The Warrior's Way (Victoria)

Perhaps her hearing was going or something but Kalama could have sworn that Victoria laughed after being hit by her own deflected spell but at this point, anything was possible. The fight had been drawn out for so long that it almost felt as though she had been battling the brunette forever and maybe there was humour to be found in that. No matter what she hit Victoria with, she would not fall and it seemed that Kalama was always just about able to deflect a lethal bullet from her opponent. It was and had been for so long, simply a battle of two stubborn women who refused to yield, firing spells at each other until they just ran out of magical power. When she looked back on it later, if she was still capable of doing so, maybe she would find the funny side of it all but her sense of humour had always been rather dry or if you asked Aoi, non existent.

It appeared that she had scored a double whammy, her own moon bullet catching Victoria in her other shoulder. Even she could see the humour of that and perhaps there was the slightest ghost of a smile to cross her pale face. The state of her hand was not something to smile about though and as she tried to make it work, her expression became pained. A duff leg and now a hand, just perfect. There was no chance that she could use her moon blade with her bad hand so it would have to remain in her right. The best she could do her bad one was simply fire off her low to mid ranged spells. There was no way that she could cast her higher ones with it, knowing that she would end up suffering herself from being unable to control it with her battered limb.

Eventually, Victoria decided to throw a stun grenade her way and Kalama had to quickly think of the most effective way of dealing with it. She was not going to hit it with her weapon in case it exploded and instead weakly used a Force Push on the projectile, causing it to fall in between the two women and then go off, covering the battlefield with its light and noise. It was just about enough to protect her from harm but also made it unable for her to see anything.

She could have casted a spell at random but instead focused within, accessing the Force in an attempt to heal her a little more. Had it been earlier in the fight, she would probably have charged in but she was simply too tired now and preservation was all she could do. It would give the advantage but that was something that the dark mage would have to live with. The Force would start to work on her wounded hand, the blonde focusing as much energy as she could spare on healing that first. She doubted she would get the chance to heal her leg too but that would be the idea if she was given enough time.

(520 Words)
(31160 Kal WC)
(65259 TWC)

Victoria watched Kalama give a faint smile after her magic shot had grazed the brunette's right shoulder. She then watched her Stun Grenade be magically shoved back to the space between the two before it went off. After that the brunette's vision was blurry for a few moments due to the intense flash of light. So this was what it was like to be on the receiving end of her own Stun Grenade.

The brunette's left arm, left leg, top of the right shoulder, and eyes were all hurting, but she was not out of the fight yet. Whether she was just that tough or she did not want to give Kalama the pleasure of outlasting her after having fought the blonde for this long, Victoria was hanging on by a thread despite everything the blonde had done to kill her. Kalama had hurt her badly and Death Metal Horse had done a number on the Sabertooth mage too, but Victoria was still alive and kicking. However, she was at a loss as to what to use against her enemy next.

She was seriously considering bringing out her Submachine Gun for another attempt to whittle the blonde down with rapid-fire shots. She was also considering bringing out the Light Machine Gun to do the same thing... what distinguished it from the Submachine Gun was its greater ammunition capacity. The fact that it held more shots meant more chances for its rounds to be sent back to her, but the Light Machine Gun had roughly the same rate of fire as the smaller weapon and its larger ammunition capacity gave her more time to keep the pressure on Kalama once Victoria could get the weapon on target and start firing.

That was if she was strong enough to wield the weapon.

The recoil would be enormous and it would be impossible to keep the weapon aimed at Kalama after seven consecutive shots if the weapon was fired on full auto. It would be much more manageable if Victoria had both arms to use, but she did not have both arms to use. Therefore she would need to pick another weapon. Her adrenaline-soaked mind ran through the possibilities she had left to her and briefly entertained a few.

She could try to bring out her Grenade Launcher, then fire a Tear Gas Grenade at Kalama.

She could try to get up and limp to a safe distance, then bring out her Rocket Launcher and fire a Heat-Seeker at Kalama.

Victoria seriously considered both possibilities for a moment. She had run out of other good ideas and she needed something, anything, that could break the stalemate prevailing between her and Kalama. She was not sure how much longer she could keep fighting before her body refused to cooperate, so she wanted to try for one last powerful punch to end the fight in her favor. A possibility began to sow doubt in her mind, a possibility that she could not easily brush aside.

What if that one last punch missed?

Victoria did not want to put everything she had into one last-ditch spell. If she fired it and missed she would be in even worse trouble than she was now. Her magic was one of the only things keeping Kalama from rushing over and cutting her to shreds and if she ran out of magic power there would be nothing to save her from the blonde mage.

Not wanting to risk everything on one final attack that might not hit, Victoria decided to play it safe and hold off on attacking. She would take a different risk and let her enemy make a move. Besides, her vision was still a bit blurry from the Stun Grenade going off not too far from her and attacking now would more than likely result in a miss. She would attack only when she could clearly see her target.

[Post Word Count: 652]
[Victoria's Word Count: 34,850]
[Total Word Count: 65,911]

There was no attack from the brunette and Kalama was given the time that she needed to just sit back and heal. Her left hand closed up and although it still stung, she could at least use it properly again. A fantastic result and after clenching and unclenching the limb a few times, she felt comfortable enough to move her moon blade into her left. She was ambidextrous anyway and could wield her blades quite confidently in either hand. Yet, even with her hand repaired, there was still the matter of her leg, which was going to require far more time to heal. It was starting to mend but would require her to focus most of her remaining strength to fully heal it. Energy she did not have nor could honestly spare. This fight needed to end soon.

With her hand repaired, she had more options in terms of attacks but there was nothing in her arsenal that Victoria had not seen. The two were at this point simply using the same spells over and over again, desperately hoping to get a hit on the other. There was a part of her that actually felt amused at the sight that they must be for anyone who could see them in the growing darkness. Two fierce warriors, out of energy but too stubborn to throw the towel in. It was an experience that Kalama would not forget in a hurry and she reckoned that she would have to sleep for a week in order to recover. Yet, that was all worth it and with her blood lust now satiated, the more rational part of her mind was coming to the surface. Soon enough, she would have to withdraw. It was the only solution if the blonde could not put Victoria down and the blonde had no intention of rotting in a prison. Yes, it stung her pride to admit that she may lose but survival was more important than that.

