Alexia waited patiently, the cold blistering around her but not affecting her in the least. She had laid a challenge down for her captain, one that would definitely change their division. Wagering for the empty vice-captain slot that had yet to be filled. She had no doubt that Kyuketsu had some pervy wager to match her serious one, but she wouldn’t give him that satisfaction.
Walking back against the arctic landscape’s frozen panorama, a sense of déjÁ vu immediately crept up unto the captain with every continued step. The bone-chilling air, the distant whispers of the lonely winds—he had shed blood there, triumphed against his peer, leaving with an inch of his life. And now he had come back to once again lay claim to the domain’s icy throne. His powers, as per the agreement, were sealed away to dramatic extremes, a complete far cry from the hellish devastation he once displayed there not too long ago.
Walking up to Alexia, his subordinate... his quarry, Kyuketsu unhesitatingly drew his sword. It s soul split in two, bringing into fruition its shikai state. Twin fangs gleaming with dire intensity, the captain called out, “You asked for this, Felone. I’ve handicapped myself as best I can, placed aside the entirety of my spiritual energy. Do not disappoint me. Bakudou Ten, Sealing Rings.”
Instantly, with admonishing ferocity just as the spell was cast, Kyuketsu threw free a hurricane of swings, brutal strokes that displayed his legendary lethality even at such a weakened state. Scores upon scores of blades suffocated and mauled at the girl, all blows aimed at vital body parts. Her neck, her chest—streaks of silver flying brilliantly to bite and maul. As the barrage began to subside, one final release shattered the senses. Growing from a downward slice, a dimension of slashes warped the plane, trapping the girl in its macabre, terrifying shadow.
5: [Torment] 200 - Cannot use the same technique or ability in consecutive rounds
9: [Potion] -100 - Heal all wounds
Sealing Rings - Bakudou #10, 65 Kidou
Description: Three yellow rings form around the target's body. One around the upper body, one around the lower body, and one around the legs. The rings close in on the target, temporary binding them, and placing a hard squeeze on them at the same time.
Incantation: The first ring comes in the morn. The second ring seals in the afternoon. The final ring binds at the day's dusk. Bakudou #10, Sealing Rings.
[1] [Predation] – Unique
With every stroke carrying Kyuketsu’s blade, his aim goes beyond simply killing an opponent. He strives to thrash and deluge his foes to the best of his abilities, painting a scene of utter devastation that immortalizes a masterpiece of both conflict and gore. Through this, he has crafted a slashing style amended by spiritual energy which extends and improves the reach of his sword.
By swinging his zanpakutou and giving up 5% reiatsu, the whole 15-feet space surrounding Kyuketsu is instantly overrun with a multitude of lines representing individual sword strikes. The gap between each crimson-colored stroke is impossibly narrow, thus cutting and tearing away at anything within range from all sides and angles, each slice being as deadly as a single zanpakutou swing.
In a sense, it acts a myriad of blows all coming instantaneously at once. The ‘slicing zone’ vanishes completely after a few seconds, leaving nothing but the scarred earth on which it once subsisted. This ability is usable only once per turn and requires a single cool-down round. Should the target deflect or stop the initial swing, however, the effect of the ability is cancelled out completely.
The cuts hurt. But then it was meant to. With what was at stake, it didn’t surprise her that the captain was going all in. First things first, the binding. It was a very low number, and he hadn’t said the incantation, so it didn’t take much effort to break through it.
Quickly drawing her blade, she brought it down onto Kyuketsu, the blades touching as the two were locked in. Now that they were equalized, getting close to him didn’t seem like such an imposing task.
“That’s not in my nature...sir,” she replied, a blue flame igniting at the end of her sword, enveloping the blade as she actually pushed forward.
“You seem to be familiar with hubris quite a whole lot as well,” he jeered.
There was stark composure in his voice, steady, unmitigated fortitude much like a massive wall of hardened steel. A quick swipe of the sword produced his own raw flash of energy, smashing blindingly against that of Alexia’s as the two attacks easily neutralized one another. From the billowing smoke of the impact’s aftermath, the captain’s foot struck forward, heel thrusting against the girl’s abdomen with splintering force.
