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Tenkai had enjoyed the plane ride. It was one of the few times in the tournament that the monk actually felt he was taking a vacation rather than participating. For a while Tenkai duped himself into thinking that just for the sake of relaxation, but he knew he wouldn't be able to think that way for long.

Of course, once the plane landed, Tenkai actually wished he was on vacation.

"Well, would you look at that..."

Talk about dangling the cherry. It seemed as if Mr. Sonners was going to have the fourth round duked out on the beach like a twilight luau. The entire beach was lit up with little mounds of burning wood and stone. It was safe enough to assume that those rings were going to serve as the arenas for each of the fights. The sight seemed to poke at something in the monk's head, causing him to hum a tune he had heard once in passing.

♫I Fell Into A Burning Ring Of Fire♫

The ring seemed a little over 40 meters in diameter. That'd be plenty of space to fight, but he'd have to be very careful if things started to get flashy. There were no walls to protect the spectators now, and there probably wasn't any sort of magic barrier pertaining to that ring of fire. Not only that, the spectators were in earshot now. It was a hell of a change from Tenkai's fight with Snow, where they practically had to fight out in the middle of nowhere.

As Tenkai approached the ring, there wasn't much of an outcry. His monk robes didn't really make him look like a fighter, so it was easy to overlook. Even the jingling rings of his shakujo were hard to hear amidst the tumult of the spectators. But once Tenkai was about half-way between the audience and the ring, people started to perk up as the monk started fiddling with his robes. As always, it was best not to bring his robes inside the ring since they weren't registered.

He also didn't want to inadvertently throw it into one of those fires...eesh.

Sounds of metal plating and leather straps pulling and shifting into place came from him as he pulled off his robe, setting it to the side. His Buddhist rosary necklace disconnected and pulled off with the robe, remaining in his right hand. This left Tenkai dressed only in a half-worn kosode with the left side down and a pair of samurai trousers, with a tattered cloth hanging off the sides and back of his white rope belt. His right shoulder was protected by a single samurai pauldron, while his right arm was entirely clad in a gauntlet from the forearm down. His knees and shin were also armored in similar Japanese-styled yoroi armor pieces. The shifting of his shoulder armor pulled two sheathed Japanese swords into there respective places, one horizontally on his lower back and the other diagonally over his right shoulder.

The crowd roared.

And Tenkai was startled.

"Eh!?"

He looked behind him to see the spectators, now recognizing him, were cheering. It was a feeling Tenkai certainly wasn't used to.

Recognition...

It was actually a bit uncomfortable for him. Tenkai enjoyed the simplicity of his life, being able to deal with what he set out to do without needing to worry about common folk recognizing him. It was bad enough to be recognized by vampires with what Tenkai did for a living. But every now and then someone would come along, recognizing Tenkai from somewhere, and it always came off as a surprise to the monk. They would always suggest that he enter tournaments to test his skill. It was how he ended up learning about this tournament and others.

But this...

This was more than recognition amongst fighters. This was a crowd cheering for him, cheering for what he did to Snow in the previous round. Tenkai saw nothing of praise in what happened. He was simply helping Snow find his way...a personal thing between two swordsmen. He didn't want to feel special for any of it...playing around between life and death.

I'm not that special.

Then again, perhaps Tenkai was being overly modest. No matter how much you try to remain anonymous, people will know of the things you do and look for you...either to praise or punish you. Tenkai couldn't avoid it, and as he looked back into the eyes of the spectators, he realized he needed to enjoy it.

At least in this case.

So Tenkai would wave, a modest smile plastered on his face as if he was trying to settle everyone down while simultaneously greeting them all.

With that settled, Tenkai re-connected his Buddhist rosary necklace across his chest like a bandolier over his left shoulder. He continued forward, his geta clogs keeping his feet from getting sunk into the sand. He passed in between two of the braziers and stopped about ten feet into the arena, holding his shakujo steady in his right hand like some sort of supporting pillar. Even if he only wished to use his swords in this fight, he would leave his shakujo in the ring anyway.

(Edit 09/06/09: Ahhh crap, I knew I forgot something. :/ When I drew that picture in my last fight with Snow I forgot to add the whole thing with my arm wrap. The judges have it listed, and it wouldnt have been noticed other than the wrapping on my left arm hiding it, anyway. Though it'd just look like I wrapped up my arm anyway. ._. It didn't really matter much...

