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ERodeI'm honestly not sure I can continue with this thread. It has nothing to do with the people here, just that between school and other projects I don't feel comfortable spending as much energy on this as other things. I'll message @Zeroth and figure out what to do with Kohra.
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@Databug@Duthguy
You guys alright? Still hanging in there? :o
Just started school again a few weeks ago. I may have to follow Imia's lead and back out since I feel I don't have the time or energy to properly interact with this. It sucks because I was really looking forward to writing Kohra, but I have to put school first.
I'll give it a few days and see if I can get into a better groove with my homework so that I can get a post up now and then, but at this point it'll be a week before I can tell for sure whether or not I can stay in this.
Kora felt like whooping with joy as she grasped the sphere she'd been chasing, but she forced herself to remember that the trial wasn't over. Now that she had a sphere, she had to defend it, and she'd wager a good amount of money that she'd made a whole swarm of enemies with that cyclone of hers.
Before she had a chance to think of a defensive strategy though, Hikari's steam cloud overtook her. She felt the oppressive heat around her as her vision became clouded and the steam entered her lungs. Suddenly, she felt as though she was no longer in the Kikka colosseum. No, instead of flying through the air, she was in her childhood home, surrounded by roaring flames. Smoke was choking her lungs as she heard screams from the rest of the villagers outside.
No. NO!
"Hey, I don't guess you could blow this away, huh?!"
Kora's eyes snapped open. As she came out of the vision, she realized she had wrapped both of her arms around her broomstick, angel sphere clutched tightly in one hand as it fluttered its wings in a desperate attempt to escape. No, this wasn't the time to fall apart. She wasn't a child anymore. She was a capable young woman and this was her chance to prove it.
She looked towards the source of the voice that had pulled her from her flashback. It was the red-haired boy who had been harassed by Pompadour earlier. Though she felt she barely knew him, she recognized that he wasn't much further up the rungs of society than she was, and that was enough for now. Before she could formulate a response though, Elyssa came charging up from below.
"Begone you tramp!"
Though she was stunned by the appearance of her icy claws, Kora's temper flared at the slur tossed her way. In that moment, she decided what she would do.
Alright, two birds with one stone.
"Conjure Whirlwind!", she yelled, bring forth a surge of wind from the hand that was free of the angel sphere. She did her best to control it, being mostly used to this spell with both hands free. She aimed to use the winds to clear the steam and knock the incoming ice mage off balance without harming Tristan.
Tristan covered himself with one arm, but it seemed the girl's wind spell kept him in the eye of calm along with her. The banks of thick steam around them parted--though unfortunately for others caught up in it, what was blown away from Kohra and Tristan instead rolled over into the rest of the steam cloud, thickening it.
But this also revealed a somewhat unhinged girl bent on attacking the sphere-holder! Kohra's whirlwind blew Elyssa upward, causing her to almost fall off of her broom--thankfully for her, it seemed those huge ice claws weren't too big to grip objects.
"Damn you! I won't let you stand in my way!" screeched the ice-mage as she righted herself. Slipping her hand out of one claw as if it were a glove, she instead directed the now free-floating blades of ice to shoot towards Kohra from multiple slanted angles. "Jilted Ice Blades!"
However, the next moment, a flash of red followed by two streaks of steel appeared. With loud CLANGS and the sound of shattered glass, Tristan floated unsteadily in front of the wind mage amidst a sparkling cloud of ice fragments.
"Your whirlwind pulled a guy off my back earlier--so I figured I'd repay the favor." he said, glancing at Kohra over his shoulder.
Truth be told, though, I just sorta...acted without thinking. he admitted to himself. Probably because that attack seemed too personal--what's this girl's problem?
"Whaddya say to a trade--I help you protect your sphere, you help me get one?" he asked. But before Kohra could answer, another screech came from Elyssa, who seemed even more pissed that someone had decided to help her unrequited enemy.
"WHY DO YOU KEEP GETTING COZY WITH ALL THE HOT GUYS?! IT'S NOT ENOUGH YOU'RE TRYING TO STEAL MY MAN!?"
"Steal your man!? I've hardly talked to anyone today! What are you on ab--", but then, Kora stopped speaking abruptly, thinking of the singular encounter she'd had today that could be considered social. Was she talking about Hikari?
"Hot?" Tristan said dumbly next to her, his cheeks flushing pink.
Whatever, there wasn't time. Maybe they could have a more civil talk on the ground, but somehow Kora doubted it would be that much more civil.
"You've got a deal, redhead!", Kora shouted back at Tristan. "Help me with her, and help me keep ahold of this thing, and I'll try and clear you a way to a sphere!"
