Under hill, over ocean, in the cavity of the earth is Dwarf City Gallioth. Through the gaping doors, well carved and chiseled from the rugged stone, rise the many smells, sounds, and sights of the Dwarves. Yellow, orange, and red light flickers off the flawlessly smooth and vertical walls of the halls that lead into the city. Deep within the myraid twisting and turning tunnels of the Dwarven city lies the King's Chambers.

The Chamber of the King was a large cylindrical room with a tiered ceiling wrought of perfect angles and smooth faces engraved with ancient scriptures and images from Dwarven lore. Upon the walls were several torches that roared with a terrible power, lighting the wonderous room. Upon a massive throne of stone, elevated several feet in the air with a polished stone stairway that leads to it, sat the King. At two long wood tables on either side of the throne sit his attendants and close kin. At the far end of the chamber nearest the gaping doorway with golden doors sit the lower ranks of the upper class dwarves. The walls of the room were smooth, with very few bumps here and there near the base of the wall. Everything present was very un-cave-like, and the Dwarves found pride in that. The chamber was very... homely... Down the center of the room and up the stairs to the throne resides a velvet red carpet. On either side of the carpet every 10 feet are tall, thin candelabras that hold 3 candels each, to further illuminate the room, and light the path to the throne. Here is where you shall make your stand, among some of the fiercest warriors known in Hypeltheon.

Welcome to Dwarf City Gallioth!

Tonio yawns a bit, leaning against one of the beautifully carved stone walls of the chamber, being careful to keep as much distance as possible from the torches that lit the room. He despised having to duel in such a place, the fire reminding him of days past and the other side of himself, the stone feeling far too constricting to his movement for his tastes. He pulls his cloak over his face, waiting for his opponent to arrive to the fight, not wanting the opponent to be able to see anything certain at first.

The ranger's hand drifts down underneath his cloak, resting on the hilt of his rapier in order to allow it to be quickly drawn out as soon as the battle starts. Tonio starts anxiously tapping his foot against the stone floor, his boots sending an echoing sound over the relative silence of the burning torches lining the walls. He wanted to get this battle over as soon as possible, in order to prove that he was the best fighter within Hypeltheon; not to mention the possible prizes were incredibly tempting.

A grin fills his face beneath the cloak, knowing that this fight should be over soon enough. No enemy had yet seen the power of the Shukuchi, so he wanted to keep it out of sight until absolutely needed. However, his skills with the Rapier should be enough to take out his opponent with minimal effort.

Shryo perambulated into a room fully lit by the flames which were on columns of carved stone walls. Shryo then put his hood on because he was getting ready for a battle and focusing all his energy just to protect himself from his enemy who was standing on the other side of the room. Shryo looked around and saw a high king sitting with his council waiting for a good duel to begin betting on the winner and discussing their business while they waited. A smirk came on the face of Shryo's face as he looked at his opponent and saw that this match would take more than the strength Shryo had.

Shryo took his wand from the holder he had on his side so it could be drawn at any given moment to help Shryo with the duel. Since Shryo had a long cloak around him he kept his dirk concealed in case of any emergency he would face against his opponent. Shryo then pounded the tip of his wand on the ground once which made a small indent in the floor made of concrete. The room fell silent and the Cleric Shryo knew that the king of the dwarves was about to start his main event of the night. Shryo then thought of why he entered the tournament in the first place and he quickly remembered his mother and father.

Shryo needed to get better so one day he could go to Avalon and look for his father there since it seemed he was nowhere on the Outer Rim. Before entering the chamber Shryo went and took a look around the city of Hypeltheon, but ended up finding no evidence that his father had been to this place. Shryo then came back into reality and looked at his opponent who seemed to be a ranger who seemed to be ready to attack at will. Being a Cleric, Shryo had little physical ability except for what his father had taught him when he was a small child. He readied his staff as the king started talking to everyone in the room.

