Description: Kagero and Shadaloo meet in the dead of night, to speak of alliances. Important things - but more important still is Seishirou's desire to test his limits against the might of Vega's will. Whose ideals are stronger, whose 'sense of self' is the mightiest?
In the dark, Howard Arena is a very different place.
There's a lack of exertion, a somber silence that fills the giant area, single footsteps seeming to echo out of control like the boom of a heartbeat from a panicked person. Vega's snuck in, late at night - he's certain Howard will eventually know about this 'transgression', and speak of it -but today, in the dark, he does not care. Beside him, a Doll stands briefly, having broken in through the roof and guiding 'Lord Vega' to the arena's steps. She leaves him then with a leap, launching herself up and out the roof, to leave Vega alone.
Alone with his thoughts.
Alone with the memry of his last fight here, playing it through time and again. From the steps, he moves to the arena itself, boots scraping along slate as he measures out the motions of the fight, replaying it in cold, crystal-clear memory. From each step that he took, to the final rushing leap that left him laid down, Ryu's fist crushing his chin.. It all is watched, walked throuogh, analyzed. Finally, with a grunt, he turns his back on the scene, dismissing it as his cape sweeps behind him. From there, he walks to the edge of the arena, about to step off..
"Howard wouldn't appreciate breaking and entering."
He doesn't bring anyone with him. There's no support for him anywhere within miles and miles of the lone arena. One would think that folly, of course. The Lord of Shadaloo, who kills at will, cannot be insulted like that without repercussions. But his whim is something banked on today. And the one rule that the young man who steps up onto the raised stage of history holds close to him.
That.. there is no repercussions for those who do not exist.
The last shinobi of the Ryouhara clan joins Vega on the stage only when the master is done and not a moment before, his combat tabi emitting only the faintest of clicks as they pick their way across the rough stone. In itself a novelty of his lack of attention. He wants to be heard. It would be foolish to waste time on anything less. Slung low in the bright white of his haori, the ninja's glance is fixed with the sweep of that voluminous cape. He'd seen every move. And his memory was sharp as well. He knew what Vega was reenacting.
"Every man and woman in Southtown was there to see /that/ battle."
The arena was packed to the gills. Not today, though.
"He's gotten more from me than he could ever repay. This indescretion of mine will be forgotten." Vega grumbles this beneath his breath, glancing towards the other. His hands flare into life, that sickly dark purple and blue 'flame' that is his power reaches out - then pulls back. Solid white eyes glare at the impertinent cur that dares to speak with him, yet... he does not instantly lash out. Today, perhaps, there's enough left of 'humanity' to Vega to allow him to talk to another, to be thoughtful. Or perhaps.. he could just be biding his time.
He turns away, offering his back to the shinobi in a casual display - certain enough of his power that he could react, were he to need to. Instead, he addresses the arena floor, offering it the words that he would not normally say, admitting a disgust within himself that has been dying to get out for some time. "They saw what was fated. They saw me rail and rant at what was to happen, only to fall short. /Again/." He whirls on the shinobi then, narrowed eyes full of the intent to violence, the crazed look of the mad dictator back in full force, the force of nature that is his will leaping from his eyes like a demonic thing alive. "What do you come here for? Speak quickly."
"We play to the marching drums of Howard," he recites.
Then, he falls silent.
It's probably not a good idea to remind the dictator further of his failure.
The force and impact of Vega's obsession--a thing alive in itself--is enough to shift the fabric of his haori, a construct naturally sensitive to energy. As if the shinobi were impacted by a physical thing by that creature of power, the silk of that 'hagoromo' ninkou floats back. In the face of the fire and rage fonted by the greatest military mind, the strongest fist and will that has existed since the time of Hattori Hanzo himself..
Even someone like Ryouhara must flinch faintly.
His eyes are cold like biting winter, a sharp glare that meets Vega's own levelly as someone whom is close to simply throwing his life away, the shinobi exhales softly, a low indescribable tone on his lips as he turns to the side, taking steps, watching Vega as a jackal might watch a lion. His hands, for their own benefit, cannot be seen, swathed in the volume of white silk as they are. He looks down momentarily as he begins to explain, tersely. "I've come from my duties in the mainland to look for you. Only an introduction. And, an offer."
