Description: Fate, luck, random chance bring three fighters to the Gate of the Abyss for different reasons. The dying gatekeeper isn't going make passing through an easy feat.
The vortex at the world's end; an imposing place to approach, regardless of fighting capability and willpower. As if stepping past the irrevocable edge of a black hole's singularity, far ahead is the strong pull of Saiki's distinct, inky chi. Within this storm of intense sensations, a few of the orbs can also be picked out, although it appears that things are dangerously close to a criticality.
Which is likely exactly the reason Ayame and Brett don't have time for what has happened to them.
Moving across the broken landscape, ahead there was what seemed a great, roaring mountain. An incredibly imposing amount of far from unkind chi was emanating from it. Utterly suffocating; great, powerful pulses like the clenching fist of a primordial God.
A sane individual would have simply attempted to move around it. Or to walk away. Only both of those gestures is revealed to be futile. Like some terrible mirage, once they came so close to this spot, there was no going out. As if stepping even an inch away was met by an unbreakable wall, reality itself continues to compress.
The heartbeat of the world drew them both closer, whether they came willingly or resisted to the bitter end. To a broken urban environment of burnt-out buildings. Melted tanks are strewn around like a giant toddler who had a violent fit with his toys. Countless statues are locked in horrified poses, some holding bazookas and other weaponry.
And a good dozen of them are settled before the great volcanic mountain that seems to have raised from nothing, thrusting to dizzying height towards the storm-swept skies. At the forefront is a massive wall of diamond, through which this strange gravitational and reality warping energy is focused through. Within about two hundred yards, one can move freely, but there's a shimmering edge where there's no method of escape.
And, each time the great diamond barricade pulses, a ripple of stone would begin to form over them. Oh, it is simple enough to break off, if unnerving. It seems to have been the tomb for whatever fighting force remains forever trapped in stasis here... perhaps the world's last military force. Perhaps a congregation of fighters much like themselves. Did they manage to wound or pressure the unseen titan enough that he was forced to use such measures? Impossible to know.
But within the mildly transparent husk of diamond that ripples up in a craggy vein at the heart of the mountainous blackened stone and obsidian, a barely visible hulking humanoid form appears to be sitting. And through him, in a flash of light across deep leylines, this power is undoubtedly conduited.
A shame both Ayame and Brett completely lack any ability to do more than break off small pieces of crystal, or impotently crack it. Both result in the wall simply regenerating as fast as they attack it. Is this their fate? Trapped here to starve or pass out of exhaustion, then die in the suffocating blackness of petrification?
Or perhaps the third insect drawn to this flytrap, one who might find this alien chi not entirely unfamiliar in his heart, has a few skills in the area of sealing and unsealing...
The day that Brett first laid eyes onto the sphere he had found before was probably one of the worst days ever, in retrospect.
It's probably one of the only reasons he's been drawn in this far. Sure, he has a vested interest in the state of the world, but knowing what he knows now, and feeling what he felt before, one has to imagine that ignorance might really have been bliss. And yet merely possessing it before has left him connected in some way, enough that he can feel its presence in the distance.
Since Southtown, and since talking to Rust about what was going on here, there was a sort of duty Brett felt to come here to the site of it all, but he didn't realize it'd draw him in this far. And beholding the broken cityscape before him as he rolls through, he finds himself nearly sick to his empty stomach. "God...." he whispers to himself, looking around at the melted tanks, and the frozen statues of what had to have been people at one point. It'd take his breath away if the pressure surrounding him wasn't doing such a spectacular job of that already.
Reeling back, he found himself tempted to go back...if not for the strange wall he finds in his way after going back a little too far. "Wh-...." Trying to smack it with the replacement stick he had bought before arriving here did as much as smashing a titanium wall, and it kept shrinking in, pushing him, willing him closer and closer to the volcano.
Gripping his stick tighter as he realizes there's no way but forward now, the hockey kid approached, finding the diamond barrier at the front, facing him. He can feel the energy coursing outward from it, and it seems like the only way out is through that. "You're kidding me..." he says with dejection...dejection contrasting with the fury that he charges forward with, trying to smash straight into the diamond wall with a full-force check, stick held outward in what, in regulation, would've been considered high-sticking. Too bad that knocking off someone's helmet is far easier than breaking through diamond. Especially diamond that heals itself.
"Oh no....no, no, no, no..." he mutters to himself, looking back to where that compressing wall must be (not that he can actually see it), before trying to hammer into the wall relentlessly, trying to find SOME way to break through it before he gets crushed. The flurry of movement is enough to stave off the continual petrification that seems to threaten anyone in the area, but it's a small mercy that doesn't exactly help his sitaution either.
This was to be her Final Operation, the last risky gambit, the last reckless temptation of fate to forge her own path through the apocalypse. Not a thrill seeker, not a brave warrior out to confront head-on those behind the rending of the world, Ayame was determined to be in and out before anyone would know she was there. A final reagent, a last piece of the power at the core of this, was needed to bring weeks of machinations to an end - a taste of the primordial chi that permeates this land and then she would be gone.
To fight the tyrants directly, to test might and courage against the monsters capable of such incredible power, was to be the burden of others far bolder than her if everything went according to plan.
How startling it is for the operative to find herself caught within another's trap - an experience she has certainly put many others through in her years of manipulations and deceits. The crystaline containment was already tested with force and with energy and the results were grim. "Tch," the girl murmurs, fingers tracing lightly over the crystaline wall. Do they even know she exists? Or was this just unfortunate happenchance, a variable left undefined in the totality of her plan? Or is the true problem the second pouch at her belt? She wasn't supposed to have it still. There was supposed to be a handoff. But if the entire planet is falling apart, it's no wonder plans are as well.
Her left hand lifts to her chest - an amulet dangles there, azure crystal suspended in an intricately crafted framework of gold and ebony dangles from a chain worn around her neck - the collector needed for the final ingrediant. A second loop of chain dangles beneath her top. The Master Engineer would be waiting for it. She needed to get it to him. Fingers clasp over the amulet as she closes he eyes in thought. It has what it needs. And now she needs to go. She can't be stopped by this.
A loud thunk at her side reminds her that she is not alone here as Brett collides with the wall with all the force his muscular frame is capable of delivering. Brown eyes open, the girl glancing to the side at the young man dealing with the same circumstances as she with an outward display of resolve. Again and again he swings the stick, putting its construct to the against the unyielding wall.
A soft breath taken in is followed by an exhale. Head leaning back, she scans the height of the imposing barrier, right hand resting at her hip. She won't tell Brett to give up, even if it seems futile. Perhaps the relentless fury with which he attacks the wall is all that keeps him going right now, and, depending on what happens next, she may very well need all the help she can get, regardless the source. Thus it is that she offers no comment all regarding his efforts.
"Being ignored here is worse than being resisted, I think," she observes after further thought. Her hand comes to rest against the rounded leather pouch dangling from her belt. She didn't want to touch it again. Not after handling the one obtained from the stalwart duo in France. She knows better now, the war they can wage against the mind, these spheres of power. But stasis will not suffice for the plans hinging on her actions. She doesn't know if it will make things better or worse, but she cannot abide by them staying the same.
Her hand slips into the pouch, fingers pressing against the Eldritch Artifact drawn forth and held in her palm. A Time Sphere. One with hues and influences that would be familiar to Brett. Afterall, it was from him that Makari secured it in the first place. Even with the black glove on her right hand, she can feel its influence now that she holds it again.
