It was the end of the King of Darkness Tournament and most of the eyes that were watching the combats would be fixated on the final championship matchup. The contenders that had made it thus far would be among the best, if not the best, that the lands of Darkness Incarnate had to offer. Sure, there would always be those that may have stood a really good chance in the tourney, but refused to go on at one point or another. Others would not have showed up just because they simply didn't know. A third group would have to be those that just couldn't keep up, having nothing to do with their skill whatsoever. Those are the people that would sit around and prognosticate; the ones who “might have made it”, but just never did.

Most enjoyed the championship battle, but there was always a definitive few that would always pay more attention to the battle for third place. They affectionately called it “the desperation final”. A match or game, of sorts, which required a certain amount of hunger to allow a combatant to triumph. The difference between the championship and this one was the effects of victory. In the championship, both were guaranteed a reward of some sort. The fights there were for bragging rights and eternal prestige. In the fight for third, things weren't so cut and dry; winners were rewarded while losers went home empty handed. It would disappointing to come so far and then walk off with nothing, but that's what was truly at stake.

Some truly attentive minds among the Council of Mages grasped this sentiment and decided that the final match would have to reflect this feeling somehow. The final would have to reek of desperation and a last ditch attempt to save oneself. Due to the massive number of people that would hear the stories or may have been able to watch the proceedings by scrying or other types of clairvoyant magics, the event would have to be tasteful, ruling out some of the more gory or “oppressive” options. After all, this was supposed to be a test of combat, not a slasher show.

What better place to represent a desperate fighting for one's rights in a civilized society than that of a courtroom?

----------------------

The courtroom itself was massive, complete with high-vaulted ceilings which were accented with large “support beams” that ran along the width of the room from the point where the walls ended and the vaulting began – around 20 feet off of the floor. To call them supports would be ludicrous due to the fact that the entire building was constructed from stone and it was unlikely that the thick wooden beams did much for the structure other than add a sense of authority and ceremony to the trials that took place here. As if the stained glass windows depicting a number of authoritative looking figures, tributes to Justice and her judges which allowed light to filter softly to the ground weren't already imposing enough. This soft light meant that there would be no need for torches, candles or artificial light in this room, being that there was more than enough of the day remaining for the needed daylight in this combat.

Leading from the “back” of the room, through the large double doors, was the spectator areas. There were about 75 flimsy wooden spectator chairs neatly placed in two sections with a large aisle leading up the middle. The spectator area, measuring about a third of the total area of the room, was sectioned off from the main trial area by a low fence, about three feet high. It was artistic enough that no one would really consider damaging it, but if push came to shove, would break apart in sections after a couple of solid blows. In the middle of this fence was a gate that would swing open and shut on a latch when needed.

The trial area was, by and large, empty. There was a high judgement seat located front and center in the room with a large set of crossed swords overset by a pair of scales embossed into the wall above. There was also a pair of juror's benches off to the left of the judge's seat. Any other tables that would normally be present for a trial seemed to have been moved out, a seemingly intentional move by the tournament organizers. All told, the room was about 45 feet wide by 60 feet long.

And thus the stage was set, allowing the trial to begin.


------------------

bluedragonfire posts first

Musalis had meant to read up on her opponent, but she didn't get the time. Apparently, there were a lot of people that suddenly wanted to speak to her. Most of them didn't even ask about herself, but Vius. Since he was in the finals, he was the big celebrity, and they were all agreed that he shouldn't be disturbed. However, they didn't have any qualms about disturbing Musalis before her great battle by asking any and all questions about Vius. They seemed to expect her to know the answers because she had fought him in the previous round. While she had fought him, it still was a mystery to her why that made people expect her to know his favorite food. Or the name of his great-great-grandfather. Actually, it was a mystery why people wanted to know this anyway.

Still, she couldn't really send them away - she was informed of this fact after she tried to do so with one of the more annoying groups. An official came, and told her that most of the funding for this event came from sales to people watching the battles. And so the contestants should be helpful and nice to those, and answer questions. If not, the powers in charge might get very angry.

Not willing to forfeit her last chance to win something in this tournament, Musalis did not risk it - even if she wondered if that really had been a game official, or just someone who owned a food stand and didn't want to loose customers. Bottom line, she didn't know her opponent when she came to the battle. But that shouldn't be a problem; Musalis was used to fighting people she didn't know. It would just mean that she had to be careful in the very beginning, when she didn't know her opponent's capabilities.

