The first round of the tournament was still going on, and it seemed that Misaki Ryou's turn to shine was here. This year, he came to this tournament with the full on intention of moving onto Kanto, and nothin' was going to stand in his way, not even this Fujiwara Kanji person he was about to face. Nevermind the fact that he'd never seen this person play Angelic Layer before, much less did he know the type of angel they used. That wasn't enough to put even a small blemish on the exuding overconfidence this particular boy felt on a daily basis.

Currently he sits in one of the seats in the waiting room, his angel Misakichi held lightly in both hands while he peered down at her through fake glasses. His right foot was bobbing up and down rapidly, as he axiously waited to be called out to play. One final note of interest here, he was wearing a white lab coat for some odd reason. Weird.

Wandering around the colliseum had set off a couple flags for a couple of people, particularly the attendants to the tournament who nearly went up in arms when they watched the black haired boy leave and enter the waiting room without announcing himself multiple times. However when they tried to confront him about it they only got a dazed answer that he was participating in the tournament. It was another case of being a great unknown for Kanji, just like it was in school, and he preferred it that way. Winning the tournament held no sway for him, he merely had wanted to gather some data on layer physics to try and further his angels design.

Slipping his card from out of his notebook again, Kanji looked at the names of the people he was supposed to fight before the tournament was all over. Ryou Misaki was the first, not someone he had really heard of, there were others on the card that he knew intricately better than Ryou. As he continued to walk and read, Kanji once again wasn't aware of his surroundings and tripped over someone wh was sitting on the floor, flying foward and tossing everything he was carrying, including his notebook filled with scrawled notes and equations and tournamnent card.

Ryou's attention had been mostly fixed internally and on his angel in his hands, and thus it actually took a moment before he noticed anything was amiss in the waiting room. He blinks and glances about quickly before rising to his feet and heading over towards Kanji, offering a hand to help him get back up. "Oi, oi, are you okay?" He seemed to be speaking to both Kanji, and the person he seemed to trip over with that particular statement.

Having fallen quite a few times in his past, Kanji had gained some experience on just how to fall, face first without putting his arms out to block his fall. It left bruises, which was apperent as he stood up and gathered up his notebook, apperently forgetting his tournament card while he did so. The other person seemed to be completely fine, just shocked that someone had tripped over him. Kanji regarded the person he had tripped over before turning his attention back to Ryou and immedietly losing it. "A new round is about to begin." He said with a somewhat distant inflection, looking at some of the scrawl in his notebook attentively.

On the wall monitor, "Welcome, Angelic Layer fans, to another exciting battle between two of our returning deuses!" The announcer pauses for a moment, then continues talking at a rattling pace, "We bring to you, one of our longest term deuses, Misaki Ryou and his angel, Misakichi. As some of you layer fans may know - he named his angel to honour the Miracle Rookie after she defeated him on her way to championhood. Since then, he has been competing in many tournaments - does he plan to catch up to our Misaki and return the defeat?" The announcer lets the crowd think about that for a moment.

Ryou just blinks at Kanji's response and the offered hand lifts to scratch at his own head thoughtfully. "Ah, right. You seem alright then. . ." With that he turns around and looks about for whatever happened to drop, picking up the forgotten card and offering it back while glancing over it briefly, a wide grin on his face as he does so. "Looks like you're my next opponent too, well then good luck." If the card isn't taken, he'll just deposit it on the notebook over whatever Kanji happened to be reading at the time. Sicne that was the most annoying place to put it right? And he then makes his way out into the tunnel, moving swiftly for the arena. He seemed ready to get things started didn't he?

On the wall monitor, The announcer waves his mic in rebuke at the crowd, "Let's hear it from all of Misaki Ryou's fans! Cheer for Misakichi!"

"Ryou." Kanji seems to whisper to himself as he takes the card, once again regarding the boy with a certain sense of depth, almost as if he was studying him rather than just looking at him. Without another word he seemed to drop his interest in Ryou, once more looking at his card then his notebook as if formulating a strategy based on what he saw from the person by looking over his notes. "Good luck."

