Bonus Event; Sephiroth's Invitation

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In the vacuum of Sephiroth moving at 'Godspeed' were after images of himself that moved as barely visible time displacements that Tensei would be able to follow in between the sight of the crowd, along with the words, "... I hope you didn't think this was over..." Though Sephiroth wanted no fight to the death with Tensei any longer, he certainly wouldn't let their fight end with just the 'warmup,' so to speak. "... Now that we've established your strength..." Each after image, wherever it was, would have a piece of Sephiroth's message which was and would be completely garbled and jumbled unless Tensei legitimately decoded the completely correct order in which the after images had been left. Getting a word wrong would cause him to waste time and possibly lose Sephiroth in the process. "How about we see how truly skilled you are, at this level...?"

For a while, the images of Overlord Tensei would engage Sephiroth in direct combat, all around him, from every angle as their swords flickered back and forth. Only the glimmering flashes of edge against edge could actually be seen, something like glitter sparkling around the area at a high speed, shimmering like starlight. The resonant clangs and shings made music all their own, something like a symphony of harmonious bells resounding in time, yet at an accelerated pace. Each of the chimes made a song, and it all led up to a single cry from Overlord Tensei suddenly freezing a blade in time as it clashed with his opponent's.

"SEPHIROTH!!"

Tensei stuck his tongue out, and the image disappeared, but the blade remained frozen. Another was already at his back, along with Overlord Tensei crying out again, with more of an alluring whisper, "Sephiroth~!" His wink faded along with the flickering image, but the blade remained stuck to his back. All simultaneously, there were other Overlord Tenseis mirroring this action in variable parallel positions, each only partially askew from the rest, making it look like there may have been hundreds or thousands of distorted blurred flickering images actually dancing around him, fading in and out sporadically. More of the images would immediately halt for a moment, then disappear instantaneously after in sequential order, leaving the crystal blades frozen where they were and having already trapped Sephiroth by his own strikes. Where his blade should have been stuck in between the cracks of the blades would be where Overlord Tensei would have been meeting it at the tip, in order that he shouldn't lift his blade to strike another target that was not he, directly.

"Play with me~!" Overlord Tensei moaned passionately, but with a sort of lucid look upon his face. His eyes traced the length of Sephiroth's edge, which should have been halted betwixt the crystalline shards, locked at every angle. Overlord Tensei raised his blade up to the air, once he knew it was locked in place, and would slash his sword downward over Sephiroth's sword's tip, with intent to dismember, given the material of his own weapon being definitely of a different material. "Or, 'Say Goodbye!'" Overlord Tensei said in an unnaturally deep voice.

Spoiler:

Sephiroth had been following behind Overlord Tensei's every movement, even down to the last strike. His image flickered out of the crystalline sword prison as it closed in on itself, as though his own image had reflected itself out of the image container through matching the images in reverse. Thus, when Sephiroth's sword did indeed inevitable come to the gridlock, of which there was actually no way around for him, he was instead reversed, and had appeared outside the container entirely.

"... I AM playing with you..." Sephiroth said very lowly, snatching his blade out defiantly from the hole it was locked and isolated to, knocking away Overlord Tensei's blade playfully as he turned and continue walking off. "... Can't you tell...?" He flipped his hair lightly with his free hand, yet keeping his sword-wielding hand steady as he walked away.

"I doubt it..." was Sephiroth's retort as his blade's edge dashed up the length of his tongue, as if to slice it off. "Why would I let you do that again?" Still, Overlord Tensei was talking too much, and not quite understanding what Sephiroth had been trying to explain to him the entire time. Still, he was a worthy foe, and quite commendable in his technique. As Sephiroth considered, his move was a game ender, and the battle was won. His own escape was its own move, and now, he was certain that he would lead Overlord Tensei into Kingdom Hearts.

"Besides... There are more important things we should be doing right now." The two of them still needed to enter Kingdom Hearts, and since it was clear that he would be able to handle himself, there was no reason to continue. "Follow me." Sephiroth began to flicker.

"Look who's talking..." Sephiroth uttered, somewhat irritated. "Again." At the sharp remark, his blade was already at Overlord Tensei's throat, having clearly seen it was the only part of his body not cloaked in crystal. The murderous intent was in the action, itself.

Sephiroth gazed Overlord Tensei deeply in his eyes and held still for a moment, yet their bodies would remain aflicker. Before too long, the image of Sephiroth would fade away into the sky, just above the height of the clouds, themselves. There, with his blade still drawn to the exact same position it was when on the ground, would he land on the top of one of the rolling clouds, as though it were a solid platform that only the tip of his toe would touch. His face did not change.

