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And collide the swords did!

The two blades met, and immediately disagreed with each other. They shouted in sparks as swords do. Violet, blue. Maximos was not grounded, which meant that as inertia left his strike he had no real other from of pressure save for his body weight.

It meant, that if the thing could toss aside Ryugi, Maximos was little more than a projectile already at the end of the bat waiting to be swung. The collision of blades wouldnt last nearly as long before, the Greater Ice Fiends strength did its duty and Maximos was sent flying back.

But there was a catch.

Literally.

Ankokuko had touched the opposing sword, perhaps even wounded it a bit, but either way left a ribbon wrapped around the blade at the point of contact. It was slack and loose.

Crackling could be heard as Maximos sailed backwards, followed by the sound of metal clanging and clinking.

His feet would never touch the ground.

Instead two blasts of black caught him as he tumbled backwards, and the lashed forward again. The ribbon acting like a sort of bungee cord sending the Shadow soaring back into combat with boots only aiding his speed. A torrent of white bursting in either direction as he flew so close to the ground. The ribbon perhaps putting a bit of a strain on the Greater Ice Fiends blade, as it seemed to get shorter as Max got closer.

However this time things were different, Maximos' right arm looked...different. More metallic. As it was infact covered in black bands of a dark metal. The Twilight Gauntlet awakened, and its supernatural strength now added to the comeback slash Maximos made. He didnt believe the creature would be able to shrug off the Gauntlets full force quite as easily, as he slashed straight vertically yet again. Odd though, that Maximos' right hand, his now far stronger hand was positioned at the base of the hilt, not the top, meaning it offered less of its strength to the slash...odd.

Ryugi! Trashcan!

Would Ryugi get the reference? The memory? A can was kicked and then Maximos...But Ryugi wasnt in a position to kick anything so....? Hopefully the creatures intelligence did not give it the Psionics necessary to pluck the memory from either fighters heads and catch on to the strategy being suggested.

A ripple in the planes meant one hell of a power storm.

Even Argon could not have predicted a wave of energy quite like this. The cycloptic Chaos Wyverns, with their insubstantial bodies, completely phased out, their physical forms completely disrupted by raw elemental power.

With a mighty roar, the Tainted Dragon recoiled from the shadow energy flying out of the spatial rend. Arching back, it did what it could to protect its master... and its face. The illustrious, black scales weren't just for show; they were easily as strong as stone. The normally bristling bone spikes stood erect, as though to help the Tainted Dragon brace itself for impact.

~Crrraacck!

The sickening, ear-splitting sound... of the Shadow Plate cracking. Sheer force and searing power caused several large, noticeable fractures to appear in the Death Knight's armor. The 'decorative' parts of the plate were completely eroded away. Undoubtedly some of that energy must have leaked through onto the Death Knight, causing him physical harm.

Finally the rift closed, leaving the expeditionary force in complete ruin. They served their purpose in the end, though. The Death Knight now knew what threats awaited his troops at the coast and had the chance to eliminate them before they came bursting through the storm.

A smirk behind an armored veil.

"Not bad..."

Argon would have been more impressed, had he not the memory of Ryudo's mishap the last time he tried to operate on a planar level. The shadow dragon's ability to alter the fabric of reality was recklessly dangerous at best. At least they weren't being hurled into another campy time-travel adventure this time around.

Ah! Another thing for the Death Knight to hate Ryudo for.

Black strands of shade slowly encroached into the newly formed cracks in the Death Knight's armor. It was probably too far away to be in Ryudo's visual range. He probably wouldn't even notice, anyways...

The shade skin armor was actually growing back.

What the Shadow Dragon probably didn't know was that he had few precious minutes to spare before the Death Knight's entire Legion of Chaos came crashing through the storm and onto the beaches of the continent. And with both Ryudo and Argon's mana drained, neither party would have the energy to pull another stunt like that any time soon.

Of course he did!

The Greater Ice Fiend's defense was going to be a problem, Maximos had planned and surmised that it was going to be downright impossible. Or perhaps nearly impossible. At least in any direct fashion.

CHING!

That was the sound of a shield striking the blades edge of Ankokuko. With this came a smile, as Maximos' right foot smashed into the snow.

Whub-whub-whub!

The Greater Ice Fiend wouldnt fly back, it wouldnt need to. As the moment it blocked the sword, Maximos released it, sending Ankokuko soaring up into the air. But by the time it realized that, it would be too late. That meant all that force and wieght had to go somewhere else...didnt it?

It rolled cleanly, and extremely quickly from his right foot to his left, as he stepped forward, immediately closing the distance between him and the Fiend. If it moved for its sword, he had an arm for defend, if not sacrifice. If it moved for its shield, the shield had deflected a high slash, this was a low attack, it was highly unlikely it'd make it in time, as that was the goal of feigning a sword slash.

This meant its torso was in for the full force Maximos' charge had generated, with the additional supernatural strength of his cursed right arm, and...the Shadow Cannon. Or in this case, as it was a much more powerful arm...the Dark Matter Cannon. It would be like taking a cannon ball at point blank range, straight to the gut. And then it would explode outwards in an extreme blast of concussive force. And, if all went according to plan would send the beast soaring backwards with reckless abandon straight at Ryugi who...with a flaming weapon should be ready to...

...cleave the Greater Ice Fiend a new orifice.

Ryugi was ready for Maximos' little plot. As the proverbial trashcan came flying his way, Ragnarok would pulse with energy, steam and roiling heat pouring off of the blade as the snow on its surface vaporized instantly, and the edge of the weapon glowed a bright red, and quickly soared to a bright glowing white.

Suddenly, time would seem to slow down for Maximos as his eyes would catch the moment in all its glory...

