[Round 2] Leinhart Marquis' vs. Jurie Arks

The medical experts at this tourney did well patching the blacksmith up after her last match. A bit of bobbing and weaving and the girl was good to go once again by the end of the first day! Well it was a good sight none the less, to see the blacksmith out and about with that pep in her step. Her eyes would wander through the stands as she came tapping through that corridor, a gleam shimmering within her gaze as that mind wandered to the horizon.

What would her opponent be like? Was he a good man? What sort of contribution could she give them?

This was all about development for the young fighter, the aspect of winning or losing seeming like a dim light at the end of the street. Sure that light was a guiding principle, but the road to get there was really what she was interested in. And as the spirits would have it... that road would be covered in a fine downpour of rain today.

A trickle of rain coming down across the plains of existence.

She'd smile brightly as she walked out into the heavy downpour, her hands raised up to the skies as she closed her eyes and accepted every drop onto her fine, tanned skin. Those long sleeves of her white shirt would begin to cling to her body tightly, revealing the lining of her bra beneath. It could also be noted that the woman's gauntlets could be seen clear as ever, and perhaps with a closer glance one could see the pendent which clung tightly beneath her right wrist.

That's not to mention the hammers strapped to either side of her legs.

Well one way or another the woman would find herself practically dancing towards the middle of the ring, a soft and gentle hum rising from her lips as she spun herself closer in. Her short brown her would be dripping wet by the time she reached this point, though all the same she seemed so happy and content that one could hardly say that she was here for a fight. A few of the fighting fans didn't seem to hold as much promise for the weather as the woman did, as a few were already muttering obscenities on how they'd rather spend their day than watch some washed up kid prance around in the rain.

A few fans from the last fight were there, ready to cheer the blacksmith on. Perhaps with a bit of work she'd build up a nice little section for herself by the end of this tourney.

Her sandy-gold eyes would only brighten with as she turned her gaze over to the large, dark figure who at this point was just starting to size her up. She stood at about 5'9" with a rather fine glow to her tanned body, a picture of health one could say. And though her garbs seemed to hide much of her appearance, one could easily tell that with the curves of her body that she was pretty fit herself. All together she seemed to worry more about posture and poise, overall appearance, as she was careful not to slouch or become unbalanced in her gleeful dance across the ring.

Surely there was more to this girl than met the eye.

"Good Evening!" She'd call to the man with her hand raised in the air. "My name is Jurie Arks, its a pleasure to meet you!"

It was during this greeting that the man would raise his hand and beckon her forth with that grin of his, but she would not be intimidated. Rather... she seemed to enjoy his eagerness to start. And while she'd prefer to have a name to address that face with she wasn't about to start forcing her culture onto the man himself. Perhaps after this fight he'd give her a name, perhaps even a title to call him by. More importantly this man might just push her to the limits of her play in weaponry, as he sure seemed rather well-armed to boot! Well.... No sense in stalling!

"Ah! I see, I see! Well Mister Stranger, I'll not go wasting time here, nope nope!" She'd smack her palms together and broaden her smile as she gave her opponent a slight bow. "To bettering ourselves and our understanding of the arts. To the world and the growth of our hearts. For the joys of our life and the struggles we share. Come, let us grow together."

She'd shuffle back a ways, her hands extended to either side and the wells of spiritual energy would begin to form around her hands. The light was brilliant, dancing like a cascade of white light across the foreboding depths of the arena floor and the focal point of the energy began to manifest itself into the grips of her hands. The first, coming at her left, came into view as a sort of round object of sorts, the jagged edges of the energy blocking the detail for a time. The energy soon began to glow with a light blue tint as her hand came into contact with the mass, the entirety of the weapon suddenly stiffening its flow, causing the jagged spikes to still in its movement. But a charge of energy circling down that arm in the form of a white ring and would soon pour into the mass, causing the spikes to break and crumble from the weapon like tiny darts of ice as they seemed to evaporate in the rain.

