One For My Baby

The whale sent a shockwave towards Shirou, who was sent skidding back when it collided with him. he then opened his mouth and sent a beam of energy towards Shirou, who quickly side stepped it, avoiding it completely. The whale then came closer and started attacking Shirou in a combo. Shirou was much more agile and quick, however he didn't dodge. Instead, he met each punch with a punch of his own. He put enough strength into his punches that could shatter stones, and on top of that, his fists were covered in the black flames still, which would add extreme burn and destructive damage. Same for his feet, if his opponent put in some kicks.

Shirou couldn't have made a worse mistake. By opting to go blow for blow, he fell right into Krieg's wheelhouse. Krieg was capable of lifting tons at a time, and his strength was immense. Even if Shirou's hand was coated in magic, it would not amplify his strength or make him hit harder. Seeing that his opponent would rather try to overpower him made Krieg somewhat confused, but he continued on with his assault, regardless of the boy's hands. Krieg's thick, resistant skin met Shirou's fist on the first punch and would most likely shatter it. If Shirou's arm didn't break, if his body was somehow durable enough to withstand this impact, the ground beneath his feet would shift from the pressure.

If Shirou did not disengage by the time of the second blow, Krieg would channel a more focused shockwave through his other arm, and when they met on the second punch would unless a powerful burst of energy that would completely shatter the other arm.

When their fists met, Shirou felt pain. This whale was strong. However, there wasn't any serious damage, though Shirou's skin grew a few shades lighter because of it. He couldn't fight hand to hand like this, at least, not in Shirou's current state. From the looks of it, none of Shirou's attacks made any apparent impact. Shirou gathered as much magic as he could into his hands as he ducked down, avoiding the second punch, and smashed the ground with his fists. The ground below them would crumbled and cave in, creating a large and deep sink hole as Shirou's destructive magic traveled down under. The opening of the hole expanded about a hundred feet around them. They would both fall. As Shirou fell, he created a platform of darkness that he grabbed onto. He then created more and more as he climbed up and saved himself from the fall.

The human stood up admirably to Krieg's assault, evoking a smirk from the large creature. The thrill of battle, the lust of conquest-- Krieg lived for it, like most Amaranth lived for it. Conquest was their nature. The Amaranth creation story said that once, creatures from another place breed with the Amaranth's ancestors, and in just a few centuries the Amaranth were born. Mortal demons, whose blood and power were diluted by impure genetics. Though their drive for conquest and their embracing of carnal desires remained strong, the Amaranth were all generally set on one thing: conquest.

Sexual, physical, vain and meaningful. Amaranth society was competitive and violent. The Greater Amaranth and Orion stood at the top of the chain, unopposed by even the likes of Krieg and yet this did not phase the giant. He enjoyed the challenge. He had earned his way into that circle, but now his wartime experience and status earned from battles was about to count for nothing. The first punch deflected, the second punch swung and missed. Just below Krieg's eyesight Shirou had expelled his magic into the ground, wreaking havoc upon the earth beneath them.

Krieg felt the earth shift and looked down, Shirou also succumbing to the same technique. Krieg was not inept, and Shirou had neglected to move out of arm's reach. Being just under Krieg whose weight was shifted forward Krieg would tumble atop the skinny man, his weight coming down in full as they tumbled through the air.

The whale grabbed on, something Shirou had been briefly worried about. He had hoped the whale reacted slower, but alas, that was not the case. There were some aspects of elemental manipulation that Shirou had not yet mastered, mostly manipulation in conjunction with his own body. However, it was either attempt it now or fall to the bottom of this pit with the whale.

Shirou took a deep breath and focused. His whole being grew darker and darker. He seemed to fade, as if an old time photo. He became a mist like substance that easily slipped out of the whale's grasp. The cloud of darkness drifted to the of the hole, towards some land. It reformed to Shirou, who fell to the ground panting. He coughed up some blood.

"Didn't fully reform some internal organs," he muttered, wiping blood from his mouth. "Gonna have to fix that later."

The man's actions had saved him from Krieg, as the giant tumbled through the dark "mist" that was once Shirou and into the ravine below. He would survive the impact, and he would be up and on his feet soon afterwards, but it bought Shirou a precious few seconds. Only a few seconds though, because while it might take Krieg up to an hour to get out of his hole, he had to contend with the one Amaranth on the ground.

