The Warrior's Way (Victoria)

“I told you to piss off and leave me alone. What part of that could you not get through your thick skull?” The tall blonde questioned, irritation written all over her face as she spoke to the fool, her right hand held out in a peculiar gesture, throttling the idiot slowly using her magic. His hands desperately clutched his throat, trying to throw off the spiritual one that was currently crushing it. There was nothing he could do against such power though and his desperate pleading to be released fell on deaf ears. He rose into the air, dangling helplessly, his legs kicking in all directions as he tried to escape. No one else in the bar dared to move, all eyes staring in horror at the sight, frightened that the same fate would befall them. What was worse than the sight was the sound, a bone crunching one that seemed to become louder over time. He was dying, slowly and painfully, with every second of the event seeming to slow to a crawl. The warrior made no effort to spare him from the agonising torture, tightening her telepathic grip slowly in order to maximise the pain and torment. With masterful control, she would bring him in close, so that they were face to face, inches away from each other, before she would lean her head around and whisper into his ear, “Hell awaits, scum.” Clenching her hand completely, his neck would break with a sickening crack, his last breath escaping him.

The reaction was instant and everyone in the bar lost their minds and instantly tried to escape, while Kalama simply force pushed the corpse away from her, sending it straight through the front window of the bar and into the busy street. There was glass everywhere and as the dark mage made her way out of the building, she would once more tap into her powers and raise a large amount of glass shards, before throwing them at the people in the street. An unpleasant sight indeed and more than a few of those trying to get out of the way would end up being struck by the unforgiving glass, tumbling to the ground in pain. Her intention for coming to the town had not been destructive but as the anger and rage built inside her, that was all that she felt like intending on doing now. She knew that there was a legal guild that lurked somewhere among the busy streets but that mattered not to her. Her days of following the path of righteousness and good were well and truly gone. For too long had she been blinded by her own idiocy and naiveness, unable to fully embrace who she truly was but no longer. This new path of hers would be paved with the bodies of those who could not escape her wrath and today, that was going to be the locals of the Ace Of Spades.

Where moments ago there had been peace, now there was only fear as the weak peons tried to get out of the woman’s way. A weapon would form in Kalama’s hands, a blade of the most unforgiving sort and with a brief press of a button, a crimson coloured hue would escape from the end, along with a humming sound. The sound of death. Without any mercy or hesitation, the blonde would dart across the street, cutting down anyone who was unable to escape, as well as those who had been impaled by the glass. Her speed was such that it made her difficult to follow, let alone evade and there was little chance of mere men and women being able to escape. Her yellow orbs blazed brightly with the powers of the Force, giving her the look of an absolute madwoman, which frankly was not all that far from the truth. The ecstasy from shedding blood and ending life was coursing through her veins, amplifying her powers even more. A whirlwind of destruction that would not be stopped until she had blown herself out, when she had her fill and the overwhelming sensations that had taken over her finally subsided. Until then, there would only be death.

The screaming of the locals only inspired her and as she sprinted from person to person, her blade carving through them like a hot knife through butter, the path behind her did indeed start to fill with bodies. Not one of them fought back in any way although that would have no doubt been foolish anyway. What hope did any of these people have against her? They would die like animals. She hated them. The weak did not deserve to live and today she would deliver their much deserved judgement.

(790 Words)

-Ace Of Spades-

Wearing her blue Steel Matron t-shirt that had the band logo printed in gunmetal gray letters with black skirt and black bike shorts on underneath it along with white tennis shoes, Victoria was walking through Ace Of Spades to get to Red Dragon Inn. She was going to go there to see if they needed a helping hand and get a drink... a non-alcoholic drink, of course. Even though she had a high alcohol tolerance she was not going to drink and then work behind the bar. That was just unprofessional.

Victoria did not need to worry about committing that faux pas too much since her "need" to drink was decreasing by the day. She had not had any alcohol since the day her older sister Amy had come home from Rose Garden and that was quite some time ago. Victoria was slowly weaning herself off of it, but she still found herself wanting a bottle of vodka or a Screwdriver from time to time. Soda helped take the edge off by providing an alternative to alcohol that was both readily available and socially acceptable.

Besides, A soda addiction was a lot less harmful to her than an alcohol addiction.

After a walk through the bustling town Victoria spotted Red Dragon Inn sitting where it always sat. It was one of her favorite places in Ace Of Spades and not just because she could work there for a little extra spending money, chug a bottle of vodka, or get a few mixed drinks without anyone batting an eye. She liked it because it was a place that always welcomed her with open arms no matter how long it was between visits. It had been awhile since she had last entered Red Dragon Inn and she wanted a Cherry Charge soda, a soda strong enough to suppress her desire for alcoholic beverages.

As Victoria drew closer to the inn she heard the sound of screaming coming from nearby and spotted a lot of blood on the ground... and a lot of bodies lying around. In the center of all the turmoil was some random blonde mage wielding a fancy red weapon who was doing her best to be a slasher movie villain. It was time to put an end to this nonsense before any more innocent people died.

Victoria summoned her .44 Magnum Revolver to her right hand and gripped it, then pointed it at the rampaging blonde chick. Victoria began walking towards the stranger and shouted to get her attention, hoping to draw the stranger's murderous intent to her and divert it away from the citizens of Ace Of Spades. Victoria used a nickname based on the other mage's most notable trait, which was her blonde hair.

"HEY BLONDIE! OVER HERE!" Victoria shouted as forcefully as possible.

Feeling fairly certain that she had made her presence known, Victoria stopped about three meters away so that she had enough room to try to dodge an attack and not end up disemboweled or decapitated right away if things got any worse.

"OK Blondie, here's the deal. You stop attacking these people and we take this fight outside the town. If you wanna fight someone so badly that you just can't control yourself, you're gonna fight ME." Victoria informed the blonde in no uncertain terms that the brunette was going to be her next opponent. To the Sabertooth mage the blonde was just some random bully looking for kicks by beating up people who were no threat to her. Victoria hated bullies almost as much as she hated slavers and this was a gift-wrapped opportunity to kick a bully to the curb and not get arrested for assault.

However, it soon became apparent that the blonde standing in front of Victoria was no random hoodlum but a very powerful mage. That was one reason the brunette offered herself as an opponent. It was clear that the ordinary people of Ace Of Spades did not stand a chance against the stranger and it was up to Victoria to protect them. The other reason for stepping in was that Victoria was always up for a good fight.

"So, what's it gonna be? Do you wanna fight or not?" Victoria asked the blonde stranger. If the blonde wanted to take this dispute out of town Victoria would oblige. She would take their battle out of town where they could fight with little concern about property damage or innocent people getting caught in the middle.

Well, Victoria was the only one who cared about limiting property damage and loss of innocent life.

It was painfully obvious that the blonde did not care about such things.

If the blonde turned down the offer to fight outside the town Victoria would have to adapt accordingly.

[Post Word Count: 800]
[Victoria's Word Count: 800]

The pale skinned warrior spent a few moments just sizing the other woman up, her yellow eyes looking over her new foe without any restraint. She was strong, stronger than most, at least that was what the dark mage could detect from the brunette’s aura anyway. Still, that was only half the story when it came down to combat. There were many strong mages but very few had the drive, the courage, to wield it as they should. Cowards who hid behind the concept of law and order because they lacked the stomach to follow their more primal nature. It was pathetic and what was worse? She herself had been such a person, petrified of her own powers, frightened of her emotions and afraid to even speak to a person before becoming anxious. As the memories surfaced, her grip tightened around the hilt of her weapon, using her disgust for her former self to fuel her rage. Not that she truly needed any further prodding. The interruption of her slaughter was not appreciated by the blonde haired mage and a heavy scowl crossed her features.

Her gaze shifted to focus on the gun in the woman’s hand and she could not help but scoff at the sight of it. This woman was what? A gunslinger? A bounty hunter? An old western hero? Kalama was thoroughly unimpressed by the peashooter and she briefly pondered about whether this woman would actually be a challenge. Was she fast enough to keep a mage of Kalama’s speed off of her to get a shot off? Such questions started to reverberate around the blonde’s mind and she had to confess that she wished to find out. The brunette had uttered a challenge, after all. No, not uttered, spoken loudly and with confidence. It was a challenge that Kalama would not turn down. Such a decision would be an affront to her pride as a warrior and a sign of sheer cowardice.

“Very well. I will defeat you first and then return to my hunting.” Kalama replied in a rather mocking tone of voice. “You should have done yourself a favour and minded your business but there was no chance of that, was there? No doubt you belong to whatever remains of the guild that once resided here. A broken down organisation that can barely defend its own town, let alone anyone else. Sabertooth? More like toothless. I suppose you will run off screaming like everyone else when you feel the sting of my blade.”

The blonde started to move forward but the way she held her blade would give the impression that she was not going to attack at that moment. Not yet. She was allowing her rage to build further, imagining what she was going to do to this brunette in her mind's eye. This was not going to be a fight that ended swiftly. The blonde knew it and she suspected that her opponent did too. So much the better. Kalama was going to draw out every second of agony and misery that she could and by the time she was finished? It would be difficult for this woman to remember her name, let alone fight again, assuming she lived.

The blade wielding warrior appeared to have a height advantage and as she closed the gap, it became more and more noticeable. A trivial situation but one that Kalama would attempt to make the most of. With the force at her command, intimidation was easy and a glare from her was another to cause most to freeze up in terror. She doubted that she would achieve that with this woman but it was worth attempting anyway. The blonde was looking for signs of weakness, a moment where the brunette’s courage might just fade. The blonde certainly did not fear the gun wielding woman in the slightest, her rage and passion for combat overriding anything else.

