Round 2: RedKayne vs. Ma1chbox (Judge: ~N~)

[~N~]

http://img11.deviantart.net/af40/i/2014/293/d/1/the_airship_battle_by_spikedmcgrath-d2cttcd.jpg

"Who doesn't love airships?" ~N~'s voice boomed out over the winds, long hair whipping back like a wild tempest. With both arms raised like timbers out from the sides of his powerful torso, the right holding a tri-cornered hat, the judge stood proudly, triumphantly even, on the prow of the vessel.

Then ~N~'s voice dropped an octave, taking on a low sinister quality as the judge leaned forward, decked out in a sea captain's outfit, "Unless, of course, you're afraid of heights." Folding his arms across his raised left leg, his left foot planted upon the elevated neck of the prow, ~N~ turned his baleful gaze down upon the distant lands and seas gliding past, so very far below.

Raising his head again and donning the tri-cornered sea captain's hat, he turned to the combatants. "'In medias res,' the old literary critics say," ~N~ began, his steps towards them surefooted with confidence, "You should always begin in the middle of things."

"And so here we are!" he said with a bold, unsettling smile, drawing out the "r" with a theatrical swagger that was interrupted by thunderous booms off both the starboard side and the port side, followed by two cannonballs roaring past, splintering the main mast and threatening to loose it upon the ship's zeppelin-like balloon, showering the combatants and judge in a hail of wooden splinters.

"Right in the middle of a perilous pursuit no less!" ~N~ shouted with excitement. "Pirates are such a treacherous lot; turning on each other like jackals as soon as they can. This lot made off with something more than their fair share as pirates are want to do, and paid for it with their lives!"

The vessel shuddered and lurched to the starboard, throwing both combatants off balance while ~N~ calmly reached out with his right hand to take hold of the wheel, turning it to compensate until the ship righted itself once more, lurching back the other way.

"Not to worry! For it seems they've bought you a few precious moments more besides!"

Another salvo of cannonballs tore through the rigging with sonic ferocity, sending shockwaves through the timbers and hull that sent the whole vessel careening off to the port side now before ~N~ pulled her back again, righting the trembling, battered ship once more.

"Don't know how much more she can take, but I can promise you I'll make her last ride one to remember! Though, with things falling apart, the center (as the poem goes) won't hold for much longer, so do pay attention:

Neither of you is making it out of this alive on your own; your lives amount to a paltry sum that falls woefully short of the payment required to ferry you to safety. But! If you take what you need from the other one, you might have just enough to meet my price!"

A gleaming, mad grin spread wide across ~N~'s lips. And then, as though a dark cloud of a thought passed over him, his visage turned to one of pitiless disgust: "If you try to be noble and spare the other, you will die. Try to escape, I'll blow you out of the sky. And if you even think about mutiny, I'll send you both straight to the fucking Locker."

With this final warning, ~N~ took off his tri-cornered hat, sweeping it down with that mad grin back on his lips and announced, "I am ~N~, and I'll be your Captain on this tragic last voyage of the Charon!"


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'll be posting after both of you have posted each time, just as I did last battle, and updating the conditions of the fight.

You each have 4 posts per person and 48 hours to respond between each post.

By the toss of the proverbial coin, RedKayne goes first!

[RedKayne]

Spirit of a Goddess (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dws-3Q436LU)

“Somebody, save me!”

The sixteen-year old Elena Malstrom cried out, as her small and lithe body dangled from a white cliff-side edge. The teenager held a feeble grip onto the ledge, and glanced down to see a long descent into the vast ocean below. The silver-haired teen could still see the waters rippling due to a bandit's body that fell into its depths and his untimely demise. The bandit tried to toss the young Elena down into the ocean, while the two were fighting on the cliff's outskirts. However, he only ended up pushing them both off because of a clumsy and foolish error. Malstrom was fortunate to have quick reflexes and grabbed onto a jagged handhold, while the bandit's own luck came to a bitter end.

“Somebody! Help!!” Elena felt her heart palpitating with terror, and her slim fingers started to slip from the rocky surface. The young girl didn't want to die… not like this… not before she had the opportunity to become a Templar of the Holy Order. Its been her lifelong dream, and one she worked many hard years over. Her destiny could not end here… not in this manner.

Her fingers slipped, and Elena's gray eyes widened with horror.

But then she felt a rough hand enclosed around her forearm and held a strong grip. The teen's gaze turned upward to see a tall but familiar figure, before he quickly pulled her up into safety.

The teenage Elena knelt on the ground, panting heavily after that massive adrenaline rush.

“Well, that was quite the close call, wasn't it?” the young man (http://orig03.deviantart.net/14c2/f/2013/068/e/a/the_true_dmc_vergil_by_superheroforever21-d5xfj2a.jpg) stated a bit cockily with a bright grin, and his own gray eyes gleaming with a devilish charm.

The young Malstrom was still breathing heavily, before she managed to form her own small smile. “Yes, it certainly was, big brother,” Elena managed to release a small chuckle. “Thanks.”

“Heh, anytime, sis, you can always count on-”



"Who doesn't love airships?”

A person's boisterous voice boomed overhead, which snapped Captain Malstrom back into reality from her flashback. Her eyes blinked several times to adjust to the sudden change in environment. Heavy winds cascaded around the aircraft, as the massive vessel sailed across the wild blue yonder. Elena quickly assumed that they were high up in altitude level, and that a fall from the ship's platform could only mean certain doom.

The Tempest Knight's gray gaze raised up to see the captain of the ship – a mysterious male with a sinister presence. His confident and enthusiastic nature only proved unsettling as the airship shook violently, and the sound of splintering woods echoed into the air. Fragments of the flying vessel rained upon Captain Malstrom, the ship captain, and the person across from the templar warrior.

Except… the term 'person' was an inadequate description of the individual before her.

Elena's current opponent was a towering humanoid, standing near the impressive height of seven feet. The creature even dwarfed the tall Tempest Knight, and there was a faint glowing aura that shrouded its body. The being seemed to be carved from a golden statue, with flowing robes wrapped around its waist, and a disturbing face with blank features. Six ethereal arms floated behind the creature, each holding a golden orb of power. The templar has never seen such an anomaly before, it was completely alien to the experienced fighter.

The vessel lurched towards the front, which caused Malstrom to lose balance temporarily. The knight caught herself by slamming an open palm against the wooden surface, before standing back up in a straight posture. The knight's exquisite black-and-white armor glimmered under the sunlight, and then she took a step forward to regain footing.

Apparently, the combatants were in the midst of a battle between airships. Cannonballs rocketed across the area, clearly signifying a sky warfare in progress. If Captain Malstrom were to clash with this crystalline figure, it would be best to finish this battle quickly. Otherwise, this whole ship could deteriorate in a matter of minutes.

The Tempest Knight's attention returned back to the strange creature. Elena could only wonder the nature of this opponent. Is it a sentient being? Is it fully capable of thought and emotion? Or is it simply a mindless monstrosity? A ruthless fighting machine that seeks to sate its own thirst for blood?

“Greetings, there,” Malstrom's muffled voice spoke through the helmet, but her voice carried a tone of confidence and reticent tenacity. “I haven't faced an opponent with such an odd… appearance,” she stated, and presented a courteous demeanor despite the dire circumstances. “I would like to inquire the name of my opponent, before we commence battle.” If the crystalline being answered with a name, it would prove to be a fully conscious humanoid. If not, then it is only an abomination… one that may need to be put down for the sake of moving forward.

Then, Charon's captain began to speak.



"Neither of you is making it out of this alive on your own... If you take what you need from the other one, you might have just enough to meet my price!"

Elena's eyebrows furrowed upon hearing his words, and she could only assume that their judge wanted a combatant to take the life of the other… to meet his so-called price. The mage-knight quickly deducted that this captain is one of the gods supervising this barbaric tournament.

If Elena Malstrom manages to claim the championship mantle, this deity may hold the information that she is searching for.



"If you try to be noble and spare the other, you will die.”

The next instruction certainly solidified that this is a battle to the death. Malstrom's lips formed a small scowl, as she already held a strong dislike towards this ship captain. The Tempest Knight preferred to refrain from taking the lives of others unless absolutely necessary. It was not in her character to be a cold-blooded murderer. If possible, she would attempt to find other ways to be victorious in this match.

But if she could not… then she will do what must be done. She will overcome essentially any obstacle to achieve her personal goal.



“And if you even think about mutiny, I'll send you both straight to the fucking Locker."

The Tempest Knight's scowl only deepened, as every ounce in her being wanted to defy this arrogant entity's instructions. As of right now, though, Elena will do what she can to please the gods of this tournament.

But…

Malstrom's eyes scanned the expanse once more, glancing up at the hot-air balloon along with the vast clear-blue sky above it.

I can work something out… but it would require perfect timing and exertion on my part...

Her gaze shifted once more towards the judge of this battle. "I hear you loud and clear, captain..." Elena spoke aloud and gave a nod of acknowledgement, but the last word was clearly held with distaste. "I will fight on your terms... for now," she boldly stated, while her eyes narrowed upon the authoritarian figure.

Finally, the mage-knight's attention fixated back to the opponent. The Captain couldn't waste too much time to strategize in this battlefield. She had a strong feeling that there would be multiple unexpected events to occur in this match, which will require improvised actions.

“Luthious… lend your noble hand, and guide your humble servant through this trial by arms.”

Malstrom muttered a quick prayer, before the knight's right hand reached towards her belt section. Elena's gauntlet wrapped around the Holy Grenade, before prying it off from the waist. There was a brief pause as the harsh winds roared around the combatants, and the Tempest Knight stood there silently and observed the crystalline creature before her.

“I very much welcome your challenge,” she simply stated with a hint of excitement, before uncorking the abnormally-shaped grenade with her left hand. The Captain immediately flung the gadget towards the enigmatic individual, aiming directly towards its golden torso. In a matter of few seconds, the grenade will explode with a mixture of holy light energy and gunpowder to create divine flames. Malstrom was unsure about the flame's effects on the foreign being, because there is a possibility that the creature is incapable of feeling pain. However, this is always a good opportunity to learn more about her opponent and its combative nature.

Quickly thereafter, the Tempest Knight's arms reached overhead and grabbed the equipment strapped to her back. After drawing both the halberd and the shield, Captain Malstrom darted towards her opponent – her legs taking off into a quick sprint. Elena will refrain from running into the proximity of the grenade's five-feet blast radius – but after the explosion occurs, she intends to rapidly approach her opponent and commence close-quarter combat.


Just wait for me a little longer...
...big brother.

[Ma1chbox]

The last battle was short and abrupt, but bloody and intense nonetheless. The warcaster and his iron beast, two admittedly formidable opponents, mighty as they both were, were still rendered powerless against the will of the great prophet Eru. A great victory in the name of a great deity, and Raava had the humbling honor of being the one chosen to perpetrate it.

The disciple lay still under the rubble of steel, stone, and plasterboard, unmindful of the crevasses that ran across his body like a canyon of shattered citrine. The fight had indeed been won, but it came at the cost of its once flawless form. Without warning, it began to glow intensely and brightly. Dust and debris began to shake and move away from the pinned figure almost as if a paranormal force was trying to salvage the wounded warrior. Suddenly, a single flash of intense light engulfed everything and a veil of silence fell upon all.

