> How open is the air between ourselves and the horse/rider? Could we read the paper without crashing into anything?
> Adjust our flight path so that we'll pass her next to her by about a yard or so, then take that paper back out and take a closer look at it.
> Forget it, then.
> Continue our pursuit flight of the rider, aiming to pass then by a yard or so on the side, and not calling out to them again.
> "That is a very nice-looking sword you have there."
> Nod.
> "Did your well-wisher tell you about the history of that sword?"
> "I don't suppose she told you how she came into it?"
> "It is, yes. But it sounds like she failed to anticipate that the sword's owner wants it back."
> "Curious you would say this, as I am here because the sword's owner has asked me to retrieve it for her."
> Frown.
> "Does this mean you are also going to claim the life force of the Saigyou Ayakashi is also yours?"
> "Did Seiga brainwash you or something?"
> "Well, even ignoring arguing about the sword, I don't see how you could possibly claim that life force belongs to you. I watched it get stolen from my home this morning."
> "And you claim the same of the sword, even though it was given to you as a representation of where your alleged authority comes from? An authority that wishes it returned to them?"
> Make a slightly disgusted face.
> "So you'd just as soon cast Seiga to the side after all this?"
> Go silent for a moment, then nod with a slight shrug and a knowing expression.
> "Well, okay, yes, I can agree with such a decision, I suppose."
> "Her friend who is, apparently, also royalty."
> Shrug.
> "To be perfectly honest with you, the clash of claims does not matter to me. She herself did not even seem that perturbed. I am mostly curious to see precisely where you are coming from, given you seem to be content to use her sword."
> "In that particular regard, yes. There are other problems in other regards, though."
> Frown.
> "I'm not sure. To tell you the truth, before I found out about this, I wanted to invite you to join a small dueling group that just organized today, including myself, Seiga's boss, and the oni swordswoman."
> "Your participation would be most appreciated. But...what you're doing here clearly means a lot to you, and I must return that life force to the Saigyou Ayakashi, as well as prevent calamity in Higan, so we have a deeper personal clash to resolve first before we reach that point. If we even do."
> "Is it possible for you to achieve what you seek without these things?"
> Have we been traveling all this time?
> Nod with a frown.
> "Very well. In that case, I wish to make clear that I hold nothing against you personally for this conflict. I hope you understand my situation and feel the same way."
> Touch down on the ground on the path between the horse and the river.
> "I am saddened that you see it as such. I would much prefer we not be enemies. But I suppose there is only the one way for this conflict to be resolved."
> "Of course."
> Withdraw swords.
> Is she right- or left-handed?
> Sprint toward Meira, angling to her sword side, and aim a right-handed slash at her side, fully expecting her to block or parry it. We need to see what sort of strength, speed, and technique we're up against here.
> Is it a horizontal slash, a diagonal downward slash, or a stab?
> Swing our Meira-side sword up to block her swing from below, hopefully deflecting the blade upward. At the same time, duck our head a little bit so as to give ourselves a little blade-avoidance leeway.
> How long does it take us to set our ghost half up with a sword?
> How far can we separate ourselves from our ghost half while it has a sword?
> How long can we keep our sword-wielding ghost half in our form in battle if we are doing relatively similar things?
> Stop and turn around to get a gauge on how much agility that horse has.
> Is it still running at a high speed while turning, or did it slow greatly/ stop like us?
> In which direction is it turning?
> Is the horse turning to the left or to the right, from our perspective?
> Pursue the horse on foot, angling our dashing path to our right. Line ourselves up so we're coming up on Meira's off-hand side this time.
> Bah.
> Re-angle ourselves so we're coming up on Meira's sword side, and get ready to level upward diagonal slashes with both swords, our right hand aimed at Meira's side as before while the left one simply swiping above our head as a pre-emptive blocking action.
> Is the horse traveling so fast that we would not be able to cut and run laterally back in the other direction to get on Meira's non-sword side without getting run over?
> At our current speeds and travel paths, how much longer do we have until we collide with the horse?
> Adjust the angle of our sprint path a bit to the left, but otherwise proceed with the double-slash plan.
> This stab is at an angle that our left-handed slash will not parry it?
> Parry-slash upward with both swords!
> Is the horse faster than us?
> Stop, turn around, and give chase once again.
> So we have an acceleration advantage? That's good. Odds are we also have an agility advantage. Let's try something new, then.
> Stay standing where we are and let Meira come after us. Make a note of when she's about three seconds away.
> Turn around and sprint away from the horse, traveling in the same direction the horse is traveling.
> Is our way forward clear? If so, glance behind us at the horse's progress. If not, make a note that it is not.
> Is the horse coming straight for us?
> Feint to our left with a step, then turn sharply to the right.
> Slice our left-hand sword vertically upward to deflect the incoming sword, ducking a little at the same time.
> Once we've swung and felt the blade-on-blade collision, turn back to the left in an attempt to run parallel to the horse's path.
> Is Meira in swing range?
> While keeping up our current pace and direction, lash out in the direction of Meira's right leg with our right-hand sword.
> How are we feeling now, combat-wise, for handing a sword off to our ghost half?
> Do we have any of our spellcards on us?
> How good are we at sliding feet-first during a sprint?
> Given the length of Miko's sword, how close to the ground can Meira swing it without leaning heavily to one side?
> Pursue as before.
> Run at the horse until we're about a second apart.
> Take a fairly hard turn to our left and, once we've taken two steps to the left, go into a foot-first slide.
> Glance up at Meira and her horse.
> Is her leg in slashing range?
> Slash at her leg with our right-hand sword.
> Pick ourselves back up off the ground and re-orient ourselves relative to the horse's current position.
> Pursue, but angled a bit to the right.
> So Meira and we are not currently running straight at each other, yes?
> Keep our current path of sprinting. Make a note when we're about one second away from collision, or if Meira and/or her horse do something unusual.
> Turn hard to the left, keeping an eye on Meira and her horse. We want to make sure we bank hard enough that we won't get run over, but not so hard that we run ourselves out of slashing range entirely.
> Don't bank quite so hard as to run away entirely, then. Basically, we should be doing enough to get away from not only the current collision point, but any possible collision point resultant from Meira changing the horse's direction.
> Are we in slashing range?
> Stab at where her side will be with our right-hand sword.
> Even though this battle has not allowed for much focus, given how long Meira has taken so far to ride past us, turn around, and come back in our direction, would we have enough time to pass our ghost half a sword?
> No time like the present, then!
> Turn around so that Meira and her horse are in view. Then ,assuming she isn't doing anything abnormal compared to her first several passes, pass a sword to our ghost half and infuse part of ourself into it to make it human-shaped.
> Is our ghost half to the left or to the right of our human half?
Crap, would've preferred our positions were reversed. Oh well, hopefully this will at least throw Meira off a bit, if only for one pass.