Only one, because the Rodent had fallen into the Crevice with Krieg, his proximity to the man being much closer than the girl. The rodent too would be fine, if not more far more injured than Krieg. The girl however stood at the edge of the hole glaring across at Shirou. She picked up a rock from her side and looked at the man, tossing it up and down in the air as she surveyed the situation. Krieg and the Rodent were both indisposed for a time, and as she walked around the perimeter of the hole, clearly in no hurry to chase her injured quarry, she spoke.

Unlike the giant whose voice was unpleasant to hear, and unlike the Rodent who was cocky and annoying, she spoke in a sweet, flat monotone. She strode like a conqueror, was composed all the same, and though her hair was frayed from battle and electricity she acted as though she had suffered no injuries at all, or at least only minor ones. Which was not incorrect. She had only received the damage from lightning attack earlier. While Krieg was a very tough son-of-a-bitch for a normal Amaranth, as a rule they were all very, very much tougher than humans. "You're pretty good. I'd say this is the most fun we've had with a fight here."

She tossed the rock in the air once more, before catching it and tossing it with great speed where Shirou lay-- not at Shirou, but at the ground beneath him. She continued her slow, methodical advance towards him, her eyes fixated on the blood trickling from his mouth. "You know," she said, a twinkle in her eye, "some of our kind actually eat Humans. They say that their blood has a hint of metal to it's flavor, but that is also a salty sauce." Her eyes fixated onto the blood, her sharp canines revealed. No vampire was she, but a predator in her own right.

"It's so unfortunate that we have to take you alive..." she would conclude, pressing herself very near to Shirou now. She would be close enough for her whispers to carry into his ears, pouring into them like honey. "I bet you would taste delicious." Her eyes fixated on him as she grabbed another rock. "Give up. Your body won't hold out much longer. Not to mention our army down the hill. They'll likely be sending more to see what has taken us so long."

Shirou sighed when a rock came close to hitting him. He stood up as the girl spoke about eating him and how he tasted good, wincing slightly at the pain of having less organs than he should have. His fingers began to crackle with blue lightning, as if charging up an attack. However, instead of directing it towards the girl, he smacked his stomach with his hand. He gritted his teeth as he felt the electricity flow through him. And then it was done. He had temporarily disabled his ability to feel pain as well as forcibly seal the internal wounds. It didn't fit any of the problems, but it would be adequate for now.

When the girl finished talking, he looked at her and then spit blood towards her face. "You can sample me there if you want," he said with a smirk. "Though make sure to compliment the chef." Shirou's magic was more than half depleted and his was far more injured than this girl, with two other annoying demons in a hole that could emerge at any point. However, he was far from being beaten.

"What's unfortunate is that you actually think you're going to be able to beat me," he said, drawing his scythe.

As Shirou brandished his scythe, a very innocuous smile crept across the girl's face. She had fought a scythe wielder before, in practice of course. Nobody was insane enough to actually use on in combat. All of her teachers had explained the use of the tool, that it was often used as farming equipment in days past, before magic made such tasks much easier. In essence, the scythe in the Amaranth world was a relic, and it's use as a weapon was laughable to her.

A scythe in war is classified as a pole-arm, according to her teachers. The glaive, the halberd-- a much better choice than the common farming scythe. It's cutting edge faced towards the user at any given moment, meaning that it was nearly useless. As ranged weapons go, literally every other offering was superior. It could only be lethal at an arc, and if thrust forward at best stagger a foe, and worst gave them a pole to grab and either disarm the wielder or snap the pole (if it was something like wood, or for certain Amaranth even inferior metals).

Aside from that, even if sharp at both sides of the metal blade it held a major weakness in one other respect: range. It was suitable only for long range. Get in past the blade, usually just a one or two feet, and it couldn't be retracted back. The users own arms would reach their natural range of movement and leave a gap between the body and blade, meaning that at close quarters the scythe rendered a person with effectively only one arm, and entirely side of their body's mobility compromised. Countering against a very fast opponent with two free hands became a chore at that range, as the bar of the scythe was usually inappropriately balanced to be used as a normal staff.

Though, there was something that bothered her. The man's skills from before indicated that he was indeed a veteran in his own right. Her teachers had always warned her of men like this. If they stood before her, wielding an impractical weapon there were only two reasons. The first was that they were new to combat, and chose a weapon that looked fearsome. Unconventional weaponry, wielded confidently implied the second reason: that the user was actually quite skilled in it's use. Having watched him draw the weapon so casually she guessed it was the latter rather than the former. She needed to be on guard.

