Shinz vs Snow [Zero TP]

[Skulking Shinzu]

Grotesque – that was the one word that sprung to mind as Zuruel’s foot squelched on impact with the muddy ground. All around the 25m radius of the area, thin yet tall moss-covered trees scattered around the vicinity at random locations. None large or densely populated enough to provide full cover from view, but enough to make navigating the area not as straightforward as one might think. Below, mud encompassed the ground in a round doughnut-like shape with a mossy swamp in the centre (5m radius). The dark waters of the swamp, unlike the shallow slippery mud around it, seemed deep enough to reach knee-level. A foul stench carried itself despite the breezeless air as a testament to the putrid and unclean nature of the swamp. Zuruel, dressed from head to toe in standard black clothing sported two swords – one on either side of his waist, and a set of kunai and shuriken loaded in a convenient butt-bag. Yawning, he glanced below as the sticky mud clung to the soles of his feet. The watery swamp was 5m to his left.

[Deleted]

Time felt faster here. My senses seemed dulled from the moment I entered this place. I forgot why I was here, even who I was. The metal blade that hung at my hip felt familiar yet none of the years of training seemed to be able to be recalled here. I needed to leave this place quickly. But before I could I would need to overcome the opponent in front of me. Armed with nothing more than my hand and half sword, a few braces of throwing knives and several shuriken I needed to make my play. Standing 9 meters from my opponent my blade held out in front of me in a two handed grip as I sunk into a basic stance.

[Skulking Shinzu]

The moment Zuruel caught a glimpse of the white-haired man’s animosity, he wrapped his fingers along the sword by his right hip and drew. Gripped with a single hand, Zuruel pivoted his body away from the foe so that the left side of his body faced Shiki and his right-side was kept hidden. He then pulled his right arm behind him towards his out of sight butt-bag and angled his sword-wielding left hand so that the tip of the blade pointed at the foe. Almost resembling a stance a fencer would utilise, it seemed far too awkward for a clunky weapon such as a broadsword. However, it offered two things. One, the ability to back away quickly and two, easy access to the projectiles in his pouch hidden from view.

Gauging the distance between himself and the opponent to be around 9-meters, Zuruel cautiously approached while weaving between the few thin trees separating himself between his foe. Once the distance between the two had collapsed to 5-meters, he fished out a single Shuriken and licked his lips. With the right hand still kept in his blind spot, Zuruel broke out into a dash towards the opponent’s left side. Upon nearing, the Kedoin maximised the distance between the two by only lunging forwards and stabbing at Shiki with enough distance to strike at his left thigh with the tip of his blade should an attack land. The attack was fast, but half-assed. He hadn’t closed the gap enough to be able to fully pierce through the limb and cause any serious damage even if he wanted to. However, his intentions were clear to himself.

If he spotted Shiki utilising a two-handed strike to attempt to knock away his blade, then he’d swiftly pull his right hand into view and flick the Shuriken into Shiki’s right bicep simultaneously to counter the attempt. If this happened, Zuruel would immediately collapse his now free right hand onto his blade to grip it with two-hands. However, if Shiki reacted differently than expected, the Shuriken would simply remain in his right hand as he continued to gauge his opponent’s movements. Not yet ready to commit to a true brawl, he'd make every attempt possible to back away from Shiki each time the man stepped forwards to keep each other at 'poking' distance.

[Deleted]

My eyes watched each of his movements carefully. The hands and feet were the signs of striking. Concealment, manipulation of my field of view. I dashed towards my opponent as he sunk into his stance and as he started to fumble with his equipment. My weapon low to the ground as I bounded through the marshy water towards my opponent. My eyes carefully watching his movements getting ready to change my course of action should I need to avoid committing to my movement. I reached the outer edge of our striking distance stepping hard onto the water letting the mud and water splash.

The tip of my blade tracing along the waters surface as I was reached the outer limit of our striking zones, I would suddenly cut upwards along the waters surface with force. The broader edge of my sword giving me the advantage of a broader surface area hitting the water. The splash of water towards his face would be nothing more than a ruse and a distarction. One that I would expect him to see through and react with the weapon he was fumbling with in his other hand earlier or by quickly slashing towards me... Twisting my blade through the water and across into quick defensive one handed block knocking our blades upwards. With the momentum on my side stepping into his guard and I'd twist my blade at the crossguard as I came down with a powerful blow canted towards my opponents non sword wielding side. While he opted for a quick slash I'd stepforwards using the sudden speed and power to deflect his blade with enough force to gain a second to press the attack. Now with his sword parried and my blade gripped with two hands I'd slash across his arms and lower shoulder so that if he committed to to his gambit he would risk running into my blade.

