Match of the Millennium

Description: As the Exhibition Yard of Strolheim is beginning to look more like a war torn battlefield, J-Pop idol Athena Asamiya faces off against the powerful Illuminati tyrant, Urien. However, tapping into the energy radiating from his emotions proves to be a far more disturbing experience than with any other opponent, a nightmare she will not soon live down.

[ATHENA]
The Exhibition Yard of Castle Strolheim looks like the aftermath of a war time carpet bombing. At the start of the event, the yard was enclosed by walls on all sides but for the main entrance near the courtyard. Now the surrounding walls are shattered in several places. On one side, the gaps open back out into the central courtyard of the citadel, while another large hole serves as a new 'entrance' to the barracks. The other two walls, however, overlook the lake far below, which means they open into empty sky and a long drop into the water.

The late winter storms that have passed over the castle as of late are in a lapse for now, though the looming cloud cover remains, leaving the environs in a dull, shadowless gloom. As normal for this time of year, the are is crisp, cool, and, so far away from the pollution of modern life, clean. It smells of the lake and of the forests that surround it, presenting an atmosphere that is all together contrary to the cratered dirt lot that used to be the Exhibition Yard.

Standing in it now, Athena Asamiya clasps her hands behind her back, looking over the debris, the scorch marks, and the shattered stone with a quiet, conflicted expression. Her last round had her facing off, of all things, a bipedal, swordscat who not only clearly knew what he was doing, but demonstrated that he as well beyond her in fighting experience. More than rival for her speed, his timing was exemplary and his bold decisions made in the fast of the usually awe inspiring power she wields was a powerful lesson to not always rely on her opponents being kowtowed to secure her victories.

Then again, hadn't that been what she'd discovered in most of her World Warrior encounters? Each individual she faced brought so much to the fight, she was amazed she had made it as far as she had. Their fighting spirit, their sheer size, their incomprehensible durability, their speed, and their dark lineage.

She smiles faintly, exhaling softly, bringing her hands out from behind her back. She has no regrets for her victories or her loss. Her desire to compete rekindled, her resolve to further discover her true potential and, in the end, to be strong enough to stand for those who can't protect themselves has never been stronger.

For the matches at the castle, she had been wearing her less flashy fighting outfits - Kung Fu pants and tunics, for the most part. But Jubei's edge saw to the ruin of the last of those ensembles, leaving her to dig deeper into the wardrobe she brought with her. The outfit she wears now is somewhere between gaudy and simple, famous Japanese pop idol and everyday schoolgirl. A white, sailor style short sleeved blouse covers her torso with crimson bands at the end of her sleeves and a matching scarlet neckerchief-like collar around her neck that dangles over her chest as a red tie. The white blouse is tucked into a matching crimson skirt that covers her waist and lower abdomen before flaring out over her hips and ending in white lacy ruffles. Dark brown thigh high stockings reach up to just below the level of her skirt and her feet are covered in red ankle-high shoes.

As usual, her hair is worn long and lose, held in place only by the crimson hair clip behind her bangs, the hair piece also decorated by a crimson bow over her right ear, the ribbon's tassels dangling down to sway in the wind.

Her expression is somber, her hands, covered in violet, fingerless gloves, clenched tightly. This might be her final test at Castle Strolheim. She had to make the best of it.

[URIEN]
Urien is in a bad mood, and it would not take a psychic to tell such.

There is no pretense of him coming in at less than maximum power; it feels like a great storm approaches from the opposing side of the broken exhibition hall, as a tall, powerfully built man with dark bronze skin strides within. What remains of his suit is in tatters, having weathered a couple brutal assaults since his loss to Rugal to get where he stands now. Crackles of lightning ripple along his iron flesh, fingers curled into tight fists as narrowed eyes stare at the model before him.

Of course he recognizes her. The pop star. Someone barely a child, who fights like someone constantly in the midst of a Magical Girl transformation. So this is the dredges of World Warrior, for one who is knocked off the higher path to true strength. And her outfit...? It's hardly fitting for this weather, let alone this fight!!

Dense feet stamp across the sand, almost felt resonating clear to Athena, as a scowl creeps across a face flush with naked emotions. Broken pride, anger, hatred. All fueling the contrasting rush of elemental forces in his core. "You've got..."

