Training Battle ((Open Challenge))

[DragonKnightMatt]

((-.- Ok, ok, I learned my lesson, no storyline here. Anyone up for a training fight against me?))


Judges...
1. Kari'Heart
2.
3.


This will be a non-continum battle.

No god-modding or powerplaying

Character Info...

Name: Matthew Kasin Sikado

Title: Dragon Knight

Age: 18

Race- Dragon/Human Hybrid (Human appearance, hasn't learned the Dragon transformation yet)

Appearance: Matthew Sikado is the current Dragon Knight Captain of Castle Ysteven in his time. He wears a cloak when he travels around, concealing the Arikiru Royal Armor (Blessed with the Dragon of Light in his time) underneith...Here's a picture of what the armor looks like.. Matthew's 5'10, has brown hair that's held up by a blue bandana. On his left wrist is a special device created by a Machine Professor of his time, called a Time Band, which allows him to use the Forbidden Magic, Time Distorter. His right hand was decapitated in a major battle as the Castle, but his special Dragon/Human blood restored it and covered it in bronze dragon scales to restore it.

Personality: Having an strong sense of justice and honor, he assists others in dangerous situations. He doesn't like anything that deals with evil or darkness, and believes in the light that everyone carries in their hearts, but when push turns to shoving, he is always ready to stand his ground.

Weapon(s): Winged Sword - A sword with a set of wings on the pommel, the blade exiting between them. Wind Power is fused with this weapon and wielder can use Aera and Tornado.

Shield: Dragon Blaster Gauntlet - An orange Gauntlet in the shape of a Dragon's head. Acts as a Shield and lets him tap into his Dragon Powers easier.

Armor: Arikiru Royal Armor - Armor blessed with the light of the dragon, Arikiru, and is given to the highest member of the Dragon Knights of Ysteven Castle.

Special Abilities: (May learn more as time passes)

Human-side Techs
(Sword Style) Fang Blade - An down and up slash attack.
(Sword Style) Spinner Strike - A rapid spin attack.
(Sword Style) Raid Storm - Multiple stabs lash out at the opponent
(Sword Style) Dragon's Fury - Concentrating his energy to the tip of his sword, he can send a powerful shockwave along the ground.

Dragon-side Techs
(Magic Style) Dragon's Cure - Heals most injuries. Recovers health by 40%.
(Sword Style) Wing Blade - Creates metal wings on Matthew's back, enables him to fly. If used in an attack, they pierce enemy defences and they dispel after attack.
(Magic Style)?-Arrow - Allows user to shoot available elemental Arrow from a Mystic Bow, generated by the Dragon Blaster.

Magic
(Magic Style)Aera- Mid level wind attack
(Magic Style)Tornado - If successful, can critically hurt enemy. 50% chance of hit.
(Magic Style)Fireball - Matthew's first spell. Launches a small rally of fireballs.
(Forbidden Magic) Time Distorter - Sends target(s) to a new era in time and space. High chance of transformation to match the area sent to. Drains life as well as magic to use if not mastered. ((Unavaliable on 1-1 or team matches))
(Special) Flarewave - A powerful fire attack, normally used by fire dragons. Uses the power from the Dragon Blaster to amplify attack strength

Biography: Not knowing his true origins, Matthew was taken in by the Captain of the Dragon Knights of Castle Ysteven, Richard Sikado, and raised in the way of the Dragon Knights when he was seven. At the age of nine he had already learned how to fully master a bow. Richard saw potential in him and soon began training him in the art of the Sword. Seven years went by and he was already at the same skill level as his father.

Over time, he had made some friends, a Cross Knight, Ryu Suibete, a Mage, Leion Suibete (Ryu's Brother), a Professor of Machines Jacub Carano, and a Dragonet (Human Girl/Dragon Hybrid) on Dragonis Mountain Rei Misato.

One day, as Matthew was coming back to the castle from the Dragonis Mountains, a sentry ran to him and told him that an assassin of the Dragon King to the north had kidnapped Richard and Leion while he was gone and the castle was under attack by a Harpian (Human/bird hybrid) controlling the Dragonets. The Dragon Knights fought bravely. Atop the northeast tower, Matthew was battling the Harpian Commander, Marid. He ended up losing his right hand as he foolishly left his guard down, the Harpian biting it off. Before the final blow was givin to Matthew, a strange light fell from the sky, shooting the Harpian far away from the castle. Fearing the light, the Dragonets also fled.

A few days have passed since then.

