Completed [Fighters Pit] Steel on steel. (Razkar)

[Ximal]

14th Summer 513AV 12th bell. Xi stepped back out onto the sands of the fighter's pit, the pain for yesterday still permeating though him. It'd been a long LONG time since he'd fought someone with that level of skill and strength not to mention endurance. Xi could still feel his head ringing from the nasty headache, the lower of his back and his side, both stung. And his shoulder had grown a nice big yellow bruise. All in all...It wasn't that bed...However Xi had a sneaking suspicion that the myrian from yesterday wouldn't be there...Something told him that he would however. Xi's hit him hard enough to make any kind of lesser man unable to move but through all that he was still standing still able to fight with Him still able to combat him at a high level and still able to throw blows that even took Xi by a little surprise. Xi wasn't sure whether he held respect or admiration for Razkar...Xi glanced around him before sitting down on the sands gingerly. Since there was well a few other people there but no-one really paying attention to him Xi sat on the sands and closed his eyes mulling over the use of his flux. Pulling the energy from his body around himself snapping to his extremities in an instant... He'd begun to think about how baldy his body hurt and instead began to pull his djed to his areas which had been hit...The damage was mostly of nerve endings than anything else. He could feel the pain but not feel any damage to anything major. Xi's calm appearance was belying a simple truth...He was mildly worried about what might happen today, would the mryian show? Would Xi have to fight against more than one foe of that skill today? Xi mulled over the possibility that he was going to loose to this man...It was a fair point there was always someone better. Perhaps Xi had finally found his physical equal? Without magic to push him over the edge into pure immortality...Xi flexed his finger tips feeling the slow momentum move across them and then snapped his djed there. He was finding control much easier to muster. And that his fluidity with the power within himself was becoming more easily attainable. Now Xi just had to await the arrival of his worthy equal...

[Razkar]

Ximal's match was already waiting for him. Had been waiting, in fact.

When Gerard rose with the morning sun and walked out to open the gates, he'd found the Myrian waiting. Then he watched the bruised and tattooed savage wander the Pit, checking each fighting hole... glower deepening with every empty one he found. He offered a spar, but the Myrian just shook his head, found a corner and waited...

... and waited... and waited...

Finally Razkar could take no more inactivity, any more disappointment from seeing figure after figure enter the Pit and every one denying him. No tall, broad figure with cat-like tread; no long black locks and deep blue eyes. Snarling to himself in impotent fury he'd snatched up his weapons and jumped down into the nearest pit.

He'd been there ever since, and had barely topped moving.

Ximal's war twitched as he heard the sounds of soft grunting and the fainter, almost silken sound of metal flying through the air. He walked over, as bored as his Myrian nemesis had been earlier, wondering what-

Thus he found his opponent.

Razkar was a whirl of flashing gladius and hand ax in the center of the empty pit. His arms flew and snapped and slashed and hacked and blocked and parried and a dozen other movements. They all bled into another, but there was utter concentration writ on that tanned, scarred, inked face, as if the Myrian truly was facing a swarm of enemies.

He jerked up the gladius in his left hand, warding off a blow as his right swung a hand ax into the side of his enemy, the blow barely hitting home before his gladius snapped back and then thrust out, impaling his enemy-

-then he twisted, turned and swung out wide with his ax, keeping at bay or parrying another phantom assailant, gladius following it with a diagonal slash that would have cleaved through shoulder and into chest cavity-

-abruptly reversing into a backhanded slash across that ruined chest to finish off his enemy-

-ax hammering down vertically at a shade to his left, swift and vicious low kick following it up and ax then swinging up into the face of his doubled-over enemy-

-gladius flashing in the sun as Razkar twisted it up and behind his back, two-foot gleaming blade running parallel above his spine, blocking a blow from some backstabber without even looking-

-spinning to his right on the balls of his feet to backhand his ax into that treacherous ghost-

-Ximal saw the gladius flip and reverse in the savage's hand even as he spun, holding it like a knife now-

-stabbing it down into the clavicle of the backstabber, deep into the chest cavity, ripping apart heart and lungs-

-before withdrawing it and kicking away the downed, eviscerated enemy, moving on-

Seeing the barbarian looking down at him.

