Kevin
*Hitoshi pauses for a second, and then nods, smiling. Would be nice for his newfound... Friend? Accomplice? Newfound person he likes. It would be nice for this newfound kitsune he likes to accompany him. Although, he did want to know...*

"What can you do?" *Hitoshi asks, referring to Arthur's combat skills.*
Laura
*Arthur hesitates before saying anything, partly because he had no real combat experience, but also partly becausw he didn't know how to word his skills in a way that truly reflected his ability.*

"Well, I am a combat mage. That's about all I can say, but I'm willing to spar with you if you want to witness it firsthand."
Kevin
*Huh. That's pretty useful, actually, Hitoshi considers the duel for a moment, and then nods his head. This was going to be fun.*

"Where to?"
Laura
"Well, there was a clearing I found on the outskirts of the city with an open field there. We could duel there, but let's not kill eachother, all right?"
Kevin
"Okay."

*Hitoshi unstraps his naginata, holding it over his shoulder.*
Laura
*Arthur walks off, leaving his bag at the store and beckoning for Hitoshi to follow. He brought nothing with him besides his armor, sword, and amulet. The day looked like it was about to reach noon, and as Arthur walked out the city gates, he motioned for Hitoshi to follow. Arthur arrived at a large open clearing, and stood at the side opposite in which he came from.*
Kevin
*Hitoshi just follows, until the duo reach the clearing. Once this is done, Hitoshi unsheathes and re-sheathes his katana, loosening it a bit, and takes a deep breath, adjusting the grip on his naginata. He cracks his neck, sorts his straw hat, and readies himself for whatever Arthur's first move is.*
Laura
*Arthur stands there, gazing at Hitoshi. Hitoshi seemed like he was preparing himself for a strike by Arthur, and Arthur deducted that he was a light and nimble foe, relying on speed and strength to get close to his opponent and end it with hard strikes.*

*'Well then, all I need to do is be faster and watch myself.' Arthur thought. Arthur began casting Earth shot to test his opponent's speed, while simultaneously casting Burn Up! On himself. He launched the chunk of earth at Hitoshi, and waited for the man to do something.* 

``` Arthur casts Earth Shot and Burn Up! Remaining mana: 101.25/125 ```
Kevin
*Hitoshi's instincts immediately kick in as he jumps to the side and rolls elegantly. After he gets up, he motions to his face, and his immediate location becomes harder to pinpoint. You can hear him muttering something as he slows down for a moment, cracking his shoulders again.*

"Watashi ni kyōsei suru..."

*Unlike his Archanidese, Hitoshi sounds well versed in his Oriental language, likely the language he's used to. The shadows from around Hitoshi begin to assemble around his arm, and he throws them in the shape of... A tendril, at Arthur's right leg.*

**Hitoshi uses Get Over Here. Remaining mana is 115/125. Hitoshi also utilises his Blurry perk.**
Laura
*Arthur watched as the shadow tendrils were thrown from Hitoshi's arm. It looked like it was moving very, very slow, partly due to Arthur's enhanced senses at the time. Preceding the move, he also saw Hitoshi mutter something very quickly under his breath before the shadows assembled and were thrown at him. Evading the move with ease, he spotted the other kitsune in a different place than before, although Hitoshi's figure was blurrier than normal.*

*Arthur decided to go straight up to Hitoshi, and drew his sword. Running at 40 mph, he simultaneously began casting daggers of flame in an effort to throw his opponent off guard. He had each dagger target a different limb; one for his right arm, another for his left. One for his left leg, and the last for his right. He put a great amount of force behind his next sword strike aiming at Hitoshi's torso, which would have seemed like a flash to one with average senses. Arthur also prepared for a block, in which he was prepared to sidestep and strike again.*

``` Daggers of flame used, 5 mana passively regained. Remaining mana: 106.25/125 ```
Kevin
*Hitoshi sidesteps to the side, missing one half of the flaming daggers, but is still cut heavily by the blade and hit by one half of the daggers. He recoils back heavily, although he doesn't completely topple over, wincing in obvious agony from the burns. He utters something else under his breath as he gets up, not quite downed yet, although the fire still* **Hurts.**

"Momoko no kunai..."

