@Silver Fox@Jangel13@oblivion666@joshua Tamashii@Lunarlors34CarrieOnce freed, Carrie curled into a ball, shaking with terror. She didn't seem to take in Zephyr's words, but she seemed very aware that he was leaving, and that just made things worse.
She gave a terrified sound, and uncurled, managing, only just, to swing off the bed, but as soon as she rose, she found herself crashing to the ground, unable to stop her fall. Pain was beyond her now though, the fear of being in the infirmary without any sort of safety net greater then anything else.
"No, no, no, no, no" She sobbed, letting her voice carry with what little magic remained to her,
"Please don't leave me here, please, please" Any thought of image was gone, and as pathetic as it was, she made as if to crawl after Zephyr, her arms shaking with the effort, her head dizzy.
"Let me go..." she almost said home, but that was back in headquarters, as impossible to get to as it was to get to the door right then.
"let me go to the hotel, I don't want to be here, I don't want to be here, take me, please, please please" She was terrified she was going to pass out again, and wake up alone in the infirmary, terrified she might never get out, just plain terrified.
She put all her energy into remaining awake, sweat dripping at the effort, mixing with her own tears.
Penny"Perhaps so" Penny began to say, before Jasmine seemed to have a dizzy spell. Launching up, in case Jasmine began to fall, Penny reached out to steady the girl, waiting to see if it passed, before saying
"Are you okay?" She asked, with concern.
Master Jamie"it's okay, Angelo, lets head back to the guild, it seems to be over, but make sure you are always with someone, okay? There's something else going on here, and lets not give Riders Blade or Dragon Fang another mark against you, okay?" Jamie said, offering a hand to Angelo to help him up.
Michael"Then its worse, if they just go attacking and using Jackie as an excuse, isn't it?" Michael said softly, knowing that human nature was flawed, greatly, and in most people there was an instinctive need to fight, whether to defend, to protect or for revenge.
"Because that just means, most likely, that they don't care, they don't care about magic, or what these game are meant to represent, they don't care that such moves could damage the fragile view of magic, and that makes then dangerousUriel stepped back from jackie, but held onto the girls hand for a few moments more, almost as if he was merely trying to comfort.
Soren vs Lucas battle final part"
Everyone has their limit. How long until you reach yours?" Lucus said, holding out a hand and stopping the knife with a strong blast of wind as the rest of the wind died down. He was perfectly fine in the rapidly heating dome though and seemed rather relaxed.
Soren was growing more and more frustrated, and he formed a metal sword, finally drawing closer to Lucas again, with the deadly blade in front of him, he swiped, slashed and stabbed, hoping for a chance
"
You can't and won't be able to hit me mate. Give up now before you embarrass yourself." Lucus said as he dodged or blocked each blow.
Soren didn't give that an answer. He wouldn't give up. He was fighting for his guild! As Lucas dodged the blows, Soren kept at it, attacking with the blade, as flames grew again, flying towards Lucas in balls of flame
Lucus continued dodging as he used wind to blow away the flames. He waited until Soren got reckless and left as opening, at which point he swung an uppercut at Soren's chin, using his magic to give the blow some momentum so that it would definitely do some damage if it landed.
Soren wasn't able to dodge the blow, and he went flying, crashing into the earth wall, causing several cracks. The mimic Mage struggled up, refusing to go down. With a roar, a whirlwind of daggers flew fast, and deadly towards Lucas
Lucus managed to raise a wall of wind but several daggers got through and hit him in the shoulder and leg but he simply pulled them out before adjusting them in his hands, smiling. They felt nice.
"
I should ask Sieg for some sword lessons after this." He said before quickly closing the gap between himself and Soren with a burst of wind. He was running low on magic now and needed to end it quickly. He went for what seemed like a slash at Soren's midriff before quickly changing it to another wind-backed blow to the mages chin.
Growing more annoyed, and frustrated at this dodging of most of his attacks, Sorrn met Lucas in his attack, bringing up a dagger to block the blow, but flew back with the chin hit again. Rolling, Soren struggled uo
"
Oh just stay down!" Lucus said as he moved over to Soren and delivered an overhead kick to the man's head.
Soren rolled, so the kick hit his shoulder instead of his head, not dignify that stay down with an answer, as he once more tried to get up, pushing himself to his knees, he managed to sit up, but it appeared to take an effort.
