Serious: Swords for Hire

After the crew of the Destroyers at Sea had gone their separate ways, Iken stayed low for a while. After sometime alone, the man decided to form his own crew, he would call it the "Steel Village" in patronage to his old home. However he soon found out that the things he needed to form said crew took money and a lot of it. After all it wasn't every day that someone went out and decided to declare war on the World Government. Iken was a revolutionary at heart, but was much to small to be taken seriously. Unlike most men, Iken was one that had values and didn't particularly find the idea of piracy appealing. So with a need for a great deal of money and a burning desire to take down both the government and the established pirate hierarchy he took a job as a mercenary. This would not only provide the financial opportunities, but also help the young man to hone his abilities as a swordsman.

A large group of men stood in formation wearing shabby armor and weapons. Most of it seemed to have been purchased or family heirlooms of the men standing there. They were on a small island in West Blue owned by a wealthy family. Their mission was simple, protect the island for attacking pirates and if you were still alive at the end of the day, you'd receive a salary. However a few things struck Iken as strange. First of all they didn't even provide the men with weapons or armor. Most of them were in fact in plain clothes like Iken was. Secondly, Iken wondered why such a small island need such a large army to defend it's borders? He feel a certain tension among the family as they pass him by. Something was off, something was wrong, but Iken wasn't able to put his finger on it at that moment.

Days ago Cat was relaxing in the corner of a market place. Many people walked through the pirate, while he held on to his sword like it was his most priced possession. Cat found that leaving an empty cup in front of him and falling asleep usually resulted in him waking up with 3-5 belli inside the cup. He wondered if there was some god that dropped money from the sky and into empty cups, so he tried to buy more cups and spread them out, but that usually resulted in people peeing in them. One day Cat noticed a few men, wearing some very cheap armor by the looks of it, talking about some job with free food and some nice pay. Cat listened, then followed them like a stray cat.

After sneaking into their ship, and eventually landing into an island with others in similar clothes, Cat walked to the place that smelled like food. Eventually he reached an area filled with grub, mush, and what looked like soup. Cat was hungry enough to ask for not one, but two plates. After he walked through the tent/cafeteria he found a seat on the edge, where there was no roof but at the same time no people. He picked up a flask of booze and took a sip, it was the cheap kind but it was a drink non-the less. He took a sip from the bowl he had filled with soup, then dipped some of the stale bread he picked from the buffet. A part of Cat thought that something was off about the place, but that would most likely be the bad food he was eating.

After the initial meeting where the owner of the island spoke to the troops, Iken headed over to the mess hall. It was nothing more than a giant tent connected to the main house by the back archway. The house was large with three stories visible not to mention a basement of some kind. On closer inspection it he could tell the house was made from some type of smooth stone. Nothing he had ever seen before considering he grew up on a small tribal like island.

Once inside the tent he looked around to see what was all there. One one side there was a serving station with food that looked to bet fit for men of their caliber. Mush and stale bread with some watered down ale. Despite the lack of good food Iken went and took his fill of it. He knew very well that he needed to keep his strength up encase anything were to happen. Fighting on an empty stomach maybe the only distraction ones foe needs to lob ones head off. Walking down the many rows of tables, Iken studied them and their patrons. Most of them were full of themselves, drinking and gambling away what little money they received from the shotty salaries. Near the end, Iken noticed someone familiar, it was Cat, a man he had traveled with back when he was apart of the Destroyers. Making his way over he sat next to his old comrade. "Fancy seeing you here. Did you get lost or did you follow the sent of the food?" Iken said with a small chuckle.

Cat took a few bites from his stale bread, a meal he called the feast of the champions (since he hadn't eaten well in weeks). He tried to stay focused on the food. His eyes glared at the bread and soup as if at any moment they would decide to walk away from him. His focus was, at that moment, on the food alone. Suddenly he heard a familiar voice. He made a remark that put a smile on Cat's face. Cat looked beside him to find Iken, alive and well after their crew had separated.

