[center][u][h2][color=1b1464]Leveling The Playing Field[/color][/h2][/u][/center]

The fierce gust of air from his opponents had sent the handheld grenade tumbling off course. Striking a stone just eight feet further ahead to Tabluraths right. Bouncing off the rock before bursting apart in midair. The effect was sudden and potent; causing the immediate area to suddenly become cloaked in a dense cloud of opaque ash. Line of sight was abruptly lost -at least for his opponent- as a radius of roughly thirty feet was blanketed in mibs.  

The thick cloud was densest closes to the floor as it swept across the uneven ground. This turn of events didn't faze the general as he simply adjusted to his secondary plan having gained a plethora of new information from his opponent. Given what he had observed thus far he concluded that his opponent controlled three sources of energy. Light. Heat. Air. 

In an instant he digested this information. [color=black][i]‘He can control the air around him to a yet undefined range, but not control wind itself with any great precision. He unsurprisingly feared my grenade despite not knowing its payload, enough to redirect its planned path, but not move out of its possible range--In fact he moved toward me in what could only be the perceived blast radius had it been a lethal explosion. Possible foresight into the immediate future? Unlikely, such behavior would have been detected during his first match. The same goes for reading minds I would have perceived such psionic intrusions. Blind luck? Perhaps.’[/i][/color] Still Tablurath had yet to use his grenades in any fashion previously, so it was impossible to know what had sparked that initial reaction. The Cardinal would be more than a little interested in learning the reason behind his opponent’s actions. This thought pattern all happening in the instant his opponent began speeding forward.   

Still the why was surely unimportant at this juncture was it not? He finished his observations by the time his opponent was surrounded in his ash storm which was enough for now. The energy expanded in the wind had been gathered only in piecemeal by Mercy. Which offered Tablurath a rare opportunity. 

He smiled. [color=black]“Twenty percent potential.”[/color] 

He flicked and swung his blade upward in a tight arch. Bringing the sword into a natural high guard with his left hand as his left foot was drawn back behind his right- Mercy’s tip pointed at an angle down to the ground and across his chest. His right hand currently resting on Serenity’s handle. The sharp movement had activated the mibs in the air around him, causing them to quickly replicate a sword clone which followed the momentum upward. That clones spin began the creation of two more brothers just like it that followed now a small group of blades in quick spinning rings. Their construction complete as they ended their upward momentum as their tips met resistance at the ceiling of moving aurora like energy above. 

The starlhrim now within the cloned swords both absorbed and rejected this new form of energy and were repelled violently. Very violently. They accelerated over 1,500 miles an hour and flew earthward again impaling the stones around Tablurath in a tight circle with him at the center. In the end leaving more than two dozen blades sticking out of the ground like a crude field of trophies. Each sword now a deep ocean blue to Tabluraths energy sensitive eyes. A stark contrast to his opponent who was a brilliant orange gold in a sea of blackness. All this within a second and a half time thanks to the fact the ceiling was so low. 

Tablurath doubted this would catch his opponent unless he was truly foolish enough to continue charging headlong while momentarily blinded by a sea of ash. Khazna dipped then flicked his sword up again in a silent command. The cloud of ash spun outward as the space between himself and his opponent suddenly became clear once more. The cloud swirling around them without sound like a storm of black rose petals.   

He judged that Raelis would be only a little more than 3 meters away at this point. Tabluraths eyes zeroing in on the strings of power emanating from their body. The count now at two threads in all collected around his sword and legs.    

[color=black]“Well, I think we’re due to finish our warm up, don’t you?”[/color]