The Warrior's Way (Victoria)

It was difficult for her to do much of anything after launching her latest attack and Kalama soon found herself gripping onto her embedded sword for support. The humiliation she felt for being seen in such a way was irritating but that was something she would just have to live with. Her Judgement ability took a lot of concentration and energy to use which had sapped her already drained resources greatly. She was uncertain as to how much longer she could fight and in the back of her immensely stubborn mind, there was a part of her that was telling her that she had done enough, that her bloodlust was satiated and that survival should be her goal now. Yet, another part was saying something else. If she fell here then where would she end up? Thrown into a prison somewhere like any other villain? No. That was unacceptable. Kalama had not been through all of her hellish training just to end up like a caged animal. She was far more than that, The Chosen One, the one who would truly come to master the Force.

Her wounds were adding up by now and the horrible throbbing from both her chest and leg were sending waves of pain through her body, making it difficult for her to focus. The power of her Rage ability was all that was keeping her up and that would only last so long. There would be no third time and Kalama knew that twice was already once too often. The void of unhappiness that she would be forced to suffer through would be even greater now and the blonde’s temper was going to be horrific once that came into play. One step at a time though. She needed to win this battle first and that thought was what eventually brought her back to the fight, her temporarily red eyed gaze once more focused upon her foe.

Victoria was clearly in a poor state too and as Kalama glanced at the brunette’s dead left arm, there was a glimmer of satisfaction that briefly crossed the warrior’s face. Her foe would be unable to wield the majority of her weapons now and gave the blonde that extra spark that she needed in order to continue the fight. She had the chance to launch a telling blow but the dark mage was uncertain as to whether her own battered body could handle it. What could she use that could do enough damage? She could barely hold her saber, let alone attack with it. She would have to try something else but what?

The answer came to her eventually and she once more began to tap into her powers of darkness once more, using the indescribable pain as a source of power. Focusing on it was hardly the most practical decision but she had little option at this point and it was an effective motivator. Unable to move, she would remove one hand from her blade and fire a purple tendril of Force energy towards her foe. An unusual spell and if one was not careful, it could be misread as Kalama’s Choke skill. What it actually did was try and instil fear in the mind of those it struck and if Victoria was unable to escape the attack, that was what it would try to do, with the result being that her foe’s fear would actually be a form of healing for Kalama. In truth, the blonde’s accuracy and focus were low and the attack could quite easily miss altogether. Kalama just wanted to keep the pressure on at this point.

(603 Words)
(17461 Kal WC)
(35770 TWC)

To say that Victoria was in a bad place right now would be an understatement. Her left arm was useless, her left shoulder was bleeding, and she had been hit by a powerful attack from Kalama. To add to her woes Victoria had no idea how to begin hitting back against her adversary. Kalama had already seen many of Victoria's go-to spells and the brunette could not use Beam Cannon again thanks to her useless left arm... even if she could use the spell it would be risky because if Kalama deflected Beam Cannon and it hit Victoria that hit would be enough to tip the balance of the fight in the blonde mage's favor.

Kalama's red-eyed gaze falling on her spurred Victoria to think hard about her next move.

Her Derringer spell was of questionable use because Kalama had seen it so many times before, but if push came to shove it was not off the table. Her spells that required two hands to use were unavailable, so her old standbys Hand Cannon, Claymore Burst, and any of her larger weapons were unable to be used. Victoria could try to use her Submachine Gun or .44 Magnum Revolver with one hand if she felt daring enough, but the recoil would be uncontrollable and she would likely miss Kalama more than she hit the blonde. The .44 Magnum Revolver would be practically unusable since its enormous recoil would require the use of both hands to control.

So what could Victoria do to strike back at Kalama?

Victoria would use a spell she had used earlier and take a different approach. If she could not stop Kalama outright with sheer power, perhaps the brunette could at least land a hit here and there that kept the blonde from charging her and using that sword. Victoria already had a spell in mind for just that purpose. If she were in better shape she would try for a one-two spell combo to keep Kalama at bay, but the brunette was not in good shape. She was scraping the barrel trying to find something, anything to throw at her enemy.

For lack of a better option the brunette prepared a Heavy Pistol spell. She formed the fingers of her right hand into the shape of a gun and a wireframe barrel formed around her index and middle fingers. When it was ready Victoria aimed and fired the projectile at Kalama's left leg. Hurting the blonde's leg would buy Victoria some much-needed breathing room, but Kalama could dodge or deflect the projectile. Once the Heavy Pistol spell had been fired it was time to try and think of something else to use.

After firing the Heavy Pistol spell Victoria stopped to contemplate what spell she should use as a follow-up and spotted what could be best described as a purple rope made out of energy heading in her direction. The brunette was unable to take evasive action because of her slow reaction time and was hit by it, causing her to feel very strong fear, the kind of fear she had not felt since she was ten years old and cornered by slavers in a back alley in Capital Crocus.

The fear in that scenario was a lot worse than those times she was chased by German Shepherds when she was a street kid.

Shortly after being hit by Kalama's attack the brunette was visibly frightened. Victoria had wide eyes and was starting to visibly sweat; in addition to the physical signs she also had the mental paralysis that came with intense fear. At the moment she was unable to do much of anything other than try to will herself to regain a mental state where she could meaningfully fight back against Kalama.