Then the announcer challenges that thought, "Not before he takes on this other deus! He's facing Fujiwara Kanji, a relatively newer deus - but no stranger to this layer before you. With one major tournament behind him, and placing well in a local tournament - this deus is nothing to to trifle with!" The announcer waves his mic in the air at the crowd, "I think they've had long enough in there. Come on out, Fujiwara Kanji, Misaki Ryou!"

And finally, without further interruption, Misaki Ryou rushes out of the tunnel and out into the brightly lit arena before sliding to a halt out in the middle of the floor. Once he stops a big grin is plastered on his face and he flashes a victory sign out to the crowd while holding up Misakichi in his other hand. If nothing else, he certainly wasn't shy! After that brief pause though, he moves along to his seat and hops inside before preparing his headset and such for the match. He didn't want to hog the spotlight for too long, as he did have an opponent. Well that and he was eager to get started.

As the second deus exits the waiting room, the announcer calls out again "And let's hear it from Fujiwara Kanji's fans. Cheer for ..." the announcer drops a note to whisper into the mic, somewhat creepily "...Martyr."

After Ryou had rushed out and put on his show for the fans, Kanji in complete contrast to the other boy walked out calmly, only glancing up once at the crowd with a look of apathy before turning back his attention to the layer. It seemed as if he wasn't even really listening to the crowd, either that or he was shy and too paralyzed to do anything other than focus on the task at hand. At the call of his angel however he did pull his jacket back and flip open the pouch that the bandaged angel was carried in, holding it up for the cameras and the fans to lay eyes on. Even in his oblivious state he was able to preform a little bit of fan service at least.

In the audience, you hear a male voice shouting, "FOR THE HORDE!"

In the audience, you hear a male voice shouting, "Show us them ancient egyptian laser beams!"

In the audience, you hear a male voice shouting, "Go go Godzilla!"

In the audience, you hear a male voice shouting, "Give 'em blood and vinegar!"

It seems that Misaki Ryou is all set to go, his visor powered on and placed on his head. His chair rises up to the designated area and he prepares Misakichi for the fall-in, wanting to be ready ahead of time for when the announcer calls for it. His attention does shift over to his opponent a few times, grinning all the while and wondering what sort of match up this would be.

In the audience, you hear a male voice shouting, "Get your popcorn here! Only 500 yen for a bag!"

In the audience, you hear a male voice shouting, "Get your popcorn!"

In the audience, you hear a male voice shouting, "Slushies! Get you're ice cold Slushies! Only 1000 yen a cup!"

In the audience, you hear a male voice shouting, "Make your bets here! Its 4 to 3 for Misaki-kun! Starting bets at 1000 yen~!"

As well moves to his designated chair, looking once at Martyr before sitting down in and pulling on the visor, his attention is completely focused on his angel as the chair raises up. From the expression on his face he doesn't seem at all concerned about the battle, rather his attention seems to show that he's more concerned with his own angel than his opponants.

"As the deus move to their positions, again - in the W~est Corner...Misaki Ryou and Misakichi!" Waiting for the cheers to die down, the announcer continues, "And in the E~ast corner...Fujiwara Kanji and his angel - Martyr!" Again the crowd cheers, and the layer begins to form before them...

"The layer that boggles the mind, a moebius battle, a fight to the finish amongst a maze with no exits!" He rattles off a bunch of convoluted metaphors, waving his arm at the layer below, "When each angel has their own gravity, the battle will be an interesting one." The layer finishes forming between the two deuses, and the ivy, splayed out at odd angles settles into place, each tangled around a staircase, but each responding to a different gravitational pull, in completely different directions! "It's time..." The announcer grins, and yells out at the top of his lungs "Entry! Angel!" And the announcer throws his arm out to point at the layer.

At almost the same instant the announcer says the entry phrase, Misaki Ryou is up with one foot on the edge of his chair. Rather reckless wasn't he? Misakichi was raised up over his head before his arm drops back a bit while yelling out, "Reach for the top and never look down, GO GO GO Misakichi!" Misakichi is then flung towards the layer with a wide and sweeping toss.

