Midnight Ambush (one-on-one)

OoC: Okay, this battle is for anyone who wants to join. If you haven’t noticed, I’ll be using Cila Marid for this little battle. ^_^

BiC:

The small village was quiet and still as the hours of night hung over it. Lanterns lit every porch of the wooden houses and buildings to give some direction to anyone that might be wandering around at this late hour. The only place that had movement was the tavern which sounded the noise of merrily drunken people. Cila, however, didn’t care to go near that building. She had other matters to attend to. The dark dragoon walked briskly through the residential dirt streets until she came to a house that had two lanterns adorning its step. An ordinary rock was set on the corner of the porch to hold down a folded piece of paper. It was that which the mercenary took for herself. While a letter system of hiring was rather cumbersome than just meeting the client, she found it easier. With her leathery, black wings, most people either run from the sight of her or take up arms. Moving her black hair out of her eyes, Cila unfolded the letter.

The earl is taking the west road tonight to avoid the people. Horseback with four guards. Should be carrying the mark in a pouch on his right hip. Drop off at tavern once recovered.

The note was short, sweet, and to the point. She had been asked to recover a small gem which the resident earl had supposedly stolen from the blacksmith in another local village. While she didn’t usually take jobs like this, it was only one the dragoon had received in quite some time. Ripping the note into pieces, she thought about the validity of this job. Some people proclaimed to have been robbed while they, in reality, want to do the robbing but are to cowardly to do so. It’s not my problem, she reminded herself. Cila was just being asked to claim this gem. Whatever the client’s plan for it was none of her business. Spreading her black wings, she lifted into the air and, once out of the range of the lantern light, cast her shadow spell. Now she would only be a shadow against the night, virtually impossible to see. Gaining her bearings, she set off towards the western road of the forest.

The trees of the forest spread out their sharp branches like boney hands. Fall had almost stripped them of the leaves with only a few trees still clinging onto the warm, golden clothing. This was a blessing as fully leafed trees were only an obstruction to overhead observing. However, it didn’t take long for Cila to find the earl and his guards. They stuck out like a sore thumb. One guard in the front held a torch for light while another did the same in the back. The dragoon chuckled, [i]If you want to avoid people, don’t make yourself a beacon in the middle of the night. They probably could’ve seen just fine in the bright moon and starlight that lit up the otherwise dark sky.

Dismissing her shadow spell, the winged dragoon perched in a tree a bit behind the entourage. See knew that if they turned around, they would start shouting things about demons. But that was alright. It was probably better if they didn’t recognize her as a dragoon. Unsheathing her dagger, the mercenary swooped out of the tree and knocked the back left guard of his horse and then scared the front guard’s horse so badly it started galloping away from the group. The other three animals reared in surprise and, while the earl was getting his to calm down, landed softly on the horse’s rump and put her dagger at his throat. “If you want your earl to live, I suggest staying still,” she warmed calmly.

When the guards started drawing their swords, the rich man commanded, “Listen to her!” Then he addressed Cila, “What do you want, demon?”

“I have heard that have something that doesn’t belong to you,” she whispered into his ear and spied the pouch on his right hip, “And I’ve been sent to retrieve it.”

“I am a rich man already. Why would I steal from some lowly peasant,” he spat at her.

“Well, the fact that you know it was a peasant already raises suspicion,” she commented, “Besides, people who have everything always seem to have an urge to have more. It is strange.” The dragoon took the small bag from his belt, “This is all I need so, if you don’t mind, I’ll be leaving.” Unfolding her wings, Cila pushed off the horse and into the air.

“Stop her! Stop the demon!” the earl commanded as the dragoon flew away. The two remaining guards chased after her, keeping up fairly well with their mounts.

She sighed, Persistence. Attaching the pouch to her own belt, the woman turned and fired a glob of darkness into one of the guard’s eyes. Blinded, his horse reared without guidance and threw him off. She dived at the second guard and knocked him off his horse. The dragoon landed daintily and with an even voice stated, “If you want to live, go away.” However, the crunch of a twig caught her attention and she brandished her dagger to whoever was there.

OoC: Heyo, pick me!

IC:

Stepping on an innocently placed twig can ruin one's day. The demoness--if that's what she really was--spun around, hooked dagger immediately raised.

"Evening, guv'nor," Kellson said, materializing out of the gloom. "Whoops. Guv'ness."

