In For A Surprise: Zadavia and Ayane duel Rueben and Ryuu (03/07/2403)

Zadavia and Ayane made it to Genaisa a whole day before Rueben, given them some time to check in with the Itami Royal Family who they had become very familiar with.  Of course, Ryuu’s wife would be the first people who they checked in on, before they ensured that Ryuu was holding up as well.  Once this was done, they would both get to spend some time with Naomi, and even inquire as to the even busy Shin’s well-being.

However, Rueben’s arrival would turn their attentions back to the duel at hand.  It wouldn’t take long for them to find a suitable area in which they could have the duel, choosing an open field in a residential area for the clash.  Zadavia, against Roun’s advisement and Ayane’s better judgement went into the battle without much of a plan, other than that she would deal with the strategist while Ayane kept the powerhouse that was Ryuu off her back.  Ayane on the other hand, who had wanted to duel Ryuu for quite some time, went into the battle fully prepared for her intended adversary as well as his brother.

As the battle started, Ryuu and Ayane would instantly rush each other, while Zadavia turned her attention to Rueben.  Initially, she would simply attempt to get a feel for his abilities, allowing her techniques to charge her energy reserves while she opened up with some mild blasting.  With Exceed Mind and Exceed Will active, Rueben was able to easily dodge these initial attacks as he tried to close the distance on the blaster while he utilised his Dynamic Flash to get closer.  Interesting enough, Zadavia didn’t appear to push much effort into maintaining her distance, allowing Rueben to close the distance to within a few metres while she simply avoided getting into grapple distance while maintaining her controlled blasting.

On the other side of the battlefield, Ryuu and Ayane were not wasting any time with maintaining distances, as these two physically adept channelers clashed.   The fight quickly broke out into savage martial arts brawl as Ryuu implemented his mixed-martial arts style to deal quick strikes and try to get into grappling range, while Ayane utilised her own unique fighting style to counter him.  As Ryuu launched punches towards her, Ayane would use guards that resembled those of Tai Chi, equally controlled by far faster while she countered with powerful chops and knife hand strikes.   Ryuu would simply guard her strikes using very closed guards, simply tanking the damage before bursting out with quick counter strikes.  This made for a fast pace battle in which Ryuu scored the most clean hits, but with the extremely high durability and defense of both channelers it was far too early for either channeler to claim to be winning.

Back with Rueben and Zadavia, the tactically inclined Itami had finally managed to create an opponent, Perfect Guarding one of Zadavia’s blasts while charging his Cosmic Mist and Cosmic Storm in an attempt to dispel her Mystic Guard.  This proved to be only partially effective, weakening the extremely efficient guard considerably before Zadavia’s spiralling energy dissipated the attack.  Rueben would now attempt to follow up quickly with his Dynamic Kaigen shells, only for Zadavia to smile and unleash her Fatale Fury.  As the beam impacted his Kaigen shells, it was delayed enough for Rueben to get out of the way of the attack, dodging to the side and opening with a quick combo.  The first two punches would score cleanly, with only Zadavia’s passive guards shaving damage off of the attacks, before Rueben moved in to grab her.  Unfortunately for the Itami prince, Zadavia would be having none of this, expelling a radial wave of energy to prevent him from grabbing her, pushing him back slightly before he perfect guarded the rest of the attack.  Zadavia smiled now as she dashed back slightly, not far enough to force him to chase her again, but just enough to prevent her from being grabbed, something which she was not particularly fond of in combat.

Back on the other side of the battlefield, Ayane was gaining the upper hand after Ryuu’s domination of their purely martial arts exchange. The young Gestalt had now begun to rely on her Geomancy and gravity control to very literally shape the battlefield in her favour, giving her just enough of an edge to compensate for Ryuu’s alround superior combat skills.  Despite this slight change in events, the two extremely durable channelers were still to far from reversion for the fight to be called.

