KOV VIII Round 2: Feral Nova v. Der Arzt

The atmosphere of the Philharmonic Colosseum thundered with intense sounds of music, strings, brass, woodwind and percussion as Stephanie made her way through the back entrance of the almost Roman like amphitheater. The closer she got to the entrance doors the percussion became more fierce, being able to almost feel the music deep within her own soul but it was the strings of the violin that could be heard above everything else, each note giving her a chill down her spine. It was something she had never heard or felt before, it was kinda… awesome! “I think Orpheus is a little jealous of Nero.” She smirked as she walked up to a chariot with a white stallion connected to it, as if waiting for her, just as Orpheus said. “This is freaken awesome.” Stephanie exclaimed in excitement. The Ninjan Warrior walked up to the horse, gently patting the animal along it’s back. “I think I’ll name yooooooooooooooooooooooooou… Bob!” Stephanie smiled wide as the four legged creature gave an opposing neigh. “Shush Bob, we have a battle to go to!”

Getting on the chariot, The Fire Goddess grasped hold of the reigns, giving them a quick flick of the wrist and off the snow white steed took off, as if it was taking Nova off to a Gladiator battle. Every time the horse galloped, the music seemed to build up, tension of the vibrating strings caused the pitch to elevate, as if they knew she was coming. With a smirk on her face she pulled out her Honoo Tachi by the hilt of her blade, holding onto it tightly as the chariot burst through the entrance, Stephanie instantly raising up her blade which within seconds burst into a saffron blaze, on queue the boom of the percussion echoed through the Colosseum while an explosion of fireworks came up from behind her, as if the former WALlie was there to entertain the Emperor of Roam. But what she wasn’t expecting, was to actually become part of the entertainment aside from the orchestra, an audience with a mixture of old and young listening to the orchestra that was syncing itself to the battle that was about to happen. ‘Oh gawd, this is going to make the battle more difficult.’ Nova thought to herself, she wasn’t going to be able to just let loose like she normally could if civilians weren’t around, no matter, she was a veteran hero! Going into battle that civilians in the way was something she did for a living.

The music seemed to have calmed for a moment, more graceful tones eased their way through the air for a few seconds, Stephanie lowering her blade and putting out her flame, her majestic steed slowing to a halt at one end of the area. Stephanie could feel her heart began to race as her left hand gently pressed against her chest where her first battle against Peak, left her still wounded. Thanks to her Ninjan body, it’s able to heal a little more quickly than a human’s body, but not enough to bring her back at 100%, even with those weird Egyptian doctors that Orpheus hired, some of her wounds were still a little raw. Her arm for the most part was still healed, her heart was surprisingly ok, it turned out the arrow that Peak had shot into her chest just barley cracked her sternum, but that meant that her chest wall was still too weak to obtain direct assault. Her thigh was fine, an arrow to the muscle didn’t cause as much damage, but her abdomen was still sore as her wound had to be re-stitch multiple times. Worries of bleeding from this wound during this battle might end up being an issue if she wasn’t too careful.

Stephanie’s attention was then grasped back to reality as the music began to slowly build up as if her contender was about to enter the arena. Oh no, this time Stephanie was going to have the first attack. “Let’s go Bob!” The steed quickly charged forward, the dirt under it’s hooves being kicked up as set of strings and brass were following their movement. Reading her weapon of choice she took in a deep breath, as soon as her opponent would make their entrance, no matter who it was, Stephanie would thrust her blade forward, attempting to pierce her still searing blade into the fellow KoV champion.

Directly after that attack, Stephanie leaped off the chariot, Bob pulling the transport out of harms way as the hero twist her body in mid-air to face the battler, extending her free left hand as a ball of amber flame escaped from her palm and rushed towards Der Arzt. The battle had begun!

@icarusflies @der_arzt

Her opponent was nothing more but a kid! Couldn’t be much older than her own daughter, Hotaru. His blood stained the edge of her blade, he fell over in the dirt, more in shock than in pain, yelling at her in anger in a language she didn’t even know!

“I don’t speak Spanish!” That what he was speaking right..? Spanish? Even though her last name was Ardor, which was… Spanish for… oh hell she honestly didn’t know what it meant, but it didn’t mean she KNEW Spanish! Adding O’s to the end of every word, she saw that on every TV show and Movie she could think of, so it HAD to work, right? “It’s a fight-o! You know-o? Fight-O! KoV-O!” She sighed in frustration, it was obvious this kid didn’t understand a word she was saying. The music began to grow suspenseful as Nova turned her back from her opponent for a second, turning to the audience. “DOES ANYONE SPEAK SPANISH!?”

