Yata vs. Ephraim

[Ephraim the Lunar Warrior]

Craters. Craters surrounded Ephraim like they would circumambulate and encompass him to his doom immediately (what a great way to start an awakening). Thankfully, Ephraim’s flinching did not do prophesize any harm, for craters, naturally, could not move.

How ridiculous a thought!

Of course, Ephraim’s breathing begged to differ. His borderline diagnosable hyperventilation just happened to counter his thought processes.

What a different experience this was. Nothing like being on the earthly plains of Xedillian or the whispery snows of the Zenith of Angels, it was. Have I been sleepwalking? How the hell, in heaven’s name, did I get here! (Oh, the irony….) Ephraim never sleepwalked, he was a deadweight when asleep. In fact, to wake him up would require, depending, a trumpet in the ear or something of the sort. There are some that awaken at Dawn, and there are others that awaken at the Dawn Strider’s headquarters. Many-a-time that has happened to Ephraim, and the Moon was not so farfetched of a destination. Probably some earthy prank from Nexus or his overly tall friend, resulted in this.

Naturally, it didn’t. If it had, it would have been quite awkward. For one, Nexus cannot fly; two, though his friend has quite long legs, it is doubtable that he can jump, or leap for that matter, enough to get to the moon.

Heck, sleepwalking seemed plausible now. Who knew?

Well, there was that letter that he had received:

 

[Ephraim the Lunar Warrior]

Dear Ephraim:

Please represent the Paladic mores and scruples through thy pugilistic abilities in the arts of magic. Thy valiant attempt at disemboweling thy previous opponent with an avalanche turned out to be quite benevolent of you in the end… no matter how many people still question that plausibility.

Nevertheless, thy opponent shalt be a Dawn Strider Factious by the name of Yata D’jinn. Beware, and fight fair (no rhymes intended…), and do not disgrace our name for the value of victory.

-The Elitists that Consider themselves Leaders in front of Neo-

 

[Ephraim the Lunar Warrior]

My, what a large name. They should get a stamp, don’t you think? Well, as Ephraim pondered this monstrosity of a letter; a feeling of, I dunno’, nervousness erupted? Nervousness was quite normal… but why did a name like D’jinn seem so… formidable? Almost mind-boggling (OOC: ahahahahahahaha… no fun intended?), if one were to comprehend its Arabic roots properly.

A D’jinn: powerful gas materialized in the form of a human. Quite gassy, but nevertheless, tolerable. It was in their flair. With style such as that, how could Ephraim compete?

Nevertheless, seeing as how Msr. D’jinn had not arrived yet, Ephraim thought he would strengthen himself and prepare for battle. There was nothing worse than being in a battle surprised.

Nothing.

(OOC: Wacks it in your face! LOL… jkjk… it just kinda’ spurted out onto the paper… don’t be intimidated… as long as you catch the subtle humor [subliminal messaging] placed, I am happy xD. Plus, just for you, I didn't make one huge post... instead, I made three small posts ^^. See how considerate I am? Mercy.)

 

[Ephraim the Lunar Warrior]

(OOC: Interesting, and I wouldn’t want it any other way ^^. I am glad I can instill the writer out of you. Nothing can be anymore complimentary ^^. On with the pages of lack of battle. I must warn you though. Since you pointed out you were slower, you just created a huge disadvantage upon yourself. Read my post and you will see exactly it is that I didn’t want to take advantage of. En garde.)

Ephraim’s eyes flickered. The Sun could be seen in the distance; bright, illusive, elusive, harmless. The Ozone Layer would not be harmed at this distance. However, then again, there probably isn’t an Ozone Layer on the moon.

Ozone, being three oxygen molecules bonded together, it was obvious that such a thing could not exist encompassed around the moon. There was no oxygen on the moon! Nothing to breathe, yet still breath. Nothing to speak, but still a voice. What was left but to gape in awe?

