Description: The ousted Gedo students continue to fight for their home school. Only, their strikes back against the NESTS occupiers are not the random, reckless forays of unguided school children. They're too organized, too effective. One man is likely to be to blame: Daigo Kazama. And it is with the intent of eliminating this thorn in the occupation's side that Kula Diamond seeks him out...
/*TWO HOURS AGO*/
"Get out of here. I don't have time to screw around with weaklings."
The bloodied body of a single Gedo student falls to the ground with a meaty thud as a single man towers above him like a veritable mountain. A small group of fellow highschoolers gather around their fallen comrade as he turns his head up, deep crimson fluid pouring from his nostrils as he looks with disbelief towards the man who treated him so brutally: Daigo Kazama.
"B-but... boss...!"
"... Did you hear me?" the Boss of Gedo High interjects coldly; he turns his back to the group his single eye still focusing on them as he walks back towards a large, decrepit building. "This is a war. This isn't like the old days; if you can't pull your own weight, then get out of here before you get more than yourselves killed. You get it?" That eye narrows.
"Leave now or I'll make you leave."
/*NOW*/
Daigo Kazama stands alone in the warehouse he has carved out for him and his gang. It isn't much, but it suffices; a small foothold in the neighborhood that Daigo once called his own. But it was still his -- and he would still protect the people inside. Even if he had to make himself the devil to do it. His eye closes slowly as his hands clench, chi swelling along his body.
He'd take it all back -- and make the people stupid enough to mess with his people regret ever having stepped foot in Gedo.
He keeps to himself, for now, standing upon the rooftop of his makeshift base of operations. Everyone needs time to themselves, and now, when everything is at stake, such times are especially important; times to think. Times to plan... prepare. Daigo's lips curl into a thoughtful scowl as his eye opens, scanning out over the vast expanse of the desolate, ravaged ghetto before him. To think... to prepare...
... and to make sure the rage of his situation does not overcome him.
"You're all gonna pay for this... soon.
"I promise."
The Gedo invasion was a success. Narrow victories in some locations, but in total, the operation achieved its goals and the renowned Gedo Gang was sent packing along with their leader. Had the man power been sufficient, they would have been hunted down on the spot. Wounded and unorganized, their odds would have been at their lowest. Panic can sap the strength of many and they would have been slowed if they were bearing their wounded as well.
But there weren't forces to spare. The campus had to be locked down and the rest of Southtown was ablaze with activity. Not everything could be accounted for all at once. Things would need to be handled in turn. But letting the Gedo Army regather had held its own costs. There was now a force not far from the captured High School and at its head was a man with the power to make a difference. The key was dealing with him before he /did/.
Plans were drawn up. The possibility of a full scale assault on the site was drafted and considered. But in the end the leaders decided to deal with him more efficiently than that: the fine old tradition of assassination. Remove Daigo and the Gedo mob would collapse into irrelevance. No further effort would need to be expended on their part. Returning from a failed attempt at capturing Kyo Kusanagi and Maxima, the resouce that was Kula Diamond was immediately commissioned for a more critical objective: Eliminate Daigo. Trying to simply capture him seemed unlikely. Just defeating him would be hard enough. Removing him from his makeshift fort without being overwhelmed would be almost impossible. No. Efficacy mandated that he simply be killed.
A hidden set of eyes observed the exchange outside the warehouse two hours prior. Affixed to the wall by frozen handholds of her own making, NESTS' most dangerous assassin had been watching the young man for some time from the shadows. This was to be her most difficult mark since the day she was sent out to deal with K' himself. Other powerful fighters had been given brutal lessons at her hands but none of them had been targetted for death like this one. And, for the first time in a long while, she felt a hint of fear at what she had to deal with. It was the way he had looked at her and Igniz in the courtyard; murder was in his eyes then though it might have taken a killer to recognize it. Fitting, perhaps, that she's to see him again, perhaps in that light.
