Duelist's League: Vertina vs Amalthea

"Well I hope this goes better than the last time I walked into this arena," Vertina muses to herself. That tournament match, tch. First round and she was up against an opponent she had little she could do about other than keep swinging until she collapses, and it accomplished silch for the most part. The Salamander pauses to look over the area, then did a few quick jabs as a warm-up of sorts. Always got to be sure to stretch first so you don't hurt yourself more than you do your opponent.

    It's not long after that Vertina's opponent arrives. A slow, casual, pace carries Amalthea into the arena, shielf slung easily to one arm, the other hand resting on the pommel of one of the two swords belted at her hip.
    "Ah, there you are. Should have known I'd find you here." The old Paladin muses, features warming into an easy and gentle smile.
    "Don't suppose you'd want to tussle a round or two just to keep these old bones in shape, eh?"

Vertina chuckles a bit at the voice. "Those old bones as you call them seem to have little trouble keeping up with us younger fighters." She turns the face the paladin guild leader. "But I'll gladly go a few for you." She grips the strap to one of her battle gloves and gives it an extra tug to make sure it's tight. "I haven't gotten much oppritunity to try these against a foe that actually wears armor, either."

    "I'm okay at tanking, I suppose." Amalthea says. "But one-on-one is where I have my weakpoints." She does admit, while drawing her blade. Strapping her shield tigher to her arm she takes on a ready stance, the heavy plate of her shield raised before her, with her sword resting upon its upper lip. Everything below her eyes is hidden by that black steel wall as a dramatic gust of wind billows her cape behind her.
    "Let's go on the count of three." She says.
    "One."
        "Two..."
            "Three!"
    Despite her age, she's off like a gunshot, charging across the arena floor in a full sprint, shield, intent to charge it right into Vertina and follow up with a quick swipe of her sword to chase.

When the Paladin comes charging towards her Vertina makes sure not to remain still, literally kicking off the ground beneath her feet as she uses her earth attunement to jump backward from the thrusts with the shield. But the short and quick jab from the sword that follows it up catchs her across the side before she can move again. "Oof." She briefly rubbed the red marks at her side, though there was no actual blood to the 'Bleed' effect it was still annoying. "Weakpoints or not, I would be a fool to take you lightly."

There's no surprise there's fire when there's Salamanders involved. What might be more surprising is that when Vertina steps back in to thrust her own attack at the Paladin, the flames lick to life along the claw-like blades on her battlegloves, as she tries to stab them into one of the seams of her armor to get the noxious heat in good and deep.

    Sure enough Amalthea hadn't expected Vertina to sit there and take her blows. The backward leap only makes Amalthea continue her charge rush like an angry bull.
    Except she's smiling.
    This is, after all, for fun and practice more than anything else. But then there's fire. Also unsurprising when facing down a Salamander, as the Martial Artist stabs at the joints in that heavy armor.
    "Tch!" Amalthea hisses, forced to skid to a stall as her shield glows with a sudden light and-- lashes out in a vicious sweeping swing. Like opening a door too fast and intending to purposely catch the Salamander on the other side of it in a monstrous shield bash.

Vertina may not be the most clever of fighters but she is good at thinking of her feet, channeling a bit of her aura between her and her opponent to abosrb most of the blow. Heels dig into the ground as she skids back from the collision.... and she seems to be drawing some from it? The adrenaline rush keeps her from worrying too much about the gouge in her side for the moment, instead leaping back at Amalthea and launching a quick one-two kick from the air before dropping back to the ground and resuming her defensive stance.

    "Not bad, not bad." Amalthea comments as Vertina soaks her blow. But then comes the snap of one foot quickly followed by the other, and Amalthea meets it with her shield, the resounding clash of boots against steel ringing through the arena as the blow hits her hard enough to make her arm start to feel numb.
    But she reels back with her sword arm, blade coming to life with a dull glow as she raises her sword overhead.
    HEr intent isn't to hit Vertina with it though-- just to try and catch the Salamander in the wave of concussive force as she brings her sword down hard enough to crater the earth.

