2459/Battle On The Dunes Of Ice

Battle On The Dunes Of Ice
Date of Scene:	15 June 2015
Location:	Galianda
Synopsis:	Hiei attempts to assassinate the Prince of the al Cids, and finds out that his understanding of nobility is not the same as the Galiandans'.
Cast of Characters:	642, 772

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Landon al Cid (642) has posed:
     SHIVA

     The continent of Shiva is a desolate place at the best of times. Covered in ice and snow, the continent has no earth whatsoever, only frozen layers stacked upon frozen layers. The plants and animals that live upon Shiva are a particular kind of bizarre and brutal, adapted to live in an environment where mineral nutrients must be taken from the air rather than the ground. And the people, like the animals, are a hard and brutal sort, used to taking charge and handling things their own way.

     It is entirely possible that that is what led to war in the first place. Landon has thought about it many times over the days since the war first began. After the initial push, the Ramuhan forces have mostly held the line against the disorganized Shivan pushes, and the border skirmishes haven't really been costly for either side. But the Shivans are determined, and ruthless, and relentless.

     And they are people. That fact above all others hangs in Landon's mind. They are *people*. Harald may be greedy, and vain, and self-centered, but the people he's conned into this - the people who are dying for him - may legitimately believe in what they're doing. They may truly want a better life for their people; they may truly believe that the al Cid family is oppressing them; they may truly believe in a lot of things.

     It is a sobering thought.

     To that end, Landon needed some time alone, away from the army. He has little trouble evading royal guards; as a Prince, he's been doing it since he was a boy. Even his own bodyguard, whom he probably knows better than he knows himself, can't keep him around if he doesn't want to be. So he slipped out from his tent, gave some vague excuses, put Cirra temporarily in charge, and headed off to the nearest distant snow-mound.

     Surrounded by the upside-down plants of Shiva, Landon sits, staring off into the sky through a canopy of roots. The 'trees' stretch upwards, yearning for nutrition through the furious snowstorms, their roots decorated with clumps of white that will nonetheless melt into mineral-filled waters. Landon's fingers brush against one of the warm, upside-down trunks, sturdy and strong, lit by some inner flame that melts the snow upon their branches and keeps them from freezing over. He smiles.

     The 'trees' have been here as long as the people, after all. Whose side would they fight for in this war? If, indeed, they even cared?

Hiei (772) has posed:
Hiei's killed plenty of people in the single battle that he participated in during this war. He enjoyed setting people on fire, at least giving people the honor of dying by his hand. It's not something he necessarily cares about, he's not the egotistical sort. But giving someone a meaningful death, someone who's fighting for what they consider some great cause, it's occasionally a courtesy he feels himself inclined to deliver.

He's been watching Landon al Cid since he left the tent, very far away. He's had his Jagan open, no headband to cover that huge third eye. He's watched him from afar, waiting for the right moment to actually approach him. The request for the deaths of the al Cids, it raises all sorts of questions. If they're out here in the open, why has no one else done it? If he's slipped off this way now, it means he's likely done it before, so why is he still alive?

He appears a good thirty feet from Landon, staring up at the roots with the two of his eyes that actually show movement. "This continent reminds me of my place of birth." he idly notes, his expression almost peaceful. Then, without any real warning whatsoever, he moves with such a speed that the average human eye would likely not even perceive the fact that he's moved for a few seconds, as the after image of his body fades.

Just as quickly, a sword is suddenly drawn from under his robe, swung directly at Landon's neck. Were it to connect, it would likely take a few seconds for the fact that he was decapitated to actually register. This is most definitely an attempt at a killing blow. He doesn't say a word.

Landon al Cid (642) has posed:
     The reason no one has ever tried to kill one of the al Cids is simple.

     They aren't that easy to kill.

     Despite being off on his own, Landon is still someone who's been trained, frequently, in dungeon exploration. While he's not as adept at spotting traps as Soan, or as skilled at direct combat as Kamon or Ellard, Landon nonetheless works hard to keep up with the rest of his class. Cirra and Souji may be the highest-ranked of Alexander Academy's Behemoth class, but Landon is not far behind.

