Crossed Spell: Billow Vs Maestro

A hollow step broke the silence.

Dark robes and an even darker conscience seemed to haunt him wherever he went, trailing each step and staring at him from the shadow. He had wandered into a strange place on the tail of a powerful sorcerer, it had been a normal case so far and it looked like the reports might have exaggerated the man's importance. From a glance the case had been completely what Billow expected; a paranormal with amateur powers that was gathering a cultist following and getting involved with several gangs to gain power. Yet, when the trail led to a cathedral in the mountains he found his hair standing on end. Something about the place was old, like the burial grounds from Ireland, it radiated with fear and misgivings of the dead. If anything Billow should have been comfortable here but he wanted to duck out, turn and run.

There must be some magic tied to this place.

Indeed, he found himself in the main hall with wide pillars and a high balcony that traced the edge of the room. The clouds parted and let fresh rays of sunlight hit the floor, he walked into the light and found that it too had gone cold. The large wooden doors shifted behind him, the sliding click of locks and iron tumbled.

Billow started and brought both hands up as if to cast some spell to ward off the feeling that kept slipping around him like old ghosts, then he found a smile at the irony. A man cursed and bound to life in death, a true wraith, was jumping and skittering at the sound of spooks and simple parlor tricks. The old king that brought this upon him would have a grand laugh if he caught wind of this, a chase after some mobster lord gone wild and turned into a horror story where the detective couldn't settle down enough to do his job.

"Enough," he brought his hands together and the hood fell from his head automatically, "Light and Darkness part, fear be vanquished. Death is the true embrace."

His eyes closed and then opened upon the end of his chant, glowing with white power that would allow him to cut through the trick. It was one he could use himself so liberation would be simple, the enemy was close by...

However, his enemy was quite hidden from view and perception in the highest parts of the arches. The odd man perched like a gargoyle and titled his head from side to side. He was a small man, the manipulative kind and not possessed of the tiniest desire for a frontal confrontation. The plan was to lure the ghost and then summon up something to keep him busy, the vinegar to his baking soda as it were. The little sorcerer had many contacts and friends but he had learned from experience that situations like this were best met with a dash of confusion and a whole lot of distraction. He would find a way to chain the ghost to this old place, it had a history not too different from his own origins but to do that he needed for Billow to be weakened and he also needed a dash of time for the mixture to settle right.

The invisible foe closed his eyes and looked out with his true sight, the third eye. He found an old name he had only heard of and met in passing a long time ago, yes he had found out that this name had grown up and learned to take some knocks so he would employ the name immediately and without permission. The man's eyes would open and the teleportation spell would take place, for he had chosen the Maestro to entertain the hair trigger ghost. Surely the sudden pull would be enough to rile the sound contortionist, with a loaded canon detective at his immediate front a fight was bound to happen.

"Don't disappoint me," the sorcerer whispered to himself and brought forth the human with a flash of light and cheap smoke.

A hut in New Typhin

"Hehehehe." Joey laughed maniacally. A sense of malice could be heard through each syllable, "Straight flush, N!gga's!" Revealing his hand to the to ther warlords. They all sighed and groaned, while Urbs smiled in approval as he collected his money. "Good job Joey." He looked at the other warlords, "Told you that Joey never lost in this game." Texas hold em' and for some odd reason Joey never lost. After Beary's analyses of the man, they had detected no luck manipulation. But he was so good in this game , that there had to be some type of power helping him out.

"He's right you know.". Bredry had declined the offer to play with them, while Xango just hadn't been invited. Not because he was bad guy, just too new to the island. Sadly neither one could affect the outcome of the game, as Joey nodded in agreement to Urbs words. "I'm just too damn good ya know." The group laughed. And when they stopped, they realized something. Something that each one of them should have noticed right away, Joey was gone.

The cathedral

It was very spontaneous, yet within a fraction of second. Before even the instantaneous teleport has time to finish. A mobster, friend of Urbs is seen flashing through his mind. His memory flashing back to the time Beary had done business with him. He had always had suspicions of him, as Beary said, 'Magicians can wield as much power as God'. Then an image of a man.