Panting, eyes bright and glaring from his exertion but still black as an eclipsed sun. His chest heaved and he was sure Ximal was satisfied to see the yellow and purple blotches still on his body, forged by his hand, clad as he was in his customary loincloth and sandals.

A feral smile split his face and filed teeth glittered briefly. It was not friendly, by any means, but the nod and his tone certainly spoke of respect. A hard-won thing among Myrians, and if earned by a barbarian, certainly of worth.

"You..." Razkar said, and there was a surprising humor in his tone, too "... are late."

[Ximal]

Xi Rose eventually to see that Razkar had been there for a while in fact practising with his own weapons within the pits. His hands clutched a hold of a gladius and a hand axe. A rather humbling sight to behold. Xi watched the myrian move with a succeeded flawless grace..Or supposed, Xi could see a small flash of weakness...Barely anything but he could see quite simply from how he was moving that it was indeed the same mentality as yesterday and that had ended well for him. Xi smiled and stepped off the edge to fall into the pit behind Razkar as he finished his swings. Body littered with yellow bruising. Xi's own side and shoulder even his lower back mirrored the effect. Xi caught the grin falling across his face as if from a zith more than a myrian. Feral, predatory...Yet it spoke of a line of respect masked behind the face, something that Xi sought with everyone he met, regardless of how and where he met them. That line of mutual respect. The words that followed out of Razkar's moth was a set of surprising humour and dignity. Telling him he was late? Xi couldn't help but smile in returning amusement. "I said i would be here...I just never specified a time. That and it would be a shame to interrupt a craftsman at his art. Be it painting, drawing or the arts of taking a man's life...Everything is equal in value, just some things have more use and are more easily compared." Xi smirked unclipping his cloak from his shoulders and making sure to show that today across his arms and lets his steel was in position. His forearms up to his elbows this time though were coated in steel vambraces and his gauntlets. "As you'v probably learned yesterday...Your weapons of your true skill are your weapons. Mine is my body itself. As your body can attest." Xi smirked and lifted his hands. Into a "as you can see" pose. Xi flipped though his repertoire of movements. He was going to need every possible movement at his disposal. Razkar had proved yesterday his assortment of skills was almost as formidable as Xi's own...And as such Xi was going to need every part of his crafted knowledge of how to fight to challenge Razkar at his absolute best.

[Razkar]

As the cloak fluttered away from Ximal's shoulders and the glinting gauntlets were revealed, Razkar cocked his head to one side like some curious bird. He was reminded briefly of Kisetukai, the impetuous braggart he'd fought the very first day he'd stepped foot in the Pit. He'd worn similar weapons, and that's what Razkar knew they were: not mere pieces of armor, but arms capable of breaking bone, blocking blades and much more.

On Kisetukai's hand, they were an annoyance. But on Ximal's...

The Myrian felt a now-familiar thrill, once alien to him but now growing... almost addictive. Not quite fear, it was the delicious uncertainty of stepping into the ring with an opponent you didn't know you could beat. But when the human made his broad, philosophical comparison, some core of certainty returned to Razkar and he chuckled.

"Body as a weapon, as opposed to weapons wielded by the body?" He kept smiling, holding up the gladius and hand ax, letting the human see the thighbone handles each was crafted with, Malediction runes stark on them. "I am a Child of Myri, Son of Man. There is no difference, no break or discord between our flesh and the weapons we wield. We are one."

His gaze flickered up and down the human's broad, firm body, memories of the shattering spar the day before flashing before his eyes. Memories... and lessons. He had learned much from Ximal, and about him, as he was sure the keen-eyed human had about him. But while he knew his own unarmed abilities were less than Ximal's...

