Athos couldn't help but feel a bit undertaken by the attack that was launched at both him and his teammate. Of course, as the large white clay beast took off away from Ichirou, Athos already knew what it's origins were. Two of the eight lightning beasts that charged towards Ichirou redirected their course and aimed to drive themselves into the side of the clay dragon. With their closeness and the dragon not fully able to take into the sky to take advantage of it's ability to weave and dodge through the air, the lightning beasts aimed to disarm the dragon and erase it as a potential threat.
Just as Ichirou assumed, Athos had the strongest shield, so that any incoming attacks would fail to do any damage... Period, despite their strength. But the man was also in Sage Mode and, on a normal day, Athos was able to shatter the strongest Kaguya's bones with ease but now he was powered jacked, with Senjutsu and all. So, with the help of his Mind's Eye, plus his normal eyes, he saw Ichirou's incoming attack and had a determined counter for it almost instantly. As he pushed off the last platform he made beneath his foot, his speed would soon be more than that of Ichirou's, seeing as Athos' speed was far greater than that of one who trained under the Lotus Gates. His body would twist suddenly as he redirected all his momentum and strength into his lower body, but more so his right side. His right foot aimed to come down in an ax-kick that aimed to connect directly with the Sage Powered winds with more than enough strength to cause the attack to disperse and fail to do anything to Athos, allowing him to continue on to Ichirou.
With that being said, the distance between Ichirou and him was now closed and the ax kick doubled as his defense and attack against Ichirou. As he came down, it initially seemed that the strong blow aimed to crash violently onto the skull of Ichirou, with enough force behind it to cause the skull to shatter and the brain to almost instantly be turned to mush. If this attack landed on his head, it'd be all over for the man... But that wasn't Athos' goal. With the way Athos came down, it'd be almost perfect to slam against Ichirou but, hoping to fool him, Athos' foot would actually come to miss him by a few inches and would aim to crash into the ground beneath Ichirou. As this attack came crashing against the earth, unless somehow stopped, the ground would roar in protest but could do nothing about the violation it'd have to put up with. The immediate area around them, roughly 25 or so feet around Athos was instantly broken and turned into small pebbles, the destruction being monstrous. 15 feet outside of the initial radius is where it lightened up but the ground still shot up in large shards and became disheveled in more than one way. Trying to run within this initial 40 feet or so would be impossible, at least not without putting all your attention on walking and, of course, if Ichirou attempted to run or move out the way of the initial attack, he'd find himself with his balance ripped from him painfully and everything going crazy.
As his right heel dug into the ground, right after initial contact, Athos already changed it's purpose and was using it to push himself forward suddenly, with his right hand cocked back and balled in a fist. Even with the Byakugan, seeing as it didn't help one interpret things like the Sharingan, Ichirou would probably find himself keeping up with Athos' raw and sudden speed. As he pressed into the ground to push forward, the ground shattered even further, in both radius and even extended the cracks on the ground a few feet further as his right fist aimed to connect with it's target. This punch aimed for Ichirou's stomach, enough force in this single punch to shatter each of his ribs with ease, cause slight internal damage, and, obviously, to send him flying backwards like a rocket across the ground. This was all done within only a few seconds, if that, hoping to fully catch Ichirou off guard and to do some severe damage to him.