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Stella     With the finals underway, the arena is more garish than ever. Seats filled to capacity, noise beyond acceptable, and hot dog vendors rich enough to fund a second Grand Dorado. When you think about it, maybe that was the MECC's purpose all along.

    There's no need for fancy terrain this time around - Lezard has a reputation for Blowing It All Up Anyway so however complicated they make it, it's all going to end up flat by the end. And sometimes, a traditional, square martial arts arena is plenty of fun.

    Standing in one corner of the white (+1 green spot) square is Stella, unmoving as she patiently waits for Lezard's arrival. Knowing that he's A Wizard, and not a knight, was a bit of a downer - something she doesn't know how to identify, and so she's just confused at the feeling of being hollow. She still hadn't pieced together the matter of boxes, flowers and requiring multiple names, and odds are Lezard wouldn't have her answers.

    But you never know.

    At least it was a fight, and Stella knew how to deal with that much. More than that, a fight with someone she knows is powerful, so something to be at least mildly hype for.
Lezard Valeth Lezard had advanced, just as he expected he would. Someone would consider this arrogance, but for Lezard, he considers it the natural result of his effort and talent. At this point, he cares little that the environment has grown even more commercialized.

He steps out onto the flat terrain, nodding. It's just as well there is no significant terrain her, because he has been expecting this confrontation. Therefore, well... Terrain is just going to be in the way.

He stops at his designated postion, and bows to Stella. "It has been a while. I am pleased that it is we who are meeting today, Stella... But I must apologize that I cannot allow you to go any further."

Repping some Evil Wizard style, he flares his cape behind him dramatically, energy already beginning to draw around him in a flare of light. "If you are prepared to exceed your fate, then come, prove yourself upon the field of battle!" Already, it looks like he's beginning to set something up as thr ground begins to tremble...
Stella     "That is fine. If you win, it means you are more powerful. If you are more powerful, it is your right to stop me. That is the way the world works," she answers, flat as ever. It's always hard to tell how invested she is in a statement, but always easy to know she says exactly what she thinks.

    Where Lezard flares his Evil Wizard Flair up, all Stella has to show when the countdown begins is multicolored cracks spreading along the ground from her feet, like the arena is a mirror and it's breaking around her. That's definitely new.

    "I do not require fate. I will perform as I always do. I would not know what fate to exceed, even if I wished to."

    When the signal to start rings out, Stella's posture shifts. Prismatic blades burst out of her wrists and fall into her hands, and with a slash she sends a ripple along the ground towards the necromancer. Once it reaches him, crystals burst out of the ground like jaggeds spears and lances.
Lezard Valeth Lezard purses his lips at the rather... well, normal response from Stella. "Maybe you would like a soul? I could likely prepare you to hold one, it might create some interesting developments." He chuckles. "I have never had the opportunity to try to invest a spirit into an already living being like you, after all. It might be... educational."

Stella attacks, her blast wave roaring towards Lezard. With a flick of a hand, the ground wave hits a barrier circle, spreading around it in a concentric wave before dissipating on other side. "You are a being of Earth, are you not? Let us test the extent of your affinity, crystalline one. RESONANT FORCE!"

There is a sudden, dull eruption from Lezard, a shockwave that blasts outwards around him. It doesn't even reach Stella. But what is more important is what it does to the /ground/. Massive spiderwebs splay out from the ground around him as if a huge hammer hit the ground beneath him. A growing vibration thrums through the ground, shuddering and wavering as it ripples through the entire field... And possibly begins doing untoward things to Stella's composition.
Stella     The ground quakes and shakes Stella. Lezard's guess isn't bad; a crystal body reacts poorly to vibrations, and it seems to disorient her a great deal. Or maybe it's the fact she's extended her senses into the earth and he just dropped a big 'ol earthquake onto her pseudo-eyes. Or it's all of those things together.

    She doesn't break, even if cracks spread along her body and break the illusion of her being people. She grips her blades tighter, to avoid dropping them.

    "If it will help with your studies, I do not mind. I was originally made into weapons; it is not unusual to treat me as such," she answers, voice reverbating oddly from the ongoing vibrations. Besides, Lezard is powerful, and that already entitles him to ordering her around, no questions asked.

