Duel:Khitti v Vexar, Match 3 of the Titans of Winter 2020 Tournament

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Duelists: Khitti vs Vexar

Duel: Traditional 3 rounds with final defense, 15 minute posting limit.
Stakes: Auto-hit to the winner.
Judges: Barnabas, Daath, and Orikahn

Uncomfortable View

Duelists will have to mind their footwork tonight! If there’s one thing worse than fighting on ice, it’s fighting on a cliff… on ice. One wrong step could send a careless contestant tumbling down to join the many frozen corpses below. Your opponent knows this, surely, but alas, so do the snowflake imps. Word of the fight must have reached them, and a dozen or so of the wee, winged devils have gathered to cast insults, jeers, and projectiles at you. They’ve already been tossing snowballs for a while now, but some of them are beginning to up the ante by throwing rocks, ancient rusted weapons, old frozen limbs, a helmet with the head still inside. Soon, several of them have banded together to throw a mountain goat. Apparently if you get enough imps, they can throw about anything. These antics are sure to escalate as the fight continues, especially now that the little menaces are determined to out-do one another. Look out below!


Vexar || The wisp of frost that had escaped Vexar’s lips with that last quip had not yet managed to dissolve into the frigid air before the man bursts to action, springing into a wanton dash straight for Khitti. The vampire is light of foot, as evidenced by the presence of only a minor dusting of bootprints in his wake, so that even on the slick surface of the snow-covered slopes, his speed is imposing. It is easy to pick up his target, a blazing shroud of red hair painting itself a bullseye amidst the swirling white snow. If it were so easy, then, why had he suddenly lost his vision? Pelted by a deadly accurate snowball slung by a wily imp mid-onslaught, it takes Vexar but a moment to regain his composure, barely missing a stride in doing so. The impact, though perhaps hurting his pride, serves to give birth to an idea. In an impressively limber feat, the charging necromancer bends to gather his own fist-size stone of snow; two fists, in fact. The projectiles are catapulted ahead. Vexar aims to offer the templar the same distraction he’d just succumbed to. Following just behind the frozen flashbangs, Vexar vaults himself into a leaping arc, crashing down on Khitti’s form with a thunderous, double fisted hammer trained on those beautiful crimson locks.


Khitti || In much the same fashion as Quintessa had the night of her own duel, Khitti couldn’t help but laugh at Vexar’s… edginess. As a former vampire, Khitti knew his type well--they were a dime a dozen in Vailkrin after all. “Sure thing, buddy,” Khitti said, finger-gunning at Vexar. The fight began and Khitti was soon pelted with snowballs as well! Rude. Nope, she was done with that already. Seizing Vexar’s distraction as an opportune moment, Khitti whispered a few words to herself, prompting a bright glow of Tenbatsu Kaji’s golden aura. In a flash of blinding holy light, Khitti’s black armor is replaced by rose gold half plate, a gift from Cyris himself, in hopes that the flash would not only hinder the imps briefly, but stop Vexar in his tracks. Unfortunately for Khitti, the flash also left her vunerable and despite that holy light’s attempt to aid her and the unsheathing of her swords, there’s more icy snow thrown at her and soon after, a hammer barreling down onto her! A icy snowball tore a gash through her upper left arm, issuing a few curses from the redhead. “Let me tell you a little story, Vexar. Once upon a time, -I- was a vampire. Once upon a time, some kid set me on fire with holy magic. Here--let me re-enact it for you!” Khitti caught the hammer with the flat of her gladius’ blade, doing her best to push back against his strength with her own. It wasn’t much, but it was long enough for her to get a good grip on her own blade and summon up a ball of holy fire in the opposite hand once she got it free. Where was it gonna go? Right the hell in Vexar’s face if she can manage it.