She came to a halt directly in front of the woman, her lightsaber held in her right hand, the blade pointing down for the moment. When she spoke again, the mockery was gone, replaced by a far colder and harder tone, “Know this. If you are unable to satisfy my lust for carnage then I will come back here and kill everyone I see until I am. The streets of this place will be covered in blood and I will find every member of your guild and hang them from the walls of this town, with you as the centrepiece. This is no idle threat. I mean every word.” She paused for a moment and then added, “Since you are so eager to fight elsewhere, you find us a spot. You will need every advantage you can get.”

(790 Words)
(1580 Kal WC)
(2380 TWC)

Victoria listened to Blondie talk about her plans to resume the slaughter in Ace Of Spades once she had finished stomping Victoria into the dirt wherever they ended up fighting. Blondie then proceeded to talk trash about Sabertooth and its shortcomings. For an extra touch of "class" the blonde asserted that Victoria would lose the will to fight and flee for her life once she took a hit from Blondie's fancy weapon.

All of those assertions were wrong.

"Those are some real good insults you just slung at me, Blondie. I wonder how long it took for you to come up with them all. That Sabertooth wisecrack was a real zinger... maybe you should go into comedy as a side job." Victoria commented on the blonde mage's diatribe with sarcasm that was about as subtle as a bull in a China shop. Blondie sure knew how to talk a big game, but talk was cheap. Victoria was probably doing the wrong thing by antagonizing the blonde instead of keeping her mouth shut and letting the insults roll off of her back, but the brunette was willing to take that risk. She wanted Blondie's murderous intent focused on her, not on the people of Ace Of Spades.

Blondie went for a big intimidation play by approaching and making absolutely certain that Victoria saw the weapon in the former's grasp. The clincher was when Blondie stopped a short distance away with the fancy red weapon's blade pointed towards the ground, trying to show off the length of the blade and its sinister red glow. The brunette was not fazed by that... in fact she found the whole thing to be mildly humorous. Blonde was trying way too hard to put up a "macho warrior hardass" front, which was a very basic mind game that was also very ineffective, if only because Victoria was not smart enough to be fooled by that kind of thing.

"OK, you've got a fancy red sword." Victoria commented at the end of the routine. She then shut her mouth and listened to Blondie talk a big game about what she was going to do to Ace Of Spades should Victoria be found wanting. That big plan was going to culminate in using the corpse of every member of Sabertooth as a decoration and Victoria had been granted the place of honor as the decoration's centerpiece. The brunette was flattered.

"I'm sure that you're as good a decorator as you are a comedian, Blondie. But before you break out the party hats and champagne and start redecorating the town to your liking you should know something. I'm far from the only mage Sabertooth has and you won't walk away from our fight without a few scrapes and bruises. Sabertooth's other mages won't be a pushover either." Victoria asserted to the blonde. Victoria was nothing special... she was a brunette with two appearances, a fondness for alcohol, an attitude problem, and a whole lot of weapons she could call upon via her magic. The guild's other mages were another story.

Sabertooth was home to heavy hitters like Gaia Sabin-Dyer, Itori, Kite Wilhelm, Kenna Terryhain, and Samira Nassar. She doubted that Blondie would talk so tough when facing the Goddess of Humility or the other big names in Sabertooth. Or maybe Blondie would be consistent and talk trash in their faces too... who knew?

"OK, since you're so eager to fight, why don't we take this outside the town to somewhere like the space between here and Lycan Woods? It's not too far from here and we should be able to start fighting in time to make you happy. There's also plenty of space for us to fight it out in." Victoria suggested one place to her acquaintance. The brunette had better make this quick before Blondie decided to stab her in the back and resume her killing spree in Ace Of Spades. She was probably putting random travelers on the road in danger by suggesting the alternate venue, but there was no easy way out of this. It was either risk random travelers or run the risk of an entire town being in danger.

Victoria knew that she was making the right choice, but the arithmetic was not to her liking. However, she had had to do some unpleasant arithmetic before and she would be doing it again today. That was an unfortunate part of being a mage who leaned on the Legal side of the scale.

The brunette could only hope that luck was on her side today.

[Post Word Count: 760]
[Victoria's Word Count: 1,560]
[Total Word Count: 3,140]

The expression on Kalama’s face did not change all that much as she listened to the brunette’s attempts at humour. She found it slightly odd that her opponent would refer to her as a comedian, while she herself was making jokes but already the blonde woman was beginning to  realise that perhaps this legal mage was not quite all there. Maybe she had taken a few hits to the head or something but frankly, Kalama could say exactly the same about herself. Ever since she had fallen from the path of light, her entire mindset had changed. Where once she would have pondered and mused, now she simply swung her lightsaber to handle any issues. If her opponent was the same way in that regard then perhaps the fight would end up being worthwhile after all. The woman before her was different from other legal mages that she had met. Most seemed reluctant to fight but the green eyed gunslinger could not have been any different. Good.

The only real sign of reaction was when the brunette spoke about how her guildmates would not be pushovers, which resulted in Kalama’s eyebrow raising. There were mages with stronger auras than the brunette? Somehow, the blonde warrior did not believe that and she briefly scoffed. “I reckon you are one of the strongest and once I defeat you, the rest will fall easily enough. You are obviously not weak and I can sense that but you mean to tell me that there are others with your level of power? Now who is behaving like a comedian. If what you say is true then how come your guild was battered so badly before? Answer me that.”

Eventually, the brunette made an offer to her regarding somewhere to fight and after a moment or two, she nodded her head. “Alright but if this turns out to be a trap or I discover that you are up to something then the deal is off and I will be straight back here.” She did briefly question whether the Sabertooth mage was actually mentally capable of creating a trap but still, it was worth mentioning anyway. There was also the matter of the possibility that the two might come across someone as they travelled and Kalama knew precisely what would happen if that was the case. Her lightsaber was baying for blood and there was only so long that Kalama could control such feelings. “I suggest that we move quickly though, as I am not known for my patience.” Understatement of the century.

With that said, Kalama would start to follow the brunette as she led the way, her senses keenly aware of everything that surrounded them. The force was such a useful servant and she could the world around her in a way that so few others could. It was beautiful in a way although the warrior never had much time to spend simply meditating these days, she had spent too much time just sitting around in general. Now there was only destruction and war, which she supposed was just as beautiful, in a rather sick way.

“So, do I at least get a name before we fight or are we just going to run around calling each other by our hair colours?” The dark mage mocked. “Not that I do not find Blondie charming. I am Kalama and I would like to know yours, for the display and all.” The brunette seemed rather unflappable or at least up until now anyway and the blonde wondered just what would be required in order for her to get under her skin. Perhaps a little more shedding of innocent blood would do the trick?

As luck would have it, a pair of travellers would happen to be coming from the other direction and with the briefest hint of magic, the blonde warrior would suddenly disappear from view, cloaked by one of her more strategic spells. “Think fast,” she uttered into the woman’s ear, before the stealthed warrior broke ranks and moved towards the two innocents, a man and a woman, who were completely oblivious to their potential fate. There was one slight weakness to her spell, an advantage to those with good hearing, as the hum of her blade was still detectable.

It was not as if she had actually planned on keeping her word anyway regarding leaving the innocent alone. Bloodlust and bloodlust, after all and it was a powerful motivator.

(744 Words)
(2324 Kal WC)
(3884 TWC)

Victoria listened to Blondie talk and wondered what the latter was getting at when later in the conversation she stated that Sabertooth had taken a beating in the past. The brunette's wariness and irritation at dealing with someone so keen on slaughter was momentarily set aside when she heard the statement. That was news to the brunette.

"I have no idea what you're talking about when you said that Sabertooth's been through the wringer before, Blondie. And I'm being completely serious. You can question me all you'd like, but I have no idea what you're talking about." Victoria asserted with total sincerity. Blondie could believe her or she could choose to disbelieve her. That was up to the homicidal blonde with a short fuse.

"Don't worry, Blondie. It's just you and me." Victoria told the blonde chick with the fancy weapon that she was not being led into an ambush. Victoria was probably doing things way above her pay grade, but this was no time to worry about the hierarchy within Sabertooth and who did what when. Since the brunette was the first Sabertooth mage on the scene of Blondie's killing spree the brunette was going to have to take responsibility for what happened whether the outcome was good or bad.

The pair then began to walk out of Ace Of Spades with Victoria in the lead. Blondie had made it quite clear that she was not going to stand around and wait forever. The brunette had to keep the blonde from running away and murdering anything and everything in sight, so she set out for their destination at a brisk walk.

As they walked towards the destination Blondie spoke again, this time asking a question instead of making a statement. The blonde mage wanted to know her brown-haired opponent's name. Victoria was willing to part with that information if it meant buying the innocent people of Ace Of Spades a little more time to run, hide, run and hide, or get out of town beyond the blonde's reach. She was not sure how long she could stall the murderous blonde's rampage until they could fight directly, but every second counted.

"The name's Victoria." Victoria replied to "Kalama" with an economy of words. She was not going to spill her life story to this murderous mage because there were people she wanted to protect besides the people of Ace Of Spades. Kalama would never learn who else she was trying to protect, not if the brunette had anything to say about it.

Speaking of people, Kalama pulled a fast one on Victoria by suddenly saying a two-word phrase into her ear and vanishing from sight. The brunette clenched her teeth and looked for whatever could have prompted Blondie to up and run off so suddenly. She doubted it was because the brunette was such a deadly opponent that Blondie decided she needed to make a run for it before she caught a terminal case of lead poisoning.

