2017-07-22: Alisha Diphda vs. Lemina Ausa
- Log: Alisha versus Lemina! The Semifinals Are Underway!
- Cast: Lemina Ausa, Alisha Diphda, Linvidia Diargento, Talise Gianfair, Seraph Ragnell, Lucia, Sephilia Lampbright, Jean, Seraph Edna
- Where: Lacour Coliseum
- Date: July 22, 2017
- Summary: Mere hours after the battle with Talise, Alisha and Lemina fight in the Lacour Tournament of Arms!
<Pose Tracker> Lemina Ausa has posed.
"What!? WHAT?!" can be heard from the ready-room. "Are you -- you're -- you're kidding, right? This is a goof. This... this has to be a goof. We both just went on today!"
"Yes, well -- er... that'll make it fair, won't it?"
"I'm going to die. I'm going to throw up all my organs right in the middle of the arena and I'm going to die and Ramus Burg, great-great-into-infinity-grandson of Ramus Farmain, is going to get my entire estate because we haven't paid him off yet." Lemina lets out a high-pitched scream. "THIS IS MEGA-COLLUSION!"
<Pose Tracker> Alisha Diphda has posed.
A SHORT TIME AGO -- SORRY ROSE BECAUSE I DIDN'T ASK BEFORE DOING THIS IMPLIED CAMEO. DEAL /W IT.
Alisha had an hour or so to recover, after her fight.
Currently, she sighs, as she looks down in the ready room. There are eight wrappers sitting on the counter, each with the Sparrowfeathers logo printed on them. She sighs, then she wipes her lip. The bits of red goo on the wrappers shudder. "I..." She sighs. "...I do not think I want another Apple Gel for the next year, Rose."
Then, she stands up straighter. "...And please tell the schedulers that I consider this in bad taste."
NOW
The princess knight strides forward, through the tunnel. She looks up as she peers across the field. She did not expect to fight Lemina Ausa. She feels something twist in her stomach. This girl could have been a friend, but there is a fundamental disagreement. "Oh--you have armor," she says. "And... is that an umbrella?"
She tilts her head, for a moment. Her expression turns downward, into a slight frown. Then, she nods at Lemina. "Best of luck, Junior Premier."
<Pose Tracker> Linvidia Diargento has posed.
LINVIDIA DIARGENTO is back in her box seat. Her flunky has set up a little charcoal grill where he is heating meaty treats for the elite (Linvidia). Linvidia herself has her legs crossed and is slouching to observe this mayhem.
"Is that an umbrella?" Linvidia says, narrowing her eyes.
<Pose Tracker> Lemina Ausa has posed.
"It is!" Lemina nods brightly to Alisha -- there's a hint of sadness there when she gets a good look at her opponent, though. There was the possibility of friendship there for that brief, shining moment -- and now, of course, there's that intractable disagreement.
... No, Lemina tells herself -- that was for Lucia. So too, in its own way, is this (despite what Lemina keeps saying -- to literally anyone who will listen -- about her lust for all that cold, hard cash for her victory).
"You too," she notes, reaching up to make a few final adjustments to her leather chestplate. Her sponsor had insisted she wear at least something from the shop if she's going to compete, after all. "Ready!"
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
A SHORT TIME AGO BECAUSE FUCK YOU
Lady Chloe has mysteriously disappeared. This time she stopped to sign some autographs before literally disappearing in a flash of light and a gust of wind.
Coincidentally, not long after Lady Chloe disappeared, Talise showed up holding two empty bottles of Old Man Ettlesbury's Olde-Fashioned Heal Berry Liqueur. She also seems to have had little time to put on more than shorts, plated boots and a tank top. The boots come up to her knee and hide whatever reason there could be that she's favouring her left leg.
"It is definitely a parasol," Talise agrees as she settles, for some reason, into the competitors' seats, next to a big round shield with a leering old man's face painted on it. The old man is holding a bottle of something.
OLD MAN ETTLESBURY'S OLDE-FASHIONED HARD LEMONADE
PUCKER UP FOR THE OLD MAN!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
Ragnell was not here earlier to watch the current contestants' earlier battles. Where was she? Who even knows? The important thing is that she's here now, gnawing on a sizzling sausage-onna-stick, sitting on her usual dubiously-chosen spot on the very edge of the arena wall even though the stadium has PLENTY of seats open, legs folded, one foot bouncing gently up and down.
She might heckle and/or cheer on one or the other, but, sausage-onna-stick. She does raise her free hand and wiggle her fingers in greeting. It's tough to say for whom the gesture of greeting is meant.
<Pose Tracker> Lucia has posed.
Lucia the Destroyer makes her first appearance at the tournament. It is not in a box seat, but rather, among the populace. And apparently she's taken a hostage, because her broad, blood-red cloak is swathed around another lady, carried in her arms like a princess.
