Roq VS Arkandos

[Kella]

Roq remained steady on the spire as the cyborg charged forward, steam hissing into the air like dirt churned by a gopher. The Jedi began to gather the Force to himself, to conjure a solid sphere of energy to hurl at the man, as soon as he emerged from the water. Had Roq not been so focused on this, and had his focus not been so strained from the rest of the fight, he might have had a moment to react to the man's true trajectory before he struck.

The screaming and groaning and bucking of rock broke Roq back into awareness, as the shattered spire crumbled beneath him. He spread his wings instinctively for balance, but a chunk of rock struck the membrane at sent a searing pain echoing through his whole right wing. Roq cried out in pain, just has he was enveloped by the icy cold of the water. By the grace of the Force he eluded snapping his back on a massive rock, taking a sharp strike to the left shoulder instead. The water was utter, all-surrounding, unyielding chaos, with a will nearly as strong as the Jedi's.

But the Force let Roq make sense of the chaos, and he twisted around to catch a boulder with his talons, hauling himself up and out of the water. It ran in thick rivulets down his scales as he spun to gauge his position. The shattered spire was a full sixty feet upriver. Fortunately the river ran from the East, and Roq was still between the crash site and his adversary.

"Well this is getting exciting!" he called out towards the man.

The twilight had nearly faded, and there was just enough light for Roq to spot the shadow of the Cyborg. Roq stretched his wing to take flight again, but the membrane screamed in pain and Roq winced and hissed. He could heal the bruise later, but now there was no time.

He solidified his stance and gathered the Force again, resuming his earlier attempt, compressing the Force into a sphere that hovered at his chest, growing in size and brightness. It was a strange, unnatural light. It did not bounce, so it illuminated nothing, existing no where except in the heart of the sphere. Then the light began to dim, but not because the sphere was dissipating, but because the energy was becoming even more and more condensed, the very light trapped and caught and compressed.

When the man grew close, preferably within seven meters, or when he began to pass, Roq would send the ball after him. The further it slipped from his grasp the more the energy would unwind, exploding either on impact with the man or when passing beyond the edge of Roq's influence.

[Dutch]

ROUND 7

Ark

Effort: 5/5
Fairness: 4/5
Detail: 5/5
Coolness: 5/5
Bonus: /2
Comments: You almost got a bonus point just for how AMAZING that post was, only reason I docked the bonus and one fairness is for not giving Kella much to respond to. Still, this was by far your best post yet. Loved it.

Roq

Effort: 5/5
Fairness: 4/5
Detail: 5/5
Coolness: 5/5
Bonus: /2
Comments: Another solid Roq post, he's definitely a different type of Jedi from the norm, but that's what makes him exceptional. Well posted Kell!


-SCORE-

Ark- 131
Roq- 132

Such a nail biter! Only three rounds left! Let the insanity begin!

Round 8!

START!

[Zarkan]

The warnings blared in his mind as the pillar disintegrated in front of his path. With lines carrying fluid ruptured and servos whining as they strained and in some cases cracked under the strain ark fell down into the water as he cut the engines driving him along. The large cyborg skid trough the silt and gravel that mad the bed of the river clouding the water with both the thin mud that began to mix with a thick viscous silvery liquid. Dams clamped tightly down on coolant tubes stretching across and trough the servos of ark’s right arm its armor breached in several rents in the beskar and plasteel plate allowing water to flood into the compromised limb.

Ark struggled heavily to his feet his right arm could no long move itself properly with plates or armor rent and bent blocking much of the range of motion of his shoulder. His right side damage in both the arm and leg caused him to stagger and then lean heavily towards his left to take weight from his rapidly failing knee actuator. His vision was blurred and doubled systems that required careful calibration thrown out of alignment by the vicious impact. Water poured out of several rents in the cyborg’s armor as his bowed form rose out of the water and bare silvery metal could be seen across a wide swath of his chest and head. The beskar clad cyborg locked his photoreceptors on his foe now grounded on a second small stone rock in the river its wing held awkwardly at his side. His audio receptors poured a garbled unintelligible mess into his mind clearly damaged much as his electronic eyes were. If he was able ark would have grimaced at yet another unpleasant surprise.

The creature was creating some kind of sphere of energy, clutching it between taloned paws; ark knew however that he had few options. Whatever power the beast was pulling on would surely do a great deal of damage, but with his tracking systems sundered ranged combat was no longer an option. Ark clenched the fingers of his left and before reaching down with his right hand grasping the handle of his carbine shakily. Taking a heavy step forward he fired a shot at one of the three creatures, two false and one true, as he moved forward one step at a time. A second step and a second slug fled from the gun and towards the force user. Closing with the serpent he fired a final shot before accelerating forward reading his drives to hopefully allow him to clear the sphere. Ark believed he saw the force user twitch and he opened the thrusters to begin a rise.

