Duel:Reece v Giacomo
Reece vs. Giacomo
- Judges: Rheven, Naith, Riss
- Winner: Reece, split vote.
Reece steps like an apparition from a doorway of glittering silver light, as if coalescing from moonbeams to arrive on this battlefield in the cooling hours of the night. Silently his gaze pans across the field before him to rest upon the foe that it seemed he would face today, light steps taking him to a suitable distance and stance as hands meet wordlessly beneath his chin, a polite bow given the human. He considers words but eventually begins only with a nod. A step back, whispered words escaping from pale lips, hands raising again to a formation of power heralds the start of his attack. From the space between his hand a tendril of light snakes out, silvery essence seeming to glow like some etheral tentacle as it floats towards Giacomo seemingly in slow motion but with a speed which defies logical understanding. There is an instant in which it flashes and then, like spirits bound to a will it shatters, its many pieces resolving into shrieking mini-banshees, each armed with shining, glass-like instruments of death as they fly shrieking at the human, every cruel and lethal intent etched onto their strangely detailed faces as they close the distance and attack.
Giacomo merely stands there, waiting, watching; well aware of the pain that he stands to gain through this encounter. Eerie blue eyes gaze intently upon his opponent, registering every detail they can capture up until the illusionist sends forth the silvery essence. Hands slip beneath the new dark blue cloak as the man crouch down, eyes never leaving the streaking essence, yet they widen marginally as they reshape into mini-banshees. Those glowing eyes seem to grow unfocused as the intensity of the glow magnifies exponentially, streaming out bolts of lightning from their depths. The man pulls his hands from his cloak, bringing three throwing knives in each hand, at which point he pauses, letting the lightning cascade down his arms to gather about the blades. A amused grin graces the symbiotes lips just before he launches the six lightning infused blades, five of which soar towards a separate banshee, leaving the sixth knife to blaze a path straight for his foe, aimed right for the avian's chest. Yet the youngest Khamsin brother knows better than to stay still, for a moving target is much harder to hit, so without waiting to see whether he hit his mark, the human dashes off to the left, zig-zagging as he pulls forth a set of twin daggers with which to fend off the remaining banshees.
Reece smiles, all five of the targeted banshees seeming to pop as the blades impact with them. Now, the illusionist may not be the fastest thing out there on his feet, to put it mildly, but his reflexes were not to be sneezed at and as such it is with almost lightning speed and precision, cliche really, that the pale mage lifts, from a hole in the air similar to that which he stepped through, his favourite "Moon Blade" dagger to intercept that one which was thrown. As the crackling whiz of the imbued blade sails over his shoulder and past his ear he turns to the zigzagging human, noting with amusement the three remaining 'banshees' which pursued him. Choosing not to give chase, in any conventional manner, to the more athletic human Reece steps back through another doorway of glittering silver light to emerge an instant later but three metres in front of the symbiote. Here his dagger is lodged into reality, though to appearances left floating motionlessly in the air. With a flap of his wings the avian lifts himself up and over the dagger, pivoting around it and pushing off up and over the human. As he does so a coil of fire, snaking like a tether between the avian and the now airborne but stationary dagger. This tether falls in coils that drop and lengthen, as if unreeling from a great height, before and around the infused human, tightening as they move towards the ground like a vortex of fiery rope to ensnare and destroy the fragile body which held the man's life. Here it does not stop though, airborne above what was the human's position Reece reaches out with his arms, spinning them sideways and sending himself into a downward spiral. Ropes of fire wrap around him like a spindle, filling him and seeming to transform him as he lands once again upon the ground with a torrential downpour and outrush of fire, regardless of whether or not the human was successfully ensnared beneath him or not.
Giacomo is forced to stop dead in his tracks as the coils of fire appear about him, successfully trapping the human within the flaming vortex. Yet he wasn't able to stop quickly enough, as a sudden gasp accompanies the jerking back of the man's right hand, which is now lacking skin thanks to the flames. The dagger thuds harmlessly to the ground as inhuman eyes rise to glare piercingly up at the descending avian, completely disregarding the remaining banshees, trusting that they will be thwarted by the annoying firey vortex. Lightning pours from out of the symbiote's eyes, essentially coating his body in an elemental armor of electricity, which if touched will deliver a near fatal measure of voltage into the person foolhardy enough to try such a thing. Giacomo's left arm comes up as he drops onto one knee, attemtping to defend himself from his plummeting foe. The raised dagger glows menacingly as the amount of lightning within, and around, it continues to grow, even appearing to lengthen the blade with a wicked blue aura.
