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

[Ximal]

Xi's head at slammed into Razkar's And he felt something trickle down his forehead. He'd drawn blood? Xi's eyes then became hard and cold. Blocking out everything as his eye's slipped into that vision and now glared into Razkar's. Then myrian's blood lust filled ones met Xi's ones like a blazing forest fire meeting a frozen tundra. Xi felt his knee thrum into Razkar's core the force behind it powerful. Xi now changed into what he was in sunberth. The man from his past slipping out. A cold hardened killer doing everything he could to survive. Xi smiled as watched as Raz roared in pain. Xi watched Raz try to bring his gladi in and smash his knee with the hilts of his gladius. Xi dropped his knee out of the firing range allowing Raz to let his hands slam together. However that wasn't the end of his assault. His hands then snapped outward towards Xi's chest. Xi moved his arms back and instead of blocking like he usually would Xi blocked by doing something that he knew would hurt Raz much more than himself. Xi brought his hands out in a double fist motion aiming to punch Raz's fists as he tried to punch his chest. One punch missed however and headed straight for Raz's shoulder instead. Xi felt one bladed fist collide with his chest and in a reactionary action he moved his face away from the blade. Xi felt the blow hit all the adrenaline now flowing though his system burning like fire and numbing the pain of the blow. Xi lifted his leg and slammed it down now leering at Razkar and remembering a line that Gregor had once told him. "Djas vasat." Xi laughed and in the flash of an instant and two steps he closed the gap, his eyes cold and hard, a veneer of ice and sapphire walling over him. Xi brought his right hand in from blow turning his body around and making a sharp fast but slightly exaggerated upper cut, this one looking completely from how he was throwing it like a feint whilst being infact a fully powered blow. Aimed directly at Raz's chest where his knee had connected. If or not that worked Xi would then roll back over and shift his power along his shoulders twisting along his abdomen muscles and bringing his left hand over and sharply at Raz's collarbone. The words still resonating in his mind, empowering himself.

[Razkar]

Seems like he has some fight to him yet...

Razkar didn't know why he was even bothering with the "seems" and "yet". After the beating he took yesterday, the Myrian had known that even disadvantaged by fighting Razkar at his best, the human would not go down easily... and perhaps not at all. He was quick and bruising even in a stalemate, and Razkar's hands stung from the missed blows and mailed punch the human had leveled against him.

Now Ximal came on again, some foreign language barked out and almost acting like an incantation to Razkar's ears, barbaric though it was. The effect was... empowering, though. Ximal's eyes flashed and he surged forward like a man launching himself back from the edge of a cliff, two steps covered in a heartbeat and right arm hammering upwards in an uppercut.

Razkar slid smoothly away from the human, feint or not, putting a few feet between them as Ximal's left hand snapped out towards his collarbone. Razkar's dark eyes narrowed, sweat pouring down his face now, gnosis beating against the back of his neck like his own heartbeat.

Ximal's movements did not slow, Razkar knew that much. But his perception of them did, as did his own movements in response... and Razkar thanked Myri anew for her gift.

The Myrian swayed and stepped to his right, Ximal's blow on course to sail by his left, Razkar now on Ximal's left side-

-right hand gladius swinging upwards in a sharp half-circle, aiming at the back of Ximal's elbow as it stabbed past him-

-left gladius thrusting out towards the big man's stomach, moving with the momentum of his own body to lend it extra speed and power. He felt like a runner who had powered through his own limits, the pain of Ximal's blows now dulled by adrenaline, endorphin's, his pulsing gnosis and the sheer joy that only a truly challenging fight could bring him.

But while pain could be dulled, its effects were still the same, in the end, and some cogent, rational part of Razkar's mind knew that soon the battering, bruising punches, the bruised ribs and muscles and sore, stiff joints would take their toll.

So he kept his distance from Ximal and struck out at his arms and stomach, using his gladii to keep the human back. Not the most striking or noble strategy devised, but...

If nothing else will suffice, bleed the bastard to death. Sap his strength, wear him down, outlast him, kill him by a thousand separate drams of pain.

