A hunger for food had gnawed at Keiichi's stomach during the final part of his last match, and he had finally caved in and gotten something to eat. Now he was back, and this time he wasn't going to just stand around and wait for someone to challenge him. That was probably the food talking though. He meandered his way through the layer area, carefully avoiding people and looking about for someone who he knew would give him a challenge since that was what he was looking for. This meant he was seeking out people wearing the same white badge he was, after all the people here wanted a show right? Who better to give them one than two of the people who had been specifically invited to participate.

One of the wearers of white badges was just done talking to one of the attendants and steps away to an empty layer, thanking her. He sits down in the egglike chair and looks at the dimmed layer before him, giving it a somewhat alien look. His eyes turn, and a littlebit further away he is just able to see his angel getting Rei out of the way of an attack from some flaming bird. "Hmm... it always feels weird when both our angels are out." He states to himself, taking out his own angel from his pocket and giving it an inspecting look. "Such strange fate it is that brings us together, isn't that true, Kamui?" He speaks to the doll and then looks back at the layer again, hoping someone would realize that he was looking for a challenger.

It seemed Ranmaru had a more direct approach to seeking challengers than Keiichi, at least the prior method he'd used. Either way though it was apparent to the boy that Ranmaru was ready for a game, and he was willing to bring one. A small grin forms on Keiichi's lips as he approaches the layer's side, tilting his head slightly and peering towards the elder of the two. "Care for a rematch, Oi-san?" His hands fold behind his back as he watches the other dues quietly following the quesiton.

"Sure." Ranmaru replies and quickly grabs his visor and sets it on his head, the black wing on one side and the white on the other both turn up. "I'll fall in while you get ready." He was very straightforward about this tournament. The youth grabs hold of his angel and wraps his fingers around the lithe body of his angel. His hold is quite gentle. "Illuminate the darkness with your soul of bonds!" He calls out and Kamui suddenly gets flung towards the layer. "Kamui, show us your light! Fallin!" The black feline angel shoots forth.

It's head goes first as it touched the bright light of the layer, immediatly forcing itself to open it's crimson red eyes, the rest of it's body following quite quickly. It's fur ruffles violently, something caused by the speed it had been thrown at! It's limbs seem to twitch for a moment before explosively coming to live. The angel Stretches out completely before making a beautiful double flip forth, finished by landing perfectly on both knees and one fist, it's other arm set before it's face. It's tail lashes violently for a moment before the angel actually seemed to 'bother' to get up and take some paces back to his side of the layer.

Kamui's head cocks slightly to the left, it's lips reveiling one tooth, allowing for the angel to give quite the smug look. But this look was not directed at any opposing angel, it was directed at Keiichi, who was being followed by Kamui's red heued, and most feral looking eyes.

With acceptance made apparent, Keiichi slips into the seat opposite Ranmaru and slips his visor over his head. He then leans forward to plug it in before retrieving Zankoku and holding him loosely in his right hand. His gaza then lifts to watch Ranmaru briefly and then falls to Kamui who appeared to be watching him. A smile tugs at the corner of his lips at that, and then he nods before reaching back a bit and then tossing Zankoku forward. "Reach beyond the gates of death, Zankoku."

Zankoku sailed through the air and passed through the energy barrier of the layer, purplish black tendrils of energy dancing along the folds of his billowy cloak and bandaged appendages. He springs into motion, twisting his body about in a flip before falling towards the layer and landing on one knee with one fist pressed against the ground. The inky energy that had coarsed over his body spilled out in all directions from his point of landing for a bit before dissipating. Then the zombie-angel rises to his feet and crosses his arms over his chest while looking towards Kamui, a flash of red emitting from where the eyes would be in the shaded hood of the cloak. And then the scenery sprang to life, forming the beachfront that should be familiar to most dueses who paid any attention to the game.

Kamui leers at the opposing angel as the scenery comes to life around him. It leers at Zankoku with a look that could kill, burning eyes! It squints and then slowly raises one arm forwards, pointing towards the zombie angel. It slowly stretches out one finger from that, to emphasize that he means Zankoku. His eyes seem to scream: 'YOU!'. He then turns his hand so that the back of his hand is pointing at the sand, and then slowly closes his hand to a fist. 'I'm going to crush you.' was what he seems to say... and then... sand shoots up!

As if an explosion had happened beneath the sand, as if Kamui had stood upon a mine, the sand darts up into the air and follows Kamui's wake as the angel speeds forth at Zankoku with a glimmering, burning blue hue around it, its both arms lingering behind him, claws extended... ready to strike! And the moment it thought it was close enough to the zombie-angel it unleashes a hellish volley of swipes and destructive bashes!

