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Aurita Meloda's Arena Exhibition 3: Reize vs Ivo

Scene details

Setting: The third match is the loser's bracket, consisting of both Ivo and Reize. Which fighter will land on top?!

Log


 Ivo sighs in relief as, seated in the shade of Kernunnos's shrine, Cutini Nak lays a hand upon his shoulder and lets healing magic wash through him. "As much as I appreciated the, ah, ministrations of the waterfolk," the Cosmopolitan says, turning his head to smile up at the robed lizardfolk priestess, "there's no substitute for your skill."
 His gaze drifts to said waterfolk, the undines gathered giggling amidst a sparkling canal, one of whom raises a pale blue hand to wave coyly. Ivo smiles wanly before looking away, one eyebrow raised slightly.
 "That rose I threw," he murmurs, "is dangerous."
 Meanwhile, Gasa Dan, her expression stout and stern as ever, appears to have transitioned to floating on an inflated tube, her mermaid tail flopping out lazily.
 "The champion is alloted a rest before her next challenger!" she declares. "Our other contenders are called to test their might against one another! Reize Seatlan! Ivo Galvan! Rise!"
 "You're kidding," Ivo sighs.
 "ANOTHER!" Gasa Dan roars, draining her fruity drink and raising the empty cup.


  It looks like the two combatants that took a loss will have to face each other.

 Reize had been taking a mental preparation, trying to consider how Ivo fights. He takes a deep breath and prepares himself for the match. He starts to make his approach towards the field, now steadily readying himself while his boomerangs are drawn.

 Even if he lost against Ruidosa, he is still in the 'exhibition' to fight against a friend. There is a bit of curiosity in how Reize would fare against his older companion.

  As he settles at the center, he waves a hand out towards Ivo, "Oooooooi!" Cheerful as ever, he is in good spirits despite the commotion the other day. He cracks a grin, "Looks like we finally get to face off against each other!"
 

Ruidosa La Crima is sitting on a mountain of canal crabs and eating them whole sale one after another and relaxing now that her bouts are over.

"You can do it Reizey!" she says between chews--if she chews? and does she have a Reize pennant?

She does! (Where did she get that? Probably Tranquila. She has weird things.)


 Either Ivo is fatigued or the prospect of putting on a performance after getting blown up for his troubles last time does not appeal, for the young aristocrat first responds to Reize's cheerful wave with a flat deadpan stare. He slowly turns to look at the vampire menace herself, Ruidosa, waving a Reize pennant she procured from who knows where.
 "Who's going to root for me?" he asks plaintively. "Cutini?"
 "I must be impartial," the priestess says gently, sounding amused.
 "I will support you, my friend," Kernunnos kindly supplies, his statue's gem eyes aflicker.
 "I'll take it," Ivo gamely quips, slowly rising on once aching legs, now relieved. He can't resist glancing back at the undines, only to see that they have huddled for a while and finally lift what appears to be a palm frond upon which has been sketched, in charcoal, a simple stick figure. The cheerful group waves it vigorously in his direction. "Yes," he adds, "I'll take what I can get."
 Grinning despite himself, Ivo turns to approach Reize, his fearless leader's lively spirit contagious. Even if Ivo himself lacks the Shonen Spirit to Test Himself against A Rival, or what have you, he can't help but get excited when Reize is excited. If it means his friend having a good time, he'll put his heart into it. And maybe doing so, even after all they've been through together, will bring them one more step closer to each other.
 "Don't embarrass yourself in front of your girlfriend," he teases, winking as he draws Hauteclare from its scabbard and his deactivated buckler from his cloak, taking a deep breath and settling into a fencing stance, grin never fully abating.
 "BEGIN!" Gasa Dan shouts, before slurping from her new drink.

Ruidosa La Crima says, blandly. "Booooo. Ivo. Booooo. Booooo Ivo." she says as she eats more crabs, waving her Reize pennant. "Go Reize! Goo!" she says more cheerfully.

