Afternoon Tea?

[Yuu Kanda]

"Of course I know.... but.... That is... a secret."

An emotion flashed through Kanda that was unlike that which he had experienced for the longest time... It was beyond anger...beyond hatred...he couldn't even describe what it was. This mage... This, this thing was enjoying his suffering a little too much... Correction...a lot too much. In fact, Kanda knew of few who could get him to rush into battle headfirst, miffed or not... Instead of pushing Mugen on downwards, he flipped over backwards and landed in a crouch position several feet from where he otherwise would have landed.

"You're really wanting to push your luck, aren't you?" He growled. Right now, he was sorely wishing that he had the ability to tell what was akuma and what wasn't, like the bean sprout... When such a wish appeared in his mind, the situation at hand was not good. However, he didn't need a cursed eye in order to see that this being was nothing even near human. Unless his eyes were some type of parasitic Innocence, which he doubted, given that the mage wielded a staff, there was something more behind them... He knew of very few, if any, people who had cat-like eyes. Krory was one of those few, but, hey, he was also a vampire-esq. person.

The exorcist frowned, his coal eyes narrowing into slits. In a moment, he had jumped backwards. Swinging Mugen in a horizontal motion from his left shoulder, across to where his arm was level with his right shoulder, he released Ichigen - the swarm of insects he often summoned from the plains beyond the mortal world.

[Xellos]

Xellos swirled a finger as they neared him, the first few to approach exploding into blue flames.

"Well, this is certainly a new tactic. How interesting." He held out his staff. and in a wave of light, the insects were destroyed. His eyes had closed again somewhere in the course of those events. He giggled.

And then he was gone. There was a small shimmer of shadow as he vanished, but then nothing.
There was a soft snap and hiss behind Konda, and the head of Xellos' staff rested on his shoulder.

"Want to give up? <3"

[Yuu Kanda]

"Well, this is certainly a new tactic. How interesting."

The demise of the underworld insects was of no surprise to Yuu. It was possibly the most basic of his attacks, aside from a regular sword slice. It was meant as a weapon against the weakest of akuma, the weakest of humans (those without the powers of Innocence), and as a tool to use against his comrades. He'd known this man was above that since he'd caused the mutant bear to turn into ash... ...But it never hurt to double check. After all, not testing one's opponent could likely result in one's own death.

"Want to give up? <3"

This, however, was slightly unexpected. He'd noted the motion, and had seen the mage move, but he'd hardly expected him to be able to move as quickly as he was able to, especially with Sangenshiki activated. However... Kanda was soon both in front of, and behind this enigma. Mugen was an inch away from the mage. The after image disappeared. "And let a piece of garbage such as yourself humiliate me? Tch. Keep dreaming," he muttered. "How about you? Met your match yet? Your movements are slow, old man."

He knew this was an understatement of the man's abilities...but he would never admit to it. Of course, he'd never know just how accurate that statement was, either.

[Xellos]

That taunt seemed to work. Even if it was just his eyebrow twitching downward, it was the largest show of visible emotion he'd yet relinquished. It wasn't the first time he'd been called "Garbage," but "Old Man" was a new one.

"I'll take that as a no." He replied, a strangle-hold on his restraint almost audiable in his voice. His movements were lightning quick. He struck backwards with the pointed end of his staff and released a blast of raw energy at the image in front of him. He wasn't trying to kill the poor boy, oh no, but he'd stepped over the very broad line of Xellos' patience with people and needed to know it. It was hard to get him even remotely irritated, but he was irritable at the moment, and Kanda's taunts had just put him in a worse mood. His eyes had once more opened.

His staff head gleamed red, and he glared at Kanda, smiling still. He somehow looked much more intimidating than he had before. There was a distinct lack of gravity around him, his cloak billowing in a seemingly non-existent breeze, and his fine violet hair tossed around his face in a dangerous veil. He sneered as the light from his attack faded.

