Sighing that he didn’t discover the Lich’s whereabouts, he already knew what he was about to be asked, or so he thought. The man revealed that there was a powerful skeletal knight at a nearby pub and that could be the next clue to where he would be able to find the Lich. Making his way to the pub, he considered that today had been a rather boring day today despite everything that was happening. The only reason he was even still here was because the payout was really appealing to him since he was running low on funds and it was apparently a high risk request. Oh well, he’ll figure out what he’s dealing with once he got to his destination. After taking the request the third request  had set out on his destination to the place where the supposed skeletal warrior was. As he walked through the barren streets of Oak, he had looked around and pondered on ways he could take out the skeleton knight with little to no effort. He didn’t know what to expect but the longer they fought, the higher chance of him getting hurt  would become. His best bet would be to just do a quick and easy strike to a vital point, namely the skull and call it a day. The pub wasn’t far from his current location but he still had to walk a few ways before he made it. Upon arrival, he could immediately hear panicked screams and wailing of the citizens that were fleeing from the skeleton knight. Once he was done with his observation, the time has come for battle and Shichiro prepared to enter his stance.

Standing with his feet shoulder-width apart and taking one step back with his right foot and orienting it so his feet are at right angles to each other. His left leg was relaxed, with the majority of his weight on their right foot, keeping his body straight but maintained the same angle. He brought his hands in front of his face, curling them whiling lean his head forward behind them for better coverage of the face and holding his elbows forward so he could maneuver his arms to block body shots to his ribs or liver. This was a basic stance for a person that primarily used kicks in fights because it lends itself well to kicking and allows for greater mobility and stability.  He was ready now, holding his stance he began to inch closer towards the skeletal knight. "Well, get ready. Here I come," he said as he started his attack. He slightly raised his right leg a couple inches off the ground and delivered it into the left side of the knight’s left shin. He would then follow up with a light jab from his left, aiming for the lower right side of its face. He figured it would be best to start of testing the waters to see what the knight was capable of in close quarters. 

W.C: 499

The first salvo came in, a right leg low kick. The issue with the right leg was that it was a telegraphed attack; as it circled upwards to strike the skeleton, it raised his left leg so the shins would meet each other, a short but effective block for them as were able to sustain the pain of such contact, before planting the tip of the foot on the floor for stability. Pain jolted on his shin due to lack of real practice, but it was endurable, and it did not affect its ability to move. The follow-up came from the left hand, which due to their stances, would be the reach testing hand, meant only to distract and initiate combos but never to deliver blows. Its unarmed, open palm would immediately come in handy; the difference in their speed proved effective when the skeleton knight slapped away the hand in a diagonal trajectory from up and out slapping it inwards and down towards his chest which would be slightly further away from the lad’s reach; if it connected, he would use the opening and momentum of the lad’s strike to deliver a left jab himself aimed at the left side of the Shichiro’s face, avoiding hitting his right arm or the left arm that would be stretched in between them. As this happened he made sure his strike was delivered by his stretched arm, his shoulder covered his lower half of the left face, while his right arm came and his hand covered his face up to where his hairline started, the flexed arm would cover his entire right side down to his rib cage. This was, however, a distraction, meant to tag his opponent and physically map his position. He would simultaneously retract his left arm as he reached with the right arm, closed fist trying to tag the same cheek he might’ve hit, left arm retracting to protect his face and ribs mirroring his right arm just seconds before. To add reach and power to the strike, his right foot twisted from its angled position to face Shichiro, resulting in his hip turning and granting further reach and twisting motion which was what made the right hand the striking hand.

W.C: 373
T.W.C: 872

The skeleton’s first strike touched the Shichiro’s forearm, which overall wasn’t too bad of a result. A slight tap on the bony structure of the forearm was not healthy on the knuckles, and that was why the forearm was a good defense against punches in general. It would not hold up against a leg strike though; and that was why you would defend a leg strike with the reverse side of the forearm, the muscly and softer part that could cushion the blow. However, the block was just the beginning, as Shichiro brought his hand back in, in time to punch his right hand upwards: The skeleton realized what was happening just in time and twisted his arm inwards so the elbow faced up and his arm was not broken by the blow, instead it just bent upwards peacefully even if slightly upset. From the corner of his eye he noticed the outstretched arm of his partner, and how it flew in to establish contact with his face. It was, again, a telegraphed strike, and without a proper distraction all the skeleton had to do was lift his left shoulder and aim his elbow at Shichiro’s face, his hand cupping his ear to create a barrier against an ear strike that could dishorient him. Hopefully Shichiro’s haymaker wouldn’t strike the elbow directly, otherwise that would be incredibly painful. However, the strike aimed at the right side of his face would never connect with such delivery.