The first thing Musalis did when she entered the room was look for her opponent, but apparently she had arrived a bit earlier. The room in front of her was devoid of any living being. Still careful, Musalis took in the rest of her surroundings - having a good overview over the area you were fighting in usually helped. The first thing that caught her attention were the wooden spectators - mostly because there was a small chance that her opponent was hiding among them. But she soon abolished that notion - they were all made of wood. While they wore clothes, those were made out of wood to. That texture was not really easy to copy, so pretty much anyone would be easy to spot among them. And if whoever she was fighting was good enough to hide between them, Musalis wouldn't find out even by looking closely. It also ruled out hiding there herself. It would just be too easy to spot her.

So Musalis moved along the aisle in the middle, until she came to the fence and gate that separated the spectators from part of the room where the actual proceeding were. Well, where they would be, if there was anyone being judged. There were no wooden figures in this area, which Musalis was thankful for. She could remember just too well Vius repeatedly attacking her with those in her last match. If the wooden spectators weren't involved at all this time, Musalis would be grateful. Still, she should find a good place to position herself. It wasn't a good idea to be caught off guard. There was the option of hiding, and jumping out at her enemy. But Musalis didn't see any good places to hide, and... it wasn't really her style. No, she needed something more... theatrical. Someone that caught the opponent off guard mentally, something confusing. Fortunately, she had a very good advisor on that topic. Musalis took out Cindy, and showed her the room.

"So, what do you think?"

"Hmmmm... pretend to be the judge and that your opponent is on trial. That put you on moral high group and literal high ground since the seat for the judge is raised."

It sounded like a fun idea, if not sensible. Musalis went to sit in the high judge's seat. She was a little low, and couldn't see the entire room in front of her while she was sitting, so she knelt on the seat instead. For anyone standing in front of the judge's desk, it should seem like she was sitting normally. She put Cindy open on the desk in front of her, as if it were a book filled with laws. And then Musalis waited until one of the doors creaked slightly, announcing her opponents' entrance.

"You are hereby put on trial for everything you ever did wrong. How do you plead?"

Josh was in the middle of a crisis, a crisis of faith you could probably call it. For years now he had been an instrument of his Goddess, the sole warrior priest to Kirstaline the weigher of Souls, he had believed in her words and followed her way, no matter the task or the order he obeyed without question or hesitation. All he had asked for in all his time in her service was to fight in this tournament, to test his strength against the strongest fighters that lived. After Ein’s sudden disappearance Josh had lost the mark against which to measure his strength, so this was his chance. He had been fighting against the strongest swordswoman he had ever seen, and then out of the blue Kirstaline had interrupted his fight. Ordering him to surrender to her, to kneel his knee and submit, and without question he had, bowing from the round, losing his one chance to gain the recognition he had deserved.

Now, as he walked towards the oaken doors ready to fight to claim any amount of recognition he could, he’d settle for third place now, he didn’t have a choice after all.

“Why…? After all the work and all the effort I put into this why did you make me stop?!!”
Silence was his only answer, Kirstaline had declined to reply to his anguish.
“So that’s what it’s going to be after all this time? After everything I’ve done in your name, the things I have given up in order to better serve you and the ‘gift’ you bestowed onto me so that I could serve you better. After all that, You take away the one thing I ask in return, to show my strength to the world.”

There was another silence, but this one was shorter, lasting only a few seconds before Kirstalines voice, as show as ever, but with a wavering tone of sadness to it, entered his mind.
“I’m sorry, I allowed this tournament so you could gain some perspective on your life. You were meant to learn something from this, but you haven’t. So I made you withdraw, there was someone you needed to fight, and they didn’t make it to the final round. You’ll understand soon.”

“What do you mean?” Josh replied as he pushed through the doors.

“You are hereby put on trial for everything you ever did wrong. How do you plead?”

A skeleton, sitting on a high inquisitors throne with a book open in from of it. Josh’s reply was almost instantaneous.

“I would gladly plead guilty to any wrongful act I have committed, If you kneel before me and let me take your head abomination. I am your judgement.”
Josh slowly walked down towards the throne, Jasmine was in her staff form resting across his shoulder held with one hand, her giant axe blade gleamed menacingly in the light as he walked. Seeing the skeleton his conversation with his mistress was forgotten, the undead had to be put back to rest. It had no place in this world.

