Emilia Crohil's Secondary Magic Training (Private Emi/Mashyuu)

((Mood music))

Even now it smelled of death and decay, despite all the years after it had burned down. It was no surprise really, considering death's presence here, in what little remained of some old, abandoned fort here in the forest. What once had been a location of various battles and sieges, where the innocent, and the less so had died, by the hands of others, by starvation, by disease. Some others here had suffered a worse fate, being killed yet not allowed to pass into the afterlife, their bodies and souls ensnared by the grasp of a necromancer. The do-gooders of this world had of course managed to kill the fiend, but it seemed he was determined to leave his grizzly mark. What vegetation that would normally thrive in this place grew withered and dead. The skeletons of the herbivores that had tried to eat it at some point remained, and so too did the predators and scavengers that tried to eat their tainted meat. Most would consider this place "evil" or "wrong" but for her purposes, this place was perfect for Emilia, one who desired to delve into the corruption of undeath, and one who had an ancestral link to the one who caused this taint.

Leather boots crushed down the wilting underbrush, leaving deep footprints in the muddy earth as the red head walked into the center of the corrupted spot of earth. Behind her she dragged a small sled of sorts sporting a small array of weaponry: swords, spears, maces, and axes, taken from her home to this place for the purpose of training. She looked around, wondering when her training partner would arrive. A deal had been arranged, an exchange of knowledge. She was to teach martial prowess while her partner helped unlock the unholy secrets of her ancestry, or part of them at least, the ones that were more important to her. When Mashyuu arrived, he would have no trouble spotting the woman midst the rot. She wore not her heavy steel armor, but something lighter for travel. She knew there would be no creatures to oppose them as they trained as over the centuries past, they had come to avoid the area. She grinned at the boy as he arrived, "Fitting eh? For what you're here to teach me."

Mashyuu really hated coming to places like this. The dark, unholy parts of the world really rubbed him the wrong way and reminded him of the recent losses in his life. Instead of the normal bright colors he normally wore, Mashyuu dressed in his mothers brown armored jacket and kept it zipped up, black padded pants adorned his lower half along with a pair of brown hiking boots. Off in the distance he could see Emilia standing with what looked like a sled behind her. He chuckled to himself and looked down. Rocky hadn't been with him this time, instead he left the Elemental at the Sabertooth guild hall incase something went terribly wrong with the training. "Yeah... Nothing makes these monsters inside me happier than a mass grave like this. Sadly it's not a lie." Mashyuu replied and stopped just a foot or so away from Emilia. He looked her up and down then grinned as if he was trying not to laugh at her. "What happened to your armor? I didn't think you ever took it off. Then again it's good that you aren't wearing it. I have no idea what is going to come from the training. So? Ready to start?" Mashyuu asked while placing his hands on his waist. Slowly Mashyuu strolled around Emilia and got a good look at her. The demonic creatures inside Mashyuu started to chuckle and without even wanting them out the Dark One appeared in front of the pair. "OHH Master I likes her! I remember from the temple... Yes. She has lots of bad things in her heart."

WC: 265

"Good, you want 'em happy, well, happy or desperate, that's when things tend to fight best." She shrugged when asked where her armor was. "Don't need it. There ain't anything in its right mind that'd come out here, well not anything armor would do any good for." She grinned. Her armor was completely mundane, anything that might attack them here would be ethereal in nature, so she'd rather be lighter and more maneuverable to avoid attacks and be able to land strikes with her own weapons, since her force magic reached into the ethereal plane. "I'm ready to go. You help me learn to channel my inner necromancy, and I help you learn to fight better." She said. "I think we'll have to do your training first, since I have a feeling that I'm going to have to come pretty close to death for this magic to work."

She knew she was right, based on how her father had fought. He grew stronger the closer she came to killing him, then sucked the life out of her with every hit to heal himself. It was quite effective, since the more he was injured, the more he could heal. It was no wonder he was one of the few survivors of the final battle in his mercenary company. "So, pick a weapon, and not your goddamn fists, and I'll teach you how to use it." She shoved the sled towards Mashyuu with her foot, the weapons clattering a bit as she did so. Unless you were made of rock or metal, or some other inhuman thing like Minh, your fists were a poor choice of weapon. You take two people with equal training, one unarmed, one with an actual weapon, nine times out of ten the person with the weapon will win. It lets them hit harder, strike from farther away, and block attacks more effectively. "I brought spears, but they're probably the worst thing for me to teach, not that they're bad weapons, I've just not practiced with 'em as much as with the others." She could still probably teach the kid alright, but she'd definitely be better at teaching him to use an axe, mace, or sword over a spear.

