Two grins and they were poised; ready to take on any challenge the other could offer. There was no stopping these two.

            The eyes of one were dark, yet brightly lit by red irises. His teeth, jagged and sharp, were bared as if he were a dog. In his hands he held a great, broad, claymore with the Insignia of the Daemon on it. In the eerie silence he stood, crouched just slightly under the sheer weight of his sword. His spiky, black hair waved in the soft breeze that over took the forest surrounding them.

            On the other side was a much cooler expression. Though his teeth were not shown, his grin was almost as menacing. He had long, white hair. It was tied back, leaving a long tail that hung down his back almost to the tailbone. His hands, though they clasped no sword, bore gloves of pure iron. It was rumoured that these gloves could with stand the force of a steel-headed arrow, shot at approximately 40 kilometers per minute. Though he, admittedly, said they could not withstand such a force, it was commonly witnessed that they could stop most swords with relative ease.

“Are you ready, Norick?” came the curious voice, deep and yet more soothing than what was seen on the face. The man with the sword growled happily. His voice was low, vocal chords scarred and torn after years of fighting and smoking.

“Ready when you are, Daryn.” came his snarling reply.

Daryn grinned, revealing his teeth, which would’ve been normal were it not for the elongated canines. “Well then,” he began, “your move.”

Norick’s eyes widened, with a sense of glee and he lunged forward with his huge sword, shouting. The sword, starting to glow blue as its master swung it, slammed forward into the ground leaving a large crater where Daryn stood. However, Daryn was behind Norick in a flash, an instant almost nay seeable by the common, untrained eye.

“Much too slow!” he exclaimed, lunging forward, landing a kick in Norick’s back.

He flew forward over the hilt of his sword. As he did so, he grabbed the tip of the handle and used it to flip himself upright and land on his feet. He stood, turning to Daryn and smiled, almost mockingly. Daryn’s eyes narrowed and his grin widened as Norick grabbed the sword handle, blade down. Suddenly a crash was heard and Daryn was in the air, glowing a bright, pale blue.

A loud shriek was heard and Daryn was suddenly gone, only to reappear mere milliseconds later on the ground in front of Norick. A foot was forced up into Norick’s stomach, sending him and his enormous weapon backwards into a large redwood tree.

In a swift motion, Daryn stood, spinning, and pushed his hand outward as if he were throwing something. Moments later, a large scythe appeared, spinning towards Norick’s head. A loud clang, and from a distance, all that could be seen was a large redwood toppling over in a dense forest.

Norick swung his sword forward, and lifted off the ground towards Daryn. Daryn stepped to the side, narrowly (but calmly) escaping the incoming blow. Norick, however, did not stop to turn. Instead he flipped his feet towards another tree, jumped off of it towards another tree and did the same thing. After the third tree-bounce, he let his sword drop to the ground, causing it to cut through the soil, leaving a large gash in the earth that followed everywhere he went.

Daryn leapt out of the way several times before, eventually, tripping on one of these gouges, falling into a back flip. Blades of lightning began to spurt from the cracks towards him as he continually jumped from one spot to the next avoiding both the bolts and Norick as he flew around the forest at massive speeds.

Eventually, Daryn saw an opening and took it. He leapt into the direct path of Norick, ducked down and thrust his hands out, just holding them in place. Norick was still flying forward but when he finally made contact with Daryn, his blade came to a complete stop against the gloves. However, contrary to what Daryn had planned, the blade (and Norick) wanted to keep moving.

Norick used the electricity he had summoned to put force behind him and the blade, thrusting it forward into the Daryn’s hands. Daryn embedded his feet into the ground and held his position. After several minutes of a reversed tug of war, Norick leapt up into the air, sword in hand and spun sideways; remarkably fast for someone with such a heavy weapon.

He brought it down on to Daryn who brought his hands up only in time to block the blow from hitting him and splitting him in half. For the first time since the beginning of the match, Daryn’s grin had weakened and turned more into a stern focused look.

Norick tried desperately to push his sword through the guard but it seemed no use. Daryn’s armored gloves were too strong to cut through (though, truth be told, he had made two very great etches into the metal, much to Daryn’s surprise).

The shriek echoed through out the forest once more and suddenly, Norick found himself up on his feet, blocking the scythe’s blade with his own gloved hands. The blade pulled back and shot fourth in various, very quick successions, all of which were aimed for weak points on Norick’s body. Norick, however, was used to hauling around a very heavy weight in his arms, so he was much faster than the scythe had anticipated. Unfortunately for Norick, his sword was not one that could control its own actions. Thusly, when he turned to defend himself from the scythe, the sword simply dropped to the ground and disappeared until called upon again by its master.

Daryn stood and began joining his scythe on the opposite end. Norick ducked, dodged, and blocked around each attack, though with each blow found himself straining harder to keep track of who was doing what. Suddenly it seemed as if the scythe and Daryn were one, Daryn holding the scythe in his hands, using both the blade and the blunted back end to fight him. After many blows were sent towards Norick, all of which were blocked or dodged, Norick felt the blunt end hit him in the chin, sending him into a back flip; one that he did not recover from.

