[PM][C/1st/5th] Week ---: Of Mice and Martyrs

K3 · Oct 10, 2012

圧伏

He stood, his stance loose yet somehow ready as though his entire body had become a coiled spring. Atsufuku was waiting...waiting for the one he had seen. The one he had chosen.

Every inch of their stance spoke of pretentious superiority. Of somehow holding the moral high ground...how terribly disgusting. Still, he was willing to wait. He was always willing to wait, wasn’t he? The man’s eyes met his, and perhaps some silent understanding passed between that contact, for in a moment the two were at each other.

A dead sprint saw them meet in the epicentre of the Hill, one’s haori flapping about in the distant breeze as the other’s strait-jacket constricted painfully against his movements. The Captain’s sword came up in a deft slash, only for the Vizard to twist around it, his form winding into a devastating roundhouse.

The Captain’s off-hand came up, blocking the attack as his form skidded back along the dirt before assuming his stance once more, the Japanese numeral for Five atop his back smoothing in the brief respite.

As the straitjacket-wearing man straightened his stance, his condemning stare matched evenly with the Captain’s determined glare. “Feh...another hopeless crusader, killing in the name of a God he doesn’t pray to.”

He crouched down, ready to spring at the man once more.

[ 221 / 221 ]

Apeiron · Oct 11, 2012

The captain shook his hand in the middle of the respite. As he readied to dash forward the same hand flicked to the second sword in his obi, but only for a moment. Instead it fell back into place at his side.

The two men became a flurry of motion once more.

Haresuno’s sword cut air in hopes of finding an enemy, and Atsufuku riled in a dizzying display of kicks that were meant to kept the captain on his toes.

“Seven,” the captain stated as his zanpakuto bit into empty air. Before the other man could get in another attack he jumped backwards. “I pray to seven gods. None of which endorse killing.”

Flipping two fingers from his free hand through the air, Haresuno simultaneously took one giant step forward - slamming his foot against the ground- and incanted quickly with as much fervor as he fought with, “Atlas forbids Hermes’ will. Bakudou Number Six, Tensoku!”

The words poured out of his practiced tongue, and with it power.

[169]

Redfin · Oct 11, 2012

Only his foot never landed, from behind, a shadowy and inhuman figure burst force from a dark cloud and snatched up the captain. Two talons gripped around his shoulders and dragged him off.

Dark feathered wings flapped from above and with each motion, a dark fog spewed forth. Errant King had picked his prey, a delectable captain. The hollow was a monstrous harpy with six limbs in all. Two long arms had wings attached and four legs. Sharp talons adorned each leg. A spiked tail whipped back and forth in the wind. Curved horns melted into his jawless mask. Small white glows peered emotionlessly out from the eyeholes.

"Nothingness is all that comes from praying," Errant King said in a hollow reverberating voice.

They were getting higher and further away from the Soukyoku Hill. The ground was almost turning into a sheer cliff. It would be a simple matter to just drop the captain and collect the fragmented pieces of his soul at the bottom.

[000] (Included into the other thread)

Through discussions with Sera, I have dragged Haresuno here.

swaswj · Oct 13, 2012

The air tasted like reiatsu. All around her, the others were locking into fights. The petite brunette looked around, watched as Raury threw himself at a giant, watched Haresuno get swept away by the sinister-looking hollow, watched Ilsa readying her zanpakuto. A few years ago, she would have killed for an opportunity like this, a chance to really cut loose and find out what she was capable of. Now, though... she felt a tremble of fear.

The dark collar around her throat was quiet, now, but it was still there. It was Raifuku who had quieted it, and now it was Raifuku that they were up against.

Even though he had given her an extra one of those ring thingies... would it actually work? If the collar suddenly awakened again, what would happen to her?

Or to Mitsu?

