City of IF

[ethereal_fauna]

Iscariot Ren versus Venar

This is an open invitation for any registered user at IF to write an arena contest for the Battle to the End. Entries will be accepted through 9 June.

The roster for Round Three is posted. Contestants are matched and scheduled to appear in the arena. Failure to appear for a fight constitutes immediate elimination. Four elimination rounds are scheduled, with a Final Round pitting the top three mages in a Qualifying Battle to gain entry into the Lyceum.

Authors may play out the battle in any manner they wish, and decide a winner based on whatever criteria the author chooses. At the end of the submission, authors must name one clear winner. Please post your entry in reply to this thread. If no entries are received for this fight, then a winner will be determined by random selection, and move on to Round Four. If one entry is received, then the submitting author will determine a winner. If more than one entry is received, a public poll for the best-written fight scene will be held, with the winning author determining who advances to Round Four.

The author with the winning entry will receive a prize of 200 fables, and the distinction of having guest-authored a fight for the Battle to the End.

Round Three, Fight F features Iscariot Ren in the arena with Venar. Battle continues until one contestant renders another incapable of combat by either unconsciousness or death.

Be creative, have fun, and enjoy writing this particular battle to the end.

[Idea master]

"Ladies, and gentlemen, I have the pleasure of introducing two mages from distant lands! Please welcome... Iscariot Ren!"

A tall, lanky, tanned man walked into the arena, a scowl carved into his features just below his eyepatch. His surcoat, cloak, and boots kept him well covered and realitivly warm. Overly warm, as it turned out, because he wasn't used to the heat of Vlusos. As the crowd cheered, he instinctivly reached behind him for his scimitar, then stopped himself and made do with a uncheerful wave.

"And now may I introduce Venar!"

Another tall and lanky man walked into the arena, dressed in loose-fitting blue robes with a silly pointed hat on top, twin sabers strapped to his back as well. The one pointed ear sticking out from the side of his head gave away his race rather easily. He too waved to the crowd, though he put a little emotion into it.

"CONTESTANTS, IT'S THE LAST ONE STANDING, BE INVENTIVE, AND... FIGHT!"

So began yet another fight in the Arena.

Instinctivly, Venar put up a half-powered shield. No need to completly block his attacks, after all... He'd paid a few unscrupulous men to find out the nature of Iscariot's powers, and all he learned was that they were water-based. It was all well in the end, as his repitoire of spells didn't have much in the way of water.

Iscariot let fly with a sudden jet of water, which caught Venar off-guard. It broke through the shield and caught him on his left leg. He crumpled, but was already whispering the words of a healing spell entwined with an illusion. He placed his hand upon the wound, as any reactionary person would do, and the spell was loosed through the tips of his fingers. Iscariot was closing in now, believing that his spell had done the trick. Quickly, Venar pulled a saber from his back and deflected the blow coming at him. Weaving his sword in a complicated fashion, Venar whispered the words of another spell. As he began to do so, the tip of the blade caught on fire and left it in the air, leaving behind a very complex rune pattern. Venar put his power into it, and the rune exploded, jetting Iscariot into the far wall.

Already the healing magic had repaired his leg, while the illusion had made it seem like the wound remained. And as he gazed upon the form of Iscariot, another form of magic was enacted. The moment of Iscariot thrusting his hand was frozen in Venar's mind. He could hear the whispering of power behind the chant, the talking of Iscariot's brain...

Iscariot groaned and hefted himself up. The mage was powerful, true. There must be some way to counter that power... He cast his mind to roam freely about the arena, and found a large amount of water beneath him. Without thinking, he formed the rune that would bring the water up to his level.

Across the city, wells suddenly ran dry, their water going someplace else...

Venar knew now how to cast the spell of water that was used against him. As he shook his head to clear it, he saw that he would need to call upon the ice magics he had learned in the far north, or possibly the fire magics from the scorching desert. He decided that ice would be the better way to pull this mage off his tidal wave of a pedistal. He pulled his other blade free and formed two complex runes, then blew slightly on their arieal burning forms. The white-hot runes dissolved with his breath, and moved quickly as individual particles towards the tidal wave. As they made contact, the water froze. Iscariot tried to move the water out of the way, but the ice was spreading. Soon, he would have to jump off to avoid being frozen as well. As he landed, he drew his scimitar. "So, is it to be a battle of blades? Then so be it!"

"No, dear water magus. You will die today. In fact, you will die now!"

Venar began weaving a very complex black-and-purple burning rune with his left sword, while keeping the right one on the defensive. This spell was particularly nasty, and it wouldn't do to let it slip free. It had taken him years in the darkest, deepest, most unfrequented areas of the world, and some places not of this world or plane of existance, to learn of this spell, and it was quite a spell.

Iscariot tried to press his advantage. A man who was trained to use two swords could hardly function better with one. Soon, Venar would slip, and that would be the end of him. He summoned power and broke the ice, allowing it to melt quickly under the sun, but not quickly enough. It might make for a surprise weapon near the end, but it wouldn't be of very much use right now.

The weaving was done, all Venar needed to do was say the incantation and put some of his power behind it. This spell didn't call upon him, but rather, the power of things that already were. "Powers of the shadow, heed my call, bring down this man's untimely downfall!"

A pool of darkness formed between the two sword-wielding magi. It quickly grew and inflated, becoming a dark creature. It sported two red eyes. "Isss thisss the one you called me for?"

Venar nodded.

"You know that thisss isssn't free."

"And you know that price will be paid one day."

"Yesss...we look forward to ssseeing you when you die."

His ritual of dialogue completed, the shadow-creature turned and began to move towards Iscariot. "Come, you will be dragged to the darknesss."

"To hell with you, creature!"

"No...you are to go there yourssself...I will sssee to it."

The shadow-creature formed two long arms and wrapped them around Iscariot. It then began to sink into the floor, pulling Iscariot with him, to some other plane of existance. The crowd was stunned that the battle could be over this quickly and, in their eyes, cheaply.

"AND THE WINNER IS VENAR!

Venar bowed slightly and walked out. He'd have to settle that score with his personal demon one day...

[ethereal_fauna]

Thanks for the entry IM! You receive the 200 fable prize for this round, and Venar advances to round 4.