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Shoes tapped quickly, and loudly towards the courtyard. Strifer had to be there first. He'd been aching for a good fight, his thoughts raced at the idea of fighting Wielder. It wasn't long before his mind had began to imagine how the battle would play out, with almost startling detail, down to how long it would take for the rain to come in, when it would blind each person with vicious stabs in the eyes. He'd been watching the weather channel since he'd seen the bulletin.

Strifer turned fast, his boots sliding to cover the distance on the path he had taken to the courtyard. His heart leapt when he saw the view. The courtyard was open save for Wielder sitting against the larger tree. He'd done it.

Strifer slowed his pace, no one else was in view, it was time for him to act like he was ready to fight. It wasn't long until he'd crossed the courtyard, he left about fifteen feet between himself and the man against the tree. "Well Wielder, mind if you start with me?" His voice came out as though he were talking to a friend, but with the underlying hint that he was going to give all he'd got. With out another word, his sword slid gracefully out of it's scabbard, his knees bent slightly, and the sword now in his right hand stayed down pointing at the ground. Once Wielder rose and had a blade of his own, the point of Strifer's blade you lift up so that it was towards his opponent.

((Edited))

Strifer sighed, then nodded. He was anxious. "Buffs only seems pretty fair." Which was a slightly better situation for Strifer. While Wielder's buff would probably last the whole fight, Strifer's power would dwindle slower if he used it as a buff. Strifer broke his stance, brought his left arm in front of his chest, then his right arm underneath the left then bend his elbow at a 90 degree angle. He did this with out sheathing his sword, then repeated the process with the opposite set up. Strifer's legs had gotten the stretch he needed in the panicked run to the courtyard.

Once it was done, he put his sword arm slightly in front of his body, bent his knees, and met eyes with Wielder. The one sentence that left his now opponent's mouth was all he needed to begin the fight. It was going to be risky, but probably end up better if Strifer started with out any buffs regardless of what Wielder had. Then once Wielder got used to Strifer's regular body speed and strength, it would be time to bring the magic into his body for the buffs.

These thoughts ran through his head in the span of a few seconds, all the while he held his eye contact with Wielder. Strifer could only hope that his eyes didn't give him away as he burst into a charge towards his opponent, with the hope to close the distance between the two as fast as he could. When he got close to sword range,he would shift to his left, his opponent's right, as fast as he could to make it so he was running past his opponent, and send a light quick slash at Wielder as he passed. The blow wasn't intended to harm, it was mostly to get a feel for how Wielder would react. Especially since after the blow Strifer would have his back to Wielder.

Strifer smiled. Wielder expected a leap, his defense still worked fine enough as Strifer's blade slid against his opponent's and harmlessly out of the way. Wielder didn't have enough time to strike back, so Strifer continued his dash. He counted his steps, slowing down with each one, but the distance traveled remaining the same.

One. Two. Three. Four. Each number sounded like a military call in Strifer's head, and continued until it reached seven. On the seventh step he had gotten to the point where he could stop himself, so his body naturally took one more smaller step before he turned to face his opponent.

Wielder was fighting smart as well, by having stayed put it left him ready to defend from another attack. Strifer had gathered part one of the information he needed, so it was time to give a little to Wielder. After all this was training, not a fight to the death. Strifer turned his body sideways, his left arm out in front of his body. Legs bent once again, purely on instinct, and his left hand made a loose fist in front of him. The blade was brought up so that it was parallel with the ground, the flat of the blade even with Strifer's eyes, and about a fully extended hand away from his head.

Strifer's hand broke from its loose ball form to become a flat board. His palm turned towards the ground. His hand bent only at the wrist in the direction of the ground, but still pulling towards him. An honorable beckon, or as honorable as it got, for Wielder to come at him. Once the motion was done, the hand went back to the form it had been in before.

Strifer waited for a moment before setting a stance to defend against what he thought was going to happen. One defends easiest against what they use the most. When Wielder jumped into the air, Strifer began his movements immediately.

