Dogura pittied the men that stood Wraith's path. They're fighting like barbarians. Tehy'll never over power this man. They need to develope some sort of strategy. Dogura thought waiting for his moment to strike. Picking his moment, he moved through the shadows, making his way to the ceiling for a bird's eye view of the battle field. He made a shadow replica, and had him move to a shadow on the ground, so as to distract Wraith. When the clone lept up from below, Wraith would surely intercept the attack. This is when Dogura would strike from above. Planning it all out in his head, he awaited for Wraith to move into place of the attack path. [Insight Check]

The rest of the events after both him and Elenina sensing an increase in temperature just passed as a quick red blur. A hot one, too. As to recapitulate, Tayro quickly replayed the events on his mind. He had been careless, and had moved without thinking, Even though he wanted to be rational at all times, some of them he just went with the heat of the event, diving into stuff without analyzing the situation first. A common teenager thing. As so, the Hylian found himself pondering at times after he had lost control, so to say, to go back and trace his footsteps. It wasn't hard to describe what had happened either: they found a token, the fake Wraith appeared, wall fell, debris flew everywhere, the boy followed both his friends and the assassin to a new room, Elenina always behind him, he was trapped by a pillar of flames, and now they had begun their fight. Simple, huh? Little background check done, the boy readied his staff for battle. Elenina's magical aura immediately took effect, an involuntary act, but thankfully it did - they'd need all the help they could get. "You better watch out, Master Tayro. I cannot guarantee the safety of your weapon in this environment." - Elenina reminded him, the boy glancing at his Deku weaponry and back at the fire that enveloped them. She was right. As usual.

Still, there was nothing else he could do - he needed to use his staff to channel his magical properties towards his target - he still hadn't learned how to do it with no means of turning the power into a tangible form without a mean of transport, so to say. The boy shrugged and maintained his staff in position. Let's hope it lasts. - the boy thinking, as he continued to regard the shadow's little speech with Alpha. There was something that was just not clicking on his mind, the light not lighting up. Why did he insist on calling Alpha Yuenbri? And what exactly was that? Battles aside, he just had to ask. He neared his mage friend and whispered to him. "Say, Alpha... what does Yuenbri mean? Why's he calling you that?" - he questioned, never losing his own concentration. That's when he noticed the man create an orb of fire. Well, let us play with the magical elements, shall we? We all know what the enemy of fire is, right? - the boy thought, grinning at his idea. As the assassin prepared one trickery of his, so too did the boy. Raising his hand up, still holding the staff, he proceeded in spinning it clockwise, creating a blue circle. Inside, he drew, also blue, a star with no other than eight tips, and Tayro's friends (and probably also Wraith's successor) would probably know what's coming. Placing his staff over his head and touching the tip of the circle, the boy channeled his energies to the arcane rune, with a little aid from Elenina. The incantation complete, the boy lowered his staff slightly. "Elemental Explosion!" - he yelled, and pulled the staff with all the power he could muster against the glyph. "Water!" Immediately the symbol started twisting itself, modifying its properties and turning into a blue-tinted sphere which flew upwards. As it was about to hit the ceiling, it multiplied into an enormous amount of magical orbs, mostly headed for the ring of flames that trapped them, and two towards the assassin - one for nullifying the spell, and another towards the man itself.
I'll probably miss, but it might lower the chances of getting my weapon burnt. - he thought.

OOC: Um, yeah . . . this has definitely been THE WORST WEEK of my schooling career. But now my last Friday class is finally over; the weekend has arrived for me! And that means I can finally reply to this stuff again . . .

. . . well, if anything good came out of this, it's that everybody got a chance to reply to this topic . . .

And yes, Red, for now this will be an RP fight. I won't promise that it will continue like that, but for now, RP like your character's life depends on it! . . . cause, it kinda does . . .

IC:
Kasei's fireball flies forward, erupting as soon as it makes contact with Wraith. The man makes no attempt to move or do anything that would allow him to avoid the attack, but simply stands there, focusing on the fireball forming in his hand. As the smoke clears, though, the reason for this is obvious: not even his clothing appears to have been affected by the fiery sphere.

But Wraith does not stay motionless for long. Within the span of a millisecond, his left arm lances out, grabbing each and every arrow out of the air just as they get close enough to be threatening. "Please, Kasei," his voice calls out again, tauntingly. His left hand moves in a crescent-like motion, knocking the boomerang to the ground. "If you've gotten stronger, I would appreciate it if you would act like it."

