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Post by Amara Reedman on Aug 24, 2016 14:14:07 GMT
Though it seemed - for the most part - that Amara’s assault on her petite opponent had been successful, she was not expecting the feeling of metallic claws clamping down around her ankle. “Oh, shi-!” Before Amara could even finish the curse, her body was slammed against the hard surface of the arena floor. She felt her body being raised up into the air once again as Aegle prepared to crush her against the surface once again, and though noticeably discombobulated by the sudden force of being smacked against the ground like a dirty towel, she managed to flare up her Aura to mitigate the damage received as her opponent continued throwing her against the ground.
Following the third impact, Amara was hurled off towards the edge of the arena. Quick thinking would be her only safety net, as a quick thrust from the final round of her boot sent her careening to the arena floor, landing just within the edge. She had no intention of being knocked out of the arena - let alone throne. Staggering to her feet, Amara quickly reloaded her boot’s Dust vial, then inhaled a sharp breath of air. Her body felt sore, a credit to Aegle’s attack, but she felt as if she would pull through just fine. That said, Amara was positive that after this fight, it’d be wise for either of them to seek medical attention. Aura or not, what these two girls had put one another through was - for lack of a better word - intense.
Despite all of that, the first thing to come from Amara after regaining her bearings was laughter. A loud, hearty laugh echoed through the arena before the crowd’s cheers picked up once again. “Not bad, Aegle! Not bad at all!” She shouted towards her opponent, raising a thumb before returning to her combat stance. Slowly, but surely, Amara began inching towards the center of the arena - ensuring Aegle was the focus of all her attention. “Like I said, definitely the strongest opponent I’ve found myself up against. I’ve had a blast here today, I really have.” A confident grin eased its way onto Amara’s face as she positioned herself within roughly fifty feet of the smaller girl. She could feel the numbness of her leg fading, paired with the soft hum of her once disabled boot trying to function properly.
If she was going to win this fight, she knew exactly what she would have to do. Her fists clenched once again, and Amara began bouncing between her two feet. It was a mistake, to her, that she had not committed to such footwork before. Her father had often drilled in the importance of footwork into her young mind and, because of that, she felt foolish for ignoring his teaching. Staying light on her feet was the thing that had gotten her this far, and it would be the only thing that separated her balance in power to the chaotic strength displayed by her opponent - thanks to her exosuit. Speed and quick blows to that girl’s metal frame would be her key to victory.
All she’d have to do is keep moving, and pray for the best.
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Post by Aegle Vitus on Aug 25, 2016 0:18:20 GMT
Amara had scarcely started on her course towards the outside of edge of the arena before the full weight of the last few moments struck Aegle and settled heavily upon her misshapen shoulders. A weight that only grew greater as the glow, which had briefly engulfed her body, faded to a little more than a flicker. Pain crackled up across her arm, not the dull throb and complaint of a popped joint but the electric agony of splintered bones and twisted muscles. While the metal armature strapped at her wrist and elbow had kept the whole limb in one approximate piece, it was obvious even through the baggy voluminousness of her sleeve that things had gone catastrophically awry. What was far worse than the pain or the gruesome appearance, however, was the implications of her arm being broken rather than merely dislocated. A dislocated arm could be reset and put to use, while a broken one needed time to recover. Even Aegle's capacity for healing, exhilarated by her above average aura control, couldn't knit multiple breaks back together during a fight. She was going to need rest and medical attention at the very least. Still, those were concerns for later, and Aegle spared not so much as a glance in the direction of her ruined arm, not when Amara was still active on the field. While she was not the kind of person who speculated in the heat of combat, she had enough of a sense of Amara's power level that she expected her opponent wouldn't be so easily bested by attempts to ring her out. It came as little surprise to her when the flying girl's foot ignited the air and corrected her flight path, to land safely in the arena before her. What did come as a bit of a surprise, however, was the relative ease of movement which Amara then displayed. Aegle's jaw, already tense with pain, ground her teeth together as she overlooked Amara's decided lack of injury. How was that possible!? Sure, she had been protected by her aura, and a glance at the board above the arena confirmed that Amara still had energy to spare (though surely not so much as Aegle), but an utter absence of injury was wholly inconceivable. It was possible that Amara was concealing the extent of her injuries, but even that rankled Aegle to no end. That she could conceal her injuries suggested that she had not been significantly injured by being slammed bodily into the ground, three consecutive times. And That, more than anything else, truly stretched the limits of Aegle's credulity. She was used to fighting battered and banged up. Being able to take the heavy hits and keep on swinging was one of the main reasons she'd gotten as far in the tournament as she had. Near as she could tell, Amara's technique relied more on the avoidance of damage than its mitigation, so the fact that she was unhurt was a serious insult to the orange haired girl. Which is to say nothing of the ensuing laughter. "Not bad, Aegle! Not bad at all!" Amara praised, though her compliments did little to balm Aegle's misgivings. Maybe it was just because she was in pain, or because she now knew that she wouldn't be able to to use one arm for the remainder of the fight, but Amara's words felt, to Aegle, more like barbs than encouragement. She stared across the field, emerald eyes misty with tears and narrowed in pain. The desire to reach across her slightly slumped body and cradle her crushed bones compelled Aegle, but doing so would have aggravated the abundant burns on her chest and side, as well as meant dropping her one remaining line of defense. "Like I said, definitely the strongest opponent I’ve found myself up against. I’ve had a blast here today, I really have." Aegle's eyes narrowed even further and her reflexive, amiable ascent died on her tongue. She thought that, if she tried to speak, it would become obvious just how badly hurt she was. While her injuries were not yet life threatening, they were the sort that no normal huntress would have been able to function with. Even the rush of endorphin and adrenaline most trained fighters made use of couldn't do much more than dull the stabbing pain of having every bone in one's arm snapped, which is to say nothing of the abundant burns and bruises which Amara's explosive foot had caused. Even just standing there, one side of Aegle's face was growing decidedly plum colored as her pale face bruised beneath her scorched skin.
