[hider=Echo Echo Echo...][center][h2][b][color=turquoise]The Cereal Killer[/color] Vs. Knight Sylvestre: Round 4[/b][/h2]
[@Lugubrious][/center]

Juniper and Erina continued to watch the bout, judgment in the eyes of the shrine maiden and a certain slack-jawed wonder for the exorcist. At the moment neither combatant was visible, hidden behind a thick curtain of dust and debris kicked up by Runch’s last desperation attack. Juniper remained silent while Erina let out the smallest high pitch squeal. 

After several seconds the dust began to dissipate, and two figures were once again visible: one standing and one prone. Runch stood, leaning on his spoonsaber, panting heavily and bleeding from multiple lacerations all over his body. Cyril lay on his back, shield and halberd still in hand. He wasn’t moving, but at least he was breathing. 

“Huff… Huff…” Runch barely kept himself standing as he caught his breath. He summoned the energy he could to wave a hand over his wounds, sealing them up with sticky cereal. “Bori bori plug,” he murmured.

Then the pirate turned his attention to his opponent on the ground. Struggling through the pain, he took a single step. Nearly stumbling, Runch caught himself using his sword as a makeshift walking stick. With trepidation, he gave pause before moving forward again. A yell from off to the side nearly toppled him over in sheer surprise.

“Is this what you have been reduced to, knight?!” cried out Juniper, her voice strong and steady. “Defeated, on your back, and pathetic? This is not how the man who defeated ME should be going out!”

Cyril began to stir, causing Runch to halt his progression. The pirate glanced between Juniper and Cyril. Meanwhile, Erina piped up. “Oh, we’re cheerleading now? Ok. You go, cereal man! Just a few more steps and we’re done here!”

Cyril groaned, scraping the edge of his shield on the ground as he forcibly pushed himself up to his feet. Like his opponent, the vanguard had to prop his body up using his own weapon. “Silence!” he cried out with some difficulty, a bit louder than necessary to compensate for the ringing in his ear. “I will not lose this day, and even if I [i]did[/i] it would not be in such a pathetic position!”

To emphasize his point, the knight jabbed in Runch’s direction with his shield. “I will fight on through the pain and fatigue, even if it kills me! Slice off my arms, and I will still trample you! Slice off my legs, and I will still bite out your jugular!”

The pirate stood still, looking grim. He listened intently, daring not to even crack the slightest hint of a smile or let the rumblings of a laugh build up in his belly. In a way, he looked as a soldier is meant to look when being berated by a superior officer; he received it all, cold and without any expression.

“I will endure any pain, pirate. My body is both sword and shield for something [i]so much bigger[/i] than my own fleeting life. Compared to the future I seek my life is nothing, so I will gladly sacrifice everything to secure that peace!” Cyril struggled in his movements as he spoke, moving against what felt like the weight of the world. The task was normally so simple, so easy to attach his shield to the head of his glaive. The knight fumbled a bit, but accomplished this first step toward his final goal.

“I don’t expect a criminal such as yourself to understand the concept of fighting for a bigger cause. I know how insignificant I am in the grand scheme, which is what makes this all the more important. That is why I will not lose to you. On the ground. In the dirt.” Every muscle in his body screamed in pain for him to stop, but still he strained them, forcing his glaive up into a combat ready position. His eyes narrowed on his enemy, the crushing fatigue weighing down on him like the weight of his cause. 

The captain’s eyes locked onto Cyril’s. Through the knight’s entire display, he did not react. Dared not to. Now, just as they were about to begin the final clash, did the pirate deem his words necessary. “I was going to help you up and patch your wounds, maybe offer you one more chance at a peaceful surrender, but I can see now that would have only offended you.”

He let out a heavy sigh. “I do understand, for our cause is not so different. Your ‘peaceful future,’ I imagine it is filled with the smiles of many people? If so, then we aren’t after something so vastly different. Strawberries and blueberries, as it were. But there is one thing you said, Sir Boniface, which strikes a bad chord with me. Something you got critically wrong.”

Summoning the last of his own strength, Runch lifted his spoonsaber to meet the stance of his opponent. Strategically his bori bori powers, or his pistol, would have been more advantageous, but when a man’s pride was on the line Runch never gave “strategic advantage” much merit. “To secure your cause of a peaceful future, you couldn’t [i]possibly[/i] be nothing! That, my friend, makes you a very important person indeed. Omnomnomnomnom!”

The pirate’s joy seemed to return in a single fell swoop. His words pounded into Cyril’s skull almost as hard as the massive migraine he had. The vanguard wanted to dismiss the man, desperately so. He wanted to open his mouth to give the order for Runch to shut his. Something held him back, and all he managed was a twitch of his mustache. Once he finally mustered the strength to speak again, all he uttered were three simple words. “Let’s end this.”

“Agreed. I’ve had my fill of this meal, and am eager for the next course.” 

“Wow. It looks like they’re both putting the last of their stamina into this,” observed Erina.

“Indeed,” Juniper added. “The next stroke will determine the winner. But I should warn you, even if your partner is victorious it will not guarantee that he moves forward.”

Erina looked back at the shrine maiden, a bit confused. “You mean he might be too injured to finish the tournament?”