Tonio Asura yawns a bit as the dwarven king speaks to his public before the match, not paying a bit of attention to the words of the monarch. His focus was on his opponent, his eyes swiftly looking over the opponent before judging him as a cleric, knowing that this fight should be easy enough. He had to move on through the ranks of the tournament, intent on winning the grand prize for himself, as well as the honor that came with it. As soon as the Dwarven King stops talking, the ranger smiles to himself, keeping his face hidden under his cloak as his hand clasps the hilt of the rapier at his side tightly.

A swift motion draws the blade out with the sharp sound of metal on metal, pointing the blade towards the cleric that was his opponent. The ranger was intent on ending the fight as swiftly as possible, not giving the opponent a chance to react to his skills, most certainly not learn how to defeat them. At the same time, he didn't want to reveal his trump card, the Shukuchi, early in the fight, if at all. Conflicting interests battled in his head as he taps his foot anxiously against the ground preparing himself to take the first move.

The ranger suddenly breaks into a dash, not using the full speed, or even the Shukuchi at all. However, even without the Shukuchi, the boy moves at an incredible speed, quickly closing the distance between himself and the opponent. His rapier raises into the air even as he commences gathering his element within it, prepared to not allow his opponent much time to dodge, hoping that the blade would at least catch the opponent's leg. A sheath of ice covers the blade as he brings it down towards the cleric's left shoulder, one hand forcing the blade downwards as the other hand stays back, ready to deflect a physical assualt from the mage.

As the Dwarvan King started talking Shryo glanced over at his opponent who seemed to be staring intensively at Shryo. Shryo then turned to the Dwarven king and bowed once he heard his name pronounced to the crowd. A few minutes ago only a few nobles and the king were in the room ready to watch the fight, but now it seemed like forty or fifty people had come to watch the main attraction duel. Shryo then tuned the king out as best he could, but he could not all the way or he would not know when to start. He looked over again at his opponent who looked like he had not moved an inch from where he was standing. Shryo stood their staring back at the ranger in front of him. He waited until the long speech of the Dwarf King was over before drawing his staff from the holder on his side. Shryo waited for the ranger to unsheathe his blade and make the first move so Shryo would know what to expect from his opponent.

As the ranger unsheathed his blade a humongous screech of metal was echoing around the room as metal of the blade scraped the metal of the sheath or holder of the blade. Shryo looked around at the dwarves in the seats and he saw that they had sensitive hearing because almost all of them were covering their ears from the sound. Shryo then turned back and looked at the ranger whos blade was pointing towards him and almost jumped back from the determined face of his opponent. Shryo then turned and took off the hood of his cloak and showed his face to his opponent. Shryo was ready for everything the Ranger could throw at him. He then shouted to his opponent, "Good luck to you and may the best person win." Shryo twirled his staff a few times and stopped it after he barely had control of it. Shryo then smirked again at his opponent as he watched the ranger start running towards him ready to strike.

Shryo saw the ranger move quickly towards him, and he had faced fast monsters and fast characters before so he knew what to expect. He the tightened the his grip in his Iron Rod while his palms were sweating from the suspense of waiting for the attack to come. He saw the blade of his opponent being thrusted towards one of his shoulders. Shryo saw the fast attack in time to put his rod up to parry the attack from his body. A slight pain though came upon Shryo as he knelt to the ground in pain. His shoulder was burning with fury. He looked up and saw a blood stained sword in the hand of the ranger. Shryo quickly shouted his healing spell while rolling backwards and standing up. Holy Ankh surrounded him in a holy light which healed all his wounds up that were open and bleeding and it also healed internal wounds that Shryo could have from the strike of the sword. Shryo then stood up and rushed the Ranger drawing his hidden dirk from under the side slit in his cloak. He got up to the ranger and quickly pulled out his dirk and slashed at his enemy.