The result? Well... a rather fine shield, about 24" in diameter or so! With a rounded front and edge the form would look closely to that of a spartan shield.

The second mass would shape up around her right, the energy welling into a bit more of a slender shape. Like before the jagged spikes would come and her grip would cleanse the length of the weapon with a dull violet glow, this time revealing a rather fine war hammer, coming somewhere a bit under two and a half feet in length.

The blacksmith was ready, shifting her left leg back and her right forward, both with a slight bend at the knee and balancing on the balls of the feet. Her body would relax, soon finding comfort in the weapons at hand as she tightened her grip over the shield, bringing the top up roughly around chest level as the hammer hung loosely in her grip at her side. She kept her eyes on her opponent, oddly seeming a bit heated and breathing heavy for a moment, though the cool rain seemed to put an end to this rather quickly.

Shield- Off: 1 Def: 1 War Hammer- Off: 1 Def: 1

Sadly for Leinhart his projectiles would do little good in distracting her. After all the energy produced didn't take forever and a day to prepare, and if he was attacking when the energy manifested then the forms of the shield and hammer would still be usable in its purest shape. After all, the point of her freezing the flow of energy was to conserve her power for other techniques, not to make the energy usable. On the contrary... the constant flow of energy flowing through the items are what made them all the more powerful, albeit at the cost of the energy upkeep. But the fight was fresh and early, it would hardly be fair to say she didn't have enough to keep this up a short bit as she raised her left to block the incoming projectiles.

The energy shield would come up a bit sooner than planned due to the sudden attack and because of this the first kunai would hit as the energy still flowed through the shield, the constantly coursing energy pushing the weapon out soon after impact. The second would hit after the energy froze, the projectile clanging off the shield to Jurie's respective left as she angled the blow away, the impact seeming to break off a few of those brittle spikes before the ring of energy could finish its work. Needless to say one could move to such a small degree and keep their concentration in tact, so the rest of her prior moves would flow through as intended even before the vampire came within range for his blows.

The blacksmith growled at the man as he came charging in, his display of unsportsmanlike conduct ripping away the joyful feel she had but moments ago. This man was not here to learn, to develop himself. He wasn't even here to enjoy the fight as far as she could tell. This stranger... he was here to fight and win, and that was it. And that...

That is what pissed her off the most.

"Grrraaghhh!!!" She'd cry out in frustration as a second pulse of energy would shoot down her left arm, the flow seeming to be fueled by this distasteful display. This would cause the shield to crack a little, the power brimming within the weapon seeming to shimmer from the edges as though a powerful blow just cracked the integrity a bit. All the same the shield seemed stable enough for the time being and to prove it the blacksmith was about to put it right to work.

She'd notice his kick to her knee rather easily, seeing as her sight wasn't blocked out at all and his extension would need to be a bit away if he intended to follow up with such a high attack. The blacksmith would respond with one easy motion, sliding herself forward at a bit of an angle to her respective right ((your left)) as she threw her weight towards the man, lashing out the shield in her left in an outward swing to bash the man straight in his face. And given that the shield was not only equal in density to that of a 9 lb. shield, but charged with three times its offensive properties the bastard was going to hurt like a bitch.

Regardless if he could block this or, in the unlikely case, dodge the blow, that kick of his was going to whiz past her knee as she came in, landing somewhere between her feet and possibly scraping her thigh as she came in. By the time it was touching the ground again she'd already be smashing into him with the shield. But this wasn't all there was to her attack... not even close.

As that shield was crashing in her grip on the hammer slid upwards, her hand finding a nice little place to grip somewhere close to the middle of the weapon. Now once her full weight came into contact with something she was going to keep pushing until she had an opening which likely wouldn't be long at all with her full force going at the man. Promptly as she saw a bit of stomach that hammer would come rushing in towards his left ribcage, the hammer going around the shield a bit if it must. The force threatened to break a few bones and possibly cause a catch in breath, but really she couldn't say for sure unless it really hit.

It was likely to hit though, what with that shield blocking his view and all.

