"How sweet of you," her teeth showed as she whirled, grinning widely, "Dancing out a strategy is so much more fun than any other type of execution though, is it not?" Her attack came around and met his counter, a block that she had anticipated. The Shiva allowed her arm to slide upward , shifting the direction of Echo's blade enough for her to slip underneath it and past him. As she swept by with a good deal of speed, Serenity's right arm extended for another attempt at Hunter's legs. As the blade reactivated, however, she realized it would be too short to reach its intended target. Thus did her mental synapses tell the blade to lengthen itself, sacrificing density for extension. A forward lunge was added with the intent of insuring the damage.

Echo crouched, pulling his blade behind him, about to counterattack the blow that Serenity gave to his feet at the precise moment. Time itself seemed to have slowed down as he calculated efficiently. The efficiency boosters lodged into the NeoClonoid's brain worked as hard as the could, thus making time seem slower for Mr. Hunter. As these chips worked, his movements were not slowed, but even acute. He slashed upwards, falling in a backflip, then trying to kick the Shiva with his foot as he heaved himself backwards, also jumping out of the blades' range. He landed not far off, his crimson blade shining, as he prepared a second battle stance, as a spear. "Of course it is," Echo replied, "But it's even better if the enemy does the same, ney?"

The Shiva felt her blade make contact, but not with its intended target. That plan was obviously not of any more worth, and so she abandoned it. Utilizing the momentum generated from Echo's strong counter she spun back and to the side, neatly evading the kick that she had only seen coming at the last moment. Serenity smiled, had she not preplanned an escape, Hunter might have knocked her senseless with a kick so adequately aimed at her head. "Wherever did you learn such beautiful grace and coordination?" the toll of her bell like voice was taunting. The whole body of the modified Alphaclonoid was aglow with that magenta light whose center was a heart of crimson. Even through her clothing the lights on her many enhancements blazed, forming strange symbols all across her small body.

Echo stood a moment, frozen in his aggressive stance. He scowled as an answer to the Shiva's taunting, and his eyes glistened of anger. His blades gleamed of hatred, spouting a bloodlike aura around it. "The power lies within, Serenity." This sentence shocked Echo. It wasn't the one he had planned. He had wanted to say, 'When I got an infinite part of my memory back, when you left the dome where you had recuperated me...', but he didn't. He wondered why. The sentence echoed in his mind for a few moments. He remembered himself saying it, but not sure to whom. He then stared at the Shiva, not really knowing what to do, else than to concentrate on his ready move. His eyes opened wide, as he had another flashback, and black and white images filled his head.
Echo swung his blade massively on the floor, propelling many shards of rock and glass from the floor onto the dark entity. His blade stood in the air, glowing of fury, as he brought it down again onto the foe.
He closed his eyes tight, and then slowly opened them to look at Serenity. She was somewhat calm, to Echo's opinion. More than he was. Was his battle style only fueled by the emotions within, or truly thought of? Echo stood up, and decided to know.
"Serenity," he called to his opponent, "Even though it seemed as if you saw me for the first time back at the dome, I seem to remember you from before... What was it that happened? Is the memory inside my head faulty, or have you lost yours as well?"

The first comment had already caused Serenity's brow to furrow. The shiver of a hidden memory torturing her like a spider crawling up her spine while her mind's hands were tied, unable to pluck it off and examine its tormentor. Slowly, her peaceful expression returned and she nodded. "Yes, I suppose it does make sense that we have met before," the Shiva's voice came as though through a lethargic fog, "Yes, it begins to fit together now. Unlike you, Dearest Mr. Hunter, my memory was tampered with purposefully by the very same men who yet seek to control me. They payed dearly for that mistake. I had showed to much free will for them, so they sought to erase my plans... But that is for another time, I think." A slow wind once again blew around her, making that same ethereal whining sound as it did. The glow that emanated from her seemed to dim slightly, growing more red than pink. Serenity's blades had deactivated the moment she had ceased immediate combat in favor of conserving energy. "Of course," she lowered her gaze to the sand, "That would mean that you were... Yes, yes, but now I understand so much. You're the reason." With a sudden shock she looked up at Echo, eyes wide. The surprise in her eyes quickly faded to that same smile. "You are right, Dear Echo, we have met before," she readied her arms once again to fight, "And something tells me that this is not the last time our paths shall cross."