"Yeah... that is wrong on so many levels, I don't even...", Musalis searched for words, but came up empty. So instead she decided to make her overdue introduction until she could order her thoughts, "First, let me introduce myself. I am Musalis, priestess of Ochre. Which already makes you guilty of accusing a priestess, which also implies disrespect for my God; since it basically says that Ochre chose wrong in making me a priestess. You called me an abomination at first sight, which is points at confused or wrong morals. As for your demands, I would let you take my head - I think I would survive that - but I suspect that you would crush it. Kneeling before you has the same problem; I assume you would use my vulnerability to strike a devastating blow at me. Also, notice how I am in the judge's chair? That means you are supposed to pay me respect, not I you. And you are supposed to defend yourself, not bother your judge with groundless accusations. Furthermore, you are carrying a weapon into a courtroom; not even caring enough to conceal it. And you did all these mistakes within fifteen second of entering this room - and uttering but one sentence. I shudder to think of just how much wrong you have done in your whole life."

Musalis considered the situation, and while the judge's seat gave her a moral and psychological advantage, it could lead to trouble when fighting. Especially since her opponent's weapon looked dangerous - she would like to have room to dodge. So Musalis took Cindy from the table, and got down from the chair and the raised platform upon which the judge's seat stood. She ended up standing beside it, waiting for her opponent to come to her which she continued to count the thing he had done wrong. Now that he could see her size...

"You are going to fight a child, and accused it of being an abomination, making you guilty of child cruelty. Then there is your hairstyle - I am not usually one to judge fashion sense, but Yikes. You are also guilty of not introducing yourself, indication lack of basic courtesy. And, being in the semi final, I infer that you lost your last battle, pointing at a failure as a warrior... I would go on, but I think it is only fair to give you a chance to defend yourself. A chance that you were not willing to give me when calling me an abomination.

The 'I could go on' part was not strictly the truth - Musalis had no more serious accusations against her opponent at the moment. So while she technically could go on, it would have gotten silly very fast, to the level of 'Yo mama' jokes and beneath. So it was better to wait until he gave her more material to criticize. Musalis was confident that he would do just that - almost any action could be interpreted badly with a bit of imagination and determination. And she was actually curious to see just how he would react to this - after all, she was supposed to fight and hopefully win a battle against him. Knowing your opponent seldom hurt.

"First, let me introduce myself. I am Musalis, priestess of Ochre. Which already makes you guilty of accusing a priestess, which also implies disrespect for my God; since it basically says that Ochre chose wrong in making me a priestess. You called me an abomination at first sight, which is points at confused or wrong morals. As for your demands, I would let you take my head - I think I would survive that - but I suspect that you would crush it. Kneeling before you has the same problem; I assume you would use my vulnerability to strike a devastating blow at me. Also, notice how I am in the judge's chair? That means you are supposed to pay me respect, not I you. And you are supposed to defend yourself, not bother your judge with groundless accusations. Furthermore, you are carrying a weapon into a courtroom; not even caring enough to conceal it. And you did all these mistakes within fifteen second of entering this room - and uttering but one sentence. I shudder to think of just how much wrong you have done in your whole life."

Musalis stepped down from her high horse, literally not figuratively, Josh had little doubt her tirade would continue for a while yet, she seemed like the type. Sure enough as soon as she was level with him she continued her little game, as if her words truly carried some kind of weight in the situation.

“You are going to fight a child, and accused it of being an abomination, making you guilty of child cruelty. Then there is your hairstyle - I am not usually one to judge fashion sense, but Yikes. You are also guilty of not introducing yourself, indication lack of basic courtesy. And, being in the semi final, I infer that you lost your last battle, pointing at a failure as a warrior... I would go on, but I think it is only fair to give you a chance to defend yourself. A chance that you were not willing to give me when calling me an abomination.”

“And I am the priest of Kirstaline, Weigher of Souls, does that not make you guilty of accusing a priest? Or is it simply undead priestesses that are exempt from accusations?” If little Musalis wanted to play this little game of who could one up the other Josh was more than willing to play, right up to the point where he imbedded his axe into her head. “A question though, did Ochre really choose you? Or did he simply have no other choice than to raise a random corpse to be his voice. Last I check Ochre didn’t exactly have the largest number of followers to do his bidding.”

