[center][h2]Match Two[/h2][/center][hr]

Andreim marched out on the field, having offered his arm to Lise to escort her out as if it was a royal welcome. He slowly waved using his other arm, or more like waving his hand.

"Smile for those whom have gathered to witness our glorious triumph, as we shall grind the opposition to dust." He smiled softly to Lise and then gave Samoth a firm nod. "Three girls. I don't like beating up girls, but in this case it's an exception for standing in our way. Let's do our best to not let any of them get past us. Focus on the task at hand."

Andreim gave Lise a reassuring nod. "It will be allright. Remember that this will be the moment where the world gets to witness us make history. Your family may be watching too. In either case, I want you to give it your all milady." His smile died down as soon as Samoth got too close to notice his genuine smiling to Lise. "You don't have to be psychic to know the result of this. They be fitting as warmup at least don't you think so Samoth?" Andreim smirked and stretched his arms and hands.

"History, huh..." Lise wondered if a high school sports competition was close to history. But then again, it was the people- or in this case, person (her)- that made it history for simply being there. 

Lise cast a sideways glance at her other teammate, Samoth. She wanted to say that he looked different from normal, but he looked about the same. 'I wonder how long he'll live if he is so serious all the time,' Lise mused to herself. 'Maybe it will extend his life, instead?'

Lise cast away notions of uncertainty. A lesser princess would have been flustered by a crowd watching her. But she wasn't interested in the gazes of commoner bystanders. "I am ready. Shall we?"

Samoth followed at a strolling pace behind the duo that was the rest of his team. The seemed to have a bond of some sort... or at least that's what he mused. But then again, Lise never seemed too invested in much. Besides keeping her elegant manner and appearance. Those she was very invested in. Samoth hoped she would be just as passionate for this fight. So far their team had performed well. But every fight was a potential loss. 

Not that Samoth lacked confidence- he didn't.  But he'd seen their opponents fight in other matches. He wasn't exactly sure what this 'Euphoria' was capable of. The same could be said of Misery. He wasn't sure if his negation field could effect them. His only certainty was that he could easily defeat 'Melodia'. After her summons were dealt with, it appeared as if she had no defense.

Samoth nodded at Andreim's words. For all he cared, their opponents were just blank faces. Male, Female, it didn't matter. The task was [i]all[/i] that was on his mind. Adrenaline started lining his blood as he imagined the actions ahead. He was pumped.

As soon as they were given the "go", this thing was on.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the field, Euphoria strolled confidently onto the field looking every bit like a tiny child next to her two tall friends. Eulogy moved along like a ghost, quietly counting down to herself. Misery trailed anxious behind them, fiddling with charm hanging from her neck and casting nervous glances back that the entrance from which they'd come. "This is bad. I don't think I can do this." She said suddenly, stopping the other two in the tracts and turn to her. "I, I, I, seriously think my 'I-can't-fight-in-this-match-idas is acting up again. Oh, I feel faint!"

With that she collapsed plaintively on the ground, resting on one arm with her head tilted back in front of her completely unimpressed friends. Euphoria sighed and Eulogy made a hurry it up motion with her hand while keeping up her count. Euphoria walked up, grabbed Misery by the arm, and started to drag her across the field like a sack of feathers. "You can't do this every time. Stop embarrassing me, you're supposed to be my senior."

Misery opened one eye and grimaced. "It's really serious this time though. It feels like she's kneading on my soul. It's getting worse."
That one you got a month ago again?" Euphoria asked. 

"Thirty-three. Thirty-two. Problem child? Thirty. Twenty-nine." Eulogy asked quietly.

"Not especially." Misery replied. "She was good. Well, as good as they usually are. But she's been frantic ever since we got here. Like she's angry."

"Well, you know what Mother Superior says." Euphoria said cheerfully, pulling the girl to her feet as they reached the starting point. "This is just another challenge the gods put in front of you. Break it's leg!"

"I don't think that's what that phrase means." Misery said, filled with resignation. 

"I think that's exactly what it means!" Euphoria replied.

"Three. Two. One." Eulogy finished, bringing her horn to her lips. 

[hr]

The horn the sounded the beginning of the match was drowned out by ghostly wail of Eulogy's horn. It was a strange sound, like the echo of an echo of what a real horn sounded like, and as the noise snaked its way through the arena and seemed to wrap around Samoth, Andreim, and Lise they felt the temperature die around them. A unearthly chill seeped its way into the arena as a soup like fog rose up to envelope their ankles. 

Their opponents would have begun moving. The match had begun.

Andreim narrowed his eyes seeing the incoming fog at the ground, his serious expression turned into a smirk. As he began to pour out water from both his hands to fill out across the ground around the three of them, most of it ahead to the direction of the enemy team. He attuned slightly to heat to heaten up the water to create a slight layer of steam and to counter the chilling effect.

Though the young man didn't stop there, he twirled some of the water around his legs, rising up from the ground itself until he stood at a spinning cone of water, a vortex. He allowed the heat attunement to die as he did and gathered a smaller vortex in his left hand. "This team will try to use guile on us. Be on your guard for any indirect attack from the ground or elsewhere."

He swapped his regular vision into heat vision, while at the same time feeling how Samoth and Lise walked at the water under his control. In Samoth's case the effect came as him just losing contact with the water in the spots he moved.

"Lady Lise get your shadows up to scout ahead and attack them. Force them to make mistakes. Let's wear them out or until one of them have had enough and come forth."

"Of course." Lise's shadow rose from the ground, splitting into two individual figures. The two servants then took off towards the opponent's side of the field.

"Follow them closely, Andreim. I don't want to have these peons sully my servants in vain."

The shadows took the most direct route possible, right down the middle of the arena. It was a move that was obvious and shallow yet still could not be ignored. Unless they were to simply forfeit the game by not anticipating something so straightforward.

Samoth would begin to move forward,  making sure to keep his mind spread out in front of him(100ft) to detect anyone who might've chosen to try and sneak closer- not that it'd be likely for more than one of them to get that close so fast. He'd be ready to make a mental attack or defensive structure against anyone who showed themselves. He would not advance far though- only to the first set of pillars. He remembered that one of their opponents could make themselves pretty fast, and he didn't want to leave themselves open to that.

