[MP] Most Dangerous Game [Zoya, Alaric--NPC:Lilly]

After the interesting third-to-last match behind him, Adonis was carefully optimistic about this one. Kalevi had won the semi-final and would be moving to the last match, but this last semi-final would dictate who would be moving on to the final match along with Kalevi. It would be either Zoya Chernova or Alaric Zima. He had high hopes for Zoya, his favorite student. Adonis didn’t like playing favorites as a rule, but Zoya was so feisty, it was really hard for the half-dwarf to not love her. He hoped she laid this Drakonya Krov boy out and ended up in the finals. Of course, the Drakonya Krovs had the advantage of full training rights, but naturally he had helped Zoya find the workaround for that. 
 
The great hall was set up much the way it was for the other matches, with a mat in the center for dueling and the tables arranged around the outside—none in front of or behind either student (for fear of rogue spells). Spectators were allowed, but at their own risk.  
 
As the students stepped into position, Adonis nodded at them. “Alright you two, good luck.” He offered, having said the same thing many times before for this competition. “Shake hands, then back up three paces.” He offered. “Alright, on the count of three, begin.” 
 
“1….2…3….” 

@Zoya Chernova @Lilly

Since the upcoming tournament's announcement, Zoya had wholly ignored all of her other duties and spent every waking moment (and even some sleeping ones) prepping for the duels. The fiery little witch had spent all of her free time in one of three places this last week, the library (looking for new spells), the dueling room (in secret, thanks to the professor), and the Grand Hall watching the bracket as it moved toward the final match. During classes, she hid spell diagrams between the pages of her textbook, practicing the movements silently under the desk while she pretended to read the assignments. And even though she was one of the youngest members of the house Dueling Teams, Zoya felt prepared.

Exuberantly confident, wickedly good with her wand, and too stubborn to admit defeat, the Klyk Vampira was dead set on winning the tournament. Beating her first opponent in the first two rounds, Zoya felt inspired, like she was on the top of the world, and nothing could bring her down until she saw who she was competing against in the next match. Alaric was good, and he'd been dueling for a lot longer than the fourth year had, but Zoya was careful not to let it go to her head. She would be vigilant, but she couldn't risk being too cautious, especially not since Kalevi had advanced to the final round. Winning the trophy would be great, but beating out the Drakonya Krov captain (two years her senior) to do it, was just too sweet an opportunity to pass up.

With a clear head and a cornucopia of spells floating around her mind like cannons ready to fire, Zoya stepped up to the mat. The redhead removed her long uniform cloak to reveal the Dueling uniform underneath, handing it to a friend and making sure the Captain pin was shining brightly on her lapel. Moving twenty paces back, Zoya took once finally, steadying breath, before spinning around and readying her wand. Her favorite professor gave the word, and the match began. Zoya was first to attack, just the way she preferred it, and with a resolute tone, she attempted to fling the Horned Tongue curse at her adversary. The opening move was carefully determined, as the witch hoped a hardened tongue would impede Alaric's abilities to fight back.

Aim:

Rolled 1d6 : 5, total 5

Spell accuracy:

Rolled 1d6 : 2, total 2

Alaric considered himself fairly ready for the tournament. As much as he ever could consider himself ready for anything. He figured he would always have his fathers voice in his head telling him to do better. At this point he was mostly getting better about ignoring it, if only it wasn't being steadily replaced by his own voice insisting it wasn't good enough.

It wouldn't do to loose his focus.

The tall drakonya had a very particular dueling style which, he mused, was completely opposite to his approach at Quidditch. He moved quickly and cleanly and kept his spells simple but powerful. As old as he was it wouldn't be very fair of him to use too much of an advanced repertoire on the younger years and there was little reason to use any spell linking when it was more about winning a round than not. That wasn't to say that he underestimated his opponent, regardless of how old she was or any sort of perceived disadvantage.

Not that he wouldn't capitalize on any weakness he could find. Ruthlessly. He did not like to loose, and he planned to make it exceptionally difficult for Zoya. If she won this it would be because she ripped the win from him with blood and tears.

