Cross Effects 3.0 - The Third Time's the Charm? Colosseum

[Panda]

Lost in his reading, Adjutor didn't hear the footsteps or the quiet muttering in the back ground.

Then a voice called out, citing the name of what sounded like some Noble family, likely a family of magi, judging by the greeting.

Probably just another mishap to explain. Ah well, so much for some quiet reading time.

Adjutor sits up, sliding the book into a pocket and taking Laivatain and Valmanway with him as he rounds the pillar to find himself facing an odd blonde man in a dark blue coat. Brown eyes stared at the strange man as he looks the noble over.

"Adjutor Xarrest," he says, "And I'm just for a bit of reading. Nothing to do with all these restrictions from some magical authority that probably isn't from my world. Besides, there was nobody else here when I got here, so is it really a case of being uninvited? I mean, no signs, no warnings, nothing."

How would you have seen any of that? You shadow-walked in?!

That is besides the point.

[Milbunk]

'Adjutor Xarrest?' That name only served to rouse Kayneth's suspicions. He could not recall the name of anyone like that who officially registered within the clocktower.

His young appearance was not helping out the man's case either. There were only two kinds of people who looked that young. Those that were foolish and naive, and those that were powerful to conceal their true ages. Both were worst case scenarios in Kayneth's situation. And as such he acted appropriately.

"Don't play games with me, this place in under the authority of the Clocktower, only those approved by their hand are allowed on site such as myself. You are clearly lying, but if you mean no harm then drop whatever weapons you may be holding and surrender yourself for proper judgement. This is your only warning."

Kayneth's appearance was completely relaxed, with a small smirk across his face and his hands gently held together across his back he slowly began to walk towards the man who stood before him.

[Panda]

Great. Another stuffy noble who thinks their authority has any power in this cross-dimensional clusterfuck.

Maybe not, but we can't discount the noble himself lacking power. Especially considering that this one is from a family of magi.

And looks like he's barely trained himself beyond staying reasonably in shape.

Which potentially means that his magic is strong enough that he doesn't need to.

"Okay, before things get any worse, there's two things you should probably know," Adjutor says, sheathing Laivatain as he readies Valmanway, the wind-elemental light in his hands as he holds the dagger in a neutral position, "First off, unless you have some way of traversing dimensions, the Clock Tower probably doesn't exist here. Second of all, I was here first, and I won't be disturbing you. If you need me to leave because of complex magical reasons, that's fine. If you need me to leave because of some writ from your superiors, then offer me a better reason."

[Milbunk]

The man was obviously delusional. How could he not be surprised of the existence of magi yet seemingly know nothing of the clock tower.

"You are clearly in an improper state of mind, I shall take you down and do an investigation myself."

Taking a small voice recorder from his pocket Kayneth uttered a few words making sure he was loud enough for the man to hear.

"Subject appears unstable and claims to be in some dimension not his own. Let the records show that he is of an unstable mind. By the powers vest in the department of Spiritual Evocation,  and as a lecturer and magus of appropriate authority I hereby approve action through force if necessary."

Staring directly at the man before him Kayneth stared him directly in the eye, it was a magical enchantment that was activated through the eyes, upon contact it was meant to subdue and pacify his foe so that they would be unable to move or act. Anyone without any knowledge of magecraft no matter how strong their bodies would fall victim to such a curse, especially when casted by a magus as strong as Kayneth.

"Now submit yourself for evaluation so that we may get to the bottom of this."

To ensure that he had control of the situation a small thin line of mercury began to leak from his left leg heading straight towards the man.

[Panda]

Challenge issued, moving on to the fight.

With just a thought, Adjutor cuts off the mana sealing his eyes, which immediately turn an opaque silver as all the mana within sight becomes visible.

Definitely dealing with a mage here. Enchantments on the coat, line-type Conduits throughout his body. Air and something similar to ice, probably water...And some of them look way too old to be his, too different from the rest of them.

Then the man looked at him, mana flashing through noble's eyes as a strange numbing feeling started to spread through Adjutor's body.

Shit.

The numbness spread quickly throughout his entire body, throwing him into a slight panic. Fortunately, Xarrest seems to be keen on taking advantage of the disorderly state of Adjutor's mana brought about by his panic.

"Enarkseom!" he shouts, blasting the disorderly mana out, destroying any magic within a meter of him with the unsound of the air itself being forced away to distance.

Then he notes the mana link between the man and the strange...thing, leaking from the noble's leg.

"Let's try this again," he says, calling Rahab to him with a thought, "If you want to get to the bottom of this, then we'll be on even terms while you're doing so."

[Milbunk]

Another click from his recorder as he began to talk to it, almost ignoring the man's attempts to reason with Kayneth.

"Subject appears resistant to magic, able to emit large amounts of magical energy in the form of some sort of shout. More information is needed."

Just as the silver liquid reached the halfway point between them it quickly split into four lines, one continuing it's path towards the man, while two of them climbed opposite walls, and the third reached the ceiling before yet again continuing towards his direction moving through the grooves in the stone just like a droplet of water as it rolled down a wall.