The two shadow servants race past Samoth as he slows to a stop between the first set of pillars, running down the main thoroughfare with inhuman speed as Samoth reaches out wt his mind. Andreim opens up his eyes, tuning his vision in order to see the indistinct red blobs of his enemies. He could see them they the wall. Just as expected; two charging forward, one hanging back withing the four walls of the flag bunker. Battle would not be joined yet, that much was clear.

But that was not the impression Samoth had gotten at all. No, there were minds here. He could feel them. There were minds that were not only close, but closing rapidly right to their position. Two? No. Three. Wait, five? No, there was something else. Eleven. Eleven beings. That was, however, impossible! The area in front of him was clear, the fog wafting around his feet was not all obscuring. If something were really coming right now he should be able to see something, but there was no sign of even a disturbance in the fog to indicate something traveling under it. 

Just then, just as he could feel the eleven about to pass the shadows, a sound reached his ears. Distant hoof-beats?
The mist in front of the shadow servants suddenly bulged before popping like a soup bubble, and from the remnants of that bubble dove a specter. A knight, regal and translucent, clad all in jet black armor and twirling a wicked looking ax as dark as night in one hand as though it were nothing. It let out a merry, blood drunk whoop as it charged forward and as it did so three more bubbles formed on the surface of the fog and from them burst forth three more knights just like the first one.

That was not all however. Coming up behind them the biggest bubble of all bulged on the surface of the mist. When it exploded it threw the mist high into the air, for it was no mere knight on horseback. A whole carriage rolled out of the mist, enclosed and fit for royalty, drawn by two jet black horses. It might have been a fine carriage had it not been retrofitted for war, with the wicked spikes the adorned the wheels and the stains and damages that dotted it's once pristine white body. Standing upon the drivers seat was a woman of wild beauty. He long blond hair flowed backwards in the wind of her charge, the exquisite jewelry that she wore catching the light and shining like starlight upon the battlefield, but her once noble dress had been shredded and stained with old blood and dirt. In one of her hands she gripped the reins of her carriage, and in the other was a long whip studded with small hooks which she lashed the horses with ceaselessly. As she rolled forward she let out a cackle that made a mockery of civility and seemed to plant her eyes solely on Lise.

As these grinning specters descended upon her servants like the crest of a wave Lise could not help but recognize them. She'd seen them before. It was as though they'd jumped right out of the painting she'd seen tucked away in a quiet, isolated corner of her manor home.

The Bloody Princess: Marie Léon de Valois-Saint-Remy and her Black Chevalier!

[hr]
Eulogy looked around her teams side of the arena, bewildered. She looked down at her horn and shook it a little, wondering what on Earth could be wrong. Usually, when she called up a hero with her horn, they hung around on this side grudgingly awaiting orders. That hadn't happened this time for some reason. No, instead she was alone.
This could be very bad.
[hr]

"Afraid I cannot do so, Lady Lise. In this game pawns go first, the king stays with his queen." He said confidently, it had to be said in that sense. He couldn't have questioned Lise's wish or called her idea wrong, but he was certain that they needed to not split up and he couldn't afford to let her out of his sight in here.

Taking your dear time ladies, if you take too much make-up. It will not make-up for your lack of seizing the moment. But I will make it up to you by showing you my power! Samoth likely could handle himself, but Lise's shadows were her defense and now she had sent them forth. Thus he had to fill the gap, and fill it he would indeed. Andreim could clearly see the mists parting ahead and the appearance of a carriage appearing, the one at the reins had a troublesome look about her. If not even slightly resembling Lise.

"There's only one person whose golden hair be like gold. You are just a faux!" He allowed five spinning discs of water to break lose from the vortex in his hand, sending the projectiles towards the carriage. Turning them into ice mid-flight and then using the same hand, pointing his fingers upwards like holding unto a flame, targetting the water under his command spread throughout the ground to create jagged spikes of ice to pop up along the way of the carriage.

You will not get through to my queen, you overambitious knight. You dare take on this nation that is to come and this king! Would the carriage get any closer, he would have to swoop down and catch Lise. What was Samoth doing?

Lise had just foolishly wondered when the enemy would make their move when... It turned into a graveyard scenario out of nowhere. Well, Lise assumed this was what graveyards were like. She read about them, but she scoffed at the idea of ever going to one.

Lise was already creeped out; she didn't need anything else. She didn't care about the dead ancestor. In fact, Lise laughed. She proudly proclaimed that the dead should remain in the ground... Or her servants would put them in by force.

Or at least, that's what Lise thought she'd do. To everyone else... Things were different.

The color had drained from Lise's face; It seemed to match with the sudden fog. Something between a cry of despair and a panicked laugh escaped from Lise's mouth. "M-Marie?! Ahaaa. J-Just as dead as the portrait. Scared?!" Lise's voice cracked, and she began to take steps backwards. "No! L-Leave this p-place, or I'll... THEY will..." She almost tripped as she stepped backwards, but a newly summoned shadow servant steadied her. She couldn't quite choke out any more words.

The shadow stayed close, as Lise was clutching its arm. It seemed like if it was a human and not a projection of her power, it would be very, very painful to be gripped like that. Her grip relaxed slightly when she heard Andreim's voice cut above her worry.

'That's right... I can handle this with his help!' Lise wanted to raise her view to face her dead relative. To show that her new comrades had helped her out of her fears and into a dignified fighter. She wanted to, but that isn't what happened. 'Ahh... Maybe I should just let them take her out without my help...' A twinge of shame mixed with her fear.

The shadow servant stood between Lise and the specter. It gave the other two teammates a slight shrug, as if to say 'Lise is being Lise right now.'

Samoth furrowed his brow as the number of beings he detected from the unobscuring mist spiked quickly, causing him to instinctively step backwards.  Lise's shadow servants bounded past him, unaware of the danger he detected. He counted. Eleven. As soon as he started to speak, the knights began to explode from the mist, charging upon the much more frail-looking shadow servants. 

His stance shifted. He now let off an air of extreme confidence. He'd always had a talent when it came to fighting spectres and the like. Wonder why...
He summoned a low-focus half-wall that spanned the distance between the two sets of short pillars. He would then reach out to both Lise and Andreim and inform them of its position without turning around. It would be a weak obstacle, but because of the nature of their enemies, it'd stand against several knights, or the carriage's horses, if they reached that far.

