(Q the Terminator theme, I'm back. )

The Lucarvi gazed towards the avalanche of frozen death, too large to escape from. She knew the end drew near, the seal upon her longcoat waned in its efficiency. The cold's icy hand was slowly inching towards her like a slow cancer. This would be her last attempt at the Red Mage, after which there was little more she could do. The frosty climate, the frailty of her senses under the cold, it all was too much an obstacle.

The light green hue of her spell subsided as it now took effect. The winds first churned near her feet, slowly levitating her above the surface of the snow under her. The flurrying air beneath her heels dispersed the snow of the ground erratically as it kept her levitated. The remaining shadow of her prior spell settled underneath her hovering figure, collapsing in on itself. Its energy billowed up into Niniva and cast her body in shade, enveloping her form. The void-matter that took hold of her would only last for a short burst. They were never meant for anything more longterm than a single use afterall. She would have at best 8 seconds, realistically only 5, before it faded away into nothingness. Just enough time..to pull this off.. she thought to herself.

The throttling mountain of snow now closed in, threatening to bury her like an animal under its girth. Being an avalanche it was sloped down the front, perfect for what she had planned. Niniva shot off in a blur of movement, the churning winds under her aiding to propel her forward as she raced up along the slope of the incoming push. Just as the fullness of the snowy giant would've pulled her under its depths, Niniva sped off the tip of the top and fell swiftly down the other side with a crashing stomp that pillowed up the remnants of frost left upon the freed grass. Her legs almost gave way from under her, having fell from that height. Her breathing hastened, the shadow engulfing her form dissipated. 6 Seconds..Im lucky.. She now pulled herself up straight, facing the redmage. The seal upon her coat flickering in its light.. not too much longer now it would give way..Her vision already grew hazy, the very real and all-too-human fear of ones demise was stricken in her thoughts.


Still clutching her blade, the distance between them now was minimal. The hood of her attire had peeled back slightly, revealing more of the sand-color'd skin and facial features. Lurching herself downward she sped for him, blade held in a counter-balance, green hair whisking against her skin. Pouncing forward she arched her attack in a downward cleave at the redmage in a last-ditch effort to damage her target.

Hakker dropped to his knees as he watched the avalanche roll towards his opponent, cursing himself as he was unable to see what happened on the other side. He gazed around at what would become the battlefield if Niniva survived... "The snow is gone, she won't be slowed down, I'll be a sitting duck..." He cursed, having given up his own safety in order to defeat an opponent that had recovered from his previous attacks with surprising speed.

He tightened his grip on his staff, using it to slowly rise back to his feet. He glanced back to his other, identical staves, which were calmly floating behind him. Slowly, they clattered to the ground, causing him to let out a sigh of relief. They wasted energy like that, and he needed to conserve it... His legs were shaking, his breath was coming in deep pants, and his entire body felt like it was being forced down. But he couldn't rest, not until that avalanche halted and his opponent was buried alive...

His eyes widened as he saw her appear over the top of his creation. That should have been impossible, she should have been destroyed... But he had no time to think about those things. The distance between her and him was dangerously small, and he couldn't dream of taking her on in a fair fight, especially not in this weakened state. He brandished the staff he had been using to support himself, energy quickly building in it's orb. "This will be the last attack, huh?" He pondered, doing his best to keep steady. There was... Fear in his eyes. For the first time in this fight, he felt like he was about to lose his life. Even if he won, there was still the problem that this was a harsh climate, and getting out alive wouldn't be easy with his lack of energy.

He shook his head to dispel those thoughts, he wasn't going to die! He couldn't! He wished he could say he had too much to live for, or that someone was waiting for him, but... The only reason for his stubbornness to dying was, he was afraid. He hadn't accepted death as an inevitability, he realized now, facing it. And so, he hatched his possibly final tactic, depending on it's success.

He stood strong as the Lucarvi rushed to him, the orb on his weapon shining brightly now. He quickly gripped for the closest other staff, which he gripped for one use only, defending her attack. He heard his heart beating in his throat as time seemed to slow down. For her to cross that small distance, seemed to take an eternity. As he watched her start her attack, he brought up the second staff defensively, hoping to stop her. He forced his eyes away from that immediately, however, instead prioritizing defeating her over his defensive capabilities, thrusting the staff brimming with blue energy towards her stomach. If the attack hit, the orb would explode, impaling her with shards of magicked glass and conjured ice, as well as severely hurting him with wayward shards of both. It was a last ditch assault that would destroy the weapon he was wielding, but it was all he could still do with the energy he had remaining.

Her weapon clashed against the staff in a violent collision. The edge of her blade ripping into the wood of the staff, almost lodging itself. At this moment, the split second that seemed slowed in time. Niniva slid a dagger from her inner-vest with her free hand, attempting a quick throw towards his shoulder. Her hair whisking against her face, eyes sifting slowly in this slowed sequence , to the blue orb thrusting towards her abdomen.

