Between Darkness and Light (Altamira)

[Zorolo]

Shink, shink, shink.

The stone scraped along the golden surface of the blade, sharpening the dulling edges. After so many recent fights, it had to be done, after all. The once dulling blade of Apollo was now sharper then it had been before. All it took was a little time and effort to make sure the blade was nice and sharp. It was a big day after all. The time had finally come.

Shink... Click.

The blade clicked as it entered the sheathe and I looked at the sheathed blade in my hand, laying the weapon at my side. In my lap rested my second sword, Sapphire. The blade of the crystal weapon never dulled, no matter how much training I did or how hard the conditions I put it through. Mayhaps an edge of the crystal it was made of, but I didn't wonder too much about that.

I sat in my room, my jacket sitting on a chair not too far behind me. I had asked Reorx to rush order repair the armor, and he did so with the greatest of speed. My armor was ready to go, and was significantly tighter woven then before. I had to make sure that no projectile less dense then titanium, and even titanium I suppose, could pierce it. Still, that didn't prevent the fact that blades could slice through even the most dense material given enough force. Still, the only blades I had ever seen my soon to be opponent use were a dagger and a cutlass. However, it appeared she had a sword-like weapon on her back when last I had seen her, I didn't know for certain.

I looked at my gauntlets next. I had to have them relined thanks to my battles with Tsuukai and Mesfido burning away at the fibers under the chain mail beneath the plating. Well, now that my gauntlets were relined and cleaned of all burns, singes and other kinds of damage, they were ready to fight. I placed Mercury on the ground in front of me and looked at the swords, one on each side of me.

I sighed and removed my pendant from beneath my shirt. The pendant's glow had returned. I had used up all of my power in the battle with Tsuukai, but the pendant had revived its energy. I didn't have much time left before that fated battle, but I did have just enough time to think. Thinking is the only thing a person can truly do before they are truly ready to fight.

Since Zachary began his training, I've fought many strong rivals. Nikudemon, Johnny Bones, Rain (and his sister Raisha, much to my lack of desire to do so), Mesfido and Tsuukai. All were to ready myself for this moment. And right now, she's at her strongest, because she feels her most complete. Hard though her life is, she knows her job, and as much as I hate to admit it, that, despite him not being my favorite person, Johnny may help Cadenza. If he truly cares for her, then he won't do anything to hurt her. If he does, I'm sure she'll just beat him into the pavement.

My thoughts faded and I sat silently. I looked outside of my cabin, and the gathering began. Monkeys upon monkeys of brown fur had gathered outside of the door of my cabin, with a good friend of mine in the center. The albino monkey, Armond, walked towards me in his brilliant strides. He spoke a few words, and I smiled at him, resting my hand on his head, rubbing his fur, but also opening up my telepathic link with him.

So, my friend, come to wish me good luck? asked I.

Not at all, came his reply as he smiled, flashing his monkey teeth at me, I'm coming with you this time, Zorlo. I want to help you in this battle to come. What say I come with you? Armond asked, hopping onto my arm and running up my arm and sitting on my shoulder.

Sure, but if the battle gets too hot, please don't stay and get hurt. After all, without you, my friend, I'd be without a trustworthy assistant.

Naturally. However, you have yet to see why I am the monkey king, the albino monkey told me, and I smiled at him.

"Well, my friend, then let us be off," I told him as I stood up. As I rose, I grabbed the sheathes of my swords, spinning them around my fingers and sliding them onto my belt. I cast my metal lined jacket over my shoulders and picked up my gauntlets, stashing them in their proper pockets and began walking out. This battle to come would be intense, and I had to be ready.

My weapons were all ready to go, and as Armond and I left, the monkeys around us clapped vigorously. Apparently they knew what was about to happen. I'd chosen a battlefield finally, and now was the time to test out the skills I had been mastering since I had began my intensive training. I was finally ready to test out my training, and now I would see just how much I had grown.

The message was sent in the hands of one of Armond's friends, and it would be to Cadenza shortly. All she would have to do is meet me at the planned battlefield. Finally, I'd see if all my training had paid off.

[Altamira]

OoC: As I told you, I'm feeling a little meh about this post, but I wanted to post something, and well...later ones should be better. ^^;;

IC:
I sat on a crate, whistling a song from who-knows-where and swinging my legs in the ocean breeze of the Sereia docks. It wasn’t exactly a pose that bespoke the expected attitude of some mighty warrior prepping for battle; but I’ve never really been one to go around pummeling punching bags, or whatever it is that you’re supposed to do. And, well…the gods knew it’d be the last moment I’d get to take a breather and just sit for a while. So I whistled and sat.