Alpha calmly returns Tayro whispered tone with one of his own. "Yuenbri is a name that I once bore a few years ago. Only a few people knew me as such, though; I am surprised he's referring to me as such." In reality, the Sheikah is anything but surprised. 'Yuenbri' had been the name worn during his time as Wraith, the one most of the higher-ups in the underground had known him by, so such a powerful assassin like this one would have likely heard of him in that way. The Sheikah frowns at the remembrance of these facts.

On the other hand, Raven's words cause a slight grin to form on the Assassin's lips, still hidden behind the mask. "All very true enough, I'm afraid. I'm just a man in a mask, just like my predecessor was. The charade is necessary, I'm afraid. My employer demands my appearance to be as Wraith, so it is. And don't worry, my abilities with the power of lightning are growing, slowly but surely." His voice abruptly becomes more . . . enthusiastically ominous. "And my identity may as well be Wraith, in the end. Unless my predecessor returns to the field, I am the top assassin in existence."

He too has been enjoying the chance to simply talk, but inevitably it is the calm before the storm. And the butterfly's wingbeat that sets the storm in motion arrives the moment Tayro's Elemental Explosion soars above him. 'Aw, crap,' Wraith thinks as two enormous spheres of water cascade downward, even as the rest of the attack floods the room, dousing all the fire he has created. He should have expected this, and as a result he chides himself mentally.

But just because something is unexpected does not mean that he cannot defend himself - he would be a poor warrior if that were the case. Dropping the arrows that it had recently grabbed, Wraith's left hand flies upward, unleashing a mighty inferno that instantly raises the temperature of the room by another 10 degrees. The blaze glows a shining crimson and cuts directly through the two orbs of water approaching Wraith, evaporating it instantly.

"That was a mistake, young mage," Wraith's voice booms, no longer holding the light tone that had characterized it mere moments before. Now his anger is obvious. "Fire does not enjoy being hit with water, but the ocean will never douse the sun. It's time you realized this." His right hand comes up once again, revealing that the fireball it had been forming not only remains, but is now as red as the flame that had spared him a good shower.

With a roar, Wraith slams the fireball directly into the ground, igniting it instantly. The flame magic burns straight through the floor, traveling outward from the center of the room where the Assassin stands to the walls of the room. As it moves, the normal, white tiled floor transforms its appearance into that of lava rock. Its properties also change to imitate the hardened magma; it is hard enough to stand on, but should one fail to move around every few seconds the heat could start searing one's feet.

The energy hits the wall half a second after the fireball hit the ground, reforming the fire wall and then traveling upward to encompass the ceiling as well. The entire chamber has been morphed into a recreation of the aftermath of a volcanic eruption. The flames burn up any and all shadows for a mere second, enough to force both Dogura and his clone out from the darkness. Dogura's Insight Check succeeds (17+7[Roll+INT]), and while Wraith's defenses appear to be completely dropped at the moment, this may not be the case - in a room reincarnated as one of fire, there is no telling what he could do.

Wraith's maniacal smile returns as he mutters to himself. "Burn, baby. Burn."

Pyre watched the assasin slam his fire ball into the ground, and prepared himself for some kind of attack. Instead, Wraith had turned the entire room into lava. After standing on it for a few moments, the hylian could feel the bottoms of his feet burning. He jumped to the side, but found only more lava awaiting him. Jumping constantly would drain his energy, so he decided to live with a few burns.

He was pretty sure that the lava was not just to burn their feet. He suspected that the assasin had something up his sleeve, and Pyre was going to try to be prepared. However, attacking him and distracting him for a time would probably be a good idea. He knew that he wouldn't be the only one striking now. The assasin looked open for attacks.

The hylian had seen what Wraith made of Kasei's attack, and didn't plan on simply attacking outright. He had to catch him unsuspecting. There was one thing that came into his mind particularly. Magic, or at least a manipulation of it.

He jammed his daggers into their sheaths, and reached into a leather pouch on his waist, pulling out two throwing daggers. As he held them, his middle finger raised to touch the hilts. This was not a rude gesture, but had a purpose. He let go of the daggers, and then spun them around his middle fingers, using the corner of the hilt and gaurd as a center point.