Kyuketsu lunged unimpeded, driving an impaling right tip for the girl’s neck. Followed suit was a falling diagonal cut, the edge racing downwards for the hip. From Tenzansatsu’s left blade came a confining stroke, rushing from the side like a scissor squeezing down in its mark.
A battle for Vice-Captaincy. Has that ever happened before?
The stakes of the match had made their way to the growing crowd, infecting their gazes with equal parts interest and discontent. Would someone truly make it to Vice-Captaincy in such a public spectacle?
This was the same question that brought Toride Satoru to the scene of this battle. It was with a morbid curiosity that he watched this match. He knew that Alexia had ambitions for Captaincy, but to duel a Captain simply for the chance to skip the rungs on the proverbial ladder?
And not just any Captain. Oh no. It had to be the man whose specialty... no, whose purpose in the afterlife was to enter single combat in the most dire of situations and walk out alive. The man who had come face to face with the madness that was Prometheus and walk away. The man who was directly responsible for Alexia and her training.
Such a challenge was brazen, even for the Ice Queen herself.
As he watched the battle unfold, the woman cut in hundreds of places within the blink of an eye, and giant flashes of light bashing against each other like two flares loosed from colored suns, Satoru's curiosity brought another question into existence.
Is she willing to allow her recklessness to lead her into a wreck at the hands of the Duelist King?
Only time, conflict, and desperate carnage would tell.
“Material Summon~!” chirped the Captain, who as usual was clad only in a shihakushou and a few little affectations here and there, but left her haori conspicuously absent. In her hand a container appeared, and as she sat beside Satoru she opened it with glee. She had summoned popcorn. Where for Satoru this was a morbid curiosity, for Adelaide her reaction was either this or personally smacking Alexia around. Her friend was being foolhearty, and was almost certainly going to wind up with the cutest tattoo and miniskirt combo the Gotei dared ever dream of.
She was going to enjoy the show, because the rationale behind it, the stakes involved, seemed so inappropriate to her that thinking about it simply wouldn’t do.
"He got his Vice-Captaincy in a way very similar to this, if that's what you're thinking." She came up behind him almost like a ghost, though intending only to watch rather than attempt to scare the boy. "Kyuketsu was the second one I appointed to the position, and I was far from gentle in doing so."
"The Eleventh has a funny little history of turning mistakes into heirlooms it would seem." She managed a sincere enough smile at the comment, though it was just as annoying as it was jovial.
Tsubaki leaned on a jutting plate of ice while giving Satoru a quick up-and-down glance. All things considered he had come out of their fight in better shape than she, even though he had lost. Either it was a sign she was learning to be more careful with her fellow Shinigami...or she was losing her touch. Neither was particularly welcome as a truth of things to come.
"You probably wouldn't be here if you didn't know one of them personally, so which one are you watching?"
It didn’t take that much to halt the onslaught of would-be attacks, Alexia simply took hold of the captain’s leg when he kicked forward.
“Equalizer sir. Can’t exactly kick through walls anymore,” she said, holding her zanpakuto over her head.
“Chill to the bone, Kōri no jotei,” the Duelist declared, the nine-foot dual staff forming amongst the cold air. Immediately it began to rotate, picking up speed fast. Without saying some witty comment, she brought it down, threatening to slice through the flesh and bone of Kyuketsu’s leg.[
“And I suppose that means you’re stronger than me now?” taunted the captain, flashing a sharp grin.
The staff’s descent met with a shrieking clash against Kyuketsu’s left blade, sparks churning against the impacted, opposing weapons. His right talon swerved, catching an opening held to the girl’s side. Yet another rift of strokes consumed the nineteenth seat, the space surrounding her scarred and mauled by a multitude of infinite, inescapable cuts.
Kyuketsu snarled, his form beginning to vomit a course, sweltering hell which started to slowly melt apart the ice and snow surrounding the two combatants.
465
[Predation] executed again along wit ha swing from the right. Either roll and post a handicap or say that you don't want to have any.