Somewhere beside me, Vargas was fixing some parts of my armor, and possibly taking bits and pieces to use for something later when I wasn’t looking. I knew if there was a long silence, then something that shouldn’t be welded on was being welded on. He’d talked about sticking a scabbard onto the back of the suit before, “incase you a’ need your sword close by, but someone has taken da clothes from you.”

Only Omar would get himself into a situation where someone’s left him with a sword, but thought it was a wise move on their part to take away his socks. He’d probably be more deadly with the socks, actually.

“Goin’ to fight, Signora?” he asked me after a little while, his head popping up from behind his forge. Things were apparently going well with the mythril.

“Hah, yeah, you’d be the one to recognize it, Omar. Got some work to take care of.”

He came out, wiping some metal drips from his hands and hammer, but he wasn’t returning my smile. The big face looked worried. “I thought you said the life coach person, he a’ didn’t want you to fight anymore?”

“Well, the bloody life coach can stick it up his…”

“…Yes, Signora?”

His wiping had paused, and he stood, staring intently, waiting for me to finish.

I shook my head. “Ah, sorry. Last time I started to say something like that, I had a police officer writing it verbatim for the king. They were…a lot of censored letters.”

There was a thoughtful nod, and then the big hands went back to work cleaning tools and polishing metal.

“You a’ remember you’re not supposed to kill in this country no longer, Signora?” he said after a moment.

“Not going to be in this country, Omar,” I said.

I didn’t deny something there—and it always worried Omar when I was intentionally ambiguous. He generally dealt in certainties; metal on metal, fire on steel, it worked or it didn’t work, it cut or it didn’t cut. When you left him with something that could be interpreted in more ways than one; when the metal could be gold, or reddish gold; you started to worry him.

“Cadenza…you didn’t deny that you were going to…” he started.

He still had my armor lying in those big, skull-crushing hands. It seemed best not to mess with his head. “…Not going with the intent to kill either, Omar,” I assured him. “Dionne was the last one of those. At least for a while. You’d recognize it if I were, wouldn’t you?”

“Das a’ right.”

He smiled, and went back to finishing his work. I went back to lazily kicking my legs.

Sometime later, after I had fallen asleep, I noticed that the sun had been blocked out. The shadow above me had a suspiciously familiar dragon-shape. There was no questioning who it was.

“Avello.”

“Ragh?”

I opened my eyes. There were black holes; which soon resolved into flaring nostrils; which I eventually realized meant that the bag of scales was about five inches from my face. A distance that was about four feet too close for my liking. Add in another one or two feet if he had been eating fish.

He breathed, and mentally, I added in another two feet to the distance of preferred personal space I wasn’t getting.

“What?” I asked him, sitting up and shoving his bulk away. He whined.

“You want to come along? Well, I wasn’t going to leave you here anyway. Go stand by the door I made earlier and we’ll go soon.”

“Gragh,” he said, and he fluttered away to the little door to the Dome on the side of a bar. Some bags were left outside the door which told me that there were going to be quite a few lost old ladies I was going to have to round up and direct back home later.

I heard boots coming up behind me, and as I swung off the crates I was perched on, Vargas handed me my suit of mythril.

“All repaired, Signora. Ready for…a’ whatever, eh? Boa sorte.”

“Ah, yeah…gracias. See you later, Omar, and ah…if you see anyone coming to look for their lost abuelas or anything, tell them they’ll be back in a couple of days. Don’t try explaining.”

“All right, my friend.”

Checking to make sure there wasn’t a scabbard welded somewhere, I took my armor in hand and followed Avello through the door to the Dome. Green Hair was probably waiting.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As I strolled in, there was the general murmur there always is when I enter the Dome. Whispers came from scared messengers I’ve sent to the nurses more times than they can now remember (it tends to be a head injury that they’re sent down there with); from cocky teachers who give you that cold look of acknowledgement you’re supposed to feel lucky to even get as their lackeys fumble at their feet; and from a whole army of students ranging from the terminally annoying (I say terminally annoying because that’s usually the reason these idiots drop out of the Dome so quickly—they realize they’re presented with the choice of either dropping out of the place, or dropping out of life when they push someone too far with their antics and are sliced up for it) to the hopelessly weird (this I can’t even begin to elaborate on.) There were thousands of topics they could have been discussing this time, but I felt like I had a pretty good idea about what that day’s most popular subject was.

