Round 3 - Empress V E1Alpha {Mary Sue}

[Mary Sue]

The contestants appear in a thick forest, surrounded by massive trees that tower overhead roughly 20 feet. The tree trunks are so large, it would take three to five humans standing in a circle, with their hands outstretched to make it all the way around. Sturdy tree branches form a thick network overhead. The ground itself is dark for very little light penetrates the thick canopy and a heavy layer of dead leaves covers the ground, hiding secrets....

A small little girl in a frilly, pink, doll dress and short blonde hair appears sitting on a tree branch. By her side is a tall dark figure in black leather armor with a gruesome face.

"Greetings Contestants! I am Mary Sue: your judge for this round of the tournament. The two of you are standing in a forest filled with secrets. There are secrets beneath your feet...and secrets up here in the tree tops....
Some of these secrets can help you and hurt your opponent, some can hurt both of you, and some can help both of you. These traps are hidden all over your battlefield.

A magical barrier surrounds the battlefield, as well, and it exists five feet above the tops of the trees, and the sides of the barrier lay 300 feet away in every direction from where we stand now."

The child snaps her fingers and the dark figure helps her to her feet. With the hand that isn't holding the dark figure, she points down at the contestants.

"You will battle until one of you dies or surrenders! All injuries you sustain here will be revived after the battle is over. You may...BEGIN!"

And with that, the girl and the figure disappeared.


*I will post every so often to trigger traps and change up the battle in interesting ways. At the flip of a coin, Empress goes first. Good luck!

[Princess Luna]

Patrick looked around the clearing nervously, wondering what kind of opponent he would be facing. He strode forward, his feet crushing the dead leaves that covered the ground. When the small girl and the black-clad figure appeared, Patrick grabbed the gold hilt of his sword with his right hand and left it there, waiting for either the girl or the figure to tell him where he was.

With a nagging feeling of nervousness, Patrick listened to the girl's description of the field, never taking his hand off of the hilt of his sword, and when the girl and the figure vanished, he turned away from the tree that they had been in and turned his focus back to the field and his not yet visible opponent.

[E1Alpha]

Kaelahna was leaning back against a tree, in an angle that she would hidden from her opponent's side. Her ears would prick up as the voice of the small girl would begin echoing in between the trees, as Kaelahna listened carefully. Unlike last fights, she did not take this to observe her opponent closely, yet to keep the element of surprise in her favor. Her eyes darted around the area, going from tree to tree, smirking. Although they were mostly in a clearing, there were ample trees for her to put to good use, which was a thought she enjoyed. Reaching down for the hilts of her blade and mace, she slowly and silently unsheathed them, waiting for the girl to finish her speech.

Once the voice of the girl dropped silence, Kaelahna lowered the volume of her breath, closing her eyes and focusing on the sounds of her opponent, to try and pinpoint his location, before she would call out against the trees, using the natural habitat to have her voice bounce from tree to tree to make her opponent less able to pinpoint her location, though the approximate area could still be determined.
"Today is your unlucky day... For I have no intention on holding back nor backing down, no matter who you are." She grinned, her heart beginning to pump faster as the moment for battle was noticably approaching, and this began to fuel Kaelahna's adrenaline.

With the speed and agility known specifically to her race, she rushed aside, using the trees as cover and as an object to break the sounds of her movement around the environment. Only allowing for a brief line of sight with her opponent as she rushed to the side, she investigated his appearance, grinning to herself, before making a sharp turn, now headed straight from him, seeking to engage him from his left side, although he might have already been aware of her location.
Nonetheless, she charged forward, her blade in her right hand held horizontally in front of her, while the mace in her left hand was hanging back, giving it some momentum. As soon as she got close to her opponent, her feet would launch her off of the forest soil and into the air, turning clockwise in mid-air, aiming her mace first at her opponent, mostly intended on trying to break any defences he would put up against her, which would then be followed up by her blade, if not interrupted, to try and abuse the possible opening her mace would have made.

[Princess Luna]

Patrick looked around, still searching for some sign of his opponent. Just as he started wondering about the possibility of using one of his elemental abilities to try to flush his opponent out of hiding, he was startled by a voice that seemed to come from all directions. Before he could speak, she saw his opponent charging towards him, or more accurately, the left side of his body.

He drew his sword as she approached, and when she launched herself into the air, he jumped up and flapped his wings in an attempt to rise into the air and avoid her mace and her mace. Unfortunately for him, his opponent's mace caught his left ankle and tore into both his pant leg and his skin. The pain that the mace caused when it hit his ankle momentarily distracted Patrick, and he had to flap his wings even quicker to avoid the possibility of being hit again. He hovered in the air for a few seconds, wishing that he could heal the wound, but then he remembered that he could heal it later, after he made use of one of his angelic powers. The thought faded into the back of his mind and he flew over his opponent's head and landed on the other end of the clearing.