Kyu looked over at the redhead. Her eyes traced over his body -- was he getting taller? -- looked at the tail ends of his cool outfit lifting on the wind. There was a determined set in his blue-green eyes. The boy's shoulders were a little more squared, the furrow in his brows a little more confident. He was frowning, but, well, when wasn't Mitsu frowning?

When we're together and not surrounded by psychos trying to kill us.

The visions that had flashed by in the black room included shots of Mitsu fighting the old guy, holding his own against the man while protecting two others. He wasn't the same hopeless little Mi-kun that first dropped into the Gotei.

An affectionate smile curled at the corner of the girl's lip, and her grey-violet eyes turned to the enemies, settling on the most sinister-looking one, the vizard. Kyu moved into a fighting crouch, breeze rippling at her black hakama and sleeveless keikogi. The long white tails of her belt and bandana snapped and whipped about in the wind, soon accompanied by a long green ribbon as she unsheathed Aka from behind her belt.

"Mi-kun!" she called out, still looking at the vizard. "Let's do this! Then we can go home and I can take that frown off your face!" Kyu turned, meeting the boy's eyes. With a faint flush of pink on her cheeks, she added, "You'll protect me, right?"

Then she was gone, in a burst of shunpo and an explosion of reiatsu. "Hey Hannibal!" she yelled as she exited the shunpo, black replaced by red and tan, her wakizashi replaced by a giant fuuma shuriken. With a snap of her arm, the blades were in the air, a whirring streak of silver headed straight for the armless guy's head.

Without missing a beat, Kyu summoned up her strength and shouted, "Bankai!"

The world became a storm of swords; Kyu's reiatsu shot to even greater heights while giant two-handed falchions and enormous fuuma shurikens rained down, slamming into the stone ground in every direction: seven sets of seven blades. Even the blades in flight flashed, doubling in size. Her hakama became loose tan leggings, her keikogi now a fiery red sleeveless robe, split at her right hip. One eye darkened to a deep gold.

"Shonanoka Nananen Ki!" she announced, clutching three of the immense falchions in one hand, and a four-bladed shuriken in the other, held up against her shoulder.

[550/550]

K3 · Oct 13, 2012

He breathed in.

The bankai was impressive in its own rights, the whirling blades only complemented by the sudden transformation of the hill about the arch. Blades which had not dug deep into the thick stone had even sunk slightly into the arch itself, the wooden panels shaken by the strength of the arsenal.

He breathed out.

The shuriken crashed against his form just below the neck, the sheer force behind it snapping his body back at an impossible angle in an ear-piercing metallic screech. The shuriken continued its flight onwards, crashing a short ways behind Atsufuku and digging one of its points into the stone.

For a moment it seemed that was it. Easy...too easy.

The Vizard’s body twitched, and his head snapped forward, unharmed. He locked eyes with the shinigami, his gaze brimming with casual malice. A terrible smile quirked at his face, then he was gone. Lost into the instants of shunpo, before giving his own rebuttal. The word came before the attack, a prelude of disaster that might very well damage the entirety of the battlefield that so many fought upon.

“Cero.”

If not the ferocity of the attack, then surely the speed of it was disturbing enough. The Vizard’s form manifested mere feet from the girl’s, the jaw-line of his mask stretched open though his lips had not moved from the single word. A small orb had gathered about the front of his face, one drenched in utter blackness, with only the barest hints of red about its luminous edges to hint at its true nature.

Then the Vizard fired it.

The beam was thin, but shot forward quickly. Its pitch-black form streaked towards the girl in mere instants, intending to snuff the life out of this hopeless crusader in a single shot.

[ 299 / 450 ]

Inks · Oct 13, 2012

Mitsu didn’t have time to think about what he was doing. He didn’t get a chance to second-guess himself, to wonder how he’d managed to get himself into this situation. Before his usual fears and doubts and anxieties took hold, a voice cut through the mire of his thoughts and dragged him into the present.

Kyuto.

And into battle.

