crouching opponents now lowered hip with jarring force.

Ardere flt his foot slam into his opponent's shoulder, as pain shot up through his leg. It seemed he had landed the harder blow, but both mages were still able to fight each other without much restraining them. Being pushed back several feet, he too would rush in, but not as hard as his opponent. Just moving in slightly, the fire mage swept his forearms in circles, to redirect the strikes coming at his shoulders, as well as prevent attacks from those strikes coming back to him, all the while moving closer to his opponent. Similar to a wax on, wax off movement, but following completely through with it. Just as he saw his opponent's hip turn, he slid in completely. Sliding in as the leg was lifted slightly, he attempted to wrap his arm around Akryn's thigh to prevent the kick being completed, as well as any other movements from being completed. At the exact same time he would also attempt to thrust his hand towards the other man's throat. His thumb out, and fingers arched a bit, to hit severely and possibly incapacitate his opponent. Throat strikes hurt like hell, and they certainly were not easy to recover from. Ardere did not hold his strikes or grabs at all, going full force he would not allow himself to lose to this man. Not just for Sabertooth, but for himself. He was a warrior first, and a guild mage second. If he did lose, he would not whine, but rather better himself. Though he had no intentions of losing this fight today, even acknowledging his opponent's strength.