Round 4: Khalxaen vs. Solomon

[Khalxaen]

’Crap!’ Khalxaen hissed between tight lips. She couldn’t really tell quickly enough just what had happened, in the span of only a few seconds. The demon could recall charging at the larger man, Skoteinos tightly in her hands. Khalxaen had been confident that her attack would work, and so her eyes widened in complete surprise when he skilfully dodged from serious damage and retaliated even before she could take a breath in. A sharp pain hit her leg, causing her to stumble backwards violently and falling on her back in a very excruciating drop. Several wooden crates from behind her crashed underneath her weight, several splinters getting caught in her skin.

“Ow!” She screamed in pain. Her shoulder and arm was still sore from his first attack. For the second time, her blade escaped her grasp and clattered noisily against the damp wooden planks. The wood was cold underneath her as she struggled to sit up, and there was a throbbing pain travelling all over her body. The demon was starting to feel numb – her fall had been a bad one.

Cursing under her breath, she tried to roll on her side and grasped blindly for her sword with a wandering hand. She could feel something colder than the wood underneath her, and she concluded that it was probably her blade. She couldn’t move her hand further, though, and she couldn’t find the hilt. ’Need to act fast, or this barbaric giant will kill me…’

Maybe this was a good time to just hand the shard over, but that thought never even reached Khalxaen’s mind. She had never surrendered to anybody before, and she wasn’t planning to do it any time soon. The crystal shard was still hidden deep inside her pocket, emitting a strange heat like it always did.

Something sharp hit her fingers amidst all her struggling, and blood trickled down her hands. It was her sword, she realized right after she accidentally cut herself against the blade. “Darn it…” She cursed again as she grasped a piece of wood beside her and heaved herself up, reaching out for Skoteinos. Her legs felt almost numb as she did so.

Finally, her sword was back in her hands, even if she was grasping it's blade instead of the hilt. She really didn't care at the moment. With her free hand, she brought it up to the air and pointed an open palm towards her opponent's direction. The wind around her gained speed and pressure, forming small cyclones that suddenly swept theirselves towards where she directed them. This attack was meant more for disabling and buying herself time, and she hoped it would do so even for just a while as she got into a more defensive stature, predicting that he would come at her any moment now.

Khalxaen grit her teeth. She probably shouldn’t have underestimated him.