Deciding to take the fight to her opponent, Kalama would briefly vanish, disappearing from view and using the powers of moonlight to teleport her behind her opponent. She needed to press now, while she had any energy left and lunged out her enemy with her moon blade, hoping to strike a lethal blow on her nemesis and finish the fight. It was not an awfully powerful strike and clumsy in her crouched position that she was in. Still, if Victoria was unable to get away then she would be dealt a nasty slash. She doubted that she could keep close to the brunette for long but she would make the effort to try and do so, if only to stop her opponent from using her damn guns. If she had learned anything from the fight, it was they fucking well hurt and she would never go another day without practicing her projectile deflection abilities. If she had kept up with her practice to begin with, she might not have been in the poor shape she was in now.

(506 Words)
(31667 Kal WC)
(66418 TWC)

Victoria's vision returned to normal just as Kalama pulled another vanishing act. The brunette should have tried to end the fight in her favor while she had the chance, but hindsight was always 20/20. She had been unable to see clearly thanks to being caught in her own Stun Grenade and was also so hopped up on adrenaline that she might have missed the shot even if she had had the guts to risk everything and take a powerful shot that might have drained the last of her magic reserves.

Excuses, excuses.

As a result of her hesitation Victoria now had to deal with the phantom menace. She had lost track of her enemy and was now trying to find her, but finding someone who had turned invisible was no easy task, especially when they could move as fast as Kalama. The Sabertooth mage was so wrapped up in trying to find her enemy that she had not considered how to strike back even if she managed to spot the blonde mage. That matter was momentarily put on the back burner when she felt a sudden cut to her back and felt more of her shirt be cut away.

The surprised brunette was unable to keep her balance and fell forward onto the ground, landing on her face. She quickly mustered the strength to ignore the pain in her left leg and hurriedly crawled a meter or two away from her enemy to avoid being either literally kicked while she was down or having a sword driven through her back. Once she was away from her enemy for the moment the brunette turned herself around, faced where her enemy was, and forced herself to stand on both feet instead of kneel. Once Victoria was standing she tried to think of a way to strike back against the blonde mage who was kneeling where she had reappeared after the successful surprise attack on the brunette.

Victoria's adrenaline-soaked mind ran down everything she could use against her enemy. She had a lot of spells that she could use to strike at her enemy, but none of them seemed to be appealing. Normally Victoria could think of any number of spells with which to attack Kalma, but right now she just could not come up with one. She had little magic power left and needed to save it for when it really mattered.

She decided to use a portion of it to attack Kalama with a Debilitating Mini-Crossbow shot. Victoria raised her right arm and pointed her right wrist towards Kalama, then waited for the wireframe mini-crossbow to appear. Once it had appeared the brunette took a few moments to steady her aim the best she could before firing the bolt at Kalama's chest. Kalama would see a dark green bolt heading for her.

The Debilitating Mini-Crossbow shot could be dodged or deflected if Kalama was swift enough to do so. It could also miss on its own because of how tired Victoria was. She had aimed for center mass because her aim was too unsteady to allow for fancy trick shots to her opponent's limbs. At this point Victoria did not have enough magic power to compensate for misses by firing shot after shot, so she had to make each shot count.

After that shot Victoria's left leg rebelled and made her slowly drop to her right knee again. She watched and waited to see how Kalama would react to the Debilitating Mini-Crossbow shot.

[Post Word Count: 582]
[Victoria's Word Count: 35,482]
[Total Word Count: 66,999]

Spells Used:

Yet another satisfied smile crossed the face of the dark mage as her attack made contact, removing even more of Victoria’s clothing. At this rate, Kalama mused that she might end up undressing her opponent before defeating her. An entertaining thought in a way and what greater way for her to embarrass her foe than that? It was just a moment of whimsy, however, as she still deeply desired to end her opponent if the chance revealed itself rather than just humiliate her. She would honestly take any glimmer of victory at this stage and her hunger to win was still there, if perhaps lacking in pure animalistic rage. That had well and truly gone by now and Kalama was honestly just enjoying herself, even if she would never say that aloud. Hitting Victoria was a rather effective way of destressing and Kalama vowed to herself that should she survive, then she would seek out the brunette again, once the blonde had mastered her magics completely and perhaps studied something new.

Victoria eventually summoned her crossbow and fired another bolt towards her but the dark mage knew that it was one of her foes weaker spells, resulting in her blade rising to meet it and cutting it completely in two. Even now, she was not going to let herself be hit by such a weak spell and a brief scoffing sound could be heard from her, dismissive of the choice. Perhaps the legal mage was finally running low on magical power? It was a thought that encouraged Kalama and as she felt her leg continue to heal, she found the energy to finally stand up. Her leg was not completely healed and she was a little unsteady on it but the important part was that it held her weight.

Confident enough to try something, she would raise her left hand and make a gripping gesture, a spell that she had not used for quite some time, before launching a magical version of her limb towards her foe. It would work the same way as it did previously if it hit, causing Victoria to feel her throat being squeezed by the dark mage, making it difficult for her to do much of anything. Kalama was not done though and hurled her moon blade towards her foe as well, attempting to carve up the brunette with it. In order for her combination to work, it would require both spells being successful, which was a hell of a stretch. It also left her without a blade for the time being, as she had yet to summon her lightsaber back to her.

This could go wrong. Quickly.

(443 Words)
(32110 Kal WC)
(67443 TWC)

Victoria was not surprised when her Debilitating Mini-Crossbow bolt failed to connect, but she was surprised by Kalama's retaliatory one-two punch. The blonde fired off a spell followed in quick succession by throwing the sword she had been holding. Victoria was so surprised by the combination that she was held in place by the spell and felt her breath be taken away as her throat was constricted. That shortness of breath was soon worsened when the thrown sword hit her and produced a nasty gash to her left shoulder that immediately began bleeding.

The brunette leaned forward and almost fell over on her face due to the intense pain, but she managed to stay kneeling by force of will. Even then it was a close thing... she had taken a lot of painful hits and her left leg was barely holding on. Kalama could likely see the weakness Victoria was showing, but it was hard to stay stoic when the fight had been going on for who knew how long and she had received a nasty gash that was visibly bleeding. Victoria had to stay strong and keep fighting, but even someone like her had her limits and she might be very close to reaching them.