> Have our human half and ghost half start running forward and angled slightly away from the horse's path (ghost half angled a bit to the left, human half angled a bit to the right), with both halves taking a two-handed grip on their respective swords while running. Don't turn too far away from the horse's path, as we want to keep both halves in slashing range of Meira, but our two halves should separate enough that the horse could run between them without trampling either of them.
> Shift both halves' running path angles to the right, our human half further right an an attempt to not get trampled, and our ghost half shifting from going left to going right in an attempt to stay in slashing range.
> Has the horse actually started passing us yet?
> Is Meira herself now starting to pass us?
> Have our human half swing an upward diagonal slash at Meira, starting the slash from our human half's right side and traveling leftward across our human half's body.
> At the same time, have our ghost half turn slightly more to the right and swing an upward diagonal slash, starting from our ghost half's left side and traveling rightward across our ghost half's body.
> Blast.
> How much time is left on the humanoid ghost half clock.
> Could we get more time from infusing more of our human essence into it?
> Do we have enough time left for a second pass?
> Turn both of our halves around to locate Meira.
> Have our halves switch sides so that ghost is on the left and human is on the right again. Better to attack blindly than to block blindly!
> Have both halves dash toward Meira again, putting a little bit of space between them as before, though a little bit less than last time so as to hopefully avoid another ghost half whiff.
> Our ghost half is on the left of our human half, yes?
> Meira's sword hand is her right hand, yes? This would put our ghost half on Meira's sword side?
> Veer a little bit to the left with both our human and ghost halves, to help get our ghost half out of the way of being trampled.
> Can we 'dissolve' our ghost half with a thought? Or does it have to run out on its own?
> Keep veering left with both halves until Meira is about a second away from running over our ghost half.
> At our current paths of travel, will Meira get in slashing range of our human half?
> Does she have the sword positioned so it can be easily grabbed with either hand?
> What might her current posture mean, then, from a swordfighter's perspective?
> Sharpen our ghost half's leftward angle just a tad, while holding the course steady with our human half.
> Have our ghost half do another sweeping upward diagonal slash at Meira's side. Our human half, however, should perform a direct stab at Meira's other's side.
> In the name of an honorable sword duel, how 'fair game' is attacking the horse? (Though perhaps her kicking us and attempts to trample us have already somewhat devalued the 'honor' of this duel...)
> Now that the horse is gone, give our ghost half a visual inspection where we were kicked.
> Will we be able to get another pass out of a humanoid ghost half? Or is the timer about the run out?
> Turn around, switch sides again, and resume dashing pursuit of Meira and her horse.
> Do her body language and, if we can see it, her facial expression suggest anything about her intentions?
> Raise our head(s) a little and observe with clear interest while slowing down a tiny bit, but otherwise continue running. Slightly fan out our two halves while running like we did during the previous dash.
> This would be towards our human half, yes?
> Is she banking harder than she has been in order to run part of us over?
> Pull our human half a little to the left and continue running.
> Will she be in slashing range when she does?
> List back toward the right with our human half to get into slashing range. With our ghost half, pivot and turn hard to the right.
> With our human half, swing our blade vertically upward, in an attempt to block Meira's swing by deflecting her blade back upward.
> Once Meira herself is fully past our human half (NOT the (w)hol(e) horse, just Meira), have our ghost half pivot and turn back to the left so it is running behind our human half, and have it slash diagonally upward to the right.
> Are we still running forward?
> Well, could we have possibly stopped in the short period of time it took for us to notice that Meira started circling behind us?
> Stop with both halves and whirl around to keep Meira in our sights.
> Is the stab coming in from our ghost half's left or right?
> Have our ghost half swing her sword in a semicircular arc in front of her body, from pointing left to pointing up to pointing right, to deflect the stab upward and rightward.
> Is our ghost half still between Meira and our human half?
> Are our swords designed to be able to lock with an opponent's blade?
> Follow along Meira's curved trotting path with a curved path of our own with our ghost half, slashing diagonally upward at her from right to left if we are able to swing before she does. Our goal with this slash is less to actually hit Meira and more to lock blades with her; attempt to do so should she block with Miko's blade.
> While our ghost half is operating thusly, dash ahead of out ghost half's curved path with our human half. Our human half should be close enough to our ghost half that our human half is also within slashing range of Meira, but not so close that our ghost half runs into our human half before making sword contact with Meira.
> Now or never, then! Stab at the closest part of her stomache/side with our human half!
> How much longer does our ghost half have before it pops back into blobby place?
> Can we feel where our ghost half is relative to our human half based on touch sensations from our ghost half standing or walking on the ground?
> Let's try that again, then. Pursue Meira circularly with our human half, slashing at her in another attempt to lock blades. While doing this, run ahead of our human half's path with our ghost half in preparation for stabbing at Meira with our ghost half.
> How tight a circle is the horse maintaining with this path?
> How fast is Meira moving now, then, compared to speeds we can do?
> Is the horse moving so fast that we cannot slide under it and out the other side?
> How far ahead of the horse's path is our ghost half, if at all?
> Is there enough to bolt in front of the horse without getting run down?
> Dash across the horse's path to the other side of the horse with our ghost half. The dashing path shouldn't be perfectly perpendicular to the horse's path, but a little to the right (away from the horse)
> At the same time, pursue the horse with our human half, keeping our blade ready to parry but not striking yet.
> Did she turn to the left or the right, relative to the way she had been going previously?
> Had she been previously traveling clockwise or counter-clockwise, relative to our position?
> Use her current speed and angle of travel to estimate her circular path, then run in the opposite direction along that same curve with both halves, in the hopes of catching up to and flanking her that way. Keep a human eye on her while doing this. though; we don't need to fall for any tricks.
> Bah.
> Does our ghost half have another pass in her?
> At least we landed a couple of good ones with all this.
> Have our human half retrieve our sword from our ghost half while she's still retreating, and then let our ghost half pop back into place.
> Can we use our ghost half as a projectile?
> How effectively can we hold our swords together as if to form a giant pair of scissors?
> Dash toward Meira with the usual running speed.
> Angling to the left is fine, that puts her off-hand closest to us.
> Keep up the pace while adjusting our angle of approach as necessary so that Meira is still in slashing distance.
> If we are running at each other, and she is approaching us from out left, then from her perspective, woudln't we be approaching from her left?
> Well, yes, but her perspective is also turned roughly 180 degrees.
> I know this is a text adventure, but the only way I know how to possibly describe why I'm confused is throughinterpretive dancean image. It seems like one of the three things below is happening, where arrows indicate directions of travel.
> (http://i60.tinypic.com/5tuy4o.png)
> Am I missing something?
> No worries, Broseph Brostar, it happens to all of us.
> Anyway, keep heading on our current path, but slam on the brakes when we're about a half-second away.
> Breaking toward us or away from us?
> Sharp turn to the right! Maybe we can cut her off.
>You make a sharp turn to the right, attempting to cut her off!