As he stepped forward to shake Zoya's hand he gave her a nod and a grunt before stepping back, eyes narrowing and studying her form, and his wand at the ready. The spell speeding towards him was familiar and he automatically moved to cast Protego in defense. Lets see how strong the little redhead was, yea?

Reflex:

Rolled 1d6 : 1, total 1

Accuracy:

Rolled 1d6 : 5, total 5

While Alairc’s reflex was lacking, his spell accuracy was much better than that of Adonis’ prized student, and as such he won the round, the spell ricocheting back towards Zoya. Adonis was impressed by this, but not enough to be happy about it. He waited for the turn to end before nodding to Alaric. As the winner of the round, it was now his turn to go on the offense.

Adonis looked at Zoya, making sure she looked okay, before flicking his eyes towards the audience and then back at the students in front of him. This was going to be an interesting match, certainly.

[[ @Lilly @Samm Alaric won this round and will be going on the offense next ]]

There was a certain satisfaction that came with successfully defending. Still, he really needed to work on his reflexes. They did not seem to be on pars with Zoya’s. Definitely something to consider. He gave the redhead a nod, thoughts swirling as her took his place again. His fingers gripped his wand rightly, breath evening out, as he centered himself and focused on his opponent.

There was a thrill there, of course, but Alaric had a tendency to take things seriously. He didn’t really indulge in the enjoyment until after. Now was the time to think critically and study his opponent for weaknesses. He already knew she had better reflexes than he did, but not better accuracy. Or so it would appear at first glance. This was just the start. He only had the current set of data available to him at the moment, unfortunately.

Well there was something he could do. While it was true that he didn’t have enough information to go with a strategy catered to Zoya there was still a certain level of psychology he could use to his advantage. She didn’t appear to be the kind of witch to be ruffled and he imagined that worked for her when it came down to dueling. If he could distract her mentally as well as physically then he figured that could give him an edge. With those thoughts in kind, he settled on a spell. He moved swiftly once decided, searing Zoya with an intense look, before his wand out whipped out to cast his incantation. “Protidor Armatu.” Let’s see how she dealt with the Armor Bewitching Charm.

He suspected casting any spells while under the influence of your clothes attacking you would be pretty distracting.

Aim:

Rolled 1d6 : 1, total 1

Accuracy:

Rolled 1d6 : 1, total 1

Seeing her opponent block the spell and the magic glancing back toward her, Zoya set her jaw and felt her tongue hardening. The curse had weakened as it headed back toward her, but that didn't make it feel any less strange or distracting. The Klyk Vampira wanted to avoid the Dueling Professor's eyes, knowing she had failed and let him down, but something inside her forced her to keep her chin up and her head in the game. Zoya might have been younger and less experienced than Alaric, but the little witch had willpower for days.

And if nothing else, she'd get through this duel on sheer stubbornness alone.

Alaric had won the last round, but Zoya was determined not to give up another round to him. While she had always prided herself on the strength of her offensive skills, Zoya never forgot to practice defensive spells as well. Standing her ground and giving the professor a quick nod to signal she was fine to continue, Zoya kept her eyes laser focussed on Alaric. He moved quickly, and there was almost no time to see the movement of his wand and recognize the words that came from his mouth. Zoya ignored the glare he was giving her and focussed only on his hex as she took a step forward, heaved her wand toward him, and used all of her weight and anger to muster a reflective countercurse, despite a slur in her words. "Julaudico!"

Reflex:

Rolled 1d6 : 3, total 3

Accuracy:

Rolled 1d6 : 2, total 2

Luck was not necessarily on either side of this match, it seemed. Despite her swollen tongue, Zoya did well this round, effectively countering the curse with her own spell. Adonis tried not to smile and keep a straight face, for the sake of the other students watching. While he had clear favorites, he did not want to appear to be an unfair scorekeeper. He nodded at Zoya. It was her round, and her turn on the offense. 