Phase 1 was now complete. Now for the magic. Pyre built up magic within him, and sent it too his fingers, much like he would do to cast a spell. Instead of releasing the energies however, he bound them into the spinning throwing daggers. He shaped the magic in the daggers, and everything was ready.

The daggers held elemental bursts. The hylian was almost sure that the assasin would somehow block the attacks. This way, as soon as the daggers were intercepted, they would release the elemental bursts. They might let out a fire blast, which would do nothing, but there was an equal chance that a burst of water would appear. He was willling to take the gamble.

Pyre spun around, and pumped both arms, aiming with his middle fingers, and sending the daggers flying in a straight line towards their target, who stood in the middle of the room. He immediately prepared himself for a counter attack. Who knew what Wraith had up his sleeve.

I know at least one person who would disagree with that. As the fight and the room itself begins to heat up he knows the time is drawing closer to fight he has many questions to ask of Wraith and he seems to be strangely accommdating to being asked such questions. Probably more used to dodging arrows than words.

'I have only one more question to ask you; are you part Dodongo or something what's with all the fire?' He wasn't too troubled by the hot floor as his boots, as always had managed to absorb so much water that his feet were kept relatively safe.

Two daggers fly forward. 'Pyralin has seen my abilities now for himself. He knows what I am capable - I caught Kasei's arrows with ease, which moved at much greater speed than these. Therefore it would be unexpected for him to do such a thing.' Wraith's mind works through this series of thought in half a second, mechanically analyzing possibilities and finally deciding to simply evade the attack. Taking an almost casual step to the right, the daggers fly right past him, never making contact with the assassin and thereby never releasing their power - until the hit the flaming wall. The elements of Nature and Earth are released, the former being burned to a crisp instantly and the latter merely sending a cloud of dust into the air, which settles quickly into the cracks between the cracked lava rock flooring and is incinerated.

One second.

"Sorry, Raven - the time for talking ended with that attempt at giving me a shower." Grabbing the staff Brenyuu, he charges forward with a speed that creates an optical illusion of there being several Wraiths, all running in a line towards the group. He has closed the distance in an instant, slamming his staff at Pyre and not stopping to see if the attack even comes close - he already knows it will do that, but whether the boy will dodge it or not is up in the air - he flips it upward to catch Tayro in the chin. While his right hand does this, his left flies upward to the other four members of the group, unleashing an infernal storm in their direction.

Two seconds.

Alpha whips out his Deku Staff and charges forward with seemingly reckless abandon, not even seeming to care about the fact that his weapon of choice could be burned apart in this realm the impostor has created. Leaping into the air he avoids the flaming bombardment sent in his and his allies' direction, then heaves his staff downward, clashing it with an equally speedy block of Brenyuu. Wraith disengages first, forcing Alpha into a backflip in order to land correctly. Still off-balance, the Sheikah leaps back further as soon as he lands, planting his feet firmly against the wall of the flame chamber and pushing off. Seeing Alpha hurl his form back at himself with a great deal of force, the assassin leaps forward to try and equalize the power behind his predecessor's attack. Failing to do this, though, he lands with his back on the burning ground and pushes Alpha away and over him with his feet.

Alpha lands, turning back with staff at the ready to find Wraith already staring him down once again, Brenyuu held high. Three seconds.

Pyre watched in frusturation as his attack was dodged, and the magical energies released on the magma wall, for no effect. He began to generate another attack stradegy, but was distracted when he blinked, and Wraith was suddenly in front of him. With a speed he could barely percieve, he was blown backward by a wayward staff, and flung backwards. He didn't see Tayro meet a similar situation, but concentrated on biting back his cry of pain, and getting up. The hot floor seared his back and arms where he landed, and he found the pain made it hard to concentrate.

He was about to begin a prayer to the goddesses, when he saw Alpha launch his seemingly reckless attack, the result leaving him open to Wraith's next strike. The hylian knew that he would have little time to react, but he couldn't pass up such an opening. By attacking the assasin from afar he planned to get Alpha an opening, and stop the imposter's next attack.

He had only one move up his sleeve that would do the trick, one that he reserved only for emergencies because he could usually muster the magic power himself. Unfortunately, building up magical energies took time, the one thing he didn't have. So instead he would have to depend on the power of his gauntlet.

