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!

[Vampirequeen]

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.

[Vampirequeen]

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.)

[Vampirequeen]

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.

[Vampirequeen]

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.

[Vampirequeen]

As Patrick looked around for his opponent, a sudden movement caught his eye. He looked over at it and he could swear that the movement came from his opponent, but he wasn't completely sure. As he began to walk towards the movement, a large burning branch suddenly fell in front of him, sending sparks leaping onto his clothes.

He quickly sheathed his sword and began sending jets of water onto the embers that had caught fire on his clothes. Once the embers were out, he shot a stream of water at the burning branch, which was instantly extinguished. He drew is sword, which was still coated with a thin layer of ice.

"Water," he muttered as the layer of ice melted and became a layer of water. He strode forward, sword at the ready. He walked slowly, completely prepared to jump into the air and start flapping his wings if it was necessary for him to go airborne.

[E1Alpha]

Kaelahn's ears pricked up, as the sound of crashing wood appeared out of nowhere, her sights rapidly darting to the area from which the sound came forth, being able to spot her opponent as she saw steam rising up from the flames being extinguished. Although the flames were proving some obscuration to Kaelahna's line of sight, she took her time to carefully focus her aim onto her opponent's shape. With the obscuring flames not allowing her to line up for a clean headshot, she lowered her aim, aiming at the general torso area, in the hopes to hit her angelic enemy in his upper body, his wings or his arms.

After stabilising her rifle, she went through with it. Her finger pressed down on the trigger of her rifle, and the stored up arcane energy was released, along with an echanted metal, pointed round. The magical force blasting the bullet through the barrel, where it exited with a bright blue flash, the sharpened bullet spiraling through the air as only half a second after she pulled the trigger, the bullet was soaring towards the target area, in the hopes of striking her opponent a lethal blow and disable him. Her biggest hopes were going for his wings, as she did not want to face an enemy that could fly out of her reach.

She did not remain in place to asses the situation, however. She knew that firing the shot would have revealed her position, so as soon as she recovered from the recoil of her rifle, she spun around on the branch, reverting the rifle into its compact size and latching it onto her belt in the meantime, before leaping off of the branch, and leaning her weight against the bark of the tree, grinding down along it to safely land on the scorched surface below, although the licking flames were now more of a threat again, aswell as the lack of oxygen. Kaelahna knew she didn't have long before she would risk suffocation, so she pulled her weapons, and covered her face with her arms to protect her skin from burning. She would then carefully and slowly proceed towards the area where she last saw her opponent, hoping that she does not give him a chance to return the surprise attack.

[Vampirequeen]

Patrick flinched in surprise at the sound of the shot rang out. He looked over in the direction of the shot and suddenly felt a sharp pain near the top of his right wing. He winced in pain, leapt into the air, and flapped his wings twice to test them out. As soon as he moved his wings, another jolt of pain went through the right one and he quickly landed on the ground again.

Without his ability to fly, Patrick had two choices: use his divine powers to try to heal his wing, or use one of his elements to try to beat his opponent. He quickly made up his mind. He returned his sword to its holder and strode closer to where his opponent was hiding.

"Water," he muttered as he raised his arms and aimed his fingertips in the direction of his opponent. A few seconds later, two large jets of water shot out of his hands in the direction of his opponent, who was still hidden from Patrick's view.

[E1Alpha]

Although she was no longer in the same location as when she fired the shot, Kaelahna still was in the path of the jets of water, which cames hissing through the flames, smashing into her, aswell as drenching her clothing with liquid. Being blasted backwards by the water, she crashed into a collapsed tree, grunting loudly as she dropped on her knees now.
Even though the wood of the tree was weakened and almost nothing more than charcoal, she still felt the impact of her back onto the crumbled wood. Although her soaked clothing provided her with more protection against the hungry inferno around her, she felt the weight had increased bigtime, slowing her movement and agility.