[[ @Lilly @Samm  Zoya won this round and is on the offense next! Since the accuracy was so low of the spell, Lilly, feel free to be creative with what happened to Alaric. ]] 

The glint in Zoya's eyes was unmistakable as the spell was repelled away from her and back toward Alaric. More confidence than she had technically earned returned as the redhead beamed. She didn't dare to look away from the duel, but she convinced herself if she had, she would have seen a proud smile on the professor's face, too. The only face she was worried about right now was her opponents, though, so she kept her attention there. Zoya had won this turn, which meant a tie, and the final round would decide the winner. Zoya felt like she could, and would, win this but being grounded or modest wasn't really in the fiesty fourth year's wheelhouse.

As professor Hristofis initiated the final round, Zoya took a deep breath, and her tongue was slowly returning to normal and concentrated. If she was going to win, Zoya knew she had to pull out all the stops. Alaric was older, more qualified, and they were at a tie; there was no time to be cautious or restrained; she had to use the best spell in her repertoire and pray that her tongue didn't get in the way of the incantation. Raising her off-hand behind her head enthusiastically, she readied herself and the magic shot from her wand as soon as she spoke the words.

"Stupefy!~"

Aim:

Rolled 1d6 : 2, total 2

Spell Accuracy:

Rolled 1d6 : 6, total 6

Damn. If we was in the habit of blaming anyone but himself Alaric would have blamed the nervous energy that tended to surround matches. The tall wizard watched as his spell was repelled away from his intended target, sighing, as he tried to side-step it. He must have been only somewhat successful, though, because he could feel his robe sleeves twist and react as if they had a mind of their own. Luckily it wasn't his wand arm. He cast a quick finite, before taking a step back and looking at the redhead across from him. He didn't spare his Professor a glance, content with focusing on his opponent instead. He really needed to focus on this one and taking the time to glance around would only serve to distract him.

As it stood, everything came down to this last round. He could feel anticipation swelling in his gut and he fought to calm his thoughts and clear his mind.

He was on the defense, which put him at a bit of a disadvantage but he didn't dwell on that, either. He was already mentally preparing. Might as well go with tried and true, right? It didn't seem to him that Zoya was prone to a lot of transfiguration which left the shield spell a likely choice, just as it had been the first round. He was already reacting by the time he heard the spell she was using being called out, taking several steps across the match as his wand arm whipped out to cast his shield. "Protego." he cast again, hoping it was enough to absorb the volley of her stunner.

Reflex:

Rolled 1d6 : 2, total 2

Accuracy:

Rolled 1d6 : 6, total 6

Going into the final match on the offense gave Zoya a slight advantage. However, while her accuracy was great, her aim was pitiful—so much, in fact, that despite Aleksei’s lack of good reflex, he was able to shield himself from her stupefy hex, and protect himself. Despite Adonis’ best efforts, it seemed there would be two Drakonya Krovs in the final match this year. 
 
He nodded at Aleksei, then again at Zoya. “Congratulations, Zima.” He offered, smiling lightly at his student. Aleksei was a good student regardless of his house, and while Adonis definitely favored the young Klyk dueling captain, he could be fair. He liked people who worked hard and did well, and Aleksei was one of those people. 
 
“Looks like it’ll be you and Aare in the final round.” He smiled. “Should be interesting.” 
 
Without further ado, he turned to Zoya with a smile. “You’ve got plenty of time to win these, Chernova.” He offered with a little grin. “I’ll see you take the crown before long.” 
 
@Aleksei Zima @Zoya Chernova

He really really needed to brush up on his accuracy. He mentally calculated what his father would say, wincing internally, but sighing with some relief that he could just gloss over his poor performance. Even though he'd won it still felt like he didn't quite do his best. Doubly so because he was certain Zoya probably felt the same. The tall Drakonya Krov nodded at the Professor, an infinitesimal smile tugging his lips upwards, before glancing at his opponent.

"Good effort, Chernova." he said quietly, feeling his neck heat up. He wasn't very good with... people. Glancing back at his Professor he couldn't help the helpless laugh that left his lips, a very rare sound coming from him. "Aare is going to loose." he said confidently. He hadn't gotten this far just to loose to Kal. It would be a fun match for him, though, and he was looking forward to it. To be fair he'd been a little more nervous going up against Zoya, since he knew very little about her. Unknowns tended to make him more apprehensive than he would be otherwise, which made him even stiffer and less likely to enjoy something.

OUT