That would be easier said than done, though.

[Post Word Count: 636]
[Victoria's Word Count: 19,044]
[Total Word Count: 36,406]

Spells Used:

The truth was that the blonde was unable to do much besides remain where she was. Her leg was sending such excruciating pain through her body that even with her training was difficult to harness properly. Her once perfect lightsaber stance was now little more than just her trying to stay on her feet. She could not advance at all at that point and all the warrior could do was hurl projectiles at her foe. It was irritating because it favoured Victoria more than herself but what could she honestly do? Try to charge and end up falling flat on her face? The only reason she was still standing at all was because of her pride and the shame that would fall upon her should she taste defeat. Kalama had started this fight and to end up on the losing end was unacceptable. That stubborn refusal to lose was pushing her onwards and kept her up. She would not fall until her opponent was defeated and that was the end of it. There was no other ending that would leave her satisfied.

It was not all doom and gloom though and she was narrowly able to deflect Victoria’s latest attack. It was yet another one that she had seen before which probably was what saved her. It was not a good deflection by any means though and was more of a cricket style of shot more than anything, just about defending her wounded leg. The healing effect from her Rage ability was not going to be repairing such a wound and the most it could do was just do minor regeneration. She needed to end the fight and soon for her weary mind and body were no longer functioning properly. The blonde had been pushed far further than she could have imagined when she had first entered the town that morning and to see herself in such a state would have been laughable back then. There was nothing amusing about it now though.

At the very least, her fear spell had seemed to have done something though and the fearful look in Victoria’s eyes brought a ghost of a smile to Kalama’s lips. She had not sensed any fear at all from the brunette up until now and to have managed to drag it out of her was quite an accomplishment or so she thought. She assumed it was why her foe did not launch another attack at her, instead leaving a window for Kalama to strike back herself but what should she use? There was practically nothing that she had not already used and she was limited in her current state. She was pretty much having to keep one hand on her weapon just to stay up.

In the end, she decided to keep things simple and eventually fired another barrage of her lightning towards her foe using her free hand. It was becoming difficult to focus but for the time being, her hatred was enough to allow her to use her more destructive powers and yet, that was as much a drawback as an advantage. Such reliance on her emotions caused mental fatigue and when that was added to her wounds, it left her in quite a fix. She was weakening, there was no doubt about that and soon enough, there would be no more lightning or anything else coming from her. Until that time, however, she would plod on, until there was nothing left for her to give. She supposed that with Victoria’s useless arm, they were about even in truth and the warrior was certain that the weariness that she felt was mirrored in her opponent. Her stubborn, thick headed opponent who refused to give up. She could not help but briefly ponder that she was reminded strongly of herself.

(634 Words)
(18095 Kal WC)
(37040 TWC)

Victoria's fear was beginning to wane a little, but she was still not going to charge right at Kalama and settle the fight with hand-to-hand combat any time soon. While her fear was starting to let up her left arm was still useless and would likely remain that way for the rest of the fight. Since hand-to-hand combat was not a viable option she would just need to hang back and keep slinging projectile-based spells.

The brunette wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her right hand and made eye contact with her enemy. Kalama was still holding her ground much like Victoria was holding her ground. Neither female mage was willing to concede an inch to the other. Victoria was not going to give up any ground if she could help it, but she was not sure how much longer she could remain standing. Her enemy had landed some big hits all throughout the fight and Victoria was not sure how much more she could take.

Victoria witnessed Kalama cast some lightning in her direction. The brunette turned left and began to run, narrowly managing to avoid the powerful lightning by the skin of her teeth. "Narrowly" meant that hesitating to run for even a second longer would have caused her to be hit in the right leg as she sprinted to safety. She had avoided quite a few hits by the skin of her teeth over the course of this fight, but luck would only get her so far.

After she had barely managed to dodge Kalama's latest attack Victoria needed to prepare one of her own just to keep Kalama on her toes. At this point the brunette was not overly focused on landing hits and was more focused on keeping Kalama at bay. That was going to be hard because her options were limited. Victoria, unable to think of anything decent to use at the moment, made eye contact with her enemy and maintained it while she tried to come up with something to throw at the blonde mage.

For lack of a better plan Victoria reached deep into her bag of spells and decided to use Claymore Blast again. Victoria channeled golden magic into her right fist and then dropped to a knee before punching the ground to fire off a 360-degree burst of steel ball bearings in Kalama's direction meant to keep the blonde on her toes. Kalama could either dodge them or deflect them like she had skillfully done several times earlier. After casting Claymore Blast Victoria then tried to think of something else she could use.

Victoria's ability to think was not at its best. Her left shoulder was hurting, she was still feeling the residual effects of fear, she was more than a little tired, and she had her back to the metaphorical wall. Her magic was a mixed blessing. She had varied projectile-based spells and firearms at her disposal, but if a smart opponent could dodge or deflect the spell projectiles or bullets a good deal of Victoria's offensive potential could be neutralized. This was the first time she had ever encountered someone smart enough, fast enough, and skilled enough at defensive fighting to limit her offensive potential as well as Kalama had.