"Who are you?" the demon-thing asked, dagger still at the ready. Kellson couldn't help but wince: the woman's voice was icier than the Northern wind. He winced imperceptibly again as he ran his gaze over her body. Someone had apparently had a knife, a sadistic mind, and a lot of time on his hands, judging by the scars criss-crossing over her body. Besides that, she was definitely attractive (even if that was a pretty big "besides"). Wings, too! As a demi-angel, Kellson appreciated wings, even scaled ones.

"I'm Kellson," he said, inclining his head sardonically. "What an amazing pleasure to make your aquaintance. Which way did the earl go?"

The woman completely ignored his sarcastic tone and jerked a thumb over her shoulder. "That way. If you'll excuse me..."

One of the bodyguards began to stand up. She kicked him back down again harshly.

"What's that you've got there?" Kellson asked, leaning against a tree to enjoy the show. One sort of attractive winged woman beating up some stupid sods with armor was just plain funny, and it didn't happen everyday. Killing the earl could wait. It wasn't as though he could run fast enough to escape.

"None of your business," she replied coldly, still suppressing the feebly struggling bodyguard. "Stop moving or I will cut your throat," she said to him.

"Sorry, milady," the regicide growled, straightening up and unslinging his crossbow. "But I'm a curious man, and demons just happen to piss me off almost as much as kings and their stupid yes-men cronies. Black magic and all that business...God would be displeased."

"I'm not open to theological debate right now," said the 'demoness,' turning her back on him. "I've got work to do."

Kellson lazily aimed the crossbow and fired. A bolt shot out and thudded into the ground inches from her foot. Extending his wings, he lifted into the air, hovering five feet above the ground.

"Leaving so soon? But we've only just met."

“Tch,” Cila muttered as Kellson rose into the air. This was probably the absolute last thing she needed to happen on this job. While it normally didn’t bother her to be thought of as a demon, this was definitely one of the bad points of it. Well, how am I going to get out of this one? she wondered and looked around. The one guard the dragoon had kicked down was now struggling to his feet once more. He was the least of her problems, however. Looking back at the angel, “Well, I’d love to stay and get to know you better but I had really ought to be leaving.” With that remark, she used to shadow spell to become virtually invisible and took to the sky.

“Now, now,” the regicide commented, “That wasn’t really a proper good-bye.” An orb of light appeared in his hands and, with a smile, fired it at the ground where she had been. While the angel completely missed her, the magic did create enough light to dispel her shadow spell. He spied her hanging in the sky, “There you are. I bet that ability is great for getting out of parties. But,” he smiled sardonically, “I need to end this battle so I can go kill that earl.” The crossbow aimed at her chest and several bolts flew through the air.

The mercenary folded her wings and dropped to the ground like a rock. She couldn’t allow her wings to get to damage. Not that a crossbow bolt to the chest would be healthy but Cila could afford a few scratches here and there. Unfortunately, the quick fall didn’t deter the angel from firing more bolts at her. She flitted around the trees and allowed their trunks to take the blows instead of her. “Stop hiding. It makes it harder to hit you,” he commented. The dragoon rolled her eyes; men could be so aggravating. Though, the angel was right, she couldn’t keep running if she wanted this battle to end quickly. Uncoiling her wyvern whip, she sidestepped around a trunk and lashed it out at him. The regicide moved fast enough with his feathery wings and the whip only broke several tree branches.

He whistled through the cool night, “Feisty. Well, you’re only making it harder for yourself.” His crossbow was exchanged for a curved, short sword.

Cila stepped back and stated sarcastically, Even better. A close-combat battle. Thankfully, she still had her own curved dagger to at least ward off his sword. Trying to be intimidate him, the dragoon cracked her whip in the air, “I really don’t have a reason to mess around with a boy like you at the moment. So why don’t you just go kill that earl and I’ll be on my way.”

"Hey, hey. I can tolerate lots of things," Kellson said, waving his sword admonishingly. "Being called boy is not one of them unless you're old and have a grey beard. You're neither. You're, what, twenty? Very nice."

In the dim moonlight he saw her roll her eyes. The regicide grinned again. "You don't need a reason to party, baby--woah!"

The woman lashed out with the whip as he spoke. Kellson leaned backwards before the whip could hit him; it snapped inches above his nose before zipping back to the dragoon's side. He sighed and twirled his sword, descending to the ground. Back in his homeland, they called woman with whips something...oh, yeah. Sexual deviants. Great.