"Haha, you're right. The food smelled very good, I decided to follow its scent." Cat didn't know it was a joke, but he did find it funny that Iken would know Cat would be there because of food. Then again, maybe he was only smiling because he hadn't seen a familiar face in awhile. Cat looked at the men around the area. Some of them looked pretty strong, physically. Cat looked back at Iken.

"Do you have any idea why these people are here? I just followed them when they said something about money, and ever since I went inside that ship and hid the magical god from the sky stopped putting money in my cup every time I fell asleep.. it's very disappointing."

Iken dug into his food and gulped it down as fast as he could just so he didn't have to taste it any longer than he had to. Before long the man was finished with the food so he sipped on the liquor in a wooden mug held in his right hand. All the time he was listening to his old friend speak of what had happened. Iken knew Cat all to well, he was even right about the way he had found the place.

"Well for some reason or another this rich family decided to hire an entire army out of nowhere. I have a feeling somethings up, because this size of an island doesn't need this many people to guard it. Not to mention how cheap these people are act despite the kind of house and island they have here. As far as pay they give everyone that doesn't lead a platoon or division the same salary. The only requirement to receive it is to survive the day and night before it to go get it. Everyone that does gets a sum at the end of the day. There isn't a registration form or anything, you just go get paid at the end of the day. I'm sure there are extra bunks so finding you a place wont be hard." Iken said trying to explain the situation.

"Wait what? Magical money god from the sky? You haven't started using drugs have you? Because...I mean that shit can really fuck you up....Uh well... Anyway, I think it's best if we get out of here early to try and find some bunks for the night. After we claim them we can go get paid for today, after all they don't know you weren't here the whole day." said the man with a smirk as he got up from the table.

Cat watched Iken finish his food. While Iken was eating Cat instinctively ate his food as well, since he was hungry. When Iken finished, Cat looked down at his bowl and saw that he had finished it completely. On the floor he could see the crumbs that were left over from the bread. Cat could have sworn that the soup had something weird in it.. the strange object almost looked like an eyeball, but before he could look at it any further Cat had already eaten it. His stomach was no longer rumbling, which made him feel much better compared to his earlier self.

Cat listened to Iken while trying to count the amount of crumbs on the floor, he never got past the number 3. He was mouthing off the numbers in silence. When Iken mentioned drugs Cat looked up at him then twisted his head slightly to the left, a look of confusion overtook his expression. "What are Drugs? Are they edible?" Cat asked Iken, he scratched his head at the same time he was asking. It was at this point that most people would notice that he was still wearing his long sleeved white T-shirt (no collar). He wore his usual black baggy shorts that reached the bottom of his knee, and his black shoes with rubber on the bottom. Cat's hair is one of the first things noticeable about him, since it is black with dark blue ends on each hair. Since his hair reaches his neck it usually shows while it sags downwards.

Cat had a very easy appearance to ignore, and a very easy one to assume to be weak. He was rather slim looking with his clothes, and it looked like he couldn't even hold a sword with those long sleeves. It was a wonder why Iken never fell for that charade, although technically Cat was doing an illusion without noticing. Cat didn't comment on Iken's story, or his explanation, since he didn't know what to say. All he understood was that he had a place to sleep, rich people were hiring people to do nothing all day, and they were giving them food and money.. to Cat, this made perfect sense. "Alright, let's go sign up Iken! I love this place already."

Once Iken had finished claiming his bunk by placing some not so valuable belongings near and on it, he stood up and waited for Cat. Iken had his sword on his hip as he motioned for Cat to follow him. "I think it'd be best if we scouted out the island for now." he said as they walked out the door. The island wasn't big so covering the entire thing only took a couple of hours for the two fit young men.

As Cat and Iken were coming up upon a cliff face, facing the south on the south side of the island he seen something. It fluttered in the wind and he really only got a glimpse of it. However even that small amount of time was more than enough for Iken's instincts to kick in. It was something that struck terror and rage at the same time. Diving to the ground in an instant Iken hit the dirt hard. The only reason he even dared to move was to pull Cat down with him. "Keep quiet, I seen a pirate flag. If I'm right it's one of the bigger crews in this blue." he said with a strong arm trying to keep Cat down.