The brunette briefly considered gambling and bringing out her .44 Magnum Revolver for one last chance at turning the fight around with some one-handed shooting, but a few considerations stopped her. First, she would only have one shot because the recoil would probably send the handgun flying out of her hand. Second, in her state there was no guarantee she could hold the weapon steady enough for an accurate shot with only one hand. Third, Kalama could deflect the round and make Victoria's day a lot worse than it already was with a skillful deflection that redirected the bullet to one of the brunette's vital regions. It went without saying that a deflected Armor-Piercing Round or Magnum Round that was redirected and managed to hit Victoria would be especially harmful.

When all of those factors were considered Victoria decided to hold off on using that particular tactic and look for another way to attack. Now was not a good time to come up short when it came to offense, but there was not a whole lot she really could do about it. Kalama had seen virtually everything Victoria had in her arsenal.

[Post Word Count: 738]
[Victoria's Word Count: 19,782]
[Total Word Count: 37,778]

Spells Used:

Her lightning attack did not hit home that time, sending a pulse of irritation through the blonde’s body. She did not have any time or energy to waste and her mind had already accepted the fact that the end was near. Her spirit was as powerful as ever but her body was just not responding as well any more. The Force was keeping her up and there were a few moments where the thought of retreat actually managed to break through her addled mind although they caused her to almost spit in disgust. The blonde was not satisfied, however, as Victoria was still standing before her. Her hatred for the brunette may have become tinged with begrudging respect but that did not change the fact that Kalama still wanted to cut the legal mage in two. Her Rage ability was still sending waves of magic power through her, allowing her to continue to deliver powerful attacks but just how many more could she cast before her powers failed her? More than that, there was nothing new truly left in her arsenal. She needed to expand her horizons when it came to magic, that much was for certain.

Yet another projectile attack came her way and Kalama was forced into a reluctant defensive position once more. Those ball bearings were more than familiar to her now and the weary warrior had no interest in having any more of them striking her body. Her reactions were not all that great at this stage but her connection to the Force kept her Soresu going, its strength allowing her to cause her red blade to move in a flowing motion. She had probably spent more time using the style during this fight than she had during her entire training but that only made sense. Kalama had been drawn to the more aggressive styles of lightsaber combat, some more useful than others. Her blade was able to clatter away the majority of the bearings but a few managed to reach her, causing yet another wound for her to have to be concerned about. It was adding up fast.

There was one last ace in the hole that she could call upon and it or more accurately he, had nothing to do with the Force at all. A companion that she had managed to subjugate during her dark journey. A creature with as dark a heart as hers and the only being that she had any sense of fondness towards. He had been there for her when she had needed something to keep her from becoming insane due to her loneliness and unhappiness. In truth, she was reluctant to summon him, as she so deeply wished to kill Victoria with her own hands but there were no other real options now.

Taking a deep breath, she would whistle, a shrill one that seemed to echo throughout the landscape and after a few seconds, her companion emerged from seemingly nowhere to stand beside his owner and what a beast he was. A horse, far taller than the greatest stallion and with red eyes that were filled with rage and wrath. He was jet black in colour and looked as though he had come from Hell itself, which was not all that far from the truth. The stories were that he had once been the steed of the fabled ‘Headless Horseman’, a dark avenger who had certainly lived up to his name.

The horse took one at the blonde warrior’s wounds and kicked the air behind him in anger, his temper no better than Kalama’s. Without a word from the dark mage, he would turn and charge towards Victoria, his powerful legs spurring him into a powerful canter. The earth beneath him would shake as he moved and four spiritual horses would appear beside him as he tried to crush the Sabertooth mage underfoot.

Doomreaver was his name and at that moment his only desire was to slaughter the woman in front of him.

(666 Words)
(18761 Kal WC)
(38444 TWC)

Victoria was somewhat pleased when a few of the steel ball bearings from Claymore Blast managed to hit Kalama, but the hit was not enough to swing the momentum of the fight in Victoria's favor. Kalama had seen practically every spell Victoria had to offer, so seeing the same spells used over and over made those spells easier to defend against. This time Victoria would mix things up with a Stun Grenade because up to this point that spell was one of the only spells she had not used again. It was worth a try because at this point Victoria had little left to lose by using the Stun Grenade.

Victoria opened her right hand and held it out, then channeled magic into it until she formed the Stun Grenade. She then lobbed the cylindrical grenade in the direction of Kalama's feet. Just like last time Kalama could defend against the Stun Grenade by kicking it back, throwing it back, kicking or throwing it away from her before it went off, or getting away from it before it went off. Whether Stun Grenade hit or not it would at least make Kalama waste a little bit of time.

After lobbing the projectile in Kalama's direction Victoria watched for her enemy's counterattack and was expecting something big, but instead Kalama whistled. Victoria was visibly surprised by that. She was not sure what to expect from her enemy suddenly whistling, but whatever was on the way, it was not going to be good.

Victoria witnessed the appearance of a very large horse with prominent red eyes and was wondering what Kalama intended to do with it.

Was Kalama going to climb onto its back, charge in on horseback, and try to murder Victoria that way?