Joey felt the mobsters fear of the man. How if Joey didn't win this, his life was forfeit. Joey was a bit scared himself. After all, what scares a being with the 'power of god'. And then the connection was made, almost by force. Joey was to challenge the being. As Joey knew for a fact, the only thing scaring a wizard, is one of power far beyond a humans. As soon as the connection was made he felt himself leaning on one knee, as if bowing to some king.

Lifting his chin up and opening his eyes, Joey sees the man who was in the vision. Not the magician, no, the one he feared. The menacing smile that had been witnessed at the poker game could be seen once again, Finally some fun. Thought the Maestro

I've got him.

The thought that came to mind when a target appeared was to end it immediately. Billow took only half a second to fully see what had appeared before him, a dark skinned opponent that had appeared in a kneeling position. Whether he was the wizard or not was impossible to judge and would waste time; something that the wraith wasn't a fan of when magic and sorcery was involved. With all the speed that allowed him to dodge point blank gunfire he dashed forward and dove just slightly above the revealed opponent his left hand rolled into a fist of steel that was locked firmly at his side while his right was stretched out in an attempt to grab the Maestro.

The dance had started.

Every time he made it to the end they wanted to fight and they wanted to fight hard, to let them move was to give them the chance to end even his immortal life. The normally bright green eyes of Marx wilder turned sharp, filled with intent and desperation that he was not capable of in his wraith form for it was a truly human emotion to want to win.

Regardless if his grab clawed air or not he had set himself in motion too fast to hold back. When he thought he should have been able to reach his quarry his left fist would come alive with white light and magic power. It swung outward in a hook angled down to try and impact this man's chest and throw him towards the ground as his spell came to full maturity.

"Soinneáin bán"

The flash of light that followed held explosive power that would a small crater in the ground regardless if his plan worked or not. He waited for the blinding effect of his own technique to pass and hoped his feet would find some level ground as he came to skidding halt.

Fast. Not beyond Joey's level, but still pretty fast. Smirking, Joey put up a crossblock over his chest. He would allow himself to get socked, but a chance to analyze his opponents strength should never be avoided. As Urbs once said, "The first punch may be the last... but it's better to end a fight, than to live in fear of what a man can do." It had helpedJoey become the man he is today. Hopefully the battle would last though, after all, his opponents eyes told him that this would be enjoyable to both parties. At least that's what he thought, until he heard "Soinneáin bán"

A fraction of a second passed as Joey's eyes widened. Magic... fuuuuu--- The thought was interupted as joey flew backwards hitting the wall. He flew straight into the sky. He knew that the pain he felt had to be ignored, and that constant movement was necessary. spiraling through the air, he threw down 4 marbles in a whipping motion. As he landed of the other side from where he started from, his back turned to his enemy, Joey quickly turned around and threw out another 4 marbles with a similar whipping motion as before. Then he quickly backed up a few paces, putting up a stronger version of his sound armor and getting into a proper fighting stance.

After all, "Magic never mixes well. Whether it mix with my bullets... or with your sound."

Billow landed on his feet a little rough, the first attack had gone off almost perfectly. That man had been fast enough to try and block but the magic at the last second was what threw him off guard, perhaps this wizard was more physical than spell oriented. Or was he a sorcerer at all? While he had appeared out of thin air he was caught off guard rather easily, Billow was under the impression that he had been tracking down a master planner. The supernatural detective established his short range battle stance again, one open palm forward and the left fist held back at his waist.

"That easy?"

That was the only question he was able to ask before the opponent flew up into the air harmlessly, or so he thought. The whipping motion was not very accurate but one of the marbles shot into his shoulder from an odd angel before undergoing something like an explosion. His eyes fell to his wound, it hurt something like a shot from a rifle and that arm was barely useable in that one motion now. When the opponent touched down on the ground Billow's attention went back to him, this time he was able to see the four marbles that came his way.

My attack didn't have as much effect as I thought. He's durable... I need to watch out for that attack and close my distance again. It's not that its' so fast as much as I couldn't see it from that angle.

Clutching his shoulder he ran in at full speed, weaving around the nearest projectile. As it came within a foot of him he tried to get a fix on what it was but it had no presence of magic and he was left with as much knowledge as he started with; whatever it was hurt decently. Billow jumped up into the air and spun in a counterclockwise motion, throwing his left heel out to crash with his opponent at head level but it wasn't his only plan. He hoped that the man would either block or dodge so he could follow up his motion easier.

