For what seemed like an eternity Eld held his breath, waiting for Toushikyo's reply. But in the end his hopes were dashed, just as they had been every time previously. When one of the Memories came to fight him, it was impossible to persuade them not to. He'd already fought Toushikyo twice, but this time was going to be very different, he could tell.

His next words weren't spoken to Toushikyo, but rather to himself. "Infusco orbis terrarum," he intoned, "Kageko." A thick black mist overtook his scythe, completely obscuring it from view for several moments. When it cleared, there was something quite different looking in its place.

Instead of the long polearm, a double-sided weapon replaced it. A pole for a grip was in the middle, and on either side was a slightly curved blade, with the cutting edge on the inside. It looked as though someone had stuck two scythe blades on either end of a pole, pointing out, giving it a vague S-shape. Eld held it with the end pointing towards Toushikyo lowered, and the other extending up past his shoulder.

Like his opponent, if this had happened a few days ago he would have narrowed his eyes. As it was, he looked determined but...sad. This was something he had to do, but not something he necessarily wanted to.

There were certain benefits to releasing the scythe compared to leaving it alone--one such was range. While Eld had the benefit of feeling attacks coming soon enough that he could evade them in time, he lacked the range that the full scythe allowed him. It was decidedly shorter, and permitted Eld about the same range as Toushikyo had--evening the field, oddly, though Eld might not yet know exactly how even the field truly was.

Toushikyo took in a deep breath. He'd seen the transformation before, and back then, it only irritated him. Now, he felt nothing for it. No tension or unease or care at all. He knew what it was and what it could give him, and his only want was to take it from Eld and kill him with it. It was the only way things could change, the only way he might be able to feel again, the only way he might be able to move on--or simply decide to accept what life had to give him: death. But he needed it. He needed to know and he needed to feel what it was like to mourn a lost loved one.

And without a second thought, Toushikyo ran for Eld, blade drawn and ready to strike the very instant he was in range. Eld would feel him coming; he'd know exactly how he'd attack, perhaps even how best to counter it--and then maybe he'd know where to follow-up.

But so did Toushikyo . . .

Eld may have been a relative inexperienced combatant compared to many, but he was no fool. The reduced range was a small price to pay for the ability to sense attacks coming in, as he knew Toushikyo had powers over ice...and there was ice everywhere.

He easily batted the attack away as he stepped aside, and with the other end of his weapon made to knock Toushikyo's legs out from under him as he passed. Whether he succeeded in tripping him up or he jumped over it, if Toushikyo's feet left the ground he'd follow up with another attack: a blast of Qi that would send his opponent sailing over the edge of the tower.

This was an advantage Eld knew to press; he could slow his fall to non-lethal levels if he was knocked from the tower. But if Toushikyo couldn't do the same...

Though he fully intended to cut through Eld's chest, Toushikyo missed. Instead, Eld dodged to the side and swung out the reverse edge of his blade Toushikyo's legs. It all happened fast, how Toushikyo continued with his forward progress, kicking forward with one foot, progressing in the air by three feet, and landing upon his left foot.

It was about this time that Eld let forth a gust of wind with full intentions of throwing Toushikyo off his feet and from the top of the tower. That sort of fall would instantly end a person, whether they were named Eldridge Tsukimono or Toushikyo of Terra, falling that height without any assistance would have killed either of them. Eld's opening reaction was just as potentially lethal as Toushikyo's opening attack.

But like Toushikyo's attack, it wasn't to be. Toushikyo was still landing upon one foot as Eld let loose the gust of wind, and Toushikyo reacted quickly: he released his right hand from the straight sword and threw it out Eld's way. The mist about them seemed to twitch all over, and Eld would feel as small of a breeze against him as Toushikyo would. Two gusts of wind, canceling the other out . . .

Toushikyo landed firmly upon his feet and regarded Eld blankly.

Eld circled warily, moderately surprised to see that Toushikyo had somehow negated his attack with what felt like wind. He was quite certain he didn't have that ability; Eld knew the one could manipulate the wind, and he was getting a sense that each sibling had their own power. Unless...

The mist...it's so cold up here, he's controlling the ice in the air. The freezing mist that blanketed the top of the tower would let him practically control the wind, in addition to the ice itself. His first instinct was to lure Toushikyo out from the tower, but it wasn't really an option. As much as he'd have trouble dealing with it here, if Toushikyo could move the mist then it would be in the thick of the village, and he'd rather deal with it up here where at least it was isolated. Still, it was going to make the fight much more difficult than his previous encounters against him.

This time it was Eld's turn to charge, though at a slightly different angle than Toushikyo had thanks to his circling. Despite the rush, however, the attack itself was a conservative one, so that he could defend against a counter with the other end of his weapon.

Toushikyo straightened up as Eld began his approach. He placed his right hand back upon the blade and face Eld completely when he finally charged.

The way Toushikyo reacted--the utter quickness of it--mirrored Eld's own, it seemed. He had turned himself to Eld and in an instant, struck his straight-blade against Eld's scythe and parried it, knocking it up and harmlessly to the side. Toushikyo let his own blade trail up and to the side, as well.

