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The sounds of a lake cascaded in her ears. Felicity Rhyolite looked out from the stone platform she was on. She gazed upon a bright, blue lake surrounded by thick forests and looming mountains. Gentle wind tossed up her hair as she smelled the fresh scents of water particles. She sighed, this was such a serene, sweet place.
Of course, the scenery behind her was completely different.
The half-neanderthal turned around to see pale white ruins stretching out before her. She was at a crumbling, cobblestone dock right now. The docks could be left to walk further inland, leading to an old city. The city was made of crumbling stones, little wood or hay to be found. Only one or two patches of grass or small shrubs dotted the landscape, as if the city had not been vacant for that long. Felicity felt a deep sadness grip her heart, for this reminded her too much of the ruins of Whitevale.
I see the monks are playing mind games today...
Felicity looked down. Her black gambeson and tactical gloves were constraining against the sunlight, but Felicity needed to keep these on. Whatever happened in this Citadel fight, she could not bleed...
Felicity took a couple steps away from the docks, her boots echoing against the crumbling floor. Her weapons rattled against her person, her equipment was also ready to go. She lifted her arm, taking note of her maneuvering assistance device, or M.A.D., which was right below one of her arctic leather and delyn tactical gloves. Felicity's two arming swords swung at one of her sides, her katana was hanging on the other. Her trident parrying dagger was over her shoulder, her stilleto tucked underneath her gambeson. Her war bow and arrows were also slung over her back. Inside a pouch at her waist, an enchanted metal bird awaited her orders.
Felicity stood in the center of the docks, red hair flowing in her face as she lowered her arm. She needed to fight. She had to fight. The only way to move forward was to fight. She needed to test her skills, to better protect all she had left after losing so much recently. She also needed to test her mental prowess. She had to stop relying on her powers and focus on her martial arts skills and brain power. She could be smart, she could be clever. She just needed to prove it.
That was why she was here.
(Let's get it on.)
A long ago old soul enters The Citadel and arrives at Felicity's chamber.
He'd been asleep for over a century because of N'Jal's curse upon him.
But together, him and The Undead defeated N'Jal and banished her.
Morbid curiosity brought the old Demon to The Citadel that day.
He wanted to test the limits of his combat prowess at that point. His eyes narrowed and the monks took him to Felicity's combat chamber.
He donned two iron maces with him and his massive capacity to survive...bad events.
He had endurance that was almost legendary at that point.
His tattered cape lashes at the wind for a moment as he stands looking at her. There were similarities to old ghosts, old memories lost allies from long since prior. A different age of history long gone. He was a memory, a ghost, a forgotten relic of a lost age. He looks at the young woman full of life and in her eyes was something else that lurked there a dangerous sort of rage.
He readies his twin iron maces. There was no time for talk, not there, not in The Citadel. He proceeds to slowly stalk forward towards the girl. Only one thing on his mind...fear. Fear was his weapon.
From the shadows of the ruins stalked and unruly figure. Dressed in grungy leather and wielding twin iron maces. Felicity raised an eyebrow as he approached her. No introduction? Felicity really did not care, her apathy was too deep. She pulled some of her hair away from her face with her left hand. Her left hand had no pinky, one of the glove's fingers left flapping in the wind. Felicity flung her hair back and unattached her arrows, then threw the bow down. Solid, pure, physical combat. Felicity craved this. She unsheathed her delyn arming sword, Heart. The rune engraved blade shone in the sunlight as she entered a half swording stance. Using the crossguard and pommel, she had a better chance using her sword as a blunt weapon against the duel wielding mace master.
The darkened, inhuman being stalked slowly, trying to intimidate her. True, Felicity struggled with her fears, but those fears were of something far darker than physical pain. The fear of losing her loved ones, the fear is weakness, the fear of insignificance. Those, those were her fears. Physical pain was nothing to her. No, this skulking, silent predator needed a better weapon than bulk to cause her to be afraid. Felicity would face these warriors and weapons ten million times over rather than witness the death of another loved one.