*Some shadowy knife appears in his hand.*

`Hitoshi uses Shadow Blind. Mana is regained by 5, making his effective mana loss 15 rather than 20. 100/125 Mana.`
Laura
*Arthur sees this as a chance and decides to capitalize off of Hitoshi's state. He sees him whisper another thing under his breath, and decides to go in straight to disarm Hitoshi with the butt of his sword. Swinging as fast as before, he strikes with the end of his sword's hilt, aiming for Hitoshi's hand, now holding a shadowy knife. Right after the strike, he backflips back about 8 feet, and felt his heightened senses wear off. He prepares to dodge any incoming attack that Hitoshi may go for.*

``` No spells cast this turn. Remaining mana: 106.25/125 ```
Kevin
*You successfully disarm Hitoshi's shadowy knife, and he grunts again, as it hurts pretty damn bad, probably cracking something. But adrenaline stops it from immediately having any effect, as Hitoshi grabs another kunai as he gets up and motions to his Naginata.*

"Kurayami no kyoka..."

*Now, his Naginata is enveloped with some oozy, black liquid. He jumps towards Arthur, first throwing the kunai at his left arm, and then swinging the Naginata to the right, the blade now being enhanced greatly with his Jutsu.*

**Hitoshi uses Shadow Strike again. 75/125 mana.**
Laura
*Arthur saw Hitoshi jump at him with a shadowy naginata, another kunai in hand. He reacted quickly, but not as quickly as before, and rolled forward the direction Hitoshi jumped from so that his naginata strike would not directly hit him; however, he did feel a kunai strike his armor. It hit the back part of his left calf, but bounced off causing a pretty noticable dent within. After Arthur gets up from rolling, he charges Piercing Sunstrike and fires it directly at Hitosh, the bolt moving at 130 fps and aimed to Hitoshi's back. After firing, Arthur backs away even further, preparing for a second round of Burn Up!*

``` Arthur casts Piercing Sunstrike. 5 Mana passively regaines. Remaining Mana: 76.25/125 ```
Kevin
*Hitoshi is smart enough to not allow his back to ever show to his enemy, and immediately leaps into the air, a little lower than expected but still pretty damn high at about 10 feet, landing to Arthur's right. He creates another shadowy knife, muttering the same ritual, and lobbing it at Arthur's shoulder/upper torso area.*

