Death's Height(Mikey B)

OoC: Ok, this is the one on one I promised Mikey B, and it is specifically for Gorin the Echo.

BiC:
Kichaa Mesoa stared off into the distance, carelessly glancing at the sight-seers that happened to be on the peak with him. How odd that even the busiest of people take time to enjoy trivial things, he mused, but perhaps things like this aren't trivial. The land cascaded down in front of him, cliffs in all but one direction. This mountain was relatively small, meaning it was easy to climb and a perfect choice for sight seeing. The whole world appeared smaller from this perch, the greens and browns blotting out the other colors, except for a rare dot of blue that was a lake. Not often did Kichaa come to places like this, but the orange-clad warrior thoroughly enjoyed it when he did. The slightest dusting of snow capped this peak, but the cold didn't come close to penetrating the swordsman's clothing so the man was free to spend the night had he wished it; the thought enticed him.

Sometimes even the sun itself held enough amusement to keep him occupied... he'd stare for a few seconds, then blink of the moisture that inevitably formed in his eyes, then repeat the process until it got to the point that he could barely see. He did things like this often, the boredom of life simply overwhelming him sometimes. Too many nights he'd slept with the same dreams, dreams about his youth... dreams about things that had never happened. It bothered him, but he could do nothing about it. Kichaa had fought for years, usually for no reason, all over the worlds. The Dome was as close to a home as he could muster, as close to a place of origin that he could name. Never in his life had Kichaa stopped to think about what he would do later. Maybe the time would come soon where he would need to do something. Maybe later was almost upon him.
________

Kichaa'd spent the night on the mountain for three days before he finally sought to leave the snow-dusted peak. He'd not eaten for that long, and even his armor was starting to feel stiff. Though he loved the view, the perch itself in fact, he needed to leave. Moving on was his way of life, bred into him by his parents. Too long he'd been alone, too long had he been away from civilization. He'd never be a normal citizen, while his friends seemed to melt into society like the humans they were. Kichaa, a loner since he could remember, would never consider himself fully human. Humans could at least coexist... no, he was something else. Maybe a new species, the wandering swordsman species.

"Oh that would be interesting," Kichaa mumbled quietly as he descended even further on the rough path. There was still no sign of plants or animals, too high up still. Kichaa felt alone, and he was probably the most alone person in the country, if not on whatever continent this was. He'd even forgotten just what world he was in. The Dome connected so many places that he had no hope of remembering them all- though he tried.

"What?" Kichaa spun quickly at the sound of his name. I'm crazy. There was no one in sight, the trail was empty, and there were no sounds... at all. A bleak mountaintop was all that greeted Kichaa's eyes.

Still looking behind him, Kichaa continued walking down the slope... or at least he tried. His foot slid off the edge on his first step, and he was in a hanging position within seconds. Dangling from a cliff was not what Kichaa found as entertainment, but the boredom of a few seconds ago was gone with any dust that was below his feet. The young swordsman grunted softly as he hauled himself back onto the trail, and onto the boots of a tall, dark skinned, dark clothed man. The only word that Kichaa could think of to describe this man... sinister. Not evil per say, but the man's essence spoke of death, someone that was not disinclined to kill if he felt like it. A casual killer, the man seemed cold and confident in his power.

OoC: Take your time posting in this, I'm not going to be back in town until Monday, so I won't post for at least that long. Hope this battle is of epic porportions!

OOC: Hmhmhmhmm, Ni’Tenchi style vs Kichaa’s own private style. Nit’Tenchi, also known as “Two Heavens as One”, is Gorin’s preferred style when using dual weapons.

BIC: “What are you doing here?” Gorin inquired. The neo-echo had been searching the mountain for a rumored Tainted Element reserve, but didn’t find one. He’d also heard of Toka’s minions being around the mountain.

“I ummm…” Kichaa really couldn’t think of a good answer. The reason he was there was unimportant, as he was leaving now.

“Did Toka send you? If he did, tell him I’m going to tear his head off if he doesn’t leave us alone,” The dark man said. His yellow eyes narrowed at the other warrior.

Rested his hand on his sword. He noticed that the dark man had two longswords of his own.

“Well, did Toka send you?” The man asked again. He cracked his neck and twisted his wrists around a few times, moving his deadly weapons in a cone shaped motion.

“I don’t know who this Toka person is. If it’s a fight you’re looking for though, I’d be glad supply it.” Kichaa said. He knew he didn’t have to fight this man, but he needed a way to get out of the relaxed habit he had been in for the past few days.

