What Lies Within

Gavin had hoped that the tree man would have survived for a little while longer, since it had a fair amount of synergy with his next summon. Unfortunately though, it turned out to be little more than a speed bump.

[Oh well, even if he's got a means of cutting wood easily, he won't be able to handle the Hounds of Annwn without some difficulty.] He thought as he put the finishing touches on his next summon.

Three snarling masses of fur and teeth materialized in front of him, taking the shape of large, black-coated dogs with red ears and glowing eyes. Spectral wisps of dark fog clung to them, making it difficult to see their true form. In unison, they broke out into deep and guttural growls that chilled even Gavin, despite being used to these otherworldly beings. There was something about the supernatural hunting hounds that inspired fear, even in the bravest of men.

Without needing his explicit instruction, they leapt forward to attack Adrian, not bothering to even run around the corpse of the Lesidhe and simply passing through the wooden creature's remains as if they didn't exist. Each of the three beasts angled themselves to attack the youth from a different direction, forcing him to divide his attention between them. This particular strategy had often overwhelmed Gavin's more inexperienced enemies, since, although they weren't particularly dangerous to the average practitioner, the hounds were immune to most traditional kinds of damage. As spectral creatures, one needed specialized means to deal with them.

Considering that his opponent was likely some kind of Knacked, it seemed unlikely that he would have the skills necessary to defeat them. Unless he was well-versed in the folklore of Gavin's ancient home, he would be helpless in front of their onslaught. Or at least, that should have been the case.

Just before reaching Adrian, all three of the hounds froze in their tracks, literally skidding to a stop. At first he wondered if the youth had put up some kind of warding effect, but he was quickly left flabbergasted by what happened next.

The Hounds of Annwn were supposed to be the manifestation of the fear felt by prey during the Wyld Hunt. They were essentially terror incarnate, and as such he'd never seen them act timid in the least. Even when fighting powerful and well-prepared practitioners who could make use of spirit banishing techniques, they never ceased to be aggressive. So, hearing them whine piteously was jarring beyond belief.

All three of them sank down onto their haunches, ears flattened against their spectral skulls and eyes focused on Adrian. It was the posture of abject submission.

"Begone." The youth growled, his voice carrying a level of latent hostility that sent shivers down Gavin's spine.

At his word, all three of the hounds vanished in puffs of dark grey smoke, returning from whence they came. In a radical departure from his previous expression, he fixed Gavin with a cocky grin and mocked, "I'm surprised you've managed to stay undefeated so long. Are you done? Should I put an end to this farce?"

Another practitioner might have wavered or gotten angry, but Gavin had been in many difficult duels before, and it would take a lot more than a little prodding to make him lose his cool. "Now, now, hold your horses, lad. I'm just getting warmed up. Wouldn't be much of a show if I went full speed right out of the gate."

While he was bantering, Gavin was working to complete two more rituals, which would culminate in one of his most deadly summons. He'd usually move onto a few more delaying tactics while lining up for a finishing blow, but considering how easily Adrian had dealt with his last two moves, he'd need to pull out all the stops.

[Alright, lad. You've been pretty arrogant up to this point, let's see how you deal with the manifestation of death itself.]

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Adrian watched as the practitioner did...something with one of his hands. For pretty much the entire duel, he'd been making some unusual gestures and waving that sprig of mistletoe around in an almost rhythmic fashion. He assumed it was part of the process he used to summon the creatures, but he couldn't rule out the possibility that it was some kind of ruse as well.

Unfortunately, the Hall's implanted knowledge didn't seem to cover the abilities of practitioners, and the lack of information was starting to irritate him. He didn't like being in the dark about so many things, but didn't see a clear way of learning all he needed to in the short span of time he had at this gathering. Which was part of the reason he'd been acting cautiously in this duel. He didn't want to commit himself to an attack until he was sure it would be effective.

[Confident banter or no, judging by his last two attempts, I doubt he's really a threat to me. Perhaps I should just bring an end to this fight…]

As he was contemplating simply disabling Gavin from a distance, another summon appeared with a now familiar wash of displaced air. Instantly, he could tell that this one was different.

With the hair-raising scream of a maddened equine, a humanoid figure mounted on a horse faded into existence. The steed was a black-coated beast nearly two meters tall at the shoulder. Wisps of dark smoke issued forth from its eyes and ears, and sparks exploded from beneath its hooves as it slammed both forelegs into the ground with a titanic crash.

The rider himself was clad in a black leather coat and pants, but his most distinguishing feature was the empty spot above his shoulders, where his head should be. In one hand, he carried the missing appendage, gripped by lengths of greasy, matted hair. It was greyish-green and rotted, like the head of a drowning victim found a week after their death. It's mouth was carved into a garish grin that seemed to extend from one ear to the other, something which was made all the more disturbing by hysterical laughter that issued from it in a jarring cacophony. In its other hand was a lengthy, whip-like weapon, seemingly made out of a human spinal column.

Staring at the apparition, Adrian felt a trickle of unease. Something about it seemed to spark a sort of primeval dread deep within his mind. While he was still confident of his ability to remain victorious, after all he still had several trump cards in reserve, he felt the need to tread cautiously from here on out.

[A headless horseman? From that old story? No, based on what I've seen so far, I imagine Gavin is drawing from an older mythos.] He thought, summoning forth the power of the Hall in preparation for dispatching the creature.

Before he could, the dark rider raised his decapitated head, pointing it at him and momentarily interrupting its stream of laughter. The gash-like mouth split open to reveal its rotted, yellow and green teeth, and in a harsh whisper it slowly spoke a single name.

