Of Minds and Warfare.

The three shots a miss, Hannibal pulls back Villam, keeping the revolver close as he gets back to his feet. While watching Roland circle him, Hannibal's ears perk up again, catching the sound of winds picking up. Shoving Villam back into its backside holster, Hannibal begins stalking backwards, up a snowdrift, just as the winds and snow pick up once again, making sight even worse. With quick movements, Hannibal turns, runs up the snow drift, sheathes Vonalzo, and jumps. Falling quickly, Hannibal hits the snowdrift, and actually sinks down into the mound, disappearing from sight. Ears fine tuned, Hannibal listens for the sound of boots crunching on the snow.

Roland sees Hannibal retreat into the snow, and sheathes three of his blades again, calling the two interlocking ones back to his hands. He slowly prowls forward, the blades held in a reverse grip. An idea sparks in Roland's mind, and he comes to a halt, gathering his Aura about himself.

Slow and wriggling, almost like a worm, Hannibal pushes himself through the snow; burrowing, very nearly, in a direction that would put himself directly under Roland. Pooling his concentration and aura, Hannibal used both in a joint effort, making his already sharper than normal sense of hearing even more keen. It got to the point, even, that Hannibal could almost see Roland, up above on the snow. Not a clear image, but more of a pulsating outline, reverberating even more so than before. What Hannibal was seeing, through use of hearing, was the Swordsman's heartbeat. Gently, Hannibal maneuvered himself, reaching back and pulling out Villam. With the revolver in hand, Hannibal aimed upward, lining up the weapon with the center of his chest. At the right moment, and only at that moment, would Hannibal fire any of his remaining rounds.

Tapping into his Semblance, Roland thrusts his arms out ahead of him. A massive, forceful wind gathers and sweeps through the snow before him, launching it up into the air and creating a large amount of noise. Roland hopes that his actions uncover or unbalance Hannibal's position.

The sting of pain in Hannibal's ears was brief, not so much because of the noise pitch, but from the amount of sound that was coming from the multitude of wind currents. Releasing his concentration, the pulsating figure that was Roland began to fade. With the cover of snow beginning to deteriorate, Hannibal cocked back the hammer of Villam, and fired two rounds up towards his opponent, or at least, the near completely faded outline of him.

One round strikes the pommel of the sword in Roland's left hand, breaking it from his grasp, and the second round follows shortly after, pinging off Roland's Aura by his left shoulder. Roland swiftly draws all of his blades once more, sending them in a broad slash ahead of him.

Raising his arms, Hannibal uses both of his plate armor vambraces to block and deflect the incoming blades. He angles his forearms, as well, hoping to redirect the resulting force of the blades impact. Feeling the impact, Hannibal hears and feels the blades skittering and swiping across his armor, marring the alloy with abrasions and open splits. Not just his vambraces, but some upper portions of his chest plate as well. Grunting heavily, Hannibal pulls himself into a roll off to the left. It was easier to do, now that the snow had been lessened. With a held breath, he rights himself, aims Villam once more, and fires the last round, throwing all hope to the wind.

Hannibal's shot goes over Roland's shoulder, and the masked swordsman dashes in the direction of the sound from the weapon's fire. Roland keeps two of his blades ready for defense ahead of him, while the other three are poised for quick strikes overhead. "That's six..." he mutters, grinning slightly at the sudden advantage he may have gained.

Roland sends one of Gale's blades in a downward jab, hoping to force Hannibal to make more noise.

.... And make more noise is what Hannibal does. He opens his legs, shifting snow, just in time as the blade Roland sent down pierces the snow and goes right between his legs. Inches from a most valuable area. Not having the time to stow Villam and pull Vonalzo from its sheath, Hannibal keeps his revolver in his right hand, and grabs Vonalzo, in a revers grip with his left hand, pulling the cavalry saber to bare. Half way out of the sheath, Hannibal gives the hilt a bit of a twist. Theres a "click", and in an instant, the sabers blade is alight with arcing bands of electricity.

Fully free of its sheath, Hannibal swings the sword in a quick, horizontal slash, aimed for Roland's abdomen.