He'd then run towards the first Knight, keeping one arm ready for defense and throwing the palm of the other at the steed's chest.

The knights paid the shadows about as much mind as passing flies, lashing down and chopping with their axes as they and the carriage rolled past. Whether their strikes connected to not, it seemed, was irrelevant to them.

Samoth met their charge with one of his own, and the lead knight let out a echoey whoop of joy as he rose to the boys challenge. He waited until they were nearly touching, then brought his axe down in one fluid arc as Samoth reached out his arm. Samoth was ready for it, however. As the ebony blade came down Samoth's other arm came up, slicing through the blade of the axe. The knight did not even have to time to be surprised as Samoth's other arm ripped through his horse, passing through it's phantasm body as easily as one would just through the carpet of fog along the ground. He dug a straight hole down the side as the knight rode past him, taking its leg in the as the horse tumbled, collapsed, and dispersed into a black cloud of smoke. The other knight took not of this and gave Samoth a wide berth as they rode past, as well as the carriage. All but one, who stopped on his horse to observe the boy.

The knight that Samoth had felled tried to stand amid the dissipating black cloud that had once been his steed, and collapsed back into the mist. The other knight, the one in front of him, put its hand on the chin of its helmet as if thinking before stepping off of his horse and facing him man to man. It took its axe and slammed it into the ground beside, the blade covered up by the fog. The one behind him climbed to its feet again, this time taking the useless shaft of its axe and slamming it into its stump to make a crude peg leg. They looked at one another over his shoulder, nodded, but did not advance upon him.

If they were afraid they were right to be. Samoth's powers had not been this effective even against ghosts. It was as though these knights were something lesser even than that.
[hr]
What is a ghost?

Nothing short than the lowest form of demon. The soul of a demon killed in the human world, left to wander with no succor by this worlds gods. Pathetic, base creature with no thought and hardly any power, to become a ghost is nothing short of the ultimate humiliation to a demon. Why they took human form if a hotly debated mystery to this day? To try and gain the power of those that defeated them? A way to trick the Gods into granting them respite? Or perhaps it is pure imitation, just the wandering energy taking the form of what it encountered? Regardless, to any basic demon hunter a ghost is nothing to fear beyond its hideousness. 

The horsemen showed this, slamming head first into Samoth's wall and reeling back from the shock of it. Marie Léon observed this, and were she just a ghost would surly fall for it as well. Perhaps by instinct however she whipped the reins and her horses jumped like well trained show ponies. And what a leap it was! How strong would these creatures be, how great their agility, to pull off a leap like this. The carriage sailed through the air as if by magic, it's back wheels scraping the top of the psychic wall as the carriage returned to the ground on the other side.
Just in time to be intercepted by Andreim's attack.

The discs of ice shot through the carriage just as the ice wall sprang up and impaled the entire front of the carriage, ripping through the horses and tearing apart the drivers seat as she rolled headlong into it, throwing up a cloud of black and white swirling mist. The carriage, however, kept moving. It became deformed, more blob like as it flowed over the ice as it began to...shrink? Not just shrink, not just deform. As it sailed toward them across the ground it was talking on a new shape. The shape of a young woman.

"You dare speak such words to me, peasant?" came a voice from above, one that sounded remarkably like Lise's own. There in the sky was Marie Léon, her semi-translucent form casting a shadow upon the ground. No, her war carriage had [i]been[/i] her shadow. Ghost did not have such power, and ghost had no words to mock you with. So what was that thing that had leaped from her carriage even as it was utterly destroyed to fly above Lise and Andreim now? "I have traveled scores of time and broken an oath in order to seize the chance to evaluate the current bearer of our precious name."

As gravity took hold and she began to fall toward them she lashed out with her whip, which seemed to expand until it struck the ground. It was not aimed at Lise or Andreim though, but at the area behind Andreim.
As it struck the ground it did not pierce the veil of fog, but instead flattened and traveled over it until it merged with the large shadow being cast by Andreim's water.  She took the whip in both hands. "Vassal or nom, you will be spared no quarter should you interfere." She said, and pulled hard to the right. Andreim could feel his makeshift throne begin to pull away from him. She was going to slam him into the far wall just to get him out of the way if someone didn't act quickly.

Andreim felt his vortex of water begin to move, but it wasn't him moving it, the shadowy figure had somehow seized grip of it somehow. The foolish shadow had underestimated his wit, and was going to be harvested for doing so.

He allowed his vortex to be manipulated towards the wall, but a distance before it collided with the wall, he'd attuned to ice and froze it solid. Before shooting jets of water from both his hands, the jet propelling him up and the other targetting the block of ice, forcing him to fly back towards the direction of the shadow who stood midair. Using his left hand to push himself forwards, and then using his right to create a blade of ice in his other hand he swung it upon reaching the woman. Seeking to swing it through her mid-section.

"No need to look the other way when you are fighting ME!"
 "I... decide... Regicide!" Andreim yelled as he slid down to the ground using his water powers as a slide to get close to Lise. "They have to get through me..." He narrowed his eyes as he searched for enemies.

Lise cringed at the words the Marie spoke. 'Evalutate? For who?! I am not subject to evaluation, I am royalty!' She grit her teeth and opened her eyes. She was still scared, of course. She felt like she was back to being a tiny child in the huge mansion. 

She noticed that her teammates were handling the situation fairly well overall. She had missed some of it, but the gist was easy to find. Both of them were still standing, so it wasn't all bad. 'Right. My teammates are strong. I can trust them with at least this.'

Lise watched Andreim take off into the sky to attack Marie. 'H-He's amazing...' The scattering light from the spray of water briefly dazzled Lise's eyes. Even as he landed, sliding between Lise and Marie, Lise had kept watching him.

"Andreim..." Lise softly said as he came to rest. Her voice had a tinge of wonder, and softness to it.

'Oh. Did I say his name out loud?' Lise felt her face burn slightly with embarrassment. She looked the other way, putting her shadow servant between him and her. 'I hope nobody noticed that... P-Plus...'