[Ximal]

XI was...to say the least not surprised when raz put distance between himself and Xi...Everyone regardless of how strong they were in a fight eventually distanced themselves from the opponent. However Xi was a little surprised by the fact that Raz had done so. Was he planning something and if he was what was it? If he wasn't did he put some space between them because he was scared ? Xi pondered these things as the small drops of blood ran down his forehead lightly and down the side of his nose...Xi drew a slow breath as his arm flashed into nothingness from Raz's retreat. His left though was still on course. Xi then watched the myrian sway adn...Had he just sped up or gotten better himself? from the way he dodged the punch of Xi's left hand he seemed asif he held more strength...But that wasn't what Xi was focusing on doing. No instead his left arm came pulling back to block the gladius on his left forearm bracer and his right hand mow near his chest came powering across and out to strike at Raz's forearm as he tried to stab him in his stomach. Xi's breaths drew shorter as the adrenaline now reached the point where it was at maximum...Xi's eyes grew colder and sharper...Xi jerked his arms out in a pushing motion, then motioned his arms from his shoulders to pull inwards. Then exploded his arms out from his elbows focusing a solid blast at Razkar's chest. Driving both hands palms flat at Razkar's core, one aiming at his already battered sternum the other at his liver. As he did his left leg slid back further and his centre of gravity lowered tremendously. "I suppose I better thank myri for such a strong opponent..." His voice hard an sharp like the edge of Raz's personal gladi. But with a very strong tone of respect for the myrian. even as his eyes, now began to melt that icy veneer with a seeming fire in them, one which was not blood-lust, but solid unflinching determination. The critical point of all...Burning Gold.

[Razkar]

Move and counter-move. Slash and parry. Thrust and feint. Blow after blow that rose and fell and slashed and stabbed but for what seemed like so little... until the first breath after, and the pain struck them.

Some part of Razkar, outside from all this, watching from above, knew that there was a fierce pride at work in this spar. Not merely hitting your enemy, but denying him any blows of his own. Blocking his attacks or vanishing from his path, proving in some subconscious way that his technique was stronger, more vital, more... victorious.

The Myrian flashed a grin as his own slashes were defeated again by those armored gauntlets, gladii finding metal instead of hard flesh, but then Ximal's arms jerked back and Razkar's did likewise, gladii held ready-

-as he saw Ximal's shoulders bunch, his arms ready to explode outwards.

Razkar's eyes sparkled. He saw the move now... because he'd attempted it himself mere moments before. Had it been moments... or bells? The rational part of his mind guessed their whole spar could be measured in a handful of chimes... but Goddess, it seemed so much longer, like those ancient tales of enemies and worth adversaries doomed and blessed to battle for eternity.

And all the better for it.

Ximal's arms exploded outwards towards Razkar's chest, palms open but encased in metal, aiming to crush his ribs and pulp his liver-

-but Razkar was already sliding to his right, Ximal's left, unwilling to get in the way of those fists. Hateful as the thought was, he knew that he was in no shape to try and soak up any more blows from those indomitable fists, and he had to avoid them-

-torso jerking away from their path, hands moving under them-

-as he slide to Ximal's left and backhanded at Ximal's left gauntlet with his left gladius, knocking it away so it couldn't be used t block-

-his right gladius as he made a short, horizontal slash at Ximal's neck, remembering at the last instant to do so with the flat of the blade, dull as it was.

Aim to high and he'll duck. Aim to low all you'll do is ding his shoulder. But keep moving!

And he did, left leg kicking up sharply between the human's legs as he moved, gladii flashing and sweat from both of them showering and marring the sand. Both would not waver, eyes wide and almost rabid from the... stalemate. That was this was near becoming.

Razkar remembered something, a saying from his lessons... or was it his travels? Either one, it rattled in his mind now: "an unstoppable force and an immovable object". Something about what happened when they met.

"I suppose I better thank Myri for such a strong opponent..."

Something like this.

The Myrian grinned at the thought and the words.

"Without them, we would never know our true measure."

[Ximal]

Dammit, Raz was good...Really good. Xi took a deep breath and knew that he was going to be missing the strike on Raz and could feel the lactic acid starting to build up in his muscles...He'd gone at full pelt for a while now. His full muster at his beck and call, including all his mental faculties. When Raz's gladius knocked his left hand away and Raz brought the flat of his right one to try to cut at Xi's neck. Xi leant back and let the blade slide past before looking down to see Raz's leg coming up at him. Instead of blocking with his shoulder as he normally would Xi brought his fist down short, sharp and hard. Hoping to hit Raz's tight and fully stop the rest of this motion. Though that was both an attack and a smoke screen. Behind it Xi brought in his left fist punching straight up at the blade that had just passed by his throat and hoping to have the whole of his fist collide and knock the blade from Raz's grip with the punch. Then he heard Raz comment on what he'd said...never know our true measure. "True..." Xi's voice and breathing was controlled he wasn't going to let Raz know that he was tiring, through how he was breathing or speaking. "But strong and equal foes are few and very far between...Y'know...It's only been ten chimes...Yet it feels like bells have passed."

