3041/WMAT C1 Setsuko Kaminagi vs T-elos

WMAT C1 Setsuko Kaminagi vs T-elos
Date of Scene:	17 September 2015
Location:	WMAT Arena - Diablo Desert
Synopsis:	A battle android fights a demigod in the desert. The closest WMAT match yet! With commentary by Fiora.
Cast of Characters:	255, 785, 824
Tinyplot:	WMAT 2015

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Fiora Laurent (824) has posed:
Fiora Laurent says, "Good evening, denizens of the Multiverse! Bracket C has moved out of qualifications, and into elimination! That means that these competitors are now fighting to remain in the tournament outright, to keep their aspirations of becoming champion intact! I, Fiora, shall be providing commentary on this particular battle, between Setsuko Kaminagi, the 'God of War', and T-ELOS.. What purpose or goal might this android woman have, as her name suggests? I hope, for tonight, that it is victory. Will technology triumph, and prove a god can bleed? Or will the determination of flesh and blood overcome cold, ruthless machinery? Tonight, we will have our answer."

T-elos (785) has posed:
Whatever goal T-elos has for being here, she's not telling.

Though, honestly, it doesn't take a genius to figure out: she was bored. The WMAT is not boring; she gets to fight people, and she gets to show that she is, in fact, as good as she says she is.

There is no surprise that she shows up early. She /always/ shows up early to these. T-elos doesn't seem to mind the sun and heat, because she's been standing on top of one of the mushroom 'trees' rather than waiting under it like most people would have done. It gives her a good view of the area - though, honestly, it was so flat and open, aside from rocks and mushrooms, that there wasn't much to overview. Which suts her fine; she's the one with guns.

When Fiora calls her name, T-elos simply steps off the mushroom tree, dropping a good thirty feet to land on the sandy, rocky ground. She steps a little further away from it, spreading her arms. "Well?" she says, to nobody in particular. Maybe the audience.

Setsuko Kaminagi (255) has posed:
    With Setsuko, unlike T-elos, it's a toss-up as to whether she will arrive 'early' or 'precisely on time'. The swordswoman is never late, but beyond that, the life she leads makes her arrival times somewhat... 'flexible'.

    And today appears to be a 'precisely on time' day. Her arrival is nothing ostentatious or showy; no vehicles racing across the desert, hoverbike streaking through the sky, or anything of the sort. No, she arrives quite simply, soaring down out of the sky entirely unassisted, floating over the desert for a moment until her eyes fall on her opponent. Then the demigod turns slightly and heads downward, bringing her feet around at the last second so as to plant them lightly on the desert ground.

    "Setsuko Kaminagi," the demigod says simply, reaching to her side to draw the blade sheathed there and bring it around into a ready stance. "You look rather impatient to start."

Fiora Laurent (824) has posed:
Fiora Laurent says, "Both of the competitors certainly appear to be ready to fight. T-elos, indeed, almost seems a little eager to do so, having arrived earlier. And her opponent, Setsuko, seems.. something of the opposite. Ready to do battle, but a little more collected. Hm, one has to wonder how these mindsets might affect the outcome?"

T-elos (785) has posed:
T-elos rolls her neck before she looks up at the other woman. Up, because T-elos - despite everything - isn't actually all that tall; with her heels, she's maybe five and a half feet tall.

She smiles, just a little bit. It isn't a very pleasant smile, all things considered; it's more smug and self-satisfied than actually friendly. "T-elos," she replies, leaving out the longer description of her name and unit code. "And it's what we're here for. It would be a shame to come all this way and /not/ fight, don't you think?"

T-elos stands there, looking up almost challengingly - until Fiora finishes speaking and the actual signal to begin sounds. Then she's in motion almost immediately, bounding backwards a good ten feet. She's now in the shade of the mushroom she'd been standing on to begin with, though she's not using it as cover.

Slightly more offensively, her revolver has found its way into her hands. She fires a pair of shots at Setsuko's legs, one after the other; the shots carry a pink energy shroud but are quite physical bullets, as she is likely to find out either by being hit with them or when they leave furrows in the sand behind her.

