6a.) The Hound of Kairik

About two days after the last virus incident, another DaCre-area fog could be seen settling in a familiar location, in the abandoned rock quarry to the north. It was a quickly dissipating fog, that would not likely draw the attention of another tamer, due to the fact that it was 'just a D-rank'.

Still, Shobatsu would feel some kind of familiar, pungent aura from this...

Within this dissipating fog, stood a small 'puppy' with red fur, currently in the shape of a beagle, and a human figure. His clothes were odd: a vibrant, yellow scarf, a red 'robin' hat, somewhat extended yellow hair, a blue shirt and green pants... still, even this human seemed to radiate with some sort of force or skill...

Carlos had been taking a stroll through the city, the small form of his kitsune companion dozing on his shoulder. It was just that kind of afternoon. The sun was beating down hard and, despite his affinity to light, he was feeling the urge to sleep the day away. The suppressive heat was causing Carlos to break a sweat, but he wasn't the sort to laze about inside on a sunny day.

As boy and dog appeared in the mist, Shobatsu's ear twitched. He sniffed the air a few times, stirring from his nap. Suddenly wide awake, his eyes flashed open, and his hackles rose. He knew that smell...

Carlos took a miss-step as Shobatsu's weight was suddenly shifted, the fox standing on his shoulder, alertness and energy seeming to radiate from him. He was sniffing the air, head turning from side to side, apparently getting a direction.

"What's up?" asked Carlos, but to no avail. Shobatsu leaped from his shoulder, and sped away along the street. There was no time to explain. He wasn't even sure what he would say. He just... he just knew he had to follow this scent. Carlos broke into a run behind him and, despite his well-conditioned body and much longer strides, he was hard-pressed to keep up.

The red dog's nose was as accute as Shobatsu's at sensing. "Ah... I see the light is coming..." the dog said, an eager growl after that comment. "It doesn't even seem that he's hesitating in approach... better yet, no sign of that rabbit..."

"Don't be so eager," the tamer replied, drawing a hardwire, almost immediately focusing. "Daegor, we don't know his actual strength..."

"Doesn't matter, (c)Ro" Daegor replied. "I don't let the same prey get away twice..."

Daegor was looking straight in the direction that Shobatsu would be approaching. They simply waited...

Shobatsu felt the change in power as the DaCre in the distance began to rank up. "Carlos," he said, not slowing. Understanding, Carlos slid his hand into his pocket and began to focus energy into his Hardwire.

When the two DaCre and Tamers came in sight of one another, both would have just reached their C-Ranks, the hound just a moment prior to the fox.

Shobatsu would notice something familiar about this C-ranked DaCre: it was the same, strong red-furred great dane that it had seen in his flashback. In range, a waving aura could be seen around it, as the heat from the creature mixed with the water in the air, causing a mild distortion over the creature.

"Ah... its been a while, Shobatsu... you remember?" Daegor taunted, taking a strong step forward. From this step originated a point on the ground, where a 'line' of fire started, a powerful stream heading straight towards Shobatsu's position, moving quickly to go between the legs, the fire about two-and-a-half feet in height. Apparently, he didn't like introductions much, when they weren't his.

"Keep your hand on the ready, (c)Ro. Rank up when he does..."

Shobatsu stepped to the side, arms closing around his torso. Bringing his arms sharply away, hundreds of little sphere-like lights erupted from the fox-man's body, the light around him being used to complete the move and replenished swiftly. The spheres developed wings in an instant and, as one swarm, rushed toward the dog.

There was no time to think. Instinct had guided the evasion, and adrenalin instigated the attack. Primal feelings of pain, anger, and fear erupted in Shobatsu's mind as barely contained memories flooded against the barrier of amnesia that had clouded his thoughts for so long.

Carlos had been farther away, but his sight of the dog had been obscured by Shobatsu's form, so had just enough time to hurl himself to the side before the line of fire passed by. He rolled to his feet, quickly looking over his opponents. They seemed to know Shobatsu, but he couldn't have met them in this world, which meant...

~Same as always,~ Daegor thought, using his general innate ability to control heat to deter the attack. Focusing, he created a powerful burst in one direction, near-invisible, towards the incoming swarm, that would either deter the group as a whole, or destroy it, since the energy would disrupt the light.

