The Slayer's Challenge: Ibara & Duchess Rae Havoc

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The young dragon listened to her words attentatively for only a few short moments in that lapse of time before the wind began to pick up. They struck home and it caused him to grimace momentarily. Luckily that short momentary temperament was interrupted by the immediate completion of the task should he not want to get blown off the sky platform and into nothingness. Instead he complied and found the light washing over him in a similar fashion to his rather angered partner only a few metres behind him; the task was completed.

A falling sensation immediately ensued and overwhelmed the young dragon's ever-falling body as he plummeted towards the seemingly endless abyss. How long had they been falling? Five minutes? It's as if they were travelling directly to the centre of the earth; Ibara hoped he hadn't jynxed that. However, being met with a wall of lava may have been a better alternative for the challenge he was about to face which neared closer and closer with each passing second. The Duchess was ahead of him due to her rather inferior weight and a splash emanated from below; it couldn't be.. Shit.

Ibara brought his hands over his head as he too careered into the overlapping shades of blue below him. There his body was momentarily frozen in a liquid that he absolutely despised, drenching his clothes from head-to-toe and quenching the erupting flames that had been flailing around his feet for several seconds beforehand. He glanced around him to analyse his surroundings, the Duchess was above but Ibara couldn't tell where; fishes swam around him, inspecting him out of pure curiosity. Was this Xiuhcoatl's interpretation of a joke? If it was the case -- it wasn't a very funny one.

The young dragon brought an enclosing hand over his mouth to stop the occasional tremules of water vacating and hiding in the depths of his throat. He did his best to swim to the surface but, truth be told, he didn't know in which direction he was deciding to swim. Was the surface getting closer or farther away? It was a question that could only bee answered through one factor; time itself.

To the dragon's relief, he had reached the surface but the circumstances were less than comfortable for a man of his stature and mental security. There he swam to the surface and opened his eyes, flicking his hair backwards so it lapsed from his forehead and sat in a wet pile atop his head, pulled back over his features. There was no space between him and the Duchess now unlike before. Her practically half-naked body pressed up against his own. He swallowed a gulp and the water literally began to steam around him.

"What are you.."

Ibara couldn't finish the rest of his sentence as he was suddenly dragged underneath the wall of blue once more. His embarrassment was quenched but by less than satisfactory circumstances. Pain erupted from his calf as he glanced down to look at the assailant. A shark, thirty feet long, rivalling some of the tallest buildings Ibara had ever laid eyes on. There it was, jaws locked around Ibara's leg, dragging him deeper and deeper. His spells were ineffective and his inability to swim at even a primary level left him practically helpless as the shark threw him close to drowning point. Ibara's vision grew blacker, light began to fade.

"H-help.. me.."

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Ibara dangled helplessly from the Duchess' grasp, his arms by his sides, pointing vertically downwards while his head drooped against his chest. It had been only a few seconds before he had come to, awake and a few feet above the ground. The thought had shocked him, that he'd transitioned from sea, to land to air in such a short space of time. He took a moment to ascertain his surroundings and what the hell he was doing up here when the challenge was meant to be entirely water-based. Was this even possible? Xiuhcoatl wouldn't intervene at all?

The thought had barely crossed his mind when he felt an overwhelming pressure begin to be exerted towards the two, almost dragging them back towards the ground instantaneously. Xiuhcoatl's magical pressure was forcing them towards the ground; clearly he didn't take well to loopholes as Ibara grimaced for a third time, the ever-approaching water wasn't his favourite place to be in the world. Obviously Rae couldn't hold them both and Ibara, despite previous predicaments, could swim to the nth degree. He wasn't so incompetent that he couldn't do so, he just hated the substance he inhabited while enduring swimming.

"We'll swim together. No more carrying, you'll wear yourself out before we even finish."

