Ilsa gasped as the barrage of thin arrows pushed her back, digging her sandals into the sandy grass in an attempt to gain some traction. She saw the next two arrows, real ones this time, coming; one of the many benefits of Tenrai Chikaku. But the range was far too close for her to put up a barrier kidou, and she was still trying to get her balance, much less dodge. Hinometori came up in a desperate last-ditch defense, spinning to bounce the first arrow out into the desert.
The second arrow buried itself in Ilsa’s left bicep. Hissing with pain, she deadened her sense of touch even further and tightened her grip on her weapon. Curse it, the blood is going to make it hard to keep hold of Hinometori if I use both hands. Time to bring out the big guns and show why she was vice-captain of the Arcanists.
“Lonely rock, fly down from the great Orion. Surf the stars and find the truth in your nothingness, accepting futility." Ilsa blurred forward in a shunpo, closing the range. "Bakudou number seventy-four, Gravity Ring.”
A cone of bright light flashed from her blood-smeared hand, deceptively harmless-looking. It wouldn’t hurt Rina directly... just make her easier to catch.
209/2294
Even more kidou
Gravity Ring - Bakudou #74, 2400 Kidou
Description: A high level kidou that sacrifices overall power for long lasting use, Gravity Ring works by putting one's opponent under a great deal of overbearing force centered around the body's center of gravity.
When activated, the spell shoots out in a cone of bright light, 2m wide and 10m long. If the target is hit by the heavy light, their body will flash over once and then a large ring of solid kidou energy will shoot forth from their bodies. The kidou ring is inscribed heavy with magic symbols and other seals, and is used to lock down the target's body to the ground.
The user will not be paralyzed, but in the full six turns the spell is active the target's speed techs take up twice as many Shunpo/Hirenkyaku/Sonido uses as normal.
The green-haired girl flinched at the release of the spell, muscles tensed to evade or flee. It wouldn't be quickly enough, though! Rina braced herself for the unknown.
The spell fell short.
Blood ran down the girl's chin. Her hoodie had slipped off one shoulder, revealing a deep red discoloration that would soon become a deep violet and putrid yellow bruise. When she looked at Ilsa, though, her eyes weren't filled with hatred or disgust.
"Entschuldigung," Rina said, the first word she had spoken since the start of the fight. She lifted the bow and fire three shots in rapid succession. Instead of crimson, the energy bolts were a bright, pure cerise.
Rina slipped onto a reishi stream, then, and shot over the water, headed for the opposite bank.
[129/2174]
Wut
So, gonna get mildly mathy here:
Previous turn, Rina hit Ilsa with Scattershot (-10m), and then used hirenkayaku twice (20m x 2), creating 50m of distance between them.
This turn, Ilsa used shunpo to close the distance (15m x 2), and used a spell with a 10m range. That covered 40m, coming 10m short of reaching Rina.
Normally, I wouldn't be a stickler for this, but range is one of the primary assets a Quincy has.
She fired 3 more arrows at you, still at 1333 even though they're pink, then booked it out of there. Now would probably be a good time to Bankai.
What in the worlds just happened? Shocked, Ilsa barely had time to shunpo away from the oncoming arrows. She had used that exact tactic before on other shinigami! Somehow she always got stuck with opponents who loved their shunpo, so she had been practicing that particular move once word of the tournament got out. Opponent flees, start casting Gravity Ring, shunpo after them and finish the spell. How had Rina managed to get that far?
The answer wasn’t one she liked. Even taking the knockback technique into account, the Quincy shouldn’t have been able to get out of range with two hirenkyaku... if hirenkyaku moved at the same rate as shunpo. They just had to be faster than us, didn’t they? That, or Rina was faster than her peers.
Well. It didn’t matter right now. What mattered was that Maruyama Ilsa was not going to let some barely grown slip of a Quincy, of all people, beat her! It was bad enough that Pierce had nearly blown her to smithereens in her last match. Taking a deep breath of sand-scented air, the tall arcanist paused for a moment and reached toward the clear, potent power of her other half.
“Bankai, Amenokaigan no Hinometori.”