In the wake of Kyuto’s bankai and the flood of spiritual pressure that followed, though, Mitsu took pause. All around them, the signatures of their friends, rivals, and enemies mixed together, at the same time similar and different from one another. The energies seemed to ignite where they collided, matched pairs scattered across the new playing field Raifuku had created for them.

Shinigami and humans, people of two worlds, fighting together. Thirteen enemies, each one of them carrying a fragment of the man known as Raifuku.

A vizard in a strait-jacket.

"You'll protect me, right?"

Red and green, the dual scrolls of his own initial release twined around him, twisting and undulating in slow, subtle patterns. He touched the black collar that circled his neck and, when Kyu vanished in a burst of shunpo, he began to cast.

“Ye Lord,” he whispered, a prayer that he would answer himself. His blue-green eyes fixed upon the vizard. “Mask of flesh and bone, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man. Ashes and dust, strike at the world with the power no less than three.”

Energy thrummed through his body and gathered in his hands. Red, blue, yellow; the three primary colors scorched themselves into his retinas, a compact inferno awaiting his command.

Fucking shit did he miss being able to do this. No collar at his throat, no curse tearing his spell from him before an incantation even left his mouth. No shrieking, screaming voices in his head, condemning him to the same insanity he’d fallen prey to back in the white sands of Hueco Mundo.

Just clean, refined kidou energy, molded by his will. Just a maelstrom of fire that he had created with his power alone. Just the ability to protect those he cared about, those he trusted...

Those he loved.

The vizard disappeared from view in his own flash step, a heartbeat’s worth of time lost to the high-speed movement. He reappeared before Kyu, the tell-tale glow of a Cero washing over both him and the girl. If she didn’t move—if he cast now—if he didn’t trust her—

"You'll protect me, right?"

Mitsu didn’t hesitate. As the vizard unleashed its Cero, the redhead finished chanting. “Hadou number fifty-three,” he said, aiming at the vizard’s back. “Sanjukageki!”

[443 / 443]

<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w

unctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w

oNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w

ontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/> <w

ontFlipMirrorIndents/> <w:OverrideTableStyleHps/> </w:Compatibility> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]-->

swaswj · Oct 14, 2012

The tenebrous beam of pure directed malice was impossibly fast. It split the very air, sucking away light in a promise of death, giving the violet-eyed girl barely enough time to perceive it, much less move her body.

Yet, she did perceive it.

The vizard's cero streaked ahead, narrowly missing one of the other fights as it sped on, unhindered. Then, from behind Atsufuku, over the receding roar of his own attack, there was a determined, girlish grunt.

Kyu was behind him, next to the massive shuriken she had thrown... and once more, it was flying straight toward him, with another, single falchion spinning end over end directly behind it.

[110/660]

Note

K3 · Oct 15, 2012

The trifecta of cacophonous energy streaked through the air, a surge of primary colors given life and purpose. Washing over the Vizard’s form with a deep rumbling hunger, they were matched by the Arcanist’s partner, the two blades splitting through the spell itself as the torrent ended.

Yet they met empty air as the blades sailed onwards before digging into the cliffside. The deluge of flames petered out, and a brief moment passed before another tell-tale sound of rapid movement sounded next to the red-haired one.

“More pointless antics.” Atsufuku, eyes hungry and body coiled downwards, sprung up with a single flying knee, levied on a crash course for the boy’s skull. His accompanying shout was given between a growl of exertion. “Are life and death so casual to you?!”

[ 130 / 580 ]

Inks · Oct 19, 2012

There was no time to chant, no time to prepare another spell or develop any sort of real strategy before the vizard was in Mitsu’s face, his eyes blazing with animosity and fierce intent.

...Fast...!

Whatever he was, he was capable of shunpo – or something like it. Some sort of movement faster than the eye could follow.

Mitsu staggered a step backwards as Atsufuku reappeared before him.

