Might vs Speed(Orgoth)

The weather in Av'Eden city was humid, the sky dark with clouds. A snow storm was blowing in from the north, clashing with the volcanic heat that rose up from the burning wastes. The clash would likely result in an explosive thunderstorm with plenty of rain. But the weather never stopped Korroth, who stood in the centre of the sparring ring in the Warlord's Keep. Around him were four of Roth's best warriors, elite members from the warlords own Legion. They starred down the heavily armored warrior in their midst, and he could smell the fear that began to eat at them slowly.

One of them let out a scream of rage and charged at Korroth, a heavy bladed axe in hand. Korroth hefted his own Bardiche, backstepped as the heanta swung wildly, and smashed the handle across the man's face. The force of the blow threw him sideways and off balance, and Korroth caught the back of his cuirass, dragging him around and throwing him bodily into the warrior who had rushed at Korroth's back, hoping to catch him distracted. A blade struck his armor from the left and deflected, and Korroth reacted with a backhand to the side that sent the female quick enough to catch him out reeling.

The last one tried to impale him with his spear. Korroth caught the weapon just below the spearhead and twisted it to the side, at the same time sweeping the bardiche low with enough force to sweep the legs from under the Heanta. As he fell foward, Korroth's foot came up in a powerful kick that connected with the male's face. His head whipped back with neckbreaking force and flipped the male onto his back. Three heanta got up from the sand, the fourth didn't move, though whether he was alive or dead didn't bother Korroth.

Korroth looked around the three who now stood against them. One of them backed away, but the first male to attack stood his ground, as did the female. Korroth was more annoyed by the male who tried to escape, and when the other two charged him, he smashed them out of the way with his bulk and swung his bardiche, catching the man across the side of the neck with the handle. The blade didn't connect, but it added plenty of weight to the strike and threw the male to the side.

An axe struck his arm, the blade sparking off his armor, and Korroth swung around, the bardiche rising in a sweeping arc that caught the heanta across the chest and cut him open. The heanta was thrown to the sand, leaving Korroth facing only the female, who dashed in and headbutted him full force in the face. Their horns and steel helms clashed, and he was forced back a step, but before she could strike again, he swung his bardiche around behind her, catching the end with his other hand. He started to crush her against his armor, and he could see the scream building up. But the woman refused to show her pain, and the sheer fury in her eyes caused his eyes to light up slightly behind the steelplate Bascinet.

Korroth released the crushing grip and let the woman go, then moved back towards the centre of the ring. Several slaves rushed in to carry off the wounded, and the woman limped out eying him warily. Korroth mostly ignored her, as he waited for another challenger.

The hooded man shook his head at the barbarism he was witnessing in the sparring ring a few feet below. Knightfall knew Korroth well, but that fact did not make it any easier to accept his way of doing things. In particular, the noble art of extinguishing life. The Heanta sitting in the grand chair beside him looked at him in amusement. "Something wrong?" The hooded man glanced at the Heanta, the Warlord of Kyrias, with a look of boredom mixed with disgust. "You know I find his methods really quite distasteful." The Warlord smirked at him. "I suppose you'd prefer the simplicity of a diplomat's office? Or a merchant's living room?" Knightfall returned the smirk. The Warlord spoke the truth after all. "You have to admit, it's much more civilized."

The fight was over almost as soon as it had begun. Korroth waited in the ring for more challengers, but none were readily available. Knightfall didn't blame them, to be fair. But they weren't Knightfall. The silver-haired Heanta assassin turned to the Warlord. "May I?" The Warlord nodded grinned at him. "At last, some real entertainment. But make sure you don't kill each other." Knightfall nodded in affirmation and turned to the sparring ring. He deftly vaulted the railing and scaled down to the ring floor below. He drew Destino and silently presented his challenge.

Korroth might have looked disappointed when no one else dared step into the ring, however one could never tell by looking at the heavily armored man. He began to leave, when there was a soft thud, and knightfall had entered the arena with his bastardsword in hand. The assassin presented a silent challenge. Korroth just stared in his direction silently for a moment before speaking. "Knightfall, I mistook you for a scared child just now. Then I remembered the warlord has a dwarf for a pet Assassin." Korroth glanced up to where the warlord sat. "I am allowed fight him?" The warlord nodded for him to proceed. Korroth looked back to Knightfall, as he threw his bardiche to a slave at the side of the ring. The slave caught it, almost falling backwards from the force of the impact, and Korroth stomped forward pulling his oversized longknife free from its scabbard.