Josh moved closer to his opponent, he was not shocked by the ‘revelation’ that this was a child, he’d known that the moment he’d seen her, her skull being somewhat of a giveaway. She had the body of a child, but this was no child he was about to fight, far from it. “You are no child, there are many condition under which a child that while still young ceases to be a child, you fall under a number of them. The moment you choose to fight in this tournament you placed yourself amongst the adults, when you began to follow your God’s call, fighting in his name you cast aside that which made you a child to serve him, and when you died and rose again you ceased to be a child... Nay... You ceased to be a person. All things live once, after you die that’s it your dead, there is no coming back. You die, your soul is weighed and your afterlife is given to you, be it good or bad. That is life, to break this contract that is created by the act of being born you break the greatest rule of all and that is a personal affront to my Goddess. I am no here because I lost, I am here because my Goddess sent me here to fight you and send you back to the other plane.”

“This will be fun; normally I have to hold back in a fight, so that my opponent can still walk away at the end of the battle. There’s no such problem here, I’ll carry your pieces to the graveyard myself if I need to.” Josh raised a second hand to his weapon, and swung it down off his shoulder and at his opponent at the same time. It wasn’t the hardest or fastest swing he’d ever done, it was just to get the ball rolling and see what this skeleton was capable off.

Musalis listened with interest to the reply. This promised to be fun, if the amount of talking kept on being this high throughout the battle. Musalis was quite confident in her talking skills. Of course she didn't quite agree with what he said, but even convincing him otherwise promised to be difficult. After all, he seemed to base his main argument on the assumption that undead=evil and therefore must be destroyed. Somehow... she would need to do something about that particular argument. Find some flaw in it that could lead to doubt.

Before she got time to finish formulating a reply, though, her opponent attacked (he still hadn't given her a name, interestingly enough), bringing the axe from the back around to harm her. It was one smooth motion, but he did need to get it all the way from his back to the front, which did give her enough time to dodge. Musalis leaped back, neatly avoiding the attack - and making a counter attack more difficult. But she knew that she would need to attack soon herself, just defending would not cut it in this battle. If possible, she needed to do a lot of damage fast. If her opponent was injured, he couldn't fight her as well. And if he couldn't fight her well, then maybe she could survive. A fight to the death was really not what she had expected, and it sort of threw her off. Would the tournament officials even let him? If he did manage to beat her, would they stop him before he managed to kill her? Musalis sure hoped so, and... focus. She was fighting a battle, and couldn't let stray thoughts distract her. It was time to refute his claims that she wasn't a person. Also, most of the other stuff he had said. She couldn't really deny the one about her not being a child.

"Ah...", Musalis said, "You see, Kirstaline isn't one of the major Gods, so I hadn't heard of her. There are so many minor ones that a lifetime really isn't enough to get through them all. Even a very long lifetime. Which leads me to believe that Kirstaline too doesn't have to many followers. Not that I would know, I don't really check on number of followers of all the Gods, mostly just mine. As for you pulling my origin into question - no, I am not just raised because Ochre needed followers; that is only a recent development. I can alive before that. Which brings me to your worst claim - that I am not a person. Seriously, you jump to conclusions. You see, this is the first live I have known. I don't remember anything from before I woke up as a skeleton one day. Sure, this body has lived before - but you have no proof that my soul has. I have free will, you see. Normal undead, brought back from the dead, do not have that. Of course, according to you, your Goddess ordered you to kill me. Which... I actually find hard to believe. Apart from the part where I really believe I have a right to live here, it would be unwise to target another God's servant. Did Kirstaline actually, word for word, order you to kill me? Or were you just inferring that from vague general advise? Celestial beings tend to be a bit vague, sometimes. Oh, also... killing people is fun to you? In that case, you have chosen the wrong God. Maybe you should try the God of Slaughter."

Musalis wasn't sure just how much he knew about Gods, but he seemed sort of informed. So he probably knew that Orthos was evil, and that she thus was hinting at him being evil, too.

“You mistake the difference between minor and Major God as one of power, the only difference between a minor and major God is how well they are known. It isn’t the number of followers that define the true strength of a God. The strength of their followers is the measure of the God’s strength, by this measure Kirstaline is one of the strongest God’s in existence.”

Josh’s swing had missed, or rather been dodged. It showed the skeleton was agile but her speed would be nothing like his, Josh was almost certain of that. He could of dodged that strike if it had been him, and he wouldn’t have left that opening without a counter-attack, Musalis had. So either she was incapable of seeing an opening when it was laid bare before her, or she wasn’t fast enough to, Josh was going to give her the benefit of the doubt. However his attacks weren’t going to cease, Jasmine had embedded herself into the wood beside where Musalis had previously stood, now he yanked her free and attacked at the same time, pulling with both hands, then swinging Jasmine’s rear spike aiming towards Musalis’ middle. It was a pain compensating for the skeletons miniscule height, but constant head shots would be easily dodged. He still wasn’t using his full speed or strength, he had a plan in mind, and soon he’d put it into action but for now he had to attack as if at his hardest, but not actually fighting at his hardest, it would all come down to a single act of surprise to turn this battle in his favour.