>You suppose that you do cut her off, but it turns out that she has no interest in stopping and the horse slams into you, sending you back and stumbling, your chest aching fiercely! You don't even have time to regain your footing before you see Meira's blade descending from the left and above!
>_
> Hold both swords out horizontally in front of us in order to catch her swing.
> Do the first one, catch her sword with Hakurouken.
> Painful, but perhaps better for our situation than being off-balance.
> While Hakurouken is locked with Miko's sword, bring Roukanken down on top of Miko's sword, closer to the hilt, and start pushing upward (and slightly away from us) with Hakurouken and pulling downward (and slightly away from us) with Roukanken at the same time, in an effort to twist Meira off-balance, if not rip the sword right out of her hands (or drag her right out of the saddle).
> Oh, whoops. Damnit.
> Bring our swords up around hers in an attempt to create the clamp described in the previous post. Since Hakurouken's probably on the inertia rebound right now, swing Roukanken up on top of Miko's blade first.
> Roll to whichever side is further away from her and use that momentum to get ourselves back up off the ground and on our feet.
> Let's try the same plan as before. Raise Hakurouken up horizontally to block her swing, and once the blades clash, bring Roukanken down horizontally on top of Miko's blade, closer to the hilt of Miko's blade than where Hakurouken is. If this is successful, push upward (and slightly away from ourselves) with Hakurouken and pull downward (and slightly away from ourselves) with Roukanken in an effort to either pull the blade out of her hands or yank her clear off the horse.
> Back off a bit in the direction opposite of the one Meira is currently in and give ourselves a chance to breathe and stabilize.
> Would dropping to one knee bring us low enough to the ground that it would give us the leverage we need to wrench the sword out of her hand while still allowing us to maintain the necessary balance?
> When we determined we would need to 'draw her attack fairly low', then, what precisely did we mean?
> So catching a downward slash (for example) on our own blades lower than we have been?
> Are we confident enough in our lateral speed to think that we could sidestep a downward slash?
> Can we still be shaken around through, say, blade collisions whilst employing Faultless Guardian? Or is it literally impossible for another person to move it even one inch?
> Turn to face Meira and start sidestepping to our right, as if to cut off her circular path. We needn't go very fast, though, and actually cutting off said path is not our goal, only to get close enough to lock blades again.
> While moving, hold our left-hand sword horizontally out to our side and our right handed sword pointing at Meira. Our mindset should be to sidestep (to the right) a vertical slash and parrying (right-to-left with our right sword) a stab or horizontal slash.
> Quick-step and lean to our right (bend our right knee to help get our torso further away from the stab). While doing this, flick our right-handed sword up at enough of an angel to be able to catch hers and swipe it from our right to our left to parry her stab.
> If our parry is successful and we don't get a torso or a shoulder full of blade, bring our left sword vertically upward to catch her blade as we're parrying it to our left.
> Is our right blade still on her blade?
> Angle our right-hand blade further upward as much as we can in the tiny amount of time we have to act.
> At the same time, holding each of our blades against hers (right-hand blade on the side facing us, left-hand blade on the side facing away from us), twist our torso hard counterclockwise and lean our weight further in the direction we were leaning before (our right before the torso twist).
> Duck!
> Straighten up and whirl around, looking for Miko's sword first and foremost.
> Bring both blades up vertically to block!
> Which blade was knocked into a weak position, hers or ours?
> Did her blade at least get knocked back from the impact, or is she pressing onto Hakurouken?
> Swing a left-to-right horizontal slash at her with Roukanken while our Hakurouken hand recovers.
> Take a step back while turning to our right.
> Cross our blades horizontally in front of us, with the intersection point being roughly in the middle of both blades (so that our hands are not also crossed).
> Can we tell if she has it held in a way that would make a quick forward stab easy?
> How fast is the horse going?
> About how many steps away from slash range are we?
> Take a quick step forward, and feint a horizontal slash with our right-hand sword, moving it a couple of inches.
> Then, as soon a we stop moving our right-hand sword, perform a full proper horizontal slash with our left!
> Given the number of times we've hit her so far, how well do our opponents usually fare at this point?
> Can we still move ourselves when employing Faultless Guardian?
> How are we holding up?
> Take a step back and cross our swords like we did last time, except with Roukanken on top if it wasn't before.
> Rotate to the right to keep up with Meira's angling.
> Feint a step in, but then pull back and continue to circle in place to keep up.
> Continue circling in place to keep pace for another second, then take another quick step like before.
> This time, slash diagonally upward and a bit to the right with Roukanken.
> Follow this up with an diagonal slash upward and a bit to the left with Hakurouken.
> Bah.
> Step back and reorient ourselves.
> How much time does Faultless Guardian take to prepare?
> Cross our blades as before, continuing to turn in place to follow.
> If Meira does not make a move after a couple of beats, quickly step in and slice diagonally upward with both swords at once (Hakurouken upward to the left, Roukanken upward to the right).
> Is she approaching our armpit from our front or our side?
> Twist our torso clockwise to pull our right shoulder/arm/armpit away from the stab, and to also bring our left arm closer to the action.
> At the same time, swat at her stab from left to right with Hakurouken, pointed a bit upward so as to actually catch the stab instead of whiffing over or under it. Ideally, this swat will parry her stab by pushing it too far to the right to get at us.
> Jump back and to the left.
> Are we still facing her?
> How many steps away is she?
> How fast is the horse moving, again?
> Turn again to keep following Meira, crossing swords as before as we do so.
> Let's try this again.
> Quickly step in and slice diagonally upward with both swords at once (Hakurouken upward to the left, Roukanken upward to the right).
> Kinda figured that might happen. Oh well, the stance got her once.
> Jump back as she's circling to get several steps away from her.
> Sprint across the circular path so that we are on the other side of her horse.
> Are we not currently well ahead of her, given her current circular path?
> What if we dashed back and to the right, with the intent of crossing whatw ould be her future path?
> How about forward and left, to cross the path she just trod over?
> Given the direction we're currently facing, at approximately what angle is she to us?
> Dash forward and to our left at about a 45 degree angle, long enough so that we cross over the horse's former path.
> Float straight up into the air until we are above her head level.
> Did her horse speed change at all?
> Continue to observe her impassively for a few moments.
> Make a beeline for her, Hakurouken held across our body, Roukanken held pointed downward and perpendicular to our body.
> Keep flying right at her, slightly curving our flight path as needed.
> Once we get within slashing range, slash horizontally with Hakurouken, then, regardless of that outcome, slash vertically upward with Roukanken a beat later.
> Throw ourselves left!
> How did she land?
> Land on our own feet, back up a bit from the horse in the process.
> Hold both swords in a ready position, but don't advance yet.
> "I do what I can."
> Is she?
> Slowly advance on our own, heading directly for her (so she can't simply flank us like she's trying).
> Give the smallest of smiles.
> "Your sentiments are appreciated, truly. A shame there does not appear to be a less aggressive resolution to our conflict."