She needed to hit back and hit back hard so that Kalama could be kept at arm's length just a little while longer. Victoria had one last card left to play, one last weapon she had been holding back. It was not the Grenade Launcher... the time to use it and still surprise Kalama had come and gone when she had fired the Bean Bag Grenade. It was something else that the brunette had been saving but had not used because she was holding back and because she thought her other weapons would be enough to stop Kalama.

Now was the time to use the Rocket Launcher.

Victoria was running low on magic power, but she had saved up enough to bring out the weapon and fire a Heat-Seeker. Once she had fired that shot she would have just enough to say she still had magic power, but she would not be firing any more rockets afterward. She would have to make this shot count, which was why she would be firing a Heat-Seeker instead of a Bunker Buster. The brunette had finally decided how to attack her enemy, so now all that was left to do was put her plan into action.

As soon as she could get to her feet and get some distance between her and Kalama, that was.

[Post Word Count: 428]
[Victoria's Word Count: 35,910]
[Total Word Count: 67,871]

There was no greater feeling than having your hand at the opponent's throat, choking the life out of them and Kalama could have sworn that was what she felt as her gripping spell struck. It gave her a sense of control and domination that reminded her why she had started walking down the path of darkness in the first place. If she could behead the brunette then this was a satisfactory replacement and Kalama took an enormous amount of pleasure from it. To make things even better, her sword would then strike her foe in the shoulder, resulting in another gash that sent blood everywhere, before returning back to the blonde’s hand. Her combination had gone perfectly and as she started to move forward, her leg now feeling steady enough to walk upon again, she truly felt that perhaps she did have one last chance to win the fight.

With a flick of her wrist, her lightsaber flew back towards her, landing in her empty left hand and with both blades now back with her, the confidence that was building within her grew. She had to make this chance count, before Victoria regained her senses and started firing her guns again, if she could. By now, Kalama was unwilling to underestimate her enemy for a moment. She had proven to be as solid as a rock and as difficult to break. Nothing short of evisceration would probably be enough to beat her and the blonde was still willing to take the chance should it come.

Yet, there was that part of her which desired for the two to fight again at some point, when they had both grown to new heights, with more explosive abilities in both their arsenals. Kalama knew that as strong as she was, there was still room for growth and she assumed that it would be the same for her opponent. The thought of fighting Victoria at full strength was quite motivating and she knew that it would require far more power than the dark mage currently possessed. Still, who was she to say no to a challenge? Pushing oneself to the limit was what her training had been all about. To fight those who were beyond the standard soldier, the true monsters who walked the world and to defeat them at their mightiest.

Summoning the power of the Force, she would launch a push in the direction of her enemy, attempting to knock her down to the ground again. There was something deeply satisfying too about watching the legal mage falling flat on her face. Sure, it would not do any damage to her incredibly thick skull but it was amusing nonetheless.

(447 Words)
(32557 Kal WC)
(68318 TWC)

Victoria had made her plans, but making them happen was easier said than done. Her left leg was not wanting to work and Kalama had just regained that fancy red sword of hers. To make matters worse Kalama had just fired a spell at her and the Sabertooth mage was unable to dodge it. Victoria ended up falling flat on her back, where she stared at the sky for several moments before finally finding it in herself to roll over onto her stomach and painfully force herself up to her knees, then her feet.

When the brunette was finally standing she stood still for several moments. That was not to be dramatic and show Kalama that it would take more than spells and swords to finally stop her. Victoria was just trying to get back on her feet and stay there long enough to put her plan into action. She took a quiet breath, then turned her back to Kalama and began limping as fast as she could before her left leg gave out again and forced her down to her right knee once again.

Victoria limped as fast as she could for twenty-five meters, then was forced to stop. Her left leg tried to give out on her then and there, but she forced herself to start moving at an awkward brisk limp for an additional five meters before the pain in her left leg made her stop where she was. Victoria exerted the hurting leg just enough to turn around and face Kalama.

This was it.

Victoria was going to put a lot of what magic power she had left into this plan.

Victoria tapped into her dwindling magic power to bring out the Rocket Launcher, which she caught with her right hand. She laboriously hoisted it onto her right shoulder, where the wobbling made it obvious that the weapon was going to be hard to balance for very long because it was intended to be operated with both hands. Fortunately the rocket she was about to fire would compensate for that difficulty... in theory.

Victoria did her best to steady the Rocket Launcher just long enough to get a decent shot at Kalama. When the weapon was at its steadiest the brunette fired a Heat-Seeker rocket at Kalama. The blonde would see the projectile as a rocket with a prominent red nose heading right for her.

While the Heat-Seeker could home in on targets, it was not foolproof. For one thing sufficiently fast targets could either outrun it or outmaneuver it. Another thing was that it could not punch through shields or armor, so either of those measures could stop it. One last thing to consider was that the rocket might be redirected to a heat source that was stronger than the target's heat source, but that had never happened before, so the brunette did not know whether the rocket's targeting system was vulnerable to that trick or not.

When the Heat-Seeker was fired the recoil of the Rocket Launcher was so intense that it threw Victoria onto her back. She landed on her back and the empty weapon fell onto the ground a short distance away from her right side. She had no idea what was going to happen next.

[Post Word Count: 544]
[Victoria's Word Count: 36,454]
[Total Word Count: 68,682]

Requip Weapons Used:

Requip Weapon Active Abilities Used:

The blonde woman did not stop moving as Victoria was pushed away, walking her down in a deliberate manner. She did not wish to rush, in case her recently repaired leg decided to give up the ghost again and so took a steady pace. There was no real need to dash after the brunette, as she had landed rather firmly on her back and appeared to be briefly stunned. That was a perfectly acceptable result for the dark mage and as she stalked her prey, the idea of simply skewing her with both her blades was a rather potent one. Of course, given how tough Victoria was, even that might not have been enough. The Sabertooth mage was made of metal, as far as the force user was concerned and although she amused herself regarding the brunette’s hard head, it was actually a compliment, even if a backhanded one.

