Round #1, Match #1: Ryan Green vs Sekhmet Ramiles

[Nightmare Darklight]

(OOC: If you don't post for three days without a warning, you get a strike. If you get three strikes, you forfeit. If you get two strikes in a row, you forfeit.)

As you enter the arena, you are immediately greeted by cheers of spectators. It's a small arena, square, with marble stone. Obviously not meant to match the grandiose nature of the coliseum, but it'll have to do. Around you are rows upon rows of seats, filled with spectators, watching your every move.

Your opponent stood in front of you. The magic barriers that would protect the audience from you two went up. The barrier was a unique thing. It was in fact, powered by the audience, strengthened by the mana each member had, little or small. Not to mention that the thing was blessed by Princess Zelda herself. There pretty much wasn't a force in the world that could shatter this thing, not without godlike power backing it up.

With that under the way, it was time to roll. The announcer brought the attention of the world to you and your opponent.

"And for our first round, we have... The Human Champion Ryan Green versus... The Indomitable Sekhmet Ramiles!"

Another voice chimed, apparently there were two people, so this fight apparently had some form of commentary. Yay.

"From what we know of these fighters, it looks like it's going to be a bit of a battle of skills."

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BATTLE TIME, GOOOOOOO!

---

HUMAN CHAMPION
RYAN GREEN

VS

THE INDOMITABLE
SEKHMET RAMILES

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[Ryan Green]

Well, here he was, the opening match of the fight. He hadn't expected his name to come up so soon, what with it all being randomized, but then again since it WAS all randomized he had just as much chance as anyone else to be in the starting round.

Giving his opponent a respectful nod Ryan gestured to the gathered crowed before speaking to her directly. "So, how do you want to do this? Fast and hard and bloody to get it over with fast? Or slow and easy and showy to give the crowd their money's worth of a display?" This was a tournament after all, it was kind of their job to make things flashy and exciting for the paying costumers. "I personally have no preference, I'm just here to have some fun and fight the good fight, you know?"

[Sekhmet Ramiles]

The grin on Sekhmet's face as she entered the arena was vibrant, as she took in the roar of the crowd, her lance held firmly in one hand, braced against her shoulder, as her regal blue sari swished about her well honed body. Hips sashayed as she walked, turning to look about the crowd, blowing a kiss now and again to the odd male member of the crowd, winking at them occasionally. She squared off against her opponent for the duration. She stood, feet shoulder width apart, planting the peculiar weapon into the ground, cocking her head at the announcers comments. Well, at least they recognised exactly who was here. And exactly her talents at any rate. Skill was very much her thing.

Oh I intend to be showy regardless. But unlike you, I'm here to win. I have fun in everything I do anyway.

She began to twirl the lance, slowly at first, pacing around to the left, the roar of the crowd signifying their acknowledgement of the start of the bout. A grin continued to split her face as she accelerated the whirling of her blades, her eyes never leaving her opponent. She knew little about him, save for his name, and who he was. Human Champion? She would put that title to the test.

Since there isn't much else to say... Lets dance!

With little warning, she began to sprint full tilt towards Ryan, before pirouetting in mid-charge, her one-handed grip sliding down one side of her polearm, jabbing forward, utilising the superior length of the weapon, with her natural sense of timing in an endeavour to land the first blow, her other hand acting as a counter-balance for her lunge.

[Ryan Green]

What? No pleasantries? No pre-battle banter? No Trash-talking? These people didn't seem to have an ounce of showmenship in their bodies! Well, whatever. He had offered her the method of choosing how they went about doing the battle, and she had chosen fast and hard and bloody. Nothing he could do about it now except for respond in kind.

And so he did, her superior reach was offset by his own superior speed, making any advantage the two of them might have had over the other moot. His sword was in his hand in a flash as he twisted around the thrusting motion of the lance, stepping closer to get inside the women's guard. His counter attack was fairly simple by his standards; once he was within her guard, he continued moving forward as if she wasn't even there, sweeping his leg towards hers in a kicking motion to bring her feet out from under here and land her on her back, whereupon if that was successful he would thrust his sword down in to her belly.

