[center][h3][color=138808]Knight Sylvestre[/color] vs the God Hand Round 1[/h3]
Location: the Neighborhood – Grocery Store[/center]

Clear, loud, and abrasive, the [i]clack[/i] of the drone's pincer touched off a powder keg without a fuse.  It jolted the already-tense muscles of both combatants into overdrive, starting the match with a bang that sent them forward as if fired from starting pistols themselves.  A scant fifteen feet separated the pair, and as their respective gears spun into action, they fell into their old grooves to trace the well-worn paths that served them well in the past.

[i]No sense in holding anything back.  I'll overwhelm her[/i]

[i]Taunt him, test him, tire him.  I'll pick his strategies apart[/i]

A silver effulgence consumed Cyril's armor and he exploded, glaive forward, toward his foe like a streaking comet.  His feet slid across the ground as though it were ice, spurred on and kept stable by the short-lived magical aura around him.  Juniper took just one step, pivoting her frame into a side-facing stance.  Water did not get where it was headed by ramming into obstacles head-on, but by flowing around them, and the level-headed maiden pushed through her initial surprise at the knight's speed to step off to the side.  She allowed the brunt of Cyril's thrust to breeze by her, turning as she ducked to put the full torque of her body into her retort.  Her palm cannoned into the plated armor covering her enemy's lower ribcage, and it made him shout in pain as he slammed into the end of an aisle twenty feet away.  At that point, the force had petered out enough to prevent a major impact, but he still collided with the shelf hard enough to send plastic jars of maple syrup bouncing across the floor.  In a moment he pushed himself off and stood facing Juniper, just a little hunched over.

[i]Stronger than anyone has a right to be, and clever[/i]

[i]He's as crazed as I thought to risk a lunge like that[/i]

“Awfully eager...!”  Before Juniper could complete her sentence, Cyril went on the attack again.  This time he ran forward and reeled back his weapon with both hands, a slugger come to bat.  Such a heavyhanded windup left him wide open, and the priestess wouldn't say no to an easy opening.  She stepped up to deliver an ambitious side kick straight to the jawline of the vanguard's faceplate, but instead of performing his big slash Cyril lashed out with the butt of his halberd.  Juniper realized too late, and her foot glanced off the shield affixed to his arm as the shaft smacked her right in the stomach.  The sudden pain caught her off guard, and for a split second she could think of nothing else but getting out of dodge.  Her racing mind guided her to use the force to fall backward into a roll, and doing so allowed her to avoid most of the followup swing Cyril threw out afterward.  The blade clipped her garment, shearing through the cloth, but didn't cut into her skin.  In an instant, the second exchange was over, and after her roll Juniper took a few steps back and behind a waist-high island with produce.  While he would have wanted to keep at it, the vanguard took a moment to breath instead, and for a few seconds the two stared at one another.

This time, the shrine maiden took advantage of the silence.  “Awfully eager to hack and slash me to bits, aren't you?  You're just the same as every other madman in metal I've met: stubborn and pathetic, clinging to your mission 'cause you've got nothing else.”

“I'm not insane,” came the growl from behind the mask.  “What I'm doing is one-hundred-percent rational.  I really can't figure out why you're trying to tear me down.”  Cyril walked forward, armor clinking, and jumped onto the solid wooden table.  “You meddlesome idiot.”  With very little ceremony he kicked some of the baskets of berries at his adversary, forcing her to act.  She could have retreated, but everything she'd seen of the man up until his last words, even with his little feint from before, bolstered her confidence.  Because of this, she accepted the challenge.  Amidst the flying boxes and berries, she struck one with her fist to send it off sideways, but as she wiped away the obstruction she became suddenly aware of another projectile hurtling toward her.

[i]His shield?![/i]

[i]Don't underestimate me, woman[/i]

Deep-seated muscle memory and lightning reflexes worked together to bring Juniper's hand back around, and with all the force she could muster she backhanded the shield upward.  Its speed obliged her to strike its front to divert it in time, and an involuntary gasp wrenched itself from her throat as she discovered the teeth that discreetly lined its edge.  Blood, along with berry juice, spattered the once-pristine tile and her fine robes.  Even still, she would not be distracted, and with a tranquil frown she watched the knight jump off the table to belly-flop onto her and crush her beneath his armor's weight and hardness.

[i]It's inelegant, but I hope you like it, miss[/i]

[i]A ridiculous cheap shot—and it won't fly[/i]

Juniper extended her legs as one.  The lack of one arm put more importance on her legs, and their strength wasn't lacking.  They worked to turn Cyril's own momentum against him, and together the two forces kept the vanguard moving right over the priestess and onto the ground behind her.  Despite his gear, Cyril managed to pull off a roll himself to get back to his feet.  By that time, Juniper had returned to hers as well, and this time the two came together without anything in the way.  Cyril struck first, using his extended range to deliver a quick diagonal cut.  Though his foe ducked backward, the tip of the weapon managed to cut off a few locks of hair and nick the bridge of her nose.  This, Juniper had already decided, was the price of her next assault.  Now inside his range, she used her hand to steer his polearm away as she executed a roundhouse kick toward his midsection.  It hit home, and she prepared a second, to which Cyril lifted his own leg in response.  Shin-bone met metal greave, not positioned quite right to throw the vanguard off balance, and he let go of his glaive with his nearest hand to lean in with a right cross.  Without enough room to deal with it, Juniper could only grit her teeth and bear the blow straight to the stump of her missing arm.  Stars blossomed in her vision, followed by rage, and with that anger came adrenaline.  She stumbled back, and her foe returned his weapon to his hands.

[i]I'm sorry that it's come to this[/i]

[i]...[/i]

With Juniper's guard seemingly down, Cyril saw an opportunity and maneuvered his halberd into position for a left-side chop.  It seemed clear to deliver a decisive blow to her torso, but the instant before the sharpened edge connected she span away.  Cyril couldn't quite tell what happened next; as best he could figure, a blinding light emerged from the priestess's necklace.  White and purple filled his vision, and eight impacts rattled his body.  As the world returned, the vanguard became aware of Juniper first—or more precisely, her jumping snap kick, which bodily popped him a few feet into the air.  Before he could even hit the ground, her fist hit him like a pile driver, and he hit the dirt several yards away.  Everything hurt as he struggled to his feet, but he wasn't done yet.  Quickly he checked his equipment and limbs for breaks.  Without a doubt, his armor would need to be pounded out after this.  Only after getting it off could he figure out if that pain in his ribs meant broken bones.  More pertinently: what in the world hit him?  Battering strikes that his armor barely helped against plus dazzling, painful magic made for a terrible combination, for him at least.

Cyril's mind raced.  He still had a few tricks up his sleeve, and one in particular that he felt might serve as an answer to this woman's uncharacteristic magic.  With the moment afforded to him by Juniper's preoccupation with the blood dripping into her nose and mouth, he pulled the screw from his belt and jammed it into his forehead from the front.  As expected, it passed right in, and a strange sensation filled the vanguard's brain instantly.  “...Huh?”

[i]I feel...sharper.  More focused.  But only a little, and something's off.  It doesn't feel...quite right[/i]

[i]Whatever trick that is, it won't help you.  Let's do this[/i]

Juniper wiped the blood off on her sleeve and charged forward.  Her armored opponent did the same, glaive in hand, and surrounded by silvery light.