"Makes sense about the armor... Maybe you should try to learn to conjure up some armor? Just in case." Mashyuu replied. His blue eyes narrowed when Emilia suggested that they start with his training instead. It was a strange idea but not one that the Earth Slayer was actually opposed to. When she kicked the sled over towards him Mashyuu dropped down and took her advice. The more he could learn from her the better. He shuffled through various weapons until he found something that reminded him of his mothers. A long while back, she had made a war hammer of stone. Mashyuu planned on being able to eventually do the same. He picked up a hammer and gave it a few test swings to make sure he could handle the weight. "Alright. This is it then. But at night we start your training. Got it?"

Mashyuu took a stance that he thought was best for using the massive hammer. Even though it was heavy it felt like a weapon he could learn to use with one hand. His legs were spread enough that he could balance with a swift swing of the weapon and not fall over. His dominate arm held the hammer at the middle of the shaft to make sure he had the room to swing it around and still hold it. "So are you supposed to show me how to hold this thing correctly or are we just supposed to start fighting?" This was all new to him, all of Mashyuu's attacks in the past had been completely improvised but the chance to learn how to use a weapon was a valuable thing. It gave him more options in battle. Hell if he could learn to use a bow or gun at some point that would be even better.

WC: 299

"Conjure armor? What makes you think I can do that?" She wasn't any sort of requip mage. All she could do was control force, which meant absorbing some attacks, but she sure as hell couldn't conjure any objects, she just brought some weapons she had kept in her home from her father's old company. He chose a large warhammer, blunt on one end, but on the other there was a large spike for piercing even the thickest armor. She grinned upon seeing his choice. "Sounds good to me, and nice choice of weapon." She looked him over as he stood with the hammer. "Your stance isn't too bad, but we'll have to see how it holds up in a fight. Your right hand is going to move around on the shaft sometimes, though, higher for when you want more precise strikes, lower if you want just power." She started to walk around him. "And don't think that the head of the hammer is all you can use, too. Every part of the weapon has potential for use in combat." She said, taking Trauma from her belt and extending the handle so it was the same length as the hammer, she held it in a similar manner to Mashyuu. "The handle can be used to parry, but also deliver swift counter-strikes." She said, thrusting the weapon forward as though she were cross-checking someone with the handle, then swung up with the bottom of the handle. "Surprise them and knock them back a bit like that to give you time and space for a heavier attack." She continued on, adjusting his posture a bit and teaching him more about various stances and such, having him try a few swings and maneuvers.

"Can't you make your force wrap around you like a protective armor? I can do it with the ground under us.... I assumed. I'm sorry." Mashyuu replied to Emilia's question. Mashyuu smiled at her compliment on weapon choice. The Wizard wasn't even sure if the weapon would end up working for him but after Emilia explained how to properly hold and swing the blunt weapon around he smiled to himself and whipped it around a few times after making sure he could use it effectively. Before the two knew it, night had fallen. Mashyuu looked up at the moon and the monsters inside him begged to be free for a bit. Mashyuu took a deep breath to keep the beasts at bay and turned his attention back to Emilia. "Lets get started shall we?"

Mashyuu reached out and took Emilia by the hands and pulled her close to him. He knew it would make the fighter uncomfortable but he didn't care. "O.k. My magic is going to be different from yours so I'm just going to guide you for a moment then let you take over. I'll follow your lead and make sure that you don't hurt yourself or anyone else. O.k.?" He took a large breath of air in through his nose and stepped back while exhaling. "You need to look inside yourself, find those dark thoughts that may or may not be hidden. Surrender to them and let them help you. Maybe there is a trigger for them. A deep anger, a need for help. Or to help others even if doing so is beyond you. Either way you need to be able to feel it. Does that make sense to you?"

