Deity vs Lian Ikariyang

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::One might think there is an invisible cue in the arena, that this spot is specifically dedicated to Deity's entrance. As if having been standing there all day, the tall Orinian is suddenly located in the huge ring some one hundred feet from the Northern wall. His appearance is again nigh unchanged, his body still having sustaine dno injuries.

Looking as young as his late teens, the slender boy stands at just over 6'4", what skin is visible being of a very pale shade. His long black hair spikes to the right, shorter locks aimed up and backward at the left of his scalp. A deep red headband is wound over his brow, foggy one-way lenses in his glasses helping in concealing his eyes. Together, these leave his expression looking rather blank. Crossing from the bridge of his nose across his right cheek is a marred line of darkened skin, a scar.

Deity's clothes consist of a fitted black tanktop, a matching skintight suit underneath that reaches his shoulders and halfway up his neck. Strapped around the left side of his chest and his right shoulder is a belt, connected to a metallic black sheath behind him. The scabbard is four feet long, a majestic fourteen inch-long hilt extending from over his right shoulder. What look like steel-padded armor plates line the leather sleeves that cover his arms from just above the elbow to his palm, the thin alloy slabs lining most of the surface of his forearm while still maintaining free movement of his arm and wrist. While the gloves within his armored gauntlet have the fingers cut out, a soft black material is worn underneath to conceal his fingertips as well.

Over his tucked-in shirt is a pair of black denim pants, loose enough to collect into baggy wrinkles around his knees; his jeans are overlapped by a pair of shin and knee guards, very similar in appearance and build to that of his arm guards. The leather sleeves to which the plates are attached go down a few inches over his black leather boots - strapped around the soles - so as to provide limited protection to his feet. The toe and heel of each boot is padded with the same metallic material as well. A black belt-like strap connected to his normal belt hangs down over his right hip; it holds up the dull sheath of what looks like another sword behind his hips, the black cloth-bound handle curved slightly. This scabbard stretches only two and a half feet in length, more or less resembling a katana.

Standing silently by himself, the tall stranger slips his gloved fingers into his pockets, his heels together. He makes no moves or sounds as he awaits his new opponent's arrival; the boy can only hope to have some manner of conclusion this time around.::

::Raising his bound brows at the appearance of his entering future opponent, Deity quickly senses a particular presence to her ki, denoting that she is of significant age. She doesn't actually look it, though. Perhaps, like Deity, she ages more slowly, appearing years younger than she actually is - or maybe she's using some method to hide her actual appearance. Same difference either way. With the sound of wrinkling leather stretching across his belts and boots, the tall boy leans forward in a shallow bow to the lady before him, staying this way for but a breath before standing up straight once more.

The quiet Tonepian has come to learn not to expect anything but everything from these characters; first he faced an old man with a gargantuan mechanical suit strong enugh to withstand Level Two; second, he took on what seemed to be a relatively normal gun-toting person who hadn't a clue what he was doing; third was a boy who made like a horror movie and had a powerful acid running through his veins. Who knows what this woman has in store.

Letting these thoughts drift away, Deity shifts his feet to bring his left directly forward, right arm tucking behind his waist. His free arm raises horizontally, palm up and fingers toward Lian. Though not very tempted to make the first move, he has found that long waits don't always turn out so well. Before either begin, he speaks with a soft tone, hopefully loud enough for the girl to hear him.::

...good luck.

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::Alas, the boy is left with the opening move, it would seem. Though somewhat irritating, the task must be carried out by someone, and it may as well be him. Staying relatively still for several seconds, he waits for his opponent to properly prepare herself if she hasn't already, finding it rather rude to immediately attack another warrior without fair warning.

Once he has waited long enough, Deity leans forward and bursts into a dash, sending a plume of pebbles and sand back and his slender frame forward at over thirty miles per hour. A surprising speed, for a human, though Deity's abilities can hardly be construed as normal. Each step he takes toward Lian makes the ground quiver as though he himself weighs a trememndous deal, grounded shockwaves easily noticed as they spread out and die against the massive arena walls.

Moving with the left of his torso facing forward, the Tonepian's attack initiates once he is within ten feet of the girl, his left arm deftly curling over his opponent shoulder as he runs. Within five feet, he takes a final left step forward and gently to the outside, his heel crashing heavily to the floor and bringing his body to a convenient halt. In the same motion he uncoils his poised arm like a catapult - hand flattened and palm down - and swings his forearm across at Lian's left side, just below her ribcage. Though not mirroring the same amount of force felt as his boots rattled the ground below them, the blow itself is noticably heavier than one may expect from a man of such small size. Enough, at least, to send a typical girl of this stature off her feet.::

::Wow, this stuff is foul, the Orinian thinks to himself, immediately flinching at the god awful stench. Having a powerful nose doesn't help in this situation, but having a sensitive one does, at least to some degree. That aside, Deity won't be relying on his sense of smell. Nor his sight, apparently - even though his glasses took the brunt of it, the youthful man's eyes are stung somewhat by the mist; he takes the hint and shuts them altogether. Can't see through this mess anyway.