The fight, by the rules, has already started. Yet Urien's assault comes with wicked speed, bringing up his hand and closing his fist as magnetic energy compresses chi to a whirling point at the end. "TO BE KIDDING ME!!" he roars out, before a great CRACK as he sends the flickering ball of energy whirling towards Athena, drawing in the sand beneath like some miniature black hole as he aims to drive it into her supple form from afar...!

COMBATSYS: Urien has started a fight here.

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Urien            0/-------/------=|

COMBATSYS: Athena has joined the fight here.

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Urien            0/-------/------=|=------\-------\0           Athena

COMBATSYS: Athena blocks Urien's Metallic Sphere.

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Urien            0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0           Athena

[ATHENA]
She feels him drawing near from a ways off - an approaching maelstrom of raw emotion surging, open, and powerful. Her attention shifts toward the entrance to the shattered exhibition yard as she feels herself becoming tense. What is the mood of this opponent? Yet another she has never encountered, herself - he is a name on the roster of world legends. For all her interest in being a viable competitor in the leagues, the Illuminati tyrant is not one she has ever been made aware of.

He strides in already looking as if he's been put through the ringer with his ruined suit. But it is the energy crackling over him that demands her full focus, Asamiya sucking in her breath slightly, recoiling at the fury that seems to only add even more power to it.

Immediately on the defensive, she sucks in her breath, taking a half-step back, eyes closed as she bows her head briefly. In his open rage, he may not feel the expansion of his opponent's own presence, the swell of potential. Or he may simply not care. He isn't as gigantic as the monstrous Abigail, and the suffocating aura radiating off of him is nothing compared to the thing she faced at Neuschwanstein. But she knows full well that his might is different than the towering brute. Of muscle power he has plenty, but there is so much more than just that, as she's forced to contend with a moment later.

The energy he crushes into his grip is merely a portend of his approach to combat, the projectile launched toward the young idol with formidable force behind it. She draws her arms up, gasping as she braces for the worst, never even having had a moment properly prepare herself or slip into a ready stance or put her mind in the proper frame of mind for the sudden all-out war she finds herself in.

The impact sends Asamiya sliding back until her heels dig in to the soft earth. She pulls her arms apart, exercising what little control she has over her own aura to force away the lingering effects of the gravitational power.

Violet eyes fix back on Urien, the girl's teeth gritting as a throb of ache courses down her arms. Like the previous two rounds, this match is being broadcast, any cameras damaged by earlier violence replaced by new ones to keep the stream going out to the rest of the world. She can't lose her composure, she tells herself. She can't sink to the temperament of this powerful opponent... but she can tap into the power behind that rage if she's careful, her will encircling and drawing in the pervasive emotion, storing it little by little to fuel her own power.

"My presence here is no joke," she snaps back, unable to resist from saying anything. She has a King of Fighters championship to her name. She proved herself to Laurence Blood by way of combat. And by trial of violent altercation, she secured her own place in the World Warrior top sixteen!

But it's empty words without action, she has to answer the threat this man's opening volley represents, a course of action she takes by sweeping her arms back, drawing her own power to the surface, her dark violet hair whipping behind her back from the collision of wind currents and air displaced by her own crackling energy..

"You had better bring your best!" Vibrant, rose-used Psycho Power illuminates the area around Athena as she takes a step forward, sweeping her arms out and past each other, slamming a swath of energy together into a scintillating orb of piercing psionc force now hurtling back at Urien.

Lost to the heat of the moment, she even forgets her showmanship. For once, the name of her signature technique goes undeclared.

COMBATSYS: Athena issues a challenge!!

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Urien            0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0           Athena

COMBATSYS: Urien interrupts Psycho Ball from Athena with Anger Snap Fist.

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Urien            0/-------/----===|=======\=====--\1           Athena

[URIEN]
If Athena bothered to look into Urien's performance, he has dominated and crushed many people that Athena would consider peers in this tournament; however, they fought him on his own terms. A battlefield of physical strength. The weakness of his spirit, the flaws of his will, all stand out like a burning brand to Athena. Yet this is somewhat bulwarked by the anger he feels. Being defeated once appears to have put Urien on a warpath... and he has absolutely no interest in anything but crushing Athena beneath his feet.

