The Announcer adjusts his sunglasses, and stands up, his face being shown on the screen as he suddenly grins. "Welcome to the 27th match of the Tokyo City Tournament! I hope you've all been enjoying yourself so far. Now, for a particuarly special match!" Suddenly, he points to the west dramatically. "In the west corner, we have a newcomer to the tournament scene: Chiharu Takehashi! Who knows what esoteric skills and techniques honed in Osaka he will bring to this match!?" His finger swivels in the opposite direction, and he pauses dramatically for a moment. "And in the east corner, a woman who needs no introduction!" He pauses again as if finished, lowering his head for a moment, then lifts it towards the sky and shouts, "...Aogiri Mikage, the Goddess of the Layer!"

The roar of the crowd and the tense atmosphere of the arena is something that Mikage has become somewhat used to over the years. This is her third appearance at these games, and thus she has none of the first-time jitters that would normally come along with stepping out infront of all these people. The pale girl walks slowly with her angel tucked into the crook of her arm, the gargoyle looking serene in the light cast from the spotlights above. Of course, she isn't quite used to being addressed with the title coined by her fan-boy Kino, but she seems to accept it with a sheepish smile, raising a hand and giving a shy wave to the crowd as she walks over towards the egg-shaped chairs that will rise up to layer level. Most people seem to recognize the angel raised on the girl's arm more than the pale girl herself. The black headset with dark angel's wings is already placed onto her head and extended. As she sits, she leans forward to plug it into the layer controls, settling backwards as the chair is brought upwards. She takes a deep breath as it clicks into place, glancing up at the announcer, and then towards the layer to see what sort of scenery they will be playing on for this match.

Chiharu takes a deep breath as he hears his name being announced. He look down at Darius and says to him quietly as the crowd roars for each competitor, "Well Darius... here we are... the first step in a long journey... I wonder how mother felt when it was her first time here and dueled with you. Was she nervous like me? Was her opponent as feared as mine was? Was she thinking she could win, or did she just want to do her best?" He closes his eyes and then opens them and says, "I don't know what's going to happen today, I don't know what chance I have... but I trust in you, I trust in you and your skills. Let's go in there and show them that one day, we'll be called the God of the Layer..." He squares his shoulders and then marches out into the arena as the crowd roars. He's taken aback by it, the bright lights, the noise, it's enough to make him want to run back to the waiting room. But he settles down and walks with purpose to the layer and sits in the chair, plugging his red and black headset into the layer as the chair rises into the air and locks into position. He then looks at Mikage, staring at her before he waits for the layer to activate.

The Announcer pauses for a moment to let the Deuses get into their seats, then makes a sweeping arm gesture. "Angels... fallin!" The layer glows for a moment as it activates, then blinks from scenery to scenery, quickly changing from ship to jungle to beach to quicksand. Finally, it settles on a giant pillow.

Chiharu tosses Darius high into the air and somewhere, imaginary speakers blare out the American band Megadeth's "Crush 'Em" and somewhere imaginary strobe lights flare turning the layer hall into an arena and Darius is given a pro-wrestler-like entrance complete with fireworks, themesong and lights. Chiharu says in loud voice,

"Protector of dreams, vision of my imagination, give me the strength to carry me to VICTORY!"

As Darius enters the layer, imaginary fireworks go off as he spins acrobatically in the air and lands on one knee. He slowly stands up, a cocky look on the angel's face before turning around and doing a Randy Orton ballet-turn showing off his body before turning to face his opponent..

Even as her opponent stares at her, Mikage seems perfectly calm. She gives the boy across from her a small smile, one that might rival one from the famous deus Kaede. She takes another deep breath and begins to hum softly, a hum that seems to echo the sound of the electricity that is coming from the layer itself. She slowly extends one arm, her angel balanced onto her forearm. Her head falls slowly forward, as if she were having a moment of silent prayer. Then, her head lifts once more and her blue eyes gaze down away from her opponent and onto the layer's surface. She raises a pale eyebrow, perhaps having seen this layer before. The small frown on her face suggests she did not have a pleasant former experience with this particular scenery. In any case, the girl slowly takes in air into her lungs and speaks with as much power as her generally soft voice can manage. "Spirit, soul, heart within me... my companion, bound fates one to another... be my wings. Rei! Fall-in!" With that said, she gives a twitch of her arm, which sends her angel falling towards the layer. As soon as the strange demonic angel passes the layer's barrier, she snaps to life. Her green eyes open and her wings flutter, then flare as she slowly comes to land on the layer's surface, her body causing the pillow to dip slightly with the weight as she crouches in a feral sort of stance, tilting her head from side to side in wait of the start of the match.

