Crimson trails painted the ground as the beast watched and waited, pacing around the thicket of steel that the girl had ensconced herself in. A manic smile painted with blood stayed wide and hearty with teeth bared in malicious longing. Unsteady footsteps paced outside the makeshift garrison in unfollowable cadence, the predator stalking the prey.
No words left the possessed woman's lips, opting to let the burning eyes of crimson that remained firmly fixed on her target speak in her stead.
The wounds would scar and sear later. There was still bloody business to be done.
Kyu pulled her hand away from the back of her head, stained crimson. Shakily, she watched Tsubaki's approach, slowly circling the crazed woman. The swords were spread too far apart to hide her from sight, so she had no idea what Tsubaki was waiting for.
She lamented the fact that she wouldn't get a real fight from the former captain, because Tsubaki apparently didn't think she was worth the effort.
"I hope Lulu can fix you," Kyu remarked aloud. "But if you make me keep fighting it's only going to get worse!"
The stalking and screaming fell to an abrupt halt as the woman's left hand reached around to the back of her head, hurling her to the ground with nearly bone-snapping force. Buried in a slick slurry of mingled salty earth and water the creature continued to thrash about madly, but remained caught in the grip of an unyielding left hand that pressed the woman's body further into the splashing and churning water.
I HAVE NOT
The arm jerked her out of the muck and spun her about by the tangled handful of hair, throwing her back into the water on her ragged and bloody back. Almost instantly the mass of spilled blood raced towards the prone combatant, lancing into the endless gashes and open wounds the former Captain had sustained and held her fast.
SACRIFICED SO-SO MUCH
A violent scream erupted from the woman's lungs and ripped across the empty basin without restraint or remorse, echoing endlessly for a moment in time.
TO LET YOU SCREW IT UP NOW!
Blood flooded back into Tsubaki's shredded and scarred form in a split-second, returning the Templar legacy to its rightful owner in one swift and brutal instant. The scream fell silent as the forced sealing of both power and psyche sent a wave or raw power erupting like a shockwave before the combatant fell still on the ground, continuing to look up wordlessly as the forcibly displaced water started to come sloshing back around her.
For a moment that seemed to linger for eons Tsubaki simply lay there, still cut nearly to ribbons but washed clean of blood and gore. Her eyes had returned to a placid hazel from their previous burning puce and looked down at the newly replaced tattoo on her right arm with a sense of silent vengeance.
Hope you enjoyed it, because it will never come again.
A heavy oomph of effort accompanied the former Captain slowly finding her feet again, stuck somewhere between standing and stumbling thanks to the cavalcade of cuts that peppered her legs. Tsubaki paid the girl a momentary glance amidst her garden of steel before ambling over to retrieve her own. As the blade clicked back into place at her side the deposed Queen walked back over to meet the Arcanist's gaze without shrinking or shirking in the slightest. Two simple words left her lips in a flat and tired tone devoid of any anger.
"I'm done."
Without waiting for the reaction to surface on her opponent Tsubaki walked away, still stewing over the rancid taste that the fight had left in her mouth.
With a horrified expression on her face, Kyu barely registered the words until Tsubaki had already nearly reached her sword where it was embedded in the salt crust. "Oh... okay."
What just happened..?
Finding some composure, though, Kyu straightened up. She looked at the blood-stained swords and the red splotches on the ground, swirling in toward the center as liquid flowed into the crater left behind. This wasn't what she expected and she wasn't sure whether to be mad at Tsubaki for not taking her seriously or maybe mad at herself for not holding back more.
The throbbing ache and sting in the back of her head, though, suggested that holding back might very well have gotten her killed.
It was hard to feel proud of the victory, though. Tsubaki was equalized and hadn't even pretended to care about her attacks. With a dissatisfied sigh, Kyu sealed her zanpakuto, all of the weapons condensing back into their sealed form. Slowly, a smile began to form in spite of all the craziness.