The blood landed on her face with a globule of spit carrying it, but her expression hadn't changed from the smirk. She was close to him-- very close. In fact, she could probably send him back sailing into the hole before his scythe was even out if she bolted forward at full speed. But, she was genuinely curious. Her teachers had taught her also that she needed to learn from her opponents. Either through combat, or dialogue. Either way accomplished a goal. The man didn't seem to be pained after he jolted himself with the electricity, and that tickled her quiet a bit. "Oh dear me," she said in the same monotone. "A masochist."

Stomping a foot on the ground hard, a line formed upon it that traveled to the edge of the ravine he created from the point she had stomped, as well as to the edge just passed that. She tapped her other foot. "Careful. We might fall in." Her face was deadpan. She was seriously threatening to drop them both in. He might be agile, he might be strong, be she saw his mist trick. If he used it again, he would be even worse off. She would be fine. She could scale this ravine by running up it, catching the nooks with her fingers and feet as she propelled herself along the wall.

It wasn't that the girl didn't have magic. She did, but she was currently under challenge from one of her masters. "On this campaign, use no magic." She gladly accepted the terms, the idea of a new kind of challenge rising from the pit of her stomach and boiling her blood, sending the hot red fluid coursing through her heart and making it flutter excitedly. Yes, she had accepted these terms and would rather die than break them. Unfortunately for the young man before her, she was even less of a push-over than he thought. His hitting her with lightning only moments ago was luck, and nothing more.

It would not happen again. And if Shirou tried to move away from the cracks, she would simply stomp after him, bringing the destruction with her as she speed after him. The game, without either of them realizing it, was set to shift in her favor.

Shirou raised an eyebrow as the girl threatened to break the ground and cause them to fall into the depths of the abyss, with the rodent and the whale. Not much of a threat to be a bluff, so Shirou assumed she was being serious. "Okay," he said, cracking his neck. "I'll play chicken with you."

He twirled his scythe with precision that showed years of experience in handling the weapon. As he did, he covered the blade and shaft with darkness, strengthening the normal scythe to one that could withstand heavy blows. One that Shirou could wield without worry of breakage. He then swung the scythe down with both hands around the hilt, creating a crack that would extend towards the girl, opening the ground up as it traveled.

As she noted Shirou's scythe become coated in inky blackness, she braced herself. He spun it as if to demonstrate his skill with the weapon. While she didn't know what Shirou was capable of, she certainly knew what a scythe could do. She just needed to get in very close and strike fast before he could use his magic to counter, before he was ready. Then, if that blow didn't bring him down retreat. There was another dimension to her strategy though, and it began with the very earth beneath them.

As if responding to her threat and her crack he created his own of the latter, sending it towards her like a gift. She stomped again, embedding her foot where the crack would end and creating yet another crack to stop it, leaving it nothing to break. She turned her foot just as quickly, creating two more and by shifting it violently forward within the same instant sent two square blocks of earth sailing into the air, each one roughly the size of large tile panels. As they moved through the air spinning slightly she leapt upwards and grabbed them, only to spin in the air herself and fling them at Shirou like high velocity bullets, one a split second after the other.

The timing was purposeful. If Shirou dodged them both he would be put on the defensive and she'd just do it again. If he slashed at one with the scythe, then the other would be too far out of range to be hit at the moment, but moving fast enough that it closed that distance and then some before he could recover and counter allowing it to hit him dead on.

She landed afterwards, cracking the ground again and sending up randomly sized chunks of earth. She would begin to punch these at him, firing them like bullets. If he was stunned and stood there to take them, they'd do some serious damage but if he was attempting to dodge, she's merely fire at where he was going to be rather than where he was. With a poker face in combat that was unreal, Shirou might not know that she was predicting where he would dodge based on split-second reasoning until he was already hit.

Timing was importantly.

As the two pieces of earth shot towards Shirou, he took a deep breath. He then swung his scythe in a downwards arc, crushing the first tile of stone and burrowing the blade of his scythe in to the ground. He then used the momentum of the motion to continue to do a front flips, propelling himself forward, narrowly dodging the second tile. He landed on the ground next to his scythe and pulled it out in time to react to the girl punching more chunks of earth at him.

Utilizing his speed, agility, and experience, Shirou ran towards the girl. He zigzagged around the stones being thrown at him and slashed them away with the ones he couldn't avoid.

As Shirou bolted towards he she realized that this plan was inadequate, and went with a new one that the constant shifting of the earth had opened up the possibility for. With the cracks in the ground making the area where they stood unstable, it was time to exploit this fact and demonstrate how flexible of a strategist she really was. Moving from the position she had been in prior she twisted her her in the earth and shifted it once more, a lengthy section of it that traced itself out from the pit as a pillar and broke free as cracks outlined it, seemingly as though she was sending it towards the bottom of the pit.

