Literally Snails

"I think they may have wanted us to make it this far, but they can't want us to win." Shining Armor said. He pointed at the suited unicorn casually smoking next to Rokata. "That unicorn is Rail. He owns Team Rokata and this tournament. Dynamo said he was betting a lot on the finals, and he isn't allowed to bet against his team, so he must be betting against us." The blow landed bellow Nin's ribs, and the unicorn stood still for a long moment. A strong gush of wind washed over the ring and abruptly calmed. It was clear from the pained expression on his face that the strike had hit its mark. "You made me think that last charge was all you had... so I'd go all out too." He said through labored breaths. A thick bead of sweat trickled down his temple. "You're pretty clever... I could have made something great with..." His blade shattered in his hoof and he fell on the concrete.

The flames had died down to the point of just a few small fires spread throughout the stadium, rapidly decreasing in size, so Topaz took down her sheild and held her mic close to her mouth in anticipation. "Don't you just love it? We've got missing limbs and sliced torso's and they're still going at each other! I've seen this many guts before in the tournament, but never this much guts!" "You... Stupid child!" Nin yelled as Draco walked forward, but Nin was clearly just as worse for ware as his oppinent. He spat as he cried out, and a spurt of blood shot from his hoof. "You want to die now, and for what? T-to prove you didn't give up?" He gritted his teeth and inched closer to Draco, having to pivet on the elbow of his injured leg. "You make me sick. This world is filled with ideologues like you who throw away all reason for some kind of misguided set of beliefs!" He stuck the tip of his bloodmagic blade in the ground and pulled back on it. "If you're so determined to die, I'll grant you that!" He lunged forward when draco was close enough, aiming to cut him down with a vertical slice.

@reader8363 @Dynamo Pad @DwhitetheGamer @Unicorncob @Canteen_the_unstable The force of the previous explosion reduced the flames covering the arena to a few small smolders, most of the fire was in the air surrounding Draco. There was a flash of light when the two fighters collided. Some sharp eyed audience members would see movement, but it all happened so fast that it couldn't be made out. "Remarkable!" Selene said. Both Nin and Draco eventually landed back on the ring. Blood dripped from them both. Dai leaned back in her chair with a worried expression. "No, not like that." She said in shock. Cumulus leaned forward, squinting. "What happened, what? I couldn't see a blasted thing!" The events of Nin's desperate gambit happened to fast for anyone without significant magical sight to witness... Nin was off balance in the moment that Draco changed his momentum, but recovering from the explosion and changing his direction of flight took time, time that Nin had to think. He's taking another charge now? If that's the case, he's throwing everything he has to make these two consecutive attacks. He wont have any energy after this. Nin spun until he was falling prone in the air, facing Draco. The right hoof. He's aiming at my midsection. Without my bloodrage aura, he'll be able to penetrate my defenses. Can't dodge. Can't parry either. Too much momentum. Have to block. Nin swing his etheral blade forward, aiming the tip of the blade at Draco's hoof. With nothing to push me forward and no solid footing, the force will take the path of least resistance and I'll be pushed back instead. Draco's gauntlet struck the blade, but it didn't hit directly at the tip. Instead, it glanced the upper broadside. It was like time crawled to a near hault while Nin strategized the situation. To any onlookers, this was happening in the blink of an eye. The gauntlet pushed the blade up as it struk along the edge. Nin could see that the gauntlet was descintigrating from the flames. By glancing off the side of the blade, Draco was still poised to hit his target, and Nin didn't have time to reposition the blade for a second block. Damn. Missed. Have to rethink this. No way to avoid a hit. Have to trade. While Draco's gauntlet slid along the broadside of his blade, Nin tilted the blade back so that his hoof would stop at the pomel, which was a congealed mass of blood and energy at the tip of Nin's hoof. Then he placed his other leg behind the leg holding the blade in order to buttress it, otherwise the force of Draco's strike would push the blade back and Nin would be cut with his own weapon. There was a tradeoff, though. Nin had no choice but to use his leg with the metal blade strapped to his foreleg, which would pressed against the flesh of his other leg holding the blade. That would sever his left leg which held the blade, so he chose to sacrifice his right leg instead by placing the leather strapped leg against the sharp end of his own blade to give it adequate resistance. Draco's hoof slowed down when it slid further along the shaft of the weapon. Nin gritted his teeth in pain as his right leg was severed above the hoof, but it was enough to keep his defence steady. When Draco's gauntlet hit the pommel of the blade, the heat combined with the force of Nin's block caused the gauntlet to spit down the center and shatter, exploding in Draco's hoof. The shards of shrapnel were sent in all directions, slicing deep gashes in both fighters. After that, Draco's hoof pushed Nin's blade upward, opening Nin for attack, but Draco's right hoof was unarmed and he didn't have time to swing with his left. He'll still attack. Now I can too. With his charge, he isn't able to change directions or move in any direction but forward. Draco continued moving forward while Nin moved in the opposite direction. The two crossed paths in mid air. Draco's strike was slightly off target thanks to Nin's block. Instead of Nin's heart, Draco was aimed to hit Nin's lower chest. The attack landed, searing the flesh of Nin's torso and causing a deep gash in the flesh. While Nin moved past Draco, he swung backward with his blade at the same instant that Draco struck him. He sliced deep into the pegasus bellow the base of his wings, causing what would undoubtebly be a fatal amount of blood loss if it wasn't treated soon. They were both mortally wounded. ___________________________________________________________________________________________ @reader8363 @Dynamo Pad @DwhitetheGamer @Unicorncob @Canteen_the_unstable "Remarkable!" Selene said. Both Nin and Draco eventually landed back on the ring. Blood dripped from them both. Dai leaned back in her chair with a worried expression. "No, not like that." She said in shock. Cumulus leaned forward, squinting. "What happened, what? I couldn't see a blasted thing!" Nin gasped in pain when he landed on his three hooves. His severed hoof landed somewhere nearby. He slowly turned himself around to face Draco, who would be bleeding just as much. Nin's horn shot out red sparks. It was cracked, probably from the explosion. Nin wouldn't be able to quickly cast spells with his horn. "This is incredible! We haven't had a fight this bloody in a long time! Don't you love it?" Topaz announced. "An honorable death," Rokata said, but it wasn't clear which fighter he was talking about.

