Gold Match-[Paladin-vs-Lancer]-Judges-All

[RedKayne]

For He Seeketh Mercy

---

The Lancer learned from their last waltz and maneuvered to his shield side. It didn't create the best opportunity for her to attack but she didn't repeat the same mistake when Brutus deflected her weapon away.

The tingling sensations from the jester's spell became more palpable. Suddenly, the Paladin's mace shapeshifted into a feminine wand with a glittering star. Even if his attack managed to land, any damage would've been negligible. Yet again, the interventions of these supervising entities frustrated the grizzled veteran. He simply wanted a clean fight yet there were disturbances at every angle.

Brutus prepared to deflect her sword-staff away with his Blessing-protected shield, but there was no need since her armament became flaccid. The lady knight rapidly shook the staff in a vain attempt to mend the problem. Eventually, the spell effects faded and both of their weapons returned to their respective original states.

The Steel noticed that the tingling sensations from earlier have diminished and he assumed that the Jester's shapeshifting effects disappeared. However, Brutus could only be grateful for a few precious seconds before yet another intruder arrived at the arena.

A demonic figure at the outskirts of the environment appeared under a dazzling beam of light. The abomination erupted into flames and began to crumble and melt into a vapid puddle of ooze. There was a tangible presence of evil in the atmosphere but the creature displayed no immediate threat even as it slowly crawled towards the combatants.

It was simply a distraction tactic. Brutus's true adversary stood a few feet away and she readied herself in another battle stance. If the Steel wanted to become victorious in this tournament and continue his zealous crusade, he needed to promptly incapacitate this woman.

"A battle, 'tis a fyte 'tween foes, yea thou we should be allies."

Even with her voice muffled, the woman's words were noble and sincere. She still discovered no purpose in this battle between the two knights. However, she still clung to a naive ideal. This isn't an arena to find an ally. This is a place to prove one's strength.

"I would know thine name, Sire Knight. I be a frail woman of no reknown, beknown as Gytha by mine battle kin."

Modest and humble, very admirable character traits. Gytha, a very beautiful person with a radiant soul. However, she can't keep that innocent radiance aflame against the hellish abominations of this world. She needed to fight on their terms.

"My name is of no importance, wrench," Brutus spat angrily. He pivoted to face her completely and squared his shoulders. His golden eyes narrowed at her and then he sighed heavily. Surprisingly, he moved his flanged mace towards his waist and then strapped the weapon to his belt. A bold maneuver but perhaps one to initiate peace between the two. "If you must know my name, I am Brutus MacTavish," he said flatly.

He took a couple of steps towards her, "If we must introduce each other, let's do so properly, lassie," he opened up his right hand and motioned for a formal handshake and signify a temporary truce.

However, his right hand quickly shoved into the pouch strapped to the waist and then grabbed a fistful of dirt, which was retrieved at the beginning of the battle.

His hand shot out like a viper and then threw the dirt towards her face. Unlike his very first attack, the debris was much more compacted and aimed directly at her visor. The woman's helmet protected her face from most of the rubble but her eyes were exposed and vulnerable. The purpose of Brutus's deception was to blur her vision for his next assault.

He raised his left arm and then jabbed sharply towards Gytha's face. The shield-edge was aimed to smash directly against the front of the Lancer's helmet. The impact itself would be swift and brutal. If successful, Brutus envisioned leaving the woman in a concussive state. She would be incapacitated from the fight but also alive.

Quickly thereafter, Brutus can then redirect his attention to rid the world of the fiery abomination known as Kozzar.

And he will be sentenced to an agonizing death.

[Holeypaladin]

“He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.”


― Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil

---

As her sword-staff began to return to its original form so that she could once again use it in battle, Gytha noted that Brutus' fairy wand, as well, once again returned to its original mace form. She began to wonder if it was even possible to save the man's soul... or if he even desired it. How long had he fought against evil? How badly had he been corrupted by the tragedy that befell his order?

As she pondered this idea, the demon of decay that she recognized from her previous fight against the panther man made his way into the arena. Truly it was a much more dangerous threat than she was... a demon that should be slain by a noble paladin. So why didn't the paladin strike the creature down? It didn't approach very quickly, thankfully, and before he could get into striking distance, the demon dissolve into a bazaar flaming puddle. Something the Lancer would need to avoid, for certain... but perhaps something she could use to her advantage, as well.

The woman frowned as Brutus called her a wrench (sic). She was being as polite as possible, so why did the man insist on being rude? Weren't knights supposed to be honorable and noble, especially towards ladies? She knew that there were plenty of cruel knights in the world... but for a soldier of God to behave in such a manner towards a Sister of the Faith was something she wouldn't expect from an honorable order of paladins.

