A Morning Jog with The Blade of Kings (Open)

There was something about how this person was going about his business, a sort of irritating burning sensation that filled Steiner's whole being when he watched the horrors that the shinigami was committing. There was very little care in the world for the shinigami as he lit the park ablaze, all the while Steiner could feel that all eyes were on him, and that the shinigami was testing him. Pushing him father, perhaps, than the young man truly wanted to go. He had never felt like killing another person before, he had never felt the urge to kill someone, but as he watched the mayhem...the destruction. Steiner felt some pinge of anger that was slowly twisting and turning his insides to the point of no return, to the point of wanting to end the shinigami's existence in order to save these people. Yet, Steiner knew he would never take that step, and that he would never kill another being, pushed to the brink or otherwise. Yet, seeing these people in distress seemed to click something inside of him, a drive of sorts, to push himself harder to defeat this opponent without resorting to the same tactics as his opponent.

So though Yoma viewed Steiner as blinded by his own heroism and courageous actions of putting himself in this hell-like war zone, Steiner was going to prove him wrong. There was nothing blind about what Steiner was doing, furthermore if the shinigami had analyzed Steiner better instead of inherently judging his opponent on a mere glance, he would learn the hard way of what years of actual training looked like. He would notice the scars along his arms, remnants of a horrible childhood that had been the foundation for his need to get stronger, not just for himself, but to also help those who were in need. And what had Yoma done? He had put people in danger, sure Steiner didn't know that there was someone else pulling the strings inside, stopping the fire from hurting people, but when put in this situation a man like Steiner...a formless mass of putty that can be shaped into anything...would begin to form on its own. Steiner's physical tools, combined with his indomitable will, and his desire to help these people were things that Yoma did not have, and more than that the driving factors were different.

Steiner wasn't just flinging himself at an opponent for his own purposes like Yoma's Alter was, no Steiner was doing this to stop this chaos, and that alone was enough to push Steiner further...harder than before. So as Steiner closed distance, seeing his blade casually thrown at him Steiner's mind would remember the rock thrown earlier, and began to connect the dots almost immediately using his own mental deduction. He had nearly been caught in an explosion from a rock moments earlier and now Yoma's Alter was simply giving him back his weapon, and charging forward? Steiner may have been young and just finding his way in this world, but he wasn't an idiot, and within the moment that Steiner sidestepped the sword which spun until it went blade first into the dirt behind Steiner. Steiner was charging forward with the intent of knocking some sense into the shinigami, this wasn't an act of blindness, but an act of intent, and Steiner was going to put his all behind this assault.

As he drew nearer to Yoma's Alter, the flames would begin to thicken, and Steiner would feel the lick of the flames on his skin. Searing and burning him greatly, Steiner would grit his teeth, using his will to succeed, and his will to protect these people to push through this pain, and to continue to fight. Steiner knew he would hurt later and that his body would need some time to recover, but with the adrenaline pumping, and his desire to put Yoma's Alter in his place on top of his list, he shook it off. As the two drew close enough, Yoma would launch his fire ball at Steiner, who at that moment had no idea how to truly react to what was coming his way. With his momentum he wouldn't be able to side-step or roll out of the way and that was a frightening prospect for the young Steiner Franz. He was risking his life here and unlike Yoma's Alter, he didn't have access to any powers that could help him fight in this instance. Right now, Steiner was using his skills that he had honed working out every single day to reach this point, but right now all that training to hone those skills was not enough to dodge this fireball.

In that moment, Steiner's body would become the target of Yoma's fireball, but as the bright light of the explosion would consume Steiner, the iris of Steiner's left eye would change to purple. If Yoma's Alter was paying close enough attention he would notice a spike of spiritual energy that didn't feel humanoid in nature, but that spike would disappear rather quickly. Steiner would emerge from the smoke of the attack, running forward, but looking like hell. He had clearly taken a great deal of damage from the explosion and that was evident from all of the open wounds and the tattered clothes. Oddly enough there were no burn marks or singed skin, Steiner looked untouched by the flames of the fireball, but he looked like the explosion had done a number on him. Yet, Steiner still charged forward, as if on autopilot, and it seemed as though that were the truth as both his eyes appeared glazed over as if he were already unconscious.

To tell the truth, Steiner was on the edge of passing out due to pain, but the aforementioned adrenaline was pushing him forward, and unknown to him...he had a helper on the inside pushing him full of his own energy. Not enough to be as noticeable as before, but enough to keep Steiner going for a bit longer. Steiner would lunge forward, trying his best to send a punch straight to the smug face of his opponent. If his opponent would somehow move out of the way, Steiner would roll back to his feet from a failed lunging punch, and turn his direction toward his foe, preparing himself for whatever Yoma's Alter had up his sleeve next. Steiner would howl at his foe and for a slight second a second, another voice would merge with his own, a momentary flicker of purple popping up in that left iris again: "I will not lose!"