"You taught me humility yesterday, human," he said, turning to trio of practice weapons in one corner that he'd placed down here, knowing he'd need them when the human arrived. He kept talking as he bent down, sheathing his weapons with careful reverence. "I hope I can return the favor..."

Razkar's hands found a practice gladius and his right hand stalled over a hand ax... then he decided to choose a second blunted gladius. His skill with the ax was impressive, he knew from experience, but it was with the masterfully-balanced short sword that he excelled. He could go with the ax, but...

Do you really want to fight this man with anything less than your best?

"So." He said sharply, flicking the practice weapons in front of his body was practiced motions, flashing circles in the air before stopping them dead in the air, left foot forward, right back, weight on the balls of his feet, left gladius forward and perpendicular, right cocked further back almost to his ear. "We shall begin."

Razkar's gnosis burst into life the same moment his body did. He drove forwards, swinging his left gladius in a broad horizontal arc then thrusting his right immediately after it, aiming for Ximal's stomach. They were blades, true, but so blunted and old that they were unlikely to break flesh.

Unlikely, but not impossible.

Either way, Razkar was already moving, knowing from experience that Ximal would block or avoid that slash-and-thrust combination. He slid to his left, Ximal's right, knee bending to slash at the human's right shin-

-redirecting his gladius upwards at the last minute to strike at his right kidney instead-

-right gladius slashing diagonally in front of his torso to dissuade any punch Ximal would throw there-

-then snapping out with his straightened arm to deliver a stinging backhanded swipe at Ximal's sternum.

All within the space of a few heartbeats, Razkar's body rejoicing, reveling that now, at least, he was back in his element. Perhaps even in his advantage. But time would tell on that, and he kept his legs bent and eyes open, ready to jump away... for this barbarian was far from predictable...

[Ximal]