Secretly, Kora wondered if the ice mage would ever back off with the way she was talking. However, Kora felt she needed some allies in this mess, and if this kid was willing to team up then she'd take the offer.
"You got it!" Tristan confirmed, just as Elyssa conjured up two more ice coverings for her hands and tried to leap past him at Kohra.
"Ice Widow's Nails!"
Tristan jerked with his legs as if he were riding a horse with no saddle, steering his broom before launching between the girls once again. The two Created Swords in his hand, simple arming weapons with no flair, clashed against the sharp, frozen claws. Elyssa snarled at him like an animal as she gripped the blades and tried to tear them from his grip--which he was happy to let her have. As she fell back with the force of her own pull, he simply created a brand new weapon that was more suited for dealing with her element.
"Please block this!" he shouted at her, before thrusting forward with as much weight as he could manage while leaning over his broomshaft! Elyssa seemed to understand the danger presented by that heavy, ice-pick style blade, as she dropped the other swords and crossed her ice-claws in front of her body. With a crystalline SHUNK, Tristan's sword went through one frozen construct, barely missing the fleshy hand inside it, and then the other. It didn't pierce all the way through, but--
"You--! She won't give you what you want, you know! She's just playing you--you can't trust girls like her!" The ice-mage shrilled. However, before she could try to slash at them again, she noted that her hands were actually pinned together by the pick blade! Grunting and screeching, she began trying to pull her arms apart like someone trapped in a finger-trap toy.
Tristan reached out, grabbed the end of her broom handle, and gave it a spin. Elyssa's screeching only rose in volume as she spiraled away from them.
"Alright, let's find someone else with a sphere!" he told Kohra, as all three of the blades he'd summoned disappeared. He didn't have a terrible amount of mana to spare--going forward, he needed to be careful. "There, what about that guy doing the weird dance?!" He pointed to the deeply tanned, dread-locked individual wearing distinctive robes.
Kohra glanced up at the dread-locked boy tossing his sphere from one hand to the other. She had no idea what sort of magic he could wield that would let him comfortably showboat like that, but maybe it was overconfidence that could be exploited.
"Stay behind me! Follow and I'll try and knock it out of his grasp."
Kohra adjusted her broom towards her target and rocketed forward while still staying low to the ground. Though she had finally gotten used to flying, she could tell her energy reserves were definitely running lower than she was comfortable with. She felt she could handle two, maybe three more spells before she'd have to focus on just staying airborne. Behind her, Tristan bent lower over his own broom and stayed close to her wake to minimize his own air resistance.
"Don't know what magic he has, so be ready for anything!" he called out.
The wind mage and her companion flew through the swarm of broomsticks, dodging and weaving in and out of the mess of bodies and spells. She screeched to a halt directly beneath the tanned skin young man, waiting just long enough for Tristan to catch up to her before surging upwards. Gripping her broomstick with her legs, she reached her free hand out, palm upward.
"Shockwave!"
She tried timing her spell with when the sphere was being tossed from hand to hand before returning her hand to the broomstick, willing the mana to swerve the broom to the side hoping to avoid a collision. As she shot up and past the tanned youth, she hoped her spell had had enough of an effect for Tristan to seize an opportunity.
"Whoa deah mon!" The young man leaped from his broom a moment before Kohra's spell blasted him, riding the impact as he flipped backwards. "From catch to keep away, yah?!" He grinned as he landed foot first, crouching vertically on the wall of the arena. As one palm touched the wall, however, something sprouted up from between the bricks and kept growing--something bright, and pink, and porous. "Coral Majeek: Undah Sea Forest!"
Like an enormous tree that hosted numerous types of fungi, vines, and fruit, an entire ocean reef in vibrant colors began to blossom over the bricks! Soon, their opponent was entirely hidden from view--but Tristan wasn't going to let that stop him. This time, he created a long Zweihander, which he drew back with both arms as his broom closed in on the mass of sea-structures.
"Sword Magic: Spin Slash!" All along the length of that greatsword, his molten-metallic colored mana surged! As he spun, turning into a bladed top almost as fierce as one of Kohra's whirlwind, bits and pieces of coral flew all over the place!
So, that's what he's got. Not bad. Kohra thought. I could never have touched him inside that shell of coral he built. Good thing he's in the process of exposing himself.
And as the Wind Mage watched from above, she saw their opponent climbing and jumping through the reef. In his attempt to get away from the bladed storm, he would soon step into an opening she could reach! Grinning, Kohra dived.
She adjusted her course so that she was to the side of her target and shot forward straight at the coral mage. Her new plan was to ram him, the idea being that, if he could dodge a shockwave, maybe it would be harder to dodge a full person on a broomstick. As the dreadlocked boy emerged from his coral shell, Kohra braced for impact.
