From behind his mask, muffled but voluminous words rang forth, "Fickle little things, gods are, don't you think?" For the first time in this entire tournament he had spoken, thirty one matches consecutively in dead silence. Until now. This was their final round, and his opponent had proven to be as tactful and skillful a combatant as he was. They had fought a total gauntlet every day for a month. Each match harder than the last, but this was the thirty second, the first day of the next month. The two had finally met on the field of battle as equals, thus far none of the other competitors had been worthy of conversation. The only thing that had given them worth was the sweet release of their death.

This man, however, was worth conversation. Thirty one days of combat hadn't slowed his senses, the others never rested or intentionally sabotaged their competition. Corban and Shin had managed to avoid restless nights. Together they had managed to reach the end of their long trial, and this was the final hurdle.

The assassin had some degree of respect for the warrior Corban, an honor not so easily handed out. So, for the first time in a month, he spoke to his opponent. "Forcing their servants and unfortunate subjects to dance like monkeys. My question is, which are you?" There was a subtle tone of malice in his voice, already he was toying with egos. The two hadn't even engaged in combat yet, and he was already insinuating superiority.

The pair had already exited their opposing gateways, entering the circular arena and watching the walls rise around them. Giving them a large locale with much in the way of cover, pillars and walls were interspersed around the arena with overlapping and random patterns. Shin stood near the north end, and Corban near the south. A clear line was between them with a circle of room in the middle. Their voices carried quite well in the circular chamber, and communication would be possible from anywhere despite the size.

Shin stood with his right hand clenched tightly around the shrunken black staff. Holding it in its smallest form, ready to adapt once combat had begun. Despite the constant combat, however, neither of them had any injuries or wear on their outfits. Shin's conservative clothes had repaired themselves after every battle, and Corban's outfit had as well. Every wound they had taken had healed in the night after each battle.

They were at their peaks and in an Arena designed to cater to both of their needs, it would be an even and interesting bout.

The summer breeze blew up clouds of loose dust from the coloseum floor that seemed only too right staining the dark robes of the figure whom stood on the stadium's opposite end. The way the dirt practically gravitated toward her every time she brushed it off gave the visual impression that it was literally chasing her.

Surrounding the inner ring of the arena was a garden, ripe with tulips, daisies, and even a few genuine white roses. They were beset by several fountains that circled the rim of the place, their heads all masterfully carved, depicting scenes of some benevolent god and his tales from some unknown lore. It all concocted a rather fitting setting for such an epic showdown.

"So judgemental, are we?" Came a voice like sweet honey that could have shocked or confused Shin. While the combatants had never formally met, there were plenty of outlets for keeping up with the tournament events and contestants, so gender and names were usually a given. Surely he'd have been watching from the resting rooms the only other person to progress this far from the Tv's provided, and the screens surely didnt lie. Yet the figure belonging to the voice did not lie, either. The breasts were a nice addition as well. By all means, if Shin was expecting a 'man' to show up today, he'd be rather disappointed.

"My interests lay not in Gods, but in man. Gods are only a matter of perspective. Once this ideology is discovered, one gains the ability tp put them in their place." She plucked a rose from its bed, whiffing lightly of it at her nose. "But where is your place? Buried beneath me, or trading a measure with the very gods?"

The dark robed 'Crystal' stepped out from behind a risen wall into plain sight, brandishing chocolate-brown hair and sharp, milky crimson eyes as though they were weapons themselves. However, to the weapon she came with today, they could not compare. A sleek air-blue halberd-scythe hybrid was held in a gloved hand. A set, both were adorned with a disc-shaped growth of bubble metal on the backs.

Nowhere on her was there a visible sheathe, but a single magical string connected her right index finger to her blade, and a faint blue dust ablated away from her as though she were shedding.

"Well, we have an audience to satisfy don't we?"

Placing the rose in her hair she spread her feet, bending at the knees. She turned her body so that her left shoulder would be facing shin, Weilding her weapon with both hands raised just behind the right. She was ready.

Despite the fact that his opponent had changed their appearance, Shin recognized the equipment well enough to not care about the difference of gender. Though it was a surprise that he had suddenly become a she unannounced. Without knowledge of this ability, Shin was perplexed by what utility an ability like that would have. Behind his mask he actually grimaced a bit at the potential degenerate use of that ability. The expression caused a tinge of pain to run up his right cheek as he flexed the muscles around his mouth where he had no lips. Though he wasn't certain she would hear it, Shin muttered a single word. "Degenerate."

Was it Corban, or was it Corbina? Shin hadn't actually heard the name Crystal thus far, so he thought only of the name Corban. They had questioned him of his place, turning his own question back on it. Though in a totally asinine and pointless way, it may have seemed meaningful to Corban, but to Shin it was just dodging a question. He deemed it worthy of a response, morbid as it may be. "My place is as the last living man, standing on the corpses of all. Including yours."

It was a beautiful day.





A leaf blew across the battlefield though the walls had closed around them, a breeze still passed between the pair. It was nice, made for an excellent setting. The perfect killing field.