Perhaps that is why things go poorly. The moment his sphere roars out, Urien began rushing forward, kicking up great divets of sand in his wake. Taking time to speak to him, to gather her thoughts, means that the huge man is two meters closer than he would have been otherwise. When the pink energy sphere is brought welling up between her hands, it's too late -- he twists, backhand flying through and dispersing the energy harmlessly before a fist that feels as if it has several tons of interia behind it cracks right across her face. A pimpslap. Utterly dismissive.

"SHUT UP AND DIE, WORM!!" Urien snarls, already surging forward with both hands raised in a bestial manner. ...Yes, this fight will likely be one with little commentary, to say the least!!

[ATHENA]
The crushing impact sends Athena spinning on her feet off to the right, her vision already obscured by flashes of bright light - the proverbial seeing stars, something that's never happened to the gifted prodigy this early in a match against anyone in her entire fighting career. She just about stumbles her way into a trip to the ground but somehow manages to catch herself just before things reach that point, her feet finding themselves in a quick shuffle of barely regained control.

She comes out of the stagger facing Urien directly, arms just in the act of pulling up as she blinks her eyes in trying to find her focus again. Her cheek sports a spreading red spot that happens to be mirrored by a different shade of red on her other cheek, the girl immediately flustered, anger welling up inside of her. Maybe tapping into this man's furious echo chamber of emotions was a bad idea.

What did he just call her!?

Teeth grit while her eyes sparkle with a hint of that same energy she had just used to attack him a moment ago. When she moves to attack, it is without any windup, jettison herself forward, shoulder first, as she attempts to collide her own body against his. A beyond futile effort, of course, but it seems a bid to draw his attention forward as she blitzes clean through him, her form shimmering as she teleports behind the man and comes at him in a dead sprint, hoping to find his guard unprepared.

Forward momentum is converted to trying to step clean up the back of Urien from behind as if he was a staircase of solid muscle, taking to the air and flipping around, whipping her right arm up over her head as she draws heavily on her potential, creating a giant orb of Psycho Power easily as large as Urien himself.

"AaaaaaAAAH!"

She sweeps her hand forward, hoping to catch him off guard with her swift repositioning so that perhaps he might be entirely open to the meteor of psionic devastation raining down on him from out of the sky now!

COMBATSYS: Athena successfully hits Urien with Athena Explosion.

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Urien            0/-------/--=====|=======\=------\1           Athena

[URIEN]
Both meaty fists rise overhead with a snarl, and he brings them down as Athena teleports; the devastation left on the poor ground where she just was makes it clear that getting out of the way was a good idea. Having utterly lost her, she walks up Mt. Olympus, and he feels remarkably sturdy. Twisting around in time to eat a foot to the face, the well of psycho energy causes his eyes to widen before he throws up his forearms, shielding himself just as the great explosion roars down to entomb him. It disperses wildly afterwards, leaving Urien clearly in pain from the expression on his face. "You... worm!!" He can't really think up a better word for it. "Pathetic, mud-eating worm!!"

And then he draws in his power, drinking heavily as his arms cross before his chest. Then he lets out a mighty HAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! worthy of the greatest Dragonball Z fighter as the world floods with lightning-infused energy. Sand wells up before it obscuringly, intent on sending Athena hurtling backwards. Urien is left densely infused, having thickened his bronze armor and reinforced it significantly, segmented-like appearance showing channels of surging power as his already mighty defenses layer even more.

COMBATSYS: Urien successfully hits Athena with Metallic Aura.

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Urien            0/-------/------=|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2           Athena

[ATHENA]
Her psionic meteor launched, Athena's airborne momentum comes to an end, leaving her to drop back to the dirt lot, crimson skirt flaring out about her thighs, a flash of sky blue beneath the white lace just before she touches back down. Had she remotely anticipated the speed of Urien's release, she would have made better effort to land further away.

Instead, violet eyes widening, she recoils, taking a half step back, arms drawn up, then vanishes once again into a spiraling helix of shimmering pink sparkles, reappearing four meters further back as if thinking that had to be a safe distance away from such an undirected energy detonation.