Touching down on the soft earth, he strolled towards her, sword held loosely by his side. "Just answer me this..."

The whip cracked again, too fast for Kellson to keep track of. His legs were yanked out from underneath him. Frantically, he held out a hand to stop his fall and pushed off, flipping back onto his feet. After landing, the demi-angel tried to seem as though that was totally intentional.

"Do I really look that young?"

Snap! Kellson leapt into the air, somersaulting and landing a foot away from the dragoon. In an instant, his sword ripped through the air towards her face. The woman unsheathed her dagger and barely brought it up in time to parry the slash. Metallic grating rent the air. Blades locked, Kellson cocked his head, gazing at his foe, slightly annoyed.

"I really look that young? I get that way too much."

"Yes," she said, and kicked him in the chest.

"Ow."

In the brief pause as the regicide stumbled backwards, the woman disappeared again. Bugger, Kellson thought. One of his hands began to glow as another ball of energy materialized.

"I don't even get a name? Mailing address? C'mon."

He casually fired the blast of holy magic into the ground. The illuminating blast lit up the clearing for a few precious seconds, but the woman still wasn't there. Kellson glanced up, puzzled. Had she flown away, or...Uh-oh.

Spinning, he dropped his sword and caught the flailing whip in both hands before it could wrap around his body. "Almost," the regicide smirked. "Sneaking around behind me. I forgot I was fighting a chick."

The woman scowled and savagely tugged the whip away from him. "Enough of this." She extended a hand and flung a patch of blackness into the air at Kellson's eyes. He dropped to the ground and rolled away, springing up once more.

"It was almost better fighting bloody werewolves," he growled. Abruptly, and far too late, he noticed both his weapons were lying on the ground somewhere, hidden by the black of midnight. "Oh, bugger."

Time to set this girl straight. Throwing caution to the winds, he ducked under another crack of the leathery whip and barrelled towards her, ramming her with his shoulder, both angel and demon crashing into the underbrush.

Caught unaware, Cila didn’t have time to dodge before the angel bashed her with his shoulder. She fell to the dirty ground in pain and then had the wind knocked out of her as the regicide landed on top. However, even in her slightly disoriented state, the cold glint of metal still managed to attract her attention. He had loosened one of his knives and now had it pointed over her. “See ya,” he grinned and thrust at her throat. The winged dragoon barely had time to react but lashed out her own hand to stop his decent. He’s stronger, she realized as his attack wasn’t stopped but merely slowed. Setting out a small gasp of despair, she pushed his hand away and rolled onto her side as much as possible underneath him. Despite her attempts, the angel still managed to hit her... somewhat. His knife grazed her back and cut the fur strap that she had around her chest, causing it to fall to the ground. “Nice,” the demon-slayer commented. Empowered by embarrassment, Cila shoved him off her, practically making him kiss the ground, immediately stood up, and proceeded to re-dress herself with her back towards him. The angel got to his feet and wipe dirt of his trenchcoat, “No need to get so angry at me. I’m not the one flashing people.”

“I’m certainly not flashing people,” the mercenary growled, “And least of all you.” If she had a mirror, the dragoon wouldn’t have recognized her own face with how flushed it was. Thankfully, she managed to regain most of her composure.

“Definitely not what it looked like from my view,” he stated with the usually sardonic grin.

Cila finished tying the strap, “Well your view was definitely not the proper one, angel.” She put an angry emphasis on the word angel. At that point, a knife flew past her head and imbedded itself in a tree.

“Not a good idea to have your back to an enemy. Not to mention that my name’s Kellson, not angel,” Kellson replied in a cross between being a smart-aleck and being pissed. “Anyway, what about your name? Or should I just call you demoness?”

The dark dragoon narrowed her purple eyes at him, “My name is Cila.” Intent on continuing the fight, she reached for her whip... only to realize it had been knocked out of her hand by the angel’s ram.

“Feeling a little weaponless?” the regicide asked with his grin. The mercenary took a step back. Two knives were pulled out of his belt, “It is a good idea to keep a spare around just in case.” The woman enacted her shadow spell again and became a transparent figure. “Come on, that trick again? It’s getting a little old,” he sighed while an orb of light glowed in his hands. Cila made a mad dash for where her whip laid. However, while she was a shadow, that didn’t make her completely invisible. The angel smirked and launched the light which not only caused her to become opaque but also hit her in the stomach and sent her backwards into the trees.