Setsuko Kaminagi (255) has posed:
    As soon as T-elos is leaping back, Setsuko is in motion, and her feet carry her across the desert ground far faster than an ordinary human. She could keep up with cars on the freeway, and it gives the robotic woman only precious seconds to act. As soon as those shots are fired, the sword in her hand whips downward, deflecting one cleanly aside; the other clips across the inside of her left leg, opening a hole in her pants and grazing a shallow cut into the side of her calf. That doesn't even slow her, either.

    Instead, she leaps up, giving herself a few feet of height to close the last meter or two of distance, and so that as she comes down, she can bring Zanjintou down on T-elos for an overhead slash.

Fiora Laurent (824) has posed:
Fiora Laurent says, "T-elos is quick to brandish a firearm, and goes straight for the swordswoman's legs. A smart move, perhaps, but goodness. Setsuko is certainly quick, and her blade serves well as a defense. I don't believe either shot found their marks. No, there's a scratch, but nothing more. Setsuko, in kind, responds swiftly, charging her opponent with impressive speed and a leap, intent on bringing that sword down upon her android opponent!"

T-elos (785) has posed:
T-elos adapts to the speed. She, too, is faster than a human, though she didn't know her opponent had that kind of speed. Well, now she knows.

Setsuko delivers an overhand slash - to T-elos' armoured bracer as she brings her left arm up to block her face. It's jarring; she feels the impact through her entire body, and she actually slides back a pace under the blow, sand building up behind her heels as she digs them into avoid being thrown back further than she already is.

Pushing back to stop Setsuko from following up, T-elos realizes she can't immediately create distance between the pair, and doesn't. Instead she takes the fight to her opponent, darting forward before going into a butterfly kick, spinning her entire body and striking with each foot in turn. She ends up doing a momentary stand on her palms before flipping herself back upright.

Surprisingly, though, when her feet contact Setsuko - if her feet contact Setsuko, anyway - there is a flash of light as the tiny laser emitters on T-elos' ankles fire, discharging bolts straight past her heel and into whatever she just kicked!

Setsuko Kaminagi (255) has posed:
    Setsuko turns out to have good instincts. There is a moment of lock-up, of blade and bracer holding each other still, and then when T-elos pushes back, Setsuko shifts her weight in just such a way as to make dodging easier - something that allows her to avoid the first kick, but not the laser in it. The shot scorches her cheek, leaving a visible burn, and earns a moment of alarm from the silver-haired woman. In the split second she has, she shifts her head just far enough aside to avoid the second shot entirely, but at the very least, T-elos has surprised her, made her more wary. Less likely to attack aggressively.

    And indeed, Setsuko's stance is more wary, holding Zanjintou in front of herself in a rather defensive posture, and watching her opponent cautiously for a moment or two. But she doesn't leave T-elos long enough to go on the offensive; there's a sudden lunge, and then a rapid-fire trio of sword strikes, one-two-three, each accompanied with a forward step, a physical advance to keep the gynoid under pressure.

Fiora Laurent (824) has posed:
Fiora Laurent says, "Oho! It seems Telos has more armor than it appears, as she uses her /arm/ to block that sword strike. She follows up, as well, demonstrating some impressive hand-to-hand techniques, lashing out with her feet as she flips forwards. Naught a part of her isn't weaponized, either, as blasts of energy erupt from her heels! Full of surprises, this one! But, Setsuko doesn't seem the type to be taken by surprise. She shifts almost perfectly, evading the blows, but not those energy beams. They graze against her shoulders, and.. oh my! Standing still one moment, and lashing out with a rapid series of strikes with her blade in the next! Setsuko is definitely on the offensive, now! How will Telos respond!?"

T-elos (785) has posed:
"What's the matter," T-elos asks, apparently amused as she lands on her feet. "Haven't seen lasers before?"

She probably should not have opened her big mouth judging by the results. T-elos isn't bad, close-in. She's far stronger than a human is, she's tough, she's well-equipped for it - but there are better. Setsuko, as it turns out, is better.