After recovering from the attack, Matthew realized that he was the last member of the Dragon Knight squad, the others were slain in the fierce battle. Joined by Ryu, Jacub and Rei (She wasn't part of the attack, being the only one to escape the Harpian's mind control), he travels on to the Castle Freilgn, where the Dragon King resided. Before they left Jacub gave him a special bracelet, should he ever need to use it. A furious battle was fought, but the Dragon King sealed Matthew inside a Time Distortion Field and was wisped away through time and space.

When he woke up, he found himself in an unfamiliar area. Worried for his friends, Matthew starts to proceed onward to learn what he can to return home, and decides to lend a hand to those who need it.

 

[Aceflyheight]

OOC: Well, I'm not all that experienced here in the Challenge forum, but I'll take you on. I just got through making a brand new character, that I needed to try out anyway. I'll edit this post with my character later.

Edit: Here's my character.

Name: Shintou Rashan

Gender: Male

Age: 24

Race: Human, who is now corrupted by darkness

Appearance: His original appearence, before he became corrupted: He had dark brown hair with crimson highlights and crimson eyes, that seemed to scare people sometimes if they had never met him before. Shintou wore what looked like a blue and red T-shirt, in which the sleeve on his left arm stopped a few inches above his elbow, but the right sleeve went all the way down to his hand. He also wore black jeans that had a chain on the outside of the right side pocket. He also wore some kind of necklace around his neck that had two wings- one angelic, one demonic that seemed to spiral around each other. He also wore a red glove with blue trim on it that covered his right hand. Because of the glove on his right hand and his long right sleeve, his arm was hidden completely and the mark of darkness couldn’t be seen.

His current appearence: His hair looks completely crimson with some strands darker than others and has grown out somewhat, so that it now partially covers his face. His pupils have also darkened from crimson to pure black, with the iris parts now crimson instead of white. He still wears the same necklace, even though it is now red from all of the blood that Shintou spilled when he tried to take the Hitokiri blade for himself. Shintou has also gotten rid of his glove on his right hand and the mark has now disappeared as well. He now wears a dark blue traveler’s cloak that covers most of his body, down to his knees. He has the Hitokiri sword in it’s original sheath located on the left side of his body and has the Tensoujin in it’s sheath on his back, under his cloak. He has swapped his original t-shirt for a black windbreaker jacket and a red shirt with black stripes on the sides of it.

Personality: Shintou used to be the loudmouth/funny person out of the group of his friends, but he was also known as the leader of the group. He would always be the one who kept track of the others in the group and help keep everybody out of trouble.

Now most of the time, he keeps his emotions close to him. He has been known in battle to sometimes let his emotions direct his attacks in battle, but most of the time he fights without any emotions at all. He has his own skewed sense of honor that he had before he became corrupted, and will not a strike an opponent that can’t fight back.

Heart: His heart used to be almost full of light, but as the darkness began to corrupt him, all of the light except for a little spark was covered up by the darkness.

Weapon(s): Keyblade: Dark Harbinger. Looks similar to the Oblivion keyblade, but is mostly a dark red color and the handle/hand-guard has spikes that go around the outside edges near where a person holds the keyblade. He wielded the keyblade before he was corrupted by the darkness, but now he is unable to wield it. But he is hoping that someday, he might be able to find his way back to the light and wield the weapon of his heart once more.

Sword: Hitokiri. (Hitokiri means ‘manslayer’ if I’m not mistaken) A legendary sword that is slightly curved toward the tip of the sword and has two curved spikes on both sides of the tip. The handguard is based off of a standard cross guard, but has two blood red spikes that curve to form a circular handguard instead of the normal cross guard. The sword’s blade is completely black, and there seem to be tendrils of darkness or possibly black fire, flowing off of the blade and disappearing into the air. The blade itself also seems to radiate an aura of darkness off of it, and seems to weaken people that have light in their hearts if they stay in close promixity to the blade for too long.

Secondary Sword: Tensoujin. A sword forged from the remains of an angel that died in a fight with a powerful demon. The sword has been said to defend the wielder against possession by demonic spirits and is an effective weapon against demons. The sword itself has a slightly dull white hue to it, even though it still seems to have an aura of light and hope around it. The blade itself has an almost elegant look to it and the handguard was actually made from one of the angel’s wings.

