Welcome to Gaia! ::

As the beam passed the five strands of light circling around it broke away from the main mass. Their path diverted, turning on a dime to chase down Dante, apparently quite a bit more real that their beam-type counterpart. As the ground began to split Shar simply took one step to the side, allowing the split to carry him further to one side. If, by chance, the split was actually causing things to fal down instead of simply split apart as suggested, he'd continue taking sidesteps. Either way, the mage did not seem impressed. "KI BOMB!" yelled the mage, throwing out a spherical blast aimed to rock Dante's world.

((Eh, its ok. Still got until tomorrow night, I believe.))

With a titanic explosion a great deal of the temple would look as though it had simply been obliterated by the 'ki bomb.' The weather effects from outside streamed in under the same illusion, but the actual bits of the temple were still there. Dante's hunch that the streams would continue to follow him was spot on, each of them weaving through true and illusionary debris in their chase. As the pulsating aura continued to expand it also began to move forward, the mage looking unhappy as he strides through the apparently half-destroyed temple. The mage would break out into a run, his features blurring as he thrust an arm forward to toss out a cloud of knives intent of skewering Dante.

The mage continued to rush forward, a shaft of light dancing through the air before him as he slides into the onset of the mudslide. The flow of mud passing him by to leave him untouched as it was forced away by his aura alone. With an illusionary knife protruding from his skull he charged on, the five streams converging as he unleashes a powerful blast of magical force in the form of a shockwave. Mud turns to solid rock as its blasted away, the energy in the blast searing away all the water within. His aura continues its expansion as his features continue to blur, white wisps dancing through the air in large quantities.

Dante would find very little progress on his ministrations on the mud and rock around the mage, the blurred man still charging forward. Mud and rock was being blasted away from him by the shockwave rapidly closing the distance between the two men, ensuring there was no true enclosure. Each of the five streams of light would aim to strike Dante, convering from all four sides and from above, slicing through rock or mud if necessary. Should the rock stop its flight away from the tremendous (very real) blast of force to actually attempt to crush the charging mage it would find a physical barrier halting its advance, retreating slowly as the mage charged onward. It seemed as though the mere strength and what one might call a spiritual pressure of his aura was creating a barrier, within which chakra manipulation becomes increasingly difficult if anything could get inside.

Dante had it all wrong. Shar wanted to fight this out tooth and nail, rough and dirty as close as possible. He wanted to hear the splatter of the man's blood and feel the crack of bones under the strain of his attacks. Each of the five streams did not, in fact, fade away, but pulled back instead as if to guard Shar's final approach. The pulse of his aura was overwhelming, the scent of desert sands drifting through the air as his facade began to degrade. Images of the mage began to peel away to reveal a man his polar opposite, with sleek spikes of blue hair and fierce red eyes that burned like the noonday sun.

The shifting sands took to the winds, slowly deconstructing one image for another, that of a man fit for a desert. With the five strands crossed before him and a staff held for support he came to a halt no more than a five feet from Dante. All around Dante there seemed to be the sheer presence of this man, choking the air and bearing down on him like the weight of a world. Chakra would begin to retreat back through the pores as the massive strength of his very soul manifest cut off access and enveloped Dante. The massive spiritual pressure was so intense that he didn't even seem to set foot on the ground, the floor cracking away at a mere touch. As a large spiked ball took shape on one end of his staff he looked to Dante with his fierce eyes. He spoke without malice, "I would have thought you to be smarter than this. I have established control, doing nothing but dominate this place, all the while allowing you to play around with the toys of my brother's mind." He would not be interrupted, continuing to speak even if Dante attempted to break in with a comment or assault. He'd have no way of breaching the barrier, no means of escape, no way to land a blow. Shar would be surprised if the immense pressure didn't crush the life from Dante outright.

Standing within striking range of Dante the lean man would shake his head, "It is a pity you cannot wholy understand your doom." The motion that followed was simple, his staff lifting frim the ground and extending forcefully to ram the end into Dante's gut, following him if he moves back with even more force the further he goes. Should the strike miss the staff would continue in a fluid motion into a quick revolutionin in the direction opposed to Dante's dodge. Regardless, Dante would find it difficult to move at any great speed or utilize any chakra effectively with the oppresive force of Shar's aura exerting pressure throughout the area. He was effectively turning the fight into a melee brawl, stripping away superhuman characteristics and supernatural manipulations, exactly what Dante was looking for, despite fighting against it. How odd.

Each of the five strands hanging around Shar converged at the tip of the blade as it thrust forward, the first among them detonating in a brilliant display. The sheer force of the blast, being of force and not of any magical quality, would slow or deflect the blade enough such that Shar could react adequately. Moving to his right the staff would subtly shift in flight to strike the side of the blade with enough force to damage even the strongest of metals. This would also reveal another quality, in that if it were built of some stronger element a burst of light would accompany any contact with the blade. This extra expenditure would produce a burst of kinetic force, nonmagical in nature, strong enough to damage even the "indestructable" metal adamantium, though it would be much more likely that the blade would simply be torn from Dante's hands and thrown some great distance.

With a wide sweep he flicked the staff out to his right side, both hands firmly gripping one end as if it were the hilt of a massive blade. Beyond the tip of the staff there did indeed seem to be the faint image of a truly massive blade, much too large to even be contained by the building. A surge of golden light pulsed around each of his hands as he shifted his grip on the staff, a spiked ball errupting from the end of the staff. Allowing it to trail behind him slightly he stepped forward, drawing it forward wsith immense strength, aimed to slam the 3ft diameter spiked ball through Dante's torso.