Closed Fire and Lightning [Azcadelia]

[Cyrus Blackfire]

Cyrus knew the advantages of opening moves, both in combat and in manipulation. He was also not entirely stupid, the minute he sensed the gas Cyrus knew that he was at an automatic disadvantage. As such he decided that it would be best to take some precautions of his own, in a similar form but with a much more pointed focus. Each breath he took added to a small cloud of invisible res he formed around his right hand, a cheap preemptive tactic already in mind.

He extended the hand with a smile and a wicked glint in his eye, grasping Azzy's hand firmly and giving it a quick up down shake, moving the cloud with the shake.

"I find the conditions agreeable, the consequences for you will be much the same if you lose. Now I fear I must apologize in advance." The warrior said, taking a step back and with drawing his hand from his opponents.

Quickly he willed the res to take a far more dangerous shape, electricity crackling about Azzy's hand angrily. From there he quickly back stepped out of the gas cloud his opponent had created, readying a liquid ball of res in his left hand. This would be an interesting test of his abilities to be sure, hopefully his little distraction would buy him some time.

[Azcadelia]

Azcadelia Rosan

Azcadelia yelped out in pain as her hand was shocked by the electricity. Still in shock she ignited her gas ball seconds too late as Cyrus was already out of range. The eruption of fire that stood between them would blind them from one another, she'd use this to her advantage.

Oozing Res from her fingers and bathing her hands in it she shot two liquid balls through the fire cloud, igniting them as they came out the other side. With a cartwheel, forcing her body over itself sloppily and landing roughly, she distanced herself from the man for another barrage of liquid flame, three rounds this time.

[Cyrus Blackfire]

Cyrus' distraction had bought him some time, judging from the slight yelp, though it likely wouldn't be much in the way of an advantage. The could of flame between them unfortunately made it impossible for him to get an accurate target. That was what lightning was good for, accuracy, so at the moment the man judged that it would be a waste to simply blast blindly into the cloud of fire. Luckily he had other elements to chose from.

At the same time he tossed his small ball of liquid res into the cloud between the two combatants, focused it out of his mouth in a gas form. Cyrus was a man who knew his limits, it was best to possess a realistic assessment of strengths and weaknesses. He knew that at most he could usually managed four, maybe five, large displays of power. Already he could feel the drain on his Djed not just for his exertions now but his botched use of hypnotism earlier.

Two bolts of fire came flying out from the cloud at him, one sailing so close to his head that he could feel the heat from it, the other slamming into his armored chest. Cyrus grunted as the blow had him stumbling back, a good solid hit from Azzy, though luckily nothing had caught on fire. The man struggled to get back into focus, manipulating the gas res before him.

Cyrus thrust it out before him, transmuting it into a very powerful gust of wind and sent it out to the cloud of fire. Its goal was to not only give him a clear target but it would hopefully deflect any attacks coming his way. He was already readying his next attack, a thin line of res forming in his breath and gathering near his hand.

[Azcadelia]

Azcadelia Rosan

Azcadelia watched as her three balls of flame ignited and went, barreling, towards the cloud of fire. She readied her res gloved hands for another barrel of fire when, to her surprise, a gust of air cut through the cloud of fire dispersing it and ricocheting her three balls of fire into the air and grass below. The wind slice came towards her at a startling speed smacking into her causing her to fall into the soft grass.

On the ground she had clear sight of her opponent and the thin line of res travelling from his mouth to his hand. Another attack rearing to go, she had to react or a bolt of lightning was sure to come her way. Quickly she dashed to her feet and bolted into a backflip. Bending her body over itself forcefully to gain distance between Cyrus and she.

Her silver robes glinted in the sun as landed roughly on the ground. Immediately after landing she sent another barrage of fireballs: two separate ones and a third which was actually three linked together with a thin line of res connecting the three. It spun in a dangerous triforce as it sang to Cyrus. Before they fireballs left her range she ignited them fully and put a spin on the first two to increase accuracy.

Azcadelia's steady stream of res to her hands - covering them in an ethereal glove - slowly tapped on her djed. She knew that she'd have three maybe four powerful abilities before she reached the stages of overgiving. Even then, this was a test to push boundaries. So, she would push harder to get two more powerful strikes out before the stages of overgiving weighed heavy on her. Hopefully Cyrus would be defeated before this point.

