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Qwy shook his head, a single hand flicking out to gesture towards the spirits, "Not you. When it is not your time to leave the living and pass your body and energy back to the world from which you were created, returning is no crime. These spirits, their request is unnatural." From the thin layer of grasses about his feet abnormal roots sink into the ground, as if born from Qwy's body. With fingers curled he brings both hands up to his chest and throws them down to his sides, pointing away from his body in a fourty-five degree angle. With each finger fully extended and the palm facing Yusuke it becomes evident that each digit is alight with a particular verdant glow, pinpoints of energy gathering at the tips of each.

Between the druid and the spirit detective several small explosions would lead up to the largest one, scattering chunks of earth in all directions. When the dust and debris settled Qwy stood staring across the way to Yusuke, not having moved an inch. Several of the orbs accumulating at his fingertips had gone, but were quickly being replaced as the remaining grew in strength. The roots connecting him to the ground began to extend deeper into the soil, drawing in strength from the world's life force directly. Slowly shaping it he extended his own hand towards the spirit detective, whips of grass lashing out to grip his arm as his hand matched the positioning of Yusuke's, "An old dog learning new tricks..." An orb to match Yusuke's issued forth, a brilliant green orb of energy expanding from the pinpoint in flight.

((This post is going to suck, as I've little time. I may extend it later for detail but keep the basic flow. This assumes that the mummy is animated. If its not, he'd just charge (no dialogue) and make mental note of the mummy.))

Qwy could smell it, the unnatural thing that was Kijad. The roots at his feet continued their growth, ensuring they did not interupt any of the dead, while he continued to gather his energy. With the pinpoints growing at his fingertips he extended a hand to gesture to the mummy of Kijad, "Unnatural BEAST! Return to your eternal rest, and find peace in the continuous cycle of life itself."

((>.> Well, pretty much. I mean he's rooted to the spot and has enough energy pumping into him to run a small city for a week. Again, short post, I appologize.))

The druid would continue to charge the majority of the spheres, taking aim at Yusuke with one of the medium sized orbs and launching it at him. The roots continue to expand.

Something was happening to the bald man, he seemed to be... swelling? Yes, that was a good word for it. Getting more massive in all ways as he gathered spiritual energy.

You know young man, power isn't all about what one can do in the here and now.

His voice has changed too, becoming deeper, older, wiser. The spirit bullets he had been charging in his fingers begin to flicker as well, bleeding blue energy to reveal a brilliant emerald green.

Some people spend their entire lives attempting to gather the kind of strength that we two have been shedding without care since this match began. For them, it might even be enough. Will it be ever be enough for you, I wonder. I don't believe it ever will...

A dull whisper breaths through the arena as the wind kicks up gently. It whirls around the druid like the caress of a lover, and a new kind of tension replaces that of the old. It seems kind and loving, the warmth of family and friends around oneself. Behind it however... it was clear that the druid was drawing deep. A different kind of spiritual power was swelling up in the arena now. The green charges in his finger erupt and spread across his arms like the rampant growth of ivy.


((Ignore the skinny dude beside him. >_> Actually, use it as a reference to how big he used to be.))

He claps his massive hands in front of him, and then plunges the limbs into the earth.

I believe it is time for a change of scenery.

The arena quakes, and a forest bursts from the dead soil.

No, seriously. A ******** forest. Yusuke would be able to feel the process quite clearly as all of the accumulated energy Qwy had been storing up was released and fueled the growth of hundred of trees. Within moments, the druid had prompted two or three years of growth from the massive cedars that now filled the arena. What had been quick sand and graves was now lush trees and thick bushes. The graves were still there, but they had been displaced and thrown around at random.

No bodies though, curious as that may be. And Qwy himself was now hidden from view behind a thick grove of trees.

Now then, shall we? You have me at a disadvantage boy, I've used up my current charge of power. Best strike while the iron's hot.

In response to Yusuke's words, Qwy... chuckled.

It was a deep, rolling sound that echoed across the treetops. Branches and leaves that swayed in the winds seemed to ripple with its passage. From Yusuke's vantage point, it would look like multiple pebbles dropped into a still pond with each syllable. It wasn't a mocking sound either, nor was there even the smallest hint of scorn. The Druid seemed immensely appreciative of the statement, and it took a while for the jovial laughter to die down. However, to Yusuke's senses the merriment would be the source of deep concern. Not only did it bounce around the forest confusingly, deceiving the ear, but it also seemed to come from everywhere at once. Once this fact has realized itself in the former Spirit Detective's head another fact presented itself. Qwy's power had not simply faded. There was no bang and release like Yusuke's own Spirit Gun, it wasn't even the tangible dispersion that so many of his previous opponents had demonstrated with impunity. No... it was more akin that the Druid had simply spread himself out across the forest like a quilt. The power still had the same mass and weight, but the shape of it had changed. Amidst the happy, rolling laughter the creeping dread that all beings feel would begin to make its way up Yusuke's back. That niggling feeling that was a throw back to our most ancient of existences. Whether we be human, angel, demon or other, that feeling told us all the same primordial thing...

Yusuke was being watched.

Truly, it is my greatest pleasure that we have had the chance to meet like this young warrior.

Qwy's voice, unlike his laugh, came from a very direct source. In the forest below, Yusuke's keen eyesight would be able to pick the motion of the man out as he slid between the trees towards the fighter.

Tasting your power has been refreshing, after so long among so few I tend to forget the breath and depth of experience while it is still fresh in the mind's of the young.