Up the warehouse wall she scaled in silence, hands cresting the top just enough so that she can peek over. Her own aura is subdued, her combat potential suppressed until she could get closer. She often had something to say to fighters before engaging them. Warning them that they were about to be hurt. Giving them seconds to prepare themselves - such was her confidence and nature most of the time.
But like a spider, the black-leather clad assassin crawls up onto the roof. Her hair is bound back in a looped pony-tail, appearing auburn in what little light reaches the rooftop. But as she begins the swift sprint across the roof toward the young man, her hair flashes to frozen blue coupled with a white glow along her forearm as her combat potential is unsealed. By step five, she's ready to kill. By step seven, she's reached a blurring speed toward Daigo's back.
The attack would come without warning but perhaps the slight disturbance of gravel on the warehouse roof and the faint glimmer of white from behind him. Right arm drawn back, a lance of ice extending out over her clenched fist... should he turn in time, should he not be entirely lost to his anger, Daigo would find that sharp blade on collision course with where his back was. As a leader, he was to be treated like one. With any luck, this would be the only time he would earn that rank by an attempt on his life.
COMBATSYS: Kula has started a fight here.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Kula 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Daigo has joined the fight here.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Kula 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Daigo
COMBATSYS: Daigo interrupts Strong Punch from Kula with Phoenix Fist.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////////// ]
Kula 0/-------/----===|======-\-------\0 Daigo
There is roughly .5 seconds between the time Kula's booted heel scrapes gravel and that cold blade thrusts out towards Daigo's spine.
And it is all the time Daigo Kazama needs.
The vaguest of sensations is all one who has lived his entire life fighting needs to know something is awry. The second those pebbles scatter across the rooftop of his home away from home, Daigo Kazama's eye has snapped open wide. He has lived his life scraping at the bottom of the barrel.
When it comes to matters of survival, there is no one who knows better than him.
Right fist clenches tight as Daigo feels a distinct chilling sensation wash over the open air. It's familiar, somehow; he doesn't bother trying to figure out why. He has less than a second to react; as if on instinct alone, all that chi rolling across his impressive frame condenses into a single, crackling point against his right palm. His entire /hand/ immolates with a bright, churning heat as it clenches into a fight, tattered bandages roaring with unbridled flame. Single eye open wide, the massive man pivots on his right heel. The blade stabs forward, carving into the side of his ribs. Blood splatters dark crimson patterns across the harsh ground. He ignores it. It could be worse.
For example, it could be his burning fist now pummeling into his assailant's sternum with all the force of a runaway train.
By step seven, Kula Diamond is being struck with all the condensed power that Daigo Kazama can bring to bear. It lasts only for a split second, the impact of cold and hot, in a brilliant flash, before Daigo intends to simply /overpower/ her and knock her aside, to deliver one simple message in action rather than word: the Boss of Gedo is not one to handle so lightly. Fire crackles around his fist still as he pulls back, looking towards his enemy. He stops, squints.
"... You again," he mutters, darkly. His fist clenches tight.
"You picked a bad day."
He's quick. The energy coursing over him was a warning that Daigo was already combat ready. One might even surmise he would be eager for something to fight at a time like this. She brings with her an aura of frigid cold that clashes against his own heated presence an instant before she strikes. The resistance his fist meets is due to her forward momentum. But for the reinforced engineered body armor she moves about in, the collision of forces would have menaced the stability of her skeletal structure in a single blow.
For a heartbeat the two stand in place. A second blade shimmers into existence on her left hand. She's going to follow her first assault with a neck-level slash. Deep enough, it would put the young war leader on a downward spiral of bleeding out before her eyes. That's the last thought she gets before a brilliant flash obscures them both and young Diamond is sent flying back. Her landing is rough but after two tumbles, she's on her feet, sliding into a crouch that takes her several yards. A cough escapes her lips; frozen vapor hanging in the air for a brief moment. The two blades along her forearms shattered, she releases the ice to crumble free.
