Code of the Noble
New Member
Kinugasa Seitaro - Code of the Noble
Sanzu Shizuka - shadowthreader
Sanzu Shizuka - shadowthreader
~Situational Training~
(2908)
(2908)
The tattooed man sat in the spacious and dim training facility as he awaited the arrival of the new recruit. He tossed his pony-tail over his shoulders as he laid his sheathed zanpakutou across his lap.
I hope Ayame can get those documents out before the captain comes back from his visit to earth, he thought in the meantime. His faith in Ayame, the captain’s secretary/bookkeeper, was very high, despite her attitude towards others at times, but he did not like late delivery of any material concerning the Eighth or Senesati’s personal affairs.
The young assistant glanced at the clock that hung high on the adjacent wall. "Seems she still has about ten minutes or so,” he said with a smirk, "Also appears that I am so used to arriving early with the captain.”
Today was the day of the training for a technique called Kenkyouka and Shizuka wondered what kind of principles there would be involved. The young soul had found herself proficient with casting kidou in various situations, but she had never learned or thought of imbuing objects with them.
Her shihakusho waved in her wake as she reached the rendezvous point. Shizuka's eyes caught a man with a long black hair and tattoos covering most of his body. So, it seems the captain won't teach me after all, she thought to herself, what a disappointment, I would've liked to see the captain fight.
”Hello, are you here to teach me?” The young soul asked from the tattooed man in front of her.
Adjusting his circular frames, the man replied, "That I am. That is, if you are Sanzu Shizuka.”
Shizuka nodded and asked, ”I'm sorry but I don't think I've seen you around the division grounds yet. Who are you?” She had never seen the man, so had no idea who he was.
A shocked expression befell the assistant’s face as he took in the young woman’s inquiry. "Forgive me for my rudeness,” he began as he rose to his feet to complete the introduction, "I am Kinugasa Seitaro, Vice Captain of the Eighth Division and personal assistant to Captain Anenokoji.
"Now that the formalities have been addressed, allow me to ask you just how much do you know about the technique I am tasked with teaching you?”
Vice Captain? Shizuka was surprised, so this Seitaro was her fukutaichou. She recalled the meeting with the captain as to what she knew of this technique.
”Only what the Captain has told me. That with this technique one can apply kido energy into their zanpakutou and then later release it in melee. This latter part of the technique I'm particularly interested in, Kinugasa-fukutaicho,” The young soul replied.
He smiled gracefully. "Glad to hear it. If the training is successful, you’ll be able to perform the technique at your beckon call.
"But before we begin, I will cover some basics, essentials, if you will.
"What type of... indirect spells are you proficient with using?”
The young soul thought about the kidous she knew and tried to classify those as direct and indirect in her mind. She came to the solution that most of her hadou spells were not indirect, but two of her hadou spells could be classified as indirect.
”Well, I know, Mage Eye, Geki, Spectrum, Keeji, Shitotsu Sansen, and Keshisaru,” Shizuka listed her spells what she had classed as indirect, ”Why did you ask this?”
"Well,” he began and paused a moment as he glanced around the room, "I would like to minimize the damage done to this training room, if at all possible.” He knew that the walls had special reinforcement which prevented most kidou spells and certain forms of release from turning the training grounds into complete ruins, but he would be the one taking care of the grunt work and he knew that.
"Besides, it’s safer. You can experiment with the more dangerous stuff after you’ve mastered the technique.
"Alright then let’s use Keeji as the spell for this training session.” The inked man adjusted his circular frames once more, before unsheathing his zanpakutou. He displayed the flat-side of his blade to Shizuka and explained, "I am sure the captain informed you, but since I am training you I will provide you with a refresher. Your blade is treated as a hoax for the spell you wish to cast through it, much like that of the Control Doll spell, if you are familiar with it.
"The same rules apply to incantation when using this technique, in regards to effectiveness, potency, and duration of a spell. If the incantation is bypassed, the results of the spells are also weakened. It is also common for an enchanter to prepare a spell favorite for an anticipated battle. So take these things into consideration before and when using this technique.”
Seitaro’s blade emitted a soft grey aura as he approached a stationary gigai within the training facility and pricked it with the point of his blade. Several bars of energy formed around the target and then encased it in a steel cage.
"The first thing you need to get down is how to focus your reiatsu through you and then into your blade. Sounds easy to one that has shikai, but let me be the first to tell you it is not that easy. Moving the reiatsu to your blade is the easy part, it’s maintaining the energy there for a period of time that is the difficult part, but once you master that part of the skill, it will definitely be a great asset to you on the battlefield.
"Go ahead give it a try... the reiatsu movement, not imprinting a spell on your blade.”