Zorlo, was, after all, pretty hard to miss with that battle-ready grin of his and his sword in hand. The monkey perched on his shoulder drew quite a few looks too.

Avello lumbered up beside me and shot the animal a glare.

“You’re ready, it seems?” I said.

[Zorolo]

I rested my right hand on the handle of Apollo as I started at her. Naturally, the gypsy had brought her dragon along. I now understood why Armond had wanted to come, but I couldn't figure out what he could do against that lumbering mass of strength. Mayhaps my monkey friend was more then met the eye. After all, he was the King of the Monkeys.

"You seem ready," she told me. She was as focused as ever, and I could feel her power flowing. Never once had it occurred to me until that point I had made her more dangerous and powerful in Chinatown, but I had also grown myself, and broken the seal that held back the greater limit of my power. However, as there, I was learning that power didn't come completely without strings attached. I could push my body harder, but my body had to recover from the wear. To make matters worse, over using my aura and damaging my muscles with my aura made it impossible for my aura to heal my body.

Even so, my body had the natural skill to recover quickly, but even so, I knew my body couldn't handle the strain I was putting it under forever. Even so, it only had to last me a little longer. Once Selene's home was free, I would be able to die in peace. Even still, I didn't want to leave her, and I would try not to. Even so, I could feel it. The wear of my endless fighting was taking on my body. Even so, no matter how bad the shape of my body, I would fight on to prove even my body wrong. I was at the peak of my power, and I'd break that peak and grow stronger!

Here, before me, was that test to help me break through and grow to an even greater level. To my knowledge, she was a virtual demigod. Her power would challenge that of a god if she ever had to, and I would know from experience. Even if it were a weaker god, that didn't mean anything. After all, a god's a god, right?

I shifted my right hand so my hand wrapped around the handle of Apollo, my fingers trembling in anticipation. I looked at the door next to us. "You haven't known me long enough to know I'm always ready. That's what I'm so hard to amaze," I found myself saying as I opened the door we stood in front of and held my arm out to her. "You first," I said gentlemanly, and she entered, her dragon following behind.

Think you can handle that dragon, Armond? After all, that things a lot of mass. You're... well, you know, I told my good friend, but he merely nodded.

I'll be fine, Zorlo. You haven't seen my power, and I'll be able to stand up to the dragon with my greatest strength. Want to see it? the albino monkey asked me as he tugged at my hair.

When and if you get your chance, I'd love to see just how powerful you are. Maybe you could even help me with training students, ya know.

Myself and my compatriot entered into the room after the Mistress of Shadows and her dragon, Avello. We stood in a massive room with a fountain in the center, with four gas lamps around us, burning bright lights that illuminated the cobblestone ground and allowed me to see the victorian buildings surrounding myself and Cadenza. Darkness of night cast itself upon the land, meaning the only shadows that truly existed were those of the ones cast from the crescent, quarter moon and the lamps. I wanted to know if rumors I had heard were true, but I'd test that in a bit.

She stood on one side, calling off her dragon, and I removed Armond from my shoulder, telling him to go hide for a bit. She and I stood in the area between the fountain, and between the lights of the lamps. "So, what say we make this warm up interesting. No weapons?" I asked, removing my right hand from the hilt of my sword. I had a new skill to test out anyway, and I wanted to see just how well I could match up with her in terms of strength.

[Altamira]

It was dark. Sure, a few feeble little gas lamps and a sliver of a moon tried to cast some light on the cobblestones, but it was a whole unlit world in there. A fountain gurgled somewhere in the center as I passed by it, drowning out our footsteps until we came to a stop near the towering lights.

"So, what say we make this warm up interesting," Zorlo said as he shooed his monkey away. "No weapons?"

"Sure."

I unhooked my quiver and sword sheathe from my back, and nudged them off to the side for Avello to look after until later.

Now, most of the teachers in the Dome are practically zen masters, who are such strong fighters that they no longer need to fight; they can just cough and reduce you to dust, without lifting a finger. But then there's me; whose first thought upon hearing the term "unarmed combat" is the improvised, reckless fighting on the streets of Santa Mariela; and then comes the "unarmed combat" from months of martial arts training in Zhenghe and Tokogawa, where concepts like "form" and "discipline", and "breathe this way before you pop that guy in the face" apply.

