How, he isn't quite sure. Nor is his dragon, who releases a foul hiss as his attacks land on thin air. They were hardly 'sneak attacks', as the red had gone directly for the face - which is about as 'sneaky' as a god damn wrecking ball - but perhaps that is where he went wrong. Not subtle enough. Too obvious. Neither stallion nor dragon can quite comprehend what has just happened, but if there's one good thing to come from it, it's that the giant's temper finally snaps.

Because what the fuck is the point of sparring if your opponent isn't going to take a hit? If he isn't going to man the fuck up and feel some pain?

His blood boils, and he seethes. The volcano inside him erupts, and fire rains down behind his eyes.

He drags his lump of earth back into the ground with a savage war-bellow, swinging his tail against his flanks just to feel the sting, to drive him to greater heights. His dragon angles his wings and soars upwards, away from the tigress' reaching claws and the snap of her companion. As he surges towards the heavens, he slams his thick, muscular tail towards the feline's face in an attempt to crunch it hard into the bones of her skull, pulling no punches as he channels the fury from his mammoth bonded.

With aching muscles, the black colossus arrests his momentum. Great waves of rage roll from him, each sweating ounce of flesh heaving with the desire to win. Each beat of his heart tells him he shouldn't care about the result of this fight, because it's just for practice, to test his mettle in battle; and yet he can't help but hunger for victory. Or, at the very least, to leave his opponent screaming, with many a memento of this little skirmish.

The unicorn's horn comes for the warlord's right side, and with a grunt the beast throws his weight forwards, digging his massive hooves hard into the churned sand. As a result, Ciceron's horn just clips his thick right rump, etching a small, shallow cut that bleeds gently down his backside, but hurts scarcely more than a fly bite. In the same movement, the beast feels a tingle, which rapidly intensifies to a holy shitting hell what is this as the magic takes hold. Because of his forwards movement, Ciceron's magic only catches Volterra's retreating backside, so he doesn't get the full effect of the agony. It still hurts, though, and the stallion's hair stands on end as the current surges through him. Mercifully, he has a hoof lifted in motion at the time, because if he'd had all four limbs planted then the electricity could have had its wicked way straight through his body.

Like a lightning bolt to a conductor, it fuels the beast inside. The anger rises, beating down the cage that Volterra keeps it in, fighting for release.

As the giant feels the ground churning beneath his feet, he thinks a similar thing to Ciceron - and so does Vérzés. Halting his spiral to the heavens, the red tilts his wings and dives towards the ground, jaws opening as frost blooms again from his deadly jaws. He aims not for Ciceron, but for the muddy ground just in front of the charging grey stallion - water is visible in the churned sand, and it is this that the crimson blood-beast aims to caress with the deadly kiss of his breath. He hopes to turn the ground into an ice-rink and cause Ciceron to slide and lose his balance. He times this for just after the unicorn has struck Volterra's rump, in the hope that Ciceron will not have chance to slam on his brakes before he reaches the perilous frozen ground.

In the same movement, Volterra throws his weight onto his forelegs, grimacing at the spasms that rocket through his injured leg - he'll only be able to do this once, so he hopes to make it count. Given his movement forwards, he hopes Ciceron will now be behind him, and with a grunt he unleashes his hindlegs like pistons. He aims to slam them hard into Ciceron's right shoulder, knowing that they're massive enough to cause serious damage if they hit. After all, Volterra only has his brute strength, given that he lacks his foe's experience. It doesn't take years of battle knowledge to suss out that using his rear end strength and huge hooves to kick someone in the side should hurt like a bitch.

He only manages one kick before his aching foreleg demands to be relinquished from the duty of holding up his weight, and he returns his hind hooves to the muddied ground with a groan of relief.

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@Ciceron ! Vérzés tries to smack Kiara in face with his tail, then uses frost breath to try and freeze the ground in front of Ciceron. Volterra tries to slam hindhooves into Ciceron's right shoulder.
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