The attack would connect, and the body of the fiend would literally ripple from the force of impact as its form bent inward and was sent screaming through the air, snow falling through the air being disrupted as the body displaced the air around it, the body spinning as it tried to use its wing to change its direction in mid air, its body speeding towards Ryugi head on, as if too attack.

Maximos would then sense the spike of energy from Ryugi as Ragnarok pulsed with energy. Tendrils of invisible arcane might swirling out from Ryugi's arm and down the length of the weapon before wrapping around the blade and slipping into formation around the outer edges of the blade. The snow would vaporize instantly, steam hissing away from the weapon as the water boiled away in an instant.

Then, Ryugi would slip back into a stance, Ragnarok behind him and off to his right, holding it only in his right hand, snowflakes falling in what seemed to be slow motion, as his hair moved softly in the wind created from the heated and expanding air.

Muscles contracted, the right arm rose, the feet moved to support the motion and the massive form of Ragnarok shot into motion, being whipped around with great force, fighter and weapon working together. Maximos would be able to see the glow in Ryugi's eyes flickering as the fire arcana, the flaming element, flowed through his body as he shot into motion, suddenly meeting the right arm with his left.

A pulse of energy would suddenly erupt from Ragnarok halfway into the swing, the body of the fiend reaching into the frame as white hot energy suddenly flashed out in the shape of an expanded form of Ragnarok an instant before connecting with the flying body of the fiend, and searing cleanly into none other than the mighty shield of the fiend.

A glowing burst of blue energy would appear on the shield as the two energies connected, but, the energy would snap back away from the hardened shield like a balloon pulling away from a puncture mark as Ragnarok sunk itself deeply into the shield, cleaving directly through it, through the arm behind it, and neatly into the large wing behind the creature, severing it from the main body, and turning it into a burst of feathers that shone with an icy blue light.

And then, time would suddenly rebound on itself, the slice seeming to happen three times in quick succession, and all ending with the screech of the Greater Ice Fiend as Ragnarok removed its flying wing, and Maximos sent it careening off the cliff face, and into the valley below...

Ryugi would stand, wipe his brow, and grin. His left hand releasing its grip on Ragnarok's handle to move proudly into a thumbs up, a wink following as he spoke.

Nicely done Max. Trashcan indeed.

"..."

The Death Knight wasn't going to trade insults back and forth for the duration of the battle. Their current battle was already dangerously close to becoming a pissing contest.

In a short period of time, Argon closed the small gap between himself and his opponent. He couldn't counter what Ryudo was planning without knowing what it was first, whether it was to summon Lethe, open another rift, or drop the moon on him.

All the while, Argon was still replenishing his store of mana.

Oh, he would watch alright, in all of its glory. Ryugi was something formidable, especially with that sword in hand. And truth be told, he was the best suited to make the fiend regret the day it'd be crystallized.

Maximos grinned from ear to ear. Reality even slowed enough that he could point, with his extended fist and say just barely above a whisper...

Bang.

...The moment the final blow was dealt. The look of the shock it had alone was enough to make him smile from ear to ear. And then, reality resumed itself and a once Greater Ice Fiend was sent soaring overhead. Maximos would go so far as to skid around on one heel to turn and watch it fly clean over the edge.

There was a sort of fitting irony in the way it would meet its death that mountains that spawned it. It made him chuckle.

Nicely done Max. Trashcan indeed.

He spun back, full of smiles.

Likewise Ryu.

Max said with a smirk.

You know, fights like that remind me, I love wi--

Clonk!

As gravity visited Ankokuko and send it spiraling back down, where its hilt would bean Maximos square on the top of his head. Just by chance shutting him up. And it would hurt too! As made evident by his...

--OW!

...And the way he rubbed his head, as he picked the blade up proper and moved it to rest on his shoulder.

The Death Knight would immediately cross his arms in front of his upper body and face, acting to brace himself against the incoming attacks and help against knock-back. He certainly wouldn't escape these attacks unscathed, but they would be far from lethal.



By cutting off his power source, of course.

Death Knight was the kid who played Street Fighter II in the arcade and only ever played as Akuma, just attacking with counter-shoryuken, hadoken, and foot sweep... and there wasn't a damn thing anyone could do about it, because Akuma is an overpowered asshat.

So it would be no surprise that the Death Knight had developed a few techniques to counter the abilities of elementalists for when he invaded a continent of elemental dragons. Casting his left arm out in front of him, Argon let off an attack similar to a lightning bolt of Chaos energy towards Ryudo.

If this bolt hit him, the chaotic energies would doubt disrupt Ryudo's powers for a short amount of time. Even if it didn't, he would certainly feel the effects of the poisonous air... those last few attacks exposed the cursed blood of the ancient wyrms that flowed through his veins. The toxic miasma his blood vapors produced were lethal to draconic beings. While this wouldn't kill a dragon outright, it would certainly make them sick and weak enough to slaughter with ease.

The Death Knight was indeed wounded, which made him faaaar deadlier.

Argon caught wiff of a stench that Ryudo was also producing, but one whose toxins were self-inflicted.

Fear.

The moment Ryudo jumped back from the Miasma, Argon sprinted towards him with drastically improved speed, quickly closing that 'short gap'.

"THERE'S NO ESCAPE!"

Ryduo jumped upwards. Bending his legs, Argon pushed off at incredible speed, following in pursuit. With them both following a set trajectory, the Death Knight lead Ruination with a mighty thrust. If Ryudo still followed the same course of action, he might still get some hits off... but Argon would surely skewer him with his superior physical attributes.

Superior Agility, great acrobatic abilities, poisonous blood... just what WAS this monstrosity?