"I do not understand the purpose of all this," she complains -- in a lesser voice it would just be a whine, but her complex, earnest soprano elevates it to... a complaint -- despite having had it explained to her repeatedly that there are reasons why this is important. Really. "But..." She looks between Jean's wounded leg, and Lemina, down in the stands... and her opponent, a notable enemy of theirs.
"I hope Lemina will be all right," she concludes, distantly, before settling them down on a bench, Jean on her lap unless she arranges otherwise.
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
Sephy has brought Chauncey and is getting ready to do some cheerleading, having tagged along with Talise. "You gotta help me out, Talise," she is complaining, checking to make sure Chauncey's pompoms are firmly attached to his hands. "I just can't come up with good cheers!"
<Pose Tracker> Alisha Diphda has posed.
Alisha is quiet for a moment. The crowd dies down. After all, this is a fight between two semifinalists. Despite how it came on short notice, it is also a fight much anticipated -- and in the weeks of the tournament, they have both earned a few fans. It falls eerily quiet, before a little wind sends sand whipping up around the two of them. The princess swings her staff up and aims it in Lemina's direction. It is both a salute and preparation.
'Ready!'
The princess knight is a melee fighter. She knows what is expected -- and she decides to not do that. Perhaps, she wants to throw Lemina off. Perhaps, she wants to test her defenses. Whatever the reason, Alisha's spear-blade sweeps up and light erupts along the edge of it.
"Demon Fang!"
And then a stark, narrow edge of white light shoots across the sand and whips out towards the mage!
GS: Alisha Diphda has attacked Lemina Ausa with Demon Fang! GS: Alisha Diphda has completed her action. GS: Lemina Ausa guards a hit from Alisha Diphda's Demon Fang for 57 hit points! GS: Disrupt! Statuses applied to Lemina Ausa!
<Pose Tracker> Jean has posed.
If someone looks closely, the terrible Lucia's hostage is one of the Vile Fiends, elminated in the tournament already in explosive means.
But if nobody looks closely, Jean's a woman with long hair and simple clothes with her arms around Lucia's neck to hold on better. It's not her wheelchair... But she's not about to complain, either.
"It's complicated," Jean says, checking her flask at her hip. "People have different reasons to want to be here, so there's no one purpose for everyone. Except entertainment, I guess... But I don't like the idea of enjoying fighting that much."
Jean settles down, and just goes with what she's offered, though she may have to elevate her leg more. Doesn't matter. "Alisha's a rough opponent, but Lemina's been doing great. And I've been coaching her." She pauses and admits, "...I'm worried. But the arena prevents most serious injuries..."
A laugh, "But Lucia, you really know how to take care of a girl!" Jean's going for her flask as she watches the lights begin.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Talise is a little intoxicated right now because she just chugged several Old Man Ettlesbury's in rapid succession.
Or perhaps... infoxicated.
She grins and reaches over to give Chauncey a pat on the head. "Give 'er the old 'Gimme an A' routine! Gimme an A! Gimme an L! Gimme an I!"
Then she trails off. "...Is 'Alisha' an S-H-A or a C-I-A? I've seen it both ways... or is it E-L-Y-C-I-A? Man, why are there so many ways to spell 'Alisha'?"
<Pose Tracker> Lemina Ausa has posed.
That sweeping spear motion -- Lemina's seen it enough times in both White Knight Leo's maneuvers and Alisha's own to know what's going on. Accordingly, she throws up a small shield of ice in front of herself; it's not quite tall enough, though, and much of the blast climbs it and rockets up slightly into Lemina's midsection.
Note to self: next time, taller ice.
"... I gotta admit, I was expecting you to try to close the gap right away," she murmurs, considering her next move for just a moment. In the end, though, she elects to start this match off the way she has so many others in the tournament so far.
Bringing her hand to her back, she draws one of her two staves; this one has a lovely silver-and-gold head, with two grasping arms wrapping around each other. This one... hasn't seen much use in the tournament -- but here, in losers' semis, Lemina finally seems fit to break it out.
When she gives it a twirl and thrust, there's no fancy sparkles, no wave of fire, no burst of snow. Instead, there's just a bolt of telekinetic force headed rapid-fire for Alisha's midsection.
GS: Lemina Ausa has attacked Alisha Diphda with Thieves' Spike! GS: Lemina Ausa has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
"I mean, you're seeing part of the problem--I guess I know how to spell Lemina's name from the wanted posters, though, actually. It's L-E-M-I-N-A, right? I kind of hafta cheer for her, I'm in her magic guild after all!" Sephy frowns, tapping her nose--then sneezing from the pom-pom.
"All right, GIMME AN L, EVERYONE!" She poses--and Chauncey mirrors her pose.
GS: Alisha Diphda guards a hit from Lemina Ausa's Thieves' Spike for 67 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Talise sighs and plants one hand against her face. "Alright, go ahead and do that," she urges Sephilia, waving a hand and taking another drag from her bottle.