“Shit!” he yelped. The vizard was already coiled, ready to strike, and this was exactly where Mitsu didn’t want to be. Going toe-to-toe with an experienced melee fighter.

Locking his jaw on a few dozen curses, Mitsu shifted his weight. He bent his knees, gathered reishi in his legs, preparing a burst of shunpo that would give him some distance. As his opponent moved—

“Are life and death so casual to you?!”

....he hesitated.

Just for a moment.

Just for a second.

Mineto!

Then he moved. There wasn’t time to flash-step out of range or even dodge, but he—

Atsufuku’s knee crashed into him, and the sheer momentum behind the attack sent him flying. He hit the ground like a ragdoll and tumbled several yards across the mesa before coming to a rest, Ataru’s scrolls fluttering protectively over his head.

Are life and death so casual to you?

They weren't. Hell, the gravity of his station terrified Mitsu, sometimes. What he did. What he could do, if he wasn't careful. What he'd already done, in his naivete. Did this man...this memory of a man even begin to understand how aware Mitsu was of the weight on his shoulders? It felt like it was going to kill him, sometimes, the responsibilities he held and the trust others put in him. But that was the price he paid for his station, a burden he'd accepted when he first donned the robes of a shinigami. If he wasn't willing to fight, then he never should've joined the Academy. If he wasn't willing to put the safety of others' ahead of his own morals, then he never should've picked up his zanpakutou.

But he had.

Rock dust clouded the air around the small, redheaded third seat as he picked himself up off the ground.

"Casual?" he repeated, gasping out the word. "You obviously don't have any idea who I am. My name is Mitsu.”

And with that one word acting as a trigger, energy rippled off the redhead in waves. It shaded the very air with reiatsu and kidou, and the area around the three fighters fell to darkness. He started to walk, moving carefully; Ataru's scrolls swept through the air like ghosts, keeping between Mitsu and Atsufuku.

Holy fucking shit fuck, my arm...

No time to dodge, no time to cast, no time for any of his usual tricks – he’d had just enough time to get one of Ataru’s scrolls and his left arm up before the vizard had struck. Although his arm felt like it’d just...well, like it’d just been bashed with a flying knee, the blow wasn’t nearly as bad as it could’ve been (as it would’ve been a few months ago, before his ridiculous training sessions with Kyuto and Raury).

“And if things were up to me," he continued, speaking from the dark, "we wouldn't be fighting at all. But if you think I'll just sit around while you and my allies are tearing each other apart, then you must be an idiot. Bakudou five, Mage Eye.” As vision returned to him in shades of reiatsu-blue, Mitsu vanished into a flash-step, reappearing at Kyuto’s side with his scrolls at his shoulder.

[585 / 1028]

(I'll be honest. This post makes me want to kill myself, a bit (a lot).
I mean, where do all these words even come from.
It's your fault for asking a srs bsns question.
Ttly your fault.
All your fault.
Yours.)

Kidou Shindigs

swaswj · Oct 19, 2012

"Give vision life, make the intangibles tangible. Mage Eye!"

Kyu's eyes took on a red glow, the blackness replaced by the pulsing of body heat. She breathed out, briefly disoriented by the odd spectrum, but not beyond her ability. Grinning, the girl lightly bumped shoulders with Mitsu before rushing forward, a falchion in each hand. The one in her left hand was gripped underhanded, arm held across her chest with the point leading.

The falchion in her right arm was held traditionally, also pointed forward.

"It's because life is important that we're willing to fight!" she shouted, knowingly giving away her position.

For the innocent, for her friends, for Mitsu, she would draw her blade... every time.

In a sudden rush of sword skill, hidden in the shadows, Kyu stabbed ahead twice with the left sword before suddenly reversing her grip and jumping forward in a broad cross-slash. Immediately, she followed that up with a dazzling omnidirectional dance of blades, chasing the flickers of heat through the darkness.