Just as the scale-robed mage emerged from a forest of pink and yellow ridges, his eyes went wide with shock.
"Bloody fyah!" he yelped, just before the Wind Mage tackled him! His broom already being left behind, he was knocked back into the crumbling Undersea Forest. He managed to do a flailing backflip, and landed on a large, flat shelf of spongey coral. Behind him, a shadow holding a gleaming bar of steel loomed.
Kohra was tumbling end over end after colliding with the coral mage. Wrapping her arms around the broomstick while still keeping her fingers clasped tightly over her sphere, she willed her tumbling to slow. She finally ended up slowing her rotation, just barely avoiding a stable but upside-down position. Having recovered herself, she turned her attention towards the two mages.
"Sword of da Seven Seas!" A piece of red, sword shaped coral with six distinct prongs coming out of its double-edged blade grew right between the mage's hands. It clashed with Tristan's Zweihander, catching the greatsword's edge between one of the prongs, and the two of them wrestled in a blade lock. Tristan had jumped off of his broom, so now both were standing on the coral platform. "Ya be wantin' da li'l ball bad-like, ye mon?!"
"Sorry, no hard feelings!" the swordmage replied, before he grabbed the upper part of his own blade and used the whole weapon to wrench and lever his opponent. The coral sword was pulled off balance, and Tristan slammed a boot into the dark complexioned man's ribs. He chased after his opponent, and pressed the advantage as their two magical blades clashed again and again!
Kohra wrestled with herself for a moment as she watched the exchange. None of her spells were precise enough to guarantee a hit on the dreadlocked boy without endangering the redhead. All she could do was watch from afar while keeping a lookout for anyone attempting to take a swing at her.
"Nah mon! All good by mi!" smiled the seabed mage, before jumping up and flipping over one of Tristan's big swings. "Bryce be mi name! Who you be, mon?"
"Tristan!" He parried the coral sword tip-to-tip, and even though Bryce snagged him again in the crook of those prongs, Tristan used it for his own benefit--he was a bit stronger than the other boy, and his sword heavier. He was able to pull Bryce along with him while their blades were stuck together, and forced both tips down into the coral surface at their feet. With a shove, he pushed the zweihander into the crunchy material, and then let go--creating a smaller arming sword at the same time he leaped at his opponent!
But Bryce only continued to smile, and made a gesture with his hand as if he were throwing something. Tristan hesitated for an instant---to continue with his attack, or take a defensive stance?--and thus barely avoided the broom that swept between him and the seabed mage like a missile!
"Watch ya step, bruddah Tris!" As he laughed at his red headed rival, Bryce made another gesture with his hands--and the coral they were standing on, shattered! Both mages fell through the air, but Bryce quickly summoned his own broom to him once more. Tristan's, however, was nowhere to be seen.
As the coral shattered, Kohra dived. She wasn't sure what she could do to help at this point, but it felt wrong to not try anything. Weaving in and out between the falling chunks of coral, she found herself losing sight of her erstwhile partner--it was hard enough just to defend herself! Yet, it seemed like she wasn't going to make it...
"Dammit!" Tristan's mind raced as he plummeted, looking up at scattered fragments of the reef all around him. What if he just...threw his sword? No, it wouldn't reach--even if he could manage the same trick Bryce had, his own broom was too far away...if only he could shoot his swords like projectiles!
Wait. If my swords could fly...
He reached out with one hand. His zweihander hadn't been dissolved yet--it was falling only a few arms' lengths from him. Why, exactly, did mages fly on brooms? How, exactly, did mages move their magic? With this insight, Tristan's inspiration ignited.
A glowing aura surrounded the zweihander. It ripped itself free of the coral sword, and spun end over end towards its master.
Bryce zigzagged through the crumbling pieces of his own construct, and once he was in the open air again he looked for that wind mage. He saw her as she came out of the other side of the collapsing coral forest--without Tristan in tow. Out of genuine concern he also glanced down towards the nets near the arena floor--his coral pieces would probably dissolve before anyone got hit, but Tristan was falling a long way without a broom--
"Waitaminnit, where did mi bruddah go--?!"
A streak of molten bronze light arced up at him from one side, and as he turned to look he saw the redheaded swordsman flying towards him--surfer style, standing on the greatsword!
"Again--no! Hard! Feelings!" Despite himself, Tristan whooped as he shot past the other mage! His second sword sliced open Bryce's voluminous robes--causing the Angel Sphere to tumble out into the air! The other mage sent out a grasping limb of coral, which forked into more arching branches to try and entrap it once again--but Tristan smoothly turned and flew back towards him!
"Azure Edge!"
