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Guardian's Challenge (Fancy_Brat and xdeviltriggerx)

Kazemi could see his desire to fight now. "Then there was nothing that could be done to save them. Now, if you are finished asking questions, we have a duel planned." She pointed the tip of her blade straight for his heart, clearly ready for battle. "Come at me young warrior. I would like to see the extent of your skill before I am finished with you."
 
He took a deep breath, remembering his training. Fight from a state of relaxation. Don't go into the situation hotheaded. He began to charge at her, his throwing knife loaded in his hand. That would be his opening attack, hopefully managing to catch her off guard and earn some degree of atonement. With a war cry, he leapt up into the air and threw the blade.
 
While Lucian had prepared himself mentally, Kazemi maintained her position as she awaited Lucian's attack. She took calm and steady breaths, and it felt as though the wind picked up and died with her breathing. She watched as he advanced, expecting him to bring his blade upon her. She was caught off-guard by the blade, but was very quick to react. Kazemi quickly swung her katana, catching the blade and knocking it away. She then went for Lucian, bringing her blade down on him with a great deal of force.
 
Lucian knew this was going to end badly. He brought his shield up to deflect her blade, his heart pounding in his chest. As he felt the sickening clang of steel against his shield, he went for the sword on his back, bringing it to an attack position.

"You are clever, I must give you that."

He advanced toward her, the blade spinning once as he went in for his attack.
 
She didn't seem to flinch in the slightest as her katana clashed with his shield. She prepared herself once more as he brought out another sword from his back. She carefully eyed him as he approached once more. "Your tactic is one I have seen numerous times. A little trick like that will not work." she muttered, coming at him as well. She quickly shortened the distance between them as she came at him faster than any human could. Again she swung her blade at him with a great deal of force behind the attack. If he didn't block or counter in the right way, there was a good chance his arms could break.
 
Lucian grimaced, feeling the blow ring through his arm. "I cannot take much more of this," he thought to himself and decided to go on the offensive. He kept the shield up at a guarded position, swinging his blade out to try and either take a chunk of her flesh, if not deliver the killing strike.
 
Kazemi braced herself again for his attack, seeing that he was now going on the offensive. His swings at her were a bit reckless, and one would think they would be easy to dodge. That was the case for a while, though some of his swings had actually come pretty close to her. There were times where she would try and swing at him as well, moving to dodge his swings, though on one of his swings, he had managed to catch a bit of her robe, cutting through the sleeve, but narrowly missing her skin. She seemed unfazed by it and raised her blade again to send it down on him.
 
Lucian swung again, feeling the steel of Kazemi's katana clash with his sword.

"You took the only two people I ever loved..."

He shoved, hoping that the push would catch her off guard. HIs parents were doomed by her hand- they were doomed either way, but this time they were really done for. If the Vale armies didn't kill them, she most certainly would. He watched as her katana left him a slash on his cheek.

"You think that one blow is worthy of merit?"
 
Kazemi noted the cut on his cheek, seeing it start to bleed slightly, but it wasn't a serious cut. "While it is admirable to love your parents in such a way..." she paused as she moved back, readying herself once more. "...but there are other beings in this world who are in need of love. I had one just like that, though they too were taken from me." she said, coming at him again as she brought her katana to clash violently with his sword. "And you are in no position to mock me."
 
"You too are capable of feeling pain, Kazemi....except you don't know of this pain. You don't know," he bellowed as he clashed his sword against hers, "how it feels not to be able to love another...how it feels night after night to wake up screaming and not have someone there..." He swung again, anger backing his words. "So before you think I'm mocking you, put yourself in my place." He swung at her again.
 
"I know fully well of any sort of pain. I know what it feels to not have one to love. I know betrayal. I know losing one of my people. I know very well what it is like to be alone." she said, continuing to attack with a barrage of swings. "You only know little of losing a loved one." She moved back from him, looking over the tear in her robe. It was a rather long cut, almost separating the sleeve. "This robe was given to me by my former lover. I had the same feelings for him as you did for your parents. However, he was killed before my eyes by the army of another village." She moved at him again quickly sending another strike at his waist. "I have experienced far more pain than you ever will."
 
Lucian locked his blade with hers.

"Tell me...if you're so powerful, you could have easily spared their lives. You could have stopped them from being slain. But you didn't...are you really all that you say you are?" He broke his stance, raising his shield again. "Are you really a divine entity, or have you been deceiving these people?" He felt the cut on his cheek, the scratch having drawn a bit of blood.
 
