[IC] [Ranked] 2 v 2 battle! Reapers Vs Champions; A Dance of Blades!

[GreivousKhan]

The blue rift of space glowed an ominous azure in the center of the large domed ceiling chamber. The light expanded outward in a great flash that bathed the room in latent ethereal energy before it slowly faded. The next instant where the rift of energy had existed, now stood two figures. One was a man who wore the Victorian style of a gentlemen supplemented by a long great coat. A sword was strapped to his back, it’s handle menacing and fierce looking.

Tordor the Gravewalker observed their new surroundings. A simple round room some 20 feet in radius. There was worn out looking mail plated bodies of armor adorning mannequins that circled the room. On one wall was a shield and two crossed swords- no doubt some long forgotten regalia. The ceiling some 30 feet overhead possessed a single chandelier of elegant design. Brushing of the sleeve of one arm Torder said, “Well, seems we made it in one piece.”

Tordor counted four exits from the room they currently found themselves in. Who knew how many more like these they were? That tome could be anywhere, and the Lady of Ravens had not given them much to go on. Still, they had all the time in the world. Or they should, neither he nor his partner needed rest or food. He looked in the direction of his lovely, if deadly, ally.

Ishida Itsuki was her name. He had never encountered names quite like that one. Though it sounded lovely. They hadn't had time to talk much since being paired together. Though he suspected she wasn't the talkative or lippy sort, anyway. Well, they would have plenty of time to get to know each other, and Tordor wasn't sure if that was a good thing or bad thing. He drew his mind to their current mission. They were to find some old book apparently. One that had belonged to the beings who had once inhabited this castle and world. Apparently they were not unlike the dreamers of the current multiverse. Recording and researching eldritch forbidden secrets. The kind of stuff reclusive archmages were into.

“We should get started, The Lady mentioned we might run into trouble if we took too long. We might not be the only ones looking for this thing.” Tordor wished the Queen had been able to share more. But she either did not know who else was looking for the tome, or had decided that that information was not necessary. She oft worked in mysterious ways.

[DJAtomika]

traveling with this stuffy British guy...dk where we going but there's gon b a fight! #saturdaynightsallrightforfighting

itsukireaper9

we gotta find sum stupid book 4 sum guy, gon get paid mucho $$$! cant wait! #chaching #money #bling

itsukireaper9

Itsuki finished her tweets and tapped the button to send them off to cyberspace, just as the rift disgorged her in a large, mostly empty room. Beside her stood her companion, the "stuffy British guy" with whom she was paired with got this contract.

"Well, seems like we made it in one piece."

Her mission was simple: within these ruins there was a book, a very special book, and she was to retrieve it. Inside the book were secrets meant for inhuman eyes, but not hers. All she knew was that her employer was paying her an exorbitant amount to retrieve this book.

However she had been warned of resistance. A rival corporation had hired two other mercenaries to retrieve the book as well, and they were here, no doubt. She had been told to handle them using force, of course, but no guns. Her boss didn't want a stray bullet to damage the tome.

She hated that rule, and so did her guns.

Her shotgun, Hana, and her pistol, Goku, were seated within their holsters on her back. She'd have to leave them here for the mission, leaving her with her sword and dagger, Akuma and Sei.

Just then, her companion spoke. A big, muscular man called Tordor, his voice was light and accented, since he was British and all.

“We should get started. The Lady mentioned we might run into trouble if we took too long. We might not be the only ones looking for this thing.”

"Mmm. Might as well disarm then. No guns, remember?"

Her voice was quite accented with her native Japanese, even though she'd been speaking English for as long as she'd become a Reaper. She was the second newest amongst the Four Horsemen, the newest being the Russian, Nataliya. The rest of her team wasn't here though, they were all busy doing their own thing for now.

She drew her guns and placed them gently on empty racks nearby. As her hands left her shotgun the two weapons apparently awoke, judging from the eyes that opened sleepily to gaze at her.

