Great Dojo

[Kotomine_Rin]

Lulu

So the information was locked away, sealed even from the man himself. She could probably attain it regardless but she did wish to tear his mind asunder, this would require a more delicate approach. The sight of the women angered her immensely but she pushed that aside with a simple shove, she couldn't afford to show that right now. So she kept her gaze locked into his, and displayed the same unwavering kindnes as before.

"Any particular street you were moving them or neighborhood perhaps?" Whoever had done this to him had sealed some very specific memories, but younger people tended to make mistakes. Mistakes like not considering that your base itself still exists as a part of a greater whole no matter how hard you try to hide it.

The Criminal

"Just from the Citadel, that's all!" But then he looked over his shoulder, past the vehicle the two of them had transported him in, as if concerned someone was about to appear right over his shoulder. "Weren't really sure who was gonna buy this time. Not a lot of... frequent repeat customers in this line of business, you understand."

He laughed nervously, with a hint of mania lurking at the edges.

"I'm kinda like a new car salesman. Work on commission."

But then his eyes shot back in Vega's direction, and he made as if to try to stand on his newly regenerated legs. He stumbled.

Vega

"What's the matter? Woke up on the wrong foot?" A grave voice billowed, neither mocking nor somber. It simply was. And yet, there was that same pleasant undertone, the same as before when they first met. "Come now, there's no need to be afraid. I promised her after all, I will not hurt you any further."

He held his palm up as if to reassure him. Calmly, ever so calmly. "I can't say I'm surprised. It's a district of rats."

[Bern]

Lulu

"Don't mind my.... companion, he has acquired sense of humor. You on the other hand are very lucky today."

Lulu leaned in, just enough that it was bordering on intimacy, the mirth in her cerulean eyes as she regarded him couldn't possibly be fake could it? Everything about her was like someone had decided to create the ideal of femininity and then give it form.

"Because you've had a very rare product land right on you lap, and now you just have to take advantage of it, it does meet your standards does it not?"

[Aiden]

The Criminal

Before he could say anything Lulu caught it - not a desire for her as a woman, precisely, but an unutterable surge of avaricious need for what she could bring him in the context she spoke of. Flashes of wealthy, faceless clients, a seat at a table at the center of a great seal -

She felt the very memory of its image burn at her mind, repelled her from the man as if she had been physically struck.

The man collapsed back against the car in a daze.

[Bern]

Lulu

Jackpot.

Lulu hadn't been expecting the attack, her eyes widening for the briefest of moments before she regained control of her expression again and the smile calm look returned. The mental assault was quite pitiful, but she did actually have to act fast here, before her mental shields bounced the attack back at him and fried his mind. It wasn't too hard.

What was harder though was getting him functional again. She prodded his mind once more, nudging here and there to realign his mental pathways. She didn't really feel like waiting for him to come to on his own. For him it would most likely feel like a state of sudden hyper awareness, maybe even a case of divine inspiration, like all things suddenly fell into place. Hopefully he'd feel like going through with what he'd just thought of.

"Hmm I didn't quite get that, what do you think?" She asked the criminal calmly.

[Panda]

Nanako

Annoying as the invisibility was, she still knew where the blonde was, could still feel and smell him well enough to fight. It was a surprise then, when his next punch didn't meet with her face, but instead a nearby car, punching through the hood and tearing open the engine to spray him with oil.

Oh. Oh no, Nanako's breath caught at the sight before her, the throbbing ache in her gut sending familiar sparks through her, feeding a feeling that burned hotter and hotter with each passing second. Her face flushed, her eyes widened, her breathing grew heavier as she stared at him. She could feel that familiar dampness building, but there was only one thing on her mind right now. Even the sudden crack of void tearing open the night sky didn't pull her eyes away from him. From what she could see of his toned form through clothes loosened by their fight.

"Harder," she panted, closing the distance as a heated moan cleared her lips, long legs flashing out like a scythe with swift kick homing in towards his head, "More. Don't think I'll be finished just like that!"

Her form was perfect, despite the situation. Or perhaps even because of it.

[SINIB]

Vanilla

"Hahaha. Alright. Don't say I didn't give you the option to find a ring."

She flew up further, waiting at a safe distance for the other woman to leap. Two glowing orbs of energy began to gather in her open palms.

Mira

The sight of what Mira's opponent was holding in her hands made her stare for a brief moment before she shot off like a rocket after her foe, leaving a dent in the roof.