Satoru eyes his Captain curiously, the stormy gray clouds watching her almost giddy expression. Did she perhaps not see the potential seriousness of the event? As Taidan was quicker, he used it to send his thoughts into his superior's mind rather than his words into her ears.
Do you not understand? That man, Kyuketsu. When I talked to him a couple weeks ago about her potential court date, he seemed absolutely apathetic to that woman. I thought he was bluffing, but I now see no hesitation in his attacks. Alexia could face serious injury-
His stream of thought was interrupted once he noticed the Hollow reiatsu sauntering up behind the two. The fact that none of the other spectators had lost their cool meant that the incoming presence was familiar. A flash of anxious lightning flashed in his stormy eyes before turning to meet Tsubaki's own leonine gaze. A small portion of her burned hair remained visible, the handiwork of the Mystic's blue flames. In spite of this, he did not gloat.
Her words had sunk in deeply, sending the wheels in his brain turning. Perhaps this wasn't as uncommon as everyone was led to believe, but the idea of her potential mutilation still gave him a measure of discomfort. He had trained with her, hunted with her, and snarked at her for quite some time. If she went, he'd have to wait for the Fourth to patch her up. Not to mention that Adele would be quite broken up. How did one teach a sulking cat, anyway?
Satoru sighed with irritation, casting his glance towards the green-haired woman before returning his eyes to Tsubaki.
"The one with the giant targets is an acquaintance of mine," he explained. "I heard about this match and immediately thought 'there's no way she survives this intact'. Being who I am, however, I couldn't help but watch."
Refocusing his attention on the contest of wits and will beneath him, Satoru began to speak but without a designated listener.
"It's like watching a forest fire grow and spread," the Mystic tried to say dismissively but his voice ringing with the telltale signs of experience. "You know it's horrible, but some strange part of you can't quite look away."
"Miss Felone, a Vice Captain?" The strawberry blonde healer spoke from behind her mentor, worry lacing her voice. She had not forgotten her assumptions about Alexia during their joint mission, and the mere remembrance of it quickly made her cringe a little inside.
"I will not be saying anything else, except perhaps, heavens bless the Eleventh if she wins." Ansherina spoke with a wry smile, worriedly watching the fight unfold.
“Alexia is ambition without temperament – do you want some popcorn, my dear psychopath? Apprentice? Inquisitive? – Alexia is form without function. Her raw ambition has alienated a lot of people along the way. Material Summon.” As Adelaide offered the canister of popcorn to those around her, her other hand suddenly had a rather too-large cup in it. “Soft drinks are perhaps the one thing that makes me most proud of the decadence society has embraced since my time. The only value this beverage has is pleasure. It doesn’t even resolve thirst, it just pleases.”
Realizing that she was off-topic, she returned to talking about the spectacle at hand. “Anyway, Alexia seeks the soft drink of command. She has ambition empty of aspiration. She does not want to be worthy of title, but has some notion that the title is not yet worthy of her. Much as I appreciate my friend, I admit this leads her down a rather dangerous path that recklessly culminates in this fight you see before you.” The redhead sipped her decadent drink, “Perhaps this is some tradition mired deep in the bloodlust of the Eleventh Division, esteemed nutter, but the Eleventh Division does her no favors by it. The disdain her Captain holds her in is the stuff of legend. I can little help but wonder if a different environment would’ve instructed her by now as to what it truly is her ambitions mean, which of course assumes she’d listen. She doesn’t take well to someone trying to teach her...” Admittedly, Adelaide was making her friend sound bad. But she really, massively disapproved of this event so it was hard not to. “I think that a combination of these is the reason why she cannot win. She doesn’t really understand what she fights for, and Kyuketsu isn’t just trying to win, but to make her suffer for her irreverence.”
With a slight clearing of the throat and a not-so-subtle glance at Satoru, the Captain added, “In any case, my officers would never do something as ridiculous as engage one another in combat to try to earn my favor, isn’t that right, Toride? I mean, the Tenth Division ought to be meritocratic, not the kind of bloodsport you’d see in the Eleventh. Isn’t. That. Right. Toride.” She flashed a toothy grin and sipped her oh so hedonistic soda.