The little angel twists and spins about recklessly before passing through the barrier and sending ripples through it. That golden white light shimmers over her form as she twists about and then flexes out after her eyes spring open, sending the energy off her form in every direction. She flashes a victory sign while in mid air, smiling happily, and then she tucks into a flip moving towards one of the random staircases. After touching down on one, she flips over to another, and so on until she's at the true bottom of the layer, wanting to start things off there.

Kanji Kanji presed a finger to his forehead as he watches the layer form, his focus seeming to fade even more from everything around him as he starts to gain a sort of tunnel vision on the layer. His eyes were catching every twist and turn of the staircases even before the announcer had announced what the layer was, mind trying to grasp all the possibilities the holographic stage presents. Kanji grabbed Martyr and held him up to his face, once again looking over the angel with more worry than he had for anything else. Of course he had to make a call before throwing the angel into the layer he never was good with the entry calls, "Show them the power of sacrifice, Martyr!" Kanji called as he tossed the angel toward the layer border.

The small angel flew limp before hitting the layer border, bandges flailing wildly as he passed through the layer barrier springing to life, azure blue eyes seeming to spark into an aura of reserve and duty, his expression seeming to match Kanji's nearly emotionless expression as he flipped acrobatically once in the air as he was used to doing. Rather than falling to the green tiled bottom where the other angel had eventually found itself, Martyr instead fell, or rather flew upward, landing in a crouch on one of the upside down staircases, a mass of bandages and sandy blonde hair. After a moment he stood and looked up, or rather, down at the other angel, ready to start the battle..

Now both angels are settled in place, the announcer doesn't delay any time before calling out the start of the match - "Angelic Fight-o!"

Misakichi seems to actually do a few stretches while Martyr makes his way into the layer, and peers upwards after he lands with a curious tilt of the head. That was interesting. Ryou meanwhile finally sits back down in his chair, managing to contain his excitement long enough for the timer to start ticking down.

The scenery certainly was interesting to Kanji, it was really the first time that he had seen the Holographic technology effect layer physics to such a dramatic level, it was also the first time he was as interested in the layer scenery as he was with the battle itself. Though his expression didn't change his eyes seemed to be alight with a certain sense of intellectual stimulation as he started to think about the strategic possibilities that the layer presented. Martyr however didn't seem to notice or care what the layer was doing, he was there to fight, and he started off by jumping straight up the gravity of the floor seeming to catch him as he flipped to his feet and landed gracefully on the green tiled floor. Keeping his momentum despite the shift of his axis and gravitational pull, Martyr bounded forward toward his opponent, a mock up of the Miracle Rookie that anyone with any interest in Angelic Layer had heard about. Drawing one of his bronzed kopesh out of a loop hidden under his sash, the bandaged angel moved quickly past the other angel before slamming the hooked sword into the tile shifting his momentum back around and extending his wrapped foot toward the back of his opponent.

Ryou leans forward in his seat, hands placed on the edges as he does so trying to get a better view of the layer. Nevermind that the visor gave first person view from the angel's perspective or anything, he wanted the whole deal! He grins a bit as Martyr makes the first move, leaping down and bounding in in a rather swift fashion.

On the layer, Misakichi watches quietly as the Martyr angel swoops down and then rushes in. Initially expecting the sword to be used as an offensive weapon, she was a little thrown when he slammed it into the ground and used it as a pivot point to launch a kick at her. Her eyes widen just a tad, but she reacts quickly enough to avoid the blow by ducking low and rolling forward under it and closer to her attacker. After the kick passes over, she unravels from the roll and launches upwards with a twisting spin to try and deliver an uppercut to the other angel from close proximity!

Placing a finger to his forehead again, Kanji was deep in his state of tunnel vision. He had always viewed Angelic Layer as a much faster paced game of chess, with changing rules and variables. Where as chess had set pieces, Angelic Layer's 'pieces' were the layer itself and the angels on it, the way that they moved and challenged his own angel could be drastic from battle to battle, and figuring out just how it operated was part of Kanji's key to battling. Throwing out a small move at the beginning of the round offered alot of information to the dues, it was obvious Misakichi was fast, the subtleties lay in other areas, but at least Kanji knew she was fast.

