The assassin and the blademaster have faced off...
Beware, for the shadows are watching...

the other people in the building left, he had tried to claim it as a refugee, but the creature had been guarding it. He knew he had been spotted when he had came to the vacant building. He saw it hiss and swoop up gracefully in the air, It sweeped the night air, majestically and terrifyingly. He considered leaving the premises, but times were desperate. He could not find shelter anywhere, he could not afford to rent a room in the inn and his house was burned down by the trackers. Also he felt he could not leave, fearing the creature might spot and stalk him.


“Well done Ethernu,” he muttered under his breath, “Now, look at what you’ve gotten yourself into.” He spent most of the nights sleeping the dark and tranquil forest; It would have been fine if there weren't any mosquitoes. Ethernu was getting tired of the mosquito bites and was growing restless. The stupid insects sucked his blood and left itchy swelling. He regretted taking even one step towards the property fence. Then he did it, the most idiotic thing he could have done. In the dead of the night, he walked towards the building, cautious of every step he took, every noise he heard. As he walked, he thought to himself: “How did I even convince myself to doing this?” He expected at every moment, for the creature to swoop behind him and attack. However, he felt the wind blow as he walk towards her at the front gate, an iron gate that seemed similar to that of a graveyard. The heard the gate creak eerily and blow open. He felt as if something was watching him. The dark night was lit up by the pale, lifeless moon. He saw the shadow of a pillar and something on top of it. Fearing what he might see, he looked up slowly. He saw two eyes that burn with fire, it had a stick figure like body with a fine coat of fur as black as darkness itself. “Well, well, well,” the creature started, “What do we have here?” Trembling, Ethernu tried to say something but his mouth remained unserviceable. “Well, before you die, I let you know my name is Vamprina.” The creature spread its wings and stared at Ethernu, looking as if she was ready to strike.

And then she did. Ethernu unprepared, attempted to unsheath the morph blade. But Vamprina dived at him and clawed his face, and blood streamed into his eye, blinding him temporarily. He heard her taunting him: “Is that all you’ve got? I was expecting more of a challenge.”

Rubbing the blood off of his eyes, he unsheathed the morph blade and turned around, only to be meet with the absence of Vamprina. Then he heard something creep behind him. He rolled forward and turned around, uppercutting with his blade. Sure enough, he hit Vamprina, a perfect cut from the belly to chest. Vamprina, annoyed and pained, swooped up into the air and circled for a bit. She dived down at Ethernu from behind. Ethernu, expecting such a move, morphed his blade into Joy. Without looking, he shot seven phasers at her. She dodged the first three, but
was hit by the other four. She panicked as she lost control of the air and smashed into the ground.

She stood and screamed at him: “JUST WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?”

Ethernu sensing his opponent cracking emotionally, shouted out bravely: “If you wish Vamprina, I am Ethernu, wielder of the morph blade and guided by the four winds!”

As he said this, he morphed the blade into an Rpg and fired a rocket. Vamprina narrowly dodged as she heard an explosion behind her and the sound crumbling of stone. Not wanting look back at the damage, Vamprina flew at him with tremendous speed. She sliced her opponent's face with her wing blade and stabbed him with her claws. She got a couple more hits on him before Ethernu finally countered her and cut one of her wings.

Angered, Vamprina charged at him slashing at him with her wing blades, clawing at him with her talons, and swiping at him with her claws. But it was of no avail, Ethernu blocked all her attacks. Suddenly, a cold feeling struck her heart what if she had met her match? She wished that Jolt could come and help her now. She wished any member of The Wind Chasers would come back and help her. She missed Zoe, even if Zoe did leave her ramen boxes under her hang perch. Then Ethernu broke from the fight and dashed into the forest. She chased after him but couldn't spot him. “Come out and fight coward!” But, she was met with silence. She didn’t know how much of a threat the human could be as he ran towards her with a zweihander; silent
as a mouse, but deadly as a lion. He brought the pole-arm down with a tremendous force, wounding Vamprina badly.

Vamprina turned around, but Ethernu disappeared again. Now she was the one who was being hunted, by an ameture using guerilla tactics. Although the thought of this disgusted her, she began to wonder if he had more experience than her. After several more painful blows, she finally heard a sound behind her. “At last!” she thought. It looked like her chance had came. Pretending to not notice anything. She waited until Ethernu was close to her. Then, she turned around and confronted a now suprised Etherenu. She smirked at him then vanished from sight.

The next thing that Ethernu knew was that Vamprina bitten him, He tried to shake her off, but she refused to be shaken off. He felt his strength weaken. When she finally let go, his legs wobbled and he leaned on the morph blade for support.