"I bet this will get us some attention." she grins at Brett. In other words, things are likely to change one way or another. A step forward is taken, arm drawn back, before she slams her hand forward and bangs the crystaline barrier with the Time Sphere directly. If this cage has an owner, it's time to start rattling it in a way that will get their jailor's attention.
Who can say what brings people together? Some call it fate, some call it luck. Others maintain predestination, that things were meant to happen and people destined to meet at certain places, at certain times. That they're intended to be where they are to act as pivots in the world's flow.
Kyo...
Kyo doesn't believe any of that. It's a concept he's explicitly fought against his whole life--the concept of 'destiny'. In his case, his 'destiny' to be the head of the Kusanagi clan. To be the sword that defeats Orochi. To be the one to end the feud between the Yagami and the Kusanagi. It's a burden. Were he a weaker person, he'd surely have been crushed underneath the weight of those burdens.
Despite all that... here he is. Drawn to this place, this time. And it's fortunate for Ayame and Brett that he is. As usual, he doesn't really know what's going on--knowledge and forethought aren't his strong points to say the least--but he's an ace at taking action. They won't hear it in there--and Mukai probably can't feel the pulse of Kyo's chi yet--but it's there. Flaring up, building, and finally cresting as Kyo... well, he doesn't just hurl fire at it. He could just blast the wall with an Orochinagi--that would be the easy way to do it. But he's not sure what's beyond there... so he takes a run, leaps, and unleashes the wild, barely-controlled gout of flame with a great yell, shattering the wall and transporting himself past it in an instant, tumbling over his shoulder twice before coming to a skidding stop, feet wide and body low in a three-point stance.
Ignored; that's certainly accurate. It's clear that they are in the proximity of one of the puppetmasters, doubtlessly the man within the diamond wall they face. But pounding on it impotently does nothing to cause any change. Like stone, his motives cannot be determined.
Yet once Ayame brushes fingers across the orb and feels the brush of it's energy, there's a dim spark. As if some sleeping beast had been prodded; and a great burst of energy, like some hazy gaze shifting to see them. Indeed, the figure past the massive wall seems to have lifted his head, and a single point of crimson glows.
Kyo's entrance seems to do even more. There's a strong burst of intensity. Emotions. Rage. Rancor. Slowly, the figure gets to his feet, as if wounded or unsteady...
And then the great wall of diamond explodes inwards. It is not an easy expenditure of energy, and the seismic crash of that much mass is nothing to sneeze at. Within the recess, perhaps thirty meters around, is a tunnel that seems to lead past the volcanic gatestopper -- directly to the gate itself.
If not for the utterly huge individual standing before them. At almost nine feet tall now, even grander in physique than prior, Mukai looks... well. Not good, actually. He is breathing heavily, and completely lacking a left arm at the shoulder. His wild mane of white hair is speckled in blood; and his right eye is gone, snuffed out in a brutal indent. Across his black physique, countless cracks are formed, bleeding out energy in slow, leisurely hisses between the bright pulses of light.
But for all this, there is not the sense of a weak individual about to pass on. No; it is like a building eruption, as if such a broken form only makes the great, powerful torrent of energy thrumming behind seem all the more wild and dangerous. There is no limiters anymore. Only the grand, impotent rage of the most fanatical and loyal of Saiki's followers... And, as proven in multiple battles, one of the most powerful.
"Human." growls a graveled tone, echoing with a strange warble. "What have you done... to taint the orb...?!" His eye seems to stare at Ayame with a crushing intensity, as if he was trying to freeze her with the very weight of his presence. Brett is analyzed thereafter. "And you... someone forsaken by the Gate...? Come for redemption... or foolish hope?... ... And... you..."
It shifts to Kyo, then. Indeed, in terms of sheer magnitude, this might be one of the strongest opponents he has ever faced. Only Rugal, riding the high of Orochi's stolen might, could possibly compare. "Insolent mortal... who bears the sin of binding Orochi-sama to this world... haa... I can think of no better grave... haa... then one shared with your damnable blood...!!"
Slowly, Mukai lifts up his good arm. And then, upon the stump of the other, his flesh twists and warps. The ground begins to tremble and crack beneath him, as he roars into the air with enough intensity to shatter a few of the statues near the broken wall, side of a building cascading down in a rush of broken bricks and glass.
And then a new arm explosively manifests. Sleek, dark carbon crystal, it is irregular and twisted, only three fingers clasping together like pinchers. A great flare as even more energy boils within his shell, flaring from the multiple wounds inflicted by Akuma's parting gift.
He does not have long. No. Even in his dormancy, it was measured in hours. Now... it is measured in minutes. But that might as well be an eternity...!
"Come... come...!! You think you are the only ones in this struggle, with conviction?! Who will do anything to succeed?! I... will show you MINE...!!"
COMBATSYS: Mukai has started a fight here as a boss!
MUKAI
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COMBATSYS: Mukai gathers the power of the Earth!
MUKAI
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As if it was the only thing that gave him purpose to keep going forward, Brett continued to hammer at the wall, trying his best to make some kind of dent into it. He clearly isn't, but he has to believe he can do something with it. His resolve faters, however, as an orb is drawn out. Going stock still, he slowly turns his head toward Ayame, face ashen white as he looked at the sphere she just produced: the very one he had been 'touched' by. "Th-that...."
In that moment, the wall suddenly EXPLODES, as the third party arrives, nearly causing Brett to jump as the wall finally goes down without his input. He doesn't have time to ask WHY Ayame has that sphere, not at this point. Not after the sleeping lion has been stirred.
Looking on as the gigantic coal black man emerges after the orb does just as Ayame had suggested, Brett falters back a bit....but whether it be the continued compression of reality around them, or some resolve stirring back within him, he starts to step forward again. "I....whatever you all are doing with those spheres, I cant' stand by and let it happen. I saw what those things can do and, I don't want anything else to happen like I've seen!" he insists. He startles as the arm bursts out of Mukai's stump, but he holds his ground, gripping his stick and narrowing his eyes. He can't let his fear and doubts consume him now. Hard as that is with that Stasis sphere so close, he can't...he has to stand up and fight. And fight he does, immediately charging forward and trying to crack his stick across that newly created arm, overextending himself a little in his haste to make a big first impression.
COMBATSYS: Brett has joined the fight here.
MUKAI
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Brett 0/-------/-------|
"Long story," Ayame replies when Brett responds to the sphere in her hand, answering the unasked question with a non-answer. The wall is smacked with the orb and the girl knows immediately that someone will definitely be answering this knock at the door. Of course, moments later, there isn't even a door to begin with. The girl stares at Kyo as he makes is decidedly impressive entrance, eyes blinking a couple of times as she processes just exactly who it is who she's happened across.
If her life ending ambition was to go to war against Those behind all of this, it would be hard to find a more powerful ally than the Kusanagi scion himself. The legacy of legend, born with a gift and curse that has made him the focus of so many tyrants around the world. "Yo," she offers in greeting, still palming the sphere in her right hand, trying to figure out a new plan now that things have changed.
And that is when the Avatar of Stone arrives, his form issuing molten energy, his body bearing evidence of catastrophic fights she can only begin to guess at. And he doesn't look happy, this Guardian at the gate, studying the strange trio that stands before him, once at a time.
