[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/uurhDHh.jpg[/img][/center][center][img]http://i.imgur.com/HtvPRRx.png[/img][/center]
[center][hider=The Dragon and The Princess]
Ami did in fact have the answer to everything, the perfect counter for any and all situations. That situation was of course more power, because overwhelming force was always the answer for any situation Ami came across. It worked when she was the Black Knight and it would work now. She simply chuckled as the red princess backflipped away from her attack/defense, cracking her neck and rolling her shoulders casually while looking upon Riku. [color=fc9a04]"That's the name, feel free to scream it as you burn to death!"[/color] She called back as Riku asked to confirm her name. 

Ah, so she would be going for a taunt to try and get Ami to drop her guard. A smart woman knows to never give up any advantage, her firepower was more than enough to win this fight so accepting Riku's challenge was just asking for trouble for no reason. 

But Ami is not a smart woman.

The fire dies down immediately in response to Riku's toss of the gauntlet, greatsword slung over one shoulder casually as she stared the beaten red princess down. [color=fc9a04]"Alright then, have at it. I don't think I've ever fought someone with a weirdass weapon like that, so this should be fun!"[/color] Ami smirks as she leans forwards with a cocky grin, motioning for Riku to make the first move with her free hand. Nothing more exhilarating than a good clash of steel.


As Ami would throw up her greatsword and extinguish her magic, the princess realized this was actually going to happen. An intense shot of panic pulsed in her heart, as she feel icy fear prick at her nerves. Her brain already pieced together all the various different ways this intimidating swordswoman could cut Riku up into various pieces. Images of decapitation, arms being cut, sword stabs through her stomach all began to flood through her head.

Oh shit, this is really going to happen.

The rogue princess would take a heavy breath, shut her eyes and focus. She would clear the fears in her mind and try to shut down all the noise of the world around her. The snake, Kanbaru, the werewolf and vampire all vanished from her thought. She was trained, she had talent. She could handle this. It's a chant she began to hum to herself, trying to build herself up back from nothing.

[color=ed145b]"Yeah. It'll be fun."[/color] Riku replied, though in a much more toned down voice from her earlier boasts. The scythe came down to rest in her hands, blade hanging up on her right side, short but deadly. She'd begin to pace around her opponent, looking at Ami's stance and planning out methods of attack and possible ways Ami could counterattack. Though she began to realize she could fall into this trap all day, walking and thinking but never acting. She'd have to take the plunge, take a risk and get her blood boiling to truly come out on top in this engagement.

Her boots would kick up dust from the floor as she broke into a charge, scythe pulled low to the ground as she dashed forward with quick speed, intent on testing Ami's reaction times with a quick slash at her unguarded legs. The arc of her blade coming up from the ground, light reflected like a beam of sunlight as the scythe moved like a snake's bite.

Decapitation, impalement, violent disembowlment, shredding, so many things one could do with nothing but a greatsword and a little bit of imagination. Just as Riku was imagining every way she might find herself dying today, Ami too was imagining every way she could tear this wannabe apart. Even as she began circling around Ami the Black Knight would never take her eyes off of her opponent, not neccessarily moving towards her but always making slight adjustments to her position so she could keep her focus on that target. 

The rest of the world meant nothing to her. The snake crashing in, Kanbaru-chan, werewolves and vampires and bards, they were all useless background noise that had no place in her world. The only thing in her world was her and her opponent, and there was only room for one in this town. "Don't get too excited there princess~" Ami teased as Riku's boisterous claims died down, it was clear she was regretting her challenge but there was no backing down now. If she showed her back to the Black Knight the last thing she would see would be her ebony blade emergying from her chest. 

The wait for the opening engagement was killer, it made Ami want to move just to hurry this up and get to the juicy bits! But good things come to those who wait, so she would restrain her impulses just this once. Just this once to let Riku show what she was made of. The clock ticks down to midnight, agonizing second by second. 

Begin.

The moment Riku makes her move Ami's blade is in action, swinging off her shoulder and into a defensive position near her chest to block. Riku has exactly two advantages in this moment of exchange, the first being that Ami had little experience fighting other humans and the second being that she was the first to move. Ami's eyes dart up and down as she realizes her immediate mistake, shifting her guard lower to prevent as much damage as possible. A slight cut opens on her leg as steel opens up her unprotected legs, but Ami can barely even feel it as she smashes her greatsword into the pole of the scythe. [color=fc9a04]"Oh yeah, there we fucking go!"[/color] She roars as she takes one hand off her sword and swings right for Riku's jaw.


A look of surprise and joy flashed over the princess's face at the sight of Ami's bleeding scar. It wasn't much but a flesh wound but it proved something. She could hit her! It was a real morale booster, and it made her realize that for all of Ami's power and intimidating presence, she was still as human as Riku was. Well if Riku or herself could really be called normal humans at this point...

