`Do not waver...!` Abel reaffirmed in his thoughts as his attack interrupted any chance of Maddox immediately continuing the offense.

	With the successful attempt to ward off an immediate attack by giving Maddox a blow to deal with, Abel had given himself the time needed to allow his spell to finish its activation. The magic circle completely materialized; the radiant glow once again engulfing him momentarily. Abel immediately felt his stamina being fortified to an extent -- the fatigues of battle would now be less present for him in comparison to an ordinary man, allowing him to fully optimize his enhanced speed without holding back. Using this many spells successively was - naturally - taking a toll on his mental strength, but Abel still had the resolve to push onward and enough magic power to keep going a bit longer before he needed to use one of his potions or take a break from casting spells.

	The immediate plan was to cast his next spell in order to reapply his defensive magic - being more than aware that it was running out of time - but Maddox had initiated another attack before Abel could even [i]begin[/i] the incantation. He figured it was a bad idea to start casting magic now on the chance that something went badly, so he refrained. Maddox's shield bash was guarded as Abel pushed his own shield out in order to force the defensive equipment to clash once more, a loud clanking sound echoing from the impact. He would have ideally used a swift evasion to get around Maddox's thrust, as attacks of this nature were easily dodged at his level of speed, but - given how he had only finished casting his spell split seconds ago - it was pragmatic not to get [i]too[/i] carried away taking risks, since the attack had been left him little time to move after the magic was done.

	"Ugh...!" Abel muttered momentary as a sharp sensation of pain hit him when Maddox's sword blow connected.

	For whatever reason, this particular sword strike came out with far more conviction behind it than the ones preceding it had -- Abel was taken a little off guard as a result, possibly due to being in the middle coming out of the mental state he was placed in during magic activating. Regardless of why it happened, Maddox had nevertheless managed to land the hit against him; however, the damage was nullified to a moderate extent for two reasons. Firstly, Abel's enhanced speed and general perceptiveness meant that even if he did not have enough time to dodge or deflect the blow, he still had enough time to step backwards and prevent the full force of the blow. On top of that, the defensive fortification spell once again absorbed a lot of the impact. Even so, this spell only prevented the [i]damage[/i] of the blow from occurring and did not actually negate the [i]pain[/i] -- just another reason why Abel needed to learn how to cast barriers as soon as possible, or at the very least a higher tier version of the current spell.

	`Hold your recklessness, just for a moment...` Abel thought, telling himself to calm down and reaffirming that it was a bad idea to move on the offense right away.

	His defensive magic was about to run out, and if he had not been using it - or if the attack against him had been just [i]slightly[/i] more precise - then that last blow from Maddox might have seriously wounded him. As it stood the injury he sustained was minor and not enough to require healing, but without his magic active Abel might as well have not even been wearing armour at all against an opponent with a sword arm this strong. Due to that, the moment Maddox decided to step back Abel took advantage of the situation to deal with his top priority.

	"[b]Magicae potentia, patientia supplementum.[/b]" Abel whispered as he chanted his words of focus, magical forces once again being channelled through him and the familiar yet faint ethereal outlines of a white circle composed of runes formed around his being temporarily once more. The closer the spell was to completion the more intense these outlines would become, and Abel watched Maddox carefully the entire time. Instead of going on the offense, Abel decided to not slow down his magic through needless physical activity -- once his empowered defences were fortified completely, he would be ready to show no hesitation. He specialized in fighting against superhuman foes and to do so would become superhuman himself, while this opponent was better equipped for dealing with a mortal opponent. [i]Magic[/i] was the one true equalizer in this battle.

[center]~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~[/center]
[hider=Spell Casting]
[b]Fortify Endurance[/b]
[/hider]
[hider=Active Spells]
[b]Fortify Endurance[/b] (6 seconds remaining)
[b]Fortify Speed[/b] (30 seconds remaining)
[b]Fortify Fatigue[/b] (54 seconds remaining)
[/hider]
[hider=My Post vs. Game Mechanics]
I don't have a lot to clarify this time, since your modifiers explained the likelihood of the shield bash failing and I simply filled in the blanks, using its failure as the justification for why I wasn't off guard and had enough time to avoid the critical blow despite taking a hit. If you'd rolled up a critical, I would've made the damage noticeably higher, but with a 99% success ratio I don't plan to debate it connecting against him without a very good reason.[/hider]
[@ELGainsborough]