“Creature, your memory means little to me, your body has already been used wether you have memory of it or not. Either you are a person who has died and Ochre has broken the rules to bring you back, or you are a freeloader in someone else’s body, a body you have no right to, you can choose which you are, either way it means the same to me in the end.”

Josh seemingly paid no heed to the majority of Musalis’ words, she had a point with a few things, Kirstaline hadn’t strictly ordered Josh to destroy the skeleton, she just said she wanted him to fight her. But Kirstaline’s first decree was that the undead were to be cast back to the pit where ever they were found.

Musalis knew that she couldn't just go on dodging - especially not without praying. But the discussion so far was interesting, so she was loath to stop it just to sing. Of course, if it should become obvious that her opponent was much stronger than she was, she'd have to but until then... she was going to fight with her own power. And she didn't even need to attack... or hit him...

He attacked again, this time with the other end of his weapon. It seemed to have a spike - which didn't really bother Musalis too much, she was much more worry about the raw power of an attack than blades and points. Bones were hard to pierce or cut, but they could break. Musalis brought her Battle Tuning Fork in the path of his weapon, to block it. The force when the two weapons connected pushed her quite a bit, but she managed to stop it before it hit her. Now, with his weapon touching her, vibrations would travel through it, and shake his hands. He probably wasn't expecting that, so it could be enough to give her an opening. Or maybe he wouldn't even notice where the vibrations came from, if she distracted him. In that case, she could do this trick twice.

"But if memory means little to you... then what does make someone a person?", Musalis asked, "What, if not their mind? A body that has just been killed is dead, but almost identical to right before, when it was still alive and so a person So the body can't be what determines personhood. So then, according to you, what exactly do I lack that doesn't make me a person?"

What makes someone a person was something Musalis had thought about to quite some extent. As a skeleton, she never really fitted in somewhere. So she had thought about what made her different. And she had come to the conclusion that it was all just silly superstition or something like that - or fear because most undead were used by necromancers for evil purposes. But there was nothing fundamentally different in undead that would imply that they weren't people. Those with a mind of their own, of
course. Mindless zombie slaves naturally weren't people.

"As for the Gods strength... it doesn't rely on their followers.", Musalis said, "See, they were the first that existed, before there was anyone to follow them. By your logic, they would at that point have been powerless. Which they weren't. Oh, and by the way, you still haven't given me a name. Sort of proving me point about you being rude."

Musalis’ battle tuning fork was a marvellous invention, undoubtedly a gift from Ochre either whether it was directly or by imbedding the plans in the dreams of a blacksmith. Either way it was an artefact of the Gods, a powerful weapon. Just like Josh’s own weapons, Jasmine, Yalan, Joesephine, each a gift from his Goddess, even his aspiring fists, he considered it fate that they eventually made their way to him.

Jasmine’s rear blade struck, and both weapons shook, Jasmine more violently than the fork, the vibrations travelling through her three parts and all the chains and components within them. These vibrations could have been exceedingly dangerous upon Josh’s flesh, but this time around he would barely feel it at all. Vibrations weakened over distances, and Musalis had blocked Jasmine almost as far away from Joshua as possible, after six feet of wood and metal and then going through the metal gauntlets protecting Josh’s hands the vibrations were quite weak. Josh’s hands tingled but that was the extent of it, instinctively he knew it could have been worse. Josh withdrew his weapon quickly, bringing it back to a ready stance holding it like a spear towards his opponent.

“As for the Gods strength... it doesn't rely on their followers." Musalis said, "See, they were the first that existed, before there was anyone to follow them. By your logic, they would at that point have been powerless. Which they weren't. Oh, and by the way, you still haven't given me a name. Sort of proving me point about you being rude."

“You bring us to the problem of the God’s they are all powerful like they so, so why don’t they simply strike down those the blaspheme against them, why don’t they make the world as they wish, destroy the things they want to destroy. Why when the powers of Chaos rise up in the world do they simply not smite it from existence… Because they are bound by rules, each is so powerful that a direct fight between them would result in the destruction of everything, something none of the Gods want a part of. So they created us, gave us the free will to follow whichever of them we choose or none of them if we wished. It is through us that they do battle with each other and the forces that threaten even them. It is like a giant game of chess and we are the pieces, we all begin as pawns and as we progress we gain the opportunities to become the knights, the rooks and the bishops, it raises our value, our standing and our usefulness. The real trick though, is learning who the king is, that’s the real focus of the game. That is how we are their power.”

