[h2]Fujiwara no Mokou[/h2]

The visual comparison was striking: on one side, a girl that looked like a gust of wind could blow her over; on the other, a burly man. One had her hands shoved into her pockets and didn't look at all capable of fighting, while the other had his fists on full display. If any outcome was going to be decided by appearances alone, anyone with eyes would say that Mokou was bound to lose.

Until the Japanese girl started flying. Not flying [i]much[/i]--obviously, "I have full aerial manoeuvrability and you don't" would let her win by attrition if nothing else, but they were talking about travelling together, so just hanging out of range proved nothing. Still, it was an early indication that there was magic in play. The second, naturally, was the thematic but ultimately pointless flames shaped into a phoenix around her.

To his credit, the burly man shrugged off the visual effects and started closing the distance, as fast as he could without being totally unable to avoid attacks.

Not that he had much luck avoiding what was coming.

When picking which spellcard to use--because, after all, danmaku being [i]non-lethal[/i] didn't mean that taking enough bullets wouldn't still leave you unable to fight, just from bruising alone--she'd settled on one that was definitely [i]visually[/i] striking, but had a relatively straightforward enough pattern that even a newcomer might be able to work it out, as long as he stood in front of her. Maybe.

[url=https://youtu.be/FQpgdjIS2PI]Well, and she just thought the walls of manji-patterned amulets just looked neat.[/url] Plus they were a good test of your opponent's spatial awareness.

The man, predictably, froze up. Magical amulets ahead, magical amulets if you moved behind, from the side--and bullets fired right at your opponent, with so little space to move if you were stuck moving on the ground--

And then he blinked, realising that although they [i]hurt[/i], it wasn't like they were a knockout move. Visually overwhelming and alarming, but once you saw through it as just a trick, there was no reason to not just rush through and through an [i]actual[/i] knockout blow against the girl who wasn't even making an [i]effort[/i] to dodge--

Much to his confusion, and concern, the punch didn't make the white-haired girl fold. Instead, there was an ominous crack--and [i]no more girl[/i]. Or bullets, just the flaming silhouette of a phoenix, now mantled on... his... shoulders.

[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aE5u6QNrRl8]That's when the magical attacks started again.[/url] This time, while there were far fewer, they were coming from [i]right there[/i], and there was no opponent to punch to try and make it [i]stop[/i], and then there were actual fiery explosions mixed in how would anyone be expected to avoid this and what sort of sadist had magic that just built up until it hurt too much to fight--

"Yield?" Mokou asked, looking rather... disappointed? Rather than continuing with danmaku, she was now stood with a fireball shrouding her hand, the heat wafting off it making it clear this one was actually [i]dangerous[/i], and the smell...

"Y-Yield," the guard agreed. His [i]everything[/i] hurt, and to keep fighting with the stakes higher against this nonsensical witchcraft...

Mokou's flaming hand winked out, returning to her pocket as she went over to join the spectators. Hm, was anyone else even still fighting?