CaV: Jace Beleren (Banthabot) VS Eragon (The_Red_Viper) [VOTING!!!!!!!]

Representing Jace Beleren:

@banthabot

Representing Eragon:

-Yours Truly

Rules:

• In character.
• No prep.
• Neither combatant has any prior knowledge, other than they are about to face a very powerful magician.
• Jace has the manablade.
• Eragon has his Eldunarya, Brisingr and his set of armor.
• Saphira ain't playing.
• Location - the city of Falador (Runescape):

Gallery

Both start in plain sight, Eragon starts outside building 5 and Jace starts outside building 10 (as seen in the map above).

Voting rules:

• This is a CaV, not a battle. Please do not discuss who you believe would win while debating is in progress.
• If you are interested in voting on this battle, just ask and we will tag you when we're done.

Have fun and good luck!

T4V!!!!!!!!

Will do mate.

@the_red_viper: want me to go first?

@banthabot: Why not, go ahead.

Oh jeebus. I would like to see this

Tag for vote. Not many people know how absurd Jace is

TFV plz

> OP says Eragon has Brisinger

> Posts picture where he clearly has Zar'roc

Gonna keep an eye on this one for now. Don't know if I want to vote

Will do. What, you think I'm in over my head? ;)

Will do.

Decent Eragon artwork is kinda scarce, I had to compromise, lol. I did find a variant of this picture where he has Brisingr but it was a lot bigger than Jace's picture and I usually like it when both pictures in the OP are as similar in size as possible. OCD n' sh!t.

Nah. I think your gonna have do deal with some interesting stuff ; )

I'm looking forward to it. And as you probably know, that's true for both ends here ;)

MTG has some legendary art but I cant get over how awesome Jace looks standing in front of Niv-Mizzet. That picture has to be my favorite Jace art

@the_red_viper: Ill try my best to get a post up tomorrow, but it might take longer than that

I know nothing about these characters, but I'd like to know more about Jace so tag me when this ends (may not vote though).

Sure, take your time man.

No problem mate. What, you don't wanna know more about Eragon? :(

@the_red_viper: I do, lol. But Banthabot was telling me about Jace and MTG lore before so I'm more curious.

@major_hellstorm: Lol I was just kidding. I wanna know more about Jace too actually, I have never taken interest in MTG and I have never even heard of Jace or any other MTG character for that matter until now.

HEATHEN!

They aren't very well known, but several stories are great. all of the new one's are online as of now, so if you are interested in the lore and stories you should check it out.

Also the artwork is legendary for its beauty.

@jardinain2: Lol, I only knew there's a card game, I didn't even know that there's such a deep and detailed lore.

@the_red_viper: Its pretty vast and expansive honestly, the card game is amazing too.

If your looking for good stories, read "the battle for zedikar" and "shadows over inndistrad/eldritch moon" (Moon is a continuation of Shadows, one of the best stories"

@the_red_viper: Old MTG Lore is infamous for being extremely complicated, the farther you go back the worse it gets. I myself don't think I'll ever go back before Time Spiral. However since the Origins block they have begun making it much more serviceable and the formation of the Gatewatch makes it much more enjoyable because now all the most famous protagonists are going around and saving the day as a team, like the Avengers but interdimentional. It is much more serviceable for new people to jump into the lore, and they might be a little lost at beginning because they make references to older material from time to time but it is in no way essential for understanding. They just drop hints that there is a deeper history between the characters interacting

@banthabot: Well I am sure that this CaV will be a learning experience for the both of us! :)

@the_red_viper:

Jace Beleren

Powers: (I wont be covering each and every power in my post, only the most relevant ones. But here is a list of the powers he is capable of

• Clairvoyance (enhanced senses)
• Telepathy
• Telekinesis
• Teleportation
• Electromancy
• Cryomancy
• Illusions
• Summons
• Healing
• Magical shields
• Counter magic
• Super human strength and endurance
• Genius Intellect

Bio

Endurance

Before I delve into his magical abilities allow me to first prove Jace's physical resilience. He has a very high resistance to physical trauma. He has withstood being blasted by Chandra Nalaar's pyromacy on multiple occasions.

Here Chandra blows Jace up.

Here she breaths fire on him...

Chandra is a powerful pyromancer. After two gargoyles attempted to drown her she was able to generate an explosion from underwater, which would make things more difficult for a person who's power is manipulating fire.

Gallery

And in Battle for Zendikar she demonstrated enough power to easily one shot a forty foot wave.

Waves surged and splashed over the seawall from the Halimar side. One particularly huge surge loomed high, cresting forty feet above some running refugees. Chandra blasted the wave with a cone of heat, sizzling it to steam before it could crush them and inundate the seawall. She ran with them, beating back the gushing seawater with waves of pyromantic air.

-Magic the Gathering Story: Promises to Keep

Jace has also survived being smashed in the chest by Tezzeret's metal arm. And although he comes away with cracked ribs and the wind knocked out of him that's very impressive.

With a primal cry, Tezzeret slammed an open palm into Jace’s chest, his own strength augmented by the magics and the mechanisms of his hand. A pair of ribs cracked as the blow lifted Jace from his feet and sent him hurtling backward to land with a splash in the marsh. The manablade flew from nerveless fingers; even had Jace possessed the breath to stand, he’d have had to scramble to reach it.

-Magic the Gathering: Agents of Artifice

Tezzeret has the strength to bend the arm of a massive automaton built for construction like crumpling paper.

"Progress." Tezzeret's footfalls echoed as he clipped across the polished floor. "Show me progress." He wheeled on a dwarf whose name Rashmi had just recently learned was Bhavin. The metalworker was renowned for his massive automatons that were skilled at construction and responded to non-verbal cues. He had placed fourth overall at the fair for his towering construct. "Well?" Tezzeret leaned in. "I don't have all day."

"Right." Bhavin gestured to his invention. "I've made a lot of progress since last time. I've upgraded the functionality of the wrench attachment. It's now able to withstand loads of over—"

"Upgraded?" Tezzeret's tone made Rashmi cringe. "I'm not interested in what you've upgraded. I'm interested in what you've made that's new."

"Ah..." Bhavin shifted from foot to foot. "The joints are newly installed. Your requirement for the maximal load to increase meant I had to ensure the force wouldn't crush the bearings during—" He his mouth hung agape as he stared at his invention.

Tezzeret had taken hold of the massive hand at the end of the automaton's left arm with his own claw, and was bending the arm backward against the joint. The metal crumpled like paper, screeching and screaming like a wounded animal. Rashmi had never seen someone bend metal like that, not without a tool. Tezzeret's metal claw glistened in the light streaming through the windows, and a shiver ran down Rashmi's spine.

He took a step back and tilted his head as though contemplating a piece of art. "The bearings are crushed. You said you had updated them so they wouldn't be crushed."

-Magic the Gathering Story: Breakthrough

But most impressively is when Jace withstands being kicked by the demon Ob Nixilis

The demon clapped his wings together, buffeting Chandra back against a wall and giving him time to kick Jace in the gut. But Gideon tangled the demon's leg in sural blades and yanked, combining with Nissa's vines to topple him to the ground.

-Magic the Gathering Story: Up in Flames

Why is this impressive? Because Ob Nixilis has wrestled with Gideon Jura and was noted as having a strength advantage over Gideon.

When our eyes met, I could see that look of joy in his face as well. He loved the fight just as much as I did. Good. I wouldn't have it any other way.

He dropped low to meet my charge, but I was ready for it; he tried to sweep my leg, but, with a single beat of my undamaged wing, I vaulted over him and slashed at him with a clawed hand. His shield deflected the blow, but the impact pushed him a foot farther from me than he wanted to be, and he closed with an explosive charge. I had time to brace for it and settle into a low stance. I had the superior weight and strength, but he was quicker, with a lower center of gravity. I didn't know his exact fighting style, but I was familiar enough with the general type to anticipate what was coming next.

-Magic the Gathering Story: Retaliation of Ob Nixilis

And Gideon Jura has displayed enough strength to hold back the Eldrazi Titan Ulamog from advancing, all by himself.

Here's so you can get a size of just how big Ulamog is. Ulamog is the giant monster on the left hand side.

Magical Shields and Counter Magic

How ever, in order to damage Jace you will need to get past his defenses. He is able to raise magical shields to block damage, such as when he casually raised a shield to block a falling volcanic rock from hitting him.

He also has the ability to dissipate magical attack through the use of counter magic. I already explained to you how powerful Chandra Nalaar is in the endurance section. Chandra Nalaar's mightiest onslaught of fire is only enough to make Jace feign interest when using counter magic.

The pyromancer summoned up her mightiest onslaught of fire and rage. Jace feigned interest.

-Magic the Gathering Card: Counterspell

But that's not all. Jace is so skilled with counter magic that he was able to dissipate Kiora's greatest display of power. Using the Bident of Thassa (a weapon that Kiora stole from a literal god of the sea) Kiora emptied an entire sea of water and threw it at Nissa Revane. Jace Beleren steps in and turns the attack to mist with counter magic, and does so with seemingly no strain.

The merfolk Kiora was breathing heavily. "You will drop the spell, elf," she said. She raised the bident high, and Chandra saw a tower of waves thundering up from the Halimar. "You shall set them free. And if you won't do so willingly..."

A wall of water three miles wide rose into the air. It swirled and twined into a single mass, a floating, shimmering shape shot through with sea plants and coral and fish. It was a seawater globe, hovering overhead. Kiora had emptied the entire Halimar Sea, and was holding it through the strength of her will. Her gaze was fixed on the outcropping above Chandra, on the source of the spell—on Nissa.

...

Kiora held the sea god's bident straight up, like a sword ready to strike.

"Time is up, Revane."

She reared back, and the water reared back with her.

And with one bodily motion, she hurled the entire sea at Nissa.

Nissa's eyes widened.

—But the sea split in two, and each half split in two, and each resulting half split and split again, and the mass of water dissolved and dispersed into mist. Water roared down, sweeping away Eldrazi creatures. Sea life splashed down, flapping.

The mind mage stood between Kiora and Nissa, his eyes glowing with power under his hood, his extended hand edged with crackling blue magic.

Kiora did nothing for one stunned second. Then she bellowed, not words but inarticulate sounds of rage.

-Magic the Gathering Story: Zendikar's Last Stand

Invisibility and Illusions

In order to test Jaces defenses you are first going to need to find him. This will be extremely difficult because Jace loves to use invisibility and illusions to distract and make it hard to hit. He often uses the two in conjunction, turning invisible while sending multiple illusionary decoys out to misdirect. He also likes to split into multiple copies of himself making it difficult to know who to target. He also use illusions in conjunction with mind reading, making an illusion of someone that the person he is fighting cares about. Or create duplicate illusions of the creatures that he has summoned, making it more difficult to combat the monsters he summons. Really the applications are endless, and Jace makes it very hard to define fact from fiction.

During the Aether Revolt Jace Beleren turned the entire Gatewatch invisible, allowing them to walk into Tezzeret's arena, which was surrounded by guards and being watched by an entire cities worth of people.

"Not yet!"

"How many times have I told you, Jace?" Chandra thought back. "Least. Favorite. Words!"

Chandra leaped from the stands onto the floor of the arena. The illusion spell had done its best to conceal her, but fell away into shimmering shreds when she started in with the pyromancy.

"We have to understand what's behind his presence here," came Jace's urgent thoughts. "Keep him occupied!"

Her mother looked surprisingly stern. "Chandra, get out of here right now," she said. "This is a trap!"

"Uh, yes, I know?" Chandra said, gathering mana for a fresh fire spell. "And I'm here to bust you out of it."

"That's just what he wants!" her mother snapped. "Leave me and go. Now, young lady."

"I'm not young anymore," Chandra snapped back. "And I'm not losing you again!"