Her left hand brushes at her chest. The black leather jacket bears scorch marks at the point of impact - a visual reminder of the powers that collided here thus far. Her opponent is strong. An austere man hardened by circumstances she only knows of from brief summaries in his profile she was given to skim. Normally the details aren't important. But then again, most of her marks are non-fighters who haven't a chance in frozen hell against the engineered killer. "You picked the wrong war to fight." she replies. The cartels are serious about what they're doing. Any speedbumps are to be paved over.
Another cough. This time she bites it back. She'll have to cope with it. She didn't expect to beat him without a little pain. But she has to deal with him fast. Interference on any scale would be a problem. She takes in her breath and then bolts forward. Booted feet come down on the glass panes of an old skylight but her step is so light that it remains uncracked.
She springs forward, her hands planting against the roof for a moment as she takes a cartwheeling spin into the air before dropping back down toward Daigo at a sharp angle. If not careful, he'll find her right arm around his throat with Kula behind him. With the height disparity, her feet won't even touch the ground. But that won't keep her left arm from seeking a tight hold on his left thigh as the girl seeks to pump his leg full of enough frozen energy to root him where he stands!
COMBATSYS: Daigo blocks Kula's Medium Throw.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////// ]
Kula 0/-------/----===|=======\-------\0 Daigo
'You picked the wrong war to fight'?
"Could say the same to you.
"But that's just obvious."
Standing tall and unbending, Daigo does not even do so much as touch the wound decorating his side as he stares down his enemy. There is no room for weakness, here. You falter a step, you die; that is the rule of the jungle, and it is a rule Daigo Kazama has lived by his whole life. Fires dying down around his grip, Daigo takes a single step forward. Gravel crunches underfoot; he lifts a single hand, pointing it almost accusingly at Kula. His expression is hardened, one of a man who does not even entertain the chance of losing.
"Do you even know what you're fighting for?" he asks, plainly. That cold chi swells once more, a precursor to the assault to come. Kula /springs/ forward, far faster than even he would have expected. His eye rotates upwards and then down as she spins. His left arm swings outward, forearm imposing itself between his throat and Diamond's grappling attempt, stopping her movement flat. The resultant impact is enough for force Daigo's feet across the harsh rooftop several inches before he comes to an abrupt stop; Kula defies gravity before him for a brief moment as his lips part once again.
"If you don't even know why you're fighting--"
Daigo's right fist will suddenly /swing/ upwards at that exact moment, massive, bandaged hand uppercutting through the air to /jam/ just underneath Kula's jaw and knock her out of the air in a swift, brutal counter assault.
"-- your fists can't hope to match mine!"
COMBATSYS: Kula blocks Daigo's Aggressive Strike.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////////// ]
Kula 0/-------/---====|=======\-------\0 Daigo
The worst of her assault halted, Kula's positioning is off for that fleeting moment, unable to slip down against the tall back of the Gedo leader and begin to attack him from angles he could not defend from. His voice is heard - asking what she fights for, touching on that one painful gap so often identified by others she had faced? What IS her cause? Loyal to Igniz and the cartel that raised her may motivate her actions, but she has never invested her heart in it. But for the position she finds herself in, he might have caught a glimpse of her uncertainty at the question.
But action will decide this exchange, not words. She can't argue with his assessment. Her fists alone cannot match his. A point driven home as his knuckles smash through the air on a collision course with her jaw. Snapping both hands up to cup his fist, the crushing force is directed instead into her palms and along her slight arms instead of her fragile face. The upward force is used, however, as she pulls herself up into the air by way of it. But for her hair and pale face, she might almost be invisible against the night sky as she dives again.
Her plans have shifted in that instant, her course corrected as she drops back down. A flash of white warns of that frozen energy being put to use again as the girl aims to land both feet against Daigo's shoulders on her way back down - intent on using the tall student as her own platform as she clenches both hands together, forcing chi into a sphere of translucent ice with diamond-like strength.
Exchanging punches with Daigo is hardly her goal as likely becomes evident by the way she'll swing her arms down toward his back, bending forward into a flip behind him, aiming to bury three one-yard long lances of ice straight through the torso of the Gedo boss enroute to landing her own two feet back on the rooftop. "If that was true," she murmurs, "I would have been stopped by a hundred men before you!" If all it took was confidence in direction, an ideal, a purpose, a power to determine one's course, then how has she gotten this far?
