rooftop kitten.

The Dragon walked over with the power of Sonido to literally appear behind the man, all the while plunging his blade into the shoulder(yours) to restrict movement.

Shadow tapped into Serene Mind once again and could sense his opponent striking behind him. He used it and his agility to try to move out of the way, but his opponent's speed was enough to leave a cut into Shadow's shoulder just as he slid to the side. Shadow shrugged off the minor injury.

"That speed is astounding... but annoying. I don't like using this early, but..." Shadow calmly said as he gripped his weapons. "Strike from the Shadows - Phantom." As Shadow said that, traces of energy can be felt from his swords. The pressure of his released power was not overwhelming or intimidating, but calm and silent.

"Perfect. Now I know that I CAN cut him," Ragecano thought as a booming sound, much as that of a beat box, scattered the silence as the Dragon again appeared behind the Reaper, this time aiming a slice into his lower back, right between two vertebrae.

Hearing the booming sound that indicated his opponent's movement, Shadow's body instantly and silently dove into the shadow below him at a lightning-fast speed, creating the illusion that he had just vanished, causing his opponent's attack to miss. Shadow silently rose behind the dragon using his shadow and made two low slashes to the enemy's legs.

Ragecano felt the blade running across his legs, and created a booming sound to open four feet of distance between himself, Shadow, and Nikolai. However, the blades did cut into his legs, and his Sonido would be slowed down. Without prior notice, the Dragon rushed the reaper(Shadow) with one large slash to the chest, being sure not to incur a melancholy Nikolai, who was beginning to tire of this spectacle.

Immediately after slashing the dragon's legs, Shadow dove back into the shadow in the ground to evade the incoming attack. A small shadow was then formed right in front of his opponent after the slash missed and Shadow immediately rose from it, with his blades lightly doused with his energy. "Demon Cutter" Shadow said with a light whisper and released the energy from his blades in the form of numerous crescent-shaped energy waves about the length of his swords, attacking his opponent at close range. These blades did not create some heavy explosion; instead they simply cut the flesh like razor-sharp wind.

Nikolai became even more livid as he looked on. "Your night tricks are really beginning to piss me off," both Ragecano and the Soul Reaper thought, and Nikolai wasn't even in this mess! The Dragon took a Sonido-propelled four steps as he purposely fell off the rooftop, and latched onto a windowpane with both hands. He then turned so his back was facing the building, and stood on another windowpane. As he began charging up a Cero, he thought of a strategy.

Shadow sighed as he saw his opponent use his lightning speed movement over the rooftop and quickly followed suit, stopping at the edge to peer over. Spotting his opponent on a windowpane and charging up for an attack, Shadow whispered "Ghost Stab" and stabbed his sword into the ground; the blade came out from the shadow behind the dragon and aimed to pierce his rear.

Ragecano decided to jump back unto the rooftop, aiming the Cero he had just charged at Nikolai to do something drastic.

Shadow sighed as he utilized Demon Cutter to fire energy waves to assault the large beam directed at the fellow Reaper.

While the energy waves were being shot, Ragecano took this opportunity to get in a cut. While Nikolai took one Shunpo step to land on a tree, which just happened to be the one that the Cero hit, the Dragon executed an x-shaped slice at the reaper(Shadow's) back, but not before using Sonido to make the transition from front to back.

The dragon took advantage of Shadow's distracted state and slashed his back, the tip of his katana slicing into Shadow's rear as he was unable to dodge in time. He let out a soft grunt but shrugged off the injury. Shadow then regained his composure and stood still in place.

Ragecano had but one thing to say: "Bring it," as he aimed another slash for the chest, which was diagonal. All this while Nikolai fell to the ground from that tree.

"In the face of my enemy, I do not yield. I am not alone; I am never alone. The two beings that were once separated become whole, revealing its true form and power. Strike from the Shadows - Phantom!" In a flash, Shadow fused the pommels of his swords, forming a staff-like weapon possessing bladed tips, and spun them vertically in front of him to deflect the incoming attack. He then retaliated by making a low horizontal slash toward his enemy's legs.

Ragecano jumped up, becoming increasingly infuriated. He took three cartwheels, opening three feet of distance between the two. While Nikolai was stumbling back unto the rooftop, the Dragon fired another Cero, this time at the ground around the reaper.

Shadow charged into the Cero, twirling his blades to block the attack and stopping it from impacting the roof. "First you kill a tree, now you try to crack the rooftop. Are you trying to endanger everyone around you? This was supposed to be a friendly spar, not a battle of pure destruction..." Shadow scowled.

Ragecano took a Sonido-propelled step to reappear behind the Reaper as he was talking, and thrusted his sword down into his shoulder. Nikolai kept watching, doing absolutely nothing.

Knowing that his opponent would try to use the distraction tactic again and that he could not completely cut away the Cero in time, Shadow immediately sank into the shadow beneath him, causing the partially weakened blast to proceed to strike its own user. Shadow then reappeared from a formed shadow a few feet away.

Ragecano swung his sword up, cutting the Cero in half, sliding past him. Nikolai batted an eye as the dragon waited for the next move.

Shadow quietly stared at his opponent, cautiously gauging his enemy.

"I insist that you strike first," Ragecano replied.

Shadow quietly walked toward his opponent, continuing to stare him down. He made no gesture to strike.

Ragecano just stood there.

Shadow slipped into his shadow again. A shadow formed right in front of his opponent and he rose to horizontally slash the foe's torso, only to immediately sink back into the ground before the attack could connect to reappear behind his enemy to slash his rear.

Ragecano sidestepped with the power of Sonido, then took another step behind the reaper, all the while aiming a deep slash at the back.