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Blade Tail walks back to the arena for his next match. It's not as high a price as he'd gotten against the gator, but then again it's only been half a week since he's had that fight. He probably should look for a side-job just in case, but for the moment this is more than sufficient for his liking. He had seen that angel person again. Didn't talk with him. But ever since he had gone to that library whenever he's walking in the nearby vicinity he sees that dog standing outside, just watching him. Really creepy all things considered. But Blade Tail didn't really put all that much thought into the matter. Still doesn't really get much of any recognition from anyone but that might just be the fact that he isn't that high up on the pecking order of the arena yet. Let him establish just how strong he is, get them to actually put him against people that would actually make him have to try to win. And until they're willing to do that he'll just have to do his best to make things as entertaining as possible against much weaker opponents.

His particular opponent today seems to be some sort of bird creature. Her wings are her arms, though she has a weapon strapped onto the edge of each one. Very lightly built, probably designed more for speed and maneuverability. Flying could be a bit of a pain to deal with but it isn't like he's never had to go up against people who thought that just because he prefers earth magic that he has no way to deal with ranged attackers he can't just go through the ground to get at. But the has two elements he's good at, just like everyone else. And he's survived a full year of episodes.

"So, I suppose it's only fair that I offer you the same thing I offer everyone I fight against. I'm perfectly fine enough with fighting this out the way your people tend to prefer it. But if you are up for it, I'm always down to have this fight be done without any magic from either of us. Just ta matter of pure skill and fighting prowess with no tricks whatsoever."

"So what all would fighting without magic actually entail?" the bird asks after thinking about it for a moment, which does get Blade Tail's hopes up a bit at a fun match.

"Well, what do you mean? Wouldn't it be fairly straight forward?" he asks.

"Well, that's the thing," she responds. "Now I get no attack magic. No throwing fireballs or mud or lightning at each other. And I can reason that there will be no healing magic allowed during the fight. But like, I can fly. If I use some wind magic to help me fly a bit faster without using it at all to attack is that allowed? Also, my species compensates for the force needed to fly by making my bones all be fairly brittle and easy to break. So in all of my fights I usually have to have a spell in place to make my bones far more durable, hardening them up considerably. Slows me down a bit but then I don't have to worry as much about breaking anything on a minor hit."

"You know, I never really thought about that before. Suppose case-by-case basis can be applied. In this case it wouldn't be as much fun to fight you if you have to put yourself into an even stronger disadvantage than most to take on the challenge. So, yeah. I guess that any magic that has no impact at all on my ability to continue fighting I'm okay with. So if you want to strengthen your own body to be able to withstand our fight then I'm okay with, though be aware I might do similar. But as I, myself cannot fly, I'd very much prefer it if you didn't really fly all that much. Becomes an extremely boring match if you can simply go to a spot that I cannot reach without magic."

"I suppose that's fair," she says.

"So," Blade Tail says, rubbing his hands together in anticipation and bouncing from foot to foot, "do we have an agreement?"

"You know what, sure. I'm down to try something different. Given what you did to Goren I'm not entirely sure how long I'd last if you were going all out on me with magic. So yeah, I'm good with defensive magics only."

"Hee," Blade Tail chitters for a moment before doing a quick bow and getting himself ready. "Well then, good luck."

"So am I still allowed to use these?" she asks, gesturing at the large blades strapped to her wings.

"Well are they magic?" Blade Tail asks, then thinks about it. The problem isn't so much that they would violate the rules regarding magic but rather that it'd be one person with a weapon fighting one without, and he isn't really wearing any armor. "Tell you what," he says and crouches down and channels some earth magic into the ground. After focusing for a second he starts raising his hand and a bladed staff starts coming out of the ground, made of stone and sharpened to a point at the end. He holds it out flat so that she can see the full length of it. "This looks to be about the same length as yours, right?" She nods. "Then we're now on even footing again. I can use this, you can use your arm blade things to your heart's content and use magic to keep your body sturdy. And this thing here will be the only magic I cast this entire fight. Unless you break it, then I'll mend my weapon and then that'll be the last spell I cast. Deal?"

They nod and they both get into a more formal fighting stance. This kind of blade is not exactly his kind of specialty and on that end he's actually rather grateful that he made sure to pay attention when his team leader was forcing everyone to be useful in all manner of weapons and not just what they excelled at. And though he's probably still a little rust and far less familiar with this particular weapon than she would almost definitely be with her blades it's still just far more fun than just going all out on the magic. Though he sort of kicks himself mentally in that he quickly realizes that as it's now a weapon-based fight that he actually will be casting a small spell on himself. It's not against the rules and he did specify that he was going to do it, but he kind of wants to not die from an attack and thus will create a small protective barrier of earth magic just around each of his vital organs. It's a bit of a drain to maintain, but it's not like he's planning on using any of his magic for the rest of the fight anyway.