     So as soon as Hiei appears, Landon is on his feet. The massive metal armor doesn't seem to slow him down at all. And, in the instant Hiei's blade flashes outwards, a blue light erupts to life in Landon's left hand, filling the field with an unearthly blue glow under the fury of the storm.

     Hiei's blade collides with glowing blue crystal.

     Landon steps backwards, a card in his right hand filling with that same blue light as his smile drops away from his face. His eyes go to the wall of pure, crystallized Law now in front of him, tracking down to Hiei's sword - buried cleanly in it with enough force to crack through most of the barrier. Then his eyes flick back up at Hiei. A moment later, and the sword would've buried itself in his pauldron - and judging by the force of it, might've gone clean through. Landon's stone-faced expression doesn't change.

     "How very interesting," Landon observes steadily as he slowly starts pacing. Despite the ice and snow and heavy Judge's armor, Landon seems to have little trouble with his footing. He moves carefully, and disconcertingly quietly for someone in such heavy armor. His purple cloak, brushing along the snow, is the only sound besides the howling winds stinging across his face.

     Landon snaps the card outwards, and it changes form. In an instant, it goes from a little card to a shining blue crystal blade, a massive greatsword nearly as big as Landon as is tall, and just about as wide as Landon is, too. "So already mercenaries are out to claim my life." There's no particular surprise in his tone for somebody so young. Evidently the al Cids have not remained in power for almost two hundred years by being idle and unready.

     "Who's paying you? The Wolf-Lord? The Axe's men? One of the other warlords, hoping to end this battle quickly, and woefully unaware of the concept of a chain of command? Or is it one of our dissatisfied nobles, consumed by greed and arrogance rather than common sense?"

     Landon flicks the blade to the side. It moves as if weightless, slicing through the air despite its massive size. In his left hand is another of those cards. The crystalline barrier holding Hiei's sword crumbles. "Well, no matter. One way or another, you aren't the first assassin I've faced, and you shan't be the last."

     And then Landon charges. He's much faster than that armor gives him any right to be. He lacks the raw speed of Hiei, of course, but nobody should be able to move that fast in full plate mail unless they practically lived in the stuff. Every motion makes the plate mail seem like an extension of Landon's own body, as if the mere act of being in plate is something completely natural to the young Prince.

     The Judge brings the massive sword around. The weapon suddenly seems to have weight again, though most certainly not for the Prince. The sword whistles audibly through the air for Hiei's torso. No clumsy neck-shots or easy-to-dodge side-swipes here - Landon cuts off horizontal movement entirely, using the sheer, ridiculous size of the Judge Blade to his absolute benefit.

Hiei (772) has posed:
"I could hardly be considered a mercenary. I barely care about money to begin with." Hiei answers as he frowns down at the crystal, trying to pull his sword out of it. As he's doing so, he continues talking, perhaps trying to delay things long enough to recover his weapon. "Who wants you dead is not my business to tell you. But I will say that they aren't paying me. What I have to gain, however, is none of your business. Just know that it's nothing you can give."

When the wall shatters, he's already about to move. But then the massives sword comes swinging at him. On this terrain, jumping over it could easily lead to a risky miscalculation. Ducking could mean getting caught in some unknown capability while -under- the sword. The only thing left is...

He tries to shift back his body back, that fraction of a second he spent thinking about how to defend giving the sword even more leverage. But it's far too quick, and by the time he's out of body maiming range, the sword still slashes across his stomach, leaving a large gash in his flesh.

He reaches for his robe, ripping the whole thing off and tossing it. This leaves him shirtless in the middle of this crazy climate, which doesn't seem to bother him. But the gash... he stares down at it, holding his hand over the opening while blood slowly trickles from in between his fingers. "I see... so you have power and speed. Though I have to thank you for not offering to hire me, I'd have taken it as an insult."

