Sirya vs. Long Shin II - Arena Battle

[CaptainL]

Sirya moved quickly, and it was in keeping with her usual strategy to rush her opponents down, hoping to close the distance in order to land her attacks before they could so much as prepare themselves. She'd used this same method multiple times in this tournament, and for the most part it had proved effective for her. For Long, though, it was another story. He managed to act quick enough to swat the point of her spear away from him, deflecting her attack and leaving her skidding to a halt as his next strike whiffed by her. It didn't matter that he had missed, though. The fact that Long even had the time to counter was impressive in and of itself, and it had left her catching her breath, assessing her options to determine how she would approach her next move. She would have to prepare for an opponent beyond what she had faced up to this point.

But what Long unveiled next came as a surprise to everyone! Sure enough, none of the audience members had seen such a display before, and they certainly didn't expect to see it from Long. He'd come this far in the tournament, and shown himself quite capable all the while - but now, they saw, he had abilities even beyond that. Now, no one knew what to expect from him - assuming, of course, they weren't too terrified by what they'd seen to question it. Whispers of sorcery went amongst the stands, and all eyes were fixed on Long, watching him with terror lest he threaten them next.

But to Sirya, this was nothing new. It might have been surprising the first time, but even with his power, Long was no one she couldn't deal with. She stood as tall as her smaller stature would allow, taking on a stance as she locked eyes with the tiger man. All could see that she wasn't intimidated in the least. "Yeah...let's!"

As Long jumped into the air, Sirya too prepared to make her move. Long might have been fast, but Sirya had her own natural agility - and, as the tiger sailed toward her, she dove to the side, looking to stay out of his path.

[Mkmd13]

The move Long was preforming was risky to say the least, but if it were to connect, it would give him a massive advantage! Low and behold though, Sirya was just too fast as his approaching feet would hit nothing but air. Long sensed this though as Sirya moved out of the way and twisted his body so that he would land on his stomach instead of his back and slid across the ground while using his hands and feet to stabilize himself. "Hmph... Stay still would you!?" He would say as the adrenaline from his beastrial form would start to kick in.

If Sirya didn't react to Long's misstep on his dropkick, Long would stand back up and thrust out both arms to his sides, revealing his sharp claws. "I need to sharpen these bad boys... Do you mind being my scratching post for a while?" He said to her with a bit of a laugh before launching back at her with both claws extended. Long slashed furiously at Sirya from all over! Up, down, left, right there was just no end to it!

[CaptainL]

The discrepancy in size between Sirya and her opponent, in the fearsome form he had now assumed, was obvious to anyone. Sirya knew that if she let herself get on the wrong end of one of Long's attacks, even the slighest of blows could take her straight off her feet against the unstoppable force. But when it came to these matters, Sirya's smaller size also allowed her to duck, dodge, and weave her way out of harm's way - and now, she was able to slide away from the incoming dropkick, leaving Long to land on the floor beneath.

Sirya rolled herself up to her knee, brushing dust off of herself. She turned around just in time to see that Long had managed to catch himself, rolling with his fall into a position more manageable for him. She would be impressed with how maneuverable he could be, but in a battle like this, Sirya had no room for compliments when it came to her opponents. She shook herself, pushing herself back up to her feet, as she readied herself for the next round.

With the girl standing her ground, Long was able to creep up closer to her, as she balled her fists with a glare. He extended his hands to show her his claws - but Sirya was unmoved. She had fought apex predators before, so such a sight was of no concern to her. "As a matter of fact...yeah, I do mind!" she snapped back at Long. As he lunged toward her, Sirya attempted to swing herself to avoid the swipe of Long's claws, while also thrusting out her leg to try and connect a kick. However, with how furious his slashes were, to dodge them entirely was easier said than done. Even if she hit, Sirya would still stumble away with a few trails of blood running down her sides and her arm, panting and gritting her teeth to bear the pain.

[Mkmd13]

Swipe after swipe was aimed towards Sirya as some of his claws would scratch along the surface of her skin, causing it to tear and bleed from the wounds. With the way she was dodging though, Long wasn't able to land any slashes that would dig deep. In what seemed like a on the spot solution to Long's onslaught, Sirya would kick up her leg and try to kick Long away from her or at least stop him from coming any further. The kick would connect and make Long stumble away while holding the spot that it hit.

Her counter attack was successful, but she would come away from it still a little worse for wear. Long rubbed the spot where he was kicked a bit longer before he shook it off and eyed her up again. That's when he saw that Sirya stumbled away towards the edge of the arena and looked to make use of his environment. Long had a sly smile on his face before he used his speed to sprint after Sirya once again, aiming to tackle and spear her against the wall behind her!

[CaptainL]

Sirya knew from experience that Long was packing a lot of power in those claws of his, and she didn't want to leave herself at the wrong end of them. She could only count on her small and nimble frame to steer clear of too much trouble. But even as she avoided the worst of the strikes, Sirya couldn't outpace all of them with the sheer speed at which Long was moving. A few ripped shallow, but no less painful, trails in her skin, and as the panther girl stumbled back after she had managed to interrupt Long's momentum with a well-placed kick, the sensation caught up to her. She bent forward, rubbing at her thigh as a trickle of blood ran down it. It stung, a fact that showed on the grimace that came now to Sirya's face.

But Long, too, had been winded, buying Sirya some precious time with which to clear the cobwebs out of her head and study the surroundings. There she saw she had been backed up closer to the wall - and that Long was barreling straight toward her! Evidently, Sirya hadn't taken back as much momentum as she would have liked. But she still had to act!

As the tiger ran at her with blinding speed, Sirya prepared to duck, hoping she would get down in time to avoid his charge as he hurled himself headlong in her direction.

