Chapter 4: Familiar Feeling

Haseo and Azure stood across from each other, waiting on the announcer to explain the rules. Both players where trying to size each other, trying to figure out how to fight their opponent. Haseo was having the most trouble since he had never encountered Azure before and all he knew was that he was also an Adept Rouge. Azure, on the other hand, had just seen Haseo’s fight and was trying to figure out how to get around his Dual Guns.

“The Rules for this match,” began the announcer, “are as follows: both players will have their stats averaged so the fights are even despite the difference in levels, meaning both players will their stats increased or decreased temporarily. Adept Rouges will not be allowed to constantly switch their weapons, there will be a time limit between each weapon switch, and this is so they don’t have a huge advantage.” He paused to let it sink in before continuing, “No single class has an advantage in these types of fights, spell casting classes such as harvest cleric and shadow warlock though will still continue to cast spells sine they are more suited for that task, though none will be at a very high level. Since both fighters are adept rouges, I will explain the special rules about weapon switching. If an Adept Rouge uses a broad sword, they will have powerful hits but will move slow, but if they suddenly switched to dual blades their speed would increase at the cost of power. We can’t have them suddenly switching on the fly, or else they could constantly change the battle in their favor whenever they pleased. To limit this they will have to wait three full minutes before changing weapons.” He paused again and finished with, “Now that we understand the rules, let’s begin the fight Haseo versus Azure, Adept Rouge vs. Adept Rouge. How will this newcomer face against our emperor in a battle of skill?”

“Well you heard the man. We can only switch weapons after a set time, guess we’re going to see how well we handle each weapon type,” Azure said to Haseo.

“Guess so,” he replied with a smirk, “I hope that you know what you’re getting yourself into.”

“Oh? I’m pretty sure I can handle myself.” Azure said as he pulled out his dual blades and entered the twin blade’s stance, “I think I might enjoy this fight.”

“Oh really?” said Haseo as he did the same, “I’ll take you on with the same weapons then, just to be fair.”

Azure smirked and stood his ground as Haseo charge at him. He used one of his blades to block Haseo’s low slash and used the other to stab him while he was close. Unfortunately, Haseo blocked the attack with the broad side of his other blade. Neither player was making any ground like this, so Azure decided to pick things up. He kicked Haseo’s leg and knocked him off balance. Once he had caught Haseo off guard, he pointed two fingers at him and used the basic light spell Lei Zas to push him back with streams of light. Just as he finished the attack he circled around while getting closer to Haseo to get him from the side.

Haseo gained his footing after the attack and barely dodged Azure’s attack, it was too close. This guy was good, so he shouldn’t have underestimated him. Something was funny though it felt as if he knew this guy from somewhere, but he couldn’t remember where. He didn’t have any time to ponder on the subject as the other player kept relentlessly attacking him barely giving time to dodge or block. Since he was using dual blades their attacks didn’t do too much, but they did enough after a while so it would be best to avoid them. The battle continued like this. Both players attacking, blocking, evading, and occasionally getting hit. Neither wanted to waste SP, even though it recovered like normal, but who knows when they might get an opening and didn’t have enough SP to perform a good attack.

Eventually Haseo realized how fruitless it would be to continue like this. The fight had no time limit but this fight was taking too long, this was truly a fight of endurance and skill. Brute force wouldn’t win this fight and you couldn’t give your opponent a chance to get a hit in. Maybe that’s why Adept Rouges were given a time limit of three minutes before being able to switch weapons. Haseo had noticed that when the battle started there was a countdown on the lower corner of the screen and it had reached zero a few seconds ago. This ment he could now switch to another weapon, it would leave him open but he would have to risk it. Using his quickened dash that came with his Xth form he backed away as far as possible from the relentless Azure, he quickly changed his weapon to a Broad Sword and blocked an attack from Azure. The other adept rouge already knew Haseo’s plan and quickly rushed to disrupt Haseo’s plan, he failed though, because Haseo had drawn the other weapon in time so he was able to block.