Sephiroth drew back at the thrusting of blades, still only to the tip of his toe to the lightest depths of the clouds before their molecules compacted under him just through application of force. When he saw that Overlord Tensei was ready, Sephiroth kicked off across the heavens, above everyone's vision and perception. At best, to anyone below, it should only look like a passing storm.

His feet skittered across the clouds gently, kicking up vapor in their wake. The numerous construct forms served as their own points of leverage and vantage, or any other kind of terrain's resourcefulness that would be necessary in combat. Sephiroth certainly knew the way from here, and it was to the realm where the 'Worlds Collide.' He did not look back to see if Overlord Tensei were following behind. Sephiroth already made his mind up when he started walking away in the first place. Now, he was seeing if Overlord Tensei was serious, which it seemed he was, from that strange look in his eye.

Overlord Tensei was leaving behind a clear and obvious trail to the next area, which Sephiroth was attempting to enter covertly and inconspiciously. However, because Sephiroth was interested in testing the power of Overlord Tensei when he was serious, he would instead just lead Overlord Tensei around for a little while and cause him to cover up their trail by getting them lost somewhere above the clouds so that they could finish their bout. Then, when they were truly finished, and he had calmed down, to take him immediately. He would continue on in the direction of their location, but as the terrain started to be mixed up, so would Sephiroth's own movements, which would be flickering around the unevened terrain that Overlord Tensei was generating as he cycled about. Thus, before Sephiroth actually struck at Overlord Tensei, he would take him in a circle of his own gyrations, without having moved too far ahead or in any particular direction. Though, they were still headed in the correct direction. "Try to keep up..." Sephiroth's voice echoed.

Sephiroth smirked as his blade clashed at Overlord Tensei's striking him. As he was falling into the shadows of the looming cloud over his head, he would flap his black wing and hurdle himself toward the center of the billowing tower to cleave it in twain with the edge of his blade, clean through and with a vacuous force to clean up the mess. Sephiroth turned immediately and lunged for Overlord Tensei, cleaving his blade at his to keep him engaged in the air. Still, Sephiroth would lead him, after the clashing of the blades again, off into the direction that they were to be traveling. Whilst in midair above the clouds, none should have been able to see them.

The two would be locked in combat, with Sephiroth continuing to guide Overlord Tensei closer to where they needed to be. Still, as they went blow for blow at such speeds, Sephiroth couldn't help but to notice a certain familiarity in this sort of new form that Overlord Tensei had taken on so suddenly. Sephiroth smirked, chuckling lightly, but said nothing of it. As tempted as he was to take on his own ascended form, he instead would continue to test his limit against Overlord Tensei as they were. As it stood, they were still having a samurai showdown, since all of their actual strikes were actually sword-in-hand.

With Overlord Tensei no longer in the clouds, but above them, Sephiroth could descend back to running along the terrain that was no longer being altered and deal with Overlord Tensei by hopping directly at him whenever a gap should appear in the cloud runway, something like a rhythm game. Each time, Sephiroth slashed at Overlord Tensei from a different direction and angle an innumerable amount of times with a flickering blade before landing and doing so again afterward when the time was right. It should have looked like several sharp streaks of light dicing Overlord Tensei from all around him at different times, but all at a flickering speed, something like shimmering stars.

Sephiroth kept his own blade steady, though now he was trapped in Overlord Tensei's magnetic pull. Now, every swipe was to bat the blade of the Overlord away and knock Sephiroth into his footing, which was being done in reverse because of having to defend from Tensei instead of attack him. Eventually, Sephiroth gave up on this method and took to the sky, continuing to strike at Tensei only to knock himself away from the magnetic blade.

When Sephiroth was adjusted to how Overlord Tensei's current was moving, the next time he was drawn back to the blade, Sephiroth would throw up his black wing and a Wall of hexagonal diamonds appeared before him, neutralizing the polarity of the blade the moment it made contact, and freeing up a frame for Sephiroth to move in between the 'Scintilla.' Sephiroth's blade met with Overlord Tensei directly once his electrified crystal blade was knocked away, leaving Overlord Tensei defenseless now to be struck down by Sephiroth.

Sephiroth remained motionless for a while, puzzled at why he could not yet land a clean hit on Overlord Tensei, despite being able to predict him all the way down to their finest blows. Yet, that's when it finally hit him about what Overlord Tensei was actually doing. "Where Are You Looking...?" Sephiroth inquired in a rage, feeling as though that by Overlord Tensei not looking at him directly, he was lowering himself to fight on Sephiroth's level. "I Wouldn't Call This The 'Traditional Samurai Style' Battle I Asked For..." He chuckled.

After being kept in place for such a long time by the crystal blades, Sephiroth would move at Godspeed and hypervibrate beyond the stasis of the crystal blades, themselves, and disappear like a ghost immediately after.