    Amidst the quaking, Lezard might miss the spreading, rainbowy crystals along the ground, changing the arena's color slowly. What he won't miss is when Stella shifts her stance, suddenly thrusting her blade at ground with a plunging motion - only to disappear into it, and then reform by his side slashing upward and diagonally with her sword.

    "You are correct, at any rate. I am of the earth. Perhaps not this planet's, but earth nonetheless."
Lezard Valeth "Wonderful, we'll talk later about that." Lezard says casually, as if they were talking about the weather and not playing with people's souls by combining them with a sapient being.

But then the battle is truly joined, as Stella seeds the trembling ground and strikes powerfully... Only to find herself slashing right into Lezard, taking him with a potent strike that cleaves deep into him. He reels for a moment, his concentration disturbed. The resonant thrumming begins to die down as he gasps in pain and grimaces. "Gggh. I see you aren't going to be so easily defeated. RESONANT FORCE!" Lezard cries out, pouring even more power into it. This time, she's in range of the shockwave... And the shockwaves redouble, intensifying as Lezard begins shattering and grinding the ground around him into fine dust in a spreading wave, working to simply /obliterate/ the ground beneath them both and take Stella with them.
Stella     The shockwaves grow stronger. They have no trouble breaking the arena floor, but where Stella's cracks spread along the ground, it's unusually sturdy. As much as she is, in fact. The rippling shockwaves dampen with each of those cracks they pass, crystal beginning to spread from them, as if consuming the arena. The effect seems strongest around Stella, who is weathering the strike by anchoring herself into the ground with jagged edges of crystal coming right out of her legs and feet. She can't help it, though; she chips in places, Lezard's might being too much to just stand and take.

    "Perhaps you can answer questions for me in exchange," she proposes, as a platform of multicolored crystal rises from the ground under her feet, to take her over Lezard. "You are from a world with magic. Are there knights, as well? What are they like?"

    She taps the platform with her foot, and it breaks apart into a hail of sharp spikes, like knives, all trying to converge onto Lezard, while Stella remains on the chunk of platform left. The high ground probably doesn't matter against a wizard, though.
Lezard Valeth This is a race in the true meaning of the word. Lezard has bent his considerable power in order to shatter Stella to pieces and deprive her of her advantage over the earth, while she bends her will and control to try to vivisect him before he can overcome her. As of yet, it's not clear who might exceed who. She might not be able to just stand and take it, but she isn't really built to do much else, is she?

Lezard is perfectly happy to let her grow her platform as Lezard works to isolate her from the rest of the arena. "There are knights, yes." Lezard replies. He almost begins to deride them as he usually does, but Stella seems to be asking for a reason. "They are idealistic people who go into battle in service to a chosen lord. They follow a code of conduct and are generally bound to defend a specific place or people."

This is not to say that he is idle, however. The spikes rain down, and the Philosopher's Stone flares, pages splaying out to try to deflect the spikes. Some skid off of the pages, others shatter, but there are too many for him to block them all in this state. The spikes scour and slash past Lezard, continuing to draw blood with painful wounds. His clothing is already stained red, but the flesh he inhabits is sturdier than any normal human's.

"Gggh... This is far from over!" He says, and withdraws the twisted black mass of the Manus Catalyst. The heavy weapon has been surmounted with a crown of soulsteel, adding to the dark resonance of the thing as he brings the weapon back and around, slamming it into the crystal wall and blasting more of that repurposed Lordran Sorcery into the side of the material, treating the entire mass as if it was Stella.

It probably is.
Stella     "I see. And do you believe one cannot be a knight without a lord? What of a knight whose lord has been slain?" Stella asks, showing the slightest hint of interest in her voice - the flat tone is ever slightly not so flat, for an instant. It does concern her, after all. She's a "knight" but has neither lord nor code anymore. Technically, she has "Priscilla" and also "the rules of the Concord" but... does that count?

    Blunt force proves to be an answer, at any rate - Lezard's strike shatters the platform, the force of the blow travelling up and catching Stella's legs in the mess. He's not wrong that for all intents and purposes, it's 'one entity' he's aiming at. Her legs crack, badly, and she even loses a foot before she manages to leap off the collapsing platform.

    Her right arm suddenly grows, crystals bursting out as if regenerating uncontrollably, consuming the sword she's holding and molding the entire arm into a large claymore.