"Is that you, the smaller Nalaar?" Tezzeret was pressing his asymmetrical hands together. "Joining the competition that your mother just failed? But this is so touching."

Chandra could see spectators all around sitting forward in their seats, charmed by the family drama. "I'm not going to build against you, Tezzeret," she said. "But I am going to beat you."

"But here?" Tezzeret cooed. "In thisvery arena? Do you dare face me in the same place where you were once about to be—"

"YES," Chandra insisted. "I get it. Where I was about to be executed. Very poetic. Now can we please fight?" She focused on a spot on her palm, and a ball of fire grew in her hand.

Whispers raced through the crowd. Consulate soldiers hurried in to surround Chandra, to arrest her. But Tezzeret raised a hand to halt them. He conferred briefly with one of the soldiers, then dismissed him and turned to face Chandra in a fresh light. His automatons turned along with him in unconscious puppetry.

"I will face you, child," Tezzeret announced, now playing to the audience. His automatons took a step forward. "But just you versus me would not be much of a fair fight."

Chandra tore the ball of fire in two, and both her fists went ablaze. "Nobody said anything about a fair fight."

A host of illusions dissolved behind Chandra, and one by one, a team of Planeswalkers emerged.

Her compatriots drew weapons and readied spells. Chandra noticed that Tezzeret, for his part, took a nearly imperceptible step backward.

-Magic the Gathering Story: In This Very Arena

Jaces illusions aren't some small time either. During the Aether Revolt Jace Beleren used the memories shared with him by a sky pirate captain to create massive illusions of a fleet of ships from her past that had been destroyed.

Kari stepped toward the officer. "Let your Consuls know," she called out, "that I, Kari Zev, captain of Dragon's Smile, have brought my fleet to claim this city." Any second, now.

Then there was a flash of blue, and whatever the officer was about to say was lost to the great spectacle that unfolded over the next few moments. Suddenly, ships were drifting out from behind buildings. Not Consulate ships, but pirate ships.

They moved in twos and threes, and like the enforcers, Kari could only watch, utterly transfixed, because she knew each one of them. Brass Hammer and The Demon of Vahd. Cold Wind and Kite. And more. They kept coming. Even the Sun Chaser—of course the Sun Chaser. Her fleet had returned to her, and they were assembling to fill the space above a plaza so that buildings protected their flanks to either side. One moment, Dragon's Smile was alone, and the next, it was one among dozens. This was Jace, she knew, or rather, the memories she'd shared with Jace. But nevertheless, she couldn't help but be consumed by the feeling that the Consulate was severely outmatched now. The enforcers seemed to share her assessment because all around her, they were taking flight to retreat from the pirate fleet.

-Magic the Gathering Story: The Skies over Ghirapur

Summons

One of the best ways Jace Beleren has of retaliation is through the use of summons. He is albe to reach across the Blind Eternities and pull creatures through the Aether in order to fight by his side. Jace has a tendency to summon drakes, both large and small to fight by his side, but he also has been known to summon phantasms (pretty much hard illusions) blue elementals, and even a sphinx.

His preferred creature to summon are several different types of drakes. Here Jace summons a blue drake that can rip through thick metal tendrils, and breath steam so hot that the pyromancer Baltrice would have trouble matching it.

With a furious cry, Jace called out through the pain and the bitter residue in his mouth—and a fearsome, inhuman screech answered that call. From the sky dropped a great beast, its wings spread wide in the vastness of the courtyard. The bulk of its scales were iridescent blue, its face and horns ivory white, and tendrils of steam rose from its flaring nostrils. For a brief instant it hovered, wings flapping slowly, methodically, as it studied its ferrous foe.

“Better,” Tezzeret offered from afar. “Not good enough, though.”

As though to prove him wrong, the drake surged ahead, twisting almost on a wingtip to avoid a series of vicious strokes as it flew through the thicket of tendrils. It dug its claws into two of the largest, ripping them up and hurling them back against the wall with a deafening clatter. Shrieking its anger, the drake soared up toward the clouds, curling back around until it faced the construct once more. As it neared, its great maw gaped wide, unleashing a torrent of steam so impossibly hot that even Baltrice’s fires might have struggled to match it.

The sharp edges of the iron grew soft and dull, and tiny droplets of liquid metal rained down to the floor around the multitude of tentacles. It reached out once more, but its movements were slow and feeble. Several of the thinner limbs looked ready to give out entirely. The drake circled the yard once more, coming back for another pass that would reduce the construct to slag.

But as its foe turned in its aerial acrobatics, the wobbling golem reached out and slammed a limb into a broken, weatherworn gate, lying before the entrance to one of the buildings. Instantly the iron crumbled into rusted particles—and just as swiftly, the tentacles straightened, whole and hearty once more, with no trace of their injuries save several sporadic scorch marks.

More than a dozen of the tendrils lashed clear across the yard, the force of their attack shaking even the cobblestones, to meet the drake halfway. Bladed limbs flew, claws raked across iron, sparks fell to sputter out upon the ground. And Jace could only cringe as the drake plunged, bleeding, into the center of the mass and slowly faded from view. He felt a sob of frustration and fear begin to well up within and mercilessly crushed it down, allowing himself only a faint gasp of pain in its place.

-Magic the Gathering: Agents of Artifice

Before we continue here is Baltrice summoning a massive fire ball from the sky that eradicates several buildings upon impact and then summons a massive fire elemental that is owning the defenders the town that she is assaulting. And she isn't even trying to destroy the town.

The sky above the swamp brightened. Almost unnoticeable at first, through the umbrella of heavy branches and dangling moss, the strange light swiftly grew. A second moon appeared in the heavens, red and crackling and angry; and then it was no moon at all, but an artificial dawn.

Even as the nezumi peered upward from their posts, or emerged blinking from their huts, the ball of fire plummeted from the sky and burst on the village outskirts. Entire houses evaporated at a stroke, and the flames fanned outward, carried over the stagnant waters on the back of burning winds. Cypress, bamboo, and nezumi pelts ignited in a terrible conflagration—but the trees and the stalks didn’t scream. Smoke rose between the surviving branches, blotting out the stars and spreading the choking, sickening scent of cooked flesh.

Jace screamed at Baltrice to stop, but his voice was lost in the crackling of the fire and the shrieks of dying nezumi. The smoke burned his eyes, and despite the blazing heat, he found himself shivering with a sudden horror.

One murder. One. That he could live with. To that, he had long ago resigned himself. But this …

Unseen behind Baltrice, who exulted in the release of her most devastating spells, Jace raised his hands as though to wrap them physically around Baltrice’s essence. He held her mind in those fists, and for an instant, Jace knew he could kill.

Still she was casting. Even as the carnage from the fireball spread, her muscles tensed once more, her lips parted with something like a screaming grunt. His skin tingled, and he recognized the feel of something forcing its way into the world from outside.

It erupted from the swamp at the heart of the fireball’s impact, a volcano of fire and fury, and the shallow water around it vanished in a hiss of steam. Humanoid only by the most generous use of the term, it towered above the bamboo stalks, above even some of the trees. It glared about it with eyes of fire, lashed about with hands of the same, for that was all it was. Fire: raw, primal, elemental.

The crackle of its flames was the cackling of Baltrice as it advanced on the village, an inexorable titan of agony and death. Turning their attentions away from the burning huts, the soldiers of the nezumi clan formed a defensive line before the oncoming terror, but few had any illusions that they could do more than die with honor.

“Baltrice!” The dam blocking the flood of Jace’s horror finally burst. “Gods and demons, woman, what are you doing? There’s supposed to be a tribe left for us to treat with!”

She seemed past understanding. Her arms were spread as she soaked in the heat of the inferno she had ignited. Her eyes gleamed red with fury and fire.

Even so, she calmly turned her head to face him. “Relax, Beleren. I have a plan.”

“Really? How’s that working out for you?”

She smiled, and it actually looked to be the expression of a rational human being, rather than the guise of pyromaniacal glee she’d worn a moment before. “Why don’t you take a look?”

Jace looked, and he had to admit she might have a point. For all its initial fury, the fireball had obliterated only a handful of huts, and most of the others it had ignited could probably be saved. And the elemental itself, though tearing through the ranks of nezumi soldiers as though they truly were nothing but rats, seemed uninterested in advancing into the village proper.

“This isn’t about wiping out the tribe, Beleren. Just making sure the prince understands the price of lying to the Consortium, understands the power of those he’s tried to manipulate. He’ll be a lot more honest with us from now on, wouldn’t you think?”

-Magic the Gathering: Agents of Artifice

And Jace's drake would give her a run for her money?

In his battle against Tezzeret Jace summons a white drake this time which is powerful enough to toss Tezzeret around like a rag doll. This drake breaths cold air, instantly freezing people to death.

The tower’s great bronze door blew completely off its frame like a cork shooting from a bottle. Rending metal pierced the ears and bits of jagged shrapnel dug furrows into the walls. Helpless as a rag doll, Tezzeret landed on his back in the twisted wreckage, blinking to clear his head, wiping blood and particulates from his face.

A cloud of dust filled the chamber beyond, tinged red by the fires below, billowing and rolling to shame the storm. His tattered cloak undulating behind, his eyes tunnels of endless crackling blue, Jace Beleren strode through the cloud, bearing down on the startled artificer. Above him resounded the thunder of mighty wings as the enormous drake that had hurled Tezzeret through the door circled menacingly, dropping ever lower at its master’s call. Its scales gleamed even in the diffuse, abysmal light.

Propping himself up on his etherium hand, Tezzeret scrambled to his feet, initiating a spell of his own. The younger mage never slowed, never broke stride. He merely bowed his head, allowing the plummeting drake just enough room to tuck its wings to its sides and burst through the doorway. Shrieking its primal rage, it slammed into Tezzeret once more, bowling him farther down the hall, claws and teeth raking furiously against a protective barrier the artificer only barely erected in time.

Again Tezzeret found himself flat on his back, struggling to ward off the drake that crouched above him, digging at his shields. Around him, guards came running, swords held aloft, only to be forced back by bone-chilling waves of piercing cold that wafted against them as they approached, freezing solid flesh and blood and bone.

-Magic the Gathering: Agents of Artifice

Jace isn't limited to one summon. During his battle with Tezzeret he summoned two of his drakes as well as a sphinx all at the same time.

And then he was flying; Jace burst from the desert floor and soared into the azure sky, arms outstretched and crackling with power. Behind him the air rippled and split, a gulf from elsewhere, from which appeared a pair of winter drakes and the familiar sphinx. The drakes instantly dived upon the beast of sand, struggling to immobilize it into a lifeless statue with bursts of frigid breath, while Jace dropped onto the sphinx’s back and plummeted in a screaming dive toward Tezzeret himself.

-Magic the Gathering: Agents of Artifice

In MTG Sphinx's are incredibly powerful creatures. Jace's sphinx is easily his most powerful summon he's ever displayed. Her hid reflects the metal tendrils that had preciously bested one of Jace's drakes, her attacks fly faster than the eye can follow, and her claws rend through iron as easily as it would flesh.

Jace sank to the floor, his legs hunched, his back against a wall. In and out he breathed, slowly, ignoring as best he could the metal fiend that drew ever nearer. And he reached, carefully, desperately, for the river that flowed through the heart of Ravnica, past the borders of Dravhoc district. The Rubblefield wasn’t built on the banks of that river, but it wasn’t all that far. Jace’s familiarity with it might just be enough.

He touched her mind and soul, felt her respond to his call. He’d sensed her before, though he’d never known precisely who or what she was, felt her watching him as he sent his senses into the æther, practiced the litanies and exercises that, when put together, would comprise summoning spells more potent than any he’d ever tried to cast. This wasn’t how he’d planned to test himself, to try such a powerful summons, but Tezzeret had taken the choice from him.