He blurs forward again. Perhaps to test the man's speed, or simply to try and end this soon. But his begins swinging his sword with ridiculous speed, as if challenging him to block with his own sword. "I wasn't informed that you'd actually be a formidable opponent."

Landon al Cid (642) has posed:
     "How arrogant of you to imagine that I would offer you anything in exchange for my life," Landon observes from that stoney face, "As if I would beg like a dog for the amusement of you or your benefactor." Alright, so *employer* isn't the right word, but *benefactor*. He's not being paid. That was information. That was important.

     Hiei evades the massive swing with friction, and though the massive crystal sword narrowly clips him, Landon doesn't get excited. A gash, a scar, and blood are nothing to get excited about. That, too, might surprise Hiei - Landon is of that age where humans are normally really inexperienced and really excited about little strikes. Instead, he comports himself like an experienced warrior, warily keeping his eyes on Hiei as Hiei tears off the robe. Landon had almost expected some sort of crazy power-up from removing the robe! Clearly, the Union's getting to him. That was just nonsense.

     And then Hiei proves that he is much, *much* faster than Landon. Hiei surges forward like a blur; despite the Prince's stone expression, surprise rocks through his mind. He'd thought he merely hadn't been paying enugh attention the first time! But no, Hiei really is that much faster!

     Blocking, and dodging, are both bad ideas. One of them would leave his offense pinned, while Hiei used whatever other tricks he might have to punch through Landon's armor. Dodging was much too risky - he knew his steps forward, and he was experienced enough to keep his balance on the ice side to side, but going backwards would trip him up. And a single mistake could cost him his life against an opponent this fast.

     So Landon does the unexpected.

     Landon's foot comes down into the snow, jamming into it to anchor himself. Pivoting, he brings his armor-clad left arm up into the sword itself, hammering sword against steel in a makeshift parry. The reverberations ring outwards like a furious gong, and despite the armor, the blade still peels through, catching on flesh. And even then, Landon's wrist snaps upwards to grab the sword by the base, locking his gauntlet around it. The pain is extraordinary.

     Landon does not wince. He does not have time to wince. In the span of an instant, Landon releases the massive Judge Blade. The sword flies up and over, stabbing down into the ground behind Hiei to cut off his best avenue of escape, like a great crystal wall planted in the snow.

     Landon's right arm curls into a fist.

     He brings the mail-clad fist around directly for the Jagan.

     "Then you were poorly informed," comes Landon's stern reply through gritted teeth, "Whoever-you-are."

     "You are not my first assassin, and I promise you that you will not be my last."

Hiei (772) has posed:
"There are a few types of royalty I'd expect something of in battle. Ruthless and powerful royalty, the ones who strike fear into everyone, even their soldiers, because they're quick to slaughter. Or perhaps warrior civilization royalty, those who simply rule because they're the strongest." Hiei explains as he's delivering those strikes, apparently able to focus on something like this even while talking.

"You don't strike me as either of those, and yet you've been alive considerably longer than I expected." His eyes widen. His opponent is definitely not anything he's seen before. This person, as far as he knows, is human, a young human. But from Hiei's perspective, he's fighting like some exceptionally experienced youkai.

The fact that Landon sacrificed himself is not something he would have predicted from someone like this. The force vibrating through and giving his hands a few seconds of numbness, was that a planned effect?

Planned or not, he looks up as the blade goes flying. "Just what the hell are you-" And then the fist slams into his Jagan.

He releases his sword, yelling in horrible pain as he begins to back up, doubled over in pain. "You -bastard-. I'll kill you, I'll slaughter your entire family, burn your kingdom to the ground!"

Hen he removes his hands, his Jagan has closed. It'll need a few minutes to recover. Even if Landon doesn't know it, this will be a few minutes of Hiei not being able to access certain vital abilities, and that's bad...

"Damnit..." He looks over at his sword, which he didn't bother to recover from Landon's gauntlet. That's not good... Then he looks back at Landon's huge sword. That thing likely has its own security...

"Fine..." He's still wincing, and wobbles a bit, that blow really doing a number on his head apparently. Then he blurs forward again.