“A confident guy eh?” Commented Gorin. The former god made the first move, attacking Kichaa in a scissors fashion.

The swordsman slammed his blade between the Oblivion Master’s blades, effectively stopping the attack, which would have easily cut him in half.

Gorin twisted one blade into a horizontal blocking position and brought the flat end of his other sword across Kichaa’s face. The blow caused a small shower of blood to fly from his face, but the actual wound was just a large scrape.

The swordsman twisted around Gorin’s sword and leapt over the warrior. He slashed the neo-echo in the shoulder on his way down, bringing a large cut from Gorin’s shoulder to his waste.

The length of the cut betrayed the fact that it was actually about an inch deep. It seemed that both warriors were merely trying to cause the most embarrassing injury to their opponent possible.

OOC: The Ni’ Tenchi style specializes in using both swords to either attack or block, then utilizing one sword to block a counterattack or hold the enemy’s weapon in place, then using the other sword for a quick, usually mocking, strike.

OoC: Ok then. One clarification before I begin, Kichaa would not have been likely to do that. A good depiction of him would be Swordsmanship.

BiC:

I must not do this, Kichaa berated himself, My swordsmanship rests on better things than this... he continued his thoughts even as he dodged swiftly around a syncronised swipe from the dark man and into his guard, I must catch his weaknesses. His style is simple, it will be easy to counteract.

The dark man was relentless, swinging again with his blades, this time Kichaa allowed himself to swing back. His blade grazed the warrior's cheek as Kichaa ducked under and past his longswords. Kichaa's own longsword held the two long weapons high as the taller man stood back up, glaring straight into his enemy's eyes. The man was much stronger than Kichaa though, and he was forced back down by sheer power. Ok, so strength is no contest.

Kichaa abruptly stopped pushing his own weight, taking no time to admire his foe's control when he did not stumble, and pushed out to the right. The two men started tumbling off the cliff immediately, allowing Kichaa the time to jerk away before he latched his hand onto the edge again. The dark enemy had done the same not more than a meter down the slope and was climbing rapidly up the steep slope. Good adversary. Kichaa was up and waiting when his newfound rival righted himself, throwing him a mock salute by raising his blade and dropping it casually. The man seemed unperturbed by this and performed another remarkably perfect clash with his twin weapons. Kichaa moved out of his reach slow enough to appear unconcerned, letting his sword arm fall down in front of his body. The dark man had no time to dodge the quick stab at his middle, but he did move his two blades in the path.

The man held Kichaa's sword with one of his longswords even as he performed a timely strike at the other man. It didn't succeed, but the man put little attempt into the move to make it succeed. Kichaa moved his body to the side swiftly even as his own sword removed itself from the other's hold. It swung around towards Kichaa's neck, then back towards the man to strike him on the forehead. The flat side of Kichaa's blade struck harshly on the correct spot.

"Very good. I assume you're not a swordsman first and foremost though, or that would have seemed like a simple block," Kichaa commented carelessly, not even a hint of gloating evident in his voice as his enemy pushed him away down the slope.

OOC: Sorry it’s taking so long for me to post. I’ve been really busy, and I want each of my posts in this battle to be as good as they can be. I’ll edit this with an IC part when I’ve replenished some of my CJ’s.

EDIT: Listening to a lot of music and guzzling down some sodas really helps with writers block. Unfortunatly, it also causes headaches...

BIC: Gorin dematerialized his swords in exchange for his former favorite weapon, the naginata. He slashed at Kichaa with one end, keeping the other blade higher in the air.

The knight parried the attack and attempted to smack the neo-echo across the head with the flat end of his sword again. Gorin was ready this time, and ducked under the horizontal swipe.

He countered with an uppercut that caught Kichaa on the chin. The warrior stumbled slightly, leaving him open to an attack by the Oblivion Master.

Gorin brought his naginata down on the knight, a metallic clang echoing through the air. Kichaa had blocked the weapon with his own sword, but was mimicking the Ni’Tenchi style.

He was holding his sword at the perfect angle to slide out from under the block and counterattack at the same time. The warrior twisted out from under the neo-echo’s blade and hit him in the back of the head with the hilt of his sword.

“You’re obviously the superior swordsman, but that means nothing when we’re fighting on top of a mountain.” Said Gorin. The neo-echo waved his hand, absorbing and manipulating the earth element in the mountain.

Kichaa barely dodged several spikes, which seemed to form from the mountain itself before retracting to their original positions. It looked as though nothing had happened.

