Match of the Millennium

Description: In round 2 of the King of Fighter's Preliminary matches, Sever the Wicked comes up against the USA Sports Team. Judgments are cast, and a forgotten hero re-enters the spot light.

[HAKUMEN]
Hokkaido Japan, 2:17 PM.
Over the past century, humanity has continued its relentless expanse, and the world has seemed to grow ever smaller. Forests have fallen, remote locations have been connected by roads, telephone lines, and digital signals. Each new discovery has pealed away another layer of mystery, scouring away the unknown bit by bit.
It is in one such location, now exposed yet preserved from the ravages of progress, that the King of Fighters crew have sat up their cameras. Various technicians and staff bustle around behind the humming equipment, with no less than two overseers holding court over the mob, and three figures seated before laptops, sound dampening headphones clamped over their ears.
Brian Mc'beth, a 23 year old cinematography major with a deep and abiding hatred for all things Theatre, stares down into the tinted screen of his laptop, sliding one finger deftly across its smooth glass surface. As the cameras pan in real space to follow his direction, the view on his screen shifts to match. First, a couple of trees at the edge of the clearing blocking the left corner of the screen. Then, a sweeping expanse of lush jade grass comes into focus, scattered here and there with little stick totems, some of which appear to be fashioned to form crude humanoid shapes with exaggerated animal traits. In the backdrop of the shot, a small stream trickles out of a natural stone fountain, towering trees rising up on the opposite side of the clearing. Various bone and wood charms are woven throughout the branches of the trees, their faint clicking rattle just audible over the low swish of leaves rustling in the breeze.
What the camera is truly focused upon, however, is the tall figure that stands before the fountain. Nearly seven feet in height, the harsh black and white of his armored form clashes with the natural tones of the surrounding forest. An impression that is not helped by the angled horns that protrude from either side of his helmet, or the smooth, faceless nature of his mask. Surrounded by so much life, long silver hair lifted in the light breeze, he seems somehow otherworldly. A being that does not belong, rejected on a near instinctive level. Perhaps even demonic, if the crimson eyes studded across his armor are anything to judge by. But, whatever he may be, he has entered into the tournament under the name of Hakumen, and the sheathed nodachi that rides his back seems to indicate that he has indeed come for a fight. The crew isn't quite sure when he arrived, as he was here before them. They also aren't quite sure why the light throughout the clearing seems to have sharpened, colors separating in a near prismatic effect. But they all know, bone deep, that the monster is the cause. Sounds ring clearer around him, tastes grow sharp edged and distinct. His very presence forces its will upon the world, a palpable aura of order and authority.

COMBATSYS: Hakumen has started a fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Hakumen          0/-------/-------|

[ECHO]
Echo is here, clad in a pair of black close-fitting pants and spandex sports top for this (best for incisions allowing for her wings) with a pair of leather boots. This was her necromancy 'battle' sort of attire. She normally didn't bother with getting prepared like this, but she knew she was up against someone really strong, so her normal spell-component belt was slung over this much more functional outfit.

She's also looking just a tad worse for wear from her last KOF match, where she took a beating.

"It is good that this is a hallowed place, it allows spirits to rest here," hhe now stands a short distance away from Hakumen in the grove, her black hair thrown about by the wind. "I don't suppose that you can feel them? Love the white armor by the way, it's very sharp," likely as much as that huge sword he's carrying.

Her wings flare out behind her, spreading and making a sound reminiscent of a flag buffeted by the wind.

"Lets go then!"

