Sesame watched carefully as Ward was going on the offense but how would he produce an offense. He didn't seem to want to use a ki blast. In fact, he was going for something else. Something seemed to be rising from the ground. Some sort of crude creature was being formed from thin air. Some sort of construct he could create. But the question was how much life would they have. Either way, it was a unique and dangerous ability he was now dealing with. But it was slowly pulling the covers off Ward's pattern. A very defensive pattern with few offensive tools. It meant they may be reaching a stalemate. Expect that Ward would check to mate him slowly. Slowly drawing Sesame to the edge of exhaustion before a finishing combo. That was the vibe he got. Meaning he needed to land a blow on Ward and deal some real damage.
Slowly the creature rose up but Sesame was just preparing himself. He took in deep breaths inwards as if filling his soul with the strength he need to overcome Ward's powerful set of attacks. Sesame watched as Ward finished the two creatures, the rightmost one seemed to be the one made for the offense. He watched the creature come to crash into him but Sesame would flip over the creature landing both his hand on its shoulders. He would then go to grab the creature's head and twist it around while spinning his body. The goal was to snap the construct neck. He was testing what type of creature he was truly dealing with.
With the creatures he had created he wasn't directly controlling them, but given they were his direct creation he could control them to a degree where needed. They way they would act and fight autonomously without his intervention was basic to the say the least, so when there wasn't a body to smash into it took Sesame's intervention for the beast to stop churning its legs trying to keep running till it hit something. If this was a more lifelike creation, perhaps the more precise joints in the neck would have been ruined with such an action as twisting its neck, surely killing anything living, but this being a basic creation played in its favor. There was no register for pain, and it was kept up and moving by Ward's magic. Even now as its head was twisted to face the other direction Ward simply raised a hand to pull it back to a solid connection once more, and given the lack of specific features there was no difference in the front and back of the head visually.
Ward behind the fight still extended his arms as the construct did the same, but as his arms clenched in a hugging motion. The constructs arms snapped completely the opposite direction towards where its back would have been and towards Sesame, trying to catch him in a bear hug and launch the both of them towards the ground in a tackle, and grapple him there.
Sesame was able to snap the creature's neck but it didn't seem to die. In fact, it kept moving. Then it got worse when Ward made it spin its arms around to grab him. Sesame was forced to grapple with the creature his arms meeting the monsters. He was forced downwards into the ground but he was able to keep his barring. The creature had been trying to pul him in a bearhug but he not going to be caught so easily. But this was not a good position for him to be in. He would open his mouth and fire a ki blast to free himself from the construct and hopefully allow him to escape the grapple attempt. And with that, he had to go on the attack.
Sesame launched forward to attack Ward, he really didn't have much time to spare. He thrust his palm forward He fired off a powerful sound wave that was visible. Anything that got in the way was blasted away. This was an armor-breaking attack. Ward had been using a lot of barriers liked abilities, he knew he was going to need to do an attack that Ward could not simply block. Of course, it may not turn out well if Ward just tried to match the blast. He had to hope Ward would not realize this ability was too different from his last few Catch him off guard once then mix and match his attacks so Ward could not predict what was coming.
Wc:251 - Ear Breaker (Medium) | 4 KP 40% Attack |
Sesame sends a more heavy punch that sends a condensed soundwave. While this takes more energy it can break through even the toughest of defenses
(+1 Power and Piercing) Power:24,000 - Damage Meter:0/250 Kp:2/6 Mp:5/6
If Ward was one to openly laugh, perhaps this would have been a good time to do it, watching how the fight between Sesame and his creation was playing out. With an attempted attack that surely would have worked with moth creatures and creations turning into a tangled mess of grappling, it was almost amusing to watch. Ward however stood with his arms slipping behind his back again, watching casually at the wrestling match ensuing. He was well aware that his creation wasn't near strong enough to actually handle his opponent for long, but this was more of a trial run than an attempted full assault, and thus far it was proving positive. Not every technique was one to keep in the arsenal, and not every technique was possible to test without someone to test it on, but if this wasn't the perfect chance then what was.