She could hear the audience mumble but she couldn’t hear them over the music. Whipping her head towards the musicians. “HEY! I’M TRYING TO TALK TO THE AUDIENCE HERE!” Suddenly the orchestra paused, the musicians still with wide eyes as a shout from the audience could be heard.

“He’s speaking German you stupid American!” a faint voice was heard echoing in the back.

“HEY-!” She was so busy trying to figure out what language this kid was speaking that she didn’t realize he was gone till now! “Awwww man!” was all that came out of her mouth until the orchestra kicked up with the music again, which only meant one thing… she spun around to see the German speaking teen rushing at her on a rocket powered skateboard!! WHY DIDN’T’ NOTICE THAT BEFORE! “HE GET’S A ROCKET SKATEBOARD AND I GET A HORSE!? No offense Bob.” Again, distracted at the fact that the sneaky assault was just made.

She suddenly felt something wrap around her neck, wire with thorns? Wait! ‘BARBWIRE?!' She WAS going to shout out until she felt it tighten around her neck, preventing her to speak. But instantly grasping at the wire with her hands, using her Ninjan strength to tug on it just enough to keep it from digging into her trachea. The piercing spins of the wire dug through the suit material around her neck, digging into her skin. “ACK!” She turned her body with the direction Klaus was moving, trying to avoid the wire to get tangled more than it already was around her neck as he then sent his super awesome and very stylish rocket skateboard right at her! Levitating herself into the air the skateboard soared right under her as gave a smirky grin. “YOU MISS-“ before she could finish the board came back, smacking her right in the back and forcing her face first into the ground as the bass of percussion echoed at the same time as her fall.

Lifting her head and spitting out the grainy dirt from her mouth she got up on her knees, her back aching in pain. “OUCH!” The Fire Goddess yelled as she got up, her hands still wrapped around the anterior portion of her neck to prevent the wire from completely choking her. She could hear Bob almost laughing in the background (if horses could laugh, she didn’t know) as her emerald eyes glared over at the punk that just got dirt all over her JUST CLEANED UNIFORM!

The music began to slowly build as Stephanie’s hands began to burn with heat, using her abilities to channel the heat into the metal strand, making a perfect conductor for heat. It began to quickly glow a deep maroon in hopes to burn his hands just enough to let the wire go as she then used her Ninjan strength to rip the wire away from her neck, tossing it on the ground as the tempo of the music began to accelerate, the riff of the electric instruments following Stephanie as her eyes began to glow jonquil hue. “BOB, MY SWORD!” She extended her hand, as if her blade was going to be thrown to her. But… nothing happened. Looking over she saw as ‘Bob’ simply stood by his sword, giving her a ‘I’m a freaken horse, I don’t have hands.’ glare, or at least she it looked like a glare to her. “Never mind!” Stephanie went onto the next thing.

Her feet instantly pushed her forward as she blitzed towards the young delinquent, using her ability of flight to actually help her close the space between the two more quickly. Once she was close enough, she went right into the assault. Preforming a flying knee attack, she used her powerful legs she launched herself forward and upwards, thrusting her left knee out and aiming at the center of his chest. As soon as her feet planted on the Earth, she shift her body so that the audience was now behind her. Moving her left leg behind her as if she was using it as an anchor for her next attack, she moved her right leg slightly forward so she was leaning some weight on it as she brought back her right hand just behind her torso, her left one following directly after it as if they were about to contain something between them. The stance would be similar to anyone who watched a specific anime cartoon that was known by millions. “KAME-“ Stephanie began, her eyes glowing more brightly as the dirt began to kick up around her feet. “HAME” a ball of blazing golden flames could be seen quickly developing between her hands. “HA!” At the last she pushed both hands forward together as they fired the blast of inferno rushing towards the fellow fighter, the Fire Goddess manipulating the flame so the head of the flame turned into a dragon’s head roaring to life, opening it’s mouth as if it was going to attempt to consume the troublemaker.

Of course, Stephanie was never trained in the way of Ki energy, but she had ALWAYS wanted to do this just for the hell of it! The attack was nothing but fire, but it was still fun to pretend that she could do the Kamehameha!

