He had less than a second to react, and he threw up his hand, causing the blue flame to ignite to an even larger fire, enough to block most of Ray's attack. Some tendrils of of flame slipped through the small shield of magic, and he jumped back to avoid them, slightly unbalanced due to the snow.

He quickly lowered the shield, blinking at Ray. The confused look was quickly replaced by a quick, almost feral grin. "Round one, eh?"