[Round 3 - C] Eternity Larva & Ahana vs Amber & Whompt

[Karl Jak]

Amber's new partner didn't smell very clean. He also lacked the gravitas of Broly.

"Whompt gonna smash." The orc sneered as he pointed with his axe toward the pair of primes who had been dropped in beach.

"Let's give them a show," Amber smiled as she drew Razorback.

Word Limit: 850
Posts: 2
Time Limit: 48 hours
Random Elements: On
Damage Meter: Off

Time limit starts at 10 AM CDT on July 12, 2018

Whompt will be ghost-written, so he has 48 hours to write like everyone else.

Beach Party – You’re on a pristine beach, like one straight out of Costa del Sol. There’s a life guard tower, some blankets and beach balls, along with anything else you might find at a restor-y beach.The Fight Area is a 60-foot stretch of sandy beachside property (roughly 20 feet of sandy fun and 20 feet of ocean). You can wade out up to about 12 feet deep, but there’s no undertow given the barrier at the edge of the Fight Area. While everything is beautiful where you are, if you look in the distance, the sky is dark and foreboding.

Stipulations: No special stipulations

[Eternity Larva]

Butterfly wings and rabbit ears stood on the new field of their supposed battle. And it was very sandy.

The sound of sloshing water dominated the beach, making apparent to them the lack of the voice who always spoke before the match. That was the least of Larva’s problems, though. She crouched to check the… unfamiliar ground. Her hands cupped the white dust, feeling the rough grains brush past her fingers. Then, a light breeze blew away whatever remained. She looked at her partner and, out of childish curiosity, asked:

“What is this?”

...

Ahana seemed taken aback by the absurd question. “Well, uhm, it’s sand?”

“‘Sand’? I’ve never heard of it before...” It really was a new experience for the fairy. She had never seen anything like it. At least, during her time in Gensokyo.

For a moment, her teammate looked at her with disbelief, like Larva had just missed one of the simplest things in life. Then she remembered something, and everything clicked into place. “You see,” she started, “when the water here washes rocks for a long time, it breaks down into smaller pieces. This keeps happening until you see” She showed off her knowledge on mineralogy. The fairy simply nodded, as if she understood… even though she had no idea what Ahana just said.

Maybe she’ll just stick to the books.

After some quick chatter, their eyes fell on two others who had arrived, too. It seemed like the opponents had been waiting; restless even, judging by the imposing green… monster of sorts, pointing its oversized axe at the duo. “Whompt gonna smash!”

The one beside Whompt, a girl not nearly as big—yet probably just as dangerous—complemented his spirited tone. Amber drew an oversized weapon of her own. The sight of it sent shivers down Larva’s spine, even though her mind took a while to realize why.

Wait a minute, isn’t that the same as—

Before her thought could finish, the enemies were already closing their distance. Fast. If the fairy did nothing, this hasty approach will pay off and cost her team dearly. So she looked at Ahana. She was looking at her, too. Seems like both of them knew what they had to do.

We need to scram.

Wind rushed around where they once stood, kicking up the sand. Even then, the mercenary’s axe swung down to meet the ground, shaking it with nothing short of a quake. Larva watched from above, ready to pepper her adversaries with magical scales. Meanwhile, the leap of her partner carried her just behind the reckless competitors. Golden flames erupted from Ahana, a javelin manifesting in her hands.

Unrelenting assault. That was something they learned to use from their past matches.

They took their shots, all at once. Combined firepower, converged straight for the orc and faunus. It didn’t really matter if it was the power of teamwork, or just pure chance. Things seemed to be going well right off the bat! Enclosed, Whompt and Amber tried their best to shoulder the hits, gold and magic clashing against flesh. They did surprisingly well, the fairy expected a bit more than some cuts and being a little fazed. Ahana probably thought the same, too.

Not wanting to waste their chance, they mounted their counter-strike before Larva could prepare another shot. To the fairy, it looked like they wanted to split up the two; the large orc headed for Ahana, whilst Amber was slowly approaching her.

She paid little attention to Whompt and Ahana. For now, she’ll have to focus on this little skirmish. A one-on-one challenge is something she’s more used to, anyway. And speaking about challenges… a small card suddenly found itself in the fairy’s hands.