[168/828]

Note

K3 · Oct 19, 2012

Hitting the ground in time for the girl’s assault to renew, he felt the blades dig into his already-waning shield. Thin sparks gave a brief view of the girl’s determined gaze as her blades bounced off the reiatsu-laden shield, unperturbed by the lack of success. As the last of the sparks flew about, he was given only a brief look before the girl unleashed her finale.

Arms crossed with a blade held by either hand, the falchions aglow in the reddish-orange of sparks as she lunged forwards, her form twisting and whirling at impossible speeds. The blades dug deep, and Atsufuku grunted with the pain.

The force of the blow struck him, and he was flung clear of the darkness. Breathing heavier for the wound, a thin line of crimson now painted his abdomen, matched by a similar line across his right shoulder and left cheek. Steeling himself, the Vizard called out once again.

“Yet your blows are to kill, to destroy. You attack with all the trained instincts of a killer. The look in your eyes...it is of a killer.” Atsufuku’s amber irises closed briefly, his mind lost in the moment before snapping open.

Once more, he vanished from existence.

Once more, he would do what was necessary.

The shunpo quickly ceased, tearing right into the girl in a flurry. His feral irises glinted in the darkness, his form blurring into existence as he slammed into her. The primitive tackle was met with an expectant slash, but the Vizard ducked beneath it. Twisting around into a low crouch, he appeared to once again coil in on himself.

Finally, as though a string snapping under too much tension, his foot lashed out in a devastating spin kick, a snarl tearing from the Vizard’s throat as he poured energy into the attack.

[ 302 / 882 ]

Techniques

Inks · Oct 24, 2012

“Freeze the warrior's blood.”

Wait.

“The planets stand still in horror, and look upon their own futility.”

No--! damnit!

When Atsufuku appeared in front of Kyuto, Mitsu was already moving – his spell still resonating in his fingertips as he lost himself in the instantaneous movement of shunpo. But even before he went, before he moved, he knew it wouldn’t be fast enough. He wouldn’t be fast enough. He went anyway.

The impact was instantaneous.

Under one sword, directly in the path of the other, Atsufuku reappeared. She didn't see his leg move, didn't see the kick, but she felt the impact. The lightning-fast attack struck under her ribs, sudden agony washing through her abdomen as her scar was pulverized.

Kyu was launched backward through the air, disappearing into the blackness. "Gurk..." There was a loud clang, blade stabbing into stone, and then a rough scraping sound. She had managed to land on her feet, after a fashion. The girl grit her teeth, holding onto her sword for support, wordlessly, breathlessly trying not to voice the cries of pain that were boiling up inside.

Cold sweat beaded her face and her arms, but her eyes narrowed, still gleaming with the red light of her kidou.

Powerful...

Mitsu came out of his flash-step just in time to see Kyu get knocked through the air. From behind the vizard’s back he saw the agony writ across her features in subtle shades of reiatsu-blue, saw her hit the ground, saw the way she struggled to remain standing.

Without warning, without reason, what might’ve been panic turned to something else. Something cold and dangerous, something hot and vicious. It slammed into Mitsu at full force, taking his breath away. His legs trembled; his hands shook. The ache in his arm suddenly seemed like a small, insignificant thing.

He wasn’t upset. He wasn’t angry.

This emotion was far beyond that.

Red then green, Ataru’s scrolls swarmed, tangling around Atsufuku’s head, his torso, his limbs. “Bakudou fifty-two, Teiryuu!” Mitsu snarled. And then, with his Signature of the First burning bright in the palm of his hand: “Bakudou fifty-four, Black Tide!” Two waves of energy swept from the boy, cutting through the darkness like a one-two punch.

In a cloud of silver, unseen in the darkness save as streams of reishi to Mitsu's eyes, Kyu called on more of her swords. She rose suddenly to her feet again, wincing and shaking, but there was no hint of giving up, no sign of faltering.