A truly unique place was this moon. Nothing could come or leave voluntarily. It was a Kingdom Come almost, yet, without the “Come” part. Those that were unfortunate to come here and feel the cold air, breath the unbreathable, it seemed as if none could return. Unless they could jump through fathoms of darkness to a destination so far away, it takes technology a week to arrive to, they would never leave… never enter, even.

Once more, the ultimate question pops up: HOW THE HELL DID HE GET HERE?

Moreover, that was obsolete to the situation at hand: he had not time to quibble with himself. It was not eternal truth; it was not important. What was true, was that every step he took was slower than those taken on Earth. What… intriguing leaps he could use to his advantage. However, did this humane handicap/ability (to each his/her own) slow him down at all? Not like -most humans, it did not. It, in fact, was the opposite. When most could not run without control, Ephraim could be even faster on the Moon than he was on the Earth, ironically.

Maybe this battle would not be as he thought it would be. However, if there was something he had learned from his times in school it was that one should never underestimate one’s opponents, or the result will be clipped wings in the extremes.

Here, it was true that he could not run as fast as a snail unless he truly tried. But, what he could do was jump. My, he could jump! Also, what was not restrained by the gravitational pull of the Moon? His flight, was it not? He could fly through the fathoms of endless space, so it seemed. Even better, he could fly even faster than he could on Earth, apparently.

Nevertheless, as Ephraim’s mind continued to think, him being already fully powered, he noticed the person arriving at his place of standing.

His idiosyncrasies were peculiar and his smile could have frightened a grave. It was a fascinating predicament, but nevertheless, the strategy of making one forfeit beforehand was always welcome.

“Welcome, Master Yata’Djinn. It is an honor to finally get to meet you.”

Seriously, that smile was creepy.

(OOC: I found it humourous that you chose to define sooth through an attempt at emphasis. It gives an atmosphere of apprehension and is not at all perceived well unless that is your style of writing, for it implies grammatical arrogance xD. Unfortunately, all that can be resulted from that is redundancy, therefore, I just thought I’d give that piece of advice. I am not one to give advice, but that’s just something that I know ^^. )

 

[Ephraim the Lunar Warrior]

(OOC: I like that spirit ^^. We shall see how that shows in battle. But, that limitations in the mind thing I don’t really agree with xD….)

Ephraim listened as the wind roared unnaturally. Wind, on the moon? Surely, something was amiss and it was a sign of challenge. Challenges were always accepted with open arms, but when in such situations of pragmatic disposition. He hesitated while speaking, well, so it seemed. Who else would speak so harshly in tone? A greeting was a greeting, not a exorcism of the damnèd.

Ephraim’s breathing rapidly increased as he watched his ne’er-to-do opponent. It wasn’t obvious, however, for it could have been perceived as a simple breathing pattern upon anyone. Either way, was the man truly honored to see him? Ephraim had just said that as courtesy; he could have cared less about his opponent!

Could it have been that his opponent had seen through his lie? Such blasphemy! Sacrilege! Well, not really, but those two words harmonized well together.

So if the man had seen him being a blasphemer, and he knew the implication provided in Ephraim’s never-before-noticed sarcasm could it be that, by saying "...and I you, Lord Ephraim" that he was not honored by Ephraim’s presence. How could anyone not be honored by his holy, magnificent, four-winged presence? How! It boggled the mind how someone could be so self-controlling, so unintelligent!

Wait, how can someone be self-controlling yet unintelligent at the same time? Well, to Ephraim that would be by not liking him. But, then again, it was Ephraim. And Ephraim, alas, would never change. So, everyone could probably figure out what he would probably say next, because he felt guilty! Here was this guy being completely honest in his ways by saying that he despised Ephraim—yes, despised—and here was Ephraim complimenting him. Now that was truly unfair to the clueless man in front of him. Therefore, being the philanthropist that Ephraim is, he spoke philanthropically:

“Oh, well, I should be completely honest with you too then; I think you look like a pansy without women’s undergarments and that your mind is as strong and as weak as an ant’s.”