It was lucky they had healers on hand, otherwise someone could get killed.

SUMMERY
Sidestepped the thrust using his x2 speed, he attempted to kick her legs out from under her, following up with a belly stab if successful

[Sekhmet Ramiles]

She was actually kind of relieved she hadn't run him through on the first blow. Would have been a very anti-climactic start to the tournament. Not least, she wanted to play a bit. Not enough to threaten her chances, but enough to have fun. Put on a show. Some people had reputations to uphold. A first round drop was NOT going to look good on her resumé. Regardless, her opponent was clearly a capable fighter himself, swaying out of the way of her precision lunge, before darting into her guard, heedless of her posture. He probably didn't count on her flexibility though.

A smirk lit up her face as he aimed to sweep her leg from beneath her, allowing it to give, her other leg sliding backwards, performing a full splits, before rotating through into a lateral position, rolling backwards, springing backwards into a crouch, his impaling strike missing cutting a gash down her spine by a few inches, causing a roar of appreciation. They clearly enjoyed the spectacle. A feral, predatory look was set in her eyes, her smirk bordering on a snarl, assuming a loose guard.

I'm quite glad I wasn't able to decapitate you from the off. Will make things far more interesting.

She began to stalk around Ryan, lance twirling, an almost casual action, the two sets of twin blades flashing on each turn, remaining slow enough to follow, as she stepped round, low to the ground, eyes locked on Ryan once again, planning her course of action, before stepping in towards him, maintaining enough space to react, but not so much as to delay when her strike would, with any luck, hit home.

You know, I've always found humans to be most entertaining opponents. It's the stubborn attitude. Refusal to give up. It makes good sport.

Her smirk remained upon her face, as she sought out an opening. No such luck. Yet. She stepped in, faking a jab with the lance, grip sliding through again, before yanking backward, swinging the weapon two handed in a vast arc, rotating her body with it, finishing with her more customary wide grip. She paid no heed to whether her initial attacks had worked or not, side-stepping towards his left side, sweeping the blade up in a vicious diagonal arc, aiming to hamstring Ryan, before pivoting into a reverse lunge, followed by sweeping attempt at a trip, crouching impossibly low, her hips once again displaying their impressive levels of flexibility.

Oh it was such good fun!

[Ryan Green]

Had Sekhmet actually been able to follow through with her multi-step attack, Ryan would have been damned impressed with the skill and dexterity she displayed. While it was natural for female fighters to try to play to their supposed strength of greater flexibility, the actual inherent physical differences between the two genders as far as combat went was actually negligible. The only actual thing that matters was how you trained your body to move, and it was apparently the style for women to try and show off their bodies while dancing around and fighting.

Ryan never would understand that aspect of women much. The others were all easily puzzled out with at least five minuets of thought, but that one still had him mystified.

Anyway, back to combo interruptions.

When Sekhmet thrust her weapon at Ryan again, he moved forward to deflect the blade with his own sword. Continuing his forward motion, he brought up one hand and attempted to deliver a punch to Sekhmet's throat to try and collapse her windpipe, suffecating


SUMMERY
Interrupted combo, attempted a throat punch to suffocate her.

One Luck Point Gained

[Sekhmet Ramiles]

So much for elegance. How inconsiderate of the man. She spotted the move, swatting the dummy-jab away with a clean and simple parry, fist swinging toward her throat. She turned her head at the last minute, being struck in the jaw instead of the throat. It stung for a moment, and a red haze began to descend. That familiar crimson mist that overcame her almost every time someone struck her. It tinted her vision, everything coming into sharper focus. Something more than adrenaline. Battle-lust. It was pure, unbridled, battle-lust.

