Starstruck [Dad76] [M]

[Cheesigator]

As they reached the field, Stardust squared her shoulders, muscles tense as she noticed the other mordecai surrounding them. Her tail lashed as she watched him turn to face her, rolling his shoulders and suddenly acting like he didn't have a care in the world.

He told her to hit him.

She blinked and stared at him, eyes narrowed and calculating as she looked at him. He was wearing a full set of armor, it looked like some pretty heavy duty metal. She didn't even have her sword or shield on her, which meant she was going to be relying purely on her own strength and speed. She was tough, she could do this. She wanted to do this, she wanted to beat his smarmy face to a pulp under that stupid helmet of his.

She took a step towards him, hands on her hips as she made a pointed nod at his sword.

"Think it's fair that you have that when your underlings took mine?" She growled, and right as he went to answer, in a flash of movement surprisingly fast she threw a punch right at his helmet. If it hit it would be enough to ring him like a bell, and she did it with her bare hand, the only thing she had for protection being her leather gloves.

She was a dragon, she was incredibly tough. She might be the only one who could take any of his serious punches straight to the gut and be able to stand and curse at him for it immediately after.

She was quick to take a step back after she threw her first hit, wary of counterattacks and quite quick on her feet. She was taking this absolutely seriously, and she refused to let her anger get the best of her here--it was good energy to use, yes, but she wouldn't let it interrupt her thinking process. No, she wanted to win against this asshole and prove him wrong. She wasn't a mage, she was a knight.

[Medievarad]

"If you want me to-" a loud thud and crack resounded as Artorias turned his face to take the punch head on, in the face. Rather than on top of his helmet. But he didn't stagger or step back, he merely stood his ground. Taking the massive blow head on.

And.. That was about all he did. To Stardust, it'd feel akin to a human punching a double layered brick wall. Though, his face dented slightly. So he took damage, blood trickling on her fist.

And as she stepped back, Artorias only shook his head. "That was.. Surprising," he only answered, clicking the sheath from his back and throwing the blade in the sand. He dropped his hands in a low pose and snorted softly. "Try again," he stated coldly.

[Cheesigator]

In the few short years she'd  been running around with mortals, getting into trouble and adventures left and right, she'd of course punched a lot of things. She'd punched a lot of humans.

This guy did not feel like a normal human.

She should have felt the soft tissue of his face, the fragility of the bone structure underneath. But it just felt like punching a boulder, and she knew by the blood she had caught  his face rather than his helmet, which was honestly more than she'd been hoping for.

She stared at him, the wheels turning in her head as she thought it over. So he had some kind of magic too, or something akin to magic, that he probably wouldn't like if she referred to it as magic. She tilted her head at him, glancing down at the blood on the knuckles of her glove, then glancing back up at him as he asked her to try again.

Try again?

"Why?" She asked suddenly, the slightest hint of a smirk on her lips as she lifted her hand, showed him the blood, her own bones tingling and numb from the sensation, singing with pain, though she hid it perfectly well.

"I'm not a sadist. If you're not going to hit back then there's no point."

She wanted a brawl, she wanted a duel, for the two of them to tackle each other and beat each other to a bloody pulp, that was what she wanted. There was no satisfaction in wailing on a brick wall that happened to have a face somewhere in that hood and a really smarmy attitude.

[Medievarad]

"Fair enough," he could only answer as he slowly moved up to Stardust. Slow and methodical, watching her every move and gesture. A predator that was slowly stalking towards its prey.

And like that, when he was several meters away, he suddenly jolted forward at a deceptively high speed, aiming a left hook at Stardust's cheek. The metal gauntlet against her face would by no means comfortable, but it was a feint. The real blow was from his right. A tremendous uppercut that  potentially could knock her off of her feet.

[Cheesigator]

It took a lot of restraint to keep her expression to a smirk, when she wanted to grin. She liked fighting, she liked brawling. Her mother had always been so disgusted by it,  told her it was so undignified and unbecoming of a pretty dragon like Stardust. She didn't care.

It made Stardust feel like a real dragon, because by her kind's standards, she wasn't. What use was a magical dragon that couldn't even use magic, after all?

She was fooled by his bluff; the uppercut knocked her up and back, she felt the cold metal biting into the skin on her jaw and chin, bruising it, cutting it. The pain raced through her bones but it wasn't what she had expected.

She twisted with the momentum of being knocked back, her gloved hands touching the ground first as she swung her tail and one of her legs around to try and catch him in the back of the knees, to knock his feet out from under him.

Where droplets of blood flew from her wounded flesh, a few tiny flashes of purple shimmered; she was grinning now as she snarled at him, "Try again!"

