#juorem canide

Juorem Canide was not talking at anyone in particular, hanging from a mountain side and pointing at the rolling hills and hives far below. He was just expressing a feeling of superiority, the feeling that allowed him to make it through each day. Turning back to face the mountain itself he clenched a handhold and began to climb again. Mountain climbing was always a good test of his body and pride - if he could beat mountains why should he be afraid of anything else?

It would take a similar competitor to step to him right now, and those were in short supply. Reaching over and punching the earth to strengthen his grip, Juorem hauled himself over the edge and rolled onto his back. "Someone tell me this isn't the best feeling in the world," he announced to what he assumed was no one at all. "Go ahead and try."

"That's impossible, coon. No denyin' the truth of the world."

Reldin Brurgg had, up until a moment ago, thought himself to be quite alone as well, camped with a small tent several paces away from the cliff that Juorem had just pulled himself over. Dusty and worn, Reldin's camp and clothing practically blended into the stone of the mountainside. Having stood up as he caught sight of someone hauling themselves up, he now stood a few lesser paces from Juorem, a wide smile exposing his broken teeth.

"Can't really say that I really run up to too many people up here, 'specially another blueblood," Reldin judged from Juorem's shirt, "Even rarer on a crimpy day like today." Taking a few more steps to close the distance, Reldin offered a big hand to help Juorem stand. "Name's Reldin."

"Heeeeeeeeeeeeey," Juorem broke into a wide smile, returning the shake at the sight of Reldin. Blueblood mountain climbers unite hell yeah! "No weather or mountains got us beat when we set our eyes on the target, y'know?" Juorem swung around to wave his arm out over the view. "And looking down on everyone and being able to say 'I do what you cannot'? Who'd give up that opportunity?"

He grinned and side-eyed his fellow blueblood. "Looks like you've been up here for a while, bro, what's your story?" A few moments passed before he realised he'd forgotten something. "Oh, and Juorem right here," he smirked, flicking his hand to point at Reldin.

With an "Aye" and "Not I," Reldin answered the first batch of questions as they came before launching into the final answer. "Glad to meet you here, Juorem! Always nice to come across a fellow enthusiast. Been climbing for as long as I can remember- got my hive up in some mountains, practically didn't have a choice, right?" He paused, breaking into a hearty laugh. "But yeah, been here for a while- practically prefer being on the slopes to being in the hive these days. In fact, I think I could say that for sure. This mountain has a great view. And if we can do it, like you said, and like to do it... do it!" He finished with another bout of laughter.

"Truth right there," Juorem nodded sagely - or about as sagely as he could, that being not very. "Me, I got my eyes on everything. Nothing I won't take a shot at and nothing I won't win at if I'm put to the test. Like right now it sounds like you've got this whole mountain thing on lockdown and you know what, that sounds like a thing I should be doing. So tell you what, you've got this place known - set us a race and we'll see just how much mountain I've got in me to stand to the mountain man himself - how's that sound?"

Reldin couldn't help but raise his eyebrows, amused and pleased both by Juorem's enthusiasm towards the contest and towards mountain climbing in general. "Y'know that's a real shining idea. Sounds real good to me!" He took a moment to stretch his arms behind his head, his sweatshirt doing little to disguise the fact of his musclar build, turning the action into an act of subtle intimidation. "'Course, like you said, I am the mountain man-- your words, not mine, though I gotta say that I like them. So try not to get your hopes up, coon. 'Course, if you win, well, I'll be humbled."

"Yeah that's the way!" Juorem slammed a fist into an open palm, grinning wildly. "So set the stage - what's the challenge: I'll take on whatever you throw at me. Cause I'm the guy that won't go down in any competition so just wait and see how hard I play!" This was excellent for Juorem; here was a dude who really got it. Who really knew just how to play the game of life. This was gonna be fun.

"Hmmm..." Taking a step towards the edge of the cliff, Reldin looked back out at the landscape: the previously mentioned hives and rolling hills continued to sit far below, barely visable even in the light of the moons. Turning around, he looked in the other direction: other mountains lay nearby, but it would take a while to scale back down to get over to them, saying nothing about the time the race itself would take. Looking up, Reldin saw the final, steep peak of the mountain they stood on: a hard climb, but not terribly long. He turned back to Juorem, pointing up at the peak.

"First person to get to the very top of this mountain here wins the day."

"Alright!" Juorem pounded his fist and palm once more, before stretching his arms out to the sky. "Then get ready aaaaaaaaaaaaaand..." - he waited until Reldin acknowledged readiness - "go!"

Juorem had met the blueblood Verlis a few perigees back now. In all the practise since then, he had not come even close to Verlis's insane jumping ability. But within regular boundries, Juorem was nearing the peak. So when he ran forward to the mountain and jumped he jumped far further than most trolls would expect. Things were steep here, maybe the steepest part - but that was just all part of the challenge. Juorem slammed into the mountain side, slid down a little until he could get a grip then clenched his hand tight, leaning around to check on Reldin and offer the same flick of his hand he'd given earlier.

Bellowing a powerful "Wagh!" Reldin too made for the mountain side. Surprised by Juorem's great running leap, he silently conceded his superiority on the matter with a nod as he ran and began to climb the mountain. Juorem would have his jump, but Reldin took solace knowing that here, gripping the stone of the mountainside, he was in his prime. And so, with no delay, he began to climb, his spiked books easily finding and gripping footholds as he heaved himself up the rock.

Reldin had stuck right into it and Juorem smiled, turning back to the mountain. Okay, no more showboating, if he was to hold a candle to this guy he was going to have to play hard. Juorem reached up and began to climb, searching for the path that would hold him. His jumping skills had secured a starting advantage, but his equipment and knowledge were inferior to Reldin's - who no doubt was already mapping out the most reliable path to the top. So Juorem would have to give it his all in order to keep up. No worries.

There were times he was forced to concede ground and head in a slightly different direction, but for the most part Juorem's ascent was right on. He had no idea where Reldin was, but that was for the finale. All he could do was keep climbing.

As Juorem had properly predicted, Reldin was quickly scaling his way up the most reliable path to the top, though likewise without knowing Juorem's current location. While he normally prefered to climb slowly and deliberately, when push came to shove, Reldin was more than capable of putting his experience to work: came in handy when running from the various terrifying creatures of the wild, too. Despite having a number of tools stored away in his sylladex, Reldin made no use of them, expecting that Juroem had none to use himself. Sometimes, a plain hand-to-hand contest hit the spot, you know?

After a long period of climbing, Reldin pulled himself over the peak's edge, pulling himself out onto the final plateau of the mountain. As he walked forward, slowly stretching his arms once again, he smiled at the empty ground before him, and out at the grand landscape beyond: today, the day was his!

A hand reached over the edge of the mountain's steepest side and gripped the earth, muscles exerting force to haul Juorem over the edge. An exclamation of 'and I am the King!' died on his lips as he spotted Reldin surverying the view. "Ah hell," was all that was released instead. Reaching a hand up to grasp the one Reldin offered him, Juorem allowed himself to be pulled to a stand, before reaching around and placing his arm over the taller troll's shoulder. "Yeah yeah, you got me. Next time though," Juorem pointed, the two looking over the world below. "All this to the winner."

He smirked and raised his arm, stretching again. "Damn though, that takes it out of a guy." He sat and crossed his legs, "Worth it for the view tho."

Just as exhausted, Reldin took a seat next to Juorem, continuing his inspection of the view. "Next time for sure. Actually pretty impressed that you finished as fast as you did after your first climb. If we had crossed paths at the bottom of this mountain, maybe you would have done the job! Good work- wasn't a bad performance at all."

After a brief moment of modus management, two bottles of water appeared to Reldin, one of which he'd crack open and take a large gulp out of. The other would be offered to Juorem.