With a running start, the faunus jumped high and straight for the butterfly. She wasn’t going to stand there and let herself get hit! With one strong flutter, the fairy blazed past before the rather large weapon could graze her. Amber landed on the ground, a cloud of dust puffing upwards..

“If you’re not gonna come close...” Her weapon changed form, parts clicking into their new place. “Then how about this?” Larva recognized it immediately. And just as immediately, bullets flew through the air, reminding her of the nightmare that was last match against Dongja.

This is bad, the fairy thought. I need something to control her!

“Butterfly Sign!” The card in her hand had vanished. At the same time, intense magical power began to whirl around the fairy.

Her other spell cards could work too, right?

“Fluttering Summer!”

From her wings flew seemingly endless volleys of emerald scales, with a dash of ruby.

Word count: 771 | 850, based on Google Docs.
Larva is going to cast her Super Move, Danmaku: Suppressing Fire against Amber Veritz.
Larva’s SP is now 1/2.

[Amber Veritz]

Amber reeled back as a swash of light and sand washed her vision. She wondered how someone was capable of turning a card into a weapon the way this girl did. The faunus’ instinct kicked in instantly. A pink aura surrounded her body, shielding her from the dangers that little card produced. Amber grinned at the success of her newly made defense mode. It had worked on the up-tight skeleton, and now had worked against another form of magic.

Eternity was stunned momentarily as the sand cleared from the colorful bullets sending it flying into clouds. Her glowing foe had been left completely unfaltered by her technique. She gulped subconsciously.

“Tch, that all you got?” Amber sneered. “Well, I guess we’re in the losers bracket, there’s bound to be some weaklings.”

“Hey!” The butterfly barked back. “Don’t underestimate me or you’ll regret it.”

“Okay then! If that’s the case…” The faunus paused as the pink-ish aura formed around her body in a flutter of fire. “Allow me to show you true power!”

The fairy could feel it: This girl was strong. She could wield her giant sword with ease and was capable of becoming much stronger with such a power-up. If she wasn’t careful, she would easily get overtaken.

Amber bursted forward with blinding speed. For a moment, Eternity lost sight of her. It didn’t help that Amber was smart enough to fling up sand by swinging her sword through it to make a smokescreen. It also seemed to stop her bullets from hitting the faunus. Although Eternity was focused solely on her opponent, she couldn’t figure out how to counter this. Amber’s movements were hard to track, so her best bet would’ve been to take a better vantage point in the sky. The beautiful summer wings spread outwards, blowing sand towards the faunus. She covered her face with Razorback to ensure she wouldn’t be blinded by the sting of sand in her eyes.

“That won’t save you, bug!” Amber said as she crouched in the sand ready to jump as high as she possibly could. The sand exploded around her when she took off. The colorful bullets soared past her like a drizzle of rainbow. Her sword deflected any shot that would attempt to harm her vitals. She closed in and raised her sword above her head, Eternity heard her voice.

“Now get squashed!” The faunus screamed. Her grip on her sword tightened and with a heavy heave, she brought the steel to her opponent.

A spear pierced Amber’s side.

She looked down towards the trajectory of the javelin to see a smirking Ahana.

“Why don’t you pick on someone your own size?” She asked Amber, just barely dodging a heavy swing from the relentless Whompt. The faunus jerked the weapon from her side, returning it to sender.

“You just dug yourself a sandy grave, stupid.” The faunus’ attention shifted to Ahana, completely ignoring the bullets that Eternity had shot to take advantage of her openings. Amber felt her aura soaking up most of it, but still the pain was there. She would just push through it as she always did. Ahana was fast enough to dodge the axe wielding orc, but not fast enough to dodge him and the raging catgirl at once. In fact, Amber was too hard to dodge altogether. Her form was rough but rehearsed. Ahana wondered just how much strength was behind that weapon. No matter what, her magic would protect her from a-. Her train of thought was completely interrupted by a loud thonk.

“Oh shit.” Amber said to her teammate. “I-”

The orc’s fist connected with the back of the faunus’s head. She, obviously, cried out in pain.