Despite Ibara's rather comedic approach to the challenge, his tone emanated with seriousness, his face even more so. Clearly Ibara didn't want to be a burden any longer, he was determined to finish this despite the graceful, yet deadly sharks lurking beneath and his inability to swim away from them. Steam radiated from around Ibara's figure, his tremendously high body heat literally caused bubbles to arise around him. There was no stopping such a fired up individual now. He began swimming off without even looking back, confident that his partner would follow suit.

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Ibara didn't respond in much length while simultaneously glancing to the wound he'd received only a few moments beforehand at the hands of a rather deadly shark, who's appearance still bewildered him to this very moment. He cursed himself a few times under his breath, turning away from the Duchess, his head pushed against his chest in a slightly reconciling moment of shame. He'd completely failed that challenge and it was unbeknownst to the young dragon how they'd both passed when truly; it was only one of them who'd actually dealt, endured and completed the task they were faced with. In truth, Ibara never would have been able to complete the challenge by himself, water opposed him in all aspects, he was a fire dragon slayer after all and to be faced with his opposite element in such quantities in a challenge of both endurance and survival? The prospect was too much, let alone the actual performance. Ibara clenched his hands again and gritted his teeth, turning back around to the half-naked Duchess, he'd ditched the blushing notion that he'd so tenderly placed on his face up 'till now. Truth be told, he'd gotten used to seeing her body, after all, he'd gotten very close and personal in the last challenge, he wouldn't let an emotion such as embarrassment so easily slip for the third time.

After deep consultation with himself within the duration of roughly five minutes of absolute silence, he turned back to his partner. A glance of bewilderment adorned the features of his frame, he'd taken the time to glance around at his surroundings while remaining in deep-thought, despite his rather dim-witted mental capacity at times, Ibara was an excellent multi-tasker and he employed this ability rather simply at that specific moment. To the point. The two wizards were enclosed within an iron dome, no windows, no real walls, a dome in it's entirety. The location lacked any features other than the grey and silver gleams that refracted off eachother every so often. A room of complete silence, so quiet in fact, that even the individual heartbeats of the two mages could be heard despite the sound emanating from the very depths of their bodies. Everything was pitch-quiet and neither decided to speak, there was something coming. A ominous feeling overwhelmed them naturally; this was a challenge, it wouldn't be no walk in the park.

"Thought so.."

Ibara presumed as two circular formations formed within the steel ground beneath them. Not so much as to enclose them within a trap that Xiuhcoatl had devised but to release two iron behemoths that emerged from the ground. They towered above the two mages, dwarfing them in size; Ibara only hoped for what they made up in size that they lacked in power. The young fire dragon was wrong. The atronach, so it was titled, brought it's hand downwards within close vicinity to the young dragon wizard; clearly intending to break Ibara's bones upon contact. Despite Ibara's rather steadfast mindset, the young dragon was quick, agile on his feet and narrowly dodged the fist, pushing off it and rolling towards the ground to analyse the situation further. The other steel atronach was closing in on the Duchess but hadn't yet made contact. He didn't have time to save her; besides, he knew she could fend for herself.

"There's one for each of us. Finally, my kind of challenge."

Ibara grinned; a spike-toothed grin that was more menacing than charming as he lept to his feet; hands emblazoned with fire, feet too. His stance didn't show for much, a casual slumped look. One hand on his waist, his back slouched with a half-assed preparative combative motion towards the atronach; the young dragon simply snapped his fingers as if expecting a servant of his to come in and attack his opponent for him. The assumption was close. The sound of snapping fingers echoed around the room for several seconds. Nothing happened. Ibara began counting, that same spiky-toothed grin on his face.

"3... 2... 1..."

As the count was released, the atronach burst into a sea of draconic flames. Too hot for even the Duchess to fathom, Ibara's power had spiked tenfold, seemingly much more impressive than beforehand. Ibara's determination to impress both Xiuhcoatl and to not be detrimental to the challenges that he'd face in the future tremendously strengthened him and acted as his resolution for the rest of this job. Ibara wouldn't fail, clearly so as the atronach simply melted into a pile of liquidated steel at the hands of the young dragon's vicious flames.