As the protection Sigil shattered, I saw several other sigils on his person go down as well. That must have been how he hadn’t been killed yet despite being on the front line with other magi. His protection was meant to take heavy hits, but to compensate, it had drawn from all his other sigils, and likely his inner wells of magic. Ha! I internally was gloating, the most I could while being in the pain I was in, and pride swelled within me for having outsmarted one of the better sigilists I knew of.
I lunged forwards the moment the sigil went down, swinging with my right arm, which caused an aching pain I’d most certainly be feeling later if I made it out of this alive, but for now it served its purpose. Jabbing forwards and through his breastplate, I managed to heat up my sword enough to pierce through a more shallow area of metal, meeting some flesh, but not enough for a critical injury. Before I could inflict such a wound, Tali swung right with empowered speed and I was forced to withdraw and parry in response. I had, however, still stabbed him with superheated metal, which caused him to let out a small and short shout of pain, and for him to actively fall back for one of the first times in the engagement. Using his still empowered boots to do so, which unfortunately hadn’t seemed to have lost any sigils to fall back about twenty feet with relative ease before I could really do anything to stop him from doing so. I held out my better arm, sword in hand, towards him.
“If you give up now, I’m sure the Kingdom might give you a quicker death then I will”. I said, trying to sound as tough as I could given the circumstances. Everything hurt, but the adrenaline moving through me kept me up and moving at the very least.
Tali just stood there, as if stunned. I was hopefully I’d really made an impression on him, even if I knew that was unlikely at best, considering Tali’s background.
“I’m afraid not, though you do make a compelling enough argument-unfortunately, for you, I’m still in a position to kill you” He sounded like he meant his words, but I most certainly didn’t buy them. He was a murderer, one who needed to be put down. He had been known to violate oaths before, so I sure wasn’t letting my guard down, holding my sword ready.
“You can try. But I’ve surpassed your expectations of me once already tonight. Are you really going to take that chance again?” I said it with more confidence then I really had
He moved faster then I could track, flames coursing off of his boots and towards me. Thankfully, my protection was back at full force, and with a flare, the sigil repelled the flames, parting them away from me as I swung downwards towards him with more force then I meant, and with my general hurt self, that was a bad idea. I used too much energy, overextended, for a strike which didn’t connect as he slid, then with unnatural grace, sprang upwards in an unforeseen maneuver and landed a flaming kick straight to my chest, cushioned only slightly by my armor. The heat was searing, and I knew by that feeling that my shields had gone down again. I went flying back a few feet, sliding along the ground, coughing. Tali seemed content to play things methodically now, not giving me the chance to outmaneuver him.
“What I said earlier was true you know. We’re one in a million. We can’t waste our time with people like the rat of a lord you and your comrades seem to worship. He’s not what he seems to be, trust me. We could use another sigilist in Noctis. You’d be a great fit, you’ve already proven yourself to me, and my word goes a hell of a long way with us.”. Even thought I couldn’t see his eyes, I knew he was analyzing my every expression, and was probably scowling. This couldn’t be genuine. Even if it was…he was a criminal! A terrorist. Absolutely not.
He had stepped close enough, and I wasn’t feeling up to resisting much more. I’d definitely broken a thing or two in the fight. Feeling particularly angry at the situation I’d found myself in, I spat at his feet. It didn’t land on him, even if I had wanted it to.
Tali’s next words reeked of condescending disappointment. “Is this how you want to die? A dog of the Kingdom? Beaten down and squandered like some kind of child?”
He probably saw my fists shaking and reaching for my sword, because he kicked me again. This time, I felt the burns, a searing feeling like he’d just poured hot coals onto my side, then the shock, causing me to convulse slightly, inadvertently knocking my sword further from myself on the ground, tip touching the wall of the alleyway and glowing slightly in response. It was so close, and yet so far. Maybe a few feet, but it didn’t matter.
“They. Don’t. Care. Get that through your thick gods damned skull! They’ll happily see you die if it would give them even a seconds advantage!” He was practically screaming now, full of emotion, mostly rage.
“You’r-” I sputtered out, not having as much air in me as I first thought
“You’re wrong. The Kingdom is full of good people. We aren’t perfect, but we’re better then you.”
I took advantage of his distraction with my words to reach slightly for the hilt of my sword. Moment by moment, I creeped closer and closer. Just had to keep him talking…
“It dosen’t matter whose in it, if the head is rotten. Because the head is all that matters. No one cares about what the arm wants, or in your case, what the tiny, defiantly sharp fingernail wants. Even that is a bit inflating to you, but I’ll be nice.” His tone was still scathing, and still condescending. I was going to shut him up. Almost there. Almost had it.
