Hiei sighed. It had been a while since anything higher than a low-demon had come out to play. Somehow he'd thought it would be more entertaining than this. With apparent ease, the hunter dodged the blows they aimed at him at lightning speeds and ran two cuts, clean through each of them. Their lifeless bodies fell to the ground with several thuds.<br/><br/>Hiei stared down at them for a moment before flicking the blood off his sword and sheathing it. "That was pathetic," the hunter voiced.<br/><br/>Alastor laughed.<span style="font-style: italic">Did you expect them to hit you?</span><br/><br/>Hiei closed his eyes for a moment. "Of course not. They'd have to move at least as fast as I do or be psychic. I was hoping at least for opponents who would demonstrate some more advanced strategy, or at least not fall at only one blow. That was hardly different from fighting low-level demons. I'm not even breathing hard."<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">You're picky,</span>Alastor told his host as he began walking again.<span style="font-style: italic">You should try to enjoy your fights more.</span><br/><br/>Hiei made a humph sound. "You talk too much."<br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold">A rather quiet clap echoed through the street, the sound almost mocking Hiei's abilities in how arrogant it sounded. Soon after the sound was noticeable a single man leaped from the top of the building in front of Hiei. He was dressed in a sleeveless black shirt and black pants. His hair, straw-colored, was rather bright compared to everything else. He had a single scar that went across his nose.<br/><br/>He looked around at the corpses of his demonic companions and shrugged. "Did not really expect you to finish that quickly. Have you ever learned to enjoy the fight?" the man said.</span><br/><br/>Hiei stopped in his tracks as soon as the clapping became audible. He turned to face the one responsible for the sound and memorized his face, as he always did when he saw someone new. The man looked normal, supprisingly so, for having jumped down from such a height.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">Alastor,</span>Hiei thought, his face remaining passive,<span style="font-style: italic">If I'm correct, this man is...</span><br/><br/>Alastor laughed within him.<span style="font-style: italic">Yup,</span>the demon replied.<span style="font-style: italic">He's a Silencer.</span><br/><br/>Hiei casually drew his sword.<span style="font-style: italic">I thought so.</span>"I find it difficult," he said to the Silencer, "to enjoy a fight so heavily mismatched."<br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold">"One should always try to find enjoyment in what they do, lest they fall to monotony." the Silencer replied, a bit enthusiastic about what he was talking about.</span><br/><br/>"If you feel that way," Hiei said, raising his sword, "Then perhaps you wouldn't mind aiding in ceasing my boredom." The hunter narrowed his eyes. He made his next comment, with confidence surely playing a roll, but also out of wariness of making the first move against an enemy whom he didn't know the powers of. "I'll give you a head start."<br/><br/>If something were to go wrong, the hunter was already prepared to make a quick escape in any direction. He was especially wary, knowing that the Silencer probably witnessed his earlier fight, and already had an idea of his powers.<br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold">"Wow....straight to business huh? Fine then if you aren't going to introduce yourself I will." the Silencer's fists burst into flames and he put them in front of his body ready to fight, "The name is Seth Graham."<br/><br/>Seth dashed forward towards Hiei, drawing back his fist and attempting to punch his adversary.</span><br/><br/>Hiei's eyes widened slightly, but it was hardly a noticeable action.<span style="font-style: italic">So this is the speed of a silencer,</span>he thought, the slightest of smiles tugging at his lips.<span style="font-style: italic">It's on a whole other level from regular demons... but not quite fast enough.</span><br/><br/>Hiei ducked under the blows, but the resonating heat from the Silencer's fists singed his hair a bit. The Hunter dragged his sword across the Silencer's chest. While it did cut him, Hiei was pleased to see that it didn't simply slice him in half.<br/><br/>The Hunter reappeared again several yards behind the Silencer. "Well, looks like this might be fun after all," he said, his voice still even, but a slight smirk tugging at his lips. "Forgive my rudeness from earlier," he said. "My name is Hiei Kurashima. A moment ago, I wasn't sure you were worth telling it to."<br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold">Seth's eyes widened as he took a cut across the chest and began bleeding out. He coughed slightly and gripped at his chest, making pained noises as he did so. Then suddenly it changed from pained noises to laughter as he turned and faced his opponent. Fire burned from within the wound and flared momentarily, the skin burning together and the blood cauterizing on the surface. Seth showed no sign of pain from his rather crude way of fixing his wound and smirked at Hiei.<br/><br/>"So you're one of those people then..." he said, his fists burning once more.</span><br/><br/>Whatever hint of a smile there had been on the solemn Hunter's face was now gone. He was finally looking at a real fight. Now wasn't the time to lose focus. "That's an interesting technique," Hiei said, flicking the blood off his sword casually. "I'll have to hit you much harder."