Cat followed Iken to the tent, where he dropped his belongings to the bed next to Iken. The only thing inside was Cat's suit (for fancy occasions) and his soldier-like clothes (meaning a baggy tank top and soldier-like pants that have no camouflage on them, they are black). Cat followed Iken without saying much to a weird cliff. Cat looked up at the sky and enjoyed the fresh breeze he felt smothering his face. Of course, this was interrupted almost immediately by Iken's hand pushing Cat to the ground. Cat heard Iken say there were pirates around the area.. and big ones. Cat tried to look ahead well enough to take a look at them, but Iken was stronger then Cat.. and he could not lift his head strongly enough to take a good look. What Cat didn't know was that if his head popped up he'd most likely get seen.

He looked at Iken with confused eyes, he didn't know what they were supposed to do so he assumed Iken would have an idea. He took out a piece of stale bread he saved from the mess hall and started eating. Unfortunately, Cat was too lazy to get excited over the pirates... especially since he didn't know he was in danger. To him, this entire situation seemed almost fake, like he was watching a show, which usually made him hungry. He looked at what he could, which was a grass pain and an open sky.. what he didn't see was the amount of pirates heading their way, and the ships flag that Iken mentioned before.

Iken inched forward towards the edge of the cliff to poke his head over the edge so he could see what was happening. Slowly he crawled over the coarse rock, it scuffed his shirt and stomach. He bit his lip and held his breath as his head over the edge, fearing that even the smallest of breath would give away his position. Once he was far enough over the edge he could see three men lounging around a small row boat and two others coming towards them from a path the lead around the island.

It was as Iken feared, one of the bigger groups in West Blue were here and it appeared they were scouting around the island. Out of the five men, none of them looked all that impressive; except for one. The man that sat in the boat at the head of the vessel, he gave Iken a strange feeling. It was eerie, he didn't look physically stronger than Cat or Iken, but Iken knew that if they fought, they would lose. With that Iken had decided he had seen enough and obtain enough information to go back and report it to the platoon leaders. Pushing himself up he almost instantly froze as the man sitting at the head of the vessel shot him a look. His entire body froze and he may of even lost consciousness for a moment causing him to fall forward and tumble down the rocky cliff. Once he came to a stop he was bloodied and likely had a few broken bone, but still alive and still in pain. "If I was a spry little CAT I would run away!" Iken yelled with the remaining energy he could muster.

Cat tried to inch forward to see the situation that was going on. He bit the stale bread once more, like he was watching a show that would not effect him in the real world (like watching science fiction). He saw Iken inch forward to the point where something odd happened, he suddenly fell to the ground many feet bellow the cliff. When Iken made it to the floor he was already extremely hurt; even Cat knew Iken was in pain. Cat then heard Iken say something about a cat running away, which made no sense to Cat. Why would Iken talk about cats in his moment of pain? Maybe he wished for that god to change Iken into a cat. Anywho, Cat slid down the cliff with his sword being stabbed into the rock to slow down his landing. When his legs touched the ground he took out his sword and tried to pick up Iken to run/limp away. Cat wasn't going to let someone like Iken die.

"Get up Iken, we need to get out of here." Cat looked at the five men heading in their direction, he wasn't scared of them.. but he got a strange feeling from one of them. He was scared, and he didn't know why. Cat looked at the man with daggering eyes while trying to help Iken.

The fall had helped in a sense, if he hadn't he would likely still be unconscious from the mans strange ability. Iken was worried for a number of reasons, their foe could knock them out for a short time with just a death stare. Even with Cat helping out it seemed rather gloom. With heavy breaths, Iken tried to evaluate the situation. "Five of them and two of us." he muttered under his breath. A small smirk crossed Iken's face as he used his sword to stand up as well as he could. Even with the metallic makeshift crutch he was still hunched over which would likely help his plan.

