[IC] An Open Challenge

[Griffintaur]

In the midst of a vast sprawling desert wasteland rested a grandiose colosseum somewhat buried in the sand. Its once lavish exterior had been wasted away from the ravages of time. The sun unimpeded by a lack of clouds unrelentingly gleaned on the dilapidated structure. Sitting in the middle of this arena was a lone figure. Looking to be a humanoid beast of sorts, its body and head was fully leonine in nature. The well muscled from was a golden brown color while a lush mane of goldenrod pelage covered his cranium. Protruding from his backside however was a triple set of vibrant wings with scarlet coverts, orange centers and golden bottoms. At the end of his lengthy tail were a series of rectrices of the same hue, only reversed.

With this amalgamation of avian and feline attributes one could make the distinction this was some sort of Griffin. However, this was no ordinary combination of creatures. With the nigh impenetrable hide of a Nemean Lion uniting the fire mastery and ash resurrection of a Phoenix, this being known as Archontikos was a primordial warrior who lived many lifetimes over numerous millennia. Becoming jaded from a seemingly limitless existence, the heraldic hybrid would often seek out anything remotely entertaining to fill the void of nothingness. For decades he remained at this location awaiting a worthy opponent. So far only weaklings that were hardly worth his energy had been encountered, but the ancient combatant remained steadfast. Something of substance was bound to break through the barricade of monotony eventually.

[Drifting Pollen]

It arrived in the form of a shadow, a winged silhouette passing in front of the sun so high up above that for a moment, the entire arena was cast into darkness.

A circling vulture, perhaps? No, there was no bird alive with wings like that. Bony, chiropteran, like great webbed hands extending to grasp the sky itself. Any denizen of any fantastical universe ought to recognize the wings of a dragon, and know enough to cower in fear at the sight of them. When their shadow fell upon you, chances were it was already too late.

The wings folded, and the distant shape dove downwards in a spiraling arc towards the half-buried Colosseum. Sunlight glinted off bright crimson scales, the red hunter swooping in to eye up its latest prey. After circling one final time, it slowed to a gentle glide and alighted delicately atop the highest point of the arena ruins, where it stood up straight and cocked its head at the tender morsel sat down below upon the sandy floor.

"Oh good, you're already kneeling. I do prefer mortals with some semblance of self-awareness."

Not quite a dragon, as it turned out. She certainly had the wings of one, and the nigh-impenetrable red scales, but up close her form was almost fully humanoid, a slender and feminine shape clad in nothing but her own reptilian hide. Her delicate features and soft black hair were more elven than draconic, and her voice brought to mind a beautiful siren luring sailors to their deaths in the open sea. Bright, inquisitive golden eyes fixed themselves upon the feline champion, and the hunter's lips curled into a gentle smile.

"I hunger, beast-man. You may be thankful that it is so. Slit open your throat, and I will do you the honor of taking your flesh as my sustenance."

@Griffintaur

[Griffintaur]

As he had done for the last few sunrises, Archontikos continued to reside in his meditative state. Honing his mental as well as spiritual fortitude was crucial to retain the prime perfection that was his condition. This was until the radiance of the sun was blocked out in a peculiar pattern. It appeared his newest visitor had arrived to perish under his might. With additional senses he had gained and honed over hundreds of millennia, the winged feline had known of this one’s presence for some time now. Things had progressed as he predicted thus far and his prevailing of this foe would follow suit soon enough.

“Foolish creature.” The Lordly Lion would rigidly respond, the ferocity of his vocal cords reverberating throughout the stadium. He’d remained situated as he was, only one of his eyes opened to examine this challenger. The draconian would be met by a stern listless stare from his amber irises. It was a gaze that had seen life and death over abundantly. Almost tortured and shackled by his own prowess. With an abrupt swish from his hexad of wings, the grand beast had risen to his feet in the blink of an eye. Those same limbs would then flare themselves out fully. At that moment their tri-colored plumage would erupt into reddish orange and yellow fire constructs. Rhythmic strokes would send the Griffin Supreme upwards as his tail feathers fanned out in an identical fashion.

“You dare look down on such divinity? The magnitude of your ignorance cannot be fathomed.” Archontikos would continue dully as he drifted upwards, stopping and hovering at a level just above his opponent. With the pads of his palms facing up, a stream of flame began to billow around the murder mittens. Even with this mild display of his Pyromancy, the surrounding temperatures began to skyrocket greatly.

