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As Rajin's wall toppled to the ground he attempted to dodge the incoming balls of fire however in his attempt he was unsuccessful. He had tumbled to the side avoiding two of the fiery bullets however being struck by the third. He shouted in pain as the fire burned his left fore arm. Now as Rajin was attempting to ignore the burning pain he quickly pushed his hands beneath the earth and brought them back up to reveal that they were now covered in stone. Then he stomped down against the floor to send a shock wave beneath the ground. Once the moving earth reached the other bender three large pikes of stone rose up, aiming to strike at his chest and shoulders.

[F-2]

((I only need 15 posts and this is my third.))

Rajin flicked his right wrist and bended a wall above the surface to block Xio's fire dagger. However he didn't have enough time to block the wave of fire. He manage to cover his face with the stone glove while his bicep now suffered from burns. It hurt to move his left arm but he kept going and still attempted to ignore the pain. He tumbled backwards to gain more distance between him and the fire bender although it wasn't much since he kept moving.

Rajin's teeth clenched together as he moved his left arm while bending the earth around. He looked in the direction the fire bender was moving in and bended an unnoticeable lift in the tiles to trip the him. All the while throwing watermelon sized stones to distract him.

[F-3]

Rajin lifted a column of stone out from the ground and arched it into the direction of the fire bender. He then sent three more columns toward him so it would force him to move forward. Mean while stomping on the ground with his right foot. He sent another shock wave to raise a stone pike to strike to fire bender.

[F-4]

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Xio struck all protrusions, projectiles, and all manner of rocks hurtling towards or from under him with a double-palmed strike, either breaking them or knocking them off to the side. It was almost scary how well he understood earthbending techniques, and how simple it was to defeat them with the proper skill. Once finished with the pike, he glanced over Rajin's stone armor.

"Crude, and full of weakpoints. You really are an ill-prepared assassin. Come fight me, little man, come fight me so that I may crush your pathetic attempts at combat." He spoke in a cool, commanding voice... other people of his power and position might have been arrogant, underestimating their opponent... but not Xio, he was all business.

Quickly side stepping to re-angle himself with his opponent, Rajin shifted his hands from his chest out toward his enemy and bended another stalagmite above the ground aiming to strike his pelvic region. However this time with a flat edge instead of pointed. Rajin's left eye winced from the burning pain covering his left arm but he shrugged it off and continued to fight.

[F-7]

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What rocks Xio didn't feel like deflecting or escaped his attention were absorbed and set aside by his armor, harmless. Xio was quite possibly the worst opponent in the Fire Nation for Rajin to battle... Xio was an adept at destroying earthbenders, he knew the foundation for all of their techniques, and was familiar with their attack and defense types - the fact that he had yet to break a sweat or take even the slightest bit of damage made that painfully obvious. The only earthbender who'd ever stood a chance of harming Xio so far had been Jonah, in the tournament past.

However, Xio also wasn't the sort to lose track of his opponent, or to let the opponent move the situation to their advantage... in any battlefield, control of the environment and base of power must remain with you. Xio deflected stones on the move, sliding around each large rock or stalagmite as he elbowed or palm-slammed them aside... each movement bringing him closer to Rajin as he moved.

With a burst of fiery energy, Xio skirted past Rajin's ranged combat zone, into melee again. Within three feet, he charged Rajin in a surprise movement, and then suddenly dropped onto his hands, feet to the air and following one another in perpetual motion... from knees to boot-tips, his legs were aflame, and these swung towards Rajin's stomach and legs.

At this close distance, blocking with stone armor would cause burns, and taking the time to perform even the one-two movements to bend oneself away from the flamedance would find Xio's attacks to have gone through unhindered, dropping Rajin breathless to the ground with his new scorchmarks.

After Rajin closed the wall in on itself he moved again by gliding across the floor. The fire bender hadn't even drawn a sweat while Rajin was almost completely drained of energy. He wasn't used to fighting an opponent with such ferocity. What was he? Rajin wondered. As Rajin moved across the floor he lifted two boulders beside him and shot one behind where the wall had closed and threw one above.

[F-10]

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It wasn't so simple as all that, though. Xio merely shifted his weight, left foot striking the top of the miniature wall and then using the leverage of his body to fling himself over it while Rajin was still attempting to bend himself some more defense.

As for Xio's stamina... fighting one of the few firebenders like himself who absorbed heat and ate flames on the grounds of the Fire Nation was foolhardy, he was quite possibly one of the most effecient benders of his generation, spending as little energy and stamina to maximize his ability in combat, drawing on genetic excellence and an entire lifetime of high training... that was the sort of monster Rajin was facing now, a smart Firebender who was bred for combat.

Xio, airborne, drew both of his hip-set blades with a conflagration of palpable energies. Flame erupted from the sheaths, and for just a moment, seemed to form fiery phoenix wings - complete with burning feathers - behind him, a very poignant thought considering his family crest is the dragon. The flames receded down along his arms and wrapped themselves around the now-naked swords in his hands. "Ye Huo Ren!"

He jammed the flame-tongue hilt of the left blade into the dragon-maw hilt of the right, angled it above his head and brought the twinsword down with a mighty expulsion of bending prowess, speed, and of course fire. "Dao hu zhan Shang Jin!" A veritable tidal wave of flames rushed out from Xio, bolstered by the natural heat of the area and their nearness to the seat of firebender power. This is one of Xio's few finishing techniques, fire too fast and too large to bend a defense against or dodge, even the simple movement(s) required for earthbending were not going to be fast enough to completely stave off the massive damage an attack of this level brings.

And just for effectiveness, Xio fairly crackled with energy as he blocked off Rajin's only escape route, the would-be assassin having funneled himself into place over the course of Xio's blocking and dodging - falling into the environmental trap he'd set at the beginning of the fight. He separated the twinsword and swept them down and up to chest-height, leaving after-images in the eyes of the onlookers due to the high electricity content. Between the blades, he gathered this cold fire and with a movement like a rising sun, he unleashed it - traveling as fast as the lightning that it was.

Should Rajin do the only thing that would give him some protection from the massive flamewave, his defences would be shorn and pierced by the lightning that the earth could not withstand, electrocuting and paralyzing him for a short enough time for Xio to capture him.