Iridonia's Open Terrain

Gavin's answer came, finally breaking his silence. She was more familiar than he realized, but what he didn't know wouldn’t kill him. Her growl was flown away behind her before it even had a chance to fill the air around her. A few miles at these speeds, however, and he should have arrived while she was still in meditation. At least now, he kicked up the speed and hastened their journey to his elected battleground, and the need to pry into his intentions was no longer a necessary measure. The moment he brought the speeder bike to a full stop, Mariah dismounted quickly, almost too gracefully and effortlessly as though she had done it a thousand times before. She spaced herself away from Gavin until he directed them to finish the trek on foot. In that minute of walking, she still remained quiet, as did he, until they reached the location. She wondered how he found this place. It was a distance from the Academy, so not one easily found, unless he had known of it prior. When he confirmed as much, the flicker of a half-smirk found her lips.

"Do you always put in that much effort when you know a woman is coming back to meet you?"

It was strange, how easily that question played off her lips, how easily their whole exchange within the training room took place. However, there was something more disconcerting to her: his choice of the location. Just as he said, it was flat and empty, and no way either of them could gain a particular advantage over the other. Primarily her. Then again, perhaps that was for the best. She didn't know what tricks he had up his sleeve, nor did she want him to get a good read on her. He may have stated in the training room that he wanted a place where they could both unleash a fuller extent of what they hid from prying eyes, but all the same, there were some things better left hidden until another time, another duel, if of course he proved to be worthy of it to her, and she with him. Despite all of her words playing otherwise, she knew better than to underestimate the opponent who brought her here.

Removing her cloak from her body, Mariah tossed it to off to the side, revealing the full armaments she brought with her. It had been nearly a year, yet she carried all of those familiar weapons she had shared with him that night. All were recognizable. All but one -- a bluish hilt, which hung on her belt next to her main saber. However, she didn't reach for any of them yet, and instead tread deeper towards the center of the clearing. What more, there was a different air about her, the way she carried herself, the whole of the way she looked in comparison to that single night. Old, war torn threads were replaced with a simplistic, yet still elegant attire, fitting for the battle ahead. And perhaps with the duel within her sights, she held a confidence and no longer attempted to remain hidden and stand within the shadows.

Turning her head to catch Gavin in her vision, Mariah turned slightly to face him. "So shall we cut to the chase?"

More of his silence, and then something she could only assume was a half-hearted answer. Her eyes narrowed upon Gavin as she bit her lower lip thoughtfully. He really wasn't the same man she met at the Academy. She could only assume what plagued his mind now, and had the situation been any different, maybe she would have pushed to figure it out. Then again, wasn’t that uncharacteristic of her own self? And it wasn’t just the desire to find out what haunted him, but even the indulging in the word games and her own easiness with one she still stubbornly called a stranger. She did follow him over ten miles away from civilization, alone, where he very well could just attempt to bury her out in the clearing where no one would find her. Her gaze fell from Gavin, and with a deep breath, she pushed away those thoughts. Their current situation was this duel, and she wouldn’t allow him to get in her head in any way, even if it was her own doing in this moment.

It was too noticeable that he followed her unarmed into the clearing. His relaxed stance was still a stance nonetheless, so when he pushed for her to make the first move, it was almost like instinct for her to draw Nihilo from her belt and reveal the bright red blade. It's ominous, crackling hum filled the silence that she had refused to break. She could only imagine that he wanted to prove a point to her, from her earlier disapproval in the training area. To prove that he could take down any armed opponent without a weapon of his own. However, those games were not why she was here.

Mariah drew her saber out wide to her left, and with her right hand, she reached out with the Force, not for him, but for his bag of weapons he had brought here with him. He had made the mistake of allowing her to familiarize herself with those weapons nearly a year ago, and such discussions were moments she couldn't forget. Even so, there was one in particular she had taken a liking to, one she was eager to see in action. She wasn't about to allow him the chance to stall until the last moment before finally revealing its fury to her. Had he been so unwise as to forget it, it would have been nearly unforgivable. It was the one she had handled, albeit briefly, but its own individual essence was unmistakable among the others. Pulling the black chrome saberstaff from the bag, she sent Kolk Illuminate careening towards his head. A first attack, perhaps, if he had allowed it to actually connect, but she anticipated that he would see it and break this lazy excuse of a stance to actually face her, weapon with weapon. He may have had plans for her, but as did she with him.