And crater the earth it does. In part because Vertina slams her foot into the ground and heaves up part of said earth like a slab to catch the blade. Might not be the way Amalthea intended by the sword colliding with stone still produces the concussive shockwave she intended that makes the martial artist stagger a bit. She shakes her head, and then laughs. "For all your talk of old bones, you're still pretty creative!" Her ears are ringing from the shock, but that doesn't stop her from leaping forward as light consolidates around one fist just as she swings it at her foe. Even if she can't do as much damage through the Paladin's armor she knows she's got to keep proper pressure up.

    Already the fight is heated and intense. Though Amalthea keeps her cool pretty easily under the weather of the Salamander's blows. There's a whistle of approval as Vertina uses the very earth itself as her defense before swingin in with that light-bearing fist...
    Amalthea steps into it. Shield raised as stomps the ground hard enough to shake the earth, trying to throw Vertina off balance as soon as she lands. The blow once again resounds against that shield hard enough to stumble the old Paladin.
    "Well..." She says, her own sword coming aglow with a much similar light as she heaves it in a great swing. "I do have a few tricks up my sleeve." She admits playfully.

The very earth is made to shake beneath their feet. A technique Vertina is familiar with herself. There's a rush of hot air around her as the Salamander again uses her elemental affinities to help protect herself. Sparks fly amongst her feet as she tries to time her movements between the vibrations with windblown speed. There's a clatter as the enlightened blade is caught between the claws of one of the martial artist's cestus with the lightning quick moves, though it's not enough to completely deflect the attack.

It is enough to let Vertina stay in close though, twisting as she pushes against the blade to bring one of her powerful legs into an upward arc, and then downward towards Thea with all the force of a landslide.

    Blade clashes to cestus and holds for a dramatic beat. But then Vertina is just too fast. Too fast, in fact, for Amalthea to bring her shield up in time.
    Instead, she resorts to a different tactic, body suddenly growing chill, solidifying as crystals of ice form over skin and armor, forming a new layer of protection for the Salamander to beat against, that powerful leg impacting the old Paladin's side with a resounding WHUMP and the crashing shatter of ice crystals.
    "Oof...! You you sure do kick hard though." She grunts with a backward stagger as she intends to being her blade horizontally across Vertina's belly in another attempt at a lacerating slash.

"I took several years of Taekwondo in addition to playing soccer," Vertina replies. A little banter admist a sparring match isn't going to do much harm. "You don't rely on one way to protect yourself, that's good too!" If anything she's actually impressed at the old paladin being able to keep her at bay for the most part.

As she sees the blade being swung low the Salamander attempts to twist out of the way quickly, and the poisoned strike catchs across her upper thigh instead of digging into her midsection in a more destructive blow. But no movement is wasted as she once again uses her defensive agility to maneuver into a better position. The strength of the earth itself flows through her borm as she makes a quick one-two punch combo, aiming at Amalthea's arms with the lacerating direclaws that compose her fist weapons.

    "If I just relied on my shield, my arm would be a numb tube of jelly." Amalthea points out as the ice fades from her body as rapidly as it had appeared.
    And then come the direclaws.
    "Oh."
    That sounds like it caught Amalthea by surprise as she backpedals as hard as she can, one eye scrunching shut as the clawed gauntlets hack along her arm and shield. To her credit she maintains her grip on both as she rallies, hunkering behind the heavy plate of her shield once more before darting in for a quick jab of her blade to try and inflict that bleed status again.

Vertina notices the brief surprised reaction and smiles, a bit of fang showing between her scaly lips. "You like? Made them myself, from the consolation prize from the tournament. So some good still came out of my short run."