She drapes her arms on the edge of the seat in front of her, lounging heavily. Between being hurt and half-drunk, she's not doing much cheering, just watching with a slightly dazed smile.
<Pose Tracker> Lucia has posed.
Lucia stares at the arena for a long moment, entranced by the runes there. "I wonder if those could be applied on a massive scale," she murmurs, wistfully. "An end to lethal combat... would it really be a kindness?"
Way to ruin the mood, girl. She's not laughing along with Jean at all. Her counterpart can feel the tension thrumming through her, down her shoulders and arms, up her throat.
<Pose Tracker> Alisha Diphda has posed.
"Mm. I have had training in fighting mages," Alisha says. The princess does not clarify if she means that she used those here, though. She hears the efforts to chant her name -- she can't pay them much mind.
She sees the staff drawn out. She tries to recognize it quickly -- and fails. Recognizing staves was far from her specialty, and her training on that was old. In every case, it came down to the same lesson: try to avoid them and disarm them. The telekinetic force fires--
--and Alisha is already moving. The bolt of force slams into her midsection, rattling the repaired chainmail and sending an ache through her, but she pushes through it. She pushes through to run in closer to Lemina. She leaps as she does -- and stabs out with her spear, trying to strike at the staff and Lemina alike with a quick, one-handed jab of her weapon.
GS: Alisha Diphda has attacked Lemina Ausa with True Thrust! GS: Alisha Diphda has completed her action. GS: Lemina Ausa guards a hit from Alisha Diphda's True Thrust for 58 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Jean has posed.
Jean looks at Lucia's face a moment--mostly arranged so they can both see the arena--and shakes her head. "..." That does kill the mood a bit. Jean finds herself unsettled by the question and its implications, but still, "Eeh..."
She tries to answer, but it really gets to her a bit. She can't quite get it there. But Lucia is tense, and Jean thinks about it. She takes a drink of her flask and...
"Hey, Lucia. You want to try that stuff I drink all the time? This is liquor. It helps you relax." Jean offers her first flask to Lucia.
This can't be a bad idea.
<Pose Tracker> Lemina Ausa has posed.
Lemina's guard has been getting tighter every round of the tournament; she's gone from a panicked 'I'm not ready!!' at that first rush in to a pretty stable competitor in her own right. Accordingly, when Alisha does come in, Lemina's ready; she gives her staff a quick twirl, and with it, creates a small wave of deflecting force.
Alisha's strike is still mostly true -- but it bites into a thick piece of leather on Lemina's side rather than landing truly flush. "Makes -- sense. N -- nice," she says, through gritted teeth. One of her eyes screws shut for a second -- though it's as much on reflex as from actually being rattled.
She gives her staff another twirl, and points it for Alisha's feet while chanting something. After her first telekinetic spike, it would make sense to assume this to be much of the same, but aimed low -- but instead, it's punctuated with, "Mega-magic FLAME!" and results in a big ring of fire that sprouts up around Alisha on all sides. It'll give the princess something to work on while Lemina takes a second to think Alisha's remarkably balanced fighting style through, at least.
GS: Lemina Ausa has attacked Alisha Diphda with Fire Ring! GS: Lemina Ausa has completed her action. GS: Alisha Diphda critically Guards a hit from Lemina Ausa's Fire Ring for 28 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Alisha Diphda has posed.
There is a fundamental truth about Alisha Diphda: she can jump.
The fire sweeps around her in a ring, sand burning into glass, and it comes up for her legs. It scorches the princess because it cannot avoid scorching the princess. Her legs feel burnt, then. But then she leaps high into the air -- and does a midair twist, smoke and fire trailing away from her in streamers.
And then she comes crashing down towards the sorceress. Crashing down makes it sound, perhaps, too uncontrolled. It isn't -- it's forceful and fierce, as she lashes out with her spear to knock the staff away and perhaps graze Lemina.
And then, she takes advantage of the fact she stands at five foot, seven inches and has enough muscle to weigh a good deal more than Lemina to slam her shoulder down at her and try to knock the mage off her feet.
GS: Alisha Diphda has attacked Lemina Ausa with Skewering Spear! GS: Alisha Diphda has completed her action. GS: Lemina Ausa critically Guards a hit from Alisha Diphda's Skewering Spear for 26 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Lucia has posed.
Lucia always wants to try new things -- this draws her out of her reverie, and the faint sparkle in her vivaciously green eyes is comfortingly familiar. She's not quite to a smile yet, but she is, perhaps, on the way.
"That is very kind of you, Jean. It's odd -- men in bars are always getting me to drink their 'beer' and 'wine' and 'spirits'. Is liquor similar?"
She accepts it, tilts it perpendicular to the ground over her lips.
Her throat pulses. Glug, glug, glug.
...it's gone.
She hands the flask back to Jean, gamely, and without so much as a flush to her cheeks. "I admit, I do not totally understand the appeal. It is rather bitter?"