He sighed in relief, great thinking to start off honest. What was better than honesty in a battle, right? “Well, now that honesty is out of the way, let us—yes—begin. But, what do you think about the weather up here? Interesting, right? Quite exquisite; nothing like the rave about astronautic expeditions, no?”

This man didn’t have much of a first impression, more like an impression upon a wall: stuck until it is dismantled, mangled, and torn into something else.

We’d see what would happen hence. However, Ephraim, himself, would prolong the battle as long as possible before being forced to fight.

 

[Ephraim the Lunar Warrior]

(OOC: Hehe, nice. xD)

Ephraim had already been ready for battle, his floating body made several minutes earlier before the beginning of the conversation. However, this man just kept up with the lies! Who knew he spited Ephraim so much as to lie continually? Ne’ertheless, Ephraim forgave him being the benevolent and caring man he was to his forsaken enemies.

But, still, “without reason”? What greatness was that? What sportsmanship was that? What comedy was that? Nonetheless, it amused Ephraim. Without reason or with reason, Ephraim had called the man a woman in one way or another. Or a gay—happy, of course, you peevish pests—man whose fetish was to wear women’s undergarments. He must have received many wedgies.

Ephraim’s two eyes closed as his third eye remained open. Now with his concentration at its peak, he could laugh at his opponent and be deducting at the same time. The man seemed to have calculated a strategy earlier, but would it change by his early stupidity (OOC: No offense, Yata ^^… characterization, after all!) or by his intelligence? Who knew, except for the fact that Ephraim would not be very predictable.

Ephraim heard him figure out that he had been stalling; maybe the weather comment was a bit much after an insult. Eh, at least he was not a complete idiot, though he looked like one with the fact of his ridiculous nose (OOC: Foreshadowing? Hmm… xD.).

The darts and stuff that would not have been noticed by his two eyes were detected by his third eye, for Ephraim’s sense over the wind’s passage was impeccable. The wind could be read through a radius of up to almost 20 ft. for Ephraim. Therefore, a rebuttal would have been facile. But, what was a counter without some humiliation?

The air twisted and coiled around each of the weapons used, and because it was a slow process of simply slowing down the attack, fairly little energy was used and all Ephraim had to do was dodge. And while floating, friction proves no problem in dodging; and it helped that the missiles were significantly slower because of the wind. To stop with a stick is impossible; to use the stick to dodge the fire has an equal result by which no harm is done. The same fact could be applied to energy in that energy was never truly gone, simply transferred into something else. Now if that transferred substance is one of your own minions, then was problem is there in becoming stronger as a result?

Science was Ephraim’s friend; and poor humiliated Yata would have to suffer greatly for his demeaning attempt. But, for some reason, Ephraim figured that that attack, though plentiful, was meant to damage him, but at the same time know his style.

Thankfully, the way Ephraim handled it made sure that only confusion would result, for no trace of evidence was left behind.

(OOC: Well, that was exhilarating xD!)

 

[Ephraim the Lunar Warrior]

(OOC: Ugh, I’ve been aching to write O.O. Well, I’m back! Oh, and re-read my passage to understand that completely. In a nutshell, even your invisible missiles could be sensed because of their passage through the wind. Since Ephraim is connected innately with the wind, you can’t really make invisible missiles invisible XD. Creative, no? ^^)

Ephraim’s eyes twitched at the compliment, though it made him inflate egotistically a lot as well. Well, of course it was a great achievement of power! All he did to get it was… well… be born! Even birth was such a great accomplishment in Ephraim’s eventful life, apparently—no, obviously, is a better way to phrase that. No one possessed power like Ephraim did. Pssh… when he defeated that Shera character, it was like nothing had happened to him. Too easy; too easy.