After doing so, it tightened the aura around itself, ready to intensify the heat if something tried to make contact.

Looking up at Shobatsu, Daegor grinned, firing a green stream of fire, that smelled, pungently: this fire would probably cause poison damage if it burned a creature. This attack was sent with a hissing noise towards the airborne Shobatsu...

"Yeah, I just finished up. Some spoiled brat, I think he's a celebrity but hell if I pay attention to tabloids these days. Sure. Thanks again man about the bird; I owe you one. Okay. Sure. See ya later." Windsor pressed the call end button and put his cellphone in his pocket.

Opening the door to his car, a black hummer (who the heck needs fuel efficency anyway) he got inside and put the keys in the ignition. He was on the north side of town in front of a beachfront hotel where he had just spoken with his latest client and was, after a long day of listening to pest of a guy ranting all day, finally getting a chance to go home and relax.

"Doctors don't make house calls anymore; why the heck should lawyers?" Windsor grumbled and began moving his car out of the parking lot.

The swarm split in half, letting the attack pass harmlessly in between both groups. The bugs surrounded the dog, outside of the range of the aura, and began to bombard it with hundreds of miniature lightning bolts on all sides. The bolts were a more condensed form of energy, so would be able to survive the aura even when the swarm itself couldn't.

The initial blast of green fire was taken by the bugs now in front of the dog. The fireflies let out a high-pitched whining sound as they spiraled to the ground, disintegrating into much smaller light particles that spread out into the area. This was not data that could be absorbed.

Meanwhile, Shobatsu had plenty of time to step once again to the side, forming a second swarm of fireflies which sped off to reinforce the ones already assaulting the canine. As the swarm was created, Shobatsu focused, beginning to condense the light around him into glowing-white wings behind him.

The idea for the move had just appeared in his mind, perhaps being thought of on the spot, or perhaps a small fragment of memory that had escaped the raging torrent of thought that was fighting against the amnesia caused by entering this world.

Carlos looked to the boy accompanying the dog DaCre. "Hey, there." he said, smiling. Shobatsu seemed to be picking fights with every single DaCre they had met recently, so this battle didn't seem particularly stressful to him. Yes, Shobatsu had seemed a little worked up just at the beginning, and he was a little shaken from almost getting hit with the fringe of the attack, but he could write the second off as an accident and get on with things.

Ro didn't as much as acknowledge Carlos's comment, but rather, looked over at Daegor. "Flame tempest variety! Flame shield!"

"I know already!" Daegor responded, irrate. It stomped with its front feet, the flame trails turning, and proceeding up his own legs, quickly contorting around him into a mass of fire, which expanded quickly outward in a blue flash once prepared. This took some time to set up, but, thanks to the heat, it was far before Daegor could feel any real damage. The sent-out fire would destroy most, if not all, of the surrounding fireflies. He seemed more focused on defense, and even seemed to be shying away... even then, he didn't look to be ready to run away...

"This bores me..." Daegor said. (c)Ro already had his hand on the device, once again charging, preparing to rank up. He also kicked a rock up to his left hand, and sent it sailing at Carlos's head...

Windsor pressed the button on his radio and let Hotel California wash over him. Rolling down the window he took a moment to stick his head out and let his hair get blown around a bit; it had been a long day and he was feeling rather stuffy. As he pulled his head back in he saw a bright flash of light from somewhere on the side of the road. Swerving a bit as the light stunned him he quickly got back on course and frowned.

"The only thing out that way is the old rock quarry... No one should be working there right now..." Windsor sighed. "If it's kids setting off fireworks again; Ugh why can't todays youth stick to the Fourth of July like normal freaking humans." Windsor made an embarassed grin to himself. "My god I sound like an old man... your in your 30s Windsor pull it together."

Windsor sighed. "Either way I'm going to have to deal with it one way or another. May as well handle it now before some poor kid winds up with his hand blown off or in court."

Parking by an empty building he got out of the car and began walking towards the quarry; in no particular hurry.

Carlos ducked under the rock, suddenly angry. "What was that for?!" he exclaimed. Even the virus hadn't targeted him specifically. His hand clenched tighter on his Hardwire as he focused still more energy into it, anger flowing forth. That rock had been one insult too many.