The sphere is called out and Ayame lifts her left hand to rest behind the back of her neck, "Saaa... I can't really take credit for that." So he already knows? There was always the calculated risk that would be the case. That's why she was glad when this task was to be Makari's, not hers.
The Titan's attention turns to the the other two with her while she continues to study him, attempting to figure out a weakness. He seems to be on the very cusp of detonation, the energy welling up within him requiring incomprehensible control to keep contained every moment that passes them by. But even so, she has never stood in the presence of something this powerful, let alone had the suicidal notion that she might need to combat it with her own means.
At least he only has one arm, right?
As the Exemplar of Might demonstrates an instant later that he bears no such handicap afterall, the girl frowns a bit slighter, updating her calculations. At this point, the odds are so low even Roland might be caused to think twice before diving in. Then he'd probably dive in anyway, she muses, a faint smirk working its way into the corner of her mouth. She can't be upstaged by a hypothetical Roland, she decides, deftly dropping the sphere back into the pouch dangling from one of her belts as Brett makes it clear that he isn't about to retreat, himself.
Glancing down, she reaches for the long, narrower pouch at her left. Anathema has served her well all these years, undergoing iteration after iteration of improvements, both mechanical as well as chi-tech based under Seishirou's guidance. It is with it that she will take on this final challenge.
Drawing the half-foot long metal tube, her thumb slides over an engraved rune near the center. A spark of chi starts the reaction that results in the weapon surging to its full length, with a hiss and swath of crimson hued chi coursing over its surface.
Mukai speaks of conviction. In her mind's eye, she ponders the contest of Wills that could exist between this monster and Seishirou Ryouhara. But that battle will never come, it seems. Brett bolts forth into action while she hangs back, both hands taking tight hold of her trusted staff, companion through countless trials. "I don't know a thing about convictions," she murmurs to herself, "Except by the examples I have seen in others..." She watches the young man charge Mukai without reservation. That's conviction, she thinks to herself.
Sucking in her breath, she focuses closer on every detail about the Gatekeeper in their path. How he moves, what he is capable of. Unfortunately for Brett, he might be the test subject here.
COMBATSYS: Ayame has joined the fight here.
MUKAI
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Ayame 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Brett
COMBATSYS: Ayame focuses on her next action.
MUKAI
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Ayame 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Brett
Brett is certainly putting himself out there. Kyo... thinks that's kind of stupid. I mean, this is -a man made of stone-. That is not the kind of thing you attack with a goddamn hockey stick. At least, this is Kyo's thinking. Speaking of the man of stone...
Clearly, he's not going to offer them a cup of tea and some biscuits, or, whatever. The threat level went from yellow to the reddest of reds. Conviction? Redemption? Hmph.
"I don't care about any of that," scowls Kyo, at the towering man of stone.
"You think you can bury me here? Then -come and try it-!" The pulse of emotions that preceded Mukai seems to resonate within Kyo, and the Kusanagi flame responds, burning bright in Kyo's chest. Bright enough that he can feel it within, and in turn, he responds to it.
Ayame might be willing to hold back--that's the smart thing. Brett's rushing in, and while Kyo can't advise that, he'd have to admit that there's a certain inevitability to the whole thing. Staying back isn't a great option. So the fire that surges within him finds its way to his right hand, and from there, as he sweeps his hand forward, it turns into a hissing, snaking burst of flame along the ground--maybe lost in the environment of this volcano.
Kyo's voice thunders out as he flings his power against Mukai. "EAT THIS!"
COMBATSYS: Kyo has joined the fight here in the center.
MUKAI
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Ayame 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Brett
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Kyo 0|-------|-------
COMBATSYS: Mukai blocks Kyo's Yami Barai.
MUKAI
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Ayame 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Brett
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Kyo 0|-------|-------
COMBATSYS: Mukai blocks Brett's Medium Strike.
MUKAI
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Ayame 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Brett
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Kyo 0|-------|-------
The sudden rush from Brett can be certainly thought of as reckless; each crack against Mukai feels significantly harder than the barrier of crystal that had kept him at bay earlier. He doesn't seem to overtly react to such, simply remaining imperiously settled in open sight of all the warriors, both of his arms raised high as if inviting such assaults.
"Hah. Interesting...! Kyo Kusanagi... I do not feel nearly the killing instinct from you as I expected. You are disappointing, sinner... But then again, you were not a factor in our gambit against Orochi-sama even in the past... hahahaa...!"
He raises a foot, and then suddenly stomps down; sheathing it in stone, the yami barai is obliterated, a great series of cracks sent flying in all directions by the assault. "And the girl... do you not wish to be here?! Then drop the orb and leave!! The only one with any true resolve to fight me..."
"IS YOU!!" Suddenly he twists towards Brett, brutally striking out with his diamond arm in an attempt to catch him by the face. With the intention of twisting and then slamming him down upon the ground opposite with a brutal show of force. The motion is simple, but to have that much inertia applied all at once might be more than a little imposing.
"Not a single opponent... has truly bested me... haa... it does not matter... whether I live. None of you... shall reach Saiki!!"
COMBATSYS: Mukai knocks away Brett with Divine Grasp.
MUKAI
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Ayame 0/-------/-------|=======\===----\1 Brett
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Kyo 0|-------|-------
The charge in was clearly reckless. But Brett was driven by resolve to make up for his failings, both regarding the sphere as well as being unable to do anymore than he did in Southtown before coming here. But he knew he was seriously outmatched in this. He didn't have any delusions that he alone could do much to this giant. But for god's sake, he had to try.
Try he did, continuing to crack his stick toward the coal black man's arm, what little good it seemed to do. And then, the arm snapped out, as if to reward him for his recklessness. Snatching him up by the head, he's ragdolled down to the ground, and slammed down in a thunderous thud, the sound of several cracks masked underneath. "GUKKHAAAHHH!!" he cries out at the slam, gasping for breath as he struggles to even move after that landing.
But move he does, even if he can't truly get himself off the ground. What little he can do from the ground, though, he does, trying to reach out and hook at the coal black giant's ankle and hopefully pull hard enough to unbalance him for everyone else.
"Of course not," Ayame replies regarding the thought maybe actually being there in the first place isn't high on her list. She slides one foot forward a little, shifting her staff more to her side, putting it in prime striking position from which it would be a bit harder to defend herself. With how she has hung back, it seems her need to defend herself just yet has been mitigated by the bravery demonstrated by Brett or the defiance exhibited by the Kusanagi heir.
Crimson chi continues to drift over her weapon, wafting up near the ends like flickers of cool flame as she watches the way the man strikes back against the attacks levied against him. Brute force, power - the corner of her mouth flickers into a faint smirk as she is reminded of the lessons she deemed true early on in her adventures. Here, the Mighty rule.
"But people are counting on me," she murmurs. She never knew how heavy the burden of hope can be when placed on another. Afterall, who had ever placed their wishes in her hands?
'I promise we will do our part.'
A promise. How many of those has she even made in her life and really /meant/ it? She leans forward. She has to contain it - the rush of adrenaline humans receive in times like this can be a powerful tool, but it has to be managed, controlled. She can't let drive itself and overwhelm rational thought.
