[Exam] Face Yourself! (final test, first exam)

It had been a long and bothersome day, but the final test for the remaining contestants was just about to start. Admin stretched his limbs a little and cracked his knuckles. “You did well climbing up here...” He offered them a smile. “... but some other people were faster than you.” Swinging his long cape back he pointed at a group of people, that looked surprisingly familiar.

Across from the people that had reached the top of the building stood another group, just as big as themselves, a closer look actually showed that it was exactly the same people. It was like looking into a mirror.

“I think we should see which group is worth to pass this exam, you or you.” He laughed loudly, letting himself fall down on a chair, before he explained the last trial properly: “All you basically have to do is fight these guys and win, obviously each one of you will fight your own doppelgänger.” He waved and a group of clones stepped forward, within that group were Rajan's, Iris's and Catherine's, along with three other contestants. “Don't worry, you won't be fighting up here, it would be too risky. In prepared a nice battle field for each of you.”

With that speech over he clapped his hand together and suddenly the twelve clones and originals were gone.

Iris Winter found herself in the middle of a forest, greeted by her look-alike clone.

The battle field for Rajan Iberian was an empty bridge, much like the giant bridge in Yorknew City, his clone smiling at him from the other side.

Lastly Catherine Redfen found herself in an empty Library, where somewhere between the book shelves another Catherine was lurking.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

The test is simple: Beat yourself, your clone has exactly the same attributes as you and can use the same Nen and Aura. To make it a bit more difficult on you, this will be a real battle, which you have to survive at least five posts and each of you will act out your own actions half of the post and decide which actions the clone of someone else does the other half.

Iris will decide what Rajan #2 does, Rajan will control Catherine #2 and Catherine picks the actions of Iris #2.

It is fine to make the part of the clone's actions short, just give the information about Aura and skill use, like in a proper advanced combat.

Lastly to make sure the fight does not drag on forever, thanks to you being tired from climbing and the clones being in a similar state, both sides lose 2 Resilience, 10 Health and 10 Aura after each post.

From the moment Rajan saw the dopplegangers he made peace with the fact that he was going to die here. If it truly was a perfect physical and mental copy there was no way for their battle to end under them simultaneous annihilation. When he became aware of the existence of nen and the possibility of encountering a perfect clone of himself he became painfully aware that by nature of his fighting style the only possible outcome was death for both versions of himself.

However resignation to death was not resignation to defeat.

Facing down his doppleganger alone on that bridge Rajan felt a strange somberness set in. He had always thought he would face his death laughing with a witty one liner but now he could not think of a single word appropriate for the occasion. He took a step back with his right foot and crouched slightly preparing himself to spring forward into action. No matter how many scenarios he ran through his head no way out presented himself. He would counter his own every move at every turn, until it reached that final moment. That last desperate charge spear in hand with its blade leveled at his heart, while an identical spear was held in an identical hand leveled at an identical heart.

This was fear. But with that fear came an understanding. If Rajan remained true to his ways, remained true to his training and his skills, he would die. He did not even consider the possibility of survival. However he did not turn away. Despite his inevitable death he pushed off his back foot and charged himself head on. Despite his fatigue he refused to run at anything short of his top speed. Blink would be gripped in both of his hands as he held its shaft close to his body in anticipation to strike out as soon as he was close enough. Leaving nothing behind Rajan mustered his nen to speed him onward into battle. The distance he traveled was not great but it felt a life time, a life time spent in anticipation to drive his blade into his clone's heart.

_________________________________
Health - 90 / 10 to per post decay (Max 100)
Aura - 50 / 70 conjuring Blink, 10 to stat enhancement, 10 to per post decay (Max 140)
Usable Aura - 10
Strength – 15
Precision - 10
Resilience - 13, 2 to per post decay
Speed - 30 (20 base +10 stat enhance)

Technique Used:

Blink:

_________________________________

Meanwhile Catherine #2 would be far less straight forward. She was in a complicated situation and as curious as she was about the peculiarity of her own existence, she acknowledged the danger she presented to herself. Considering the nature of their shared ability whoever got the jump on the other would gain a distinct advantage. Knowing everything her opponent would do was a powerful advantage but what would happen when they also knew everything she would do? It was delightful paradox Catherine decided to put to the test as she began to sneak through the library in search of herself. She did her best to predict her alternates own search tactics and account for them as she progressed.


______________________________________

OOC: I'm not too terribly used to Advanced Combat or rping as a non-idiot so please bare with me going forward in this test. Additionally I will try my best to be receptive of any critique, so if I'm doing something wrong please throw a pm my way.