@icarusflies@der_arzt

“YOU CAN MAKE PAINTINGS COME TO LIFE!?” she yelled out as her flame suddenly became an explosion that shook the foundation of the Colosseum. Stephanie threw up her hands, manipulating the flames that were rushing back at her to protect the audience, stopping the outburst just inches from her body and absorbed it into her body, too excited than upset to even address he could have killed the innocent people. “That’s so cool!” She didn’t even bother thinking about how Klaus could have blown up the whole place. “Do you know how to make a Unicorn?! Cause I’ve always wanted one be-“ before she could finish her trusty horse, Bob slammed into her! The music turned into a more aggressive beat and people in the audience began to rush down from their seats. “HEY!” She yelled in surprise as a man who had to be eighty slammed his wooden cane into her ribs. “OUCH!” Everyone was slamming into each other! It felt like she got caught in the middle of a Slipknot Concert!

Elbows, knees, hands, feet, even heads were slamming into each other. “PEOPLE CALM DOWN! STOP THIS- OUCH THAT’S MY SPLEEN!” Stephanie cried out in vain, there was no way to calm the crowd! What caused this!? Could it have been the kid with the sick rocket skateboard? But then a suddenly a woman kicked her high heel into Stephanie’s stomach and in that instant, she felt it, the ‘snap’ of her sutures from her abdominal wound. Blood could be felt slowly oozing from her now open and only partially healed wound. “THAT’S IT!” Stephanie never resorting using her powers in this manner, but she was left no choice. Her eyes glowed cardinal as she extended her hands out, using her heat manipulation abilities to control the body heat inside the now moshers. Every man, woman and child were suddenly sent flying back to the other side of the stage, their back slamming into the wall and each other, knocking sense back into them as they all sat around trying to figure out what had happened, and leaving Stephanie to focus on Klaus… who was now… playing a Harmonica?

“Hey! No playing the instrumentation-O! We fight-O! One on One-O!” She yelled out at the rebel warrior only to suddenly get slammed by some sort of sonic blast! Her body went flying back, totally unprepared for the attack and slammed into a wall. “UMPH!” Stephanie landed hard on the ground as she looked back up only to be slammed again, this time her body being sent flying up into the roof before falling back down on the ground, dirt kicking up as she landed as debris began to sprinkle down. His attacks were almost as powerful as Sha’s Sonic Bursts! Only these weren’t focused like hers. Some hit her while others slammed into the columns and walls next to her. “Ok… instruments… bad…” Stephanie stood up, feeling a bit dizzy as she could hear him from a distance, assuming he was mocking her. “Grrr!” Stephanie pulled out her sword once more only to get slammed by another acoustic outburst, sending her flying again into a wall, this time the force so great, it caused the former WALlie to break through. She tumbled and skid along the ground, losing her blade until she finally came to a stop. Grabbing a ball full of dirt Stephanie quickly pushed herself up, feeling the rest of her sutures in her chest becoming loose as well. “ENOUGH!” She shouted as she took flight into the air.

The Ninjan Warrior flew as she began countering the attacks by throwing her own fireballs at them, causing them to cancel each other out. Just then, an explosion of fireworks happened behind Klaus, and Stephanie took the opportunity of attack. “SHAZAM!’ The hero shouted as she quickly extended her right hand outwards towards Klaus, balling her hands into a tight fist and pulling it back to her, this caused the eruption of fire from the explosion come towards the German rioter from behind, more to distract him than to actually burn him. At this time Stephanie came descending down quickly towards her opponent, cupping both hands together and raising them behind her head. When she was close enough she brought down both arms quickly, attempting to use not her fists, but the boney part of her elbows to slam into Klaus head, but not with enough to kill him… of course. As her feet planted on the ground, fissures were made as she crouched down with the landing, then pushed herself upward once more like a spring, using her balled right fist to try and land a uppercut right under his chin.

@der_arzt:

She could feel the agonizing and unnatural ‘pop’ of Klaus now dislocated shoulder, her second attack just barley touched him, but it was enough to cause him to fall to the ground. A small cloud of dust settled around them as Stephanie stood tall, her Ninjan pride taking the better of her. The rouge artist was now several feet away from the hero, her eyes were focused on him as he laid still, curled against the filthy blood stained ground. But that wasn’t enough for her warrior spirit, it wanted to finish the battle once in for all, to put an end to this round.