The round orb, brimming with frozen energy , burst upon her stomach. Her hazel eyes caught glimpse of this beautiful eruption that would surely mean the end for both of them. With the magic-imbued glass shattering upon her, the power within no longer had a vessel of which to be siphoned through. Pure unmitigated frozen fury was the result. The deep blue light first shockwaved outwards from them after losing its container. The convulsion distorted the environment around them with a glossy film of frost quickly taking form against her body and his as well, with such close proximity. An arctic mist accompanying the next unstable burst of energies, a swirling tremor of blue light and an explosion of icicles of all shapes and sizes sent speeding in every direction, followed quickly by a final shock wave that almost artfully conjured a twisting display of ice directly surrounding the area of the eruption, creating a roughly 50 meter diameter 'frozen fallout' circle, which curved outward starting upon the ground directly under from where the explosion occurred and spread out, sleek, underneath them both, curving skyward at its very edges in a jagged dagger-like edge.

It was a lovely sight to behold before ones death.

The burst had more than easily flung Niniva from her airborne position backward across the circle of the fallout, crashing into one sloped walls with a loud impact, cracking the thick sheet of ice she slammed into, though not breaking it. With her back against it, and her abdomen stuck full of frozen shards, her body slid down towards the base of the make-shift arena. Sat up, her head hanging. The seal upon her longcoat fading entirely. All at once, it seemed a she felt a flurry of sub zero temperature hit her like a boulder. Her hood was pulled back form off her head, allowing flakes of snow to settle within her forest colored hair. The coat was littered in cuts and impaled shards. Some having been stopped short by the coat and her underlying leather suit, some having punctured quite efficiently into her body. The woman sat slumped against the curved wall, frost already filming across of her cheeks. Black blood drooling down form her innumerable wounds. Already her bodies systems were slowing down. With great strain, she pulled her head back to lie against the wall. Eyes shutting, allowing the coils of death itself to wrap her in their embrace. Breathing became harder and harder, each breath fuming out a mist of cold air. Yet still however, he face bore a mask of tranquility.

He felt her weapon sink into the wood, falling to his knee as the force of it was more than he could handle. Barely, he had managed to avoid certain death, watching as her thrown knife crossed the short distance between them. "Stubborn." was all that crossed his mind as he felt the sting of the knife penetrating his shoulder blade. Not pain, not even surprise. Everything faded for the Red Mage, however, as he watched the orb make contact with the woman's stomach.

Hakker had no idea what would happen when the orb cracked. If he had known, he would've thought twice before attempting it. As the orb unleashed it's first destructive force, the staff was shoved backwards roughly, hitting Hakker and cracking two of his ribs, as well as sending him flying. the shockwave got him while he was still airborne from the staff to the chest, sending him reeling like a rag doll. He landed twenty meters further, on his back, barely avoiding being impaled by a jagged outcropping of ice. He tried to measure the damage to his body, and it wasn't looking good. The dagger in his left shoulder made it impossible to move that arm, and the cracked ribs made even breathing painful. "So this is how it ends? In a fight that wasn't supposed to be to the death?" The man snorted, then winced in pain.

He tried to glance over to where he had been standing before the staff's magic had sent him flying, not in the least surprised to see his opponent had been sent reeling as well. His finger wrapped around the damaged wood of the staff he had used to deflect her final blow, as he slowly rose to his feet, using the weapon as a makeshift crutch. It was an ordeal, but he managed to rise to his feet, and even with the crutch, staggered in the direction he believed his opponent had been sent. His wounds were painful, and most likely fatal if he wasn't brought into the care of a doctor within the next hour. He went forward with baby steps, but after ten agonizing minutes, he managed to cross the fifty meters that had been the distance between their landing points. He didn't speak, nor did he act, instead he just silently settled back into a sitting position only a few feet from her. He wasn't sure why he had moved all this way, just to lie down and accept death in front of the woman he had fought just minutes before. But perhaps, he was scared. Scared of dying alone. He wondered if he should speak up, do anything to pass the last few hours, minutes, or even seconds before one of them let out their final breath. "Why did we do this?"

A dark gauntlet emerged from the ice and snow, cracking and shattering the cold earth below. Slowly but surely, he emerged from below, a being covered in head to toe in dark armor, red eyes glowing from the darkness in his helmet's slit. An imposing and intimidating figure. Perhaps he had been waiting, watching this whole time only to reveal himself now, the outcome of the duel decided, to intervene.

"Why did we do this? You don't know when to stop in this climate." His voice was almost demonic, menacing, monatone too. Echoing. Blood ran as cold as the weather at the sound. "However. Consider yourself fortunate today." He approached the red mage and hoisted him up on to his shoulder and then approached the Lucarvi on the ground. She had been the reason he'd come in the first place. He didn't have to save the red mage, however, it was more or less the principle of the thing. He lifted her up into his arms and began walking away from the scene only saying one thing to the lucarvi.

"Fighting out here. You must have a death wish."