Half Off Special

**Date Completed:**7/4/2021
**Previous Role-Play**:
**Users Involved:** User:Katokonia
**Setting:** An Island in Paradise
**Characters Involved**:
* Sol Oriana
* Embo Lyssa

## It's Not My Fault I Pissed Them Off

It was a lonely night. Soft clouds dotted the sky, silhouetting yet not breaking the light of a full moon overhead. It was beautiful in it's light, shining down upon a castle and a small town around it. Upon the rooftop of the highest building, aside from said castle, in the town stood an armored figure. Clad in piercing black, a visor emanating a reddish glow, they took on the appearance of a dark knight. Below shouts echoed, soldiers armed with torches and spears yelling towards the figure, some calling for aid, some rallying, others simply making note of this presence.

Indeed, this figure was Embo Lyssa, and Embo Lyssa currently found herself on the run. She had just been strolling along the dark and empty streets, common-folk not straying en masse at such an unholy hour, however interrupting her stroll had been a very rude, and very arrogant man whom she had accidentally bumped into while turning a corner.

The man wore rather nice clothes, almost too nice for a citizen of a town wealth seemingly so little, though Lyssa regardless of this had bowed her head slightly and uttered an equally slight apology. Yet this slight the man had not taken relaxed. He deemed Lyssa to be dishonest in her apology, dishonest in her manners, and most importantly, someone who had irritated the man. Lyssa had soon found herself flanked by two soldiers, who tried to grab her, one with rope in hand. Naturally, she pushed the two away, though maybe she had let just a *little* too much strength through into her shove. The two soldiers were sent flying back, crashing into a nearby, though vacant, stall that was obviously meant for some manner of trade or sales during daylight. The situation escalated, the annoying brat of a man who Lyssa had accidentally pushed earlier calling loudly for help.

"Help! Help! There's a thug on the street!" He had called, or so Lyssa remembered it. She was a wanted person, and for this reason she thought it best in the moment to shut the man up. She dashed over to him, sending a single fist into his chin, knocking him out almost instantly as his eyes had rolled back, and his body fell limp onto the ground. Unfortunately it was in this very moment that another guard happened to be turning the corner, who then called for help as well. She made short work of him, knocking him unconscious just as easily as she had the bratty fellow, though she could already hear at this point the motion of guards and soldiers mobilizing towards her. She reluctantly accepted that she would just have to leave. She'd only arrived that morning, and had actually found a rather nice inn to take refuge at, though if this was how things were going to be, so be it. She clad herself in her Acrid Form immediately before any others arrived at the scene, which was soon after her transformation was complete. There were many soldiers this time, ready for a fight, though Lyssa preferred to slink away without one. At the very least, they wouldn't know what she actually looked like, though she would have preferred not to cause a fuss in the first place. Running away and scaling a building, she now found herself atop the highest rooftop in town.

Lyssa looked down at the conglomeration of guards and soldiers below her, sighing through her helm.

"Ughh...give me a damn break. How'd this even happen in the first place? I just pushed a damn brat aside, and seeing this he definitely deserved it."

Lyssa's ears perked up for a moment, as she heard words amidst the various others that called out to her,

*"How dare she injure the prince! We cannot let her get away!"*

Lyssa made a dumbfounded look, though obviously not visible due to her helmet, as she thought to herself, annoyed,

*"That idiot was a fucking prince? What the hell was he doing out this late at night? Tch, this might be more of a pain than I had hoped. This better not raise my number, I don't want any more damn bounty hunters tailing me."*

Lyssa crouched her legs as she scouted the surrounding area. It was unremarkable at best, what one might expect from a backwater island that had just enough development to propel it above poverty, and just enough infrastructure to look civilized, yet still so obviously corroded by the greed of those who resided within the caste center of the town, which was in stark contrast with it's subjects, built beautifully in gothic fashion, and definitely having cost quite a pretty penny to construct. Lyssa eyed a nearby rooftop, and a path along them that led towards some hills on the boundary of the town, as she sprang out from her crouched position, launching herself at the closest rooftop in that direction, breaking into a run.

"She's getting away! After her!" One of the guards yelled, as clamoring armored step could be heard following after her along the ground. She continued running along the rooftops in this fashion for some time, however an unexpected break in the roofs forced her to make a jump onto the ground. While those chasing after her had yet to catch up, there seemed to have been others waiting for this very moment, torches facing her and spears lowered in her direction. Lyssa counted a good twelve guards armed with spears, alongside a trio of archers standing behind them, their arrows already nocked and ready to fire.

Lyssa cursed, as she spread her arms wide, as if enticing her opponents into an attack.

