entrancelogs | + Chess is a Gentle-Queen's Game +

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+ Chess is a Gentle-Queen's Game +

Who: Everyone in Wonderland!
Where: The chessboard hills
When: Monday, July 15, all day starting at 10:00 AM
Rating: PG-13 (probably)
Summary: The Red Queen has accepted a challenge from the Queen of Hearts.
The Story:
♥ ICly, characters who will act as pieces were chosen by either queen. The Queen of Hearts announced her choices to her Mirrors very directly, with an order to show up at 10:00 AM on the chessboard, ready to fight. The Red Queen announced her choices more politely, but just as firmly, with a text message sent out over the network listing her chosen pieces and requesting their assistance to protect their fellow Real things. Characters were not ICly able to respond to this message, but the Red Queen will be available after the event for questions/demands/angry rants.

♥ Those pieces who choose to obey the summons will have time to gather any items or weapons they might want to have with them, within reason. Those who don't heed the fliers will find themselves suddenly and instantly transported to their square on the chessboard when 10:00 AM rolls around. They will arrive with anything that was on their person at the time, as well as one weapon (whatever it would be normal for them to use).

♥ Each player sports an armband (since mirrors do tend to look so like their counterparts ♥), black for the Mirrors and white for the Real things, with the shape of their assigned chess piece printed in the opposite color.

♥ Pieces will find that they can't leave their assigned spots until they're told what square to move to by either the Queen of Hearts or the Red QUeen. And if they refuse to move, after a couple of moments, an unseen force will scoot them along to their new space.

♥ When threading moves on the board, please find the appropriate thread under which to comment! It might be helpful to label your thread with which moves/encounter you're playing out.

♥ Players on the board can not communicate with those in the stands and vice versa (other than by jumping around and flailing, I guess). However, players on the board can communicate directly with those in squares adjacent to them or with any challenger who enters their respective squares. Since some pieces have a lot of down time, feel free to have them chat with others on the board while they're waiting around.

♥ Directions from the Queens can be assumed. Go ahead and play out moves without them being officially announced.

♥ The plotting and info post for this log is here.

♥ For your convenience, here are links to the thread headers:
The Game - Moves 1-22
The Game - Moves 23-40
The Game - Moves 41-55
The Game - Moves 56-71
The Game - Moves 72-83
The Game - Moves 84-98
The Game - Moves 99-114
The Holding Area
The Stands

Have fun!

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[Elsword is pacing when Souji makes his way across the battlefield. It's been at least thirty moves since he's seen another person—is it his turn to move yet? Did the Queen forget about him? He's starting to get more than a little antsy about all this damned waiting. Is he supposed to hold this ground indefinitely, or is he still waiting for some crucial opening...?

However, he snaps to attention when Souji steps into his territory. He's a little surprised, honestly, he hadn't even noticed the Bishop's approach until just then. The "Knight" hastily draws his blade, trying not to show his embarrassment at being caught off guard.

... A fellow swordsman, hm? Though, his stance looks quite amateur, the mirror notes. It does well to ease his nerves from the unexpected breach. If his opponent has the skill he appears to have, this battle should be no challenge for him.

He makes two dramatic cuts in the air with his sword, then holds it out to point at Souji.] May it be a good fight, Bishop.

[Being the gentleman he is, he gives White the first move.]

[Souji nods in acknowledgment. At least it seems like this Mirror won't do anything underhanded.

He takes a breath and lunges forward, bringing his blade up from its position near the ground in a twisting arc toward Elsword's side. The maneuver itself he learned from Redglare, who actually does know what she's doing with a sword, but it's still obvious that he hasn't managed to perfect it yet.]

[He's quick to react, bringing up the flat side of his longsword to block the incoming swipe with a loud clang. A predictable move, far too aggressive and simple—if he wanted to, he could easily flip the older boy off his feet from that position, but the mirror doesn't. It is the first move, after all, and he intends to savour this.

Instead, he slashes forward to push his opponent back, showing a surprising amount of strength for his age. This is only to set-up his second strike, however. Swinging the blade up from a low rear position, he makes a wide circular cut. Even if Souji manages to block that heavy strike, a split second later it's followed by a short-range shockwave of searing red energy.]

[It's clear before the follow up strike even hits that he's outmatched here. Rather than block the strike, Souji tries to dodge it altogether, but the accompanying shockwave knocks him off balance. Though the blade doesn't land, he still stumbles to one knee, barely hanging onto his own sword. It all happens way too fast and he has to scramble mentally to come up with how to retaliate.]

[The Mirror frowns, passing on the opportunity to attack him while he's down. Honestly, he expected something a little more challenging than this sad display. Halfway to his knees after only a single attack...

He takes a single step forward, staring down at his opponent coldly.]

