Theo''s first order of business was to launch his napalm grenades. Roughly 70% of the ones he fired went near enough straight up into the air, as these were the ones he was placing a circle around himself with, while the remainder were tossed in Asha''s general direction via the Kiss Of Death mark''s guiding light. As the amount he fired was more than enough to cover his defensive hidey hole throwing a few extra out there just to annoy Asha, and maybe singe some of her fur, was a harmless idea that couldn''t backfire. Plus, if aimed right, Theodore might even be able to cut off some paths she might be intending to take and / or limit her movement. I.E if one grenade landed on either side of her then dodging the next sniper shot would become infinitely harder with both her left and right paths sealed off. It was a small hope, and not worth banking on, but there was no reason not to try at least.
The grenade cluster shot up and, shortly after, came plummeting back down. They crashed into the icy ground and split apart, spilling the napalm all over the floor and melting away all the snow and ice. It was so potent it even started digging through the earth and creating a makeshift moat but far more dangerous for anyone who fell in. Somewhere deep in the snowstorm the extra napalm grenades created a small orange glow signalling to Theo and letting him know they''d landed next to Asha. Theo nudged the sniper rifle which instantly flicked to the gladiolus on Asha''s head, wherever she was right now, and fired off a bullet. There was no way of telling if it hit anything but seeing as how the snowstorm was still up and running it meant Asha wasn''t dead at least. Until Theo caught sight of her, and things progressed beyond just launching long range attacks at her, he would just keep spamming ranged attacks at her position mercilessly. She was the one being bombarded here and needed to do something to turn the tide. In fact Theo felt so comfortable he brought out his portable brewery set and started making some oolong tea. This wasn''t his first rodeo with colder climates and he''d been on multiple excursions to icy planets before. Tracking down yetis and other rare monsters for their cultivation resources was something Theo was frequently called upon for and so he had a good number of survival tools in his spatial ring including, but not limited to, a tent, a large cauldron for making soup, large quantities of water, fire starting apparatus, and clothes that were suitable for extreme environments.
Over by Asha, who funnily enough also kept some survival items in her own spatial ring, she''d just been shot in the leg by the sniper rifle. That thing was seriously deadly! Even with her improved reflexes she''d been caught off guard by the speed of the lightning fast bullet. Still she didn''t have time to be feeling sorry for herself as the zap cannon had also just fired and the drill was skirting around in the snow. It almost looked like it was having fun but, unfortunately, due to its shape there was no way for it to make snow angels. The drill just had to accept the spiral shaped holes it was capable of creating. It was rather pleased with itself every time it made one, though, and, now, it seemed like it wanted to make one inside of Asha as it was leaping over towards her. Asha was in a bit of a bind here as the napalm had indeed blocked off some of her paths. It was why she wasn''t able to dodge the sniper rifle shot earlier and now the next two attacks were going to be equally as hard to avoid under such constraints. The napalm had done one better than create a narrow alleyway, it had formed a ''u'' shape directly behind Asha, preventing her from retreating while narrowing her scope of escape from incoming attacks by upwards of roughly 300 degrees. There was less than a ninety degree angle worth of space in front of her to avoid anything so dealing with the zap cannon and the drill simultaneously wasn''t going to be pleasant. Provided she lived through this one-two combination, which ought not to be too hard just a bit annoying, she would have some free time to use her full moon art and begin terrorising Theodore.
First up was the drill trying to nibble at her heels and drill through her ankles. Honestly, this part was more troublesome than dealing with the zap because it was an energetic little fellow that kept moving about without any breaks like it was having a sugar rush. That or someone accidentally gave it too much caffeine. Either way, hitting it square on was a bad idea as going toe to toe with the drill head was a foolish decision. Asha could guarantee a hit but she was guaranteed to be hit in return if she did that and it wouldn''t be pleasant. Chill Grip would remove the drill from the fight but what injury would she have to sustain in order to easily reach that point? She could try shooting it but that was what she was planning on doing to the zap cannon''s electrical ball, sniping it out of mid air to prematurely detonate it harmlessly above her. If she shot the drill she wasn''t sure if she''d be able to fire again in time to deal with zapper. Asha had never made an effort to get good at managing the bolt handle on her rifle. She knew of the ''mad minute'' but that wasn''t really her style as she valued precision over rapid fire so the time between shots with her hunting rifle was actually painfully slow. It hadn''t ever mattered to her before because she rarely, if ever, missed since she became an expert with the weapon. Asha was very much the type to not shoot until she could swear on her own life nothing would go wrong with the shot, be it wind speed, target movement, or other miscellaneous obstacles. Point being, shooting the drill, and sending it flying off somewhere into the snowstorm, would not give her enough time to then aim at the zapper falling down towards her right now. Theo had really gotten her good with the napalm even if he hadn''t been strictly trying to.