Once again, on the other side of the battlefield, Rueben would focus his energies on directly assaulting Zadavia, who simply shielded what she could not avoid and returned fire using her Ki-Magic combination blasts.  However, up until now, the battle had just been to set up for Rueben primary plan.  With Ayane so focussed on fighting Ryuu and Zadavia so focussed on fighting him, the Itami prince was certain that they would not see what was coming next.  A psychic communication would go out to Ryuu, who would shoulder check Ayane suddenly.  Despite her guard, the small channeler would still be pushed back considerably, allowing Ryuu to Burst Shell directly at her.  Ayane would ground herself and brace for the impact, preparing to redirect his momentum before Ryuu simply vanished.  Before she could realise what was going on, Zadavia would sense a portal open behind her and Ryuu come blasting out of it.  Her myriad of spiralling barriers would do their best to shave the damage as Ryuu slammed her forward into Rueben, who was waiting with an erected Perfect Guard.  Zadavia’s eyes would widen now, as he engaged her only option, Dynamic guarding as she impacted Rueben’s Perfect Guard and Ryuu exploded her energy with his Detonation Drive and Dissipation Drive.  The actual attack would be rather overwhelming, forcing Zadavia to wrap her energy around her to form her Mystic Haven.  This would buy her some time as Ayane moved in to get Ryuu off of her.  Once again, Rueben would predict her movements, but unfortunately he would not be able to do much to stop this attack.  The sheer power with which she was travelling prevented Rueben from Dynamic Flashing Ayane out of her dash and her Infallable stability prevented her form from suffering any disruption as she Starburst in and slammed into Ryuu, who could do little but Perfection Shell the attack.  The resulting energy clash would linger momentarily before blasting everyone present away.  They would all land some distance away before Zadavia remarked.

“Well that was cheesy...”  She stated, causing Ryuu to laugh.

“Yeah...”  Ryuu smirked.  “But it’s not over.”  Was all he would say as he and Rueben vanished, their energies instantly spiking as their special abilities roared to life before an extremely powerful blast decended towards Zadavia and Ayane, who were still standing below.

Zadavia’s eyebrow raised now as he allowed her energy to reach its own exceeded limit, before she powered up her Omega Drive, and used her Power Saved Spiral Savant.  Rueben’s jaw would literally drop as he watched Zadavia redirect the energetic concoction, guiding it safely towards the sky and away from causing any serious damage to the residential area which they were in, while Ayane just stood and watched the display with mild amusement.

“You have got to be kidding me, where does Roun find these women?” He exclaimed, before he looked at Ryuu and opted to initiate their final plan.

With all other options exhausted, the two Itamis would vanish once again, causing the Zadavia and Ayane to instantly be on their guards, before the Itami brothers appeared on either side of Zadavia.  Rueben would quickly dispel Zadavia’s passive guards, while at the same instant Ryuu compressed the energy from his Omega Drive into a single Detonation Drive.  The attack would wash over Zadavia to burn away a massive chunk of her health, but would leave both channelers open and Ayane free to do as she pleased.  Ayane would smirk at the mistake, expecting better from the Itami brothers.

“Gaia Rail Gun.”  Was all she would say as the two brothers now found themselves bonded by stone slabs and accelerated along the path of the earth’s magnetic field into a massive stone wall travelling in the opposite direction.  The attack would happen in the blink of an eye, following the motion of Ayane’s hands as she simply made a simple clapping motion, one hand representing Rueben and Ryuu and the other representing the eolith which they collided with.

The attack would stun the Itamis for long enough for Zadavia to recover from her daze and call it quits, as Ryuu’s attack had taken her to the agreed 80% health.  Rueben would concede as well, as Ayane’s attack had pretty much taken him out of commission as well.  The particularly resilient Ryuu and Ayane would throw in the towel, not particularly anxious to finish things off without their partners, both sure that Ryuu would have the upper hand in the exchange either way.

With their battle done, the four channelers would make their way back to the palace for some rest and relaxation, while they each planned their next move.

Rueben: 270 Exp (-1320HP)
Ryuu: 320 Exp (-480HP)

Ayane: 290 Exp (-512HP)
Zadavia: 320 Exp (-1280HP)