White light flared, obscuring her form in eye-tearing brightness. After a few seconds it faded, just enough for one to see her once more. A white-clad figure with enormous crystalline wings stood where a normal shinigami had been, bearing a broadsword seemingly made of white flame. Her eyes were orbs of the same fire; her shihakushou was pure white, save for a golden sash. The valkyrie- now fitting her nickname even more- smiled and beat her wings, sending up plumes of sand as she took to the sky in pursuit. “Why are you sorry? I’m not. If I didn’t want to be shot at, I wouldn’t be here.” She held out her hand once more, ignoring the blood rapidly staining the pure white sleeve.
“Wakemotsu Tenrai Chikaku.”
Another beam of light shot toward the young Quincy, this one the same white-gold as the nimbus that surrounded Ilsa.
350/2644
Well, I feel stupid now
At least Ilsa has only ever fought one other Quincy in her life, so she has an IC excuse to be surprised. Rina gets the full two stacks of Wakemotsu Tenrai Chikaku. This time she flew close enough to potentially hit.
Wakemotsu Tenrai Chikaku (Shared Divine Perception) - ...When used on someone else, Wakemotsu Tenrai Chikaku costs 5% reiatsu, can stack up to two times, and lasts for three rounds. Ilsa can choose to pay for multiple stacks when activating the ability. To an ally, the enhanced senses feel as natural as their own, boosting their prime stat by 10% of Ilsa’s kidou per stack. An ally may decrease their enhanced senses at will. To an enemy, the enhanced senses are profoundly unnatural, decreasing their prime stat by 10% of Ilsa’s kidou per stack. She must hit an enemy with a 1’ wide beam of light with a 30’ range in order to affect them. This beam of light travels at the same speed as a kidou of similar form.
Rina's eyes widened, her heart pounded in her ears, and the sun felt like an oven. Sand scraped at her skin like jagged glass. Her shoulder throbbed and the pain in her jaw radiated throughout her skull. Although she didn't understand exactly how it was happening, Rina didn't need to have the potential consequences spelled out for her. She watched the valkyrie flying overhead, squinting against the sunlight that seemed to stab right into the backs of her eyeballs.
The green-haired girl lowered her bow for a moment, uncertain... but then the callous way Ilsa had spoken of killing her brethren came to mind.
She was a Quincy. She could not surrender here.
The bow rose up, aiming at the sky. In a blink, Rina fired four bolts of pink energy. None of them were aimed directly at Ilsa, though, and they moved through the air at little more than a crawl, trailing undulating waves of light.
All she could hear was her own heart hammering in her chest. The bow aimed downward, shooting for the sand right under where Ilsa was about to fly. For a second, the girl hesitated, her fingers twitching. Only a second, however, and then she grit her teeth, gathering her resolve.
Rina screamed out as she pulled reiatsu from within herself, feeling as if she was tearing off her own skin, fracturing her own bones. Through the pain, Rina focused the last of her resolve, solidifying the captured reishi into one last arrow, pulsing with specially charged reiryoku.
She loosed the arrow and fell to one knee, clutching at her chest as pain slammed throughout her, only made worse by the shinigami's technique.
The arrow slammed into the sand, spitting up a cloud of dust... and almost immediately afterward, that cloud was sucked back in. Nichtic Erde, the Negation Territory: it reached out to pull in everything within range, from sand and sky to Ilsa... and the four arrows.
[326/2500] Final
Note
Sorry this is so late, it's been a long day of family photos and spending time with the nephew.
WTC hit and Rina's Namazan dropped from 15k to 12k roughly. Still enough to use Nichtig, and if Ilsa's in range for Wakemotsu, she's in range for Nichtig Erde.
This is a little OOC, but the tourney fight needs to end tonight, so here's the deal: Rina shot 4 arrows (1333), which is her full Shuuhaku. Using her Sanrei bow ability to make them slow-moving. Using Nichtig Erde directly underneath Ilsa, which means she's spending more than 2x her Shuuhaku.
So, big gamble: this'll hurt Ilsa like crap if it hits, but the effort of using that much reiatsu is going to have Rina paralyzed in pain. Either it works or she has no way to defend against Ilsa's next attack.