They easily complied with this, as five of the spearmen rushed at her, three arrows whistling past their charge, flying straight towards Lyssa's head. Lyssa ducked slightly, moving one of her arms into the path of the arrows. Instead of simply using her armor to deflect them, she chose to catch the arrows mid-flight, much to the surprise of her adversaries, as she then threw all three in a bundle at one of the spearmen's torsos, the power of her throw easily finding them lodged in his gut as he collapsed in a howling pain. The other spearmen didn't hesitate however, these four continuing their charge as their spears found themselves homing in now on Lyssa's chest. Lyssa, instead of dodging, charged straight into the spears. As the came close to connecting with her, she divided the durability of the spears by half four times, as they then simply broke upon impact with her. Slashing with the backside of her arm, she slapped all four of the soldiers in order across their faces, as they too were halved, this time in constitution, as they collapsed to the ground, seemingly unable to move. The remaining seven spearmen eyed Lyssa wearily, as another volley of arrows came at her. She swatted them away this time, as she now heard shouts coming from behind her, the first mass of soldiers seeming to be close to catching up. Lyssa dove towards the group of spearmen, who instinctively dodged, and coming out of her roll Lyssa then burst into a leap onto the next rooftop, having made enough distance to reach it now from here. By the time the rest of the soldiers arrived in the small clearing in the buildings, Lyssa was already running atop the roofs once more, turning her head slightly to make sure that they were still chasing her, which they were. In this moment, however, her guard was lowered to the front, where suddenly a forceful blow connected with Lyssa's chest, it being a punch sourcing from a heavily armored knight, his armor much more fit to one and gleaming under the moonlight beautifully, unlike Lyssa's which was dark and somewhat unsettling to the sight.

Lyssa bounded back, though she caught herself before straying too far, now inspecting her foe. They stood a solid foot above her, an arm outstretched, having just landed a punch on her, and a square helm adorned with horns, a sword resting on their hip. The knight called out to her as she got up,

"Yield knave! Relent here so that we may not come to a clash of arms; Relent here so that you may retain your dignity, and I may retain an unsullied blade this night. Allow yourself capture, and you shall be granted a fair trial and resolution."

Lyssa huffed a laugh in response, responding, "Sorry, but I'm not getting caught here today. If you want to avoid a fight that badly, how about you just let me through?" She attempted to persuade.

"Nay! I serve the King of this land, and only by the extent of my hand! If I were to let thee pass here, not only would it stain my honor, but it would stain the pride of my very nation. Rally thyself Knight in Black, for I shan't tally a second more!" The knight shouted, as he drew his sword and began to slowly advance on her.

Every passing moment the other soldiers' approach drew closer, and Lyssa didn't feel like having to deal with what had become almost a small army by herself. Lyssa drew one of her own two blades to match the knights, opting to select Fury, her black sword that also was currently providing her with the armor that she wore, it being a changeling blade. Luckily, shifting some of it to armor didn't hinder the blade's effectiveness itself in any way, and there was no physical connection binding it to the armor once the armor was made, this black armor simply being able to be retrieved the next time the sword found itself on Lyssa's body, and by her command. Lyssa noted to herself that her current opponent was definitely stronger than those guards she had just fought, judging both by his posture, and his reluctance to near her until he knew her style and capability. She also suspected that he was buying time by prolonging the fight, as it seemed that his priority was her capture. Thus, Lyssa made the first move.

She launched herself towards the knight, her blade drawn back and pointed to pierce a the knight's right shoulder, where he currently held his sword. However before reaching him, she abruptly switched her sword's angle, changing from a pierce to a downwards slash, though to the same location, in an instant.

The knight had braced himself to parry Lyssa's oncoming bladepoint, however had not anticipated her to swap her mode of attack so abruptly, and so late. He awkwardly thrusted himself to the side with all his weight, letting him narrowly dodge the attack as it flew just beside him in the air. He the rose his sword and shifted into an arcing diagonal slash that aimed to strike Lyssa's side.

Lyssa, missing the man's shoulder, quickly swung her sword in a slashing motion towards where he had dodged, however instead of reaching him it clashed with the knight's own sword, the two finding themselves in each others' path. Sparks flew from the connection of the two swords, however this was already a decisive factor for Lyssa. She channeled her devil fruit ability, and proceeded to divide the durability of the knight's sword, as it suddenly shattered into dozens of fragments, Lyssa's blade continuing along it's path and striking the knight's armor. She then divided his armor's durability as well, causing this to break too, and her blade then finally drew blood as it scraped off of the knight's skin.