Once delivered and retracted, Shichiro took a step forward: a knee strike would be coming in, since with Shichiro’s long reach and their current stances, it would be the most logical option. The time for a gamble was now: using his superior speed and the retracting right hand of the lad, he stepped up close and personal to his reach, and lowered his left arm toward the thigh of the lad, slapping it down, while his face hugged his left shoulder, completely hunched to create a cover alongside his raised right arm. He would step in between Shichiro’s feet, his own left foot straight underneath his right leg. His right foot stepped slightly to the left of the left foot, putting him in a precarious position. He would then twist his hips so his switched feet would become unswitched, and his torso rotated fast accordingly; he would duck towards his left side while he brought his right arm upwards at a vertical angle, his elbow aiming to tap the lad in the face, hopefully on a cheek and not on the nose, although due to the height difference all he needed was to lift his head and the elbow would strike the neck or clavicles. Shichiro’s leg, if it even managed to keep going up, would hug the skeleton’s thigh, but otherwise do nothing much. 

W.C: 482
T.W.C: 1354

Things didn't go as planned for Shichiro as he had hoped too. It seems the skeleton had lifted its left shoulder and aimed his elbow at Shichiro’s face, his hand cupping his ear in order to defend himself from Shichiro’s blow. Another problem had surfaced for him since they skeletal knight had raised his arm in such a way, it would now mean his knuckles were in danger of colliding with the skeleton’s elbow. It was too late for Shichiro to retract his attack but he could still divert it slightly further to the right so it would miss the elbow. This would also mean he wouldn't be able to hit is intended target bit it was better than the alternative that was presented to him at the moment. He managed to avoid getting out of a hairy situation that could have cause him some broken fingers, maybe even worse if the injury was severe enough. Still, it was a good maneuver for the boy to use in such a short amount of time. With that, there was still a matter of the knee strike he was going to deliver towards the skeleton’s leg. Unfortunately, it didn't go as he had hoped and it was easily deflected as well. Paying close attention to the creature in front of him, Shichiro began to observe its movements. 

He watched as the skeletal knight stepped in between Shichiro’s feet. Shichiro then readied his left arm, opening his clenched fist into a palm to retaliate against the next blow that may come his way since the skeleton was in his striking range. While the creature started to get into position, Shichiro reached towards its chest giving it a firm push with his open palm, forcing the knight backwards in order to interrupt the next action he was gonna perform. The next action the knight took was quite strange though, it seems it purposely left itself off balance in order to better position himself for the next strike. Though while he was in motion, Shichiro had already begun to push the creature backwards but, because of the stance the skeleton took, instead of knocking it back, he had instead caused it to lose his balance and fall backwards. The knight tried his best to chain his movements into one fluid motion but it ended up backfiring because their difference in speed wasn't as vast as it had hoped it to be. After knocking the skeleton down, Shichiro then took his chance by lunging forward and stomping on the skeleton knight’s skull, shattering it. It was a hard fought battle but he had finally won. Panting and sweating, Shichiro wiped his forehead before taking a break. As he took his break, he noticed the skeleton Knight’s body started to crumble to dust before a black soul had emerged from its body. It started to levitate above it’s dust before starting to float away in a peculiar manner. This was big for Shichiro since this could lead to his real object, the Lich that’s causing all this mayhem in general. Even though he was a bit tired still, Shichiro wasted no time in following that black soul back to a nearby abandoned ruin. He watched as the soul flew through the entrance of the ruins and so Shichiro did the same.

W.C: 554
T.W.C: 1908

To his surprise, Shichiro had fallen into a pitfall the had carried him into a cell. He should have known better than to just walk straight in without checking for traps, it was an ancient ruin after all. He pondered a bit at how to get out. The only way he knew out was the way he was thrown in, from above. Not even he could jump that far. Next was the door in front of him. It was rusty and pretty old, to the point where he was confident that he could break it with his bare hands. Giving the amount of physical training, he should be adept enough at destruction. Curling his left arm backwards, he then stepped forward and threw a left straight at the door. Despite being it with a devastating blow, the door didn’t seem to budge. It was baffling how incredibly sturdy it was despite being so old looking. Well, he guessed there was nothing to do. He leaned against the wall slouching down, watching a line of insects traverse this place as they please. He wished that he had more techniques at his disposal but his limited arsenal will have to do. Sighing, he picked up a pebble to the side and looked to his right. There was a rotting corpse there. Shichiro leaned away from it because he didn’t notice how bad it smells in this cell until he actually looked for the source of the problem. He just thought it was this place in general. Now that he thought about it, that corpse wasn’t there before when he was thrown into it. Hell, he didn’t even hear the sound it made when it impacted the floor. Looking a bit further, he noticed there was a key on the thing’s body. It was flashing and shining awfully bright for some strange reason. Shichiro was edging slowly towards it thinking it’s better than sitting here doing nothing. Before reaching the key, he heard some rustling above him. Looking up, he noticed a person in peculiar armor staring down at him from above even though you couldn’t see his face since it was covered by a medieval knight’s helmet. Shichiro stared at him for a few seconds before he got up and walked away out of his line of sight. Shichiro was a bit startled at that small exchange but if that person was trying to help him out, then he appreciated it.