“And this fight still isn’t done folks, Azure really seems to be giving Haseo his all!” said the Announcer, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone fight Haseo so evenly in a one on one fight, this could be history in the making if Azure actually beats Haseo, though it won’t affect Haseo’s current standing as the Sage palace nor as the future Celestial Palace emperor.”

The crowd was silent as they watched the intense fight in the arena, most had though that no one could ever stand up to Haseo, but here a complete unknown player was fighting Haseo evenly, no in fact earlier in the fight some noticed that Azure slightly better than Haseo when they fought with Dual Blades.

“Did you know that he could fight like that?” Mireille asked SilverRose.

“No, I had no idea,” she responded, “I only saw him fight against another player once and that was on my first day, but this…it’s almost like he’s improved since the old days.”

“It’s really surprising, I bet he’ll be pretty well known even loses,” said Mireille

Azure ducked to dodge a swing from Haseo’s Broad Sword. The large blade would deal a lot of damage to him if it got him. His speed as a twin blade is good enough to dodge, but he couldn’t deal decent damage like that. He could switch to a sword and then he would have lower speed but greater attack. That would be a good option, because he if he survived long enough he would dual wield with the bayonet. He decided to put the plan into action, he ran to the other side of the arena to put some space between Haseo and himself and then switched to the Blade. He moved to the side as Haseo’s Broad Sword crashed into the ground.

“Ya know swinging that large sword around won’t help much if you can’t hit anything” taunted Azure

“Grr, well you keep dodging my attacks,” he said as he prepared to swing again, “Now that you aren’t using dual blades you won’t have your superior speed.”

“That may be true, but soon enough I’ll be able to take care if you,” he said as he dodged Haseo’s next attack, he saw an opening and went for it. He unleashed a Disaster Sword on Haseo dealing a great amount of damage. His slight victory was short lived when Haseo used Tiger Blitz on Azure. This caught Azure by surprise, as he stumbled forward. He could hear most of the crowd cheering Haseo’s name. Apparently they thought that by now Haseo had gained an advantage, though in reality Haseo had less health that Azure at the moment, mostly from the beginning of the fight. Azure moved away from Haseo to dodge another swing. Both Haseo and Azure realized that neither would get another chance like that without dealing with the consequences so they where simply wasting time until they could change weapons again.

“Wow, I don’t know if it’s because of how this fight was set up or what, but that Azure guy is really good,” said Kuhn.

“Hmm, yes it looks like he is a seasoned warrior from how he fights,” replied Antares. “My apprentice would definitely have some trouble fighting someone like that in a fight where the winner is determined by the skills of the fighter.”

“GO HASEO!!! KICK HIS ASS!!!” yelled out Alkaid from nearby, “DON’T LOSE TO THAT GUY!!!!”

“Looks like she’s really fired up huh?” said Kuhn.

“COME ON HASEO SHOW HIM NO MERCY!!!”” yelled a voice next to Alkaid; it took Kuhn be surprise because it was Atoli.

“Wow never thought I hear Atoli sound to violent,” said Kuhn with a sweat drop forming on the back of his head.

“Huh? Oh, Kuhn hello. How long have you been here?” Atoli asked.

“Since the title match ended,” he replied.

“Oh, well I’m just here with Alkaid and Shino to cheer Haseo on,” she said.

“I have never seen Haseo have so much trouble in a fight though,” replied Shino who was on the other side of Atoli.

“Hey don’t say something like that.” Said Alkaid angrily, “Haseo won’t lose to this nobody.”

“I didn’t say that Alkaid, I said that he was having trouble in this fight, I know that Haseo will win,” replied Shino.

“It’s just a game though right? I mean now that we’re taken care of everything and no one’s in danger we don’t have to fight so hard anymore,” said Kuhn.