Roland maneuvers one of the blades held in front of him to block Hannibal's strike, and he directs the remaining blades overhead to strike from the opposite side in retaliation. At the same time, Roland also calls back the blade he launched at Hannibal, setting it ready to strike all its own.

It seems that all Hannibal does in this duel is roll, and roll he does, once more off to the right just barely maneuvering away from Roland's blades. Vonalzo's blade, itself, slides off against Roland's, giving off a metallic screech. While rolling, Hannibal kicks up a fair bit of snow, sending it back up at Roland's face, while at the same time managing to shove Villam back into its backside holster. Vonalzo still sparking up like an exposed conductor, Hannibal jumps back to his feet, holding the cavalry saber up in front of him, right handed, classic fencers stance, ready to attack or defend.

Observing Hannibal's stance, Roland sets all of his blades upright ahead of him and begins advancing. Keeping himself outside of the saber's range, the masked swordsman then slashes all of his blades at Hannibal's left side, hoping to overpower the Faunus.

Seeing the blades incoming, Hannibal maneuvers his right arm, using a hard, hang left block to stop the attack, his sabers blade sparking with electricity upon impact. The pressure from the blades, however, is too much for one hand to handle, so Hannibal uses his left forearm, and places it against the back of Vonalzo's blade, helping to even out the pressure. Shifting his stance, Hannibal then pushes Vonalzo at an angle, before spinning out of the block. Coming back around, he flourishes his blade and appears to slash at the air itself. Not entirely so, because Hannibal stops the slash, saber tip pointed at Roland, and fires an arc of pure electrical discharge, straight off the blade, aimed at Roland.

In the time it takes Hannibal to strike out at Roland, the red-clad swordsman positions two of his blades to block any strike, and the blades start arcing electricity to ground. Roland retaliates by sending one of his swords in an overhand strike in hopes of keeping Hannibal moving.

Taking a single step back, Hannibal raises Vonalzo, using an over head, hang-right block to deflect the offending weapon, before letting the blade slide off, and swinging a backhand slash to bat away the sword. Charging the sabers blade once more, Hannibal lunges forward, letting loose another arc of lightning; a single, finely tuned stream of airborne plasma.

Roland blocks the incoming lightning with one blade, electricity arcing to ground once again, and uses his other defensive blade to push aside Hannibal's. "You're becoming predictable, Hannibal," Roland taunts. He then sends two blades out to sweep from behind Hannibal, hoping to drive the Faunus closer. The third offensive blade is set to strike once more, its point constantly directed at Hannibal.

"Not trying to be..." Hannibal says calmly, ears twitching as he takes a step, and then jumps back to avoid the sweep of Rolands' blades; feeling them just clip the lower portions of his long dress coat. "Just buying time, is all.... It's strange, this arena; timer's pre-set, and the snow should be picking up right... about... now." Just as Hannibal predicted, the arena's virtual snow storm begins to pick up, more and more, before a full on blast of freezing wind hits, coming from behind Hannibal. Along with the wind comes its blinding snow, and as it all hits its highest speed, Hannibal begins back-tracking, before basically morphing into the vast, white expanse. The last thing Hannibal does is growl, the feral sound being carried by the wind.

Roland prepares to give chase, but checks himself before doing so. Instead, he backs up as well, following the wind to the edge of the arena, ensuring he stays downwind. Gale's blades are sheathed, save for two, which he holds in a reverse grip to ease defense. Instead of giving chase into a disadvantageous situation, Roland decides to let Hannibal come to him, always ensuring he's downwind.

Sheathing Vonalzo, Hannibal begins stalking around the snow covered arena, never staying in one place, not bothering to crouch or anything; the snow is doing its job of giving him camouflage. Reaching for Villam, Hannibal pulls the revolver from its back holster, and proceeds to reload it, emptying the spent shells, and utilizing a speed loader to fill its chambers.

With Villam ready for use once again, Hannibal sharpens his senses with Aura once more, sending a bit more to his ears and eyes. He'd seen Roland go with the wind, smelling him out wasn't an option. Revolver at the ready, Hannibal began pacing around, trying to pick up the faintest sound of.... Well, a living thing.

