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Xol smiled, arms still crossed in front of his chest as he listened to Than go on and on. When the boy stopped blathering, he chose to reply. "Yes Than, I have found someone I care very deeply for. With that comes a certain sense of responsibility I've never had before. I have to make her happy to make me happy. In fact I believe she just broke the news to her former husband and family. More on topic though, she instructed me not to attack you because she knows if I do, I'll kill you."

He adjusted his weight to his left leg and let his arms uncross to find their way to his trouser pockets. Learning Thanatos was blind took even more fun out of any contest that could have started. "Wait, wait... even better. Sir, you murdered a blind kid and eviscerated his corpse into soft meaty chunks afterwards? I have a reputation to uphold and beating up on blind kids is one thing I'd like to keep off my resume. And for the record I've done more damage to the Citadel and it's inhabitants then any other being here in the region. Especially Nana... mmmmm... she was finger licking good. Angel meat is so tasty." Xol cooed, sliding a tongue over his fangs and thinking back to when he and Nana had fun in his Keep. That was quite the night.

Within Moments, her head gave a sharp pain, as if someone grabbed a tazer and slammed it against her brain. She growled in Pain and anger as She grabbed her head with both hands. her knees wanted to give, but locked keeping her upright. She snapped her eyes open at elergy as they surged with black energy, swirling with her natural Blue. I need to leave here...her gunlet Firing up again on its own, as a chain like substance poured out and crawled up her arm. She can feel her heart growing colder as if all the emotions were being pulled out.

Her mind replaying the Past Fight with Xol, over and over as a burning anger boiled within her as he was blaming her for someone named Phia. She turned and made her way through the dojo, and out the back, blasting any furniture in her way, Pushing the doors apart with waves of sonic waves. the back door flew off the hinges, as she stumbled out like a drunk person, holding her head with her human hand. What the bloody hell is happening to me...

In the back of his mind, Than was cursing at himself for not accounting for Xol's evasion speed. Not a moment after firing the blast, Than had replanted a foot on the ground and slowed himself down to a stop, again thanks to his training with Sho. But even so, the thing Thanatos had more of in this fight than Xol could probably understand was the motivation to come out the victor. It was a primitive desire that, however much of a barbarian Than or someone else may have believed Xol to be, Xol would probably fail at really understanding.

With no regard for elegance or smoothness in his motion, Than would turn himself with Xol's motion, attempting to keep himself facing the man. In the process he would reveal the technique he'd started to pick up from Slayer: the Mach Punch. Even in mid-turn, Than's gold aura had started to surround his fist and right forearm, as he drew the arm back to unleash on Xol. The best way to describe the attack to anyone who was watching would be 'desperate.' As Xol formed and let fire the dark matter orb, Than thrust his fist right at the anomolous formation, colliding his supercharged fist with the mysterious matter. As he threw the powerful punch, Than screamed in rage and primal agression; now it was a matter of whether the orb would give out first or Than's fist, but Than wasn't going to give it a chance. After just a brief instant since his fist collided with the dark matter, Than dramatically increased the output of his power through his fist, and in no more than the moment Xol was distracted by Phia's imminent danger, the super charged punch would grow until Xol had a massive, continuous blast coming at him, either destroying his dark matter orb or hurling it right back into his chest. Eventually the blast would also start forcing Than back by several feet each second, with Than still trying to hold his footing. It was a good example of going overkill, if nothing else.

Amidst the soon raging blast though, Than would fold his left arm behind his back, placing his fist behind the small of his back.

It would take a moment for Than to realize that Xol was no longer in the path of his blast, although the realization would come too late for part of the dojo wall. The entire wall for about 15 feet across in one section would be completely blown out by the firepower Than had unleased.

Of course, even Xol couldn't gather a massive amount of dark matter in an instant, so Than had time to prepare for what was coming at least. It had taken enough energy just to repel the dark matter orb, and Than wasn't keen on gathering up a proportional amount of energy to block a concentrated beam of the stuff.

But how else could he avoid being vaporized? There was but one option left open to him. That technique, the one he'd developed on his own, the one that had leveled a mountain range when he tested it with too much compression. Was it really wise to reveal one of his three new trump cards this soon, even if it was probably the least useful of them? It was better than getting vaporized. But was there enough time to gather enough of the energy he needed to counter Xol's dark matter beam? It took a long time to compress the energy and particles, even if it wasn't as much as he'd used.

Yes! That was the way. Seeing the answer staring him literally in the face, Than began acting instantly. Holding up his hands with his fingers partially curled toward Xol, with his right sleev completely obliterated from countering Xol's last attack, Than began gathering three kinds of energies in front of him, the first and closest was his own golden aura, which was forming what look like a curved surface, the concave end facing Xol. Just in front of that were gathering two kinds of unfamiliar energy, although the two began to meld together in an organized fashion, not unlike positive and negative charges, reaching equilibrium.

