Description: A Halfway House that's not a Halfway House, children that aren't children, a crimelord who's not a crimelord, a terrorist who's not a terrorist, and a brute who's not a brute. Paradox and whimsicality abound as the last of the Ryouhara tests the Sword and the Sensei. (Winner: Adelheid)
It's a good thing there were some SNF staffers around to help lead Hayato to the starting point for the fight. With the maze of mirrors and the smoke machines reducing visibility here in the Howard Halfway House of Southtown Hayato would have found it rather difficult to actually find his way to where he's supposed to be fighting. Will it be an issue during the fight? Maybe. Hayato's plan is to get in close to Adelheid and smash away, in which case the mirrors shouldn't be much problem at all.
At the moment Hayato is standing by one of the mirrors that reflects a fairly normal reflection, looking into it and grinning as he flexes one of his arms. Damn he looks good. He then runs a hand through his hair, which remains tousled as always. He glances around... doesn't appear to be anybody else here at the moment. So he indulges in a few quick katas with his shinai, watching himself in the mirror. Oh yeah, he's got it.
The SNF documents were a bit misleading.
Though it's suggested that the Howard Halfway House was cleared out and reconfigured for the cause of this fight, there is very little that's truly carnival-esque for the purposes of the fight. Traps, tricks? It would seem we have been grossly misinformed. Or really, have we?
The almost cozy Howard Halfway House seems more to have been retrofitted as a cathedral than any amusement fun-ride, pews lining up to a main fighting area, with all of the windows having been replaced with stained-glass visions of various import--though the setup is certainly western, unabashedly asian images are reflected in the colorful mosiacs, dragons and emperors glorified in art. Great mirrors ring around the room, bending the colored light in strange ways, and making Hayato look slightly fatter in certain mirrors than others.
The kanji, 'JINCHUU,' is marked on the main floor.
And every child of the halfway house has been gathered here in ceremonial draperies, sitting in the pews, heads bowed. Some shift uneasily. Others simply breathe. But none watch the fighters as they make their individual arrivals. Hayato's already noticed..
It is because none of them are truly 'real'.
Though they certainly resemble children at a glance...
None of them, none at all, have eyes.
What is it with the SNF agents and their love of testing adaptability to its limits? He's BEEN in a maze of mirrors - twice in fact. Once against Kula Diamond, once against Sakura Kasugano. Adelheid Bernstein isn't sure it's really the sort of test they were going for - but it certainly made for interesting pugilism nonetheless. Smoke and mirrors is, of course, a figurative term in many senses: covering up reality, theatrical deception geared towards giving one impression.... while hiding the facts. A halfway house, testament to Geese Howard's good nature, is /already/ such a device. Adelheid is well aware of it, and hardly pauses in deciding that it's hardly that symbolic in-joke that is the basis for tonight's match. No, as appropriate, there's bound to be something more sinister, or simply dangerous at work here. His arrival is understated, the Bernstein heir cloaked in shadow, a black sneaksuit with ample utility pouches from belt and twin harness leaving only his austere features, and wild platinum mane free to the elements. A helicopter would be telling - today the prodigal Bernstein takes the low road, rappling up from the back of the halfway house, slipping in through the bordering yards and providing only enough sight and sound to make sure that the whispers got back to the crew, that /someone/ saw him: Adel has arrived.
He rapples up the rear wall, a quick-release clip hooked to a zipline as he vaults higher in a few easy, practiced bounds, settling in beside one of the obviously new windows quietly. Two small devices come out, quickly affixed to the wall as he joins a hand to the effort: scanning outwards for energy. There's Hayato, of course - the flamboyant, passionate gym teacher burning bright in his mind's eye, the veritable flipside to the prodigy's icy, hurricane's gale focused, waiting to be tapped, within his lithe frame. He smiles, and he pauses... sometimes, the unconventional or unexpected is all it takes to set things off on the right foot. Perhaps he can trigger the starting bell in such a manner. He reaches into one pouch, and extracts two dense, metallic spheres, which tinkle joyfully as they penetrate one window overlooking the main hall, near its base, through one of the less fundamental frames of fine glasswork. Such a waste.
Seems there is smoke after all: the twin grenades erupt into a dense, but thankfully non-acrid cloud of lingering, black smoke which rapidly fills up the area beneath the windows. Adelheid? Nowhere to be seen. Within the smoke? No, swinging across to the other side of the outer wall, and pausing for one more beat. The empty cloud fills outward as the baubles release their own deceptive charge, and inwardly, silently, the blonde Bernstein counts off. Wait for it.....