    And from her having-jumped-up position, she crashes down like a comet wielding a huge sword of crystal. Needless to say, straight for Lezard.
Lezard Valeth "It is the traditional arrangement. I am sure there are exceptions, but generally, a knight who outlives their lord simply finds another to serve." He responds. "Knights who choose to stop following a lord often simply become lords themselves. Perhaps a better arrangement all around for them should they be capable." Perhaps a bit of his bias is leaking into the conversation again.

Lezard crashes into the platform over and over, shattering it into pieces and sending it tumbling down around him. However, Stella has the literal drop on him, the attack coming down with a meteoric, deadly arc. Beautiful, in a way. But Lezard is not in a position to appreciate the artistry, as Stella threatens to cleave him in twain.

The attack crashes down into the Manus Catalyst, Lezard attempting to parry the crystal with his weapon. For several moments, it seems like itm ight be held back, the sizzling weapons throwing sparks of dark energy and shards in all directions until there is a sudden collapse.... And the blade comes down, slashing into his arm and leaving a long wound. "GAH!" He yells, almost dropping his weapon and quickly shifting it to his other hand.

"I am going to break you until you can rebuild no longer!" He declares, bringing up the catalyst... And then he swings it around, attempting to crash it right into Stella. EARTH GRAVE!" He declares, channelling the attack through his own strike... And should Stella not be able to stop it, will find his magic beginning to wrench her apart as spikes burst out from her in all directions, the Alchemist using her own body against her!
Stella     "I see," Stella repeats. So then yes, she needs a new lord. She makes a note to ask the First whether or not she is a suitable lord and whether the rules of the Concord constitute a code of honor or not. That should be a path towards assuming the mantle she wears a bit better than just claiming to be a knight.

    Despite not being one himself, Lezard was the most straightforward of her opponents and the clearest. Go figure. Now she doesn't have to worry about boxes, hearts or flowers. Only, maybe, souls getting shoved inside her.

    However that works.

    Well, also, she should worry about Lezard swinging the Manus Catalyst at her with great impunity and desire to abuse her quote unquote weakness to blunt, brute force.

    The sword-arm is raised to block the strike; it shatters outside, all the way up to the shoulder, serving two purposes. One, it launches Stella back several meters, sparing her from further contact with Lezard's weapon. Two, it stops the worst of it.

    As she crashes into the ground and loses a leg alongside the arm, the golem girl lifts herself up with one arm and an awkward balance. Crystals quickly start reforming the missing limbs - but not enough to be immediatly useful. Which means she has to resort to something else for a few seconds.

    "I do not know if you can accomplish that. But I am interested in seeing it, if you are," she responds, the arena suddenly... shifting.

    The prismatic crystals, spreading along the ground like cracks that terraformed the broken tiles, suddenly move together. It's like the arena forms a massive hand of crystal around Lezard, and tries to close around him to crush him.

    The magical energy to do this is clearly coming from Stella, flowing from her one leg into the ground like it's just another one of her limbs.
Lezard Valeth Lezard is pretty straightforward except when he isn't. When he isn't straightforward, well... Still, he doesn't have any reason to lie to Stella does he? She's an ally. Even if they're trying to pseudo-murder each other at the moment.

"You are strong. I wonder if you would be even stronger if you possessed the capacity for full emotion... Or if it would hinder you. Are you better off being a soulless weapon? Only one way to find out, perhaps."

Despite his attempts to really get into the groove, Stella's matter of fact questions are just... disarming. It's hard to build up a head of steam when your opponent doesn't respond in kind... But Stella does respond. The crushing crystal slams in around Lezard, smashing him and forcing him to spend time and energy preventing his bones from breaking. Power surges around him as he uses the Catalyst to pin the crushing force apart.... And as the powerful, legendary weapons creaks under the strain.

    "In my hand, the sword that calls eternal sleep!"
            "Honor our pact and hear my command!"

As he calls out the words, the ground shudders, shifting as he pits his own power directly against Stella's on an even more massive scale. The ground shudders and cracks, energy spreading outwards, before erupting in a geyser. Because of the scale, he cannot focus the power entirely upon Stella... But it might be enough.