"Eh? Itsuki-chan? Nan desuka?"
_{(Eh? Itsuki? What's up?)}

Her pistol, Goku, spoke first. He was the quicker of the lot, though also quick to anger. She smiled as she gave the top of the little gun a pat.

"Daijobu, Goku. Watashi wa shibarakunoaida nokoshite imasu."
_{(It's okay, Goku. I'm just leaving you here for a while.)}

Goku's eyes widened. The little pistol started hopping about in his rack angrily as she knelt to be on their level.

"Nani?! Naze anata wa, ni sotte atsukamashī chīsana on'nanoko ga watashi o toru koto ga dekima -"
_{(What?! How dare you leave me here, you impudent little gi -)}

"Goku-san."

"Eh?"

Hana, below him, signed and shook its...head? Barrel? Itsuki couldn't tell.

"Watashitachiha, Itsuki wa, kanojo ga yatte, naze tan'ni rirakkusu shite daun shizumerute inai koto o shitte iru kakushin shite imasu ka? Anata wa nokori no bubun ni ōku no jikan o sagashite ita iimasendeshita ka?"
_{(We are sure that Itsuki knows what she's doing, so just relax and quieten down, okay? You did say you wanted time to relax by yourself, right?)}

"Sh-shikashi, kanojo wa totsuzen no nai basho no man'naka de watashitachi o hōki suru hitsuyō wa arimasen!"
_{(B-but she doesn't have to abandon us here by ourselves!)}

"Gokū, daijōbudesu. Mata, watashi wa Akuma-san to watashi to Sei-san o motte imasu. Daijōbu."
_{(Goku, it's okay. Besides, I have Akuma-san and Sei-san with me. It's okay.)}

At that, the pistol settled down, grumbling under his breath. She smiled. Her little Goku could be such a handful at times.

As the pistol and shotgun got comfortable in their racks, she stood and rolled her shoulders. Only two weapons remained on her: an elegant katana with a black sheath gilded with flowers, and a shorter knife in its own sheath. The two weapons were attached to her back by way of several vines that grew out of her. Itsuki walked back to where her colleague stood and smiled sheepishly.

"Sorry. Having living weapons is like raising children. They all throw tantrums every now and then."

She extended her hand for the man to shake.

"Ishida Itsuki. Reaper of Famine. A pleasure."

[MelonHead]

His name was Judgement, and he was the Sword of God.

The man clad in formidable looking plate-mail in an almost decorative style looked like he could have been a statue considering the stillness he maintained standing in the courtyard of the Castle, despite wind buffeting his large seven foot form. He had a huge two handed sword in his right hand which rested over his right shoulder, but no other discernible weapons despite his huge gauntleted fists. He was standing stock still in the centre of the outer courtyard, his back to the outer gate, facing the front entrance into the fortress which lay up a number of steps. He was in what looked like a one hundred feet space, with forty feet separating him from the steps, he seemed to be waiting for something.

There was something about the man, he did not have the innocent look of one usually considered a good person on a cursory glance, rather his purity burned from him to the point of almost being painful. There was something unnatural about that purity, something which would make the average man distrust Judgement despite the Divine he claimed to serve and the clarity of his actions. Regardless, Judgement had a job to do, a task set for him by the Almighty himself, and he had no plans of stopping to second guess himself now, if ever.

He was expecting an ally in the coming confrontation, someone else who was as committed to their cause of Justice as he was of Judgement. They would make a fitting pair for the coming conflict, he had no doubts there. He was waiting in what he felt was the perfect place to regroup their force, at the entrance to the Fortress itself.

[ImportantNobody]

"Bad guys, bad guys, get to kill some bad guys," Listia sung lightly to herself, twirling her sword around in a playful manner as she skipped her way to the fortress entrance with all of the skill and agility of an elf. Apparently someone had taken notice of her talents and offered her a handsome amount of cash to help stop a couple of evil doers from acquiring a certain tome here, but in all honesty she would have paid them for the chance to get in on the action if it had come to that. The bad guys here were especially bad and especially strong, so put those two things together and they became her current top priority for execution. Her sword, the grand judge, had only briefly deliberated with the grand jury, all of these people actually being spirits inside of her sword, and they had come to this unanimous decision in nearly record time. Time to seal their fate within the next 10 minutes or so and then move on to the next judgment. She had people to execute and places to see, after all, running a tight schedule. Not that she found it tiresome. It was her time off that was tiresome.

