Zelriane Cringed as a flurry of Ki erupted from Bruce. How much stamina did he have? Mortals shouldn't have this kind of staying power. The little man's left cheekbone tensed as he leapt into the sky, kicking off of the atmosphere with his feet to maintain flight in short bursts. Evading the rising onslaught of attacks proved as a relatively simple task, using his aerial speed to an advantage. But with such a small space to move around in, Zelriane didn't have much choice in how he chose to climb towards his target. He knew attacking or evading would force him into a position where he would be forced to defend. And without the use of his meta energy, Zelriane lacked any sort of defensive Maneuver that could overpower Raw Ki. As he flipped around, clearing the final blade in the 24-slash sequence, and narrowly sifting through the remainder of Bruce's offences, he was poised to strike at the man's back. Zelriane's eyes flared with a mist the coated the air around the focal point of his foot-first strike, and focused to a brilliant green around his hands, meshed perfectly with his skin as if his fingers had turned to pure light. Zelriane forced himself into a state of Deep focus, and breathed slowly, as the world around him ground to a halt, as if time had stopped.

	[color=007236][i]"Z[color=39b54a]e[/color]n[color=39b54a]p[/color]o[color=39b54a]u[/color]"[/i][/color]

	The chains halted, and the air hardened. A series of calculated strikes rang out from his position, hands first while Zelriane danced in midair. Every blade in his path, shattered, with its Ki source poisoned and overwhelmed by Zelriane's Agoniki. The last defences within Bruce's orb, aimed to corner Zelriane, either pushed aside or broken.

	Time began to flow again.

	Zelriane spun in midair, and clasped his hands together, firing a single projectile of his meta energy towards the blade, wielded by Bruce's false hand. Shattered, once more. His body flipped back towards Bruce, oriented so that Zelriane was staring at the swordsman upside-down. 

	Time was catching up to him.

	Zelriane reached out and grabbed Bruce's wrists just before contact, from above and clasped on tightly. An echo of pain rang throughout Zelriane's body as he channelled his Agoniki, but he ignored it. He pulled tightly, and followed through with the momentum of his back flip that defied his natural speed. As Zelriane's knee flew towards the back of Bruce's head, angled to strike just above where his neck met the base of his skull, he whispered a single phrase to himself, barely audible to anyone else.

	[sub][color=007236][i]"I will not lose again."[/i][/color][/sub]

	Zelriane's tightened knee buckled as his left hand lost is grip. Blood loss? No, not just that. Something else had been cut. The pain from his Agoniki had exacerbated it. What would have been a lethal blow, quickly fell apart as the flow of time finally returned to normal. Zelriane's Knee pulled back. Rather that striking the hardened cartilage of his kneecap against Bruce's spine, the top of his foot crashed against Bruce's skull. Zelriane lowered his body into a parallel line and pushed against Bruce's back, using him as a platform while he extended his agoniki gauntlets outwards, and darted out of Bruce's cage like a bullet. The monk landed several feet away from Shaidra. It wasn't pleasant. Hard on his shoulder, rather than gracefully on his feet. Shaidra glanced at him, worrisome of his injuries and energy expenditure.

	Zelriane quickly flipped back onto his feet and took his usual combat pose, albeit with his right shoulder lowered slightly. He breathed heavily as his Agoniki pulsed through his arms, before ending his Meta energy's channelling. Even though he hadn't sustained much damage, Zelriane was already exhausted. His eyes flickered to a dull light, unable to pick out Bruce's Ki or body through the dust that his body had just tossed up.

	[color=007236]"Is he..."[/color] Zelriane stopped and looked over to Jeff's body. An unfamiliar feeling crept along the length of his spine. [color=007236]"Shaidra,"[/color] He grunted, through two raspy pants, [color=007236]"Please bring me home, now."[/color]

	[color=Black]"No... Kill..?[/color]

	[color=007236]"If he's not dead after that... I've lost too much blood. I've sustained too much damage. I cannot use [i]Zenpou[/i] again. This has gone from bothersome to [i]dangerous.[/i]"[/color] Zelriane turned to Shaidra and narrowed his eyes, not in disdain or impatience, but fatigue. [color=007236]"My arrogance has crippled me. Take us home. Home, to [b]doctor [i]Yezia.[/i][/b]"[/color]