The Bone King got better and better at using his magicka, having learned many of his spells and his potential, and he was only a cycle old. Of course, he was to age to his second cycle soon, but that alone showed some degree of determination and strength in the Gembound. He only knew a few as skilled as him in the field of magicka, and he desired a spar of pure magic usage... so he could get some more practice in it. He just felt like he could do more with it... be even greater at it than he was now. Azazel knew it was true.

Now, who would be a better partner to spar with than Leon, the fire-using bear in Maji! The two groups were allies, and why not? He'd fought Makyna, a formidable foe, but that had ended up with the two being muddy lumps of fuzz. Hopefully in these caverns, it would end a bit more... cleanly.

Coasting along the roof of Tunnel M, the bird smiled. Hopefully his magicka would serve him well and get him to the entrance of Pisces cave faster. He gathered atmosphere about him, trying to push it back behind him to give a boost to his wings. A woosh! soon followed his magicka, sending The Bone King at a high velocity toward the slanted entrance. Giving a cheerful cry, he did a barrel roll and cried out, "Leon!"

{ art by almighty } ~ { table by aura . edited by banshee }

It wasn't very often that Leon was summoned by anybody outside of Maji Walezi - Hell, it was rare that anybody besides Makyna summoned him at all. He often spent a lot of his time wandering the caves alone, and if he wasn't alone, he was with Makyna. But that was his job - to explore, so as long as he was doing his job, he figured nobody had any real reason to bother him. So when he heard the cry echo from the mouth of a nearby tunnel into the room he called his home, Leon was slow to respond. He had made himself a small bed on a lower ledge, against a far wall. There, Leon had been resting his eyes - not quite sleeping. When he heard his name, he figured he must have been on the very cusp of a dream. It took a couple seconds for him to realize that the sound was real, and he recognized it.

Suddenly, he saw Azazel. The bird had launched himself through the entrance, calling for him. Leon groaned and stretched his limbs before clambering to his paws. He lumbered towards the vulture, sniffing curiously at him. "What is it?" Leon furrowed his brow. Was there something wrong in the caves? Were the golems coming after them? Had they breached Polaris and started making their way to the other rooms...? The bear waited, holding his breath and hoping Azazel's summoning wasn't made in desperation.

It wasn't long before he felt as if his call had been heard by someone. Just who? The Bone King hoped for the best that Leon would show up... and not be in a panic. He wasn't sure just yet how the cub reacted to summons, and if he'd sometimes take them as distress signals. Yet, instead, he was met with curiousity and the hitching of breath. "Nothing bad... for once, eheheh." Giving a small and mischievious chuckle to the cub, the bird floundered his wings in the air, taking to the thermals of the cave. Manipulating them quickly, the Gembound perched atop a stone. "I want a spar! Just a nice and friendly one with magic and such. We could practice?" Surely Leon would agree! Who didn't love spars?

The reasoning behind such a request was that golems were now roaming the caves, as well as new magicks that somehow made the caves very hot. The bird hated it, for he favorited cold and chilliness that had been there at his hatching. Just who knew what lurked around every corner... waiting to spring out at the vulnerable and cause a world of hurt for those who were unprepared. Obviously the bird didn't know just how many Gembound wandered these dungeons, but not enough for them to always be full of life. Either way... he just thought it would be useful to have the practice.

table and code © chelsea of ORIGIN

He felt like his nerves were firing without rest, waiting to hear exactly why Azazel had called him out here. Leon couldn't help but assume that it was something bad. Why else would anybody call Leon, if not to have him act as a physical force? Eventually, Azazel assured him that it wasn't bad - for a moment, the bear felt suspicious and glanced around. Alas, his words rang true. There was a calm to the tunnel, one that would have been absent had something gone awry. He let his shoulders sink, easing his muscles into relaxation upon realizing there was no need to be on guard. In fact, what he wanted was... to spar?

His mind's eye flashed back to his spar with Makyna. Memories of the fun, the excitement, then suddenly the pain - he winced slightly and frowned. Was he really willing to accidentally harm Azazel for the sake of practicing? Wasn't this something Leon should practice himself, at least until he learned to control his magic better? Leon looked up at the bird, perched atop a nearby rock and thought to himself. It wouldn't be as bad to accidentally hurt Azazel... he didn't feel as strongly about the bird as he did his friend. Still, Leon didn't want to hurt anyone. But he did need to practice, and the bird presented the opportunity before him. "Yeah, okay." Leon nodded. "But... you need to know, I'm still not the best at this. If I hurt you, I really don't mean to." He felt it was important to warn the bird ahead of time. That way, it was Azazel's choice whether or not he wanted to risk harm.

It had never occurred to him that Azazel may be just as capable of hurting him, if not more. Leon wasn't overly concerned with his own state of wellbeing. He burned himself many times before, but he had shrugged it off. It hurt, but what else could he do about it? All he could do was try to get better to prevent it in the future. The bear huffed and took a few steps back, readying himself. He braced his legs and shrugged his shoulders, looking up at the bird. Finally, Leon gave him a small nod, allowing the bird to make the first move while Leon tried to focus on summoning the heat to his chest and limbs.

