Match of the Millennium

Description: The Podiebrads were promised a show, and thanks to Slayer and Baiken they got it. Whipped into a violent froth by freely-flowing spirits and wanton bloodshed, the increasingly unruly crowd in Hungary's Arena of Ravenous Delights is now presented with a clash between Darkstalkers after their own vicious hearts: Morrigan Aensland, Dreamvore; and Black Lotus, Bloody Catastrophe, two exceedingly dangerous predators hunting from opposing poles.

[LOTUS]
The Ravenous Arena is currently in a lull of sorts.

The Calm before the storm.

The cleanup crew is at work after the results of the most recent bout. Wine, women, and song are being enjoyed and produced up in the crowd as this goes on. This is mixed with casual chatter, laughter, shouts, and the occasional result of too much alcohol ending up all over the floor (or on the person in front of the drinker, hence the shouting).

The cleanup crew finishes their work and departs as the crowd mulls. Another few minutes pass, and suddenly the lights dim, and brighten again, raising the morale of the crowd who know what that means. This dimming and brightening occur a few more times as folks return to their seats hurrriedly and expectantly.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!" comes a voice over the well-hidden speakers "The time has arrived for the PINNICLE of tonights entertainment!" the crowd hollars and hoots their approval "Tonight, we have two VERY special combatants!

A spotlight appears over a..... dead corpse of a man. Suddenly, a slender female form, hidden in the small alcove beneath, EXPLODES through said corpse, sending blood and gore everywhere and appearing to have 'appeared from nowhere'. The act hides the small elevator just beneath designed for the fighters entry. The crowd roars in response to the blantent bloodshed as well as the awesomeness of the entrance!

With the spotlight no one her, the announcer calls "The Bloody Catastrophe, the Maven of Massacres, the Vixen of Viciousness, BLAAAAAAAAACK LOTUUUUUUUUUUUUUS!". The deranged knife fighter grins wickedly as she struts around the arena, clearly enjoying the spectacle of it all as she waits for her opponent......

[MORRIGAN]
Morrigan does not so much enter as she appears in the arena like a shadow dances in the light of a candle. Squards whoop and holler. Steins are thrown, sometimes, with reckless abandon. A corpse is turned into a chunky pureee by Lotus's entrance.

And Morrigan, self-professed Queen of Makai, mistress of the night, and various other lofty titles, steps out of the nothing and into the arena with a light tap-tap of her heeled boots as though she stepped off of the air onto the more solid arena floor. Her green eyes trace the stands, the crowd, the onlookers, and finally...

"Oh," Morrigan says. "Now I remember you. She stretches out, wings unfurling behind her. "You were hanging out with that bratty 'sister of mine, weren't you?" Morrigan sighs a deep sigh. "I suppose I can entertain you for a while. Let's get started then, shall we?"

[LOTUS]
Lotus' piercing gaze is levelled at Morrigan "Maybe, maybe not. The memory isn't too good sometimes.....". She mock stage-whispers "Too many blows to the head!".

With a flick, back out are her daggers "Oh! how wonderful of you to entertain me on vacation from your lofty place in the heavens!". Her tone is mocking as she prepares to fight!

[MORRIGAN]
Morrigan frowns. "Oh, I see. Of course." She steps toward Lotus, heels making a steady tap across the floor as she approaches Lotus, slowly stretching her arms around and threading her fingers through each other and raises her arms up over her head.

"What's the saying? Freedom lies in being bold?"

Morrigan raises one of her arms and her wings unravel like thread splitting at the ends. It moves like a living shadow, snaking down her shoulders and the length of her arm before shooting forward toward Lotus, twisting and winding around itself to form a solid spear of shadowy sustance that tries to pierce right into Lotus's middle.

COMBATSYS: Morrigan has started a fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Morrigan         0/-------/------=|

COMBATSYS: Lotus has joined the fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Morrigan         0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0            Lotus

COMBATSYS: Morrigan successfully hits Lotus with Breast Anguish.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
Morrigan         0/-------/---====|===----\-------\0            Lotus

[LOTUS]
In typical Lotus fashion, she more or less charges in, relying on her inhuman speed to save her.

