Round 1 Match 1: Oliver Oxford v Rezz Kain

Distant drums beat heavily as people poured into the compound--the tournament was starting tonight, with its first match--Oliver Oxford, Cane Requip user of Demon Howl, versus Rezz Kain, Shadow God Slayer of Ghost Smile.  The arena was clear; the match hadn't started yet, and combatants were in preparation.  Lines in the shop were out the door, nearly reaching the stairway up the mountain as more and more people flooded in, a small detachment of Rune Knights encamped by the door to discourage shoplifting.  Kaneda’s voice rang out through a magical speaker system:  “Good evening, ladies and gentlemen!  And welcome, one and all, to our first annual Starry Night Tournament.  Tonight’s match will be between Oliver Oxford of Demon Howl and Rezz Kain of Ghost Smile.  Commentating on the match is a guest, known only as Magepool.  Please make your way to the arena, as the bout will begin shortly.  Enjoy!”  followed by a feedback screech and a small thump.

Andikins: {OO} Oliver kicked his cane's bottom upwards, twirling it about his wrist without grabbing a hold of it and then onto his shoulder with a light clank sound and he grabbed a hold of it. "Guess that's our cue huh ma boy?" Oliver rolled his shoulders forward, leaping toward the guy and getting a vault with his cane to get some extra height and distance, the gold hook of his cane glowing as he went forward and over Rezz hopefully with great speed, winging the cane this way and that, leaving angular lines in the sky where he slashed, "Lattice Cut!" Now normally that spell was used in melee attacks but as Oliver Landed, he pivoted about on his feet, swinging upwards from the ground at Rezz from behind, the same glow from before shining, "Lattice blast!" This was just like the lattice cut, but it fired off the blast for a short ranged attack, and sent all the other hanging blasts flying in the direction they were pointed from before, in this case, being at Rezz. Oliver just tried to get a teaser going to see if Rezz picked up any new tricks. That and he recalled to be very careful and close to the ground to counter the sudden onset of his shadow attacking him. While he might not have looked it, Oliver was keen at remembering minute details of adversaries or riddles and things of the like. {OO

GhostofSenyx: -Oliver seemed a bit more nimble now that he wasn’t using that big shield of his, this would make this fight more fast paced than when they did some training together as he wouldn’t be spending the whole time hiding behind his defenses. With a few quick moves Oliver was behind Rezz and he was surrounded by multiple energy arc spells coming straight for him with another blast from behind where Oliver now stood, but Rezz wanted to see just how well Oliver fought when he was on the attack and was so far pleased in the early stages. Rezz waited for as long as he could until all the arcs were on him and dropped down and became a shadow on the ground as the spells collided in the space he had just occupied. Once the arcs exploded above him and kicked up a cloud of dirt and debris Rezz used that as cover to dash about in shadow form till he was just outside of arms reach of Oliver’s offhand side (opposite side of what hand is holding your cane) and sprung out of the shadow form to unleash and struck with a superman punch with his right hand, detonating the concussive blast of the spell whether he would hit him or not. though the range of the burst was short it had the force of nearly a stick of dynamite exploding which would cause moderate damage to another wizard if they were struck with the full force of the spell. If Oliver was in close enough proximity to them if he was only able to dodge or block the punch he would feel its power and be thrown off his balance leaving him open for a spinning back kick from Rezz’s left leg to his chest with the same potential power as the punch. If either of these blows landed on him Oliver would be sent back rolling on the ground several feet and possibly have the wind knocked from him if he was struck by the kick or have his vision blurred if hit by the punch. Rezz's left hand and right leg would still be coated in shadow as he steeled himself for his next move with a few beads of sweat on his brow and breathing a little harder as he was still slightly winded from his sprint to get to the match.-

KatsuoOda: -"git'cha candy, drinks, and action figures 'ere..." Aren sighed, he knew Oliver told him to watch the stand, but no matter what he did people just didn't want to come over, which made him restless. He looked up on the screen towards Oliver, and that shadow slayers big fight, "Come on short stuff take that cane and smack the back of his legs with it...” that was when Aren's eyes lit up, he had an idea. He grabbed his guitar. What if he made up a song to describe all the stuff at the stand? Would that raise enough money for demon howl and the town? "hm..." he sat on a stool with his guitar and thought. "Oh!" he strummed his guitar and started playing a fast, active joyous melody, "Leeeeet's journey to the tourney now today! hay hay! Let's journey to the tourney now today!" he paused for a moment and strummed the guitar in the same tune, "Let's see what this guild has on display! Hay hay! Let's see all the toys of Kane in her unday!" he picked up a Kaneda action figure that only had underwear on it and gave it a squeeze to make it squeak twice then put it down, "I don't know about you, but today must not be gay, cause there's a tourney here everydayyy hey hey!" he lifted his guitar like he was having fun, but the tournament people just thought the song was weird and pushed themselves further back from the stand. "Aww...” Aren made a sad face and drug his guitar back to the stool.-

