Ziggura only caught a glimpse of those deep red eyes - then the human was gone, and she was curled and rolling over the arena earth, her bones jarred by the shock of connecting with the ground. She leaped to her feet, claws digging into the sandy dirt, blue eye narrowed with suspicion. The words he'd said had gone in one ear and leaked out the other, but the lean female could guess at what he'd been mumbling about.
An army of shadowy beings, hidden in the darkness of the light cloak her opponent had created, surrounded her on all sides. Could be real? They were real - at least for a moment. She knew this stupid trick, and she wouldn't be caught in its web, wildly dashing in every direction to find the real one. For this illusion, you had to be fast enough (or teleport, as this guy did) to leave a residual image of yourself behind; they would fade away if you didn't refresh them. This meant that he was flickering through them as quick as he could right now. She had a chance so small of falling on the real one that she wouldn't even bother looking. Her dagger was back in her left hand, fingers grasping it tightly. Her own twisted grin appearing on her face, she mocked her opponent with a snap of her beak.
Suddenly she wasn't there any longer. Her quick-footed shape dived into the army of images, wiry legs pumping like pistons as she raced through the ethereal army, the dagger sweeping through everything in her reach, blue eye narrowed and flickering from one blurred image to another. She crouched, leaped, her beak grabbing a hold on the dagger's leather wrap, fingers curling into the cracks and cavities of a pillar. Scrambling like a squirrel, steadily morphing into her base form, Ziggura reached the pillar's half-way point just as she finished off transforming. Hanging on to the stone was becoming harder with only two fingers to each hand, but now her wings were ready - and she jumped again, sweeping out her pinion feathers as the wind buffeted her feathered figure. She only had to flap twice before a draft of air bore her upward. The human had no bow and arrows, no throwing daggers either from what she'd seen of him. She would have the advantage from the air.

[By the way, does this darkness thing reach everywhere, or is it concentrated on one point?]

OOC: No. It's at a diameter of 90m. And I'm not an army of Rachet. Mostly like, 10. x3

Rachet looked at the kuijin. But something happened, and it wasn't what he excpected. She dashed through them, making it impossible for Rachet to refresh. Then, there was only one left. He saw that the kuijin was aiming for the pillar. He rushed at it, but it was faster. It jumped and transformed. Into a bird.
"Damn it!" said Rachet, jumping on the tip of the pillar, and jumping, trying to catch the bird.
And that's when he thought. She's going to the shadow limits!
But he also thought about another thing. I can only teleport on solid ground... but I am STRONG!
Then, falling down, he crouched. He couldn't catch a friggin' bird. He saw the bird fly away. The darkness he created soon stopped and faded away.
Ziggura... he thought. Goddamn it! I'm not going to lose to a mere KUIJIN! he said, looking furiously at the bird.

[Oops xDD Sorry. I'll just pretend Ziggura thinks it's an army, since she can't see all that well in the dark.]

With a flick of her wing and a twist of her frame, Ziggura looped out of the human's reach. Was he human, though? He could cover teleport fast enough to recreate his image, cover the world in darkness... what else could he do? The soaring kuijin heard the harsh clang of his voice on the breeze, and the anger in his breath was more than enough to balm her short temper. The blue-eyed female smirked to herself, the ends of her mouth twisting upward into a lopsided grin. Having a beak didn't make facial expressions easy, but what did she care when nobody could see them anyway?
Suddenly she broke out of the darkness, and the light blinded her widened pupils for one frightful moment. Quickly she narrowed her single eye, keeping out most of the glare. Beneath her the black cover was fading away into nothingness, revealing the shape of the 'human' down below. Far below. She'd flown higher up than she'd thought.
Ziggura dived and swooped, scanning the ground. Now she had the air, and it was clear that her opponent couldn't reach her. His teleportation must only work on earth, then. Her tail feathers fanned out in pleasure as she discovered this new advantage. The battle seemed to be turning in her favor.
In the lines of seats all around the arena, she could see many of the people already looking up at her and pointing excitedly. For those who could actually see that far, she would be quite a sight: a great feathered beast with a beak sharp as a knife, the old burns that had traced her skin transformed into raw patches of pink-white flesh in the thick black feathers, powerful legs curled up beneath her belly in preparation of her landing - which she wouldn't be making any time soon if she had the choice. She vented her battle-thirst in one long, throat-rending screech, and suddenly she was streaking for the human in a blur of ebon, long foreclaws outstretched at the joints of her wings. She would win this battle, whatever it took.