This doesn't go as planned. She zigs and zags, but there are just too many as she closes in, and one by one a dodge leads into two hits! Within a matter of moments, she has been speared in several places.

She lets these injuries bleed freely, seeming to either not notice or not care aside from the wincing expression on her face as the injuries occur. Once in close enough, Lotus sends a quartet of rapid slashes at the tendons around Morrigans arms and shoulders to try to slow down her attack capabilities!

COMBATSYS: Morrigan dodges Lotus' Disabling Swipe.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
Morrigan         0/-------/--=====|====---\-------\0            Lotus

[MORRIGAN]
The spear-like blade seems to melt and retracts, snaking back toward Morrigan and curling back up her arm before slinking back to underneath she shoulders and flaring out into wings as though it were a pop-up tent.

When Lotus closes in, Morrigan bobs and weaves herself, keeping a step away from Lotus as she lashes and slashes. She dips in, goes high, goes low, goes left, goes right---always one step ahead of Lotus at the moment.

Suddenly, she kicks out, throwing her leg like a can-can girl and trying to catch the maniac on the chin. "So what draws you here, anyway? Big prize in mind?"

COMBATSYS: Lotus blocks Morrigan's Light Kick.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////       ]
Morrigan         0/-------/-======|=====--\-------\0            Lotus

[LOTUS]
The kick is stopped by Lotus' forearm, catching the impact with her wrist and forearm "Naw, just giggles".

She grins as she strikes out with a hard slash of one of her daggers, aiming for the chest area "The rush itself is MY reward. The payoff if i win is just icing on the cake!".

COMBATSYS: Morrigan dodges Lotus' Fierce Strike.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////      ]
Morrigan         0/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0            Lotus

[MORRIGAN]
"Ah, yes," Morrigan almost sounds bored with this response. "The giggles. Of course." When the slash comes in this time Morrigan leans back, back, bending unnaturally away from Lotus.

"Ah, so you're not, as they say, 'in it to win it.' Well!"

Morrigan suddenly snaps back like a rubber band, and heavily chest-bumps Lotus, trying to slam into the woman bust-first and knock her flat on her butt.

"I can respect that. I admit, I'm mostly...curious."

COMBATSYS: Morrigan successfully hits Lotus with Fierce Punch.
Grazing Hit
~~ Alluring Hit! ~~

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
Morrigan         1/-------/=======|=======\-------\1            Lotus

[LOTUS]
The chest-bump narrowly connects as Lotus attempts to step back from it. She goes backward, lands on her neck, rolls into a backward shoulder roll, and is back up pretty quick. Her neck doesn't look too good though where she landed. "Oh, i'm in it to win it! I just don't have my eye entirely focused on the prize!". Lotus abruptly LUNGES, aiming both knives for a pair of deep stabs into Morrigans midsection!

COMBATSYS: Morrigan blocks Lotus' Exsanguinate.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////          ]
Morrigan         1/------=/=======|=======\=------\1            Lotus

[MORRIGAN]
"Oooh. Slippery." Morrigan answers, tilting her head slightly as Lotus rolls away from her. "But good. It wouldn't do to have someone who isn't at least out for a LITTLE blood." Morrigan says this despite the painful irony that Lotus has, from the beginning, but attempting to shank her with a very sharp and very pointy set of knives.

And shank Morrigan she does as the knife sinks into the succubus's arm, her muscles tensing to as a bit of blood rises to the surface.

"Ah, there we go. Shall I try that now?"

The succubus's wings splay again and unravel again, this time rethreading themselves into a swarm of jagged, forked points like quills, which then slither behind her and try to punch into Lotus from a plethora of angles.

"I do see why you enjoy this. It's a good...stress relief, no?"

COMBATSYS: Morrigan successfully hits Lotus with Dark Quills.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
Morrigan         1/--=====/=======|=======\======-\1            Lotus

[LOTUS]
Lotus' expression becomes one of agonized glee as she is held in place with her knives in Morrigans arm. The sharp tips spear through her, in one side and out the other. Blood is everywhere as the crowd roars in approval!

