The Achromatic Eclipse of the Psyche, part II.

[Zach Kaiser]

A second passed as Eilert stood, watching the smoke and putting a glyph on each of his ankles for the next round of attacks--a plan which never came to fruition. His opponent was fast, but because of that speed there was quite a lot of displacement of air caused whenever he moved--that air was the only thing that told him there was someone behind him.

He started to spin away, but it was too late--a large gash was cut down his back and across to his side as he turned, and the blow was powerful enough to send him off his feet and land several yards away.

This wasn't going to work; no matter what he did, he'd never be able to match his opponent in straight up combat. It wasn't his specialty, and he only knew a few loose forms of a style he'd studied more for exercise than out of any intent to ever fight someone. He had to fight carefully, using his glyphs and head first and his body second, if he wanted to have any hope of winning.

So as he pushed himself to his feet, he placed a pair of glyphs on the ground...

[Nayt]

Gaia, who had appeared in the air initially, landed upon his feet as Eilert was tossed away. He stood tall immediately thereafter, simply watching as Eilert came to a stop on the ground, and placed his hands upon the ground shortly thereafter. Whether or not Gaia acknowledged that he had set glyphs down, one might never know.

He stood still for a moment. Were Eilert to look at him, he'd find that Gaia's right arm was a bit of a mess. While his nodachi took no damage, his right arm was noticeably scorched and burned from the hand to the elbow. Blood drained from new wounds and dripped from the tips of his fingers. There was a reason he'd swung left handed just a moment ago. Incidentally, he wasn't a left handed fighter, and Eilert would realize that well enough; the cut on him wasn't too terribly deep, after all. There was enough strength behind it to launch him, yes, but not enough to break him in half.

With a shake of his right hand, his fingers began to twitch again, muscles began to tense up, and his hand clenched into a tight fist.

But just a moment after that happened, Gaia loosened his fist as if he were holding onto something--something invisible, perhaps? A minuscule flash of light would prompt its existence, though: an axe. Held in his right hand, the weapon was half the size of his nodachi, but was single-headed and well balanced. It wasn't ornate or decorated, however, and resembled just a simple battle axe.

It was reared back with his right hand, and without hesitation, it would be thrown Eilert's way: an axe spinning rapidly in on itself, to fly forward like a boomerang, aimed straight for Eilert's mid-section. Deflecting this, with short blades like his, would only result in pushing it in one direction or the other--to take one arm off or the other . . .

[Zach Kaiser]

So, his glyph hadn't been completely wasted after all--Gaia's arm was damaged, enough that he switched the nodachi to his other hand. But this victory was short lived, as from seemingly thin air he then summoned an axe in the injured hand, proving he could still use it.

And then the axe was coming his way. With only enough time for twitch reflexes, he was forced to use one of the glyphs he'd set--and he vanished, appearing a little ways away to the side of Gaia.

Unfortunately, the number of Glyphs of Teleportation had been severely reduced earlier, but there were still a few left...and he planned on setting more. Placing his palms on the ground again to set another pair of glyphs, he waited--if he could get Gaia to come to him, he'd have a much bigger advantage than if he tried to close the distance himself.

[Nayt]

Eilert vanished, causing a change in Gaia's expression. It was simple, but he narrowed his eyes, nonetheless. After a second, he passed his glance to the right--and there was Eilert. There was a noticeable change, whenever he teleported. Mana had a habit of lingering for awhile, and when these glyphs were used, they put out a great deal of mana. Anyone that could recognize mana in the environment could recognize it. Of course, there were likely glyphs out there in the world that were designed to cloak mana or other such forms of energy or physical appearance, but Eilert hadn't used any such things, if he even knew of them.

The axe didn't cease to be a threat, though. Gaia's right hand raised, but only to twitch his finger in Eilert's direction. The axe, still progressing forward, quickly turned in a wide arc, and changed direction entirely. Again, it was aimed straight for Eilert. The man had the advantage of being ready after placing his glyphs, but without drastic measures, he might not stop the axe from being a threat to his life.

Perhaps Gaia did, in fact, recognize what Eilert was doing. After all, he wasn't attacking him in close range at this point. Or, rather, he wasn't going to Eilert . . .

[Zach Kaiser]

Eilert frowned; Gaia wasn't coming to him. When it had been Silver, he'd seemed either unaware or heedless of his glyphs, but now perhaps he recognized the threat they held. And out of the corner of his he saw the axe he'd thrown...curve?

He supposed it was naive to think someone of his opponent's caliber would simply throw a weapon without having something further up his sleeve. Before he could think much about advancing on him, he'd have to take care of that.

Placing another glyph on the ground, he quickly backed away, and as the axe passed over that space he activated his glyph. An explosion rocked the arena--not one of dust and dirt, like Eilert had been using thus far, but a very real, fire and combustion explosion, directly below the axe.

But he was certain that alone would not be enough, if the nodachi was any indication. It would, however, rocket the axe into the air, which meant in order to come at him it needed to come down. In preparation for when it did, he placed another glyph...