T-elos manages to deflect one of the strikes with her bracer, again, though this time there's a hint of purple shimmering from underneath it, as if she was powering something up without letting her opponent see what it is. The other attacks dig in more deeply, elsewhere - she isn't armoured everywhere.

T-elos' flesh is unnaturally tough. The blows don't shear through as well as they would on someone normal, but they hurt; they leave deep wounds even if T-elos doesn't lose a limb or take a wound that forces her to abandon the battle immediately. She snarls, and the purple glow from under the bracer becomes more intense as she punches, straight, at Setsuko's stomach.

Somewhere along the way, a weapon extends from inside T-elos' left bracer. It's extremely dark at the core, not quite black but a shade of purple so dark it's difficult to clearly discern; the cutting edges are a brighter glowing purple, and it leaves a wispy trail of light behind it as she drives it like a giant punch dagger at Setsuko. But because it is a sword, if she manages to drive it home, she yanks it out sideways, leaving a slash behind as well as a stab.

Setsuko Kaminagi (255) has posed:
    Once again, Setsuko's instincts save her at the last moment, but this time they're not fast enough to prevent her from taking more serious injury. Her body shifts, something about the blow telling her not to take it head-on no matter what, and as a result her abdomen is turned aside when the L-Blade snaps out - but the blade itself still manages to tear across her stomach, opening a long, deep horizontal cut across her abs. The swordswoman hisses with pain, but doesn't slow down a bit, instead going on the counterattack immediately.

    She drops low, and then pushes forward, shoving her shoulder at T-elos in order to push the robotic woman off-balance with sheer physical force, and then a turn in her body transforms that shoulder check into a rising slash, as much intended to drive her opponent back and open some room as it is to cause injury.

    "Gh... your construction is impressive. Ordinary metals are easily split by my blade.

Fiora Laurent (824) has posed:
Fiora Laurent says, "Definitely more resiliant than she appears, as Setsuko's blade has a difficult time cutting at Telos. The advantages of not being human, and made of metal, I suppose! Still, that sword /is/ doing damage. I would hope Telos has a plan, and.. oh my, it certainly seems that way! A powerful punch, to Setsuko's solar plexus.. Wait, a blade! A hidden weapon, from her wrist, stabs and slashes quite viciously at the swordswoman. It doesn't slow her, and she counters right away. A wide slash with her sword that, unfortunately misses her opponent, though it does give her some room to move."

T-elos (785) has posed:
Striking T-elos doesn't actually feel all that much like metal (well, except for smashing against her bracer; /that/ is definitely metal). It really does feel like cutting flesh... tough flesh, very resistant flesh, but definitely something yielding rather than something rigid.

Nanomachines are weird.

T-elos breaks into another one of those self-assured smiles. "Yes," she says, very simply. "It is." She's proud of her construction. And why not? It's /hers/. She didn't design it, but she certainly maintains it...

T-elos moves with the shoulder check. This keeps her from going off-balance as Setsuko intended, though she has to pace backwards rapidly instead - but she'd rather give up spacing than take a blow. There's space to spare around here. It's just so... desolate.

She springs away before the slash lands, leaping straight up into the air about thirty feet. T-elos' right arm shimmers, light surrounding it as the limb from the elbow down is covered with a sleek-looking cannon, the barrel as thick as her wrist was.

She fires almost, but not quite, straight down. The kickback actually lifts T-elos back up slightly; the angle she gave herself means that she is launched slightly away from Setsuko but mostly gains height. The shell hits - either Setsuko or the ground, it triggers whenever it impacts anything reasonably solid - and explodes with the force of a grenade.

T-elos lands about ten feet away. She has the sword projecting over her left hand, and her lower right arm concealed in the cannon's machinery; she seems inclined to put neither weapon away and points at least the blade at Setsuko.

Setsuko Kaminagi (255) has posed:
    Setsuko's nature in battle is one of taking the initiative, of maintaining pressure; even against an opponent she must be more wary of, such as T-elos, she'll maintain some semblance of that. When her foe leaps upward, Setsuko moves to do the same, as if to pursue, with the result that the explosion goes off right beneath her and completely upsets whatever attack she'd planned. The explosive force and energy of the blast are enough to shred her pants to tatters from knee to ankle, and aren't terribly kind to what's underneath either. And more than that, she's sent into a tumble in the air, turning and flipping until she can right herself, coming to a complete stop and floating there for a moment or two.