"Let's be serious for this one, Grand Executioner," the Grand Judge hummed at her through vibrations from the blade. "I predict us needing our full power."

"Yes sir! Just letting all of this out of my system now so I can focus later," she replied, although her hands were still shaking with anticipation. She had trouble focusing when she got this excited over a new judgment. Luckily some of the other spirits who could synchronize with her body had more mellow personalities to incorporate into her own to help relax her further. Speaking of that, she should probably get that in order pretty soon, but for now, she caught sight of the giant armored guy that was clearly her help, so she made her way over to him with a large grin on her face.

"Hello, I'm Listia, Grand Executioner and Saint of Litoree," she introduced herself while extending out her left hand for a shake, her right one still twirling her sword lightly through her fingers. Due to the size difference of nearly two feet she had to reach high up, almost as if a salute. They certainly looked like an odd couple, made more evident by the fact that he was in full armor and she was more bordering on indecent exposure. However, she felt like they would somehow get along just fine. They both loved judgment, and that was the main thing that mattered.

[GreivousKhan]

Tordor nodded in agreement, smiling at the exchange between Itsuki and her pistols. He bowed elegantly as he took Itsuki's offered hand and kissed the back of it. "I am Known Simply as Tordor. At your service."

That done he pushed back the edges of his coat and pulled free his own twin pistols before turning to the rack. He could feel the pulses of energy within them; the spirits of Minx and Pixie hummed, vibrating their concern to Tordor. A pale blue light floated over Tordors shoulder as he set this firearms in place despite their apparent displeasure.

”Is this wise?” Whispered the blue spirit. The drowned child was often the most talkative spirit among the souls anchored to his own. Along with being the most easily frightened.

Tordor shrugged. “To tight quarters for them to be of proper use. Besides we’re hardly unarmed.”

Unconsciously he touched his hand to the longsword strapped to his back. He felt the rolling and frightening power within, but didn't move to draw it quite yet. He turned his attention back to the chamber they found themselves in and thought about their next move. If they were going to find this tome, they'd need to find where this keep stored its library. The best way to find it would be to reach the highest tower in order to get a clear view of the entire fortress. It was as good a place as any to start.

He turned to Itsuki,“Alright lets get going, we should head for high tower, it should give us some perspective on the layout of this place.” He moved to one of the long hallways from where they would start moving upwards through the halls and up the staircases toward the central tower.

[MelonHead]

Judgement sensed her presence as she approached him, but he made no sudden movements. The smaller woman moved in front of him and introduced herself courteously, to which he saw it fit to slowly nod his head in acknowledgement of her presence, ignoring the outstretched hand. He regarded her silently for an almost awkward length of time and then walked past her, his steps neither fast nor slow but unmistakably full of purpose. He carried himself well for a man in all that armour, but such was to be expected from an individual of the Divine race, even without wings.

He did not stop to see if she would follow him, to his mind he had fulfilled his requirements of waiting for his ally and she had definitely given him mixed feelings about her usefulness from a cursory glance, now her actions and her wellbeing were mostly up to her own to decide. Judgement was nothing if not decisive in action, he had something to find and potential threats to eliminate, and he was going to do just that.

He climbed the steps two at a time, using his long stride to his advantage, the doors to the fortress were already open and beckoning him within so he did just that, unperturbed by countless small darts shooting out from a number of hidden locations and bouncing off his armour. The darts were expended and he continued on, the way clear for his less well protected ally.

The Divine found himself with three potential paths on entry, a middle corridor that promised to lead further through into ground level, and stair-cases on either side of him that offered access up or down to different levels. He took a mere moment to consider his course of action, standing stock still as if praying for guidance.

