- Kara Stormborn Next to a pillar


20 feet

Twilight Dragon Knight

- Akiva Roe

Who had put all this rock up in the sky?

That was Akiva's first thought as she appeared in the arena. It seemed very silly to her; rocks belonged on the ground, not in the air!

It must have taken a lot of magic to lift it all up here, and Akiva couldn't imagine why, but right now there were more important things for her to worry about. Her prey was here, five beasts each stronger than the last, and the strongest of them all stood right in the middle. He had a hard shell, that one, covering up his whole body. Akiva would need to crack it open, expose the vulnerable meat inside.

Even as she made these observations, Akiva curled her left wing protectively in front of her, holding her weapon behind it so that the others wouldn't see. Her eyes peeked out over the top of her wing, and her knees bent, ready to jump into the air if she needed to.

Stepping from the portal he regarded the others who had arrived--noting the presence of the Seraph. Even with the distance between them her markings and the pattern of her wings were something he could admire, perhaps even finding them quite fetching. A smile played across his lips and his head tilted faintly--cloak hiding the entirety of his body language--as he regarded her, her weaponry, the others, and then the Champion who stood amidst them all.

"Beautiful," he uttered, admiration entering his eyes briefly as he gazed upon the armor of their adversary. It was truly something to look upon. Of course, he had more than simple appreciation for it, no, beyond this was an analytical mind considering how to pick apart the defenses of the knight.

His smile fell away, replaced by a placid calm.

Having taken his measure of the competitors and his adversary, he cast his gaze askance, taking in the battlefield around them. Everyone was positioned at a roughly equal distance from the foe and from those to their left and right. The sharp cut off of their arena meant that being pushed off could lead either to a swift end or simply disqualification from the round. All this taken in he noted the stadium 'seating' before he gently pressed a foot harder against the ground.

Solid stone, he noted and as he did he found himself wondering if anyone present had strength potions, or simply enhanced biology of that sort. For now it didn't matter, so with a small ruffling of his cloak, he worked his weighted chain, Thrann, from his belt. The weapon did not peak from beneath his cloak, in fact, nothing did. Though, unseen, his footing shifted slightly and a faint smile worked its way back upon his lips and into his eyes.

"It is a pleasure to face against one so prestigious, Knight of Twilight."

Before the knight could turn his attention to him, Mikeil glanced diagonally across the field and past the knight to the mysterious red-winged seraph. He nodded at her, a knowing look on his features, before his eyes shifted back to the Champion.

"I do hope that you aren't terribly troubled by the odds stacked against you."

Though, perhaps you do not see us as a threat?

He left those words unspoken, instead letting his demeanor and his lack of apparent weaponry or worry say it for him. Similarly, the pitch of his words might imply foolishness at such a prospect.

Mikeil wondered if their adversary was a more shrewd sort, calculating, or if he was a man who acted more by instinct.

Only time and the actions of the Knight would tell.

The question was, how soon?

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Stepping out of the portal Kara started to look around, she knew the drill she had done this before, this was both a fight and a treasure hunt. In all the time she had fought in these kinds of battles the best strategy is to avoid fighting at all cost and try to find the treasure while letting the others take themselfs out.

She noticed a large pillar next to her, about 15 feet tall. That would definetly give her an advantage to finding the treasure. She bent her knees and flew up to the top of the pillar. Firing arrows would draw attention to herself, as she got up there she started looking around again. to her right there was another person with wings, she was not of the Oro bloodline, she seemed to be of the Seraph bloodline. She had her wings around her almost like she was hiding something.

She bent her knees ones again to get ready to dodge something if anyone decided to try to beat her or shoot at her.

Sahale looked at the others who seemed to come in at different angles around the twilight dragon knight when they stepped through the portal. From the looks of things, the others were preparing to engage, a few in a stance already, and some concealing what types of weapons they had at their disposal behind their coverings, not a bad opening strategy anyway. Sahale tapped the back of his sword against his right shoulder as he stood there casually, he looked over to where Ryba was and gave a sly smile and a short wave. "Hey, gorgeous, just for the record, let's hold off on that whole 'gutting me' proposal on this round, eh?" he shouted with a wink.

Sahale scanned around the battlefield, looking for any signs of vegetation.....which there were none. "How bothersome," he muttered to himself. "Alright then, ready whenever. One hell of a way to start off one's incarceration, but its better than rotting in a cell," he said as he drew his sword, holding it in his right and and keeping the sheath in his left in a backward blade like grip. He set his stance perpendicular to his enemy, right shoulder towards the knight and his blade held out towards him, though not fully extended. He kept his left arm at his left side, the sheath still in his hand and behind his back. Though he was in a stance, his body posture still seemed to be fairly casual and loose, knees slightly bent.

