Harder Better Faster Stronger

[Loki-chan]

[[speaking of stolen titles! Mana isn't the only one unoriginal around here. xD MithyRen only, my lovely comrades<3]]

Ren cracked his neck as he waited, wind whipping through his hair. The grass beneith his small feet tickled his exposed ankles. The field was illuminated in sunlight, shining in sync with the trees around it. Ren pushed at his bangs, expecting the arrival of the infamous englishman any minute now. Mithy and he had come out to the countryside for a week of training. The englishman had seemed particularly interested in furthering his skills, and Ren supposed, he needed a damn good challenge to improve at all. That usually seemed to be the way it worked. You never got better until you pushed yourself past your limits.

The day was picturesque in every way, and that put Ren in a good mood. A good mood meant a good fight. Ren was at his peak when he could fight with a clear mind and light heart. To get away into the country for a little while was a really great idea.

[Emma]

Mithos emerged from a gap in the trees dressed in his usual quincy attire, stringless bow in one hand and Ren's kwan-dao in the other, which he threw to his friend. "Apologies for taking so long." He said shortly, brushing a non-existant crease from his shirt before wasting no time in drawing and opening fire - after all, your enemies weren't going to wait for you to get ready.

[Loki-chan]

Ren caught the wepon and as quick as a blink, it was glowing full with Ren's oversoul. With a quick knock from Bason's armour, the arrow was deflected and Ren drew his sword with his other hand.
"I've moved beyond this old piece of wood and metal, Mithy. Got a better strategy now." Ren held the wepons parallel and the spirit energy jumped- but not all the way. Instead it drew the two weapons together, and took on the appearance of a larger, more deadly looking glaive.

"Double medium, like it?" Ren smirked and closed the gap between them, closing in so he was within range, but mithy couldn't fire more of those damned arrows at him. He waisted no time in his attack, hitting Mithy with his classic vorpal dance, a fast berrage of stabs.

[Emma]

"Nice. Good to know I'm not the only one developing new strategies, then." The englishman replied with a grin as he hopped backwards, just out of range, then up, placed his feet against a tree behind him and vaulted over the shaman, firing off three shots in quick succesion. As he landed, Mithos dropped the bow at his feet and waited.

[Loki-chan]

Ren used two overhead swipes, knocking down the first two and then the last, cutting through the annoying arrows like a hot knife through butter. He didn't pause a bit as his final swipe landed in the ground and Ren surged his furiyoku, weapons spouting right out of the glittering grass ready to skewer Mithos and his bow. They varied in size, shape and type, a random assortment of items all united under one rule: They could hurt.
"Like I wouldn't be improving on a regular. Silly Mido, you'll never catch up."

[Emma]

With a laugh, Mithos sidestepped and backstepped until he reached the edge of the clearing, then hopped up into the nearest tree. "Oh, really?" He replied, disregarding the bow he had left on the ground and watching the shaman carefully. "I'm faster than you think."

And with that, he was gone, and suddenly, there were a million and one projectile weapons coming from every direction, and the edge of the clearing was nothing more than a white blur.

[Loki-chan]

Ren's eyes glinted. Arows from ever direction, coming at him at the same speed. if they were at different speeds, the distance between the closest and farthest was negligible. He couldn't tell which was fired first, or if they were fake or not. His best idea was defense, so he crouched to the ground as a golden figure erupted from his glaive. Ren held the warrior over him like an umbrella, clenching his teeth for the pop he knew would come when all those arrows hit him. The warrior wasn't worried. He proclaimed in a booming voice, "Bason will protect Ren-bocchama!"
Ren on the other hand, was more concerned with the loss of furyoku when his oversoul broke. It wasn't like he had none to spare, though.

[Emma]

A tiny smirk graced Mithos' lips as he watched, then darted forward, a blade of bluewhite power shimmering in his hand. "That's the problem, using spirits - never any chance for subtlety." He quipped, muttering right into his friend's ear.

[Loki-chan]

As the blast cleared and Ren's glave was rendered back to it's slightly less gigantic form, from Ren's crouched position he was able to let go of the weapon for a moment to use his hands. Mithos's lips were so close to his ear he could feel his breath... but he wouldn't let that distract him. He'd take advantage of such close proximity.

With his hand Ren grabbed hold of Mithos right above his own sholder, latching on to his neck right below his jaw. He pulled and placed his other hand on Mithy's chest, and got the momentum enough to flip Mithos over him, slamming him down on his back. Ren took Mithy's recovery time to get back to his feet and grab his weapon, unconciously flexing his mucles.
"That's the problem, getting too close - never underestimate your opponent's strength!" Ren proclaimed, pointing his glaive at Mithy's face.

[Emma]

Mithos grinned up at the shaman, catching his breath. "Nicely done - I should have been paying more attention." He admitted, his eyes on the weapon. "But I'm surprised I got as close as I did, truth be told."

[Loki-chan]

"It was impressive, but..." Ren smirked, poking Mithy in the nose with the glaive. "But I still won. You're getting better, it's about time you stopped with those stupid arrows." Ren said so with a hint of jealousy. He disliked arrows because he couldn't fire them himself.
"And fear not, you wouldn't have gotten that close if I didn't let you<3"

[Emma]

The Quincy laughed as he rolled sideways and to his feet, brushing the dirt from his clothes. "Those stupid arrows?" He queried, raising an eyebrow.

[Loki-chan]

"Of course. You can do so little with a bow and arrow if your enemy gets too close to you, and it's so obnoxious to keep a long distance from your foe. Arrows are such a lackluster weapon~" Ren nodded and broke his oversoul, the two weapons falling from it and Bason appearing at his side.
"Swords are better, and stronger. Overall a nicer implement of destruction."

[Emma]

"I suppose." The englishman conceded, staring up at the cloudless sky. "But I could have cut you in half then. Perfect opportunity." He said with a small nod, idly shaping and twisting energy into patterns in the air.

[Loki-chan]

"If you could've, why didn't you?" Ren raised an eyebrow. "Always fight to kill. It's only your opponents fault if they die. You can't get any better if you hold yourself back because you won't kill." Ren looked over at the little shapes mithos was making. "...Cute."

[Emma]

Mithos shot his friend a sidelong glance, smiling softly. "And you'll wear yourself out if you just keep upping the strength of things you've already mastered. At least I'm learning new things."

[Loki-chan]

Ren smirked. "I don't have that much left I can learn. I've mastered many disciplines of kung fu, swordfighting, and shaman training. And i've been put to the ultimate test... I suppose I could go for yin-yang master... though that much power could go to one's head..." Ren rubbed the back of his neck. "There's nothing wrong with upping strength."

[Emma]

Mithos laughed and shook his head a little. "You know that's not what I meant. You still fight exactly the same way you always have." He told Ren, starting back towards the trail from the clearing.

[Loki-chan]

Ren eyed him. "Oh do I? You have a problem with my style?" Ren folded his arms and looked at him intensely. "I've still got a few tricks up my sleeve, but why should I continually change the way that I fight? I fight differently now because I am stronger than I was yesterday, obviously. I can lift you, that says something." Ren's overall body mass was less than Mithy's, despite his muscle. The extra foot or so probably helped Mithy.

[Emma]

"That isn't what I said. And throwing me has nothing to do with strength - it's all about leverage. I threw Tom Covenant - that crazy scotsman - when I was a kid." Mithos protested, his eyes back on the swirling patterns of energy he was creating.