"It will be done," Ita said, completing the tracing of a large circle of power. The lupine had cleared out the nearest bones, revealing an area of gray-colored dust. She had followed up with that by using a nearby jawbone to trace the former, chanting demonic songs as she worked. Fenrin the wolf quietly stood back, sitting down a few feet away from his master's summoning circle, chewing on bones while he waited. When Ita completed the circle, which needed to be perfect in order to work, it began to glow a violent black color. Ita stood back, her wolven feet and bushy tail stirring the dusty ground of Dori'ba. She crossed her arms and admired her creation, which began to shoot its light upward. Touching it would probably burn off your arm. The Land of the Dead was windy today, blowing human ashes into the air and causing the long cloak Ita wore to whip around furiously.

"Yes, yes. My power is at its peak, Fenrin. I can finally perform the ritual Kai'keth mentioned to me during my apprenticeship to him. All the ghosts in Dori'ba will be...put out of their misery. Be put out of their misery to serve me. With access to every single spirit here, my power will be so great that...so many abilities will be unlocked." Ita formed a sadistic smirk on her maw, crimson red eyes gleaming with anticipation. She gripped her staff tightly with both hands, waiting for the first of the ghosts to appear. Ita pulled out a large black orb, in which she put down exactly south of the circle. Any ghost summoned would be instantly pulled into it. It was like the lupine's soul-ensnaring gems, but able to hold tens, nay, hundreds of spirits in its blackened core! "It will work," Ita growled, "if it does not...many will die to pay for all of the spirits I could have had in this process."

The light shooting from the circle of power suddenly amplified, then turned into black flame. It roared, shreiking and seemingly struggling to do what it was meant to do. Suddenly, flames shot from the sides of the circle as well, making Ita jump in order to avoid it. However, rather than feeling fear, Ita's smirk turned into a smile. It was not ligitimate, but more evil, however it was still a smile nonetheless. Finally, the lupine erupted into laughter. She threw her head back, forcing down the hood of her cloak, causing her evil to echoe throughout Dori'ba. She was so close to moving a step further to fulfilling her goal: be the most powerful being. Ever.

Ita lowered her head to check back on the circle's performance, but the smile never left her. Finally, the first three spirits appeared, but were immediately sucked into the orb before their form could be made out. This continued until 7 spirits were now dwelling in the black sphere; and with each passing day, they would become tamer and more obedient to Ita.

"Yes! Just one more step...before the ritual can never be reversed!"

{Ita's Death Topic has begun! Only people who have signed up can join this RP.

The first thing to do: join the RP. If you're foiling Ita's plans, this would be a good time to do so. To stop the ritual, just blast the heck out of the circle or throw a bone into the circle.}

The half Drow was wandering this wretched land in search of spirits. She had heard rumors that Dori'ba was often visited by the undead spirits at night, and she was here to find her mother. She needed to speak to here, it had been much too long since Vendaria spoke to her mother. She couldn't help but notice it was quite windy out, and grew quite annoyed at the constant flipping of red hair in her face. She didn't see any spirits about, which was odd...As she walked silently through the Land of the Dead, a sudden pillar of dark light appeared in the distance. She was scared, but curiosity overpowered it. She ran towards the light, her half drow eyes making it easier to see through the darkness.

She unsheathed her dagger as she grew closer, but she couldn't help but notice a canine creature was standing on the sidelines of a strange circle of bones. In the center was the pillar of dark light, and directly south of it a strange orb. Smoke seemed to swirl around in the orb, as if something was trying to escape. A strange wolf-like woman, a lupine to be exact, was watching with glee as strange smoky forms were pulled from the light and into the orb.

What was this witch doing, and what spell had she cast. Vendaria stepped out of the surrounding darkness and into the womans view, her dagger exposed.

"What is this, woman? What are you doing?!" She said, prepared to summon her spirit warriors if need be.