"Cheers," Juorem took the bottle and tapped it to Reldin's before taking a drink. Yep, a cool drink at the end of a solid workout was the way to go. "You just keep at it yourself, it's not gonna be worth it if you're not just as good, hopefully even better, than you are right now. That's the meaning of overcoming a challenge after all." Juorem made a quick and complex motion with his hands, drawing out a large bar of chocolate from behind one. Cracking it in two he offered half back to Reldin. "Recharge and I guess I'll be heading back down." He tried to stand then sat again quickly.

"Maybe after a little rest and enjoying the sights first tho," he grinned a little sheepishly at how worn out this had left him.

With a chuckle, Reldin accepted his half of the chocolate, taking a large bite out of it. "Plan on being the best I can! Only so much time to spend climbing the mountains here now. If I'm lucky, maybe I'll be climbin' on some far-off planet eventually, though hell if I could tell you why the fleet might need people to do that." He was forced to pause due to a long, drawn-out yawn, scratching the back of his head idly as he let it out. "Think I'll stay up here a little longer- still a little time before the sun comes up."

"Stick to it and something'll come up," Juorem acknowledged Reldin's words. "That's all guys like us need to do."

Eventually he stood and stretched properly. "Alright, I'ma take the easier way down," he turned to face the gentler slope at the back of the mountain. "Catch you next time, Mountain Man." One more trademark fingergun for the road.

Turning to say goodbye, Reldin held up a fist in farewell, casting it into a single wave. "Sounds like a plan to me. Good hiking to you!"

"You're very confident for a rookie, Canide." Balith smiled, amused and curious. It wasn't often that she was challenged to a showdown like this, especially not by someone so inexperienced, but she was looking forward to this. Though he talked a big game she was fairly certain that she would come out on top, and it would be interesting to see just how large the margin of her victory would be.

She closed her eyes as she stretched out her arms and her fingers, preparing herself. She didn't generally work with clay, but she figured that it'd be an easier medium for the blueblood to adapt to, and she had to at least try and make this a fair contest. Clay was quite a different beast to her usual stone, though, so this could take some getting used to.

After a few more seconds, her eyes flicked open, and she quickly got to work on transforming the block of clay in front of her into something presentable.

"No no, I got this." Juorem had a smile on his face the whole while, trying to manipulate the material to his will. This was a challenge he hadn't thought of before, but after stumbling into the Jadeblood's territory on one of his usual wanderings he couldn't pass up the opportunity to prove himself. "So what's your story then, you hang around here doin' your carvings all the time? What'd'ya get up to, Jade?" There was no better advantage Juorem took into any competition than his ability to talk constantly without it impacting on what he was doing at the time. Disrupting his opponents was always a benefit.

"Not all the time." Balith had quickly mapped out the basic shape of her sculpture, though it was hardly what she would call speedy work. There was still a lot to do, adjustments would have to be made before she could even think of getting into the details. Juorem's chatter threatened to slow her down further, but she indulged him anyway. It would be rude not to.

"...But a lot of the time, yes. I'm sure you've seen a lot of my work around the place. There's a lot more where that came from."

Juorem had seen the statues around, they'd impressed him to the degree that he'd immediately challenged Balith to a competition of model crafting. Adding the clay stipulation swung the odds a tiny bit in his favour but he was still definitely in the weaker position right now. But that was fine, that was how he did his best work.

He was working on trying to get an arm shape but it kept collapsing due to the softness of the clay. He gritted his teeth and dug his fingers into the slick material.

"It's good!" He was honest, which was a thing that usually surprised other trolls. There was a lot to Juorem that could surprise others and he took a lot of pride in that. "But I'm gonna be better, just you wait and see. I've got this." Heheheh yeah look this kind of looked like an arm that's good enough let's do another. "No challenge I can't rise to."

Balith chuckled. "We'll just see about that."

She was starting to remember why she never worked with clay. It was slippery and never wanted to stick together quite how you wanted it to. Kind of the opposite of stone, really. Stone was rigid. A stone sculpture wasn't going to just fall apart unless you'd really done something wrong. Clay, though? Not quite as predictable. So messy, too.

Not that any of this posed much of a problem for her, though. She prided herself on being the best sculptor around, she worked every day to secure that title. She didn't plan on losing to an amateur.

The body of her sculpture had more or less taken shape now, and it was finally time to really start bringing the piece to life. Her chosen subject today was not her usual, either, but that just made things a little more interesting.

"So do you do this often? Just waltz into people's hives and challenge them like this? I can't imagine that would go over well with everyone."

"Hahahaha more than you'd think," Juorem laughed to himself, remembering some of his more 'interesting' challenges. "It's fine, I can look out for myself you don't hafta worry about me any." The clay was being stubborn but nothing was as stubborn as Juorem Canide and he was getting some form of shape out of it. In his eyes it probably looked like a masterpiece in the making but his total lack of experience was obvious to anyone else.

"It's fine though it's fine! I get some good stuff out of my challenges, things always fall my way in the end. That's why I'm a winner. So don't take it personally when I'm champion sculptor alright? Just take pride in the fact I acknowledged you enough to challenge you to begin with!" He smiled widely and glanced over at her. Oh wow, damn, she was doing well...

"No need to get cocky." Balith smirked, though honestly she was getting a little irritated with his attitude. "Even if you did manage to win our little challenge - and I'm certainly not saying you're going to - one victory does not a champion sculptor make. Art's all about consistency. Would you be prepared to take this up every day, and confirm that the results were not just a fluke? Because that's what it takes to be recognised, pal. You've gotta prove you deserve it."

She turned away from the paw she was carving away at to take a look at what Juorem had accomplished so far. Heh... she wasn't overly surprised. He was doing pretty well for a beginner, but that was all it was. "Really, though. Would you ever touch a block of clay again after claiming victory? You don't actually continue practising all these newly acquired skills, do you?"

"Hey now," Juorem was working on the legs now, trying to shape them out. The fact he had to keep taking sidelong glances at Balith, who he was modelling, must've seemed quite odd. "You don't know that. No one ever said I'd amount to anything when I took up cooking and I kick ass at cooking to this day. You don't know I won't keep on sculpting if I like it. And besides, one victory is enough. Against someone like you all I need is one victory and that'll say I have some skill. That'll say that out there there's gotta be someone I'm better than. And as long as I'm better than anyone at something I'm winning. That's all it takes."

Admittedly the purpose of this challenge was to earn the 'better at someone at something' notch against Balith but Juorem was already stuck suspecting he wasn't about to win in a hurry. But that was okay, he'd pick up something better to challenge her at later. This at least would give him a new trick to challenge someone else to in the future.

"Hmmm, I think you'd have a hard time convincing other people of that fact." Balith almost laughed. As if one victory could be enough to prove something like that! Flukes happen, she had already pointed that out, though it seemed that Juorem wasn't too interested in listening. Which was... fair enough, she was starting to forget her place here. Maybe she should tone it down a little. Just humour him until he stops talking.

Her sculpture was progressing well, she thought. She frowned in concentration as she delicately carved features into the clay canine's face, moulding things into place with her fingers. Now this is what made a winning sculpture.

Juorem was blessedly silent at this stage, doing his best to get the clay to obey. Between looking over at Balith - damn her sculpture was good - and trying to shape the clay into form there wasn't much time for his usual smartassery. As he was drawing out the horns, he managed to recover his cool enough to talk again.

"So what do you get up to besides sculpting, I've been around these parts a few times and never heard of you til I stumbled right into your place." He still hadn't bothered getting her name, since she was actually chill enough to talk back at him and had some good talents he should probably acknowledge that. He'd do that when he won, yeah that was a good idea.