Mukai responds to Brett's boldness as she anticipated - with the fury of whatever twisted nature answers this Titan's beck and call, smashing the young man into the ground with incredible force while boasting of his power as an unstoppable force.
"Really," Ayame replies, speaking up louder now, as to be audible over the cacophony of powerful attacks being exchanged.
"I see no talent, no skill, no byproduct of a life spent in training. Only raw, relentless power." She snorts, "If a man battles a volcano, that doesn't make him a weak fighter.
The girl twirls her staff one last time before finally bursting forward into action. She's seen the speed at which he moves, has observed his power second hand. It might give her an edge - but there's no comparison to facing it in person as she prepares to do.
"It makes him a fool."
Her weapon of choice, against most people, buys her some advantage of range, the ability to strike while dancing just outside of reach. Against the long arms of the Guardian, she'll have no such advantage, as she slides in close, swinging the weapon from her right side forward, attempting to bash it low against his torso, potentially lower than he can readily defend himself.
The chi that trails behind her strike takes on a curious form, however - rather than freely flowing crimson flames, it becomes narrow, sharp, a lazor's edge that threatens to impact Mukai with all the force the girl can muster. She'd step into a second strike, spinning around the other way an instant later, attempting to catch him on the opposite side after possibly drawing his guard to his left.
Battling a creature like this? The thought never escapes her lips, but it won't leave her mind either - perhaps it's time to be a fool!"
Kyo grits his teeth. "I'm not a -killer-," he spits, anger coloring his voice in the same way the Kusanagi flames lick up his hands, that orange glow swelling higher and higher.
"But I don't need to be to defeat you!! So you think my road to Saiki goes through you? Then -I'll go through you-!!" Intent? Conviction? If that's what Mukai wanted to hear out of these people, it certainly rings true in the voice of the young heir to the Kusanagi legacy.
Brett has his hockey stick; Ayame has her weapons. Kyo? Kyo only has his hands and his feet, elbows and knees--and the Kusanagi flame. So it would seem foolish--doubly foolish--to pit himself against this beast, unarmed as he seems. And yet...
And yet, he leaps to the attack as well, wordless challenge pouring from his mouth as he strikes with an axing heel, looking to plant the heel of his right foot squarely into the top of Mukai's brainpan. He doesn't know if this man of stone even has human insides... but he can't worry about that, either.
He can only sasume--hope--that whatever Mukai is, he isn't -invincible-. That he can be brought down. That he will succeed where so many others have fallen. And confidence is not something that the Kusanagi scion carries in only small amounts.
COMBATSYS: Mukai dodges Brett's King's End.
MUKAI
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Ayame 0/-------/-------|=======\===----\1 Brett
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Kyo 0|-------|-------
COMBATSYS: Mukai blocks Kyo's Medium Kick.
MUKAI
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Ayame 0/-------/-------|=======\===----\1 Brett
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Kyo 0|-------|------=
COMBATSYS: Mukai interrupts Power Strike from Ayame with Terrene Tower.
>> Decisive Hit!! <<
MUKAI
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Ayame 0/-------/=======|=======\===----\1 Brett
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Kyo 0|-------|------=
The demolished Brett lashes out with his hockey stick in earnest, but Mukai manages to lunge backwards out of range. But now, his opponents are moving in earnest; Kyo rushes forward with a brutal tenacity that he tends to have. Yet he is facing an opponent just as straightforward, one without any true manipulations or concealed agenda. All of the cards are upon the table when facing the massive stone giant, which can be as much an asset as it is a liability.
As Kyo lashes out his foot towards the demon's face, a ripple of black diamond slathers over, and impacts heavily. Chips go flying in all directions, a number of cracks rippling through, but that still likely had an incredibly painful report as opposed to one that tore through those iron defenses.
"Girl..." Mukai's echoing voice hisses out. Turning towards her as if she were the only other person in the battle, despite two ferocious opponents now in proximity. "It is true... I only invested in power. But if you dare state... I did not pour my heart, soul, and mind into it... haa..."
And as her staff whirls down, Mukai slams his diamond fist into the ground. The weapon glances off a sudden eruption of stone, a pillar violently striking up from the battle-scarred ground and hitting her dead center. Sending her launched away from the conflict, although there's a mild grunt of surprise from the battle god all the same.
"THEN YOU ARE THE FOOL!!"
That chip in his cheek is aching; he can feel his essence leaking out, as if she was attacking his vessel just as much as his form. She's a more able opponent than he thought. Yet one of sheer tactics, technique, trickery... all things he decries. And all things he has dedicated his existence to proving mean nothing in the face of raw, unadulterated strength!!
Struggling to get up to his feet, Brett found it hard to breathe, sure that a few ribs have been cracked thanks to that monstrous toss Mukai had given him. Shaking as he manages to get up, he only gets one foot up, propping his stick up for support as he remains in a crouch. He wasn't able to hook hold of the giant, but he at least sees the cracks literally forming in the force of nature before them all.
It's a bit concerning and disturbing, but that's only a background thought as he starts to get up. His other hand wrapped around his torso along his ribs, he forces himself up to both feet finally. Just as the pillar rises out and slams into Ayame, the hockey fighter moves in. He can feel the burning inside of him as he stretched out, lifting his stick above his head, and furiously spinning it at Mukai's face, aiming directly at the wound Kyo managed to try and open it up even more.
COMBATSYS: Zach has left the fight here.
MUKAI
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
1|-------------==|===============
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////// ]
Ayame 0/-------/=======|=======\===----\1 Brett
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Kyo 0|-------|------=
She knew well the risks of attacking this man, if it is even reasonable to quantify this living vessel of barely restrained power as such. But at this point it's simply one more risk piled ontop of a lifetime's worth of gambles that have brought her to this point in the first place. She swings out hard, throwing her body into the staff strike. The block to come is noticed and not entirely unexpected. She can simply allow her weapon to rebound off the first impact and then drive it into his other side, as she had planned- that second strike will land just over a second later, he MIGHT not be able to respond in time-!
What wasn't planned was that the counter attack did not come from him but rather beneath her, a column of unyielding stone slamming upward. There's no recourse, no chance to guard, the girl slammed hard and knocked back to crash against the ground meters away from the Stone Titan. Gritting her teeth, she rolls to a seated position quickly, using her staff as a lever to then lunge back to her feet. Blood seeps from the corner of her mouth and for a moment, she hesitates to wipe at it with the back of her left hand. "Nn..." Evidence of potential internal damage. If she had been more solid on her feet or less of a featherweight, she might have lost ribs in that crushing exchange.
She glances at her shimmering staff before looking back toward the self-appointed Guardian. The sphere continues to nestle in the pouch at her side but it is, ultimately, a diversion in and of itself, and not her true intent. Pressing lips together, she narrows her eyes, ignoring the ache that begins to demand more and more of her attention.
"Did you..." she snaps back, not missing his declaration of effort. "And to what cause would make such a sacrifice worth all that?" She sweeps her hand around the twisted, unnatural terrain before fixing her attention back on Mukai. "/This/?"
Injured, beyond any doubt, she isn't done though. She needs to do what she can while Brett remains determined and Kyo remains, well, at least interested enough to fight. Without either, there will be nothing she can do! Again the young operative closes distance, again she seems ready to strike out at Mukai with her staff once she's in range, leaping from a few meters out, metallic weapon reflecting the tormented light of this petrified horrorscape...