The wanderer stood stone still as he tried to make out the disturbance he saw on the horizon. It appeared to be some kind of storm. From what he could see the winds in the small area hand kicked up rather suddenly. “Hmm,” thought the stranger, “What do you think, Wrath? It could be a storm, but it seems rather small.” The alien slowly returned to his walk without waiting for his response. “I think we should investigate. Don’t you?”

The drifter’s name was Morris, although he might deny it. He had become accustomed to traversing the worlds land in search of something. This is what had brought him out to these lands. He was dress in his normal flowing robes that he used to hide his halfling features. From his hip hung his trusty blade, and his robes had an odd bulge where he hid his titleless book from which he read his magic spells. Morris fearlessly headed for the source of the strange winds. “You’re rather quiet today; what’s wrong? You’re almost never quiet.”

“I’m sorry it just seems strange to me. That storm, if that is what it is, stirred up quite rapidly. I was just pondering whether magic might have been involved.”

“Oh, I hadn’t thought of that. Do you think we should turn back?” Morris wondered stopping dead in his tracks, obviously a little frightened by the thought of finding some dark magician. “I mean this is a grave land. We wouldn’t want to stumble on some dark conclave out here, right.”

“O, stop your whining, mule. You had the right idea to begin with, go forth and investigate.”

{I noticed that some people said (er, just Adsero) that they didn't know why the heck their character would be here. I have a few suggestions, just to get the creative juices flowing. Your character doesn't have to follow it, they're just to try to get more people at least joining. O_o

Ita maybe invited Snori to come watch what she'd be doing. Eh. Or maybe he's doing necromancer-y stuff too.

Adsero could be here as if they had just stumbled from the regular grasslands here, and decided to maybe check it out? Or maybe Ads is following Tulkas, if the two are friends. I'm not sure.

Krakas is a grim character. I trust him to think of a reason. :)

*lets hope my post is longer than this damn OOC* Oh yeah, I was originally planning for Ita to end up keeping the orb, but now I'll arrange its destroyal later in the RP.}

The circle let out an ear-shattering cry as if the spirits were struggling with all the will they had to escape from it. Ten more...another two...even more and more ghosts just kept getting sucked into the large orb that stood motionless by the summoning circle. But as the numbers increased within it, tiny strands of lightning began stirring within its core. The ghosts must have been furious in their sudden imprisonment.

"Oh no, they will." Ita said under her breath, admiring her creations. She then noticed in awe that her whole fingertips were forming into huge, black bladelike claws. All Ita could do was smile. Her theory of spirit numbers impacting her power was true. Her eyes did not glow for no reason, nor did these claws appear without just. The lupine glaced at Fenrin, who growled slightly in annoyance at the loud sounds made by the circle. Only his master noticed the long spikes running down the black wolf's spine.

"There is no possible way this could have gone better," Ita proclaimed to the world. But the spirit handler's glory soon faded when she spotted something out of the corner of her eye. 'SOMEONE LIVING!?' Then the person, now weilding a dagger, asked what Ita was doing.
"What I am doing!? I am becoming near-immortal, THAT'S what I'm doing! And I suggest you leave before I add your soul to the hordes I will soon command," Ita growled, showing off her claws to the stranger.

{Edit: Made the last sentence of the first IC paragraph to actually make sense.}

(Meh --;, I hope this works. I went ahead and mention Tulkas as being with me since we were talking about it on the chat board.)

Adsero crept quietly across the land of the dead, searching for the disturbance they had come here for. Earlier, Liara had mentioned sensing some strange power cooking up out this way and Adsero had gone looking for Tulkas, knowing he would be a good companion in a fight should things get out of hand. She wasn’t sure who would be out here or what kind of evil magic they were cooking up but it was best to be prepared.

Adsero sighed and took a gulp from a flask as she walked. She didn’t really know what she was going to do when they found what they were looking for. Still, she was a guardian and while whatever evil hocus pocus was cooking out here wasn’t likely fire related, it was evil and couldn’t be allowed to continue.