[Kella]

All of Roq's focus was centered in the sphere, though not all of his awareness. He saw the man raise another carbine, felt as much as heard the sound of the shot. He did nothing but close his eyes tightly, tucking his head so the soft flesh of his eyes would be protected. There was no glimmer of a shield on his scales. Sometimes sacrifice was necessary.

The flechettes spread as the flew through the air, a glimmer of awareness for each one. Some sliced cleanly through the membranes of his wings, some glanced off of the bony scales on his head and shoulders, leaving only slight divots in the tough skin. The ones that struck his chest sunk in several millimeters, finally stopping at the bony osteoderm that formed the core of each overlapping scale. Then the second cloud of flechettes came, and the third, like flurries of angry wasps. One traced a razor-line just beneath his eye, which swelled with blood before a bead broke away and rolled across his cheek, down and off the tip of his beak, like a bitter-tasting tear. Blood ran down his wings like water, forming droplets on the end of each claw that fell to the frothing water below, while red lines traced the seams between scales along his chest and shoulders.

But the pain was abstract, separated from the mind of the Jedi, a thing belonging to the physical body; Roq's mind was not in the physical, it was in the Force. The pain was a reminder of the necessity of focus, and only served to draw Roq's mind into a sharper point. Into a tighter sphere.

The man's thrusters engaged again, and he began to gain height, intending to pass overhead. Roq reached out with his mind and latched onto his presence in the Force. The thread hovered, strengthening as the man moved through a predictable trajectory. The connection might give the man some instinctual sense of abnormality, but it would likely come too late. Roq threaded the sphere onto the strand like a bead, and cast it upward with all the might of his mind.

It arced precisely, bound along the strand. But the energy fought back, like two magnets of the same pole shoved together, vibrating under the pressure and compelling the same trembling in Roq. He held onto the sphere for as long as he could, forsaking breath and his body. The sphere never strayed from its course, though, it finally slipped from beyond the reaches of his focus, and in a deafening boom exploded in a concussive wave of heat and light and sheer kinetic Force that splashed along the rocks of the canyon, stretched to breaking in the air above and washed over the Jedi.

Roq gasped violently as his mind snapped back into his body, falling forward onto his front talons and taking a succession of heavy breaths. He was dazed for a moment, the Force having slipped away, and in the darkness could not immediately know the fate of the man. Slowly he felt his sense in the Force returning. Too slowly. He could not remain in this spot any longer, not in his disadvantaged state.

Roq tucked his wings against his back tightly, grimacing at the layers of sharp and dull pain. He could not afford to use the Force to offer relief, he would have to bear his injuries with nothing more than will. The Graarl crouched deeply, turning towards the side of the canyon, then leapt. Even the unaided power of his flying muscles was incredible, and without the aid of his wings his talons met the stone of the side of the canyon, locking into grooves and crevices. He felt a ledge and hauled himself onto it, slinking forward, gleaning whatever information he could from the dim and fading light.

Perhaps the man was suffering a similar disadvantage, and Roq crept along the canyon wall in the shadows, towards the West, waiting for the Force to return or for some other sense to indicate the man's whereabouts. Perhaps he could simply slink away, and accomplish his business before his rival was any wiser...

He glanced upwards. The stars were beautiful tonight.

[Dutch]

ROUND 8

Ark

Effort: 5/5
Fairness: 5/5
Detail: 5/5
Coolness: 5/5
Bonus: 2/2
Comments: JUST WHEN I THINK YOU CAN'T GET BETTER! FULL MARKS!

Roq

Effort: 5/5
Fairness: 5/5
Detail: 5/5
Coolness: 5/5
Bonus: 2/2
Comments: I am nearly speechless from this. The combination of the imagery of Roq and how he uses the Force was beautiful. Full marks.


-SCORE-

Ark- 153
Roq- 154

Still anyone's fight here! Two rounds left!

ROUND 9!!!!!!!!!!!

[Zarkan]

Ark slowly raised into the sky above the creature hoping to come down to crush the beast beneath his several tons of beskar.The cyborg looked below him trying to keep the force user focused in as he gained altitude from his position he could see thin rivulets of blood running from punctures in the being’s wings and hide and the dimly glowing ball of the force clenched tightly in its paws. As ark prepared to come down for the strike he saw the ball of light shoot out from the creature’s hands and began to streak up towards his body. The cyborg had only seconds to respond choosing to cut his engines and flip in the air to put the thick beskar of his chest plate towards the attack which was dangerously close as he crossed his arms before his head in hopes of protecting the systems and receptors still functioning in it.

