Hades Cup Quarter Finals: Gilgamesh vs. Rojo

A few hours had been all the time given to Rojo since the end of the first round.  It was barely enough time to tell the stories of his courageous adventures to a group of maidens who had quickly become his greatest fans.  He'd seen at least a couple of them in the crowd during his first match, but they all had promised to cheer on the crimson mage during his encounter with his next foe.


Now, Rojo stood in the ring, hearing the loud cheers from his new fan section in the stands.  The constant chants of "Rojo! Rojo! Rojo!" had done wonders for the red mage's ego, and by wonders of course he meant it inflated his ego.  Surely none could stand in the way of the valiant Red Wizard of Light!  He gazed his opponent over, mentally making notes of his impeccable fashion sense.  He allowed the swordsman to have the first word, something he rarely did.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention to you.  I was too busy giving you a quick moment of silence before you were brought down by the greatest swordsman and mage this tournament has to offer.  I'll only introduce myself once, so pay attention.  I am Rojo, the Red Wizard of Light, Slayer of Chaos, Champion of the Crystals of Light, Conqueror of the Mistletoe Mayhem Cup, and Slayer of Women's Hearts!"

At that, Rojo turned his attention to the lovely ladies cheering him on.  He gave them a quick wink before he continued.

"I shall give you one chance to forfeit now!  Should this enter combat, you will surely meet your doom!  Chaos himself fell to my blade single handedly! I bested the evil fiend of fire, Marilith in swordsmanship, while she wielded 6 blades to my one mind you.  I outwitted the Lich, wrestled the Kraken with my bare hands, and took on Tiamat herself with nothing but my own magic at my disposal!  Surely, none can stop the power of the Red Wizard of Light!"

With the last line, Rojo posed with his blade held out in front of him, unleashing a Fira behind him, just for dramatic effect.  The large pillar of flame accentuated his bravado tenfold.  This Gilgamesh character had to be quaking in his boots now!

The masked marauder in front of Rojo had quite the way with words. Rojo was nearly impressed with his ability to deliver an impressive monologue! However, Rojo noticed he had not listed any of his own accomplishments. He was obviously full of hot air. Nobody could compare to the prowess of the Red Wizard!

"HA! You claim to be the greatest swordsman in all the worlds, but you have naught for accomplishments compared to myself! I, Rojo, once saved the entire TIMELINE from disruption! As for my blade, you shall feel the power of Lightbringer yourself! This blade holds the power of Holy itself!

"Allow me to tell you the tale of my encounter with Chaos, and you can tremble before my deeds."

At that point Rojo began to give a very long winded response that included every step of his journey from Cornelia to the point the Warriors of Light traveled through time to defeat Chaos. He left out no detail, and made sure to include each and every single event that Rojo and his subordinates went through before he finally came to the conclusion.

"...and then, after we finally defeated Chaos, my subordinates and I returned to this very timeline. Their feeble minds were wiped of the incursion, but I, Rojo, the Red Wizard of Light, had the mental fortitude to withstand such a drastic leap in time!"

The audience, during his especially long monologue, had shifted their cheers to jeers. Apparently, they came to this arena for action, and not a complete retelling of the greatest adventure ever told! Rojo knew they had no taste for fine storytelling, and lifted his golden blade parallel to the ground, pointing straight at the swordsman in a crimson cowl.

"The crowd grows restless, mostly because they want to see my fine fighting prowess in action! I say to you, Gilgamesh, let us begin our fight. I shall defeat you and your cloak back to last season where it came from! En Guarde!"

Gilgamesh had quickly retorted by downplaying his obviously impressive epic tale.  As if some overly dramatic swordsman could do any better!  Rojo listened as the swordsman began to tell his own tale, only to be rudely interrupted by someone wanting Rojo to get stabbed!  The nerve of that guy!  The epic events of years past needed to be told!  Then obviously mere moments before his opponent did, Rojo had an amazing idea.  They would tell their stories while they fought!  Gilgamesh said it first, but Rojo had obviously had the idea first!

The swordsman lifted his spear, and Rojo immediately felt a burning sensation in his midsection as the lance fired off some sort of projectile that pierced into his stomach.  He wasn't expecting a weapon to be able to fire projectiles like that.

