[color=4bc7cf][i]Tch, typical dismissive attitude. Why does it have to be the type of line I hate the most? [/i][/color] Ha-nul fumed, drawing his needle as he squared his shoulders. [color=4bc7cf]“Oh, yeah? Then why not test me, oh great princess? Would it be enough for you if I survived against you till there are only 200? Or shall we bet on me getting in at least one hit, huh?”[/color] he shouted at her brashly. He honestly wasn’t as worked up as his volume was making it seem; he was just venting a bit, using it as an outlet to calm his nerves. Maybe it was false confidence, but it was better than nothing.

[color=4bc7cf]“Let’s see just how much of your time I can waste!”[/color] he called, both hands wrapped around the weapon. He sparked the Shinsoo within him into familiar motions, letting the sharp zing of greater efficiency take hold of him. He then dashed at the Princess, observing her every minute movement, weapon ready to strike. Ha-nul didn’t intend to hold anything back; he was attacking with his life on the line, so he may as well go at it with lethal intent.

[color=ed1c24]"Tsk."[/color] Not the answer she expected or wanted. If he was strong she would fight him and if he was weak she would walk away; the last thing she wanted was to waste time with more small fry when she could be out there catching the big fish. Unfortunately she'd underestimated how much these fools could be driven to action by their wounded egos; she'd insulted him by implying he wasn't strong and now his bravado had overridden his initial fear and his pride was pushing him to prove her wrong, even though he knew what she was. Now he wouldn't let her be until he was satisfied or, more likely, dead.

Fine.

Candice turned to face the approaching Regular. She raised a hand to her cheek and rubbed away at it, inadvertently smearing half-dried blood across her face in the process. He was dashing towards her know, moving with surprising speed as he closed the distance between them with his weapon at the ready. Candice approached more slowly, pacing towards him and letting him come to her. Once he was close she started dashing herself, running and them leaping towards him before lashing out with a sweeping kick at head height.

She'd take his head off quickly, get this over and done with, then move on.

Contrary to how his enemy sped up eventually, Ha-nul slowed down a bit once the red-head dashed. She didn’t seem to possess a weapon, which he’d use to his advantage. Let her come at him; he’d do his best to counter and poke her. The sheer power of her motions was impressive, and he watched as his opponent chose to perform a flying kick. He shifted his weapon, and moved to counter. Taking a leaf out of his previous enemy’s book, Ha-nul angled the tip of his hook just-so, expecting it to intersect the Princess’ leg while he ducked to avoid his face getting smashed in. He braced his body for the impact of weapon on flesh, firmly gripping his hook and gazing up at her.

He was faster than expected, and smarter, ducking under her kick and angling his weapon to catch her leg at the same time. Not bad, she would credit him with having more skill and cunning than those she had killed earlier; if his plan worked her own strength would be her downfall as she drove his hook into her flesh by herself. Clever, but a wasted effort here.

It wasn't a bad trick and would probably be enough to catch most Regulars, but she wasn't most Regulars. She could tell something was up the moment he began to slow down and as he moved his weapon into position she had an idea of what he had in mind. Rather than try and halt her kick Candice adjusted the angle instead, her kick carrying on with full force as her leg slipped under the tip of his hook and struck the inside edge of the loop. She did not impale herself as Ha-Nul intended, but instead hooked her foot around his weapon, swinging her leg around and dragging the head of his hook with it as she forced his weapon to the ground with her foot on top of it.

Now standing with her back to her opponent she kicked out with her other leg, turning to look over her shoulder as she drove the foot not pinning his hook in place towards his chest.