Victoria soon saw what had attracted Kalama's attention. It was a pair of travelers and they had no idea that an invisible murderous blonde was heading towards them like an invisible heat-seeking missile with a really fancy sword. The brunette groaned in frustration and dispelled her .44 Magnum Revolver to bring out her Tranquilizer Rifle. It was only fitting that she use a weapon normally used to subdue wild animals to subdue the wild blonde who acted like all she could think of was murder for the fun of it. Switching weapons was also a way to minimize collateral damage... it was a lot easier to heal a tranquilizer dart wound than it was to heal a .44 Magnum Round wound.

There was one small problem with Victoria's plan, though.

Where in Ishgar had Blondie went?

Victoria thought she heard the sound of faint humming close by, a noise that was not natural to these parts. She listened closely for it and looked towards the two mages, who were still blissfully unaware of what was heading towards them. Victoria raised the Tranquilizer Rifle to her right shoulder and listened for the humming noise, aiming carefully and making sure to lead the target the best she could considering she was shooting at someone who could turn invisible at will. Once she was as sure as she was going to get that she had the target Victoria fired a shot at the invisible enemy.

Victoria desperately wanted to call out to the people and warn them to run for their lives, but warning them could get them to run towards her, an act which would end badly for everyone except Kalama. Instead she chose to continue trying to track the threat and shoot in its direction. Victoria listened for the humming noise, aimed carefully, and fired a second shot in the direction of the noise. She was not sure if she was hitting Blondie, but she had to try and save those two people.

Victoria listened even harder and aimed carefully in the noise's direction, then fired a third Tranquilizer Rifle shot. At that point Victoria could only hope that one of the rounds hit and could dissuade Kalama from attacking the travelers. If her aim had been off those people were going to die and it would be her fault. Victoria had already done the unpleasant arithmetic... two people versus the population of an entire town. It was one thing to do the arithmetic and it all be just possibilities, but it was another thing entirely to possibly see the results of said grim arithmetic play out in front of her.

Victoria found herself suddenly wishing that she was dealing with that weird Baird guy again.

[Post Word Count: 952]
[Victoria's Word Count: 2,512]
[Total Word Count: 4,836]

At first, it appeared that she would have an easy pair of kills. Neither of the mages before her seemed to be aware enough to detect her and with her speed, she was close to them in what were mere moments. There was no doubt in her mind about what she was going to do and the blonde was just preparing to kill the man with a powerful swing when suddenly the sound of a gun caught her attention. Her head snapped around and she was forced to jump as a bullet came roaring towards her. An accurate shot and Kalama could quite easily have been hit if she had not been alert. She grit her teeth in annoyance at just how close Victoria had been and with a slight hiss, the dark mage quickly darted to the side as a second shot came in towards her. Another close call and the blonde’s frown grew. Victoria, as she had called herself, was indeed good and as the brunette fired one last shot, Kalama was able to raise her blade and negate it, the bullet disappearing as it struck her blade. Unfortunately, it caused her invisibility to fade for a moment, giving the two mages the chance to see her.

Both man and woman jumped with surprise at what was happening and made every effort to run back down the path but Kalama was well and truly pissed off now, her stealth approach spoiled and darted after them swiftly. They had no hope of escaping her, especially with her speed increasing due to her cloak spell and before they knew what had happened, her blade came for them, striking the man in the back, before she switched focus to the woman, the crimson weapon penetrating her through the shoulder blades. The sight was bad enough but the smell would have been even worse and as their bodies collapsed to the floor, the stench of burnt flesh soon emerged from their bodies. The pair had died the moment her blade had struck and she doubted that either had as much as a moment to feel the pain. Disappointing in a way but they had simply not been strong enough to survive for even that long but was it a great surprise? Kalama was no mere mage, after all. She was far more than that, far greater and more powerful.

Turning the two onto their backs, Kalama would briefly look down upon the two, her expression unreadable for a moment, before a flicker of amusement crossed her gaze. “You were so close to hitting me with your shots, you know. A little more accurate and you might just have stopped me.” Her tone was a mixture of both mockery and superiority, attempting to get under the skin of the gun wielding woman. Truthfully, she did not think that it would take all that much to do, if these latest two kills had not already done so. Every move she made was done to irritate the woman, every word spoken, every accusation made. Kalama wanted to annoy Victoria so much that she would lose control completely and fight her without restraint.

Restraint. A word that she despised more than most. She remembered what it was like to have been bound emotionally, unable to feel anything other than numbness and fear. Afraid to fight with her full power out of a paralysing fear that she would lose herself to her darker side. How pathetic. It had only been when she did go over that she finally broke her chains and gained the confidence she had desired, her fear having melted away. Replaced by passion and rage, which were infinitely more enjoyable and useful.

“At this rate, I might not have enough space to hang all the bodies,” she mused aloud, “What a shame that would be.”

The nearly six foot blonde then walked back towards Victoria, her eyes briefly glancing to the woman’s rifle, hand tightening around her own weapon in case she needed to block another bullet. Her form would start to appear and reappear, another attempt at irritating the brunette, as well as trying to confuse her. She adored this specific power and against a distance fighter like Victoria, Kalama knew she would need it. “Is that gun going to be of any use against someone who can disappear? Are any of your weapons?” A simple taunt but an effective one with any luck.

(741 Words)
(3065 Kal WC)
(5577 TWC)

Victoria's stomach turned as she watched the two travelers go down in a matter of seconds once Kalama managed to reach them. She could only watch the unpleasant scene play out and see the results of her failure in real time. The tiny silver lining was that Blondie had had the decency to kill them quickly instead of making them suffer, but Victoria would not be surprised if that act of mercy was an accident rather than a deliberate attempt to kill them quickly. Victoria had gambled on the travelers being able to get away and she had lost, so their deaths would be on her conscience now and forever.

One way to make up for her grievous mistake was to take Blondie down for good.

Victoria made eye contact with the blonde mage and squeezed her Tranquilizer Rifle so tightly that her knuckles began to turn white. It was clear to the brunette that violence was the only thing that Blondie understood, so there was no point in trying to talk her down. After the indiscriminate slaughter that had happened in Ace Of Spades and on the path just now Victoria was no longer in any mood to be a nice Sabertooth mage. If Kalama wanted a fight with Victoria she was going to get exactly what she wanted.

"I agree with you, Blondie. It's too bad I didn't hit you in the head with one of those shots so that I could have done the world a favor and gotten rid of you." Victoria remarked aloud to her smug enemy. Beneath the sarcastic banter Victoria really disliked Blondie. She hated that smug face, that superior demeanor, and that attitude that people existed as things for her to kill whenever she felt like it, which was apparently all the time.

When Kalama made a remark about the possibility of there being a lack of space in which to hang bodies as a macabre art display Victoria kept her mouth shut and watched as the blonde sashayed towards her like she had already won. Victoria should have shot the dimwit in the head then and there, but she was not sure if Blondie had a big enough brain for the bullet to hit even if the brunette had managed to make a headshot. There was also the chance that the blonde's big mouth could catch the bullet meant for her head and spare her a fatal head wound. Speaking of weapons, Kalama smugly asked the Sabertooth mage if anything in the latter's arsenal would be able to stop her.

"I don't know yet, Blondie. Why don't we go through my arsenal and find out?" Victoria asked Blondie a question of her own. This was no time to play around and try to knock the blonde unconscious to be collected and dragged somewhere to stand trial. Victoria had tried that plan once and it had not worked, so there was little point in trying for a less-than lethal takedown again.

With that in mind Victoria dispelled the Tranquilizer Rifle and summoned her Submachine Gun to her hands. Since Kalama could pull a disappearing act at will and move swiftly single-shot weapons were just not going to cut it against her. Victoria would need a full-auto weapon to be able to make the most of any opportunity to shoot at the blonde mage that came up. The Light Machine Gun had a good balance of speed and firepower and in any other situation it would be her first choice, but the weapon was a bit sluggish to handle when speed counted, so she opted for the Submachine Gun instead.

Victoria continued to frown as she watched Blondie flicker in and out of visibility. That was a cheap parlor trick that might be able to intimidate non-mages and novice mages, but Victoria had seen worse. She had fought literal demons before, so the blonde mage trying to pretend to be some tough warrior princess was nothing short of laughable.

"That invisibility trick of yours is kinda neat, but it won't win the fight for you because soon you're going to be fighting against someone who can actually fight back." Victoria slung a verbal barb at the blonde trying to play more mind games with a demonstration of her invisibility power. The brunette wondered how long it had taken Kalama to come up with that trick. It did not really matter, though. Blondie would need more than big talk, some clever tricks, and a fancy red sword to defeat Victoria.

"C'mon Blondie, let's fight!" Victoria issued a challenge to the blonde mage and prepared for a tough fight. She was tired of listening to Kalama go on and on in that smug tone of voice and she was tired of seeing Kalama's equally smug face. With any luck she could make the blonde mage eat an entire humble pie, if not send her right back to whatever pit of the underworld she had crawled out from.

[Post Word Count: 832]
[Victoria's Word Count: 3,344]
[Total Word Count: 6,409]

Another weapon formed in Victoria’s hands and Kalama briefly glimpsed it. Guns were not her forte and just what the difference was between this one and the last one was of little interest to the blonde. They all fired bullets and she knew that she was fast enough to get her blade up to defend herself. Her lightsaber was the perfect defence for such weapons although she despised being on the backfoot. It was against her nature and Kalama reckoned that the way to defeat the brunette was by pushing forwards anyway. If Victoria was simply all about guns then surely keeping close enough to her that she could not get her shots off was a prudent course of action?

It would certainly be more amusing and as she listened to Victoria’s jibes, an eyebrow rose. “You are assuming that you are fast enough to detect where I am while invisible. What makes you think that you will not simply end up like those two fools? Having my lightsaber in your back before you know what hit you?” There was a slight scoff in her voice as she spoke, uncaring as to the wastes of space that had just fallen to her crimson blade. If Victoria had been fast enough, she would have saved them.