[Yuu Kanda]

The young exorcist's grin faded...but not entirely. In its place was a smirk. Good. He'd finally gotten a reaction out of this one that was more than an annoyingly cheerful smile or that nails-on-a-chalkboard laugh. Taunts had a tendency to work...he'd know, he was susceptible to them. Of course, the idiot rabbit and his master seemed to just blow them off entirely... It didn't matter. He'd gotten a reaction out of someone who wasn't the bean sprout.

"I'll take that as a no."

"Tch," he half-spat as he relaxed Mugen across his shoulders. It ended up being a very bad move, for as soon as he had done so, the mage had lept backwards. Yuu frowned and took his stance again, just in time, too. The tip of the staff began to glow... He winced as he saw the ball of raw energy rapidly progress toward him. Luckily, however, he was able to throw up his Innocence and block it...but not without damage.

The ball of energy had pushed him back a ways, to the point where there were visible skid marks from where he'd been standing previous to the attack to the tree he'd been thrown up against - a human-shaped area of splintering where he'd made impact. His back and legs were fine. Somewhat sore, especially given how he'd dug his heels into the ground to keep from being blasted further away and how he'd been bashed into the tree.

His arms and hands, however, were in less than optimum positions. His hands, which had been at the forefront of the attack, were burned and beginning to blister - his right around the knuckles where he'd been grasping onto Mugen's hilt, and his left around the palm area, a blade-shaped line down the center, showing where he'd pushed up against his sword's blade to help deflect the attack. The clothing on his arms was, for all practical purposes, burned away at the forearms, less so from the elbow on up. Multiple scars from previous battles, as well as wounds from the last attack, were clearly visible.

The exorcist bounded away from the tree. If he was in pain, one couldn't tell. He wasn't even wincing. He was just furious - at himself more than anything, for dropping his guard like that. It was a stupid thing to do...but he wouldn't let it last long. As a blur, he darted towards the floating magician...then past. Up a nearby tree he ran, until he was at enough of a height that he was somewhat above the mage. He bent his knees and began his flip over backwards, releasing Hakka Torou, his eight slash, lotus flower-shaped attack, all in the seconds before he landed back on the ground.

[Xellos]

Xellos was seconds too slow. The attack struck dead-on, and a moment later, he re-appeared, almost comically nursing a wound on his shoulder. He was bleeding heavily from his back, and his cloak was torn away there.

"That actually kind of hurt." He complained, frowning. He inspected the blood that stained his pale blue glove with interest. He didn't look to be in any large amount of pain, though, and he wasn't hunched over from his wound. The blood seeped from it and dripped to the ground... or it should have. It vanished about halfway.

His wound was illusory.

"Not bad for a human. Who are you?" He didn't lessen his stance, and he was quite expecting Kanda to strike again.

[Yuu Kanda]

"That actually kind of hurt."

Kanda was poised and ready to strike once more, after he'd landed. He was on the verge of releasing another swarm of netherworld insects, should this man see the need to counterattack his attack. Though after he'd complained, the young exorcist raised an eyebrow, though not relaxing his position any. He'd made that mistake before, and his arms had been nearly burned away. He wasn't about to make the same, idiotic mistake again.

...Then something interesting happened. The blood from Hakka Torou had begun to fall...but had vanished. Did this man too have a rapid recovery rate? For some reason, after this, it wouldn't surprise him. This man surely had a very powerful Innocence, and a massive synchronization rate at that, for an attack so powerful... But he couldn't be at a general level, could he? It was plausible, but he wasn't certain. The thought didn't go very far, as the blisters on his left palm had begun to pop from his tight grip.

He sucked in breath inwardly through his teeth, though not quickly enough for one to tell that he was in pain - it just looked and sounded like he was breathing normally. His wounds weren't so bad that he would take even an hour to recover - in fact, they would likely be healed within the next minute or so. However, that did not make the popping of the blisters any less agonizing. He hated blisters. He hated this mage. He hated this world. Oh, hell, he hated everything and then some. Especially right now.

"Not bad for a human. Who are you?"

