Serratus's Open Challenge

High Prophet Crozeus

The lightning attacks were substantial enough to make Crozeus stop his assault while he fended off the bursts. His chest heaving from the exertion of battling in an area with such thin air he looked around and spotted Serratus coming to a halt at the bottom of the dune, leaving a trench in the snow behind him. At the top of the dune, Crozeus panted and thought about his next move. Stretching out his arm he brought his double bladed saber back to him and held it loosely, thinking hard, while Serratus got back to his feet.

Perhaps, while he held this height advantage, it would be best to let Serratus make the next move, Crozeus thought. Clipping his double bladed saber back to his belt Crozeus started to pace back and forth, surveying Serratus and trying to predict what he was about to do.
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High Mage Serratus

Serratus smirked slightly at Crozeus's non-action before raising his hand and grabbing a large chunk of snow from the bottom of the dune and tossing it aside. He worked quickly before Crozeus could grasp what Serratus was doing. Once he had sufficiently undercut the dune, Serratus shot the base with Sith lightning, cracking the base and causing the dune to collapse. Serratus jumped in the air and rode on the avalanche of snow, as he had done many times in the past.
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If you see dreadlocks and a staff coming towards you very rapidly, you're in trouble.

High Prophet Crozeus

Bloody hell. Crozeus was face down in snow and completely disoriented. Igniting a single wrist saber he plunged it into the snow and quickly melted enough for him to slip though. Holding his breath with the Force he plunged into and under the dune, using his saber to melt the snow and his spare hand and legs to haul himself through the dune. It was like potholing, only in snow, and with an angry Mage above him. After much blind writhing around Crozeus emerged on the other side of the dune, caked in snow and holding onto his last breaths. He took a few moments to catch his breath before standing again. At least he had succeeded in evading Serratus, surfing on the avalanche he created.

Crozeus decided that now would be a perfect opportunity to start using Sith Sorcery. Very few modern Sith knew any Sith Spells whatsoever, and Crozeus had been tasked by Dark Lord Praxeum to train the Prophets, and any who were worthy (or paid enough) in the Dark Arts at their facility on Fondor. He used a very simple Spell, conjuring up many images of himself - clones, although they couldn't actually cause any harm. One could walk straight through them.

However, they surrounded Serratus, two dozen Crozeus' all with lightsabers, and all poised to strike. The real Crozeus, no different at a glance to any of the apparitions, hung back, waiting for an opportune chance to strike.
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High Mage Serratus

Serratus had heard of Crozeus's duplicate spell before but this was his first encounter with it. He aimed a hand at the ground and Force pushed, sending snow flying outwards. Serratus watched carefully for the one that the snow fell against rather than through. He identified Crozeus and leapt into a powerful, Force-enhanced drop kick.
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If you see dreadlocks and a staff coming towards you very rapidly, you're in trouble.

High Prophet Crozeus

Crozeus, with a cruel grin, held out his hands to take the boot. It still slammed into his stomach, knocking him to the floor, but he held on, slipping his hand under the trouser so he touched bare skin - a requirement for the spell he was about to cast - one Serratus would be familiar with. For sometime in the year before, Serratus had come to the Church with a sword and asked for it to be imbued with Dark Magic. Crozeus had performed an ancient spell on it - the spell of Blight, or Aging. Grasping onto his leg, still on the ground, he cast it, and brought Serratus down with him.

The victim of Blight begins to age at a rapid rate, or suffer the same effects - bones become brittle, organs stop working, the skin becomes pallid and thin, and the target becomes slow moving due to effects like arthritis. The one Crozeus cast was light, though Serratus would think it was much worse due to the effects of his next spell.

He used another simple Spell, known as The Dark Voice. This was effectively Force Persuasion - he went into Serratus' mind and told him that he was going to wither and die unless he surrendered. He knew Serratus was a remarkably strong willed individual, and he hoped his Dark Voice would push Serratus over the edge. If he surrendered, Crozeus could easily reverse the Aging which Serratus had already gone - he was aging at about a three and a half months a second at present.
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Lord Aequitas

High Prophet Crozeus

((My bad. Edited.))
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High Mage Serratus

((What difference is changing the name supposed to make? You're still using an illusion-based attack.))
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If you see dreadlocks and a staff coming towards you very rapidly, you're in trouble.