The man was still grown. Unlike Toguro the Younger; whose massive frame was pure muscle piled atop muscle piled atop steel, hatred, and more muscle, Qwy was grace and form simply increased in size. The man himself did not seem so large from a distance, nor so powerful. Even his nearly ten foot stature seemed dwarfed down to humble height while in the presence of the newly formed trees. (Trees which seemed to be growing still, albeit at a more sedate pace as Qwy's power pulsed through them like the stately march of the beating heart.) Sure he was big, and if one was to judge solely on the body's formation he could have been an archaic Adonis adorned in green, but Qwy was neither monstrosity nor abomination in this form.

Truly that experience has served you well. I can taste that once your spirit energy raged and roared rampant inside your body as you sated your constant battle-lust against a never ending flood of fiercesome foes.

Qwy stops at the base of Yusuke's tree, looking up at the younger man passively. It might seem odd, that this man he had never met knew so much about Yusuke. But was it, truly? Champion of living world, uncrowned king of demon world, bringer of change where-ever he stepped. Was it so strange that others knew of his exploits in detail?

Many would find it odd, that with the awakening of your ancestral bloodline, that battle-lust has become tempered with iron control. More still would find it queer that you have been plagued with doubts and a loss of purpose. I however, understand entirely. You have done what few have accomplished before you by bringing balance to two astonishing polar opposites within you, by taking the middle road and finding strength in diversity where others would be met only by ineptitude.

Qwy places one of his huge hands humanely on the side of the tree, and like a bolt of lightning Yusuke was thrown from his body. For a moment, a heartbeat, Yusuke could see the world through Qwy's eyes.

Life's Web sang to Yusuke. Everything below, and everything above was connected through the great balance of Nature. There was no beginning, no end, only the endless cycle of birth, life, death, and birth again. And Yusuke could see it all, for that moment, that heartbeat, the Balance revealed itself to him. Yusuke could even begin to see how he fit into the Pattern of it all...

But then the sensation was gone, the moment, the heartbeat. All that was left was understanding. Qwy hadn't been attacking Yusuke, no, he had been communicating with him. It was a total information dump of the most primal and elemental kind. Qwy wanted Yusuke to know, that while the destruction of these beautiful trees would be a shame it would not in any way be the end. Life would go on. The trees would decompose and start the process of life all over again. This process of life and death was as crucial to the continued survival of everyone, not just the two men in the ring.

The true revelation however, was buried in that magnificent view of the world. Qwy considered this forest as the true triumph achieved in the tournament. A place that had belonged solely to death had once again been thrust into Life's Web. The balance was restored, life would go on, and Qwy well and truly believed that this victory was the true victory. And by giving Yusuke that moment, that heartbeat, he wanted the former Spirit Detective to join in his victory. Qwy wanted to share the pure exaltation that he felt from turning this barren graveyard into a lush forest. He wanted Yusuke to look back on this event one day and realize he had been part of something truly profound, so perhaps when that day came he too could view the day as a victory for all.

Of course, that would be after Qwy beat the hell out of Yusuke and won this
bloody tournament.

With an awesome

-=CRACK=-

Qwy ripped the now thirty foot tree from the loam and slammed it into earth, and hopefully take Yusuke with it.

Qwy sees the punch coming and his eyes widen in slight surprise. Instead of taking the blow on the cheek, the druid bents his head down and lets Yusuke's fist meet the thick bone of his forehead. Letting the tree go, Qwy rolls with the punches. Literally, as he falls back from the punch and tucks into a ball as he is sent soaring through the air and into another tree.

No, literally. Into the tree.

The druid's body literally melts into the wood at full speed and slides out the other side moments later, momentum completely canceled. The tree shutters, the branches waver, and some leaves fall. Otherwise neither seem to be ill-effected.

Life's Web is in me...

Green mana condenses on Qwy's chest while Yusuke watches, scribing itself into an extremely detailed tattoo in black and green.


Your aura tells me many things Yusuke, most fighters would not have given me the time to taste it and come to know it. For one, it retains the hints of other auras it has come in contact with. People and places that have changed your life. Men such as your Ancestral Father, your friends, your enemies. A few of them are even known to me... Two come to mind as I savor the flavor of your aura. The first has left an especially strong impression on you, Yoko Kurama.

Trails of green ink snake across Qwy's chest from the tattoo, across his shoulders and down his arms. The green lines struggle mightly under his skin and around his knuckles, sprouting into vines and flowers while still under the skin. The plants force their way through his skin and bloom fully born from his body.

The one known as Kurama... the demon closest to the Druidic path. He truly understands life in a way that most demons never even sense, let alone embrace. I have never had the pleasure of meeting the fox, but our affiliates have been in contact. And through them it could be said we have traded cuttings and seeds, an act by which one learns much about a man. You are truly fortunate to know him.

The greenry on his hands shutter and flex, sprouting thorns and fanged edges. They look a bit like one of Kurama's Rose Whips, but covered Qwy's hands like gauntlets and sunk easily into his flesh.

The second is a more recent opponent of yours, the Demon Lord Yomi. He and I have shared many an afternoon together, though he knows it not. He developed and perfected his Demon Energy Wall in one of the most ancient forests in Demon World, and even honed these...

Qwy crosses his arms over his chest and reaches up to tap his ears, indicating the extra ones Yomi had grew to compensate for his loss of sight. The gesture finished, his lowers his hands slightly and holds his palms inwards slightly above his shoulders.

... by listening to the beasts of that forest move. It is a shame really, that he only heard the beasts in their mortal existence and did not listen to their connection to the Web of all. The insight would have opened his mind, or shattered it as entirely as I plan to do to your body.

Qwy smiles peacefully, and charges. It was not the rush of the bull or the boar, nor was it the plummet of the falcon or the strike of the cat. Qwy moved with the rippling udalation of the serpent, slipping through the trees with a silence and rapidity that should have been impossible accounting for his size. In a moment, the large man had closed the gap again and struck at Yusuke with two powerful cross-chops, one from each raised hand.

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Life's Web: 1
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