    And then she gives T-elos a faint nod of acknowledgement, the combination of ranged and melee capability giving her an advantage over Setsuko for the moment.

    But if T-elos has been researching her opponents, what happens next might not be much of a surprise. Otherwise, it's going to be a bit alarming when the swordswoman shifts Zanjintou to the side... and both the handle and crossguard expand, her grip becoming more than twice as long and the tsuba widening to well over a foot across. A thin ribbon of blue light shoots upward, leaving behind a much broader, /much/ longer blade. Fully twelve feet long, in fact, twice the demigod's own height.

    Without skipping a beat, she darts down towards T-elos out of the sky, swinging the now-massive weapon around towards the gynoid with incredible speed. "Haaaaa!"

Fiora Laurent (824) has posed:
Fiora Laurent says, "Telos is certainly durable, for being so nimble and acrobatic an opponent for Setsuko to face. Evading that last strike, she makes some more room and.. ah, another hidden weapon, it seems! This time, a ranged one.. one that fires an explosive projectile, no less! That seems to have staggered Setsuko some, but not stopped her. .. Oh my! That.. is a very large sword! It seems Setsuko's sword has lengthened itself, this longer blade made of some sort of energy! And she's swinging it down at her android opponent quite swiftly!"

T-elos (785) has posed:
It's fortunate for T-elos that she has in fact been watching her opponents - she doesn't know /everything/ about them, but keeping track of earlier matches at least gives her the high points.

She knows the blade can change size, but it's still a bit of a surprise to see in person. Along with the flying; T-elos has defenses against someone who's flying around (it's not really any harder to aim a gun upward a little) but it does give Setsuko some mobility that T-elos just doesn't have. She can't fly.

T-elos tries to deflect the blade with her own, but the other one is honestly just too big. It slides down the length of the L-BLADE and impacts T-elos' opposite shoulder, because strong as she is she can't get the leverage to push against something quite that long.

The sheer impact of it slams T-elos to the ground. She rolls to avoid being pinned under Setsuko's Zanjintou, leaving something dark that could very well be blood behind. Injuries or not, though, she forces herself to rise, dismissing the cannon as she does.

Instead she summons a gun.

That's kind of an inadequate word for what shows up in another cluster of sparkles. It /is/ a gun, if your definition of 'gun' includes multibarreled rotary cannons; there's three clusters of three barrels, arranged in a roughly triangular shape. The weapon is painted gold and purple and black, T-elos' colours. The ammo magazine is more like a box, as long as T-elos' leg from hip to knee, and about as thick.

She empties the entire thing in about three seconds of firing.

Setsuko Kaminagi (255) has posed:
    Setsuko floats back a few feet and drops to the ground, holding that immense blade behind her and angled slightly upward; the ground beneath her feet limits the range of that huge weapon somewhat, but she's still holding it in a fairly effective ready posture. Unfortunately, the other drawback it has is that it can be difficult to bring into a defensive posture when she's got two feet on the ground, and T-elos has a weapon perfectly suited to taking advantage of that. The massive blade comes around, levered into place to serve as a shield and outright deflect the bullets upward...

    ...but when she lowers it, numerous bullet wounds and grazes are visible across her body, already starting to leak blood onto the desert sand. The tautness of her muscles and the tightness of her lips gives away the pain she's feeling, yet even that doesn't seem enough to slow her down. That fact could be explained, however, by another fact - the wound across her abdomen has stopped bleeding already. Her regeneration might not be instantaneous, but it's fast enough to keep her going long past when she ought to stop.

    And apparently the swordswoman is willing to brave a straight-ahead charge even after that barrage. Her feet push off, lifting her just above the ground, and with her flight she cruises right over the sand towards T-elos in a straightforward advance. At the last second, she suddenly turns in the air, heaving that blade around for a diagonal attack that doesn't seem to care about the presence of the ground... largely because it goes right into the dirt, Setsuko bringing it around and out of the ground on followthrough for a second, horizontal slash, stopping it behind herself and then bringing it overhead for a vertical chop, then finally turning the blade and swinging it into another horizontal slash, as if to catch T-elos dodging the previous strike.