“This is a fight between warriors, both of them must give their all,” said Antares. “Haseo must keep his pride as the emperor and Azure as a seasoned warrior.”

“Right…well in any case it feels like I know this Azure guy from somewhere,” said Kuhn.

“You too Kuhn?” asked Atoli. “I’ve been having that feeling too. Like I know him from somewhere but I don’t remember meeting a player named Azure.”

“Well, that’s really strange,” said Kuhn.

By now the repeated dodging and occasional blocking from both fighters was getting old. It was now time to switch to another weapon. Haseo didn’t follow when Azure moved back and instead preformed the weapon switch. The scythe was no good it was best when fighting against multiple opponents so the Dual guns were left, once they where out Azure wouldn’t stand a chance since he didn’t have any long rage attacked and spells would take too much time. Haseo smirked when he put away the large broad sword and switched to the two smaller dual guns. Everyone knew that the fight was now over now that Haseo had brought out his dual guns, by himself Azure stood no chance against him. It was surprising when Azure reached around his back and pulled out a bayonet and his blade was still in his other hand. Not only was he using two weapons but two weapon that he shouldn’t have since an Adept Rouge should be able to use a Blade, Bayonet and Dual Blades together.

“Are you surprised?” he asked. “Most people are.”

“Isn’t that cheating? You shouldn’t be able to use two weapons at the same time,” replied Haseo.

“Says the Adept Rouge with a fourth form and weapon,” said Azure.

“This was given to me by CC Corp as a special prize for being named the strongest player and dominating all of the tournaments,” explained Haseo. It was a lie that he used whenever he was asked about this Xth form.

“Is that so?” he replied. “Then mine is similar you could say, CC Corp did me a small favor by allowing me to do this.”

“Hmm...” grunted Haseo before unloaded a barrage of bullets on Azure. Azure quickly dodged but was hit in the leg by the attacks. Azure gained his footing again though and shot at Haseo with the Bayonet. Haseo dodged this attack with a dash. Haseo was faster than Azure as well as having a weapon that can fire rapidly. He would either have to block or evade the attack and counter while Haseo was reloading. This would prove to be Azure’s biggest challenge so far, a fast opponent with fast long range attacks, with only a moment to counter before he was put on the defensive again.

Haseo began his barrage of bullets again; he hit Azure this time, though he blocked the attacks. It had dealt damage, but it was minimal and now while he was reloading Azure had fired two shots. Haseo reacted quickly and dodged to the right. What he hadn’t expected was a for Azure to use another Lei Zas. The beam of light spread out so Haseo did the only thing this was able to do, he raised his arms to block the attack. Dust covered the area after the attack and blocked Azure from view; when it cleared though Haseo barely had time to dodge an attack from the other player.

“Did you expect this fight would be easier now that you had your guns?” asked Azure.

“I did, yeah,” responded Haseo. “Though you are kind of annoying so I’m not surprised that it isn’t as easy.”

“It’s probably only because of the conditions of this fight. You would certainly beat me if this was a normal fight,” said Azure.

After talking both players continued with the match. Haseo once again began shooting while Azure either blocked or dodged. Haseo kept an eye of Azure to make sure the other player didn’t use another spell, though it seemed that he had didn’t have enough SP for another one. Haseo had noticed it was taking longer for his SP to recover than normal and it was also probably due to the fight. Now though he has almost enough SP to perform the special skill for his dual guns, he uses his dash to get close to Azure and begins his attack at close range. Quickly, Azure responded by blocking Haseo’s initial attack with his Blade. He had repositioned the blade so that the blade was towards his back and the bottom of the handle was facing forwards. Basically, he was using it was a larger version of one of the dual blades, though it was still easy to move for blocking despite its size. Haseo began a series of attacks which Azure blocked quickly with that one Blade then kicked Haseo away, but the other Rouge dashed back in time to avoid the kick.

“No way,” Haseo mumbled to himself, “it’s almost like back then.”