"Yeah that's understandable, I generally keep to myself nowadays." Balith sighed wistfully to herself. "Not necessarily out of choice, mind you, but... whatever, that's not important. What else do I do? Well, I work out a lot. I like kickboxing, it's hard to find a good balance, though. I need to keep all my fingers intact, y'know." She laughed, wondering if the blueblood was planning on challenging her to that next.

"Cool, cool," Juorem replied absently, trying to get the hair on this sculpture just right. "Most trolls can win a fight with me if I have to stick to their style but if it's freestyle I've got it in the bag every time." Juorem loved a good fight, all the kind of rules and forms imposed by actual fighting styles just got in the way of that. "Gotta say though, a Jadeblood who keeps a fighting spirit is all kinds of great there's not enough trolls like you who go all in. It's refreshing to deal with someone who doesn't fold like a pack of cards."

His compliments were always weird when Juorem got around to it but he was half distracted as it was right now. Or more like three quarters distracted. Five sixths? Nine tenths? He was mostly distracted.

But this was going well, he was feeling good about this. "Just about done here, how 'bout you?"

"Well, if you plan on finishing up then I suppose I should too, it's only fair." That was fine, Balith was more or less finished anyway. Well, no, she could have spent many hours more refining everything about this sculpture, but it was certainly presentable and she was confident enough that it would get the job done.

She dropped her cutting knife onto the table, standing back to admire her work. "Ready, then?"

"Good to go," Juorem folded his arms and stepped back as well. Tilting his head, he looked over at Balith's. Oh, okay yeah. Yeah that's really good. She basically nailed it. He looked back to his own. It... kind of looked like her? She had the same tilt on her head but it was more curiosity when looking at the statue. His expression fell. "It's... it's meant to be you," he offered lamely.

Hahaha, okay, yeah, she could kind of see the likeness. Balith was flattered enough that he'd chosen her as his subject, but at the same time she wasn't entirely sure what else to be feeling about his... charming representation of her. Okay, in fairness, it wasn't that bad. Like she'd said, pretty good for an amateur. But that wasn't going to be enough for her.

"That's a commendable effort, if I do say so myself." Balith nodded, trying to show her sincerity. "Buuuut you're not quite there yet, I don't think. Nice try, though. Really."

"Ahahaha yeah," Juorem rubbed the back of his head and considered pushing the clay back into the block shape it had started as. He decided to leave it though. She could decide what to do with it.

"You though, you've got the skills, I'm gonna work on it and I'm gonna show you up yet just wait. I'll have this on lockdown before you know it. Name's Juorem Canide and when I set my mind to winning something I'll get that win eventually. Don't go forgetting that now cause as soon as you let your guard down, I'll be there to beat you at your own game!" He regained all his exuberance and enthusiastically gestured at his chest with a thumb. Yeah this was cool, any troll that could fight back in words and skills was a good troll. This Jadeblood was a champ.

Balith laughed at Juorem's display of mindless determination. Well, at least he wasn't the sore loser she was half expecting him to be. She could appreciate that.

"Please, I never let down my guard. Not when it comes to sculpting, especially. But! I'd certainly like to see what your next effort will be like. Good game, Canide." She held out her gloved-but-still-messy-from-the-clay hand for a handshake.

Juorem smiled and slapped his hand into hers, tightening it for the shake. Not a bad first round, but he'd take the set. He'd show her yet. And if he managed to get good enough, well, maybe he could put those skills to work. But that was a future decision. Here and now there was just one thing to do. Get good.

These drills were routine to him, he knew them inside and out and they allowed him to sharpen his mind. While his body flowed through action he could perceive his surroundings to a higher degree, he could see everything around him and answer it without needing to direct his flesh to act. This was a high art of the blade and one he had inherited with pride.

With his senses to the limit it was no wonder he heard it. A noise, a presence, movement outside of his hive. Someone was sneaking about. He dropped out of his routine and crouched to the floor. They hadn't noticed any change, still bumbling about outside. Good god had the intruder just stepped on a twig? How ineffectual could you possibly be?

Cautiously he traversed the darkened hallways of his hive – the lights usually deactivated at all times to keep pesky proselyting subjugglators from showing up at his doorstep. His best sword was stored at the back of the hive, so on him right now he simply had his ever-present hilt and a few basic blades in his specibus. Whoever this invader was, he'd have to hope they weren't too dangerous if they were here for a fight. Although considering how much noise they were making they couldn't be too skilled.

They were definitely outside his front door, Jalous noted as he crouched down before it. Opening it slowly was probably a bad move, they'd see the movement and know he was aware. So two options. One he opened it and moved back, leaving an open doorway for the intruder to enter and fall into his domain. Two he opened it and burst through the doorway in one instant, getting the surprise if they were directly in front of it as well as instantly gaining a wide open area, perfect for his style.

The second option would also eliminate the risk of damage being done to the inside of his hive. The scales tipped in its favour and Jalous surged forward, reaching out and pulling the door in so he could step through it. Moments after exiting the hive he felt a tug at his legs and slashed down, the blade he was carrying severing a wire he had caught and causing it to lash wildly at its sudden release from strain.

But the wire had already triggered its mechanism and Jalous was forced to dive forward to dodge the guillotine blade that slammed down before his doorway. Well, he was now locked out of his hive.

“What is this?”

A set of mad giggles reached him and he looked up, spotting a pair of trolls on the roof of his hive. One stood with a long metal bat held over his shoulders while the other crouched down, the moonlight glinting off a wire she grasped. Juorem Canide and Rojule Felide smiled down at him.

“Sup Jal',” Juorem waved with a grin, “Couldn't help but notice last time you talked your shit at us you were getting some mad pride on. Seemed like you had a lotta big things to say about yourself. Stuff like being better than us? Not that friendly bro, gotta say.”

“Yeaaaaaaaah,” Rojule was the first to hop down, landed neatly on the flat back of the guillotine blade. “You really upset us you know, all that 'I am better than you' talk you've got. Really hurts our feelings. Not cool.”

Jalous furrowed his brow. This was not really what he was expecting. These two weren't here to harm him. Well they were, but in their own idiotic way that was how they showed friendship. He really hated them both. Yet he supposed it was also his fault for sparing them the time of day. Each always took the advantage to go on the aggressive when in regards with him, drawing up every mistake he had made for their own amusement. They were idiotic savages and his tolerance of them had clearly been a mistake.

“You should both leave,” he pointed his sword at them, “now.”

“Oh yeah yeah, I'm shaking in my fucking boots,” Juorem hopped down as well, landing next to Rojule. Considering the two were famous for the Kismesis relationship they shared this was obviously a big deal to them, shelving their pride to work together. Jalous was almost impressed. “No Jalous, you're getting what's comin' to you. We're gonna show you you ain't the hot shit you think you are and you're gonna step the fuck off the next time you think you know better.”

Juorem was fast and strong, but not stronger than Jalous. His total lack of discipline weakened him but he had somehow managed to develop the skill of being completely unpredictable. Rojule meanwhile was a master of the trap and quite likely preparing to turn this entire battlefield against Jalous. She would need to be dropped first, because the more attention Jalous paid to Juorem the more troublesome this would become.

He stepped forward and raised his sword. And that was when the madness began.

Rojule was faster than Jalous had ever given her credit for, she seemed to dance across the distance between them, a net of wires flying about her, catching the light of the moon and creating a distortion that to anyone not trained for combat would easily give her the upper hand. When Jalous swung his sword around it was aimed directly at her head.

And yet she dodged so effortlessly, leaning around the blade while her wires wrapped around it. They tightened and putting her strength into it Rojule dragged his blade aside, exposing him to the rapidly incoming Juorem. Juorem had been practising his jumping ability it seemed, to be able to leap from just in front of Jalous' hive all the way over to where he now stood, bringing his bat swinging down with all the force his powerful blueblood muscles good exert.