"Where are the actual enemies anyway?!" Lise realized that she had been preoccupied with the gho- Current enemy. She looked around warily.

Samoth stood between the two geist-like forms. He turned his body so that he could look at them both without turning around. They stood still.
He wasn't aware of what these entities were capable of. He knew he could cause monstrous damage to them, but what about they to him? He had to think this through.

They were assumedly losing ground, as their enemies would be advancing and soon arriving at their side of the field, while him and his crew were distracted by the ghostly interception party. But...they weren't quite ghostly. He cut through them like a thin smoke; they offered no resistance at all. He almost couldn't feel them as they melted through his fingers. Even the futile ghosts he'd crushed before felt like water flowing through his hands. It was...odd? But his confidence was at a high now, he wouldn't dwell on it.

He decided to play interception. He knew Andreim was powerful, and that Lise was no slouch. He reached out to his allies telepathically and told the two his plan before rushing against the furthest-out knight, while lowering his previously constructed barrier. He would make four simple plates of matter congregate around the knight's weapon as he gained ground on it, aiming to prevent movement of the axe. His attack would be a simple closeline-like attack to the chest as he ran past it. Any attack or resistance would be met with one of Samoth's arms.

In any event,  he would continue running across the field towards middle area, leaving the peg-leg one behind. He felt confident that Andreim and Lise could hold their own against those things. If the royalty understood kiting, she definitely could with her shadows.
.
When he drew close to the first wall, he would slow. He'd slink against the wall as he drew close to the opening that his opponents may well come through. With his mind now free to focus, he would reach out again with it, sensing every mind within one-hundred feet once again.

If someone were to come through this entrance, he would strike at snake-like speed to the throat with a straight chop. He'd then slam his shoulder into them, attempting to force them to crash into the stonework, hopefully causing them to crumple to the floor.

The knight saw Samoth's approach and tried to swing the blade it had dug into the dirt towards him, throwing a spray of earth at that boy, but it found the weapon held in place. It's surprise didn't have the time to register before Samoth's arm plowed through its midsection, dissolving it into a spray of black mist that fell and vanished beneath the fog.

[hr]
Andriem flew at the falling woman, his hand coated with ice. Closer, closer, closer! He swung, only to find two shadows in front of him. The shadows that had been dismounted by Samoth's wall, their blades crossed in front of them, leaping with incredible speed. The impact shook his arm as though he had slammed into solid stone, sending vibrations deep into his body as the knights pushed up and redirected him over the head of their lady.

All four landed gracefully, Andreim in front of Lise, Marie in front of her knights. "Royalty?" the bloody princess asked, a wry smile on her face. "Is there someone royal here? If there is by all means bring her forward, for I have not lain eyes upon her yet." The smile vanished, her face contorting into the quality of sneer that only centuries of accumulated blue blood could produce. "Know that I do not consider you a coward, though you do cower in my presence. That is natural. It is the privilege of a princess to be able to rely on her knights. However, do you have no support to give this man that does battle in your stead?"
She pointed imperiously at Andreim, nose lifted. "Have you no advice? No encouragement? No orders? You have not even introduced me so he might know whom he stands opposed to. No," she swept her hand along the lime of shadow servants Lise had summoned. "Instead you set your walls down between him and you instead of him and I."

Behind her, crawling out of her shadow, more knights rose out of the mist and joined ranks with the others. Enough that they were equal to the servants that stood between them and Lise. They stared across the foggy grass at their counterparts like football players on the scrimmage line, hands resting on their weapons. "Your enemy is before you, pretend not that someone else will deal with her." She raised her hand. "By example or command, if you claim to be royal, [i]lead[/i]."

She snapped her fingers and the knights charged, fists raised and weapons undrawn, as Marie drew her whip out of the ground and curled it around her fist. She lashed it at Andreim.

[hr]
Meanwhile, Samoth felt minds headed his way. Five of them. Or two. It was hard to tell. Nevertheless, one was about to come round the corner. He whipped out his arm to catch them in the throat, but then then felt it slam into padding. With lightning fast reflexes Euphoria had raised up her gloves just in time to stop his arm from connecting. "Haha!" She said as the force sent her flying back slightly. There was a sound like a revving engine and a colorless burst of energy when she stopped, dukes still raised. "In the name of Bishamonten, you face-" she started, only to get slammed right into the wall from Samoth's followup. "No fair, we gotta exchange names." She choked out as the aura she'd started giving off winked out upon contact with Samoth's shoulder. 

"YOU!" came a sudden scream from behind him as he suddenly felt a weighs on his back. Misery, eyes suddenly wild, had leaped up on his back and wrapped her arms around his, ineffectually sinking her teeth into his shoulder and growling like a monster. From Samoth's perspective one of the minds he'd felt was at the end of his shoulder and the other four were right on top of him.

Andreim kept a cool expression on his face as he landed, his eyes still narrowed slightly. These things were however likely not the actual enemy, they are trying to make us waste energy fighting these. Andreim couldn't help but let out a small. "Hmph." *These fools think they can drain us of our power, their attempt is like a drop in the ocean. The flow of water in my grasp is like an electrical current where I am the source, my very mind and body. It is going to take more than a few specterlike things to beat me.

"Yes, there are royals here. One being you, and you are royally screwed." Andreim gathered a small vortex of water in his left hand, before he continued. "You won't lay your eyes nor your spectral grasp on her.

"My lady does not have to concern herself with someone as lowly as you. The only thing you are going to lead is lead yourself into defeat by my hand."
Andreim didn't wait for the knights to get the initiative, he quickly controlled the vortex to point it's larger part towards the approaching knights before he shot out jets of water from the vortex towards the knights, turning the jets into ice along the way. Making them into flying spears of ice. He had considered to use his saw blade like projectiles, but knights wore armor. He wanted to impale the lot of them. Thus piercing or blunt attacks were likely more effective. The woman had taken her move on him too, using her whip against him, it attached around his right arm, inflicting some pain to him as it attached. He swiftly grabbed hold of it using the hand on the very arm it had wrapped around. "You think you have me? No... I have you."

