A Concerned Citizen

The mercs' flurry of blows are skillfully parried by the lady, who conterattacks in equal footing, delivering her attacks as if her own arms were an extension of the sword she once wielded. Shiyon focused his attention on blocking Marie's incoming strikes, looking for another opening to fit an effective conterstrike. However, as the first of the multitude of the attacks thrown at him makes contact with his lower left arm, which he used to parry it, jolt of elecricity is afferented to the tetarian's brain, followed by stinging pain, causing him to realize his skin's been tore apart. Droplets of blood are flung into the air in as the brute reflexively moves his limbs in perpetual motion to defend against the incoming attacks. It was at this moment that the fucshia-haired lady spoke her line about the strange book she read.

Shiyon is quick to realize the hazard in the situation and promptly coats his limbs with ki, enhancing his skin's durability. Thanks to his tetarian anatomy, forged by the harsh gravity of his homeworld, his bones and muscles were denser than a human's and Marie would even be able to feel it as the side of her palm almost sunk into Shiyon's integument. His poor choice of defense would have costed him a much deeper wound if it weren't for the alien's inherent body traits. Originally intending to save his energy to use it in an explosive retaliation, Shiyon is cornered into a defensive stance, forced to redirect his ki to shield himself from worse harm and kept on blocking until he could safely get out of Marie's threat range. He should have known better, after all he saw this woman effortlessy split a machine and its rack in half wih a mere motion of her wrist just a few moments ago. His overconfidence got the best of him this time. All the while, Marie continued to spit her words at the giant.

The brute was then targeted by the same scythe-like ki ttack that killed the printer. The poor printer. He is quick to jump out of the way, but first the dynamics of the scene is dramatically reduced to a slow motion and the shot is focused on Marie's blade-like taut arm and Shiyon's upper torso and face as he attempts to dodge. His long hair sways in he air as he moves out of the incoming attack's way and the sickle of energy keeps its trajectory, slicing at a nearby rack. A cut mark appears in his cheek, from which a tiny string of blood flows and strands from the tip of his hair are dispersed around him, hinting that this was a close one. The man manages to successfully jump out of the way with the negligible but annoying wound.

As he lands a few meters across Marie, Shiyon moves his hand to his recent injury caressing it in a single movement, curling the tip of his fingers. He then brings it closer to his face, staring at the blueish liquid that stained his digits, before licking it. Yes, tetarians had blue colored bloo. That's why their skin color looked like that.
— "Sounds like a very strange book" — He comments, while grinning. The lady then dares him to come at her, freeing himself of his restraints.
— "As you probably noticed, I am a more... traditional man who doesn't at all enjoy toys spoiling the fun of my battles" — As Shiyon speaks, chunks of plaster that once belonged to the ceiling and other minor debris scattered along the floor begin to rise up, as if magnetized somehow by some unknown force. A glttering aura then surrounds Shiyon. His power level doesn't seem to rise, but something certainly was coming.
— "So if I can't get rid of a knife like I did with the one before..."— The brute begins to elaborate, clearly referring to the sword currently stuck near the store's entrance.
— "... then it's only a matter of dulling the blade "— He asserts euphemistically, now adressing Marie's remark on her body being a knife itself.

The wound in Shiyon's arm still had blood flowing from it. It was a minor nuisance now, but all that exertiom certainly wasn't helping his physiology to appropriate conduct a coagulation cascade. His muscles were tensed and his circulatory system was running overclocked, as the aura around him becomes denser and more debris was being lifted in the air. At one point, the brute looks at his tore skin and brings hia opposed arm to it, currling his fingers around his forearm as the palm of his hand presses against the bleeding cut. A quick, sudden flash of light appears in between his hand and forearm: a subtle ki blast, strong enough to burn the injury and cauterize it to avoid painting the scenery in red any longer.
"Much better" He says twisting his wrist in front of his face in interspersed clockwise and anti-clockwise movents to inspect the results of his improvised first aid technique.