It really was shockingly good teamwork for two wild animals who hated each other to the core. Yeah, he'd never admit it in a million years but Jalous was quite impressed. The muscles in his right arm bulged and Rojule had one moment, when she felt her weight shift against her will, to realise the mistake she had made. And then Jalous had swung his blade around and her with it, throwing her directly into Juorem. The two collided in midair and fell to the ground, arguing as they attempted to extract themselves from one another.

“Go home.” Jalous stared down at the pair. “This is embarrassing.”

“Oh no,” Juorem was the first back on his feet, “Aww hell no. This is just getting started big boy. You’ve crossed some lines and now you gotta pay the ferryman his dues.”

Rojule kicked Juorem’s legs out so that she could stand instead while Jalous raised an eyebrow at the blueblood’s terminology. He’d been reading books he could barely understand again it seemed.

However for all they were idiots they had still managed to surprise Jalous. Perhaps there was something else to them. While bickering amongst themselves and steadfastly ignoring him, the tiny tilts of their heads told him that the moment he made a move they were prepared to react. Wild animals with an instinct born of experience. It was almost curious to see what they would do.

He crossed the field and swung his sword.

While not as strong as the Subjugglator Juorem was still an exemplary member of his caste, and by swinging his bat around with all the force he could muster successfully repulsed Jalous’s strike. The thick metal tool was perfect for Juorem’s wild style, allowing him to put it through all manner of abuse without it folding under the pressure.

Rojule meanwhile was quickly dancing about the field. Jalous recalled for a moment her passionate praise of the Deathdancers of the Royal Fleet, trolls that proved untouchable in the most deadly of battles and who brought despair against any opponent. It did not take a significant leap of logic to note she idolised them and desired to be a part of their number and it certainly helped explain quite a few things about her nature.

Her talent in the art of traps though was wholly her own. Jalous pushed his skills to dispose of Juorem, kicking the troll directly in the gut the moment he saw an opening. Turning on the blueblood he pursued the teal – she needed to be stopped sooner rather than later. But Juorem’s tenacity was legendary in its own right and he was quickly on Jalous’s heels, attempting to lock him down. Jalous directed a bat swing to glance off of his blade and fly overhead, answering Juorem’s attack with a heavy fist to the chin.

But as soon as he stepped around to chase after Rojule he knew she’d had too long, the feeling of his foot sinking into a small pit in the ground just the precursor to the chaos she had no doubt surrounded him with. This pit was just a stumbling block though, so Jalous was easily able to step back out and regain his balance. But now…

“Ahahahah,” Juorem was back on his feet, pointing and laughing. “What’ll you do now, Jal? One wrong step and it’s all over!” Rojule was standing further back, in front of Jalous’s hive, a nasty grin plastered across her face.

“I could ask you the same,” Jalous replied calmly, watching the blueblood. The odds were ten to one Rojule had left her kismesis in the same predicament Jalous now was, so it would be interesting to see what Juorem would do. The blueblood just smirked.

“Don’t worry your pretty little purple-blooded head about me, bro.” Jalous watched in curiosity as Juorem returned his bat to his specibus and began to stretch. Juorem had obviously gotten into a competition recently that required him to improve his jumping skills, Jalous had never before seen him express anything close to the ability to jump from a standing position that high into the air.

But Jalous had his own strength as well and while he couldn’t leap like Juorem had learned, he could catch the blueblood in midair.

The two slammed into one another and carried on, hitting the side of Jalous’s hive and then the ground a moment after. Having used Juorem to absorb the impact, Jalous delivered a powerful strike to the back of the blueblood’s head. Juorem’s tenacity proved itself in that he was still fully conscious and trying to get back up, but this was dealt with quite simply. Jalous grabbed the blueblood by the neck, hauled him up in the air and threw him straight at Rojule.

She had been preparing to stop Jalous crossing the distance between them but had no expectations of a flying Juorem to the face and quickly found herself pinned to the ground. Loudly yelling at him to get off of her, she was met by non-committal grunts and some flailing, Juorem finally having being stunned enough to mostly shut up.

Severing the wires hanging between himself and Rojule as he walked forward, Jalous reached into the trollpile, grabbed her neck and lifted her into the sky. She quickly lost all pretence of confidence as she found herself aimed at the region of traps she had just set.

She hit the ground right where Juorem had taken off from, Juorem himself following shortly after. Jalous sheathed his blade. “Rojule if even one of those traps remains next time I step outside my hive I will gut you myself, got it?”

She snapped to attention, a hand raised in salute. “Yessir Mr. Subjugglator Sir sorry to have troubled you.”

He really did not give a fuck how much of a smartass she was being right now, he just sighed and made his way back inside his hive. Dealing with those two was one of the greatest pains imaginable.

He really did not understand why he tolerated them. They’d just be back to talking shit the next time he was around. He’d definitely have to teach them some discipline and respect. Yeah that’d be enough reason – breaking them of their bad habits. That’d be the excuse he used.

Sitting on a nearby boulder, a seadweller waves to the newly appeared blueblood.

"Yo," he is Orseth Tameri, Lord of Spark, and he had been brought here just as this blueblood has. Just as another would be.

"Heya." Verlis landed on the surface of the water and caused it to ripple, descending from the air without making a sound.

Sparks were dancing in between Orseth's hands, a bolt of electricity looped around his body. He slowly rose to a stand, looking around. "She said three so I think we're expecting one more, let's see..."

Escudo landed without similar grace, the ground quaking as he landed with both feet. "Greetings." His white armour contrasted against the field, an imposing and regal figure.

"A Knight, a Mage and a Lord, huh?" Orseth was holding an ornate harpoon, which seemed to transfigure between metal and lightning of its own will. "Good set. This is what you were after, right?"

He was calling up to the swirl of green energy above their heads. It began to descend from the air, the psychic powers calming. A pair of tiny hands clutched a deck of cards, eyes of pure lime looking over the three. "I require control of this power to fight for us," her voice was small as well, but carried by her natural psychic presence it reached the three. "Without practise it is weak. But it is still too strong on its own to practise against those who would be put at risk. You are each able to survive; with your help I may learn to draw this power in full. Will you help me?"

Before the others could answer, the Seadweller smiled. "Course," he shrugged. "I owe you as much anyway. I'm good for it."

"Sounds interesting, you have my help if you want it." Verlis brought out two spears, one coloured a shining blue and the other a bloody red.

"Very well." A black shield appeared on Escudo's right arm, looking at it giving the feeling of gazing into the abyss.

"Then," she began to rise back into the air, "let's begi-"

"WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT!"

With a loud thump, a new arrival slammed down between the three trolls and the floating limeblood. With a maniacal grin and a flourish of his blue coat, he stretched out to full. "You're having a party and didn't invite me? I'm fucking mortified here." King of Pride Juorem Canide whirled on the other three, a smile stretched across his face. "Hope you're all content with taking second place in this survival game cause I've got this one in the bag."

For her credit, Minden did not react at all. Orseth just rolled his eyes. The only surprising thing about this was that he didn't see it coming.

Juorem threw a thumbs up to Verlis. "Sup Jumps, how you doin'?"

Escudo's expression couldn't be seen from behind his helmet, Verlis returning the thumbs up to Juorem. "Being better than you at soaring through the sky, enjoying the simple pleasures of life." Verlis laughed after saying this, remembering their competition that seemed like it had taken place aeons ago.

"Yeah yeah keep laughin, I'll get you yet you crazy pirate. YO LIME, are we starting?"

She held a single card in her hand. "Eighth Wand." From the sky above meteors of pure flame began to fall.

"First Gear!" With the alchemical ring providing enhanced physical statistics, Juorem simply dodged the balls of flame, while Orseth chose to burst the ones that got close to him with a bolt of lightning from his harpoon.