“What was that?” Asked the knight. He already knew that it was his opponent’s doing, but he was trying to formulate the perfect plan of action and stalling him was the best way to gain time.

“That’s what happens if you have total control over the elements, such as light.” Replied Gorin. The neo-echo spread his arms as if he were ready to embrace Kichaa.

In reality he was absorbing light element from the surrounding air. There was some shadow element in between the rocks and under the warriors, but he’d save that for later.

When he was done the Oblivion Master sprang towards Kichaa. The warrior sidestepped Gorin’s initial downward swipe, countering with a slash to the neo-echo’s arm.

The cut was no more than four inches deep, as Kichaa was a little too far to completely sever the dark man’s limb. It was however, deep enough to make Gorin know that it was there.

The neo-echo looked at what should have been a bleeding wound, especially if he were a human. Merely shrugging, the Oblivion Master activated the light element he had absorbed.

A flash of light erupted from Gorin’s flesh, temporarily blinding Kichaa. The former god gave the warrior a good punch in the face while he was blinded.

“You are a rather interesting foe. You don’t seem to have any abilities besides your sword fighting technique. I must admit however, your technique is much better than my currently unfinished Ni’Tenchi variation.”

"Yea well, comes with practice," Kichaa's blindness had already begun clearing, but he was good at acting it out and continued to rub his eyes slowly, "What are you, and what's with those swords?"

"I'm what you get when you subject the soul of a former god to Tainted Element, then force it into physical form. In short, a neo-echo," the shadow of a man replied, "and my blades aren't your biggest concern."

The former god, What a ridiculous thing to say, a god can't die, began walking casually forward as Kichaa pretended to regain his sight. The odd mixture of slow blinking and a strange downward pull on his mouth seemed to convince the echo that his adversary hadn't fully recovered, but Kichaa was quick to destroy that thought. He lunged forward quickly, bringing his sword up in what could have been a slash, though intended for a stab, and grimaced as he felt it pierce into the wrong area. The neo-echo glowered as Kichaa retrieved the blade from it's newly created semi-sheath.

"So," he began in the cool, casual voice they'd both been using, "Is magic complicated? I've never tried my hand at it. Oh, I'm Kichaa by the way."

The man responded with a good roundhouse kick at Kichaa's face, and spoke only after Kichaa allowed his feet to loosen and slide down the trail a tad more, "Well, Kichaa, I'm Gorin. And no, in my experience magic is not that complicated. You may have trouble with it."

The jesting insult curled Kichaa's lips upward in a smile, Ah, such a foe. Enemies to rival him were few and far between, but this one seemed his equal in most aspects. The beginnings of respect began to form as more elemental power flowed into his rival. This time strands of cloud seemed to be wisping into his dark shaded body, making Kichaa suspect wind magic. The first reaction he had would have been to rush the magician and interrupt him, but his greater sense told him to wait. Patiently standing with blade at side, the tall swordsman allowed his eyes to wander over the scenery as he waited. The trail was wide at this point, nearly eight feet from cliff to cliff, and the precipice was close enough to a hill's slant that Kichaa would have no trouble if forced to the edge. He couldn't see past the edge, so he got the impression of a steep drop. That could be a problem.

Kichaa's summation was cut short when a powerful gust of wind started pushing Kichaa towards the edge. The swordsman quickly solved his problem by dropping to his stomach, though he rolled onto his back in order to defend... should the need present itself. It did, as Gorin quickly began twirling his pole blade effortlessly and aimed a precision strike at Kichaa's upturned body. The diamond adorned blade was there in a flash, knocking the curved polearm blade away quickly. The wind had stopped so Kichaa leap to his feet and turned swiftly, ready to pounce.

"I don't suppose you'll surrender?" he offered tauntingly.

OoC: Yet another delivery from the Anti-Redundancy Foundation. Aka: Redundant Redundancy.

OOC: Sorry it took so long to post. A mix of being sick and conserving CJ’s for an upcoming event kept me from coming up with a good post for a while.

BIC: Gorin smirked. This man was going to be a challenging foe.

Despite lacking in magic and special abilities, this “Kichaa” was skilled in the ancient art of sword mastery. Although his own Ni’Tenchi style combined with his strength was an excellent addition to his own arsenal, the neo-echo didn’t focus as much on sword mastery as this warrior.

Gorin brought his naginata against Kichaa yet again. The curved polearm quickly swooshed through the air towards its target. Again, the warrior deflected the attack with his diamond-adorned sword.