"Pah!  What a cheap shot!  Tell your tale before I defeat you with my overwhelming might!"

Gilgamesh closed in with a vertical slash that Rojo was able to parry with his golden blade.  The spear was certainly heavy, as heavy as it was massive.  It would certainly drain his own stamina blocking a blade that big, but the blade moved slow enough that he could attempt to dodge the attacks.

As he attacked, he told his own story, which including working for a tree...or a possessed tree..or was it a rift inside of a tree?  One thing was certain, Gilgamesh worked for a tree!

"You worked for a tree?  That explains your poor way with words!  You must be hollow inside!"

Rojo tapped his temple with the index finger of his free hand as he attempted to leap backwards to dodge the horizontal strike.  A fruitless effort as the horizontal slash smashed into his midsection.  The Red Wizard slid backwards, feeling pain once again from his stomach.

"If that's all you've got, I'm not worried!  Watch as my movements become so fast, you won't even be able to see me with your inferior eyes!"

However, instead of casting Haste with to back up his words, he made a move to trick his opponent.  Rojo literally vanished from sight under his Invis spell.  He dashed to the right as he targeted the swordsman with another spell.  This time, a large spire of ice shot upwards from beneath Gilgamesh.  He attempted to impale his target with Blizzara.  He would take the offensive here, and turn the tide of the battle.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
DURATIONS
Invis - Ends next turn

COOLDOWNS
Fira - Now usable
Blizzara - 2

Rojo knew he should have leaped into the air instead of running along the ground in an arena like this.  Somehow, he obviously superior intellect didn't account for footprints on the stadium floor.  The inferior Gilgamesh before him needed help to defeat the crimson mage.  What a weakling!  The weird thing called Enkidu emerged and sent a howling blast Rojo's way.  It was a little off in his aim, due to targeting the footprints of where he was currently.  He didn't account for Rojo's constant moving and the blast managed to only clip his backside.  He still felt pain from the blast, but not as much as he could have.

As Rojo was worried about the winged beast, he forgot to pay attention to HIS OPPONENT CRASHING DOWN UPON HIM!  Once again, it could have been worse, as he caught a foot to the back of the head.  The result was Rojo going head first towards the stadium floor.  He managed to use his hands to push off and roll himself back to his feet.  He immediately turned and cast a spell.  The ground around Gilgamesh instantly erupted into a fiery explosion of Firaga.

Then, just before his invisibility ended, Rojo cast a Cura spell to relieve himself of the two concussive blows plus a little more.  As his previous spell ended, Rojo came back into view looking better than he did before he went into it.

"Ha! Your attacks did nothing to me you inferior swordsman!  Also, you were the king of a bunch of turtles?!  It's no wonder you're so slow!"

Rojo knew he had to continue to be aggressive.  This foe would keep up his own aggressive stance, and Rojo would end up spending way too much time either trying to dodge or heal through his attacks.  The Red Wizard held his sword into the air, and, as he did, bolts of lightning scattered about the field.  This wasn't his strongest lightning spell, but a Thundara should target each of his opponents on the field with at least a couple of the strikes of electricity.

"Try out dueling that blonde barbarian, Snow, in a battle of pure fisticuffs!  Something I excel at!"

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
1. Cast Firaga
2. Cast Cura
3. Cast Thundara

COOLDOWNS
Blizzara - 1
Invis - 2
Firaga - 3
Cura - 2
Thundara - 2

Rojo was brilliantly dealing damage to the self proclaimed greatest swordsman who only brought a lance to the battle.  What was up with that anyway?  How could he be the greatest swordsman and NOT bring a lance to the battlefield.  Rojo was almost willing to bet he didn't even own a sword, and it was all a giant bluff.

Just before Rojo was about to unleash another devastating blow, the warrior got on his hands and knees and bowed his head before the brightly attired mage.  It seemed as if he was conceding the match.  But of course he was!  This overly dramatic warrior was no match for the expert prowess of Rojo, the Red Wizard of Light!

"You are wise to conc-"

Just as he was about to accept his victory, Rojo's opponent admitted to lying about the whole ordeal.  What a loser!

"I knew you were lying the whole time!  My foresight is matched only by my skill on the battlefield!"