COMBATSYS: Echo has joined the fight here on the right meter side.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Hakumen          0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0             Echo

[HAKUMEN]
Having stood in complete silence and with unnatural stillness for the past several hours, it is not until Echo steps up across from him, wings flaring out behind her, that Hakumen begins to move. Every eye studded across his armor, from shoulders to shins, pivots at once to fix the white-furred Darkstalker with a crimson stare that neither blinks nor wavers. Caught within that gaze, the feeling of oppressive will grows even more pronounced, the dark-haired woman now the center of Hakumen's intense focus.
"Huh."
The voice that emerges from behind the faceless mask is deep and electronic, as coldly harsh in tone as the suit is in appearance. As he begins to speak, the forgotten hero reaches up behind his head to grip the hilt of his sword in one clawed hand, drawing it free from the sheath in one long, rasping slide.
"You are no spawn of The Cat. I do not know what you are, but I can sense the death magic that clings to you. It was a mistake for you to come here."
Bringing his enormous sword down in one hand, he angles it down and back behind him in a stance not unlike a samurai of old. Horned head lowering, the red eyes glare into Echo, judging, weighing. And then, all at once, he is moving. Clawed feet dig deep furrows in the soft earth, throwing up clumps of dirt and grass as he launches himself into a dead sprint, lowering his shoulder and attempting to plough into Echo with all the force his robotic body can muster, to carry her back through the trees in a blur of motion and out of sight of the cameras. Fortunately, or unfortunately, this may also take her out of range of the holy energies radiating form the well-preserved shrine, deep into the dim light of the surrounding forest.
"HUAH!"
The electronically distorted kiai of the legendary hero echo's through the surrounding area, sending birds flapping into the air.

COMBATSYS: Echo blocks Hakumen's Shoulder Charge.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////    ]
Hakumen          0/-------/---====|==-----\-------\0             Echo

[ECHO]
"Oof--not a cat, a bat! Or have you just not seen that many non-human girls before?" Echo called back, taking the shoulder charge and actually managing to soften the blow with her arms up--but it didn't soften the trip back into a nearby rock. Ow.

"Looks like I have my work cut out for me here--spirits of the dead, to me!" Echo raises her arms and her eyes glow, once she's properly picked herself up off the ground, following that punishing charge.

Beneath Haku, a magical space begins to form, dark and with a swirly star pattern--a similar portal opening up nearby, several feet away--but higher in the air. The one at his feet attempts to suck him into it--and deposit him out the other, forcibly!

"Probably the first time you've had to face an enchantress before, also!"

COMBATSYS: Hakumen blocks Echo's Another Gate.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
Hakumen          0/-------/---====|===----\-------\0             Echo

[HAKUMEN]
Stalking forward while Echo picks herself up off of the ground, Hakumen allows some of his many eyes to slide off of the bat girl and gaze through the surrounding trees. Looking in every direction at once, he brings his sword whistling through the air, lifting it high overhead, and looms toward Echo, intentions clear.
Right up until a portal opens beneath his feet.
"Hrmp." comes the grunt of concentration as the hero brings his feet and arms in close, narrowing his profile so that the sucking portal drags him through straight rather than tumbling. As he emerges head-first from the second gate, he jerks his legs violently forward toward his masked face, silver hair trailing behind him, and turns half a flip to land heavily upon both clawed feet, the sheer weight of his form vibrating the ground beneath the necromancer.
"You are mistaken." Hakumen growls, eyes once more orienting toward Echo, sword drifting up into a high ready stance once more . "I have fought beside the greatest mage of her time. Your skills are a pale shadow of hers, tainted further by your monstrous nature. But they matter NOT."
Pressing off from the ground, Hakumen closes the distance between himself and echo in a single, lunging blur, left foot snapping out to drive clawed toes hard toward her right calf with likely enough force to knock her spinning ass over kettle.
"You do not have the skills to defeat me!"
Bellowing the words as statement, judgment, and challenge, Hakumen plants his kicking foot and whirls upon it,second foot trailing inky black energy as it spins upward into a heavy back kick aimed to catch her hopefully airborne form and send her hurtling backward through the forest, with no shortage of tree branches attempting to bar her path.

COMBATSYS: Hakumen successfully hits Echo with Renka.

