The fact that he appeared pleased to see her lit a fire so hot inside the base of her neck, she thought she could spit fire. Was her utter contempt for him the last time she had seen him not clear enough? Or, a hellish thought broke through her fury, shattering any shred of resolve she might have maintained, does he think he'll have a repeat of what had happened between them, when last they were here together?

Isopia couldn't hear Volterra's grunt of pain as the earth she had moved collided with his rib cage due to the blood pounding ceaselessly in her ears. She could see the look on his face as he grimaced however, and she might have smiled mercilessly at this, if her mind was not so fully enveloped by the smile she had been looking at only moments before.

That fucking boyish smile was now burned in her memory; a reminder of how stupid men could be, Volterra most of all.

"Had." She meant to yell, but the weight of the word - all the meaning and history it represented for Isopia - caught it in her throat. It left her lips as a monotone curse that feel heavily towards her hooves.

The demigoddess had not expected his dragons to involve themselves in this fight. It was, after all, between just she and Volterra. They were the ones who were to blame for all of this, the ones (besides fate of course), whose actions were responsible. So when the golden queen flew towards her, screaming a cry of attack, it was nearly too late for the big mare to defend herself. Clumsily Isopia groped for the earth to protect her (read here: a metaphor for the aid she needed from her Father but never received when she told him of her lost child). What should have been an arc of earth appeared only as a few clumps of sod; what could have been a shield was instead a pathetic defense against the fiery blast. Luckily for her, Hubris' attention had been upon the gold dragon the entire time. He at least had the sense to assume that while the red dragon may not attack, that the same could not be said for the gold. His intuitions proved true, and the bronzey male was able to spout a stream of ice in front of Isopia's undefended face. It melted almost instantly as Vadir's fire touched it, but then again, that was the point, now wasn't it.

It was all Hubris could do, but of course, it wasn't enough.

The clumps of earth rained down harmlessly against Isopia's face and in front of it, just as Vadir's claws began to rake against her skin. She could feel how the dragon's claws sliced neatly through the death mask of maroon and ivory that she wore, caressing the bone and muscle beneath it. Isopia's teeth gnashed with self-righteous anger and pain, but she kept her horned skull still. Despite the red streaks of blinding pain that she felt on her face, she knew shaking the dragon free would likely 1. not work and/or 2. cause more damage as she was torn free.

Not needing encouragement from his bonded, Hubris had already circled around again, aiming a blast of electricity and ice towards Vadir's backside. The gold was larger than the bronze, but he was sure that his attack would be potent enough to make up for the slight size disparity. The bronze trilled a sorrowful apology as the last of the magic left his open jaws, for, like Isopia, he thought this matter was best left to their bondeds. If his attack was successful and she released herself from Isopia, he would try to position himself before the demigoddess. If the dragons were to be involved, let them fight kind against kind.

Blood trickled in warm tributaries down Isopia's face. Where the blood ran, her face felt warm, and where Vadir had sliced through the thin skin of her face, she felt piercing cold. The deepest cuts were by her left eye and right cheek. The skin had been removed with an almost surgical grace: Vadir had removed part of the marking that underlined Isopia's eye, and a good deal of the 'teeth' portion of the marking on her cheek. Blood flowed freely from these areas, and as Isopia clenched her teeth, the tensing muscle could clearly (and gruesomely) be seen on the right side.

"COWAR-" She screamed, cutting off the word as a fresh bolt of pain echoed through her jaw, as her cut cheek broadcast its disapproval at being stretched due to her insult.