Dazed from the blow, Norick toppled to the ground before he could catch his footing. Using his hands, he pushed himself up to his feet and got into a ready stance.

“Hmph! You’ll have to be faster than that to keep up with me, Madcaskae. My pet and I won’t slow down and let you fight back!” Daryn mocked, smiling once again. Norick glared at him and tensed himself up suddenly. A lightning bolt flashed to the ground in front of him and he fell to the ground as if he had been floating for a split second. When he landed, he had one balled fist on the ground, as well as one knee. When he stood and the smoke caused by the lightning cleared, he was now, as a wolf with three long bangs that hung down in front of his face. His chin was adorned with a small, barely noticeable tuft of hair, and his primary body fur was purple.

A grin suddenly crept across his face as his tail swished from one end to another. He back flipped onto his hands, pushed off towards a tree and lunged forward. This time however, he moved much faster and nimbler.

Daryn pushed his scythe in front of him, causing it to spin, creating what looked like a circular shield in front of him. Norick flipped around, extending his legs towards Daryn, and began spinning at an extremely fast speed. When he made contact with the ‘shield’, he hit it so hard, it sent Daryn back and caused him to drop his scythe. The scythe disappeared the instant it hit the ground, sending out a shriek that, once again, echoed around them.

Daryn stood, slightly stunned and growled softly behind a grin. He stood straight and began a barrage again, sending punches and kicks in all various spots of Norick’s body. Norick was much faster now and was able to keep track of the attacks as they came from one end to the other. After briefly scuffling like this, Norick blocked an attack and followed it with a counter-blow to Daryn’s stomach. A hard uppercut that caused Daryn to bend down in pain. It was immediately followed by Norick’s knee, which lifted upward into Daryn’s face, sending him up into the air. Norick leapt up after him and flipped an axe kick into his chest, sending him to the ground. When Norick landed, he was surrounded by a cloud of dust and sand that was kicked up by Daryn’s landing. When it cleared, Daryn was still getting up from the heavy attack.

“You wanted faster and you’ve got it,” Norick said, grinning largely, bearing his jagged teeth.

“I see that you are still just as strong as before…” came the weak response from Daryn, as he stood, awkwardly, “Anyone else would’ve only pushed me around slightly. That actually hurt.”

Norick balled up his fists and grinned a little more devilishly, saying, “I guess lugging that huge sword around really pays off in the long run, huh?”

Daryn gruffly scoffed, removing his coat. “Maybe,” he began, “but you’re still too slow.” A small grin crept over his face as he disappeared suddenly. Norick, surprised at this, got in a ready stance and began looking around, cautiously. Suddenly he felt a kick to his back launch him forward; then a punch to the gut, which sent him flying the opposite direction. A knee to the face, and he found himself hurtling towards the ground from only five feet away from it. Yet, somehow, Daryn managed to grab him and pick him up, limply, before he landed.

“Understand, Madcaskae, that I respect you for making me have to use more of my power than normal. Most people would’ve already been dead by the time you’d gone to your current form,” Daryn explained, through a wicked grin. He tossed Norick into the air slightly, doing a small jump and spin, followed by a powerful kick with his shin. The blow was enough to send Norick through a rock and sliding along the ground into a large tree.

Daryn walked over towards the now clouded area, grinning the entire time. He chuckled quietly to himself before summoning his scythe back into his hands. “A shame, it all ended so quickly,” he said softly, to no one in particular.

Suddenly, three large, pale blue bolts of electricity shot forth at him. He lost his grin and quickly formed a shield with his scythe. As he did so, several more, similar shaped, balls of electricity came at him He blocked a few of them but found himself getting knocked back by the force.

That’s when he saw Norick emerge from the smoke with his sword out, curved back for a great, downward slice. Daryn dropped the shield just enough to block Norick’s attack, however, failed to notice the last electric blast coming for him. The both of them collapsed because of this mistake.

Norick was the first to his feet, getting his sword up and ready. He was hunched down, in a sort of crouch, like before, looking menacing or as if ready to pounce.

Daryn stood a little slower than in previous cases, but still he stood fully, almost condescendingly to Norick’s obviously weighed down stance. Daryn readied his scythe in one hand and left his free hand at rest by his side. Various scrapes and burns were apparent on his now shirtless, upper body and the tie in his hair had long since fallen out. His long, white hair now waved briskly in the passing breezes.

Norick was the first to make a move. He lunged forward, bringing his sword down from above to which Daryn simply avoided, swinging his scythe inwardly from the right, towards Norick’s gut. Norick jumped up, grabbing his sword for leverage. He used his arms to pull himself back down and used the force of this drop to bring the sword up from the ground, and swung it in a large circle to the side.