So how to deal with the silly mini drilly? Well, it was somewhat of a brutish solution but, when the drill eagerly leapt out of the snow towards Asha, she punted the underside of it with her foot like a rugby ball! It whined and whirred as it was blasted off into the distance, slowly fading out of view. Asha almost felt sorry for it until she realised the damn thing would be coming back to annoy her again later and that was when all of her sympathy disappeared. Asha unslung her rifle and stared down the sights as she checked through the snowstorm with her divine sight. As this storm belonged to her she had a much easier time navigating it and could see the zapper coming clearly despite all the icy fog. Various calculations regarding bullet drop, the zapper speed, and distance were all taken into account, including many more that were simply too plentiful to list, and Asha took a deep breath before firing like she always did. It was force of habit because back when she started learning how to use the rifle she would psyche herself out of committing to shots. She started forcing herself to shoot whenever her deep breath finished, even if she wasn''t feeling confident in it, and now firing had become second nature the second she was done inhaling oxygen. This had been a pretty valuable tip that got her a lot of mileage, bac when she started to learn how to use the weapon, from a hunter who was passing by the Umbra planet as he''d heard it made for excellent hunting grounds. It was true too as there were plenty of wild animals to hunt and the only requirement was that any and all hunted animals must be handed over to the Umbras. They desperately needed the meat and fur to feed their relatively large population so that was the trade-off to being allowed to hunt freely. For that reason it was considered a hunter''s paradise, many frequently turned up for leisure holidays there, and they were treated well by the revenants who were happy to have them... Provided they weren''t trying to hunt werewolves anyhow. A couple of fools had tried that but... Well... It didn''t end great for them, that was for sure. As a general rule of thumb, if you try to hunt one revenant in the TPMZ, sooner or later you''ll have upwards of a hundred hunting you down for sport. Your best bet was to find one skulking about outside The Perpetual Massacre Zone, as there were a few, because then getting pounced on by a swarm of angry wolves wasn''t as likely.
Asha fired her rifle and the bullet flew straight as an arrow. Like a bolt out the blue it sailed through the frosty mist and collided smack dab in the centre of the zapper, safely disarming the situation and giving Asha a break from the constant stream of attacks. The sniper rifle or maybe the cannon would be the next in line to fire but they were still a way aways, plus the cannon was too far for the cannonball to take Asha by surprise and she could easily react to it from this distance without a hassle. Now that all potential hitches in her plan were sorted out and dusted off, it was time to bring out the full power of her revenant form so she got down on one knee, aiding the mana in her body to circulate in a specific way, and chanted "Blue Moon Lake." Her unique art was a combination art of the surge and ice aspects that tricked her into believing a full moon was present.
As Asha''s mental realm was far too strong to fool she had to take a slightly different measure and actually create a physical ''moon'' that really existed to truly sell the lie. That was where the ice aspect came in as countless shards of ice combined together like puzzle pieces to form a dark blue sphere in the sky. This ''moon'' was visible anywhere and everywhere throughout the snowstorm but it was also very clearly fake. It was certainly beautiful, though, and looked almost like it was made of a delicate blue glass. It could very much be used as a decoration if anyone was so inclined it was simply that pretty. It even gave of a blue light that shrouded the snowstorm in a dark blue blanketing hue and turned down the lights within it. This all still wasn''t enough for Asha to enter her full moon form though and that was where the surge aspect came into play. The water magic created a decently thick layer of water on the ground inside the area affected by the snowstorm. This water followed the storm wherever it went as it was vital to making the full moon strategy work. Looking directly at the moon exposed it for the fake it was but the rippling water down below, shimmering with every step anyone took through it, muddied the clarity. If Asha looked up, she saw a faux moon, if she looked down, it was far too hard to tell and it definitely looked real enough. Unlike the mental arts this ball of ice had the benefit of actually existing as a physical entity. It wasn''t a matter of whether it was even there or not, like with the mental arts, but rather a matter of whether it was actually a moon or not and that was far easier to pretend for most people. Sometimes pretending wasn''t even necessary as Asha could just convince herself it fell under the definition of what a moon actually is via some strange technicalities. It didn''t have to make any logical sense it just had to be at least somewhat convincing and, provided she never looked to the sky, it had always worked for her thus far so she must have been doing something right. Additionally, relatively minor though it was, the water on the floor could be frozen over by Asha to freeze anyone standing in it if they weren''t paying attention. The art was primarily used for accessing her full moon revenant form on the go but this extra benefit was worth mentioning as it could sometimes make a difference.