Echo wanted to reply aggressively, but contented himself of a sly smile, and snickering at his adversary. He closed his eyes, and laughed quietly. "Dear Serenity," he announced, "I think that you are wrong." His head, as slow as ever, lifted to see the Shiva in the eyes. A maniacal expression slid onto his face. A demented smile, that seemed that could only laugh demoniacally, and the eyes of a sane man opened wide, to gaze at the Shiva. The wind blew once more, throwing sand over the dun faraway, but it soon stopped, and Echo's silver hair flowed behind his back once more. "I think this is the last time we meet." Echo got ready, the sadistic expression disappearing from his face. His red blades glimmered with delight, as the thought of slaying his opponent would be very delicate, but would appeal to the greatest euphoria. He charged at Serenity. But the manner he accelerated wasn't normal. Instead of using a normal straight stride, he used a diagonal one, using the slight centrifugal force to accelerate in each step he makes, making him go very fast very quickly indeed. Once arrived at the Shiva's reach, Echo spun around on himself by pushing off his right leg, making him turn counterclockwise with great velocity, aiming his two screeching blades for Serenity's head.

Theatrically, Serenity bowed before her aggressors onslaught. The blades only barely swept above her hair, slightly singeing the uppermost strands upon her head and severing others. Without discharging her blades, she thrust forth her hands and ascended from her lowered posture. The effect was to use Echo's incredible momentum to propel the neoclonoid above her head and into the sand directly behind. This, of course, took an incredible amount of force on her part to minimize the damage done to her own body. Such output of strength caused her to once again glow with an immense fierceness, like an earthbound star shining out across the desert with a ruby light. Following the maneuver, she used her upward driven body to back flip, following the body of her fellow combatant with the intent of landing on him.

Echo was astonished as he noticed that the Shiva had dodged the attack with deconcentrating ease. He fell forwards, somersaulting in the air to land heavily on the vulnerable surface of the sand. He hadn't thought that he would be able to stand up immediately after such a boost, but he kept his balance, on his two feet, sliding over the crawling sand. Suddenly, a very forceful impact was felt on his back, and he fell forwards, head first into the sand. He felt the Shiva stand on him while they descended the dun, faster and faster. Echo's crimson blades shrieked against the sand, transforming most of it into liquid glass, which solidified the moment after. Sand shot out from the point of Echo's body where the force was the most degreed, his head. His silver hair flattened on his back, almost camouflaging with the sand that covered it.

Serenity struggled to keep her balance. This art was made even more difficult with the added friction of Echo's blades carving their way through the sand. yet, thankfully, the wind had died down sufficiently and the Hunter's blades were quite powerful to provide little enough distraction that she remained aboard her living transportation. As the sand flew up around the neoclonoid's head, however, the Shiva became slightly disoriented. This situation being what it was, it took only this small amount of disturbance to dislodge her. She tumbled downward alongside Echo for two or three meters before she managed to right herself in a strange acrobatic manner, and despite the sharp incline of the sandy mound upon which she had just been so helpless, Serenity lightly put her feet beneath her and halted her descent. So there, about two-thirds of the way down the face of the slope, with a calm sort of coolness that was quite out of place in such a dry hot place she stared down at the being called Echo Hunter. As she watched him she quickly reviewed information gleaned from the battle that had just transpired. Particularly prominent was the assessment of the data from Hunter's combat readings. The thought that occurred to her was somewhat as follows, "He is strong, and even since the last fight he is improved, though he has not even left a mark upon me. Yet... Still his temper clouds his mind. Still emotions rule his core, and he allows discipline to flee from him if in return he may have burning anger. He has much yet to learn, much to remember." With that, she slowly started to descend after him taking a slanting path so as not to fall prey once again to the precarious slope.

