[IC] Nexus of Worlds- Final Round

[MelonHead]

Metz had one trap of his own.

His left hand shot out, easily within range of Khazna’s wrist and sought to twist it backwards, his earliest intention still valid as he offset the man’s movements with his own. This in turn protected him as the blade spontaneously exploded with little to no warning, the metallic spray directed at his vulnerable face slashing through the tough fabric around his arm instead and cutting into his flesh. Metz had little time to comprehend what was going on around him as unlike his enemy the world hadn’t somehow completely paused and given him time to calculate his every move. Instead, he reacted on instinct, as his blade shot forward and bounced off his enemy’s hastily raised defence. The man before him was somehow near completely untouchable, but he had made perhaps one small miscalculation, the Shint was a curved blade. The curve was pointed towards his enemy and the point slightly turned up and away from his initial thrust, perhaps betraying what Metz intended all along as his blade bounced up and with a jerk of his hand he rammed the point upwards towards his enemy’s neck. No matter how far he bent his head back the blade would still find purchase in his throat as it ran along the front of the man’s body, and he had just reduced his own ability to pull back by engaging Metz in a grapple.

Metz had engaged the man’s wrist while he was still holding his sword, so he had something of an advantage in that regard, though if the man could somehow reverse his decision to close with Metz after realising the danger his knife posed was uncertain.

[GreivousKhan]

The mage’s arm flexed upward to grab Tablurath’s wrist moments after the explosion of his sword. The twist of the man’s own wrist a clear tell for the perceptive fighter. The sudden wrist grab attempt interrupting Tablurath before he launched himself forward given the window of opportunity to exploit his opponent clearly did not exist.

Practiced in close quarters combat Tablurath’s merely twisted his fist down before the mage could get a proper hold against the thumb of his opponent's left arm, using the greater mass to roll around in a circle going up and then push down suddenly forcing the mage’s wrist into an uncomfortable twist. His opponent was strong sure, but that did not mean much when proper leverage was applied in the right area. The sudden burst of speed as he enacted flash point on a small scale which allowed him to completely break free of the hold attempt as he finished the twist with a sudden downward push further aided by gravity.

This alongside the movement of his opponents quick thrust upward. Tablurath’s right hand clenched into a fist as he struck the mage’s wrist at the end of the clockwise spin just as it reach as high as his chest. Applying force and pressure to knock the mage’s arm sharply to the man’s right, possibly knocking the knife free in the process. He pushed off his left leg pivoting sharply to his right and his opponents left.

In the peripheral of his vision he could see Serenity, blade down, partly buried in the sand off to his opponents 8 O’clock. The Mage suddenly froze in place as Tablurath pushed his body into a short range flash-point, rushing past him in a blur. Stopping with a sharp turn to his left with Serenity at his feet and his opponent now at his right side just a little over five feet away, the extra momentum shed into Mercy allowing him to decelerate instantly. The Cardinal leading with his left foot, his right leg slightly behind.

Ideally he would have simply cut him during the pass, but the world blazed by too quickly even for his ocular skills. Before His opponent might recover from the initial shock of losing track of his opponent. Tablurath drew Mercy in one smooth motion, as he slid his left leg forward, aligning the draw into a single cut aimed for the back lower left side of his opponent.

[MelonHead]

Metz was beaten in close quarters, his enemy moving too quickly even for him as he committed to his grapple and stab. While his left was relatively unperturbed due to the denseness of his bones, his right hand took a vicious strike and he almost released his knife in alarm, holding onto it through sheer willpower. Dust was already starting to gather again in his peripheral, so he knew he had to do something quick and tried to draw his knife back into play, before his opponent suddenly span back and disappeared. His hand was aching and sending out pulses of pain, possibly suffering from a fracture, but not sufficient to stop the battle-hardened Mage as he caught the blur of movement and turned to follow his enemy’s speedy retreat.

“Are you fucking kidding me.” Metz laughed, looking down at the circle beneath his enemy’s feet as he unwittingly ran straight into it to retrieve his sword. He activated the circle the moment he turned, not his entire body but his neck, and was lucky it was there because he couldn’t match the speed with which his foe drew his sword. Fortunately for him, Khazna had ran right into the middle of it, leaving escape a difficult prospect.

The rock immediately rose up on every sides of Khazna in order to trap him in its confines, while simultaneously spiked stones pierced through the sides of the rock into the middle, trapping the man in a column of death. It could only reach eight feet in height but the top closed over with more spikes stabbing downwards, essentially leaving no space untouched within the rock. The rock moved at a cool 200 meters per second, and with surprise evidently on his side as his enemy had somehow not noticed the rocky circle when running to retrieve his sword, this time he may actually catch his nimble foe.

[GreivousKhan]

Without mana, we are nothing.

---

Tablurath watched as his opponent turned his head back in alarm at his sudden movement. Then the mage reacted the only means he could. Activating the circle of magic at Tablurath’s feet off to his left side. Just as planned. However, the mage had overlooked one crucial detail.

Serenity.

The magic pulsed as it entered the circle, but its course was suddenly drawn into the Starlhrim blade as the energy inevitably flowed through the circle. Serenity reacted to the mana as Starlhrim often did to any magic it touched in its raw state, by storing the bolts of energy from the circle into itself thus stealing the mana needed to create the pillar of stone and dissipating it as a result. In short cancelling the effect before it even started. It was a turn of event his opponent would have no way of foreseeing, though perhaps suspected from his earlier lightning spell.