It didn't take long, perhaps less time than he would have liked before the construct was blasted, and despite Ward holding it together before, he wasn't as keen to do so a second time, meaning the mostly flimsy creature flew apart in multiple pieces that were scattered in equally multiple directions. It was an amusing enough distraction, but one that didn't seem to have slowed down Sesame enough to truly matter, as he was again on the offensive. Motioning with his head, the second construct jumped forward, unfortunately the timing was not too kind, as Sesame blasted an attack from his palm at the same time, blasting it to even more pieces than the first, causing Ward to slump his shoulders and drop his arms back to his side.
His defense was clearly only going to prolong the fight, which in itself wasn't a problem, but even as he had attempted to reflect Sesame's attack previously it fell flat. It was time to push the fight, even if just a bit, and force his opponent to react more for a change. Even though his attack was a counter, he knew full well the damage it could cause, and because of that he rarely used it, but once again, this was the perfect situation to use his opponent as a guinea pig. Stepping towards the incoming attack his aura flared around his body, but as his arm came forward in a palm-thrusting motion it all seemed to transfer down into his hand and shot out much like an energy attack. The strength of his technique immediately overpowered Sesame's own, and if his opponent was unable to find a way to defend against the incoming excess energy, he would surely feel his stamina sapped away.
Aura Shove 50% 4 KP Exhausting
35,000 against 25,000 Not within 80% so does not fizzle
Sesame came rushing in hoping to catch Ward off guard. He was able to avoid the bite from Ward’s second construct. Now he was moving in but what would Ward do about it? Based on his reaction then maybe he could finally break a hole through Ward’s defense. But Ward didn’t go on the defensive. He reacted with offensive pressure. Ward was doing something, some sort of attack. As he came in close he has met an energy attack he didn’t quite understand. His attack was overpowered right away and he was sent flying back! Sesame coughed out as he flipped backward. This guy was ready for his weaker attack and threw out an attack of his own. That was the risk of it but he must have changed tactics since the fight had been going on for a while without a devise blow.
Sesame whipped from the blood that began to drip down his mouth. That stung but what was worse he felt very tired all of a sudden. Was that the result of this attack? It was like his soul was being ripped from his body. No..not exactly that more akin to all the air being ripped from his lungs. Sesame was slowly coming to the resolution that this guy was really strong. Stronger than anyone else he had fought. And he had the fighting style to boot. To protect and harm back. Yet, it was elegant and hard to overcome. It was a nearly perfect fighting method if he was honest. In a battle just the two of them, he was not sure even if his strength was equal to Ward’s that he could do that much. “Your strong.” Sesame took in a few deep breaths to regain his composure.
Wc:299 Takes 17,500/60,000=29 Percent Damage. Exhausting is active my next attack is -10 percent. - Damage Meter:29/250 Kp:4/6 Mp:6/6
Despite Ward's attack, he hadn't moved far from his position, taking a deep breath and releasing it slowly as he stepped back and stood up straight once more. It was a solid hit, but there was no banter, no visibly excitement or relief, as if Ward had done this hundreds of times. To an extent that was true, as even while fighting Ward was mentally preparing for his next move, his opponents next move, how he might react, when was the best time to attack, his mind never stopped. It wasn't anymore frantic than his demeanor however, set up more like a chess board than the battlefield itself, imagining move after move by each piece.
It was clear all the same however that Sesame was less prepared for what Ward had planned, and that wasn't all too surprising given the defensive wall he had put up to that point. The way the fight was going was still playing in similar fashion to other fights, even now it was only a matter of time until Ward found an opening, but with a solid strike he still had no intentions of pushing the tempo any further. Adjusting his coat his posture improved until he was standing up perfectly straight, and again his hands slipped behind his back. His eyes were focused on his opponent, and he could see the realization setting in along with the effects from the attack, knowing now he had fully and solidly connected.
"Unpleasant, isn't it?"
He was one of few words during combat, so Ward speaking up wasn't a regular occurrence. There was no mocking tone, more so a complete lack of any feeling to the point of monotone basic conversation.