The knight fell backwards, though Lyssa had little care for delivering a final blow. Instead she gave an acknowledging grunt at her victory, sheathing her sword, as she broke into a sprint, attempting to continue her escape. She ran and jumped from rooftop to rooftop, as she found herself drawing ever-closer to the town's wall, and towards the forest. As she took a step which would lead into her jumping onto yet another roof, she suddenly felt the air itself create a wall that repelled her. She tried once more, however to no avail. Feeling around the air in front of her, she found that she could not pass by it whatsoever. She then tried to move around it, however upon moving to the side she found that she had been boxed in by the hard air, unable to make any distance, this proving true as her escape backwards failed as well, though in her attempt to retreat back she spotted a figure.

This person was no knight, and had no semblance of any allegiance to this nation if they were part of it's armed forced. It was a girl with brunette hair, a katana and a pair of revolvers on her sides. Brunette hair dangled from her head, and she wore a hat that might resemble that of a cowboy. It was Sol Oriana, who was yawning tiredly as she looked at Lyssa and commented lazily,

"You know, I dunno if you've got balls or if you're just an idiot, but you probably shouldn't make a fuss around town when the navy came in this morning for a routine patrol. Though it is pretty late, maybe you had a bit too much to drink?" Oriana asked nonchalantly.

"Did you trap me in here?" Lyssa asked bluntly and simply, though internally she was processing the information at incredible speeds,

*"The Navy came in today? I don't remember hearing or seeing anything about that, though I guess since I came in the morning and found an inn immediately maybe I just missed them by sheer coincidence? Also what's up with this wall of air, I cant put a dent in it at all. And who the hell is this chick? Is this some sort of devil fruit power? Some obscure martial art? I'm just trying to get the hell out of here!"*

"Hmmm....yea I did. Honestly since you haven't killed anyone yet, I was tempted to just let you run away, though I really just couldn't ignore the armor that I see in front of me. You've been a pain on my desk you know, there's been a few incidents involving you just this past couple weeks. Do me a favor and be a dear and let me take you in? Acrid." Oriana replied in a soothing, yet still tired, voice, trying to persuade Lyssa to just let herself be caught as well, though supposedly this would see her caught by the navy rather than some backwater kingdom.

Lyssa would honestly prefer the former, yet neither found themselves in a list of things she actually wanted to do, though. Lyssa, in a moment of creativity and perhaps ingenuity, channeled her devil fruit ability and used it to divide the power of the walls of air. She first tried to reduce the physical strength of the hard air, which didn't work. She then tried to reduce the resistance of it against her movements. She felt as if it was somewhat malleable now, however not nearly to an extent from which she could escape. She then thought of something strange, this being a cloud. She had once divided a cloud in half just to see if it would work, and it seemed that this random trial of the past aided her here, as she focused her power in an attempt to sever the air itself. This worked extremely well, as she could feel the wall before her crumble. Lyssa was about to run away again, however she figured that the girl now facing her wouldn't just let her, especially since it seemed that the marine knew who she was. Lyssa looked up into Oriana's eyes, who had a face that was mildly impressed.

"Wow, now you don't see something like that everyday. In fact, I think I can name on one hand the amount of people who could even do something like that in the first place, at least the way you did it anyways. Well, guess that means it's time to wake up then. You look strong enough, so don't blame me if I use you as a bit of a dummy." Oriana said, as she made one last comment, "Oh, and let's not do this in the city, I really don't want to cause all too much damage you know."

Lyssa flashed a grin, though it remained unseen as her helmet stayed as ominous as ever, "I think I'll do just as much damage as I want if you're going to act like you think I'm just some weakling." She responded, as she drew Fury and prepared to attack Oriana, or defend against one that she believed would soon come.

However Oriana's eyes widened, blinking in what could only be amazement, "If you don't mind me asking, where did you get that sword?" She asked with great curiosity, her eyes fixated on the blade.

"None of your damn business." Lyssa replied simply, as she took the initiative and lunged forth at the currently unarmed marine, moving in a manner that echoed her attack against the knight earlier, looking to strike Oriana's right shoulder before switching into a downward slash upon the same location.

Oriana let out a huff of air, saying in a solemn hum, "Sorry Acrid, or whatever your name is, somethin' like that ain't gonna cut it." As Oriana's hair turned red, and she chanted **Boda Hyena**. Oriana made no effort to dodge Lyssa's strike whatsoever, and instead used Lyssa's voluntarily gap closer against her, making a clapping motion towards Lyssa's unguarded torso with her palm, which would reach her before Lyssa's blade would manage to connect. The impact from the attack in itself would leave Lyssa disoriented at best, but most likely paralyzed especially due to the presence of her armor, which would reverberate the strike.

