Match of the Millennium

Description: On the shores of Yokohama, an assassin comes across her target. Millia Rage confronts the giant, Kongou, as her target. But the goal is not death, and the stakes are not dire. Seeking a test of self, and a test of mettle for a strange man, a fight may yet bring about understanding in a way only possible for Fighters.

[MILLIA RAGE]
Wind blows from over the sea into the port yards of Yokohama. The salt air mingles with oil, steel and exhaust. The indifference of industry met by the pounding surge of the ocean. That wind blows the long blonde hair of an assassin sitting with her face to the breeze, feeling what warmth the winter sun offers. It gives something to feel. Something to acknowledge the world. Even if that acknowledgement is in the form of biting wind.

She stretches her black clad legs out in front of her, arching her neck backwards and sighing as she resumes her vigil. She is not here for sightseeing. Not technically. She is here for observation. Word, and footage, of giants are something to know. The continued existence of Darkstalkers, and of curious creatures near enough to them, is something that her insights are woefully short on. If she seeks to keep the Guild in standing, she needs to know the power these creatures bring to the table. They will unbalance things, and assassins need to understand just how that matters to the playing field.

But it is not only practical matters that bring Millia Rage to wanting to understand these unique beings. Her hair shifts, moving, folding, bending into the shape of a rose that Millia takes in hand. She knows there is something empty in her. Something she dislikes. And moreso, something alien that is bound to her. Something she knows is trecherous. Perhaps, in some way, seeking out things - people - like her current quarry is just what she needs to come to terms with herself. With her 'normal'.

[KONGOU]
It's good she's here to observe..however it's probably going to be hard to miss this regardless of why one is here and what vantage point they may have.

Near one of hte leading docks, an enormous hand suddenly emerges from the surface of the sea to lunge up and clamp down atop one of the concrete docks with such force the entire ground shakes the concrete splinters and cracks. By enormous we don't mean kaiju sized of course..more kaiju by way of big enough to treat a human body like a toy, a plaything.. Corded with muscle. Blue and with a strongman like bracer around the wrist. This is followed by another hand and then finally both begin to pull..beginning the gradual epic haul of Kongou the Strongest Titan, from the depths of the sea as he looms up and up and up over the alarmed dock workers. His arrival sends rumbling shockwaves through the area. The very movement of his muscles seismic and tectonic like.. quaking windows and rumbling the equipment nearby as he draws himself up from the waters to vault onto the surface of the docks with a force that craters the ground around him.

The wise flee. The curious begin camera recording. Kongou, for his part, simply straightens up to his full towering height and stretches his impossibly muscled and enormous physique from side to side as if loosening up. Water drains down the crevices, canyons and cliffs of his muscles to pool on the ground around im including some fish that had been caught in the crater like depths between his muscle masses so enormous is the brute.

"Ahh..I think I got lost!" he rumbles, deep voice reverbating through the area to nobody in particular.

[MILLIA RAGE]
The giant is indeed Millia's target. She leans forward from her perch, resting her chin lightly on folded hand. Her hair unfolds from its floral arrangement and tucks itself into a more practical and manageable bob. The sharp edges of her haircut seem to gleam in the light as she leans closer to the edge. The big, blue man is a clear curiosity and just as the rumors suggested. This was far better than expected.

She pushes off the edge of the building, falling a story, only for her hair to extend at a final moment in order to catch her descent. Heels hit the paving stones, to feel the shockwaves of the giant's nearby strides. Millia hums to herself and adjusts her hat, she can tell the power from here.

Millia slides forward, slipping closer with confident strides that carry her toward the quarry. A label that exists only for self amusement; she has no intent to kill in this moment after all. She does, however, need to know for herself just what this man is and moreover, just where she stands. She is at least confident she can get his attention.

In the wake of his booming reverb, and of the silence that stands due to the lack of reply from the sensible people of the Port, Millia's heels make for tiny clicks of noise. In her winter coat, she looks all the way up at Kongou. He is twice her height, exponentially more her weight. This will be a different kind of dance partner.

"Perhaps I may be of assistance!" she calls out, voice clear, if muffled in the distance between her and the moving mountain of man.

[KONGOU]
"Oh! How interesting!"