<Pose Tracker> Linvidia Diargento has posed.
Linvidia does not give Sephi an "L."
"So now we're getting to the cream of the cream," Linvidia murmurs to herself. Her hand comes up to half-veil her mouth. "Perhaps this is just getting interesting...!"
<Pose Tracker> Lemina Ausa has posed.
Lemina's grand maneuver! No!!
Lemina may be small, but she's shown surprising toughness in this tournament -- and right now is no exception. When Alisha comes in with the combination of size, muscle, and force, Lemina brings her staff up to push the spear aside -- and then just lets Alisha body-check her.
The impact hurts. Hitting the ground, however, does not; Lemina brings her staff down to take the worst of the impact, and rolls with the remainder. She lacks a lot of options here -- Alisha has her beaten on sheer agility, and many of the techniques she's developed to deal with weapons fighters over the course of the tournament don't work on her.
Which means it's time for Lemina to do what she does best: be Lemina.
Twirling the staff around with another low chant, Lemina conjures a sizeable spike of ice at its head; veterans of Lemina's tournament fights know what's coming, of course. The spike grows to a considerable size over the course of several twirls -- and then Lemina lets it fly all at once with a cry of, "ICE STORM!"
GS: Lemina Ausa has attacked Alisha Diphda with Ice Lance! GS: Lemina Ausa has completed her action. GS: Alisha Diphda guards a hit from Lemina Ausa's Ice Lance for 79 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
"Yeah. Yeah, they're pretty creamy, alright," Talise says, scratching at her cheek and glancing sidelong at Linvidia.
She lowers her voice and mutters, "If I had a nice creamy complexion like Alisha's...."
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
Sephilia continues her cheering until she's spelled Lemina's name out, then takes a break to catch her breath.
"I think your complexion is nice as it is, Talise! You're awesome!"
<Pose Tracker> Jean has posed.
Jean likes that look in her friend's eye about new things, and that sparkle tells her immediately that she's doing the right thing. She'd rather keep Lucia happy if she can.
"Very similar," Jean says. "But it's fine! I like to share!" A pause, "Maybe don't accept drinks from men in bars without a friend around, though."
But Lucia takes her flask... drinks... drinks some more... and drinks the whole thing all at once. Jean stares briefly and then starts laughing. "Wow, Lucia! You're good!" A beat, "The bitter taste grows on you, and... Well, you'll probably feel it pretty soon drinking the whole thing. I usually go gulps at a time."
A beat, "Good thing I have another one..." Jean stows that flask and gets out the other to restart her own drinking.
"Lemina's great with that ice." A beat, but Jean doesn't say more; she actually stares after Lemina for a few moments.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Edna has posed.
Edna sits in the stands, invisible to most of the audience. She's munching on another burger, blue eyes narrowed as she observes this bout of steel and sorcery.
She watches, rapt with attention to each stab of the spear. Each swirl of flame. Each blast of ice. Each wave of inner force thrown out in the form of a Demon Fang. She watches as will clashes against will.
Why?
Why does Edna observe this bout so attentively?
...... ......
Her lifetime supply of royal crablettes is riding on Alisha's victory here.
She clenches her fists on the hem of her dress.
Win, Alisha.
For the sake of Edna's hopes and dreams.
Reach out, grasp victory. And win.
Yes.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Talise, blushing, slips her arms around Sephilia's shoulders and pulls her in for a hug, smiling ruefully. "Sometimes I think you're my biggest cheerleader, you know that? Thanks a lot."
Talise's complexion is much more tan than Alisha's. Growing up on a pirate ship will do that for you.
She lets Sephilia go after a moment and leans forward, continuing to watch the fight. "Here's hoping Alisha does good," she murmurs. "I like Lemina, but I'd like to see a martial fighter win, and Alisha's at least not part of the Guard like that Garan guy."
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
Sephy beams and hugs Talise tight. "You're like a big sister to me! Maybe I can just cheer in general now, then!"
Sephy is the happiest urchin sometimes!
<Pose Tracker> Lucia has posed.
If Lucia is affected by the alcohol, she isn't showing it. At all.
But it might be in there somewhere, in that she seems to be thinking very deeply about Jean's assertion that Lemina's great with ice. Wheels turn.
"..."
The breeze of motion stirred by a roaring crowd ruffles her hair.
"...would you like to use her ice to chill your liquor, Jean?"
<Pose Tracker> Alisha Diphda has posed.
"Ah--quicker than I thought!" Alisha gasps, having expected to send Lemina flying more. She bounces up, instead, and uses her staff easily. She gasps, when she sees the spike of ice form. She throws her hands out, spear gripped in both, perpendicular to her body. She cries out a single word: "Guardian!"
A dome of interlocked hexagons of white light appears around her, shimmering and translucent, and the spike of ice slams into that. It shatters against it, turning into a few distinct chunks of rock, but the shield shatters under it too. The rocks slam into her, shattering apart, but they don't pierce her through the way they could have. She runs, then.