Grabbing his sword would be expected, so instead he starts slamming a flurry of fists toward Landon's face. He's insanely accurate, which is likely why he's willing to risk things on such a difficult target. He's sure that Landon doesn't -want- a sword stuck in his gauntlet, so perhaps if he forces him to defend...

"You'll be shocked to know that almost no one ever hits my Jagan. It's not what I would call a weak spot, not any weaker than my other two eyes. It's stronger, really. But your strength..." That dangerous strength that seems to do well with compensating for Landon's apparently inferior speed.

Landon's strength is superior, to be wielding a weapon like he does, with that amount of armor on. A single blow seems to put a stop to Hiei's speed, while Hiei has to use his speed to try and -suppress- those blows... "Interesting."

Composure regained.

Landon al Cid (642) has posed:
     "Then you ought widen your expectations considerably," comes Landon's steely response. Resolve, determination, certainty, and a lack of choice are all weapons far more powerful than most people imagine.

     That's all he has time for. Hiei starts hammering Landon's face and, again, here it is demonstrated that Hiei is faster and stronger than Landon, and more experienced a fighter. Landon's defense is paper-thin in hand-to-hand despite his incredibly daring offense. Indeed, just as Hiei'd hoped, Landon's forced to use both arms as Hiei batters him, exposing the sword for Hiei to reclaim. That was a problem, one Landon had to make up for swiftly.

     Hiei's fists find more purchase than Landon would like, and, unfortunately, Landon may be extremely experienced, but he's not terribly durable, and Hiei is terribly strong. Each blow is a new bruise, one that he'll surely need to see a healer about soon enough.

     The Prince of the al Cid dynasty isn't content to sit about and be hammered all day. As soon as Hiei frees up one hand to go for Landon's sword, Landon grabs the hem of his long, purple, ice-and-snow-covered cape. The cape comes swinging round for Hiei's face, slashing ice, stinging snow, and deep purple cloth flung upwards. It goes from decoration to deterrant in an instant; whether it gets around Hiei's face, disrupts his attack, or simply gives Landon thirty seconds of not being seen, that's enough. Landon's knee comes upwards for Hiei's gut, plate mail kneecap aimed for the gash from the giant sword.

     Then Landon jerks the cape away, flings himself backwards, and skids to a stop on the ice, pressed up against the tree, one hand on the ground, his eyes fixed on Hiei like a predator's as he ignores the blood pooling in his gauntlet and the immense pain of supporting his weight on his injured arm. His Judge Blade reforms in the blink of an eye, shining its glorious blue light.

     "I imagine it isn't pleasant being punched in the eye regardless," Landon observes, his tone as cold as Shiva, "Or at least I certainly hope not."

     The Prince straightens back to his regal stance. His injured arm (he's certain he threw it out, right there) dangles, limp at his side. Better not to risk it again. One hand will have to be enough.

     "Really, the biggest inconvenience is that, once my bodyguard sees this, she won't let me have a moment's privacy for a month. If you were intending to restrict my already-limited freedom, then congratulations - I assure you you've done that most adequately."

Hiei (772) has posed:
Hiei does find his face wrapped right when he grabs the hilt of his blade. The kick to the gut causes blood to spurt over Landon's knee, completely unaware of what was coming. He is, obviously, someone who tends to prefer having the use of his eyes for dodging attacks.

He reaches one of his hands up to yank the cape from his head, stumbling back, blood dripping down into the snow even faster now.

He needs to stop this bleeding, and he's learned a lot from that last exchange. Unlike most fights, the fights he's been amusing himself with, this isn't sheer brutality and chaos.

Each exchange is educational, each seems to determine the flow of this entire battle. Whenever they engage each other, there's a good chance that one of them could die if they aren't careful.