[DJAtomika]

"Good idea. I'll follow you."

Itsuki smiled as she walked next to her bigger companion, having to walk a little faster since she was a lot shorter than he was.

The fortress was huge, and where they'd started, there was a long hallway that led to...parts unknown. She hadn't been given any sort of map or information on their location from her boss, that was what she hated, being left in the dark like that, but hey, exploration was fun and cool. She didn't even know what the outside looked like, since she and Tordor had been plonked into the inside of the fortress instead of the outside, like she'd originally though. Something about a storm blocking aerial access...she couldn't remember.

As they walked, Itsuki adjusted her combat harness that held her katana and her wakizashi. The sword was strapped to her back, diagonally of course, with the hilt over her right shoulder for easy access to the sword, while the knife hung on her lower back, hilt to the left again for easy access. Both weapons were also homes for daemons, of course, but they were still asleep even through the little cacophony of earlier. Akuma, her sword, and Sei, her knife, were her two best fighters amongst her four weapons. She especially loved Akuma, for his monomolecular blade that could cut through even the strongest of metals. But for all their sharpness and special abilities and whatnot, they were still a standard sized katana and wakizashi.

Enough of that.

She sighed and adjusted her ponytail as she walked, before curiously giving her companion a once over.

"So, what do you think of the mission, mister Tordor?"

[ImportantNobody]

A girlish laughter erupted into Listia's mind as it become evident that she had just been snubbed, more or less, by her companion. The laughter came from the childish #6 judge, who was a relatively new addition yet still very talented and useful to their cause. Even if she annoyed a lot of the other judges from time to time, they recognized this fact so were more than willing to put up with her.

Listia frowned slightly as she followed after him, perturbed when she didn't get the proper level of attention. Oh well, his actions weren't bad enough to warrant judgment, especially when they currently had their sights on two high level targets. She might be crazy but not that crazy.

Spirits 2, 3, 4, and 6 were active for this battle, the others recovering their strength. She wanted to keep a balanced level of speed and strength for the time being, so left 3 and 4 for situations later on. 6 was one of her favorites but, due to perhaps needing some extra defense in case something tried ambushing her in these tight corridors, she decided that #2 would be the best bet. She had since stopped twirling her blade around playfully and slide it lightly across her left forearm, drawing a trickle of blood and allowing her chosen spirit, after mentally calling out to him, into her body.

As he began to synchronize with her she continued to follow behind him, not able to pass due to his large frame and the multitude of traps that he was springing. Playing around with the few tiles that he had missed, she went out of her way to dart back and forth, cart wheeling and flipping to avoid the remaining darts. One grazed uncomfortably past her cheek, but she decided to pretend that didn't happen. Her feet plopping back down onto the ground as she finished her latest flip, she strolled casually behind him as they entered a room with a couple different ways to go.

"Eenie, meenie, miney..." she began to say out loud, pointing her left index finger at the three options.

[GreivousKhan]

Tordor maneuvered cautiously through the narrow hallways, just over five feet in width. Wide enough to allow two people to walk side by side, but not wide enough to fight beside one another effectively. The hall was dark despite the interval of torches now and again. Tordor recognized them to undoubtedly be magical in nature - for they produced no smoke and had to have been burning for who knew how long.

"So, what do you think of the mission, mister Tordor?"

Tordor pondered the answer to that question before shrugging. “Go into an ancient ruin, find then retrieve a long lost book? Deceptively simple task to be sure, or at least we can hope so. Would be a real shame if we found nothing but gubbins and got all knackered for nothing. How about you?”

Nearing the center of the room, the distinct sound of something clicking could be heard over the footsteps of himself and his companion. He raised his hand to call for a halt and paused - perplexed.

“Above!” hissed one of his spirits, the drowned child he realized.

