[h3][b]Frenzy Plant vs Phoenix wing A[/b][/h3]

There had to be a weakness to Xyster's invincibility. True invincibility doesn't exist because there was always a catch to any form of invincibility whether it was a time limit or there was a weak point that allowed every other part of the body to remain unharmed...Now that he thought about it, why weren't there any wounds on Xyster's face or the rest of her head? The Dullahan had been caught in so many of Nolan's destructive attacks that her head should have visible evidence of damage just like the rest of her body. And now her body was intangible...though now what about her head?

With a frenzied Dullahan on the hunt, mid-battle strategizing proved to be a luxury Nolan could scarcely indulge.  His enemy recognized the scent of victory, knowing that if Nolan lost much more blood, his consciousness would slip away.  Already it made his clothes slick and damp, and it stained red the sand where it fell.  Still deadly silent after the toll of the unseen bell, Xyster attacked again, whirling her scythe vertically before lashing out in a slice straight up the Ash God Slayer's middle.

Crap, he was losing too much blood. He was starting to get light headed and everything was starting to become murky. There was no more time for him to idle around dodging or else he'll pass out long before he could defeat Xyster. Her next attack came fast and Nolan tried to avoid the attack, but hardly succeeded. While he was able to step back in time, the scythe slashed directly in the middle of his face, causing blood to seep down. There was his moment! After such an attack, the bottom of the scythe where Xyster's head was attached was now in front of him. Not wasting a moment he stepped in and threw an uppercut with a torrent of ash covered it straight to Xyster's head. 

In her berserk state, Xyster couldn't conceive of defeat in any form.  Only the blood concerned her, and its freedom from the vessels and flesh that bound it.  Following that upward slash, Nolan's vital fluid trickled down his face, and his tempestuous heartbeat sounded out to the Dullahan a sweet song of victory.  The crowd, stunned by the progression of the match so far, sat on the very edge of its collective seat.  Would humanity prevail against this terrifying monster?  They dared to hope, and when Nolan's ash-wreathed fist cannoned into Xyster's head, they held their breath.  Uttering a garbled cry, the head flew away in a black flurry, and the body of Xyster stumbled backward, convulsing.  When her head hit the ground, it became obvious the extent of the damage.  The soldier's face was frozen in a look of shock, mouth wide open and pupils strangely small--that is, pupil.  Nolan's mighty hand had crushed her left eye completely, leaving an ugly black hole.  From the deathly jaws of defeat, the Ash God Slayer had seized victory.

Any cheers from the crowd, however, were abruptly silenced.  Xyster's body, stalled for a moment, chose to finish its duty.  It swung the Harvester in a massive spiral and tore the blade through Nolan's shoulder to emerge from its hip, leaving no wound behind but taking with it enough blood to cause the Phoenix Wing swordsman to crumple to the ground, unconscious.  Xyster's body took no further action, for its color returned to normal, the Harvester vanished, and it sank, shivering to its knees.

Blood exploded from his body and stained the sandy ground crimson. His eyes widened as he felt a searing pain tear through his body though not a sound slipped from his lips. The luster in his black eyes faded into a monochrome gray. His conscious was a blank slate as his eyes stared into the darkness. There was no way he could fight anymore, but despite everything; the brutal beating he received, the alarming amount of blood he had lost, and the now lack of mental ability for the moment, his body was still standing. It wasn't that he was still conscious nor did his body have the strength to fight anymore. The iron pride and unbreakable will kept his half dead body standing, his eyes stared off into the void of nothingness. It was a battle well fought. 

[center]-=Meanwhile=-[/center]

While that happened, Zander sat beside his horse, having assured himself that she could breath easy.  He felt through the ashes for his ruby blade, seeking it with a plan in mind.

"Well... that's different." Joshua said, watching as Xyster attacked Nolan. His teammate was in trouble but Joshua knew that Xyster was only part of a bigger problem. Zander couldn't be ignored. So he made his way over to the knight and drew his blade, placing it at the man's neck. "Much as I'm sure you'd love to get your hands on that sword of yours, I'm not going to let you. I have no interest in killing you. But I can't have you making things worse for my friend over there. So, I'll give you two options: Surrender or fight me one-on-one."

