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"Illo!?" The shock shook from Xuza like pollen from a pine tree, and out came the info. "No, you can't fight him! I've seen what he can do." A step back. She was afraid, and it was all she could do to keep herself in the area. As she was warning Han and the others, the monk was dealing with Xeno relatively easily. The wires were repelled with telekinesis and sent every which way from the two of them.

"No... Please, stop!" Xuza was still frozen, and it didn't look like the fight was going to end after just one attack--as one could expect of any fight.

"Oh my... I think we're being attacked--though it is a little hard to tell," said the witch snickering. "It could be that this is some kind of gymnastics routine, or some exhibition. ... In any event," now a slight tightening of her face as her sight narrowed on the man who was the height of underhandedness: Han. His whole crew, they were now to learn what it was to spit on a god. "I think it's time we show these people what it means to stare down infinity. Don't you think, Illo?"

The monk's thousand-armed soul started to move, and the ethereal glowing arms with held different mudras suddenly launched themselves at the one known as Xeno. A couple dozen palms made of pure energy flew at Xeno like arrows--arrows that home in slightly, that is. They packed quite a punch, and wouldn't track electricity to Illo's body. There was no expression from the monk: no hate, no effort, not even that cocky smirk he wore into his sparring matches; as if was in a deep trance, unaware of everything he was doing.

Left without any option but to fight--as dictated by the witch who saw this group as antagonists for making the first move--Illo was now putting his years of demon slaying experience to work on the training field. It was odd to watch; Illo's reactions seemed slower, allowing Yata to get the better of him the first round, but it didn't seem to matter. The monk turned slowly to Yata, not following his movements as quickly as one might expect, and finished setting his feet to face the challenger just as his staff connected with his chin.

"You don't understand!" Cried the winged meister to Han. "That doesn't help us at all. I've seen him at his best. The guy made a mountain appear in the sky for Death's sake!" At this point Xuza was beginning to tremble. Out on the field it was becoming clear just how deep in they were. Illo, struck, stumbled off a few silent steps to the left and finally stopped, his head hung to the side. "... He did it without the slightest effort. Like he just had to think it and it happened." That hollow-eyed look waxed into view again as the monk straightened himself out and brought himself to face Yata as though nothing had happened. "How... How can you fight something like that!"

"Illo, dear... Please don't worry me like that!" Followed by cackling. "You're absolutely right though. ... No one can beat Illo!" Now she was looking to Xuza. "Not even the Furious Angel." And the fight continued as the witch taunted Xuza. Illo employed his spatial conversion to lengthen the distance between himself and Yata. On his next attack (but only for one turn) the distance between the two would be comparable to a certain infinite staircase.

"How--How do you know that name?"

"Oh... You wouldn't remember, would you," answered the witch with some disappointment. "... I was there, honey," her voice becoming as sweet, "with you always and through it all. ... No matter what place; no matter what time."

"Then you're..."

"Yes!"

"Paradox!" Xuza growled and swiped her hand across the air in front of her and drew out a rapier and a devilish grin on the witch's face. Wings burst from the meister's back, and their inky blackness rippled and shimmered rapidly as Xuza leapt into the air after her sworn enemy. She warped right around Han, taking the fight to Paradox in the air.

It was about this time when Yata and Xeno were taking their turns trying to solve this problem. Yata seemed to want to take on Paradox directly, while Xeno was biding his time with a more coverage-based strategy. Either way, Illo wasn't about to let it happen. Under Paradox's influence, the godly monk directed some of his arms to smash Yata's attack at the stem, pruning off all his fists before they got to her. She and Xuza went at it; warping and stabbing, and screaming from the meister, quiet chuckling and teleporting from the witch. At one point Xuza ran into one of Xeno's kites, sending her groundward for an instant before she warped and landed correctly, panting.


"Why don't you die!"

"Why don't you hit me?" The witch kept taunting Xuza, not to mention holding her full control on Illo, as she flew and teleported around the arena, seeming to have no limit to her power either. "Xuza... This is what you've been searching for... Please, try a little harder?" Xuza snarled. "It was so inspiring, the way you dedicated yourself to killing me so fully. I had such hope just watching you pursue it! ... But now, it looks like that spark couldn't light a significant fire; try as you might, it was all for show: when you went to the future, when you trained alone for twenty years just so others wouldn't be burnt by your white-hot vendetta."

"Shut up!"



"You know you can't beat me, and yet here you are." A sigh escaped the witch's lips as the two found themselves standing in mid-air; Xuza panting. "Maybe I'm just getting bored of your heroic charm. It no longer satisfies me to know that you want to kill me; how could I be thrilled if there's no threat of it actually coming true! ... And your friends, they don't seem to be powerful enough either. Forget about Illo, you need to focus on what's in front of you. Let me help you."

A snap of her fingers and the intrepid meister was in such pain her eyes had almost burst their blood vessels. She fell to the ground like a stone dropped into a deep lake, landing in a broken heap and writhing, her wings shuddering and growing and shrinking rapidly, randomly, as her wavelength oscillated on the edge of sanity at an incredible rate. It wasn't anyway as powerful as Illo's, but it was clear something was going on here.

Meanwhile Illo pushed two powerful telekinetic blasts at Yata and Xeno. His wings, made of mudra arms, folded and readjusted constantly. He fell into a Wing Chun stance and motioned for the two to come at him.

"You'll see, my darling meister," said Paradox lilting to the floor of the training field, "in time you'll be more powerful than you can imagine. ... Just look how far you've come, chasing me." At this point she flashed a cheeky smirk to Han. "Hunting is such good exercise, after all." As the battle wore on Illo proved he was a treat to all in the vicinity by launching palms from his wavelength at all present, even Han and Amara and Salvia would have to be careful, lest they take a strong blast of energy on directly.

The group was fighting valiantly, even beginning to work together as they made another push to try and break the monk. Unfortunately for them this was an opponent who was quite used to multi-staged attacks. Thank training with three thousand possible adversaries for that. This was of course compounded by the fact his powers were comparable to the fiasco at the lab.

Illo seemed to be smarter, or at least quicker, than he was before. As Xeno’s galvanised weapon came at him the Iron Phoenix employed a simple but effective Wing Chun kick block to bat the strike away from his torso; the electricity bounced off his wavelength, some of it leaving minor burns on his skin. It gave him the chance to shoot a quick Wing Chun side kick at Xeno’s solar plexus. Next was Yata. His attack wasn’t so difficult to block. The monk didn’t have to be put off balance or in an awkward position to aim his kick at Xeno, so he was prepared for the wavelength meister’s strike. From the outside his hand came to press just below Yata’s elbow. He held that pressure, guiding Yata to side slightly and opening up his ribs for a quick but strong Tan Da. These strikes, if they hit either, as it was likely they would, would be much more powerful than the ethereal palm strikes of earlier.



“... You’re really going to try me, aren’t you?” said the witch with a smoldering hatred in her voice. “Fine! I’ll leave you to deal with both these monsters if you think you’re so clever.” And away she went, leaving a small wake of madness in the silence that filled her space. Meanwhile, Xuza was shaking. After a moment of that something odd started to happen. She seemed to be aging and growing young rapidly, flipping through life stages as though they were songs on a mediocre playlist. Illo’s power, on the other hand, had yet to decrease, but at least Paradox didn’t seem to be a problem at the moment.