Welcome to Gaia! ::

Cue slow-motion cameras as the swordsman leapt, Shouyin's head turning to follow him through the air as his stance shifted once more, right taking the lead as he landed. Agility, that was an annoying attribute. The half-golem could powerhouse it up and remain fairly quick, but this guy still outmatched him in terms of speed, which was a nuisance.

While the blade had a rather significant reach, ten feet was still a good distance, and as his foe advanced, so would Shouyin, taking a quick step forwards with his left and then pushing off it and throwing his right leg up and in front once more, leaping into his opponent knee first. He should only be a few inches (maybe half a foot) off the ground, depending on the height difference between the two opponent's, since he was aiming to drive his knee into the man's solar plexus.

This guy had speed, but he was still attacking horizontally, and the half-golem was just gonna drive right on through, leaping inside the strike, bringing his forearm's up with elbows tucked in for upper body protection, and wacha'ing it up. Of course the stone that'd protected his neck would retreat back underneath the skin, a new layer forming around the right side of his torso and his right thigh for protection from the slash.

Note: I'm assuming the sword is held in the left hand, or in both with the left on top, since you never mentioned otherwise.

"Oh, hello," the scientist said, "I don't beleive it can be helped, Ymiristan has been collecting water samples to send back to HQ, but anything we collect is a negative, normal water, it seems. I believe the ocean is filled with an undiscovered species of plankton which is causing the current phenomenon, but seeing as we can't collect a positive sample in areas of recent activity, I have no way of testing my hyopohesis. As you can see, we've lost contact with the national headquaters."

The scientist pointed to the beached Serpant Nuclear submarine. As this event preceeded the attack on Yaits city, there was no knowledge that Ymiristan was soon to cease existing as a nation.

"I'm quite baffled as to how to collect a sample,"

::Unfortunately, his hair simply ripped out as easily as you might rib a dolls hair out. It really didnt hold much weight at all. Crackling could be heard from the mans ankles and knees as he charged forward. Much like a machine, it isnt a matter of muscle strength, its a matter the endurance of the parts in question. As it stood, his legs appeared to be taking the wieght rather harshly.

The hand however, would find the biggest surprise. Digging into ones eyes should be squishy and wet, these were, the eyes were brittle and hard, and instead of squishing they cracked, popped and gave in. It was like poking a whole in cardboard, entirely too easy. In a few seconds he would even hear the clink of its "eyes" hitting the inside of its feet. And while Shouyin's eyes should have been covered in blood and tears at this moment, he instead found absolutely nothing. His fingers poked in, and from the inside could feel...empty space. Its head was quite literally empty. If he needed a hint tht this "thing" wasnt human. That was it.

It seemed to ignore where there should have been pain, and just charged forward aiming to smash him into the car just the same. Meanwhile a few dozen feet ahead, a few screams were heard pouring out of the bar, soon silenced by the sound of a slicing sword. And fron the front door of the bar with the shattered window....walked the man from earlier.

The term "man" being used lightly. As the front of his entire torso, chest, and crotch was missing. It looked as if it was simply shattered away. And it was. It was like someone slammed a mannequin with a sledgehammer. But while cracks echoed out across the body, the shoulders, back, neck, and arms, were still attached. As were figures legs, though barely. And it made its way forward, still carrying its sword, and shuffling its way over...these things didnt quit.::

::It obviously wasnt the most highly defended creature on Gaia. But it wasnt that fragile. The impact to the side of the head went undefended, but it didnt collapse the things head just yet. A spiderweb of cracks echoed out from impact point across most of the face. Its head jerked to the side, but it refused to stop.

The thing, flung its arms up, aiming to dig its hands into Shouyin's eyes to return the favor. At the very least it would impair Shouyin's vision so that hopefully he wouldnt be able to see the first clone running up behind the second aiming to run it through, so as to run Shouyin through as well.::

::Shouyin probably wouldnt be too surprised, but his fist did not simply impact the cracked face, it crunched right through it. And almost immediately the shadow doll fell lifeless onto him, and seconds later quite literally vanished in a tuft of black.

The second shadow doll, turned rather violently from the car to face the grounded Half Golem. His sword wretched back ready to slash downwards when he quite literally exploded. There was no audible bang, but pieces of him went in all directions and seconds later turned into what seemed to be black smoke, that simply slithered away, the shadows spiraled around for a second before shooting off around one particular woman. In the comotion she'd probably slipped in unnoticed. But everything about her screamed trouble.

Maye it was the slight curls in her impossibly black hair. Or the way the shadows slipped in with her dress, a dress that rested on her form so gently it seemed the slightest wind would just blow it away, but it didnt. Or maybe it was how that look on her face balanced deviousness and innocence on a knifes edge. She stood out in a crowd like few girls can, but no one seemed to be directly looking at her and she only stood long enough to give Shouyin the most innocent smile. And then she turned around, slipping into the sea of people that had gathered around the fight.::

::The bar was almost entirely empty except for 3 people. And only one of them was sitting at the actual bar, the others were at nearby tables each staring into their cups, as if they were too trashed to even lift their heads to look elsewhere.

The place reaked of booze and old wood, from one end to the other. The scent was hardly inviting, niether was the bartender. He just cleaned some a shot glass and waited for Shouyin to get in range before setting it down on the table and calling out, in a rather flat tone.::

What can I getcha mac'?

::The bartender flipped a bottle of whiskey from under the sink, poured it into the shot glass and slid it down the table. The guy at the counter just tapped the table twice, and the bartender pulled a black and red bottle from beneath the table and poured the both of them into his glass without a word. And then he turned back to Shouyin, with a simple, flat.::

Yup.

::Before picking up a glass another wet glass and starting to dry it off. He was still facing Shouyin as if he was waiting for a little more on what Shou wanted to know. He wasnt very friendly at all. But if you spent all day in a place like this, you probably wouldnt be either.::

What business you got with Latent?