"Some time ago, there was a thing that was called the Thailand War, where the group called 'Shadaloo' made an attempt in facet to take the country of Thailand as its own. Understandably, this was a temporary military action, but not before the forces of that organization claimed numerous assets of the country as its own. Amongst these was an easily accessible, but source unknown cache of money ordering in the hundreds of millions of US dollars...."
Time is life--Seishirou cuts to the point quickly.
He looks back up at Vega, as if simple.
"A tribute, from my group."
"For now. Only for now."
After all, he remembers Seishirou's attempt on Geese's life. Everyone plays to the same drum, the dance never seems to change. Perhaps someday, he can grab the conductor by the throat and force a tempo switch that will leave him ascendant - as for this far, it simply hasn't happened.
"So what you offer is something already in Shadaloo's posession?" Vega's frown fades a bit, a sardonic sort of smirk growing on his lips. He shakes his head, and looks away, towards the arena. "Thailand was never the ultimate goal. All it was was a step in a path. I got what I wished from it - anything left over is dross, useless to me in the long run." He wouldn't give it back - but he isn't all over the man in front of him in gratitude, either. "What does your group want, beyond to introduce yourselves? Are you seeking power as well? Do you wish an alliance for some petty rivalry? Speak - I do not have /time/ for bandying words."
"Hardly."
That was just to establish Ryouhara's ability. The money's source--that is, funds taken from former Prime Minister Thaksin's private accounts--is never discussed. Neither is what happened to the rest of it, or what the tribute was actually for. Details that someone like Vega simply does not need to know.
"My rivalries are none of Shadaloo's concern," Ryouhara cuts evenly. "There are no pacts to be made between ghosts and lions," he continues. "Things that do not exist cannot have the kind of power you have." By now, Ryouhara's movements take on a different air, the calm and methodical stride taking on a faint taste of feverish and pensive heat. Though amusement marks the dictator's face, the last of the Ryouhara clan has never been the more serious.
He pauses, on a different task. "Interpol's efforts within international waters makes traditional movements of arms, drugs and men a matter of difficulty. However, I have put my 'mark' on Taizhou City, China." Even Vega's surely heard of the firebombing that annihilated a good 60% of the city's industrial infrastructure but killed exactly one. "The government's hold on the remote region, to their ire, is losing power. Underneath the all encompassing shadow of Kagero, the darkness of the world can take precidence." He stops, looking up to the ceiling. "Imagine everything that you could do with a free line of shipping from Japan to China. And a group of people, desperate, needy, and misfortuned...will be willing to do anything."
He recites the words blandly and without malevolence as if they are sterile.
"What I offer to you is a simple invitation. Obey my law in the city that is now mine. And you will have free reign to do as you like within its borders." He blinks once, remembering some vagary from an earlier train of thought.
"Yeah. The only thing I want.. is to change the world."
Simple.
"Interesting.."
His attention gotten, Vega turns again. He grows more serious, actually /listening/ to the words. There's a long moment as he ponders over the concept, the deal given to him. It's worth thinking over, worth possibly even doing. However, he's not a man to make commitments of his forces without some forethought, without some ...
'..is to change the world.'
The words dig through Vega's ears and lodge in his brain - the eyes of pure white opening a bit wider. For a long second, he says nothing - and then, in the end, he throws his head back and laughs, an amused and familiar thing. It hangs in the arena and returns with echos upon echos, a madman's deranged amusement at something only he understands - how he strives for the same thing, in his own way, and how Seishirou touches the crux of what brought Vega here tonight. In the end, it's a gracious, magnanimous dictator that offers his answer, discarding the longer-term thought for simple answers. "You'll have what you ask. I'll be most interested to see the changes you have planned."
It is a simple request. In some ways, Vega stands to benefit more than him directly from this venture that he's about to undertake. But to ask him to bother is asking a favor nonetheless. And it would be folly to assume that the actions of Shadaloo does not play into his own, in a way. A sacrifice Ryouhara is more than willing to make. For his own part, Seishirou is for a time silent in reply to the movement of Vega's whim, a ponderous thing massive. He simply bows slightly, in some solemn display of gratitude.
"It'll be a theatre recorded in history," is his promise.
He turns on a heel, apparently done with business and seeking no more of Vega's, the soft silks of his jacket floating on the air with the snap of his movement. He moves to step off the stage, as Vega had only moments ago. --but he pauses.
The shadow cast from his dark hair slides over his eyes.
