In which Minato, Serph, and Squall have a three way

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Who: The Holy Triforce of Lineface: Squall, Minato, and Serph
When: February 15th, in the afternoon
Where: The park
Style: Action
Status: Closed

[The Defense Force, in some ways, reminded Squall of Balamb Garden. Except it was way smaller, wasn't a mercenary institution, didn't have students, and was more of a loosely organized thing.

Okay, it wasn't much like Garden at all. But it did share one thing with Garden: it was a group of fighters that he held a leadership role in. Except, this time, he wasn't just out of the blue saddled with the title of Commander, told good luck, and left to run the whole damn thing by himself. He had volunteered this time.

And this time, he wasn't by himself.

Minato and Serph were his "coworkers" in a sense. He'd been in Minato's position before: given something that you obviously weren't able to handle by yourself. Maybe that was what compelled him to help. Serph was also someone who offered assistance and between the three of them, they were able to work out something that resembled organization.

With the Defense Force in order, they found themselves with more free time. Squall had been the one to suggest that they get together to spar. He was, admittedly, curious to see what the two of them could do and it would only be to their advantage if they were familiar with each other's capabilities. With the time and location arranged, Squall arrived at the park ten minutes early and waited for them to show up.]

Comments

[bufudine]

[Yes, Serph is rather a big distraction, isn't he? He is a little over a foot taller now, too. But just because he's larger doesn't mean he's any less agile, and he takes a step back to narrowly avoid the gunblade's steel. However, Serph doesn't know the nature of Squall's weapon, and snarls from taking the brunt of the explosion. It's more out of surprise than pain, though there's some of that, too.

Since he doesn't want to kill Squall, he lashes out with a curled fist, keeping the blade within his arm hidden. But even as he does so, Serph sucks in air with a loud hissing sound before breathing out a cone of freezing air. Cocytus.

Serph hasn't forgotten about you, Minato, but this jerk Squall is all in his face, so he'll save you for later.]

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[Squall retreats backwards to avoid the fist, and it just barely misses him. So far, Squall has learned two things about Serph:

1. Serph is pretty hardy in that form.

2. Serph can use ice breath.

It's not as damaging as some ice attacks he's taken in his lifetime, (it's going to be hard to top that time he was run through with a gigantic spear of ice) but he would be lying if he didn't say it was one of the coldest. He can feel his body growing numb - it might actually freeze over if he's not careful. So what counters ice? Fire.

He conjures up another fire based spell, this one stronger than the one he had launched at Minato. He keeps it in his hand for a moment, to weather out the sheer coldness of Cocytus. He doesn't like using up his reserve of stronger spells, but there are sources of magic all over Vatheon. When Serph's finished, he releases the fire spell, launching three bursts of fire that hone in on the demon.

Minato is also in the back of his mind, but right now he has to focus on what's in front of him. If Minato wants to watch, he's welcome to, but when Squall can, he's dragging him back into the scuffle.]

[messianic]

[Minato has no issues with waiting, temporarily; he has always been a slightly passive battler, fighting when necessary. So instead he watches, and he watches in quite a bit of interest.

Yes, his new co-workers are quite adept indeed.

And while Minato knows that he's got some flashy stuff of his own, he'll just change Personas again, grabbing onto Beelzebub for its resistance to physical attacks, and finds himself having looped around behind Serph.

Oh.

Opportunity knocking, huh?

And he steps forward to swing his sword at Serph's unprotected back.]

[bufudine]

[As soon as Serph sees the fire, he knows it's time to back off. It's hard being a protagonist with an easily exploitable weakness.

Unfortunately for Minato, he's already half-turned thanks to his GETTING THE HELL OUT OF THE WAY dodge by the time he attacks. So he side-steps past the swing and takes this opportunity to put Minato between Squall and himself with a few easy strides.

... And, well, that puts Minato in the direct line of fire, doesn't it?]

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[This...was unexpected. But Squall will take it! While of course, anyone would try to get away from an attack, it seems like Serph, really, really wants to get away from it.

While Serph's retreating and Minato suddenly finds himself being used as a human shield, Squall takes the precious moment where nobody's attacking him to cast more magic, this time on himself. With a wave of his hand, a shell of purple light appears in front of him briefly before disappearing. Having tested the waters, he's more wary of what magic those two could be carrying, and reducing the effectiveness of any magic thrown his way is a good thing.

...hmm.