Kazemi's emotion remained the same as their blades locked, looking to outdo him in this test of strength. Her expression seemed to change slightly with his words as he questioned her. Her expression was much more fierce and menacing. "I am what I am. You may think what you want, but I am not deceiving them." She backed up as well, still maintaining her stance. "I know not of the hearts of the enemy, other than they seek to harm my people." She eyed the cut on his cheek, which had a small line of blood tricking down his cheek. "Even though your parents have been killed, it is not to say that they can't be brought back."
 
At hearing this, Lucian's weight shifted...

"Bring them back? Even you aren't that powerful. You may be divine, but even the greatest have their limits." He shoved back with his blade, putting a distance between the two of them. "The underworld wouldn't allow for a soul to be released. I've tried. I've spoken to holy men, to clerics, even to those with dark powers." He kept his shield at the ready. "Even the ones who pray to you and your kind tell me it isn't possible...what makes you so certain?"

He kept a poison laced dagger at the ready, wanting to make her suffer for even mentioning his parents.
 
Kazemi's expression turned to one that seemed really bored. "For you to go off of what mortals say is foolish. Do mortals have the ability to perform miracles?" she asked, circling around him a bit, still holding her blade at the ready. Even the holiest of men have limited knowledge. Have they witnessed such an event before? Such a task as bringing back a mortal from the dead is simpler than one may think, though there are many consequences that can come after." Her eyes showed no signs of joking, or any emotion for that matter. "However, I myself have not gone through with such a ritual."
 
Lucian locked blades with her again, this time forcing her off her footing and sending her katana to the side. He held the blade defiantly at her throat.

"Strike, if you can. But are you fast enough to avoid my steel in your neck?"

He glared at her. How he had wanted to make sure she suffered for what she did. Then again, she was rather beautiful, and to kill a thing of beauty was surely a fool's errand.

"Tell me, Guardian...do you still desire combat?"
 
Kazemi grunted a bit as she locked swords with him again. She was more than determined to just overpower him and get this over with. However, she had been careless and had left herself open. He had succeeded in disarming her, sending her katana aside. "I would strike if I could. If I were lucky enough I'd be able to break quite a few of your bones." She returned his glare, not looking as though she would back down. "Though I am wise enough to accept my own defeat. I would rather die right away rather than have you cut me up beforehand." She had slowly moved onto one knee, bowing slightly. "I have no regrets, and I stand by all I hve said before. If you are to kill be, then do so quickly."
 
Lucian raised his blade to strike, but stopped. He could hear the voice of his parents talking to him in the background.

"She did what was necessary to protect her people..."
"Do not kill her, otherwise you'll be taking her burden on..."

He spiked his sword into the ground. "I am hearing voices telling me not to kill you." He looked her in the eye. "Give me one good reason I should avoid killing you."
 
Kazemi did not seem the least bit surprised by his actions. Even if she was, she did a very good job of hiding it. "It seems that you have come to your senses. I wonder whatever made you stop." Her voice hinted a little bit of sarcasm, something one wouldn't expect from her. "I can only wonder who those voices were. How very fortunate that you asked, otherwise, I would not have chosen to tell you myself." She slowly stood up, not making any movements for her blade, which she could have easily reached. "For any guardian of a village, if they are killed, then the responsibility is passed on to the one who had killed them. In other words, you would be forced to stay here in my place to look over Kylier."
 
Lucian did something that he didn't expect. He took up his sword, this time sheathing it back into its place. He had felt a measure of pity for the guardian- someone as strong as her should not have been put through this.

"You do not deserve to die this way."

He offered a hand to help her to her feet. "Someone as powerful as you who has enough love for her people...that means that you need to be there for them."
 
"It is not that I do not wish to go through with my duties. I had chosen this for myself. In many ways, we both prosper with one another, my people and I." She took his hand as she pulled herself up. Her hand felt very warm and soft in his grip. "I would only wish that nobody else would go through with it. For many, it would be a horrible curse. I am more than willing to look over them. I have already done so for thousands of years." she said.
 
He felt a degree of pity for her. True, no one deserved this either by choice or by force. Still, he had come for blood and now felt his heart go out to her.

"Is there something I can do for you," he asked her.
 
It was clear that she wasn't expecting that question. She seemed almost unsure of how to respond. "I am not sure what there is to give to someone such as myself. I don't need the same things that you would need." She then went to grab her blade, putting it back in its holder. She turned back to him. "Unless you think there is something. You have won, so that is the least I can offer."
 
He looked up at her. "I have nowhere to go. Would it be possible for me to stay here, maybe lend a hand in the duties of protecting the city?" He put his sword back in the sheath, clipping his shield to his back.
 
Kazemi stared blankly at him. She had not expected him to offer that. "Well...if that is what you wish, then I cannot stop you. do you really want to stay here? If you choose to, I would hope you do not mention my appearance, or our fight."
 
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