Her expectations are proven instantly wrong as the lightning sphere of unleashed rage explodes against the teen fighter, blasting her backward clean off her feet, arms outstretched, legs trailing as she folds forward in on herself, mouth agape. The trajectory of her unscheduled flight nearly sends the idol fighter through one of the large gaps in the ruined wall overlooking the crystal blue lake down below. Yet without actually making contact with anything solid, Asamiya hovers to a stop, arms out at her sides, fists clenched tightly, a burst of that rose hued energy exploding up around her from the level of her feet some two meters off the ground as she counters her own momentum with just enough telekinetic power to stop herself cold.

A new storm of psionic energy builds around her, a shimmering shell of power now orbited by two violet bits of Psycho Power so dark as to almost be nearly black.

Teeth grit, the energy her eyes may be lost behind the shell of the mounting hurricane of unleashed power, but her expression more than communicates just how bad she intends to hurt him. Against Azrael, another force took over, a presence determined to protect the innocents touring the invaded castle. But this is more personal, the hopeful young fighter left to her own devices to contend with the Greek Adonis's might.

Her arm reaches up over her head then, the girl still levitating off the ground as she draws not only the two circling spheres but also the rest of the storm into a singular, precision attack and then, with but a gesture with her hand, launches it at Urien with the speed of a sniper's bullet.

Psycho Power so compressed that its core has almost become solid crystal hurtles toward Urien then, trailed by a bright rose comet's tail of excessive energy also devoted to the cause of trying to humble the man. This is no more about sport, self-improvement, or meeting interesting fighters for her. She will make him hurt!

A groove of earth explodes up in the wake of the cruise missile projectile, sending a row of dirt and debris into a massive plume that nearly obscures the courtyard.

COMBATSYS: Athena successfully hits Urien with Shining Crystal Bit+.

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Urien            0/-------/---====|>>>>---\-------\0           Athena

[URIEN]
Urien's not approaching this battle with nearly the care and attention he should be; were Athena using normal energy, her rampaging onslaughts might be futile. Yet she is heavily attuned to his soul, and though it rages with anger, hate, and that strange corruptive energy, it's still quite vulnerable for someone who otherwise stands well above her in the physical arena. He begins to approach heedless of the building assault, laughing in a manic manner. "YOU CAN'T HURT ME, YOU WO--"

And then the storm of assaults rains into him, sending up whirls of pink energy. When it clears, Urien is on his knees, grasping his head in pain. "Gaaah...!!" His body is fairly unscathed beyond losing even more fragments of suit, proud thong on full display. What the hell is this...?! It's like his entire body is being ripped apart, his mind losing kilter. It reminds him of when he first had his infusions, and the power in his body risked ripping him to pieces multiple times...!

"T-THAT ALL YOU GOT?!" He then leaps forward, twisting his entire body and then launching out a brutal headbutt -- aiming to strike Athena into the remnants of wall beside the gap, trying to close the distance and remain uncomfortably near. "H,heh... that... barely scratched me!!" On the outside, at least. Ignore the tears in his SOUL.

COMBATSYS: Athena dodges Urien's Dangerous Headbutt.

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Urien            0/-------/--=====|>>>>---\-------\0           Athena

[ATHENA]
In the heat of the moment as she unleashes the psychic bullet, everything outside of the fight itself is forgotten. The cameras, the fans she disappointed by canceling her concerts to wander Europe and enter battles against the world's strongest, even the tournament itself is far from her thoughts. The fury that broils off her opponent is contagious to the empath and were she more certain, she wisely break off any link whatsoever with the sentient avatar of rage who keeps shouting at her. In fact, she might back out of the fight all together - this isn't a battle to protect anyone, and consumed as she is in the need to make him pay for his insults, she isn't in a receptive state of mind to any kind of lessons to be gleaned from the experience either.

But rather than break away, she surveys the precision of her psionic strike as it pierces into and through the man, bringing him to rile in pain if but for a moment. There is noticeable wince on her part, however, as she finds herself slammed with only the most vague images of a horrific experience in the past. What happened to her? When did she endure torment like that- wait, no, it's not her, it's-

Athena shakes her head as Urien leaps in, aiming to slam the more delicate fighter with a ballistically delivered headbutt of iron. This time, she's quicker on her feet, responding to the danger with a swift retreat, demonstrating reflexes that rival some of the fastest fighters in the world and mobility that falls second only to a few. But she isn't going to take this battle by running away. With how aggressive he is going, there is no time to wind up into yet another projectile strike to try and keep him away...