In the distance a storm kicked up though it seemed to be contained in one small area. She walked forward, being careful to remain quiet. She heard shouting but was far enough away that the words couldn’t be made out. She turned to Tulkas. “Well, what should we do? Walk on into their little camp or walk around the edge and try and determine what is going on? You’re better at this sort of thing so I’ll leave it up to you.”

Walking next to Adsero, the closer they got to Dori'ba, the more he felt the presence of dark evils churning ahead. He had accepted this mission as part of his continuing training for the war; he had been doing great deals of this lately after a long time spent on the moon handling the building light encampment. He continued looking forward at the small storm upon the dark horizon ahead while answering her. "I sense that something terrible is building ahead, and building quickly. I always try to know what is happening before I move in for a strike, but we may not have time for that. We should quicken our pace, I feel the situation getting more urgent with each passing moment." He reached under the collar of his armor and gently lifted out the Moon Stone necklace from under it. Wearing it out on top, a gentle glow gave them a bit more light with which to see, and gave him a feeling of extra security in this black land. Soon they came to the top of a small hill, and he signaled for them to stop. Looking down he was able to see several figures gathering toward a central point, black energy surging through the air in tidal waves. "I do not think we have time to figure out the situation, we should quickly step in and try to extinguish the power building here," he said to Adsero. He looked at her for a signal that she was ready before moving head on into a fight.

<< Sorry it's not longer, not much to do yet until we get down into the action. >>

Morris pace hastened as he came to the realization of what the storm was. He had studied the arcane arts as well as religion and could easily recognize the dark summoning. He must try to stop it before it becomes to late. He juggled with his book as he took it out of his robes. Opening it he read from its pages casting a spell. “ÐåôÜîôå ôéò óêéÝò óáò ðÝñá áðü ìå. Ìå êñýøôå áðü ôï worl.” His palm glowed yellow before disappearing from sight. He looked down to see if the spell had worked, and when he could not see his feet running across the land, he grinned with pride.

He hurried up to the circle hoping that his spell would last long enough to stop the summoning and get out of there. He quickly picked up a bone from the littered field and cast it blindly in front of him. He looked back to see the bone land just a few inches from the circle. His heart stopped as he hoped that the two beings standing at the edge of the circle had not seen it. Maybe they would think the wind had thrown it. After all the spell had caused the wind the twirl around in chaos. Morris ran closer hoping this time his throw would reach the circle and break the summoning. He picked up a skull lying next to his foot and cast it like the bone, hoping fate would allow it to reach its mark.

(Hmm I hope that doesn't sound rushed. :unsure: )

{Not at all, Morris.}

The circle twisted and twirled, the fire collapsing into itself and reaching even higher towards the heavens. Soon enough, the magic looked like a full-blown tornado: however black as the night and constantly focused on one spot. The fire started to become tipped with gold indicating its growing power, its capacity to summon much more ghosts. The circle became thicker, summoning stronger winds. Any ghosts summoned would just look like sihlouettes in the corrupt eye of the magical storm. Ita completely lost what was going on outside of the circle, so enthralled was she at the pure majesty of her power. Fenrin whimpered and backed up further from the ritual, tail between his legs.

By now, about a quarter of all the ghosts in Dori'ba were focused into the orb. Ita's eyes began to crackle with dark energy, and wherever she stood the ground withered and decayed. Her teeth elongated and sharpened. This power gain so quickly was like a natural high to the lupine. She was already picturing the first things she'd do with this army of hers. So...much...power...

But suddenly, the tornado became crazed. It spun out of control, its focus of power waning. The storm got smaller, then it stopped spinning, then the fire turned back into light, then the light ceased. And sitting in the middle of the circle was a human skull, which had rolled through the circle's tracings, blurring them and making the ritual imperfect.

Ita's anger was unimaginable.