It appeared that the brunette had run out of patience, challenging the blonde and Kalama was certainly more than willing to oblige. They had spoken too much already and as she allowed the force to flow through her again, she spun her blade around a couple of times and then vanished from sight again. Her thoughts focused once more on just what she was going to do to this woman, which helped her focus greatly. Kalama did not want to simply butcher Victoria, she wanted to humiliate her, degrade her, embarrass her in front of her guild members and everyone else. It had been a while since she had wanted to harm someone in quite that way but then again, when was the last time someone had actually dared to get in her way?

Using her great speed, the blonde would attempt to move around the brunette, where she could deliver a powerful vertical swing down towards the brunette's back. It would no doubt be a painful blow if it made contact and Kalama was certainly not going to hold anything back. She had the height advantage over the brunette and she deeply wanted to quickly dictate the pace of the fight from the outset. She was a firm believer in taking control and never letting go, both in combat and in life, something which she was definitely going to prove during this fight.

If her first strike missed, then she would do her utmost to keep the pressure on her opponent, wanting nothing more than to make the weapon in Victoria’s hands completely and utterly useless. The thought of overwhelming her foe was a rather stimulating one and it sent a shiver of anticipation down her spine. There was no greater joy than battle and she dearly hoped that Victoria would be able to provide her with what she sought. A true challenge and a foe that could not only keep up with her but perhaps deal some damage to her in return? Yes, she loved dishing out the damage but there was something to be said about getting wounded too. Pain was a great motivator and only made the fight more enjoyable, after all.

Her strikes were fueled with magical power although Kalama did sacrifice a little dexterity in order to keep her attacks strong. Finesse was all well and good but raw damage was better.

(613 Words)
(3678 Kal WC)
(7022 TWC)

Despite the urge to shut Kalama up Victoria let the blonde talk just to hear what was going to be said next. Mixed with all the trash talk was an actual valid point about the brunette's ability to track Blondie while the latter was invisible. Despite all her bravado Victoria knew that the blonde mage had a point... she had not been able to stop Blondie from killing those two travelers thanks to Kalama's invisibility, so what made the brunette think she could do any better when it came to detecting Kalama minutes later?

Victoria began to look for her enemy and listened out for the distinctive humming of the fancy red sword Kalama was carrying. She listened and watched for anything that could give the position of her enemy away, but so far she was seeing nothing that could help her. The brunette had to concede that Kalama's invisibility power might be more help to the murderous blonde than she was willing to admit. Oh well. This fight had to be fought not only for the sake of the people of Ace Of Spades but for the brunette's own sake.

Victoria had called Kalama out on the latter's mindless slaughter of the people of Ace Of Spades and had offered herself as an opponent, a move which took a lot of guts considering that she had no idea what her opponent was capable of. Kalama had accepted the challenge and now Victoria was committed to this fight. Win or lose the brunette had to see this through.

The brunette began to look around her again but was not seeing anything yet. She had to remain calm and stand her ground because running would only ensure that she died tired. Victoria tried to think about what she would do if she could turn invisible at will. By the time Victoria had an idea she heard the humming of the red sword sounding from behind her and felt the weapon bite into her back, causing her to stagger forward and scream from a combination of surprise and the intense burning sensation that had just been inflicted on her back where the weapon had made contact.

The brunette had taken a hit that hurt her body and her pride, but she was far from finished. She immediately spun around to find herself confronted by a phantom menace with a powerful weapon and a level of intelligence greater than anticipated. Victoria needed to think on her feet if she wanted to get through this fight without being cut to pieces.

What could she do to counter an invisible opponent who could move like the wind and who seemed to be able to strike from any direction at any time?

Victoria thought about that question a moment while doing her best to dodge the flurry of attacks aimed at her. She came up with a few ideas, but there was one she wanted to save for the later stages of the fight. Kalama was likely smart enough to not fall for the same trick twice, so the brunette needed to make the use of each trick she came up with count. As she backed away from the rapid flurry of attacks she aimed carefully with her Submachine Gun and tried to fire at Kalama, but the blonde was pretty fast and it was hard to even get an approximate location on her.

When she thought she had a chance to hit the invisible mage Victoria fired a Three-Round Burst from her Submachine Gun moments before a sword slash aimed at her weapon caused the brunette to drop the weapon out of panic when it came close to grazing the fingers of her left hand, which were wrapped around the vertical foregrip. It was better to drop the weapon than to lose her left hand. Victoria jumped back a single jump and raised the fingers of her right hand in the shape of a gun, then aimed and fired a Derringer spell at where she thought Kalama was. It was unknown if the small gray bullet would hit Kalama or simply be deflected, but it did not mater.

Once that shot had been fired Victoria began to look for her enemy while planning the best time to play one of her hidden cards.

Victoria's plan was to form and throw a Grenade or Stun Grenade in Kalama's direction, but she was not ready to play those cards yet. She would save them for later. Right now she needed to focus on staying alive long enough to think of another clever plan or two.

[Post Word Count: 768]
[Victoria's Word Count: 4,112]
[Total Word Count: 7,790]

Spells Used:

Active Requip Weapons:

Active Requip Weapon Abilities Used:

There was a flicker of a smile that crossed the blonde warrior’s face as her blade struck, leaving an unpleasant and ugly wound that would no doubt burn for some time. The satisfaction that Kalama took from drawing first blood was immense and if her confidence was not already high enough, it most certainly was now. Victoria might have had the advantage at longer range with her guns but the dark mage now had all the knowledge she needed that if things were kept tight, then it was all her, which was exactly what she had hoped. She was slightly surprised that she had been able to strike her enemy quite so easily but perhaps Victoria was unprepared for her invisibility? So much for the legal mages combat experience if that was the case. Kalama would have to teach her just how frightening a stealthed opponent could be, before delivering the killing blow, if the fight even lasted that long. The blonde mused that if she could strike the mule headed brunette so easily then it would not be a drawn out affair. No one could take many strikes from her blade, especially if directed at the same spot. Kalama now had a target to aim for, her warrior senses honing in on the woman’s wounded back.

The attack did not seem to scare the brunette enough to stop her from attacking her back though and soon enough, the brunette spun around and unleashed a burst of three bullets from her weapon that were surprisingly accurate. She could have dodged but that was not the impression that she wanted to give and so Kalama brought her lightsaber up and deflected the bullets, with at least one ending up travelling back to where it came from. Deflecting projectiles was one of the first lessons that she had mastered when becoming one with the force’s power and the bullets almost seemed to slow as they approached, making it so much easier. Her senses were almost a weapon in themselves and it was not overly difficult for her to send the bullets away. If guns were truly all that Victoria had then Kalama was unsure if she could actually provide enough of a challenge to keep the blonde interested. She had been promised one and so far, it was not living up to that promise.

She continued to be aggressive with her strikes, keeping the pressure up and trying to force a mistake from her opponent. Relentless and brutal, the blonde would swarm her enemy, with one of her strikes almost removing the woman’s fingers, forcing her to drop her gun. That was a perfect chance for her to strike and so she moved in again, swinging her lightsaber towards the retreating brunette but she did not make contact. Victoria had tapped into her own magic and fired a bullet from her hand, an accurate shot that the blonde could not block in time. It struck her cloaking spell, just about breaking through its defensive capabilities and striking Kalama in the shoulder. “Fuck!” She growled, more in surprise than pain, her eyes blazing with rage. It had been a good shot and she could feel the sting of the bullet. Her cloaking spell could heal it slowly over time but that was not going to be a quick process.

In anger, she raised her left hand and unleashed a barrage of lightning in her opponents direction, wanting nothing more than to see her writhe about in agony. It required a great deal of hatred to use the spell properly but with her shoulder sending spasms of pain through her body and her immense dislike for Victoria, she had more than enough to wield it properly. Her magical power was starting to grow as well, thanks to a peculiar ability that seemed to come from someplace else. Whenever she drew blood or bled herself, her power rose, a quirk from those who came before her apparently. Whatever it was, Kalama would make use of it now. The force was a pathway to many abilities that some might call unnatural and she was going to use every one of them to turn Victoria’s face into something that could most certainly be called that.

(708 Words)
(4386 Kal WC)
(8498 TWC)

Victoria was on the defensive thanks to Kalama getting in her face and staying there. That situation was a rare one for the Sabertooth mage to be in, but she was in it nevertheless. She was not sure if her Three-Round Burst had even come anywhere close to hitting Kalama, but as it turned out the shots had come close to their target... from a certain point of view. In fact they had come much closer than Victoria had realized because the burst was deflected by that fancy sword and one of the shots came right back at her!

Kalama could deflect bullets with her weapon?

Victoria felt the round that had been returned to her slam into her left shoulder and clenched her teeth from the pain. This was humiliating. She had technically just shot herself thanks to Kalama and her ability to deflect bullets. At least the round had not been deflected into her forehead.

"I didn't see that coming." Victoria commented aloud. She had heard the phrase "Those who live by the gun die by the gun" and did not pay much attention to it because it was one of those old phrases that had been trotted out so often it had very little impact anymore, but in this case it was relevant. If she was not careful about when and where she fired her weapons Kalama could take Victoria out just by deflecting the latter's own bullets. Still, it was the only option Victoria had. How else was she supposed to fight the phantom menace?

Throw rocks at her?

Punch her in the face?

There was no way in Ishgar Victoria was going to go hand-to-hand against Kalama unless there was no other choice. As eager to fight as Victoria was, even she could recognize when resorting to fists was a really bad idea. This was one of those times. She had no idea where Kalama was and even if she did that fancy red sword of the blonde's could cut her to pieces before she could throw a single punch. It was best to stay as far away from Kalama as possible and keep shooting.