The detonation wave his ark like a runaway tank shredding and twisting beskar armor like tin as it first lifted and then flung the multi-ton cyborg like a small child’s toy. Part of ark’s hull flew out as razor sharp shrapnel which choose to imbed itself in the stone and earth around them while large chunks flew into the sky. The force sent ark sailing over the remainder of the canyon before gravity made its inevitable return. A small herd of deer like beast scattered as ark slammed into their midst one elderly bull who failed to react in time was pulverized into a paste between beskar and granite as ark hit the stone with enough force to leave a large crater and to obliterate the communications systems and engines normally housed there.

Ark skidded along the ground leaving strips and scrap of beskar behind him imbedded in a read smear on the granite before finally coming to a stop in a spray of dirt as he came to a rest in the dirt. The dark starry sky loomed above him as he stared into the sky the list of damaged modules dragging on for a seemed like an eternity before coming to a stop. The heavy cyborg rolled coming to rest on his now devastated chest plate before slowly and hesitantly lifting his body off the ground. The whine of overstressed components filled the plain as he levered himself up. Ark reached up and ripped a chunk of beskar from his right shoulder now doing little more than blocking his shoulder’s movement before simply flinging the small plate away into the grassy fields.

Ark finally stumbled to his feet several strips hung from his front where his ruined chest armor once dwelt. Ark ripped several of the obstructive one from his frame before pulling a final particularly heavy which once made the center peak of his chest armor. The large chunk of armor gave ark and idea as he hefted in in his left hand it was a decent size and shape for a club and ark decided to use it as such as he limped along the red smeared rock back towards the canyon.

As ark approached the canyon he reached around behind him with his right arm ripping a small armored pack from his lower back. Opening the pack as he moved he looked at the small selection of grenades carried within it. Fifteen feet from the edge of the canyon he sent a command to the modified grenades to detonate before flinging the pack and lose grenades into the canyon. As it fell grenades of several types of grenade from mere fragmentation grenades to heavy anti-tank charges, and smoke grenades fell into the canyon. After the detonations the canyon began to fill with smoke a moment before ark with his thermal vision switched on he jumped down into the canyon landing with a splash a foot short of where the jedi was and quickly slashed with his five foot long strip of beskar at the force using creature.

[Kella]

The footsteps of the man were incredibly heavy, and carried through the bedrock of the cliff into the Graarl's very bones, which took the vibrations and turned them into comprehensible sound. The Graarls were well attuned to these low frequencies, which in eons past had carried their mating calls across long miles.

Thus informed that the man was still alive -- functional? activated? -- and moving, and the Jedi sacrificed his sight in the Force to conjure another layer of armor on his scales.

The grenades fell and detonated as one, turning the air into a slurry of smoke and mud and shrapnel that bounced off of the Graarl like hail off of a tin roof. He had tucked himself in a crevice in the rock, focusing all of the energy of the shield to his exposed back, and once more it held strong. Blind as he was, he did not know of the man's descent until the whistle of air and a splash of cold water signaled his landing. Roq had but a fraction of a moment to further strengthen his shield and begin to move away, when the man struck.

The sound was eerie. It was somewhere between a thud and a crunch and a screech as the force shield shattered, cracks glowing hot white. The energy exploded outward in a searing heat, blindingly bright in the infrared as the Graarl was thrown through the air.

He crumpled like a cloth, the uncontrolled flight a foreign feeling that set the balance of his inner ear reeling. Roq's ribs crunched again as he collided with a wide stone pillar, momentum holding him for a moment against the rock. The scraping of his scales down the rock was interrupted by a narrow ledge, that just barely caught the Jedi.

It was then that the pain caught up with him. The Graarl might have cried out, except the air had been entirely knocked from his lungs. In that moment of frozen pain, a thought crossed his mind. There was some silver lining to the viciousness of the hit; it had thrown the Jedi both free of the smoke, and far enough that the long pause before the Jedi could gasp in another breath was not fatal.

The Jedi drew rapid, shallow breaths, pressing his eyes shut, testing his body. It throbbed with pain as he pushed himself to his feet, and his ribs were surely cracked, but a predator could not be brought down so easily. With a low growl of nearly feral determination, Roq drug himself to the flat top of the pillar, and spun back around to face the man, vertebrae popping as they shifted back into place.

