Estrik vs Rei

[demonfire]

Objective:
~Win

Conditions:
~A special enchantment has been placed to prevent demon-transformation and final moves.

~No Pets

Prizes:
~Bragging Rights
~An item of the victors choice if Baha Approves of it.

Estrik walked into the Battle Square, nervous for this being the first time he had ever been here. He leaned on his staff and sighed as he waited for Rei to arrive, and their battle to begin.

[[red].Raven]

Rei wandered the halls of the Academy, carefully following the directions see memorized to get to the place called the 'Battle Square'. Her hands felt colder than usual, clammy; it felt odd to willingly fight someone after eveything she's been through. 'It's alright, Rei, Estrik said we'd be protected by an enchantment...just have fun...' Finally, Rei came to stand before a door. This must be it...' Taking a deep breath, she pushed it open and entered the Battle Square, immediately spotting Estrik. She walked over hesitantly, arms habitually hugging her stomach. "I'm here Estrik. When do we start and... what are we doing, exactly?"

[demonfire]

"Well, the conditions are already up, so you probably already read them," Estrik said readying his staff, "so that means we can start now." Estrik tucked his staff under his arm in a vertical position, brought his free arm up to protect his face, and began to bounce on the balls of his feet. "Don't expect me to go easy on you," Estrik said, then he charged her, bringing his left hand to grab the bottom of his staff, his right to grab the middle, and spun around delivering a blow to the head. He followed this up immediately with a round-kick from his right leg and then a hook-kick to the face with the same, and immediately after wards did the same with the other leg, while using his telekinesis to stay balanced.

[[red].Raven]

Rei gasped, surprised that Estrik had started so... out of nowhere. Instinct took over and Rei managed to duck the blow to her head. 'That could have been it right there...' She saw the kick coming, his right leg speeding toward her. At the last second, she managed to bring up her left arm, thankful for the chain mail, and deflect the blows on her left. Though, unfortunately for Rei, she failed to anticipate the strikes from the right. The kicks hit their mark, point blank, and sent Rei skidding a little ways across the floor. Her heart rate quickened and she remained there for a moment. Nothing. The Mark was cool, no prickles in her spine. 'The enchantment works...' A smile graced Rei's features. 'Alright then, looks like the fight can officially commence' Rei rolled onto her back and kicked forward with both legs, on her feet once more. "I should say the same for you, Estrik." Rei back flipped, putting a bit more space between the two and smiled. Hey, the Shinigami was safely contained, that meant Rei could morph and fight without worry.

In one fluid movement, Rei jumped up-wards, unnaturally high, and began to change in mid-air. Being half human, she couldn't just shift into anything she wanted, but one form was all she needed. Her legs quivered and twitched at odd angles, toes becoming talons, knees inverted. Dragon-like wings sprouted from her back, holding her in the air. Her skin took on a tinge of grey, eyes glowing entirely red. Here hands grew claws, fingernails receding. Rei's teeth grew pointed and a rat-like tail sprouted from the proper bone. She hovered mid-air for a moment, smiling down at Estrik. "Alright then, let's begin." With that being said, Rei dove toward Estrik aiming a clawed hand for his chest while her tail discreetly reached for his staff.

[demonfire]

Estrik quickly ducked and then rolled right past her. The thing that was happening here was that Rei might have flight and strength, but Estrik had speed, and the ability to preempt what was about to happen. He took out the charm that he had received from Rei at the Karaoke Booth, and used it. He began hurling huge boulders at Rei. The last boulder he threw, he jumped on it, with his feet ready for a quick getaway from a counter-attack. His adrenaline was now super-charging every cell in his body, every bone, every muscle, every cell, everything. All the years of difficult training trying to restrain his demon was finally paying off. The boulder reached Rei, and he quickly slammed his staff down and leaped from the boulder before it crashed. Estrik then jumped out of reach from Rei, ready to make another barrage if necessary. He caught his breath; he never had had a fight like this before.

[[red].Raven]

As soon as Estrik rolled, Rei spun around, remaining a few meters above the ground. By the time she saw him using the amulet, it was too late. The boulders were already on their way. Her neon red eyes locked onto the closest one; not too big, but too close to dodge. Smirking to herself, Rei spun midair and kicked the overgrown pebble, shattering it into harmless fragments. 'That felt good...' A series of loops and spins kept her away from the others, until finally, after dodging the one Estrik had been formerly riding, she landed on the ground, hunched over on all fours. Her form gave her keen eyesight, being able to see a person's body heat, even smell them and hear them walk. Before she let Estrik release another onslaught of rocks, Rei sped towards him, talons digging and scratching against the ground. Once close enough, Rei dug one clawed hand into the ground, causing the rest of her body to slide out from under her, making a sweeping motion for Estrik's legs. Her tail, once again, dutifully went for his staff. Hey, it couldn't hurt to try.