The fireflies remaining from the first wave came to one spot and, pooling their energy together, launched one single more powerful burst of lightning before disintegrating, having put the energy necessary for their continued existence into that shot. The bolt would survive the mass of fire, being even further condensed than the lesser bolts.

The second swarm hesitated as the remains of the first swarm were eliminated, and flowed back to Shobatsu. They began to orbit him, slowly at first, but increasing in speed as he ranked up.

Wings completely formed, Shobatsu extended both hands to either side, forming a sword in both of them. He brought his hands together, the sword glowing bright white, also shifting as he ranked up. His wings glowed brighter still, folding around him, now at the point where the hound and boy might be blinded by the sight of them.

As he began to rank up, a strange peace settled over his mind, and with it clarity of thought. The sensation felt so familiar, almost akin to the feeling of returning home. He felt... warm... He knew this couldn't last. Not in this place and time. But while it did...

Ro looked over at Carlos, giving a sigh. "Haven't been at this very long, have you? Taking out the tamer is the quickest way to end a fight," he said, rather factually. He seemed engrossed in the situation at hand... as if this was some objective he had to complete.

Daegor, concentrating his heat and fire to lessen the effects of the light, gave a commanding step downward, having drastically grown in size, now having the general body structure of a large, dire wolf. Its torso was enlarged, the B-ranked DaCre having two heads. One of the heads breathed outward, a frigid blue mist coming outward.

Growling, this beast looked over at Shobatsu indirectly, so as not to be blinded by this new form. Unlike Ro, it waited, wanting to see just what Shobatsu had under the hat...

Windsor reached the quarry and saw the two DaCre and their tamers. Suprisingly calm, he pulled out his cellphone and dialed Lallium's number.

Lallium, who had been sleeping on the couch at home, woke with a start and answered the phone.

"Huh? Bro what's up?"

Windsor glanced at the two DaCre.

"Two DaCre. Rock Quarry. Now."

"Two wah!? What are they doing?"

"Killing eachother." Windsor said it as casually as others would say "shopping" or "eating lunch."

"You mean you're right there!?"

"Yep."

"Why aren't you more upset about this!?"

"Because I kick @$*."

"That's not an explanation!!!"

"Whatever. Just get here."

Windsor hung up and put the phone back in his pocket. Pulling out his sunglasses he put them on and walked directly up to the two combatants, standing a bit over to the side of Daegor. Suddenly, with incredible speed, he punched the dog in one of it's heads and dodgerolled under the icy breath before landing neatly on the other side of the clearing.

"Bad dog."

He stood and straightened his glasses, then looked at Ro emotionlessly and blinked.

"You shouldn't let a bad DaCe off it's leash."

A faint smile played across Shobatsu's face, hidden by the visor that now covered his face. His wings that he had so recently created with his Pure Light technique had shifted, now surrounding him in a Light Aura. The fireflies shifted form, flowing together into tendrils of light inside the aura, which expanded somewhat. The Sun Blades he held shifted together and extended into a whip extending from his right hand.

Shobatsu rose five feet of the ground, obviously having full control of his movement, and moved toward the beat with all the purpose and power of a drifting iceberg. He move his arm smoothly and quickly, sending the whip toward the hound's main body. Five thick, powerful tendrils of light launched forward on the right and left sides of the dog, one at the lower left, upper left, top, upper right, and lower right. Regardless of the dog's movement, it was likely he would be hit with something.

Carlos watched in awe at the change in Shobatsu. The response he'd formed to the rude boy's cold comment was lost. He didn't even notice the newcomers insane antics. He felt Shobatsu's strange peace in the heat of battle, and the sheer power he had under his command...

"You can feel it, can't you?" Ro said, looking over at Carlos. "Clearly, this is your first time using a DaCre of this level... your soul becomes connected to the DaCre on a deeper level... so sad that this may be your last time to see this..."

Having two heads for the matter helped immensely: both heads fired out intense bursts of ice, creating an impromptu shield to take the spikes on the 'lower' end, hitting near-solid ice instead of the DaCre. Daegor also jumped backwards, the two other light beams firing upward. Daegor then kept one head trained upward, and one head downward, firing upward at the light. Clearly, he was familiar with the fact that the created light couldn't just be avoided...