[Mkmd13]

This was a first that the crowd was seeing both combatants neither being the dominate fighter in the fight. Usually by this time, Long or Sirya would have found a way to dispatch their foe and even with Long's new show of strength, wasn't enough to get the upper hand on her. This just fired up the crowd even more as nothing was predictable in the outcome of this match with chants now growing for both sides. The fans for Sirya though would have to hold their breath as they saw Long charging in full speed at her while her back was against the wall!

Just in the nick of time though, Sirya would duck out of the way and Long's face and shoulder would only crash into the wall behind her. The impact of the blow was enough to knock Long out of his tiger form and back into his human form. This was Long's first big mistake that he made in this tournament and it could prove to be very costly to him! The crowd all gasped at this and the fans of Sirya would start to cheer even louder.

That kind of blow knocked Long a bit loopy as he turned around and placed his back on the wall that he just ran into. He was still standing, but on very shaky legs, giving Sirya a quick opportunity to act and get an offensive move in.

[CaptainL]

Long definitely had the advantage when it came to his strength and size. But so far, Sirya had been able to use her agility to compensate, dodging whatever blows she could and letting his momentum work against him. Such was the case now - as while Long barreled down toward Sirya, the panther girl darted out of the way at the last minute, letting Long slam into the wall! The whole arena shook as he fell back, returning to human form. A number of people in the audience winced at the sight of the seemingly favored fighter suffering such a devastating impact.

Sirya, though, wasn't moved. With a huff, she crossed her arms, standing back with her eyes narrowed in a glare toward her opponent. "Hah, big deal...not so tough now, are ya?" She paused for a moment, and at last she had to concede, with a sigh and a shrug of her shoulders, that it was admittedly impressive that Long could stay on his feet after such a crash. But regardless, Sirya saw it was her time to strike, now that the odds had been evened, and Long had been left stunned.

Putting her head down, the smaller girl charged for Long with blinding speed, looking to close the distance. On coming in close, she would kick up with her leg, looking to strike him in the gut. Hopefully, in the state he was in, it would prove enough to take him down.

[Mkmd13]

With Long still stunned on the wall, he could hear Sirya talk some trash to him before pausing in place. Just when Long thought he could recover in time, Sirya launched into her next attack and charged right at him! Her speed was just too much for him at this point and before he even knew it, her foot was right in his stomach. "Gahhhhh!" Long let out an agonizing groan as all the air would escape his lungs from the shot. A cough then escaped his mouth before his legs started to wobble. Unable to support his weight anymore, Long's body slid down the wall and was now in a seated position against it.

The crowd was now quiet with anticipation. Was this the end for Long? What kind of move will Sirya do next to him? He was in such a vulnerable spot that a quick thrust with her spear would be enough to win the match and even kill the man. The crowd was wondering if she would be that cold to go that far to win this kind of tournament. It wasn't unheard of, but it was very rare for it to happen. Sweat dripped from his brow as Long's head would look up just in time to see what Sirya was planning for him.

[CaptainL]

Long was open now. Not only was he stunned, he was also out of his monstrous form, which surely meant that he wouldn't be as resilient. Sirya always had found humans easier to take down than wild beasts, after all. She knew Long was quick, and she didn't want to risk him getting the opportunity to regroup and recover - she needed to strike when the iron was hot! That was what led her to come charging in, her foot raised to slam into his stomach in the hopes of causing as much trouble for him as possible before he could react.

Sure enough, Sirya's blow struck true, and Long collapsed to the ground, slumped against the side of the wall. She remembered what had happened in their last duel, when he had ended up against a tree, but she didn't feel like going that far right now. The match was still young, and she couldn't be sure he wasn't saving up a second wind - if that happened, she didn't want to be too close. Instead, Sirya looked to punishing him while he was down. With a glare, Sirya kicked her leg out again, this time aiming for Long's throat, as she planted the sole of her boot against his neck to try to choke him against the wall. Her arms crossed, and she stared down at him from above, a rare position for her.

"Well...'sthat all?"

[Mkmd13]

Just as long was looking upwards at Sirya, all he saw was her lifting up her leg and then jutting it forwards for her foot to meet with his throat! "GACK! Urk... Etccchh..." Long would instantly plant both of his hands onto her ankle and try to push her foot away from his throat as gurgling sounds would emanate from his mouth. The crowd looked on as the choke would continue on and Long's legs would start to twist a bit. His eyes would start to water from the lack of oxygen, but he needed to stay calm. If he began to freak out now, this was going to be all she wrote for Long in this match, or even his life!

Relaxing his mind as much as he could in this situation, Long thought about how to get out of this. His eyes would dart around and then when he looked down, inspiration struck. His back may be against the wall, but that wasn't actually a bad thing! Digging his heels into the dirt below, he would place both hands on the sole of her boot and push as hard as he could, using both the ground and the wall as overwhelming leverage against her!

This should be more than enough to push her off and away from him as he could now finally breath in air and refill his lungs. "Huff... huff... *ahem* No, I'm not even close to done with you!" He would say back to her before looking up and staring into her eyes. Rushing into her just doesn't seem to work and she is too smart to trick her into a disadvantage. Long needed a new tactic against her... Something she hasn't seen before. That's when another idea hit him, she hasn't seen him use his ground tremor before! Standing himself back up, he got back into his fighting stance and started to slowly make his way closer to her, but not too close that she was in striking distance. Once he was in position, he waited for her next attack and aimed to counter it by quickly lifting up both of his arms and right leg and stomping his leg back down hard on the ground, causing the ground around them to shake violently, hoping to knock her off balance!