RP:Gladiator Gauntlet

From HollowWiki

Part of the Festival of Aramoth.


Part of the Silver Oaths Unrelenting Arc



Frostmaw Arena

Misaki prances - yes, prances - into the arena once again! She was eager to battle, now that her wing had fully healed. Satoru followed, holding a bottle of what looked like the warming-up ale from the tavern. Misaki looked around the arena with a bright smile. "Are you ready?" she asked her crossbow. "Perhaps," he replied, "you should drink this though, Mistress, because you don't own a cloak." Misaki put her hands on her hips and pouted at her friend. "I just had one," she said, "if I drink any more, I'll be drunk."


Raphaline is here, at the arena, keeping along the edge to be the commentator for the fights to come!


Kasyr meanders in through one of the entrance's into the arena proper, a somewhat distracted look on his face. Every so often, the revenant pauses, if only to tilt his head off to one side- a look of concentration creasings his features. This ceremony repeats itself a few times before the Kensai abruptly spits something bony off to the side. Well, that, and just finishes picking a bit of meat out of his teeth, if only to finish eating it.


Kasyr ate an unicorn leftovers.


Kasyr dropped 1 unicorn leftovers.


Hildegarde walked into the arena not long after Kasyr, halberd in her hand and short-sword hanging from her hip: Winterheart and Oathkeeper ready for the trials ahead. The knight sighed softly, looking about the arena with interest as she wondered what they might face, what would happen, whether any would die. It was a notion that did not seem to faze the dragon, but then she seemed eerily quiet and still for the moment.


Satoshi, now devoid of her disguising armor from the joust, sits in her usual seat above the arena. The field has been restored to its usual state since the event earlier today, and the stands have once more been filled with an audience eager for blood. The magus lifts her hand, calling for momentary silence. "And now, the final event of the Festival of Aramoth. I give you: the Gladiator Gauntlet! Will our gladiators kindly step forward, please?" Satoshi awaits them to do so before continuing, "This event is not child's play. It is a dangerous, bloody affair, and could very easily cost one their life. You will be faced with five waves, each wave will consist of one or more creatures native to Frostmaw and renowned for their lethality. As each wave progresses, the creatures you face will become more dangerous, and possibly even more numerous, until the final wave is reached. Or until you surrender." The smirk on Satoshi's face suggests that 'death' is considered a surrender. "Whomsoever makes it the furthest will be the victor, which means you are all competing against one another. And yet, you must also aid each other, if you hope to progress forward. The enemy of my enemy, as they say. Are you ready?"


Misaki steps forward into the light, the female giddy and excited. She then turned to Satoru and extended her hands. "Satoru, transform," she said, "it's showtime!" Satoru nodded once, his body starting to be enveloped in shadows. The shadows shrunk further and further as they drifted over to the avian... whic reached inside and pulled out a shiny black crossbow. "You ready, Satoru?" she asked. "Of course, Mistress," he replied, "be careful."


Raphaline watches those advance out into the open, making note of those she knew and others she had not seen fight. "Well, it seems Lady Frost's dancin husband shall be going another round," she looks over to Misaki, "And the avian, who is finally whole and healed. Hopefully she doesn't end up losing anymore blood."


Kasyr draws back his trenchcoat, if only so he can casually rest his left hand upon the twin Katana's that lay sheathed at his hip. Satoshi's inquiry simply warrants a casual salute on the revenants part, before he begins to fiddle with the goggles which rest perched upon his forehead.


Misaki winks up at Raphaline. "It'd take a big beastie to make me fall!" she said with a wave. Which was a sort of indirect compliment to Kasyr hidding in that statement.


Hildegarde twirled Winterheart in preparation for the battle, before tugging on the lion-headed pommel of her short-sword only once. A nod in the direction of Satoshi was all she needed to give, along with a silent prayer that Aramoth lend her strength.


Iintahquohae enters and makes herself comfortable in a seat. Her eyes are kept on the center of the arena while she waits for the gauntlet to start.


Wave One

Satoshi regards the three gladiators a moment more before she simply nods and sits back. Let the wave one begin. The arena's northern gate starts to roll open with a grating rumble, to reveal a pair of Winter Wolves waiting behind it. Their jaws are parted and drip with saliva as eager yellow eyes stare at their three targets. One of the wolves gives a hoarse barking-growl before he rushes forward, swift across the snow on large, padded feet. His companion is only a pace behind. Their eyes are locked on Hildegarde. Even as the wolves charge, a second gate, to the west, opens to unleash a Snow Lion. The large cat leaps forward and roars, loud and fierce. Spotting the gladiators, the lion hunkers down and begins to slink to the left, intending on circling them as he waits and watches... while a third gate, in the east, opens for the final beast: a polar bear. The animal lumbers forward on heavy paws before rearing up to her full ten feet of height, roaring. As she drops down back to all four, the bear begins running, faster than her size should suggest, and headed for Kasyr, as if she intends to shoulder-tackle him.


Raphaline says, "And the silver dragon, and Lady Knight, Hildegarde steps forward as well! Her notable deeds and knightly personality is well known! Shall she be the winner of today?"


Raphaline gasps, "It looks like the gladiators are not only being thrown to the wolves, but there is a giant feline too! You've to be lyin' about all these rows of teeth, it is unbearable!"


Satoshi came here for commentary puns and was not disappointed!


Hildegarde took the nod from Satoshi as a signal for the combat to begin: taking up a stance as the Queen sinks back into her seat, Winterheart held at the ready. At the sight of the wolves and their particularly hungry gaze, the knight frowned some: she hunted bears for a snack in her most truest of forms, a pair of wolves should be nothing. With a small shake of her head and low rumbling growl, the knight internally scolded herself for allowing prideful thoughts to creep into her mind. The smallest stone can stop the raging river, she must remind herself of such wisdom. As the first wolf comes racing forward, the knight steps inward and spins with the grace of a dancer, Winterheart turning in time with her body as she dropped to a knee and swung the weapon out in an arc, axe-head aiming to sever head from body. However, she knew the other wolf had not been far behind and now the wolf was upon her! With a grunt the knight fell back, forearm propped under the jaw of the beast to prevent it from tearing her throat out. Saliva drizzled down onto her face, even more so when the wolf snarled and barked aggressively in her face; jaws snapping in the effort to taste the flesh that was ever so close. The knight growled, curling her free hand into a fist and punching upwards into the chest cavity of the wolf. She had done the same to a bear before, so why not a wolf? Her fist protruded from the back of the wolf, red blood streaming down her gauntlet.


Raphaline yells out to Hilde as her gauntlet goes into the wolves chest, "Finish him!"


Satoshi lets a bit of the bloodthirsty creature beneath her calm surface show as she cheers at Hildegarde's sudden decimation of the wolves.


Raphaline also adds as she sees the wolves fall, "Flawless Victory!"


Kasyr 's maintains his casual posture, even as the largest of the creatures bears down upon his position. In an almost lazy fashion, the Kensai skips back towards the Silver, keeping her towards his back- even as his ursine foe crosses the distance with a surprising degree of haste. It's when it's all but on the verge of reaching him that he finally reacts, a quickly spoken, "Hildegarde. Brace yourself." issued forth before he promptly hops back, and moves to kick off of her and into a flip. A surprisingly graceful motion that sends him arcing above the bear, if only so that he can quickly draw out his Katana and drive it through the creatures body using a combination of their opposing momentum and his strength. It's an altogether gorey display, as neither fur, flesh, muscle or bone are able to halt the weapons passage- leaving it splayed open even as it comes to a crashing halt. In hildegarde's vicinity. Really, between her strength and armour, it likely shouldn't be a problem- unless she's a bit too caught up in her newfound lupine hand-puppet, or the revenant's warning to brace herself hadn't quite been as effective. Either way, the revenant comes to a landing behind it- by which point he falls into a sort of hopping backpedal.


