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Meanwhile, High in the upper balcony of the Arena

Staring down at the crowd behind a odd masque of split white and gray, the odd individual seemed to be somewhat...out of place. His body, most bare except for the reverse curved bracers, matching boots and loincloth, was covered in a intricate weave of tribal work that on close inspection was two and sometimes three levels deep in places. Juggling a small orange diamond-shaped piece of metal in his hand as he glared at the bus that just got in his way, the Count began to scan over these new arrivals wondering if the body count for this fine autumn evening was going to raise to ten instead of one.

Keeping his pale violet eye on the Raven-Haired man, the orochi made sure that the three weapons he'd brought this evening were quite out of the way. It had been quite some time since he'd put to use the whip and spike shield combo and in all truth he wanted this to be a easy in-out case of picking up something of his.

Breathing in deeply, the cleric let it out halfway, held the breath and with a almost casual nature flicked the piece of metal off of his upraised palm with a bit of fire magic towards the stall where the raven haired man stood. More specifically directly at the left hip of the stall owner, a seemingly non-descript black and tan neko, who had a heart-shaped eyepatch over his left eye.

Sighing softly to himself, the barbarian-who-was-no-barbarian unhooked the whip from his right hip and flicked the tip around a small overhand above his head. Testing the metal whip and it's connection with a strong pull, he stepped off the edge, sliding down the wall with his steel shod boots kicking up a shower of sparks as he dropped to the ground and unhooked his whip.

As soon as he landed, the Count turned and watched as his diamond spike flew unerringly towards it's mark, the Neko just now staring up in surprise as the what would look to him to be a blood red beam of light heading right for him that if hit would tear a 2 inch hole all the way through his femur and shattering his hip, locking the Neko in fear....but it would pass over the raven-haired man's right shoulder before it would disable it's target. Would the man interfere or would he just step aside?

Frowning slightly as the attack worked and yet the man began to stalk towards him, the Count,, to say the least, was perturbed. This man didn't seem to be one who'd take the well done forged bounty on the Neko shopkeeper at face value nor one who'd take an apology even if it was freely given. No, this was a man who didn't take s**t off of anyone no matter the circumstances which in most cases would put him on Zantara's good side.

But alas, the faux barbarian noticed that the creature he was here to kill was trying to stop the gushing of blood so he could try to escape and the cleric had spent too much time hunting this particular prey down to start all over again in the slim case the creature escaped.

Snapping the flame whip once, he curled it back up and buckled it once more onto his belt before walking forward seemingly without a care in the world. Rotating his left shoulder around the socket, the faux-barbarian tilted his head to the left and spoke, his voice rolling like a blade in flesh.

"Ah good. It seemed your bright enough to get out of the way when a attack is not aimed at you."

With a soft laugh, Zantara made a small motion with his left hand that was down by his side near the curved dagger he wore on his hip calling the small piece of magical metal to slam through the Neko's other hip and through the stall sending shards of wood and metal out in a 120 degree arc which might or might not hit the raven-haired man in the back unless he had stepped out of the 15 foot radius that was the maximum distance the shards would travel.

Catching the small diamond in his left palm as it circled around Guyy, the faux-barbarian smile rose up into his violet eyes and he came to a stop about 20 feet in front of the Master of the Clan.

Smiling all the wider as Guyy gave him a most wonderful idea, the Count changed out the empty orb he held in his left hand to one that was filled with somethng quite different. Pressing the activation rune three times, he suddenly pulled his arm back and threw the orb a hundred feet into the air. As it flew high, he brought his left hand in front of his face and made a strange set of four handsigns and with a release of psionic energy, a ring blue smoke burst from his spine and encircled both Zantara and Guyy in a 30 foot circumference cylinder that was closed at the top and spoke one word.

"Time Freeze"

A noninvasive spell barrier that could easily be crossed, it slowed down time to a tenth of it's current speed outside of the cylinder while leaving both Zantara and Guyy well enough alone but for what reason, the man might not guess at.

As the barrier began to complete itself suddenly there was a burst of white light from the flying orb as it reached the apex of Zantara's throw, a visual component of it opening. With a roar of expelled energy, the orb emptied itself of two thousand different bladed weapons ranging from paired fighting daggers to giant claymores and everything in between. Each was made of meteoric iron and was neigh unbreakable. Spreading out from their point of appearance, Guyy could watch as in slow motion the weapons fell from the sky knowing also instinctively that none would hit him, slamming point first all over the plaza (in and out of the cylinder), destroying all of the remaining stalls, and killing and/or maiming every single remaining individual that was watching the standoff between the two man leaving the two thousand different blades sticking hilt up all over the battlefield the exact moment the time barrier was fully activated.

"Then let us begin. Choose your weapon, my good sir, for I am a sporting and honorable man and would not ever let it be known I struck a man down who was visibly unarmed."