Nevertheless, a compliment without one in return? Blasphemy. Ephraim had insulted him quite badly beforehand, and this person was being quite nice in return. Maybe Ephraim had been wrong about him, and they could be friends! My, such shallow thinking could only come from Ephraim. No one else could revert from enmity to friendship in a few minutes flat like Ephraim could. Maybe it was a new record. Heck, it probably was. Nevertheless, as Ephraim went to bow, he let out a few lights as an added flair to the mixture.

“Thank you, good Sir. I must say thy flair took a fair amount of brain cells as well to comprehend a retort forthwith. However, I can see from thy smiling features that either you are hungry… or quite amused. ‘Don’t eat me,’ is what I would like to say if it is the former; ‘Excellent,’ if the latter. I am sure this shall be quite the enjoyable fight, right?” Ephraim waited for about 5 microseconds before he answered his own question, like always. “Right.”

This was turning out to be quite easy, as I had mentioned beforehand. However, how could I forget to say that this was only the beginning. Yata would be soon cracked from the inside out (in the intellectual and humane way, mind you) and Ephraim would be celebrating another sound victory. But, victory was far from the question at this early in the battle. In fact, it was near impossible to think that Ephraim could win this early in the game. His Sanskrit spells would have to be kept under his sleeves until a dire need be present. Nevertheless, this battle would be fun for sure… and even if Yata was hungry, Ephraim was sure he was having fun.

Ephraim noticed Yata jump into the air, and already ready Ephraim started to dodge the piercing bullets just like before. All Ephraim had to do was revert their trajectory and source of direction. As his third eye glowed with the fire of a few lit candles in a dark room, his legs being cross-leggèd, and his two eyes closed, few intelligible mantras kept resounding into the air. Yes, it was Sanskrit. Why so much change of thought in just a matter of seconds? Well, for one, the darts were quite fast; Ephraim would not have been able to stop them. If he had been able to, he would have been quite strong—much stronger than his opponent. However, he wasn’t nearly as strong as his opponent when it came to sheer force. When it came to brains, however, it seemed Ephraim could match if not supersede.

But, then one missed Ephraim’s calculations; one quite fast in comparison to the others just happened to pass. Who knew what miscalculation Ephraim had made, or through his ego, Ephraim had underestimated his opponent. A long-ranged missile passed through Ephraim’s defenses and hit the ground soon after. Yes, it had pierced through his chest, nearly grazing his heart. The feeling was awful, but Ephraim had trained for this type of pain; and he had felt it beforehand by Shera.

“हिम,” Ephraim said, breathing heavily into the faux-oxygened air around him, making ice cover his wound to stop the blood-flow for the moment. He didn’t make it so much so that the blood-flow stopped and resulted in frost-bite, but instead, he made it so that the ice would slowly reunite the veins to their proper spots, surgically bonding that which seemed impossible. Of course, this would take a while, and frost-bite control would have to be administered; but, still, it was the only choice Ephraim had. He could do no more than that.

He would have to stay on the defensive. And, now that Ephraim had been preoccupied by the wound, he had not a clue as to where Yata went. Defensive stratagem instead of pure idiocy would be the smart move. Therefore, Ephraim created three swords out of light that danced around him… almost as if they had a life of their own, but not really.

 

[Ephraim the Lunar Warrior]

(OOC: Then, there’s a little problem with your logic: if it can’t hurt the wind… it can’t hurt Ephraim. If it has no matter, then it is energy… and even energy can be sensed. However, what you describe is imaginative ‘thinking’ an attack and hoping it will do some effect xD. Also, it’s a little bit too powerful… almost god-like. “An attack that can’t be stopped, sensed, or anything… but it still does damage”… hmm? That seems godlike to me, but meh. And, seeing this deduction, I will be stopping your coming onslaught the same way I did beforehand, just to let by the godlikeness of your attack. I hope you understand my deduction XD. And as for the “nor actual force” part you said… you’re basically telling me that you have an unbeatable attack, that requires no energy on your part to enact, and can’t be stopped. Unless it was meant to be a decoy [which it can’t, since you’re saying that it was going towards me to do damage, and we’re having this conversation in the first place XD] then that is the ultimate godlike attack in which you have no fatigue resulted whatsoever. I hope you understand, but I don’t want you to be disqualified from this match… I’m having so much fun ^^… therefore, I’m just advising you. If you wish to stay stationary in that attack of yours, then I am sorry. Sorry if I came out as derogatory in anyway… that wasn’t my aim ^^;;; )