Lian speaks, her voice resonating throughout the fog at a much greater volume. Doesn't really help to conceal her position, but it certainly is distracting. Deity was wondering when he'd find some stealth in this tournament. Keeping his mouth shut and pulling his foot out of the hole he made with his sudden stop, the quiet Tonepian stands straight and retakes his stance, bringing his left side forward and bowing his head. He falls as silent as one can imagine one person being, the steady rhythm of his breaths suddenly ceasing, his body becoming perfectly still.

The tall stranger intends to wait this out the best way he knows how.::

::The audience sees nothing, but would be able to hear the clang of metal on metal collision. Lian's katana slash hits directly both the thick scabbard of the Orinian's larger sword and the swivelling sheathe of his smaller Hayahanekon, attached to a pivot on the back of his lower belt. In the length of time it took her to approach and attack, Deity's hand had grasped the hilt of his blade and used it to rotate the scabbard, which followed the movement of the attacking katana until it passed by. The edge of her blade slid along both surfaces, never once touching the target.

Afterward, Deity doesn't move again, his sword returning to its normal horizontal position after his guard. His opponent's words, as loud as ever, ring out all alone in the red fog, unanswered by the boy, who keeps his palm on the taped handle of his sword.::

::Again it would seem that the fog has little effect on Deity's awareness of the things around him. As if having obvious warning signs hanging over them, each energy blade is dodged by anywhere from four inches to a foot, Deity deftly shifting his footwork and posture as needed for each to pass by harmlessly. Even given their speed, the Orinian boy has no trouble moving himself out of harms way, the only sounds made being the wrinkling of his leather attire and the heavy thuds of his boots.

The moment the attack ceases Deity falls back into his stance, maintaining a mental eye on Lian. He thinks to himself, for the moment, that perhaps he should just get out of this mist. It would let them have a more straightforward match, at least, if nothing else.::

::Or she could get rid of the mist. That works, too. The tall Orinian slowly opens his eyes, only finding a faint itching sensation still ails them. Finding that he should keep them closed for now, the one-way foggy lenses of his eyeglasses hide this fact from another's sight. Slowly, he exhales a deep breath through pursed lips, body suddenly seeming alive with movement again as he leaves his stance for a moment to shake his hands by the wrists as if they were numb.

After this, he raises his head and swivels his head about before facing Lian again and nodding once. Though a quiet one, as she's clearly observed, Deity still finds this woman to be a bit chattier than most he runs into. Bringing his right arm back behind his waist once more, he lifts his left to retake his stance. For his second utterance the boy's soft words ring out after his long silence, a softening smile fading from his expression.::

Lovely...shall we start again?

::Deity stays still for a few seconds, suddenly feeling a change in temperature. Not a drastic or uncomfortable one, but a change nonetheless. This place could be a sight colder. It wouldn't fit the scenery anymore, but it'd feel nicer. These thoughts bounce around for a few moments before the boy realizes that nothing else is happening. Lian isn't moving anywhere, nor is she advancing. Not exactly the girl to take initiative, is she? Oh well, no matter. Taking it upon himself to start them off once again, Deity lengthens the wait to look for his own opening for attack. Tall and silent, he doesn't move from his stance for perhaps a minute.

Without much warning otherwise, Deity begins moving toward his opponent at a much more relaxed pace than before, leaning forward with a few bounding steps. Separated by only a few yards, his heavy strides bring him to her in roughly one second; his forward momentum is again quickly stopped by a heavy left step. Once more going with something simple, he keeps his left side-first stance as he loosely balls his fist and snaps his arm out for a quick backhand jab to the girl's left temple. If all movement goes unhindered, the Orinian would pull his left hand deftly back to his side, ready for another strike should he miss or connect. Still packing quite a punch, the blow is light enough to keep a firmly planted fighter on the ground, rather than send them bouncing to one side like a basketball.::

::As the tall Orinian is pulling his arm back to him, it is caught in Lian's grip, held straight. At first prepared to defend lest his arm is injured, he quickly notices that she is moving into a stance to throw him. Suddenly much more mentally calm, he clenches his left fist further but does little else. Unless the girl could heave as much as ten tons, her attempt to toss his slender frame would be ineffective. Even if she could, the most she would bring about is a tilt in Deity's posture - it would seem as if his right foot is cemented to the floor, keeping him upright and on his feet. She would have to be strong enough to force him and the stone under his boot out of the floor.

In the case that Lian could actually tear the floor up with him, Deity would use the moment to lift his arm up at shoulder level, woman attached to it or not, before taking his right arm from behind his back and swinging his elbow forward rather violently. In a swift arc his forearm aims to slam into the middle of her spine with enough force to blast a door right off of its hinges, which is symbolic of what he is attempting in the first place.::

::Again pulling his arm back, this time successful, Deity takes notice of the girl as she swings on his arm as if he were a childrens' playground. He may as well be, her smaller frame not changing his posture much at all. He may as will have a damp shirt draped over his outstretched limb.