Xi flexed his fingers the man before him was truly his greatest equal thus far...And Xi himself knew that regardless of how he fought he was not walking away from this one without a few injuries. Xi turned his mind back to the moment when he became initiated into reimancy...Pain...Pain was something he could cope with now...Pain was something he could endure...Xi slid his shirt off this time allowing Razkar to see the pain that he'd inflicted the returned wounds the yellow splotches coating his own chest. this time he was going to truly have a fight. Without any restrictions. Xi closed his eyes for a moment as Razkar walked over to his pile of training weapons hearing him talk about how his weapon and his body were one at the same. "i taught you humility? I rather doubt that was the lesson learned by either of us...I believe we learnt that there is a match for everyone regardless of how much time they put into their skills. All that changes...is how the people progress. No-one ever hits a stagnant level so long as you keep making your body move. Every moment you spend learning how to fight is a moment you spend learning how to live. To survive. And to succeed. A child of myri, and a son of man...There is a change between us. One that transcends mortality and our patrons. Our difference is what we see ourselves as...You see yourself as a son of myri, a child of the warrior goddess. Your bound to honour her. Whilst I...Am bound only to myself. And because of that, I seek to find someone whose name i can honour...Or at least that what everyone wants to hear. No I fight for the one thing that is worth fighting for...Freedom. Freedom of myself and those without." Xi slid his left foot back this time preferring to hold his weight on his right forwards one, and instead of the two stances from yesterday, his formless or his all out assault he slid into his defensive one. Acting like a turtle, his arms raised and the flat had edges of steel facing outwards towards Raz allowing him to block strikes with the minimal amount of movement. However he knew that the blades carried extra weight and as such would hit harder meaning it would wear down his endurance faster. The myrian's practices stance was something simple to fall in to...Practice, patience and control was what he saw there...Mixed with the full aggression that he'd seen the other day. "Today...I shall not hold anything back either...If I do...i have the feeling that I will not walk out of here in one solid piece..." Xi took a slow controlled breath focusing on moving his arms and chest in tandem so it looked like nothing was moving. His stance was of stone. Xi watched the myrian come at him faster than yesterday surprisingly so. The blades a flashing premise that he was in for trouble...But nothing he was unused too. Fighting a man with four arms and a sharp longer blade at the full extension of each one was a challenge in and of it'self to just keep track of each arm...Xi watched the slash come at him weaving his body back and to the left. His arms up like an iron curtain in front of him. Xi was used to watching for weapon users points of striking contact, their elbows and even their wrists as well as their major joints. He'd fought enough of them to see where he was going to come from. The first strike missed full of intent but still a diversion. He could tell only from the strength of the grip on the handle. Raz then followed to his left countering up with the blow, aiming at his right knee, Xi held off on defence knowing full well his leg was protected at the shi- Then the blade darted upwards. Dammit. Xi shifted his right arm down the steel coated edge of his elbow blocking and halting the momentum of the blade sending a harsh vibration along his arm. Shocking it and forcing him to ignore the pain there. The right gladius came slashing at him in a diagonal cut. Xi Back-stepped with his right foot using the momentum to keep up with the dodging and then, the practised fluid motion of a back handed fist a came at his sternum. Xi held himself steady waiting...Waiting...There! Xi brought his left arm down behind the blow striking the hard bone of his radius against the weak top joint of Razkar's hand. To dampen the impact on his sternum though Xi raised his feet onto the balls letting his toes just press using the entirety of his legs as a shock absorber letting his knees bend in time with the blow. The back of raz's hand struck the core of his chest like a battering ram on a castle door. Xi gritted his teeth and made sure to make his wrist attack work. His right arm free for the moment. He brought down on the blade knocking or at least hoping to knock Raz's gladius away and then using his current open positioning he'd shoot his right arm out like a piercing longbow arrow. Xi was going to go for a single strike at the same place Raz had aimed. twisting his chest in time with it to use the power of his shoulder and upper body behind the strike. Keeping his arm still though. "I have a strong feeling that this bout might end in your favour...You've already landed the first two blows..." Xi smirked and if his wrist attack worked he would have dislodged one gladius from Raz's hand. If it worked or not though Xi would then shoot out his fist via snapping his bicep to send his arm powering along Raz's arm. Masquerading a his target to look like it was Raz's jaw when in fact it as the point between his shoulder and his collar bone...Xi knew Raz would have enough skill to dodge one of these blows...Maybe even two but could he dodge all three?

[Razkar]

The human was everything Razkar feared and hoped he would be. Fast, disciplined and powerful, he saw through his opening gambit and was quick enough to jerk down an eblow, derailing Razkar's left to his kidney but still rattling his right arm. The Myrian grinned savagely, imagining the rattling agony shaking up the human's iron arm-

-and then Ximal was back on the offensive.

Razkar gritted his teeth as one gauntlet lashed down n the top of his hand, numbing a couple of fingers and sending tendrils of pain shooting down his arm. But the back of his hand still hammered onto Ximal's chest and as his right punched out at his gladius-

-Razkar snapped the blade away from that devastating fist, knowing the human would of course attempt to take away his weapons at some point, and he had no intention of losing either.

Ximal punched out over his left arm, height advantage clear as he twisted his body, hand launching toward's Razkar's chest-

-and Razkar did the same, twisting to his right so the hammerblow glanced against his chest, still raking across skin and rattling his sternum-

- but using the spin of his twist to thrust his left-hand gladius upwards and inwards, aiming a lightning thrust hard into the human's armpit-

Razkar grunted as he heard the words, spoken in a rush and through the haze of pain as his chest heaved from the impact of that glancing blow. Already Ximal was aiming another fish at him, his jaw, but it wouldn't matter, that fist became his whole world-

-and Razkar flung himself backwards, gladii raising up and snapping down inwards in an "X", knocking the gauntlet down-

-but all that did was deflect it into his chest, not his shoulder.