Victoria was not sure what Kalama was planning to do, but the brunette did not have much time for guessing games because the horse got off to a running start and was charging directly at Victoria. The brunette could hear the loud sound of the hooves making contact with the ground and knew that she did not want those hooves striking her in the head, the left shoulder, or any other vital region. Victoria prepared to dodge when she saw that the large black horse was joined by more horses from nowhere and was visibly surprised by that unexpected event.

Without much time to spare, Victoria sprinted right and barely managed to clear the horses before being trampled, but in her haste to get away she almost fell down. During the sprint her left foot hit her right foot and she took three big stumbling steps before recovering her balance in time to avoid sprawling to the ground. If Victoria fell down now she would be in big trouble.

Victoria came to a stop and needed a bit of time to recover from both the exertion of running to safety and from nearly falling on her face during the sprint to safety. Attacking was the last thing on her mind right now. She was preoccupied with watching what Kalama did next and preparing to react to it. Remaining on the defensive was not how Victoria usually worked, but attacking recklessly was not a good idea either. Kalama was smart and skilled enough to exploit that mistake and make Victoria pay dearly for charging in blindly.

[Post Word Count: 558]
[Victoria's Word Count: 20,340]
[Total Word Count: 39,002]

Spells Used:

Even with Doomreaver now taking an active role in the fight, it appeared that Kalama was not out of the woods as she saw the stun grenade come flying towards her. She lacked the ability to move out of the way so all she could do was raise her hand and launch a Force Push at the object, sending it away from her and out of harm's way. It was a desperate move and as such, there was little in the way of aiming on her part, she just wanted the damned thing as far from her as possible. For the moment at least, she was able to stay on her feet and although the pain that was ever increasing was taking more of a toll, the blonde simply grit her teeth and scowled. She had to dig deeper, just a little further, in order to draw out the last drops of her magical power. Her mind was beginning to fog over a little with exhaustion and the hand that was gripped on her blade trembled slightly from that weariness. Falling was not an option though. Not now, not until the fight was done.

Her horse narrowly missed striking Victoria and Doomreaver was instantly annoyed with the result, snorting with fury as he turned around. Oh, he could follow orders well enough but he was also capable of taking the initiative himself and no sooner was he prepared that he decided to charge once more, determined to catch the brunette this time under his hooves. His hatred was infinite in amount, a rage that had lasted for eons. He had carried those lucky enough to summon him into countless battles throughout history and always on the rider with the blackest heart and most malicious of intent. A creature born for destruction and a purpose that he always strived to fulfill. In truth, the wrathful beast had only been in Kalama’s ownership for a short period of time but that had been more than enough for him to commit to her. A soul dark enough to mirror his own. He would follow her to the ends of the Earth and beyond. The blonde would always have the high ground, with him by her side.

Kalama watched her beast charge once more and decided to aid him with his endeavor. Raising her left hand, she would again make that unusual gesture, resulting in a spiritual version of her limb to fly towards Victoria. The reasoning was simple. If the blonde could keep her enemy in her vice like grip then what chance did she have of escaping her horses charge? There was time for the legal mage to get out of trouble but with two opponents instead of one now, Kalama wondered if she would be able to in her sorry state. The time had come to put as much pressure as possible on the green eyed mage, before Kalama’s energy ran out.

They were both knackered and the end drew ever nearer but as the dark mage watched her latest attack fly, she could not help but start to feel satisfied in a way. Her bloodlust was satiated and Victoria had truly given her what she had wanted all along, a true test of her abilities. There was much that the dark mage would have to muse about after it was all over and she had clearly underestimated the strength of her opponent. Still, it only inspired Kalama to reach for new heights and a higher level of power. This was only the start for the amber eyed warrior and that thought brought a wicked grin to her face for a moment.

(611 Words)
(19372 Kal WC)
(39613 TWC)

Victoria watched Kalama push the Stun Grenade away from her and the cylindrical grenade exploded at a distance too far away to do anything to Kalama, but that did not bother Victoria. The whole point of using that spell was to make Kalama waste a little bit of time having to counter it. That had been accomplished, but now Victoria had to figure out what spell she would use next. She would have to think fast because the horse who looked like it had leapt straight off the cover of a death metal album was making a second attempt to run her down and trample her beneath his hooves. Naturally the brunette did not want that to happen.

Victoria thought quickly and came up with another time-waster for Blondie to contend with. What better time-waster than another grenade? Using a normal Grenade should buy her another few seconds and make Kalama focus her attention on something other than trying to murder Victoria.

Victoria held out her right hand, channeled dark green magic into it, and formed another Grenade to lob in Kalama's direction with the intent for it to land at Blondie's feet. Just like with the Stun Grenade Kalama could defend against it by using the same methods. She could throw it away, kick it away, or otherwise send it elsewhere before it detonated. Victoria lobbed the Grenade in Kalama's direction, but she did not have much time to watch where the projectile landed because she had two threats to contend with.

Kalama had used the same spell she had used to strangle Victoria and Victoria was too tired from dodging the Death Metal Horse's first charge to avoid the spectral arm. The brunette was grabbed around the throat and felt the deeply unpleasant strangling sensation take hold. While she was being strangled she could see Death Metal Horse charging right at her.