Roq's vision in the Force had returned, but it remained only vague senses and impressions. The man stood in the riverbed, immovable even to the raging waters. Roq could push or shove or pull or charge all he wanted, and would barely make any headway. But... he could use this to his advantage.

Focusing on the location of the man, Roq began to drag his fore talons along the rock in front of him, using the movement to focus his mind in the Force as the task became more and more difficult.

The ethereal force drug its own claws against the riverbed, churning up the silty sand and making it shift and slide. He attacked the area beneath the man's feet, making up for inaccuracy with fervor, churning it into quicksand. Ideally it would trap the man entirely, realistically it would likely just slow him down greatly. But perhaps his thrusters would let him avoid the mire altogether. In that case, Roq would bear down upon the man with the Force, in the hope that the combined force of Gravity and the telekinetic weight would bring the man back down into the river.

The Jedi was dragging deep into reserves of strength that had remained untouched for a very long time. Though deep, these reserves were not infinite. This battle needed to end soon.

[Dutch]

ROUND 9

Ark

Effort: 5/5
Fairness: 5/5
Detail: 4/5
Coolness: 5/5
Bonus: 2/2
Comments: Bonus points for how damaged you have Ark, and for deer squishiness. Hope you bring your A game for the last round!

Roq

Effort: 5/5
Fairness: 4/5
Detail: 5/5
Coolness: 5/5
Bonus: 1/2
Comments: Very nice, can't wait to see the last round!


-SCORE-

Ark- 174
Roq- 174

... it's literally tied for the last round of this duel. Kella, Zark, bring it home. Before it ends though, I just want to say wow. This has been one of if not THE best duel I've ever seen. I'm proud of both of you, and I hope you two had fun! Now kill this sh** outta each other


ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOUND TEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN!!!!!!!!

[Zarkan]

The blow against the creature’s shield struck with enough force to send shockwaves rippling through ark’s body and enough force to shatter the force shield in a cacophony of light and sound. The cyborgs inferred sensors burned out under the assault of light and the blast wave sent ark stumbling backwards. As the cyborg slowly recovered from the confusion he could see the now clearly injured force user drag itself back up on to a low boulder. Ark glanced at the improvised club of beskar he had been using and could see that it was significantly shorter than it had been the last two-thirds having been turned into bent and melted lump.

Casting aside the club the cyborg took an unsteady step towards the creature the actuator in his right leg screaming out under the pressure of lifting his weight. The cyborg continued taking unsteady wavering steps up river towards the creature as it dug its claws into the granite boulder. The riverbed was well illuminated in the moonlight and ark could see the creature’s face twist into a look of concentration. Ark readied for an attack spreading his stance and hefting both arms before him.

The cyborg was caught off guard by the force user’s choice of attack as his view suddenly listed as the silt and gravel under his feet began to shift and boil. Ark started sinking into the ground as the gravity and quickly liquefying sediment sucked him down. Ark reached out with his left arm clutching to the ground just outside of the shifting ground and began to drag his body out of the mire. The Actuators in his right arm sent jets of steam out as the overheating components struck streaming water. The cyborg drug himself forward against the flow of water until his feet finally cleared the mire.

Attempting to stand, ark managed to get both legs under him before he collapsed towards his right side as his ailing knee joint finally failed the internals fusing into a hunk of useless Durasteel. The cyborg reached out of the water grasping a log snagged in the boulders before levering himself to the sound of groaning wood to his knees. In this position only ark’s upper chest and shoulders were visible over the flowing water of the river. Ark hefted a small four or five pound river rock and flung it at the creature his options and ability to fight all, but spent from the prolonged engagement. Ark dug his fingers into the log as he built his determination, he wouldn’t simply give up fighting and allow the creature past.

Ark began to physically drag himself through the water with his arms intent on reaching the creature to drive it off and weather any storm it could throw at him or die trying. The gravel shifted under his hands as he pulled forward finally reaching the boulder the creature had been, he knew that mostly likely he had moved to a new position, but despite that ark still grasped the peak ruffly with his good armor and set his good arm under him before springing as best he was able up swinging wide with his bad arm in hopes of hitting the force user.

[Kella]

The Jedi's body was failing. He could still spare no aspect of his mind to healing. Every movement ached, and his breaths were shallow to avoid the searing pain that came with shifting his ribs. His eyes darted back and forth in the darkness. The moon had risen, sending streaks of light along peaks in the water, giving the wet rocks a silver sheen.

A wet cracking suddenly drew the Jedi's eyes, and he saw the cyborg rise out of the water, like an undead from the grave, moonlight glowing eerily around his edges. A dark shadow flew from a sudden movement, and the Graarl ducked, a rock passing narrowly overhead. It took great effort to push himself to standing again. When Roq's eyes found the man again he was advancing slowly, dragging himself through the mire, unyielding against the current.