"I am. You are a dangerous opponent however. I rarely have to focus so intently. Your techniques are unusual and more difficult to counter than perhaps I've made it seem."
For the first time since the fight started, Ward's arms dropped, his left foot slid forward, and his hands came up. He was not simply standing in that pose that looked as if he wasn't taking things seriously, but he was showing a true fighting stance. This was not meant as any sort of show, but more so Ward not only ready to put in his full effort, but taking his opponent seriously.
Sesame glanced up as Ward finally spoke of the same time he had something to say. He seemed to understand the frustration the assassin was showing. He was being met by a powerful defensive onslaught. Every attack he threw out was met and countered. He couldn't land a solid blow on the kai. And even if he did, he imagined it would not be as effective as after breaking through a barrier it offensive power would be reduced. He is in a jam in that regard. He did give him some praise but he was not sure how much he cared for that. He had not landed a solid blow. So even if he was forcing Ward to be at his A-Game, he was also unable to touch him while at his best.
No that was not going to do. Sesame took in a few deep breaths as his aura flared slightly. He raised his palms upward glancing at Ward. He was putting on a full fighting stance now. "Must have been your B game before." Sesame cracked a grin. Fine with him now his foe was taking offense and defense. That would hopefully allow him to land some solid blows. Sesame kicked off the ground. If Ward was defending he'd be tough he needs to use his strongest attack. However, the only way that would land is when Ward was out of energy. So how did he do that? Sesame thrust his palm out. The exhaustion was clouding him but he boosted his power as he attacked. Another one of his powerful sound-based attacks to try to slam into the jaw of Ward.
Wc:274
Heart Racer (Light) | 2 KP 40% Attack |
Sesame sends a quick punch to the stomach that sends a powerful shock wave through the target. Meant to quickly disable a target and knock them out of a fight. (+3 Power) Powerlevel:24,000 Using 2mp to offset Exhausting - Damage Meter:29/250 Kp:2/6 Mp:4/6
Ward fought with a style that was heavily defensive, but that was obvious even to the most novice of combatants at first glance or otherwise. Having a tendency to put up his defenses and chip away at an opponent's stamina, but that didn't mean he had no offensive arsenal to speak of. His offense was not quite so straight-forward as some, not simply blasting forward to take someone out or smashing themselves into someone else. It was on display to a minor degree with his previous technique intended to sap strength from an opponent, weakening them and in turn strengthening his defense when they attacked again. There were times however when Ward's offense transformed into something more primal, almost flashy even.
Watching Sesame charge in, his feet slid apart as his arms pulled in against his body into a defensive horse stance, taking in a deep breath as all of his energy gathered into his stomach. Breathing out just as slowly all that energy moved to every inch of his body into a visible white aura that grew larger continuously. Ward's head lifted as he started down the charging attack, the aura still pushing outward now in every direction, denting the ground around him. If Sesame and his attack crashed into it, which it seemed they would given their trajectory, they would find themselves immediately stopped with an ever growing aura intending to slam right into them not with great speed, but with a painful burning aura.
Overwhelming Aura Overflowing (+10% if clashing) -4kp Power Boost +10% -2mp 70% 49,000 vs 24,000
He was on the defensive again? Sesame launched forward as he saw the stance that Ward had decided to take. He watched as his blow was once more met by a force he couldn't really see. Some sort of Aura surrounding Ward. That was how he fought huh? He was going to just reflect his attacks back at him over and over? Sesame aura surged to life the same force he had unleashed met him back thanks to Ward's attack. Sesame planted his feet blood dripping down his face. "That hurt." Sesame had thrown his ki into his body to increase his power the split second the attack landed. He cut the potential damage he suffered in his palm.
Even better? He still had the energy to spare of course. He was going to attack Ward once again. But now he had reflected would he be able to do it again? He was not sure how much energy that took but their powers were around the same. He imagined the ability to not only block but fire back the same force that he unleashed back at him didn't come cheap. His palm raced forward to slam into the gut of Ward while he believed the Kai had no way to counter his attack. If it landed a shockwave would escape the palm and outwards out of Ward's back. He couldn't wait to actually land a blow on the man to confirm what he was thinking. Once you had all the pieces together you could make a winning strategy. He couldn't do that so far with Ward but he was feeling he had nearly reached that point!
