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He feels the powerful effect of Ertai's pull on the Flow around them; energy coalesces into a blade with which Vexic cleanly blocks his slice in a shower of sparks. The Elder God pushes into him. He grunts and they repel one another, each sliding a few inches in the ash and dirt.

"Who dares point a blade at my back..."

Ertai throws up his hand, a symbol of power still recognized at least since ancient Rome. Debris rushes away from them both; the masked man stays his sword, almost feeling sorry, but stares the Elder God down with a glare still evident in his sheening golden eyes.

"So I guess my powers are failing me as we speak, if I cannot sense your very presence on a world bound to me then this will be a problem..."

Ertai snaps his wrist and the blade polishes itself. Corourke quicksteps inward, unleashing a powerful horizontal slash from Ertai's left to right in an attempt to knock the god's blade awry and gain some ground. He keeps distance between himself and his opponent's blade, however, cursing under his breath at the fact that his surprise attack was foiled all by either a shimmer in the pond's water or the flash of his blade. Perhaps I'll have to take him bare-handed yet.

Ertai attempted to parry or deflect his blade in a circular motion by coming from either the inside or outside while making a steep jab for Corourke's right lung. The Elder God would have to manipulate the double-edged, speeding blade by the flat lest one of its edges thrum straight through the palm of his hand.

Being a broadsword, Corourke's weapon was large, gripped firmly in the masked man's hands, and didn't seem to make any note of budging--in some ways, the weapon had a mind of its own. It could very well sing straight through Ertai's guard and cleave into the bone along his left flank. If Ertai pushed up on the weapon with sufficient strength, it might miss his head and cut off a few strips of hair.

Corourke had planned on breaking through any guard with brute force alone, but he had a retaliation to deal with in the form of a blade coming for his right lung. Midway through his slash, he ripped his hands away from the hilt of his blade after giving it the force he desired. He set the weapon into a parry-disrupting spin; if he couldn't slash Ertai with the first attempt, this was his second, a counterattack meant to make Ertai's parry backfire as the large sword spun like a propeller to cleave into whatever it could. In doing so he threw his hands to his right side and jerked his body in that direction; where once had been right lung was now only air, Ertai's blade stabbing through the window between his upheld arms and torso. He side-stepped backward out of range and smiled friendly-like beneath the mask.

"Child... You will soon be a part of me."

He stood tall, his eyes creasing upward sheepishly, and rubbed his right hand through his hair, unsure of what to do next. "Heheh.." He had knives tucked into his buckled coat and a side sword strapped his belt, but what good would they do against a being who could devour his very soul?

As his opposition turned the blade inwards his metal laden palm shot out a stream of sparks. His attack was merely a feint yet it was ill fated that Johanna had spoken. Ertai's concentration had shifted hearing her voice as his weapon dissipated in response to his feint, but his opposition had indeed started a spinning attack motion and with it Ertai would suffer the brunt of it as his chest was cleaved open from the center of his chest up across his right breast. He staggers back and was hit with the second swipe of his oppositions blade, this one following across the opposite direction leaving a large V wound.

Ertai fell back upon his staggering about three or four feet. His pale eyes lit up with the sensation of being cut open. He gasped lightly as his wounds weakly started to stitch themselves back into proper place, yet his black blood continued to leak.

"You.. You little b*****d..."

He cursed as he held his wounds, staggering to one knee. His gaze shifted as he looked towards Johanna and extended his hand to her, opening his grasp was a faint white light and in a moment they were gone.