Victoria was powerless to do anything about it.

Victoria was hit squarely by the horse's charge and felt pain that was hard to put into words. Well, polite words anyway. The brunette felt the wind be knocked right out of her and felt the horse's hooves hit her legs, hurting them badly. After taking that powerful hit Victoria was sent tumbling to the ground, rolling for six full rotations before ending up face-down on the grass.

Victoria audibly groaned in pain as she lay on the ground. She had to get up before either Kalama or Death Metal Horse could attack her again, but her left arm was still useless, so she could not use it to get up from the ground. Victoria only had her right arm to reply upon, so she began to slowly and carefully get up off the ground. Her legs hurt badly and she struggled to breathe as she slowly and painfully raised herself to her knees.

After completing that step the brunette pushed against the ground with her right arm and slowly lifted herself up, her legs visibly trembling as she did so. She clenched her teeth as she forced herself to her feet and wobbled a few times during the transition stage between kneeling and standing, but Victoria finally got to her feet and stood upright. Her legs were visibly bruised where the hooves had hit them; her legs hurt badly and her breathing was labored, but Victoria was on her feet again.

The real challenge would be remaining on them.

[Post Word Count: 572]
[Victoria's Word Count: 20,912]
[Total Word Count: 40,185]

Spells Used:

As the grenade came towards her, Kalama reacted instinctively and rather foolishly in truth as she tried to slice the grenade in two as it came towards her. The result was the bloody thing blowing up in her face and knocking her backwards. It did not seem to have been a powerful attack and the blonde warrior was surprised by the apparent lack of damage that she received. Still, it had come after she had cast her grip spell so at least it had not interfered with her latest attack. Her leg unfortunately gave way again due to the knockback though and Kalama found herself dropping onto her good knee. The left one was becoming more and more painful though, with Kalama feeling surprised that it was still there to be honest, she could not take much more damage in that area. No, the truth was that she could not take much more damage full stop.

Thankfully, the combination of her attack and Doomreaver’s had been successful and as her horse came to a halt beside her, he seemed pleased, his red eyes blazing with bloodlust. With one look at her leg, he beckoned her towards him and whinnied loudly, encouraging her to mount him. Given that Victoria was barely even standing, Kalama saw no reason why not and so she awkwardly did just that, her teeth grinding against each other as she forced herself onto her powerful beast. It was the obvious move to make but mounting him hurt like hell. Eventually though, she was aboard him, her lightsaber held in one hand. He would have to do the moving for her now although at least using the Force would be easier on top of him.

Victoria barely seemed to be able to stand and so Kalama would kick her horse in the side with her good leg in order to send him forwards once more. If he could not hit her again then perhaps the blonde could catch Victoria with her blade as they rode by. Kalama had a fair amount of practice on horseback and was confident that she could handle herself. The issue was that Doomreaver was not exactly the most acrobatic horse and the warrior was wary about what would happen should Victoria use her more advanced techniques. Ending up underneath her great beast was not what she wanted but it was a risk that she had to take. Her swarming style just would not work any more with her leg in such a state and she did not have the time to heal. If she was going to take Victoria’s head today then it would have to be through another method.

Rather than use the same ability he had previously, Doomreaver would instead unleash a frightening whinny that could paralyse the strongest willed person if they were not careful. Kalama knew that her foe was unlikely to be affected too strongly though. Victoria was so tough and she had barely been affected by Kalama’s fear based attack in the past. She had a backbone and a strong resolve, which were the best defences against such abilities. At this point, Victoria would need everything she had left because if Kalama struck her again with her blade or should the brunette fall under Doomreaver’s hooves then it could well be over this time.

“Crush her, my beast.” Kalama growled, the first words that she had uttered in a long, long time. Her words were as filled with hatred as they had at the start and although her mind and body might have been fading, her spirit was as strong as ever. Her words spurred her horse on and the mighty stallion began to close in on the Sabertooth mage at a startling pace. Kalama meanwhile had her saber ready, in case the chance came for her to strike from her position.

(645 Words)
(20017 Kal WC)
(40830 TWC)

In between Kalama's strangulation spell and being hit by the charge of Death Metal Horse Victoria felt as bad as she looked.

Her breathing was irregular from a combination of the effect of Kalama's most recent spell and being struck by the speeding horse. Her legs were badly bruised from being hit by the hooves. Her left arm was still useless from the numerous bullet wounds to the shoulder. The silver lining was that Kalama had bisected the Grenade in mid-air with her fancy red sword and had been knocked back a bit when the grenade went off... that outcome was mildly amusing to Victoria, who wished that she had thrown a Sticky Grenade instead for a bigger and possibly more painful blast. Like the old saying went, hindsight was always 20/20.

The modicum of amusement Victoria had derived from watching the Grenade go off on Kalama quickly faded when she saw Blondie climb on board Death Metal Horse. That was not something the brunette wanted to see. Now Kalama would have a height and reach advantage thanks to her perch on board Death Metal Horse, not to mention a sizable speed boost because the black steed moved surprisingly fast for a horse of its size and stature. Almost immediately the brunette began trying to think of a way to counter the unholy team of angry blonde and angry black horse.

