Welcome to Gaia! ::

This place had a familiar aura about it but Sano couldn't quite put his finger on it. All these books, the over all prison-like appearance, and the water.. He reached out to grab one of the books, pulling it off the shelf to look at the cover. A dark smirk curled his lips as he stared at it before putting it back. So this was her floor was it? How very interesting. Maybe she was here already, sure would save him the trouble of hunting her down. The Paladin heard a noise and went to investigate but was disappointed by his find. It was Rena, the mass of false positivity he had the displeasure of tolerating. "Rena! What are you doing down here?" Sano was hoping there was a good reason for it but knowing her.. there probably wasn't one.

He stopped and looked around when loud cheers rose in the air, followed by that idiotic looking bear announcing a match. This brought back terrible memories of the last Prix he was pulled into.. But he was stronger now. "There's no use in fighting, Rena.. Just give up and save me the trouble. If not.." He paused as his armor awakened, gaining the golden trim as he felt empowered. "I'll put you down.."

Rena truly lived in her own little world didn't she? Even now she failed to understand the severity of the situation and made a joke out of it. Sano decided to not even ask about the strange heart she was hugging and talking to, figuring that he would regret inquiring about it anyway. Besides.. He was furious at her blatant disrespect towards her better. This needed to be dealt with and he knew how to do that. A cold smirk inched across his face as he looked at her. "We have to tangle? Play around? .. Entertain?"

Sano quickly swung his arm to slam the large shield across Rena's face as hard as he could. Before he would've caught hell for striking a fellow Messiah but this was the rules was it not? Someone had to lose this fight and it wasn't going to be him. "How about I finally beat some common sense into you instead? It's high time you stop smiling all the damn time.."

Sano was about to shove Rena away when he was suddenly surrounded by darkness and she slipped away. He closed his eyes to try and listen for her but he opened them after he was hit by the first of several bursts of light. Though he was lucky to evade one at the very least to avoid taking more damage, that would've been annoying to deal with.. The man still stood as he glared down at the ever cheerful girl, the hatred clear in his crimson eyes. "Pathetic.. I'm not going to waste anymore of my energy on you." He knew he needed to conserve his strength for the next battle since he was fully confident he would win with little issue.

The Paladin snapped his fingers and two large shadows took form on both sides of him. Two proud champion knights, ready to do battle after being summoned! They both reared, the horses making a chillingly hollow sounding whinny before unleashing their powerful attacks. One unleashed a devastating bolt of lightening while the other cast a large burst of flames at her as well

It was chaos. Personas clashing, unleashing torrents of spells and physical attacks. The users unaware of the golden dust floating away in the process. Both sides stayed on the offensive, not wanting to give an opening to their foe and risk losing to a misstep. This fight was far from over and was only going to get more explosive as it progressed. "Is this the best you can do, Nix?! I guess you really are the weakest of your team! Leagues behind all the others and will never reach them!" Sano snapped, the venom clear in his voice as he glared daggers at Nix. A dark smirk came to his face as a dark energy surrounded him before large red leathery wings broke it away. He decided to use his Shadow Fusion to up the ante seeing as his extra arms formed, wielding an additional weapon to accompany his shield. "Allow me to show you what real strength is! Power that I earned!"

Nix was all too familiar with the Kusarigama he held and had no choice but to get on the defensive. With both a shield and an offensive weapon at hand, she was at a disadvantage if she got within range at all. Sano was quick to attack her with the deadly weapon, managing to give her a few cuts due to it's long range. But a small flash of electricity in his eyes caused him to lose sight of her for a moment. She dove behind a bookcase while Sano's eyesight was recovering to get a chance to breath and think of a plan. His words still buzzed in her mind, making it hard to focus somewhat. 'I know I feel like I'm far behind the others.. but I shouldn't let it get in the way right now! I have to focus or else I could.. Wait. How is he knowing all this? I never spoke of that to anyone!' This caused a cold chill to run down her spine at the realization. Somehow Sano knew parts of her thoughts she never shared with a single soul.. How was that possible? And why did that bother her so?

Sano growled under his breath as crimson orbs scanned the area, trying to see where Nix had gone. How annoying of her to play hide and seek like this, the coward. That was when he got an idea, one that might lure her out. "You're wondering how I know all of this aren't you? All these little.. private tidbits of your life. Heh. It's simple really. All these books contain your thoughts and memories, how you really feel! I had a lot of time on my hands after my first match was pretty damn short.. I even know about that little heartbreak you had and I read an interesting little entry about that guy Gin!" It made Sano gag really so he really didn't want to say it aloud but he did hope it would make Nix react somehow to give away her position.