But instead of bringing her staff crashing down toward Mukai's head, she slams it down, butting it into the ground at her feet where she lands, gripping it tightly around the center, brown eyes fixed on Muaki. "No wonder everyone wants to stop you," she remarks.
An explosion of chi jets up along the length of her upright staff before exploding outward into a swarm of spinning, cutting blades that rocket toward Mukai from all sides. Individually, each of the chi manifestations should prove to be of little threat, but he'll notice that each of them seems to be homing in on any sign of injury on his body. The fissures, the scars from a Legendary Battle that will never be recorded, the wound at his eye. Should they connect and find their way through his armored exterior, each one will dig itself in, cutting him deep, disrupting the already troubled energy bursting within!
There's some sympathy in Kyo's gaze, as he sees Brett, and then Ayame, take serious hits from the man of stone. He is no pushover--to say the least, his control over the element of the Earth is skillful--and brutal. Kyo briefly wishes his ESAKA crew were here... let Goro teach this man a thing or two about the Earth. But they are not. Kyo has to work with what he has to work with.
Landing from the kick, Kyo goes unmolested as of yet. That is a status that certainly won't--can't--continue, but for now, he takes advantage of it. Perhaps Mukai thinks to swat the flies first... or perhaps, to him, they're all flies. But Kyo thinks only to concentrate his assault on Mukai. To do some damage. Or draw some attention. This... is an impromptu team. It's born of circumstance and chance. But it can still work.
Kyo's flames burst into being around his fists, and he launches his assault on Mukai, those flames exploding off his punches as he makes contact, each explosion--should it come--sounding like the deep *boom* of a Hollywood explosion. But these flames and their power are all too real, as Kyo finds himself set on demonstrating to this man.
He doesn't, he reflects with some idle part of him, even know his erstwhile teammates' names. Something to correct--if they all get out of here alive, that is...
COMBATSYS: Kyo successfully hits Mukai with Dokugami.
- Power hit! -
MUKAI
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
1|---------======|===============
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////// ]
Ayame 0/-------/-======|=======\===----\1 Brett
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Kyo 0|-------|-----==
COMBATSYS: Brett successfully hits Mukai with Blackhawk Down EX.
- Power hit! -
MUKAI
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
1|--------=======|===============
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////// ]
Ayame 0/-------/-======|=======\====---\1 Brett
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Kyo 0|-------|-----==
COMBATSYS: Mukai Toughs Out Ayame's By Meridian's Vain Ambition!
MUKAI
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
1|--------=======|===============
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////// ]
Ayame 0/-------/=======|=======\====---\1 Brett
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Kyo 0|-------|-----==
There's one mistake Mukai made here; and that was in underestimating Kyo's capability to inflict damage himself. Twisting back towards the other man, the flaming fist erupts true, sending a whirlwind of heated Orochi-sealing chi right towards his chest. He once more ripples with that diamond-like coat, only for that fist to tear through it like it were nothing. Dissolved away, to sink into his stomach and cause the hulking figure to double forward, eyes bugged out in clear pain. It tears up, ripping off huge chunks of his stone flesh, and a splash of vividly purple blood into the air. Fully open now, he has no resistance to the assault from Brett as well, slamming into the side of his face and sending him staggering backwards.
"...!!" It almost ends there. A great roar of energy flashes out, enough to stagger all of the fighters present. Deep, intense flames of black and gray start to pour from Mukai's chest, and like fracturing ice damage is seen spilling over the rest of his frame. "Hrrk... ...HNNN...!!"
Ayame approaches him, the last yet again. But then there's a whirl, and diamond flashes over to reinforce his broken structure. Her staff's explosion is consumed, ravenously, desperately. Mukai is finished. If they all simply bolted and ran, he would end up self-destructing. Right now, the assaults are simply hastening that end result...
But to do such would almost certainly end in death...!!
"ENOUGH!!" He suddenly roars, flashing out his immense diamond arm. Blades splinter along the sides, rippling across as he tries to savagely grasp Kyo by the face. The grey flames swirl down explosively then, intent on petrifying him in a flash, only for his right arm to twist backwards.
A simple punch should not have such a report. But as he steps forward, slamming down his heel, twisting his shattering form forward, the air seems to condense and then erupt outwards in a billow of mist. Intent on slamming it home into Kyo's ribs; unguarded, if he falls prey to the assault fully. And send him hurtling backwards into the stone mountain he has summoned, as his final resting place.
"I WILL NOT... FALL... WHILE VERMIN THREATEN SAIKI-SAMA!!"
Despite the clumsiness of the attack, Brett finds himself striking true, his helicoptering strikes following behind Kyo's Dokugame and opening up that wound even further in what looks like a decisive blow to the giant'ss face. However, as he roars out and seems to start to burn himself out, Brett finds himself backing up, less out of fear and more out of self preservation. It does NOT look like anything he wants to get near at this point.
And the explosion from Ayame's staff being absorb portens something seriously wrong. As Mukai grabs at Kyo, Brett thinks, and thinks fast. Trying to sweep behind Mukai, he levels his stick up. As cool blue chi starts to surround the blade, he tries to hook it around the very surging wounds bleeding fire and ice from the stony titan. It takes everything not to think about the broken ribs he nurses as he tries to pull and yank at Mukai's wound to open it further. However that hooking resolves, he'd sweep the stick around and strike at another wound, then another, trying to slam at every single seeming weakpoint in Mukai's eroding frame to hasten the giant's fall before Kyo could suffer the same kind of fates he and Ayame felt just moments ago.
Only by working in tandem does the trio have any chance - of that, Ayame is certain. These two unlikely, unplanned for allies, are literally the only chance she's got. As Kyo's attack leaves a catastrophic opening for Brett ot also deal a decisive blow, her own energy assault is warded off with what seems to her to be a fair amount of success. She's not, of course, above trying to distract or taunt the man in her familiar, oft annoying way. But there's danger there, as well. In the end, she needs him to strike out in wrath against the other two rather than herself... Death is not an option here, either is being injured beyond being able to continue.
Gritting her teeth, Ayame kicks back away from Mukai, hands still gripping her staff tightly. Maybe it's obvious to the other two that this unyielding wall that blocks their path is on a limited timer. They have to survive long enough, yes, and ideally, aid him on his path to destruction before he kills all of them - as long as she survives, though, she tells herself, that's all that matters. At any cost. Too much is riding on this, at the confluence of endings playing out all around the world in these final hours.
"Saiki..." she murmurs. Is that his name - the one behind it all? He can't possibly know what plans have been put in motion to thwart him. The world might be ravaged, the lands rent, the oceans spilling away into the vast void where Italy once existed... but none of that matters if his plan can be stopped this day.
The energy in this world is abundant, crackling, ready to be called forth with minimal effort, and it is into that Ayame taps now. The breath of life, many call it, answers as she extends her own will to draw it forth. Crimson hued chi surges around her feet, an aura blooming into crests of cerulean at the the level of her waist. Currents, driven by this surge of potential, whip at her clothes and hair, and the runes of her staff flare to life brilliantly, one after another, forming an intricate pattern over the titanium surface of her precious weapon.