His plan backfired completely, as instead of getting caught as he thought she might, the Princess shifted mid-motion, hooked his weapon at the curve – which might be an amusing consideration in other circumstances – and disarmed him. Though Ha-nul had attempted not to let the handle slip from him, her strength was too much; his weapon fell to the ground, where she pinned it with her foot. Moreover, his palms now suffered minor friction burns, and another kick was flying right at where he was half-crouching. Fantastic. [color=4bc7cf][i]No time to be defeatist.[/i][/color]

Ha-nul dropped down into a full crouch and rolled sideways under the kick. Just the displacement of air from one of the Princess’ attacks gave him the shivers. Worse, he had to get close to retrieve his weapon. He could probably manage hand-to-hand under a normal Regular, but one of Zahard chosen elites? Tough luck. Still, Ha-nul was determined to get the red-head’s foot off that weapon one was or another. Rang straightened out of his roll, and closed the remaining distance between the pair as swiftly as he could. He needed his hook back, and now. With that in mind, he directed a stomp at the offending Princess’ foot, aiming to catch her off-guard, get the weapon from under her, and back into his hands right after.

Ha-nul slammed his foot down on top of her's, driving his heel into the bridge of her foot hard enough for her to feel it. However the pain she felt was inconsequential next to the limitations in placed on her movements, her foot being pinned in place much as she was pinning down the hook. Her opponent was too close to properly hit at this distance and with him holding her foot down she couldn't create space nor put her all into an attack. She settled for pushing him away instead, giving him a hard shove to give herself some room to breathe.

This was getting annoying.

She would admit that he was stronger than she had expected, stronger than trash; he showed good judgement in abandoning his weapon to save his skull and good agility in managing to avoid her kick. All in all Ha-nul was proving to be a somewhat decent fighter; he was at least someone that she would have to take a little bit more seriously if she wanted to end this cleanly. But he wasn't what she was looking for. That was the problem; he was just tough enough to take up her precious time but not so strong that it was worth her time.

Candice ducked low and rushed towards him, pressing into his personal space as she fired off a couple left jabs at his face before following up with a right hook to his body. Her pace was faster now than it had been before, her steps quicker and her attacks fiercer as she kept up the assault; she would continue to press the attack until he stopped her or he crumpled.

This time, Ha-nul couldn’t avoid the red-head’s attacks as well; he was pushed back and her first jab hit him straight in the face, and he staggered back, slightly dazed and in pain. It felt like that one hit had managed to break his nose; though he couldn’t confirm that, he did feel a trickle of blood running down toward his upper lip. He barely managed to put his hands up in time to block the second jab. 

[color=4bc7cf][i]Ow. That’s gonna bruise.[/i][/color] That arm already ached, but he kept his defense up. He stepped back, leading the Princess away from the hook, keeping his eyes on her, but peripherally aware of his displaced weapon. When her right hook came, he dashed the short distance past the Princess, avoiding the hit and getting to where his weapon lay. Rang picked it up, stepped firmly forward, and lashed out with it, targeting whichever part of the Princess was closest.

By the time Candice had turned around to resume her attack the hook was already coming her way, leaving little time to react or dodge. Frustrating; Ha-nul had slipped past her, retrieved his weapon and now swung that same weapon at her, all because her first attack hadn't been enough to finish him off. The jab had hit, even drawn blood, but didn't strike deeply enough to be decisive to end the fight or allow for a proper follow up.

Sloppy, on her part. Those same strikes had been enough to kill the other Regular's; she was underestimating this guy still.

Candice stopped the hook with her palm, the shock of the impact rolling up her arm even as she avoiding injuring herself on the sharp, piercing point. She then grabbed the hook with her other hand, turning towards the weapon as she spun her body and stepped towards Ha-nul in the same, smooth motion. Extending her arm as she spun she swung at her opponent with a spinning back fist aimed at his jaw.

Ha-nul was surprised at his adversary's moves, though he really shouldn’t be; but that she’d managed to stop his attack with a palm slap then grabbed the hook to keep him in place was truly a stellar showing. Rang wriggled his weapon, not quite attempting to dislodge it, simply testing how much he could still move it. His time for experimentation was soon over, though, as the Princess was already spinning her body, the back of her fist flying at him. Ha-nul held onto his weapon with all his might, and moved back, leaning into the motion. He craned his whole body to avoid the punch, but that was not all. His hook was also pulled back, its tip neared the Princess' upper back - and injured her.