In the split second after his blow connected, she had let go of her staff, clattering to the ground, her left hand vicing the crook of his elbow, before stepping inside, shrieking wildly, insults and curses tumbling from her mouth, an inhuman, blood-curdling tirade [Taunting Shout], the crowd watching with rapt attention, as she drove her elbow into his armpit, upwards into the shoulder, trying to use the extension of his arm to maximise the impact.

She dove to the side, rolling over her discarded weapon, picking it up deftly as she stood, before pivoting on the spot, dropping into a crouch again, teeth bared, sharp exhalations of breath rushing from her mouth, twisted into a snarl. The punch he had delivered had made a solid contact with the bottom part of her jaw, and had weakened it slightly. Nothing new to her. It throbbed, painfully, but she blotted it out, focussing on the matter at hand, forcing her way through the mindless desire to kill, seeking out a means to the end. She settled on a course of action.

She feinted left, sidestepping slightly, before restepping back inside, before surging forward with blinding speed [Gerudo Charge], much to the approval of the crowd, letting out another hair-raising battlecry as she swept in past Ryan, her blade flashing as she aimed to, once again, cripple her opponent, sweeping the blade in a short, powerful motion, combined with her charge, towards the mid-thigh of his leg, a vicious attempt to at least slow him down [Mortal Strike].

(Taunting Shout Cooldown: 3 posts remaining
Gerudo Charge Cooldown: 2 posts remaining
Mortal Strike Cooldown: 2 posts remaining

Summary: Ryan's strike weakened her jaw slightly. Sekhmet counters with vicing of elbow joint, attempt to fracture or dislocate shoulder. Followed up with a hamstring attempt at high-speed

Taunting Shout. The single most useless ability in her arsenal at the minute xD)

[Ryan Green]

Disappointed that the blow had missed its intended target, Ryan was thankful that he had invested in some armor before the fight. Well, technically he had had the armor long before he was the Human Leader, but he was still glad that he had decided to wear it for the Tournament. Protection was useful, it stopped your arm from getting broke'd, yo.

Then she was cursing and spitting foul language everywhere, and just generally making a lot of noise. If they had decided to take this fight slow and fun, he might have made a comment here about how the only thing women could do was talk, instead of fight. Something deliberately provoking to rile her up and make her careless and stupid, but frankly she seemed to be doing that all on her own.

Unfortunately that anger would work both for her, and against her. Her charge would strike true, leaving him with an ugly gash in his leg and likely hampering his mobility for the next few minuets. Thankfully his own tolerance for pain allowed him to push through it, brining his sword up above his head, he reversed the grip on the blade and attempted to plunge it down in to her back, aiming to sever her spine.

SUMMERY
Armor took the majority of the punch, little damage inflicted. Leg took a nasty cut, tried to sever Sekhmet's spine in retaliation.

[Sekhmet Ramiles]

Sometimes, Sekhmet wondered whether she was in the right line of work. Not was not one of those times. The feral smile upon her face was evidence of that, growing wider as her blade bit into flesh. She could feel the change in the way the blade moved, slowing as it slashed through cloth, skin, the thin layer of fat, and muscle. Her complete intoxication with battle made her so taken up in this, she actually laughed at the sensation. Unfortunately, her laugh was short-lived.

In at least one respect, she was fortunate. The motion of her slashing down at his thigh had rotated her sufficiently as to throw off his counter-swing so as to not be lethal. But the blade still continued inexorably, piercing through the flesh of her abdomen, fortunately for her not striking any major organs, before rupturing through the other side. Screaming in pain, frustration, and sheer rage, she continued the pivot, pain fuelling her already berserk fury as she twisted further, each movement sending sharp peals of agony through her midsection, twisting and splitting her weapon into it's two parts. She swung one down at his shoulder, the other arcing at his neck, before reversing her motions, scissoring back at him with both blades aimed at his chest, becoming progressively more reckless, violent, dangerous, and to the crowd, more entertaining.