Victoria's efforts had not been entirely fruitless because the Derringer spell shot managed to hit the blonde without the bullet being returned to its sender. Victoria heard brief swearing and gave a small smile. Her smile soon faded when a large surge of lightning was fired in her direction and was heading right for her.

"What the Hell?" Victoria shouted when she saw the attack.

There was no way she was going to be able to avoid the entire blast of electricity, so she was going to have to minimize the damage. Victoria jumped right a single bound and still caught the lightning with her left arm. It spread throughout her body and caused a lot of pain, but she had not been hit in the chest, which meant that the shock was not immediately fatal. However, the lightning did not have to be immediately fatal to kill her. It had to hurt her just badly enough that she was a sitting duck for the murderous blonde.

The lightning had rendered Victoria's left arm temporarily useless, so she was not going to be wielding two-handed weapons any time soon. She could use her .44 Magnum Revolver, but there was a good chance that its high-powered rounds would be sent right back at her with painful results. The brunette was momentarily paralyzed by indecision... she had no idea how to fight back against an invisible threat that could deflect bullets and shoot lightning from one hand.

Victoria might have let her mouth write a check her body could not cash. Her left shoulder was hurting and her left arm was useless for a bit. This was going to be tough going. Victoria raised her right hand and fired another Derringer spell in the direction she believed the murderous blonde to be in just to demonstrate to Kalama that she was still able to fight back, but she doubted that Kalama would be hit by it again. It was worth a shot, so to speak.

She needed to come up with some better ideas fast before it was too late.

[Post Word Count: 708]
[Victoria's Word Count: 4,820]
[Total Word Count: 9,206]

Spells Used:

Her lightning was effective indeed and there was actually a dark chuckle that left the lips of the warrior as she saw the damage it inflicted. The woman’s pain fuelled Kalama’s desire for blood and once she noticed the paralysis in Victoria’s left arm, she began to move in again, not wanting to waste a moment of the advantageous position that she found herself in. Even with one arm, Kalama did not truly believe that the brunette was completely helpless. She had too much magical power for just one spell to immobilise her. The yellow eyes of the force user honed in on Victoria’s face, an almost animalistic gaze, a predator closing in for a killing blow. As much as she desired to kill her opponent, there was still that hint of disappointment in the back of her mind though. Where was the Sabertooth mage's strength? So far, it had been entirely her on the offensive, beside the odd bullet. Surely Victoria had more powerful weaponry? If she was a master of arms then where were the larger ones?

Drawn to the brunette’s right hand, Kalama would recognise the hand gesture this time around and remembering the damage caused by the first time she was struck by it, the bullet would whistle past the blonde this time. She was not going to get hit by the same attack twice, especially one that was so easy to spot. “Not this time.” She uttered, her tone dark and anger filled, the sting of her shoulder still sending the occasional jolt of pain through her body. It was an effective motivator and most certainly drove her onwards, her wound almost crying out to her. She could feel the glory of the slayer, that thrill that sent her emotions into overdrive during combat, honing her mind and body into the most potent of weapons.

Forcing the attack once again, Kalama would swoop in, trying to close the distance and deliver another powerful strike with her lightsaber, her form appearing before her opponent as she swung. In a way it was irritating that she always reappeared when she was about to launch an attack but it was just something that she had yet to master. Her concentration always dipped at the moment of attack, which messed with her cloak. Still, it was not the be all and end all and the dark mage was more than adaptable enough to turn a weakness into an advantage if she could. The blonde had to admit that she was curious to see how the big mouthed brunette would handle being pushed so powerfully onto the back foot. Would she crack before the onslaught? Proving to Kalama and everyone else that everything the blonde had said before the fight was true? The question actually amused the blade wielding woman somewhat.

“Where is all that confidence now Victoria?” She asked as her onslaught continued, doing everything in her power to keep the legal mage exactly where she wanted her. “You spoke with such vigour and yet now you seem to have lost all your courage. Is it truly so easy for a blade wielding brute like me to tame you?” The mockery was back in her voice and her left hand began to crackle with lightning again. She was not yet ready to unleash anything else upon her foe but was it even necessary for her to do so? If Victoria could not handle such a basic combination then why expand more energy by using something else? “If you are one of the best that Sabertooth has to offer then your guild will have no chance against those who follow a darker path.”

(613 Words)
(4999 Kal WC)
(9819 TWC)

After scoring a serious hit on her with the unexpected lightning attack Kalama started with the mind games again. The blonde took to glaring at the brunette like an unhinged animal that was about to tear off the latter's arm and beat her to death with the bloody end if circumstances permitted that to happen. If it were anyone else Victoria would dismiss the glaring as more cheap mind tricks to make up for a lack of fighting ability, but Kalama had been able to back up her talk with concrete action. Victoria did not like the blonde and wanted to take her down, but the brunette still had a grudging respect for someone who could back up their tough talk. Not that Victoria would ever say that out loud, though.

Victoria saw that her Derringer spell was not of much help to her this time. The small gray bullet did not make impact and was not redirected to its sender, meaning that Kalama had dodged it. The confirmation of that belief was when the murderous blonde appeared in front of Victoria and attacked with a powerful weapon swing. The brunette stepped back and dodged it just in time, but thanks to her left arm still being useless the Sabertooth mage could not effectively strike back.

Victoria weathered a round of cheap talk from Kalama concerning the whereabouts of the Sabertooth mage's confidence without comment. Kalama then asked if the brunette was already defeated by the blonde who seemed to live only to kill and terrorize others. That remark passed without comment as well, if only because Victoria was too busy on trying to stay alive and come up with a plan to set up a decent counterattack. The Sabertooth mage had a plan or two, but she did not want to play her cards too early and have nothing left near the end of the fight.

However, if she continued to hold back in an effort to wait for "just the right time" to make her move, the fight could end a lot sooner than she wanted and with an outcome unfavorable to her.

Victoria stepped back to avoid the continuing offensive and decided to play one of the cards she had been saving, but first a distraction was in order.  

Victoria opted to try something new this time. The brunette jumped backwards two leaps and used a spell she had not used in years and used Debilitating Mini-Crossbow. She pointed her right wrist in the direction she thought Kalama was in and fired a miniature dark green crossbow bolt at the blonde. Victoria was not sure if it would work, but it was worth a try if it gave her enough time to put another card into play.

When the shot was fired Victoria jumped back another two leaps and held out her right hand, then brought out her .44 Magnum Revolver. This was probably a really stupid idea that could go wrong in all sorts of ways, but as the old saying went "Desperate times call for desperate measures." This was one of those desperate times.

Victoria raised the long-barreled revolver with her right hand and did her best to hold it steady. She aimed carefully at where she thought her enemy was and once she thought she had a shot Victoria fired a Magnum Round towards the target. The monstrous recoil sent the revolver flying backwards and the tip of the barrel almost hit Victoria on the right cheek, but firing such a weapon one-handed was a risk that the brunette had to take if she wanted to have a chance of surviving this encounter. She needed to deal some damage to Kalama and she needed to deal it fast.

At least her left arm was starting to awaken again. It still had a ways to go before it could be used to hold two-handed weapons, but it would be ready to use again soon. Once it was ready the brunette could start using heavier weapons against Kalama.

[Post Word Count: 672]
[Victoria's Word Count: 5,492]
[Total Word Count: 10,491]

Spells Used:

Active Requip Weapons:

Active Requip Abilities Used:

The main blonde had to give credit to the brunette for still being able to dodge her blows despite her injuries and Kalama was beginning to feel just a tad frustrated. She should be scoring more often with her blade at this point and the warrior pondered if perhaps there was more to the bullet that he had been struck with than she had thought. It still pained her naturally and although her cloak's healing effect was repairing it she was starting to notice that it was affecting her lightsaber swings. She could not put in as much physical power being her strikes when using her right hand than she normally could. It was irritating and not improving her mood much. Not that she ever truly was in a good mood anyway.

Victoria did not seem to be out of tricks after all and soon enough, a crossbow formed in the brunette’s hand, firing a bolt that was honestly rather slow. The blonde was able to evade it although she had a bit of a near miss. She did not particularly want to be struck by any of the legal mage’s attacks if she could evade it, now far more suspicious as to the effects of her enemies projectiles. Poison, sleep, stun, any of those effects could be caused by such things and Kalama was realising that perhaps she would have to take at least slightly more caution although she had no intention of stopping her assault. The brunette was on the ropes and the blonde wanted to keep her that way until she could deliver the fatal strike.

Launching another attack with her blade, Kalama would watch with annoyance as Victoria jumped clear of it and formed another gun in her right hand. It looked like a rather potent weapon and Kalama was sure that the brunette had held one of those at the start. Stalking her prey, the cloaked figure would move in again but the blast that came from that gun carried more stopping power and speed than Kalama had thought, catching her in the side and knocking her clean off of her feet, landing with a loud crash on the ground. Her cloak flickered in and out and the painful roar that escaped her lips was more than enough proof of its effectiveness. It had felt like a mule kick and as Kalama’s free hand went to touch her side, it quickly became covered in blood.

Her eyes seemed to become rather more intense as she rolled over and clambered back up to her feet. That had been an effective shot and what was worse? The gap between the two had increased, surely giving the advantage to Victoria and with a vicious snarl, Kalama would channel the power of the force into her hand and send a wave of it towards her foe, trying to push the brunette of of her feet and give the blonde a little time to heal her wound. It would be necessary as the dripping blood would no doubt be a clear locator of her position until she was able to do so.