“Move!” Tordor warned before he quickly sprung into action as the very rock from the ceiling came crashing down. He dropped into a forward roll, tucking his head and hands close to his body as he did. The rock came crashing down behind him just moments after he had cleared the danger zone. Falling with enough force to crush bone and turn them both into mush. He hoped his companion was as quick on her feet as he was.

He ended his roll in a crouch as the wind from the displaced air flicked the ends of his greatcoat up around him along with dirt and pieces of debris. The dust settled, but the rattling boom of the trap echoed throughout the fortresses halls. The block of stone slowly slid up again as it reset itself for another unsuspecting intruder. Tordor had a feeling he was not going to like this place much.

The disembodied skulls of his spirit companions floated into existence as they danced around his form as he stood to his feet brushing dust off, each of them gleaming with amethyst light. His fellow undead souls usually didn't say much, but now and again they pulled through. Rillagrim remained silent and asleep in his sheath seemingly oblivious to the world around them. His own blood vibirating through his body, berating him for not executing the dodge quicker and more fluidly. The Black Blood was hardly ever impressed anyway.


“Damned bloody close that. You alright darling? Would be a dead shame if you got squashed before we really even started.” He inquired of his corporal companion. He nodded head to where the hall lead to a kind of spiral staircase that went directly up. “Least wise it seems we’re not far from that tower.”

He flashed her a reassuring grin of surprisingly white teeth. “Lets go, quicker we get this done less chance of us getting offed by some ancient contraption.”

He lead the way to the stairs, hoping to use himself as bait to spare his new ally any unnecessary grievous wound. Probably unnecessary yet he couldn't help but play the gentlemen. It was the few anchors to the humanity that remained within him. Thanfkully no new traps presented themselves. The rounding staircase seemed to go on forever, but soon ended out in a large oval chamber some 40 feet in diameter and with an arching ceiling over 30 feet high. More statues circled this grand room, but the most telling feature of this place unlike the rest of the fortress they had been so far was that it possessed large archway windows some 6 feet high and 4 feet wide. Wind blew fiercely through these large windows, bellowing Tordors coat about him.

At least it probably was not nearly as bad in here as it was outside, he decided, as he moved to the center of the room. Noting the murals and grand depictions set in stone in beautiful works of art that remained breathtaking even considering their age. A hand before his face he walked to one of the large doorway sized windows and beheld the remains of this ancient fortress. Hoping to spot the the library from this high vantage point. Thankfully, it would not take long.

[MelonHead]

Judgement’s head shot up from his prayer, an indication that he was onto something. It was a faint presence, but its unholy taint stood out like a flame in a dark room to the Divine warrior. He tracked it, feeling it ascending somewhere up ahead, passing the ground floor and moving ever upwards. He began following it immediately determined to destroy that which would impede his further progress, such was Judgement’s mentality towards problems, confront it head on and remove it. His swift steps brought him to the right hand staircase and with a cool confidence he began to ascend the flight of stairs, keeping relative pace with the unholy presence. He drew close to the top of the Fortress itself before his quarry finally slowed, remaining on a single level for enough time that Judgement decided he was unlikely to still be moving upstairs.

The Divine left the staircase and entered a long corridor, the undead somewhere off to his right. He turned like some mechanical being, his actions precise and almost automatic in nature, and began heading towards them. The floor was stone, and so his heavy metallic footsteps echoed with a dull thud with each step, perhaps giving away his approach, not that stealth was a factor Judgement ever relied upon.

As he walked forward, he found himself on a direct path towards the large domed chamber the undead had stopped within, and it was only a matter of time until they met.

[DJAtomika]

"Woah!"

She dove out of the way as the huge rock pillar fell from the ceiling at such a speed, it cratered the floor where it smashed down. She ducked into a roll and came out standing, both hands gripped firmly on the hilts of her swords, though she had neither drawn. As the pillar slid back up into place she saw her companion on the other side, brushing dust off his coat as he stood. Relaxing for now, she stood too, cleaning dirt off her sweater.

"Relax pal, I won't get squished that easily."

