[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/5r7OTIh.png[/img] [b][color=Aquamarine]wordcount:[/color][/b] 1,321 (+3) [b][color=Aquamarine]Midna: level 6[/color][/b] EXP: [color=Aquamarine]/////////////////[/color]////////////////////////////////////////////// (17/60) [b][color=Aquamarine]Location:[/color][/b] Sandswept Sky - Al Mamoon Northeast - Rocket Inc. [/center] Magic faced might and magic won. For a moment. The great glowing arm woven from dark power and the princess hair reaching out from Midna’s head grasped the knight’s hammer arm and pinned it down despite the fire, steel and muscles resisting it’s grip. With his weapon pinned the princess was free to deliver her actual blow, which was a far more mundane smash to the man’s helmeted face with the lip of her shield. The man staggered, unsteady and most likely dazed, but before she could get her dragon claws to work trying to open up the tin-can protecting his mortal body, the knight received aid from a potion seller. Uncle Sven, a man so ridiculously round he looked like one of his potion bottles, interjected himself into their struggle, introducing himself by tossing a flaming potion at the side of Midna’s head that was, fortuitously, armored by her fused shadow and thus did not burn her face off. The princess had little time to appreciate just how much she owed her life to the fact that people kept underestimating the resilience of the ancient magic she used as a head ornament, because when she turned to face the man she found him already hurtling towards her, belly outstretched after having launched himself via a bouncy potion splat. She raised her shield reflexively, only for him to bounce off it with barely an impact, the blow merely knocking the floating princess back a bit from Reinhardt. Her brief moment of elation at this was quickly dashed when it turned out this might very well have been intentional oh the potion master's part, as his bounce off of her shield sent him flying up and away above her, from where he tossed a pair of potions down at her She dodged one and parried the other, resulting in both smashing into the ground and spilling their acidic contents to the floor below her. The hissing caused from the formed corrosive lake made her glance down, which only added to the number of things Sven had done to distract her from the big armored boy right in front of her, one that had been given plenty of time to come to his senses thanks to his portly companion’s aid. While Midna was still holding his hammer arm with her shadow hand, she was no longer focusing on that task thanks to sven, which gave him the opportunity and leverage to shift his grip on his hammer and then fire up the thrusters on the back of it. Midna caught sight of the fire and motion in her peripheral vision as she was trying to keep track of Sven’s unpredictable movements and so just barely had the time to refocus on resisting the incoming swing and trying to block. Poorly. [color=Aquamarine]”godd-”[/color] The hammer crashed into the side of the shield, bashing it and her guarding arm aside and then crashing into her chest. Her renewed resistance with her shadow arm turned what would have been rib crushing blow into one that merely hurt like hell and knocked the wind out of her, but it gave Shadow the opening he needed to blink in and give her the boot, once again smacking someone into harm's way, in this case booting her down into Sven’s acid pool. [color=Aquamarine]”-esses!”[/color] the princess cried out in alarm and pain, bringing up a hand to guard her exposed eye right before she splashed down into the acid, and then screamed in pain as the foul liquid bit and gnawed at the exposed skin on her arms, tail, half of her chest and midriff. Seething in pain the princess used her shield arm to push herself into a roll, tumbling to the side, out of the acid puddle and into a nearby water puddle, one of many scattered across the arena that had been left by Ciella’s tidal-wave. While the princess tried to drench/wash herself in the puddle like a bird in a bird bath to clear the acid, the pool’s creator was under assault. The triple team of Sven, Shadow and Reinhardt coordinating far better than the entirely at odds princess and harpy where. Which to be fair isn't saying much, considering there had so far been zero cooperation between the two women. A strategy of divide and conquer worked notably well when your two foes were already divided and so they left the beaten down Midna to her bath and focused instead on ganging up on Ciella. Shadow dueled her at range, trading chaos bolts for water arrows while Sven and Reinhardt closed the distance, before leaving to go blow up Sectonia. Despite his swift egress he’d given the pair all the opening they needed to set up their strike, with Sven laying down another sticky jump pad of slime which Reinhardt proceeded to charge into, launching himself into the air and then bringing his hammer down in a meteoric overhead swing, the blow crashing into Ciella and instantly breaking the defenses she’d been wrapping herself in while Minda had been on the receiving end of the very same style of coordinated ganging up. Despite being light, it appeared that Ciella’s harpy form was by no means fragile, and so she swiftly recovered from her knockdown despite Reinhardt’s attempt to beat her down. Once up and guarding against the hammer blows she swiftly set up her arrow rain spell, the very same one that had ended Amara’s life. [color=Aquamarine]”Not again you bitch![/color] came a cry in response to this move, as Minda, her flesh patchy with chemical burns and her the colorful striped stockings she’d gotten the previous day tattered and perforated with large melted holes, raced back into the fray, dragon’s fury and power accelerating her run to ludicrous and inhuman speed. She had seen Ciella’s killer finale before. She would not let it happen again. Part of her recognized that she might be onboard with saving lives but had simply been backed into a corner, but she really didn't believe that and, to a point, she was too angry to care. [color=Aquamarine]”Move!”[/color] she shouted at the two men, but he didn't leave things down to whether they would listen to her (an enemy) or not. Instead she slammed out an open palm strike with a truly massive shadow hand, one that had all the dragon flowing through her veins energy behind it, towards Reinhardt to try and smash/shove him clear. Simultaneously she called out her twilight vibrava, and sent the giant insect thunderously buzzing towards Sven to try and grab and drag him out of the circle. Or just chase him out, which would probably be safer for both of them. [color=Aquamarine]”Kill anyone and I will put you in the goddess damned dirt!”[/color] Minda roared at Ciella, her fury burning from her lips with wisps of literal dragon fire. If she didn't, Minda would race after the shoved Reinhardt (relying on her Vibrava to distract/chase/drag around Sven for just a few more heartbeats before it went home) and would try and deliver a dragon dance empowered shadow hand punch to his chest (while usign her speed to attempt to dodge retaliation), not caring if he broke his mechanical armor anymore (the destruction of which she suspected would render him worthless as backup) and just aiming to hurt the man inside enough that her tossing of a friend heart at him as a follow up would work out. Finally, if she could do all this without being interrupted, forced back onto the defensive, or worse, she would summon stool from the twilight realm beside her, before entering its shadow and then using it blink into and hide within Reinhardt’s own, where she’d be in prime position to deal with whatever consequences came her (or his) way. Like trying to explain things if he was free or stopping Ciella from finishing him off with force if necessary. If she failed to save them however, well, then the princess was going to have to be a woman of her word.