Bryce raised another coral branch to block the sword--but it wasn't the blade in Tristan's hand that he focused the spell through! The one under his feet glowed hotter, until molten brass turned to a blue-white color like a welding flame! Riding straight past his opponent, Tristan's flying sword easily pierced through the tumbleweed-shaped coral with its enhanced blade--and on his way out the other side, he snagged the golden sphere.
He waved at Bryce, who couldn't help but laugh as his opponent sailed away.
As she floated nearby, Kohra's grin reappeared as Tristan shot past Bryce, sphere in hand. Satisfied that the exchange was over, Kohra peeled off in the opposite direction, silently hoping the two of them ended up on the same squad as she returned to a position above the cloud of mages...
Before she had a chance to think of a defensive strategy though, Hikari's steam cloud overtook her. She felt the oppressive heat around her as her vision became clouded and the steam entered her lungs. Suddenly, she felt as though she was no longer in the Kikka colosseum. No, instead of flying through the air, she was in her childhood home, surrounded by roaring flames. Smoke was choking her lungs as she heard screams from the rest of the villagers outside.
No. NO!
"Hey, I don't guess you could blow this away, huh?!"
Kora's eyes snapped open. As she came out of the vision, she realized she had wrapped both of her arms around her broomstick, angel sphere clutched tightly in one hand as it fluttered its wings in a desperate attempt to escape. No, this wasn't the time to fall apart. She wasn't a child anymore. She was a capable young woman and this was her chance to prove it.
She looked towards the source of the voice that had pulled her from her flashback. It was the red-haired boy who had been harassed by Pompadour earlier. Though she felt she barely knew him, she recognized that he wasn't much further up the rungs of society than she was, and that was enough for now. Before she could formulate a response though, Elyssa came charging up from below.
"Begone you tramp!"
Though she was stunned by the appearance of her icy claws, Kora's temper flared at the slur tossed her way. In that moment, she decided what she would do.
Alright, two birds with one stone.
"Conjure Whirlwind!", she yelled, bring forth a surge of wind from the hand that was free of the angel sphere. She did her best to control it, being mostly used to this spell with both hands free. She aimed to use the winds to clear the steam and knock the incoming ice mage off balance without harming Tristan.
Tristan covered himself with one arm, but it seemed the girl's wind spell kept him in the eye of calm along with her. The banks of thick steam around them parted--though unfortunately for others caught up in it, what was blown away from Kohra and Tristan instead rolled over into the rest of the steam cloud, thickening it.
But this also revealed a somewhat unhinged girl bent on attacking the sphere-holder! Kohra's whirlwind blew Elyssa upward, causing her to almost fall off of her broom--thankfully for her, it seemed those huge ice claws weren't too big to grip objects.
"Damn you! I won't let you stand in my way!" screeched the ice-mage as she righted herself. Slipping her hand out of one claw as if it were a glove, she instead directed the now free-floating blades of ice to shoot towards Kohra from multiple slanted angles. "Jilted Ice Blades!"
However, the next moment, a flash of red followed by two streaks of steel appeared. With loud CLANGS and the sound of shattered glass, Tristan floated unsteadily in front of the wind mage amidst a sparkling cloud of ice fragments.
"Your whirlwind pulled a guy off my back earlier--so I figured I'd repay the favor." he said, glancing at Kohra over his shoulder.
Truth be told, though, I just sorta...acted without thinking. he admitted to himself. Probably because that attack seemed too personal--what's this girl's problem?
"Whaddya say to a trade--I help you protect your sphere, you help me get one?" he asked. But before Kohra could answer, another screech came from Elyssa, who seemed even more pissed that someone had decided to help her unrequited enemy.
"WHY DO YOU KEEP GETTING COZY WITH ALL THE HOT GUYS?! IT'S NOT ENOUGH YOU'RE TRYING TO STEAL MY MAN!?"
"Steal your man!? I've hardly talked to anyone today! What are you on ab--", but then, Kora stopped speaking abruptly, thinking of the singular encounter she'd had today that could be considered social. Was she talking about Hikari?
"Hot?" Tristan said dumbly next to her, his cheeks flushing pink.
Whatever, there wasn't time. Maybe they could have a more civil talk on the ground, but somehow Kora doubted it would be that much more civil.
"You've got a deal, redhead!", Kora shouted back at Tristan. "Help me with her, and help me keep ahold of this thing, and I'll try and clear you a way to a sphere!"
Secretly, Kora wondered if the ice mage would ever back off with the way she was talking. However, Kora felt she needed some allies in this mess, and if this kid was willing to team up then she'd take the offer.
"You got it!" Tristan confirmed, just as Elyssa conjured up two more ice coverings for her hands and tried to leap past him at Kohra.
"Ice Widow's Nails!"