As he finally introduced herself, she thought of where she might have heard the name. It was definitely the name of a Scotsman, but she had already come to this conclusion based on his accent. As she pondered this, she watched him warily as he put his weapon away and opened his hand to her. This gesture confused the Lancer... though she had read of an old Roman custom that involved a man grasping the forearm of another man so that they could see they carried no hidden knives, most knights in England used an open hand salute to show that they carried no weapons, instead. But where she was from, a formal bow with a curtsy in response was the proper way for a knight to greet a lady.

As the paladin took a step forward, the Lancer instinctively took a step back, keeping the distance between him. He had just recently stated that he had no intention of fighting honorably, and thus she had every reason to suspect that he was merely feigning a proper introduction in order to draw her close enough to grapple her... and a grappling match with a man so much stronger than her was exactly what Gytha didn't want.

"Mine oath forbids man's touch,"¹ she said to him, both as an excuse to avoid being drawn into a grappling match and because she was still bound to the vow of chastity she had sworn when she joined the Order of Saint Ursula. The fact that she stepped away from him as he attempted to draw her into a grappling match allowed her the extra half second she needed to see what he was doing.

She had expected he would use the sack of dirt he had collected at some point, in a similar manner as he had attempted at the beginning of the fight. Throwing dirty was truly the oldest trick in the book... a dirty trick used by bandits and ruffians, which she had seen countless times before. When she was much younger, she had actually fallen for it once... though she was thankfully rescued by one of her sisters in arms at the time. But it was the sort of clumsy trick that only worked once in a lifetime, and she had already had her turn.

As the dirt was thrown in her direction, the girl simply stepped to the side to avoid it. The paladin then followed up with an attempt to smash his shield into her face... though the fact that she had already stepped off to her right meant that she would not be taking the full force of the hit. Instead, she allowed the blow to glance off her helmet, though she was still somewhat staggered by the hit. Had she not been wearing her helmet, or had she been struck by the flanged mace instead of the shield, it definitely would have knocked her out cold, glancing blow or not.

While she normally would have avoided it completely... she had taken a calculated risk in this situation. In the brief period of time in which the paladin was close to her, she grabbed the mace at his side and ripped it free, swinging it heavily at the back of his head in an attempt to knock him out with a solid blow. As her own weapon wasn't particularly useful against armor, using his own weapon against him seemed her best chance at victory, as he not only refused her offer of peace, but chose to fight more like a bandit than a knight.

She knew how to fight bandits. She killed bandits for a living. If this once noble paladin had turned blackguard ruffian... then she would deal with him as she dealt with so many bandits before him. "Hast thine fytes 'gainst monsters turned ye into one?"² She asked this question sadly, as she could think of nothing more tragic than a hero turning into a villain. Keeping in mind the flaming puddle of Kozzar in the middle of the arena, the Lancer took a few steps back towards it, pausing as she felt the heat behind her. Would the paladin do the predictable thing and charge once again, or would he attempt some other trick? Holding a sword-staff in one hand and the paladin's mace in the other, she gazed at him with a mixture of pity and remorse.

---

1. "I can't touch the hand of a man because I've sworn an oath of chastity."
2. "Have your fights against monsters turned you into one?"

[SikstaSlathalin]

From upon the Judges' Dias the Grim Grinner watched the match with barely contained mirth. Everyone dancing to the tunes of madness and combat even his fellow judges. This has been the most amusing spectacle he has seen in many an Eon. Poor doomed soul scrabbling against odds that have been so heavily stacked against them that if they could see behind the curtain they would have never bothered to hope for an escape from their fates. No one escapes the Grinner's clutches not even gods.

But he enjoyed watching the souls scramble for a few extra years...a few extra months...a few extra minutes of continued life. All embrace their fates eventually, but this combat wasn't for continued life...simply for a chance to pick how and when they die. In the case of the Paladin and the Lancer?

One wishes to die in a blaze of holy fire and rage destroying the underworld and all it's minions.

The other wishes to die of old age with family gathered around.

Quite the contrast considering the many lives and entities this blood sport has claimed. Favored sons looking for redemption, wilful women looking to make their lives a continued game of song and dance, monsters simply doing what comes naturally to them. All so varied...all so amusing...all so futile.

The Grim Grinner saw all their fates before they are even born, he had a hand in shaping each fate. The Author of all their miseries and joys, the alpha and the omega. Pretentious surely, but when you've been around for so long that comes naturally. But now the end is drawing near other stories need writing...other lives need shaping. His fellow judges have done their parts, but it is time for him to toll the final bell. Standing up from his throne he walked to the balcony overlooking the arena and banged his scythe firmly upon the worn stone the noise an old reminder that time is drawing short.

The shades and doomed souls among the seats grew silent all eyes turning to the Specter of Death. Lifting his bony hand just as the Paladin's stolen mace struck his helm and his shield struck the Lancer. Death's grin grew wider as he decided upon the perfect way to make this even more amusing for him. With a snap of his fingers two large pillars of blue fire erupted from the top of the ancient arena and the sound of a ticking clock began all around them. Two rounds of combat were left before the end.