Tonio notices the dirk even as it is brought free from the cleric's cloak, barely noticing it out of the corner of his eyes. However, this brief glance is enough for him, the ranger's fighting instinct almost immediately kicking in. Energy rushes down to his legs as the dirk draws dangerously close, suddenly giving him an incredible burst of speed, just enough to dodge the attack. He leaps back, an immense force behind his legs for the few brief seconds that the Shukuchi is active, giving him the velocity and power needed to propel him away from the attack. As the dirk sweeps past open space, the ranger lands lightly on his feet a few paces away, his cloak floating down to touch the ground.

"If you think you can beat me with a cheap trick like that, you're mistaken," the boy says aloud, the voice echoing through the relative silence of the room. He steps back a few more paces, getting some more distance away from the Cleric, drawing closer to the wall behind him. However, this isn't as much a strategic retreat as an attack in itself, though the cleric would soon find this out for himself. The ranger points forward his rapier, the ice having faded away from it, taking the blood from the wound with it as it melted. It almost shines in the torchlight, matching the grin on Tonio's face beneath his cloak, still keeping his identity hidden as long as need be.

"Well then... let's have a bit more fun!" The ranger's free hand suddenly grasped one of the magical torches on the wall, pulling it free from its holding violently. Tonio flings the torch quickly at the opposing cleric, being careful not to aim it directly towards his opponent. The torch crashes into the ground in front of the cleric, sending whatever magical liquids used to keep it lit splattering outwards like a grenade. The still burning substance lights the nearby tables aflame, as well as sending sparks flying towards the ranger's opponent.

"Even though I hate this fire..." Tonio says to himself as he rests his sword against the stone floor, leaning against it slightly, "I must admit they make for useful weapons."

Shryo saw the torch fly over near him enightning a table and he jumped back so not to get hit with any of the sparks flying from the table. Shryo knew then what he had to do, he had to fight fire with fire, literally. Shryo dove over behind the table and picked up the torch which was now singeing his hands where you could see the skin burning away from his body. Shryo then started screaming to help hold the main part of the pain down. He then threw the torch of fight back at his opponent hoping it would hit his opponent, the ranger. Shryo smiled as the torch went flying quickly through the air towards the ranger. Shryo then looked down at his hand and saw it was burned badly so he took a piece of his cloak and ripped it off. The part he ripped off was from his left arm since it was the one which was burned badly from the torch which was on fire from its grip to its top. Shryo then looked up at the ranger and got ready to make another move.

He drew his dagger and then saw the ranger over on the other side of the room so Shryo knew he had to get over there and fast before the ranger knew what Shryo was doing. Shryo then took his dirk in his right hand which was not scorched and ran around the flames and around the corners of the room hopefully not to be spotted by the ranger. Shryo was almost around the last corner when he saw all the people cheering at him for his good job so far, but Shryo could not stop and accept the gratitude so he glanced at the crowd and gave a small smile as he still moved towards the ranger which Shryo was almost upon. Shryo then took his blade as he was behind the ranger and almost struck him, but he noticed that the ranger could turn and attack at any moment so Shryo went in front of the ranger and drew back out his rod which Shryo was ready to use to strike his opponent down. Shryo then quickly swiped his rod horizontally towards the ribcage of his opponent as hard and fast as Shryo could hoping that the ranger was not fast enough to block the attack in time.

Tonio Asura glances as the man goes to pick up the torch, quite frankly surprised at the level of devotion to the tournament he was showing. He may have expected the torch to have been kicked out of the way, though certainly not picked up from the burning table and thrown back at him. That was rather unexpected, and quite frankly unwanted from the competitor. His eyes carefully look up at the torch as it is thrown at him, its flames still not dying even after being removed from its original post. His hands tighten on the hilt of his rapier, even as he suddenly swings his sword upwards in the area the torch would pass through. The blade crashes into the firm would of the torch, the lack of tension causing it to fly upwards into the air, hitting the wall behind him. A shower of sparks flies upon his cloak, lighting it aflame, distracting him as the cleric goes to make his move.

