Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Are you calling me a coward now? Inviting me to retreat?"

Ariyoul was reading the invitation gingerly, icy eyes flickering over the words of challenge. He sighed, digging into his jacket pocket for his own invitation.

A fight for the ages...

"Our invitation only stated that," he started, "the only thing happening was a fight that would go down in UG history, apparently. I would've came nevertheless, no matter how uninviting the invitation may seem - who knows, the promise in the invitation may certainly be a lie.

"We're all here because we're hoping on something. Isn't that right? What if you do kill both Kirei and me? What then? What if your promise is broken, and your sister is found dead," he nodded at Fable, then turned to Aeolus, "and your partner is dead as well? Our hopes are all lying on a string.

"Before you may ask, the only thing I came here for is the adrenaline. I lust for the fight," he snarled, the pins resting in between his fingers.

Kirei stared at his partner in shock. When had his partner looked so... menacing?

"I'm here because Ariyoul said so. And there was something at the bottom of my invitation..."

He approached Aeolus cautiously, and handed him the card.

"It says, 'Deny this, and you'll end up in a predicament worse than erasure.' It isn't... quite... encouraging."

"Mmhmm. Believe me, I'm going to have to, what with your cheap tricks."

He slipped out of Fable's range, rolling backwards and landing gracefully on his feet. He didn't plan to break a sweat dodging. Even though it went against his morals to move so cowardly, if he was to get hit by him, he knew he would be weakened considerably.

The tech waited for a blind spot.

"These days, not a single fighter can live up honestly. They all have to cheat to win, don't they? I assure you, with the use of weapons like that, victory will be ensured onto me by default. True warriors don't depend on something that does the work for them."

With the sharp remark, Ariyoul slipped by the bridge, the water crashing, some droplets splashing onto his jacket. He pulled up a pin, Yoshimitsu, and gripped it harshly, powerfully enough for his knuckles to show a genuine white.

"If I die here, I'll die with dignity, knowing that the one who killed me had not used his own abilities, broken a deal, and had so eagerly planned this from the start."


Kirei took a seat, inviting Aeolus next to him.

"Their tempers are memorable... How short. I hadn't expected something so short from the two of them."

He chuckled and asked, "I don't plan to be fighting... and neither do you. Why don't you sit and we talk for a little while?

"I remember being little and being so impatient. Now, looking at these two, I don't think I was ever this bad."

Ariyoul saw the flames burst suddenly, feeling the flames lick through his clothes and burning into his flesh. He hung his head and began to laugh hysterically, savoring the pain.

"Hell? You think this is hell?"

As he laughed, he rolled into the river, quenching the flames abruptly, bringing the smallest of relief to his burns. He chuckled with amusement.

"And you nag at me for being weak. That was delicious. Woke me to a fight."

He had heard Aeolus' explanation of the psychs, both his and Fable's, and smiled grimly, looking for a time for when the fire would die down and he could climb back onto land - he knew that he would be vurnerable in the water. He was glad he was a swift, powerful swimmer.

His cool attitude would not break under his watchful self. If Fable's psych needed his anger - or was the anger that the psych needed have to come from its master? - then he would have to stay nonchalant and calm.

He will not lose his composure. He won't. If he became as furious as last time, the place would disappear, and he'd keep going. The pins in his hand...

The anger suddenly flickered in his mind an image of... himself? The blood on his face, the lust of killing in his insane eyes... Will that be the rage Fable was so mythed in trying to get him into? Or was that another him, somewhere in a different dimension? If the Shibuya River was real, then another version of oneself must also exist.

"Aeolus, I can hear you. I don't need him to drop his weapon. What I want him to know is the dishonorable action in that. You give him a lot of credit, as I can see.

"Have you ever read Darren Shan? Aside from the awkwardness, one character that inspired my distaste toward weapons was a character named Vancha, who used only his mere strength - and a throwing star or two - to fight;he didn't depend on swords, that could reach and slice far, or bows that could snipe and be hidden. He faced the enemy face-to-face. That's motivational for my actions.

"My psych is only the pins that rest in my hand, and my ability to think. Battles don't require strength, it requires wit. A blundering fool with the power of a god can be easily taken down by a nimble, weak person who can think, as the example with David and Goliath so illustrates.

"Damn. Children that don't read these days."

Ariyoul looked at Fable, another simper and a laugh escaping his mouth.

"You'll never get me worked up, vexed, or the like, so don't depend on my emotions. I'll savor whatever pain you'll inflict. It'll show me I'm alive."

He tensed his thin legs then leapt out of the water, to the bridge where the fire didn't reach. Through the blinding flames, he fired the last of his Excalibur, all 5 bolts toward the possible directions he could possibly be. He put the pin away, and shuffled through his pins. Number 2...



Kirei looked back at Aeolus, putting on a face of interest, complete with bright eyes that depicted curiosity.

"Your psychs sound interesting... But why do they all relate to weapons? Because I don't need pins for my psych... but I still have them. My psych is psychokinesis, so I can find things with my fingers and throw them at people, like that soda machine I lobbed at Fable, and that bike that could've killed my partner."

He made an Eek! expression.

"It's fun, throwing things. You should try it sometime. If you can. And if I don't toss something at you first. That will always not be intentional, okay? I don't remember why I came here. My other psych is different from all of yours, I'm certain. The only old-Japanese-style dancer in this field."

He twiddled his thumbs, thinking back to his own best friend. ...Who was it again? He shrugged, not caring to remember. He was technically heartless after all.

"What color was your hair when you were born? Don't ask why I asked that; just, when I look at you and hear your name, I always think your hair should be a pale green. Don't take that offensively, okay? I'm just odd."