> In which direction did the horse run off?
> "Very well."
> Dash in with swords held in front in ready positions!
> Do we know which compass direction right is?
> From our perspective, is Meira holding that sword up-left to down-right or up-right to down-left?
> Once we get in slashing range, flick a Roukanken slash diagonally up from right to left.
> Stab in low with Hakurouken. Aim for the left side of Meira's waist.
> Take a step back and hold our swords defensively in an anticipation of an oncoming attack.
> Thrust our mid-section back a bit to increase the distance between sword and stomach. At the same time, slap-slash down horizontally with Hakurouken to parry the stab downward between our legs.
> Twist clockwise to bring our right side back.
> At the same time, angle Roukankan so it is mostly pointing across our body, and swing it upward to parry the incoming stab.
> Is she faster than us?
> Can we get faster with a sword if we sheathe one and use the other with both hands?
> Start circling to the left (her right) in response.
> How was Miko as a swordfighter in our first encounter?
> Is Miko's blade longer than either/both of ours?
> Is Meira taller than us? If so, by roughly how much?
> How is our half-ghost recharge coming?
> Do a small stab in with Roukanken, aimed at Meira's left (our right) shoulder, that only covers about half the distance necessary to actually touch Meira. Once it reaches that point, switch gears and stab out at Meira's right (our left) thigh with Hakurouken whilst simultaneously pulling Roukenken back in.
> In what directional manner did she parry our true stab?
> Swing Roukanken to the left in such an orientation that we could catch Miko's blade and knock it off-balance.
> Resume our leftward circling.
> Dash after her! Let's keep up the pressure.
> While dashing, hold Roukanken's hilt slightly behind us with the blade pointed forward, as if we're rearing back for a stab. Hakurouken should be held horizontally across our body from left-to-right.
> Swipe upward with Hakurouken to knock it away!
> If we actually make contact with the above swipe, follow it up with a Roukanken stab to the stomach.
> Is it still coming at our chest, or is it more aimed at our neck or face now?
> Twist our torso counterclockwise to bring our right shoulder back somewhat, and crane our neck back and to the left.
> At the same time, swing Roukanken up from below to make contact with Hakurouken, ideally at the same point where Hakurouken is clashing with Miko's blade. Use the added leverage of Roukanken and the added strength of our right arm to push Miko's blade away.
> Stumble back away in whichever direction is way from where we deflected her sword, and recover our balance.
> Can we sense any sort of energy charge? Maybe she's preparing a non-sword assault by channeling the Saigyou Ayakashi.
> In which direction is she currently pointing Miko's sword?
> Can we tell how it is changing, and/or what that change might mean?
> Is it possible she's infusing Miko's sword with pure death energy, or something?
> Put on a grim look and hold our swords in a defensive position.
> "Are you sure you wish to do that?"
> "I do not risk hurting myself by handing my ghost half a sword."
> Frown.
> "That is not what I meant. Channeling the Saigyou Ayakashi in such a manner as you are now is simply not something I would do myself, for safety's sake."
> Can we get a better handle on how her nature of death is changing, now that it's had a few moments?
> Which sword of ours is longer?
> Frown.
> Sheathe Hakurouken and take up a two-handed stance with Roukanken.
> Hold our sword to our right side, pointed toward Meira.
> Dash forward toward her sword hand side.
> Once we get in range, thrust at her right thigh.
> Bank right, twisting away from the downward swing.
> Where is Meira now, relative to where we are facing?
> Jump away in the opposite direction from where Meira is now, twisting back to face in her direction once we land.
> Has there been an appreciable change in her death sensation? Don't take the time to investigate if we don't immediately know.
> Sidestep to the right, leaning our upper body to the right a little further to give it a bit of extra dodging space.
> At the same time, bring our sword around to point straight up in front of us, so it can easily be moved to parry the incoming stab if she's fast enough to redirect it.
> Can we tell if there are any fairly safe breakaway directions?
> Could we regain our footing where we are right now?
> Did Miko's sword bounce off of ours, or are the two blades locked?
> In which direction are we at risk of overbalancing and stumbling?
> Step back and to the right to regain our balance.
> Bring our sword around to our left, held vertically to make sure we intercept her slash. No stepping away or leaning hard this time, though we should brace ourselves for the contact with our feet and legs if need be.
> Do we have a decently solid base?
> Are we in decent kicking range?
> 'Base' being our lower foundation. For example, if we had solid enough footing and balance, we might have thrown a kick (if we were in range).
> Is her blade still in range of our blade? Try to push down (and a little bit toward her) on her blade if so.
> Is she far enough away that we could start a dash? Or is she only a step or two away?
> Step in and fake a jab toward Meira's left (non-sword) shoulder, stopping and pulling the sword back when the tip of our sword is about a sword-length away from her shoulder.
> Once we've pulled our sword back in, jab out with it again at her right knee, fully intended to stab all the way at it.
> Take a step back and recover control of our blade.
> Whereabouts on the legs is the slash aimed? Thigh, knee, ankle, etc.?
> Bring our sword around to parry, swinging it so it is vertical and pointing down.
> On which side of her body is her sword?
> Is she still two-hand wielding?
> Check in on that deathly aura of hers.
> How tight a circle can we run in? Could we do to her what she did us on that horse?
> Step in an cut a slash diagonally downward from our right to our left. If she blocks, apply the necessary pressure to try to prevent the blades from just bouncing off of each other.
> Shove downward with our blade to force hers downward as well.
> In which direction did she step?
> Step forward and left in pursuit.
> Stab at Meira's left (our right) shoulder.
> Is she lunging with her sword or with her body?
> Is our sword in any sort of position to help deflect her stab?
> She is presumably stabbing from our left at this point?
> Do we have any notable momentum to our left or our right?
> Right, hard and fast! Suck in that stomach if need be!
> Are we at least in a reasonable position that we could tuck and roll to continue to the right?
> Let's go for it, then. Roll to the right to enable us to pop up from the roll and regain our balance.
> Are we facing up, down, or to the side?
> Which is closer to Meira, our head or our feet?
> Roll on to our back.
> Are her legs within slashing range?
> Has Meira actually started the stabbing motion, or is she still getting close enough to us to do so?
> Is the stab aimed for the torso, or somewhere else?
> Roll onto our side in the same direction that we had been rolling before, in the interest of using our momentum/inertia to get out of the way quicker.
> Did we heard it thunk into the ground, at least?
> Use our momentum to keep rolling in that same direction until we're on our stomach, then use our hands to help springboard us back upward.
> Is she closing in from the front or a side?
> Given her speed, do we have time to bounce back up to our feet, or will she get into slashing range before we can re-establish ourselves?
> Don't have a choice, then. We're arguably less mobile on our knees than on the ground, and she could just circle around us and slice up our back if she wanted.
> Scramble back to our feet properly.
> Yikes! Hold our sword straight up, flat side toward us, on the side from which she is coming!