Next an ethereal song began to play over the clock. It was powerful but moved slowly and sounded unnatural to the ears of the combatants. Lastly with a wave of his hand he stripped the fighters of their proud suits of armor leaving just their weapons. The Paladin wore a green and black tartan loincloth held by rope and a tarnished steel buckle with his order's symbol upon it. His body looking more like a stitched together quilt than the flesh of a once proud knight.

The Lancer, a holy woman through and through was wearing a short powder blue tunic that did nothing to hide her curves, but went down to about mid-thigh allowing her to keep at least some of her modesty. Her body not wholly lacking in battles scars and training wounds, but her slight physique made such things hard to see.

No more wild reckless hits or barely missing sidesteps every attack and counter must be timed and thought of in it's entirety. With each warrior deprived of their glorious plate armor including helmets and footwear. While the Paladin still had his shield his mace was also returned to him giving him some modicum of defense, but unless each hit was dead center the chance of the Lancer's Sword-staff skipping across and impaling him was a very real threat as well as the ringing in his ears from where the Lancer stuck his helm with his own mace throwing his balance off slightly.

As for the fair lady Lancer, she still had the reach advantage, the shield struck had blurred her eyes though, so unless she could adapt quickly to the Paladin's wild and unorthodox fighting style she could find herself easily outmaneuvered and falling victim to Brutus's dirty tricks or more traps from the arena as well as the flaming puddle of Kozzar which began to grow from the center of the arena quickly forcing the fighters into closer and closer confines.

Both fighters would be faster, but would both fighters be smarter? They only have until the pillars of fire go out to decide that. Black dust and music filled the air, stinging unprotected eyes, and toying with unfocused minds. All that combined with the heat from the Kozzar puddle making the whole arena feel like a desert about to be visited by a mighty sandstorm with shadows running about unseen looking to make the unexpected happen.


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

Ok we are in the home stretch now! Each fighter will have two rounds of uninterrupted fighting to secure their place as the winner. While each fighter still has their weapons and abilities neither of them are wearing any armor(Paladin's shield aside) and each effect the previous judges have enacted are still active. Moon's blinding dust, Kris's random effects, and Kozzar's fiery puddle. Use all of this to your advantage and make these final two rounds the stuff of legend. All will be considered in the final judgements after Round 6.

[RedKayne]

Redeemeth His Soul

---

The Paladin felt the satisfying strike as his shield bounced from the Lancer's helmet. Even though it only grazed against the side of her headgear, Brutus figured it was a significant blow that would affect her for the remainder of the skirmish. He also noted her incredibly agility by dodging the thrown dust at near point-blank range. She seemed aware of the upcoming feint but yet the quick maneuver was still impressive.

However, the Steel was caught off guard when Gytha's lithe arms snuck under his broad kite shield and then smoothly ripped off his mace with surprising strength. His shredded belt drifted to the ground and his leather pouch spilled its remaining contents onto the terrain.

The heroine quickly swung the flanged mace towards the back of Brutus's skull. He tried to duck beneath the mace's trajectory but his reaction time wasn't as impressive and the weapon's head collided against his cranium. The Blessing of Resolve protected the Paladin from stumbling forward but his knees caved in and the grizzled veteran fell face-first to the ground. He barely caught himself with his right forearm through the shock and pain.

He panted heavily on all fours and sweat profusely dripped from his exposed forehead. The Paladin was very lucky that he wasn't instantly bludgeoned to death. The helmet protected him from the devastation of the impact but he more-than-likely suffered a concussion with varied physiological effects.

Yet, despite the excruciating pain throbbing across his head, the corrupted knight formed a small smile. So, she has potential. The Paladin briefly underestimated the woman, but she could hold her own in this fight. Ideally, she could defeat the Paladin and become victorious in this tournament. However, he will not concede until he performed his very best.

Brutus lifted his head and then noticed something peculiar on the ground. Is that? It is... He raised his eyebrows and quickly scanned the area before he stood back up and straightened his posture. It took a few more than seconds than usual to resume his stance because his vision blurred slightly and his coordination felt sluggish. Regardless, he intended to finish this battle.

"Hast thine fytes 'gainst monsters turned ye into one?"

Brutus corked his head slightly, perplexed by the question. "You think I wanted this life, Sister of Faith?" he asked dryly and his golden eyes narrowed at his adversary. "Tell me, Sister, what other path is before me? All of my life, I only wanted to become an inspiring hero. Yet, my brotherhood betrayed me and my God forsook me. My soul is doomed to eternal damnation by the obsidian chains that bound me."

Surprisingly, Brutus felt no emotional strain in his own candid words. He accepted the finality of his fate long before the memory loss and there were no more tears left to cry. "I have only one last part to play left in this life. I need to take down as many fuckin' abominations with me and send their black souls to the deepest pits of Hell. You can either concede and get the fuck out of my way, or you can stand your ground and prove yourself to me."

