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Thread: Sumer

  1. #11
    Tristan had formulated a very lovely plan for his round against Artoria. He had successfully set this plan into action by gaining distance, and produced a situation in his onslaught which would force the woman into a fair bit of maneuvering. All he had to do from that moment on was capitalize on what he'd accomplished thus far. Sadly, Artoria's ability did not allow for such a thing. Artfully shifting around his onslaught, she drew closer and closer, appearing within striking distance before he could manage a proper reaction. In fact, Tristan had yet to even recover from his post-leap landing.

    Eyes wide, he aimed to raise his bow... but to no avail. The woman's sword halted his movements by its position alone. "Ngh!" A simple utterance came to a sudden halt as well. Tristan's mouth fell agape only slightly, stopping by the sensation of his chin pressing against the tip of Artoria's blade. He'd have been dead already, had this been a proper battle. Even in a training scenario such as the present, he could feel sweat forming upon his brow. Then... there was the question of what he would do next. Did she truly expect something more of him after an immediate and clear defeat? No, he couldn't think that way; this was a round for general betterment. Tristan would be doing Artoria and himself each a disservice if he conceded after stepping up to the challenge. He could certainly manage something.

    Another stroke of his bowstrings occurred, though not for the sake of unleashing another volley. This time, he seemed to be plucking the strings as if they were an instrument, which in fact they were; his entire bow was nothing more than a harp. He played a beautiful sonata that brought with it vacuums in the form of wisps. Said wisps would writhe and contort, surrounding Artoria until they were primed to close in and ensnare the woman, binding her core and every limb along with it. "Gomennasai. I didn't mean to disappoint you so quickly."

  2. #12
    Artoria's attack pattern seemed to carry through without halt, she might have been surprised by this, had she less faith in her own abilities. But she wasn't one of the people who were afforded such a luxury. Even before coming to this world, she possessed a certain amount of confidence in her own physical skills. In her ability to face any challenge head on and overcome it. She simply had to trust her instincts and here, doing so was second nature. The sweat on the brow of her Knight didn't go unnoticed, still Artoria seemed rather calm and oddly, reassuring. As Tristan strummed his harp, Artoria withdrew her weapon, not as a form of retreat, but because she was aware of the potential for something dangerous to happen because of this. Wisps began forming around her and she strangely aimed to cut them, as if she'd use her sword to destroy something magical and technically immaterial and it seemed to be working. Every slash seemed to knock these wisps away from her person even as they aimed to close in on her. "Iie. An apology is unnecessary. You convinced me to move and I showed you where your openings are. There is no disappointment," she mentioned as she came to stand still again. Her sword was still pointed forward, she seemed to still be ready. The remaining wisps even as they aimed to over take her body would find themselves incapable of actually stopping her movements, as if powered from her core, her very being couldn't be stopped. "Have a bit more confidence in yourself, Tristan." Artoria spoke as if she had the authority to make it so, it was reassuring but still somehow a command of the man.

    "Here I come..." she said announcing her intentions to continue. She drew back her blade and aimed to charge forward again. Obviously she needed to reach her target before he played another song she'd need to defend herself from but she also needed to keep the distance. In an exercise like this, it should be this man's aim to keep as much space between them as possible. With this in mind, Artoria launched herself forward aiming to close the distance between them and slash shallowly at his person. Her aim to keep him on the defensive so that he would not have the time to try and divert her movements again.

  3. #13
    Artoria claimed there was no disappointment on Tristan's part; he simply could not agree. Perhaps he misspoke. Indeed, whether he had actually disappointed Artoria or not, he had undoubtedly failed himself as one of her knights. He was Sir Tristan, a Knight of the Round Table of Camelot under Queen Artoria. To be felled so easily by anyone, even the queen herself, was a disappointment. He had seen other knights, his peers, facing the woman before him in training sessions prior to this. Compared to those matches, he looked like an absolute failure with how quickly he was backed into a corner that would equal a swift death on the battlefield.

    More confidence, she demanded. Well, he could at least try. There were no guarantees at all that he would succeed in this endeavor, but that was about the same likelihood as him lasting very long in the battle. He may have managed to coerce her into moving her blade away for some time, but not for long. Artoria wasn't bound at all, and it didn't seem like she could have been if she didn't wish to be. No matter; Tristan didn't have time to think about this much, considering Artoria was on the move again already. The time he bought with his previous move suddenly didn't mean a thing; he couldn't exactly go on the defensive.