"I'm unconcerned with your freedom. I care very little for your kingdom, other than perhaps as a thing of amusement. You're most definitely a great warrior, but you do not have the wide-eyed innocence and suffering of a knight." What he means by that, who the hell knows. "I'm not only going to kill you, my mission is to kill your entire family. If you die here, I will then proceed to kill them. Wipe out your entire bloodline. I'm telling you this because I want to see how you fight when it isn't your life that's on the line. And see if you can actually defend this at your best."

His Jagan begins to open again. It's not red like a normal eye would be. In fact, the eye itself seems as if it's unchanged. But the area -around- the eye is heavily bruised. Though who knows what's going on internally.

"I wanted to give my Jagan more time to heal, but it's clear that I have no choice. I have no idea what you can do. Therefore..." He sticks his sword into the ground, where he can grab it later. Then he raises his hands. "Fist of the Mortal Flame!" he shouts, as his eye glows for a brief few seconds.

Fire surrounds his fists, and the first thing he does is press one against his stomach. He doesn't seem to burn himself, but the blood burns as it seems out of him, until he creates a bit of a scabbed over burnt seal. "I unfortunately can't burn myself, but this should do."

That's when the barrage begins. He thrusts his arms forward repeatedly, firing torrents of flames directly at Landon's chest, face, and arms, aiming for something different with each thrust.

He's trying to cook him alive, make him suffer, but most importantly, -kill- him. These orange flames are about as hot as a raging house fire, concentrated and directed as a weapon. "Let's see how someone who lives in a climate like this handles being burned alive."

Landon al Cid (642) has posed:
     "My goodness," Landon observes, "You *are* arrogant, aren't you? So assured of your own success." Either Landon's exceptionally callous towards his own family (unlikely), or he fully believes that his family is just as capable as he is of handling assassins (more likely).

     The strange Jagan opens. Hiei invokes fire around his hands, a strange and unnatural fire Landon's never seen before. Oh, sure, there are Geomancers who can do similar things, but Hiei's fire is...it feels different. It isn't natural fire from the world around them (as if there was flame anywhere around them in Shiva), and that immediately sets Landon on edge. But he did have one advantage.

     Hiei imagined Landon lived here. That meant he was still making far too many assumptions about Landon's abilities. And that, Landon could exploit.

     Hiei comes at him, and Landon feels the burning heat of the Mortal Flame more closely than he'd ever have liked to. The first strike hits his cape, and the cape - not sufficiently fireproofed - bursts into flame, the purple cloth a brilliant beacon in the Shivan weather. The second strike hits the Judge Armor, and the heat of it erupts throughout Landon's unfortunate metal plating and collides with the cold air, a blast of scalding steam tearing upwards past Landon's face.

     He screams. He'd have to be some kind of inhuman monster not to. And for all his skill and experience, he's a seventeen-year-old.

     But Landon isn't going to lie down and die that easily. The third strike finds no purchase whatsoever. The card in Landon's bad hand, still pulsating quietly, erupts into a brilliant blue shine on Hiei's third swing. Hiei's fist hits, and punches deep into, a barrier - a barrier Landon isn't behind.

     It erected so swiftly, went up so fast, Hiei may not even notice Landon landing behind him until the armor makes a silent *ting* on the ice.

     And he loses his footing.

     No!

     Landon stumbles. It is the first stumble he's had, brought on by the pain of the steam-blast and the bruises, and the uncoordinated desperation of the technique. He stumbles, and tips over backwards, rolling into the snow. The snow puts out the burning cape, but Landon is face down, on the ground, against an enemy of superior speed, with one arm useless and bruises all across his face.

     So when the Judge Blade goes spiking out of his hand like a missile, streaking towards Hiei with the force, weight, and general mass of a rocket, aiming to pin the demon warrior into the upside-down Shivan tree, it is probably a bit of a surprise for Hiei - especially given the barrier directly behind him.

     It's just buying Landon time. Even if it succeeds, it's not the point of the attack. Landon pushes himself to his feet on his good arm and tears off the remnants of his cape. He slings it 'round his bad arm in a makeshift sling, tying it off with his teeth. His eyes never leave Hiei.