With two of her main weapons now limited, Kaelahna for the first time ever doubted her abilities. Not willing to let these thoughts give victory to her opponent, she shook her head and attempted to push herself up onto her feet, gripping her weapons tightly as she held them crossed in front of her.

"Alright... Birdbrain... Let's dance..."

Biting through the pulsing pain of her bruised back, Kaelahna took a quick step forward, spinning her body clockwise 360 degrees, before letting go of her draconic mace, which ignited into fire with a draconic roar, spinning rapidly as it was soaring through the air towards the angelic foe. Not giving pause, however, Kaelahna rapidly turned her momentum around by digging one of her heels into the soil, now making her body spin counter-clockwise, as her enchanted blade would also ignite, as she flung it in rapid succession after her mace, spinning in the same way, hoping that her blade would strike a devastating blow after her mace might have broken any defences her opponent set up against the throwing attack.

[Vampirequeen]

As soon as the water his his opponent, Patrick curled his hands into fists and the jets of water suddenly stopped. A moment later, he saw his opponent's flaming mace flying towards him. Thanks to his injured wing, taking flight to avoid the mace was out of the question. Instead, Patrick dove to his left in an attempt to avoid the flying mace.

He almost made it. The flaming mace slammed into his right ankle, igniting his pant leg. He hit the ground hard and landed on a pile of fallen twigs, which ignited on contact with the flames on his pants. He rolled onto his back and shot a jet of water at the flames, which had spread up his leg thanks to the twigs that he had landed on. A few seconds after he hit the ground, his opponent's sword flew over his body. He sighed in relief when he realied that the sword would have gone through his stomach if he hadn't gotten out of the way. Once he was sure that there weren't anymore weapons flying in his direction, Patrick struggled to his feet, wincing as he tried to put pressure on his ankle. He staggered over to a tree, leaned up against it, and determined that he was close enough to his opponent to use one of his special angelice moves.

As he stared in the direction of his opponent, Patrick raised his right hand towards her and raised his left hand above his head.

"Divine Light," he muttered under his breath as a bright and heavenly light suddenly shot out of his hands and began to spread out around him and his opponent, who would hopefully be blinded by the light. He hoped that his opponent would be blinded so he would be able to heal himself without sustaining any more injuries.

[E1Alpha]

Although Kaelahna did not see the moment when her weapons would strike her opponent, she could hear the sound of her mace colliding with her opponent, but also the sound of her blade hitting not with more burned and scorched wood, which resulted in her snarling to herself, as she would have prefered her sword striking her opponent to leave a more threatening wound in place.

Now without weapons, Kaelahna had to think fast, as she heard her opponent stumbling towards a tree, she was determined to not let this chance pass up.
In a flurry of thoughts, she bent through her knees and launched herself out of her current position, rushing in between the smoking charcoal. She didn't need her weapons, she thought. Her opponent was limited in his movement and ability to defend himself.

Her eyes locked on the wounded angel, as she sprinted towards him in a straight line, her cloak dancing behind her, her hood dropping by the air that was pushing back against her, revealing her copper-red hair, dancing in sync with her feet landing on the soil. Preparing herself to dive onto her opponent, she grinned, until she saw his hand rise. That wasn't a good sign, but her momentum didn't allow Kaelahna to pull to a clean stop, and as such, as she stared straight into a blinding flash, forcing Kaelahna to shut her eyes in pain and turn away, causing her to trip as she tried to throw herself aside to avoid whatever projectile her opponent launched at her.

Crashing into the earth, that was littered with wood, splinters, branches and ash, she quickly rolled away from her where she thought her opponent was located now. Her orientation was disrupted for most part, and she hoped that the flames surrounding them would once again prove to be succesful cover as Kaelahna's sight was slowly recovering from the flash. She kept on opening and closing her eyes, aswell as rubbing in them to try and make them restore their focus.