[Cyrus Blackfire]

Cyrus was pleased by the results of his gust, a clear line of sight now open to his opponent who had been knocked to the ground. He noted Azzy's rather acrobatic moves, impressed but knew that they would ultimately me futile. He had three methods of attack while she only had one, and he already knew that his wind attacks could easily deflect her fire. As much fun as it would be to toss lightning about he knew that the best tactical move here would be to play defensively, and deflect her fire until she made a mistake.

She launched more fire at him, clearly preferring a much more aggressive offense approach which he was prepared for. Cyrus sent out the res that had gathered in his hand as another gust of wind, intending on deflecting her attacks. The warrior held out his other hand before him and formed another cloud of res in it, directing it sharply at Azzy.

The air crackled maliciously around the res, forming a bolt of lightning directed at his opponent following the gust very closely. The drain was becoming much more noticeable, if it reached the point where overgiving was likely he would probably yield. As much as he was loath to lose anything overgiving was a danger he would rather avoid, especially so early in his rise to power. Besides every great leader faced defeat at least once in their lives, they then learned from the experience and moved on.

These thoughts were rather moot as currently things seemed to be going in his favor. Due to his control over wind there was no way she could touch him, it was just the way it was.

[Azcadelia]

Azcadelia Rosan

Azcadelia's eye's widened at the gust of visible wind and lightning shard behind it hurling towards her. In quick reflex for than thought she brought her hands to together and summoned a wall of res, igniting the layers facing away from her. She brought her arms to her face and cowered beneath them, protecting from any blast that was to come from the colliding magical entities.

An explosion rocked the clearing, sending a small shock wave towards Cyrus and into the trees and a ripple through the backside of the res. Azcadelia stood and examined the remains of her spotty shield of res. She decided to salvage her shield, using the defensive to move to an offensive attack.

With a wave of her hands and a blink of her eyes the remaining res formed into several golf ball sized spheres. The spheres, gelled and rotating slowly, picked up speed in rotation and formed an orbit around one another. The res balls formed a frame in which Azcadelia's face could be seen. The res, now a rotating ring of semi-liquidness, was sent towards Cyrus. It picked up speed, rotated faster and turned into a horizontal disk, slashing through the air at Cyrus.

Azcadelia followed this with another barrage of fire missiles. The res was turned into semi-permeable daggers were sent into a spin and ignited as they exited her area of control. The daggers were sent high, aiming for the upper torso of Cyrus.

Azcadelia would have to stick small, multi-missile combos to weaken and take down her opportunitive opponent. The drain on her djed would be minimal, to a point, but the drain would become costly in the long term.

[Cyrus Blackfire]

Cyrus stumbled back from the ensuing explosion of power, the shock wave nearly causing him to lose his footing. His opponent was good he would give her that, however this fight was not over yet. Deciding that at the moment the best offense was a good defense he drew the air to res forming in his hands, ready for another gust of wind. Truly he had a large advantage in that he could manipulate the air, for the element was all around him. As such he would not need to waste as much Djed with transmutations, Azzy on the other hand would have to waste the precious energy every time she wanted to bring forth fire.

He sent another gust of wind at his opponent, followed quickly by another soon after. The combined energy of the wind sent any projectiles headed his way flying far from him, and continued on their course towards Azzy. Just for good measure Cyrus gathered another gas cloud of res and sent it out towards his opponent, electricity already sparking around it as it flew towards her. The drain on his Djed was noticeable at this point, however as long as he kept to wind manipulation from this point he could probably manage to stay out of the danger zone of Overgiving.

As it was his respect for the woman had grown considerably, she was quick thinking on her feet and very agile. If she possessed control of another element then Cyrus might have actually been scared that he wouldn't win this little sparring match. She was also a little to aggressive and seemed to stick to offense for the most part, offense was fine in moderation but defense was often the better position to take in combat as it let you tire your opponent out.

Tactics had a place on any battle field no matter how small or large, a good tactician was something to be feared on and off the battle field. A cool head and a cunning intelligence were often the differences between defeat and victory. Such as it would be today.