Kyu lost a lot of fights, more than she would ever admit, but there was no way she was going to lose now, not with Mitsu watching, not with Mitsu's life on the line.

Blades protruded from between all of her fingers, six razor-edged, two-handed falchions stretching out like monstrous claws. With clammy sweat rolling down her forehead, she didn't say a word, couldn't say a word without letting out the choking sounds of misery, but she grunted with the effort of every swing as she launched every one of her swords at the vizard, some of them launching like darts while others whirled end over end.

Then the girl called one last sword, gripping it in both hands and ducking into a half-crouch, watching Atsufuku warily.

[235 / 1263]

[308 / 1136]<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w

unctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w

oNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w

ontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/> <w

ontFlipMirrorIndents/> <w:OverrideTableStyleHps/> </w:Compatibility> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]-->

KEEDUR

K3 · Oct 24, 2012

The archaic sound of energy striking out against its target sounded through the darkness, a brief light before it was swept away by the furious energy of the red-headed shinigami. Leg suspended in air, he grunted as the binding shattered, his energy once more shunting away the assault of his opponents. As the darkness cleared, he was thrown clear with the spell, the scrolls peeling away from him as the Black Tide impacted.

The wind struck him solidly, his form forced backwards...and into the blades of the girl. The first two dug into his skin, their straight-thrown points digging into his back just below the shoulders. The third and fourth shot by him, one spinning furiously as the Vizard’s body gave off a meaty crunch from the impact against his leg. The other was silent, slicing past his ribs in a thin line. The last two spun against him, their blades similarly digging into his body at separate points.

The body collapsed...and the unmistakeable sound of shunpo echoed next to the boy.

A red haze obscured his face, the jawline of his crooked mask stretched wide. An orb, roughly the size of a basketball, sat impatiently a few inches from his face. No words were spoken this time, no formality for the destruction he intended to wreak.

They would kill to save a life. That was enough.

Once again, the beam was fast. As the red haze grew, the centre of the orb diluted into a malignant black, before erupting outwards. At this range, he couldn’t miss.

[ 259 / 1141 ]

swaswj · Oct 30, 2012

While the burning haze of Atsufuku's cero washed over him, staining his hair, his eyes, his clothes with an eerie, ethereal red light, it wasn't red that reflected in Mitsu's eyes in the millisecond before the blast hit him, but blue .

His pupils contracted to two pinpoints of black, and his gaze was cold and clear as it studied the contours of the vizard's mask. The sphere of spiritual energy lit the space between them, shedding light on them both. Atsufuku looked upon a boy colored in shades of crimson red, and Mitsu looked upon a man colored in shades of reishi blue.

An unnatural, cold light burned in the Arcane Specialist's eyes, and he stared into his enemy's mask with eyebrows furrowed.

"Mitsu!" Kyu yelled out, finding her voice past the pain. She froze up, watching the blast of red death engulf the boy, eyes wide, breath catching in her throat.

The cero was loosed with an ungodly roar of energy, overflowing with reiatsu to the point that it almost burned to look at the attack through the lens of Mage Eye.

But Mitsu's gaze never strayed, and when the beam of energy cut through the air, not even a breath after it was fired from Atsufuku's jaw, it did so without ever touching him. The cero slowly fizzled out... and in the darkness that was left behind, Mitsu dashed backwards in a brief burst of shunpo.

He wasn't... Stunned relief flooded through the girl. No matter how much he ran away from fighting, he always left her feeling more and more impressed when he really did fight. The look of shock was replaced by a sappy grin, but then that just as quickly hardened to determination as her gaze set on the pulsing red silhouette of the vizard. That had been close... and there was no way she was going to let it happen again!

Kyu zipped forward in her own flash-step, myriad tails streaming in her wake.

He reappeared and jumped, touching down on Ataru's green-backed scroll. The shikai lifted him into the air. As he turned to face Atsufuku again, he was already casting.