WC: 282

Emilia shrugged. "I can't make armor really, but I can absorb and throw back a hit or two every now and then." She didn't acknowledge his apology at all. The situation hardly called for one. If there was one thing Mashyuu should learn from Emilia, it's that manners and politeness were of minimal importance to the woman. He learned to use the hammer rather quickly. He was still far less skilled with it than Emilia, but that was simply due to the fact that he was just learning. Still, it was satisfactory for the time they had spent training. Mashyuu proposed they get started with her learning her magic. "Aye, let's do it!"

"Well, I think things being hurt might be necessary for this training." Emi said, a grin spreading across her face. "Most likely me, but I'll play along for now." She closed her eyes, looking within herself. She could definitely feel something there, but not the thing she was looking for. "Well, I already have one thing. That's triggered by the taste of blood, but that ain't what I want." She reached deeper, for the more suppressed thing, the thing that dwelled within the rage, within the joy and lust for battle, the thing she had felt as she died all those times inside the time gem. She needed to coax it out without dying though. "Right... I found the thing, but it doesn't want to rear its head... I need to fight." She said. "And I need to lose. Those are the only time's its come out before, when I let out my dying breath. You're gonna need to help me break it out earlier."

Mashyuu happily waited while Emilia searched herself for the trigger that may awaken her darker powers. But really he couldn't understand why she needed him to beat her up, maybe she didn't need that at all but he had to be sure. "Wait...You want me to get you close to death? How do I know that I won't outright kill you? It's not really in my nature to take a real, human life." Mashyuu didn't like the sound of truly killing anyone, even if they deserved it. Well aside from one person... but that was a different story for a different time.

Master! If you let us free we happily take her life. Make her beg for mercy before we rip her throat out. Yes master... Her blood will flow nicely. The Dark one begged while struggling to get to the surface thoughts of Mashyuu. Slowly, step by step the blue eyed Earth Slayer fell backwards and extended his palm. "If you really want this, then don't fight it." Mashyuu's palm seemed to rip open and from it a massive snake of darkness erupted from his arm and swam along the ground towards Emilia. It's large mouth opened up as it sprang for her shoulder with venom dripping fangs.

While the monster Sin tangled with Emilia, trying to bite at her and lash at her with his strong tail, the Dark One prodded. Master I help too! I jump on her head and poke her eye! Let me out! Mashyuu rolled his eyes, finding it harder to resist the beast in such an unholy place. He let the monster erupt from where his shadow would be up at his feet. Without waiting it vanished in a plume of black smoke and appeared atop Emilia's shoulders laughing manically.

WC: 295

She nodded. She was sure about this, sure that she needed to be grievously injured. "Aye. And you won't, trust me." She grinned. "I'm hard to kill, and this'll just make it even harder." She said with a chuckle. "Besides, don't think I'm gonna make this easy for you. You've still gotta practice with your weapon." She gestured to the hammer in his hands. Mashyuu fought with himself, or well the demons or whatever inside him, staggering back, making Emi roll her eyes. "Just let 'em loose already, I doubt they're gonna do that much." She called out. "You'll need your little friends to help you anyway. None of your other magic though, I want you to practice with that hammer."

He finally reached towards her, unleashing some sort of shadowy snake that slithered forward before leaping to bite her arm. She side stepped and swung Trauma at it. Such an attack left it wide open for a counter strike. Fangs made for poor weapons when your opponent actually has a real one. The little one leapt onto her shoulders. She responded by jerking her head back, slamming the back of her head into its face before reaching back to grab and throw it. "Eyes ain't killin' you little bitch. Go lethal or go home!" She ran to Mashyuu, aiming a kick at his face, whether or not she hit wouldn't matter, as she would keep going through, running past him a bit before turning around, sliding backwards a bit once she was turned. "Come on, kid. Show me what you've got! I ain't using my normal magic, you've gotta get me to learn the other type.

Sin rushed for Emilia with fangs spread wide and dripping with terrible venom. While Emilia managed to avoid and bat the near man sized serpent away with her weapon of choice. The Dark one appeared on her shoulders and went to blind her but was swiftly tossed to the side by her quick movements. This gave Mashyuu a chance to watch and prepare for her sudden rush. Emilia rushed towards Mashyuu to swing a kick at him but he vanished in a puff of black smoke and appeared next to the weapon sled that Emilia had brought. He kicked a dagger off the top of the sled towards the Dark One. With any luck the monster would be able to catch the blade before she intercepted it. "Sorry. The shadow movement is part of the magic when I summon them."