On his right hand was a dark leather glove. He wore it almost all the time, not to protect his hand, but for its abilities. Encrusted over the knuckles were red gems. These gems could store magic energy to use for fire spells. Pyre had studies, and memorized one such spells from a scroll he bought from Jinoa's magic shop. The hylian usually read it from the scroll, because using it from memory would burn it out of his mind, and he would have to memorize it all over again. Once again, this was an emergency, and he immediately moved into action.

Pyre clenched his fist, and drew out the energy from the jewels, all the while tracing the rune for fire in his head. It only took him a spilt second, but with his level of concentration time seemed to slow down considerably. He flung his hand towards Wraith, opening his palm, and releasing the energy. An arrow of fire shot from his hand, and sped towards its target. The ranger only hoped it would reach the assasin in time.

The movement that Wraith showed was slow for what Raven could achieve however he wished to leave that until he needed it. As the fire erupts towards him he once again wraps himself in his cloak. The fire slams into his cloaked from but stops and flows round it like water flowing round a rock in a stream. Once the fire has passed he unfurls himself revealing himself to be unharmed.

However, there is something different about him. The scarf the normally covers the lower half of his face is gone and his whole face has turned reptilian. 'The reason reason I asked was because; I am.' He then took a large intake of breath and his throat began to swell. He tipped his head back and threw it forward and opened his mouth as he did so spitting out blue fireball directly at Wraith. As always blue fire is not always what appears to be in Hyrule and this was no different. Fire and ice combined as one - impossible? Maybe not.

"Damn, this sucks!" kasei says, then starts superheating the air in the room, to extreme degrees...fires burst out of nowhere, small corners explode, and everyone feels the heat rising... "Survive this!" the rebel flame says, then starts to absorb the heat, cooling the room down to blow zero temperatures, except for the area around him...now everyone was getting cold, so cold...

Wraith's hand flies up, snatching Pyralin's arrow in midflight, unaffected by the burning power fueling it. His eyes never leave Alpha's form, and the assassin knows that the Sheikah knows it even with the mask hindering the ability to see said eyes. 'What are you waiting for, Yuenbri?' he thinks to himself. 'Afraid to reveal your true power with these weaklings gathered around you, I'd imagine. It's your own fault, Wraith. Should have taken out that idiot Zaboorak with your own power, rather than holding back like you did and asking others for assistance. You're still holding back.' A chuckle. 'Just like me.'

A flash of blue from the side meets the corner of his vision and he reflexively leaps up into the air, leaping above the icy blaze. Even so, the chill still permeates his clothing, and he catches a glimpse of the bottommost part of his cape beginning to burn slightly. "You're part Dodongo?!" he cries in shock at the unexpected development - just before Alpha intercepts him in midair, staff smashing into his back and sending him flying into the wall. The Sheikah lands and gives Raven an odd look. "You're part Dodongo?"

Then the staff Brenyuu is at his own back, propelling him face first into the ground. Wraith leaps back to the part of the spherical room furthest from the group's position, grabbing his cape. A chilly fire lies there, slowly burning apart the threads. 'Flaming ice, huh? That was unexpected - I haven't seen this kind of stuff before.' He brings up his hand to the blue flame, and an orange flame emerges to join with it. The two opposite temperatures cancel each other out, and once the heat has overriden the cold he draws the fire away from the cloth. "I like this cape, Raven." The next sentence is implied: You'll regret doing that.

The chill in the air catches his attention almost immediately. Glancing around, he sees the room slowly beginning to revert back to its previous form as the fire magic is absorbed by the Rebel Flame. But his response to it is not exactly what Kasei had been hoping for. "Go ahead, Kasei," he says as a cone of flames emerges to surround him. "I can keep myself nice and toasty in the coldest regions in the world. Your friends probably aren't nearly that lucky." His eyes narrow. And with the cold comes . . . decreased reflexes. Excellent.

Alpha slowly stands back up again just as Wraith is launching his next series of attacks. A flurry of fireballs erupt from his heated cone, speedily launching outward . . . towards the outside of the room. Alpha brings up his staff regardless, but feels the chill Kasei has brought on them slowing him down. As Kasei continues to draw all heat to him, the fireballs' trajectory abruptly alters, turning straight towards each of the adventures.