More of that cutting field. Kyuketsu sure did like going back to the same trick. Again they hurt, lines of red crisscrossing on her skin. But she wasn’t going to give it up just because of a few cat scratches. Her concern was for the strike going to her left side. This forced her to drop his leg, and reach out with the free hand to stop it.
And she would...kind of. The Duelist had latched onto the man’s wrist, and it stopped the blade from going in any deeper. But it didn’t change the feeling of the blade making contact with her flesh and blood. She pushed against it, moving the blade out of her body.
At the same time, she moved her zanpakuto, which was locked in with his other blade, positioning it so that one end was pointed at the captain.
Not saying a word this time, the end glowed white, firing a burst of icicles at point-blank range.
Without warning a bolt of black energy shot from the former Captain's right hand, obliterating the drink that the pompous Mystic had begun to sip on. With an expression that couldn't have been described as anything less than 'not fucking around,' Tsubaki met Adelaide's gaze without hesitation. "Oops. I apologize dear, my mental state must be quite terrible for me to have done that."
"We of the Eleventh may have a more public way of doing things than most, but if nothing else no one can say that we are handed anything like a title or a Haori when we are not deserving of them. But then, I wouldn't expect someone who was handed the keys to a Division already firmly established to understand what was truly going on here. I suppose I could explain that right now this is a punishment for Kyuketsu just as much as Alexia, but who would believe a nutjob like me?"
She reached within the folds of her robes, extracting a small silver flask and putting it to her lips. After a moment, Tsubaki sadly realized that the liquid inside had frozen into one solid undrinkable chunk and put it away with a tired sigh. Damn arctic.
As the object was tucked away again Tsubaki continued with a surprisingly level tone. "Your' subordinate has an apt grasp of what is going on here though, to some extent. They are both tired, they are both frustrated with things as they are now. While Alexia admittedly has done a lot of antagonizing in this, there is purpose behind it. They're both suffering, and they want that pain to mean something when its over. I'm here to make sure that neither of them takes it too far."
She chuckled mildly to herself, giving the boy a nod and the Mystic Captain not so much as a second glance. "Supposition about who they could have been if things were different is both irrelevant and idiotic. I'm just here to make sure someone doesn't take a sword through the chest."
Sorry about the long ass turn! There's just a lot to respond to.
The sudden appearance of Miyahara sent chills running down his spine and a dull ache to throb throughout the various places where her spines had stabbed through his robes and flesh. Satoru still had a vivid memory of their encounter and it left a sour taste in his mouth.
He could have killed her, right then and there. At the very least he could have put her out of the tournament. It was a contest of sport, though. He didn't expect her to really skewer him and then rub salt on the wound. Actually, it was more like wounds.
The contention between the two Captain-class shinigami, however, scared him more than she ever could. Tsubaki had come dangerously close to committing treason with that blasted black bolt of hers. If a fight broke out between those two women, everyone in the audience would be in danger. Turning to face the both of them while carefully averting his gaze from Ansherina's face, he took a chance to snark at both of the other women.
"Ladies, ladies, you're both beautiful!" he stated with the trademark sarcastic grin flashing both of them in turn. He then directed his gaze completely towards the master of the blade. "Tsubaki, I understand the potential graveness of the situation, but assaulting my superior's soft drink is hardly going to move her position. No need to keep stoking a fire, is there?"
Turning to the benevolent pyromanic, he tsk-ed in mock disapproval. "Lady Adelaide, I'm surprised at you! You of all people should have some idea of what drives my actions." A smile came without ill intent or disappointment, but merely with the assurance of a man who had confidence in a simple fact.
"I don't fight to earn your favor. Fighting is just a test of wits, really. All it demonstrates is what kind of person your opponent is and how well they can make decisions under pressure. I fight to learn," he stated simply, following the words with a shrug that screamed I'm just sayin'.