Tristan jerked with his legs as if he were riding a horse with no saddle, steering his broom before launching between the girls once again. The two Created Swords in his hand, simple arming weapons with no flair, clashed against the sharp, frozen claws. Elyssa snarled at him like an animal as she gripped the blades and tried to tear them from his grip--which he was happy to let her have. As she fell back with the force of her own pull, he simply created a brand new weapon that was more suited for dealing with her element.
"Please block this!" he shouted at her, before thrusting forward with as much weight as he could manage while leaning over his broomshaft! Elyssa seemed to understand the danger presented by that heavy, ice-pick style blade, as she dropped the other swords and crossed her ice-claws in front of her body. With a crystalline SHUNK, Tristan's sword went through one frozen construct, barely missing the fleshy hand inside it, and then the other. It didn't pierce all the way through, but--
"You--! She won't give you what you want, you know! She's just playing you--you can't trust girls like her!" The ice-mage shrilled. However, before she could try to slash at them again, she noted that her hands were actually pinned together by the pick blade! Grunting and screeching, she began trying to pull her arms apart like someone trapped in a finger-trap toy.
Tristan reached out, grabbed the end of her broom handle, and gave it a spin. Elyssa's screeching only rose in volume as she spiraled away from them.
"Alright, let's find someone else with a sphere!" he told Kohra, as all three of the blades he'd summoned disappeared. He didn't have a terrible amount of mana to spare--going forward, he needed to be careful. "There, what about that guy doing the weird dance?!" He pointed to the deeply tanned, dread-locked individual wearing distinctive robes.
Kohra glanced up at the dread-locked boy tossing his sphere from one hand to the other. She had no idea what sort of magic he could wield that would let him comfortably showboat like that, but maybe it was overconfidence that could be exploited.
"Stay behind me! Follow and I'll try and knock it out of his grasp."
Kohra adjusted her broom towards her target and rocketed forward while still staying low to the ground. Though she had finally gotten used to flying, she could tell her energy reserves were definitely running lower than she was comfortable with. She felt she could handle two, maybe three more spells before she'd have to focus on just staying airborne. Behind her, Tristan bent lower over his own broom and stayed close to her wake to minimize his own air resistance.
"Don't know what magic he has, so be ready for anything!" he called out.
The wind mage and her companion flew through the swarm of broomsticks, dodging and weaving in and out of the mess of bodies and spells. She screeched to a halt directly beneath the tanned skin young man, waiting just long enough for Tristan to catch up to her before surging upwards. Gripping her broomstick with her legs, she reached her free hand out, palm upward.
"Shockwave!"
She tried timing her spell with when the sphere was being tossed from hand to hand before returning her hand to the broomstick, willing the mana to swerve the broom to the side hoping to avoid a collision. As she shot up and past the tanned youth, she hoped her spell had had enough of an effect for Tristan to seize an opportunity.
"Whoa deah mon!" The young man leaped from his broom a moment before Kohra's spell blasted him, riding the impact as he flipped backwards. "From catch to keep away, yah?!" He grinned as he landed foot first, crouching vertically on the wall of the arena. As one palm touched the wall, however, something sprouted up from between the bricks and kept growing--something bright, and pink, and porous. "Coral Majeek: Undah Sea Forest!"
Like an enormous tree that hosted numerous types of fungi, vines, and fruit, an entire ocean reef in vibrant colors began to blossom over the bricks! Soon, their opponent was entirely hidden from view--but Tristan wasn't going to let that stop him. This time, he created a long Zweihander, which he drew back with both arms as his broom closed in on the mass of sea-structures.
"Sword Magic: Spin Slash!" All along the length of that greatsword, his molten-metallic colored mana surged! As he spun, turning into a bladed top almost as fierce as one of Kohra's whirlwind, bits and pieces of coral flew all over the place!
So, that's what he's got. Not bad. Kohra thought. I could never have touched him inside that shell of coral he built. Good thing he's in the process of exposing himself.
And as the Wind Mage watched from above, she saw their opponent climbing and jumping through the reef. In his attempt to get away from the bladed storm, he would soon step into an opening she could reach! Grinning, Kohra dived.
She adjusted her course so that she was to the side of her target and shot forward straight at the coral mage. Her new plan was to ram him, the idea being that, if he could dodge a shockwave, maybe it would be harder to dodge a full person on a broomstick. As the dreadlocked boy emerged from his coral shell, Kohra braced for impact.
Just as the scale-robed mage emerged from a forest of pink and yellow ridges, his eyes went wide with shock.
"Bloody fyah!" he yelped, just before the Wind Mage tackled him! His broom already being left behind, he was knocked back into the crumbling Undersea Forest. He managed to do a flailing backflip, and landed on a large, flat shelf of spongey coral. Behind him, a shadow holding a gleaming bar of steel loomed.