Martyr had seemed to plant the hooked sword in the ground for two reasons, the first was to pivot around in a kick toward his opponent, the second didn't seem to come until after the attack had made its run. By keeping his hand on the hilt of his sword, the bandaged angel was able to stop his momentum completely, pulling his sword out of the tiled floor just as the other angel was moving out of her crouch into an uppercut. With the same quick reaction speed as the other angel, Martyr stuck the hilt of his sword out rapping the other angel only enough so that her path changed allowing Martyr to move out of the way with no damage. Stepping back on one foot, Martyr seemed to crouch like a spring before once again moving forward with the same speed he had exhibited in his first attack, rounding in with the blade of his kopesh in a quick arching strike.

Ryou wasn't much for planning ahead too awfully far, and it was probably pretty obvious from the way he acted. Still he did have a knack for this game somehow, one had to wonder about it. He frowns ever so slightly when Misakichi's attack misses, but he doesn't say anything just yet. It was only the beginning after all, no point in getting frustrated yet.

On the layer, Misakichi spirals up with her fist extended, striking only at air since Martyr managed to move out of the way. She quickly falls into a landing though, rolling about to face her opponent even as he rushes in towards her again. Another attack aimed high, she grins a bit. This time she lowers a bit as she spins about, moving just under the blade of the sword and coming up behind it. When she comes up, she finishes the spin by sending a sideways chop towards the back of Martyr's neck, hopefully before he's moved too far on and out of the way.

Kanji seemed to smile for a moment, it was brief, but for an actual moment he was more than just a complex string of scientific thoughts. He had always lived a life according to plans, however on the layer his plans became something more than just thoughts of the future. They were reactions and actions set into motion immedietly, the far off became subconcious and the here became concious to him, a total flip from his real life.

Martyr quickly dropped under the extended palm of his opponent, for a single second it seemed as though he was going to pop back up and preform a quick strike to her under arm. However in a seemingly split second decision the Angel ducked away from the other angel, quickly vaulting back a few feet away from her. It seemed as if he was running, the crowd responding with hushed whispers as they witnessed the bandaged angel move quickly back across the tile floor toward the spirling staircase. Rather than climbing it however, Martyr instead leapt into the air, spinning through the air and landing softly a couple of revolutions above on the edge of the banister. Crossing his arms he looked down with a confident serenity toward the other angel, was he running or waiting?

On the layer, Misakichi's hand passes through the air and her gaze lowers down towards Martyr in time to see him duck away and fall back. She settles into a defensive posture as her opponent makes his leap into the air and landing upon said banister. She eyes him warily but does not pursue as of yet, wondering how long he intends to play the waiting game before coming in for another attack. Instead of just standing around though, she moves off in a circling movement while inching in closer and closer. Not getting too awfully close yet though.

Ryou meanwhile bites his lower lip a little and furrows his brows a bit. This Martyr angel was pretty fast, so attacking straight on and outright may not work. It seems a little more brain power was needed, and for the first moment in the match he seems to relax and think.

There was a moment when Kanji was dissapointed, he had wanted the other angel had attacked, had counted on the other opponent to be just rash enough to do it. It had been his experience that in a Angelic Layer Battle that there was a point in which he personally needed to switch from observation to full on offensive, his angel type demanded him to strike faster than his opponent could otherwise he would tire Martyr out much quicker. The problem was that Kanji was the type to second guess himself, he preferred to gather as much data as he could so he could come to a clear conclusion, furthering the problem that in a game like Angelic Layer there was never a real one hundred percent conclusion.

Martyr didn't seem to wait long at all, he was standing with his arms crossed toward his shoulder like the mummy he looked like staring down at his opponent in waiting. There was an invisible line that he was waiting for Misakichi to cross, eyeing her as she inched closer. Without warning he pushed off the stairs, seeming to launch like a bullet toward the other angel, using his extreme velocity to get in close, Martyr drew his other kopesh and and swinging both blades inward at the angel.