Instead, he might be surprised to find his prey leaping right back at him, another pulse of invisible yet felt energy radiating out from her, disturbing not one iota of dust yet rippling against any mind in the castle even remotely nearby unprepared to blkc out such things.

At the apex of her leap, Athena tucks herself forward into a ball, as if to prepare and dive into Urien bodily - her Phoenix Arrow being one of her second most famous techniques, by far. But instead of the girl, a girl-sized orb of Psycho Power crashes down toward the man while Athena remains airborne. It would smash against him with far less potency than the attack she had just delivered, but right behind it is a second, then a third, then a forth... Finally, instead of a fifth projectile coming down at him at an angle, it's Asamiya herself, tumbling out of the sky, wreathed in churning power as she aims to crash directly into the man with an eruption of Psycho Power at point blank.

Time and time again, she has heard rumors about people questioning her legitimacy as a fighter, but no opponent had ever declared such a falsehood to her face. She would NOT let this man off easy!!

COMBATSYS: Urien fails to interrupt Phoenix Fang Arrow EX from Athena with Aegis Reflector+.

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Urien            0/-------/=======|=------\-------\0           Athena

[URIEN]
There's pain of many sorts dwelling within Urien's soul. It's clear how damaged it is; two sources of external power using it like a conduit, as if someone applied jumper cables to the essence of his being. Such was forged in the inhuman trials of the Illuminati, rewriting his genome from the ground up amidst a hellish overture of training. Victory for him is all he has in life; everything else, the excess and the wealth, tastes like ashes. His desire to win here is overwhelming...

Although such means little. Athena rushing towards him took the large man off-guard. His arms cross, lightning crackling up his arms before he twists out his hands, shooting his palms out. "AEGIS REFLECTO--" The shield manifests right behind Athena, liable to burn away her whirling skirt and hair given how close it was to her being on the wrong side. Vulnerable and open, she collides with his mountainous chest, a "GRRAUGH!" leaving him amidst a spurt of blood. It probably leaves her lump-body aching, but he slams on his back with the weight of a falling mountain, sliding a couple meters and twisting over to wheeze...!

[ATHENA]
Tumbling out of her collision with Urien, having narrowly missed being demolished by the Secret Art he unleashed in a moment of heated wrath, Athena comes to a stop roughly three meters away. She can't mistake the feeling that she tumbled herself right into a brick wall and were it not for the wreath of energy just now dissipating from her form, she would have simply broken against his iron body rather than actually presented any kind of viable threat. Instead, she feels an ache, like what someone might experience if they try to shoulder their way through a door like it's done on TV, only to discover the hard way that it's a lot harder to do that then fiction makes it look.

It's not enough to keep her down, however, standing up straight and turning to face back toward the toppled titan. Her dark violet hair swaying out from behind her back in the cool winter breeze did not survive the close proximity with the Aegis Reflector unharmed, falling unevenly down behind her shoulders. Only a haircut later will even it out again, sacrificing some of her signature long hair to the crucible of World Warrior. The white laced crimson skirt at her waist has seen better days as well, the left side near where it flares out burned away, along with the left sleeve of her white sailor-styled blouse. The flash of sky blue earlier in the match is confirmed by the now visible waistband of the idol's underwear as her tattered skirt rests against her thigh. She pays the damage no mind, hands clenched at her sides, still fuming.

Is this the truth of it then? Are all of those at the top of the world broken inside? Abigail seemed... sane but uncertain, but the Mad Dog was something profane and to this day, her mind can't really piece together the fight with him. And what of Adelheid... he seemed so under control at first, but when faced with loss, he came unhinged, unleashing a dark power she still shudders to consider.

What of the old cat? Was he proof that the best in the world don't have to be monsters? Or was his quiet, battle focused demeanor concealing a dark secret of his own? And now there is Urien. The world is not enough for him. She doesn't know who he is or what horrible things he's done prior to encountering him here. If she knew that he had maimed her friend and ally, Alma Towazu, then the anger he brought to to the surface of her mind would have been a different violent animal all together.