He whirled the War Hammer around in his hand swiftly and made sure his hand had a firm grip on it. He rushed forward but stopped before actually swinging. Sin shot up to Emilia's side and used it's long tail to lash out at her legs while the Dark One jumped in the air and teleported to her chest to try and stab at her heart with or without the dagger. That was when Mashyuu rushed. Having both of his shadow creatures out made Mashyuu want to kill, made it hard to resist the urge. He raised the hammer to rest on one shoulder until he swang it hard in a tight arc to crush Emilia's ribs.

He wondered if she was really not wanting him to use his primary magic? If she wanted him to get her close to death she might change her mind but the Earth Wizard would honor her request for now. His blue eyes lit up with the joy of battle, but he wanted to play things dirty, to shock her with a blast from his jacket just to see how she reacted.

WC: 315

The dagger Mashyuu kicked wouldn't make it to his little friend as Emilia's heavy foot fell upon it. With a snap, the blade was broken in two, crushed under the heel of the force mage's boot as the 200 pound woman came barreling towards Mashyuu. His triple team strategy would fail, to an extent, as she leapt at him when he paused, the lash of Sin's tail sending her feet forward did spare him a strike from Trauma, but she quickly improvised, swinging her feet up in an attempt to kick his face as she flew through the air. His annoying little pet appeared on her chest, attempting to stab her heart. She felt a pain in his chest as his attack landed, but the critter's strength and aim would fail him. Rather than having his claws slip nicely between her ribs, they impacted them, lodging themselves into Emilia's extra dense bones. More than Mashyuu had known, this woman was built quite literally like a tank. Taking her down would be much harder than he would think.

With the thing trying to dig into her chest, Emilia twisted in the air, regardless of whether or not her kicks made contact. She swung Trauma at the snake as she fell, a soft blue color emanating from it. She wouldn't use her magic, but this isn't her magic, this is all Trauma. Should it connect, the blow would penetrate deeper than most. It wouldn't be lethal, but it'd leave the snake heavily dazed and unable to help in the fight. Falling with her stomach and chest down, she would land right on top of the Dark One with crushing force before rolling away to avoid any attacks from Mashyuu.

Mashyuu rushed forward and for his effort found that Emilia was far more skilled than he gave her credit for. A foot slammed into the Wizard, almost sending him stumbling backwards. But the man had a firm foothold on the ground. He couldn't be budged by such a weak strike. But her blows to both Sin and the Dark One caused them to vanish in a different plume of smoke each. Mashyuu swang his War Hammer down at Emilia to try and break her before she could escape but the soldier managed to roll out of the way just before his hammer slammed down into the hard ground.

The Earth Wizard spit out some blood from his mouth after it welled up when the fighting woman kicked him in the face. Instead of using the hammer to try and hit her, Mashyuu left it in the ground and lifted a foot up before smashing it into the ground right between Emilia's legs. Around the Wizards the ground rumbled and shot up in shock waves, moving to try and rip through flesh and knock others over in a twelve foot spread around Mashyuu. "Earth Dragon's Tremor stomp!" He shouted.

In as swift of a motion as Mashyuu could muster, he lifted the hammer back up and took a series of steps back to gain some distance of the melee fighter. Emilia wanted to go down but she wasn't making things easy for him either. He narrowed his blue eyes while trying to figure out the best way to fight the woman. He felt like if he called up some stone gauntlets and fought her, she would break his arms. He couldn't figure out that stupid mace of hers and it was starting to piss him off. Maybe I should be sticking to ranged attacks.

