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.

[Solomon]

He could hear the young girl hollering against the crash of the fall. His boot had rolled right on through, under her feet, and she had fallen from his vision into the array of discarded shipping crates and old traps. Her sword had missed him completely, although his arms still stung a little as he held himself up. Other than that he was unscathed, and appearing as the victor of this little scrap. Perhaps she was ready to hand over the little trinket now and he could get out of here already.

You don't want to hurt her anymore. His mind warned him. Just take it and get out of here. He pushed himself back up onto his feet, trying to narrow his eyes in over Khalxaen as she was pushing herself through the mess of boards and nails. He didn't advance on her just yet. Instead he stood before her with authority. It was true, he didn’t want to cause her too much pain, but enough to enforce his will. She was beginning to see how powerful he was, and truth be told, so was he. He was stronger than he had ever been in his life. This little girl's attacks weren't much against him. There was no way she could beat him. He was going to be marching out of this town with the crystal in hand; he had no doubt about it.

The girl wasn't ready to give up though. She had propped herself up, and so he began to stride towards her, letting his boots thump upon the heavy planks as he approached. Once again there was a shift in her energy, and the winds around him started to twirl. Immediately he planted his feet hard into the wood and brought his arms out in front of him, squinting to see. The force of it began to push him back, and make him stumble from one side to another as the winds seemed to swoop upon him in one great gust after another.

He snickered to himself as all the winds did was heave on his brutish body. His boots fit snugly into the ruts between the planks, and he leaned forwards into the wind with his fists out before him. Even this wasn't all that powerful, all it was doing was delaying the inevitable. He couldn’t get forwards, but it wasn’t putting him out of commission either. If she hadn't been afraid of him before, she definitely would be now.

As the winds died down Solomon picked up speed and honed in on the presence before him. She came into his vision, ready to defend, but definitely wounded. He came at her quickly, ready to dodge or absorb whatever attack came at him. She was wounded, and his energy was still strong inside of him, an almost electric feeling pulsing throughout his body. When she attacked he’d be ready for it, and so he prepared his left arm to grab her by the collar and push her up against the support pillars at the edge of the dock.

“Hand it over!” He grumbled to her, preparing to stomp right on through her defences.

[AdventWings]

Good battle. A close one, too.

Here is the run-down:

Solomon

Story
Continuity - 6
Setting - 6
Pacing - 4
Writing Style
Mechanics - 5
Technique - 5
Clarity - 5
Character
Dialogue - 5
Action - 5
Persona - 6
Miscellaneous
Wild Card - 6

Total Score - 53

Khalxaen

Story
Continuity - 6
Setting - 5
Pacing - 4
Writing Style
Mechanics - 5
Technique - 5
Clarity - 5
Character
Dialogue - 6
Action - 5
Persona - 6
Miscellaneous
Wild Card - 5

Total Score - 52

Solomon wins and moves on into the Finals.

Solomon receives 1250 EXP and 100 GP.
Khalxaen receives 375 EXP and 100 GP.

[Cyrus the virus]

EXP and gold added.