So, it turns out that Hayato was actually only in the entry hall the whole time. Some SNF staffer was apparently having a bit of fun with him. He'd better hope that Hayato doesn't find him! Eventually Hayato notices that there's a door leading out of the area. The Burning Phys Ed Teacher wanders over in that direction and it's then that he notices the rather less amusing setup in that part of the building. "What the-" This wasn't on the schedule!
Not that it seems like a /bad/ place to fight, necessarily. Though the children spread out throughout the 'church' strikes Hayato as a little odd. It's not really safe for all these kids to be here when they're going to be fighting, is it? The gym teacher starts walking over to ask one of them what's going on when there's a sound of breaking glass and then smoke starts spilling into the room. Oh, now what the hell is this? Good thing Hayato has got his shinai handy.
Of course, it's hard for children to be put in jeopardy when there are no children! Eyeless baby ninja Myrdraals don't blip like innocent bystanders on the intuitive, analytical young warrior's sonar, though it's hard to argue the sheer /creepyness/ of it as the black-clad Bernstein all but explodes through the far window, along the wall his smokebombs creep along, and tumbles in a graceful somersault to the floor - disappearing into the cloud of obscuring smoke. Perhaps unfortunately for Hayato, this may complicate the whole process of pinning him down and wailing on him with a bamboo sword. Thankfully, however, it affords Adel a momentary, but relatively complete view of the battlefield from overtop of the smokescreen, on his way down.
Adelheid pauses where he lands, crouching low in the concealing fog, and closes his eyes altogether - they will not serve him just this instant, and so he compacts his concealed position, and silently waits. There is something off about this scenario that goes way beyond a converted, kanji-encrusted hostel, apparently now intended as a cathedral to Seishirou's little Waco operation. Some things, however, are not in the least bit unpredictable.
... Hayato is, after all, going to be looking for nothing more than to wail on him with that damn stick.
Well, a shattering window is a good way to draw Hayato's attention back up. And Adelheid is briefly visible before he plunges down into the smoke, so... looks like it's time to get this party started! This is made slightly more difficult by not being able to /see/, Adelheid of course. But little things like that aren't going to stop Hayato. "So, trying to hide, huh? How long do you think that's gonna work for you?" Long enough to send an attack flying out of the smoke, perhaps...
But not if Hayato acts first! Sure, he can't see Adelheid, but he knows the general spot where he landed. So Hayato goes charging in. And the plan is to maximize his chances of actually connecting with Adelheid. The teacher charges into the smoke, then suddenly leaps forward with both arms spread wide. Ideally he'll crash into Adelheid, but failing that he'll hopefully manage to get one of his arms around the youth. Either way, the plan is to send Adelheid crashing into the floor with Hayato on top of him.
COMBATSYS: Hayato has started a fight here.
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Hayato 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Adelheid has joined the fight here.
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Adelheid 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Hayato
COMBATSYS: Hayato successfully hits Adelheid with Medium Throw.
-* WILD HIT! *-
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Adelheid 0/-------/--=====|-------\-------\0 Hayato
Deep breath in, deep breath out. The plan is simple, and Hayato hurls himself full-bore into it. The burning gym teacher's footfalls are evident on the 'church' floor, and Adelheid can almost feel the powerful instructor burst into the smokecloud. He leaps, Hayato leaps - and then everything just goes horribly, horribly awry for the young Bernstein. The best laid plans come sweepingly apart, and Adelheid somehow collides /squarely/ with Hayato as he leaps, momentum suddenly and soundly reversed as he is sundered into the floorboards with cracking intensity. Being hidden is not much of a consolation as the shockwave that was previously Adelheid's SPINE erupts outwards, cracking the floor as he hacks up a ragged cough.
That stung. If there's one thing the young Bernstein knows, however, it's taking a brutal, some would say uncalled for assault and coming out the other end swinging. So that's just what he does. Kicking his legs up underneath him, Adelheid shifts his plan mid-stride: Sure, Hayato's landing wasn't as brutal, but he still had to come down. And so the platinum blonde throws himself right /back/ at the Burning Phys-Ed Teacher, launching his own arm around in a clotheslining sweep, one which is meant to clamp a hand inexorably about Nekketsu's meaty neck. Then, Adelheid's forward momentum would expand exponentially.
Should his grip be found, Hayato would suddenly be the warhead on a Bernstein ballistic missile, Adel's feet leaving the ground as the black-clad fighter blasts forth from the cloudcover with alarming intensity, seeking to quite literally and suddenly slam Hayato, back-first, into the far wall, with shattering force to match that offered to him, with a show of strength more expected from his father, but executed alarmingly well by the Prince of War.