[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////             ]
Hakumen          0/-------/-======|=======\=------\1             Echo

[ECHO]
"A pale shadow, eh? I take that as a compliment!" Echo grins, her booted feet gripping the ground and her wings flaring again, ready to respond when Hakumen emerges from her portal and lands on his feet--blowing up a huge cloud of dust and debris. Echo's bat-like senses are kicking in here, as the opponent is almost moving too fast to see--but not too fast for the sound to not reach her in time. The large ribbed ears of hers /do/ count for something, apparently--she however is gripped by pain when his left foot digs into her leg, using it to flip her over.

"Argh--" she nearly bites through her lower lip as fanged teeth click hard together in a grimace, eyes alight with pain that's nearly paralyzing from the shock of it, the armored man's boot catching her in the back and sending her flying into the trees--crashing through branches and breaking some of them down.

Then from the dark copse of trees comes a spectral, screaming white garbed form--a summoned torso of a spirit wielding a scythe--swinging it out with whip-like speed toward Hakumen!

COMBATSYS: Hakumen just-defends Echo's Abracadaver!!

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Hakumen          0/-------/-======|=======\=------\1             Echo

[HAKUMEN]
At least one of the two combatants is smiling, but it is most certainly not Hakumen. Having booted his opponent off deeper into the trees, further away from the technicians now scrambling through the forest in search of them with shoulder-mounted cameras, the forgotten hero steps into the narrow path of destruction and begins to follow her in. However, no more than two heavy steps into the gloom, the armored figure pauses, red eyes staring off toward the flowing white robes of the ghost that has been summoned to face him. Screaming, tormented. Likely traumatized by its trip back through the boundary, having been yanked away from the Other Side and pressed into service here.
"Unforgivable." Hakumen murmurs quietly to himself, harsh voice coming out much lower, much softer than usual.
With no trace of fear, the Legendary Hero steps forward to meet the spirit, Okami's blade flashing out once to meet edge to scythe, then again to cleave down through the body from shoulder to hip. This should not work, at best the weapon should be able to parry the blow, perhaps scar the creature's essence. However, where Okami passes, the spiritual essence of the creature is drawn away, absorbed into the relic's hungry depths.
What remains of the spirit drifts apart into tattered wisps of energy, Hakumen striding through them in search of Echo's landing place. It is only once he has spotted her that his pace increases, sword thrust high overhead in both clawed hands.
Transitioning from prowl to run, a trail of vegetation raining down behind him as Okami's blade parts the forest overhead, Hakumen dashes forward into another blurring sprint, sword cleaving down in a huge overhead swing toward the unfortunate bat girl. If he does not catch her, he is likely to split whatever doomed object happens to be behind her, before tearing the weapon down and around in a low, swooping sweep across the ground, slicing through stones, roots, and entire tree trunks in an enormous arc before him that sets trees to toppling sideways and sends huge plumes of earth fountaining into the air.

COMBATSYS: Echo blocks Hakumen's Zantetsu.

[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////                  ]
Hakumen          0/-------/=======|=======\====---\1             Echo

[ECHO]
"It's just my job, jeez--way to profile someone," Echo picks herself up out of the copse of trees, looking pretty worse for wear, lets be frank, she was getting her ass kicked here. But that doesn't mean she still didn't have any tricks up her sleeve. Tilting her head left and right, she popped joints and vertebrae cracked a little as it was eased back into place, alleviating the discomfort in her neck, momentarily. She'd nearly broken it on a tree.

Echo has nearly a split-second then to try to turn away the giant cleaving overhead blade that comes down on her like a horizontal guillotine, slicing her arm open in the process. Red sprays and paints white fur red on the side of her face and arm, snarling.

"Step right up--roll your dice and take your chances!" Echo's arm glows with an unearthly power as she reaches out and tries to take advantage of their proximity to weave a spell around Hakumen!

COMBATSYS: Echo successfully hits Hakumen with Grand Guignol EX.

[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////                  ]
Hakumen          1/-------/=======|-------\-------\0             Echo

There is a spark of static and a hint of ozone in the air, and before Hakumen knows it, they're... flat against a large wooden board... on a stage, and why can't they seem to move?