Dogura watches as the battle took place below him. Many twists and turns had been taken, and it was then that Dogura thought for an instant that Wraith had turned his back on the him, and had forgotten about the man completely. Dogura grabbed the moment, and strangled it, as his clone shot out of the floor. Awaiting the moment, Dogura shot from the cieling, preparing to colide with the man at full force!
[4 from the will pool]

Raven has to take amusement at Wraith's tone when he leapt into the air, and further amusement came from Alpha repeating the question, but he does not respond. He only draws the back up over his face and leaves the answer to their imagination. The truth being that was they saw was only an illusion, despite what some may say about his parentage before becoming silenced, a technique that becomes in useful in many situations. After all, being a thief is to mislead and trick people; illusions become part of the process. The blue fire was all real though.

In their combined adventures there is very few things that Raven and Red haven't seen and haven't stolen. The blue fire being one such item; on this trip alone Raven had acquired a new set of cutlery and some reading material. He was glad that he had the same sort of bag that the hero Link had in his adventures with a near infinite capacity.

He was sketching out the basis of what his next move would be but the cone of fire that surrounded Wraith made that an improbable task. As he was creating a new plan of action, the fireballs emerged. Fireballs again!? Has this guy only got one trick? As the fire began tracking towards him he new he had to take some action, he also knew he had to plan out his next move in advance to not leave an opening for him to exploit.

He decided that the best course of action would be to neutralize the fire, so he turned to a trick that all magicians and thieves know alike; the disappearing ball trick. He spun his hands around the ball as it got closer and closer, until he could feel it burning at his face. He clapped his hands together, through the fireball; at least they would have done, if it hadn't disappeared.

Pyre frowned as the air got colder. He didn't like cold. Oh, mabye the cool air of the forest was nice, and a scorching desert wasn't too fun, but cold? No thanks. That wasn't the only problem. Wraith didn't seem to be affected by it all, and had already conjured a cone of fire, a potent defense and source of warmth. To make things worse he was attacking at the same time, and the fire balls were already homing in on the adventurers.

The hylian wasted no time in reacting. He didn't want to squander his magical energies, so he didn't cast a elemental burst to deter the projectile, instead he avoided the attack the old fashion way. Pyre broke into a full force run at the missle.

On might think that this was sucide, and the ranger admitted it was a bit risky, but who knew if could dodge it safetly any other way. He slid, and brought his body under the ball of fire, quickly getting back to his feet on the other side, throwing daggers at the ready, his dirk's back in their sheaths.

He planned to attack the cone, and see if he could open the assasin up for another dodongo attack. Now that was an interesting development indeed. He had no clue that the theif would be half reptile. However, Pyre wasn't dumb he knew about the nature of dodongos. They are creatures of fire, and cold blooded. By cooling down the room, Kasei was probably making it more difficult for the half-reptile to function, and thus hurting their best asset. They needed all the help they could get, and turning the room back to normal wasn't worth the cost.

Now was not the time for pondering, but time to act. The hylian planted his right foot, and began his attack. Usually he would simply pump his wrist to throw. Pyre suspected that such an attack would be stopped by the cone of fire. So instead, the ranger used a more effective technique: a spin. Not just a pivot, but a complete spin.

He spun around, releasing the daggers so they would speed towards Wraith with the speed of the throw, and the extra energy from the circular force. He hoped that his attack would penetrate the defense, or at least let someone else have a chance at harming the dangerous assasin.

Wraith's eyes flicker. 'They've defeated them . . . took a bit longer than expected, though I wasn't anticipating so many people would want to follow Yuenbri here. So I guess it's all evened out in the end.' The Assassin grins. Good, this will be something else he can occupy his time with. Quite frankly, these fools are starting to be a little annoying; thinking themselves so high and powerful, when of their number only Wraith has tasted true strength. Oh, if only he had managed to get rid of these idiots. Then he could have gone head-to-head with the shadow at full power.

'Yes . . . that would have been nice. I'd expect . . . by this time, all of Hyrule would have been destroyed, and our battle would be quite close to splitting the world in two again.' In the midst of his flaming cone, he solemnly shakes his head. 'This is indeed a shame.' But the rematch of flame and shadow will have to wait, for now at least. He examines the next item on his mental checklist of things that he needs to accomplish on this mission, but decides that he can spend a little bit more time in this particular room before he moves on.