Shiyon the relaxed his previously hurt arm. The one he used to tend to his wound remains up and the aura around it isn't gone. Rather, it intensifies and a ball of energy appears on his open palm.
"All those beautiful words back there and you now tell me you weren't giving your all? That's a bad move and doesn't fit the character at all. But here's a free advice, since I took a liking to you. It's less about outdrawing someone..." The merc admonishes his opponent and raises his energy charged hand unworriedly towards Marie, adressing her wild west metaphor.
"...And more about knowing where to aim at" The alien concludes, releasing a barrage of energy blasts. The energy bullets are very spread out and apparently erratic. Some energy bullets head straight towards Marie, others diverge laterally in an angle and some head up, expected to hit the ceiling, which would come crashing down on the swordswoman if she wasn't careful enough. The latter being Shiyon's true intended course of action.

Marie's words before everything came down seemed to have resonated with Shiyon somehow. Friend. Even behind that thick shell, hardened and tempered through the many vicissitudes of his complicated life, the man still had a heart. Marie is then buried beneath the wreckage of the store's structure. It wasn't enough to break the fucshia-haired lady or her resolve, who took Shiyon's onslaught head on. When the dust cleared, there she was, without losing her stand.
"We all have our paths to walk, Printer. Me, you... Baskervilles..." Shiyon frowns slightly and gesticulates with one of many his hands as he mentions the latter, as if silently saying "whoever they might be".

"Ambitions are what fuel us all. It doesn't matter if they are some sort of noble goal, self-centered or something borderline insane. Without them life is bland, tasteless. Yours took you to this path you're walking now and mine intersected us in these crossroads. We are not so different, you see. I just happen to have a clear sight of where I want to go. Do you? Because to me, it seems you're just letting your internal conflicts take the wheel. See where that takes you" Shiyon cuts Marie off right after she said that her footwork became uneven and before the rest of her dialogue, uncharacteristically philosophizing about the situation. Apparently, he was pointing out the incongruence of her chosen target with the message she was trying to convey.

"You're still feeling the ground around your feet. And that's why they feel uneven. Whether I have more to show than I already have or not, how is that a reason to justify you not coming at me with all you got? It's even worse if you don't! So, stop taking half-measures. Like you said before... Fight as if you were willing to die. Make this a cause!" The tetarian continued. Presumably, if Marie didn't have anything else to add after his almost rude, but good intentioned interruption, this probably would be when she would say her line about being hardly the perfect swordsman and so on.

Filled with conviction, Marie prepares her ultimate move. Shiyon smirks.
"Now we're talking!" Shiyon then opens his arms wide, stretching them to his sides.

"Go. You get a freebie. I kinda owe you one for that sneak attack earlier" After the tetarian says this, apparently getting back to his usual jester personality, he frowns and points his upper right index finger at Marie before giving her a "slap on the wrist" (figuratively):

"Oh... and just for the record... Implying I swear fealty to rats. Not polite at all. The only rat I serve is myself" He jests again, with his usual serious sounding tone. He then moves his arm back to his open guard stance.

"You have six seconds"

Shiyon's words seem to sink in, pushing the fucshia-haired lady out of her balance, much more than the falling ceiling structure. She seems to falter, her energy signature feeling slightly inconstant and nearly fizzling the powerful technique currently in preparation. But that is but a moment of having an apparent newfound resolution and the warrior once again regains her composure. The energy in her hands stabilizes, getting stronger every second again.

"I see no weak swordsman here"

The alien responds after Marie's remark on weak swordsmen. He emphazises on the "man" part of swordsman, with his usual jocular tone. But he was certain she got the message he was trying to convey, even behind the curtain of irony. It wasn't just talk. The brute truly acknowledged his opponent. Marie thanks Shiyon, voicing her convictions one more time, before unleashing her powerful attack. Shiyon seems to remain in place, with his guard open, just as he said he would. He was a man of his word, after all.