Vamprina, seeing her chance, flew at Ethernu knocking him away from the weapon and pinned him to the ground. Then she lifted him up by his neck and stared at him coldly.

“Spit it out!” She spat in his face, “Why are you here, and what have you done to my friends.”

Ethernu smiled weakly and did not answer.

“ARE YOU DAFT? ANSWER ME NOW!”

She threw him on the ground violently like a ragdoll. Weak, he lay there and felt the north wind blowing, he felt some of his strength returning. He stared at the starry night sky filled with stars. It was beautiful and mysterious. The Morph Blade’s gem shined brightly, illuminating the area. After regaining his strength, he stood up to face a shocked Vaprina and motioned the blade to return to his hand. The blue gemmed blade of the goddess returned to his hand. As it came back, it cut Vamprina’s face, and Ethernu walked quickly towards her. Once more he attacked and blocked but this time, he was more wiser and more skilled. He had learned from his mistakes during the battle. He fought flawlessly as the skilled person he was. Both exchanged heavy blows to each other and both fought with equal valor and skill. Vamprina swooped over him and grabbed him using her talons, she flew up high with the struggling human then dropped him. Ethernu screamed as he fell. He fell and broke his leg with a sickening crunch. Vamprina, take using his crippled leg to her advantage, turned invisible again, only this time, Ethernu was prepared. As he turned around, he swung the blade in the direction he turned. As the blade moved closer to the shadow creature, it morphed into a giant hammer. He broke one of Vamprina's wing and part of her rib cage. At this, she yelled in pain as her fell to the ground, crippled.

Still weak, Ethernu morphed the hammer back into its true form. He slowly limped towards

She saw the human approach her slowly, sword in hand, ready to finish her off. She would be humiliated this time, but next time she would get revenge.

Ethernu prepared to kill her, but something in his mind told him it was not right. His hand trembled and he started sweating. Was it really how he was going to win? Killing his opponent without mercy? Even if she was a shadow creature, she deserved a chance to live, right? He struggled to make up his mind. Out of frustration, he stabbed the rock next to her.

Vamprina was surprised, he was about to bask in the glory of winning. Why did he just throw out that chance. She heard him speak: “Sorry for invading, we could have talked this over a nice cup of tea. To answer your earlier question, I wished to seek refuge in that building you were guarding. I do not know who your friends are or what they look like.”

Vamprina felt something, this person reminded her of someone… Perhaps Aiba? No...probably not. “Well, I think I’ll leave now.” Vamprina felt there was one question left unanswered. “Wait!” She called out. “Yes, Vamprina?” “Were you the person who was stalking me in the woods?” “No, I did observe you when you were guarding the building though.”

Then Ethernu limped away into the woods as it began to brighten up for the sunlight. Leaving Vamprina with many unanswered questions. Why did he spare her? Where did he come from? Where were her friends? Were there others who were stalking her? And so, how many?

After the red scarfed man left, she went back to the building she called home and rested her broken bones and her wing. She saw the broken pillar as a result from the battle and sighed. She had a lot of explaining to do to the silver haired boy, if he ever returned. It was a long night she had experienced, and she did not want repeat that again.
[/spoiler]

d Chaser clan building, eyes focused on the environment. Within the structure’s walls were her clan mates, sleeping as was usual. Yesterday had been exhausting for them. Just two days ago, one of their own left, and even now everyone was still reeling from the shock of the situation. The incident had hit Aiba especially hard, and his usually sunny nature had noticeably less glow than normal. Vamprina shook her head, focusing on reality again. He’d get over it. He had to.

The glow of the early morning sun began to creep forth from the horizon. Its warm rays sent long sweeping shadows running for cover; cowering behind the buildings they belonged to.

As she hung there, invisible in shadow save for the dim glow of her eyes, a flicker of distant movement called her attention. Her ears turned towards the approaching figure. It was human-like. Vamprina left her perch, bearing down on the target before it could notice her. As she got closer, her mental picture changed. This wasn’t the figure she was looking for. She slowed down, coming out of her dive and beginning a slow circle above the individual. It had noticed her now.

It was a human, with a red scarf and a tan cap. It wore a blue sweater over a white T-shirt, and the height seemed to suggest that it was about 30 years of age. After a brief conversation with the human’s shadow, it confirmed that the age was indeed 30. On the human’s back was a blade-like weapon.

“State your business stranger.” Vamprina hissed, landing a short distance away. “Make it fast if you want to live.”

The figure cocked its head, slightly confused.

“My name is Ethernu.” he replied. “I’m your challenger.”