Eventually, my unarmed fighting style became sort of a mix, where you can't really tell if I'm just a rumbler on the streets with a lot of technique, or a martial artist who skipped the days where we went over pacing or discipline. Usually, you didn't have enough time to try to distinguish between the two before you were lying on the pavement with a shattered nose.

Both Green Hair and I strode closer, cutting the distance between us as we adjusted gauntlets and gloves and cracked knuckles or did small stretches. I felt like by the time we were done here, I would have seen so much of this room (and so much of this room destroyed) that it'd be stuck in my dreams. The fencer's fights always seemed to last a long time.

"What are the rules on magic here to begin with, huh?" I called out. "No help aside from boosting speed and powering punches, or...?"

[Zorolo]

I slipped my gauntlets off and slipped them into my jacket pockets, almost breaking my own rule before the fight had begun. I rubbed the back of my head, a bit embarrassed, and looked at her. She'd asked me something, but I had been a bit preoccupied with the fact I had almost started fighting a weaponless battle with weapons. Wow, sometimes the stupid things I nearly do. "Sorry, what'd you say? I was caught up in the fact I was about to break my own terms."

The woman narrowed her eyes at me and asked again, obviously not happy that I'd let my mind slip in what could be a very deadly battle to come. "What are the rules on magic? Only enhancements to our attacks and speed, or full array?"

"Use whatever magic and skills you want. I find it makes things more interesting," I said, smiling at her. That was mostly the truth, but I also had a new skill I wanted to try out, and this seemed as good a time as any. Anyway, the only reason I had suggested we fight in a manner I knew I would be defeated in was to test her.

Unlike Johnny, she wasn't stronger then I was, but she was definitely faster and more agile. Unlike Rain, she didn't have an array of close range attacks, but a mix of close and long range. Unlike Tsuukai, she didn't need shadows to hide. Apparently, she had become the living embodiment of shadows. I wanted to know just how true that was.

I stood on the edge of a knife, halfway between life and death. She was stronger then me in almost very way, but I had two edges: I had battle tested my trump cards and I still had slightly more physical strength then she did. Whereas Johnny was slower then I was, but stronger, she was faster, but slightly less physically powerful, I guessed. However, if that guess proved to be wrong, I would only have my trump cards left. Still, those were fun enough to do something.

I opened up my left hand from a fist and gathered a small bit of aura into the palm of my hand. I turned it into a small ball of pure energy and thought about what I had been working on. One of these wasn't any threat to her, but a whole lot was dangerous to any temporal being. Not to mention creating these balls of aura took almost no effort or thought. I felt the energy rush into my right hand next and let the two balls float from my hand, moving into position. She wouldn't notice. It was too dark to see dark green balls of condensed energy floating around, right?

Well, I have been wrong in the past in these assumptions, but still, it didn't mean anything now. "Ready?" asked I as I lowered my body slightly, getting ready to attack. The gypsy merely waved me on, and I took off like, as pathetic as this is, a bullet from a gun, only faster. My body blurred forwards and I stood inches from her, thrusting a fist to the side of her face, missing on purpose. I created two more balls of aura and released them behind her as her gaze remained fixed on me.

My body skidded back hard as I held my gut. Cadenza's hand pulsed with shadow energy, and that punch hurt through my armor. Knowing my luck, the shadow energy probably buffered her hand from any pain. Much to my disdain, I always found myself on the wrong side of fights with shadow and dark magic users. Well, it didn't matter, I just wanted to speed up this process.

I lowered my arms to my side, creating and releasing several balls of aura in the next few seconds as I slowly rose. I could move each one a bit with enough focus, but I couldn't control them all at the same time. Well, unless it was to put them to good use for what they were for. Moving them into position was the trick.

Anyway, I had my honor to obey in that punch anyway. She had struck me, so now I could fight with all my might. I stood up slowly as my almost twenty balls of aura continued to gather. Now then, to give her a real test of my skills. I rushed again, covering my fists in aura, and using the slightly trail of aura that was created as they moved to create a few more orbs of aura.

The shadow mage and I exchanged strikes quickly. She'd dodge a quick series of punches, and then throw her set of attacks, normally a mix between punches and kicks. I found some of her kicks harder to evade, and took a few hits, getting one or two of my own, gaining some ground eventually as I finally managed to get a series of hits, only to take a few shadow added punches.

Finally, she managed to break us apart from the close, heated combat. A particularly strong uppercut to the chin sent me rocketing backwards and landing on the ground, rolling over myself and into a lamp. She looked down at me, not looking too impressed. Still, it was ready.