"As you know, we wont be able to beat all of you. Heh, probably not even one of you since your from such a high level pirate crew. Since you have nothing to lose, why don't we make a little wager to make this ordeal a little more entertaining for you. Fight us one on one, one of you against one of us. If one of us wins that person gets to leave here alive and we'll leave the island without warning the other guards. If we lose, well you'll get to kill us anyway. This way you guys have a little bit of entertainment while watching us die. So what do you say, is it a deal?" Iken questioned the man at the head of the ship.

"You've gotta be..." said one of the men before being cut off.

"Hahaha, you have a deal. If my men can't beat scum like you, they don't deserve to live." said the man at the head of the vessel.

A small smirk spread across Iken's face for a fraction of a second before vanishing back into nothingness. He knew full well that even the mans underlings would be a handful even at full health, little lone the condition he was in now. However it did raise their chances of survival, more for Cat than Iken, but at that point that was okay. As long as Iken's plan held up he was was certain at least Cat would survive.

"First off, why don't we take all of your hope away. The healthy one is first up to battle. His foe will be Larry." announced, their leader.

[Introduction Box]

Name: Larry "The Chain"

Bounty: 7,000,000 beli

Weapon: Chains

Stats:
Strength: 40
Endurance: 10
Speed: 5
Agility: 5
Skill: 20
Tactical intelligence: 5
Practical intelligence: 5
Knowledge: 5
Perception: 10
Charisma and leadership: 5
Talent: 30
Devil fruit control: 0\

Post: 2/15

Cat prepared himself for the worst. Cat wasn't the type that could read, write, or do several things that a normal person would be able to do, but he did have one thing that a normal person had, tactical intelligence. Cat saw, after Iken's announcement, that they were in trouble. Iken was injured, and the only one ca[able of fighting at his fullest was Cat. To Cat, this battle was not going very well.. and it hadn't even started. He didn't think the pirates would go with Iken's plan, but the result surprised him. The leader took the bait, and even welcomed it. He called out Cat to fight, considering he was healthy compared to Iken.

Cat walked forward, smiling at Iken. To the opponent Cat would have a small sword (a cutlass) on his left side, still sheathed. In his eyes Cat would look a bit scrawny for a man, and a bit sluggish looking. Cat had a long sleeved white T-shirt, and some black baggy/short pants that reached the bottom of his knees. His shoes were black, with rubber on the bottom. His black/blue hair started to flow with the wind while his eyes never ceased to concentrate on the enemy. He put himself in a position where his legs were spread out, and his sword close to the palm of his hand.. he was getting ready to draw his sword.

"Come at me! I'll never let you get to Iken!"

Larry pulled a heavy looking chain off of the boat, it was attached to the anchor and began spinning it around his head. A gust of air could be felt from the sheer force that the man and chain were emitting. It would definitely suck to get hit by that thing, blocking or not. All of the sudden the man threw the chain forward in a sweeping motion, aiming low for Cat's feet. If the attack hit it would likely snap the swordsman's legs as well as wrapping around them.

Iken could only watch as his nakama fought the brute of a man. Despite his power the foe didn't seem to be that fast nor that smart. A twinkle of hope shown in Iken's eyes as he watched the light footed Cat go to work on the fowl foe.

3/15

Cat saw the big man take out a huge weapon. Cat witnessed his strength when he swung the.. weapon?.. around like it was a normal sword. Cat couldn't help but felt a bit threatened.. and hungry, since he was still a bit hungry after the neglect on food for these past few days. Cat then saw the weapon being flung at him. Cat jumped in the air, leaving the anchor to the floor underneath him. His legs found their place on the chain almost immediately, then he continued to run through the chain like a normal man would walk on the ground. His hand maintained itself on the sheath while running.

