Shall We Dance?[Kenichi, Khaana]

"Ha? What's wrong with that? She's a pretty cool lady!" His retort was more playful than contentious. After all, there was no doubt Khaana knew the woman more than he did, no doubt that she was wholly familiar with her personality. Moving past the playful banter, what drew a higher degree of his intrigue was the fact that she had scrapped with this woman and successfully tossed her around a bit.

His grin widened in awe at that, his opinion of the woman skyrocketing in an instant. Appearances could truly be deceptive, after all! Doubtless, when the woman teased him in parting, offering him the first move, Kenichi turned to face her. Standing a few meters away, he assumed an offensive stance.

"Now I'm really excited to see what you have to offer. Let's dance, shall we?"

Right hand presented, left hand pulled back - a position reminiscent of an archer knocking an arrow against a bowstring -his hands thrummed with voltaic energy. His hair, swept upward by the sparks of electricity lashing about his form, Kenichi darted forward in a single stride. Roaring in - fierce and unhindered - Kenichi roared in with a straight line punch to usher in their battle.

Rudimentary? Certainly, but then, his body was so physically sound that he didn't need to worry about being countered easily. Efficiently branching between several techniques once your first was countered was the true symbol of martial prowess in his eyes. Additionally, part of him was excitedly eager to feel her out. What was she capable of? He wanted to draw it out.

"Hoh?"

Visibly impressed by her counter, Kenichi maintained the streaks of lightning, shrouding his fists within a reflective barrier, expanding that energy around his form to prevent that spear from piercing his fist. Manipulating and molding reiryoku to attack and defend was the ideal way of combat. He knows his attack lacks the usual gusto, but that's what one gets for attacking to feel one out, eh? He's studied the flow of his energy well enough to understand the mechanics behind it, allowing him to act against the first counter well enough. What proved more amusing was that spear in her hand.

Repelling force met with the terrible might of her diagonal swing. The might of her swing proved superior as he found his body swept upward by the roaring debris and shockwave. Speed was no great strength of his, but his reflexive and reactive body allowed him to move effortlessly against each of the rocks until he landed a few meters away. Gazing down at the long line of red on his arm, Kenichi whistled fondly. Well now... that was interesting. She was challenging him, too. Fun. He liked that. Chucking heartily as he cracked his knuckles, Kenichi drew his body backward in preparation.

"My apologies, miss. I recognize that a few sparks simply won't do. In that case, allow me to turn things up a notch and bring the thunder!"

A maniacal grin tore across his face. Bolts of voltaic reiryoku coalesced around his tall frame, propelling his body forward in an unrestrained charge. He was no virtuoso of speed, but he was a walking disaster given human form when left unfettered. This fact was made abundantly evident by each thunderous stomp that hit the ground, creating a cloud of debris with each footfall. It was as if the entire earth below was upturned and devastated, the result of carpet bombing.

Drawing his fists backward, he generated a stronger portion of reiryoku, forming a large orb of electricity around palm. Like a pitcher drawing his arm back for a fastball, he swung his other arm forward in a straight line, punching that orb toward her with fervor. Of course, he was no fool. He was none the wiser to her speed, but if the first example was anything to go by, he didn't intend on giving the woman any quarter to evade his attack. Using the remaining sparks of electricity around his feet, he employed a movement similar to the principle of shunpo, vanishing and appearing at her back, executing a powerful roundhouse with his leg to send her flying face-first into his attack.

"Come on! Show me what ya got!"

Haha! Well, Kenichi certainly ascertained one thing from this battle so far. Her reaction time was pretty impressive. Striking her directly would be no easy task. Those spears almost acted as if they had a mind of their own the way she controlled them. It seemed like misdirection and diversion would be the best approach here. Or perhaps brute force? In a contest between his strength and her defense, he was brazenly confident that his offense would win out against her. It was a simply a matter of when.

The oncoming bolt that was swept aside would not go quietly into the night as Kenichi drew the remaining energy back to his fists. Waste not, want not, right? Couldn't let that go down the drain so easily. Though, he wondered if electricity was the right approach. Was he cheating Goshoku Ryuuken by not indulging in the other elements in his inventory? Perhaps fire would impress her more, drawing out a greater degree of her own strength. Something to consider at least.

Her next defensive only increased his excitement as his leg crashed against her spears. Another attack deflected, and this time, Kenichi paid for it as the spikes jutted out to dig into his flesh. Since the voltaic reiryoku wasn't shrouding his body in a defensive barrier as it was before, he had to rely solely on the durability of his steely frame. His flesh still felt the pierce and bite of her spear, but he would offer the weapon no more purchase as he soared away on his opposite foot. Shifting into what appeared to be another form entirely, Khaana sought to throw him on the backfoot this time, eliciting a satisfied grin from the fiery martial artist. From the spears, more blades mercilessly erupted from her body.

Releasing the tension in his legs, Kenichi's body descended downward, performing an effortless spin to avoid those blades. He could have leapt atop them, but considering the way those spears were, he wasn't exactly sure that was a wise idea. Best to avoid being trapped in a mountain of spikes. His fists thrummed with energy as he sized the woman up from a distance, grinning from ear to ear. Be a little mean? Haha, he wanted her to give him a rush. She could be as mean as she liked. Anything that happened was simply a battle scar to carry elsewhere.

"Good. I was starting to think you were going a little too easy on me, doll."

Challenging the woman with his own brand of bravado, Kenichi thundered forward for the third time during their confrontation. He didn't particularly approve of the method, but he had to work away at those defenses first. As such, the moment it appeared he was roaring in for another strike with his body, he vanished and reappeared at her back, his upraised finger poised as though he were holding the woman at gun point.