"Then let's cut to the chase," she murmured, meeting his smirk with one of her own, something that was beginning to be a more familiar appearance on her lips. She lowered her saber, though, and let the red blade die before it even had a chance to strike. "Or do you need to ease into things?"

With hand outstretched in a clear display of her manipulation of the Force, Mariah had made her intentions more than obvious when reaching for Kolk Illuminate; however, she had at least expected for Gavin's gaze to leave her when she sent the hilt flying towards him. She had hoped for just a mere second for an opening, yet the weight of those piercing blue eyes never lifted. The petite warrior who stood before him, in turn, never moved, simply watching him, gauging him, waiting. He wanted her to initiate, yet there was a lingering lesson haunting her in the back of her mind: never rush a prepared opponent. He attempted to get into her head, spewing those same words of 'fear' as he had the last time. However, Mariah wouldn't allow that same accusation to have any of the same bearing on her now as it did nearly a year ago. It was nearly foolish of him to have tried the same trick twice. She could only assume what he meant by moral obligation. To her, the challenge was issued so that she could witness it, come face to face with such an intriguing weapon. All of that was disrupted, though, as some parts of his words managed to sneak through a crack in her guard. With it, her eyes narrowed upon him.

"A test to prove my worth," she laughed. A derisive and scathing sound, but a laugh, harboring some sense of amusement nonetheless. "Just like all of the other pitiful men who stumble into my life..."

The moment that the blackened chrome and silver hilt met Gavin's foot, Mariah made her move. He had held out his hand to tease her with the sight of Kolk Illuminate one final time; she didn’t allow him the chance to drop his hand back down to his side. Mariah pushed forward, her speed amplified by the Force in hopes to catch him before he was ready for her. He wanted her to be the first to initiate; she saw the sliver of an opening and took it. Her right hand grasped his wrist as she pulled him towards her with a quick jerk, hoping to shift him off-balance towards her.

"I guess I'll have to break you in," she cried out, releasing him and following up with a sweeping kick with her left leg, aiming to connect her foot to the right side of his face.

If his words were anything to go by, Mariah anticipated for his cockiness to continue preying into his mind, hoping he would only offer a simple duck or dodge without a meaningful countermeasure -- an attempt to play with her, to treat her like one of his students and not as a worthy opponent. It would just be a weakness in his own guard, and one she had no qualms with using to her advantage. The first kick was a feigned attack, to draw his focus and force a dodge. The moment she could establish her weight back upon her left foot, she moved fluidly into the next, truer attack and twisted her body, putting more power behind the jab of her right leg. She sent her heel screaming into his solar plexus, her true goal not only to knock him back but knock the wind out of him. With that, though, she halted her offensive assault -- at least if he would let her -- to affix Nihilo back onto her belt.

"Should you be forced to face me unarmed while a saber is in my hand, it will be by my doing, Gavin. I assure you, though, you'll get your fun eventually."

Mariah had expected as much, for her strikes to sweep through the air without truly connecting. From the moment she had entered the training room, where she witnessed the progress of those so young who learned under him, she knew that this duel would be worth her while. That was, if she could get him to fight. She had exposed herself with her strikes, and she had planned to lure him out, to make him capitalize on those openings. Yet all he did was dodge and sweep round her in such a manner. She knew he blatantly ignored that opportunity to not only push his own offensive, but to easily and quickly put her on the ground at the start of the fight. All for what? That laughter. The pet name. The attempts crawl under her skin. In lieu of striking back and continuing this duel she came here for, he simply... walked away. Within the crimson warrior's mind, the crunch of those four footsteps within the sand turned to the sound of his spine as she shattered it. She wanted nothing more than to ravage him for the ridicule he weighed upon her.