She focuses her ki energy into that faintly glowing aura around herself again, crossing her arms to take as much of the advancing blows as she can while the spiritual energies revitalize her a little. Then the jab catchs her at the end and she yelps, falling backwards.

It may take a moment for the paladin to realize she's intentionally falling with the blow, and hopefully not before Vertina can complete the move by twisting into a spinning handstand, flames engulfing her feet as she twirls around, making the kicks like some mad tornado on fire.

    Does she like?
    Well the answer is no.
    --No to having those gauntlets turned against her and weakening her swing that is. Otherwise, she'd be very glad to see them in use on the battlefield at any time other than this!
    "I had heard you did well, short run or not. Too bad I missed much of the tournament."
    But a blow like that shouldn't have bowled anyone over, and Amalthea... Doesn't take the bait. Once again she backpedals as that spinning handstand evolves into blazing kicks that batter her armor and earn a series of grunts from the old Odysseia Knight.
    Before she retaliates. The first kick connects easily enough. But then Amalthea braces; body suddenly wreathed in jagged thorns for the second kick to have to get through while she ripostes with another sharp jab of her blade.

Be it luck or experience Amalthea finds the chink in that maneuver, and that Vertina can't adjust quickly to a sudden change in her defensive like that. The retalitory tactic does more to her than her kicks succeed in doing.

With a hiss she flip twists off the ground to get back onto her feet, just in time to finish the twisting motion... and bring her hands together to catch the offending blade between her palms in a classic martial artist maneuver!
Though it's not enough to keep the edge from knicking her wrist and that's all it needs to inflict it's painful status. Vertina shoves the blade away and quickly backs up a few steps to resume her stance, this time giving her body time to contend with the nasty side effects of the blows.

    "--Impressive." Amalthea comments as the Martial Artist halts her blow by clasping the blade miid-strike. But once it's thrust back, Amalthea pushes on the offensive, giving precious little time to recover.
    A flourish of that black-golden cloak and the old knight is upon Vertina in a flurry, two quick swipes of the blade before she flips it in her grasp to hold her sword by the blade itself-- and use the blunt end of the pommel and cross-guard like a hammer to try and batter past that defense.

There is no way Vertina can divert that many attacks even with her quick reflexes and strength. She does the best she can though, using her clawed gloves to knock aside the jabs with the sword. Only for Amalthea to flip her sword and thrust the pommel at her! The best Vertina can do is get her arm up and keep the blunt strike away from slamming her in the face, deflecting it off her arm to hit her in the shoulder instead. That is still an uncomfortable blow, in the 'real' world it might of caused a dislocation. A fracture. Or worse. Granted this world was pretty 'real' too now, but it was still a fantasy world too.

A reminder of this comes in the form of things getting intensely hot, with the fight and moreso. That blow may of rocked her world a bit, but the Salamander's hotblooded nature is burning hotter and hotter. Hotter than the sun in the middle of July.

Because in one abrupt movement Vertina goes from defense to offense, and blazing passion for fighting resulting in a huge flaming roundhouse kick coming hurtling faster than humanly possible towards Amalthea!

    Is it... Is it getting hotter all of a sudden?
    It most certainly is, as Vertina snaps back with such indomitable, dogged, determination. A highly respectable trait that Amalthea, right now, can see no fault in as it's put against her in the heat of the moment.
    "Ah..."
    That blazing roundhouse comes bearing down on her, and all she can do in all the world to face it is brace as best she can, shield raised and glowing with a holy light; the Salamander's heel impacts hard enough to ring that shield like a gong, the sheer force of the impact sends the old Paladin skidding back on her heels, boots digging trenches in the arena floor as she weathers the impact and the flames as best she can, bell thoroughly rung by that beautiful blow, all she could do was barely defend against it in the heat of the moment.