The Oblivion Master twisted around and struck at the warrior with the shaft of his naginata, using the force exerted by Kichaa to knock his weapon away to strike at him with the shaft.

Kichaa twisted his sword, which was still pointing off to the side from deflecting Gorin’s blow, and blocked the attack. He pulled back and went into a defensive stance.

The former god decided to have a little experiment. He used his mindscan ability on the blademaster, attempting to see if he knew anything other than swordplay.

The mindscan revealed Kichaa’s earlier thought/comment about gods being immortal. Gorin got a good mental chuckle at that.

“You know, gods are not truly immortal Kichaa,” the Oblivion Master began. The warrior didn’t lower his guard, even as Gorin loosened his grip on his naginata.

“Immortality is a gift that can be taken away. I had my immortality taken away twice before, once by what is known as a demon sealing orb and the second time by a disease.”

Kichaa was surprised by that explanation. How could a disease take immortality away? It just didn’t make sense.

“How many times are you going to get into a fight without me?” said a voice inside the former god’s head. Despite the fact that White Light wasn’t trying to take over his body this time, Gorin still scowled.

The warrior couldn’t see the imaginary image of Gorin’s first body standing next to the neo-echo, but had a strange feeling that Gorin and himself weren’t the only ones standing on that mountain.

“How many times are you going to pester me? The only thing you’ve got to make me kill an innocent person once in a while is the fact that you can take over my body any moment and make me rape Nenet. Seeing as she’s nowhere near here, why are you speaking to me again?”

Kichaa couldn’t see it, but the neo-echo’s dark doppelganger had a truly evil smirk on his face. He loved to torment Gorin’s new personality, even if the chances of retaking control over the body were slim.

“I’m just here to watch this time. The next time you and I speak I won’t be so benevolent. I’ll have you know that this is my vacation.”

The Oblivion Master cast a casual glance towards White Light and shook his head slowly. Kichaa, who was watching all of this, thought that Gorin was loosing his mind.

“So long as you don’t try anything, I’ll let you stay around for this battle. Just watch though, no trying to give me pointers on how brutally I can do something or trying to take over my body. Agreed?”

“Agreed.” The image that only Gorin could see evaporated into a cloud of steam as White Light returned to the inner confines of the Oblivion Master’s mind.

“Errm,” Gorin snapped back to what was going on as Kichaa spoke. “Are you feeling okay?”

The knight wasn’t exactly convinced anymore that this man was sane, but that didn’t matter at the moment. After all, an opponent is an opponent.

The neo-echo nodded and tightened his grip on his naginata. He absolutely had to find a way to get rid of White Light…

OoC: One little thing before I start, you keep referring to Kichaa as a knight. Just so you know, he's not.

BiC:

This guy's crazy, Kichaa thought. Not that it was necessarily a bad thing for Kichaa, but it was more than a little disturbing. The naginata in his opponent's hand began to twirl half-heartedly as Kichaa moved in. Though he was at an advantage in defense, the lower ground gave the swordsman a considerable handicap as far as attack went. He shifted himself carefully as he prepared himself, but Gorin could see what was happening. The polearm swung quickly in a downward slice just as Kichaa decided to press his advantage and expose his disadvantage.

The polearm rapped on Kichaa's titanium blade, but went no further. Kichaa had accepted the blow so that it would not bounce away, and now he had a perfect area of attack. His sword flicked forward and up, but he wasn't aiming for the echo, he wanted the weapon. The glinting blade of his sword created a silver arch as it wrenched powerfully to the side. Gorin hadn't been expecting it, and his body was left exposed. The silver blur extended again in the direction of the dark man, cutting deeper into the first wound Kichaa'd created.

"You let yourself stay to confident in your own prowess," Kichaa told him firmly, "Perhaps you should focus more on what you can learn instead of what you have learned."

Gorin snorted slightly, "Well maybe you shouldn't try to teach someone that's more powerful than you'll ever be."

Kichaa dodged to the side when Gorin made a mocking little strike at his midriff, "You have know idea how powerful I can be." The words came out like a snarl, Kichaa remembering the last time he'd fought someone with a friendly spar in mind. He'd ended up near death in some small town; he still bore the scars from the stranger's blade.

Leaping forward and attacking with new purpose, his mind solely on his enemy and how to best him, Kichaa began a blinding flurry of relentless attacks to the man's chest and arms. The naginata held up under the onslaught, though Kichaa knew that it was unlikely to break. His attacks were precise and powerful, but that weapon was made of something near-unbreakable.

