Slamming the surface of his forehead into Surudoi's was like head-butting a block of solid steel. Pain blossomed across his face as he landed back on his feet and Surudoi staggered back, first one step and then a second step. In any normal competition of power, a simple stagger in his opponent would have been meaningless but for a human being to have laid a hand on a creature as vastly powerful as Surudoi and given him pause for even a heartbeat was a feat of enormous size. Glaring back at the Shark Overlord with eyes that were full of fury, Katsuo was certain that even though there was no reasonable way that they could overcome the beast that stood before them he had made sure that Surudoi would not soon forget the golden king that had stood before him and defied him. Blood poured down his face from the self-inflicted wound he'd given himself by bashing his head into the rough exterior of the shark's head but despite that Katsuo never took his eyes off of his opponent for even a moment.
"More where that came from big guy. Pool's open." Katsuo taunted, unblinking. He was determined to go to his death bowed by this monster that had murdered a child for fun. Spiders of golden lightning arced down Katsuo's shoulders and chest, springing off of his body and into the ground near where he stood in a crouched stance leaving small gouges of searing heat where they touched the stone beneath him. "Water's fine."
Surudoi bounced back from the surprised irritation plain on his face and returned a toothy smirk back to his face as he rubbed the tiny curl of blood from his face off with a churlish teeth sucking noise.
"If you really dare... Why not take the test?"
The shark creature then threw two of his enlarged teeth down to the ground in front of them and challenged them to throw their blood into the whirl of sea water behind him. To her credit, Michi was having none of it. She refused any part in the creature's game and continued to stand defiant in the face of his taunting demand but for Katsuo's part the offer stood out to him. There was no way they could overcome Surudoi as they were, not even if they fought together. This wasn't a scenario where their faith in each other and the power of friendship would help them overcome their adversary. He was simply too far beyond them to walk away from this fight was against everything Katsuo believed in. He was faced with a choice that one way or another forced him to betray one of his principles. Did he join forces with MIchi here in a defiant stand against evil knowing that they would almost certainly die and leave the state of Sunagakure to fend for itself in the war? What of the promise he'd made to Naganisa and to all of the others about fighting for a better tomorrow?
Or did he walk away and let Surudoi simply get away with his crimes?
My king-- !
Caliburn's mental warning came almost a moment too late as Surudoi's stepped forward and brought his tremendous fist bearing down on Katsuo in retaliation for the blow that the Kazekage had landed on him earlier. His partner's warning snapping him back into the moment, Katsuo raised his arms and in that moment a gilded dome of crackling energy sprang into life just in time to catch Surudoi's fist before it could strike home. With Katsuo and Caliburn's will together behind the barrier, it seemed almost for a moment like they might put off the great beast's attack entirely but the progress of the attack was halted only briefly as Surudoi's knuckles bit through the barrier and slammed into Katsuo's raised forearms, sending him skidding backwards several paces and only a little bit past MIchi. Lightning played across the bloody patch where he'd caught Surudoi's attack, skin and exposed muscle oozing blood that dripped to the stone floor as the arcs of electricity lined the edges of the wound and began to knit it back together through Caliburn's influence.
"I'll do it." Katsuo announced, in contrary to Michi's initial rejection of the offer. "On one condition. I want the right to come back here and challenge you. Any time, any where. No rain checks, no chickening out."
There was no avoiding the simple truth that he could not hold Surudoi accountable for his actions in this moment. He simply lacked the power to make that possible. But there could potentially be a time in the future, some distant day far down his path as a sage, that Katsuo possessed enough power to make that thought into a reality.
But he needed to be clear that Surudoi would accept his challenge first.
"More where that came from big guy. Pool's open." Katsuo taunted, unblinking. He was determined to go to his death bowed by this monster that had murdered a child for fun. Spiders of golden lightning arced down Katsuo's shoulders and chest, springing off of his body and into the ground near where he stood in a crouched stance leaving small gouges of searing heat where they touched the stone beneath him. "Water's fine."
Surudoi bounced back from the surprised irritation plain on his face and returned a toothy smirk back to his face as he rubbed the tiny curl of blood from his face off with a churlish teeth sucking noise.
"If you really dare... Why not take the test?"
The shark creature then threw two of his enlarged teeth down to the ground in front of them and challenged them to throw their blood into the whirl of sea water behind him. To her credit, Michi was having none of it. She refused any part in the creature's game and continued to stand defiant in the face of his taunting demand but for Katsuo's part the offer stood out to him. There was no way they could overcome Surudoi as they were, not even if they fought together. This wasn't a scenario where their faith in each other and the power of friendship would help them overcome their adversary. He was simply too far beyond them to walk away from this fight was against everything Katsuo believed in. He was faced with a choice that one way or another forced him to betray one of his principles. Did he join forces with MIchi here in a defiant stand against evil knowing that they would almost certainly die and leave the state of Sunagakure to fend for itself in the war? What of the promise he'd made to Naganisa and to all of the others about fighting for a better tomorrow?
Or did he walk away and let Surudoi simply get away with his crimes?
My king-- !
Caliburn's mental warning came almost a moment too late as Surudoi's stepped forward and brought his tremendous fist bearing down on Katsuo in retaliation for the blow that the Kazekage had landed on him earlier. His partner's warning snapping him back into the moment, Katsuo raised his arms and in that moment a gilded dome of crackling energy sprang into life just in time to catch Surudoi's fist before it could strike home. With Katsuo and Caliburn's will together behind the barrier, it seemed almost for a moment like they might put off the great beast's attack entirely but the progress of the attack was halted only briefly as Surudoi's knuckles bit through the barrier and slammed into Katsuo's raised forearms, sending him skidding backwards several paces and only a little bit past MIchi. Lightning played across the bloody patch where he'd caught Surudoi's attack, skin and exposed muscle oozing blood that dripped to the stone floor as the arcs of electricity lined the edges of the wound and began to knit it back together through Caliburn's influence.
"I'll do it." Katsuo announced, in contrary to Michi's initial rejection of the offer. "On one condition. I want the right to come back here and challenge you. Any time, any where. No rain checks, no chickening out."
There was no avoiding the simple truth that he could not hold Surudoi accountable for his actions in this moment. He simply lacked the power to make that possible. But there could potentially be a time in the future, some distant day far down his path as a sage, that Katsuo possessed enough power to make that thought into a reality.
But he needed to be clear that Surudoi would accept his challenge first.