"
Face it kid, you lost. You're attacks aren't going to hit me that easily and you're almost out of gas. The odds are not in your favor to win this. So just surrender before you end up seriously hurt." Lucus said, starting to get a bit annoyed but keeping his cool. If he lost his head now, Soren had a chance at winning.
"No" the single word was clear, and refusing to give up, Soren stood, managing to do so without embarrassing himself. He would just have to give his all, in one last attack. So saying, he began to gather his power, destroying the earthen dome and taking its magic for himself, lightening became to flash, landing all around them, and water rose up like a wave, coming crashing down, aiming for Lucas as the lightening did.
Lucus looked around him and sighed as the lightshow occurred. He didn't have enough magic to block something of this magnitude. He had been using the Sensor for too long and it was getting impossible to maintain it at a decent size. Smiling, he took the attack the result left him on the ground laughing at his own foolishness. He really should've tried to be smarter with an opponent like this.
Soren stood panting, watching as his magic faded away, refusing to collapse, instead he watched, waiting to see if Lucas would get up, having reached his limit, and gone passed it, Soren knew he wouldn't be able to fight any longer.
"
Ah, da... you know, I shouldn't curse with my daughter watching me. Guess I shouldn't let her see Daddy go down either." Lucus said before slowly getting to his feet. It was hard to move after getting hit by that much electricity, but besides his guild, he had a daughter to think about. No way in hell was he about to go down easily. He still had some magic left. He was going to win this. Turning to Soren, he chuckled. "
Got any gas left in that tank. I still got enough to finish this unless you care to go down first."
"I told you, no!" Soren roared, standing up straight, and holding his hands out, fisted, as if he could stop any magic coming his way. just a little bit, that's all I need he thought, eyes narrowed at Lucas, refusing to let himself go down. His guild was near the bottom, damn it! He had to win.
But right then, he didn't know if he could even take a step
Lucus laughed.
"
The hard way then." He said, walking towards Soren calmly. He knew a direct magical attack was pointless and would win Soren the match now. Once he was close enough, he used a blast of wind to propel himself forward to try and deliver a swift kick to Soren's gut.
Soren yelped, and made to defend himself, but was unable to stop the blow. He doubled over, but did not fall, refusing to lose with his arse on the ground. He tried to catch his breath, sucking in short shallow breaths like a fish out of water, trying to watch Lucas, to prepare himself for another attack.
Lucus shook his head and moved over to Soren and pushed the man over before looking at the judge.
"
I would say I've won, unless you have some other objection. My opponent is no longer able to fight." He said.
Soren didn't fall, but he did come dangerously close. "I don't want your pity!" He roared, and snarling, he made to move against Lucas. He would not lose like this! He would not lose because of stupid honor! He would fight until he couldn't anymore. And that was that.
"
DON'T BE AN IDIOT!" Lucus roared at Soren, losing him temper for the first time. "
You're no use to your guild or people you care about dead! If you keep this up, that would probably be the best thing that could happen! The alternative is you push so hard, you'll injure yourself permanently! Stand down already or be ready to give up your life as a mage because you're too stubborn to know when you're beat!"
"You're only beat when you give up!" Soren shouted, gathering his strength, bending slightly as if to jump. "You're only beat when you can't fight! I will not give up! I can still fight!" He leaped towards Lucas, deciding he wouldn't care if he won, as long as he could knock this jerk on his butt.
"
Damned fool." Lucus mutted under his breathe before clentching his fist and slamming it into Soren's face with all the force he could put behind it.
Soren jerked, enough so the blow didn't land on his nose, but rather off his cheek. it still jerked his head back, and did nothing to stop his momentum towards Lucas, so chances were, they'd end up in a pile.
Lucus landed on the ground the same time as Soren but quickly untangled himself and got back to his feet, letting Soren get up too if the kid was foolish enough to actually try.
Soren was dazed, but he did still try to get up, pushing his hands under himself, and trying to leverage himself up, shaking.
Lucus looked down at Soren and planted his foot on the other mages chest and pushed him back down.
"
Now, listen closely. You are powerless now. You cannot win. I'm not telling you to give up out of pity. I'm telling you to give up because it's a fact." Lucus said
Did Lucas seriously think he would just give up? That it was even possible to do so? Soren managed to twist, just slightly and then got his hands under himself again, pushing to try and rise again.