"Oh, yeah."
Facing away from Vega, one can see the Ryouhara kamon clearly on the back of his haori. "I guess I'm pushing my luck to ask... But someone like you can forgive me for my ambition... right?" A short blade clicks out of the sheath. "There are many in the underworld that call you the strongest being alive. I wonder if someone like Lord Vega would be kind enough to let me see the true nature of that strength that I can taste in the air." The blade rakes free from a scabbard slung back at his hip, one of many.
Ryouhara's eyes seem to shine even then in the dark.
"I want to see just how far the unattainable is from my own."
Very well - the deal is done, and Vega can simply let himself out the way he came in, to return with his thoughts focused on the grand scheme tha is to come. Whether the plans are Ryohara's or his own, someone will change the world. Someone will make things different, will find a way to cheat fate and play their tune to the masses. That warms the depths of Vega's black heart, and makes him smile in his evil, sick way. He folds his hands against his chest, and stares at the slate for a few moments, just waiting..
But Ryouhara doesn't leave.
And then - a challenge? Given with respectful insanity, something that Vega himself understands and lives by, that desperate desire to know how he 'measures up' to those he ascribes as his peers. He knows too little about the man near him to know the true test of his mettle - something that will soon be rectified. After all.. he's never been afraid to get his hands dirty.
Those hands burst into light, the sickly purple and black and blue energy that he calls Psycho Power framing his limbs. He looks demonic, then - glowing white eyes, obscenely misshapen face and the devils' own grin on his lips. He beckons the warrior forwards, to face his fate, to test his mettle. With nothing more than a simple 'Come, then.' he offers Seishirou the challenge he's aching for. And his memory flits back tothe last clandestine fight he had - when Rugal and he invaded Master's stadium to practice, then after Vega's victory, he crushed Ken beneath his heel for having the temerity to intervene. Would that Geese do the same..
COMBATSYS: Vega has started a fight here.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Vega 0/-------/-------|
Ryouhara tightens the knots crossing strips of fabric over his palms.
To stand before the world's strongest and be recognized. No matter what the danger is to his own body, he must necessarily endure. For a moment, he can almost understand the logic of normal fighters. For most men, only a fool would challenge Vega, but it's a little different from Ryouhara's perspective. For someone with the goals that he has, for someone with the 'ambition' that he possesses... only a fool wouldn't take the chance as it arises.
The guardless straightblade gleams under the light, a cursory examination of its sharpness given in the calculating, aloof way only a ninja engineer ever could. Yeah.. "No more need for talking, then."
White haori flying, Seishirou leaps neatly into the air towards Vega. For his own merit, the young leader moves quickly, wasting no time and no inch against the Shadaloo master. His blade turns in the air as he strikes down to Vega's right--no, that's not it. The weapon shines, and leaves a shimmering afterimage of itself in vapor as he twists the blade into a sudden 45 degree angled cut, red haze marking the thing's path through the air. Like a coiled snake, the imbued blade glimmers with the same heat that in close seems to radiate around the shinobi as his 'force of intent' strengthens. He loosk to find Vega's midsection with that edge. And open it.
The most ability of Ryouhara ninkoujutsu: steel that cuts steel.
COMBATSYS: Seishirou has joined the fight here.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Vega 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Seishirou
COMBATSYS: Vega interrupts Calculated Tactics from Seishirou with Psycho Wave.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
Vega 0/-------/-----==|=====--\-------\0 Seishirou
There's something to prepare for - a battle joined, a preperation to attend to - and a warrior to test his mettle. Vega lets the concerns about his former fight with Ryu slide away and melt into the background. This, after all, is a much more emminent sort of item to prepare for. He's been called out by Seishirou, and the 'test' that he puts the wily youth to is for his own benefit, as well as Seishirou's. If he's to put his trust in the youth's ability to do as he said - he has to test Seishirou's determination. That, Vega surmises, is perhaps the true end for the fight for him.
As Ryouhara leaps forwards, Vega is already in motion. The dictator draws his hands back, unwilling or perhaps unable to hold back his 'best' from the warrior, giant waves of purple and black energy that strike not only at the skin, but at the very /soul/ of his opponent, crushing self-doubt and negative emotions that is the true power of Vega's wrath. It's an explosion that meets the airborne warrior at the same time as his blade strikes - the slash that cuts across Vega's chest will be a mar he can live with - after all, the pain given is most likely less than he's inflicted on his opponent. As he recovers, his hand idly traces his chest, looking impassively at the blood that flows - and then with a wave of his fingers, he cauterizes it, his diabolic grin growing. "How.. interesting."