"Cosmos Chain!" Verlis begun spinning the blue staff that he held, deflecting the meteors in random directions. Every hit he blocked seemed to make the spear glow brighter, the weapon nearly luminescent as he finished his defence.

"Time for the appetiser." Placing his shield on his back instead of using it to defend as one would expect, Escudo merely punched the meteors with his white gauntlets and had them fizzle against his fists. "An intriguing magic."

"I will now draw." She spoke quietly, leaving her power to carry her words to these four. "Be prepared. Draw." Seven floating projections of the cards from her deck appeared behind her. One by one they spun around to reveal themselves. "Knight's Wand. The Lovers. Eighth Wand. Seventh Chalice. Tenth Wand. Eighth Coin. Fifth Wand."

Six of the seven cards began to glow, the third having already been used recently and thus requiring more time to restore itself. The flaming debris covering the area from its previous activation however was put to use, being sucked up to surround Minden, forming a fiery shield. Suddenly the flames exploded in magnitude into a fiery tempest, before flowing downwards into the ground. A volcanic pillar emerged, the ground around it beginning to soften and liquidise to molten stone. All the fire continued to wrap around the pillar, before shooting forward as a fireball of immense size aimed at the group.

"You're a terrifying woman, though I know one scarier." Stabbing the red spear into the ground and using it to vault, Verlis jumped back and up out of the range of the fireball. "I've long gotten used to fire." A laugh was heard from Escudo, the man holding his shield and kneeling on the ground as the fireball neared.

Orseth stepped forward, spinning his harpoon overhead. If he were moving his hands slower, one would see he also grasped the staff that was part of his alchemy, using the two in combination in order to create a storm of thunder, black clouds condensed into a ball of darkness. When he brought both weapons down to unleash the attack, a cyclone of wind shot forward, crashing into the fireball. Thought it did not destroy it it did appear to strip away at it, reducing its size as it came in significantly.

Still using his First Gear Ring, Juorem simply raced out of the way and watched to see what would happen.

As what remained of the fireball crashed into Escudo, it seemed that he had been engulfed by the flames. A soot covered and singed figure walked out of the inferno, his shield somehow acting like a vortex and sucking in the flames from around him. "That might have hurt if you didn't reduce it." The people on the field with him were rather impressive, the Lord doing well to strike against the blow.

"She doesn't really have any control over that does she though," Orseth rubbed his head. The individual cards were fine, but that draw had some crazy power in it, something that went above and beyond appearance. And the volcanic pillar was still there, the ground around it still molten rock. He'd have to watch out for that. "You okay up there?"

She looked down at the collection. Each individual card drew its own power, but the draws required her psychic abilities as well as the strength conveyed by her title. How many could she perform? That was another thing to test. "Prepare yourselves. Draw." And once more, the floating cards appeared. "The Tower. The Fool. The Chariot. Fourth Chalice. Ninth Coin. Sixth Chalice. Queen's Wand."

Once more six of the seven cards glowed, the second this time being unable to meet its activating condition. Waves of searing flame and chilling frost began to emerge from her, constant pulses of fire and ice. Magnified by The Tower, she was not provided immunity to her own magic, instead requiring to form a psychic shell over her body to protect herself. She dropped to the ground, removing focus on her flight to maintain her own personal defense. She landed before Escudo and Orseth, the waves still emerging rapidly.

Orseth responded with a wall of thunder and wind, but the mixture of heat and cold were causing strange reactions, and jolts of pain from burning, heat and cold, emerged through to reach his outstretched hands.

Landing next to Juorem without a sound, Verlis watched the tougher pair of the four attempt to survive the magical attack. "I'm eternally thankful for the ability to dodge. he patted the other blueblood on the shoulder, laughing while doing so.

"Frost and flames, stronger together than alone." Frost built over his armor and was melted by the heat, but Escudo continued to stand still with his shield held firm. It continued to absorb the attack, the empty vacuum aiding his defensive efforts.

"Yeah part of winning is knowing when to avoid losing situations," Juorem watched as the waves of elemental energy subsided, leaving a heavily breathing Minden before Orseth and Escudo. "She's got crazy strength but I think they're worse. I mean look at that, if this were real she'd be dead now. Probably. Limebloods man, you ever had to deal with one?"

"The limeblood in our session is insane and can create a sun in his hands, I saw him kill a boss monster by pushing it through." Verlis recalled his memories of Clenui, deciding not to think about it too hard.

"Are you alright?" Escudo moved forward to check on the magus, exhausted from performing feats of destructive landscaping.

Crackling green energy surrounding her, Minden held a pair of cards outstretched in her right hand. "Seventh Sword." A jet of wind displaced her from her current position, moving with unexpected speed across the field to stand before the pair of onlooking bluebloods. She still held the second card.

"Aw fu-" Quick to react, Juorem activated the Third Gear, leaping back from the Limeblood.

"King's Sword." A figure of wind formed before her, launching itself after Juorem. For all his speedy dodges, the wind being hounded him expertly, forcing him to continue dodging. Minden looked over to Verlis. "Please return to the others," she stated simply, floating up into the air once more.

Swinging his projection bat around, Juorem slammed the massive construct into the Wind King. When it completely failed to have an effect, he swore and attempted to sprint over to the others to get them to deal with it.

Verlis walked forward slowly, letting out a leisurely yawn as he rejoined the group. "Take it easy." The Wind King was impressive, nothing in his arsenal could defeat it with minimal hassle. "Either of you have an idea?"

Orseth raised a hand to shield his eyes from the natural light of the bubble, watching Juorem running about while being cut off repeatedly by the King. "My stuff is all lightning and wind, I think it'd probably benefit from that. What about you?" He looked over to Escudo.

"I could kill it, though I would rather not." He placed his gauntlet over his face for a moment, eyes that could see the death of anything hidden behind the visor.

A blast of wind caught Juorem in the back and bowled him over, setting him bouncing and rolling across the field. A thunderbolt zapped past him as he flew and to everyone, himself included, it was obvious that the King was toying with him. Burning with anger at this, Juorem forced himself to stop, digging both feet into the ground. "ALRIGHT JACKASS!" The Wind King was flying in, Minden above still recovering her breath. "Then," he raised his right hand, five rings, the five gears, one on each finger shining brightly. "Let's go all the way. Fifth Gear."

He was gone. And then there he was once more, the other side of the field. Faster than the King. Faster than Minden with her card. Orseth avoided whistling but still... faster than him. Moments passed of silence, and then a massive surge of wind, force from movement, followed behind Juorem. It caught the King and kept moving, cutting a deep gouge in the ground itself. When the winds faded, the King was no more, ripped apart and consumed by the strength that opposed it. Juorem breathed heavily, looking up at the limeblood. "THERE!" he pointed. "YOU HAPPY?"

"That was impressive, you showed it who was the king." Verlis clapped his hands, having stabbed his spears into the ground so he could do so.

"I cannot argue that, the speed was blinding." Escudo placed his shield on his back to applaud similarly, though his clap was slower and more metallic than Verlis'.

Showing no reaction, Minden raised her hands. Once more the projections appeared. "Prepare. Draw."

Seven cards. "Tenth Chalice. Seventh Coin. Sixth Sword. Queen's Coin. Fifth Coin. Ninth Chalice. Eighth Chalice." All seven began to glow brightly.

The ground below Minden cracked, and a vortex of wind and water surged up, ripping the ground apart to create a funnel of mud. When the storm finally subsided, a figure emerged, crossing the savaged earth. Blasts of water erupted around her as she slowly took each step, the suit of stone armour she wore being moved by her psychic abilities, her own body lacking the strength to budge it. Streams of water and currents of air ran through grooves in the decorated armour, providing a strange and magical appearance. "Attack me." She stated simply.