He eyed the popcorn with barely veiled hunger, not having eaten anything since the intense healing session required to return him to the life... or whatever they called the state of existence that shinigami clung to. The Inquisitive was tempted to take a kernel or two, but he figured that keeping on good terms with the original Templar was more important than a bit of hunger.
Just like that, no more opportunities to be a hedonist. Well, she did still have her cold popcorn. “The drink was freezing anyway, you saved me disappointment,” commented the redhead, not fazed or even really surprised by a violent outburst from the person who made them popular in the first place. “Their dissatisfaction with the status quo is a result of Alexia’s actions. She needs to learn patience, temperament; she needs to learn that contrary to your self-serving beliefs titles aren’t just handed to people who want them.” Or who don’t, in Adelaide’s case. “Though I realize that ‘patience’ might be a word you’re unfamiliar with, my dear.” Tsubaki was more the ‘start a civil war’ type than the ‘wait a few days’ type.
“As for being handed a haori, I suppose I could debate the merits of that argument with you, but I think it more prudent to ask a question I wonder if Alexia has ever asked herself: what does one do with it? Looking at them, I can at least tell what Kyuketsu had done with that gaudy garment, though sometimes I wonder if he makes his presence felt enough befitting the grandeur. Then again, the last time an Eleventh Captain made their presence felt, I seem to recall hearing of a threat to send troops to slaughter civilians in Rukongai? So maybe he’s right to stay out of the spotlight.” Honestly, the Mystic felt like she was hearing about Haresuno all the time lately, mostly because he was grabbing that spotlight with both hands in his recent affairs.
"Because gods forbid our subordinates ever be allowed to make mistakes and learn from them. It's so much better to just issue edicts from on high and demand blind obedience, is that what you're saying?" She scoffed, giving the Mystic a dry glance. "I sure hope you'll make a good judge one day, because you seem like a shit soldier and an even worse teacher." Her gaze sharpened, locking the Captain firmly within them. The time for half-assed niceties and thinly-veiled sarcasm were gone.
"I'd rather be known for taking a risk with my power and-and failing than not doing anything to begin with. I don't give half a damn what you heard Adelaide, because it was probably the idle talk of idle hands and minds that weren't doing anything worth talking about themselves." The former Captain of the Eleventh gave a tired glance up to the churning clouds above, locked in a whirlpool of swirling white and azure. "The actions I took would be repeated without hesitation, the fact that there was a Haori on my shoulders is irrelevant."
Her eyes relented from the Mystic Captain, turning instead to the boy she had faced in the previous round. Odds were good that if she continued interacting with him his own Captain would make him suffer for it. Sadly, he would have to choose what came next for himself.
Sorry boy. She's not my friend. She's not my Captain, and shes damn sure not my superior. Therefore, she's not my problem.
"There's no harm in stoking a fire that isn't going to burn anything." Tsubaki gave the comment a half-hearted shrug before turning her eyes back towards the fight. "There's no reason for me to be afraid of her or even take anything she thinks or says to heart, because it's nothing but talk."
"If she feels like taking a shot at me she knows how to go about it. Until that happens she'd do well to watch her fucking mouth." Her eyebrows raised momentarily as a thought played itself out inside her mind, followed shortly after by a knowing smile.
"...or she could not. Either one suits me just fine."
Glimmering ice formed on the tip of the girl’s spear, instantly catching the captain’s attention. A quick counterstroke flashed from his blade—the same blade impacted against the Kori no Jotei’s length—as a flash of burning reiatsu met the icicles’ release. At such close a range, practically face to face, while Kyuketsu was spared from the icicles, he in turn was still scathed by his own attack. The lock between Tenzansatsu and the enemy ice spear remained undeterred, however, as both weapons were still glued to one another, neither allowing the other escape.
As Alexia gripped Kyuketsu’s wrist tighter than ever before, eager to restrain its movements, the captain’s simply couldn’t help but oblige such persistency. He dropped his sword without hesitation, pivoting a now-open hand to grasp his subordinate’s wrist in return. His clutch was equal, if not tighter than the girl’s, locked and secured in place as the chain of the Eleventh came into fruition. The sealing draw of the ability prevented any semblance of escape, crushing whatever notion of space that was left between them.