"What kind of magic is that?"

He asked during his attack at close range.

As his enemy avoided his marbles, Joey was slightly impressed. He had been expecting an easy battle, hoping that maybe his enemy wasn't too durable, or perhaps not too fast. Both had just been proven incorrect, and Joey now had a decent label on his foe's power level. As his enemy came flying down with his heel he asked Joey, "What kind of magic is that?" Joey smirked as he counted the heel by throwing an uppercut that was backed by a fully powered sound armor.

Then he reached with his left hand, to try and grab any part of his enemy he could and tried whipping him into a pillar. Only when finished with his attack did he reply. "They call me Maestro" A grin appeared over his face, "Cause i work with sound."

When the uppercut caught his heel and spun him around, the ability to control his body in random situations came from a long life of crusading against the undead. Afterall, life was the best kind of teacher when it came to physical struggle. His left arm hung limply at his side, the shoulder would not heal until he took the time out to take care of it or transformed; which was something he wasn't ready to do yet. When his feet touched the ground he activated another spell for a brief moment, the one that had been specialized with close combat in mind.

Suaimhneas.

With this he was able to catch the Maestro's movement halfway there and see what he was going for, his hand was open with the fingers sprawled out; similar to how his initial attack had been when they first clashed. Due to the impact he received from the uppercut he had landed sideways with his right side towards Maestro when he touched the ground, in this frozen moment he decided how to proceed. If nothing else the insight would confound him and grant a moment of confusion, in most cases the Maestro's attack would work perfectly against a normal opponent. Yet, he had to limit his use of the spell for long periods of time, it was meant for only a second or two and usually against multiple opponents.

When the spell let go everything spun into motion again he combo'ed the second spell into his next movement.

"Mhéadú."

He spoke with an even and chilling voice, moving his hand just to the side of the Maestro's attempted grip where he would then set a steel grasp into the joint of his elbow if he could. At the very least he would be smacking the hand away and follow the motion before it had quite finished with a powerful side kick, in his already turned stance, augmented by the effects of his spell to increase his speed and strength substantially.

"Sound is an interesting power, so inlaid in the world like an ancient magic of its' own."

What... was that? After the uppercut, something unexpected had happened. There had been a glitch in time. Damn magic. His elbow was about to be caught by his opponent. Not without his own attack of course. Maestro threw out a single marble at his enemies back. Using the distance gained as a surprise attack. But just as he threw the marble, a foot crashed into his ribs. Somehow passing through the sound armor, the kick didn't do that much damage. The sound armor at least cushioning the kick. And instead of slowing him down, he used it to gain distance advantage by juking to the right.

"Sound is an interesting power, so inlaid in the world like an ancient magic of its' own." Joey only smirked. The time for talk was done. An understanding had been formed of his opponent. And in an instant, Maetsro realized it was time to go all out. Whipping his hands into the air, he subtly sent 4 marbles out, two for each of his hands. He made sure to dash at his opponent at the same time, both subtly bombing sound marbles, while also going in for close combat. He threw an overhand left with two marbles, then used the overhead right as an hard to dodge combo. When he finished the attempted combo, the marbles would be landing.

BURNING! BURNING! Focus...

The marble thrown at his back was more distracting than the one that originally smashed into his shoulder, given the angle and movements taking place at the time it wound up grazing his back like a misplaced bullet. It creased the top of his skin and left him with a nasty burn, that was much more distracting than normal pain though because of his weakness affiliated with fire. Even with his enhanced strength it looked like the first attack didn't do as much damage as he wanted it to, he summarized some sort of barrier was interfering.

Though his enhanced speed would benefit him. He was moving ten times as fast as before, nothing to laugh at either considering he was quite fast before. When Maestro made his whipping motions in the air Billow made to dodge the familiar movement, but the singe across his back flared up so he did the only thing that he really had time for. Using his good arm to plant he spread his legs and fell to the ground to dodge the incoming projectiles, with the plant he made Billow shoved himself forward into Maestro's dash and scissored his legs to try and collapse the target.

With the scissoring motion let his legs pass one another regardless if he missed or not, spinning and using the momentum to push off into a one-handed handstand before he came down on the spot where he tried to trip Maestro with his right heel, intent on cratering his target.