Ryouhara is vaguely aware of his blade cutting into Vega, the speed and abrupt sideways attack being the major vector of tactical engagement. He would be acutely aware. Except that now he is in measured amounts of pain.
There are no words to describe that sheer agony of being attacked in the soul. The wave of force hits the airborne shinobi like a freight train, cancelling his momentum, taking him clear out of the sky to crash into the slate arena with alacrity, trailing the smouldering heatless aftereffects of that impulse. Dark forces cling to every mote of the shinobi and briefly it seems a miracle he is even able to roll to save the impact from that fall. He stands up in a wide stance, his eyes dark and concerned. His body still crackles visibly--the attack on his soul floods every sense he has, but there is no cry, no surprise in his eyes. He is utterly silent.
What power..
He regards the blade in his hand, which is now bent at an angle.
He grips the flat between his middle, fore and thumb.
"HN!!"
With a snap wide, Ryouhara straightens the steel beneath a steaming grip. Wtih the force of it, the crackle of negative energy leaps away from him and into the air around, as if repulsed by his force of spirit alone.
The warlord is fast enough to disrupt even one of Ryouhara's fastest attacks casually. He's not going to hold back at all. That's good. His eyes saw that much. That means to do any damage to all.... Ryouhara will have to use every resource at his disposal. The blade turns false in his hand and hangs limp at his side. For a moment, it seems, standing as he does before Vega openly, he merely gives up there. It would be a wise move. Except the heat does not fade form the shinobi. It breaches outward. Numbers roll through his mind as Ryouhara santeijutsu is used, Seishirou putting to mental mnemonics the exact compositions of everything here. Every degree of shift in the slate beneath his feet. Everything he could see from that one attack alone. The quality of the air and how best to use his 'force of intent' to shift it and minimize his drag. He dogears everything as referential data to be called upon at his whim in moments. Calculation ninjutsu.
Blood trails down the shinobi's wrist, pattering on the slate at his feet before sizzling.
COMBATSYS: Seishirou calculates his next move.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
Vega 0/-------/-----==|=====--\-------\0 Seishirou
He could press the advantage. Vega could simply step forwards and attempt to crush the youngster beneath his heel. However, something holds him back from simply leaping forwards with all his fury. He's done that so many times, thrown himself into the fray, that for once, he may have to actually have a ... gasp, dare we say it..? A /plan/.
Dead white eyes narrow, the grin on Vega's face moving from a rictus of sardonic mirth to a blank slate, a determined line as he adjusts his position on the slate of the arena floor. His hands draw back, chambered at his side. He holds still then, and concentrates, focuses the aura of his Psycho Power down around his feet and hands. His limbs glow with power, now, the dark of the arena being thrown into sharp relief, shadows spinning this way and that as both warriors call light to the fray, be it the red of Ryouhara , or the purple and blue of Vega himself.
Finally, Vega sees the moment he judges to be 'perfect', and lashes out. Sliding forwards. he seems to fade from view and reappear directly in front of Seishirou, akin to a teleport. The mad dictator brings his arms up and around, trying to catch Seishirou in his grip and then throw him down to the stone surface, or more aptly intending to throw him /through/ it...
COMBATSYS: Seishirou fails to counter Psycho Fall from Vega with Kawarimi Suicide.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
Vega 0/-------/---====|=======\==-----\1 Seishirou
For a moment, Ryouhara is distracted from his plan.
It is enough.
His eyebrow raises as Vega teleports into his guard range, displaying a kind of speed that he simply could not track. If Howard Arena did not have a basement, it surely would have from the force with which Seishirou hits the slate ground. The shinobi goes through the that-is-so-not-faux stone transcendent from physical damage, of which there is much. Most of what he feels now is described in simplistic terms. Broken bones and such simply do not faze him anymore in the face of the wellspring. No. It's something more primal that rapidly degenerates the shinobi.
Pure, shock.
He goes through the stage and lands like a terrible meteor made of flesh somewhere deep in the understage of the stadium, where most of the wiring and equipment is stored for the use of announcers. He lands there and kicks up what must be dust that hasn't seen the light of day since Fatal Fury and lies there, still.
