The Knight of Columbia gritted his teeth as he pulled the trigger again, pivoting with the dragon's pull to keep his shield well between himself and the blast he was about to make. Pain lanced through his side as he still felt the weight of one of those damned swords lodged in his armor-- so that was the kind of game it wanted to play. He got a brief chance to glimpse the evil beast's eyes, watched them widen in surprise as he dared blow up another charge. Daniel almost smiled. His grit was brought to bear-- 

"AAARRRGH!"

Two explosions rocked the world around him, and Daniel went spinning. He slammed against the ground hard enough to shatter a normal human's bones, once, twice, three times before he skidded to a stop in the dirt some thirty meters away from that painful exchange. Silence tightened around Daniel's mind like steel wool, keeping the world at bay for a moment as he lay sprawled on his stomach. With shaky arms and shaky vision, the knight rose slowly onto his knees. His breaths came, pained, but steadily. So the dragon had some explosives at the ready as well. The knight's expression hardened under his visor, he couldn't treat this like some kind of cruel joke, or else he'd probably lose more blood. Yea, that one had punched harder than most of the things Daniel had met so far, the sanguine pool in front of him was a testament to that. Still. He had to be grateful that the blast hadn't separated his ribs, considering that the explosion was pretty much in between them. Daniel was more or less at fifty percent, and had weaker chances of winning this one. Still. This was his reason to live.

DETERMINATION: 0

Daniel pushed the lip of his Destiny into the gravel as he rose to one knee, then the other, and stood tall again. He looked stronger than he felt, human and dragon blood painted in a chaotic spray against his shield. His left side was bleeding profusely, dripping through a fist sized gap in his armor. The wound wouldn't be enough to kill him like it would a normal human, but it did mean a little something more in the dragon's favor. He drew a flask of medicine from his kit as the dust began to clear, the knight and the dragon having collected their bearings.

Talon shook his head to make the ringing stop, sending a few drops of blood splattering this way and that. "Anyone ever tell you you're a crazy son of a bitch?" 

Its voice was as harsh as this graveyard's air, but this time the words seemed to carry some note of respect. Daniel responded in kind. Clearly this wasn't just some animal to be exterminated. ... Well, it wasn't just an animal, at least.

"Indeed." Daniel brought his shield in front as he planted his sword in the ground, easy enough to draw in half a blink of an eye. He pushed his visor up to reveal a weathered, sun browned face, his chin dusted with travel and the beginnings of a beard. He took a long swig of medicine, enough to dull the pain, slow the bleeding some, "Thou art a dangerous foe. Prithee, give me thy name, that I may carve it into one of these arcane towers afore I leave this place."

At this, the wind began to scream, perhaps attracted by the weird hum of the monolith graveyard. The chorus of stones was met by the crazed soprano of the wind, and a storm began to brew overhead. Flickers of lightning played high in the darkening sky, though if either fighter looked long enough to catch one, they'd probably be already dead. It was as if the monoliths themselves sensed a change in the pace, and they began to rise, floating with magical energies on clouds of dust. The shadows lengthened as the knight stood, proud.

"I am Daniel of Columbia. Write mine name on yon tower, afore I write it on thy bones."

[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjufc7GMrCs]
DETERMINATION[/url]: 1