She took a single step forward before Klaus began crying out to her. WAIT HE SPOKE ENGLISH!? ALL THIS TIME!? Well… at least she was able to brush on her Spanish skills. But that wasn’t the focus right now, Stephanie’s eyes widen in fear as she stopped dead in her tracks. Oh gawd what has done? Lowering her guard a wave of guilt poured over her, what if this was Hotaru? Of course… Hotaru wouldn’t be caught in a position like this, BUT what if it was her? Or Sozuko? She was so focused on winning, to put Klaus down, that she didn’t think that he was just a kid. Without a second thought she quickly walked over to him, her abdominal wound now bleeding through her suit as she knelt down next to him.

“Hey, hey, it’s ok.” Her voice was sincere, and full of concern, it wasn’t about the KoV right now, it was about his welling being. The hero was about to place a hand on his head to try and comfort him, but everything quickly changed when her eyes suddenly began to sting! Did he just spray paint her eyes?!? She quickly stood up, roaring in pain as her hands quickly covered her eyes, trying to rub the paint out of her sockets. Something was then shoved in her mouth, she couldn’t tell what it was, but it was slimy, full of dirt, she swung around blindly as she quickly spat out whatever it was. She couldn’t see and the music around them made it impossible for her to hear exactly what was going on around her.

But then what felt like hooves kicked her right in the stomach, knocking her down to the ground. His voice was now nails on a chalkboard to her as she continued to get kicked around by the poorly painted unicorn, and all Stephanie could think about, was now turning that punk into ash! She quickly pushed herself up from the ground and burst into crimson flames, causing the painting of the unicorn to explode! The force of the blast caused Nova to fly back into the seating of where the audience once sat. With her flames extinguished for the moment, she stood up, her eyes still closed, but just because she couldn’t see, didn’t mean she couldn’t feel the body heat of her opponent. “You want to play with fire? Alright… let’s take things to another level.” She dabbed her fingers along her wounded abdomen and began drawing pentagrams along her chest wall. She was going to make Klaus regret his manipulative strategist.

“From the depths of the pit, I call upon thee to bestow they power unto me. That your mightiest power shall grant me a fraction of thy power.” She couldn’t see if the sly German was realizing what sh!t he had just stepped into, but if he didn’t he was about to. “BRING UNTO ME!” An eruption of scarlet hellfire exploded from her body for a few seconds as she ripped the gloves off her hands to show claws that now replaced them. A devilish grin appeared on her face as she opened her marquise shaped pupils. “Now let’s have some fun.” Her voice was distorted, the demon blood inside her now active as she balled up her fists.

Her eyes tried focusing on the paint-slinger but all she could really see was a blurred figure. Extending both hands outward they shot out with crimson hellfire flames, wrapping around her arms and extending down her hands pass her fingers, extending several feet like until they took form into a whip made out of her unholy fire. Swinging both arms one after another she attempted to strike at the young fighter, each attack snapping at him along various spots on his body, unable to really focus on one particular spot. But it didn’t stop there. With a flick of her wrists the flames vanished from her arms as she blitzed forward like a bat out of hell, her claw like hands dripping with hellfire as she quickly closed the distance between the two. Even with her wounds, the pure adrenalin she was going off of right now was more than enough to push through another series of attacks, even as her abdomen slowly began bleeding out. Pulling her right hand back she thrust them forward at the last second, in attempt to jam her razor like fingers into his chest, not to burst his chest open, oh no, just enough to pierce through his skin and touch bone, just enough to give him a shock of hellfire that wouldn’t soon forget. “Feel the burn?” her whisper of a voice, teasing him. This was just a fraction of her power, the real display, was going to come next.

@der_arzt:

Stephanie’s twisted face went from a blood lust grin to a utterly confused display. Did he just say he was… Joan of Arc? WAIT! THEJOAN OF ARC!? NOVA WAS A HUGE FAN OF HERS! Sacrificing her life for the greater good, dying by fire, so brave, so awesome, so much epicenes! The sounds of the strings became softer for a moment, sounding like a celestial wave of music. Well it was until the holy light that burst from the chest and stung like when she was attacked by rabid squirrels thanks to Sha’s ‘Whoo dance’. With a hiss the demonic spirit shield her eyes, turning her face away. As her hellfire was extinguished by the divine glow, her body actually BURNED, the last time she felt this kind of pain was when Darkchild used hellfire against her years ago, another life ago.

