Beating the Drum of Death (Altamira)

OOC: Let's make this interesting, shall we? How about we host a vote. The people shall vote on the better writer, and the winner get's control over one of the other's characters for one battle. There are a few rules, however...
Whoever wins may not take away the character of choice's life or powers, and may not damage them permanetly...
Accept? It's an interesting proposition...
Anyway, while waiting for your answer I shall write my post!!!
BTW, I'm using a Viratious that has gained his original powers back.

Bic:
Viratious channeled his energy into a small, circular flame. He threw it and made two hand signals. The flame burst into a thousand fireworks of ember and a thousand blasts of heat.

"Well, whaddya think?" Viratious stood up and looked at the boy who he was teaching.

"Pretty cool, but I can do better!" The boy was dressed in egyptian prince garb. He picked up some sand from the ground, clenched it in his fist, and threw it.
The boy gave a command in the form of an incantation. The sand burst into a thousand bees that went straight for Viratious.

"Gyuhh!" Viratious channeled half of his energy into a shield of fire, and a quarter of it into leeching onto energy from the sands of the desert.
The bees turned into ashes when they came in contact with the flame. Viratious called the shield back and in turn commanded that energy into grasping on to the sand's energy.
"My turn!" Viratious smiled and snapped his fingers, made a hand signal, and said an incantation. The sands around the boy turned into a red swirl of boiling water.

"Wahh?!" The boy fell into the water. Ignoring his screams of searing pain, Viratious leached the rest of his energy onto the boy and the sands. He made three hand signals, and the sands formed into a mirror of the boy. The actual boy was being slowly, and secretly, pulled into the mirror.

"That hurt!" the boy complained when he got out of the swirling water.

"It should have, as it was stealing your energy!" Viratious said smugly.

"What?!" The boy leaped into the swirling water, and began screaming in pain again.

"Idiot..." Viratious said as he repeated the process of saving the boy's life.

OoC: What did you have in mind exactly? Would the winner be using one of the other writer's characters for this battle, or something else? And what would they be judging from, the first post, or the entire thread (which would make using the other person's character for this impossible)? I haven't agreed yet--I'm just trying to have things clarified.

IC:
Prince Hunter Merridale watched from under the shade of a palm tree as a tall young lad sparred with another out in the broiling sun; watching the two exchange attacks reminded the man of his younger days as a teenager in Renamor court, where he had tested his wits and skill in archery and fencing with his friends in the knights' training grounds. Those had been carefree days, when there was no war or political strife; just the smell of grass and the ring of metal against metal as each young man pushed themselves to their limit and competed for extra helpings of dessert or the rights to brag for the day. After each bout, they'd return to their quarters, where peace would reign again and they could laugh over lunch and good stories. Everything was in good spirit and in good sport.

This contest the prince watched didn't seem them to be quite the same; just as Hunter was turning back from his reverie to the study of his diplomatic papers, the first boy, a blonde, thin fellow covered with markings, had just cast a spell that made his fighting partner scream out in pain. Alerted by this sudden change from seemingly playful combat to dangerous battle, the prince took his spear in hand, and leapt to his feet. He hated to intrude on private matters, but if things were left as they were, the second boy could be terribly injured. For as little time as he had been around it, Hunter knew that magic could be a risky force.

The blonde boy was just starting another magical technique when Hunter came within his line of sight and caught his attention.

"I hope you don't intend to harm your friend."

OoC: In a different battle, not this one.

BiC:
"Friend?" Viratious asked as he finished saving the boy's life once again.

"Yes, you two were playing." The other man looked like a knight, with chest armor and brown hair. He carried a spear with him.

"He is my pupil." Viratious readied a spell, this man could be trouble.

"He's right, you know." The other boy had learned not to go into the blood-red water. Viratious retracted the spell and put all of it's energy to use on his now hidden, but readied spell.