[Nayt]

Indeed, the axe was thrown high into the air, elevated by explosive flames that knocked Gaia's control of it away, if only for a brief moment. It was thrown high into the air, but continued to spin, even when it reached its peak, and continued its spin upon its inevitable descent.

Eilert would find a problem as soon as he moved his hand down to set a glyph upon the ground. Massive air displacement would prompt it, of course, but just like before, he might not be able to react in time to stop it. What it in particular was Gaia at his side, smacking the tip of his blade down upon the blade on the back of Eilert's hand, just as he reached down to place a glyph--to deflect his hand intentionally, and throw his palm into his leg instead, where he'd inevitably place a potentially destructive glyph upon himself, rather than the ground.

Notably, Gaia avoided being in front of Eilert, where he had placed two other powerful glyphs before. By this point, as Gaia had not only avoided his trap glyphs, and now attempted to interrupt one by forcing its placement down upon Eilert himself, it'd be safe to assume that he was aware of Eilert's glyph-trap strategy.

Of course, focusing on Gaia at that very moment would be extremely dangerous, as Eilert had an axe still spinning down for his skull . . .

[Zach Kaiser]

As Eilert's plan was interrupted, he could only assume that Gaia was well aware of his glyphs and what they could potentially do--he was suddenly there, slapping his hand away. It was almost...demeaning, the way he did it, as he could have done any number of more painful things, such as cut off his hand entirely. As though he was just toying with him.

Fortunately, placing a glyph required precision and concentration; he could no more accidentally place one without meaning to than a builder could accidentally build a building without meaning to.

It didn't change the fact that his plan failed, though, and he was forced to dive away without setting up a glyph in order to avoid the axe descending on him. He tried to time his dive as close as he could allow, hoping the axe wouldn't be able to stop and would embed itself in the dirt, giving him a moment's respite.

[Nayt]

The axe came down, but it didn't strike the ground. Rather, it met Gaia's hand, as Eilert dove back, away from Gaia and the axe, prompting Gaia himself to kick forward, making chase.

By this point, the burn wounds upon Gaia's right arm were all but gone, and the previously seen cuts along his body had healed up, for the most part. They left scars before, even the burn wounds did, but it was a testament to what Eilert was dealing with. His opponent here could also regenerate from his wounds. That was bound to make this fight even tougher for him. Silver, before, didn't do such a thing . . .

The axe in his right hand and nodachi in his left, Gaia would close the distance between he and Eilert in just a single leap, and before he even touched upon the ground, the axe would be brought down upon the man first. It was, incidentally, the heaviest of the two weapons, and therefore boasted the strongest downward attack.

Even were Eilert to block or evade this, the former of which would likely throw him off balance just the same as a two handed attack with the nodachi, he'd have to deal with a quick horizontal swipe from the nodachi as soon as Gaia landed upon his feet.

[Zach Kaiser]

It would seem nothing was going right thus far; unlike Silver, Gaia gave him little chance to set up his glyphs. He kept up the pressure, and Eilert was continually struggling just to stay out of the way of the attacks.

He managed to only barely stumble to the side of the axe swing; it was all he could do to place one of his blades between his side and the nodachi swing, and force of the blow again sent him clear off his feet. He wasn't cut, but the cracking sound that accompanied his block would let Gaia know he wasn't uninjured.

Eilert rolled and popped back up several yards away, one arm hanging limply, the shattered bone in the process of regenerating, the other arm quickly pushing his palm to the ground, planting a glyph underneath him.

With both combatants able to regenerate, it could be some time before it ended. Either enough attacks needed to land to overtake the healing capabilities, or an instantly fatal blow needed to be struck.

And there was anomaly, as well...the wound on Eilert's back wasn't fully healing--it occasionally spurted blood, staining the dirt below...

[Nayt]

As soon as Eilert was knocked away, Gaia straightened up again. He didn't kick forward or bend into a battle stance, either. He was, if only temporarily, in a relaxed and static state.

His wounds had all but healed over, but Eilert now had a broken arm that needed time to heal. This should have inspired Gaia to continually attack, as Eilert then had only one method of defending himself from a blade, but he seemed to refrain from aggressive measures. Either it had something to do with the fact that Eilert had placed a glyph upon the ground, or that Gaia had a plan . . .

Or both.

Rearing back his right arm, Gaia would lurch his axe forward once again. Just like before, it would whirl through the air, launched from the man's hand and spinning in Eilert's direction. This had, before, distracted Eilert tremendously, which had been an almost fatal error. But one would have to be distracted by that sort of attack; it came so fast, and it could kill the man instantly.

However, the very moment Eilert reacted to it, he'd find a second attack coming at him. Gaia had switched hands with his nodachi, holding it in his right hand, underhanded. He lurched his arm back and threw it, too, at Eilert. The blade would come as soon as Eilert's attention was focused upon the axe, and it would fly much akin to a spear aimed for the center of his chest.

