The Brawl to Rule them All(SE Tournament)

Veldaan met her retreat by slipping his hand under his pauldron and pulling out a yellow feather. It disappeared into sparkles before Andrea's eyes. Veldan reassessed.

1. The gunner has pulled back to recoup herself.
2. She is not using one of her remaining guns
3. She is using her nice-looking gauntlets.
4. She made this decision while engaging somebody who is clearly a more capable hand-to-hand fighter.
5. Conclusion: The gauntlets must be magical or enhanced somehow. Switch targets.

Veldaan smashed a chi-enhanced foot into the abandoned gun beneath it, shattering it into complete unuseability. His body tensed and he crouched low. And, without warning he sprung far into the air, completely dodging the attack by way of simply not being where he was before. This culiminated on his descent bringing himself down towards Hadria with an axe kick. He simply hoped neither the knight nor the rogue would notice his joining their brawl.

Item: Chocobo Feather
Chain B2: Rending Strike
Chain D1: Flying Kick

 

As Hadria's smokescreen finally cleared, Hector looked upon her as she vanished from the fight. A pity, in a way. But one less opponent to focus on.

No sooner did Hadria surrender than Veldaan appeared, unintentionally taking her place as she vanished. Not wasting even a moment being confused by the sudden turn of events Veldaan immediately leapt towards Hector. His immediate option would be to stick his lance out and let Veldaan impale himself on it, similar to Hector's strategy with Hadria moments earlier. After all, Veldaan was essentially an open target out in the air. Not many people are as maneuverable in the air as Hector is. While that was a perfectly good option for Hector, Veldaan's decision to stop fighting Andrea meant that the gunner was in a more preferable position to attack. This could pose a problem sooner rather than later.

Due to the haste spell Hector had cast in preparation of Hadria, Hector felt he wasn't in any real danger. Before Veldaan had even gotten in reach of Hector's lance, Hector had jumped to the right, his body quickly moving most of the arena's distance. Immediately upon landing he jumped again, this time towards Andrea. This jump also propelled him into the air, unlike the previous jump which was almost entirely horizontal. As he got closer to Andrea Hector kicked off of the air around him, shooting himself towards Andrea's right side. He did this again, essentially working to circle around Andrea from above.

 

As the smoke dispersed and Veldaan reassessed the situation, he was disappointed to find that both of his targets had gone. In fact, one was entirely out of the arena, it seemed. A quick glance at the scoreboard that was totally there this entire time has a line through Hadria's name. The lancer had sprung away, back in the direction Veldaan had come. So his attention drifted that direction. The gunner had vanished from the spot he'd been expecting the Lancer to attack - but she was still in play.

"A trick of invissssibilty won't work on me!" he mumbled.

Instead, he held his breath and slowed his pulse, closing his eyes. Instantly, his sense of hearing picked up.

A shimmer noise mid-distance away, then silence. A second shimmer, and then a third behind him.

NOW!

Veldaan dropped to his front as he felt Andrea's imminent pressure from behind and then kicked back at the gunner, channeling his ki into the strike. Though his leg was not coated in a metal gauntlet, the triplet effect should still prove adequate when levied against an unprotected stomach. He finished his manuver by flicking his other leg back, allowing his momentum to flip and twist himself over and onto his feet once more in a trick that'd put a gymnast to shame. He was once again facing Andrea, two arm's length between them.

Chain B1: Pummel

 

As Hector began to get near Andrea, her body simply vanished from where she was standing. First Hadria, and now Andrea. As entertaining and confidence boosting as it was to think his opponents were simply too scared to fight him head on, Hector knew that couldn't have been the case. Quickly turning to examine the rest of the arena as he landed, Hector soon saw Andrea reappear near Veldaan, continuing whatever fight they had when Hector was facing off against Hadria.

Hector was put at a crossroad of sorts. His remaining opponents were too busy fighting each other to pay attention to him. He could either rush in while they were focused on each other or he could simply sit and wait It was a bit frustrating, but Hector decided to simply stay back and observe their fight. From this distance Hector didn't need to worry about them immediately turning their focus to him.

 

Veldaan took the opportunity as it presented itself. She was retreating to do something, likely shoot back at him. That meant there was time for him to pull back and assert a new plan instead.

He dashed in a direction nearly opposite of hers, aiming to put the dragoon between him and the gunner while staying out of the former's area of effect with his spear. Veldaan considered himself much lighter on his feet, so even if his opponent tried jumping again, he could still theoretically outrun him. He punctuated the end of his journey with jump and landing on his fist in a superhero pose, expending a lightly gathered amount of chi to keep his style going. The ground cracked into gravel around the punch.

Chain B2: Sunder

 

The clash between the two ended as they both moved to put Hector between them. In a sense, this wasn't a negative thing for Hector. While it would prevent him from simply swooping in on the one left standing, the pair essentially moving to bring Hector back into the fight meant that the haste spell he had cast earlier when facing Hadria would not be wasted.