'The books!?' Nix never thought all these books would contain anything like that. She was about to state her shock aloud when she bit her lip, knowing that would be a foolish decision. The silverette knew she had to win this match but how? In that form he had an extra set of arms at his disposal to hold the biggest threat at the moment. Then an idea came to her, it made her feel a little ill for a moment but she pushed it back for now. She only had one shot at this plan so she had to make it count. ANy mistakes and it could cost her more then just a scratch.

"Come out, Nix!! Show yourself you little coward!" Sano hated that the ring created invisible walls around and above them. He had no way of telling where the ceiling was so he couldn't risk flying up only to be knocked down. Like hell he would risk such an embarrassing failure. The now blond teen immediately turned around when he sensed something behind him, swinging his weapon as he did so. Instead of seeing blood, a flood of scattered paper blocked his field of vision. 'What?! I cut books!?' Nix used this moment of distraction to rush forward, gripping the hilt of her sword tightly to have it at the ready. The target was the shadow forged limb that held the Kusarigama's blade, if that was eliminated then it would even the odds again. So the silverette swung the blade upwards with all her might, praying she hit the mark.

A spray of crimson rose up into the air as a sickening thud echoed through the arena. Sano's transformation reverted as he yelled in pain, gripped at what remained of his arm. Nix stared in horror of what she had done, that was not what she had planned at all! At the last moment, Sano pulled back the targeted arm and made a move as it to hit her with the shield, it resulted in that arm being sliced off instead. "Heh.. That was.. pretty bloodthirsty of you, Nix. Aiming for my arm like that.. What would your team think?" The raven haired teen snipped, the pain clear in his voice but still managed to keep that cold smirk on his face. "Y-You're wrong.. I wasn't.. aiming for that arm at all.. I.." Nix was so in shock by the blood that was pooling from where the severed limb used to be that she didn't notice a shadow carrying the arm back to Sano while two more appeared behind him. The creatures were carrying a box with the utmost care as they made it to his injured side. "About time.." The Paladin hissed before opening the box with his remaining hand to carefully bring out a small flame. One of the Shadows held the severed arm back in its proper place as Sano held the flame up to it.. In front of her very eyes the arm was reattached! Whatever that flame was, it was powerful enough to restore limbs and it was in her brother's possession. 'This isn't good..'

Once his arm was healed, Sano placed the flame back in it's proper place. The Shadows left with the box, keeping the flame out of Nix's reach. He got to his feet, trying not to show that the blood loss did have an impact on his strength. Though he was lucky that the Paladin's Spirit was still active. "Let's finish this, Nix.. I need to save my strength for killing the rest of your team!" Sano wasted no time in activating is Shadow Fusion once again, feeling confident thanks to his armor. 'He is right.. I can't exhaust myself on this one fight but with that spell on his armor I have to use one strong attack or risk using all my energy on multiple attacks.. If only I could amplify my spells effect!' Those thoughts raced through her mind as she tried dodging Sano's onslaught of attacks. When she saw him step into a puddle of water, an idea came to her. It depended heavily on luck, if he found out her plan then there went her chance.

So Nix entered her Persona Fusion and began the counter attack. Though instead of using her electricity, she slammed him with a wind spell. Sano wasn't expecting that and was knocked back onto the ground, sliding across a large puddle of water. "Wind..? You think that's going to help you!?" He got to his feet, standing in the middle of the large puddle of water, some of the liquid dripping off the armor he held so dear. He had no idea he fell for the trick and this match was about to come to a shocking conclusion. "This ends now, Sano!! Guardian Hammer!!" A massive wave of electrical might fell upon Sano, it gaining intensity once it connected with the water under his feet and on his body. The Paladin yelled in pain, his body feeling like flames were racing through it and even his armor lost its golden luster as the attack ran it's course.. "You.. got lucky.. this time." Sano muttered as his body returned to normal before falling to his back, blacking out immediately.

The red pillars cracked and shattered, eliminating the invisible walls around her. Nix reverted back to normal and frowned at her unconscious brother. Her body ached from the burns and cuts she sustained from the fight but nothing hurt more then to harm him that way.. She felt sick as General Teddie announced her as the victor, sounding absolutely thrilled by the match. All she could hope was that she wouldn't have to fight her friends again..