COMBATSYS: Hayato endures Adelheid's God Press.
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Adelheid 0/-------/-======|===----\-------\0 Hayato
Hayato honestly wasn't entirely sure how he was going to impact with Adelheid, so it was a little tricky for him to be ready to hit the ground properly. And so Adelheid manages to get up and get a hand around Hayato's neck as he's rising himself. And then Hayato's being dragged along somewhat helplessly. He's not really in a position to break free, but he can prepare himself for what's going to happen next. And so he keeps his eyes on Adelheid. He grunts as his back slams into the wall, but then he immediately springs into motion.
Cracks spread out over the wall from the point of Hayato's impact, but he's already reaching out for Adelheid. He attempts to grab the youth by his shoulders and drag him down, while at the same time Hayato's knee is flying upwards to meet his stomach. And not just his knee! Blazing orange chi surrounds the center of his leg as he tries to land a blow heavy enough to lift Adelheid's feet right up off the ground.
COMBATSYS: Adelheid blocks Hayato's Devastation Kick.
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Adelheid 0/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0 Hayato
Resilient. That, also, was in the cards. It didn't matter which way the deck fell, today: Hayato would fight from the beginning, to the bitter end, one way or another. Getting his grip, launching the mighty instructor, these things are secondary to being prepared to go the distance, as Nekketsu demonstrates with admirable aplomb. The foundation-rattling impact does not slow the much larger warrior, if anything the rebound seems to /fuel/ him. Adelheid grits his teeth, and as Hayato's hands come down on his shoulders, he drops low. Straight down into a crouch, crossed forearms heave forward to meet that rising knee. Explosive force and burning energy rip through his guard, the lithe Bernstein averting his eyes ever so slightly from the proverbial blast furnace as the impact drives him backwards, skidding across the floor.
The Prince of War wastes no time, either. Perhaps borrowing a page from Hayato's book, perhaps simply mirroring the love of the fray, the icy heat within Adel burns ever brighter as his crimson eyes spark, and he rises with a flourish, sweeping aside the lingering fires of Hayato's blazing conjuration, and launching himself through the space they had occupied with equal abandon.
His left foot snaps around, a flying strike aligned with the Burning Phys-Ed Teacher's collarbone, meant to lead fluidly into a twisting, axeing roundhouse as he lands, and culminate in a fierce front snap for the massive teacher's ribcage: each blow all but bleeding grey-silver energy, a torrential outpouring of Adelheid's ample inner chi, summoned to the fore with the force of a reverberating thundercrack, as if the clouds above had unleashed their fury as well.
COMBATSYS: Seishirou has joined the fight here.
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Seishirou 0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0 Hayato
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Adelheid 0/-------/-======|
COMBATSYS: Seishirou has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
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Adelheid 0/-------/-======|-------\-------\0 Seishirou
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Hayato 0/-------/-----==|
COMBATSYS: Seishirou has joined the fight here on the left meter side.
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Seishirou 0/-------/-------|======-\-------\0 Adelheid
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Hayato 0/-------/-----==|
The children don't move at all, not through the explosions or the all-concealing smoke, they don't sniffle, or gasp, or cough. They are just forms, shivering faintly in blind witness to the fight that unrolls with near instanteous godlike speed before them.
Then, one twitches. A man slams a burning leg into another. Another man grips him, force radiating off his axe-kick. Energy awakens in those tiny minds, as a 'force of will' that powers them magnifies.
Interval one.
One of the children explodes from the pews into the air, his robe shredding into pieces from rotating blades hidden within his chest. He has no 'will' of his own, because he is not human. Wood, cloth, and steel forges him, the thing tumbling through the air like an upset top, it homes in on a target. At first, it seems drug slowly towards Adelheid as the prince hits his stride in harsh thunder, but the burning lights and heat still dragging off of Hayato's leg attract the creation like a moth to a candlelight. One can catch for an instant the telltale symbol on that creation's skull as faux hair snaps off like a cap. It splits into pieces, body clamshelling out.
NINKOU - BYAKKO DAIBAKUHA
.. Firing dense arrays of bleeder needles with almost surgical accuracy at the teacher, trying to take him right out of the air.
COMBATSYS: Hayato blocks Adelheid's Grosse Stob.
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Seishirou 1/------=/=======|=======\-------\0 Adelheid
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Hayato 0/-------/----===|
COMBATSYS: Seishirou successfully hits Hayato with Byakko Daibakuha.