She smiled as she followed him up into the tower, and slowed to a walk as she admired the grand artwork on the walls and ceiling of that tower, while Tordor went to scout out the area.

"Such a beautiful place...what do you think this fort was used for, before it was abandoned?"

[ImportantNobody]

The pitter patter of Listia's feet was nearly inaudible next to the towering behemoth robotically making his way in front of her, causing enough of a ruckus to alert a deaf man three towns over. This was for the best, however, because she was hoping to get on with this battle as soon as possible, so alerting the enemy was the best way to get the fight that they were wanting. The only downside was that it was more difficult to hear soft sounds from further away. Her ears were inhumanly good at picking up noise, but as things stood right now she was having to mentally dampen this down a bit or else get too annoyed and end up with a headache. The enemy getting the jump on them due to this slight handicap was highly unlikely.

"So, big guy, looks like you know where you're going?" She questioned, leaning in closer to him as she followed, although she was so short compared to him that it was more like leaning in to his heavily armored derriere rather than leaning to his ear.

Not expecting a reply anyways, she straightened her back once more and began to survey her surroundings for anything suspicious. The parts of her vision blocked by her ally would be left up to him.

[GreivousKhan]

Tordor peered out across the great expanse of the fortress, taking in its many spires, and towers. The wind buffeted him as he did a quick recon of the area. Was that?... yes off in the distance Tordor could see what looked like a separate structure that resembled a small fortified building. A good place as any to be the athenaeum that he and his ally were looking for.

"Such a beautiful place...what do you think this fort was used for, before it was abandoned?"

Tordor stepped away from the wide window, a hand on his hat to keep it from flying off with the wind.

“Hmm, hard to say. But my guess is those who lived here must have been masters of the arcane. Judging by the stability of this place.”

It was at that moment one of his spirits pulsed cautiously beside him. The space there filled with a cold sense of pain and regret. Tordor turned to the arched entrance that lead into the towers roundabout chamber. Over the whistling of the wind against his coat he could faintly make out the distinct sound of something approaching...something large perhaps?

He raised his left arm in warning to his partner as he moved to stand beside on of the rooms pillars facing the entrance more than ten yards away. A chorus of whispering voices sounded in warning, but too quietly for Tordor to make out what is being said.

“I think we’re about to have company.” He said absently as he fingered a trigger attached to his belt. The mechanism built into his sheath activated the clockwork device, making a faint whirring noise as it spun- gathering nether slowly as it did. It always paid to be on the safe side. Still the sound could just be his imagination. There was only one way to know for sure.

The soul of the false spirit flickered and shot away, passing through solid walls as if they were but open air. In moments it returned projecting, more than saying, what it had seen. Looking away for a moment as if listening to something or someone, Tordor nodded then looked to Itsuki.

“Best get ready, seems that competition might be on their way.”

When or if Itsuki drew her swords, Tordor would wave his left hand. Sending a freezing cold wave of pure nether toward her weapons- igniting them in black fire with a crackling sound.

“Just bit extra you might find useful.” Giving her an almost mischievous grin.

[MelonHead]

Judgement’s steady stride intensified, until he was nearly running, his sword held low behind him, right hand forward. He was at the door and through it in moments, one threat stood about thirty feet ahead of him, but the other was half that distance away standing in the middle of the room, at first sight facing away from him. His momentum carried him forward two more steps, easily within range at no more than seven feet from his foe. His blade drew across the air in front of him as he converted his momentum into a simple horizontal slash at the smaller figure’s shoulder-height, resulting in his right foot forward. If nothing changed he had no reason to suspect his huge blade wouldn’t rend the flesh of his foe as almost five inches of the end of the blade was in line with her body and arcing towards her fragile skin, cutting from Judgement’s right to his left.

[DJAtomika]

She could hear the sounds now. A rhythmic clanking of metal boots on stone. Heavy, booming steps.

Someone was definitely coming.

As she turned to face the doorway, hands on the hilts of her swords, a titan of a knight appeared there, running almost at full tilt. He was covered in gold gilded armour and wielded a huge sword.