“Hey! What are you-” The orc disregarded her pained words and talked over her.

“Amber hit hard! But, Whompt hit harder!” He yelled out, axe at his shoulder. “Whompt say hello like Amber!”

The faunus rubbed the back of her head, completely speechless. Their opponents were just as confused as she was. Whompt only smiled at her.

“Uh, whatever.” She mentioned before turning to Ahana again, then to Eternity, then to Whompt. “So, hey, Whompt?”

“Yes, friend Amber?” Whompt said much more loudly than needed. Amber’s ears folded back as he spoke.

“You think you can handle the butterfly thing?” She asked. Whompt pondered momentarily before responding. Amber could see his eyes scanning the battlefield. The colored bullets began to rain towards them, along with multiple spears.

“Whompt can do this.” His voice boomed over Amber’s. The orc put his axe in it’s holster and charged towards Ahana once again. Amber called out to him. “No wait! Not that one!”

Whompt didn’t respond, he feared giving away his plan to the enemies would be too dumb. Ahana attempted to dodge his charge but ended up getting grabbed by the colossus of an orc. With no time wasted, he heaved the girl directly at the fairy. The two collided roughly.

“Whompt do good?” He asked his teammate who’s hand was against her forehead.

What a fucking day.

850/850 words used, GD.
Amber is using 4 SP this round. 2 for T2 SD, and 2 for T2 Power up, Semblance Active. Whompt throw hard.

[Ahana Varma]

As we tumble from the sky I manage to grab Larva and turn us so that I strike the ground first, taking the brunt of the fall for her. We land with a heavy smack on the wet sand by the edge of the water, but the golden fires of my Protections keep me safe, and I’ve hopefully managed to do the same for my partner.

“Are you okay?”

“Sure! Of course! Now come on, no lying down on the job!” her wings flutter and she takes off, holding out a hand. I grab it, and Larva backs up, pulling me smoothly to my feet. I grin, pleased at her enthusiastic tone.

Now that we have a win under our belts, it’s as if a weight has been lifted from my shoulders. I’m really feeling a whole lot more optimistic about this whole ‘death tournament’ thing.

“That all you got!?” I call out derisively to our foes.

“No! Whompt also has axe!”

The orc throws his axe.

My eyes widen in the instant before the huge weapon bowls me over. My magic isn’t enough to completely protect me this time, and the blade leaves a thin gash on my cheek, which stings like a bitch when I’m flung back a few metres and completely submerged in salt water.

Spluttering, I rise to my feet, clutching at my face and trying to ignore the pain, just in time to hear, “Nooo! Whompt axe is lost!”

Closely followed by, “Hold on, axe, Whompt come for you!”

It takes only a moment’s thought to conjure a spear, and I prepare to lunge at the great brute should he charge me. Even knee-deep in water, as I currently am, I’m sure I can’t fail to hit someone of his size in close quarters.

He doesn’t, though. Instead, the greenskin rushes past without even glancing my way, wades through the sea a few paces further, then dives under the surface, seeking his immense weapon, which I’d imagine must have flown quite some distance, judging by the tremendous power of his throw.

All three of us simply stare after him for a moment, then Amber sighs, and shrugs when we turn back her way, “Partners. What can you do?”

Then she charges, hefting her gigantic blade with ease, not at all worried about taking on both of us at once. I think I like this girl. I splash out of the water, letting loose my javelin in the same moment that my butterfly ally launches another set of scales.

The cat-eared teen twists gracefully, evading my spear, and pink light covers part of her body, shielding her from Larva’s shots. We don’t even slow her down. I try to summon another weapon, but she rolls suddenly, and before I know what’s happening, she’s picked up a beach towel and tossed it over my head.

Stumbling in surprise, I lose focus and the javelin which was supposed to be forming in my hand fails spectacularly to do so. I yank away the towel, only to see her huge greatsword sweeping towards me, and realise I’ve got no time to dodge.

Her strike connects with my midriff and flames flash fiercely in defiance of her superhuman strength. The ‘wound’ is only about as deep as a paper cut, so there’s no danger of disembowelment, but she does knock the air from my lungs and I double over, gasping for breath.

