[2nd] Second Bracket: Roja vs. Snow

It didn't make much sense how he'd lost in the last round, but...a match is a match. Guess lady luck was never on his side in the first place. A draw with a slight edge for one foe would've been more logical from the swordsman's standpoint, but, meh, he'll be making up excuses then if this train of thought continued on like this.

Time to suck it up, and just see how far he can go with this one.

So again as the swordsman walked in to this second bracket for the upcoming fight in a dull mood, it wasn't surprising that few spectators were here to see the glamorous struggle of foe for third place. Figures, since the popularity of the winners was more, unfortunately, appealing to the general mass... He took in a whiff of the cold, biting air, letting the icy frost tingle his nasal and lungs with that slight, knify edge.

"Ahh...."

Time to get to work. With a wave and a shuffle the swordsman unsheathed both blades this time for this round, walking towards one of the nearby block of ice closest to him and stabbing his left blade a few centimeters into the hard substance. A breath of released air escaped his lungs, and he waited for his foe to arrive, the weapon starting to shimmer and glint in dull rhythm. In the meantime, he was in a left side stance, using the block of ice as a temporary means to protect his left flank in case the foe decides to attack immediately upon entering this arena.

This was the second time someone tried to do something outlandish as an entrance to this fight. Having experienced it first hand in the previous encounter by a dragonkin foe, he wasn't too surprised that the trend continued on -- especially from how this arena is designed.

And, since he wasn't in the mood to be courteous... The scream was a dead giveaway to Roja's entrance, the swordsman already turning his head to look at the girl slide down the slope towards his present position. Having more than a few seconds to spare, he twisted the blade impaled on the thick block of ice slightly, small sections of ice coated the blade's lethal edge as he shifted to a side stance - right side facing the incoming foe.

The knees were slightly bent, the large cloak hiding most of his body movements as to how the swordsman would react to Roja herself. And timing his strike...

As soon as Roja got close enough, he suddenly pushed off with his right leg, kicking against the block of ice with enough force to propel his entire body clear to the right of Roja's incoming charge. At the same time he kicked the left blade impaled in the ice was yanked out with little effort, careening in a clockwise arc towards Roja's back/right torso once he lands on his left foot, using his toes as a fulcrum to increase the speed a bit so it would land at her back and cut at the skin.

Even if he were to miss the strike, he would intentionally have placed himself nearly immediately in a defensive stance if the girl were to counter, in some ways he could probably guess. Especially with his right blade on the ready.

It was a tried shot, and the swordsman knew well that it might miss the first time. Just to warm himself up on his own reaction speed, the hands gripped loosely on both his blades, cocking it in place and keeping it steady as he returned back to his left side stance to confront the girl. Left blade held pointed towards the girl, and the right pointed to his own respective right, horizontally level to his hips and parallel to the ground. Whether or not the girl is using the chair as part of a weapon or not matters not to the man. All it was is just an obstacle that he'll have to slash past, before dealing the blow in counters and encounters.

Focus. He reminded himself in the meantime, a cold front of small ice starting to swirl and revolve around both his blades. With a flip of his left blade to a reverse-dagger hold, the eyes narrowed --

Readying himself to confront the girl, while he charged up for a possible strike that will be hard, quick, and especially painful on impact.

In a sense, there was still the rules employed. And, to compensate for his lack of...in a better term, elemental skills, some means of deception is required. While the girl - surprisingly - didn't change her course and went for the swordsman's head, he quickly raised his left arm up defensively in a slant, a metallic object worn underneath the cloak revealing itself to be a form of bracer that met up against the hard impact of the chair. Giving it a slight slant up allowed the impact to diffuse itself upwards and reduce the force to a partial extent as it clanged against his gear, giving it a good echo amongst the icy arena.

At the same time the chair struck his body twisted slightly to the right to further lessen the impact, his right arm cocking backwards as if implying a possible stab -- Before a surge of ice shot straight out from the tip of his right blade and went for a brutal slam towards her main body instead. To be precise, the liver. Not lethal to cut through flesh like his sword, but enough to knock the air out of her lungs in a rather painful shot, provided if her anatomy is like a human. The impact would shatter after contact, and provided that if she dodges or tries to get closer he could follow the strike through with a more precised stab at her body depending on her reaction. But if the strike was to land, regardless if he has the upper hand or not afterwards, the swordsman would quickly retreat out of her reach to put distance between him and her.

