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~...+ Rolling. +...~

....Chikusho.

Catching Haru in mid-transformation while the chain was released would prove to be a good thing and a bad thing for Haru and his opponent. While the claws did connect and nearly tear him in half, his body changed and healed so fast that while Devonskha's claws were carving a bloody path through his ribcage, up to his collarbones and nearly ripping his arms off, they were closing just as fast as he was making them. Meaning that he still managed to complete his transformation with his body still intact, and that was the good news for Haru and the bad news for Devonshka.

The bad news for Haru and the good news for Devonskha...was that it hurt. ALOT. White-hot pain coursed through Haru's body, instantly causing a red light to flare from second of his three pendants and giving Devonshka the split-second opening he needed to grab Haru by the throat and nearly crush his neck.

"...Ugh!"

Two defenses would act instantaneously as Devonshka's hand closed around him. The first immediate defense would come from the cloud of white lightning around him. This ki-based defense was similar to the blue flames from before, except instead of deterring physical touch with ki-based flames, these deterred physical attacks with ki-based electricity. That same electricity would shoot through Devonshka's claws and into his body the moment his hand closed around his neck, giving him a shock strong enough to hopefully repel his hand, but not enough to cause Devonshka's muscles to spasm and tighten even more around his neck.

The second immediate defense would come from the red light around his pendant. If white cloud couldn't repel him...this near unbreakable defense would save Haru once, and only once.

~...+ -cue theme music: Chou (Butterfly) by Amano Tsukiko +...~

A defeat to a worthy opponent would have been a fitting end to a near 600 winning streak... but it was far from over. There was one, and only one thing that allowed him to survive even this.

As Devonshka's claws closed around him, the red light that flashed moments before transformed Haru into thousands upon thousands of translucent crimson butterflies that fluttered lazily away from Devonshka. Each butterfly shimmered with a peculiar red barrier as they all accumulated and congregated in the area several feet in front of Devonshka to form a pulsing red cocoon enveloped in a giant translucent crimson bubble. This was the only thing in Haru's arsenal that could save his life: Akaiaitoku, the most powerful barrier he wielded. Attempting to touch or force his way through this red barrier would not only drain Devonshka's energy and send him reeling, but if he tried to attack with his energy claws again....well, they would most likely blow up in his hands and leave him missing a few appendages. Akaiaitoku had the ability to reject any magical, spiritual, and any energy-based attack or effect and cause it to backfire and could also resist staggering amounts of physical punishment before shattering. It was unique in that there was only one other person besides Haru that could even hope of using this power successfully. Those who have tried using this power for themselves by stealing it ended up losing their own powers to Akaiaitoku. But Akaiaitoku only lasted one turn, and couldn't be used unless Haru was going to transform.

From inside the cocoon, the delicate whisper of a woman's voice could be heard faintly, speaking directly to the cocoon.

....I will...Yuuko. Genkai!!

In a blinding flash of red light, the cocoon shattered and Haru emerged unscathed, and drastically altered. There were now two wings on his back: A white one on his right and a black one on his left. His hair had extended down to his shoulders, and his appearance and demeanor was wild and untamed. In addition to the drastic change in appearance, he was also surrounded in a black flame that sharply contrasted the white lightning. This was his "Genkai", the limit of his power granted by the crimson butterflies.

"......I haven't lost yet. I haven't even begun to show you what I can do."

As the barrier faded away with the end of his transformation, Haru took a defensive stance with Empyrean in his left hand, golden nad black flames bilowing around him.

~...+ EDIT: Here's Chou, if you're interested. It's very good. +...~

It wouldn't have mattered much if Haru had been decapitated, anyway. The red pendant he wore immediately became active from the previous intense pain and near-death experience he suffered from Devonshka's previous evisceration of his body. Only at high stakes such as this did the red pendant act on its own accord, and not by spoken command or thought. By turning his body into ghostly crimson butterflies just a fraction of a second before death, it always kept the battle from ending too soon for his liking. Of course, each butterfly had a permanent Akaiaitoku barrier around them as soon as they appeared, making it even harder for Haru's opponents to destroy them.

Akaiaitoku rejected the claw fragments from touching Haru prior to his transformation. After Akaiaitoku vanished and sent the claw fragments harmlessly away, the first thing Haru noticed was Devonshka's fist heading toward him.

Devonshka would be in for quite a suprise, because Haru's stance involved little movement at all and didn't take any time at all. From his initial standing position, all Haru did was exhale and loosen up his body, and his flames flared up a bit. No tension in his muscles beforehand let Haru respond to his enemy's movements at high speeds and allow calculation in less than a second.

Continuing his defensive stance, Haru stepped back with his left foot and used that foot to pivot to his immediate right in a counter-clockwise motion, which would be Devonshka's left and end up facing away from him with his back. Devonshka's fist would just graze Haru's black flames, but an attack of such low caliber couldn't even hope of breaking through this time. His black flame and white lightning barriers at this point in time had drastically high physical and magical defenses, second only to Akaiaitoku. Breaking through his constantly spirit-powered barrier would not be an easy feat to accomplish.

But a follow-up attack was in order. While Haru was pivoting in response to Devonshka's punch, he did three things. He brought Empyrean forward and spun the blade to face backwards; his right hand went up to grab his other sword from its backholster; and his right wing (the white one) flashed a near-blinding white and automatically spun clockwise to the back of Devonshka's face from his spin. At this distance and the single step Haru took, it would very likely ensure at least one hit for him. As he finished the spin, he would then attempt a backward stab to Devonshka's kidneys with Empyrean at the same time his wing would connect with the back of his opponent's head. During this time Devonshka seemed to be talking to Haru, but Haru ignored him. His lack to attention would be his downfall.