Echo lied still in the pale sand, as it slowly descended around him, blown by the very faint breeze that had followed both Hunter's and the Shiva's descent. The NeoClonoid's silver hair shined in the boiling sun, reflecting the light all around him. Suddenly, his arm shot upwards, and fell onto the ground again heavily. It shook unsteadily, as the other arm imitated the previous motions. Both arms vibrated violently, and Echo pushed himself up slowly. He hacked, and he lifted his right knee under him, and he pushed himself up the ground. He wobbled weakly from side to side as he adjusted himself to the ground. Sparks hopped now and then, shooting out from his chest protection. He coughed, and turned his head around, glaring at the Shiva.

"Hunter, you embrace your emotion too freely," like the wind that had been blowing not moments since, Serenity's voice weaved patterns in the air above the sand, "You trade rational thought for instinct, finesse for power, and calculation for randomness. Don't misunderstand me. All these things can be wonderful traits in their own time, but as a constant it makes you predictable." Each footstep was precisely laid in accordance with her desired path though she did not once turn her gaze there. The eyes, instead, remained fixed upon Echo. It was strange, she was blind and the glass eyes in the sockets that had once held living tissue made that fact all too plain, and yet she used them as though the held the same function that she had lost. Maybe, just maybe, it was not sight that drove her to use them, or even the remembrance of sight and its illusion, but instead a sort of power that she knew they held over other beings which she could exercise by wielding the twin glass orbs like the blades which could sprout from her palms.

Her descent was slow and regal, like that of the princess down the large staircase into the ballroom. Of course, the course surroundings were no dancing hall and the man waiting at the bottom of the great sand dune was certainly not eagerly awaiting the lady to take her hand to whirl her around like a delicate flower. He was, perhaps, so patiently, so silently, so darkly waiting for a different kind of dance. It was that waltz with fate that is so often conducted upon the field of battle, the kind of dance that leaves in the end only a victor and a corpse.

Finally, that delicate little foot touched the base of the incline which had led the Shiva and her partner into a deep valley, bathed in sunlight. Sand clung to her hair and garments in an adhesive way. All the glow had left her and a person simply watching might fancy that she were some sort of gypsy caught away from home by a damaged NeoClonoid who had a chip on his shoulder. It was quite ridiculous to believe that she might have caused any of the harm to such a stronger looking and far more fearsome being.

A deep breath inflated her lungs and then slowly left her in that motion so commonly used to indicate the settling of the spirit within. "Like this, Hunter, calm yourself. Only when you cool the heat will you think properly. You must think like a killer, this is war. You have reasons to fight, reasons to believe in your cause, but when you come out on the battle field you leave the emotions behind," not like a teacher giving a lesson, but like a computer rather attempting to reprogram a corrupted file did Serenity sound, "Without them comes only the coldness that is death and its followers, logic, calculation, and precision. These are your allies, not your hate, not your anger, not even your love. Those emotions will kill you as surely as a Pylonic Blade would if it pierced your skull."

As she had spoke, she advanced towards her opponent. Each step was measured appropriately, never too fast but not so slow that her progress was unable to be marked. Being about five meters away, the Shiva came to a halt and stood, her discourse ended. She crouched down into a stance mimicking that of her enemy. One hand behind her, the other before. Her pose threatened and belied aggressiveness, but she only allowed a slight shift from foot to foot to show what might have been impatience or simply balance. "Like so Echo," she called over the small distance, her voice chiming like the toll of a bell, "Be at your ready."