He coughs once, bloodied.
Getting up is a slow, tormentous process, and it's hard to keep track of all the new vectors floating around in his skull, most of which where generated by that bodyslam, the new environment, and the yawning abyss of negativity that his soul perches on. It's something like what he's seen before.. but this is way beyond what he is aware of.
... no other choice.
From above, he watches.
From above, he is impassive, standing there with his hands folded against his chest, the dark red cape spread out to make him look like a bird of prey, or a buzzard looming over a man lost in the desert, soon to die. The winged skull on his hat is lit from below, glinting in the dark of the arena. He could leap down now - he could crush the little man below, destroy him utterly. But not yet - no, not yet. Instead, he waits, long enough to watch Seishirou gather himself back to his feet.
"Show me this desire. Show me this intent to change the world. I want to judge for myself your chances." With that, he leaps down from the arena stone, landing amidst the rubble of what he'd done to Seishirou, Vega's eyes eagerly ablaze with his power. It swells around him, swirling eddies of blue and black and purple, the tainted soul that stands before Seishirou challenging him to make the difference that needs to be made. Each second that passes makes Vega stronger, the dark beast within him craving to get out and destroy, clawing at his insides and demanding freedom to /maul/ the youth before him. Soon enough - soon enough...
COMBATSYS: Vega gathers his will.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
Vega 1/-------/=======|=======\=------\1 Seishirou
With uncommon eyes, Seishirou can see that beast where it lay. A ravenous creature beyond the reach of man's hand but extending claws into all that the Shadaloo master sees before him. The precipice that extends before the shinobi is vast and nigh endless, the challenge presented to his soul unsurmountable.
Seishirou .. is not afraid.
"To change the world...it's not like desire." he breathes wetly, dragging the last of himself off of the smashed recorder, his arms limp at his sides, the blade in his hand only held loose in his fingers as if he isn't even thinking of it anymore. The young leader of the shadow organization Kagero sways as he retains his stance. "It is my 'meaning'.. for which everything will be sacrificed..." He is someone who no longer has any other identity other than the Ryouhara ichizoku.
He's bleeding an awful lot, but he seems to regard it only as a momentary setback, willing his body to move. Even as he does, the ideal of 'Ryouhara' burns within him, the motes of intelligence that is their legacy stirring in his skull until it becomes a headache. With every beat of his heart, the air seems to warp around him. Haze. In that tiny space, it's like an oven, belching great bales of the stuff into the open air of the arena like the forge. Embers crawl into the air as a long length of prayer beads slips from his sleeve, to wind about his left wrist.
Vega is unquestionably stronger than him. He knew this much.
But there is a 'goal' he is going to achieve.
"Even if I burn. Even if my body disappears. It's fine."
He looks up at the shining emblem of Shadaloo, a bolt of his attention.
"The world will /bear the weight of our signature/."
In an instant, he is airborne in that chasm, the Ryouhara in full form of mantis drifting in front of the emperor of reaching night, eye to eye with him and suspended in the bale blast of that furnace. One leader to another. Though temptation is great, there can be necessarily no fear of that unending power that Vega holds and its epic sting. Another price paid gladly. His eyes... are remarkably empty.
But Seishirou appears in Vega's shadow, briefly existing in two places at once. Speed preternatural. His hand bearing those beads stabs out, three fingers grouped together to hit /one/ point in the back of Vega's neck. The strike itself is inconsequential, a lightning bolt of a thing that would barely be noticed in normal situations. Unfortunately, what Seishirou engages is nothing short of that. He attacks Vega, and if he lands a blow, his 'mark'--the Ryouhara kamon of three whirling leaves--will appear where he touches ephemerally. And then it will cross itself out with a saltire. The Rejection Seal.
It all hinges on that much. Should it ring true, the next moments are preordained. In an instant crossing the next, Ryouhara will attack Vega on the lowest levels possible--engaging the Shadaloo Master's aura directly with his own energy. The beads around Ryouhara's wrist will glimmer. And begin to sequentially light different seals. 108 beads. 108 points in Vega's spirit will be struck. In that instant, Ryouhara has placed his mark.
In the next, his dismantling ninkou "Kaitaijuzu" will attempt to systematically deconstruct Vega's aura from the inside out. His intent? He is going to find that beast deep in Vega's tattered soul that cries for his blood...