If she sinks the three pronged bite into Daigo, she'll push into the attack, even trying to shove him far enough such that the other ends protruding from the front of him might spear into a nearby air-conditioning unit housing!
COMBATSYS: Daigo endures Kula's Critical Ice.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////// ]
Kula 0/-------/-======|=======\===----\1 Daigo
With one blow, Daigo speaks a million words. What isn't said is transferred in the passion of his thrust; his anger, his determination, his unyielding resolve against all odds. All of it is transferred into the blow that Kula fends against. She manages expertly as hands slap against fist, the momentum used to her own advantage. Yet, Daigo doesn't look disturbed, or worried. His mono-eyed face, in fact, simply contorts in further grim determination. How could she have gotten this far?
At first, there is no response. Kula descends through the air and, to little surprise, her speed seems to trump Daigo's; feet crush against shoulders, and he feels the chilling aura of his would-be assassin leak across the skies. But Daigo does not even flinch. She flips behind him, and three lances of chi IMPALE into his back with tremendous force. She puts her all into the attack; he knows.
Which is why, as she's pushing, in the midst of her onslaught, she might notice the furious aura sparking to life all around him.
It could all be a second too late; the moment that Daigo impacts the side of that air conditioning unit, everything explodes. Metal crunches inward, cool air blowing outward violently... and then that chi flaring upwards all around Daigo Kazama unleashes itself in blindingly brilliant light. A massive burst of burning power rips forward from Daigo like a veritable inferno of power. If Kula isn't careful, she'll be swept up within the storm of fire, with Daigo at the epicentre, single eye glowing like a demon's amidst the fury.
"If you really believe that it doesn't matter," speaks Daigo, coldly amidst the roaring fire.
"... then show your conviction with your fists."
COMBATSYS: Kula blocks Daigo's Super Phoenix Fire.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////// ]
Kula 0/-------/=======|===----\-------\0 Daigo
Fighting against Daigo has been like fighting against a piller of stone. Each blow met with crushing power, his own movements kept to a minimum just to contend with the girl's attacks and retaliate and no further. She skips across the roof and takes to the air like she belongs up there. But Kazama has been like a mountain: unmoveable. Until now. Her ploy seems to pay off. Being unpredictable in the directions she was going to ultimately strike, she slips through his guard at last without leaving an opening for a punishing counter attack.
Critical Ice - a killing technique against targets less enured to savage damage as Daigo. And usually performed from a distance. Clinical and clean, efficient. Completely unlike the upclose and personal bloodletting the young killer is egaged in as she attemps to literally skewer her target to the metal air compressor casing as to make him easy to finish off. Risking retaliation, she stays tight. She doesn't intend to let him budge an inch afterward.
She doesn't appear to have a say in it.
No sooner than the walls of the metal unit are punctured then everything goes up in a cloud of smoke, condensed vapor, and steam. Her instincts, highly tuned to the violent energy more aggressive fighters can bring to bear, warn of an impending inferno that will threaten to consume her. Loath to give up on the opportunity she was trying to create, she has no choice but to guard herself all the same.
Her hands slip from the sphere that houses the spearing lances and the entire ice contruct begins to crumple and melt away, the girl no longer investing effort in keeping it going. Crossing her arms, she takes a step back, bracing her right foot behind her. Palms are twisted forward and from each of them a barrier of ice, inches thick, is created. A split second later and she would have been immolated. The explosion of that Phoenix's fire washes over the smaller fighter, scorching the rooftop, blasting through the frozen shield, and even courses over her leather body armor as she's blown several yards backward.
In the end it isn't enough to drop her, however, and as the last of her defenses vanish into harmless vapor, Kula at last unfolds her arms. "There is nothing to prove," she replies, her tone cold, but with an edge to it. This man has a purpose. An ideal. She's seen that power in others she's faced and she has wanted it for herself. Conviction is a mighty thing. It allowed the Ryouhara to escape her after being almost disembowled. It allowed Alma to turn her to the side and spare Jiro and Daniel the deaths she should have given them. It softend her heart to Whip's tears as the girl pleaded for her brother's life with her own.