In an impressive display of athleticism, the white-haired Lian swings a kick toward his head. His arm freed from her grasp, Deity rears his left arm back at shoulder level as his right moves up as well, hand aimed down and forearm vertical. A gentle twist of his hips brings his right arm into an effective guarding position, the girl's kick hitting it with more force than she has thus far revealed possessing. The blow itself sends a visible shudder through the boy's body, his form leaning back somewhat under the power of it. Well, one can only hope that she can take what she dishes out.

Just as the kick hits his arm, Deity lifts and extends it and snaps his hand closed around the back of her calf, just below the knee. His long fingers can nearly reach around her leg, should he succeed in such, a powerful grip holding her leg about six feet from the floor. Making his move before gravity alone can effectively take her down, the quiet Tonepian springs his coiled left arm into action, bringing it out in a heavy left palm to the small of her back. There's another increase in attack strength, combined with the weight of his dense gauntlet behind the blow.

Depending on whether she is facing to the right of or away from Deity, the blow would send her to the side or straight down respectively. Either scenario would have him releasing her leg shortly after impact.::

::Recovering from his attack and retaking his stance as Lian careens toward the wall, the Mystic Orinian turns to face her with two heavy thuds as he shifts the position of his feet. As she starts running toward him, he remarks on the distance between them, thinking that he himself would use it as a distraction to his opponent rather than charge in head-first. Then again, sometimes it is hard to avoid such.

Whatever the case, here she comes. Waiting until she is within ten feet of him, Deity hops suddenly forward into the air with his right leg as she advances, his left knee pulling up. Should he succeed in bringing himself two feet directly above her head - which he will, should she not stop, speed up, duck, or otherwise change her trajectory - his maneuver will be as simple as a sort of mule kick straight down at her head. The alloy-plated heel of his left boot aims to land squarely on Lian's crown, spiking her face-first into the sand and stone beneath her. Enough force backs the kick to obliterate a normal human skull with ease, though the boy honestly doesn't know what to expect from this woman.::

::Rolling forward in the air, the tall boy curls slightly into a flip, landing on his feet with his left side still facing his front. Of course, the point of impact is accompanied by a heavy slam as his boots hit the ground, the stone giving way as shards of rock scatter about. Though relaxing himself and letting his left arm fall, his right returns to his back as he turns on his left heel, bringing his other leg around to face his briefly downed opponent. That one seems to have stung a little, at least. If this reaction of hers is any evidence, he needn't go too much further.

Pausing for the minute in silence, Deity says nothing, the arena filled only with Lian's random curses as she holds her injured head. Positioning himself ten feet from her, he keeps his left side forward but otherwise maintains a cool posture. Once more parting his lips to speak, this time the Orinian does so with concern.::

...can you continue?

::Stifling a soft laugh from her statement, Deity isn't quiet sure how to take her words. Either as a complaint or a compliment. While such strength amazes some, it is honestly nothing fantastic between the boy and his friends. Deity's the fast one, not the strong one. Either way, he may as well stick with what works. Staying in place, he plans to wait for Lian to fully recover from the bump on her head before making any moves to continue.::

::Though having not heard such a term for quite some time, the tall boy sees no reason to chat further. If they must, they can talk later. She seems as though she may have quite the collection of stories to tell. That thought shaken away, Deity reinforces his posture and raises his left arm again, open hand aimed fingers-first at Lian. Without a word or moment more, and he's on the move again. With only two long, heavy strides, Deity bounds across the dozen feet or so, bringing his left leg forward as though he intends to run right by his opponent's left side.

Instead, as he shifts to the side, his foot leaves the quaking ground and swings up toward the lady's abdomen with the same force that was exerted on her forehead through teh last kick. Rather than the top of his boot, the alloy padding of his left calf would be the point of impact, striking roughly four inches below her ribcage if successful. That said, this blow would be less concentrated and in turn do less damage. If his attack goes as planned, the circular motion of the kick would swing the Orinian right back into his typical stance; otherwise, he still has his right foot to stand on.::

::Deity's kick sails over the lady's smaller frame, arching down and slamming heavily into the sand-covered stone. As his attack allows, he is brought directly into his stance once more, but only for a heartbeat. Seeing Lian already soaring backwards through the air some distance, the tall boy feeds his circular momentum with a twist of his hips, bringing himself around for another clockwise turn. Still keeping his right arm hidden behind him, his leg of the same side now takes to the air, foot raised nearly above his head as he turns 360 degrees. This time, instead of a kick, once he brings himself around once he swings his boot down with significant force, an impact tremor rocking the ring walls as the force alone blasts his slender body into the air in a jump.

