There was a second where things were looking bad; Eld couldn't maneuver well in air, and thus had no way to dodge the incoming attack. Even though water wasn't likely to break the skin, that would still hurt like hell and possibly break some ribs.

But in a spot of sheer dumb luck and tactical oversight on Oboreru's part, his own defense negated his attack. The chain of Eld's kusari-gama rose swiftly into the air, and thus Eld found himself yanked suddenly upwards and away from the water attack.

As the chain stretched to its limit, Oboreru would be forced to make a decision--let go of the kusari-gama or be lifted into the air as it pulled him up with his own power's momentum.

Eld would, no doubt, be lifted into the heavens, but Oboreru himself did not seem to do the same. The closer the chain came to reaching its limit, the closer Eld himself would come to the tower of water--and yet, by that point, Oboreru would still be seen where he was, standing still at the bottom of it all, his silhouette visibly holding onto the quarter staff.

There was pressure. Of course there was pressure. More than likely, Oboreru was struggling with his quarter staff to keep it "grounded" with him; the upward pressure was likely rather ferocious. If there really was or was not a struggle of his within the water, no one would ever be certain--not Eld and not the gods, if there still were some to look down on this. As Oboreru's silhouette shifted constantly within the reverse waterfall, there was no way to discern any sort of minute movement on his end. There was probably some resistance, though--that went without saying. It wasn't taking up him up.

If the water itself couldn't drag him up, an extra pull was unlikely to do it, either. The man's control of the water was horrifying--perhaps as horrifying as Gestahl's control of the earth, had he time to prepare . . .

When the chain reached its limit, it would drag Eld in and submerge him within the reverse waterfall just as well. The chain would inevitably stand straight up within the torrent's momentum, and take Eld with it. As soon as even his hand was in it, it would drag him in and latch a hold onto him like a bear and its prey. Letting go of the chain would do little, even. If Eld got caught within the waterfall to the heavens, he'd be stuck there, and entirely at the mercy of the water wielding madman.

Eld couldn't see what was happening with Oboreru, and even if he could he didn't have time to worry about it; he was soon pulled into the center of the rising stream.

At first he hung onto the chain itself, but the pressure was quickly too much for his arms--Oboreru wasn't letting go of it, and while Eld couldn't hold his breath forever he very well might be able to. But when he let go, he found himself in hardly a better position--the kusari-gama was attached to his belt, and he continued to be submerged and battered by the pressure.

Struggling against the flow, he fumbled with the latch that kept the sickle part of the kusari-gama attached to his belt until he managed to release it. There wasn't much he could do from there, though; he just had to hope his breath held out until he was launched out of the geyser.

Outside of the waterfall, there was a wind . . .

It seemed to come out of nowhere. First, the waterfall waned. It pushed wholly to the left amidst a sudden wind--not one that took any piece of it out or collapsed it in any way, but one that gave it a nudge and bent its momentum, to suddenly fire up at an angle rather than straight forward. Hundreds of thousands of gallons of water met the heavens at an obscure seventy-five degree angle.

Eld hadn't removed himself from it yet; by that point, he was still fiddling with his weapon's chain, where it was attached to him--but he would not go with the waterfall. Instead, he'd move the opposite direction, spat out of the watery tower, still attached to his weapon-- albeit for only a moment.

That change came with a sound, one louder than the waterfall itself: a strike. Metal against metal. Metal snapping against metal--a sound which brought about an even stronger one, the collapse of a behemoth. This, the second geyser to the sky, roared into the lake, ejecting Eld and half of a chain up and up, to potentially fall to the shore, and Oboreru off his balance and stumbling back as the roaring tower collapsed into the lake.

Ejected from the massive geyser as Eld might be, he wouldn't come crashing to the ground, even if he, himself, was too disheveled to concentrate on letting himself hover to the ground--perhaps the most likely scenario. No, Eld's fate wasn't to come crashing to his death upon the shore. His fate, instead, was to slowly fall--falling as if gravity meant nothing at all, as if an upward force upon him was so subtle that it allow him to gently glide to the ground, a time in which he could regain bearings, if he so desired.

But would he charge Oboreru again? Especially considering what stood between the deep water and the shore, pitched up feet above the shallow water, toes facing the water as no surface existed to hold them up-- A woman, a woman with hair so light it appeared a slight azure with the reflection of the water and the sky, a woman in a red, oriental dress, with a steel fan folded up within her right hand, her right arm down by her side, and her left held out as if ready. For what, though?

It was Akizetsumei--making her appearance yet again, and just as quickly as before. Eld did not have her attention, though. Oboreru, standing upon the water's surface with a disheveled look about him, was her entire focus. Her expression was serious--grimly so.

He was on the verge of releasing his kusari-gama when he felt a felt a blast of wind, and suddenly he wasn't submerged anymore. While he took a grateful breath of fresh air, another problem presented itself: gravity.

A problem which, much like his last few problems, seemed to solve itself without any input from him. As he neared the ground he was buffeted by a gentle wind, and floated to the ground lightly rather than landing and becoming a smear in the mud. Normally this would not have been a big deal, as it was something he could so himself, but as disoriented as he was he couldn't have maintained the concentration that ability required.