The Steel lifted his golden eyes and recognized a dark figure spectating from a high platform. The Reaper's blank gaze bore down onto the two combatants. The Paladin felt a brief shiver run down his spine and immediately felt discomfort. He recalled in the last match that the entity intervened several times throughout the conflict and even caused a blade to slash across the Paladin's eyes. The phantom pain of the traumatizing experience suddenly pulsated across his head. He could only hope that the Reaper didn't intervene in another similar manner and simply let the two warriors finish the bout cleanly.

The Specter lifted a skeletal hand and snapped his fingers. Two columns of flames erupted at the top of the archaic arena. The ambient atmosphere's heat grew more intense with the combination of Kozzar's burning body and the two pillars of fire. A ticking sound surrounded the environment and signified the endgame of this match. The background music also provided another distraction for the fighters.

Both sets of armor magically vanished and their wardrobes were replaced with the bare minimum. A short loincloth with a metallic buckle wrapped around the Paladin's waist. His body was vulnerable and every single scar born from this tournament was revealed. The left side of his chest appeared to be a twisted mass of flesh where the Conquistador stabbed him. There were two different sets of cleave marks on his left arm. The naga-snake nearly sundered through the top of his shoulder while the Oni Samurai hacked into his forearm.

Brutus MacTavish, the last of the Steel, very much looked like an abomination.

The woman of charity was also stripped of her equipment. A thin sapphire tunic replaced her suit of armor and revealed her vulnerable physique. She had a very fit figure yet sported fewer battle scars compared to the grizzled veteran. If Brutus was a lecherous outlaw, he'd paid more attention to her curves than the fight. However, the depraved knight held no interest in any distractions kudos to the Blessing of Purity.

However, he could use this situation to his advantage. The woman took a vow of abstinence and probably never exposed her body in such a manner before. Brutus was well-aware that a lady can be very insecure about her appearance and if he caused some emotional turmoil, she'd likely make mistakes in this quarrel.

"You call those fuckin' tits?" Brutus raised an eyebrow at her. "I've never seen a more flat-chested woman in my life."

Time to make his move.

The flanged mace returned his right hand but the Paladin promptly dropped the weapon. He moved his right foot and stepped on the object he noticed earlier while on the ground. A big cloud of dust erupted from the etched pattern and began to surround the Paladin. The sigil spun rapidly on the ground while a whirlpool of debris enclosed the lower body of the warrior.

His right hand moved to the opposite arm and began to unstrap the shield while carefully studying the woman's position. She has proved to be agile and dodged many of his initial strikes. Thus, Brutus planned to surprise her with an attack she wouldn't expect.

The dust storm finally obscured his entire body, but right before he was teleported, Brutus grabbed the side of his kite-shield. He corked his torso and bent his right arm before his face and then flung the shield. The metallic aegis spun and sheared across the air and aimed towards Gytha's lower body and core, ultimately intended to break a kneecap.

Even though the Lancer proved to be an agile warrior, her reaction time should be significantly lowered due to the shield erupting from the debris storm at close range. Brutus gave little indications of his next tactic and those few precious seconds may make all the difference. Hopefully, Brutus's harsh words on her figure also distracted the woman enough from reacting.

Regardless, it was another reckless gambit. Brutus sacrificed his only protection in the hopes of debilitating his opponent. If his coordination wasn't sluggish and accuracy crippled from the previous strike, he would've aimed for the head to knock her unconscious and finish the altercation.

The tornado of particles finally dissipated and Brutus found himself several yards away from his adversary. He subsequently created more distance between himself and Kozzar's fiery puddle. The burning abomination steadily grew larger behind the lady-knight and threatened to engulf her soon.

Luckily, Brutus's weapon was also caught in the sigil's dust storm and teleported next to his feet. He made no maneuver to immediately re-equip himself but prepared for the final phase of this battle.

C'mon, prove your strength to me, Sister of Faith.

[Holeypaladin]

“My son,
Here may indeed be torment, but not death.”
― Dante Alighieri, Purgatorio

---

As the paladin's shield struck her harder than she had intended, the warrior woman's vision blurred somewhat from the impact. She had suffered worse... but she definitely had no desire to be hit as hard a second time. As the paladin's own mace smashed into the back of his head, the woman felt some small satisfaction in knowing that, while she had been hit somewhat hard, she managed to hit the paladin much harder, with a weapon far more effective against heavy helmets.

However, her small victory was short lived and easily punished by yet another interloper... this time, Death himself decided to grave her with a very significant disadvantage. She knew a great deal about weapons and armor from her studies... enough to recognize that the paladin's kite shield, though largely obsolete in an era of heavy armor, had once been the most effective means of defense for knights of ages past. Before plate armor provided protection from longbows and crossbows, the kite shield had been the most effective means of defending against weapons capable of piercing mail armor. Most knights of her own time had tossed their shields aside in favor of two handed pollaxes and other armor-piercing weapons, but as the plate armor of both fighters magically faded into nothing... Gytha found herself stripped of all her defenses, while the paladin was only stripped of half of his. As if she had enough disadvantages when it came to strength, size, and divine blessings already!