Sometimes.
It likely wouldn''t matter here, however, as Theo immediately understood this risk and was hovering above it with his flight magic. Draining mana to stay away from that risk was worth it in his opinion, especially seeing as how he was still trying to figure out what exactly was happening. He originally didn''t connect the dots and visualise the ice ball as a moon but...
AWOOOOOOOOOOOOO
... That tell tale noise followed by him catching a glance of the ''moon'' in the water''s reflection beneath him cleared things up. Admittedly, Theo panicked a little because on demand full moon form was a horrifying power for a revenant as skilled as Asha to possess. He felt comfortable up until this happened and now he just felt trapped and isolated in his ring of napalm, that was what it meant to be in the presence of a full moon revenant. The temperature somehow dropped even lower, the world around Theo dimmed, and a snarling sound kept ringing in his ear. His heartbeat was like a drum and the suspense was ramping up with every passing moment. Occasionally, he could bear witness to a sharp white silhouette dashing around in the mist. His gladiolus did let him see Asha''s rough location but it was changing so fast even the automatic weapons were having a hard time tracking her consistently, making them nearly completely irrelevant here. What was the purpose of weapons that would lock onto their opponent but couldn''t turn fast enough to chase them?! Also, worryingly, they were just eerily spinning in circles which meant one of two disastrous things for Theo. Either A; the weapons all suddenly broke for some reason. This was the less likely of the two options and, atrocious though it potentially was, was still a better outcome than the other, more glaring option... Option B... Asha was just that fast now... She was speedy enough to outrun his weapon''s targeting systems and that would be a devastating issue that he couldn''t really fix no matter what he did.
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BANG
Theodore was greeted by the full moon Asha via a bullet from her rifle aimed at his flank. He leaned back and swiped with his cane to swat it aside but, before his cane could even connect...
BANG
A second shot was fired. This was understandable, as it wasn''t even an unreasonably fast fire rate, but that wasn''t the problem here... Theo could have easily dealt with it by blocking both bullets one after another if it weren''t for the fact that the second shot came from the complete opposite side than the first one... Given that Theo was stood dead centre in the arena, Asha circling him and appearing behind him in a about a second flat had implications that Theo really didn''t want to think about right now. He tried to put it to the back of his mind while he dealt with the current issue by having his cannon shoot the second bullet as he dealt with the first. Typically the sniper was the most accurate weapon but the bullet was smaller than the cannonball so the cannon had a higher chance of hitting Asha''s second shot. Theo knocked away the first bullet with his cane and, as was instructed, the cannon blew up the second shot.
Theo then wasted no time in firing all his weapons at the Kiss Of Death gladiolus the second they were able to. The unload penalty had worn off, as was evident by the cannon firing, so it was ok to go all out with every single weapon he''d summoned thus far. The twin machine guns, the cannon, the sniper rifle, the napalm launcher, and the zap cannon. Every single one of them spun to fire in Asha''s general direction, with some of them even trying to predict Asha''s movement at Theo''s behest, and the ensuing cacophony of booming weaponry was deafening. Theo was grateful for this overwhelming noise as it drowned out the sound of his own heartbeat and calmed him into a false sense of security. He couldn''t hide his anxiety forever as his weapons had to stop firing eventually, he just hoped that when they did Asha would be nothing more than a clump of bloodied fur, riddle with holes and missing chunks of flesh due to the cannon. Unfortunately, when his weapons all stopped firing, the exact opposite was true. Asha was still healthily sprinting around the outer edge of his vision. Was she toying with him? Choosing to not advance on him like this... Was she intentionally trying to agitate Theo into making a mistake? He was fearful, yes, but he wasn''t an idiot and was more than happy to sit here with his freshly brewed tea for as long as it took for this fight to end!... Actually, now that he thought about it, that entire plan relied on Bravo winning his own fight and coming down to aid him but he''d seen neither hide nor hair of him because of this damn snowstorm. The one thing Theo knew for sure was that the Base Of Operations had just vanished which could only mean the fight over there was done. Who''d won? He had no clue but if Bravo didn''t come busting through these white, ethereal walls soon he would have his answer even if it was one he really didn''t want.