In the audience, you hear a male voice shouting, "Come on! Lets see some damage!"

In the audience, you hear a male voice shouting, "Start hitting eachother! This is boring!"

In the audience, you hear a male voice shouting, "Roooaaaah!"

In the audience, you hear a male voice shouting, "STFU Ran-kun!"

In the audience, you hear a male voice shouting, "Popcorn! Get your popcorn! Only 500 Yen a bag!"

"The crowd's getting restless, not appreciating the beauty of the deadly and harmonious dance before them, they want to see some violence! And who can blame them? Violence!" calls out the announcer.
In the audience, you hear a male voice shouting, "ANGELIC FIIIIIGHTOOOOOO!"

On the layer, Misakichi pauses briefly while Martyr launches into what appears to be a furious attack. Her eyes fix on the rocketing opponent, during which time she takes up an evasive stance. As the tips of the blades edge in towards her, she shifts just out of the way hoping to cause her attacker to smash into the ground. In the case that he is too swift for that though, she is already spinning about to try and send a kick to his head for good measure. No, she wasn't going to be hit that easily.

In an acrobatic move that could have only been brought about by luck or extreme forethought, Martyr stopped the swing of his blades just in time to stick them in the ground, using the sudden stop in momentum to carry his body foward like he had handplanted on the ground. Letting go of the handles of his blades as Misakichi sent a kick toward him, Martyr just barely dodged by tucking his body into a sort of cannon ball and flipping a few inches away from his blades and landing in a tight croch. Planting his hands on the ground for a moment, Martry used his tight position to vault forward first toward his blades, yanking them out of the ground, then toward his opponent. Rather than swinging out with the blades he flipped them so they ran along his wrists and pushed the blunt pommels toward the chest of the other angel.

Kanji's tunnel vision had returned, he was starting to get a feel for the other angel, for the battlefield. Just as always he seemed to shut down, only watching the layer, his mind working in place of his emotions and willpower. It was said that Angelic Layer was based around the emotional capacity of the deus rather than their intellectual prowess. Kanji's emotions had always been subdued, ruled by his mind, it seemed as though he was the exception to the rule of emotion.

"Are they enacting a tragic play of two lovers, their romance spurned by heaven? The angels ever nearby but never able to touch one another?" Asks the announcer.

Then he answers himself, "No I suspect they're just trying to punch each other in the head and missing." Then he laughs loudly at his own joke.

On the layer, Misakichi recovers from her kick easily enough, finding Martyr was again on the move for an attack. Again already, huh? Oh well, she rushes forward straight at the other angel as he moves towards her. With the pommels extended outwards, she finds an easy way out of the attack. Placing both of her hands upon them she leapfrogs over Martyr, leaping and pushing rather high into the air. She soars ever higher, twisting about in a spin until the gravity of one of the sideways stairs catches her. She then falls towards them, crouching low to the stairs and apparently hanging sideways in the air. Neat.

"Interesting." Kanji said more to himself than anyone else within ear shot, his eyes seemed to light up for a moment as though he had some sort of plan.

On the layer Martyr didn't seem to be letting up at all, he carried himself forward a couple of paces even after Misakichi had leapt over him, the only change in his appearance was that he had brought his bandaged arms back down to his sides, Kopesh's still drawn up across his wrists. After those couple of paces however he stopped suddenly and twirled on his heels in a slight crouch, as expected he launched himself upward toward his opponent, localized gravity taking hold of him, however he didn't fall sideways. Instead the bandaged angel once again fell up to a staircase quite a bit away from the sideways staircase. He wasn't there long, using it as a vaulting point to get to the sideways staircase, raising one arm and slashing out with one Kopesh as he sailed by before landing a distance away on the same staircase as his opponent.

