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As watchful as Athous's eyes were, Krausse's were even moreso; combined with his cybernetic brain, his vision was twice as powerful as the best human's, and he could make out minute details easily from a distance and realize their meaning quicker than Athous could expect. Krausse could have met the dodge, as he had expected such an action, but he preferred to downplay his abilities until it was necessary to do otherwise.

Instead of throwing out the dagger in his left hand as an attack, Krausse released the energy - the sand - he had been gathering under his feet. His feet were his connections to the earth beneath him and the platinum in one of the innumerable pouches of his utility belt was the catalyst for the reaction to be observed. The only warning Athous would get would be the feeling of the earth shake in its cradle, something that would always say to an experienced fighter "get the hell out of the way". Then a single, five foot tall spike made of solidified sand would shoot up from the earth beneath Athous's feet, four inches wide, and pierce through the book that Athous held to completely ruin it.

The chains wrapped around Krausse's throat as he released the energy, but the surprise that lit up his features as they rose from the ground was gone almost the same instant it registered. As if an instinctual, lightning-fast reflex, Krausse brought his dagger up to meet the chains. The finely hammered steel slowly warped and rippled under the intense, unnatural blades that burned as deep an orange as a dying sun, the Flaming Weapon spell cast instantly to allow the dagger to cleave cleanly through the two chains that raced for Krausse's neck. Although the chains fell to the ground, cut cleanly in two by Krausse's parlor trick spell, he had to bring the weapon so close to his neck to do so that some of the flesh of his throat and under his chin bubbled and baked under being too close to the immense heat.

Flaming Weapon: insta-cast
Shape Earth: 1/1 Cast
Spells Remaining: 8/10

Again, the chain were severed by the flaming dagger and the warped links fell to the ground, destroyed by the intense flame that consumed the dagger, reducing the length of the chains by half all over again. Persistence in the same maneuver would get Athous nowhere with Krausse; the warrior was too quick to adapt, too quick to overcome the challenges and learn the loopholes inside of them. He didn't survive to be his age by taking cues from Anne Rice.

Athuos would suddenly find a cloud of sand thrown into his face by a sweep from Krausse's foot, which would then be pierced by Krausse's longsword as he lunged forward with a one-handed piercing strike, so quick that the man was nearly a blur of motion, unable to be seen by the human eye once set in motion, as Athous had made the fatal mistake of staying too close to Krausse.

Just before the blade struck Athous, brilliant flames encased the longsword. The heat was so intense that the chainmail would begin to meld to Athous's skin as soon as the longsword came within centimeters of it. Normally, Athous's chain armor would work in deflecting the blade, but with the blade was nanometers thick and sharp enough to cut through most metals of less than a few inches of thickness, and combined with the heat that weakened the chain armor, the result was that Athous's trench coat caught on fire and the chains parted like butter put to a knife. With Krausse's three hundred pound weight and his humanoid mass behind the lunge, Athous's far smaller chains were pushed back - although they did indeed knock the wind out of Krausse, his powerful bone structure did not falter. Then, Athous would have that feeling of "I made a terrible mistake" as he felt the longsword go to the hilt in his right side, bits of the blade pointing out the left. The heat of the flaming sword would melt his insides into a gooey, boiling paste that would ooze out of his body like a deep, metallic crimson glue.

Also, Krausse's flaming dagger extinguished, the metal of the blade contorted into ways that made it completely useless. Just in case, too, he began to gather magical energy about him.

Shape Metal: 1/2

The blade was stuck fast in the chains, useless - the blade hadn't been damaged much by the quick fire, but it was still too damaged to be reliable. Krausse let go as soon as the fire went out, avoiding the disruptor energy that would've dispelled what he built up and instead, Krausse darted away from the chains that shot towards him, graceful as a dancer, and went even closer to Infer as he went, moving faster than Infer's chains could follow and closed the already short distance of just a couple of feet between them. Krausse's hot, odorless breath puffed into Athous's face, the crazed, bloodthirsty look in his eyes apparent - the look of a hungry blood god that had been awakened from a long, dry slumber.

This close, Infer simply couldn't move out of the way in time, or spawn chains in time, as Krausse drew his remaining dagger with lightning speed and brought it up to past the book and where he buried it to the hilt in Athous's chin, where no armor protected him. Athous may have had his chains, but this close, Krausse was faster, because his cybernetic brain and body that was enhanced to accommodate it always made him faster than something organic, even if just slightly.

Shape Metal: 2/2 (Holding Charge)

The soft clap of hard leather against an unforgiving floor marked the approach of a more sophisticated individual. The stiff sole of dress shoes making an easily recognizable sound with each progressive step, only to signal the distance between the two combatant ever shrinking. Standing before Andrew was a rather slender man, dressed in a dark blue suit, the jacket unbuttoned to reveal a similar colored tie over a gray dress shirt. His hair shared the same color as his suit, the dark naval blue nearly approaching black made the white gloves he wore upon his hands a sharp contrast.

"What a boring place to stage a meeting Mr Clark. Its rather bland" Ea said as he came to a halt approximately seven feet ahead of Andrew. His arms resting behind his back with a black and gold cane locked under his right arm. From his stance, speech and appearance it was clear that Ea was older then Clark, by a significant margin.

Ea appearance today was by something of a request, the young man who most knew as Drew had invited the old Magician for a friendly spar. As a man who couldn't deny himself an opportunity to show off, Ea agreed to the meet. He also wanted to see how the boy had grown and changed over the past several years. The magician admittedly hadn't changed at all, he still dressed, act, and even looked identical as he had years back. He often joked that he aged well.