> Let this strike bounce off instead of trying to lock blades, though obviously we should resist if she tries to simply push us over.
> Hopefully we used that time to get our balance set better, at least?
> Is the incoming attack a slash or a stab? Or has she not actually started it yet?
> Crouch a bit and two-hand hold our sword level in front of us so it goes across our body from our right to our left, as well as diagonally out a little bit (that is, it is closer to our body at the hilt than at the tip).
> Despite the sword preparation, use this stance in preparation and anticipation of jumping straight upwards. (Crouch down far enough that we have a decent jump prepared.)
> Is it comparable to what we felt from Koishi, ignoring current magnitude?
> Has the aura grown larger than it was before?
> Is Meira still the source of the aura, or has it perhaps shifted to the sword?
> Grimace.
> "You really are determined to kill yourself to get through me, aren't you?"
> "Do not think I cannot sense the increased intensity in that deathly aura."
> Blink, then lower our sword and relax just a tiiiiny bit. Not enough to put us off-guard, but enough that a skilled swordswoman would notice the change.
> "...Can you truly not feel it yourself?"
> Can Komachi sense auras of death like us?
> Since you're not on IRC, clarification request; did she actually strike or no, and if she did, where precisely is she aiming?
> "Would a second opinion convince you?"
> "Fine. If I must save you from yourself, then so be it."
> Resume previous ready-to-jump hold and stance.
Haven't gotten that far yet. Youmu wants to slice her to pieces, Miko doesn't want to see her harmed. I might compromise and have Seiga perform some service for Hakugyokurou, but the details of such a thing aren't coming to me at the moment.Forcing her to commit Community Service? Sounds like i could get behind.
> Which arm is she stabbing at?
> Is the angle inward-to-outward, outward-to-inward, or straight on?
> Jump straight up, using our ability to fly to help propel ourselves upward! Try to get several feet off the ground.
> While doing so, raise our arms to bring our sword up, then, when we've hit the peak of our leap, slash downward at Meira's right shoulder.
> Are the blades locked?
> Good. Let's press this temporary advantage.
> Fly levelly toward Meira (that is, toward her without changing heights) to make up any distance she gained on us by staggering and slash downward at her left shoulder this time.
> Wait, what did we do wrong? Aside from not actually connecting with the second slash.
> Are there any clear safe landing zones?
> Is her current blocking position presenting any obvious weak points?
> Her lower body's also not really in range right now, though, is it?
> Give an amused grunt, then back off a couple of yards and, if she has not pursued, do a neat little backflip and land in a sword-held-forward-and-up stance.
> Start rushing in, bringing our sword to our left side. Aim our dash toward her left side instead of being straight on.
> How is her sword positioned now? Is it still held defensively, or is she preparing a counter?
> Once we get in range, launch another feint half-stab at her collarbone, then pull our sword back and job a real stab at her left knee.
> !?
> Instead of going for the real stab, turn to the left and keep her in sight.
> Swing our blade in an arc across our body from right to left to deflect the stab to our left.
> Is our blade now to our left as well with the follow-through?
> If our blades are still in contact with each other, give her blade a little extra push away from us and slightly up to put it out of position. (If her blade bounced off of ours and is no longer touching ours, don't do this.)
> Since our blade is now theoretically closer to ours bodies (ours and Meira's), swing it back around and level a horizontal slide at Meira's hip.
> Has our blade passed all the way back across our body to our right at this point?
> Where is her blade at present?
> Given her turned stance, are there any obvious weaknesses? Or do we not have the time to look for them?
> Off-balance sounds good. In what fashion is that possible, given the current positions of the blades?
> step forward in pursuit and feint a stab at her left knee, then pull back and stab for real at her right shoulder.
> How off-balance does she appear to be at this point?
> Where did our sword get deflected to?
> Where is her blade now?
> Which blade is closer to us two combatants?
> Apply centripetal force to our sword to swing it down and around, back toward the left, aiming a slash at her left (right side from our perspective) knee.
> How is her blade angled?
> And is our blade positioned the same way (albeit mirrored)?
> Roll our wrists to twist our sword on top of hers, and then use that leverage to push her sword down and to the left.
> If we thrust our sword straight forward in the direction it is currently pointing, would it actually stab her? Or would it whiff to her left?
> Use our pressure pushing her sword down and to the left and her lack of footing to swing ourselves around her to her left (our right) side. Keep pressing on her sword throughout this, though the direction our blade is pointing may change.
> Has she properly regained her footing?
> Did she turn to face us?
> Did she disengage pulling her sword back? Or to the keft (her right)?
> If she pulled her sword to the side, that means she'll need a fraction of a second to get it back into parrying position. Hopefully that'll be enough!
> Stab forward at her with our sword.
> Is her footing still poor, or has she recovered that by now?
> Was our blade knocked back to the right?
> Where is her blade now?
> How is she holding it, in terms of hands and direction it is pointing?
> Do another centripetal force slice to feint another slashat her left knee, but when our sword is just about to reach the point where she managed to block our slice last time (before it got to the knee), sharply change the blade's direction upward and a bit angles to the left so the slice is suddenly aimed toward her armpit/shoulder instead.
> How is our footing and our energy?
> Does her retreat position show any weaknesses?
> How does Meira seem to be doing for energy?
> Let's close in toward her left side, in the hopes that she'll leave the right knee vulnerable.
> Is it aiming for either leg in particular?
> Swing our sword from right to left to knock her stab far enough to our left that it goes by our leg entirely. Keep moving forward while doing this, with an added bit of an angle to the right, to help get our left leg away from the stab.
> Our sword is now closer to both of our bodies that Meira's sword, right?
> Good. Let's use that to our advantage.
> Continue on our altered dashing path so that we are aiming as if to run past Meira on her left. As we're running, level a horizontal slash at Meira's waist, since odds are she can't get her sword back to defend against it in time.
> Our blade is still the closer of the two, though, right?
> Horizontal waist slice!
> Can we tell if our slice hit home, at least?
> Stumble back and to the right to give us some space to regain our footing and vision.
> C'mon, Youmu, think. We're the best in the land at this. Drawing upon our experienceand know-how, based on what we've seen so far, what options do we have that stand a good chance of taking her down?
> Give another amused grunt and take up a defensive stance.
> Does it still seem that her two-handed swing speed is faster than ours?
> Taking her speed as a strength, has she shown any weakness areas?
> Are we physically stronger than her, perhaps? Maybe we could physically overpower her?
> Does she still have that aura of death?
> Do we know any way we could interact with the Saigyou Ayakashi's life force? Maybe by siphoning it into ourselves?
> Is Miko's sword double-edged?
> If Meira stabs at us with the sharp edge of the sword downward (or possibly upward), could we conceivably catch the sword between our arm and our torso and pin it there? Or would it be little/no effort for her to wrench it out and/or cut us up from that position?
> How does one go about disarming an opponent with a sword?
> Let her approach. Keep eyes peeled for any openings.
