`Curses...!` Abel thought to himself as his sword blow was deflected by Maddox's shield, "Tch..." he muttered momentarily in dissatisfaction as the equipment clashed. `As expected, this man is far more proficient at swordplay than he is at archery... I need to adapt to this...` he internally contemplated, already analysing the alterations in his opponent's position and stance. This battle was very quickly going to force Abel to come to terms with one simple yet important difference between himself and his opponent -- Maddox specialized in fighting against human foes and Abel primarily fought against inhuman foes. While Abel was by no means incompetent at defending himself against human opponents - in fact, he had done so many times in the past both in training and on missions - he was nevertheless not a killer. All of the opponents he had faced - throughout his short career as a warrior - whose lives had actually been ended by his blade were inhuman monsters or those who had already ceased being members of the living long ago -- Abel was [i]not[/i] a murderer. His opponent on the other hand had probably taken a good few lives in order to reach his current position in the world, whatever said rank might be. Abel was still thinking about this battle under the premise of sparing this man's life, and while he had been able to get through his battles thus far with such a mentally it could eventually cost him. `It will be alright... So long as I do not inflict a mortal wound I can still heal him; however, I might need to do so if my own life is at stake here... Evelyn, I [i]refuse[/i] to abandon you!` Abel thought. With Maddox thrusting like a viper striking at its prey, Abel was ready. While he lacked strength and experience in certain regards, he had always been able to adapt around those things using natural insight and wisdom beyond his years -- talents which needed to be put to the test once again today. The monsters that he hunted were abominations lacking a certain significant quality that made fighting them different to engaging a fellow human in a battle to the death -- generally speaking the forces of evil - [i]particularly[/i] the undead - lacked the power of volition that was so crucial an element of human nature. This made them capable of being far less predictable than monsters, and it was this that Abel would need to overcome in order to learn to more effectively fight against a human in a death match. With that said, Abel was quite confident that [i]few[/i] out there could rival his own resolve and will, so Maddox would have [i]quite[/i] the mountain to scale himself on this day. `I shall not yield!` Abel resolved himself, his hazel eyes narrowing. Maddox's piercing thrust closed the gap quickly on its path towards Abel's shield, but once again the young man with platinum blonde hair had already moved before the weapon could reach its mark. Abel shifting to the left the same way as last time, once again moving at the supernatural speed which Maddox had witnessed only moments ago. He [i]immediately[/i] went on the offense - planning on using the opening his evasion had created to deny Maddox the chance to retain momentum - and with the initial shift to the left he started turning his body at a full three hundred and sixty degree rotation, exploiting the magically enhanced speed he possessed in order to almost complete the cycle just before Maddox had fully recovered from his thrust. As he finished his rotation he used the force created by his motion and the superhuman speed to unleash a powerful backhanded shield smash against Maddox's flank, resolved to at [i]least[/i] knock him off balance if somehow the man was able to adjust his positioning like last time and guard himself. `Strike!` Abel commanded himself internally. Unless something went immensely wrong between the moments after evading the thrust and before his shield smash connected with Maddox, Abel was confident that he would have the momentum regardless of whether his opponent managed to guard himself or not, so he would instantly follow with a second attack, slashing his sword through the air with powerful determination as the blade came downwards at a diagonal that started from Abel's upper left and ended at his lower right. Unlike his first sword strike previously, this time he was aiming to inflict heavy damage with less concern for whether or not he wounded his opponent. While thoughts of healing his enemy - in order to save his life at the end of the battle - had not yet dissipated, he knew that preserving his [i]own[/i] existence was more important right now -- he could save no one if he perished. [center]~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~[/center] [hider=Active Spells] [b]Fortify Endurance[/b] (24 seconds remaining) [b]Fortify Speed[/b] (48 seconds remaining) [/hider] [hider=My Post vs. Game Mechanics] From my own understanding, stab-based attacks are generally far easier to side step or dodge around than a lot of other sword techniques are, so - going off the assumption that you don't use different modifiers to differentiate various types of attacks (horizontal, vertical, diagonal, stabs, et cetera), together with Abel's enhanced speed, I'll assume that it wouldn't be difficult to avoid this move given the 75% success rate. If there's a flaw in my logic, or if you actually [i]do[/i] factor in different modifiers for different types of attacks, feel free to let me know in the OOC.[/hider] [@ELGainsborough]