Then again, I guess my sig sprite is accurate enough. I'm going to go add an early artwork picture to my public profile. It doesn't have a huge bearing on the fight, I just hated missing that detail. I won't change this post though, just noting it for the future so that I don't forget. ><)

Tenkai stood there as his opponent approached, getting a good look at him as he made his way towards the ring. He seemed somewhat urban in his attire, further denoted by how well the early-20s demographic of the audience was recieving him. The monk had no preference or distaste for this. He merely smiled, rubbing his chin a bit.

Though the usual gangbanger types tended to have smaller, urban-styled weapons, Tenkai's opponent had weapons that the monk found much more familiar. It had been a while since he had seen such a weapon. Although rustic in its development, it as extremely effective and versatile. Tenkai didn't need to see the katana to know his opponent could adapt to long and close-range combat.

On first glance Tenkai would have expected a switchblade or something similar, but with those baggy shorts there was no telling what his opponent had hidden.

Tenkai wasn't exactly sure what else his opponent had in his arsenal, but he was definately energetic. The monk could tell that much simply by the air he gave off around the audience. The confident stride, the bit of aerobic warm-up. There was definately some sort of energy at work here.

Tenkai had not had the chance to use anything more than his fists and his sword against his opponents in the previous rounds. For all the audience knew, they were all Tenkai had. But the monk couldn't hope for things to go that smoothly for long. There was no point in testing your abilities when you didn't use them to their full extent.

With regards to audience safety, of course.

But rather than drawing energy by the heat of the moment, or the blood-pumping tempo of the roaring audience, Tenkai simply took a breath. If his opponent was the heat of the fire, then Tenkai would be the calm of the water. If Elliot was sensitive at all to this, he would feel that calm rippling off of the monk.

Which is why Tenkai was extremely welcoming of his opponent's desire to chat.

"Buenos noches," replied Tenkai with an unearthly calm and friendly attitude. You would think someone would be much more tense and hostile towards someone they were about to fight with, but that wasn't very like a Buddhist monk to begin with. It seemed that in spite of their differences, Tenkai and Elliot saw eye-to-eye in this regard.

Nevertheless, he also didn't want to waste his opponent's time. If he was waiting for some sort of special arrangement like the one Tenkai had with Snow, Tenkai would need to address that.

"In case you're wondering, I'd rather fight without restriction," said the monk. "I had enough of that in my last fight. The only thing I ask is that we both take care with regard to the spectators. I'm sure neither of us want them hurt."

Tenkai thrust his shakujo into the sand like a post as he took a step forward, taking hold of the sheath of the katana on his lower back, pulling it over to the left side of his hip.

"My name is Tenkai Matsumoto," said the monk as he stood there calmly, "Tell me, friend...what is your name, and why do you fight?"

(It's all good. :3)

Tenkai couldn't help but giggle at Elliot's remark. Although narrowed towards the women of the audience, Tenkai trusted that Elliot meant the audience as a whole.

But the answer to Tenkai's second question was what the monk was really interested in.

"A living, is it?" he replied. His calm was unwavering, but he still mused over the possibilities that description gave. He could have fought simply in competitions for the prize money in order to support himself. On the other hand, criminals, contract killers, mercenaries...all of them fought for a living as well, from all parts of the moral spectrum.

Or did he live for the fame given from being a fighter?

"As for me...well...you'll learn about why I fight in due time. But tell me..."

A cryptic statement, but oddly it seemed as if the monk's little interview had something to do with that reason.

With one swift movement, Tenkai removed the sword from his belt, saya and all, holding it in his left hand at his hip. He took a step back with his left foot, bringing his right hand to the hilt of his sword.

"If you fight for a living, who or what do you live for?"

With that, Tenkai stepped forward with his rear left foot and advanced. His steps were faster than a simple walk, but far from a full-blown charge. They were careful, his feet not that far above the ground with each step. Perhaps closing the distance would start the fight off.

(Don't worry, I know what you mean. It's alright.)

For some reason, Tenkai expected an answer like that. If Tenkai wasn't so alert for the fight, he'd have missed the answer entirely. People often had a hard time relating such reasons in the heat of battle. For some people, all they lived for was to fight. But even Tenkai knew that wasn't entirely true, no matter how much it felt like it. Perhaps he'd learn more about Mr. Pope in good time.

But for now, Tenkai had to put that aside. His smile faded for a moment as he went into action.

As Tenkai advanced, he watched as Elliot built up momentum with the weighted end of his kusarigama. The monk expected as much for the start. That weapon would definately make this fight a difficult one with its range versatility.