Yet still--it was that quickness. The kind of reaction that suggested some higher brand of knowing. Eld did it. Whenever he reacted to something, it was as if he saw the attack coming long before it actually arrived. When it did, he reacted just as fast as he should've, provided that knowledge. He made avoiding and parrying attacks look easy sometimes. When it came to a full frontal melee between he and Oboreru, he almost made the fight look relatively simple. But here, Eld would see through the eyes of his opponents for the moment, as Toushikyo reacted almost just the same as Eld . . .

Unlike the first strike, though, the second was an outright clash. Toushikyo continued to push forward and allowed himself to linger there; he'd full intentions of pushing Eld back, but truth be told, if Eld were to push against Toushikyo, neither man would get much ground on the other at all.

Eld was again surprised; Toushikyo reacted to his strike with more speed and precision than he'd previously shown. He'd somehow known exactly where he was attacking and how hard, and knew just what to do. Thus, rather than counter outright (which Eld had readied himself for), he locked their weapons together. Neither man was significantly stronger than the other, and thus it was something of a deadlock for several moments.

It was possible Toushikyo wasn't aware of it, however; he did not know the Reaper's regular strength, so he wasn't likely aware that some of Eld's feats came from an enhancement. Drawing on that power, he gave a mighty push to knock Toushikyo off balance before pivoting on one foot, and raising the other to kick him in the ribs.

When they clashed and held still for several moments, Toushikyo felt the want to glare at Eld across the distance--but he hadn't the ability to. He'd have been saddened by this if he could feel that, as well.

Eld pushed with a burst of strength and threw Toushikyo off--but not off balance. He pushed his blade away and pushed him back, but Toushikyo seemed to control the direction he moved in. He backpedaled twice, and all in the opposite direction of Eld's knee. Toushikyo did not, however, put much distance between them: he backed away by two steps, and mostly to the left. He backed away just enough that Eld's attack was no longer a threat to him. It seemed a repeat of the same insight he showed just a moment earlier.

Toushikyo stepped in to take back all the distance he made, however, as he struck out in a horizontal attack. He'd ever intention on withdrawing the blade and striking diagonally down, across Eld's chest, if he absolutely needed to counterattack.

Eld blocked the horizontal swing as he regained sure footing, stepping in as Toushikyo withdrew the blade to attack once more, once more leaving himself room to block a counter attack. This time, it came in handy; Toushikyo slashed diagonally down, and Eld deflected it, before stepping forward to attack with the other end again.

While it seemed like he wasn't making much progress, each time Toushikyo stepped back he drew a little closer to the edge, and having stopped his charge more or less where Eld had entered the tower, he didn't have terribly far to go. He might not have been able to push the Memory off in one blow, but that didn't mean he wasn't making any progress.

When Eld clashed against him, Toushikyo withdrew his horizontal strike and committed to the diagonal blow. He had little trouble in this, but had to step back again . . .

Indeed, every time Eld counter attacked in a way Toushikyo hadn't the opportunity to to clash against, he stepped back and harshly to one side. It didn't take long at all for Toushikyo to almost be against the ledge--and without a doubt, the man was fully aware of this when the time came.

The very moment it was a risk at all, Toushikyo swung a hard horizontal strike across Eld--something that would do doubt be blocked or avoided with a backpedal. It barely mattered how, but if Eld blocked it, he would find himself stumbling, as Toushikyo's blow was almost uncharacteristically strong. It was in the same second, though, that he leaned forward, leaned into his attack, and kicked with one foot.

He was not, however, trying to propel himself into Eld. Rather, Eld would feel a proxy gust of wind--but not one that would blow him over. It was instead a powerful gust of air, throw down by Toushikyo's left hand as he leaped up. For a split second, he was completely airborne.

Toushikyo would be behind Eld in a fraction of a second, landing upon one knee, with his blade drawn and out and held in his right hand as if an attack had already been issued. There, he'd sit for a moment, long enough for Eld to realize that he was missing a few hairs on the side of his head (and if he didn't carefully position himself well enough, part of his ear would be gone, too), before Toushikyo would finally turn to face him.

Eld originally intended to block the horizontal attack; retreating a step was exactly what he didn't want to do, trying to push Toushikyo off the edge of the tower as he was. But at the last second he abandoned that line of thought and stepped back, the blade passing mere centimeters in front of him. He could tell, with Kageko's senses, that there was much greater strength behind that attack than anything Toushikyo had previously displayed.

He didn't have time to dwell on how that was possible, though, for immediately after Toushikyo seemed to leap into the air. The attack that followed was too fast for Eld to track even with his enhanced senses; only the twitch reflex of tilting his head out of the way let him avoid losing an ear. Even so, when he spun to face his opponent he saw a handful of black hairs fluttering to the ground out of the corner of his eye.