Victoria's best bet would be to shoot Death Metal Horse a few times to try and knock Kalama off of her steed, but the brunette would need a large-caliber weapon like an anti-materiel rifle or an elephant gun to even hurt the horse. Anything smaller would only make it angrier than it already was. However, Victoria's left arm was useless, so even if she had access to that kind of firepower she could not effectively use it.

She watched as Kalama spurred the horse into another furious charge intended to trample the Sabertooth mage into an unidentifiable pile of red mush on the ground. Victoria did not want to be hit by the horse again, so her mind continued to run through ideas to stop the horse before it could slam into her and finish what it had started earlier. She kept returning to the idea of attacking the horse instead of the rider, but the brunette was not sure how to go about it. Her .44 Magnum Revolver might do the trick, but the weapon's recoil was so intense that it might fly out of her right hand after a single shot. However, the sight of a horse bearing down on her with murder on its mind made Victoria consider options that she had previously ruled out as impractical.

The horse suddenly made an unearthly noise and Victoria felt herself in the grip of fear that clouded her judgment and caused her to hesitate for several valuable moments that allowed the horse to get closer. Victoria fought back the fear long enough to think a little clearly and come up with a plan.

The plan that came to mind was to throw down a Sticky Grenade on her present location and use it as an improvised land mine against the charging horse. Her logic was that the horse might be so blinded by bloodlust that it would not notice the Sticky Grenade on the ground until it went off, ideally beneath the beast. However, there were a couple of concerns keeping Victoria from immediately putting the plan into action.

First, there was the important issue of Victoria needing to get clear of the blast radius once the grenade was dropped. A second important issue was Kalama picking up on the ruse the moment the brunette threw down the grenade and steering the horse away from it. Both of those problems would need to be accounted for, but there was little time to plot out every single detail... she would need to act before she got trampled. Due to the pressing need to act before it was too late, Victoria decided to go for the grenade idea anyway.

She created the Sticky Grenade in her right hand and dropped it at her feet, then began alternating between sprinting and hobbling in a straight line away from it, hoping to lead Kalama and Death Metal Horse into its blast radius. However, Kalama might see the pulsing red light in the center of the grenade lying on the ground and steer her horse away from it before it went off or have the horse speed up and run past the grenade before it went off. Victoria could have also botched the timing of the grenade drop due to stress and the grenade would detonate before Kalama rode over it. Her plan might not work for a variety of reasons, but at this point Victoria was willing to try it at least once.

Victoria continued to alternate between running and hobbling to safety as her legs permitted, hoping that she could put some distance between herself and Kalama before the blonde and her horse could close the distance and try to trample the brunette into the ground or stab her from behind. If Kalama looked closely she could see Victoria's hands shaking from a combination of stress, fatigue, and the lingering effects of the horse's fear-inducing noise attack.

[Post Word Count: 886]
[Victoria's Word Count: 21,798]
[Total Word Count: 41,716]

Spells Used:

It was not difficult for Doomreaver to start closing the gap due to Victoria’s injuries and it seemed that the result was obvious. Her horse would trample right over the blonde’s foe and end this fight once and for all. Yet, Kalama’s eyes did not leave Victoria’s shuffling form, knowing all too well that she might just try and pull something on her and her great beast. Doomreaver was sturdy but the dark mage was not honestly certain as to how much damage he could take. He was a mysterious creature and as of yet, Kalama had not tested his full capabilities. Perhaps now was as good a time as any and with a foe as stout as the brunette was, it would be a test for him, even with Victoria being so badly wounded at this point.

Not that Kalama could talk. Her wounds were well and truly wracked up by now and she knew that if it was not for her horse, she would certainly not be moving anywhere. The healing effects that were upon her were so slow and given how poor she was in that field, even her most powerful supportive spell would not help her that much. For an offensive mage such as herself to have been forced to use such skills was a testament to Victoria’s tenacity and power. Kalama was uncertain as to whether she would come across such a foe again, a thought that actually made her feel rather unhappy. There was a sense of bliss, alongside the anger and rage, to have gone toe to toe with such a strong foe. Kalama was not even sure who the stronger of the two actually was, as Victoria’s magical aura seemed as vibrant as her own. By the end of the fight though, she would have her answer, even if it was one that displeased her.

Her attention was rather swiftly drawn to a sudden red light that appeared to stem from the ground before her. Knowing Victoria’s fondness for explosives, it did not take more than a moment for Kalama to twig as to what it was. A grenade of some kind, no doubt and the blonde frowned as Doomreaver closed it on it at full speed. She had no idea if her beast could survive running over it and she hissed into his ear. “Move out of the way of it, before you cripple us both.” The horse, however, completely ignored her and plowed forwards, building up even more speed, preparing himself for the inevitable explosion that was to come.

Irritated by her horse’s defiance, the blonde made the only real move that she could make, surrounding herself with a Force Shield to defend from the explosion. Unfortunately, it was only a single target ability and she could not shield her mount but given his stubbornness, she was not awfully bothered about protecting him anyway. Taking a hit might teach him a lesson or so she hoped.