And then, he will make sure it remembers his name.
COMBATSYS: Vega auto-guards Seishirou's Kaitaijutsu EX!
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
Vega 1/-------/=======|=======\-------\0 Seishirou
He's used to 'fear' here.
With the battle brutal and vicious, brief and violent, Vega /expects/ his opponent to quail, to cower and beg. Most would, after the sheer displays of power that he has laid out. However, the youth before him has something different - that iron core of determination that Vega can never /quite/ seem to snuff out, no matter how hard he may try. With amusement that fades into grim determination, the Shadaloo Dictator watches Seishirou rise /again/, and prepare himself for what must be a renewed effort, no matter how broken and battered his spirit must already be. The slow change of the small, cramped area beneath the stone is noticed in an abstract way, Vega's gaze focused deliberately down on Ryouhara's form, to watch with a predator's eyes, dead white and open wide.
When Ryouhara speaks, Vega turns slightly. It's enough so that he's left open, the sudden movement of Ryouhara's body catching him /almost/ off guard, whipping around as the youth makes his move. His hand is caught by Vega, the attack stopped just short of its final place on his neck, negating the attempt to infect his soul.
Or is it?
Vega's face turns in a grimace as he feels /something/ happen - he cannot see, due to the location of the stike, the mark appear. He can /feel/ the barest whisper of sensation along his form, as if a ghost were trying to touch his spirit directly. Eyes of white open wide with something between shock and the beginnings of /true/ anger... and then the battle is truly joined.
As the beads begin to glimmer, as each pinpoint attack is placed, Vega's dark soul swells and howls in rage. He's never been attacked on this level, but his defenses here are just as strong as his fists, his spirit indomintable inside - the ravings of a mad lunatic convincing himself he can do anything, given shape and form. The ninkou's aftereffects are troubling, indeed - As Vega's hand lets Seishirou's fingers fall free, his entire body bursts into that dark light. From his stance, staring at the youth, he faces him fully and inhales, his body seeming to grow from the rage inside him being let loose, the end that Ryouhara wanted to see suddenly implemented, with all the consequences still to be paid.
"You have spirit. Let me show you mine." With those words, Vega /explodes/ with power, all the raging psychotic emotion that he can build up thrown into the air in one smooth motion. He launches himself towards the hole that was left behind with Ryouhara, intending to take the youth straight up in a blaze of Psycho Energy. His voice is a howl now, a phrase that has set fear to the hearts of more than one fighter, the summation of his power shouted out in a dark, angry growl...
"PSYCHO... CRUSHAAAA!"
COMBATSYS: Seishirou endures Vega's Psycho Crusher.
*KNOCKED AWAY*
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ]
Vega 0/-------/-------|=======\=======\1 Seishirou
Up. Up and buoyed by his aura, Vega heads to the roof. Each and every inch of distance is fueled by his spirit, his rage. Each second is met with his eyes staring at Seishirou's, trying to bore /through/ his body and into his very soul. Whether or not he does, Vega's aura flickers and flares out as he reaches the arena's roof - though Ryouhara may not stop /just/ there. The power imparted is quite intense, after all - Vega's trip has stopped, but the youth's just begun...
Kaitaijuzu didn't work?! Though Vega had stopped his strike, the Rejection Seal was still planted. He was sure his attack would work. The calculations were exact. Even a hardened martial artist would have been hurt by the dismantling attack. But to watch Vega's own aura wash away his ninkou's operation like candy... even Ryouhara has to pause. Just what kind of ideals -is- this that he faces?!
That beast.. seems beyond him yet still.
"Aa--AGGHHHkk--!!"
Hit by the overwhelming force of the cruise missile that was once a man, Ryouhara /explodes/ through the roof and into the night sky on a trail of endless ideal and scattering a dizzying array of blood and knives and needles everywhere as he goes onward. He recognizes it now. The ideal of 'nightmare.' Of rage. For someone aligned with anything else, they would simply not have the ability to defend against it. And for what reason? This was what he wanted. This is what he /needed/. But it's not over yet...
His ideal won't be kowed without a fight.