Left knee forward and opposite leg outstretched behind him, the quiet Tonepian joins Lian in the air, though hardly on a trailing trajectory. While she reaches the target of her leap, Deity reaches the peak of his own - he is vertically thirteen feet from Lian, but fifty feet above the ground. From this position, whether Lian was able to see him jump or not, he stops. Instead of falling, he simply floats in the sky, looking down. Wasting no time, he aims his left hand down, palm open. With an echoing hiss sound from his person, a sudden pulse of force explodes from his poised arm.

Like a battering ram, an invisible wave of physical impact moves through the air, creating little more than a mild temporal distortion in its wake to those with eyes fast enough to see it. With a 4x4 foot square size and speed rivalling a supersonic rifle round, it is actually not aimed for Lian at all. Whether she sees it or not, it strikes the ground only two and a half yards before her new position, intentionally missing her. As though a bomb were going off, the stone and sand erupt from the floor in a hail of dangerous projectile shards, able to pierce human skin; at the very least, the force alone would be the equivalent of being hit by a train.

While there is no smoke, seeing as the 'explosion' was caused by only an impact, the only thing in the air for the moment is a plume of slowly falling sand, which does well to hide Lian's original position from Deity's eyes. That aside, visual cover wouldn't be of much use - the boy's eyes are still closed after the irritation caused by his opponent's opening maneuver. Rather than go in just yet, Deity waits for his next move to present itself.::

::His head tilted down, the boy's breath escapes his lips in the form of misty steam as he floats high above the ground. Having performed much more efficiently in conditions far worse than this, Deity still doesn't seem to be bothered by the frigid temperature. Though he is wearing a partially insulated outfit, having a naturally low body temperature and growing up in just such an environment helps him to adapt to low-degree temps rather quickly.

After attacking, his first thought is that Lian did well in dodging the kiai, though doing such wasn't entirely necessary. Then again, she wouldn't know that he had no intention of hitting her with it; the scattered shards of stone did seem to pose a decent threat, however, so her maneuver makes sense. More so than her next one, at least. Eyebrow arching in curiosity, Deity now senses a physical change to the environment to accompany the change in the air. Walls. Lots of walls. He doesn't know what they're made of, but his opponent has erected a series of walls throughout the ring, and then become stationary nearby or within one.

Furrowing his brow, Deity finds this somewhat confusing. Still, rather than sit there and try to figure out why she's doing what she's doing, the quiet Tonepian moves in at a casual pace, closing in on Lian's position. His posture is much more relaxed, though his right arm stays firmly behind his waist as he moves through the settling sand. He lowers his altitude enough to be just above the walls of ice, then hovers gently over to the one within which the lady hides. If she were to move, he would simply continue follower her about until he was over her again. This maze won't be helping her in this regard.

Without touching down atop the wall ledge or attacking, the Orinian simply clears his throat with an intentionally heightened volume, head tilted to the side and upward. No reason to look down at someone when you can't see them.::

::With little else in the area to focus on, the spike of energy through Lian's hands - though small - acts almost as a giant sign saying,"MOVE." Deity obeys the sign and drifts backward, still staying off of the wall underneath him. His eyes still closed, he can't be sure what exactly it is the lady is hiding in as she shifts into a new spot. He can get a general feel for its temperature, and thus can only assume it's ice. Or something covered in ice. If this is true, then it's breakable.

The spike thrusting up threateningly close only a yard or so before him, the Tonepian decides to move higher up, his senses keeping exceptional track of Lian's position. Humming softly to himself in thought, Deity pauses only a few seconds more before deciding that he doesn't wish to stand around until she's done doing.....whatever it is she's doing. This in mind, he moves nearly forty feet back from where he was and rises into the air roughly five meters before turning around and once again facing his adversary's position.

Building a moderate amount of ki into his left hand, he focuses it around his index and middle fingertips and bends his arm around across his chest. As with his last technique, a sudden hiss emanates from his body just as he swings his left arm down, releasing his attack. Much like a kiai, this maneuver is invisible, and acts strictly as a punch of force. Though travelling just as fast, unlike the last kiai, this one is roughly the size of a 9mm gun round, giving it more piercing strength. Even worse - there are thirty of them. As the Mystic Orinian swings his arm from his right shoulder to his left side, he cuts a diagonal line through the air, firing the bullet-like spears of force into the maze of ice in a single motion.

At least one of the kiai is aimed at Lian's current position. They all have the power to blast a hole through a normal human being without trouble, and - potentially - the ice, as well. If it's normal ice, that is.::

::Though capable of telling whether or not he hit the woman, Deity is at first unable to tell where he hit her. If it were a vital area, he seems to have been ready to move in to find out whether she wanted to forfeit. Instead, he finds that her posture is favoring her knee - indicating that he's stricken her leg. So she's in no real, immediate danger of dying. Unlike many in this tournament, killing his opponent is the last thing the Orinian wants to try.

