Calrex

The faint sound of metal lightly clinking against metal could be heard just outside of the kitchen, as if on perfect cue, the bluenette appeared in the doorway, casually raising a hand to wave to the people present. His simulated sense of smell picked up on the delicious scents being produced from the cooking within, giving him both an idea that people would be gathered here, and that it might be soon to settle down with the rest of the guild members for a meal, "Seems like this is the place to be, heh. Looks like we've got another bountiful meal tonight. Did you guys need any help with gettin

The Day Before "Well, things really flew by didn't they?" The Ultramarine Knight couldn't even fully recall the conclusion of the last raid, and now Jacob's Ladder was preparing for scouting the next floor. He wasn't sure if things were moving faster than before, or if maybe he had just grown accustomed to the slower pace that happened in the recent floor progressions. It had certainly bee some time since the frontliners had blazed through the floors at an accelerated pace, but after the events of the past things had slowed significantly, but now it might be a sign they were gaining

As Yona swiftly recovered from his strike, the bluenette's eyes narrowed in focus, "This last exchange will probably decide it. Got to make my actions count." A quick flick of the wrist switched his grip from reverse to standard once as as the bluenette followed his foe's approach, his pupils darting right then left in order to keep track of her movements. In some ways, it felt very similar to his own advance previously, feinting to one side in order to approach with an attack from the opposite side. As she rotated into a spin one more breath left Calrex before he brought his own training

As Yona spoke, Calrex felt a bead of sweat form on the side of his head, "Why do I feel like this is becoming a thing now? I swear at least two people have said that to me previously." "Uh...thanks?" However, something about the flow of the battle had also shifted as a result. Even though it was a passing interaction, there was a brief bit of hesitation in his opponent's riposte. The thrust came in, but the bluenette was able to deflect the strike, bringing his sword between his form and the tip of Yona's bokken. This gave enough of a clearing for him to step forward, lowering his st

As the group of frontliners pushed all the way to the control room, Calrex continued alongside the, making sure to keep somewhat in front in order to help create openings in the guard formations. However, it seemed as they entered where Razwell was residing, a wall was put up before them. Not a literal one, but a wind barrier that seemed to want to push they away. Caught by surprise for a moment, the best the deep blue armored player could do from getting forced off his feet was to hurl his upper body forward, planting the Grand Blade IV into the floor to serve as a post to hold up against the

Thinking back on his recent attack, the bluenette now judged it to have been too risky a move to make. He definitely paid the price for it as he felt Yona's practice weapon impact into his torso, forcing him to take a step back from the force. Calrex's eyes locked forward, aiming to keep track of her movements again. Quickly regaining lock on his opponent once again, his vision kept her centered as she stepped to his left. Unfortunately, while his eyes were able to keep tabs on Yona's movements, his body was not able to follow. The timing of the previous strike had caught him at a moment

As his team's carrier flew into the hangar, Calrex was well prepared for a particular rough landing, at the least due to how the previous parts of the trip went. However, surprisingly, like his previous comparison to a roller coaster, the landing was surprisingly deprived of ricketiness. He weakly gripped onto the outside of the transport before pulling himself upright, "Guys...next time...let's not let Baldur drive..." Hopping out onto the floor of the massive aircraft, the Ultramarine Knight only had a brief moment to get his bearings before Baldur and Hirru were already going to work c

"So, she's a nimble combatant as well..." Right when he had made his counterattack, it seemed his opponent quickly deflected the strike, immediately followed with some swift footwork, seemingly to try and position themselves in a more advantageous spot. It seemed that dueling agile fighters was the theme today. While he had only faced two people to this point, the Ultramarine Knight was curious if there were any other participants who had adopted a more grounded fighting style focused on guards than evasive movements. However, that didn't matter in the moment. The bluenette merely g