...Hmph.

Haru's wings moved at the same time he pivoted because of the force of his spin. So while his wing was swinging towards the back of Devonshka's head, Devonshka's wing would collide the wing from behind. White and red sparks would be released upon mpact, but there would be almost no visible damage except for a small red scorch mark on a group of feathers. Energy attacks and even normal physical attacks were almost completely nullified by 90% now, thanks to the pinnacle of spiritual defenses constantly surrounding his body.

The impact of Devonshka's wing behind his own his own pushed Haru's wing even faster than before toward the back of Devonshka's head. With Devonshka's faster velocity adding to the slower velocity of the centrifugal force behind Haru's own spin, the wing moved faster than Devonshka's own speed. Adding to the fact that had put no visible defense to this, the wing would simply blast the back of Devonshka's head with a wing-sized and very powerful golden orb. The orb would then explode upon contact, pushing Devonshka forward, possibly causing him to lose balance and focus with a golden shower of blinding sparkles.

(1/3) The stab was something not to be ignored either. No prior defense set around Devonshka allowed Empyrean to neatly pierce through Devonshka's side, stabbing through both of his kidneys and coming out the other end. If the red hue around Devonshka was the same as his wings, then Empyrean would have almost no trouble piercing through it. It was able to parry a lightsaber strike previously. But just in case Empyrean somehow didn't have the ability to pierce through Devonshka's lightsaber body, white Empyrean flames rose up to add even more power to the blade, bringing the blade's powers to its maximum damage potential. He did, after all, have two more uses of them, and now only one remained. Most likely because the high factor of hitting his opponent now, Devonshka's movements and the powerful push set into motion by the exploding orb would cause Devonshka to further cut himself along Empyrean leave him in two pieces.

Turning to face his opponent, Haru's body was starting to waver like a mirage, and small green gusts of wind were picking up at his feet. Not to mention, familiar crimson butterflies were starting to flutter around him, phasing in and out of reality. Haru preferred to remain silent instead of wasting time talking. He was getting serious now.

..Keh.

Before Haru knew it, magma erupted from beneath his feet. Black and white sparks shot out everywhere from the magma hitting his ki barriers, surrounding him in a dome of molten rock as he was propelled skyward into the river. The heat was surely intense, but his barriers prevented the magma from touching him as well as reduced the heat quite a bit. Nonetheless, breathing would be a chore in such conditions as perspiration formed on his brow.

(1/5) His opponent might have been able to escape Empyrean's blade, but the golden orb was different. It seemed that Devonshka was made out of some kind of energy if physical attacks didn't work on him. No matter. The orb had locked onto that energy source and detonated, releasing golden sparkles everywhere.

Amidst the molten rock around him, he unsheathed Cocytus, the seven-pronged blade freezing over with black ice as he waited rather patiently. His body still continued to flicker like a mirage as the winds around the molten river started to pick up and crimson butterflies materialized in the breeze.

~...+ You know the drill. +...~

As stated previously, Haru was not going to hold back. At 100%, he was at the peak of what his normal powers were. The third and final Empyrean Fire activated, adding yet another defense in Haru's arsenal. With three defenses now acting on Haru's behalf, the spikes and magma still weren't able to touch him, even if they were superheated.

(1/6 ; 1/6) While Empyrean signified a flaming heaven with every swing of the blade, Cocytus marked a frozen hell. The blade itself was named after the very last level of Hell, where Lucifer resides forever frozen. After all, the opposite of fire, was ice. One wing adorned Empyrean's hilt as one of Cocytus' branches froze over with black ice and Haru closed his wings.

But now it was time to escape the magma river. Previously in the battle, Haru had activated the "Ichijin" ability of his ring. And just last turn, the winds around the magma river had picked up. Excellent.

With Cocytus now unsheathed, another gemstone on his ring flashed blue. A very powerful blast of green wind tinged slightly blue cooled the magma around Haru into solid rock and pushed him off the river where he would fall back down to the ground in a solid boulder. Combining Cryomancy with Aeromancy created freezing winds that were perfect for this situation. It would be inevitable, anyway. The higher Haru was launched by the river, the colder the air would be, and the magma would eventually freeze into rock and fall back down to the ground. This just sped up the process.

(2/3) One more turn would be needed before the golden sphere revealed its powers. But for now, more crimson butterflies appeared in the winds.

( 2/6; 2/6) Like Yin and Yang, Empyrean and Cocytus would be able to counter each other's effects, but only through physical touch. Within vicinity of each other, they only stopped the other's sole abilities. But that didn't mean all their abilities were prevented, as marked by another wing appearing on Empyrean and another branch freezing over on Cocytus. But all of this didn't pertain to the fight now.

(3/3) Three turns since that golden ball of light had struck beforehand. It could be used at any moment in time now. But as the sphere of rock struck the ground and caused a small crater, there was no visible movement from Haru inside the rock. Inside though, Haru's wings were already pulsing their respective ebony-and-ivory colors, and microscopic cracks were forming from the inside. Outside, the green-and-blue wind surrounded the rock once more and even more crimson butterflies danced, creating a myraid whirlwind of red, blue, and green surrounding the rock.

(3/6 ; 3/6) Empyrean and Cocytus continued to grow stronger with each turn, and eventually a miracle would happen.

(4/3) The golden ball had now exceeded the alloted charge time. But inside the stone sphere, Haru's wings were pulsing and were now giving off faint energy signatures from inside. More cracks were forming, and the sphere was beginning to rumble and quake. More importantly, another color had appeared; this time, it was a yellowish hue coming from the rock itself. Several colors were now surrounding Haru in a continuously rising wind, with no signs of slowing down.