Cross Effects 3.0 - The Third Time's the Charm? Colosseum

[Kotomine_Rin]

Lorenzo winced as the smoke and burning matter directed itself towards it. Wasting no time, the pirate dug the rapier into the ground.

A sudden surge of mana burst from the sword, all ash and smoke stopped in it's tracks before circling around him. An oddly shaped structure stood around the pirate, the massive amount of mana hid his own momentarily before the smoke simply fell to the ground.

Not a single particle of dust or ash laid upon Lorenzo's body. But there was no time for relief, the pirate barely had the time to react to the flung dagger.

With a swift movement, Lorenzo deflected the blade with his own, both men now glared at each other intensely. His cover was blown, but he had a few more tricks up his sleeve.

The pirate suddenly dashed towards the opponent, sword in hand as he took a fighting stance.

Ever since the smoke had fallen, not once had Lorenzo opened his mouth, not once had he let out a breath, so as he laid in front of his opponent, he simply... opened his mouth.

Go to hell for me, shit.

A small sparrow popped out of that very mouth, reaching his opponent's visage with ease before bursting into flames.

[Panda]

Too close. Way too close. He was too close to block the fiery bird with either Tyrfing or Rahab, so he did the next best thing and moved his head over to the left slightly, just enough that he can feel the heat of the fiery little bird as he passes it on the way to the pirate, slashing out at the pirate with Tyrfing as he keeps his guard up with Rahab.

[Kaze]

Lancelot's eyes grew wide as monstrous dark grey tentacles sprouted from the boy's body, stopping his weapon cold while attacking him from four directions at once. There wasn't any time to think, and the dark knight reacted with all the instinct earned from a lifetime of combat.

The creature, whatever it was, was immensely strong. Lancelot himself had the strength necessary to maintain a hold on his spear, but that meant him getting pulled along for the ride as well. Fortunately this worked to his advantage: Pushing off with his feet, Arturia's knight launched his body into the air while still maintaining a grip on his weapon. His entire body pivoted around the shaft of the spear as the momentum provided by the "child's" yank carried him overhead.

The instant Lancelot's feet touched the ground, he gave the weapon a rough jerk, tearing it free from the tentacle's grip with a grunt of effort. Moving too fast for the human eye to perceive, the berserker struck at his enemy's exposed back, this time aiming to behead the monster.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Lorenzo barely blocked the attack, clashing steel deafened the area as blows met each other with great might.
He was strong, much stronger than the pirate could ever hope to be, that was a certainty. But if sheer migh twas all that mattered, the Earth would still be ruled by the dinosaurs now wouldn't it?

The rapier parried the opponent's blade with incredible precision, each strike was met with a quick flash of steel. To the naked eye such a spectacle would've been but blurred movements, but Lorenzo knew that despite his great skill, he could never topple this opponent head on.

The dug foot emerging, Lorenzo quickly kicked dirt into the opponent's eyes, the attack momentarily blinding him. Such an advantage would not last long, so Lorenzo instinctively lunged his rapier at the man's throat, a cold flash of steel aiming at him like a serpent.

[Panda]

Rahab in my left hand, guarding. Tyrfing in my right hand, attacking. Laivatain behind me, just now returning to a weapon form. Valmanway off behind my opponent, unusable.

Adjutor steps back just in time to catch a face full of dirt, but it doesn't matter. Knowing that an attack will be following soon after, Adjutor launches a back-handed slash to intercept the anticipated follow-up blow, likely aimed for the closest vulnerability, his throat, before letting go of Tyrfing and reaching back to bring Laivatain up in a wide slash across the pirate's chest as a follow up, counting on the opponent's weapon being occupied with Tyrfing to clear the path for the two-hander.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Shit

Lorenzo cursed, hi opponent was ridiculously skilled, to avoid a blow like that, one would need incredible fighting experience. The tables had now turned, the pirate was cornered like a rat and yet...