W.C: 409
T.W.C: 2317

Reaching for the key lodged in the corpse’s chest. It was a bit pungent But he had no choice and no other way to get it but reaching for it with his bare hands. Shichiro groaned as he snatched the key and a bit of rotting flesh from it before standing up once more and running to the door to test it. To his surprise, it worked. It actually worked. Shichiro wanted to thank that person properly but it was too late for that now. He began to walk down the hall seeing various and strange things. There were people that looked as far back as the dead person in the cell walking, hitting walls and even crying. Okay then. Shichiro continued to walk past them if they weren’t going to attack him and pressed on. He made it to a place that looks like an outside courtyard. He was technically still inside but this part was just didn’t have a roof. As he walked, there was a sword stuck in the ground surrounded by smoldering ash. It was awfully cold though so he thought of a way he could light it up. He didn’t have any tinder on or around him so there was out of the question. Sighing, he decided there was nothing he could do. He extended his right arm out and pretended he could feel the heat of the previous fire of this bonfire. As he did this, the bonfire mysteriously lit up. He blinked a bit wondering how the hell this occurred and decided he was gonna put this one in his mind vault.

He decided to sit at it for a few minutes to rest up before taking off. There were two ways to choose from. He could go straight forward through these large double doors. Or he could check the side entrance that resembled his cell’s door. He decided to go with the side door first. Walking over towards it and checking, Shichiro thought it was simply locked. So, he decided to try the key he received earlier. He then realized there was no keyhole for this particular door from this side and gave up trying to get in. The only way to open it was from the other side.Not like he was gonna waste his time with opening all the doors in this place anyways. Through the double doors was his only option, assuming that wasn’t locked either. Backtracking to the double doors, Shichiro had placed both his hands on the handles and pushed it open. He was relieved they weren’t locked. He took a couple of steps in before looking around. It was eerily quiet in this particular room a bunch of jars to the left and nothing but decaying walls to the right. Taking further steps  into the room, A large skeletal behemoth had jumped down and smashed the ground in front of Shichiro, blowing him back to the double doors. He had panicked a bit and tried to exit through the doors he came through but for some strange reason they were locked all of a sudden. The skeletal Behemoth had swung his tail in a clockwise spin, knocking Shichiro to the left side of the room. 

W.C: 539
T.W.C: 2856

Shichiro had slammed into the wall and was forcibly slumped down. The beast was coming towards him now. He then got up since he wasn’t hurt as bad as he thought and was pretty grateful that he went through such a vicious training to acquire the physique he’s earned today. He had sprint behind the jars, breaking some as he fled through the rows of jars. Behind the jars laid an open tunnel, He had fled through. A gate had slammed shut after he had jumped through. Going down a long corridor, Shichiro had finally found his target in question. Draped in purple and black robes, a staff made of human spines with a couple of skulls on top of it; a skeleton necromancer. Shichiro smirked as it no longer had any other means to defend itself. It attempted to chanel some sort of spell to defend itself but it didn’t matter. Shichiro had already started to dash towards him and swiftly punch him in the skull, dispatching it easily. Huh, Shichiro expected a bigger boss fight but he assumed that his creations were the real threat and he was just the battery keeping them running. Now for the hard part of finding his way out of this dungeon. After a few long hours, Shichiro had finally navigated his way out of the dungeon to find the spokesperson standing alongside an important looking figure. It was Lord Sevas that he had once did a quest for. He was sure that he didn’t remember and that was fine; who knows, maybe one day there would be a job for Shichiro to take him out. For now, he received his thanks and reward for finishing up the job. With that, Shichiro decided he had had enough of Oak for one time and hopes to come back when it was rebuilt and cleared of all the mayhem that was going on.

[Exit.]

W.C: 318
T.W.C: 3174