Sorry for another late update. I could tell you guys why, but I'll save that for the author's note at the end...

There was an explosion as Mugen and Kurousagi started to slide back from the dust that appeared in the middle of the area.

"Man, that was close…"

Mugen wiped his brow with his sleeve while Kuroneko was watching the smoke nervously. Two figures came into view as the dust began to clear. One of the figures, the handsome-looking knight, had his hand out with his sword in one hand, while he cradled the other figure, the dainty blond-haired priestess, with the other arm.

Mugen and Kuroneko had launched their assault on the duo almost immediately after getting close enough (though Kuroneko was quite reluctant to do so). However, the knight, Leander, had quickly wrapped himself around his partner, Hero, and covered her as Mugen and Kuroneko struck their respective blows.

On impact, the two felt as if they had struck a large resilient wall which gave them an uncomfortable feeling. Mugen took out his Bokken and started rapidly swinging it around to attack the man's plated back, while Kuroneko stood back to watch. The arena started to echo with the sound of the hardened wood hitting the metal armor repetitively. However, Mugen's attacks didn't seem to be having any effect at all. The pink-streaked boy was attacking at an impressive pace, but all he was really doing was tiring himself out.

Leander's defenses were completely solid and not even a single scratch was left on him. Mugen finally stopped and leapt back after seeing how futile his efforts were, and glared as the knight stood tall against him.

"Hmph, guess he's not just a normal knight after all…"

Mugen's [Gift], [Wielder of Arms], allows him to use any weapon to its full potential. Even with the difference in materials, the fact that not a dent or a single mark was made on the armor meant that this must have been a [Gift] that was helping him. The young boy was about to run towards Leander again until…

"Move…"

He quickly sidestepped to his left as lightning suddenly shot past him and struck the handsome knight, causing a small explosion of dust in place. Mugen braced himself for the small pressure that was released as he turned to see Kuroneko pointing her finger nervously.

"What the hell was that?"

"Er… it was…" she flinched as she stuttered. "T-That was my [Gift]…"

"You're saying you can shoot freaking lightning from your hands?"

"My [Gift] is named [Xiezhi], and yes, that was lighting that I used earlier…"

[Xiezhi], name of the legendary beast in Chinese and Korean mythology, it was depicted as a four-legged creature with a horn that upholds justice and law.

However, there wasn't much else known about this creature, which made it a sort of "lesser-spirit" type deity. The thunder was mostly likely from the "judgment" bit of the myth, but it didn't seem as impressive as Kurousagi's [Spear of Indra] that he heard about, so maybe it was a difference in available details that determined such things?

No, that wasn't important. Right now, he needed to focus on the targets in front of him. The dust cleared to reveal the pair still completely unharmed. Actually, "unharmed" was an understatement. There still wasn't a single mark left on either of the two. Mugen kept a calm face, but his partner didn't seem as relaxed.

"A wah wah wah wah…this is impossible! Those two are invincible! We're never going to beat them!"

"Shut up…" Mugen groaned as he studied the two of them at the same time. He didn't believe in anything as stupid as "invincibility". That said, that doesn't mean that this wasn't a trick that was close to it. While fighting was more fun without thinking too hard, Mugen knew that there were moments to fight smart.

Leander must have had a [Gift] that gave him some form or protection. No matter how resilient he himself was, or how well his armor was made; it made no sense for armor to just come out from all those attacks without even a single mark on it.

As the story went, Leander was able to cross the "Sea of Helle" in order to reach his lover, Hero. So it must have been something like "Resilience" or maybe something like "Divine Protection" that helped simulate that same situation. If so, then it was going to be a pain to try and figure out how to beat him…

As for Hero, she didn't look like she had anything that seemed to pose a threat to either of them, but there had to be a reason for her being here, aside from keeping Leander from being disqualified…

Wait…wasn't there something he was missing? Maybe it wasn't any kind of divine protection or something that was keeping Leander alive. Maybe… it was….

