'Prepare to die'.

How many times has he heard that line? Or 'meet your doom!'? Or, really, any other such line? The more Jake had thought about that during his travels, the more he was convinced bad guys had a Big Book of Cliche Quotes stashed away somewhere. In retrospect, maybe it was less a book and more some zeitgeist of villainy that engendered such quotes.

Of course, all it meant in this battle was the elf chick was generous enough to telegraph her attack, even if she didn't know it. He managed to dodge the fire column, even if he did feel the flames get a little too close. He made a mental note to patch it up, but his attention was already elsewhere; the Elf was charging at him full-bore, attempting to take him by surprise just as he was trying to recover from the flame strike. Solid strategy, really.

He managed to get his axes up just in time to counter the elf's sword swings, parrying each blow as quickly as he could. Some he got fully with the axe, some he managed to anticipate, and some he barely managed to block with his bracers rather than his axes. Sparks and embers filled the air as speed met strength. He had to admit, even though he hadn't slowed down that much since his youth, this particular fighter was a pretty fast blade herself.

"Nice follow-up on the backhand there," he retorted as he managed to dodge a swipe so fast he literally heard it whistle by his ear. "You might want to work on the balance, though, it's a bit off-"

He managed to perfectly block another attack the Elf had aimed at his torso, before then slamming his mass into the smaller form of his adversary.

"-like so!"

He managed to switch to attack this time, or at least footing more equal to his foe.

"And in case you were wondering," he said, grunting as he countered and parried enemy strikes, attempting to force her back into the defense as she had attempted with him, "about the kid?

"Even if what you said was true," he countered, deflecting two rapid sword strikes with a single vicious axe swing.

"Even if he never uses magic again because of you-" He spun around her, using the force of one of her own attacks for momentum, making sure his feet only hit the floor when he could manage a safe foothold.

When she swung again, he made a wide circular double-parry that locked their weapons together. In the flat blades of the weapons, he caught a glimpse of something happening in Oner's direction, and glared back at the Elf.

"Well, even if he can't cast magic, he's still my buddy, and I won't think any less of him.

"That answer work for you?"

Before she could respond, he raised both feet and planted them square in her chest, kicking himself away while setting her up for a powerful blast of lightning. He let go of his axes to temporarily tie up her swords, back-flipping away from her, and then resummoning his axes halfway through the jump.