Unsurprisingly, Victoria would try to rise again, with Kalama naturally bringing up her blades in a defensive posture. A gun was no doubt coming and the blonde once more began to move her mind into deflection mode, preparing to use the force to guide her in to protecting her from the barrage. Before the fight, Kalama would have said that she was good at deflection rather than great but after this battle, it had seemed that she had come to master the skill. It was only natural that it would occur in a life of death fight, she mused, as drills and practice battles could only do so much. It was in the fires of war where warriors were made.

It was not a gun at all and instead her enemy was aiming something far large and more powerful at her. Kalama’s eyebrow rose, realising what was about to happen and knowing that a rocket was something that she would be unable to cut without the damn thing blowing up. Time was short and with little option, the dark mage tried to summon a shield of force energy around her, forming a defence against the powerful rocket. Unfortunately, it did not fully protect her and Kalama was pushed backwards, landing on the ground hard, her weapons landing so that they were both sticking up, blades embedded in the earth.

There were moments where all she could see were stars, before her vision slowly came back to her. That rocket had been quite the attack indeed and as the blonde scrambled back up again, her lips parted and amazingly, a laugh escaped them, a smirk crossing her features. “You are such a pain in the ass.”

(434 Words)
(32991 Kal WC)
(69116 TWC)

Victoria had been left lying on the ground after firing the Heat-Seeker from her Rocket Launcher. She was not doing it for dramatic effect. Firing an anti-armor weapon with only one hand was not advisable because of the recoil, but she had been forced to because all other options had been exhausted. As she lay on the ground she wondered if she had even managed to hit Kalama, let alone actually do anything to her with the rocket... Kalama was fast and had probably managed to dodge it with some impressive acrobatics or a show of speed.

The brunette forced herself to sit up and saw that Kalama had indeed been hit by the rocket. That was good because the Heat-Seeker was the last fancy fireworks she was going to use in this fight. She had barely enough magic power left to say that she had any. Not wanting to burn the very last of her magic reserves, she dispelled the Rocket Launcher and slowly forced herself to her feet.

Victoria was feeling everything she had endured over the fight and the pain made getting up very painful. Once again her left leg was hurting badly and it tried to get her to stop moving, but Victoria was not going to give her enemy the satisfaction of seeing her lying on the ground. She was also going to deny Kalama a chance to attack her while she was down, so she forced herself to her feet with an effort that caused her to hurt more.

Once she was on her feet the brunette faced Kalama, who had already gotten back on her feet with a speed that impressed Victoria. Kalama had taken a hit from a heat-seeking rocket and she was already back on her feet. Seeing that made the brunette wonder what it would take to actually stop her.

Maybe it would take a depleted uranium round from a Main Battle Tank gun.

Or maybe it would take a depleted uranium round that had been liberally doused in holy water before being fired.

Another likely option was a railgun round made out of silver and doused with holy water before being fired.

Whatever it would take to stop Kalama, it would have to be a lot stronger than anything Victoria could bring to the table. She looked at Kalama and heard the blonde laugh, which was not a good sign. The brunette was suddenly worried that Kalama had just set into motion a contingency plan that would dramatically turn the fight in the blonde's favor. That belief was reinforced when Kalama spoke to her.

"You're a thorn in my side too, Blondie." Victoria retorted. The brunette was unable to go on the attack just yet because she had no idea how she would attack even if she could, so she was content to sling a verbal barb at her enemy.

[Post Word Count: 482]
[Victoria's Word Count: 36,936]
[Total Word Count: 69,598]

There was a moment where Kalama expected an attack once Victoria had finished speaking but surprisingly enough, that was simply not the case. The brunette did not fire anything at all and the blonde wondered briefly if perhaps her enemy had finally run out of energy. As always, the dark mage was sceptical, since her nemesis had an annoying tendency of simply not staying down, no matter what Kalama hit her with. She was made of some stern stuff and the warrior had next to no idea of what just she should try next. There was so little left in her arsenal and she had hit her foe with everything she could think of. It was a fight of resolve now rather than technique and with that thought in mind, Kalama walked forward and took her blades in hand again. Her healing spells had done enough to make moving at least possible again although she was not all that keen on pushing her leg too far, in case it gave way on her.

For a few seconds, she just watched her foe, noting the immense amount of damage that Victoria had taken. Her clothes were in tatters and there were wounds everywhere. Kalama expected that she was not in all that much better shape and there were still wounds that were bleeding through her armour. Her limbs were usable but her shoulders and body had taken a pounding. Honestly, if it were not for Doomreaver joining in earlier, the fight would have probably already ended by now but as it was, things had turned out alright. She just wished that her bloody horse would listen to her, instead of being a stubborn ass.

Just as a way to press the attack, Kalama would point her blade at Victoria and after a moment or two, a blast of energy would erupt from it, travelling in the Sabertooth mages direction. It would leave a nasty burn if the brunette was unable to dodge or block the attack but it was not the most powerful of Kalama’s spells and by now, she was so low on mana that it might not have even been on target. The dark mage was weary and it was affecting her focus. Her body and mind were screaming out for rest but her heart was telling her to fight on. The end was near though and the blonde was slowly but surely, coming to terms with that fact.

(410 Words)
(33401 Kal WC)
(70008 TWC)

Victoria was not sure what she could use next to attack her enemy. She had nothing else that could hurt her enemy badly enough to shift the momentum in her favor. Well, nothing else to use that would not drain the rest of her magic power. At this point she could not spare anything for another big effort to take down her enemy because summoning the Rocket Launcher and firing the Heat-Seeker had been Victoria's big last-ditch effort to defeat the blonde.

Now the brunette could do nothing but watch as her enemy regained both of her swords and fired an attack at her. Victoria saw the attack coming and easily sidestepped it with a quick sidestep to the left, but she visibly wobbled once she stopped moving as her left leg threatened to give out from under her. She remained standing and made eye contact with her enemy. Victoria tried to come up with a means of attacking her enemy but was unable to come up with anything she could use.

The brunette took a quiet breath. She was seriously considering just running in and trying to punch Kalama into submission, but there were some serious problems with that plan. One of them was that Kalama was very good at melee combat. Another was that Victoria had only one arm that was usable, so she was able to use only one fist. Without being able to use both fists any attempt to beat her opponent down with her bare hands was doomed to failure unless she landed a one-in-a-million punch to a vital spot with the one fist she could use.