Josh nodded to the tuning fork in Musalis’ hands, “That is a fine weapon, Ochre must value you to bless you with its power, at the very least you are no pawn, a Bishop perhaps.” He stroked Jasmine for a moment, [/color]“However, I’m far from a pawn as well, my loyalty as been rewarded, and my gifts earned, you’ll see their power before I’m through…”[/color]

“However You still haven’t earned my name, and that trick won’t work on me now its failed, I won’t fall for the same trick twice.”

Irritatingly, her opponent ignored her questions about what made someone a person. How was Musalis supposed to convince him that she was really a person if he refused to talk about it? Well, at least he was still talking, if about other things. Gods playing chess with the world... it was an old concept, although it usually was brought up by people who weren't religious. The argument was that if the Gods considered their followers mere pieces in a game, why should you follow them? It was weird to hear this same argument from someone who clearly was highly religious. Although Musalis had to agree that the Gods were probably playing with the world, she wasn't sure chess was the best analogy. The problem was complexity. If you assumed it was like chess, you fell into the trap of equalling people to pawns, or queen. And there was no reason to have a king if you could avoid it - a piece that was at the same time so vulnerable and yet so important was a clear weak point. But people were different, they had a mind of their own - just dealing with one person could easily be more complex than any game of chess. And Gods dealt with thousands of people a day. So comparing the God's game with chess was demeaning both to the people they were playing with, and the Gods own abilities. Still, better not to mention any of this - it was in Musalis own interests for her opponent to underestimate people. Especially if he underestimated her.

"Oh, but it's not a trick.", she said, "It's just an unusual weapon. But it works just as well as a blade - there is no 'trick' that you could understand that doesn't make a blade cut you. The only things you can do is to avoid getting hit - but were you really planning on letting me hitting you with something that clearly was a weapon? Just because it looked a bit unusual? Somehow, I don't see you at quite that low a level. Anyway, I'm really getting tired of thinking of you as "my opponent", "that dude" or "the silly guy with ridiculous ideas who wants to kill me for no good reason". If you won't tell me your name, I'll have to think of name to use for you myself. Let see... I'll call you..."

Musalis chose that moment to make her next attack - she had been waiting and prepared for another strike at her, but nothing had come. So she figured that taking the offensive couldn't be too bad. Still, she didn't want to get too close - distance would make it easier to block or evade any counter attack. So instead of aiming for him, Musalis chose to try hitting his weapon. This allowed her to keep some distance while attacking. It also meant that she wouldn't do as much damage - but that was a small price to pay for relative safety. She brought her Battle Tuning Fork in a wide swing against his weapon, making the attack more difficult to dodge than a stab. Of course, it would be quite easy to block - but that wouldn't help him at all.

"Pawn."

“Oh, but it's not a trick.", Musalis said, "It's just an unusual weapon. But it works just as well as a blade - there is no 'trick' that you could understand that doesn't make a blade cut you. The only things you can do is to avoid getting hit - but were you really planning on letting me hitting you with something that clearly was a weapon? Just because it looked a bit unusual? Somehow, I don't see you at quite that low a level. Anyway, I'm really getting tired of thinking of you as "my opponent", "that dude" or "the silly guy with ridiculous ideas who wants to kill me for no good reason". If you won't tell me your name, I'll have to think of name to use for you myself. Let see... I'll call you..."

“Pawn”

Wide sweeping attacks had their place, they prevented an opponent from dodging side to side, sometimes even forward depending on the weapon being used. That generally left you either blocking the weapon, or retreating, neither option really allowed you to attack back keeping you on the defensive. However, this was only the case when you were being attacked, not your weapon. Such a sweeping attack on a weapon, particularly a weapon like Jasmine was a bad idea, weapons moved differently to people, where a person might move a metre to entirely dodge an attack a staff might only be forced to move an inch.

“Pawn?”

The Tuning Fork swung in, and Josh spun, swinging Jasmine in the same direction Musalis’ weapon was travelling, swing around in a complete circle, Josh’s body turning with it. By travelling in the same direction as Musalis the two weapons would never meet. Musalis would swing and miss, Josh would swing his blade away from Musalis, but the base of Jasmine, her metal shod blunt end would swing around, in a direct path for Musalis’ head. A sword could attack or defend, but a staff, a staff could do both simultaneously.