                              "ANIMATE EARTH!"                              
Stella     "Emotions are a hindrance," Stella replies to Lezard, flatly. "I have seen warriors hesitate and die. I have seen warriors fueled by rage commit reckless mistakes and die. I have seen warriors struck by fear and slain in an instant. I could not serve as I do if I were slowed by emotions."

    That's not true. She has them. She's just not... aware of them, per se. She can't process them correctly yet.

    Lezard's thunderous blast shatters the arena-hand, and Stella flinches, obviously affected by the fact. Her body cracks in places, as quickly as it regenerates. Walls of crystal burst out of the ground, several layers of them, in an attempt to stop the geyser of force and lessen the blow. Her body's regeneration kicks into overdrive, reforming the missing limbs in an instant - her walls break, but as they shatter, she is gone, and out of Lezard's view.

    Until another wall of crystal erupts behind him, and her body reforms out of it outright, slashing out with twin blades of crystal.

    Blades that glow with the same energy as his Animate Earth spell, like bright red and orange lava caught in the swords. They explode on impact, if they hit Lezard or the ground at all, with similar force to his spell - and the blades shatter, sending crystal shrapnel at him on top of the slashes and explosions.
Lezard Valeth Lezard didn't think that would destroy Stella, and doesn't pretend like it would. Therefore, he's still ready the moment Stella erupts out of the crystal behind him, and he spins, catching the blades on the Catalyst. This proves to be something of a mistake, perhaps, as the magical force blasts outwards, sending him skidding backwards and smouldering from merely the first impact. He staggers back to his feet, forcing himself with sheer willpower to remain up and active. His vision swims for a moment as light sparkles glitter around his body, only to be pulled back into his flesh. "We will find out soon enough... But for now... You will /fall/!" He declares, lunging forward and driving the Catalyst down. Each strike blasts outwards with another resonant shockwave, over and over and over again as he strikes, attempting to grind them all down utterly with repeated, almost maniacal efforts in an application of the old ultraviolence.
Stella     Lezard applies REPEATED ULTRAVIOLENCE to the problem. Stella blocks with an arm, and it shatters. She gets hit in the sides, and half of her torso shatters. She uses her remaining arm to block, and it shatters too. The last strike breaks everything under her neck into chunks of shiny, inert crystal, and her head rolls along the ground, hair breaking along the way as it does so.

    Her voice is, predictably, distorted when she speaks.

    "It is not a matter of making me fall. It is a matter of keeping me down," she states matter-of-factly, as if having to explain that continuously.

    Crystals burst out of the ground under her head, reforming her body slowly. Or at least, one arm and her torso, but if Lezard gives her time to keep emerging from the crystalized ground like she's a zombie, it'll be a whole body in a moment.

    But she doesn't seem to be in a hurry.

    Because the attack isn't coming from her.

    The arena ground shakes, crystal blades emerging from it like grass on a field. They're almost uncountable, launching upward in a storm that would make any Vlad the Impaler quite proud of the display, and then crashing back down like a murderous rain for an encore, just in case the initial launches aren't enough to bring the necromancer down.
Lezard Valeth Lezard might have something to retort to that, but anything he might say is lost in the forest of crystal spikes that rise up and fire into him. There is a scream of anger and defiance, moments before they smash down upon him, tearing him apart and leaving him a bloodied mess on the floor. It's at this point that the buzzer sounds, Stella being declared the winner.

Lezard sighs when the impaling crystals are removed, flipping over to stare at the ceiling with an inscrutable expression. "I suppose that was to be expected in the end." He says.
Stella     Although at first, Stella's attempt to reform and walk up to Lezard is abruptly met with LEFTOVER VIBRATIONS that break her body right back up, by the time the arena's safeties kick in, she's finally able to reform and stand straight, somewhere in the vicinity of Lezard, courtesy of shifting her body through the crystalized arena.

    She offers him a hand up, mirroring gestures towards her.

    "If this were a battle to the death, I believe you stand greater chances than all I've faced so far to be able to overcome me. Your ability to quickly identify a structural weakness and exploit it is unusual." And nevermind the fact his magic made it hard keep making crystal. If he'd kept smashing with that weapon of his', he might really have been able to stop her regrowth outright.

    She hangs onto that thought for a few seconds.

    What an odd feeling. Like something squirming in her chest.

    "Thank you for the information you provided. I will need to consult the First and Seifer about some matters."