[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/aTnxbUc.png[/img]
[h1][color=steelblue]Xiuyang Solari
Best Served Cold[/color][/h1][/center]
[hr][hr]
[center][h2][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1UDDYFkP-8]♬[/url][/h2][/center]
[hr][hr]
	Seki stood across from the two sanguinaires, Cold Soup and Mountain Spring—and a third individual, a student covered head to toe. One foul demon was dealt with, and there were several more to go, but Seki was used to fighting without numbers on his side. Besides, that'd be remedied soon... still, he turned to them, his eyes closed and a hand resting on one of two katanas sheathed at his hip.

	[color=red]"The odds are not even. Two monsters and a scared child are not fitting opposition. I would wait to make this a fair fight, but I'm afraid my hands are tied here. Fight well. Do not fear. And perhaps one of five heavens will open their door for you in spite of your many crimes.[/color]

	As battlefields were set and partners drawn, the lone samurai Hitoshi had drawn his sword and took his position, yet over the fighting and battles beginning, a loud and drawn out belch occured. [color=darkgray]"少年、なぜ子供たちは戦っているのですか? (Boy, why are the kids fighting?)"[/color] A strange wind blew through the air, an awful stench wafted as a giant of a man made his presence known.

	A giant standing heads and shoulders over most men, he seemed almost lost as he made his way over. Hitoshi was scratching his beard as he was looking around at the other fights, holding in one hand a bottle that he now took a swig of. It was then Hitoshi noticed a gourd at Seki's side.

	Hitoshi began to crouch, almost seeming to try and hide as he snuck his way over to try and stealthily take it, as once in range he'd try to snatch it and take a big swig of the gourd, whatever is inside, [color=darkgray]"乾杯 (Cheers)"[/color].

	As soon as Xiuyang was able to recover from Wu Long's outrage, she covered herself with arcane illusions to buy herself some time. Glancing around as the students scattered into various groups, she tried to find herself an ally that she trusted. Truthfully, she couldn't find one—but there was one man that she was at least [i]somewhat[/i] confident wouldn't let her get mowed down like grass.

	She made her way over to Mountain Spring, appearing just in the corner of his field of view to announce her presence. [color=steelblue]"Well, it's good that everyone took your side. I don't think the old lizard would have let me finish my speech,"[/color] she quipped. [color=steelblue]"It'll be bad for me if you died, so I suppose I'm backing you up."[/color] She didn't contest the ronin's comment about her being a frightened child. Let him underestimate her; he was probably right to do so.

	[color=PowderBlue]“HAHA! I love conceited Ronins. Shattering their pride, the only thing they have left, brings satisfaction few things ever can!”[/color] laughed Cold Soup, knuckles cracked and a childish grin plastered to her face. The massive woman's mere presence caused the vicinity to cool down into uncomfortable temperatures. Frost accumulated quickly on nearby plant life and the wind became razor sharp. 

	Her partner was busy gorging himself on his recently refilled bottle. [color=72B587]“Mmmm, mmm ...”[/color] he finished, burped and sloppily wiped his lips and cheeks with his loose sleeve. [color=72B587]“Did you hear about the—[i]hic[/i]—Ronin in the Tatami?”[/color] the jolly drunk began with a gleeful smile. He'd had at least three gourds' worth of alcohol since his negotiations with Xiuyang. [color=72B587]“It, uhhhhh, involves a woman.”[/color] he stared emptily at his opponents in a moment of absence. [color=72B587]“Basically, your mom's a bitch. Let's do this!”[/color] An improvised and poor excuse of a battle stance was adopted. It looked as though he could tip over at any second.

	Seki did not turn or fight his gourd being taken. He allowed it to happen, and used the distraction of the idle talk and discussion to change the battlefield to his advantage. He spoke in his native tongue softly, regarding his comrade: [color=red]"彼らは悪魔に魔法をかけられてしまったのです。目を閉じてください、友人(They have been bewitched by demons. Close your eyes, friend.)"[/color] as he raised but a single finger and let out a blinding flash of light using his arcane ability.

	[color=PowderBlue]“RAH! Why can't I see?!”[/color] growled the beast of a woman as she began to conjure a storm of ice and frost, sending it right at the Ronin.

	Seki drew his blade, the white ripple tearing through reality, as he slashed twice against the ice and frost, creating distortions and ripples in atomic structure that attempted to dissolve and explode the frost before it reached him.

	Already, Xiuyang felt herself in dire straits. She shut her eyes and drew arcane energies from the flash, kneeling down to hopefully make herself a smaller target against the [i]everything[/i] that was undoubtedly coming her way very soon.

	With opponents this powerful, she couldn't give herself time to think of anything more clever than her usual strategy. She created as many illusions of herself as she could during the flash, hopefully to blend in among them while no one could see her.