Faint sounds effects of menu scrolling could be faintly heard coming from the dojo as Calrex changed from his normal outerwear to the training gear he had decided to don for his regular training sessions. It was still foreign to him to some level. He had receiving the garbs from a brief period of isolation where he had trained with a supposed hermit, the very man who inspired him to take up a multi-weapons form of combat. Now, that seemed like a faint memory. A small sigh escaped his lips as the white cloak draped over his shoulders for a brief moment before he pulled it off, taking care to fo

Back in the real world, roller coasters were a thing of enjoyment. Something to give a thrill to the patrons of such amusements. Baldur's control of the aircraft was something that made the Ultramarine Knight almost want to consider avoiding those should he eventually escape the prison of Aincrad. Were it not for the fitted helm of the Grand Chariot IV, his mouth would have likely been blown back, fully exposing his teeth from the sheer force of the wind. As their trajectory shifted from maneuvering through the streets to a straight up ascent towards the capital ship, Calrex could see som

As Yona took the opportunity to make her first strike, the bluenette watched with calm eyes, sliding his left foot back in tandem with a long exhale. After much time fighting both players and monster alike, Calrex had grown accustomed to the shift in perspective required, although he did struggle from time to time. Instead of watching the path of the opponent's weapon, one had to watch the entirety of their form. That allowed you to pick up on things like subtle muscle movements indicative of things which gave away the opponent's true intentions. Things like a feinting slash. As the strik

@Baldur "Alright, well better due my due diligence first." After dropping off the tea tray he was carrying prior, Calrex scanned the guests, making out his mentor from the crowd, weaving his way through, "Hey Baldur, it looks like there's some more room opening up on the sparring floor. If it's alright with you, it appears someone has decided to challenge me to an unofficial duel. We'll still follow the same guidelines, no real weapons or Sword Arts or all that." After receiving approval, the bluenette made his way through towards the outer area of the sparring section of the do

Parent Threads: NOTE: This thread takes place in tandem with the events of the official Valentine's Day tournament threads. This is a space for conducting duels that are not a part of the officiated tournament, and as such no rewards will be handed out to victors in these duels. All rules for conducting the duels will be the same as for the official threads, as copied below: @Yona "Alright, well here it goes." The bluenette took care to walk along the outside of the current "official duel" section of the dojo as he made his way over to the training weapons rack. After

Time slipped by as things really hit the fan. Gabrandr seemingly utilized most of his remaining power to protect the refugees, immediately followed by everyone piling into the ships to try and launch a counterattack. Calrex found his body moving alongside his fellow raid team members before his mind even caught up. By the time he had the chance to take a moment, he was holding on to one of the handholds inside of the vehicle @Baldur had taken command of, "Wait...so what's the actual-WHOAH!" As the Western samurai slammed on the throttle, hurling the ship into a full speed advance, the Ult

As some of the people he approached accepted or denied the offering, Calrex merely gave a calm smile and a nod. However, the moment was soon quickly interrupted as he heard someone address him, "Hm?" It was another one of the people who had participated in the tournament, and seemingly had lost in the first round as well. There were words flung seemingly towards him, ones that might have been considered pokes at his ego or some sort. However it merely resulted in a slight bit of confusion on his side, "Is what she saying for me...or for herself? Either case I wasn't expecting to have some

"Oh right sure thing." Following the blonde into the guild's kitchen area, greeted with the smell of ramen broth. If he was being honest, just the scent alone was enough to whet his virtual appetite, "Really glad @Cordeliawas able to put all of this together. If there's any left over I might have to help myself to some as a late night snack, heh." A bead of sweat formed on the side of Calrex's head for a moment as @Snow immediately took to assembling a tray and handing it to him, the bluenette giving a nod, "Roger that, I'll see about making the rounds." He gave a calm smile bef

@Snow His eyes continued to scan the participants and their combat movements. There was most certainly a cast array of differing arts on display, some proving to make interesting matchups. It seemed like there was much he could gleam from the bouts. He gave a calm laugh at Snow's comment, referring to the first time they ever interacted "Heh, if only that were the case. Everyone is on the same playing field with these duels, so in the end I was merely lacking the skill. If anything, it probably just goes to show my in-game abilities have been serving somewhat like a crutch. Probably once