Peace.

Everything was at peace. The world was empty, blindingly white on all surfaces with no discernible features. A realm of true oblivion, where nothing was, is, or ever will be. It was both peace embodied and destruction manifested, a plane of existence where existence itself was a nonexistent concept... and yet, there in the center of it all sat a golden figure, its bright yellow aura contrasting even against the nothingness around it. Motionless and unflinching as a statue, it hovered in place. An anomaly, an aberration, a stark abnormality that stood against everything the realm that surrounded it stood for, and yet, it existed still.

Eight glowing arms branched out from the figure's shoulders, each one posed and positioned in a mystic and seemingly sacred way. At the end of every arm, a hand formed a unique gesture, each one implying a hidden meaning divine in nature, a testament and symbolization of the enlightened truths of the world that were yet to be comprehended by the lesser beings. In turn, around the eight hands of fate weaved and circled eight miniature suns whose silent and graceful movement was contrasted by the awe-inducing power of its burning form.

Another golden humanoid materialized a few feet in front of the meditating Raava. The two crystalline beings seemed to be similar in nature, but it was completely evident that the one that stood was superior. Magnificent and powerful beyond compare, its burning yellow aura swirled inhumanly bright in a violent storm, completely dwarfing the lesser being's less powerful aura. Ten entire sunspheres moved effortlessly in unison and weaved intricate patterns of light around the divine one, making its power all the more apparent. Not even Raava could manage to look at the deity without being blinded with awe. Though he could not see, he knew at once that the man who stood before him was none other than the traitorous prophet himself, Eru.

Out of both respect and fear, he uncrossed his legs and shifted to a rigid kneeling position, after which he solemnly bent down and prostrated himself in the holy presence of his lord and master. Eru said nothing, but slowly levitated towards his disciple, stopping just an arm's length away of him. As solemnly as his disciple bowed, Eru spread his arms wide as his torso opened up to reveal his core, and at once, the lights and the heat grew more and more intense by the second, until again, a blinding white light encompassed everything in sight.

Suddenly, Raava snapped back to his senses. He was no longer pinned underneath rubble, and his form was again solid as the day he emerged from the cave, with nary a scratch to be found. This time, he found himself on a strange wooden ship of sorts. The titanic vessel was like nothing he had ever personally seen before. Though the frame was similar to that of the old ships harbored near the temple he used to frequent before his transcendence, the view above was quite unexpected. Instead of great cloth sails fluttering in the wind, there instead sat a gigantic canvas structure, bloated with a mixture of buoyant gases. Instead of the vast blue seas crashing underneath it, there lay the roaring winds and the view of the land far, far down below.

Truly an ingenious an invention as any, but apart from the sight of the majestic flying boat, another apparent detail caught Raava's attention. It seemed this particular airborne vessel was in the middle of an engagement with other similar airships. The superstructure of the ship swayed strongly from side to side. The thunderous sounds of gunpowder charges going off filled the air. Cannonfire and splinters littered the deck, and the chassis seemed to be holding on to itself for dear life. It was clear that the airship did not have much time left to live.

In the distance, he saw a long-haired figure in what seemed to be a captain's uniform. It bore no arms nor any obvious abilities. Instead, it held only a tattered tricorne in one hand. Though the ship was on its last proverbial legs, the captain stood tall and proud, unfazed by the carnage that was being wrought upon its prized possession. The wind blew loudly, dwarfing out all but the loudest of sounds, but still, the captains voiced boomed clearly throughout the arena. Curious, Raava stood similarly unfazed by the mayhem and listened to the captain's words. From the message delivered, it was made clear that the captain that stood at the wheel was to be the arbiter that oversaw the coming fight.

About halfway through the cinematic speech, the captain's words, though loud and clear, began to fade out into mere mumbles for Raava. Now, every last bit of his attention was diverted to yet another peculiar detail in the scenario. Far in front of him stood yet another human, a knight clad in a shining, intricately detailed bulwark of red, black, and gold. Unlike the ship's captain, who was more or less unarmed, the knight was wielding a long halberd and a large shield, both in addition to a dagger strapped to the knight's waist. For Raava, there was absolutely no doubt that the human in his sights was none other than his enemy.

Moments the captain ceased to speak, the templar uttered a quick prayer and brought out a small, studded orb that showed signs of wear and tear. It took no time at all for Raava to deduce that the orb was a weapon, or at the very least, a strange device that would work for the benefit of his opponent.

As soon as he saw the knight lobbing the outlandish device, instinct took over. Raava crouched like a predator and sprung forward, sprinting like a madman. As he ran, however, he noticed that the knight had taken its halberd and shield in hand and began to charge as well, but her telltale gait gave away the fact that she seemed to be pulling back for some reason. Finding this somewhat strange, Raava changed his plan of action. Instead of running directly for the knight, he shifted his orientation slightly to the right in such a way that he was now on course to intercept the orb in the middle of its trajectory.

Once the distance was nearly closed, he leapt high up and and raised two ethereal arms. Controlled telepathically, a pair of sunspheres shot up into the air like bullets, but both stopped as soon as it one was well above the strange device's trajectory, while the other was under it. Once the positioning and timing was right, Raava scrunched forward and brought one ethereal arm down and pointed it towards the ground, while at the same time keeping the other one still pointed towards the air. The sunsphere below the device's trajectory remained in place, but the sunsphere above followed and crashed down diagonally, hitting the knight's device squarely in the middle of its flight. The two orbs now shot downwards like two comets towards the deck in front of where the knight was running. Instead of causing the bronze device to merely bounce on the wooden flooring, the sheer force of the falling sunsphere caused it to break through the planks.

Meanwhile in midair, Raava executed a flawless flip forwards and began to prepare for a landing. Still, his attack was not yet over. Just as he was almost in an upright position once more, he brought the other ethereal arm down towards the ground, this time sending a sunsphere whizzing in a line that goes just above the knight's winged helm.

If his counterattack was successful, the grenade below the decks would explode and burst a hole through the wooden flooring to block the knight's advance, as well as send a shower of holy fire and splinters up into the air. The other sunsphere flying towards a point just above the knight's head would prevent her from jumping, lest she faces a hard bludgeoning directly to the chestplate.

[~N~]

When Raava leapt up and performed his acrobatic feat, ~N~ watched with a smirk of amusement. The two sunspheres shot up...

... and suddenly the barest flicker of flame sprang to life on the underbelly of the balloon. ~N~'s eyes went wide and raised a bottle of rum that he had pulled from somewhere inside his long coat.

At the same moment, the hull of the ship was rocked by an incendiary explosion, sending flaming wooden shards outwards, a few of them embedding themselves in the balloon above as well.

"Wooooo!" the judge shouted, thrusting the bottle into the air. "Better watch it with the fire, you two, or we may just make the Hindenburg disaster look like the work of an amateur! She's already falling apart..."

The ship plunged suddenly, and with the gust of wind that blew past, the flames now leapt across the balloon, spreading like fiery fingers along its billowing surface. ~N~ fell back, grabbing the wheel and pulling himself around, managed to right the falling ship once more with a strong grip on the lever controlling the damaged stabilizers, still functioning just enough to stop the Charon's descent.

"...won't be long..." ~N~ finished in low, grim voice.

The sky had darkened considerably. The commotion of battle, the now spreading fire on the balloon's underbelly, the cannonballs still being fired by the other two ships in pursuit had all served only to blind them to the actual cause of the Charon's sudden descent: an air pocket created by a sudden drop in temperature.

From an ominous storm.

That they were headed directly into.

Rumbling thunder made its entrance between cannonfire, and the sky flashed treacherously with crackling lightning.

"Things are starting to really heat up now!" ~N~ laughed maniacally. "All it would take is one good lightning strike to hit this balloon above us...." he added, taking a swig of rum. Swishing it in his mouth for just a moment, he issued forth a jet of fire.

"... and this whole damned ship will go down in flames..."

Mad grinning smile from a Captain with a deathwish.

[RedKayne]

Humanity's Determination (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQnI9OBDVrg)

A fiery explosion...

A sharp descent...

A storm's arrival...


The Tempest Knight's steps immediately halted as she witnessed the adversary leap high up into the air. The bizarre creature raised up two intangible arms, which shot two of the shining spheres across the area. The energy orbs enclosed their distance upon Captain Malstrom's own projectile. The disciple's two-pronged assault caused the Holy Order grenade to crash through the wooden-plank floor right before the knight.

Elena raised up her shield into a defensive posture on pure instinct alone, while simultaneously jumping backwards from the grenade's impact. However, the Captain's gray eyes widened with shock as another sunsphere lobbed itself directly towards he chestplate. The templar only had a few precious seconds to react, and Elena could naturally feel the mana energy stirring up inside of her. The mage-knight had an opportunity of utilizing her Bolting technique, and transform into a lightning bolt to avoid the attack.

Yet, despite the option available, the Tempest Knight banished the mana whirling inside of her body.

Raava's sunsphere crashed against Malstrom's pure-white kite shield like a miniature missile. The impact was tremendous, and Elena's left arm screamed out in pain as she braced against the powerful force. The mage-knight was sent flying back several feet, before landing harshly on the ground in a supine position. Captain Malstrom's weaponry was scattered around her lying body, as both the halberd and the shield were outside of arm's reach.

Muffled sounds of Elena's heavy breathing were inaudible compared to the roaring winds around the flying vessel, and the subsequent fiery explosion that occurred in the decks below. However, almost in a blink of an eye, Captain Malstrom was standing back on both feet - although appearing marginally weary from the earlier blow. Her shoulders were hunched over, and the woman's body was visibly panting. Yet, unseen by her opponent, Elena's lips curled up into a small smile beneath the templar helmet.

Now, that wasn't too bad... I have survived worse after all. Malstrom thought to herself, internally chuckling over the matter.

Sparks of flame and burning splinters rained upon the battlefield, and they harmlessly clanked against the templar warrior's intricate plate-mail.

And apparently... he's the silent type.

After their initial skirmish, Elena began to assess the situation further. Her opponent preferred not to speak, as the fluorescent humanoid clearly ignored the knight's inquiry over its identity. Yet, it clearly displayed intelligence, as it swiftly and effortlessly countered the knight's Holy Grenade.

"You're deceivingly clever, aren't you, comrade?" Elena Malstrom commented aloud, her voice coated with a playful accent before another small chortle escaped from her lips.

Luthious... The young woman began another silent prayer. Please guide me through the right path... despite the trials and the suffering... allow your humble servant to reach her fullest potential in this crusade between titans.

She sighed ever-so-lightly, before briefly shaking her impaired left arm - which still stung from the pain of the brunt-force trauma.

There was a faint aura of flames coming from the depths of the airship, and Elena then noticed the few shards that embedded themselves into the hot air balloon above. There were already other vessels besieging Charon, and the combatants were only further degenerating the very ship that is keeping them afloat.

The sharp descent supplemented the damage, and heavy gales provoked the flames to spread across the balloon. The ship's captain managed to stabilize the vessel after entering the air pocket, but then the sky distinctly darkened with an impending storm.