High Prophet Crozeus

((Actually, Hallucination would be more appropriate in this case as it can cover any part of your body, whereas Illusion is entirely vision based. However if you don't want any attacks which involve altering reality (I had forgotten about the no Illusion rule) I will take it out, it's no problem.))
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High Mage Serratus

((I'd rather you did, in the future I will be more specific about that.))
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If you see dreadlocks and a staff coming towards you very rapidly, you're in trouble.

High Prophet Crozeus

((No problem.))
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High Mage Serratus

((Thanks.))

Serratus was no fool. He was very aware of Crozeus's proficiency with Sith sorcery and dark side magics and had first-hand experience of the Aging Spell now taking root, owning a sword imbued with it. Serratus's will was too strong to be penetrated by the Dark Voice and he kicked Crozeus's hands away before backing up several feet. Serratus knew it would take some time for the Aging Spell to take serious effect, he was only 33 and very fit, the effects of old age ought not to kick in for several more of the accelerated decades.

He grasped hold of the air immediately surrounding Crozeus and pulled it away rapidly. It took an extreme toll on Serratus, who, though highly and uniquely skilled in the manipulation of air, had not yet overcome the art's massive demand for energy. Because of Serratus's ministrations, no other air entered the vacuum he had created. Instead, the gap sucked up sum of the snow surrounding Crozeus. The Prophet was quickly sealed within a capsule of ice, and with no air to breathe.

Serratus was not foolish enough to think that Crozeus would not escape from his trap but he had at least caused Crozeus some discomfort, disorientation and damage. Serratus held his saberstaff in a Makashi stance and waited, ready to pounce.
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If you see dreadlocks and a staff coming towards you very rapidly, you're in trouble.

High Prophet Crozeus

Crozeus raised one eyebrow while encased in the ice. Fortunately he had breathed in just as Serratus withdrew the air. There was a pause as he concentrated, then the ice shattered as bolts of pure Dark Energy - Dark Lightning, also known as Sith lightning, ripped through it. It emanated from all over his body, not really controlled from his fingers as regular lightning would have been. This was intended to keep Serratus at bay while he prepared himself to be attacked. Dark Lightning causes the flesh to blacken and get ripped apart up to the bone. It is often fatal, though the more powerful the target the higher the chances of success.
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High Mage Serratus

((I've always used Sith lightning as synonymous with Force lightning personally.))

Serratus had backed up quite a bit when the lightning exploded from Crozeus. This was no ordinary lightning and Serratus was not going too near it.

Though he didn't know it, he was almost thirty-eight now and rapidly approaching forty. Nonetheless, he held his lightsaber in readiness for Crozeus's next move.
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If you see dreadlocks and a staff coming towards you very rapidly, you're in trouble.

High Prophet Crozeus

((As did I until I discovered they were two different things. I'm pretty sure Count Dooku uses regular Lightning in AoTC, and the Emperor uses Sith Lightning in RoTJ.))

Crozeus knew Serratus was undergoing the effects of his Blight spell, and therefore simply had to delay him for as long as he could. He held his blade out in the style of the first Form, and coincidentally the first Form he had learned - Shii Cho. It was almost purely defensive. Then he decided to... call on some help to defend against Serratus.

For some time, Crozeus had been learning about Sith Necromancy. Blight was a spell that would be categorized under Sith Necromancy. However the one he was about to use was far more... Necromancer like. Under the snow, for thousands if not millions of years, many creatures would have roamed around - of course that would have been the surface when they were alive. Using the Force, he animated the bodies of dead creatures directly under them, and they began to rise through the snow. Giant worms, small rodents, Wampas, Tauntauns, all kinds of creatures that dwelled on Hoth now surrounded a human who had lived there. Most stood limp, powered only by the Force that Crozeus poured into them. A Wampa took a swipe at Serratus with a heavy paw.
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High Mage Serratus

Serratus was only too familiar with wampas. He parried the blow without the Force and charged forward, lifting the gargantuan beast into the air and dropping it down on to a couple of tauntauns. He blasted the worm with lightning before jumping on to a tauntaun and slicing it to pieces with his lightsaber.