"Ivo, Booo." she says more blandly and monotone again. She isn't being loud at least.


  Upon Ivo teasing him about Ruidosa watching, the boy huffs a breath with annoyance. "Ooi! I will be giving it my all! I expect you to as well!" He tightens his grip on the boomerangs as Ivo readies Hauteclare. The youth is ready to fight. With Ruidosa cheering him on, a grin cracks. He looks back at his fiancee with a nod, and then towards Ivo.

 "Ready!"

  Upon the call by Gasa Dan, Reize is already taking his first steps to close the distance between himself and Ivo. He starts off with the boomerangs swinging outward towards Ivo's head, though the boomerangs immediately drop down for him to launch out with a kick to the older teenager's gut.
 

<COMBAT> Reize Seatlan has attacked Ivo Galvan with Quick Attack.

<COMBAT> Ivo Galvan has been hit by Reize Seatlan's Feinting Quick Attack.


 "I hear you, Rui!" Ivo is shouting at Ruidosa, brow furrowed in consternation. "No one likes a sore winner, you kn-- gah!"
 The distraction is no one's fault but his own. Detecting Reize's movement in his peripheral vision, the Cosmopolitan instinctively raises his buckler to block the boomerangs, his mind catching up with his body too late as he realizes the move is a feint. Ivo is only able to tense his abdomen as the kick strikes and sends him sliding back a step, wincing but able to maintain his footing.
 "You're always learning, chief," he praises his adversary. "I have to keep coming up with new tricks...!"
 So saying, he swings his buckler as though to parry an unseen weapon as he steps back toward the edge of the fighting arena. From a hidden compartment in the shield, a cluster of elespheres of varied colors fall to shatter upon the ground, potentially striking Reize with a sharp brief burst of superheated steamy wind to lightly scald and obscure his vision.

<COMBAT> Ivo Galvan has attacked Reize Seatlan with Aether Plume.

<COMBAT> Reize Seatlan has blocked Ivo Galvan's Aether Plume.

Ruidosa La Crima searches around behind her, and pulls out an Ivo Pennant. Except Ivo's face has been X-red out in red!? She waves it when Ivo calls her a sore winner, shutting up and being quiet, as she waves her Reize pennant.

"You can do this Reize, kick him in the shins!"

"Right. in. the. shins!" she says. "but not now, I telegraphed it for you!" she says.

"It's okay Ivo! You can maybe do it! Maybe. If I squint and look sideways."



  The kick to the abdomen was what Reize needed to get Ivo's attention. Once his older adversary finally focuses on him, the boy brightens cheerfully. "Thanks, Ivo!" At the mention of new tricks, however, encourages Reize to act on the defense. Given that his boomerangs are held upright, he brings them back to guard; crossed in front of him as Ivo swings his buckler.

  What catches his attention are the elespheres dropping on the ground, bringing the boomerangs to shield his eyes. "Tscch.....!" He grimaces as the heated steamy wind obscures his vision. He can feel his skin singe from the hot steam burning.

  To escape the misty surrounding, Reize winds himself back and then he grips the boomerangs invertedly. He takes off into a dash to through the scorching, obscuring wind. It is a good way to cool himself and to close the distance between him and Ivo.

  "Hunting Hawk!"

 He calls out, his body swooping past Ivo as he swings his boomerangs against Ivo's side. In turn, this would position Reize behind the older man as well.
 

<COMBAT> Reize Seatlan has attacked Ivo Galvan with Hunting Hawk.

<COMBAT> Ivo Galvan has blocked Reize Seatlan's Hunting Hawk.