"Bang!"

A ray of azure lightning erupted from the tip of his finger, targeting those bladed wings of hers in particular. Obviously, her natural reaction would be to employ them to defend herself, right? He was betting on that in particular as he pressed the effort on focusing even more reiryoku into his beam to push her backward. Regardless of what she did next, Kenichi dug his fingers into the ground beneath them, uprooting the earth below her in an attempt to catapult her body upward along with the large piece of rock he just ripped from the ground with his bare hands. If the ground was what she favored so much when she countered him, he would simply take their fight to the skies. If this technique proved successful, he would use platforms of reishi to carry his body upward to race in for another attack.

"You're pretty entertaining yourself, too, lady."

To be certain, impressive was another way of describing her affinity for battle so far. Generally speaking, he didn't know what he expected concerning a streamer, let alone one who was well-equipped to handle the frantic pace of combat. The moment he closed the distance between them, his charge was compromised by five spears thundering toward him, a multidirectional attack of no small import. Spears with wings of their own? Goddamn! That was pretty cool! Of course, he didn't have time to voice his awe at the moment.

At the moment, his eyes accounted for the spears that aligned with his direct gaze, honed senses alerting him to the overall scope of the attack. Controlling the pace of battle was important, and so far she was proving the superior in their dance of fist and spear.

Even so, his confidence did not waver. No matter what, reaching her was his topmost priority. The night-instantaneous speed of this attack limited his options, leaving him with not much else but to shroud his body within a few layers of voltaic reiryoku, using the quickly accumulated energy as a repelling force in an attempt to ward off as many of the spears his eyes could register.

Shifting between movement in the air and allocating energy to defend himself was far from a faultless transition, of course. Which meant that at least one spear had earned purchase during his descent through the air, piercing through the flesh in his arm. If his memory was anything to go by, that was less than ideal.

Grinning from ear to ear, he shrugged his shoulders, forming two large platforms of reishi beneath his feet. Using them as a springboard, he catapulted his body forward to appear in front of her at a breakneck pace of his own making, swinging his fist upward through the air with the intent of landing a strike against her frame that would at least force the momentum into equal territory, shrouding his body in layers of that thunderous spirit power. As it stood, he was no master of the skies, the winds offered him no blessing. Victory would have to be earned through striking her hard enough in a moment of unawares.

"What a tease. Using the sky to avoid me like this. Impressive! It's always way more entertaining when my opponents play hard to get! Come on! Let's keep dancing!"

"Guilty as charged. Still, though, I must say, I'm impressed you've been able to defend yourself so well. I like a woman who can take a hit as much as she can dish it back out. Now I'm starting to see why that lioness finds you so interesting!"

Offering playful banter in return, Kenichi acknowledged that this spear writhing within his arm was less than ideal, but there was seemingly no impediment that restricted his movement to any discernable degree. He curiously wondered why she avoided using those spikes to affect his flesh from the inside. That could have ended the battle then and there, but then he would be short of an arm. That made sense, certainly. Unless one possessed a regenerative agent of some kind, the likelihood of regaining an arm was close to nil.

Either way, her assault was unrelenting, and soon after had she concluded her first offensive, she prepared another attack take advantage of her momentum. Since it was difficult for him to shift between defending himself with his spirit power and maintain flight in the air, Kenichi chose to swing his arms forward in a cross guard to defend against that concussive blast of energy. His body was launched subsequently downward, descending further toward the ground.

Maintaining that bold grin across his youthful features, Kenichi figured there was no better opportunity to unveil a new trick from his repertoire than now. He loved being challenged, and that playful lopsided grin and inquiry were inspiration enough to set him into overdrive. Descending ever further, Kenichi formed a platform of reishi under his feet to avoid crashing into the ground.

Slipping his hand between the fold of his hoodie, Kenichi would reveal the one weapon he had intended on using against his original choice of opponent. A meteor hammer. On its own, it had no business contending with that following blast of energy hurdling toward him like a collapsing star. Therefore, his intent was to apply his use of mediumship and his control over Shouryuu Ken to employ a resounding counterattack.

He took to the first task by manipulating the shape of the weapon first. The chain extended further outward in length, the spherical heads expanded to the size of boulders. Since it would take a moment to apply the second principle, he swung one of the spherical weapons upward to act as a momentary shield.

Much like before, perhaps even moreso than the last, Khaana's attack sent him barreling through the air, sending him to the ground with relative success this time. His feet connected with the earth, and he felt the ground being crushed below his feet. It was as if he were on the unwilling end of a burial beneath this carving in the earth, several pieces of upturned debris crashing and slamming against his body.

"How about I show you something I intended to use against that subordinate of yours, then, eh!?"

In that next moment, slammed his feet vigorously against the crumbling soil, blasting his body upward again. Thunderous spirit power thrummed through every inch of the enlarged meteor hammer as Kenichi swung the weapon around in several rotations, accumulating momentum and voltaic charge. Offering a greater portion of spirit power, Kenichi would swing one end of that hammer upward.

The sphere missed with remarkably poor accuracy, but at the conclusion of its swing, the rotating end released several bolts of electrified reiryoku above Khaana. The next move would be a little riskier as he avoided forming any platforms of reishi for himself, lunging the second spherical end of the weapon forward, aiming to wrap his chain around her leg. He was pressing the limits of his energy now, but no battle was ever won without risk. If he could trap her long enough, he could pummel her enough until she raised the white flag!