That’s a pretty powerful spell, inwardly noted the medic as he watched the blonde-haired reaper chant the incantation for Divining Bolt. As a kido specialist himself, he was aware of most of the common spells available to Shinigami. This battle was proving to grow stranger and stranger. Why were members of the Duelist Division relying so heavily on the magic that most of them despised so? It was enough to make Akio crack a small grin. They were just full of surprises.
The blue-haired reaper had yet to enter the battle. It appeared as though he was waiting to see whether or not he should jump in. If he chose to, chances are the other two would be outmatched; they would most likely have to team up just to avoid getting too badly beaten up. Meanwhile, they fought each other in a strange display of swordsmanship and demon magic.
The black-haired Duelist pulled out yet another trump card; he managed to create shadowy images of himself that were attacking the blonde reaper. It didn’t look like any kido Akio was aware of; it was most likely not to be a spell simply because the green eyed Shinigami would probably not possess kido prowess enough to use such a high level ability. No, it was probably a unique ability or something grantd by his zanpakutou. But his weapon, nor the user himself, had shown any tell-tale signs of a release. No burst of spiritual pressure, no change of form, not even a command was uttered audibly. Akio watched more intently, hoping to find the source of this strange power.
A circle of glowing energy appeared at the feet of the two Duelists as the blonde reaper completed chanting his spell. Akio knew it was only a matter of time before the effects of the spell blasted Green Eyes into submission. If the spell struck, he would be as good as out.
Kansuke finished his daily meditation with his Zanpakutou when he heard the commotion coming from outside. It seemed as though there was a bit of a free for all training session going on. Kansuke made his way to the group of people watching as some of the members of the Eleventh took the free time they had as they awaited further orders to beat up on one another.
Interesting that we just learned a technique for one on one combat and now there is a free for all going on, the old man thought to himself as he watched the man that had served the Division donuts the day they were told to prepare for war. It seemed he would gain the upper hand if his Kidou hit.
Well, the Acting Captain did suggest that we all train until we know more.
No, Kansuke thought with a bit of a smile. I believe she ordered us to. I would hate to go against my superior says. Besides, we could use a bit of a work out. And while she said not to send each other to the Fourth it would seem some of the Fourth have come to us.
"I hope I am not too late to join this party," Kansuke said, grabbing the hilt of Byakko as the scabbard drifted into the wind. Bringing the sword in front of himself the old Shinigami aimed his palm at the center of the sparring group. "Hadou Thirty-Three, Soukatsui!"
Well, since this entire thing's starting to become a great big cluster fuck, you three can go do your thing while me and Sorm just go at it. That way, it'll be less confusing. Unless of course y'all want to do otherwise.
Tch.
Hearing the chant, Kyuketsu didn’t bother to conjure up a guess as to what the attack did. He bursted in a quick flash step to the side, only to realize that the spell was merely a decoy aimed for the other combatant. He paused, collecting his thoughts as to muster a new attack. Yet before another second could even slip by, a new burst of kidou came dashing out of nowhere, badly grazing the swordsman’s front. The speeding blue stream burnt a portion of his shihakushou’s chest area, along with a small bit of flesh underneath.
Turning to the attack’s source, the boy noticed another participant, freely acknowledging his willingness to join.
Vanishing in another blast of shunpo, he appeared behind white-haired Duelist, flatly whispering, "Not at all. You’re just in time.”
Instantaneously, without the slightest bit of hesitation, Kyuketsu swung his cleaver horizontally across the newcomer’s back.
With an almost resigned sigh, Hikaru twisted to the left as far as he could. He hit the ground and rolled. As the circle glowed and the bolt threatened to hit him with the force of a god, he launched himself out.
He didn't quite make it.
His foot touched the edge of the circle, but before he could fully escape, the bolt came down and his world went white.
Pain crackled down his legs and he bit back a scream. His jump aborted, he crashed down onto the sand, rolling awkwardly until his body came to a stop.
Oww...
Hikaru tried to raise a hand, tried to get his sword up, but his body didn't respond.
Oh shitt....
Helpless and pained, Hikaru simply lay there, hoping the effects would wear off soon.
Your post disregards some significant facts from previous posts. If you're wondering why we're ignoring you and moving on, that's your reason.
The copper-blonde Shinigami probably would have made a move to finish the attack, but he never got the chance. He was distracted by the success of his spell – he had never expected it to work quite that well! – and he paid the price. The kidou blast more than clipped him. It washed over his side, scalding flesh and burning through the cloth of his uniform faster than a magnifying glass through ants, knocking him forward in the process and sprawling him on the ground less than a foot from the black-haired boy he had managed to incapacitate.
He knew that the spell he used had a paralyzing effect for several seconds, but with half his body feeling like it had gotten a thorough cleaning from a blast furnace and the wound in his shoulder actually hurting worse than before, he was not in a good place to take his advantage. He managed to push himself to all fours with a groan of pain, but much else beyond that would have been too much.
Residual daggers of pain still crackling down his nerves, Hikaru heaved himself to his feet, sword drawn.