Shin extended his right hand and opened his fingers slightly, from the center of his palm extended a staff to a total of eight feet. Strands of wire wrapped around his fingers and up into his sleeve. Though Corban would never see it, the wire wrapped itself around his arms, legs and torso beneath his clothes. After preparations had been made, Shin dropped his staff arm low and shifted his posture. His left leg before his right and leading with his left hand. He swung his right arm behind himself and leveled the staff with the ground. The left hand was extended totally forward with his hand open, leaving his fingers extended but loose. Shin's body was pointed off and to the right, leaving his vital organs away from the potential first swing.

He began moving towards Corban, now wordlessly. They did in fact have an audience to satisfy, a very powerful one at that. Very rarely had he ever let his god down, today would not be another failure. It was a brisk pace that he walked at, maintaining his posture as he stepped forward. Leading his feet sideways at a slight angle, the angle pointing towards but not directly at Corban, this was a good footing for allowing himself to leap forward or away depending on necessity.

But we've been focusing too much on Shin's posture, because Shin's eye is the most important tool in his arsenal. It zoned in on Corban, whose stance was sloppy. Little thought had gone into the placement of her feet or arms. The singular pupil contracted and expanded as it looked in and out of Corban's entirety. Relaxed but prepared, though obviously not prepared enough. That outfit could repel bladed weaponry, so his staff's blunt nature would be more than enough to deal with it. Shin himself never wore armor, didn't need too anymore. Had once considered it, perhaps wear hefty armor to protect against any weapon. Those times had long since passed though, since he was skilled enough to ignore most weapons.

She too was leading with her left, that was probably indicative of left-handedness. Shin was ambidextrious to a degree, but so too was he naturally left handed. However he was leading with his hand, not his weapon. A polearm was a good weapon for distancing, countering it would be difficult but it would be nothing he'd never dealt with before. Recollection showed him that she had more than just the one weapon, though no other significant weapon was on her. Maybe a hidden dagger. Her weapon could change as well, though in a different degree than his own. It wasn't quite so intimate as the relationship he had with his weapon it seemed, the weapon wasn't an extension of her.

A short distance was between them, only around nine or ten feet. Shin did not make the first move, he rarely did. Though as the distance closed, he rotated his left wrist and forearm slightly so his fingers pointed to the right. Corban's left. A subtle preparation for an oncoming attack.

"Hmm."

Crystal's expression remained as it had prior to Shin's insult during. Many better men had tried to unhinge her in quite the same way; poking at his-her ego with naught more than a long stick. She would not respond in kind. The tell-tale signs of insecurity were an inflated sense of self and deep-seated superiority complexes. There were many reasons she took this form, even if some of them weren't the kinds of things you shared in good company. Resolved in her decision and satisfying several motives at once, his words would plink off her, the fate of any attack he'd bring to bear against her more than likely sharing in that regard.

Her genius was not only in her technical and martial know-how. It was good that Shin thought her stance weak. This provided the distinct advantage of surprise. And if he thought that there was no forethought placed into her positioning and footing, then he'd be at a sore disadvantage. In fact, she recalled a great terran swordsman whom's legendary slaying tehnique almost always involved leading opponents into a false sense of security to strike a final blow. Musashi Yamamoto she believed his name was? Yes! That was it. Now the gears were tumbling. In her minds eye, a revolver chamber tumbled.

Shin's most useful tool may have been his eyes, but hers was infinitely more versatile; her mind. This would become a battle between opposing ideologies.

As for her digs? She already had a contingency plan in the works. In fact, she was cooking one up right now. She was comfortable facing against any opponent using any skill and any weapon, not because of the novelty of her tools or proprietary powers, but faith in herself and her ability. Graphene threads were only a single miracle provided by Crystal's carbonic know-how. Her ability to change the name of the game on a dime would be showcased today if Shin was not careful.

Since he seemed too confused to commit to one -arrogance or modesty-, she'd take his empty forward movements as nothing more. She would mirror his passivity, but even a passive Crystal was considerably more active than most others. There would be no aura or energy fluctuation beyond the visible light as the blue dust disappeared into the atmosphere.

She let go of her blade with a single hand for a brief moment as she reached into a hidden pocket and mined forth two 250 carat diamond orbs, each pinched between two fingers, her hand slung across her chest like a claw. This would be timed wih Shin's final step forward. In like fashion, she studied his own weapon. She did not know all of its properties, but she had passing knowledge of its morphous nature. She expected point blank disarms and feints.

With a mighty diagonal swing from her top right to her bottom left, the nature of her weapon was revealed as a sheet of crystallized air rushed toward him to bisect him and whatever walls lay between them like lumber, moving at half a bullets owe. Only a few amstrongs thick, the guillotine would be virtually invisible save for the faint shimmer of reflected light.

How, she wondered, does a man fight while only half of him is present?

Magic was far from an unfamiliar subject for the assassin, especially considering his own weapon and immortality. Gesticulation is among the most common casting methods for magic, so common that even gods use it from time to time. Seeing someone remove their hand from their weapon and prepare for an attack in that way was not only obvious, but insulting. Shin watched the motion as it was made, already moving out of the way as her hand began to drop.