While her attire was far from what she considered presentable, before a man who had shown no small amount of discourtesy towards her, as well as a crowd of corpses that jeered at her, Gytha accepted that this would be yet another test of her faith and resolve. Could she continue to fight while shamed in such a way? There was a time when she would have cowered and covered herself... but she was no small girl anymore. Twenty years of fighting ruffians who insulted and harassed her with lewd comments had toughened her against such things... so long as she remained true to the teachings of Saint Theresa, she would be able to endure this spectacle of shame.

She gazed at the paladin as he spoke. Finally, he was speaking his heart... rude though his words were, she could see the truth in his eyes. Yes... he felt betrayed, condemned, and damned. Yet she felt in her heart that there was still hope for him... after all, hadn't many of the great saints experienced the same thing? "Verily, oure Lord Jesus Christ hath endured far worse,"¹ she spoke softly to him. "Thou must never lose hope, for 'tis written: 'Non solum autem sed et gloriamur in tribulationibus scientes quod tribulatio patientiam operatur patientia autem probationem probatio vero spem spes autem non confundit quia caritas Dei diffusa est in cordibus nostris per Spiritum Sanctum qui datus est nobis.'"²

As he was a holy knight in an order of paladins, Gytha was confident that the paladin would be familiar enough with the Ecclesiastical Latin to understand the scriptures of Saint Paul, the first Pope of the Holy Catholic Church, as it would be heresy to recite the scriptures in any other language.

With her armor now stripped, she looked into the paladin's eyes. Despite the fact that she felt naked in her attire, she saw no lust in his eyes... therefore, when the paladin insulted her physique, it seemed so incredibly tame in comparison to the sexual harassment she was used to hearing from bandit ruffians who would have raped her without a second thought had she and her battle sisters not killed them first. She could only giggle slightly at the attempt before watching in confusion as he not only dropped his weapon, but began to remove his shield as well. Why would he throw away such a massive defensive advantage against the nearly defenseless girl? It didn't seem to be in his nature to fight honorably... though she had given him multiple opportunities to do so. And yet, in spite of his rude, underhanded, and dirty tricks, none of his attacks so far had been delivered with lethal intent. For being so resigned to damnation, the former paladin seemed hesitant to strike down a devout sister of the faith.

Thinking it may be another trick to lure her close, the Lancer took a few steps back. She then saw the same thing the paladin had noticed... though after the fact, as he was already stepping on it. Recalling the magical dust that had obscured their fight and teleported them both back to their original positions, she watched as the paladin purposefully triggered it... while his blurred form tossed his shield in her direction.

Though the kite shield was very effective as a means of defense, while also maintaining function as an offhand bashing weapon of sorts, it most certainly was not a throwing weapon. Far too heavy and unbalanced for throwing, it was a simple matter to simply use the butt of her weapon to pin the incredibly slow-moving projectile to the ground. "Mine thanks,"³ she spoke to the paladin as she then picked up the shield, strapping it to her own left arm so that she would no longer be completely defenseless.

While a sword-staff was definitely unwieldy when used one handed, it was still, essentially, a sword fastened on to a stick. As she took a few steps away from the inferno, she unfastened the sword from the stick, now carrying sword and shield in the oldest fighting style known to knights. "Taketh thine weapon in hand," she said to the paladin. "Thou wilt need it. Defend thine self!"⁴

With those words, she shifted the tide of battle, taking the offensive against the paladin. Skillfully closing the gap, she drew her sword across in a draw cut designed to wound him. She would not kill him, though... should the paladin fail to properly defend himself, she was prepared to pull her blows at the last minute to avoid delivering any lethal injury to the man whose soul she sought to save. While clouds of disappearing dust, chimerical trickery, and a fiery demon still disrupted the arena... the Lancer's only desire was a clean, honorable duel, devoid of such distractions.

---

1. "Our Jesus Christ has suffered far worse."
2. Gytha is quoting Romans 5: 3-5. The Bible of her time is written in Latin, with the NIV translation being: "3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us."
3. "Thanks!"
4. "Pick up your weapon. You'll need it. Defend yourself!"

[RedKayne]

Before the Devil Claims Him

---

The Lancer demonstrated her quick reflexes yet again. The shield erupted at near point-blank range and then she simply backpedaled and maneuvered the blunt end of her staff to deflect the improvised projectile. She didn't suffer from any injuries and then decided to pick up the shield to protect herself.

Yet, Brutus predicted the woman would take the holy aegis to better defend herself. She unfasted the staff-section of her armament and then prepared herself for the endgame of the battle. It was quite bizarre to see an exposed woman with a fierce fighting spirit and posed in the classic sword-and-shield stance.

A very valiant woman, the Paladin acknowledged. But also very naive.