Method? By shuffling a few steps backwards, at a moderate pace.

(( Tell me if I'm misinterpreting the move wrong. ))

Well blast. The attack missed. But the swordsman wasn't going to let the girl have it her way. The right part of his blade was spent temporarily for the moment from its release, but as she went for a spinning kick to add more force to the thrown chair hurtled at his left flank, he gave his body a sharp left arc turn, using the soles of his heels for quick shifting. Only the left leg gave an audible motion on how he's bracing his stance to keep himself at balance while his weight is applied forward like a cushioner.

Aligning himself to keep his left guard up along with the reverse dagger hold in the meantime, he will then, at the same time deliver a diagonally upward slash straight towards her general body in midair with his right blade. Given, he'll be knocked back a bit from the force impacting his left flank, but by using the same method like the previous, he'll still be able to bleed off some of the effects and retreat immediately when deemed necessary. And with the left flank keeping the airborne chair in check through the same method of defense, he wants to land at least one injury that would give her something to worry about before he retreats.

Flimsy little bastard...

A few mutters of inaudible voice escaped his lips, just mumbo jumbo -- But clearing his mind of any discontent and calming it, more ice gathered before his body with a dull hum. Returning to his previous stance and looking up at the girl giving him a snide remark... ....All right.

He stabbed the ground with his left blade again slightly, a small rippling effect seen spreading around the surface of the snow as if it just turned liquid under his touch -- Before a burst of ice lurched out directly behind the girl without noise, the block of ice which she stood on flaring up with spikes aimed for the girl's back. More specifically, the torso/hip sections to maim and impale.

The initial stab he'd done at the start of the match -- The charge up which he'd kept on his left blade -- All in all to begin the use of the terrain to his advantage.

He was tuning himself to use the ice about his presence. Whether or not the girl planned to do the same via other means, the swordsman will show her that the name 'Snow', isn't just the only reason people call him often with.

The sight of Snow delivering such a Chilling blow delivered a slight change in momentum throughout the crowd. It started with one man dressed in steel plate armor standing up out of the crowd, his brown hair blowing around in the slight breeze of the stand, and gently clapping his hands. Quickly, however, it turned to a bit of a rally clap, starting slow and soft, but growing in intensity. As it reached it's climax however, it stopped, started again at the beginning, and more people joined in.

The man that had started the initial clapping had a massive black greatsword strapped to his back, the reason that he'd shown encouragement for Snow, and not for Roja. Snow was a bit of inspiration to all sword users, though the man who stood did not need inspiration; he was skilled enough. He just knew when a person needed encouragement in the arena, he'd gone through such things before.

So, as Roja made her move and the crowd on her side began to chant her name, the man in the armor chanted the opposing name, lifting his right hand in the air, fist closed.

"LET'S GO, SNOW!"

If the focus of the fight wasn't on the preceding moment, the swordsman might've gloated a bit from the slight shift in mood by the cheering crowd. But first thing's first. While being cheered is one thing, the foe is still standing and ready to hit back.

Defeat her first. Ask questions later.

And now, her moves were being read by the swordsman's glance. Vicious punches that can certainly break bones and even dent armor was a bad sign for the swordsman, especially if she tried to get close to him. If she can break ice with a punch like that, it doesn't take a vivid imagination to know what might happen as a consequence if he doesn't keep his distance.

"Prep."

The swordsman quickly started to run, running to the side, away from Roja with the right blade skimming across the fluffy snow on the ground. While the left weapon was pulled out of its place quickly, now pointed towards the cracked block of ice the girl was standing on, it would be a shame not to use the fragmented shards left by the vicious blow from the girl... So with a simple command the myriad, large chunks of ice crumbling under the girl's strike lifted itself up, shooting straight towards the swordsman's body and -- Being absorbed into the gear and cloth?

Of course, he'll need to charge up again to ready himself if what he has guessed is true just from the girl's action... Something big that is going to happen. Or something volatile - a method which he has yet to know about;

The girl's ability.