Daryn leapt up, flattening himself sideways, narrowly escaping a destructive blow from Norick’s enormous blade, which sent an electric shockwave out that cut down three nearby trees. Daryn landed sending another side swipe towards Norick’s feet. He jumped, just barely, over the attack. Due to the swing from before, Norick was now using the spinning momentum of the sword to keep his balance. He made a down slash from the left side, towards Daryn. The blow hit just in front of Daryn, but the shockwave it blasted forth, was enough to send Daryn flying backwards a ways.

After flipping and landing on his feet, Daryn grabbed his scythe with both hands and lunged at Norick, in a ready position. Utilizing his amazing speed, he jumped from one spot to another, slashing at Norick with every pass. Norick blocked one or two with his sword, some with his hands (when he could spare them) and dodged some of the others. But by the end of Daryn’s barrage, Norick found himself cut in several places and bleeding quite profusely. He tensed, trying to ignore the pain, and took a large swing for Daryn. Unfortunately, Daryn was too fast and leapt over the sword. But Norick had expected this, and simply let go, sending the sword flying forward in saw blade like motion. Daryn came down sooner than he should’ve and took a deep gash into his side from the blade as it flew onward behind him.

“Hmph! Nice shot,” he growled at Norick, leaning to one side. Norick’s blade reappeared in his hand and they continued their duel. The clangs of their weapons could be heard for miles around.

Daryn dodged and blocked what he could with his hands, taking the time to counter most of Norick’s attacks. Norick, however, spend more time on the offensive, taking a defensive point only to stop the counter attacks. Surely, it seemed as if the two of them were slicing for each other for what seemed like hours. By the end of it, they had both given each other more scrapes, cuts and scars to bear for later years.

Norick landed a kick to Daryn’s gut, causing him to fly backwards. Stunned and thrown aback, Daryn suddenly got a look of surprise on his face as Norick ran his weapon up through Daryn’s chest. The angle was such, that he had a good grip on Daryn’s body. He lifted Daryn off the ground and tossed him off his sword (cutting an enormous gouge in Daryn that went from the center of his chest up his left shoulder, dividing the two from each other). Daryn flew through the air and landed several yards away, along with his scythe.

Norick wandered, tiredly, over to Daryn’s limp body and inspected the damage. He grinned massively and lifted the body up by the neck. As he reached down though, Daryn, lifted his scythe and parted it into two, smaller, sickles. He stabbed one into Norick’s hand and the other into his foot, pinning him to the ground. Norick shouted in pain and growled as he desperately tried to get free of his newly found restraints.

Daryn stood and cricked his neck to one side and grinned.

“Slow in body and in mind,” he mocked, as his shoulder reformed itself back onto his body. Norick’s eyes widened with surprise at what he saw.

“What the fuck!?” he exclaimed in dismay. Daryn laughed heartily, coughing suddenly at the end. He stood fully and grinned.

“Well, well…you weren’t as far off as I thought…” he began, weakly, “It would seem that you did hit my heart…just not enough.”

Norick’s eyes narrowed and he strained harder now to free himself, but it was no use. The sickles screeched with each pull, the high, shrill tone being so unbearably loud that he couldn’t stand to try for much longer than a few seconds. He growled under his breath, summoning the sword into his free hand and pointed it directly at Daryn’s solar-plexus.

“Heh heh heh…” Daryn chuckled out, coughing again, “It would seem we’re at a standoff, Norick. On the one hand, all you have to do is push. Both of us know you have the strength to easily shove the blunt end of that sword through me, much less the pointed end. But at the same time, all I have to do is summon my scythe back and cut your head off. Either way will take just as long as the other.”

            “How about we call it a draw then? Considering I could’ve killed you just now while you were talking and vice versa. You let me go, I let you go, we go our separate ways, and try again later?” Norick suggested, grinning, bearing his jagged, blood-stained teeth.

            “Hmmm…I guess I can let that go,” Daryn grinned back, releasing the scythes from Norick’s hand and foot, offering his hand to him. Norick took it and stood up. After a brief shaking of hands and arms, they turned from each other.

            “You’d best get faster before the next time we meet, Madcaskae,” Daryn mocked, laying his scythe across his shoulders.

            “You’d best get stronger then, Markov,” Norick responded, doing the same with his sword.

The two walked their separate ways, never turning back.

            From a distance, one could see the destroyed terrain where they had fought. Several trees collapsed many minutes after their departure, as well as a bunch of rocks. The cool green grass, was torn left and right to shreds and blew away in the wind. Clouds of dust and sand illuminated the sunlit sky. And on the top of a ridge stood a man in fancy clothing with long, black hair that was tied up in the back. He smiled slightly and clapped a few times before putting his hands behind his back.

            “Yes…that was good fun, indeed. I think will enjoy watching these two…yes; yes I will.”

=+-_-_-+-_-_-+=

                        Moral of the story? 2:00 in the morning, mixed with Ensiferum’s song, “Hero in a Dream” and Naruto: Clash of Ninjas make for a bitchin’ day.