He continues to hold his sword above him, a quick motion of his free arm throwing the now flaming cloak to the side as the torch settles to the ground next to him, unable to spread over the stone floor. His shoulder length brown hair rests on his back, tied back by a simple green ribbon; his green martial arts uniform clearly visible to the eye now, without the obstructions of the cloak. He takes his eyes off the now flaming cloak long enough to turn to meet his opponent, seeing the rod swing towards his ribcage.

It was far too late to block the attack now, the ranger grimacing a bit as the rod smashes into his side, no doubt cracking a few of his ribs as the full force strikes him. However, this attack left the cleric open, allowing the ranger to bring down the full force of his rapier even as the cleric swung outwards his strike. Even though the iron rod had done quite a bit of damage, surely the rapier would do far more to the weaker cleric.

Shryo then fell to the ground and was motionless for a few seconds but knew he had to get back up and fight off and win against the Ranger so he could win the tournament and find his father who was on one of the islands. Shryo put a grin on his face and then looked up above him at his opponent who seemed to be winded. Shryo quickly shouted the words to heal himself, Holy Ankh is what he said in a low barely to be heard voice. A blue light then engulfed Shryo as he was lying on the ground almost dead from the full force of the blade hitting him. Shryo then felt all his energy coming back to him as he saw the big gash in his right shoulder. Shryo then knew that all his energy was returned because he then could stand up and lift his weapon again which seemed impossible a minute ago. Now standing Shryo jumped back and readied his rod to attack the Ranger again or at least try to attack the Ranger.

Shryo then stood there just staring down his opponent waiting to see if he would make the first move, but then it seemed that the two would be at a stand off or stale-mate because neither one of the two warriors, Shryo or the Ranger, would not move. A silence broke the crowd around as the two just stood there, but then Shryo started to gear whispering of unhappy dwarfs which was never a good sign. Shryo then had to do something about this stale mate as sorts so he knew he had to attack the Ranger which did not work the last time he took the initiative. Shryo then took up his rod and put it in front of him and pointed it at the Ranger and made a smirk at him before he started running over towards him.

Shryo then knew that this was the time to strike the Ranger which was standing right in front of him. He then put his rod beside him and pointed downwards so he could quickly hit the Ranger with it. He then got up close to the Ranger which he knew was bad but he had to get close enough to do his attack which he was planning. Shryo then took his rod and then put his rod in front of his body with one hand looking like he was going to stab the Ranger with it. Shryo then pulled out his dirk trying not to draw attention to himself while doing it. Shryo hoped his plan would work as he took his dirk and slashed it towards the neck of the Ranger.

The ranger smiles as he watches his opponent rise from the ground, obviously not defeated as of yet by the blows inflicted upon him. However, these smiles quickly turn into a glare as the wounds are healed by a magical spell, keeping any action from being decisive. His eyes turn cold as stone, examining his opponent carefully, trying to find a way to break past his opponent's magical powers. These magical powers allow his enemy to heal himself from the point of death, thus keeping a victory from being achieved on the part of Tonio Asura. This bothered him to no end, his lack of chi channelling creating no way to win the match as of yet.

The Cleric makes the first move, taking a step in closer to go into close combat. The boy smiles, knowing that a close-range move would be disaster for the weaker combatant. However, something was surely wrong if the cleric would make this move on his own accord. It must have to do with that dirk that had continuously tried to find his vitals throughout the match. Seeing the cleric's other hand had disappeared from sight, that must be the plan. A plan quickly formulated within the ranger's mind, sending a smile through his face again.