Abilities: Darkness Abilities: He can use an array of dark powers, because of the Hitokiri sword. At present, he can form a shield using the darkness tendrils that flow off the blade. The shield’s strength is based off of how bright or dark the area is. The brighter the area is, the weaker the shield is. The shield can normally survive up to several attacks if the area is dark, but if the area is bright or light, then the shield may only be able to block one attack at most. He can also utilize the darkness in the sword, and launch it like an energy wave. But, just like the shield, the darkness wave becomes weaker with more light around.

Light Abilities: He can also use a few light powers, because of the Tensoujin sword. Because of the darkness in Shintou’s heart, his light attacks are naturally weaker even when he uses them in bright areas. He can cause his blade to brighten for a second and swing it, causing multiple spheres of light to head straight for the enemy. Because of the fact that his light attacks are weak, Shintou mostly uses this technique as a distraction.

Sword Attacks: Shintou can utilize several diferent sword attacks. Darkness Rise- a simple horizontal slash, followed by a powered up vertical slash. Anatersau- a technique in which both swords begin to glow and Shintou’s speed is increased, but his strength suffers a lot.

Biography: Shintou used to be your normal kid, growing up in a small town, and playing with his friends. He was the one that you could always count on to be there when you needed him the most and was always the one who kept the entire group together. But, he had something that other people didn’t: a black mark on his hand that he always kept hidden. The mark would sometims burn and hurt for no reason, but Shintou would just ignore it and cover it up, so nobody would see it. One day, a short time after Shintou’s 15th birthday, the Heartless attacked his small town and he received the keyblade known as Dark Harbinger. He used the keyblade as well as the power of the mark of darkness, even though he didn’t realize it’s true power back then, to defeat the Heartless.

Then, like the other keybladers who had come before him, Shintou began his own journey from world to world, getting rid of the Heartless. On each world, the mark of darkness would continue to become stronger each time he would battle the Heartless and his heart would become darker. After traveling from world to world, he finally met up with a priest by the name of Icarus, who explained to him about what the mark was. The mark was actually the physical form of the darkness in Shintou’s heart and it would become stronger if he continued to fight the Heartless. Every time that the mark grew stronger, the darkness in Shintou’s heart continued to grow and his ability to fight with a keyblade quickly diminished.

Even though his ability to use a keyblade began to grow weaker, Shintou resolved to continue fighting the Heartless until the very end. But, what would he do once he lost the keyblade? Shintou pondered the question to himself until he finally realized that he would have to use another weapon. Shintou continued his journey until he met up with a famous weapons merchant, who said that he had the perfect weapon in mind. The merchant went into the back of his store and came out with a sword, that seemed to radiate with light. Shintou inquired about the sword and the merchant said that the weapon, Tensoujin, was made from the remains of an angel and would grant the wielder protection against possession by demonic spirits as well as being an effective weapon against demons.

Soon after receiving the Tensoujin, Shintou completely lost the ability to wield the keyblade and the mark disappeared as well. Shintou tried forever to get the keyblade to come back to him, but his heart had become too engulfed in darkness. Shintou then made a vow to try to find a way to wield the keyblade one more time. Later on, Shintou decided to become a mercenary until he could find a way to fulfill his vow. Shintou then went on to become a fairly famous mercenary, until one night when he was relaxing in a bar.

Shintou overheard two people talking about a legendary weapon that was forged from the darkness itself and was combined with the fires of Hell. Shintou inquired about the weapon and the two men told him all of the details that they knew. By the end of the discussion, Shintou had found out where the sword was located. It was located somewhere in Hell and protected by Satan himself. Supposdily the altar was located in the ninth and innermost circle of Hell on the lake of ice. Shintou also found out about a secret path that could get him into Hell, without getting him killed even though it was probably more dangerous than going to Hell dead.

The next day, Shintou left the town that he had been staying at and began to head for a place called the Crylina Temple. A few days later, Shintou found the temple and went inside. As he arrived in the main chambers, he noticed four stone warriors at each corner of the room and a wierd symbol in the center of the floor. As Shintou walked up to the symbol, he noticed that the four stone warriors began to move from where they were at and they proceeded to attack him. Shintou looked back down at the symbol and noticed that it was beginning to glow, and noticed glowing lines leading from the symbol to the stone warriors. Shintou then fought the warriors and won a short while later, after a long grueling battle. Shintou then noticed the glowing lines recede back into the symbol and saw the symbol begin to crack and fall apart. As the last pieces of the symbol fell apart, a portal appeared in its place. Shintou walked up to it and realized that he had found the other passage way. Shintou walked into the portal and felt the temperature around him increase a lot.