The blonde lay not a foot away, incapacitated by his own spell, it seemed. His shoulder wound was looking worse now, and if the spell had the same effect on him as it had on Hikaru, he would be out for a few seconds more.
Perfect.
The boy vanished, reappearing above his downed opponent, and slashed his blade down, aiming for the wound in Hayato's shoulder.
Kansuke spun around at the sound of his opponent's voice just in time to use Byakko deflect the brunt of the damage he would have taken form the other mans blade. Still the old man took a decent cut into his side.
"It's not polite to strike someone from behind before they know you are their enemy," Kansuke said as he pushed away from the light blue haired man. "That's the cowards way out of a fight. Someone of your strength should know that. Hadou Thirty, Big Bang!"
The old man came in behind the kidou he launched at his opponent with his blade ready for a slash at the man's torso.
"The honorable way to fight is face to face," the swordsman said, slashing down with his blade.
Rather than panic and attempt to overcompensate for his weakness, Hayato pointed with a finger and breathlessly gasped, “Shou.”
The kidou was not strong enough to give him any clear advantage, or even to hurt his opponent, but it was about as strong as a straight jab and it did what he wanted it to do. The thrust slapped aside the descending blade, though not far enough to completely protect him from the attack, which sliced a decent chunk of flesh from his shoulder. He gritted his teeth at the pain and hopped to his feet, ignoring the instant head rush long enough to gather his reiatsu.
He was running low on kidou energy, feeling the strain of the spells he had been using, but he tapped into it another time and growled, “Daishou.”
A black circle inscribed on the ground beneath Hikaru, pointing straight towards Reijuu and the other combatant, and less than an instant passed before a blast of kidou-propelled kinetic force launched in that direction.
Akio watched with growing intrigue as yet another Duelist joined the fray. This one, like almost all the rest, immediately began using kido. He gave up on trying figuring out why they were using so many kido, and just enjoyed watching the fight.
Both Green Eyes and Blonde Hair were caught by Diving Bolt, and as a result had been zapped rather painfully by the spell. Each of them struggled against the paralysis and pain as they tried to recover and attack the other. Just as he recovered, Green Eyes launched another attack for the previous wound he had inflicted on Blonde Hair. It was a fairly decent strategy, continuing to chip away at an existing wound. In an attempt to recover from his newly freshened wound, Blonde Hair used another high-level kido – Daisho – to push Green Eyes away.
Though it wasn’t especially appropriate, Akio wondered if he would be the one stuck with treating these wounds. He knew – almost for a fact – that he would, and his mind immediately began going through possible methods of treatment. These wounds weren’t especially bad yet, but he knew that if things continued like this he may very well have to set up a field hospital right then and there.
My work is never done… he mused silently as the brawl continued.
He swung at the ball of energy, continuing upwards as he clashed his weapon steel for steel against the other reaper’s blade. Kyuketsu’s risky move detonated the kidou right in front of him, though that wasn’t to say that the caster wasn’t unharmed as well. As a burn wound flickered over his forehead, he eyed his opponent down and replied calmly, "Indeed... but as logic would dictate, ‘honor’ is immediately discarded when facing against mindless beasts. Hollows wouldn’t worry about such a thing, now would they?”
Pushing forward, the boy lifted his right leg, thrusting it straight towards his enemy’s midsection. Following the initial attack, Kyuketsu brought his blade to the side before quickly swinging it sideways towards the rival swordsman’s hip.
The black blast of energy flashed past Hikaru, and only a desperate move, more a twitch than anything else, saved his arm from oblivion.
It hadn't been aimed at him anyway; the kidou bolt shot towards Reijuu and his new opponent. It didn't matter either, those two wouldn't interfere anytime soon.
Gasping as one of his legs almost gave out, the boy threw himself into a diving roll, aiming once again for the wounded shoulder. Sumiyaka Kumori once again found a use as the swirling blurs appeared, shrouding him long enough for the long lunge to hit home.
Kansuke winced a bit as he took some of his own Kidou blast. In retrospect it may not have been a wise idea to follow behind the destructive energy. Something to remember for next time. For now he needed to focus on how best to deal with the enemy. Then he saw it out of the corner of his eye. A blast of Kidou from the other two sparring Eleventh members was headed straight for them.
"No all enemies are as mindless as a Hollow kid," the old man said as he dove backwards out of way of the light blue haired Shingami's kick and batted the blade away with his own. "Then again some of our own have the same attention span as a Hollow. A good swordsman is just as aware of his surroundings as he is his opponent."
The old man enacted a Shunpo as the blast of Kidou found it's way to where he had been less than a second before.
Unlike his opponent, Kyuketsu failed to notice the incoming kidou in time to execute a shunpo. Again, he was left with the only option of parrying the demon spell with his sword. Unfortunately, tanking another direct attack would prove quite disastrous to the boy, especially when he had to do it twice in a row. Aiming his zanpakutou towards the incoming burst of energy, he uttered quietly, "Scream.”