Bah. Opponents and rivals, it is all but a fading memory for the swordsman's life as a fighter. However --

"Son of a -- "

The hollering, while a tell-tale sign that the foe was indeed preparing something big, gave away the intent. But the swordsman never expected the girl to have THIS much strength - enough strength to kick a extraordinary thick ice towards him at such high speeds. He'll have to act fast, or be slammed by his own ice in an ironic ending for this fight.

Yet, he has not charged up enough strength to fight in comparison to Roja's inhuman power.

He needs to buy some time!

Gritting his teeth and the face appearing worried from the sudden advance, he dropped his knees to a kneeling stance quickly while changing his direction to the projectile coming at him, portions of the gathered ice which he'd gathered for power-up initially being sacrificed for this simple action; A short, massive burst of ice exploding out of his boots immediately after the kneel, accelerating the swordsman beyond his maximum speed in running via normal means and in a different route... And out of harms way from the piece of ice in a space that is too close for comfort. For the remnants that the swordsman couldn't get through, the left blade was held at level towards the large piece of ice at his left, portions of the solid mass being drawn towards the gear as if it turned into liquid under close proximity to the man's presence itself.

Just a bit more...!

The ice would barely miss him, but he already had a gut feeling that his foe isn't someone that would ride on top of a flying projectile without reason. So if he could play out the impression that she has the upper hand... He whirled about in a clockwise turn after sliding a bit away from the close encounter due to the manipulation underneath his boots, back into a left side stance with the weapons held like before.

Just a few more seconds. And he'll be ready to confront the strength of Roja head on.

3, 2, 1...

It was close enough. While there are some aspects of the following strike which he can improve after this round, there is no time to waste. Immediately, the swordsman hurled his left blade straight into the block of ice in front of him just as it charged forth to impact him, his voice giving a defined, yet fiery roar in response to Roja's shout. What surface of the ice that was about to impact the swordsman disappeared quickly, a hollow, concave area forming within the block of ice when he threw his blade into the fray. Not needing to absorb all of the density in front of him, the swordsman merely took away only the middle portion of the ice that he was about to be struck with - letting the block of ice continue on its slide while the hollowed out surface slid smoothly past the swordsman without hitting him.

Like a tunnel that just formed in the middle, the swordsman is now surrounded by the block of ice around him, and in front, the blade he threw that is impaled halfway in the center of the block.

It was time to stop the retreat, and counter with a full-fledged assault.

Taking a heavy step forward, his left hand went to deliver a jab straight at the left blade's handle as if pressing a trigger -- Before a deafening explosion bursted straight behind the block of ice in close proximity to Roja's presence, writhing and lurching to the girl at maximum speed; Vines. Hundreds and hundreds of ice-made vines, coated with sharp spikes that would slice past the girl and attempt to ensnare her - restricting her limbs and cutting past her flesh to incite the maximum pain it can do without being lethal as a result. But that's not all. The surface covering the block of ice was beginning to ripple, signalling the possibility that there is an even nastier move that was waiting to be fired whether or not the ensnare is a success.

He has been waiting for this. Playing the mouse and avoiding the predator... Now the preyed has become the prey, and he would show just to her, how the force of ice can be as horrible as it is underestimated. Given, of course that Roja might be prepared against the swordsman's move...

He is waiting. He has to wait.

That....was a fatal mistake she did. Showing him that she was a fire user. Although he might look like a young adult and exceptionally dull in a glance, the swordsman has a personal distaste against fire users, provided from all his experience as an ice/water user during his countless travels from one place to the next. Recalling most of the accounts of being ass-whooped by people using fire during his travels, the swordsman has spent months and years on developing a combat method to counter the fiery bastards who think too highly of their flaming armor or weapon. Though not fine-tuned and perfected, nonetheless.

And he wasn't certainly going to let her keep that grin on for too long.

Not knowing how strong or how powerful her flames might be, the swordsman wasn't inclined to hold back at the very least. Taking another step forward, pushing nearly his entire weight against the left handle of his blade, the block of ice provided him a good defense if the girl tried to attack him head-on, much of the density still concentrated on the outside and the layers giving him time to react when need be. He watched the girl approach him with steadfast motions, using his vines as stepping stones.

Why that little...!