On the layer, Zankoku seemed to grin as Kamui pointed to him and gave him /the/ look. He remains motionless for as long as possible as the feline closes in with explosive speed, a most dangerous attack, and worst of all the intent to kill. Normally that wouldn't worry the undead angel but this foe was different, this foe was dangerous. At the last moment just as the attack seems as though it will strike him, an incredible (for him) burst of speed carries him off to the side and out of striking range. As he shifts around to the side of Kamui and the cloud of sand begins to catch up to them, the zombie-angel's arm extends outwards with the index finger extended upwards, followed by a quick wagging of it back and forth. It was as if he were tsking the feline, perhaps taunting him, and all the while he was grinning. He then snaps a quick kick out towards the side of the other angel's knee while the sand finally moved to obscure them for a brief time.

The sand slowly settles, and where Zankoku might have expected to find Kamui, he finds only a body of sand. The sand around Zankoku suddenly bursts up, hiding both Kamui and Zankoku himself. The only thing that at that moment shows the presence of the black furred angel was the presence of a strange alien blue glow that spread around the sands before suddenly launching out of the sands and appearing away from it, waiting for Zankoku's next move. While inside of the shielding of sand, he had launched a series of quick kicks very low to the ground to try and catch Zankoku off guard, confusing his player by raising one of his hands and letting it eminate the blue hue. A smart move, if nothing else.

On the layer, Zankoku was struck by the series of kicks, but they weren't strong enough to bypass his defenses and scored only minor damage on his lifebar. And when everything had finally settled, Kamui was some distance away waiting for the zombie to make another move. No other move came though, and he simply hunkered down into a defensive posture, leering at the feline with those dully glowing red eyes. Only fools rush in, or so the saying goes, and he wasn't going to be foolish just yet.

Well, if Zankoku was not going to do anything foolish, than sure as hell Kamui would! The angel darts forth, and just before getting close enough to Keiichi's angel it lets itself fall to the ground and does a simple slide that almost seems to burry the angel under the sand rather than hitting Zankoku, spouting it up into the air. But just when it looked like the whole attack was a complete failure, the angel suddenly appears right above Zankoku like out of nowhere with its right foot outstretched, planning for a quick kick to the head!

Okay maybe Zankoku would do something foolish, in that he doesn't even move out of the way of the strike which comes smashing into his head. The blow sends him staggering to the side a couple steps where he pauses for a moment and shakes it to clear things up. That rather hurt. His attention shifts towards the feline and he grins again, though some might have expected some other type of look. He lurches in to close the distance and one hand snaps out in a pinching attempt at the neck, going for that nerve cluster.

The attack however misses its effect. Not caused by Zankoku's inefficiency, but rather his deus being distracted. Kamui turns its head towards Keiichi and quickly sits down and begins to gently lick his paw, giving him that ohh-so-cute look. 'I'm cute, please don't kill me', his eyes almost seem to say. Ranmaru looks at Keiichi, and for some reason he notices that it takes effect. Zankoku ends up still hitting Kamui, causing him to go rolling through the sand a littlebit, but the angel quickly was able to get back up and take another 'cool pose'.

Keiichi was indeed distracted by Kamui's actions briefly, it was enough to make the attack miss it's true target but not enough to miss. The boy smirked slightly as his eyes lifted towards Ranmaru. He wasn't completely immune to cute things, it just really depended on how focused he was on the fight. He wasn't there yet. On the layer, Zankoku continues after the feline, his hand drawing back in a fist. Dark tendrils of purplish black energy danced along his forearm, coarsing and forming into a dagger-like blade along the ridge of his knuckles. He punches forward then, straight on at Kamui's chest.

Kamui raises his hands and takes one step to the side, turning its back to Zankoku's attack and slightly arcs his body to get away from the attack. The only thing hitting Kamui is the lashing out 'negative light' created by the tendrils of darkness, which seems to have no effect what-so-ever. "Nyooo!" It sings with a meowing voice, taunting the zombie before dropping itself to the ground and putting its hands on the sand. It just lays like that for a moment, and for a moment there, some of the onlookers think there is something wrong with Kamui. But suddenly the angel bursts to life again, kicking its legs up into the air, pushing himself off with his arms, trying to knock Zankoku's legs out from underneath him... with his claws. With the full intend of making the phrase 'knocking Zankoku's legs out from underneath him' something very literal.