Mugen didn't have much time to think. Leander had suddenly dashed towards him while keeping a hand on his sheathed blade. The speed wasn't particularly fast, probably because of all the stuff he was wearing, but it was still a pretty decent pace that shouldn't be underestimated. Mugen held his bokken towards Leander in a defensive stance, and waited for the attack. Upon their clash, Leander was pushing Mugen back slowly towards he wall. The pink-streaked hair boy shifted both of their weapons to one side, while he managed to escape through the other. The knight quickly turned and made a side slash towards him, forcing him to hold his bokken right in the middle of the path.

Since it was a last-minute decision, he was gripping it a bit loosely, and his weapon ended up hitting his back, leaving it sore as he flew a short distance and fell on the ground.

"That…was crap…" he thought to himself as he stood up.

He wasn't sure how far Leander was planning to go with that attack earlier, but he knew that it would've been worse if he didn't hold his own weapon up to turn the sharp cut into a blunt hit. He turned up to see Leander, who was already running towards him. He didn't have much time to think at the moment, so he quickly got up while trying to ignore the sore on his back, and swung.

Kuroneko was watching the whole battle earlier with a look of worry on her face. Everything Mugen did seemed to have no effect whatsoever. Her [Gift] didn't have an effect either, and Leander was getting the upper hand with each successful strike. She thought about running, but since they were all trapped in the arena, there were very little places they could hide.

No, she needed to try and find a way to win this battle. Nobody would be die, and at worst, they would only be sent away by Shiroyasha to the infirmary. But the question was still how. She turned to Hero, who was watching the battle while holding a lit candlestick. The candlestick was just an ordinary object, but something about it was making her suspicious about it.

In the myth, Hero died out of grief for Leander's death, so if they can take out Leander, then they can defeat Hero at the same time. But as for Leander's death, he died by drowning, so would that mean that they would need to have him drown somehow?

As she was thinking, the flames on the candlestick began to grow at an alarming rate, swirling around Hero like a blazing snake that was protecting the young girl from harm. Kuroneko felt the heat exhuming in front of her, but before she could react, the blazing snake suddenly shot itself at the cat-girl. Kuroneko instinctively held her hand out and shot lightning at the fire, but it quickly devoured the electricity and grew larger. However, the flame was held in place for a few moments, leaving just enough time for Kuroneko to leap away a good distance.

"I'm sorry," Hero spoke softly. "But I won't let you bother Leander no matter what!"

The flames began to lash out once again at Kuroneko, who continued to dodge the attacks in an acrobatic-like fashion. Hero stood in one place while letting the flames chase the cat, but that didn't make her an easier target. She was still protected by the very same blazing element that was chasing after her target, and despite the intense heat that was being given off, she didn't show any signs of being affected by the fire herself, meaning that she held was naturally-resistant against her own attack.

Kuroneko was able to avoid a direct attack, but she could still feel the heat against her skin. She guessed that the temperature was about 3000 F at least, so it doesn't seem like extinguishing it through normal means is going to work. She bit her lip as she pondered her choices…

Mugen on the other hand, was starting to really enjoy himself. After enduring many fights against Izayoi, attacks like these were only half as effective at most. Course, that didn't mean that it wouldn't hurt, and he would still have a problem if he was hit with the sharp edge, but those were just minor details. He was having a lot of fun battling with someone who wasn't going to go down easily.

"Yes! This is fun! This is really fun!"

The pink-streaked haired delinquent made a two-handed thrust at opening in Leander's shoulder armor, which was deflected by the knight's shifting movement which made him land a hit on the armor itself instead. Leander swiftly countered with a swing of his blade as the soft tip of Mugen's weapon began to slide on the smooth metal surface of the armor, making it and its wielder move closer to the knight than intended. Mugen pushed away from the knight using his feet as traction, but the knight's blade made contact with his weapon and landed a blow that forced Mugen's weapon to turn Mugen around about 265 degrees. Leander swung down at Mugen's back, leaving a large cut in his clothing.

