I was distracted from the battle that was about to begin by the growing attention that was directed our way from those I could only a.s.sume were loyal to Lord Haygan. My perception skill was interrupted as I was trying to identify who and what level the people focusing on our group was by primal roars that began emanating from the Water Arena.Blayney and Haygan, freed of the restraints Belisama had placed on them during the early phases of testing, both having survived the crushing pressures, both barreling towards each other. A single-minded intensity and ferocity, fury and killing intent shared between them. The intent to kill obvious and their only emotion.
This was not going to be a battle that allowed surrender. Both were intent on killing the other, no quarter would be given.
Haygan appeared to have the advantage. His sleek form sliced through the water; his serpent form more aerodynamic. He was perfectly formed for water combat. Sinewy muscles, fins, and sleek scales allowing an economy of motion that was both efficient and deadly.
Blayney"s hybrid form propelled him forward just as swiftly, but his upper half, the half still in horse form offset the aerodynamic nature of motion. He simply wasn"t designed to take advantage of the current and was less efficient in this shape.
What his form did allow was a mult.i.tude of additional weapons. Weapons that he could bring to bear when attacking in close quarters. Where Haygan had to rely on fangs and his body coils to subjugate and paralyze his opponent, injecting poison with each bite and tearing at the armored and scaled body of Blayney for damage.
Blayney had claws and teeth that could tear, rend, and slash. Further, his tail was long enough and powerful enough to be used as a truncheon. He couldn"t coil around his victim as Haygan could, but he could batter and deflect attacks efficiently. Spikes that had replaced fins at the end of the tail allowed for even greater damage as the tail was capable of creating great open wounds as well as force blunt trauma.
Blayney"s merged form, what appeared to be a disadvantage, instead allowed him to emphasize the deadly nature each shape possessed. His body really was ideal for combat, and the medium, the water only increased that efficiency.
The two men"s fighting style was drastically different. Haygan fought more eel-like, using teeth and fangs to tear flesh asunder. He would often aim for the meatier sections of Blayney. Flanks, stomach, and neck, and when his teeth connected, large chunks of flesh would be torn and ripped away as he sought to wind his body around Blayney to gain leverage and containment.
Haygan was fast. Striking and retreating instantly. Often too quick to see where he was aiming with each strike until after he had acted. And he used his body as both shield and control. Constantly twisting and coiling to deflect strikes or attempting to encase his opponent in a mountain of muscle. Muscles that could restrain his victim and allow him to bite and tear at will.
Blayney fought more like an alligator, often grappling. His teeth, claws, and tail would work in a synchronized whole that brought synergy to his fighting style. Instead of tearing out great chunks of flesh, he aimed for vital or pressure points on Lord Haygan"s body. If he was able to gain purchase, once he had latched on, he would begin rolling attempting to disorientate his opponent, the two of them leaking rivers of blood and flesh as they contended with each other.
It was hard to tell which fighting style was more effective. Blayney seemed to be at a serious disadvantage. His grapple and roll technique often allowed Haygan to employ his body and tail effectively to coil around and constrict. But the Sidhe were creatures of nature. Both men were powers in their own right. And Kelpies were masters of motion and battle in those domains of water, air, and field.
Further, all Sidhe had an innate healing ability. Each tear or rend of flesh. Each wound that gushed blood and viscera, healed almost instantly. Great horrific wounds that would have killed any mortal person would close leaving no evidence of the great gashes and heavy damage that was being inflicted.
Flesh would fill in, an eye that hard been burst regrown, a front leg that had been bitten off and swallowed made whole. The transitive nature of the battle, the sheer amount of damage that each of them were capable of withstanding was exponentially increased because they could heal such ferocious wounds they were forced to endure, instantly.
They weren"t indestructible. The wounds, blood, and viscera were proof of that. But their healing abilities were so high, that they might as well have been.
I wasn"t sure if the reason they could heal so effectively had to do with some special variable in the arena, or if this was simply a racial trait for Kelpies. Or if the men were simply that powerful.
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There had been hints during Alys" murder investigation that she would have survived her horrific butchering, and that it was only the removal of her head that had finally resulted in her death. I was beginning to realize that all Sidhe were just that hard to kill. It stood to reason; the Sidhe were considered immortal unless killed. That immortality had to come with a viable maintenance program.
If that were the case, just how powerful was Belenos Aura? I"d killed four men the first time I had used it, and those deaths had seemed to happen instantly. Perhaps, I wondered, if that wasn"t the case. If their Sidhe healing factor had built and rebuilt their bodies as the Aura continued to burn each new iteration. Flesh made whole, burnt and destroyed in a cycle of healing and destruction too fast for me to perceive. If that were the case it made their deaths even more gruesome.
"How will they be able to declare a winner, if they just keep re-healing and repairing every wound," I asked Una.
"The wounds may appear to heal completely, but they don"t. There is a c.u.mulative process that is involved. The first time they heal, perhaps 99 percent of the wounds, flesh, and blood are restored. Each subsequent wound, each time repairs are made, that percentage decreases.
"It"s really a battle of attrition. Whoever takes less damage. The one that can sustain and ignore wounds longer while healing, will win."
"Una," Irvin said frantically grabbing our attention away from the challenge arena.
He had noticed the Kelpie that I had identified earlier, the ones paying more attention to those around me than the battle in front of them, had begun to make their move. It was subtle, a shift in body placement, a step closer to our position, but it was obvious for those that knew the signs. They were surrounding our group.