The teenager slams the hilt of her weapon into my temple and I crumple to the sand at her feet. She turns to Larva, just in time to take a couple scales in the chest. With no pink glowy stuff to protect her this time, the twin flashes of emerald light as the magical energy discharges cause our opponent to stagger backwards.

Not nearly as stunned by the blow to the head as she may have been expecting, I reach out and snag one of her ankles. Amber topples over and I hurriedly clamber atop her; keeping her pinned down while I summon another spear and jab it at her throat. She catches it in one hand. Even though she’s much stronger than I, with all my weight leaning on the javelin, it inches closer to her neck. Then her other hand grasps it as well, and my progress comes to a dead halt.

She loses no time in wrenching it from my grip and tossing it away, then surges up into a sitting position, and is on the point of shoving me away when a shining scale smacks her in the face. The ensuing explosion of kinetic energy slams her head back down into the sand. Laughing, I fasten my hands around her throat and begin choking the girl, who seems too dazed—or concussed—to easily stop me.

I’m just thinking that we might actually manage to end this match quickly when something huge, hard and heavy catches me in the side, sending me tumbling a few metres across the sand.

“Hah! Hah! Hah!” the orc in the distance guffaws loudly, “Whompt axe likes bunny lady!”

Word Count: 848 (according to WordCounter.net*)
*Though it would actually be 850, if WordCounter considered words connected by em dashes to be separate from each other.

[Storyteller]

In our continued observation of the creature known as Whompt, we bore witness to a rare spectacle: the orc engaging in play with three humanoid beings with distinctly non-humanoid features. As delighted as we were with this occurence, it could not match the exuberance that was on display on Whompt's visage. 

As we had noted in past investigations, the green giant frequently exhibited a single-minded fixation on whatever was its object of attention in a given moment. In this particular instance, its gaze appeared focused on the female with rabbit ears. Eagerly, it kicked off into a stomp, scattering large quantities of sand over the surrounding area. It struck the playmate it had assisted before — a distinct class of such humanoid creatures we had identified as 'faunus' — which toppled over once more onto the ground.

In its rush, the brutish predator paid little heed to the green scales that were raining down from above, pelting its leather armour. Though its target appeared unharmed, the fierce strike she had suffered before left her dazed long enough for Whompt to reach and grab hold of her. It wrapped its massive palm around her slender ankles and lifted her in an inverted position, causing her orange covering to drape over her head instead. Though this triggered the female's self-defence mechanism — golden flames erupted around the giant's hand, obscuring our sight of the lower half of her figure — Whompt seemed entirely unfazed by this occurence.

The orc appeared pleased with its catch. We were able to hear it exclaim: 'Whompt like bunny lady too! Whompt keep bunny lady as pet!' 

We were unable to discern what the response from its prey was, but the mumble we heard was more indicative of annoyance than pain. From our observations up to that point, the so-called 'bunny lady' displayed a fortitude far surpassing anticipated parameters. 

But our study of their interaction, as well as Whompt's own exultation, were cut short. The winged-creature flying overhead — a type of small fey humanoid we were able to identify as a 'fairy' — continued her attempts to intervene in the activities of Whompt and her partner. At that point, she had succeeded in her endavour, one of her scales striking the orc squarely in its exposed neck. This caused it to stumble forward and loosen its grip, giving its prey an opportunity to use her agile body to slip out of its grasp and flip back onto her feet.

Though the rabbit-eared humanoid displayed a sense of satisfaction at her successful escape, it was quickly replaced by surprise as the green giant unwittingly backhanded her with its flailing arm, sending her flying into the nearby batch of palm trees. The orc looked up at the fey creature, expressing a mix of annoyance and excitement. Meanwhile, its new opponent continued to execute dives and rain projectiles unabated.

What followed was a quintessential example of Whompt's unusual thought pattern. In response to the provocation, during the fairy's next run, it ran to the nearby lifeguard tower. Grabbing hold of its support beams, its considerable muscle mass tensed up from exertion as it forcefully dislocated and then ripped out the structure entirely. Heaving it over its head, the orc ran towards the butterfly humanoid and, like a giant flyswatter, brought the tower down upon her.