“I will incinerate you into nothingness.” finished the primordial warrior as without warning he’d unleash a perpetual torrent of intensely hot fire directly towards the scaley lady. The flow would persist after the initial launch and would trail her in the chance she would evade. This one did seem somewhat promising though, so perhaps it won’t be so much of a disappointment after she’s reduced to a smoldering heap of ash.

@Drifting Pollen

[Drifting Pollen]

The scaled woman's horned head tilted just slightly on hearing his growled insults. "I am Tiamat, you little bug. Mother of life, and first goddess of the primordial sea. That you are graced with my gaze at all is far more than you deserve."

Her knees bent, and she spread her arms wide. Each of her fingertips bore a great curved talon, as long as a carving knife and wickedly sharp. A mere flick of her wrist would have sufficed to slice an ordinary man into a half-dozen pieces, but in this case that would evidently not be enough. She beckoned, instead, egging on the beast as he rose up and drew level with her. "Much better. You may be uncouth for a meal, but at the very least..."

A stream of fire erupted in her direction, and she sprang up off her perch. "...You have the good grace to come to me already well-cooked!"

The stone where she'd stood less than a second before was promptly blasted into molten slag, but the dragon was already beyond the reach of the flames. Her wings snapped open, and she threw her weight forwards, plunging headfirst towards her prey. The blazing river rose to follow her, but she bobbed up a little further with every inch it adjusted, always flying just barely out of its reach. She did not beat her wings, nor attempt to desperately maneuver, but merely glided along the full length of the attack with an almost effortless grace. The searing, vaporizing fire of the phoenix might as well have been a bright orange carpet laid out to welcome her arrival.

Was it magic? One of her six godly powers? Hardly! This was only the natural result of the attack itself, and Tiamat's own mastery of flight. Any mass of fire so formidably large and hot created waves of heated, expanding air around it, which naturally rose upward due to the resulting loss of density. It was this air that Tiamat was gliding on, catching the upward flow with her extended wings and letting it buoy her just above the raging inferno as it moved to follow her. In this way she rode the flames straight to Archontikos, their crackle and roar mingling with the sound of her mocking laughter.

Perhaps the lion would realize his mistake and stop the torrent, but by then it would already be too late. Tiamat had altitude, she had momentum, and her agility in the air was such that a mere tilt of her wings brought her swooping upward just a fraction of a second before collision. As she flashed past above her prey, her left leg whipped downwards, a full set of talons extended to rake across the back of his uppermost right wing.

@Griffintaur

[Griffintaur]

With the rushing inferno persisting, the keen eyes of Archontikos never relinquished their hold of his opponent as if gauging her capabilities. From the absurd processing prowess of the beast’s mental faculties, it was as if he was watching things play out in slow motion. The majestic coordination of her movements was admittedly remarkable and very befitting of the title she claimed. He even nearly found himself taken off guard by her last minute maneuverability. Sure his mind was able to perceive things in such a way, but his body was still limited to the bounds of physiology. The moment he lost sight of her for a moment as she sprang up and behind him, his flames ceased while he pivoted his body to turn towards her.

Tiamat’s decisive strike did indeed connect. The ensuing collision would create a shockwave that rattled the entire structure and threatened to collapse it entirely. If the humanoid reptile were to look, she would see that her claws had connected with the forearm of the Godly Griffin raised at the last second. Completing a half rotation, the arm that hadn’t released the flame was used to block her strike. Only losing a bit of altitude from the impact, he remained otherwise undamaged. The impervious nature of his hide held firm and the flame still coated around the limb was somewhat used as additional protection. The durable defenses were slightly dented, essentially, but only a strike in that exact spot could whither it further, which was unlikely. The ancient warrior would look up at his adversary with that deadpan expression seemingly fixed on his visage.

“Impressive.” he would initially say, his blazing wings continuing to keep him afloat. Each beat of the fiery constructs sent embers scattering randomly and the heat only seemed to still be rising. Arch wasn’t just a master of fire, but a living embodiment of it. He wills the flames as naturally as he draws breath.

“I am Archontikos. The mightiest of the Allagimorfis. An eternal force of nature that will endure long after you perish.” continued the fiery feline. Just then, the very wing she intended to target as well as the one beside it would bend into makeshift fists and lunge themselves towards her fleshy midsection with blinding speeds looking to deliver a plethora of powerfully burning blows.