Another few rifle shots were fired at Theo who was just about able to swat them away but the empty threats were starting to eat away at him. Why was she doing this? Why was she just firing shots at him that would never connect or do anything to change the status quo? Theo was feeling incredibly uncomfortable about this whole situation when he realised one of his weapons was still technically out there, fighting its own good fight. The drill! What on earth was it doing? Even Theo didn''t know where it was anymore which put him on red alert because it wasn''t a weapon capable of distinguishing friend from foe. It wouldn''t try to attack allies but it wouldn''t feel any remorse for anybody it hit, that was for sure. If the drill had just been chasing Asha as it was supposed to then Theo wouldn''t be concerned right now but, as that wasn''t the case, he could only wonder what Asha was doing to the poor thing. She could have used Chill Grip on it and was now treating it like a weapon she could release at the perfect time in Theo''s direction to sneak attack him from below. If she angled it slightly downward, chucked it at him, and unfroze it at the right time the drill would sink into the earth before resurfacing directly under him. That was entirely possible and now Theo was keeping an eye out on the ground just in case that was her strategy. The damn drill was becoming a headache! The poor visibility was seriously making the drill an unpredictable element that Theo really wished he hadn''t summoned earlier. The over-excited drill had over-extended and now God only knows where it was or what it was doing...
Whirrrrrrrrrrrrr
Oh rats... Well... Theo found the drill. It wasn''t underneath him in the snow piles digging its way past the napalm, no, it was actually in the air directly above him. Asha must have hung around the edges of Theo''s vision while waiting for the drill to attack her again so she could pick it up and toss the little fellow up into the air, sort of like how she''d been attacked by it a while back. Theo had thrown the gnoll into the sky to block her view of it and now Asha had used the snowstorm to cover Drilly''s tracks. It hadn''t pierced through the fog yet but the friendly buzzing greeting it gave all of its playmates was clear as day and gave away its position. As far as it was concerned, this was a game of tag, not hide and seek, so any and all noise it made wasn''t an issue as Drilly''s main concern was hugging as many people as it could. Theo was grateful for this as he would have been struck by Drilly right in the brain were it not for the sounds it was regularly making. He was too busy staring at the floor because he''d overthought the method of attack and the direction of its approach. Even his divine sense hadn''t been prepared for this as he was using it to try and scan for Asha. He would have rather used the pulse bomb that could scan Asha but that was still cooling down from its previous use. It was a strong piece of utility so it needed breaks between use and there was no way for Theo to speed that up. Not that it mattered right now as Drilly was a far more immediate problem. Plus, whatever Theo did to prevent his cranium being mined for gold would no doubt leave him open to Asha who would take advantage of his busyness to close the gap and try to end things once and for all. Whatever Theo did here, the end of the fight was rearing its head and Asha would make sure of it.
In the end, Theo opted not to rely on any of his weapons to snipe Drilly out of the air whenever it finally became visible through the fog. It was far too unreliable of a method and any of them missing would be devastating. It''s not that Theo didn''t trust his weapons, quite the opposite, it''s just that the time they''d have to react and save Theo from the incoming drill was simply not enough as none of them were facing the correct direction to pull it off right now. They were machines, limited by their components and inner workings. Just as they were incapable of tracking Asha, they likely wouldn''t be able to perform a massive shift in aim in such a short window when Drilly came barrelling down through the remaining ice clouds. It was unreasonable of Theo to place that expectation on them, and this was his fault to begin with as it was a direct result of his carelessness, so he took on the responsibility to protect himself from the problem he caused. The weapons could deal with Asha as she approached as Theo was more than capable of using Unload again... The problem was that he had to wait for Drilly to land before he did because Unload would affect the annoying drill too. If he used Unload early then Drilly would crash into Theo with even more speed and that was obviously a no-go. Still, having Unload in his back pocket was reassuring as the firepower he had available to direct at Asha in this last clash was monumental. Full moon form or not, Theo was ready to tackle his fear of the unknown head on! Theo took a slightly lower stance, to give himself more time to react to Drilly''s whereabouts, and braced himself for the showdown that was mere seconds away.
WhirrrRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
Drilly''s greetings became crystal clear the second he became visible and his cries of joy were no longer muffled by the snowstorm. Theo thanked his lucky stars as the tiny fella wasn''t on a direct crash course with him, making his life a tad bit easier. keeping his posture low to the ground, Theo swivelled back a half step and readied himself to bat Drilly with his cane and send him flying at Asha who''d just sprung out of the snowstorm and revealed herself as she came charging towards him. Theo didn''t have time to look at her right now though as he had to concentrate on Drilly. All he''d seen out the corner of his eyes was that Asha''s fur was stood on its ends and her previously soft-ish appearance now looked grizzly and menacing. Theo concentrated and gave Drilly a good WHACK for all the trouble he''d caused thus far, sending him flying over towards Asha so it could play with her instead. As he did this, Theo made sure to chant Unload and dump all of his weapon''s ammunition straight at the monstrous revenant.
