In What Lies a Shadow (Flax)

Flax's blade sunk deep into Russ' flesh, uncontested! A powerful blow that finally began to shift the tides of battle more in her favor and away from his. Still, she wasn't out to kill the man, nor could she even if she was really trying to. All he had to do was shift into that golden form of his, and Flax's power would find itself eclipsed entirely. For now, though, he seemed content with keeping the match fair, and as he pulled away, clutching his wound, Flax couldn't stop the confident smirk from etching itself across her face in the way that it did. She'd never been one to enjoy combat much before she became host to an indescribably monstrosity, but ever since? Well, she couldn't deny relishing the thrill of battle at least a little bit.

With all the energy she'd expended to deliver the strike, though, Flax felt herself feeling weak, though perhaps not as weak as she usually did after going all-out on an attack like that. Perhaps her intentionally limiting herself to well below her maximum output was her saving grace in this instance, keeping her from feeling the full effects of the recoil that normally overtook her when relying so heavily on the darkness.

"Scared of heights? Not normally so much, but when we're this high, can you blame me for being a bit more cautious than usual?" she replied to the Saiyan as he took a moment to recover. She was durable, but a fall from what was essentially the atmosphere of a planet would really put that durability to the test. And, speaking of durability being put to the test... Russ was ready to strike back. And he was striking back hard. "Shit-" Flax cursed as the Saiyan closed in, deadly intent clear on his face! He really wanted to get back at her for that strike!

Flax raised her hand in defense and attempted to grab the blade, stopping it in midair, but Russ was able to easily overpower and knock away her hand, driving his sword forward with a horizontal slash across her torso. "Gck!" Flax grunted in pain as she fell back, rolling across the ground and attempting to land on her feet, only to fall to her knees, clutching her chest. "Eye for an eye, I suppose," she half-complimented half-complained about Russ' powerful counterattack.

Normally, she'd have gotten to her feet and kept fighting after taking a moment to recover and recuperate, but there was a problem. Black ooze began to seep from the wound Russ had dealt her, instead of the blood you'd expect to see coming out of a normal person. "Shit!" Flax cursed internally as she quickly turned around, her back to Russ as both of her hands began working overtime to shove the darkness back inside of her stomach before all of it spilled free. "Uh... Just a second!" she called out to the man over her shoulder. "My, uh... Bra got cut apart. So, don't look!" ...Embarrassing, but it ought to keep the man from trying to sneak a peek at what was really going on.

Flax defends against Russ' attack with a [Light] Necrotic Grasp! It blocks his attack for 14,910 (20%) PL, reducing the incoming damage to 45,090 (60%)! She then takes the hit and begins suffering from Bleed!

HP: 40/250 > 100/250
KP: 1/6 > 0/6
MP: 4/6 > 6/6

Hmm, well... She seemed to have managed to avoid arousing suspicion from Russ for the moment. But what was she supposed to do, just... Pretend she knew of a method to magically stitch her clothes back together? ...Actually, that'd probably work. Magic materialization wasn't exactly an insanely uncommon trait across the galaxy, though it did require actual mastery of magic, which Flax did not have. If he later asked her to conjure up so much as an apple, she'd be exposed. 

Something else to distract him with while she thought of a better plan, then. ...Well, he had just asked for her name. "My name's Flax, by the way," she called back to him with her back still turned. "Short for... Well, nothing. Just some sort of flower, I think." Flax had never actually seen a flax, but had heard it described as a soft, beautiful violet color. With her current position in life, though, Flax considered herself neither soft nor particularly beautiful, although she did still like the color purple.

"And yeah, no hard feelings..." she added just before she winced in pain as the darkness continued to bleed out of her, some of it even dripping down onto the floor of the Lookout, prompting her to hunch down on one knee and bend over. "Just uh," she again called back, "Just a minute, here." It was time for this big sweater of hers to come in clutch. Flax scooped up the darkness off the floor and shoved it back into her stomach, then folded the sweater over itself and tucked it into her pants, covering up the wound.

Good enough. She turned around to face Russ. "Alright," she declared, "Let's keep going. Pretty sure I had you on the ropes, so why stop there?"

Flax takes 15% damage from Bleed!

HP: 100/250 > 115/250
KP: 0/6 > 2/6
MP: 6/6