Again, the Agate snapped at her wings, and again it missed. They were falling into a pattern now, one of embarrassing, public, failure, one that'd no doubt be commented on by that smug, velvet-voiced bird in the stands...

She decided to redirect some of those negative feelings, through her wings, and towards the Agate's face. Again.

And this time she wasn't playing nice.

@V-Agate-One

ROUND 4/5

ATTEMPT: Wing beatdown #2 (#3 if we count the failure)
DEFENSE: Armour along spine, enchanted helmet
INJURIES: minor cuts and bruises from last fight, tired

Content Warning
This post contains potentially sensitive material:

gore

[Specifically eye gore]

It was forced back as wings pummeled it's still-sore face. This whole fight was just going in circles, with the agate making a fool of itself while Relic practically beat it into the dirt. Screw the rules. Screw even trying to WIN (because it was sure that at this point it's chances for victory had long flown out the window.)

One good, bloody hit. Something to prove that it actually tried.

It aimed right for it's opponents stupid helmeted face.

Its paw slipped into one of the helmet's sockets. It's claws flexed and dug and scraped, trying to snuff out that eerie flame-like glow.

ROUND 5/5

ATTEMPT: Face CLAW! REND!!
DEFENSE: Quills
INJURIES: Smack'd face x2. Wounded pride

@Relic [OOC Note: Edited the post bc I forgot Relic has a helmet. Got perms from Wyrm. Also 100% okay with Agate getting disqualified for this lol]

Relic was pretty sure she had this in the bag. It hadn't been the most honorable or exciting fight, but she'd made a habit out of taking what she could get - and she'd take the win, no problem.

On the Agate's second battering though, it used the proximity to swipe at her face with one of its short, strange forelimbs. The swing was strong, on target, and Relic prepared herself to tank the hit. But instead of a simple cuff, its paw slipped into the helmet's socket. Oh no.

The premise of a fun and friendly wrestling match left her brain VERY fucking quickly as she felt sharp, curved claws dig and rip into flesh. Despite the candle-fire aesthetic of her face, Relic did, in fact, have physical eyeballs. The Agate seemed suddenly intent on tearing one out.

Despite the urgency of the situation, she wanted to make a point. She flung her head to the side as she jumped back, hoping to pull the Agate's paw along with her while it was still jammed in her helmet - ideally dislocating its wrist, or spraining it. Whatever would keep it from pulling that shit again.

ROUND 5/5

ATTEMPT: Using helmet to dislocate its wrist
DEFENSE: Armour along spine, enchanted helmet
INJURIES: DEEP lacerations on one side of her face, eyelid/eyeball damage, minor cuts and bruises from last fight, tired

@V-Agate-One (GM-tagged for judgement)

Agate's previous match had been somewhat overshadowed with all the talk of homosexuality and gender and romance. Eleven was still trying to puzzle it out in their head - partly because of how alien the subject was, and partly because they'd been distracted by other factors, such as being REALLY angry at Audland.

A 'she/her.' Ugh. They were something else, probably. Something cooler.

(No hate to she/hers. This sudden resentment was coming from somewhere personal, as women are objectively cool and awesome.)

They hadn't really considered how they wanted to be referred to. They went with the first thing that popped into their newborn head, initially - but the actual answer to the gender question was turning out to be a little more complicated, and difficult to express considering the lack of any framework. The thing with Audland had been a convenient starting point, and Astraea's explanation had helped a little.

Emphasis on a little.

ANYWAYS.

Eleven had followed its sibling to the second round, obviously. However, they'd internalised some of its strongly worded criticism of their heckling, and had stayed silent for most of the match. The job of commentating was occupied, anyways, by a bird sitting in the rows in front of them.

It was only in the last moments of the competition that they piped up in shrill barks. "C'MON AGATE! SHOW HER!! SHOW HER WHAT SHE GETS FOR MESSING WITH YOU!!"

The Agate seemed to be struggling with that. It proceeded to get brutally battered by its opponent a second time. "...YOU STILL CAN CLUTCH THIS!"

Eleven whooped as they saw it get a good, strong hit to Relic's face. That was the win it needed! They knew it would turn the fight around- Wait. Wait. What was it doing.

The smell of blood was beginning to waft up from the arena, causing their ears to swivel back.

"Agate. Agate?" Eleven called, enthusiasm swiftly decaying. "I don't think that's allowed."

@Agate-V-One

[Origin Cave]

Character: Relic Age: +5 (39 Cycles) Magic Level: +3 (Brawler) ROUND 1 Attempt: +16 Penalties: - ROUND 2 Attempt: +16 Penalties: - ROUND 3 Attempt: +3 Penalties: - ROUND 4 Attempt: +14 Penalties: - ROUND 5 Attempt: +8 Penalties: - Total: 65

Character: V-Agate-One Age: +4 (4 Cycles) Magic Level: +1 (Fledgling) ROUND 1 Attempt: +6 Penalties: - ROUND 2 Attempt: +16 Penalties: - ROUND 3 Attempt: +7 Penalties: - ROUND 4 Attempt: +6 Penalties: - ROUND 5 Attempt: +20 Penalties: -100000 for breaking the rules Total: 60

WINNER: Relic

Tectus watched each and every one of the wrestling matches, calling winners at the end, occasionally barking for the combatants to get the fuck off each other already its over, go fight properly somewhere else. Most were keeping to the rules, however, although her eye was carefully suspicious of some of them that got close to bringing others to proper harm.

This one, however...a proper rulebreak. She couldn't help but be a little excited about it, a part of her had almost hoped for more lawbreakers in the competitors midst so she could have the pleasure of telling them off. But of course the rulebreak had to be a brutal hit. She'd allowed the armor because she didn't see the problem with it - they weren't trying to hurt each other anyways and with the pitiful size of this creature, it would need it in the upcoming fights against the, well, monsters that had signed up for the competition.

So she was most definitely surprised when claws still made their way beneath their protection. She could see the flinch of Relic from where she watched and knew it had hit hard. She couldn't quite see the damage from here, but she didn't need to.

"EXCUSE ME!" she roared, standing properly to her feet and stepping down onto the floor of the forum. "Did you LISTEN to the rules? NO INTENTIONAL HARM TO YOUR OPPONENT! This is WRESTLING not a Deathmatch!" She stepped up to the two far smaller creatures and shouldered her way between them, putting a very sudden and definite end to their match. She glared at Agate. "Get out of my sight. You're disqualified. And you," she turned to Relic. "Get to a healer before your next match. You'll want both eyes if you get far enough." She stayed like that, standing between them, until they seperated and left the field.

@Relic @V-Agate-One