Plume emitted off her body as she took in a rigid breath as her devilish eyes caught onto what she was attempting to do. While Joan was going for the skateboard, Stephanie rushed for her blade, using her unnatural speed, her feet kicked up the dirt as she slid on the rubble plane, grasping the hilt of her sword and shifting her weight until she was back up on her feet. Quickly turning around and preparing herself as the Spirit of France came rushing at her with a pike in hand.

The two clashed, their weapons of choice colliding with one another as sparks flew while the beating of the percussion's and the tension of the strings were able to keep up with every blow, adding a more dramatic effect to the battle at hand. Stephanie’s enhanced reflexes allowed her to intercept most of the jabs with the exception of one that pierced into her left shoulder and another that caught into her right hip. The bladed weapon burned upon contact, her skin literally sizzled! Dang, was this how it felt when she used her abilities on others!? It REALLY sucked! Like, A LOT!

The movements of Joan (in the little German punks body) were graceful and precise. Even though Stephanie was getting her flaming butt kicked right now, she couldn't help but fan-girl over her historical idol. Which sounded weird… coming from a hero who basically sold her soul to a demon… BUT THAT WAS ANOTHER STORY FOR ANOTHER DAY! But the way Joan attacked, those statements of Joan never actually participating in battle when she was alive and just being there for 'spiritual support' was now obviously total bullsh!t! She was going to have to have a talk with the History Channel after this fight!

The skateboard suddenly slammed into the unholy heroes back… AGAIN! Causing her to fall onto the ground, looking up she could see that Joan threw her pike, it rushing towards her! Quickly grasping the skateboard Stephanie held it up vertically across her body as she knelt down on one knee. The force of the throw was so great that it actually BROKE the skateboard in two! Which also meant that the pike still embedded itself into her stomach… WHICH WAS WHERE HER LAST FREAKEN WOUND FROM PEAK WAS IN THE LAST ROUND! OOOOUUUUUUUUCCCCCCHHHHH! Stephanie let out a feral roar of pain as she dropped the fractured board, which was a total shame because Stephanie really really really really wanted that rocket powered skateboard of awesomeness, and looked down at the lodged weapon in her abdomen. Her hands trembled at the pain as a searing sound could be heard coming from around the weapon. Grasping a hold of the base of the arms her hands began to blister as she grit her teeth, forcefully pulling the weapon out and cry of agonizing pain echoed through the Colosseum. But if one thing was good about the weapon being lodging into her bleeding stomach, was that it actually cauterized the wound, leaving simply a gaping hole in her stomach… which she could live with… for now.

Breathing heavily she could feel the beads of sweat accumulate across her forehead.“You know…” she began as she got up from the ground, gritting in pain as the stink of burnt flesh lingered in the air.“since you’re here I have to ask, if you knew, in the end that you were going to be burned at the stake, would you do it all over again?” She began trying to distract the Maiden of Heaven as she still held the pike firmly in her hand, the sound of blistering skin could be faintly heard, Stephanie was trying to catch her breath for a moment. “Sacrifice yourself for a country who was just using you for their own benefit?” She wasn’t trying to upset the blessed warrior, it was an honest question. She was a hero , sacrificing her young life, doing the ‘will of God’, dying for something she believed in yet being spat upon her own people in the end. It was a shame… she could have done a lot more good.

But while Stephanie was speaking quickly extended her right hand, her limp left hand grasping as tightly as it could on the pike, hellfire shooting out from all five of her digits and onto the ground, with a twist of her wrist and a push of her palm, each five streams of fire began to take on form, arms, legs and even a head could be made out as each took a figure of Stephanie in fire form. The five hellions didn’t wait for order, they took off like a pack of wolves towards the Maid of Orleans. Each of them took a turn attacking her one by one without hesitation.

While this was going on The Fire Goddess quickly took flight into the air, unable to ambulate quickly enough as she would like thanks to her injury along her hip. Moving the pike from her left hand to her right, her hand burst into the corrupted flame, engulfing the weapon. As soon as the final fire demon placed it’s last attack, Stephanie pulled her arm back and threw the pike with all her Ninjan and demonic strength, the weapon slicing through the air as she took aim along the right chest wall, just above her breast where she was once pierced by the arrow in her attack upon Les Tourelles.

Landing back on the ground she was careful not to put too much weight on her wounded areas, picking up her blade once more from the ground as her bloodstain torn suit clung onto her damaged body. Man… this was going to be a pain in the buttocks to repair!“One more question, you don’t by any chance have Xena in there somewhere do you? I’ve always wanted her to teach me how to do that epic battle cry!”