The proximity of steel to Zander's throat caused his breath to catch there, but Joshua's words allowed him to breath easy.  Without the intention to kill, the placing of a blade in this threatening position constituted a foolish move indeed.  Rather than replying immediately, the soldier took the chance to continue recovering, and though he leaked blood from a half-dozen cuts and his bruises stung mightily, he felt more alive than ever.  About ten seconds after the Phoenix Wing swordsman's ultimatum, Zander replied.   [color=E0115F]"You've miscalculated.  Why would I attack Nolan?  He is already beaten.  You, Tamashii, are the only one left."[/color]  Zander rose to his full height with impunity, knowing that Joshua could do nothing to his neck without risking killing him.  In Zander's right hand gleamed the ruby blade, recovered discreetly from beneath the ashes.  Unmasked and unhelmeted, Zander's face might have surprised his foe.  While his features were hard and severe, there were bags beneath his eyes.  

The Ruby Knight hopped backward, muttering an incantation, and swiped his blade over his left arm.  Where sword touched armor, a crop of ruby grew, until Zander's left arm effectively became a huge, crystalline, scarlet shield.  Its surface, covered in points and jags, reflected the sunlight in a beautiful but sinister fashion.  [color=E0115F]"Impress me, boy,"[/color] he commanded.

"[color=red]I'm more then willing to bet on Nolan surviving your undead servant. Though do us all a favor and dismiss your poor horse. It has no place on this battlefield and I will not hesitate to permanently cripple it if it means taking the poor creature out of this equation.[/color]" Joshua said, taking a step back of his own and sheathing his blade again.

Cripple...Buttons?  A second passed before the full understanding of the declaration sank in.  This pigheaded boy planned to prevent his dearest pet from ever again walking, galloping, or even standing.  In short, he wanted to erase any meaning, joy, or relief from Buttons' life.  Lances of hatred pierced Zander's mind, but not anger; rage would only hinder what he was about to do, while hatred would enable it.  Gritting his teeth, Zander charged forward, closing the few feet that separated him and Joshua in the blink of an eye.  He hammered his massive shield arm at his adversary, uttering a wordless bellow, before pivoting around and launching a Scarlet Swath at Joshua to rake across his flesh, to cut into and cauterize it on the spot.  [color=E0115F]"Wretched filth."[/color] he rumbled.  [color=E0115F]"You will hesitate plenty when your bones are sawdust."[/color]  He raised his shield-arm, adjusted his aim, and brought it down to bludgeon Joshua's head.

"[color=red]Ah... shit.[/color]" Joshua muttered as he saw Zander grow angry. The man was fast in his approach but Joshua dodged the first blow with ease before ducking under the laser-like Scarlet Swath. He looked up in time to just barely hop back and avoid the blow to his head. "[color=red]Geez, it's your own damn fault. If you bring a horse to a battle and expect it to come out unharmed, you're way to confident. You can't prepare for everything and you should know your opponents will aim to get the poor creature out of the equation as soon as possible. BUT, as I said, I will not harm it unless you have it help you in battle again.[/color]"

During the time Joshua wasted talking, Zander took action.  As much as it might have looked otherwise, no rage clouded his eyes, and his soldier's mind perceived that somehow Joshua managed to dodge his attacks.  [i]Speed-oriented.  Dodges out of inability to take hits.  Solution: hinder.[/i]  Taking a deep breath, Zander held up his shield-arm to block while he span the grip of his ruby blade around.  He rallied his magical power and plunged the sword into the ground, spreading Scarlet Aurora through the sand.  While no Make wizard, the Ruby Knight could boast some manipulation of his magic's shape.  At Zander's whim, the entire area in a thirty-foot radius around him crystallized into ruby, which would entrap Joshua's feet if he did not jump.

This, however, formed only the first element of his plan.  On the ground, a swift warrior could change his direction as he pleased, but the laws of physics dictated that in the air, one could only squirm.  Crying out, Zander threw from his blade a Scarlet Swath as wide as a galley ship to catch Joshua mid-air.