<br/><br/>Then he was gone again, running in wide circles around the Silencer, letting him struggle with the feeling of not knowing where your opponent was. On the other hand, he didn't want to give the Silencer too long to prepare. The Hunter ran in front of him, ducking under his flaming hands and ignoring the heat as he aimed a slash at the Silencer's wrists.<br/><br/>Unfortunately, as soon as he was attempting it, he realized it wouldn't be as effective as he immagined. It was difficult to aim a powerful swing while running crouched down. He managed a deep cut in the Silencer's wrist, nearly to the bone, but he wasn't sure the extent of the fire Silencer's cauterization abilities.<br/><br/>He appeared this next time several yards to the right of Seth. This time, he flicked the blood off his sword and said nothing. He was completely focussed on the battle.<br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold">Seth got more mad than pained, his fire sealing up the wound rather quickly. The cut, while deep only made the fixing take a moment longer. His feet burst into flames to join his hands and the very flame generating off of them caused the pavement to melt a little. Dashing forward once more, the flames of his feet acted as jets of a sort and allowed him to go faster, closing the distance from his opponent rather quickly as he attempted to deliver a straight on punch to the chest.</span><br/><br/>((boundary and I have edited in a continuation of the fight, as seen below:))<br/><br/>Hiei was supprised by the Silencer's sudden increase of speed. He almost hadn't reacted fast enough to dodge the punch. He underestimated the sheer heat of the attack though, and while the leather of his coat didn't catch fire, it heated up considerably, almost melting. Hiei cringed slightly at the pain, but didn't remove his coat. It seemed to act, at least partially, as a sheild against the heat. The rest of his clothes would have just caught fire.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">Well, this has been fun,</span>Hiei thought.<span style="font-style: italic">But I don't feel like drawing this out too much longer.</span><br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">Ending it so soon?</span>Alastor asked.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">I've had my fill,</span>he thought back.<span style="font-style: italic">Besides, all that really matters is that he dies in the end, right?</span><br/><br/>And so Hiei launched what he figured would be the finishing attack. He sprinted so that he was directly behind Seth, then stopped, pulling back his arm to strike. He had been there less than a second, but he wasn't sprinting, and so he was visible. Seth seemed to notice his presence and began moving to the side just as Hiei thrust the weapon forward.<br/><br/>He had aimed for six shots; three in the heart and three in the throat. But because Seth dodged, the hits were off. three went into what was probably his lung, and the other three went into his shoulder. Hiei backed off several yards immediately after attacking. He'd underestimated the Silencer's speed.<br/><br/>Alastor laughed inside of him.<span style="font-style: italic">You could always draw some strength from me if he gets too fast for you. You won't survive much longer in this fight if you continue to only use your own strength.</span><br/><br/>Hiei remained silent, frowning, contemplating.<br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold">Seth gripped at the wounds on his chest, looking towards Hiei. "Heh...not too bad. Got me rather good there. As I suspected, you aren't like the poor excuses for Hunters I usually have to kill." Seth tore his shirt from his body, as it was cut and bloodied to the point of not being worth wearing. "Fights like this...they make me feel alive. Sure, killing is alright and all, but the sensation of the possibility of death looming over your head is simply intoxicating." as he spoke his body began smoking, until the entirety of it burst into flames. The heat from the fire melted all concrete and pavement within a small radius of his body and heated the air around him to a rather uncomfortable level. Seth began to laugh, the sound growing louder than the raging fire and more maniacal. The flame eventually coalesced around the shape of his body. His face was covered by flame and unable to be seen. To compensate the flame manifested into the shape of a demonic skull with a maniacal grin, its mouth moved in time with the laughing. Seth looked towards Hiei and held his hand out towards him, egging him to come on in a fashion not too much unlike Bruce Lee.</span><br/><br/>Hiei held up his arm to sheild himself from the heat blast that occured when Seth burst into flames. Looking at the powered-up, battle ready form of the Silencer before him, he let out a slight sigh.<span style="font-style: italic">Unfortunately, you're right,</span>Hiei said to the demon.<span style="font-style: italic">I can't win this with my power alone.</span><br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">Alright!</span>Alastor laughed triumphantly.<span style="font-style: italic">I'll lend you some power. You just be sure to show me a masacure.