The movement was as fluid as water, it had been prepared since the beginning. Shin's angled footing allowed him to jump backwards and pull his extremities towards himself. Leaping off and to the left. The direction of the draw and the speed of the attack wouldn't allow a jump to the right, it would have bisected him otherwise. After leaping, he let his weight drift for a moment over a much longer distance than he would naturally be able to. Shifting the mass of the wires on his body into the negative, reducing his own weight to almost negligible for a moment. When his feet hit the ground he returned the weight to normal and returned to his stance.

Shin had let her get the first move, and instead of physical combat she had gone mystical. That was indicative of how she would fight this battle. A cutting wave was a good start, but if gesticulation was the way she was going to cast. Well. It just wasn't going to work.

It was Shin's turn to go on the offensive, and he had the perfect measure to counter this manner of spellcasting. The end of his staff broadened into an almost paddle like shape. A long fan blade adorned the tip of it, shaped loosely like a leaf that had been stretched out. Deflective weaponry would work nicely. Hmm, if only he had practiced Jai-Alai he might be a spot better at what he's about to do.

There was not much room between them at this point, he had only jumped off to the side. The distance between them had only doubled from the point where she had fired. Shin began to run, maintaining his posture as he ran. Holding the staff behind himself to give the absolute most momentum once he actually began to swing it. If Corban hadn't started moving by the time he got in melee range, he would stop his run and turn on his heel. Spinning the bladed staff behind himself and completing a full bodily rotation. Bringing the flat of the blade towards her, this would put the paddle between himself and anything that she could cast in that period of time.

In terms of magical acuity, there was no question who would come out on top. Time for a practical lesson in magicamundane theory!

While Shin was correct in assuming the attack was based in magic, he had muddied the waters. This was not gestative, but transmutive. Extending crystallogenesis principles, one could weaponize even the air about them if they were creative. The crystallized oxygen was the wholly natural byproduct of placing air under incredible pressure, and altering physical matter was day one for a master transmuter such as Crystal. The hyper-thin blade may have been born of magic, but was as physical as he himself.

Given his reserved gear and weapon of choice, he examplified the monk archetype. This gave her much to work with. Yes! Like a good monk, he would be nimble and dodge and get in close! The air blade roared onward past him to the sound of metallic grinding as it carved a scar into the earth and caused water to guyser as the gardens water leylines were cut. It fizzled out a short distance later, dissipating back into a gas with quite explosive results.

Meanwhile, Shin was intent on invading her personal space. Just as he'd begin his spin she'd fling her diamond-bearing hand forward, releasing them equidistantly as they fanned out smoothly like a liquid into curved lenses, angled between them at such a degree as to deflect his blow upward.

Shin had miscalculated. By class, Crystal was considered a spell-blade. Not just a caster of spells, or a swordsman, but a spell-blade. This meant she could parry just as well as she could fuse the elements. It would be foolish for Shin to assume she'd come with a weapon if she hadn't intended on putting it through him!

By this point she had reset her stance, with her scythe-blade held afront of her chest. With his momentum stoppped or severely slowed by her immoveable wedge, her riposte would come almost instantly. The first diamond barrier would fold forward, locking the staff in place at the point of contact and perhaps hampering its morphic ability upon the target area. The other would fold over his weapon-bearing hand.

With both hands she brandished her own and cut across whatever upper section of his body was exposed to once again attempt to bisect him. She was nothing if not determined. Every inch of the halberd was deadly, and the angle of the strike would place the curved extention behind him, severely limiting retreat options. It would be quite a crippling defeat, with him all tied up like this.

Well, he still had a free hand, so perhaps it wasn't all bad.

People did really love to group Shin into little class groups, pretending that they know the extent of his abilities from his attire. To pretend that Shin were a monk, to pretend that he were talented in just one manner of martial art, would be ignorance of the highest order. This assumption had lead to the deaths of hundreds, and likely would add another death this day.

As Corban swung her second spell, itt was almost like she was intentionally pitching her attack right into his weapon. She had done it right at the beginning of his swing, the moment where he was still facing her and he had put his weapon between them. You know, that exact moment that he had been planning for and in fact had very little hope that it would play out in that manner.

Yes, it did indeeed parry away Shin's bladed staff. Though this was what he had intended from the beginning. Upon contact with the spell's edge, his staff began to close around it like a venus flytrap on prey. It pushed his staff up and over, Shin's left hand was already extended in preparation for this, it swung upwards and struck against the base of his palm and rolled over the edge. Shin grasped it with his open left as it rolled downwards and flipped it back over, turning Corban's parry into a counter-parry as the reverse end of the staff rose upwards into the oncoming swing. He gripped it with his right once again after he had previously released his grip on it, raising his hand upwards sharply into her swing.

His spin had been totally interrupted by the contact and he had some significant angular momentum thrown in his corner so he did have to stop it. By twisting his hip and sliding his left leg forward at an angle, he dug his heel into the ground and halted his forward motion. This cessation of motion and upwards counter-parry would knock his staff right into the groove beneath the blade of her polearm. This would normally be a problem, as a spear wouldn't have any excess material and would simply slide up his staff and into his hand. However, due to the strange construction of Corban's own weapon it would lock into place directly onto his staff.

This combined with a groove that formed mid swing, would bury her weapon inside of his. This would give him control over both of their weapons and parry her blow in one fowl swoop.

Let's not forget the crystallized air.

