Did you know that is the difference between us, Akai? You don't see that you don't have to do this. You don't see that fighting Solarel, the way Solarel wants to fight, is a failure of tactics. You've stepped back onto the rail and now there's only one way any of this can play out. The way she prepared for. You're in the dream she imagined for you. Wasn't that the tactical application of love? Making someone become something contained, controlled, defeated. Predictable. And she has such predictions for you.

The jaws of the trap stretch and yawn...

But there's the thing. Akai stepped into this trap. Willingly, in front of everyone. She [i]did [/i]see that she she didn't have to do this, and she's doing this anyway. She could have drawn the line and declared Solarel faithless, called her an animal, a savage brute with no empathy [i]and been right[/i]. She also had a dream, something that went beyond this moment, something that lit her up like a star - even if Solarel could poke at it she couldn't destroy it. It made her greater than Solarel, unattainable, in the same way Mirror was. But she'd lowered herself to engage on Solarel's terms, to make the decision to listen to what she was trying to say.

So that meant that if she spoke in the ice-cold voice of Tactics then Akaithon would hear her. She'd hear the voice of a monster.

A flicking gesture. The weave of nanocharge along the Makhaira's carapace, that sabotage so carefully, delicately woven, discharges quietly and fades to nothing. For all the effort she put into setting it up, she will not speak those words today. Another flicker and the swarm of drones hidden amidst the debris field power down. With a flare of blue and gold, she burns away the stealth plating of the Kathresis, refocusing the nanites into a heavy kite shield. Her secrets and tricks cast away one after another until all that's left is a knight.

And she speaks.

She does not move like she should. Does not move in accordance with the strengths of the Kathresis. Does not move in accordance with its speed. She is a wasp playing at bear, throttling her speed, raising her lance to strike. Hear it. Listen. She fights not as herself. She fights as Akaithon, in that final battle in the arena, the last time they met. She replicates the blows, though not the strength behind them. She replicates them for how they moved, what they said, the limitations that went into each one. You must accept this. You must pretend I have your strength. You must recoil from these strikes as though you were me, because only then.

Only then we can fall into the rhythm. Only then can you see what this is. Only then you can see...

That this was how you could have beat me.

Solarel had thought about that match for months. Meditated on every strike, every twist, every parry. Seen through to the weaknesses of her form, the unrealized strength of Akai's. One two - and [i]this [/i]was the mistake, this needed to be different. Overhead, down, the great sword can't maneuver as swiftly in these conditions. You didn't see Solarel's limitations when you were fighting against her but now that the roles have switched do you see how close it was, how many mistakes you forced but couldn't recognize enough to capitalize on? This is my weakness. This is your strength. This is how I see you, Akaithon. This is how...

Follow this pattern through.

Follow it through and your lance will take my heart. 

Do you see now why I left that sword behind after that fight? You broke that weapon for me, because this is what I could see, what you made me see. I won but the way I won was nonviable. Everything since was built on the lessons you taught me. In this way I sought to become you.

When I rode the Aeteline, I used a lance.

[Comfort/Support: [b]13[/b]]