Satoshi's cheer lifts in volume at Kasyr's cleaving in two of the bear.


Raphaline gasps at the sight of the bear being cut in two. Blood was everywhere, and as it skid towards the dragon she calls out, "I hope lady knight gains her bearings in time."


Misaki smirks, adrenaline pumping through her body making her want to cry out in her ecstasy. Fighting was what she lived for. And facing a lion a size and a half larger than her just made it that much more fun. "C'mere, kitty kitty kitty," she said, placing a bolt on her crossbow, "Mommy's got a niiiice treat for you." You could almost hear Satoru facepalming. The lion charged with a roar. Misaki spread her wings, yelling as she charged, pointing her crossbow. POW! She managed to put a bolt right into the lion's left nostril. Misaki rolled out of the way of the charging lion, placing another bolt within her weapon. "Let's go, Satoru," she said, pointing her crossbow again and fireing. "Ye,s Mistress," the crossbow replied as the bolt fired. The bolt split into twenty darts, seeking the lion and embedding into its fur. Just like the darts did with Kasyr the other day, the darts split within the lion's body. It rolled over onto it back and roared in pain as the small blades of metal carved its way through his flesh. Misaki was in a merciful mood around this time, though. She stuck another bolt into Satoru and fired, putting it right through the lion's brain and killing it.


Raphaline gasps at the sight of the bear being cut in two. Blood was everywhere, and as it skid towards the dragon she calls out, "I hope lady knight gains her bearings in time."


Hildegarde had risen to her feet on time to hear the Kensai's command, legs taking up a stance as if she were bracing for some serious impact, dropping the wolf corpse before standing of course. Instead, the kensai was kicking off of her body and flipping through the air, acrobatic skills used to slay the polar bear swiftly and effectively. The knight, luckily, had remained braced and could thus catch the falling corpse of the polar bear: for she had the strength of dragons! With a grunt, she swung the body off and away from their vicinity, eyes glancing around to assess the situation quickly: taking note of how all the threats seemed to have been dealt with in this round.


Raphaline snickers at the irony of the avian fighting the feline. "Guess this is the revenge of the birds. Take out that feline for all bird kind Misaki!"


Wave Two

Satoshi joins the rest of the crowd in the applause and cheers for the successful, and swift, first round. Yet even before the first the cheers have a chance to die down, the gates begin to rumble open again. From the comes.... bunnies? Those can't possibly be bunnies. It certainly -look- like a dozen small, fuzzy white rabbits. Of all the gladiators, Kasyr is likely the one to recognize these creatures for what they are: the Not-Alpaca. Harmless they may appear, but as the dozen swarm forward, it is obvious they are no mere pack of rabbits. Beady red eyes home in on the kensai, as if they know he's seen their sort before. As one, they skitter toward him, and only when they've gotten close do they reveal their very non-rabbity feature: gaping mouths that encompass most of their heads, serving as a house for large chisel-like teeth. These teeth have been known to bite through any material in existence, and the Not-Alpaca have a voracious appetite as they move to throw themselves on Kasyr. As the rabbit-beasts attack, a shrieking laughter can be heard for the western gate, the source being a small flock of Snowflake Imps. Five in total, this troublemaking creatures are all too ready to harass someone. Namely Hildegarde. The knight seems too clean, too pure, for these devilish beings to handle, and so they fly toward her as five dirty white missiles, set to latch onto her face, arms, chest, anymore they can dig their filthy talons in. One strives to go for her hair, wanting to tear at those lovely red locks, while another tries to yank her weapon from her hand and see if it's not too heavy to bash over her head. The third and final gate releases the first creature that actually looks formidable out of the bunch: a Frost Howler. It's quills rattle as they've given a shake, rippling down its back before it's running forward in a ground-devouring lope, homing in on the avian standing over the lion's corpse. The Frost Howler has every intention of tackling Misaki, and trying to latch its powerful jaw over her throat. Any flailing from her to free herself would result in dangerous jabs from that body of quills.


Raphaline furrows her brows, unsure of what those fluffy things are. "Are they man eating bunnies...with fangs?"


Satoshi's lips are pressed in a thin line as she glances at Raphaline. "Worse. Try 'hive-minded, all-consuming swarm of furry death'."


Kasyr s' half-assed hops begin to pick up speed once the Not-Alpaca make their appearance, the revenant having clearly recognized the deceptively dangerous critters. And then he's not hopping, but turning, and then -running- even as they continue to hop after him. Though not the sort of mad dash the Kensai's fully capable of, it's enough to keep him ahead of the critters, even as he makes an arcing path towards one of the Arena walls. Specifically, he's making sure they're not given reason to peel away, and also to ensure none of the others are within his immediate vicinity. It's all too soon before he reaches his destination, something which has him skidding to a halt, if only to whirl upon his heels and slam the blade of his Katana towards that stone surface in a backwards thrust. It's about this point that the revenant's left arm promptly flickers with electricity, even as his pinky and middle finger dissipate into electrical energy- sacrifices to the raw power the Kensai willingly invokes. When the Katana meets the stone, it doesn't skid across that surface, nor break- instead it slides through the wall with unnatural ease. At once, a thunderous crash rips through the area, the likes of which seems to emanate from both the weapon, and the rapidly rupturing rock of the wall, the now lunging Alpaca's finding themselves suddenly faced by a veritable deluge of stoney shrapnel now poised to rip through their numbers. The revenant's not exactly immune, either, as whilst the brunt is focused upon the back of his trenchcoat, the force is still enough to send him firing forward and through the flock, to go skidding across the arena floor.


Misaki raised an eyebrow as a dog with quills started charging her. She bent her legs and jumped up and forward, sailing over the stupid animal. She then flipped, grabbing three bolts from their quiver. She landed and whirled, flinging the bolts at the mutt. They embedded themselves into the beast's behind. It howled, growled, and turned back on Misaki, who was already loading up a bolt. "Come and get me," she said, pointing her crossbow and growling. The beast shot forward, howling. "Now, Satoru!" she yelled, firing. The bolt... sparked? Then it caught fire?! It whipped through the air, splitting into five thin bolts of pure fire firing towards the beast. One ended up in the beast's eyes, in the mouth, on the chest, one on the leg, and the last shot past the beast and embedded itself into the arena wall. Misaki growled, charging. "What the hell are you doing?!" Satoru yelled. The beast was writhing in pain, scratching at its eye. "Eyes are the weakest point of most beasts," Misaki said as she strung another bolt. And so Misaki shot forward, and fired another bolt at the beast... and it pinned the beast's paw to the ground. Perfect. Misaki went right up to the beast and hit it with Satoru - knocking the poor beast out. "...boo," she said, pulling out a bolt and stabbing it through the skull of the mutt. Misaki stretched, looking around. Was everyone else doing okay?


The Snowflake Imps seem to have been victorious in wrenching Hildegarde's beloved weapon from her head and damn near braining the poor knight with it. As the Silver drops, the imps beginning to chitter and laugh, as if to say: we have her now. That is, until the kensai comes skidding up nearby. Hildegarde's weapon is dropped as the imps turn to face him with five sets of teeth bared. There is something about the revenant that seems to rile these imps, and it has nothing to do with the bloody smears that were once the Not-Alpacas. Without warning, the imps lunge at Kasyr, all of them focused on trying to swarm at his face... and why is likely obvious to Misaki, at the angle she is: four of the five have gone after Kasyr, while the final one has hung back, and seems to be focusing on casting some sort of spell. Its hands are rapidly filling with an icy blue flame as the imp's arms are drawn back, prepared to hurl it at the kensai's chest, if it isn't stopped.