 "Now then..."
 Ivo's fingers move deftly along the handle of his buckler, obscured by their subtlety and the steam. When Reize bursts from the dissipating shroud to swoop in, the magitech fencer braces himself. Moments before impact, the activated shimmering aether field upon his buckler pulses and, wind elesphere activating, a burst of air cushions the impact, effectively expanding the range of Ivo's otherwise small shield. Though he cannot prevent Reize from blindsiding him, he might send the boy's trajectory somewhat askew by the perhaps unexpected resistance he meets.
 "Think fast!"
 Grinning despite himself, blue cloak whirling, Ivo detaches Hauteclare's blade in an instant and reveals the sparking aether at the hilt that controls the dancing edge. He thrusts out that bright spark as though intending to jolt Reize with a close range stunning blow, but he is not close enough. The move is a visual and aural distraction from the wind-sheathed blade trying to swoop to Reize's blindside and bluntly cleave at the back of his knees to topple him.

<COMBAT> Ivo Galvan has attacked Reize Seatlan with Orbital Sword.

<COMBAT> Reize Seatlan has been hit by Ivo Galvan's Feinting Orbital Sword.


  As Reize swings his arms out to lash at Ivo, he can feel a force resisting his impact. "Huh...?" That aether field manifests around Ivo to cushion against the blow. What this also does is put the boy in a more compromised position considering that he had been redirected from his intended path.

  This knocks him off-balance.

  As Ivo lunges out with the hilt of the sword, the distance is not quite as Reize thought. Instead, he was caught with the sword bluntly leaving against the back of his knees. "Ugghh...!" He drops down to both knees, collapsing on his face.

  He groans, slowly pushing himself up. As he staggers around, he starts to crawl back to get himself in a less compromised position. He bends his knees up and down, and then he draws upon the aether around him. With a quick push off the ground, Reize comes down towards Ivo with a diving kick.

 "I won't be taken down that easily!"
 

<COMBAT> Reize Seatlan has attacked Ivo Galvan with Sky Raider.

<COMBAT> Ivo Galvan has failed to interrupt Reize Seatlan's Sky Raider with Vanishing Blade.


 Ivo is accustomed to Reize and Anna charging headlong into combat while he keeps up the rear guard, as it were. He may know how to take care of himself in melee when necessary, but there are still some things that his otherwise keen intuition struggles to anticipate.
 "That's the spiri-- agh!"
 He's grinning slightly even as he encourages his friend, confident that the boy, after being struck from behind by Hauteclare, has lost track of the wind-sheathed blade and is an open target to be hit again. What he does not predict is Reize's command of inner aether and the strength of his Will. That dive is startlingly swift, propelled by the adventurer's sheer guts, and the magitechnician, lacking any conversence with inner aether himself, misses his opponent by a hair. This time, the impact knocks Ivo down, sending him crashing back toward the center of the arena. He rises after a delay to recover, shaking his head and catching his breath.
 "Maybe too *much* spirit," he remarks, before grinning again lopsidedly.

Ruidosa La Crima waves her Reize pennant? Where's the Ivo one? In a mud puddle on the ground now.

She's cheering and wiggles on her mountain of crabs as she watches Reize just own Ivo for a moment. Today is a great day.


  There is an odd force of impact when Reize lands on the ground with the diving kick. The ground rumbles and shudders. Upon his landing, takes the moment to observe the impact: Ivo's off his feet at the center of the arena. He takes a deep breath, looking at his current adversary.

 "You are always full of surprises, Ivo!" He gives a thoughtful look, "You're very tricky with that sword." He considers, "... I should learn to be more tricky as well."

  However, he immediately moves in to close the distance between him and Ivo. His boomerangs held invertedly, he lunges his foot out with the front kick, but soon switches over to full roundhouses to strike at Ivo. Following his aggressive steps, he takes a good look at Ivo's gut before he takes a leap from the ground. He shoots both legs out to strike Ivo at his chest.
 

<COMBAT> Reize Seatlan has attacked Ivo Galvan with Heavy Attack.

<COMBAT> Ivo Galvan has been hit by Reize Seatlan's Aimed Heavy Attack.