Speaking of the room, Wraith notices that by now Kasei has completely absorbed the heat that had enchanted the area and transformed it into a volcanic war zone. A shame for his challengers - other than Kasei, they should all be getting quite cold by now.

Alpha certainly is. So much so that he turns away from Wraith for the first time since the Assassin confronted them, and brings his staff right down on Kasei's head. "C-c-cut it out, K-k-kas-sei! I HATE the cold!" He then immediately turns around, catching the fireball with his own fist. "Fire Spell," he says softly, though he doesn't conjure up his own flames, but rather takes control of Wraith's. Does he attack with it? Of course not - he allows his body to bathe in the pleasant warmth of the close inferno. Several hundred degrees of warmth feels downright pleasant right now.

As Dogura's clone rises from the ground, Wraith lifts one hand in its direction. A wave of fire emerges from the cone surrounding him and shoots outward, engulfing the man and ripping into the shadow clone. Then he suddenly realizes his mistake as the true Dogura comes in from behind, ramming into the flame cone with tremendous force. Wraith's full focus turns to this sudden impact, and his concentration pushes back against the man until Dogura is thrown back and away from the fire.

Pyralin's needles strike moments later, forcing their way through the opposite side of the cone - and suddenly weaker side, since Wraith had been draining its shielding power to protect against Dogura - and creating a small, fist-sized hole in the barrier. The daggers pierce directly into his left leg, and he winces as he feels the pain from that region.

Pain = anger. Anger = bad for opponents. VERY bad.

The flaming cone shifts its formation, and instead concentrates its form around his arms. As his anger grows, the daggers embedded in his leg begin to vibrate uncontrollably, until they are finally thrown out from his body and smash into the wall. Moving his frustrated eyes onto Pyralin's form, he hurls his infernal arm in that direction, and a river of lava extends in a flash, flying straight at him.

Pyre watched with immense satisfaction as the blades sunk into their target. Perfect. He could almost taste the small drops of blood from the wound. His daggers were in his hands, and he was ready to attack.

Then he felt the shift in the atmosphere. He could almost feel the assasin's anger as a tangible thing, and watched the flames writhe. He knew that he was in incredible danger, but didn't care. The hylian found a smile creeping over his face. It was nice for the ranger; he knew he was the cause of the malice, and wasn't about to back down.

He was waiting in anticipation for the attack, and found that it was a little more than he expected. A flood of lava streamed through the air towards him, and still Pyre stood there. He knew he was drawing Wraith's attention, and more importantly, fire.

From what he had seen before it seemed that if the imposter concentrated the fire magic in one place, it would weaken it others. This created the perfect oppurtunity for another to strike, and the hylian knew that the group would need all the chances they could get.

This left only one thing unsolved. How the hell was Pyre going to dodge the assault. He wished that he could simply teleport away, but he was no mage. The ranger would have to depend on himself to survive.

His previous route of escape wouldn't work. If he tried to go under the lava, he would be fried. Or more probable, melted. The hylian had no desire for such a fate, and looked to his other options. He didn't think that he would be able to run far enough to the side to survive, and couldn't jump high enough to escape upwards. Pyralin wasn't about to depend on someone else to save him, and tried desperately to think of something.

At the same time, he saw Alpha off to the side, controlling the flames with a fire scroll. Lava wasn't exactly fire, but close enough. Why not give it a shot. Of course Pyre wasn't fool enough to think that a scroll alone would stop a raging river of magma. He had something more to go along with it.

It was based off his basic knowledge of physics, and magic, and was actually quite simple. Everything moved towards maximum randomness, and follows the path of least resistance. He knew that the lava would want to spread apart, and usually this would be bad. It could also save his life.

Pyre flew into action. He jammed his left dirk into its sheath, and drew out a throwing dagger. The ranger did the same with his right hand, drawing out the scroll of fire. He rapped it around the dagger, and by that time the lava was almost to him.

He slashed outwards, vertically, with the dagger, down the magma current. The lava would split into to two parts shooting off the sides of the blade. Regularly they would fry the dagger, and kill the hylian. This is where the scroll came in. Pyralin used the scroll to create a path for the lava, and passively try to control it, forcing it to continue moving outwards, and then come back together. This would leave a little pocket for Pyre, and let him alive, albeit with servere burns. He knew that he probably would be much use in the fight afterward, if he survived, but this was his little contribution. He just hoped everything would go to waste....