The Black Lake

Never one to waste time, he shoots the strayer swallow spell straight at her.

Shit... Raven puts a magical shield around herself, making it as strong as she can, trying to think of a counter attack.

Not going to relent for a second, he used his Shadow Mimicry spell to snake up behind her and jump out to try and bombard her with a blasting curse.

Raven is unfortunately hit, but she's not one to give up so easily. She immediately gets back up and throws a mean crucio his way.

He grunts in fierce agony as he falls over but this doesn't deter him from standing up.

"Will there ever be a time when one of us can just be stronger than the other?"  Raven throws another curse at him.

He rolls forward, missing the curse at the last available moment. Using his momentum, he slides forward and gives Raven a decisive kick in the knees to try and force her to bend down.

Raven bends down, but retaliates with a punch to his head.

Crest knew better than to rely on physical strikes alone. He knew that Raven and he were tit for tat in most skill sets. 

He thought back to his early days, when he was just starting out. He was in Honora Castellum, fighting off a hoard of dummys that would surround him and push inward until they were right on top of him firing spells. No matter how many times he'd try to overpower them all, he couldn't manage it. Then his mentor, Progenitor, spoke to him. 

"Why do you keep using the same approach?"
"Is that not the only way to defeat an enemy?" Crest asked in a show of naivety. 
"There are far more than one way. Brawn can win half your battles for you, but brain can win all of them for you. Ask yourself. What are the common variables all these dummies have?"
"They constantly come closer to me."
"Correct. Therefore it's a piece of information you possess. Now use it to defeat them." He reset the dummys and left Crest but a second to think it over. 

How did knowing they were going to come close to him give him any sort of advantage? 

As the dummys drew forward, it suddenly hit the young boy. They have predictable movements! Forward! He didn't need to defeat all of them, he just needed to defeat them all at once! 

Armed with this knowledge, he shot a powerful blasting spell at one of the dummys, shattering it to pieces. Now he had his opening. He ran through it, the dummys kept moving inward and Crest turned around swiftly and fired a stream of destruction spells into the now amassed group. They all were sent flying in pieces by the methodical onslaught, being of no match to Crest any longer. Brawn won half the battle, but his brain won the whole fight.

His master gave him no shows of approval or praise, just a cold nod as his next phase of training commenced.

Despite what the man had become, Crest couldn't deny the use of this lesson and soon he would do the same.

He took the punch to the head without defending himself, allowing himself to stumble into the water. He made himself appear unconscious, but in truth this was to lure Raven closer to the water. As soon as her feet touched it, this match would be over. Coldness would win over heat.

Raven walks to him in the water, the cold not affecting her right away, as she is wearing thick combat boots. She raises her wand, getting ready to kill him.

"R...raven..." He spoke in a pained voice before he got back up and spoke in his full booming, demanding voice, "Raven you're a fool!" 

He shot a blasting spell at the small amount of space between the two, sending water splashing toward her. He also fired an expellarmius inside the water to disarm her. If all worked as he wished, he'd be able to use a freezing spell and freeze her in a veritable cage of ice at the last second.

Caught by surprise, Raven is overtaken by the wave and is disarmed by the spell. But Raven is not so weak that she's dependent on her wand. She struggles to get out of water and hopeful spot her wand floating nearby.

And now for part 2.

He shot an ice spell directly at the wave, quickly crystallizing it. The next few seconds would determine if this was his last trump card or his winning strategy.

When the wave caught ice, she was so close to getting out of the water.  It is only her knees and below that are frozen.  "Damn it!"

He stepped up to her and glared at her, He knew he'd never get her this helpless again. He was tempted to make her stop being a problem for good...

But his code wouldn't allow it. He'd be dishonored if he did what his gut was telling him.

He pressed his wand to her neck as he battled himself in his mind.

He's hesitating... Now's my chance!  Raven snatches his wand and blasts him away from her, then starts breaking herself out of the ice.

Crest falls down, cursing himself for hesitation. He lunged forward to punch her in the gut to get her to stop. "Sam help me!"

Raven has one leg out before Crest punches her, so she kicks him back.

Sam has been lying on the ground, trying to calm down after what she did.  She immediately perks up at Crest's call for her.  Sam sits up, preparing her mind to fight again.

He stands back up, "We have to get my wand away from her!! Can you pull it back?!"

Sam nods, focusing on Crest's wand and pulling it away from Raven.  But now she has thinned the ice enough that she can break out of the rest of it, so she dives for her wand that's floating nearby.

Crest jumped into the path of the Raven's wand. Whatever happened, he couldn't let her get rearmed, else a tie was inevitable as the sun rise.

After grasping Crest's wand, Sam pulls Raven back with her mind, stopping her from getting her wand.  

Damn it!  I need the pet out of this or I'm dead...  At least she's pulling me out of the water.  

He ran up to Sam, holding out his hand for his wand. He'd stun her in place and that would be it. She'd be locked away and out of his hair forever.

Sam gives Crest his wand, managing to keep her concentration on Raven to keep her in her place.  

No!  NO!!  Raven struggles to find a way to get out of this.  If only she had that extra ability like Samantha does...

"Petrificus totalus!!!!" This was it. The end to their rivalry, at last the tainted light would defeat the pure darkness.