She had just finished casting her spell when Doomreaver stepped on the mine, resulting in a powerful blast of energy that sent waves of heat through the blonde warrior. Her shield took the blow and seemed to take her opponent’s spell, feeling no additional pain or wounds. Her vision turned white for a moment, before clearing to find herself still riding upon her horse, chasing Victoria down. Doomreaver had taken the grenade without even slowing down, a feat that caused Kalama’s eyebrow to rise. Whatever he was made of, it was strong stuff and she could not help but muse as to whether he truly was a stallion of Hell. She had claimed it but had not had bullet proof evidence to support it.

Now fully on the attack and having the oh so precious high ground, Kalama would raise her saber, aiming to lop off Victoria’s head with a single swing of her lightsaber. The gap had closed so much that the blonde could see every sign of weakness in her wounded prey. Victoria reeked of it and that only inspired both horse and rider.

(682 Words)
(20699 Kal WC)
(42398 TWC)

Victoria continued to scramble to safety as hard as she could. She did not dare look back because she did not have the coordination to look back and move in a straight line at the same time without running the risk of falling over. When she heard the Sticky Grenade go off she was not sure if her pursuers were still after her or not, so she did something that was more than a little risky and stopped running.

After quickly decelerating she ignored her aching legs and quickly turned around to see if Kalama and Death Metal Horse had been hurt by the blast. She stared at the area for a few moments and was visibly stunned to see both horse and rider seemingly unharmed by the Sticky Grenade and heading right for her. Victoria's jaw dropped so low to the ground that she could practically taste the ground at her feet.

What was it going to take to stop that horse?

A satchel charge?

A direct hit from a Main Battle Tank's main gun?

A direct hit from a railgun projectile?

Something even heavier than all the other options?

The answer seemed like it was going to be "something even heavier than all the other options" because the brunette had no idea what it took to stop Death Metal Horse. If a Sticky Grenade could not stop it, she was not sure what would. Since her plan to knock Kalama off of the horse did not pan out, Victoria was going to have to try something else to at least make an effort to fight back. Her Rocket Launcher and Grenade Launcher were out of the question because of her useless left arm, but she did not have much time to worry about attacking because she had other concerns.

Kalama was riding right towards her with her fancy red sword in an attack position and was quickly closing the distance. Victoria needed to be careful about how she dodged because she did not want to avoid that fancy red sword only to get trampled by Death Metal Horse. Victoria decided to try and disrupt Kalama's attack with an attack of her own, but the brunette needed to time it just right.

Victoria put some strain on her legs to pull ahead of Kalama for roughly seven seconds. With the distance she had gained in that window of time she then abruptly shifted momentum and did a U-turn, coming to a stop to face her pursuer. Victoria quickly raised her right wrist and a wireframe mini-crossbow formed on her wrist. She aimed the weapon at Kalama and tried to make allowances for speed, distance, and direction. Once she had made the best guess she was able to make Victoria fired the mini-crossbow bolt in the general direction of Kalama. Kalama could deflect the projectile or dodge it if it did not miss without any action on the blonde mage's part thanks to Victoria's fatigue and stress throwing off her aim.

After firing the projectile Victoria turned to run and only made it fifteen running steps before her legs rebelled and would not allow her to run any further. She made it an additional ten gradually decelerating steps before losing all momentum and coming to a painfully abrupt halt. Her legs were hurting from a combination of being hit by the horse's hooves and from all the dodging and running she had done up to this point.

With no other choice Victoria turned to face her attacker. Victoria was having to dig really deep to keep going this long, but she was not sure how much deeper she could dig before she ran out of stamina. She hoped that her legs could recover fast enough to give her a chance to dodge whatever came next.

[Post Word Count: 636]
[Victoria's Word Count: 22,434]
[Total Word Count: 43,034]

Spells Used:

The blonde warrior was beginning to wonder if Victoria had anything left and considering how easily her horse was catching up to her that it was difficult for the dark mage not to think that the fight was over. Neither of them were attacking with the same vigour as before and Kalama was running low on energy. Even the Force was struggling to keep her focused now and she knew that the fight had to end. Her bloodlust was starting to fade away at a faster rate and the side effects of her Rage ability were starting to build once more. Her anger was changing to despair and misery, which would not help her in the slightest in the fight. She needed to finish her foe off and then move on. There was nothing else for it which would mean that her aim to destroy the Ace Of Spades would have to be postponed. Survival was the goal now. Nothing else.

Apparently she had been wrong about Victoria’s tank being empty, as the brunette once again turned around to fire a bolt from her miniature crossbow. The accuracy of the shot was all over the place but due to Doomreaver’s clumsy and powerful stride, he moved her into the path of the attack. On any other day, Kalama would have been able to dodge or block it but with her growing fatigue, the bolt managed to slip past her guard and strike her in the left shoulder, resulting in an unpleasant pain and slowing of her movements. Whether it was poison or something else, she did not know but it definitely had an effect on her and caused her gaze to briefly blur. Her amber eyes losing their intensity for a few moments.

Doomreaver, however, had no such problems and continued to hound the legal mage, his pace not dropping for a moment as he flocked after the legal mage. His wish to kill Victoria was as strong as ever and being hit by him would feel like a tonne of bricks had fallen on top of you. Kalama could feel the determination that burned through him and it invigorated her somewhat. Yet, it was only a temporary high and would only help her for so long. Kicking him in the flank with her good leg, she would continue to encourage him onwards towards their prey.