"Hadou forty-four, forty-four," Mitsu chanted. For a second time, the mitsudomoe on his palm lit up.

This guy, this vizard, kept calling them killers . He said that their eyes were killers' eyes.

But if you weren't willing to put your absolute all into protecting those close to you, if he wasn't willing to fight with all of his strength in order to save the lives of those who had never asked to fight – if he wasn't willing to dirty his hands for others' sake... then didn't that condemn him all the same? If he refused to fight, and someone died because of it... wasn't their blood on his hands, too? Wouldn't he be condemned all the same?

Coming out of the shunpo, Kyu was already calling a second sword to hand, both falchions gripped at the ready, razor-sharp edges black and cold in the thermal vision. She stood opposite of Mitsu. Her eyes darted around, noting the locations of every one of her swords, muscles tightening with anticipation, palms sweating.

Kyu had killed before, even if she had never intended to. She had always understood that by taking up a sword instead of running she was opening herself up to that risk, but somehow it had never occurred to her before then that the same held true for people on the other side of the sword. Control, precision, restraint... none of it wiped away the fact that a sword was a lethal weapon.

She would fight to defend her friends, to protect the innocent, to preserve peace... to save Mitsu.

He would do the same for her.

If he had a sword in his hands, and it was his decision to either kill a criminal or let an innocent person be killed, wouldn't refusing to act would just be cowardice, in the end?

Having a moral code was fine... but putting those morals above peoples' lives wasn't .

Maybe Mitsu was a killer. But if he had to kill... he'd do it to save a life .

Above them, beyond Break of Dusk's reach, the very skies had begun to darken, filled with the brim with an ominous electrical energy. Around Mitsu, dozens of wooden arrow shafts had begun to appear, their tips crackling with reiatsu.

Similarly, the air behind Atsufuku became dense with kidou-made arrows – channeled through the red-backed scroll Mitsu had positioned at the vizard's back, just out of reach. Arcane symbols flickered across the scroll's parchment; glowing slightly with the reiatsu it was being fed.

"One Hundred Wooden Arrows! " Mitsu shouted, and a hail of energy-tipped arrows filled the air in a two-pronged attack.

The redhead considered Kyu. He smiled, wryly.

It was a two-pronged attack... for the moment.

All of the tension unleashed at once, with Kyu rushing forward in an explosive run, streams of cyan reiatsu pouring off of her while time seemed to slow down. First one sword and then the other: she attacked, flooding all her strength into the slashes and letting go of the hilts. Instantly she flashed to the next sword, rushing forward with a thrust.

Again, she flashed, grabbing two swords, flashing in between the sea of arrows in a vicious flip, both blades slicing in from overhead.

The sixth blade she launched spinning through the air before gripping the seventh and final blade in both hands, both palms downward with the blade out toward her left side.

She attacked, pushing with one arm and pulling with the other, putting every ounce of speed and skill into the final attack as she could. "Dai Arashi," she yelled out just before slamming the backside of the blade into the vizard.

The girl carried through the run, ending the seven-fold by stumbling to a stop directly in front of Mitsu, just before the omnidirectional deluge of attacks finished raining down in the darkness.

[534 /1796]

[460 / 1596]

Details

Mitsu used Iki Wataru to survive the cero, then followed up with double-casted Hundred Wooden Arrows (using Tataru to channel one of them to Atsufuku's opposite side) empowered with Saki Wataru (explosions).

Kyu used her ultimate BK attack, Dai Arashi, which puts her into a very temporary state allowing her to attack 7 times near instantaneously.

One Hundred Wooden Arrows - Hadou #44, 600 Kidou
Description: When the incantation is finished, the user summons 100 wooden arrows out of thin air. These arrows are then fired at a high velocity like a bullet. Only 100 arrows may form per cast. Arrows may be summoned from your general location and have a range of 10m.

Incantation: The arrows that fell a hero. Falling sun. Mourn, precious moon, for the withering earth. Hadou #44, One Hundred Wooden Arrows.