The tide of the fight might have just turned and Kalama was not stupid enough to be ignorant to that fact. She needed to get back into her range, fast. The hatred that she felt was growing too, honing her abilities and amplifying her senses. The dark mage wanted this brunette helpless at her feet, begging for her life and forced to watch as Kalama destroyed her beloved Ace Of Spades. Nothing else mattered to her now. She would risk it all to achieve that one simple goal.

(610 Words)
(5609 Kal's WC)
(11101 TWC)

Victoria was not terribly surprised when the small bolt from the Disorienting Mini-Crossbow missed the target. It was only meant to be a diversion, after all. Victoria firing a Magnum Round from her .44 Magnum Revolver with only her right hand had been the main attack and it had been a gamble. That fancy sword of Kalama's could have easily sent the heavy round back to its source and a hit could have seriously hurt Victoria. Even though the Sabertooth mage had taken a big risk with no guarantee of a payoff she could not argue with the results.

The Magnum Round had hit Kalama and had sent her sprawling to the ground, temporarily interrupting the blonde's cloak when the latter had landed. Victoria could not help but to be pleased with herself. The fact that being hit with the Magnum Round angered Kalama only made the brunette even more pleased with herself. This was probably the most opposition that Blondie had had in a long time and Blondie might be having a hard time coping with it.

Victoria made eye contact with the furious blonde and took a deep breath before she started the victory party. The Sabertooth mage did not have cause to celebrate just yet because Kalama had gotten back to her feet and was looking utterly pissed. Maybe it was just another one of those mind games intended to scare the brunette or maybe Kalama had just entered a whole new realm of angry, a realm where forming coherent sentences was a challenge and the only thought in her mind was murdering the Sabertooth mage as violently as possible. Who knew?

Victoria could not guess her opponent's mental state, but she soon had other things to worry about. Victoria had just raised her revolver with both hands and was looking for Kalama when the blonde retaliated with a powerful wave attack that was way too fast for the brunette to dodge. She was hit by the wave attack and was sent sprawling onto her back, but that was not the only problem the brunette had face.

When she had landed on her back the revolver had discharged perilously close to her face thanks to her right index finger being on the trigger when she fell. The shot thankfully missed the top of her head by a matter of inches, but the shaken brunette lay on the ground for a few moments to get over her brush with disaster. She was sure that Kalama would have enjoyed the irony of Victoria accidentally inflicting a fatal wound on herself with one of her own weapons, especially the weapon which had just wounded the murderous blonde. This time Victoria would have to disappoint the blonde.

Once her heart had stopped trying to pound out of her chest Victoria managed to climb to her feet. The good news was that her left arm had regained most of its feeling and that meant that she could either fire the revolver with both hands to mitigate some of the weapon's enormous recoil or use a two-handed weapon. Victoria opted for the latter. She dispelled the revolver with a snap of her left fingers, then dispelled the Submachine Gun which had been lying on the ground so that Kalama could not use it against her with another snap of the fingers of her left hand. Then Victoria raised her hands above her head and brought out the Light Machine Gun.

Victoria held the weapon in both hands and took two big leaps backwards, then aimed at Kalama. The brunette was having a bit of difficulty holding the weapon steady enough to get a good shot at her opponent. It seemed like her left arm was not entirely up to the task of holding a two-handed weapon just yet because of lingering numbness, but Victoria had little choice in the matter. She needed to keep hitting Kalama and keep her from getting too close for comfort.

[Post Word Count: 662]
[Victoria's Word Count: 6,154]
[Total Word Count: 11,763]

Active Requip Weapons:

There was a moment where Kalama thought that the brunette might have just blown her own head off with that cannon of hers. If it could get through Kalama’s defences then a shot to her opponent's unprotected face would no doubt lead to death. It would have been an amusing end to the fight and even the blonde could see that, a rare moment of dry levity crossing her grim thoughts. An embarrassing resolution also and one that Kalama would have quite eagerly spread throughout the land. As it was, the shot missed and Victoria survived although the blonde was sure that she could smell from the brunette at that point. Perhaps Miss Tough girl was regretting her choice in fighting her? Too late now for regrets, far too late.

The pain in the blonde’s side made moving rather difficult and Kalama grit her teeth as fresh blood continued to flow from the wound. She needed to harness every moment of agony and turn it into raw power. There was an ability of hers that could help her achieve that but it was not without risk and the blonde knew that by giving herself to such a skill, she would fall into a state of despair and misery that would make the next couple of weeks absolute hell mentally but she wanted to harm this woman more than she had ever wished to harm anyone.

Tapping into her anger and rage, red lines of force energy would start to form across her body, before extending outwards, soon enough covering her entire form. Her pale yellow eyes turned crimson red and her breathing became more haggard and aggressive. She could feel her magical power rising again as the spell took effect, her health and mana restoring too. Combined with her cloak, it would heal her wounds more effectively but again, not swiftly. Regeneration, not out and out healing. Still, it allowed her to move more freely and there was only one direction that she was going to head, Victoria’s.

Her vision would start to have a red tinge to it her rage ability strengthened her, focused on the brunette and nothing else. There would be no more words now, no more attempts to try and get inside the rather thick skull of the Sabertooth mage. Just pure and unadulterated violence, as it should have been from the start. Kalama was rather annoyed at herself for taking things so slowly. Why had she bothered to try and intimidate Victoria through speech? That had never been her way, preferring to let her blade speak. Was there still a trickle of weakness inside her body? If there was, it would have to be destroyed later.

Seeing the larger weapon in Victoria’s hand, she assumed that her lightning's paralysing effect was wearing off and that meant she would have to be swift. In an effort to keep the brunette off guard, she would unleash another blast of lightning in Victoria’s direction to try and give herself the time she needed to get back into her favourite range. Her lightsaber was crying out for blood and as she moved in, that was all she could think about. Rational thought was leaving her completely, replaced by the animalistic desire to tear and rip. She began to rotate her weapon in her free hand, prepared to try and defend herself from any bullets, which were bound to come her way sooner or later. With her blade and lightning in use, it would be a difficult combination for the brunette to deal with and Kalama had no intention of making things any easier. She knew what she had to do to win. The blonde had to get back in Victoria’s face and stay there, so close that she invaded the brunette’s personal space completely and gave her no room to manoeuvre.

(642 Words)
(6251 Kal WC)
(12405 TWC)

Now that her left arm was able to be used again Victoria had brought out one of the biggest guns she had, which was her Light Machine Gun. It was the bigger, badder brother of her Submachine Gun and she was going to use it to keep the angry blonde at arm's length and wear her down with repeated gunshot wounds until Blondie got too hurt to continue the fight. At least that was the plan... however, as her uncle was fond of saying, "No plan survives contact with the enemy."

Victoria tried to steady her left arm enough to aim at the blonde mage for more than a few seconds at a time, but right now it was just not happening. Victoria could not hold the Light Machine Gun steady for more than six seconds at a time and sustained fire was not going to be sustainable. She needed to fire as many bullets as she could in the time she could hold the weapon steady, so a Five-Round Burst was the way to go.

Victoria saw that Kalama was twirling her fancy sword about. Maybe she was warming up for the big victory parade in Ace Of Spades she anticipated doing once she was finished with Victoria. The Sabertooth mage was going to do her best to rain on Kalama's parade, so to speak. However, Kalama was not going to hang back and be target practice... she took the offensive and fired another barrage of lightning at the brunette.

The brunette saw the lightning heading for her and turned right to sprint away from it. She got away from it just in time to avoid getting shocked this time, but next time she might not get so lucky. Kalama had "that look" on her face that indicated she was feeling weapons-grade anger towards the brunette. The Sabertooth mage would have to be careful because people that angry tended to be very aggressive towards the target of their ire and it did not take a psychic to predict who Kalama detested.

The feeling was mutual.

Victoria detested Kalama. Victoria saw the blonde as nothing but a mindless murderer who killed anyone at any time because killing people was fun, the wind blew in a direction she did not like, someone messed up her beverage order at a restaurant, or whatever flimsy justification Blondie made up for murdering anyone she could get her hands on. Threatening to kill everyone in Ace Of Spades for kicks and giggles certainly did not endear Kalama to Victoria. Victoria was not a shining pillar of moral behavior with her tendency to talk back to authority figures and her tendency to enjoy fighting way more than she should, but this was one time where she had the high ground... not that gaining the high ground on Kalama was particularly hard to do.

Victoria turned to face Kalama, then put the stock of the Light Machine Gun to her right shoulder. She aimed quickly and fired a Five-Round Burst at the angry blonde. Victoria then had to lower the weapon because her left arm was still a little weak. She hoped that Kalama would not pick up on that, but the blonde mage was likely to spot that weakness, if only because the latter was so focused on killing Victoria that she would notice anything unusual about her target.

Oh well.

Once the Five-Round Burst had been fired Victoria quickly aimed and fired a Derringer spell with her left hand at the angry blonde. Kalama had seen the trick already, so the chances of it working a second time were not very good, but it was meant to be a diversion. Victoria took the time to hop backwards two big jumps, then raised her Light Machine Gun and tried to take aim at Kalama long enough to make another attack. However, her left arm refused to work with her and it refused to work at a really bad time. The weapon fell out of her left hand and Victoria nearly dropped it completely.

Victoria frowned at her bad luck. If Kalama had not picked up on it the first time she was going to pick up on the brunette's weakness now. Victoria would just have to find a way to compensate for it, something which was easier said than done.