Rather than wait for Tenkai to get within melee range, Elliot took the initiative. The manriki swung low toward's Tenkai's left, probably intending to either strike Tenkai's feet out from under him or wrap around his ankle to immobilize it. The swing was too fast for Tenkai to tell which his opponent was trying. All he knew was that it was coming right for him...

Luckily, Tenkai had expected this.

CSHICSHINCKSH!

The chains would definately reach Tenkai and wrap around something, but not his ankle. In one swift motion, Tenkai swung his sheathed sword down in the way of the chain, stopping the momentum of his advance with his right foot. The chain would start to wrap around the sheath mid-swing, but Tenkai followed through with the swing until the sheath was pointed out and away from his body. That way the chain wouldn't clock him in the head or shin as it wrapped around.

This would leave Tenkai holding his sword outward towards his left at an angle, his left hand on the sheath while his right hand remained on the hilt. Was he trying to play some sort of tug-of-war with him?

So that's how it is? You don't know?

Tenkai smiled once more.

Dropping the kama was definately an unusual thing for Tenkai to see from someone wielding a kusarigama. Of course, it didn't take very long at all for it to register in his head what Elliot was going for...

His pockets!?

Of course! The baggy cargo shorts! Tenkai knew he was going to pull something out of there eventually, but he didn't expect him to do it now. Although the darkness made it harder to make out exact apperances, Tenkai's eyes were sharp enough as a swordsman that he couldn't see any glint of a bladed edge, or even an edge shape. Elliot had drawn something spherical.

Well, that couldn't be good.

When Tenkai saw kusarigama, he kept thinking of the Iga ninja he had met in Kyoto back when he was still training as a boy. More often than not, harmless-looking spheres were never just that. Firebombs, smoke-grenades...it didn't matter really. The monk knew that danger came in small packages.

But why was Elliot using that here?

Although the sphere was small, explosives knew not their masters. From this point in the ring it probably wouldn't reach anyone in the audience, but it was still too risky. Especially if it was some kind of flash-bang grenade. Somehow, Tenkai had to stop Elliot from using it...or at least from using it again if he had more.

Elliot began tugging on the chain. It held pretty tightly on Tenkai's scabbard, and the monk held strong against the chain to maintain this hold. It looked as if he was bracing himself. It was unfortunate that Elliot couldn't simply sense the "calm" around Tenkai before rather than see it in his face. If he could, he would probably be able to feel the rise of his ki.



--Tenkai would soon be too close for comfort.

As Elliot stepped back to pull with the chain, Tenkai pushed off into a powerful dash, using the force of the chain pull and Elliot's strength to bring him in close in a very short amount of time. By the time Elliot whipped his arm around, the monk would be (in Elliot's terms) "up in his grill."

Well...maybe not that close...yet...

At first this charge would look like it only had one advantage...albeit a foolhardy one. With Tenkai moving with the pull of Elliot's right arm, Tenkai would be too close by the time Elliot's left came in with the throw. With the way Tenkai moved towards Elliot's right, his throw would either miss by a slim margin off Tenkai's lower right side, or end up exploding close enough for Elliot to take a good deal of the blast himself. That wouldn't be good with the sphere being so close to that right arm of his...

Although Tenkai was prepared to take damage from the explosion, that wasn't the least of Elliot's worries. That was because Tenkai's true counter-attack would come in much sooner...

Once Tenkai was within a meter or so of his opponent, he would push against his sheath with his left hand, letting it go with Elliot's pull as his left hand went down to the sword's hilt. Elliot had practically drawn Tenkai's blade for him. The light of the flames reflecting off of Muramasa's blade would only be a fleeting vision to Elliot before Tenkai struck.

SHHHHIIINNGGGG!!!



Tenkai would cut Elliot from the right side of his chest down towards his left arm, right as it whipped around to throw his weapon. Strengthened by his ki, the strike was strong enough to displace the air around it. Normally Tenkai used this as a projectile "air blade" attack, but left it much weaker this time so that there was no chance it would harm the audience. Fortunately, this meant that using the attack at point-blank range was still effective, and yet weak enough that the "air blade" would disperse before it could do any fatal damage to Elliot.

Tenkai hoped the end of the strike would injure Elliot's left arm such so that it would either interrupt the underhand whip or divert the throw even more towards Tenkai's outside right. With Tenkai closer to Elliot's right side, it would mean that avoiding the explosive would be all the more easy. But with Elliot's right hand pulling back on the chain and his left hand disarmed of his kama, he wouldn't be able to defend against Tenkai's sword.