> Is she sidestepping her way toward us or something?
> How might one 'invalidate' such a stance? Let's not consider angling around to her back, we're not yet in a position where we need to start attacking from behind. Perhaps angling around to her front would work for this? Or do we need to find ways to attack instead?
> Where is she holding Miko's sword?
> How could we keep her from compensating?
> Ignoring danmaku, what 'other things' do we have at our disposal?
> Side step to the left, keeping our sword held in position relative to our body.
> Give a small grin.
> Thus far, we seem to have done best when on the counterattack. Let's see what happens if she makes the first move.
> Swing our sword in an arc in front of us from right to left to deflect her stab to our left. At the same time, twist our upper body so our right side is more forward and our left side is more behind us, and lean a little bit to our right to give the stab a little extra space to harmlessly pass by us.
> How is our blade pointed now?
> Aim a slash diagonally up and to the right.
> what does her stance look like now?
> Is she more or less open in front, then?
> Has she presented any obvious weak points?
> Is she out of slashing range at this point?
> Where is her blade now?
> Step in and feint a stab at the shoulder away from her closer knee, then pull back and actually stab at said closer knee.
> Are we at a range where we could sweep a slice across to her other knee? Or did she get too far out of the way?
> How is her footing?
> Where is her sword?
> Step back and take up the defensive stance again. Let's see if she tries drawing on that power again.
> Let her advance.
> Let the small grin creep back onto our face.
> Can we tell what feels 'off'?
> What could possibly 'feel off' about a sword stab, anyway?
> Is she crouching while stabbing, or is she fully upright?
> How are her hands holding the sword? Maybe that will give us a clue as to what feels off.
> How low are we thinking here? Stomach, hips, knees, feet, something else?
> Is the sharp edge of her blade more pointed upward or downward?
> What might a sharp-edge-upward stab mean? Presumably she has the option to follow-up by swinging the sword upward if the initial stab fails. Might it mean anything else?
> Parry by bringing our sword down hard on top of hers and knocking her stab down, forcing it down as much as we can in the hopes that we can get her blade to go between our legs.
> Were we able to force it all the way to the ground, even if just the top of it?
> Can we tell what her reaction to this development is, or are we not looking there at the moment?
> Is the sharp edge of Miko's sword still pointed upward, or has it shifted to one side or the other (either due to Meira's handiwork or simply due to the blades clashing)?
> Do our shoes have any sort of raised heel, even just a small one, or are they completely flat?
> Okay, we've got two hands on our blade, she probably only has one on hers and is probably physically weaker than us. Let's take advantage of this.
> Force her blade down with ours by pushing downward and a bit toward her to make it harder for her to regain control of her blade.
> While doing this, keep a keen eye on how her sword is oriented, in the event she tries to twist it one way or the other and slice toward a leg.
> Keeping it in place? Does that mean we weren't able to force it downward at all?
> Can we at least see her feet/legs from our current position?
> Reangle our blade a little bit so the left side is higher and the right side is lower, with the goal being keeping our blade perpendicular to hers. Continue applying downward force on her blade, with a little bit of pressure back to the left to prevent her blade from moving to the right.
> How much downward pressure would we lose if we were to lift a foot off the ground?
> Based on where Miko's blade is relative to us and our prior knowledge of its length, do we think Meira might be in kicking range?
> What are we better with, roundhouse kicks or side kicks? Or does it not really matter to a swordswoman such as us?
> While holding her sword in place with our sword, chance a glance upward at Meira's face.
> Is her head in kicking range?
> Is her stomach in kicking range?
> What about her GROIN?
> Would it be considered Dishonorable if we kicked her there?
> Pivoting on our left foot, bring our right leg up high enough to get over the blades and kick square at her stomach.
> At the same time, re-angle our blade and use it to push her blade a bit to the right, so that we can even tually bring our right leg down such that her blade is no longer between our legs.
> Get our foot on the ground, regain our balance, and dash in after her!
> Does she have it directly in front of her, or to one of her sides?
> Is she holding it horizontally, vertically, or diagonally?
> Feint a stab at her right thigh, then pull back and feint one at her left thigh, then pull back again and actually stab at her right thigh. She will probably take at least one step back during all this; be sure to take a step in with the corresponding leg when she does.
> Is our sword currently still on our left from the second feint?
> Swipe our sword from left to right to deflect her stab to our right. Twist our torso clockwise (from a top-down view) to give ourselves a thinner profile and make it more likely that the stab will pass us by.
> Stab at her stomach in response.
> So she's actually closer than normal now?
> How close is her head to ours?
> How quickly could we cover that distance, given our current speed in her direction?
> Has Meira put herself in a position to get off a stab of her own?
> Let's say we wanted to charge in with a headbutt from the crown of our head to her chin. Given the distance between the two of us, and the position of her sword, would she be able to stab us before we got to her?
> Which of her sides did she draw her sword back to?
> Charge in at Meira and aim a headbutt at her chin, leading such with the crown of our head to minimize damage to ourselves and maximize damage to Meira. (Good thing we're shorter than she is!)
> While we are charging in, swing our sword from left to right as if we were parrying a stomach-level stab. Hopefully our sword swing with either disrupt her timing or parry her stab if she actually tries one.
> Fall back to the right, turning ourselves so we're facing Meira once we've taken a couple of steps.
> Is she using one hand or two?
> Block, rather than parry, her slash by holding our sword vertically on our left side.
> Did her sword bounce off, or is she applying pressure to get us to give in?
> How's our footing now?
> How far apart are the two of us?
> How's our ghost half doing?
> Frustrated? You and me both, sister.
> Regardless, put on a poker face as we resume our defensive stance.
> Is this simply a further amplified feeling from before, or has some part of it yet changed to be more like what we sensed from Koishi this morning?
> When we got close to her during the couple of close physical altercations (shoulder tackle, headbutt), did we feel any different from being in the aura of death? Or was it not so wide that we would enter it until now?
> Is the change in the air at least somewhat uniform? Or does the use of 'leak' suggest she has less control over it than she might wish?
> Give another grin and nod. Gonna fake our way through the increasing worry of that aura. Maybe this'll throw her off her game.
> Drop the grin.
> "Please do at least try to not let that energy leak out all over the place. Staying inside you is preferable to letting it go free."
> Bring our sword to our left and block the slash by holding our sword vertically. Let's also use this as a physical strength gauge, since we just blocked something similar recently.
> Well, that's new.
> Our blades are both single-edged, correct?
> Given we stumbled back a bit, take the time needed to regain our footing, bringing our sword back to a proper position if it is out of position.
> This same position is the diagonal hold, correct?
> Charge in after her, holding our sword diagonally across our body with our hands at our left, in a reverse of her hold.
> Hold our sword vertically on our left last time to block, but this time, move our own right hand far up the blade to help brace the block. (Obviously, do not slide our hand up the sharp side, and do not grip or otherwise wrap our fingers around the sharp edge. Our best bet for safety is to push an open palm up against the flat side of the blade that's facing toward us.)