The crimson blade darts towards Shiyon shredding everything in its place. As it meets its target, it seems to be a clean hit, dissipating after slicing through the giant's form, which seems to absorb the entirety of its kinetic energy. We are then brought to another dramatic shot, where Shiyon just stands there, with his head lowered. A shadow covers his eyes, so it isn't possible to read his complexion, aside from the phlegmatic expression he sustained throughout the ordeal. The scene is seemingly frozen in perpetual slow motion, until the merc's emotionless guise is replaced by a grin. Shiyon then tenses his muscles, clenching his fists and yelling as he releases a powerful ki outburst that causes strong winds to spread radially from his position, pushing the wrecked objects and debris back as if they had no weight whatsoever. That wouldn't be enough to push Marie, though.

When the air currents calm down, a large aura can be seen around the tetarian's body. If Marie had a scouter now, she would be able to gauge that Shiyon's power level skyrocketed to almost ten times its original value. The extreme pressure he was now exerting would be enough to tell the earthling what she need to know, though. Shiyon kept his word. He took Marie's technique head on, with no guard or defenses. But he did take it at his full power. After all, it would be very hypocritical of him to give the lady a lecture on giving her all, while holding back at her. Showing his true potential was a matter of respect towards his opponent at this time. But he did not come unscathed after that as a large diagonal cut makes itself visible across his now tattered clothes, carving his torso beneath them, as revealed by the draining blood from the fresh wound. The giant seems to welcome it though. He was much stronger than Marie, but she managed to mark him regardless. That was the power of resolve.

"One last lesson for you, before we're done here..."

Shiyon says, adjusting his head to stare deeply into Marie's eyes. Veins start popping all around his body and then his torso suddenly bulges. Then his arms, one by one, followed by his his legs. Every inch of the aliens already bulky physic seems to burst with increased muscle mass, causing him to stand even taller than he already was. Blood drips from his wound, drenching what was left of his kimono-like uniform.

"If you are ready to die, then also be ready to have your spirit and your efforts crushed in front of your eyes. We are the protagonists of our own stories, but this doesn't mean we'll always get our way, no matter how much we bleed for it. This is real life and recurrent frustration is part of the game"

As Shiyon goes on with his professorial, the pressure of his beefed up body and energy seem to crush the floor beneath him.

"Just never forget that as long as you still have a single droplet (of blood) to spare, you don't give up fighting... Time to sleep on those thoughts"

The giant says, moving so fast he seems to teleport out of place. He would then reappear in front of Marie, driving a full charged fist into her stomach, in an attempt to knock her out.

It seems it couldn't be helped: Marie gave her all, but in the end, it wasn't enough to take Shiyon down. There was a clear abyss between their powers. Marie evinced a resigned acceptance of her fate and invites the giant to put an end to it. She doesn't even try to resist the unavoidable, as the brute blinked out of his spot, trampling the earthling with a forceful blow that sends her  flying through the store, going through the wall behind her and rolling around her own axis for a while, before her momentum is killed and her damaged body finally stops in the middle of the streets. Exposed to the outside after the rest of the building's structure gave away in the aftermath of their battle, Shiyon calmly walks out of the shop, approaching the lady in her last moments of conciousness. When he finally got to her, she was already out for the count. The streets were mostly empty, as the citizens fleed from the enclosures, taking refuge inside the other stores. Some curious eyes could be seen, staring through the window. The sound of sirens are then heard in the distance.

Marie would wake up sometime later in a very different scenery, to the sound of flowing water. She would find out that, despite the obvious physical strain from the damage she sustained during her encounter with Shiyon, she was comfortably rested against a willow's trunk, safe from the still present sunlight, under the refreshing shadow cast by the tree. If she inspected her surroundings, she would see a river by her side and her sword placed on the ground next to her. She wasn't close enough to the city so she would be vulnerable against passerbys, but neither was she so far from it that it would become a nuisance to come back. On her lap, she would find a piece of paper. It said: