Grant smiled a bit, and held his arms out in a 'hit me' gesture as Maddox prepared for his next attack. As the first ball of exploding light cam his way, he would turn so that the ball would hit and explode on his left shoulder. Hurting him, but still inflicting some weakness back on Maddox. As the second one neared, Grant moved suddenly towards it, attacking with his scythe so that it'd explode as he continued sprinting towards Maddox, slashing with a wide arc as he got withing range. He hoped he could simply clip Maddox, but he doubted he'd be so lucky as that, with his opponents ability to teleport.

After his attack, Grant quickly looked around to refocus on where his target was, and he shouted to him. [color=Crimson]"If you had let me get that link bodies spell off earlier, this'd be well over by now. Regardless, I'm sure I'll find a flaw in your defense somewhere."[/color] He chuckled a little, and shifted into a stance that would allow him the most possible mobility, and Maddox would be able to see the blast on his left shoulder seems to have left some char. [color=Crimson]"Until then, I guess I'm still your punching bag."[/color] His voice would have an uncanny amount of glee in that final statement, almost as if he enjoys pain, or has something up his sleeve.

The first attack had connected, doing little damage to Grant and reflecting some of it back on Maddox again, but the red-haired wizard was surprised when his opponent dashed into the second one. His blood scythe detonated it early, before Grant moved in to take a swing at Maddox himself. Maddox first hopped backwards, to gain a bit of distance manually, but eventually teleported away once Grant actually made a slash. He appeared several meters behind the blood mage, still in his combat stance. [color=ed1c24]"My defense is basically running away,"[/color] Maddox joked, [color=ed1c24]"I'm sure there are plenty of flaws in that."

[i]Now how am I going to go about this now...[/i][/color] His eyes narrowed as he examined Grant's Blood Patriarch armor. [color=ed1c24][i]His armor is strong, but clearly I can overpower it. The catch to that would be that I run the risk of destroying myself in the process. Furthermore it seems that he can regenerate to a degree, so blowing him away may ultimately be my own undoing.[/i][/color] Then his eyes drifted towards the blood scythe. [color=ed1c24][i]His ability to manipulate blood means I can't let him wound me, or the match will be as good as over. If he uses his Body Link magic then the minor damage effect on him will become major and I'd receive all the damage I give. That's also as good as over.[/i][/color]

Then he looked into Grant's eyes. [color=ed1c24][i]His head is the only part left exposed. Probably to give him the maximum sensory capability. If I could land a solid hit on his head and knock him out, that would be that. The problem becomes that he can predict my next attacks and could turn it against me. There has to be a weakness to his precognition...[/i][/color] Maddox thought back to the two times that he had landed successful blows against Grant. The first time was by striking from above and the second time came after blinding him first. Neither trick would probably work again, but it was something to reflect on. [color=ed1c24][i]I think I have a good idea.[/i][/color] A smirk formed on his lips as his hands began to glow red again.

[color=ed1c24]"Why don't we stress test your armor then?"[/color] Maddox brought his hands close together in front of his chest, with his palms facing towards each other. Vibrant red light began to gather, soon reaching such a density that a high-pitched whine could be heard coming from it. This charging process took a few seconds, but Maddox was a fair distance and confident that Grant wouldn't interrupt. [color=ed1c24]"Light Wave. Stage Two."[/color] He turned his palms forward, facing Grant, and thrust his arms out. A thick beam of red light blasted forth from the ball of energy, heading directly towards the blood wizard. A powerful attack, surely. While it had brought down an entire guild hall in the past, Maddox had never used it against another living thing until he fought Grane Valo several weeks ago. And even then the draconian man didn't take too kindly to it. [color=ed1c24][i]Surely he'll dodge this. Soaking an attack like this would hurt him too much, maybe even beat him flat out. That ought to deflate his ego a bit.[/i][/color]

Grant watched as Maddox charged up his attack. He was sure it would be powerful, and so his decision was to either take the attack, hurting himself and Maddox, or avoid it and wait for less painful attacks. Both options sounded less than optimal. If he had to wait too much, it'd end in a draw. Instead, Grant took a deep breath and began running at Maddox, starting just before he launched the attack. He seemed intent on taking the attack head on, instead of avoiding it like any normal fighter would. However, Grant knew what he was doing, and his Precognition informed him that he would be down, but not out after this.

Just before the attack landed, Grant would slide to a stop, using his momentum to throw his scythe at Maddox. The attack would then hit him, exploding, and the shock wave would blast the Scythe towards his opponent much faster than the throw ever could've. It was the blood mage's hope that the almost painful fatigue reflected back onto Maddox would distract him, as Grant himself went flying backwards, and hit the side of the arena, leaving a crater in the wall as his armor came off into a puddle of blood around him. There were a few other pools where parts of his armor had flown as well, but the blood mage stood up. The bad-looking burn wound on his chest would knit itself back together after a few moments, leaving him whole once again, and smiling. [color=crimson]"Th-that's more like it."[/color] He manage to get out, before coughing a few times. 