Juniper’s reply came curt, but was not harsh. “Perhaps. However I refer to my own intentions.” She turned attention to the kitsune next to her, locking eyes. “Should Cyril fall, but not be slain, I have every intention of stepping in to finish what he started.”

Erina was taken aback. Fox fires conjured around her by reflex. “What? You mean you’ll interfere when they agreed to a dual? But why?”

Juniper shook her head, disapprovingly. “You’ve suffered the same fate as I, so you surely must be aware yourself. I have no intention of allowing my soul to be taken a second time. The process is…” she trailed off. Even remembering the pain was more than she’d like to admit. “My sincerest apologies in advance, Miss Erina. Nobody should have to experience it again.”

Erina narrowed her eyes, a conflict brewing between her ears. Juniper had a point. The soul siphoning process had been agony greater than imagining. Yet she had gone through it twice, the first when she had lost her bout with Motley Crue, and the second once Runch had beaten Motley. She had already endured it twice and came out none the worse for wear. Then again Juniper was like her, able to see the restless dead and spirits of another world. There was a potential friendship to be forged there, and it could be ruined by this. What was an immortal to do?

“OH YOU KNOW I’VE ALREADY BEEN THROUGH THE THING TWICE AND REALLY IT’S NO BIG DEAL RIGHT I MEAN AFTER THE FIRST GO AROUND YOU JUST KIND OF GET USED TO IT HAHAHAHAHA,” she laugh-spoke, nervously lying in an incredibly awkward manner while waving her hands. Juniper only gave a sly, knowing smile, then returned her attention to the battlefield. 

Runch and Cyril stood solid, heaving and panting, but solid. Weapons still ready, exhaustion was the only deterrent for the inevitable clash, and that quickly faded as the two warriors gathered what remained of their strength.

[i]This is it. Time to put down this pirate once and for all![/i] Cyril revved the engine on his glaive-buzzsaw, golden light refracting into a myriad of colors around the area.

[i]I know I will win. My crew are cheering me on![/i] All [i]of them![/i] Runch glanced to the sidelines, where Erina sat, and flashed a big, friendly smile.

Cyril shot forward with incredible speed, empowered by the sheen. Runch met his charge using his fast moving jet technique, only a small speed slower. Both men cried out guttural war screams as they clashed, each one swinging their weapon to meet the other. Blood splattered both directions as the two came to a halt on opposite ends, backs now turned to one another, weapons swung to the side. For several seconds neither one fell.

“So… Who won?” Erina asked aloud, mostly to herself. She nervously bit her thumb. Juniper narrowed her eyes in silence, continuing to observe.

“Ugh…” Runch moaned, collapsing to the ground. He had finally reached the absolute limit of his physical form, while Cyril remained standing.

“Oh no…” murmured the kitsune, afraid of what was about to come.

Juniper grinned in satisfaction. “Most excellent. You can now take his soul, Cyril.” But the knight did not move. Juniper fidgeted. 

“What are you waiting for? Are you too exhausted?” Still the vanguard remained motionless. A second later his halberd fell to the ground with a loud [b]clang![/b] Bewildered, Juniper began to approach. Erina thought it best to accompany her fellow spiritualist along the way. Their footsteps echoed across the now empty battlefield as debris from the various explosions snapped under foot. The women stood directly in front of Cyril, who had yet remained motionless, still posing as though he were gripping his favored weapon. Juniper waved her hand in front of the man’s eyes, then snapped her fingers next to his face. There was no response.

“He’s unconscious,” commented Erina, observing. “... Standing up?”

“It would appear so,” Juniper confirmed, narrowing her gaze past the knight’s form and onto the prone pirate some distance away. This had not gone unnoticed by the fox woman.

“Juniper, please, wai-” but Erina could not finish her plea, for the shrine maiden had already taken off in a mad dash to Runch’s body. She ran as hard as she could in order to outpace Erina. Wasting no time, the one-armed woman kicked Runch over onto his back and reached down to yank his phylactery from his neck. When she spun back around, she saw that Erina had not actually given chase at all. In fact she found that the kitsune held Cyril’s own phylactery in her hand.

Juniper’s eyes narrowed. “If you plan to keep me away from that phylactery, then you forget that I can simply kill the pirate here and now to accomplish the same goal. Understand, please, that it is nothing personal.”

Erina nodded. “I do understand, because I feel the same way. I will… Do what I need to do.” She produced a second phylactery from around her own neck and held the two close together, much to Juniper’s chagrin.

“Do not insult me with false threats,” ordered the other woman. “Just as I have, you already lost your soul. Your phylactery will not work in the process.”

Erina shook her head. “You hold my phylactery in your hand now, Juniper. That man, he… Before we found the two of you, we had a bit of a fight. He wanted to make it up to me, and as an act of trust he gave me [i]his[/i] phylactery, what I now hold in my hand.”

She held it up for Juniper to take in. The shrine maiden’s eyes opened wide in shock. “You’re lying. You constantly lie.”

“This is no lie. We had only met earlier today, but he already trusted me with his very being. He called me honorary crew, [i]nakama.[/i] And now it is time that I show him the fruits of that trust.” Juniper bellowed a powerful cry of desperation and charged, but to no avail. She could barely make two steps before Runch’s phylactery clicked into place.[/hider]