Vienna dropped down instantly into the arena, her twin falchions held loosely by her side as she strode to the center, looking around at the various cages quietly as she searched for her prey.
Locating it quickly, Vienna lunged forwards to meet the monster, her falchions hardened by an extra layer of Metal Magic as she slashed them down towards the scale armored Spartoi that lumbered out towards her.
Raising its giant shield, the Spartoi blocked her blows - albeit needing to step back from the impact - before cleaving its equally large bone axe towards her head, looking to split her in two.
It chittered in annoyance as she dodged the attack, her falchions scoring twin gouges on its shield and tearing away a few scales, making the bulky Spartoi chitter again, its thick bones rattling as it stomped forwards.
Parrying her attack, it tried once more to slash the axe through her body, only to meet air as the black skinned Wolfkin rolled under it, lancing a falchion up and into one of its ribs, cracking it.
Growling, Vienna avoided another swing of its axe before narrowly rolling away from its shield, which it slammed down towards her legs, intending to shatter them.
As she sprung to her feet, a pillar of rock shot from the earth and impacted against her side, knocking her away and into the swing of the axe.
A silver sheen covered her skin as she defended herself from the attack, but I still flinched as I heard her pained hiss as the heavy axe hit her other side.
Before the Spartoi could follow it up, Vienna pressed forwards and tried to lower the monsters capabilities, barreling into it and staggering it.
Whilst it was off balance, she stabbed her falchions into its chest and pulsed them with mana, disrupting its Core and making the Spartoi freeze.
Another pulse of mana weakened the Spartoi, and Vienna leapt at that opportunity.
Releasing her falchions, she coated her hands in metal and reached forwards, taking ahold of the horned skull and squeezing, shattering it, before breaking apart its ribcage and yanking the Core out, crumbling the pulsing brown orb into dust as she retrieved her falchions.
Breathing heavily, she stumbled over towards the platform before getting lifted up by one of the Knights, wincing as she held both sides of her own ribcage.
Aunt D'Arcon gave Roman one last pat and stood up, making her way over towards Vienna and healing her - the Wolfkin woman was looking down at her brother once more, who had drifted asleep inside Aunt Theresa's arms.
From the little I knew of Roman, the man specialized in stealth and support roles, acting as a Rogue and Tracker for adventuring parties; he hunted, located, and trapped his prey, relying on preparation and teamwork to take down opponents on his own level.
Not the strongest individual, but when paired with someone - like his sister, for example - he made for a lethal companion, and one who'd ensure quite a bit of success.
He wasn't a fighter, which was why the rest of us who were like him - ranged fighters, mages, or those that required preparation - were pale as we looked down at the arena, not knowing how we would manage.
No one could avoid being in close combat situations, no matter how potent of an archer or mage you were, so this training was helpful - we needed to learn how to deal with threats stronger than us, or who were able to resist our magics - but that didn't mean that we were all prepared to go through with this...
As if deciding to try his luck, a Hawkkin leapt into the arena next, his longbow already nocked with an arrow ready as he searched for his prey.
ƥandasnovel·ƈom His taloned feet left no marks on the gravel as he walked silently, whilst his wings were tucked close to his back, making him a small figure.
The fight between him and his equally small feline monster went on for a few minutes, arrows raining down around where the monster would flee too before it eventually took an arrow to the knee, allowing the Hawkkin to put the monster down.
Not without a scratch either, as one of his wings was torn up pretty badly whilst his leg was shredded, forcing him to remain stationary inside the center of the arena.
When he finally managed to kill his monster, I gently pried Jahi's arms away from my body and smiled back at her, the Demoness gritting her teeth as she stepped back.
Anput and Kat glanced at me, their eyes filled with a complicated light as they watched me drop into the arena next.
There was no point in waiting, so I began my transition into my True Vampire form, welcoming the shift as I felt mana flood my body, empowering me further.
Time seemed to slow as I looked around, the sounds of the monsters breathing and snarling filling the air.
Finding the melting cage, I stared at the giant serpent slithered out, its orange scales and black patterns informing me that it was an Infernal Serpent, something nearly immune to fire.
It's large red eyes met mine, and I watched as the monster slithered closer and closer, swaying hypnotically as it opened its jaws, revealing two fangs as tall as I was that dripped with reddish black venom.
When the Infernal Serpent began to lunge at me, I waited for it to approach completely before stepping aside, avoiding the powerful jaws and preparing an attack of my own.
Before it could react, the Infernal Serpent writhed uncomfortably as a chain made from raw mana wrapped around its head, tightening and crunching some of the scales as I yanked back.
Obviously, this monster was far stronger than I was, so I staked my end of the chain into the earth and moved away, taking a deep breath as I brought one of my sharpened nails up to my wrist.
Cutting from my palm to my elbow, I hissed softly as I felt blood seep out of the thin - yet deep - cut, but I needed this medium to begin casting.
My blood trickled down towards my finger, and I wove together runes to begin imbuing the strands of blood with my will, granting me power over it.
All whilst I did that, the Infernal Serpent strained against its chain, trying to break free; it's tail tried to stab at me, but I had placed myself at just the right spot to avoid the spiked tail, though debris did rain against my body.
With everything prepared, I shaped the blood I had gathered into a loose orb, staring at it with interest before I began to rotate it, all while lengthening one side of the orb into a point.
It built up speed swiftly, and after a few moments I nodded to myself, finding this speed and sharpness agreeable as I looked towards the Infernal Serpent.
Hearing and feeling the mana chain snap, I hoisted the orb back and chucked it towards the monster, watching in interest as the blood collided with orange scales, punching through and entering the monsters body.
Clenching my fist, I willed the orb to explode, causing the lunging Infernal Serpent to freeze as its spine was splintered, the body around the impact point bloating before bursting.
Now in two pieces, the Infernal Serpent slammed into the black sand, dead.
Releasing my True Vampire form, I sighed as I felt the drain of mana inside my Core, its limiter back on and making me feel weak and lightheaded.
However, I was done with my trial, Aunt Fenryas likely not expecting me to have made some progress with my Vampiric powers and hoping I would try and best the monster with my Fire Magic.
Leaping back onto the platform, I saw another of the Knights drop down at the same time, beginning her trial.
Jahi took my forearm and placed her palm over it, a harsher golden light spilling from her palm compared to Aunt Fenryas.
The wound knit itself together rather crudely, my entire arm itchy, but it did the trick - especially after the Demoness took the time to remove the scar that would have formed through natural healing.
With my arm taken care of, she lifted it up and kissed the bottom of my palm, her amethyst eyes relieved that that was the only wound I had taken.
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Got some art for some characters, but it may or may not post because of this site's wonderful guidelines on pictures; so if they don't sorry, but otherwise...
Empress
Igna
D'Arcon
Yusa
Lorelei (Either or, it generated two women)
Fenryas
Chordeva
Ria
Kolia
Kat
Murderpuppy
Julie
Jahi
Anput
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