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Seishirou 1/-----==/=======|=======\-------\0 Adelheid
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Hayato 0/-------/---====|
The sweeping roundhouse from Adelheid is caught on Hayato's quickly raised forearm, the teacher bending with the blow and then slipping under Adelheid's leg as it continues on. Unfortunately Adelheid recovers quickly enough to continue on with the next stage of his attack, but Hayato is again able to get his arm in the way, taking the kick there rather than letting it plow into his ribs. The energy splashing over him isn't pleasant either, but there are bigger things to worry about.
Or smaller, as the case might be. There's an explosion behind Hayato, followed by a whistling noise and then a series of sharp pains in Hayato's back as he becomes a human pincushion. He reaches behind himself and yanks one out, turning it over in his fingers for a moment. "Well, that was strange." Then he suddenly tosses the needle aside and reaches out for Adelheid's throat, as the sneaking suit doesn't provide much to get a grip on. If he manages to grab the younger man he lifts him up for a good violent shaking before bringing his other arm into play by driving a fist into Adelheid's sternum.
COMBATSYS: Hayato successfully hits Adelheid with Power Punch.
-**- LUNATIC HIT!! -**-
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Seishirou 1/-----==/=======|=======\===----\1 Adelheid
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Hayato 0/-------/-======|
See, he /knew/ those knelt children were just damn creepy. It's inevitable that they'd start exploding into /something/, probably Maple Syrup and Waffles given their creator, but there's no such luck this time. Adelheid's gaze snaps aside as the doll-turned-golem erupts into motion, and then into needle bolts. Sure, it's impressive - but he should really be giving all his attention to the opponent, not the battlefield, this time. Eyes dart back, and crimson gaze widens, as it seems Seishirou's trap for him has worked perfectly: he enraged the damn teacher with those bee stings. Hayato's grip clamps about Adel's neck, and the Prince of War only manages to squirm once or twice before his chest veritably /implodes/. At least, that's how it feels as he's launched backwards, crashing harshly to the ground and rolling over himself to crack his head into the front of the pews, actually cracking the wood - and perhaps his skull, as he groans and tries to draw breath.
Just... a minute here... he'll be fine.... a brisk shake of his head, and air finally refills his lungs, "Impressive." He murmurs... it's difficult not to respect that level of might, and it's more than he expected the Burning Phys-Ed Teacher to be able to muster from a simple strike.
"But we're... not done... YET!" He insists, and Adel springs into motion. Launching himself forward, he attempts to overwhelm Hayato with sheer strength and speed: blasting into him much as before, feet leaving the ground as he seeks to heave Nekketsu up and around, and set him to a leading role in a reunion with the wall. It's hardly where this would end, however: Adelheid seeks to clamp a hand over Hayato's face this time, and make it the centerpoint for a hurricane of rampant, brilliantly luminescent chi.
Blood-red edges cleave outwards as the area around both fighters is filled with searing silver light, the rampant windshear focused on Hayato's features, on blasting point-blank through his skull, around his body. For Hayato, the eye of the hurricane is no calm place to be: for Adelheid, he would stand tall in the center of the coalescent gale, hair whipping wildly as his muscles tense, and more and more chi is poured into his adversary with unrelenting fury.
It was a titanic blow. Pharaohs and Kings have fallen at less. But still, only a punch. The children--now known to be just conveniently disguised ninkou--click audibly as Adel is scruffed and gripped, pummelled like a kitten. One pitches forward, leaning into the motion, engaging the rest with the attitude it takes. Several at this point remove themselves from the pews, slowly being stirred to life by the forces at work here.
But in the end, it seems that first, initial "life mimickry" would act, rolling into and down the aisle, whipping itself to speed as it tumbles into the massive gale with almost suicidal abandon, rolling first towards the eye of the storm, towards Hayato, as if confused--
It starts to follow the trail of energy to the hand that stoked it, to 'origin.'
Pieces sloughing off of it all the way, by the time it reaches Adelheid, it's less a 'device' and more a 'goo.' Charged resin, to be clear. Resin that discharges the mucky seals drawn in it in fierce pulse.
COMBATSYS: Adelheid successfully hits Hayato with Gigantic Pressure.
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Seishirou 1/-----==/=======|==-----\-------\0 Adelheid
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Hayato 1/----===/=======|
Hayato grins as Adelheid is sent crashing down. There, that's the stuff! Of course Adelheid is going to get back up for some more, but- and then Hayato is swung around and the next thing he knows he's once more hitting the wall with enough force that Geese is going to have to bring the contractors in to repair it. But that's only a little painful compared to the silver light that comes blasting right into Hayato's face, leaving a smoking hole in the wall around an outline of Hayato's head.