Vexar scoffs heavily at the dripping sarcasm, his opponent’s lack of respect in the midst of his barreling attack setting alight a fury that manifests itself only as added force urging the head of his hammer onward. He would crush her. This outcome already set in the Harbinger’s mind, it is of course with great surprise that he finds the weapon completely arrested before making contact. Emerald eyes scowl down on their would-be victim in shocking bewilderment, fixated on the parrying blade for but a moment before a brilliant flash grabs their attention hence. Vexar twists and writhes to avoid what is immediately recognized as a most unwelcome torrent of heat and energy amidst the blistering cold. It is to no avail. The rampaging core of energy impacts the man’s armored sternum and detonates, sending him tumbling on a harrowing course towards the frozen crag. He only just rights himself, hands and boots digging yet another course through the frozen tundra, grasping frantically for whatever traction they can find. At last he skids to a halt mere steps from the precipice, standing tall in a smouldering act of defiance. He must quickly duck an incoming barrage of imp-missiles, an entire frost wyrm soaring literally inches overhead that would surely have cleaved him into the abyss. Undeterred, the vampire charges again. Having lost the hammer in the explosive ordeal, he kicks up a dead-man’s cutlass that his unceremonious rolling had uncovered from its frosty grave. A menacing shout prefaces the desperate lunge that ensues, a series of adept strikes sweeping forth to render the arrogant Khitti asunder.


Khitti || “The least you could do is throw something useful!” It’s all Khitti could do to not turn against the imps themselves as they continued their onslaught. A goddamned frost wyrm corpse. Really? Vexar’s soon on his feet again and Khitti scowled in return. Holy flames alight on on her rose gold boots, giving Khitti the much needed boost to meet Vexar and his attack head on as she sprints towards him. Taking the offensive approach instead, Khitti’s own dual-wielding flurry of steel and darksteel clash with, but unlike her fight with Emrith a few years ago, she wasn’t much of a match for a vampire’s speed now. Vexar’s cutlass bit deeply into any leather or flesh it could find, Khitti only being able to stop so many of his strikes. She was going to regret it, but Khitti was once again throwing caution to the wind. Holy flames erupted from her katana, as shadowflames act likewise from her gladius. Using both magicks had already proven costly before, and yet… Khitti was going all out anyway. Tapping into the ballet lessons Lanara had given her, she shifted her method from chaotic flurry to more precise strikes, fiery-booted feet performing an Allégro to keep herself moving. Khitti’d keep on with this, at least, until the goat hit her.


Vexar parries and thrusts, ducks and parries again. The now poetic dance of blades finally wrests an enthralled smile from the Harbinger’s stoic facade. This is what he’d yearned for! As Khitti’s blades alight with the burn of archaic energies, though, a wave of doubt becomes manifest within Vexar’s confident gaze. This old, frozen steel would not likely hold up its end of the bargain. Indeed, after but a short bout the metal cracks and fails, leaving a stump of a pommel in the vampire’s wanting grasp. Instinctively his arms lift into a cross, the ensorcelled bracers so kindly gifted to him by the warsmith Nikola doing well to catch a fatal blow from the templar’s katana at their intersection. The energies from the blade plunge into the enchanted vanguards, thus absorbing most of the fiery shock. The twin blade, however, would nearly strike true as the secondary strike went unnoticed. Moments before it makes a sheath of the Elder’s abdomen, though, a well placed goat sends Khitti barreling sidelong. Vexar nods to a cheering, backflipping group of imps. He glances around for another weapon. Unfamiliar with the cryptic history of the arctic summit, Vexar only just realizes the macabre tale being spun by the littering of weapons and armor strewn about so carelessly. They were fighting atop a glacial graveyard. The skilled necromancer can only shake his head at the comical irony of the situation. Were it his will, an entire army with which to set upon Khitti rests at his feet, waiting only for his command to close in. Alas, he’d assigned himself to not employ magic. As it were, the borrowed bracers on his wrists now had absorbed a torrent of mana that needed to be released. Bringing his hands together, he slams the balled fists into the side of the moment; an absolute behemoth quake erupts, shaking loose snow and ice that had laid dorment for years. The avalanche that follows threatens to sweep both fighters into the icy unknown off the side of the cliff.