Hiei (772) has posed:
"Human royalty in this world are far different from what I've grown accustomed to, it would seem... but one can only assume that you must be in the higher tiers of power here." Hiei figures, right before he finds his hand stuck inside of a barrier.

But now that sword is coming, and he doesn't have his own sword to parry. He has one flaming hand and no ability to dodge. This is yet another exchange that will determine the course of the battle..."

He fires another torrent of flames from his hand, like a flamethrower trying to slow the force of the sword. But the sword doesn't stop, and he has no choice... He holds his left hand out to grab the huge sword, parrying it from his body at large. But it cuts directly into his hand, slames through the barrier, and sends him flying into the tree anyway.

It drags him through the snow and lodges him into the tree, leaving his -right- hand free now.
lood trickles down his arm, and as he tries to pull his hand, he winces in pain. His sword is far away, he's in an extremely vulnerable position, and Landon will be ready to fight again soon.

He's also too goddamned short to actually reach the sword handle to pull it out of his hand. So he does the only thing he -can- do. He stares up at it, holding his right hand out to the unreachable hilt. Then he tries to pull the sword from the tree with telekinesis, intending to just outright take it into his own.

He might be kind of sick of that sword.

"You're one-hundred years too early to fight me. I'll kill you with this damned sword if I have to." His own sword is actually a bit too far away, even with telekinesis.

Landon al Cid (642) has posed:
     Hiei grabs onto Landon's sword. The plan forms in Landon's mind immediately, as Hiei takes hold of the massive Judge Blade. For Hiei the sword is most definitely not weightless. Even with telekinesis, the massive weapon feels ridiculously heavy and unwieldy. Physics is in full effect here, with or without Landon's help; the sword is silly JRPG big and silly JRPG unbalanced.

     Landon, meanwhile, picks up Hiei's katana. He gives it an experimental swing as Hiei unfastens himself from the tree, letting it whistle through the air as he finds its balance. The Judge flicks it through the air twice more in an arc, his eyes still on Hiei as he feels out the sword's length, balance, and durability. Landon is not a master swordsman, but he is a damn fine one.

     Once he's satisfied that he understands the blade, or once Hiei pulls himself free (whichever comes first), Landon slides his legs apart slightly. He's downhill from Hiei now, after all. Hiei has a massive advantage attacking from above. And Hiei has a massive advantage in speed, and strength, and experience.

     But Hiei also has one hell of a blind spot.

     The blade comes up in a typical Japanese stance, pointing the tip of the blade like a thrusting weapon towards his opponent. On Galianda, katanas are a Ramuhan weapon. In a land of lightning, without much metal, heavy swords are not, in fact, the norm. Katanas, rapiers, daggers; the flashing blades of the nobility, of assassination, concealed from the storm so as not to draw lightning, are the weapons Ramuh produced over its long and storied history.

     "Come on, then," Landon gestures with his head, since his free hand is limp, "If you think you can handle my blade, then show me what you're made of. Show me that I'm a hundred years too early to fight you, whatever-your-name-is."

Hiei (772) has posed:
"My name is Hiei." Hiei begins to lift the sword, using both his own strength and telekinesis. It's by no means a proper weapon for someone like him, but in Makai, one has to learn to brutalize and murder with anything they have on hand.

Hiei -is- a master swordsman, and he intends to show that with such an unwieldly weapon. "Let's do it, then."

While before he'd break into a run, this time his body is entirely consumed by a glowing aura of fire. It's definitely -not- like the fire he used before. This comes from the very core of his being, the Youkai energy of his soul, sometimes known as yoki.

It burns hot, far hotter than any mortal flame. The snow under his feet immediately ices over, and he goes sliding downhill as if he's actually fought on this type of terrain before, like he's -native- to it. Which is strange, for a being who's apparently so aspected to fire.

But he's not in the mood to discuss his background. He instead swings the sword with both hands, forcing the bad one to work even through all the pain and blood. He swings it so hard that his body begins to spin with the momentum of his strength, the downhill increasingly icey slope, and the fact that he seems to be consciously going directly towards Landon like some kind of fire tornado spinning a gigantic sword.