Raphaline is extensively caught up in the moves of both fighters, greatly pleased by both. "That was a shocking move by the infamous Kasyr. Always taking a beating for his own fight!" And for Misaki, well, she can't help the grin. "From cats to dogs, it seems like the whole food chain is getting all turned around."


Satoshi bristles, looking as if she wants to climb over the wall and join them in the arena when she sees Hildegarde knocked unconscious. "Kill them, Kasyr! Cook them from the inside out!!"


Kasyr 's in the process of picking himself up off the floor, and blinking some snow out of his eyes when he finds himself promptly under assault. A tiny fist boxes him in the eye, something that has him blinking with even more fury, even whilst the others gnaw upon him, or tug upon his hair and ears. Really, the Kensai's barely even gotten to his feet before one's shifted it's attention from his hair to his goggles- tugging them back with a furious beat of it's diminuitive wings, if only so it can release it with a loud 'snap' noise. The revenant's head bounces back just a touch upon impact, right before it lurches forward, his teeth coming together with a combination of a click and a squelch- the revenant chomping through one of them. Without missing a beat, his hands snap outwards, snagging a pair as they seek to dart away. One's promptly squeezed with enough force that it's body crunches with a sound like ice cracking, before it's discarded and the Kensai begins to tear it's companions wings off. Well, at least until his vision clears up a bit, and he sees a wiggly fingered imp in front of him. Bugger. And that's not even counting the other one, which is currently flying down towards the Katana he left sitting on the arena floor.


Raphaline flinches at the sight of the imps getting squeezed. "Like a tube of toothpaste. Shouldn't of messed with Mr. Frosty's goggles. You just don't touch a man's goggles...ever!"


Satoshi settles down. Slightly. It wasn't a cooked ending for the imps, but still satisfactory.


Misaki could hear a commotion behind her and turns. She sees the revenant fighting the imps, with Hildegarde on the ground. "Oh..." curse word. She charges forward, placing a bolt within her crossbow with a snarl. Without thinking, she charges, firing her bolt at the imp casting the spell. With the large tip on the bolt and the tiny imp, it hardly needed to be said who won - the imp lay on the ground in two. She then saw the other imp flying for the katana on the ground. "Oh, no you DON'T!!" the avian yelled, charging. There was no way in hell a bolt would catch it in time - so she did the next best thing. She flew for the sword herself, aiming a kick at the imp as she did so. The imp was sent flying, and Misaki pushed the sword across the ground towards Kasyr. She then grabbed one of her bolts with her hand and threw it at the imp, pinning it to the arena wall by the wing. "Help me! Help me!" it yelled in it little impy voice. "Yeah. Right," she said, placing arming Satoru once again, "I'm going to enjoy this." She fired the crossbow, watching the tiny body of the imp get sliced in half. Misaki then took a deep breath, holding a bolt in her hand. "...this is too easy," she muttered to herself, "when are they going to bring out the big guys?"


Wave Three

As if hearing Misaki's words, the gate nearest her grinds open. Before it has even opened entirely, its occupant forces itself out from beneath in a flurry of wings and claws: a pair of ice wyverns, not yet fully grown but already eleven feet in length each. Emerging so close to the avian makes her the obvious target as the larger of the two beasts hisses and suddenly lunges, foretalons extended to bring himself pouncing down atop the woman. The wyvern's companion uses this time to scramble to the side and so loop around, hoping to trap Misaki between the pair. Pinned or not, the second wyvern intends to heckle her with a series of quick bites. While the wyverns focus on Misaki, the other two gates have opened, with one spilling forth four more Winter Wolves, all yapping and howling in excitement at a pack hunt. The other gate has released a mammoth with thick, gleaming tusks. The pack and the mammoth are positioned on either side of the arena, with Kasyr and Hildegarde's limp body between them. Yet the animals don't seem to see the kensai. They're attention is entirely on each other. A howl rips through the wolves, for they've spotted their prey, and a challenging trumpet comes from the mammoth, prepared to take on the wolf pack. Head and tusks are lowered and the mammoth charges forward, at the same time that the wolves begin running, a swarming body of fur and teeth determined to taste mammoth flesh. And Kasyr is in-between this deadly collision, along with Hildegarde, unconscious.


Kasyr takes a moment to chew and swallow the mouthful of imp he'd taken, before he let's the rest of the frigid thing fall to the ground. From there, the revenant simply wipes a bit of imp guts off on his sleeve, plucks up his Katana...and promptly takes note of the ensuing chaos that's erupting into the arena. For a brief moment, the revenant contemplates the situation he's in, before he makes a brief flourish with his weapon (to clear the blood off) and slams it back into his sheathe. The revenant's all too quick to shed his trenchcoat, and crouch down beside the 'slumbering silver', Pausing only long enough to flick Hildegarde in the forehead before he scoops his arms beneath her fallen form- and promptly books it. Sure, she's heavy in all that armour, but then, the Kensai's trenchcoat is also a cumbersome object, and he's proven to be swift enough when sporting it. That said, whilst the revenant is in the process of rescuing Hilde, he's not exactly throwing Misaki to the wolves (or wyverns, as it were). To be precise, his exit path is going to take him near the avian, by which point he intends on using one of the wyverns as a stepping stone- to subject it's back to his and Hilde's combined weight. He hardly intends on tarrying however, as he's quite intent on getting her to a place where she's -not- going to get trampled on while she naps.


Misaki didn't think. Adrenaline was pumping through her body more than ever. She dove to the side, away from the wyverns - but in the speed she needed to dive out of the way, she had dropped Satoru in the process. Crap. She rolled sideways on the ground, standing up in a defensive stance to stare at the wyverns, who were now charging. Was this the end of Misaki...? No. Because, with a roar, out of the sky came her new friend, the fire drake Buddy! He had been searching for her all through Frostmaw ever since the Sky Tag event. Buddy shot past Misaki with a loud roar. Misaki grabbed the drake's wing and let herself be brought towards the wyverns - and more importantly, her weapon. Buddy became locked in combat with one of the wyverns, and Misaki jumped off the drake's side to grab her crossbow. "Sorry, Satoru," she said as she rolled, raising her crossbow and shooting one of the wyverns right through the wing. "IT's fine, just focus!" Satoru said, "These things are dangerous." Misaki took a deep breath, narrowing her eyes at the wyvern who was now charging on her with a screech... eleven feet, it was a big wyvern. Satoru, what should I do?" she asked. "Buddy can at least keep the second one busy," he replied, "try using that to your advantage." Misaki nodded, taking a deep breath. She spread her wings to their full extent... and took flight, screeching like and eagle. Buddy managed to tear himself from his opponent, flying after the avian. Were they going to make this into an aerial battle? Apparently so... Misaki loaded Satoru. "Let's get 'em," she said to Buddy, who roared in response. Misaki dove for the first wyvern that came after them, shrieking. Her face was alive - tears from the wind adorned her cheeks, and with her pink hair flying behind her, she looked like some kind of demonic angel. She fired her crossbow at the first wyvern, then promptly and -on purpose- dropped Satoru. "What the hell?!" Satoru yelled as he fell. Misaki grabbed the wyvern by its jaws, promptly pulling them apart so the inside of the wyvern could be seen by her and Buddy. The drake promptly shot a fireball directly -into- the wyvern, making Misaki force the wyvern's mouth closed again, then let ago. Her wing had been caught up in the shot from Buddy, and it was smouldering... "Just as it got regenerated," she muttered, beating out the smouldering feathers. The second, much bigger wyvern was already on them as Misaki grabbed Buddy's wing and got onto his back. "Alright, Buddy," she said, "Show me what you're made of!" she was always happy to have a challenge - and here it was, roaring at her as its companion fell, burning up from the inside out and becoming ashes on the ground.


