<Nocturnal Harmonia>

[Bloodedge]

Bloodlust didn't seem to be working, even with Yugi's Sharingan active... or was it? Frankly, Yugi couldn't truly tell. Either it didn't work, or it did work and this boss was simply strong enough to show no notable differences. Yugi would have to find out the truth with more direct observation. Igris hadn't acted on Yugi's provocations; he hadn't attacked. According to Miko, another twenty seconds or so would be needed for her spell's completion. Well, surely Igris wouldn't just stand there and wait for it. Yugi couldn't risk waiting either. "Twenty seconds. Right. Yeah, sure. I can fight him off for twenty seconds... right?" Yugi said, having zero certainty about his ability to go through with that claim. Chokuto in his right hand, he charged its blade with arcing lightning to prepare for hellish combat. Yugi's right foot slid forward slowly, carefully in half a measured step. "Alright... come on. Fight me, bitch!" he challenged further. Yugi felt it would be stupid to be the attacker in this situation. No, he'd be waiting for Igris to strike first. . .

Igris held his high guard for only a heartbeat longer. Then, with sudden, explosive grace, he surged forward. The greatsword swept in a wide, rising arc—blade whistling through the air as crimson light trailed from the edge like spilled blood. The strike aimed not to kill outright, but to test: a powerful diagonal cut meant to force Yugi to parry or evade, the force behind it enough to shatter stone if it met no resistance. At the same moment, Igris's free hand snapped out. An invisible pressure erupted from his palm, targeting Miko's position to yank her off-balance with crushing strength, disrupt her incantation and pull her toward him across the stone floor. He'd closed the distance in two powerful strides, armor ringing with each step, cape billowing behind him like a banner of war. The crimson mane flowed in the wake of his movement, eyes locked on both Players with unyielding focus. No words were spoken. There was only the silent, relentless advance of a commander who had guarded this throne for centuries.

[Apollymi]

This fight was already seeming pretty daunting. Miko was already starting to feel like this timing was going to be an issue. Twenty seconds never seemed like a lot, until a fight was taking place or one was in a gym. Right just now, Miko knew this was going to be a terrible time for Yugi, but that was just a part of this dance she thought. "I know... I know... I'm also a bit sketched out by this whole thing," Miko confirmed quietly.

Still while Yugi took over the fight in earnest, she could concentrate on the next line of her incantation. "Target's marked beneath the heavens♪!~" she finished a line. There was only one more left, but in this one room, there was nothing else going on. She could hear every movement the Blood-Red Commander Igris. It was such a consistent noise, so uptempo and menacing. Every whistled movement, every swing of the blade, and every light step. "Oh no... that sounds so quick! I'm not going to like this..." Miko muttered softly an odd form of prediction made her realize she was in trouble an she was suddenly in pain that barrier around her person cracking and her body flying around. "WUUUUP♪!~ He has a fucking force powers!!~" Miko chirped in pure fear and a slight bit of admiration. She still had one more line to finish and technically she could finish it, as soon as she managed to scramble back to her feet. As long as she got those last few words out she'd be alright.

[Bloodedge]

Yugi's provocation did work the second time. Alas, that only meant he had to deal with Igris closing the distance between them before Sharingan could fully register the movement. 'Shit! Skill!' he thought, activating Knight's Bastion as an emergency reflex. As he established his defense in a rush, there was no time to form the shield; he had to settle for the armored form. If nothing else, that decision cloaked him in a defensive ethereal armor just well enough to avoid immediate critical damage. Igris's greatsword shattered the veil Miko had already placed on Yugi in the moment of impact, and was in the process of cleaving through his Knigh's Bastion Skill by the time his chokuto swept over to meet the offending blade. While Miko was being dragged toward Igris, Yugi was being launched away and disarmed, blood spilling from his side as the knight's blade couldn't be kept fully from his flesh. "Gah! Shit!" he grumbled. Yugi attempted to slide to an eventual stop near where his chokuto landed, holding out a hand to prepare a defense not for himself, but for Miko. He casted Knight's Bastion again, this time forming a shield between Miko and Igris.

Igris pressed forward without pause after the clash. The greatsword continued its arc, the crimson glow along the blade flaring brighter as it met the ethereal armor Yugi had summoned in haste. The veil shattered under the blow—fragments of spectral plate dissolving into wisps of shadow—but the impact was blunted just enough. The blade carved a deep gash across Yugi's side, blood spraying in a thin arc, yet it did not reach bone or vital organs. As Yugi was launched backward, Igris pivoted smoothly on one armored boot. His crimson mane whipped behind him like a banner caught in a sudden wind. Igris stepped into the space Yugi had vacated, boots ringing against the stone. He raised the greatsword in a high guard again, point leveled at the shield Miko had conjured between them. The glowing eyes beneath his helmet fixed on her—unblinking, assessing—then shifted to Yugi sliding across the floor, blood trailing from his wound. He did not pursue immediately. He waited, stance wide, blade steady. The chamber's silence returned, broken only by the faint drip of Yugi's blood and the low hum of Miko's forming disks overhead. Igris tilted his helmeted head slightly, as though acknowledging the shield. Then, with deliberate slowness, he lowered the greatsword's point to the floor once more—resting it there, both hands on the hilt, waiting for their next move. Yugi thought strangely of that hesitation. 'Is that Chivalry? Or is that prep?' he wondered. "Watch out!" he warned just in case.

[Apollymi]

Provocations worked and both Miko and Yugi were feeling the danger of the Blood-Red Commander Igris. Miko was being dragged across the room. Yugi now had a dripping wound Miko could hear, and just as quickly as Igris' assault started in full swing, Miko thought she was about to be dragged into hell, but soon there as a shield up in front of her allowing her to stop, finally. She sighed but was still on high alert. And all she could hear, was that dripping and the sound of her own magic humming at the start of its wouldn't be casting arc.