Squall backs away from both Minato and Serph. It might be good to put a little bit of distance between him and them. Hopefully they'll be more preoccupied with each other for a bit.]

[messianic]

[Oh snap.

Being directly in between is not where he wants to be; Minato will just be hastily changing Personas again (Beelzebub's weakness to fire seems like a really poor choice right now), lunging forward to try to avoid being pinned between to the two.

It seems like defensive movements are the word of the day at the moment, because he's going to wait and see what happens next before moving himself.]

[bufudine]

[Serph doesn't know what Squall has cast. It looks like a rakukaja to him, but it's not a good idea to assume Squall's magic is the same as his world's. Because this is a fight for testing the skills of the others, Serph is reluctant to use most of his non-direct spells; if they are affected by silence, then Serph won't see the spells they have available, defeating the purpose of this battle. This is very different from how he normally fights, though decisions are still thought through... well, as much one can think while fighting.

Serph backs off a few steps so everyone's relative positions to each other forms a triangle, the heavyset sound of his clawed feet against the ground emphasising how much more weight he has in this form. If the other two are going to play the waiting game, then Serph is going to give them some motivation to stop waiting. Raising his arms so they're momentarily crossed over his body, he pulls them back as he snarls, two massive icicles forming underneath the others' feet. Mabufudyne.

But the moment his spell goes off, he's rushing at Minato; Serph hasn't seen anything more than physical attacks from him, and wants to induce something else from the shorty Minato. It may be strange to see Serph raise his arm for what looks like a punch at a distance about an arm's length further away than one would expect, but the lines that run down the centre of his lower arms aren't just for show. His arm splits in half to allow the organic blade within his arm to flick out, turning the 'punch' into a stab.]

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[More ice. Squall shuffles to get out of the way, but the rising stalagmite of ice manages to graze his leg. The shell of purple light appears again, and he's thankful for it: it cuts the damage and pain he receives from it by a good amount.

At this point, he knows for sure that Serph is an ice affiliated fighter, and he kind of watches in fascination when that very lethal blade folds out of his arm. That form seems to be designed with killing in mind, doesn't it?

And like Serph, he wants to know what other tricks Minato is hiding - he could surely do more than attack with a sword. Squall can't summon his Guardian Forces in Vatheon - he's tried several times but they seem to be sealed. (And luckily, it seems like the downsides to using them are also negated) But along with magic, he can still use the skills that having a powerful entity in his head grants him. He has a way of his own to find out what Minato can do.

Holding the Revolver horizontally, resting between both arms, he concentrates and a soft white light begins to glow around Minato.

There are many sources of magic in Vatheon can pull from. Squall has been able find and draw magic from many different locations in the city.

The best sources of magic, however, are other living things.

If this is successful, he'll be able to not only find out what kind of magic Minato is capable of, but be able to use it himself.]

[messianic]

[With this, Minato is faced with a very difficult choice.

He can either null the mabufudyne or the strike--he won't be able to block both with his Personas, for he just won't get the chance.

He makes the best decision he can under the pressure and the shortage of time he is facing; he quickly flicks through Personas, grabbing for Beelzebub.

The Devil Persona does nothing against the ice and he cringes despite himself at the familiar frigid pain, but the blade is a different matter entirely; it probably is quite the interesting phenomenon to see a blade slide right over an otherwise unruffled teen's chest.

But the pressure is on and Minato can sense it. This is to see their abilities, isn't it? So he'll play along.

He retreats a few steps instantly, putting distance between himself and Serph. And then in one fluid motion he has slid the Evoker from under his coat, twirling it and bringing it to his temple. And then he fires.

Beelzebub as his active Persona is the Persona that appears, casting Maziodyne across a wide range before him. Hope you were ready for some electricity there.]

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[While Serph lacks eyes in this form, he 'sees' through his other senses, though they're more focused in the direction. So though he isn't facing Squall, he can still sense his spell not being as effective against Squall. Much like a Rakukaja after all.

In the split second before his strike connects with Minato, Serph had intended to pull his arm back if it had looked like Minato couldn't dodge in time -- his blades can shear through flesh and bone like putty, after all -- but what's startling is how Minato doesn't even bother. Serph has a pretty good idea what that means, so he follows through with his attack. And sure enough, his attack is nullified.

...That's a rather powerful innate ability to have.

When Minato pulls out a gun, Serph thinks he's going to need to pull out bullets from himself later. But no, Minato turns the gun on himself and Serph suddenly has no idea what to expect any more. But he doesn't expect a demon to suddenly appear.