[E1Alpha]

Kaelahna landed on one knee after her strike, snarling annoyed as she knew her sword had missed, but with still a feeling of satisfaction as her mace had indeed struck, although not as she hoped. Once she was on the ground she rapidly stood and turned to face her opponent again, smirking as he was hovering in the air above her, calling out to him. "What?! Are you afraid to face me on the ground?! You men are such cowards!" She grinned, gripping her weapons tightly, holding the sword in front of her while leaving her mace dangling behind her, rapidly observing her choices and surroundings. When she finally made up her mind, she rushed to the side, towards a tree, building up a great amount of speed to rush up the tree, grasping onto a thicker branch above her by hooking her mace around it, swinging herself up and around the branch, now resting on it, crouched down, carefully maintaining her balance as she looked at the winged man.
Although it was very likely that he was flying higher than her current position, Kaelahna enjoyed the thought of giving her opponent the message that even in the air, he would not be safe from her.
Awaiting her opponent's reaction, she held almost completely still, the only moving part being her chest as she took breaths.

[Mary Sue]

When Kaelahna's feet landed on the tree branch, a red magic circle activated and pulsed under her feet. The elf had triggered a fire trap.

Almost immediately, explosions blasted through the ground. Trees shot from the soil in millions of shards and splinters all around the two contestants. The noise deafened the entire field, and the force field around the battlefield sparkled as flecks of wood flew into it and vaporized.

Some of the trees around the detonation zones that didn't blow up began to catch on fire, giving the battlers two new dangers.

(The explosions are all going off one after another really fast. After you both post, the explosions will end. The fire will not, however.)

[Princess Luna]

When the first explosions began, Patrick jumped into the air in surprise. As his feet hit the ground, a few sparks landed on his right pant leg and it ignited. Patrick quickly noticed the flames and he shot a jet of water at his burning pant leg, immediately quenching the flames.

Once he was certain that the leg of his pants wasn't going to reignite, Patrick turned his attention back to his opponent, who was standing on a tree branch. He flapped his wings, rose into the air, raised his sword, and made a flying lunge at his opponent.

[E1Alpha]

Kaelahna's eyes widened as she felt the branch and tree she was standing on tremble heavily, as flames erupted from the ground beneath her, igniting trees around her. As the fire soared up, she quickly turned inwards to cover her exposed face, while letting her fire-resistant flameweave garments shield her. Although she could still feel the intense heat, the licking flames could not damage her.
With the forest around them now being a burning hell, Kaelahna noticed the tree she was standing on was also on fire, and the branch she was on would not support her weight for too long. Adding up to that was her opponent, who came soaring down with his blade, obviously intent on cleaving the elven warrior in half.

In quick response to the heroic charge of her enemy, Kaelahna made a daring move, as she leaped upwards towards her enemy, crossing her weapons in front of her to parry the blow, just wanting to get away from the burning hazard behind her. Although she was saved from the burning tree, the impact of winged swordsman's strike was too great for the air-bound Kaelahna. Her weapons prevented the blade from directly striking her, but the force of the attack sent her flying backwards again, crushing through the burning branches, but as she managed to regain her equilibrium during her plummit, she lashed out with her blade to the side, chopping it into the sturdy trunk of one of the burning trees, pulling herself against the tree, once again covering her face, her garments used to shield her from the explosions and fire around her, hoping that the vicious hazard would shield her from her opponent for now.

[Princess Luna]

Even though his sword didn't make any direct contact with his opponent, Patrick smiled. If he had tried a similar move a few weeks earlier, he probably would have missed or crashed into a tree. As the thought crossed his mind, Patrick realized that he was only a few inches away from hitting the tree. He quickly turned to the right, barely avoiding both the tree and the flames.

Where did she go? he thought as he landed on the ground, his sword at the ready.

"Ice," he whispered under his breath as the blade of his sword was suddenly coated in a thin but hard layer of ice. He looked around the arena, wondering where his opponent was hiding.

[E1Alpha]

With the explosions finally dying out, Kaelahna felt secure, knowing that she had survived thanks to her garments, but as she looked around her, she noticed she was surrounded by a burning inferno. Although her clothing would shield her from most damage caused by the flames, she did not like being in the middle of this furnace. Left with little choice, however, Kaelahna shifted her weight so that her sword would be pulled from the tree she lodged it in, pulling loose some of the wood with a crackling sound, which was noticably louder than the sound of burning trees. Cursing under her voice, she looked around, knowing she had given away her position now, but still somewhat in cover thanks to the flames.

As Kaelahna was just standing there, however, she came to a realisation: Her breathing was becoming more difficult and her opponent seemed to have a major advantage over her now. The smoke. It was polluting the air near the ground level, making Kaelahna's intake of oxygen very limited. She had to get to higher grounds, before she would choke on the cinders and ash in the air. Staying low to the ground to use the cover of the flames, she tried making her way over to a bigger tree, one that was more spared from the explosions, and that looked sturdy enough to support her weight for now. With discontent on her face, Kaelahna sheathed her weapons, before she hugged up to the tree, hoping to use the flame and smoke for cover for as long as she could, as she moved limb per limb to slowly make her way up.

Once she reached one of the higher branches, that was just barely out of reach from the licking flames, she climbed onto it, feeling the increase of oxygen entering her airways now, taking a moment to relish it.
However, she was searching the area as she could not see her airbound opponent anymore, while reaching for a small object that was strapped to her belt, pulling it out and channeling a small amount of magic through it. The object responded with a dim glow, before its shape changed with a faint hum, forming red and yellow, well-made rifle, with an arcane powered barrel. Arming her gun, Kaelahna brough it up to her sight, lining it up with her eyes, before she began scanning the area from her cover.