Roland slows his breathing, and only moves slowly and silently to keep downwind. He lowers his stance and draws in on himself slightly to keep his body heat more centralized, ready to wait.

Stalking back and forth, scanning around the arena for ANY disturbance at all, Hannibal took his time in trying to pick out Roland from the environment. Needless to say, it was hard, and as disciplined as Hannibal was, the amount of time it was taking to draw Roland out was starting to annoy... a certain aspect of his being. Ears twitching, trying to pick up any noise at all, a slight growl slipping from his lips, Hannibal raised Villam, and fired off a single shot into the white expanse, in the general direction of where he'd last seen Roland. "Where are you?...." He muttered, still moving around the arena.

Roland hears Hannibal fire, but restrains himself from going after the gunshot. He'd fight, of that there was no doubt, but he wouldn't let himself be drawn out on Hannibal's terms. The wind shifts just slightly, and Roland moves with it to better ensure he remains downwind.

As he moved around the edge of the arena, Hannibal lifted his revolver once more, and fired off another two rounds; a vain attempt at trying to draw out Roland. "I'll applaud your choice of tactics, Roland... But nobody likes a camper!" Hannibal said aloud, still moving. Wanting to keep his last three rounds for later, Hannibal shifted Villam from right to left, and used his free hand to pull Vonalzo from its sheath again. Hannibal kept moving, sometimes doubling back and moving across the arena twice. He was acting more like a Wolf now, waiting for his opponent.

Roland's breathing barely accelerates at Hannibals next two shots as he fights the temptation to rush out into battle. He forces his breathing back under control, and shifts accordingly with a subtle change in the wind. Hannibal's verbal taunt is lost to the wind, and Roland remains silent still. Deciding to try his hand at locating Hannibal, he taps into his Semblance, feeling for disturbances in the air currents directing the storm.

Hannibal's ears twitched suddenly, the Faunus looking about in a north-east direction. Standing out, just for a few, quick seconds, out in the white expanse, was a pulse. The smallest of glimpses as to where Roland might be. The pulse, itself, as picked up my Hannibal's ears, was like a slight air distortion, roughly shaped as a person, crouched low. As quick as it came, it was gone; Hannibal didn't waste his chance. Drawing Vonalzo back, Hannibal charged the blade once more, and lunged out, firing an arc of lightning to where he last saw the pulse.

The flash of lightning passes just beside Roland, the red-clad swordsman barely flinching at its proximity. In response, he brings himself lower to the ground, and starts approaching the source of the strike as silently as he can. Once more, he casts out with his Semblance, and catches the disturbance Hannibal causes in the air. Now with a target in mind, Roland grins, looking forward to the coming fight.

Letting the charge on Vonalzo's blade settle, Hannibal lowers the saber, and begins stalking across the snow again, both his weapons in their respective hands. He never crouches, never shy's away or tries to hide himself; either because of the lessons his father gave, or his heritage of being, "The Regal Wolf", Hannibal knew the times for tricks and traps were over. Keeping a calm composure, Hannibal's aura began to flare, giving his senses, already sharp, a hyper stimulant; everything his father had taught, the combined knowledge and skills of the years passed down to Hannibal himself, began to take effect. Flourishing his blade to a more ready position, Hannibal kept moving, a predator in the snow, a military mind going through as many tactics as possible.

Still tracking Hannibal by wind disruption, Roland creates a few minor currents of his own, directing his scent upwind before releasing it to allow more natural propagation. As he does this, he slowly moves closer to Hannibal, still ensuring he stays downwind physically.

Ahh, there it was... Roland's scent, unique in its own way. Hannibal took a few steps in the direction from which it came, but stopped. Something was off; the direction the scent came from was northbound, the winds were pushing from the south. Winds don't move independent of each other, not unless manipulated. Hannibal concluded that the scent trail was purposely set. Still standing in place, an obstruction to the southern winds, Hannibal kept his weapons at the ready, and scanned around the area for the red clad swordsman. He'd wait for his opponent, and only when seen would he face Roland head on.

Roland continues fanning his scent along its path, slowly moving along with it through the snowstorm. He momentarily tightens his grip on his swords, then relaxes, confident that he holds the advantage.