Wasting no time or words, Juorem was the first to cross the distance, still a little sore over being embarrassed by the Wind King. Swinging his metallic bat overhead, he brought it rushing down onto the arm she raised to block.

The weapon exploded into fragments and Juorem's gleeful expression crashed. "Are you fucking kidding me?"

"I don't think she's joking around." Verlis hopped into the air, the blue spear changing form under the light. "Paragon!" A honeycomb barrier appeared around Verlis as he approached the construct, the dragoon stabbing rapidly through his own defence with his spear. It seemed that the longer he kept it up, the more the light of the Cosmos Chain faded away. His spearhead started chipping as it hit against the armour, though it didn't break outright due to magical protection.

Appearing behind her, as she endured Verlis's spear strikes, Orseth wielded his own weapon, the Lord's Harpoon. Transfiguring it to electricity he attempted to sink it through the armour, however naturally found the rock resisted it. The water currents however electrified, allowing him to amplify the power around the armour and begin causing it to flake under the pressure of his title power.

Escudo looked at his red rifle with a pale and sickly white scope, before putting it away and deciding to bring out one of his swords. He wasn't trying to kill the girl, merely help her reach her potential. "Scorching Soul!" He recalled the fire that Yuehbi had taught him to light, a pillar of flame reaching into the sky that he brought down toward the construct.

She held both hands out, taking the ball of fire head on. Though the armour was further cracked, it was still in one piece. Orseth took a moment to admire its resilience. "YO FISHBOY, HEAD'S UP!" And then far less than a moment to dodge to the sidce as a massive projection slammed into the armour, shattering it into pieces. Juorem grinned wildly, the second of the many bats he kept stored away in his hands.

"Really?" Orseth shook his head. "How many of those do you even have?"

"As many as I need to win," the blueblood stretched an arm out and pointed a thumb down to the stone remains of Minden's armour. The Limeblood coolly stared back from the air, having flown up immediately the moment before his attack hit her armour.

"Backup weapons are the sign of a smart soldier." Escudo gave Juorem an offhanded compliment, holding a huge arsenal of weapons himself.

"Do those just get bigger and bigger?" Verlis laughed at the immense bat, Paragon returning back to the form of Cosmic Chain as the light went out.

"Big as they need to be, baby," Juorem threw it into the air, catching the spinning weapon as it fell. "Yo Limeblood, this survival game is all kinds of getting boring here, why don't you turn it up to eleven already?" Orseth just sort of stared at Juorem and wondered exactly how many times the blueblood had fallen on his head over the course of his life.

Silently Minden sighed. The most emotion anyone had made her show thus far. "I do not control what I draw," she stated simply. "I only add direction to the powers I bring forth. However... as you wish. Draw."

Juorem grinned and raised his bat while Orseth took a more defensive stance. Anything could happen next.

"Temperance. Queen's Wand. Justice. Ninth Wand. Third Coin. Knight's Wand. The Empress."

Balls of dusty earth began to rise across the field, suddenly exploding into violent flame and blinding light. Shielding his eyes, Orseth attempted to raise an electrical storm around him to hopefully block out any attacks he may be unable to see.

Escudo held his shield with both hands again and braced himself while holding it over his eyes. Verlis was unaffected by the flash due to his enforced blindness, Cosmos Chain beginning to spin so that he could deflect attacks.

Deciding the best way to deal with this was to not be in the centre of it, Juorem activated his Second Gear and picked a direction to run in, an arm over his eyes. This didn't quite work out perfectly as one of the exploding orbs was close enough to him to touch him with flame, but it didn't stop him and his movements caused the air to strip the flame back. The horrible blackness now cutting into his arm was not okay though. Juorem clamped down hard on his lip to prevent exclaiming. Yeah, this hurt. This hurt a lot.

The unleashed flames began to drift upwards, spiralling together into a single collection before Minden. The shining fire resolved itself into a form that she alone was able to grasp, and holding the blade of heat and light, Minden descended from the sky like a rocket, swinging the blade downwards.

Escudo held the Black Famine out, intending to match the immense power of her flaming blow. As the abyss clashed against the inferno, it ate away at the force of the blade and the sheer momentum from her rocket movement. Despite the greedy devouring of the shield, the blade pushed him back and scorched his white armour. It was an attack that could seriously hurt him if he was hit directly, and even with his layers of magical and physical protection he could feel the numbness in his arms. "...Could you elaborate on that attack, Miss?"

"A strong defence." She complimented him simply. "Without that shield, there is this." She slid across the battlefield and swung the blade around at Orseth, who brought down a blade of lightning, formed around his staff, to counter it. The two weapons exploded in a surge of elemental energy, but when Orseth leaped back to check the damage it was to find the flames now pursuing him, forcing him to dodge and attempt to blow them away as they continuously found themselves draw to him. The flames of the weapon looked significantly less intense. "That is enough of this." She said simply, and squashed the blade between her hands. Whatever link existed between her and the magic she cast with these cards, it seemed to provide great power over what was unleashed.

"Miss, I wish to test the limits of your potential." Escudo placed a golden crown on his head, a source of malevolent power filling the atmosphere. Changing to a set of green embroidered clothes with a rapier and cape, these outdated equipment sets were strengthened by the power of White Conquest. "Would you indulge me in a spar?"

Whistling, Juorem beckoned to Verlis with his still good arm. "Yo Jumps! Let's see how this goes." He was partially paying attention to (muffled) Orseth dodging flames in the background, but Minden performing draws was going to be far more entertaining. Orseth meanwhile was trying his best to put these hounding flames down, but wind was only a consequence of his power rather than something he had direct control over and his lightning wasn't really doing much at all. All he could do was try to run down the clock. This sucked.

"Escudo is the measuring stick of our group." Verlis seemed pleased that the knight had taken an interest. "We test out our Alchemic Weaponry on him, and if it causes him to react at all then we've got a keeper."

"I will draw." She was standing instead of floating now. While Juorem didn't care enough to contemplate such things, if Orseth had been able to notice he would've drawn the conclusion she was beginning to exhaust herself. Seven floating cards. "Draw. Justice. Ninth Sword. Jack's Sword. Temperance. The Devil. Fourth Sword. Ninth Chalice."

Escudo rose his Red Capote towards her, /increasing/ her offensive power. A feeling of viciousness filled her, red energy suffusing whatever her next attack would be.

Five glowing cards. One still recovering. One still failing to trigger.

Becoming as the wind, Minden flowed around the field, hard to see as light itself obscured her from sight, bursts of wind emerged from her as she raced around Escudo. Momentary drops in her windy state caused her to hang in the air while a larger blast of freezing wind emerged from her body, before she continued rushing about with the smaller windbursts.

The bursts of wind bloodied Escudo, even the smallest hits causing wounds. The alchemy he was wearing suited a masochist, increasing her power while decreasing his own defence. Standing his ground even as he was damaged by the onslaught, his sword suddenly gained a wicked glow. His hand didn't even move as the attack headed towards her, an incredibly damaging and piercing blow against her weakened defence that didn't aim for a vital spot.

The wind form she was travelling in did not provide immunity to attacks, and so Minden's eyes bulged as the blade sunk through an arm, catching her out of the air and throwing her to the ground. A loud crack echoed as the earth beneath her split, Minden bouncing off of it and hanging in the air, suspended like a doll. Odd creaking movements raised her head and arms, like she was a puppet on strings. A surge of force blasted Escudo, something of a different make to the wind magics just prior.

Juorem, the only one available to recognise it, felt his eyes widen. "Aww fuck too far. Jumps with me!" Bringing up his Fourth Gear, he crossed the field back to her, feeling his deeply injured right arm scream in pain. Grasping his bat with his left hand, he swung it down at the back of Minden's head.