[Azcadelia]

Azcadelia Rosan

Azcadelia pressed her weight down on her right foot and jumped into a twirl to the left, with a loud groan emitting from her mouth, to dodge the powerful elements coming towards her. The crackle of the electricity grazing the tip of her ear hair she came down hard on the ground, barely recovering with a barrel roll against the ground. An explosion ensued inside the woods that knocked Azcadelia back to the ground as she was attempting to stand.

Finally she staggered to a stand, swaying in a fatigued motion. She couldn't keep up the constant display of acrobatics up if she wanted to win; it would only use precious energy that she would need to cast. Azcadelia focused her sharp jade eyes on Cyrus, he stood in the middle of the clearing and she on the far edge. She noticed the heaving in his chest and upcoming sloppiness in his spellweaving. A smile turned on her face and she inhaled deeply using her entire body to summon the djed within her lungs.

The djed built up within her lungs with a sharp exhale she sent form a wave of djed that ignited and took on the same of a serpent's head. Opened mouth and fangs bearing it went slithering towards Cyrus at a powerful and breakneck speed, spurred on, in an uncontrollable blaze, by the determination in Azcadelia's casting and sureness of her ability. Azcadelia nearly collapsed from the sheer amount of djed and res being cast at once. She leaned over, hands on knees, heaving heavily.

Throughout all of this Cyrus was growing extremely appealing in Azcadelia's eyes. The way he commanded the elements the confident aura that bolstered from his casting was all too sexy. Even now, in his weakened state, he was most eye appealing. After the battle regardless of win or lose, Azcadelia had to have this man.

[Cyrus Blackfire]

Cyrus had allowed a confident smirk to curl its way on his lips as he noted the way Azzy was struggling to dodge his attacks. Of the two of them she was by far the worse off, which was to be expected considering the amount of energy she was expending. Another few gusts and she would likely be finished, he was almost a little disappointed in the lack of variation in her attacks.

At least that was what he had though up until a giant flaming serpent head came rocketing towards him at break neck speeds. Cyrus' eyes widened in shock, he had certainly not expected that. Thinking quickly he fell to one knee, res gathering quickly in his hands, and pushed out with his hands, manipulating the air to blow out like a shield. The flaming snake head dissipated when it met the wall of air, both forces canceling each other out, though some of the flames managed to lick at his hands. The amount of Djed he used to for such a quick defense, even by manipulating the air, was enough to take a lot of breath from his lungs but not enough for him to reach his limit.

Recovering quickly Cyrus gathered another cloud of gas and gathered one last gust of wind to it. He rose and made another outward pushing motion with his hands, send it heading straight for his tired adversary. He hoped that this would be it, because that was all he had left. Anything else would be in danger of sending him into the realm of overgiving. If this didn't work then he would lose, simple as that.

[Azcadelia]

Azcadelia Rosan

Azcadelia stood in more awe in anger as her flame serpent blew away in the gust of wind. The fire inside her quickly smoldered at the sight and realization of her defeat. The serpent had taken the last willing bits of djed from within her. Her precious resource spent she tried in one last futile attempt to defend herself from the oncoming gust. Bring her hands together she shot of a thin line of res that wrapped around her in a thin cocoon of protection. The thin barrier glistened at it hardened. Inside the glistening and weak protection Azcadelia stood sorrowfully.

With no more strength within her to go on she accepted her defeat with grace. The wind smacked against the barrier shattering it like glass against cobble. Azcadelia flew back, feet planted in the ground, just before she ran headlong into the trees. Azcadelia like out a small audible chuckle as she picked up her head and raised her hands into the air in an act of surrender.

"If you're as tired as I am," she called to Cyrus while approaching him from the trees, "you'd want to call this a draw, too. I hope." The last bit she muttered under her breath so he could not hear. The fatigued magus, arms raised and head high, smiled at the man as she came within feet of him. She examined the scorch mark where her first and only blow landed on the man. "I need to work on my aim," she said, tilting her head in a playful manner and laughing at herself.

"How about a drink at the Stallion to end this day?" Azcadelia offered, looking to the sky as the dusk was taking over the day.