Wc:276
4MP To Transformation Boost to 120,000 25,000/120,000=21 Percent Damage
Heart Racer (Light) | 2 KP 40% Attack | Sesame sends a quick punch to the stomach that sends a powerful shock wave through the target. Meant to quickly disable a target and knock them out of a fight. (+3 Power) Powerlevel:48,000
Up to this point he had been trying, but it was far from one-hundred percent as he made it seem. The way he had been fighting and pushing Sesame's attacks was effective enough, and for a brief moment it seemed he left a crack open and uncharacteristic pride had found its way in. The flippant way he had put up barriers, used near untested basic techniques, it was overconfident, but even Ward hadn't up to this point realized it as if he was running on autopilot. He was fighting a strong opponent while discarding and disregarding all of Sesame's attacks, at least until now.
He could feel the spike in energy as it pulled his attention, and his aura of energy started to slip, pulling back in on himself as it died down, but it seemed his opponent was not pulling back. Reflexively he raised his arms, but felt his stamina faltering. His own power rose and again he tried to force it out shoving his arms out again, sighing as he realized the mistake he had made. Small mistake or not, this was one he'd be dwelling on for days, and as he felt the energy bearing down on him he dropped his body and pulled in his arms, taking the strike to his forearms, which did little to nothing to soften the blow like he had hoped. His fists gripped tight from the pain, but even tighter as he strained to use his magic, creating a pair of hands that shot out of the ground to grab at his ankles. One pair after another shot out behind him pushing at his body to keep him from flying backwards or falling over, breaking in half at the force or cracking, barely keeping him standing.
Lifting his head back up he stared Sesame in the eye, not saying a word. Both arms looked like they had been beaten on for hours instead of the single shot they had absorbed, and for a moment they were shaky. Lifting them slowly, he held out his palms as a much larger hand reached out and grabbed around his entire body before it descended into the ground with Ward at least out of sight for the moment.
Sesame came rushing in and it seemed Ward indeed had no counter. He had been using the attacks that had worked but Sesame was no one-trick pony. He finds a way to break past the attacks! He fired off his palms as Ward did try to guard. But he knew his attack still was able to make it through. A solid blow. But his head raised. He sensed Ward's power double at that moment. The same trick he had used. He could do it too and that quickly. He could have done far more damage but Ward was able to brace himself that well. The Demon clicked his teeth in annoyance but he was beyond impressed with the Kai. He had faced many strong foes but they had used brute force to overcome him. He was being stonewalled on almost any turn by Ward. It was almost as if this battle could go on forever at the pace they were going.
Sesame spat some blood out as he watched Ward using some magic to keep himself standing. And he used an arm to pull himself into the ground. What the hell was he doing? Sesame glanced around looking for Ward. So that was it. That was how Ward fought. Defensive until the offense opened. It was beyond effective and it was normally Sesame pace. Wait for an opening like just now. But could he sustain it? He had taken some good hits and he was running out of tools. He could power up but Ward could do the same most likely? And who said he had the more substantial increase in power. For all, he knew Ward was holding a lot more in the tank than he was. He closed his eyes feeling Ward's ki. For now, all he could do was an attack. He would fire some punches into the ground to cause shockwaves to travel down and smash into Ward as he tried to land a solid blow on him while he hid underground.
The ground under Sesame began to rumble, just barely noticeable at first, but then it was doing so enough to become audible. In an instant in about a twenty-foot radius large white pillars shot up from the ground in a circle, no more than a foot between each, shooting dust and dirt into the air. Each one was at least ten foot in height with no distinct markings, but they were precisely placed, to the point they could be measured to the millimeter in height, distance, radius, and you'd find no difference. It got eerily quiet after for a good thirty seconds as the rumbling finally subsided, but after it did the large hand shot back up from the ground palm up with Ward standing atop it before stepping down and stepping to the side.