"Hmm... I haven't seen teaching like this happen." The prince seemed a small bit angry. He took a step forward, and Viratious propelled his spell forward.
Flame burst from his two usual magic casting fingers (index and middle). The flame spread out around the man, and the closed in, only to spread out again and return to Viratious. This all happened within a few seconds.
The man, partially charred and burnt, lifted his spear and threw it at Viratious. Viratious dodged, only to be hit by a metal slingshot pellet.
The pellet hit Viratious in the head, and Viratious fell back onto the sands.
Viratious grabbed a handful of sand, quickly leached his remaining energy onto the sand's energy, and released the sands. Viratious made two hand signals, and spoke an incantation.
The sands flew around the man, and then exploded. The man fell to his knees, apparently hurt, but not badly.
Viratious and the man stood up at once. Viratious turned to his pupil, and painlessly burned a rune on his pupil's head.

"I'm going to need to borrow this energy." Viratious told his pupil.

"Why?" the boy asked.

"One: I need more energy for this fight, and two: to evaluate your energy and what magic will be best for you to learn." Viratious said.

"Whatever..." the pupil said as Viratious charred a secondary rune on his own hand.
Viratious turned toward the man, only to see him not there! In an instant, he turned around to see the man picking up his staff.

Viratious glanced at his pupil, "Watch a master at work." he turned his head back to look at the man.

OoC: I had a response written up to this somewhere, but I apparently lost it. o_O

Anyway, what I remember saying was that only a character's creator can portray them correctly (or as good as can be done), and that neither of our characters would benefit from being controlled by someone else. We couldn't write them as well as their respective creators. ^^;;

IC:

This lad seems to rely heavily on magic, Hunter thought, thrusting forward with his spear once the boy had turned around fully, and scoring a cut across his belly. The prince may have gained himself an edge had he struck before the blonde mage was ready; but his deeply-ingrained sense of chivalry wouldn't allow him to strike an opponent from behind. Hunter had realized long ago that those codes of honor and fair conduct rarely played out to his advantage in the thick of battle; but in his eyes, the man who abandoned his principles when they were put to a true test never really had any principles to begin with. It's easy to say you believe in something when lounging about in a parlor, prattling on over a few drinks with friends--but it's another thing altogether to stay true to those beliefs when they're brought into conflict with the animalistic instincts that arise in a fight. Most men weren't as noble as they tried to seem--they were pretenders, cowardly and egotistical.

Overconfidence, too, was another product of an egotistical mind--and Hunter was beginning to think the boy he was fighting now was an example of that. So callously had he handled his supposed pupil earlier, and so proudly did he declare himself a "master" now that it made Hunter's stomach knot. He seemed to have no humility; and so far, he had yet to back up his words. The commander had landed significant blows on his arms, knees, stomach, and chest, and yet the mage had yet to deal him more than a glancing blow.

This fight may not last long, Hunter thought, deflecting another blast of magic with his shield.

"Outta the way." Viratious spoke deeply after being cut across the stomach.

"What? Why?!" His pupil spoke with anger...

"I said get out of the way!" Viratious barked at him. The pupil ran into the water. "Good..."

Viratious clasped his open hands together, closed his main eyes, and opened his third eye.
He could see auras now, something he didn't know he could do before with his third eye. Of course, this is the first time he had opend his thrid eye, so it was all a knew expierence to him.

"Hyuuh!" The sound rang in Viratious's ears, and he saw a long white aura traveling toward him.

"Huh!" he exhaled. He latched his energy onto the sands under the white energy, and blasted them up. The sands hit and broke the auro into two. "Yes..." Viratious whispered.

Viratious's third eye surveyed the battle field. His aura latched onto all of the sands, save the one's directly surrounding him.

Viratious concentrated, spoke a small controlling incantation, and clapped. Every sand that had his aura attached to it blew up into the air, cutting whatever they hit.

Ssttssttstt, Viratious heard the sounds of sands falling back onto the ground. He shut his third eye and opened his two others. He surveyed the area and found his enemy, on the ground holding his arm.

His enemy was cut by the sands, heavily! Viratious made sand blast into his face, causing him to flip over.

The enemy, now liing on the sands, grunted.

Viratious wrapped sands around his enemy's ankles and spread out wrists. He hardened the sand so that it would be equal to strong metal.

Viratious turned to his pupil, "This is such a learning expierence for you, isn't it?"