It wasn't until he sat up and regained his bearings that he figured out what happened. Kaze--or rather, Akizetsumei--had arrived. She seemed to have power over wind, so...she saved him?

But he didn't have time to dwell on the implications of it; he doubted Oboreru would stop at his sister's behest. Whatever their record in the past, it was clear he was quite powerful now, and she might need help against him.

So he rose to his feet and dusted himself off the best he could, belatedly unhooking the broken kusari-gama from his belt.

"So . . . Akizetsumei . . ." Oboreru whispered.

He looked and sounded . . . sad. Genuinely sad. He didn't look up; he kept staring at the water at his feet, with his shoulders and head sulking forward. The tip of his quarterstaff touched the water, seemingly solid to the weapon, and the chain and sickle wrapped around it slowly slid off and plunged into the lake, quickly sinking to the bottom.

"Even knowing what happened, you still fight for him . . ."

Akizetsumei shut her eyes. Without so much a change in her tone from before, during Eld's previous meeting with her, she shook her head and whispered, "No."

"Then why? Why would you stop me? I could have finished this. Then, we could've gone back . . ." Oboreru responded sadly.

"I remember I made a promise to myself. Two promises. That I would find you and bring you back, and that-- that you would not kill . . . him," Akizetsumei clarified, "And if those are important enough that my heart just won't let me forget them--then I've those promises to keep. Even if they're only to myself . . ."

Already she'd forgotten Eldridge Tsukimono's name entirely. More than likely, she probably couldn't remember what he did that was so bad anymore, only that she felt as if he'd betrayed her worse than anyone ever had in the past. It wasn't a pleasant feeling, and if she were a vindictive woman, she would have been fine with letting him get killed by her brother. Whatever it was he did, she felt, it made her feel bad enough that maybe an eye for an eye wouldn't be all that terrible of a thing. That maybe, in some twisted universe, his death would be completely justifiable.

But there was that other feeling. At some point, she was extremely fond of him. Maybe there was still some fondness left there, still existing in that personal promise of hers, that Oboreru would not be allowed to kill him.

"K-Kaze..." Even before they'd met--even before she'd really taken a liking to him, without knowing who he was, whether he was a kind person or a complete monster, Kaze had decided that she wouldn't let him die. Whatever else she thought about him or her brother, she clearly didn't believe in revenge.

Put in a similar situation, would he stop himself from taking revenge? He wasn't so sure; it was easy to say he wouldn't take revenge on someone like Kaze, but never having met the person, he doubted he'd make the same promise to himself.

"Oboreru...won't you stop now?" he asked. Even if he still wanted to fight, there was little chance that he could beat both of them.

For awhile there, Oboreru was silent. Akizets said her piece, Eld asked his question, and Oboreru said nothing at all. He simply sulked his entire body as if he were preparing to fall to his knees in defeat. Was he defeated, though? Was this really the end of the battle?

"No," Oboreru replied at last, his voice resounding sadness no longer--but instead a sick kind of humor. Behind his bangs, he was smiling.

And with this, he stood up straight, threw his arms out to his sides, and allowed himself the opportunity to laugh. With each passing second, the water beneath him churned violently. The first geyser, the waterfall pouring the lake's contents into the clouds, rushed with a sudden emphasis with his laughter. It widened and towered even further, extending into the clouds and beyond. Still, gallons continued to pour up and then ever downward, all back into Hillcrest.

"No, I don't think I will at all!" cried Oboreru, not out of genuine pleasure or amusement, but out of some twisted joy. Something unnatural, something sick.

"He's...insane..." Eld muttered in disbelief. Was it even about revenge anymore, or was Oboreru just drunk on power, consumed with desire to hurt and kill no matter who it was? Was it always like this? Is this why Kaze always ended up fighting him?

Regardless of his reasons, Eld couldn't afford to waste time now. Oboreru had redoubled his effort to flood Hillcrest. He had no idea how deep the water was in the village now, but at this rate things would get dangerous very quickly--if they weren't already so.

And so he couldn't wait for Kaze to make the first move. Once more he dashed at Oboreru, leaping into the air and across the water, to strike with the only weapon he had left.

With a grin wide upon his face, Oboreru lifted his quarterstaff. He held it, not like a quarterstaff, but like a pipe. One hand clutched it at the bottom while another had it somewhere below the middle. This allowed him the utmost control and the full swinging power of the weapon. This sacrificed speed for strength, but as Eld darted over the water at him, Oboreru seemed to be willing to justify such an act. Perhaps it was perfectly justifiable, too, as he had just enough time to swing at full force at Eld, just when Eld was in perfect range-- when Eld, too, had his weapon, Kageko, the double edged scythe, prepared to swing just the same . . .

But both would be stopped in an instant. Preempting this was a strong breeze, but not one to stop either of them. Rather, that was the prompt, the only warning of what was to happen. Oboreru swung just as Eld swung, but neither of their weapons struck home. Instead, Eld's scythe landed first upon the edge of a folded steel fan, held by the same woman that saved him just a moment earlier, knelt down with her other hand reached up to shakily and painfully clutch Oboreru's quarterstaff, barring both of their progress.