The fairy seemed to have realised the predator's aim and made the attempt to evade. Unfortunately for her, this was one of those ocassions where Whompt exhibited a great amount of speed and precision. He managed to make his mark with the chair that crowned the top of the structure, slamming her into the ground. The strength of the resulting impact shattered the tower and created a tidal wave of sand — one strong enough to sweep the orc's ill-fated partner off her feet once more. The winged creature itself lied face down in the ground, her figure imprinted into the surface like a sand angel.

Whompt let out a joyous laugh that turned into a painful roar. It had ignored the dark-skinned female it had engaged with before, who used the opportunity to create a javelin and, with a momentous leap, jump onto it and impale its shoulder. The giant attempted to swat her off of it, but her superior position and the implanted weapon she used as an anchor enabled her to evade its blows while further deepening the piercing wound.

As was usual when it lacked a simple solution to a problem, the creature ran around headlessly, its further fruitless attempts to remove its former prey of its back only kicking up more of the grains of rock onto the mound covering the faunus. The teenage female let out an audible sigh before she used her pink energy to violently push out of her predicament and jump onto her feet. In her frustration, she made a profane statement that we had to censor for your convenience, before moving to assist the orc: 'I f***ing hate the beach...'

Stay tuned as we continue our fascinating look into the life and tribulations of Whompt.

Word Count: 844/850 (WordCounter.net)

[Eternity Larva]

Her ears were deafened by incessant ringing. It didn’t help that the world seemed to be covered in black. If only it didn’t hurt so much being swatted like some bug, she’d no doubt be wondering why Omni would summon her a second time.

The little girl stood up, ignoring the gritty dust that ran around her body, and dirtied her clothes. Nevermind the crushing pain and drops of fairy blood staining the beach; rough play like that just isn’t fair!

Surprisingly, the fairy growled in irritation. The orc’s going to pay for that one!


Whompt had been busy with the fairy’s partner, and a pesky golden spear he just can’t seem to get rid of. Amidst his rather elegant solution of running wildly across the beach, his partner, Amber, took off to deal with the bunny-eared girl who looked much like a stubborn mosquito riding its host. She wasn’t amused with either of the two.

Ahana was making the most of her foe’s questionable intellect, when she caught sight of a faunus bearing down on her… along with a rather enormous blade. She let her hands relax, dropping off the javelin before Razorback could slice her to pieces. Regardless, inertia took control, snapping the javelin in half and sending the weapon straight to the floor.

The resulting impact made even the giant, heavy Whompt stumble from the quake. Sand flew across the whole arena, the sandstorm yellowing blue beach skies.

Whompt had little time to react to the pouting fairy. As she voiced her annoyance, charging energy rang a distinct sound unfamiliar to the green orc.

“Hey!” she exclaimed. “You can’t just hit a butterfly like that, you meanie!”

With only one target in mind- that is, Whompt’s face- Larva showed how pissing a devious fairy off is one of the things in life anybody would regret doing. Four scales pounded the orc with magical energy almost immediately, sending him reeling from the blow.

If she can’t take the orc down, she was going to at least make him look silly.

A card vanished quickly as it appeared, filling Larva with great energy. There was no warning when she decided to pepper the orc with barrages of scales.

Measly 369 of 850. I lost too much time to write. Anyways, Larva decides to pummel Whompt this time with Suppressing Fire.

[Amber Veritz]

Amber recognized the attack instantly. Larva intended to annoy them once more. Determined not to be caught in the crossfire of that attack, she grabbed Ahana by her midday-sun-colored shirt and heaved her away with her. When out of range, the faunus grounded the faux-faunus with all her strength into the sand, burying her slightly. Ahana’s uncanny defense absorbed a lot of that, even with Amber’s enhanced strength empowering her. Ahana dug herself from the gritty sand, wiping the coarse grains off her clothing and skin.

“Jeez, scared of a little light show that much.” She asked as she cleaned herself off. To her surprise, however, Amber was silent. The catgirl seemed like someone who wouldn’t let an insult fall on her without retaliation. For a moment, the only audible noise was the drizzle of dazzling lights pelting the sand and the orc a few meters from the two. Ahana summoned a spear. “Well, if you are done fighting, let’s end th-”

“You don’t hit very hard.” Amber whispered only loud enough for her and Ahana to hear. Ahana stumbled as she rose her spear. She knew she wasn’t a hard hitter, that’s why her focus was total defense. Even still, she seemed insulted by such a comment.