[Skulking Shinzu]

“The water, eh?” Zuruel had planned to do something quite similar with the water. Only, not as soon as Shiki. The White Wolf appeared to be less of an over-thinker than the Kedoin who in contrast, preferred to conjure numerous strategies in his mind only to save them for later. It was no wonder then that despite the battle barely beginning, Shiki taking the initiative had already cost the Kedoin his surprise strategy. “Tch.” The single sound escaped Zuruel’s lips as his eyes traced the movement of the opponent’s blade through the water. “No time to think… Just act!” He told himself as he ducked downwards while squinting his eyes slightly. The water wasn’t clean and would likely irritate if it splashed against his iris directly. Knowing this, he did everything possible to minimise the loss of his most precious sense.

The act of ducking down allowed Zuruel to dodge most of the dirty droplets which simply fired above him. The few that did hit him, simply smacked against his cheek and right eye which immediately twitched on contact. Squinting prevented total blindness. However, what little moisture that did hit him now clung to his eyelashes and caused his eye to break out into a painful itch. Sadly, there was no time to deal with it. The moment he felt the moisture, he knew it was safe. Immediately, he forced his left eye open. “Too slow…” He cursed at his slower reactions. By the time his eye was open, Shiki had already blocked the strike and forced both blades upwards. The strength advantage was clearly his thanks to his two-handed grip.

“Not bad.” All or nothing it was. Zuruel knew from the beginning to maintain his distance. It was due to this that as Shiki crossed blades and forced both weapons upwards, Zuruel was already taking a step backwards to create distance. Naturally, both weapons being locked together prevented the Kedoin from taking a massive step. It was at that moment that Shiki slammed his blade downwards at a slight angle aimed at Zuruel’s right. A fact which would make him grin. As the blade descended with Shiki stepping forwards, Zuruel followed the man’s movements. Twisting his grip around his weapon he pivoted his body towards the right and away from Shiki so that by the time the blade slammed downwards, his back was turned to Shiki and the blade slammed onto the ground a centimetre or two to his left. Both swords still locked together, Zuruel continued his pivot in a single fluid motion by letting go of his sword and continuing to rotate by utilising the muddy ground to lower friction. The moment his right side aligned with Shiki’s front, his right arm pushed forwards slightly and with a swift flick of his wrist, the Shuriken would be tossed at the lower right part of Shiki’s neck before the momentum behind his full-body spin would completely end. His hope was that even if dodged, the projectile would still stab into or at least slash the man’s right shoulder. He also hoped that despite having both hands on his weapon, Shiki would find it cumbersome and harder to react to the attack with the weight of effectively two swords bearing down on his arms.

[Deleted]

The blades clashed and a song of ringing steel filled the marsh. I could feel the momentum of the fight shift suddenly as my opponent twisted across away from my advance clearly looking to increase the distance between the two of us. With our blades still clashing there would be no way for me to maintain my weapon and strike him past his guard he put forwards and still use my weapon to strike later. So be it. I'd release my grip on the blade as the swords were pressed upwards and against each other. I'd lower my shoulder and step into a spear tackle as my opponent turned his back on me. I'd use this to catch him and bring him down into the marsh and the mud beneath us. This would happen right as the kedoin would be rotating in the slick mud making his ability to hold traction difficult.

If successful I'd quickly clamber onto his back to pin him in the mud with his face down to the floor. Using the short distance between us I'd quickly strike at the base of his neck with my elbow while trying to wrap my legs around him to keep him pinned.

[Skulking Shinzu]

“That’s surprising.” Zuruel was prepared to abandon his blade from the beginning in favour of relying on range. However, he didn’t think Shiki would be the one to release his grip on his sword first. With both swords still locked together at the cross guard, Zuruel simply let go of the two interlocked blades as he felt a force tackle into him from behind. There was no way he was going to effectively manipulate the weight of two swords with a single arm while being knocked away. Better to do away with their cumbersome weight.

"Mud wrestling it is." Falling, Zuruel knew what to do and braced himself. As he crashed into the mud, he immediately squirmed and attempted to flip himself onto his back as Shiki attempted to climb over. Such an action would be impossible on normal ground. However, on slippery soft mud that reduced friction to almost zero, there was hope. If successful, he’d immediately tighten his grip around the Shuriken he still had held by balling his hand into a fist. Given the opportunity, he’d punch Shiki either in the neck or stomach – however, only if those two areas were exposed or reachable. He was prepared for his hand to suffer the same amount of damage as he’d inflict as long as he could hit a match-ending vital. As always, if a wound was inflicted, he'd focus everything into rotating his wrist to twist the Shuriken and widen the wound if given the chance.