"Now, for one night only!" Echo is standing nearby, grinning manically as she's wreathed in darkness and holding a conductor's baton. A large circular sawblade begins to rise up from the stage floor and race towards the board Hakumen is stuck against.

"SAWING THE HERO IN HALF!" Echo is cackling madly as the saw reaches him and begins to bite into the armor of his arm and side, throwing sparks--the sawblade itself losing teeth and becoming horribly mangled in the process as it tries to bite into his armor and literally breaks--

And then the enchantment ends and Hakumen is free, thrown through the air. The stage gone, along with Echo's magical glamour that accompanied it.

[HAKUMEN]
'Now, for one night only!'
Trapped and unable to move, Hakumen's mind reels for a moment, many eyes working to re-orient to the sudden change in scenery. The sensation of powerlessness, reality warping around him, it is all familiar to the time-displaced warrior. So much time stuck drifting through the edge. An eternity. Two. Alone with nothing but his thoughts.
"HRAGH!"
Hakumen's bellow of rage shakes the illusory stage, sending a ripple throughout the construct of the spell. The sorceress can feel the rage of the trapped warrior, the raw force of his will pressing out in all directions, straining against the magic that binds him. Her saw comes swooping in, teeth grinding into his arm and throwing out little chips of white armor, burrowing into the synthetic body he wears.
The prison, breaks.
Sent hurtling backward from the force of it, energy leaking from the gash in his armor, Hakumen's back strikes a falling tree and they both go down together, wood crunching as the swath of forest he cut tumbles down around them.
For a moment after the last tree falls, there is silence, the armored hero vanished within the pile of tangled branches.
"I," comes the cold, harsh vibration of Hakumen's voice, "am the white void. I am the Cold Steel."
Still reeling slightly, mind fogged by the memories of his time in the boundary, the towering monster shoulders his way out from beneath the tree, Okami's blade slicing through wood with a dull 'chnk.' With every word, his voice grows louder, the rage and will behind it intensifying until the air is vibrating beneath the force of his personality, battered like a drum beneath a fist.
"I am the Just Sword. With blade in hand I will reap the sins of this world and cleanse it in the Fires of Destruction! I am Hakumen!"
Sword swinging back over one shoulder, both hands holding the hilt, the White Void locks every one of his eyes upon Echo with terrifying clarity, power rolling off of him in waves. His final words vibrate the very ground with their clear intent, causing the camera men that had been closing on their position to stagger to a halt in sudden terror.
"THE END HAS COME!"
With that final declaration, Hakumen twists his body and levers all of his strength behind a single, horizontal swing of Okami, the enormous sword cleaving a path of destruction through a cluster of tree branches before splitting a boulder cleanly down the middle. Seemingly unstoppable, the weapon flashes toward where Echo now stands, one final blow that could very likely end the match, if not her life.

COMBATSYS: Hakumen successfully hits Echo with Kagami.

[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /                             ]
Hakumen          1/-----==/=======|=======\-------\1             Echo

[ECHO]
"How did you like that--shall we go again?" Echo is definitely getting her Revolver Ocelot on after that rather violent display of torture. "Can you take one more??"

And then the terrific swing of Hakumen's sword comes down--tearing open the front of her outfit as a gout of blood issues.

"F-Fuuuu--" she half-growls half-cries in pain, revealing a shadowy figure that had risen in front of her to somehow soften or displace the blow meant for her--the shower of rocks and debris as the blade continues on to cut parts of the location down.

"Ch-Choke on it!" Echo sends the ghostly apparition in front of her /toward/ Hakumen as she falls back, sprawling out, spurting blood.

Meanwhile the ghost, a spectre-like form with long haggard arms attempts to reach out and strike him with it's intangible form!

COMBATSYS: Echo can no longer fight.

[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Hakumen          1/-----==/=======|

COMBATSYS: Hakumen dodges Echo's Spirit Wrack.