It was becoming more difficult for her to summon her powers but she was just about able to summon another spark of lightning that would travel towards Victoria. It would feel as unpleasant as ever if it struck but it was only the first in a two punch combination, given how close Doomreaver was to bowling Victoria over. A severe test of the brunette’s remaining agility and one that she probably needed to pass. There was a touch of desperation in both her movements and posture now, a sign that she was running out of energy herself and swiftly. The longer the fight continued, the more trouble she would be in.

(507 Words)
(21206 Kal WC)
(43541 TWC)

Victoria was surprised to see her Debilitating Mini-Crossbow shot hit Kalama. She found herself more than a little surprised by the successful hit considering the odds she had to overcome just to have a chance of making the shot, but it was a pleasant surprise. She did not have long to celebrate because the blonde mage retaliated with a bolt of lightning that slammed into her chest, causing the brunette to feel burning pain throughout her body. Victoria soon recovered from the lightning bolt enough to regain feeling throughout her body, but she was not going to be running very far or very fast.

By the time the electricity had coursed through her body Death Metal Horse had closed the distance and was charging directly at her. The brunette, having put a lot of strain on her legs to outpace the black horse and having put even more strain on them with the U-turn that put her in a place to face Kalama, turned to try and get out of the way, but she was too slow. Death Metal Horse slammed right into her back as she turned around to run and sent her sprawling forward to the ground, where she landed hard on her chest and lay on her stomach for several seconds to assess the extent of her injuries.

Victoria's right leg was hurting badly from where the horse's hooves had made contact with it, but the right side of her back was also hurting from where the horse had slammed into her. Her breathing was labored from the lingering effects of Kalama's lightning attack plus the force of the impact she had just taken. She also felt the pain in her right arm and that pain worried her quite a bit.

If she lost the use of her right arm now, she would be unable to get off of the ground, let alone fight back.

Victoria hurried to get up before the horse came around for another pass. She pushed against the ground with her right arm and felt another jolt of pain. She hoped that it was not broken or fractured anywhere as she continued to push against the ground with her right arm and began to use her legs to push herself up. Both legs hurt badly, but the pain would be a lot worse if the horse caught her lying on the ground.

The brunette slowly and painfully rose to her knees, then began working on rising to her feet. She ignored the pain in her right arm and both legs and continued to push until she got to her feet, then began standing up. She had almost reached a standing position when her legs wobbled and she staggered forward three steps before she caught herself and remained upright, but she had caught herself just in time. Had she staggered any further she would have landed on the ground again.

Victoria stood in place for a few moments to make sure that she would be able to remain standing before looking for her opponents. Once she was fairly certain that she would not fall over she turned around and looked for Kalama. Keeping her eye on the horse and rider would go a long ways towards increasing Victoria's chances of escaping this fight battered and bruised but alive.

[Post Word Count: 554]
[Victoria's Word Count: 22,988]
[Total Word Count: 44,095]

There was no instant follow up from Kalama after both her and her horses successful attacks, instead the two just watched as the brunette flailed around on the ground. The amount of pleasure that Kalama took from the sight was immense and she truly hoped that every bone in her enemy's body was wracked with agony. Her gaze lacked the wrath and anger that it had once had, due to her falling energy levels but she would not say no to dealing even more damage to the Sabertooth mage. The fight was becoming more than just a battle of attrition, it was one of ego. She had only moments ago been planning about ending things quickly and fleeing but this was coming up against her natural instinct to fight until she was physically unable to. Yet, she knew that the latter could end up with her facing the humiliation of capture, which was far worse than death. A bullet from Victoria to the head would be a far more satisfying end for her but of course, the brunette was a legal mage and they lacked the stomach to do such things. Ironically enough, the dark mage herself had once been on that side of the spectrum too, when concepts such as honour and justice had any meaning to her.

“You are one tough bitch.” The dark warrior wearily stated, the blood from her wounds starting to come through her armour at this point.

That was all she said before sending Doomreaver rose up on his hind legs for a moment, almost dislodging his fatigued rider, before slamming his front legs down again and charging once more towards the target. The horse only had two abilities, both of which had already been since but they had both been so successful that Kalama was not entirely concerned about that. He had turned the tide of the battle in her favour and as much as she hated leaning on anyone, her mount had no doubt saved her from taking further damage.

Relying once more on his spiritual charge ability, he would summon a group of ghost horses who rode alongside him, all of which were bearing down upon Victoria at great speed. Doomreaver still appeared to be as fresh as a daisy and Kalama had no doubt that he would be able to fight at his best for some time. Still, the blonde was not going to underestimate the brunette again and even with the high ground, Kalama was still half expecting her enemy to have another trick up her sleeve, another grenade that would be dropped or hurled in her direction. Honestly, she could not take much more of anything but she sure as hell was not going to proclaim that to her foe.

Kalama did not attack herself this time around but what she did do was tap into her healing powers, attempting to repair some of the damage she had taken. It would appear as a green aura around her, one that Victoria had probably already seen.

(507 Words)
(21713 Kal WC)
(44602 TWC)