</span><br/><br/>Hiei's eyes widened and he felt his body grow warmer as Alastor's power flooded through him. He knew from experience that he would move so fast in this state, he wouldn't even be able to preceive his own movements if he didn't use his third eye. Slowly, probably slower than he'd do anything until this battle was ended, Hiei reached up and pulled up his headband. No sooner had he done this then he vanished from sight.<br/><br/>In less than two seconds, Hiei had already circled around Seth ten times. A fierce wind was beginning to form around the Silencer as the Hunter picked up speed. If the Silencer knew anything about physics, and had any sort of idea how fast Hiei was running, he would know that such a motion would soon form a vacuum around him. No air, means no breathing... and no fire. If the Silencer allowed that to happen, he would be a sitting duck. On the other hand, what kind of damage would be done to his body if he tried to jump through such fierce winds?<br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold">Seth, now completely immersed in the element of his demon, had begun to take on the characteristics of it. He got really angry at the possibility of the flame going out, even if it was the more resilient variant of Hellfire. He screamed an inhuman scream and arched his head to the heavens as more fire exploded forth from his body in a violent explosion, hoping to displace the moving air.</span><br/><br/>Most of the fire, shockingly, bounced off the walls of wind. But the flames which carried higher up managed to escape their bonds. Hiei saw it would be a problem if the Silencer found an escape rout up there and pushed himself to go even faster.<br/><br/>While borrowing power from his demon, he could sustain greater speeds for greater lengths of time, though there<span style="font-style: italic">would</span>be a point where his human body would break down. He was determined to end this quickly. Within seconds, air could be felt leaving the vortex. Soon it would be hard to breath, especially with the flames eating up what little oxygen was left.<br/><br/>Hiei noticed something potentially wrong with his plan. If he were to take out his katana at this speed, even to just have it out, it would snap from the air pressure fighting his movements. He wouldn't be able to use it to finish the job. His only options when continuing this strategy, were to maintain the vortex until the Silencer died of asphyxiation, or wait till he was severely weakened, stop the vortex, and finish him with his sword. Both options had potential flaws he'd have to be careful of. For now, he had to worry about the Silencer escaping the vortex.<br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold">Seth's rage continued to intensify his flame, which kept on building up from within his body. The Hellfire continued burning strong in the vortex, and he simply continued getting aggravated from his failed attempts at breaking through the windwall.</span><br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">Fool,</span>Hiei thought.<span style="font-style: italic">He'll simply suffocate himself faster if he keeps feeding the fire.</span>Actually though, he was hoping the Silencer would just continue like this. He could feel the strain on his body from drawing on Alastor's powers. When he used his own powers, his body could handle it, but this was different. He was starting to feel winded and every breath he took with the wind pressure against him felt like a hammer pounding in his lungs.<br/><br/>His muscles were burning from the intense exhurtion. Surely he couldn't keep this up without a break for more than ten minutes. At that point, he'd either have to stop, or collapse and be shredded on the pavement. Surely Seth could die in ten minutes? He hoped so.<br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold">Seth kept on increasing the output of his flame, then suddenly stopped, gripping his head. The flames calmed down to their previous levels and Seth let go of his head, nodding in agreement to his demon, who scolded him for such a useless display of power. He let his flame continue at its natural level, attempting to endure Hiei's wind tunnel.</span><br/><br/>They continued in an odd stand off. Seth's flames gradually dimmed and Hiei could see him gasping for breath. He himself wasn't doing much better. He felt like he was the one running out of oxygen, instead of the Silencer.<br/><br/>Eventually the Silencer collapsed, his flames going out all together. The Hunter took the opportunity to staggar to a stop, collapsing onto his knees and breating heavier than he had in a long time. He glanced over at the Silencer. His flames had reignited after the vortex was released, despite the fact that he was unconscious.<span style="font-style: italic">Damn,</span>Hiei thought.<span style="font-style: italic">I can feel that heat from here. No way my sword can take that.</span><br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">So what now?</span>Alastor asked.<span style="font-style: italic">You promised me a masacre.</span><br/><br/>Hiei managed to stand on his legs which would barely hold him up at this point.<span style="font-style: italic">Nobody won this battle,</span>he replied.<span style="font-style: italic">You have to know when to give up if you want to survive.</span><br/><br/>Alastor made a tch sound and Hiei used his last ounce of energy to sprint himself all the way to his room, where he collapsed onto his bed and quickly lost consciousness.<span style="font-style: italic">Damn,</span>Alastor thought to himself.<span style="font-style: italic">And it was just getting good.</span>