Smiling as the bear accepted his offer, Azazel nodded. "Nobody starts out perfect! I'm not very good myself." Yes, that was a very obvious thing. He didn't know that in the future, fighting would end in a very broken and upset Azazel. Oh well.

Leon would allow him the first attack, and The Bone King obliged. Of course, he didn't want to try and hurt him too badly. So first, he'd start off with a little trick that he kept up his sleeve. Azazel flapped his wings, taking to the air in the cave and hovering a few feet above the bear. Carmine eyes glimmered as he would circle above just as his kind stereotypically did. He seemed to only be taunting, but there was much more behind his motions. He was calling upon his magicka to will the atmosphere to do it bidding. He attempted to shift atoms and particles of the air to clash violently, rubbing against one another and creating loud vibrations. Of course, he knew this would probably hurt himself, but it would be worth it to get some of an upper hand in this battle.

table and code © chelsea of ORIGIN

AZAZEL v LEON
ONE TWO THREE

Leon only found a mild comfort in Aza'zel's encouraging words. But he pushed it aside for now. He wasn't going to sit and sulk about how bad he was - he was going to try and focus on his strengths instead, and summon them to spar the bird, to use what he could to his advantage. It would be difficult, as he realized that the bird had mastery over the air above him. It would give Aza'zel a lot more opportunities for attack. But if he came close to the ground, or Leon (which he would have to if he wanted to land some attacks), then the bear would have the chance to turn the tides in his favor. He kept this in mind as he watched the vulture, bracing himself.

Aza'zel circled above, and then attempted to unleash a magic of some kind. Leon hadn't even considered what kind of magic the bird had, until he remembered what he'd seen the bird do before. He flew fast, and he could whip up whirlwinds of air; he must have something to do with air. How would that fare against fire? He supposed they'd find out.

However, Leon didn't feel anything. There was a slight disturbance, but nothing that would injure him. Maybe the bird was trying to wig him out. Leon furrowed his brow; his stance remained steeled, but it was his turn now. He cranked his head back, parting his jaws and taking in a deep, deep breath, feeling the heat in his chest brewing, begging to be let loose- only for it to get caught in his throat. What was meant to be just a blast of hot air turned into a super heated chunk of bile that climbed up his throat, causing Leon to choke before spitting a meager lump of steaming ooze at the bird, missing him completely.

Round: 1/3
Attacks: Spitting some hotness at Aza'zel
Defenses: Legs braced for balance
Injuries: n/a

Azazel would continue to hover over the bear, watching as he about choaked on hot gunk. Biting back a gagging motion, the Ave mustered up his magicka, flying low and throwing high winds toward Leon. He used a jetstream to propel himself closer to the bear, gliding low over his head and landing atop his shoulders, cackling lightly.

Round 2/3

Leon regained his composure in time to see the vulture turn in his direction. A great rush of wind lifted his wings, propelling the bird towards him. He could feel the rushing air coming at him and steeled his legs, bracing himself against the inevitable impact. At the same time, Leon brought the heat to his skin. He was thinking fast, while his throat burned from his previous attempt, the bear would try something a little different. If it worked, his smouldering skin would emit a thick cloud of smoke that would hopefully distract or blind the bird for a little while. In the mean time, Leon felt the bird's weight on his shoulder and grumbled, trying to smoke him out.

Round 2/3

The bear was undaunted by him landing on his back, but it seemed he was waiting for something... some cue. As soon as the gusts he had whipped up died down, Leon set to work. Azazel first felt the surface below him get extremely hot, then thick plumes of smoke bellowed from the bear. The Bone King shrieked and coughed, lungs filling with it. Flapping his wings both to push it away and get away, the Ave called upon two spells. He had to get away from that smoke. It wouldn't take much to suffocate him... but could he escape?

Round 3/3

Permission received from Banshee to kind of?? powerplay Aza'zel :P

Sure enough, the skin on his back began to smoulder. The burning heat leeched from his skin through to his blood, in his veins, down to his bone. The fire felt as if it consumed him - at the same time, he felt excitement bubble up in his chest, a passion for their spar rising as quickly as his flames. The bear launched himself up onto his hind paws as the bird lunged away, trying to combine his spells in an effort to dispel the smoke and escape its massive billows. The thick, grey smoke filled up the tunnel, and Leon soon feared that it might be too much for the bird. He sucked in a heavy breath and prepared to exhale, hoping to blow the smoke away, as well as keep Aza'zel away from him and prevent the bird from landing any more attacks.

Post-Roll Edit:
His chest burned and roiling, shimmering heat erupted from his jaws. A blast of superheated air coiled through the dank tunnel atmosphere, pushing the smoke away and revealing the bird, who had fallen and lay crippled on the ground as a result of his spell backfiring. As soon as he saw Aza'zel, the bear blinked and cut off the heat from his body, dropping back onto all four paws. "Aza! Are you okay?" He asked, concern heavy in his voice as he galloped over to the bird. The smoke still lingered in the tunnel, but it made up a thick layer near the roof, stretching onward through the cavern.