Misaki finally notices Kasyr, who was carrying Hidle, on the back of the large wyvern. "Buddy, we gotta get them before this can continue," she said, wondering how the hell the wyvern didn't notice them. Buddy growled, shooting past the wyvern. Misaki reached out and grabbed Kasyr by the shoulder, pulling him onto the back of her barebacked mount. "Hold on," she said, "this is going to get messy." She didn't exactly know how, though. She didn't have Satoru with her, and he wasn't exactly in shouting range... She closed her eyes, concentrating. What to do....? She then opened her eyes, looking down at the ashes on the ground. Then it clicked. "Buddy," she said, "beat your wings as hard as you can, onto the pile of ashes." Buddy roared, pulling out of his dive and beating his wings directly onto the pile of ashes. The wind caused the ashes to go up into the air, creating a temporary cover of ash, giving Misaki time to grab Satoru from where he lay. "What the hell was that for?!" Satoru demanded. "I apologize," she said, "it had to be done." She then looked over at Buddy, who was licking a cut on his wing. Then to Kasyr, then to Hildegarde. And she started chewing on her lip. The ashes burned her eyes, but she refused to blink. Any moment now, the cover would dissipate and they'd be exposed to the wyvern above, who was staring at the ashes and waiting for its prey to be revealed.


Mammoth and wolves come together with a cacophony of yelps, bugles, and snapping as if of twigs. Two wolves, taking the brunt of the mammoth's charge, do not get back up from the collision. But their packmates are quick on their feet and already darting around the mammoth with jaws snapping at his feet. The larger beast trumpets, enraged by the small bites, and lashes out with a trunk to take hold of one wolf's throat. The lupine manages a strangled growl before its throat is crushed, his body then hurled in the direction of Kasyr and Misaki where they're cloaked in the ash cloud. This seems to be too much for the wolves, losing more than half of their pack in a matter of seconds, and so they begin to draw back to give the mammoth room. Snorting, the mammoth takes this opportunity to retreat... only to stop, his attention caught by Satoshi's voice. "Lady avian, the drake must leave or you will be disqualified! He is not one of the entered gladiators!" The mammoth squints, trying to find the source of the voice. A glint of movement is spotted, his poor eyesight registered the vague outline of Buddy in the ashes. A rival bull! A bellow comes from the mammoth before he charges forward with head lowered, tusks at the ready to rend this threat in two--and trample anything that gets caught underfoot. Hot on the mammoth's trail are the remaining two wolves, eager for blood. From the opposite direction the second wyvern has also caught a glimpse of its prey, wings folding before it drops into a dive. The gladiators are in for a predator-sandwich if they don't act quickly.



Kasyr 's more surprised at the fact that the wyvern hadn't flinched from the combined weight of himself and Hildegarde landing on it's back, then the ensuing bout of aerial chaos that he had found himself caught in the midst of. Still, the revenant's fairly adept at adapting, which is why he's more than willing to hop over when Misaki moves by- and why he's not quite as screwed when that large cloud of Ash is kicked up. All the Kensai needs to do is tilts his goggles down over to his eyes, the lens serving at once to protect his vision from the debris, whilst also aiding him in parsing out the various figures within the obscurity. Which, sorta gives him a tip-off to the sheer amount of chaos coming towards them. And then it dawns on him- sure the dragon has to leave, but then, so does -Hilde-. Without evening waiting for an answer, the revenant relinquishes his hold upon Hildegarde, effectively sprawling her out across it's back. "Scaley, Book it. Et hold onto her." The revenant doesn't wait, however, instead diving off the dragon and -towards- the Mammoth while he's still shielded by the relative obsurity of the ash cloud. Specifically, the revenant's moving to get as close as he can before he's forced into a slide -between- it's legs. It's during that motion that the Kensai unsheathes his katana once more, the blade singing out a particularily wide arc meant to strike into the inside of it's legs- one accompanied by an additional threat. For even as the revenant's sword is moving to collide into the Mammoths furred limbs, that blade is beginning to darken, the metal growing a vivid cherry red as it briefly superheats. The intentions simple enough, wound the creature in an attempt to cause it to try and attack whatever's beneath it, with the attempted ignition of it's fur to hopefully panic it. Hopefully it'd be distracting enough that it'd remain in place long enough for the wyvern to meet it. And, even more hopefully, the Kensai's slide will end with him behind the mammoth. Which, spares him tramplings in favour of wolf maulings.


Misaki grips Satoru tightly as she sees Kasyr go off the challenge the mammoth. "Sorry, Buddy," she said to the drake, "go up to the edge of the stands... above everyone. And make sure you don't ddrop Miss Hilde!" Buddy was obviously reluctant to leave his rider here, but he did as he was told. Misaki started beating her wings at all the ash, rubbing her eyes and clearing the area so she could see. She looked up just in time to see the wyvern diving down at Misaki. She jumped back, snarling... back in the game. Up her crossbow went, when she realized she hadn't put a bolt in yet. Cursing her stupidity, she called out, "Hey you stupid winged beast! Come and get me!" and she started running, locking a bolt in place. The wyvern pulled out of its dive, charging at her and roaring. "Alright Satoru," she said, turning around and firing her crossbow. The bolt split, becoming five fire bolts and entering the wyvern's body. But Misaki hadn't put enough distact between her and the winged beast - it crashed into her, pushing her back and back and back, until the two of them crashed into the wall, causing dust and rubble and to spray out. For a few moments, dust flew around the two, so it was impossible to see what was going on. But then Misaki emerged, coughing and still holding Satoru. She had blood dripping down her back from landing on the wall, and a large gash on her left shoulder from one would assume the wyvern. Misaki stood there shaking for a moment, reveling in her victory. And then she remembered there were still enemies to be defeated. And so, she placed a bolt on Satoru and charged towards the mammoth, grinning. She was on a roll. It would be a while before she would stop.


Wave Four

A stone-shaking bellow comes from the mammoth as Kasyr carves fiery fissures into its legs. Immediately the animal goes into a blind panic, feet stomping and body turning, trunk thrashing wildly in every direction as its head is swung back and forth. One of the wolves leaps in that moment toward Kasyr, only to be delivered a crushing blow by the incoming trunk, no time granted to even yelp before its life ends. And that's when all hell breaks lose, for the mammoth's wooly coat catches fire with a whoosh. At this point, the poor beast is running on pure, maddened instinct. All it knows is that pain exists everywhere, dreaded fire can be seen, felt, smelt, and there is only one place it wants to be: home. Not caring about anything else around it, the mammoth begins to run straight for one of the gates, knowing the passage back to its comfortable, safe stable is behind that iron door. A grinding sound announces the gate's opening, not to let in the fleeing mammoth, however, but to release the fourth wave, as becomes apparent when the wooly beast's head is suddenly twisted at an unnatural angle on its neck. Just steps away from entering the gate, the animal was dealt a devastating blow with the blunt head of a club, killing it instantly. As its still burning body slumps to the ground, its slayer steps around it and enters the arena. An ice troll, standing twelve foot tall and built with all the girth and wit of a mountain. In its hand is a bone club, likely made from one of the mammoth's kin. Drool hangs in ropes from its jutting teeth as it blinks tiny eyes at the arena. Misaki is spotted then, small, frail-looking, and bloody: a troll's favorite snack. Grinning, the troll begins lumbering toward her, one hand extended as if he hopes to grab her small body and crush it in that monstrous grip. During this, the remaining two gates have opened, releasing quieter, but no less dangerous foes. The first is a frost worm, barely able to squeeze its form through the arena entrance. Without hesitation it makes for Kasyr with a slithering pace, lamprey mouth open and filled with countless teeth. The kensai's electrical energy is a blazing beacon to this near-blind creature, after all. The third and final member of this round for the moment does not leave the gate's confines, only visible as two sets of burning yellow eyes held low to the ground.