[Razkar]

The human was like a machine. With any other opponent, Razkar would know - not think, know - that magecraft and sorcery was holding him up, keeping his blows sharp and his reflexes sharper. But with Ximal, it the grudging realization that he really was that good.

To be fighting someone skilled enough to match blades with fists, armored or not... it was an honor.

His gladius went wide as Ximal jerked back, left fist powering down towards his thigh. Razkar jerked it back, getting only a glancing blow, metal hand tearing a strip of flesh from his bare thigh. Blood glistened on the metal hand but the Myrian kept moving, using the force of it to send him half-turning to his left-

-letting his body step backward with the momentum, gladii pulled back from the human and the left fist that slashed upwards, aiming for his right gladius-

-metal clanging hard n metal, trembles shaking his fingers and threatening his grip-

-but it was far from the blow Ximal had intended, and the Myrian kept hold.

"True... But strong and equal foes are few and very far between...Y'know...It's only been ten chimes...Yet it feels like bells have passed."

Razkar's eyes twinkled as he sensed the hidden fatigue behind the words. The human breathed steadily but his exhalations... shaking. Only a little, but it was like the tiny symptom of a deadly disease, proving to him his opponent wasn't inexhaustible, was weakening.

Yes? And what of yourself?

His left side vibrated softly with pain as he planted his foot back down, guard up as they broke apart for a moment, long enough for words in Myrian to be muttered across the space between them, Razkar's own words almost becoming slurred with his own exhaustion.

"I was thinking the same thing. The Goddess-Queen's reward, methinks. She makes the best and rarest swell to consume the chimes... that they may be remembered. And learned from-"

He was moving before the last word had fully hit the breeze, gnosis and adrenaline and sheer pride spurring him onward. Razkar had already taken one beating from this human, fallen in this very Pit with his jaw damn-near broken. He would not fail again.

The Myrian came in low with his right gladius, a sideways chop to Ximal's knee that came with power and force, a convincing blow-

-that jerked upward before contact, a feint that sought to draw Ximal's left arm to block it, leaving his side open-

-where he'd aim to hammer the gladius into his upper left arm, hard enough t leave the limb numb.

His left gladius stabbed once, twice, three times, short, fast blows at Ximal's side, his stomach, his chest-

-all false and stopping before they reached their target, keeping the human's right arm guessing, occupied-

-until the Myrian burst forward on his left foot, turning his body sideways to present a smaller target, hand twisting so not the blade but the fist-wrapped hilt of the left gladius would slam towards Ximal's jaw instead.

Black tendrils danced at the corners of his eyes. A prelude of the exhaustion that was creeping up his body... but was being denied and denied by every inch of his soul.

[Ximal]

Xi controlled his breathing as best he could the time seeming to crawl, ticks became chimes, chimes became bells. And his body was urging him to let it stop. He'd rarely if almost never been pushed to this extent. Xi took a long slow breath that blue fire in his eyes still burning strongly as he watched Raz make his move and assess the situation whilst he spoke. Learned from...The two words that caught his attention, the battle yesterday had given Raz almost all the tools he needed to understand how Xi fought with his style, however Xi still had a few hidden bits and pieces. Xi took a slow breath and held it..This would be his last assault, and from how Raz was looking this would be his too. Xi shifted his stance the brief respite granted him gave him enough of a chance to shift his stance again. Xi had his arms in a balanced positioning but one geared for a simple technique. His right arm back and his left arm in front however bout of his fists were in line with his sternum one in front of the other. Xi allowed Raz to come in for his attacks, the low blow to his right the same feint Xi had seen a few times now still though he couldn't be fully sure of what was going to happen. However this one looked real...Xi shifted his leg to absorb the blow with the steel on his legs. The blow then changes Xi brought his left arm down to bock it only to be met with a feint...Bollocks! Xi moved his arm to block, however the blade shot up and xi in response swayed to the right hoping to increase the time and lift his arm up and block it in time...He did but still felt the impact of the gladius on his arm...The clang of steel and the contact of flesh...His arm rang out in pain but he knew he'd stopped something much worse. Then came the onslaught of stabs at his chest, all of which stopped before contact with his arm which he made small movements with in order to block. Now trying to conserve his energy as best as possible...Then the injured leg came forward watching the sudden motion of blood from the prior injury, the step signalled a large attack. The hilt of the gladius came around and Raz turned his body to the side presenting a smaller target for Xi to hit...he'd thought this strike through to the fine point. however he'd forgotten the one thing that turning to the side did...It opened up your back. Xi lifted his right arm and only just got there enough to diffuse most of the shot but still feel a impact from his bracing arm against his jaw enough to feel sparks of pain fly up to his ear. Now however Xi used Raz's blind spoke behind his arm and his back to bring his attack in. Xi followed through with the force of the blow to make it look like he was going down from the residual force of the hit but at he reached the end of his arm he'd jerk his hips and lift his right leg. The moment he did that be was bringing the full force of that kick to bear on Raz's shoulder blades. his arm which had blocked the blow to his face jerked out in a snapping motion to grab a hold of Raz's wrist to prevent a retreat. His left arm pressed against the gladuis to prevent a counter assault.