Channeling mana from the river as though he himself were nothing but a tributary, Jace threw his power and his will and his need into the void.

The stone wall of one of the surrounding structures burst outward, reduced to a snowlike powder as something immensely powerful struck it from behind. An enormous leonine body squeezed through the gap, cracking the stone farther as it appeared. The fur that coated her sleek form was an unnaturally deep blue, but multihued wings spread from her back, and her head and face were those of a beautiful, and very angry, woman. Her eyes flickered briefly over Jace’s bloodied form, and then to the metallic limbs that threatened him. She hurled back her head and uttered a roar that wasn’t remotely feminine, and took to the air with a leap of her hind legs, a leap so powerful she scarcely had to spread her wings at all before she landed atop her foe.

Her great weight and greater strength brought a dozen tendrils crashing to the earth. They thrashed at her, with razor-edged blades and bone-breaking cudgels. Most of its attacks she swatted aside, a cat enjoying the feeble struggling of a dying lizard. Of those that connected, most rebounded from her toughened hide; only once did the golem’s blade cut deep, drawing blood as blue as the sphinx’s fur. She roared once more, reared high, and came crashing down with all her weight, front paws flying faster than the eye could see. And when she finally stopped and stepped away, Tezzeret’s construct was nothing but a pile of shredded strips, for her claws pierced iron as easily as they would have flesh. The courtyard suddenly reeked of strange oils and base metals.

Jace gave her a smile of deep gratitude, even bowing his head as he dismissed the summons, allowing her to return to her distant home. And then he turned and glared as Tezzeret appeared above him, applauding softly.

-Magic the Gathering: Agents of Artifice

Jace can summon other creatures as well. Elementals, phantasm, faries, and smaller drakes. Here is an example of one of Jaces other summons matching one of Chandra Nalaar's fire elementals while she and Jace battle.

Gallery

Telekinesis

Jace also has telekinesis, although he personally admits that TK isn't his strong suit about every time he uses it. He states several times that his TK is only as strong as he is physically, which implies a level of super human strength because he does things with TK that are beyond the strength of a human.

Using TK he throws objects to batter his enemies, blast them directly, burrow through the ground at a rapid pace, or fly by crafting telekinetic wings.

In his battle with Tezzeret Jace burrows through sand quickly and then flies for a short duration.

Jace sank swiftly beneath the sands, plummeting through a tunnel burrowed by telekinetic force akin to the spell he’d used to fly, back on Ravnica, and the sand-golem’s fists struck nothing but earth. And then he was flying; Jace burst from the desert floor and soared into the azure sky, arms outstretched and crackling with power. Behind him the air rippled and split, a gulf from elsewhere, from which appeared a pair of winter drakes and the familiar sphinx. The drakes instantly dived upon the beast of sand, struggling to immobilize it into a lifeless statue with bursts of frigid breath, while Jace dropped onto the sphinx’s back and plummeted in a screaming dive toward Tezzeret himself.

-Magic the Gathering: Agents of Artifice

Telepathy

Telepathy is Jace Beleren's main power. Using it he can read, control, or destroy minds. At first Jace was kind of squeamish about damaging someones mind but he quickly got over that. Now a days no mind is sacred. Mess with Jace and he will start deleting things. If he's feeling kind you might still be functional afterwards, if hes not you might end up as a toddler again, or dead.

Here is Jace walking through the streets of Zendikar mind reading all the people around him.

-Magic the Gathering Card: Talent of the Telepath

After provoking a bully into nearly killing him due to some very unkind mind reading, a thirteen year old Jace with zero training mind controls someone to save himself.

Help me.

Jace’s perspective lurched. He was looking down at himself, down at Tuck, out of Caden’s eyes.

Caden’s hand moved. Jace moved it. He didn’t know how or why or what Caden was seeing right now. He didn’t really care.

Art by Kieran Yanner

With Caden under his control, Jace grabbed Tuck’s shoulder and yanked him back from the edge, then stiffly offered himself a hand.

How small he looked, hanging desperately above the crackling stream of mana. How vulnerable he looked. He hated it.

Back in his own head, Jace grabbed Caden’s hand and hauled himself up.

-Magic the Gathering Story: Jace's Origin: Absent Minds

At the age of fifteen with only two years of training, Jace accidently completely wipes a man's mind clean because he wasn't careful while pulling out of his head.

There were three people in the tent. Jace sent two into the arms of sleep and turned to the general, who opened his mouth to yell for guards. No sound came out.

“Hello, General,” said Jace. “This will only take a moment.”

He dove in.

The general was a strong-willed man, resistant to Jace’s probing to some degree, but he was not a mind mage, nor any kind of magic-user. Jace broke through his natural defenses and saw…

The entire Trovian battle plan for the coming campaign hovered before him, an illusory map that matched the contours of the land to the smallest detail. Their plan was audacious…and without proper countermeasures, it was going to work.

“You’re sure this is genuine?” the general asked.

“Positive,” said the hooded figure. “Has our source ever misled you before?”

“No,” he said. “Nor the renegades, I’m sure.”

“Of course,” said the figure. “When your business is information, reputation is everything.”

“Of course,” he said.

The hooded man—boy, really, lanky and cocksure—knew much more than he was willing to tell…like the identity of this source. For the good of the Ampryn, he ought to seize the young man, torture the name of this source out of him, and….

“It wouldn’t do any good,” said the kid. “He doesn’t tell me much.” The boy’s eyes glinted beneath the hood.

“Fine,” he said. “Take your payment and go. And tell your source there’s more where that came from, any time he has intel.”

“I’ll tell him,” said the kid. He pocketed the money and turned, and the general caught a glimpse of his face….

Dimly, from the outside world, Jace heard yelling. He’d taken too long.

He was trapped. Trapped in a mind, trapped in a memory, frozen, staring at his own face behind that damned hood, in a conversation whose entire context was a mystery to him.

He pulled…

…and he was out.

The general slumped in front of him, eyes vacant.

Running footsteps. The tent flap opened. Jace turned.

Three guards. He waved a hand, and illusions swarmed around them.

The general was breathing, but his mind was blank.

-Magic the Gathering Story: Jace's Origin: Absent Minds

And here is an adult Jace for the first time purposefully destroying a mind. He seized control of the ratman's mind making him unable to move, then removed his memory of how to breath, killing him.

Only then did she notice the violent quiver in the rat-king’s arms. Turning, she saw Jace in the doorway, one hand raised toward Bonetooth, fingers clenched in a grasp that was not quite a true fist. Sweat beaded his brow, and Baltrice knew it was due to no fire of hers.

Tezzeret had been right. Jace felt the shogun’s mind, a presence independent from the physical world. He sensed—he knew—that if he wanted, he could hold it, rearrange it, take it with him, rebuild it or destroy it. He knew that that the power Tezzeret had promised him was indeed within his grasp.

But there was no triumph in that discovery. Jace felt soiled, as though the waters of a thousand rivers could never wash him clean, and he tasted bile in the back of his throat. In his mind, he heard the chieftain screaming and shrieking to be free. He swore that he felt, beneath his fingers, the writhing of the nezumi’s brain as it kicked and thrashed to escape his hold.

And more than once it almost did just that, almost escaped the paralysis in which Jace held it—not because the shogun was stronger, but because Jace wanted to let him go. Through their mental link he felt every urge, every desire, and every fear, and he yearned for nothing more than to release the ratman’s mind.

To say nothing of the fact that Jace felt he could happily watch Baltrice pounded and shredded into a carpet of quivering meat. But somehow, he didn’t think Tezzeret would understand.

He could keep his grasp on the shogun’s mind, nauseating as it might be, force him to guide them out, hold him as hostage against the nezumi’s cooperation. But it took too much concentration, too much attention. He’d be unable to defend them if the rats attacked anyway, or against the shaman’s spells, and Baltrice certainly wasn’t up to helping. He could let Bonetooth go, but how then to prevent him from killing Baltrice, or from leading the village in pursuit of those who’d attacked them?

Had he taken the time to think about it, to really understand what he was doing, Jace could never have gone through with it. But by the time he consciously acknowledged that he had only one option remaining, he’d already followed through.

Jace adjusted his grip on Bonetooth’s mind and commanded the shogun, who had already ceased moving, to cease his breathing as well. The ratman’s eyes went briefly wide, his entire body quivered, until finally he dropped dead to the floor of the hut.

-Magic the Gathering: Agents of Artifice

It didn't take long for Jace to get over his morals and become a devastating mind annihilator. A few months after this encounter Jace Beleren is going Rambo an Infinite Consortium base, killing people, reducing people to children, whipping peoples minds so that they don't even remember their own names.

Alas, it never occurred to Paldor that, when dealing with a potentially invisible foe, any precautions he might order were already far too late. The faeries weren’t a distraction against an incursion to come, but an incursion already committed; and the cell’s security had been breached as early as the third “false” alarm.

“Sir!”

It wasn’t the captain speaking, then, but one of his runners, breathless and panting, addressing the captain. But Paldor, growing ever paler, heard it all through the speaking tube. “Sir, I—I …”

“Calm down, soldier!” Sevrien barked. “Take a breath!”

“But—but sir, Ireena’s team … the entire team is down!”

“What do you mean ‘down’?” Paldor and the captain spoke at once, Paldor having forgotten that the runner couldn’t hear him.

“Oh, gods, sir!” Paldor could have sworn he heard the younger soldier’s voice about to break. “Three of the men, sir, I … It’s as though they were rotting for years, sir! I—I slipped in one of them, they’re all over me, they’re—”

Paldor heard the sharp retort of a slap, and Sevrien shouting for calm even as a murmur passed through the other men and women in the chamber. Tezzeret’s lieutenant found himself sweating.

“—the others?” the captain was demanding. “Or Ireena herself?”

“Just—just sitting there in the midst of it all, sir!” the soldier sobbed. “Staring up at me, like they didn’t even know who I was! Didn’t even recognize their own names when I called!”

“Good gods,” Sevrien whispered. “All right,” he said, and Paldor knew from the shift in volume that he’d turned to face another of his seconds. “Where’s Lieutenant Calran? I need him to—” “He

’s in the hallway, sir,” a third voice intoned, so softly Paldor could barely hear through the speaking tube. “He’s just … sitting there, sir, playing with his sword and giggling like … like a schoolboy.”

Silence fell, save for the frightened, labored breathing on both ends of the tube.

“Captain?” Paldor couldn’t tell, from the tone, which soldier was speaking. “Captain, what do we—?”

Shouts and screams erupted from the tube as something—a door, perhaps?—shattered into a million splinters. Steel sang against leather as swords whirled from their sheathes, and the clatter of iron links of chain echoed through the narrow conduit. A dozen voices rose into a chaotic clamor, Sevrien’s own barely audible as he shouted orders that nobody heeded.

Wood cracked, so hard that the floor beneath Paldor’s feet trembled. Human voices disappeared beneath a monstrous roar, loud enough that he heard it clearly from the level below without need of the tube at all. The shouts of soldiers were transformed into shrieks of terror, wails of agony that ended in a series of horrible, wet thumps.

And then, once more, all was silent.

“Captain?” Paldor cleared his throat, hoping to still the quaver in his voice. He fumbled at the tube with sweat-slick hands. “Captain? Can you hear me?”

Nothing, nothing at all—and then, a faint childish giggle, accompanied swiftly by a second, a third, and a fourth. And all of them, each and every voice, sounded oh so familiar.

“Captain?” It was a whisper this time, a breath of horrified unbelief. “Captain?”

The speaking tube clattered as someone lifted it from where it hung, abandoned. “I’m afraid the captain can’t hear you,” a low voice responded. “Or at least he can’t understand. He’s not really himself anymore.”

“Beleren,” Paldor exhaled.