Once he reached the opponent, not long after he connected his feet to the chain, Cat swung his blade and unsheathed it in the process. Cat's goal was to slash the opponent through the chest, deeply, while he continued moving forward. After the attack Cat landed behind the big opponent and stood perfectly still; he was analyzing his surroundings. Cat's sword was made entirely of sea stone, whether or not the pirates recognized this from the sword Cat had no idea.

The big man took a bit to respond to Cat's quick counter attack, but none the less he was able to block with sheer brute force. With a small tightly woven chain around his free hand the thug punched the blade as Cat attacked canceling them both out and showering the the two with a negligible amount of sparks.

"RAOOOOOOAAAAAAAAA!" With a beast like roar or groan the man spun around his entire body causing the chain to follow suit with a slight delay. This time the attack was about at Cat's chest and wilder than before with more power and less accuracy. The attack could potentially shatter a regular sword along with the rib cage behind it.

As Cat's battle raged, Iken took the time to size up the remaining four men. There was the leader, not likely to fight, but if he did Iken would likely die very quickly. The man that tried to speak out against the event, he looked around Iken's level, well that is if he wasn't injured. A man that sat in the boat with his legs up in the air, resting on the side of the boat. He gave Iken a slight foreboding feeling. Then finally there was the remaining grunt, much like the man that Cat was fighting. Looks tough but not all that smart. Strangely enough the two grunts were sent out to patrol the island and gather information.

04/15

Cat remembered the clash him and his opponent had before he jumped behind him and suddenly turned around when he heard his roar. The pirate turned around and swung his ancher at his chest, normally Cat would try to dodge the technique but the truth was.. he couldn't dodge this technique at such a close range, and especially since his balance was low. His usual idea of fighting involved a counter instead of a block, but there was no voiding it this time. Instinct told Cat to block, and he did. He took out his sea stone sword and blocked the anchor which sent him sliding backwards. The force stopped when Cat's feet had already touched the ocean, knee deep. Cat had enough endurance to take the hit, thankfully, but he could tell this opponent was not going to be easy.

Cat then reacted, after the opponent's attack, by taking out his sheath and holding it on one hand, while his sword is on the other. Cat tried to think about something cool to say, since he just stopped an incredibly strong attack and reacted in an epic way. When he quickly realized he couldn't think of something cool to say, at least not quick enough before 'the moment' passed by, he panicked and said the first thing that came to his mind.

"Don't mix pickles and pizza at night, it will give you gas." Oh yes, to Cat this moment felt like a win situation. He knew his epicness had shone that moment, Cat was smiling after his not-so-carefully thought out words.

With his free hand the foe grabbed the chain and now held it with both hands, firmly as he lifted his arms. Once they were over his head he began to spin the chain very quickly. It appeared almost as it it wasn't even there, only the blur, the rushing air, and the menacing sound of it swooshing made it clear that it was in fact still there. "RRAAAOOAOOOKKKKKK SSSSSSMMMMMMAAAAASSSSHHRRRRRRR!" the man roared out the name of his attack before running forward. He pulled his arms down and the chain followed suit. A pure vertical attack with the anchor aimed for Cat's head. It was by far his most powerful attack, but also had the worst accuracy.

Iken sat by idly as the fight rage on, and Cat took a heavy hit. Thankfully it didn't seem to do much damage. After the attack the rather dim fellow seemed to panic for a moment. Iken began to worry, was there something he over looked that Cat noticed or had Cat taken more damage than he had let on? However nothing was really wrong, it was just Cat being Cat. After speaking to the man about pickles, pizza, and gas; Iken realized why he has seemed so panicked. With a sigh Iken fellow over and began smashing his head against the ground.

Cat immediately did his usual routine. The opponent swung his anchor directly at Cat's head, his instinct was to duck while he ran forward. This time Cat made sure to run as fast as he could to make up for the distance between them.. however the water that went up to his knees made it hard to accomplish. Cat took advantage of the object being swung so hard, which usually left someone staggering. Once cat hit ground he pushed himself forward, with the sheath still in hand, and jumped towards the opponent whom was so close to the waters. Cat unsheathed his sword and attempted to slash the opponents stomach, leaving a deep wound that could potentially let the insides come out.

