"What are you so mad for?" said Amelie tilting her head to the side and bending her ears over further to accentuate the movement. "Oh, Icey, that was a little cold of me to return your frigid advances"
Amelie kept her grin as each pun made Shizuka look less and less impressed with her friend. Attempting to ignore her jokes, Shizuka instead used a two ringed sigil to summon a sword for herself and charged.
"Oh, yawn my dear fox" said Amelie slowly sitting down "You aren't the warrior you think you are. Have all those weaklings skewed your perception to much"
Amelie eventually made it to the ground and stretched herself yawning. At the same time Shizuka reached her, she made a slash at Amelie's right arm, the one holding the trident. In response used her left hand to pull her arm to her side and continued stretching as Shizuka's ice sword stabbed into the ground.
Wrenching the sword free Shizuka struck out towards Amelie's right leg, but she just rolled over slightly so that she was now using her trident arm as a pillow with it wrapped around the weapon in question.
Yawning, Amelie said "This is very relaxing, just basking in your presence Shizuka. Feel free to stick around, you can even hug me if you want"
Having none of Amelie's sass any longer Shizuka stabbed down towards Amelie's face, confident that the wards would protect her, if her regeneration couldn't. However just as the blade was about to slice into Amelie, she sneezed, jerking her head forward letting the sword clang against the stone.
Shizuka snarled and readied herself for another strike, but was taking by surprise when Amelie pulled her feet from under her. Shizuka tried to orientate herself so that she could land flat on her back…
But Amelie abused her considerable strength to catch Shizuka completely and pull her into a hug. "Ahhh, so fluffy" said Amelie hugging Shizuka close.
"Let me go this is a duel of honour" said Shizuka angrily
"Ooh?" said Amelie, increasing the strength of her hug, causing Shizuka's bones to creak slightly "I can play rough if that's what you want my dear, but this is so much more enjoyable no?"
Shizuka wasn't willing to listen to Amelie's nonsense and instead summoned a two ringed sigil from her chest summoning a thick flat pillar of ice that pushed the two apart. Amelie let Shizuka go so as to avoid damaging herself.
This of course, had the beneficial effect of flinging Shizuka far away, as she had tried to compensate for Amelie's grip strength when designing the spell, flying once again to the edge of the arena.
As Shizuka crashed into the ground Amelie casually got up and dusted herself off before stalking over to Shizuka. "That was rather rude, trying to give me the cold shoulder" said Amelie
Shizuka struggled to her feet, this time summoning an ice shield to help her deal with whatever Amelie was about to do, hoping to use it to keep her distance. "Ooo, taking a defensive stance are you? I suppose I can go on the attack" said Amelie
Amelie readied herself, planting her legs in a sprinter's stance. Her muscles tensed and in the blink of an eye she slammed both into the ground shooting her off like a rocket. Heading straight for Shizuka, at great speed it was all that the kitsune could do to get her shield up in time.
A loud clang rang out as Amelie's buckler collided with Shizuka's ice shield, cracking the ice and breaking it in her hands. While Shizuka was still stunned Amelie slowly jabbed at Shizuka's side with her trident.
Reacting on instinct, she managed to twist out of the way. "You know, you really seem to be missing the point my dear fox" said Amelie, after her third attempt at jabbing Shizuka
"Crazy hare, why would I want to be impaled!" yelled an irate Shizuka back as she concentrated on getting out of the way of Amelie's lunges and occasional strike with her buckler forcing Shizuka around, but away from the edge.
"See, that's what I keep telling people, but hardly any of them listen. I'm glad you've finally come around to my way of thinking" said Amelie, her face lighting up in a larger smile then Shizuka had thought possible.
"What the heck are you even talking about, you're the one trying to stab me you crazy hare" said Shizuka
Amelie pouted and went for a kick at Shizuka's side, just barely grazing her tails as she moved out of the way. "Ooh, is that my new pet name? I must say crazy hare wouldn't be my first pick, but if that's really what you want my little fox"
Shizuka's eyes went wide, summoning three sigils around her. The floor beneath Amelie started to glow, when a torrent of water exploded out from under her. A second later a second flash and the water was frozen over.
Shizuka started panting, backing off, while Amelie sat in her easy prison seemingly content. Kat used this lull in the fighting to check her energy levels. *Shit, I'm already past halfway.* realising this she promptly informed Minor.
"It should be fine Kat" said Minor without taking her eyes off the fight "We are more than halfway done"
"But… isn't Amelie frozen in place?" asked Kat
Minor shook her head, as Amelie started to speak. "You know Shizuka, as much as I'd love to stare at you all day, I'm afraid I don't want to cool off any longer"
Amelie gave a slight grunt of effort and the huge cube of ice around her shattered. Shizuka, still recovering, and looking like she had seen better days, backed up best she could, panting in the process. Kat couldn't see her sweating like Amelie, but she was unsure if that was actually Amelie's sweat and not just water.
Plus, Shizuka's strange ice avatar was making it hard to tell while she was unable to put any energy towards her eyes. It was however clear that Shizuka's stance had been ruined. She was no longer standing straight and ready, and her tails had started to droop.
*Amelie is just playing around with her at this point. It isn't even close… but why does she want to drag it out like this? Is there even a point? She has regeneration perhaps comparable to me, she clearly has no issue with pain but she's just… playing around.*
Amelie took a quick step forward and Shizuka stumbled back in response. She tried to summon a quick single ringed sigil for something but it faltered. "Ooo, don't give me that look" said Amelie "You make me want to forfeit"
Shizuka growled trying to recover some of her ferocity but it came out closer to a whimper. Amelie sighed and dashed forward, cracking the floor underneath her feet. When she reached Shizuka she pulled her trident back, throwing and threw it past Shizuka's face, whipping her hair as it past.
Shizuka stood there shocked, when Amelie booped her own the nice, and Shizuka collapsed. "I suppose that's it. Do you surrender Shizuka?" said Amelie with some resignation.
Shizuka jumped backwards, trying to use her hands to continue to the motion but failing, due to her weakening arms, where she instead fell head first into the ground. Amelie winced at the sight "Hey, this isn't quite so funny anymore Shizuka, you should surrender"
A single ringed sigil appeared in front of Shizuka. A small pillar slowly rose from the ground taking Shizuka with it. The pillar pushed into the top of her chest, and as Shizuka leant against it, it allowed her to return to her feet.
"It… it isn't over yet" said Shizuka, struggling to stand up.
"Hey look, just, um, admit your defeat with good graces please Shizuka" said Amelie with a slightly worried tone "I don't want to do anything more to you"
"Why… why don't you say that to my face" said Shizuka
Amelie, stomped on the ground and appeared directly next to Shizuka. She held her hand out for a second and the trident she had thrown reappeared. Slamming it into the ground hilt first Amelie looked into Shizuka's eyes and said "Stand down, please. You have lost. I'm not even tired at all. There is nothing more you can do, I'm just stronger than you"
Shizuka laughed in her half delirious state. Despite the beating Amelie had dealt her, it was clear the hare had been holding back, and it was the mana drain that was actually getting to her. "Stronger? Yes Stronger…? Then I just… just need to be stronger?"
"Yes Shizuka, but that won't happen right now" said Amelie
"Now…? No… I can't lose again… not again… I said… I said never again" said Shizuka
Amelie, looked at her friend strangely "But you've won every fight what are you talking about?"
A large crack resounded, like the sound of shattering glass. Amelie's eyes went wide, as a third tail sprouted from behind Shizuka.. Unlike her ice avatar, this one looked to be made of water and stood twice as tall as the others. "I just need… to be stronger!" screamed Shizuka with wide eyes