[IC] OP characters dustup

[TheUnknowable]

Lina Inverse stood on a barren plane, having been teleported there by some deity or monster that wanted people to fight for its amusement. Honestly, she wasn't really paying attention, but she did catch that the more enemies she "killed" the more favor she would win, which could be traded for objects from the being that brought her here. Best of all, no one actually died, because they would be made whole by the being no matter what happened to them.

She eagerly awaited her first opponent.

[BespeckledCeph]

Rider's question of what to do now was to be answered quite quickly, as he was transported to this arena. He scanned the crowd, and his opponent. He let out a sigh of sorrow and readied his Pistol. He didn't want another helpless person to die, but he was going to have to. He walked towards the middle of the arena, blank faced as ever, staring directly at this female, waiting for her to make the first move. His hand was on his sword, pistol put back into it's holster.

[TheUnknowable]

"So I see they got you too." Lina said, looking at the man that was much taller than her. "Lina Inverse," she said, putting out her hand so he could shake it. "I get that you don't want to be here, but from what they told me when they abducted me, we won't die if we are killed. Whatever god or monster grabbed us will bring us back, and we'll be rewarded for fighting for its entertainment. So we may as well have fun and try and get rich."

[BespeckledCeph]

Rider grunted agreeable, and stepped back. He clenched the handle of the sheathed sword tighter, now that no one is getting hurt, he could go full force. He waited for an attack, to learn a pattern, anything that could help him. He stayed back, waiting and prepared, who was going to take the first move, the first step?

[TheUnknowable]

Lina looked her opponent over, sizing him up. Armor, or maybe he was part golem. Both a sword and a gun, which meant that he was probably good with both. She was decent enough with a sword, but he would have a serious reach advantage. If she could buy some distance, though, she could fight him at range where her defensive barrier could block his bullets. Hopefully.

She put one hand behind her back and pulled back the one she hand offered as a handshake. "In that case", she said, charging a light spell in her hidden hand, "may the best one win."

She stuck her now revealed hand in front of his face and yelled "lighting", hopefully blinding him long enough to get away. She didn't bother checking, however, as she yelled "levitation" and began flying straight up.

[BespeckledCeph]

With this immediate aggression seen before, he dodged out of the way, and saw her flying in the air. He fired of 5 bullets in rapid succession, each one having a slight deviation, and one aimed right on target. He started to charge a charged swipe, and analyzed the caster

Most of her quick attacks wouldn't be so powerful, but the ones that took a while, he definitely wanted to stop. His parrying wouldn't be to useful as a ranged caster wouldn't be up close much, but he could close the gap and put pressure on her, crack her defenses slowly and get her.

[TheUnknowable]

Lina held up her hand a created a defensive barrier. With no time to prepare it, though, it was too weak to block them all. The four off-target rounds ricocheted off, but the one on target made it through, barely missing her outstretched hand and shattering the decorative shoulder-guard on her left side.

She knew she wouldn't have time to cast anything she had to chant for, nor could she spare the concentration for anything very powerful, including a barrier that was impervious to his attacks, while flying. "Ray wing!" she shouted, accelerating away from the man. Hopefully she could get enough distance to charge something bigger.

[BespeckledCeph]

Rider glanced, and smirked slightly. He hit. As she started to dash away, he used the slash he had charged, and immediately closed the gap that was there. Face to face now, he slashes at the female a few times, lands, and shoots once at her. Now on the ground, he is charging a dash, waiting for any devastating attacks to come. He was still a little dazed from the lighting, but nothing he couldn't handle. He was doing as he planned, slowly chipping away at the girl.

[TheUnknowable]

Lina fell from the air, multiple slashes and a bullet wound causing her to bleed out. She knew she had to buy time for a recovery spell if she was going to survive this, so she threw up a barrier. Further attacks and blood loss were sapping her strength too quickly. She needed to drive him away quickly.