And all the while, Zantara's pale violet eyes was scanning over the now maimed crowd while keeping a track on Guyy knowing that as his spell would be active until he released it, he would have an answer to a little question of his. If the Shinigami had shown up just to screw with Zantara's kill, then she wouldn't be around anymore.... but if she was then he'd hopefully just triggered a involuntary reflex built into her being a aspect of "Death" and she would have to appear to collect these souls. And that would also answer his question on how much Guyy was pulling his leg on not being able to controlling her.

And if she did show, he had a ace up his sleeve just for her.

All it would take was for him to open a pathway through the "Slow Time" area from his point to one a few inches from her and he would easily be able to give her the punishment that she so richly deserved.

And so he waited for either the woman to reappear or Guyy to choose his weapon.

Either way, this was going to be a hell of a afternoon.

"Shadow user" the cleric thought to himself as he took in instantly the tingling of his skin and the odd wavering of the surrounding shadows, a slight smile on his face as the mounting hooks that dug from the masque to under his scales began to pull and twist from Guyys machinations. It was a bit painful, but it would have to be a bit stronger to pull the masque off. With a small flourish of his scimitar, the Count pulled back his left hand once more to his hip and thrust out towards Guyy, his fingers curved and clawlike.

"Then let there be a little Light on the subject."

And with that, the cleric released five brilliant bolts of harmless lightning that slammed into the closest five upright weapons, which spread of there to another five and so on and so on at the speed of light. And yet the Cleric continued to pour more energy into the attack for 4 complete seconds causing every sword, dagger and other weapon in the entire plaza to randomly become a lightning rod and attach to another five weapons causing it to be very, very unhealthy to be down in the plaza unless you found one of the dozen or so places where there was not a straight line between two weapons (which included exactly where Guyy and Zantara are currently standing oddly enough.)

With the pure white lightning flashing back and forth across the battlefield for at least the next 3-4 "posts" before all it's energy was released into the atmosphere, Zantara closed his secondary eyelids to cut down on the glare as he watched the shadows kick and throb as in pain, vanishing and reappearing in different places, hopefully sending Guyy's ability into a real painful position.

Calculating each of the lightning paths mentally, he twirled his sword into a reverse grip of his right hand, keeping the curved blade up along the bottom of his arm before taking off into a zigzag run towards Guyy, cutting down the thirty feet between the two of them into a good 15 within moments. It would take him another "post" to get to his foe, but he was hoping that the flickering shadows and supposedly deadly lightning would keep the man off his toes while the cleric went in for the kill.

With a sudden oath that would have curled milk if any where around, the Count executed a picture perfect double back salto that would make the great Tuxedo Mask proud, his right hand flipping the bladed weapon back over and over his right shoulder down his spine. Sliding back a few feet from his oddly memorizing move as he landed on the balls of his feet, he dropped to a crouch with his left palm flat on the ground to correct his balance.

"She has bypassed my spell" he thought to himself as he looked behind her at the smug looking Guyy before turning his pal violet eyes back to the prize which she offered. Standing back up to his full height, Zantara created a backsheath for the blade to hold it across his back before releasing the hilt, his mind going through the dozen or so reasons he could think of for her to give him what he wanted and yet tossing them all away as not very well thought out.

Halfhearing her words, he was quite startled at her revelation and offer, which sent him into a backstep To be offered such a prize was not unknown....just extremely rare in the Counts line of work for he was known as a rogue element at the very least and a quick ace up the sleeve at the best to those who are deities.

"We shall speak more of this offer in a moment then milady."

He said politely as he brought his gauntlets together into a complex series of handsigns, his eyes never leaving the soul which drifted in front of him. Suddenly with a rush of energy, a ethereal serpent-head and neck appeared over his right shoulder almost 9 feet in length and three feet across. As the ghostly snake began to weave back and forth, it's smoke-like forked tongue darting out between daggerlike teeth, it was followed by one then two then three more seemingly identical heads that were attached to a huge ghostly body of a four legged beast that was superimposed over the masqued mans's body, it's long spiked tail twisting back and forth in agitation. With a haunted roar of sheer pleasure, the seven heads locked onto the lonesome spirit and dove forward ripping it into seven equal pieces and absorbing the soul before fading back into Zantara's body, still glaring at the Lady Death.

His body dripping frozen water from the expense of his magic, the Count brushed off his shoulders nonchalantly and pulled a collapsible cane from the belt on his pouch. Leaning slightly on the silver skull-tipped cane, he spoke in a soft tone as he "digested" the lost piece of his soul.

"You have returned a piece of me that has been missing for ny on thirty years. I thank you milady.

Noticing that the light storm was fading out quicker than planned, he released the last bit of energy from the weapons and called them back into the orb where the weapons originated from, leaving it to roll back and forth against his left boot.

"You have given freely that which I desire. That puts a debt between us, it seems. I believe some sort of compromise can come between me and your....Valet De Chambre as it were. Perhaps you are in need of one like I and can offer that which I need?"