 "Ggghh!"
 Ivo wavers as Reize charges in, the older youth feeling fatigue already beginning to catch up with him. Inwardly, he wonders if exerting himself so much so early means he's been caught up in the boy's pace despite himself. But perhaps that's not such a bad thing.
 "Agh!"
 No, wait, it's a bad thing.
 Though his buckler blocks the first kick, his opponent's pinpoint and powerful strike knocks his defenses aside, opening up his body to the second kick and subsequent roundhouse. Again he is sent flying back, though this time he is able, despite his lesser agility, to twist in midair and slide back to the other edge of the fighting arena on one knee, in precarious proximity to leaving the fight's bounds. His head is lowered, obscuring his expression for a moment.
 "I think you're just fine," he says, "as you are, my friend."
 He looks up, one eye squinted shut, still grinning somehow.
 "But I too," he gaspingly proclaims, "cannot disappoint my fans!"
 And he whirls dramatically toward the undines, only to see that his biggest fan has snuck over while Ruidosa is busy with her crabs and retrieved the Ivo pennant from the muddy puddle to hoist it and wave it cheerily, a big smile on her innocent watery face. In addition to being obviously stained with mud, the rendering of his face still has a big red X over it.
 "..."
 Ivo looks to the shrine.
 "Go, Ivo," Kernunnos can faintly be heard saying, very kindly.
 "I too," Ivo repeats, without any shift in tone, "cannot disappoint my fans!" And so saying, he points his bucklered hand at Reize in a rather odd flat position. "I summon the power of the Heavenly Crowned Beetle!"
 Whereupon what appears to be two elespheres fused together pops from the handle of the buckler like a stone fired from a slingshot, rocketing towards Reize and, should it strike, aiming to burst on impact into a thunderous blast, mimicking a lightning strike.
 "Go, beetle!!!" Kernunnos shouts, much louder and more enthusiastically.

<COMBAT> Ivo Galvan has attacked Reize Seatlan with Medium Art.

<COMBAT> Reize Seatlan has dodged Ivo Galvan's Medium Art.


  After landing the drop kick, the boy lands on the ground and immediately pushes himself back up; hands slapping the ground and he immediately launches his legs up and kicks forward to kip up. Landing on his feet, he manages to shift the impact around by acting as a coil so that the drop kick does not harm him.

 He takes a quick step back to distance himself from Ivo while holding his boomerangs.

 "Hmm..." There are times when Reize has to consider if he should come up with some new tricks. Maybe he'll be inspired to try something new. For now, he's not quite feeling it.

 What gets his curiosity is the motioning of Ivo's fans, which the boy directs his gaze at the undine. He gives a nervous laugh, "...Well, it is a good thing that they have your side." He imagines that if the one undine had eyes for him again, Ruidosa would exchange words... or forces.

 Shudder.

 "THE HEAVENLY CROWNED BEETLE?!"

 Reize's eyes widen as Ivo calls for the beetle. What catches his attention instead is the fused elespheres rocketing towards Reize. He immediately brings his body back and leans away from the rocketing object. The impact, however, is not on him, but does get his attention from the blast on the wall nearby.

 "..Whew.."

 He grits his teeth, then he gives a grin at Ivo. He tightens his fist and he raises an arm out. "I guess I'll make sure to give you my all, then!" He erupts with a shout as the aura explodes from him, "This is my will!" The flare of energy erupts from the boy as he goes into the Overdrive state.

 His movement becomes a blur, quickly stepping from one side to the next.

 Then, he brings his hand into the air, forming a tarot card. The magical, radiating aura bursts as the tarot shimmers a light. Aether erupting from the pendant, it calls out to his will.

 "Passion and fury, straight from the heart! Ignition!"

 Multiple orbs of fire surround the boy and then they collectively descend upon Ivo.
 


  After landing the drop kick, the boy lands on the ground and immediately pushes himself back up; hands slapping the ground and he immediately launches his legs up and kicks forward to kip up. Landing on his feet, he manages to shift the impact around by acting as a coil so that the drop kick does not harm him.