“He should have left me alone, Paldor,” Jace told him. “Everything that happens now is on his head, and on yours.”

-Magic the Gathering: Agents of Artifice

Manablade/Skill

Should it get into a close quarters confrontation, Jace brought a manablade with him into this battle. A manablade is a dagger made out of etherium (an all purpose magical super metal). Manablades are meant specifically to deal with mages, because they not only cut flesh but they also "cut" the victims ability to use magic. A mage being cut by a manablade will experience excruciating pain and will be severally weakened after. Their ability to wield magic seems to heal along with the physical wounds inflicted, so it isn't permanent, but it is painful and devastating in combat.

Here is Jace after being tortured by a manablade. He is in unbearable pain and he hasn't been able to channel any mana since the torture. It was also later described that Jace had only received shallow cuts.

None of the Consortium healers would touch him, not this time. Everyone knew just how he’d been injured, and nobody was willing to interfere with Tezzeret’s discipline. For almost two days, Jace tossed and turned in agony, unable to sleep, barely able to move. His sheets and mattress were stained with dried blood. The cuts along his back and his arms were shallow but long. The pain was excruciating, but not nearly so much so as the pain within.

Jace felt as though he’d been burned from the inside out. The very notion of spellcasting made him queasy, and he’d been unable to absorb so much as a sliver of mana, no matter how hard he tried to concentrate.

By the evening of the second day, he knew that he could take no more of it. Staggering out of bed, he pulled on the first tunic he found, wincing with every move, every bend. He slowly made his way out of his chambers and down the hall, heading for the nearest exit.

If nobody in the Consortium would help him, he’d go to someone who would.

-Magic the Gathering: Agents of Artifice

Jace is able to wield the dagger with expert level skill. He received some training from a master swordsman Kallist, and also spent time as Kallist. (He accidently switched minds with him. Long story). Using his telepathic powers he can channel some of Kallist's skill from living as him, as well as his training from Kallist to produce expert level blade work.

Here is an incredibly exhausted Jace pushing back Tezzeret with his skill and the manablade. Although Jace made a mistake in this fight, it was because he was already exhausted. In this fight however Jace is fresh and at full power.

Kallist would have been proud.

Channeling the last of his magics into keeping his exhaustion at bay, manablade clutched in a competent if not expert knife-fighter’s grip, Jace pummeled the artificer with a sequence of lightning-swift strikes. Tezzeret retreated before him, parrying frantically with his mechanical hand, lacking even the split second he needed to cast his spells or draw upon a more effective weapon.

The blade darted in and out, a striking viper of etherium and enchantment. A slash at the face, a stab at the chest, cross-step to keep pace with Tezzeret’s retreat; slash again, feint with the left fist, kick to the gut, another step; a twist and sudden spin, a backhand strike against the artificer’s temple, an underhand stab at the ribs, cross-step. For these few moments, Jace drew on everything Kallist had taught him, everything he could recall from several months of being Kallist, and allowed all his anger and all his guilt to flow through him. For those moments, he was a mage no longer, but a dervish of deadly edges and pummeling limbs, forcing Tezzeret ever farther back until the trees thinned and they found themselves slowed by the deepening swamp.

It was a punishing pace, however, one he couldn’t possibly maintain, and both combatants knew it. His face and tunic were soaked with sweat, and his breathing came in labored rasps. Tezzeret’s desperate parries grew smoother and more certain, his retreat more controlled, as it dawned on the artificer that all he had to do was hold Beleren off a bit longer, let him wear himself down, and he’d have the little bastard utterly at his mercy.

And indeed, mere heartbeats later, Jace’s attacks faltered.

-Magic the Gathering: Agents of Artifice

Conclusion

I don't know much about Eragon so ill wait until I see your opener to reach any detailed conclusion as to how they stack up against one another. However, Jace is a very dangerous opponent being able to attack both physically with his summons and mental. He is also very evasive, and uses all of his powers with a genius level intellect. From what I know of Eragon it won't be an easy fight no matter who wins the battle, but it should be an entertaining one.

Your go

@banthabot: Very nice opener mate. Will post my opener soon.

@banthabot:

My turn!

Eragon is one of my favorite fictional characters of all time, and I especially enjoy using him in debates. Unfortunately, my only source of feats is "The Inheritance Cycle" saga, which means that my posts will not be as visually satisfying as yours, especially since, as you said and I definitely agree - MTG has some amazing artwork.

Anyway, given that visuals won't be playing a big part in my posts, the least I can do is providing some music! Here's Eragon's theme song for this battle:

So let's begin shall we?

Eragon Bromsson:

Short bio:

Eragon Bromsson (named Shadeslayer after killing Durza) was the main protagonist in the Inheritance Cycle. He was the son of Brom and Selena. After the Dragon Saphira hatched for him, Eragon became the first Dragon Rider to be born in a hundred years and was subsequently trained by Brom and later Oromis. After becoming an accomplished swordsman and magician in a relatively short time, the young Rider found himself championing the cause of the Varden, inheriting both the duties of the Dragon Riders' and his father's place as Galbatorix's foremost enemy.

Inheriwiki.wikia.com

Powers, skills and abilities:

Aside from his physical prowess and skill, Eragon's powers and abilities are all derived from his magic. He is only limited by his imagination, so I will not list EVERYTHING he can do since it will make for an extremely long list, just the main/important things. However, he is not limited only to the things listed below of course.

• Superhuman physicals
• Swordsmanship/melee
• Energy manipulation
• Elemental manipulation
• Telepathy
• Telekinesis
• Healing
• Scrying
• Warding
• Empathy*
• Death-words (insta-kill magic)*
• And much, much more!

*as agreed, I will not use these abilities in this battle.

Important names that I will use in my posts:

These are all names of characters that I will mention throughout my posts, and since you haven't read the Inheritance Cycle, reading my posts without knowing the characters could be a tad confusing. So here you go:

• Alagaesia: The land in which the story takes place.
• Saphira: Eragon's dragon.
• Arya: An elven princess, Eragon's friend and companion (and love interest).
• Galbatorix: The evil tyrant king of Alagaesia, he is responsible for the downfall of the Dragon Riders.
• Shruikan: Galbatorix's dragon.
• The Varden: The rebellion movement that fights against Galbatorix and his government.
• Murtagh: Eragon's former friend and companion, now a dragon rider who serves Galbatorix.
• Thorn: Murtagh's dragon.
• Brom: Eragon's first mentor, and later to be revealed - his father.
• Oromis: An elven Dragon Rider that lives in secrecy in the capital city of the elven kingdom - Ellesmera. He was Eragon's mentor when Eragon arrived in Ellesmera.
• Glaedr: Oromis's dragon.
• Roran: Eragon's cousin.
• Angela: A mysterious herbalist. She is a companion of Eragon. Angela is a very powerful mage, and very little of her true nature is known.
• Solembum: A were-cat. Angela's close companion.
• Blodhgarm: A powerful elven spellcaster and warrior. He is the head of a company of 12 elves that served as bodyguards to Eragon and Saphira.
• Vanir: An elf who lives in Ellesmera, Eragon's sparring partner.
• Ra'zac: Foul and evil creatures, think Nazgul but with beaks. Very dangerous, and deadly fighters.
• Lethrblaka: The Razac's mounts. Leathery dragon-like creatures. Think Fell Beasts but uglier.
• Durza: A powerful Shade. A Shade is a sorcerer possessed by evil spirits, which make him evil but also extremely powerful. He was slain by Eragon, who is the 3rd person to ever slay a Shade and live to tell the tale.

I might use more names, but these are probably the most important ones.

Magical abilities:

Now, the most important thing to explain first and foremost, is how magic works in "The Inheritance Cycle" universe. It can be a bit complex to understand for those who are not familiar with the saga, so I will try my best to explain.

Most magic is used by speaking the Ancient Language. It is a language that is used to describe the true names, or true nature, of anything. Speaking a word or a phrase in the Ancient Language would result in a certain effect (given that the user has magical abilities of course). For example, "Brisingr" is the word for "fire" in the Ancient Language. Speaking it would grant the user control over fire, the ability to summon fire, etc. It's pretty much like a Green Lantern ring - you are only limited by your imagination when using this magic.

Magic drains the user's vitality. The more powerful or complicated the spell is, the more energy it takes to use. A spell too powerful could result in the user's death. However, this is hardly a concern for Eragon, as I will later explain in detail.

Here is the explanation that Brom gave Eragon on how magic works:

"This magic----for it is magic----has rules like the rest of the world. If you break the rules, the penalty is death, without exception. Your deeds are limited by your strength, the words you know, and your imagination."

[...]

"Brisingr is from an ancient language that all living tings used to speak. However, it was forgotten over time and went unspoken for eons in Alagaesia, until the elves brought it back over the sea. They taught it to the other races, who used it for making and doing powerful things. The language has a name for everything, if you can find it."

"But what does that have to do with magic?" interrupted Eragon.

"Everything! It is the basis for all power. The language describes the true nature of things, not the superficial aspects that everyone sees. For example, fire is called brisingr. Not only is that a name for fire, it is the name for fire. If you are strong enough, you can use brisingr to direct fire to do whatever you will. And that is what happened today."

Eragon thought about it for a moment. "Why was the fire blue? How come it did exactly what I wanted, if all I said was fire?"

"The color varies from person to person. It depends on who says the word. As to why the fire did what you wanted, that's a matter of practice. Most beginners have to spell out exactly what they want to happen. As they gain more experience, it isn't as necessary. A true master could just say water and create something totally unrelated, like a gemstone. You wouldn't be able to understand how he had done it, but the master would have seen the connection between water and the gem and would have used that as the focal point for his power. The practice is more of an art than anything else."

[...]

Brom took a deep breath and said, "To work with magic, you must have a certain innate power, which is very rare among people nowadays. You also have to be able to summon this power at will. Once it is called upon, you have to use it or let it fade away. Understood? Now, if you wish to employ this power, you must utter the word or phrase of the ancient language that describes your intent."

Eragon

With magic, Eragon can do pretty much anything. He is only limited by his imagination, his vitality, and his knowledge of the Ancient Language (which he can speak fluently).

I will delve into the practical methods of Eragon's use of magic later in this post and more so in the following posts, I just wanted you to first of all understand how it all works.

Now that this is out of the way, get ready for... more explanations and walls of text! Yay!

Gear:

1. The Eldunarya:

"Eldunarya" is the plural form of "Eldunari". An Eldunari is a dragon's "heart of hearts". A dragon can disgorge its Eldunari whenever he wishes, and when the dragon dies - his consciousness, and all his power - live on inside the Eldunari. An Eldunari looks pretty much like a big gemstone, and its size and color, as well as the power it holds, depend on the dragon to which it belongs. The older the dragon gets, the larger and more powerful it grows.

Unlike with most creatures, he said, a dragon's consciousness does not reside solely within our skulls. There is in our chests a hard, gemlike object, similar in composition to our scales, called the Eldunari, which means "the heart of hearts." When a dragon hatches, their Eldunari is clear and lusterless. Usually it remains so all through a dragon's life and dissolves along with the dragon's corpse when they die. However, if we wish, we can transfer our consciousness into the Eldunari. Then it will acquire the same color as our scales and begin to glow like a coal. If a dragon has done this, the Eldunari will outlast the decay of their flesh, and a dragon's essence may live on indefinitely. Also, a dragon can disgorge their Eldunari while they are still alive. By this means, a dragon's body and a dragon's consciousness can exist separately and yet still be linked, which can be most useful in certain circumstances. But to do this exposes us to great danger, for whosoever holds our Eldunari holds our very soul in their hands. With it, they could force us to do their bidding, no matter how vile.

[...]