The Tempest Knight turned to face to ominous clouds, and a shiver ran down her spine. Elena's heart began to palpitate, her skin perspiring with sweat... she knew what was coming. Once they enter the middle of the storm, Malstrom can expect heavy rain downpours, and the darkening figures of both Charon's captain and the luminescent entity. These visuals will manifest symptoms of her mental disorder - and with the severity of the grim weather, Elena will be completely helpless to Raava's onslaught.

Captain Malstrom recognized the limitations of her mental health, but she will take necessary precautions to protect herself.

She will not allow the Cold Emperor to interfere this time.

Charon's captain continued cackling like a madman, as if joyfully expecting the destruction of the ship and everybody's respective deaths. Understandably, if this judge is truly a deity, he could not worry about trivial issues such as a petty storm taking away his own life.

Elena's gray gaze shifted from her opponent to the edge of the ship, where the endless expanse resided over the aircraft's perimeter. The mage-knight suddenly sprinted towards that direction, completely ignoring her equipment and leaving behind both the halberd and shield. It didn't take long to reach the ship's edge, since Malstrom is still at the height of her physical prowess.

After nearing the ledge, Malstrom turned to face her adversary. She stood only a few short feet away from the vessel's perimeter, and can easily fall from it at any point and descend to certain doom. Yet, the templar still held a confident smile, despite seemingly switching from offensive tactics to defensive.

One could definitely perceive that she is attempting to bait her opponent to approach the edge as well, and perhaps shove him off the ship with a certain technique. Apparently, despite the vivid memory of a life-endangering act at a certain cliff-side, Elena is unafraid of heights. It is still odd that the close-combat warrior abandoned her main weapon, along with her only shield - for whatever strategy she is brewing.

Regardless, Elena's mana pool crackled from within - waiting to be unleashed. Currently, Captain Malstrom's chances do not appear auspicious. Raava considerably outperformed her in the first altercation. However, the Tempest Knight has yet to reveal her own magical capabilities, and therefore still has the element of surprise. It won't be long before the endgame of this battle commences... and she will come out victorious.

[Ma1chbox]

As he soared through the air, the disciple of Eru reveled in the shower of splinters and holy fire that bounced harmlessly off his back. The singed deck, blackened by the blastwave, reeked of not only ash and burning wood, but also the smell of a well-executed counterattack. Moments later, a blunt, ear-ringing clang not unlike the sound made by a large gong reverberated through the chilly air flowing on the airship’s deck.

Raava partially curled up and executed an acrobatic landing at the end of his leap. The four hundred pound crystalline form sent a few more splinters flying as it left two shallow, somewhat trapezoidal footprints on the supposedly sturdy flooring.

He looked up just in time to see a blur of black, white, gold, and red whizzing backwards through the air, cruising low like a missile. In the same moment, a small yellow orb bounced gingerly up into air above where the knight was and scattered into embers in the blowing wind.

Seeing as the knight was preoccupied with, well, recovering from a grievous blow, Raava decided to take a moment to pause and bid a silent, stoic farewell to the small sphere as he watched it diffuse. So often his sunspheres scattering reminded him of the dandelions in the meadow when he first reawakened. That moment, so peaceful and serene, signified the calm before the storm. Just as he paused amidst the dandelions before the kingdom he razed, he paused amidst the embers before his opponent.

Then the dandelions ceased to flutter. The embers in the wind had faded. The calm had passed. The storm begins. Woe be unto the adversaries of the prophet, for they shall be purged with no quarter.

Slowly, Raava lowered his head and adopted a wide, stable stance. All six ethereal arms cocked back and bent at the elbow, giving the illusion of a halo of fists surrounding the crystalline statue. His entire form then tensed, shivering with pent up energy. The sounds of impending doom became drowned out as a newfound sense of vigor embodied him. The four sunspheres that remained took their places at his side, each one on an equidistant axis diagonal from his core.

Producing a long, drawn-out hiss, Raava raised his head to look up at his opponent, who now had her back turned as she looked upon the darkening clouds directly ahead of the Charon. The halberd and shield were well behind her, out of reach. Unexpectedly, she turned around and began to run not towards her discarded equipment, but instead towards the edge of the ship, dangerously close to the roaring winds beneath the airship’s massive hull.

Upon seeing her begin to make her move, Raava’s hiss grew silent for a second, but was then replaced by a thundering, blood-curdling scream that gave off a hint of the muffled echoes of the intense agony of a man trapped inside a small chamber against his will. Though he had no mouth, Raava’s haunting battlecry rang out loud enough to pierce even the deafening winds of the storm up ahead.

As his opponent took her first steps, his yell died and fell back into a silent spell as he sprang into action and broke out into a mad sprint, even more animalistic and vigorous than the last. Wood splintered under his heavy footsteps as he dashed carelessly towards his target. His course led him directly not towards the night, but towards the hole in the deck. Since he was already near its mouth beforehand, he managed to reach it a few decisive moments before the knight reached the edge of the ship. Not showing any modicum of regard for his own safety, Raava tumbled forward onto his back and slid feet first down under the main deck’s flooring, leaving a lightly carved trail on the woodwork as he went.

Upon entering the lower decks, he righted himself and landed squarely on his feet before rolling to soften the fall. Instead of taking any pauses, however, he continued to run as soon as he stood up, surveying the area as he went.
The lower decks were a completely different world from the one above. All visibility was hampered by the smoke that filled the room and hung in the air like a cloud, and whatever else could be seen was colored a dull red from the numerous fires slowly consuming the woodwork. A faint ringing noise coupled with a light wind and the crackling of numerous fires were the only sounds that could be heard. Smashed, shattered, and splintered chunks of wood strewn all over the place showed the extent of the damage caused by the grenade as it blew up in a confined space. Cannonballs from both the Charon and its pursuers rolled across the damaged floor as the ship swayed from side to side. The floors, walls, and ceilings alike were peppered with holes, which helped ease the visibility problem by venting out the lingering smoke, though not by much.

There was one thing peculiar about the hellish scene, though, one detail that seemed to persist among the rest. Despite all the carnage and mayhem that occurred under the decks, there were no crewmen in sight. No signs of bodies, blood, bones, or any other form of remains were present in the hellscape. Not even the mere smell of burning flesh showed itself. The ship seemed not only to be abandoned, it was almost as if it never had a crew in the first place! In the back of his mind, he asked himself how a captain could ever function without a crew.

Unfortunately, now was not the time for such trivial thoughts. Raava had a mission, a mission to bring death, and nothing but death to his foe. He continued to run towards the front end of the ship where his opponent should be by now, then pivoted on one foot and changed course towards the starboard side of the ship, opposite to his opponent.

Nearing the only cannon that wasn’t buried under a mound of debris, he leaned back and planted his feet onto the ground, skidding to a stop just before colliding with the massive weapon. Using his momentum, he sidestepped and spun to the left, steering his footsteps clear of any debris as he did so. Once he was beside the cannon, he spun once more, but this time ducking in such a way that he would end up under the cannon’s body.

Once that was done, Raava planted his back firmly up against the cannon and planted his feet firmly onto the ground before exerting as much effort as he could to straighten his legs and tilt the cannon upwards onto its butt end. It took a few seconds of buckling and lifting, but he unsurprisingly succeeded in propping it upright. A light clinking noise from inside confirmed his hopes that a cannonball was still loaded.

Staying completely still, he telepathically controlled one sunsphere to float behind him and press itself against the cannon’s fuse. The heat emanating from the orb caused it to sizzle for a bit before outright igniting it and causing the gunpowder compacted within the cannon to violently explode.

A deafening boom interrupted the sounds of the wind as a cannonball flew upwards and burst violently through the upper deck’s flooring. Again, splinters and chunks were strewn every which way as the iron ball ripped clean through any obstacles in its way. Of course, it didn’t stop there. The projectile now headed directly towards the balloon at a breakneck speed.

The cannonball wasn’t incendiary in any way, so it would simply rip straight through the balloon and high up into the air where it would disappear into the heavens. The resulting jets of air from the balloon, however, would jerk the airship violently to the left, as well as tilt it counterclockwise, sending everything on it sprawling. The balloon would then continuously let out air, causing the ship to quickly drop altitude.

[~N~]

Firing a shotgun, as anyone who has ever done this can tell you, has something of a kickback for the user. To get an idea of the kind of kickback one would receive from firing a cannon...

... one should multiply that shock and force by a factor of ten. At least.

Needless to say, Raava discovered this the moment the cannon fired. Between the deafening shockwave, the smoky halo, and the destructive kickback that actually drove the cannon downwards through the deck of the ship, the disciple was simultaneously torn in two directions, down and forward, enduring not only the incredible, deafening shockwave of the cannon's firing which ripped through his body, but the oppositional forces that did their utmost to rip him in half.

But the realization of his intentions, no matter how unsound, managed to do exactly as he thought. The cannonball tore up through the front of the ship, exploding through the deck in an explosive blast of wooden splinters and debris, and continued its terrifying ascent up into the balloon, tearing a hole straight through it before disappearing into the dark clouds above...

Captain ~N~ was blown back by the unexpected blast, turning away at the last moment and shielding his eyes, only to have several wooden splinters bury themselves in his back, eliciting a wince of painful irritation. The condition of the knight, who had been sprinting towards the front of the ship, was surely in question within the deafened, timeless moments that followed in the aftermath of the cannonball shot.

Several strikes of thunder lit up the skies like ominous fireworks, signaling something far more harrowing: With the balloon on fire, and now punctured, the Charon's imminent demise was more certain than ever. The airship creaked and groaned, dipping, nose first, into a perilous dive at a 20 degree downward angle, which was increasing at a stomach lurching rate. Everything that wasn't bolted down slid towards the front of the deck, plowing into whatever remained.

Raava's move singlehandedly doomed the ship. Thunder pealed across the skies, booming like the dread laughter of sadistic gods watching this spectacle, shaking the timbers as the Charon took a decidedly earthbound trajectory in her course. Gripping the ships controls, partially to keep from sliding towards the front of the ship, partially to attempt to maintain control, ~N~ realized the feeling of dread weightlessness that now overcame him. Like being in an elevator when it begins its descent, the stomach moves to the throat, and gravity seems to suddenly cease existing.

Wind, fire, and lightning wrapped the Charon in an apocalyptic embrace as the ship began its death dive from the sky...

[RedKayne]

The Sky Is Burning (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RktYMCxM1gs)



It was odd... how the sun remained unchanged after that fateful day...


It truly shows that mother nature is apathetic...

After spending an infinite aeon of observing humanity's worst...


By taking a few step backwards, Captain Malstrom would fall into the oblivion of the sky. A clumsy step or a foolish error - and it would all be over. Yet, the Tempest Knight held no fear, and stood there in a confident manner. She was ready to face her opponent, despite being weaponless and defenseless. There was a brief silence of anticipation as Elena ignored the roaring gales around her, and she strictly paid attention to her adversary's next move.

An inhuman, blood-curdling scream echoed into the area, practically shattering the universe with its presence. Elena's gray eyes suddenly lowered her gaze, as if hearing clearly for the first time. This... individual... was suffering. As if he was bound to a morbid destiny, and he could no nothing to break free from the path of darkness.



They told me that my older brother is gone... dead...


The malevolent Cold Emperor killed him...