The dragoon hit the dirt in surprise and barely managed to spot Kellson dashing towards her. Grabbing a hand full of dust, she sprayed earth at him once he was close. The effort was rendered completely uneffective when he put his arm in front of his face as a shield. “That’s such an old trick,” he commented as he lowered his arm only to spy a hand in his face. Cila poured a glob of darkness into his eyes. “Dammit!” he cursed and took a step back while slashing at her with his knives. He managed to make two cuts in addition to the already-numerous scars on her body. But it really didn’t matter. Kicking him the stomach just to make sure, the mercenary fled back to the original arena in search of her weapons. Without them, she really didn’t stand a chance.

"Damn it!"

Blackness engulfed him, so the kick to the gut came as a complete surprise. Breath whooshing out of him, he hit the ground, gasping for air and clawing at his eyes. Where'd she go? What happened? ****!

"Oh, now I'm pissed."

Scrambling upright, Kellson blundered right into a tree trunk. Falling back again, he lay there. Probably better not to get up again until his sight came back. But then again, when would that be? Was this permanent? Not to mention the fact that Cila would no doubt be returning soon to try and strangle him or something...

Yeah...on second thought, he'd better get up.

Cautiously, he stood, arms raised slightly to stop himself from running into a tree trunk once more. He opened his mouth to taunt the stripper-demon for running like a scared little girl, but then decided against it. Maybe when his sight was back. Besides, the quieter he was, the better he could hear her...

Quiet rustling and the snapping of twigs sounded to his left. With a feral grin, he slowly crept towards the sounds, arms outstretched like a sleepwalker. Dim light began fading back into his eyes, starting in the center and slowly expanding. Ah, blessed sight! After a few seconds, his sight had completely returned. Blinking, he peered into the gloom...right into the glaring purple eyes of Cila.

"Oh, shi--ugh!"

She kicked him again, this time at head height. Kellson stumbled, knocking his head hard against a tree trunk. Again, dammit! The regicide desperately fought the tunnel vision, scrabbling away frantically. A crack echoed through the air as the whip--she found the damn whip? In a black forest?!--snapped through the air, nearly hitting Kellson in the eye. He dropped to the ground and folded his wings, scuttling through the underbrush. Before Cila could catch up, he flew into the lower boughs of a tall oak tree, perching like a bird of prey.

"Getting my sight back would've been better if you'd been naked again," the demi-angel called down as his foe stalked through the forest floor. Even in the darkness, he could see her blush with mortification and anger. Chuckling quietly, he extended his wings and swooped down behind her like a vampire, snaking an arm around her neck. The dragoon stiffened at his touch, immediately grabbing his strong arm and trying to wrench it off. "Not happening," Kellson commented, drawing a knife. "G'night, milady."

He brought the knife down, the metal flashing in the dim moonlight. Suddenly, his arm stung and stopped its slash downwards. Cila snapped her whip and trapped his arm by her side as the leather wrapped around his arm. With her free hand, she drew her dagger and tried to stab the regicide in the stomach. Kellson instantly withdrew his arm from around her neck and held her wrist with an iron grip.

"Well, this isn't awkward at all," Kellson whispered into her ear, inwardly disgusted that he had been maneuvered into a stalemate by a woman. "I think you wanted to get in this sort of position."

"I think you're just not willing to kill a female," hissed Cila, struggling to free her dagger hand.

Kellson laughed, releasing her arm and shoving her away. The dragoon tripped and hit the ground with a thud, the whip encircling Kellson's forearm loosening enough for him to slip loose. "Oh, I'll kill a girl, all right," he responded, smiling malevolently. "You're just lucky I decided to be nice and haven't brought out my brass knuckles. I'm trying to kill you, but no sense in ruining your face. Those scars don't do it for you, by the way. I've seen crazy tattoos, but that's just a bit over the top."

Cila snapped her whip in the air angrily. "They weren't intentional, angel."

"Yeah. Right."

He pulled out his second and final knife, twirling them. Beating his wings, he rose into the air. "I've got wings, you've got wings. Use them, if you've got the guts." Because, he added silently, I'm going to make sure you don't have them before long.

Cila simply stared at the angel hanging the air. She knew better than to be coaxed into a bad position by his taunts and suggestions. Going into the air would just make her a bigger target and would risk her wings getting damaged. Then Kellson would have a serious advantage over her. Then again, she was much more maneuverable in the sky. The dragoon could probably even keep her distance from him and allow her freedom to use her primary weapon. Or I could get my wings chopped off, she reminded herself curtly. Neither choice seemed like a good one. “How about,” she placed her right hand on her hip, “You come down to me on the ground. We both have feet, don’t we?”