[Razkar]

Razkar grunted in satisfaction as both his blows landed, though perhaps not as heavily as he'd wished. Ximal as quick and his movements were still smooth, left arm absorbing the heavy blow from the gladius-

-but swaying back a little too late to avoid Razkar's fist to his jaw. Razkar felt that delicious vibration from a blow well struck, felt his knuckles mash and Ximal's flesh and bone jar under them. His head snapped back and the human reeled, Myrian smiling-

No... Too easy!

The shadow under them changed and out of his peripheral Razkar saw one one leg under the human, left leg staying put, right leg-

-coming up high behind him, Xmal swaying to his left to give himself leverage to-

-kick Razkar high in the back. With a curse the Myrian snapped back his left arm-

-but the human's right-hand gauntlet snapped out and wrapped around his wrist, holding him steady, pinning him while his leg jerked up.

Razkar's gnosis howled its anger and disappointment. Even his right was blocked, Ximal's left gauntlet grinding against his gladius, keeping it pinned.

Can't go back, can't dodge... attack!

With no other option left open to him, Razkar surged forwards, into Ximal's guard, closer to him, using the human's grip on his wrist to help pull him forwards towards the human-

-gritting his teeth, bracing himself for the pain soon to blossom all over his back and spine, though it would be mostly Ximal's thigh and knee that slapped across it now, not his armored lower leg-

He's standing on one leg, don't waste that!

-and with a snarl the Myrian bought his left knee upwards between the human's legs, one of them raised in a kick and the other supporting his weight, leaving him no way to avoid it-

-Razkar lowered his chin into his chest, preparing to ram his forehead and the top of his head into Ximal's throat and bruised jaw as he battered forwards, knowing that both of them would probably go down in a heap of bruised and tired flesh and muscle.

Last hurrah, he thought groggily, make it count.

[Ximal]

As Xi threw the kick he watched raz close into his space, the attack's power being neutralized mostly. Xi swore mentally and pulled his leg back together, bending his knee and aiming to throw the whole weight of his leg against Raz's back. Now he realized where his problem was. Raz had thrown a kick at hos planted le, Xi smirked and followed up his attack. Xi sprung off the ground Rotating his body and pulling on Raz's arm springing his weight up off of the ground to send his left leg searing towards Razkar's chest. Nullifying Raz's kick. His response to that however was to power at |Xi and head-butt his chin. There was no-way he could avoid that He had to take it. Xi tried to nullify most of the damage, by turning his body he took the brunt of his head by on his left shoulder. The attack would let the pair of them collapse on the ground...Xi couldn't catch himself on his feet from how his legs were positioned so he was going down regardless.

[Razkar]

For a moment, Razkar was sure his chest would be crushed between the two massive legs on either side of him. Ximal's right crashed into his back but mainly his thigh, the blow not nearly as unbalancing as the human intended.

His left, on the other hand...

Daring, but poorly-executed. Razkar was already moving towards the human, the target of his chest already small when the human risked much to hop upwards and bring his leg swinging up and across, diagonally, towards Razkar's chest.

The Myrian snarled, impressed with Ximal's tenacity but still unwilling to surrender his bout, chest screeching and groaning as Ximal's knee battered into it. But Ximal began to fall backwards, legs no longer on the ground, Razkar still on his feet, left jerking back down to anchor himself after he missed its blow, dragging the Myrian down with him-

-but Razkar finally freed his right gladius from its duel with Ximal's gauntlet, slashing it across himself and hammering it into Ximal's right upper arm to kill its grip on his wrist, and that time, if he had to draw blood to do it, fine-

-jerking his head upwards with a ferocious snap of his neck, aiming to hammer the top of his head into the human's jaw from its position in Ximal's shoulder-

-all the while backpedaling, trying to avoid being dragged down with the human as he fell backwards, kicks to Razkar's back and chest weakening him more but sacrificing his balance and footing as a result.

The Myrian had not make that mistake, and at the sight of the towering giant falling backwards he felt a fresh strength surge through starved veins. The moment Ximal's back hit the ground, he and his blades would be waiting...