The impact rattled his ribs and organs and Razkar's teeth peeled back from his lips in a feral snarl, the sheer power of Ximal's blow throwing him back as much as his own legs. For a brief moment the air was slammed from him, armored fist making his ribs creak and strain and Razkar threw up his guard when he stopped backing up, desperate for some respite, some time to breath...

"Fighting... for freedom?" He managed to rasp, words of his own tongue coming far easier than Common as he gulped air back into his bruised lungs. "You sound like... a crusader, rather than a warrior. A noble mission..."

He circled the human, Ximal already with his guard up, wall of metal between him and the Myrian.

"A lonely road, too, by the sounds of it. No confederates... no allies... yourself against the world, hmm?" The ghost of a smile flitted across Razkar's face as his circling took him close to the wall of the pit. "But that speaks more of distrust than idealism, human. Placing no faith in anything but yourself. Those that follow such a path are often betrayed before, and vow never to be again-"

On that final world he exploded forwards, sliding to Ximal's right, and slashing low at Ximal's leg-

-then stopping mid-stroke, jerking upwards like before, knowing Ximal would be expecting it-

-withdrawing his left gladius entirely, body moving now to the right, far right-

-knees catapulting him upward and sideways, jumping against the wall-

-and kicking against it with his right leg, launching himself at Ximal's left side with more speed and force by using the wall as a springboard-

-right gladius thrusting at the human's clavicle, above the big man's gauntlets now he was in mid-air.

His left gladius hacked inward at Ximal's head n his right side, keeping at least some of his attention there-

-while his left leg jerked up, knee aiming to batter into the gauntlets raised in a guard right now, meaning that if the human moved to block his blades, he'd open his torso up to that flying knee-

Thus went the plan, anyway, and even as he exploded from the wall Razkar knew the towering human would not be so easily fooled, or defeated. More to the point, while athletic, Razkar was hardly an acrobat, and his balance would be shot when he landed, so close to those devastating metal hands, too.

But, if the human could read Myrian as well as speak it, he would have already deciphered the words tattooed onto his right shoulder in the runes of Falyndar, and thus understand the logic behind Razkar's explosion of movement.

Victory Requires Sacrifice

[Ximal]