((btw ita thanks for the idea i may as well have been invited i didn't have much of a plan so what the hell))

Snori sat maybe 60 meters away on a small rock in a cross legged position. Ita had sent a messenger to him a few months back. All It said that she was planning something big. It was in short and invitation to see the fireworks. Snori could not refuse anything that would mean he could gain knowledge of any sort was not passed down by the dwarf. And besides Ita was an old friend of a kind. They had met several times and he even though he didn't admit it even to himself he liked her ... he had a respect for anyone skilled him the magic arts and ita was even if it was necromancy and alike.

He had sat there for an hour waiting while she set up the circle and due the long preparation he assumed it was going to be one hell of a spell. and after a long wait it begun. And true to her word it was something that he wanted to watch. The power that was being created with in the circle was immense. The power just continued to build up, the light show that it was creating was nothing to the magical fall out the he could sense. Then he released what she was actually doing. He for a time had studied necromancy and could feel the pull, spirits, ghosts all were being drawn inexorably to the centre of the circle. She was creating an army.

Something happen and he wasn't sure what but something had disrupted the balance of the circle and had thrown the magic out of balance creating a storm of pure energy that was being whipped up into a frenzy. Who ever had distorted the markings on the circle was an idiot He thought. He shifted off the rock and began to run towards the circle just as the storm began to die. {color=green]Lucky[/color] Then he saw, someone standing near by they had to have been the one that caused the spell to fail. the peorson hand its weapons drawn and were staring down an incredibly angry Ita.

He stood back and drew out his infernal axe. The fool had ruined something very important, something they didn't understand. what every Ita' s intentions were it didnt mater to him right now. He saw ita as a friend and he helped friends always.


((sorry you guys that rp was mullet they will be better i swear :-D ))

Vendaria watched as the women dangled her claws in the air with glee, and it became apart to Vendaria that this woman was casting powerful magic. Feeling uneasy, she summoned upon her spirits to protect her. However, what occured was not normal. They moaned and screamed as they where pulled into the orb, and by the reaction on the woman's face it only made her stronger. Vendaria slowly began to grasp what this woman was doing, she was harnessing the undead's power. She slowly began backing up, afraid of the claws and of the scene she was witnessing. She tripped, however, and fell down as the winds around her suddenly picked up. What was going on? She tried to stand up in time, but a powerful looking Dwarf suddenly was advancing on her. Vendaria panicked and looked around for her fallen dagger, but couldn't find it. In the circle of bones, however, she noticed a human skull...It was not perfectly positioned, and looked like it had been thrown there. She knew enough about spells to know that circles such as these are mostly symetrical, and this skull stood out like daylight. She saw the dwarf pull out a large axe, and Vendaria could only cry out into the winds...

"No, I did not do that! I swear, I did not place that skull there!"

She stood up and got into a defensive position. Whoever placed that skull there may have just sentenced Vendaria to death, for this Dwarf looked especially angry.

"Stay back! I'm warning you!" She called out as she walked slowly backwards...

Morris turned to run seeing that his plan had work. He knew his spell would were off soon. The presence of the summoning had drained a lot of the spell’s life. He had only run a few steps when he heard a girl cry out, “No, I did not do that! I swear, I did not place that skull there! Stay back! I'm warning you!” Morris turned his head to see a dwarf charging at a girl laying amongst the bones.

“Turn around we must help her!” Wrath’s cry sounded out in his head. “We can’t leave her to die here.”

“But… but… the spell, there isn’t much time.” Mule whimpered back, “If we don’t get out of here they will kill us.”

“So you would send an innocent girl to the grave to save your own skin? You are a spineless coward.”

“Errrrrrrrrrr! Why can’t you keep quiet?” Morris turned around and hastened for the girl. He drew his scimitar for his belt readying for battle. He let a scream escape his lips as he charged the dwarf. “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah,” he cried as he drew his blade back, running at full steam. He only hoped he would reach the girl first.

Soon after his arival another person apeared, an invisiblity spell. He hated them, only cowards used such magic to hide away from others no even to defend ones self but to be exemt from battle. No sooner as the person and become visible to the naked eye he charge with out warning. And snori had done onthign up to this point but looked displeased. "Someone wants to have a fight dont they." He grinned he wouldn't actualy attack this person after all snori himself didnt know what the hell was going on.