Andrea began loading up the pistols she had in her hands. Her movements were quite swift and deliberate, almost as though a pistol occupying each hand did nothing to influence her loading of each weapon. He didn't have much time to act, but Andrea's momentary pause would have to be the best opportunity for Hector to shorten the distance between them. He ran towards her at a bit of an angle, making himself no longer between Andrea and Veldaan. He jumped into the air again, this time making sure to fully utilize his haste buff.

Once moving a certain distance horizontally, Hector again kicked off the air and attempted to circle Andrea again like he had done before. There was no pause with his changing direction this time, giving off the illusion of actually soaring through the sky like a bird. As Hector moved to circle around Andrea, he made sure to switch up the timing of each time his body changed directions. Shooting at a moving target would be difficult enough, but shooting at a moving target that would randomly change directions and throw off her aim would be much more difficult.

 

Veldaan considered his options.

1. The lancer is engaging the gunner.
2. The gunner is aiming at both of us but not firing.
3. The gunner's attention is divided, but ready.
4. If she tries to focus on one of us, then the other can strike and potentially interrupt attack.
5. If she maintains divided focus, then decreased likelihood of accurate shots.
6. Provided the lancer doesn't change targets, high probability of success in attack.

The bangaa inhaled. Then exhaled. Inhaled again, gathering dark energies. With the following exhale, he dashed forwards, beginning to narrow the gap between himself and Andrea with chi-enhanced steps. If Hector attempted to interfere, he turn his fists on him. If he was not stopped, he would attempt his deliverance of Andrea from the arena. Though he felt the move draining his life force with every step, he had his confidences.

His blackened gauntlet was ready.

Chain B3: Dark Strike

 

Depending on which side of her body he was on, Hector would be targeted by either the pistol in Andrea's right hand or the one in her left. Not knowing what the current loadout of each gun meant that Hector couldn't simply let himself be targeted by the gun that would cause the least amount of damage. One thing was clear though, Andrea intended to keep track of both Hector and Veldaan. It would make sense that her focus would be constantly shifting between the two, ready to put all her focus into whoever made the first move. Thinking back to Hadria's thunder charged knives, Hector considered Andrea preparing a similar trick with her guns.

As his body moved to make another circle around Andrea while she herself kept changing positions to keep an eye on him Hector had felt his prior haste spell begin to fade away. The air did not rush past him with the same strength it did before. With his next step in the air Hector moved to take a bit wider of a turn, giving up a slight bit of distance between himself and Andrea. In preparation of any tricks set up in these bullets Hector held his shield up, blocking as much of his body as possible from Andrea. As he did that he had also cast a Reflect spell on himself.

When the green barrier formed for that brief moment of casting was when Andrea made a sudden move to her left, perhaps attempting to take some semblance of control by attempting to dictate the general area where Hector would be. Seeing her sudden movements Hector quickly spun the lance that he held, casting two successive bursts of Aero with that motion. The two bits of wind magic shot out from the center of Hector's spear, first moving out towards the audience before quickly redirecting themselves towards Andrea. The first spell was aimed towards where Andrea would step, an attempt to cut off her movements while the second spell was aimed at Andrea herself.

 

[Time to flip my coin. Heads, Veldaan takes the Stun. Right, Veldaan takes the organ-piercer. Result: Heads. THE DECISION MAKER HAS SPOKEN.]

I should have expected this, Veldaan thought. From the failed attempt to use the Dark Strike, he could only surmise she'd done the same thing as before - moving without being seen, with what he - up until this point, had not seen in front of his own eyes, just heard.

He began channeling chi into a fist, ready to bring down his most powerful strike on his opponent. He began to dive to the left in an attempt to rabbit his way out of potential oncoming fire. Perhaps unluckily for him, that was when his ears and body were met with the power of stungun at close range.

The bangaa monk toppled over and his chi-enhanced fist hit the ground, shattering the earth below the pair in a glorious burst. Andrea was presented with the concept of what would have happened had that particular strike hit her body.

Chain B4: Withering Strike

 

>Agreed. No complaint from me<

The aero spells served their purpose. Andrea changed directions and moved to engage Veldaan. Hector landed on the ground a good twenty feet or so away behind the pair From here he witnessed Veldaan dodge as Andrea appeared behind him. He ended up dodging straight into one of Andrea's bullets. The burst from Veldaan's attack, while interesting to see, was not the important part. Upon being hit by the bullet Veldaan seemed to lose control of his body for a moment. It appeared that, at the very least, the bullets loaded in the left gun were imbued with magical spells. It seemed to be a fair guess that the bullets in the other gun also had various spells attached to them. Not that it would be wise to make such an assumption.

Now was as good a time as any. While the two opponents were focused on each other and the destructive results from Veldaan's strike, to Hector it was an ample opportunity to strike with a powerful blow. He jumped.