Smoke hisses up as Vertina puts her foot to the ground, heel still hot enough to burn the sand composing the arena floor. That knocked the Paladin for a loop even with her defenses, and that's a satisfying result regardless of how the match turns out in the end. But her adrenaline is still running high, and other than a quick pat at her side to deal with the bleeding gouge, keeps herself on the offensive. She practically leaps off the ground and rushes towards Amalthea in an effort to keep some pressure on. That the elder paladin is already on fire doesn't stop her from charging in to throw another flaming punch at her (because that's all the card gods gave her to work with).

    There are not many things that can dazzle Amalthea like that.
TThat kick.
    That KICK.
    That kick sure was something as she stumbles in place for a beat, only to rally just in time for the flaming blow to come at her.
    "Damn, girl!" She comments succinctly, STILL on fire-- only to be put on even more fire as she raises her shield.

    "--How short sweet life, but do not mourn, from ash to ash and dust to dust... BURY! ENLIGHTENED STRIKE!"

    It's a little theatric, reciting her attack as she raises her blade aloft, glowing with that divine light once again before lashing out with a sharp kick to try and knock Vertina off her guard and following with that holy blade.

It's theatric, and appropriately dramatic... but it's also why Vertina didn't yell anything with her own big blazing strike because it can also be somewhat of a giveaway.

She digs her feet in and flexes her legs to try and brace herself.... as she literally pulls a chunk of the ground up with her geokinesis once more to intecerpt the kick. But she's unable to hold the earthen barrier together as Amalthea tears her blade into it, gouging through the stone and still managing to jab her behind it.

What comes next Amalthea might here the scraping sounds before she actually sees it... as Vertina runs -up- the crumbling stone structure and uses it's last moments of exsistance to leap off, flipping overhead to bring her own Light enfused strike in the form of an aerial heel drop at the elder combatant.

If nothing else, this girl goes until she literally cannot go any longer.

    And there she goes.
    Up and over the stone barrier of her own making, Vertina sails gracefully overhead, leaving Amalthea a beat to just. Stare upwards.
    "Ah."
    It's as that heel comes down that the older fighter braces herself. Bending her knees to absorb the incoming shock, shield raised overhead to try and soak the blow as best she can. The hit slams down upon her with the force of a boulder. Weathering it is not easy as her boots dig trenches into the arena floor again as she gives a swipe of her glowing blade overhead to try and catch the Martial Artist on her way down.

Oh, shit. Vertina had hoped the up and over maneuver would give her a chance to strike before Amalthea saw her coming... but hindsight is 20/20 and she realizes that it was mayhaps hoping a little too hard. Her heel slams into the shield at a bad angle, causing her entire leg to briefly go numb. Just long enough for her to rebound off.

To her credit she manages, through sheer determination, balance, and luck, to land on the other foot only.

Which Amalthea easily sweeps out from under her with her own kick, and the Salamander OOFS on her back on the ground hard enough to finally knock the wind out of her. As soon as her health bar goes down to that red sliver the dueling system ends the fight, declaring Amalthea the winner.

Vertina holds up one arm as she wheezes. "Just.. need a moment to catch my breath... you may complain about old bones but they're still tough enough to put me in my place!"

    And that's it. When Vertina hits the ground and her health goes into the red, Amalthea ceases all aggression. In fact, she even goes so far as to stow her blade, in a simple display of trust once the match is declared over. She has no reason in the world to think Vertina would try to continue in that state, and the old Paladin reaches down, offering a hand to help the Salamander back up.
    "Eheh heh... Well you know what they say about having to keep you kids in line." She jests.
    She's smiling though. A real smile. A genuine smile.

Despite being tired and beat up Vertina's grip is still pretty firm as she accepts the helping hand back onto her feet. "That was a great match!" Takes a moment to dust herself off. "And now we're both glad we're fighting on the same side, right?" she adds with a laugh. "Com'n, some of the vendor stalls should still be open. We can get something to eat on our way out."

Good grief, even in that state the girl doesn't stop moving for long, barely giving Thea a chance to keep up as she jogs for the exit.