In the confusion of this whole deception thing, that damned beast launched a series of projectiles at Rojo.  They landed direct hits because all of his attention was focused solely on his obviously inferior opponent.  The red mage found himself knocked onto the ground as Enkidu healed the swordsman.

Gilgamesh then began gloating once again.  It was during that boast that Rojo was dealt his most lethal blow of the tournament.  Gilgamesh. called. his. hat. subpar. quality.  THIS WOULD NOT BE TOLERATED!

"You can talk of my swordsmanship all you want, but until you experience it, you know nothing of my expertise.  However...my attire. ISCRAFTEDBYTHEGREATESTTAILORSINALLTHEWORLD!  YOU GILGAMESH HAVE JUST EARNED THE TITLE OF 'ROJO'S GREATEST RIVAL!'  I shall defeat you by any means necessary!  You and your cheap knock off blade will bow before Lightbringer and my magical arsenal!"

Rojo then began the onslaught with another, more powerful storm of lightning bolts.  Dozens of powerful streaks of lightning scattered throughout the battlefield with Thundaga.  He was certain that the sheer number of strikes would deal damage to both of his opponents.


Rojo then, instead of dashing towards Gilgamesh, dashed towards Enkidu, attempting a dashing strike through the dog..bird..thing.  After attacking Enkidu his blade released a piercing shriek as Confuse tried to disorient his opponents.  Hopefully, the beast and the bladed-master would be confused into attacking each other instead of him.  Rojo landed on the other side of the arena, and turned to see the results of his attacks.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
1. Cast Thundaga
2. Attempted a dashing strike on Enkidu
3. Cast Confuse

DURATIONS
Confuse - 2

COOLDOWNS
Blizzara- NOW USABLE
Invis - 1
Firaga - 2
Cura - 1
Thundara - 1
Thundaga - 3

With the confusion ongoing, Rojo was in a good spot.  The masked warrior was blabbing incoherently about something like Enkidu being a computer.  He'd attempted to cast a couple different spells at the red mage, but Rojo's sheer bravado must have made them ineffective.  That had to be the answer!  One does not simply turn Rojo into a chicken.

"Try as you might you will not be able to change the appearance of the most magnificent face in all or Corne-"

And then it happened: A third spell was cast, and a thick sticky web covered the red wizard.  Rojo noticed himself plump up with the Heavy status.  Whatever this spell was made Rojo a fatty!  This simply would not do!  Now, Rojo was the one who needed the mask to hide this unsightly appearance!

"H-h-HOWDAREYOU!  You have changed the face of an icon!  Now, I will be reduced to seducing the largest women in the world!  This simply will not do!  I have to have a Remedy in here somewhere."

Rojo began frantically searching his pockets.  He found useless keys, balls of lint, a broken wooden child's toy (don't ask), and, finally, a small vial.  He immediately popped the cork on it and drained it, but nothing happened.  NO!  It was simply water in a unique flask!  This is the most disappointing thing that could have happened to him!  He would have preferred turning into a frog rather than be an overweight titan.  The crowd, meanwhile, found a ton of amusement in this.  It was as if this were a comedy hour and not the second round in a tournament featuring the greatest swordsman/mage in history!  He quickly wiped away the tears from the corner of his eyes before he spoke again.

"You've made fun of my flawless fashion, and, now, you decide to make me a fatty.  For this, I will destroy you!  You shall be another notch in my win column, just as your mother has notches on her bedpost!"

With that, Rojo dashed forward with his sword held firmly in hand, casting two spells as he did.  Haste covered him in blue aura to increase his movement speed, and Temper increased his physical attack power.  Rojo quickly dashed forward and unleashed a rapid five strike combo in his confused opponent.  And to add insult to injury, he really tried to throw his new weight behind his attacks.  He wasn't as fast as he usually is on a strike, due to the heavy status, but it was at least as fast as his normal speed.  On the final strike, Rojo stabbed his blade forward with a thrust and simultaniously kicked off to create more space between the two.  He hoped he was making a Gilga-ka-bob out of this cruel villain!

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
1. Cast Haste
2. Cast Temper
3. Physical combo in Gilgamesh

DURATIONS
Confuse - 1
Haste - 2
Temper - 2

COOLDOWNS
Invis - NOW USABLE
Firaga - 1
Cura - NOW USABLE
Thundara - NOW USABLE
Thundaga - 2