Rachet saw the bird attack. It was going fast. Really fast. He hadn't noticed the size of the kuijin's transformation. He thought that he could dodge, but he calculated that as a no. So, he took his hand, and put it to shoulder level. Darkness was beginning to swarm.
If she hits me while I'm doing this, it won't work. Better get lucky then.

[No time to reply right now, will do so this afternoon. Sorry. x_x]

The human's hand flew upward, and the crow-souled kuijin recognized what seemed to be the darkness shield. Determination narrowing her eyes, she shot down at him with wings pressed hard against her sides to lessen her slowing surface, hind legs thrown out at him with clawed toes splayed out. At the last moment her wings snapped open again, jarring her as she suddenly slowed - but she was still going fast enough to clasp her feet around the human's shoulders and bear him up into the air. She beat her wings furiously, carrying them both into the sky; she couldn't go as high as she had been seconds ago, but she could reach a height where falling became dangerous.
As she struggled to rise, one of her holds slipped, and both kuijin and her prey tilted crazily to one side as the weight balance was thrown off. Desperately trying to stabilize in mid-air, her wing muscles burning from the effort, Ziggura snapped her beak down where she thought the human's shoulder to be - it was her blind side that had slipped, and she couldn't tell where everything was with only her right eye.

[Hmm... not too satisfied with this post. Oh well.]

OOC: Nah, it's fine Ziggu...

Rachet was surprised by the strength of the bird, able to carry him away by his shoulders. His 'disable light' spell stopped, and the darkness suddenly dropped on the ground, disappearing like water in a sink.
Rachet looked down, seeing that he was at 15m from the ground. He knew that if he fell, he would probably go unconscious and let the opponent the final blow.
Unless...
He thought. Unless if I have something to fall on!
At that moment, he felt a loosened grip. They soon went out of control, beginning to fall.
NOW!
He steadied in the air, trying to grapple the volatile with his two hands; his chances were high of actually catching the animal, since it was falling, with no defenses.

[Sorry for the wait - I was busy elsewhere x_x]

A shriek of anger ripped from the black-feathered female's throat when she felt the human's grappling hands, trying to drag her into his fall. She refused to fail! Pale blue eye narrowed, a ferocious hiss sliding out of her half-open beak, she snatched herself away from him with a shake of her legs and a flap of her wings. The wind knocked her backwards as she lost the extra weight that had been keeping her steady, but at last she was free - airborne again, riding on the updrafts. As for the human... well, she'd rather not look down. By then he might look like a mess.
"Gotcher, bazterd," she muttered, her heavy accent and the shape of her beak distorting her words, as she looped in the air and glanced downward into the arena.

(Wait-- we're at what altitude here? If it's high up, I better post this.)
(EDIT-- sorry for that last post. Ziggu thought it was kinda impossible.)

Rachet fell down quickly, swaying his arms, when the bird dodged his grab. The bird looped, and peaked straight downwards. The bird was under him now, and he lunged down at it. The bird had the advantage though, so he thought that it would be better to keep safe. He swooped his arm at shoulder level; and darkness started to appear in the arena.
If I miss this shot, I'll be able to teleport onto the ground.

[I'm a finicky person.]

There was nothing on the ground. Ziggura's blue eyes narrowed, flickering through the dust, watching for a sign of the human she'd dropped - but there wasn't even a dark stain, no impact where his body would've hit. She drifted down lower, waiting for the human to appear, somehow intact after a fall that should've shattered his legs.
Darkness. It dropped like a curtain over the kuijin's eyes, blocking everything out in its inky depths. Back feathers bristling in surprise as a raw-throated squawk escaped her throat, she kicked out at the emptiness with powerful hind legs, though she knew that the human had somehow managed his veiling spell again. She closed her eyes, waiting for them to adjust once again, ear holes picking up a strange ruffling sound above her head -
Something dropped like a stone onto her shoulders, throwing off her precarious balance and smashing her down into a fall. Her heart went from its slow, angry beat to the sparrow-quick drumming of panic. She knew the ground wasn't far away, but not seeing it made her only feel that she would crash into it at any second. She wriggled around, blood roaring in her head, trying to get the weight off and spread her wings again.

[By the way, what was the weird yellow-eyed transformation? I'm curious.]

(It's his first stage of Death god trans. I should've put that his right hand grew longer and his fingers were sharper. Sorry.)