Joshua sighed. This was getting nowhere quick. He watched his opponent carefully as he raised his shield in a defensive manner. While he couldn't see what was going behind it, he quickly spotted a red aura spread across the field. Joshua quickly requiped to the other sword he used earlier, suspecting this to simply be a decoy, and jumped up in time to avoid getting his feet stuck in ruby. When Zander fired the laser, Joshua quickly summoned a wall of energy blades in front of him to block it as he landed on the ground. This time he didn't bother talking and waited to see Zander's next trick. Since the arena was entirely ruby now, he would have to be careful. Zander's ability with the material was impressive so far and something to be feared.

[center]-=And Finally=-[/center]

For a moment, Zander deigned to glance toward where his comrade fought, ruminating on their failure to operate as a perfect team.  The sight of two figured standing still surprised him for a moment, but the story behind the quiet, still spectacle could be guessed at.  Frightening Xyster used her ultimate attack, Ereshkigal, and sealed Nolan's defeat, but in the course of the ensuing one-sided fight he'd figured out and capitalized on the Dullahan's only weakness.  In the end, while neither collapsed into the sand, neither could fight.  The sands, however, told another tale.  Nolan, bereft of blood, stood unconscious, despite every law of anatomy.  Xyster's body, however, still moved.  Despite the sorry -not to mention paralyzed- state of her head, whose eye looked to be permanently damaged, her body sported no visible injury.  Given the disconnection between body and head might still be roused into action.  

Zander took this all in during the moment Joshua allowed him, and resolved to not dwell on it.  Relying on whatever fighting ability resided within Xyster's body was a risk that the Ruby Knight could not take.  Instead, he braced himself and swung his shield-arm with all his might onto the ruby ground around him.  An intense jarring sensation shot through his arm, prompted a yell of pain, and the shield shattered into chunks.  With steely resolve Zander swung his weapon, projecting a Scarlet Swath toward Joshua that carried with it the hefty chunks that had been his shield--a Scarlet Shotgun.  He followed up, dead set on victory with this final trick, by charging straight forward after the Shotgun, blade pointed forward.  Red light danced across his sword, crystallizing the surface, and he cried, [color=E0115F]"Secret Move: True Warrior's Wailing Thrust!"[/color]  His swordblade exploded forward, extending like a bamboo shoot surrounded in crimson radiance, its tip bearing down on Joshua with ludicrous pushing power.  [i]It all lies...in this coming moment![/i]

Joshua watched Zander and summoned up a wall of blades again to block the Swath, only to be surprised at the rocky bombardment, breaking his consentration and breaking the wall, causing Joshua to get hit by several chucks of ruby and whatever bit of the laser was still passing by. He fell to one knee to catch his breathe, but he barely got the time as something hit him in the right shoulder and sent him flying into the wall on the far side of the arena, hitting the wall with enough force to cause an explosion of dust and stone.
"[color=red]Ah, fuck that hurts![/color]" He shouted from the cloud. His right shoulder was shattered and Swath and ruby chunks had left him with several cauterized cuts. Still he was conscious, though his vision was definately going for a loop, and that was all he needed. "[color=red]Hey Zander! Would you prefer a draw or do you want me to actually try to hit you?[/color]"

This was it: the final moment.  Though he'd been virtually untouched seconds before, Joshua now lay on the brink after taking a Wailing Thrust, the Ruby Knight's most powerful melee technique.  Zander saved his smile, though.  No situation existed in which overconfidence couldn't somehow lead to a sudden turnabout and ignoble defeat.  Placing a gauntleted hand firmly around the blade of his sword, Frenzy Plant's premier swordsman called, [color=E0115F]"For the sake of my ally Xyster, and your noble teammate Nolan, I would prefer you, unworthy one, to lie in a dreamless sleep on the sand!"[/color]  