The ranger quickly puts a twist on his style, using his free hand to send a loose strike towards the outside of the hand pointed outwards towards him. The palm of his hand would crash into the man's elbow, spinning him around due to momentum. This spin would place the dirk far from any position to strike at Tonio, leaving the Cleric open to a quick, vital attack in the next movement of the quick two strikes that he planned on making

The second strike was far simpler then the first. Using the momentum built by his own slight spinning motion caused by the palm of his hand crashing into the man's elbow, he makes a quick spin on his heel, bringing around the hand holding his sword outwards towards his opponent's back. If the first attack had hit, the opponent's back would be exposed, making it a large target for the rapier to strike. Before the spin completes, however, Tonio inverts his hand slightly, spinning the sharpened end of the blade to face his enemy rather then the blunt side.

The Cleric watched in amazement and awe, while trying to fake out his enemy, as the ranger followed every single move he was trying to make. There was no time to stop so Shryo had to try the attack, but it was to late as all he could see was a spinning room from where the palm of the ranger and the momentum and speed of the cleric collided in a burst. Shryo could feel some of his ribs cracking as the one hit was very powerful and followed through. Shryo had to think quickly on what to do because he could not stop spinning or he would be at risk of falling down and be at mercy to the rangers blade which could end up killing him. Shryo also had barely any time to think as he was also open while spinning around like an foolish idiot.

He listed around him and heard footsteps, but the one thing he heard a lot of was laughter. The laughter from the crowd really upset him as he knew they were laughing and chuckling at him because he looked like a moron while he was spinning around in circles. Laughter also made him angry to think that this was suppose to be a main event of sorts but Shryo was making it look like a fight of who was the best jester for the king. Shryo now knew the time for playing was over and it was time for him to get serious about the duel because he had to move on and win the tournament for himself and his village along with some for his upcoming travels to find his father. A thought finally came to the mind of Shryo, he would jump in the air to slow the spinning a little and also to see where the ranger was. After that he would land near the ranger while quickly drawing his rod and dirk to attack twice in a row to hopefully catch the high level ranger off guard since neither if them had attacked like that before. He had to plan it just right though or it would end up working in his disadvantage or it could not work at all, but Shryo was confident that it would work. In case it was a high nonpossibility he started speaking in a low voice and praying to the gods to guide his spirit and win the match.

He initiated his plan like the way he imagined it he bent his knees while spinning and jumped up into the sky hoping his opponent was flabbergasted by the aerial maneuver. Shryo quickly spotted his opponent who was looking up with a sort of smile on his face. Shryo still spinning started moving his feet back and forth trying to move in one direction since he was almost back on the floor. He smiled as he hit the floor and landed on his feet like a cat and facing his opponent. His eyes quickly focused and since he already had his rod out he took it over his head with one hand and struck towards the head of his opponent and while that was going on Shryo also took out his dirk which he had his hand on and waited for the rod to almost hit the ranger when he thrusted as hard as he could ,since the weapon was in his burnt hand, towards the heart of the ranger. Shryo knew that know one could block to attacks coming from different weapons at the same time.

Asura

Tactics: 8 (Good job. Though I expected more from you -_- .)

Regulation: 10 (Nice. A Charge Slash and Shikuchi (spelling?) is well within a Ranger's magical attributes.)

Quailty: 8.2 (No Comment)

Fairness: 8 (Good job using your surroundings to your advantage. Perfectly legal.)

Technicaility: 9 (Nice use of your attack P.Skill to dodge. And you did take a hit or two. Flaming cloak also added to this. So kudos.)

Overall: 8.6


Shryo

Tactics: 6.4 (Dude, nice job setting your hands on fire.)

Regulation: 10 (2+ Holy Anhks are well within parameters, kudos!)

Quailty: 7.4 (

Enough said.)

Fairness: 9 (You were pretty fair. Good job!)

Technicaility: 8.5 (Good job, you took hits, and dodged hits. Congrats.)

Overall: 8.3


Congratulations, Asura moves onto Round 2! Very impressive try Shryo. But I have a feeling you were outclassed from the start. But again, nice try.

Asura + 1 Lvl.