Taxse gasped and shook her head, the flare of white receeding from her eyes as she regained full control. It was a relief to have her powers back after a full moon, but the few minutes she was completely seperate from herself were never the most comfortable things to experience. She sighed heavily, lifting her face to reveal bright blue eyes as she tested the air with newly sensitive nostrils, before lifting a brow at what she found. The nobody that wasn't a nobody.. in the sparring arena. She grinned, flexing her fist before raising a hand, creating a portal with a simple flick of her wrist.

She stepped from the swirl of darkness lightly - gracefully - and eyed the young nobody. Young to her standards at least, he was probably older than she was physically. Her posture relaxed instantly, and she stood straighter. Her gaze raked the stands before it settled on said nobody. She smiled, although it was probably more toothy than she would have liked, so, finally decided to step into the fighting ring, eh? Why don't you take on someone worthy? She never was good at being dignified.

It was strange, to see nobodies - of all people - acting like someone they weren't. Taxse didn't tense as Cerix used his powers to move around, a fleeting thought of how it would give her a headache, but otherwise she didn't mind. It was a good thing she sparred with Xigbar so often; she was used to his stupid teleporting. Plus, watching him had given her the incentive to invent her own method of movement, and she smirked. Her eyes flickered for a split second, and in that moment, the shadow around her boots might have wavered, but by the time one noticed she'd already sunk into the dark spot in the ground. A moment later she rose from the ground beside Cerix, his shadow pooled around her feet, boo. She chuckled and stepped backwards, her shadow detaching itself from his as she moved away.

She lifted her hand, shadows circling her legs as they spiraled upwards and into her palm, solidifying into a long object. As the shadows fell away like a thick liquid, syrup maybe, her dagger shimmered from the mass and soon was the only thing left hovering above her open palm. Her brilliant blues eyed Cerix for a moment before she grasped the dagger and flipped it in her hand, this'll be fun, I haven't fought someone like you in a long time. But really, you don't have to pretend, drop the happy facade, I can handle the real you. She muttered, leaving her dagger hovering beside her as she tore off her gloves and rolled up her sleeves, revealing her tattoos; her smug smile never left her face. She was a master of seeing things like that. She didn't give him time to ask about it though, spreading her stance to that of a fighter and letting her eyes flicker, slowly losing her control as 'Taxse' and turning into that of someone else, something more; something animal. She cackled lightly, her eyes fading to ghostly white as she clicked her teeth together. She couldn't see Cerix anymore, not as a person at least. A rival was all that stood in her vision.

White eyes narrowed at the figure, waiting still, almost-statue like, and unblinking for her prey to move. She wasn't going to make the first move though. So, Taxse stood, seeing and not-seeing as she waited for Cerix to attack. It was part of her skill; this deadly patience and analytical way that she went about things. She wasn't looking for movement, she was looking for form - for power. Her mind in this state struggled to understand the appearance changes of the other, but in the end just brushed them off as something unnecessary to worry about during battle. It was the same person, no matter what he looked like.

Then it was Cerix that stood before her, one enemy fleeting to make way for this. For her real rival. Her power level swelled. She tensed, and as he lept through the mirror, used the same tactic she would when battling a teleporting Xigbar; she moved. It didn't matter which way, because he was in some other demention and chances were he couldn't see her. Luckily, her jump got her out generally out of the way from his attack and his blade merely skimmed her hip. She grimaced lightly, although not at the pain - there was none, anyways - but the fact that her sense of smell would be dulled by her own blood. The kick from Cerix made no purchase, and she growled, spinning back towards him. She dragged her hand through her own shadow, the substance melding around her hand as she did so, and dragged it across her dagger before flicking her wrist in the direction of the nobody she was facing. Her weapon shot towards him, black lines trailing after it. It was aimed at his chest, but hopefully he'd move, and she'd tag his arm or something. The shadows on the floor were getting heavy, sticky to the touch to those without shadow-based powers. The telepath ground her teeth together and jerked to the side again, trying to avoid any attack that Cerix would throw her way.

[[okay, well, he better get his ass out of those mirrors soon, or i'm going to count him for powerplaying. I can't hit him at all when he's in there. for short periods of time is fine, but longer and it's unfair..]]

Taxse's shoulders tensed as Cerix merely let the dagger slam into his chest and touched down on the shadow slicked floor. Instead of melding around his feet though, the shadows didn't react. His hunch has been way off. For a moment, his thoughst flashed through Taxse's mind and she lifted a hand to claw lightly at her temple, pushing her telepathy back into the dormant part of her mind. To be hearing thoughts at a time like this made things less fun. Made the hunt, the fight, less thrilling. By the time she managed to do so, Cerix had shattered into shards, and her vision of the world was replaced by slowly rotating mirrors. She growled again, baring her teeth as a mirror passed directly in front of her. For a split second, she sensed her opponent. That though, was all she needed.