The gym teacher starts to fall to his knees, but at the last moment he manages to change it into a crouch which he uses to spring away, hitting the ground rolling and opening up some space between himself and Adelheid before rising back up to his full height. Ow. He glances around... So, these children are all weapons, huh? Well... Hayato suddenly reaches down and grabs one with each hand before spinning around to hurl them in Adelheid's direction. He's got no idea what they do, but if nothing else they might serve as a distraction! While Hayato comes running up behind them and leaps toward Adelheid. The leap is similar to the takedown attempt Hayato started the fight with, but rather than holding his arms spread out he keeps them both above his head, with shinai held out at an angle perpendicular to his body. A last kick off the ground sets the man into a rapid spin and as he closes in toward Adelheid his shinai begins to burn with the same blazing chi that surrounded his leg earlier.
COMBATSYS: Seishirou successfully hits Adelheid with Genbu Daibakuha.
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Seishirou 1/----===/=======|===----\-------\0 Adelheid
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Hayato 0/-------/-----==|
COMBATSYS: Adelheid reflects Burning Windmill from Hayato with Dark Steel.
- Power hit! -
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Seishirou 1/----===/=======|-------\-------\0 Adelheid
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Hayato 0/-------/---====|
Ah, that's gratifying. Emptying all that power into Hayato's stern features is cathartic, after the beating he's taken thus far. But Adelheid can't rest on his laurels, particularly when his show has triggered the homing pidgeon that is Seishirou's nature-affronting offspring. Clearly, it's dangerous to be a chunk of wood in the Ryouhara dojo. Seishirou's predilictions notwithstanding, Adelheid launches backwards from the sheer impact of the explosive force, but not far enough... Hayato is recovering for a renewed offensive, and the rolling goobomb is tumbling in on the young Bernstein, silvery energy still wisping from his fingertips. But the Prince of War does not move, he doesn't even flinch. He draws a breath, his chi centers throughout him, suffuses, fires up /anew/. As if he had never burned through so much in the first place, Adel remains a bright beacon for the burbling baby bobomb, and he doesn't seem to care. Ninkou seals erupt in slime all around him, bursting over his back, lighting up brightly as the concoction tries to sap all that glorious, juicy energy he's focusing.
Then there's more. Adelheid seems almost to expect it, the attempt at shutting him down proving painful, the stinging cold eating at his muscles, but he still does not waver.
Both hands thrust forward, the Ninkou sigils burn brighter, then brighter, then brighter still - many times filled with searing silver light far beyond what they should be containing, or can oppose. The polarity shifts in a heartbeat, and Adelheid's energy surges through him, windshear crackling off his palms, filling the space before him. It's a half-dome that erupts, a brilliant, yet darkly crackling shield that boils into being in an instant. Twin dolls crash into the outskirts of the barrier, as black lightning arcs inward along it, the greyish mass swirling violently. Each wooden toy, or so they seem just now, is fueled by that energy, rebounding with remarkable force, coursing with tendrils of grayish energy as they hurtle, ricocheting violently - one off the ceiling itself, one off the far wall, splintering violently, though it's not entirely clear whether it was only the would-be golems themselves... or the structure of the house as well.
Regardless, that surging wall remains steadfast as the spinning Hayato erupts full bore into it. His aerial flight is akin to a bomb on a bunker, the barrier rippling outwards visibly with the sheer force of it, as the boiling flame burns outwards, and in an instant... rushes back to its source. Fire mingles with dark gale, and it's as if the entire shield bursts backwards, exploding with an artillery payload of scattering force back over Hayato, around him, cracking the floor and momentarily transforming the transformed halfway house 'cathedral'.... into a destructive wind tunnel.
A gutteral shout echoes behind it, the youth's lithe body flexing in a show of not only corded muscle well beyond what a boy of his age and frame should have... but a control of energy, and the flow thereof, already beyond what most ever attain.
The life-sized wooden toys themselves offer very little resistance when snatched off the ground as a precursor to Hayato's attack, the small mob seeming at once unrepentant and mildly discontented when two of their number are taken up, their bodies slung forward into--a wall of force. Enervated by massive amounts of chi, they are charged and flung away, their bodies all but shattering against the cold faux-marblized walls, their skulls splitting, apparently rendered impotent against Adelheid's storm.