Staying high up in the air, the tall quiet one starts to think to himself, still feeling a slight irritation in his eyes. His only possible explanation for Lian's raising of the icey maze is that she didn't realize his eyes weren't open. If she had known, he can't really see her still executing the manuever when she did.

Broken from his thought process rather suddenly by the abrupt stop in movement by Lian, Deity readies himself, but doesn't move. He's wounded her, so she'll have to come out at some point, so he really needn't jump in after her. Still, his natural curiosity leaves him making inward guesses toward what else she could possibly have up her sleeve.::

::Keeping his distance in the frigid air, the tall Orinian still shows no signs of movement, only returning to his stance by raising his left arm before him. If any were able to sense the bodily energies in others, they would sense a slight rise in Deity's as he prepares his defenses. Though he can 'feel' the odd formation growing next to Lian, he knows not what she's planning - nevertheless, it's best to be ready for anything, even if it means being ready for everything.::

::Thankfully, whether Lian intended to or not, the increasingly long wait for her to do anything has allowed the irritation in the boy's eyes time enough to subside. So, naturally, he slowly opens his eyes, which would have teared up a little had it not been for the cold sucking the moisture away from his face. Blinking a few times, it takes a few more seconds before his vermillion orbs can adjust to the light.

Finally able to see again, Deity observes more clearly what's going on around him. Nothing more spectacular than what he 'saw' previously, but he now has confirmed that the former maze - now playing the role of shard spikes, protruding from the odd formation the woman is making - is and was indeed composed of ice. Splendid. That doesn't necessarily change his situation, but it does make him more confident in his judgement.

Through all of this, the tall Orinian hears Lian's words, but doesn't do much of anything in response. Still he waits.::

::Well, this doesn't show up all that often. Looks a bit like alchemy. Whatever it is, here it comes. The stone whip with barbs of ice lashes out, slicing through the air with a roar. Deity, however, lowers his altitude, dropping roughly ten feet shortly after the attack initiates. Watching the rocky weapon crack overhead, he suddenly gets the feeling that he'll need to use both hands now.

Not wanting to stay so close to the ground with that thing in the air, the tall Orinian turns away and shifts his posture horizontally, facing the Southern end of the ring and taking off. Though hardly faster than the eye could catch, he moves rather swiftly through the air, clocking nearly three hundred miles per hour as he flies in a wide semicircle, moving along the outer edges of the ring and raising his altitude again. By the time he circles around behind his opponent, he slows to a stop at a height of almost one hundred twenty feet, facing Lian.

He's not comfortable with moving in to strike just yet, and may be learning of the extent of that weapons reach at any moment.::

::Oh, so this thing is capable of high speeds as well? Perhaps he should test it out. Watching the stone tendril as it whips through the air toward him, the Mystic Tonepian clenches his fists together, one around the other. Twisting his torso more to his right, he rears his arms up around the same shoulder, ki focusing primarily into his arms now.

Before the monstrosity can make an impact, Deity shifts a few feet to his right and swings his balled fists in a hammer-like blow toward the rock - his arms remain in a position in which only his gauntlets make contact with the stone or ice. An airborne shockwave would tear through the atmosphere if the blow landed, reaching the spectators with nearly enough impact to push them into the backs of their seats. The hammer itself easily packs enough force to turn any normal stone of this size into harmless pebbles. That said, that isn't the purpose of the blow; Deity aims to simply punch the whip off course and into the wall behind him.

Should all go as planned, the boy would immediately prepare to get moving again. He knows not how fast the tendril recovers, and needs to be ready to take off. Once again focusing his efforts on Lian might not be such a bad idea, either.::

::As he was prepared to do when he first struck the massive whip of stone, the quiet Orinian quickly drifts backward as he senses the movement of the huge shards. One could reach out far enough to snag him, which could hurt quite a bit. Just then, of course, the situation grows worse, and the massive shards spring to life in an attempt to make a pin cushion out of the boy. Wondrous.

As they move in, he demonstrates the surprising speed of his hands, using the armored gauntlets protecting them to deflect the shards in seemingly careless directions, batting them aside as though they're flailing punches from an untrained amateur. Unfortunately, it would seem more or less as though he were defending himself from a few dozen amateurs. Some come in too fast behind or around others, requiring Deity to physically get out of the way as he swings his arms about. It is after the second of these mid-air shifts in position that one of the shards connects with his right leg, evoking a pitched groan that, somehow, seems rather quiet given the impact.

In the mere moment it takes for the shards to launch and reach the farther wall, the vast majority are knocked aside with the ringing sound of metal colliding with solid ice; the rest either hit the ground or the wall, but not a single one makes it as far as the stands. Always looking out for the little people, he is.

That said, it came at a cost. A heavy gash can be seen in his jeans where a jagged shard collided with his left thigh, a similar tear apparent in his bodysuit underneath. A large section of his skin has been damaged - a bit torn away - though thankfully the wound isn't so deep as to require immediate attention; any further to his left and there'd be some muscle missing. He doesn't really need to walk anymore at this point, and the bleeding isn't so bad, so there's little need to worry.