As the pillar moved out of the way and fell the girl jumped down and into the area it was leaving open, using her own strength to assert it out of it's proper place. However, as a swift mule kick in the hole demonstrated she was only interested in creating another crack just behind her, standing off to the side and waiting for Shirou to run closer to her from the front.

The girl stopped her current attack and made what appeared to be a small cove on the side of the hole that Shirou had created. Instead of jumping in after her, as he was sure it was a trap, he skirted the edges, stabbing the blade of his scythe into the ground and dragging it with him. As he did, he imbued his scythe with lightning magic, which caused the ground to fall in and causing a small landslide that would crush or bury the girl below if she didn't do something about it.

He didn't fall into her trap, though the one he suspected was not the one that was planned for him. He didn't actually disarm the trap either, which mean that she could revisit this idea a little bit later. Instead she would demonstrate her own impressive speed and agility, and as noted much earlier scaling this ravine would hardly be of consequence. She leapt from the alcove and began to run along the side of the ravine, her hands tracing the rocks with her finger tips as he feet smashed into the side, leaving a trail as she ran. Cracks advanced rapidly from the foot prints and scaled the rockface, not very deep or massive but very plentiful.

Shirou's landslide attack would apply stress to these cracks, and the areas he passed over would give way behind him. She ran diagonally towards the top of the hole, grabbing a handful of rock with her exit of the edge and sending them sailing towards Shirou as she twisted in the air, a wall of small pebbles crushed in her hand scattering at him like shotgun spray, She would land be ready to react to what Shirou was planning, her eyes fixed firmly upon him and her gaze steeled.

Shirou was already moving when the girl scaled the building, the pebbles hitting the place he was. By the time the girl landed, Shirou would be upon her, sending a flurry of slashes with surprising speed and accuracy for a weilder of a scythe. Shirou had grown tired of the back and forthness that had been happening and wanted to end it, so he just planned on overwhelming the girl with attacks until she submitted.

And he had made a mistake.

Shirou was out of range, swing the scythe with great speed, but to complete a lethal arc with the weapon between slashes still took precious time. He was admittedly faster than she had expected, but not by enough to make up for the weapon's faults. Just landing the girl moved behind the scythe's range as it passed over her with a rightward slash, moving right behind Shirou's left arm. Even if he brought the scythe back, even if he moved himself back, she could now effectively counter his attacks. While she didn't realize that the Scythe was totally unbreakable, it was certainly not unstoppable.

In a blur of movement she was the one upon him, her right arm sailing towards his ribs in a violent jab while his left was still moving away with the momentum to the weapon, leaving him unable to block the stone-cracking punch to his ribs. With the same strength and speed she had used to climb the clifface, her leg extended into a sweeping kick meant to shatter his knee. If he tried to move out of range she would just grab him and throw him over the side.

Kris chose to sit down and rest when Krieg went after the humans. After a few minutes he got bored of course, he started to go after them when one of the soldiers put a hand on his soldier and told him Krieg asked for only the others and they should stay behind. Smirking Kris tapped his bare feet on the ground and reached into his cloak, pulling out a dagger that was clearly ceremonial. "You take orders, I don't. I'm here because I want to be." He shrugged the hand off and raised his weapon at the other Aramanth who was more demon than man. "I outrank you easily, now fuck off." He turned around and approached the commotion. It did not take long for him to approach the hole and he stared down it while one of them fought the only remaining opponent.

He watched the two inside climb up and he gave a sickly smirk as he pulled off his hood, revealing his grey, colorless skin that was covered completely in marks and symbols that was literally carved into his skin. His colorless eyes flashed as he waved casually at them, "Is this one asshole taking so long to finish off?" He lifted his head and walked around the pit towards the human. He eyed him closely as they fought, trying to recall his knowledge of their language, they have so many.

He decided on english, they use that one a lot. "Give up." He called to the man as he extended his magic to disassemble the ground beneath the boys back foot. Creating a pot hole instantly for him to get caught in, maybe break his ankle. He also did not with no physical movement or anything of the sort, just it was within his eyesight and he wanted it destroyed.

The punch landed and Shirou heard some things breaking. Probably his ribs. Probably hurt. He wouldn't be aware of the pain until later. She then went for a sweep kick, for which Shirou was prepared for as he was unhampered by the previous punch. He struck his scythe down, which would embed the blade into the girl's foot, trapping her there.

Shirou heard a new voice from behind him and instinctively skirted to the side, out of the way, expecting an attack. Though, what happened was a small hole where he had been standing. Shit. Another one.