She darted towards her opponent, ready to test her skills.
Felicity was a bit shorter than this mystery opponent. He was not nearly as tall as other people Felicity knew, such as Shinsou Vaan Osiris or Leoric Blackwell. Like Felicity, however, he was a dominating force with physical might and muscular mass. He was as toned as she was. Felicity raced up to him, her sword in front of her. She hoped to get a feel for him, darting a bit away as soon as she got close, ready to defend any attacks and strikes he dished out. Her boots lightly stepped on the stone, the sounds echoing across the lonely docks. Sunlight beat down on her, already causing her to sweat. Felicity was unused to blunt weapons fighters, this would be a challenge. As Felicity purposefully took the defensive, she was eager to learn.
Once she learned, she could defeat this nameless being.
The beast of a girl raised her sword and blocked the heavy mace swing, catching it between her grips on her blade. She felt the power of the heavy blow vibrating through the blades. It sent pleased chills down her spine. This girl was somewhat of a masochist, a craver of adrenaline and adventure. She chased physical activity, even physical pain, to escape the far worse pains in her psyche. Still, the lessons Shinsou and Leoric taught her echoed in her mind. She needed to be smart. She needed to be clever. No longer could she rely on overwhelming power to get her way, Felicity needed to use her head.
Felicity shoved the mace off, pushing her attack. She knew her sword was unable to pierce the leather armor this brooding man bore. Blunt force trauma, on the other hand? Now that was a note worthy goal. Felicity took a step back, slipping her sword back into its sheaths. She was ready to grapple. Her gambeson's long sleeves provided some padding against blunt attack, but Felicity's tactical gloves were the real deal. They were made of arctic leather, reinforced with delyn plated knuckles. These were both incredible armor and deadly in delivering solid blows. These gloves were perfect for unarmed combat.
Remembering Leoric's unarmed training well, Felicity lunged for both maces. She hoped that if she grappled them, she could use her legs to kick her opponent. If this worked, it would not only deliver a blow, but disarm him. If she could not grapple the maces, she would have to use the delyng plating of the gloves to block any blunt trauma he would try to dish out.
Like her, this man had the endurance of titanium. He hardly reacted when her attacks succeeded. Yet, he immediately bounced back with his own. Unbalanced by the grapple, Felicity was flung back as he raised his weapons. As she was falling, her upper body was exposed to anything to come. Felicity winced, bringing her arms over her face.
The maces creamed into her chest, sending her barreling into the ground. Felicity choked, spit flying from her mouth as the stone floor cracked beneath her. Her vlince gambeson did well in cushioning the deadliness of the blows, but her eyes watered from how her chest felt like it imploded. She had bones of metal, and a body built to survive nearly anything. Yet, she was winded on the ground for that moment, sunlight blinding her eyes.
Should I use them?
Should she use her powers? Her radiation poisoning and nuclear energy could easily throw the monster off as she regained her footing. She placed her bottom lip between her teeth. Just this once?
Then, all the times she had relied on that power in the past replayed in her mind. No. Not even once this time. She let go of the bite on her lip, leaving her skin unbroken. She would win this, even as her body screamed in pain. She would win this with only her skills and smarts.
Felicity reached down and unlatched her pouch. On her command, the telepathically controlled bluebird flew out and darted for her grim opponent. Flying around, evading, she ordered the bird to keep him distracted, but not attack, as she slowly pushed herself up.
Rubble and pebbles fell from her frame. She could feel that a bone disk had been misplaced in the bludgeoning. Felicity reached up and snapped the plate back where it should be, hissing in a desperate struggle not to scream. She wimpered, struggling to control the bird as she wiped the tears from her eyes. Then, she did the marvelous. She stood up.
She hissed, hunkered over as she reached for the swords at her side. She drew Heart, as well as the prevalida sword Splicer. Holding the weapons threateningly up in a challenge, she caused the bird to levitate between them as she hissed.