With a roar, he charged across the packed sand and attempted to body Knightfall with all of his weight, in an attempt to smash him onto his ass. Hit or miss Korroth would follow it up with a pair of quick slashes from his blade, one across the gut and the other back up across the chest, following up the second slash with a heavy strike of his guantlet to the ribs. He figured if he wasn't using his bardiche, he could go all out on Knightfall without killing him. Besides, it was always good to work hone up on his skills with Wind Cleaver.

Knightfall declined to take the proffered bait from Korroth, waiting for his opponent to ask permission from the Warlord. Korroth discarded his bardiche, opting instead to use his long knife. Knightfall wasn't sure if Korroth was simply dimissing the threat Knightfall posed, or if it was a ploy. Deciding that he couldn't rule out anything, despite his doubts that Korroth possessed the tactical acumen to conceive of such a plan. Korroth let out a roar and charged at him, aiming to body check his opponent. Knightfall smiled, expecting no less from a brute like Korroth. He rolled to the side and turned just in time to deflect a pair of slashes aimed for his torso with Destino. They were followed by a punch, also aimed at his torso. Knightfall sidestepped and suddenly struck back with an upward slash, attempting to take the outstretched arm off at the elbow.

Leaping backwards to create some separation, Knightfall created a Shadow Clone, and together they charged Korroth. The clone went high, aiming for Korroth's neck while Knightfall slid low, attempting to find a gap in the armor with a low slash. On the other side, Knightfall had his Clone stand inside him, appearing for a second to be one person, before attempting another attack, this time the clone went low and tried to stab Korroth in the jewels, while Knightfall went high, leaping into the air and attempting to inflict some damage by bringing as powerful a swing as he could down on the gap between Korroth's helmet and his right pauldron. Hit or miss, Knightfall would back-flip out of reach and prepare for the next salvo.

As knightfall dodged, he struck back and tried to cut Korroth's arm off. A laughable attempt, even with a divinium blade, considering korroth's heavy armor. However to be safe he moved his arm down towards the crossguard, in both an attempt to take the blade, but also to neutralize the swing as much as possible as it connected to the plates of his gauntlets. Knightfall backed off quickly before Korroth could counter attack, and the assassin created a double before charging in. Cowardly tricks, Korroth thought, as one went high and the other went low. Korroth raised his longknife, to block the high attack, and at the same time threw his leg forward in a powerful kick in an attempt to crush knightfall to the ground. However the man was to fast, and slid past him, but the blade bounced off Korroth's shin armor, deflected, and slapped harmless across his midrift. Korroth spun to follow the Assassin's next attacks.

Knightfall stepped into his clone and both charged back, but Korroth merly stood there as the assassin went high and low. Korroth activated his brutal defense ability, and energy surrounded his armor in a thin layer. The clone's blade passed through him harmlessly, and Knightfall's own attack was revealed as he struck Korroth's armor between the neck and shoulder, and the blade bounced off and repelled away from him. Korroth seen his opening, and tried to slam his fist into knightfalls gut with a blow that would send the airborne assassin sprawling.

Hit or miss, Korroth closed the distance between himself and knightfall before the warrior could retreat or attack again and brought his longknife down in a heavy slash. He followed it up with an upper cut and tried for another kick. Again, he closed any distance following that and attempted to grab knightfall by the throat. If he did, the temptation to crush his windpipe would be strong, but instead he would simply swing around and launch the assassin bodily at the wall. He knew he wasn't allowed kill him, however the warlord never said anything about not inflicting severe bodily harm on the assassin.

Knightfall was rebuffed by Korroth's Brutal Defense ability, and the force almost resulted in him getting planted with a body shot. He got his sword in front of him and braced it with two hands. The punch sent him into an involuntary back-flip. When he landed his back-flip he found himself having to deal with another Korroth charge. Knightfall sheathed Destino and drew his twin knives, Malady's Kiss. The assassin sidestepped right to avoid the downward slash, followed by left to avoid the uppercut that came after. When Korroth attempted a kick, Knightfall sidestepped one more time, and attempted to drive one of his knives through the sole of the big man's boot.