Fiora Laurent (824) has posed:
Fiora Laurent says, "Another firearm, and this one is /much larger! Telos seems to have an endless supply of tools, to take on the task of defeating Setsuko, as that large gun unleashes a hail-storm of firepower at the swordswoman. With that large blade, Setsuko attempts to use the breadth of it as a shield, but now that she isn't airborne, she seems to be having difficulty blocking all of it. Both combatants are definitely wounded, with signs of the battle's toll showing. Just how much longer will they last, and more importantly, who will falter first!?"

T-elos (785) has posed:
There's a moment where T-elos is open directly after emptying the entire ammo box at Setsuko. It only lasts for a few instants; she ejects the emptied container, which lands in the sand with a soft thump. Then she inserts a new one, slamming it home with a click.

She actually manages to finish the process during the time Setsuko charges at her, but she doesn't have enough time to start shooting again - and at extremely close range, the rotary cannons are not an optimal choice at all. T-elos loves making a mess - but she likes winning more, and she's not going to use a losing strategy.

So she lets the F-GSHOT vanish. T-elos thinks she sees a mistake by Setsuko and lets it happen, the blade impacting the ground and giving T-elos an opening. She produces something new from the left bracer, an almost polyhedral energy projection over her clenched fist, and steps forward when the blade hits the ground.

But it's not a mistake at all. The blade shears /through/ the ground in a move that even T-elos has to admit was both effective and impressive. She flips to the side to dodge the first strike, but - as Setsuko figured - the second one impacts her. T-elos managed to twist to take it partially against the flat, but it still causes a short burst of blood, and it still does some serious damage.

T-elos actually /does/ go flying this time. She arcs about fifteen feet through the air before she finally regains control of herself, though all she can manage to do is touch down on her uncovered hand and both feet in a crouch. She gives Setsuko a grudgingly accepting nod.

And then she rushes her. It's straight. Obvious, almost; T-elos is trusting that Setsuko is going to think that she's planning something tricky, but she isn't. All she does is leap the blade if it comes at her horizontally, or push off the ground and add some sideways momentum if vertically. T-elos doesn't seem to feel the pain of her injuries - well, if she is an android, that might make sense that she could ignore it. They don't bleed for long, either, though the injuries remain - just dry, and slowly closing. She doesn't really /regenerate/ on combat scale, but she certainly doesn't need a bandage.

T-elos swings her left fist, covered in the polygonal energy block, in a wide arc. It has far more power than her fist alone would, because if she manages to hit, the energy explodes off it, causing a shockwave that is strong enough to blow sand away from the two, building up into a ring-like dune around them.

Setsuko Kaminagi (255) has posed:
    If there is one thing that can be said for Setsuko, it's that she has learned to use a ridiculously impractial weapon to a surprising level of effectiveness, helped in no small part by her own inhuman strength and the impossible sharpness of the weapon itself. But then, that level of skill is to be expected of a demigod, isn't it? She is at least not the sort to make a show of it, simply adopting a ready stance and returning the nod... and then falling for the bait hook, line and sinker. Sometimes 'a complete lack of trick' can be a trick in and of itself.

    Around comes Zanjintou, a horizontal slash as predicted, and it looks as if she's going to use that momentum to bring a second attack around, but she never gets that far. At the last second, Setsuko lets go of ther sword with her left hand, bringing it up to try and shield herself, but the blast hits her hard enough that it's her turn to go flying. "Gh-!"

    'Ass over teakettle' is the phrase that best describes Setsuko's tumble, silver hair cascading around her until she's able to plant a hand and get her boots in the sand. She lands in a three-point crouch, her right arm holding the massive sword... and then suddenly roars out, "ZANJINTOU!"

    And then she begins to spin.