Pushing forwards, driving the spikes further through her body without care, Lotus closes the distance just enough to claw and rake at Morrigan with the sharp metal filigree decorating her fingers "I CAN FEEEEEEEEL THE STRESS LEAVING MY BODY! HEEEEEEEEEHEEHEEHEE!".

COMBATSYS: Morrigan dodges Lotus' Vicious Rake.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
Morrigan         1/-======/=======|=======\======-\1            Lotus

[MORRIGAN]
The quills twist and pull out in a shower of red, each flipping to splash crimson before retracting and reweaving back into wings once again.

"Good, good!" Morrigan says, clapping just a little. But then there are claws! Morrigan pauses and seems to misstep, after which the claw rips through Morrigan!

Who seems to dissipate as though she were never there, separating into two shades of herself.

And then, suddenly, both Morrigans return, aiming to catch Lotus between them. One goes low, throwing a punch toward the middle. The other goes high, the two of them together unleashing a flurry of blows between the two as they dance in sync, moving in and out and around each other in a storm of strikes.

COMBATSYS: Lotus parries Morrigan's Darkness Illusion!

[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
Morrigan         0/-------/-======|=======\=======\1            Lotus

[LOTUS]
Once the spikes retract, Lotus knows.....

Something is likely coming. Her guess is Morrigan wants to finish things, and is just humoring her at present.....

She isn't wrong!

As Morrigan splits, Lotus proves how dangerous she still is even when injured heavily. Her supernatural speed and manueverability pay off this time, and like Morrigan earlier, she bends in an S-like shape, both initial strikes missing! There's a flash in her eye as her movements become a blur just as surely as Morrigans are to the crowd as she ducks, dodges, weaves, deflects, and evades every strike!

When they throw their final attack, she bats both hits aside with the flats of her daggers. Her arms become blurs as well as she sends a series of stabs with each arm respectively, attacking both images of Morrigan at the same time with a knife, before turning both on a single target should she reform!

COMBATSYS: Morrigan blocks Lotus' Slice and Dice EX.

[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
Morrigan         0/-------/=======|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2            Lotus

[MORRIGAN]
The two Morrigan's find resistance when they descend on their quarry. Lotus pulls out some of her much more typical craftiness with deft evasion, parries, and weaves, while the succubus seems increasingly agitated at the other woman's resistance. Finally she breaks off, trying to stay a step ahead of the slasher. When the two Morrigan's touch once more, they merge into one as though someone were laying tracing paper across a canvas.

This is just in time for Lotus to thrust her knife toward the queen of Makai, who intercepts it with her palm. The blade punches through her hand, but it stops here as the green-haired woman demonstrates deceptive strength keeping it at a distance---despite the blood seeping through the wound. Her mouth curls.

"Oh, I see why that overfilled blood balloon had such use for you." could Morrigan be referring to Jedah? She doesn't use the name, at least. Names, it would seem, have power.

"Maybe we can have more fun than I thought!"

Morrigan suddenly turns her hand, letting the knife rip right through the side so she can move in close to Lotus in an attempt to wrap her arms around the other woman and pull their bodies close together. Her breath is heavy and hot at this close, aiming to squeeze Lotus tight---

And then take to the air as though her wings were suddenly rocket boosters, launching the two up, up, and up before inverting into a spinning, upside-down piledriver!

COMBATSYS: Lotus dodges Morrigan's Vector Drain.

[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
Morrigan         0/-------/=======|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2            Lotus

[LOTUS]
For a moment, Lotus gives a confused look "Blood balloon?" she actually stops a moment to think before realizing who she means "OOOOOOOOH! HA! Good one....".