"For, you see, once this feeling is mastered..." (c)Ro continued, still holding the hardwire in his hand. He was still focusing, in a manner that made him cry out in pain, a vicious red light coming from his right eye as he did so.

At this moment, Ami and Valeria ran in on the situation, Valeria already in her B-golem state. One of the gems fell and floated in front of Carlos, where Valeria stood, holding an arm in front of Carlos, as if gesturing for him to stay away from Ro.

Meanwhile, the woman of the 'DaCre police' stood in front of Windsor, covering him, the old man walking from behind.

Valeria's total-lich state of a golem stood below Shobatsu. "You did well... very well... but this is not something that you can handle in your current state," Valeria explained, now in an almost monotone voice. "If you proceed foolheartedly, you will only find yourself destroyed..."

For the first time, Ami showed some kind of emotion. "Carlos... if things go wrong, take Shobatsu and run..." Ami said, in a desperate tone that could not go ignored.

"You saw nothing! Run to cover!" the woman said to Windsor, keeping her gun carefully aimed at Daegor, who seemed to now, in part, be covering Ro in whatever ritual he was performing.

Windsor gave a sly smile and looked at the woman in amusement.

"I am 36 years old. I have degrees in both law and criminal justice. I'm a sixth degree black belt in Judo, Kendo, Karate, and Tai-chi. For four years I was enlisted as a member of the National Guard, during which I completed 18 missions and had 23 confirmed kills. My gloves and the innder layer of my suit are made of an enhanced version of Dragon Skin armor reserved primarily for generals in warzones whichh I had specially ordered for me by one of my war comrades. I've put away 72 felons and most importantly of all..."

He loosened his green tie and it blew dramatically in the wind.

"I came in second place in the very first worldwide DaCre tournament. My name is Ephraim Windsor, Lawyer. And I'm the most bad@S$ person any of you are ever going to meet."

Windsor gave a casual salute and assumed a combat stance beside the DaCre police woman. Glancing over at Ami he gave a small smile.

"Lallium's right. You are kind of cute."

Carlos glanced at the arrogant man, and then at Ami, his fascination with the battle briefly interrupted. He'd never looked at Ami in that way before, perhaps only because of the serious circumstances surrounding their meetings, or perhaps because she was three years his junior, but... yes, she was rather attractive. Now, however, was not the time to think about that.

He nodded toward Ami. "Understood," he said, and clenched his Hardwire tightly. The feeling was still going strong, but... he could feel the end of it. Shobatsu could as well. Both knew this last moment of strength had to count. Shobatsu's aura of light blazed brightly for a moment, the tendrils freezing in place, pulsing as Shobatsu focused his energy.

The light around the hound shimmered for a moment before closing up on him. The light rushed inward from all around, condensing further and further, the pressure on the beast growing greater and greater. The giant globe would follow the hound's movements, which would be greatly slowed in the due to the sheer concentration of the light. The area almost seemed to grow dimmer, the sunlight flickering as the light was pulled into the globe as soon as it entered a football field's area of Shobatsu.

Beads of sweat forms on Carlos's face as he felt the strain being put on Shobatsu. He was putting so much effort into this attack, so much concentration, even as the end of his position of strength came... Were it not for his aura, he would be completely vulnerable to any attacks. Still, the light came in more and more... When Shobatsu reverted to his D Rank, he would likely be unconscious, and Carlos nearly in the same state...

;';,;';,;';,;';,;';,;';,;';,;';,;';,;',;';,;';,;';,;';,;';,;';,;';

In the distance, something stirred. The power emanating from the area would attract DaCre like mosquitoes to a bug light. This being had a deeper reason to come, however. There was a.... debt... to be repaid.

The woman looked over at Windsor, vaguely impressed, but indifferent about changing her opinion of the situation. "If you were a C-ranked DaCre like I was, I'd care a little more about your credentials," the woman said, offhand. As an example, as she pulled out a cartridge, the ammo seemed to be a white energy, rather than bullets, when she loaded it, keeping keen on the situation.

"Stay out of there, Valeria!" Ami said, standing in front of Carlos, not exactly sure how the light was going to play out. After all, simply innate of heat against innate of light, it was simply going to be a war of attrition.

"It... burns..." (c)Ro said to himself, in pain, as if his body was being consumed by heat, his eyes closed. When they opened, for a moment, they were blazing with a red light, as the body fell unconscious, his spirit completely charged into the device.