A vicious grin spread across his face, his eyes giving his opponent a deathly glare. In an instant, Lorenzo threw himself on the ground, letting go of his sword and avoiding the blade by a hair's length. His skin had been slashed, but  the wound was insignificant.

As soon as the man touched the floor, he wasted no time to draw his flintlock, firing a hail of projectiles towards the opponent that stood tall before him. His hand occupied by firing the gun, he used his free hand to take hold of his blade once again.

[Panda]

Adjutor continues retreating, catching the edge of the latest barrage as an Armogarian tendril reaches out to snag Tyrfing. Wincing at the stabs of pain, Adjutor forgoes healing the wounds for the sake of using Rahab to launch a hail of icy spikes in reply as he resheathes Laivatain, the Armogarians on his right hand turning into a thick gauntlet, covering his hand entirely in black metal as he catches Tyrfing, readying himself to try to get past the pirate to retrieve Valmanway, but not moving yet.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Lorenzo had no time to waste, the ice spikes aiming for him, his instincts kicked in as he fired his flintlock once more. This time, no bullet came out, but a tremendous spark seeped from the firearm.

Fire emerged from the weapon, a bird larger than any that had manifested prior. A blood-curling screech could be heard as the creature exploded, the blast diverging the ice projectiles from their path and producing a thick cloud of smoke.

His flesh was torn, the pirate groaned in pain as blood dripped from his limbs, thankfully the wounds were not deep enough to cause any permanent damage.

Wasting no time, he fired a hail of prana once again to cripple his enemy, but unlike previously, he whipped his rapier in order to reach his foe, the blade grazing the man's ankle.

[Panda]

Quick reaction times, resourceful, and damned good with a blade.

Might be a good time to use it.

Perhaps.

The fire bird that defeated the barrage of ice was expected, as was the explosion and the subsequent hail of magical gunfire, all consumed by Tyrfing as Adjutor continued to watch the smoke that resulted. The rapier, however, was by no means expected as it stabs into Adjutor's ankle, prompting a hiss of pain from his as he leaps back to create some distance. Something is wrong with his leg, however, as it drags slightly, tripping him up and turning what should have been a smooth landing into a rather messy tumble.

Poisoned blade, eh?

Well, fuck that.

Taking a moment to steady himself, Adjutor stabs Tyrfing into his own leg, draining all of the blood out of his leg before the poison can spread any further before forcing Tyfing to spit the poisoned blood out. Not wasting any time, he tightens his grip on Tyrfing, the red tracery appears on sword and arm alike as new blood flows into the leg, Adjutor drawing directly from Tyrfing's stocks to replenish the blood he just lost.

With this task completed, Adjutor quickly stands up readying himself for the pirate's offensive, though he's a bit unsteady on the formerly poisoned leg and still bleeding from the multitude of magical bullets that grazed him earlier.

[Kotomine_Rin]

He keeps throwing oddity after oddity...

Lorenzo sneered at the aftermath of that exchange, it seemed his opponent could now counter his magic, the gun would be no longer effective and the flames could be somewhat countered. That man even evacuated the poison out of his system, such an enemy could not be called human anymore.

But his tricks were far from over, using all the strength in his body, Lorenzo arched back and leapt from the ground, feet hitting the opponent's face as he used it like a platform in order to flip back and gain even ground.

Now standing once again, the pirate glared at the opponent, his wounds hurt, but the opponent was crippled as well. If Lorenzo bared with the pain for a while longer, he might be able to turn the scales to his favor...

He threw his flintlock and rapier high up the ground, and in a hair's breath, he pounced at his enemy, closing the distance in a swift dash. Both were so close they could've kissed, but Lorenzo's intentions were much different.

Wasting no time, he violently banged his head on the man's face once more, the sound of bone breaking clear, likely the opponent's nose. With such a close proximity, it would be nigh impossible to reach him with a sword, and he moved with monstrous tenacity.