As if her body was trying to erase the slightest chance of Victoria following through with such a stupid idea her left leg gave out under her, forcing her to her right knee. Now was a very bad time to be forced to her knee. Kalama had gotten back both of her weapons and she was clearly eager to keep fighting. Victoria looked down at her left leg, then up at Kalama again.

"Damn it!" Victoria complained as she tried to get to her feet. She was going to have to force herself to stand up again if she wanted to live. It would not do for her to come this far only to take a lethal wound because she could not get to her feet in time. The brunette placed her right hand on the ground and began to push, ignoring the pain that was shooting through her left leg and making its way throughout her body.

[Post Word Count: 430]
[Victoria's Word Count: 37,366]
[Total Word Count: 70,438]

The brunette had enough energy to avoid Kalama’s attack but it appeared as though it was a close run deal. Victoria was soon enough back down to one knee and as the blonde began to approach her, she tilted her head, watching her enemy once again. There was a part of her that just wanted to blast Victoria with either a moonlight attack or force power and try to defeat her from range but there was another which desired a more personal approach. Kalama had always enjoyed the closeness that came from more direct combat and most of her success during the fight had come from melee range. If the Sabertooth mage was unable to move then the blonde was more than happy to come to her and her pace began to increase, as she started to gain more confidence in her newly repaired leg.

There was no ability that she used as such but as she walked, Kalama began to spin her blades around, creating an almost saw-like effect that made it quite clear what would happen if Victoria was struck by them. The look in her eyes was a combination of confidence and despite her efforts to hide it, respect for her opponent. There was no point in deceiving herself anymore and the truth was that she had come across an opponent who had finally pushed her into giving her all. An achievement for certain and one that the blonde was not all that unhappy about. She had discovered her limits and now had all the inspiration and motivation needed to surpass them. There were opponents out there who could match her and that was outstanding in her mind. The dark mage would have to train harder in order to reach her full potential and to fight the true monsters who called themselves legal mages.

When she closed in, the blonde would deliver an attack from both of her blades, attempting to catch Victoria with a dual attack, aimed at her limbs. Her stamina would not last much longer but while she had some remaining, the blonde would try to keep the fight in her preferred range, up close and personal, where the fight had begun. The battle had come full circle and it seemed rather fitting to the blonde that it would end in such a way.

“Come on. One last dance?” She asked, her amber eyes upon her opponent as she attacked.

(406 Words)
(33807 Kal WC)
(70844 TWC)

The kneeling Victoria had expected her enemy to hang back and fire another powerful distance spell like that lightning she had been using, but to her partial surprise Kalama chose a different approach. She began to walk towards Victoria with both blades moving in a pattern not unlike a blender that had just been turned on. That would be the effect the brunette would be on the receiving end of if she charged right at her enemy, though at this point "charge" would be too charitable a description of the speed at which she could move. As eager to continue the fight as she was Victoria was not going to hurl herself into a meat grinder if she had a choice.

When faced with the threat of being sliced and diced into small chunks Victoria quickly forced herself to her feet, ignoring the pain that shot through her left leg and almost sent her back to the ground. She faced Kalama and looked for a gap in the pattern that she could exploit to move in and punch her enemy in the face, but she was not seeing one. If she was not seeing one she just might have to create a gap, but she could not use any of her big-ticket spells without completely draining her magic power. Victoria looked around for anything that she could use to disrupt the whirling blades.

She would gladly pick up a rock and throw it at Kalama if there was one around. She would also settle for a big stick to jam between the swords. However, neither option was available, so it was time to fight at close range.

This was going to get ugly.

"You wanna dance, huh? I thought you'd never ask!" Victoria replied in a corny line right out of an action movie. She said that to try and convince herself that she could survive what was about to happen. She would not have long to feel any confidence because Kalama was closing in and she was about to make contact.

Her opponent attacked both arms simultaneously with both of her blades. Unable to move quick enough to dodge both attacks, Victoria was forced to choose which hit she took and she chose to take the hit to her left arm. It was already useless, but she needed her right arm, so she turned her left side towards Kalama to try and shield her right arm. The blade aimed at her left arm cut into the limb and blood began to flow again. Victoria wondered if Dr. Reid could make a cybernetic replacement limb for her because she might need one after the fight was over.

Once the attack had hit the brunette quickly readied one of her own. She formed her right hand into a fist and then punched at Kalama's face. There was no magical enhancement to the punch... it was a plain punch, Victoria's absolute last resort against someone who was adept in melee combat.

The punch was directed at the blonde's face and moved along a predictable path, so Kalama could either dodge the punch with a display of speed or just tank it with her incredible durability if she did not feel like dodging or could not react to it in time. Since there was no special enhancement to it the punch would probably do little damage even if it hit, but it was proof that Victoria was not out of the fight yet. No matter what fancy tricks Kalama pulled out of her hat the Sabertooth mage was not going to back down now, not after she had lasted this long.

[Post Word Count: 608]
[Victoria's Word Count: 37,974]
[Total Word Count: 71,452]

Another hit and still Victoria was standing although that seemed to be the standard by this point and the blonde was well beyond the point of being surprised. Still, it gave her a nice motivation boost and it felt great to score with her blades once again. The Sabertooth mage barely seemed to be able to move which was absolutely perfect for the dark mage. If she was unable to move then this fight would end with Kalama’s victory, one that was certainly well earned, given how much energy she had put into it. Her boiling anger had vanished long ago, replaced by simply bull headed stubbornness and her pride. To defeat Victoria would help spread the aura of fear that she desired to infect the world with and any dark acts that she could perform would help to achieve that. One day, everyone would know her name and the mere mention of it would cause them to quake in fear.

The blonde was rather surprised when Victoria took her question rather literally and threw a punch in her direction. A reckless move, given that Kalama was wielding two blades and the blonde simply turned to the side in order to dodge the attack. The blonde had no issue with fighting hand to hand and so in what might have been considered a dangerous move of her own, Kalama would sheathe her blades and simply clench her fists instead. She and Victoria had fought in every other manner so why not fisticuffs too? Nothing was off the table now although Kalama did find it rather amusing that after all of the magic that they had used, it would all come down to the most basic of combat styles in the end.