“And you seem to underestimate your opponents.” The bronze-skinned mage replied winding her spear back and throwing it like a javelin with extra strength. Amber leaned to the side, the spear brazed past her ear with a sudden swosh. Strands of her orange hair floated in the wind, disconnected from her scalp.

“You’ve got it wrong. I’m not underestimating you. Anywho could take direct hits from my sword and walk away with nothing but a scratch is a worthy adversary.” She paused momentarily. Black fur began to sprout from her body and claws ejected from her fingertips. With a low growl, she continued, “Let’s see how long that will last, though!”

The faunus threw Razorback into the air. Ahana watched as it dissipated into nothing but Omnilum for the air. Whens he looked back down at the ground, the faunus was on all fours and wore the black hair of a panther over her entire body. The fierce look of a predator stunned the defensive mage momentarily, but not how any normal person would.

“Is that a challenge?” She asked in exhilaration as her hair stood on end. The defensive barrier that protected her passively glew slightly, almost as if it wanted to test how much it could take before it broke. The faunus said nothing in return, only taking up a fearsome stance to ready for her first attack. She couldn’t speak to her if she wanted, being an animal. Ahana summoned another golden lance, raising it response.

“Here kitty-kitty! Show me what you’re made of!” She yelled as she lobbed the lightning-colored lance in the cat’s direction.

Gone.

She had only blinked for a split second and the big-cat that was there before had vanished. She scanned the battlefield quickly. A growl swept over her ears from behind. When she turned around, the quadrupedal beast was on her hind-legs coming down to tackle her. She quickly summoned a spear and pushed it to Amber’s shoulder. The cat cried in pain, but didn’t seem to back down. The panther unleashed hell, swiping and biting at Ahana like a starved wolf. Ahana was focusing so hard on trying to see the oncoming attacks that it was impossible to even counter. She could feel the strikes were just as powerful as they were before, but noticed how much easier she could get through Amber’s natural defense now. That pink glow had almost stopped protecting her.

Pain swept over Ahana’s entire body. Amber’s amazingly swift and powerful strikes were overwhelming her magic. She couldn’t react or get away.

“Eternity! I need help!” She called out, the faunus’ eyes focused onto the fairy quickly. The butterfly unleashed a volley of bullets in her direction from the sky. Amber, much to Larva’s surprise, charged towards her. Amber’s blinding speed made her look like a black streak of midnight to Eternity. Could she catch something that fast?

“How is she moving so quickly?!” She distressed while the faunus closed the gap much more quickly than she could react to. She had just enough time to raise a guard with her arms before Amber dove directly into her chest. Claws and teeth gnashed at her opponents.

“Good, friend Amber!” Her new ally called out while Amber tore devastatingly at Eternity. “Whompt get bunny lady then!”

Whompt turned to Ahana, who may have made a mistake. She had only hoped for momentary support so she could slow Amber down. Now she’s picking on a weaker target. She attempted to brush past the orc, who grabbed her by her arm and tossed her back into the sand.

“Bunny lady has to get passed me.” Whompt retorted, raising his axe in offense.

“Then so be it.” Ahana’s expression grew serious as her lance formed in her hand again.

841/850 words
SP: 0/6 keeping Semblance Active going, -2
Amber has switched to her panther form and now has a stat make up total of a glorious
7/3/9/3
She constantly uses burst movement in this form, and will likely grow tired quickly as the fight continues.

[Ahana Varma]

I manage to strike first, giving a wordless battlecry as I thrust one-handed, and the tip of my javelin connects powerfully with the greenskin’s midriff.

He laughs.

I blink, frozen in place, too stunned to react as I realise that my spear has been blocked solely by a set of abdominal muscles like steel cables. He has no magical defences, as I do… this resilience is purely biological. Insane. The javelin’s point barely penetrated half a centimetre past his skin.