[Vampirequeen]

Patrick smiled in satisfaction when he saw that his opponent had been blinded by one of his divine powers. The satisfaction didn't last long, as he suddenly realized that while he could use the remaining light for his healing power, he hadn't learned how to use it to actually heal an injury. All he could do was use the remaining light to regain some of his energy. He thought for a moment, and decided to attack his opponent instead of regaining some energy.

Patrick winced in pain as he forced himself to stand on his own feet. Ignoring the pain, he turned sideways, bent his knees, and lept into the air, feeling a little desperate. As he began to flap his wings, Patrick felt a jolt of pain in the right one, but he found it almost bearable compared to the pain in his ankle. Despite the pain, he managed to fly up to a branch in the tree, which he hovered over before he gently landed on it. As his feet landed on the tree, he felt a jolt of pain in his ankle. He grabbed onto another branch with his right hand as he cautiously turned his back to the trunk of the tree. In one quick, effortless motion, he released his grip on the branch and grabbed another one with his left hand as he raised his right hand towards his blinded opponent. Just as he decided which element he was going to use, Patrick suddenly felt intense heat near his left hand.

He glanced over and he was shocked to see that the opposite side of the tree had just caught on fire. He grabbed the other branch with his right hand, took his left hand off of its branch, and shot a jet of water at the flames. Once the flames were extinguished, Patrick returned his left hand to the branch that it was on and aimed his right hand at his opponent once again.

"Ice," he muttered as several cold and pointy shards of ice shot out of his hand and flew towards his still-blinded opponent.

[E1Alpha]

Kaelahna was slowly pushing herself up onto her knees, as the bright whiteness that filled her view was beginning to fill with the color of charred wood and earth and dancing flames once more. Closing and opening her eyes again and again, Kaelahna slowly began regaining her sight. As her sight returned however, it was accompanied by a stinging pain, soaring through her eyes as the flash had felt as if it burned right through her eyes. With her eye-sight slowly returning to herself once more, however, she managed to regain her footing as she stood up, yet remained crouched down. The heat of the licking flames around her was intense.

Finally, with her sight being restored, she looked around for her lost weaponry. Her mace was nowhere in sight, but her blade was stuck in the ground not too far from her. As she was about to reach for it, however, her attention turned to her opponent as she heard the hissing of water meeting fire, as he extinguished the burning side of the tree he was now in. Her eyes widened when she realised he used her own strategy against her. With his hand now aimed towards, there was only thought that crossed her mind: Dive away. Not even awaiting to see what her opponent had planned, her body turned towards her blade, and her knees bent slightly, before her feet launched her body aside, towards her blade.

Kaelahna's breath was however taken from her, as she felt a stinging pain shoot through her body, seeming to originate in the area of her legs. Looking down at them, she could see the result of the hailstorm of ice. Her diving motion secured her upper body, and the plate armor in her garments secured the safety of her vitals. But her legs, only protected by leather and chain-mail, were vulnerable. Although at most, the damage to her legs could merely be identified as gashes and scratches, there was noticably one ice shard that had dug itself into Kaelahna's right upper leg, sticking out of the flesh with blood adorning its base.

Landing on the soil next to her blade, Kaelahna winced. However, she did not want to stay unprotected and reached for her blade as she pushed herself up to support onto her left leg. Remaining in a crouched, her pierced leg lay fairly limp, as she now held her blade in front of her in a protective manner. She may have been close to immobilised, but she had no intention of giving her opponent an easy kill.

[Mary Sue]

Suddenly, all the fire stopped, and the smoke cleared. The small blonde girl and her hellish minion returned in a flash of light between the two competitors.

"I've seen enough!" Mary said and turned her attention to the angel in the tree. "Patrick is the winner of this match!"
She tossed her curls over her shoulder, and looked down at the immobilized elf.

"You fought well, unfortunately, you can't battle if you can't move... I will heal all of your injuries after we leave this arena, the Patrick will move on to the next stage!"

The small girl snapped her fingers, and the minion hoisted her in his arms as a white light surrounded them and the two competitors. Then in a flash, they vanished from the charred remains of the arena.