A burst of adrenaline would scare this guy, Kichaa thought slyly. He was not the least bit winded or even getting started, and he could match this guy blow for blow. His tempo increased dramatically, very suddenly, the blows striking so rapidly that Gorin had little time to block them, much less retaliate in kind. New cuts began to spring up on his hands as Kichaa's blade started to slide down the naginata's haft and strike the hands that held it.

Pausing for a moment, Kichaa allowed himself a glare. Gorin was staring back, completely bored-looking. Kichaa spoke casually, "Maybe I can show you something new before this battle ends."

Gorin seemed to doubt it, letting his eyes roll back in a gesture that bespoke of doubt, then responded, "I don't think you're capable of anything I haven't seen."

Kichaa smiled cruelly, and to look at him you'd think he held enough power to destroy the earth. The echo still didn't appear concerned, but Kichaa was through. He swung his blade over his shoulder in a overhead strike. The resulting blade-lock was just what Kichaa'd wanted. Gorin could no doubt overpower him, but Kichaa could get out of this. The lock left Kichaa's blade pushing down on Gorin's, a reversal of the previous blade-lock he'd started. Kichaa allowed his mind to focus completely on his body, delving deep into his ability and concentrating on his adrenal gland. A burst of strength coursed through him even as he concentrated, surprising the lackadaisical echo. Kichaa's blade pressed firmly against Gorin's cheek, but the contest was over.

Gorin pushed Kichaa back off him immediately, ending the small play he'd allowed to go too far. Kichaa rested himself on the balls of his feet before pouncing in a gain with another flurry of strikes.

He's charging another element.

Before long Kichaa knew he'd have to step back. Gorin was done charging whatever element he'd chosen, but had still not used it. The swordsman back-flipped his tall body away from the neo-echo to give him some room and allowed himself to slide even further down the mountain.

OOC: Sorry for the short post. I'll make up for it by making my next post extra long.

BIC: Gorin smiled slightly. He’d absorbed a fair amount of shadow element, although it had been hard considering the lack of anything to leave a shadow besides the battling warriors.

A small amount of earth element had been absorbed as well to compliment the attack. The neo-echo pointed at Kichaa with one of his fingers, just as dark as the rest of his body.

To be specific, Gorin was pointing at the warrior’s eyes. The thing that shadow element was most useful for was covering people’s vision. Their vision could be altered with the proper mix of shadow and light elements, but he had no time for that.

A sudden wave of dark energy flew out of the Oblivion Master’s finger, expanding and surrounding Kichaa in a fraction of a second. The wall of shadows blinded the warrior and kept him from seeing the attack Gorin was using the earth element for.

The dark man switched from pointing at Kichaa to holding his hand flat out in front of him, controlling the shadow element and keeping it from dissipating in the light. With his other hand Gorin used the earth element he had absorbed to send a small wave of rocks towards the swordsman.

Kichaa heard the attack coming, trying to leap out of the way. The top of the wave caught the bottom of his foot and tripped him in mid-air however.

With a muffled “Oomph” the warrior fell to the ground. Even before he hit the ground he heard Gorin coming for him. Kichaa lifted himself to a kneeling position and blindly thrust his sword forwards.

That was, forwards into the former god’s leg. Gorin restrained himself from making the slightest noise to show his pain and brought his other leg up to meet Kichaa’s chin.

The warrior fell onto his back, making sure to keep his grip on his sword tight. His blade slid out of the neo-echo’s leg and followed its master to the ground.

Due to his wound Gorin was unable to keep his focus on the veil of shadow that had previously blocked Kichaa’s vision. The dark skinned man held one hand on his leg.

Despite the fact that he had absolutely no skeleton, blood, or even organs for that matter, the neo-echo found that he was unable to walk without a slight limp. That wouldn’t stop him from this fight though, far from it.

He was having fun with this fight and he wasn’t going to let the hampered use of his limb stop him. He’d just try to return the favor…

Studying his foe carefully before rising, Kichaa rolled himself backwards quickly, pushing to a standing position when his feet struck the ground. The titanium blade sung a merry tune, Kichaa playing it like a familiar instrument as he struck at Gorin's naginata again. The echo needn't block, the strike was in no way threatening to his person. The powerful weapons collided massively, but with his leg maimed Gorin couldn't keep the hold should have easily won. The wound must of blossomed in pain when the blow struck home, and it buckled.

