Kat's tail impacted Xiao just below the waist on his right side. His aura of qi flared in response, screeching like nails on a chalkboard as it cracked and buckled under Kat's strike. When the qi dimmed once more, Kat's own fire seemed to flare up eagerly in response, shattering the already breaking barrier and sending Xiao flying.
Kat found herself pitching forward, that one strike had eaten up a full ten percent of her reserves by itself, and without having Xiao there to counterbalance the weight she was throwing around, she had no choice but to pitch forward. Even her normally ever ready tail had been used in the strike, and so it was only by a panicked flap of her wings that she managed not to simply faceplant into the ground.
As she stood, Kat saw that the right side of Xiao's outfit was covered in ice, and he had a trickle of blood leaking from his mouth. Before Kat could fully recover, the man swiftly popped something into his mouth. It was so small that Kat didn't even managed to get a glance at it despite her exceptional vision.
The moment the object entered Xiao's mouth his qi exploded. His once depleted reserves soared out of him once again, the image of a flaming bird appearing behind him and releasing a shrill cry. Kat's eyes went wide as she felt the sound travel through her and rattle her bones. It wasn't quite a physical force, but she could feel it causing disruptions to her.
It took her only a moment to recover from them, but that was enough for Xiao's qi to surround him with billowing fire once again, and the ice on his outfit melted swiftly under the reinvigorated "To make me use one of my rare phoenix fire rebirth pills. I am truly impressed" said Xiao, with a smile on his face and a wicked gleam in his eyes.
*That has to be cheating. I mean… I know he just did it and this is a fight hopefully not quite to the death but… how is that fair? I have…* Kat tried to ascertain her reserves. It was a little hard with the full cycle she had going on. Her energy was moving around and providing more than a little help where it could, but it was also bleeding off quickly. She estimated that she had somewhere between twenty to thirty percent still available to her. *I guess being a demon is pretty unfair as well. I just really hope he only has one of them.*
"It seems I really wasn't taking you seriously enough. And I apologise for that" said Xiao, as he held up a pill in between his hands. *Oh come on, another one?!* Kat scanned the distance between them and was disappointed to realise that she was not fast enough to strike the man before he placed it in his mouth. If he really wanted to, he could simply start as soon as he moved.
*Get him talking Kat. Just keep him talking so you can eek out a little more energy. Now that he has that bullshit this is even more important… but I'll have to take more risks with my fire because nothing else does enough damage. Dammit.* "Well, surely that can't be considered fair. I certainly don't have anything to improve my own performance" said Kat
Xiao smiled "Well that is a shame. I suppose I am much to used to opponents who have their own equivalent. I am afraid however, that as you are a demon, I have no choice but attack with everything I have"
"I suppose I can respect that. Can you tell me why people seem to dislike demons here? I've seen such a wide range of opinions in my time you see, and it's rather interesting" said Kat spouting the first somewhat interesting thing she could think of.
"One thousand cuts of the falling leaves!" shouted Xiao in response. He sliced his sword down once, and Kat took a moment to eye him like he was a fool. *I'm nowhere near him? Why does he think that…*
Kat trailed off as LINES started to open up in the air next to him. First there was the solid line he trailed, then it split, and split again. This continued until there was a massive line of sword cuts floating in front of him. This time it extended far into the air. Kat eyed it and counted only about five hundred cuts, but as the wall of silvery red started to approach her, she decided that she had more important things to worry about.
Kat looked for some way to escape the strike but realised the only thing she could do was take it head on. It was simply too wide and too high for her to get around as it rushed towards her. Kat finally brough out her fans from inside her obi. Kat found that as soon as they settled into her hands the energy she had flowing around her body seeped into the fans, and made them glow the faintest purple.
Kat didn't have time to admire them though, as she placed them in front of her and tried to block what strikes she could. Kat managed to intercept most of the ones coming straight for her, but she felt the lowest dig into her legs for just a moment before dispersing. Kat grit her teeth and pushed the strikes away throwing her arms out. This was a mistake, as Xiao had been moving forward while her vision was blocked.
"Forceful Palm Crush" shouted Xiao, slamming his hands together in front of Kat. A moment later, she felt herself squeezed on both sides as two giant red hands tried to crush her. This however, was nothing, she simply elbowed them away. Her arms shook slightly under the strain, but she could prevent them from closing in on her any further.
Xiao was ready for that too, and followed it up by drawing his sword again, and stabbing it towards Kat's stomach. It entered into her midsection with a squelch before Xiao shouted "Endless Roasting, Swordflame Lance!"
Fire exploded from the weapon in question, engulfing Kat in flames from the inside out. She found herself… unamused. When the most recent shout was made, the fists dissipated. Kat wasn't quite ready for the drop in pressure and her arms fell to her sides as she hung from the sword.
Quickly recovering though, Kat whipped them up to Xiao's shoulder and clenched her fists closed, letting her nails dig into Xiao. His aura screamed in protest as sparks flew and Kat could feel the pressure building under her fingers. Xiao grimaced in pain as he felt Kat's nails digging into his shoulder. Qi was good, but it wasn't quite enough to withstand the attack, and while his aura hadn't failed him yet, it was close.
"Explosion of the One Eyed One" shouted Xiao.
Flames engulfed his body, and Kat was blown back away from him, his sword ripping another chunk of flesh from her torso as she flew away. As she was flying, the wound was recovering and Kat couldn't help but curse herself for not using her flames more. *Dammit. They are my best weapon. I panicked when I got impaled and didn't even go for a little spark when I breached his defences. Dammit!*
Kat cursed herself, as she put a hand over her wound. It didn't really help, and it was mostly healed, but it made her feel a little better about her idiocy. At least she could recover from it, though her reserves had dropped considerably from that stunt, and she found herself running rather low.
*Damn. I've got… maybe one decent flame attack in me still and a bit of physical power. I can't stop circulating energy else I might lose too much when I stop. So, one good flame attack and I'll be mobile, two and I'll be completely out of it.*
Kat glanced at Xiao and found him rather worse for wear. His blood seeping through his robes on either side, and was already putting another pill into his mouth. His chakra flared, but this time there was no scream. He looked flushed, like he had just finished running a marathon.
*I might just have him then. It looks like even if he has more of those pills, he can't keep taking them. It's taking its toll somehow. The question is… do I need to risk everything with a big strike? If he can get away with having just one more, I might not be able to handle that. This might be my limit already.*
Kat grit her teeth and stood tall. No remnants of her injury could be found in her stance, and her low energy level did not show on her face. She let her aura swirl out from her and prayed it would do something. She started pressing it against Xiao's own presence and found that it was flagging slightly. Kat's smile grew. *I think this might be it. Just one more, round.. One good strike from me and he's finished.*