And the obsidian knight needs to be... eliminated...


The memories of the ice monarch were drawn back to Elena's mind. The Templar Order demanded for his extermination, due to his countless heinous acts of murder... which correlated to his goal of achieving vengeance. It all was an act of revenge against an even more sinister being... one whom took away his beloved's life.

Yet... if she was ever presented with the possibility, Captain Malstrom would be extremely hesitant to take away the life of the Emperor. Even though Elena's life was nearly taken away by the herculean antihero, she held no grudge against that cursed soul.

Elena's gray eyes shifted back to the luminescent figure, whom broke out into a feral sprint. If she were hesitant to execute the likes of the death knight... should she be willing to slay the tragic figure before her?

The golden creature disappeared into the deck's hole, and ran into the underbelly of the ship. The Captain formed a small frown, unsure of her opponent's plan of assault. Did he intended to launch an attack from below?

A few seconds passed by, as the templar awaited for Raava's next move. Elena couldn't exactly prepare a defense against an unseen opponent, yet she had no intention from moving her position. Suddenly, the thunderous sound of an explosion resounded throughout the airship. Malstrom personally witnessed a cannonball erupt from the starboard end of the vessel, which flew straight into the hot air balloon. The metallic projectile cleanly punctured through the blimp, and the disciple single-handily destroyed their only means of staying afloat.

The impact reverberated across the airship, and of course, Malstrom was unable to keep her balance. The templar was practically shoved from the ledge, as she began her own rapid descent.



I could never be like my brother... the strength of his heart was unparalleled...


I consistently lived in his shadow... striving to compete with him one day...

Now, he is merely a memory... but one that dwells in my dreams every night...


To free fall through the air - while among the clouds - is certainly a surreal experience. The suit of armor deflected away the hissing winds from Elena's skin, but the mage-knight's heart still palpated from the incredible sensation. Despite being high in altitude, the vivid imagination of crashing against the ground - an instant death - would unnerve anyone. The Captain could only find comfort by logically reasoning with herself - this was her original plan of strategy from the very beginning. The Templar had to fight through the mortal fear of death. There were still a couple more steps to proceed with her strategy, before the endgame commences. Honestly, it was remarkable that Elena still had a plan to work with, regardless of several unexpected events. She has to slightly improvise due to Raava's last action, but the outcome would remain unchanged.

The young woman's eyes narrowed, and focused upon the airship above. Flames spread across the deflated balloon, thunder boomed overhead as lightning practically enclosed upon the flying vessel, and Charon itself tipped forward by several degrees. It began its own doomsday plunge, and the force of gravity overtook the ship instead of its ruling captain. The chaotic visuals corresponded to that of the world on the brink of utter annihilation.

The Tempest Knight could not fathom the enemy's mindset. The crystalline apostle's move was thoroughly reckless, and Malstrom could presume that her adversary was not unscathed after practically blowing up the entire ship. His combat nature was essentially the opposite of the templar warrior, because Malstrom's tactics were more calculated and strategic. Yes, she would also utilize risky techniques, but she would also consider the possible positive outcomes. In this instance, the Captain is self-assured that she will be victorious even though the battle will no longer directly take place on the ship.



The Emperor struck me down... I thought my chapter in life was finally over...


And indeed... it did end... But thereafter... I was born anew...

I became the Tempest Knight... humanity's beacon of the Noble's radiance...


Lightning crackled around the falling knight's body, and threatened any second to strike the Holy Order member. Elena breathed deeply, and attempted to calm her rapidly beating heart. She battled against the urges of fear attempting to take control of her body - but she would ultimately prevail. Very fortunately - miraculously - there were no signs of heavy rain downpours, or any dark figure images of Raava or the ship's captain. That would soon change, so she still needs to be cautious.

The descending templar's right arm reached towards her belt, grabbing onto the handle of the Blessed Dagger. She drew upon the weapon, immediately feeling the effects of the small blade silencing her electrical spells that were ready to burst from within. As long as Elena continued wielding the dagger with her hand, she was incapable of using any lightning magic. Yet, it was all part of a grand plan. Daring, courageous, and ready for the final phase of this epic clash. This dagger's blade emitted a brilliant glow, which displayed a clear visual for Raava to track and hunt her down in this ominous expanse. Yet, it also signified that even in the darkest times... such as this pandemonium storm - there will always be light.



I will not lose my life tonight...


I will continue on... I shall find him...

And I will save my older brother.

[Ma1chbox]

Once again, the disciple's haphazard and reckless tendencies worked just as envisioned, and in the span of a few crucial moments, the already unruly tides of battle shifted once more. To whose favor you ask? Well, that was yet to be decided. Still, a victory was had by Raava in that very split-second. No, not an outright victory against his damned foe, mind you, but a minor victory. A small victory. He reveled in the shower of splinters and wooden debris, followed immediately by the telltale sound of large amounts of air being vented by the gigantic balloon above.

This moment of glory did not last long, however, as the crystalline man knew that with every victory, no matter how small, there was always a price to pay. It just so happened that due to both his recklessness and simple bad luck, the price to pay this time was quite dire, as he would soon find out.

The reverberations of the deafening explosion from within the cannon were the first to assault Raava's form. A shockwave of that magnitude, something that would at best be concussive and disorienting to most combatants, was quite unexpectedly effective against the disciple. The vibrating soundwaves resonated against his form, causing it to mimic the microvibrations and lose much of its protective capability just before the moment when it was very much needed.

Long before his form managed to recover and stop vibrating, the reckless being was flung directly away from the cannon in two directions, thanks in part to both the massive shockwave that blew outwards in a circle, and the cannon's own recoil, which drove straight downwards and into the lower deck's dank flooring. Taking the brunt of the combined effectiveness of these two great forces, Raava was thrust violently in two directions: Forward, directly away from the cannon's tubular cast-iron body, and downwards, straight into the deck. This resulted in him being tossed diagonally downwards.

With every single millisecond that passed after the cannon's mighty boom, Raava sank deeper and deeper feet-first into the flooring. For every two inches he moved downwards, he would move ten inches forwards as well. This violent jerking against the planks of the airship violently and mercilessly ground crystal against hard wood. Normally, this situation would have been ultimately ignorable to a transcended being such as Raava, but given the vibrating soundwaves just moments prior, his form became much more susceptible than usual, and the damage was quite apparent.

Though the wooden floor was weak enough to allow the crystal mass to glide through it like a knife sliced forcefully through a tough steak, it was also just hard enough to be able chip away chunks of his front side as he went. Like two snakes devouring each other, the wooden flooring ate through Raava's form as he himself ate through the thoroughly weakened flooring. What should have been just the blunt sound of wood violently tearing apart against a hard surface was now accompanied by the dull, pitched cracking of a solid mass of crystal being chipped away bit by bit.

Eventually, the friction generated from the grinding of crystal against wood brought Raava to a halt. By then, he was wedged firmly between a vice-like crevasse between the shattered floorboards. The front and outer sides of his lower body that were once solid and smooth were now chipped and rife with jagged bits of crystal and wood sticking out. Among his wounded body parts, his feet were the least affected, bearing the least chipped areas compared to the others. Going up from there, the damage sustained only grew worse and worse, up until the midsection, through which wedged wooden planks were lodged up to a quarter of a foot deep. It was then, and only then that Raava's crystalline form finally stopped vibrating and returned to its natural state.

Though he could not feel pain, Raava knew exactly how grave his injuries were. Any sensible opponent could now target the horizontal crevasse along his stomach and take advantage of the cracks that criss-crossed across his lower half, which was now weaker in integrity compared to his still mostly unscathed upper body. Still, the disciple knew no fear. He would not shirk from battle. He would prevail.

For a moment, he pondered his next course of action. It was then that he noticed the interior of the ship tilting forwards, slowly at first, but then rapidly. The foggy, tunnel-like interior of the airship's underbelly quickly turned into a hollow, firelit wooden tower that leaned slightly off to one side. Debris from the rear of the ship barreled down on the tilted deck towards the front end of the now descending ship. Crates, kegs, planks, and other debris rolled and flew past his upper body and landed in a pile below him as he struggled against the wood embedded in his body in an attempt to free himself.

At that moment, a sign warning him of grave danger flew just past his head. One of the cannons from the central section of the ship had broken free from the ropes that held its base securely against the deck. As it crashed into the pile down below, it didn't simply keel over and join the rest of the debris in weighing down the airship's bow end, it actually crashed through it, thus creating yet another large hole on the front end of the ship. A blow like that to his back would have been just as severely damaging as the other cannon's shockwave, if not more.

Knowing this dangerous risk, Raava ceased to struggle against the planks. Instead, he cocked both his legs backwards and protruded his knees slightly. Then, like a spring-loaded mechanism, he curled forwards and brought his knees careening towards the planks embedded in front of him, bending his knees into a bludgeon as he swung. The kneeing from below managed to crack the wood, but it still wasn't enough for Raava to go free. Cocking his legs back again, he repeated his action. Again, the wood broke, but it was still just short of enough. For the third and final time, he cocked his legs back and kneed the planks as hard as he could, and finally, he had enough leeway to wriggle free... and into the abyss below.

To someone viewing the fight, this might have looked like a stupid move, even for someone as reckless as Raava. In reality, however, this was a part of his plan, a sort of side-advantage to his plan of avoiding injury by falling cannon. Just about a minute earlier, the knight was running towards the edge of the ship when he went under the decks and shot the balloon, therefore tipping the surface violently enough to knock his opponent off. By now, she should have been falling towards her inevitable doom, just like Raava. The only difference between them now was that the knight was way down below by the time the disciple began his rapid descent.

Staying mostly still, he rolled his body over to face the ground. Air resistance going against Raava's fall took tiny bits of dislodged crystal along with it, creating a short, yellow glitter-like trail behind him. Patiently, he scanned the view below for any figures colored a mixture of red, black, and gold.

Finally, he spotted his opponent. From the looks of it, she was already looking directly at him. Once again, the two foes locked eyes in a gaze of death. One will live, and one will die. The battle would be decided in the next clash. It was time to end it all.

Silently, the disciple of Eru put his legs together and streamlined his body, using the air resistance against his body to direct him rapidly towards his enemy. Then, within a few seconds of beginning his approach, he grew stiff and began to glow a bright yellow, so bright that his visible outlines faded and his silhouette almost seemed to meld into one large torpedo-shaped projectile as he headed straight for the templar.

Eerily, Raava made no noise as he descended upon his opponent. From her perspective, she would only see a bright yellow shape, almost like a solid torchlight, rapidly heading for a vicious collision course towards her.

[~N~]

With the winds rushing past, fanning the flames into a full blazing embrace around the airship's balloon, the front of the ship practically destroyed with much of the prow blown to pieces, and his tri-cornered hat sent off to god knows where, ~N~ pulled himself back around the wheel to catch a glimpse of the combatants.

Glancing at the distant earth now hurtling at a seemingly crawling pace towards him, he caught a glimpse of them, Malstrom in free fall some distance away from Raava, who streaked towards her now like some glowing meteor. This sight bemused ~N~ for the moment, until the realization struck him:

They want to die!

The glimmering, mad smile returned to his lips. They were going to carry out his edict even unto their own deaths. He could not have wished for anything more. It was glorious in its sacrificial bloodthirsty madness.

