Workout of Doom | Open To One

[Zuro]

With the sun not even risen to it's midday position, it was certainly rather early in the day for someone such as Katsuro Rei to be up and about, but that didn't change the fact that he'd stomped his way from his apartment just across from the Guild Hall to a large training field that had appeared just outside it for the purposes of this thread with an uncharacteristic look of anger upon his face.

It was strange enough for him to be up early, but for Zuro to be awake early and angry? ...Something certainly wasn't right here! Carefully buttoning his suit jacket up as he stared at his feet on the ground, he couldn't help but think the previous nights events through once more. There he'd been in the guild hall, doing his usual, making people laugh and having a good time. And then suddenly, someone had smacked him around the head and he'd blacked out to waken back up in his bed. Damn, they hit almost as hard as his father!

He had found a note telling him to meet them here, and by god, they better have had a good reason for it! Not the knocking him out thing, for the meeting so early thing! They more than likely had a very good reason for the knocking him out part, maybe he slapped their ass, or their girlfriends? But seriously, asking him to be here at such an early time of the day was too much. Far far too much. And someone was going to pay, dearly.

"HEY! HURRY UP WOULD YA?! SOME OF US HAVE PLACES TO BE!"

[Fisticuffs]

Xander stepped out of the building and into the training field. A strange smile was stretched across his face, one that reached literally almost from ear to ear. The man stood tall, yet Xander managed to tower over him with a single inch. The men were close to the same age , but Xander was roughly five years the younger. Xander was not part of the guild, surely there were questions as to how he got here or why he had come, but the look he gave probably said something along the lines of 'I've come to kill you.'

The first thing that should be noticed about Xander was his left arm, black, the demon's mark of possession. The hand that the demon infected would lie, resting on the sword at his side. Xander's eyes were also quite unnatural, the right one having a sickly yellow colored iris, and the left was completely engulfed with darkness. Only the pupil of the left eye was visible, which was glowing a bright blue color. The man would slowly draw the sword from its sheath, which made a hissing screeching wail as it was pulled free. A voice chuckled faintly from inside Xander, but his own body did not jiggle with laughter, nor did his mouth move or throat vibrate. Something else, inside, was there, laughing. The demon was in control.

"I'm afraid you will have to cancel your plans friend. Your soul, it belongs to me now." The man had been walking towards Zuro the entire time, then stopped about 20 meters from him. The person than began to talk or mumble something in rapid succession under his breath. Was he chanting?

"A son was given to the man and the song was given to the son, the son had a brother and the brother was given to the man. The brother was given to the water and the water gave the brother to the dragon. The dragon came through shadow of darkness and the shadow of darkness engulfed the son and brother. The son and the brother was given to the man but man was no more a father than the mother a living creature. The mother was given to the earth and the father was given to the water. The son was given to the dragon and the brother was given to the sky. The sky would cry for water and the sky would cry for the earth and the sky would cry for the son but would not cry for the dragon. The dragon devoured the son and the son accepted the dragon's embrace and the two beings become one. The son became a man or men and the men gave the son to hatred and the son was consumed by it and the dragon thus consumed the son whole."

The chanting finally stopped as the strange man's eyes slid to the ground, no, only one eye fell, watching his feet slumber on the dry dirt earth. The left eye, tainted with darkness, did not follow in suit, it rather watched Zuro as he waited, the same menacing grin stretching across the majority of his face. The man was no longer a man.

[Zuro]

"Well now, aren't you a serious looking fellow."

With just one glance around at the stranger, all of the anger and rage he had within him regarding the night before vanished as if a calming magic had been cast upon him without his realising. Perhaps it had, this was a land full to the brim with magicians after all. But regardless of reason, a whole new kind of feeling swept through Zuro's body like an unstoppable wave. Anticipation.