"Zorlo, after all your waiting for this battle, I can't say I'm impressed by the fight you're putting up. After all, it doesn't seem like you're giving me your all," she observed.

In fact, I hadn't been putting all of my strength into it. As I normally did, I held back just enough to move her into my trap. "Yeah... I won't lie," I said as I stood to my feet and dusted off my jacket, "I wasn't fighting you with ever thing I had. Well, not yet anyway. However, look around you," I told her. She looked around, seeming to finally notice my small balls of aura that I had surrounded her with.

"I picked up this skill from a bounty that I saw fight once. He could condense explosive energy into balls and could set them off by snapping. Same idea, except my aura doesn't blow up. Instead, it releases built of force and strikes a person, kinda like my punches. Now then, I want to see how you get out of this," I told her as the orbs formed a dome around her. About one hundred in number. I snapped my fingers, and the balls all expanded, releasing their pent up force towards her. I knew she'd escape, but it would prove if she could truly hide where no shadows exist.

"And I call that move: Aura Bombs!" I said with a smile as I waited to see how Cadenza would respond.

[Altamira]

Zorlo lived for this kind of thing. He probably spent days dreaming up and perfecting skills, imagining the scenarios where he could finally test them in battle. If he saw you do something he thought could be useful, he'd dedicate himself to the task of figuring out a way to do it himself. That was what this was now.

The green orbs rushed at me, expanding as he finished explaining. He obviously expected me to try to drop into the shadows, but wasn't sure how I'd go about it in a room like this; what he'd soon see for himself was that I didn't need there to be pre-existing shadows to use. I didn't just use the shadows--I created them. When I wanted them, I merely had to imagine them, and they were there. And so a pool of pure shadow formed on the cobblestones as I dropped down below, out of the aura balls' range, and slid away, faster than the eye could follow. Somewhere at the back of my consciousness, I could hear the orbs collide into one another with a concussive burst.

Around me, the realm of shadows stretched out far and wide; it's hard for someone who's never slipped into it to imagine. You enter a different part of the world each time; this time, it was a sort of twisting hallway, with shadowy images of what was transpiring on the outside reflected back on the dark, hazy ceiling. Anywhere here that I touched, I could send force to strike Zorlo somewhere--anywhere--on his body. I started off with a simple, hard thump to a shadow above; and the impact sent him rocketing up from where he stood as if shot out of a catapult. A subsequent blow knocked him mid-air into the face of one of the Victorian buildings, crushing the wood and sending dust and splinters up everywhere.

As the fencer slowly picked himself up from the wreckage, grinning, I returned through the shadows near him and shot off a few simple orbs of shadow to get him back to his feet.

"...So?"

[Zorolo]

Orbs of shadow magic. The last thing I wanted to see after my battle with Tsuukai was more orbs of shadow magic, but it wasn't like Cadenza would know whom I had fought prior to engaging her in combat. Forcing aura into my feet, I pushed myself backwards and to my feet, and then another burst of aura from my feet as I sidestepped to push me to the side. This, however, was a folly on my part, since I sent myself crashing through a wooden wall. No big deal, it only sent the whole building collapsing as I exited. Luckily for me, like all battle zones, this place was void of life.

"Impressive. I had seen you drop into shadows with my own eyes, but you can now create them. I'm not about to ask how you learned that skill, now will I ask you how you struck me from the shadows with such force, but I think it is about time that I begin to fight a little more seriously," I said as I propelled myself upwards and backwards, my Aura Jets adding a little kick to my jump.

I landed on a nearby building and moved into the lotus position, looking at her. A pair more blasts of shadows rocketed past me as I took to the air, not adding any aura to this jump. I had a plan, and I was going to roll with it. I wrapped the green energy around my first, making my fist appear to be a ball of glowing, emerald colored flame. I drove my fist downwards, shattering stone with ease as she leapt out of the way of my attack. Bright woman.

I knew she wouldn't simply stand there and let me strike her though, and anyway, I couldn't hit her with head on strikes anyway. I opened my hand up and rested it on the ground. A powerful pulse of aura erupted from my hand and pushed it up slightly as the cobblestone street had three waves of aura travel down it. The ground cracked around Cadenza and I as a powerful blast of aura exploded from where my palm had been, filling a fifty yard area with an aura explosion. Concentrated Aura Bombs focused at one point. I doubted this would do anything, but again, it was a fun test, and it would clear some of the stone with a nice crater, maybe.