"Onward then!" he cried, throwing the ships badly damaged guidance systems into full downward spiral, directly towards the two flailing adversaries, locked together in their deadly conflict, plummeting towards their doom.

At that moment, the first drops singed into steam upon the licking flames around the engulfed airship, and many more followed upon them.

The downpour had begun. Drops of water joined the ship, the captain, and the combatants as they all fell to the earth...

[RedKayne]

Born Anew (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdqIjqZTh-I)



I will not lose my life tonight...


I will continue on... I shall find him...

And I will save my older brother.


This is Captain Malstrom's one true objective - ever since entering this tournament of titans. The templar abandoned her career in the Holy Order... to become the champion and obtain information on her brother's whereabouts. Many members of the Templar Order believe the man to be dead at this point - but Elena knows better. The woman's older brother is the strongest person she has ever known, and his stalwart willpower rivals her own. Kyril is very dear to her heart, and she will never abandon the notion of rescuing him.

"I welcome this challenge, foe," Elena muttered under her breath. "But I will be victorious," she promised. Those gray eyes watched as a golden silhouette jumped from a small hole within the desecrated airship. Her adversary appeared to be a brilliant star, which shot down towards the Tempest Knight like a meteorite. The two combatants will have one final clash, and the endgame has finally commenced. Elena had to strengthen her resolve, because she needed to... defeat... this opponent.

And here he comes... just as I planned... now I can-

A drop of water splattered against the mage-knight's suit of armor. It was a minuscule drop, but it already began to heavily affect the young woman contained within. A cold shiver ran up her spine, and her pale skin perspired. The pupils of her gray eyes dilated as more drops of rain reverberated across her armor. A heavy downpour quickly followed thereafter, and Malstrom's breathing became exasperated - as if she was suffocating within her own plate-mail.

The vision of Raava's luminescent outline blurred into a darker image, as if the disciple was nothing more than an illusion. Eyes of blue-flame flared from the descending figure, and obsidian armor encased the individual within. The black knight drew upon a large scythe, practically symbolizing the Grim Reaper.

Death has arrived... and the Cold Emperor once again took its form.

"Die"

The Knight of Destruction's familiar - yet sinister - voice echoed within Elena's mind. This single word practically paralyzed the templar, and she could feel her chest tighten... she could no longer breathe.


Die.


Die.


Die.

Die.





NOT THIS TIME



Splatter!


Elena gritted her teeth together, fighting back a scream down her throat. Tears seeped from the corners of her eyes, as an unbearable physical pain overtook her body.

Don't look at it... especially don't look at the blood... just solely focus upon the pain.

Captain Malstrom's grip on her dagger's hilt slightly loosened, before she pulled out the small blade from her left shoulder. She immediately the Blessed Dagger and let it fall down the atmosphere. The templar's breathing was extremely labored, but she managed to halt her PTSD symptoms from reactivating in this crucial moment. This is the prime reason why she drew upon the dagger, so she can inflict pain upon herself - even though it disabled her own left arm from further. Yet, it was the ideal strategy, and Elena is allowed to resume her grand plan without being imprisoned in her own mind. She will everything in her willpower to be victorious, because she had the fighting Spirit of a Goddess.

Malstrom's eyes reopened, and rapidly blinked away tears from the stinging pain. She could feel the red liquid dripping from her vicious shoulder wound, and the sensation of the pierced armor metal scraping against the flesh only heightened the pain. All of this only helped Elena to focus upon the pain - and ignore the sight of the rain downpour upon her. She successfully fought her mental disorder, and its time initiate her final assault.



Most Noble... I show thee gratitude...


For allowing Humanity's Determination...

To manifest within your humble servant...


The Tempest Knight raised up her right arm, and outstretched it to point it towards the opposition. "I apologize, if we were under different circumstances... perhaps I could save you, too," she muttered under her breath, a hint of regret in her voice. The disciple, Raava, honestly reminded the Captain about her own brother's fate - a cursed individual trapped in a dark path.

Except... in this case... Raava is not her brother.



Bless this poor soul before me, Lord Luthious...


Ease his pain and suffering...

And allow his scarred soul find peace in Your light.


The holy templar uttered a prayer for her opponent, knowing very well she would take his life. The Captain wasn't just confident about her next attack, she was fully aware that he cannot escape from it. At this point, Elena already noticed the large vessel shifted itself into a full-dive plunge towards both combatants. Charon's madman of a captain only wished to eliminate fighters, but his wish will not be granted.

The mage-knight no longer held the Blessed Dagger, and her own electrical spells were ready to burst. Her entire right arm became enshrouded with a radiant light, and became a conductor for the next spell. Suddenly, high up in the sky and miles above the airship itself - a bolt of lightning was suddenly formed... and shot down.

The Tempest Knight is capable of summoning a lightning bolt, which is normally used as a charged up attack before sending it directly to her opponent. However, in this scenario, there was a certain individual in between both Elena and the lightning bolt... Raava.

From the very beginning of this match, the Captain observed and took advantage of their surroundings. They were high up in altitude and riding atop an airship... and from there, a plan formulated within the templar's calculating mind. She needed to conserve her energy for a lightning bolt spell, which is why she avoided the usage of mana throughout this entire battle.

Initially, Malstrom intended to jump off the ship, and during the free-fall, the electromancer would summon a bolt of lightning to strike the hot air balloon. The subsequent consequence would be a colossal, fiery explosion that would engulf the ship and Raava with it. The Tempest Knight herself would have been a safe distance away from that airship's detonation. However, due to the disciple's unexpected tactic of utilizing the cannonball, Elena had to slightly improvise her strategy.

Raava would be the direct target of the lightning bolt, instead.



No matter the trials... Lord...


Even if The Sky is Burning... I have faith...

Your Light shall bestow truth upon all...


Lightning, according to the laws of physics, moves in jagged steps - not in straight lines. In this manner, the electrical surge shot downward in a diagonal manner - zigzagging across the stormy weather. It happened in a blur of a second, and the lightning bolt basically sneaked beneath the spiraling airship - completely avoiding it. Yet, the voltage current remained true to its trajectory, and the target itself.

It is common knowledge to understand that the speed of light is faster than the speed of sound - and thus, no thunder shall warn Malstrom's adversary. Not until it was too late. There would be no warning of an incoming attack from behind - which would ideally shatter the crystalline being.

Captain Malstrom also considered the possibility of her opponent somehow managing to dodge the initial attack. The faceless creature could also have magical spells in reserve, such as a teleportation ability to avoid the attack. Raava is still doomed for defeat, regardless.

This spell is a two-phased attack. The first phase is not traditionally used to strike blows. If Raava dodges the lightning bolt, it will contact the Tempest Knight instead. From there, Elena will instantly redirect the divine lightning bolt back at her opponent and smite him.

Then, there was also another possible inconvenience. If Malstrom does manage to slay the luminescent warrior with the spell, but doesn't shatter him into thousands of pieces... she would still be dealing with a four-hundred pound carcass falling directly at her.

That is why she still has a Bolting spell in reserve. It was another perfect reason why she didn't utilize that ability earlier. Even after using the incredibly taxing lightning spell, Captain Malstrom's mana pool is capable of one last resort.

Finally, the questions remains on how Elena Malstrom would survive, after the defeat of her opponent. Well, from what the templar's perspective - upon the victory of the previous battle, she was instantly teleported to the next battle. Hopefully, the gods of this tournament would apply that same rule in this match. However, Elena could not help but have a small doubt in her mind. If Charon's captain is truly one of the deities supervising this tournament, it seems he is doing everything in his power to destroy both contenders.

Yet, the lady was unconcerned with the maniac's efforts. She entrusted herself to the one true God, whom shall grant her safe passage from this battle. Elena Malstrom was Born Anew as the Tempest Knight, and she will continue being humanity's stalwart defender.

[Ma1chbox]

It was the moment of truth. Two great souls intertwined, locked together in glorious single combat. Each one was its own entity, one of a kind their very own way, but in the intense heat of battle, in those precious, crucial moments, they were none too different from one another. In the end, they were both just two warriors fighting to the death… and for what? The amusement of the eternal deities and the millions of their angels? They who look down upon the two and watch as they attempt to rip out each others’ throats like dogs in a cage? They were no more than… pawns. Yes, pawns. Pawns in a twisted game of life and death, and whatever lies in between. Pawns driven by the hopes that maybe, just, maybe, they might get promoted to queen.

It was a humbling thought, truly it was. To many, it would have been insulting, even. Knowing that your best efforts, your suffering, then, are but mere antics to the gods? The mere notion alone would be enough to cast most down into the dark pit that is despair… but not Raava. Not him, not the shining disciple, the chosen student of the traitorous prophet. In fact, it was the opposite. Knowing this cynical truth, and accepting it in its barest and rawest form is what drives him forward, and what makes him a danger to those who stand in his way. Unlike others, who sought glory or reward, Raava sought death. He would just as easily watch himself burn as he would watch the world burn, and he would stand there, smiling in the ashes like a madman.

This was because deep down inside him, beneath all the layers of crystal and fire, deep beneath the death throes of a dying star, there lay a force more powerful than any other in the known universe: hatred. Its fires burned with a force hotter than that of a thousand suns, and a thousand more combined. In a way, that was his power. Hatred. Not resilience, not telekinetic manipulation, not the control of light, no. It was hatred. He possessed the ability to do anything and everything for the simple fact that he had nothing to lose… no, it went beyond having nothing to lose. His loss would be his victory. No longer would he be bound to the traitorous prophet’s will. His death will come, and when it comes, his watch will have ended.

Suddenly, reality came to play again. The time for inner monologues would have to be set aside. After all, the games were not yet over.

In the final, most crucial moments, when the victor would be decided, everything seemed to move slowly. It was as if the world was solemn as it looked on at the two warriors, the knight and the disciple. It seemed that their deaths would be to the oddly quiet sound of rain.

Raava, while streaking through midair like a bright yellow meteorite, finally ceased to glow. In a split second, his obscured, indeterminate form became visible once more as the bright yellow aura faded in the wind. The mangled, heavily damaged mass that was his midsection that moments before was a gaping canyon of loosened crystal was now but a mere dented line across the gut. The small cracks that painted his body like a macabre form of art were now mostly gone, and those that were left were ultimately ignorable. With a flick of his wrist, his sunspheres twitched, signaling that they could once more be used.

Just before his crystalline body finished reforming itself, two of Raava’s ethereal arms shot straightened out forwards. In that instant, two corresponding sunspheres exploded in a shower of embers and headed straight for the freefalling templar. They moved menacingly and with great speed as if they were dangerous projectiles that numbered in the hundreds, but no, they were something else entirely.

In front of the templar captain’s view, Raava appeared, seemingly out of thin air. The duplicate clung onto her tightly a spider onto its prey, but instead of attacking, it simply looked her in the eye with a haunting, dead stare that was void of any human soul… and gave off a blood-curdling howl. At around the same moment, it began to glow brightly as well, blocking her entire field of vision with a wall of yellow light.