The resonance she continues to feast upon, drawing power into her self simply by the surface contact of a weak psychic link, makes her feel sicker by the moment. But mixed with that sickness is anger, of pride scourged, of that almost all consuming sense that this fight is everything and that dominance over her opponent is the surest proof that everything she has done to get here has been worth it all. It's a complete shift from the impressions going through her mind facing Jubei only one round prior, or Zach out on the walls of some distant village in Spain...

No. Here in Strolheim, the mighty rule. And she must prove that she is one of them. She has to. Or her life has no meaning.

A cold chill runs through her body, a shiver not caused by the more drafty nature of her skirt. She wasn't finished making her point yet. He wouldn't be allowed to rest. A storm of Psycho Power bursts up around the girl as she begins to stride forward then, visible currents of energy showing a range of colors from rose colored pink dark violets. There is another being in this world capable of producing Psycho Power of this darker violet hue at an even more formidable force. Prior to this moment, she would have considered her absolutely nothing like that man.

Is it wrong to use her wellspring gift of nigh infinite potential to lay waste to this violent man who scorned her so? Who will be the worm now?

Her steps take back to toward the powerful Greek as her arms lift up, channeling that tremendous storm that encircles her now. He has had some time to get to his feet but even if he has not, she seems to show no inclination to stop, her arms reaching over her head and then forward, pulling all of that tangible energy into another massive sphere of psionic devastation just as large as the one she hurled from the heavens from above Urien earlier.

But rather than launch it, she channels it, seeking to encase the man within the storm, leaning hard into the assault, palms forward, every iota of her will devoted to maintaining it for as long as it takes to feel him kneel, in mind or body.

"Who were you calling worm?!" she exclaims, the words barely audible over the cacophony of her rippling power.

COMBATSYS: Athena successfully hits Urien with Round Psycho Reflector EX.
- Power hit! -

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Urien            0/-------/=======|====---\-------\0           Athena

[URIEN]
Urien is slower to rise this time, causing a momentary lapse in the onslaught thus far. Breath comes deeper and slower, eyes wild and furious as he twists to face Athena once more. "Stupid girl... haa. You'll never win...!! This isn't some... testing ground for your ego!! Worm... this is why you're a worm... I'm here to WIN. Do you have my resolve?! Do you want this... HALF AS BAD AS ME?!" The challenging question seems genuine, as he roars once more. Lightning crackles across his body anew, just as the whirlwind of psycho power entraps Urien. He's lost in the storm for a few moments... before stating a phrase once more. "AEGIS REFLECTOR!!" The aura billows out as he attempts to manifest the shield directly atop Athena, far faster and more refined as he throws much more of his great strength into leveraging it forward. Intent on electrocuting the idol and launching her towards Urien's formidable bulk, seeming dangerously unscathed. His body and mind are now glued together with nothing more than manic will, one that seems shocking. All of that weakness is still there, but a near-mania is giving him some time to keep it from collapsing... how long? Long enough to tear her apart, limb from skirted limb?!

COMBATSYS: Athena instinctively blocks Urien's Omega Aegis Reflector.

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Urien            0/-------/-----==|=======\-------\0           Athena

[ATHENA]
As she channels the point blank massive orb of violet Psycho Power, her damaged hair whipping behind her head like a dark violet cape, she finds herself lost to the moment. She would sustain this assault for as long as it took. The power seethes, both within and without, the words he shouted to her in challenge just before she unleashed the maelstrom echoing in her mind.

Stupid girl? Ego? Worm? How bad did she want this win? When she had fought Jubei, she had felt whatever might happen would be fine, that she had come far enough to return home with her head held high.

But now? This fight was /everything/. When did she ever feel this way before? When was the last time she felt such violet emotion coursing through her psyche, like a flood let in through a crack in the dam? Was it in Mortal Kombat, standing across from the Scarlet Dahlia, each believing they were Earth's champion, and that anything it took to win then and there was justified?

Her mind recoils at the thought. She was always certain she had mastered keeping others at bay, just as she sealed her own influential aura in behind the walls of her mind... was she wrong?