There was no doubt his mettle and will ran just as deep as the Jedi's. Roq twisted around on the plateau of the rock, eyes darting from spire to spire to the walls of the canyon, gauging distances. Each was too far to jump, he would need his wings to leave this rock.

The man drew closer.

A cold and heavy feeling settled in Roq's lungs, followed by a wracking cough that left droplets of red along the rock and the taste of blood on his tongue. The impacts had bruised his lungs.

Twenty feet between him and the man, now.

The Jedi suddenly became still. He sat back on his haunches and closed his eyes, blind again. And then in a shallow, rasping voice, the Graarl began to sing. It was the language of his people, a melody of roaring waterfalls and crying birds, whispering trees and shifting stones, song and soul.

The song had etched its words into the deepest core of Roq's being, and now he used the song to draw them forth from that place.

"There is no emotion, there is peace.
There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.
There is no passion, there is serenity.
There is no chaos, there is harmony..."

The man had reached the base of the rock. His hand came over the edge with the rasping of metal on rock, and with a mighty groan, he heaved himself upwards.

The Graarl opened his eyes then and they glowed with fiery, raw energy.

"There is no death, there is the Force."

The Graarl reared, bringing around a foreleg to slam into the outside of the man's bad arm, in the same direction as the movement. Time seemed to slow to a languid drift as Roq's talons cut through the air, leaving contrails of silver light hanging in the air. He had drawn on his deepest, most untouchable connection to the Force, willed it to expand from his heart and fill his whole body. Yet this would consume that deepest part. This would be the Jedi's final attack, the last of all that was within him, the final detonation. Through him coursed incredible power, and yet, if it failed, there would be no recovery in time. No clawing his way out of the water, no racing after the man. All or nothing, faith or failure. In the case of the latter, his life would hang only in the balance of the Force.

But the life he was striving so earnestly to save would be lost.

The combined force of the two blows might throw the man from the rock and into the river bed with rock-cracking Force. But if his arm connected the slightest of glancing blows with the Graarl, it would be enough to knock the Graarl's legs out from under him and to send him crashing once more into the merciless chaos of the water.

The inevitability of a roaring freight train was slowed to the peacefulness of a blooming flower as the Jedi watched their fate unfold.

[Dutch]

FINAL ROUND

Ark

Effort: 5/5
Fairness: 5/5
Detail: 5/5
Coolness: 4/5
Bonus: 1/2
Comments: Great job painting the picture of how much damage Ark has taken, very impressed friend.

Roq

Effort: 5/5
Fairness: 5/5
Detail: 5/5
Coolness: 5/5
Bonus: 1/2
Comments: I absolutely loved how poetic the end of your post turned, simply beautiful.


-SCORE-

Ark- 194
Roq- 195

And so ends, the best duel, I have ever seen. Ark, you were simply majestic, but this day goes to Roq. Master Jedi, finish as you see fit.

Great job you two, just amazing. So proud of you two.

[Kella]

Roq's aim was true, and his talons locked into the metal as the blow wretched the man. It was not a single being that struck him down, but rather the collective life of a Legacy of Jedi. The cyborg crashed into the river, grasped by the mire at the bottom. A dense cloud of water rushed upwards. As it collapsed over the Jedi's upturned head, the glow dripped out of his eyes and ran along his neck in rivulets, gathering around his shoulders and chest in a silver mantle. The water had washed the blood away, from both the rock and the Jedi, and the light trickled back into the Jedi between the shadows of the scales.

Roq drew a sudden, deep breath, feeling his lungs draw to their full cavernous capacity. His wings were still dotted with punctures, his body riddled with aches, and the touch of the Force was little but a gossamer thread.

But the Jedi was alive, the man was buried beneath the surge of the river, and there was still time to do what needed to be done. His wings spread to their full span, the membranes catching the moonlight and holding some of its glow. He angled and banked each wing, testing it. They would hold.

He paused then, and looked to the place where the water bent to accommodate the hulking form of the man. Though the Force gave him no answer, Roq knew at least some ember of life still lingered in the man. The fire had burned too brightly to be extinguished so easily.

"Rest, and live again to find peace."

Roq coiled and then leaped, his wingtips brushing the spray of the water at the trough of the first downstroke, before carrying him upwards into the sky once again, guided by the contour of the canyon.

I'm coming, his mind whispered into the night, though there was none to hear, not yet. His dark shadow passed over the pale face of the moon, and then the Jedi disappeared in the darkness.