    Running was the clear answer. Tristan's Agility was far higher than it needed to be, and his endurance was above average as well. He managed to hop once more as a result, distancing himself once more while maneuvering about in a zigzag pattern to avoid Artoria's approach as best he could. Even with his high mobility as an Archer Class, he struggled to keep away. Soon enough, a blade encroached upon his torso. Another hop with an applied sway and lean to his left, and he managed only a scratch on his armor. Something was off about that, but he expected Artoria to be taking a very lax approach for her standard ability anyway. "Exactly how easy are you going right now? I wonder-"

  4. #14
    Sir Tristan was exactly the type of Knight who would compare himself to the others and see only his shortcomings. Artoria knew this by his reaction to being cornered. If she were less confident in her Knights and less confident in herself, she might have thought she was a bit too hard on them. But every Knight had a specialization and everyone had a different skill set. In these training exercises, she showed them their strengths and their weaknesses. She gave them things to improve upon, even when she herself seemed not to gain much of anything. Every time she stepped into battle, even a battle which was merely training, she saw a clear road to victory. It was always as radiant as a the morning sun. Her barrage continued even as she managed to scratch the man's armor. Doing so again showed him a weakness and let him know how easily one could have felled him.

    "These matches point out what I see as the openings in your defense. And show you what an offense overwhelming to you can be. I am not taking this easy, I am simply not aiming to kill when striking. It would violate my code to try and harm those who have pledged their lives to me. But it would dishonor you, if I held back my innate abilities while we faced one another." This was the truth, from the Queen of Knights. Her approaches and reactions were earnest, but much like she would have used the broad side of a sword to ring he helm of a fully armored knight who dropped their shield, she would not aim to stab or slash a ranged one through their armor nor take advantage of the most obvious weakness they possessed, their head and hands. Surely, they would already be aware such a weakness. Their strengths though, those would only truly shine as they were backed into a corner. After the scratch to his armor, Artoria's body turned a follow-up movement of her sword would have it follow the path that Tristan had to dodge the move of her attack. She spun on one foot before continuing her barrage, simply awaiting the next major opening to gain victory. Normally, she would have kicked outward and charged forward, but no opportunities for distance would be given an Archer. He'd have to take every precious breadth of space by his own will or he would have none.

  5. #15
    Of course she'd be taking such an approach. Tristan couldn't possibly claim he wasn't grateful for the learning experiences offered by Artoria, but for the duration of being on the receiving end, there was only the struggle of surviving. Sure, his life wasn't in any danger at all, yet facing the Queen of Knights alone was enough to instill a certain amount of fear regardless. "Overwhelming is an understatement, isn't it? With all due respect, my lady... you are a monster," he said whilst continuing to hop around the battlefield, narrowly escaping blow after blow. As an Archer, he possessed the skill Clairvoyance, which did offer him keen enough eyes to see every strike in great detail. This, however, only showed him the truth. What truth? It was clear to him that, if his life truly depended on it, he'd have been either killed or maimed five times in just as many moves.

    He couldn't expect to face one such as Artoria in real combat, though. That was something to be grateful for. Still, this onslaught was brutal enough that he had no chance to create proper distance; he had to resort to other measures. He could easily believe that something normally used to kill in his arsenal would be no issue for Artoria, but perhaps it could be his answer in this situation. As such, he plucked the harp strings of his bow in the midst of his evasive maneuvers. "A concerto for you, my lady," he said. The music he played this time around was of a different tune. Vacuums were still created as they always were, but these were placed on the ground. As he danced around the battlefield, every point at which he made footfall was left with a minimal-visibility snare the moment he moved again. He would take care to avoid stepping anywhere a second time, as making footfall at one such location would result in the traps activating, sending the person landing on it floating into the air to be shredded by vacuum blades.

  6. #16
    Tristan was a strange case indeed. His words could be taken several ways and most of them wouldn't be considered pleasant. Of course, Artoria herself acknowledged fully that facing her, wasn't something most would consider normal. "I take that as a compliment and all of you should be the same in your own way..." she mentioned. No one should want to face her Knights and she intended to have them know why. if they could survive her, no one should survive them. In her own way, she thought it a disservice to send her Knights out into the world without them having the full experience of facing someone overwhelming. Humility was a necessary trait and some learned it quicker than others. Of course, there was a certain amount of grit required as well, and she had a desire to test this aspect specifically. And so she would get to, as she aimed a barrage of attacks towards this lad, she found herself caught in what would appear to be a trap, a trap which triggered a vacuum effect. His words about a concerto should have been disconcerting, given the fact that the move he possessed with that name was deadly. But Artoria knew no fear, and moved forward anyways. She swung her sword at the start of the trap giving her the opportunity to surge with energy denying the after effect of the trap without fail. The only change in her actions there after would be the singular extra moment of space required to avoid tripping the other traps. But knowing this was the case, she aimed her slashes to try and divert Tristan himself towards his set traps. And she saw a clear path to carefully avoid them while restarting her barrage of weapon strikes. This was her new path to victory to show the lad the folly of this choice potentially made without foresight.

  7. #17
    "I did mean it as one," he said regarding his previous assertion. Around and around the pair went. Tristan continued setting traps, and beyond the first of them which was muscled through, Artoria continued evading traps where they were placed. As a result of these movements, Tristan would continue stretching the battlefield, taking a wider arc each time. There would eventually be little to no space for further movement without encountering a trap, even for him. He seemed to be doing an alright job of avoiding the traps himself nonetheless, thanks in large part to his Clairvoyance skill and the knowledge of what small signs to look for. Alas, he had to make something of this situation.