Cat turned around and prepared himself for a second attack. This time he had his sword on one hand, and it almost looked like he was about to sprint. The water had gotten inside Cat's shoes, which made a weird squishy sound every time he walked. He tried to ignore it, but the more he stepped the more he felt like smirking at the farting noise that came soon afterwards. Cat then saw Iken hitting the ground with his face, a blank look was expressed on Cat's face, maybe he had a headache he wanted to get rid off?

The foe dropped his chain as Cat sliced him open at the belly. A sever wound for sure, but nothing instantly lethal. With the smaller chains wrapped around his fists the man began lobbing powerful jabs at Cat. The chains attacked like brass knuckles increasing the power of his attacks. Once again the attacks were powerful, however this time what it lacked in accuracy it made up for in sheer quantity.

Picking himself off of the ground Iken inched forward, towards the boat and the four men standing by it. The whole time he had been making his way towards them with small inconspicuous movements. As he had previously been banging his head against the ground, he had been moving closer. What looked like a spectacle of hopelessness at his friend's ignorance was really a carefully thought out plan. He knelled there no more than a foot away from one of the pirates.

"Sheath Back Hand" Iken used his sheath to try and smack the man's feet from out of under him. "Demon Claw" Following up his sheath attack Iken sliced at his foe four times in nearly a blink of an eye. The attack wasn't exactly accurate, however it was fast as hell. Iken hoped the combination of the two attacks was enough to finish or injure his potential foe.

6/15

Cat felt that his sword delivered through the opponent, leaving a good gash where the stomach was supposed to be. However, he quickly turned around, just as Cat did, and attempted to hurt him with a barrage of fists. Cat used a major technique that he had just thought off at that moment, he quickly focused his body to move downwards at a speed equal to his agility, the opponents skill was nowhere near enough to hurt Cat. Once there was an opening he positioned his sword like one would hold a spear, and threw himself forward at the opening the opponent had made while attacking straight forward. His attempt was to penetrate the chest and possibly kill the opponent.

Meanwhile, with Iken, a man suddenly heardthe swinging of a sheath and without a necessary reaction or warning the opponent slipped and was almost helpless as he started to fall to the ground. Suddenly he saw a series of slashes head towards him, and before he knew it he was cut 4 times across his body. But, one thing Iken did not count on was his arms coming forward to block his major areas. Once the attack was over he put his hand to the ground, then pushed himself to land a few feet from Iken. The man then picked up some arm gauntlets and put them on each arm, they covered his entire arm and bent along with his limbs. "Hahaha! You just attacked me after you made that deal! How sneaky of you, but stupid.. you'll wish you'd never done that."

[Introduction Box]

Name: Gary "Arm guard"

Bounty: 7,500,000 beli

Weapon: iron arm guards

Stats:
Strength: 30
Endurance: 40
Speed: 5
Agility: 5
Skill: 10
Tactical intelligence: 10
Practical intelligence: 10
Knowledge: 10
Perception: 10
Charisma and leadership: 5
Talent: 10
Devil fruit control: 0

The man then ran towards Iken, having cuts from the attack on both arms, and his torso, but none on areas that would immediately hinder him. The man's endurance lead him to continue fighting. He was bleeding though, and that made him a bit dizzy while attacking Iken. He tried to upper-cut the injured pirate, possibly knocking him out.

0/15

The sword drove into the mans chest when Cat lunged towards the foe. Cat's speed was far to much for the man to handle despite his brutish nature. Even though the attack hit a major area the foe kept going. He roared in pain and agony before trying to grab Cat and crush him in his arms. However the attempt failed as he passed out falling forward towards his foe with the blade dug into his chest.

Even in his condition, Iken's agility and speed proved far superior to his foe allowing him to side step the punch with relative ease. "Black treasure" Once again in the blink of an eye the swords man slashed multiple times. This time his double slash was aimed for the mans chest, attempting to form an X on it. Iken didn't exactly plan on the attack doing much damage, however he did have a plan for the mark it could potentially create.

