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Vilya looked on. These spells were complex and difficult to maintain.
Tura growled in her mind, she had been listening to her thoughts.

"I'd like a chance to speak with them after our match."
Tura lay down behind her companion, curling about her and allowing Vilya to lean back against her flank. Her tail twitched as she followed the battles, watching the sages as a cat would watch mice at play.

This kid's good with a staff. Keeping me on the defensive, and close so he doesn't lose track of me. Well, I'll put an end to that. And show him why I'm a Sage and he's not.

The white lion-like creature, Luz, was still locked with Stratus. All he needed was to land one good hit and he'd be able to end the stalemate they seemed stuck in.

Noah dared a glance at his partner while parrying and deflecting the viscous attacks of the Combatant. He could see that his partner was matched almost evenly against the feathered dragon. He gathered in his concentration, he'd need it to cast a spell and keep hi defense up at the same time. "Visum Fracta." He called out, targeting his opponents partner.

The spell connected with Stratus and he suddenly saw multiples of his opponent. There were nearly a dozen of the white, winged, lion overlapping each other in front of him. He no longer knew which attacks to defend against. He almost immediately took a resounding paw strike in the face. The cat creature had a good bit of power, it had not extended it's claws on that attack, but the impact alone had made his vision do dark around the edges momentarily. He fell flat to the ground when he saw another dozen strikes coming at him. The dodge worked effectively enough, causing the strike to pass harmlessly through the air above his head. He darted back, retreating, and took to the air as soon as he could get his wings unfolded and beat the air down beneath him. He glanced back over his shoulder, seeing fragmented visions of the lion taking to the air after him.





Stratus asked as he swooped desperately through the air, using his superior speed to stay one step ahead of the enemy, despite his disorientation.









Stratus continued his aerial evasion tactics while Sai focused on keeping his opponent where he could reach him and simultaneously wracking his brain for a spell that he had only ever used once. Suddenly it hit him.

He said and poured magical energy into his partner through their empathic bond.

Stratus whirled about, facing his enemy. As he spread his wings and limbs out wide, appearing to be preparing himself to grapple with the enemy in midair, he shook loose dozens of feathers from his body.

The lion, Luz, closed on him in a flash. Propelling himself through the air harder, now that he thought he would be able to finish their confrontation.

As the dozen images grew large in his sight Stratus gathered up his and his partners magical energy, and forced it into a spell. Stratus said inside their heads, and instantly teleported directly behind Luz, and quite a ways back from him. Due to his inexperience with the spell, and casting in general, Stratus inadvertently drew more than twice the amount of energy that Sai would have used for it.

Sai, still in his deadlock, felt even more of his energy drain away through their bond. Already pushing himself quite hard the sudden depletion of so much of his energy caused sweat to bead all over his body. He knew he wouldn't be able to maintain his assault for much longer.

Stratus, after teleporting, gathered more of their energy and, again wasting it, cast his second spell. The feathers floating in the air around Luz suddenly took on a sheen as they sharpened along their edges. A third spell, a third drain on their reserves, and the feathers began to swirl and whirl about, around the lion, into him. Sharp forms tossed about in a brief but devastating maelstrom.

(( Do we get two marks from this one?? =P That is if we even win. =_= ))

Kin heard the wavering of the flames as the creature's claws swiped through them at him. Kin had no idea at what angle the attack was coming in, he just knew it was coming. The attack could be lethal, he had no idea. All Kin knew was he had to move, even through the fire and run aimlessly if he had to.

I want to win... And this b*****d keeps hiding. I won't let him win like this. Kin's thoughts growled.

"Volo campester duos." Kin muttered and in an instant Kin jumped to his right at top speed along with his new speed spell level two, sending him quickly through his wall of fire without being burned and across the terrain in a blink of an eye and then crashing into a stone wall. Much of the wall tore apart and dust and debris flew around. Kin still remained in darkness but managed to evade a perhaps fetal strike. Reckless or not, Kin was alive.

Kin coughed very times and got to his feel. Vix slithered off Kin's body and dug into the ground during the commotion. "s**t, my back hurts like hell now." Kin groaned. "But that's some crazy speed. I can't even control my footing at all."

Vix who was underground now sensed the disturbance above but still had no clue what it was though it was drawing nearer to his partner, he could feel the slight disturbances of vibrations in the ground.

Vix warned Kin quickly.

Vix yelled at Kin.

"Ahhh!" Kin yelled as he sprang to his right which caused Kin to fly with enormous uncontrollable speed through the crossfire of Sai's battle unknowingly and then crashing into a wall again.

"This sucks! Not only can't I not see, but I can't control my own speed!" Kin stopped as he slowly recovered. Rocks and debris flying once again due to his impact.

((Azure, I'm sure you've seen enough of how Nathan works. Go ahead and take over him now.))

Sai lay where he had been tossed by the explosion. He was coated in sweat, and breathing raggedly, but he was still conscious. He knew he had to stay that way also, or his match against the Sage would be called a draw. He was awake, but his eyes were closed, and he did not have the energy to move, not even when he heard Kin's yelled warning.

Stratus, however, did hear Kin's warning, and he knew that Sai was in no condition to escape. He thrust his wings back and tore across the ring towards his partner. As he passed over Sai's unmoving body he scooped him up in his large foreclaws and, with another stroke of his wings, glided towards the far corner of the small battlefield.

((Stratus has always had very slight magical ability, but it's not something that he pursues, which is why he used about three times the energy as Sai would. And, yeah, she should be able to realize that it was him. The creatures of this world are magical by nature, so many of them might have some casting ability, though almost none will have as much talent in it as Tura does. Even Stratus' level of casting skill is above the norm, and he kinda sucks.))