Spring 21st, 506 A.V.
"Greeting, one and all!" The voice of Shale Tarren echoed out across The Akeldama Colosseum, "This evening, you shall bare witness as two up and coming fighters duel for dominance!"
That was when suddenly, an aggressively beautiful young woman with long braided red hair stepped onto the red sands of the fighting pit. It was as if the crowd had never seen a young woman go into combat dressed half naked. It was obvious that the woman was prepared for war given the war paint that was draw along her abdomen and face. She wore a thick band of leather around her chest which was the only thing granting her any sense upper modesty other than the long flowing pants she wore.
"Hailing from Wind Reach, she's a tower of strength who can brawl with the best of them... I present to you, Lymera the Scarlet Boar!"
When her name was called, she lifted her hands then spun as she let out a feral yell. It sparked other people in the crowd to respond back with many yells of their own. The call and response from the crown clearly expressed that it was a normal thing she did to speak to her fans. Shale Tarren waited several chimes for the roar of the crowd to dull down before speaking up again.
When all went quiet was when Loken stepped onto the red sands. Unlike when he fought the other day, today he only wore a pair of black linen pants and high boots. Shale Tarren had told him to take off his armor and not use any weapons. When Loken questioned the man further, Shale said he only needed to remove the chestpiece; he still wore the leather vambraces on his forearms, tasset on his upper thighs, and greaves along his legs. Loken decided to go bare chested since he saw no reason in ruining his shirt.
"Now... making his way into the pit. You all saw how he put fear into the Zith! How he killed without mercy. I present to you, a man who holds others lives securely in his hands, The Ebon Lock!"
Loken had learned the other day that Shale Tarren was using him to achieve some type of goal. The Kelvic had started to oversell Loken's ability for some reason. As he looked over at Lymera, he was not sure if it was so the woman would gain more popularity when she beat him, or vice versa? Or was this an even match to find the right tool for Shale to use for the Colosseum owners future schemes? Loken had to push all of those thoughts out of his head as he walked close to the woman he was going to do battle with.
"Clearly physically strong, most likely from a life of hard labor. Appears easily swayed by emotions... a weakness, but not keystone. Shorter, giving me the range advantage." Loken kept an eye out for any type of advantage that he could use to best defeat her. It looked like she was doing the same thing to him as they both walked within striking distance of each other. Once they were face to face, Shale's voice could be heard one last booming time.
"The rules are simple, last fighter standing is the winner. Weapons are not allowed. Death is also not allowed. If one fighter says that they give up, then the fight is over... let the battle begin!"
As soon as the word battle left Shale's lips, Lymera rolled her left shoulder back then jostled it forward as her arm rocketed out in attempt to slam her knuckles into Loken's face. With all of his focus on her, he saw that attack coming from a mile away. He reacted by lifting up his right leg, the kicking out with his heel in a short and fast, diagonal blunt force to slam the heel of his boot against her right knee; effectively stomping on her kneecap while she was in mid swing.
Loken did not use strength, but the speed of the kick mixed with the natural power of a leg caused Lymera to halt the follow through of her punch. She a good two feet backwards on her good foot, watching as Loken took some type of fighting stance.
He was in a neutral stance when she attacked, but now started to slide his right leg back to take an orthodox right handed combat stance. However, he did not hold his fists up like a pugilist, but instead held them up open handed with his four fingers held tightly together with just a slight bend to his fingers. He kept one slightly back, but pointed the balls of both his hands at her; ready to grab her or parry.
The crowd Immediately spotted the difference in their fighting styles as Lymera slowly started to circle around him like a vulture in the desert. She was clearly someone who grew up trading punches with drunkards and tavern dwellers, while Loken was the type who had some amount of formal training. 'Kick the shyte out'a him!', 'Punch 'er in the boob!', 'Go Red woman!', Loken could hear the mixed feeling of the crowd as he shuffled his feet, his boots starting to make a circle in the sand as he never moved from his sport. He only turned in place to keep her in his eye line at all times.
Lymera was not even being stealthy when she bent down to pick up a handful of sand. "She's going to try to blind me." He barely had time to get that thought across his mind when the woman started to run around him in a circle as fast as she could. Loken did not want to be blinded, but at the same time he could not keep up his stance with her moving that fast. He decided to stay in one place, listening to the sounds of her heavy footfalls as she ran. Whenever she circled behind him, he did his best to gauge if she was trying to close the distance.
Nano WC: 1021