[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Hakumen          1/-----==/=======|

[HAKUMEN]
There is no time for thought, only action.
Echo topples backward spurting blood, but there is still a ghost to deal with. Body extended behind the end of his swing, air still vibrating with the force of his will, Hakumen pushes off from the ground and launches himself straight up into the air, ghost passing beneath his clawed feet. Okami still held out to the side, it is an easy thing for him to bring it cleaving down, twisting his armored form into an aerial roll that transforms the sword into a silvery blur to cleave the ghost in half vertically .
Spinning through the air, Hakumen orients his feet back toward the ground just in time to crash down upon a thigh-width branch with enough force to snap it cleanly in half. His red eyes swivel, glaring around, then roll back to face toward where Echo has fallen.
"Pathetic." Hakumen informs her, stepping out of the tangle of branches and into the relative clear. "Go now. Return to your cave. This is no place for your kind."
Gracious in his victory, Hakumen turns away from the bat girl and starts off back through the trees, retracing their path of destruction with heavy armored steps.
Moments later, the cameras set up at the edge of the clearing catch sight of the white and black figure stepping out of the tree line and striding back up to the fountain, retaking his original place with his oversized sword held easily in one clawed hand.

COMBATSYS: Hakumen awaits the next challenger.

[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Hakumen          1/-----==/=======|

COMBATSYS: Gabriel has joined the fight here on the right meter side.

[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Hakumen          1/-----==/=======|-------\-------\0          Gabriel

[GABRIEL]
She has no care for the cameras, or the prestige. She is here for inscrutible reasons and who even knows if she cares if her team wins or loses. The entire time Echo was fighting, Gabriel just watched impassively. When it is her turn she steps gingerly forward, a long shard of glass in her belt and otherwise formal attire. She scarely looks like she's here for a fight at all, but then in this ultra glamorous stage, she's not that unusual.

Despite her previous fight having included a fair bit of fury and glares for her opponents, the seemingly calm and composed Gabriel starts with giving Hakumen a bow then a prayer, clutching her goddess pendant. It isn't until she's had a chance to finish her little starting ritual that she takes a fighting open palmed stance complete with something of a glare that remains fixed on Hakumen.

Then without warning the so called Crusader of Light leaps into the air and tries to come down with a vicious heel stomp on Hakumen's head. If she can pull it off the bounce will carry her past him to the ground, like he were a stepping stone. She doesn't really have words for him, or words at all. It is straight down to business for this one.

COMBATSYS: Hakumen blocks Gabriel's Heel Stomp.

[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
Hakumen          1/----===/=======|-------\-------\0          Gabriel

[HAKUMEN]
Standing still and impassive at Gabriel's approach, the only sign that Hakumen even knows she is there comes after she has begun to pray. All fourteen eyes studded across his shoulders, hands, and shins swivel to glare at the primly dressed woman, submitting her to the same sense of near overwhelming scrutiny that her bat-eared ally so recently endured. He is silent throughout the recitation of her prayer, still as she takes her fighting stance, her glare meeting his many multitudes.
When she leaps, however, the forgotten hero moves. Okami's blade blurs into an arc of silver, edge whipping in just beneath her descending feet to catch the heels of her shoes on its flat. Twisting the weapon with a jerk of his wrist, he aids her on her way, flinging her off behind him even as he turns to plant one clawed foot into the soft grass.
Even before Gabriel has touched ground , the looming presence of Hakumen lunges forward to try and overwhelm her, clearing the distance between them in 2 sprinting steps. Leaping, he drives his left foot forward toward the unfortunate crusader's chest, attempting to slam his claw-tipped boot into her sternum and launch her backward across the clearing. Though he was full of piffy remarks for her team mate, he is silent for the time being, the only noises that emerge from his helmet being the slight grunt of effort as he swings the kick.

COMBATSYS: Gabriel blocks Hakumen's Dash Kick.

