imia — Roleplayer Guild

Coliseum Interior - Collab w/ @Remram & @Zeroth
Parin Kia

Her assault suit her goal despite its clumsiness. Edward, sadly, got the upper hand whilst they'd been a mess of bodies. Parin saw his arm cock back for a split second and braced herself. The fear of falling shocked her into action before she could care for the sting. A sudden burst of water erupted from her feet in a wide, explosive cone to slow her fall. Her head whipped around as she searched for her broom.

It came to her -  prim and proper in fact, with a faint blue glow about it. Her instincts reached out for the broom and her mana responded in turn. The wooden handle shuddered violently as she whipped it towards her. She caught it before salt was added to her fresh wound, feeding it with mana. The magic helped the broom stay afloat while she set herself back on top of it.

Parin only realized how hard she'd been hit once the adrenaline started leaving her body. A pained intake slid through her teeth.

"Disgusting piece of..." She muttered, mumbles hidden behind the hand she'd brought to her head. "Wants to grab people, and then get mad when- just, so..."

Edward sent another tendril of slime after his broom as he fell away from Parin, dragging it back to him just in time to stay airborne only a few feet above the official's net. Still red-faced from the exertion of magic as well as his own rage, he poured power into his broom to shoot up, rocket-like, towards the one he still assumed had the golden sphere: Ludo.

"Congeal Slime: Maximum Output!" he yelled. A tendril shot out of each hand, but instead of trying to snatch the poison mage again they went straight up into the air. Winding about each other in a double helix before meeting in the middle, the two streams produced an ever-growing globule of translucent green mucus. As it grew larger and larger, the distorted sunlight passing through it rippled across Ludo's face as if he were underwater in a green swimming pool.

An adequate cover-up. Parin set off on Edward's trail while his attention was preoccupied with conjuring his magnum opus. Spheres and tests be damned, someone needed to put this cretin in his place.

With a gesture of both hands, Edward cut off the supply of slime, and the enormous blob began to fall towards Ludo! The air pressure underneath it caused it to spread out far and wide...

Ludo let out a long whistle as he watched Edward rocket upwards with a face redder than an overripe tomato left on a summer day in the sun. The grease bucket really was determined to snatch that Angel Sphere from him, or desperate. The amount of mana that Edward had to use to fight off his own was not only sizable, but he was also not used to wielding such power. It was one thing to have a monstrous amount of mana and another to control it, but to use it so suddenly when his own body was not used to having such a deep well of mana must've put a strain on him. 

This looks like a last ditch effort. He thought to himself as slime shot upwards and winded up in the air, pooling together in a globe high above them that grew in size with every passing second. It sort of looked like a big snot bubble. Then Edward dropped it, the blob of slime rocketed down towards him with the air resistance causing the sphere to flatten and stretch so far that there was nowhere for Ludo to run away in time, except he stayed perfectly still and rather nonchalant about the situation.

The corners of his mouth curled upwards. "You really are a fraud."

There was no build up. Serpents formed of poison shot from around Ludo and tore holes into the slime, but they would quickly dive back down and shred through it until the sheet of slime was turned into nothing more than tiny bits of glimmering gel falling down to the once again other unlucky saps that were below. To add onto Edward's shock and horror, he could sense it; Ludo had used far less mana for that assault than when he was trying to break free of his spell earlier.

"Confused, aren't you? chuckled Ludo with that wide cocky grin of his. "Let me give you a quick lesson in magic."

Parin had already finished speeding behind their adversary by the time Ludo's tangent began. Her fists trembled while her narrowed eyes sized up her prey. It was almost as if the air around her was thicker, pulsing with tension.

"No matter how much mana you have, stretching your spell out like that will always weaken it if you do not compensate for it, kinda like pasta dough." Ludo's tone told the truth of his lesson; he was taunting him, almost as if he was egging him on to waste more of his artificial power. Poison circled the commoner's body as if ready to bite with no hesitation. However, this was a ruse. Ludo was just distracting Edward because in his rage, Edward had completely forgotten that he pissed someone else off.

"Even someone with less mana than me would've broken through that-"

"Like me!"

