Though others would call her a liar and a cheat, the Dark Empress considered herself to be merely intelligent. It was a fool’s errand to hang onto a fruitless neutrality in which each side was eyeing each other from a distance, simply waiting for the other to strike first. Why allow the Throat to thrive, to grow, to gain strength and numbers which might be used against them? Why should she and those she called her own lie down like simple-minded cows, aimlessly following the orders of those inferior to them? No, the entire scenario was a recipe for disaster, and the shadow-mare was not one to court such.

And so while the Resolute may have thought her a lesser being for her actions, she found herself righteously angry. That was, after all, what had fueled the entire battle – well, that and the hatred for such an idiotic creature that would dare challenge the rightful ruler of Helovia. Perhaps they didn’t know it yet, but one day, the shade was determined to rule, and with her rule would come punishments for those who had done wrong – or simply those that she did not like. And Kri was definitely rather high on that list.

Rough pads grated against the firm ground as she leaped for the skyrat’s shoulder. Time seemed to slow, and she found herself unable to change the course of events. Kri’s shoulder approached her far too quickly, and the jackal’s wide-open jaw met it with a vengeance. The force of the blow shoved her mouth open wider, to an uncomfortable – no, a painful angle. She did manage to wound the beast; a freckling of small punctures torn into shallow grooves left the tang of blood in her mouth. Claws on front and back paws scrambled over her barrel, but they were unable to rip the tough skin there. Tough skin would explain a lot about this seemingly-indestructible little mare.

A twist of the skyrat’s nape brought her flat teeth too close for comfort; there was very little room for the jackal to move, pressed against the Resolute as she was. Still, she tried to pull back, to duck her head, to do anything to avoid that motion that would surely pull her to the ground to be trampled. The movement allowed the shade to avoid the mare’s teeth in her ear (thankfully, as she may well have lost it if it had hit) but the sensitive skin of her jaw was not so lucky. There was not enough skin there to offer a hold to her challenger, but it was a painful bite all the same, one that broke the thin skin and nearly scraped bone.

Suddenly the smaller size that had been such an advantage in terms of speed rapidly turned into a liability, which she had expected. The yank away from the opponent’s teeth had twisted her body awkwardly, but she used the momentum of the jerk to propel herself forcefully from the Resolute. It was not as graceful a landing as she might have wanted – instead of regaining her feet, she found herself tumbling in the dirt – and a growl sprouted from her lips, for not only was she rather bruised and bleeding, but her pride was rather inexorably crushed.

"Talk talk talk."

[W/C | 545]
[4/4 Attack] [2/2 magic]
[Closing Defense: Jerks her ear away from Kri’s bite, but receives a rather vicious bite to the jaw under the ear; falls away to tumble unceremoniously through the dirt.]

[OOC | Thanks, Boom! You were excellent (as always)!]