WC: 302

Emilia had successfully defeated Mashyuu's two little friends when he swung with his hammer, missing her twice, but he chose to use his magic, calling forth an earthquake with the second blow to the ground, contradicting Emilia's orders. If he wanted to play it that way, he would need to be punished. She had told him to use his hammer, not because she wanted an easy fight, but because he needed the goddamn practice. To teach him a lesson, she would resort to using her own magic. He would hear two massive bangs as Emilia launched herself from her back, angling herself such that she would land on her feet while also flying straight past Mashyuu, but not impacting him. A fist would, with easily more speed than Mashyuu, or even Emilia could muster normally, come flying at his face as she flew by. The mercenary would land somewhere behind him, but not charge forwards at him once more, instead she remained in place. "I said no magic!" She called out from behind him. "That ain't for my sake, that's because you need to learn to use that hammer, and what better way than a trial by fire?" She continued, standing at the ready for another charge. "So long as you don't keep your friends out, I'll go easier on ya'. The deal was that we'd teach each other, and I ain't done teachin' you yet."

With the sound of metal sliding over metal, Trauma's handle extended so she could use it two-handed once more. "Now come on, then, show me what I taught you, see if you can get a hit in without any help." Should Mashyuu not use magic, he would in fact find the fight with Emilia far easier. She would still attack some, but go far more on the defensive, testing the boy's skill, and if he was having trouble landing a hit, occasionally taking one on purpose. They had a deal earlier, and Emilia felt that she hadn't finished holding up to it on her end, and she always made sure to keep true to contract. "Now fight like I do! Fight as a soldier, not a mage!"

Things happened fast for Mashyuu, two loud booms went off and even though Mashyuu could process things faster than most he almost didn't notice Emilia rushing past her in the rapid blur. His brow raised sharply in amazed confusion until a fist socked him straight in the jaw. Mashyuu's head snapped to the side while he did his best to keep his balance. The Wizard was seeing stars for a moment but her words echoed in his head while he got a grip on his surroundings.

"Your not done teaching me? Hell I have to teach you! You can help a lot of people, you might be the strongest Wizard I've ever met. So let me help you get stronger, don't worry about me. I can take care of myself." Mashyuu shot back at her. Fight like a soldier? Easy for her to say, she's built like a fucking tank. Mashyuu thought to himself. The Wizard didn't bother whirling the hammer around in his grip this time, instead opting to circle the woman while looking her up and down, searching for a weak spot.

There had to be a way to get through her defenses, she might have been an over all better fighter but Mashyuu knew he had faster reflexes than most, plus he was blessed with a heavy hand for fighting. The Earth Slayer casually walked around until he was ready to strike. He swiftly burst into action, sweeping his leg to take hers down while his hammer came down in a tight arch to try and collide with her shoulder. With any luck he could take her down before the woman could counter. Just to make sure that something landed, Mashyuu sent a chop at Emilia's waist, attempting to rock her to his left.

WC: 297

Emilia would turn as Mashyuu circled, grinning. The boy was showing promise. "That's right. Look me over. Try to find the weak spots. I ain't gonna hit ya'." She chuckled, but kept true to her word. She wouldn't strike and waited patiently. She would ease up a bit in her fighting style, leave a few openings for him, since she knew she outmatched him in martial prowess, and wanted to get hit, but that didn't mean she couldn't give him a nice challenge. There's always got to be some sport.


Like Mashyuu, Emilia was nearly impossible to knock down. The boy's sweep would collide with her leg, causing some pain but generally not much to neither Emilia nor Mashyuu. She grinned at him as she kicked her foot, trying to throw him off balance, but wasn't able to do a whole lot without compromising her own footing. She raised Trauma to try to deflect the first strike, and managed to do so to an extent. The hammer still fell on her shoulder, but didn't have nearly the effect he was going for. The second swing collided neatly with a nice crack. Emi rolled with it moving to Mashyuu's left to lessen the blow somewhat. She aimed to counter, swinging Trauma at his chest. It wasn't a blow to kill, but it would definitely hurt if it made full contact. She would back off after her counter, still grinning. "Good!"