Lines of energy leap from them to other units a moment later, causing the others to stiffen as if shot by thunderbolt. The energy--absorbed from the wall and the force at riding the epicenter of Hayato's full body shinai thrust--flicks from unit to unit, causing each's skulls to split open in turn, before--
click. [ interval two. ]
Magnified by the ephemeral force hanging in the air, a large subsection of the units detonate in white-hot blasts from the energy reflux.
COMBATSYS: Hayato dodges Seishirou's Kouryuu Daibakuha.
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Seishirou 0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0 Adelheid
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Hayato 0/-------/---====|
Hayato was expecting to meet some resistance upon impacting with Adelheid's body; what he wasn't expecting was to to fly into a wall of pure energy. Orange and silver light flares over him as he gets blasted backwards painfully. But at least there's one small benefit to be had. The teacher is sent flying away with enough force to escape the area of the activating group of dolls, just barely avoiding being caught up in the blinding white release of energy. And then he hits a wall and falls to the floor.
The teacher shoves himself up with a grunt, feeling several things across his body pop and snap. Some of them actually don't feel that bad. These are outweighed by the ones that result in sharp pains, however. Still, Hayato is able to get back to his feet and wipe some blood out of his eyes. He's not finished yet! And then... he grins, throwing his head back and laughing. "Terrific! This is great! What a rush!" The teacher starts running toward Adelheid, running right up a pew and then leaping off the top with his shinai raised high to bring a strike right down on Adelheid's head.
COMBATSYS: Adelheid dodges Seishirou's Kouryuu Daibakuha.
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Seishirou 0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0 Adelheid
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Hayato 0/-------/---====|
COMBATSYS: Adelheid dodges Hayato's Random Strike.
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Seishirou 0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0 Adelheid
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Hayato 0/-------/---====|
One, two, three.... Adelheid quickly gives up counting the spikes of chi energy that suddenly fill the room. The hair on his neck stands on end, and his platinum mane joins it in leaping behind him as he suddenly accelerates. It's half a jump, and half a launch, a subtle yet profound shift of his internal chi. There's no simpler way to put it: the young Bernstein simply /glides/. Heavy boots leave the ground, and touch back down in a slide, on the edges of the eruption of white-hot energy, the rushing shockwave breaking over itself, washing out like an ocean wave as the Prince of War simply outdistances it in a heartbeat, rushing ahead of the mighty burst and touching down on feet that seem to have grown little heavier. Indeed, as Hayato rushes in, despite the lateness of the battle, the pain in his own frame, Adel has lost little alacrity. The lithe blonde weaves, all but dancing aside in a graceful, fluidly focused motion with singular intent: avoid that whooshing shinai. He twists sidelong, and the bamboo weapon rushes throught he air where he had stood, studied momentarily on its arcing descent. The prodigal Bernstein wastes little time in contemplation of Hayato's form, his martial style this late in the bout, however... he absorbs what he needs to, and he acts.
His right palm splays, and his hand thrusts forward, even with the Burning Phys-Ed Teacher's solar plexus. It looks like a simple palmstrike, at first... but Adel's energy is not yet spent, and he doesn't even need to complete the touch to accomplish his aims. He seeks to summon in a coalescing instant a swirling disc of rampant, grey-crackling energy... within Hayato's torso itself. The cleaving shield would fill him, perhaps leak out his eyes and mouth a little, with the clear intent to drop him mid-charge, and put a sudden punctuation mark on a brutal exchange.
COMBATSYS: Hayato fails to interrupt Dark Barrier from Adelheid with Devastation Kick.
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Seishirou 0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0 Adelheid
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Hayato 0/-------/-======|
COMBATSYS: Hayato can no longer fight.
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Seishirou 0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0 Adelheid
As Adelheid reaches out for Hayato's chest, Hayato starts to bring his leg up and about for an attack of his own... but he's too late. Once Adelheid makes contact it's only a moment later that Hayato suddenly freezes in place, his body jerking to a stop. Then his body shudders violently, before his eyes and even the interior of his mouth begin to glow with a bright silver light, but all the while he remains standing, keeping his position. It's only once Adelheid has removed his hand and the light has faded away that Hayato slowly topples over backwards, unconcious before he hits the floor.
The light fills Hayato's eyes, and Adelheid knows it's over - at least on that front. He meets his opponent's gaze in those fleeting moments of consciousness, and a slight, subtle smile touches the youth's nobly soft features. Satisfaction - not so much with the victory, but certainly with the battle, "Terrific indeed." The Prince of War murmurs, deceptively placid despite his focused fervor. Collected, intent - ever a scholar of the battlefield. While the mighty conflict here taught him little he did not already know, on some level... the purity of Hayato's approach, and sheer strength, is a refresher that is both necessary and welcome. The study of the Burning Teacher's impressive sword style proves icing on the cake, with that luxurious baked good being comprised of Ryouhara's unique smartbombs. A trick both new... and intriguing on many levels. An engineering feat he could have predicted, but had yet to fathom.