Haseo stared at Azure for a while, and he remembered outline of another Player with blue hair, a red hat, and red clothes. They even shared the same marks on their cheeks, not to mention that was almost exactly like what happened when he encountered him the first time. Haseo was brought out of his reminiscing from the sound of Azure shooting his bayonet; Haseo didn’t react in time and was hit in the arm. What made it worse was that it was a critical hit two. This wasn’t good, he knew that both of them where reaching their end, all Haseo needed was to use JUSTICE and the battle would be over. He saw Azure was about to attack again using his Blade so he decided to end the fight once and for all, after dodging Azure’s attack again Haseo used JUSITCE, he hit Azure with multiple slashes followed by multiple shots from his gun. There was no way the other player would make it, this was the end…or so he thought. Azure had blocked just in time so the attack dealt slightly less damage than he had hoped. Even Azure was surprised that he had made it with only 3 HP left. Haseo, along with the crowd, was shocked that he had survived the attack.

“There is no way you could have lived through that,” said Haseo. “How? How could you survive that?”

“I blocked just in time, though it’s not like it matters,” replied Azure. “I barely have any HP left so I’m still going to lose this fight with your next attack even if I block it.”

“You got lucky you know,” said Haseo. “I’m surprised you had time to block the attack in time.”

“Yeah, me to, “chuckled Azure. “Well I’m done for anyway so I forfeit this match. I know when I’m beat.”

“Well folks, it seems that despite surviving Haseo’s attack, Azure has forfeited the match because his Health is too low to continue,” said the Announcer. “This puts an end to a grand fight between to skilled players. I hope we have more fights like this in the Celestial palace.”

The Audience cheered, the fight was done and Haseo had won. They didn’t forget Azure though, he would become well known in the world as the person who fought evenly with Haseo, the “Strongest Player”, and received cheers as well. The players were excited; many couldn’t wait for the new palace to open so they could have fights we close as this.

Azure was looking at the crowd from down at the arena, he hadn’t had a chance to look around before but the arena looked bigger from were he was than in the stands.

“That was a good fight,” said Haseo as he walked over to Azure and put his hand up to shake his opponent’s hand, “No hard feeling eh?”

Azure smirked and shook Haseo’s hand, “Nope none at all. You really do deserve that title as emperor. I’m going to have to get better if I ever fight you again.”

“Haha. Well I hope to fight you again too,” replied Haseo.

After letting go of Haseo’s hand Azure prepared to leave, “I’m gonna go now, so later.”

“See you around,” said Haseo.

As he was warping a way Azure said something that confused Haseo “You really are my successor.” Those words confused Haseo. What did he mean successor? Had they met before? Why was he reminded of the NPC Kite at that one moment during the fight? These questions ran through Haseo’s head for a while before he dismissed them. It might be better to leave things alone for now.

Azure walked out of the arena and was assaulted by someone; he was knocked down by the small frame of the shorter and younger Mireille.

“That was amazing!” she said “I’ve never seen anyone fight like that in the arena before!”

“Y-yeah, well even I didn’t I could do that,” replied Azure.

“So it was all dumb luck,” said a familiar voice belonging to his pink haired partner.

“Pretty much, I just fought like my life depended on it,” he said while laughing.

A “huh” and two pairs of eyes staring at him what their response.

“I think it was unconscious because of what he has, I couldn’t stop thinking about IT while fighting him ya know,” he said.

“Oh, I get it,” said SilverRose. “Well we’re done with this finally. I want to get out of here and go somewhere to level up.”

“Yeah good idea, I don’t like how all these people keep looking at me” said Azure while looking around. He had noticed that some Players were staring at him and even talking amongst themselves about him. He hoped none of them would challenge him to fight, it would be so annoying.

“HEY!” yelled out Mireille to Azure, “Come one or we’ll leave you behind.”

Oh, coming,” he said as he ran to catch up to the two.