Andikins: {OO} Well a deft dodge was expected, but the guy disappearing completely was another story. Though Rezz' shadow remained, Oliver looked up and around at the angle the shadow was moving in case he was-wait-he IS the shadow! Oliver turned to get ready to dodge but he didn't have enough time for it. He stabbed his cane into the ground where the shadow was, hook tip down, thinking it could be some way to stop the guy, but with his free hand, he reached out and grabbed on to his opponent's arm with all of his might, his body shuddering when the blast force hit him, but he stared down Rezz while the spin kick happened, Oliver going with and letting go when he had the chance to, getting himself thrown toward a more shaded area of the arena. He wanted to test something out, yes his foe's power came from the shadows, but Oliver saw that only happening for shadows of the immediate area and when there is light around them, how would a shadow survive in the shade without getting swallowed up? But just to be safe, Oliver lifted his cane up high and in a flash of light, split it into two ninja Sai looking tools with one of the points aimed downward as a handguard and the other upwards while the middles were still in the shape of the hooks. His feet were now big-toe and sectional toe tabi while his shins were tightly wrapped and thighs in baggy cloth pants. He had a traditional sleeveless gi on and belt, his hat and scarf shifting into that of a ninja hood and mask, leaving only his eyes, His arms were adorned in fake tattoos chronicling his adventures and those of his ancestor Hayate, "Shino Canes." {OO}

GhostofSenyx: -So close Rezz thought to himself, had he been a little faster or Oliver just a little slower the fight would've been his right there and then even the crowd thought it would be over as they suddenly became more alive. Well if they wanted a show Rezz was about to give it to them, as Oliver amazingly avoided taking the full brunt of his kick and punch attacks he retreated to a shaded part of the arena whether he did this intentionally or not put him in a bad spot as he was in a way on Rezz's turf. Now adorned in what looked like a ninja monks robes with some serious looking weapons replacing his cane he looked ready for this to be a battle of blades than one with spells, though Rezz would be delighted in making himself some weapons to match his opponents and throw down with them he had a that gleam in his eye that his old rune knight comrades knew all too well that something big and dangerous was brewing in his mind he was about to pull off something that landed him in the brig on several occasions and kept him from ever being promoted within the ranks. Since Oliver was in perfect place as his shady spot was close to the arena wall Rezz turned to face him and took in a large breath and drew in the shadow that Oliver was standing on to add to his power. "Shadow god, HOWL!" Rezz lurched forward and opened his mouth wide as he shouted that final word and the breath attack spewed forth from his mouth, it was conical shaped and expanded rapidly reaching its full width at 20 foot diameter and was comprised of small black razor edged shadow shurikens that looked as if they could rip someone to shreds. The attack was powerful and moved with tremendous speed and coupled with its size made it extremely difficult to dodge as it flew through the air o where Oliver stood and continued past him to hit into and climb the arena wall triggering the protective barrier to stop it from spilling out into the crowd nearly causing everyone on the other side of it to panic as the barrier became staticy looking but would still hold strong against the attack. Odds of escaping this were small but if Oliver was hit by a full powered howl like this he may lose the fight here and now.-

Andikins: {OO} Oliver, now in his Balance form, was ready for more maneuverability. He was much more agile and nimble with the Shino Canes than Bulwark or the Base form of his cane. People would clearly be able to tell the difference as noted by his reaction time when he took note of the massive shadow he was in being sucked up by Rezz while he got into the pose that every slayer had to use their roar or howl. Having already faced off against the Iron Dragon Slayer once and Rezz once before already, Oliver was running backwards toward the wall, and then up it. Not even affected by gravity or the odd angle he was at along the wall, Oliver made a B-line to the side to get out of the path of the Howl, continuing along the arena walls. See the Shino Canes granted Oliver balance magic, his direction of mass was always getting pointed toward his feet no matter what direction he was at. Under his perception, everything seemed to shift around him as if the wall was now the floor. It took some getting used to at first, but Oliver now had a pretty good mastery of finagling himself around on nothing but the floor, because everything as the floor to him. Even the air, which he leapt off of with the help of a magical platform created at his feet when he rocketed off the wall to get toward the side of Rezz. Oliver gathered magical energy into his two canes, charging up from the wooden ends to the very tips of the golden hooks before they ignited into magical packets, "Solution 2!" He flung both of his arms at Rezz, throwing the explosive packets which would collide with one another at his location or each other if he moved and create a volatile pocket of air that would collapse in and create a flash of light to eliminate any shadows in the immediate vicinity. Time to mess with Rezz' food supply. {OO}

GhostofSenyx: -The nimble bastard got away again, is all he can do without his shield is run from me? A slight twinge of annoyance caused one of Rezz eyebrows to twitch as he ended his howl and tracked Oliver’s run along the wall and into the air as he made his countermove and used his arms spell to conjure two short swords of shadows in his hands. The shadow that Rezz consumed had been used solely to power his howl so he didn’t get much of a recharge off of it but his instincts worked faster than his mind sometimes and without hesitating Rezz threw the two blades at the oncoming spells Oliver sent at him. The spell collided in midair between the two and with two bright flashes of light would make the two cover their eyes briefly. Long thin shadows were being cast by all the shifted dirt and debris from the arena ground and from the two combatants themselves, those sources of light wouldn’t last long and Rezz immediately began to consume all the new shadows (aside from his own or Oliver’s) The flashes faded quick but the gave Rezz enough time to eat his meal and restore his strength. No longer winded and almost back to full strength, surrounding himself in shadowy energy Rezz went into a kickboxers stance with his legs spread to shoulder width and his arms up and ready to square off against Oliver’s next move.-