"I really need to figure out that move out!" The martial artist shouted with a fierce scream, hands up and seemingly ready to either grab her foe - or her foe's attacks.

Vanilla

Vanilla drew her hands back, and then began hurling a volley of bolts at Mira, dozens of them at a time. They impacted the building and splintered the roof.

[Aiden]

Mira

The world slowed slowed dramatically to her senses as she felt its chi seep in through every pore and chakra. It became all too simple to judge the positioning of the initial throws. A few missed outright, the demon misjudging the curved trajectory of Mira's leap. Others threatened to clip Mira, and she was able to straighten up and adjust her profile so that they brushed past. Her own long hair fluttered in the wind generated by their passing. And the last one? She flipped over it, stuck her foot on it to trigger the explosion deliberately, and allowed it to propel her even faster forward!

How fast can she maneuver like this?

A thought she put to the test with a ferocious, "Oryaaa!" that reached Vanilla's ears right before Mira was up in her face, threatening to drive her into a nearby building like a missile.

[yinsukin]

Aruna

Perfect.

The chains connected, swallowing him whole.  Magic flooded into her body, feeling every muscle fill with his magical power.  Her teeth sharpened, her arms growing just a tad bit larger.  As she slashed his body, she felt truly alive.  Of course, this wasn't really just her feelings but his.  That smile wasn't fake.  That creature truely was like the demons of old, so consumed by the rush of power, by greed itself that they could not help but desire to devour everything.  No, maybe that was this creature's desires from the very start.

So the bird did want to break free of its cage after all....  If she was anything like a demon, then he knew the only way to break free of the cage was pain.

Still slashing through his back, she saw it, an explosion of darkness seemingly as big as the sun itself.  Those strange creatures he summoned consumed her chains, flowing down into the earth towards her portals.  Not willing to open for beasts, the portals closed.  One rushed towards her, only to be skewered by a spike that emerged from her chest, hoisting it in the air above all of them.  The spike dissipated into nothing, allowing the beast fall down next to its owners body, only for both to be met with spikes emerging from the portals in the ground, intent on skewering him everywhere but his vital points.

Of course, she knew it wasn't enough to kill him.

"I was wrong," she said, her voice echoing through the night.  "You are not a fake human, but a demon like me.  Such perverted greed.  Tell me, why do you carry this light inside of you, this starfire?"

[Kotomine_Rin]

Yang

Wait what!? He recoiled before she even formed her strike, but it was when it came shooting towards him that he acted. Shifting his center of gravity ever so slightly, he tilted backwards and downwards using his knees, weaving past the kick by a hair's breadth. A bloody scratch spurted out of his cheek, flushed red and sweaty, but before he even noted it, his foot had shot forward like a stinger towards her liver, while his stance was lowered right after dodging no less. "Quit it, you're freaking me out!"

It was a trick he picked up from an Okinawan fighter. Apparently there's a branch of karate called the Shorin Ryu karate, focusing on kicks.
Their most deadly weapon is a kick that uses the centrifugal force of the leg as a whip, but unlike traditional kicks, it used something different: the toe.
From that angle, with enough speed and power, and the right conditioning, it could punch through like a bullet!

A dodge and a counter, it didn't get any simpler than that. No, this was a fight of basics, down to the very elementals of their spirits.


Zeke

Despite freefalling like a ragdoll, something caused that lifeless body to flip and move. In the blink of an eye, all wounds vanished from its form, and slowly slowing down by the end... he landed flawlessly on its toe, balanced perfectly on one of the countless spikes.

"Greedy? Perverted? That doesn't sound like any schmuck I've ever met!" He spread his arms jovially and grinned like an old friend. "But demon..."

Fwap.

With a shrug, he dropped his torn clothes and revealed his bare chest, utterly unscratched. But it wasn't the fact it was unharmed that was the most shocking.

Faces, dozens of them, squirmed beneath his back and heart, bulging and fading away as if trying to tear their way out of him. And yet, they didn't seem to be pained. No, it was merely a desire to be free. Free of all shackles, free of all bonds. The faces of the other 'himselfs' he had devoured as he traveled through spacetime. His past selves hunted down within parallel worlds and coalesced through his "paths". Faces like his, a manifestation of his own black heart. But even that was nothing compared to the glare he was giving off. At that moment, every light in their surroundings shattered, walls started to rot and crumble, and windows cracked.