"Aaaddddrrriaaannn."

For a brief moment, he was reminded of an old movie, and nearly laughed at the comical utterance. However, he was quickly overcome by a sharp stabbing pain in his chest, forcing him down to his knees.

[Crap, I need to-] He started, before the waves of pain crushed all conscious thought. He was dimly aware of the grating sound of metal horseshoes striking the concrete as the horseman rode forward slowly. With his vision narrowing to a point and the air frozen in his lungs, he reached back to his connection to the Hall, and drew every ounce of power he could.

As soon as he did, a tidal wave of cold hatred surged forth from the depths of his soul, nearly crushing him under the full force of the emotional onslaught. He could feel the barbed tendrils of the Hall's influence sinking deeper into his mind than ever before, bringing with it an icy, burning agony as the eldritch entity began to once again eat away at his psyche.

Grimacing in a combination of disdain and anger, he growled. "You think because I called upon you, it gives you the right to take what you want from me? That you can take advantage of my moment of weakness? You forget who is the master and who is the servant."

Wielding mental and spiritual muscles he didn't understand, or even knew he had, he gripped the shadowy presence in his mind, squeezing and crushing it in an attempt to subvert it for his own use. For a moment, there was no progress, and even his best efforts seemed to have no effect, but slowly he began to pull the tendrils free, bending and tearing them off at the root.

This continued for what felt like an eternity, but finally the Hall's presence wavered and let go, before flowing into him in a much more submissive state. As power began to surge through his body in even greater levels than ever before, he made sure to focus his full attention on the piece of the Hall that still remained within his mind. It felt...cowed. For now, at least.

[It seems I will need to have a long conversation with you in the near future.]

With an ease that belied his previous weakness, he rose to his feet and moved to dispatch the dark rider, which had ceased to be a threat to him.

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The Dullahan stepped closer to his victim, once again resuming his usual maniacal laughter. As one of the most powerful Fae creatures in his arsenal, Gavin rarely needed to resort to summoning it. The fact that he even felt the need to, indicated just how badly he'd underestimated the Bureau's upstart.

[They've found themselves a real ringer, haven't they? Good thing he's still so inexperienced, otherwise I might have been in trouble.] He thought to himself as he watched his summon step up to deliver the finishing blow.

Thanks to the enchantments placed in the dueling ring, even the Dullahan's death curse wouldn't be enough to kill the youth. Inside it, the effects of instant death attacks were severely reduced by the protective wards. Still, when used against the unprepared, it should be sufficient to render all but the most resilient of practitioners helpless. Most duelists would have attacked immediately after the creature formed, striking at the decapitated head, or perhaps warding it away with an offering of precious metals if they were particularly knowledgeable. Since Adrian did neither, his fate was sealed.

[Now, lets see. How best should I extract my payment…]

The lights embedded in the ceiling suddenly flickered and died, submerging the room in an impenetrable darkness that elicited gasps and a few muted screams from the audience. Gavin quickly activated one of his charms that should have created a fairy light to illuminate his surroundings, however, it only briefly sprang into existence before being devoured by tendrils of shadow that seemed to emerge from the air itself.

"What…" He whispered, as the air cooled dramatically, leaching the heat from his body until he enacted a quick ritual to increase his cold resistance. Nevertheless, he couldn't dispel the chill that was creeping into the back of his mind.

Even the Dullahan seemed to be cowed by the sudden change, as it's usually omnipresent laughter was brought to a complete halt, replaced instead with the panicked whinnying of a horse in the throes of true terror. Whatever his summon was now facing, it was clearly something beyond the understanding of mortal minds.

He moved to pull his last resort out of his pocket, but was forced to stop as the despair reached him, too.

Despite having centuries of experience combating some of the most dangerous creatures known to the Order, Gavin had never felt quite so powerless as he did then. A choking, suffocating wave of fear washed over him, rendering all thought of resistance hopeless. It felt like he was standing face-to-face with some titanic beast or force of nature that was poised to destroy him. There was nothing he could do to change his fate. Nothing remained to him but to await his inevitable demise at the hands of that unnatural thing.

So terrifying was this experience that it took him a few moments to recognize it for what it was. The darkness that devoured the light, warmth, and even hope of those within it was part of some terrible aura. The kind that practitioners could emanate as a display of power, only with a scale and intensity that should have been impossible for any mortal being to achieve. At the moment, surrender seemed to be the only option…

As suddenly as it appeared, the despair vanished, and the lights flickered back on, dispelling what remained of the strange experience.

At first Gavin felt relief for having escaped that nightmare, but his blood quickly chilled once more when he caught sight of the Dullahan.

Both the fae creature and his horse were hanging, suspended, from hundreds of needle-like projections of pure darkness that seemed to emerge from the floor to impale them. A few spasmodic twitches of their limbs indicated that death had come for them very recently, perhaps even at the moment that the lights had returned.

Gavin was still staring at the horrific sight when a voice snapped his attention back to the other side of the dueling ring.

"Sorry about that. I quite lost control of myself there." Adrian commented dryly. "Now where were we?"

Any thought of replying to the youth banter died in Gavin's throat as he finally noticed his opponent's appearance.

Adrian's eyes had turned completely black, with tendrils of shadow leaking out of them to carve their way across the rest of his face. It almost appeared as if the darkness was attempting to devour him, starting with his head. Yet, as he watched, the tendrils slowly retreated, disappearing inside of the youth's pupils and leaving his unmarred face behind.

Noticing his gaze, Adrian gave a feral grin. "What's the matter? Are you ready to give up?"