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"Nothing. Nor is there anything wrong with you."

Siat smiled childishly and offered his hand to help her up.

"And yet, you're unhurt. Funny that."

Siat left his hand hanging there.

"Look, I didn't say my training was going to be easy. In fact, it's not, it's going to be exhausting and absolutely terrifying. That was my training on a level 1, imagine it on a 10. Now, get up."

"No. Now, tell me what part of you you want trained the most."

"OSHI--" As the runes engulfed the staff Shouyin quickly released it, unaware of their actual effect, but not wanting to hold a thing covered in the kind of symbols that could do most anything if you knew your s**t. The wrecking ball would smack off the pavement as the layer of Shadow separated Shouyin from his element, much to his distaste.

"Hmmz..." he'd exhale slowly, sorta mulling over things during this brief moment of peace within all that chaos nonsense. Suddenly, his eyes would flare, and overtop the runes scrawled about his right arm a burst of Shadow flames would erupt in time with the explosion of his staff, engulfing his t-shirt and burning it away but leaving his flesh apparently unharmed. The flames would spread across his chest, and fall around his left arm, coating it along with his right. Gradually the fire would die out, and both of Shouyin's arms, up to the upper corners of his chest, would be layered with a hardened sheen of Shadow; the onyx-looking armor absorbing light in a manner quite similar to that gate that held Nothing.

Flexing his new guns, the half-golem would then try to apply some Shadow manipulation jazz to this platform beneath him-- not a whole lot of concentration offered, just a testing of the waters to see if he could clear away some of the crap about his feet. In time with this he'd try briefly to analyze the nature of the layer, and the remaining Shadow clones before taking his own fighting stance, right arm and leg taking the lead.

"Come on, let's do this."

::Its amazing how easy it is to do some things if you really try and do said things. Shadow Armor, shadow flame, he was growing fast. He didnt even use the book for those, but Shouyin it seemed had learned a very useful lesson, for simple commands, a Shadow Wielder doesnt really need runes at all. It was as easy as giving a command, and one could even swear there was a voice in the distant corner of Shouyins mind which whispered "As you wish..." as he commanded the flames.

And in the distance the woman adjusted her seating and smiled a most amused.

As he tried to reach into the shadows below he would feel resistance. It was less like he could not reach and more like the shadows themselves didnt want to listen. In conversation it would be similar to the shadows seeming very hesitant and then saying "no."

But, more analyzation would have to wait until after the fight was over. As the main shadow warrior broke into a full dash the ground almost adding an extra spring to his step to give him extra speed, and finally once within attack range he broke out a straight right punch at Shouyins face.::

Shouyin would furl his brow in disappointment at the floor's denying response and make a 'tch' sound before this assailant of his began its attack. Well, at least like this there was only one of them, and tougher or not Shou was gonna break him.

As the punch came in Shouyin would duck in and underneath, the fist just brushing past the top of his head as he bent down low. Keeping his left hand up by his face, the half-golem would step forward with his left, rearing back his right arm in time with the step and throwing a heavy straight right punch for the clone's right knee, aiming to bash it in backwards.

To tell the truth, Owle wasn't thinking she particularly needed Vahn's help right now. If she wanted to get away from these two, it'd be as simple as shifting into something small and fast, slipping out of Knights' grip and running the other way.

The trouble was, she wanted to know what was going on more than she wanted to get away.

"Didn't think what would happen? What are you..."

"Don't move..."

Owle made a face, and was about to open her mouth in a retort and to ask why she shouldn't when Jean started explaining. If you could call it that. Owle didn't understand a word.

"What?"

First instinct, then her mind started working on the more serious questions. "Who's Henry? Aren't sure how what's supposed to work? Deity is Sun, right? So something's...sucking up magic? And...what's happening? Just...what? What do you mean, unwanted attention? You mean gods and demons and s**t?

"...more than usual, anyway," she murmured the last bit to herself. She shook her head, raising her voice again. "What the hell is going on?"