Kellson gave her a sarcastic smile, “Yeah, I bet you would like that, wouldn’t you? You’re probably a succubus though... I do suppose a good succubus wouldn’t have allowed herself to get all cut up.”

The mercenary’s eyes flared with indignation, “I am nothing of the sort!” Realizing that she was getting worked up over nothing, Cila calmed herself as best as possible. “If I was a succubus, I would’ve killed an idiot like you already,” she retorted.

Her insult didn’t deter Kellson, “Prove it.”

Knowing she was probably choosing the worst of the two possibilities, she spread her leathery wings and rose into the air. Her whip hung limply at her side until called into battle. The dragoon noticed the blood dripping down her arm from the twin cuts the angel had given her. I best not let it interfere with my handling, she decided. Blood could make a grip awful slippery which was something she didn’t need at the moment.

“Well now, isn’t this a better view?” the regicide questioned. “Here, we don’t have any trees or ground to get in our way. Just a nice, clean fight.”

Cila highly doubted the nice and clean part. “What about you, Kellson?” she queried, “You don’t seem to have any weapons left.”

He shrugged nonchalantly, “I guess it kind of looks like I’m screwed, huh?” In response, the dragoon twirled her whip around her. A crack resounded as it snaked through the air at the angel. However, he easily slid under the leather and darted for the female. She brought the whip down in an over-exaggerated motion but Kellson simply rolled out of the way.

So much for keeping this at long-range, the dragoon cursed and soared into the sky to try and get away from the regicide. His own black wings flew after her. Stopping, she lashed out at him again. Instead of dodging, Kellson grabbed the whip with his hand and smiled triumphantly at the dragoon. She attempted to yank it out of his hand but his grasp didn’t falter. Soon, she was looking into his dark brown eyes. Cila kicked at the angel but he grabbed her leg with his other hand and held her in a somewhat awkward position for her at least. Then, with a swift action, he threw her to the side, the whip coming out of her hand. She twirled in the air and managed to right herself only to see Kellson on top of her again. Backed into a corner, she fired a blast of dark energy in hopes of harming him since he was an angel and associated with light.

A dark glob of energy formed around her hand and flew towards Kellson's chest. Remembering the blinding attack, he banked to the right and almost dodged the blast; unfortunately, it skimmed his side, burning his skin and part of his coat and shirt. "Yowch!" Christ damn dark magic and all its users. It probably would have hurt more if he was a full angel. The one time mortality had a use, it hurt him. Figures.

Patting it frantically so the sizzling would stop, Kellson balled his free hand into a fist, grunting, "And vice versa back to you, girl!" White light expanded and flickered around his fist, growing and crackling with energy. Holding out his fist, he opened it and let the energy rip from his palm and towards Cila. The beam shot straight and true--only quick action saved her from getting nailed in the face. It clipped her shoulder and part of her right wing, sending her spinning to the ground. Ignoring the throbbing pain in his side, Kellson dropped down after her. God only knew where the whip had gone; he'd lost both his sword and crossbow a long time ago. Both weaponless except for the magic inside...how would that work out?

The limbs of the trees rustled and bent from the breeze of the regicide's beating wings. His booted feet touched down lightly on the soft earth, cracking twigs as he stalked and weaved through the tree trunks, searching for his prey. Both fists grew bright as energy surrounded them. Too late, he realized that would show her where he was as well as destroy his night vision...too late now.

The dragoon leaped out of the darkness, firing dark magic. Kellson grabbed her hands with his, firing his own holy energy. The two opposing forces repelled each other, forcing a stalemate until one of the duellists released the other.

"They say the first step towards a relationship is holding hands," Kellson chuckled, laughing more at the look of disgust on her face. Darting forward, he kissed her full on the lips, eyes dancing with raging laughter. Her own purple eyes narrowed into violent violet slits (haha, a pun, or something, Kellson thought). Her knee jerked up into his stomach, sending him crashing into the dirt. Hands unlocked, light energy burned into the sky and black magic splashed into the soil on either side of his head. Kellson threw up his arms before Cila moved her hands inwards, sending the burning magic towards his face. Instead of getting him in the eyes and forehead, the darkness hit his forearms. The demi-angel rolled on the ground, howling as it burned through his sleeves and scalded his skin. He pounded his arms on the ground, trying to stop the pain. It helped somewhat, and Kellson somersaulted upright, brown eyes now blazing with rage.