 He takes a quick step back to distance himself from Ivo while holding his boomerangs.

 "Hmm..." There are times when Reize has to consider if he should come up with some new tricks. Maybe he'll be inspired to try something new. For now, he's not quite feeling it.

 What gets his curiosity is the motioning of Ivo's fans, which the boy directs his gaze at the undine. He gives a nervous laugh, "...Well, it is a good thing that they have your side." He imagines that if the one undine had eyes for him again, Ruidosa would exchange words... or forces.

 Shudder.

 "THE HEAVENLY CROWNED BEETLE?!"

 Reize's eyes widen as Ivo calls for the beetle. What catches his attention instead is the fused elespheres rocketing towards Reize. He immediately brings his body back and leans away from the rocketing object. The impact, however, is not on him, but does get his attention from the blast on the wall nearby.

 "..Whew.."

 He grits his teeth, then he gives a grin at Ivo. He tightens his fist and he raises an arm out. "I guess I'll make sure to give you my all, then!" He launches out towards Ivo, spinning towards him. A quick roundhouse kick makes the initial strike at the Cosmopolitan. Then, he follows through with the persistent mid-air roundhouse strikes. The final blow would be the swing of his boomerang towards Ivo's head.

<COMBAT> Reize Seatlan has attacked Ivo Galvan with Sparrondo.

<COMBAT> Ivo Galvan has failed to interrupt Reize Seatlan's Sparrondo with Phantom Saber.


 Ivo maintains a dramatic pose as the lightning elesphere narrowly passes by the evasive Reize, watching it impact the ground near Kernunnos's statue, dissipating harmlessly. However, it does look to an attentive eye as though some of the lightning is pulled toward and seeps into some of the carefully sculpted gaps within the shrine's central adornment.
 "Three cheers for the beetles!" the eidola calls, sounding delighted. Some of the surrounding lizardfolk hesitantly applaud, glancing at one another in evident confusion.
 An observer may find, as Reize launches himself toward Ivo, that the two seem briefly to move in slow motion, partly a trick of close attention, and partly a vestige of the static energy that collected when the lightning elesphere was launched. Reize's roundhouse kick slams against his friend's outstretched buckler with a crackle of aether, Ivo's sparking hilt positioned to strike back. But, considering the distance, it is not clear how--
 "Heh!"
 --until with a brief and sharp gust of wind, flickering into view from obscurity so swiftly that seems almost a mirage, Hauteclare's blade whips back into thrusting position. Time slows again as the sword launches in time with Reize's second kick. Impact is imminent. The collision could go either way.
 "Ngh!"
 But it goes Reize's. Ivo is sent skidding back again, teetering on the edge of the arena now, losing his balance and beginning to topple backwards.
 "I wish," he quips, "you'd give a little less!"
 The Cosmopolitan is frozen in place at an improbable lean, his cloak pinned to the arena floor to prevent him from falling out of bounds, Hauteclare's blade quivering in the ground, the fencer having saved himself at the last moment even under duress.
 "I'm kidding," he adds, softer, "of course."


  Time slows down between both Reize and Ivo as the young boy closes in with the kick. As Ivo prepares to strike him with the sparking hilt, Reize is quick to follow-up with the second kick. The collision from the kick results in Ivo skidding back, near the edge of the arena.

  Reize lands on his feet and then he lowers his stance while keeping both boomerangs drawn and spead. "Yaaah!" He feels more lively as adrenaline from the fight flows in the boy. Although Ivo quips about the desire for Reize to give less, he is already bouncing impatiently as if to get Ivo back to a fighting form.

 The boy sprints towards Ivo. Instead of rushing straight through, he chooses to slide across the ground underneath his opponent. He takes the opportunity to wait for Ivo to turn around; which he'll try to use to push close to Ivo. He will leap forward to grasp and launch his legs out to kick Ivo off-bounds.
 

<COMBAT> Reize Seatlan has attacked Ivo Galvan with Medium Attack.

