The Elfbone Extraction [M]

[Erik Vrell]

Erik jumped up and saw Axorn in trouble. He sent out a probe to the mind of his foe's minds and was surprised to find another psychic. Internally smiling, he decided to deal with him after helping Axorn. He leapt after the diseased behemoth and swung at his armour with Mageslayer, but found no purchase and his blade slid off. He took another approach and sheathed Mageslayer. He materialised a psi-blade and stabbed into the armour of Axorn's assailant. This time, his blade phased through the armour as if there was nothing there. The strike wouldn't do much damage at all to a warrior of this size, but Erik hoped to distract him long enough for Axorn to gain an advantage. He then backed off and turned to the enemy psychic. He had turned to look at Erik. "So he is not alone after all." He said. Erik drove his mind towards his foe's and had to pull back almost immediately. Unlike the minds of most people, Galel's was a swirling maelstrom of thoughts Erik associated with insanity, but unlike other insane minds, this one was more...controlled. He could still function as well as any sane person, despite the fact that he was definitely not. Erik calmed himself and threw himself at his opponents mind once more. He found that his opponent was ready for him.

Galel's mind stabbed at Erik's repeatedly causing him to experience a powerful headache. Erik was dismayed that breaking a foe's mind was one of the last lessons he was meant to learn, and his only experience with the subject was what he had read in books. He could still fight though. While Galel had power, Erik had training. He blocked his enemy's onslaught and stuck at him. The mental blow caused the astarte to visibly stagger but Erik could sense that he had done no serious damage. They duelled for several minutes, striking back and forth. Erik was starting to absorb information from his foe's mind, as was his foe, he assumed. He found no visible weaknesses from the knowledge he gleaned, but he was sure that he had one. Erik soon managed to pierce the outer layer of his enemy's mind and lost his sense of sight. Erik found himself looking at the Legionnaires memories, knowledge and other aspects of his mind. He could sense that doing so had opened his mind to a mental assault, much stronger than the prior one. He quickly set to work damaging Galel's sub-conscious. If Erik didn't cause permanent damage, he would at least disorient his foe.

As his assault progressed, he felt his foe attack him despite the destruction of his subconscious. Erik felt as if his mind were exploding but pressed his attack. He could soon feel his opponent faltering and hoped to gain an advantage, although the pounding in his skull was not stopping. In fact, Erik thought it was getting worse. He withdrew from the Astarte's mind and attacked one more. He attempted to grab onto his foe's mind, but it was like trying to grip a wet snake. Whenever he thought he had Galel, his mind slipped out and bit him. He finally closed in on his foe's mind and held him with an iron grip. He smiled internally at this. 'Raw power does not matter,' He thought. 'If you have no training to refine it.' His foe was more or less paralysed, but Erik was barely able to move without losing his grip. He managed to blurt "someone take him out." Before the Legionnaire almost slipped away. He held on with all his might. His foe would not get away if he could help it.