Anyone who holds one of our hearts, said Glaedr, may communicate with the dragon from which it came without regard for distance. The whole of Alagaesia might separate a Rider and dragon, and yet if the Rider had with him his dragon's Eldunari, they could share thoughts as easily as you and Saphira do now.

Brisingr

Now, Eragon has in his possession 132 Eldunarya. The first one he has with him is Glaedr's. Glaedr was an elder dragon, immensely large and powerful (around three times as big as Saphira, and she herself is the size of a house).

I have decided, said Glaedr, to give you my heart of hearts, Saphira Brightsclaes, Eragon Shadeslayer.

Saphira's astonishment was no less than Eragon's. Together, they stared at the majestic gold dragon who towered high above them. Saphira said, Master, you honor us beyond words, but . . . are you sure that you wish to entrust your heart to us?

I am sure, said Glaedr, and lowered his massive head until it was only slightly above Eragon. For many reasons, I am sure. If you hold my heart, you shall be able to communicate with Oromis and me----no matter how far apart we may be----and I shall be able to aid you with my strength whenever you are in difficulty. And if Oromis and I should fall in battle, our knowledge and experience, and also my strength, shall still be at your disposal. Long have I pondered this choice, and I am confident it is the right one.

[...]

Then Glaedr drew back his head. The muscles of his abdomen rippled and clenched several times, and his throat began to convulse, as if something were stuck in it. Widening his stance, the gold dragon extended his neck straight out in front of him, every cord and sinew of his body standing in high relief underneath the armor of his sparkling scales. Glaedr's throat continued to flex and relax with increasing speed until at last he lowered his head so that it was level with Eragon and opened his jaws, hot, pungent air pouring from his massive maw. Eragon squinted and tried not to gag. As he gazed into the depths of Glaedr's mouth, Eragon saw the dragon's throat contract one last time, and then a hint of gold light appeared between the folds of dripping, blood-red tissue. A second later, a round object about a foot in diameter slid down Glaedr's crimson tongue and out of his mouth so fast, Eragon nearly missed catching it.

As his hands closed around the slippery, saliva-covered Eldunari, Eragon gasped and staggered backward, for he suddenly felt Glaedr's every thought and emotion, and all of the sensations of his body. The amount of information was overwhelming, as was the closeness of their contact. Eragon had expected as much, but it still shocked him to realize he was holding Glaedr's entire being between his hands.

[...]

The Eldunari itself was like a giant jewel. Its surface was warm and covered with hundreds of sharp facets, which varied somewhat in size and sometimes projected at odd, slanting angles. The center of the Eldunari glowed with a dull radiance, similar to that of a shattered lantern, and the diffuse light throbbed with a slow, steady beat. Upon first inspection, the light appeared uniform, but the longer Eragon gazed at it, the more details he saw within it: small eddies and currents that coiled and twisted in seemingly random directions, darker motes that barely moved at all, and flurries of bright flashes no larger than the head of a pin that would flare for a moment, then fade back into the underlying field of light. It was alive.

Brisingr

Glaedr's Eldunari was in Eragon's possession for quite a while before the other 131. Eragon, Saphira and Glaedr met the rest in the Vault of Souls:

Satisfaction came from Umaroth, and he replied, Now that you have found us, our days of hiding are over; we would go with you to Uru'baen and fight alongside you to kill Galbatorix. The time has come for us to leave our den and once and for all confront that traitorous eggbreaker. Without us, he would be able to pry open your minds as easily as did we, for he has many Eldunari at his command.

I cannot carry all of you, said Saphira.

You shall not have to, said Umaroth. Five of us will stay to watch over the eggs, along with Cuaroc. In the event we should fail to defeat Galbatorix, they will tamper no more with the skeins of energy, but will content themselves with waiting until it is again safe for dragons to venture forth in Alagaesia. But you need not worry; we shall not be a burden to you, for we will provide the strength to move our weight.

"How many of you are there?" asked Eragon, gazing around the room.

One hundred and thirty-six.

Inheritance

Eragon carries them all in some sort of inter-dimensional rift, that floats over and behind him at all times. That way, he doesn't have to physically carry the Eldunarya, but he can still communicate with them and draw upon their strength whenever he wants:

At last Umaroth said, This is a lesson for another time. You know what the spell is supposed to do, if not how. That will have to suffice. Take from us the strength needed and cast it, and then let us be off.

Nervous, Eragon fixed the words of the spell in his mind to avoid making mistakes, and then he began to speak. As he uttered the lines, he drew upon the reserves of the Eldunari, and his skin tingled as an enormous rush of energy poured through him, like a river of water both hot and cold.

The air around the uneven pile of Eldunari rippled and shimmered; then the pile seemed to fold in on itself and it winked out of sight. A gust of wind tousled Eragon's hair, and a soft, dull thud echoed throughout the chamber.

Astonished, Eragon watched as Saphira pushed her head forward and swung it through the spot where the Eldunari had just been. They had disappeared, completely and utterly, as if they had never existed, and yet he and she could still feel the dragons' minds close at hand.

Once you leave the vault, said Umaroth, the entrance to this pocket of space will remain at a fixed distance above and behind you at all times, save when you are in a confined area or when a person's body should happen to pass through that space. The entrance is no longer than a pinprick, but it is more deadly than any sword; it would cut right through your flesh were you to touch it.

Inheritance

To give you an idea of the power that the Eldunarya possess, Glaedr's Eldunari alone was assumed to be able to magically shift a huge pile of rubble which is something that even Eragon, Spahira, and 12 elves together could barely do:

Eragon tried to guess the weight of a block in the pile of rubble; it must have been many hundreds of pounds. If he, Saphira, and the elves all worked together, he was sure that they could shift the stones with magic, but the effort would leave them weak and vulnerable. Moreover, it would take an impractically long time. For a moment, Eragon thought of Glaedr-the golden dragon was more than strong enough to lift the whole pile at once-but haste was of the essence, and Glaedr's Eldunari would take too long to retrieve.

Inheritance

Another notable Eldunari in Eragon's possession, is that of Umaroth. Umaroth's Rider was Vrael, and together they were the leaders of the sacred order of the Dragon Riders. His mind alone is described as feeling like a host of many different minds, and is unlike Eragon has ever encountered before:

Even as Eragon was wondering whether they were supposed to fight the creature, he felt a strange, vast mind touch his. The consciousness was unlike any he had encountered before, and it seemed to contain a host of shouting voices, a great, disjointed chorus that reminded him of the wind inside a storm.

Before he could react, the mind stabbed through his defenses and seized control of his thoughts. For all the time he had spent practicing with Glaedr, Arya, and Saphira, he could not stop the attack; he could not even slow it. He might as well have tried to hold back the tide with his bare hands.

Inheritance

It is later revealed that Umaroth's mind captured not only Eragon's mind, but also Saphira's and Glaedr's:

How? he thought. Who? To capture both of them at once, and Glaedr as well, he assumed, was something he did nor believe even Glabatorix was capable of.

Inheritance

Other than that there are, as I said, 130 others. Half of them are younger and less powerful than Umaroth and probably Glaedr (although powerful in their own right), while the other half is older and more powerful. Umaroth is around the average of them all, as explained here:

I provide a bridge between the groups, a point of common understanding that otherwise would be lacking. Those who are older are wise and powerful indeed, but their minds wander down strange paths, and it is often hard to convince them to concentrate upon anything outside of their dreams. Those who are younger are more unfortunate: they parted from their bodies before they should have; thus their minds remain limited by the size of their Eldunari, which can never grow or expand once it leave the flesh.

Inheritance

All in all Eragon's Eldunarya are an immense source of power. He draws upon their strength when he uses magic, and this is why I said that his vitality is not much of a concern for him, and he can cast immensely powerful spells without having to worry too much.

2. Brisingr:

Brisingr, as you may recall from the explanation I gave you on magic, is the name for "fire" in the Ancient Language. It is the first word that Eragon had learned in the Ancient Language, and it is the name of his sword. It is a Rider's sword, forged from the rare magical metal called Brightsteel and tempered with dragonfire. It's a hand-and-half sword (AKA bastard sword), which means it's rather large. It can be used with either one or both hands, and it's extremely light and easy to use:

Covering the blade was a glossy scabbard of the same dark blue as the scales on Saphira's back. The color displayed a slight variegation, like the mottled light at the bottom of a clear forest pond. A piece of blued brightsteel carved in the shape of a leaf capped the end of the scabbard while a collar decorated with stylized vines encircled the mouth. The curved crossguard was also made of blued brightsteel, as were the four ribs that held in place the large sapphire that formed the pommel. The hand-and-a-half hilt was made of hard black wood.

[...]

Like the rest of the sword, the blade was blue, but of a slightly lighter shade; it was the blue of the scales in the hollow of Saphira's throat rather than the blue of those on her back. And as it was on Zar'roc, the color was iridescent; as Eragon moved the sword about, the color would shimmer and shift, displaying any of the many tones of blue present on Saphira herself. Through the wash of color, the cable-like patterns within the brightsteel and the pale bands along the edges were still visible.

With a single hand, Eragon swung the sword through the air, and he laughed at how light and fast it felt. The sword almost seemed alive. He grasped the sword with both his hands then and was delighted to find that they fit perfectly on the longer hilt.

[...]

Eragon consulted with Saphira, and when she agreed with his choice, he lifted the weapon to shoulder level and said, "I am decided. Sword, I name thee Brisingr!"

And with a sound like a rushing wind, the blade burst into fire, an envelope of sapphire-blue flames writhing about the razor-sharp steel.

Brisingr

Other than that, Eragon also has a shield and a set of armor, which don't require any special explanations.

Telepathy:

Eragon's telepathic abilities are vast and powerful. In the Inheritance Cycle universe, telepathy is different from that in most other verses. It's a form of art more than anything else, with techniques and expertise that need to be practiced. A stronger mind won't necessarily win over a better trained one. Here's an example of Eragon (without Eldunarya) fending off numerous attackers:

The congregation of priests began to howl and stomp their feet, and Eragon felt their minds clawing at his, like a pack of wolves tearing at a weakened deer. He retreated deep within himself, warding off the attacks with techniques he had been practicing under Glaedr's tutelage.

Inheritance

Needless to say, though, that Eragon is not alone here: he has 132 more minds with him, all of which are capable of independently defending and attacking with telepathy. Jace has a mental battalion to contend with here, really.

One more thing about Eragon's telepathy is that he can use it to channel spells. Here, for example, he channels killing spells using telepathy:

Du Vrangr Gata found the first enemy spellcaster. The instant he was alerted, Eragon reached out to the woman who made the discovery, and from there to the foe she grappled with. Bringing the full power of his will to bear, Eragon demolished the magician's resistance, took control of his consciousness----doing his best to ignore the man's terror----determined which troops the man was guarding, and slew the man with one of the twelve words of death. Without pause, Eragon located the minds of each of the now-unprotected soldiers and killed them as well.

Eldest

As we agreed Eragon will not use the deathwords in this battle, however this was just an example of him channeling a spell through telepathy.

More on telepathy will be provided as the debate goes on.

Magic:

Well, as I said, Eragon is practically limited only by his own imagination and resourcefulness. He can use magic to break bones, send destructive attacks such as fire and lightning, collapse houses and structures, and much more. One specific type of magic that I want to talk about is warding:

"Wards," said Oromis, "rely upon the strength of your body. If that strength is exceeded, you die. No matter how many wards you have, you will only be able to block attacks so long as your body can sustain the output of energy."

Eldest

Again using the Green Lantern analogy, Eragon's wards work like auto-shields. Once casted, they will stop any attack from connecting automatically, until removed or until they exceed the user's vitality. Eragon has wards on him by default since the day he learned how to use them, so he will start this battle with them as well.