(Summary: Abdomen pierced, wound bleeding, torn wider from her pivot. Retaliation with strike to shoulder, strike to neck and scissoring strike at his chest.

Taunting Shout Cooldown: 2 posts
Gerudo Charge Cooldown: 1 post
Mortal Strike Cooldown: 1 post

Taunting Shout threat modifier fades.

Thought I'd make the posts shorter, just to keep things flowing from my end. And we all love a bit of violence xD)

[Ryan Green]

With his leg damaged like that Ryan would have to rely less on mobility to avoid damage and more on sheer combat efficiency. In other words; avoiding two strikes with one move. The attack on his head and shoulder was barely avoided by twisting and leaning backwards. However the head strike sliced off a portion of this hair, sending a lock of it tumbling to the ground and in to the hands of creepy fangirls.

Not best way to get a quick trim, but it was definitely better than the alternative, wouldn't you think?

With the twin strike avoided, Ryan focused his attention on the scissor strike coming for his chest. As his grip on his blade was still inverted, the best he could do at the moment was interpose the weapon between the two, effectively locking all three weapons at a point of immobility. Therein they entered the classic stalemate, whoever pulled back first would leave themselves open to a retaliatory strike, and likely become all that much more wounded. Ryan had the advantage due to his hight granting him better leverage in a battle of strength vs strength and his tolerance for pain allowed him to largely ignore the injury he had gotten. However, instead of simply trying to overpower the Gerudo women, Ryan instead brought up his axe in his other hand, swinging it in an overhead strike in an attempt to clever Sekhemet's head in half.

SUMMERY
Barely avoided the twin strikes, blade locked the scissor strike. Used other hand to try and cut Sekhment's head in half with an axe.

[Sekhmet Ramiles]

This guy certainly had guts, she'd give him that much. And he was pretty quick. She'd cloven men in twain with that particular strike before. Still, she bled, but it simply fuelled her almost berserk rage, even as he swayed out of the way of her first swings, which gave him an impromptu hair cut, and interposed his blade between her vicious swing. She smirked as he reached down for another weapon, an axe. He swung for her head, an intelligent decision, all things considering.

Despite the wound to her side, she responded with all the grace and precision as was expected of a mercenary, and of a Gerudo warrior. His sword, fixed in place by the recurve of one blade, was pushed aside by the sudden parrying action she made, as she swung the other weapon upward, catching it in the space between the twin scimitar-blades of her half-staff, twisting the weapon in her hand, and pulling the axe head to the same side she had pulled the sword.

She countered by driving her heel at his wounded leg, before attempting to wrench the axe blade from his grasp, hoping that the combination of the comparative weakness of his leg and the sudden movements would cause him to either lose the axe, or fall to the ground, before pivoting back out of the close melee, assuming a loose stance, tearing a long strip of her sari off, wrapping it tightly around her midriff to stem the bleeding.

(Summary: Parried attack to head in combination with moving his sword out of the way. Heel strike to wounded leg, before disengaging while trying to disarm.

Taunting Shout Cooldown: 1 post
Gerudo Charge Cooldown: Ready next post
Mortal Strike Cooldown: Ready next post)

[Ryan Green]

Well, he had to admit that she was lasting a lot longer than he had expected. Almost every blow he had given her so far was intended to be a lethal hit, yet she kept right on trucking. It would be admirable, except for the fact that Ryan had been holding back. It was a pride thing, really. A self-imposed challenge to see how easily he could match his opponent before he was forced to cut loose. However, as he was dead even with his enemy even when she was using her special techniques, Ryan decided that this would be as good a time as any to end the charade.

"Die now." Was his simple declaration of true hostility. (Click)

A split second after he spoke, Sekhment's kick stuck his side, which was all but ignored due in equal parts to his armor and his high pain threshold. Upon taking the hit his left arm, holding the axe, surged with sudden strength, using the her own attempt to disarm him against her to jerk her towards him. At the same time he used his newfound strength to lashed out with his own head, trying to break her nose with a brutal head butt.