Satoshi sends a pair of Frost Giants to retrieve Hildegarde from Misaki's drake, the queen unable to take her eyes off the arena otherwise. She knows what is lined up for each round and still finds herself paying close attention to the two remaining combatants. Will one or both of them submit? Or will they fight until the end? If they can get through this round, only the final one remains for them.


Kasyr has just a moment to roll out from beneath one of the mammoth's feet when it panics, at about which point he flops back, draws his arms up to stretch, gives out a relieved sigh ...and is promptly pounced by the remaining wolf. This wolf was hungry, as the others had been- but she was also clever, and patient, something which no doubt accounted for the wolfs choice in staying back as the mammoth underwent it's wild tantrium- up until the packbeast had left, and the revenant had let his guard down. That said, it was not her speed that caught Kasyr offguard, nor the feeling of her teeth shredded through the flesh of left wrist, as he guarded himself from teeth which sought his throat. No, even beyond the feeling of the wolves claws drawing furrows upon his chest- it's the sheer ferocity and intelligence held within her eyes. There's something akin to loss in there, and it only takes a moment for the empath to place the feeling. There's an odd poignancy to it, and something that leaves a bad taste in the revenant's mouth, even as a static charge begins to build in his form. And than all at once, the pressure on his wrist is released- the wolf darting back at the smell of storms which seems to come off from the Kensai. Before either Kensai or wolf can further contemplate what just happened, the revenant catches wind of the subtle sound of something moving across the snow- turning in time to see the frost worm reel upwards, and then crash down upon his position. Without even thinking, the Kensai moves to try and push off his injured left wrist, a motion that comes off a touch slower than he would have preferred- and something which sees him instead drawing his right hand up to intercept the behemoth creatures maw- to slam his weapon between the many ridges that surround that fang filled maw so as to wedge it into the flesh. In a sense, it can be considered successful- if having a creatures weight slam onto your chest can be considered a success. Or being point blank as the creature proceeds to reel back and offer a horrendrous shrieking noise, the revenant doing his utmost to keep his grasp upon the blade, even as he's left dangling into the air, his ears trying to press back against his skull. ..It stops looking like any sort of victory when it hits the ground again, slamming the kensai back into the arena floor and pinning him- if only so it can proceed to slither it's way towards one of the arena floors- apparently intent upon subjecting the revenant to a combination of friction and high speed impact.


Misaki || How the hell did something like this end up here? Ah, whatever. Misaki looked up at the troll running towards her. She takes a deep breath, clearing her mind. She didn't have much time. When the troll was almost upon her, reaching down to grab her, she jumped up, landing on the troll's fingers and running up his arm. "Gotta go gotta go gotta go," she whispered to herself, running faster. The troll gave this stupified look, like it hadn't expected her to jump onto his body. "Alright Satoru," she said, "time to use fire again." She aimed her crossbow up and fired... the black metal bolt sparked and caught fire, shooting right into the troll's eye. Something to distract the troll from her for a little while. The troll roared in pain, raising his hand to rub his eye. Misaki ran down the troll's arm and onto his head. "Alright, big boy," she muttered, pulling out several bolts. She stuck them right into his scalp - deep enough that they wouldn't move, but not so deep that he would notice. He was too busy focusing on his eye, which was burning from the inside out. Very painful. Misaki, her work done, stood up and placed another bolt within Satoru. "Let's do this," she said, jumping up and spreading her wings, momentarily forgetting that she couldn't fly. She shot the arrow into the center of the circle of bolts... as it embedded itself into the troll's scalp, it detonated. That started a chain reaction, detonating the other four bolts that were in his scalp. That left a large hole in the back of the troll's head. Misaki quickly shot another fire-bolt at the brain before she started to spiral down to the ground. "Crap!" she yelled, trying to right herself - it was the perfect moment for any beast to attack her. The troll, though, was now burning in two places. His eye was melting, dripping down his face, and now bits of his hair as well as a part of his brain was on fire. The troll swayed a moment, then fell flat on his face, defeated and burning. Misaki was left falling through the air, struggling to make a safe landing - though at this point, that didn't seem likely.


As the troll falls, the eyes lurking within the gate's shadows move, resolving themselves into a pair of mujermata. Where gryphons are creatures of majesty, glorious and proud in their design, the mujermata is its twisted and loathed cousin, a being as cruel as it is bloodthirsty. Bearing the upper body of an emaciated wolf, fur bedraggled and rough, and the lower body and wings of a foul bat, dark gray skin naked save for course patches of black hair. These two mujermata are a mated pair, and made all the more dangerous for this fact. As naturally cowardly creatures, never striking until they have the upperhand, they've waited until Misaki was distracted. As the avian woman falls, the mujermata lunge out from the beneath the gate, two sets of forepaws stretched out to catch her in a pounce beneath their combined weights. Their entire focus is set upon using their overlong incisors to rip into the avian, to feed on her before the frost worm can get too close. Said frost worm isn't exactly focused on stealing the mujermatas' prey, however, as it continues shrieking while barreling around the arena, Kasyr trapped beneath it. The pain of a sword buried in its jaw is too much for the beast, reliant as it is on its mouth for nearly all of its sensory intake. Virtually blind and in a mad fury, the worm crashes around the arena, slamming into walls and upheaving chunks of it in the process, head thrashing from side to side as it strives to dislodge the revenant.


Kasyr 's head is killing him, and it's not just because his head's hit off one surface too many. Even now, that horrific wail is emanating from that creatures maw- each slam of it's body only provoking new twists on that already tortured sound as the Katana within it's flesh is driven deeper, or twisted. Rather than dislodge himself from the rampaging Wyrm, the revenant remains clung to his weapon, having by this point managed to draw his other hand up to one of it's fangs to further brace himself. It's stubbornness, to be sure, but not done unnecessarily- for even as it drags him against the ground, leaving tattered chunks of leather in it's wake, he's focusing. Drawing into those profound wells of strength within his form, if only to shunt them into the blade lodged within it's body- to give them form through one of the blade techniques he had learned during his various misadventures. It's the other fiery ability within the revenants repetoire- meant to transfer pyric energy first into his weapon, and then into the the ground when the bladewas stabbed into, if only to spread said energy across the area in a number of pockets, which would then detonate into pillars of flame. In practice, it was fairly devastating- but then revenant had never quite applied it in this manner. Focusing it into a living creature that was large enough to contain the blade spell, whilst maintaining the concentration to do so. The revenant spitefully twists the Katana in it's flesh once more, the last vestiges of energy needed to complete that 'spell' pouring into it's body, if only so he can use his braced left hand and wrench the weapon clear- inciting the creature to rear up, if only so he can shove himself clear of it's body, hitting the ground in a somewhat controlled roll- and one that hopefully brings him clear of it, just in case it does in fact ignite.


Arie doesn't announce his arrival to the spectators nor the gladiators. The act could be called sneaking about if it weren't for that faint tune always on his lips. If anyone were to notice his presence first they would discern that the monk is indeed out of place here; however in place of his usual garb of robe and hood there is a quite appropriate assembly of white shirt and black pants topped off with a rugged, plain cowled-cloak pulled over his head. The light and the dark. The good and the evil. Yin and yang. Or maybe that's a coincidence. Gone though is the traveller's trademark staff. Apparently unarmed, it's unknown as to how he trekked out to these lands intact. Silently, the unnamed stranger treads softly on the ground en route to an out-of-the-way seat to watch the closing moments of the exhibition. A sigh. What senseless violence will the final minutes entail?