Withdrawing his blade quickly, Knightfall flipped backwards and saw Korroth trundle towards him, attempting to grab him by the throat. Knightfall channeled energy to his hands, enveloping them in shadow energy. He waited until Korroth was inches from grabbing him and fired an Average-strength blast into the man's face, leaping backwards at the same time. Knightfall would then barrage Korroth with five Very Weak blasts of darkness energy, then he would wait for the retort.

Korroth slammed his foot down before Knightfall could stab him in the foot, and as the Assassin tried to blast him in the face with a blast of darkness he moved his head and raised his blade, taking the brunt of the blast on his armor and weapon. Minor damage. Knightfall continued his anslaught with a barrage of more attacks, Korroth blocked some with his blade and the rest hit his armor with a slight ding. Negligible damage. Korroth let out a roar and a blast of energy of his own at knightfall in a cone attack 15ft long and expanding to 10ft at its widest. The blast would also weaken knightfall's strength if it hit, for 2 posts.

While knightfall was distracted Korroth turned and raised his hand. "Bardiche!" The slave holding his bardiche tossed it and he caught it with one hand, sheathing his Longknife with the other. Charging towards Knightfall he swung the weapon in a sweep, attempting to smash the cresent blade into the Assassin's ribs. He knew the man would attempt to dodge, and spun the weapon, trying to bring the heavy counter balance down on knightfall after his dodge.

Knightfall missed with his attempt to stab Korroth in the foot, with the big man slamming his foot to the ground mid-kick. Korroth then absorbed the first blast with a combination of weapon and armor, then dealt with the barrage that followed in the same manner. Korroth showed no signs of damage, as Knightfall expected. Korroth then replied with a roar that brought with it a blast of energy. Operating on pure instinct, Knightfall activated his Shadow Barrier, absorbing the energy from the blast. However, the force of the attack still sent him sliding backwards on the sand.

That momentary setback allowed Korroth to retrieve his bardiche from the subordinate he had left it with. Knightfall was not overly concerned. Though the bardiche was a fearsome weapon, its size meant that its attacks were slightly slower than the long knife, though Knightfall knew he must not get complacent. Knightfall created another Shadow Clone, concealing it inside his own body until Korroth reached him and attempted a sweep with his weapon. Knightfall and the clone both ducked the attack, then the two split either side of the downward attack with the pommel of the weapon. Knightfall's clone tried to draw Korroth's eye with an attempted stab, aiming for under the arm of the big man, while Knightfall himself then fired an Average-strength blast at Korroth's legs, aiming to try and stagger the big man.

If the ploy worked and Korroth was staggered, Knightfall would then leap on to Korroth's back and try and stab him in the neck. If the ploy failed, Knightfall would instead roll to the side, peppering Korroth's legs with another volley of small projectiles.

Korroth let out a grunt of annoyance as the assassin again tried to confuse him with his tricks. As knightfall split either side of him, he spun quickly, swinging his bardiche in a horizantal arc, and used its momentum to carry him around. The swing passed through the shadow first, and would fallow around to strike Knightfall even as his own attack hit Korroth's legs. He took a step back and pretended to be staggered and unbalanced by the wild swing. Knightfall moved and attempted to jump on his back, and Korroth retaliated with a backwards elbow that would hopefully strike the assassin in the chest and throw him to the ground. Hit or miss, At that point Korroth would bring his massive bardiche up and over in a crushing vertical swing. The weapon was surrounded by magical energy. If it struck it would deal average damage, however even if knightfall did dodge, if he wasn't fast enough getting out of the way and the weapon struck the ground he would be caught in a 10ft blast, dealing weak damage.

