Search for the Arcanum :: Filing Him Down
It wasn't long after their battle with Tooth that Kylar's party had learned about Nail. In fact, it seemed like they had barely enough time to assess damages and catch their breath before he stepped forth from behind some ancient ruins that may have once been a tall column with decorative carvings at the top, but now was a ruin of its former self.
Nail did not look pleased. His ears were pinned back and he gripped two blades tightly in his paws. He seemed to be monochromatic, but did have a short mane of warm colored fur around his neck. The long hair on his haunches flowed in the air as he moved into view, it looked like a gust of wind followed him as the sash he wore rippled behind him like softly undulating waves. Nail lifted his lips on his muzzle in a sneer and spat at them, "You lot need to get lost."
The party had not fought this hard against the Arcanum to give up now, and Teddy had been making sure of it from the second the fight with Tooth had ended. He had been actively using his sol lyss to heal the fighters. Most had sustained deep lacerations, but they hadn't been incapacitating. He worked hard on knitting muscles and skin back together, and worked even faster since Nail made his appearance, knowing that the battle ahead could be determined by the health of the fighting party going against the swordsman.
Kylar glanced around, trying to assess which of his companions were in top condition to take on the new challenger, and realized he was next up to bat. Without warning, Kylar kicked off from the ground, darting directly towards Nail. He knew it would be a dangerous match up as they both wielded dual blades. The still quiet air was broken by the sound of metal against metal, both Woolynes refusing to battle away from their close quarters. They had plenty of room to maneuver about, but neither wanted to step away and allow an opening for their opponent.
Suddenly, shortly after a quick downward stroke that Kylar had stepped back out of range, he felt the biting sting of the blade. That couldn't be right, he had stepped out of reach. The brown Woolie couldn't afford the luxury of looking down, but he decided to keep a closer eye on his opponent. He took another strike, this time an upward cut, but Kylar was still too far out of range for the motion to be much of a threat. His eyes went wide as he watched a sharp gust of wind blow past him, barely missing the young fighter. This fluff ball was using enchanted blades!
Kylar saw Nail's muscles tensing as he prepared for another onslaught, now that the secret of his blades had been shown to the party he had nothing to hold back. Kylar knew if he had even the slightest mistake, he would be cut down in an instant if they continued to fight as they had been. He felt his own muscles tensing up, preparing to counter or dodge depending on what Nail's next moves proved to be. As he was about to defend, he suddenly saw Nail thrown off his balance and stumble to his right.
Kylar looked over and Jasper was swinging his meteor hammer around, letting it gain speed and power. Kylar felt a slight smirk cross his muzzle as he realized what had happened. While Kylar was fighting with the Arcanum baddie, Jasper was winding up for a sneak attack. He had a look on his face of mischevious excitement, he knew if he could keep the white one off balance, it would give him an edge. Maybe if he hit him in just the right spots it would give them an opening to really deal some damage. The feathered Woolie continued his onslaught, skillfully hitting Nail over and over in different parts of his body. Nail hadn't gone against someone with such a strange weapon before, he was a little caught off guard as to how he would go about countering the seemingly endless attacks. Jasper had mastered a ranged weapon that would never run out of ammunition, and it made Nail angry.
Instead of focusing his attacks on Jasper himself, he started shooting the wind at the rope that was causing him such trouble. Jasper was swinging and throwing the ends of his meteor hammer so quickly it was difficult for Nail to even conclude where it was going to be going next, and he also had to deal with the repeated hits from the weapon on his own body. In anger. he began lashing out around Jasper, and he managed to land a lucky hit and cut the weapon in half, the weighted end flying off into the distance. Jasper had a brief look of panic on his face as Nail smirked and closed in on him. Before he took more than a few steps, he saw the pink Woolie's look of anxiety suddenly shift to that of confident defiance. Jasper didn't say anything, but he merely pointed behind Nail and continued to smirk at his opponent.
Nail had been so preoccupied with the obnoxious feathered Woolie that he didn't realize the ground was shaking as a massive brown Nikyak came barreling in his direction. Apparently Big Ma didn't like how Nail was treating her friends Kylar and Jasper, and she wasn't shy about getting the message across to him. She wasn't playing around and was running straight for him, knowing she would at least knock him over, if not trample, cut, and squash him into the earth. She let out a roar, and that's when Kylar saw Sage perched on top of Big Ma's back, and he knew it was over for Nail.
Big Ma continued running towards her target, and Sage jumped off like he had many times before, shifting carefully in mid-air into his monstrous form. His claws grew long, and he looked positively angry. He was aimed right at Nail, and if Sage didn't land right on top of him, he knew that Big Ma would at least pin him to the ground to make a renewed assault easy for the team.