Shintou had finally got to where he wanted, he was now in the first circle of Hell. Now, he just had to get through eight more. Shintou then began to fight the demons who were in each circle. In each circle, Shintou was asked for help, by the poor souls who were being tortured by the demons. Shintou wanted to help them, but he was alive and they were dead. There was no way for him to help them, because you can’t help the dead. After a while, Shintou finally made it to the ninth and final circle, the lake of ice. As Shintou walked out on the ice, he noticed that some people were only frozen up to their waist, while others were frozen completely. Shintou then noticed in the middle of the lake, half-frozen was Lucifer, or as he was called now, Satan, Prince of Darkness. Shintou noticed the six wings beating against the ice and the three gnashing mouths, each with a body inside it. Shintou then lowered his eyes to a spot on the ice in front of Satan, that had a black sword, in it’s sheath, embedded in it.

Shintou walked up to the sword and noticed Satan try to slash him with a claw, but Shintou just ducked and the claw flew over his head. Shintou just laughed a little and said outloud, mocking Satan, that that was all that the Prince of Darkness could do. Shintou pulled the sword and sheath out, and put it under his cloak. Shintou then looked back up at Satan and a smirk appeared on his face. Shintou then muttered under his breath, that there was no way that Satan would ever get his soul or this blade back. Shintou then turned his back to Satan and began to walk away, as he heard Satan’s growling and roaring. Shintou made it back out of the innermost circle and began to go through each circle in reverse this time, until he got back to the portal.

Shintou walked through the portal again and appeared back in the temple. Shintou looked back at the portal for a second, before he shrugged his shoulders and looked down at the weapon that was on his left side. Shintou then noticed a few engravings on the side, that identified the blade as Hitokiri, meaning manslayer. Shintou then pulled his cloak around him tighter and left the temple, as he decided to wield both swords until he could regain his keyblade.

Character Theme: Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Green Day

Battle Theme: Frontline by Pillar

Quote: "If you want to know the truth, you must have the courage to accept it."

 

[DragonKnightMatt]

((That's a bit better, right? So we just wait for a judge then? ))

 

[Aceflyheight]

OOC: Yeah, that's a lot better. You catch on quick, kid. As for judges, I think that I've got a couple of people in mind, that could do it.

 

[Story Keeper]

OOC: Well, I'm not all that experienced here in the Challenge forum, but I'll take you on.

Okay, same thing I'm not that skilled when it comes to here. But I'll be a judge, maybe this will help me get rid of that dang case of writer's block. *sighs*

 

[Aceflyheight]

OOC: Thanks Kari. And I hope that you get over that writer's block, we haven't got the chance to settle our battle yet, and I think that Shadows is waiting for you to post your character in his and your battle.

 

[DragonKnightMatt]

((Ok, here I go...)

The wind blows softly as the sun shines overhead. A traveler in a brown cloak was walking down a beaten path with a forest to the right and open lands to the left with a few trees dotted about it. He was heading to a ruin that he heard about from the village that he was staying in. According to the rumors, there was a magic power there and he believes it may be a key to his return home. The traveler feels the breeze and lowers his hood to feel it on his face, his blue bandana flowing softly as he walks. It felt relaxing. He had been traveling for some hours now and thought it would be best to rest for a moment.

The traveler, known to his village as Matthew Sikado, finds a sutable tree with some shade and sits to rest his feet. He takes out a water flask from his side belt and sips it as he leans up against the tree, the soft winds making the time more comfortable. Before he knew it, he was already asleep.

((Sorry for it being so short... I didn't want to make the mistake of putting too much like the last two...))

 

[Aceflyheight]

OOC: Pretty good start, but I'd suggest trying to post in past tense. Most people prefer to post in past tense, because it makes the battle easier, but I'm okay with it.

IC: A man who was only known as the former keyblade master, Shintou, was in the top of a tree, dreaming about the past until he woke up a few minutes later. For the past few weeks, the dreams of the past wouldn't allow him to forget about what happened. He had slaughtered demons, allowed his darkness to take him over, and now didn't even have the courage to face his friends. How could he ever face his friends again, after what he had becomed? Had he become something akin to a demon?

