Kin-Kin was no novice, that was for sure. Even if this was definitively outside her area of expertise Xireidi could almost see the gars turning in her head as she immediately followed one attack with another. It was useless though- where she had doubtlessly spent countless hours honing her magic Xireidi had spent most of his adult life unable to even summon a tiny spark of arcane energy. Running laps around the cave to exhaustion, hunting and eating as much as his body would let him, jumping through the rocky ledges of Monoceros, sparring with a master of elements- these were just a few of the activities that had led the red wolf to where he was today. Even as Kin-Kin reached for his throat Xireidi was too far in the air to be caught easily, simply twisting out of the way as he lined his form up for the inevitable slam down.

Time seemed to slow for the smallest of seconds as the two canines reached the crest of their jumps and began to descend- the smaller upright and the larger twisting to a sideways angle as a result of his evading the snap. One hit- the glowing one against the ground- as gentle as one might expect, but soon followed up but a much more devastating blow as a much larger creature fell upon her, imparting lateral force as he bounced toward the side and landed on his feet. Perhaps a bit harder of a landing than he would have liked but solidly upright nonetheless. His stance lowered once more as he eyed the other, hoping partly that the slam was enough to knock her out of the match and partly that it wasn't enough to have done serious damage.


Round 5/5
Attack: Finish slam and bounce away
Defense: none
Injuries: none

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"The words I speak"
The thoughts I hold
And the self I keep hidden away
tags:
notes: None

Yuma "That's enough. Really, what are you two still doing here?" a small and unenthusiastic voice interrupted. "You both lost. Go home." The albino aye aye had been resting on a nearby rock where doubtlessly the two in the circle thought he was still judging. Truth be told he was just done with all this, the novelty had run its course and the entire time they had been fighting Yuma had just been sitting and trying to figure out what to do next. Nothing. Nothing seemed like it was worthwhile about now. He could go back to his home in Canis but really there was little there that spoke to him. He could hop in the ring and break up the fight himself, an possibility that had some appeal but likely would be pointless. All he had to do was say stop and they had already come to a pause. "You, glow dog, I already told you that you have no skill at combat. That hasn't changed since the cat beat you. And you, cyclops wolf, quit picking on someone half your size. You obviously have some skill but if it's only useful against smaller creatures then what's the point?" The creature breathed out in a huff, finally done with all this. Before any more could be said he ran off to find a better place to think. Perhaps to come up with some wonderful masterful plan that would give him some kind of purpose. More likely to crawl in a hole and sleep though.

Character: @Kin-Kin Age: +29 (29 Cycles) Magic Level: +5 (Master) ROUND 1 Attempt: +5 Penalties: -0 ROUND 2 Attempt: +13 Penalties: -0 ROUND 3 Attempt: +1 Penalties: -0 ROUND 4 Attempt: +3 Penalties: -0 ROUND 5 Attempt: +4 Penalties: -0 Total: 60

Character: @Xireidi Age: +23 (23 Cycles) Magic Level: +3 (Brawler) ROUND 1 Attempt: +9 Penalties: -0 ROUND 2 Attempt: +12 Penalties: -0 ROUND 3 Attempt: +18 Penalties: -0 ROUND 4 Attempt: +10 Penalties: -0 ROUND 5 Attempt: +15 Penalties: -0 Total: 90

WINNER: Xireidi

The battle was over, and Kin-Kin slid out from under Xireidi and stepped back. She felt her stomach burn with disgust as a familiar ghost-like entity finally decided to speak up- the little idiot whose bark was worse than its bite. Kin-Kin clenched her teeth to stop herself from biting back, even though its words brought a wave of frustration and rage. She forced her head to remain tall, her face even, and her attitude aloof.

She eyed them coldly. "What are you still doing here? Clearly you don't care either way," she pointed out, reasonably. This was supposed to be a fun time, after all, and even if she wasn't having fun she thought the judges at least should show some sport. She snorted, listening as the expected verdict was read out, forcibly squashing any hopes that she might have held until the end. "That 'cat' was a long-time rival of mine, asshole. I've beaten her every other time. This time, she just decided to get her act together." Kin-Kin felt the sore loser inside her beginning to slip out, and she hastily bit her tongue, turning back to Xireidi.

She forced a sportsmanlike grin, and winked the other wolf's way. "Good fight," she managed, settling back on her haunches. "We should have a real one sometime." She stomped a paw, and the earth crackled and creaked. Provided Xireidi remained, he would have found the world around him falling away, as Kin-Kin raised him up on his very own pedestal of white quartz crystal- a winner's (or loser's) podium. As the plinth finished rising to a nice un-dangerous height of a few feet tall and kin-kin had successfully grasped at the one little dignity she clung to... she finally turned away, padding off until she was just another light of Polaris.

-exit kin-kin-

@Xireidi

While Xireidi had held a soft but focused expression throughout the fight the judge's outburst brought the first signs of agression to his face. This was a friendly bout! How could they...

It was only then that the identity of the judge became clear. He hadn't been around for most of the fights and had only seen the judge for this particular fight in passing but he definitely recognized the aye-aye. Xireidi's heart sank as he stared into those blood red eyes, took note of the crimson gem. It was none other than the demon who had awoken him to a scene of death and decay cycles upon cycles ago.

Gratia... a name he hadn't thought of in a long time. The young herbivore he had sworn to protect only to lose to never be seen again. This judge had claimed responsibility for her death and by the pile of corpses it had collected that might well have been true.

The wolf stood completely still, eye unmoving from the demon's retreating from, ears unresponsive if Kin-Kin said anything, note even budging as his perspective shifted to a higher vantage. The vile creature slunk into a crack and disappeared once more from Xireidi's life. A servant of the horror of void and flame as he had claimed once or just a malicious lemur; their true intentions would continue to be shrouded in the unknown.

By the time Xireidi managed to focus on the rest of the scene once gain Kin-Kin had already left and he found himself upon a pillar of quartz. The look of aggression softened once again as Xireidi hopped down and looked back at the ring. It had been a good fight, but no doubt one that could have gone very differently. This match was proof that he was competent in his art but the tournament hammered in that he still had a long way to go.

- Exit Xireidi -

---

"The words I speak"
The thoughts I hold
And the self I keep hidden away
tags:
notes: None