Once again, the newest sparing pair was on the field.
Whistle, decked out in his fashionable wine-dyed duster with three matching quivers, one on his back, then on his hips, and another attached to his thigh. He quietly inspect his long bow in one hand while adjusting his glasses with the other.
Dian, on the other hand stood in her usual non revealing outfit, but along with her was her combat harness covered in glass vials filled with red and blue liquids. They looked like potions, but infact were blood. She twirled her elven kukris in her hands before preparing her combat stance.
"What's with all the potions?" Whistle tauntingly asked. "I don't think you're supposed to use them as armor!"
"You worry about yourself arrow-boy. You won't be able to land a single hit on me anyways."
"That's rather cocky of you." He taunted again.
"Cocky!? My 'confidence' is based in fact!"
"The 'fact' is... you can't deflect a single one of my arrows."
Dian let out a pompous laugh. "Fine. Let's make our duel to first blood, and I'll even let you take the first shot."
"That's all I need." He confidently declared.
Whistle drew from his thigh quiver. It had the fewest arrows, but for him it weighed the heaviest. A single full metal arrow with a sharpened tip and barely any fletching. Dian could see this.
"That's that arrow you're gonna shoot me with? That couldn't hit the broadside of a barn!"
"It will hit exactly what I want it to hit."
Dian stood ready while he knocked the metal arrow. It was cumbersome. His hands shook trying to support it's weight against the bowstring. Even an amateur could tell it would take a miracle for it to strike Dian, but Whistle didn't need it to hit her for him to win.
The arrow was launched. It was sluggish and off mark. Dian realized in an instant she didn't need to deflect it, let alone dodge it as it whizzed past and embedded itself into the dirt behind her. She turned to look at it with a smirk. "You miss --"
She was cut off by the sudden full force of a kick to the head.
She hit the ground with a thud while Whistle rolled past back onto his feet.
Dian slowly recovered from her hit, getting up on all fours and spitting blood on the ground. "You win..." She quietly admitted.
"Here." Whistle offered a hand to lift her back up. "That was a bit of a cheap shot on my part. Best 2 out of 3?"
Dian calculated for a moment. She did get cocky. This failure was her's. She lost fair and square. She was about to reject, but he spoke again.
"Come on. We're doing this so we see how everyone fights, and I want to see how hard you can kick my ass."
There it was. That switch in Dian's head. One flick... and the flirty sadist it out. And Whistle just accidentally hit it.
She took his hand, stood, and squeezed until he yelped, and let go. "Ow! What was that for?" He pleaded. Dian stepped close to tower over him and gently put a finger under his chin. "You're gonna regret giving me another chance, kitten~."
Whistle didn't know what he immediately felt. Fear? Arousal? That weird uncertainty of getting back together with an ex?
We have to settle with all three for now.
Dian pulled away and picked up the metal arrow. "Neat trick; dummy arrow to distract me while you run up for a hit." Whistle got his composure back having realized he had a moment to brag.
"It's not a distraction, it's an anchor."
"Anchor?"
"Yes. The primary magics used where I come from are polarity and metallurgy. It's all about moving metals and moving ourselves around metal. That arrow is made of tungsten. Terrible metal for an actual arrow, but it's so dense that it can't be moved, but I can easily move myself to and from it."
Dian inspect the arrow for a few more seconds before handing it back. "I guess it's time I show you what I'm capable of, but I'll be making the first move this time."
"Seems only fair." He gracefully replied before retaking his position. As he turned to look back at Dian he noticed something was off. He couldn't put a finger on it, but his instincts were telling him something was new about her. Something scary. Something predatory.
He tried to steel himself. He's imagining things, he figured. That flirtatious remark was still messing with him, and he's just feeling a little on edge. Certainly that was it, right?
Whistle's frantic thoughts were not of his doing. Before she handed the arrow back, Dian used the excess blood in her mouth to activate one of her latent monstrous abilities; Fear pheromones from a man-eating plant in her homeland that she put on the arrow.
The pheromone would cause a slow decent into peril. If he didn't resist, he'd face temporary madness; he may even forget friend from foe.
It was a dirty play, but Dian didn't care for such trivial concepts. She wanted to see a scared little kitten.
And Dian gets what she wants.
"Are you ready to begin?" Dian asked with a sinister tone, drawing her weapons with a little extra theatrical flair.
Whistle took a slight step back. "Y-yeah! I'm ready!"
"Then I'll be making my first move." She smirked knowing she had already made her move and it was working.
