At last, at last, he feels his hooves smashing into her chest. The sensation is delightful; shockwaves spasm down his legs with the impact, and delight oozes like a balm through his bloodstream. There is nothing like the sweet collision of flesh to fill him with renewed vigour and zest for life, to remind him that there's more to existence than numbness, that he's still alive and capable of enjoying battle. His temper - a savage beast roaring inside him - is subdued to a self-satisfied purr, safe in the knowledge that this wicked temptress will not leave uninjured. His hooves return to the ground, and he shifts a step forwards to try and move his backside out of harm's way. As he does, her teeth catch hold of his tail and tear a chunk out of it - his ears pin as several tangles of hair are dragged out by the root, causing considerable irritation and pain to the affected area. But it's not this that bothers the blackened goliath - it's the fact that, had his tail not been there, her teeth could have found somewhere else, somewhere far more precious. And something tells him that she'd intended for precisely that to happen. This infuriates him. This incenses him. What woman would dare call him incompetent, and then try to make him incompetent? What makes her think she has the right to unman him? Oh, she has a cheek! Of all the underhanded, dirty tactics...he's never seen the like, and he's fought some savage fuckers in his time. The red mist descends fully, despite his tiredness (the muggy forest heat has caused sweat to bead across his toned muscles, and has sapped the strength from his bones despite the fact he's not done a great deal of moving), and his stinging tail only adds fuel to his raging fire. How dare she! The insulting, patronising, devious little slattern... He'd still tap that, though. He'd still show her what she tried to remove. She would do well writhing beneath him, like a statue forged of skin and pleasure. The dragons are as maddened as he; they are incensed by the audacity of this woman, and their twin screams echo through the trees as they rear high and hiss their fury into the heavens. They want her to burn for her sins, but Volterra has no wish to slay her, despite his rage. Anger and lust are easily interlocked within his mind, and it would be churlish of him to slaughter a woman who has proved she could be a worthy lay...She's obviously a wily little thing, and he can admire that in others even though he does not possess it himself. That does not mean he will let her crime go unpunished. Oh, no. The leviathan is a creature of living wrath, vengeance incarnate; mercy is not in his nature. She will suffer, she will bend, and she will submit. With a stallion's bellow, the beast throws his weight to his forequarters again. In a carbon copy of his previous attack, he attempts to kick his hindlegs out hard to try and collide them with her already injured chest and hopefully damage it some more, to try and render her unable to move. When she's crippled, he will be able to ensure his utmost dominance over her; he will be able to claim the victory that is rightfully his. He hopes that she will not expect him to repeat a previous attack, prays that he will catch her unawares. He knows the acute agony of being struck in the same place twice, and it fills him with a thrill of pleasure to know that he's trying to inflict that same punishment on her, to make her screams bellow through the forest as he mangles her chest beyond all recognition and proves what a man he truly is... Oh, yes. This fight has done wonders for him. From a beast of no feeling, a creature of numbness and anaesthetised thoughts, he has transformed back into this. From ice, he has found fire. He has this devious little woman to thank for that, he supposes. And thank her he will, if she survives his final onslaught. ________ Teaching spar for @Orithia ! 3/3 - 701 words V O L T E R R A - V É R Z É S - V A D I R YOU'RE THE CLOSEST THING TO HELL I'VE SEEN SO FAR

image credits

Teaching notes:

Spelling/grammar/prose - This section is actually kinda pointless in this fight lmao as you're doing so well in it. You're a really good writer, and you manage to keep this up even in a fight. Some sentences like 'the bruising mass of her chest pounding with each beat of her ashen heart' and 'What else was there to live for if not the thrill of a win or the determination birthed by failure?' were just <33333333. Seriously, keep up the good work. You've got this part nailed down, it's literally just the mechanical bits of fighting now. You should be super proud :)

Emotion - This was a really strong post emotion-wise, I thought. Her vindictive train of thought about snipping off his man-bits was pretty brutal to read (Vol was literally wincing in my head) but so true to her character. Like I've said above, you've got this particular section down really well, and you should definitely score highly in it. Describing her as 'a gods-be-damned serpent-tongued ex-whore-turned-shield-maiden' made me giggle but also totally understand where she was coming from, and I loved it.

Attacks - I love brutal attacks like these, and I was torn between lol-ing and being disgusted by it - mostly lol-ing though xD Poor Vol was like >:[ and :O and :OOO all in one. However, there's a couple of reasons why I don't think it would actually have worked, as much as I'm sure 99% of Helovia's population hoped it would xP

Firstly, a horse's teeth are blunt. Now, I don't know a great deal about the gelding process (even though I'm not male it makes me wince xD) but I'm assuming the tools used are sharp, not blunt. To chop off that particular area with a blunt instrument, it would take one hell of a blow. Anatomically, it's quite tucked up and neat (in comparison to, say, a cat, where they're just THERE IN YOUR FACE) so even if her attack did hit, she'd probably just bruise them, not sever them. That'd be painful and make Vol cry like a little girl, but it wouldn't remove them as intended. You'd probably have been better trying to make her just injure them, not remove them.

Secondly, the timing is a little bit confusing. For his bits to be visible, it implies he's still bucking, but she's already taken the damage from his buck attack. Therefore, she wouldn't actually be able to see his balls from behind him, because if he's back on all fours, his tail would be obscuring them (she even notes this herself: 'knowing that beneath that thick tangle of tail, a gelding could be created.'). So this was a bit vague overall.

Thirdly, accessing them would be very difficult, even if she's stood directly behind him. She'd need to get past his tail and thighs just to be in with a chance, and it'd take an awkward bit of positioning even to get close.

So whilst I loved the idea, it would have worked better if she'd been facing his side, or if she'd have just tried to bruise them rather than snip them off. Unique attacks are A+, but make sure they're physically feasible to prevent point deductions for realism.

Damage taken - Vol only rolled a 1 for damage, and despite his high damage stat, I think you actually took a bit TOO much damage here. Taking the full force of his hooves directly to her chest is, imo, more of a 3/4-roll damage, as it's going to seriously impact her movement and possibly even her breathing. Bearing in mind that he's also wearing attack-enhancing horseshoes on his back feet, you really want to avoid taking the full impact of them. You then also had her butt and leg scrape against a tree, adding more damage.

It's a delicate balancing act, deciding how much damage to take - just remember to take your opponent's damage stat into account, but also look at the roll as the main way of judging. A 1 is the lowest damage that can be rolled, so even if your opponent's got a high damage stat, you shouldn't take serious damage from it. In your situation, I personally would have had Orithia move to one side and, as a result, had just one of Vol's back hooves hit; this would have created a medium-depth bruise that would reflect his high damage stat, but wouldn't incapacitate her.

Other - You did really well in this fight - I can't say it enough. Just a few tweaks on the more technical 'fighty' bits and you'll make an amazing fighter. I really enjoyed this fight (except for having to google a stallion's anatomy to double check that I had the right idea xD) so thank you, hopefully we can spar again in the future <3