> !?!
> Take a step back and regain footing as before.
> Okay, let's figure out what's going on here.
> She seems to have been in no hurry to approach us since increasing that deathly aura. How have her sword swings compared in speed to those before this new plan of attack?
> Have the slashes been horizontal or diagonal?
> Let's say we wanted to outright avoid such a slash rather than blocking it. What would be the best dodging direction for avoiding such a slash? Is such even possible?
> How quickly could we run circles around Meira, like how she was trying to circle around us earlier?
> How did Meira approach us when she was able to avoid our attacked by circling left around us?
> How quickly could we side-step in a circle?
> Move laterally to the left, to begin circling around Meira.
> While performed immediately, neither of these actions were particularly rushed, correct?
> Continue circling. We're trying more to get a gauge of her movement speed than actually gain a positional advantage.
> Let's pick up the pace, then, and see if she matches.
> Has she actually be making progress in the effort of getting closer to us, or is she just spinning in place, relatively speaking?
> How much faster could we go in this circle?
> Has she shifted her sword grip at all during this, given we're circling away from where she was holding her hands when we started doing this?
> Are we at least making a circle, or is her movement making our path more oval-ish?
> Is she showing any openings herself?
> How easily could we change direction and charge straight in?
> Pick up the pace some more.
> Are we still side-stepping and facing inward toward Meira, or are we now moving 'forward' following a circular path while turning our head to get a proper view of her?
> If we wanted to change to the latter, how much would that disrupt our ability to hold the circle we're making now?
> What would such vulnerabilities be?
> Okay, different strategy time.
> Return to a one-handed grip on our current sword, and use our other now-free hand to draw our other sword.
> Is she charging directly at us, or is she compensating for our lateral movement?
> Is she moving faster than she has been since taking on this new stance?
> How is she holding her sword now?
> Is she holding the sword at her left with both hands?
> Return our free hand to our drawn sword and pick up the circling pace some more.
> This slash is horizontal and coming from our right toward our left, correct?
> Pull our sword across and do a vertical block like before, sliding one hand along a flat side of the blade to get more blocking power.
> When our swords collide, however, rather than simply absorbing the impact, use our new grip on our sword and the momentum of Meira's blade to push Meira's blade further behind us.
> Sorry for the lack of news/posts, parser, I forgot to let you know that I'm at Otakon this weekend.
> Take a step back to make some space. While doing this, fix our sword position in one hand and move to draw our other sword again.
> So she has the two-hands-at-one-side diagonal hold again?
> How far apart are we at present?
> Dash in with a feinted low stab at Meira's right knee with one sword, and then take an actual stab at her left shoulder with the other sword.
> So now her sword and our right-hand sword are to our right?
> Where is our left-hand sword?
> Use the sword that feinted previously to throw an actual proper stab at her right knee.
> Pull both our swords back into a ready position.
> Does she have both hands on it?
> Do we know any stances that confer supernatural abilities upon ourselves?
> Dash in with swords ready to stab.
> This heavy slash is still slower than her normal slashes, yes?
> Since Meira is swinging, does this mean she is within stabbing range?
> How close to our top speed did we get with this dash?
> Do our blades have cross guards on their hilts?
> How adept are we at catching blades between our own crossed blades, held more or less like a giant pair of scissors?
> Is the slash coming in on our left or our right?
> Cross our swords with the intent of catching her blade between them. To properly set them up, have them both more or less pointing to our left, while holding our left-hand sword low but inclining upward and holding our right-hand sword high but inclining downward, forming a crude giant pair of scissors (or garden shears). They should be held out far enough that even if Meira were to push apart our blades and continue to fore her blade towards us, her blade would still get caught on our cross guards. In addition, if we have the control to do so, do not angle either of our blades very drastically away from the other; we want to keep them both fairly close to horizontal, so Meira has to think twice about sliding her hand up her blade to do that trick again, lest she cut her hand open on one of ours on the way by.
> WITH ALL OF THE ABOVE GOING ON, continue running forward. Best-case scenario is that we can still run forward while sliding our blades along hers but still keeping hers in place (or at least slowing it down enough that we reach her before her blade reaches us).
> Don't bother fighting the stumbling, there's no need to risk falling over properly. Do take the time to regain footing once we can, however.
> So we've got that out of the way, then. But do we know any way to actually deal with that technique, given...whatever it is?
> How long does it take to activate Faultless Guardian, again?
> Face Meira, if we aren't already, with a hint of an annoyed grimace. Where is our shadow now?
> Stab our left-hand sword into the ground through our shadow and take up a two-handed defensive stance with our right-hand sword. (Try not to look directly at our shadow while doing this so as to not give away that that's specifically what we're aiming for with the stab.)
> If we can, shuffle a tiny bit to our right, obviously keeping our sword on our shadow.
> Crouch down just a little bit, as if preparing to jump.
> Shuffle backward a tiny amount, no more than an inch. Do this slowly so as to appear measured and deliberate.
> How far away is she now?
> Shift our weight just a tad so as to suggest a side dash back to the left, but don't actually do so. Instead, let Meira continue approaching.
> Jerk forward a little bit with our upper body and hands, then pull back quickly to where we were before, to see what kind of reaction we can get.
> Give that slight grimace again and let her advance the rest of the way into slashing range.
> There it is!
> Do the slide-hand-up-the-blade block once more. Let's see how she likes not being able to bowl us over!
> Is our blade pointed right at her, or at least reasonable close to such? If not, where is it presently angled?
> Approximately where does the height of the point of our blade line up with on Meira's body (head, heart, stomach, etc.)?
> Is the sharp edge of our blade pointed toward or away from her hands?
> How are we bracing our blade with our non-hilt hand? Are we just pushing a palm against a flat side, or are we actually gripping it somehow?
> Thrust forward with our sword to try to stab Meira in the chest (Non-lethally, of course.). While doing this, take our left palm off the blade just a tiny bit, no more than a hair's breadth, so that our stab will not be slowed by friction from rubbing up against our hand, but also so that, if Meira tries to parry our stab with her own sword, our palm can keep the stab's path true.
> This stab should be a full-on thrust. Keep going forward until we can't go fo' no mo', no matter how much body is in the way.
> Pull our left-hand sword out of the ground and dash in after her!
> This is presumably still the same that it has been and still not like Koishi's, yes?
> Has she returned to a proper defensive stance? Or is she still staggering?
> Where is her sword?
> Okay, good. It may be possible that she's using the Saigyou Ayakashi to heal herself. We can't give her any more breathing space, because it'll just allow it to happen again.
> Dash in and slash horizontally at her shoulder level with our right sword.
> Bring a vertical slash down on her right (our left) shoulder with our left-hand sword.
> Pursue on foot. Surely we can move faster than she can roll, and it'll take a couple of moments for her to get back up.