Final attack? We'll see. During the split seconds before Draco collided with him, Nin prepared his reaction. His mind rushed through a plan in the blink of an eye. While I'm hanging in the air, I can't dodge, but while he's charging at me like that, neither can he. My sword won't be able to parry this, but with my bloodrage Aura, I can survive more explosive force than him. If I fire a blast now, I'll survive and he wont! Nin clasp both hands infront of himself and a spectral rune swirled around his hooves in a flash. Anyone who was able to see what was happening quickly enough would recognize it as the same attack he used in the first round of the tournament. In his bloodrage state, he could charge it in moments, but not quickly enough to be safely out of range when it hit its target. Draco would be right on him when it fired. With the two high in the air, there was a brief moment where both were seen above the haze and smoke, Draco bathed in black fire and Nin glowing like a red beacon. "You just made your big mistake, mercinary!" Nin fired a monolithic beam of red energy that clashed with Draco mid-charge. The two were mere feet away from each other. The beam combined with Draco's Ancalagon's Wrath technique created an explosion that sent a deafening shockwave throughout the arena. Even with her shield, Topaz had to brace herself and bend low to avoid being completely blown away. The ring cracked down the middle, and walls separating sections of the audience fissured and crumbled. Nin landed on the ring a moment later with his eyes open wide and blood trailing down his mouth. His bloodrage aura was gone, but he still had his etheral blade. He panted with a dissheveled expression. His hair was covering his horn.

@Unicorncob Shining Armor watched what he could see of the fight and commented, "Draco is every bit as good as Nin on his hooves, but I don't know how he's gonna make a difference if he can't match his spellcasting. Nin is playing with more cards right now. Why do you think Draco isn't using his powers?" @Canteen_the_unstable "You'd better have something big planned soon," Dai muttered under her breath. Nin immediately moved to dodge from the feint, only realizing what Draco's real plan was before it was too late. The second strike sent him in the air with a swift upper cut. He twirled in the air, tucking his legs close to his body before orienting himself. Then he braced himself to land on his hooves, watching what Draco was doing.