She charges towards Lemina -- and her spear cracks out, the haft sweeping towards Lemina's side. It's an effort to knock away her staff or hit her, even as Alisha pivots as she starts to flank. She did such a thing to Chloe, too.
Which is when the backhand stab comes in, stabbing down for Lemina's leg with a hard thrust of her spear.
GS: Alisha Diphda has attacked Lemina Ausa with Impulse Drive! GS: Alisha Diphda has completed her action. GS: Lemina Ausa guards a hit from Alisha Diphda's Impulse Drive for 60 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Jean has posed.
Jean is totally looking to see how Lucia might be affected. She has a lot of reasons to keep her brown eyes on that meter. ...But she isn't always looking, distracted as she is by Lemina and her magic and her.. Well, Lemina.
Jean blinks as Lucia speaks up, her eybrows lifting as she immediately looks back to Lucia again. She'd been... distracted, and it shows. "Huh? Well uh..."
"She did that with a beer once," Jean says, "And that was pretty great!" A pause. "Um, maybe. Right." Why is Jean blushing? She gives no clue.
Jean turns back to the fight, as Alisha presses after a solid defense, and starts drinking again.
<Pose Tracker> Lemina Ausa has posed.
"How do you move in all that gear!?" Lemina demands of Alisha, as she circles around the member of the Shepherd's retinue in turn. When she comes in to strike with the haft of her spear, Lemina's ready with a very conventional block; her staff meets it, and pushes for just a moment.
It's enough to get her good positioning for Alisha's followup maneuver; the princess comes in with a stab to Lemina's unprotected leg, and she pivots oh-so-slightly. The net result? A flesh wound -- one that gets a good, sharp cry from Lemina, but doesn't leave her unable to respond in kind.
She rocks on her feet a little, her whole body sagging from the effort at this point; each successive match of the tournament has been a little more intense, and while Lemina's met that intensity... the Junior Premier is beginning to feel outclassed in the relatively close quarters of the arena.
The superior reach of that spear is starting to feel oppressive and bullying -- Lemina has to get a little space back. She's running out of tools to do it with, though... she could use 'that,' but her gut is telling her it's too soon -- would leave her too open.
Instead, thus, she says, "Just a little bitty bit more than the mage you thought, huh?" Hopping back, Lemina stows her staff for now and decides to try something different. Drawing her bow, Lemina hastily nocks an arrow and lets it fly, aiming for a gap in Alisha's armor.
"... The feeling's mutual," she has to admit, a moment later. Alisha's really something else.
GS: Lemina Ausa has attacked Alisha Diphda with Mystic Bow! GS: Lemina Ausa has completed her action. GS: Alisha Diphda critically Guards a hit from Lemina Ausa's Mystic Bow for 17 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Alisha Diphda has posed.
"Much of this armor is a family heirloom, from the Asgard era!" Alisha explains, and it comes out as something closer to a shout than she meant. It isn't easy to talk levelly while running around. "The material is light, but as strong as steel."
And some of it shows it -- the edges and a few places where the plate is that black, translucent crystal instead of steel. The steel, of course, on her plate mail is also just as hard. The princess hesitates, a frown forming, as she sees Lemina draw her bow -- and nock and fire an arrow like a professional. That impresses her; she didn't expect her to do so that well.
Unfortunately, Alisha is ready for it. She knows how to handle an arrow -- and knows how strong those gauntlets are. She raises her arm, and the arrow slams into it and explodes into so many wood splints.
A few fly, nicking her arm, her face, and her leg. It stings. It even bleeds. But, she isn't stuck with an arrow, and Alisha will take that.
So she rushes in closer. "I commend you--you're far more flexible than many mages I have fought!" the princess knight compliments, just as she leaps. She somersaults into the air, the ribbon snapping after -- and she comes down in a pivot, to swing her spear down in another hard stab that comes from above this time.
GS: Alisha Diphda enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Alisha Diphda has attacked Lemina Ausa with Skewering Spear! GS: Alisha Diphda has completed her action. GS: Lemina Ausa guards a hit from Alisha Diphda's Skewering Spear for 79 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Lemina Ausa has posed.
Lemina gets a lot more information than she was expecting -- or honestly knows what to do with. She's put a little off by it, honestly -- and when that forceful strike comes in, she doesn't have too much of an answer for it. The pivoting downward stab gets her across the side, sundering her armor and putting her substantially off-balance.
... but then, she never was exactly much for armor anyway. She discards her bow, and lets the armor fall away as she does so, leaving only the dress on underneath it. She's not doing a great job of stumping for her sponsor here!
"Okay -- let's..." she pauses. "Your guard's a lot thicker than anyone else's I've had to handle so far!" she compliments first. Unsolicited compliments from Lemina, in quantity, tend to correlate strongly with disaster. ... for someone, at least.