It was like an instantaneous reaction; Mariah extended both of her arms out, and with the motion, her two shotos heeded the silent call. The golden one to her left, the silvery one to her right. She had planned to humor him with his desire for unarmed combat, but he clearly had no desire for even that now. Like all of those others who had mocked her in the past, she would put him in his grave. Before she could act on that instinct derived from her wrath, however, a quiet thought from her now-shaken composure managed to rise above. ~Show him that you can handle this.~ His words weren't empty mockeries, but rather his choice of fight. She had prepared for it, for him to sneak past her guard as he had in the past. He would only continue to wreak havoc on her clarity of mind, on her focus, should she allow his attacks to connect. He wasn't like those within the slums she had effortlessly put an end to. That wasn't why she was here. She couldn't rush him again. It only ensured his victory. ~Make him come to you.~

With a deep inhale, she lowered her hands back to her sides and re-centered her mind. Mariah allowed his words and laughter to be remembered and forgotten as quickly and easily as a dream now woken from. Expelling that breath, she lowered herself to her knees and placed both hilts within her lap. Her fingers gingerly wrapped around each one, ready to ignite them at a moment’s notice, but no longer turning to them as her answer in this fight he pursued. At a glance alone, she was seemingly left at his mercy, should he finally decide to push the offensive she originally sought. Her back was still turned to him, yet there was an eerie serenity that washed over the woman.

"Your move, Phoenix." No longer her typical murmurings, her words rang out with clarity but revealed neither the anger nor frustration she had earlier displayed. However, she was done playing along with his games, which she made more than clear with her stern tones. "When you're ready. I came back only for you and for this challenge, so I have all the time in the galaxy."

In this moment, Mariah was serenity within the eye of the storm. The careless words he spat at her wouldn't have the same effect as it had prior. She waited for the chance for her silence to prove the weight of her words, to push Gavin towards an actual offensive. Something in his tone shifted, however, and the nature of his words grew much more sinister. There was a flaw in his tactic, though. It wasn't his words that carried the disruption of her peace. She had heard it all before, many times, but that now turned him truly into just like all the others she had come face to face with over the years. However, it was that detail that fogged her clarity. That rare spark of trust she allowed between she and this stranger, now snuffed out. It was a mistake she would remedy by the time this challenge had been fulfilled.

His movements were silent from his levitation, but with an exhale, Mariah steadied her mind. The dull pang in her chest was a cause for distraction, but she drifted her senses to attune with the Force, feeling the trailing essence portending the strike for her head. Mariah leaned back, arcing herself with the sweeping movement. Another attack was sure to come, and with that realization, her eyes snapped open. She finally drew him out. Mariah didn't stand nor crouch, and instead leaned even further back until she was folded with her back against the ground. His second kick came out over top of her, both with his right foot. A thought, that perhaps he favored it. If so, it could prove to be a weak point, if she could manage to take it from him. Where he dodged and walked away from her offensive, she would counterattack and push her own offensive.

Releasing the silvery hilt, she wrapped her right arm to grasp onto his leg, his foot in front of her, and to lock it with a fierce grasp against her otherwise petite frame. However, it would've been simple enough to pull back and send her back with the movement. She wasn't a large or intimidating foe, if appearances were concerned. Her next move was synchronized with her first, though, a firm palm slamming into the outside of his ankle. With it, the Force pulsed within her hand upon contact, sending a concentrated reverberation through the bone in hopes of shattering it, or at the very least, inflicting enough injury that he would be forced to favor his other foot throughout the rest of this encounter. After whatever damage she could inflict, Mariah broke her grasp she might have had and moved right hand behind her, the Force heeding her call to push Gavin further away from her. It was only with distance put between the two that she leaned back onto her shoulders, freeing her feet from under her, and kicked herself swiftly back up. The hilts fell from her lap and onto the ground, and like his staff, there they would remain for the time being.

"And you're nothing like the man I thought you were," Mariah said, spewing her own venom back at him as she turned to face him. "You worked so hard to earn a little thing you called trust... just to play it as a pawn in your little scheme today? You're one of the worst kinds of beings I've had the pleasure to take down in a long while..."