And he was heading straight for her.

"Crap!"

Without warning that giant sword was swung, cutting a wide swathe through the air towards her torso. With barely any time to react Itsuki ducked down, bending herself forward in a crouch as the blade swooshed over her back. She felt the air displaced by the blade blow over her as the slash went by.

Once she was clear of any immediately danger, she straightened back up and leaped backward, cartwheeling further backward into the room to give herself more space.

[ImportantNobody]

Listia watched as her ally in front of her began to storm off the rest of the way like a bat out of hell, or rather...a large armored man out of heaven? Within moments he had shove his massive frame through the door to reveal their opponents standing on the other side, who appeared to be taken slightly off guard by the sudden ferocity of his attack. There was now enough room for her to do something other than follow behind him, so she picked up her own pace into a controlled, brisk jog rather than an all out sprint that would be harder to correct herself if she ended up on the receiving end of an attack. However, her ally more than likely had their immediate attention and she was not yet in any danger of melee attacks until she closed the distance further.

The bad girl was currently trying to evade a swing, but that left the bad guy without as much pressure, so he was one to look out for at the moment. She checked to see if he would try any ranged attacks against either of them while she was running forward to assist. If he tried to attack big man then she'd call out a warning.

[GreivousKhan]

Tordor watched and waited while the sound of approaching footsteps became louder and came quicker. Until at last the offending party revealed himself, and what an entrance indeed. And that speed! It sure moved fast for something so big in all that armor. Tordor was on the move the moment the man, and it surely had to be male, revealed himself. He touched a hand to the hilt of his sword before the world froze in place.

“Now...what is this?”

“Simple, I’m going to need your help on this one”

“Ahh, is that so. Well a shame Minx and Pixie aren't here to aid you, muhehehe. very well than, but if you want my aid you'll have to do something for me. ”

“Very well then. Lets go.”

In another instant the world reverted back to normal time as Tordor completed drawing his sword. The casing holding it splitting open with a metallic like hiss. In one swift motion he turned that into swing, from his right shoulder down and across to the left. Resulting a blaze of black fire that swept forward in a large cone covering some sixty feet, just as his partner executed a back-flip.

Well that was not a maneuver he’d have chosen, but it had given him an idea. The souls that flew about him agreed it was the best option available to them. Well most of them agreed anyway, having more than two heads had its advantages. Along with its own flaws. The black fire devoured the short distance in moments, reaching the giants feet as his partner’s own feet left the ground. It would he interesting to see how the man reacted to the fire, the floor discolored and frosting over from the effects of raw nether. Making the room to noticeably drop sharply in temperature.

Meanwhile, Tordor moved forward sharply to his right measuring the distance between him and the giant, putting him on the mans far left side as he strode forward with his arms apart body low. Though he wasn't about to ignore the second newcomer, a women by all accounts. Most troubling; with his free left hand he weaved a sign as he ran before a pillar of stone.

“Bro-tha”

[MelonHead]

And so Judgement revealed the real danger of his assault.

The blade had been a distracting agent, designed to force his foe to evade the immediate threat, and due to the nature of the attack her options for doing so were limited. She could either go below it, or back from it, there was no other avenue for escape, which was why Judgement’s follow up would be devastating. As he swung his momentum carried him onto his right foot, but his momentum was not finished yet. Simultaneous to his foe ducking low under his strike he forced himself forward in a pre-planned attack, his feet leaving the ground as his left knee rose up in something akin to a flying knee strike.

His momentum was the greater in this confrontation, so there was no doubt that he would crash into his foe as she acted out her acrobatic evasion, if things happened as was likely his armoured knee would likely crash into her spine or back as she placed her hands upon the ground and was fully turned from Judgement. The result of which could be devastating, or at the very least briefly disabling, for his foe.

Fortunately for Judgement, his own assault had actually carried him above the offense the other figure in the background launched, by taking him above its immediate effect so that his armour cancelled out the rest. Though he was not immediately aware it was happening considering the speed with which events were transpiring.