Whatever condition he happens to be in, this could get ugly. He could simply wait it out and let Lian pass out from blood loss, which - he can only guess - would subdue the titanic beast as well. But...what then, he thinks to himself. Rather than dawdle about, he takes off again, moving down the length of the massive tendril yet never bringing himself closer than thirty feet of it. Rather than sluggishly make his way over, he matches and overcomes the speed displayed previously by the tendril's previous attack, blasting himself toward Lian at just over twenty-eight hundred feet per second.

In a test of both her reflex time and defenses, he aims his left palm forward, his right gripping loosely the hilt of his Hayahanekon blade behind his waist. Curling all but his index and middle fingers, he aims his hand forth and fires one last kiai. Again accompanied by the resonating hiss, this kiai is roughly twice as fast as the Orinian is moving, and fired from only eighty feet away, to her left. Circular and about fifteen feet wide, this one actually doesn't pack a terrible lot of force, despite its speed. While it could very possibly knock someone over, its main purpose is to stun them briefly, as though they'd been shoved backwards; if Lian were hit and affected by it, it could cause her to lose her balance.

As fast as he moves, the strange boy has left himself just enough time to judge her reaction to his attack, and - hopefully - react himself. No need to dive in head-first only to find that your opponent's defenses are too much.::

::Stupid wall. As it rises, the boy's initial reaction is simply to punch his way through it and get to Lian. He quickly changes his mind, however, figuring that, if she can regenerate and control the massive tendril currently out for his blood, she could probably rebuild that wall or turn it into a weapon of some sort. So, he does the next best thing. Taking his hand away from his sword, Deity suddenly flips backward, still horizontal, but now facing the opposite direction with his front side facing left. Curling his knees up, he continues forward to the barrier as the ice-barbed whip closes in nearby.

Just as he reaches the newly-created wall, he kicks forcefully out with his right boot, a heavy slam resounding throughout the ring walls as a visible quake causes the sand on the floor to shiver under the force. The impact is easily enough to send a structure of this size - made of normal stone and ice - to the floor and onto Lian. Maybe in big, broken chunks. Either way, that's not the entire intention. As soon as contact is made, the small-framed boy is sent rocketing in the opposite direction, increasing his speed slightly more in hopes to avoid the icey darts. The shards of ice fired his way would either hit the barrier or just miss entirely, depending on when they were shot - if fired after his kick, he'd need some improvised evasive maneuvers.

As he moves, the boy already begins gathering his ki again, this time into his right hand. Reaching the wall in only a sixteenth of a second, Deity quickly curves upward before coming to a stop some seventy feet from the ground. Without further hesitation he raises his right hand to the air, palm-up, and immediately focuses his gathered ki into his palm. He can't dawdle, as that tendril is sure to attack again, and likely with more of those ice barbs.

Once he has gathered and concentrated his energy, after only a second or so, he hovers a few yards away from the wall and takes aim at the stone giant, given it isn't already on top of him. Rearing back his arm, a pulse of ki releases a large glowing red disc above his poised hand, roughly two yards in diameter. As soon as it appears, Deity lets out a shout and, with a twist of his hips, swings his arm down and hurls his attack. Resonating with a deep hum, the Kienzan spins wildly as it closes in on the massive tendril at roughly three times the speed of sound.

Capable of cutting through a small mountain without slowing down, the Kienzan aims to slice the whip in half, even if only to slow its advance. Whether successful or not, an aimed wave of Deity's right hand sends the attack swiftly to the side, toward Lian now. Not intending for it to go around any obstacles in its path, the Tonepian is aiming the disc at Lian's knees.::

::With a sparking flash of crimson reflecting off of the boy's one-way lenses, he watches as the Kienzan slips through the pile of rubble like a hot knife through butter, leaving a thin slit in its wake. Just as quickly as it went in, the disc of energy flies from the opposite side of the shattered heap of stone and ice. Though quick to gesture upward and send the attack harmlessly into the sky, Deity then finds himself just staring at the pile of rocks, a nervously steamy breath rolling from his parted lips. Did she move, or did he hit her? He was aiming just for her legs, but she was lower than expected...

Passing by dozens of fired ice barbs imbedded in the walls behind him - weaved around as he made his way over - the tall Orinian begins his gentle descent, his left leg still held higher and bent at the knee. He never reaches the ground, instead moving forward as he hovers to a much lower altitude of only twenty feet above the ground, roughly forty feet horizontally from the central collection of debris. Not much movement. Only adding to the silence, Deity takes the moment to seek out her ki. If he doesn't find it, she's likely dead.::

::Deity ceases his approach and quickly moves away, finding it clear that Lian is not yet defeated. Rising back to a height of forty-eight feet and moving backward a further twenty, the Orinian senses the change in his opponent. Her ki shifts somewhat in nature, the boy's red eyes darting between and following five separate streams of water stemming from the central pile of rubble. For what it's worth, he turns and wastes no time in reaching the outer wall, scaling it in a matter of seconds before touching down at the very base of the stands.