"All right, that does it," he growled. Pivoting, he snapped a kick at the woman's scarred face. She backed out of the way just in time, but Kellson put his foot down and lashed out with the other one, hitting her in the side. She sailed into a tree trunk from the force of the blow. The bark splintered; through the rage, Kellson thanked God for the amulet of strength. Leaping into the air, he stamped down with both feet on where the dragoon's head had been seconds before; she barely rolled away before his feet hit the ground with a thud. Cila desperately tried to scramble away, obviously not used to such close quarters combat. Kellson furiously bounded after her. The only consolation was that she was probably as angry as he was.

She wasn’t quite sure what she was more angry about, the pain or the kiss. Cila scrambled away as fast as she could on all fours which, unfortunately, wasn’t all that fast. With Kellson almost upon her, the dragoon lashed out a kick and managed to hit him in the stomach. At second of time given to her, the mercenary leaped to her feet and stared at the angel. Yes, she was definitely more angry about the kiss.

Kellson gave her a snarlingly smile, “You’re going to pay for that one.” She slid her right foot back. This battle was turning rather ugly and the mercenary wasn’t quite sure if she would be able win. Certainly, she wasn’t interested in killing him; however, if that’s what it took to get away from him... “Pay attention!” the regicide shouted and placed an uppercut in her mid-section. Cila gasped as air rushed forcefully out of her lungs and she collapsed on her knees. Seeing another fist swinging at her head, she enacted her shadow spell and the attack past harmlessly through her.

“Trying that again?” he disgustedly asked and fired a bolt of light at her. But the dragoon knew that was coming and grabbed his light-filled hand with her own dark-filled one. Then she latched onto his arm with her other hand and poured out her dark magic. “Dammit!” he cursed and kicked her side. She went sprawling again. This battle was not going well.

Kellson frantically patted the burned spot in an attempt to stop the pain. Cila struggled for breath as her energy waned. “I, I don’t want to fight you,” she gasped in desperation.

“Too late now,” he growled and bound after her. The dragoon sighed and tried to bring back her normally calm disposition. She didn’t move a muscle as he came towards her. It was all planned out. At the last second when he leaped at her, she again became a shadow. Until he blasted her in the face with his light a second later. The lady flew backwards and only stopped when her back slammed against another tree. She let out a pained yelp, He saw right through my plan...

Cila glared at the man as her pupils narrowed to slits. She wouldn’t die here and especially not by the hands of some angel who took her for a lowly demon. Letting out a battle cry, she charged at Kellson, taking him slightly by surprise. The dragoon tackled him to the ground and they struggled once more. However, she seemly forgot about her magic and raked at his arms with her nails. Lifting her smaller frame, the regicide launched her over his head with his legs and she fell on her back. Then he turned around and punched the earth where her face had been before she rolled over. The woman hissed and tried to go for his face and tender eyes. Kellson kicked out at her face but she dropped to the ground and swept his feet from under him. Now, he was very vulnerable. She leaped.

Kellson felt his leg fall out from underneath him, sending him to the ground. A thunk echoed through the woods when his skull hit a protruding tree root. Landing spread-eagled and in a daze, he blinked rapidly, trying to clear his vision. Groaning, the regicide looked up just in time to see the woman jump into the air, diving towards him. Sluggishly, he raised an arm and fired a blast of energy, but he was too slow. She knocked his arm out of the way and landed on his chest, slashing at his face and eyes with her sharp nails. He winced and cried out, flailing madly, as Cila sliced his skin. Blood raced out of his face, from his cheeks and near his eyes.

The demi-angel quickly shut his eyelids to shield them from the dragoon's assault. Thrusting upwards, he shoved her off of him roughly. Wincing and cursing, Kellson wiped his bloody face off, staining his sleeve a dark crimson. The dragoon already bounced back up, starting to charge towards him. Kellson stumbled back, arm raised. It was time for strategy.

"Wait, wait!" he yelled. "I give up."

Cila relaxed, slowing to stand several feet in front of Kellson. As he continued falling back, he hit a sturdy old tree. Pushing off of it, he used the extra force to add to his already strong forward momentum. The regicide smashed into the surprised woman with enough force to make even the sturdiest warhorse be shoved to the side. They flew through the air from the impact, stopping several yards away when Cila hit a tree. Kellson used her body to shield himself from harm, lightly bouncing away as she slid to the ground, groaning. He laughed and stalked towards her, lifting her up by the neck and slamming her against the tree, slowly throttling her life away.

