[center][img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/250116/28a4665692318df53ea398824a247a39.png[/img]
[b]Sagamiyama - Stone Household - Stand Firm Before the Tide...!
Night[/b][/center]

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For the second time of the night, Darius had been sent flying back like a sandbag, tumbling across the street, zanpakuto braced against his forearm if only to keep it from impaling him in that wild sprawl. He didn't even get the comfort of rolling for the last few feet, his momentum slowed just enough to turn the final stretch into a slide that left his arms and knees with a nasty case of road rash. He was left huddled over, groaning and questioning the wisdom of getting back up for round three. He wanted to lap back down and take a nap, more than anything else; But there were people here more important than his rest, people to protect, no matter how badly he got thrashed in the process. He was just struggling to his knees when he heard the door, gaze snapping around, wide with concern, to behold his wife stepping outside.

She looked for him... And the Hollow looked at [b]her[/b]. Pain didn't matter. Stiffness in his joints, just an inconvenience, to be ignored, pushed through, as he got his legs back under him. He didn't understand how he covered the the gap to put himself between the Hollow's rising arm and the woman who held his heart so close- A flash of movement, a blur as he raised his zanpakuto in a feeble defense. Steadfast, in the face of crushing power.

Then time crawled, and he was brought somewhere else, to hear that voice like bells once more, resonating in his bones. Words spoken, in this strange world of phantom battle- And the words that hadn't been spoken yet, filling his mind with a certainty of purpose, a surety of correctness. How had he not heard this knight before, when it shouted so loudly, proclaimed itself, ready to take up arms in defense, eternal? Turning to face the phantoms that charged the bridge, he raised his arm, the world flickering around him. A charging battleline- A rearing Hollow. Fields, a bridge- His own front porch. Two battles, and a single purpose.

[color=f26522][h1][b]We fight as one... Stand firm before the tide, KENGOUOU![/b][/h1][/color]

That plane of his soul faded entirely, as the real world snapped back into sharp focus, time lurching back into proper pace. The Hollow's arm came down with force fit to crush buildings, and with the peal of a great bell, met a wall it couldn't so much as scratch. Rebounding back with enough force to make it stumble, the Hollow was confronted by the upraised shield of Kengouou, a vast ripple of light and spirit energy radiating out from the point of impact, fading with the thunderous ring of the bell. The sidewalk had crumbled under Darius' feet, a small crater in his lawn from the strike that had driven him downwards, but his legs didn't fold, his back didn't shatter. He felt strong enough to tackle a tank, sturdy enough to survive one's blast...

And pissed enough to rip one apart.

He followed the Hollow's backwards stumble at a slow walk, jaw set, shield held forward and ready. One more flailing strike, and another, taken against the face of Kengouou, sent reeling back each time, before he stepped in close to drive the top edge of the shield up under the Hollow's chin, an uppercut like a cannon blast to force the thing to look to the sky. Darius leaped after it, feeling as if he could float there, for a moment, outlined by the roof of his home, the starry sky beyond it- A domain to protect, as he brought the angled point of Kengouou's base down on the Hollow's upraised mask, intent on driving its skull down into the pavement and seeing the damned creature dissolve into nothing.

Once the deed was done, he stood straight, letting his head loll back, breath rising above him in silvery mist as he let it out in a long sigh. He felt... [b]Good.[/b] He was overflowing with Reiryoku, the aches and pains of his injuries seeping away while strength flooded him, all pouring into that heavy silver shield on his arm and back again, a self feeding loop. He knew, the way he had known that name, that he would stand out like a beacon now, to anything with the sensitivity to feel that spiritual pressure. All the better, to keep the attention of things on him, and off of his companions.

Slowly, he let his head roll to lay his eyes on Aiko. She had called his name... Could she see him, like this? Pick him out from the blurs and shadows? He favored her with an almost guilty smile, shoulders rising in a shrug, whether she could see and hear him or not.

[color=f26522]"Sorry, Aiko. Retirement just didn't suit me, I guess."[/color]