She doubted that either of them had the energy for a long brawl but that was something that they would learn together and without any further thought, Kalama would duck down and launch a left hook, aiming for Victoria’s body. There was no time to mess around now and the blonde was going to need to be swift in order to win this. All she could was trust in her body that she would be able to go the distance and make it to the end. There had been numerous times where the blonde had wanted to choke the life out of Victoria during the fight and she could not help but smile slightly at the thought that she might just end up getting her wish.

(417 Words)
(34224 Kal WC)
(71869 TWC)

Victoria was visibly surprised when she saw Kalama put away her weapons. She thought that the blonde would have run with the opportunity to dice the brunette into small chunks of meat without having to dodge or deflect gunfire to do it, but apparently Kalama felt confident enough in her combat ability to put away her swords. She probably felt certain that she could take on Victoria in unarmed combat and win.

Truth be told, she probably could.

All of Victoria's bravado and willingness to fight could not disguise the fact that she was hurting. She was hurting and bleeding from multiple wounds, some technically self-inflicted from deflected gunshots and some inflicted by Kalama's swords and spells. She should probably be lying on the ground unable to move, but Victoria was up and on her feet. She was not going to give her opponent the pleasure of standing over her and striking a victory pose.

The brunette took the hit to her stomach and doubled over, almost throwing up in the process, but since she had not eaten she did not throw up. The punch still hurt, though. She recovered from the violently triggered gag reflex and faced Kalama. Victoria was at a disadvantage in hand-to-hand combat and it was painfully obvious. She normally entered melee range only if she had an overwhelming advantage against her opponent, but in this case she was at a considerable disadvantage from her numerous wounds.

The Sabertooth mage did not let that deter her for long because if she did she would have her face punched in by the blonde. Victoria quickly moved in to meet her enemy and tried for another punch straight to Kalama's face. The punch moved in a straight line, so it would be easy to predict where it was going and dodge. Victoria was not trained in hand-to-hand combat either, so her punches would not be very refined.

Once the punch had been thrown Victoria attempted a sidestep to the right to try and circle her enemy, but her left leg was not wanting to work with her. It did so with great reluctance, allowing her to complete the sidestep but protesting afterward with another burst of pain. Victoria was still able to move, but she moved with none of her usual speed and fluidity of motion. Her lack of mobility would likely be as big a handicap as her useless left arm.

[Post Word Count: 404]
[Victoria's Word Count: 38,378]
[Total Word Count: 72,273]

Honestly, Kalama would hardly call herself a prize fighter either when it came to hand to hand but she had trained her body to the point where the dark mage could replace technique with power. Her stamina was lowering by the moment though and although she seemed to be in a better state than Victoria thanks to her healing spells, it was little more than a facade. She was tired and her breathing was far more laboured than it had once been. Her training had all been for this, the moments where it came down to just who wanted it more. The brunette was so stubbornly tough and the blonde was not sure if aiming for her head was even a good move, given how thick it was. Kalama could probably hit Victoria in the skull with a 2 by 4 and it would not do much of anything. No, she was going to have to aim somewhere else and fortunately, there were plenty of other options.

Her strike had been successful and she took just a little more satisfaction from it than usual, probably because she had actually hit the woman herself rather than by a power. There was something special about physically assaulting someone and it was not something that she did all that often, with her swords doing the majority of the work. Of course, Victoria did not go down though and while clearly affected by the punch, she was soon standing straight again. It was typical and Kalama expected nothing less.

Sure enough, Victoria would fire off a punch of her own which Kalama did her best to block by bringing her arms up in front of her to take the brunt of it. A decent shot but it did not seem to have a lot of finesse and the blonde was not intimidated by the strength behind it. She knew that Victoria was of course all about guns and distance so it was reasonable to assume that the Sabertooth mage might be lacking in the hand to hand department. Still, there would be no underestimating from Kalama, knowing the brunette as she did now. Any punch from a powerful mage would deal significant damage if it hit.

The brunette was soon moving or at least trying to and Kalama moved around with her in response, keeping a good solid posture. Victoria was struggling, so the blonde did not find it difficult to keep up. Yet rather than bring her guard down for a punch, the dark mage would instead unleash a kick towards Victoria’s wounded one, attempting to knock her off of her feet. The speed of her attack was reasonable but not amazing, there was time for Victoria to evade or block somehow.

(459 Words)
(34683 Kal WC)
(72732 TWC)

Despite how ragged both combatants looked the duel between Dark Mage and Legal Mage continued unabated. Kalama had aimed a kick right at the brunette's left leg and the kick hit thanks to Victoria's limited mobility, causing her to lean far to the left and almost fall over. Falling over would have invited an even worse beating than the one she was currently suffering, so she managed to keep herself upright, but just barely. At the very moment she had received the kick a strong breeze could have sent her to the ground.

Victoria tried to move away from her opponent again, moving at an even slower pace thanks to the kick. She was not able to move fluidly, but at least she was still able to move. Victoria slowly backed away from her opponent for three steps before pain forced her to stop in place. Once she had come to a halt she faced Kalama and assessed what few options she had.

She could move in and try for a punch to the body.

She could try for a kick to Kalama's left leg, going for "an eye for an eye" and possibly slowing her opponent down if she managed to hit the limb.

Or she could move in and use her head to try and hit Kalama in the face with a headbutt.

Victoria was at a disadvantage no matter what she did because she only had one useful arm and her left leg was barely hanging onto usefulness. She ruled out the kick because that would mean putting a lot of body weight on a leg that was already about to give out and there was no guarantee that the kick would hit. At this point she needed her left leg and could not risk it without a very good payoff in return for the risk.

That left the shot to the body or the surprise headbutt. Those two options were safer than the kick and could still hurt Kalama. The problem was deciding between them. She could only safely commit to one at a time because if she overextended her opponent was fast enough to punish her for it.

Victoria thought for a second, then moved in and threw a right hook aimed at Kalama's stomach. She was going for "eye for an eye" in a different way. While it would have been more gratifying to land a kick on Kalama's left leg and possibly slow her down a little, Victoria was going to play it safe and aim for the body with a punch.

The right hook punch to the stomach was not guaranteed to hit. Kalama could either dodge it or block it if she was fast enough to make the block. However, the punch left her some room to recover while falling down from a kick attempt would be very hard to recover from because Kalama would likely be very quick to take advantage of that weakness.