And in this moment, it was Miko's turn to feel oppressed. She was barely fighting back a shiver and the glowing eyes of the Blood-Red Commander settling on her for a few seconds had her pausing in consideration. She was told to watch out... "You don't have to tell me that... when he's not moving that silence is terrifying♪~" Miko's words were still coming out in chirps. It was like being scared was rising her natural speaking octave and placing a rhythm on words that shouldn't have it. "Yeah, I know... Chivalry. So... I have an opening, slight though it is. I can finish the incantation, and maybe put us under direct fire for the duration of it. Or... I can heal you and take the aggro for a second. I'll heal the damage almost instantly but it'll hurt like a son of a bitch, I know it," Miko murmured quickly and softly as if afraid to accidentally provoke the being in front of her.

[Bloodedge]

"Unit! U-nit!" Yugi reiterated when Miko spoke of 'terrifying' silence from the boss. His right arm was crossed over his torso, covering that gash at his left side. Chivalry had activated for him, but it didn't make that much of a difference. Ah, but he now had more offensive ability because of it. Strangely though, he couldn't blame the Chivalry set bonus on Igris's current hesitation in front of Miko. Why wasn't he attacking though? Either it was traditional chivalry: the knight refraining from further assault because neither of them currently wielded a weapon... or it was something much worse in the immediate sense. "I can go without the heal for a minute. Total flesh wound, y'know?" he said sarcastically when offered healing by Miko. He thought her best move would be finishing that spell's incantation... so he took a chance. Yugi reached for his sword, intending to pick it up and ready himself again. If his assumption was right, he'd take the aggro by virtue of being the only combat-ready opponent. 'Come on, come on,' he thought.

Igris remained rooted in place as Yugi reached for the fallen chokuto. The knight's eyes tracked the movement without haste—unblinking, unreadable. The greatsword stayed low, point resting against the stone floor, both gauntleted hands steady on the hilt. The moment Yugi's fingers closed around the grip, Igris moved. He took one heavy step forward, boot ringing against the stone. That crimson mane shifted as he raised the greatsword in a smooth, rising arc. The blade cut through the air with a low hum, aimed in a wide diagonal sweep toward Yugi's midsection. At the same instant, Igris's left hand snapped outward. That telekinetic ability surged from his palm in an invisible wave. The force seized the chokuto before Yugi could fully lift it, wrenching it from his grasp and sending it skidding across the floor toward the far wall. Igris advanced another step, armor clinking softly. The greatsword continued its arc, now leveled at Yugi's chest once more. The crimson eyes shifted briefly to Miko—taking note of the disks of water still forming above—then returned to Yugi. By the time he did look to Yugi again...

"Finish it!" Yugi called out to Miko. His body was presently tilting at the waist, weaving beneath Igris's greatsword. His Sharingan was spinning, soon to spawn a second tomoe in each eye ─ though the extreme focus already had his eyes bloodshot as they followed Igris. That didn't matter to Yugi presently. He fully intended to disrupt Igris's movements here and now. His right arm was drawn back, fist at the ready to deliver a powerful strike to the knight's abdomen. It didn't matter to Yugi if he'd been disarmed; he'd fight hand-to-hand! That would be proved when he connected with Igris's abdomen, triggering Black Flash's activation. "Bitch!"

[Apollymi]

The idea that Blood-Red Commander Igris was a "UNIT" was reiterated. Miko didn't need that either. She realized that she'd consciously been using the man's whole title in her head every time she thought of him. That daunting music she heard... felt like a death march. Every step they took one way or another was still leading to one ultimate end, it would either be him or both of them... and if she was being honest, their odds didn't seem favorable. When the plan of action was offered, it would seem that Yugi was willing to go without the heal initially. There was a flesh wound he claimed, so sarcastically, Miko chuckled. "Tehe♪~ Yeah, just scratch, no biggie. Obviously nothing a bandaid won't fix♪~" Her tone light and joking but they both knew the truth.

This was an ordeal. Even the Riverglass Phantom of their earlier adventure paled in comparison to this calculating and battle ready Blood-Red Commander. Everytime that man's eyes shifted, Miko knew he was calculating. Even as Yugi went for his weapon to try and trigger aggro, it wasn't as if he'd forgotten about Miko's existence. Something told her, even an Assassin, might have a hard time, fighting against a man with such aware senses. She held the gentle thought, that it might be possible to overwhelm his senses for just a moment, and if itwas, they might be able to get back into a rhythm more suitable to themselves.

Still at the point where Miko had taken a breath to prepare herself and Blood-red Commander Igris fully gave his attention to Yugi, she was told to finish it. "Hai♪!~" she chirped, a little snap leaving her fingers as she'd allowed the count to continue in her head so as not to disrupt the rhythm of her cast even when she was technically pausing it for the sake of the solo being committed against them by this boss of an enemy. "Be erased by the light---♪!~" Miko chirped out finally, a catalyst coming back to each hand with a very specific thing in mind. "MEGIDDO♪!~" and just like that the lenses formed and snapped back into the place, and the light she'd held in those catalyst began firing in rhythm with Yugi's statemen. "Pulse healing!♪!~ Veil♪!~" she said casting each spell while light beams rained down from above aiming to target Igris around his form while she aimed to give those catalysts over to Yugi. She was working on the timing of the Black Flash readying her own and trading her catalysts with him so he could be healed and technically direct the light. "You can aim it♪!~" she mentioned, knowing his ocular prowess might help with it a bit better.