Well, the vines weren't created just for ensnaring her, after all. Restricting her movements so she won't realize his ulterior motive, if and when Roja notices, it would be that the moving tendrils were intentionally leading her to him - a clear line of view, with the vines cornering her into place indirectly, with subtle motions. It would all be clear, when the swordsman, since the start of this round, finally shouts in thunderous rage, readying the blow that he has been waiting for;

**"KU-RAI-E!" (Take this!)

BOOM!**

A focused beam of highly concentrated ice and water - a density beyond any possible means by mother nature - erupted straight out of the block of ice in front of him, careening towards Roja to impact her entire body at full force due to its splash effect. Made of huge quantities of water and constrained to a size no larger than a baseball from the origin, he was using the pressure of water to his advantage, adding strength and endurance to the point where it can resist fire to a large extent, while packing a force to be reckoned with . Even if evaporated, if the flame is too strong to handle, that poses an even more lethal problem for fire users;

Highly concentrated steam that can incite massive burns to the skin.

Such frightening speed the beam then traveled, that the speed of the vines which was to ensnare and constrain the girl were of no match to the monstrosity of the beam's charged release. Should it hit, and the swordsman highly doubt that she could avoid it at such a distance and at such a short time - as he has painstakingly led her to this strike - the force of the beam was more than enough to stop the girl in midair nearly immediately, and even hurl her straight backwards into the sky, dozens of meters high and out of the arena easily.

To add to the killing blow, the left blade which he'd use to trigger the strike... Would be inside the heart of the beam as well upon release, adding a maiming stab that can, if he had aimed correctly, pierce straight through her left torso and cripple her side without being lethal in the follow-up strike. Should the beam miss its target, of course.

Wishful thinking on his part if all goes well - the beam and the sword hitting her in consecutive strikes quickly, the swordsman, however, didn't want to spare himself the luxury of thinking that this is the finishing blow to this round. He still kept his right blade in check, the block of ice around him acting as a shielding if things....didn't go well.

In which he sincerely hoped that he is wrong about his delusional caution. He'll just have to see how Roja reacts, and add a few minor manipulations so that all that charged energy won't go to waste if it misses. Somehow.

"Here I come...eh?"

Her left foot swings down to bash into another set of these icy tendrils when instead it gets struck by a large concentrated stream of water and ice.

"!!!"

Behind her mask, she displays shock across her face as the liquid hits into her limb, the fire around her left foot moving wildly as it battles against the cold temperatures coming from the stream. But this would only occur during a split second, as the force of the attack will be too strong to stop with just the strength of her body. She was caught in mid air. As if she was having her body flung by a giant by the leg, she goes flipping uncontrollably backwards through the air, the stream hitting into her leg and causing her to be knocked right out of her aerial dance. Body twirling airborne as his stream continues into the air at an angle, Roja goes hitting into the snowy ground, her body rolling and tumbling the rest of the way across the white snowy terrain.

"Ah! Uf! Agh!"

Groans were coming from her as her body kept on moving across the snowy ground until she finally comes to a stop, both of her hands against the ground, with her left knee pressed for balance against the ground. The white snow covered her body as she gave a sneer in the direction of Snow, seeing that distance had grown between them once again. She attempts to stand back to her feet, but an ache goes through the muscles of her left leg, showing that the attack he had used was really a force to be reckoned with, her hands coming down to her thigh and holding there. It was not serious, for because she was in the air when it hit and struck her at a tangent, the force was not carried into her body directly and dangerously, instead bringing her body into a wild motion in a somersault manner, a way to go with the force of the attack, a logic adopted by some martial arts such as Judo. If he had gotten a good hit into her chest, for example, with that attack, then she would probably have a few broken ribs.

But she laughs.

"Looks like Chico has a few tricks after all."

Hopping on her feet again to help relieve the pain and loosen the muscles, she has her head bob side to side, starting to hop backwards, looking back to see the block of ice her and Snow played with during the beginning of the fight. Jogging over to it, she brings both hands holding onto the front side of the rock itself, and begins to lift with her knees to remove a huge chunk of it from the rock itself, caused by her punch into it earlier, and Snow's own abilities.

"Grr!"

Her mask glowing again, she slowly lifts the large piece of ice off of the overall structure, the strength she possessed knowing little bounds in this fight. She continues to put power into lifting the block until finally she held it over her, her legs causing her to slowly turn in the direction of Snow.