“I’m no more a pawn than you. You you’re a Bishop, and I am a Knight, both equal but suiting to different purposes.”

Musalis realized rather quickly that her attack was not going to work - her opponent could and was moving his weapon out of the way too fast for her to hit. Disappointed that her idea hadn't worked, she abandoned her attach and stepped back, to get out of harms range again - after all, she was fragile. Committing too much to any attack was a bad idea, especially when it didn't work.

Before she completed her step, something knocked against her skull, causing her to stumble to her side while her head burned with sudden pain. Through the pain, Musalis only realized that this was an attack, and she had to keep retreating in order to avoid a follow-up attack. She continued walking backwards. As the worst of the pain slowly faded, she considered what to do next. He had landed the first real hit in this battle - and her headache made it difficult for her to come up with a clever reprise to his arguments. So the mental battle too was over or at least on hold. Well, that all pointed towards it being time for her to use her strongest weapon - call upon her God for help.

"I tire of this conversation, Pawn; it also seems you have run out of intelligent things to say.", she told him.

Then Musalis started to sing. She'd come up with someone clever later, and just repeat a song she'd come up with earlier in the tournament.

"I ask for you help and support
To aide me in my task here
The task to bring glory to you
With your help I have nothing to fear

The tournament is a bloody sport
And I can't succeed alone
So please come to my rescue
From an enemy unknown"

While the last part was a stretch, he still hadn't told her his name.


[Praying, Post 1]

First solid blow of the fight, metal connected with bone and Musalis visibly recoiled under the force of the blow, Josh began the motions of a follow up attack but halted, Musalis was already out of range of any simple attack. So Josh returned to his ready spear stance, from here he could attack and defend just like he had before using his weapon as an ultimate form of offence and defence against physical attack, even this strange almost magical weapon his opponent was carrying.

“I tire of this conversation, Pawn; it also seems you have run out of intelligent things to say.”

“So unusual for someone unsure of their words to tire of a conversation, perhaps you learn more about your God and his purposes before you fight in his name.”

“I ask for you help and support
To aide me in my task here
The task to bring glory to you
With your help I have nothing to fear

The tournament is a bloody sport
And I can't succeed alone
So please come to my rescue
From an enemy unknown”

“Really? I strike you once and already you call down for help from your God. Have you so little confidence in your own abilities to defeat me. Call for help, call for rescue, but it won’t help you, I already have more power within me than what your God can give you and stay within the rules they imposed upon themselves. That is why a priest is weak, they rely on their God to give them the aid they need rather than train themselves to no longer rely on that added power.”

[rejection] All the Ki in Josh’s body drew itself into his core, Ki drained from his fingers and toes, his arms and legs, withdrawing, condensing, compacting in the centre of his body, it was shrinking smaller and smaller in a ball within him, when released it would serve to further his plans.

“Honestly, an enemy unknown, only to you. Your God knows who I am, all the God’s know about me. Ask him who I am, perhaps knowing the knowledge came from him would make you fear me more.”


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rejection used charging

Her opponent answered, and Musalis listened not with her full attention. That was probably why his first sentence didn't make any sense. “So unusual for someone unsure of their words to tire of a conversation" - first off, Musalis couldn't see how she was unsure of her words, and secondly she couldn't see why someone who was unsure thereof would not tire of conversation.
"perhaps you learn more about your God and his purposes before you fight in his name.” - was rather uncalled for, nothing she had done had gone against Ochre's purposes. And really, she knew more about her own God than him, so there was no reason for him to complain about her knowledge. Apparently he really had run out of intelligent things to say, and she longed to tell him so. But she had told him that she was tired of the conversation, so she didn't break that by dignifying him with an answer.

After a while, Musalis stopped retreating when it became apparent that Pawn wasn't following her. She considered waiting until her head cleared completely, but it didn't seem likely that would be anytime soon. The intense pain had subsided into a dull ache, but the ache seemed intent on staying. And furthermore, Pawn wasn't attacking either. Given that he had just landed a good hit on her, that probably meant that he was up to something. Otherwise, he would have followed up on his attack.

Musalis carefully stepped a bit closer, then stopped. She needed to land a rather decisive blow soon if she wanted this battle to have some form of balance. Just walking close and waving around with her Battle Tuning Fork wasn't going to cut it. She would have to go all out and use some of her strongest moves. Or at least one of them.