The little creature watcches her opponent with a peculiar sort of expression on her face, as if she can't quite figure out why he is showing off his body to those watching. Her ears fold backwards as she stands up to her normal height, her tail twitching behind her, perhaps giving a bit of a signal for those who may know her fighting style better than this newcomer. She digs her talons in beneath her, and then bounces, using the flexibility of the layer surface to send her upwards and flying across towards her opponent. As she lands, a fluff of feathers goes up all around her, but this is not the intent of the attack, that comes a split second later as her tail snaps out and swings at the cocky angel, attempting to knock his feet out from under him.

On the layer, Darius was prepared for the first attack, at least enough that he was able to gather in a breath and minimize the damage done by the tail although the angel does wince a bit from the intensity of it. He shakes it off however and focuses his rage and then in a burst of speed, rushes the famed angel attempting what in American Football would be known as a head spear to it's midsection.

It seems as if the gargoyle creature is expecting such an attack, and thus she is just one step ahead of the matter. Rather than letting the attack strike her in the midsection, it ends up hitting against the hard plate armor of the pauldron that she wears on her shoulder. She gives a small shake of her head and gives a faint growl under her breath. At the closer range brought by this, she seems able to perform a slightly more accurate attack. She lifts her hand and roars, sending a flash of light and energy out towards the face of Darius. In the distance the thunder rolls, but the most devestating part of this attack is not the sound, but the force that follows it and the blinding light that comes with it. As her hand draws backwards, there is a flaming big of reddish energly lingering on her arm. The force of Rei's focused spirit.

On the layer, Darius is caught off-guard by the lightning attack and is thrown back, sent almost to the edge of the layer as Chiharu's glasses go dark from the effect of the attack. Neither Dues nor angel can see and it's disorientating enough that Darius is hesitant to attempt to attack for fear of ending up completely defenseless and so he takes a defensive stance hoping to survive until his vision comes back. Chiharu sweats and catalogues what he can possibly do in this situation and comes up empty. He slaps his cheeks to try and fire himself up as he awaits the next attack.

Seeing her opponent stunned, Rei glances over towards her deus and takes a step back. It seems that neither of them want to press the attack at the moment. Perhaps the pair feel somewhat sorry for the newer deus that got stuck having to face them in this match, or perhaps they are planning something unknown for the future. Still, she gives a little backflip, landing in another puff of feathers before crouching and kneeding the ground in a kittenish fashion. She gives a little, quiet sound as if encouraging Darius forward. Afterall, everything on the layer isn't just about causing damage, it's about learning and growing with your angel.

As his vision clears in his headset, as well as Darius's vision returns he quickly scans for Rei and notices her waiting for him. For a split second he considers doing just as she wants, the temper that marked him when Yumako insulted him and his skills rising to the fore. How DARE she mock him by beckoning him. But Chiharu calms as he remembers what else happened when he indulged his temper... Darius nearly being destroyed so Darius simply shakes his head and slowly begins to circle around, not all that eager to take the initiative this time. It seems he's not eager to try a frontal assault which is useless in this case.

Well, there is a distinct difference between Mikage and Rei and Yumako and Byakko. This was not some sort of taunting thing, but an attempt at drawing him out and encouraging him. Although, sometimes our best intentions are taken wrongly by others. The little creature's ears fold down again as she gives a churring, confused sound to her deus. "It's alright. He wishes to play to his best, so we'll oblige him." The gargoyle reaches a talon up and presses a button on the side of her head, extending the twin horns from her forehead. Then, she starts to charge across the layer surface. Of course, being that the layer's surface is actually a giant pillow, it's more like jumping and then doing a diving headbutt with her horns.

There's no way Chiharu is going to let Darius take that attack. It's a given that at best he'd be extremely damaged and at worst knocked right out of the layer. As the gargoyle dives down at him, Darius leaps up grabbing her attempting to use her momentum to drive her into the ground. It looks like something right out of a wrestling match. The big man jumping off the top turnbuckle and the one one the ground jumping to catch him and use his leverage to slam him into the canvas for the pin. If you can believe it, there's a smile on both Darius and Chiharu's faces, THIS is his style, pro wrestling... let others do the martial arts or gargoyle or tentacle thing. Darius is a wrestler and that's what he's best at.