Asha had grow a few feet taller, her fur was now a deadly weapon that could impale anything that came into contact with her, her claws had frozen over, and she was generally all around stronger. She was faster, tougher, had improved senses, and could cast more powerful magic. Being only a beta wolf meant her changes were unimpressive compared to others who were higher tiered but, as a general upgrade, it was quite notable. She had a dangerous and ominous aura, the kind an ancient, destructive beast would possess after being woken up from a thousand year slumber. It was an aura of inevitability, one that assured you no matter how much you struggled it was all in vain and that was being proven correct right about now by Asha''s performance against the weapons as she ran towards Theo. She didn''t bother dodging the machine gun fire as it could no longer even dent her, the sniper rifle shot was caught in her teeth and spat out into the napalm moat where it was melted down into smudge, the cannonball was sliced in half by her frigid claws, Drilly was kicked off into the distance once again, the napalm at her feet couldn''t even burn her, and the zap cannon''s zapper was straight up punched by Asha''s furry fist and blasted into the group of weapons. The shock didn''t short circuit them but it did slow them down, not that it particularly mattered. Asha slunk through Theo''s Unloading defences one by one, Chill Gripping each of them as she passed by like a floating white ghost, while drawing ever closer to Theo who was gritting his teeth and worrying he was going to be murdered here if Asha didn''t control herself.
Crackle
The last of Theo''s weapons had been completely frozen and he only now had his cane to fend off Asha with but that was an exercise in futility no matter how he looked at it. He feebly raised his cane to try and block a swipe from Asha but it was pointless as the cane was smacked aside and ripped out of his grasp like Asha had been stealing candy from a baby. Theo winced as Asha raised her claw, ready to bisect him. It looked like this would be his final moment as the claw came scratching towards his neck...
Clang
Asha''s iced claw clanged against a fiery sword that somewhat defrosted her and chilled out her temperament. A few petals and flowers made it abundantly clear who''d arrived and intervened in the nick of time. It wasn''t Bravo but Theo was still happy to see a cooler head here regardless. He would rather lose the fight than his life... Although really Asha probably wouldn''t have gone that far against a fellow season. It was more likely she would have just cut off an arm or two which was annoying but not an unsolvable issue with high quality medicines. That was the extent of the injuries typically inflicted on one another.
Sure enough, now that everyone had calmed down, they could see Ye after he unveiled himself from within the cloud of snow nearby. He was seemingly unharmed after his bout with Bravo, for the most part, and carrying with him, under his arm, a quietly purring Drilly who''d been batted his way a few seconds earlier by Asha. With a gentle smile he suggested the following, "Why don''t we end this here? Continuing would be pointless as I believe it''s already clear who''s come out on top today."
As Ye was 100% right, Theo sighed in defeat but also in relief because now he could get the hell away from Asha. He''d received the message, that she didn''t appreciate his cadaver collecting hobby, loud and clear and would quit pestering her about it... Unless she just happened to die and he was nearby in which case he wasn''t exactly going to give it up for no apparent reason! Theo was cautious but he wasn''t a quitter! Well he was technically quitting right now, as he could fight to the death if he really wanted to, but not in that sense, more so in regards to getting what he wanted through persistence. Anyway, he''d been saved from pain and the fight was over. That was the current state of things and it was high time he left. Not just the arena but the domain. The Legion team were already out and he''d failed his mission so there was nothing left for him to do here. He could spectate Ares further and take some more notes but the elders were already doing that and he wasn''t needed. Theo wanted to find the Echo art tome, go home, perform some maintenance on his weapons, and relax by the fireplace as he studied the Echo tome with some fine wine by his side. That sounded nice right now and he could do with some warming up after nearly being frozen over. Theo thanked Ye and casually said goodbye to Asha who''d just exited her revenant form and retracted the snowstorm. They were all still on the ''same side'' at the end of the day and Theo was nothing if not polite!
Thus the seasonal spar had come to an end, one that was within expectations but also for the better. The matriarchs didn''t need to get involved so that simplified things going forward and they would all be sure to give Ye and Asha gifts for helping them out. Quid pro quo. Today had been rather eventful but, for Ares, it wasn''t quite over yet... Yes, even after all of this, Bellona was still fully prepared to throw him in a lake!