[center][h1][color=black][b][u]Prior Calculations[/u][/b][/color][/h1]
[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dmrr3DxUK4]Theme[/url][/center]

As the short battle thus far had progressed Tablurath had kept track of every subtle movement his opponent had made large or small. He had almost missed the tell the first time the winged warrior had manipulated the very air around him. By now, however, he realized that this Raelis always made a great gesture with his wings before tapping into the pressurized air gathered around him. Yes he saw now; the Asaraen pulled in the wind through a simple system built into his wing’s armor, but controlled it through some enchantment. The electrical spectrum further revealed a strong degree of magnetism surrounding his wings. One might think a warrior wearing so much armor would have obfuscated such fine details from the Cardinal, but his telescopic vision had turned the his avian foe into an open book. 

In the sea of black rose petals the Cardinal watched as his enemy made their move. The much anticipated attack he had been preparing for as they unfurled their wings. The end result was as expected, though the form had varied at least.   

The intricate threads of power now woven throughout the area were much like a complicated pulsing web, sundered here and there from his falling blades as they had passed through them. He released the air energy from Mercy that parted the sea of mibs, dissipating it as a result. Just as the Asaran launched his twisting cyclones of wind. The cogs of fate had begun to turn once more. But, Tablurath was still very much the one spinning the wheels.

In Tabluraths eyes his ocular abilities allowed him to see a great deal. To his vision the spears of wind had been set upon the strand once connected to Mercy. A tactically sound option by his opponent. It would allow Raelis’s attack to track him regardless of where he went or how fast. If not for Tabluraths own inhuman perception he would have been none the wiser. Still, even so the Cardinal had already foreseen and anticipated this manoeuvre. The moment the battle had begun Tablurath had considered every possible outcome and had made plans for each one of them. This outcome had been calculated at a strong 64% chance while his opponent closing the distance and engaging in hand to hand combat had only been a 32% probability. He sighed inwardly, bored from the outcome of the battle thus far. Even as his opponent found challenge in it; he simply did not.   

His earlier actions had copied Mercy and in turn had created numerous swords now impaling the ground around Tablurath. While having taken his swords form almost perfectly, they had also inherited its last command. Each sword now drawing in the energy now vested into the spinning cones of wind. This in turn caused them to veer off course, dramatically. The pull of one sword might have only altered their course slightly, but with twenty five blades the effect was multiplied tenfold.  

Every time a cone of wind was caught upon a strand leading to one of his sword clones, it suddenly was pulled in that direction. Raelis could always try arresting control of them, but due to his control coming from an enchantment, those new threads of magic would be pulled off course as well. In essence the storming of winds had effectively been severed from their leashes.
 
The combination of a field of starlhrim and the strange nature of this place had also taken allot of the kick out of the cones of air. Though deadly they did remain if unwieldy- it seemed attacks relying solely on energy were a poor choice in this location. Several of the cyclones veered off suddenly smashing into the stones around both opponents. To his opponent it would seem as if Tablurath had suddenly gained control over them. However, the truth was Tablurath had simply planned well for this exact eventuality. 

As for the nano-machines of his opponent, they had long since been deemed a non-threat. Simply due to the fact his own mibs had already begun assimilating them upon contact. They held the ability to reconstruct matter itself in three of its forms, rendering these little trouble makers into dust in which they possessed no defense against. In fact, they willingly embraced their demise each time they made contact with a mib. Something now unavoidable. The Khazna’s own cloud of mibs acted as a prefect shield in catching them and scattering their substance to the winds raging around him. Already his own armor, mask, and cape had taken on a much darker tint to them, as a layer of his own mibs began forming over his body having since spread from his feet. Soon Tabluraths own nanomachines would be the only ones still floating about in the dome of black ash that now surrounded them both.  

Divine and arcane. A powerful combination one did not often see. A shame power in any form was a terrible choice against the Cardinal. More so in this strange environment. Such time and power wasted. Still now was the time for the reprisal. He crouched low, the cones of wind still spreading before him like a blooming flower as they struck out at the clones of Mercy. His world then slowed to a crawl as he plotted the perfect course through the maelstrom. 

At this point Tablurath noticed the sudden ease that he could move, as well as the utter lack of sound. It seemed those cones of wind had been a double threat. Creating a vacuum of sorts around him and attempting to deprive him of oxygen. A most noble effort indeed on the part of his opponent. The Cardinal would allow himself to be a tad impressed, even if this inevitability had also been foreseen before the battle had even been called forth. The sensors in his blacked masked helm activating and drawing on its own internal air supply. 

The area would suddenly become much colder his opponent would find - for as the energy of the winds were consumed, the earlier energy they had absorbed from the ‘Cold Light’ was being released at a slow crawl into the space around them. Starlhrim could only hold one source of energy at a time after all. Effectively driving the bird man’s attack of course while granting the Cardinal with a ready supply of Cold Light energy to tap into when he required it. 

He burst forward then, moving at a leisurely pace of only a third of his true speed. His own training weights keeping him from using his true potential for now. He had avoided moving much due to the draining nature of this place. Airing on the side of caution. Now however, was the time to move in for the attack, least boredom take hold and drive him mad. 

Tablurath swung his body to the left then forward avoiding one pressurized blade of wind that now seemed to be moving through water. Anticipating their paths as easily as one might a river. Skillfully side stepping another and ducking a piece of debris. All the while never stopping his forward momentum. The cones of wind could no longer lock onto him and had for the most part been thrown of course entirely, but they had not exactly vanished. His opponent had furled their wings by the time Tablurath had entered within seven feet of them. Passing a large boulder to his right hand side as he watched his opponent the entire time for even the most subtle of movements. His eyes a blur as they absorbed the changing surroundings -- finding another focal point.  

As he got within range his sword swung up from his right side and down again at an angle from the upper left aiming to cleave into his opponents right shoulder. At least it appeared so, possessing all the tenacity and power of a real blow. While the swords path had brought it through a cloud of mibs at the Cardinals right side. The time between Raelis’s own attack and Tabluraths response being within the realm of roughly two seconds.