[Post Word Count: 494]
[Victoria's Word Count: 38,872]
[Total Word Count: 73,226]

It was satisfying to see her kick land and the blonde was confident enough to try and walk her opponent down. Her mobility was OK for the time being and she felt that she could take the offensive. Yet, the time was drawing nearer by the second that her durability and stamina would go and Kalama knew that she had to go for a finish soon, before her remaining energy left her. It was only now that she considered the idea of just how she would escape the situation she was in, even if she did win. The blonde did not have the energy to sprint and there was no guarantee that Doomreaver would return if she called him. He might but then again might not. For now though, it seemed as if he was only her option, whether she liked it or not.

Victoria was swinging again though and Kalama was a tad too slow to dodge the attack, meaning that the dark mage definitely felt the punch as it smashed against her armour. A sharp intake of breath was her initial reaction but that was all that she was going to show. Kalama still had her pride after all and was not going to show any weakness if she could help it. That being said, the punch definitely stung and the sword wielder briefly pondered about whether she had been right to get involved in a fist fight with her foe. Victoria’s punches were certainly powerful enough to make her think twice.

Her gaze returning to the brunette’s injured leg, Kalama would suddenly make a lunge for it, the idea being to take her opponent down to the ground and try and apply a grapple on the wounded limb. Kalama was not the best wrestler and so her technique was not perfect by any means but if she managed to take the brunette down then she would begin to wrench on the limb, trying to deal as much damage as she could. It was all about bringing the fight to an end, as efficiently and quickly as possible. She wanted to fight on of course but her body was just unable to keep doing it for much longer. Maybe she could make Victoria pass out from the pain and end the fight that way. A long shot for sure but what choice did she have? She had hit her with everything she had already.

(406 Words)
(35089 Kal WC)
(73632 TWC)

To Victoria's surprise and delight the body shot hit, allowing her to get a measure of revenge for the hit to her stomach that nearly made her throw up earlier. The best revenge would be winning the fight, but that was not looking like it would happen any time soon. Kalama was a tough opponent and defeating her would not be easy, especially when the brunette had only one arm to work with.

Victoria tried to think of what to do next. She doubted that Kalama would fall for another attempted shot to the body so soon after the first, so that was not a good idea. She also did not want to kick at Kalama with her right foot because her left leg might pick that time to finally give way and leave her in a vulnerable position at a very bad time. A headbutt might be her best bet, but she was not willing to commit to it because she was trying to avoid overextending herself and setting herself up for undoubtedly painful retaliation from Kalama. Kalama was in her most effective range and Victoria was not, so the brunette would have to play it safe until she had an opportunity to.

Despite her bravado the brunette was not very confident when forced to fight at close range without one of her many weapons at her disposal. Close range would be a good range to employ her Shotgun or Submachine Gun, but the recoil would be very hard to handle with a tired right arm. Besides, using them to their fullest extent would take magic power that she no longer had to spare. Victoria would just have to settle this conflict with her fists... er, fist.

Or that was the idea before Kalama performed a speedy lunge towards her left leg that caught Victoria by surprise. She was knocked to the ground and had the wind knocked out of her. As she lay on her back she knew that having the wind knocked out of her was the least of her problems. There had been blood in the water for awhile and Kalama knew it.

The blonde grabbed for her left leg and Victoria was unable to react in time to prevent it. The brunette did not need to be a psychic to predict what Kalama's aim was. Victoria was soon going to be in a situation that was even worse than the one she was in now.

[Post Word Count: 410]
[Victoria's Word Count: 39,282]
[Total Word Count: 74,042]

There was not a moment to lose and no sooner had Kalama managed to latch on to the legal mage and knock her over, she was latching on to the wounded leg of her opponent and doing her utmost to tug and twist it as much as possible. Again, the blonde was not a wrestler by any stretch of the imagination and all she was doing was just trying to wrench on the injured limb, attempting to cause as much pain and damage as possible. Just how long she would be able to do so was anyone’s guess as it would take as much of her stamina as it would her opponents. She was already so far beyond simply tired and all she could do now was try and lock her opponent down and force her to pass out through the pain. The blonde warrior doubted that she would be successful though, given how tough and durable Victoria had proven to be, time and again.

The honest truth was that at this point, Kalama was well and truly out of ideas and although she believed that the advantage was actually hers at the moment, she just struggled to summon the necessary energy to press it. The dark mage was so unused to battles that lasted this long and every moment that the fight lasted at this point was just another example of that. Her breathing was so laboured and it was becoming difficult to concentrate once again on what she was doing. This fight had to end soon, before she either passed out or got knocked out. She had to keep the battle to close quarters and not allow the brunette woman to escape again. Kalama might not have the energy to apply such a hold again.

Her tenacity had not faded though and as she tugged and wrenched at the injured limb, there was no physical sign that Kalama was giving up. She would fight to the last and use up her drop of energy that she had left to try and win the fight. The blonde was more than pleased with what the brunette had dished out, as well as her own performance and there was little left for either of them to prove in her opinion. Victoria had provided her with what she had been seeking all along. A true challenge and one that she would that she had completed and passed. She was sure that she had pushed Victoria harder than most, which meant quite a lot. Victoria’s magical power was vast, perhaps even surpassing Kalama’s own.

(431 Words)
(35520 Kal WC)
(74473 TWC)

Victoria had mostly recovered the air she had lost when she had been knocked to the ground, but her pain was just beginning. Kalama had latched onto her left leg like a bulldog and was now doing everything in her power to hurt the limb and put the brunette at a major disadvantage by taking her left leg out of play. While the pain that was being caused was real, Victoria could not help but to be impressed by all the effort the blonde was going to. Kalama was not a run-of-the-mill dark mage who was only good at "fighting" people who had no chance against her but a legitimate fighter who could take on someone her own size, so to speak.

Victoria supposed that she should feel flattered that Kalama felt confident enough to put away her swords and fight her hand-to-hand. It was not something the brunette had anticipated. She had anticipated the blonde keeping her swords out and trying to chop her into tiny pieces with a fancy display of swordsmanship by using both blades at once, but instead she had gotten a hand-to-hand fight. Kalama still held an advantage thanks to her proficiency in hand-to-hand combat, but that advantage was not one that was insurmountable.