On the layer, Misakichi's only real action while Martyr is bouncing around is to get back to her feet and keep a wary eye on the angel. He was a tad faster than she was, even Ryou could tell that, and in order to win this fight they would both have to take some care. When Martyr was at last streaking in towards Misakichi, she actually puts up a defensive posture instead of an evasive one. Was she going to take the hit directly? It indeed appeared that way as the blade slashes out towards her, her arms come up in a block while she slides back and begins a bit of a spin. Her momentum is enough to throw the force of the attack completely off her arms without causing any significant signs of damage. Both the angel and Ryou grin at Martyr as he goes past, conveniently the movement had turned her to face him when he found his new perch. One of her little arms extends outwards, hand flipping up in a beckoning motion as if she wanted him to continue to attack.

In the audience, you hear a male voice shouting, "Go Kanji!"
Perhaps due to her own fast nature she had been able to catch the blade at just the right angle for her not to take any form of damage, it had always been Kanji's call to be able to manipulate the layer that way, but sometimes others could intuitively do it.

Usually Martyr wouldn't answer a taunt like that, he was a quiet type, calm, reserved, however it went along with his sudden shift into full offensive to attack despite her taunt. Running up the stairs, which in perspective looked like he was running along the wall, Martyr stopped right before reaching Michiki, shifting his momentum to the side he feinted a swipe with his blade using the force exerted to carry himself into a spinning back kick.

On the layer, Misakichi does not appear to move at all when Martyr comes in for the attack, and seems totally defenseless this time around. The feinted blade swipe swishes just in front of her as it wasn't intended to connect, and when the spinning back kick comes sliding across, it simply passes right on through. The reason however was that she simply wasn't there anymore, vanished from sight! She wasn't gone too long though, spiraling in from above with a foot extended and aiming towards her mummy-friend's head.

As frenetic as the battle was already there was always room for a little more outright energy, Martyr's leg did pass through the place where Misakichi had been in what seemed like it might have hit. And Misakichi did attack from the side as Martyr attacked her previous position, however the plan seemed to run deeper than that on both sides, Misakichi's foot went through thin the thin air where Martyr had been in a move much like her own. After all Martyr was a bit faster than her, his reactions to surprise attacks should have been a little better as a result. It was only a second after she had attacked that Martyr once again appeared behind Misakichi, both Kopeshes drawn out as and coming in like a scissor toward her neck.

On the layer, Misakichi blinks as her foot passes through air and she lands against the stairs with a thump. She expected that he would be performing a similar movement to her own, so instinctively ducked into a forward fall while placing both hands against the stairs below. While falling she rears her feet up off the ground and then while holding herself up with her hands, kicks back and up towards Martyr's chin area, right between his arms even!

"And a blow is landed!" Cries out the announcer, "At four minutes into the match, finally one of the angels attacks quickly enough to land a punch. Could this be the beginning of the end? Only time will tell, Layer fans."

What's this? A hit? It had seemed like Martyr and Misakichi both were control of the battle, however as the female angels feet went through his arms the bandaged angel either didn't move or couldn't move out of the way in time. It struck him in the chin hard enough that he fell back, eyes still open, face still in that same serene expression. His name was Martyr after all, facing death was something that he was supposed to do, he was supposed to sacrifice himself for a cause. As Martyr fell back it seemed as though he was just going to fall on his back, but at the last moment he dropped one of his Kopesh's and planted a flat palm against the ground, using his upper body strenghth to push his foot outward into a kick that threatened to catch the chin of the other angel.

What was this now? Her attack landed? This was not entirely expected, which is evidenced at her inability to get out of the way of Martyr's next attack. While he was being a little tricky about it, the fact of the matter was she's practically upside down. One arm lifts to block her face, but the impact sends her head snapping back and causes her to fall down onto the stairs in a rather uncomfortable manner. She spends what little time there is after the attack to climb back to her feet and get ready for the next annoying strike this other angel most likely has prepared.

Meanwhile Ryou rises in his seat and stamps his foot lightly upon the edge of the chair and pumps his arm in triumph at Misakichi's hit! Unfortunately this is probably what allows the poor thing to get smashed in the head by the retaliatory strike. The jolt from the tactile feedback system brings Ryou out of his euphoric moment, and makes him blink and point down at the layer. "Hey, that was cheap!"