The entire city block suddenly succumbed to a deathly chill as he glared at the heavens with pure hate.

"Don't you dare utter that word in my presence." Four black wings sprouted from his back, and with a violent flap he rushed upwards, accelerating every moment as flames began to form around him!

[Kotomine_Rin]

Lulu

Jackpot.

Lulu hadn't been expecting the attack, her eyes widening for the briefest of moments before she regained control of her expression again and the smile calm look returned. The mental assault was quite pitiful, but she did actually have to act fast here, before her mental shields bounced the attack back at him and fried his mind. It wasn't too hard.

What was harder though was getting functional again. She prodded his mind once more, nudging here and there to realign his mental pathways. She didn't really feel like waiting for him to come to on his own. For him it would most likely feel like a state of sudden hyper awareness, maybe even a case of divine inspiration, like all things suddenly fell into place. Hopefully he'd feel like going through with what he'd just thought of.

"Hmm I didn't quite get that, what do you think?"

Vega

Vega sighed. Ironically, despite subjecting Lulu to that intolerable drive, it seemed he was the one growing impatient in all of this. No, perhaps it was more like a cat's restlessness, unable to get a kick out of prodding at anyone was starting to tire him. And it was getting late.

"Unbelievable. To think the district that mainly deals in the slave trade would be responsible for such a thing. Who could have seen it coming? And what a bold revelation. I am truly, utterly shocked." He put a hand on his hip, talking in such a flat deadpan tone that one had to wonder if he was serious or if this was a sick joke.

"Fine. Let's just cut up everyone holding a high position then. If we go by process of elimination, we'll surely end up getting the right one eventually."

[Panda]

Nanako

Were it not for the heat building in the squirrel girl's core, Nanako might have appreciated the simple kick he lashed out at her with. Even so, she recognized she couldn't take that hit head on. A flare of excitement darkened her cheeks as Yang narrowly dodged, Nanako following through with her kick and just barely twisting out of the way of Yang's return blow. Letting out a breathless gasp as his foot tore a bloody scratch across her side, Nanako's momentum spun her all the way around so that her back was to him. She quickly broke any illusion that she was as vulnerable as most in this position, however, using the momentum to bring her tail around like a lightly padded wrecking ball of fluff and muscle, swinging it hard and fast at his flank.

"How about we get freaky, then?" Nanako shot back, snapping her head around to look back at him over her other shoulder with a wild grin, chambering her other leg as she did.

[Aiden]

Lulu

Jackpot.

Lulu hadn't been expecting the attack, her eyes widening for the briefest of moments before she regained control of her expression again and the smile calm look returned. The mental assault was quite pitiful, but she did actually have to act fast here, before her mental shields bounced the attack back at him and fried his mind. It wasn't too hard.

What was harder though was getting functional again. She prodded his mind once more, nudging here and there to realign his mental pathways. She didn't really feel like waiting for him to come to on his own. For him it would most likely feel like a state of sudden hyper awareness, maybe even a case of divine inspiration, like all things suddenly fell into place. Hopefully he'd feel like going through with what he'd just thought of.

"Hmm I didn't quite get that, what do you think?"

Vega

Vega sighed. Ironically, despite subjecting Lulu to that intolerable drive, it seemed he was the one growing impatient in all of this. No, perhaps it was more like a cat's restlessness, unable to get a kick out of prodding at anyone was starting to tire him. And it was getting late.

"Unbelievable. To think the district that mainly deals in the slave trade would be responsible for such a thing. Who could have seen it coming? And what a bold revelation. I am truly, utterly shocked." He put a hand on his hip, talking in such a flat deadpan tone that one had to wonder if he was serious or if this was a sick joke.

"Fine. Let's just cut up everyone holding a high position then. If we go by process of elimination, we'll surely end up getting the right one eventually."

The Criminal

He wasn't coming to again anytime soon, but Lulu's attempt at rapid access at least allowed her to find something. Flashes of a street with a sign that said Tyre, where the man had felt a fierce sensation of greed. A warehouse, boxes piled high. Money. Lots of it, in stacks that reached above the man's bulbous head.

[yinsukin]

Aruna

Aruna felt her heart sink.  That glare alone was enough to invite the fear of death to take up residence in her very soul.  All the while, she smiled back at him.  "There is no shame in being a demon," she said, her voice echoing through the night.  Chains emerged from the ground, the trees, a sea of them, even more than before, all shooting straight at him from every direction.  All the while she swooped downward, flying headfirst towards the darkness of the earth.  "Here, let me show you a demon's pride."