It was a quiet moment as he watched Sesame, looking down at the disturbed ground where his opponent had tried attacking down at him, then back at the hand, showing the cracks he had clearly made in doing so. Both of his arms shot up as each below bend down and their flat ends reshaped into elongated pointed that reached towards one another, then bent even further at an angle towards the ground. Ward's left arm pointed at the ground then pulled up as a second hand much like the one he had protected himself in earlier appeared, having one on either side. Lifting his arms back into a fight stance suddenly both hands moved in sync with his moved, rock arms extending from the ground and rushing towards Sesame, leaving grooves from where they traveled and pulled up dirt.
Stepping in he began to swing, throwing alternate punches from one side then the other in a combination of flurried punches that the stone fists mimicked, punching at Sesame.
Sesame was surprised as heard the rumbling under him. Large pillars seemed to shoot out the ground as Sesame moved away from them. He didn't know what those pillars were but he was going to assume they were bad news. But he sat there waiting for a long time. He focused his ki back in and got his breathing in order. What was this kai doing? He was not used to not knowing what was going on. But right now, he was unsure what Ward was trying to do. Then a large palm rushed out of the ground with Ward on top of it. Sesame just stared at Ward looking utterly confused. "What?" Sesame was not sure if Ward was trying to show off or he was wasting a ton of energy for no reason.
Guess, he'd have to soon find out. He watched as Ward seemed to form two massive arms to attack with. Sesame glanced upwards at the arms, considering Ward was on a pillar he was going to need to get up to him. Sesame rushed forward as the arms came flying towards him. But these massive stone arms were gonna be to his advantage. Sesame kicked off the ground landing one of the arms before kicking away to land on one of the pillars. He then try to bounce between the pillars to bounce upwards to where Ward was. If he was able to reach Ward he'd bring his right leg back to slam into the face of Ward to knock him down!
The speed in which Sesame avoided every attack thrown at him was obnoxious but not entirely surprising. This would have been one of the few instances not non-technological latency that one could show, given Ward was controlling the arms over using his own, even if they still moved rather quickly. Ward pulled his arms towards his body as the stone creations moved back towards him as he jumped back with the assistance of part of the ground pushing up further and shooting him back and once again out of the range of Sesame's rush attack. Sliding to a stop on the ground he stared towards Sesame, then turning his attention to the pillars he had surrounded them with with, pulling the arms back in front of his body.
Clapping his hands together loudly both hands pulled back and surrounded his body as the pillars began to shake, the noise split between them rumbling and the scraping of the hands clenching closed over Ward's body. After a moment there was a muffled clap from within the hands as each pillar began to splinter and break part, leaving shards and chunks floating in the air for a few seconds, before they began flying inward from each pillar. Each time one hit something it would bounce off, slamming the pieces together as they seemed to reshape into varying sized balls of stone in the air, leaving chips and cracks against the hands Ward had protected himself with.
Sesame headed upwards in his attack once more trying to reach Ward. But the Kai was quick and he'd not allow an attack to land on him so easily. Indeed, he moved with powerful grace. And Sesame was getting pretty annoyed at the lack of progress he was making. He was being stonewalled by the Kai. Who knew someone could have such defensive skill. Sesame flipped away as the pillars began to shake, not trying to get caught up in some attack that Ward was trying to perform. At least, Sesame was going to assume that was the case with the pillar shaking about like that. Of course, he was not fast enough to escape no harm as moving away he was caught by some of the shards that broke away from the pillar. Leaving some small gashes Sesame would land with a grunt and quickly wipe away the blood. What was Ward doing? He could see him forming these balls with his ability. But what was he going to do with them?
More importantly, what was he going to do about this stalemate? He might just need to get his opening and go. He might be able to win but if Ward was losing backup might arrive? Sesame seized, he hated these slow-paced fights he liked killing right away! It was a credit to the Kai defenses though. He was beyond impressed in that regard. Sesame breathed out before slamming his foot down. He would thrust his arm out firing a blast of ki towards Ward. Not something he usually did but he was going to have to really change his fighting method to push Ward to defeat!