Still, resorting to tricks in the middle of a fight where the audience was that close wasn't something Tenkai liked very much. Those sort of tactics were used by ninja, but Elliot definately didn't look like one with how much he enjoyed the crowd. However, the monk had also seen the same attitude amongst rogues and thieves. Was this what Elliot meant by making a living?

Just what did he live for anyway?

三本!
[3]

!

Fast!

His opponent had recovered his right arm from that pull faster than Tenkai expected. But why was he pushing forward into the attack? At their distance it'd only make things worse considering the strength he put behind the Fuujinzan.

Why is he reaching out with his arm? It'll get in the...

"Bzzzzerkt"

"AAAGGGHHH!!"

Tenkai's eyes widened as his left arm was assaulted by the jolt of electricity from Elliot's forearm. The ki he had focused in his left arm helped minimalize the burns, but he wasn't prepared to completely defend against it. His left arm went numb, but the monk's cry was a bit odd for a cry of pain. Something sounded off about it, as if the pain was mixed with a cry of effort with an undertone of heavy regret.

As Tenkai's left arm was electrocuted, it let go of his sword's pommel.

This meant that Tenkai's right hand was free to continue the movement of his slash. With the ki still built up for his Fuujinzan technique inside his right arm, the force of the slash would be more than enough for a powerful strike. With Elliot's right forearm against Tenkai's left wrist and his left arm preparing his strike, Elliot had a large opening.

The only thing was, this strike was worse than what Tenkai had intended. Not only did he not expect his opponent to push into his attack, he didn't want him to. Although now Elliot's left arm was out of the way, with Elliot's left arm poised for his next attack, the forward movement of his right arm would have Tenkai's sword cut even deeper into the right side of his chest, leaving a deeper gash in his sternum and ribs. The strike would halt Elliot's efforts to whack Tenkai with that glass ball, otherwise the blade would cut deeper into Elliot's lower left ribcage.

Stepping in to try and halt the attack was a big mistake. Tenkai was hoping Elliot would try to move instead and interrupt his throw. The monk was still convinced it was some sort of explosive, as he didn't have time to notice Elliot had attempted to smash it into him. All he could think about was trying to get away and pull back on the strike...

But his strike would end just as Tenkai mustered his spirit through his left arm, counter-acting with the electricity. Something in Tenkai's left arm seemed to be facilitating this use of reiki, which flashed along with the sparks of electricity in a burst of blue "fire". This "fire" wouldn't injure Elliot, as his own electricity clashed with it, but the shock would be enough paired with the strike to send the two of them flying back in opposite directions.

SHWOOOM!

The sparks of electricity and burst of blue spirit fire would act as a powerful crescendo, sending the crowd into a roaring frenzy for both fighters.

Tenkai landed in a roll, ending up on his knees shakily. He clutched his left arm, still crackling with electricity, almost hating the fact that the crowd was excited by such a violent display. The burns from the electricity had singed through his left arm's wrap, revealing an odd inscription tatooed on Tenkai's left arm. It must have been what he used to help break the distance after the electrical attack, but he was caught too off guard to properly defend. He was going to need a moment after that attack.

But Tenkai didn't let this cloud his focus. Even with his last attack, there was no telling how Elliot took it or what he'd do after. He'd wait until he knew the situation before deciding his next action.

However...if there was blood on the sand, Tenkai's feeling of regret would just grow deeper.

四本!
[4]

((Note: Post considered void considering judge ruling))

A request for a judge was called. After some reading, I see where the problem came in. Elliot, I think you didn't pay attention to how much a "meter" is. In Tenkai's post, he said right when he was in a meter, which is over 3 and a half feet in distance, he slashed with his sword. Katanas are usually 2 feet in blade length. Add that with the length increased by the arm, and it is clear that he's attacking with the tip of the weapon, thus reasoning why he doesn't want to go for something fatal. This is where you messed up by moving in. I don't think Elliot would have been fast enough to try to stop the blade at the wrist, not if there was a little more feet decreased between them.

If anything, all Elliot will be able to do is hit the blade from its underside with a tap because Tenkai is right in saying that you can't be "pulling" then suddenly go into a quick forward motion. It's a cruel trick in tug o' war to have both sides pulling, then one of them letting go so the other can fall. Even though they technically win, they took all that momentum. This is what is happening in this scenario.

Thus, the ruling is that Elliot takes the attack.