In just a few moments he would be surrounded on all four sides.

"I accept no equal terms with those who dare disturb ancient ruins such as these without the proper authority to do so."

[Panda]

Go on, just keep talking into that fancy recorder of yours.

Taking a moment to Reinforce himself, Adjutor continues to track the strange liquid when it splits off into four separate strands, each approaching from a different direction.

"Amusing," Adjutor notes leaping back as Rahab comes into his other hand, landing a fair distance away from the would-be trap with the dagger and the rapier in a combat ready stance, "Animation-type enchantment applied to some liquid, I'm guessing. ...Or perhaps some metal...nah."

"And you. Wind and Water magic, from what I can tell. Fairly powerful in terms of magic, but with a lot of conduits that are too old to be yours," Adjutor says, preparing a Shield Concept, just in case.

[Milbunk]

Another click and another message recorded for future observation. "Subject is reacting to my attack, appears to have some sort of eye enhancement perhaps related to magical detection. Possesses an inability to properly listen when spoken to."

Kayneth stopped walking forward, retrieving his hands from behind himself he balanced himself onto the ground and muttered a single word to himself.

"Launch."

The liquid from beneath Kayneth's feet began to take the form of a sphere behind Kayneth quickly gathering pressure before exploding like a bubble that has received far too much air. From the force of the eruption Kayneth was sent flying forwards with great speed straight towards the man who as attempting to retreat. The liquid that had been following below quickened it's pace in an attempt to beat Kayneth to the goal.

[Panda]

What was that you were saying earlier?

I was wrong. That was just plain stupid.

Adjutor simply raised an eyebrow at the man rocketing at him as he casts Rahab forward.

"Moeskarne!" he shouts, the Shield actualizing itself directly in the flying noble's path, unmoving, but likely strong enough to stop the flying man in his figurative tracks. Likely.

[Milbunk]

The mercury directly below Kayneth rocketed up and reattached itself to the thin trail still hanging from his foot. Like a full body harness the liquid quickly hardened itself slowing him safely to the ground and making a complete stop directly in front of the newly materialized shield.

"Subject shows knowledge of magical barriers, seemingly powerful but bound to take its toll on the body."

With his smirk ever-present Kayneth uttered his next command.

"Scalp"

The liquid below him quickly molded itself into numerous spear shaped tentacles before just as quickly stabbing straight into the shield. The points of each spear like object were less than a millimeter thick and they shot forth with a pressure strong enough to easily slice through steel.

[Panda]

Okay, not so stupid.

Then, with a word from the man, the tool reformed into spear-tentacles and threw themselves at the shield.

That might be a problem.

Just in time, the Shield started cracking under the impact of the blows.

Okay, nifty way of launching himself aside, he still threw himself right at us. Besides, we're probably not getting through that right now.

With that in mind, Adjutor leaps back a few more times, tossing off some ice spears with Rahab at various angles, all aimed directly at the mage, and speeding them up with Valmanway.

[Milbunk]

Without even moving an inch the liquid instinctively ceased its attack and formed a thin metal wall in front of Kayneth allowing the ice to break through his foe's barrier before crashing against the mercury barrier and breaking uselessly and throwing the shards throughout the hallway.

"Subject is increasing his attempts at retreat."

Returning to his neutral stance Kayneth continued his slow walk over the melting ice, while uttering yet another word of action.

"Pressure."

The thin wall of silver quickly balled up and grew in size until it could barely contain itself.

With a sound resembling a bubble popping two thin streams in the shape of a V shot forth towards both sides of his foe. The pressure it had gathered was comparable to the speed of a bullet.

Kayneth was beginning to tire of this meaningless backtracking he would not let this man escape under any means.

[Panda]

Adjutor allowed a smile at the sight of the defenses that came up to block his attack. The smile promptly disappears when the metallic blob sends out twin spears to come in on either side. Stopping his retreat, Adjutor instead opts to charge straight forwards, launching off a few dozen more ice spears at various angles while an Armogarian tendril reaches for one of the pouches.

That defense of yours blocks off your line of sight. Quite unfortunate, really.

When we don't have something that can pierce it?

"Fang of the Sea Dragon, Rahab," Adjutor starts to say, pouring a bit of mana into the rapier as he charges forwards, keeping up the barrage of ice spears.

[Umbra of Chaos]

Wiseman

The aged warlock gave the even older necromancer a wary look. They both stood on a flat,  rocky expanse that seemed to continue on forever, and were about ten meters apart. Wiseman's hand lashed out.

"Fulgadrum."

The familiar power of elemental energy surged through the sorcerer's veins as a bolt of lightning was released from his fingers and sent flying at the armored magic user.

[Milbunk]

The mercury surrounding his body began to vibrate slightly signalling that his foe had begun to move offensively. With a small twitch of his wrist the mercury itself moved on its own causing trails that were launched to fire inwards towards each other.

Anything caught inside these thin strands would be lacerated into a million pieces.

How would his foe get anywhere close when a wall of blades stood before him?