It didn't take a veteran combatant to recognise a threat, but it did help having a few years under your belt when it came to identifying how serious an opponent you were about to face. This guy's not your run of the mill weekly villain, this might be fun. Flicking his hood up around his head, he allowed the shadow to fall across his face and cover his intelligent eyes as he looked over the one laying claim to his soul. With a grin growing across his features, he ran a hand over his stubble ridden chin as the smile became rooted in place. Shouldering the metal cane he carried with him, he addressed the gentleman as he came to a stop.

"My soul? Well, I'm afraid you're going to have some problems wresting that out of my possession. I'm quite attached to it, if you understand me. So, who do I have the pleasure of meeting today? I'm Zuro, mage of Fairy Tail and chaser of women."

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Bringing his magical power to the fore, Katsuro allowed it to sit just at the surface, ready to be called upon at a moments notice. He could feel the power from within his opponent, he would not be foolish enough to attack first without at least getting an idea of what the man was capable of. He wasn't a complete fool. Most of the time.[/blockquote][/blockquote][/size][/color][/font]

[Fisticuffs]

Xander's head slowly turned back and forth, left to right, side to side. It shivered as it did so, as if some powerful force was pulling against it.Xander is this human's name. With his sword drawn, Xander began to walk forward slowly, approaching Zuro at his leisure, and that stretched grin frozen onto his face.

There was a single spell of Xander's cast while he moved, and though it didn't take any motions to perform, or at least it would appear as all he had to do was touch his palm to his thigh, it would be obvious. The coloration of his skin, his clothing, everything about him instantly took on a thin sheet of bright blue magic. Even his teeth, which would not dissipate because of his unnatural smile, glowed an eerie pale blue tint.

A faint voice, somewhere underneath the body began to whisper. "We've got plans. We can't do this. We've got plans. We must follow the rules. We've got plans. He doesn't need to die yet. We've got plans." Then Xander stopped moving, continued to watch Zuro, he wasn't too quick to make first moves either it seemed.

Spell Name: Surge Protection
Level: Greenhorn
Range: Self, Close (Touching)
Description: This Surge Magic spell takes the Surge Mage’s energy and encases his own or his target’s skin with a thin coat of Surge Magic, which can nullify a single Non-Surge Magic spell (Greenhorn Level Only). The spell itself, if cast on another person, must be transferred via Surge Mage’s open palm and directly to the target’s skin. The Spell lasts for one weak (Greenhorn level spell) attack or twelve seconds before the magic dissipates.
Drawback: The Target of this spell may not cast any magic as the Surge Protection encases all magic (excluding Surg Magic) and protects from the same. Attempting to cast a spell will destroy the Surge Protection Spell, but likewise nullify the spell cast. The User of Surge Protection can not perform any other Surge Magic Spells until Surge Protection ends, via magic attack or twelve second duration ends. No effect on Non-Magical or Physical attacks.

[Zuro]

Any mage worth his salt could tell when there was some sort of magic being casted, even if they couldn't tell which type of magic in particular was on show. It was likely they would soon find out, there were very few magicians who used spells for no reason whatsoever, it was pointless and a drain on their power. But enough of this expository banter, on with the thread!

Hearing his Xander state his name, Katsuro couldn't help but notice the wording he used as he spoke. This human? Well, something definately wasn't right there. Not that it mattered all that much, the gentleman was obviously very intent on doing some serious harm to Zuro, and whilst Zuro wasn't above dishing out damage himself he sure as hell didn't wanna end up with his soul being the chew toy to some random mage with a penchant for picking fights to the death!

Looking over Xander carefully as he start to slowly move towards him, he gathered the magic within his right arm, ready to begin spell casting at a moments notice. Picking up speed as he approached his opponent, he noticed the blue sheen appear all over the body of his target, and decided to change tactics. Waiting until he was around ten metres from his opponent, he began sprinting at full speed towards him, before bringing his cane up and pointing it at Xander. Chanelling the magic within his right hand through the cane, he caused the ball shaped grip at the top to light up with a reasonably powerful light. Hoping to have blinded his opponent, Zuro swept the cane down upon him. Aiming to catch him unawares and across the temple with the heavy metal weapon. Either way, he stayed on his toes, ready to deal with any kind of counter attack that may be heading his way in response.