[Medievarad]

Artorias felt the kick connect, though he turned his leg in time to catch the sweep on his shinbone, making him stagger only slightly. He stepped back to create a small distance between himself and Stardust. "Get up," he snarled softly.

[Cheesigator]

Stardust was quick to slide back up to her feet, watching him carefully with those green eyes of hers, unsure what Artorias was planning, or why he seemed to waiver back and forth so extremely between apathy and anger.

She took a step back herself, her stance wary and ready to dodge at a moment's notice, considering she had no idea what to expect. All she could do was tilt her head a little, raising her eyebrows as she inevitably waited for what was next to come, tail swishing behind her.

[Medievarad]

The giant of a man lunged forward again, aiming to punch Stardust square in the face with a good amount of strength. And if the blow hit, Artorias would step forward to circle the hand around her neck, turning and aiming to fling Stardust over his shoulder.

[Cheesigator]

This time Stardust was quicker on her feet, ducking underneath Artorias' arm with a punch aimed for his gut, in the same moment  using that tail of hers again to try and wrap around his knees with the hope that she could make him lose his balance.

If the punch hit, the scales on her hand (hidden by her gloves) would let her potentially dent his armor; and if he wasn't careful, those antlers of hers would catch him under his chin as she came back up.

[Medievarad]

The armour dented and her blow connected. But contrary to what Stardust may've believed. He didn't back down or double over in pain. He slammed his elbow down to Stardust's shoulder, while her knee forced upwards in her gut, aiming to attack the dragon from above and below.

[Cheesigator]

There was a split second where she saw his leg starting to move and she realized what he was doing; she started to throw herself to the side, but his knee and elbow still caught her, though the strength of the blow was still there, it didn't quite catch her as good as Artorias had probably been hoping.

She hit the ground and rolled, back on her feet in an instant as she charged back at him again, aiming another dent-worthhy punch for his lower back.

[Medievarad]

The punch dented his armour once more. And she could even hear the cracking of bones. But, then, she may also notice the armour being forced back in place by something underneath.

In a split second, Artorias threw his metal elbow back to hit her in the chin. If this blow went through and she staggered, he turned around to face her, throwing his foot forward in a brutal kick to her gut,.

[Cheesigator]

Her fist connected and she had a split second to observe the effects. She felt his body spring back, supposedly that was his body at least, but then his elbow caught her in the chin and he kicked her in the gut, throwing her back and to the ground, which she hit with a solid "Oof!"

It took her a second to roll over and push herself up, lifting her head and staring at him, trying to register what she'd just felt. What had that been? Her tail lashed behind her as her mind raced with the possibilities; if she could figure out what it was she could properly counter it.

She licked her lips and stood up, sneering at him, her voice a little rough from the last blow.

"Careful there big guy I almost felt that one."

He wasn't acting like any of her punches hurt, she sincerely wanted to pull off some of that armor of his and see what was going on under there. Perhaps some strange regenerative ability, or maybe he just had a freaky giant turtle shell on underneath his armor. She snickered. That was funny to picture.

Perhaps if she could get one of those gauntlets off, or hook her claws in the armor around his legs...

She narrowed her eyes and darted forward, feinting to the left and when he threw out a punch she grabbed his arm with quick reflexes in an attempt to rip off his gauntlet and glove, curious to see what was underneath. Whether she was successful or not however, she had to make her move worth it--so she aimed a swift kick to his nuts.

Yknow. He'd kicked her earlier, so. It was TOTALLY fair. Totally.

[Medievarad]

"Well, then let's up the power," he answered, stepping forward towards her charge. She managed to ripthe his glove andand guantlet offthe, revealing a pale hand. Skin textured in a complete scar. A massive burn scar. Though apart from that, he seemed more or less human.

The kick for his crotch was a hit, a loud cracking resounding. Causing the male mordecai present to whince in pain, gasp for breath or grab their own codpiece.

But Artorias didn't even as much as move. And the crack wasn't his legacy being completely crushed in thethe literal sense. It was Stardust's leg that would make the sound.

And Artorias suddenly jolted forward, aiming a headbutt right against her nose with tremendous force.

[Cheesigator]

Her eyes lit up for a brief second--she'd been successful in getting his glove off, now if he used that hand for anything, she'd see what exactly was going on. But before she could really relish her small victory at all, sharp pain erupted in her leg, spreading to her bones. A breath of surprise, and suddenly he lurched forward.

The metal connected with her forehead and the bridge of her nose, and suddenly she was flung backward. A tree caught her briefly, the wood shattering and exploding, shards of bark flying as she passed through it, stopped only when she hit another and hit the ground, the second dented and bent backwards from the sheer source.