He took a step back and cast the blur spell. Sortly after his hands and his general motions even when standing still were speed up so even his rising cheast apeard as a short blur of motion. He began to run at his now vastly improved full speed at this newcommer. then at the last second stepped neatly to the side and back in around the back of him. His pulled up his axe and braugh it down, the end of the shaft first trying to knock him to the floor.

No soon had the attack been atempted then he ran back about 20 feet and stoped. them he moved his hands in a complicated cirlce still as a blur and cast ring of fire.
from the ground surounding [moris] fire sprang up in a 6ft high circle that was ten foot wide. Snori tried to trap him and enclose him in the fire if only to find out what the hell was realy going on. He let the blur spell subside, it was taking up to much energy and by the looks of things he would need all the energy and spells he could get.

(sorry people i dunno why but my rps just arnt looking good at the moment >:-( its bugging me like crazy i will try harder))

Before Adsero could nod the storm within the circle kicked up, rushing wildly out of control and faltering. It’s breaking…. Something had disrupted the circle but what? There, a human skull tossed into the circle, smearing its lines. A dwarf was charging a figure behind the lupine, the one who threw the skull she assumed. Before he could strike another appeared, casting off their invisibility spell, and charged the dwarf.

Adsero shook her head. “It would seem that those three, at least, are occupied. Shall we see what we can do to make sure this magic and those responsible for it are stopped?” She raised an eyebrow and took another quick glance down at the fight. She didn’t know if the lupine would be distracted by the woman on the ground as well but the disruption of her spell had obviously angered her. Adsero felt a shiver run down her spine. She didn’t know much about magic but she had seen the woman’s spirits be sucked into the lupines spell. In a place like this, littered with the spirits of the dead, who knew what kind of power was already inside that orb.

(Gah! So short. So poorly written. This will at least give Tulkas and I leave to charge in and kick butt and the like)

<< Sorry it took me a few days to reply, had a handful with school. :) >>

As Tulkas and Adsero watched the scene from their safe distance, the ceremony was interrupted and it looked as though a fight was beginning to break out. "Yes, let us make ourselves known now," he said to Adsero, "It looks as though there are two that may need our help." He drew his broadsword from its scabbard and its holy white glow was intense; there was much dark power about. He moved forward quickly now, sure that Adsero would follow. As he approached he whispered a few incantations and his armor and shield were both covered in a coat of magic, increasing his defenses.

Looking around his eyes widened a bit in surprise. Now that he was closer he noticed a fog-like mist rising up in patches along the ground, but it took him only seconds to realize what he saw was not fog, but instead it was the stirring of many souls creeping slowly from their graves, rising up to meet the call of the black energy ahead. Since the terrible summoning had ceased for the moment, they were beginning to settle once more, but the sight of them was eery and opened his eyes to the intensity of the magic stirring them. Tulkas was a spot of light, entering a storm of haunted darkness...

<< Seems like this topic is cursed with short posts. >_< >>

{A wizard did it. Anyway, I'll just do a recap, then start the fight to end all fights. Or Ita's fights anyway. In this RP I'm having trouble identifying where everyone is in relation to Ita, so sorry if I mess up in that respect.}

For several moments all Ita was capable of doing was writhing in her anger. Her fists were balled tightly and she breathed at an abnormally heavy rate. Mist shot out of her wolven nostrils, as if the lupine was a furious bull about to charge. The power from that once sudden accumulation of spirits in Ita's posession caused her eyes to crackle with what looked like red lightning bolts. The lupine's fingertips held skinless black claws, looking as if they had been recently filed down to lethal points. Any patch of terrain Ita's pawpads touched caused the ground to burn, decay, or crack. It seemed as if the spirit tamer was morphing into a part-demon (however not the case). Or had been morphing, seeing as her plans had been needlessly foiled.