[Post Word Count: 724]
[Victoria's Word Count: 6,878]
[Total Word Count: 13,129]

Active Requip Weapon Abilities Used:

Spells Used:

Her opponent may have escaped the blonde’s lightning attack but it was precisely the sign of panic that Kalama had been expecting. Ever since Victoria had been struck by her first barrage, she had been favouring her left arm and even now, it seemed that the brunette was still having issues with it. Another target for Kalama to aim for, along with the woman’s back which had taken her first lightsaber blow. The Sabertooth mage was only revealing more weaknesses to her and the dark mage was more than prepared to exploit them whenever she could. Her eyes would be drawn to the left arm, her rage filled irises almost blazing with hatred. With her force rage ability in effect, her desire to kill was all that fuelled her and her mind was focused entirely on that. The rational part of her mind was pushed away, replaced by a more feral side that only seemed to come to the surface mid battle. She would not stop until her enemy was well and truly battered.

The brunette still seemed to have the will to fight though and a barrage of five bullets came flying towards her. Kalama had already seen said barrage already though and she had no doubt that she could defend herself. Her swinging blade was able to intercept the blades in a masterful display, sending her foes projectiles all over the place and away from her. Victoria’s gun magic was just perfect for her crimson blade and the blonde had to admit that the deflection practice was useful. She had become rather lax lately, as most foes she fought never bothered with ranged weapons. The brunette’s magic seemed almost old fashioned. Not that Kalama could talk. The Force was hardly a new form of magic.

As Victoria tried to maintain the distance, Kalama started to plough forwards, her wounds becoming mere trifles to her compared to her wrathful rage. She dragged her inner berserker to the surface, allowing her to fight unhindered and with her cloak and rage abilities both activated, her wounds would start to heal more quickly. The blonde could sustain herself up to a point and so far, she had not seen anything from the brunette that she believed could put her down. Her impatience with the legal mage was reaching its apex, as even now, Victoria had not unleashed her more powerful weapons. Had Kalama wounded her so badly that she was unable to wield them or had her promise of a good fight just been an excuse to lure the dark mage away? The former would be a disappointment, the latter would mean the death of everyone who walked the streets of the Ace Of Spades. She had not pegged her enemy to be the lying type, figuring that she was similar to her in that way. Both warriors who thrived in the midst of battle. Different sides, yes but similar nonetheless.

Another projectile came towards her then, again a familiar attack that was easy enough for her to evade, closing the gap between them. Kalama would not be prevented from getting back into her prime range and even as Victoria moved to fire another burst from her machine gun, the blonde did not stop. Yet, the barrage never came, with the brunette dropping the weapon due to the damage she had sustained. That left arm was indeed the source of her being unable to use her larger weapons and as Kalama leapt into the air, claiming the high ground for herself for a moment, she would launch a mighty strike from her lightsaber, aiming to cleave the woman in two. If her initial assault had caused Victoria problems then now would be even worse, with the pale warrior using a far more aggressive battle style, less finesse and speed but far more damaging. If Victoria was unable to find a solution then she would end up with more holes in her than a block of swiss cheese.

(665 Words)
(6916 Kal WC)
(13794 TWC)

Victoria watched the result of her firing a Five-Round Burst at Kalama and was not terribly surprised by what happened. The brunette saw her shots get deflected by that fancy red sword and go off in multiple directions... at least one of them had not been deflected at her, so she did not technically shoot herself again like the last time one of her shots got deflected. That was the only good thing to come out of the last minute or so.

Victoria's left arm was slowly regaining feeling, but the feeling it currently had was not going to help her a whole lot. She could not reliably hold a weapon with it, but she could handle the strain of casting a spell without too much difficulty. That was good because Victoria would need to start slinging spells very soon; whether she was ready or not Blondie was going to be heading her way to make her life miserable.

The Derringer shot was not very helpful either. Victoria would have been better off throwing a rock at her enemy, but that was to be expected when she used the same trick multiple times. She had held back too much for too long, but that was about to change. Victoria dispelled her Light Machine Gun so that she did not have to lug around a heavy weapon... besides, there was no way she could get a good shot at point-black range with it. This time she was going to hold off on bringing out any more weapons and try to use her spells and see how that went.

Victoria saw the incoming leaping attack and barely dodged in time to avoid being vertically cut in half by stepping left, losing the right side of her right shirt sleeve and sustaining a serious burn that went down part of her right arm and left it very red. She was lucky to not lose the limb from the forceful attack. While it was badly burned, it was still usable at the moment. Taking a bad burn along the right side of her arm definitely beat losing the arm or getting the ultimate headache.

Victoria clenched her teeth to try and dull the pain at least a little and sprinted five meters to the left, then faced where she thought the phantom menace was. The brunette took a moment to think about what spell she wanted to use... she did not want to use her big-ticket spells too soon, but she needed to quit holding back unless she wanted to end up lying dead on the ground. Moments later she came up with a spell to use.

Victoria waited a moment to make sure that her left arm would not choose this moment to go numb on her again, then channeled gray magic into her hands. Once the spell was ready she pushed outwards towards Kalama with both hands, firing a burst of steel ball bearings at where she thought her enemy was. While the brunette hoped that at least one of the projectiles would score a hit, she was not terribly concerned if they were deflected or dodged because at least she could use her left arm to cast two-handed spells. Victoria took a moment to think of what to follow up the Claymore Burst with and chose another old spell of hers.

The Sabertooth mage formed her right hand into the shape of a gun and used her left hand to support her right wrist, then aimed carefully towards where she thought Kalama could be. Once the spell was ready Victoria fired a Hand Cannon spell in the direction she believed her invisible enemy to be in. The brunette was not going to stop there, though. She had one last spell she wanted to use before she stopped and did her best to assess the situation.

Then she decided against it.

The brunette did not need to play all her big cards yet. She needed to hold back at least a little until she was sure that she had a good shot on her enemy before using one of them. She already had a fallback plan in case she was losing badly and needed something to use as a last-ditch effort to turn the battle around. Victoria had planned on using it earlier, but things were not desperate enough to warrant using it... not yet, anyway.

[Post Word Count: 734]
[Victoria's Word Count: 7,612]
[Total Word Count: 14,528]

Spells Used:

Another hit and Kalama’s eyes flashed with pleasure as she saw the damage that her latest strike had inflicted. She would defeat her opponent one limb at a time if she had to and with both the brunette’s arms having taken hits, the blonde was certain that the advantage was now well and truly hers once more. She did not feel under any pressure at all and it was as if Victoria was almost allowing her to dictate the pace and control the fight. Was it simply the case that Kalama was so dominant that she forced this situation or was the green eyed legal mage up to something? It was difficult to tell which was the truth but the body language of her opponent was one that was radiating panic and weakness which naturally caused Kalama to believe it was the former. Just how long could Victoria hold her off in such a state before the damage became too severe? From the way it seemed now, not too long.

As Kalama continued to pressure the brunette, her opponent would once again tap into her magic and fire off a barrage of what looked like steel ball bearings. The blonde raised an eyebrow, slightly surprised and due to their small stature, she was unable to parry them as well as she would have a bullet, resulting in her attempt not being successful. There was a dull thud, which would explain exactly as to whether the attack was a good one. It struck the blonde in the right shoulder, resulting in a feral growl of pain. The bearings had punctured through her defensive spell, hitting her directly and sending another wave of pain through her body. The wounds were adding up and now with both shoulders and her side screaming in agony, it was taking a slight toll. Yes, her Force Rage ability kept her moving forwards and she could repair some of the damage as she fought but the blonde was not immortal and could only take so much. Offence was her domain, not defence.

Clearly, Victoria’s arms were not as bad as they looked as Kalama once more recognised that her foe was about to launch an attack and soon enough, another powerful bullet came towards her. This time, however, she was ready and swung her lightsaber for it, sending it straight back in Victoria’s direction. What the blonde did not count on though was her shoulders screaming out in pain as she did so. It was annoying to say the least and the berserker did her utmost to allow it to fuel her. Swinging her saber around was only going to do so much and Kalama knew it was about time that she added another spell or two into the mix.

Raising her free hand to the sky, Kalama would fire a bolt of lightning into the air. It would rise for a few seconds before exploding, resulting in a barrage of smaller bolts to start striking the area around herself and her foe. The range was enough that it would give the brunette something to think about and if she was not on her toes, it might just be more than her arm that would get shocked this time around. As for the dark mage herself, she could travel through the storm without fear of being struck, knowing that the bolts would not harm her. She had claimed this area for herself and should Victoria fail to avoid the powerful storm of bolts then the rage filled warrior would be right there, ready to press any advantage that she could.

In the back of her mind, she could not help but feel a sense of excitement along with the anger. How long had it been since she had last fought a stout foe who had not died in a single blow? Too long.

(646 Words)
(7562 Kal WC)
(15174 TWC)

The burn on Victoria's right arm was hurting, but she could not afford to let up now. If she let up now Kalama would murder her, then go back to Ace Of Spades and resume her killing spree. Victoria was not going to let that happen if she could help it. Besides, even if she tried to run she would only die tired. Kalama would chase her down and stab her through the back with that fancy sword, something Victoria was not going to let happen to her.

Victoria saw the angry blonde attempt to parry one of the steel ball bearings from the Claymore Burst and fail. The steel ball bearing hit the blonde's right shoulder, giving the brunette another small victory. She might not be able to use Claymore Burst with the same success now that Kalama had seen it once, but the brunette would take any hit she could land on her target. Speaking of hits, Kalama was going to pay the hit she took back with interest.

The blonde mage parried the Hand Cannon shot and returned it to its sender. Victoria took the shot to her left shoulder and groaned both in pain and in frustration as it started to bleed. Being shot in the shoulder obviously hurt, but it was also humiliating to have her own projectile redirected towards her for at least the third time in the fight and taking a hit from her own projectile for the second time. An old saying about trying the same thing over and over and expecting a different result came to mind.