There was no movement from the twilight knight until all the combatants that stepped from their portal attained proper footing. Simultaneously in his vision they all appeared. Standing in the light he raised up his weapon and seemed to briefly pray in some way to idolize the nature of combat. It was a brief flicker of light that enveloped him before vanishing into nothing. Nothing until his sword began to glow a feint white. Hilt and all. He stepped forward once to enter a one handed stance. Holding his blade which was more than half his height in its entire length yet the blade was a bit lower than half his length. A bit over a meter long.

He chose to keep his head aimed toward Akiva Roe. He relied on his other senses to stay aware of the others who surrounded him. By looking at Akiva however he sensed how she felt. A bit of confusion or unease coupled with her defensive stance made him more curious of her than the others who brandished their weapons boldly. He would have to wait and see.
@Jollan@Katthaj@yoshua171@Drifting Pollen

He was clever, the dragon man. Clever enough to know that little Akiva was much scarier than she seemed, and that he should keep his eyes right on her, to make sure she didn't creep up when he wasn't looking and tear him to pieces!

But if he was looking at her, that meant he wasn't looking other places. Wasn't looking at the mixed-blood warrior who readied a strike from beneath his cloak, wasn't looking at the powerful Oro perched atop a pillar, wasn't looking at the chatty Sol who'd already drawn his sword...

...and, most importantly, he wasn't looking behind his head, where a four-inch portal was silently sliding open.

Or behind Akiva's wing, which concealed not only her musket but another portal of similar size.

From the way her emotions were bubbling up, he'd know she was about to attack. When the attack came, however, she didn't lunge, or shoot, or even leap into the air.

Instead, she jabbed. Jabbed the butt of her musket through the portal behind her wing, to slam it with all her strength into the back of his skull.

Armor could keep him from being cut or shot, but it couldn't entirely stop blunt force. Wouldn't be able to stop Akiva from knocking him off balance, nor stop her concussive blow from bouncing his skull off the inside of his helmet, bouncing his brain off the inside of his skull and leaving him stunned, reeling, ever so vulnerable...

Absently, as the others each readied themselves in their own way, Mikeil wondered at the knight's senses. He'd come out on top in the previous battle--at the very least. This likely meant he had fought many adversaries at once, or perhaps his fight had been much like this one, against a single powerful foe. As the Champion moved, Mikeil tilted his head, noting that the fellow had utterly ignored his words and instead turned towards Akiva. A shame, really, but the man was still a fool. Whatever his senses were and even despite his armor, the knight should never have turned his back on a foe--even if he was surrounded. If it had been Mikeil he might have immediately changed his position to one more advantageous, but alas twas not he and so he would take advantage of his opponent's actions.

Deciding to shift the odds further in their favor, Mikeil casually gestured at the others, then pointed at the knight, before he took a careful step forwards...and then another. Approaching at a slow, measured gait, Mikeil shifted the position of Thrann slight and moved only his wrist, beginning the slightest of turning spins. The motion did not so much as disturb his cloak.

Then Akiva acted, a portal forming and Mikeil suppressed a chuckle. Deciding on a course of action, the mixed-blood warrior let his wings unfurl slightly beneath his cloak, spreading the garment outwards in the process. The lightness of his steps remained, but his speed increased all at once as he entered into a dash. Just walking he'd diminished the 20 feet between them down to 16, but now with his seemingly frantic approach, Mikeil ate up the distance like a famished beast; 16 feet rather swiftly becoming 12 and then eight in moments.

Akiva's attack occurred, Mikeil grinned, slammed a foot down, and ended his approach at 7 feet, transferring the momentum into a swift spin and whipping Thrann at the end of it, his gaze still on the knight as the heavy weight sailed through the air on its chain, intent upon striking the knight in the back of the knee.

While talkative before, he uttered not a word, utterly focused on the arena and the hunt.

Sahale wasn't too keen on moving in quite yet, opting to instead slowly circle his opponent. When he saw the glint of light pass over the knights body, he was sure that he was activating a barrier of some kind around himself, to which, when he saw the first few people commence in their attack, he only slightly shook his head. From the type of knight he was, Sahale had a good idea towards his heritage, though he couldn't say how much the man's blood was split. This meant that he wasn't sure if the barrier was made by his blood or his gear. For Sahale to be sure, he would have to get close enough to the knight to see his eyes and into his mind for a clue. If he could do that, he may find out what kind of abilities he has. Until then, however, he would just have to keep his mind blank and fight off of reacting. Slowly, Sahale closed in, walking casually as ever.