In his image, he left for Overlord Tensei many distortions of himself in different positions, all throughout the field. "Now it's my turn..." Each of the innumerable Sephiroths each in an equal amount of different positions sprawled over the clouds would begin striking at Overlord Tensei, in order, at Godspeed, but only slowed down to the vision of what was left behind. Each of the images looked similar, all blended together, like something of a black haze darkening the sky. The clouds all about the lining of his jacket trailing off into a blanket over the sky, each part with a moving 'Reaper,' but all blurred together as a live stream. The first strike could not be determined, nor if it was even made at all in the afterimages.

Sephiroth understood during the first flash of their clash. "I See..." he said finally, before his image appeared from the Cloud behind him. "I Was The One Looking In The Wrong Place All This Time." Suddenly, when Sephiroth could see the entire field from the perspective of his Ascended form, he was able to more clearly understand Overlord Tensei's movements, and be readily prepared to combat him at any time from a perspective of oversight. "A Seal?" He muttered lowly, letting the wings of his Cloud keep his torso straight and fluttering into the center of the field, yet fluttering on one side. There, he saw many pieces of the image that were all laid out before Overlord Tensei on the map, and apparently had more options prepared specifically for and from this point. Sephiroth was Bound.

"Well, I'll Be Damned..." Sephiroth chuckled. He was able to see what made the seal so binding; those words. "... You Know What You're Talking About, Then." It was clear from that mark that not only was Overlord Tensei not incoherent, but he had a greater understanding of it than Sephiroth initially perceived because Sephiroth had not yet crossed over to match his vision. His blade was still being struck like that of a noble Samurai, but his eyes were like that of a god. The clash of blades was always greater than just steel, and it was indeed in the wits. "Well Then, My Apologies For Getting Confused." Sephiroth would raise his hand up to draw his afterimages back from all of Overlord Tensei's and into a singularity, which he would then thrust his palm forward and move in a powerful breeze over the length of the arena to cleave through the actual Overlord Tensei instead of where his images were being projected, since those were the points that he was moving within still.

In the same manner, Sephiroth would outstretch his black wing from its position, something like a sheathed blade, and another blanket of darkness sprawled out over the area, with the quick sharp suddenness of a blade's edge.

Sephiroth's eyes darkened.

"I'm not the only one that's being taken down a dark path," Sephiroth muttered morosely. "We Shall Have This Dance." His eyes began to glow, and in his left hand, a burning blade would blister into his grasp, and as he drew his blade back, he lashed it forth and several Sephiroths would dash from the spontaneous combustion, all as only the flickering distortions of heat. Each of the bursts of concussive force from the heat of the strike would be a blade to the face of Overlord Tensei, as the rest of him was covered and invulnerable to such strikes.

All the while, Sephiroth, in his Seraph form, would be guiding the cloudy vessel along with the light flapping of his wings. He brought the entire cloud in which they battled over the next area like a screen with woeful noise that would linger gently in the background. Where they were going could not be seen, but where Overlord Tensei had left a Crystal Blade, Sephiroth could see clearly within the cloud's ripples. Certainly, to others, their faces could not be seen except as ornament, but also, the presences of both individuals helped to contain and sustain the ones that dueled inside without getting disturbed by an outside force. Seraph Sephiroth gazed mournfully, with his blade sheathed in the cloud as if it were solid ground, then continued to gaze at the causalities.

Seraph Sephiroth drew his black wing back into the clouds and the entire cloud became Darkness, like the spreading of his wing. Nothing could be seen, except the Crystal Blades.

Sephiroth drew his blade from the depths of the cloud with a mighty, swift lash, of which to strike at Overlord Tensei's Crystal Blade that was not near him, yet stretch over the span of as many were planted among the string of reality premeditated. Wherever Sephiroth's blade should hit, simultaneously, so would it crash into the game board repeatedly, sending forth more of the blistering afterimages that ever kept turbulence among the terrain to throw Overlord Tensei off balance, and also to quake the entire cloud as though it were earth. The rolling thunder that burst every time Seraph Sephiroth's blade struck the cloud would continue to spontaneously generate more Sephiroth images for Overlord Tensei to fight.

Should Seraph Sephiroth's blade not touch the ground, and instead meet with Overlord Tensei's blade, on contact, another premeditated strike would lash at the larger body of Overlord Tensei with the same ferocity. Down below, the actual Sephiroth could not actually be seen, but his presence as the Darkness passed by was still felt, like the stinging heat of the lashes of his blade, which still created the blasts of heat when they moved, even if the Burning Masamune itself did not touch the arena again. Seraph Sephiroth looked on, finding this to still be a Samurai style engagement, even in spite of the ascent. It was indeed holy. He only continued to observe quietly, not making any extra sudden movements.