A deep shade of purple reiatsu rushed out from his zanpakutou instantly upon hearing its release phrase. The wave of spirit energy shot out towards the foreign kidou spell, colliding with it as a small explosion erupted upon impact.
Almost immediately as he released his sword, Kyuketsu quickly sealed it back to its regular form. Using full strength now would only disobey the Captain’s orders to not send anyone to the Fourth. Twirling his blade in between his fingers, strands of the swordsman’s pale blue hair danced along the breeze created by the blast.
"You’re full of insight, I see,” he said to the white-haired shinigami. "It would do me well to learn some things from you. Would you ever consider another spar in the future... hopefully one without any interruptions?”
Hayato did have the inclination to parry or dodge. The copper-blonde Shinigami simply raised his arm with his eyes and let his wrist turn. The downswing of his opponent’s blade caught in the corner between the blade and the guard of his sword, which was good enough to block with even if he did resent having to use it, and his arm shook slightly from the impact. He knew that using kidou was out of the question. He also knew that his battered side was either out of commission or close enough to it that he was going to have serious issues if he tried to continue. The blood from the wound in his shoulder was not letting up, much less stopping.
It was time. He grunted and said, "I’m down for the count. One more hit and you’d have me, so I’m forfeiting. Good play.”
Alright I'm out. If you guys want we can do another kLab just for treatment? xD
The battle seemed to be coming to a halt as the Duelists neared their individual limits. At least, for two of them it was. The Older Reaper and the Blue-Haired Duelist seemed to be continuing their own personal bout, but the Blonde reaper conceded his own match. It was strange seeing a Duelist forfeit a battle, but it was remarkable that he was willing to stop when he reached his limit; Akio lightened to the seemingly foolish reaper because of his willingness to admit his inability to continue. It was an admirable trait.
By swiftly concentrating energy to the soles of his feet, Akio was able to initiate a singular Flash Step that placed him within earshot of the Blonde Reaper. Now that the battle had ended, he could get to work on treating their individual injuries. Since this particular Shinigami had suffered the most drastic wounds, it seemed most fitting that he received treatment first.
"If you would like, I could tend to your injuries,” he offered calmly. "I am one of the medics stationed here in the barracks.” It wasn’t the best place to set up a field hospital, but he would do what he must as a responsible medic. Without waiting for a response, he trailed off of the make-shift battlefield to find a good place to treat the injured Duelists.
Hikaru's blade, poised for a follow-up, stopped. His legs tingled from the power of Diving Bolt. Still, he paused.
"Ok..." Lowering the blade, he backed off, allowing the other man room, and the new medic who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
"Yeah...you should probably start with hi-" His legs gave way at the last minute, as the demon energy finally overpowered his muscles. He collapsed onto the arena floor, face-planting with a thump.
"When you're done with him, though," his voice came weakly, "I'd appreciate some help."
The old man lowered his sword slightly, keeping his wits about him in case the light haired duelist chose to continue his attack.
"I'd be more than happy to spar again sometime," Kansuke replied. "We will all need to be in top condition with a sharp mind if we are sent to war. To be perfectly honest, if Shinigami went missing in Rukongai I have a feeling that something a bit more intelligent than a mindless brute of a hollow is behind it."
The old man paused for a moment as he looked towards the other two fighters. They both seemed to be at their limit and about to receive treatment for their wounds.
At least they didn't get sent to the Fourth, the swordsman thought to himself. The Acting Captain specifically said not to send each other to the Fourth. She said nothing about how far to go when the Fourth is here.
Still, your opponent seems to have taken his share of Kidou. Perhaps we should take a page from their book and call it a day.
"As I'm sure you are aware," the old man began again, "Our fellow duelists seem to be at their limit. I'll leave it up to you whether or not we continue with this bout or stop it before we go quite that far. Even if there are Fourth members here we can't keep them busy with healing all the way up until we are given orders to move out. We would quickly have many receiving treatment and the Fourth members we have might end up too exhausted to be helpful on a real battlefield. Still, I leave the choice up to you."
Hayato started cracking up as soon as his opponent hit the ground. The young nobleman rocked back until he was sitting on his legs, took several deep breaths, and swiped the tears from his eyes using the hand that had not been burned by a kidou onslaught. He had been worried about losing and getting pummeled terribly, and here they were at almost identical stages of not-fight-ability.
“I should’ve waited a few more seconds,” he said, nudging his sparring partner with a closed fist. “You don’t look so good.”
"Perhaps we can rest easy for today as well,” replied Kyuketsu, nodding at the man.
Their training was brief and somewhat inept, though useful nevertheless. The boy merely countered and tanked a few kidou spells, and that was about it. His sword arm seemed unsatisfied with the duel, although his mind was content given the fact that he knew such strong warriors were fighting within his midst. Knowing that these men were his allies gave Kyuketsu a firm assurance that this ‘crisis’ handed down to them wouldn’t be too difficult to defy.
Sheathing his sword, the swordsman casually wiped a smear of blood from his forehead as he gave the white haired reaper before him a small bow. Turning around, he began to walk away from the clearing and back into the masses of Duelists gathered within the fields.