[demonfire]

Estrik foresaw the sweep and theft attempt ((figures from you Rei, lol)) and catapulted himself onto Rei's head avoiding both, and then started to bang on her face with his staff and feet, and then leaped off the head, back onto the ground. He began to throw many more boulders, and then started some mental warfare. While continuing to hurl boulders, he put his left hand on his forehead and used the left-hand's glove, aimed at disrupting all of Rei's focus, and hopefully, make her lose her form. While doing this, the glove's closed eye began to open, and the eye looked like a black hole, sucking in concentration and focus. However, just as a precaution, while doing this trickery, he began to regain his fighting stance, as it gave him easier focus and let him be ready to counter an attack aimed at him and/or his staff. "A long battle," he thought.

[[red].Raven]

((I like the and/or his staff part xD))

Growling, yes, growling as in an animal sound, Rei did her best to shield her face with her arms. When she felt Estrik jump from her, she instinctively reached out to grab him. He was too far away for her to reach. Once again crouching onto all-fours, Rei began fluidly dodging the boulders. "This is getting older and easier, Estrik." she called out, a smile in her voice. Something suddenly felt... off. Rei just barely managed to dodge the next rock and she placed a hand on her head. 'Wh-What's...' Realization sunk in, and after the initial shock, a smirk played over her features. 'If you want to fight my mind, it's going to be harder than simply fighting me' For once, Rei was suddenly glad that she lived her life constantly having to concentrate and keep focus. Her eyes flashed back to normal for only a moment before she had control once again. Rei darted up into the air, circling the arena to give her time to think. Estrik always seemed to know what she was going to do. 'Alright then, fine' If she wanted to hit him, she would have to break off during a planned move and do something entirely random, something even she hadn't known she would do. Nodding to herself, Rei tilted her wings steeply and made a downward spiral directly toward Estrik. She recoiled an arm, her claws beginning to take on a light glow. Once close enough, she swiped out, seeming to move faster than humanly possible; one of the perks of not being human. With one arm in mid sweep, Rei did the same with the other arm, now flying around Estrik and swiftly lashing out with energy enhanced claws.

[demonfire]

Estrik dodged one of the claws, but received the other claw to his chest, however it did not pierce his armor, it did hit him quite hard, he could taste sapid blood in his mouth, and spit it out. One of the perks of being human was that he learns, and Estrik is quite a student. He recovered from the blow, now seeing that he had an open strike, while Rei tried to take off again. "Cut yourself and stab her," Croatoan said to Estrik, "She wants to fight with mental warfare, we'll give it to her. There is no chance that I would transfer souls, right now I'm rooted with you until you die, and you're not dying anytime soon." Estrik did what Croatoan told him to do, he gave himself a prick on the finger and then charged full speed ahead, and pole vaulted on top of her again, thrusting the staff down, and it plunged into her shoulder. This time he could not stop the fall, so he landed down on his face, with a grin, this battle was done, his teeth now bloody from spitting it out. The deed was done, Croatoan was fighting her inside, and he was drawing her energy to the outside. He forced an air shield around himself by the Amulet of Wind and Earth, and recuperated from his impact.

[[red].Raven]

