Soul Caliber Ascension

"MY ARM!" She reeled back at the sight. Unbearable pain flooded her senses as her skin made a pitifull attempt to stick itself back together making her nerves scream. The warm fluid coating the stump pressing against the wound irritating the area around her shoulder.

For a moment, Elise was absolutely overwhelmed by the overstimulation that drowned out the noise of screaming from the soldiers being slaughtered by Tameil. Even the flashes of light and the falling trees in the distance as a result of Orion and Yavons battle seemed distant.

Huff!

A soft grunt escaped her lips when she activated her technique. Sparks of flames emitted from her arm until a full blown fire burned on her shoulder.

Just a little more!

Her eyes bulged bloodshot under the heat. Slowly but surely, the blood stopped flowing after being intensely courtarised by the flame.

"I... I'll kill you!" Intense anger and hatred erupted as she staired at the man who had caused her pain. This type of wound would put her out of fighting shape for months, a disgrace to her family and the Cult she worked for. However in her anger she had made an irreversible mistake, one that her opponent observed intensely with an unseen smile.

The chaos in the area seemed to only add to the threat of Cypher as his dagger moved in-between his fingers hypnotically. The beating of his heart grew in pace, the thrill like a drug that he couldn't get in any other world.

'I'll become an adrenaline junky if this keeps up,' He mused, bringing his hand onto his robe and dusting off his shoulder. By now, he had gotten all the information he needed.

His eyes darted over to the recovering Ginsu, who had been sent flying a couple meters back from Cyphers initial attack. Currently, he was a bigger threat than the girl given his still intact arm and the strange nature of his technique.

Cypher's mind projected a brief recording of the memory, showing him the moment Ginsu used his voice to command his companion. If Cypher's thought process was right he must have some sort of mind based ability to influence others?

'So he's similar to Rain who uses illusions to affect the mind?' He cast his gaze over to the girl cursing him, observing the flame that stopped the bleeding in her arm ,' The girl is much more simple. She has an elemental teqnique that mimics fire.'

The game had begun, and Cypher had the uperhand.

"Dammit! Calme down Elise, we still outnumber him. He can't take us both!" Despite his words, Ginsu still flinched at the sight of his companion. Even more alarming was that the man Infront of them hadn't even used his technique yet, leaving them blind to his capability.

He gritted his teeth and stood up as tall as he could, simultaneously unsheathing the sword on his waste ,"I'll attack and you supp-"

Whoosh!

Before Ginsu could even finish the plan, Cypher darted forward and clashes his dagger against him in a reverse grip.

"Maniac!" Ginsu held his hilt with two hands and his strength to hold Cypher off. Even caught off guard he still had the advantage in this position as Cyphers dagger hilt only had room for one hand, reducing leverage.

With a fearsome look, he gathered strength into his throat,

"Drop the dagger!"

The command wormed it's way into Cyphers mind, causing his strength in the right arm holding the dagger to wane. If he wasn't already expecting something like this, the clash would have ended in his head being decapitated from his body.

In the heat of the moment, Ginsu missed a crucial detail. Cypher still had one three hand. A hand that was now heading straight for his chin!

Boom!

Ginsus world rocked, his mind reeling from the uppercut as he flew back and rolled on the ground. A bloody tooth landed near him, his jaw having been utterly devastated by the impact and now bent out of place after dislocating.

"S-strop" Ginsu tried desperately to speak, but only gibberish followed. His technique relied on his voice, something that was useless until he fixed his jaw.

"What's wrong? Can't use your little trick?" His opponent walked towards him slowly while he tried to get up, taunting him.

"Your lucky your friends here," Cypher observed a golden glow coming from behind him. The temperature was so high that some of the sorrounding trees ignored without needing any contact.

A sigh escaped his lips, his hand waving towards the ground beneath Ginsu and transforming the earth into a quicksand that trapped his feet in place.

He wasn't finished however and turned to face Elise, who had unleashed a massive fireball towards him. Not one to be incinerated, he used his soul power to conjure a ten meter wall of thick white sand between him and the fire.

Two powerful abilities collided with unmatched ferocity, creating a majestic display of prowess. The white wall struggled under the searing heat of her teqnique, the grains changing colour as they rose in temperature until they were left glowing a glowing orange.

The fire relentlessly burned until eventually, it died out. The resulting damage to the wall caused it to cave and disintegrate, Allowing both opponents to observe eachother.

"Huff...huff..." Elises eyes burned with rage. Her hand reached down and pulled out a small finely crafted knife similar to Cypher's ,"Don't think you've won yet!"

"We'll see." Cypher lunged forward, slashing at her with unyielding efficiency that threatened to break her guard at any moment. With one arm, her balance was completely thrown off, leaving Elise more vulnerable to close quarters combat.

Slice!

A strike cut through her robe and into slightly into the flesh of her chest. The realisation that she couldn't win like this dawned on her, 'I've got to go something quick!'

The gap in skill between the two of them was like a chase that couldn't be crossed. Unlike Cypher, her control over her teqnique wasn't as comprehensive, this her ability lacked the same variety. This left her limited to just a few moves.

Regardless, she chose the most energy draining one...

The air thickened around them as Cypher hounded her without a moments rest. Meanwhile, inside her body flames gathered around her heart and condensed. The ground beneath her feet melted and her skin glowed red.

The changes didn't go unnoticed by Cypher, however it seemed to be too late to run, so he did the next best this and coated his body in thick hard sand.

"Flare!" At the top of her lungs, Elise screamed. A huge explosion radiated outwards in a circular radius that incinerated everything nearby. Trees burned to a crisp and some unfortunate mortal soldiers were melted into puddles. Cypher, having been at the centre, felt himself fly through the air like a bullet. His velocity caused him to crash and shatter through rocks and debris until he plummeted into the ground leaving a massive trail were he was dragged through the earth.

A brief silence ensued. Both sides needing time to recover after the devastating attack.

Cypher lay on the ground, his breath heavy both with shock and excitement.

The smell of fire permitted his nose as he sat up to recover. Weakened sand fell from his body as a result of the damage leaving his suit charred black and dirty. Had he not been wearing the gass mask, it would have been much worse with the smoke filling the air.

"Cough!Cough!".Ginsus laboured breaths sounded in the distance ,"Git me owt off heyer!"