Misaki twisted her body once again, just in time to notice two... things... approaching. Her eyes widened. "Now do you see why I was agasint you join this competition?" Satoru asked, the crossbow dissolving back into shadows. "Shut up," she said to her weapon, "I'm glad to have a challenge." The human materialized, holding onto his mistress' hand. "Are you ready to try it?" he asked. "...of course," she replied, "if it means our survival." She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. Shutting everything out. Floating in the blackness, feeling the wind rush passed her. In the darkness, a light. In her mind, she reached out and grabbed at that light. Outside of her mind, her body started to glow blue. Satoru, next to her, smirked. "Now!" he said, releasing his mistress. The avian's eyes snapped open, and she kicked off of the human, kicking him towards the ground. As the whatchamacallits came for her, she grinned. She placed her hand on her bleeding shoulder. "Come and get my blood, you mutts!" she yelled, beating her wings to slow her decent -just enough-. "Satoru!" she yelled, "Now!" She grabbed the paw of one of the creature, using the thing's arm to pull herself onto the back of the thing. It roared, twisting and trying to get her off. But she had other plans. Using her strength, she pulled on the thing's right wing, making it flip over. The thing's partner, who had charged down with claws and fangs exposed, ended up digging both into the stomach of its partner, causing the being to cry out in pain. Misaki looked down. They were almost to the ground. She took hold of the wing again and swung around, reaching out with her foot and kicking the thing's mate off, ripping flesh and internal organs out as she did. The other flipped in air, roaring in frusteration and pain. Misaki landed on the ground, using the corpse as a cushion. Satoru was already in his crossbow form, which Misaki grabbed, whirling on the partner. "...that was very well done," Satoru said. "Then don't be so worried," she replied, "this will be over soon."


Final Wave

Satoshi's ears flatten against her hair when the worm writhes backwards on itself, one single-note screech coming from it before it erupts in a burst of fire and incinerated flesh. Chunks of the creature's burning hide scatter through the field, to melt the snow wherever they land, even as the worm's decimated remains collapse to the ground in a smouldering heap. All that remains of round four is the female mujermata. ...But the creature has shown her true colors, for despite her mate dying in the snow, she's fled, stubby tail tucked close as she disappears back through the gate. Clearly, the beast has no wish to fight when the numbers are even, and thus has chosen to retreat than to go the way of her inferior mate. A frost giant guard stands, as if making to retrieve the mujermata, but Satoshi detains him. "The creature is bested. In Frostmaw, to flee is to be defeated." The magus stands from her seat now and approaches the edge of the stadium box. "You've made it through four rounds, and now it is time to face the final challenge. ...Me." A feral grin crosses Satoshi's face, her arms poised in preparation to vault into the arena below. Until the expression melts with a laugh, and she straightens up. "I kid. Your final match is against three who have broken Frostmaw's laws, have fled the consequences, and who have now been brought back to the lands to face their fate. They have been granted a Trial by Combat. Their crimes can be redeemed, if they succeed in defeating you both. Face your last challenge, as they face their last chance!" The gate directly beneath Satoshi rises then, to reveal three Frost Giants. At the sight of the exiles, the Frostmawians in the crowd begin to boo, hiss, and yell obscenities. These three giants are the lower than low in Frostmaw's eyes. Cowards and turncoats, deserving of unclean deaths and unmarked graves. And now their only chance of survival is to defeat Kasyr and Misaki, to have their slates wiped clean by proving themselves as the greatest of warriors, rather than the filthiest of worms. The three step forward in the rusted, patched armor common of exiles, although each carries a new weapon to face their trials with: an enormous waraxe with a blade as long as a man is tall, a pair of spiked maces with ends bound by thick chains, and a Blue Iron halberd. They are ready.


Kasyr manages to stagger back up to his feet, and -avoid- getting sucker-punched or otherwise hindered within the first few seconds of doing so. Sure, he get's showered in burnt wyrm gibbets- but he's not knocked over. That said, it's only when the next arrivals to the arena are announced that the Kensai begins to grin- flicking that gorestained Katana of his out to the side, if only to brusquely draw a line through the snow, "So you know, King-consort of frostmaw. You can file your grievances right here." And then the Kensai draws his blade up, and slams it back into his sheathe, the right hand resting upon that spot, whilst the left slips down to hold the sheathe in place. "Et, Madamoiselle Oiseau. You might want to try to get through me, too. Unless you think your odds will improve with it being only me et you fighting." Whether or not the revenant says anything else is moot, as a rather sharp crackling noise begins to emanate from around him, in tandem with the gradual appearance of a growing number of sparks. That scent of storms, of burnt ozone, once more begins to grow prominent- though the revenant shows no sign of movement, seemingly more focused upon the growing lines of raw flesh which are beginning to form across his skin, as patches of surface tissue are converted into ionic energy.


Misaki takes a deep breath as the frost giants emerge. "..let's even up the score then, shall we?" she asked, tossing up her crossbow. In a split second, Satoru unforled from the shadows and landed next to Misaki. "...you're insane," the blind human said. "Maybe you should join me," she said, charging. Was she really so crazy that she'd take on frost giants bare-handed?! Hell, no. She had several tricks up her sleeve. In fact, she flourishes one now - a hidden blade, around a foot long, was brought up from the back of her bodice. Covered in her own blood, it looked pretty menacing. Was it also steaming? "LEt's go!" she said, charging the frost giant with the giant war axe. The bigger they are, the harder they fall, she thought.


Misaki || Satoru chuckled. "Sometimes I wonder if it's really worth it," the crossbow said, unbuttoning his tailcoat. He tossed it to the side, showing what he had underneath - a plain white shirt covering serious muscles, and wrapped around his torso was a pair of tonfas. He gripped these and thundered after his mistress, passing Kasyr as he did so. He didn't really think he'd win, but as long as his mistress was safe, he didn't care. So he charged against the frost giant with the halberd. "Come at me!" he yelled, activating his tonfas' magic. Both burst into flame, giving the handsome man an errie, demonic look.


The first of the giants, known as Svalvig, watches Misaki's charge a moment before he hefts the waraxe. "Come, little bird, I will make sure your other wing never flies again either," he rumbles. With a thunderous step, the twenty-two foot tall humanoid shifts into a defensive stance. His waraxe is arched back behind him then, and just as suddenly it comes screaming forward, a blur of metal numerous times Misaki's size... And yet, his swing is not for the avian, but rather the ground yards ahead of it. The weapon crashes with the earth with unfathomable force to shatter the permafrost and send a veritable wall of ground, ice, and snow exploding toward the avian. Less than two paces behind the earthen tidal wave is the mace-wielding giant, Bardth, weapons held high over his head until he deems himself close enough to bring them down like twin meteors around Misaki's vicinity. A hit would crush her tiny form into paste, and yet a miss is hardly any better, for the craters their strikes create send even more human-sized chunks of the arena floor roaring through the area. Bardth does not wait to see if he's decimated the woman, huge legs already carrying him toward Kasyr at a ground-devouring pace. Behind him hang the maces from their chain, all so that the rightmost one can be sent screaming toward the kensai once he's in range. "You're mine, false King! Long live Jarl Anbjorn!" Last of the Frost Giants comes Svengarde with his halberd at the ready for Satoru's attack. Grip tightens on the halberd as Svengarde runs to meet the man, the distance closing rapidly until the speared end of his weapon thrusts forward... and like Svalvig, the giant doesn't aim for Satoru directly. Instead, the weapon's head buries itself in the ground ahead of Satoru and the giant does the unthinkable: using his momentum and the halberd's durability, he pole vaults himself into the air. Due to his immense size, Svengarde does not travel far, nor does he need to, as becomes obvious when the Frost Giant's entire body comes bearing down from above Satoru in an earth-shaking body slam.


Satoshi's composure falters slightly at Bardth's warcry, until she remembers that Anbjorn the false-jarl has his head mounted in Frostmaw's fort as a trophy from Hildegarde.