Kohra was tumbling end over end after colliding with the coral mage. Wrapping her arms around the broomstick while still keeping her fingers clasped tightly over her sphere, she willed her tumbling to slow. She finally ended up slowing her rotation, just barely avoiding a stable but upside-down position. Having recovered herself, she turned her attention towards the two mages.
"Sword of da Seven Seas!" A piece of red, sword shaped coral with six distinct prongs coming out of its double-edged blade grew right between the mage's hands. It clashed with Tristan's Zweihander, catching the greatsword's edge between one of the prongs, and the two of them wrestled in a blade lock. Tristan had jumped off of his broom, so now both were standing on the coral platform. "Ya be wantin' da li'l ball bad-like, ye mon?!"
"Sorry, no hard feelings!" the swordmage replied, before he grabbed the upper part of his own blade and used the whole weapon to wrench and lever his opponent. The coral sword was pulled off balance, and Tristan slammed a boot into the dark complexioned man's ribs. He chased after his opponent, and pressed the advantage as their two magical blades clashed again and again!
Kohra wrestled with herself for a moment as she watched the exchange. None of her spells were precise enough to guarantee a hit on the dreadlocked boy without endangering the redhead. All she could do was watch from afar while keeping a lookout for anyone attempting to take a swing at her.
"Nah mon! All good by mi!" smiled the seabed mage, before jumping up and flipping over one of Tristan's big swings. "Bryce be mi name! Who you be, mon?"
"Tristan!" He parried the coral sword tip-to-tip, and even though Bryce snagged him again in the crook of those prongs, Tristan used it for his own benefit--he was a bit stronger than the other boy, and his sword heavier. He was able to pull Bryce along with him while their blades were stuck together, and forced both tips down into the coral surface at their feet. With a shove, he pushed the zweihander into the crunchy material, and then let go--creating a smaller arming sword at the same time he leaped at his opponent!
But Bryce only continued to smile, and made a gesture with his hand as if he were throwing something. Tristan hesitated for an instant---to continue with his attack, or take a defensive stance?--and thus barely avoided the broom that swept between him and the seabed mage like a missile!
"Watch ya step, bruddah Tris!" As he laughed at his red headed rival, Bryce made another gesture with his hands--and the coral they were standing on, shattered! Both mages fell through the air, but Bryce quickly summoned his own broom to him once more. Tristan's, however, was nowhere to be seen.
As the coral shattered, Kohra dived. She wasn't sure what she could do to help at this point, but it felt wrong to not try anything. Weaving in and out between the falling chunks of coral, she found herself losing sight of her erstwhile partner--it was hard enough just to defend herself! Yet, it seemed like she wasn't going to make it...
"Dammit!" Tristan's mind raced as he plummeted, looking up at scattered fragments of the reef all around him. What if he just...threw his sword? No, it wouldn't reach--even if he could manage the same trick Bryce had, his own broom was too far away...if only he could shoot his swords like projectiles!
Wait. If my swords could fly...
He reached out with one hand. His zweihander hadn't been dissolved yet--it was falling only a few arms' lengths from him. Why, exactly, did mages fly on brooms? How, exactly, did mages move their magic? With this insight, Tristan's inspiration ignited.
A glowing aura surrounded the zweihander. It ripped itself free of the coral sword, and spun end over end towards its master.
Bryce zigzagged through the crumbling pieces of his own construct, and once he was in the open air again he looked for that wind mage. He saw her as she came out of the other side of the collapsing coral forest--without Tristan in tow. Out of genuine concern he also glanced down towards the nets near the arena floor--his coral pieces would probably dissolve before anyone got hit, but Tristan was falling a long way without a broom--
"Waitaminnit, where did mi bruddah go--?!"
A streak of molten bronze light arced up at him from one side, and as he turned to look he saw the redheaded swordsman flying towards him--surfer style, standing on the greatsword!
"Again--no! Hard! Feelings!" Despite himself, Tristan whooped as he shot past the other mage! His second sword sliced open Bryce's voluminous robes--causing the Angel Sphere to tumble out into the air! The other mage sent out a grasping limb of coral, which forked into more arching branches to try and entrap it once again--but Tristan smoothly turned and flew back towards him!
"Azure Edge!"
Bryce raised another coral branch to block the sword--but it wasn't the blade in Tristan's hand that he focused the spell through! The one under his feet glowed hotter, until molten brass turned to a blue-white color like a welding flame! Riding straight past his opponent, Tristan's flying sword easily pierced through the tumbleweed-shaped coral with its enhanced blade--and on his way out the other side, he snagged the golden sphere.