Xi's chest strike had succeeded partially grating across his chest rather than landing a solid blow. However his strike on the myrian's wrist was strong and hardy, he could see the visible shake on how he held his gladius. Xi barely had time to react as the point of the gladius shot up barely skimming his armpit, the cold still just catching the skin. Xi let out a slow breath drinking another straight faster. The blow to the myrian's shoulder was blocked by the gladii, the cross block pulled his fist down. It seemed as if the myrian was not going to allow him to pull of any joint disablers. Still he'd landed with a hard momentum enough to see the myrian shake, sliding back and away on the sands trying to gain a respite. Xi could do with one as well his blades were vastly more dangerous than his fists that extra amount of movement was all he'd needed to turn into a force to be reckoned with. Xi caught the words flowing through Raz's teeth and harried breath. Half a compliment half a criticism. Xi sighed lightly letting the myrian circle him and Xi himself following him with his ears more than anything else. A lonely road ? It may have been. Xi caught the words of the myrian saying that it spoke more of distrust than idealism, placing no faith in anything but himself. Those betrayed often found that path. Xi couldn't help but smile. Xi watched Raz spring forth like a crossbow bolt, snapping to his right...Distraction tactics his footing wasn't solid enough for a strike like that. Xi shifted his defence to the opposite side shifting his eight on a rear slid right leg. Xi's prediction was right the grounding wasn't solid and it was a distraction technique. He watched Raz leap up and use the wall to spring load himself off of it and towards Xi himself. Now this was going to be difficult like trying to stop a boulder with a twig. Right gladius aiming for either his neck or clavicle his left gladius attacking at his head from the same side. Fantastic. he was now in a bad position. Xi made a snap decision Lifting his right arm up, using the broad side of his forearm to take the brunt of both galdii, he brought his left arm up and used the palm of that hand to the force of his left arm to take the impact of both gladius. It was only then after blocking both Xi spotted the knee coming at him like a rocket. Petch! Xi brought the hard point of his elbow down and no his knee was flying too fast with too much force if he blocked that like he was planning to he was going to have a dislocated if not broken shoulder. Xi instead stepped into the blow and rammed his elbow into the knee. Using his won momentum to counter the strike and rob it of his power. However the moment his elbow connected with Raz's knee his shoulder screamed out in pain...then he remembered the head-butt from yesterday and it burnt like firexi gritted his teeth and stepped back to catch his now falling torso. Xi thought it might be time however to bring out something he'd been saving. Xi fhifted his rear right foot sideways using it as a brace, hinging his arms around he brought his torso across, and his left leg up, turning his hips and using his torso's weight to balance himself add power to his kick AND suspend Raz in mid air for a touch longer he brought his left shin around in a brutal snapping kick aimed a Raz's own shin. However Xi's steel hard shins were also wrapped in steel from his steel coated boots/greaves. If this hit he'd send raz flying away. if not then Xi would let his own weigh carry him backward and roll over his right shoulder in the sand before standing again in a low crouch. Taking a slow steady breath he'd speak. "I never asked for the path of loneliness. If someone wishes to lend a hand to my cause I'm not going to be one too turn it down. But until that point. I have to fight alone so I cannot afford to have my skills lack. It's why I seek out foes with enough strength to push me to make me reach above my current goals, to push my power further. Up until now I've not found anyone whose pressed me this hard." Xi would rise slowly and reset his stance back to normal or so it would seem instead he'd shift His arms opening his palms up, and dropping his right hand lower, whilst holding a very similar stance. His shoulder was still screaming at him. "Your shoulder is right, Victory does require sacrifice... A very apt saying for a man who fights with as much aggression as you. You harness your anger to make sure you crush your foes with pure force. I do the opposite, I harness my anger to make my self calmer...And through that I see through attacks with greater ease." Xi now stepped towards Razkar...his shoulders lowered and loose looking, his entire stance more relaxed. His chest moving slowly whit a deep clam breath. "A noble crusade is never noble...Only from the angle people see it, look at the knights for example...And it's not that i distrust people that i walk the path of loneliness, is through people lacking the skill to keep up. A problem I can see not occurring with you. Were it not for the fact of you bring a myrian I would ask you to teach at my school...But I can't the son of the old god of war resides in nyka...And it is a city that kills myrians on sight. Still...Your right if I could find a god who could believe in my skill perhaps i might even seek to follow them in some light. So long as they remember my quest is what i follow first and foremost." Xi would now walk around to the side of his opponent and enact a plan of his. Attacking from Razkar's right flank with a blatant feint, or so it would seem the same one he used the other day the over-obvious over arm strike from his right. His left would then snap out n masking however this time that was the feint, Xi's left foot forwards from the gap closure, Xi's then over obvious right would fade and melt from existence falling back to his chest instead coming out as a solid wrist strike from his right wrist, his left fist would melt and fold into a flat karate slice aiming for the joint of Razkar's elbow. Xi would then rake his forearm across the underside of the myrian's forearm and use his heavier body weight to press forwards, using Xi's right firearm as a fulcrum to propel his body weight through his elbow to strike at Razkar's left.

[Razkar]

As he expected, Razkar did not touch the sand again without some form of injury. His leg groaned and he swore he heard it crack as Ximal's shin whirled from the side and slammed into his shin, knee on that leg already hissing with pain from the armored elbow the human had hammered into it.

Not that he let Ximal have it all his own way, of course. Seeing the massive shin rear towards him the Myrian reversed his grip on his right gladius and slashed downwards, planting it between himself and the human's rampaging limb, dulling the greaves-assisted kick.