I closed my eyes as the dust filled the air. I couldn't see her with sight, but I could follow her with my second sight. Even hiding in the shadows couldn't protect her from this, since any kind of rippled would give away her location, or so I hoped.

[Altamira]

Zorlo's aura crackled against a layer of Dark Shield, fizzling out on contact like a good idea when it enters the mind of an ogre. Dust billowed around me, blocking me from view, but also making it hard for me to see anyone either; all I could make out was a vague, denser brown figure amongst all the...well, brown. I leapt away out of the slowly rising cloud as the ground under me gave way to Zorlo's attack and crumbled into a gaping crater in the middle of the street.

We've already moved onto property damage, I thought as I landed lightly on a lamppost. Always signals a new phase in the fight. Luckily, there will be no checks demanded for damages afterwards.

Zorlo could be heard, moving in the dust. For a while, things were like a sandstorm in the desert; a wind had picked up, whether from Zorlo's speed or natural causes, you couldn't be too sure. The buildings were coated in debris from the shattered stones of the street, and the air was thick and hazy. No problem there. As the fencer prowled around for me like a sand panther, I spread out the peacock feathers in my hair and started chanting. No matter where the man was, the melody would reach his ears; and then soon, all he would be able to move would be his ears, as the numbness overtook his body.

Of course, the fact that Zorlo could sense auras never escaped my mind. With some admittedly impressive accuracy, he launched towards me out of the dust cloud with a ready fist, trying to knock me off my perch on the lamppost; but he was just a breath too slow, and I flipped away, landing smoothly on the remains of the street. He came towards me again, faster now, and drew so close to landing a hit that his knuckles brushed against the feathers in my hands; but then I stepped to the side, swinging out with a leg to make use of my momentum, and he had to jump back to avoid the kick.

As the dust swirled around us, stinging the eyes, I spoke the last few words of Enchantment's spell and waved the feathers like a fan at the fencer. He stepped back for a moment, wary and ready to dodge something, but then found himself utterly unable to move after that. As he stood there, body frozen, I lunged forward and began beating him worse than an angry martial arts master who's run out of his morning tea and suspects his student of drinking it. Personal experience, there.

[Zorolo]

Somehow, I knew that, at some point during this battle, I'd wind up being frozen in place by one of her containment spells. I'd recalled something about a battle where she had frozen Kellson in place, or maybe It had been one of the fights that I had heard about through the Dome's many students. Even so, wasn't anything I could do right now. Well, that is, except for brace myself for pain.

While I stood, unable to move, I watched her fists and legs move. I could feel every blow that she struck me with. Powerful kicks to the chest and punches to the face. A strikingly fierce kick to the side of my head and several punches to my chest and gut. The shadow charged punches and kicks hurt quite a bit, and the fact that all I could do was stand there as they flurried at me gave me a feeling of inability to do anything useful. Still, this was a good way to start off the fight. After all, pain is temporary, pride is forever.

A final punch to my face, one that threw me flying backwards and landing on my back on the ground, sent me soaring backwards. I felt the ability to move return. Now then, the time had come to fight back. Odds are, she knew my weakness to shadows, and thought whatever she had done would last for as long as it could. I didn't know how long it could last, but I know it did last three minutes. Three minutes of pure pain that had washed over my body, but I could feel it subsiding. The shadows were painful, but more an annoying, stinging pain then a serious pain.

Another punch moved towards me, and my glance moved towards her fist. Only once chance, and I'd have to make it count. My hand moved as fast as I could, grabbing her fist with my right and, and rolling on my heels as I sat up and driving my elbow into her gut. The loud clang as my armor struck something harder then titanium echoed. The only reason I knew that whatever armor she had was harder then titanium was because I felt the vibrations run through her armor and mine.

Well, it didn't matter that my attack hadn't hurt her. It was time for a new, off the cuff plan. I released her and and quickly spun around, wrapping aura around my hand again and uppercutting her upwards. I heard a similar clang to the one that had been made when my armor had struck hers as her body bounced once into the air. I shook my hand and dispelled the aura. Something about knowing that I was punching shadows with my bare fists wasn't a settling thought.

Still, I couldn't waste time. I took off after Cadenza as she rose, wrapping aura around my hands and swinging my fists quickly. My quick jabs and punches narrowly missed her face as I continued to pepper attacks. Now then, to get in an attack. I ducked down quickly and spun on my right heel, driving the heel of my other boot into her chest and sending her flying back.