Success or failure for the attack was largely optional, as that was merely the opening move. His second blow would come at super speeds, his right arm moved towards her leg, latching on to it and trying to use it as a grip to throw her as far as he could in a kind of Judo move. Should this succeed, he would then throw his axe as hard as he could towards her. With his augmented strength it was likely the weapon would smash right through her defenses and cut deep in to her chest.

Settling in to an agressive stance with his second axe, right arm and sword high, left arm and axe low, Ryan sprang forward at lethal speeds, bringing the sword down in an overhead strike.

OOC
Target Verified. Commencing Hostilities.

Adaptability Unlocked: Strength x2 Active
Fortunes Favorite Unlocked: Two Luck Points Active
Instinct and Intuition Unlocked: Danger Sense Active

SUMMERY
Used x2 Endurance to absorb the hit to his injury. Used x2 Strength to pull Sekhment in to a headbutt with the intention of breaking her nose. Used x2 Speed to try and perform a Judo throw on Sekhment, using her leg as a grip. Used x2 Strength to throw axe with the intention of cutting her chest open. Used x2 Speed to Charge with an overhand strike.

[Sekhmet Ramiles]

The world exploded as his head connected with her nose. The impact flipped her over, landing back first, nose bleeding profusely, her battle-lust broken by the powerful strike. That loss of rage, while it made her head spin, from pain and the disorientation, her nose broken by the impact, allowed her to think with much greater clarity. She was a warrior born. No super-human endurance carried her through the pain. Just sheer grit and determination. She felt him wrap his arms around her leg, levering her upwards. Her new found clarity, no possessed with the mindless desire to maul gave her that split second to act.

As he threw her, her leg snapped forwards, using him as a lever to push from, the momentum rotating her as she moved through the air, causing her to land feet first, sliding back slightly, before driving forward off her front foot, as he began to draw the axe back for what she assumed would be a mighty throw. She smirked, feeling that familiar surge of adrenaline, before sprinting inhumanly quickly towards him [Gerudo Charge], swinging one blade at his chest, the other at his exposed shoulder, hoping to use the extension of his arm to hit home, before scissoring back down in a vicious arc, splitting her strikes, one aiming for his neck, the other for his stomach [Mortal Strike].

(Summary: Nose broken, no longer frenzied, acting clear headed. Levers herself out of the throw, before interrupting his throw with Gerudo Charge, aiming to exploit his extension to cripple him, before attempting to maim him.

Taunting Shout: Ready next post
Mortal Strike: 2 posts remaining
Gerudo Charge: 2 posts remaining)

[Ryan Green]

As far as Ryan was concerned, this fight was over. Sekhmet just didn't know it yet. While it was gratifying to know that he had broken her nose, overall his goal was her death (and/or surrender), thankfully it wouldn't be murder, as the magics in the arena would revive her, but it was nice to know that he could cut loose without consequence.

Luck was with him however as she tried to charge him, the injury to her nose prevented her from aiming properly, as such Ryan was easily capable of intercepting her strikes with his own set of weapons. His axe and sword met her own blades, and rather than simply let it be a blade lock like last time, he continued with a sound kick towards her chest. The super human strength in the blow would rupture her lungs and likely suffocate her. Of course he wasn't about to let her suffer, using his strength once more he surged with power in his arms to throw her off balance, breaking the weapon lock, and following through with a blow to the head, hoping to decapitate her.

OOC
Spent one Luck Point to avoid taking damage, justified by Sekhmet's broken nose obscuring her vision. Kicked her in the chest with x2 Strength to try and crush her lungs, followed through buy a decapitating strike for good measure.

[Nightmare Darklight]

Sekhmet Ramiles, Strike 1!