She actually starts off her attack by doing something strange. She leaps up and uses her wings to propel her a bit higher up, but then comes down and attempts to attack him with her feet first. But he's far more concerned about her blades than her feet and so he chooses to dodge rather than try and attack one area and leave him wide open from an attack from above, assuming her attack to be a sort of feint. As soon as he lands he tries to bait her into an attack as well, though using his tail to try and draw in her attack. As the fight progresses, Blade Tail finds himself quite enjoying this particular match. It becomes quite clear that his opponent practically is used to fighting without much use of magic anyway. Or at least not the kind of magic he'd rather not have to deal with. They seem to prioritize defensive spells and mobility spells based on how they fight. They don't try and stay away or pressure him out, but rather stick to a lot of glancing blows, constantly staying in motion. Probably going for a 'death of a thousand cuts' type tactic. Which, if they are able to attack and move as agilely as they seem to be doing even without using their magic to help move it's quite clear that they would give quite a few a bit of pause. And given their fighting style, if he was going all out with his own magic this fight would be extremely boring very quickly. Depending on how many ranged options she has available, it might simply be a matter of her trying to keep away from him as much as possible and them just flinging weak spells at each other. She leaves openings in all of her attacks, but it's openings in a position he cannot reach without magic. She would definitely not do at all well fighting multiple people at once. He moment she goes up against a second fighter she's pretty much screwed.

But as things are, she only has to deal with him and he's all too willing to simply enjoy the fight. And to really give them a show he goes about doing similar, leaving openings, trying to cut things close. Really make the fans enjoy the match that doesn't have any of the flashy attacks they're probably used to seeing. And as the fight goes on it is clear this is a fight he will likely end up winning. Her attacks are slowing faster than his are. She may have far more skill when it comes to fighting with bladed weapons, but the squirrel is more than skilled at reading an opponent. His attacks would be far more obvious and telegraphed. And he can't follow up his attacks nearly as well, but he is quick, he has much more experience than her and more stamina. And that means he now has a dilemma to deal with. He isn't sure how determined she is at winning or if she's able to tell that she doesn't really stand much of a chance of beating him unless he makes a major mistake. Which would be fine enough if not for the fact that the more tired she gets, the more likely she will make a costly mistake.

As much fun as it is, he would rather prefer the ability to fight her again in the future. This is infinitely more fun than fighting that gator at the very least. And so he starts trying to steadily improve his own form. He doesn't want to make her feel like he was simply going easy on her, he really wasn't. He just was showboating during the attempt, to make sure the audience gets a good show. And if he's subtle enough about it, she might just attribute it to her getting tired. So as her attacks start slowing down, he starts leaving fewer and fewer openings. And he makes sure that when she does leave any openings that he's capitalizing on them harder and harder. This forces the fight away from being a back and forth engagement and more towards being where he's clearly on the offensive and she's having to spend more and more time trying to defend against his attacks. She could still probably fly up to get some space but she had been honoring his agreement at not doing that so far and he'd hate to have to deal with that.

The fight comes to a close after she makes an attack from above, he's able to deflect it up, leaving her wide open enough for a firm kick in the gut, pushing her back into the wall. And before she has any time to recover he closes the gap and holds his blade at her neck. She pants for a few seconds, as if debating whether or not she feels she can turn this around or not, but eventually just raises up her hand in the sign of surrender. Blade Tail does similar and then lets his two blades fall back into the ground. He then steps away from her, giving her some space before bowing to her and then turns and bows at the crowd. Not necessarily the proper protocol but one he felt was deserving. He did potentially just waste some of their time to have a fight that was far more enjoyable for himself than it might have been for them. And neither of them came out of this completely unscathed. They were both effectively fighting without true armor using only blades. So the arena has quite a bit of blood on it from the random grazes and nicks that they were both able to inflict on each other. Definitely not something that will take him all that much time to heal. He debates whether or not he'll request another match before the customary week has passed. He wouldn't want to be particularly insulting to her after she agreed to fight his way rather than normally, but at the same time one of the points to fighting this way is that injuries are usually kept to a far lesser degree. There is not much damage from their injuries. He could possibly just ask for her opinion during the customary meal but as he exits the arena with another nod to her he realizes another aspect that would play in his favor for waiting. If he keeps offering to fight without magic and always fights on the same day of the week, he'll stand far more chance of getting others willing to fight him without magic than if he was always jumping around.

But that will be for another time. For now it's time to have the arena doctors available patch up his wounds a bit and then just sit in that box for the fighters and watch the rest of the matches. And then probably get a bite to eat. Stadium food is usually a bit too expensive for his liking. He will have to do that meal thing with her tomorrow, though that is just a simple affair since he's not well known enough for it to be all that publicized. He had quite a bit of fun and even if he had lost he would have been satisfied by the outcome. Now the issue is to rise up enough through the ranks until he can really enjoy himself. However, that match certainly did a number on his outfit. The premier match seems to be an exhibition match between one of the higher ranked individuals and a squad of lower ranked individuals. While watching, Blade Tail wonders whether or not that may end up being his own fate. And how strange would it that one day he'll be the one being set up for exhibition matches against squads from Earth. Though it is a bit sobering to think that by the time he rose up high enough that they'd pit him against a team from Earth, enough time would pass that there wouldn't be anyone for him to recognize.