She assumed that the corrupted knight followed the teachings of Christianity. Brutus was still familiar with the Latin verses that Gytha recited but he held no appreciation for those words. It was a fair assumption but the Order of the Steel bowed before the Throne of Luthious. The teachings of both religions are very similar to two different founders. However, it was Luthious's Blessings that coursed through the veins of the Steel's last chosen one. Which, Brutus found ironic since he knew that his God abandoned him and let him be eternally damned.

My cursed destiny is set and I will embrace it.

Brutus found an immediate purpose in this final tournament match. The revered lancer wasn't an abomination compared to the rest of the creatures that he fought. However, Brutus was nearing the end of his mortal life. He needed to know if he can rest peacefully knowing that humanity still had strong defenders in this realm that can vanquish the demonic forces of Hell. If Gytha can defeat Brutus in this combat of arms, then he can conclude his eternal crusade and take upon a new mantle in the afterlife.

The mantle of a new demon lord that will forever torture the darkest souls of this world.

"Let's finish this, lassie."

Brutus set up another reckless tactic by sacrificing his shield and letting the woman take it. However, he predicted she'll become more bold and offensive. She'll trade in the major advantage of weapon range in return for a bulwark, which was critical for his next assault. Finally, she charged forth and strategically cut the distance between them. The fiery body of Kozzar gradually followed the charging warrior.

The next phase was another significant gamble. However, Brutus held high hopes that the effects of this arena would come full circle and benefit him instead. His furrowed brow perspired as his disturbing golden eyes scanned across the outskirts of the arena. He hoped against hope that a certain avian creature would make a reappearance and play another melancholic song.

Then, he felt it. The familiar tingling sensations that the jester caused from before. The bard didn't need to make another physical reappearance in this battle but his spell effects still lingered in the atmosphere. Finally, the Steel can advantage of these abilities for himself.

He glanced down at his flanged mace and his gaze idled on the weapon for a few long seconds. He was given that weapon at the initiation of his brotherhood and carried the armament ever since. I don't need you anymore, Brutus returned his attention to the dangerously close adversary. Nor do I need Luthious's Blessings to finish this fight. I'm prepared to leave it all behind. If she can defeat me, then I can rest. Otherwise, I will destroy this wretch with my own two hands, he darkly thought and embraced the damned side of his soul.

"You have one last chance, lassie..."

The heroine slashed at her opponent with her sword and then Brutus held out his right hand. He suddenly caught the end of her blade and gripped the steel yet no blood splattered onto the ground. He smiled deviously as the jester's effects repeated and her weapon became flaccid once more. The sword was no longer sharp and was completely useless at the moment. He suddenly pulled back his right arm and muscled the weapon out of the woman's grip.

"Prove me your strength!!" he roared as his monstrous left limb shot forward like a viper while simultaneously tossing the weapon aside a few yards. He took a step forward and up in the woman's personal space, which made any movements with the shield rather awkward to bash him away. Not only that, but the Jester's random effects were still in place and anything could occur with the shield. Brutus noticed that body parts weren't affected by the chaos magic which meant his final attack would remain unchanged.

His left hand opened wide and snaked towards the woman's neck. He intended to grab her vulnerable body part and slam her against the ground, where he can suffocate the honored guardian until she lost consciousness.

Prove me your damn strength...

...he cried for release from this curse.

[Holeypaladin]

“Hope not ever to see Heaven. I have come to lead you to the
other shore; into eternal darkness; into fire and into ice.”
― Dante Alighieri, Inferno

---

Since she had begun the her fight with the so-called Paladin, one question had been plaguing the Lancer's mind. Having access to the best University education available, she knew quite a bit about the various orders of crusading knights... the Paladins of the Holy Catholic Church... and each of them had a patron saint, sometimes more than one. But when she tried to probe her mind about the Order of Steel, she couldn't recall who their patron saint was.

As Brutus showed indifference to the words of the Holy Gospel, it finally clicked in her mind. The Order of Steel had no patron saint, for they weren't an order of Paladins... and never had been. A Paladin, by the definition of her time, was a knight who pledged himself in service to the Catholic Church.... and the Order of Steel worshiped a false, pagan god. Brutus MacTavish was never a paladin after all... and his soul would be eternally damned for his belief in false idols.

"Thine lyfe, 'tis cursed...."¹

Gytha spoke these words in realization as she brought her sword across the paladin with greater force. When the heretical knight raised his hand to catch the blade, it should have, by all means, sliced clean through his hand with enough force to deal a great bit of damage to his unprotected body. Why he decided to block with his bare hand, she knew not, but through some perverse twist of fate, her weapon became useless at the most opportune time for the false knight.

Did he know this would happen? Was the blackguard in cahoots with the dancing bird demon who had used similar trickery earlier in their fight? These questions plagued her mind, though from everything she had seen of this man... he was indeed a fallen knight, who may have been a hero if he had followed the True Faith, and had no love for demons.