The crowd of mordecai that had gathered around to watch stared at the sheer power Artorias had just displayed, and they were reminded yet again why he was their superior.

There was a moment as the dust settled where Stardust lie there, unmoving as her brain registered the pain, swam in it. It had been a really long time since she'd been hit that hard. Was this the end of the match?

She slowly pushed herself up, and it took a moment for her voice to carry across the distance--she was snickering, and that gave way to laughter as she pushed herself to her feet, blood dripping from her face and starting to spread on her leg, but when she finally lifted her head there was no serious wound there--blood, yes, but the direct area of impact was now covered in purple scales that covered the bridge of her nose and gracefully arched up over her brow bone to spread across her forehead. It still hurt like hell, but she'd had worse.

She was a dragon, after all. She was tough.

She pulled one of her gloves off, dropping it to the ground beside her, revealing her entire forearm was covered in hard lavender scales, an even mix of human and reptilian. She reached up and wiped some of the blood off her face, still laughing as she shook her head.

"Did I hit a nerve?~" She teased, before there was a sudden ripping sound and she had cleared the distance between them again, her fist aiming to punch him in the face again, with a force that would make it ring like a goddamn bell if she hit it. Two white feathered wings were extended from her back, flicking blood across the grass as the droplets ran off their water-proof vanes, easily longer across than she was tall.

[Medievarad]

Artorias smirked under his helmet. "That one almost hurt," he responded. And as soon as she dissipated from sight, Artorias raised his hand, feet bracing into the ground as he... Caught her punch?!

The shockwave of the momentum suddenly coming to a screeching halt caused two things to happen. The air dispersing knocked his helmet and hood off, revealing the rugged and scarred face of the Grandmaster. Cold and calculating in expression. Blood also squirted on his face. This was the second thing. The force of her punch managed to dislodge the bones from his hand from his skin. Making them tear through the back of his hand. But the mordecai didn't flinch. Instead, a black, flesh, yet stonelike substance rolled over his hand. And it was suddenly whole again.

He aimed to throw her fist to the side, to open Stardust up to a brutal punch to the side of her head, diagonally angled to slam her head down in the ground.

[Cheesigator]

There was a moment where it almost felt like the world around them had stopped and disappeared. Their hands were connected as he caught her punch, and his helmet was flung back. Her lime green draconic eyes had met his whitish blue ones; neither of them had irises. She saw the scars, the burn, but her mind didn't have time to register it as her gaze slid to his hand, seeing his bones breaking his own skin, and then the black... Ooze?

It clicked just in time for her to see his next movement. She dropped to the ground and dodged his swing, retaliating with her own as she grabbed for his neck, wings opening wide and with a sudden downstroke attempting to lift him off the ground, spinning in the air and throwing him back to the earth like he was little more to her than a basketball. The wings definitely helped.

[Medievarad]

Artorias was indeed lifted off the ground, spiralling upwards with the dragon. But by no means was he gotten rid off that easily. He grabbed a hold of Stardust's ankle, gripping it with a boneshattering strength and aimed to. Send her down to earth before him, with a massive swing of his arm.

If he had succeeded, he'd aim to land ontop of her, stomping down with earth shattering strength.

[Cheesigator]

Stardust let out a bark of a laugh, a "HA!" as if she was honestly amused by this--she was. She was having fun. He was successful in gripping her ankle but he'd find it tough, hardened, though that wasn't to say his grip didn't hurt.

The force of his throw did send her down first; she'd had enough of a moment to react instinctively, her nails turning to claws that tore at his flesh as she was ripped away and she hit the ground, a wave of force shaking the ground and making the grass flatten by the wind. She rolled back onto her upper back and caught his kick with her own, the soles of their boots colliding, the pain no doubt shrieking up both their legs from the force.

Before he could come down on her she pushed back, teeth visibly grit as she threw him off of her, enough for her to roll out of the way and back onto her feet again, her wings giving a flick that shook the dirt and grass off and made the air shake with the force.

She stayed back for a moment, stepping around him and staring him down in a way not unlike a predator circling prey--or in this case, a rival.

"Not so human yourself, are you?" She growled, but that feral grin was still on her face.

[Medievarad]

Artorias landed with a beavy thud, cracking his neck, before snorting. "I never claimed I was human," he snarled in response. Another black, fleshy texture rolled over his legs. Hinting at the damage caused. "Nor is there time for words."

And with that, he closed the little distance between them left, aiming to strike an uppercut in her ribs. She could notice the same black texture rolling over the hand he would use to punch.