Lyssa caught on quickly, however would not have time to rescind her slashing blade. Instead, she quickly drew her other sword, activating it immediately and striking at Oriana's left hand with an electric shock, though unable to dodge Oriana's right hand. Because it was no longer an in tandem attack, Oriana's strike simply launched Lyssa away instead of maintaining it's intended effect, however Lyssa's strike with Fury naturally missed because of this as well. She crashed into another rooftop, though she felt no pain from the strike. She looked up to see if Oriana had taken any damage from the shock.

Oriana's hair seemed to be a bit messier, but aside this she acted wholly unharmed. She called over to Lyssa, noticing that she seemed less damaged than Oriana had expected, "That was a pretty good reaction! Guess I should've looked at your other sword." Oriana said without much sense of danger, as her hair began flowing in the air, even though there was no wind to be felt rolling by. "Well...I really don't want to have to deal with that clump of guards getting in our way..." Oriana said in a slightly sharper tone, gesturing broadly over towards the ever-nearing torches and spears, "How's this. If you manage to last another minute, I'll write this one off for tonight, though I'd come after you in the morning. How's that sound?"

Without waiting for a reply, Oriana broke into action. A trail of light gas emitted behind her, as it suddenly ignited, propelling Oriana towards Lyssa. Oriana placed her right hand on the hilt of her sword during her flight, quietly chanting the words **Ur Doja**. She let gravity do the rest, as she descended upon Lyssa's position, her blade ready to strike the moment she entered range, to unleash the force of multiple draw-swings in one.

Lyssa watched as Oriana descended. She wasn't entirely sure if it was sheer confidence in her abilities, or if Oriana had some other trick up her sleeve, as aside from the initial infernal burst, Lyssa hadn't noticed anything odd about Oriana's posture. It simply appeared to be a normal strike, or preparation for one, rather.

*"Maybe she's confident in her draw?"* Lyssa thought to herself, as she readied both of her swords, angling them together, and pointed them so that the sharp edge of the blade faced Oriana's approach. While it would mean getting into Oriana's blade range, Lyssa was actually hoping for this, intending to strike at Oriana's blade once she drew it, so that she could divide the durability of Oriana's blade in an attempt to break it on connection. This proved to be a mistake, however, as Lyssa had no way of being able to predict the speed at which Oriana's blade would travel.

Within a fraction of a second of Lyssa entering the range of her blade, Oriana immediately released all the compiled **Skips** from her technique, as her sword launched at blinding speeds towards straight towards Lyssa's chestplate, at an angle where Lyssa's own swords would not fully be able to defend against it. In preparation for the blow to land, she additionally shot forth a burst of hydrogen in an attempt to ensnare Lyssa's left leg with it.

Lyssa was caught completely off-guard by the sheer speed of Oriana's strike, trying to move her blades up to protect herself, though in vain, as Oriana's strike crashed against her armor. One of the features of Lyssa's changeling blade was that when the armor created by it takes a certain threshold of damage proportional to Lyssa's own ability to take a strike, it "collapses," returning to it's parent sword if nearby, or else simply falling off of Lyssa onto the ground and forming itself into a small cube-like pile. Oriana's attack seemed to do the trick, as the blow reverberated through Lyssa's body, causing her armor to capitulate and return to her sword as Lyssa fell to her knees in both pain and shock, something she hadn't felt in quite some time now.

*"Who the hell is this person? Most of the marines around here have been way weaker than...her..."* Lyssa thought to herself, as she then finished collapsing, as she passed out.

Oriana fell lightly in front of the fallen Lyssa, frowning as she idly picked up Lyssa's swords, muttering aloud, "Well that wasn't as fun as I thought it was gonna be." In a plain voice she complained, "I got out of bed for this? Well, I guess she was causing trouble either way. Hmm..."

Oriana sheathed Lyssa's two swords on her own hip, as she released the snake-like manifestation of gaseous hydrogen she had attached to Lyssa's leg, it disappearing without it's purpose ever being revealed, as Oriana pulled out a Den Den Mushi. She chattered into it,

"Hello? Hello...yea hi, can you bring over a pair of seastone handcuffs? I caught the person who was making some noise, you should be able to find me from the horde of useless chainmail soldiers bantering below me. Yea, ok, yea I know. Mmm, no don't report it immediately, I think this one can help us out with something. Yea, thanks."

Oriana hung up as she sat down on the rooftop, drowning out the sounds of the guards who had finally reached the vicinity of where the two were, and looked at Lyssa. She playfully stuck out her tongue, *"Yea, you'll be a big help..."* Oriana thought to herself, as she leaned back and looked at the moon, starting to hum a discordant tune as her hair turned back to it's brunette color, and she relaxed herself, mildly satisfied with her results.