[center][color=#66B8FF][h3][U][B]Kaelia Katela[/B] – [I]The Guardian[/I][/U][/h3][/color][/center][hr]The girl retreated, and Brightvein was pushed back somewhat as she did so, but she managed to stop its momentum enough so that it came nowhere near Sophia. Letting her arm fall she heard the sound of something striking her shield and in the same moment something else gouging at the ground. She narrowed her eyes, crouched and then her senses alerted her of movement from below. She immediately jumped back and out of the way, before jumping to the right and forwards. Opening her second vial, she waited for her opponent's reply, knowing that now that Sophia had her shield up she would more or less be able to handle herself.

This in mind, she let a small amount of silver out as she approached, out of sight, her footsteps and movements quieter than normal due to her experience as a hunter and the enchanted nature of the armor. Plus she could manipulate the individual plates so they didn't jostle against one another. It was something she'd long since learned to do almost unconsciously. It was second nature.

Trying at an attack before she finished closing the distance—her form still obscured by her shield—she manipulated said barrier, letting the left side seem to meld into the rest of the shield, before spikes grew from the surface, attempting to strike the general area that she had last heard her adversary. She doubted it would strike if they were truly skilled, but there was no real reason not to try.

While Kaelia noted the attempted absorption of vis from her metals she had no need to worry about it. The vis in the conduit metal was fused into a solid state, having bonded with the material effectively making it part of the metal. It was this vis which was attuned to her own, which was what allowed her to control the metal, and also what made it so troublesome, since the manipulation didn't take much vis to fuel, and didn't really pour the vis into the metal itself, but rather expended it slowly over time for each manipulation.