[DJAtomika]

As it turned out, Itsuki was in the middle of her cartwheel when her opponent sprung into action.

Frankly she was surprised that she hadn't seen something like that beforehand.

The knee screamed up from the ground even as her hands contacted the ground. She saw the armoured man's leg leave the ground even as her momentum carried her body up and around. She felt the armoured joint impact her gut and her hands left the ground.

Her body flew the distance across the circular chamber to the other side of the room, making her grunt in pain as she impacted the wall.

Struggling quickly to her feet she drew her swords.

"Akuma! Sei! Wake up!"

It was then that her swords awoke. Akuma and Sei, her katana and wakizashi, came to life as she dropped into her regular stance; katana firmly in her right hand, held up to face level in a high guard, blade out forward parallel with her body, wakizashi out in front in her left hand, blade held out horizontally. Her body faced to the right, left foot forward right foot back, in a slight crouch.

"Hmm? Itsuki-chan? Subete daijōbudesuka? Dō shimashita no?"
_{(Hmm? Itsuki-chan? Everything okay? What's going on?)}

"Un! Dō shimashita no? Subete daijōbu?"
_{(Yeah Itsuki! What's up? Everything okay girl?)}

"We have a problem. Ahead of us."

"Oh? Daiken de sono kyodaina otoko?"
_{(Oh? That huge man with the big sword?)}

"Kare wa nanika o hoshō suru hitsuyō ga arimasu! Ha ha!"
_{(He must be compensating for something! Ha ha!)}

"Shikashi, wareware wa kono otoko to kōron o motte imasen."
_{(But we do not have a quarrel with this man.)}

"Well he did try to chop me in half and he hit me across the room."

"Ohhhhh!"

"Sate, watashitachi wa kare to kenka o motte imasu."
_{(Well, now we have a quarrel with him.)}

[ImportantNobody]

Listia watched as the female baddie got kicked in the opposite direction, smashing into the wall. While Listia wouldn't mind kicking her while she was down, it would be difficult to reach her position from where she was now, having to cross the male baddie's sphere of influence along the way. Had it not been directed towards the feet of her ally, that fire of his could cover a large distance and could possibly even hit her where she stood should she become the target of his ire. That being said, it was high time to begin the three second charge time to place a faint blue shroud of energy over her skin to shield against any attacks that came her way, including that twisted fire of his. It wouldn't hold up to attacks indefinitely, but a brief pass of fire would likely not be able to penetrate unless it packed more of a punch than getting hit by a bullet. She believed she could cover the distance between the two in a full on sprint and attack before the shield ran out, should it come to that.

Whatever the case may be, come three seconds and she'd only have 30 seconds of it being active, so she couldn't dawdle for very long. The best case would be to eliminate him in that period of time and then switch to another spirit with fresh energy reserves in order to help combat the remaining foe. At the current moment, the male enemy was heading off to one of the supporting columns. He could use it for cover, but so could she, limiting the amount of time he could get full on attacks against her shields and bettering her chance of survival. As she advanced towards him, the final seconds of her charge time quickly ticking down to completion, she adjusted her run to place the pillar in between the two of them.

This would obstruct his view of her so he might not be able to tell that her shield would be up momentarily, which could make him unprepared for her enhanced defensive capabilities, him thinking that she was previously defenseless due to her lack of significant clothing. Of course this went both ways, so she had to trust that her shields would still be able to hold true to whatever he might attempt while he was back there.

If he showed himself around the pillar then she'd quickly try to see what he would attempt and make an effort to dodge should it seem more threatening then a bullet or of unknown power. If it was clearly less threatening like his fire attack from before then she'd take him off guard by charging straight through his assault and trying to joust at his face as she got closer. If he was focused on her ally, still, then he'd be in major trouble.

Because her shield blocked off the cold wind against her skin, she didn't notice the decreased temperature, but would certainly be in for an unpleasant surprise once it ran out, given her outfit.