Meanwhile, some ways behind the perfect duplicate, the real Raava had leaned back and righted himself. Gracefully, like a master of martial arts, two more ghostly yellow arms swept slow semi-circles around him, bringing his last two sunspheres directly behind his torso. His enemy was no doubt distracted now, and it was time to act.

With all the force he could muster, he brought them forwards, smashing them with great force directly into his own back. Large chips of crystal flew off him upon contact, creating two shallow craters with grapefruit-sized indents in the middle. This act of self-harm, however, was not simply for show. The sheer force of the strike propelled Raava forwards even faster, bringing his speed up to almost that of a bullet, so to speak.

If he was going down, then by all means, so was his foe…

… And then lightning struck. Moments before impact, his back, already damaged by his double self-strike, had been targeted by a strong bolt of plasma and electricity that shook throughout his entire being. Beneath the network of web-like cracks and the remaining layers of crystal, a clean and precise Lichtenberg figure formed in a split second, turning the once translucent mass seemingly more solid-looking, even though Raava himself was now physically anything but more solid. Still, the plan had already been set in motion. As always, despite the damage taken, the disciple kept his eyes locked on his target, who by now should still be deaf, blind, and stunned. His fate was no longer in his hands. Not like it ever was, anyway.

[~N~]

Fire, smoke, rain, and lightning.


It all came hurtling towards the Earth. All of the elements of the world swirled into play like some cataclysm, fighters, ship, captains, three fates, three forces, spiraling downwards with fatalistic momentum.

Spiraling towards death. When Malstorm and Raava locked again with each other, one last time, lightning exploded forth, hitting both in a momentous strike that lit up the brooding sky. Thunder pealed forth, and rumbled out this moment of judgment in its earthshaking power, crashing down upon the world like a monstrous wave. And with it, came the mad captain, joining the chorus of fire and wreckage that fell from the heavens like fiery meteors.

In the oncoming collision, ~N~ released the captain's wheel, now but a spinning ornament on a doomed vessel. Rappelling over to the anchor, by way of the rigging and mast, he pulled up on its iron clamps and let it slip free, plunging down below on its black, heavy chain, right towards the two combatants. With a single bound, the mad captain swan dived right off the side of the ship, and grabbed the chain, pulling it down, riding it down with him as he swung closer to the fighters.

With one last stretch, he grabbed Raava's neck, wrenching him backwards and twisting him over his hip and around. "You're coming with me, traitor. You sunk my ship, and I'm talking you straight to the briny crushing depths for your treacherous ways!" The mad captain, with the suicidal disciple as his prisoner, barely managed to avoid the massive hulk of the burning airship as it crashed down upon Captain Malstrom, bearing all its weight upon her and condemning her body to its fate.

Like an errant meteor shard, ~N~ and Raava, bound to their own fate, barreled towards the sea, where the ocean deformed with a massive shape many times larger than that of the abandoned airship. This monstrous Leviathan breached the crystal clear water's surface with sublime power and cresting up above the waves it emerged from, opened its cavernous maw.

In the next moment, the legendary sea beast closed its watery jaws around ~N~ and Raava and plunged into the depths once more with a tidal crash....


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There were three extensions given during this battle: One for Kayne, Two for Ma1chbox. Despite this, their total amount of extra time came out to about the same: ~12 hours. As both amounts totaled less than 24 hours, I am choosing not to deduct these extensions from your scores.
However, all things being equal, Ma1chbox, your second extension was not requested, and represented a slip on your part for keeping track of your deadlines. As such, I'm deducting half a point for that from your total. If your combined extensions had represented a total amount of time noticeably greater than that which Red Kayne was granted, I would've deducted an additional amount beyond this; however, each of yours totaled 6 extra hours (give or take some odd minutes) while Kayne received 12 hours total in one.

So, as it it stands, before any judging for the categories below, Ma1chbox begins with a 0.5 point deduction for going beyond the deadline without requesting an extension on his second extension occurrence.

On to the judging...

Writing Style:


Artistry and Complexity (creativity/originality, risky techniques and intricate details that enrich the post, unusual structuring and changing styles)


RedKayne, you utilized techniques I recognized from my own fights in the Rumble last year, with the changing format of your font, and its positioning, as well as accompanying your posts with musical soundtracks. It's clear you've paid attention to the best fighters of the past, and have incorporated their practices into your own. And particularly, I thought your first post was among your best. In that post, you used the bold and centering to highlight my captain's words, as they interlaced and interrupted Malstrom's observations, thoughts, and memories, all of which were critical to her character. You did this in real time, and the bolding and centering offset and broke her thoughts very well.

But, not all application of writing maneuvers were equally warranted or as clearly functional (such is the risk of experimentation, that it sometimes doesn't always work so well). Your third post moved the lines from right justified to left, and while the blue coloration of the lines and their positioning set them apart, it did that in a way that was aesthetically less than pleasing, and perhaps separated them too much in meaning and integration with what your post was trying to say.

The fourth post continued this experiment, and it now seemed to represent Malstrom's thoughts, or a prayer, and then certain words were colored yellow, which I wondered about, but I thought that the font size change and italics of "NOT THIS TIME" was actually the most effective part there, since the font form matched and aided in the expressing of its content. I commend you for your experimentation, and I believe that as you continue to try new forms, you will get a better feel for which aesthetics work best with your content and message, and which detract from it. As someone who has, in his own posts, risked much in experimentation, that is the risk and cost for making truly exceptional prose.

I award you 2.75 points for the parts that worked well, as well as the parts that did not.

Ma1chbox, Your writing was more conservative, however, your use of italics was well placed, and your writing in general I found to be sound and broken up into parts that made sense, representing the progression of thoughts, action, and events in an evenly coherent fashion. Where RedKayne's post were more uneven in their substance and focus depending on the subject material, yours delivered a consistent account that took all things into an even proportion. This lent your posts a solid consistency and coherence that made them smooth.

However, I personally wonder what you could do if you were to put music or style flourishes in your words. I wonder if you could take your skilled grasp of words and accentuate them further with formatting changes that would further highlight and provide aesthetic embellishment to the different perspectives and aspects of your posts. I would like to see more from you in the future in that regard.

I'm awarding you 2.25 points for a solid style that conveyed your content well, but was fairly conservative in its approach.


Fluidity and Clarity (Ease of following the action of the post, and smoothness in reading and understanding it)


RedKayne, again, as mentioned above, I thought your first post was excellent in carrying the content and emphasizing it in a way that made the setting and your characters thoughts and memories all flow clearly into line. Everything played together, without anything dominating the spotlight. The same could not be said later on, when it seemed, for example in your third post that the memories and blue lines actually threw off the rhythm of events and broke the flow of the action. Admittedly, you alternated sequentially through these applications, but that didn't result in a post that was either playing coherently, or meaningfully. It seemed that the symphony you had in the first post had now begun to play their separate songs that just happened to be in the same room, and in the third post, it jolted the reader back and forth between those songs in a way that contributed to confusion, rather than coherence.

I award you 2.50 points here.

Ma1chbox, I thought your posts flowed well, for the most part. Some of your maneuvers were difficult to work through, your flips and turns and such, as in your first post. I would work on making sure those are more clearly written in the future. However, I thought that Raava's thoughts, his observations, his progression of actions all made sense, and followed on each other rather well (even when he was doing something some might call "mad"). In this respect, I think you actually outperformed Kayne for flow and clarity. This is where your grasp of writing style and conventions played to your favor.

I award you 2.75 points here.



Conventions (grammar/spelling/punctuation)


RedKayne, same as before, your first post was your best. And then... something strange happened with your tenses. You started, as you went along in your second, third, and fourth posts, writing in the future tense like you were planning this all out in some hypothetical future as in the following examples from those three posts:

"Captain Malstrom recognized the limitations of her mental health, but she will take necessary precautions to protect herself.

She will not allow the Cold Emperor to interfere this time." (Post 2)

"Yes, she would also utilize risky techniques, but she would also consider the possible positive outcomes. In this instance, the Captain is self-assured that she will be victorious even though the battle will no longer directly take place on the ship." (Post 3)

"Captain Malstrom also considered the possibility of her opponent somehow managing to dodge the initial attack. The faceless creature could also have magical spells in reserve, such as a teleportation ability to avoid the attack. Raava is still doomed for defeat, regardless.

This spell is a two-phased attack. The first phase is not traditionally used to strike blows. If Raava dodges the lightning bolt, it will contact the Tempest Knight instead. From there, Elena will instantly redirect the divine lightning bolt back at her opponent and smite him.

Then, there was also another possible inconvenience. If Malstrom does manage to slay the luminescent warrior with the spell, but doesn't shatter him into thousands of pieces... she would still be dealing with a four-hundred pound carcass falling directly at her.

That is why she still has a Bolting spell in reserve. It was another perfect reason why she didn't utilize that ability earlier. Even after using the incredibly taxing lightning spell, Captain Malstrom's mana pool is capable of one last resort." (Post 4)

This presented the reader with a constantly changing tense as well as perspective (because you seemed to scope out to some kind of omniscient 3rd person narrator describing things from afar in those posts at times, as opposed to the more personal, intimate 3rd person limited perspective you had at the beginning in the first post) that was altogether disconcerting and perplexing. For all your "planned" maneuvers in the final post, you are not allowed to telegraph out reactions in any situation in preparation for hypothetical future happenings that you're unable to actually write out. This is the limitation of the Rumble, the four posts you get to do the best you can do in those posts.

I would suggest working on maintaining a consistent perspective and tense in your posts in the future, or more skillfully weaving them in a manner that doesn't break the reader's connection to the timing and perspective of the events.

I award you 1.75 points for breaking perspective and tense on significant occasions.

Ma1chbox, again, your conventional style helped you here and you shifted from omniscient third person narrative to personal 3rd person narrative smoothly. I felt that you could've risked more, but your style conventionality served your conventions well. You risked less, and could handle what you did with enough skill to make it smooth.

I award you 3.00 points for consistent, well-managed prose. Now, do more with it in the future. :)

Effectiveness of Combat:

Character Consistency (How well do the actions of the character in the post reflect or fit who/what they are, their capabilities, and their limitations?)


RedKayne, I loved the opening. Can I just say that? Again? What more poignant, perfect experience to open with on an airship flown by a mad captain under attack than a young girl, a sister, hanging on to dear life from a cliff, saved by the last moment by her brother.

It was perfect. And that particular memory mattered here for obvious reasons. But then... post three, you open with this:

"It was odd... how the sun remained unchanged after that fateful day...

It truly shows that mother nature is apathetic...

After spending an infinite aeon of observing humanity's worst...

By taking a few step backwards, Captain Malstrom would fall into the oblivion of the sky. A clumsy step or a foolish error - and it would all be over. Yet, the Tempest Knight held no fear, and stood there in a confident manner. She was ready to face her opponent, despite being weaponless and defenseless. There was a brief silence of anticipation as Elena ignored the roaring gales around her, and she strictly paid attention to her adversary's next move."

Wait. What? Where's the little girl whose first lines, our first introduction to her, were "Somebody, save me!" I get that the girl has become the knight. I get she's older now, more experienced, more courageous. But that memory mattered. And now it doesn't seem to anymore. I was hoping to see a fight with someone who was bravely facing a central fear in a pivotal moment in her life to courageously fight on. But she's stepping to the edge here without even so much as blinking.