Mashyuu couldn't tell if she was taunting him while he scanned her for a weakness or if she was actually trying to coach him. He wasn't born yesterday... The Wizard knew to look for a weakness. Mashyuu rushed into action, the Wizard was almost stunned to see that she was as skilled at not being knocked over as he was. Was it her footing or was it a spell that she had? Mashyuu would have to ask after the fight. While he was interested in learning to use the hammer, he was even more interested in learning how to strengthen his defenses. Her foot came crashing out towards him but didn't knock him over, he just barely managed to side step the blow. "Go down!" he cursed the woman. While his first blow was mostly blocked his second one cracked loudly and made the woman side step in order to lessen his attack. With a speed Mashyuu should have expected, Emilia countered, sending a blow straight into his chest. The Wizard knew what he could handle and brought the hammer down to block with the mass at the end of the weapon, using it to slow her strike. He winced in pain but kept up the attack. Mashyuu dropped the hammer and kicked it hard, sending it sailing out towards Emilia. Just before he would have lost the weapon Mashyuu grasped the end of the hilt and brought his arm up hard to try and uppercut her with the head of the hammer.

WC: 253

Emilia had recovered from her hit and was happy with her strike against Mashyuu, a grin remaining on her face through the battle. Mashyuu seemed to decide to take a risk with his fighting style, doing some weird maneuver involving kicking the hammer outwards, keeping a loose grip on it. A less experienced fighter would probably be fairly surprised. Emi had the temptation to swing and knock the weapon from his hands, but decided against it. She had her own learning to do right now, and that involved getting hurt... badly, which wouldn't happen if she was punishing every mistake made by this rookie. She avoided the hammer as it was kicked out towards her, but took the uppercut straight to the jaw, staggering back as it slammed into her with a sickening crack, her head shooting backwards. It seemed for a moment that she would topple over, but she lowered her head to face Mashyuu once more, her grin now bloody as her lip was split open and she had probably bit her tongue. Her jaw was rather clearly broken. She could taste her own blood, and had to resist the temptation to drink it. If she did, Mashyuu would be in for a rather unpleasant surprise. "Good... more." She said through the pain of her jaw, which hung somewhat loosely after the hit.

She found herself growing more aggressive as she charged in to swing at Mashyuu, full force this time. She would make a few attacks, feeling the need to step things up a notch. This was starting to get fun.

Mashyuu frowned when Emilia seemingly let the blow slam into her face. He knew that she could avoid the strike and he actually felt a little anger towards her. "I'm not going to get better if you let me hit you." He spat at Emilia with anger. The Earth Wizard winced when she looked down at him and her jaw seemed to hang half loose. Before he knew it the woman was rushing him hard, using an aggressive series of strikes to throw Mashyuu off balance. Mashyuu flipped his hammer around to block a full force strike just a mere few inches away from striking his head. A second swing came in towards his torso and the Wizard slammed his hammers head down, forcing the mace to nearly land at his feet. Instead of using the head of the hammer to strike, Mashyuu thrust his hammers shaft outwards, smashing it in towards Emilia's abdomen. Swiftly after the strike was made he sent a back fist out towards Emilia's broken jaw as fast as he could, his innate magic fueled his strength causing him to hit harder than a normal man of his size and strength.

Not wanting to push his advantage... if he could even call it that, Mashyuu spun around and used both hands to whirl the hammer in a wide arc, to deflect and block any unsuspecting strike that he wasn't aware of. The skill was a trick he learned after developing his Stone Staff spell but it might have the same effect with the hammer. He smirked at the woman who had clearly started to put some strength behind her attacks. Maybe not the effort he wanted to see from her but if he could help build that anger in her then it might help her get stronger. From the palm of his glove Mashyuu summoned up just a small handful of dirt, letting the dirt stay clenched in his hand. The moment she got close he would hurl the dirt and sand into her face... it's not cheating in a fight...

WC: 339

Emilia cackled maniacally as she pressed the assault with disregard to her own physical state. It was only when Mashyuu thrust the handle of his hammer into her abdomen that her relentless assault paused. His punch to her face further damaged her jaw, but the pain didn't seem to do that much. Still, Mashyuu was able to get away from her for the time being, putting distance between them with his hammer swinging. She stepped up a bit, but kept out of range of the hammer, a crooked, broken grin on her now fairly bloodied face.