Mugen didn't really feel anything more than a scratch, but he hated the idea of getting injured like that, so he swung with an incredible force at the knight. As expected, the knight held his weapon to block the attack, but Mugen released his grip on the blade, sending it spinning towards Leander like a projectile. He held his blade out to knock the spinning wooden sword , but as the sword was about to make contact, Mugen suddenly appeared at the same time and landed a strong punch right at the point of impact between both blades. The resulting force knocked both weapons into Leander's chestplate and pushed him back a fair distance. He gasped suddenly as Mugen retrieved his weapon and gave an arrogant smile.

"So I guess this protection of yours is only good for a single layer attack then…"

Earlier, when Mugen landed the blow on the weapons, his attack wasn't just three forces, but actually three along with a large impact, or shockwave, that bypassed the armor and "special defense".

Let's say that there was a balloon filled with water and an ice cube was inside. Theoretically, if you can somehow transfer a single powerful force, from something like a hammer, directly onto the ice cube itself, you can cause it to crack, if not shatter, without causing any damage into the balloon itself. This can be achieved by using controlled vibrations. By forcing the water to vibrate at a certain frequency, you can stress the molecular bonds of the ice, and weaken it to the point of giving the appearance of damage onto the ice itself, without needing to destroy the balloon.

Mugen had tested this theory by landing the three-force hit earlier. The first hit from the weapon was to create an "instrument of transference", what would transfer the vibrations. The second hit from his fist was the process of transferring vibrations onto the weapons. The third hit was the hit from both weapons onto his chestplate, where the vibrations were quickly transferred onto Leander's body. In other words, the "shockwave" was actually vibrations from the attack that caused a violent, yet subtle, shaking throughout Leander's body, straining his muscles and bones to the point that it seemed like his defenses had failed.

"So, you aren't just a mindless musclehead after all…" Leander gasped as he momentarily used his sword to steady himself.

"I wish people would stop accusing me of that…" Mugen sighed as he shook his head. "Anyways, I'm guessing that your 'invincibility' is actually just some hidden third layer, am I right?"

"It's [Faith]." The knight replied without any sign of lies or deceit. "Hero's expectations of me coming unscathed allows me to come out without any damage to my armor, while still providing me with some protection."

"But this is only for the armor, right?"

"Correct. People seem to think that an armor can protect all, so they believe that as long as the armor holds, the bearer cannot be harmed."

"So the wish stops at the armor because nobody really think much about the body itself."

"Exactly. But all the same, it would be quite difficult to harm me like you did before."

"In other words, Hero is the key here…"

Leander glared at Mugen. "I know what you're thinking, but I won't let you harm her." He held his blade out and stood with a posture that made It seem like his appearance just then was a lie. "And now that I know how you can harm me, it'll be impossible for you to win."

Mugen pointed his bokken at Leander while grinning.

"Don't worry, I've got plenty more tricks up my sleeve…"

Author's note: So let's just get this over with. I've gotten stuck with Kurousagi since characters here apparantly aren't satisfied with the idea that I might take another month or so just to post a new chapter.

Black Rabbit: If Shadow-san was being dilligent with his work, Kurousagi wouldn't need to be stick around to make sure you got your work done!

Me: Look, I've already explained. I've had my own life to go through. The idea of my future is overwhelming and I'm having problems trying to make these new chapters work, so I'm feeling kinda lazy...

B.R.: *Smacks Shadowplayer360's head with a paper fan*

Me: *Anger sign*

PLEASE EXCUSE US. WE ARE EXPERIENCING SOME DIFFICULTIES AT THE MOMENT...

So after some consideration, I realize that I might have been just a BIT lazy at this, so I must say I'm sorry. But I'm still not promising faster updates because I'm taking a summer course right now. Please be patient as I really am trying to update whenever I can.

B.R.: *Tied up and hung in mid-air while forced into a questionable (possibly fan-service bordered) position* GET KUROUSAGI DONE RIGHT NOW!

Me: *Tosses empty bottle at Black Rabbit* Well that's that. Please let me know if there's something wrong, or if you've got questions and/or concerns. I'll try to get back as soon as possible.

P.S. The Mondaiji anime now has an english dub. Personally, I find it not that bad, aside from Black Rabbit's voice and the way they speak. But that's just me...