"This island belongs to the Reijin, Shio." Kiyo stated. She was not going to give up the island without a fight.

Kiyo was stood ten feet away from the northern edge of the arena, her undead Mythrael another ten feet in front of her. Thanks to her prowess in Cryomancy and Nyxomancy, the dragon's Adaptive Lexicon had bestowed upon it the Ice-type and the Dark-type in addition to its inborn Dragon-type and Wind-type, and though it was a creature of spirit it seemed to be oddly content with its place, not under the command of a Necromancer like one would typically expect.

Neither Kiyo nor her Mythrael elected to make the initial move of the battle, instead preferring to wait for Shio to move. Kiyo was well aware of Shio's choice of magic and her style of combat, and knew that waiting too long to attack would result in her being highly unlikely to secure victory - but for now, it was better to wait. Mythrael's Nightfall shadow was another ten feet in front of the Natrelmon, and was advancing towards Shio's Ohitsuji at a rate of ten feet per second.

With a flash of light, Shio's longtime companion, her Ohitsuji took his place beside her.

"The metaphorical island may remain yours, but I will not let this one go," Shio replied, despite the fact there was no island even remotely near them, unless you considered the entirety of the continent they were on an island. In which, then yes, they could be having a battle over an island, but that would probably be a stretch. For now, they were about to do battle in the boughs of a massive cherry tree.

Shio was a bit disappointed this challenge had restricted her use of her families special brand of magic, as well as her throwing knives. This restricted her a bit more than she liked, but it was the case for this battle. She would have to put more faith in the teamwork of her Ohitsuji.

However, the large arena gave her some options. Starting far back in the Arena, Shio had a reserved position. The approach of Mythrael's shadow was a serious consideration for Shio's position. Immediately she took off at a brisk pace along a left circle of the Arena. Shio needed to see Kiyo's tactics in action before she responded. Ohitsuji opted to take to the air, following along within ten feet of Shio, wary of the approach of the Mythrael's shadow.

[Sowing Seeds 7, Patience 2]

Kiyo observed Shio’s positioning and her immediate retreat from the Nightfall shadow that had begun to move towards the Ohitsuji, and responded by immediately following an identical arc with her own Mythrael. Kiyo’s skillset tended more towards the nature of controlling zones, and the nature of Shio’s defensive magic, which relied on zones of control, as well as the Ohitsuji’s innate zone control due to being of the Psychic, Earth, and Light-types, would largely render this battle as being one of positioning.

Her own Mythrael being affected by Dark Pact meant that the Natrelmon in the battle were, oddly, the least preferable of the available targets to both of the humans due to their innate ability to resist damage or recover from it, and Mythrael’s Dark-type did not give it a particular advantage in its ability to assassinate due to the potency of the Light-type that Ohitsuji possessed. It made sense that Kiyo would attempt to target Shio, despite her defensive magic, as her ability to defend against the sustained nature of her cryomantic assault would reduce her options to the point that a killing blow could be threatened, ending the battle in a surrender.

Kiyo’s first move was to cast a Blizzard, 12 feet in radius, directly in the centre of the upper-right (from Kiyo’s perspective) quadrant of the arena, aligning with the circular edge at the centre of the wedge of the arena. The available spots not free of the Blizzard would be limiting, and Shio would likely endeavour to not be caught within the area at all, as she full-well knew the consequences of being trapped within a powerful Cryomancer’s Blizzard. Kiyo and Mythrael would both wait for Shio’s reaction to the Blizzard, hopefully eliciting a response other than just movement, before taking any further actions other than commanding the Nightfall shadow to move at a path to cut off any escape to the right side of the Arena without contending with the shadow – an unwise proposition, given that Shio knew the power a Nightfall shadow held.

Shio was confident in her ability to be patient in this battle, which would only serve to increase the effectiveness of the duo in combat. Upon seeing the creation of the Blizzard, Shio quickly began to move towards the center line of the battlefield (still towards the back of the Arena). Hitsuji would raise up an Earthen pillar in the dead center of the Arena to use as a way for the two of them to gain positioning advantages. It would be unleashed in time to cut off the Nightfall Shadow's initial path, but the the two globes of light that were positioned about 15 feet behind the pillar, about 6 feet off the ground, and with 6 feet between the two spheres were probably the larger threats. Each of these spheres would begin to have minuscule specks of light appear around them.

Shio was going to augment her overall control of the field. By invoking the power of Phytomancy, she placed a seed within her own skin with the magic. It consumed a part of the natural energy that her magic drew upon, but it would provide a reward to her later on in the battle. The more seeds she would sow, the more powerful she would become, to the point she was confident she could pose a threat to Kiyo.

Hitsuji would remain similar in position to Shio, travelling on a similar path towards the center line of the Arena.

[Note: Hitsuji's Unyielding zone is the entire arena. Also miscounted Sowing Seeds by forgetting Rank VII Phytomancy.]
[Sowing Seeds 4, Patience 3, Inspiration 1, Conviction 1]
[Indolu's Rapture]