Her tones were sharp and filled with conviction, as though she was truly beginning to believe those words. Now on her feet, Mariah wasted no more time and pushed forward towards her opponent. When she was within striking distance, her left foot snuck next to his right and acted like a pivoting point. She lowered herself, shrinking her zones he could target while her back was turned to him, and swept round until her right foot was planted behind him. She aimed for a quick jab of her left heel to the outside of his right knee, before she stepped back and rocked her weight to cartwheel over him, her movement enhanced with the Force. She needed to keep moving, to see just how well he could keep up.

Although Gavin was successful with the first string of mental attacks, the pride of the figurative first blood drawn was like a fire that drowned out whatever dull ache had lingered moments before. She had no use for it, and now, no desire to wonder where or why it had formed to begin with. In this very moment, he was her foe, her opponent, and one who was already starting to fall apart before her. His continued condescending words laced through his labored breathing only brought about a smirk of her own. His words were almost comical; his attempts at breaking through her mental guard now near impossible. Dun Möch was a powerful weapon, but without her respect, he had no more leverage over her. What she lacked in respect for him, though, she gained in wariness. As far as she was concerned, he was filled with nothing but tricks and deception, so it didn't shake the crimson haired warrior when his facade was washed away so easily. However, the slamming of his foot into the ground forced the smirk off her lips. She knew she had done damage to that foot, yet he was nearly taunting her like it was all for nothing. Her teeth clenched tightly together, and in answer to his impending assault, her right foot swept behind her as she at least attempted to minimize where he could impact her.

Before she could even properly adjust her weight between her feet, he was there like a sudden flicker, his fist swinging shy of her head. She thought of it as an opportunity, to grapple onto his upper arm, force herself closer, and move forward for her own attack, but a sharp pain split into her skull almost immediately, leaving her nearly blind to the colored shock in her vision. Before she had a moment to regain herself, his onslaught continued, a pressure slamming into her stomach and sending a sickening pain throughout her torso. She knew it would only continue; she needed to act before she gave him too much of an upper hand, to silence the screaming pain and will her body onward. It was like a reflex, the Force washing over her again to amplify her speed, but for a different purpose. The world around her was warped, slower, giving her just that extra moment of perception to deal with him and his furious onslaught. Instinctively keeping her elbows folded close to her body, Mariah stepped away and swept her right hand in a deft, upwards sweep to redirect the blow against her collarbone. Next, Gavin moved fluidly into his next attack with both fists into ribs and abdomen together, sacrificing the strength of a single blow with the attempts of striking two vital areas at once. It was a similar block with her left arm, catching his fists in her forearm and redirecting the blows outside the left side of her body with a downward arc. It nearly guided the lower wrist into her hand, which would lead her into a countermeasure of her own. Before she could send a furious upwards jerk to turn him about, exposing his back to her, though, the Force came slamming against her and sending her backwards, snapping her grasp on him.

Her body went sprawling back, but this fight was far from over. Mariah swallowed the failure of her defense with the agony that still beat in her head and stomach and continued moving. Airborne, she tucked her knees close to her chest and arched her back, flipping herself backwards with the momentum. Her left hand touched down to mix of sand, dust, and dirt of their battleground and guided her body back to her feet with an elegant, acrobatic grace that should've been near impossible after the flurry of blows she just received. And it almost was impossible, her body screaming against her, although she refused to reveal as much to him. With her feet touched back down to the earth, Mariah snapped up her crimson gaze to find her foe. Her expression revealed nothing, not even the pain that wreaked havoc. If anything, the gaze she shot down at Gavin would have struck him down immediately, if looks alone could kill.

"I'm the naive one?" she called out, her voice a rasp, but it seemed now that every time she spoke, there was more and more conviction in her words than the moment before. "I told you then that you didn't have enough on me to do any real damage. You're the fool who decided to try anyway."