"Your lord's plan is coming undone. Did he forsee all of this? Did he forsee your own fate - it's as plain as day to us now, as it must be to you..." She sweeps her left hand out as her energy builds, gesturing toward the petrified forms of the fallen, "These will all bear witness to your fall but in the end, it will be for nothing!" She smirks faintly, "It looks like you get the privilege of being the last god to be sealed by the Kusanagi!"
COMBATSYS: Ayame gathers her will.
MUKAI
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
1|------------===|===============
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////// ]
Ayame 1/----===/=======|=------\-------\0 Brett
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Kyo 0|-------|-----==
COMBATSYS: Mukai successfully hits Kyo with Execution.
MUKAI
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
1|-------========|===============
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////// ]
Ayame 1/----===/=======|=------\-------\0 Brett
[ |||||||||||||||||||| ]
Kyo 0|-------|=======
One moment, Kyo is there, breathing heavily not from exertion, necessarily, but from the adrenaline high and the charged emotion inherent to this conflict. The next?
The next--he's not there. The report of that attack coincides with Kyo's disappearance; a second or two later, there's another report, as Kyo slams into the convieniently provided backstop. It's a thunderous sound, the kind of impact that would turn a lesser man to a smear; as it is, Kyo lays against the mountain, stretched out in full, for nerely three seconds before he coughs up a gout of blood and falls forward.
He catches himself on hands and knees, coughs again... and then rises. He knew, of course, that the man had power. That he was... otherworldly. If one could see Kyo's aura, they would see the first faint flickers of fear and doubt creeping through. And then they would see them tamped down.
"Heh... heheh... yeah... that's the power I thought you'd have... you know..." He begins walking forward. It's... slow, almost casual in pace, but the way he walks is more like a stalk, his eyes hooded, unreadable, a grimace of a smile twisting his lips.
"They keep telling me that I'm supposed to seal Orochi. That this power of mine is meant for a higher purpose. Maybe it is. But right now..."
He gets within maybe ten yards of Mukai, still walking, then stops. "Right now... the only thing it's concerned about... IS BURNING YOUR FACE OFF!!! EAT _THIS_!!!" And then...
Kyo is surging forward. His entire body is swathed in flame, burning hot and bright, until the moment it explodes off him in a roaring, man-tall wave, the sound it makes like the roar of a great serpent in terrible pain, aimed to wash right over Mukai and erase him from existence.
COMBATSYS: Kyo knocks away Mukai with Orochinagi+.
MUKAI
[ ||||||||||||||||| ]
1|-==============|===============
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////// ]
Ayame 1/----===/=======|=------\-------\0 Brett
[ ||||||||||||||||||| ]
Kyo 0|-------|------=
COMBATSYS: Mukai blocks Brett's Massacre on Ice.
MUKAI
[ |||||||||||||| ]
1|-==============|===============
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////// ]
Ayame 1/----===/=======|=------\-------\0 Brett
[ ||||||||||||||||||| ]
Kyo 0|-------|------=
Brett ruthlessly pressures Mukai as well, striking out with his staff and hooking him down. But he manages to bring up another intensive layer of blackened crystal, the multiple cracks sending swirling sparks of cerulean chi whisking off into the skies. It's a distraction; and one that, although unable to penetrate his brutal defenses, is sufficient to ensure what happens next. "Lord...?! No. Saiki... is a GOD...!!
Breathing heavily, Mukai takes a step towards Kyo, swiping out an arm to deflect the remainder of Brett's assault and knock him off-balance. But given the incredible surge of energy beginning to build within the Kusanagi, getting away might be the better idea. This energy. He can feel it. Deep inside... a spark of Orochi.
This man... is definitely from those bastards...!
It's this thought, this hate, this rage that keeps Mukai on his proverbial feet. Arms open, inviting the assault to hit him, challenging it. His might... he may seem weakened now, but his raw power at this moment, each moment closer to defeat, is more than ever.
He will conquer it!!
A sea of crimson takes over. He is not sure what is happening. There is a bright white light. When he comes to, he's embedded into a wall a good fifty feet away from the trio. He seems burnt out, little more than a husk, the energy dying out as pearlescent fire and wisps of blackened gray seethe.
But his good eye blazes crimson, and he steps forward. "No." he states, slow and drawn out. "...You will not... be allowed..."
He reaches up his diamond arm, summoning the last of his ability to shape and control. The power he has... it has never been his own. Although it might be impossible to tell even for masters of chi analysis like Ayame, what is truly 'Mukai' is only a gateway. A portal. Every ounce of strength he has is from becoming the perfect conduit to Gaea, the chi-blood of the living earth. And all of that roars through him now, breaking down to dust and splinters the last of his existance.
A great, roaring burst of energy flashes out, turning the world into monochrome black and white. A singularity of black energy is held in his upturned hand. Before suddenly the diamond limb explodes, fragments flying in all directions. At the same time, a great, roaring blast flies in all directions...
Blanketing everything into naught but broken diamond and stone. Entombing and petrifying all that is nearby, flooding the interior pocket they are within, blasting out across the destroyed city landscape and leaving behind a blanket of pristine, jagged stone and twisted shrapnel.
The pulsations last for a good six seconds, each assaulting the trio in turn, and then it's gone. Mukai remains standing amidst the flurry, having transformed the small mountain indentation into a wicked and primal gallery of earth's natural fury.
Slowly he rips his foot free, stepping forward. Then his other. Nothing left... nothing but hot ashes, and the last bit of dormant fury... a slow exhale loosing a bout of volcanic ash as more and more, like a porcelein mask, he begins to fracture.
"Stop... you..." he gurgles out in a voice so distorted nothing of this world could possibly make it. His willpower is legendary indeed for him to still stand. No; to even exist.
"Protect... SAIKI...!!"
COMBATSYS: Mukai knocks away Brett with Netherworld Agony.
MUKAI
[ |||||||||||||| ]
0|---------------|----------=====
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ]
Ayame 1/----===/=======|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2 Brett
[ ||||||||||||||||||| ]
Kyo 0|-------|------=
Doing what he can to keep the pressure on Mukai, Brett keeps hacking and slashing at the massive stone man's form, though the openings he had found are quickly filled back up enough to deflect most of the hockey kid's attempts. When the arm deflects him a way, Brett stumbles back, and finds himself contorting in a way that aggrevates his already seriously damaged ribs. Heaving with every painful breath, he props himself up with his stick, trying to block out the rest of the pain as he sees the results of Kyo's own attack.
The Orochinagi is...it's a sight to behold, that's for certain. Looking on rather amazedly, he sees the blazing technique sear Mukai....
And then blood drains from his face as something happens. He might not be able to analyze anything about Mukai being a gateway, sure, but the surging, exploding energy that starts to expand from him is enough. Eyes widen, before he ducks his head, turns his shoulder, and tries to do something akin to weathering a storm wind trying to blow someone away. This, unfortunately, is something far more than that, and the destructive force, as well as the jettisoned debris it throws up, is enough to blast, batter, and fling the poor Minnesotan away.
Slammed into a nearby 'statue', Brett finds his consciousness fading quickly, body shuddering as if ready to embrace the end. However, stopping himself again with his stick, he looks up through fading eyes....and grits his teeth. His stick scratches on the ground as he swings out with it one last time in a wide arc, a font of his chi exploding out in a wavering blue crest of energy, sailing toward Mukai. It's clear it's a last ditch, from the way the crest has trouble even maintaining form, but it's the best the young Mr. Neuer could do before falling over.