Blows pounding on the enemy's body, he mercilessly attacked the man's throat, stomach and tights with powerful blows, before using his whole weight in a mighty knee kick in the loins.

The blade now fell back to the ground, the gun reached further back from the pirate. With a swift movement, Lorenzo took advantage of the opponent's state to swiftly thrust his sword at the man's feet in order to pierce them.

[Panda]

Leg still hasn't recovered enough to dodge, moving too fast otherwise...Fuck it.

As the first of many blows pounded down on him, Adjutor raised enough of a guard to protect most of his vitals, depending on his Reinforced body to tank the rest while he gathered mana into a compact "ball of sorts". Adjutor vaguely registers the pirate's knee going for a particularly vital area right as he unleashes the energy.

"Enarkseom!" he shouts as the Unfocusing, strong enough at this point to send everything within a meter of him flying, explodes out of him, shoving the would-be brawler away with enough force to send him flying a decent distance.

With that, accomplished, Adjutor takes a moment to heal the earlier wounds with Tyrfing, including the broken nose the man had just gifted him.

"Next?" he says, practically daring the pirate to charge in again as he readied Tyrfing and Rahab once more.

[Kotomine_Rin]

"Heh, cheeky bastard.",  Lorenzo snarled with a huge grin in his face, humored by the opponent's tenacity. Flame, guns, blades and even hand to hand fighting... this man managed to bear each attack.

Taking hold of his gun once again, Lorenzo thrust his sword in the ground. Suddenly, smoke and flame erupted, an incredible amount of mana seeped from the area they stood from, the courtyard was covered in fire circling the pirate.

Fading, the flames gave in to smoke, only to seep away and reveal that the pirate had now simply... vanished. Yes, Lorenzo used the incredible inferno as cover in order to take a run for it, he was now hiding somewhere in the castle.

...

The Castle

Lorenzo stood at the end of the lavatories, tending to his wounds as he readied himself. Surely the pirate would eventually be found, that was his intention from the start. Countless candles and flames stood at all sides of the fortress, he could clearly see from each and every corner of the castle.

Like a predator, he waited for his prey to show himself.

[Panda]

One soul had been needed to recoup the loss of mana from that fight. One of the thirty souls stored within Tyrfing to bring him back to full reserves, and he ended up using it rather quickly. Tracking the pirate hadn't been as simple as tracing his mana.

It had been even simpler.

Following the blood trail left behind by the pirate, Adjutor stops before rounding the corner leading into the lavatories. Looking around for a moment, he reaches back for Laivatain and, without bothering to draw the blade from its sheath, snuffs out all the flames nearby before slipping into the new shadows. Quickly leaping over to some shadows further inside, likely in the Lavatory proper, Adjutor takes a moment to look around for any moving shadows. In the meanwhile, he draws Valmanway and starts pouring mana into it, the blade itself pulsing a muted green as it prepares to unleash powers normally off-limits to it.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Oh well

Lorenzo was not even fazed by this turn of events, his opponent had fallen straight for the bait. The pirate could approximately tell where it stood, so all it took was a snap of fingers for the unextinguished flames to grow and burst.

The floor above the pirate crumbled, multiple explosions could be heard at once. All that was left of the lavatories was rubble surrounding Lorenzo. If Adjutor was nearby, he'd be most likely crushed by this point, and if not, well, he still had one more ace up his sleeve.

[Panda]

Adjutor couldn't hear the blast from within the shadows, but he could most certainly see the shadows outside of the lavatories disappear as they were replaced by shadows of what looked vaguely like rubble.

...Oh shit. Okay, that's it, enough holding back.

Adjutor takes a moment to section off enough mana for another Unfocusing, then cordons off the amount to activate the Armor as well, keeping the mana reserved for the Unfocusing separate from the mana reserved for the armor as he slips out of the shadows, already in cover, looking around the darkened room in search of Lorenzo's mana.