For example, here Eragon's wards protect him from the fire-breath of the dragon Thorn:

Thorn bellowed and sprayed the rows of tents between him and Eragon with a layer of white-hot flames that leaped up toward the sky. Screams of agony swiftly followed as the men within burned to death.

Eragon raised a hand to shield his face. His magic protected him from serious injury, but the heat was uncomfortable.

Inheritance

More on the potency of the wards, as well as Eragon's magic as a whole, as the debate goes on.

Initial thoughts and strategy:

As you said, Jace's main power is telepathy. However, I do believe that with Eragon, he's bitten off more than he can chew. Eragon is not only a skilled and powerful telepath in his own right - he has 132 other minds, some more powerful than his own, assisting him. I have not expanded on Eragon's physical and melee prowess just yet, and I will later on, but this is another thing that he has over Jace (I assume), even though Jace is not a pushover with his manablade.

The counter to Jace's invisibility/illusions is quite easy. Eragon doesn't need to see him in order to engage in a telepathic battle, as evident in the quote I provided above in which he locates an enemy spellcaster and numerous soldiers with his mind. The summons would be more challenging, but Eragon is more than capable of contending with drakes and such, and I will leave this to discuss later in the debate.

The battle will start with telepathy, as Eragon always engages rival spellcasters this way (it is practically how spellcasters always engage in the Inheritance Cycle universe). Jace will find it difficult not to succumb to the great number of minds attacking him, I am sure, but he is a powerful telepath and I don't go off assuming that the fight will end just then and there before it even begins (although that's up to you to prove). Eragon will then have numerous options: charge at Jace and engage him in melee combat, use magic from long-range, or try to overcome him telepathically and/or channel spells through his mind. Jace will try to use illusions and invisibility, but that would prove useless since Eragon doesn't have to see him in order to engage with him telepathically. His summons can be a nuisance, but Eragon is very capable of dealing with them too. He, more than anyone, has great knowledge on dragons and dragon-like creatures, so he won't be taken by surprise by anything the drakes can do. They can be dealt with using either magic, telepathy or physical force.

All in all, Eragon will have to be creative and act fast, but I think that his powerful telepathy, his 132 Eldunarya and his very versatile magic will prove to be enough to earn him victory.

Suprised the name of names wasn't brought up. I am also suprised that little extremely old Jayce lore was mentioned

I'm actually not sure if I'll bring it up at all, y'know? Maybe in later posts if I feel the need.

Jace is allowed to summon dragons, but Eragon doesnt get Saphira?

@zetsumoto: it makes sense

Eh. Cutting out Saphira is like cutting out Soul Evans.

I mean, I know Eragon isn't AS reliant on her as Meisters are on their weapons, but I feel like she should be there in any situation in which it doesn't become a miss-match.

Eragon technically has 132 other dragons with him. I think Saphira would make it a tad unfair, she can practically feast on any drake that Jace summons.

@the_red_viper: Really? I figured he'd have had a pretty powerful drake in there somewhere.

Well according to what Banthabot displayed so far, those drakes are like a game of Whack-the-Mole for Saphira. She's the size of a house, and actually received formal training in aerial fighting against other dragons (and she was stated to be exceptionally good at it too). I'm willing to take the risk.

@zetsumoto: to my knowledge Jace has never summoned anything near the level of Saphira. He's not a summoner on the level of like Kiora who can make an army of monstrous creatures appear out of no where. Saphira would likely make it one sided in Eragons favor

@the_red_viper: ive been working on my post but I haven't finished it yet. I might get time to work on it Sunday but if I can't finish it by then it may be the middle of next week before it's up

Can't wait to see what you come up with this time!

Sure thing.

Bump

Lol, I'm still waiting! =P

@the_red_viper: We are both inside of a scenario, he should have his up soon.

@jardinain2: Yeah he told me he will post it tonight.

Amazing

@the_red_viper:

Round 2

I really liked the idea of posting important names so im going to steal it. It's a good idea to make things more understandable.

The Gatewatch: A collection of Planeswalkers who watch over the Multiverse and combat threats too powerful for a single Planeswalker to handle. Jace is one of the founding members of the Gatewatch.

Tezzeret: Jace's arch nemesis. Extremely intelligent, artifact inventor, metal mage, and prep master.

Baltrice: Pyromancer planswalker. Puppet of Tezzeret who nearly got seriously messed up by Lilliana Vess. Jace saved her and turned her into his puppet for a while.

Lilliana Vess: An ancient and manipulative necromancer Planeswalker. Jace's ex-girlfriend and currently a member of the Gatewatch.

Chandra Nalaar: Pyromancer planeswalker. One of the original members of the Gatewatch

Gideon Jura: Battlemage planeswalker who specializes in invulnerability magic. One of the original members of the Gatewatch.

Nissa Revane: Elf planeswalker who specializes in plant and earth based magic. Original member of the Gatewatch

Kiora: Merfolk Planeswalker. Has good intentions but doesn't work well with others. Stole the weapon of a god and used it against the eldrazi.

Kallist: Jace's best friend who died while running from Tezzeret. Master of bladed combat.

Vraska: A murderous Gorgon Planeswalker who specializes in assassinations.

Sorrin Markov: One of the most ancient Planeswalkers still alive. A vampire and self proclaimed Lord over the plane of Innistrad.

Nicol Bolas: The oldest and most powerful Planeswalker after the mending. He is the last Elder Dragon and one of the most dangerous threats in the multiverse.

Ral Zarek: Stormmage Planeswalker. He was once a rival to Jace but as the other major planeswalker that makes his home on Ravnica, he and Jace came to an understanding.

Ob Nixilis: Once a human who got turned into a demon. Hes a powerful and evil planeswalker who enjoys conquering planes. One of the first enemies of the Gatewatch.

Garruk: A Planeswalker attuned to nature, specifically feral wild life. He got screwed over by Lilliana Vess and turned into a dark version of himself. He now hunts and kills Planeswalkers instead of wild life.

Emrakul: The third and most powerful Eldrazi Titan. A being beyond the comprehension of mortal beings who lives within the Blind Eternities and is capable of destroying the multiverse one plane of existence at a time.

The Blind Eternities: The space of non-existence between planes of existence.

The Infinite Consortium: An evil organization that spans several planes of existence. It was originally lead by Nicol Bolas but Tezzeret stole it away from him.

Etherium: A powerful metal that has nearly unrivaled abilities to channel mana and one of the most valuable substances in the multiverse.

Eragon's magic vs Jace's defenses

Eragon seems to have a very wide variety of ways to attack, however, elemental attacks won't be an effective way of combating Jace. Jace's counter magic will be able to dissipate Eragons attacks. You have yet to display Eragon using any amount of raw power but I think its safe to assume that Eragon's raw power will not trump the level of attacks that Jace is capable of dissipating. Unless Eragon can somehow trump throwing an entire sea, Jace will be able to dissipate Eragon's attacks.

Beyond that you also have to get past magical shields that Jace can raise in order to block attacks. Again I displayed him casually blocking volcanic rock with a shield in my first post. These defenses are going to be something that Eragon struggles with.

Its only after Eragon sneaks attacks past these defenses that he can truly damage Jace. But then Eragon has to get past Jace's natural resilience. And all of this is if Eragon is able to find Jace through the illusions (more on that later).

Eragon may have variety on his side but Jace has defense. Variety wont help when Jace can dissipate attacks on the caliber of throwing a sea. Plus Jace has fought along side/against a wide variety of mages, and in most cases hes snooped around inside their heads. He's seen mages wielding all sorts of different magics, from soul based magics to classic things like hydromancy and pyromancy. Jace has experienced a lot of variety so Eragon is going to have to get really creative in order to come up with an attack that Jace finds truly surprising.

Well, as I said, Eragon is practically limited only by his own imagination and resourcefulness. He can use magic to break bones, send destructive attacks such as fire and lightning, collapse houses and structures, and much more.

Break bones how? Does he speak and bones just snap? Does he speak and a wave is sent forth that breaks bones? How does it work?

Illusions and Phantasms

I have already proven that Jace can cast illusions on a massive scale, in the first post I showed Jace creating an illusionary fleet of dozens of massive ships. But now its time to get aggressive.

The counter to Jace's invisibility/illusions is quite easy. Eragon doesn't need to see him in order to engage in a telepathic battle, as evident in the quote I provided above in which he locates an enemy spellcaster and numerous soldiers with his mind.

Unfortunately for you I don't find it in character that Eragon will use this power right off the bat to deduce that the illusions are in fact fake. The instance of Eragon sensing minds that you provided was an active application of him doing so, finding opponents that he couldn't see. From what I saw it did not look like a passive application nor something Eragon does right off the bat while in character.

The problem is that Jace isn't simply going to use illusions and invisibility to hide like a coward...if he were to do so sensing his mind would be the logical conclusion. In stead Jace will use illusions aggressively much like he did against Vraska or Garruk. In his battle with Vraska he mixed his illusions with the environment to trick the gorgon into thinking she knew where he was.

Jace is extremely intelligent with his use of his powers and is more than capable of some convincing misdirection. Why would Eragon be searching telepathicly for someone who he believes he knows where they are?

"Why? What's happened?"

"Never mind. I'm sure you've already failed him as well. You're a plague, Beleren. A scourge to all those you claim to protect. Declaring your loyalty to me will be your first favor to this world."

A tendril wrapped around Jace's neck. Jace grabbed at it and tried to peel it back, but Vraska was strong, and her hair engulfed his face. He felt his throat clamp shut as the tendrils slithered tighter and tighter.

Jace struck into her mind, and immediately wished he hadn't. Her thoughts swirled with hundreds of ways of killing him or making him suffer. He saw himself choked to death. Tossed from a bridge in a sack. Pulled down into the muck of the undercity tunnels by grimy, clawed hands. Paralyzed and forced to watch snakes crawl into his clothes, while feeling their needle-like fangs sink into him. Her creativity was boundless.

He needed to push deeper, but he also needed to breathe. He conjured a spell.

Vraska was not impressed by the first illusion of another Jace lunging at her. She batted it away and it dissipated instantly. But the next Jace rushed toward her quickly enough to slash at her cheek with hands that were sharp as daggers. She hissed and clawed the image away. But the next one came even faster, and the next bolted toward her from the opposite direction.

Jace felt the gorgon's grip loosen as he sent image after image of himself at her. As the Jaces attacked, they changed. Their hands became claws. Their hair became snakes. Their eyes glowed with sinister light. They hissed as they emerged from the shadows from all directions, surrounding Vraska in a nightmarish horde.

Vraska couldn't fight them all. She began blasting them with her gaze. They came at her, turning to stone one by one as she lashed them with petrification.

As the stone statues multiplied, they became a cage. She was penned in by a dozen effigies of Jace. He hoped they were real enough to her to make her feel trapped, at least for the moment.

Vraska held the real Jace by her claws. She squeezed his neck again. "Send them away," Vraska whispered, and his breath was cut off.

And then the statues' lips began to move.

"You win," they said in unison, in Jace's voice.

Jace's Ingenuity | Art by Igor Kieryluk

"Back them off." She said it like a snarl, but there was a flicker of hesitation in her voice.

The statues retreated slightly, but she was still caged by their stone forms. "Jace will help you," they said. "But he has to know the plan first."

"You'll do what I tell you, when I tell you, Beleren."

"Kill him, and he can't influence the guilds for you," the statues intoned. "He has to know whether you'll be a worthy partner. Whether you're smart enough. Tell us. How do you intend to take over this city?"

Vraska squeezed for a moment, pressing all the blood out of Jace's head. But her grip relaxed again. "With your help, I will neuter all the guildmages. Disempower them by having you redraw territory borders, rupturing their mana bonds. Defang the guilds by taking their spellcasters. Then, one by one, I will assassinate the guild leaders."

"You, Vraska, will assassinate every guildmaster?"