He smirked, Lise's shadows existed in a similar form like these things. They could now likely deal with her. "Time to tie up this loose end!" Andreim yelled and quickly dashed forwards towards the whip wielding woman, he did a sharp turn on his approach and began to circle around her, shooting jets of water around at various obstacles to push himself quickly around. The plan was simple, but it could work. If this whip was made of the same form as the rest of them it could do for a makeshift rope to keep that woman from moving so Lise could more easily finish her. In the worst case, he had a backup plan.

Lise grit her teeth. 'What do you know about me anyway?! You sneering witch, taunting me in a moment of weakness...' Keeping her eyes closed, she straightened herself up.

She could feel her face pricking with heat, though at first of shame for her lack of composure, it had turned much more towards heat of anger. "To adopt such a boorish demeanour at MY royal tournament..." Lise tried to keep her expression calm enough, though her face was still red. "To act as if you have the authority to test ME, Liselotte Castellan De Valois-Saint-Remy!"

Her previous shadows dissipated, before slinking in front of her into one singular shadow butler. She watched as Andreim tried to bind her foe with her own chains. 'With the full strength of the shadows... I will be able to make use of Andreim's trap!' 

Even still, she could not bring her eyes to open to settle upon the... ghost. 'She has no power over me. She's not worth my attention. She is so beneath me she may as well not even exist. Someone as royal as I can not even manage to notice something so insignificant. I need not even open my eyes.'

Lise reached forward, touching the back of her servant. 'Lend me your power... Crush this pretender.' Her vision was black, like the cores of her own shadows... But she could see in her mind the servant carrying out her order.

The second the command was issued, the servant kicked off at full speed, running down the middle with its full strength as Andreim tried to bind Marie with her whip. If any of the knights survived Andreim's ice attack, it would be strong enough to simply knock them out of the way, and reach its goal of a full-power strike to the ghostly ancestor.

Samoth, despite his slight mental hesitation at detecting a rather odd presence ahead, one of greater substance than other minds he had felt, carried out his follow-up attack just as he had intended, slamming Euphoria into the stonework on the “frame” of the wall’s opening. He didn’t feel the need for introductions.

But before he could follow up on attacking the pink-haired boxer, someone else let out a screech and jumped on his back from behind, sinking her teeth into the area between his coat and his neck, forcing Samoth to groan as he was bitten. He thought it was odd that his opponent had chosen to [i]bite[/i] him, but nonetheless it was a rather weak attack. He focused on creating a psychic wall directly behind himself, then planting his boot forcefully into the hopefully pinned Euphoria’s stomach. Whether the attack landed or not, the intent of it would carry out either way: the force and extent of his leg would launch him back into his own psychic barrier, causing the enemy on his back to crash roughly into it, hopefully winding them.

He’d wrestle his hands to their right arm as he released the barrier, pulling them from his back and to the ground as hard as he could, hopefully.

There was at that point a tug on Andreim's arm, along with a feeling as though he were trying to arm wrestle a cactus. The thickness of the whip had not disappeared, it had simply moved up the whip. The end wrapped around Andreims arm had doubled in size, wrapping tighter and tighter around the limb, and he could make out thorns like those of a rosebush dotting it. And it was pulling. Slowly but surely it was pulling on his arm, dragging him toward the inky blackness.

The Black Chevalier began to move as soon an Andreim began to form his vortex, as though they had been waiting to give him and Lise a chance to react. They charged headlong toward the vortex as Marie grew a wide, shark toothed grin, but were almost immediately thrown back as huge icicles pierced their chests. They sank in with little resistance, as though the knights were made up of black mud, and landed unsteadily on their feet as Andreim took the opportunity to shoot past them.

She calmly watched the boys approach and followed him with her eyes as he began to circle. The whip in her hand wrapped itself tightly around and slender frame again and again. "Young fool." She said, sighing. "Was your intent to bind me with a weapon under my own power?" She let the whip slip gently from her hand, it's third dimension ebbing away as it left her hand until it was only a flat coil of darkness. It drifted silently into the shadow at her feet, and as it did the coils that bound her lost their diminution as well and followed after it, slipping down her body as shadows like a discarded wedding dress and falling into the hungry darkness.
There was at that point a tug on Andreim's arm, along with a feeling as though he were trying to arm wrestle a cactus. The thickness of the whip had not disappeared, it had simply moved up the whip. The end wrapped around Andreims arm had doubled in size, wrapping tighter and tighter around the limb, and he could make out thorns like those of a rosebush dotting it. And it was pulling. Slowly but surely it was pulling on his arm, dragging him toward the inky blackness.

"You may wish to hurry, dear descendant." She said, casually turning back to whom she considered the truly important person in this scenario. "Lest your noble protector..."

She didn't get to finish as a giant icicle was swung into her face. 

------------
Lise's servants had been right behind Andreim. They had their orders, they knew what they had to do, and one in particular had been graced personally by the touch of the princess. Though they lacked their counterparts armor or weapons they met their stricken foes with an unrivaled zeal, striking them moments after they were impaled. 

The battle was swift and brutal, though no one could quite tell what happened. It played out like an overcrowded shadow puppet theater, the butlers and knights blending in to one another in a silent dance of death. There were indications at the edges, the impressions of swings and kicks and grapples. It looked like one butler had gotten hold of a knights ax somehow. There was the impression of a knight being torn in half from the swampy edges where he'd been pierced by the icicle. A butlers head rolled from the roiling mass, and then determinedly rolled itself right back in. From this mass of shadows though, one in particular greed itself. 

It jumped from the center toward the princesses enemy, the thing that had inspired such fear and contempt in her, and gripped between its bulging non-muscles was one of the large chunks of ice. It swung, exerting in total silence, and the ice caught Marie across the face. There was a sound like air being let out of a balloon and a smell of grave dirt as Marie's face cracked like a mirror, mist seeping from between the cracks like blood.
Then she flew, the force of the impact sending her up the field. As she sailed through the air she raised one fist toward Lise, and extended her thumb. 

Unfortunately, with her went her shadow. Andreim was now like a man chained to a moving bus.