Spell Name: Flash
Level: Greenhorn
Range: Close
Description: Sending a pulse of his magickal electricity into his cane, Katsuro is able to generate a flash of light in the immediate area. Can be used to distract or temporarily blind an opponent up to 15metres in any direction, also useful in darkness.
Drawback: Useless without his cane or a similar object nearby. Can be blocked by an opponent simply wearing sunglasses or otherwise covering their eyes. The light generated is only powerful enough to blind an opponent for a maximum of two posts, but that's only from point blank range. Most often it only lasts for one post.

[Fisticuffs]

Xander's eyes widened as a horrible flash of light exploded from the cane and flushed over him like a raging river, yet the moment it was gone, which was about as quick as light travels (which is damn fast last time I checked) the effects were gone. Instead of Xander being blinded, the light blue film that encased his entire body would shatter, creating a sound identical to that of glass breaking into a thousand pieces, and the spell would obviously have worn off. Xander, thankful that he had prepared for any quick sly moves as such, easily moved his sword up to his head to block the cane, and with his free right hand, which would now be glowing a faint blue coloration, would strike at his opponent, or really to touch him. The attack itself was more of a light push, but it was mostly to transfer magic energy via touch.

Assuming his little spell hit, the opponent would not feel any difference, no immediate effects, that is unless he attempted to channel magic, which he would quickly find out would not only be impossible, but give a decent aching in his skull. Nothing near lethal, but could give an advantage, especially if he was foolish enough to attempt several more times.

With Xander standing there, his sword next to his head and his right hand outstretched towards his opponent and his spell cast (or attempted, his hand would remain glowing if he didn't make contact), he would then take a small leap backwards. Xander was already theorizing what his opponent could do. That first spell was definitely light based, and though Xander couldn't say for sure what type of mage he was, he had assumed it was Light Magic. Just what you would expect from a Fairy Tail.

Spell Name: Magic Seal
Level: Greenhorn
Range: Close (Touching)
Description: The Surge Magic User attacks in close combat, forcing a large portion of his/her Surge Magic into the target, causing the Magic to rest within the Target for Twelve seconds. Within the duration, no magic (Except Surge Magic) can be used, and attempt to do so causes a mild to severe headache (depending on how many spells are attempted within the time of effect). The spell itself does not deal damage, but keeps both the user and target from using any magic, as the user injects nearly all of his or her magic into the target. After Twelve seconds pass (or instantly if the Surge Mage Dies) the magic rushes back to the user. If headaches are caused, mild effects will exist. One spell will cause a mild headache, or slowed casting speed and minor accuracy drop for three seconds after Magic Seal Ends. Two spells canceled while under this effect cause a moderate headache, slightly slowed casting speed and moderate accuracy drop for six seconds after Magic Seal ends. If the victim of Magic Seal attempts three spells while under the effects of Magic Seal, they suffer from a migraine, which doubles cast time, makes accuracy almost non-existent for twelve seconds after Magic Seal ends, yet a moderate lasting effect of pain remains for a total of twenty four seconds (but does not inhibit spell casting or accuracy). Any spell above Greenhorn level cannot be contained by Magic Seal, and Magic Seal is destroyed without stopping the spell. Surge Magic Spells, any level, ignore the Magic Seal spell, so even a target effected by this spell can use Surge Magic.
Drawback: Magic Seal requires a hand on the target to work. All magic spells for the user are disabled, all spells excluding Surge Magic are disabled for the target. Once Magic Seal ends, the User’s magic takes time to return to his or her body, taking approximately one full second for every five meters away from the target/victim of Magic Seal.