Impressive indeed, his commissioned Architect.
"A shame. The speed indexes were slightly too fast for Kouryuu."
One particular hooded child in the back stands. He wears the same dark brown robes as the shivering cadres around him, but he speaks--and bears the eyes of--a human. Youth, just at the precipice of adulthood, though to look into his dark eyes sees only the immaturity of scorn, and none of that innocence afforded and associated with the next generation.
The intensity of the grounds change, the 'pressure' in the area gaining a center. The remaining ninkou--Ban-kun by nature--shift and glance at the figure as the force moves. When he pulls back the hood, all becomes clear. Most remaining are not munitions, as the ones who went before.
They are guards for the leader of Kagero.
"An old design of mine, gaining new applications," Ryouhara explains simply. "The Ban-kun ninkou gains strength as it seeks out sources of energy. There are more advanced applications of it, but this is one of the more effective ones. As expected, you measured out your own energy while Nekketsu rapidly expended his, though the triggering of Kouryuu was somewhat premature.." His control of the replicants had failed in that measure.
He glances at the downed man, who could almost be sleeping.
He fought him more directly, once.
"An interesting ideal, guts by any measure."
His goal... was to analyze Hayato--for his own purposes--and Adelheid, for other purposes entirely. A training exercise, simply.
Eyes that are both mirror and alien refraction meet Seishirou's almost the instant he speaks, follow him as he stands. There is no childlike innocence here, no rapt joy at his victory, no illusions about the nature of his talent, or his place in the world bought by it, earned in his own blood.... and in the blood of others. A dark, yet not at all malevolent intensity that burns in the depths of deepest crimson, steadily holding to the construct-encircled Ryouhara. One thing is immediately clear before all others, in the stoic, thoughtful expression of the young Bernstein.
The Prince of War is not the least bit surprised, "They were more fearsome bearing the visage of that psychotic tennis girl." Adelheid observes simply, lips pursed momentarily in consideration, "... and just as creepy." Frickin'... featureless wooden death babies. What the hell is wrong with this guy anyway? Oh, right.
"Somehow I'm not surprised you're the one behind all this." That much is certainly clear, but giving frank vocalization to the obvious is how one builds trust, right? There has been little /but/ honesty in Adelheid's exchanges with the ninja - a rarity in the Prince of War's somewhat convoluted life. It's just not a luxury one is afforded often in his family, or from outsiders, "All the planning and graphing in the world cannot predict every end, and if you had held off..." The platinum blonde shrugs slightly, a small smile on his features, "Perhaps things would have gone awry in an entirely different manner. But I tell you little of adaptability you do not already know, Seishirou. I hope your little trial was satisfying, regardless." He's not particularly bitter at the ninja trying to blow him up - if anything, it's something of the reverse.
Even now, battered as he is, Adel does not seem threatened - even when the alleged deadly terrorist could off him with relative ease.
Couldn't he?
"Momo," Seishirou clarifies chillingly.
"There are always other faces for my children to bear." The visage was truthfully no longer needed for his purposes, after all. It had served its end aboard the Suiryuu, and now could be retired. But the design--as always--can be salvaged for other uses.
When Ryouhara moves, the replicants follow. Minding now, the sharp eye of Bernstein could tell it simply. Every move in the young scion's body produced an equal opposite result in every one of his entourage, which all respond to even the minute amount of chi expended in merely walking silently. Each has their own particular pre-engineered response, and each times it differently, but the system--once viewed en masse in this way--is clear. An organic mass into itself, they follow, slipping ahead of him and waiting, or trailing distantly behind him, but they all follow, and it all comes from calculation alone.
"I wouldn't discount it," the robed youth minds. "The fallacies of an analysis lay in the skill of the observer, not the method." An indescribable gloom suffuses his frown, as his icy glance turns to a side.
He seems unhappy about that, for some reason.
"I was hoping to see him fight a little longer. Though I can't say it displeases me... your victory isn't as useful to my curiosity and our goals." Honesty, of course, being the greatest arbiter of trust, Seishirou minces few words in kind. No sycophants were these two studies of the battlefield, plying words in useless vanities. Amongst men who truly have no ego, it's hardly necessary.
"Still.."