The rest of Pawn's comments made more sense, but was wrong nonetheless. Asking a God for help was not a sign of weakness - it was a test of faith. If the God asked deemed the query sincere enough and the person who asked devoted enough, then he would help. So to gain help from a God was not as easy, although people assumed such - which Musalis had come to expect. She hadn't expected, however, that Pawn would know nothing of gaining help from his Goddess. If he really only did her bidding for nothing in return... then he truly was no more than a pawn.

While Musalis still couldn't be bothered to straight out answer and break her promise that this conversation bored her, she decided that singing a song about she subject matter should be okay. First, though, she needed to make her attack. Musalis casually put away her Battle Tuning Fork, and drew Cindy instead. Then she drew upon the power of her bible [Cindy Bible Bash used], and an instead later she was right in front of her opponent. Loosing no time, she immediately proceeded to smash her bible at his right hand with as much force as she could muster - which was quite a lot, amplified both by her link to the bible and the power drawn from the book. Hopefully, he would be shocked enough by her sudden relocation that he couldn't dodge the attach. A direct hit should render his right hand useless at least for a while. Stepping back out of direct counter attack range, Musalis started singing:

"You doubt the power of the Gods
Don't know what they can do
Don't understand they beat the odds
So they won't do it for you.

With faith as your sword
And belief as your shield
When you say the word
Your enemies yield

Praying isn't weak, it's faith in your God
Asking for help is acknowledgement
That they are stronger and you flawed
You lie by saying you're more competent

Gods beat any sword
And break any shield
With just one word
Their enemies yield

You underestimate the power of Gods
You don't see the miracles they make
Don't understand they beat the odds
And without this your faith is fake."


[Cindy Bible Bash used, 2x left]
[Praying, Post 2]

Kirstaline was behind all this, undoubtedly, the conversation was going too perfectly, someone was influencing them. It was subtle, almost unnoticeable, but it seemed strange that they were pushing just the right buttons on each other to draw a response. What was Kirstaline trying to pull, and Ochre for that matter, both of them had to be in on this, no way two devout followers of two different Gods just happened to meet in this tournament in this way. Ochre and Kirstaline were planning something here, the question was what…

Musalis withdrew her weapon, placing it back where she’d grabbed it from, instead now she was holding a book. A large book, gilded with metal around the edges, it looked heavy but she carried it like it weighed nothing at all, another god given gift, like Jasmine lighter than it should, but still hitting as hard as it should.

“Gonna read your God a story now?” Josh smirked, it was a stupid joke but he wanted to regain control of this scenario, he would follow Kirstaline through the fiery pit and back, but he would do it with his own free will. That was probably a little off topic though, it was possible his joke pushed a little too far because Musalis vanished and reappeared infront of him and swung her big book at him.

[Freed Mind]

Fast reflexes and quick planning were the life blood of a martial artist, if you couldn’t react in an instant, and counter any melee attack without fail you died, unarmed against a weapon any mistake meant death. This wasn’t entirely the same scenario, both of them held weapons… of a sort, but the premise was the same, react, counteract, never let them hit you, and hit them with twice the force they tried on you. Musalis swung, holding Jasmine like a spear she swung horizontally to strike at his hand. Josh thrust back shifting the spear down slightly, turning it vertically as he thrust, book hit shaft, and Josh was surprised at the outcome. Instead of overpowering the weak skeleton, Josh was instead forced back a step by the unexpected force of the blow. This was a shock apparently this little piece of bone had some fight in her after all, it might be fun after all.

“You doubt the power of the Gods
Don't know what they can do
Don't understand they beat the odds
So they won't do it for you.

With faith as your sword
And belief as your shield
When you say the word
Your enemies yield

Praying isn't weak, it's faith in your God
Asking for help is acknowledgement
That they are stronger and you flawed
You lie by saying you're more competent

Gods beat any sword
And break any shield
With just one word
Their enemies yield

You underestimate the power of Gods
You don't see the miracles they make
Don't understand they beat the odds
And without this your faith is fake.”

“Gods beat any sword? Break any shield?” Josh laughed as he waited for the tingling sensation to fade from his arms, that blow was strong, and the book was dangerously heavy. He hadn’t been expecting that power, and his hands were numb. “Are you doubting my faith? My Goddess is my sword, and her faith in ME is my shield. I am not her slave, I am not her servant. My faith in her is unbounded, and her faith in me is the same, she knows I can overcome any obstacle with only the simplest of her gifts.”