I had released a burst of aura as I had struck her with my boot. I doubt even she didn't expect that. Well, that attack had worked as well as Roery's boosters, it seemed. That strong kick was enough, but I imagine the added force of the little bit from my Aura Jets hopefully hurt her. If that didn't, the building she crashed into might do something, even if it isn't much. I smiled. This was getting interesting.

[Altamira]

Green Hair had gone from just being smart to being inventive; and that meant a whole new level of pain. The aura he launched at me sent off a ringing noise as it brushed up against the mythril underneath my clothes, pushing me back into a building. I crashed through two wooden stories, taking down a couple of rugs through the floorboards with me, and then when I could manage I tapped a shadow in my hand to give myself enough push to flip over and land on the bottom floor. If someone was feeling descriptive, they might have likened the landing to that of a cat.

Back out on the street, Zorlo smiled, and readied himself to go again. He was having fun.

"Nice move," I called, wiping the remains of a porcelain teacup off my head. It takes a certain kind of person to get punched in the gut and compliment the move; the Dome seems to collect these kinds of people.

I spread some shadows from one of my hands to another, like a sort of rubbery salve, and rubbed it onto the small wounds along my arms that came from the fall through the house. These stung a little right now, but would just be a memory a few minutes later. To Zorlo's cheerful gaze, I strode out of the building, and launched off a couple of shadow darts. Nothing too hard to avoid, considering the opposition, but it gave me time to finish walking out and composing myself.

Turning my eyes back to the house behind me, I waved a hand, and swallowed up the pieces of a dining set and china cabinet into the shadows without Zorlo's notice. Then, just as a diversion, I leapt at him, throwing punches and kicks, until there was a moment when he began to counter, and instead found himself being hammered down to the pavement by a room's worth of shadow-charged furniture. The items sizzled and spat with magic, and I could tell it had done more than he originally expected when he first glimpsed the chairs and such emerging from the shadows.

[Zorolo]

Pain. Such a temporal thing that, while being pounded on by shadow charged solid objects, a person forgets for a moment what kind of pain from being dropped for a great distance. As memories of battles prior to myself becoming the Aura Master flashed, I smiled. Things, and pain, were so much simpler then. Now, every time I got in a fight, if my body wasn't three or four kinds of beaten, it hadn't been intense enough.

I clenched my fists again and moved quickly, slamming my fists through the China cabinet with a single great force. I spun on my back and began my counter attack, destroying everything as it came towards me. However, before long, I had found myself surrounded by large, splintered pieces of wood. I braced myself as they shot towards me. Luckily I had my armor tightened, otherwise the splintered pieces wouldn't have burst into nothing more then useless pieces of wood and porcelain.

As the parts of what had been a dining room fell to the ground, I looked at Cadenza, smiling, same as ever. Now then, the time had come to test my fullest speed. Well, close to it, I suppose. I guess fullest natural speed would be a more proper thought.

I burst from where I stood, green aura pouring out of my feet as I continued to run towards the shadow mage. Her eyes fixed on me as I released a massive burst of speed, leaving only an after image of myself. As her fist passed through the distorted light, I smiled and threw a quick kick to the back of her head. The woman stumbled forwards and turned quickly, blasting me with a ball of shadow and launching me through the other side of the house I had sent her into.

Needless to say, the house seemed to implode on itself and collapse into the basement. I stood up, dusting off my jacket again and looking at her. She seemed a bit more surprised then I thought she would. I wasn't sure if she had ever seen an after image technique, but I knew it was a lot of fun to use. She had quick reactions, but still, she didn't hit with physical force like either Tsuukai or Mesfido, both of which were much stronger then she was, I felt at this moment. Knowing my luck, she had more to show. Actually, I was counting on it.

I leapt upwards and released aura from my feet again, blasting me towards her in another after image, only difference was, I had no place to go but straight. I punched forwards, but she guarded, blocking the next group of punches that followed with her forearms. Finally, I threw in a powerful kick, sending the woman skidding sideways as I landed. This warm up was getting intense. However, one could only be so warmed up before they actually started a real fight. Still, a little longer would be fine.

[Altamira]

He thinks he's fast, eh? He might have outrun demons from hell and rushing torrents of water and the gods only know what else--but he's never had to outrun the old ladies selling bread on the street corners in Rubato after pilfering one of their rolls; and so he's just about to see what speed is.

Granted, I'd never fought anyone with a technique like his before, but that wasn't important. Seen it once, commit it to memory, you're good. No one's ever had to hit me with anything more than once for me to get the lesson--more than a few people can attest to that.