Khitti || A goat. A goddamn goat. That was to be the third end of Khitti Herzegler? It looked to be the case as she’s pummeled in the side by the great horned beast towards the edge of the cliff, giving Vexar the much needed time to create his quake. The Goat, The Quake, and The Khitti. It was like a badly written novel--and this novel was complete with a cheesy breaking of the edge of the cliff and Khitti plummeting into the unknown below like Wile E. Coyote. She hadn’t even gotten her brief second of raising a sign to say goodbye once she realized she was done for! That’s really unfair. So unfair, that the ever-familiar ‘bamf’ sound that came with Khitti’s shadow-stepping was heard on the chilled winds that whipped through the area. Fingertips found home to what was now the new edge of the cliff, giving Khitti a moment before she shadow-stepped herself again onto the cliff. “Alright. This is gonna hurt me just as much as it’s gonna hurt you…” One couldn’t quite be sure what Khitti meant by that. Brand would know. She was using her shadow and holy magic within such short spans of time from one another and that was a big no-no. Welp, too late. Here goes nothing! Khitti charged him! With those flames alight on her boots once more, she crossed the distance between her and the vampire with ease and then… she was gone. With another ‘bamf’, Khitti was behind Vexar, twin balls of holy flame summoned up and thrust at him.


Vexar is swept up in the wave of snow and set adrift, coursing towards the same doom he’d just imparted on Khitti, for he had seen her cast off the edge. He could not take pride in his apparent victory, though, as the drifts of ice tossed him about like a barrel of rum fallen overboard in stormy seas. He’d felt as though he consumed the barrel of rum, head spinning from the dizzying, tumultuous, tumbling tirade he was on. Then, as hope was seemingly lost and the gap twixt vampire and valley below drew ever smaller, the ocean of ice simply melts away. Vexar lands, quite daintily, on the freshly revealed firm terra beneath decades of ice. Once again, he finds himself on the very brink of what is now a beautiful waterfall plummeting below. The necromancer turns to find his savior, only to realize the radiant heat that had melted him free was now blistering towards his frame in the shape of two fireballs spawned from holy hell. Again, he shields himself with those bracers, taking the pummeling impact of the bolts head-on. The flames lash out, licking his skin and setting it erupt with boils of torment. As the struggle grinds his burned body ever closer the berm, Vexar is finally able to reroute the fireballs off the cliffside, the encounter bringing him to his knees. He strips the superheated vanguards from his forearms and inspects the severely burned areas, still smoking, and absolutely spent.


Vexar stands, leaving the still red hot bracers to rest cliffside; a testament to how very close he had been to defeat. It had appeared that he’d dove into this conflict completely unarmed (save for a hammer :-P) from the onset. It is soon realized this was entirely untrue. As the Harbinger of Death stalks towards his prey, a single, scarred hand is outstretched, reaching, searching. A crackling web of emerald sparks is all that prefaces the materialization of an impressive glaive within his grasp, a resounding ‘crack’ echoing through the arena to announce its arrival. As the elder bears down on Khitti, the ominous weapon is brought to the forefront as if on display. Tendrils of pulsing energy spiral up the shaft, coursing around the sinister moonblade lurking at its peak and plunging into the steel to recirculate as though blood pumping through a living entity. Vexar smiles as he admires the piece before speaking to the human before him. “I’d like to introduce you to ‘Nyx’”, he announces, the words dripping with chaotic tones. “You should be honored...you’re going to be her first taste of blood.” With a vigor he’d not displayed the entirety of the bout, Vexar sets the glaive to action; the arc of the crescent blade scorches through the air, on a torrential path to cleave the woman’s head clean off her shoulders. A scream echoes from one of the onlookers. At the climax of the strike, the blade simply stops, pressing a threatening indentation upon Khitti’s cheek. A master’s display of control. Vexar simply yet hastily withdraws Nyx, a sliver of blood kissed upon the woman’s face all that’s left in its wake. “Give my thanks to your family for allowing you to partake. It was splendid.” With this he turns to make for the healer’s tent, accompanied by a prideful, arrogant gait. The fight was not over. One of the only remaining imps heaves a final, desperate hailmary of a stone...it impacts Vexar flush below the belt, crippling him in a shockwave of pain. The healers tent would need to come to him.

Winner: Vexar