[hr]

"Does nobody have honor anymoURK?!?" Euphoria wheezed out as Samoth planted a foot directly in her chest and pushed himself back into his own barrier. The thing on his back just snarled loudly and bit down harder. Much harder. Surprisingly hard! He reached up to peel her off, but the creature he whipped down roughly onto the mist was barely the girl he had seen before of this team. Her hair was streaked with golden blond tufts, her ears were sharp and pointed, and there was a snakelike tail he could see coiling out between her robes. She rolled with the throw, landing on all fours in front of him like a animal, back arched and eyes wild. Her tongue came slipping out of her mouth, rolling across the red stains that lied her lower jaw. Blood. His blood. 

"You...you..." she huffed and puffed, then screamed and clawed at her own skull in a wild frenzy that left her scalp bleeding in places. "Stay down, all of you. Stay down!" She mumbled. "This man is miiiiiiiine!" As she screamed that there was a blinding flash of light, and the next thing Samoth could see as it dimmed was a clawed, muscular hand coming right at his neck.

Meanwhile, a short ways behind them, Marie finally ended her flight and crashed into the dirt. Whether or not Andreim was with her was entirely up to him!

He gritted his teeth as the whip had tightened around his arm, to escape it was likely an easy task. But that wasn't what coursed through the young man's mind.

This arrogant spectre had to know her place, and Andreim wasn't sparing any expenses to make that happen. He whom had been prophetized by his equally arrogant parents to be Clara's replacement.

Andreim's eyes narrowed as he was pulled after the spectre's shadow, first up into the air and then downwards. Upon reaching the top, Andreim had began to manifest a spear-like shape of water in his free hand which he swiftly turned to ice, his face showing clear anger.

He swiftly threw it seeking to impale the spectre in the back, shortly after he made a slicing cut using some water made into ice to cut himself free. Still falling midair, he raised his now freed hands above his head, blood from his arm began to also flow into the large orb of water he formed above his head, then he leaned the large orb forwards and flinging it down towards the impact zone, it becoming a large ball of ice just moments after leaving his hands.

'Smash everything to pieces!'

Seeing the orb fly down at high speed towards Marie. he turned both his hands towards the ground, to shoot jets of water to dampen his fall.

Lise had kept her eyes closed, but she could feel in her heart that her shadows would win. Maybe it was her own inclination towards the shadows, but she could feel and hear the melee, despite it making nearly no sound whatsoever. Perhaps it was the same for her... 'ancestor.'

Lise gasped as she opened her eyes at the last moment. A glint of light reflected off of the icicle as her servant carried out her final command. The entire moment stretched before Lise, though it was only a brief moment. The ghost- no, pretender-to-the-family was crushed by her servant's strength. In fact, it was sent flying. Though rather burlish, Lise couldn't stop a smile. It was rather carthatic to see, after all. 'Perhaps the commoners will enjoy such a rough move.' Lise thought.

As Andreim followed up with his own attack, Lise took the initative. If for some reason Andreim's attack did not finish the job, she needed to make sure she could handle it. A single shadow rose up, Lise deciding to keep all her power in one hit.

Samoth winced as he felt the teeth of his opponent clench down harder on his shoulder-neck area. He needed to get them off of him, he needed breathing room. But who he threw over his shoulder was a seemingly new opponent. She seemed...wild. Savage. She seemed on the verge of losing control of her own body and mind...
[color=green][i]Psycho...[/i][/color], he thought as he stared at her little display.

He stepped backwards to give some talking room, but kept his confident posture. [color=darkgreen]”Two against one.”[/color] he said. [color=darkgreen]”Doesn’t seem very fair.”[/color] 

He wouldn’t wait for a response. He would turn to his left and sprint towards the wooded area at the end of the wall structure. As he did so, he would raise a barrier between himself and his two opponents, to block any attacks, but would lower it as he had advanced a few yards. He’d leave another, much smaller barrier behind him in a bar shape, but at ankle level to trip up at least one of them as they chased him.

Samoth could feel the air lance across his neck from the blow he stepped back. The attack did not come from Misery, who was even now subsumed. Her body, as it had in the other matches, had changed form. This one, however, was entirely new and it's yellow eyes stared him down with a hateful familiarity. 

[img]https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/bof/images/5/53/Bof2-meta-katt.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20120213224152[/img]

It tilted her head quizzically at the notion that this was a two on one. It hadn't considered that possibility, but then again it hadn't been thinking very clearly before this moment. It supposed that was one of the advantages of a human mind capable of reason. For example, when Samoth turned and ran every instinct in its body told it to leap, give chase, to fall upon him and rip him into bloody pieces. It didn't do this. Its wonderful new human mind was much better able to interpret its memories and one of those memories was of what her prey was capable of.

It reached out a claw and touched the wall in front of it, sneering. Oh yes. It very much remembered these. 

"You heard him." it said. It's voice was confident, and slightly husky, in contrast to the timid screech of Misery. "We have a match to win, don't we?" But when it turned to look at its partner it found her with her dukes up.

"You must be out of your mind!" Euphoria spat, ready to fight it out with her own teammate. "You think you can act up like this and expect me to believe that's still Misery in there? You got another thing coming. Two things!" She knocked her gloves together and threw a pair of quick punches at the air. 

It's ears drooped. It had been a fine idea, it has thought, to get this one to help it kill Samoth but it seemed as though that wasn't how this human did things. "It's too bad he de-clawed you then," it said, and then jumped. In a graceful backflip it landed on the to of Samoth's barrier as Euphoria started to rush forward. Fighting her was a trap, after all. That had been their strategy all tournament. Human reason let it recognize this. 

From her perch atop that barrier she turned and leaped after Samoth, clearing his unseen trap and running on all fours after him. Euphoria tried to follow, circling the barrier and managing to trip on the psychic bar Samoth had laid in their path. She hurriedly picked herself up and tried desperately to make up the lost ground without her acceleration and hindered by her desperately short legs. It wasn't going to work.
[hr]

What is "Demonic Possession?" In truth, most cases that could be pointed to as a "possession" are more a case of "co-habitation" or "Symbiosis." Perhaps even "Fusion." Very rarely will a demon posses a human that has been blessed by the gods in anything but sheer desperation. That is because, 99% of the time, in these cases the human has all the real bargaining power. The godly power present in a human will do all in it's ability to keep the demon from doing any damage, up to and including destroying it. Many demons, however, would choose to take the risk if the alternative was slowly losing your mind and power as a ghost. So in order to retain its mind the possessing demon will do everything in its power to obtain the humans permission to stay before it is destroyed. 