This was far different from before; Toushikyo was doing too many new things, and Eld needed to rethink his strategy. Knowing that it was now potentially his back to the edge, he rolled to the side to give himself a little more space. How Toushikyo was augmenting his strength and speed, he wasn't sure, but he thought he knew what was letting him. Opting for a defensive stance, he started to draw on his Qi...

Toushikyo straightened up only a bit when he turned to face Eld. He did not at all appear interested in the fight so far, nor disinterested. The blank expression remained.

It was just as Eld seemed to be preparing a considerable mass of spiritual energy--not at par, but at the point where he seemed to intent this--that Toushikyo interrupted him outright. It started with a slash, a single stroke across Eld's chest, and would follow through with a cut across his belly, one for his face, and another for his throat. He favored in that moment extremely fast horizontal strike, and he stepped forward with each one. Each and every one. This time, it was Eld near the edge of the platform . . .

He'd every intent of interrupting Eld and breaking his concentration on whatever it was that was so important, important enough to hesitate and break stride and gather. A coup de grâce, perchance, but this was far from relevant to Toushikyo's interests, and simply would not be allowed to be.

While Toushikyo indeed guessed correctly that Eld was gathering Qi, he was wrong about how much--something that while it wasn't important to him was quite important to Eld. He wasn't focusing on his powers to the point of neglecting his person, as Toushikyo would find out when he blocked or parried most of the hits. Not as quickly or precisely as he usually might have, and he was forced to lean away from the slash aimed at his throat, which actually nicked him a little and drew a tiny amount of blood.

Now quite near the edge, he realized he didn't have time to do what he wanted (which, while not a finishing blow, would have nevertheless swayed the fight in his favor), so he was forced to improvise. He let what Qi he'd gathered go in a burst of air that extended in every direction around him--it was unlikely that Toushikyo could fully negate it as he had the earlier blast. Truly, he didn't need to--it wasn't strong enough to be at all dangerous to him.

But what it would accomplish was give Eld a several yard radius that was at least temporarily free of the frozen mist that enveloped the ice tower. As he had no doubt it would fill back in before too long, he acted quickly. He jumped, not off the edge or over Toushikyo, but at one of the nearby "blades" that extended from the tower--at the flat side of it, specifically. He took a couple of steps upwards on it before leaping off of it to gain a little extra height and twisting.

He swung his weapon as he fell, a powerful overhead blow that would be difficult to block--and more importantly difficult to see coming, as without the mist Eld hoped his opponent would not be able to sense exactly what he was doing as he had been. If nothing else, though, he at least hoped to drive Toushikyo away so he could get back to the center of the tower.

Eld succeeded--at least in a minor sort of way. The mist was both resilient and resistant. It was cleared within ten feet of Eld, but nothing more than that. Toushikyo, however, was within that radius when Eld let loose the force of wind about him. It wasn't strong enough to even slow him down, though.

But Eld did, at the very least, grant himself one free attack. He ran up the side of the blade, kicked off, and assailed Toushikyo from above. The Memory reacted a bit slower than before, but skillfully nonetheless: he brought his blade up to block Eld. A hit was inevitable, but deflection through blocking allowed Toushikyo to only take a gash upon his shoulder. The force of it knocked his weapon, held then with only one hand, from him. It was thrown from his person and skidded to a stop a fair three feet behind Toushikyo.

Toushikyo fell to one knee. There, he was silent for some time, roughly until Eld was able to get into the center of the arena again--though it was still filled with mist.

"Of all the familiar places . . ." Toushikyo whispered, but trailed off and paused.

Toushikyo did not strain against his bleeding shoulder, nor did he experience much of a loss of performance in his left arm. Slowly, he stood and turned to face Eld as he parted his lips to continue:

". . . Attis."

A flash, a light, and image most faded and vague: the grass was frozen blue and trampled under their feet, their breaths formed mist in the air, and the moon leered over them in the night sky. The two men had distance between each other, Toushikyo and the red haired man. Toushikyo's sword was knocked aside and his shoulder was matted with blood. The red haired man almost perfectly fine; his white suit was dirty and worn, but no blood excreted from his person. The only blood on the field was drawn from the farming scythe in his hands.

It was an all too brief image, as between Eld and Toushikyo, the mist quickly flooded the arena, halted likely by Toushikyo's will and reflection, and likely to return even faster were Eld to attempt a similar tactic again. Too fast, perhaps, to allow Eld another free attack like that.

His tactic was about as successful as he'd anticipated. Toushikyo was no slouch even without the mist around, so Eld wasn't expecting to end the fight. But he drew first blood which was...well, a first for him, he was fairly certain. He'd even managed to get back towards the center of the arena before his opponent recovered.

But then something happened--another flash, another invasion upon his mind. Toushikyo wounded, just like...someone. Some man; that same man he'd seen in his "dream" earlier, and Kageko's even before that. And then the name of the man was spoken aloud.

For a moment Eld froze entirely. There it was again...if that was the man's name, then everything was connected. How and why he was connected to this person he had only the vaguest of guesses, but he knew without out a doubt there was one.

"Who," he intoned as he started forward, "is Attis?" The stress on the word was nearly a curse...