COMBATSYS: Brett can no longer fight.
MUKAI
[ |||||||||||||| ]
0|---------------|----------=====
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Ayame 1/----===/=======|
[ ||||||||||||||||||| ]
Kyo 0|-------|------=
COMBATSYS: Ayame fails to reflect Netherworld Agony from Mukai with The Sunrise Of Broken Dreams.
- Power fail! -
*KNOCKED AWAY*
MUKAI
[ |||||||||||||| ]
0|---------------|----------=====
[ ||||||||||||||||||| ]
Kyo 0|-------|------=
COMBATSYS: Ayame can no longer fight.
MUKAI
[ |||||||||||||| ]
0|---------------|----------=====
[ ||||||||||||||||||| ]
Kyo 0|-------|------=
Even when not engaging him in direct combat, Ayame continues to exacerbate the strained control in the Earthen Avatar, her diction ever so carefully, subtly selected to set him off in anyway possible. Her approach might seem madness to the two fated to fight along with her against this crumbling barrier of a man, but every word is chosen for exactly the purpose she seeks - to unravel the Guardian. Versed in a wide variety of weapons - blades, thrown objects, darts, and of course her ever at-hand staff, Ayame's most subtle oft times effective weapon is the way she can get under even the most stoic individual's skin. She can see it in his eyes, his knowledge of the inevitable, his pending end, and that knowledge can still be a weapon in her hands.
His outburst regarding Saiki is even a further clue - a weak spot in a sense, a subject taboo to tread upon that provokes the Living Avalanche beyond the point of rational thought. And it's just in time.
Brett's assault on his guard and the famed swath of flame that is the Kusanagi's birthright combine to incinerate the distracted monster. Maybe that will be the end of it, the girl muses, expression sober, mouth pressed into a thin line as she remains vigilent in her focus. Nothing could have survived that-
But Mukai still moves, his power surging in a blinding array of energy, a pure conduit between his physical form and the planet itself. The girl's eyes widen slightly. For as awe inspiring as the Orochinagi was, it is but a candle compared to the potential she sees in the heart of this monster.
"So," she muses, "This is a god..."
For all their efforts, it seems unlikely that they will be able to survive his next assault! "Tch," the girl grunts, shifting her stance slightly, her staff elevated, held horizontally in front of her. It will take razor-fine timing and all the strength she can force into a single defense to survive this. "Get ready-" she offers as the only warning to Kyo and Brett before the nova of earthen chi is upon them.
In an instant she is awash in energy, her left hand slamming forward, palm open, fingers upward, as she wills the first barrier into existence - a rose hued, shimmering field between her and the epicenter of destruction. Braced, staff held by her right hand in front of her by her right hand, she grits her teeth, slowly being pushed backward.
It is one of her most reliable, effective defensive techniques - the Midsummer flight of Fancy, a powerful memory of the miko she was destined to be. She had run from that burden, the obligation to put herself out there, to fight evil as generations of her family had done. Yet, she realizes, even as the world around her vanishes, obscurred by the walls of chi pouring around her barrier, here she is. She's gone in a full circle, back to where she was always meant to be. The girl snorts in her mind, unable to spare a breath for such luxuries out loud. Destiny can indeed be a fickle thing.
But this barrier won't be enough, she realizes, pouring every ounce of her strength into it. Already she finds herself driven back, already she finds its structure weakening. With her right hand occupied by holding her staff, she can't reach out and add the necessary reinforcement runes to keep the chi shield in tact-
Right, Anathema. Ayame grits her teeth, a renewed confidence born from the utmost in desperation washing over her as she brings her left hand back to join her right hand on her staff. It happens in an instant, out of necessity, the transition from the first barrier to the second - but that was long enough to suffer a taste of the agony that awaits her should her gambit fail. Even now her flesh burns where there was contact, however brief.
Both hands on her staff, a second barrier, this one crimson rather than pink, explodes outward in front of her, the tightly gripped staff the focal point of the new shield.
Still, she finds herself driven back. Is there even a world left outside of the small bubble of space she has created for herself? Her arms tremble, her knees buckle, her body aches as she feeds every last ounce of energy into the blood-red shield against the sea of destruction all around her. This will be enough, she tells herself, enough to weather the storm.
But then she notices the price of survival. It starts at the tips of her staff - bits of stone flakes clinging to the metal at first... but then metal begins to change texture to match them. Her precious, titanium, rune-covered, precision weapon is being petrified - simply by being the focus for her defense, it is being consumed by Mukai's devestation.
How many times now has this weapon saved her? How many times did it carry her to victory, help her get out of something over her head, or stop the weapons and powers tyrants have used against her? How many months of her life have been invested in tuning it, adjusting it, enhancing it, improving its ability to supplement her own precision chi use? The damage is already done, however, and it is rapidly spreading.
"Nn," she grunts softly, inaudibly over the cacophony of this otherworldly assault. The petrification spreads along the length of her staff, moving toward the center, and as it does, her last desperate barrier begins to wane. "Guess... this is it..." Her wall will fall soon, and so will she.
The plan was always a long shot, she thinks to herself. She knew that even when Ryouhara and she battled the renown Doctor Tran and Alma Towazu for their sphere. But it was the best plan anyone seemed to have in the face of such impossible opposition. She begins to be blown back with increasing force now, her strength waning, eyes closed as she concentrates the last of her reserves. Anyone who had faith in her was an idiot, she thinks to herself. This is as far as she'll get. Some plan-
Eyes snap open. Anathema is nearly entirely encrusted in stone, its form permanently ruined, the ends beginning to turn to dust. There is one last chance to survive. One suicidal, ridiculous roll of the dice.
It happens all at once - the center of her staff exploding into fine powder, the crimson barrier it sustained collapsing, leaving Ayame to face the Agony of the wave head on, and her hand snapping down to the pouch at her left side. Consciousness waning, her hand finds purchase on the orb there in and, with the deftness of an expert pickpocket, in what may be the final, defiant act of her life, Ayame pulls out the Time Sphere and hurls it forward into the Storm in the same instant blackness overtakes her!
COMBATSYS: Kyo instinctively blocks Mukai's Netherworld Agony.
MUKAI
[ |||||||||||||| ]
0|---------------|----------=====
[ ||||||||||||||| ]
Kyo 0|-------|---====
"Oh, -cr--" is about as far as Kyo gets before he literally ducks and covers. It's like pulling a blanket over his head, except it's his own chi, and he goes into a half-crouch. The wash of energy blasts across him, abrading his defenses, and his self. It's... a terrible pain, quite unlike anything Kyo has ever felt before, and it alone speaks to the strength this man wields. The landscape is blasted. There's... only Kyo, now. His resolve is being tested, it seems, as he now faces this demon.
Suddenly, Kyo straightens his back. Still in a defensive posture, he shouts, a wordless, challenging shout, and his aura expands, blowing away the last of that wave of energy. He's puffing and heaving now, growling, his clothes tattered, but his expression confident. It's not that usual, smirking confidence, though--not the kind of arrogant dismissal that Kyo greets most of his opponents with. There's no playfulness in him now. He looks deadly serious--it's in his eyes and his stance. Slowly, he raises his arms, flexing his hands into fists, tightening them with the creak of leather.