She reacts as if on autopilot, violet eyes unfocused as she draws her arms back, lifting them to brace within her. A massive swath of the orb is stolen back the instant Urien shouts from within, enshrouding the youthful fighter in a barrier of repelling telekinetic force, pushing back out against the legendary mirror that explodes around her, once more zapping her body with another dose of the tyrant's formidable power over lightning.

It would still be enough to dislodge the featherweight even with her seemingly prescient blocking if she was not also pressing herself down against the ground with that self-same power, her shoes digging into the dirt a half inch, her legs trembling, as if someone was pressing down against the girl's shoulders with a crushing weight. An unorthodox defense yet, in this moment, it was precisely the defense she needed. Anything less would have left her in ruin.

Even still, her aura is frazzled, her hair straying out behind her back as if supercharged with a staggering degree of static electricity, her breaths coming fast, the pulse of her blood pounding a rhythm in her head.

The massive Psycho Reflector has collapsed as its forger shifted her focus elsewhere. But without missing a beat, she extends her right hand, drawing a broad section of the fading energy back to her arm, a length of it extending out past the reach of her fingers as a razor edged blade of violet, crackling power.

"Who are you to question me," she replies back to Urien, her voice softer now, the girl no longer trying to shout over the cacophony of her own power. "Who are you..." She leans, arm out at her side. She's in motion then, lunging in with the Psycho Sword at the ready, aiming to sweep it from low to high across the front of the physically perfected if mentally uncertain Spartan.

"To put yourself on my level?!"

She takes to the air in a spinning ascent out of the momentum of her dangerous swing, a trail of sparkling, dark violet in the wake of her arm's sweeping swipe.

Another tinge presses against the furnace coursing through her mind. Since when has she ever spoken to anyone this way? And why does such fury feel so right?

Has she been holding back all her life? Or worse... has she been /held/ back?

COMBATSYS: Athena successfully hits Urien with Psycho Sword.

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Urien            0/-------/-----==|=======\=------\1           Athena

[URIEN]
Urien's eyes have whited out; it's questionable if he's even conscious, at this point. An exhale of electrified steam leaves his mouth, all conscious thought shut down. Violence and instinct continue to move him like some manner of twisted puppet. All of that intense emotion boils up, flooding him, becoming his very being. And the strongest of all, envy. The hatred of being pitied. The rage of his own limitations. Such naked self-hate might be an incredibly unpleasant taste, indeed.

"...!!" The sword descends and cleaves through Urien's body. Pink and violent energy surge where it passed, tearing into the ground. His soul was badly damaged... but he then lurges forward, splayed toes digging into the sand. A moment later his shoulder aims to impact Athena's middle, inertia and power almost entirely what's brought to bear, trying to hit her like a freight train and drive her into the wall behind, a moment later twisting to clothesline her in the throat hard enough to punch out a good meter-sized hole with a great, howling snarl that seems to ring in the very heavens...!!

COMBATSYS: Athena dodges Urien's Chariot Tackle.

[                         \\\\\  < >  ///////////                   ]
Urien            0/-------/---====|=======\=------\1           Athena

[ATHENA]
Given the differences between their statures, Urien's charging slam would have been enough to break the nimble youth in two if he could just get his hands on her. Even just a simple backhand sent the girl reeling before. Compared to the Shiranui ninja he crushed not long ago, this slight girl is even more easily broken. The crackling supernova of his metallic aura had been devastating and even glancing contact with his violent techniques since has pressed her to the the edge of durability that would be considered a child's compared to his armored body.

But as Asamiya lands from her fierce slash, a soft grunt forced from her lungs at the moment her feet touch down, she is already executing her next desperate escape. Arms sweep up, trailing power from her hands, a million tiny motes of stray energy resonating with the crackling violet dancing between her fingertips.

The intended crushing tackle misses as his smaller opponent vanishes once more, leaving a cloud of psionic energy in her wake, only to reappear in the same spot a half second later, after the pain train that is her opponent has passed by.

She whirls on her feet to fix her focus back on the man before sprinting forward, her arms out at her sides like the wings of a bird.

"This isn't over!"

She takes to the air once more, intending to come at Urien from above, though this time the speed of her plunge is precipitous, her entire body wreathed in a sheen of Psycho Power, motes of rose and pink trail off of her body and her extended arms, creating the fleeting image of a diving phoenix of psionic fire on collision course with Urien's back.

