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You stare into the obfuscating fog of finely ground debris, knowing it'd be too dangerous to wade into it without being able to sense your opponent. Your delay seems to have been wise, as a few moments later something invisibly surges forward from the dustcloud - in fact, the dust itself seems to take the shape of several crescent arcs that shoot right towards you. You bring up your arms in a crossbar to block it, only to be surprised when they actually dig into flesh and slice open some fresh new wounds. Not deep ones, but the force behind a disconnected attack surprises you nonetheless.
"Enough of that!" You yell, shifting and punching forward as hard as you can, a burst of air projecting from your fist and dispersing the obstructive cloud. Yet...you don't see your opponent at all after doing so. Your instincts scream at you to duck, and you do so, narrowly dodging Oyal's massive blade that takes off a good inch of hair from atop your head rather than chopping into your neck.
You think quickly, twisting around to slam your leg into him, but his sword intercepts the blow and holds sturdy surprisingly. He's quick to advance forward and bring his knee up straight into your gut, forcing the air out of your lungs and almost making you want to vomit, though you push through it and take the opportunity to wrap your arms around his waist.
"It's over! This...is my specialty!" You say, while your enemy tries to pry himself free from your grip.
"What are you-?!" He exclaims, before your every muscle tenses and you fling yourself backwards while still holding tightly onto him. He's lifted up high into the air for just a moment before your momentum slams him head-first into the ground, burying him waist-deep into the stone floor and no doubt giving him a mighty concussion. You let go of him and step back, huffing to catch your breath.
"Now, is your tantrum over yet?" You demand to know, watching him warily. The ground rumbles for a moment before it explodes all around him for some unknown reason, allowing him to easily extract himself from what's now a crater in the castle's floor and stand upright. One of his eyes is closed due to a flow of blood from the top of his head, so your attack clearly did some damage to him. Good.
"I didn't want to use this on you, but you're not giving me much of a choice." He says, shifting into a new stance and glowing red with an unknown power. "Demon's Cruel Shadow - Akuma no Zan'ei!" He exclaims, before vanishing entirely from your senses. <span class="mu-i">Something feels wrong.</span> Your ears can hear his sword sliding back into its sheath behind you, and you turn around on-guard, seeing that strange energy around him fading swiftly.
"What did you-" You go to ask, before a thousand cuts open up all over your body. Your speech is interrupted by the fact that you're now coughing up blood, moving to a knee out of necessity from the sudden weakness overcoming you. He turns to look at you, a small amount of regret showing in his eyes.