She shifted her grip on Trauma, moving her hands to near the end of the handle as it extended to its maximum length and released the head of the flail before swinging it. As she swung, the cable spooled out from the handle, drastically increasing her reach to exceed Mashyuu's, the metal head whistling as the spiked metal ball slipped through the air towards Mashyuu. She swung low, aiming to strike under his hammer, hoping to smash his legs and cripple his ability to move to avoid her attacks. She was getting carried away at this point, going for actual harm towards the boy, rather than training him while he helped unlock her magic, then again, this aggression was likely a sign that they were coming close. Still, Mashyuu had work to do. The damage to her face was mostly superficial. While painful, she'd suffered worse, and it was far from life threatening. She'd suffered far worse at the hands of the Gemstone Hunter, who had impaled her multiple times with crystal spikes.

Mashyuu had forgotten that Emilia's weapon could become a flail like killing tool and before he knew it, his leg was smashed with a heavy metal spiked ball. Mashyuu cringed in pain and let his eyes roll back while he almost fell from the impact. The Earth Wizard dropped his foot down atop the chain, knocking the ball out of his leg. He snarled with rage and shrugged off the pain that had coursed through his now bleeding leg. "That was low. I'm going to make you regret hurting my leg." He tossed the hammer aside and raised a hand up. With his hand the ground under them trembled and around them a thick cloud of dirt shot up some seven feet high. Mashyuu, hidden by the earthy fog vanished under ground and sprang up behind Emilia. His right arm crackled with electrical energy and he extended his palm forward. From it a bolt of lightning lanced out aimed right for Emilia's back. Mashyuu landed just outside the fog and his body felt like it was going to fall over. Mashyuu looked down at his bleeding leg and felt a little sick from the blow. "Fucking bitch.... That really hurt." He swore under his breath while he watched the fog and felt the earth to see if Emilia was moving or coming for him at all.

The Earth Wizard was worried beyond belief. He had seen Emilia fight and she showed no mercy. During their fight it seemed that she had been holding back but now... Now it was like the blow to the jaw had awoken a demon inside her. The Earth Wizard was no match for Emilia in a fight with weapons but the Slayer could likely take her with the help of his own magic. He had to hope that the man could take her without losing all his magical energy.

WC: 297

Emilia would barely give him a chance to react. Just after she saw him recoil in pain from the impact of her weapon on his leg, she charged, aiming to plow straight into his chest with her shoulder. It wouldn't be nearly as effective as it was when she was armored, but it would still hurt, plus give her the chance to go in and stab with Trauma's handle. Still, it seemed that her tactic wouldn't work as Mashyuu resorted once more to using his magic. As she reached the spot where Mashyuu was and found nothing there, she chuckled. With a snap, a bolt of lightning struck her in the back, sending a shot of pain through her as her muscles tensed in response to the electrical impulse. Mashyuu wouldn't see Emilia moving as she stood there, cackling madly.

"Hurt?" She called out, still laughing. "Must be getting dull." She continued, her speech slurred by the broken jaw. The dust hadn't yet cleared enough that the two could see each other, but Emilia did notice her sled of weapons within easy reach. She grabbed a spear in one hand and waited for the dust to clear a bit. "All work and no play makes Emi a dull girl." More laughter came from the cloud of dust she was residing in. Mashyuu would be able to sense her walking around, but she wouldn't come out. She looked towards the area she had heard his voice from, and the second his silhouette could be seen through the dust, she hurled the spear at him before following by charging at him with the mace again, a cry of joy and bloodlust erupting from her mouth as she did so.

Did the blast of electricity even hurt her? Mashyuu couldn't tell but he could feel Emilia pacing back and fourth. The way she laughed and called out to Mashyuu made his skin crawl with an uneasy feeling. Was this that magical power she was trying to access deep within her? The Earth Wizard was just about to drop the earth fog so he could see her when a spear launched out of the dust towards Mashyuu at full force. The Earth Wizard took a half step to the side to narrowly avoid the killing tool. The fog dropped and Emilia launched herself at Mashyuu...

Stumbling backwards to try and avoid the mace, Mashyuu raised his right arm at a ninety degree angle while calling out. "Earth Wall!" right in front of him a six foot tall, three foot wide wall launched up out of the ground to block and intercept Emilia's strike. A wave of relief washed over the Earth Wizard when he realized that he hadn't been harmed. At least he felt that way until a long line of blood streaked down Mashyuu's chest from where the spear nearly impaled him. Apparently it actually managed to cut him and fairly deeply at that. "What the hell kind of force did you put behind that toss?"