"AaaaaaaaaH!"

One thing has become abundantly clear throughout all this - she definitely enjoys diving bombing her opponents with her own body.

The point of impact would be explosive, potentially one final release of the girl's nigh inexhaustible resources. Though it would be difficult to discern just how close she, herself, is on the brink of collapse, her own willpower bolstering her resolve beyond levels she had ever felt except when fighting to defend others, ultimately, she has left nothing behind in her campaign to bring Urien to heel!

COMBATSYS: Urien fails to interrupt Super Phoenix Infinity from Athena with Intercepting Metallic Sphere.

[                   \\\\\\\\\\\  <
Athena           0/-------/-------|

COMBATSYS: Urien can no longer fight.

[                   \\\\\\\\\\\  <
Athena           0/-------/-------|

[URIEN]
The wall bellows and shakes from Urien slamming into it, great cracks running up the reinforced stone of the Strolheim's courtyard. Large chunks, bigger than Athena's head, rain down and bounce harmlessly off his reinforced body, rapid huffs of static charged breath boiling out of him as he twists about blindly, trying to figure out where she is. It's the scream that almost does her end. All of the instinct, all of the training, whirl up. His palm snaps straight upwards, welling with power. The magnetism draws Athena slightly towards him, before the orb fires out. His aim was true; it went straight for her head, and it was only her own reflexes and prowess that whirl around it to slam into the great man yet again.

He slides backwards once more, crouching slightly. And then he slowly looks up, grinning wildly. Was it not enough...? With his mind and soul shut down, can she no longer reach him? A single step forward follows... before his armored form shatters bloodily. Great fountains of energy roar out of him, burning like a pyre into the air. The ground shudders in the wake of this wild, electrified discharge, before when it finishes, Urien's knees thump to the ground. A moment later he crashes into the sand, body sizzling and burned; but alive. It seems his transformation being undone negated most of the soul damage she inflicted, and the long-term damage beyond unconsciousness is now despairingly trivial... but she is declared the winner a few moments later. Even now, the hatred burns within him -- it would be a good idea to not be around when this man wakes up and realizes the pop idol knocked him out of the running...!!

[ATHENA]
The telekinetic control she has over her own trajectory proves the difference, by a fine line, between catastrophe and success as Athena dives back into Urien, facing the armored Tyrant of Iron head on. He pulls at her, exercising the ability to directly manipulate gravitational tides even if on a small level, but she twists to the side with bird-like reflexes, crashing into him with the intended massive explosion of psionic power.

She lands in a low crouch, on hand and opposite knee in the dirt, singed hair draped down over her shoulders and framing her bruised face as she looks up at the target of her attack. When he lifts his own head, lips still drawn back in that rictus grin of abject madness, her heart stops beating, her breath held. After all she threw his way, was there anything left to be drawn out? Never before had she chained such intense attacks against an opponent in such a short amount of time... then again, never had an opponent withstood so many of her strongest attacks and kept on coming at her either!

The storm of power erupting around him exceeds the last detonation of her own Psycho Powered dive, proof positive that there was far more potential within this crazed man than had been put on display thus far. Rising up to her own feet, fighting back the sense of exhaustion settling in from all she unleashed, she braces for the worst...

Only for him to collapse, a ground shaking out from around the cratering landing. Athena steadies herself, and, in the moment his consciousness ebbs away at last, she blinks, the violent link broken between them. Immediately, her complexion pales, a gasp escaping her lips, her right hand lifting to press over her right eye as she cringes at unseen but severe pain within.

What had that been? What were those thoughts? Unlike her experience with Azrael, which was fuzzy to her even in the aftermath, she remembered everything she said, felt, and thought with absolute clarity... those were her thoughts, her emotions, at least when seen through the blended lens of that violent man?

Stumbling forward, her left hand goes to her stomach, the girl looking physically more ill by the moment. There is no lingering in the courtyard, no staying behind to check on the wellbeing of her terrifying opponent. Instead, she looks to barely make it out of sight and back into the living quarters where the so-called victor finds a place to collapse...

Log created on 18:54:36 03/18/2018 by Athena, and last modified on 00:48:09 03/20/2018.