"I think it is about time I show you what it means to go against La Caballero Roja!"

And with a heave, she sends the large block flying through the air with a powerful throw, the big chunk soaring. It would look like it was heading for Snow at first, but its direction was more to her opponent's right. And in that direction was the large pool of water, iced over. With the heavy object heading toward it, the big object would strike into the icy surface, breaking through with its weight, and send a giant fissure of water shooting upwards into the air, raining its contents down onto a large area of the arena, covering enough of a radius to put both Snow and herself within its range.

She was basically making it rain.

The water fell onto her body as the block of ice struck into the pool, covering the entire field in a temporary rain shower. As the drops fell down onto her body, her mask continued to glow in that line of design, her fingers twitching as the power of the spirit within continued to give life to her body's spirit. Snow seemed to be surprised by the versatility of Roja thus far. He should not be, with how fit the luchadora how trained herself physically so far in her life, in addition to the power boost that her mask, the Volcan de Electrica, gave to her. The woman was not your normal weakling whose bones and body broke against just a couple of attacks. A high pressured stream of water was not enough to break her muscles in her leg, and the spikes that hit into her back had only made marks that had some blood flowing from them, but nothing serious to have caused concern. Like any wrestler, she was a physically formidable foe, so Snow was going to have to throw more than water or ice her way in order to really cause harm to her.

He was finally thinking smart when she notices that he was running toward her across the snow. He had some distance to cover to get to her, so she spreads the distance between her legs, opening her hands in claw grips as she moves her right hand back, keeping her left arm in front of her. She was not moving from her spot despite her opponent running at her with a sword in both of his hands.

Small sparks began to run along her arms, static electricity coming into visible appearance as the element rushes through her body. With her body doused in water, the electrical sparks would begin to spark here and there around her arms and legs, making her appear like some type of human electrical discharge, more of the sparks leeching off around her body.

"HAAAAA!"

Bending her knees to sit on her legs, she tenses the muscles with her arms, letting all the power of thunder run across her upper limbs. Thrusting them straight into the snow in front of her, a large blast of electricity conducts itself within a pretty large radius, her body giving off the most visible of this live spark. Ice, water, snow, they were all of the same element. That meant that her charging opponent was just as vulnerable to this element, ready to be fried with over a thousand jolts. Though the mask gave her resistance to the elements of fire and electricity, the great amount of voltage coming from the conducting along the water would decrease the efficiency of her electrical resistance, resulting in a smaller, but still significant backlash, steam rising from her body as her skin takes on slight burns here and there. Even though she was causing harm to herself, it was all for the greater advantage of lighting up Snow like a Christmas Tree.

"What?"

He wasn't even looking affected. Something was thrown off in her tactics, but she was going to assume that he had a way of combating the usual weaknesses of both ice and water. When she used fire, he used denser ice. When she used electricity...well, she still did not know what he used in opposition, but she can safely say that it was a bothersome outcome. Stopping the flow of her power, smoke continuing to rise from parts of her body, her eyes glance to the left, catching the sight of her metal chair sitting in the snow.

"Yes!"

She still had hope. Running over to the weapon as she dives out of the way of the incoming water projectile, she rolls forward along the ground, picking up the chair by the legs with both hands along the way. Finishing in a kneel, she rushes toward Snow, the metal chair held to the right, ready for him and her to clash again. With the weapon in hand, she sends it bashing forward toward his head, a decent range of at least two feet being between them.

Her reflexes from him swinging his sword has the chair stop short, having her hop backwards while having her body bend at the waist to make the slash miss her barely. But with the threat out of the way, she continues the downward swing of her makeshift weapon of a chair at his ducking body, keeping on her toes and her legs bent to keep her loose in movement, moving to the right at the same time as the swing of the chair to add more movement to her attacks. Despite the time limit closing down, it did not mean Roja was running low on energy or physical power as it was usually seen. The time limit just meant neither of them were capable of taking the other down into a beatable pulp, but maybe with the last few minutes of the match still remaining, a dramatic outcome might come from this. It just depends on how desperate Snow was wanting to seal a victory. And Roja was only going to keep her eyes open, herself, to try to steal a win.