Overpowering the current level of light, a larger creature appeared out of this attack, an immense tail coming out, curling around Ro's body, like a shield. Using heat to push away for more space, the three-headed leviathan, twice the size of a house, appeared. One head breathed something similar to fire, another poison, another ice.

"This isn't good..." Valeria said, forcing her gems far backward as Daegor slammed its foot against the ground, which literally erupted in flames seventy feet in all directions, starting from the stomping point. Valeria rushed to the position between the fire and her tamer, using the golem as a shield. Holding onto the ground, it held pace, leaving a trench in the attack where the tamers were safe.

Two of Valeria's gems affixed themselves to Shobatsu, in an effort to get him to safety once the form ended. The last one was behind Valeria, protected from the attack.

The woman held an arm up, taking damage, but still protecting Windsor and her tamer from the attack.

The situation had just turned worse...

Shobatsu's form became completely hidden by his aura as it glowed blindingly bright white. He drifted to the ground, the sphere shrinking, shrinking, until it came to Carlos' feet and faded away, revealing an unconscious fox.

Carlos smiled, sinking to his knees. "Well... that was..." he said and, without further ado, pulled Shobatsu onto his lap and closed his eyes. Possibly he was unconscious. Possibly he was sleeping. Possibly he was trying to regain some energy. Regardless, the pair of Carlos and Shobatsu was out of the picture for now...

;';,;';,;';,;';,;';,;';,;';,;';

A blood-chilling roar shook the ground, erupting from the left of the battle, from the tamers' point of view. As the reverberations of the roar faded, however, all but the hound would feel strengthened as he unlocked his blood lust ability in all of them.

A giant, enormous, monstrous armored serpent glided smoothly through the air, a stream of boiling water blasting forth from its open mouth directly toward the hound. It was comparable in size to the dog, and almost as frightening. Ami might find it to be somewhat familiar.

Behind the leviathan, ten bull-sharks appeared, rushing toward the hound, blood lust stirring in all of them. Their purpose? To devour. Their target? The opponent their master had chosen.

Meanwhile, the ground continued to shake, almost as though some great force was amassing underneath...

Even Windsor lost his look of casual amusementat that. "You... we're a DaCre..." Windsor adjusted his sunglasses. "I have to say I am impressed." He suddenly felt an extreme and unexplainable respect for the woman. Whoever she was... she was strong.

"But I will not be weak. Never again. I have a little brother who needs me, and I've been through much worse than this anyway."

"You liar!"

Salem flew in in C-rank, Lallium on his shoulder. He deposited the boy by his brother.

"You fought soldiers and crooks; not a giant monster like that!"

"Nonsense. I had an ex-girlfriend who was much more frightening."

Lallium was actually upset, and afraid. "Stop it Windsor! I know your brave... but you don't have to be involved in this! It's not your fight!"

Windsor became entirely serious and suddenly grabbed Lallium ina hug, which the suprised youth returned. "Lallium. You're my brother. The day that cat appeared, both of us became involved in this. And maybe these guys can handle this by themselves, but from the looks of things, I'd think not." He released Lallium and deposited him by Salem.

"Cat. I've seen your blades before. Give me one."

Salem looked confused but handed Windsor one of the blade-strings anyway. Windsor hefted the blade, which was the size of a shortsword at this stage, and then nodded.

"Now take Lallium out of here. If it absolutely looks like I need help come and get me. But I'm going to personally carve that son of a (bleep) a new one." Salem hesitated. "GO!"

The cat complied and took Lallium back a safe distance; which turned out to be quite a bit away and out of the quarry, then settled to keep watch over the man.

Windsor spun the blade in the same sheild-fashion as Salem had before. The blade still had it's original qualities, so as long as Daego didn;t directly attack Windsor with a physical blow, he would be safe. He stepped beside the woman.

"DaCre or not, we're in this all the way. Try to keep up."

The golem Valeria remained in position, crystals returning from Shobatsu to the B-rank's front, making three: the last crystal remained behind Valeria, which Ami took, and pocketted. In this state, Valeria had the same immortal properties as a multi-lich: as long as the crystals remained, Valeria couldn't directly die.