This jump was unlike the other times he jumped around during the battle. This was not a simple act of mobility. His body shot up into the sky, moving almost as fast as he did when he was under the effects of his haste spell. His body reached the upper levels of the arena as it stopped for a brief moment. He shot downwards with the same momentum he had moving up. While his primary target was Andrea, Hector was fine with hitting either of them. Since both of their backs were to him neither should be able to see the attack coming.

 

Hector miscalculated. From his position before he jumped he had misjudged the distance between Andrea and Veldaan. The pair was further apart than he had initially believed. Hector did not realize his mistake until his body had already begun its descent. He needed to alter the direction of his fall. Slightly enough to avoid disrupting his momentum but enough to ensure he could correct his error. He rotated his body to be positioned better for this readjustment.

Andrea's attention was focused on Veldaan. Like an executioner she shot at the bangaa, ending the fighter with a single bullet to the head. As though he tapped his foot against the wall, Hector gently kicked at the air to give himself some horizontal momentum. Hopefully this would be a deciding blow. Hector's body continued its fall towards Andrea, his spear aimed at her right shoulder, as close to the neck as he could manage.

 

Andrea's movements towards Veldaan's body possibly managed to save her life. Due to being under the influence of a haste spell Andrea moved too fast for Hector to keep aim at her neck. Instead of landing a fatal blow like he originally intended, Hector managed to pierce her left shoulder. Such a hit would most likely put her left arm out of commission. In a sense this was a serendipitous benefit to Hector. Her left hand held the gun with stun magic laced bullets and Hector's reflect spell had faded. The bullets in her right hand gun were still a mystery, one that Hector had to gamble the possibility of being magical as well.

Even though he was standing behind Andrea Hector was still in a vulnerable position. His entire right side was without the protection of his shield and Hector was unwilling to take a chance hoping that Andrea couldn't do anything in that position. There was also the problem that were Hector to try to put some distance between the two to plot out his next action, that too would leave him vulnerable. His only real option would be to stay on the offensive. He pushed his lance forward, causing it to completely pierce through Andrea's body. The hope of of this would be that the force caused by the spear would cause Andrea's torso to shift around enough to disrupt her aim. Hector realized too late that he had the wrong spear in hand to ensure this action would work. With Andrea bracing herself against the spear she was able to remain mostly stationary while the spear tip pierced clean through her shoulder.

A gunshot rang out as Hector felt a bullet lodge itself in his upper left thigh. Armor piercing rounds. Whatever advantage Hector thought he had gained was becoming less apparent. The sudden surprise of this damage caused Hector to fall down to one knee. He let go of his spear, leaving the weapon sticking out of Andrea and quickly flung his shield to cover him. A loud ringing noise drowned out the crowd as Andrea's second shot scrapped against Hector's helmet, his unintentional fall saving his life.

Keeping his head and torso covered Hector shoved his shield forward to push away Andrea's gun before she would have the chance to aim for a third and possibly final shot. While keeping his vital parts covered with this shield Hector jumped back using his good leg, the bullet wound preventing him from moving as far back as he could. Not risking Andrea gaining on him as he put some distance between them, Hector cast haste on himself again and jumped back further the moment his foot touched the ground. Hector landed on just one leg from this second jump, not willing to risk landing with his full weight on his other leg. That was going to be a problem he would have to deal with momentarily. Hector considered his options as he gently put his left foot down.

 

She broke his favorite spear. Probably wasn't the best idea to start the fight with that spear, but Hector probably thought to be a bit of a showoff by using it. To him it was essentially the perfect spear. A gorgeous ivory color with a slight shine, the perfect length for Hector, no unnecessary protrusions to distract from the overall design. No sense in crying over it. Now it just made it that much more important to win this fight.

Andrea did exactly what Hector was concerned about by putting distance between them. She consumed a potion in an attempt to recover from some of the damage dealt. Well, there would certainly be no sense in letting only Andrea have a brief respite. He still had the magic power for two, maybe three more spells, so there was no need to waste either his own elixir or any of his ethers at the moment. Hector reached for one of his potions with his free hand and crushed the container, the healing magic flowing out to Hector. He felt it take effect as the bullet was pushed out of his leg. The bleeding would also be stopped, but whatever damage the bullet did to the bone would only be partially healed at best.

Hector gently pushed down on his left leg a few times to get a feel for the state of things as Andrea holstered the pistols in favor of a bladed weapon. Still feeling pain from pressure to the old wound, Hector then cast a float spell on himself. His body levitated a few inches off of the ground, removing any pressure caused by his own weight. He then reached behind him and grabbed Vrsabha from its holder off of his back.

It was time to take back control of this fight. Hector leaped upwards to the side again, using his current hasted state to constantly change directions as he moved towards Andrea, both testing her range and seeing her general reactions to his movements.