He jumped out of the way as the worm came back and attacked him but Serratus backflipped and landed on the worm's head, plunging his lightsaber into the back of the beast's neck and sliding down its back, slicing it open completely.

He kicked the head off some of the more decomposed tauntauns and stepped on the rodents, squashing them into bloody red oblivion. Greabbing his lightsaber tight, he leapt at Crozeus and landed straight in front of him.

"Minions, Prophet? I would never expected such cowardice of you."

Serratus brough a heavy downwards strike towards Crozeus's head then changed its course at the last second towards his opponent's arm.
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If you see dreadlocks and a staff coming towards you very rapidly, you're in trouble.

High Prophet Crozeus

Crozeus had perfected Shii Cho to the extent that he could parry both his head and his arm, by holding the blade above his head as if it was a traditional quente parry, but angling it down so any attacks simply slid down the blade and harmlessly away. He backed away rapidly, using a Force Push to try and slow down Serratus as much as possible without actually slowing time - which was against the rules of the duel.

"Not cowardice as such, High Mage. Merely tactics."
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High Mage Serratus

Serratus smiled.as did his utmost to resist Crozeus's Force pushes while convserving his remaining energy.

"Some might call it that."

Serratus was about fifty but not ready to give up the fight. He raised several lumps of snow and shaped and compressed them into shards of ice which he sent flying towards Crozeus. While shifting to a defensive Soresu stance.
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If you see dreadlocks and a staff coming towards you very rapidly, you're in trouble.

High Prophet Crozeus

Crozeus held out a flat palm, erecting a simple Force Barrier which shattered the ice shards as soon as they hit it. He stayed in his position in Form I, and for a moment the two Sith stood off in different defensive positions, Serratus quietly aging away. It was surprising he hadn't noticed yet.

Crozeus re-used a move he had done earlier, pushing the Force into the ground to topple them both. Ordinarily they would have stumbled, maybe onto one knee, and then recovered quickly. However, Serratus was now nearing sixty, and it could well have a more serious effect on him.
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High Mage Serratus

The effects of the Aging Spell were starting to take their toll on Serratus, who had just entered old age. It was only when the Force push actually knocked him away that Serratus realised how little time he had to defeat Crozeus or perish. Holding his lightsaber out in front of him, he dove into the snow, the lightsaber's heat melting him a path, the weight of the snow above him sealing off his escape. He held his breath for as long as he could, burrowing into the dune. When at last he could hold no more breath, he unleashed the most massive Force push he could muster without outright draining his body of all energy. So powerful was the push that he felt himself being launched into the air along with the top of the dune. When he landed on the snow it was on the hard compacted snow of the inner dune, not the outer. Serratus had blown away the outer layer of the dune and many more besides. He had smashed a riba and snow filled his eyes. He was blind, injured and disoriented, had no idea as to the whereabouts nor condition of his opponent and was still aging.
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If you see dreadlocks and a staff coming towards you very rapidly, you're in trouble.

Lord Aequitas

((You seem to be forgetting that in the SW universie, humans could live well past 100 and still be active Jedi))
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High Mage Serratus

((He makes a point. Just look at Shadow. He could hand everyone on the site their asses at roughly 90-something.

EDIT: Make that 105 actually.))
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If you see dreadlocks and a staff coming towards you very rapidly, you're in trouble.

High Prophet Crozeus

((I think the effects of rapid aging are more to the point here. As one gets older naturally, one doesn't really notice it, especially with the Force. However, aging thirty years in a few minutes is bound to have repercussions.))
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Lord Aequitas

((I for one doubt the ability of someone of your rank to be able to force somebody to age "thirty years in a few minutes", especially when it seems you haven't weakned at all))
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High Prophet Crozeus

((The spell I used was really light compared to what most would use. I said it was three and a half months a second, Serratus has been calling what ages he is passing. From what I understand, a Sith Lord could cause one to age at twenty years a second, and it would still only be a moderate spell.

Also, I have weakened. Quite substantially. As I would have detailed in my next post.))

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