Kiyo was pleased for the briefest instant physically possible as she watched her plan unfold to completion, but beyond that she did not have the capacity to do very much at all. Selim's momentum had all been converted to force when he hit the wall--and Kiyo had seen him wince in pain--but he had proven his combatative nature when he immediately turned himself towards casting spells and executing a strategy he'd been building since the beginning of the battle. Had she the time, Kiyo would have thought of this as an admirable trait in a bodyguard--and certainly something better than what some of the Lifanites settled for in order to simply look good rather than be adequately protected. Kiyo's own momentum, as well as taxing spellcraft, left her with little in the way of options as to what she could do now. Selim's counterspell and utterance of two other spells--clearly Abjuration spells, given their verbal components--left Kiyo with little choice but to use another of her precious With the Wind spells, dashing herself diagonally to the northeast as soon as she could. The blind did still manage to hit her, its searing light barely clipping her field of vision but thanks to its magical potency still being quite enough to utterly blind her. The sudden loss of vision, no matter how many times it happened, was disorienting enough to make even the most battle-hardened stumble and stumble Kiyo did.

She fell pretty spectacularly, mentally taxed from the spellcasting, and through sheer force of habit managed to tuck herself into a roll forward so that her stumble didn't end in injury. As she finished the movement, going maybe six feet, the blind had ended, and much of her momentum had gone into the roll. It was little effort to turn herself around so that she was facing Selim once again, and as his movement would have carried him forward she would have a second to gulp down a breath and steady her focus. She had escaped the worst of his gambit, but it was clear to her that he had a physical advantage purely based on his ability to weather her own stratagem with minimal disruption to his own. Soelbe's gambit with Indolu's Pride was effective, of course, at robbing the Mythari of its sight as he was not within the light of Indolu, and with Kiyo's stumble she simply did not have the capacity to give it orders. The Mythari continued on its course upwards, now at least 12 feet in the air, and prepared to aid Kiyo when she recovered.

Kiyo knew that her time was limited to close out the battle. With Selim's natural advantage in close-quarters combat and her own limited reserve of spells, Kiyo would have to end the fight extremely quickly if she wanted to have a chance. With that in mind, she begun a cautious walk towards Selim once more, knowing that her window was closing, and prepared for him to react in kind. She could further evaluate which of the forming manoeuvres in her mind would be most appropriate based on how he reacted to their next engagement. Of course, Kiyo had not forgotten about Soelbe, but simply elected to attempt to execute her strategy before it could have a real impact on the battle. As she moved towards Selim she drew Mythari into the fray also, having it charge quickly towards him. Mythari would have to contend with Soelbe, but if Kiyo's plan worked then that would not matter. A risky gamble, for sure, but one that Kiyo was willing to take to prove her own strength and test Selim.

[@Innue]