<COMBAT> Ivo Galvan has been hit by Reize Seatlan's Feinting Medium Attack.


 Ivo knows that he cannot match Reize's agility or, for that matter, his tenacity. But the older youth has prepared for that as best he can.
 "Nngh--!"
 As best he tries to brace himself against the kick, Ivo cannot help but feel the breath rush from his lungs as Reize sends him hurtling backward. But the boy will note that his opponent did not seem to try to counter his attack's impact, as though either way, Ivo had expected to be tossed out of bounds.
 A burst of wind will soon reveal the magitech fencer's plan. Hurling almost all his remaining green elespheres upon the ground outside the arena bounds, Ivo effectively manages a high-cost midair recovery and air dash, his taller frame improbably shooting past and above Reize, almost resembling his friend's movements for a moment. When the boy looks, he will see Ivo wink.
 "This one," Ivo manages, keeping his cool but sounding audibly strained despite his best efforts, "is for all the marbles."
 And on cue, he sweeps his cloak in midair, sending a rain of elespheres down on Reize, their sheer quantity and diversity producing an explosion that almost rivals one of Ruidosa's, a brief of potent conflagration of flames and arcing lightning all at once. With Reize now against the edge of the arena, he will have to either weather this storm or somehow break through.
 "Elemental Spectrum... Burst!"
 Fighting may never be something he enjoys enough to seek out, but, Ivo concludes, shouting attack names can be fun.

<COMBAT> Ivo Galvan has attacked Reize Seatlan with Heavy Art.

<COMBAT> Reize Seatlan has failed to interrupt Ivo Galvan's Heavy Art with Shining Moon.


  The young explorer manages to strike Reize and knock him out of bounds. That would be the end of the match, right? Not so much. What the boy did was get himself caught into the magitech fencer's trap. The remaining green elespheres managed to propel Ivo to shoot past him and put the boy in a trapped position.

 "Whhh----!"

  rain of elespheres come down, the boy launches outward with a swooping dash to meet with the magitech fencer. As he leaps off the ground, he brings his right leg up for the rising kick.

 However, he is swept away by the conflagoration of flames and arcing lightning. "Gaaaaaahhh!"

 Unfortunately, he did not manage to break through. In fact, he flatly lands on the ground with a thud. "Nggh..." He slowly pulls himself up, grimacing.
 


 Ivo looks quite impressive as he soars away from the explosion he leaves behind without looking back, likely not aware of how close he came to Reize boldly shearing through it with a final devastating kick. But when the Cosmopolitan attempts to turn midair and land facing his opponent, his legs give way and he sinks to one knee, trembling. His poor scholar's body can't take much more of this.
 "Sorry, Rui," he murmurs, "but I've gotta think of my fans...!"
 The undines appear to have noticed the red ink upon the Ivo pennant and, in the interim, have tried to draw Ivo's face again over the X with their charcoal. It just looks like a generic smiley face, though. They added a stick figure beneath it, but because there isn't enough room on the pennant, the head appears huge by comparison.
 "Hah!"
 Ivo doesn't have the breath to shout another attack name even if he wanted to. Hauteclare's wind-shrouded blade returning to its hilt from where it had fallen upon the ground, lacking any more elespheres to produce elemental attacks, the magitech fencer thrusts out at a distance to send the blade hurtling straight towards Reize in a blunted thrust. The only trick here is that there is no trick, it seems, just a swift and targeted strike to the body.

<COMBAT> Ivo Galvan has attacked Reize Seatlan with Medium Attack.

<COMBAT> Reize Seatlan has been hit by Ivo Galvan's Aimed Medium Attack.

Ruidosa La Crima continues to eat crabs as Reize takes a few good hits. She winces at each one, picks up the muddy flag of Ivo and waves it again. "Boooooo. Ivo. Boooooo." she deadpannedly calls out again. "Boooo!" she waves the crossed out Ivo flag still.