Something in Kongou connects invisibly with that ..thing..that is bounded to the elegant assassin. The visual cues would be enough as is but the behemoths nature burns and brims with the energy of The Backyard (Or Boundry depending on how one was taught) and that the person approaching him is a person of some talent is well understood.

As such he burns his burning eyes upon her and a big grin creases his features. "That depends on the help you are offering!"

He lifts a meat hand and gestures at the woman and then uncurls a massive battering ram of a finger to add emphasis as he indicates the wonder of her hair. "That is not some techique humans can simply learn. At least..that is what I was led to believe. Such abilities are usually the domain of the makai or the youkai or others from stranger places.."

[MILLIA RAGE]
The behemoth's power was able to be understood from sight alone. Anyone could tell a mountain of muscle would be capable of terrifying things. It was only obvious. But there was more to power than simple force able to be applied, and that is what Millia sought.

Her hair lowers, snaking outward and flowing down past her shoulders toward her backside. "This?" she asks, the ends of her hair coiling and curling up to her wrists. She does not wind her fingertips into her hair so much as her hair winds itself about her fingers. "You are not incorrect. It's not often a man appreciates my hair. Most run."

She looks up at the monstrous figure and narrows her eyes as she smiles. "Something you are no doubt familiar with."

Her hair looses itself flares outward before settling at it's near ankle length to rest. "I can offer you direction," she says, "Or maybe someone that will treat you as normal."

[KONGOU]
"To think that such strange power exists here.. Then again I have seen other strange things, at least by the standards of what you all would consider strange. I suppose -I- am strange.."

Kongou's eyes seem to light up even further as he considers Millia and then his big grin returns. He seems affable despite he fact that he looks like he can fold a forklift into a ball. "You offer direction? I..do not think you offer such things without a price involved. NOthing is free here in this Earth Space. You do not just approach me out of curiousity.."

His warrior sense is pinging and he brings his column dwarfing arms infront of him, banging his strongman wrist-guards together and then pulling his arms apart as he drops into a more balanced combat stance.

"You want to know what I am and you know these things by battle.. Is this not true?"

[MILLIA RAGE]
Many different and strange powers exist on earth. Not all of them from it, or even from The Boundary. Millia knows this, has seen it, at one point had tried leaving it. But she is wiser now, she's learned that she isn't meant for the world of the 'normal'. Or, more accurately, her normal is far removed from the people that live their lives around her.

"We are all strange. But not to each other," she tells Kongou. "That's the direction I hope to impart." As she speaks, two tendrils of her hair being to warp and shift to spear points. He's called out her intention, and it surprises her enough to reflexively prepare for a fight in earnest. Especially with him clanging those bracers together. An unsubtle hint.

"Not just what you are, but what I am," she admits, "Already you've shown me surprising insight. I wouldn't expect that from most men your size and shape."

"Show me what other surprises you have!"

COMBATSYS: Millia Rage has started a fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Millia Rage      0/-------/-------|

COMBATSYS: Kongou has joined the fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Millia Rage      0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0           Kongou

The woman holds her hands open toward the giant man. And with a cold, fixed smile on her face, she unleashes. Forward, dashing, she takes a soaring leap to the air. There, she twirls with gymnastic precision before a flick of her wrist sends forth a dart at lightning speed.

The metal haft fires forward, striking downward toward Kongou. With piercing force, it carries with it something else, something hard to see. A tether of hair, little more than a strand, that offers to bind the giant with cutting energy.

COMBATSYS: Kongou endures Millia Rage's Silent Force.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////    ]
Millia Rage      0/-------/------=|==-----\-------\0           Kongou

[KONGOU]
He is slow but there is something inexorable, inevitable, about his moments. His body arcs back, arm twisting back and physique creaking like some vast machine formed of flesh. His stance widens and he braces himself against the ground causing more cracks to splinter and sunder in all directions like a spiderweb.

Her attack strikes home and encircles around him with binding force and yet he still lunges forward and brings his massive arm around like a thudnerbolt. His huge hand opens, palm swatting towards the approaching assassin with intention of slamming into her and bearing her towards the ground and upon impact even pin her into it and beneath the weight of his vast arm.

COMBATSYS: Millia Rage blocks Kongou's Seismic Crush.