Victoria took the hit but stood her ground. She needed to play some of the other cards she had been saving, but the order in which they were to be played and which ones would be played was something she was having trouble planning. Planning was never Victoria's strong suit and now she was paying the price for her lack of vision. However, fighting an angry blonde mage who was quick on her feet and who was more clever than anticipated was a very good mitigating circumstance.

Victoria watched intently as Kalama raised her other hand and cast a lightning bolt straight up into the sky. The brunette wondered why Kalama was doing that instead of firing it straight at her. The Sabertooth mage figured that the blonde knew that a direct shot would not do much good because Victoria had been able to either dodge it entirely or find a way to mitigate the harm that the lightning could do to her. Kalama must have been trying out some new tricks like Victoria was doing.

The brunette watched Kalama closely in case the impressive lightning show was just a diversion, but she was visibly surprised when multiple smaller bolts of lightning started landing all around them. Victoria saw a bolt strike short of her left foot and staggered back to avoid it, then took another step back and to the right when another bolt struck near her left foot. The brunette did a clumsy imitation of dancing and managed to somehow avoid all of the lightning strikes except for the last one, which struck her left leg below the knee and instantly made it numb.

Victoria dropped to her left knee and struggled to stand up. She forced herself to her feet with her right hand, but she had just advertised to Kalama that there was blood in the water. Victoria's left arm was still of limited use and her left leg was not much better. To send a message that she was not out of the fight yet Victoria played one of the cards she had been saving. Victoria held out her right hand and formed a gray cylindrical grenade, then gently lobbed it towards Kalama's feet.

Kalama had only a short time to react before the Stun Grenade went off. If she did not dodge it she would be subjected to a bright light and a lot of noise. If she dodged it Victoria would have wasted the magic power used to create it but would have bought herself a valuable few seconds to breathe. If it failed spectacularly by Kalama either kicking it back or picking it up and throwing it back then Victoria would be in trouble.

[Post Word Count: 718]
[Victoria's Word Count: 8,330]
[Total Word Count: 15,892]

Spells Used:

There was even more blood in the water now and the amplified senses of the raging blonde honed in on the Sabertooth mage like a heat seeking missile. Victoria was taking more and more damage which only caused the dark mage’s aggression to rise. Her stickiness to the brunette was what had been keeping her in the fight since the start and Kalama knew that she simply had to keep that strategy up, regardless of the risks. The damage dealt to her was adding up too and her regeneration simply could not keep it all contained at this point. She needed to heal herself but that just was not possible, Kalama needed to stay right on top of Victoria and did not have the time to break away and repair the damage. Besides, her instincts would not allow her to do so anyway now, lost as she was in her own anger and rage. Every fiber of her being was burning with wrath, screaming at her to keep up the onslaught. This brunette had to be removed, by any means necessary.

She was about to unleash another force power towards her foe but to her surprise, Victoria cast a spell first, creating and tossing a grenade that landed directly in front of her. There was no time for her to get out of the way and the only reaction that she gave which could be heard was simply, “Shit.” The grenade went off then, resulting in a horrible chorus of light and sound which briefly threatened to overwhelm her senses. It had certainly caught her off guard and the roar that escaped her lips as she staggered around was more of an animal than a human. Everything turned blurry and for the first time in the fight, she lost sight of her opponent completely. That was certainly not great for her and as she desperately tried to shake off the grenade's effects, she struggled to come up with a plan of attack. Swinging her lightsaber around was not going to be any good here and so she eventually decided to try something a little different.

Kalama would start to summon the force around her, creating a bubble of sorts around her that would continue to grow and fester. It was not a defensive technique, even if it might have seemed like one at first. She would continue to harness her rage, allowing it to increase the potency of her attack, before unleashing it in a powerful force blast, releasing a wave of energy that would travel in all directions around her. Maelstrom, she called it, an ability that she did not use much since she was generally always moving but it was all she could think of using here. There was time for the brunette to get out of the way of her attack but if she was struck then she might just be thrown backwards and stunned, which was honestly the best result that the blonde could hope for. She needed to recover her wits after the grenade.

As annoying as the grenade was though, Kalama could not help but notice that it was not an overly damaging spell. She hardly felt any pain from it at all and she pondered if perhaps it had been more of a diversion tactic rather than an attack as such. It made sense, she supposed and the blonde had to grudgingly admit that Victoria was smarter than she appeared to be. She would not say that to her, of course but the dark mage knew that she would have to be a tad more on guard, lest she take another grenade, or worse, to the face.

(614 Words)
(8176 Kal WC)
(16506 TWC)

Victoria was not holding out much hope for the grenade to do anything serious to her opponent because of how clever Kalama was, but to her surprise it stunned the blonde a bit. It did not stun her enough to give Victoria the initiative for the rest of the fight, but it bought the brunette a few moments to think. Those moments were running out fast because she could not think of a good counterattack. Victoria still had a few cards she wanted to play, but she was saving them for just the right time because she would only get to play each card once. After that first use Kalama was smart enough to come up with a way to counter Victoria's tricks; that was why Victoria had held back some of her stronger spells for so long before finally using the Stun Grenade.

Victoria had almost come up with a good enough follow-up when Kalama made her move. She created a big bubble of something that the brunette could not identify, which briefly made her wonder if she had forced Blondie to alter her plan a little by keeping back until the time was right instead of always getting into the brunette's face and staying there. Victoria watched the mysterious bubble grow and grow until it expanded outward at an alarming rate. That was when the Sabertooth mage put two and two together.

Kalama had been preparing an attack!

Victoria turned and began to run away from the energy wave but made it only twenty steps before her left leg betrayed her at the worst possible time and caused her to stagger to a halt well within the attack's radius. Since her back was turned to the wave it hit her and threw her forward to the ground, where she landed on her stomach. Victoria had been caught by surprise again and she was paying the price for it.

Victoria rolled onto her back and sat up, forcing herself back to her feet with great effort because her left leg was betraying her a second time. Getting to her feet was about all she could do. Attacking Kalama was out of the question because whatever spell she was going to use to follow up on the Stun Grenade with was lost to her. At least she did not have a weapon in her hand when she fell forward because there was a good chance that she would have repeated the near-miss when her .44 Magnum Revolver went off near her head the first time she fell down.

The Sabertooth mage tried desperately to think of something, anything to throw at Kalama either metaphorically or literally, but nothing was happening. The brunette just could not think of a spell to use, not even a weapon to summon to her hand so that she could at least look like she was preparing an attack. Kalama had already seen half of them, so using them would not do her any good at the moment. Victoria stood around trying desperately to think of something she could do to take the initiative... she could move and react to what Kalama did, but that was about all she could do right now. The brunette's left arm was still giving her trouble, so wielding a two-handed weapon was out of the question.

A stalemate was not what Victoria wanted, but it was the situation she was facing. Kalama had pushed her hard with relentless aggression and a few clever tricks, but Victoria was holding her ground with the wide variety of firepower she could bring to the table plus a few clever tricks of her own. Both of them were tough customers who could take hits as well as dish them out, so at this point it was anyone's fight to win.

[Post Word Count: 636]
[Victoria's Word Count: 8,966]
[Total Word Count: 17,142]

It appeared that her maelstrom attack had been successful and it had given Kalama the chance to clear her head after the brunette’s grenade had caught her. She was able to catch her breath a little and regain her focus, her desire to beat on the legal mage continuing to motivate her. The blonde was slightly annoyed with herself that she had fallen for such a spell but it was what it was and there was nothing she could do about it now. She would just use the humiliation to drive her onwards and Kalama swore to herself that she would not be hit twice with it. There was a saying about being fooled more than once and the blonde dark mage had no desire to prove it to be true. What kind of phantom menace would she be if a simple grenade could catch her out?

Yet, there was no attack from Victoria in return and Kalama was slightly confused as she turned around to face her foe. Had her latest attack caused more damage than she thought? An interesting state of affairs and the blonde did not have much in the way of hesitation in taking the aggressive again but as she started to move forwards, something was amiss. Her feet were not responding to her properly and the speed and precision that she had been able to fight with so far were not quite there. Was this to do with the grenade? Whatever it was, there was definitely some after effect and the blonde briefly stomped both feet on the ground, in order to try and stir her lower limbs back into action.

Unwilling to allow the brunette a chance to recover, Kalama would fire a burst of lightning from her left hand once more, enough to hopefully keep Victoria off balance while she could regain control of herself. She would have preferred to get back into her enemies face but there was the risk that if she did so then the blonde might just walk into another sneak attack. Yes, the rage was strong and her instincts were shouting at her to lunge for the throat but the dark mage managed to fuel it, forcing it to obey her rather than be a slave to it. The effects of her anger spell were still potent and her irises were still blood red but the weakness of the ability was the amount of energy it took from her and Kalama knew that she could not hang around too long. Once it faded, it would not be anger that she felt but something else, far less useful.

For the time being, her lightning would have to suffice and after the first burst came another and another, each one fuelled with her impulse to kill. She was not aiming for anywhere in particular, knowing that striking Victoria anywhere would be useful at this point. Her enemy had weak points everywhere now and the grim warrior knew that one more decent strike could turn the balance once again. The excitement that she had been feeling was continuing to grow and for the first time in the fight, a smile grew across her face although considering the look in her eyes, it only made her appear more deranged than ever. If she could get fights like this regularly from the legal mages of Fiore then perhaps she should make the guilds of the country a usual haunt of hers. Perhaps she should become a hunter of other mages, a warrior who wished for nothing more than to prove her superiority. Why not? Who was going to stop her from taking over the gal…country.

(612 Words)
(8788 Kal WC)
(17754 TWC)