He steps forward, approaching the felled might of a man, even as the ninkou around him snake across the walls and ceilings above, chattering woodenly. His robe completely sheathes his form, making him seem more a burlap ghost from the way he glides soundlessly and nimbly across the floor. His gaze is moved comensurately. Without looking up or away from Nekketsu, he continues.
"You know what it all means," he suggests coldly.
"When our business is concluded. We'll have to fight."
Momo, whatever - Adelheid could care less, in the end, and his patience with Kurow's flock was never anything even APPROACHING vast, even when he had no choice but to deal with them. He passes over the true words with nary a shrug, taking in the rest with more pensive curiousity. Even a bit of a smile, "Ah, you know better than to think I would discount the merits of analysis and preparation, Seishirou." The Prince of War retorts calmly, agreeing, at least in the broad sense, with the stance the Puppetmaster takes. But while the two may move in tandem, in synchronous purpose, there are no strings guiding the platinum blonde - none but the arguable causality of his existence, the equal and opposite inevitability of Rugal's own life, and those who quietly unfasten the latticework tower by which the elder Bernstein would rise to godhood. He moves towards the side door of the halfway house, back into the abandoned yards by which he made his entrance - the place to speak of business is not in Geese Howard's arena. He moves as Seishirou speaks, expecting the Ninja, and his clickety-clopping little flock, to follow at least to the outskirts of any electronic eyes, "I only discount reliance on a preordained plan. While anticipation may be key - the chaos of this world renders an overestimation of prophecy and prediction... obsolete. Even when symbolism can be considered to have 'come true'... how often is it the way we expect? How often is it the way we would have chosen?" He pauses, and then turns back to face Seishirou.
That wry smile returns, "But you of all people know the importance of fluid purpose, and absence of a necessary, specific target or narrow goal, don't you?" What is he implying, exactly? Perhaps even Adel is not entirely sure, but he's beginning to have a greater understanding of the ninja's operations, "You do seem surprised, however - it is not overestimation of Nekketsu. Underestimation of me? What is the importance of that Teacher?" Rarely do direct questions yield direct, meaningful answers from Ryouhara - but Adel never seems to get tired of trying. Now and then the gems are more than worth the persistence.
"I'm afraid Hayato decided the pace of this fight - all I could do was rise to meet him, match the ferocity of his own game." Gems of his own - insights into how the Prince of War fights, how he has always fought, "What goals did you have that my success in that adaptation circumvents?" Surely, Hayato's spirit is mighty, pure - but its prominence in Seishirou's own interests evades him.
"As for testing ourselves against one another.... I had thought that was already a foregone conclusion. Or perhaps you do still underestimate me."
The idea of information leaking out evinces truthfully little fear from the shinobi. From a level that allows himself to insert his designs and devices into an event where he is for all intents and purposes banned, he is more than adept at controlling the flow of information. That is his ability. The ability of 'influence.'
Those 'eyes' will never see his face.
But regardless, the shinobi follows Adelheid.
"Aa."
After all. It's impolite to let a compatriot of yours walk off by himself talking, isn't it? The clacking swarm barely carries that sound along with them. That one concession came quickly--it is fair enough to say that it is fair enough. Silent to the prince's guess of his own familiarity, the scion merely takes a place in Adelheid's shadow, watching him closely. After all, the need for fluidity is not something either of them are alien to, but neither is the needed silence.
Only when Adelheid rebukes his analysis does he seem to rile.
"Sometimes... you think too quickly for your own good," Ryouhara minds. "Do you truly imagine I surprise that easily.." he wonders idly, absorbing the knowledge offered frankly. Even the question itself is considered carefully before any response returns.
"Leave it to say that I am a ... student of idealism. I fought Hayato once. There is meaning in his mind, despite his ferocity. That makes him useful to a project of mine."
He seems to be content leaving it at that. What curiosity of Seishirou's does not relate to some project or plan boiling in his mind? This one is connected to the most meaningful of all. "It's good to see that your mind is still sharp enough to bear the weight of what we work to accomplish, young prince," he finally decides. Uncustomarily blunt, the ninja adds one last, simply.
"When we battle. It's gonna be good."
He whips the fringes of his robe wide. One by one, the designs behind him catch fire, falling out of the sky, and effectively erasing their existence. And then he draws the thing around himself, drawing a curtain of fire with it as the cloak is enveloped, consuming the ninja. By the time the burning raiments hit the ground, it's debatable Ryouhara was ever--really--there.
Log created on 20:41:31 12/06/2008 by Adelheid, and last modified on 18:11:13 12/23/2008.