Grabbing the crystals in front of her, the familiar 'one-shot' barrel gun appeared, formed from her own body. Concentrating, she aimed forward, awaiting a cue from the other allied DaCre she directly knew... once that was apparent, she fired, the crystals surrounded by a dense energy, going for Daegor's torso.

Meanwhile, Ami glanced backward, to see Shobatsu and Carlos out of commission. ~Dang it... if that dog gets serious in this direction for even a moment...~ Ami thought to herself, seeing as she couldn't exactly move them both out of the way and assist Valeria. Also, with the current situation of the battle, it was impossible for them to prepare A-rank...

-------

The DaCre gave a smile at Windsor. "Just with that sword?" she said, with a sarcastic edge, before drawing what was a normal gun, handing the handle over to Windsor while looking over at the dog. "Standard police issue. I doubt it will hurt it in general..." the DaCre explained, keeping her other gun trained on the dog, waiting for an order, which would come from the old man behind Windsor.

"Fire four!" his voice suddenly echoed. Without hesitation, she fired at the dog's side; from the barrel came a stronger force than what could be expected: a large, crackling blue sphere of electric energy sailed towards the dog at a speed rivalling Valeria's shot; given the size of the target, it would be difficult to simply avoid.

-------

The head of fire looked towards the female DaCre. The head of poison targetted Valeria, and the head of ice looked upon the shark's approach. Three minds, three fronts to defend, and multiple ways to react... Daegor thought it tiring, but, then again...

it was necessary. It also made him eager... its been a while since this dog had a workout...

Dealing with the woman's attack, it used its fire in the form of one of its three main attacks, 'Planetary Halo'. From its mouth came a giant stone boulder, blazing blue flames coming from the center, surrounded by a ring of red fire. The rock met up with the blast, knocking it out of the ring, while the ring itself proceeded onwards towards the pair, each end of the circle aimed at both of them. The woman began to backpedal, loading another shot, keeping her eye on the main boulder.

Meanwhile, another Planetary Halo was fired at Valeria's shot, this time, the flames green in color. Focusing, Valeria sent out a powerful explosive force from the gems, driving the flames away while for a moment while they passed through, split, and lost their overzealous light, now trying to 'sneak up' to the dog. The golem took a step forward, literally grabbing the halo and taking the rock attack head on. Both attacks stopped, she fell backwards, before standing up, as if nothing had happenned.

Simultaneously, a third attack was fired at Bahina's group, different from Planetary Halo. Shards of ice formed on Daegor's teeth, before launcing forward in an impressive amount. Those aimed at the stream quickly pierced through, killed the momentum of the area, and froze part of it, even from boiling. The attack was widespread enough, that a shard was aimed at each shark, as well as above and below, left and right, each powerful enough to pierce straight through the minion on contact. 'Celestial meterorites' was clearly a powerful move... at the main serpent, a fair number of shards were fired, at the neck area near the head.

Meanwhile, its feet tensed, as if preparing to defend against something else it sensed...

Windsor took the handgun and spun it around, aiming at the dog's right eye on the fire head and pulling the trigger. Practically before the bullet had time to leave the barrel he had already began moving and speaking, analyzing the results from the shot.

"Standard USP model, sight approximately .2 centimeters off to the left; adjusting aim accordingly."

Dodgerolling into an area the fire-ring would not immediately hit he stopped and spun the blade-string around his head and to the side. Letting the string move out he he let it reach a large arc and then threw it out and swung it down in a fashion that if successful would cut into the fire-head somewhere around its neck. While he couldn't do much damage from this distance it would provide him with a link to Daego and give him a starting point from which to direct further attacks. If only he could get on to its back...

* * *

Lallium strained to watch the battle from his distant point. He turned to Salem.

"Salem."

"Hmm?"

"If you stage up will that blade dissapear?"

Salem thought for a moment. "As long as I decide to maintain it I think it should stay physical, though I have no way of knowing whether it's size will increase along with the the rest of my blades. Why?"

"I'm going to go ahead and level you to the next stage; we need to be on the same level as all of the other DaCre if we have to engage."

"Are you sure we can stage up another time?"

"I'm not positive but it can't hurt to try."

Salem nodded and Lallium began focusing.