	With his blade now at hand, and the effects of the flash waning, it was time to move. He went for the target that felt the blind the worst, Cold Soup, as she was giving away her position by emitting her frozen air. Seki used a kinetically enhanced swing of the sword in an attempt to cleave off a limb or two. A massive chemical reaction within Soup's body caused a quick release of atomic energy to counter it.

	Mountain Spring leapt into the air and was attempting to... [i]headbutt dive[/i] Hitoshi?! Hitoshi met the headbutt by hardening his own head with Kinetic, then quickly grabbed his Jar from his back to smash the smaller man with a Magnetic and Kinetic combo. Spring responded with a fiery uppercut, to which Hitoshi drew from that energy and met Spring's fist with his hardened headbutt attack.

	Seki continued his onslaught against Cold Soup using magnetic, drawing the blade to the iron in her bloodstream to significantly speed up the slash. Cold Soup defended with a thick shield of hardened, frozen earth. She let out a grunt as she recoiled. Enraged, she glared at her enemy with her restored eyesight. That sword, it was a problem. The air grew much colder, with Soup as the epicentre. [color=PowderBlue]“Fuck you, Nikanese dog!”[/color] she bellowed. Then, a pure white sphere formed on her palm—the fruit of this build up—and she shaped it into a simple arrow. She fired it, and its unnatural form made it unusually difficult to perceive to all. It was sent right at Seki, but more specifically, his sword.

	Seki did not see the arrow, but he felt it. This was dangerous. He drew as much as he could, and unleashed an atomic/arcane powered shockwave to dissuade this thing from bringing an end to the fight. Hitoshi broke off from his bout with Mountain Spring to assist in his young drinking buddy's defense against this strange arrow with a blend of Kinetic, Magnetic and Chemical magic that Xiuyang could feel but hardly begin to understand. The arrow's light warped in mysterious ways as well, but as Hitoshi drew in the last of its energies, it vanished.

	Seki seized the initiative. He had been unprepared for such an attack, but his summon and friend Hitoshi had bought him time—valuable time he needed to launch a counter assault. He flipped the blade around and attempted another blow, similar to the one he'd dealt before, this time using kinetic enhancement, Cold Soup angrily defending herself with much of the same.

	Mountain Spring stumbled, played dead, and then just suddenly leapt towards Hitoshi with the rage of a thousand suns. Hitoshi was ready to defend himself from this odd assault with a wall swiftly built with binding magic, and the moment the drunkard hit it, Hitoshi... shrugged, and kicked the wall to make it fall over onto the man. Almost as an afterthought, he used magnetic and kinetic magic to speed up its fall. [color=darkgray]"おっと、倒れたようだ" (Oops, Looks like you fell over)[/color] Mountain Spring, in one epic motion, rolled out, stood on one foot, and adopted the stance of the stupid crane. [color=72B587]“You racka dissiprine grasshoppa!”[/color]

	Two ripples were on the field. Seki knew that were he to miss his next, the play would be complete. Alas, he continued his onslaught, using magnetism to electrically charge his blade once again at Cold Soup. Xiuyang felt the surge of chemical energy as the beast of a strongwoman's muscles bulged as she constructed a mighty armor of ice and frozen earth with binding and arcane magic, leaving Xiuyang in awe of her brute strength. Even so, Mountain Spring had to intervene to fully defend Seki's onslaught.

	With the opening given by Spring, Soup unexpectedly got [i]in the way[/i] of the sword, only for Seki to realize she had... become liquid?! Seki's sword pierced right through her, her form completely uncompromised. Then, she attempted to seize Seki, essentially forcing him to 'wear' her. Seki slashed down with the sword once more, sending a kinetic and arcane shockwave to repel the liquid. Unable to stop Cold Soup by himself, Hitoshi intervened again, drawing energy from her and using magnetic and arcane magics to stop her from moving, or resolidify her—anything to stop this unholy assault upon the poor ronin. Spring, bearing witness to this horror show, simply took a swig from his gourd. Meanwhile, one of the many Xiuyangs had been following Cold Soup closely. She raised a wand, ostensibly to use binding magic on her injuries. However, the actual magic came from a different source: a Xiuyang that did not raise a wand, but simply circled the ongoing battle from a distance.

	Until now, Xiuyang had only used her binding magic to subtly reduce the damage Spring and Soup had taken, but just then...

[hr][hr]
[center][h2][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fye2ylbwv4]♬[/url][/h2][/center]

	...she had decisively intervened.

	Cold Soup, who had been run ragged by her two assailants, was fully healed.

	Time and space rippled in the air, the result of 3 powerful slashes that had failed to find purchase on Cold Soup. Seki slowly took his blade and sheathed it, as the holes in time and space tore through reality, a multitude of slashes from other timelines surrounding and ravaging the form of the muscular woman, who had almost managed to engulf Seki in a liquid form.