The energy dagger along Zankoku's hand quickly dissiapates after missing the mark, and his head shifts to the side to cast his eyes upon Kamui. He had absorbed the power of the attack back into himself, and while he was knocked off his feet the claws didn't seem to have as much of a bite as they should have. Still he was on the ground now, though he quicckly rolls back and up to his feet. His hand extends out as energy pools within the palm, forming a purplish-black sphere with a greenish hue. He then rushes in again and attempts to slam it into the feline.

Kamui gets up pretty fast as well, turning around on the ground and presses himself off of the ground with one foot. The sand behind him rages upwards and the feline angel soon finds himself standing straight in front of Zankoku, his chest almost touching the zombie's. One hand is forcing the opponent's arm upwards into the air. Kamui glares at the zombie angel, a deathglare would be the best destriction for it before jumping upwards, pushing the Zombie's arm with a little bit of force and tries to get a kick in with its knee, aimed at Zankoku's head!

On the layer, Zankoku's arm is diverted away and the energy is quickly reabsorbed into his form, this would be rather frustrating if he hadn't expected it. As Kamui's knee comes up towards his head, the zombie-angel brings his head down into it in a headbutt. He then reaches out for the other angel's leg in an attempt to grab it, if successful he'll shift into a spin and try to toss the kitty away, if not, then he shift back into a defensive posture.

"Nyo?" Kamui's eyes widen as Zankoku misses his leg but actually grabs onto his tail! A quick tug follows and soon an alarming sound eminates from the cat as Kamui gets spun around. "Meoow-weooooow-------weeeeeooow!" Spin spin spin around, where it will stop? No-one knows but the zombie! Three four five... and yoink, Kamui goes flying, getting a nice mouth-full of sand! The ground where he had landed lets the sand flame upwards for a moment, but as it settles, Kamui is still there. The angel finally turns around onto its back, and what appears sends Ranmaru laughing. Typical unconcious anime swirly-eyes.

Keiichi tilts his head slightly and chuckles as well when Kamui finally turns over, and shakes his head slightly. Zankoku staggers slightly from the counter-weight of the feline no longer being in his hands. He quickly recovers though and rushes in towards his opponent, hopping up into the air into a flip and bringing his foot down as he lands, attempting to strike at Kamui's head.

At the very last moment, Kamui dodges by rolling to the side and suddenly sweeping one of its legs which had been hidden in the sand around to pull out Zankoku's legs before getting up and following the move up by a quick jab to the back. The angel was showing its signs of speed again, and when that happends... bad stuff are sure to happen.

While Zankoku didn't have eyes in the back of his head, he did have Keiichi watching everything happening on the layer. As a result he manages to leap forward over the legs and roll away from the follow-up attack at his back. Once back up to his feet he slides in close once more and twists about to perform a roundhouse kick at the kitty's head.

The kitty's head is however nowhere to be found as the leg comes around. The same can be said about Ranmaru's angel in general. There isn't even a dustcloud, its just as if he were to have vanished. And this time, Ranmaru is not being to be foolish enough to tell his opponent where the attack is going to come from. So when his angel darts out of the skies with its both front claws and leg-claws outstretched, it might just come as a suprised to Zankoku this time. The angel looks like a hissing cat, back arched and feet and arms both at the same height. If he'd land, that surely would be painful.

While Ranmaru didn't betray Kamui's location at all, Keiichi had a sense of what was to come. On the layer, Zankoku remained motionless and looking straight ahead for the moment. Everything appeared to be going as planned by his opponent, but at the last minute his hands come up to push the claws aside. They only graze along his forearm and cause minimal damage as he moves out of the way of the rest of the impact. Since Kamui was down, he used this opportunity to snap a fast kick at him in reprisal.

The kick hits Kamui right in the abdomen, forcing the angel to be thrown about like a rag doll, bouncing a few times over the sand until it comes to a rolling stop. A meowing groan is voiced by the angel before it gets up and begins shining in a most bright of blue lights. The angel stands all the way up and stretches a first forwards. It the shows its thumb and twists its body a little so that his side was facing Zankoku before he lowered his thumb. 'You're going down'. The blue hue flares up violently for a moment before the angel pulls a same attack as before, only this time he seems to wield something. The blue hue turns into a huge outstretched lance, and the angel itself isn't running as the sand blasts up in its wake. The lance seems to almost be a missile, boosting him forwards, ready to strike at Zankoku and unleash Kamui's lashing wrath of claws upon him afterwards!

As Kamui surges forwards with that blue energy of his, the attack hits some sort of energy field. Normally it would have pushed the attack aside, but this time around it only managed to slow it down enough to mitigate some of the damage he would have otherwise received by Zankoku. After the hit strikes he backs away and glares at the the kitty-angel while settling into a defensive stance.