The blade in Strifer's right hand moved to block the blow by extending out above his head horizontally. Unfortunately the block didn't stop there, the blade then slanted so that the point was facing the ground, and brought the empty hand to better stabilize the slant. This was in hopes that the opposing weapon would slide down, past the body it intended to strike and into the ground.

Once the position was set, Strifer noticed one thing. Only one of Wielder's legs was set to land. The other would probably be ready for a powerful kick. The stance Strifer was in now, the block wouldn't do what was intended, but if he finished the block he would take the kick harder because it forced him to get closer to the attacker. Strifer mentally sighed as he took the step forward necessary to complete the diversion of attack. With some luck the blade going towards the ground would give Strifer enough time to get steady footing before Wielder could strike again.

Strifer winced at the sheer power of the kick. He debated whether staying to take the kick was the better idea as he stumbled and fell flat on his back. There wasn't much to do after one was on the ground, it left the obvious option of rolling to one side or the other.

After a second or two of trying to decide which side to go to, Wielder appeared over Strifer with another leap. After a quick thought the Wielder must be part rabbit, Strifer reacted as quick as he could to the blow about to be struck. Steel met steel, but just barely. With Wielder's attack now giving Strifer only one direction to go he rolled to his right. Unfortunately with the blade in Strifer's right hand the roll allowed the opposing blade to cut across his side and lower back. He brought the blade close to his chest as he began to roll.

A grimace contorted Strifer's face as he rolled about three times before he stopped, the last roll ending with his face to the ground. He brought both his hands flat to the ground, his sword still in his right, as he pushed himself up off the ground. He pushed with enough force so that once he got to his knees he could simply ride the motion to his feet. Strifer decided that Wielder now knew about the speed his opponent would be fighting with, so now it was time to bring in the magic. He reached out for the pool of three elements contained with in his body, and drew from the lightning. Strifer took a defensive stance facing his opponent while he readied the magic, and prepared to defend against an attack.

Strifer sighed. He had just gotten the magic ready, the crowd was about to see how fast two swordsmen could really fight at, when Wielder called him over. As a sign that it was truly meant to be some sort of talk, Wielder had sent his sword away.

Strifer sheathed his blade as well and began to walk forward. He kept the lightning magic on the fringe of entering his body freely. That way when the fight started up again he wouldn't need to gather it up again, plus dragging the energy from wherever it resided into his body took some time, and some patience. He mostly held it there because it would be a pain to have to start over when he had gotten the energy so close to where it needed to be. It would distract Strifer's thoughts slightly, but not to an extreme degree.

"Things were just getting good!" Strifer called back as he walked closer to Wielder. He quickly put his hand on his waist, then brought it around to as far as he could reach on his back. A wince appeared on Strifer's face as he did this. Once his hand had covered the whole wound area, he brought his hand back out in front of him while he continued to walk. His hand had a lot of blood on it, but not enough for the wound to be considered anything near fatal or deep. There were still parts of the hand untouched by blood entirely and after running his hand over as much of the wound as he could, that was a good sign.

Strifer scratched the top of his head as Wielder spoke. It was true, Wielder would have won if it had been by first blood, but Strifer had always just battled until his opponent decided that they had done enough training. He'd never actually had to set a win or lose ground.

Then a suddenly more important though pierced through like a lance into an unarmored enemy. Strifer was scratching his bare head. He turned his head to the right, then to the left while the medic came towards the two. "No need to restart sir, we'll just make it longer. First one to get two hits wins, you are simply ahead by one." The words came out his mouth, but his body had now turned to see the field behind him. His hat had fallen off when he first had contact upon the ground from the powerful kick to the torso.

The wound on his body began to tingle as a green light emanated from the gun now pointed at his wound. If Strifer seemed distracted its because he was. To hold the magic on the border was more difficult than just sweeping it into his body. Not only that, but he was now trying to reach out to the earth, for strength, and hold it there as well.

The battle wasn't going to last much longer, with Strifer already at the disadvantage should Wielder agree to the terms, so he could afford to use both buffs at once. He turned back to Wielder and waited patiently for the response from Wielder. The thought of his hat not on his head seemingly intensified as he held his buffs at bay.