Shizuka had listened Seitaro's explanation very carefully and she had unsheathed her zanpakutou and pointed its tip at the ground. Holding the sword in her right hand, she put her left hand on top of the right, and began channelling her reiatsu into the zanpakutou. It felt weird to the young soul as she kept a steady flow of reiatsu going into the sword. Then she concentrated on keeping the spiritual pressure within. Shizuka did this by spinning the energy within her zanpakutou. For a few moments, the blade glowed with a white hue. The spellsword grinned, but almost as soon as she did so, the energies within the blade burst out from the tsuba directly onto her hands. Shizuka had not channeled that much energy into it, just enough for the kidou they were training with.
”Yeah, you are right, it isn't that easy,” Shizuka claimed as she rubbed her hands. They were slightly burnt and they were tingling.
"That was also another reason I wanted to use a lesser spell for the training process. Lesser injury,” said the vice captain.
"The process is similar to a routine workout, where you might feel some soreness while adjusting your reiatsu, but like with any workout, your body will adapt and you will rarely notice any soreness. We should not move any further, until we’ve established that you can maintain the energy on your blade.
"When you’re ready you may continue.”
The tingling in her hands was subsiding, but hadn't disappeared completely. Regardless, she took up her blade again and started to pour her reiatsu into the zanpakutou again. The feeling of her strength weakening as the reiatsu focused onto the blade, was exactly the same as the first time.
The blade began to glow in a white hue as the spellsword's reiatsu engulfed it. She let the energies within the zanpakutou settle and just concentrated on keeping it from escaping. After a few moments, the reiatsu had not exploded out of the blade so Shizuka spoke out.
”I...I think I've got it now, Kinugasa-fukutaichou.”
Seitaro approached the female warrior with his zanpakutou in hand. Without saying a single word, the tattooed man struck the flat-side of Shizuka’s blade.
This caught the young soul unaware, and made her release the energy within her zanpakutou. This time however the reiatsu didn't explode on her hands. It exploded directly downwards from her blade, as if forced out by the strike of her vice captain. It caused some mild burns to the ground of the training room.
”Why did you do that?”
"That says you are not ready to move forward,” he plainly replied. He fanned his zanpakutou in her direction and said, "Try it again.”
This is proving surprisingly difficult to master, Shizuka thought.
She was about to start arguing, but realized that it was so, if a single strike could release the energy, then it would be totally useless to try and use the technique in an actual fight. She positioned her zanpakutou directly in front of her, and channeled more reiatsu into it. The blade began to glow with the trademark white hue, before she lowered her sword again, making sure that it wouldn't release unwillingly from her blade.
”Okay. Now it won’t break loose from one contact,” she said taking deep breaths between each word.
"Great,” he replied, "then let us see if it can withstand multiple strikes.” With that, the vice-captain leapt into battle with a backhand strike from left to right, aiming to slash the girl from the torso, across her chest.
Wow! A swift reflex of her left arm allowed her to turn the vice captain's strike aside. The impact of the swords were quite strong, sending loud sounds of cold steel grinding at each other. The white hue of the blade wavered a bit, but didn't break into explosions or outbursts. Shizuka made a counterattack by sweeping her zanpakutou low towards Seitaro's legs.
A shocked expression befell the inked man’s face. Using his right knee, Seitaro parried the flat-side of Shizuka’s blade and then retaliated with an overhead strike from his own zanpakutou.
It appears her swordplay is a bit better than mine. That and it seems that she’s still managed to have maintained the energy, but let’s see if she can keep it up.
Shizuka rolled backwards to avoid most of the strike, but it did cut away some of her hair. Now I'll need to cut my hair accordingly, she frowned within. The white hue on her zanpakutou was still present and had not broken yet. For each moment that passed it became more taxing maintaining the reiatsu within her sword.
The young soul realised that she couldn't hold the energy much longer. The spellsword raised her sword near her head and lunged forward towards her vice-captain.
The vice-captain dashed backwards, utilizing shunpo, however, he did not escape the strike unscathed. The tattooed man appeared several feet away from the youth, crimson blood oozed slowly down his left leg.
Seitaro smirked as he glanced at Shizuka and added, "Don’t let my injury slow you down. C’mon.”
Shizuka glimpsed at the tip of her zanpakutou, it had been stained red, but the red was lighter than normal due to white hue generated by her reiatsu.
”Very well,” She replied and flash stepped towards her vice-captain to close gap and swung her blade horizontally from the left.
Not bad, he thought and leaped away from the attack. Seitaro maintained his focus on the woman to avoid serious injury.
Shizuka continued her assault with a lunge towards the vice-captain. The white hue of her blade vibrated ferociously as it neared Kinugasa's torso. Her expression was exhausted as it became harder to maintain the energies within her zanpakutou.