Making sure to keep the barrier up, she sighed. 'Well, at least I'm immune to my own spells.' she thought as she launched a fireball at the man, the most powerful spell she thought she could use in time.

[BespeckledCeph]

Rider was lucky. He got in a few moves, and got out. This might be quicker than he thought. She was backing off quickly, probably to fix her wounds. She hurls a fireball his way, but he dodges easily using his charged dodge. Now to think. She had a barrier up, and he can't get in. At least she was on the ground now. Rider sprinted over to her location, firing from afar, and then going ham on the shield. It had to let up at some point.

[TheUnknowable]

She managed to keep the barrier up for another ten seconds, but the constant attempts to break through it drained her too much. "Damn it." she said with half closed eyes, then the barrier fell as she lost consciousness due to blood loss.

[BespeckledCeph]

Rider had one, just one last blow. He dashed forwards, jumped, flipped, and landed, plunging the sword into the girl. She would be back to normal soon, but for now, he had won.

Rider sheathed his sword and holstered his pistol. The job had been done, and with such a performance, money was raining onto him from the stands. He stood there, staring at the girl, who's body lie there, limp. You could see the path that he took through the arena, and twists, turns, and straightaways of black stain the arena floor.

[TheUnknowable]

Lina's body faded away and, a few seconds later, she appeared fully healed, equipment restored, in the private box of the one that brought her here. "So," she said, "I hope I entertained you. Maybe enough for me to learn your name, at least?"

"Not really." said a deep male voice which appeared to be a humanoid shadow. "You did no damage. Perhaps in a later round you will find an enemy that you are able to wound or even defeat. I won't send anyone home until they entertain me by winning at least three times."

He stood up and dissolved, appearing in front of Rider. "So, Rider, you have won your first battle and were barely even fazed by your opponent's attacks. Is there anything you would ask of me before the next round? Remember, the more wins you have, the larger your reward."

The stands cheered, vague figures standing and applauding. They were also shrouded in darkness which could not be seen through.

[BespeckledCeph]

Rider nodded his head, and put his hand on his pistol.

He wanted, no needed, more action.

The Jailer is the key, kill him and you will be free

[TheUnknowable]

"Very well," said the smokey figure, teleporting itself back to it's stadium box where Lina was sitting. An orange skinned woman appeared beside Rider where the figure had just stood. "Let the fight continue." The statement echoed through the stands and the crowd cheered once more.

"Where am I?" asked Starfire of the cyborg standing beside her. "Did you bring me here?" She put up her hands to defend herself.

[BespeckledCeph]

Rider looked at the stadium box, and nodded his head towards him. He looked at this strange, scantily clad woman right next to him. He shook his head at the question. He had done none the sort. She would soon learn her purpose here.

Rider walked away from his location, and turned to face the girl, pistol in hand. He was ready, and he was going to win. He was going to be free soon enough.

[TheUnknowable]

"Wait!" Starfire said, "Why would you wish to shoot me? I mean you no harm." She dropped guard and started walking towards him.

[BespeckledCeph]

He shook his head, disappointing. She knew not of what was to come. Such a naive girl.

He fired 3 shots in quick succession, all on target, and started to run towards her.

Maybe this would be easier than he thought

[TheUnknowable]

Three bolts of light hit her nose and she grabbed her face instinctively. "Why did you attack me?" she asked readying herself for a fight. "I do not wish to fight you but if you insist on attacking me you will lose." With that she ran at him as well at approximately his own speed, preparing to punch him in the face as she met him.

She didn't want to kill him, but he had attacked her first and would have to be stopped.

[BespeckledCeph]

Rider face palmed as she didn't understand the arena. He fired off a couple more shots, holstered his gun and readied his sword for melee combat. At least we're fighting now. He analyzed her movements, she was faster than her previous opponent, yet she could probably obtain flight as well. He felt bad that he abused her naivety , but the battle had to start at some point