While this may be the style of her opponent, it doesn't mean that Rei is going to allow such a thing to strike her, especially this early on in a match. Rei is one of those angels who tends to be fast at first and hard as a rock in the long run. In any case, she ducks underneath the massive grappling move, rolling down along a fluffy part of the pillow and landing with an unceremonious flop in a low part of the pillow. She shakes her head out and glances backwards, trying to scramble to her feet and race back towards her opponent. She leaps forward, drawing into a sort of cannon-ball which sends her into the fluffy surface, sending that part downward, and the groun beneath Darius upwards in response.

It's lucky that the layer is a huge pillow, that might have hurt more had not Darius known how to take falls even as he's hit by the tail strike. He takes a little damage and bounces up off the pillowy surface and immediately leaps into the gargoyle with his forearm in a version of Karl Gotch's famous European uppercut, attempting to take advantage of his quick turnaround.

Well, it isn't really the tail that comes into play in her attack, but in either case, the creature rolls out of the way of the retaliatory strike. She looks a little bit disoriented, but bouncing around on a giant pillow can do that to the best of angels. It isn't exactly the most 'normal' of surfaces. That, and the smell of feathers and dust was starting to get to her nose. She wiggles that nose and gives a small sneeze before getting mooshily to her feet, balancing back and forth as the layer moves along with both angels. Then, she seems to do something normal, at least more normal than some of her previous attacks. Rei dives foward and extends her arm out, lashing it in what appears to be a wide hook punch towards Darious's chest. Of course, as the punch comes close, a large blade extends from her arm, closing the distance between her arm and her opponent's flesh.

The action's coming fast and furious, but once he sees that blade coming out of the gargoyle's fist, discretion becomes the better part of valor for Darius. Chiharu shakes his head a little, all these weapons... he doesn't have an answer for them and so wisely he backflips out of reach and moves as far away from the other angel as he can to reassess his tactics. There is a frown on Darius's features as he just can't seem to even scratch the armor of Rei. The angel pants, as the damage up to now begins to take it's toll on it.

In the lull, the creature slowly crouches down and begins to chant. This is something that starts a roar from the crowd who recognises what this could mean to any angel that faces it on the layer. Above the surface of the pillow, thunder begins to roll. Are those clouds forming above the layer's surface? Clouds above a giant pillow? Certainly it seems strange, but as the gargoyle stands up on her feet, raising her hands to the heavens, the air above the layer becomes thick with dark clouds that begin to swirl, threatening the storm that is to come.

The storm is watches with a huge frown on both the angel and Dues's face, it doesn't look good and Darius seems hesitant to try and enter into that morass. He awaits at the edge of the layer as he doesn't want to attempt a frontal assault right now.

And then, at the last moment before the storm breaks, a strange power seems to come over Rei. A flare of power extends up from the ground much like an aura you'd expect to see in some strange anime. Her eyes flash white and her hair gets whipped back as the power sweeps over her, into the layer, and out into the storm above. Lights in red, green and blue color throughout the clouds, and then... the darkness begins. Lightning falls from the skies with powerful electricity. Rain torrents down and huge chunks of hail begin to beat upon the pillow's surface. In the center of the hurricane, the massive storm, is the form of the gargoyle directing it's force by her sheer will. The roar of the crowd seems to echo what is happening on the layer, building to a creshendo as she aims her hand towards Darius, setting the storm down upon him.

It was a valiant effort, but alas not good enough as the hurricane slams full force into Darius and sends him flying right out of the layer and to arena floor, cold, lifeless. Chiharu closes his eyes as the picture turns to static and he whispers softly, "Good fight Darius... you did well...", before he takes off his headset, shakes his hair and nods to Mikage. He steps off the chair, bends and gently cradles Darius in his arms as he walks back to the waiting room. Tears spill a bit, for the fact that his angel was damaged so badly and all it seemed for nothing. He didn't even scratch his opponent and it's a blow that tears him apart.

The announcer seems to hold his breath, and then when the angel strikes onto the floor, he yells out, 'Rei win!' And that is the end of it. The layer's surface disappears and Rei is left sitting there, looking only slightly worse for wear. Mikage, on the other hand, looks a little bit concerned as she returns the nod to her opponent and watches him go with his angel. She has no time to speak with him really, but what could be said? She retrieves her angel from the layer's surface, gives a wave into the stands, and then quietly makes her way back through the East exit of the layer so the next match can be started. A couple of young men and a few little girls reach out to her as she walks by, and she gives them a small smile, and then disappears. 'And now, the next match of the tournament will be... ' The announcer continues on, as if what had just occured was a passing thing in a far greater event.