Raising her staff high, she starts a long, rapid-fire chant; just as before, ice forms at the head. No one would blame Alisha for preparing for a big ice spike like before -- but this proves to be something a little bigger.
Lemina shifts her grip on her staff to a slugger's grip -- as if she were holding a greatsword, or even a baseball bat. Then, all at once, she swings, with a cry of, "FREEZE CLAW!" The claws are a few feet long, and seem to grow longer over the course of her first swipe. Her momentum shifts in the opposite direction, and just like that, she's swinging again -- and they're definitely longer now, nearly doubled in overall length. By the time she goes for her third and final swipe, the total length of the icy talons is nearly half of the arena.
... in hindsight, Lemina thinks, it might not be the best idea to engage a polearm fighter with what is, essentially, a polearm...
GS: Lemina Ausa has activated a Force Action! GS: Lemina Ausa has attacked Alisha Diphda with Freeze Claw! GS: Lemina Ausa has completed her action. GS: Alisha Diphda has activated a Force Action! GS: You have activated the Force Action Guard! GS: Alisha Diphda guards a hit from Lemina Ausa's Freeze Claw for 107 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Alisha Diphda has posed.
That armor is a matter of pride for Alisha. Perhaps a little irrationally.
She is surprised when Lemina ditches the armor, though. Her eyes widen, and she sees the ice forming. She almost charges -- and then she thinks better of it, because she knows that is likely to end poorly. The 'likely' from that assessment is dropped when she sees the huge claw of ice that appears on the end of Lemina's staff.
"Clever," she murmurs to herself, and then she swings out her spear. She catches the first claw swipe and the second -- but the claw's talons are longer, then. Two slash into her, cutting through chainmail, and drawing blood with a hiss. She ducks, when the third swipe comes. The talon still slashes into her shoulder and she feels it weaken.
She cries out in pain, but she can still rush in. Alisha darts forward, and then swings her spear up. The haft smashes into one of the three talons -- and smashes the ice block off. It slams into the ground before Alisha -- and then she kicks off it, to shoot even higher into the air.
The battle cry comes to her lips by sheer instinct. One isn't a knight for show, after all. "HYLAND!"
And then she comes crashing down. White light flashes and floods around her, as she swings her spear crashing down towards Lemina, awash with the single element that Althena blessed her with. Other bolts of light, shaped like spear points, stab out with her as she lands -- and it punctuates with a burst of energy.
GS: Alisha Diphda has activated a Force Action! GS: You have activated the Force Action Lock On! GS: That is not a valid target. [#-1] GS: Alisha Diphda has attacked Lemina Ausa with Light Blast! GS: Alisha Diphda has completed her action. GS: Lemina Ausa guards a hit from Alisha Diphda's Light Blast for 95 hit points! GS: Alisha Diphda takes Cover! She gains 50 temporary hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Lemina Ausa has posed.
"NO!" Lemina's hitting the dirt on reflex as Alisha comes down hard; at the last second, though, she cries out, "FREEZE!" When she hits the ground with her hands, a shell of ice comes up in front of her, taking the brunt of the blow. It doesn't slow Alisha down much, though; she lands her assault mostly-flush, holy light crackling around the Junior Premier in addition to the raw pain of the spear hit.
For a while, she doesn't get back up; with no yield and no obvious knockout, the tournament staff start the count. At 1, Lemina breathes out a slow, hissing breath. At 3, she slams her hand into the ground on her staff, one eye screwed shut and the other only barely open.
At 5, she gets two feet under her. And then she looks Alisha -- the scrapped princess, knight of Hyland, one of the retinue of the Shepherd -- in the eye. "... So, you're fighting for 'home' too, huh," she says. It's... difficult for Lemina not to respect that.
But in the end, all one can do is believe in one's own dreams, and protect them. So Lemina raises her staff, and chants again. It's the same chant, for the most part -- but the magically-learned in the audience can recognize the differences. It's not as fast. It's not as vicious. Lemina drops a few syllables to get it out of her mouth on time -- and when she finishes, it's not with an announcement of the technique's name, but an answer:
"VANE!"
This time, there's no perfect back-forth-back of the pendulum as Lemina tries to gain separation again. It's just chaos. The giant claw of ice that sprouts from the Thieves' Staff seeks to swipe through all that holy radiance, all that brilliant guard of the age of Asgard, and just start tearing, plain and simple.
Lemina's technique is a disaster -- but then, with what amounts to a twenty-foot polearm made of ice, whose wouldn't be? She's decided to just be herself -- big, flashy, hyper-aggressive... and utterly, completely committed to Vane, and to her dream.