This is the chess game of Her Royal Majesty, The Queen of Hearts. It is a great honour to be given the privilege of fighting before her, be it White or Black. I won't allow such a pitiful performance to be my only part in this game.

If you intend to take this square from me, on your feet.

[Souji's attention snaps up to Elsword and he rises, balance regained. He's being looked down on. That doesn't bother him all that much, not from someone he doesn't know, but under the circumstances it clarifies his sense of determination. He clearly can't beat this Mirror with a sword and he doesn't consider being beaten to be an option, since he doesn't know what will happen if he loses.

Shifting his sword to his left hand, he raises his right and summons Izanagi to cast Ziodyne. A powerful bolt of lightning splits the air, striking at Elsword.]

[He isn't entirely sure what to expect when his opponent makes his move, but lightning wasn't part of the plan. The strange summon's appearance sends off plenty of warning bells. The mirrors rolls to the side, and hardly a second later the ground he was standing on is charred black.

Magic. Of course his opponent has to have magic, of all the stupid abilities people have here.

Scowling, the Pawn lunges forward from the ground with a piercing stab. If casting that spell demands any kind of recovery time, he intends to capitalize on that.]

[Luckily for Souji, the only limit on his ability to cast offensive spells is the amount of energy he has. Though his first fight, prior to reaching this square, used up some of that, he still has plenty left.

He summons again and casts an ice spell of similar strength even as he tries to block Elsword's strike. He's partially successful, diverting the strike enough that it grazes his side instead of gutting him. It still opens up a deep cut that weeps blood in a curtain down his side, soaking his shirt.]

[The spell strikes his blade, knocking his attack completely off course and partially encasing the weapon in a chunk of ice. The only small fortune is that the spell doesn't hit him, besides maybe a bit of his hand and wrist. Even that much contact is enough to leave him painfully aware of his weakness. He grits his teeth, trying not to show his frustration.

As he turns back to face Souji he smashes his blade into the ground—not intended as an attack, though he's making no effort to avoid hitting him, either. The ice shatters on impact, steam rising up from his blade as it radiates with the warmth of charged El.]

[Souji is very, very glad he has his Personas. He summons Izanagi, who just hovers above him, charging up for another attack. It will take him a moment to be ready to strike again and he raises his sword in the meantime, stepping back to make space, trying to buy himself time.]

[Elsword knows all too well the consequences of letting a magician charge, and he doesn't plan on allowing Souji that time. He charges forward again, leaping into the air and swinging his sword down in another heavy smash. He's not entirely sure if the summon is something he can hit, but he's damn well going to try, at least once, and so this time his attack is aimed more at Izanagi than Souji himself.]

[~~Well if this were the P4 anime...~~ Izanagi is largely an incorporeal summon. Souji knows this, but he's never had anyone try to fight his Persona directly and he himself backs up a step in surprise. Izanagi follows, hanging in the air, and Elsword's strike passes through him.

Souji judges he's had enough time to charge his attack and casts the ice spell again. That seemed more effective than lightning had been.]

[Perhaps he was getting his hopes up, expecting that to have any effect. Well, at least he knew not to bother with it now.

Unfortunately, going after Izanagi means that his opponent finishes his spell. He has no choice but to go on the defensive again, blocking the spell with the flat side of his sword, hissing at the sting of cold biting against his armour. He has to turn this around somehow—he was not going to lose to any cheap tactics like this.

His last attack left him in close proximity, at least, and that's something he can act on. He doesn't bother shattering his blade first this time, moving quickly and pressuring his opponent is more important than the actual damage dealt at the moment. With a shout he makes a wide horizontal slash, aiming the ice-coated blade at Souji's side. Hit or miss, he follows it up with two more heavy slashes, hopefully knocking some of that ice off along the way.]

[Souji gets his sword into place to block the first hit, stumbling away from the follow up. Losing his balance is really the only thing that keeps him from getting shanked again, leaving him sitting in the grass.

Increasingly desperate, he switches Personas, summoning Kohryuu. The golden dragon fills the air above Souji and drops a physical attack in the form of two successive rains of incorporeal arrows on Elsword.]

[Knocking his opponent down was close enough to what he was hoping for. If he could just close the gap quickly, he could bring a sword to his throat and end this decisively—

But no, of course he can still cast his summoning spells from the ground. Elsword curses under his breath and tries to backpedal at the last second, sweeping up with his sword to deflect the rain of arrows. It's almost, almost a success, but the awkward shift in momentum and poor angle leaves a lot to be desired in terms of arrow-deflecting accuracy. He stops any from piercing his skull, at least, and he's thankful for the additional protection of his steel armour, but a handful of arrows manage to pierce through his defences and draw blood. He doesn't even bother attempting the second wave and instead continues holding his sword up like a shield, protecting his head and neck from any fatal injuries.

The end result is that mirror-Els is now a pincushion.

... but, shockingly enough, he's still standing. Maybe a little more sluggish from all that bleeding, but he stubbornly refuses to go down.]

