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Finally, he could swing things back in his favor. With the lasers alone, the amount of pressure he could place upon Darksteel would be more than enough to--

Hold on.

Darksteel dodged two, but the last one hit cleanly. And yet it didn't cut a hole through him like a bullet through gelatin. It bounced off him. Splashed off, really, reducing the heat laser to more of a molten ooze that geysered away from him.

Banda needed a second to process what had just happened; and so, too, apparently, did Darksteel. For a moment, they both hovered there in midair, confused and trying to reassess.

Darksteel was the first to start moving again, so even though Banda would've liked more time to think through the logical ramifications of what this meant for the rest of this fight, he didn't get it. He had to react.

Because Darksteel was torpedoing straight toward him again. Unafraid.

There would be no chase this time, it seemed.

Acid and claws were his instinctual answer. If the lasers weren't going to work, then he needed to eat away at that armor until it was weakened enough to break through, which his claws would be able to do.

In theory. He didn't have the luxury of thinking about it more than that.

Darksteel cannonballed straight into him, but Banda was ready with a gaseous evasion. Darksteel passed through harmlessly enough and took a gob of searing acid to the back.

It didn't slow him down. He did a pinpoint turn and rocketed back, this time too close and too fast to react to.

Banda got his bell rung. An armored knee collided with his temple. It was certainly enough to leave him disoriented. He tried in vain to swing with a flurry of transfigured arms and claws. They all whiffed as he lost track of Darksteel for a second or two.

That was too long.

By the time he sensed his opponent again, his wings were being shredded to pieces by that damn cluster-fire technique of Darksteel's. If Banda had noticed a moment later, it would've been his head that got shredded, not his wings.

He surged downward, embracing the sudden freefall and resorting to more of his gaseous form in order to press for even more speed. He didn't technically need his wings in order to fly, after all. Pan-rozum could accomplish it, too, albeit with more difficulty.