The earlier sword throw had in actuality been aimed for the magic circle from the start, injuring the mage had been an added bonus. Serenity had simply taken that swords place as sentinel given its position in the ground set it right on the circles broader. The result would mean a delay before the effect began, as the mage would need to send even more mana to overwhelm the swords capacity assuming he understood in time what was happening to the mana’s flow, however, no such time remained before Tablurath’s sword bit into the man’s back. Should the sword fail, the sudden upheaval of stone could see Tablurath thrown off his feet, his position being just at the border of the magic circles effect.

The path of the sword cutting through the left side of his spinal column, before shredding through his liver, left kidney, and finally the large and small intestines. Effectively cutting the lower left of his torso open. The arch of the swing ended to Tablurath’s left, as he pushed off his left leg and struck the center of the mage’s back with an open palm strike with his free right hand, the momentum behind it equal to a speeding semi-truck focused in one area. Enough to snap his spine in half and launch the mage forward. Given the man’s focus was on his now defunct sabotaged magic circle. He’d have no means of defending himself in time or avoiding Tablurath’s assault.

"Checkmate." The Cardinal breathed as his palm made contact. The force of it creating a circular wave that kicked up sand around them.

[MelonHead]

The rock erupted from the alien sands, the pillar bursting forth with such ferocity that it added to the sandstorm gathering around the Torm Mage. He heard the familiar but perpetually unusual sound of rock grating on rock as it closed above, his trap complete, his opponent lost in both the gathering sands and the earth prison. Metz turned to face it, just a couple feet away as he stood heavily favouring his right leg, breath pouring from his lungs before he was forced to hold his breath in the sandstorm. Blinded, he sheathed his knife and painstakingly reloaded his pistol, stepping backwards and listening carefully for any sounds of the rock being damaged. It would be out of character for Metz to underestimate his foe now.

Within the cylinder however his foe’s trials were not yet over. From every side, high and low, even from the very top of the structure, long spiked cylinders of rock suddenly protruded at two hundred feet per second. The javelin was a devastating weapon that flew at roughly half the speed these make-shift rock spikes were travelling, so to say their effects would be grotesque and brutal would be an understatement. His foe was well armed and quick, he could react to the spikes directly in front of him, his swords shearing them before they found purchase in his flesh. But with his speed, to stop them all was an impossibility, and the ones that found their way to his waiting body would be merciless.

The spikes cut through his armour from multiple points at once, particularly behind him, the most damage incurring to the back of his lower body as he failed to stop them in time. Spikes tore through flesh and muscle and shattered against bone, causing a number of near debilitating wounds down his right leg and only a few less to his left. Not to mention the countless grazes and small bleeding wounds suffered to his torso as he managed to move enough so that his armour could just about parry the attack. The main issue was that he lacked the mobility he required to stop the spikes in his narrow cylindrical prison, and that the assault came from all directions. If he survived the initial onslaught of spikes he’d earn himself a moment’s respite, as well as being the first of Metz’ enemies to survive being trapped within a pillar.

The second problem was that he had only moments before the final spikes descended upon him from above, and his body was likely to be held fast by at least a few of the spikes.

[MelonHead]

The spikes hurtled down from the ceiling of the pillar, the grating sound of earth protruding through rock marking the end. Unable to move due to the impaling implements throughout his body, Khazna was forced to await his end as the stalactites plummeted down into his body, piercing through his armour and rupturing his organs. Blood poured beneath his clothes and burst out his mouth, captured within the confines of the mask. He went limp and hung there, caught between the numerous impaling spikes of the pillar, a grisly end.

Metz stood with his pistol raised at the rock for a good time, the obscuring sand whistling around him as he concentrated with everything he had. Blood dripped down his wounded leg and his hand ached from the fracture, but through force of will alone he remained standing. With one final spurt the mana circulating his system broke down, leaving him empty, his knees buckled and he went down. As the sandstorm disappeared the pillar remained, untouched by any within, Metz hand strayed to the belt at his side but he knew it was unlikely to be needed. He had won.

He lay there for a short while, and suddenly felt an energy suffusing him. In his clenched left hand an object made its presence felt, he opened the hand and looked down wearily. There on his dirt smeared palm was an unassuming key, but even without being a mage he could feel the power contained therein. The key held more power than he could fathom, its purpose was so great he felt overawed holding the simple implement in his palm.

“It’s not much, but it might help.” Metz said to himself, clenching his hand over the key again and willing it to bend to his purpose. He had no intention of releasing the nightmare he knew now was responsible for the devastation of his planet, but he could turn the key the other way.

Blasted by sand and buffeted by the wind, Metz struggled towards the great gate before him, leaving his unfortunate foe behind. Each plodding step felt like an eternity, but he refused to imbibe mana for this final act of labour. Finally, he reached the gate and bled before it, twisting the key away from the act of unlocking, his action was to seal tight that which had been allowed to open, that which had allowed Ghourkas to drain his planet. He could not know if he had succeeded, but perhaps he managed to buy his homeland a little more time. With his energy spent he fell to his knees, and disappeared.