Over and over, it's something she's seen. But to claim it for herself has proven far more difficult than she had expected. "I fight to kill you. And you," She extends her right hand, smoke still rising off her heated sleeve as a shimmering knife of pristine ice is formed in her gripping glove. "Had better fight to stop me."
Again he must face her speed as she bolts forward. "Or your legecy..." She ducks low, her wirey frame accommodating the motion easily before stabbing upward, aiming to slide that knife of ice up at an angle beneath his rib cage. Her upward motion continues into a second attack well, as her left hand literally lashes out and attempts to get a grip on his one-eyed visage with a tight hold that would only need an instant's contact before she would unleash a spray of energy so cold as to put liquid nitrogen to shame. "...ends tonight!"
COMBATSYS: Kula successfully hits Daigo with Charged Combo.
# Disabling hit! #
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
Kula 0/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0 Daigo
"Hrn," grunts Daigo as that swirl of ice comes to meet his flames, the resultant explosion brutal -- but not brutal enough. He notes the blunted impact, the shield of brutally cold chi. His eyes narrow, boot heels scraping across the ground roughly. His single eye narrows upon Kula as her arms unfold. There's nothing to prove? "..." Daigo considers that for a brief, silent moment, watching the girl intently.
"Bullshit."
The statement comes bluntly in rough contrast to the edge that lines Kula's tone. Daigo Kazama is not an idiot; he is not a fool, not by any stretch. He comes to a full stand, his eye still focused upon Kula with a stare that seems to almost seek to pierce her soul, unrelenting and unblinking, uncompromising in the face of her threat. "That's bullshit," he reiterates. "You can't even be truthful to yourself. That's pathetic." His words are harsh, but not to be insulting; there's no condescending venom to his lilt. They're just his words -- his opinion. Because--
"A person that can't be honest even to themselves doesn't deserve to stand on their own two feet."
But Kula comes at him again, and Daigo -- Daigo doesn't move. It could very well be that he doesn't have time to and -- given Kula's raw speed -- that is very likely the case. Yet, even as Kula /rushes/ at him, Daigo stands still and tall. Even as she /stabs/ that knife into his ribcage, he doesn't budge, barely even a wince of pain awarded for her efforts. Does it hurt? It certainly hurts. White-hot pain stabs like a knife into his brain as ice shoves into his ribcage, just barely missing anything vital. Blood oozes upwards from the corners of his mouth. But Daigo Kazama does not flinch. That hand grips onto his face, cold chi freezing flesh within a matter of seconds before the sheer force of it all launches him backwards, flipping straight through the air. It feels like frostbite has eaten away his face, energy disrupting his own power flow and eating away at his concentration through the sheer, deathly chill. His flesh is slightly blue around the cheeks when he lands, cold fumes rising upward from his head; his hair even looks partially frozen. The damage is clear.
But when he lands, he does not falter in the slightest.
Slowly, Daigo reaches down. Gripping that knife-like shard of ice, he /rips/ it out of his torso, chi dissolving away into nothing upon loss of contact with his flesh. He continues to stare, motionlessly, with that unrelenting gaze.
"... We have a saying here," he repeats once more, his tone bland. "'If you can't fight for yourself, you can't fight for another.' If you're not strong enough to believe in yourself, you'll never be strong enough to beat me." That single eye narrows like a promise. "A person who can't even attack with their own conviction will ever be strong enough to kill me." He makes no attack, simply standing -- waiting. Preparing.
"Unless you're ready to stand on your own two feet... you don't stand a chance in hell. So I'll tell you again.
"Get out of here."
COMBATSYS: Daigo focuses on his next action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
Kula 0/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0 Daigo
By the time her combination drives Daigo back, Kula is standing up straight again, her left arm extended, vapors of frozen air drifting up from her gloved hand. Her expression has a certain neutral intensity to it. Keeping her focus on her opponent; on the grim mission and challenge he represents, is proving harder than she would have expected. Again her mind wanders, his words hitting her nearly as hard as his iron-like strikes or ardent fire.
