Lord Memphis
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In a moment of adrenalin-corrupted stupidity, Rattigan grinned. Having turned his back on the explosion as it occurred, Rattigan was limited to what he heard so as to determine the aftermath. What he heard, and interpreted, was far from the reality, and even further from what he had seen as an ideal outcome. What he had heard and interpreted was a clean, crisp pop, which echoed slightly throughout the acoustically prevalent arena, yet was ephemeral beneath the growing sounds of some whipping vortex nearby. Though he was facing a wall of spikes at the time, he knew what this would mean. This signalled the successful reaction of the makeshift flash device with the suppressed layer of flammable gases bottled in the flask, resulting in both a blinding, incandescent white explosion and the production of rather a lot of smoke. These would couple together favourably, and leave the giant at a disadvantage for either the beginnings of their battle, or Rattigan's hasty exodus from the vicinity. Either way, things could not have gone better, considering the circumstances. The reality is that, although the incendiary had done the intended task perfectly well, it had somehow failed to be effective in deterring the figure. Perhaps it had not landed in the correct line of sight, therefore doing nothing detrimental to the other contestants. Perhaps some object had blocked the path of light from explosion to eye. Perhaps by some freak of nature the brightness of the light was absorbed by some invisible, malevolent being intent on bringing eternal penumbra upon the land. Or, perhaps, it just wasn't enough to do anything significant. Whichever reason it was, this beast of a man now knew that he was being attacked by something, and also knew who the culprit was. To swing the balance ever further into his perceived failure, it seemed the brute had mistaken who had thrown the flask at him, and was now charging towards an unsuspecting, unprepared servant of the light elsewhere in the complex. This effectively gave him the upper hand in subterfuge, as he would be able to orchestrate an equally ingenius follow-up while he was free from immediate threats, and also almost guaranteed some poor, unlucky soul would be unable to challenge his dominance in the heat of the moment. Truth, though, is far different from the persistence of reality, and the fabrications of memory. To swing the balance ever further against Rattigan, the figure had turned to him, intent on bringing the first death to the conflict. The brute even managed to somehow warn Rattigan of his less-than-amiable intentions with a bloodthirsty cry out to him, branding him a false servant of the light, and promising his timely destruction. And yet, Rattigan still did not even indulge his opponent by moving. Instead, he turned on the spot to face a scene far, far different to the one he had expected to lay eyes upon. One in which he was thrust so very far into immediate danger, with only his own improvisational spark to assist him. A metallic, yet percussive clash marked the connection of the twin blades with the sonorous floor and walling. It also marked an apparent severance of any possible escape routes. “Oh, you mean I'm the servant of the Light? Well, why didn't you say so, you rascal, you?” Called out Rattigan, attempting to maintain a smooth, unconcerned attitude with which to taunt the imminent threat that awaited him. After all, demoralisation was the greatest psychological defeat an army can suffer. Yet, it seemed not to work, as the figure charged forward, baring his hands as he did so. It was only then that Rattigan realised how truly immense this man's build was. He seemed to dwarf the others nearby to the size of rodents, and was quite the intimidating sight to behold. With a sigh, he clenched his fists a gritted his teeth, and readied himself for what would happen next. This would be quite the challenging situation, with the highest possible stakes on the metaphorical table. However, as stating before, reality is different to perception. The perception is that Rattigan had found himself staring, much to his surprise, at a charging behemoth with only a second or so to react. The reality is that Rattigan had been eyeing the shadows cast by a sun of the early morning and the blurred reflection the spikes revealed to him. He had seen, as the elongated shadow figure elucidated to him, that the figure had turned to face him, and was undeterred by the sudden visual inhibitor. This corroborated with the blurred, distorted reflection the architectural weapons of war pinned to the wall told him. It was as soon as he saw this that he began to act, once more reaching into a previously opened belt pouch. The inner lining was soft to the touch, and padded heavily. However, the stitching was of no importance whatsoever. The contents of the bag, though, was vital to his survival. Three tubes filled with a runny black liquid clinked together as he produced them each simultaneously, popping the corks in turn with his thumb. Still facing the spikes, and trying his very hardest to concentrate both on the shadow and the intricate manipulation of his digits at once. Time was running out fast, now, and he tipped the first tube upside down behind his back, with the substance settling on the floor in a rather thinly spread puddle. He repeated this with the other two tubes, and surveyed a rather large puddle that seemed to plane across the flat surface of the metal floor through the corner of his eye. As one last embellishment, he dropped each of the glass containers to the floor, and heard a satisfying shatter as they spread out across the tiny ocean of oil. Normally, Rattigan would have used such an oily substance only to add the extra kick of flammability to a mixture, but he had also observed that it reduced friction dramatically if placed on a surface. It was this latter use that would be employed today, as Rattigan turned to stare into the face of death. He hoped only to distract this monstrously large form by talking, buying himself more time to eye any changes to surroundings before making his manoeuvres. As the figure charged, and the blades whistled through the air, he stood his ground, clenched his fist and gritted his teeth, yet only so as to lure his enemy forwards until it was too late to stop. For as the creature came ever nearer, Rattigan dived to the side across the floor, skidding slightly as he did so. Once more, he found himself facing away from his enemy, but he rather hoped that they would slip through the oils on the floor, perhaps also cutting themselves on the shattered glass, and head straight for the spikes at their speed of acceleration. In theory, it was the perfect plan under the circumstances, yet he half doubted this as he craned his neck to observe the results.
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