He waved at Bryce, who couldn't help but laugh as his opponent sailed away.
As she floated nearby, Kohra's grin reappeared as Tristan shot past Bryce, sphere in hand. Satisfied that the exchange was over, Kohra peeled off in the opposite direction, silently hoping the two of them ended up on the same squad as she returned to a position above the cloud of mages...
@ZerothNice post! I like the chance to have Kora interact with Tristan. What would you think of doing a collab?
Also, small PSA. I'm on vacation through Saturday. I have access to a computer and Wi-Fi, but time for writing might be a bit limited.
Also, small PSA. I'm on vacation through Saturday. I have access to a computer and Wi-Fi, but time for writing might be a bit limited.
Would it be weird if I took the "h" out of Kohra's name? I keep having to force myself to think Koh-ra instead of just Kora and it's driving me nuts because Kora just sounds so much better in my mind.
Either way, I'm leaving it up to @Zeroth to interpret how both maneuvers go, like what exactly the cyclone does and if Kohra is able to snatch the snitch angel sphere with her whirlwind jump trick.
@Zeroth Kohra's post is up. I've left a few things about the situation open-ended via the bold text. I haven't actually confirmed this with anyone, but that's how you communicate something essential or to be interacted with, right?
Kohra Mey - Colosseum Interior
Now that she was finally airborne, Kohra wanted to make sure she had the chance to get a feel for it before diving into the chaos. She made a few quick laps of the colosseum, frowning, watching the absolute bedlam unfolding before her eyes. Her take from the instructions had been that applicants would be able to use magic on the spheres and to use magic against others to defend those spheres, but it looked like a magical bar brawl just to get a hold of any spheres.
Worse, Kohra finally started to appreciate the presence of weapons inside the colosseum. Several applicants wielded wands or swords, and Kohra didn't even have a dagger on her. If it turned into some sort of duel out there, Kohra wasn't sure what she could do. That kind of fighting wasn't her game though. She'd made it through life by staying quick and under the radar, and that was what she decided she'd do. No brawling, just speed and a few little tricks to keep others out of her way and off her tail.
Kohra spotted an angel sphere flitting just outside the central ball of applicants. It was being chased by a small group of mages, but that was going to be the one, she decided, and she dived. It was the most curious feeling, cutting off the flow of mana in an attempt to cause something to happen, but it worked. Kohra fell ten, twenty, thirty feet, feeding mana back into her broom at just the right moment to slow her descent as the toes of her shoes skimmed the stone floor. Above and ahead of her, the group of mages was throwing spells back and forth against each other, each vying for supremacy as they chased the sphere.
A tightly packed group of airborne broomsticks. Perfect. she thought, a wide grin spreading over her face. Clutching her broom with her legs as tightly as she could, Kohra took her hands off her broom and pointed them at the group above and ahead of her.
"Conjure Cyclone!", she shouted, unleashing a tight spinning ball of air at the group, hoping she could destabilize the group long enough to make her move. The magic spent, Kohra put her hands back on her broom and poured mana into it, urging it onwards and willing it to corner around the group and the whirling storm she had summoned.
Grin still plastered on her face, Kohra squinted up at the angel sphere she was pursuing. From what she'd seen, these things had enough smarts in them to tell when someone was on their tail. She hoped that whoever had made them hadn't put much thought into having them chack what was below them though.
"Whirlwind Jump!"
A blast of air rocketed Kohra up past the whirlwind she had conjured. At the same time, one hand released the broom as the other poured more speed and precision into it. She was within arms reach of the sphere! She reached out as she sped nearer, fingers outstretched hoping to clasp them close over the tiny glittering ball...
I should be able to get my post up tomorrow. Hopefully I can give @Zeroth something to throw Kohra's way before their next update.
Kikka - Common Realm
--- Coliseum Interior ---
"Yeah, I do", Kohra said, her green eyes locking onto the woman's purple ones. "Help me get this thing working and I'll owe you a favor."
A wry smile crept across the bluette's lips at the words spoken by the younger girl. With an effortless push, the busty noblelady got off her own broom, landing next to Kohra, white heeled thighhigh boots clicking softly as they reunited with the ground - and certain other bits of her anatomy jiggling briefly as a result.
"Well then, how could I refuse?" Camilla's voice nearly sang. "Though..." She looked up at the mayhem taking place above the two girls, before looking back at her new pupil. "We don't really have much time for details, so I guess it'll just be a crash course of the basics." She said this with a light laugh, as if she wasn't actually feeling any pressure from the possibility of missing out on grabbing her own golden winged orb.
Kohra's temper flared somewhat at the bluette's casual nature. Of course they didn't have much time! She fought it down though. There would be no use in scolding a person offering help at this stage.