The blade came swift, but the vice-captain was able to catch the blade, bare-handed. He smiled and said, "It is a good thing that this skill has exhausted you. Otherwise you’d most likely had landed a brutal blow against me.” He released the woman’s blade and added, "Now for the next phase.”
The inked man unsheathed his blade and imbued it with his own reiatsu. "Now you should have no problem imprinting a spell on your sword. Try it and land the spell against me.
"Sounds easy enough, right?” he asked with a playful smirk.
”Very well,” The black-haired shinigami said and let the reiatsu within her zanpakutou. Raising her sword in front of her. Channeling her reiatsu into it, she spoke out.
”Bakudou number twenty-seven, Keeji,” her reiatsu affecting the hue of her blade, turning it white. A furious swing towards her vice-captain followed the chanting phrase.
The vice-captain bent at the knees, completely dodging the attack. After the blade passed over his head, Seitaro jolted himself backwards and imbued his sword with yet another form of energy. "Come, my time is valuable.”
Gah! The spellsword thought and flipped the blade in her hand and slashed diagonally downwards towards the man’s legs.
Seitaro effortlessly brought his blade up to meet with Shizuka’s steel. A clash of souls had met with spark and ember. The hue from Shizuka’s blade had dissipated on impact.
"Seems like you’ll have to enchant your blade once more,” the vice-captain remarked. "But before you do, allow me to remind you, there is no need to say the name of the spell without the full incantation as doing so still weakens the strength, durability, and the duration of the effects. Also it allows for your opponent to counter your spell, just as I did.” He then docked his blade.
"Now try again.”
”Understood, ” The young brown-eyed shinigami said and imbued her blade with yet another burst of energy. Then she launched herself towards Kinugasa with her sword held high. All the way through her charge, the spellsword felt that something about that last parry had been weird. It almost felt that his swordsmanship skills had raised, but how would they be able to grow so much in a short period of time?
As she reached him, she slashed down towards him, but almost immediately followed it up with a horizontal sweep.
Seitaro took his left and swept it behind his right, his right side was exposed to Shizuka so that the sword swipe would pass through nothing but air. The other attack was too feint to even warrant a reaction. The tall inked man leaped backwards.
"Does anything appear suspicious to you? Is there something you’d like to inquire about that may not make sense to you in these last few moves to counter and evade you?”
"It seems odd to me that you seem to have improved your swordplay to exceed my own, how?” The black-haired shinigami addressed her vice-captain. Even though she was struck with doubt, she still decided to charge at him to try to release the spell within her zanpakutou. A dash closed the gap followed by a low sweeping slash from left to right.
The inked man lowered his blade to meet Shizuka's attack. Ember sparked as the two blades met, Seitaro swung his arm, bringing the trainee's unreleased katana from the floor up, and opened her up for an incoming strike.
The vice-captain took the opportunity to strike at her exposed chest.
The female intentionally let go of her blade at the moment her vice-captain's strike, it flew somewhere above her as Shizuka herself ducked and rolled to her left.
Rising from the roll her zanpakutou returned to her hand by calling upon the Kaikoroku's power. She remained ready for the next strike.
The pony-tailed man smirked as he surveyed the woman's evasive action. He stood with his sword lowered to his left side.
"Jin'ishi,” he said bluntly.
An odd expression befell Shizuka's face.
"You asked how my swordsmanship excelled yours. I am merely answering your question.
"It's another one of the Eighth's specialties. Very effective for either landing a hit or temporarily blocking an onslaught of attacks. Truth be told, I had to use it as I am not the best swordsman in the walls of the Eighth. My kidou is far better.” He made eye contact with the female warrior and said, "Now let's continue.”
Shizuka evaluated the distance between them as her zanpakutou materialized back into her hand. It was ten meters, the female shinigami's form blurred into motion as she instantly move behind Kinugasa and swung her sword backwards blindly towards him.
The vice-captain lowered his blade and smiled. "Well, well you managed to pull it off.” The inked man opened his eyes and found himself surrounded by the solid cold steel bars of Keeji.
"To be honest though, you could have captured me the first time I deflected your blade.” He adjusted his oval frames upon the bridge of his nose. "You as the caster can choose to release the imprinted spell on contact with an object as well as a person. However, you will need to be mindful of what spell you unleash. A bigger spell, or one with an explosive force, can harm not only your enemy, but you and your allies as well.”
Seitaro's blade emitted a familiar aura. He cut down Keeji with a single blow. "I think that concludes our session.
"Unless of course you have any questions.”
”I see,” The young female spoke and sheathed her zanpakutou, ”I do ot have any questions, Kinugasa-dono, thank you for the training. I will experiment with it on my own in the future,” Shizuka finished and bowed to her vice-captain. Turning on her heels, she began to walk away.