@Drifting Pollen

[Drifting Pollen]

"Ha!"

The dragon bared her fangs, her forked tongue taunting him through their deadly points. "The mightiest of the ants, challenging the heavens themselves! And he thinks himself eternal!" A fresh bout of laughter shivered through her, and she had to raise one set of claws to hide her vicious grin. "Oh dear, little one. I haven't heard such comedy in centuries..."

Her biting words slithered through a storm of oncoming blows, pricking at the griffin's fluffy ears. Archontikos had taken no significant damage from her claws, and other than a faint tingling sensation in his arm, there was little to stop him from launching his brutal retaliation. Those wings of his were veritable siege weapons, and their barrage would have pulverized even the thickest of castle walls—but Tiamat was a leaf on the wind, and against such a simple assault she was all but untouchable. Strike after strike ripped through the empty air beneath her, and her stinging claws snipped and sliced at the lashing wings, punishing every attempt to bring her down.

Once again, positioning was key. She'd launched her previous attack from above, and the impact had cost Archontikos just a few feet of altitude. Not an insurmountable obstacle, but here was the thing: every action produced an equal and opposite reaction, and the same impact that knocked the griffin down had pushed Tiamat upward, the recoil of her own blow giving her a burst of extra lift to gain distance. Her opponent had begun his counterattack without bothering to close the distance first, and though his sizeable wingspan gave him sizeable reach, Tiamat had only been gliding up to this point. As the beast unleashed his first mighty strike, her own wings beat down, and she darted up still higher, so that her body passed beyond the maximum range of his blow.

It was the flying equivalent of footwork, the kickboxer's agile backstep adapted for use in aerial combat. Any oversized bird could use its wings as weapons, but Tiamat had honed them into the primary tools of a full-blown airborne martial art, one that many a former foe had learned to fear and respect.

More quick wingbeats kept her clear of the initial follow-up strikes, but the dragon knew better than to wait for her enemy to change targets. The griffin's remaining four wings might have sufficed to keep him aloft, but in this moment his lift was nonetheless reduced, and it couldn't be easy to stay balanced in the air while constantly throwing out one's wings like that. Tiamat had used her wings as bludgeons many times in the past, and it only took her a couple of seconds to figure out the timing, and spot her opportunity. An upward strike, a missed blow... And before the next could arrive, her own wings snapped closed. Without any remaining lift, the dragon dropped like a stone.

And this, too, was a part of her art.

In the air, gravity became yet another weapon, another tool to use in outmaneuvering one's enemy. Archontikos had just thrown up a wing to try and strike at her, and that wing had yet to fully draw itself back into position after the blow. Before it could, Tiamat came down on it like a fucking guillotine, leading with a brutal axe kick powered by the full gravity-assisted weight of her falling body. The raw force of it absolutely dwarfed her skimming slash from before, and no amount of toughened hide was going to keep that from leaving a bruise.

...But that wasn't the point, or not entirely. The fact was, in using two of his wings to attack, Archontikos had sacrificed a degree of balance and stability. And while his physical toughness could reduce damage, it didn't prevent transfer of velocity, meaning it wouldn't keep him from being knocked out of the sky and sent hurtling towards the ground in an uncontrolled spin.

@Griffintaur

[Griffintaur]

As a masterpiece of biological engineering meticulously crafted over his entire existence, the body of Archontikos was more than capable of otherwise impossible feats. The strength of his wings alone could dismantle whole armies with relative ease while perfect synchronization of each individual limb allowed for sublime dexterity. It was as if they were semi-sentient entities that can operate both individually and separately.

Retaining his position with the lower quartet of flaming flight bearers did take a bit more energy, sure, but by far they were able to compensate for any absent thrust. The beast's lengthy hybrid tail would also shift and pivot about, using the fiery fan at the end as a sort of rudder to account for body adjustments. Working seamlessly in tandem, Archon would assert his own aerial mastery as the blazing barrage persisted with astute accuracy.

Though despite the efforts he was currently exuding, his attempts to char her flesh was avoided. Not that he was particularly surprised. These more rudimentary tactics were implemented intentionally as a way to observe this new plaything of his. Her agility was undoubtedly remarkable and those crimson scales could probably topple mountainsides. He couldn't help but subtly break his stoicism to momentarily glance at the dragoness in bemusement as his robust furred arms crossed over his broad fuzzy chest. The ancient warrior found Tiamat’s mannerisms confounding and became curious if her fortitude was as abundant as her pomposity.