While Gavin used his physical pain to to overcome and use in battle, Mariah used a different sense of pain, and Gavin was growing very close to pushing her to the edge of utilizing it. Even now with her body under duress, Mariah forced herself forward despite the pain that throbbed from his connected attacks. She had other plans for their duel now. She didn't use the Force to alter her speed this time, making her appear much slower and much easier to dodge when she would finally clear the gap between she and him. It was a snap of a reflex when she was two steps away. Her right foot hit the ground and her left hand reached for the silvery hilt on her belt. Her left foot struck, and the hum of her red-bladed saber clashed with a fierce growl that tore its way free from Mariah's throat. She might have entered this duel with some sense of moral obligations, but that had since been lost.

She attempted a reckless, single-handed swing, rising the blade up from her right hip in a sharp, upwards arc to strike through his upper arm, clearing the neck and even his head with the momentum. Sure that he would dodge the clear attempt on his life, her right foot followed the twist of her body and was poised to connect with his jaw. The sweeping maneuver brought her back to face him, and Mariah propelled herself back into the air, flipping herself backwards over-top of him. As she came down, both hands met the hilt as she bore down with a powerful downwards arc clean over his left shoulder. However, even as her feet came down to meet the ground again, her blade continued its motion as she struck out with a horizontal slash towards his midsection, the power she was pushing behind each of her attacks carrying through with her momentum as she spun, ready to carry into the next.

Gavin offered fluid dodges and nothing more, like that of the past. Gavin didn't even seem shaken by Mariah's shift, the bloodthirsty glare in her eyes which reflected the intensity of her red blade. When he spoke, she was ready for another string of those meaningless words, and she was prepared to cut them down before they had a chance to take flight into the air. However, they weren't the same, demeaning comments. Whatever Gavin was trying to achieve this time, Mariah wasn't buying it. He had already revealed himself as a master of deception, and these were tricks she wouldn't fall for.

"Your silver tongue won't save you now, Phoenix. Shut it..."

Despite those opinions, the crimson warrior didn't further her offensive. Even if halting her for a second was the only effect of his words, it was enough. Without the focus of battle to draw her mind towards her goal, those sickening, crunching blows weighed down on her body. Gavin took the moment he carved into their duel to prepare for the next chapter. There was a burning desire to disrupt him, to force him to fight with the injuries she inflicted upon him, but it would also mean that she, too, would need to fight against the effects his blows achieved. Had she fought him like this the day they first met, she would have rushed him recklessly, having no other option. After nearly a year away and under Ifrit's tutelage, however, she opened up similar avenues, to ensure the fight she came here for would be worth the time and effort it took to get to this point.

With a hushed growl as she fought against her instinct, Mariah doubled over slightly and wrapped an arm around her stomach. The sound of her saber extinguishing resolved, and releasing her hold on the silvery hilt, she let it clatter to the earth. She muttered something under her breath, only occasionally pausing as she grit her teeth together and fought past the pain. It was a simple incantation, but it would be enough. Enough to heal whatever bruising might of occurred and wash away the nauseating pain. In answer to the spell, there a shimmering, although faint white light that seemed to radiate around her briefly, fading away when her words did. The colors in her vision had already ceased, leaving a dull ache, but one she could easily fight against. It was then that she heard him speak out to her again, which brought her crimson eyes back up to him. With his weapons now on his person and shedding himself of a layer of clothing, Mariah narrowed her gaze skeptically upon him and stood back to her full height.

"I came to see Kolk Illuminate in action, not a show I could find anywhere in the slums of the Red Light Sector."

Such things were typically unfazed by Mariah, nor appealed to her favor in any way. Nonetheless, it seemed like a superfluous step in his preparations, and something she couldn't help speaking out against. It was odd that a man who seemed to carry such knowledge of combat carried no scars of his battles. She didn’t spend any extra time dwelling on it, however, and without time to waste, Mariah stretched out her hands, the two shotos rising up vertically from their resting place before careening towards Mariah. Nimbly catching them in either hand, she returned them to her person. She had a feeling the time would come when she would need them at a moment's notice, but for now, she wanted to see just how deadly this Khaotic Reign truly was, if he was even worthy of her own styles she had developed over the years.