    "DAI!" Around the sword comes, swung into a broad circle around her, reshaping as she does so into a blade that's more aerodynamic. "SHAAA!" Faster and faster, both hands on the handle now, building speed and momentum in an incredibly short space of time. "RIIIIIIN!" And then she releases it, and the Zanjintou goes hurtling towards T-elos like the world's biggest, sharpest boomerang, banking around towards her from one side while Setsuko herself runs at top speed straight towards her opponent.

Fiora Laurent (824) has posed:
Fiora Laurent says, "I'm truly impressed, with Setsuko's uncanny ability to maneuver that huge blade, and not simply because it takes strength. A long weapon is hard to move around effectively, and is somewhat easier to read. But, the speed and skill she does it with are certainly throwing Telos for a loop, as she's able to cleave away at her android opponent, numerous times. Still, something must be said of that opponent's durability, not to mention her agility. She always seems to be just out of reach of a blow that Setsuko is hoping to end this contest with. Telos is knocked up by that blade, though, but comes rocketing back down, and.. what a blast! That's certain to be a very painful blow, as the impact is backed up with another sort of weapon. Telos is trying to keep up the pressure, but Setsuko isn't backing down. She's /thrown/ her sword, end over end, at Telos! She's going in after it, too! Oh my, how exciting!"

T-elos (785) has posed:
T-elos manages to bowl over Setsuko with her first strike. She shakes her hand once, stretching the fingers out as she turns to face Setsuko. She looks confident, again. She's damaged but she can still handle this.

But while a lack of a trick might be a trick - and T-elos certainly appreciates the direct route - having techniques you haven't shown off before also count. T-elos hasn't seen this particular maneuver. She can't tell what Setsuko is doing at first, and maintains her distance, not wanting to get ripped into by the whirling sword.

That works a hell of a lot less well when it ends up being a boomerang. T-elos' eyes widen slightly in surprise when she sees it arcing around, and she throws herself forward, rolling. It might have been enough if Setsuko wasn't there to block her, but she is and so it isn't; the blade impacts T-elos from the side, and she isn't braced properly to take a blow of that magnitude.

But she's still moving. Not as easily, and not well - the damage is adding up, she's starting to take structural as well as superficial. But T-elos can pick herself up from it, though covered in sand and worse. She hisses, letting out a sound that's as much angry as pained.

"Damn," she spits, without making it clear if she's swearing at Setsuko, impressed by Setsuko's skill, or something else. Reappearing the cannon on her arm, T-elos begins to fire round after round at Setsuko while backing up. There's nothing in that direction but rocks and sand for, like, a mile; T-elos' constant bounds backward eat up the distance but she's in no danger of running out while she continues to shell Setsuko and the area around her.

Deal with /that/, she thinks to herself, a little viciously.

Setsuko Kaminagi (255) has posed:
    Setsuko, meanwhile, is bleeding from numerous wounds; the L-Hammer even managed to reopen her abdomen along with what is almost certainly cracked ribs. At this point regeneration is only serving to keep the demigod conscious. The only thing keeping her /going/ is sheer, raw pain tolerance, a momentous ability to keep soldiering on through pure willpower. She opts not to pursue T-elos immediately and instead keeps running, snapping out her hand at just the right time to grab the Zanjintou out of the air. In her hand, it returns to its broad, straight 12-foot configuration, and she comes around just in time to see the cannon trained on her-

    And, in what might just be a bout of insanity, she charges.

    The first shot lands close enough to obscure the demigod entirely, and when she comes out of it, there's a brand new and ugly-looking wound occupying most of her right side. But visible though the grimace of pain is by now, she just /keeps coming/, and this time gets the Zanjintou's width in front of her soon enough to prevent further hits. The sword eats a few more without so much as a scorch along its surface, and the force doesn't slow her down, either.

    Her momentum doesn't stop until boots hit sand, and the massive blade whips around towards T-elos - only to disappear entirely, coming apart in a short-lived flurry of blue-white motes of light. Suddenly, Setsuko darts forward across that last ten feet or so, using the feint as a chance to charge in and get in striking distance of T-elos, where she can unleash a barrage of attacks with the sword that's returned to the shape of a katana.

