Completed I Get Knocked down, and I get up again

Alistair Krixus

Alistair Krixus

The Rune Knight
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What a dumb punishment. Alistair had gotten in trouble because he skipped one swordsmanship class. He had just lost track of time in the library. What was he reading? A freaking book on swordsmanship. You would think that would make up for it, but no. Instead, they were requiring that he join the open sparring hours for the day to make sure he practiced. He was already one of the better swordsmen here, so this was all just a waste of time. Besides, who would care if they weren't allowed in the library for two days. Certainly not him. He would not let it get to him...Nope...not at all.

Alistair grimaced as he made his way out to the practice yard with his sword. He started by taking his shirt off to reveal all the runic markings on his skin. This was the worst part about training. Everyone always gave him crap for trying to show off. They did not understand that some of his markings just did not work with a freaking shirt on. If it was about looking cool then he would not be wearing gloves or his boots that sported their own runes.

"Let's just get this over with."

Eleanor
 
Eleanor watched Alistair as he walked into the training yard and took off his shirt. She had rarely seen the boy with a shirt on and she knew it was required for his magic but she did not mind the sight at all. Everyone at the Academy was fit and Eleanor was happy to enjoy the benefits.

She had been told that she would be attending extra practices during her free period because she had dared to tell a Proctor off and they couldn't do shit to her anymore. Well, they couldn't beat her to a bloody pulp anymore but they could let the other Initiates beat her and the Proctors would be noticeably absent.

It seemed tat Alistair was in trouble too. She had brought her sword today. Sword on one hip, pouch with throwing daggers on the other. "This is fucking stupid. What did you do, Alistair?"

Alistair Krixus
 
Alistair had not seen Eleanor at first and turned to her in a, humph to complain, but stopped himself short when he saw who it was. He blushed for a brief second before scratching the back of his head. "Um, I just skipped class. They did not really like that."

He motioned to the sword at his waist and then his own on his waist. "So I guess that means we are going to do a little light sword fighting? Of course, we can use magic too." He blurted out awkwardly. Eleanor with his abilities could definitely throw around some power, but Alistair had some clever runes in his clothes, weapons, and skin that could allow him to keep up.

Eleanor
 
Eleanor narrowed her eyes at Alistair. They had grown up together, obviously, but neither had ever really talked much to the other. There wasn't any particular reason behind it besides the fact that Alistair was a decent human and Eleanor was not. She was a sadistic murderer. Period.

"I just love that skipping class gets the same punishment as telling a Proctor to go take the stick out of their ass..." She let her voice trail off as she stepped into the practice ring. This one was a circle drawn in the sand. She liked this one. Sand made a great projectile. "Now what would my punishment be if I put you in the infirmary? That is the real question her."

Eleanor drew her sword and smiled at Alistair. "I would say that we could just lounge around but they are always watching."

Alistair Krixus
 
"Well, you know the proctors. Punishment is punishment, it doesn't really matter what you did." He could not help but grin at what Eleanor said she had gotten punishment for. He wished he had been there.

He stepped up into the circle and drew his own sword while performing a few simple motions to warm up. The proctor's often said he was a waste of talent for the sword for how little he worked on it compared to his skills with it, but Alistair knew that he was skilled. There were only a handful of students that could compete with him in a straight-up sword fight.

"I'm glad we won't have to answer the second question because that is never going to happen." He allowed a brief smile to cross his face as he got into a readied stance.
 
Eleanor hated sword fighting. Perhaps that was her real punishment. The Proctors knew that she would hate this particular practice session more than usual. She could sword fight, that wasn't the issue. The issue was that daggers and throwing knives were easier to control when they were flying through the air. Swords were also clunkier than daggers.

She let rolled her head to either side cracking her neck and then sighed loudly. "Let's go then, Krixus." She said with a smile.

One of the perks of her magic was that she could through with her hand since she was guiding the strike with the magic itself. She waited for him to strike.
 
"Ok, then one, two,...three." There was a pause as Alistair sized up Eleanor, primarily because he did not want to just catch her off guard as that might be considered cheap.

With a soft-spoken word, the runes on his feet began to glow. He smiled as he shot off toward Eleanor with magically enhanced speed. His sword flickered out in front of him aiming at her midsection.

Fighting with runes was something Alistair was used to, but it came with dangers for those that did not understand it. For starters, increases in speed and strength could confuse first-time users, or even injure their bodies if they were not prepared for it.
 