Kichaa wasn't an acrobatic person, but he would have reveled in front-flipping over this man if were so able. No, he satisfied himself to spin carelessly and slash down on his foe. The polearm lifted, blocking any harm, but Kichaa wasn't concerned anymore. All this man's tricks were nothing, they were illusions and easy-to-dodge attacks that were feeble at best. Or were they? A sharp pain erupted in the swordsman's foot, and he could feel blood seep onto the ground beneath him.

The only explanation for this would have been a sharp spike of earth magic, since when the foot in question was removed there was nothing but a patch of crimson moisture. Kichaa looked to this once again standing enemy, lifted his blade to his face- broadside- in a carelessly mocking salute. The echo smirked. They both knew what the other did.

"Nice move," Kichaa commented, "But I've seen better tricks."

Gorin responded in kind, "And you call your abilities special? I've seen monkeys better with a blade."

The stab gnawed at Kichaa for a moment before he grinned, "What's that say about your own abilities? You yourself admitted I was the better swordsman."

The echo gave no sign of insult, his smirk just broadened as if it was some kind of jest. It really was, Kichaa respected this man as much as one could his enemy, but there was probably a lot they had in common... and even more they did not understand about one another.

"Well I suppose we should get back to killing each other." Kichaa sprang forward with only that for warning, slashing vigorously at his opponent's cheek, swirling around when he connected with the naginata to preform a spinning kick. The neo-echo landed face-down and pushed himself upright as the other man brought his boot down on his weapon hand. The naginata disappeared, the lack of substance beneath his feet caught Kichaa off-balance and allowed Gorin to right himself. The polearm returned and struck out at the swordsman's neck, deflected narrowly by Kichaa's arm, which grasped the pole on the blunt side of the blade.

The move left him open, so Kichaa started backing up, he was horizontal to the both of the cliffs, and rested himself against the steep rock slope behind him. Jumping slightly and pushing his legs against the wall, the move was very stupid and idiotic, he pushed himself off the edge of the cliff in front of him.

The cliff wasn't as steep as Kichaa'd thought it would be, so he was in fairly little actual danger. He slid down the sloped, his boots and legs leaving miniature ditches in his wake as the distance between himself and the next part of the pass diminished rapidly. The slope became almost gentle as he hit the ground on the next part of the trail, and he looked up trying to spot Gorin.

OoC: Not sure if this was sufficiently long, but it was ready to stop. I think it was pretty good. You're up buddy boy.

OOC: Sorry it took so long to post this.

BIC: Gorin went after Kichaa, allowing himself to tumble down the slope. On the way down he absorbed, then used several traces of wind element to make his fall more gentle. In no time he was less than twenty feet from the sword wielder.

“I haven’t had a fight like this since my last battle with the Encorna,” Gorin said to himself. Indeed, he hadn’t had this sort of challenge for quite a while. His fight against Kenjin had been unfinished, but it had still been a grand one.

This battle was to be no different. The neo-echo absorbed a fair amount of earth element as he stood facing Kichaa. Both warriors held respect for the other, seeing them as possible equals.

“Perhaps,” thought the Oblivion Master. “Perhaps this will be the first time I’ve ever had to teleport to Echo Side in order to win. Then again, I didn’t have to do that against either Kenjin or Tuariv…”

The Oblivion Master unleashed the earth element he had absorbed, sending waves of earth spikes sliding towards Kichaa. The warrior dodged every single one, although a few of them managed to get incredibly close. A small smirk appeared on his face as he noticed the weakness of Gorin’s attacks.

The attacks however, were anything but weak. The warrior hadn’t noticed, but the earth spikes were building up into a large mass behind him. It wasn’t long before a wall of spikes several meters high stood behind Kichaa.

The neo-echo created several shuriken, throwing them the instant they appeared. The warrior deftly dodged the projectiles, unaware that each dodge was moving him closer and closer to the wall.

Gorin created an extra large shuriken, roughly the size of a small shield. This one he threw towards Kichaa’s feet. The warrior didn’t seem to notice that it would have hit the ground four inches away from the tips of his toes, as he jumped back anyway.

Right into the wall. Gorin smirked, expecting to hear a sickening crunch of the sword user’s body when it collided with the immobile structure. What he didn’t know was that Kichaa had known about the wall the whole time, and had twisted his sword behind him.

The diamond blade clanged against the earthen spikes, effectively saving its master from a gruesome death. Kichaa smiled at the dark man. “Did you actually think I’d fall for that?” he asked.

Gorin was wearing a broad smile of his own as he replied, “I have a backup plan of course. You do realize that I still have control over the spikes.”

The warrior dropped his smile and turned around, noticing now that the spikes were beginning to break off of the wall…