"I can't believe you fell for that," he smirked, blinking away the blood running into his eyes. He tightened his grip on her neck. "Silly demon..."

The dragoon gasped for precious air as the boot continued to suppress her larynx. She didn’t want to die and definitely not at the hands of some angel who thought she was a lowly demon. Opening one amethyst eye, she managed to focus on Kellson’s leg as much as the invading darkness would allow her to. Drawing up her dark magic, Cila wrapped her hand around the regicide’s leg and let the magic burn into him. “Dammit!” he shouted and ripped his appendage out of her weak grasp. Then he kicked her in the side.

Rolling onto her side, the mercenary moaned in pain and weariness. It felt as though something had been broken. Stretching an arm out for support, pain coursed through her left side. Correction, it felt as though several somethings had been broken. This is terrible, she vaguely thought, This battle had been nothing but a beat down. I’m not interested in killing this angel, just getting my job done. I sure can’t do that if I die, though. Groaning, she managed to pick herself up and face the regicide. He stood there with a rather triumphant expression.

“It’s about time. I probably could’ve killed you several times,” he proclaimed.

“Then why didn’t you?” Cila sneered slightly. It wasn’t like her to get nasty but, somehow, this situation called for it.

“No need to get defensive,” he held out his hands in a mock of peace, “It didn’t feel right killing you while laying on the ground. I’d rather kill you when you’re trying to fight back.”

Isn’t that kind of him, she sarcastically muttered. However, the dragoon eyed the man carefully. Blood slowly trickled down his face and he repeated had to blink to get it out of his eyes. She had a feeling that really didn’t deter from his physical strength, though. Fluttering her wings, the mercenary suddenly shot into the air, Let’s see if I can’t get an upper hand with the first move. Predictably, the angel came after her. Diving into the air, she then stopped abruptly and fired two blasts of dark magic at him. The bullets almost made contact but he still managed to dodge them at the last second. He attempted to grab her arm and punch her in the face but the dragoon spun in the air with her wings folded and dropped slightly. The maneuver made her slightly dizzy but she evaded his attack. Unfortunately, a boot dropped on her head and everything went black for a second. Regaining conscience, she barely glided across the top of the trees instead of plunging into them.

Looking up, she saw Kellson flying directly above her, no doubt planning his next attack. Feeling the top of her head, her fingers came back with red wetness, That’s all I need on top of everything else. She fired several more magical blasts at him but he easily dodged them and dropped down her level to speed along side her.

“Having fun?” he asked sardonically. Cila grimaced. Then he flew straight at her. She flew into the air but he just adjusted his angle to fly into her. However, that she was ready for and slashed with nails filled with darkness. She struck his arm and he pulled back with a glare.

Blood ran down the regicide's arm and face. Kellson shut one eye, hesitant to wipe the crimson liquid away in case the woman attacked while he was distracted.

His brown eyes hardened and his jaw clenched. That was enough playing around. The demoness's dark magic was starting to hurt. Time to kick some serious ass.

Balling his fists, Kellson conjured up another round of energy, dancing around his knuckles. "I'm tired of being nice, miss," he snarled, body illuminated in golden light. "If you're hurting now, you don't want what's coming next!"

As he finished his angry shout, he propelled himself forward, the breeze from his wings shaking the trees below. Cila fired a glob of dark magic that singed his shoulder and top of his wing; except for a slight wobble in the demi-angel's flight, he showed no notice of the burn, shunting the pain away. The woman's face paled as he drew nearer, and she turned to fly away.

Too late.

Twin beams of energy, leaving an afterglow in the black night air, ripped through the air, crackling and popping. The light bombarded Cila square in the back, sending her tumbling to the ground. "Nice shot," Kellson congratulated himself, diving down after her.

Cila struggled to stand as he reached the forest floor again. He fired blast after blast of golden energy into the ground, savoring the whumph as miniature craters were created as dirt and leaves flew into the air. The dragoon scrambled as fast as she could away from the lancing beams, silhouette disappearing and reappearing in the strobing yellow light. Kellson bounded after her, ignoring any salvos of magic she sent back at him. It'd hurt like hell later, but right now, he didn't actually care.