[Deleted]

The tackle was successful and my opponent tried to do what felt natural. Shifting over on his back. With my arms still outstretched from the tackle when we hit the mud I'd be able to maintain my grip on my opponents back from his lower waist. As he struggled to turn over on his back I would take the moment and twist with him. Throwing my extra force in addition to his to twist. Causing his body to twist around with the intent to over rotate as he tried to regain his balance. This would place us still fighting to overcome side back control. With no other attempt made to remove me or hinder my progress to take his back I'd keep fighting for control. Given the over rotation I would end up with the position on the pile to take side control. Within a side control with my left forearm underneath his left armpit pinning it into the muddy water. On my toes for additional power in the sprawl I felt my opponent still struggling to use the weapon he clutched at in his free arm. As I saw him posturing to move his arm upwards to slash at my neck I saw the opportunity to take a leg trap.

As he lifted his arm, my right leg would sweep from the outside over his arm pinning his arm and thus the weapon outside of the strike zone of my neck that he was aiming for. I'd take my feet and wrap them behind the knee joint of my free leg securing my grip. Driving down with my hips on his arm I'd hyper extend his arm making it more difficult for him to free his arm from the pin. Extending my hips to provide additional stability to really lock down his leg. While moving my first leg for the leg tap I'd move my head upwards and out of his field of reach with his weapon. Given my position he would be able to take a swipe at my legs or perhaps my side. However doing so would give him no chance to change his course of action in the grapple. Quickly, with my free arm I'd quickly pullout my knife from my waist and stab it down at his neck with an ice pick grip.


If you need a visual:

youtu.be/KxuWDStMW7w?t=25

[Skulking Shinzu]

Zuruel grimaced as he felt Shiki’s left forearm slithering underneath his left armpit. Times like this, he wished he had access to his maws. As he felt this happen, there was little he could do to wriggle free. Knowing that Shiki was directly behind him, all Zuruel could do was swing his head forwards slightly and utilise the fact that both of his arms were firmly on the ground to swiftly snap his head backwards along with what little movements his back could muster to slam the back of his skull into Shiki’s face. Naturally, he’d aim for the nose if he could to avoid splitting his own head open by striking a dense boney area, but sadly without any mirrors he had no way of knowing where exactly to aim to hit that singular spot. If successful, he’d continue wriggling free and eventually, roll away to freedom given the opportunity. If not, he’d simply have to give into Shiki’s technique.

If the grapple progressed to the leg trap, there was little more the Kedoin could do other than curse at his luck. Pinned, Zuruel wasted no time in acting the moment Shiki’s leg came into range. Gritting down, he aimed to punch into Shiki’s thigh with the Shuriken. As a spike pierced into his own palm, he would let out a pain-filled groan before twisting the Shuriken with a swift rotation of his wrist and dragged it along whatever direction his range of motion would allow to create a deep gash and hopefully, slice open the femoral artery to induce prolific bleeding capable of knocking out an adult in 30 seconds. Of course, whether that action would be successful or not, Zuruel had no means of defending against or even being aware of the knife descending at him. If everything transpired as per Shiki’s plans, then little else other than a gurgle would escape Zuruel’s lips as the knife stabbed into his neck. All he could really hope for at this point was causing enough damage to make Shiki bleed out first. There would be solace in knowing Shiki died first. Survival, after all, was no longer a possibility for the Kedoin regardless of the outcome of this struggle.

[Deleted]

He could do that. I felt his body arc back getting ready to throw the headbutt. I started bracing my body for the impact of his skull. I lowered my head downwards using my forehead to take the blow. I pressed down with my hips to make sure the only motion he could use was the whipping motion of his neck. I'd tighten my hold on him to make sure I didn't let him slip from my grip. His attempt to stab my thigh would be restricted from my leg lock. The decision to push my hips downwards early in the grapple being the only thing that probably saved my life during this scrap. If anything he would be able to do nothing more than scratch at my lower leg or potentially my feet given that I had kept side control the entire time during the grapple. There would be a satisfying noise as my blade found it's mark into the side of his neck.

Releasing my grip of his body and removing myself from his back I pulled out my other blade and cut the sleeve of my shirt off. Tying the fabric around the blades hilt and twisting the cloth strip around my leg I quickly fashioned a tourniquet preventing any serious hemorrhaging from occurring.