Reece opens his mouth in a soundless cry of agony as, instead of thwarting his foe with a fiery hell and emerging as an apparent denizen of hell, he is caught by a wickedly imbued blade and an armour of crackling energy of the lethal variety. The downrush of fire, real magic for the most part, is unabated by the change in circumstance. The illusionist's planned disguise as a denizen of hell is banished utterly though, the imbued blade slicing into his lower left leg, through the runic leggings, and delivering its shocking charge at the same time as his other foot meets with the symbiotes shielding. With a jolt that shakes the avian to his very bones and wrenches a scream of pain from his throat the psychic illusionist is propelled out of the vortex of fire in a graceful arc, trailing blood from his leg which now stains the previously pristine white leggings and boots. In the back of his mind, amidst the pain the avian is grateful for two things; the fire, which would continue to assault the human, if only for a short time, and the robes he wore, crafted finely of millions of tiny silver links, which diverts the charge away from his heart and vital organs. As the illusionist falls with a sickening crunch to the ground some metres away though those thoughts are banished from his mind, replaced by only the pain and the urgent need to move, open his eyes and escape any more of that torture. Digging into the deep recesses of his mind and drawing forth patterns of illusions long favoured and held close to him he rolls away from his landing site, teeth grit against the pain as he projects the chosen illusion with all the force of will he possessed. Though the obvious illusory qualities of this were apparent it was chosen for the likely event that it would be impossible to maintain focus enough to dispell it amidst what then begins to happen around them. The ground lurches suddenly, rising skyward in great chunks and segments, Reece on one and Giacomo on another. Seperate hunks of dirt and rock than those which they stood upon rise as well, some large and some small, floating around and between them as they seem to rush skyward, the air rapidly becoming thinner. Then with immense concussive force these floating hunks of rock begin to explode. Jagged shards of rock whiz out at speed from these collosal bangs, followed shortly by the heavier chunks which would crush a mans chest. One after the other of these things explode, raining rock upon Giacomo's position. In all this the illusionist can be seen to be smiling his senses aware through the illusion as his eyes remain closed.
Giacomo doesn't have time to savor his minor victory, for the avian goes flying off to the side at the exact moment that the vortex closes in upon the human. The pain, it's almost more than the man can take, even dispite his lightning armor, which does prevent him from losing further skin. Yet the immense pain seeps through, pulling forth a gasping cry from the the man's lips as his body spasms. Dropping to all fours as he is suddenly propelled up into the air aboard a chunk of earth, which revitalizes him ever so slightly due to his proximity to the massing storm clouds. Unfortunately, the symbiote is in entirely too much pain to evade all of the exploding rocks, hell, he barely manages to avoid the ones that would kill him, leaving every other hunk of earth to pummel his weary body. Just as the last boulder arcs towards him, Giacomo's eyes refocus upon Reece as he wills his lightning armor to surge off of his body to form a perfect sphere before his outstretched left hand. Once done, the human manages one last grin before thrusting the ball of lightning straight for the avian with devastating speed. Yet the effort needed to complete this task drains the last of his reserves, causing him to fall backwards off of the floating ground, incidentally avoiding that last boulder. Eyes slip shut mid-fall as the human loses consciousness, giving his life up to Fate whether he likes it or not. Wait, the lightning living within him has a different idea, and since Fate is rarely kind in this life-or-death situations, it decides to surge forth from the symbiotes back at the opportune moment in order to cushion his fall. Reaborbing back within him once this is done, leaving the man lying there, tattered, torn, and burned half to death.
Reece feels the symbiotes resistance through the strands of his illusion as he staggers slowly up on burned and bleeding legs. Well... to his knees at least. Communicated through the fabric of his illusion he understands Giacomo's intent before it happens but even still it is barely enough to save his life. As the illusion unravels the stored energies within his various items of silver apparel surge forth, creating a skin of sorts which enhances the protective properties of his robes as the lightning ball strikes the avian full in the chest. The sensation of the meeting magics causes the avian's hair to stand on end, splaying like a peacock's tail above his head, but other than a little more minor pain to add to what he had he was lucky in that there was no more aspects to his foe's attack. Lifted by the force the pale mage rocks back over his heels to fall into an undignified, but at least upright, sitting position against the rising slope behind him, now visible truly like the rest of the plain with no illusion to mess with it. Here the avian's weary, pain-filled, but determined gaze swings to the unconscious Giacomo. Not that he could do anything, blackness hovered at the edge of his vision and his legs certainly wouldn't support him. Still that is where he stays, conscious only by sheer force of will as he waits for the natural healing of his body by moonlight, destined not to come for some hours yet.