Shin hadn't failed to notice the explosive result of the return from solid to gaseous behind himself. Once the spell and staff had made a total rotation, and the fluid motion of his swing had completed, he opened the rear of his staff away from himself. Venting the expulsion in a thin and powerful stream off and to his left.

Crystal prepared for quite a lot. sometimes it worked, and other times it hurt. This one worked flawlessly. While her theme and inspiration was already made clear, it was worth reiterating:

In fact, she recalled a great terran swordsman whom's legendary slaying tehnique almost always involved leading opponents into a false sense of security to strike a final blow. Musashi Yamamoto she believed his name was? Yes! That was it.

She was more than prepared.

She specifically timed her defense with Shin's spin. Not the beginning of his strike, but his spin. That is to say while he wasn't looking. If this wouldn't be a lesson for him in terms of predictability, then it would at least serve to teach him to never turn his back on his opponent.

The defensive gesture also was not a parry, but a block. It placed the face of the curved diamond lens against the flat of shin's blade, an oblong shape and angle that would make fitting it within his weapon a la lacrosse a quite difficult task, particularly moreso given it was morphing at the same time as his own. They'd be pressing against one another like lips rather than gaining any dominion over each other. Furthermore, he had only attempted to trap a single disc. The second, warned by its comrade would reposition and lock his weapon hand as originally intended and therefore any would-be followup outbursts. With his weapon arm locked away, he'd be hard pressed to stop Crystal's followthrough strike; the exact same as before. And this time with gusto.

Crystal preferred to hit very hard, and very fast. Preferrably once.

Instead of his weapon combo going off without a hitch, it instead met with quite a speedbump. Unplanned for, but not unexpected. Something that would be dealt with as it came, rather than with a planned out motion. He realized that his opponent was planning several steps ahead as well, leaving this as a moot game of chess. A stalemate is never a pleasant way to end a chess match. Shin preferred Go anyway.

So too did he prefer being oblivious to the thought process of his opponent, there were few things that he genuinely hated in this world. Cowards who didn't accept death as it came, LeeRoy for obvious reasons, and the Japanese. Why the Japanese? They invaded his country, they killed his people, and ended his bloodline. Among other crimes. To find that she was pulling a page from a Japanese warrior's book would be more than enough to make Shin take this fight personally.

His weapon had no trouble enveloping the first projectile, obviously it was as amorphous as the object it was seeking to capture. The result was the same with the capture and release of that spell away from himself, obviously pointing upwards rather than backwards this time around. Though this was moot since there was a secondary projectile that somehow had gone entirely beneath his notice, his eye wasn't perfect and could only focus on so many things at once. Flaws made a man stronger so it wasn't an issue, but what WAS an issue was the fact that his right hand was suddenly entrapped within a bubble of crystalline air. With the explosive results of the previous spell, Shin had no intention of letting his hand remain entrapped.

With his right hand trapped inside of her crystalline cage, and an attack on the way he had quite a few options to work with. Along with several different orders of importance, depending on which was more pressing. Deciding first that the oncoming attack was more important, Shin turned his waist away from the oncoming slash and pushed himself back. Planting the butt of his staff in the ground and using its weight to slide backwards and around, putting the staff between his body and the polearm again. The fusion weapon would collide with his staff at about the midriff, just above his right hand. It would not strike blade first, it would strike it with the pole instead. The tip of the blade would be pointing just past Shin's shoulders and the flat would be somewhere parallel to the ground.

While all of this was going on, Shin had been busy subconsciously. Remember those wires that Shin had wrapped around his right hand right at the beginning? Those began expanding explosively in a triangular pattern. Shoving the crystalized air away from his hand with force. Now, the positioning of Shin's hand and the pole of Corban's polearm was important here. Why? Because that crystal cage had suddenly become a crystal projectile again, firing straight upwards towards the handle of her staff.

This would have one of two results, either it would break the handle or would cause it to be pushed upwards in much the same way as his own weapon previously. Either one would disarm her momentarily.

Crystallized air? Well, he was half right. The cage was certainly crystalline, though air played no part in it. Instead, it was a rock formed of highly ordered carbon atoms stacked in octahedral patterns. On the common market, it was simply known as diamond, and would be considerably harder to break or remove than crystal air. Either way it wouldn't matter. She had what she needed.

Just as her diamond bauble veered back into her halberd it shattered like glass in a shower of sparks into a mist of water vapor and air pockets. Simply enchanted aerogel, the weapon few smiths would dare craft was only good for a single direct hit, be it against flesh or steel. This explained its color and affinity for manipulating air currents. In the end, as Shin had hoped, Crystal would be momentarily disarmed.

Or so he thought. Again, her methodology was worth restating:

She expected point blank disarms and feints.

Shin would be behooved to recall the blue dust from earlier as he'd find both himself and his weapon encapsulated within a Guardian Crystal, this one almost otherworldly in its rigidity. It resembled saphire origami, the way it glowed in the sun and folded upon itself into sharp points. This was her real weapon. The magical string was a trigger, a pull acting as the action signal. The rapid dispersal of its anchor would certainly suffice. While she could not morph so long as she was restraining he and his weapon, so too could his weapon not morph, subjected to her magic which acted as a powerful binding agent.