"Cheap and effective." Kanji said without even bothering to look up at the other dues, his eyes still focused on the layer while he rubbed his chin precisely where his angel had been hit, he knew that it was just his brain telling him that he had been hit there, but it didn't make it any less real. Whether he had accounted for the hit to actually connect with his angel or not was completely up in the air. Further it really couldn't be surmised that he had actually planned to take a hit in order to get a hit out, there was just no way of knowing what Kanji was thinking from expression alone.

Martyr was not relenting, his attacks kept coming even after he had been struck. While the other angel had been spending her time getting to her feet, Martyr had been flipping back to his own, his only advantage being the momentum he had beforehand speeding up the process. Leaving his dropped Kopesh behind the bandaged angel continued forward, sprinting up, or rather forward on the sideways stairs, throwing his Kopesh past the head of the other angel and leaping up as though he were going to jump clean over her. As he passed her head however, he spun around preforming a kick toward the side of her head while still sailing past.

Ryou growls slightly and leans down over the edge of his chair, shaking his fist down at the layer, "C'mon Misakichi! Don't let him push you around!" Down below, the smallish Misakichi ducks low and to the side, grabbing onto the side of the stairs and sort of leaping off of them to avoid bot the sword and the kick! She then kicks off the side of the stairs, heading for another staircase, which is then used as a springboard to send her sailing for Martyr once more. Her fist extending out as she spirals in, taking on a pose somewhat similar to a flying super-girl. Only there wasn't a cape... and she wasn't blond... and she wasn't really all that super either. Oh well.

Both blades out of his hand and out of his reach, Martyr landed in a crouch after missing a strike against the other angel. He was really pushing the offensive now, trying hard to not only get the other angel to a point where he could beat her, but keeping himself from getting to that point as well. Which was why he didn't persuit her right off the bat after his initial attack, he needed to conserve his energy if he was going to survive the fight long enough to get to that point. Standing again just as the other angel was starting to sail toward him with a punch that seemed faintly reminescent of Western Superheroes, Martyr immedietly dropped on his back, letting the other angel sale over right over him, just far enough that she was within his reach before launching the sole of his foot up toward her chest with surreal quickness.

Somehow, miraculously, Misakichi manages to twist out of the way of the sole of Martyr's foot. Swiftly she makes a movement to grab his leg in an attempt to stop her forward movement, and if successful she'll just hold onto it and try to drag him over the edge of the stairs with her. The goal was to use him as a cushion whenever she actually hits the ground, but if there is no him there, she'll just land normally.

Once again reacting quickly, Martyr rolled away from Misakichi as she attempted to grab his foot, rolling down the stairs and grabbing his kopesh. In that same quick reaction he was on his feet again, moving toward the other angel without any hesitation. They were back to the dancing again and he was going to continue to push the offensive, leaping toward her and swinging hard with his kopesh.

Misakichi recovers her footing after landing, and once more Martyr is on her like glue. That was kind of annoying really, but what could one do about it? The sword comes in and again she takes up a defensive posture, this time though she grabs the sides of the kopesh with both hands and moves off and out of the way while guiding the strike off before letting go. When she does release the sword, she twirls about and attempts to smack Martyr in the head with her foot, in a reversed spin kick. The clock was winding down, and it seemed this match was going to be pretty close either way. Now wasn't the time to hold back anymore.

It was starting to wind down a little, Misakichi once again diverted Martyr's blade with that same sort of energy deviance that the bandaged angel seemed to be known for. Ducking under the foot, Martyr spent no time setting up for another attack, immedietly moving into another offensive by moving in on her side and thrusting an open palm toward the nape of her neck. The move didn't look very powerful, but it certainly looked stylish enough, the kind of thing that a seasoned martial artist would do in a fight of the current calibre.

Misakichi throws her body backwards and out of reach of that throat smash, just barely avoiding it! She rolls and tumbles backwards along the ground before bouncing to her feet and blasting in towards Martyr at high speeds again. If he doesn't get out of the way, she'll smash into him in a full tilt body tackle! She wasn't going down without a fight, but if he kept attacking like that she didn't have a whole lot left in her to move out of the way. Ryou, sitting up in his chair pumps his arm up in the air and yells, "GO GO GO! Never give up!"