Regardless, Ami doesn't take this lying down. Riku is shocked by the choice of a fist instead of her sword, and stumbled and nearly tripped over herself to move in time to avoid a punch to the face. It forced her to back off entirely, unable to press that advantage. Incensed by the successful hit, Riku would not waste time again. She'd stride forward and this time keep her scythe high in the air, brought down through a horizontal slash aimed for her opponent's chest. She would keep her momentum and strike whenever she could, if one blow failed to land, she'd quickly begin another one. Her scythe moved fast, had great range, and could be used for offense and defense at a moment's notice.

A swing and a miss, but Ami wouldn't dwell on what could have been. If you were fighting someone with a pole weapon then what you wanted to do was fight up close and personal, so Ami would press on her advantage as Riku stumbled away. Her sword swung up and batted away the slash into the air, in that moment Ami would get even closer to make sure Riku couldn't continue attacking. It doesn't matter how good your range is, the second Ami entered into Riku's personal space she basically was swinging around a stick. 

[color=fc9a04]"There we go there we FUCKING GO!"[/color] She presses her own assault immediately, swinging her greatsword down and slashing right across Riku's torso in a brutal diagonal cleave. For every step Riku took back Ami was right there, momentum halting and starting at a moment's notice as she heaved her greatsword in increasingly erratic directions. 


Her attack and Ami's attack would meet in a hard clash of blade. The berserker recovering this quickly has Riku reeling, and again she is being forced to step back from that heavy assault. She understood quickly what Ami was trying to do, but found herself at a lost when trying to think of ways to stop it. Immediately her mind jumped to using spells, fire flames to force the girl back but doing so would violate their terms. She began to realize this restriction may've hurt herself more than it did Ami.

The great slam of the sword is devastating. The long staff guard of the scythe came from the great oaks of the ancient rainforests in her homeland, said to be woven directly by the creation goddesses of their world. When that hard metal came into contact with them, the pole nearly snapped and the princess was flung backward and laid out on the ground. The only reason she wasn't cut apart in half at that moment was the quality of her weapon. 

Riku got herself up, chest pounding as the fear entered her heart once more. Her hands are rough and shaken with a ringing feeling from the clash that just occured. Ami is already charging for her again, blade swinging wildly. She only had a second to act, a second to keep her at bay. She drew her scythe inward like a spear, it felt off balanced now after the blow but she continued anyway. Now a makeshift halberd, she'd stab forward at that running berserk to punish her for overextending herself.

Ami got more erratic and incensed, Riku has gotten more cautious and paranoid.

Incensed? Far from it! Ami was having way too much fun to be mad as she broke her toy down with strength resembling a beast more than it did any human. Even for the enhanced and magical like Riku or Kanbaru this was just ridiculous, Ami was more comparable to the dragon than she was any knight, black or otherwise! And so what she wasn't using her flames, what kind of dragon really needs to use their fire to beat down a princess? 

Whether the crack is of bone or wood, Ami cares not, all she knows is that something broke. The only reason Ami hadn't just smashed her into a bloody pulp while she was on the ground was because that would be too fast, she didn't want the duel to end so soon after it began! She sprints forwards straight into Riku's stab, no attempt at dodging made as she was messily cut into by the blade of the scythe. Yet she was still smiling, still absolutely crazed as she stared down Riku with the intensity of a storm incarnate. 

[color=fc9a04]"JUST. LIKE. THAT."[/color] The dragon slams her sword into the ground and grabs Riku's arms before she can pull away, tugging her closer and pulling the metal further into her until it's practically touching her ribs. [color=fc9a04]"Do you want to know what I love about these personal duels? No magic, no tricks, no running away?"[/color] Her grip around Riku's right arm tightens enough that the bone fractures in her grip. [color=fc9a04]"It's as real as it gets! Nothing to hide behind, just two girls speaking their truths!"[/color] And then she lets go and stumbles backwards.

She grabs the scythe still firmly lodged in her breast and pulls it out with a sickening squelch, her wound audibly sizzling as she uses just a hint of magic to cauterize her flesh. [color=fc9a04]"I hope you don't mind me using just a little bit of magic. Bleeding out is such a boring way to go honestly."[/color] The scythe flies through the air right back into Riku's hands as Ami tosses it back, she lays one hand back on her sword and wrenches it out of the stone. [color=fc9a04]"Here's my advice for you kid. Move faster."[/color] And then the hunt begins once more.


A direct hit! I can still win this! I'll just pull back and keep stabbing! Then I'll just-

Her plans are shattered just as they are created, the dragon showing that pain and wounds do not affect her, they motivate her. Riku stared dumbfounded like she had stumbled into something she shouldn't have seen, only able to watch wide eyed and motionless as Ami casually removed her blade from her chest, pushing it back over to the princess just for the sake of a good spar. Riku stared at the ground, and knew in that moment that there was simply no defeating her opponent.