The glowing dust --Ishtalle in the form of a fine grain-- and the seeming fading of said dust was in fact her sublimating into a gas.

The prison would have been hermetically sealed, had it not been for two tiny slits. One in the front and one in the back, they were so thin as to be virtually invisible, even further exacerbated by the strange way light was refracted into rainbow ribbons from within. Water from the severed irrigation pipe imploded towards Crystal, appropriately crystallizing all the way into an icy blue, razor sharp sword. Proportioned to fit perfectly through the openings, the blade would pass through the Guardian Edge prisom --and Shin's back-- to find its place in her hand.

As the crystal prison formed around him, Shin extended every wire outwards and increased the density and durability to the absolute maximum that he could. Given the incredibly short time frame, of course. It gave him an incredibly small amount of room to move around, but it was something. For anyone else, this would spell out an absolute death sentence. Sealed within a crystal of unknown density with no real means of escape, and an incoming attack that would have completely bisected him. If only she had crushed him completely, rather than trapped him. Maybe if she had disarmed him before, she might have had a better chance. See, the way to escape any barrier is to increase pressure inside of it, and while he wasn't totally capable of filling the room he was able to emulate it.

By leaving even the smallest hole in his cage, she'd given him an escape route. Shin shuffled his body to the side and tilted the base of his spear, planting it against the base of the container and the roof at the same time. This created a solid wedge between the top and the bottom, and leverage is king in a world of hard cages. No matter how hard something is, if it's inflexible it isn't going to survive being pushed against in both directions.

His right hand was still firmly planted against the spear as the blade came rushing through the gap. If he hadn't shuffled himself off to the side it would have taken much more than it did, it would have diagonally sliced him from the shoulder down to his hip. On his right side it wouldn't have been immediately fatal, but it would have inevitably killed him. However, he had moved slightly. Putting only one part of himself in the direct line of fire, his right hand. It absolutely dissolved the flesh, like a hot knife through butter. His hand slapped down to the ground with a wet plop and Shin's face turned from placid and wicked to outraged in zero seconds flat. It struck against the base of his staff and broke apart, but most of the water had passed through perfectly smooth.

Once the water blade had passed, Shin sharply kicked against the staff. Nudging it forward and alligning the flat of the blade at the top with where the blade of water had come from. Like a can opener, he raised his foot upwards sharply into the bottom of his staff. It tilted his staff up and forward into the small groove, wedging it further in the cage. As he stood there, kicking his staff upwards his blood pooled at his feet inside of the container. The wires around his body had begun to dissolve, the part of the body that had connected them to the staff was severed. It gave him even more room inside of the cage, to which he responded by raising his left hand upwards in preparation for a shell cracking strike.

As he had his hand overhead he paused, realizing a second wave might come through. If he used his hand too soon he might lose his left hand as well, Shin would wait and prepare to strike again once a second had followed up or enough time had passed.

The blade finished its flight with Crystal's hand at the same moment that Shin would be busy attempting to create a wedge for leverage within Prison Ishtalle. The magical binding agent was loosed the moment Shin revealed his chains, offering her dynamic physicality back. Ishtalle knew what was to come, and would deligate appropriately. Shin was right, about cages anyhow. The price for rigidity was often flexibility, but not for a weapon like Ishtalle, that could think and act of her own accord. This made her highly proactive. In this regard she was like water and could change flows drastically and quickly.

As for leverage, Shin would find zero as the slits in the phalanx were much thinner than a human fingernail, at about 15 µm wide. A sheet of paper couldn't slip through, much less his spears blade.

Drawing from the inspiration of water and working in mental tandem with Crystal, Ishtalle phase transitioned into a thick liquid immediately. The color and newp form altered the way she interacted with light, optically occluding it rather than refracting from within, effectively cutting off Shin's view of the outside world, and more importantly, Crystal. He wouldn't see what was coming.

With a cry she flourished her ice sword in the air, now possessed by Ishtalle, and slammed it against the surface with a truly meteoric strike. A concussive wave propogated from the tip through the entirety of the space within, tearing up earth and concrete into a fresh irrigation canal. It would travel the small distance between them (maybe 3 or so feet?) slightly faster than usual due to the liquid medium. Given the laws of force and motion worked both ways, and she did not weigh 500 lbs, the recoil would send Crystal flying several feet backwards as well, creating space. Only one of them could afford the luxury of taking the hit, though.

Regardless of success, the shell collapsed with a splash into a light blue rain, its purpose spent. A screen of debris and dust now hung in the area Shin was standing.

"If you're still breathing, I suggest you either fight me like you intend to win, or submit. I don't want to have to take your other hand or your life, But I'll have both before the hour is out if you keep up the way you are."

Was she serious? That would be for Shin to decide.

Now this is what Shin was ready for, a solid blow had finally connected with him. Though technically second hand, his opponent had finally decided to take the fight seriously. Even as he was catapulted backwards against the nearest stone pillar he was smiling ear to ear.

The wind was shunted from his chest in one gasping yelp, he nearly vomited and was certain he'd broken a rib. His staff followed in short order, clattering to the ground before him. Blindly he grasped it as he righted himself back to his feet, it was strangely difficult to balance himself before he planted his feet again. Then he remembered his missing hand, that was an inconvenience at best. A nuisance at worst. The worst part was the fact that he was struggling to breathe, as he stood there it was harder and harder to inhale.