[Zach Kaiser]

The axe came flying, this time much faster than before--it was potentially the axe of his executioner, as if it hit it would cause such a large, gaping wound that would be difficult for it not to strike a vital area.

So he needed to ensure it didn't hit. He stepped back, a seemingly suicidal move--it would only delay the inevitable. But as the axe passed over the glyph he'd placed, it activated. A pillar of iridescent light shot up, it's perimeter that of the glyph, precisely timed so that the axe was within it, and it crashed harmlessly into the barrier.

The Glyph of Warding...though usually, it protected what was inside from something without, not the other way around. In what was either very good foresight or incredible luck, Eilert's backstep placed it squarely between him and Gaia, with the result that the thrown nodachi struck the outside of the barrier rather than its intended target.

Luck or skill, however, it left Gaia momentarily without weapons. Eilert quickly placed his palm on the ground, activating the glyph he set almost at the same time he set it--disappearing, and appearing right near Gaia, via the Glyph of Teleportation he'd set before being forced away from it, one of the pair Gaia had avoided carefully.

And he lunged, lashing out with his good arm, slashing for Gaia's neck in an attempt to land what would for most be a fatal blow...

[Nayt]

Both weapons hit a harmless barrier and were promptly knocked off course. They hit the ground with individual clangs, and were not retrieved by Gaia.

Following the throw of his nodachi, Gaia returned to a static, relaxed stance. His arms were folded over his chest at that very moment, and while it may have appeared like some sort of ultra-relaxed state, there was something amiss. His right arm, folded under his left, was positioned so that his hand could be by his side, where it looked as if his fingers were draped around something or the rather. This sort of minor detail, however, was likely something that Eilert would pass up. In the heat of battle, most people did.

His eyes narrowed and shifted to the side. There was Eilert, coming at him from the right front. There was little he could do about this, presumably unarmed as he was . . .

And in the end, he kicked back. Still standing up straight, Gaia kicked with one foot, throwing himself back, remaining upright and landing upon his feet effortlessly. The blade passed inches from his throat, and he landed feet from Eilert, arms still folded over his chest. There was an odd glint of light in his eye, albeit temporary, but it was something that could have come from a reflection of the sky, where the white sky was split into webs of yellow. Presumably idle as Gaia was, Eilert could likely continue his charge . . .

[Zach Kaiser]

Eilert grimaced; if a sudden, surprise attack like that hadn't landed, there was little chance he could a blow if he attacked head on. Gaia was just too fast; even without weapons, he could simply avoid any overt attempt he made to harm him. And something seemed...off. He was merely avoiding the attacks and not striking back.

But he couldn't afford to pass up this advantage. Gaia was weaponless, and while Eilert was keeping an eye on them, since his opponent proved he was able to control their flight to some extent, it was his best chance to attack without reprisal.

That didn't mean he blindly charged, however. He pressed forward, his arm having healed but the wound on his back still open, still sporadically staining the ground with blood. Though he attacked with both arms now, his goal was to drive Gaia in certain directions, forcing him to evade where Eilert wished him to go--to either drive him into a glyph left from when he was Silver, or perhaps for another reason...

[Nayt]

Gaia moved his left leg as Eilert charged again, clearly intending to kick with this leg to propel himself backwards, but something happened. His left leg perhaps wasn't fast enough? Or, perhaps, Eilert had moved quicker than Gaia had planned for, because the man's reaction was extremely slow at that moment.

And the result was fatal. Eilert would feel his blades sink into Gaia's throat, instantly slicing across his neck and pouring scarlet down his chest. He leaned forward, his mouth agape, his arms unfolding, only for the second blade to get him, this time across the chest, forcing the man to stumble back. He reached his left hand up to hold onto his throat, shut his eyes tightly, and held his left hand out towards Eilert. He was distant then, unreachable, but his fingers twitched and clenched still as if he were trying to squeeze Eilert within his fist--

Until at last he fell, back first upon the ground, arms falling limp, outstretched from either side of his body, and all breathing stopped. Gaia was motionless.

The sky, however, did not change.

In fact, nothing changed at all . . .

[Zach Kaiser]

In strength, speed...perhaps even in strategy, his opponent had been superior from the start. The entire battle had been an uphill climb, as even with his enhanced abilities Eilert was thrown into battle with no time to prepare, a situation he rarely did well in.

Which was why, when Gaia seemed to move an instant too slow and his blade found its mark, cutting across his throat, he wasn't relieved. Quite the opposite; the sudden end to the fight unnerved him. He wasn't much of a physical combatant, but even he could see that there was no way he should have been able to kill Gaia so easily (if that could indeed be called easy).

The sky was still shattered and broken...he was now alone with the dying or dead Gaia. Perhaps this was the final move, that for all his efforts he would remain trapped in this place, somewhere between reality and fantasy.

Uneasily, he looked around...he was not quite willing to accept it was over just yet. He couldn't discount the possibility of a trick or a trap of some kind...