Vamprina looked him up and down, narrowing her eyes. Ethernu reached for the hilt of his weapon, and the assassin tensed for a moment. However, the human was only interested in scratching an itch on the back of his neck, and Vamprina relaxed only slightly in response.

“I see.” she responded, folding her wings to her sides. “Your name does ring a bell.”

“You got my message?”

“Yes.”

“So. Shall we?”

“Not here. My allies are sleeping and I don’t take kindly to people waking them up at this hour.”

“Then, can you suggest something?”

“I suppose we could use the ruined city. We can prevent collateral damage that way.”

“Where is it?”

Vamprina smiled, spreading her wings for takeoff.

“I’ll show you the way.”



Ethernu shuffled along after Vamprina, switching his gaze from her to the crumbling ruin around him every few moments. The city looked like something out of a post-apocalyptic movie. There was no life anywhere save himself and his opponent. He cast a wary glance her way, watching as she drifted lazily on the winds above. She didn’t look that dangerous. To him, Vamprina resembled a large bat with a very thin body and legs. Her head was perfectly spherical, and she had large eyes, long hair, and a pair of large pointed ears on the top of her head. Her claws and talons were a formidable sight, but other than that, he figured he could take her on.

He returned his gaze to the terrain, stepping carefully around sizeable cracks and chunks of debris. The sight caused a slight frown to edge across his face. This was the battlefield he was supposed to fight on? That was unfair. She might as well just stay up there and laugh as he stumbled about, trying to get into a proper fighting position.

Ethernu looked back to the sky, and found that Vamprina had completely disappeared. Tension snapped through his body. Had she tricked him?

Just as he was about to decide this wasn’t a good idea in the first place, the ground leveled off into a massive flat of cracked pavement. Ethernu took a few moments to survey the scene, noting the ring of ruin around the edges of the plain. Scorch marks dotted the ring, broken up every now and then by a massive scratch mark. Crusted blood and stains scattered across the flat area, scentless with age.

For a moment, the sun slashed through the cloud barrier, lighting up a strange marking near the further edge of the ring. He walked over to it, curiously attracted by its swirling design.

“Disturb it and you’ll disintegrate.” a sudden voice said.

Ethernu whirled to see Vamprina standing behind him, a disturbing grin on her face. Ethernu suppressed a shudder. He could see every one of her teeth, and her fangs stuck out the most. Was that where her name came from? Vamprina smiled at his discomfort, and then waved her wing at the mark.

“It’s an explosion rune. Highly sensitive.” she continued. “If you’d taken at least one step more, the dirt kicked up by your movements would have triggered it.”

Some of the earlier tension Ethernu had been feeling began to melt away. He moved back, giving the symbol an extra-wide berth.

“Thanks,” he replied. “…I guess.”

Vamprina nodded. “I found another one of them over there by that abandoned warehouse. I sent my shadow to investigate and she disintegrated when she tried to land near it.”

Seeing Ethernu looking at her feet, she laughed and twirled once, spreading her wings wide.

“Don’t worry; I still have her with me. It takes more than just a little explosion to kill her.”

Ethernu’s face twisted a bit. Well…that was kind of unnerving to hear. He and Vamprina then stood there for a while, looking at the marking. Then Ethernu looked back up at the assassin, finding out that she was all the way on the other side of the ring, perched on a scorched rock.

“Are you ready human?” Vamprina called.

Ethernu drew his weapon and took on a battle stance. “I’m more than ready!” he shouted back, hoping his voice sounded as confident as he thought it did.

Vamprina crouched, ready to take wing.

You’d better be, she thought to herself, and shot into the air.

Ethernu tightened his grip on his Morph Blade, eyes locked on Vamprina as she approached. As she drew near, she flicked her wings a little, and a new gleam caught in the sunlight. Blades. Part of her wings had just become swords. The assassin closed the gap and swept her wings down, aiming directly for Ethernu’s blade edge. The blades met with a ringing CLANG, and Ethernu staggered for a moment. Vamprina pushed hard against the blade, and Ethernu held his stance for a few moments and then suddenly jumped backwards. The action nearly caused him to stumble and fall onto his rear, but he recovered quickly, just in time to see Vamprina simply flap her wings and land before him again. He pushed the disappointment out of his head. He’d wanted her to lurch forwards at least a little.

Slightly angered by her smug smile, he jumped forwards, swiping hard. Just before the blade hit its target, Vamprina burst apart into tiny particles. Ethernu hesitated, taking a quick look around.

What…?

Suddenly Vamprina reappeared on his left, her talons ready to sink into his arm. Ethernu spotted her and swung wide, trying to aim for one of her wings. Va

BUMP because I want the mods to delete this thread!

I forgot to put it in POLL format!