Maddox was shocked when Grant charged headlong into the Light Wave. That wasn't a part of his plan at all. The intention was to scare the man with sheer power, not hit him directly. Maddox grimaced when the attack hit, the red explosion doing damage to him too thanks to Grant's magic. His whole body felt a fraction of the damage, but even that was quite impressive at least to Maddox. After all, he wasn't well known for durability. The wave of exhaustion that took hold of his muscles and the pain associated with it wouldn't end him by far, but it was quite notable when there is a scythe flying through the air with the intention of ended the fight. Once the attack ended, Maddox brought his hands up defensively, naturally, before teleporting away from the scythe. While he appeared fairly undamaged once he reappeared several meters away from his initial position, Maddox knew he wasn't.

A single drop of blood fell from his left arm onto the ground. A small cut had appeared on his forearm, only several inches long. [color=ed1c24][i]Not good.[/i][/color] He looked over to Grant, who was picking himself up and already well on his way to recovering from taking such a powerful attack. [color=ed1c24][i]Change of plans, I have to do something to him now before he's fully healed and operating.[/i][/color] Giving his opponent no time to breath, Maddox teleported directly in front of the armor-less Grant. The man may have precognition, but surely in his state he was vulnerable. Just because he could see an attack coming wouldn't mean he could stop it every time, particularly when still recovering. At least that was what Maddox hoped. The Blink wizard thrust his left palm forward, aiming to slam it into Grant's forehead and knock him out. He could only hope that whatever blood magic this man had wouldn't take effect just yet.

Grant's eyes were closed when Maddox launched his final attack, but it didn't seem to stop him from smiling. A platform would suddenly form under Maddox's front foot, made from the blood that used to be Grant's armor. The Blood mage wasted no time in grabbing Maddox's arm where he had cut it while it was still in the middle of its re-directed strike. He gripped Maddox's arm with all the strength he had left, pushing his nails into the skin as his blood would try to push out of the cut on his right hand and into Maddox's injury. When the opposing mage inevitably teleported away, Grant got the rest of the way up, and laughed. [color=Crimson]"Apologies, but it seems like luck just isn't on your side today. But thanks for reminding me not to do things that can ever leave me open if I can help it."[/color] He looked victorious, even if he hadn't successfully put his own blood into Maddox, he would know shortly. Soon enough, had the blood mage succeeded in his gambit, Maddox would start to become numb all over his body. Slowly at first, but in less than a minute he'd be unable to lift a finger.

Grant, however, didn't waste time waiting to see if his counterattack had worked, and began running for his scythe on the far side of the Arena. Grant was ready at every step to do anything he could to get over or past Maddox should the light mage get in the way. The Scythe itself would be primed to put spikes into anything that tried to pick it up, whether to dispose of it or otherwise. Grant meant to win this battle twice over if he had to, and he hoped he was moving fast enough that Maddox couldn't simply drop down on top of him again. If he could just get to his Scythe, Maddox would be in for quite a surprise.


[b]jarvis[/b]

Jarvis winced at the question, clearly not wanting to have to answer that one, and he looked away, pained. He didn't actually know how to answer, and he swallowed, uncertain. [color=aba000]"she was my daughter. She was beautiful, innocent and full of life. And she didn't deserve to die, didn't need to die. We tried so hard...but they still killed her. I couldn't protect her. She didn't know how to fight. She was seven. Her magic was just starting to show and she didn't know what to do."[/color] he said softly, not wanting to remember it, but of course he did. 

[b]tidius[/b]

Tidius flinched back, which saved him a broken nose, letting out a frustrated sound and stopping Ariel from escaping, a loud clip could be heard through the room. He moved smoothly, magical cuffs in his hands, approaching Ariel. 

[color=0072bc]"come back peacefully and I won't cuff you"[/color] he said calmly, there being no way that he was going to let Ariel escaped when she was such a steady source of information.

[b]master Jamie[/b]

Jamie didn't want to deal with this. Jamie would have gone in alone, and done what had to be done. Jamie would rather be going in with Jarvis, but that wasn't an option. Jamie didn't want to be sensible. No. Jamie didn't want to be questioned by her own guild in this matter. 

[color=f26522]"you can do what you like. I'm going to get Mithera back"[/color] Jamie said finally, and walked the way he believed Mithera might have gone. Towards the guild hotel, for help.

Jamie was now in a right fool temper. Being questioned, and argued with just brought to home everything Wes had said, before leaving the guild. Jamie didn't want to put the guild in danger, and yet danger seemed to Find them. Jamie couldn't tell his guild not to interfere, but she could damn well make sure other guilds weren't hurt because dark guilds chose Phoenix Wing as targets. 

That Damian didn't understand that was clear enough. 

Jamie sighed, rubbing her temples, continuing to walk.