His denunciations echo in her mind and with each accusation she cringes slightly, lowering her left hand from its open, raised position to cross in front of her. The glove creaks as she tightens her fingers, observing his condition from the safety offered by slightly distance. He's not stopped. Not yet. The knife of frozen matter is pulled free before it too joins the rest of her melting ice and returns to the atmosphere. And in that moment he shares with the young NESTS killer a piece of Gedo wisdom.
Is that why she spied him busting the face of that other boy? Is that why the weaker one was driven from Daigo's company? Because he couldn't fight for himself, let alone the others? She averts her eyes. She said there was nothing to prove; that his words didn't matter. But the shame that creeps into her visage suggests otherwise. Her right hand clenches at her side, her sleeve-covered arm trembling as the Gedo boss declares his words as if nothing had changed; as if she hadn't hurt him at all. She might wound his body, but the power of Daigo is more than fists and fire. It's will; steel-like resolve the likes Kula cannot hope to sever simply by the sharp edge of ice.
She utters a hiss of frustration. Why does she feel the need to prove herself to him? To hold herself up his impossible standards? What is it about him that make him relevant beyond simply a particularly stubborn mark?
Kula shakes her head, her long hair lagging a second behind before she ultimately fixes her eyes back on the young man. Next to his words, anything she thinks to say sounds small. Why should she say anything at all? If she's successful, he won't be alive much longer to judge her anyway. "Che." Biting back the doubts is hard. "I do bel-" she starts to insist before cutting herself off from uttering the vain lie, the false hope of confidence.
The girl's right arm bends at the elbow as she turns her left shoulder toward Daigo. "We'll have to see..." she at last decides, her voice bordering on desperation. "The truth of your words." She has no other recourse. Again she bolts forward, even as a thick guantlet of ice encases her entire arm. Jagged spikes jut out at various angles as she prepares to tear into the Gedo leader with one of her most punishing techniques.
It is with an unforgiving uppercut that she aims to tear into Daigo. Against weaker men it would be a disemboweling blow. An ice-lined punch starting from low before raking up across his chest to high as Kula twists her whole body into the attack that will take her into the air some distance before she'd come down to land in the end, a rain of sparkling ice pouring down against the rooftop from wherever the savage ice broke against Daigo's defenses.
COMBATSYS: Daigo blocks Kula's Crow Bite.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////// ]
Kula 0/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 Daigo
And there Daigo Kazama stands, as if inviting Kula -- /demanding/ Kula -- to show him if she possesses her own conviction. He knows why she's here. To kill him. Yet there is not an ounce of fear in his eyes. He stares on, his lips pulled into a grim frown. For many, this would be a terrifying moment.
But Daigo Kazama is not about to die like this.
Brows furrow. Bandaged fingers curl up and but into rough, covered palms. He sees the hesitation, he hears the desperation in her voice. But when she attacks -- she does not hold back that strength.
But Daigo doesn't intend to, either.
There are no more words to offer; Daigo has said his peace. He notes that sudden spike in chi accompanied by the drop in temperature all around him as icy edges spindle outward in morbidly beautiful shards of ice, encasing the young woman's arm. She's spoken-- but she hasn't said her peace. Kazama will make her.
Bolting forward, Kula seeks to drive that spiked gauntlet upwards in what would be a debilitating blow -- in what would more than assuredly bring an end to this fight, right here and now. But rather than accept what would seem an inevitable end... Daigo Kazama PLUNGES into it. With a single eye full of a determination and resolve that is simply unfathomable, the Gedo Boss /charges/ just as Kula does. When she leaps upward, his right forearm /thrusts/ forward, SMASHING into that gauntlet of clawed ice. Spikes shread through leather and flesh as a single fist batters into that assault, lacerations carving across Daigo's thick forearm as the ice-borne glove is shattered. Shimmering ice intermingles with deep red droplets of blood as Daigo Kazama stares /pointedly/ at Kula...