"For one thing, you can kindly go fuck off," Shirou said. However, before he could reach the "go fuck off" part, the effect of his nerve disablement wore off and pain of the last few attacks, as well as the strain he put on his body, flooded around him. "Time's up," he whispered as he fell to the ground, clutching his side. Darkness clouded his vision as he lay upon the ground, motionless.

Shirou's scythe penetrated the girl's foot, nailing it to the ground. This wasn't going to stop her-- she didn't need to block out the pain, just ignore it. They were in too close to one another, her attacks bound to be much too fast for her foot being pinned a problem. She ad been trained in the event of an injury, The solution was simply to press on. Yet, she noticed the other Amaranth appear from the side of the hole they were one prior, casting a glance and wave down at Krieg, who was climbing the wall with the rodent draped around his shoulders as though he were a boa.

The man continued behind them, walking around the circle towards Shirou's back. Her eyes darted downwards as the ground shifted in the corner of her field of vision-- just as Shirou moved, a hole appeared where he was standing. He was quick, that was for sure. He seemed to turn and begin barking some drivel at that man, but then his eyes went dead. Shirou fell to the ground, succumbing to the pain and falling unconscious. Moments had not even passed before the girl dislodged the Scythe from her foot, and as though the injury was an issue walked over to the man's limp form.

She would look towards Kris, and nod. It would seem his help was not needed, as the man ran out of steam before he could truly contribute. However, even still it was impressive that such a longer was ready to fight. She tossed the man over her shoulder, catching some of his blood on her free thumb and tasting it, nodding as the flavor made itself known. "I don't like it," she replied. "Too gamey." She looked towards the hole, with Krieg carrying his own burden as he climbed, before acknowledging Kris.

"Thought somebody would come. Didn't think it'd be you." She didn't say this in a hostile manner, rather the same way she had been speaking: flat and monotonous, but with a beautiful voice.

Kris watched the man luckily avoid his pothole with a hungry gaze, his pain and suffering fed the marked man like a complete buffet. He just soaked all that negative energy in, but kept it in. He was holding onto as much energy as he could for the fight to come. Right now he was little more than a bomb ready to go off and wipe out an entire city if he so pleased, but the collateral would be strong. He had direct orders to only destroy the enemy, and prove himself a worthy and capable man to their leader. He would raise their families name and his own back into the spotlight.

His colorless eyes shifted to the woman who spoke to him, he watched her effortlessly pick up the man and thought she was capable enough in a fight. He smiled a twisted grin of razor sharp teeth. He scratched the shaved short side of his head, the rest of his jet black hair falling to his shoulders, "I got bored. I came here to have fun, not sit around while you guys have the fun." His voice was equally non-hostile but dripped with malice. To them, and everyone else he was known as Suffering or The Marked One. Only a few of his cousins knew him as Kris. He honestly viewed himself as a VIP, but cared very little as to whether or not the others gave him as much thought.

He walked back to the pit and stared down at the brute who was making good time climbing up the pit, then he turned back to the female, "It's a shame that you finished him off so soon. His suffering and pain were so tasty." He licked his lips before lifting his hood back over his marked head.

As Krieg hoisted himself over the edge, carrying the rat on his shoulders he seemed no worse for the wear. He didn't even seem very drained from the climb if at all. If anything he was like the girl, coming across as generally un-phased by the whole event. After all, Krieg didn't actually even get to fight in all earnestness. They traded a few blows, but that was it. He was quite pleased with the girl though. She stood in her neutral stance, carrying the limp body. He didn't need to ask to confirm, because she wouldn't have wasted her time with a corpse.

He nodded to her and traced his eyes to 'the Marked One' whom had come to visit them. For what they had originally intended to do they had taken an ungodly amount of time. One human was dead quick enough, the other...

"This one is very interesting," Krieg told Kris bluntly. "It knows magic." The implications should be obvious. No human they had encountered had ever been able to use their magic. Not only was this one able to, but he showed considerable skill with it. In addition, he possessed strength beyond a normal human as well. "It is an anomaly." Krieg didn't like speaking very much. He traditionally preferred roles that allowed for him to b much more silent than this, but he was trusted with leading this group by Lanvi, and would not let it down.

Which is when he turned back to the girl. "Head back down to camp. Take him with you. Tie him up with the metal cords." She nodded, carrying him back down the hill. She only had a short amount of time. The man shouldn't be out longer than five minutes at most. If he was, it meant brain damage and that translated into uselessness. Krieg motioned for Kris to follow as he headed back down the hill himself, rat in tow.