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Cross found himself smirking, however he wasn't exactly sure why other than the fact that the stranger would prove to be a punching-bad (stress-relief if you will). He knew he couldn't get Yami's help for this, not that he was underestimating the foe (he learned his lesson once already) but a duel was always 1v1 and has been as such since the beginning of time; however handicaps...not so much.

"I won't agree to your terms, but I will humor you for the time being. Yami you should figure out where the where the corpse was sent to, unless you want to watch...but I don't think I'll be needing back-up" It wasn't as if he could use magic anyway...well magic that was his forte; he couldn't cast fire-balls or summon little dancing pixies, yet accepting such a handicap would mostly likely prove a liability in the long-run.

He drew his blade, which glistened a bright-red from the luminent hallway but with edges dullen from age, and pointed it at the stranger.
"I don't understand your reasoning behind all this, and franky I don't care. But as I stated before, I'll humor you for now."
Without seconds notice he dashed at the stranger with alarming agility, of course it would've been preferable to simply teleport but he couldn't do so for the time being.

Yamishiro sighed and shook his head back and forth, how was he supposed to find the corpse? That could take ages. He hovered off of the ground and surrounded himself in what might appear to be a bubble. Once inside, he pressed his hands together in a semi-tiger (a hand sign in which you press your fore and middle fingers together) and closed his eyes, the inside of the "bubble' turned black as it filled with matter: a tear of time and space forming inside. Literally immersing himself in the inner workings of portals and teleportation. Small glimpses of scenery swirled within the black mass, appearing as pictures hovering about in mass numbers that could remind one of stars in the deep void of space (to infinity and beyond...). Yamishiro's eyes glowed red, a force field projecting from his body and encompassing anything within a 5 foot radius of himself suddenly freezing in place. He tapped the nearest picture and it grew until it was as large as a computer screen, deciding that it wasn't the portal he was looking for, the picture quickly shrunk and zoomed out of the field, rejoining the picture's swirling around outside. At this rate, it would be a long time before he would find the portal he was looking for.

((I'll probably be in there for a long time...))

((sry my real intro posts tend to be a little long usually))

If he claimed to use a style he must have trained under it. If he can challenge its defeat he must be proud of it. Therefore, anyone can conclude that he was no newbie unlesss of course, it was a bluff. Devonshka's distance from Cross was approximately one step's leap away. With both of them rushing at their speed one can conclude that not even a second has passed in reality's time.

He was a practioner of the style Onizan and this style was originally developed for inhuman melee combat. Within this style is a library of moves and skills that can be used as ammunition against the opponent. Yet, its greatest strengths are not the moves themselves but the training was required for them. While some required years of inhuman training for mastery, others needed as much for mere execution. Thus with each mastery, the user's strengths would increase proportionally. Devonshka was no different.

Of the skills of Onizan there are 7 more notable as their nature is exactly that of inhuman training for mere execution. They are conventionally called the seven human maximas. Shingan was the first. There are more ways to perceive the world than with mere perception. It was not hard for Devonshka to read Cross' move, not when Shingan was in play. Would Cross be able to figure out its nature?

Cross' motions would perhaps been well if it wasn't so slow [relatively]. Devonshka's foot pushed to accelerate himself directly into Cross while at the same time turning his body to face Cross. Point blank range. Cross's own preciseness in timing had created such an effect. Yet what of it? Cross' attack would immediately be imperfect in terms of the strike and the angle minimized the force and deflected the attack off the metallic armor that was located on Devonshka's body. Of himself however, his magic was finished in its preparation. Two hands from inside Devnoshka's mouth gripped the outside and in a split second something, fast enough that Cross would only see a black shadow, flew forward aiming to fly over Cross' shoulder. Of Devonshka himself, Cross, if he looked, would be able to see that Devonshka's head was split with two clean lines coming out from both sides of the mouth. What...happened? What would Cross do?

Time lapse from beginning of battle: less than 5 Seconds

((all ooc knowledge may be given upon request. Or, you can figure out what happened since, I think, that is actually a part of the joys of battle.))

((in that case...*changes voice* longah!!! xp ))

Indeed, this was not to what anyone would expect. Or at least, that is what the narrorator thinks. Cross had decided to rush forward. Devonshka seemed to have his head split. What else could have happened?

<Recap>
What did we know of the black shadow? The first clue was the hands that came from within Devonshka's mouth. Was it an illusion? or is it not? If it was not, then clean lines can not logically appear to be so if they had been ripped. Rather, they had been clean cut open. And summing up what we previously know and possibly assumed, the reason for the cut was most probably from the thing that escaped if it was not an illusion.

Now Yamishiro would probably be able to see if he was paying attention. It had the size and shape of...Souloe.

Gauntlets; one, two...Hakitta: over his forearms and hands
Metallic boots; one, two... Zaya: over his legs and below knee
Garment armor; ... Saihan: over his body in the form of a trench coat
Blades; one, two, three, four... two extending from the forearm to pass beyond the shoulder and two up and down guarding the calf.