Conventionally. She had one last option. An option she hated, and was a reflection of things she'd rather not involve herself in. Everytime that blade struck at Ami, it would leave the usual marks of bloodletting, but also a thin wisp trail that would be pulled from the berserker's body upon blade impact. That was the soul drain effect of her blade, what made her scythe a true reaper's tool. With successive hits and attacks, it would drain away at the vitality of her opponent. In slow increments, but now Ami felt a weariness that was not there before, like she had woken up too early in the morning and missed some hours of sleep.

Truthfully, it was a sort of magic that Riku had no control of. Part of her birthright and curse, the princess hated the thought of winning this way, if it would even lead to a victory at all. Nevertheless, it was beginning to look like she either wins or she dies.

She decided to go for a more trickster approach now. She'd begin to pull back and then dart beside a column, breaking Ami's eyesight on her. She would poke out with her blade beside the wlals, using the pillar as cover to deflect sword blows and the blade to cut and wear the berserker down. If she'd attempt a grab, Riku would just twist her blade to cut around in an 180 degree spin to catch her opponent. 

[color=ed145b]"You'll lose from a million paper cuts!" [/color] Riku asserted, hoping the threat of this might calm the berserker or force her to reconsider her constant attack. It'd likely just inflame her even more.

The thin trail of Ami'ssoul, with each cut more and more of her leaked out of her being. But something was wrong. A soul wasn't supposed to look like that, it wasn't supposed to be that shade. Every cut into the Black Knight revealed a blackened soul, the corruption of something far worse than humanity. Maybe Riku could identify it, maybe she couldn't, but that shade of blacker than black could only be that of a demon or something becoming a demon. Almost immediately Ami felt like something was wrong as she suffered this death by a thousand cuts, she shouldn't be losing steam so fast. Her smile immediately fades as her eyes sharpened. 

[color=fc9a04]"Come on, you were the one who said this would be steel on steel!"[/color] Ami doesn't know what kind of magic this is but it's almost certainly magic, if not magic it's some kind of poison which is even worse. [color=fc9a04]"I thought we were having a good conversation too!"[/color] With a roar she swings to bisect Riku at the waist, only to cleave straight through the column in one sloppy cut. Yeah, this was not the strength of any kind of human.

[color=fc9a04]"If you think I'm going to die because of a paper cut, you're even more of a stupid piece of shit than me!"[/color] She rears her fist back and punches right into the stone column protecting Riku, sending a hail storm of rocks and debris right into the red girl's face. Assuming she covered her eyes to protect them, the next thing she would see is Ami's sword flying straight towards her as she literally threw the blade right at her gut to impale her into the wall.


The coloration of Ami's soul was of interest, but in between dodging the mad swings of a fired up berserk, there was no time for analysis. Instead Riku is desperately hoping her strategy worked, as Ami didn't seem to care how much she was struck by that cursed blade. Unfortunately for the princess, she underestimated her ability to find new avenues of attack at every new moment.

A loud explosion of stone and dust sprayed out from the column shielding Riku, causing her to pull away to shield her eyes from that debris. It was all the time Ami needed, the few seconds of Riku blinded for her sword to plung deep into her chest. The princess would let out a horrid scream of agony, slung back by the force of the heavy sword turned projectile and landing in the nearby wall, pinned by that firmly bloodied blade. Riku would clutch at her chest, the enourmous pain of metal breaking her bonde and skin. Blood would leak like a fountain, stained the sword and ground beneath, the girl dangling on her toes. 

It had been a good run. Riku had done her best, but ultimately the sheer ferosity and power overwhelmed her in a single moment. She'd gasp and sputter out her last over the sword's stem, clutching the instrument in an intimate grip.

And so it ends. Ami stalks around the broken remains of the pillar over to Riku, her broken body hanging limply upon the wall. She lets out a deep sigh as she grabs the handle of her sword and tugs it out of the princess's body in one swift pull, remnants of sanity returning to her as she flicks the blood onto the floor. [color=fc9a04]"Man, why did you have to start doing that dumb stuff right when it was starting to get fun?"[/color] She asks the body rhetorically as she allows her sword to evaporate into flames, watching Riku's body with disinterest as it slides down the wall and onto the ground in a limp pile. Hmm, this is her second kill come to think of it. Second human kill that is. 

[color=fc9a04]"Ah shit, I was supposed to capture her wasn't I? Needed her alive or something..."[/color] Ami muses as she pokes at Riku's side with her boot. This is kind of a problem huh? Well, she was probably the uh... why was she trying to capture Riku alive again? Damn, Kanbaru-chan was gonna be so pissed. Ok, new plan! Leave the body here and pretend Ami lost her, then when everyone is looking around for her Ami can "find" the body and ponder aloud just what could have killed her! Yep, perfect plan. [color=fc9a04]"Kanbaru-chaaaaaan! I beat up the red girl but she got away! Are you guys done beating up that snake yet?"[/color] Ami called out as she turned away from Riku's body and back towards where the vampire chick was. [/hider][/center]