[ Nichtig Erde ] - “Negation Territory”
Quincy thrive on controlling the flow of battle and being able to adapt to any situation in order to maintain their advantage. Nothing epitomizes this philosophy more than Nichtig Erde. The technique is initiated by firing an arrow molded from negatively charged reishi at a target location. Upon impact, the arrow begins drawing spirit particles towards itself at an incredibly rapid pace, generating a sphere of strong, negative reishi currents that throws enemies, as well as any other matter caught in the area of effect towards its center with bone-shattering force.
Each use of Nichtig Erde costs the user 6,000 Reiatsu and covers a radius of roughly 5 meters from the point of impact. This technique can only be used once per round and has a maximum firing range of 20 meters.
“Bakudou number seventy-“ A startled cry cut off the incantation as gravity suddenly decided to reassert itself, bankai be damned. Ilsa plummeted toward the arrow on the ground, reflexively wrapping her wings around her body. Wind currents howled around her, sand scoured her skin as she fell. Arrows, the arrows are still in the air somewhere! Somehow, the arcanist managed to muster the focus that was the hallmark of her division and recover the thread of her spell. “Seventy-six, Kyoumon!”
A shield of transparent, glassy-looking reiatsu formed in front of her just in time for the first arrow to bounce off into the desert. The second one shattered the shield into a thousand shining fragments (what, a Kyoumon should have lasted through at least two arrows, oh yeah the limiter), slamming into her wings along with its cousin.
The last arrow buried itself in her right hip, just under her wing. Ilsa screamed, feeling the shaft slide along bone. Spots swam across her vision; the pain was so intense that she felt like throwing up. Gasping, she deadened her sense of touch to the very minimum she needed to hold onto her zanpakutou. It still hurt like anything, but she would be able to function.
Brace yourself, you’re going to-
Pain exploded as she hit the ground, knocking the wind out of her lungs. For a long moment Ilsa just lay there, trying to breathe. Finally the force that had grounded her let up, enabling her to stagger to her feet. It hurt, so much. Blood dripped down her leg, soaking her sock and staining the sands red. But Ilsa was a woman with a mission.
She would not lose to a Quincy.
Enormous wings unfurled from their protective position and she took to the air once more, gaining altitude as she flew toward her opponent. Up, up, up... this should do it. The radiant, wounded figure hung in place for a long moment- and dove.
Wind whipped her braid behind her as she accelerated. Ilsa bore down on the Quincy like an avenging angel, flaming sword cleaving the air before her. But mere moments before she hit, the sword flipped end over end, crystalline pommel slamming into Rina’s head. The smaller woman crumpled without a sound.
Ilsa let out another gasp of pain as she landed once more. “Okay, Rina, you better be unconscious this time. Medics! I think we both need the Fourth Division over here!” The blood hadn’t slowed at all, and she was starting to feel dizzy. Why did I sign up for this tournament again, Hinometori?
Because you enjoy a good spar almost as much as you enjoy showing off.
...That was a rhetorical question.
Finis 450/3094
Last kidou of the match
Ilsa's Kyoumon is half as effective as usual thanks to Shield Break.
Kyoumon (Mirror Door) - Bakudou #76, 3400 Kidou
Description: Creates a glass-like barrier which surrounds the caster. It is nearly impossible to break from the outside, but is vulnerable to attacks from within. Attacks to the outside are only 2/3rd as effective at breaking the barrier, but attacks from inside are 3 times as effective.
Hagoromo (Robe of Feathers or Angel’s Raiment) - Hagoromo refers to Ilsa’s wings. They are more a symbol of flight than functional wings; she does not have to beat them to stay aloft, although she will fall if one or both are sufficiently damaged. Her flight speed and maneuverability are dependent on her hohou. The wings are made of the same zanpakutou-strength crystal as Hinometori’s shikai form, and thus can be used as an impromptu shield or weapon. The wings’ durability is dependent on her zanjutsu. Her wingspan is 15 feet. She can dismiss her wings if she really needs to fit into a tight space, but she cannot reactivate them.
Rina gets the full two stacks of Wakemotsu Tenrai Chikaku. This time she flew close enough to potentially hit.