Nor Ruin or Destruction [Rafaela, Yugiri]

This time, Rafaela did her best to respond to Yugiri's incoming attack, her blade striking out toward the vizard, but the reality was that she simply could not match the older woman's abilities or her technique. Anger seemed to overpower what otherwise might have just been pain, and Rafaela once again barely kept herself standing upright.

"They weren't weak! I wouldn't fight the weak!"

It was an exclamation from the very depths of Rafaela's heart, and yet it was one at the same time quite transparently untrue, at least in the here and now. After all, no matter what she might have done when she was in her right mind, the hollow influence upon her had been no small change.

Carried by pure indignant fury, Rafaela took another raging leap toward Yugiri, her blade swinging downward with enough force to crack the dry earth below. But, realistically, the difference between herself and Yugiri was still no small degree. Who knew if something like this could ever hit.

"Bingo."

She said with a smug grin to the short woman's rash offence. She certainly was fast but it was a move as transparent as glass for her and Yugiri dodged to set-up her retaliation with a quick attack that was barely felt as she dashed past Rafaela to swap spots and let the fullbringer get her bearings.

"You know, I figured out how to pluck a soul from the body with shunpo. It's pretty difficult and not perfect by any stretch of the word. You're not your own entity either but you are like a parasite on her soul, right? So I've figured out how to deal with you. I'll just pluck every bit of the disgusting hollow you are off her as I please, wanna know why? Because I'm stronger than you. By your logic, it's my right, hmm? The strong do what they please to the weaker."

Yugiri explained to "Rafaela" while letting a bit of the black corruption she'd targeted dissolve in her hand like loose reishi. Even if it might take a while, this faker couldn't escape and she couldn't win. Her smug attitude was palatable even if she had an itch at the back of her mind like she was missing something but she dismissed it for now in her cocksure attitude. As far as she was concerned, there was nothing her opponent could do to stop her.

"Want me to do it again? Just to make sure you get the idea."

As soon as she understood what was happening, as she saw the bit of hollow energy that had pulled out of her own body, Rafaela's expression shifted. There was fear in her eyes, as the full weight of realization settled in. She would die here if Yugiri wanted her to. But she still couldn't run, either. Her grip tightened around the sword she held, but any conviction that had been there seemed empty now.

"That's... You wouldn't do that! You could kill me!"

A desperate, last-ditch plea, one she wasn't even sure was true. But the hollow parasite and Rafaela's own soul were not flawlessly merged by any stretch, and even now, Rafaela's own dogged determination, her boundless pride, would not let her body flee.

"Oh well."

She shrugged dismissively to the imposter's concerns. Why would she regard this creature with any kind of respect for all the trouble it had caused. A confident sneer and she pointed at her like she was gauging distance. One more time just to drive the point home she thought and let this pitiful creature disappear to save Rafaela from it.

In a blur she struck like a raptor except that she ended up barrelling directly the twisted woman when the ringing started in her ears and her own inner hollow raised some disagreements about her thoughts on the matter that felt like a flash bang to her senses that

"Ugh, shut up Yokkatsuen."

She complained in the daze from her spirit's displeasure at the implications of the statements.

As she was slammed into, Rafaela was hardly fast enough to actually avoid the strike. But she hadn't expected this to stay so close-quarters; every previous hit had been so quick she couldn't even react. This one hadn't really been any different, but at least she could respond.

"I'm not gonna just lay down and die!"

Searingly hot energy crackled through Rafaela's blade as she attempted to strike her opponent, the power of her fullbring shooting out of the sword's edge in an attempt to actually hit Yugiri. It was her only chance, and she knew that.

She fumbled to try and orientate herself to the situation again. This was poor timing on the hollow's part, both of them really, as the fullbring smashed into her back with searing pain that made her splutter. Which one to deal with first, how did she even fight when her own senses were betraying her and making her expend all of her effort just to remain aware and fend off the hollow in her head.