7/15

Cat proceeded to thrust his sword through the opponent. At one moment the man tried to grab Cat and crush him, but he soon passed out before his force could do any potential damage. Cat was glad the opponent was out of energy, since Cat wasn't in a very good position to counter the attack the opponent was about to create. Cat took out the sword from the opponent, and saw that Iken was battling another man... yes, Cat heard their commotion while he was fighting his opponent. Cat just didn't know what to make of it.

The man fighting Iken suddenly saw his opponent immediately move to another direction while his punches seemed to miss the intended target. Iken then decided to make another technique, one which was done when Gary was wide open. The technique successfully made an X mark on the opponent, which then proceeded to bleed.. but the opponent did not falter. He rose his arm, while Iken was still close, and slammed his fist downwards to attempt to break the skull of Iken. The metal arm guard would only add damage to the attack. The man then made an uppercut with the other arm, he tried to break his jaw as well (just in case).

Cat had no idea what to do, he thought he was going to fight one on one.. so he didn't understand the situation he was facing.

The brutes attack was slow and easy to see through, which made Iken's job despite his injury that much easier. Taking his sheath from his belt Iken used the holster to block not one but both of the man's attacks. In fact he used the mans very own strength against him. By attacking from both above and below the foe opened himself up to his own attacks colliding. "Sacrificial Block"

The very fact that he tried both of the attacks at the same time weakened them reducing the power due to lack of form and technique. With the sheath between the mans arms like a stick between the jaws of an alligator, the sheath soon began to wane. Using the small amount of time this afforded him, Iken attacked from point blank range. "Nightmare Stabs." Throwing a volley of thrusts at his foe, Iken used the X mark on the mans chest as a sort of natural target.

8/15

The man then felt Iken's attack reach him from several ends on his chest area. His foot stopped himself from falling after the barrage of hits. He pulled his arm back and thrusted it at Iken while the man was still conscious. His endurance was high, which meant that he could take a beating before falling to the ground... but the man was bleeding out by this point, he didn't have much longer to fight the injured swordsmen.

While this was happening Cat got into the habbit of sitting down and grabbing some stale bread from his sleeves. He didn't think Iken needed assistance, since he remembered a time when he took down plenty of people in a bar while being drunk. Cat still had his sword on his left arm, next to his sheath which was placed back on the left side of his waist. Cat looked at Iken with a sort of envy, Iken's black sword's color was way cooler then Cat's.. which is green. Cat laid on the ground, a little glad he didn't have to do any extra work after Iken stepped in. He didn't think Iken needed the help, so Cat technically had nothing to do but enjoy the view without much effort.

Iken's foe had made his final and most likely, a fatal mistake.  Arm guards were meant to guard ones arms.  This simple fact made the arm guards great for brutes that liked to swing their arms around with no real talent or skill to take out their foes.  At times they could even throw straight punches and jabs using the weight behind the metal guards to enhance the power of their punches.  However that was the exact reason why a slashing swordsman such as Iken was this guy’s worst nightmare.  Every time the man threw a straight line punch, it left a small opening.  Until this point it wasn't possible to directly hit the man even with Iken's superior speed, agility, and skill.  That all changed the moment Iken had whittled the man down to this point.  Iken's foes attack was even more sluggish than usual allowing Iken an extended period of time to take advantage of the opening.  

"Smashing Darkness"  

Placing all of his might into the final attack, Iken slashed at his foes exposed hand.  Not only was all of Iken's might put into the attack, but also the momentum of his enemy.  Regularly, Iken's attack would be able to damage a low grade weapon or create a fatal wound on nearly anyone; however this time the wound would likely be even greater as it added in the man’s own power.  If it was successful and hit the target, the heavy supreme grade sword would likely slash all of the way through the man’s arm and hit his chest before coming to a complete stop.  The man’s arm would be completely chopped in half horizontally.

9/15