There was movement in the stands above them as Korroth recovered from the over extended strike, and the warlord had stepped up to the railing, as if he could sense the killing intent of both combatants clearly. He knew this could turn ugly in a second, and the two would end up killing each other if they weren't watched. Korroth did not meet his piercing gaze as he examined knightfall for a moment longer, and then he struck again, rushing in to meet the assassin with his badiche swinging. As he did he began forcing magic into his muscles. A cry of rage and his strength soared (+1). As his bardiche cut a low horizantal slash for Knightfall's legs, he let go of it with one hand, and drew his longknife in a rapid slash, aiming it across knighfall's chest in a surprise attack. Or as much of a surprise as his mighty size allowed for. The sudden strike had a trade off however, as his bardiche swung wild and unbalanced him slightly as he tried with one hand to slow its momentum.

Knightfall's attack paid off initially, with his darkness blast connecting flush with the legs of his foe. However, the attack didn't quite have the desired effect. Korroth merely stepped back a foot or two, while Knightfall was forced to take evasive action to avoid the attack that wiped out his clone. He vaulted over the swing, and Korroth appeared to lose his balance slightly from the force of the swing. Knightfall used this chance to perform his mount attempt, only to receive a stiff elbow to the chest, knocking him off. Knightfall recovered quickly by rolling, rising just in time to see Korroth's downward strike.

Knightfall rolled to the side, but the blast that occurred when the bardiche connected with the sand-covered floor of the arena caught the assassin and sent him tumbling across the deck. He rose gingerly and dusted himself off, his eye being drawn by the sudden movement in the stands. The Warlord was now standing, with a look of mild concern on his face. Knightfall smirked slightly, knowing all too well the reason for the Heanta leader's apprehension. His two main weapons were coming close to tearing each other apart, and the Warlord was worried he would lose some security in that case.

Knightfall's gaze returned to Korroth as the big man charged at him, bardiche swinging with brute force. Knightfall vaulted over the swing but had to react quickly to block the surprise knife attack with his own blades. He was knocked back, but he saw the opening he was waiting for when Korroth struggled to stop the momentum of the heavy bardiche. Knightfall used the energy remaining in his hands to fire another Average-strength blast at the man's chest. In the next half-second, Knightfall used his Shadow Step to appear at Korroth's left leg, attempting to gash him across the back of the knee. He stepped out of range, before stepping back in to attempt the same on his right leg. He rolled out of range again, preparing for what would come next.

Knightfall hit Korroth with a blast of dark energy and staggered him further as he recovered. The sneak thief took further advantage, going for the back of Korroth's knee with his knife, precise enough to find an opening in the armor. Korroth was fortunate to avoid a sliced tendon but his knee buckled, resulting in a howl of pure rage. As knightfall went for the other knee Korroth spun his mass around, swinging his bardiche up from the ground in a strike aimed to cut the bastard in half.

The strike never found its mark, as the warlord decided it was time to put a stop to it. Korroth hadn't seen the man enter the ring, and despite his strength the warlord had casually caught the blade of the weapon with his hand. He placed a hand on Knightfall's shoulder. "I think its time to stop this. I can't afford to have you two tear each other appart." He said. Korroth pushed himself up onto his wounded leg, red eyes glaring at knightfall, growling. "I mean it Korroth. Besides, I have a mission for both of you." Roth said as he released Korroth's weapon. Korroth stepped back, slid his Long Knife into its sheath and glared at knightfall.

"Don't look so sulky Korroth, you get to kill things." The warlord said. "Saivene will fill you both in. And I mean both of you. You'll have to get along as best you can until your finished." Roth said. Then he turned away. "Your both dismissed. Go prepare for your mission."

Knightfall connected with the energy blast, which allowed him to get behind his target and connect with the gash to the knee, though Korroth's armor meant that he didn't get as much of the slash as he would have liked. Still, it buckled the big man enough that he became extremely angry. Knightfall allowed himself a small smile, but he soon realized that he had gotten careless. He had made the breakthrough and injured Korroth, but in doing so he had miscalculated and left himself open.

Knightfall saw the bardiche coming up as Korroth spun and used his momentum to try and cut him down where he stood. Knightfall inwardly cursed his sloppiness and prepared to react, but it was not to be. The Warlord was suddenly between them, and he had caught Korroth's blade. He stated that he didn't want them to kill each other, and so had called an end to the fight. Knightfall cleaned the blood from his knife and sheathed both of them. He gazed coldly at the Warlord and Korroth, before giving a curt nod and leaving the arena.