Suddenly, everything had turned on its heel.

A single ice lance would have been easy to avoid, but Rehtul Orlouge’s mastery of the elements and Shinsou’s injuries meant that seven was just too great a number, even for the Telgradian. Osiris drew Enpera across him defensively, shattering the first two spears, and rolled away on his right shoulder across the frost encrusted grass. It was agonising to roll on the injury, but proved neccesary to avoid a third from striking him directly in the chest. The fourth and fifth followed him mercilessly but only succeeded in grazing his left arm, cutting an icy trail through his coat and freeze burning the skin on his arm. The sixth buried itself with a sickening “thwack” through his thigh, whilst a seventh only just missed his head by an inch.

The pain in his leg was both excruciating and debilitating, and he had to act quickly if he had any chance at all of getting through this alive. As Rehtul started to enclose himself in more of the damned ice, Shinsou snapped the protruding lance at either end. With an agonised grunt, he pulled out the broken half, leaving a large ripple of puckered flesh on display.

Fucking hell…shoulder’s gone, leg’s fucked. What now?

When he turned his head to look up, Shinsou got an instant reminder of his fight with John Cromwell all those years ago. There was the man-child, now encased in an armour of blue and silver ice that seemed to cover every inch of his body. It was just like when John sealed himself away in a suit of jade to stop his attacks, only this time his opponent could move. The gleaming overcoat seemed weighty and unwieldy, but the Telgradian now knew that it would only take Orlouge to summon a plethora of those ice lances to stop him for good. Unlike John, Orlouge didn’t need to be near him to kill him.

Luckily, that was a two way street.

“Orlouge!” The Telgradian shouted, unsure if his words would penetrate the thick ice enveloping him. “One last push!”

His brow sweating, and his eyes flaring with pride and passion, Shinsou outstretched his sword arm and flipped the blade until the point was directed to the frozen soil beneath. As he gripped tighter and performed the incantation, the gleaming Enpera began to glow a magnesium white.

“Shin no Kotei: 3rd Grade!”

Enpera stopped glowing, and there was an audible “hiss” from the sword as if cold water had been poured onto an oven. The sound of grating earth rose from where Shinsou’s feet dug into his position. He tensed, every damaged and fit muscle in his powerful body coiled as tightly as an Aleraran watchmaker's precision mechanics. There would be no going back and no safe harbour for the ice-clad Orlouge now. His fate was entwined with the shuddering Telgradian.

With two quick stabs, Shinsou Vaan Osiris destroyed his own eyes. The scream was blood curdling, and the pain almost unbearable on top of the severe injuries he had already sustained. There simply weren't enough synapses for the brain to comprehend what pain belonged to what part of the body anymore, so instead his entire being burned in a cauldron of suffering. The only thing keeping him alive was the knowledge that Rehtul, too, would suffer the same wounds due to the effects of the 3rd grade of Shin no Kotei. He didn't know just what else the mage was capable of, but the Telgradian knew that he could still sense where the mage was through his spirit sense. It was going to be crude at best, but if this worked, Rehtul would have no way of finding Shinsou, and Osiris would at least have crude navigation.

It was an ability that had proven an insurance policy up until today, but now it was the crux on which this contest rested.