Unfortunately, this leaves her open to Morrigan to grab her! On the flipside, however, Lotus doesn't go quietly! In her struggles, she slips out of Morrigans arms, and kicks off her into a large airborn leap! She arcs in the air at the height of the jump, before raising her arms for the downward descent! She gives a loud "WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHEEHEEHEEHEE!" as she freefalls towards the Succubus, daggers poised to plunge into her with the force of gravity backing them!

COMBATSYS: Morrigan dodges Lotus' Catch the Prey.

[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
Morrigan         1/-------/=======|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2            Lotus

[MORRIGAN]
Morrigan shifts in mid-air and, with a beat of her wings, distances herself from Lotus and her dive. This all occurs while she's inverted, creating a spectacle for the onlookers as the two seem to dance through the air.

"Oh, you are slipper, aren't you." The comment sounds a bit more annoyed than excited about the prospect. With another beat of her wings she soars up above Lotus, slipping slightly past her dive...

And then Morrigan's wings unravel again, shimmering with energy, then wrap around the succubus's feet to form jagged blades as she drops downward to try and slam into Lotus and land on her in a two-heeled stomp.

COMBATSYS: Lotus dodges Morrigan's Diving Kick.

[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
Morrigan         1/-------/=======|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2            Lotus

[LOTUS]
As soon as Lotus land, she takes a step forwards and leaps back up again! As she comes to the top of the arc juuuust over Morrigan, she says simply "Yup!" in answer to the previous question before attempting an overhead, double-fisted slamming strike aimed at the top of the succubus' head!

COMBATSYS: Morrigan interrupts Power Strike from Lotus with Shadow Servant.

[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////                          ]
Morrigan         0/-------/------=|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2            Lotus

[MORRIGAN]
As Lotus closes in, Morrigan clenches a fist as well as her teeth. She throws an uppercut toward the other woman, but she doesn't move---it seems as though she might whiff entirely as Lotus BONKS her atop the crown. Even so, the succubus does not falter or go down, instead steeling herself and completing her strike.

The first blow threatens to drive her back, and out of Morrigan's own shadow comes a shadowy copy of Morrigan, mimicking the movement. It catches Lotus in the chin and pushes her back--into another Morrigan mimicking the same motion, then another, then another as it drives Lotus on a chain of uppercuts, each delivered by another phantasmal copy. The chain continues for a while, trying to drive Lotus right against the wall of the arena.

[LOTUS]
The barrage of blows pummels Lotus mercilessly! She cannot fly herself, but is kept aloft by Morrigan and her shadows assault! The damage is severe, with visible holes forming in the skin from the repeated impacts, as well as broken bones jutting through as they are fractured!

Unconcerned with her own safety, Lotus barrels through, attempting to catch Morrigan unprepared and sink her sharp teeth deep into the Succubus' neck, just before the final hit sends her careening back into the wall of the arena!

COMBATSYS: Lotus can no longer fight.

[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Morrigan         0/-------/------=|

She impacts the hard stone, and despite her monsterous regeneration, succumbs to the damage and collapses to the floor.

COMBATSYS: Lotus successfully hits Morrigan with Deadly Kiss.
Grazing Hit

[          \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Morrigan         0/-------/-------|

[MORRIGAN]
The teeth sink into Morrigan's neck--deeply, no less---and the succubus winces, taking a moment to throw the other woman off of with the last of her shadow servants. The separation is violent, bloody, as Lotus tears away from her and leaves a gaping wound...

Briefly, before Morrigan's body seems to meld into the shadows of the lighting around the arena and when the shadow has moved off her again, she is mended. Rolling her neck, the green-haired woman runs a hand along where the bitemarks were before walking toward Lotus.

"As much as I am curious about the sorcery out mysterious host is using..." Morrigan pauses. "I'll save that for some other time. Ta ta."

And so, Morrigan steps toward a wall and, as she walks into it, looks as though she moved into a pool of water that ripples and melds and makes a way for her to disappear once again.

COMBATSYS: Morrigan takes no action.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Morrigan         0/-------/-------|

COMBATSYS: Morrigan has ended the fight here.

Log created on 20:39:15 08/04/2022 by Morrigan, and last modified on 11:17:23 08/07/2022.