--Woah, long post ô_o. Don't forget that some others would like to read this...--

Echo scowled at the Shiva, blades screeching from his palms once again. Their hatred and eager for blood made Echo completely turn around, showing his ever so virtual wounds on his body, accumulated after his foolish error. He stood straight, his two blades at his sides. His teeth clenched tightly together, his right foot slipped to his side, and quickly did his arm lift in front of him, sticking the blade out horzontally in front of his face. "Do you ever shut up?!"
Echo dashed forwards, his silver hair flowing behind him, shining in the sunlight so bright of the white star. His green and black armor seemed so contradictory in his environment of ominous blue sky and broken white sand. The grains of rock flew behind his body, clinging onto the surface of his lush forest green armor in small, tight spots, forming no particular pattern on his body. His face showed the hating determination of a warrior, ready to slay every last opponent in its way, to get to the goal it thinks it needs. The fury that Echo showed would scare the most feeble-hearted, and intimidate the most experienced. The blood red blades that yelled for death shone behind Echo, making his frenetic air look even more oppressing, as he dashed towards the Shiva, blades at the ready.

ooc// Forgive me. I was under the impression that only you and I paid any mind to Arcana at this juncture. I will attempt to limit myself, but I promise nothing and act upon less...

bic// But instead of fear or even the impression that should have been delivered of wariness, it was instead weariness. In a low tone that could only be heard because of the audio enhancements that Echo undoubtedly had, the Shiva's reply was an equally simple question, "Do you ever learn?" her face bore at once that sadness and tiredness that only a veteran of war can portray adequately. It was almost painful to see.

A drop of blood fell from her arm and impacted the sand, splashing only ever so slightly and saturating a tiny portion of the desert in crimson. A small gash existed upon her right arm where it had been cut when she had fallen off of Echo and had landed with a certain amount of force on the recently hardened glass. her right arm was the one she had placed in front of her body and as Echo Hunter charged her frontal guard, she simply let it drop. it hung limp at her side, the other appendage remained behind her however, ready but hidden and from the front she appeared relatively defenseless.

She stood thus, with her head drooping and her right arm hanging, a small trickle of blood flowing ever earthward. A sigh escaped from her lips as though she had held it back and she waited there, like the convicted awaiting the executioner. No move did she make, not even to take breath into her lungs. It would seem that Serenity would this day perhaps earn her name again, but for a very different reason.

Echo, with one powerful push of his leg on the sand, was able to propel himself at a high enough speed to falter any kind of reaction. Sand spewed out at where his foot had shoved, the sand slowly sparkling as it shone against the sun, disappearing in the wind. Echo, for a split second, smirked as he saw the wound.

By having prepared an already planned faint attack, Echo used the propulsive force that he had gained once he had pushed off the ground, to turn over on himself, performing a somersault in the air. His silver hair shot behind him, turning into a tight, flattened ball of gray and green. Once completely upside-down and in front of Serenity, Echo's blood blades bulleted back inside their sheaths, disappearing in a faint glim. He pushed hard on the earth below him, delivering a jointed kick at Serenity's head, his hand keeping itself flattened on the sand, right where the drops of the Shiva's blood had been spilled.

Serenity took the blow full on. She was knocked backwards, her head whipping backwards in a way that was sickening to see. The force of the blow was so powerful that she nearly performed an unintentional back flip. The sand was scattered hither and thither as she was herself thrown into the small particles, headfirst. The delicate, little body rag dolled in a repulsive manner for a short time. The end of the scene revealed the body of the Shiva, completely still, laid out upon the sand. The many, tattoo-like, markings upon the modified clonoids body began to fade from view as her power requirements suddenly became less.

Either she was feigning unconsciousness, or she really had been rendered senseless. No move did she make. The great Shiva looked now like nothing more than a young girl in the wrong place. The sun beat down upon the back of her head as she lay face down in the hot desert sand. She was completely prone.

Of a sudden, the wind sprang to life again in the form of a small breeze. her black locks were disturbed so that they swayed like reeds by a river at night. Grains of the deserts essence began to creep up across her body, intent on hiding her from her attacker's view.