The shards of ice did not kill the momentum of the water as expected, especially since it was a continual attack. The ice caused the water to spray out and cover a larger area, now targeting the dog's entire body rather than the torso. The drastic changes between boiling water, freezing water, and now sheets of ice present in the attack would actually be more likely to stun the dog now, some body parts freezing cold, some burning hot, and some being slammed into by the ice, though the concussive force of this wouldn't place a large part into the damage.

Baniha didn't try to evade the ice, but rather began to spin rapidly, letting his now massive momentum carry him toward the hound. The ice was refracting off of his armor-like scales, causing minimal damage. The concussive force of each individual shard was, while not insignificant, lessened by the thickness of his overlapping scales and evenly distributed around the parts of his body that were hit. The boiling water still blasting forth from his mouth threw off the trajectory of the shards and, while not stopping them, caused them to avoid his eyes and such.

As one, each shark did all they could to continue their assault. Each shark moved up slightly, not having to worry about lasting injuries, not being meant to last longer than the duration of a battle. The shards that were aimed at them sliced down below each one, making a painful but not lethal or crippling cut, and the ones aimed above sliced down their backs, making a similarly painful but not crippling cut. Data streamed from each of the sharks and, unsurprisingly to Baniha, they all increased speed dramatically. The damage had made the blood lust in them all the more powerful.

As Baniha would approach the hound, the boiling water would cut off as he lunged forward at the shoulder-neck area exposed to him on the hound. Any attacks launched at him would be ignored in his frenzy, his only goal to land that final blow before being forced to rank down. Any...

damage inflicted would only increase the serpent's power and speed in his lunge and bite.

As they approached, the sharks would swarm around the hound, four going for the ice-hound's neck, one going further toward the center neck, three going for the dog's front right leg, and two toward the general right side. Each of them would begin to bite, rip, and tear viciously until either deleted or commanded to stop.

Regardless of the result of this assault, however, the battle might be ended in any case. Just after the initial strike was completed, water would begin to erupt from the ground, fall from the sky, and rush in from no apparent source from multiple directions. The hound would be buffeted and thrown about by the water, despite his strength and size, and could very well be drowned as the water level rose higher and higher, regardless of swimming ability.

A wall of water stood just in front of the tamers and DaCre fighting the hound, towering high into the sky and reaching far into the distance. One might be reminded of the fabled 'parting of the red sea' by the sight, as the water rippled and flowed with the currents created by the massive creatures within.

;';,;';,;';

Carlos stirred before Shobatsu, surprisingly enough. He felt... drained. He blinked, looking around dazedly, though he had only been out for a minute or so. He slowly got to his feet, Shobatsu still in his arms. He took a few steps forward, reaching out to touch the wall of water. A series of ripples flowed out as he touched it, half his hand moving in before he pulled it back.

Daegor was amused and intrigued by these efforts... but, ultimately, he found them irrelevant. Baniha was the strongest creature approaching, and thus required more focus than the other two. Still, the head with the blade rushing toward his neck had a simple defense: he leaned forward, and bit at the blade with its teeth, crushing it and, with a small blast of fire, subliminating it before anything could be done with it.

Meanwhile, towards Windsor, the flaming boulder was still on approach, aiming to recenter itself in the middle of the ring of fire. "Damn... watch out!" the DaCre yelled, seeing this happen in front of her, while still recharging her next shot. It wouldn't be something easily avoided by a simple jump-and-roll...

-----------

Ami pulled Carlos back as he reached for the water. "Are you insane?" she asked, a hint of rhetoric in her voice. "We have no idea what's going to happen in there...

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Daegor avoided most of the sharks by taking a step back: by ducking down, most that were charging towards the neck would find themselves between Daegor's jaws at the last possible moment to dodge, which would be near-impossible to anticipate. Those going for the leg would find a vicious knee to their face, and Bahina itself would feel a blast of intense dog breath as, after the initial bite, it would go for Bahina. Only Bahina and the two side-sharks would do any real damage.

The water incoming, as it filled the area, began to heat up rapidly, the water from the ground already at a very high, near-steaming temperature. By heating the water as it was summonned, it was not the same as heating a large volume at once... rather, as the flow increased, there was more than enough heat energy than necessary to heat the water to perfect cooking level... contorting about an inch's worth of grace around itself, of course. It waited until it would be safe to escape...