Nosdyn.

He carefully studied the combatants in the Hume festival as they made their way into the battle square proper. Nosdyn's eyes were on one particular person...a man he'd met before some time ago. Way before the ash-fall and the eruption of Lorinus. Way before the volcanic eruption attempted to end their world...

But life would move on...life always found a way.

Nosdyn and his people were no different.

As he stood there carefully, he removed the hood atop his head. Which hid his face behind a shadow, his amber coloured eyes revealed. Nosdyn had developed a darker skin colour those days from their first encounter that time. He'd grown older...stronger. But yet he still had a lot to learn.

As he stood in place looking at Hayate, he hesitated.

There were whispers in the gathered crowd as they observed the demon-kind that was Nosdyn.

"It's him...the Haidian..." Someone nearby whispered.

"Heard he was killed by Zack Blaze..." Rumours...one and all.

"Start placing your bets and your coin!" Another voice called out in the crowd, opening the gambling field.

Nosdyn took it all in. There was a mad-sort of tension in the air. The older demon could feel it. His eyes were narrowed calmly as he stared at Hayate for a long moment. The fool had called out an open challenge to any number of combatants who would appear. Nosdyn was strangely hoping for a second meeting with that psycho figher, Zack Blaze...

A moment later there was the ignition sound of his rune-sword as the blade manifested into being. He'd recently upgraded the power of his weapon. He'd learned a lot since his encounter with Zack Blaze, and his other encounter with Hayate. He'd grown stronger...or so he thought.

Hayate is fast...remember what happened last time. How it ended... Nosdyn lacked any sort of enhanced movement capacity. His power lay in raw strength and his capacity to survive brutal attacks. Nosdyn looked up at the sky in The Citadel arena. There was no ash-fall. It strangely felt weird seeing that. ash-fall had become such a common thing at that point that he was not used to seeing a regular sky.

No ash-fall. The Monk's power is worth looking into... Nosdyn thought to himself. He spotted Hayate's position and began to slowly stalk towards the Akashiman. Nosdyn's rune-sword made a mysterious sound as he walked and held it at a forty-five degree angle pointing down. The tip of the weapon was an inch or two off the floor of the combat arena. Nosdyn kept his eyes on Hayate. Hayte had won their first encounter...barely. But Nosdyn was different in their second meeting. "Akashiman..." Nosdyn called out towards Hayate. "So we meet again." And in that fell moment, it was on.