"Juorem, get back here!" Verlis tried to warn the other blueblood, too late against his reaction speed.

Her psychic power was already permeating her surroundings, she knew everything about her. She knew he was approaching him before her brain had time to react. It was easy enough to stop him. A wall of force countered his charge, and with his lowered resistances thanks to his own Gears, his body cracked and was filled with shattered fragments from the sudden and absolute stop.

Sinking to his knees, Juorem managed to at least spit some blood at her feet. Damn it all, he was the first out. He'd never hear the end of this.

Verlis grabbed Juorem with a forward leap before hopping again out of the field, looking towards where Escudo was. During the time he was knocked back with his teal blood spilled, Escudo sheathed Andalucia and changed forms into a red martial outfit with a knife and frying pan. He was suddenly engulfed in burning hellfire, seeming to be a raging demon rather than an honourable knight. He banged the knife of fire against his pan, launching fireballs into the air toward Minden before approaching with an enormous burning blade.

Fire. A chemical reaction. Reacting with the provided air. Air. Molecule. Matter. Manipulatable. She raised a hand. Psychic Power. Control. Squash. No Air. No Fuel. No Reaction. No Fire.

The balls of flame snuffed out, she raised her other hand to point at Escudo. "You are to defend. Stand still." Troll. Movement. Legs. Signal to move. Electrical pulses from brain through nerves. Required alive. Cannot deactivate brain. Block signals? Precision. Effort. Force barrier? Simple. Raised.

A cloud of dust rose from the ground as Minden placed the focus of her psychic power there, a wall that the tealblood was not to pass. His was not the role to attack.

Pulled away by Verlis, Juorem finally gave up trying to watch and just willed his dream projection to vanish. He'd had enough of dealing with this. Everything hurt, his pride most of all.

Having finally outlasted the flames, Orseth turned to race back to Minden, wreathing himself in electricity to attempt to confuse the senses of her psychic powers. But she'd erected a barrier. He wasn't getting in this time.

"You're going to hurt yourself!" He yelled to her, knowing it was pointless. But she was using too much mental power this time, this could have effects on her real self. That would be bad. Anything but regression.

"Wench! Who are you to command a /king/?!" A tremendous willpower that had managed to resist the ego of a tyrant fought against her psychic power, enough to allow him to move his hand and thrash his flaming pillar of a blade against the psychic barrier. "A mere magician, nothing bereft of her tricks! You know no honour, restrain me at the risk of your doom!"

"The Emperor?" She held a card in her hand, comparing it to the tealblood whose blade was close to reaching her. "This is not your card. Draw."

Seven cards. Her mind was beginning to collapse under the burden of her psychic powers, her body fuelling it to allow her to last just a little longer. But this dream form she would not be able to maintain after this. This draw would be the last.

"The High Priestess. Strength. Second Wand. Queen's Coin. Ninth Sword. Seventh Wand. Seventh Sword."

She raised a hand, and her every movement caused fires to spring up. Arrows of flame shot from her body and with each step more came about. Yet of the unleashed arrows, while some curved around to shoot to Escudo, others came back upon her. And those did not harm. The colour of her flesh was improving. Her expression cleared. She almost smiled. Almost.

"Were I to restore you the same way, Knight," she quietly spoke to Escudo, who was weathering the storm of fire arrows.

"Pardon, my words weren't chivalrous." Escudo gained control of himself and changed costumes again, a blue suit along with a feather sword and a stack of papers now his equipment. "Take That!" He tossed papers into the air, blocking the fire arrows and being updated with information about them. "Hold It!" Time stood still for Escudo, his mind accelerated as he plotted out his next move. "Objection!" His feather sword parried the rest of the arrows, pointing at Minden as he finished.

Changing into the white armor, he removed the crown and replaced it with the helmet. "Ask for providence, that your next blow shall be your strongest." He brought out his red rifle and black shield, eyes glowing teal and lighting up his helmet from behind the white scope. "I will clash against your strength with my own."

She nodded, and brought forth the cards. "I have gained understanding. My reward is as follows. Draw."

One by one, they spun around to reveal themselves. "First Sword. Sixth Wand. The Devil. Second Wand. King's Chalice. Tenth Wand. The World."

"Red War." Escudo pressed the trigger of his rifle with a click, a blood red blade extending far into the sky and casting a shadow over the area. He wouldn't give her anything less than his full effort. "Death approaches."

"These guys are terrible, aren't they?" Verlis walked towards Orseth and talked to him as Red War blotted out the sun. "You're on their level, if I recall correctly."

Orseth shook his head, but paused after that moment. "When she uses her psychic abilities all bets are off. I don't think she can be beaten when she goes that far." He raised a hand, a tiny storm of electricity dancing in it. "But maybe I could've been more serious. Those cards are unpredictable and impossible to prepare for. But no, there hasn't been anything I couldn't fight in that deck." He raised an eyebrow, glancing at Verlis. "Though I think you're up there too, maybe there's just more to yourself you've yet to discover."

"Escudo is our resident god of battle, he's just incapable of taking things any less than completely serious." Verlis laughed at the clash, not afraid of the fight they were having. "First time he got that crown, he turned into a moving Denizen that we had to team up against just to knock the dumb thing off his head! Forced a bunch of us to God Tier before dying out, was a huge pain in the butt."

"Ha." Orseth chuckled, thinking of the god tierings he'd had to deal with as well. "Yeah."

Minden raised her hands, willing the seven shining cards, glowing brighter than any draw before, to bring about their power. A meteor of huge size was slowly descending from the air above the two, loose flames and dust from around the area being drawn up into it. The dust suddenly clumped together, forming a pillar of dirt material that seemed to catch the meteor, holding it in some sort of massive volcanic decoration. A swarm of flaming arrows, travelling in one stream and flying as if birds, began to pour from the caught meteor, spiralling down around the column before shooting off towards Escudo.

"A light drizzle." Holding Red War with both hands and making no attempts to defend, the arrows hit him and caused damage as they bounced and deflected off the armour. Teal blood spilt through the gaps, but he didn't care how much he was hurt as long as he could put everything into this next attack. Despite several holes and fire covering him, Escudo stood upright when he should have died.

The meteor and pillar shuddered as the last of the fire arrows were exhausted. Slowly it began to crumble apart, and a burst of molten dust emerged, trailing lazily down to touch one of the last pools of water. A jet of steam emerged, hissing violently. Minden raised her own psychic shielding and placed her deck away. She was spent. But this one, this one was here at last.

The arrow shower had just been excess power being vented, the creation of this one requiring significant turbulent power. A core of magic forged in a volcanic meteor. Flame drained away. Heat mixed with water.

It rose, a form of white gas and a glowing core of power. A King of Water and Flame. A King of Steam. It rushed forward to Escudo, clouds of scalding water billowing out behind it as one great wave, ready to crash down upon the warrior Knight.

As he did with the arrows, he made no effort to defend against the onslaught. The magical and physical protection of his armour defended him from the majority, but the attack scalded his skin and threatened to buckle his knees. This was not a battle of honour, but a mere test for a single girl. Truly there has never been a more painful display of chivalry. Agony drowned out by willpower, he endured solely through the power of White Conquest.

The Steam King was raising pillars of burning liquid about Escudo, more material for it command and wield. However long it would last under the effect of this draw, it would fight with full power from beginning until end. A great orb of superheated liquid formed in its hands, and it popped it directly over the head of the defending troll.

"Behold the blade that defeated the Black King." His eyes glowed teal as Red War split the heavens and earth, the enormous blade rending the world in half and taking a path through the Steam King as it engulfed Escudo in a wave of water far past boiling. The ground shook as Red War impacted the ground, the entire battlefield threatening to split. Though the King was a construct and wouldn't die even if it was killed... "I bring death to the deathless." As the blade tore through it, it fizzled into a puddle instead of reforming itself. Killed by the power of the Knight of Doom, the final end to any who meet his blade.