> Make a note of when she has completed her roll, as her blade should be on the ground between her and us at that time. Maybe we can step on it and pin it to the ground, if we're close enough.
> Jump! (This is without assistance from flight or stopping our forward momentum, but with tucking our legs a little bit to help them get over the slash.)
> If our jump succeeds, make a game note about we appear to be landing.
> Will we land before we can pass over Meira?
> So we'll be going over her and landing on her other side? Or will she be rolling under us? (Or will we be landing on top of her?)
> From our perspective, in which direction did she swing, left-to-right or right-to-left?
> Did her swing use one hand or two?
> As we complete our leap, use our right-hand sword to swing a vertical slash downward, swinging from behind us to straight down to in front of us. The direction our hand travels should be similar to as if we were rolling a ball (though obviously the hand and arm are swinging a sword instead of rolling a ball). Ideally, this will cut into her on our way by.
> Ah well.
> Spin around into a crouch and give a very low backhanded slash to our left with our left sword that cuts diagonally downward. Ideally, we're short enough that we don't have as far down to go to cut at Meira as others might. We should be slashing as we're spinning, so that we're more or less trying to slash at what's behind us as we're turning.
> Ooh, knees are good. Probably the least agile position to be in.
> How is she holding her sword, in terms of both direction and hands?
> And is she holding in front of it or to a side?
> Feint a stab at her left (our right) thigh with our right-hand sword, and then pull it back and thrust a proper stab at her right (our left) shoulder with our left-hand sword.
> Thrust again at her left (our right) thigh with our right-hand sword.
> Dash in to pursue.
> What does that mean?
> Worse for us or worse for Meira?
> How is Meira holding up?
> Well, whatever. Continue dashing in.
> ....This stance wouldn't happen to look like anything we usually do, would it?
> How far apart are we now?
> And does she appear to have fully regained her posture and footing?
> Cut in with a stomach-high horizontal slash with whichever handed sword is away from where her sword is pointing.
> Inventory
> Skills
> How's our ghost half coming along for Companion purposes?
> Could Sunder separate Meira from the Saigyou Ayakashi's life force? If so, have we been duelling long enough for the necessary focus to use it?
> Stab in with Roukanken at the shoulder closer to that hand while bringing Hakurouken back to ourselves.
> Frown while pulling Roukanken back, take a step back, and hold our swords in a defensive position.
> "Impressive."
> Does she look actively angry with us, or just intense in her concentration?
> Which leg is being targeted?
> Swing both swords in a downward half-circle arc from right to left to parry her attack by sending it to our left. At the same time, shift our left leg to the right so that our left foot is more or less in front of our right foot.
> Swing our right-hand sword in an upward half-circle arc from left to right to deflect her stab to the right. At the same time, twist our upper body clockwise to present a narrower profile and make it easier for the deflection to pass us by.
> As long as we're twisting our upper body clockwise, since our rotation is logically going to pull our left arm around with it, turn that arm swing into a proper left-hand-sword horizontal slash at her waist.
> What have we used in the past to deal with extreme speed?
> Is she holding her sword with both hands?
> Pull our swords back into defensive positions again.
> Is the slash horizontal, vertical, or diagonal, and from which direction is it coming?
> Duck down and to the right!
> At the same time, stab our left hand sword toward her right (our left) hip.
> Well, at least it's something.
> Pull our left sword back to a defensive position.
> Hold our right-hand sword up and diagonally from right to left as well, so as to be perpendicular to her slash. No parry or counterattack here, just a solid block before she gets to our head, neck, or shoulder.
> Have we felt any actual force behind these speedy blows yet?
> Are we at all leaning in one direction or the other at present?
> Lean a little bit further rightward (but not so much as to unbalance ourselves and topple ourselves over) and twist our torso counter-clockwise to present a much narrower profile, hopefully allowing her stab to pass by to our left.
> At the same time, since our right arm is coming forward anyway, launch a right-hand sword stab at her left (our right) knee.
> Pull back our sword and recover as well as we can.
> Lean back leftward, rotating our upper body clockwise to present the narrower profile as before. At the same time, flick our right-hand sword up so that it makes an upward circular arc from our left to our right (and probably from close-to-Meira to further-away-from-Meira, given our right arm is being brough back by our upper body twist), in an effort to catch her stab and parry it to our right.
> Stab-thrust forward at her stomach with our left-hand sword.
> Pull our swords back in a defensive position, righting ourselves again.
> Is the slash aimed high or low on our leg?
> Take a half-step back and to the right with our left foot, while swinging our left-hand sword so it is pointing straight down and positioned between her blade and our left leg.
> This motion will probably twist our body counterclockwise a bit, so use that twisting momentum to level a right-hand sword slash at her left (our right) shoulder.
> Tch.
> Reset ourselves defensively again.
> Is it coming straight-on or from an angle?
> Duck our head down and to the left, moving our torso down and to the left somewhat to help our head to get out of the way.
> At the same time, launch a right-hand sword stab at her stomach.
> Our head is still down and to the left, yes?
> Jerk our head over to the right, and use our left-hand sword to parry her stab to the left.
> Recover our own blades.
> Is this a proper slash, rather than a stab?
> From which of our sides is the attack coming?
> Twist our upper body counter-clockwise so as to bring the left side of our stomach area behind us, and hold our left-hand sword vertically downward between our body and the incoming slash to block it and prevent it from getting to us.
> At the same time, use our upper-body rotation to give our right arm some circular momentum, and swing a horizontal slash of our own at her stomach.
> Shit.
> Dash to the right! We have to get away from that scent.
> Which shoulder is this?
> While we're dashing right, bring our left sword up diagonal-vertically to get between her slash and our shoulder, preventing a shoulder slash.
> Don't bother counter-attacking this time, just keep dashing. We need to put some distance between the two of us before we choke on that cherry blossom smell.
> Keep going, and let her chase. This'll be a good gauge of just how fast she really is right now.
> Is the scent getting any better?
> How long could we hold our breath while doing a block-and-counterattack thing like we were doing before?
> What about hit-and-run tactics? That is, dashing in, defending against whatever attack she levies first, counterattacking if possible, and then dashing away again.
> Would mouth-breathing lessen the effect of the smell on us? If so, would it also be a sustainable breathing method in combat, or would it be too distracting?
> Could we pull our vest or our shirt over our nose if we had a hand free?
> Could we do it on the run? Or is she actually running faster than us at this point?
> And how long do we think we could stay in the aura of cherry blossom before gagging on the smell if we don't take such a precaution?
> Could we humanize our ghost half while on the run, or does that require slowing down/stopping?
> Would a deep stab to the base of the neck (a bit above the collarbone) be enough to end a fight under normal circumstances?
> Keep dashing for a couple of seconds. Let's see what kind of distance we can put between Meira and ourselves.
> Does she still look super pissed?
> "Snap out of it!"
> Is she holding her sword to either side, or directly in front of her?
> Which side, from our perspective?