Each scroll is able to store one spell that is cast into it, which can be released from any point in the scroll's writing, either on contact -- similar to Kansei or Fushibi -- or at Mitsuyo's will. The red scroll can store hadou while the green one stores bakudou.

By spending 5% of his reiatsu, Mitsuyo can very briefly expand the space between the molecules of either himself or one of his own kidou. This would allow a single attack to pass through Mitsuyo harmlessly, or for his own kidou to pass through an obstruction. Using this ability is taxing, though, and the ability must cool down for three rounds before it can be used again.

By paying an additional 25% of the base spell's cost, Mitsuyo can cause a projectile kidou to bloom, exploding outward at the point of impact. The effect has a radius of 1 foot per 500 Kidou, capping at 30 feet with 15,000 Kidou.

Dai Arashi (Raging Storm):Shonanoka Nananen Ki's final attack involves utilizing up to seven blades within 15m of a single target. Kyuto pays 20% of her total reiatsu and enters into a hyper state. In an instant, Kyu attacks the target seven times, from multiple directions.

Due to the strain, Kyu cannot use this attack more than once a battle.

K3 · Oct 31, 2012

Lightning cracked.

The darkened skies were set alight, pure-white bolts casting a ruinous silhouette on the Vizard’s form as the duo unleashed the pinnacle of their strength upon him. Swords buffeted and crashed against him, his bones cracking and snapping under their force. Arrows darkened the air around him, filling the stormy skies with the sharp whistling of their deadly trajectory.

Thunder sounded.

The rain about him detonated, a cacophonous noise that echoed against the thunder in its own defiant shout. Only as the smoke cleared was the aftermath of the two’s resolve shown. His form was battered, beaten and destroyed, but the strength in his form was seemingly undaunted. He turned sloppily towards where the pair now stood, his right eye swollen shut. The left one glared out grimly, before it closed.

“I see...”

He sunk to a single knee, the left eye opening briefly to give a single, glazed stare out to the boy. Fierce blue met the feral amber, and a thin smile quirked at the corner of Atsufuku’s lips.

“I wonder...how far you’ll go...”

FINAL [ 179 / 1320 ]

Inks · Nov 3, 2012

Mitsu didn’t waste any time; the redhead dropped to the ground, and when Kyuto stumbled to a stop in front of him, collapsing beneath the weight of her own overexerted muscles, he was there to catch her. Ataru’s dual scrolls began to circle overhead, shielding them from the worst of Raifuku’s lightning storm.

Steadying her (and supporting more than a little of her weight) until she was able to get her feet back beneath her, Mitsuyo met Atsufuku’s gaze over Kyu’s left shoulder. Rainwater dripped from his nose and jaw, sinking into his hair, his clothes, his skin, until the curls of his light red hair were slicked to his skull. Slowly, the pervasive black of Break of Dusk faded from the air. Mitsu’s eyes flickered, and the brilliant glow of Mage Eye was extinguished, leaving behind the boy’s intense, blue-green stare.

He stepped closer to the defeated vizard, wariness and apprehension keeping his muscles tense...but determination urging him forward all the same. His eyes never left Atsufuku’s. The shinigami stopped a reasonable distance from the man and said, “I’d already decided, before we ever entered this maze, that I’ll go as far as I need to. To protect my friends, and to keep as many people alive as I can.”

[211 / 2007] FINAL

Ready to join Post Terminus?

[PM][C/1st/5th] Week ---: Of Mice and Martyrs

K3

The Angry One

Apeiron

That One Guy

Redfin

Moderator

swaswj

Administrator

K3

The Angry One

Inks

Member

swaswj

Administrator

K3

The Angry One

Inks

Member

swaswj

Administrator

K3

The Angry One

Inks

Member

K3

The Angry One

swaswj

Administrator

K3

The Angry One

Inks

Member

Current Date in Araevis