Why?

Was a rib broken into his lung? No.
Was his chest caved in? No.
Was his throat closed? No.

He was having a hard time breathing because he was laughing so God damn hard. It took him a moment to compose himself before he spoke. "You're joking right? You genuinely think it'll take me an hour to kill you?" The malicious joy concealing a despicable rage left a gritty and bitter taste in his mouth.

They might not have noticed, but Shin was no longer bleeding. A thin scab had begun to form over the wound, it was oozing but not quite as detrimental as it had been moments before. The cut was just below his elbow so there was still a joint, which he was using to prop himself upright against his staff.

He rubbed his left hand on the top of his staff, the blunt end would do nicely once he got in range. He pushed down on the butt of his staff with his hand, pushing it further into the ground. He used the shorter staff as a prop, behind his mask he was in quite a state of disarray.

See, he hated this woman. It reminded him of a fight long ago, against another mage. Magic users always managed to attack him rather than actually fight him, and this was humiliating. For all he is as a person, he's still only capable of dealing with so much at a range.

At least normally he is, but right about now he's realizing that he wants this woman deader than dead. He wants this woman eviscerated, and there were a few techniques that he used just for an occasion like this.

With his blunted arm pressed against the staff, a gel rose from the side and against his stump. It wrapped around his arm and connected him to the staff with a thick rope of loose material. "Well, if you want my arm so badly, take it from me."

In a mocking gesture he extended his left arm outwards. Opening his palm and waving it up and down sarcastically.

Her boots left 3/16 inch trenches in the ground as she came to a sliding stop, some 15 feet from Shin. As the dust settled and her opponent came back into view, clearly not dead, she immedately began to crunch the damage numbers like an rpg in her mind.

--Begin Report--

Assessment:

--The concussive wave was comparable to a small explosion or a 12-gauge going off as close to instantly and point-blank as any human could register. He made a point to wear no armor, not that even that would help him given the laws of vibro waves. The meteoric strike has rent entire sets of plate mail in the past, so whatever extrahuman physicality his human form bellied would do little to protect him.

--Likely to be suffering frrom several broken or dislocted bones in the face. The iron mask would in fact cause the wave to travel faster through the material and to the soft tissue underneath easier.

-- A concussion was certainly on the palette this evening, given pressure waves' knack for rattling the brain around inside the skull. The surface area of the damage would be spread as well, given his entire body was subject to the blast with no shielding.

Results: Crystal and her familiar were thinking two broken ribs and a mild concussion were the order of the day at the very least.

--End Report--

Even if he was laughing, Crystal was no fool. She knew that her attack was no laughing matter, and that he was more than likely trying to unhinge her sense of progress. It then dawned on her that it was entirely probable he suffered from a congenital pain indifference as well. That was a common trait she discovered over a long life of war. Despite the case, she realized what she would need to do.

A single, unfocused strike would not be enough to finish this man. He may have disliked being grouped into the monk archetype, but the more time passed, the more she was convinced. Now he even shared their ungodly resilience. With a better understanding of his disposition, she could lay out a plan to ultimately end him. Wide attacks wouldn't be as effective, but all she'd need is a precise, critical strike.

"Very well. I'll rest easy knowing I gave you the opportunity to walk away."

Taking an alber stance with the tip of her straight sword pointed to the earth, she readied herself. The blade would be virtually invisible, given it was held vertically, the only sign that she wielded anything at all being the awkward position of her sword hand. She would not be the first to strike again. She offered him her hand once and he failed to impress her.

This was his chance at redemption.

There was no stance this time, Shin was done playing with her. This was no longer a friendly little fight between skilled opponent, Shin was going to kill her. The one eye focused like a telescope on the weapon hand, he could see almost nothing in her hand. Some kind of blade, probably the same one she had struck him with earlier. Didn't matter, his posturing had finished and he lowered his left hand to his side. The thick gel that had wrapped itself around his stump had grown into a flat black covering, from that covering grew the wires that were always component to his defense and mobility.

Shin was not unfamiliar with the concept of a Pyrrhic Victory. Even if he did win this fight, the pain he would endure by the end of it would be tantamount to a loss anyway. Losing his arm was the most painful thing he's experienced in a very long time, and it likely wouldn't be the only injury he'd sustain before the battle was out. This fight was looking to be very sacrificial indeed, and he was unsure if his right arm would have to be surgically reattached or if it would return to him mystically. These concerns would be pushed to the back of his head for now, that disgusting writhing eye of his zoned in on Corban's own eye. Her right, to be more specific. It glared a vicious message of hatred down his sight and into hers.

Shin had been glaring at her long enough, though, and the time for action was now. With a single announcement he would unleash hell upon her unlike any he's demonstrated before, she should feel honored. Only a divine had ever pushed him to unleash this level of combat on another being. "Behold," he spoke calmly and plainly, extending his right arm's stump. "The Hydra." His stump pressed against the staff and from the ground in front of him erupted dozens of spires. Remember how he planted his staff in the ground a few moments prior? He had planted it point down, burying its head for a good reason. As he laughed and jeered at her, he had been probing the ground between them. Probing for any new pipe that could unleash another water based attack on him, to which he found few. Only the one running towards the fountain was noticeable.