You spoke of her mental limitations, but after that first post, you didn't show us as much through her eyes how they played. You told us they were there, but you didn't make us feel them through her eyes.

This paragraph captures it: "To free fall through the air - while among the clouds - is certainly a surreal experience. The suit of armor deflected away the hissing winds from Elena's skin, but the mage-knight's heart still palpated from the incredible sensation. Despite being high in altitude, the vivid imagination of crashing against the ground - an instant death - would unnerve anyone. The Captain could only find comfort by logically reasoning with herself - this was her original plan of strategy from the very beginning. The Templar had to fight through the mortal fear of death. There were still a couple more steps to proceed with her strategy, before the endgame commences. Honestly, it was remarkable that Elena still had a plan to work with, regardless of several unexpected events. She has to slightly improvise due to Raava's last action, but the outcome would remain unchanged."

She's fighting through the fear of death, the plunge, but it's part of her plan? Logic? When one is in the grips of a childhood fear and memory coming back into their lives at such a moment, logic blows away like dust in the wind. Emotions rule the day. What is she feeling? Can she hear her heartbeat as it hammers in her chest? Is she blinking back tears? Is she taking hurried breaths? Is she losing control in this one situation where she's literally in free fall and all of her control is slipping away? Yes, there's the plan but where's the girl? Where's her nightmare? Where's her humanity? The struggle that blows the flickering torch of logic around like its plaything? Wheres the girl with chattering teeth mouthing her prayers not in serenity but in desperate hope, clinging to the faith that her gods will save her against all odds?

I want to know your Malstrom intimately, and I was all in at the beginning. But then you took her away from me and told me in prose that seemed like I was getting her condition through Morse code. In the end, you brought back her humanity through the stylistics of your words, "NOT THIS TIME!" and for a brief glimpse, I felt that girl again, that brave girl.

But I felt that Kayne the writer became too dominant in Malstrom the knight, and turned her from what she is into what he is. John Keats talks about "negative capability": the need for a writer to empty himself of himself in order to fill himself up with his characters. In this case, I believe this is good advice for you to take your writing to next level, Kayne. Forsake yourself. Become your characters. Feel what they feel, not what you would feel. Think what they think, not what you would think. Speaking personally, I try to do this with all of my characters. I have my limits, so I tend to favor characters that share characteristics with myself, which makes it easier to become them, but for example, in last year's Rumble, playing a lowly goblin (which I've done before), I can't write that goblin like I would write myself (a goblin isn't an intelligent being who is overly confident, for example). He wouldn't make the same decisions, he wouldn't act the same way I would. If I wanted him to do something, I had to think of a way that would be true to the goblin he was to get him there. And if I couldn't do that, I tried to think of something else. I think you can do this, but you missed significant opportunities to bring us into the heart and head of Malstrom here.

Also, again, I smiled when I saw you picked a character whose gender differed from your own. That requires a leap, an unsexing of yourself to get there. A woman faces a notably different set of challenges and paths to success in many cases than a man. You are trying things here that make me wonder what you can do with more practice.

I award you 2.50 points for your efforts, for consistent prayers, knightly behavior, and playing a character that presented you with a few significant challenges in who she was, and for making her one I wanted to know, even if I felt unfortunately distanced from her at times.

(wow, that went long)

Ma1chbox, who is Raava? I wondered this throughout my reading of your character. He's a dichotomy of peace and madness that shines through in your last post more clearly than any previous:

"It was a humbling thought, truly it was. To many, it would have been insulting, even. Knowing that your best efforts, your suffering, then, are but mere antics to the gods? The mere notion alone would be enough to cast most down into the dark pit that is despair… but not Raava. Not him, not the shining disciple, the chosen student of the traitorous prophet. In fact, it was the opposite. Knowing this cynical truth, and accepting it in its barest and rawest form is what drives him forward, and what makes him a danger to those who stand in his way. Unlike others, who sought glory or reward, Raava sought death. He would just as easily watch himself burn as he would watch the world burn, and he would stand there, smiling in the ashes like a madman.

This was because deep down inside him, beneath all the layers of crystal and fire, deep beneath the death throes of a dying star, there lay a force more powerful than any other in the known universe: hatred. Its fires burned with a force hotter than that of a thousand suns, and a thousand more combined. In a way, that was his power. Hatred. Not resilience, not telekinetic manipulation, not the control of light, no. It was hatred. He possessed the ability to do anything and everything for the simple fact that he had nothing to lose… no, it went beyond having nothing to lose. His loss would be his victory. No longer would he be bound to the traitorous prophet’s will. His death will come, and when it comes, his watch will have ended."

We get a glimpse here that differs greatly from the "Peace" we began with. The first time Kayne wrote, "An inhuman, blood-curdling scream echoed into the area, practically shattering the universe with its presence. Elena's gray eyes suddenly lowered her gaze, as if hearing clearly for the first time. This... individual... was suffering," I too realized, "Oh yeah! He did scream, didn't he?" And I went back, "Upon seeing her begin to make her move, Raava’s hiss grew silent for a second, but was then replaced by a thundering, blood-curdling scream that gave off a hint of the muffled echoes of the intense agony of a man trapped inside a small chamber against his will. Though he had no mouth, Raava’s haunting battlecry rang out loud enough to pierce even the deafening winds of the storm up ahead."

But I didn't understand this man trapped against his will until the final moments. Of course, all that he did seemed madness, and yet we begin with one who is so seemingly composed that he barely registers what's going on around him. It was... like I wanted to hear him scream more.

His actions matched his character, but I felt I didn't know who he was until the end. My suggestion for the future is to bring us into the world of this man, make us FEEL his torment, the torment that is encased behind the seemingly placid, smooth exterior. Let us see that difference right at the beginning. Let us see and feel what Raava sees and feels that matches his torment, makes him do the crazy things he does, makes us feel that burning hatred, that wish to end it all. Make us want to end it all with him in those final moments. Make us want to cry out, "PEACE! GIVE HIM PEACE! FOR MERCY'S SAKE!"

I am awarding you 2.50 points for actions befitting a madman who just wants to die, but docking you points for not getting us past his shell as well as you could have.


Ingenuity (How well does the character handle situations in original, interesting, yet effective ways? Does the player simply repeat the same actions and put little thought in their moves, or do they provide interesting responses to the situations they’re in?)


RedKayne, most of Malstrom's moves are "part of the plan." And it seems sometimes she's waiting for that plan to unfold. She does adapt and switch tactics, and does some things that frankly took me by surprise, like leaping off the ship. When I found out about the lightning I thought, "Ok, that's a nice twist." But for the most part, it's like you're waiting for the pieces to fall into place.

Ma1chbox, you're insane. Using a cannon to fire upwards and sink the ship? Really? It reminded me of the proverb, "Don't use a cannon to kill a fly." And I delivered the results of your insanity to you accordingly. But you did surprise me, and it was a move I would've never predicted. Frankly, it seemed like something you just made up on the spot, and yet in spite of that, it was not out of character for Raava at all, given his suicidal nature.

Both of you adapted and rolled well with the punches, but I'm giving this to one to Ma1ch for sheer unpredictability that changed the whole fight.

RedKayne, I award you 2.75 points for adaptation and moving the pieces into position for your final (lightning) strike.

Ma1chbox, I award you 3.00 points for changing the game with a move that didn't break character, as self-destructive and out-of-the-box as it was.


Choreography (How well does the character/player interact with the other player’s character? Is it like a battle dance? Or two rubber chickens banging their heads together?)


Here I felt you were both evenly matched, because it seemed at times you were adapting and interacting with each other (in the beginning with the charges and change ups and the blasts; and at the end with plummeting death dives, interlocked and grappling with each other), and at times you were moving away from each other (Malstrom moving towards the end of the ship and off, Raava going below decks).

You both receive 2.50 points.

Control of the Field:

Environmental Awareness (How well do you roleplay awareness to the surrounding environmental conditions with your character, taking into account how they affect your character, positively and negatively?)



RedKayne, your awareness of the environment was top notch, I thought. You noted particular details, you highlighted dialogue, you were aware of the changes in battlefield conditions. In some ways, your God's Eye narrative helped you here, allowing you to (like a general) take account of everything on the field.

I award you 3.00 points. Flawless.

Ma1chbox, I also felt you did well with this. I laughed when you noted in passing the lack of crew, but in Raava's fury, it seemed several times that nothing else mattered beyond himself and what he was attempting to do that moment. While that is in character, I felt you could've accounted for the environment more in ways that showed Raava ignoring things, sometimes to his own peril. There are opportunities for you to describe things like the mayhem, the cannonballs, the thunder, and the rain in more vivid detail, to note particular pieces of dialogue they way you noted the crew's absence. I know Raava is separate from it all in his shell, but help your readers to feel what he cannot, to hear and see what he pays less attention to than he should.

I award you 2.60 points for accounting for details, but sometimes giving us little more than that.


Strategic Awareness (How well do you play off your character’s abilities, strengths and weaknesses in each situation/round? Are you aware of the ways that the environment and your opponent’s actions can affect your character? Are you able to anticipate and turn these to your advantage or minimize the damage to your own character effectively?)


RedKayne, again, this situation should've been terrifying for Malstrom, but it didn't feel that way. And I felt--too often--that her Past (beyond the first post) interceded in disruptive and not clearly connected ways that took the reader outside of the fight too many times at moments where I wanted to be in the fight with Malstrom. Your awareness (noted above) of the environment is superb. But then her memories get in the way of utilizing this awareness in more dynamic ways. That third post... she drew her dagger.

Was that all she could have done? Yes, there's a lot of inner contemplation going on, but could she not have perhaps taken another action besides falling and waiting, basically? I felt like all that reconnaissance that your environmental awareness gave you was not utilized to its maximum potential. I felt like you had your plan, and instead of changing the plan, you adapted to try to keep the plan you had, resulting in missed opportunities while you waited for the pieces to fall into place.

I award you 2.50 points. You know what you want to do, but sometimes, you need to call an audible and change it up, like you did in the second post. Sometimes sticking with the plan is not in fact the best use of your abilities.

Ma1chbox, I'm not even sure you had a plan. I felt you had an improvisational approach, that was reactive, but also adaptive and interesting. I think you put more than a few wrinkles in what everyone thought was the way things were going to go. But your character, despite all of his interesting choices, is certainly not interested in survival. Had RedKayne been able to capitalize on Raava's moments of self-destruction, I think this fight could have gone very differently at the end. As it is, the moments after the cannon maneuver went gracefully uncapitalized, sparing Raava when the moment was ripe to strike him a mortal blow (even if he might've wanted that).

You lucked out.

I award you 2.50 points as well, for reckless self-endangerment that could've ended the fight for you sooner than it did, but for that ingenuity you displayed in how you utilized your environment.


Control of the Fight (Did you maintain control of the situation? Was your opponent on their heels scrambling to meet your attacks, or were you on yours? If you were not in control for most of the fight, was there an impressive “turn” in the direction of the combat; did you turn the tables on your opponent in a decisive manner through surprise or cleverness?