Shintou pondered these things as he kept his eyes closed and leaned back against the trunk of the tree. Shintou then heard somebody on the ground below him fall asleep against the tree that he was in. Shintou opened his demonic eyes and looked down at the person that fell asleep. 'What's a kid like him doing out here?' Shintou wondered to himself as he sat up on the limb. 'I wonder who he is.' Shintou thought to himself as he jumped off of the limb and landed on the ground next to the boy. Shintou walked over to the boy and noticed what looked like a piece of metal, reflecting the sunlight from under the cloak. Shintou then noticed that the boy's right hand was covered in bronze dragon scales. 'So whoever this kid is, he's definitly not pure human.' Shintou reasoned as he pulled his cloak's hood, over his head, so keep the boy from seeing his cursed eyes. Shintou then put his right hand on the boy's shoulder and tried to wake him up. "Hey kid, wake up. It's not a good idea to sleep in the middle of a forest, where somebody could kill you without any trouble." Shintou said as he tried to wake the boy up, gently.

OOC:Sorry about my short post as well, I'm great at rping but I suck at making long posts. LOL

 

[DragonKnightMatt]

(( -.- I need to work on that better... I think that was my problem before with my first two...))

Matthew woke up to someone shaking him gently.

"Hey kid, wake up. It's not a good idea to sleep in the middle of a forest, where somebody could kill you without any trouble." He rose his head and slowly opens his eyes. He didn't realise that he had fallen asleep, and was just inside the forest line.

"I must have fallen asleep again... hmm?" He looks to his right and sees a hooded figure in a long, dark blue cloak and from it's position of the hood, was looking right at him. It was dark on the inside so he couldn't see the person's face too good.

"Oh, hello. Was this your spot? Sometimes I just get lost in the wind when I'm resting and fall asleep." Matthew said to the person with a grin.

 

[Aceflyheight]

Shintou grinned a little to himself under his hood. 'This kid's a lot like I used to be. Well, at least before I lost the keyblade.' Shintou thought to himself as he began to stand up somewhat. "Yeah, hello. Well, as for this spot, my spot's up above you, so don't worry about it." Shintou said.

Shintou then began to think of something. "So what's your name and why are you out here?" Shintou asked as he then began to wonder the kid's hand. "I've got another question as well, if you don't mind. I was wondering what happened to your hand. I was wondering if you had dragon blood in you." Shintou said as he took a few steps back and stood against a tree trunk as he wondered what the kid would say in response to his questions.

 

[DragonKnightMatt]

"Ah, how rude of me. My name's Matthew Sikado. I was heading toward a ruin that I heard about in the village that I was staying in when I decided to rest a moment." Raising his right hand, the bronze scales glittering in the rays of the sun. His face became grim. "I lost it in an important battle against a Harpie commander who was raiding my home, Castle Ysteven, and a nearby village. We won but... she bit my right hand off before she retreated." Matthew starts to get back up. " As for this 'hand' so to speak, as I was healing it had grown onto me. According to the healer that was treating me, she said it was my dragon's blood that restored it, so yes I'm half human and half dragon." He dusts himself off some as he stands in front of the tree, looking towards the blue cloaked person, his sword pommel showing from the cloak as he rests his bronze hand on it.

"What's your name, by the way? Why did you want to know that?" Matthew asks.

 

[Aceflyheight]

Shintou nodded under his hood as he listened to the kid, Matthew, explain about his hand and everything. "As for my name, it's Shintou. As for why I wanted to know, I was just curious." Shintou said as he lowered his hood and looked at Matthew with his demonic eyes. Shintou's eyes then moved a little and saw Matthew's bronze hand on the pommel of his sword. "You can move your hand away from your sword. I don't have any reason to fight you, unless you want a fight." Shintou said as he showed both his hands, to prove that he wasn't reaching for his weapons.

"The reason why I'm in this forest right now, I'm on my own little 'redemption' journey to find something that I lost a long time ago. I probably won't ever find it, but I'm going to keep trying anyway." Shintou explained, about his reason that he was in the forest right now.

 

[DragonKnightMatt]

When Shintou lowered his hood, Matthew had gripped his pommel out of instinct. His eyes almost caught Matthew off guard, but he said that he wasn't looking for a fight, so he decides to lower his hand. After hearing out his story, Matthew turned back towards the direction that he was heading. Not too far away should be the ruins he was looking for. Was Shintou looking for the same place?

"You're also looking for those ruins?" Matthew asks him, trying to not look him directly into those demonic eyes again. They made him feel uneasy the first time he looked at them, like looking into the eyes of a beast. Matthew didn't want to cause any unnecessary trouble during his trip.

((Am I doing good so far?))

 

[Aceflyheight]

OOC: Yeah, you're doing great so far. The only thing is, is that since this is supposed to be a battle topic. We need to start the battle sometime soon. Edit: Well you don't have to use this idea if you don't want to. We could wait on the battle until our characters get to the ruins, and then have the battle be over the magical power or whatever.

