Xam's hair started to grow out, getting spikier as it lengthened. Vejimaru floated in the air, focusing his strength, pulling power from the world around him. The air started to to reverberate with the energy from the two fighters, as lightning crackled in the air around them. The sky grew darker yet, and the flow of the river increased. Xam's cape flew off and was ripped to shreads by the energy being produced. Vejimaru grined wickedly. Xam and he had fought together at one point, along side archangels and archdemons to carve a place for themselves in a corrupt world. As the top half of the Cresent Moon Demon's Gi was torn to shreads under the pressure of his muscles, Vejimaru thought of his past. Traveling the globe, looking for a master. Finding the Toukijin. Sealing the demon blade's soul within himself. Being granted the Tenseiga by his father.
"VEJIMARU!"
The yell bought him back to reality with a jolt. Xam stood before him, in his transformed state. He was at least twice his original size, and he had an air of power about him. Vejimaru looked down at himself. He had been strengthening himself all the while that he was remembering his past. He grinned to himself. A warrior shouldn't be distracted in a fight...
Xam dashed in, his speed increadible. He punched Vejimaru hard in the gut, then spun into a roundhouse kick enforced with ki. Vejimaru flew into the rubble that had previously been a canyon wall, and stayed there. Vejimaru knew that in his current state, Xam had him out powered. Vejimaru could not get his mind off of his past though. He tried and he tried, but he could not. This had never happened before. Then, he remembered something that one of his first masters had taught him. Vejimaru powered up, expelling all the rubble around him in a blaze of power. Xam looked down, nonplused. Vejimaru then drew the Toukijin, hardly thinking. He foucused his energy into unlocking the blades soul, something he hadn't done in a long time, if ever. Xam kept on staring.
"Hmmm...he isn't focusing on the battle at hand. It is as if something is preoccupying him."
Vejimaru found what he had been looking for in himself, a buring evil kept back by a dominant soul. He focused on breaking the bonds that held the soul in place, and channeled the power that was flowing out into the Toukijin.
"I hope that Toukijin doesn't possess me. Theoritcally, I am strong enough to prevent that scenario, but there is no guarentee..." Vejimaru said to himself.
Xam grew impatient. He dashed in once again, reaching for the scimitar that hung at his side. He drew quickly, smoothly transitioning into a horizontal swing. He found himself cutting thin air, as Vejimaru disappeared. Xam started to worry now. No one was as fast as Vejimaru had just been. Has he reached the next level of his powers? Xam then had a flashback of one of the former clan's old masters.
"Xam, come here a second. I want'st thou to be careful of Vejimaru. His talent and ability is limitless. He, however, doesn't know that. It will be a while before he taps his full ability. Also, he will not do it all at once. He will go step by step, getting faster and stronger each time. When he is at half his potential, few people in the universe shall be able to stop him."
"Why are you telling me master?"
"Because thou art the one that must oversee his transitioning between levels. Thou must push him beyond a level's limits to get him to the next. I would get Magnus, the best warrior in our clan, but he is away dealing with clan affairs, and I know not when he shalt return. Go. Make'st the Earth ours as as much as it is those stinking monkey's."
Xam shook his head. That had been before the global war that separated him from Vejimaru for an age. 50,000 years ago. When the first saiyans landed and colonized earth. Xam chuckled a little, remembering how he recieved his saiyan blood, but then bought himself back to reality. He couldn't feel Vejimaru's spirit or ki, which worried him. Vejimaru was surely producing amazing amounts of power. Wielding the Toukijin required that as a minimum. Xam suddenly caught an accidental flare of spirit. He didn't move however, just looked at the spot in the distance from whence it came.
"Uh oh." Xam said to himself, starting to sweat, "His spirit is increasing. When he uses Toukijin, his ki increases, not his spirit. He is moving up to the next level. Looks like I just might have to power up to my full form against him..."
Xam dashed towards the source of the energy at blazing speeds, changing as he went. His hair grew even longer, flowing down onto his sholders and back, and he was getting bulkier. His eyes started to glow in the dark night, and his aura changed from a pale purple to a deathly black. He stopped suddenly, looking around. He was right on top of the spirit he could feel, but there was no one in sight. He suddenly jumped up high, as a column of energy broke out of the earth, nearly hitting him. The column faded, and Vejimaru appeared where the top had been. Toukijin was glowing, giving off its own energy.
"So, Toukijin was masking Vejimaru's ki. Interesting."
Xam closed the distance between Vejimaru and himself in less then a second, and brought his scimitar down in a powerful veritcal slash. Just when it seemed that he had cleaved Vejimaru in two, he saw what seemed to be an energy shield surrounding Vejimaru. Xam moved back, and saw that it was in fact a giant blade of energy. Toukijin's aura had somehow become solid. The aura flared at the hilt of the blade, giving it the appearance of a giagantic germanic blade, a faust of kinds. Vejimaru was looking intenly at Xam, a new passion and power in his eyes.
They rushed at each other, trading blow after blow with their blades. There was a bright flash and a wave of seismic energy whenever they clashed. After a particularly powerful encounter, they both flew back from each other. Xam was sweating a little, Vejimaru was panting heavily. Xam chuckled to himself. Vejimaru was in between levels, so he lacked energy. Xam shealthed his scimitar, and Vejimaru shealthed Toukijin, which dispelled its aura when it felt that it was not being used. The drow and the demon rushed at each other again, this time trading blows with their fists. Vejimaru got in a powerful punch to Xam's gut, and followed with a sweeping kick to Xam's shins, followed by a double kick that sent Xam into the earth. Within seconds, however, Xam was back in the fray, trading blows with Vejimaru once again. Their fight had taken them over the canyon itself when Xam stopped, afraid to take the battle on. Vejimaru was getting stronger while they were fighting. He was regaining his stamina instead of losing it. Vejimaru was getting to another level faster than Xam had expected. A few more minutes of fighting, and Vejimaru would be on an equal level with Xam. Vejimaru wiped some blood off of his lip, and suddenly zanzokened behind Xam, hands cupped above his head. He bought them down on Xam's skull, sending Xam into the rushing river below. This time, Xam waited a while before coming back. As he rose out of the water, he cursed himself for his idiocy and arrogance. Vejimaru wasn't reaching another level at all. He was a new level. Their eyes met, and Xam knew that he had found his equal.