RedKayne, I award you points for your planning and control. In spite of it breaking character in ways I elaborated on above, I never felt like you were directionless. However, in keeping with your plan, you also missed opportunities (like I mention above as well), and lost momentum (particularly in that dreaded third post). In the end, Malstrom is falling, hoping against hope that something works in her favor. I could feel this from you as you tried to account for all the ways the fight could end. It felt like you were losing control, even as you tried to hold on to it. Like she was back on that cliff edge, with no brother to save her this time.

I award you 2.50 points here.

Ma1chbox, Raava gets the points for the cannon "turn" that changed this fight. He loses points for the cost of doing it. But in the end, it felt like he had recovered and once again seized the momentum.

I award you 2.65 points here, since I felt you made better use of the time you were given, even if your control was always shaky.

The totals are:

RedKayne: 22.75 points

Ma1chbox: 23.25 points

Ma1chbox goes on to the Final Round.

[.Karma.]

Alright guys, here is my judgement for the review. This battle was awesome!

Writing Style:


Artistry and Complexity (creativity/originality, risky techniques and intricate details that enrich the post, unusual structuring and changing styles)


RedKayne’s creativity in his writing outshined Ma1chbox. The use of different colors, different fonts, different alignments definitely helped break up the posts and made parts of them stand out and definitely made it interesting to read. Sometimes with the different alignments in the text, you could almost feel the thoughts swirling in Elena’s head.

Ma1ch, you did have good use of italics and I could definitely feel the creativity in where you broke apart Raava’s thoughts, but it was far more conservative in the way it was laid out. I didn’t feel like in the complexity or unusual structuring that you really got out of your comfort zone.

RedKayne- 3
Ma1ch-2.25


Fluidity and Clarity (Ease of following the action of the post, and smoothness in reading and understanding it)


When it comes to fluidity and clarity I feel that both combatants did rather well. Ma1ch there was only one or two times, where I had to read through some of your maneuvers a few times to understand exactly what was being done. Kayne, there were times where some of Elena’s thoughts did disturb the flow of the post a little as well. I’m awarding both combatants 2.75 points.


Conventions (grammar/spelling/punctuation)


Both combatants again did very well here. Kayne there were times where you changed tenses in your posts where Ma1ch did not have those errors.

RedKayne-2.5
Ma1chbox-3

Effectiveness of Combat:

Character Consistency (How well do the actions of the character in the post reflect or fit who/what they are, their capabilities, and their limitations?)


Kayne, I felt the character consistency with Elena. I felt her drive to find her brother to save him. I felt the religious side of her that did not want to kill Ravaa, that she wanted to save him. I felt her fear as she hung from a cliff but was saved by a brother and calmed by his humor. I felt the connection between them. I felt the PTSD symptoms as “die” floated across the screen and in my mind. I never felt like you broke character. I always knew her goal, what her capabilities were and the limitations of her powers. This was a girl who wanted to find her brother, she even stabbed herself in the shoulder to fight off the PTSD symptoms

Ma1ch- Raava is truly mad isn’t he? You played this mad crystalline character very well. You definitely portrayed that madness well, and there were just a few glimpses of the screaming man inside. In the last post I got a bit more insight into the hatred of this man who was forced to follow this traitorous prophet. The canon into the air balloon definitely showed how mad he was. Kicking his way out of the rubble into a free fall. I definitely felt you stayed with the madman character, but I wanted to know more. You gave glimpses of more, but didn’t fully let that out.

RedKayne-2.75
Ma1ch-2.5


Ingenuity (How well does the character handle situations in original, interesting, yet effective ways? Does the player simply repeat the same actions and put little thought in their moves, or do they provide interesting responses to the situations they’re in?)



Both of you are amazing writers and came up with creative ways to react to situations. Ma1ch with how he reacted just out of the gate to the grenades, Elena with her lightning bolt. I do believe as far as ingenuity, though, Ma1ch pulled ahead here. I did not expect most of the things he did.(hitting the grenade, blowing a hole in the balloon of the airship, making his double for distraction at the end)

RedKayne-2.5
Ma1ch-3


Choreography (How well does the character/player interact with the other player’s character? Is it like a battle dance? Or two rubber chickens banging their heads together?)


This was done wonderfully by the both of you. I didn’t feel like one had an edge over the other.

I grant both fighters 2.75 points.

Control of the Field:

Environmental Awareness (How well do you roleplay awareness to the surrounding environmental conditions with your character, taking into account how they affect your character, positively and negatively?)



Ma1ch, I felt you could have done a little better at noting your surroundings. There were times where I felt that you were so involved with your character that the awareness just wasn’t quite where it needed to be. Although, I did love the mention of the lack of a crew, but I still felt there could have been more mention of what was going on. Like N said in his review. To help the reader feel what Raava cannot.

Kayne I think your awareness was great, you seemed to absorb everything that N put into his posts and made note of it somehow in yours.

RedKayne-3
Ma1ch-2.5


Strategic Awareness (How well do you play off your character’s abilities, strengths and weaknesses in each situation/round? Are you aware of the ways that the environment and your opponent’s actions can affect your character? Are you able to anticipate and turn these to your advantage or minimize the damage to your own character effectively?)


Both of you took very different strategies in this battle. Elena was calculating, with a thought out plan. Raava was spur of the moment and wild with his actions. Both of those strategies worked well for the both of you. I think you were pretty evenly matched here, even though different approaches were taken.

I give both of you a score of 2.5


Control of the Fight (Did you maintain control of the situation? Was your opponent on their heels scrambling to meet your attacks, or were you on yours? If you were not in control for most of the fight, was there an impressive “turn” in the direction of the combat; did you turn the tables on your opponent in a decisive manner through surprise or cleverness?


If it was not for that canon move that Ma1ch did, I would say that there was no one person that had control of the entire fight. Elena had a plan and took actions to carry out those plans, when they were changed, she altered them slightly, but still kept her end goal. Raava, took the bull by the horns, there was no end goal other than to destroy his opponent regardless of the cost to himself.

The canon move in and of itself gave Ma1ch an edge that felt in that moment during that round, he had the surprise factor that took control a bit more than Elena’s calculating ways.

RedKayne-2.5
Ma1ch-2.75

-------------------------

The final tally is:
RedKayne: 24.25

Ma1chbox: 24
I am substracting 1 point for posting past the deadline in one post without previously asking for an extension. With that deduction, your score is 23.

**Match also in you first post you exceeded the 1500 word limit. I didn't deduct any points because it was only 4 words according to google ocs. Just be mindful of that in the future that if there is limits that you follow them. :)

RedKayne barely pulled ahead.

What a close match! Wow! Good job guys, it was truly an amazing read!

[Kris]

And here are my scores:

RedKayne

You make the scene come alive, I give you that. There is something that pulling in, what with the inner world of the char, and also the song and the way the text is put. I would admit it helped to even get me into the whole battle's mood.

I found few parts where the text could have been "said" better, but I like the way you presented your setting. It was more exciting, with tension, prolonging on her moves, making us see things from her eyes, or at least from a "camera" hiding beside her (as if watching a show).

I felt like the third post finally brought back the focus into the inner world, and believe it or not, I feel like this is the strongest point to connect with your char. While your opponent's actions are enough to present himself (with the details brought with the description), there is something powerful about the inner world and thoughts that allowed me to believe your char, and I feel the third post fully brought it about. The music also very helped here. And like your other posts, I like your writing style, but I often feel like you are stumbling sometimes in the way you word out things. Still, it was very easy to understand the scene. I think connecting to another being in the third post made you shine. Not saying the other posts were not good, I just felt it was the strongest, and the second post was the weakest (as if only by changing she became something you fully connected with).

To me, the arrangement of the blue texts, regardless of the direction, was meant to represent inner mind's storm. I feel less worried about how it should be done, because the idea of why using it was understood by me. When dealing with emotions or thoughts we could really use some more ways, colors, sounds and so on to present it, and sometimes words alone can limit us, so I'm glad you took up this approach.

How your char react within battle? She is in control, that's her personality. She moves around with ease planning her moves. I feel like there was less interest in what was beside her, and more focus on what her planning next was, which I want to believe played out as the char would act, but it felt... missed. There were tons of understanding of what was around her, but less on what she actually need to accomplish and why. Less on how to deal with what was beside her.

I feel like more of her fear that should have been brought about, but then again… since she is always dealing with pushing away things that can halt her… maybe not.


Writing Style: 8
Artistry and Complexity: 2.75
Fluidity and Clarity: 2.50
Conventions: 2.75


Effectiveness of Combat: 6.5
Character Consistency: 2.5
Ingenuity: 2
Choreography: 2

Control of the Field: 7.5
Environmental Awareness: 2.5
Strategic Awareness: 2.5
Control of the Fight: 2.5

Total: 22



Ma1chbox

Let's start by saying that I am a person who does not enjoy texts of descriptions, because most of them tend to be tedious reading. But... You... You are master of detailing without burdening the reader (I actually wanted to read more). I think the descriptions of the attacks could be pulled out in better way, but over whole, you know how to set up the scenes.

"So often his sunspheres scattering reminded him of the dandelions in the meadow when he first reawakened."- WOW. Just. WOW.

I think I've never seen such a beautifully made intro post.

I felt like the second post, although good with the way you brought about your ideas, was filled with a lot of actions for one post, including detailing the outcomes, but I will overlook it by reducing only half a point here, but you need to be careful with how many moves you play out while in the field.

I also gotta tell you that I think you are amazing writer. You know how to tell a story, I give you that. Your descriptions were breath-taking and I felt like I wanted to just have more. However, I also felt like you could have tried to be a little more risky with your style. N used the word "conservative", and I tend to agree mostly because I have no better word to explain what I'm feeling. But, I feel like the more rumbles you take part here, the more you will adjust and improve your style to make it more... sexy.

Now, I'm not saying you should go all out and use colorful texts and music, but something to make it more than just telling a story, doing something that will make it more… alive.

How your char's react within battle? Remember the old Taz-Mania cartoon show? XD ... yes, I felt like I was watching The Tasmanian Devil, just... you know... swirling around and breaking what was around him and doing the craziest things, which was fine... but there were moment where you char actually stopped and thought. So I wondered if it was breaking a char role, or that he actually has some... sanity to it? (I mean roaring like a monster was very much marking it as a "beast", but stopping and thinking was a bit.. dunno... out of char I guess? I still loved the descriptions!!! ).

Your char is interesting; the actions speak louder than his words. He wants to stuff himself into cannon and shoot himself off? damn right he will do it!

Just... I'm often not sure if it's in char or not. The forth post, although amazing epilogue by itself (amazing writing) is a good example of it. I felt like it was a bit not him there.


Writing Style: 7.75
Artistry and Complexity: 2
Fluidity and Clarity: 2.75
Conventions: 3


Effectiveness of Combat: 7.5
Character Consistency: 2.5
Ingenuity: 2.5
Choreography: 2.5


Control of the Field: 7.5
Environmental Awareness: 3
Strategic Awareness: 2
Control of the Fight: 2.5

Points deductions: -1.5 (For my own battles for being late without asking I remove a full point and I'm doing the same here.
I am going to reduce another half a point for the second post, which I felt was pushing the limits a bit too much regarding the numbers of actions. I also felt the same about the first post but decided against it, so only half a point removed in addition to the one point for being late).

Total: 21.25




Winner: RedKayne