[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////    ]
Hakumen          1/----===/=======|==-----\-------\0          Gabriel

[GABRIEL]
Once again it is a silent affair, the movement of limbs and breath or grunts is the most it seems anyone is emiting yet. Unlike most of her fights, Gabriel has thus far elected not to tell Hakumen that he needs to repent or anything, instead favoring just sticking down to business. She uses her arms to deflect the kick, or take it, but either way, she's only sent back skidding a little, and not laid out completely, still looks like it hurts.

That glare, it's still there and maybe she hasn't noticed that Hakumen has the glare game won becuse of the eyes. She only pays attention to the mask. The next attack is a palm strike, aimed for mid abdomen. She simply draws back and presses forward with it, but keeps her shoulders square, feet planted. It's as though she's trying to better position herself, rather than land a solid blow.

COMBATSYS: Hakumen counters Strong Punch from Gabriel with Kokuujin Ougi - Yukikaze.

[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////                  ]
Hakumen          0/-------/---<<<<|=======\==-----\1          Gabriel

[HAKUMEN]
Foot impacts guard with a meaty 'THMP,' sending the crusader skidding back on her heels while the white-clad monster drops back to the ground, poised and ready. With his sword held back in one hand, knees bent and body leant forward in grim eagerness, he looks not unlike some devil about to unleash his wrath upon the unfortunate girl. That, or an arc angel sent down to dispense holy justice. It is strange just how blurry that line can get. Either way, in the moment between his opening attack and her response, during that half a second before she begins stepping forward into position, the otherworldly creature reveals to her his true nature.
"Empty Sky Form." Hakumen murmurs, the words echoing from beneath his helmet in the same cool tone, all harsh edges and focus. As he says them, however, there is a shifting the air, a drop in pressure, and reality seems to sharpen around them. The light of the sun splits into prismatic rays, each color forced into its own path. The vibration of sound waves separate themselves into jarring hums and whistles, devolving into near incomprehensible static. Heat, cold, the universe itself begins to unravel into its base components, forced into proper alignment by the being before her.
At the height of the sensation, a blazing white glyph bursts into life beneath Hakumen's feat, burning a smoldering shape into the ground that vaguely resembles a pair of huge, stylized wings spreading out 20 feet behind him to either side, their light slicing through even the prismatic effect of his will.
"Come, servant of the Goddess." Hakumen growls as she does just that, her open palm firing toward his chest, "Winter's Riposte!"
The final 2 words tear through the air, Hakumen's left forearm swinging forward to meet Gabriel's oncoming palm. However, instead of flesh meeting armor, she is suddenly cut off from him by a wall of crimson chi that springs forth from his bracer, burying itself in the ground and stretching off high into the sky. Unyielding as stone, vanishing off as far as the young woman can see in either direction, the mass of energy rolls forward to hammer into her, to stagger her back, while black geometric shapes lock into place along its outside edges. It is through that wall that Hakumen bursts, parting it like a shark through water, Okami held low and back in both clawed hands. One step, and then he vanishes, a wave of wind rolling out from him powerful enough to topple the stick figures of gods and send water splashing out of the natural stone fountain. But he does not disappear. In fact, he simply moves faster than anyone could hope to see, passing by Gabriel's stumbling form and delivering one, powerful slash across her body with his gleaming blade, only to slide to a stop some 25 feet behind her, Okami held forward, blade still clean. The cut was too fast for it to have collected any blood.
It is only as Hakumen's silver mane begins to settle against his back that reality unfolds itself, sounds blending back together, light fusing into warm colors. The world returns to some amount of normalcy,crimson wall fading as if it had never been. The blazing glyph of wings remains, however, bright and gleaming white against the vibrant green of the grass.

[GABRIEL]
The attack is overwhelming. Though proud it is clear the crusader of light is simply not up to taking on such a powerful strike and it takes her completely off her feet. Now on the ground, Gabriel has to pick herself up, dust herself off and try to compose herself. It is not easy going, she's clearly hurting more than just a little. All from one attack! There is a certain degree of awe in her expression, but also anger. The mixed feelings that the so called crusader must be experiencing would probably be hard for her to put into words. She's struck, but she is also apparently holding this opponent in moderately high esteem.