Thinking logically. Why would Devonshka's head be in that condition? And the condition itself, what could have caused it? The blades. If it had blades at its forarm and it passed directly by Cross, then it must have been a golden opportunity. Indeed, the blades sliced through Cross' neck just as he passed by. ((here's where you can make a choice. By the rules of this guild, there is no killing unless there is permission. So you can choose to be killed - not permenantly of course, I'll make sure IC it doesn't happen. Or you could just say that it damaged Cross' neck but not kill. Your choice. If you don't choose, I will assume you chose death))

<Main post>
All laws of physics will apply of course. The "shadow" used the the contact point, his own body and the force of gravity to force himself downward in a spinning motion even before his hands touched the ground and reinforced the motion. Done, of course, directly following when possible. Yet, what of it? By itself, nothing, but it opened its legs into a split and drove his heels forward around the circumfrance of the imaginary circle aiming for Cross from behind. Within the span of 1 second he would already have made 3 complete spins. And that, was not even maximum speed. There was no need for maximum speed and as his speed was already exeedingly great, even with his personal handicap of 70% normal speed has outmatched every opponent he ever came across. And of the head split Devonshka, he did not do anything extra.

The figure had the face of Souloe. But was it Souloe? Yet as Cross did not see it while he had the chance, it would be impossible to see now that he was behind. And of the it. It knew it had cut through Cross' neck yet it did not seem to stop its motion. Did he want an overkill? Perhaps to ensure victory? Or maybe even something else?

Time lapse from beginning of battle: less than 8 seconds

((lol, me nish nevil!! 3nodding ))
<Recap>
By Cross' own precision in timing, Devonshka was less than a ruler's length from him at the point of Cross' previous strike. By Devonshka's own acceleration, his body was forced into Cross. Thus as Cross fell after his neck received damage, by the laws of physics, since Devonshka did not stop his velocity, inertia bids Devonshka to continue forward. His movement would thus push Cross' falling body to an angle before giving it his full weight.

What of the it? In the span of one second there was three spins. Each spin incased two strikes, one from each leg. As the heels was used to drive the circumfrance, the calf blades would only, by the laws of positioning, cut through the target. The strikes wielded strength from an Onizan warrior, the additional power or any leg and the full force of the driven spin momentum. It was enough to easily cleave boulders even with his personal handicap of 70% output.

Thus linking the two sides what would we see? As cross' body angled , the first spin would, rather than hitting the target the leg/hip, have now sliced through his back. Then the four remaining strikes would continually slash across higher positions of the same back by both the change in leg positioning and the change in Cross' body positioning.

<Main post>
The it was fast, the it was strong, and most of all, the it was skilled. By the time of the fourth spin, the it had already pushed himself over the just falling Cross and redirected the spin into a vertical spin aiming its heel onto Devonshka at the point just above Cross' heart. There was, however, some sort of glyph that came between the attack and the target. Yet the question now would be...was he trying to kill Devonshka? Why would he strike down on Devonshka's body? Was it to get Cross beneath? But the body would decrease the strength of the attack, so Why...why...why...

Time lapse from the beginning of the battle: less than 10 seconds

((Oh, sorry about the confusion, do you want me to clarify anything?))

<Recap>
Cross had faced Devonshka when Devonshka rushed himself into Cross. Cross was struck on the neck and so knelt down. Devonshka did not stop himself and therefore toppled Cross backwards so that he laid looking into the air. Devonshka remained inanimate and thus his body laid on the Cross that was lying down facing upwards. The it - that had Souloe's face and body - after striking Cross from the back had already pushed into the air to do the fourth strike in a vertical spin much like a summersault with leg straightened out and coming down.

Would Cross have the time to get up? Can he get up? Ripping the opponent to shreads was not an uncommon thing done by the users of Onizan. Though they are few and almost existinct, their skills are beyond the norm, way beyond. So looking at this situation, what happened? Cross is lying down on the ground and Devonshka's full weight was laid atop. In addition, his back has been cut through 6 times. What was located near the back? The spinal cord. 7 pieces it became yet "the it" seemed not to have given any time for Cross to retalliate. Before Cross was able to get up [ie. last post] the it had already came down for the fourth strike.

Cross, could not move his lower body. That was certain, but perhaps his hands if that was spared. Yet with Devonshka's weight, could he really move it or even himself in that condition?

<Main post>
As Cross tried to get up the heel would come straight down. The heel along with the glyph that appeared in between. Much like a splash when a metallic ball is droped into the water so a stream of darkness shot upwards. Cross would feel something surge through his heart area, a darkness and then, he would not feel anything regarding it ever being there.

Being that Cross was unable to get up, he must not have been able to do his intended bear hug. The it used the heel as a spring board and forced himself in a backward spin before landing gracefully on the ground. The it continued.

"Well now, that was amusing. I still don't get why the Omniscient one would that but...oh well. Its not like I want to know."

Time lapse before beginning of battle: less than 15 seconds.

"hmmm, now for the troubling other...."

((sorry, I've been sick, but I just don't have the energy to catch up right now...I'll be back later...))