[center][h1][color=black][b][u]Black Roses[/u][/b][/color][/h1][/center][hr]


The Cardinal of the Angar-Rylla’s Ninth Fleet began the execution of his first real offensive. He had to admit he was faced with a rather powerful adversary. A true test for his analytical skills to be sure. His opponent held the advantage of mobility thanks to his wings. Along with a great degree of strength if the weight of their armor alone was any indication. Add that to their raw magical power and they were easily among the most deadly in this tournament. 

Tablurath did not possess the strength, or power of his opponents, but unlike them he did not fight alone. 

[hider= 8 years ago]

The capital class warship swept through the timeless void of space on solar winds. Flanked by a dozen escorts ships as the Ninth Fleet returned from yet another successful campaign. It had, however, not come without its sacrifices. Deep within the lower holds of the massive ship a ceremony to honor those comrades who had fallen was taking place. Banners of white lined a parade of Angar-Rylla imperial troops in full battledress. Locked step in salute as an honor guard marched between two column formations of men. 

The honor guard walking down each held a vessel in their hands. Each holding the cremated remains of those who had paid the ultimate price. Once they reached the end of their march they stopped before several larger torpedo pods. Standing before these was the Supreme commander of the fleet. Cardinal Tablurath cloaked in black fur lined cape waited alongside his most trusted lieutenants. 

On his right was Baltu, an aquamancer of no small talent, and often his active second in command. He wore a lighter design of power armor then most of his peers. Gavrick stood to his left, a being of large and powerful stature. As a Mulntuun, Gavrick was one of little humor and less patience with a determined nature though prone to an often slightly pessimistic attitude. Baltu on the other hand was an even-tempered individual, possessed of a seemingly inexhaustible kind of energy mixed with unrefined enthusiasm. Their personalities tended to class, so both Gavrick and Baltu had been known to come at odds on more than one occasion. 

As the honor guard neared Tablurath stepped forward and called a halt with a raising gesture of his gauntleted hand. The leading man carrying a vessel looked confused at first, but walked forward and handed his Cardinal the vessel over as prompted.   

Tablurath then turned and walked to the large view screen that revealed the blackness of space beyond. In a rare occasion he did not now wear his iconic black mask. There being no requirement for it here. He opened the vessel carefully. Staring into it with an unreadable expression, before dipping one hand into it and carefully smearing the ashes over his face. A symbolic gesture and a rare show of compassion his men were not used to seeing often. 

Baltu stepped forward then, a question on his lips. “We’re not bearing them out into space?..So what then?”

[color=9e0b0f]“No, we’ll make starlhrim M.I.B’s from their ashes. Take them into battle with us.” [/color]

Gavrick stepped forward. “A beacon of light in the darkness to our brothers in arms. Even in death.” 

Tablurath nodded. [color=black]“Even the brightest rose blackens in time.”[/color]   

His eyes looked down at the vessel in his hands; as he made a vow. [color=black][i]‘I won't scatter your sorrows to the heartless cold void of space. I will always be with you.’[/i][/color]
[/hider] 

No, the Cardinal of the ninth fleet never fought alone. Many might believe his intelligence or skills were Tabluraths most potent weapon. In truth, it was his indomitable will as a warrior. His was much like a father to his men and while it had been over two years since he had seen Mirra. She was still a daughter to him-- he would not lose here. He could not afford to. The souls of his comrades would see his will become reality.

His winged opponent landed with grace, a simple act in and of itself. In that same instance a flash of light blazed about Khanza. The intent clear, an attempt to immobilize him but for a moment. A moment was all a skilled warrior needed to end a battle such as this. A moment was something Tablurath however, was not going to be giving. As the flash came the visors of his mask dulled to compensate for the increase in brightness. Serving the exact purpose the mask was designed for.  

At that moment his opponent’s feet touched down and sought to freeze the slime at their very feet. A move even Tablurath had not considered. Such loss of traction could spell trouble… yet there was none.  