IC: Shintou averted his eyes and looked off somewhere in the distance for a second. Shintou then heard Matthew asking him, if he was looking for the ruins. "Yeah, kind of. I heard about some kind of magic power that resided in the ruins and I decided to investigate. I'm wondering if it might be able to help me." Shintou said as he fingered a blood stained necklace with his right hand.

"I guess that I'd better be on my way. If you want to come, since I'm guessing that you're wanting to go to the same ruins, then come on. Oh and these eyes of mine, don't be scared of them. It's just what happens, when you can't control your own power." Shintou said as he kicked the ground a little with his shoe and raised a little dust.

 

[DragonKnightMatt]

"Wait..."

Matthew still didn't quite trust him. "How do I know that you won't keep the object for yourself? You haven't quite convinced me that I can trust you." He unsheathes his Winged Sword and points it at him, the angel wings on the pommel seeming to glow with the faint sunlight that got through the trees. "Since you have similar eyes as...my enemy from my time." He did in fact trust him... but he wanted to be sure that Shintou was true to his words, but as soon as he was finished with what he wanted to say, he stood there, seeing what he would do. Attack, or assist in his search...?

 

[Aceflyheight]

"You don't. I'm helping you because I want to. With the way things have been going for me, that magic probably won't be of any use to me anyway." Shintou said as he pulled out his angel sword, Tensoujin, and pointed it at Matthew, but had the tip slightly pointed towards the ground. "So who was that enemy of yours? If it's Satan, or somebody aligned to him, then the next time that you see him, tell him that Shintou is still alive." Shintou said as he laughed slightly at the absurdity of this kid fighting somebody aligned with Satan. Shintou then put his sword back in it's sheath as he finished laughing.

"When we get to the temple, we can decide then if we trust each other. But I'm trusting you right now, because I'm certain that you're not aligned with Satan." Shintou said as he left himself wide open, to see if he could trust Matthew not to attack him.

 

[DragonKnightMatt]

Matthew smiled as he puts away his sword and steps away from the tree.

"My enemy isn't that demon you said, but is a Dragon King that only wants power. He's the one who sent me here to get out of his way and is the reason why I need to return. To do that I need this thing fixed." He motioned with his left hand. A bracelet was on his wrist with a blue gem in the center, almost like a big ring, but the gem was cracked in the center. It was almost invisible with his gauntlet on. "You did good. Most people with an evil intent would have struck first." He started to head back to the path. "You said you were coming right? It shouldn't be too far from here."

((I didn't realize that it made a second page or I wouldv'e posted sooner...))

 

[Aceflyheight]

Shintou nodded as he heard about why he needed that power and about his bracelet. "I understand." Shintou said as he thought about what kind of power that magic in the ruins could be used for. "Well, even before I became corrupted, I had my own sense of honor and I still abide by it even now." Shintou said as he heard what Matthew said about people with evil intent. Shintou then heard him say that the ruins couldn't be too far from where they were. "I know. I saw some kind of object off in the distance, when I was still up there." Shintou said as he pointed up to the tree where he was. Shintou then began walking as well, on the same path that Matthew was.

OOC: It did? I didn't even notice. I guess it's because 10 posts equal a page for you.

 

[DragonKnightMatt]

Matthew led Shintou to the path that he was walking and continued down it. Strangely enough there were no monsters on this trail for some reason. Like Matthew said, it didn't take them long to reach it, but they ended up re-entering the forest. Statues of strange creatures that Matthew had never seen before stood between some aged stairs leading up to the top, where most likely the magic object was. The statues were bird-like in appearance, but of a different breed of some kind.

"These are the ruins? Looks like a small temple to me." Matthew said, looking around the area.

 

[Aceflyheight]

Shintou looked around at the temple ruins around them. Shintou then noticed the bird-like statues. 'These statues seem familiar, but where have I seen them before? Was it in Hell or somewhere else?' Shintou wondered to himself as he took a few more steps and noticed some stairs that led to the top of the temple. 'Usually, if a temple is designed to hold some kind of artifact or something, then it is usually at the top most or lowest part of the temple. In this case, I'm guessing that it's at the top most part.' Shintou decided as he heard Matthew mention that the place looked more like a temple than ruins. "Yeah Matthew, but it doesn't really matter if it's a temple or a bunch of ruins. Let's go ahead and investigate and see what the magic item really is." Shintou said as he began to walk up the stairs and then stopped and waited for Matthew to catch up.