"I was born to kill," she said. "And many in the shadows answer to me."

"Thank you," said the statues. Then they all tilted their heads. "Did you get all that?" they chanted.

Vraska looked around at all of them. "What?"

For a moment, the statues' eyes flashed, bathing Vraska in a blinding strobe. She put a hand up to her face to shield herself from the glare.

"There is a summit of many guild leaders going on at Sunhome tonight," droned the Jace statues. "Your statements have been broadcast to all those who've attended."

Vraska snarled. "Deal's over, Beleren," she said. "Now you die." She grasped the neck that she held in her claws, and crushed it.

It broke into rocky pieces.

She looked down, and instead of seeing a dead Jace, she saw that she had been holding the petrified form of her own assassin—the woman she had killed earlier. He had switched places with her at some point.

Vraska howled in fury. She spun and slashed at the cage of Jaces. Instead of breaking into pieces or dissipating into the air, they closed in on her. They sprouted ever more snakes from their heads, their eyes, their fingers, and constricted in around her. They grabbed her wrists. They intertwined with her tendrils.

With a shriek, she blasted them all back. Then she took a breath, closed her eyes, and planeswalked away.

-Magic the Gathering Story: The Gorgon and the Guildpact

What is going to make things even more difficult is that Jace can give his illusions an actual physical presence, making them a legit threat. It was displayed somewhat in his battle with Vraska but it is displayed even better with his battle against Garruk.

Eragon isn't just going to wade through a bunch of illusions while locked onto Jace via TP because these illusions are physical and capable of causing harm.

"Then I'll stop you. Garruk, this is not you. The hedron only keeps the curse in check, it hasn't healed you. Come with me." Jace held out a hand. Garruk took it.

"You're not taking me anywhere." Garruk pulled Jace toward him and head-butted him. Jace exploded into glass, shards flying everywhere, and Garruk could feel blood dripping from his face where the glass had cut him. Illusions could kill.

But so could he. He roared in the clearing as he unslung his axe. Figures of Jace sprung up all around him, each form a perfect copy, hands up in a defensive posture.

"I don't want to hurt you, Garruk."

"Lucky for me, I don't feel the same way."

"Garruk, this is not a fair fight. You've suffered enough. Please. Come with me."

Garruk swung his axe through the illusions. Each one shattered like glass. The air around Garruk solidified into an icy goo, his movements slowed, his breathing labored.

Gossamer Phantasm | Art by Jon Foster

"These illusions are good, Beleren. But to be this good..." Garruk's arm lashed out to the side and found what should have been an invisible form. "...you have to be really close."

Garruk's hand closed around Jace's neck. For the first time ever, Garruk saw a look of surprise on Jace Beleren's face.

"How? Garruk..."

He didn't beg. Garruk respected that.

"First, you spend too much time inside minds. Pay closer attention to the real world, Jace. Second..."

Garruk saw a shimmer in front of him, and a ghost image of Jace was superimposed over the real one. The image of Jace widened ever so slightly, and Garruk's hands automatically loosened to fit. This repeated until the real Jace had enough room to slowly ease his neck out of Garruk's grip. Garruk tightened the grip hard.

"How are you...? You shouldn't be able to..." Jace's words ended as he struggled to breathe.

"Second, you rely too much on illusions. Learn to fight, little man!"

Jace's face turned purple. Garruk loosened his grip slightly. Jace took in a big gulp of air, and let out a single word: "Monster." The first time Garruk had heard that word from Jace during their first encounter, it had been like a blow.

Garruk laughed. "You're right, I am a monster. Third, and this one is important: if you come after me again, or send someone, you will die. Do you doubt me?"

-Magic the Gathering Story: Monster

But it gets worse. Because some of these physical illusions aren't just illusions but instead actual creatures made out of pure magic. These are called phantasms. The thing about phantasms is that to the senses they appear identical to illusions. Just like real illusions you can see them and hear them, but they carry no scent. Pretty much the only way you are going to tell that this isn't an illusion but a creature made out of pure magic is when it hits you.

Here Jace uses illusions on werewolves that are ignored due to a lack of scent. Jace follows this up with a massive phantasmal bear that looks and sounds like an illusion and lacks a scent like one, but is actually a creature made of pure magic.

He sent an illusionary double of himself tumbling from the horse behind him. His duplicate rose and assumed a fighting stance, but the werewolves ran right through it. He risked a glance back and saw five of the things gaining on him, nostrils flaring.

Scent. Of course. They'd disregard anything that didn't smell real.

He could work with that.

He summoned another illusion, this one with substance and form. A hulking bear made of shining blue light took form behind him, a being of pure magic rather than a trick of the light—but still with no scent.

The werewolves ran toward it, heedless, thinking it was another insubstantial phantom, as it rose up on its hind legs in a threat display. It lunged and tackled one of them, and Jace glanced back to see the two combatants fall in a furious tangle of fur and light.

-Magic the Gathering Story: Unwelcome

And Jaces phantasms come in all kinds of shapes and sizes so he's not just limited to bears.

Summons

The summons would be more challenging, but Eragon is more than capable of contending with drakes and such, and I will leave this to discuss later in the debate.

Drakes are only the beginning. Jace's sphinx is his strongest summons. Hide strong enough to withstand tendrils that had previously killed one of Jace's drakes, speed faster than the eye can see, and claws that rip through iron as easily as flesh.

Sphinxes in MTG are also vastly intelligent, often way more so than humans, as well as having particularly powerful magic. She's easily the strongest summons he has at his disposal and is not just a primitive monster but a highly intelligent being with a vast intellect.

Now Jaces drakes are also powerful, as I explained in my first post. But thing that makes them even more dangerous is, again, illusions. In his battle with Tezzeret Jace used his illusions to create exact copies of one of his drakes, making it even more difficult to battle because of the multiple fake duplicates.

Jace focused his attentions on the space around the artificer, and a trio of winter drakes dropped from the sky. That they were merely illusory, for he dared not spend the mana necessary to summon them afresh, was irrelevant. Tezzeret couldn’t afford to ignore them, for among them was the surviving drake, a very real threat. And indeed he halted his advance, casting spells of protection against the cold he knew was coming.

-Magic the Gathering: Agents of Atifice

Telepathy

The battle will start with telepathy, as Eragon always engages rival spellcasters this way (it is practically how spellcasters always engage in the Inheritance Cycle universe). Jace will find it difficult not to succumb to the great number of minds attacking him, I am sure, but he is a powerful telepath and I don't go off assuming that the fight will end just then and there before it even begins (although that's up to you to prove).

If what you are claiming is true then this is likely to turn into a telepathic battle right off the bat, and it may even be decided solely by telepathic prowess. Jace's main thing is telepathy, if he gets assaulted by telepathy he's going to fight back which will start a telepathic duel. In this field I feel Jace is better equipped to win.

Firstly Jace is not lacking in raw power. Agents of Artifice Jace was able to hold Nicol Bolas's telepathic offensive at bay for an extended period of time AND Bolas used trickery to catch Jace off guard. I will note that Nicol Bolas wasn't focusing his whole power on Jace at the time, but even part of Bolas's power is absolutely absurd.

Jace felt his world spinning, overwhelmed at the intensity of Bolas’s fervor. Why … Why are you telling me this?

Why, Jace Beleren? I thought that you would care to know. That, and it made for a magnificent diversion, don’t you think?

Even as Jace froze, a lightning bolt of panic flashing through him, he felt the dragon’s mind sweep past, arrowing for gaps in the “net” of thoughts and notions with which he had surrounded Tezzeret’s mind.

His body rigid, as though he’d long since succumbed to the blizzard’s touch, Jace hurled the entire force of his will into a mental lunge. His mind screamed into the ice, and nobody heard. Like a closing fist, he snapped shut the grid of thought, trying to block Bolas before he—

Oh, dear Heaven!

Jace’s mind quailed before the greatest power he had ever felt. The innermost depths of Alhammarret’s psyche, the very core of the wizard’s being, had been nothing, a gentle springtime gust to the roaring hurricane that was this single tendril of the dragon’s mind.

That tendril became a spear, stabbing at Tezzeret’s mind. The web-work of Jace’s magic closed around it, trapping it between ideas. Bolas pushed, Jace squeezed, and for just an instant—precious little time, yet a far more impressive feat than Jace would ever realize—the young mage held fast.

Sweat poured from his brow and froze, forming a tiny hedge of his hair. His eyes watered, threatening to do the same, and Jace blinked them clear before the forming icicles could blind him. His head pounded, and the sky and the snow turned gray before his fading vision. In seconds, what little mana waited to be tapped underground was gone. He strained to reach farther out, hoping for more, and found almost none to be had. Bolas, or whatever wizards dwelt on this inhospitable world, had truly sucked the region dry.

His breathing came in short and ragged gasps, the frigid air burning his lungs. His stomach knotted, his fists clenched inside their gloves. He felt a capillary burst in his left eye, heard something pop deep in his sinuses. He felt a liquid warmth running from his nose, a warmth that didn’t last long before it, too, began to freeze.

Still the pressure grew, the mind-tendril shifting in his grasp, and Jace knew, without knowing how he knew, that the dragon had not yet begun to struggle. Maybe—maybe—if Jace had remained focused, if he’d caught the attack before it had already penetrated his scattered defenses, he might have had a chance. He could have altered the phalanx of concentration and deliberation that protected Tezzeret, closed the gaps before Bolas exploited them, and just perhaps repulsed the dragon long enough to get Tezzeret some sort of warning.

But now? Every instinct Jace had, every part of his soul, shrieked at him to retreat, to draw back into his mind and get as far away as possible. With a defeated gasp, he tumbled to the ground. His body shook, and the ice and snow around him turned pink with blood.

-Magic the Gathering: Agents of Artifice

Nicol Bolas is THE most powerful planeswalker alive post-mending. For all of their power and intelligence there are only a handful that even come close. The god's of Theros rank Bolas as one of the three most dangerous threats in the multiverse, right next to Eldrazi titans, and the Phryxian plague, and they believe that the entire pantheon might not be enough to save Theros if Bolas were to come. Yeno the gods of Theros, the place where Kiora stole her bident from the god Thassa, a weapon powerful enough to throw a sea. And an entire greek style pantheon of gods just like Thassa might not be enough to save the plane from Bolas.

For a more concrete showing of just how powerful Bolas is, here he defeats one of the only planeswalkers powerful enough to make Bolas work for a win...the spirit dragon Ugin. The two dragons simply circling each other is enough to cause a hurricane.

A hiss of bile and rage rose in Sarkhan's throat. And at that very moment, Nicol Bolas appeared out of a ripple of sky, like a dropped pebble in reverse, the world giving way for this being.

Bolas was positioned directly in Ugin's path. His wings unfurled like a billowing cloak, shadowing the sun with his liquid-dark scales. His great horns swept up, crownlike, with his gem hovering between them. The great elder dragon's attention was focused on Ugin, the one he had come to destroy. Sarkhan was still too far off for Bolas to notice—perhaps this was his chance to strike.

Ugin drew up with a flurry of wingbeats, taking in Bolas's arrival, and the two dragon Planeswalkers faced off.

Crux of Fate | Art by Michael Komarck

Bolas spoke something to Ugin, barbed words in low tones that Sarkhan couldn't hear over the wind. Ugin spoke back, calm and serious, with a note of warning, and Bolas's smile spread like a stain. The dragons spiraled around each other, great lungs and great wings churning air, eyes darting from weak spot to weak spot. The storm clouds encircled them, two titans at the eye of a hurricane.