	Soup, now healed and back to her prime, muscular state, began to draw with the power of a hundred iceveins to aggressively neutralize the energy that could bend time itself. [color=PowderBlue]“Bring it, limpdick!”[/color] The strongwoman smirked, supercharged with energy, and looked to Spring. They both nodded. She conjured up a blizzard of horrifying magnitude, while Spring leapt into the air and let the winds guide him. He gained more and more momentum, eventually reaching levels of speed and unpredictability that would make Golden Monkey proud.

	Seki turned, earnestly surprised she survived that attack. He quickly found need of his blade again, and drew it once more, slashing at the onslaught of both Mountain Spring and Cold Soup in an attempt to dismantle the attack with a flurry of atomic reactions enhanced by magnetism and polarity. Hitoshi, seeing his adversary jump away as both of the bloodsuckers went to combine their forces against his drink provider, drew from the energy of the giant blizzard with kinetic and arcane, using the energy to melt the ice.

	Free to act as she pleased on account of being ignored by the two swordsmen, another Xiuyang, different from the one before, raised her wand, and Mountain Spring felt the effects of a Blessing of Vigor. [color=red]"Stay out of this, child. This is your only warning. You are not a demon, but raising arms against me is raising arms against the Pentad."[/color] Seki spoke with authority, as he began to return the favor. They needed to work together. He turned his head to Hitoshi and nodded, hoping he would pick up on the cue. They needed to attack together, just as the demons had. He leapt forward once more, a kinetically enhanced slash as he heated up his blade to help cut through the biting frost. Hitoshi enhanced Seki and his blade with Kinetic and Chemical to make him as powerful as possible to take down Cold Soup.

	She responded exactly as before, her muscles bulging as she produced a frosty, rocky armor. Mountain Spring also intervened again, adding his power to hers for the defense. He then appeared by Hitoshi and attempted to smack him on the head with his gourd, but Hitoshi slapped away the attack with a binding-hardened fist, charged with magnetic energies.

	[color=steelblue]"A child I may be—but even I know better—than to claim equal standing with the Pentad,"[/color] various Xiuyangs spoke in turn, perhaps to distract Seki as another cast Ahn-Shune's Enigma at Mountain Spring. Seki responded by switching the focus of his attacks to the invisible Mountain Spring. Cold Soup was proving to be a difficult foe. This other element was dangerous and unpredictable, and needed to be eliminated before the other. He leapt towards him, ignoring the child's words as he attempted to split atoms, space and time.

	The storm Cold Soup conjured at the start of the battle unleashed thunderbolts from the sky to intercept Seki's assault. Spring performed a flying double kick at Seki, who responded by charging his blade with magnetic and arcane. Cold Soup angrily fired another of her strange arrows, to which Seki responded with another kinetic and atomic slash, which vaporized her attack. Mountain Spring was on Hitoshi, bombarding him with consecutive punches.

	Xiuyang's heart was beating out of her chest as she watched these behemoths of magical power fight each other. The tension was becoming unbearable. It wasn't quite that she felt like she'd rather recklessly risk her life and face the consequences than continue to face the fear, though that was part of it. Part of her also knew by now that the pairs were evenly matched. She needed to do something more substantial than rub salt in the wounds inflicted by her allies. While Hitoshi was contending with Mountain Spring, she threw an arcane lance from behind, enhanced with chemical, thrown diagonally so as to not hit Mountain Spring if Hitoshi were to move out of the way.

	Hitoshi slammed down his jar the moment mountain spring seemed to fade away. He drew both his blades as the moment he felt the first blow nearly land, he slashed his blade against and parried away the first blow. And then the onslaught began.

	Hitoshi and Mountain Spring began their clash. With the ever occurring onslaught Mountain Spring rained down onto Hitoshi, his fists began to heat up as his fists gained more strength. Hitoshi began drawing from the heat of the attacks, the energy of the fists colliding with his blade, and converting this energy to magnetic and began to use it to constantly move his blades into the way of the blows while adding a magnetic charge onto Mountain spring's blows to push them away.

	Hitoshi's face began to wear a smile, as he said with glee in rough Retanese, [color=darkgray]"Come then Bitch!"[/color]

	Their clash sent out a constant stream of sparks, chips of metal, and lightning. Hitoshi was set onto the back foot, yet it was a constant stream of blows, never allowing him to move. Yet in that moment, he felt his arms feel weak, his chest felt hot and hollow, as the moment he saw the man in front of him step and turn away Hitoshi realized what happened. He looked down as he could see blood flow from his chest, a hole had seared its way through the center of his chest.

	A spew of blood came from his mouth as he shifted his hand over to his jar and cut the top off with his hand as he grabbed it and took a swing. He knew this would not save him, yet it was something to tide the burning hunger in his stomach. He set the jar down, and leaned on it leaving this world on his feet and with a full belly.