"As long as k keep on trying it is not fact. Too much of a coward to finish the job? Scared that I might actually come back and win this thing, are you?" Trash talking probably wasn't the best thing to do, but it was all he had
"
No. I'm scared I'll end up killing you." Lucus said simply, pushing Soren back down.
That didn't scare Soren. You could get killed simply walking down the street. "So? If you are scared you'll kill someone, then you don't deserve to be here. If you go that far, you don't deserve to call yourself s guild wizard." He said, refusing to be pushed back down, he locked his arms so he wouldn't be, and instead managed, shakily, to get on his knees.
"
Guild wizards kill people all the time. The question is who do we kill and why. I have no interest in killing you. You barely have the strength to stand. So tell me, what will you do? How will you beat me?" Lucus asked
"I already have" Soren replied "even if I lose the battle, I have still beat you, because I am willing to continue and you are not. I have not given up. Nor will I." He pushed himself up, onto his feet shakily, looking battered and swaying slightly. His cheek was bruising, swelling, closing his eye, but he was standing. And that was all that mattered.
Lucus frowned and shook his head.
"
Then you are a fool." He said taking a combat ready stance. "
But if you have a death wish, then bring it so I can grant it."
Soren stepped one foot back, in a wobbly combat stance, keeping his eyes on Lucas, not attacking. It took all his strength to just remain upright, so be just watched, knowing he only had a few moments at best left in him
Lucus took a breathe before making the first attack, sending a punch at Soren's gut only to change it to an uppercut for the man's jaw.
Soren knew if he got him, he'd be done. So when Lucas moved to attack, he took two steps back, and managed to avoid the blow. He knew, around him, somewhere, there were knives around still of his. If he could touch even one, take its magic...he might win
Lucus wasn't giving Soren a chance to search for the knives, as he kept on pushing the attack, aiming punches and kicks at Soren, most to the gut or face, but he also attacked the other mage's limbs as well, to put him further off balance.
All Soren could do was stumble back, away from Lucas. One or two blows landed, sending him stumbling almost falling. Strangely enough, he kicked off his shoes, leaving his feet bare, so that if he touched a knife he'd have the magic.
He judged he only had a minute or two. So once more he launched himself at lucas
Lucus took note of Soren taking off his footware and had to think about what his opponent might be up to. Considering Soren's abilities... shit the knives. They had been made of magic. The kid was basically looking for a refund. Well, no way in hell was he gonna let that happen.
When his opponent lunged at him, Lucus side stepped before trapping Soren in a choke hold, apply enough pressure to actually begin suffocating his opponent.
Soren let out a frustrated cry as he tried to get away, but wasn't able to. It was over. He knew it. He went limp, and closed his eyes, cursing his own weakness.
Once Soren stopped struggling, Lucus loosened his grip just enough for the mage to remain conscious.
"
If you're thinking you're weak let me tell you something: you are far from it. But just take this as a lesson on how to improve. Even I've learned a lesson from this. I need to practice in physical combat more. I'm only using what few moves I've learned over the years. Had this been a fist fight and I wasn't allowed to use magic, you would've won in less then five minutes. But take pride in what you did well in the match. Don't dwell too much on this loss."
"And you think I'll take words from someone who didn't want to continue fighting because they were scared?" Soren hissed out, shaking his head. He didn't win, and that spelled weak to him. It didn't matter what Lucas said, his words were nothing in any case, nothing because Lucas had been too scared to fight, to continue until Soren pressed him. "Let me go"
"
Not until the judge declares the match over." Lucus said, tightening his grip again
Soren lashed out, moving, trying to get a low blow kick or punch in, not caring anymore, not caring if it was fighting dirty, but then the siren blew, for the end of the mmatch.
"A tie then." Lucus said, letting Soren go before walking away without a backwards glance.
"no one said anything about a tie! No no, we will decide the winner!@ games master Sheldon said cheerfully
"By tournament rules, if both contestants are still fighting when the timer goes off, the match is officially a draw. Why change them now?" Lucus asked
"that has never been the rules for us, maybe it was so 100 years ago but not now" Sheldon said cheerfully
"Then go ahead and judge, though I can predict the general results." Lucus said
Jessie@hatakekuro"Well, what a fascinating battle! Definitely shows the strength someone can bring when they are fighting for something they believe in, the strength of never giving up! Who knows who Games Master Sheldon will pick, but it will certainly be a match to remember!" Jessie said, leaning back to finish off a now cold slice of pizza, munching on it happily as Sheldon seemed to take his time picking the winner.