So too was he planning one of his most devious offensives, The Hydra. The Hydra is a very simple disruption and terrain shift, by tearing the earth up between him and his opponent he would destroy any proper footing that they could have. While he could change his density and with aid of the staff and move unnaturally, opponents who relied on walking would have to traverse an uneven battlefield. So too did it create a zone of desolation that none would dare pass through, why? Because every one of the components of the black staff may move independently, as it is an extension of his very will. Its amorphous nature and ability to change shape to whatever form he required it to gave him the ability to create complex mechanisms with only a single moving part.

With The Hydra set up and around twenty four black spikes placed between himself and Corban as well as six surrounding himself on all sides, he waited for her next move. The Hydra was wholly capable of coming to her, if she did not come to him.

As the ground was destroyed and uprooted at her feet Crystal would take a measured leap backward, landing a distance of ten feet from the nearest spire, and perhaps triple that from Shin. Since he was clearly in no rush to be close to her, nor attack, she'd use this free time to analyze the logistics of her predicament.

-Hmm, a field saturation technique. Material analysis?-

<Its the same material used by his weapon. Highly polymorohic, durable, and flexible.>

-I sense a bluff. This looks far more like a reactive defense than an offensive. Can you best it?-

<It will take another taste to separate the finer elements, and more time still to create a proper counter-material. But it can be done.>

-So we'll have to get up close.-

<What's your plan?>

-Hmm. I have one, but I'll need your strength beyond a sword.-

In a jetstream of prismatic blue fire, Crystal would become the heart of a magnificent diamond chrysalis. It was quite thick, shimmering in the sun with a faint, unnatural glow. Whatever proccesses were going on inside would be invisible save for the shadow sillhouettes.

Lightning flickered across its many faces, and the air convected tightly around it. The shadow within shrunk marginally as a black fabric stretched up and over her body before tightening and contouring to her frame. Bands of sillhouette locks bursted from her bun in a rampant outgrowth. Finally, the complex process complete, the steaming shell split down the center with a symmetry only seen in crystalline solids to reveal what lay within.

From a crystal bed of rising smoke, Crystalle emerged. An unnatural wind lifted chocolatey hair, opening her ornamental rose like a sunflower and revealing purple iris'. Her skin shewn an icy blue. If Shin could touch her he might notice she was also dangerously cold. Whatever bond Shin shared with his weapon, she doubted it could compare to this.

One body. Two minds. Twice the efficiency.

Her ice sword was used as raw material in the chrysalis formation, so she'd need a new one. More importantly, she needed it to hurt. The space around her came alive as she held her hands up in front of her chest as though in offering. A ten foot navy blue claymore set with a ruby jewel in the cross-guard formed out of a frosty mist in her palms, seemingly out of thin air. In truth, it was a deeply practiced joint discipline, which allowed her to summon copies of Ishtalle anywhere so long as it was within two meters of herself. Its edge caused the air to smell of ozone, the intoxicating scent of aligning astral circuits.

Each would be as sharp and deadly as the original. With a deep breath she reset her stance, this time a low center of mass finestra.

"Come."

"Come"

With such vindication and pride she spoke to him, as though she were his equal. A man can loose an arrow at a dragon and feel pride, but it takes an entire army to slay one. She could equip herself with weapons and armor all she wanted, she could build a barrier of impenetrable stone around herself for all he cared. Without his weapon he was a master warrior, but with his weapon he was more than just a warrior. Shin was the embodiment of war, a demon on the battlefield, and all who had faced him with his staff and lived still woke screaming in the night. Visions of his single eye behind that black shield on his face were burned into their retinas, and every time they closed their eyes they saw him still watching.

Corban would soon learn exactly why that was.

With fury and fire behind his voice he screamed, saliva spraying against the inside of his mask. "Fine!" Like a train and all its cars are filled with steel, Corban wouldn't even slow him down by standing in his way.

He unleashed hell with a thrust of his left arm, the massive construct moved like giant that had woken from its slumber. It erupted from the ground, catapulting debris in every which direction. The sound it made as it destroyed the ground between them was akin to an earthquake, his arm whipped forth and back as the behemoth rose. It seemed almost to crawl towards her, every blade and spike adorning the top of his machination swung viciously. Like an entire Roman Legion, menacing its foes with their spears.

Shin stood atop his monster with a small platform beneath him, the spears nearest to him writhed and stabbed upwards. The gap between them closed rapidly as his weapon lumbered towards her, it stabbed and extended its blades towards her in an eight pointed assault. Eight of the spears grew towards her, aimed at every extremity twice, save for her head. He didn't want to instantly kill her, he wanted her to suffer. He wanted to impale her, he wanted to rip her apart limb from limb.

Crystalle did not in fact speak to him as though they were equals. This was not Crystal but Crystalle, and she did not have the slightest doubt that she was his superior. Confidence was a good trait, though. It was fully obvious to her at this point how things were going to end; How they'd always end. With her standing and her opponent lying flat on his back. She did not fear Shin for she had no reason to.