"Show me the sum of your skill, or you'll -die-!!!" he declares, as if to display that he's not disoriented from spinning so quickly.

Landon al Cid (642) has posed:
     The Youkai Yoki fire whips up around Hiei's body. Landon steels himself. The moment will have to be more precise than anything he's ever been before. Calculator-precise. Self-sacrificingly precise. No matter what happens, he's going to take a nasty hit to fight back. The whirling, super-hot fire immediately ices over the snow like it's nothing, as Hiei starts sliding down, demonstrating yet another area of his proficient mastery. So despite his fire, he's used to ice. A creature of many facets, for sure. A creature of many tricks.

     So too is the Prince.

     Hiei slides, picking up speed. Landon waits. He waits, silent, like a samurai in the grass. He waits, eyes fixated on Hiei's feet. The heat is almost unbearable even this far away. The closer Hiei gets, the hotter everything becomes. Steam, once again, explodes out of Landon's armor with a hideous hiss, escaping from every position it can. Again, Landon screams. What sort of monster wouldn't?

     But he remains steadfast. As the katana's hilt starts to burn, as the mere metal on his body starts to sizzle, Landon holds his ground.

     And then, at the last minute, he intends to demonstrate Hiei's mistake to him.

     Landon plunges into the tornado, the tip of the sword first, a mere fraction of a second before the massive Judge Blade collides with him. His wounded arm snaps up to shield his face as best he can. The Judge Blade hits the metal armor, ready to tear Landon apart...

     ...and then shatters.

     And it reforms, in the span of an instant, around the thrusting sword in Landon's hand.

     Landon hits the ice as he passes Hiei, and rolls. He rolls, steam hissing from every part of his armor, directly into the snow. The Prince sinks into it again, water pooling around him and freezing in the armor instantly, hitting the burns. Again, a scream of pain. Again, it would be impossible not to.

     Landon rolls over and sits up with the help of another barrier. He spins back aroud, taking up a combat stance. If that gamble didn't work, after all, he didn't have much left. He was running low on MP, he was down an arm, and burned all over.

     He'd have to trust that he'd think of something, if that trick didn't work.

Hiei (772) has posed:
Hiei continues to spin, even after he loses the blade, his energy dying down so that he can plant his feet into the snow. He stops, standing, hunched slightly as he stares at the ground. He didn't expect that. Perhaps he should have, considering where the blade came from. But Hiei isn't much in the way of a long-term strategist, and often he's a bit stuck in the moment to consider absolutely every possibility.

Blood spurts to the ground, dripping down the blade of his sword sticking out of his chest, and from his mouth due to the internal bleeding caused by Landon's gambit. He falls to his hands and knees, breathing heavily. Then he looks back at the prince. "I commend you on your ability to live. Truly, you would not be easily consumed in Makai."

He slowly stands, carefully walking over with the sword just kind of sticking out. "I'm leaving. Unless you'd like to continue this. But I have no interest in risking my life for a fool. I'm done with this." He grabs the hilt of his blade, then just -pulls-, ripping it out of himself with a loud grunt, allowing even more of his blood to just sort of ooze out of him.

Landon al Cid (642) has posed:
     "Next time," Landon observes, his expression stone once more, his voice clad in the same irons as he himself, "You will perhaps think twice about fighting one of my family."

     He doesn't stop Hiei from going. In fact, to his credit, Landon remains standing the entire time as Hiei leaves, the Judge Blade slung over his shoulder like a warning and a reminder.

     Once Hiei is gone, however, Landon exhales, releases the Judge Blade, and topples over into the cool, soothing, painful snow.

Hiei (772) has posed:
"I imagine that there are far easier ways to regain my freedom." Hiei states, then is still for a few moments... until his body sort of fades away.

Using that much speed to escape is going to hurt like hell and damage him even more, but he's not going to make the same mistake of expecting this guy to be princely and honorable.

Hiei has now learned that Landon is not a fool.