“Useless.” Archontikos would bellow as he watched her attempted attack. Not necessarily in volume, but intensity. The mystical wings of a Phoenix need not to adhere to conventional principles. When unfurled, they didn’t just resemble fire, but became living flame itself. Inextinguishable even when fully submerged in water or enduring the coldest of temperatures, striking these semi-tangible extremities wouldn’t yield the expected results. The billowing construct did indeed disperse as Tiamant’s foot passed through, though it would reform just as quickly and the Griffin Supreme remained resolute.

Without wasting a second, he would attempt to capitalize on his falling prey. With that heir of superiority she boasted, perhaps a harsh reunion with the ground was in order. The uppermost right wing hadn’t even fully retracted yet before the bottom four would launch Archontikos upwards with a single hefty flap that naturally stirred up a great deal of heat and air. At the apex of this bound, his upper wings would extend themselves fully once more before with an equally powerful beat, all six sent him careening downwards like a golden meteor of fur and muscle. All while keeping his arms still crossed as a way to further express his dominance.

His target was the scaly humanoid. The hardened brown pads of sizable pawed feet would attempt to plant themselves onto Tiamat; their gold claws unsheathing to aid with grip, Such a maneuver seemed bird-like despite his entirely feline body. As if a pair of talons was reaching out. It appeared having wings and tail feathers weren’t the only avian attributes of the composite creature. Still with his arms interlocked over his torso while gazing down vapidly at the Goddess, his wings and rectrices would return to their tri-toned plumaged state, abruptly dropping his 600 pounds of weight down like a speeding freight train.

Whether or not he succeeded in anchoring himself to her, he’d regardless collide with the stone stadium like an organic statue falling from the heavens. The sheer force of impact sent a rippling shockwave that decimated what was left of the structure. Pillars began collapsing and sent a sight obscuring haze across the destruction. The stadium seating split and broke apart into heaps of rubble from the immense fissures. At the epicenter of it all in the midst of a massive crater was Archon, still unenthused and undamaged as his Nemean Lion hide held up firmly. Though a very faint smirk did briefly creep upon his maw at the beauty of his might.

As things eventually came to a standstill, the ancient beast perpetually kept a keen lookout for the humanoid with his plethora of senses. He couldn’t help but anticipate a strike from somewhere behind him followed by some remark about his insignificance or whatever she was prattling on about. Even if he was successful, there was little doubt it’d take a lot more than that to slay divinity. With finite concentration on his surroundings, Archontnkos would be ready for whatever this capable fighter could throw at him next.

@Drifting Pollen

[Griffintaur]

[redacted]

[Kaga Classs]

Kaga would walk into the arena, with one of her cannons held up at the so called "Champion of the Arena." then fired all of them straight into the sleeping mass that was at the center of the Arena. "I'm going to vaporize this place with my cannoery and shells so that no one has to die here for this sick sporting event anymore." Kaga would say out loud with a confident glare of almost amusement that something like this would exist in the first place.

[Drifting Pollen]

Tiamat flew away, fast and far, and fled the scene of battle.

[BangoSkank]

No sell it. It's a three way now.

Or I'll join and it's a Free Four All

[Kaga Classs]

You wanna rejoin in on this. I think we should just void the auto kill. If everyone wants to that is.

[Kaga Classs]

Anyone want to have a battle or a roleplay that involves other things than just fighting on another thread?

[Kaga Classs]

Bump

[Kaga Classs]

Bump

[Griffintaur]

Damn. Wasn't expecting this kind of activity in my brief absence.

@Drifting Pollen I apologize for my rudeness. I should've communicated things to see if you were even still interested. Life does certainly happen as I understand and relate. But as you've pointed out, there are no rules and I'm really just wingin stuff here. There was very little investment in that last post of mine, and I did have the idea of simply pretending it didn't happen if neee be. I was thoroughly enjoying our skirmish.

@BangoSkank You're more than welcome to join my good person. Like I mentioned above, it's kinda free game and I'm not opposed to a battle Royale.

@Kaga Classs Pardon the delay there. Seems like things have taken a bit of a turn and got a whole lot more interesting.

Okay! So. What I'm gonna do is undo my last post so Tiamat can return tonthe foray. Despite the free nature of this arena, perhaps some posting order can be established, which can be whatever order happens first. Thank you alp for your time, patience and consideration. Happy fighting and may the best contender be victorious!