Honing a shield against a sword.

[09:44] Shai Oshura whispers: Spar me...!
[09:44] Shai Oshura whispers: I learned a new trick.
[09:44] Sir Airgenald Spudnicus Ixis says, "Very well."
[09:45] Shai Oshura says, "Time to finally win."
[10:13] A challenge was issued, and Spudnicus would answer it's call. Shai wanted to debut a new technique she had picked up, and Airgenald would quickly recognize it as one he used. He didn't call it phantom strike, but he wasn't one to deny they were very much the same move.

Shai had grown immensely more formidable, evaporating past his assaulting winds, teleporting from his marble grasp, and even negating most of his heavier strikes with her divine shield.

Even her strikes were harder, pounding against his shields with more force, she had certainly adapted to the weakness in her style that they spoke of. However, Airgenald would not take this assault lightly. He was the devoted defender of the Angels, and while Shai was certainly his comrade, perhaps his favorite comrade, it would certainly be a hit to his ego to lose at the point.

Throughout the fight he would start to shift mental gears, using the same trick he taught Aaliyah to help her harness her holy flames. He would stop looking at Shai as an ally, and envision her as a heretical necromancer. He'd bar his teeth as his strikes became more fueled by his feral blood, something he had been suppressing for years now.

But he wouldn't let it consume him, as he did in his younger years, no. It put him in the mindset of a hurt animal stuck in a corner, doing anything it could do survive. He'd channel the savageness it granted him into a raw will to survive and protect.

His mind would race through the faces of each angel, the friends he had made, and his Fiancee, the drive to stand in the way of anything that sought to bring harm to them solidified in the ookami, and his holy light would react to this.

Instead of the constant glow he maintained, his light would begin to coalesce around his shields, taking the shape of two wolf heads that would envelope him as a whole. He'd ground himself as Shai came charging in, moving from one spot to his blindside in the blink of an eye. A few strikes would break through an he'd grit his teeth.

"More. More.." He'd grunt through grit teeth as he refused to fall to who he envisioned as an enemy at the moment. The features of the wolfheads grew more solid as layer and details were added, and the young Paladin would find her blade colliding with the mass of light rather than cut through it, it perhaps baffled her, allowing Airgenald to launch his counter attack, the jaws of the wolves snapping at her as the shield's edges heft into her before she dropped to the ground.

As she fell to her knees, Airgenald would be left huffing and puffing before the barriers that enveloped his shield would sparkle and dissipate. He'd come to, seeing Shai before him before rushing over.

"Are you alright?" He'd ask quickly, hoping he hadn't taken it too far.
(Sir Airgenald Spudnicus Ixis)
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[10:24] What Shai had finally mastered was indeed Phantom strike. One of the first, if not the first attack style Varick tried to teach her. All those years ago it was so impossible for her to imagine that she could do it. Access those leyline buried deep within her and use them to empower her strikes, appearing across her opponent as the blink of an eye.

But she could now. Every day she was training, growing stronger and putting her very limits to the test. Airgenald would face Shai as she was, and she would he. Where the Ookami held the absolute shield, Shai maintained her resolve all the way against it. Like some kind of fanatic, she fought with desperation in each spar.

She needed to win. Even if she had to fall a hundred times to do it.

Absolute defence flares, a defending field that Airgenalds attacks would slam against, as well as her own to him. When it came to defence though, when it came to that absolution, Airgenald was unmatched. Shai's attacks stop registering against him - His own metalic shields becoming embraced in wondrous, golden light.

Her swings bounce off meekly. "W-what-" A thud, one massive charge of a shield that crashes against her light form to massive effect. Shai is knocked aside, stunned by the blow. Before she manages to come to the Ookami was already stood over her. Shai had a confused and lost look in her eyes.

"Did you just..." What was that? It was overwhelming... "Hh-..." She grimaces, her face twitching. The burns from that village were still plaguing her to this day. Some curses were just so hard to get rid of. "I'm- O-okay. I just need a moment..." She dizzily pulls herself up.

"You seemed... really angry when we fought..."
(Shai Oshura)
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[10:37] His chin would drop as his amber eyes looked down and away. "I.. apologize for that.. You have grown much more formidable in not only your defense and evasiveness, but your attacks as well." He'd look back to her with a small smile breaking his stoic visage. "I am proud of you." Speaking softly, his ordinarily monotonous tone hinted at genuine emotion with every word.

"Your assault was a lot.. So I tried calling on the new magic I am seeking to master.. I had to see you as the enemy, someone that would hurt everyone I cared about. It wasn't quite enough, but I refused to give in, I refused to fall.. And it manifested itself in the solid light you saw." He'd confess, Airgenald very much like the almost fanatical girl took every match, no matter how silly the spar, as a life or death scenario.

However, before he was content with death, to fall in a blaze of glory satisfied that he had done everything he could. Although this would no longer be sufficient, he realized.

You are to be a protector, not a martyr.

Koume's words ringing out to him, the Ookami was finally putting her lessons into practice. He would drop the shields to the ground, the heavy nyeshk sinking to the dirt. Airgenald would step forward and he wrapped his arms around the shorter Izhuran, pulling her tightly into his mithril chestplate for a hug.

"Thank you.. For helping me train."
(Sir Airgenald Spudnicus Ixis)
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[10:43] View your opponent as an enemy and... it'll help you fight better?

The younger teen looks up at Airgenald, her eyes glancing between his shield and his face in observation. Was that his secret to having such strong resolve? Treating everything like it was life or death. Shai fought to prove that she could be good enough. She never thought of fighting like it was her last chance.

Perhaps now she will.

"It- It's fine, really. I'm not-" A hug. Shai's cheeks start to physically burn as the blush starts to poke its way out vibrantly. When it ends she pulls herself back, not quite looking at him. "U-um, yeah. No problem. I... thanks for helping me train too."

It was nice to have people take you seriously in a spar. It made her feel worthy, if only a little.

"And- I've been meaning to tell you. The settlement- Um..." Well, both being Krausites and having taken an Oath to protect the lifestream, this next part wasn't the best of news. "It's just going to be another Crafthold. Lady Magdalen doesn't want any kind of, um. Unifying flag. Just some people who don't want war..."

How absolutely disappointing. "But I bet we're going to make the best of it." She'd hope.

(Shai Oshura)
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[10:57] He would nod, the small smile still on his raise as he picked up his heft shields with ease. "Together we will make a fearsome pair of the angels, the sword and shield." His tail wagged, liking the thought ever since she first suggested it.

He'd tilt his head to one side as she mentioned the news, his lips pursing. It wasn't quite a pout, but it also seemed confused as he mulled it over. "Ah.. Magdalen is just one angel, we will see what the others have to say.. However.. If that does hold true.. Hmm.. I need to think on this longer." Airgenald was fast of body, rushing head first into things, he had to if he planned to stand in the way and protect others from danger.

However, this was not a simple threat he could block, the two wanted to protect the angels, but this was more complex. He had to take the time to look at it from many perspectives, different angels.

"well then I have news for you as well. My mother and The Brotherhood of Light has allied with The Black Roses, and they seek to make a settlement as well- just north of the maplegrove. It will be more reminiscent of what you and I would like to see in a faction. Good values, Krausite ideals. If anything, they will be strong allies for us."
(Sir Airgenald Spudnicus Ixis)