As the beast moved forward, she brandished her blade like an oversized kitchen knife. Glowing crimson lines like circuitry etched into its face and split along them into eight more copies, each possessed by the sword spirit. As Shin would launch his assault Crystalle would level her primary weapon at her side as though preparing to unsheathe it. Violet eyes met Shin's for a brief moment. Simultaneously, her sister blades would orbit her in reactive and uneven rotations, meeting the spires tip-first in a shower of sparks to intercept them. If they rapidly changed direction, the blades would follow suit and appropriate their trajectory. It would make for quite a hellish scene.

Meanwhile, Crystalle would focus on taking the path of least resistance to her target; the straight line. In her iado stance, she would disappear like a lost memory, and then reappear just a fraction of a second later a little past his left side in that exact same position. In that short time, she would have 'unsheathed' her blade, bisected him at the waist, and returned it to its resting place all in a single, masterfully executed motion. Ishtalle would be honed to chop through his defense as well, honed specifically for this weapon through repeated blows. Throughout her entire flight, whatever flechettes he could send at her would be met by her Blade Barrier, which now orbited her waist to become a Blade Skirt.

It was a novel technique she'd invented called the slide step. By creating a thin, solid panel of air beneath her feet and manipulating the current, she had invented a true, much cheaper version of super speed. It had the benefit of being abominably fast, even moreso now that she was unchained by her mortal coil. Shin had also closed the gap between them, so the short distance would be travelled even quicker. The room for response was incredibly limited.

Would her uses of air ever end!?

A few alterations to Corban's plan would be necessary. Very clearly they did not have Shin's best interests in mind, and that was unacceptable obviously. So let's pick this apart and make it more ergonomic for our favorite homicidal maniac, shall we?

For instance, as the sister blades made contact with his Spears they erupted like a bullet striking water. Their own speed working against them as his staff heads turned fluid and enveloped them. Even if they could cut through them, they would find no province against the tar-like form they took in response.

Entrapment the defensive blades was merely the first step in a three part plan. You see, earlier there had been a hilarious misconception that had driven the tide of this battle since the beginning.

Corban, or Crystalle as they were calling themselves now, believed that Shin's mind was not as powerful as tool as her own. That was a gross misunderstanding, because Shin had already seen the glaring difference between their abilities.

Step two was to meet her halfway through her charge towards him. But it was not a bodily movement, Shin extended his right arm forward in what looked like a wide haymaker. As his arm swung forward another branch of his staff extended forward. It rapidly grew and hardened into a clawed hand about three times the size of his other hand.

This clawed hand was on an intercept course with Corban at the peak speed it was capable of, the speed of thought. The speed of Shin's thought, four times that of a normal person. This hand would strike her in seconds if she were standing still, let alone if she continued moving towards him.

And part three? Part three was simple. The remaining mass of the staff would extend upwards towards Corban and angle itself so it would prove a barrier between Shin and her. The staff body and his pseudo arm would merge on contact with itself. Even if she did move around it, Shin would be ready with a devious trick of his own.

Normally people would go for his right side, especially now. Missing eye, missing arm. But the problem was just how obvious that was, and Shin knew how smart Corban was. Knew they would go for something less than obvious to try and catch him off guard, so even as he made his offense he readied his footing. Placed his left foot against the nearest spear and loosened his right foot up.

As she was now, Shin seemed quite sluggish by comparison. From her perspective, the gears of the world had considerably slowed, such that the birds in the sky seemed to be swimming through molases. She was quite ready for an assault on any front, especially if it was coming at her from her, er... front. In terms of relative time, the claw was only going slightly above the speed limit.

With the benefit of a dual-mind system so too came the boons of a body tailored for two. One of her parents happened to be a Guardian Edge, a being exercising total control over its material form. That included her own momentum, which may have helped explain some of Ishtalle's non-newtonian feats. She'd slow just enough to properly align herself. With a solid somersault off her air-highway she'd flip over the incoming claw. Her locks trailing behind her would become a barrier between whatever she left exposed in the meneuver and the claw-staff, flash-hardening into a rigidly solid singular mass. With a powerful kick off an air barrier she'd close the distance with a speed that gravity simply wouldn't allow.

Oh that's right. She had a few swords to retrieve, didn't she? Just as they were enveloped, the entire family would sublimate into a gas and naturally effuse through the liquid medium as gases were wont to do. Given Ishtalle's proactive nature, it would be quite close to an instantaneous process. All would rejoin Crystalle in her inhumanly fast descent by the same means; rapidly re-solidifying outside the spears.

Lead by the needle-thin point of her sword, she discharged sky blue ethereal lightning through contact as she ground it into his shield with such strength that she would be juggled several inches into the air if it did not break. Given the staffs spiritual nature, it acted as a superb (super)naturally conducting material. This was hand tailored, cooked up by Ishtalle after having deduced the spiritual component of it through physical engagements. With the speed of a bolt it would course through the entirety of the Hydra, dissolving whatever metaphysical bonds held it together, and even Shin if he insisted on maintaining his grasp of it.

With his weapon hopefully out of order, the Hydra would subsequently collapse or dissipate, logic withstanding. This would leave both of them free-falling to the earth. However, only one of them would be positioned above the other, and only one of them would be poised to run the other through with her divine blade.