Health - 100 / 10 to per post decay
Aura - 90 / 10 to per post decay
Usable Aura - 20

Strength - 10 - Rank 1
Precision - 10 - Rank 1
Resilience - 18 - Rank 2 / 2 to per post decay
Speed - 10 - Rank 1

As expected, there was no deliberation, no thinking, no finesse in what happened. There was not even much delay. Rajan saw fit to charge almost immediately. Some would call it brave, others foolish. The Imitator did not care either which way, after all he was essentially the same.
But gladly was the first step not his to take. He would boldly strike after getting his opponent where it was easiest: right up close. Of course that meant dealing with the charging attack being performed toward him. To do so, he'd need the same spear that would pierce him in a matter of moments otherwise. Channeling aura, the tool appeared in his grasp, ready to bring the two men right into the danger zone, face to face, not an arms length between them.
The spear held no chance of withstanding the impact and while that was not planned, it would not matter. It immediately sublimated into thin air, the aura partially returning to it's owner. But now that the fake Rajan hat dealt with deflecting a harsh blow, the Original hat gotten dangerously close. While it would probably not decide the game, the hit he was about to deliver would give the Impostor a fair head start. Almost in the same motion used to wedge his former weapon in between him and the prongs of the other spear, he reeled back, preparing to utilize more aura as to empower the blow to the jaw that was about to happen.

Health: 90 / 100 (-10 Post decay)
Aura: 108 / 140 (-50 Blink, -10 Boost, -10 Post decay; +38 Conjurer refund)
Useable Aura: 10 / 10

Strength: 15 + 10 (+10 Boost)
Precision: 10
Resilience: 13 / 15 (-2 Post decay)
Speed: 20

- Weapon N/A -

Spoiler:

Iris did not even get to properly what happened, before she found herself apparently whisked away from the top of the building and standing in a crowded forest. But as it seemed, the trees were not the only ones around. About a short sprint apart from her, the just presented lookalike stood, waiting. The green-haired girl hated this immediately, while she had assessed her strengths and weaknesses plenty of times in the past, it made her none the better at covering or exploiting them. Right now she was not even sure she could effectively punch someone, after having just scaled a building.

Nevertheless there was no way to avoid this situation so the best thing to do was probably just go and hope it was over before she passed out entirely. There was no way she could overpower an exact replica. If she could, Iris would have preferred to wrestle her to the ground and hope for the best, seeing how the Nen she had mastered so far usually required waiting for the right time and some setup, so it would have been entirely useless for the fake. On the other side, there was little point in using it herself, she did not expect something modeled after her to be running head first into a trap of which she knew how it worked.

With that decision made, the original set into motion. After three steps she was up to running speed, hoping to get a good first strike in, that would put her ahead quickly. It was not exactly Iris' strength, but regardless she tried to remember and focused her Aura with the intention to strengthen the strike she was about to deliver to something looking eerily like her own face. Or if that failed her ability to hand-eye-coordinate, at least the much bigger target of her torso.


Health: 100 / 110 (-10 Post decay)
Aura: 90 / 110 (-10 Post decay; -10 Boost)
Useable Aura: 10 / 20

Strength: 10 + 10 (10 Aura Boost)
Precision: 10
Resilience: 10
Speed: 10

- Weapon N/A -

- Tech N/A -

Slightly hesitant Catherine looked around in the library. A place she had visited multiple times in her past. It did not take long to grasp the situation, she was either moved to the real library, or, which was far more likely, the man holding the exam had created this place, much like he had created her doppelgänger.

It was smart to quickly get a better read on the situation and even more so figure out a way to beat herself, but rushing into anything was too dangerous. Instead she remained at the position, without taking a single step she instead listened to her surrounding. If she was fighting herself then it was clear that the other one would also act very careful and not approach her hasty. She knew her own combat abilities and she knew that a direct attack would only result in a stalemate. If her copy was just as exhausted as her a stalemate was the last thing she wanted. They both had to conserve their energy and it was clear that the first to strike had to either overpower the other quickly or would certainly lose.

_____________________________
Health – 100/110
Aura – 90/100
Usable Aura - 20

Strength - 10 - Rank 1
Precision - 10 - Rank 1
Resilience - 20 - Rank 2 (18 after this)
Speed - 10 - Rank 1
_____________________________

Meanwhile in the newly created forest battlefield stood the copy of Iris, eager to just get this over with and slightly happy to see the original approach her so willingly. Spinning herself around towards the rushing footsteps she focused her Aura, something she and the original clearly were not very good at, but it was good enough to put up a mark shift defence, yet just defending was not enough she pushed another bit of Aura into her fists to welcome the incoming strike with a counter punch.

_____________________________
Health: 95 / 110
Aura: 90 / 110
Useable Aura: 10 / 20

Strength: 10 + 5
Precision: 10
Resilience: 10 + 5 (8 after this)
Speed: 10

Closed, going to hand out EXP to people that send me a message if there is still interest.