"It this is what it is to be, then let it be decided on a stroke, edge to edge." She puts a hand on her shard of glass, cutting herself in the process and prepares to draw and strike in the same motion. She's not even trying to hide her intention.

COMBATSYS: Hakumen blocks Gabriel's Avenging Angel.

[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////                  ]
Hakumen          0/-------/--<<<<<|==-----\-------\0          Gabriel

[HAKUMEN]
There is plenty of time for Gabriel to pick herself up and prepare while the avatar of Order surveys the battlefield, the crimson eyes set in the backs of his pauldrons keeping track of her progress. It is only once she has regained her feet that he turns slowly round to face her, huge sword angled up across his body and posture stiff, watchful.
"I find you, and your goddess to be lacking." Hakumen states with brutal honesty, allowing the girl to come to him as he waits and watches. "If you wish to be an agent of Order, you still have far to go. Abandon your pointless prayers. See the world as it truly is, not as you wish it to be. Only then will you have the strength required to overcome yourself."
Each word, every remark, is delivered with the remorseless blunt honesty of a backhand to the face. But there is also the sense that he is not lying. Perhaps, in fact, he can not lie. Such a twisting of the truth would go against everything he is. The very fabric of his nature.
When Gabriel's glass sword comes flashing toward Hakumen's chest, it is intercepted upon Okami's blade, the towering figure bringing his sword around to hammer into the improvised weapon with casual power. Even as glass meets metal, he takes a quick step forward and kicks beneath her strike, attempting to drive his clawed foot hard into Gabriel's gut and lift her cleanly off of her feet. only then will Okami flick up, edge hovering poised above her right shoulder for a single, shimmering moment in time, before being brought down in a heavy diagonal cleave meant to tear across the young crusader's body and send her ploughing roughly into the earth.

COMBATSYS: Hakumen successfully hits Gabriel with Improvised Technique.

[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////                         ]
Hakumen          0/-------/---====|=======\-------\0          Gabriel

[GABRIEL]
It is rare form for Gabriel to take such a beating and in fact a judgement no less and remain calm in any way, but she does. She even manages to respond, though it is hard to understand as she is maybe one blow shy of being completely knocked unconscious, such is the relentless force of Hakumen.

"Your wisdom is appreciated," she manages to cough before the final blow makes it that she won't speak anymore for now. Perhaps she's the sort of advasary you do not leave breathing, but this is only a tournament and probably murder isn't exactly allowed.

Besides, some people like to challenge themselves. It's a rare individual that can wring respect out of the so called crusader of light.

COMBATSYS: Gabriel takes no action.

[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Hakumen          0/-------/---====|

COMBATSYS: Gabriel can no longer fight.

[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Hakumen          0/-------/---====|

[HAKUMEN]
Fourteen identical crimson eyes stare down at the fallen Crusader as Hakumen stands above her, blood dripping from the silvery edge of Okami's blade. She will not leave this battlefield unwounded, though it seems the mental battle has had far more of an impact on her than the physical.
"Do not allow your obsession to consume you." Hakumen instructs the girl, scraping two claws slowly along the edge of the blade to cleanse it before lifting his great Nodachi and slotting it into the crimson scabbard on his back, sliding it through the notch on the side and allowing it to slither home with a metallic rasp.
Those final words given, and with nothing else remaining to say to the bewildered crew or medical staff that now rush the clearing, Hakumen turns to leave. It will be long moments after he is gone that the brilliant white symbol burned into the ground will finally fade, leaving a scorched impression of itself behind in the otherwise pristine grass. A clear message to all who know of him that Hakumen has returned.

COMBATSYS: Hakumen has ended the fight here.

Log created on 15:56:58 06/15/2019 by Hakumen, and last modified on 18:19:30 06/17/2019.