Zander channeled every ounce of energy remained, knowing that his strength would be depleted afterward, and began to spin the massively elongated blade in a horizontal circle.  A familiar ruby-red light built around the weapon as he did, and as Zander reached the critical point of his rotation, his sword sped up.  The crimson glow that enveloped it burst outward in an utterly enormous Scarlet Swath, nearly as wide as the arena itself and as thick as a post box.  While the resulting laser blast lacked the magic power to incinerate anything in its touch, Zander trusted it to let loose a good old-fashioned explosion across the entire western arena wall.  Regardless, the giant blade immediately broke down into a glittering red powder, and Zander himself dropped to one knee, panting, and watched as the king-size Scarlet Swath, better known as a Crimson Eclipse, burst against the far side wall.

"[color=red]Ah shit.[/color]" Joshua muttered as he spotted the glow. He quickly requiped to another blade and summoned up a dome of ice, not trusting a wall of energy blades given how that turned out last time. He got it up in time to block the laser part but the explosions ripped through it and sent ice everywhere, giving him more then a few good cuts while the explosion battered him with heat. As it ended and dust entered the air, Joshua coughed and slowly got to his feet before getting out of the cloud and sitting on the ground again.
"[color=red]Unworthy one... very accurate my friend. And I mean that.[/color]" He shouted over at Zander, a small smile on his face. "[color=red]Damnit all, I'm completely useless. I doubt I can make it over to you and I know I don't have a trick up my sleeve to beat ya... Guess you win eh?[/color]"

Across the arena, Zander finally allowed himself to smile.  Xyster still lived, and Buttons could still walk.  From the stands, Hyun perhaps partook in a smidgeon of happiness for her guild as well.  The Ruby Knight's friends were avenged.  Slowly, and with much effort, he stood to his full height, and drew his ruby-encrusted messer.  This weapon he thrust into the sky in a silent but glittering token of victory.  [color=E0115F]"Seems that way to me.  A hard-earned win, though...I would not relish taking you on again."[/color]

Though cheery as usual, Sheldon's voice contained trace bits of awe when he gathered himself up to sing out, [color=92278f]"Incredible!  A contest of blades and magic, so fast and so cool I don't think anyone will be able to forget it!  Congratulations, Frenzy Plant!  ...Someone, call the medics."[/color]

[h3][b]Sasha[/b][/h3]

[color=6ecff6]"Don't get snippy with me for getting yourself into this mess, Lazarus!"[/color] Sasha said in annoyance,[color=6ecff6] "I've been worried, and now you come back to me looking like you've been beaten up, so shove that snippy attitude and stop being a child!"[/color] She threw up her arms in exasperation, before walking off to find a way to get to the hotel, soon returning with a MP car, managing to bring her temper down, she kept an expression of composure. 

She ushered them into the car, giving Karn a pet, hoping he was okay after everything. She didn't say anything, deciding to stay silent as traveled to the hotel. 

It didn't take long to arrive at the hotel. 

[h3][b]Penny[/b][/h3]

At the hotel, it didn't take Penny long to figure out that Damien was there,and she sighed. At this rate, she'd have to leave without saying goodbye. She stumbled across Ariel, who seemed a bit lost. 

[color=f7976a]"What's wrong?"[/color] She asked, managed to keep a leveled tone, and smooth over any troubled features she had, thinking on how much time she actually had.

[h3][b]Master Jamie[/b][/h3]

Jamie gave a laugh, finding the simple act relaxing [color=f26522]"Again, when has not being held in high esteem stopped me? We're going to need everyone we can, for what's coming. I don't need high esteem. I just need to know there's allies at my guilds back. You don't need esteem to have trust" [/color]

[h3][b]Jessie[/b][/h3]

Jessie leaned over and took a fork out, stabbing a pice of the dish, stealing it from Ferris, munching on it as she watched the battle, immersed in it and overwhelmed. [color=f6989d]"I don't know, but damn, such power,  how can such power exist? That was certainly an exhilarating start to the battles!"[/color]

She flicked her mic off, happily munching on the food, apparently without a care for what it was. 
[@t2wave][@yipeeXD][@zarkun][@joshua tamashii][@Cirus Arvennicus]