"Shut up!"

Yugiri retaliated with a poorly executed hakuda. The technique was simple but the application of energy was all over the place in using too much force. What should have been a concentrated strike to a single part of Rafaela turned into messily punching her and having it explode like a grenade to blow them apart so that she could prevent any more cheap shots that might knock her out for the count. She preferred to avoid hits rather than take them and her opponent was more than strong enough like this to do some serious damage if she ended up in its mercy.

The explosive impact of Yugiri's hakuda, had Rafaela not been empowered by the parasitic hollow within her, probably would have turned her into a mess of viscera. As it was, there were still a few resounding cracks as she felt a few of her bones give way, her eyes shooting open in pain as she crashed into the ground a good distance away from Yugiri.

"You're-"

A cough cut through whatever Rafaela might have said, though, blood flecking the ground and dripping slightly from her lip. She seemed unperturbed, however, and still gripped her blade tightly as she used the weapon to slowly stand up. It was clear, though, that she wasn't doing that wholly under her own power.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up."

She stammered out while trying to clear her mind of the incessant noise that came from the depths of her head. If it came from outside she was sure she could handle it but even clasping her ears did nothing to quiet down the crackling sound of Yokkatsuen. There was a blackness crawling over one of her eyes that brought on some additional stress, if she did nothing then her mask would start forming but she needed to deal with the one in front of her before that.

Biting her tongue until she felt blood running in her mouth to shock her back to her senses from the sudden pain, she activated her Shikko and filled the air with its own ringing of crickets that sang the requiem for the hollow. Quickly, that's how she had to end this.

While she could not name the technique right now, she would be sure to name this Shikko: Fuushin Jitou. [蟋閧 風神祈祷, Cricket War Cry: Wind God Exorcism] in the future but in the heat of the moment she replicated her previous feat but enhanced with kido. The usage of sealing kido in addition to her previous step technique aiming to yank the entirety of the parasitic hollow out of Rafaela in sonic dash to hold the acidic thing in her hand.

It had its own job to do though when she held the hollow against her cheek to have its acidic skin burn her in an attempt to deny Yokkatsuen from her poorly timed act of hostility.

The hollow parasite being ripped away from her being was by no means a pleasant process. After all, how could it be? The hollow within Rafaela had been placed there by a being well beyond her own power, and it had been placed deep. Even now, not every single trace of hollow power had been taken away; merely enough that she could think clearly, think for herself.

She didn't like the thoughts that came to her mind as she realized the full scope of what had happened. What she'd done. If not for the reality of what was happening this very moment, the Reichsritter might well have had a breakdown immediately. But seeing someone she respected suffering, someone who had just saved her life, was at least enough to shake her out of that potential spiral for now.

"Yugiri-"

Another cough interrupted anything she would have said, though this time it was followed by an audible cry of pain rather than mere wincing. After all, she was not as wildly enhanced as she'd only just been, and the injuries she'd received here had not been slight.

It was working, she thought, the clarity of pain from inside and out made it hard to tell really. Even with her free hand clawing the hard soil she was collapsed against did little to alleviate her spiteful dark side that had been insulted by such a comment. Pain kept her from attempting a full takeover but Yugiri felt her hand shift just enough that the disgusting hollow form in her hand was placed into her mouth and bitten into. A fresh wave of acidic energy burned her mouth and tongue that left her writhing on the ground in disgust, horror, and distress.

Thanks Yugiri, I'll make good use of this. Just keep our body warm so I can have it later, you must feel so sad that you can't do the same thing to me as you did to it, but no matter how fast you run I'll be snapping at your heels, you lame little kitty.

The inner voice said in a tone that conveyed its smug grin from the recesses of the back of her mind. Satisfied by her prize Yokkatsuen's reprisal was over as quickly as it had onset, leaving Yugiri to lay on her side trying to catch her breath at the ordeal.