It spoke to the precise extent of Aegle's injuries that she allowed Amara to get back into position before she resumed the attack. While she could have forced herself well beyond natural limits of endurance and fortitude, she instead focused on healing for the short time which Amara allowed her. It wasn't much though, scarcely even long enough for her to halt the second degree burns spreading across her stomach or repress the bruising around her eyes and ringing in her ears. Still, Aegle's incredible capacity to endure lethal amounts of punishment didn't mean she wanted to risk losing her balance a second time. "You're pretty strong yourself." Aegle said finally, though she said more in what sentiments she chose to keep to herself. It had taken a great deal of effort to relax her jaw so that she could speak, and even more to keep the reflexive anger from her voice. Even battered past the point of civility, she still felt a subconscious need to behave in a cordial, amicable manner, even towards the person who'd caused all her pain. As the fight drew on, however, the delineation between competition and battle to the death was growing increasingly hazy in Aegle's mind. She actually had to remind herself that Amara was her competitor and not her enemy when she caught herself considering snapping each of the older girl's legs, so that she couldn't kick out anymore explosions. Doing so would have meant shattering Amara's aura, however, and that would have meant striking after she'd already won. And Aegle still intended to win...
Didn't she?
With an inhalation that scythed through her lungs like a rake of molten lead, Aegle slowly straightened up and attempted to roll her shoulders. She only managed to roll one. "I'm gonna win this, you know?" She called across the arena, more than loudly enough to cut the distance separating them. Aegle was not in the habit of thinking before she spoke, so she really couldn't have said where her words sprung up from. Maybe she was just angry because Amara had spent the last frantic minute of their fight making her feel weak, maybe she was upset that she had been unarmed, despite using fist based weapons. Maybe, subconsciously, she was trying to bolster her own resolve. Whatever the reason, there was a hardness to her tone, a seething determination that presented her words less as a biased opinion and more as immutable fact. "I'm stronger and tougher than you. And you may have a whole bunch of tricks up your sleeves and in your feet, but you're gonna screw up and I ain't, and that's when I'm gonna beat you." Each breath needed to deliver her proclamation felt as though it was drawn from a forge's flames, scorching Aegle's lungs and burning her ribs as she drew them in, but her voice didn't falter. Tears glinted in her emerald eyes, but those eyes were hard and focused as they stared across the arena and into Amara's mismatched pair. "My name is Aegle Vitus, and I'm gonna beat you Amara!" She shouted, all hint of pained cringing extinguished from her irrepressible body language, as she thumped herself in the center of the chest with her steel covered fist. Dropping her fist, a smile spread across her thin lips, and a twinkle of mischief played across her reddened face. "And I'm'a do it with one arm tied behind my back."
At that, Aegle lurched into motion. Her charge was just like the others that had come before it, an exercise in a supremely heavy object achieving great speed far faster than conventional physics would typically allow. She tore up the arena, whose surface had already been damaged by Amara's liberal use of explosives, as she thundered towards the taller girl in a perfectly straight, tactically thoughtless line. At such a great speed, with so much momentum behind her, evasive maneuvers would be next to impossible for the orange haired girl. What was more, the useless arm dangling at her side meant she also couldn't make use of the shield which had provided at least some protection the last time she'd charged her opponent. The only option she had was to charge at her foe in a completely straight line, reach her as quickly possible, and not stop for anything else. And in that respect, Aegle's reckless charge was not merely tactically sound, but the only option the orange haired girl had. Closing in to just under fifteen feet, Aegle suddenly dropped her fist and drew the wicked claws which adorned it across the arena's floor. They gouged deep furrows in the concrete before reaching a crack which had been made by Amara's first salvo of explosives, at which they sank deep into the fractured masonry. With a piercing shriek of effort, dwarfed only by the Oupis' accompanying banshee wail, Aegle hauled the splintered flag stone up and, with one hand, sent multiple chunks of it flying at Amara like a great load of cement grape shot. Not slowing her charge, Aegle raced behind her makeshift missiles, reformed a spike from her claws, and leapt skyward to land upon Amara as she contended with the many shards of airborne concrete.
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