    The additional space between himself and Artoria was just what he needed. By the time space became scarce, he was ready to use the final moment of extra breathing room to hop once more, moving all the way to the center of where it all started. His targeted point of landing was the space where his first trap had been triggered, but his next move would be made during the leap. The next song he played was one he considered a symphony, sending vacuum blades en masse directly from the harp, spraying out in a wide arc from their point of origin. Doing this, he intended to deter Artoria's hasty advancement with a far thicker net of offense than he managed previously, though he left a few openings that would allow a curved approach. Artoria herself was not his true target, though. His ultimate goal in this endeavor was to trip his own traps at range, creating a storm of blades from all around Artoria in addition to those which came directly from Tristan himself.

  8. #18
    Artoria continued on her path, noting the difficulty of avoiding the traps set by Tristan and keeping up the offensive pressure on the man. She might have been worried about this, but her visage didn't show it, instead there was nothing but a smile on her face. There was very little difficulty in battle, there hadn't been for her in quite a long time, even so, she would manage to muscle through, until Tristan finally managed to pull that last ounce of space he needed to complete his grand attack. She'd been moving quite a bit, but didn't have the room nor foot space to follow the lad directly upwards as she had previously, and what he did next was quite shocking and worthy of praise. Another rain of arrows came from him, but this time, they came down into the traps he set. Artoria was surrounded! All sides and from above with and though she knew it instantly there was nary a thing she could do to escape directly.

    'Hmpf, and I'm supposed to be the monster here...' she thought as she pulled her sword up before her. For the first time since this practice began she used an ability. Her sword glowing with magical light before her face, a gentle moment before she aimed a mighty swirling slice around herself. 'Destiny Break' was her newest ability and one which she had no reason to try before this very moment. The light of the sword and the intensity of her Mana, altered the course of events around her, allowing her to slash through even the rain of arrows and a multitude of exploding traps in an instant. Such a move was a conglomeration of all of her skills and would put an end to what happened around her in due course, but... there was nothing but happiness in the radiant woman's visage. The rest of the battlefield was marred around her, but the area of her body and an immediate space around it were unscathed and she was left holding only the glowing sword Excalibur before her own face. "That was brilliant! I would have never guessed that you Tristan, would be the one to make me test my newest ability first..." she said in no small form of praise. During these practices, Artoria generally limited herself to skill alone, pulling out all of the stops and using an active ability, even just to protect herself was more than what she could have hoped for, especially from a man not even wielding a sword.

  9. #19
    A successful escape, and a successful attack. Tristan exhaled an otherwise restrained breath as he beheld the effect of his assault, and the reveal of a previously unseen skill from Artoria. A brilliant display of light was created for Tristan and the surrounding knights to witness as Artoria spun around and made short work of his volley. It was such a grand show, Tristan couldn't prevent himself stopping all movements to stare in awe of how easily his assault had been felled. Being praised as the first to allow Artoria's use of this new ability was something Tristan wasn't certain how to respond to. Just when he had the will and opportunity to speak, though...

    Clap, clap, clap-

    Stairs next to this marred battlefield led upward, starting a long path toward the major city and palace of Uruk. The sound of clapping came from this set of stairs, drawing nearer and nearer with each individual clap. "HAHAHA! Subarashi! I commend you both; a fine show to mark the arrival of your king!" Gilgamesh had arrived after taking a bit of a leisurely stroll through the city. He had been close enough to make his presence known for a few minutes, but he wasn't going to miss a show the likes of what he'd just seen. Now though, he descended the stairs toward Artoria, Tristan, and the rest of the knights in this training ring. "Rejoice; I have decided I am feeling generous enough to grace the mongrels with my presence today!"

  10. #20
    This battle was magnificent and nothing would have stopped Artoria from expressing this further. Tristan seemed to be at a loss for words, and though Artoria would have liked to prod a few more out of them, their practice session was being watched... and strangely, applauded? The slow claps of a golden haired, scantily clad man hit the ears of the Queen of Knights. And she lifted her head to watch his entrance into this place. She was not the type to defer, but her gaze was not one of challenging authority. "Gilgamesh-ou." Just this name was all that fell from the woman's mouth. Gilgamesh's own words could like Tristan's be interpreted badly in the moment, but just the same a small black haired girl with a tome in hand followed behind the man with soft words to be spoken. "It was quite a splendid match to see. Though I did indeed predict that you would be giving someone this sort of..." there was a pause inserted here as if she was trying to think of a non-offensive word to use here. "Challenge in practice, Artoria-dono," the lass said with all proper reverence given to all present. "Belris," the name was also spoken in the same tone this woman always seemed to possess. Whatever the case she had no hard feelings one way or another. "Surely, you two didn't come all this way just to watch practice..." she said. "Not that an audience is anything I mind," she mentioned as she sheathed her weapon and waited for the reason this pair of people had approached her.

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