But Razkar was still sent flying to his side, rolling twice before he found his balance again, coming up to a knee, then his feet... both blades held steady, but his lower body howling at him.

Especially his leg. He gritted sharp teeth at the agony as his bones creaked and muscles seized, sheer will forcing him to do his bidding now, but he would not allow himself to... no...

A dark and unfamiliar thought crossed Razkar's mind, and contrary to expectations about the nature of his race, he allowed a small but pronounced limp to enter his gait as the two warriors circled.

Let him see. Let him assume, either that I truly am injured or I am bluffing. Either way, he will not know for sure...

The Myrian snorted softly at the half-insult Ximal hurled back at him about "seeing attacks", though he thought that was largely just ego talking. Only a fool could miss someone looking like Razkar swinging steel at you; what Ximal possessed was training and speed... and armored hands. Without them and the latter especially, Razkar knew the fight would already be over.

Then more rambling, more philosophy, and then some kind of-

Razkar stalled, stopped rigid at the mention of the Bastard of Ruros. Uphis hardly had an impressive reputation in Falyndar. Alternately feared, despised and jeered at for being, essentially, the exiled son of a vanquished and forgotten deity, his head was still coveted by many a clan. But despite his bastard ancestry, it was still whispered that he was the most formidable bladesman in the world, and he ruled over a dark city of evil cathedrals...

And now, Razkar had the name of it. Nykas.

Hunger, deep and steeped in blood, entered the Myrian's eyes, and he knew Ximal would see it there. He just sneered at the talk of being killed for entering somewhere; people had been trying that for a while now, and he'd used their skin as clothing. But before he could question further the human jerked forwards, Razkar snapping his head back into the game-

-and not a moment too soon.

A broad, heaving right arm that he largely discounted as a feint, towering figure blocking the sun as he charged from Razkar's right. His let slashed forward but it was like a handful of dust tossed to blind a man, masking and deceiving-

-as Ximal's right snapped back to position at his chest-

-and Razkar slid to his left, Ximal's right, thrusting horizontally at Ximal's liver with his left gladius, a straight stab-

Only it wasn't.

-halfway there he would bend his elbow down and bring the bone-hard (literally) hilt of the gladius hard against the exposed right thigh of Ximal, now within range since the human had closed the gap-

-but there was a blur to his right, gleaming hand catching the sun as it chopped for his right arm, his elbow-

Razkar reacted fast, unwilling to have his arm injured (or, possibly, even broken by that massive hand), jerking his arm up and back and exposing his chest, yelping as the chop missing his arm but chopping onto his pectoral-

-roaring out his pain as he bought the gladius down in a short vertical art, aiming for the bicep of Ximal's extended left arm-

But still, yet more! It was like fighting one of the ancient lizards of legends, who grew back limbs whenever one was dealt with. All of Ximal seemed to be moving, impervious to pain, armored and hardened and fast and accurate. The big human's right arm snapped out and Razkar jerked up his left, grinding his teeth until they cracked, both arms hammering into one another but Razkar's bruising and crushed by the armored gauntlet-

-only for Ximal to surge forwards, forearm staying where it was but his elbow swinging from around it, arm bending to get around Razkar's block and swing his armored elbow at the Myrian's face.

Razkar growled lowly, outfoxed again, and did what he usually did when the wolves had him hemmed in.

Tried to skin them.

Instead of trying to bob or weave away from the attack, he lurched forwards, risking an elbow to the side of his head-

-but hammering his forehead forwards, just like the previous day, inked and almost-shaven head with the Eye of Myri etched onto it rocketing towards Ximal's face, a move he probably was not expecting-

-right arm hammering from the side to strike at Ximal's kidney with his gladius, but before the human's armored left could parry or block it-

-he redirected it lower, aiming to hammer it into the side of Ximal's left knee.

A whirl of motion and clashing limbs, rolled dice and heavy bets paid for with blood and bruises, broken bones and damaged egos. But now, with the words of Ximal in his ear, Razkar was galvanized, and for a brief instant imagined the shaven-skulled Bastard of Ruros before him.