Ha-nul was surprised at his adversary's moves, though he really shouldn’t be; but that she’d managed to stop his attack with a palm slap then grabbed the hook to keep him in place was truly a stellar showing. Rang wriggled his weapon, not quite attempting to dislodge it, simply testing how much he could still move it. His time for experimentation was soon over, though, as the Princess was already spinning her body, the back of her fist flying at him. Ha-nul held onto his weapon with all his might, and moved back, leaning into the motion. He craned his whole body to avoid the punch, but that was not all. His hook was also pulled back, its tip neared the Princess' upper back - and injured her.

Ha-nul had injured a Princess, which was great. Superb. Excellent. Who’d known she’d go bat shit crazy and get such a power-boost, huh? [color=4bc7cf][i]Freaking…Princess,[/i][/color] Rang thought as he was stomped to the ground after his unfortunate fall. He could be ripping into her leg with his hook right then – if it only weren’t for that pesky problem of his lungs getting crushed. He was pretty sure he’d heard at least three ribs crack. [color=4bc7cf]“Fu-”[/color] he coughed, droplets of blood spouting from his mouth as he did so. The first proper test floor, the first competition against other Regulars, and he was about to die.

[color=yellow]"All right regulars the herd has been thinned next test is to team up! But he careful you only have five minutes to team up and they must be teams of threes!"[/color] This voice…this was his saviour. Or rather, the follow-up warning about those still fighting getting disqualified was. Though the murderous eyes of that crazed beast of a female weren’t reassuring at all. She did stop, though, after a long moment of consideration. Ha-nul exhaled carefully, and stood up with just as much caution. He patted himself and shook blood off his weapon, not particularly satisfied with the condition his body ended up in. But at least he was alive. He’d take that. [color=4bc7cf]“So,”[/color] he began, hacking his lungs out. [color=4bc7cf]“Wh-”[/color] he cleared his throat. [color=4bc7cf]“What about that team-up?”[/color]

Candice turned around, looking over her shoulder at Ha-nul as he stood up. The anger from before was gone, gone as quickly as it had appeared, though her expression now was still far from reassuring as she stared at him for long seconds with no reply. Team-up? He still wanted to team-up with her in this situation? She vaguely recalled his first words to her, seeking either an alliance or an apprenticeship after he had seen her handiwork in dealing with the other Regulars; now here he was asking again, even after she had tried to kill him.

He was persistent, she'd give him that. Or maybe just a fool. One way or another though, it looked like he was going to get his wish after all; a team of three was required to pass this next test from the sounds of it and as much as Candice would rather avoid dealing with this man ever again, she couldn't take the risk of refusing him now and then being unable to find another two people before the time limit ran out. It would be a humiliating end to her journey if she were to fail for a reason like that.

[color=ed1c24]"Fine."[/color] She had no choice but to agree with this for now. But if a better option came along, she would take it.

[color=4bc7cf]"Great,"[/color] he replied, not nearly as cheerfully as he was hoping to. His grin was weak and watery too, and Ha-nul groaned. [color=4bc7cf]"I hope we get free healing on the next floor,"[/color] he muttered. [color=4bc7cf]"By the way, I'm Ha-nul Rang,"[/color] he introduced himself as he sheathed his hook. Rang gingerly poked at his chest, wincing at some especially sore and bruised points. [color=4bc7cf]"Shall we go find that third person, Princess?"[/color] he asked, though it was more of a gently nudging suggestion to get going. He only hoped he'd be able to keep up, injured as he was.

It was several long seconds before Candice acknowledged that Ha-nul had spoken, even ignoring his greeting as she waited for him to get moving. She stubbornly tried to ignore his existence altogether, as if that would change the fact that she had already agreed to be his teammate or let her forget recent events. It was futile however and her own silence just made her feel petulant; a Princess should at least be able to give a proper greeting, after all.

[color=ed1c24]"Candice... Candice Rose Zahard."[/color] Her voice was curt as she spoke, words short and to the point. [color=ed1c24]"I wouldn't count on healing; they won't coddle us just because we're Regular's now. Let's get moving."[/color]