As the man was significantly stronger than her, wrestling him for control of her now-useless weapon was pointless. All she could do was attempt to protect himself from the man's stranglehold by smashing into his wrist with the kite shield... a defensive maneuver which should have, by all means, shattered his wrist and rendered his arm useless. However, as she did this, the shield, too, transformed into some sort of children's toy made from rainbow colored cloth, rendering this move useless as well.

As he felt his strong hang choking her neck, the Lancer realized that it was too late to redeem his soul... she was no priest, and could not perform the Sacrament of Baptism to convert him to the True Faith. All she could do, at this point, was offer him the release from his cursed existence that he so desperately desired.

"Verily, hadst thou worshiped the True God, we might have been friends."² With these sad words, the Lancer fell onto her back, struggling against the strong grip of the heretic knight. Reaching out to find something, anything to help her escape this stranglehold, her hands gripped something small and thin... the cute, sparkly fairy wand that had been the heretic knight's mace.

"Mine wish, 'tis your redemption,"³ she spoke sadly. "Yea, tho were wishes horses, we'd all be knightes, such as ye."⁴ Though the wand looked like some sort of child's toy, Gytha felt some sort of magic within it. Of course, wands were magical... so this one must contain great power. If magic had a language... would it not be Latin?

Placing the star-shaped tip of the wand to the Brutus' chest, Gytha spoke in the Latin language, "Ventus!"⁵ As she did this, she felt the magical energy of the wand surge. A shower of glitter, along with gale force winds capable of sending a man off his feet and through the air, emanated from the wand. She pointed the wand in the direction of the flaming pool of Kozzar in order to blast the not-paladin off of her and into the fiery pit where all heathens ended up eventually.

She figured he'd end up in Limbo... the first layer of the Nine Hells described in Dante's Inferno. It was the place reserved for souls who had committed no sin, but had never been baptized into the True Faith. Perhaps he could hold a philosophical debate with the great Plato himself... or perhaps he could continue to fight demons for all of eternity in Hell. Perhaps, by sending him to the demons he killed, she was granting his wish after all?

Much as she might hope he would find some sort of satisfaction in this chance to fight demons for all eternity... she certainly felt no pleasure in sending a valiant warrior to his demise.

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1. "Your life is cursed."
2. "If you had worshiped the True God, we might have been friends."
3. "My wish is your redemption."
4. "But if wishes were horses, we'd all be knights like you."
5. Latin for "Wind."

[Kris]

We sure took our time judging it, and it was so close!!!

@Omac; was kinda enough to make it all into nice formatted post with all our inputs.

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Bluemoon

To start off, I would like to say I enjoyed this fight immensely. Both characters stayed true to form and were enjoyable to read. It was a very difficult fight to judge, as both writers seemed to be in great form.

As for the issues, there were minor grammatical errors on both sides, but not to an extent that they took away from the story--mostly misspellings and tense changes. The use of the playing field could have been handled better, but that improved towards the end of the posts. My main complaint would be the two warriors did not seem to flow well together...their interactions were a bit choppy.

***********************

(Name):RedKayne (Paladin)

Writing Style:
-Ideas--2
-Flow--3
-Conventions--2

Effectiveness of Combat:
-Character Consistency--3
-Ingenuity--3
-Interaction--2

Control of the Field:
-Environmental Awareness--3
-Strategic Awareness--3
-Control of the Fight--3

Total: 24

Important notes: I enjoyed the Paladin's internal musings and how each post was set up with highlighted sections. His struggle with his curse was explored well and he seemed to be a well-rounded character.


*************************
(Name):Holeypaladin (Lancer)

Writing Style:
-Ideas--3
-Flow--3
-Conventions--2

Effectiveness of Combat:
-Character Consistency--3
-Ingenuity--3
-Interaction--2

Control of the Field:
-Environmental Awareness--2
-Strategic Awareness--3
-Control of the Fight--3

Total: 24

Important notes: I enjoyed the Lancer's religious musings and how she hoped to use them in regards to her opponent. Her unusual manner of speaking added to her depth without being too difficult to understand even without the translations.

SikstaSlathalin

I really liked the posts myself, each player took what I gave them in the sheets and ran towards the gold with them. Adding background information and altering their backgrounds and tailoring them towards their own styles while not outright disregarding the "established lore" as it were. That's the sort of thing I love seeing players do in my RPs.

And I will always give props towards historical realism. But even then I see some things to bring up. Both fighters did a lot more dancing around each other than actual fighting and neither really used the field to their advantage and try to improve their chances of scoring a good hit. And I felt there were a couple of instance where both players could be accused of metagaming or powerplaying.

*************************

Paladin

Writing Style: 7

-Ideas--3
-Flow--2
-Conventions--2

Effectiveness of Combat: 7

-Character Consistency--3
-Ingenuity--2
-Interaction--2

Control of the Field: 7

-Environmental Awareness--2
-Strategic Awareness--2
-Control of the Fight--3

Total: 21

Important notes: I did very much like the Paladin's build towards the end goal and his internal war with reality and his beliefs is exactly what I pictured the Paladin doing by this point in the fighting. But he lacked in the way of creativity always using the same tactics and techniques and never planning very far ahead simply bull rushing about and not using much of his size, experience and strength to his advantage. And I know from the past fights Kayne and the Paladin are very much capable of being creative in a fight.