Rachet fell. As he hit the bird, it was twisting and waving to get him off.
Not this time, sucker.
He took the bird's body into his hands, and peaked at the ground below.
Now you're going to get it! he thought, as the sight of ground below appeared.

[Umm... interesting 8D]

Whatever it was latched onto her back - the human, she guessed - rendering it impossible for her to shake it away. She couldn't reach it with her claws or her beak in her position, but if somehow she managed to... yes, that was the answer. Pale eyes closing to let her other senses overwhelm her world, she jerked her head back - a hit to her assailant's skull might make him lose his hold a bit, but it was only an extra, not a necessity - and suddenly lunged forward, curling up on herself, grabbing at her own legs with the four claws of her wing joints. Though she couldn't pay enough attention to the way the air was rushing along them, all her attention locked onto this move, she knew that they might be spinning out of control through the atmosphere as they hurtled towards the ground; it would give her a chance at not being the one to smash into the ground. Then, two claws tightly clasped around her ankle, she reached forward again to try and get a hold on one of her opponent's limbs. From there she could pull herself out of his grasp, or even twist herself enough to get a few good hits in with her beak.

OOC: Sorry, I didn't post.

Rachet let go at the hurtle of the bird's head against his; he let go, letting the bird fly in the air. He reached for the bird and swung his arms.
In vain.
He looked back onto the ground. It wasn't far though. But he knew it would hurt.
He had to have something to collapse on.
He decided it was the only choice.
He swung his arm down as he crashed into the ground, creating a loud bang. Sand and dust sprayed all over him.
After the dust lifted, Rachet was there, lying on the ground. His left arm was cut and broken. The only things he could do were mere reflex movements. He thought, You are going to become strong!
In other words, you are IMMORTAL!
In his battered dreams and ideas, he saw his rival, Coroi. He was a black-haired man... Only his face appeared in Rachet's head.
You'd better not lose; I need to kill you.
Rachet smirked. One leg bent, and hauled his body to stand. His left arm stopped bleeding, now. Rachet didn't know why.
But he didn't care.
His eyes went from the congealed red to a slightly more ocre colour.

Rachet didn't look from under his hat. He didn't know if the enemy was there, or if the enemy was about to stab him in the back.
Because, somehow, he knew that he was dead.
If he continued this fight.
His energy was dropped out, his limbs were shattered, and he couldn't even think straight.
So he knew something.
One thing.
He finally found a worthy opponent.
His eyes smoothed out into their original colour, the darkness disappeared, and he saw his...
'enemy'.
He approached the kuijin, lending his hand out.
"Good fight."


OOC: Okay, I KNOW that this topic will be done after a few posts now...

[Whoot 8D]

Suddenly the darkness wasn't there any longer, and Ziggura had to clamp her eyes shut as she braked hard with a powerful thrust of her wings. She squinted, waiting for her pupils to shrink and adjust to the light, but even then the light bouncing off the pillars and dust below was nearly blinding. Still, pale blue eyes narrow and flickering, she could see the human's dark shape down on the earth, standing but head bent - and suddenly the black-feathered kuijin knew that the fight had ended. Her opponent had given in. Smirking inwardly since her beak wouldn't allow her to show the smugness enveloping her heart, fanning her tail feathers out like a proud c***, Ziggura dived down with pinions widespread to lightly land in a delicate swirl of dust.
Her feathers disappeared into newly-formed reddish skin as her beak seemed to slip back into her face, lips growing out to cover its strange new shape: the melded, ridged teeth. She stood tall, upper body morphing to become that of a young woman while her powerful legs lengthened and long black hair spouted from her pale, partly burned scalp. By the end of her transformation, she was once again the girl-like Ziggura with her sharp nose, stretched mouth, striking eyes and strange legs.
Her dagger was lying a couple of yards away - the female kuijin realized this as she noticed its absence from her strange-fingered hand. While she'd taken her other form, the light armor had chaffed the inside of her forearms, but it didn't bother her now that she was back into a more comfortable shape for clothes. She looked down at the human's proffered hand, wondering what the hell he wanted her to do with it, then grinned into his face.
"Yah, shar," she declared grudgingly. "T'wuz a gud faiht, eh."
With a forward flick of her fingers from her forehead, she twisted round on her heels and headed off, nimbly bending down to collect her dagger before she jogged off to the exit. She was a bit battered and bruised, and her lip was bleeding again since chipped beaks don't heal - one of the disadvantages which she'd discovered about getting a mouth wound - but she was alive and victorious. It had been a productive day after all.