But that wasn't quite the end, either. Akizets wasn't just there to stop them from hurting each other. Between these two, that wouldn't work. Especially with Oboreru. Just halting his attacks would do nothing. Stopping him took special measures of persistence, the same persistence that Eld, too, would experience.

With a flick of her wrist, the fan would open, and with another, she'd clash it hard against Eld's scythe, tearing forth a wind that could possibly throw him harshly to the shore, and without a subtle wind to make it any less of a bumpy landing, for that matter. Oboreru, on the other hand, was pushed back as he tried to regain his quarterstaff, and with a subtle jab of her foot to his knee, tripped and thrown off his guard, to fall back and plunge into the water's surface.

Eld would be able to feel their direct physical attacks coming, but their powers? No--no, those were far too natural. How, exactly, was still a mystery, but his sixth sense would not present a solution to them, just like with Toushikyo, just like with Gestahl. These two truly were the same as them.

Eld adjusted his swing accordingly as Oboreru prepared to meet him--however strong he was, he doubted he could stop his entire mass dead. Even if his attack didn't land, his main goal was to get him to stop flooding the town.

He could sense Kaze's movement, though she was so fast it was still hard for him to follow. Unable to stop his swing entirely, he took back as much of the force as he could--he didn't want to change his aim and risk having it slip past her fan and actually hit her.

Still, he was rather surprised she stopped him...stopped both of them, really. "Kaze, what--" But before he could finish a blast of wind send him sailing back to the shore, though fortunately at such a low height he was more disoriented than injured.

"Kaze!" he yelled once he got to his feet again. "We can't afford to play nice with him! If he keeps this up, he'll drown the whole village!"

With Oboreru fallen into the water and Eld on the shore again, Akizets straightened up her stance. She stood with her back straight again and arms at her side. She made sure to fold her fan again. Folded, it seemed to carry the same durability and capabilities of a kunai. Unfolded, it was nothing more than a conduit to create wind--fragile and best left defended until it was necessary. When it was not necessary to create a gust of wind for an attack (or how it seemed her ability worked), she had it closed.

"What . . . village?" she asked with her brow furrowed.

Already, she'd forgotten that there ever was a Hillcrest village or a township of Galaens. She hadn't met anyone other than Eld in those places. There were no others that for her to feel drawn to or repelled by. Eld defended her there once, but it could very well have been wolves in the forest for all she knew.

Akizets, distracted, failed to see the water churning next to her, not until it was too late. She was thrown back, hit first with concussion force to her shoulder, throwing her back to the water's surface, on which she bounced twice before painfully digging her feet in and skidding to a stop--not upon the water's surface, but above it, upon the air, where there was no flat surface, yet she was hunched down and standing upon it, panting, as if there were.

The attack which struck her was an overall one. The concussion force that barreled into her was meant for both Akizets and Eld: a sudden and powerful wave, striking with the thickness of steel, thrown out with the quickness of an arrow. Its gathering was brief, but it was propelled towards the shore, towards Eld, to barrel into his body and leave him broken all over--were it to land, of course.

He didn't have long to goggle at Kaze's complete disregard for both gravity and physics in general; the same attack that hit her was also launched at him. But while he couldn't perceive their power, he could perceive the effect; just as he had no problems avoiding Gestahl's attacks once he started launching them through the air, he could easily read and avoid the Oboreru's once they left the lake.

But with his opponent underwater, what could he do? He knew very well it would be suicide to try and dive in himself--and to break the water's surface, he'd have to do something massive, something like-

As he dodged to the side of Oboreru's attack, he started to draw out Qi and once more charged to the lake and jumped, this time aiming directly at the geyser, intending to ride it up into the sky until it spit him out...

Akizets was temporarily out of it. Her fan was dropped upon the same "surface" on which she stood as she grimaced, clutching her left shoulder in a fit of pain. It was out of socket. She'd have to fix that herself.

Just as Eld neared the pillar of water, he'd be greeted, instead, by Oboreru--thrust out of the water in Eld's range, interrupting his charge.

He had a child-like smile upon his lips, but Eld wouldn't have the opportunity to investigate it for any length of time, really--as the moment Oboreru was between he and the pillar of water, his quarterstaff, held in the middle this time for the ideal purposes of speed, was swung at a downward angle towards Eld's collar. Even though he wasn't rearing it back for the purposes of the ideal strength based attack, the quarterstaff was pure steel. Any decent blow with it could threaten to break bones, just like any attack with Kageko was almost guaranteed to cut through a person.

As Oboreru threw out the attack, Oboreru laughed: "Hah!"

Oboreru may have had an extreme level of control over water, but he was not physically any more capable than Eld himself. Reading his movements was easy with Kageko's help; he used her to deflect the blow, raising the double-weapon above his head and sending the attack harmlessly to his side, with one hand. The other one quickly extended, expending the Qi he'd gathered straight into Oboreru's chest. Since he emerged from the lake, there was no reason to save it.

Even if he somehow managed to avoid the Qi attack, he'd still have to deal with the fact that he was directly in front of Eld, who was flying through the air at a decent pace with no way of stopping.