Is that all you've got, Bishop? [He flicks his sword to the side, moving back into a battle-ready position.] Stop hiding behind your creatures and fight me like a man!

[The attack that follows can only be described as a cross between a buzzsaw and Sonic the Hedgehog, yes that is an actual thing that's coming at Souji right now.]

[Souji hates this fight. Officially.

He does the only thing he can do in the .03289321 seconds he has before that mess hits him, which is to switch Personas again. Norn appears and while the attack hits, it does zero damage.

This move is called "Souji is a cheater and null physical isn't a thing that should exist in the real world."

He's having trouble catching his breath and his vision's a little spotty from the blood seeping out of his side, but he still follows that up a burst of wind like a small green tornado centered on Elsword.]

[The attack lands, and for a fleeting moment he thinks he's regained his advantage—except his sword doesn't draw blood, and merely slides past harmlessly.

What the hell.

Hacker.

He doesn't get any time to vocalize his disbelief, though, since this is immediately following by more spells. The tornado whips up around him, knocking him off balance even with all the heavy armour weighing him down. The Pawn stumbles to one knee, leaning on his sword for support. Still baffled by his previous attack's failure, he doesn't get up just yet.]

[Souji switches Personas and attacks again while Elsword's off balance, summoning Sraosha. The attack is like a blade cutting a horizontal path through the air, aimed at Elsword.]

[Why. Why the hell did that not work? Rage is bubbling up inside him just thinking about it. His attack was performed flawlessly, it landed, it should've done something if not deal crippling damage. If he can't even depend on his attacks to be effective, how can he be expected to win this?!

He snaps back to attention just as the blade-like attack comes at him. Unfair tactics or not, he refuses to back down from this fight. He swings up the flat of his sword again, lining it up with the horizontal slash to protect himself. He's pushed back a few inches from the force of the strike, but by the Lady that sword can take some abuse.

By this point, he's nearing his limit. This may be his last chance to win this fight, and so he takes a gamble—sacrificing his defences to pour all of his strength and determination into one final attack. If this failed, he doubted he could go on, but it was better than continuing this farce of a battle, trying and failing to even catch his opponent off-guard. This would, at the very least, guarantee that much.

As he rises, a faint red glimmer flickers across his body, and he charges forward. It would only last a few seconds, barely long enough to land a strike—but that was all he needed, because as long as he was enveloped in that glimmer it would be impossible to stop his approach. Even if he was struck by lightning or run through with a blade he wouldn't be slowed or stopped. In the last moment before his inhuman endurance ran out, his blade swings down towards Souji, drawing a fiery red arc in the air.

If it landed, the dizzying strike would leave him stunned just long enough for the second charged strike—an attack radiating with so much concentrated El it shone brightly like a crashing meteor. A direct hit from something like that could easily be fatal, and the nature of the attack itself made it almost impossible to evade, as long as the first hit landed.

If it missed... well, he'd be standing there like a sitting duck, blade embedded in the cracked earth and completely out of options.]

[Souji's at his limit as well. He's still sitting in the grass where he fell in the face of that Sonic the Buzzsawhog attack a moment ago, and his vision is gray around the edges, but he hasn't had time to heal himself. Now in the face of this red juggernaut bearing down on him, he doesn't have many paths open to him, especially considering he only has a second or two to act.

He lets instinct kick in and rolls over in the grass, out of Elsword's path.]

[It's impossible to redirect the second strike once he's charged his blade with that much raw power, and so the mirror is forced to watch as his attack is wasted on dirt and grass while his target rolls away. Souji might feel a wave of heat as the meteor strike slams into the ground, but luckily, it's range is far more vertical than horizontal.

Well, that... could've gone worse. Somewhat. He's not dead, at least, but wow that sure was a lot of energy to exert into a pointless assault. More than he reasonably should be using for any reason, that's for sure.

The mirror stays in that position, blade in the ground, trying to catch his breath. Anything he throws out at this point would be desperation anyway, and he believes himself above such unrefined tactics.]

[Souji gets to his feet, watching Elsword. By some miracle, he has the upper hand, at least for the moment.]

....Please stand down.

[Please stand down? The mirror scoffs.]

As long as I still breathe, I will not, Bishop.

[He heaves his blade up, gripping the handle with both hands, and moves back into a battle-ready pose. His injuries are finally starting to affect him, and it's clear he's struggling just to stand, but to surrender would be treason against his Queen. He'd much rather die than allow himself to be marked a traitor.

He doesn't attack; he merely waits, using up what little remains of his strength to stubbornly hold himself together.]

[Souji hates this, but he's not in much better shape than his opponent is. Clenching his teeth, he summons again, using another lightning attack that crackles and splits the air above Elsword as it descends toward him.]

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+ Chess is a Gentle-Queen's Game +

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