Kasyr offers Bardth a feral grin, his head cocking off to one side in a beckoning motion, as though the giant's massive strides aren't fast enough.It's only when the giant leaps mid-stride, to slam one of his feet down into the ground with enough force to dislodge a rather large chunk of the arena, that the revenant's expression changes to one of concentration- something which in turn proves to be well warranted when Bardth promptly swats it in the Kensai's direction with one of his maces . Even as that massive chunk of earth and stone crashes across the arena, the revenants already in the process of dashing to the side, his feet skidding across the snowy surface as he turns once more to face Bardth- who is far closer than he was moments ago. Unforunately, lack of height proved to be somewhat disadvantageous to the Kensai here, the chunk fo stone having served to obscure the Kensai's vision long enough for the giant to close the rest of the distance, so that he could bring both those Maces crashing down towards the vampire king's position. The sound of impact is thunderous, like a glacier splitting, or a violent storm- the sound of the Kensai's sword sweeping out of it's sheathe, before that blade's sent arcing through the air in a chaotic flurry of swipes, a blazing trail left in it's wake as the air ignites. Every moment brings another series of slashes, sending enchanted silver carving through flesh and bone- removing slightly scorched chunks of flesh from the giants arms and torsos. Even before Bardth ceases moving forward, his arms and torso are already starting to fall apart- reduced to bloody heaps. Kasyr, for his part- only really needs to push through the giant to finish that gruesome collapse. The kensai's still sparking, still bleeding, and at this point- moving towards Satoru and his giant.


Misaki smirks a little, charging faster towards Svalvig. When the rocks started to fly up, she jumped up with all her might, landing on one of the larger boulder. She started jumping from boulder to boulder, going up higher and higher, closer to the frost giant. She landed, then, on the giant's shoulder. "Surprise," she said, twirling and slicing the side of the giant's neck, causing blood to spill. The blast of the blood caused the avian to be blasted back, falling off the the giant. That just made her dig her blade into the giant's shoulder, holdign onto it as she fell, cutting the giant's arm as she did so. || Satoru heard his opponent above him. He smiled a little. "...you shouldn't underestimate me," he said, gripping his tonfas tightly. The flames on them burned brighter. He twisted his body, slashing upwards with his tonfa - a wave of fire shot for the giant, Svengarde. Needless to the say, the giant wasn't expecting this. The wave of fire cut through the giant's left leg, slicing it clean and burning the blood vessels so no blood was spilled. Satoru grinned, dodging the right foot at it came down. However, the giant wasn't prepared for a one-foot landing; he twisted around and fell, releasing his halberd as he did. Satoru dashed out of the way, but was caught up in the wave of dust, snow, and debris as the giant landed on the ground, causing Satoru to become airborne for a few moments, then fall flat on his face not too far awa. "Ow," he said.


Svalvig roars with pain as his neck is cut, although the wound is far from fatal when inflicted on a skin as thick as a giant's. "Little roach, you will pay for that bite," he snarls, glaring down at where she dangles by her blade from his arm. That arm flexes, the heavily corded muscles beneath more than powerful enough to snap all but the most thoroughly enchanted of metals. Svalvig doesn't wait to see if the blade breaks off at the skin or not, for his free hand is already reaching up with every intent of catching Misaki in his grasp. With fingers longer than she is tall, the giant has a fatal hand indeed. But it's that, or fall from his considerable height to the broken ground below, where his armored feet will be waiting. Svengarde is faring less well than his companion, with the now one-legged giant sprawled upon the ground and momentarily stunned. But he is a former Frost Giant of Frostmaw, the city of war, Aramoth's Sons. To lie on the field of battle and not be dead, is not an option. He had dishonored his family and himself the day he fled from combat, he would not do so again. He would regain what was his, or he would die trying. With a heave Svengarde rights himself, yet does not get to his remaining foot. All he seems to care about is recovering his halberd. How he expects to impale a target as small as Satoru is a mystery... that is, until the halberd's shaft is given a twist and pulled apart, to reveal the hidden compartment within. Out he pulls a long net, woven so finely that there is next to no space between each weave. The material gleams in a metallic way, and as it's furled out toward Satoru--expanding easily many feet on either side of him--the blind man may find out just why it shines this way: the net is made of thread-thin wires of metal, extremely powerful when bound together and virtually fireproof. But worst of all, the steel wires are sharp as razors when they're drawn tight around its prey for the kill. Satoru is that prey, and Svengarde is a master hunter of his exiled people.


Misaki new she was in trouble. She let go of her blade, letting herself fall. She grinned, though. She pulled out a pair of bolts and threw them - embedding themselves on the giant's arm. This was only the beginning of her strategy. The moment she landed on the ground, she started running, grabbing more of her bolts. She didn't have much left, so she'd have to place them carefully. ~ Back with Satoru, he heard the movement of metal, but he didn't reall understand what was going on. So he did what fire came to mind - he started to transform. He dissolved into shadows, sinking into the ground, thereby letting the net miss. He rocketted through the ground towards the giant, emerging behind the large being in human form, exploding from the ground. "Take this!" he yelled, doing a backflip - his tonfas gave another wave of fire, this time slicing off both of the giant's arms. He landed on the ground again. He knew that the giant wasn't dead; but he had other things to attend to. "Mistress," he murmured, running towards the avian, already starting to dissolve into the shadows again.


Kasyr , whilst mindful of the giant Svengarde, has been paying far more heed to Satoru. Originally, he'd contemplated taking advantage of whatever opening the net might have provided- but Satoru's particular means of locomotion renders that matter moot. Instead, the revenant simply continues to bide his time, heedless of the manner in which the flesh about his right forearm is rapidly vanishing. That is, until Satoru emerges and promptly assaults the giant with a fiery attack. The transition, whilst swift, didn't appear instantaneous, which was more than enough to coax the Kensai into drawing up his Katana, even as the avian's peculiar 'familiar' turned towards Misaki and once more began to fade. Without warning, the revenant's form promptly flickers and distorts- at once consumed by electrical energy, and sent hurtling across the arena and towards Satoru's position in the blink of an eye, the Kensai's now outstretched blade having served as the focus for that lightning-swift lunge. And yet, the vampires intention is hardly fatal, given that at the very last moment, the revenant relinquishes the weapon, allowing it to hurtle forth towards the arena wall, whilst he redirects his fist towards Satoru's back- intent upon exerting the momentum he'd built up upon the man, and send him crashing into Misaki. "I'm taking your advice."


Kasyr said, "I'm not going to undestimate tu."


Svengarde finds himself immobilized, with only a single limb remaining to him. To make matters worse, that blasted gnat had cauterized the wounds so the giant can't even bleed out and die properly. No, he has to be left alive. Alive and humiliated. It leaves Svengarde with no other option. With a roar, he hurls his crippled body sideways and begins to roll. The sight is comical, there is no doubt, and yet there is a certain horror about having ten feet and hundreds of pounds of armored Frost Giant torso careening your way. Which is exactly the predicament Misaki will find herself in as she's running away from, and seemingly preoccupied with, Svalvig. The last Frost Giant still standing doesn't even seem to notice, instead taking a moment to pluck out the bolts Misaki had embedded in his arm, as if they are nothing more than splinters. Casually they're flicked away before his waraxe is taken up once more, to be brought down in a fearsome executioner's strike toward the avian, meant to cleave her--or crush her, considering the thickness of the enormous blade.