GS: Lemina Ausa has attacked Alisha Diphda with Freeze Claw! GS: Lemina Ausa has completed her action. GS: Alisha Diphda used Mystic on Alisha Diphda! 100 Temporary HP gained! All statuses cleared! GS: Alisha Diphda has activated a Force Action! GS: Alisha Diphda used Mystic on Alisha Diphda! 100 Temporary HP gained! All statuses cleared! GS: Alisha Diphda has activated a Force Action! GS: Alisha Diphda has activated a Force Action! GS: You have activated the Force Action Guard! GS: Alisha Diphda guards a hit from Lemina Ausa's Freeze Claw for 166 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Alisha Diphda has posed.
"What--how can you still--"
Alisha didn't even imagine that her opponent could fire the same spell twice in a row, though -- of course -- she still had part of the spell still working. Alisha had bounced off it, literally, to attack her. When it grows back, she gasps, and she realizes that she is in an utterly terrible position. She can't prepare a barrier in time.
The barrier wouldn't stop it, even if she did.
"ALTHENA'SLIGHTBEABLESSINGUPONME!" she screams as fast as she can, as the ice comes crashing in towards her. The leftmost talon of it shoots clean through her shoulder just as finishes the last syllable. It rips through chainmail and meat, breaks through the bone, and shoots out the back, and Alisha staggers forward -- as the other two talons of the claw slash into her without impaling clean through.
"Heal... Litany--"
And then she twists her body to the side. The icy claw snaps off, and Alisha drags it out. Which is when the light flashes, sealing her shoulder closed, and mending the bone. Her spear has been dropped -- and Alisha lets out a shaky gasp -- before she rushes at Lemina, and swings the remains of the Freeze Claw's talon at her like a club. It is already melting in her hands.
GS: Alisha Diphda has attacked Lemina Ausa with Ice Club! GS: Alisha Diphda has completed her action. GS: Lemina Ausa guards a hit from Alisha Diphda's Ice Club for 59 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Lemina Ausa has posed.
"Wh -- HOW?!" Lemina shouts out at Alisha, shortly before she gets a chunk of her own magic swung squarely at her face. It breaks across her staff, but there's a funny thing about ice breaking -- most of the momentum is still there in that big upper chunk. She takes it square in the nose, and her whole body shudders in pain.
"Okay -- okay, okay, what else do I have up my sleeve..." she mumbles, starting to backpedal from Alisha with her staff up to protect her. There's so much defense to Alisha -- that armor is so light and tough, and Althena certainly didn't skimp on the blessing. ... Lemina notes to herself to recruit Alisha to the Guild later.
For now, though -- right now, she starts a quick chant and then points at the ground beneath Alisha's feet. At first, it looks much like the same trick she did before -- the ring of fire that Alisha just jumped over.
Then it explodes straight up from under her on all sides. Is Lemina... learning?
The world may never know.
GS: Lemina Ausa has activated a Force Action! GS: Lemina Ausa has attacked Alisha Diphda with Pyro Pillar! GS: Lemina Ausa has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Alisha Diphda guards a hit from Lemina Ausa's Pyro Pillar for 138 hit points! GS: Mute! Statuses applied to Alisha Diphda!
<Pose Tracker> Alisha Diphda has posed.
Alisha drops the ice spear -- and that is when she realizes that she is in a very bad position. First, her weapon is a good five feet away from her, and that leaves her without her main advantage thus far in the fight. Second, she used an enormous amount of her magical reserves in performing that last second healing spell, and she is staggered -- her jaw even shaking.
Which is when the fire erupts, and Alisha leaps. Which only makes it worse, because it explodes under her feet. The princess knight flies up like a missile, ad then slams into the earth,a nd rolls a few times. A few times, she realizes, further from her spear. It lay dropped on the ground, where she left it. Her eyes drift to it, before they drift back to Lemina.
"I-I am quite surprised I managed that," Alisha admits. She reaches behind her -- and draws out her long dagger. It has no crossguard, but it has the same shape as her spear, with the emblem of Hyland imprinted on the blade. Alisha sprints across the land -- and then she comes in close for Lemina. Her work with a sword isn't as skilled as her work with a spear.
It isn't bad, however.
She slashes up with it, and then leaps -- and slashes down at the apex of her jump. She tries to cut at Lemina, to drive her backward. This, incidentally, is an effort to move her closer to her spear.
GS: Alisha Diphda has attacked Lemina Ausa with Tiger Blade! GS: Alisha Diphda has completed her action. GS: Lemina Ausa has activated a Force Action! GS: Lemina Ausa guards a hit from Alisha Diphda's Tiger Blade for 59 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Lemina Ausa has posed.
Lemina throws up a large shield of ice in front of herself, even though she knows it's not going to actually give her any space; what she needs right now is just, flat out, time to maneuver. While Alisha works her way around it, she's backpedaling away from Alisha's weapon arm -- and only gets a flesh wound for her trouble.