Sarkhan flew as fast as he could, but his wings were failing him. His shoulders burned as he pumped his wings, and he was losing altitude, his tail skimming the clouds. Now that he saw Bolas again, a thousand years before he had laid eyes on him for the first time—or was this the first time, now?—he realized he could do nothing that would affect this mighty creature. Bolas was like a god, Sarkhan an insect. But he thought maybe if he flew in at the right angle—maybe if he blasted him with fire at just the right moment—he could distract him just long enough so that Ugin could deal the fatal blow. He clenched his teeth and flew on.

Bolas and Ugin dipped and dived around each other, occasionally switching directions, each matching the other's movements with jabs and feints. Bolas blew a gust of smoke from his nostrils and slapped at Ugin's wing. Ugin dodged to the side and made a test snap with his jaws. They threw spells, but not at each other—just shimmering runes on the air, laying mystical groundwork for the fight. They spun around each other, lashing out with a claw or a hot breath, never quite overcommitting to a strategy, never quite making the first true move.

Then Ugin roared, and it was the roar of a force of nature, the roar of an entire plane.

And with that roar, Sarkhan felt a wrenching impulse reverberate in his soul. The feeling spread through his draconic body, electrifying him, goading him to join the fight at Ugin's side, as if that roar spoke to the core of his very being. Some part of him was conscious of how strange this feeling was, but his dragon's brain seethed with irresistible drive.

Sarkhan found himself roaring in answer, and his muscles responded. As he roared, he heard calls from all the dragons throughout the tempests. Dragons appeared in droves, flying out of the dragon tempests toward the fight. Sarkhan's heart leapt—this was Ugin's advantage. The progenitor of Tarkir was calling his kind to fight at his side, and they were answering the call.

Bolas's grin dissolved. He attacked all-out with a barrage of jagged spells, pummeling Ugin with his strange utterances. Sarkhan saw Ugin recoil, chunks of glimmering scales exploding from his body, his head thrashing back and forth from some kind of simultaneous mental assault, his wings chopping at the air to maintain altitude.

Ugin, the Spirit Dragon | Art by Raymond Swanland

Ugin spun in the air and blasted back with his own magic. He cut an arc across Bolas's body with a torrent of invisible fire, and followed it up with a lunge of pale mist that struck like thunder. He pivoted in space, firing forth more invisible impacts. Bolas slapped away half of the assaults, but many of them landed, and Sarkhan saw the effort in Bolas's face.

Determination surged through Sarkhan, making his skin prickle with heat. This could be the crossroads of history, this moment. Tarkir dragons closed in in from every direction, a circular army collapsing in around its leader. Sarkhan even saw new dragons spawning from the clouds, each one born with a mission to fight for Ugin.

Sarkhan and the other dragons were about to converge on the fight. He swooped, about to blast a chestful of breath weapon onto Nicol Bolas, but then—

—a crackling of elemental energy, reaching up from the ground like fingers—

—a glance down, to see Yasova weaving some passionate elemental magic, her claw-rune spell meant not only to guide Bolas, but for some other, more disruptive reason—

—a body-wracking surge, as the elemental spell struck, struck him, struck dozens of dragons at once—

—a new impulse seizing Sarkhan's soul, even more powerful than Ugin's roar, goading him to fight—

—a strange bloodlust kindling in his heart, driving him to want nothing more than to—

Kill Ugin.

Yes, said his draconic heart. Yes, destroy the all-father. Destroy the progenitor who commands us. Destroy him, and be free of his rule.

No, said some small part of Sarkhan. No!

All around him, the other Tarkir dragons were seized by the same spell. Yasova's power drowned out the force of Ugin's call, and the dragons converged on Ugin instead of Bolas.

Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker | Art by D. Alexander Gregory

Sarkhan was close now. He could feel his ribcage filling with heat. He could feel himself wanting to unleash fire on Ugin, the very source of draconic spirit on Tarkir, the very dragon who brought him to this moment.

He exhaled. But as his breath was about to emerge as fire, instead he shouted a savage "No!"—a human word, shouted in a human voice, as he forced himself out of dragon form. His wings collapsed inside him. His face became stubbled skin instead of overlapping scales. And his drive to kill Ugin melted away, as the spell no longer gripped his draconic mind.

What gripped him instead was gravity. He fell.

And it was a long fall.

He fell past the Tarkir dragons, who breathed their fire and lightning and death onto Ugin from all sides.

He fell past Bolas, who never glanced his way, but only watched Ugin's own progeny shriek and attack their forefather viciously.

He fell through the churning clouds, and through a breathless distance of empty air.

He heard a thundering crack from high above, a sound with terrible, unmistakable import—Bolas's final blow, the battle-ending deathblow that broke Ugin's body.

As Sarkhan hurtled through air, he caught glimpses of the other dragons scattering like birds away from the disturbance.

Before he got to see Ugin himself, there was a savage, crunching bounce, as his body ricocheted once, and then sickeningly twice against the rocks of a great spiraling crag.

He took a chaotic tumble off one snow-padded cliff, onto another, and rolled down a slope, as his mind whirled along with his limbs.

Thundering motion and the cracking sound of an avalanche followed, and a crushing sensation. The world was all ice and snow.

-Magic the Gathering Story: The Reforged Chain

And hundreds of years after dying in this battle, the bones of Ugin's decaying corpse have enough magical power still trapped in them to rip people to pieces who get too close.

"There lies the Spirit Dragon." The Temur guide pointed to the canyon floor.

Sorin looked.

Bones.

The chasm stretched before him for hundreds of yards and, deep within the huge crack in the earth, Sorin could just make out places where a huge, skeletal rib cage stuck out from the ice like the bare beams of a cathedral.

"Impossible," Sorin whispered and staggered to the edge of the cliff. Sorin reached out and felt the lack of life far below him. He slammed his fist against the cold rock. "Oracle be damned! Lies and vagaries! That cannot be Ugin."

The warrior stared at Sorin.

"Take me down there. I must see for myself."

"It is dangerous," his guide said, emotionless. "All who enter the chasm have died."

"I don't care," Sorin said with a surge of ire. "Move. Now."

The warrior winced in pain, then moved along the cliff's edge. Eventually, a precarious path that led down to the canyon appeared. As they picked their way along the rocks and ice, Sorin couldn't take his eyes off the bones. Even against the white glare of the snow, they glowed and gave off a bluish mist. The magic trapped in them was still powerful.

They reached the floor of the chasm. A section of skeletal tail could be seen jutting out from the snow, the bluish mist emanating from it. The closer they got to the bones, the more Sorin could feel the forces at work—powerful magic from another age.

These were Ugin's bones.

The warrior guide began to falter as he struggled forward.

"Stop," Sorin said. The warrior wobbled on his feet. "No need for you to get ripped to pieces. Move back."

The warrior turned and took shelter in the lee of a boulder as Sorin moved toward the ghostly arc of ribs that rose overhead. The closer he came to them, the more he could feel the tidal forces of magic as they pulled at the very fibers of his being. He could feel the spark within him respond, holding him together as he moved upward through the Spirit Dragon's ribs toward the skull.

Blue mists of energy began to swirl around Sorin. He kneeled down to brush the snow from the solid ice below. There, within the darkness of the ice, gleamed Ugin's unmistakable skull. It looked at Sorin through the dead hollows of his eyes. Sorin reached out and felt for any sign of life, any shred of Ugin's spirit, but there was only a palpable void.

-Magic the Gathering Story: Sorin's Revelation

So yea there is no questioning Jace's raw power. Especially since his telepathic powers are always growing stronger and Agents of Artifice was one of his earliest and weakest incarnations. So Jace is even stronger now.

However, Eragon does bring a very unique challenge with the 132 dragon minds of his. That being said, Jace has an advantage of his own because his mind is shockingly unique. Eragon trying to get inside Jace's head will be confronted with something he will not be expecting. And that is a fractured and broken mind. Something you must know about Jace is that no mind is sacred, including his own. He screws around with his own head almost more than he does with other peoples. This plus his battle with Alhammarret has left his mind just...just f**ked.

You think 132 dragon minds is a lot to contend with? Try having the worse case of multiple personality disorder in existence. That's right, Jace has THOUSANDS of personalities.

Here is a passage where Jace allows another telepath planeswalker Tamiyo to look inside his head, and this is what she observes...

In an instant, she knew him. But it was not a simple thing to know this human. His mind was powerful, but broken. Shattered into a thousand shards, each of them a different man, many of them trying to work together, but some of them...

He had erased his own memories. He had destroyed his own truth. He had invaded the minds of the innocent, he had killed in anger, he had used his power for petty and selfish ends.

Yet.

He was capable of sacrifice, of bravery, and of understanding. He was willing to take on responsibilities. Too many responsibilities, perhaps, for one so young. Younger still, if you accounted for the years of his own life that he so roughly erased. His desire for truth was earnest, and his pledge to help the people of this place was pure.

And he was about seventy percent certain he could manage to do what he had told her that he could.

-Magic the Gathering Story: Stories and Endings

Damaging Jace's mind is not a threat to him. Infact, in a telepathic duel like you are certain will happen, Jace is more than willing to allow his opponent to damage his brain in order to score the win. Case and point is his battle with Ahlammarret, where Jace deliberately lets a more powerful telepath damage his mind in order to kill the sphinx.

“And what if I fell into the hands of an enemy mind mage? We can’t be the only ones, can we? Test me. Help me find my limits. Pry the information out of me.”

Alhammarret stood up, and the full force of his mind hit Jace like a storm front.

Art by Lin Yan

Jace had expected it to feel like an invasion, an alien force. But it was an overwhelming presence, a rush of thought and sensation enveloping his own. Alhammarret could rip Jace's mind apart. But to do that, he had to read it, and when he read it, Jace could do the same. Finally, he saw the true shape of the last two years, saw the perilous edge he’d been dangling from all this time.

Alhammarret had played him. He’d used Jace as a go-between, to gather information, deliver it, and learn more just in the delivery. And every time, he’d wiped Jace’s memory of it, taken the money for himself, and kept the war going. If your business was negotiating peace, where was the profit in actually achieving it?

Now Alhammarret knew everything, and settled into the recesses of Jace’s mind to wipe out the offending memories, to salvage this useful asset if he could. And destroy it if he couldn’t.

Jace struck first.

The sphinx was more powerful. But here, in Jace’s head, he was also vulnerable, provided Jace was willing to damage his own mind in the process. And Alhammarret was too arrogant and too cowardly to consider that possibility.

Jace felt himself falling backward, upward, outward. He could not remember his home, his mother’s face, or the sound of his own name. But the sphinx had it worse.

Alhammarret had forgotten how to breathe.

He slumped forward, gasping for breath, and the outline of his head was the last thing the planeswalker saw before he broke

into

pieces

and

walked…

-Magic the Gathering Story: Jace's Origin: Absent Minds

Eragon will have a hard time getting anything useful from Jace's head should he infiltrate it because his mind is a clusterf**k, and im pretty sure Eragon has never faced a telepath willing to take severe damage in order score the win. The 132 dragon minds will pose a unique problem, but Jace's mind is thousands of shards. And Eragon doesn't share nor will he expect Jace's self destructive nature, which is why Jace is better equipped to win a telepathic battle.

Cliffnote

• Jace's defenses and experience with mages from such a wide array of magics nullifies Eragons variety
• Jaces illusions can have physical form, and phantasms are creatures made out of pure magic that blend perfectly with illusions
• Illusions will make summons even harder to combat
• Jace's telepathy is power
• Jace's mind is completely damaged and messed up which will be surprising and will make it very hard for Eragon do things inside his head.
• Jace is perfectly willing to let his mind get damaged in order to score the battle in telepathy.

Your go

Will tag you ;)

@banthabot Oh goodie, walls of text! Lol, will reply as soon as I can.

@the_red_viper: sorry my next post shouldn't be so walk of textie.

@banthabot: Lol I was kidding, no problem.

TAG ME

@the_red_viper: @banthabot: Nice job so far guys!