"I don't know who or what you are. But I've been through hell, I've lost everything over and over. I'm the rejected, the outcast, the broken reforged. You need to try harder to kill me!"
Felicity glared at her opponent, declaring her resolve, "I am Felicity Rhyolite! Apprentice of Shinsou Vaan Osiris and warrior of the Brotherhood of Castigers! I am the neanderthal hybrid, the abomination! I am the ultimate survivor, and I won't lose!"
She remained steadfast. She ordered her bird to directly dart towards her opponent now. She wanted the metal bird to slam into his frame, like the maces had slammed into her's.
Despite the ache in her chest, Felicity slipped into a dueling stance. Was her weaponry for show? By all means, no! She was a brilliant swordswoman, taught by some of the best sword duelists in all of Althanas. Shinsou Vaan Osiris, Ashla Rose Icebreaker...
Felicity smirked. He wanted a fight? She would give him one. This fight, however, would be won with more than prowess.
He was so focused on his crusade to crush her, he had little focus on anything else. His tunnel vision was a trait Felicity shared, knowing full well how consumed she could get in a fight. The scenery surrounding her was also a weapon, however. Felicity's M.A.D. clicked as she darted towards the nameless opponent. Meanwhile, her bird steadily raised up, hovering above the ground in a stand still.
Felicity attacked the brute with a flurry of sword strikes. Careful not to let his maces disarm her, she focused on parrying and blocking, elegant as Osiris and ferocious as Icebreaker. Her brute strength pounded, yet a sense of wisdom guided her as well. She knew swords alone were too little to take him down. She kept him focused on her as her bird crept to his feet.
Felicity pulled her off hand back. The cable from her M.A.D. flew into a crumbled wall and attached itself. With a final swipe of her sword, she willed the grappling hook system to wisk her away as the bird let out a sing song little tweet, then immediately exploded.
Had the nameless opponent dodged or endured the blast? Or did the explosion take him?
Felicity skidded against the ground, the M.A.D.'s cable slipping back into the wrist launcher. Felicity's lack of balance caused her to fall over. Still gripping her swords, she looked up to the dust and rubble of the explosion.
Felicity pulled herself up, both thrilled and fearful. This man survived her bird's explosion. This meant two things. He was harder to kill, adding a thrilling challenge to the fight. And he was harder to kill, adding a dangerous challenge to the fight.
Felicity stood her ground, putting her delyn sword away as she glanced at her cast away bow and arrows on the ground. She remembered the tactics of opponents like Shinsou and Rehtul, who stayed away at range when fighting her. Felicity put her other sword away and darted to her bow and arrows, recollecting them. She needed to do what Rehtul and Shinsou had done, wearing her down in cat and mouse attrition. She lifted her arm and aimed the M.A.D. towards the wall again, pulling herself up and landing on it. As the breeze continued to blow, Felicity looked down from the wall, holding her bow and arrows.
"You're like me, hard to keep down."
She smirked.
"Good."
Felicity ran along the wall, eyeing the ruins beyond the dock. She leapt down and ran beneath the crumbling arches. As the white city spanned out before her, she used her M.A.D. to latch onto a building and swung. She looked back she she flew, turning and calling to her opponent, "Come on! Fight me!"
Felicity's free hand slammed against the flat roof of a house. Stones crumbled as she hoisted herself up, a struggle with her odd chest. She looked down again, searching for her opponent. She strapped her quiver to her side and pulled a redwood arrow out. Felicity's beast of a bow, Seeker, was incredible. It could easily slaughter dragon kind. In the Citadel, when it had been used on Felicity herself the arrow had gone into one side of her skull and out the other. War bows were incredible made from yew, but this one was made from talymar. This was a potent weapon, built to kill tanks such as her opponent and herself.
Felicity pulled one redwood arrow shaft into the bow, awaiting the nameless opponent's next move.