Finally, Ita snapped back to reality. She glared at the new people who had come during her moment of completely mindless rage. Snori, the lupine's guest to witness her destroyed display of power, would probably be able to take down the drow and paredhel on his own. Ita would have to be concerned with the two other newcomers, two that were just watching the fight but had a great chance of entering it herself. Both emanated an awe-inspiring amount of power, and most importantly, both Ita had met before. The first was a master of fire. The two had fought long ago in the Salquedor Grasslands. Ironically enough, that day was the time the lupine had met Snori as well. The "elementalist," as Kintora Hedge had called her, was a master at her art as if she herself guarded that very element.

The second, who was seen quicker by Ita due to his large glowing broadsword, the lupine had seen when trying to get down a large volcano. They hadn't fought, but the man's visage was enough to strike fear in almost any evil creature. If Ita had completed the ritual, she would have been the MOST evil of them all. But that didn't happen, did it? She was forced to cope with only a small percent of power the lupine could have recieved.

With that, Ita suddenly threw her head back and roared. Yes, roared. It was a noise so loud, so ear-shattering and fear-creating that it echoed throughout Dori'ba. When finally Ita lowered her head again, her expression was filled with twice as much rage as she had felt earlier. She growled a few spell incantations. Within seconds, ghostly but angry apparitions appeared on either of Ita's sides. A flame-covered hellcat ghost hungered for slaughter. A disease elemental hunched over and glared at its foes. The spirit of an earth elemental clawed at the ground as if fighting with its urge to obey Ita, and its urge to free from her control. Two satyrs twirled and twisted their weapons in elegant flourishes. A rhinocerous ghost snorted angrily. And finally, a gigantic shark ghost appeared to swim through the air, ready to attack at any moment. A loud metal-scraping-on-metal sound warned that the crazed lupine had drawn her shortsword. The blade was covered in small nicks, dried blood, and other signs of age. Ita's sword had gone through many, many battles against good.

This would be the last.

There was too much going on at once for Vendaria to understand it all. More and more people where showing up by the second, this strange witch was attracting a lot of attention.

A beautiful woman and a powerful Knight examined the scene before them...Another man rushed in front of Vendaria, screaming. The Dwarf was still charging after her, and it became apparent that this was now a fight for survival. Teleporting into the middle of the bone circle, the half drow further weakened the witch's power. Perhaps she could summon her spirits now.

Vendaria chanted her charm over the screams of the trapped spirits, clenching her fist. She thrusted her hands into the air, and nine powerful spirits flickered around her. They screamed as the spell tried to work it's magic, the spirits being slowly pulled into the orb. Stronger and stronger the pull became, until Vendaria hastily began kicking the bones out of place. Fear was overcoming her, and she needed her spirits if she wished to survive. Vendaria looked around to see that all her spirits had survived, but didn't give them a command yet. Rather, she watched and waited before she planned her defense.

She had been in my battles before, but this was going to be her hardest yet.

<< Sorry I didn't get to post before I left for break, and then took an eternity after my return! >>

As Tulkas came within close range of the dreary scene, he felt an eerie chill that tickled his spine. It seemed as though he had stepped into a land of spirits where darkness prevailed over all, swirling and wrapping itself around you, strangling the light from the world; Dori'ba this was not. He stopped suddenly, startled to see a shark swim silently past him to the right like knife through the air: smooth, cold, and calculating. It seemed to watch him intently with one eye as it slipped dangerously past and he held breath for a moment, unsettled. The transparent figure lurked ahead of him, considering Tulkas, but decided to move on, perhaps because of the aura around him that couldn’t be totally suppressed even in this black nightmare.

He was close enough now to be seen and heard by all, and he called out to the source of this chaotic evil. Tendrils of ghostly fog and shadow curled at the feet of the Lupine ahead of him and he was cautious. “What brings you here to stir this evil, creature? Stand down or feel the wrath at my hand.” He gripped his sword and readied it, giving her a steady, challenging look. His senses were keen and alert, and he felt tense, ready to strike. He felt a battle ahead of him and kept his gaze on the dark sorceress before him.