If it has done so, either though preying on pity or promising power, it takes up permanent residence in the humans soul. From this point a few things may happen. For a truly foolish human it may be able to trick them into handing over the body, leading to a case of true possession. Others whisper in their hosts ear, turning their thoughts ever more to gaining power, preying on their insecurities to corrupt them. Others still are content to themselves useful to who they view as their new master, and wait until the human is dead to take control of their body. Some rare sorts even fuse entirely, power, personalty, and soul, with their hosts so it is impossible to tell where demon ends and human begins.
This is, of course, only true of 99% of cases. 

This poor girl, Misery, is a part of the unlucky 1%. Those with Gifts given by gods of Kindness, Trust, or Mercy. Gifts that give inherently, to everyone, indiscriminately, are unsuited to driving out or containing demons and so offer less defense against true possession. Misery was, in fact, quite lucky among this 1%. Her blessing of Hospitality at least allowed her to place locks on the doors in her heart, and so long as the demons inside her had nice rooms with soft beds and a three course meal every day, they could be kept content and even, in their own way, loyal.

Unless, of course, they had unfinished business.

[hr]
Marie threw out her arms in the air as the ball of ice spun toward her, the shadows under her leaping like obedient dogs into her hands. Two whips of rosy thorns lashed out, piercing into the heart of the ball and shattering it. This only proved to worsen the effect, transforming what was to be a wrecking ball into a hail storm. She was pierced, over  and over and over, as though she were the victim of an old timely mob hit. Strange ectoplasmic matter splattered to the floor before evaporating and mixing with the roiling mist. 
She landed in a heap on the ground, sunlight shining through the holes that, were she alive at all, would surly kill her. That wasn't a state she could remain in for long. It would bring shame on the family name. So, torturously, she stood, and feigned indifference as best she could before spotting something that so caused a swell of feeling that she was able to hold herself together for just a moment longer.
Oh what pride! Oh what happiness! It was like watching a baby bird you'd taken from the ground and cared for take wing for the first time. Truly this was how the commoners must have felt seeing the sons return from war, strong and gallant with the experience of combat.

She cracked both her whips in front of her. "Yes, that's it. Be not afraid. When your fears rise up before you, look toward it and smile. Face it, head on and heedless of it's terrors and allow it the pleasure of basking in your grace. So long as you don't show fear, neither will those under you." She swung, the whips arcing like serpents toward Lise.

Samoth looked back. The one animalistic girl had surpassed his barriers. Luckily enough however, the other one had been considerably slowed down. He continued to run until he hopefully reached the end of the wall - but he knew Misery would likely be faster than him. He put up another barrier behind him, while at the same time, as he ran, separating himself from the wall by several feet. He had a plan.

If he could, he would reach the end of the wall structure and hide behind it. When the savage got close enough, he would run a diagonal barrier between himself and her - hoping that she would throw herself against the barrier, which would allow him to reach through it and throw her off-balance before trapping her in a small psychic box.

That is, if she is rash as he thinks she is in this state.

Lise scoffed at what she heard. She was feeling much more calm now, enough to take in what was said. "Do you fancy yourself a royal tutor now? Do not sink the name of my family to such depths!"

'That being said... Perhaps I could follow that advice in the future...' Lise briefly thought. 'Of course, I can't let the commoners see me admit that I was scared to begin with.' She kept a brave face on.

"Enough of this!" Lise yelled with as much authority as she could muster. Lise's shadow split and reacted quickly to intercept the two whips. Although it would have been painful for a normal person, Lise's servants were beyond that. Grabbing the whips before they hit their mark, the servants pulled on the whips in sync, aiming to sweep Marie off her feet straight towards Lise - where a new servant would deliver a full-force strike.

Marie popped like a balloon, that look of pride still on her face as it was caved it and scattered into mist. And all around them the fog on the ground began to melt away in the afternoon sunlight, and the unearthly chill that had gripped the arena faded till it was like it was never there at all.

It made the animalistic snarls of the thing after Samoth much more noticeable.

Not to mention the shouts of the girl after it. "Stop! Get a grip you stupid monster!" Euphoria shouted, struggling to keep up. "You're not killing anyone, Misery would never forgive herself."

The thing, though, wasn't listening. It was laser focused on the prey in front of it.

Samoth's plan worked like a charm, the desperate predatory instinct of the demon meaning nothing in the face of barriers it could not see. it was thrown back and trapped.

In the box.

The [i]box[/i].

The box the box the box the box the box the box the box the box the box the box the box the box the box the box the box the box the box the box the box the box the box the box the box the box the box the box the box the box the box the box the box the box the box the box the box the box the box the box the box the box the box the box the box the box the box the box the box the box the box the box the box

Not again. Not that indignity again!

It jumped, and slammed into the ceiling, and pushed off from there to slam against one of the walls, then pushed off and slammed agaist the opposite wall. Again, and again, and again, wall, wall, ceiling, floor, wall, ceiling, floor, wall and on and on and on. Hitting each with all its strength. Hitting the same places every time. These were not the panicked clumsy strikes it had made at the hotel. This was an attack, a concerted effort to break the box.

Andreim landed and then took a few steps forwards, narrowing his eyes. 'Someone has to pay dearly for this humiliation. I will not allow anyone to humiliate me and my lady in this manner. No more holding back. I am shooting them down.'

He considered for a moment asking Lise if she was allright, but she might take it the wrong way. After all, neither one of them should be concerned with small fry. Persistant small fry whose controller is going to get it now.
"Good work Lise, leave the rest to me. Create a perimeter guard around our flag. I am taking them out for both of us."
He grit his teeth together and narrowed his eyes, gathering a large swirling vortex under his feet before using it to speed off towards the enemy's end of the arena.
'I will not allow any ridicule thing such as this stand in the way of the future that is to come. The promised land we shall bring forth. I will smash these opponents into the dust to make a statement. So that none will ever doubt our authority. Whomever called forth these specters is mine.'