Mashyuu jumped and used his clawed fingers to grip the wall before launching himself over it and dropping down at Emilia. His clawed hands swept at Emilia to try to drop her before she could react, or at least cut her chest open the way she had cut him. If it was a fight she wanted it was a fight Mashyuu would give her.

WC: 280

Emilia was about to get a wonderful hit off on Mashyuu. It was sure to send to take the kid down with a clean blow, but somewhat to her dismay, he created a wall of earth between them. The flail impacted the wall, damaging it, chipping away chunks of it. She growled and smacked it again with her mace, empowering the blow with force magic to blow off another sizeable chunk of the wall, since it would probably be faster for her to simply go through the thing than around or over it. She was about to break through when Mashyuu came vaulting over it. She raised her weapon to try to defend herself, but was too late. The claws raked across her chest. She thrust Trauma's handle forward, aiming to cross-check him in the chest as she backed off, the grin still on her face. "You liked that throw?" She asked him, cackling some more before charging in with reckless abandon, showing no concern for her own safety, she went all out in her attack. While she didn't seem to care about protecting herself, the ferocity of her assault as she made swing after swing aimed at Mashyuu with her deadly flail would prove to be a rather effective deterrent to attack, but with some clever maneuvering, the boy would probably be able to get through to get a few good hits against her. She left many openings in her attack that would allow Mashyuu to get hit, though most of them would also result in trading blow for blow, something which was probably not a good idea. While it would be difficult to pull it off, there were certainly a few that he could probably exploit without also getting hit.

Chunks of stone blew away from the wall Mashyuu had placed between him and the slowly changing Emilia as he scaled the stone structure and came down upon her. At the same time that his clawed hand slashed across her chest, Mashyuu found a hilt slammed into his chest. Mashyuu landed on the ground and winced in sudden pain from the unexpected strike. He couldn't help but grin at her asking if he liked her toss. Mashyuu dabbed his fingers to his bleeding wounds and replied jokingly. "Hit me again ma'am." The Earthen Wizard would have moved in for the attack but Emilia beat him to it. Mashyuu went wide eyed as Emilia came at him with a series of strong attacks. Her movements had left a large gap in her defenses but made Mashyuu move as swiftly as he could just to avoid the strikes. Each time he ducked, weaved and side stepped a strike, parts of his wall shot away behind the man. Half the all fell in on itself before Mashyuu managed to duck down, step in and let off an attack. As his arm came sailing up between her breasts the ground under his arms broke apart and wrapped around both his forearms and fists. "Rock Gauntlets!" His left fist sailed right for her broken jaw as her weapon slammed into his ribs. Mashyuu nearly staggered to the side from Emilia's blow, almost winded from the strike. Mashyuu shook the blow and snarled with annoyance. His fangs jutted from his mouth while his eyes glinted with a renewed blood lust. Dirt and stone shot up around Mashyuu, leaving what appeared to be a stone trapped version of himself in front of Emilia while a small trail of raised dirt traveled between his guildmembers legs and moved on about thirty feet before he came up from the ground behind her.

WC: 311

Aaaand he went for the jaw. It always had to be the jaw. It was a good place to go for to disable an opponent but not outright kill them, after all, but that's not what Emi wanted. Emi wanted to be killed, or nearly killed. Still, it was one step closer. Her jaw was too damaged to really speak now, but she let out what sounded like a sigh of disappointment after the initial grunt from the impact. By the time she had recovered from the hit, Mashyuu was gone, some sort of statue of him in his place. With a single blow from Trauma, the figure was shattered to bits. Emi turned around to see him standing behind her, about thirty feet away. She shook her head. "Come oooohhhnnnn" She slurred out through her now thoroughly broken jaw. "Figh like a maaaan" She called out tauntingly before she made another bullrush at the boy. She was bleeding and injured now, but she wouldn't let that slow her down. She embraced the feeling of blood loss, the slight dizziness that came along with the red fluid pouring from the gashes in her chest. Mashyuu would find himself once again under a heavy assault from the red-headed warrior. As she grew more injured, she grew more aggressive, and left more openings. By now, there would be numerous that Mashyuu would be able to exploit. Whether she was just going crazy or she was purposefully leaving them, or both, would be difficult to tell, though.