If Serph had committed great acts of irresponsibility, then he would've recognised the giant fly as the insane ex-Vanguard who fled to Manipura's Waterways after having his ego smacked around by Serph and his travelling party. But no, he had been a good leader and didn't turn on the power when warned repeatedly not to do it, so alas, seeing Beelzebub doesn't bring back bad, bad memories of being covered in Death Flies over and over again.

Being zapped by electricity, though, now that's something he's familiar with. However, while he doesn't have innate resistance to electricity like Cielo, Serph silently shakes off the powerful spell, the only indication of pain being the single step back he takes. It hurts, sure, but when you've been on the receiving end of many from a massive dragon called Huang Long -- who had tasted like bitter revenge -- you get a tolerance for -dyne spells being flung at you.

Unlike the other two, the repertoire of abilities he can draw from here is incredibly limited. Again, because he still wants to see what else the other two have, he holds back on the ailment spells. And there's no way he's using Last Word in a 'friendly' fight. Instead, his extended blade flips back into his arm before he hisses and raises his arms again, movement draining green energy forming around both Minato and Squall. Sukunda.]

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[In such a small span of time, Squall saw several amazing things, from Minato completely shrugging off Serph's blade (by now, he's figured that Minato has to have some kind of way to adjust how well he can take certain attacks in a battle) and then shooting himself in the head and now there was what appeared to be a gigantic fly Guardian Force.

He has to pull himself together and stop this being distracted thing but it's kind of hard when someone puts a gun to his head and pulls the trigger and instead of dying from it, pulls out a summon. And why can Minato summon things while he can't? Obviously, it has to be because it's not a Guardian Force he's using, but it seems similar enough that Squall's just going to call it one for now.

On the positive side, his attempt to draw magic is successful and three lights rush to him, meaning that he was able to draw three casts of a spell from Minato.

It's wind magic of a kind, and it reminds him of an Aero spell. A ridiculously powerful Aero spell. It will be handy to have, that's for sure. Rather than using one now, he's going to save them for later. He only has three of them, after all, and he needs to make them count.

Anyway, this is a skirmish to show the others what he can do, and while Squall has shown them plenty of magic, maybe it was time for some other techniques.

So, somewhat recklessly, Squall lifts his Gunblade and charges straight towards Minato and Serph and notes a decrease in his speed. That must be what that magic Serph used did. When he gets between them, he spins around, holding out his weapon. But his aim isn't to cut them with the blade. When he spins, the Gunblade leaves red orbs of energy in its path for a moment before they all explode simultaneously. The Fated Circle technique, great for when you're surrounded by enemies and also doubles as a way to block magic attacks being thrown at you.]

[messianic]

[The recklessness and the sudden slowing of his speed are things that Minato notices one right after the other. He can't react quickly enough to do much more then step slowly back, trying to distance himself; he has a sword, but his swordplay can only be called roughly polished at best, the product of a year of necessity followed by the training his Aniki had put him through.

So he tries to get out of range, retreating even as Squall rushes forward.

He's not fast enough to avoid the strange, exploding red orbs, and Minato grunts even as he tries to raise his arms to protect himself from them.

He's distracted enough to not have a chance to lash out in return; besides, he doesn't intend to swap Personas with the way this fight is going, and Beelzebub's abilities will only stretch him so far. It's much more important that he retreat so he can re-plan what he will do, and it certainly isn't helping that his movements are slower and heavier than he would like. His reaction time is, on a normal day, only that of a normal teenager, so this doesn't put him in a very good position.]

Move to a new thread? It's getting cramped in here

[bufudine]

[Unlike Minato, Serph isn't aiming to avoid the exploding orbs. If anything, he seems to be allowing them to hit him. The only sign that he isn't just being stupid is how he moves the rest of his body back and extends his left arm so only his lower arm is within the orbs' explosion range, minimising the damage while he gauges the attack's damage. This is definitely not something he'd do in a normal fight.

He grunts as the explosions hit. It's like the earlier explosion from Squall's weapon, but because more than one of the orbs catch him, it does deal more damage. There's now some smoky marks along the thick scales along his arm. Ow. It's a good thing Atma are tougher than human flesh.

There isn't too much more he needs to see in regards to their reactions to his own abilities, so Serph's perfectly content to pull back from this battle and let the other two beat the snot out of each other. So he doesn't take advantage of the opening Minato has left and retreats with a short jump back, leaving Minato in the clear for Squall to move in.]