And didn't that just take the sting out of everything?

[Ximal]

Xi's onslaught had come at Razkar like a hurricane of power making sure to hit him as hard and fast ass he could. His bout with him yesterday had told Xi that the myrian had almost inhuman levels of endurance, his strength was something to be both feared and respected along side the insanity that was his aggression he hit like a isurian sledge hammer. Xi saw his attacks flowing through is a circumvented and serious force behind them all landing and all forcing him to alter his assault pattern. However not all of Xi's attacks had hit their mark as usual. Raz was very adept at forcing attacks off target or minimizing their damage potential. Xi wanted to strike out and assault Razkar further but instead Raz was close enough to assault using his won weapons brutally. However his opening gambit as something Xi had seen him use yesterday but this time Xi could block it with nothing but. Xi gritted his teeth and brought his forehead forward colliding his head with Raz's. Then came the next strike one from Raz at his side Xi couldn't move his arms in time. even though he wanted to block it, but no Raz brought the strike down to his knee. Xi slid his leg back at the last moment letting the blade slide down. And Xi caught the grin and glare of Razkar. The smile echoing out what he was thinking. He could see the blood lust in Razkar's eyes. Xi was here in his zone, but those eyes told him Raz was willing to do something reckless. Xi used the leg he'd pulled back to charge forwards his knee now powering up at Razkar's torso. Xi at that moment couldn't say anything he could barely concentrate. He was focused on those eyes and wondering what kind of chaos was going to be unleashed...

OOCSorry man i can't really do much :/

[Razkar]

Hell's shit, what was this bastard cast from?!

That thought flashed through Razkar's head, but only after the ringing stopped as Myrian forehead met human forehead with an almighty crack. Razkar reeled back as his vision blanked out for a frantic, frightening second, nothing but swimming shadows before his eyes and the hint, the rumor of Ximal. But the ferocity, the screaming roar of battle was flooding through him now, pain mere intensifying it, giving it value and clarity...

Razkar's vision snapped to and that grin was still there, even as blood trickled down his forehead-

-and he saw Ximal's eyes... saw a flicker of uncertainty... not fear. He was not sure the emotion would even register with this human, at least not in a fighting pit. But it was a crack in his armor; some imperfection in the diamond-hard front the human put on, all at the sight of seeing Razkar reveling in what he was born to be.

But that didn't stop him fighting, and a leg like a tree trunk jerked up, knee powering towards Razkar's chest. His eyes snapped to it, and-

-he didn't move, just jerked back his arms as that knee drove up and up like a wrecking ball-

Wait... now!

The knee hammered into his torso and nearly lifted him off his feet, but his hands were already moving-

-and with a roar of pain and victory it he jerked his gladii inwards, smashing his fists grasping the hilts onto either side of Ximal's leg as it raised up and buried in his chest, crashing into his knee from both sides-

Finish it! Some voice screeched inside his head, roaring and raising like a demon from the sea of pain raging from his battered ribcage. Do not waste this advantage!

The instant his fists hit home Razkar exploded them outwards, gladius in his left and right hands shooting outwards, clanging against each of Ximal's gauntlets as he tried to knock them outwards, away from Ximal's chest, leaving his broad torso open-

-then straighening his arms as he lunged forward with one pace, hammering both gladii, fists and hilts and blunted blades all, into the middle of Ximal's chest in a two-handed blow. The giant human may have struck at his left and right with his fists but by the time he would Razkar would already be throwing himself backwards, away from those sweeping arms-

-as a twinge of pain ripped through his leg and, tellingly, up his chest and stomach, every nerve seeming to scream and tug at his soul, dragging down his adrenaline high.

Finish this now, the voice said again, but lower, sterner and more urgent, thy fire will soon be spent...

OOCQuality over quantity, mate.