The chattering crowd behind him is still some distance away, observing the strange beams of light almost as intently as Deity, his tall and mildly lanky frame standing at the very edge of the ring border. As before, he is favoring his left leg, the toe of his boot only lightly supporting his weight. He only stands here because, from this position, he has a greater area of movement than he does down below in the ring, even when airborne. He watches silently as a strange symbol forms above the ring, unrecognizable to his eyes. He keeps his senses open to his surroundings, alert and wary of his situation. This lady has more up her sleeve than the Mystic one initially suspected.::

::To be honest, the tall one was expecting something with a bit more.....well, punch. Technically not even in the ring anymore, he watches rather calmly up until the wind begins to pick up, at which point he carefully lowers himself onto his right knee, midnight hair flickering about in the gusts. Of course, the problem isn't that the wind is blowing, but what the wind is blowing. Just like a genuine tornado, the twister it picks up everything in its wide reach, spinning it madly before tossing it wildly about.

This shouldn't be a problem for now, though. Over the base of the blizzard by a hundred feet, it may take a while for anything to reach him, and he'll likely see whatever it is coming in time to move. That said, that heat could be rather annoying. If it persists, he'll brave the hazards down below in order to cool down. Thankfully, the insulation of his undersuit helps a great deal to keep him at his normal temperature, but his bare skin can still feel the effects of the altered climate rather vividly.

All the while, of course, the Orinian keeps his 'eye' on Lian. Unfortunately, he can't keep track of her using sound anymore, the wind drowning her out too thoroughly. However, still having two methods to keep track of her, it's not a terrible disadvantage that he can't hear her anymore. While keeping a wary eye out, he intends to weather out the....uhh...weather, for a bit to see if it will get worse or die down. Either way, he'll need to make his move soon.::

::A stone here, a chunk of ice there - the boy occasionally throws a hand up, using his sturdy gauntlets to keep the tiny projectiles away from his body and face. The second twister only makes this process more frequent, but not necessarily more difficult. With both tornadoes so far away, the highest concentration of flying debris is around where Lian is. The winds themselves aren't that bad, either; Deity experiences worse when he's flying around at his usual speed. They can't be too bad, especially with the lady moving about in them - with an injured leg - and she's much closer to them.

Switching all defense to his left arm only, the Tonepian keeps his right to his side now. Curling his fingers in gently, he starts to concentrate his ki into his palm. Nothing flashy, as usual, but he should be able to pack a bit more punch with this. This Lian woman seems to have nine lives, so what harm can it do to try and take a few of them out in one go?::

::Strange. Lian seems to be having much more trouble with this storm than her opponent, Deity, is. So high above her, he is only experiencing mild discomfort in keeping rocks and flying ice away from his face. Why would she go through so much trouble to execute a maneuver that is apparently doing more bad than it is good? Shrugging, the Orinian stops watching her down below, opting to continue gathering his energy in an area less prone to being pelted by stones; not that he's in too great a danger of that as is.

After shifting back a yard or so, he slowly stands to his feet, holding his left arm up to keep his face covered as smaller, relatively harmless debris blows by every now and again. A brief glance to his side shows a few spectators still weathering the effects of Lian's spell, too. Like him, they're much safer in the stands than they would be in the ring. That in mind, Deity turns and simply makes his way up the steps, where most of the remaining audience members have tucked themselves away. At the halfway point of the stairway, he stops and turns, wincing softly. Though minor, his wound stings a little, and the fluctuating heat isn't helping, either. The shifting cold helps, though sticking around for a little longer would be nice.

In the relative safety of the stands, Deity watches only the opposite wall and the rim of the ring as the inside of it is ravaged by the blizzard. He can't see Lian anymore - not that she's too far, but the angle makes it impossible for either of them to lay eyes on one another. Whether or not she can keep track of opponents without her eyes as the Mystic Tonepian can is irrelevant. The boy simply wants a less irritating place to ready his attack. That very attack has now manifested itself as a calm vermillion glow around his right hand and wrist, appearing as a slow, ethereal flame.::

::Strange, again. The storm suddenly dies, for no reason given. Though the tall boy doesn't cease the charge of his technique, he finds this to be curious. Bit of an odd twister, as far as he's concerned, to stop so abruptly. He knows that the eye of a large hurricane can create the illusion that the storm has passed, but tornadoes simply aren't large enough to do this. Oh well, not a problem. Storm or no storm, the situation isn't much different. Then again, Lian seems to be held under yet another large pile of rubble and debris, making her an easy target as long as she remains so. She really needs to avoid that.