Fiora Laurent (824) has posed:
Fiora Laurent says, "Telos, despite being rocked around by that boomerang blade attack, manages to gain some distance. She makes immediate use, not to mention the fact that Setsuko threw her sword, and thus her means of personal defense, at Telos herself. The android is blasting away with her cannon, laying down a withering barrage of those explosive projectiles. But, Setsuko is intent on perservering! She charges into the fray, catching her blade, and .. my, I'm certainly glad I have the training I do. I think most of the audience here is scratching their heads, as they weren't able to follow that last attack. Setsuko's blade is swung about, in a flurry of blows, so rapid that it was difficult to see. Her blade also appears to have returned to its normal size, now. But again, how much punishement can these two deadly ladies take? Both look ever more worse for the wear!"

T-elos (785) has posed:
T-elos continues to fire the cannon for the entirety of Setsuko's approach. It's not something she has to externally reload, so she can do so steadily, but it isn't instantaneous and she can't fire as fast as she can pull the 'trigger'. There is a momentary delay between each shell.

This means that there is definitely an opportunity to get in, and Setsuko manages it, between taking advantage of the pauses and using her broad sword as a shield. T-elos' shots get slightly more frenzied near the end, slightly faster and more aggressively placed.

It's not enough to keep Setsuko entirely off her, and the feint really works; T-elos reactivates the L-BLADE and interposes it, parrying nothing at all while Setsuko keeps moving. With another snarl, T-elos tries to reposition her blade, but it's too little too late. She manages to hold off one of the blows, but there's a lot more than one of them.

T-elos stumbles as the last of the slashes hits her solidly in the hip. She doesn't manage to stand immediately; she's taken enough damage that it's starting to give her trouble moving. She ends up on one knee, head bowed slightly. If she was breathing, she would be breathing hard, but she doesn't seem to need to at all.

"I don't yield," she gets out, before finally managing to push herself up to her feet. In the same action, she does two things; the L-BLADE-equipped fist lashes out again, trying to embed it in Setsuko's stomach. She aims harder this time; she's risking it all on one strike rather than a flurry, because this is something she only gets one chance at.

Second, all over her body, every one of the violet crystals is shimmering with light.

Each and every one of them is a laser emitter. The six on her chest, the two on her shoulders, and the two at the sides of her head, covering her ears (if she has ears) - those are the brightest. But the others light up too; a trio at each hip, a couple wrapped around her thighs or on her gun holster, three on the back of her bracer, even the two on the sides of each ankle.

"I DON'T YIELD! Keep fighting, damn you! I'm not done yet!" T-elos is not a berserker, not quite - but there is an unfortunate overtone of madness in her voice. She needs this. She /needs/ this in a way she can't explain.

Every one of the glowing points fire simultaneously, a beam of blue-white light. If 'beam' is the right word; it's more of a streamer, as they all meet at a point just in front of her, building into a white-hot star of heat and light.

It's just that she's trying to hold the (hopefully) temporarily impaled Setsuko right at ground zero of the light show. She's not trying to kill Setsuko, only render her incapable of fighting. Probably.

Setsuko Kaminagi (255) has posed:
    Setsuko is a gracious enough opponent to back off a bit after an attack like that, at least in a tournament setting. On the battlefield, it might be a bit different. But she's willing to take a few steps back and give T-elos room to gather herself, if she's still able to fight. To be fair, it also gives Setsuko a chance to catch her breath, so to speak. Her own wounds are pretty bad by this point, so any opportunity she can take to let her body work on that is welcome.

    But seeing T-elos rise up, she brings Zanjintou down to her side again, re-expanding it behind herself with a snap-WOOSH. But the suddenness and viciousness of that stab comes faster than she can defend against, and this time the blade is /in/ her, outright, drawing an alarmed, pained gasp from the swordswoman. "Ugk-!" She manages to push herself off it, but the wound is painful enough that she doesn't go far, and she's still right in range of that converging-beams attack. She brings up an arm and a leg, shielding herself as best she can, but-

    Setsuko's entire world becomes nothing but light, heat, and pain.