"YOU CAN DO IT REIZEY!" she calls out.


  The boy is out of it, managing to get up to his feet, he is feeling rather wobbly. He looks over towards Ivo when the Cosmopolitan thrusts the blade out towards Reize. The young explorer is trying to get away from the aimed strike. He immediately shifts his body back and tries to leap to the side.

 "Gaaahh!" He coughs up, taking in the impact of the blow from the blunted strike.

 He forces himself forward and then he gives out a cry. "Aaaaaaaaahhhhh!" He lets out a shout.

 "This is my will!"

 He's giving it everything he got. He rushes in, pushing his body with every bit of his energy to rush in towards Ivo. If he just lands that initial strike with the boomerang.
 

<COMBAT> Reize Seatlan has attacked Ivo Galvan with Storm's Eye.

<COMBAT> Ivo Galvan has failed to interrupt Reize Seatlan's Storm's Eye with Steel Rain.

<COMBAT> Ivo Galvan can no longer fight.


  The initial strike by the boy is enough to re-energize him. This is important because he can take the next step forward and put his body through the Overdrive. The body is temporarily numb to everything as his mind urges him to continue with the flow of the strike.

 In turn, the boy becomes a blur. At this point, the trained eyes can spot where the boy is coming from.

 As he zips past Ivo, he gives out a strike of a flying kick. And then on the other side, a strike of the boomerang.

 "My speed is like the wind!"

 As strikes come from each corner, the motions become faster until it forms into a vaccuming vortex. The storm is brewing around Ivo as the motions of Reize's speed creates that suction to draw him within the eye into the vortex.

 "INTO THE DEAFENING VORTEX!"

 Reize emerges from the center, flipping into a roll. Like a cannon ball, the boy soon shoots down towards Ivo with two legs.

 "STORM'S EYE!"
 

Ruidosa La Crima yays! "Reizey won! Ivo lost! Today is a ''great'' day!" she says, on her mountain of crabs, which she plugs another one into her mouth. Nom nom nom nom.


 SOME YEARS AGO
 "Put it back."
 Ivo stiffens. Swallowing, licking his lips in nervousness, he turns as though on a swivel, eyes slightly widened, visibly trying and failing to retain his composure. The point of the sword in his hands wavers and lowers, his hands suddenly feeling slick with sweat, produced by prior exertion but only now noticed. Where he looks, his father Gilbert stands, arms crossed, implacable, silent. He does not need to say that he does not repeat himself. His steely visage feels polished to a sheen, revealing nothing, only reflecting back the fears and weaknesses of the observer. It is too much to say that Ivo has become accustomed to this; perhaps he never will. More likely, enough resentment has pooled with him that, like black smoke, it rises, parting his lips for him.
 "Why?" the son hoarsely replies.
 Only then does Gilbert show a single emotion, slightly. It is unmistakable. Eyebrows slightly lifted, chin slightly tilted back, mouth slightly pursed.
 "The battlefield," he replies, "is not for dabblers."
 It is contempt.
 "You can have my sword," Gilbert continues, "when you get over yourself."
 NOW
 Ivo smiles.
 He only vaguely recalls what happened moments ago. He soon lost track of Reize's movements. All he knows is that when Reize rushed in, and Ivo felt his body already at its breaking point, and know that he could not block it, and that there was no point in fighting, and that there was nothing to be gained, and that he could only lose, and that he might as well just do what he can to avoid any further shame and pain--
 He thrust out his hand, and tried to take just one more step.
 "I'm... still... a dabbler, but..."
 That hand is still outstretched, empty, toward the sky.
 "I... think... I've..."
 And, slowly, it falls.
 "WINNER!" Gasa Dan shouts. "REIZE!"


  After the landing of the strike...

 Reize brings his arms up into the sky, giving a jubilant cheer. His expression is just as cheeerful.... and then he collapses on his back.

 He still raises an arm up in victory.

 He thinks. He knows he's still conscious.