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A Hero Tale {Complete}

Zelriane hopped, slid, and jumped through the spikes in his path, continuing in his circular path around the room, for a few more seconds, anyways. Then his body appeared in front of oz, standing firm in his typical stance without the energy encompassing his legs any longer. "When somebody is too big or durable to strike, there's one solution that typical martial artists put into play." Zelriane lowered his body to the ground, bending his knees and demonstrating his flexibility. "Grapples."

The ring of energy from before, the one that surrounded the room's outer edges, continued to spin without Zelriane within it. The sections of Atlas that emerged were blown away by the centrifugal force. He was surrounded by a rotation moving at light speed. The entire room was beginning to heat up at this point.

"Hadoron shūshuku"

The ring of light rapidly began to contract, narrowing to a blade that aimed to constrict the entirety of Atlas, or break straight through to Oz. If he managed to pop the overbearing monster of an aura that Atlas was, or fully constrict him assuming it could resist the super-heated beam of light before it, then Oz would be open. He was waiting for that moment, crouched like a tiger and prepared to strike.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Zelriane retreated immediately, standing closer to the edge of the room. "Hmmmm..." He pondered the situation for a moment. An all encompassing defence was not to be trifled with. But he wasn't about to give up. Zelriane began to circle the entire room at a remarkable speed, moving in such a uniform line that it streaked across the room's edge like a belt of green energy. He continued to pick up speed, quicker and quicker, waiting to see how Oz would respond. That, and waiting for the energy to climax.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Zelriane side flipped over the flailing star and stopped inches above the ground, before dashing directly towards Oswald once again. This time he reeled his right arm back, and began to gather energy into a spherical shape. "Agoniki Judan" He stopped himself several feet in front of Oswald and thrust his arm forward, firing a small sphere of energy that contorted as it ripped across the small distance with astounding speed that broke the sound barrier. The wooshing and crashing of Zelriane's own movements were pitiful excuses in the wake of this sonic boom, and the bullet itself sought to look for a weak point in Oswald's shielding. In the same moment that he fired his ranged attack, Zelriane zoomed behind Oswald and looked to place his hand on the man's back, both to hold him in place, as well as...

"Agoniki Ihan"

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Zelriane stood his ground and waited patiently for Oz to make a move with his newly summoned energy. There was something curious about it. The technique resembled his 'Atlas' in some way, but to use such a massive creature in a relatively small room, with only 16 feet of space from the ground to the ceiling was questionable. The energy around Zelriane's legs flared outwards, and he rose his guard.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Zelriane was silent for a brief moment as he hovered lightly in place.

"He has unwavering conviction, and ultimate power. His ideals are unhindered by silly principals, like moral obligation and sentiment, the very nonsense you and many others align themselves with in order to circumvent your own weaknesses. I see it the same way, life and death, power and weakness- It's all part of a just reality. Only the powerful are allowed to create the rules, and by my own beliefs, I am to follow them, lest I lose myself in my own arrogance." Zelriane lowered his hands slightly to reveal his face. "There is nothing petty or unjust about a god's ultimate sentence. You are to look upon beings like him and kneel, or be consumed by the void, and die without purpose like every other pitiful mortal in this wretchedly entitled multiverse." His eyes narrowed. "What purpose can a naive fool claim in a reality that purports strength and knowledge over pitiful emotions like love and sadness? To claim any authority without a divine position- That is the ultimate act of arrogance. You will learn with time, or you will disappear. To be perfectly frank, however..." Zelriane's body began to fade as he spoke, and his final phrase echoed across the room, as if he surrounded Oz from all sides.

"I'm fine with either outcome"

He was already behind Oz, with the length of his right leg firmly pressing against his back. This was not typical agoniki. The energy only served to inflict sheer damage. As Oz was struck from Behind, Zelriane uttered a phrase with a quick, trained gasp of air.

"Seikaku Akari"

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Zelriane pulled himself back and began gathering a great deal of power in his legs. The aura that began to spread pushed him further back out of caution. Although he could see it, Zelriane couldn't discern the true nature of meta energy like Yzeira or Nexus. His eyes were purely designed to predict outcomes through analysis of his target's flow of energy, not to deconstruct the metaphysical makeup or properties something like veil. He tightened himself in place and pulled his arms inwards. It was a compact stance, unfamiliar, similar to that of a safe boxer, with his forearms blocking his torso and hands bunched tightly in front of his chin.

"Of course not. At first, I'd not expected your to take to Void poisoning so frightfully well. The awakening of Meta energy in such a short period of time is unheard of, outside of Primeirian cases." He stood in place and moved slightly from side to side, light on his toes. "But you're here now, because of me. Just as planned. Once we're through eliminating your friends, we'll be taking you in. Yzeira will subjugate you, and we'll be putting this little world behind us as nothing more than a dirty memory." Zelriane's legs began to glow with lime green light, and his body appeared to float a few millimetres off the ground. "It's a shame that I'm the only one around here that actually follows orders. If there was any semblance of coordination among my forsaken allies, Ada wouldn't have ended up the way she did."

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Zelriane' face contorted angrily at Oz's comment. As his barrier fell though, there was nothing in the way of his expulsion of meta energy. Like floodgates, Oz had opened the path for Zelriane's agoniki to strike him in full force, rushing through the center of his body a moment after he dropped his barrier. Zelriane was force to release the technique early, and jump backwards into a flip. While midair, he pushed off of Oz's shoulder and landed a few feet away, before thrusting his right palm towards Oz’s right thigh, aiming to cut off the flow of Ki to his leg with a precise strike.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

A rush of air flowed past Oz as Zelriane's aura neared, but what transpired was not the same resounding impact as before. Instead, Zelriane emerged from his Akari Dash standing firmly in front of Oz, with his right hand placed gently against the side of his barrier.

"Agoniki Ihan" From his hand, a rush of his meta energy emerged, pushing to breach his outer shell. But it wasn't with physical might like his Akari aimed to accomplish, it was with sheer dominance. His agoniki wouldn't take long to overpower Oz's veil, even if it did bare a natural resistance to his power. It was the same principal as hard boiling an egg, really. Except instead of cooking his insides, Zelriane was going to assault them with a stream of torturous pain. "Hide behind your clever little techniques all you want. I'll just have to cook you from the inside out. A much less favourable fate than death by internal bleeding. Weigh your options carefully, so that you may choose your method of death with a shred of honour still..." He glanced at Oz's stump of an arm and smiled. "intact"

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Zelriane fired several more shots, until taking up his high-handed stance. A fairly obvious tell at this point, it would be impossible for him to land a hit on Oz if he could see it coming from a mile away. But he attempted it again. "Akari." The words left his lips in a quick, disciplined hiss of air, and his body was engulfed in a familiar green light before launching across the battlefield once again towards Oz like a razor knife made entirely of light. Was he trying to catch Oz off guard while he was busy defending? Or looking for another angle?

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Zelriane winced at the sound wave, but backed away and waited out the resounding shock wave until it petered out into nothing. His hearing was particularly honed, but no so sensitive as to fall prey to something like a loud thunderclap from so far away. With his new position, several yards away from Oz, he began to fire repeated bursts of pressurised air across the room, waiting for an opening. If he could land a clean Akari, they may be no need for a drawn out battle against this big lummox. He'd just need to hit him when his barrier was down, and find a way outside his range of vision. One, two, four, six, twelve, a bombardment of wind-pressure spike zinged across the room, all aimed for vital points on Oz's body while Zelriane danced sideways, strafing around Oz, who now literally had his back against the corner, despite the room being perfectly circular.