"Was that your best? I'm still here... and I'm tired of your games." One lunge, and he's closed in with Mukai. And then he snaps his arms out, flame gouts flaring around them, drawing a helix in the air as Kyo leaps upwards, looking to strike Mukai with what looks like a modified lariat of sorts, the fire seeming to rise even faster than Kyo himself does.
COMBATSYS: Mukai dodges Brett's Blue Line Special.
MUKAI
[ |||||||||||||| ]
0|---------------|----------=====
[ ||||||||||||||| ]
Kyo 0|-------|-----==
COMBATSYS: Mukai blocks Kyo's Oniyaki.
MUKAI
[ |||||||||| ]
0|---------------|---------======
[ ||||||||||||||| ]
Kyo 0|-------|----===
The relentless onslaught of Mukai's chi could have continued further, despite the roaring envelope of cleansing fire. But when the orb is thrown, immediately beginning to entomb within stone, the husk of a man immediately cuts it off, sensing the corrupted item risking destruction. Such also is what saves Brett and Ayame; the petrification only goes skin deep, rather than permanently turning them into raw statues in the wake of his chi.
On the negative side, this allows him the time to react to Brett, weaving downwards in a violent motion. It causes his left knee to explode, cracks rippling up his thigh and down his shin before a slow burst of crystalline veins reattaches it.
"Sss..." Kyo still stands. An ember. He can sense it, the burning fire of resolve. A resolve he has given his life to snuff out entirely. His good arm slowly draws backwards, as the Kusanagi rushes forward to meet him once more. An eruption of flame that rakes across his already biforcated chest, another shower of stone and diamond spraying upon the formation of summoned stone.
"RRRRAUGH!!" And then he strikes down, attempting to catch Kyo in the side as he descends. Rushing forward after the motion, his fist suddenly bursts into even more lacerating bladed stone.
Before he begins attacking, whirling in whiplike motions, self-destructing himself with each motion, but even now the remaining spark of his form contains a sheer titanic force.
"DESTROY...!!" Like an ember of fire struggling to reignite, this is likely his last genuine resistance. The final assault simply causes his arm to split in two, roar of gray fire hissing from his elbow afterwards. A single, wavering spark of crimson is deep in his good eye socket.
Struggling. Keeping that silhouette in sight. The only thing still linking him to this world...!!
COMBATSYS: Kyo fails to counter Titan from Mukai with Nue Tsumi EX.
*KNOCKED AWAY*
MUKAI
[ ||||||||| ]
0|---------------|---------------
[ |||||| ]
Kyo 1|------=|=======
He's... tired. Bruised, battered... and now lacerated. The terrible, whipping storm of an attack is... incredible. Impossible for Kyo to counter--though he tries, valiantly, reaching -into- that storm... but being valiant doesn't guarantee success. Once again, Kyo finds himself having been somehow teleported away from Mukai--no, no wait.
He wasn't teleported. He was slammed away by Mukai, and, as he looks down at his chest, he realizes--he's cut up, bleeding. His body is screaming at him in agony, telling him to lie down, to play dead. That he can't beat this monster.
bBut where the body protests, the mind and soul rebel. No, he tells himself. He didn't lose to Orochi. He didn't lose to Goenitz. He won't lose to this man. To hell with destiny. He wants to do this for himself. He'll -beat- this man.
Slowly he pushes himself out of the crater he was buried in... and raises his hands. His voice is rasping, thick with pain and fatigue. "'m not dead yet... you'll have to... try again..." But... he doesn't sound like he's got too much farther to go.
So close. Mukai is so close. Another few inches... And Kyo will be snuffed out like a lantern. The report of his limbs shattering against the other man's body thrums through him. When he's sent flying backwards, black fire starts to pour through the titanous creature again. Heavily weighted footsteps take him towards Kyo, as he summons up the last wellspring of his energy. A dull roar builds up deep inside, before beginning to reverberate in the surroundings, bouncing off the stalagmites and stalactites from his erasing petrification. As the limit of his form to conduit such power begins to utterly fail, his eye blazes true. Win. He must win, at any cost...!! The last brutal clash that will dictate whether Kyo will be of any use in the final battle or not is about to be decided!
COMBATSYS: Mukai gathers the power of the Earth!
MUKAI
[ ||||||||||| ]
1|-------------==|===============
[ |||||| ]
Kyo 1|------=|=======
This is it. The final moment... perhaps. Kyo is... ready? He's ready. Let Mukai reverberate with the power of the Earth. Kyo answers to a higher power than that. His gaze is fixed on Mukai as he charges his power... and then Kyo turns away. That movement is slow, almost deliberate, Kyo twisting his body into a tightly-bunched twist, and then, his power starts to resonate. It flows up around his feet in a undulating circle, hissing up, building around the Kusanagi scion.
The power climbs quickly--it may seem as though it takes minutes but it's really only a second, if that, before Kyo... unwinds himself. It's like the uncoiling of a spring, the way his body whips back around, his right arm bursting into flames as he brings it around and down in an overhead smash, throwing his entire body into this one singular punch.
His shout is a syllable, nothing more, as he exhausts himself to put this creature down, the sound louder than it has any right to be, filling the air. "HRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"
COMBATSYS: Mukai fails to interrupt 182 Shiki from Kyo with Terrene Tower.
- Power fail! -
*KNOCKED AWAY*
[ ||||| ]
Kyo 0|-------|-------
COMBATSYS: Mukai can no longer fight.
[ ||||| ]
Kyo 0|-------|-------
Mukai suddenly shifts, lifting up his leg. This is it. The last of the power he has summoned within himself. The leylines of power etched upon his form flare one last time, before he stamps down. Even with no arms, he can still will his power into being.
A pillar of stone erupts upwards, only for Kyo's fist to disintegrate it immediately, stone fragments flying in all directions. Still in the midst of the motion, the fist drives into his midsection, suddenly disintegrating a huge swathe of his midsection in a rush of flames. Within the shell, there is nothing but empty blackness.
Blackness... yes. That is all he can see now. All but...
Kicking forward, his crumbling form lands in front of a pile of stone. Before his sizzling stump of am arm swishes down, bursting through. Impacting... the Sphere of Time that Ayame had hucked away.
The last of his spirit flares out, activating it. A great burst of power flashes upwards, and in an instant, Mukai is annihilated. The trap flows into the remnant of his being, ripping him asunder in a heartbeat.
But the last spike of power in the Gate's doorstep is activated. All of the pieces are now in play; it is ready. It needs only to be activated by the one true master of the new world.
The last act he can do for Saiki...!
When the orb's energy dissipates, the statue remains locked within that post, bent forward in defiance to the bitter end. The energy locking both Brett and Ayame within their stone tombs vanishes, and it breaks apart, likely not far from them passing out from a severe lack of oxygen.
They may not be in any shape to interrupt Saiki... but Kyo, damaged though he is, might have enough tenacity to deliver one last obstacle!
Puffing, Kyo slowly lowers his fists. What now? Mukai's defeated... but... but there's one more fight to go. One more person. One more...
Kyo looks at the released forms of Brett and Ayame, and shakes his head. They'll... they'll have to fend for themselves. Kyo squares his shoulders... and approaches the gate.
Maybe it really is time to face his fate...
COMBATSYS: Kyo has ended the fight here.
Log created on 14:54:33 10/19/2014 by Ayame, and last modified on 15:03:35 10/20/2014.