Speaking of which, only a few seconds later, Deity has finished the charge of his attack. Seeing as he is under his normal state, charging this much kick into an attack can take a few moments longer than normal. Were he in Level Four, it'd take longer to blink. So it's rather convenient that the lady was occupied so long with her untamed blizzard. Taking a few steps down the stairs the thick crimson glow flows calmly around his right hand and wrist as he moves. In all honestly, he can't throw this yet. He can attack with it, but that would be in a much different manner.

His heavy boots carrying him back to the edge of the ring, the Orinian peers down into the hundred-foot-deep pit. He sees only ravaged rock, scattered ice and snow, sand collected at the outer edges of the floor, and dotted piles of collected rubble. He spots the one under which Lian lies, once again able to hear her without the racket of the winds marring his perception. Rather than attack now, he waits a few moments longer - either Lian will make her move, or the storm will restart. Both will present him with an oppurtunity for attack.::

::Hundreds of feet away and still not in the ring, Deity just watches the show of sparks and electric bolts as Lian charges the ground, well out of the danger zone. Though able to tell electricity from another type of energy, the Orinian at first assumes that the display is just a side-effect of Lian's actual maneuver. Only seconds later, with no specific rise in energy otherwise, does he realize that this is what she is intending after all. Strange, he thinks to himself, how everything she does seems to be tied to an element or something.

Likewise letting out a bit of a sigh, and keeping his weight on his right foot instead of his left, he raises his glowing right hand. Gripping his wrist and aiming his palm up, he curls his fingers in gently, closing his hidden red eyes as he begins to focus his gathered ki. In just a moment, the flame-like energy swirling about his palm quivers before suddenly forming into a light pink ball, only five inches in diameter.

Pretending that size matters wouldn't save someone from the force of this one - a compact ki ball isn't necessarily a weak one. While Deity wouldn't be thrilled to waste the attack after he took such care to charge it up, he figures now is as good a time as ever. The storm may start up at any second, but the resulting winds shouldn't be much of a factor in deterring the spheres trajectory.

That in mind, the Mystic Tonepian takes a step back with his right leg as he moves his hand away from the ki ball, which stays in place as it hovers in the air. Lifting his left hand, he seems to take ahold of the floating energy ball, gripping it tightly and aiming the same arm in Lian's direction. Keeping his focus on her, he clenches his right fist, rears back, and then swings it forward in a heavy punch to his attack. With a bright spark, the ki ball is punched down into the ring at nearly thirty-nine hundred feet per second, faster still than the previous Kienzan.

Intending to make contact with the collection of rocks under which the woman hides, the sphere can detonate with a potent force capable of completely obliterating the stone found in the ring. Though boasting a heavy shockwave that could crush a human's bones - not to mention send them careening into the sky - the actual range of the explosion made by the sphere itself is no larger than fifteen feet. Rather small, given the power, but said power is enough to dig a huge circular hole in the floor as if it weren't there at all. Also, should Lian escape her debris pile in time, the pieces of rock being blown away by the detonation would act much like dispersing shrapnel.::

::This is one tough cookie. Though she is by no means unaffected, she can surely withstand a lot and stay in one piece. Well, for the most part, anyway. Either way, she seems to be pretty beaten up, the boy thinks to himself as he lifts from the wall edge. Taking flight, he slowly descends along a diagonal path toward Lian, red eyes surveying the damage dealt to the arena. As he expected, there is a rather large hole in the ground, forming a neatly-carved circular indentation in the rocky floor, reaching as low as fourteen feet.

In a few moments, Deity has brought himself to Lian, touching down with a dull thud as his boots hit the stone floor, blown clear of sand by now. Though not surprisingly, even this doesn't quite compare to the workout he and Malazar gave it. Sighing softly, the tall Orinian leans down and reaches with his left hand, slipping his long fingers around the woman's left ankle. As silent as usual, he turns and lifts again into the air, hovering high enough above the ground so that his wounded opponent can't reach the ground, even in the upside-down state that she's in.

Deity now wastes little time, floating in a somewhat more hurried fashion over toward the center of the ring. Once he reaches this spot, should nothing out of the ordinary happen to stop him from doing what he intends, he positions himself over the large ditch made by the detonation of his ki ball. He then lets the lady go with a gentle swing, allowing gravity to take her down, back-first, into the hole.::

....Deity wins.

::With a sigh of relief, Deity hovers over to the edge of his makeshift hole. He's glad it ended up being as deep as he liked - otherwise, he'd have to fire again. Not that such was entirely impossible, but it's more effort than he really felt like exerting. Either way, it's deep enough as is. Over ten feet below the surface of the ring floor, Lian is officially out of bounds, and thus loses the match. He had to beat her into unconsciousness to do it, but oh well.

Not unlike his first adversary, this lady proved to be a mite harder to deal with than expected. While her tactics were occasionally wanting, her resilience left little to be desired. She survived much more than what the Orinian figured would take her out. Looks continue to be decieving in this tournament. Thankfully, perhaps for both of them, this can end without either of them keeling over in death. Killing wasn't at the top of Deity's priorities.::