@The One
As Leval's strike came down the masked man vanished. Leval's angry countenance took on the shade of pride. 'Just as planned.' In Leval's experience, people tended to think think of his cloak as simple decoration, but that was incorrect the great billowing cloak had another purpose: concealment. And so it was that as he brought his staff down towards empty air, the other side of his staff burst through his cloak, it's sharpened edge slashing against the masked man's face. "Not all illusions are magic." Leval did not waste time seeing his his target had actually been injured but send a blinding light down his staff, temporarily blinding everyone else in the room.
As soon as the masked man regained his vision he would see Leval coming down towards him, a leaping attack with his staff, missing. Leval looked at the fox pulling at his arm, then looked up at Shela, shaking his head no somberly. He looked down at the fox and mouthed "Go." Leval did not want to see the being captured and harmed again. He launched back into motion, this time three Leval's striking forward at the creature. All missed. More and more Leval's filled the space slashing at the being.
The faces on all of the Leval's were frustrated and sweating now. "Stay still damn you!" But still Leval and his illusory copies fought on filling the space. After one final Leval appeared, his expression changed from frustration to a defiant grin. "Now then, I think I will stop bothering to use only 50% of my power." The second closest Leval vanished and another Leval struck forward this time with the weight of reality, missing but slicing of a section of hedge that quickly regenerated. The figure turned illusory again while another Leval struck out in the same manner, and again and again. It was as though all the illusory copies of Leval that occupied the space were real. However, and counter left the feel of only illusions.
The stabs then became unpredictable, some strikes were real while others were false, yet there was no clear way to know until the blows landed. The masked figure still dodged them all, yet the mess of illusory strikes and the sheer output of impossible physical attacks was unpredictable. Leval's smiled. "My lies were clear by design alone. My lies are lies within lies and evermore." Leval could feel his exhaustion growing however, his secondary power of close range teleportation was his trump card. Leval was rapidly teleporting to the exact positions of his duplicates striking forward with his weapon, then immediately teleporting away to another illusory body. Some strikes he teleported around with making one strike seem like it had come from two distinct illusions. 'They are all me. And I am all of them...' Still he was having little effect against the masked being outside of moving him around the arena. Leval pushed himself faster teleporting around the room hitting every spot around, even ones the masked man did not appear to be standing in, until the very last safe spot in the room from all of the strikes pouring around was directly under Shela. At that point Shela heard Leval's voice next to eat shout, "Now!"
FLASHBACK
Leval blinded the rest of the room as he struck the masked man, the retracted his staff at the speed of thought. He concealed it with a weave then extended the invisible staff to reach into Shela's hands. As soon as Shela grabbed the staff it retracted into her grasp, Leval drew a short knife from one of pockets, covering it in the illusion of it being his staff as he leapt forward at the masked man as his vision cleared. The fight below raged on as several illusory Leval's struck forward, but Shela would only hear Leval's voice by her ear soft enough so only she could hear it.
"Shela, I need your help. The only way I can win this fight is with your help. I need you to point the staff, the sharp point facing the earth, directly downwards and when I tell you when I need you to shout 'Extend!' I know this is a scary situation, but I know you can do this. People are not defined by their past Shela and right now you can choose to be a hero. You've never needed powers to do that.I need your help Shela, you are the only one who can save me." The fight continued below coming to an end.
Shela would feel the gentle touch of an adult woman's hand on her left shoulder and a man's hand on her right. The voices of her Mother and Father would sound in her head."We love you Shela, and we believe in you every second of every day." As her parents voices faded Shela would hear Leval's voice shout "Now!"
FLASHBACK End
Leval Lamrue
As Leval's strike came down the masked man vanished. Leval's angry countenance took on the shade of pride. 'Just as planned.' In Leval's experience, people tended to think think of his cloak as simple decoration, but that was incorrect the great billowing cloak had another purpose: concealment. And so it was that as he brought his staff down towards empty air, the other side of his staff burst through his cloak, it's sharpened edge slashing against the masked man's face. "Not all illusions are magic." Leval did not waste time seeing his his target had actually been injured but send a blinding light down his staff, temporarily blinding everyone else in the room.
As soon as the masked man regained his vision he would see Leval coming down towards him, a leaping attack with his staff, missing. Leval looked at the fox pulling at his arm, then looked up at Shela, shaking his head no somberly. He looked down at the fox and mouthed "Go." Leval did not want to see the being captured and harmed again. He launched back into motion, this time three Leval's striking forward at the creature. All missed. More and more Leval's filled the space slashing at the being.
The faces on all of the Leval's were frustrated and sweating now. "Stay still damn you!" But still Leval and his illusory copies fought on filling the space. After one final Leval appeared, his expression changed from frustration to a defiant grin. "Now then, I think I will stop bothering to use only 50% of my power." The second closest Leval vanished and another Leval struck forward this time with the weight of reality, missing but slicing of a section of hedge that quickly regenerated. The figure turned illusory again while another Leval struck out in the same manner, and again and again. It was as though all the illusory copies of Leval that occupied the space were real. However, and counter left the feel of only illusions.
The stabs then became unpredictable, some strikes were real while others were false, yet there was no clear way to know until the blows landed. The masked figure still dodged them all, yet the mess of illusory strikes and the sheer output of impossible physical attacks was unpredictable. Leval's smiled. "My lies were clear by design alone. My lies are lies within lies and evermore." Leval could feel his exhaustion growing however, his secondary power of close range teleportation was his trump card. Leval was rapidly teleporting to the exact positions of his duplicates striking forward with his weapon, then immediately teleporting away to another illusory body. Some strikes he teleported around with making one strike seem like it had come from two distinct illusions. 'They are all me. And I am all of them...' Still he was having little effect against the masked being outside of moving him around the arena. Leval pushed himself faster teleporting around the room hitting every spot around, even ones the masked man did not appear to be standing in, until the very last safe spot in the room from all of the strikes pouring around was directly under Shela. At that point Shela heard Leval's voice next to eat shout, "Now!"
FLASHBACK
Leval blinded the rest of the room as he struck the masked man, the retracted his staff at the speed of thought. He concealed it with a weave then extended the invisible staff to reach into Shela's hands. As soon as Shela grabbed the staff it retracted into her grasp, Leval drew a short knife from one of pockets, covering it in the illusion of it being his staff as he leapt forward at the masked man as his vision cleared. The fight below raged on as several illusory Leval's struck forward, but Shela would only hear Leval's voice by her ear soft enough so only she could hear it.
"Shela, I need your help. The only way I can win this fight is with your help. I need you to point the staff, the sharp point facing the earth, directly downwards and when I tell you when I need you to shout 'Extend!' I know this is a scary situation, but I know you can do this. People are not defined by their past Shela and right now you can choose to be a hero. You've never needed powers to do that.I need your help Shela, you are the only one who can save me." The fight continued below coming to an end.
Shela would feel the gentle touch of an adult woman's hand on her left shoulder and a man's hand on her right. The voices of her Mother and Father would sound in her head."We love you Shela, and we believe in you every second of every day." As her parents voices faded Shela would hear Leval's voice shout "Now!"
FLASHBACK End