[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
Millia Rage      0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0           Kongou

[MILLIA RAGE]
Like a spider, Millia descends toward the web. That tendril of hair tightens around the muscle and might of Kongou. It draws her close in, but that is where she wishes to be. Because while her hair pulls her in, the assassin curls tight and brings a wave of blonde tresses to fan out in front of her in a defensive wall.

The great palm strikes hard, shudderingly so, Millia can feel the ferocious force ripple through her as Angra takes the brunt of it. It leaves her shaken, but not beyond capabilities.

She's close now, close enough to do what she needed to. She bursts. A ring of emerald energy, shimmers into being. A cutting disk while Millia twirls off Kongou's palm and spins like a ballarina toward the giant's chest.

The energy cuts at the tips of Millia's hair, and in that close moment, she kicks into a second spin, a buzz saw of emerald chi touched with the power of The Boundary.

COMBATSYS: Kongou blocks Millia Rage's Pretty Maze.

[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Millia Rage      0/-------/----===|====---\-------\0           Kongou

[KONGOU]
She's done well. Already harried the behemoth more then most in fewer actions and yet she's close, perhaps to close.

"Well done!" he declares, his booming voice rumbling through the sound of the expenditure of chi as it saws across his vast torso and then is pushed through by the brute as he lunges forward and pushes his chest out.

It's like an incoming falling wall or battering ram, potentially filling up her entire field of vision. A chest bump that would undoubtly cause a runaway semi truck to be smashed to pieces against the roadway wide expanse of pectorals.

"This is more then I anticipated!" he rumbles though the sound of his comment might be muffled or lost against the force of his potential impact.

COMBATSYS: Millia Rage parries Kongou's Muscle Collidor!

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Millia Rage      0/-------/--=====|===----\-------\0           Kongou

[MILLIA RAGE]
Millia is close, very close. A single grab, a single squeeze, and she is done for. That she knows. But she's in control of the moment, in tune with her approach. She is an assassin, and she has read her opposition. So far, her target is proving to be as expected.

She will continue with her plan.

She is, for a moment, taken aback by the compliment. It seemed earnest. It even was not so crass as to be about anything but her skill. But the behemoth already proved his canniness, and so she would come to expect flattery as something he was capable of.

She could still enjoy the positivity.

Her hair lashes quickly, it slaps hard against the incoming chest. She rolls, coiling up like a moon shaped wheel and literally rolling her way up and over the might of pectoral mountain. And as she hurled herself into the air, she quickly became less close than she had been. Considerably so.

But that would not remain the case. Millia turns in the air, rolling to invert and look down toward the might Kongou. She tucks in her legs as her hair extends, shapes, sharpens with a seemingly impossible edge sharp enough to sound in the air.

She spins downward toward Kongou, and with a slicking of her fingers along the blade, that shimmering emerald glow lights up the golden edge.

COMBATSYS: Millia Rage successfully hits Kongou with Iron Savior EX.

[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Millia Rage      0/-------/=======|=======\-------\0           Kongou

[KONGOU]
Again the attack strikes home. Kongou's body shudders as Millia rips past him and bears her assault against his tank like form. There is no blood but his monstrous body bears the full brunt of the assault as if the energy she wields rips into the core of his being even as her passing scores along his physical body.

But he remains smiling, seemingly unphased. He's good at no selling the look of injury it seems or bearing assault in a rather laxidasical manner. Not unlike a certain vampire she may know.

But there is little time to reflect as suddenly he's upon her. He moves with a burst of speed that kicks up a shockwave that rapidly blows machinary over and kicks up a mountain of debris. His tremendous arms lunge forward for her as he seeks to envelop her whole..

COMBATSYS: Millia Rage blocks Kongou's World Crusher Slam.

[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Millia Rage      1/-------/=======|======-\-------\0           Kongou

[MILLIA RAGE]
The dance continues and her partner is not showing any abatement. The crashing blow comes with Millia slamming into the big man's chest. The stabbing force strikes hard, but Millia cannot enjoy the advantage for long. The sheer power brought by the warrior she faces is too much to let herself get complacent.