Ephraim watched as the man showed himself. Lo-and-behold! He did not only come out, but came out with all of his brothers and sisters too! Eh, well…trolls seemed unisex to Ephraim… he couldn’t really figure out their gender just by looking at them, therefore, ‘brothers and sisters’ was a good deduction on his part.

They both were ugly either way… with those noses… oh, those noses! They were awful! The straightness, but awkward crookedness at the same time baffled Ephraim’s largely minute mind. Was it a nose or a stick that every troll wore. Then again… Ephraim just called Yata a troll ‘cause he reminded him of one. He would have easily called him a wart-faced, he-witch, but chose not to seeing as how he was outnumbered… badly.

Nevertheless, as his swords danced around him like an attack one would notice in Nintendo 64’s outdated Pokémon Stadium, Ephraim waited for the inevitable… his ultimate doom. This wasn’t the first time he had felt this way. Actually, he’d been feeling this “impending doom” feeling a lot these days. Could Ephraim possibly be missing his ‘watch’ duties at the City? That reminded him… he had watch duty tomorrow. My, how he would kill to become 2nd rank… ANY rank besides 3rd rank! But, alas, that dreamed seemed far off as Yata stood before him with all of his pseudo-siblings.

As the energy in Yata was felt by Ephraim, Ephraim did not have much to do but wait and await. Sure, once the inevitable would happen, he would think of something… but why not wait until then? It always felt better to procrastinate in a battle; it made the battle feel more… spontaneous.

Nevertheless, as the 10s of bullets rained on him, some arriving earlier than others… Ephraim could tell which one was the real one… at least for a split second he could; but then he lost the coordinates, along with his coordination.

At the loss of the coordinates, Ephraim had only one chance left in order to avoid his blind-spot’s penetration. And so he soared into the air, flying fast and quickly. Sure, the beams happened to follow him this time, but it did not matter. Once he was in the air, the three elements he controlled twirled around him rapidly, creating a sphere of wind, light (because of the swords), and ice to rupture the beam headed towards him.

As the tens of hundreds of energy beams went to him without any mode of tracking, they crashed into Ephraim creating a momentary display of even some energy, though illusory, twirling around him in a spur of colours.

Ephraim felt tired hence. Using three elements at once was demanding and almost a suicidal thing to do. But, there was no option left after that. He had stayed on the defensive long enough… now was the time for offense, even with the fatigue.

As he glided down, his body kneeled on the ground through tire, his wings forming a type of cloak, coating his sides and afore. Some of his veins had misplaced themselves, therefore, Ephraim had been trying to unseal them at the same time, succeeding in the process. But, now he was back to where he started… and time was not a luxury.

“परुष दिव्य ज्योतिस् (Parusha Divya Jyotis[Piercing, Heavenly Light ])” Ephraim said in a normal voice, neither cracking nor breaking in tone because of the pain. As he rose from his kneeling position, several sparkles appeared in Ephraim’s hand. His fatigue was still present… but why fight with Fate. If it was fated for Ephraim to win, then he shall…. Leave things to the Heavens when thou havest not thy freedom of choice. And that is exactly what Ephraim did when that light fell into his hand— or more likely, emanated into his hand.

Nevertheless, his technique took form and unleashed itself as 7 beams of polychromatic luminescence. And, they would follow the opponent for Ephraim controlled every single one.