The first punch to Nin's gut landed. The force from the blow cleared out some of the flames surrounding them, letting the two fighters get a look at one another. Nin had a winded expression on his face, the hard edges of Draco's gauntlets cut into the skin and caused deep bruising. Nin stepped back and slashed up with his blade to force Draco back. "This might be it! Draco just landed a solid blow!" Topaz announced. Blood trickled from Nin's mouth before evaporating into the red aura around him. The tiny red orbs swirled around his wound, healing the bruising and congealing around the gashes. "Don't you see it's pointless?" Nin asked, spiting a glob of blood on the floor of the ring. He parried with his blade when Draco launched his second strike. He bared his teeth and spoke with a manic enthusiasm. He was deeply enjoying this battle. "You'll have to injure me to kill me and injuring me makes me stronger! A real bind!" Nin backtracked while Draco launched his assault, always staying far enough away to dodg the quick jabs. "Really you can't be serious. Have you no power? Maybe if you could kill me with one decisive blow, but your hooves aren't gonna do that! Your magical ability is weaker than everyone on your team. You're even weaker than that dead old hag!" While defending himself with his armed left hoof, he precariously leaned back on his hind legs and raised his right front hoof. Red energy from his Bloodrage Aura swirled around the hoof and he slammed it into the ground, creating an explosion infront of Draco with a shotgun like area of effect.

Nin was still confused from his failed spell. He couldn't figure out what Draco had done to immunize himself from his blood magic, and the mystery frustrated him. When Draco lunged into an attack, Nin didn't react quickly enough to dodge. Still, he was no amateur. He threw up his shoulder and threw his weight back in time to block the strike with his shoulder, protecting his horn. The spinning kick sent Nin into the center of the roaring flames. Even his outline became invisible when he tumbled deep enough within. His blood aura kept the flames from touching him, but the heat was still unbareable. Nin knealt in the flames and took a moment to catch his breath. "There's two sides to that coin. If Nin can't manipulate Draco's blood, he'll use his own," Shining Armor said. "Remember your fight against team Lockdown when you used your own life energy? A blood mage can do that without risking their life."

"I can't see anything that's going on, but It looks like there's some sparks!" A squinting Topaz said almost on queue. Draco discovered something when he scraped the rune. It wasn't wet, and the glowing shape was no longer physical. Draco may have remembered the time Nin fought in the preliminary rounds when Nin drew a rune in the air without having any physical surface to write on. The blood had already evaporated, but the rune was still there. Nin stood his ground when Draco rushed at him and used his ethereal blade as a vault, sticking the tip in the ground and springing into the air with surprising grace. It seemed he was a bit more than a book worm. No one got on Team Rokata without being in peak physical condition as well. Droplets of blood from his wound fell in a trail behind him. He landed behind Draco, closer to the center of the encroaching flames. He had his right front hoof on the rune. Rokata smirked, knowing exactly what his partner had set up. "Game over," said Rail. Nin knew Draco would be quick to retaliate, so he acted quickly, sweeping his hoof across the rune. A trail of floating red lights like luminescent rose pedals swirled around Nin's body, pulsating around him in a formation that didn't look like any typical aura. They were like red blood cells creating an external circulatory system. His eyes gradually shifted to a deep shade of red. "No amount of mercenary training will amount to the knowledge of the ancients!" Nin declared. The luminescent dots swirled rapidly around him, their rapid movement shielded him from the worst of the flames, which were quickly covering the whole ring. "Bloodrage Aura!" Nin held his free leg out to Draco and bent his hoof back. Draco felt a slight tingling sensation, but was otherwise unaffected. Nin looked shocked, clearly expecting that to have a more dramatic effect. "What's going on? Why can't I manipulate your blood?"

The flames circled all the way around Nin after his blood hit thee floor. He acted quickly enough to splatter the ground before the flames encircled the whole stadium, but the dragon fire would make his casting more difficult from here on. He didn't need the canvas of the ring, however. Nin stepped forward where the two fighters were encased in an expanding ring of flames. The ground where he cast his blood glowed with a bright red aura that lit the ring in streamers of light, but Draco's sudden kicks came faster than Nin expected. He tilted his head back at the first kick so that it connected with his forehead instead of his horn. That sent him back from the glowing rune, but he had time to defend himself before the second strike. "Lifeblood blade!" He held out his wounded leg and blood rapidly flowed from the wound to his hoof. It expanded into a curved, rapier-like blade at the end of his hoof, made mostly out of energy with congealed blood at its base. He swung the blade and parried Draco's gauntlets. The sharpened blade cracked the concrete when it smacked the ring.

Topaz reflexively put up a transparent, green bubble shield just large enough to cover her whole body, when the tar-black flames erupted around her. The shield held, but the sound of her voice from her microphone became muffled. "I don't know if you can see or hear anything past the roaring flames, but Draco has immediately heated things up! I'll try to give you all a play by play!" She announced, squinting and covering her nostrils. "A chemical fire? Come now." Nin kept his position while the flames enclosed around him. He sat back on his hind haunches and lifted his free front leg. Then he brought the blade from his right leg against the calf muscle of his left. With one swift motion he sliced his leg open with a deep gash, spraying blood onto the ring in front of him where the flames were rising. "Nin just cut himself with his blade! Nearly to the bone!" Topaz announced. "I say that's odd because last time I checked, the objective was to make your opponent bleed instead." @Unicorncob @Dynamo_Pony "Did he just... forfeit the match?" Shining Armor asked after watching Nin purposefully cripple himself.