Misaki had been throwing the bolts at the giant in random places. Not deep enough to penetrate the skin. But deep enough for what she had in mind. She whirled in time to catch the transformed Satoru in her hand. And she noticed the rolling giant heading for her, and the axe above her. She grinned. Too easy. She gathered the last of her energy, launchign forward and jumping over Svengarde, leaving him barreling towards Svalvig, who couldn't stop the swinging of his axe, which ended up slicing the rolling giant's head. Misaki then whirled around again, firing her -very last- bolt at the last giant. She pray, with all her might, to whatever god was out there, that it would hit. If it did - that meant that all the bolts would detonate at once, causing one of two things to happen; one, the giant would be blown to bits, and everyone in the arena stands would be showered with giant blood, or two; the bolts would detonate, but they wouldn't do more than stun the giant, enough to cause him to fall over, hopefully on his own axe.


Misaki || Satoru had been hit in the back by the revanant. The punch hurt. A lot. But Satoru didn't complain, he just allowed himself to soar towards his partner. Once he was in his mistress' hands once again, he relaxed. "I'm gonna get him back for that," Satoru stated. "Only if you want your body ripped to shreds," Misaki replied in a mutter.


Kasyr 's not all that far from Misaki, if only because his attempt at skidding halt ends just moments after Satoru began his mid-air transformation. Suffice to say, Misaki's still in the process of arcing from her jump when the revenant reaches her, his right hand flicking down towards the other sheathed Katana which remains at his hip, if only to so he can slip his thumb beneath it's hilt and pop it free. Albeit with a slight twist, in the form of supernatural strength meets a touch of electrical charge, thereby resulting in an rapidly fast and forceful partial unsheathing meant to slam the pommel of the Katana into Misaki's descending form. Something which hit or miss is followed by the Kensai wrenching the sheathe upwards to effectively draw the blade back within it's container- but also serve to effectively slam the weapon into Misaki (hopefully again).


All of the fight goes out of Svalvig when his axe cleaves through the neck of Svengarde in a clean beheading. "No." The exiled warrior drops to his knees. His weapon falls from limp fingers. "Brother." He's just slain his own brother through the tricky of the avian. The old warrior can find no strength to rise to his feet, left kneeling beside his brother's headless corpse. That is, until Misaki detonates those peculiar bolts of hers. Most of them Svalvig had already shaken from his skin, but the few that remain hit him with enough concussive force to knock him backwards. Can he not even mourn his brother in peace, or would that blasted winged wench foil even that?! Rage boils in the pit of the Frost Giant's stomach, seething into his veins and giving fiery life to his limbs once more. With a screaming roar that would make even the legendary dragon Cryothain balk, Svalvig leaps to his feet, heedless of injuries. His mind knows only one thing: destroy the avian. Muscles bulge beneath the marred flesh of the warrior's arms and legs then as he digs his fingers into the ground, beginning to heave upward. A rending, moaning sound comes from the earth as the Frost Giant lifts a gargantuan slab of the arena floor. Easily the square slab is the length and height of the giant himself, with a width of four feet. A truly staggering amount of earth, and it's now being thrown with all of the Frost Giant's rage-fueled strength toward Misaki--and inadvertently Kasyr--to sandwich her between its colossal size and the ground beneath her. When the slab hits, the entire stadium shakes violently, rocked to its very foundation, with many of the crowd hurled from their seats. Fissures run like erupted blood vessels all around where the mass struck, and countless cracks course through the stands. Up in the private seating box, Satoshi cannot be seen, as the giant-induced earthquake has uprooted all of the Coterie's seats and buried her beneath the rubble.


Misaki looks shocked as the earth flew towards her. However, she was saved - by getting hit by Kasyr. The hit he made to her while she was still in the air, sent her flying. She was already limp from using all the strength in all these battles. She managed to keep ahold of Satoru as she was blasted out of the way of the earth. However, she hit the ground once and bounced; that caused her to drop Satoru. And then she bounced again, again, and rolled to the edge of the arena, unconsious. It was about time. Satoru, on the other hand, had already transformed back, running to his mistress' side, the raging giant forgotten. Since Misaki was out, Satoru would be out, too. He had no will to fight without his mistress at his side. Such was the dedication of this servant.


Arie rises from his seat, face still veiled to the world, and gives a standing ovation to the gladiators. The sound roars throughout the hushed Coliseum. A single man can create quite a ruckus, "Bravo!" a bass voice booms out, "Encore! Encore!" And then proceeds to slip out in the ensuing brouhaha.


Kasyr 's elation is short lived, as he becomes aware of the giant-sized helping of stone hurtling down towards his head. It's the sort of thing he can't help but contemplate for a moment, his tongue poking against his cheek. And then he's moving with all due haste, hurling himself at the corpse of svengarde, which is all but adjacent. The revenants goal is simple enough, in all truth. Once he reaches the giant, his sword is unsheathed, before it's promptly put to use in carving a furrow out of the dead giant's stomach- essentially enabling him to burrow into the carcass akin to a foul parasite. A combination of overall size, durability, and and the makeshift armoured scattered across his body -should- serve to protect him from the ramifications of the slab hitting the arena. Should being the operative word. But beyond all that? It also places the revenant in an area full of blood to feast upon, while he takes a moment to gather himself.


Satoshi is only just starting to climb to her feet when Svalvig's voice catches her ear. "Oi! Frost Witch! You can keep your kingdom and your dogs! I cannot be redeemed by any victory! Aramoth's table has no place for brother-slayers like me!" Satoshi, caked in dust, stares with wide eyes as the Frost Giant reaches for his fallen brother's halberd, lifts it on high, and impales it through his gut. Blood spurts out of Svalvig's mouth as he drops to his knees beside the mountain of earth burying his brother's corpse. As his stomach acid spills out to poison his body, Svalvig stares with glassy eyes at where he's unintentionally given Svengarde a grave. He almost cracks a smile despite the blood and agony, before he pitches forward on top of the mound of permafrost, dead. The arena is deathly silent.


Misaki || Satoru raised his head, hearing the final words of the giant. "...humph," he muttered to himself, lowering his head again. He was too concerned about his mistress to comment.


Satoshi doesn't need to say it. The Fight Fest announcements shall be postponed until tomorrow, in light of present events (and because all these typists look like they're about to drop dead from exhaustion).


Kasyr carves his way out of his brothers body a few moments later, brushing off an accumulation of blood, body parts, and other bits of accumulated detritus from his form. Really, he's getting all but poised to taunt Svalvig when he takes note that he can't feel any sort of empathic resonance from the arena anymore- something which is explained when he glances over and takes a good look at the giants skewered corpse. "...Oh."


Kasyr wipes a bit of the brothers insides off of his mouth, as an afterthought.


Misaki || Satoru stood up. Then he turned, going to where his tailcoat had been abandoned. IT had been covered in dust, but he could clean it later. He brushed offf what he could, then turned back to his mistress. Buddy leapt from his perch on the arena wall, landing next to the two of them. "I'm trusting you to get her to the tavern," Satoru said to him, "I'm not riding you, but I'll be thre soon." Buddy seemed to find this highly amusing. He picked up Misaki gently in his jaws, and placed her on his back. Then he lowered his head nad picked up Satoru in his jaws. "Wo - wai - what?!" Satoru started panicking, finally using his stoic attitude, "Put me down! I don't like flying!" Buddy made a funny noise that sounded like laughing. Then he took to the, to the east - so Misaki could rest and recuperate. Satoru's echoing screams could be heard for miles around.


Satoshi still has no words as she staggers up from among the collapsed seats, looking bedraggled and battered. Still, she's able to signal to her queensguard to retrieve healers, before she offers Kasyr a wordless nod of congratulations. Something in the heavy atmosphere of the arena tells her words should not be spoken. Those of the audience uninjured take this time to dig their way to the exit, with many a glance sent toward the arena. The looks delivered are mixtures of awe for the feats of strength exhibited, and ones of conflict at seeing a brother spill kin's blood and then his own. Aramoth will feast well tonight, although some consciences will not rest so well.