Eleanor had not been on a mission with Alistair so her knowledge of his powers was limited to what she had seen throughout the years in training. She did know about his speed rune though and she had feeling that he would use that first. She brought her sword down just in time to block his from stabbing her in the stomach.

She stepped back and raised her hand as she sent a wave of power shooting out at him. She was still working on tossing people around but it would at least slow him down some. She followed up with an open swing aimed at his left side.
 
Alistair saw the blast coming and instead of attempting to force himself through and likely knock himself off balance. He jumped backwards and allowed the black to carry him back, creating some distance between the two. This put him just out of reach of Eleanor's sword that crossed just in front of him.

"I didn't know you could use a sword, Eleanor." Alistair said grinning as he launched a combo of strikes at her, not necessarily aiming to hit, but to better understand her skills.

For all of his shy and uptight nature, Alistair had a habit of loosening up and being far more...' fun' when he fought with his sword. It was like he was almost a different person, with far more confidence in his movements and in his speaking.
 
"I don't like to use a sword, but I can. It is too cumbersome to throw and call back. Daggers are better," Eleanor said this as she blocked his strikes. He was going easy on her right now. He wanted to know where her abilities with the sword stopped and how he could press his advantage.

She would drop the sword and change to her daggers in a little bit. The Proctors hadn't specifically said that she could only use a sword today. She was one to push the limits of what she was told and what she could interpret out of it.

Eleanor smiled at him. He was skilled and he would beat her with a sword, no doubt, if she kept this up. She had practice but not as much as him. She pushed back with her sword on his last strike and kicked forward towards his stomach at the same time.
 
That made sense. Eleanor still had not used her abilities, and when that started then things would get more annoying. Anyways, he might as well press her into trying a bit more. The kick was smart, but nothing for Alistair to worry about with his speed rune activated. He executed a graceful spin to dodge the kick before taking a step back and deactivating the runes on his boot. It was smarter to save things for when she got serious.

"Go ahead and use them. I don't mind. It's not worth fighting if we aren't at our best."

He might have said that, but he would still push his advantage. He lunged at her again with his sword aimed at her shoulder, but then at the last second flashed downward to strike for the leg.
 
Eleanor gave Alistair a half smile. She did not really want to hurt him by pulling out everything she could.

Alistair faked her out and she fell for it. She went to block his strike and she missed his switch. The sword hit her thigh and she cursed as the blade ripped her pants. She threw her free hand back and gathered some of the sand to her palm before she threw it at him.

Her power guided it to her target. His face. It was straight instinct and she didn't mean to actually hurt him. She wasn't in the mood to actually fight hard right now.
 
A cocky grin appeared on Alistair's face as his hit landed. He had made sure that if it did hit then it would only leave a small cut. That type of injury was laughable around here. He did not want to be known as the guy that would maim people during sparring sessions...There were other people that held that title here.

It was this momentary relaxation that lowered his guard. Eleanor had thrown something at him. He did not know what it was until it was in his eyes.

"Gah, what the hell?"

Thankfully, he had closed his eyes quick enough that the sand didn't do real damage. He was all too aware that small projectiles like that if really pushed could ruin his eyesight for quite a while. Instead, it simply blinded him. He began to rub at his eyes in irritation with his free hand.
 
"Sorry, habit. You said to use my power, Alistair." If this wasn't the Academy, she may drop her guard and check on him but this was the Academy and she didn't trust anyone...especially inside one of the training rings.

Eleanor stood, waiting for him to clear his eyes before she attacked him again. She knew he was going to come at her harder now. Once he seemed to be slightly better, she held a hand out and tried to pull his sword out of his hand and to her.
 
"Yeah, but I did not know your first idea would be pocket sand." He said accusingly. He rubbed at his eyes for another moment before sighing and turning to her with a readied stance. His eyes remained closed as opening them would just cause more irritation.

Alistair seemed to still be perfectly aware of his surroundings. The sudden yank of his sword made him take a step forward, but he grabbed at his blade forcefully. "Oh no. I'm not giving this up."

With his one free hand, he held it up and whispered a word. The rune on the inside of his glove lit up and a puff of flames shot out towards Eleanor. "I have my own tricks." He followed up the flames hoping to capitalize on an opening.
 
Pocket sand was always one of the best ideas! She had a smug smirk on her face even as he grabbed the sword back from her trying to take it. She rolled her wrist and let the sword do a few circles before she got ready for him again.

Eleanor was ready for him to attack.