	Seki stared at the body of his fallen comrade as it dissipated into ash and dust. He did not frown, or cry. His friend had been recalled from the great beyond to assist him in this endeavour, and he had done just that. But what he could not resist, was the rage. The rage that this impudent child had aided enemies of the gods. The rage that these monsters were winning, and they were free to continue their reign of terror. No. He would deal them a blow before he left. He knew they would not win this fight, he saw the others fall one by one. Even Ash, strong as he was, could not tip the scales further.

	Xiuyang couldn't believe it. For a single second that felt like five, she stood frigid, watching the man she'd struck be reduced to ash. Part of her had not expected to succeed—thought it impossible that she could ever make a difference—but she did. She fucking [i]killed a man.[/i] One glance in the direction of the ronin, in one single second that felt like ten, the gravity of what she'd done hit her as she saw the man's fury, and felt its heat. Her hand trembled with the weight of the life she'd just taken—and with fear. Xiuyang braced herself—for [i]what,[/i] precisely, she was uncertain, but she knew that failing to heed the ronin's warning would likely have consequences.

	[color=red]"I will not let you die alone, Hitoshi. Let me send this monster to join you."[/color]

	Seki's blade and blood ran hot, resisting the frost as he once again turned to Cold Soup, a great leaping kinetic/arcane strike. Soup laughed at the recent triumph of her team. She readied an atomic punch to counter the incoming assault from Seki. Seki landed behind her as she managed to repulse the attack, but the slashes were once again in place, ready to finish what he started. He did not look behind him, as he sheathed his blade. Time and space sloshed around in a flurry, preparing to unleash the fury that Seki held within his heart, and potentially tearing apart everyone who dared get close.

	Soup laughed and laughed, that Ronin was done! And surely he'd be a delicious meal—but then it hit her, far slower than it likely hit Xiuyang and Spring... Her frost, her storm! It was gone! It was actually scorching hot. [color=PowderBlue]“Shit!”[/color] she realized a bit too late that the time stream had been corrupted once more. Something horrible was coming and her cold could not save her this time. [color=PowderBlue]“SPRING!”[/color] she called out, desperation in her eyes—but Spring was so far. What was going on?! The world around her was twisted and nonsensical. A temporal prison prevented her ally to intervene in the pure, unadulterated death being sent right back at her. [color=PowderBlue]“YOU FUCKING NIKANESE DOG! AAAAAHHHHHHH!”[/color] She staked it ALL, in all her brutish and predictable glory—Bosonic Transformation, controlled by an electromagnetic field, and her own Temporal pushback.

	Seki exhaled, his body burning up from the sheer amount of heat running through his veins as he finished his attack. The sword struggled to enter its sheath, the sheer amount of power running through it made it heavier than any blade known to man, as behind him, time and space was torn to oblivion, tearing, shredding, ripping the sanguinaire to pieces and then to nothing, as her futile attempts to defend herself only accelerated the rabid slashes erasing her from all realities. Xiuyang watched, transfixed in awe and horror as the woman whose name she didn't even know was fully and simply [i]erased[/i] from being. Though none could see her mouth agape, her eyes betrayed her true feelings in that moment. The slashes collapsed inwards further and further, before a shockwave sent all combatants around flying in seperate directions, knocking Seki to the floor. He did not smile, but he was glad that he was able to deliver some justice, even if he knew deep down that they had failed to save the people of this nation, as he felt himself beginning to weaken. Even if he wanted to, he could not continue. He was not bound by the honour of a samurai, even if his heart willed it. He was a ronin. He would have to live on. There would always be another chance.

	[color=red]"A life for a life, Echiran is sated. I see no point in continuing these theatrics. You have won."[/color] as he rose from the ground to his feet once more, no longer holding a hand on the blade that had granted him a false victory in this fight.

	Xiuyang was flying through the air. She had no time to think. Instinctively, she moved to land on her feet, only to realize too late that she was not wearing her kinetic boots. Cursing inaudibly as she realized what was about to happen, a muffled cry of agony escaped her mask as she tumbled away, her ankle suffering the final insult of Seki's parting gift. Knowing that her sudden flight had exposed her, she quickly turned back toward the direction she'd came, expecting the follow-up attack—but the man was, mercifully, long gone.

	That didn't mean she could afford to catch her breath. So fucking what, she'd managed to spear herself a single shark. The feeding frenzy continued all around her, and [i]her[/i] blood was now in the water. Frantically, she mended her broken ankle with binding magic, and stood up. Maura, Yalen—and Jocasta, if she was still alive after vanishing to Oraff knows where—needed her. Her one and only chaperone, Mountain Spring, was already on the move as well. No time to waste mourning the dead, she supposed. They had a crocodile to contend with next.