@Baldur @Snow @Astralin With his bout completed, Calrex made his way off of the sparring area, making sure to place the bokken he hade utilized back into the rack beforehand. With a small stretch he gave a sigh of relief, "Might not have been a successful duel, but it certainly came close. I definitely learned a lot from it, and the areas where I'm still lacking. Granted, I'm still more accustomed to fighting enemies with mostly predictable AIs, heh." As he approached Baldur and Snow, he gave a wave, "Gave it the best I could, but unfortunately couldn't quite pull through. It was sti

@Astralin As his strike landed true, Calrex kept focused, as this was only one point up from before. He still had to two more if he were to try and claim victory in this duel. This was no point to be getting comfortable. Astralin had already proven herself to be a formidable opponent within the first few exchanges. "Levels and equipment mean nothing in this battle. Right now it's purely our training and experience." His opponent righted herself from the high force blow he had landed, taking a moment as he held his stance for a moment, giving a calm smile and nod. With herself now pre

As Calrex watched the second strike fly forward, aiming where Astralin was originally, the bluenette watched her move in a direction he normally wouldn't expect. From previous experience, normally someone would either avoid the blow by stepping around, or intercept it to stop the attack from occurring. Instead, his opponent seemingly leapt over the strike, "Heh, I guess nimble wouldn't have been giving enough credit." He felt the blow connect with him from behind, the impact forcing him forward. In order to quickly regain vision on his opponent, instead of stumbling the Ultramarine Knight

"Whelp, where one problem ends, another begins. Guess that's kind of been the ever constant flow of our time here in SAO, isn't it?" Walking alongside his fellow frontliners, and in some irony, the very raid boss they were fighting previously, Calrex gave a small sigh that echoed faintly through his helm. After the battle had concluded, the entire group started making their way out towards the surface once again, preparing for what seemed to be another battle that was about to be underway. He took a moment to adjust his equipment, making sure all of the individual pieces were secure

@Astralin "Wow, she's really nimble on her feet. Must've really gotten the hang of utilizing Martial Arts to some degree, or she might even have real world experience." As his opponent intentionally fell backwards to avoid his strike, Calrex's eyes tracked Astralin as he quickly recovered. It felt like there was a brief pause in the rhythm of the battle, one that might have been exploitable, but there wasn't time to be thinking retroactively about what could have occurred. The bluenette engaged the virtual muscles needed to rotate his body back to center, however it appeared the mome

@Astralin As his strike met air Calrex gave a friendly smirk, his eyes quickly scanning his current field of vision to get locked on Astralin's mobile form before he could get blindsided. His opponent had deftly tumbled to the same side his bokken was approaching from. It was a good move, as the path his weapon traveled left the back of his right arm exposed for a counter attack. His eyes watched as her form drew closer, hand bladed in preparation for a chop to come down at him. The attack was met with a quick transitional guard. Bringing his left arm low and close to his right hip,

@Astralin Stepping out into the area set aside for the duels, Calrex gave a calming breath, raising up an arm to rub the back of his neck, "Heh, this is supposed to be a fun match, but dang with all these people watching it almost feels like I'm putting on some kind of performance. Although I'm fairly sure Baldur would have a heck of a time commenting on my swordsmanship regardless, heh. Let's see...I am fighting a player named...Astralin. Alright then." Approaching the training weapons rack his eyes scanned each bokken as he picked them up, determining their size and center of balan

"Hm? Are you sure? I could at least help with handing out the refreshments or something." As @Snow told him there was no need to help, the bluenette gave a resigned nod. It was true, the guild did have more than enough people to assist with moving things around. If there was anything specific they needed his help with, they would have likely come to him in the first place. Adjusting the protective sleeve on his arm, he gave a few more stretches to his shoulders, pulling his arms across his chest to loose the muscles on the back, "Oh nice kimono by the way. Dressed up for the occasion, heh