The manoeuvre had been a well thought out approach, but one too little too late. The ravenous hunger of his nanomachines activated earlier had sought out closes substance within the black mist of which to assimilate. Cold light at each side and above, there had been only one place left for the mibs. They had since eaten away at the stones at their feet. In fact the desnes formation of the nano machines had been near the ground at the first moment the grenade had gone off. 

In truth Tablurath had originally sought to flatten the playing field and allow himself as much range of motion as possible. The layer of slime had been the first thing to be devoured, even he had to admit this added benefit had been a stroke of luck. Though should he learn it later he would deny it of course. This only covered the 30 feet of his grenade, but both had been well within the cloud for some time now.  

Raelis would find flat stone eaten away at to become level ground. At least for him there was no longer and need for his talons. So in the end Tablurath had been left with only responding to what his opponent was doing above. As Khazna’s sword moved in for a cut, he saw the liquid like motion of armor peeling off his opponents other wing. Moving rather quickly even to his perception. Though he was not yet moving at anywhere to half his full speed. [i]Yet.[/i]

[color=black]“30% potential,”[/color]  

First came the plates moving toward Mercy seeking to come at it from several angles at once. His response was swift and immediate, he simply released his hand from the swords grip all together. The result was Mercy suspended by the strange plating’s of armor. His now free left hand went to the handle of one of the two clones made earlier from Mercy’s swing. Assembling themselves from the mist around them. 

His flash-point allowing him to reach it instantly as the world seemed to move at a sudden sluggish pace. He could not travel long distances while weighed down by his training weights. However, this didn’t affect his reflexes in close range, as he directed his ki to one of his starlhrim blades. The first sword strike had been a simple faint to test his enemies’ defences. Now the real fun would begin. Given the speed of his opponent’s defenses, there was no use in holding back any longer. It had been a long time since he had needed five blade dance. 

He directed his first sword clone to his right, the force of the movement visibly moving the air around his arm, creating a small sonic boom. Cutting through the plating there, while also releasing the cold light energy in the air into them, the arch of the swing constructing two more clones above him. He released that cloned sword allowing it to spin through the armor plating and fly off. Even as his right hand sought out the second clone before cleaving the plating at his right side down the middle. He let that one continuing spinning away to his right as well, its momentum carrying it far outside the cloud of black ash around them much like its twin. In turn that arch had passed through more mibs thus creating two more blades which began to form to his right. One spinning off past Raelis’s right side. Each twirl creating another sword in its wake at his opponents right flank.

The four last armor pieces aimed for his arms missing by mere inches after the sudden burst of speed each arm had obtained through flash-point, each shedding that kinetic energy into the cloned swords to allow them to suddenly stop in place. The pieces crisscrossed, his left hand then seemed to suddenly appear around the sword forming to his upper left, a swift diagonal cut cleaving through them as he swung his right leg behind him and he shifted to the left of his opponent. The armor might not be magic, but that didn't mean the shear cutting power of starhilm would not sunder through them head one.

Tablurath eyes noted the man’s body moved little as more threads were found, meaning he was not in fact in control of these defenses directly. They were automated. Well then that just meant he would need to keep cutting until an opening, no matter how small, presented itself. His enemy had foolishly entered the sea of mibs of their own accord. They were in the heart of the storm now. Escape was almost impossible.  

As more blades built themselves around the pair, Khazna counted a total of four thus far air borne. Not counting Mercy momentarily halted in the plating of armor before him. To an observer the second that had transpired would have looked like nothing but blurs of motion as petals of black danced around them. Leaving pieces of plating flying away. Best of all, now that the plating was no longer attached to a living organism, his mibs were free to assimilate the armor pieces before they even the the ground. His opponent was more than free to strip himself of defenses slowly if he so wished. The Cardinal had now edge back some eight feet to his opponents 2 o'clock, seemingly waiting for his opponents response. Or something else entirely.