Without warning, the bubbling volcano erupted. Her foot shot out, an uncontrolled swing blown by the tempest of rage. Her aim was true in spite of the lack of grace; Parin believed in an eye for an eye, thus she aimed for the dunce's face.

"...So much for being good at your spells."

Ludo watched as Edward's body slump over like a ragdoll after receiving a rather vicious kick that felt very personal. His attention focused back on Ms. Wildcard, his grin rather playful. "Alright, I'll give you a seven out of ten for the entrance, but a ten out of ten for the kick. Gotta work on your presentation, but overall nice job."

His eyes trailed down to her hand, noticing that it's quite empty. "But do you really have time to waste when you haven't caught one of those spheres yet?" He asked not even facetiously, but with actual concern that this girl was wasting her own time. 

"Yeah, I do," Parin said, her eyes gleaming with a persistent light through the urgency. "Cause neither have they," She turned and gestured towards the storm of bodies and magic brewing around them. "Aaaaand..." She trailed off, turning back towards Ludo. The corners of her mouth twisted, her ever-growing smile pivoting into a devious grin.

"Now that I helped you out..." She clasped her hands together and tilted sideways as she gazed up at Ludo with wide, innocent eyes. They blinked in anticipation. "Ya know?"

Ludo crossed his arms, smirking at what Parin was implying even with her puppy eyes. "Oh, you scratch my back and I scratch yours. Gotta say, I respect the hustle." He glanced down towards the chaos going on down below, his eyes narrowed as he watched other contestants almost climbing over each other to just get these dumb spheres. There was absolutely reason to help her, he knew this. The smart play would have been to just hang back and let her deal with it, except she did help him. 

"Ah fuck it. Never let anyone say that I don't pay my debts," Ludo said with a minor reluctance. "What would you have me do?"

Parin's burst of excitement and relief quickly swelled into a look of pure smugness. She crossed her arms and raised her chin as she laughed in triumph. "Well, just listen to me!" She began, her gaze dropping back towards the serpentine spellweaver. "Alls we have to do is- duck, now!"

She quickly flew to the side after what she'd seen - a beam of water headed straight for the back of Ludo's head. Not wasting a moment, Ludo leaned forward on his broom and watched as a beam of compressed water nearly took his head off. So much for not using lethal force.

 Parin glared at the space behind him and found the culprit... all the way on the other side of the arena, shooting water at other contestants. She scoffed. Clearly it wasn't safe being still, and she wasn't going to have them catching any strays.

"Walk and talk, yeah?"

Ludo shook his head and chuckled menacingly. "Walk and talk? Nah, it's aim and maim. Point me at them." He was getting a tad bit sick of people taking potshots at him, just a tad. 

“I like your style,” Parin said, her legs crossing as she slowly started to fly off on her broom. Later, she’d express her gratitude, but right now? Time was of the essence and their heads were on the line. She waved her partner over. “Let’s hurry up, then! I’m not getting hit!” She exclaimed. Not a moment passed until she’d set off with a spring in her broom.

"You don't have to tell me twice," he said, quickly following after her. Unlike his very excited protege, he was keeping an eye out for potential targets.

As the newly formed duo whipped and weaved through the crossfire of many magics, they could see that the chaos was slowly starting to filter out. Those who had not yet captured spheres, or who had some other interest in helping each other--such as nobility bonded by their house politics, or commoners looking to get one over on the upper classes--had also started to form teams. More than once they saw a single person fleeing three or more, desperately holding onto the Angel Sphere they'd obtained. In a very rare few cases, some applicants who had somehow caught or magically contained multiple spheres were using them as "currency" to hire out a team for their own protection.

Then, there were the even rarer lone Angel Spheres who had somehow still avoided capture, like the one that had just slowly drifted past Ludo's peripheral vision---No, wait...

This particular sphere was not only moving far slower than any of the others, it was also apparently flying in the opposite direction that its wings were flapping. And there was an odd, person+broom-shaped haze around it...

"Stupid spell, work already! C'mon! C'moooon!"

As if it were being eaten like an apple, pieces of the Angel Sphere started to disappear...