Only dimly conscious, it's hard to aim. Most men would simply had given up at that much damage, Ryouhara's life in itself only still firmly in its shell by his will. But he will not see it go this easily. He forces his vision to undouble, his sleeve snapping wide as he hits the apex of his meteoric ascent. From his sleeve snaps steel sections as if shot by cannon. The steel--a spear, reinforced with his own jutsu and longer even than the horseman's--closes distance to the Shadaloo Lord immediately, to impale him through the chest. Ninkou Unagiyari...will be the beginning step.
COMBATSYS: Seishirou can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Vega 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Vega interrupts Level 5 EX from Seishirou with Final Psycho Crusher+.
*KNOCKED AWAY*
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Vega 0/-------/------=|
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Vega 0/-------/------=|
Unagiyari whistles through the air. It will find it's mark, and then every knife and needle will fly at Vega, a pulse of pure energy travelling from Ryouhara's sleeve down each link of the collapsing spear, exploding each segment down towards the Shadaloo Lord. Each weapon Seishirou has deployed here will detonate. Each weapon will try and find its mark. The merciless judgment of Kagero is rendered against the Shadaloo Master here.
--But what is the power that Ryouhara senses, the deep ephemeral dread that suffuses the wind?
Judgement.
Vega knows about judgment, and about mercy. He also knows that he cares nothing for either. He holds out his hand as Unagiyari flies in, impacting him in his chest. The hit rocks him back on his heels - but instead of falling back, he steps /forwards/. His fingers ratchet around the spear, to hold it in against his body, and then he leaps from the roof into the night sky. It's a prodigious leap, buoyed by the rising flame of his spirit, his Psycho Power in full ascendence tonight. His body bursts brightly into a corona of dark energy, brilliant enough to light the area for blocks around, casting crazy shadows and ensureing nightmares for days to come to the populace, such is the power he throws about, like a child's toy. Each new missle that impacts and explodes him attempts to throw him further back, away from Seishirou - but in the end, Vega /cannot/ be denied.
His body hovers in air then, the apex of his leap just as gravity begins to claim Seishirou, leaving the pair eye-to-eye. Crazy demons crawl in Vega's glare, the rictus grin back again, blood-flecked lips showing the effort of maintenance of his power through the damage that Seishirou has caused. His voice is a dark, deep thing, and while weakened, is no less awe-inducing.
"Good/bye/."
He'd asked for Vega's best, and he's given it - from hovering in mid-air, Vega grabs the man /again/, and the power that he's held himself aloft with is /again/ imparted to Seishirou, magnfied to a level that few see, and /all/ fear. This time, the words are similar, but all the more powerful, with the portent of doom and dread on the wing
- the wings of death.
The wings of Shadaloo.
"FINAAAAAL.. PSYCHO... CRUSHAAAAA!"
The sky is lit up with explosions tonight. It's like fireworks.
As genius engineer and dark lord meet in the sky, there is a clear winner and a clear loser.
Unagiyari is destroyed. Though chance shrapnel after the charged blasts that ruptured its shaft concludes the ninkou itself, the flood of will that travels up the length of that ninkou simply vaporizes the 'matter' that is left. The flood could be delayed, but never stemmed. Never dammed. Not by his current level of ability.
He meets Vega there in the sky, his eyes dim with haze--but his glance understanding.
".... I was not disappointed ...."
Drifting, Ryouhara blinks once, his normally dark asian skin glowing a few shades lighter in the face of that oncoming destruction. Though he knows--internally--that he simply might not survive this much, there wasn't to be much escape from it at this range. He would have to endure. He could only draw his vestments about him. Deploy the defensive measure of Byakuren Hagoromo. But beyond that... Ryouhara finds a simple peace. He cannot help but watch fate with his curious engineer eyes.
"so.... that's what you look like..."
He'll overcome even that, one day.
With a cataclysmic rending heard for blocks around, Ryouhara is blown further into the sky, carried on wings of despair, even the leader of Kagero, who bombs cities and wages war on society itself, even he himself must be awed. The young man's Hagoromo--even his shirt--are torn to pieces in the epic clash, and it is the same with his consciousness. Blown to pieces by pure force and power. It's debatable that Ryouhara even saw Vega bleed. Everything that is his ideal.. is defeated here.
He sails to the earth far below, his body twisting through the air. He is alive only by will summoned from the deepest sanctums of his spirit. A will afforded him by his ideal.
One should pray it survives the impact.
COMBATSYS: Vega has ended the fight here.
Log created on 21:10:02 09/09/2008 by Vega, and last modified on 19:06:54 02/20/2009.