Gavin ignited his blades yet waited. She supposed, again, he expected her to close the gap, to initiate. With a roll of her eyes perhaps loud enough to be seen from their distance, she summoned Nihilo to float next to her left side. She would humor him, hopefully for the last time before a victor would emerge. Mariah inhaled deeply, her right hand twitching next to her, and with that slight movement, Nihilo’s red blade was summoned once more.

"So you are the type of guy who waits for the woman to make the first move. Typical."

Her muttered words hadn't even finished completion when Mariah manipulated the Force to send Nihilo screaming towards Gavin like a javelin. However the blade was clearly off mark and would fly past his right shoulder. It was only when she was sure that a trained eye would realize this before she rushed Gavin, unarmed. It would be curious to see which he paid attention towards more. She had already revealed her typical style, so she was positive he was prepared for that. The moment she was within reach of the staff, she stretched out her left hand and sent a minor shockwave in the Force, enough to manipulate any defensive maneuvers against her with his weapon. Her body then slipped down as she slid past his right side. With a powerful motion of her right arm, Mariah sent Nihilo, who she had hoped was ignored with her nearing presence, back once more to pierce through his upper right shoulder. Moving gracefully back up to her feet with the forward momentum, Mariah hoped to impact not only his shoulder with her blade, but she sent a Push aimed at his lower back, before she ripped Nihilo free from her grasp in the Force and sent the hilt back into both of her hands for a truer, more open offensive to come.

Gavin's two blocks came, which she hoped would keep him on the defensive. Dark amusement washed over her at the sight of him acting with his eyes closed. Even without her time with Ifrit, she would have known that he gave over that sense to the Force, although her time with Ifrit certainly offered her more experience in that realm. It seemed that he, like her, had his own ways of carving an offensive. While not wholly unexpected, the means that Gavin used was. That wicked glimmer cast in her crimson eyes faded as quickly as it came as the prongs clamped down upon her saber, locking the blades in place. Their crackling cries resounded as small energies of lightning cast a rose silvery light where the silver and red blades clashed. Mariah pulled back to try to slip Nihilo free from its prison but was only met with the unyielding resistance from Kolk Illuminate's hold. To make matters all the more urgent, Mariah witnessed the staff break apart to the two separate blades as the other crept out of her vision.

"...Kriff..."

Letting go of Nihilo only came as instinct, a rare one at that; however, the moment that Mariah knew she couldn't force her blade free, she released her hold on the hilt without a beat of hesitation or doubt. The blade dissipated with a hiss as the hilt clattered to the ground. In the instant between the drop of the hilt, the crimson warrior had also dropped, somersaulting to the left and out of the blade's path that sought out her heart, yet Mariah still lingering within Gavin's radius of attack, and keeping him within hers.

Despite this new realization to Kolk Illuminate's tricks, nothing about the woman's tactics seemed to shift as she continued to come at Gavin, full fury, each movement winding into the next in string of offensive attacks. Still low, Mariah reached out on either side of her to recall the golden shoto to her left hand and its silvery partner to her right in a reverse grip. Two shotos against this odd yet fluent weapon might have appeared on the surface that she was handing Gavin this duel. However, Mariah still held herself with an eerie confidence, her determination as unwavering as his weapon's grip on hers moments ago.

Synchronized with the purple blades bursting from their resting place, Mariah pushed her assault with her left blade striking out at Gavin's right leg, just above the knee, hoping for a hasty block on his part with his wielded half. As she followed through with the horizontal slice, she extended her focus on his other half, which sought to pierce through her heart. Sending a Push in its direction, she hoped to break Gavin's flow and momentarily disrupt his telekinetic hold. It was only then that Mariah stood back to her full height, her right saber poised in an upwards slash across his abdomen, ending the fluid motion with a sudden backwards force to stab her blade into his ribs, only piercing a lung at best. What she chose to sacrifice in strength in her change of weapons, she gained in speed. She had no intention of trying to out-power both Gavin and Kolk Illuminate, so she would need to carve her own edge in this battle, especially while she was still gauging what other tricks he had hidden.