Unprepared for so much downward force, Rei lost altitude and went skidding along the ground. Before she could even roll to dislodge Estrik, a sharp pain traveled threw her right shoulder. A blood-curdling screech echoed around the room and her eyes squeezed shut in pain. Damn that hurts. Not even caring about Estrik right now, Rei instinctively, and unfortunately, rolled over, only causing the staff to plunge deeper into her flesh. Another cry of pain, this one not as loud as the first. Struggling to her feet, already weakened by Croatoan, Rei managed to stand on two very shaky legs; upright like a person. She grit her teeth together and gave Estrik an odd, grimace-like smile. "Damn you." Laughing dryly, Rei felt blood in her mouth before she coughed it onto the floor. She could feel the battle within her between Croatoan and her own will. 'First things first' Using her tail, Rei reached up and tore the staff from her shoulder, biting back the awkward pain. With a clink, the staff dropped to the ground, as did Rei. She crouched, using her arms to support her as she hunched forward. She wasn't going to just crumple down and die; she'd go down fighting. Retrieving the staff, Rei wrapped her wings protectively around her body. 'Get out... of my head... get out... get out... Get. Out.' Managing to suppress Croatoan's power just a bit, but enough for now, Rei stood and turned to face Estrik. The wind actually made his body heat stand out more because everything around him was cold. Grinning weakly, Rei sprinted forward. Flying was out of the question now. With warning, Rei whipped the staff like a dart toward the vortex, simultaneously pulling an orb from her pocket and hurtling it just behind the rod. The sharp metal of the staff managed to cut through the wind, but was blown off course and missed Estrik. Rei smiled. Perfect. The orb landed somewhere within the vortex. 'Thank you, Azuremyst' It was her shadow orb, said to release a small shadow dweller in battle. Rei watched as shadows spread within the vortex, blocking Estrik's body heat. Satisfied, Rei crumpled to the ground, surrendering in the battle against Croatoan and giving in the her human form once more.

[demonfire]

"THANK YOU TAMIR!" Estrik yelled, holding up his Melding Orb, which completely mimicked Rei's, but this time, he threw a couple extra shadow dwellers in there, those easily canceling out Rei's, and then caught his staff before it touched the ground, and ran out of the shield. He charged for Rei, even though she was in her human form, he held his staff with the end of metal pointed at Rei's neck. Croatoan's fiat was that he render her physically weak, thus rendering her mind weak as well. Once that he had heard from Croatoan that he had won inside, he knew that this was over, but kept his staff in place, just in case.

A dark pool of Rei's blood began to stir, and a small drop of her blood leaped into Estrik's small cut, like a metal attracted to a magnet. He felt Croatoan's full presence return once more, like that of feeling an old friend is by even if you don't see them. The extra shadow dwellers that had been summoned surrounded Rei, in case that she might try to transform again. "Do you concede to defeat, or must this go on even further?" Estrik asked, hoping she would pick the former option, anymore fighting would leave one of them severely wounded, and he didn't want that for a new friend.

[[red].Raven]

As Estrik approached, Rei supported herself on her elbows, about to get up, but stopped when the staff was in place. She stared up at him, eyes hard. They flashed to red once again, menacingly, but quickly reverted back to normal. Her sky blue eyes were bright and amused, a soft smile gracing her features. Sighing, she flopped onto her back, arms spread. She winced at the pain in her shoulder from being jostled, but soon recovered and was smiling once again. Her voice was exasperated, lined with light laughter. "Alright, Estrik, you win. If you could spare me, I'd very much appreciate it."

[demonfire]

"That is much obliged," Estrik said as he sat down, holding his staff straight up and dismissing the shadow dwellers, " I hope you are not disconsolate about this defeat, consider it a 'Welcoming Initiation'. It's always good in life to have at least one veritable defeat, it strengthens those who have them, making those people learn from past mistakes. You put up a good fight, although, I have to ask, is my staff really that great that you try to steal it?" Estrik asked this last question in a joking tone, and had a slight chuckle when it was finished. He took the melding orb out of his pocket once again and placed it on the ground, seemingly, it looked as if it summoned a 4-leaf clover. He picked the clover out of the ground and handed it to Rei, "For your next battle, enjoy."

[[red].Raven]

Rei, not bothering to sit up just yet, laughed. "Well, it was more a nuisance than anything." Sighing, Rei pushed herself from the floor and leaned back on her hands. "Whew, that was quite a battle. I don't really mind that I lost. I'd rather lose than win by killing you" She watched Estrik take out the orb and her eyes brightened when he offeredn her the clover. "Oh!" She took it delicately in her hands. "Thank you, Estrik. I'll be sure ot have it with me next time." Rei looked up at the sound of rolling and watched as her Shadow Orb returned to her. Placing it in her pocket, Rei stood, after a small struggled, and stretched. Everything seemed to ache. "If that's initiation I don't even want to go to the classes." she joked.

[demonfire]

Estrik continued to sit down as he spoke, "Well, at least you didn't have birds pecking out your eyes and Vargs blasting you mercilessly. Well, I think the judge is coming to tell which one of us won," Estrik said, as he plucked another 4-Leaf clover and put it into his pocket, and then did the same for the Melding Orb. He continued to sit until the judge arrived, then he stood up.

((Now, don't respond until Baha posts and tells us who wins.))