Than had gathered what looked like only a little bit of the two other energies and a lot of his own aura by the time Xol fired. The dark matter beam crashed into the two other energies first, trapping them between the dark matter and Than's aura as it made contact with Than's barrier. The ferocity of the impact instantly forced Than on one knee. Seconds that felt like minutes passed with Than under the crushing impact of Xol's beam, but beneath it all, Than's plan was working perfectly. Now all he needed to do was hold on long enough. Holding his barrier barely intact, Than managed to shout above the colliding energy's cacophony. "WHAT!!? IS THIS IT!? IS THIS ALL YOU'VE GOT, XOL!? LOOKS LIKE I WAS RIGHT AFTER ALL--"

Than cut off the remainder of his statement as the two energies between him and Xol's beam suddenly seemed to dissolve into one another, bit by bit, slowly becoming more potent and unstable. There was no way Than could have compressed the opposing energies into the 'mega'-particles he needed for his technique, but using Xol's own immense power, he had compressed them in no time. Now, the concave barrier Than had made started to narrow, closing around Xol's beam and the energy he'd compressed, almost like the barrel of a weapon. All that was needed was the salt on the open wound. "-BECAUSE EECHEB IS A HELL OF A LOT STRONGER THAN THIS!!!" At the same moment, the compressed energy reached its critical point, and the so called mega-particle cannon fired right back at Xol thanks to the direction of Than's aura. Xol would find that these mega-particles were much more dense than the dark matter he'd formed, and it wouldn't take long for the devastatingly powerful attack to start forcing back the very energy Xol had used to compress the particles to this form. Even Than's barrier wasn't sufficiently concentrated to keep random beams from lashing out a Than, damaging both his clothing and his body to a noticable extent while the beam rushed in Xol's directon, anything in its path to be reduced to only the simplest of particles.

The mega-particle cannon would only be slowed so much by the retaliatory blast, before continuing past where Xol had disappeared from, leaving a vivid but brief glowing trail once most of the mega-particles had been unleashed, soaring from the dojo high into the sky. If only it had hit Xol, it would have been a brilliant way to die. But alas, Than's use of the technique was last minute desperation to save his life; the technique was the least useful, although possibly the most powerful, of his new techniques simply because of how long the set up took and how easy it was for the stronger beings in the BC to dodge, as Xol had done. It's purpose was to be used against larger targets to destroy large masses. Such a technique could even obliterate one of Tegral's ships if it was charged to the full capacity Than could use.

The other thing that was Than's saving grace right now was how far behind him Xol had appeared; nearly 100 meters was more than enough for Than to realize that Xol hadn't been obliterated by his attack. Not too surprisingly at that. At about the same time Xol had decided how to attack, Than could guess what was coming. As the first of the air blades approached, Than abandoned his barrel for his mega-particle cannon, performing a sharp back flip, just over the top of the first blade. Having released the containment, some of the mega-particles would collide with the blade, causing it to explode harmlessly. Although he'd already expended a lot of energy into trying to blast Xol into oblivion, and he was dangerously close to the blades, Than thrusted his mechanical arm forward, throwing a counter blast of his own at the second wave. However, he'd been too close , and the resulting explosion would spin Than violently into th ground, knocking the wind out of him. The good news was he was clear of the path of the last wave, which crashed into the rubble Than's second blast had left.

It took a few minutes and no witty remarks for Than to regain his composure. For that short while, he just laid on his back on the ground, letting his tension fade away now that Xol was gone. But still, Than started laughing, laying on his back. At first the laughing was like a drunkard, then turning to an amused laugh, and into the amplified laughter of a victor. He continued laughed for a full thirty seconds, forcing his laugh to be a loud as possible.

Blow for blow, he was capable of matching Xol. If only he'd been combat ready when coming here, he could have taken Xol head on perhaps. That was how far he'd come. Xol was now rivaled in his position as the strongest brute in the region. There was only a small difference between his physical ability and Than's now. Now all Than had to do was find a way to circumvent Xol's brutal tactics all together.... then there would be nothing to save Xol except Than's good will, which was not as sweet and forgiving as it had once been. More than that, Xol now had a weakness far bigger than physical strength.

The son of Mastema picked himself off the ground, and proudly marched out of the dojo through the opening he'd made. Perhaps if he felt like it, he would come back and fix the wall. For now, it was time to plan, it was time put his foot forward, it was time to start making himself known...

Trying to regain her balance, She was unfocused as her eyes were shifting with blue and black. memories flooding in and out of her mind. She glanced around not knowing what was real or not, seeing people standing in one place, gone the next. Her Gunlet Sizzling with energy uncontrolled Sending out sparks and waves that killed plant life in a foot radius of her.. She dropped her to knees, her eyes blinking trying to focus. Everything was so Blurry........

Lights Out.