With his mental power exhausted and his body ravaged beyond what could be considered a corpse, Escudo finally kneeled as he retracted the Red War. "My role here is over, I hope that I have aided you well." He disappeared into the light as he said this, having once again gotten the chance to show his power.

Her power was drained now, she could tell she would not be able to manifest another card. A little psychic power left to perform a simple joint. She stretched out a finger and thumb to point at Orseth; a mock pistol made with her hand. Bang. He woke up. Verlis. Bang.

“Be glad I am allowing you to live,” Minos extended his arms and the air seemed to shimmer, gold forming in dust about the being. “It is only by the will of the King that you survive.”

”Not good enough!” Again Minos moved faster than his opponent, grabbing his leg out of the air, spinning in a circle and releasing him. Surely this worm had to understand the difference between them.

“Why do you rise again?” The smallest spark of doubt existed in the head of the Denizen. What power made this being raise his fist in defiance of him? What gave him the will to stand? “You cannot oppose me.”

”Course I can,” the figure coughed, a trail of blue dripping from his mouth. What a sickening colour. It belonged not in these glimmering halls. ”I will too. I will to.”

Now Minos was annoyed. Traipsing into his golden throne, bearing false coin mockingly given in tribute, he had enraged the King. And even now he spat on the magnanimity Minos offered. This would not be tolerated.

The movements of the King of Gold were swift, he held the grey skinned creature by the neck. Let him see how little he compares. Quickly Minos blocked the rapid burst of punches unleashed by the beast, once more asserting his superiority. “You are beaten.”

”No way, I'm totally winning.”

“Excuse me?” The challenger laughed and it enraged Minos. He slammed him into the ground, again and again, before throwing him through the doors to his throne room. “Pathetic. Get out of my sight.”

”No chance!” This punch was the closest yet to reach Minos, but fell short once again. Minos's fury boiled and his control slipped.

“Why?” He yelled, shaking the foolish being, “Why do you continue to challenge the King?”

”Because,” he smiled widely, and locked his eyes with Minos. And in those eyes was will unbreakable. ”I'm the King.”

And Minos's rage erupted. A single blow to the chest, one with the full power of the denizen, and a new hole was added to his castle's roof. The insulter was thrown across the world, and banished from Minos's sight. “There is only one King,” his words were resolute. “And it is not you.”

Across the planet, Juorem Canide pulled himself out of the hole he had made on impact. He was battered, bloody and out of breath. The fact he managed to continue laughing was a testimony to his limitless will.

"Alrighty then here I GO!" The force wielded by Juorem was something impressive, rocketing into the sky by a leap alone. He aimed carefully, landing with both feet on an over-hanging boulder and launched himself again. Once more and Juorem sailed over the cliff edge he had been scaling, landing heavily on the earth. Grinning savagely he raised a hand with three fingers held up.

"Three!" he announced triumphantly. "How many did it take you?"

"I need two jumps to clear it." Verlis answered calmly as he stood at the bottom of the cliff, having been watching Juorem with his eyes closed. The other troll's effort in trying to beat him at jumping was admirable, and he was making progress in leaps and bounds.

Focusing power into his own legs, Verlis jumped swiftly enough that it looked like he was flying. With his foot momentarily tapping the same boulder Juorem used as a foothold, Verlis reached the top and landed beside the other troll with a soundless landing.

"Alright, we go again!" Juorem jumped right off the cliff edge, free-falling without a care. He landed on the lower boulder, only to find, to great shock, that its repeated use had loosened it. Now dislodged from the cliff, the boulder fell, Juorem riding atop it. Before it hit the ground he kicked up, landing away from it. Well that hadn't been so bad.

Except now one of the key footholds on the cliff was gone. Not that he'd admit that was a problem. Cause he bet it wasn't for that jumpy blueblood up there. No, he could handle a little setback, no worries. He'd just have to go higher than last time. Juorem leaped. Further, further than last time, but nothing to lanch himself again. In an act of reaction Juorem reached a hand out, intending to grab the cliff and throw himself upwards. That action failed and he lost his upwards velocity, hitting the cliff and rolling down its length before crashing into the ground. Slightly bruised, with a far more injured pride, he pushed himself out of the rubble, ready to go again.

Jumping down from the top of the cliff and touching the ground with a grace and speed that would make Juorem suspect that psychic abilities were involved, Verlis looked over his competitor and the state he was in. Juorem was tough and didn't seem to sustain any real wounds, and patching him up would likely hurt him and his pride more than just leaving him be.

"What makes you want to surpass me?" Verlis asked, genuinely curious about what Juorem was thinking.

"Because you're above me!" Juorem smiled widely. "Those jumps are crazy I haven't seen anything like that before. So if you can do it I've gotta be able to do the same. Otherwise I'm not worth shit. Here watch this!"

This time Juorem leaped with a goal. He'd seen a new position, less an outcrop and more a depression in the cliff, and bounced out of it readily. His ascent had more horizontal length to it this time, resulting in him taking five leaps to reach the top, but he still smiled about it. Getting better. He'd surpass jumpy down there in no time. "Let's see how you do it then!" he laughed from the clifftop.

Verlis didn't need to map out the cliff to understand the best path. Moving directly towards where you wanted to land without any curves or tricks, that was the pleasure of travelling through the air. The blueblood pulled out his long spear, dashing toward the cliffside and jumping up to where the rock used to be before it loosened. Stabbing his spear into the cliff at that point and vaulting off it, he reached the top with the same number of jumps he did last time.

"Two jumps."

"In that case..." Juorem jumped off the cliff once more, travelling directly down. As he passed by Verlis's spear, he grabbed hold of it, ripping the weapon from the cliff. Stabbing it into the cliff again to reduce his velocity and draw himself closer to the stone wall, Juorem managed to get himself running straight down it. At the base, he jumped out, planted the spear into the ground and spun around it a few times, shedding the speed of his fall. "I get to do the same!"

Now with spear in hand he launched himself upwards. Further and further, muscles clenching from the force they had pumping through them, Juorem travelled. When he reached his peak he impaled the cliff, flipped onto the spear's length and launched himself again. Higher, higher, higher he soared, the edge of the cliff coming into his sight. Nearly...

Nearly...

"COME ON!" Juorem's hand reached upwards, longing to grasp the edge. And it so found purchase, digging into the ground. Grimly, the blueblood dragged himself over the edge of the cliff, panting now. "Did that count?" he managed to smirk nonetheless.

Verlis smiled back at Juorem, impressed by the other troll's determination and skill. "It counted." His smile widened a bit, Verlis making a quick jump down the cliff and returning to reclaim his spear. "Points are shaved off for lacking grace, but you've more than learned to jump go- well." He corrected himself at the last moment, taking the opportunity to make a joke at Juorem's expense.

Spinning his spear and returning it to his specibus, Verlis looked straight at the other troll. This didn't have quite the same effect with his eyes closed, or perhaps even a different effect entirely. "Your determination is incredible."

"You just wait this is nothing." Juorem announced, more slowly descending the cliff than before. It seemed that pushing his limits this time had finally started to burn noticeable amounts of energy. He sat down and began to stretch, warming down his muscles. "You be back here tomorrow, jumps, I'll be flying higher than you've ever seen. Gonna touch the sky and leave my name there for all to see, got it? Don't forget!"

"I'm looking forward to it." A floating galleon appeared in the sky above them, Verlis smiling at Juorem and waving goodbye. "This one doesn't count." Pushing force into his legs and aided by his partner on the ship above, Verlis broke through the clouds and disappeared in a twinkle.