Ludo's eyes narrowed at the strange sight. The hell is that? He thought to himself. It odd, but there certainly was the outline of a person there. Well, whatever it was it was swallowing that Angel Sphere up. Before the sphere could be lost to them, Ludo raised his hand and with not much build up he shot another of his serpents at the disappearing sphere. If he had any luck, the mage would lose focus on their spell and reappear.

Parin would be able to see her partner suddenly attack what seemed like empty space, alerting her to the floating sphere as well. As the purple snake missile headed towards its target, there was a sudden reaction; the angel sphere turned in place, as if it was the one looking instead of the person holding it. Nonetheless, though, both of them picked up the shout of terror.

"Gya!" 

Ludo's snake, however, passed through seemingly empty space. Yet as it splattered into a hissing puddle on the arena's barrier, the air rippled like a drop of oil diffusing into water.

A girl appeared. Short, lime-green hair melted out of the haze to be secured by a black hairband; a pale, soft face appeared with a nervous grimace, further emphasized by sleep-deprived eyes. She wore a purple hooded sweatshirt over a red, pleated skirt, the only accessory of note being a silver bangle with a crescent moon charm on her right wrist.

"Oh shit." she said simply, as she realized the other two mages were staring straight at her. Ludo realized that he had not missed--in addition to being invisible, her magic had somehow allowed her to pass right through his attack...

"Well, that's different." It didn't change their current objective though. Once again with his hand held straight out towards the intangible girl and shot another den of snakes at her though his intention was to not hit her. He was cutting off her avenues of escape giving his partner a path to go and deal with her. 

Parin hit the gas at the same time. It seemed they had to focus on what they could always see and touch - the ball, rather than the girl who could up and disappear if she tried. If the mage had some combat potential, surely they wouldn't have been so focused on hiding, right? But with how her face stung right now, she had a mind not to get too close so quickly...

As Ludo's snakes slithered towards the girl's front, Parin flew for her flank and watched closely for any more of her magic tricks.

Iava Mehta

Iava's eyes watched the Captain's front like a hawk. Habits served her well in this moment; the intention in his eyes became clear even before she'd seen the spikes which poised to drive through her middle. Though the fibers in her body screamed danger, they knew Iava had weathered storms far harsher than the ones she faced now. As she lunged towards the captain, the weight of her history and the pride of her untamed tresses bolstered her resolve.

Iava adjusted her approach before she even completed her lunge. Her torso twisted slightly, angling herself away from the captain’s incoming strikes. She brought her off-hand up to intercept one of the spikes, knowing firsthand how dangerous they could get.

Though the attempt was futile. As her blade sliced through the air towards the captain’s knee, she felt the brutal impact of one spike against her armor, sending a shudder of pain through her side. The second spike struck its chord in tandem and amplified the assault. Her armor offered its' protection, but the bone-hard surface of the spikes ground into her muscles even still. She hit the ground with a thud and was left with a bruised, aching side as a result of the gnawing throb, though it did nothing to extinguish the flame within her.

Iava's own strike proved effective; her sword connected with the captain’s knee, ripping through the softer flesh and cartilage with ease. Contact with the bone reverberated through her arm, and the impact from the trade of blows staggered her through her attempts to shake it off. 

For a moment, the captain would be momentarily distracted and off-balance. How could they press the advantage?

She scanned the battlefield as she steadied herself and found their key. There had been interference - the witch had his hands struggling under the arcane control, creating a crucial opportunity. She'd seen the summoner, already leapt at the chance. In response, Iava readied herself, sword still wedged into Bone Chime, preparing to support her teammates and capitalize on the chances they'd uncovered in the ongoing battle.

She had sought purpose in protecting others, though it'd only been in moments such as this -- amid the chaos of combat -- where she felt this... profound connection to her own being. As if she were grasping at something just out of reach. 

Iava heaved one last breath of determination. The grip on her sword remained steadfast as her focus grew sharp, the pain in her side nothing besides a rusted blade in comparison, heavy and cumbersome as it were. She would fight with all that she had, as she always had, and carve her legacy through each clash and every strike.

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