... those are really starting to add up, though. Right now Lemina is bleeding pretty much everywhere -- her nose, her chest, her leg, her shoulder... it's a bad look for the Junior Premier. She's never given an inch in this entire fight, nor has Alisha -- but at this point the two are just going to grind each other down into the dust. She thinks she has this -- if she can just land one clean hit, now that she's got space and has Alisha's spear out of the picture...
This time, rather than swing her staff around as she chants, she just plants it. This maneuver has put paid to three of Lemina's past tourament opponents; unlike the last times she's used it, though, she's extremely spent. A large, jagged chunk of ice forms at the head of her implement -- it's raw and rough, not like the aerodynamic spike she nailed Hiro with earlier today, or June before him. It's just a mess.
But sometimes, well -- that's what you've got. She squints at Alisha through her swimming vision, aiming just a little ahead of her on the path around her to that spear; it's an extremely hard read, at this point. Lemina offers no further commentary -- mostly because, frankly, even getting out her chant feels like death warmed over.
GS: Lemina Ausa has attacked Alisha Diphda with Ice Lance! GS: Lemina Ausa has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Alisha Diphda guards a hit from Lemina Ausa's Ice Lance for 116 hit points! GS: Mute! Statuses applied to Alisha Diphda!
<Pose Tracker> Alisha Diphda has posed.
Alisha's wounds are slowing her. The cuts are mostly tiny, but they add up, and they make her sluggish. She isn't a combat caster, and using that much magic at once leaves her feeling drained in that strange way that she isn't quite used to. Her feet stumble -- and she sees the ice spike form. She hesitates, as it comes in, and then she makes her decision.
She has to close in and try to end it, or she has lost. So Alisha rushes the ice spike as it flies, roughly formed and terrible. "H--hyaaah!" she cries, and swings her her long knife up. She catches the ice spike -- and it spins into the air, then slashes into her cheek. Blood flies and she stumbles. She nearly falls over, face forward, but her hand catches the ground.
In the end, the princess doesn't move all that gracefully. She is practically on all fours for a moment, before she bounds to her feet and jumps to close the distance the rest of the way. Alisha reaches out, swings her dagger back, and then shoots forward with a hard stab for the forearm of Lemina's right arm -- an effort to force her to drop her staff.
She cries out as she does: "Sonic Thrust!"
GS: Alisha Diphda has attacked Lemina Ausa with Sonic Thrust! GS: Alisha Diphda has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Lemina Ausa takes a glancing hit from Alisha Diphda's Sonic Thrust for 72 hit points! GS: Lemina Ausa has Fallen! She is no longer able to fight!
<Pose Tracker> Lemina Ausa has posed.
It just isn't enough. Lemina's just out of energy at this point; Alisha's got conditioning, stamina, and sheer toughness on her side, and nothing she can do can get her the win here.
When that sudden stab comes, Lemina tries to backpedal -- but takes it hard on the arm instead. There just isn't the room to maneuver -- in gaining separation over and over, she's managed to corner herself and let Alisha turn it into a speed contest, which Lemina frankly cannot win.
There's no yield -- no easy grin, no nod to the officials. Lemina just hits the ground like a ton of bricks. Or, well, like about a hundred pounds of bricks, one would suppose. She doesn't answer the ten-count this time.
It's unclear whether it's grudging or just exhausted, but after a few seconds, her now-empty hand slowly rotates... shifts... and gives Alisha a thumbs-up.
Then she's done for realsies.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Edna has posed.
"..... ......"
Edna stares. Icy blue eyes slightly widened.
"... ... She actually won. That keeps surprising me."
The faintest ghost of a smile forms on the Earth Seraph's face. No, not for Alisha's victory. Rather... ....
... For her own potential gains.
"Hmhmhmhm..." She chuckles lowly, already imagining the sweet, sweet spoils of Alisha's victory.
Edna is a great friend, guys.
<Pose Tracker> Alisha Diphda has posed.
Alisha looks down at Lemina, as she falls, and she lays there. She thinks of offering her hand -- but she spots the thumbs-up. She sighs, and then she crouches down on the ground next to her for a moment. She leans in so her words aren't so obvious -- for the sake of Lemina, for the guard.
"For... for what it's worth, Miss Ausa," she says, "I know you want to protect your home, too. I can respect that. Please, do take care of yourself. And tell Hiro that I hope he has recovered."
She smiles, briefly, at her. Then, she nods down at her, before she stands up. She raises her hand into the air, dagger glinting in the sunlight, and calls out: "Thank you, everyone!" she yells, to the crowd -- which is quite noisy at this point. "Remember to shop with the Sparrowfeathers! And please remember..."
Her eyes widen and she laughs awkwardly. "...M-Miss Lemina's sponsors...?"
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
Ragnell chuckles, tossing her now-empty stick to one side for some other sucker to clean up. This is a human construction, after all. Still, she claps at the outcome, then puts two fingers in her mouth for a LOUD whistle.
They both fought a great fight. Lemina really hung in there until the bitter end. And Alisha--she's really grown strong, hasn't she?