“And so you blow up buildings, vaporize good men, or leave then painfully burned the rest of your lives? You seemed pretty rotten yourself.” I retorted with enough strength in my voice as I could muster, though it was hard. My fingers had the bottom of the hilt, I just had to grasp the rest.
“They made their choices. I made mine. I’m fighting for the people yet to be consumed by this…abomination of a government.” Tali’s gaze, or what I could see of it, was cold.
“Then you’ll have to understand that this is my choice!” I said, as I fully gripped the hilt of my sword, launching myself upwards with everything I had. A surge of energy I didn’t know I had running through me, I stabbed forwards while he wasn’t anticipating, he barely parrying but staggering back as I switched tactics: keep him off guard as long as possible.
I launched strike after strike with my speed sigil glowing brightly, channeling almost everything into that one symbol as I struck again and again. After four strikes rapid fire, I got a glancing blow to his arm, cutting into a chink and hitting flesh. I withdrew and kept pressing. His own speed rune was fading faster then mine was, mostly because he was trying to likely preserve his boots as long as possible, for a getaway, or a counterattack if I ran out of energy and was rendered nothing but an above average swordsman who had broken most of his relevant bones. Still, it would be his undoing in this particular engagement.
I kicked towards his legs, and he moved to sidestep. I, however, had already lunged forward, forcing him to parry, and then, for a final blow in this instance, I used my sigil to break the parry and strike him in the chest with the flat of my blade, the force of which made him lose his balance in the precarious position he’d found himself in, and knock him down to the ground. Before I could recover, I plunged my blade downwards, fully intending it to be a killing blow as I returned my sigils to the split out state they’d had while draining my shielding, to pierce his armor with strength and flames, and make it unavoidable with speed, even at its normal level of power.
He seemed to finally realize his boots weren’t helping him, and switched the power levels between it and his armor at the last moment, which frustratingly made it so he survived the blow. I took the chance, however to kick his sword away from him as he sprung to his feet. His boots, his pride and joy and what he was known for, were only faintly glowing in the dim of the night. His armor was barely still up. I’d depleted his reserves, but only because of his overconfidence. If he’d been more measured…
I didn’t have much time to consider that point before he launched another kick. The fight became easier now, as an unarmed opponent was easier to deal with the extra reach a sword provided. I kept him at bay, dodging the small gouts of flame and lightning which spouted with each kick, slowly driving him back to where we’d started at the entrance of the alley. I could hear the sound of fighting still near the wall, but it was quieter now, implying less combatants, which could in turn, be taken as good or bad. But I could consider that later.
With a thrust of my sword I fired a gout of flame which finally connected with Tali, forcing him off balance for the strike itself to jab him in the chest, though he ducked down, forcing me to withdraw my blade or go down with him. It was then that he actually got another counterattack in, sweeping my legs beneath me and succeeding in sending me sprawling across the street. I could see the fight going on in the background, with a large orc shadow and a massive maul wielding diabolos facing off with a concerning few guards. Turning my gaze back to Tali, I reached for my fallen sword but found my lower arm stepped on by a burning crackling metal boot. I yelled out in pain, as he pressed it down.
“You want to die a rat? FINE!”
Tali plucked up my sword, and leveled it at me, slowly inching it towards my throat. I turned my head over, to try and avoid it and to see if, desperately if Daruk or one of his comrades could come help me. I saw the dwarf, and the one he called Elias still standing, locked in combat with the Diabolos. The orc seemed to be feasting on what looked to be three corpses. I recognized one as Thinder. Morbid, but he was distracted, maybe those two could take the devilkin on-
My hopes were dashed when Elias was crushed into a paste by an overhand overcommitted maul swing. Daruk tried to capitalize with a stab to the womans exposed unarmored abdomen, but she seemed to shake it off, literally, throwing Daruk to the ground and robbing him of his weapon.
One swing of the massive hammer later, and a spray of blood and other…unmentionables went flying out from the crushed set of dwarven mail.
“You never stood a chance. I’m sorry.”
I felt the sword pressing against my slightly powered up protection, then felt the sigil shatter. I felt like my arm was going to ignite at any second, and the pain from everything was just now catching up to me, that sudden surge of energy from earlier fading from my body. Shit. Well. I tried. Maybe my body would be recognizable enough for a decent memorial.
It was then that the shadow passed overhead, behind Tali, and I felt the pain release.
And the tides began to turn.
Kindling And Miscellany 