But this act of his... attacking her and ignoring her words of encouragement. This is what fueled her drive to press on, her will to demolish the opponent so swiftly. For if there was one thing that ever left a sour taste in the woman's mouth... it was that of a disrespectful act towards true kindness.

Shield- Off: 3 Def: 0 War Hammer- Off: 1 Def: 1

So he'd leap to his right eh? Well if he was to get out of reach of the blow then that would take them both out of melee range. However she was throwing her weight into a shield bash which only grazed the man, so it would take her a moment to stop the momentum. Fortunately for her the man was so gracious as to already put himself in a nice position to keep her guard up. So instead of carrying forward she'd anchor down with her forward ((right)) foot and pivot to face him with ease, holding that shield in place as a guard against any possible oncoming attacks. This was easily doable since her feet never lost contact with the ground, the stance seeming much like a boxer or kendo student in the sense that her feet were always roughly parallel with each other and balancing on the balls in the front, her weight centered down tightly.

Admittedly the attempted shield bash would throw this off a bit, but it wasn't enough to make her lose balance enough to be as slow as her opponent thought. After all, a pivot is faster than a leap, and because of this she'd have the upper hand in reinitializing the attack.

Another ring of energy shot out into her left into the shield, mending the once cracked folds of the weapon with a shimmering violet glow. The light itself seemed to dim a bit, but the strength of the shield itself seemed to hold tighter than ever.

So as he got into position she'd already be swinging in with that war hammer of hers, the arm easing into the blow as she used a bit of torque from her body to give it some umph! The target would be his oblique left side roughly around the upper arm/ribcage, whichever happened to be in the way at the time. Either way contact would mean bone breaking pain were it to land. She'd be sure to keep that shield ready in case the bastard was ready to try one of those crazy leaps again.

Shield- Off: 2 Def: 2 War Hammer- Off: 1 Def: 1

Leinhart did well to try and evade the blow, but now he was trying to get out of range of the hammer which added roughly two feet to her reach as she'd be gripping it on the lower end of the handle. Needless to say if it was possible for him to dodge a blow coming in that fast and close at that range it would be impossible for him to come in with a kick while doing all this, as she'd continue pivoting her body to face him through the attack. This paired with the fact the weapon had less ground to cover than his movements would only give him a split moment to get out of range or attack.

He was either going to take some damage on his ribs/arm or he was going to move out of range. Either way it made no difference. For if the blow connected or not she'd have the advantage in terms of striking distance unless he simply had insanely long legs.

Shield- Off: 2 Def: 2 War Hammer- Off: 1 Def: 1

So her opponent somehow managed to get out of range of the strike which was an amazing feat in itself, but no matter. His extension towards her leg was going to be awkward at best at such a range, extra few inches or not as he'd need to stretch a bit to acquire such a distance. Tall or not that was going to be a good reach at about four feet of length ((give or take two for the hammer and two for the arm)). She would also be able to notice the blade, seeing as the blade was of such a length. Regardless she'd see it coming in with ease even with her swing due to the range of the attack, though given she couldn't attack due to the momentum she put in her previous attempt to strike him she could still move about at the cost of a bit of balance.

Her weight would shift to her back foot, causing her body to waver for a moment as it veered a bit to her left with her strike, though this lasted only within the short time that her opponent made his awkward leg jab. Her voice quipped out in a bit of dissatisfaction as she maneuvered out of the way of her opponent's blow in a bit of a shuffle, her front ((right)) leg shifting to the back as her left took the lead. Her mind was too clouded with the acts at hand to worry much on how her opponent landed. Judging from his previous feats though he would likely follow up, seemingly unhindered by any of his prior movements.

It was then that she would prepare her strike, the energy wrapping itself around that shield once more as she raised it once more in defense across her chest, that war hammer swinging down and beneath the guard to prepare for the next strike.

Shield- Off: 3 Def: 1 War Hammer- Off: 1 Def: 1

((Apologies for the delay, was attempting to sort an issue out with my partner here and never got a response, so I decided just to flow with it instead.))