A wave of concussive force blasted outwards from Shamesh towards the lead assassin. Alexander started chanting another spell: "Echoes" The lead assassin dove towards it with his sickles' blades between himself and the blast.

Thankfully, Alexander's spell chant was drowned out by Shamesh's roll of thunder so the lead assassin hadn't been able to pick up on what spell the young court mage was starting to cast. Unfortunately, the tornado around them was momentarily weakened by the shockwave which allowed one of the auxiliary assassins a clear visual of what was happening inside. The tornado winds were still howling strong but the brief glimpse through the smoke-filled tornado was enough for him to decide to help the lead assassin in a more direct manner.

The lead assassin passed through Shamesh's Thunder Wave with ease, only mildly slowing as his clothes were yanked on by the shockwave. He was then slowed again even before his increased gravity could pull him to the ground by a second Thunder Wave from Shamesh. " of " Alexander continued. The lead assassin landed in a roll right into another Thunder Wave.

Before the shockwave from Shamesh's spell could throw him away, the lead assassin dug his sickles into the ground and weathered it. That kept him low enough that Shamesh's suddenly recalled puppeted stones and boulders passed over him on their way to orbit around the bone wizard. "Pri-" Alexander began the third word of his spell chant. Everything was happening far too quickly for him. He had no idea how Shamesh was throwing Thunder Wave spells out every half of a second but he was sure that his partner would not be able to sustain it for long, especially while he maintained control over over a dozen pieces of debris.

The assassin sprang into a charge towards Shamesh but was met by a cluster of debris. He abruptly switched directions to run at Alexander, because Shamesh was now too well defended, but was instantly met by a wall of stone shards and shrapnel. Shamesh had cast a fourth Thunder Wave and sent all of his puppeted debris exploding outwards towards the assassin. He had been planning to draw the assassin in closer to himself first but the abrupt change in targets had forced his hand.

The assassin was forced to shield his head and face from the blast which gave Alexander enough time to take a step forwards and teleport to the other side of Shamesh. He felt his mana pathways scream at him from the maneuver of casting a spell while still in the process of casting another spell, but he knew both spells well. The short range teleportation spell Flicker Step and the Hail of Fists spell had no overlapping areas of mana pathway dependence. That meant that he could technically cast them both at the same time as long as he had the mana to spare and had enough control to cast them in the 'wrong way'. Mages of all kinds were taught to always cast a spell with the entirety of their being because doing so increased efficiency and decreased casting speed. Now, the latter part of that only mattered with spells that had a charge time that was longer than their chant, like Lenna's Hellflame Strike. The charge time of her spell started when she entered the stance that preempted hand motion and chant.

Alexander's primary defensive array activated to protect him from a few pieces of stone that would have hit him instead of the assassin. Shamesh didn't have a defensive array woven into his clothes because he was not a court mage with court mage resources. Two separate Reality Shields had stopped the two largest of the four pieces of stone that had hit him. As it was, Alexander would likely have two new bruises but the impacts had been light enough that he had been able to simply power through the pain.

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As Alexander turned around, his teleportation had put him behind Shamesh with Shamesh at his back as well, he caught sight of a sickle sweeping around the side, right through the space that he had just occupied and on a direct course towards Shamesh's head. Shamesh no longer had to pour mana and concentration into telekinesis so he switched to a 'sling and shield approach'. A Realty Shield showed up to stop the incoming sickle and Shamesh's fingers danced in the air as six glowing embers formed around him. "-mordial" Was all that Alexander had been able to continue of his spell chant. He had barely finished his third word and so much had already happened. If they didn't find a way to lock down, slow down, or put down the assassin soon, Shamesh was going to burn himself out and they were both going to die.

The lead assassin pulled his sickle back to him as he danced through the small storm of embers that Shamesh had sent at him. Before Shamesh could chain into another set, the assassin touched another golden circle on his belt. A roll of mana from a defensive spell rolled outwards across the local area of around thirty feet. The entire area had just become bathed in 'Teleportation Ban'. Alexander would no longer be able to Flicker Step away defensively, but more worrying, he would not be able to use any other teleportation spell to rescue himself from this combat should Shamesh fall. Alexander knew that he had no way of fighting the lead assassin on his own and he was still unsure of the status of the other four auxiliary assassins. "Vi-" Alexander continued. He was in an awful place to cast the spell but he was starting to see the battlefield more and more clearly.

The assassin charged at Shamesh once again, this time bringing both sickles in from opposing directions, as Shamesh's second set of embers were still forming, and Alexander started running around the side of his fellow wizard. "-o-" Alexander got out with his first step. Shamesh jumped backwards, as both sickles flew through where he had just been, and his embers finished forming. Alexander took his second step "-lence." He finished. The assassin leapt into the air over Shamesh's next barrage of embers as he yanked his sickles back towards himself.

Shamesh's feet brushed across the ground as he began to land from his backwards leap, the lead assassin reached the apex of his leap much faster than he usually would, courtesy of his Quicken spell, and Alexander's spell burst into life. The lead assassin began his fall just in time for thirty six illusory gray fists to fly at him, all originating from Alexander who was less than ten feet away, with twenty five of them actually being made of magically conjured gray stone.

Alexander was smart, however, and did not aim them up into the air but rather directly in the assassin's falling path. Before the assassin even managed to hit the ground, he was pummeled by over a dozen solid stone fists that crossed the distance in less than a fifth of a second. The assassin had just enough time to tuck his legs up and shield his head. Each of the fists hit with as much force as one from someone like Walter. They were solid and could do some damage but unless they hit in just the right spot, they would do little more than bruise and piss off whoever they hit. The thing was, Alexander didn't need to kill the assassin with that spell, he just needed to keep buying time, against someone who couldn't be easily targeted with magic and was probably wearing magic resistant gear of some kind, and that spell was the best one he had for that specific purpose.

The lead assassin went tumbling backwards, right into the densest part of the tornado, and the wind picked him up and started throwing him to the side. The assassin twisted in mid air and threw up a Reality Shield of his own, courtesy of his now glowing bracelet, just in time to block five Stars of Doom that Shamesh had sent his way. He landed in a slide and hooked one of his sickles into the ground to halt his movement as he locked eyes with Alexander. Alexander, for his part, had not been idle. He started chanting another spell: "What I seek" He began just as one of the auxiliary assassins forced his way through the tornado on one side and Edward did the same on the other. Both newcomers took in the battle and then locked eyes on each other.

In the 'back' of the tornado stood Shamesh and Alexander, almost side by side. In the front was the lead assassin, who had decided that the more versatile and vulnerable wizard needed to be dealt with first. On the left was the newest assassin who had arrived to help his boss finish off the pair of wizards who were giving him trouble. And on the right was the Guild Master of Safeharbor, the Blade Master, who had just finished killing four Contantis knights and an assassin and was hardly even winded. The scales had just tipped in the favor of the two wizards and everyone there knew it, though by how much had yet to be seen.

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