Once again she must keep moving to avoid the crushing might constantly baring down on her. When he busts toward her, she tucks. Her hair braces for her. Slamming hard against Kongou's muscle, the hair then flows like water to grip onto his wrist before swinging Millia sky high once more. There she spins free, her hair whipping up behind her. From above, her rotations hide the creation of three spinning discs of that emerald shine that slice downward as chakram toward Kongou, their speed creating soft whistling in the sea air.

COMBATSYS: Kongou fails to slow Emerald Rain from Millia Rage with Thunderous Applause.
- Power fail! -

[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////                        ]
Millia Rage      0/-------/-------|=======\===----\1           Kongou

[KONGOU]
At first it seems the juggernaut is more then ready. He's already on the move even as she vaults away from him and when the rain of discs begins to make its arcing assault upon him - he begins to draw his massive arms back, palms open and fingers splayed wide, in preperation of a counter assault.

But he moves to slow. His arms swing around as the emerald rain bursts into him and the force of his impact fails to deflect or slow their blazing embrace. His hand slam together, producing a thunderclap and an earthquake that rockets through the area in conjunction with the assault of the blast but it rebounds against him and the behemoth goes sliding backwards, teeters, and then tumbles forward to slam down onto his knees stunned..and then forward again to land propped up on his elbows in an almost resting pose with his free arm up and fist planted on his side. He might as well be lounging on a couch and not in the middle of a crater.

"I think that is enough. Well done!" he rumbles, "I have not been so rapidly given to admitting a defeat in quite some time. This contest is yours!"

[MILLIA RAGE]
Boot heels tick on the ground. Millia inclines her head, fingers running through long strands of hair that whip wild back into a docile curtain behind her. Her lips are pursed, puzzling, trying to suss out if this really is the end of the fight or if the big man is being cunning. She isn't quite certain and for a moment she looks younger than she is, the mask of confidence slipping.

But then she laughs at herself, covering her mouth with the tips of her fingers to hide the embarrassment at being so foolish. "I accept your yielding," she says with a slight but proper bow. She knows her victory here was by the choice of the great man, not entirely by her own power. But she will not turn her nose up to the practicality of taking the win.

"You are far more powerful than most men I've met," she says, thinking to a few in her life that she knows are mortal terrors. She begins to walk toward the giant, measured and paced steps to match her measure and slightly haughty tone. She's won, so she must act the superior in some way. "But your skill is simplistic. I'm certain your might wins you the day more often than not, but with focus you could terrify nations."

She looks up at Kongou, and quietly realizes she stepped too close for the big man's height. With arms crossed at her belly, she holds elbow in hand and nods. "Next time I ask you not to hold back," she says, judging her opponent as not being total in his defeat, "Truth be told, I wanted more to judge my pace than to judge yourself. I am looking to provide a place for people like us, but that cannot be if I am not at the top of my skills."

COMBATSYS: Millia Rage has left the fight here.

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

[KONGOU]
"As you wish! I have to confess I have some trouble gauging my strength here in your realm but next time I will ask for a rematch and perhaps show you something a little different." responds the giant.

Kongou then grins, perhaps a little to broadly, "And we will indeed have another match because I to seek to learn of and categorize 'the strong' here, on this Earth world, and create a place for the strong to meet and battle."

With that, Kongou raises up and seems to shake himself off. Despite the furiousness of the assaults against him and his yielding he seems..fine? As if he could begin another match again, right now.

But he doesn't. "For now, I will take my leave and find my way where I feel led to be. We will meet again."

COMBATSYS: Kongou has ended the fight here.


[MILLIA RAGE]
So that is the goal of the giant. Knowledge that will no doubt prove useful later. Millia files the idea of the giant's arena to the back of her mind. But even if she knows the ultimate plan of the giant, the idea of being shown something different is enticing.

It proves to her she is not yet left behind.

"I am most certain of it," she tells Kongou, knowing their paths will cross again. With the simple words of passing given, she turns and starts to walk away.

Once she leaves she holds a hand out just at her side to meet her shifting hair. It forms into the golden rose that she looks at. A soft smile comes to her face. She came to test a giant, and to test herself.

And she has passed.

Log created on 20:40:45 02/17/2021 by Millia Rage, and last modified on 00:34:03 02/18/2021.