“Huh huh, batta’ up!” Whompt hefts his greataxe and swings with both hands, his whole body twisting as he puts everything he has into this movement. My Protections, already weakened by the shapshifter’s relentless swipes, just aren’t enough this time... though at least I don’t get choped completely in half, as I’m sure any normal human would by such a tremendous blow.

With a flash of golden fire and a splash of crimson blood, I go flying, spinning through the air, at least two ribs broken and bleeding profusely. I strike a thin palm tree and with a splintering crash and carry on moving, as the tree snaps in half.

I tumble gracelessly a little way across the sand before coming to rest, gasping for air and struggling futilely to rise whilst pressing one hand to my wound in a vain attempt at staunching the flow of blood. Even if I could manage, that would hardly do much good; I’m still covered in long, ragged cuts from Amber’s claws. The freely flowing fluid has my sari stained sanguine; it’s clear that I’ll have to heal up soon if I’m to avoid passing out from blood loss.

“Baha-” I begin, the moment I have the breath to speak again, only to see my axe-wielding attacker appear above me, his weapon descending rapidly. I jerk my head to the side and merely lose an ear, rather than having my skull cleft in half, “-aagh!”

He drops the axe and picks me up by my top, then proceeds to slam his fist into my face a few times. I scrabble weakly at the hand clutching my clothing, failing dismally to free myself. Then the orc tosses me away casually and I roll through the sand again, leaving a scarlet trail on the ground to mark my passing.

Unhurriedly, he lifts his weapon and, grinning, swaggers over towards me. This isn’t even a fight anymore, merely an execution. I’m worn out already, and I’ll be entirely exhausted if I heal, I know. I’m a little tempted just to refrain from reacting. Right now, sleeping like the dead for a week or so doesn’t seem like such an awful prospect.

But then Larva screams shrilly from somewhere in the distance. I groan, force myself up onto all fours, limbs trembling, and spit blood, glaring at the greenskin.

“Bahaal.” I say, my voice clear and strong, despite my pain. Golden flames burst outwards.

I can feel my flesh knitting together, though the all-concealing radiance of the Restorations keeps me from observing the process with my own two eyes. I stand, somewhat unsteadily.

When the fire vanishes I see Whompt has backed up a bit, so I spare a moment to glance down at my sweat-slicked body and rearrange the torn remnants of my top and sash in an attempt at retaining some semblance of modesty; though my wounds have healed over—on the surface, at least—and the blood has all been burnt away, the healing magic has done nothing to fix my outfit, and Amber’s claws did a real number on it.

The greenskin roars and charges and I leap into the air, straight at him. Between the effort of the fight and my lack of enough power to heal myself fully, my whole body aches. I’ve quite some skill in acrobatics, though, and I didn’t get this good by giving up whenever my muscles got a little sore.

My foe swings clumsily—not anticipating an aerial attack—misses, and I land on top of him, one foot on his shoulder, the other on his face. Before he has time to react, I kick off, using him as a living springboard. I twist in midair, forging a spear as I spin, aiming then launching the projectile at the enormous panther several metres away.

It sinks into her side, and Amber howls in pain and surprise, stumbling slightly and allowing a thoroughly bloodied fairy to slip from her grasp and take to the sky, unleashing a fusillade of scales which flash brightly upon impact and send the beast crashing to the ground.

The moment I land, I roll forwards. It’s not an instant too soon, for a fraction of a second later Whompt’s axe head slams into the sand where I’d been.

I twist to face him as I roll, and come out of the movement in a crouch, another javelin forming in one hand as my goliath of an opponent roars and loses no time in charging me once more.

I have not the slightest idea how I’m going to defeat this creature.

Word Count: 848 (according to WordCounter.net*)
*After adding +4 for the two pairs of em dashes.

Spending 4 SP on Advanced Regeneration to heal 12 damage.
Ahana appears fully healed, though she was actually injured badly enough that she still has some residual muscle damage under her skin.

SP Remaining: 0/4

[Karl Jak]

Face to Face
#09 Ahana Varma & #40 Eternity Larva vs #15 Amber Veritz & (NPC) Whompt

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[spoiler]
Ahana Varma and Eternity Larva win. They may go post in the Elimination Exit thread to be on their merry way.[/spoiler]