He thought to himself as his twisterlike cone of water turned quickly around the walls and made it's way into the enemy side. There he saw Samoth and those whom he was fighting.
A beast looking girl and the one known as Euphoria. Samoth was holding off them both. As expected of Samoth. He was indeed a worthy adversary, there was a reason why Andreim considered him to be his greatest foe. For like himself, Samoth was someone with a trained body AND mind. That made him powerful.
But his moment of glory was about to be contended. Andreim charged forwards with his spinning cone of water, aimed at Euphoria.
'Like a fly meeting a truck. You have been struck.' He thought, as he attempted to cause Euphoria to be sucked into the spinning vortex. Andreim wasting no time, he shot himself up with a strong jet of water and using his other hand turned the vortex into ice, connected by the jet of stream he had used to spring up into the air with.

He didn't care if Euphoria was caught in it, or managed to jump out of it in time, the blunt force of small iceberg would likely send her to the medic bay.
Midair once again he set his sight on the beast girl. No one was going to even doubt for a moment, whom had been in control of this match.
He put both his hands to his sides, with their palms facing the ground below. Before he attuned to heat, his eyes turning orange/yellow as his thermal vision kicked in and then he began to call forth his water powers to create two jets of stream aimed down at Misery. Intending on using her as a landing platform, while steamcooking her. Hopefully to the point of losing counciousness.
'I will show you true phantom pain!' He thought as he began his descent. The plan was well calculated, he would attack her while also creating the ideal enviroment for both himself and Samoth. An area of steamy mist where Samoth could sense them and where Andreim could detect their heat signatures.

After that, all he needed to do was to call forth enough water to fill the enemy side to their heels. Thus he could attack them anywhere and they wouldn't be able to find him.

None in the crowd would either likely pick up his trick of what he would actually do in there, this is what it meant to use guile and planning.

Samoth reset his stance. His trap had worked. The wild girl was now contained in a psychic box not much larger than herself. But she was still resisting. Her concentrated attacks against the same spots over and over would normally not do much, coming from the strength of a normal person. But unbeknownst to Samoth, the slowly increasing headache would indeed be from the girl's attacks against the barrier. It seemed her attacks held more than one would expect.

But for now he could mostly ignore her. The other girl - Euphoria - needed to be handled. However, it seemed the rest of his team had dealt with their own opponent already - and Andreim was well on his way to handle her. Samoth focused his mind around the pink-haired as he stepped closer, aiming to wall her off from his direction. She would only be able to move [i]towards[/i] Andreim and his attack.

Samoth had to admit, him and Andreim made a decent, if not really good, team. With both their ways of tactical thinking, and the applications of their powers, it wouldn't be too far off to say they were the best two-man team at St. Laurels. 

But of course, Samoth had never been inclined to try and find someone who he worked well with.
Lise &ras12/30/2018
Lise had to take a moment to catch her breath. She had been on edge the entire time, so now that the... presence was gone, it was like a weight was taken off of her. And now that Andreim was freed up, he and Samoth would easily handle any resistance. And she was tasked with the important function of defensive positioning.

Lise crossed her arms confidently as her two shadows guarded the flag. She lightly laughed. "Nobody will so much as touch the flag!"

...Even though it was an important function, Lise felt a pang of concern. If the commoners watching her didn't grasp the importance of defensive positions, then they may get bored watching her. She stood up straight and maintained perfect posture. She needed to look every bit as elegant as she was no matter what she was doing. Even if it was waiting for an enemy attack.

Euphoria had gotten caught up into his watery vortex, spinning around before it was being turned to ice. Leaving half the girl's body encased in ice, the large chunk of ice travelled in a forwards direction, Euphoria would have been occassionally slammed against Samoth's psychic walls, which were used as a railing for the speeding miniature iceberg. It came to a stop when it crashed into one of the many pillars which decorated the arena, the ice breaking partly into pieces and the uncouncious battered body of Euphoria next to it.

The other girl which Samoth had put in his psychic box, had been steamcooked for a slight bit. She was no longer a threat, Samoth should finish her. He couldn't hog all the glory himself. That would be overambigious. First of all things he attuned to cold again, as he felt a tingle of wearyness having swapped between the two elements in such a quick manner. But the match was soon over, that was fine.

The heated steam was swiftly turned into cool mist, just perfect for assessing the situation. He did a reversal of elemental attunement again, activating his thermal vision, scanning the two targets and also picking up Samoth's heat signal. Further away was Euphoria's body, slightly cooler than the other two. Then there was the heated up Misery and close to her was the normal heated Samoth. Andreim quickly determined that Euphoria and Misery were dealt with in such a manner he needed not to keep attacking them. There was one left. The one which had wasted their time and likely made fun of them while doing so. He would find her.

Andreim called forth a new vortex of water under his feet, then after gathering enough he speeded off along the ground, looking for Eulogy. After not too long he found her on the enemy side of the arena. She appeared uncouncious.
Andreim created a miniature vortex and sent it over her head, dropping a bucket of water on the girl. If she was awake or not, an example had to be made. It was nothing personal towards her, it was something personal towards himself and Lise. None should for a moment doubt that this match was in their grasp. The future depended on it. That's why this girl had to be humiliated in such a way it would deter people from even thinking they had a single hope at coming out at top. Andreim controlled a large portion of water from his vortex, and kept calling forth more, enough that it would pick up Eulogy and carry her along with the mass of water, all the way back to the St.Laurel's team's base. Where Lise were standing, guarding the flag. No. The banner. Just like they would have their own banner in a future not far from now. Eulogy here was to be treated as an enemy, of a lesser kind.

Andreim attuned to cold and began to create two high pillars of ice, in an 'X' shape, whereof in the lower part of it hung Eulogy with her wrist's encased in ice, slightly suspended above the ground, facing the crowd on one side of the arena. So they could see what happened to those who got cocky. Some might think it to be distasteful or cruel, but to Andreim this was of high importance.

A leader needed resolve and strength of both body and will. He floated forwards still on the water, which had slowed down significantly, and he concentrated carefully before creating stairs of ice, which he began to walk up upon, and at the top shaping two thrones of ice, with a slight bump at the edge to make sure those sitting in it would not slide off. He then gaze a satisfied smirk and gave a wave, very similar to how a great ruler would greet his people. Once that was done, he created another vortex, sending it towards Lise and trying to lift her all the way up to the thrones.

"My lady, how does victory taste?"