Retrieving his cane into the dominate hand, Ea tapped the polished metal against the floor. "I'll skip the cards tricks today, and jump right into the main attractions, are you ready?"

Aggression was a defining feature in all your predecessors as well.... Somethings never change. The wizard speculated as Mr.Clark called upon his once concealed scythe weapon. Analyzing the situation suggested either some use of a pocket dimension or some form of matter compression was in order for seal the weapon within the ear ring, but this was not the time to ponder.

The wizard's grip tightened on his cane as he watched the boy adjust his own grip across the shaft of the scythe. The shifting of weight, suggesting a forward progression, brought the wizard and counter with a neutral step backwards, avoiding the scythe by a good foot on its first pass. The mirrored blade design of the scythe leaving far less openings, that would only be decreased as momentum built up.
Ea moved with a long stride, stepping forward into the range of the scythe as the offensive blade had just passed. Raising his cane and grasping it with both hands, he positioned it to guard against the shaft of the scythe upon its approach. Considering the scythe was about 10 feet long, and Mr. Clark was position roughly at the center (putting 5 feet of scythe of either side), a good stride would put the guarding wand of the wizard around the mid point of the defending 5 feet. The momentum and weight of the weapon greatly reduced at this point of the scythe, allowing for the two handed raised cane to stop the rotation, and end the cycle. The cane flexed as the two weapon collided, but the cane held firm as the wooden construct allowed for such flex in the fibers.

Within the guard of Mr.Clark, Ea had the advantage with a short staff weapon, allowing him to be quicker on recovery on a guard. Stepping in once more, the wizard brought the cane forward while still maintain the two handed grip hoping to collide the solid metal handle against the skull of old friend. Working with limited movement space and even less to build a swing, the strike was fast and aimed for the nose to forehead region relying on body weight to get the power. Having the same power as a sturdy hay-maker, the cane's sudden strike to the skull would rattle the brain and likely daze. Allowing Ea to follow up by placing the cane across the chest of Drew and push him back. Retreating with a almost dance like twirl as his cane swung with the soft momentum to strike the scythe away from his body to prevent a dangerous retraction.

If everything went as hoped, Ea would have retreated back to his original distance after landing a painful blow. His cane striking the platform and exerting and momentous push, the settled dust taking to the air. The cane presenting with a soft aura, like near invisible threads making their way over its surface of black paint.
A left hand moved towards the brow brushing aside a bead of sweat from the forehead, "You know i hate being rushed" the man said with a pause to run his hand through his hair. Spiking the dark blue strands upwards, revealing a streak of white hair once hidden beneath. "But who am i to deny an audience"







1/5 Charge - [Cane]

When hearing is lost momentarily, many recall a bizarre empty ring that drowned out the world. The results of high levels of pressure pounding the ear drums and washing out the ability to make out distinct vibrations of sound waves. During moments like this the world felt surreal, colors seemed more vibrant and the world almost slowed down and the other senses kicked into overdrive with the absence of the other.
This would be the feeling presented to both combatants of Arena One as the crescent slash known as the "reaver" curled over and broke the sound barrier. The wizard's figure consumed and lost within the embracing energy and dust filled air.

"Slow, perhaps. But age certainly haven't weakened me" Ea said sternly as he stepped out from the blast unscathed. Peering down at the boy from behind a pair of spectacles, the wizard held an expression that showed his intent to retort. His cane clicked against the surface of the arena as it came down against the stone work. The wizard taking a step forward as his mind quickly reviewed the moments that had just past.....

Intelligently Drew had used the scythe's serviceable staff qualities and his superior physical strength to drive the scythe into the core of the wizard to push the man back, hence avoiding the counter strike from the short ranged staff weapon as well as resetting the battlefield standings.

Pulling back with the scythe, the air bend and broke as the curled blade twisted the winds and coated it in spring of energy unleashed in the form of a crescent shaped arc that soared towards the old man.
Dodging wasn't an option this time...

The collision shattered the sound barrier and the air collapsed upon itself with an ear ringing pop. Mana twirled around the sleek black body of the wizard's cane as it collided with the arcing form of the reaver. The hair and jacket of the wizard being blow back as the fighting forces unleashed a back draft following the initial silence. Energy and magic swirling into the skies as the once stable arc of the reaver was disbursed and its energy now swirled outside of its intended path. Standing between the path of Drew's "reaver" and Ea's human body was the wizard's wand a cane currently containing a charge of the wizard's mana or magical energy. The simple gesture of storing the energy within its wooden fibers granting the flexible black body the strength to withstand attacks with the only requirement being Ea's focus to maintain stability within the energy itself.


The cane pressed against the arena floor, the stone work splitting under the pressure of mana weighing heavily upon the surface. Waves of energy appearing like thin layers of smoke rising up from the cracks. Twirling around the wizard's figure the mana threads worked their way up through his hair passing by the white streak that was no prominently visible. "How frail the human body is" the man said raising his left hand snapped his fingers. The flat sound of the finger striking the palm completely absent as the now familiar defining ring would overtake Drew's ear drums. A technique that targeted the water droplets into the air and exploding them in a violent fashion to product a resonating wave of pressure like thunder against the ear. Painful and disorientating, the damage to the ear would cause ones equilibrium to be momentarily lost. This would result in a struggle to keep balance and lead to issues moving, a troublesome combo to face when a black cane with a soft glow threatened to nail the boy square in the chest. Though a few pound cane doesn't carry much of a danger on its own, the mana within the came would have it strike like a hammer, the feedback from the colliding magics of opposite polarities creating a magnetic like rejection that would throw Drew backwards the moment the cane met with the body or his weapon. A blast strong enough to fracture bones and dislocate a limb that impact would be certainly felt even by the most stubborn of young men.