Not with fire though. She squeaked as she dodge to the side. The fire whizzed past her but she felt the heat on her skin nonetheless. "So you do," she said as she brought her sword up to block the attack her launched immediately after he spoke.
 
Alistair smirked and reached into his own pocket with his free hand and then threw out his hand towards her eyes. He yelled out "Pocket sand!" Although, he had nothing in his hands...Just a joke.

He instead continued to attack with ever increasingly complicated combos of attacks. A perfect mix of not serious attacks that kept the opponent's focus and attacks meant to actually win the bout that increased in speed and strength. It was Alistair's hope that his frequent change in rhythm would make it difficult for Eleanor to defend herself.
 
Eleanor was very mad at herself for flinching but she did throw him a smirk that told him she appreciated his humor. The smirk lasted for only a second longer before Alistair was moving in on her again.

She was not prepared for whatever this combination was and she made a mental note to have him teach her it. She took a wrong step and his sword hit her right bicep, forcing her to drop her sword. "Well fuck," she said as she reached down and flipped open her pouch.

There was some blood running down her arm as she called a throwing dagger to her hand. She threw it with a wince and guided it gently to his heart. She didn't send it very far into him though, it would only leave a nice cut versus slicing through his body and coming out the other side.

Eleanor wasn't trying to kill Alistair after all.
 
Alistair moved just a step too slow as the blade sliced a small cut across his chest while he stepped to the side. Still, it was not enough to slow him down. Of course, he had to be a lot more vigilant now that Eleanor had taken out the knives. She could move those far more easily than her sword.

He took a step back to create some distance and to take a moment to collect himself. "Finally brought out the knives? Thanks for going easy on me."

He touched at the cut on his chest and winced. He'll feel it when the adrenaline wore off.
 
Both Initiates were bleeding now. It seemed only fair that she share some pain with him. Nice, even. No one could say Eleanor was not kind when she just wanted to make sure that everyone got theirs. She smirked evilly at Alistair as he thanked her.

"I am extremely nice like that, Alistair. I just wanted you to get comfortable before I embarrassed you," she winked and called another throwing knife to her hand.

The knife left her hand before he could respond. This was was heading straight towards his thigh. She had taken an arrow to the thigh on a mission and that shit hurt but it wouldn't kill him.
 
Alistair intercepted the flying dagger with a quick flick of his wrist as his sword struck it out of the air. His quick reaction put him back into a defensive stance. He could sit here and black more of the daggers that came at him, but how long would that take.

Alistair activated the speed runes on his boots once more and quickly lunged at Eleanor, but her using knives made this far more dangerous. With his free hand, he pulled out a dueling dagger. He then attacked with a combo mainly directed at her center of mass, but only attacking with his sword.

"I'll try to reciprocate."
 
Eleanor had seven more throwing knives in her pouch plus the dagger on her left hip and the ability to recall any of her throwing daggers in a moments notice. She needed to get the sword out of Alistair's hand before she could really take him out. As long as he had the sword, she would be at a disadvantage.

The Initiate called her sword to her hand in time to block his sword and jump back. Her sword was in her right hand and she called one of the throwing daggers out and sent it flying at Alistair's stomach with her left.

"Lucky me..."
 
Alistair once again blocked the dagger and sighed lazily. "I can do this all day Eleanor."

Similar to Eleanor's thinking, Alistair also wanted to get the sword away from her. It was the only thing she had that was capable of defending against his sword. She had her knives, but those worked better as offensive weapons.

Alistair turned off his speed rune and instead activated the rune that ran along with his sword. It had taken forever to get the engraving just right, but it was one of his favorites.

Alistair's form began to shift ever slightly, and as he began to move from side to side he left after images. It made it hard for someone to figure out which image Alistair was. Sure, it was only by a few inches, but that was more than enough for Alistair.
 
"What the fuck..."

Eleanor took a step back and growled. She had not seen him use this particular rune before and she wanted to punch him in the face when this was all over.

The Initiate took a defensive stance and waited for Alistair to strike. She would waste more energy trying to catch him than if she waited for him to move.
 
"You like it? It's new. I'm pretty proud of it."

Alistair casually moved forward. This was his favorite part. He started his combo of attacks once again, but if the combos were hard to follow when he was normal then the rune made it near impossible. Alistair's fluid movements made it appear as if multiple Alistairs were sending different attacks at differing parts of the body.

The rune was working pretty well. He had designed it with the idea of information overloading his enemies. The added benefits of making it easier to evade attacks were actually just a coincidence.
 
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