**Hitoshi uses Shadow Blind. 15 mana is expended due to his 5 mana regeneration. 60/125 mana.**
Laura
*As Arthur let the Piercing Sunstrike run its course, he casts Burn Up! Again on himself, boosting all of his stats. He glances at his opponent, and sees him preparing to lob a shadowy knife his direction. As Hitoshi throws said knife, Arthur draws his sword and sidesteps to the left, then to the right, in a zig zagging pattern. He casts Daggers of Flame yet again, and this time aims his daggers at his shoulder, his left leg, the arm holding his naginata, and his chest. Arthur opts this time to go for a series of stabs aimed at his previous slash wound, a flurry of strikes fast like lightning. He knew Hitoshi couldn't block all of these moves, so he kept on a full assault to pressure Hitoshi further and further.*

``` Daggers of flame cast, Burn Up! Cast. Remaining mana: 36.25/125 ```
Kevin
*Hitoshi weaves through the daggers, backs off, and just braces for impact, Naginata handle covering his wound as he notices what's going on, head down, taking the damage. Some of it does get through his defences, but by this point Hitoshi has too much adrenaline pumping through his system to really take notice at the moment.*
Laura
*Arthur's strikes hit around the Naginata handle as Hitoshi keeps blocking his centralized wound. Arthur decided not to damage his current wound, but instead to create new ones. He continues to stab and strike, and creates countless deep, blood leaking holes around Hitoshi's central abdomen. Arthur does not let up his assault though, and continues to strike at Hitoshi, with seemingly no mercy within his attacks. A constant flurry of sword strikes, with Hitoshi seeming to not let down his guard. This time, Arthur aims for his legs and strikes there, in a hope to disable Hitoshi's movement. He pressures on with his assault, creating new injuries on Hitoshi's legs, all of them looking pretty deep as far as sword strikes go.*

*Arthur finally backs off, and pauses. He finally elects to say something to Hitoshi.*

"Do you want to call this spar off? You're looking pretty beat up at the moment. If we keep going, the consequences after this session will really take a toll on you, y'know."
Kevin
*Hitoshi drops down, pretty damn embarrassed by how poorly he did in that fight. He nods his head weakly, frowning a bit. Not really being a sore loser, just not awfully happy with himself. Maybe he let his guard down, maybe he just wasn't as good as he thought. Either way, the fight was thoroughly humiliating for him.*

"Okay... You-you did good..."
Laura
*Arthur nods back at him, and helps him up. That fight was an intense one, and he felt the need to take a break. He felt pretty exhausted, and needed to regain his mana. The effects of Burn Up! Were still in place, so he felt super jittery about everything. He needed to take a breather, and perhaps a walk.*

"Hey, don't beat yourself too badly, ok? I train a lot with my magic. It really is something to behold, I'd say. Do you need some water?" Arthur asks.
Kevin
*Hitoshi shakes his head.*

"How long did... *Cough* Did you train?" *He wipes some blood from his mouth.*
Laura
"Well, ever since I was born, I've always been proficient in the magical arts," Arthur begins. "I've always been reading and reading, and applying what i've read to magic. It really is a complex art, and I've been pretty good at all magics. However, I've felt a strong affinity towards fire and earth magic, and that's why I've centered most of my spells around them. I only train those two now, but I'm learning other magics just in case the situation requires them.You know, ever si-" He paused. He wondered if he needed to tell Hitoshi about what happened to home, his family, and his history, but opted not to delve too deep into it. "*Ahem,* Ever since I left home to be an adventurer, I trained myself in swordsmanship too. It took me a little while to get good at it, but eventually I got as good as I am today, as you can see." *He raised both of his arms.* "I'm... Just trying to get by. Honestly, I don't know what the future holds, but whatever it is, I'm preparing myself for anything."

"Well, we should get back to the city. We need to get you fixed up, those injuries look plenty serious. I'll pay for everything, don't worry."
Kevin
*You vastly overestimate Hitoshi's knowledge of Archanidese, the poor bastard's only been speaking it 3 months! He stares blankly for most of the discussion, looking away sometimes but ultimately just seeming to have no idea what Arthur's on about.*

"...A long time?"

*He props himself up with the Naginata, nearly tripping.*

"No, it is fine. I can get it myself. I still have ten silver."
Laura
"It's fine, hospital bills are god awfully expensive. Trust me, I'd know."

*Arthur motions Hitoshi to follow him back to the city.*

"Let's go; we can't keep the old man waiting for long. Follow me."
Kevin
*Hitoshi does just that... Although something really seems to bother him right now. Something deep within, scratching at the very essence of his being. Something that must **Literally** Be answered right this second, or else he will go mad...*

"What does 'aff... Affin.. Affinity' mean?"
Laura
"I guess it means that... You're naturally drawn to something. You're naturally talented at something. However, for me, it simply means how naturally good you are at something. It seems like an extremely blunt answer, I know, but it's all that I can imagine affinity being. I don't know if you've found yours yet, but everyone has one in their own field, be it a certain kind of magic, a certain kind of swordsmanship, a certain kind of fighting style, whatever it is. There's always something someone's bound to be good at naturally. I just happened to find mine early. That's about all I can think of."

*Arthur turns to Hitoshi.*

"You're already very good at your skills, I can tell. I can tell you have a strong affinity towards the style of naginata-fighting and shadow magic. The reason you lost that fight wasn't the fact that you were bad at what you do; you're already an outstanding warrior yourself. It just so happens that I... I was just better. Keep training, and you can definitely reach my level, perhaps even higher."
Kevin
*Hitoshi catches a few words. "Talented." "Good." Again, Hitoshi only really knows basic Archanidese at best, but he can roughly gather what Arthur said. 

He felt a little better about sucking absolute dick in that fight, knowing that the man had practiced his entire life, something Hitoshi never would've had the chance to. That makes him feel a little less humiliated. Again, Hitoshi mostly just caught "Once I was born", and didn't really understand the rest.*

"Thanks. I practiced for 7 years."
Laura
*Arthur nods and turns back to the city. He walks to the front gates, and turns back to Hitoshi.*

"I'm going to go grab my bag from the store, and then get something to eat. You want to come along? And for future reference, do you speak any other languages besides Archanidese?"
Kevin
"I speak Runran better. I've only been to Salvain Empire 3 months."

*Hitoshi straps his Naginata back on and follows Arthur.*