*************************
Lancer

Writing Style: 7

-Ideas--3
-Flow--2
-Conventions--2

Effectiveness of Combat: 7

-Character Consistency--3
-Ingenuity--1
-Interaction--3

Control of the Field: 8

-Environmental Awareness--2
-Strategic Awareness--3
-Control of the Fight--3

Total: 22

Important notes: Where Kayne went the more creative route with making the Paladin's Religion from his own worlds and mythos. Pal was immensely more realistic and true to what I actually pictured for the Lancer and her backstory. His attention to historical accuracy really shined throughout the fight. But it wasn't perfect, he played the Lancer a bit like a plank of wood, not moving her very much nor trying to improve her position in advance rather he played her very reactive instead of proactive.

Kris

Holeypaladin

Writing Style: 7
-Ideas 3
-Flow 2
-Conventions 2

Effectiveness of Combat: 7
-Character Consistency 3
-Ingenuity 3
-Interaction 1

Control of the Field: 6
-Environmental Awareness 2
-Strategic Awareness 2
-Control of the Fight 2

Removal of points:
post 12 had a bad issue of too many actions, and once again no interaction with the giving situation that was presented in post 11. I removed 1 point from the total score.

Score: 19

*************************
RedKayne:

Writing Style: 9
-Ideas 3
-Flow 3
-Conventions 3

Effectiveness of Combat: 7
-Character Consistency 3
-Ingenuity 2
-Interaction 2

Control of the Field: 7
-Environmental Awareness 3
-Strategic Awareness 2
-Control of the Fight 2

Removal of points:
post 11 had a bad issue of two attacks without giving your opponent a chance to react. I removed 1 point from the total score.

Score: 22

Omac

This was such a fun read. It came really close. I’m glad that the effects were utilized. I was worried towards the start of the match that the two of you would only have them affect you when it was forced, but I'm glad you came through.

***********************

(Name): RedKayne (Paladin)

Writing Style: 8
-Ideas: 3
-Flow: 2
-Conventions 3

Effectiveness of Combat: 8
-Character Consistency: 3
-Ingenuity: 2
-Interaction: 3

Control of the Field: 8
-Environmental Awareness: 2
-Strategic Awareness: 3
-Control of the Fight: 3

Total: 24

Important notes:

I can’t fault either of you for the character writing. This was a great matchup.. Beyond strength the way you two let your backstories collide was fun to see. One thing I can fault you both for though is taking control of the fight in a little too specific of ways. Holey choosing what your weapons changed into and you deciding how the magic affected it later. That’s one example. It was for a fun engaging read, but it was a little too close to the godmolding line for me.

I also felt like your recap segments were a bit inconsistent in length. Sometimes too long, sometimes nice and short. Personally, I prefer them shorter. Often it felt like you were just repeating what the judge post did in a different way. I did feel like you gradually improved in this though.

Your last post was very intense. I couldn’t find a specific line that I enjoyed most, but I like the intensity of that final post.


*************************
(Name): Holeypaladin (Lancer)

Writing Style: 7
-Ideas: 3
-Flow 2
-Conventions 2

Effectiveness of Combat: 8
-Character Consistency: 3
-Ingenuity: 2
-Interaction: 3

Control of the Field: 8
-Environmental Awareness: 3
-Strategic Awareness: 2
-Control of the Fight: 3

Total: 23

Important notes:

I want to say that I found your ability to research and keep up with the dialogue impressive. I’m conflicted to say I had problems with it. It wasn’t bad, but it did feel like it broke the tension when I had to scroll down to see what it meant. I understand you were going for accuracy and I feel like you hit that on the nose, but it often accomplished the opposite of what you intended, and broke the immersion only because I had to check to see what it was supposed to say. It's conflicting to say I loved the realism but felt this slowed down your narrative. I just don’t feel like the arena is a place for footnotes.

Other than that I enjoyed your style. I know you worried about writing a female character based on the last round, and if I’m being honest you had a bit of reason to worry, but you did so much better here. I really felt like you dug down and came to understand how this character worked. It wasn’t bad last round, but I could see where you could improve, and I’m glad that you did. I specifically liked how often you let yourself take damage. Your character felt very realistic and I can see why the scores were so close.

My favorite line would have to be, “But it was the sort of clumsy trick that only worked once in a lifetime, and she had already had her turn.”

Results

Moon: Kayne 24 and Pal 24

Siks: Kayne 21 and Pal 22

Kris: Kayne 22 and Pal 19

Omac: Kayne 24 and Pal 23

Total: Kayne 91 and Pal 88

Close but RedKayen and the Paladin win at 91 points.

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This has been wonderful rumble, and I want to thank everyone who participted and helped judging, and making this a wonderful and fun event.