... and his strike persists.
The swing continues, one mighty fist seeking to BACKHAND into the side of the young woman's face and knock her /away/ from Daigo in one singularly brutal impact.
COMBATSYS: Daigo successfully hits Kula with Phoenix Backfist.
>> Decisive Hit!! <<
[ \\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////// ]
Kula 1/-----==/=======|=======\-------\0 Daigo
It seems the two are destinted to clash again. The brief reprieve of distance between them comes to a sudden end as Kula bolts forward, hoping to test her speed and brutal chi against Daigo's stoic might and to come out with the advantage as a result. And in that narrow space of time in which he at last choses to act, she believes he has chosen poorly. No one would punch into the attack she's unleashing upon him. No one could be that strong except perhaps the man that issues her orders.
She lunges, twisting into the punch, intent on punishing Daigo for his audacity. Ice shatters, her arm knocked aside, a thousand diamond tears fly into the sky around the two as her guantlet is destroyed. The two attacks collide and Daigo's fist crashes through, smashing into Kula's cheek and sending her flying off to the side. She lands hard, on her side, skidding to a stop against the roof somewhere near the edge. Her lip split, she brings the back of her left arm up to rest against her mouth for a moment even as she shuffles her feet beneath her into a low crouch.
Such is the determination of Daigo, she realizes. Such is his strength. The ache in her wrenched neck, the sting in her cheek painful remainders of who it is she's fighting. "Bold and strong." she murmurs, "And confident. But..." She curls into a crouch, hands planted flat against the roof top as her power escalates rapidly. "Is it enough?" From the plams of her hands ice begins to expand, encasing the building roof as it spreads out in a wide radius around the NESTS experiment. It's time to finish this. Time to defeat this man. To show him that words are /not/ enough.
She's never tried this attack on so thin a surface... to imbue the 'ground' beneath them with so much raw energy readied to attack... Daigo would have seconds to prepare himself, but it might not matter as suddenly a spire of jagged ice slams up out of the ground at his side, intent on skewering him. A second spike from behind, and another in front. Heavy, massive, and covered with a million needles of flesh lacerating spikes, each and every one of them thirsty for his blood!
COMBATSYS: Kula successfully hits Daigo with Diamond Edge.
[ \\\\\\\\\\ < > /// ]
Kula 0/-------/-----==|=======\===----\1 Daigo
Is it enough?
"It's enough for this."
Daigo has already been pushed far. This girl is strong, but he holds no belief that this is anywhere near the end of the line for him. It's reflected in his eye; despite the damages received, despite how his life bleeds out before him, he still stares on with an unflinching gaze. The temperature begins to drop dramatically once again. His lips pull into a thin line.
"But is this enough for you?"
He never expounds upon the question; part of this is because he never has the chance to. Within a matter of seconds, Kula's jagged pillar of ice pierces forward almost from nothing. The sharp, cold tip of the monumental chi-born ice shard impales into Daigo's torso, followed by a second, third, all of them piercing endlessly with power that can't be measured by conventional means. Daigo Kazama is lifted upwards, high into the air, propped up by sharp spires of icy chi. He spits out blood, the dark liquid splattering against the pristine, shimmering surface of the ice pillar beneath him. For a moment, he looks lifeless...
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"
... before life is confirmed with the spark of an inferno.
Chi-borne flames devour the ice all around Daigo as it shatters and melts in the wake of a sudden, violent explosion. Falling to the ground amidst the shattered ice, Daigo's head snaps /up/, staring directly at Kula. Blood splatters all around him, draining away his sensations. But he does not stop. He did not come this far to stop. Another second, and Daigo /thrusts/ himself forward, powering towards Kula like a runaway train, in a single moment unchaining the vast furious energy kept locked up by his will alone. One fiery hook punch is aimed for Kula's jaw with stone-shattering force; another to her torso, then her skull; a kick drives upward like a battering ram aimed for her ribcage, combined with a piston-blow to the sternum, more and more blows piling up until Daigo seeks to end it all with a single, straight-arm punch for the center of her chest, as if intent to KNOCK her off the building proper. This might be his end...