I skidded a ways down the street, with Zorlo barreling down towards me again. I stepped to the side a second before he reached me, sticking out a leg to clothesline him, but he leapt over it. He didn't, however, leap over the elbow that followed blindingly-fast, catching him in the temple. All that speed, and all that force, focused on one, sharp point (being thin pays off sometimes) drilled into his head and knocked him down. He wouldn't stay down for very long though, I knew, so I took a breath and plunged into a sprint that tore through the sound barrier and far beyond within the first few strides.

Debris and magic and wind whipped up behind me as I shot through the streets. Zorlo, back on his feet now, tried to track my path with whatever methods he could, but it proved almost useless. Without even coming close to the speed I normally used for it or intending to create it, a ring of lesser Gloom Tornadoes was forming, tearing through the room as I dashed around the perimeter; the fencer braced himself, ready to take on the magic attacks however he could.

[Zorolo]

Just what I had hoped for since the battle had began. However, the cracking noise and the pulse of power from the sound barrier being broken wasn't exactly the greatest thing ever. It took a few seconds for the ringing noise to fade away before I figured out that I had been, or was about to be, on the receiving end of a very painful line of twisters all around me. What an awful, awful feeling I had as they twisters seemed to near me.

Well, this could only end poorly, I supposed. Well, that wasn't entirely true, there was one way I could go. Time being of the essence, however, I wasn't sure if that would be possible. If I didn't do it right, I'd be drawn into the tornados, and if they began uniting, this would be violently painful for me. I could have just unleashed another Aura Bomb against the ground and unleash another blast like I had before, but the tornados would tear through those, given how many there were.

I pressed my feet hard against the ground and built up aura into my legs. Well, you know what they say: "You don't get two chances in life." In this case, that was true. I would be in a lot of pain if I took that attack. And although I don't fully agree with that quote, I find it has some truth in some cases. Here simply being point in case. I pushed my feet down and readied to go. Only one way to go: UP!

I pushed myself upwards, launching my body high into the air and releasing a long stream of aura from my feet, pushing my Aura Jets a little harder then I normally would to give myself a nice distance. As soon as I had cleared the tornados range, I created a platform of aura and pushed up a bit more, just in case they the tornado got larger. I looked down at the destruction she was causing and recalled the fact that the attack she had just used was probably not anywhere near the potential of what it could be.

It would have been interesting to ram hurricanes of aura into her tornados and see what would happen, but I didn't feel that I could escape from that attack in one whole piece. Up here, I could relax. I had some certainty that, unlike Tsuukai, Cadenza couldn't use the air to her advantage. She could probably do something similar to what I do with platforms of shadows, but I wasn't sure. That I would like to see. For now, I'd simply watch the chaos that erupted from her Gloom Tornado attack. Even with as powerful and destructive as it was, I couldn't help but smile. This was going to be a blast!

[Altamira]

The world shook and rumbled all around me as I made another lap around the walls of the room. Out of the corner of my eye, I had seen Zorlo spring up, threading the needle of steadily-narrowing safe space between the tornadoes to land on a surface of his aura. He seemed content with himself as he watched the room being eaten up below; but that peace wouldn't last for much longer.

I darted from one wall to the corner of another, just a flash of black that couldn't be made out in the dark. Zorlo turned his head to look for a moment, then glanced back down; a vague suspicion must have tugged at his mind then, but he had no way to know what was going to come. The shadows on him, once as ordinary an occurrence in the absence of light as a shine is in the presence of it, seemed to deepen, and began to sting; he tried to struggle against the feeling, but found that they were holding him tightly in place, like a straight jacket, spreading to cover his limbs and torso.

Out of a corner somewhere, I launched at him, ripping through the air and dust like a knife, and tackling him into one of the walls. As we crashed, we found ourselves not in a hallway of the Dome--but in the hallway of the realm of shadows, where I had dropped into earlier. Every second Zorlo spent here would sap away at his strength, and send it to me in invigorating pulses. As much as I hate vampires, I had to admit: stealing energy from your opponent really is an effective way of slowing them down, just every bit as useful as dealing out damage the old-fashioned way.

The shadow magic here was so thick and potent that the fencer seemed to be having trouble breathing; and I gave him no time to recover as I beat a few more bruises onto his numerous bruises. As he sputtered blood, trying to shake himself to action, I struck him full-on with a melon-sized orb of shadow.