She leapt forward with a snarl, lifting her feet up to crash into the mirror and slam it into the ground, perched on top of it and dragging her claws along it's surface, the resulting sound a horrific screech. A moment later though, there were shards shooting upwards and around her, into the bottoms of her boots and shreading holes in her black jacket. She released an animalistic shreik and leapt away. Her face was cut up, but that was nothing new to her. Luckily the stinging that should have been gnawing at her resolve was absent, pain meaningless to her in this berserker state. She glanced around the room, watching shards shoot from the mirrors as she straightened, glaring at the mirror left on the floor, scratches covering it's surface. A single lifted hand called her discarded dagger back into her grip, the weapon sounding dully as it flung from the sandly floor of the battle-field and through the air. It took a moment, but a sharp jab from Taxse's subconscious allowed her to break from her predatory snarling and taunt her foe, the voice that called out though, was not entirely hers, what's the matter, neophyte? Can't face your opponent like a man? She snarled again, her eyes flashing brightly as her berserker half attempted to take full control once more. She silenced it with another rough push though, her voice, sounding wretched, as if she were underwater, rang out again, this time with more dark humor lacing her words, plus, I don't need you in the shadows, I need them in you!

Taxse cackled in return, wincing as she couldn't force down a glutteral snarl. Her white eyes watched the clones circle her, although her position never relaxed, she held an air of confidence about her, what's this? Playing with fancy mirrors is the best you can come up with?! She pulled a semi-large shard from where it stuck in her arm and laughed again, crushing the piece in her grasp with a quick snap, and what's the difference between dark and light? For without one, there cannot be the other; and I, my friend, have the upper hand in this area.

There was a moment, where one might have saw the flash in Taxse's eyes, the tense of the muscles in her neck, or forarms. But after that slight moment, all vision was practically gone. There was now darkness, all around the clones. Sight was impossible with human eyes; just bleak, hopeless shadow. There was a cackle, from the darkness, but not where Taxse had once stood. In fact, it wasn't possible that Taxse was "standing" anywhere. She was shadow-hopping too fast for her to remain in one place, and thus the voice was resounding, coming from multiple sides at once. The shadows swirled lightly, pitch black as night, like a fog, dripping in miniscule droplets down the surfaces it came in contact with. It took a good amount of cencentration, but Taxse had liquidfied the shadows on the floor to such a point that they became a fog-like, smokey substance, that clouded the arena with the denseness of an explosion. Slowly, the chuckle began to fade and there was silence and unsafetly left hanging in the air.

Taxse made an 'oof' noise as she was hit in the lower stomach, but her berserking traits wouldn't let her stop there. Her claws hands grabbed his arm where it hit her, claws digging into his forarm as she held herself there, suspended within shadows by her own power, and grabbed her dagger from thin air, slamming it into his arm and dragging downwards before disinegrating into the shadows again, leaping to another side of the cloud in one quick jump and paused again.

Her breathing was rugged already, but that was usual for her in this state. It was strange that a battle with a neophyte lasted this long, but it was drawing to a close. She grinned at the though and brought her hand to her mouth, drawing her tongue along one finger and enjoying the bitter, copper-like taste. Now that she's cut him, it was going to be simple, although the cut really hadn't been too large of a wound, in fact insubstantial to a nobody, but it was all that she needed. She raised her hand, calling back her dagger from wherever it had been at the moment. She flipped in in the air without looking and snapped her teeth as she pushed through her subconscious again, hah! Twilight he says! It's unwanted and feared and considered useless! It's not meant to be, a combination of things so unlike! It's purposeful and purposeless at the same time, just like us. Taxse's berserker side snapped again and she snarled at the darkness.

Taxse's eyes narrowed as the arm under her grip turned metal and after he darted away from her he shattered. She couldn't really understand what he was saying after that, her rugged breathing was too loud in her own ears. She shook her head irritably and forced herself out of berserker mode. She staggered lightly as her senses slowed and lessened and she flipped her dagger to a more defensive position. She was done and bored with this. Her position straightened up and she rolled her eyes, I believe I agreed to fight with Cerix, not some annoying wolf boy. she grit out, don't preach to me about darkness until it's mixed with your blood as it is in me, and on the subject of turning into something [i]un[/u]-monstrous, you better get on that too. she snapped. This fight probably wasn't over, and the next time they battled it wouldn't be the same. She wouldn't be the one that walked away bleeding.

-and on the subject of bleeding.. The cuts scattered all around her body would start to hurt soon, so she pulled out her bottle of vicodin and downed twice as much as a normal human dose. It would be just enough to settle the pain for the moment, being what she was. Her bright blues glanced to the entrance of the room and awaited the arrival of their visitor as she lifted a hand to wipe the blood from her eyes.