@DwhitetheGamer "You shouldn't be so hard on yourself, Rose. You may have tied, but Mason is dead and you aren't" Shining Armor assured. "If you'd fought him anywhere else, you'd be the winner. No question." "Right now she needs rest." Said Quill, using her magic to slowly mend the worst of Rose's wounds. She eyed Copper, who was already getting the crowd worked up. "That goes for you too. You haven't recovered from your fight either." "Nicely put," Said Shining Armor, now sagely waiting for the fight to start. Nin kept his blade poised, raised to the side so it's serrated edge was clearly visible. Shining Armor tried to get a read on Draco's opponent. What in Equestria is he trying to do starting the fight like that? A stance like that is no good for attack or defense. Draco's flames will destroy him! Topaz glanced at both opponents and finally announced. "Alright, third match of the finals, Draco versus Nin! Begin!"

"Except that weapon is curved inward. He can't slash or stab with it," Shining Armor explained, and it sounded like he was speaking from some expertice in weaponry. "With a weapon like that, the best he can do is chop with his whole leg, and he wouldn't be able to do that effectively at the close range a weapon like that would need." Topaz nearly landed on her shoulder but sprung off her hoof before she hit the grass and rolled onto all fours. "You jerk!" She shouted in a tone that sounded like she was about to disqualify him. "A bad ruling from the ref is the last thing we need right now," Quill said to Jade. Topaz stormed her way back onto the ring and bared her teeth at Draco. "I already told you I can handle my own ring, so you can can it with the chauvinist routine! I'm sure whatever you're about to do is very scarey, but you aren't going to force me out of my ring, are we clear?" "Are we quite done?" Nin asked. Topaz turned to him and yelled, "You can can it too! Both of you can just shut up and follow my instructions!"

"You might want to stay here," Quill said, "We can help you just as much as any of the doctors you'll find here. You've already seen how ill equipped they are." @Unicorncob @Dynamo Pad Shining Armor spoke to Jade when the two fighters walked up on stage. "I don't like this matchup. Draco doesn't seem like the type to put in a lot of planning before a fight. Nin probably is. Are you worried that Draco will play into his hooves? If those last two fighters prefered the fast ball, this pony definitely prefers the curve." "I didn't have to sacrifice a thing," Nin replied, his brow furrowed. @Canteen_the_unstable Dai tensed in her seat. Come on, just go for him as soon as the bell rings! "Fighters, take your stances please!" Topaz announced. Nin paused after the announcement. He waited to see what Draco would do first before readying his own weapon. The bloodmage raised his right leg and held his hoof out to the side. The leather contraption he wore released a curved blade that unfolded along its length, but the cutting edge of the blade was curved inward. "That's a... horribly inefficient design," Quill said, pushing her glasses up. "Yeah, if we're going by equipment, Draco definitely has the upper hoof." Shining Armor added, his voice sounded shocked that such a serious contender was using a blade like that.

@Unicorncob @Dynamo Pad @reader8363 Shining Armor and Quill move to the side of Rose when she's brought off the stage. Quill used some kind of healing magic to showd her wounds with blue lights that slowed down the bleeding, but it wasn't clear yet if her condition would stabalize. "Team Lotus is pathetic!" one of the audience members shouted. "Two matches and they haven't had a single win!" "Start the next fight, Topaz!" Selene leaned over to Rokata during the comotion. "What will you do if Nin and I win?" She asked. "What are you talking about?" Rokata asked with clear impatience in his voice. Selene eyed Jade from across the ring with her visible eye while talking to Rokata. "Jade's team has no wins and we have one. If this continues, we will have three wins before you have a chance to fight and you will be denied your chance to fight Jade one on one. I want to know what you will do if that happens." "If her team can't bring her to me, she was never worth fighting," Rokata answered. @dragon4111 Topaz's ears twitched as she tried to pick up what the crowd was crying all around her. Neither team had produced a fighter for the third round yet. "I'll see if that's true," Selene said, she looked like she was planning to step up, but Nin walked past her and approached the ring. "My opponent is eager to fight. Yours can wait." Nin explained. He gracefully lept onto the raised ring and approached Topaz.