    The ground is seared enough to smoke, the sheer heat of the attack created enough outward force to kick up dust besides, and between that and the bright light the crowds will probably need several seconds just to find out what happened to Setsuko. T-elos will get a much more prompt answer, however.

    "...As you wish."

    Her voice is taut with pain. The dust clears to reveal a badly-burnt, bloody woman who should by all rights be completely unconscious by now if not worse. She looks like she's barely on her feet. She /is/ barely on her feet. The Zanjintou has returned to its katana form again. And yet, despite being riddled with injuries that should cripple her for life, the demigod brings her sword up and around, lowering it into a simple, classic kenjutsu stance. She takes a single breath.

    And then she lunges, closing the distance again with one last burst of strength and speed, raising Zanjintou high over her head to bring it down in one last slash aimed at the center of mass. "CHEEEESUTO-!"

Fiora Laurent (824) has posed:
Fiora Laurent says, "Telos is definitely going all in, for this next attack.. Proving she's truly a deadly opponent, by using what seems to be.. her whole body as a weapon! Multiple emitters of some kind, that all fire powerful beams of light, that coalesce into one devastating blast. A blast that, if Setsuko is unable to weather, will no doubt result in the end of this match! ... I honestly don't believe it! Somehow, she's still standing! I can't see through the smoke just yet, but I heard.. yes! She's still on her feet. And, gathering what strength she has left, she charges at Telos, sword raised high! The blow strikes true, and.. I don't think Telos will have much fight left, after this!"

T-elos (785) has posed:
T-elos extends no particular quarter to her opponents, tournament or not. She fights hard - extremely hard, even. Basic politeness never occurs to her. She was made less than a year ago; perhaps she just hasn't learned it.

Or, more likely, she just doesn't care.

But she had expected her blasts to have put Setsuko down. If it had been almost anyone else, she's fairly certain that it would have; only the unnatural durability of the demigoddess is enough to keep her up and moving. But she /is/ up and moving, and having just discharged the majority of her running power at once, T-elos is open for just a split second.

The split second is enough. Setsuko's slash strikes home. It doesn't cut T-elos in half, because she too is unnaturally tough, but it does cut deeply into her. There is one last spray of blood, cut short by T-elos' automated recovery systems.

But they can't keep her up. T-elos collapses to her knees, and then further, to the ground entirely. She struggles to rise, and there is a strange whirring sound from somewhere inside of her as she forces one of her entirely mechanical parts to strain in a way it isn't meant to.

T-elos doesn't even manage to get to one knee and hold it before she collapses again. She's not unconcious; she's still processing. She just can't get up. T-elos tries to fire the laser emitters again, but is rewarded only with a shower of sparks from one that Setsuko sheared through to hit her body.

It is the first complete defeat the battle android has /ever/ suffered in her life, and she hates it.

Fiora Laurent (824) has posed:
Fiora Laurent says, "And that, ladies and gentlemen, is most definitely it. With injuries too severe to continue, Telos is down for the count! Setsuko, by the skin of her teeth, has managed to snatch victory from the jaws of certain defeat, and advances to the next round of competition! How very exciting, and my congratulations to her, on her perserverence and tenacity. Likewise, in the case of her opponent, as well!"

Setsuko Kaminagi (255) has posed:
    Setsuko turns in place. Despite her pain, she has the energy to return Zanjintou to its sheath, and to turn her head far enough to look over her shoulder. Something in the gynoid's demeanor, her attitude before and after that final gambit on both their parts...

    "...loss is painful," she murmurs simply. "It can hurt more than any wound, by far. I know it all too well. But you can use it to your advantage. Choose to learn from it. Let it strengthen you for the future. You're only truly defeated when you let the weight of your loss crush you."

    There is no question that the soldier is too battered to walk back to civilization. So she simply lifts off the ground to fly off. But even that happens slowly. She's been pushed right to her limits, and that doesn't happen often.

T-elos (785) has posed:
T-elos is capable of responding. Words, at least, have not entirely failed her. She does not. She is too busy burning with fury to do much else.

She does not manage to even get to her knees until several minutes after Setsuko has left. Anyone who tries to help her - official or otherwise - has merely been glared at; T-elos accepts no help.