[center][h1][color=6ecff6]Valishin Elias[/color][/h1]
[h2]"The Pieces Move"[/h2]
Interaction/s:  [@Hitman], [@pkken], [@Raijinslayer], [@ShwiggityShwah] & [@Quincy][/center]
[hr]

[color=6ecff6][i]Way to blow my ability to provide cover, Argus.[/i][/color]

Vali hissed softly as a sudden smoke bomb blocked his line of sight towards his allies.  While he understood the necessity, he still felt uneasy that his ability to watch over his teammates was hampered by Argus' strategy.  To be fair, the lad boasted a tactical mind, but his naivety and inexperience poked its head visibly over the horizon.  The sniper bit his lip in frustration, knowing full well that to shoot blindly into the smoke screen might injure his own allies.  So, he quickly weighed his options:  four of them were currently close to Jean, and if anything, Vali was confident that his comrades could take him.  Thus, the marksman set his sights once more on the woman and the clown, his brows furrowing in thought as to his next few actions.

Having crept around the field, Vali now found himself good meters away from the clash, having a clear view of the duo who repelled his initial fire attack.

But, Valishin grinned at the thought that he got a few bits of information from his first attack.  As a tactician, the sniper made sure to always think three steps ahead.  First, he already knew what the woman was capable of:  earthen magic.  In this case, his group already had an idea of what the female could do while Argus' smoke bomb, more or less, covered Dragon Heart's abilities from Jean's allies.  They already had a huge advantage from that.  Secondly, the marksman also gathered how their enemies would react defensively to attacks.  In this case, the woman tended to take advantage of her magic's strong defensive capabilities by summoning a wall or a shield of earth.  The fluid and almost split-second decision she made as the poison fog caught fire solidified the fact that she was good at both offense and defense.  Thus, Vali assessed that the earth mage would always use her earthen shield re-actively to attacks.  And, lastly, he evaluated that these people were overconfident of their own abilities as evidenced when they continued trudging towards Jean instead of looking for their would-be assassin.

The enemy's pieces were continuing a careless approach, and Vali didn't find it in him to be kind and overlook their mistake at underestimating him.

His barrel peeked out from the cloak once more, firing jaded rounds which burst in poison fogs around the two before they could complete their dreaded march towards Jean.

[color=6ecff6][i]"I can't have them memorizing the colors of my bullets."[/i][/color]  Valishin reasoned with himself as his rifle glowed blue.  [color=6ecff6][i]"I predict that the woman will instinctively cover the two of them with that same shield of earth, out of fear that I might use my explosive rounds again.  But,"[/i][/color]

Cerulean projectiles soared towards the two, landing indiscriminately around the area of the fog as Valishin tried to cover as much as area as possible with his shots.  Upon impact, the blue bullets slammed like a sledgehammer, echoing off clacking and thunking sounds which allowed the sniper to determine whether or not they were successful.

[color=6ecff6][i]"Now,"[/i][/color]  A smile curved the marksman's lips as his rifle now emanated a soft purple light.  [color=6ecff6][i]"Let's see you shield your way out of this."[/i][/color]

Immediately, five piercing purple bullets soared through the air-- powerful shots that could go through even steel.  He hypothesized that the since the duo had not yet seen this shot or color, they would have no idea what the shot could do until it began piercing through her shields, and hopefully, land a solid hit through a limb or two.  As the last shot vanished inside the emerald haze of poison, the marksman slid back into the cloak, feeling the fatigue creeping up on him as he slowly moved through the fields again-- this time, settling nearer to the destroyed carriages.  The best he could do was to keep the woman and the clown busy, to keep isolating Jean from his allies until Damian and the others could wipe the floor with him.

However, a disturbing sight greeted Vali as he noticed another figure patching up the injured bandits by the obliterated carriages.  He raised his rifle, peering at the jet-black figure with a bird-shaped mask.  He certainly looked like one of the bandits, and Vali began to panic that this medic might heal up their enemies.  His finger itched upon the trigger, crosshairs hovering over the medic's head as the barrel peeked out from the cloak.  He knew that the bandit would begin to feel as though a rifle was pointed at him, and the marksman accepted that he had only this few precious seconds to take the shot.

But, he couldn't find it in himself to kill a medic.

There was no honor in it, even if the medic was an enemy.

[color=6ecff6][i]"Besides,"[/i][/color]  Vali thought to himself.  [color=6ecff6][i]"If I'm not mistaken, if we do heal these injured bandits, they may turn against their masters for attempting to kill them."[/i][/color]  The sniper remarked, figuring that the food products strewn about in an ashen heap around the carriages meant that the bandits were not prepared to fight at all.  They were slaughtered mercilessly, and the sniper decided to make use of that.  They may even be able to question some of these brigands later.

In a second, two yellow bullets soared through the wheat stocks as they fizzled against two bandits whose wounds began to close up as their body began to flood with cells.  He would help this medic for now, if only gambling that these bandits would realize that they were just being used as tools and fodder for the real villains.  It was a risk worth taking.

Vali took one last gaze at the medic, deciding once more if he should shoot or not.  However, his honor triumphed, prompting Vali to gaze back at the emerald fog and continue monitoring the woman and the clown.

He could only hope that Damian and the others have already dealt with Jean already.  He couldn't keep stall