Kamui however does not let Zankoku get away, and as the angel backs away and glares at him, that's exactly when Kamui has reached the point close to Zankoku and throws a violent kick to its side. "So Keiichi. How have you been doing this duel?" Ranmaru asks, trying to get some conversation going on between the two of them. It was not much of a destractionary tactic, the two players were too good to be distracted by such a simple question. "Met any interesting folks?"

The kick connects with a familiar invisible force, which detracts from the force quite a bit. Still it breaks through and strikes Zankoku's side. He staggers to the side a bit and then whips around in a spin, sending his hand out towards Kamui's neck in another pinch. This time he would make sure it hits. Keiichi meanwhile smiled towards the other boy, "Oh, I've been doing well enough. Met a few interesting people. How about you?" There was nothing wrong with a little casual conversation.

"No-one Kamui had to go all-out on..." The boy replies, giving a somewhat sad look. "But...!" He stops any comment to come. "The newer generation is strong, and climb very fast to the top. I am sure they will outsmart and outbattle people like me, Anzai, Mikage and Fukata. Heard Anzai lost to a rookie today." He smirks as his angel dodges away from Zankoku's attack and quickly makes its way around to the zombie-like angel's back and lashes out one claw at it! "Get him, Kamui!" Ranmaru quickly whispers to himself before turning back to Keiichi. "So what are you going to do after the tournament?"

"I admit, they have a lot talent for having only started recently. Some of them have given me a hard time on the layer even." Keiichi grins slightly as he tilts his head to the side a bit. "The one who defeated Anzai, he is particularly difficult to defeat. He's a classmate of mine, and pretty good for having just started. His angel's a little odd though." That was probably weird coming from the dues of a zombie, but it was true! "I haven't really planned much ahead of the tournament to be honest, but that's generally the case with most of my goals." On the layer, Zankoku manages to move his way out of striking range yet again, which is somewhat surprising considering how long this fight had gone on. He hops off a few paces away to get some distance between them, taking a moment to lull the battle a bit. The timer was winding down and he'd have to do something fancy if he wanted to win. The question though, was there anything fancy left he could do?

Kamui too was not giving another attack. He walks away from Zankoku and begins to simply pace, as if he were pondering something. Ranmaru nods at Keiichi. "I will have to look up that guy then. I'd love to have a battle with a strong player. Maybe he'll be the next miracle rookie huh?" He chuckled, there had not been such occurrences ever since Misaki as far as the young man knew.

Keiichi chuckles a little, "Maybe he will at that." On the layer, Zankoku strides forth and just heaves a heavy swing of the fist straight at Kamui's head. Dark tendrils of energy dancing along his forearm as the energy charged the attack. He was slowing down a bit, but there was only a little bit of time left to go, he might still be able to win.

The angel found himself facing a wall of stone, one that carried the name of Rei. Her wings settled around Kamui to protect her mate. A purr is voiced from both side before the lady gargoyle disappears in the form of a mist. Kamui speeds right through this mist at Zankoku! A blue hue surrounding his hand as he goes straight for the zombie's head!

On the layer, Zankoku manages to bob his head to the side just in time to have the hand only graze by his ear. The zombie's other hand had energy coarsing through it as well as it came up in a punch towards the speedy kitty's stomach, using how close they were to make it more difficult to dodge, hopefully.

Kamui gets out of the way quickly with a similar dodge as Zankoku had performed, stepping just one step out of the way and letting the zombie move past him before quickly launching his elbow at Zankoku. "Hsss."

On the layer, Zankoku shifts a bit and interposes his arm into the path of Kamui's elbow to nearly stop the attack completely. They were still close, and the zombie-angel moved in even closer while snapping his head back and then bringing it forward towards the kitty's. It was worth a shot.

The attack misses, but at that same time the buzzer goes off. "Oh well." Ranmaru states, chuckling before getting up. The layer deactivates and the youth quickly grabs his angel. "I am going out for food, I'm hungry." And with that the boy suddenly leaves the scene, taking along his angel.

Having missed the final attack, Zankoku pulls away and hops back as the buzzer sounds. The match was over and Keiichi took a deep breath and then sighed. Ranmaru was a tough opponent, and he had a feeling that somehow he managed to luck out again, somehow. The boy smiles and nods to Ranmaru as he stands to leave, "Enjoy your dinner, Oi-san." And with that he plucks up his own angel before standing and looking about for someone else to play with.