<< Now we can fight! :bouncy: >>

Ita narrowed her eyes and pulled back her ears, glaring at Tulkas. Her tail twitched behind her robes which flapped in the cold winds of Dori'ba. Under her breath, she let out a low, constant growl.

"Yes. We fight."

Time froze. Vendaria, Snori, Adsero and the rest seemed to escape Ita's mind. All her focus was on fighting the Paladin. Ita sprinted in his direction, then leapt into the air. The lupine held her shortsword with both hands, then unleashed her fury in the form of a downward slash aimed at Tulkas's neck. She flew by and landed on her side, sliding into the gray dirt covering the area, unaware what effect her attack did on him. She slowly got up and balled her fists, Rellik whizzing over to her side with a worried countenance.
"Show me what you got, fool." Ita roared.

With a ferocious speed the lupine charged at Tulkas, leaping magnificently into the air and barreling down upon him with her blade. He braced himself by quickly spreading his feet, right foot back and knees slightly bent to absorb the shock better and prevent him from stumbling or falling. He brought his sword up at an angle perpendicular to the angle of the lupine's blade to assure a solid block, just in time to make contact with her blade as she brought it down on him. The clang of metal against metal echoed loudly and the sound cut across the empty field of bones.

The sorceress slid away from him after her attack and he whipped around quickly to keep his eyes on her. It was his turn to attack and he went for what he was most familiar with. He called upon the moon to help him and there was a quick flash in the sky, then a rain of baseball-sized moon rocks came down straight for his opponent.

<< Bleh, not nearly long enough for how long it took me to post it, but I have been getting PMs all day long as I tried to write this and it kinda ruined my ability to concentrate. -_- >>

Rellik emitted a loud clicking noise to warn Ita of the impending rocks. The lupine only had time to raise her arm up in the air as a futile attempt to block the stones. She had regretted never buying any tougher armor to wear. Robes were obviously poor in deflecting the storm of celestial rocks raining down on the soultamer. Ita was just too overconfident to think anything would reach her. There were always her ghostly minions to take the blow. Ita, bruised and battered severely from the moonrocks, lifted her head up and glanced past Tulkas to try to find the eight ghosts she had summoned.

They were gone. Ita cursed and struggled to her feet, glaring at the man that stood before her. Ears pinned back, she picked up her shortsword and dusted it off. The blade had fallen from her clawed hands upon impact with the ground after Ita's unsuccessful attack.

A cold wind flew past the duel area, sending dust into the air and moving the moonrocks that were piled on the ground. The sudden drop in temperature seemed to echo the impending event that was drawing nearer and nearer. Every tick of time, every moment, was leading closer and closer to a critical finale to this fight. A moment that would change Ita's life. Or take it.

The lupine let out a furious roar and gripped the hilt of her sword with renewed rage. A clawed foot mangled with the genes of a canine pushed up off the ground, sending Ita into a burst of sudden speed towards Tulkas. As she neared him, her sword subtlely aimed for a crease or thin spot in his armor that could possibly be pierced.

But charging toward him would be a fatal mistake.

Tulkas was almost surprised with how well-aimed his spell had grown, the full force of the attack seemed to have hit its unarmored target. He was slowly discovering that he was most skilled with celestial and holy magic, and it was no surprise that he had an inkling for moon magic in particular. Though his opponent appeared battered by the attack, it seemed to only have renewed her will and pitted her against him with a vengeance. She charged forward with a natural speed that was superior to anything he could manage without magical aid and it dawned upon him that he wasn't going to have time to efficiently block her charge with his sword.

Holding it with only his right hand, he awkwardly pulled his sword to the right to block but it was useless, her sword clashed with his and carried on to strike him hard in the upper right shoulder. His sword fell from his hand but he was prepared for her, the glow of his attack already encircling his armored fist. She was in close enough range and he reached forward with his left hand, grabbing for her throat. If he was able to grab onto her at such a weak point and discharge his Sacred Hand attack into her, the battle would soon be over.