"Kanda," he half spat out his name in response. Yuu took note that this one hadn't relaxed any either. That made him grip his blade even tighter. This time, however, there was a lack of pain - his wounds had fully healed. It was about time, too. But given that they hadn't healed almost immediately after impact, it was just a warning that he needed to be even more careful. There were still 10 petals on the lotus flower in the hour glass back home, the last time he looked. He had plenty of life left, but nevertheless, he needed to proceed with even further caution. That meant he could only activate Sangenshiki if there was absolutely no other solution.

[Xellos]

"Kanda..." Xellos mused, over the name, as if he'd been given a strange new ability. His grin returned, and he swept his soiled glove across his pant leg, the blood vanishing.

"Interesting.... I suppose it's only fair that I give you my name as well." He bowed, sweeping his staff in front of him regally, "I am Xellos, Mysterious Priest." He straightened himself, smiling cheekily. He felt much better better that little spat, but wasn't entirely sure he was out of the woods just yet. He wasn't sure that Kanda would stand down so easily.

[Yuu Kanda]

"Interesting.... I suppose it's only fair that I give you my name as well. I am Xellos, Mysterious Priest."

"Tch," was Kanda's only response. His stance didn't relax any. For all he knew this Xellos was going to fire some next magic spell or other. He didn't want to risk being caught off guard again. It wasn't looking like this was an akuma - if it were, Hakka Torou would have done significantly more damage, perhaps even killed it if it were weak enough. But at the same time, he wasn't positive. He couldn't see the metal skeleton inside of this man. It was looking more and more difficult to even cut him deep enough to be able to see.

Frankly, he didn't care as to whether or not this person was actually a civilian. He never did. In his eyes, all civilians were potential enemies. He didn't have some stupid curse like the moyashi did - he couldn't tell. But he'd grown used to that way of living. He would survive. He had thus far, he would continue to. It wasn't difficult for him, surviving in a world where the whole underlying rules of survival were "the strong survive, the weak get killed". He was among the stronger, and he had absolutely no qualms regarding that rank.

[Xellos]

He tilted his head to the side comically, arching an eyebrow.

"Is that your response to everything? Heheheh." He waggled his finger at Kanda again, that obnoxious, condescending gesture. Lecturing a child, scolding an infant... "Tisk, tisk, Mr.Kanda."

At the very least, he was polite. Polite to the point of being irritating, if nothing else...

ooc: lol, lame post ftw.

[Yuu Kanda]

((*gets off lazy rear and types up a post* ¦D))

"Is that your response to everything? Heheheh. Tisk, tisk, Mr. Kanda."

Kanda rolled his eyes and relaxed his stance, sheathing Mugen as he did so. This guy was a loon. It likely wasn't even worth cutting into him to see if he were an akuma. He'd likely evolve...or devolve...into one sooner or later if such were the case. Though irritatingly enough, he acted a lot like the earl. That in and of itself caused the exorcist's senses to heighten. Of course, the Earl was far uglier...and fatter. But that much didn't matter. The personalities were similar.

Yuu spat on the ground. He couldn't waste his time here talking to someone who danced around the answers to questions. If this man knew anything...well, chances were highly probable that he didn't know anything. That was why he was being such a pain. Even if he did have the answers to these questions, it wasn't worth speaking to him for very much longer. He would just be further annoyed. It was time he tried to go cut the answers out of someone else...

He began walking away from Xellos.

[grassrunnergale]

The brush was thick, but due to his small size, Gale had no trouble wandering through it. He had seen the ruins from a cliff not too far away, and figured maybe, just maybe, he might be able to learn something about this island and its whereabouts. He had been an adventurer for years, so he was used to being tossed into strange places. It was probably the one thing he loved more than gold and jewels.

As he was nearing the ruins, his highly acute hearing picked up what sounded like voices coming from somewhere nearby. Could there be others here on the island? So far, all he had encountered were various small birds and rodents. Before he could decide to pursue the voices though, the sounds of a battle bewteen the two beings suddenly became audible. Gale was no pushover, despite his size, but he didn't like fighting if he could avoid it.

Before he realized what he was doing, however, Gale had wandered straight into a tall man with a sword walking away from another man, and fell back onto his rear.

"Hey! Watch where you're going big guy!" Gale snapped instinctively.