"The endless fire grows, consuming all.
Carved from the endless void, I yearn for power!
As my body grows stronger, I find freedom!
As I find freedom, I yearn for salvation!
Light, oh so absolute in your power,
Feel the weight of everlasting darkness!"

A blade materialized in her hand, surrounded by a thick veil, all as the hilt settled in her grip.  The darkness was thick now, thick enough to hide her form.  The incantation would allow him to track her location through the haze.  With the chains following his every move, the following blow may be what ends this fight.

"Feel the full weight of a demon's pride!  There is no shame in being a demon.  THIS IS THE PRIZED WEAPONS OF THE GUARDIANS, MY DARKNESS SWORD!"

Wherever he ended up, she would appear behind him, her body invisible, her slash palpable.  It was the strongest possible power given to her by the darkness, a slash capable of cutting cleanly through a building like butter.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Zeke

The winged abyss gaped at the sky, wide-eyed at the chanting beyond. Even if she couldn't be sensed, this might was palpable. It wasn't something any brat could pull off.  "This power... this darkness... impossible, it's like her power is increasing. Just what is this wretch made of?" He muttered in disbelief.

That moment fear caused him to stop. That one moment, it was already over. It wasn't even possible for him to react in time.  Before he could even escape, a sword was already rushing behind him. He barely flinched and glanced black before the legendary blade sliced right through him. The world screamed, he screamed and everything before her slash was cut apart.

And her opponent disintegrated. At least, that was what should've happened.

But it didn't.

The winged figure just stood there, mouth gaping, but with no wound to show in the slightest. Until he shook his head and grinned smugly.

"Yknow, this was just a spar, not a deathmatch... " He was right in front of her. But the sword didn't even connect. All it sliced was a shadow, which was crumbling away. So why was he still in front of her!? "But that was five times now. There will not be a sixth."

Their eyes met. How did he even see her? Could his eye somehow pierce her perfect darkness?

No.

She'd only find that answer within herself.

A similar effect to her shroud was going on. No, it was different somehow. His voice came from all around her, but you couldn't point to any direction. No, it was more like an echo in her ears. It was as if the voice came from-

"Where will the broken cup share its fill?
When the storms screamed and the planets raged.
When did I touch your loving hand?
Where the blade collided and our dream came true.
So let us toast to the new world's flame.
Beneath the dark side of the moon."

"A captain's power... comes from the bonds he cultivates. Savor this. Our existence."

Inside Aruna. Dozens of spikes erupted from inside Aruna, gutting her organs from within. And right on her side, the sky began to crack, and she coul dsee Zeke's eye glaring at her.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Nanako

Were it not for the heat building in the squirrel girl's core, Nanako might have appreciated the simple kick he lashed out at her with. Even so, she recognized she couldn't take that hit head on. A flare of excitement darkened her cheeks as Yang narrowly dodged, Nanako following through with her kick and just barely twisting out of the way of Yang's return blow. Letting out a breathless gasp as his foot tore a bloody scratch across her side, Nanako's momentum spun her all the way around so that her back was to him. She quickly broke any illusion that she was as vulnerable as most in this position, however, using the momentum to bring her tail around like a lightly padded wrecking ball of fluff and muscle, swinging it hard and fast at his flank.

"How about we get freaky, then?" Nanako shot back, snapping her head around to look back at him over her other shoulder with a wild grin, chambering her other leg as she did.

Yang

Compact. If there was a way to describe his movements, it would surely be that. However, he didn't expect that blow in the slightest. A wrecking ball of fur and muscle, pounding straight into his side. A clean hit! A blow of this magnitude could easily pulverize stone, metal and even diamond!

However!

Yang did not relent! Against such surprising force, he did the unexpected, and turned his body limp! Doing that, he was thrown away like a ragdoll by the impact, but didn't suffer damage severe enough for a knock out! Instead, he used his reflexes to quickly tap the ground as he hit the pavement and rolled safely, immediately recovering his posture and taking a low stance! Amazing! Just who would turn out on top!

Incredible! Despite the pain, Yang's grimace looked more flushed than usual, and he grins like a warrior, spits blood, and readies his fist!

"Fucking nice. What's next, are you going to grow wings and smack me with 'em?"

There was a fair bit of distance! What would happen next!? Would she initiate, or would he pull something out of his sleeve!?