... but he will never go down without a fight.
COMBATSYS: Daigo can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\\\ <
Kula 0/-------/-----==|
COMBATSYS: Daigo successfully hits Kula with Phoenix Fury.
>> Decisive Hit!! <<
[ <
Kula 0/-------/=======|
And so it is finished. A legacy ended as she had promised; Daigo mounted like a moth atop the three pronged attack. Kula remains in place, her palms planted against the roof, crimson eyes wide as she releases a soft exahle, her breath a visible vapor in the dim glow cast by distant city lights. There is a brief sinking regret. So much potential wasted. The young man seemed like someone with a destiny that was going somewhere. The question he asked echoes in her mind. She knows the answer to that without a second thought. What she has is most definitely not enough.
Kula shakes her head, trying to bring her thoughts back in focus. She needs to make sure that her work here is finished, then be gone before slipping off into the night. She doesn't have the strength to deal with anyone else who might make an appearance.
The NESTS assassin slowly stops channeling the energy necessary to keep the ice spikes in place, closing her eyes as she thinks to catch her breath. It's then that she notices the creak of strained wood beneath her feet. The roof, slicked with ice and supporting three massive spikes of ice in places it wasn't intended to sustain such weight. The next sound she hears is roar of the Gedo boss.
Eyes snap open, mouth agape, and suddenly the rooftop is ablaze, the phoenix's fire alive once again. The ice pillars detonate beneath the heat, sending rapidly melting shrapnel in every direction. Kula raises her right arm in front of her eyes, her leather sleeve catching the fragments and keeping them from hitting her in the face. By the time she lowers her arm, her eyes meet his one and in a moment she realizes what had been making her uneasy throughout the entire exchange. She had been beaten before she even arrived to fight him. In raw skill she might be his match. But fighting prowess is not the sum total of a life's strength. A lesson others have tried to impart on her to variable success.
She pushes up from her crouch, drawing her palms from the icy slick and seeking to gain her balance to try and fend off the attack. Her attempts at defense are half hearted, as if she knew she had already lost before he makes the first swing. Her right arm raises to intersect the first punch, but is brushed aside by the force of a swing that could crush stone just before his fist strikes her jaw. The staggering impact leaves her subsequent defenses feeble. The torso blow is enough to crumple her even through the leather armored jacket, which leaves her vulnerable to even more blows.
A crushing hit to the side of her head has her spitting blood and seeing stars. She creates a small ice shield to block his kick, but the heel of his shoe crashes clean through it into her chest, driving her back several steps, her left foot coming down at the edge of the roof. She barely catches herself, swaying on unsteady legs.
So this is the strength of Gedo. The thought is fleeting as she lifts her face to look upon Daigo, bleed seeping from a gash on her cheek and her previously smacked lip. Igniz... has no idea what he's up against. She draws her arms up in a vain attempt at guarding herself, knowing the final blow is to come. But she's off balance, poorly positioned, and in no condition to weather the storm of his fists now.
The final impact drives the much smaller menace off the roof into a free fall toward the street below. She doesn't make a sound throughout the entire onslaught. It's instinct that has her twist in the air as she plummets toward the concrete below. Instinct that has her reach for the wall of the building opposite the warehouse and drag her gloved hand against it, leaving a trail of ice on the brick as she finally manages to slow her landing. She hits bottom in a crouch, gasping for air, certain a number of her ribs had been shattered by the wrecking ball assault.
Wincing, her arm nursing her side, Kula staggers to her feet, using the wall for support. A pained gasp escapes her lips before she musters the will to drag herself back to the borrowed home of Gedo. Daigo Kazami is beyond the reach of a mere assassin, she decides. His fate rests in other hands.
COMBATSYS: Kula takes no action.
COMBATSYS: Kula can no longer fight.
Log created on 22:32:32 04/04/2009 by Kula, and last modified on 23:27:57 05/02/2009.