The brunette clenched her teeth as she looked at Kalama. She was feeling the pain from Kalama's effort to cripple her left leg, but she was not going to quit now. She still had the use of her right leg and was going to use it as a weapon, specifically her right foot. Victoria's plan was to try and kick Kalama in a vulnerable place until the latter let her go, but finding a vulnerable place was going to be the problem. The ideal place would be the face because as tough as she was Kalama would probably not enjoy being kicked there repeatedly, but the brunette might not be able to hit that target with any regularity.

Besides, the pain going through her left leg was making it hard to focus on kicking at Kalama.

Victoria had endured all manner of injuries up to this point, but the ongoing attack on her left leg might be the straw that broke the camel's back if she did not act now. However, that was easier said than done. She did not have a very good position in which to try and kick Kalama from. She needed to find a way to set her enemy up for an attempt at a kick, but again that would be easier said than done.

[Post Word Count: 428]
[Victoria's Word Count: 39,710]
[Total Word Count: 74,901]

There was not an awful lot more that Kalama could do at the moment and so she simply continued to wrench on her enemy’s leg as painfully as possible. She would try and wrap her legs around the brunette’s in order to get better leverage but it was by no means a sure thing. The blonde was tired and it was becoming more difficult to focus by the second and it was only her sheer grit and determination that was keeping her going. Saying that she was fighting on fumes would be an understatement and the dark mage could hardly think straight either at that point. All she could do was continue to wrench and hope that she could break or at least maim the Sabertooth mage’s limb enough to make it unusable for the rest of the fight.

It was strange but as she kept trying to cripple her foe, Kalama could not help but briefly think back over her recent past. She recalled the days where she had left the path of righteousness that she had once walked and gave in completely to her darker urges. Where once she had been an emotionless and cold individual, afraid of speaking to anyone, now she was a warrior of the highest calibre, willing to defeat anyone she met through her power and will. Her anxiousness and fear had been replaced by anger, which had freed her from the mental torture that her curse had forced her to experience. She had been set free from her pain and now she spent her days inflicting it on others. How times had changed.

She considered for a moment about unleashing a charge of lightning through her and her opponent but swiftly realised the stupidity of that. It would do as much damage to her as it would to Victoria and possibly paralyse them both. Not an ideal scenario by any means and the nearly six foot blonde quickly tossed that thought aside. No, for now, all she could do was try and cause her opponent to pass out from the pain although that was highly unlikely. The brunette’s tolerance was so high and Kalama had hit her with so many attacks that pretty much anyone else would be dead by now. It was probably naive to assume that she could win with just a few tugs on her foes leg but there was nothing much else for it. At the very least, she took some pleasure out of it.

(416 Words)
(35936 Kal WC)
(75317 TWC)

Victoria's left leg was being attacked with everything Kalama had and the brunette could feel it. It was a wonder her left leg was not already broken, but she was not going to complain. Unless she wanted to have to crawl everywhere she went or use crutches for the next few days or longer she would hope for her leg to keep holding out.

In the meantime she tried her best to set up for a kick on Kalama. Since she could not punch the blonde in her current position without serious effort it was easier to use her right foot instead. However, Kalama being so close worked against her because she did not have enough room to get momentum for her leg, so the kick would feel more like a shove than a full-fledged kick. She would still try to kick at her foe, if only to spite the blonde.

The brunette raised her right leg and moved it forward as her enemy continued to do everything she could to destroy her left leg short of ripping it off completely. She tried to aim her foot carefully before delivering the kick but could not hold her leg steady because of the pain she was feeling, so she lowered the leg for the time being. She would need to wait a bit longer before she attacked.

Victoria took a short, sharp breath of air and waited until the pain subsided enough for her to be able to lift her right leg and hold it steady. When the time came she lifted her right leg, moved it forward a bit, and sharply pulled it back towards Kalama in an awkward kick, aiming for the blonde's arm with her right heel. A kick there would not hurt nearly as badly as one to the head, but Victoria was in too much pain to try for something requiring finesse. She needed to get Kalama off of her left leg as soon as she could.

The kick could be dodged by Kalama if she could spot it in time. The kick might also miss on its own thanks to Victoria being in an awkward position to kick from. At this point Victoria did not care too much about her attacks looking elegant... she needed to get free from the grapple and she needed to get free before Kalama tore her left leg off and beat her with the severed limb or otherwise make the brunette's life more miserable than it was now.

[Post Word Count: 418]
[Victoria's Word Count: 40,128]
[Total Word Count: 75,735]

All she could do was hang on to Victoria’s for dear life, wrenching and pulling at the limb in an attempt to force her to pass out from the pain. There was nothing else left for her to do and her stamina was at its very end. The fight was coming to a conclusion now and there was nothing else to give. Her vision was becoming blurry due to the lack of energy and it was difficult for her to even make Victoria out. The force was warning her constantly that she was in danger due to her lack of power and even the blonde had to admit that this could not continue.

Unfortunately for her, she did not see Victoria’s foot coming and there was enough behind it to force her to break the hold, not to mention stunning her for a brief moment. It was the final straw for the blonde and at last, her body pretty much gave out. All she could do was stare up at the night’s sky, bathing in the beautiful light of the moon. She had given everything in this fight and had pushed herself beyond all her limits and more. Yet, it appeared that not even that had been enough to win the contest. Still, she could not help but feel some satisfaction at just how much damage she had taken and dished out in return.

A pained chuckle escaped her lips as she continued to look up. “You are one stubborn bitch and I would like nothing more than to keep beating the shit out of you but I think my body is trying to tell me something. I have no energy left to fight and even if I wanted to throttle you still, I would not be able to. I will spare your town and its inhabitants this time around but know this. I will be back and next time, your guns are not going to be enough to hold me off.”

Every bone in her body hurt and as she struggled to sit up, only managing to do so after the third or fourth attempt. If Victoria wanted to try and shoot her then she would have a better chance at doing so but as far as Kalama was concerned, she was satisfied and almost too weary to care at the moment. “So what now? Oh brickheaded Victoria? Are you going to bring me in, as crippled as you are, or are we going to just end it here for now?”

Before this all started, she could not have believed that she was saying such things but she had learned a great deal from the contest.

(447 Words)
(36383 Kal WC)
(76182 TWC)