She uncorked one of the blue vials on her harness causing it to spill onto her shirt. With a flick of her wrist the blood pulled out of the fabric without leaving a drop or stain. The liquid dissipated and a rune formed on her chest before immediately activating.
There was no noticable change for the unaware,but those who were paying attention could see she had grown slightly bulkier, her chest seemed to flatten, and an inch or two were added to her hight.
She began charging forward at a slowed pace. Though her speed wasn't worrying, the fact that every footfall slightly shook the ground was.
Whistle's instincts as an archer put one word in his head. "RUN!"
He quickly knocked a tungsten arrow and fired it straight into the air. He followed a second after just before Dian could get a strike on him.
"Son of a bitch!" Dian huffed. "Get back down her and fight me!"
Whistle would have normally replied with something snarky, but the pheromone was still at work and he was purely in fight-or-flight, and he chose flight. Literally.
He kept himself aloft, grabbing the arrow out of the air before firing it again and following with; keeping constant distance to the earthbound Dian. This cowardice upset Dian greatly, even though she caused it.
"Fine! Two can play at that game!"
Instead of uncorking a vial or two, she instead smashed them at her gut, imbedding glass and gashing her hand. It didn't matter to her, just more blood to fuel her abilities.
The blood flowed and trickled to her back forming another rune. The rune broke, and two massive membrane wings like a giant bat broke through her clothes at her back.
With a powerful flap and an intense plum of dust, she was right on top of him. No one expected her to suddenly go airborne, especially not Whistle who was trying to think of a combat strategy. He grabbed the arrow just in time to use it to block a blow straight to his chest.
He got sent soaring downwards from the impact. With barely a second to react he tossed the dented arrow down and attempt to cushion his fall. It didn't fully work as he still landed askew, and a crack could be heard as he rolled on the ground.
He staggered onto his hands and knees, but one of his arms refused to operate. The adrenaline and panic made the pain in his shoulder near unnoticeable. Dian landed next to him and kicked him into his back, stamping her boot on his chest, and pinning him down. "Do you concede?"
"Yes! Yes! Please stop!" He cried out, struggling underneath her with a single hand futilely trying to move her.
"Ag, mark one point for me..." Dian called out while removing her foot from Whistle's chest. "...Though, I think we will have to put the next bout on hold until we get his shoulder fixed and the pheromone out of his system."
Reggie lightly chuckled to himself. "Not-going-to-be-a-draw my ass."
Ag marked a tally on the board whilst Julia begrudgingly made her way onto the field towards a the cowardly cat. "I got him from here..." She said with an apparent annoyed tone directed at Dian. "...Also, while I'm here, can you watch Gala for if she starts to wake up. I don't want her potentially wondering off in a fugue state."
"Gladly!" She replied with quiet, victorious smile. She cancelled her magic; putting her back in her usual shapely form, and walked over to Gala. She sat, straddling the bench by her head.
A few lurid, vulgar thoughts crossed her path as she looked down on the resting bird. Gala had essentially slain a god, but in Dian's unknowing eyes she looked so weak and vulnerable. Something she could play with. She kept her hand hidden as she inched it closer to the bird's neck, gently running a finger on the collar.
Gala stirred. She was slowly regaining consciousness. Was it Dian's touch or meer coincidence? She retracted her hand, Gala inturn outstretched her's. He soft, taloned hand reached for Dian's blurry image. "Gala...!" Dian whispered. "What do you need?"
Gala's hand reached further and made purchase on it's mark. One of Dian's large, supple breasts. "Boobies..." She replied with a dazed childlike smile. Dian gracefully pulled the talons from her tit and yelled out unamused. "Julia! She's up."
XXXXX
"This was supposed to be my day off and now I'm babysitting a bunch of overgrown children that don't understand the concept of 'training match'!" Julia yelled up at Ag.
"With all due respect... Lady Julia. We were unaware of this." He replied, temporarily thrown back by her sudden hostility.
"And live fire? You couldn't have used wooden swords or something?"
"That would jeopardize what we are trying to accomplish. Zackaria's orders."
"I should have know that sleezy fox would come up with something dangerous..." Julia bit. "I guess I'll make sure you don't all kill each other. But if you cause one more Palace wide headache I'm shutting this down!"
Ag had to hold back a light chuckle; imagining this dainty elf putting up a fight against him. "There should be no further issues then." He replied, but almost on cue he felt a tingle in his scales. As if the area suddenly became very unsafe.
He rapidly looked around for the source of the disturbance. In a haste he activated his soul vision and was immediately hit by dread. The monochrome souls fighting for control.
Ave was on approach with a little girl right at his heels.