"Yes. Crash course.", she said bluntly. "As fast as possible if you please." Camilla stopped looking at the chaos above and returned her gaze to Kohra, the same wry smile still on her lips, and not the slightest hint of urgency present in either her face body or words that followed.
"As you wish. Let's get started."
After saying those words, Camilla moved with surprising speed, positioning herself right behind the other girl. With quick, firm but neither oppressive nor forceful hands, she grabbed Kohra's forearms, while standing behind her. ... Which, incidentally, caused those aforementioned anatomical bits to suddenly be pressed up against the commoner girl's back.
... They were quite soft. And firm. And squishy. Very squishy... There was also a pleasant, slightly floral scent coming from the bluette. Nothing overpowering or irritating, just a fain, but notable fragrance.
"First, you put your hands on the broom and grab it, firmly..."
Kohra's anger turned to mild surprise as the busty noble moved behind her. She felt her press up behind her back, face reddening even further as she guessed what exactly she was feeling pressed against her back. The soft floral scent contrasted with the usual dirt and dust Kohra was more familiar with.
"Al..alright..." Kohra said nervously, grasping her broom as instructed.
"Good, good... Now, just like when you use reinforcement for your own body--" Camilla started, but paused. Her words soft, measured, patient, but with a hint of sultry undertones to it. "--Mhmm, sorry. Have you ever used reinforcement magic before, sweetie?"
"N...No" Kohra stammered, "I'm not too familiar with it."
Is she trying to make this uncomfortable? Because if she is, it's working.
Camilla nodded - though Kohra couldn't really see it, since she was positioned behind the latter girl.
"Okay, then we'll just have to do it another way." The noble stated, apparently not finding the answer to be any sort of discouragement or nuisance. "So, close your eyes, take a deep breath and try to focus. Focus on imagining your arms as a spout for a tea kettle, and you're pouring the tea - your magic - into the cup, which is the broom, okay?"
Camilla adjusted her hands, sliding them further down Kohra's arm, towards the other girl's wrist, as if demonstrating how and where the younger lady's magic should be flowing.
Kohra let her arms be guided onto the broom handle, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. She willed energy to pour into the broom and, as she did so, felt goosebumps rise on both of her arms. She felt the energy as though it were an extension of herself, and felt it merge with the broom between her legs.
Camilla smiled and nodded again.
"Good, just like that. Now-" She moved one of her arms further back along Kohra's and gently grabbed the other girl's forearm again. "-- Now think of this arm as the ear of the cup, the handle. When you lift it - with your mind and magic - you'll be able to move it around. But keep your other arm as a spout, and keep gently feeding the broom your mana." The bluette explained, now starting to loosen her grip of the other girl, and taking a step back, releasing some of the sensation and pressure on Kohra's back.
"Alright. Slowly feed it magic..."
For a moment, nothing happened. And then, the winds slowly began to circle around Kohra. The young urchin from Ihu opened her eyes to see herself and the broom gently lifting a few inches into the air. A broad grin spread across her face as she twirled in the air.
This sensation was unlike anything she'd ever felt. This wasn't leaping or climbing or dashing, it was flying.
I could get used to this, she thought to herself, spinning to face the blue-haired noble. Maybe she had misjudged her. After all, she could have easily gone on with the trial and left her behind, but instead she had stopped to help. Suddenly Kohra wasn't as nervous about owing her a favor.
"Thanks", she said, the broad grin still on her face. "Now, do you want to collect that favor now, or later?"
Camilla softly clapped her hands together and smiled back at the grinning Kohra.
"Well done." After hearing Kohra's question about whether to get paid now or later though, the bluette just gave the other girl a coy wink. "I don't think we've got time for anything else right now. Unless you wanna risk not catching one of those golden balls for yourself."
It was true though, even if Kohra had been a fine student and quick learner, a lot of things had changed in the aerial field above them during this rapid little lesson. Camilla then walked back over to where her broom was, lying on the ground, unceremoniously discarded from before. After picking it up, the noble resumed her sideways sitting position on it, crossing her legs once again before turning to her pupil while hovering above the ground.
"Just remember, the more magic you feed it, the faster you can go. Although, the faster you go, the harder it'll be to stop if you'd suddenly need to." Camilla began lifting up into the air again. "Now go do your best, kitten~ We'll catch up later."
It would seem that the noblewoman was in no hurry to collect her compensation for her efforts.
Kohra nodded respectfully at the noblewoman, grateful that the favor would only be collected after the trial. "Thanks for the help.", she said. "Hopefully this works out well for you too."
Maybe nobles aren't all bad. she thought, speeding towards the pandemonium unfolding in the center of the arena.
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