"Alright...." Kanji said to himself, seeming to take his attention off the game. Pulling a book out of his pocket, the usually distracted boy showed just how distracted he actually was as he opened the notebook with all his scrawl. Looking at the layer for only a moment, he looked back down to his book again, pulling out a pen and starting to write in the book, complicated formulas being written down.

The layer seemed to be directly effected by Kanji's innatention, Martyr took the attack with all its force, being knocked back once again, hitting the stairs hard and sliding back with enough force to rip the bandages off his back. He didn't seem to get back up, but his face didn't show that he was down exactly yet, he just stared up in that same expression that he was known for.

Misakichi grabs on for the ride after the impact is made, and when the pair finally slide to a halt she attempts to straddle the fallen Martyr, peering down at him with intense eyes. Her fist draws up and back behind her head as she leans over him, "I'm sorry Martyr, but I can't lose. Not here, not to you, not now." With that she slams her fist down towards his face, hopeing to end the fight then and there.

Ryou meanwhile is leaning /way/ over the edge of his chair. It almost seemed like he might fall out of the darned thing if he went any further. His eyes were narrowed and he was biting his lower lip while fingers gripped tightly at the edge of the seat. "C'mon, just a little more. You can do it."

What the hell was Martyr doing? He didn't move at all, he didn't even bother to change his expression as his face was hit. In fact to the discerning eye it looked as though Martyr was glad to take the strike. Meanwhile Kanji was still writing in his notebook, not even paying attention to the layer, not even seeming to care that his angel was getting pummeled to submission, it was a Martyr, a sacrifice for his cause. And that cause was data, the only thing that Kanji had ever really relished in, rules and charts and all sorts of other things that seemed to bore other people fascinated Kanji to no end, as was proved by his chaotic scrawlings in the notebook.

Misakichi's fist connects, but Martyr still holds onto some of his lifebar. Wanting a clean finish she grabs at the bandages along his chest and attempts to lift up him a bit by them with one hand, while the other draws back into another fist. Her eyes narrow a bit as she speaks quietly, "Gomen." Her fist then pulls back just a bit further and right as she is about to slam it down into his face for one final attack, the timer runs out and the buzzer indicates the end of the match.

Ryou, half hanging off the side of his chair lets out a held breath before pulling himself back up and falling backwards into his seat. This was a really tough match, and it actually took a lot out of him. That wasn't unusual or anything though, but it still spoke well of Kanji and his ability at the game.

"And the match was nearly over, right there - but Martyr holds on by a thread, he's not finished yet." Then the layer buzzes, signalling the end of the timer. "But the timer says differently...Misakichi wins!" The announcer yells out that last word nice and loud, before continuing "What a long match that seemed to be, Misakichi and Martyr both refusing to give ground, until just near the end. I wonder how each of these competitors will fare later in the tournament."

Seeming to pop back into awareness just as the buzzer sounded, Kanji turned his attention toward the announcer then toward the layer where Misakichi was holding Martyr for a final punch. Sliding off his visor, Kanji reached to gently pluck Martyr from the layer, looking at the frayed bandages that had split as he had sustained damage.

"Layer physics..." Kanji said to himself then looked back across the layer. "Thank you for the game, it was rather informative." With that he bowed and made his way out of the arena, not bothering to look at the crowd or say anything else to the effect, he was off to do more research into what he really wanted out of Angelic Layer.

Ryou blinks as the end of the match is announced, and then looks over towards Kanji in confusion due to the method of his exit. That guy was definitely weird, but that didn't keep him distracted for very long. The chair shifts and moves down to allow him to pluck Misakichi from the layer and he holds her up victoriously while flashing a victory sign to the crowd, "Yeah!!!" He yells and puts on a good bravado before moving off towards the tunnel, it was time to eat something. Grumble grumble goes the stomach.

"Well after that match, those two angels must have been wiped out - I know I'm exhausted. Let's take a break and you can go spend some money on things." The announcer says as the scenery on the layer begins to disintegrate, and the light dims a little.