“A civilization freezes, wolves howl the music of oblivion. Bring forth the ice and snow which glaciates the land of sin. Hadou Fifty: Reitouten,” he chanted viciously, dead and uncaring eyes consuming the girl’s entirety, mauling and feeding on her presence and drowning her in the raptor’s shadow.
The effect came, ice and frost forming instantaneously from the inside out on the hand firmly gripped by the captain.
712
brutal anal rape
Used laser to stop the brunt of the ice. still got hurt from it since it was such a close range. dropped the other sword and grabbed alexia on the wrist too. initiated [Lockdown] too so she can't run. used hadou 50 to freeze her arm solid. spear and other sword still locked together. bye bye hand :]
Reitouten - Hadou #50, 1000 Kidou
Description: Reitouten allows the user to glaciate a part of their opponent's body. To tap into this power, the user chants the spell beforehand. Then, by grabbing their opponent or throwing the flickering snow-white orb from their hand they can freeze a part of the target's body inside out. The frozen mark becomes brittle and easily broken.
Incantation: A civilization freezes, wolves howl the music of oblivion. Bring forth the ice and snow which glaciates the land of sin, Hadou #50, Reitouten.
also you spectators need to calm teh fuck down or get the fuq out
Beaker321C 8:58 pm
so, you got an issue with me stopping wayne from blowing up vin from the inside out in their fight?
swaswj 9:02 pm
None at all
Beaker321C 9:03 pm
much obliged
swaswj 9:03 pm
Just know that by stepping in on Vin's behalf, it counts as Vin's forfeit
But it'll keep his char alive
Beaker321C 9:03 pm
yeah, its a forfeiture that keeps him alive
so he'll just have to hate me later i guess
"Aaaand that's my cue."
A crack of thunder erupted from the sidelines of the quickly escalating bloodbath, resulting in Tsubaki standing next to the two combatants before they could so much as blink. The former Captain looked down at the man who now wore her Haori with a dangerous expression of disdain.
"This was over before now, and you know it." A glowing blade of ebony and gold was at the boy's throat instantly, moving faster than the speeds of perception could ever hope to begin with. "You don't have anything left to prove here Kyuketsu, and all that you're doing is cheapening the name of our Division."
The baleful glance shot from Reijuu to Alexia like lightning, pinning the heavily injured girl where she stood. "This was foolish, and you know it. You had no hope of winning this with the attitude you have now, and if I wasn't here he would have killed you. Don't think otherwise, not for a single second."
"Alexia Felone da Firenze concedes. If either of you have a problem with that we can put it to bed here and now." Her voice had muted to a strained semblance of steadfast intonation, but nevertheless carried an air of deadly severity to it. "Whatever this stupid feud between you is ends, right here and now."
“Ever the voice of reason, eh Tsubaki?” hissed Kyuketsu, his eyes breaking off from the girl and onto the lioness who kept him from his victory.
The captain yielded in his stance, stepping away from the two females before snatching his other blade. He paced a few steps off, heels crunching through the thick blankets of ice and snow. Though his face remained stone cold and calm, such serenity betrayed the still-fuming fires which blistered within his core.
“But that just begs the question: what manner of uncouth, disgusting little shit would dare interrupt a duel? Were you truly looking out for the girl’s safety and the prestige of the Eleventh... or were you simply that desperate to place the attention onto yourself? Surely the spotlight is better poised for the one and only Tsubaki.” He turned around, glancing at her before spitting disgustedly by her feet. “Oho, how conceited you are, my Queen. I could kiss you for it, but I’m afraid I might puke.”
The limiter seal branding his chest began to slowly brim with a coruscating luster, illuminating the yarrow flower’s crest through his uniform.
“You told me not too long ago to stop breaking your heart.” Golden raptorial eyes glared back onto the former captain. Reiatsu began to billow and pulse around the lord of the Duelist, sparking up the blanched landscape. “But I’d much rather break your neck.”
