Sou Kyoukou Week 58: Sophia Spora vs. Masuto Ono
~Lessons Learned~
~Lessons Learned~
Masuto Ono - Eleventh Division
Sophia Spora - Fifth Division
Jinsoku - Moderator (Tenth Division)
Sophia Spora - Fifth Division
Jinsoku - Moderator (Tenth Division)
Word Count: 7,348
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Sou Kyoukou Hill. Sitting upon the great expansive cliff that overlooked all of Seireitei was the arena where many Shinigami were selected to take part and battle in. Another battle was to take place soon; two bright and upcoming talents of the Gotei were to fight each other and display their prowess in a magnificent fight.
Jinsoku threw his fur lined hood of the Captain's Haori over his brow. Grumbling to himself, he didn't exactly want to be here on this day. Then again, he didn't want to be stuck inside his office filling out paperwork until Zen knew when. Thank goodness Junichi had paid him a visit earlier this day, asking him to host and delegate the event.
Overlooking the massive crowd before him, they all had eagerly awaited the battle to unfold, the masses murmuring and creating a great clamor. Rising off his seat, he screamed his loudest to make the noises die down.
"Yosh! All of you, shuddap!" his voice boomed throughout the stadium, alongside a conscious ripple of his frigid Reiatsu. Whipping cold winds scattered, howling, shushing the majority of the crowd in an instant. "Today's match is..." he looked at the paper beside him.
"Masuto Ono, Fourth Seat of the Eleventh!" He didn't know who that man was, but obviously strong enough to be a fourth seat. Poor man; Jin knew that he was under the command of the tightwad Katsu. Hopefully he would be able to find more happiness in this bout. "Against..." he glanced at the sheet once more.
"Sophia Spora, Fourth Seat of the Fifth! Now, let's have a good clean fight between the heavy combat man and the Kidou girl!" Sighing to himself, he slumped back into the chair as the crowd once again burst with excitement. Not like anyone cared to hear for his meaningless commentary; they just wanted to see a fight. Taking a sip of his sake decanter, he awaited the battle to occur below.
Not to be biased... but I hope Sophia wins... besides, she can't go get hurt on me... I still owe her big for that one night...
Entering like a gladiator from the deep parts of the arena, Sophia emerged once again on the Soukyoko Hill, the legendary sight of many fights between many Shinigami. Never a fight to see who as better and who was worse, but more of an exercise to see how two Shinigami fight, in order to better themselves. But in the eyes of Sophia, this was nothing more than an exercise in two people trying to kill each other for sheer enjoyment of the crowd.
'This is always stupid. Why make us fight in just a public setting like this, and in front of so many people at once? What are we in, the middle ages? Sophia quietly contemplated to herself as she walked in to the center of the area. Her hair blowing in the wind was never a good sign, it meant that something bad was going to happen to someone close by. Jinsoku in particular annoyed her, he should be impartial to this fight as best he can, but knowing their relationship, that might be easier said than done. Why he choose to be involved was beyond Sophia, he should have sat this one out.
She nudged her glasses upward, pushing them further up nose so that they would be secure and stable while she fought later. She was practically blind with out them and she never left anywhere with them and a back up pair in her robes. Looking back over at her opponent for today, she tried to worry only a slight bit about him, knowing he was probably strong than here, gave her little comfort. The scars along his lower jaw was a bit frightening but she had seen worse. Thought she didn't want to admit she had, Sophia doubts whether or not she would win, and little hope she's come out with anything less than a broken bone or two.
"My deepest apologizes for whatever damage I cause you over the next few minutes. I figure I'll get it out in the open now rather than later," Sophia announced her intentions across the way.
Masuto strolled into the Sou Kyoukou arena once more, his hands rested on the hilts of his blades and his left arm rested on the sheath of the wakizashi that was attached across his torso. As he did, memories of his last time fighting in the arena flashed through his head. Heh, let's hope to avoid that outcome this time, he thought as a distant grin spread across his lips. Though I have grown a lot since then. No doubt my opponent is strong as well. This ought to be fun. It's been a while since I've been able to fight a good fight. Let's hope my skills haven't become rusty.
He stretched his arms out to his sides and popped his neck as he turned and looked at the anxious crowd that filled the arena. A bigger, more sincere smile appeared on his face as he saw the crowd that was significantly larger than the crowd that showed up for his last fight. Suddenly, a cold wind whipped through the arena and caused his ponytail to flutter behind him as Jinsoku, apparently selected as the referee for this match, quieted the crowd. He shivered slightly and folded his arms across his chest in response to the sudden drop in temperature.
After sparing Jinsoku a piercing glare the captain was unlikely to notice anyway, Masuto lowered his eyes to his opponent to size her up and get a feel for how the fight would play out. She's in the Fifth, huh? She's got to be good with kidou, then. It's a good thing I took that training course. I haven't had a chance to learn about many other spells yet, but at least I've got a little bit of a better idea of how it works. This ought to be a real interesting fight.
He took a few steps toward Sophia after Jinsoku was finished with his announcement and extended his right hand toward her. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Sophia," he said with a slight bow. "Don't worry about any injuries either of us may receive during this match. The way I see it, a little pain is good in matches like these because it prepares us to be able to fight through the real combat pain we'll likely receive later. I look forward to an enjoyable fight."
"Sure, whatever. Can we just get this started? I'm sure we both have other things we'd much rather do instead," Sophia commented, staring at the hand presented to her. She shook it though, not quite understanding the importance of it but doing it anyways. She would much rather just get this over with and move on with her life than get beat up.
Then she moved backward away from the center of the ring and turned back around to face her opponent. She pulled out her Zanpakutou and spun it around in her right hand for a second until her grasp around the hilt was upside down with her blade running along the back of her arm. She was unusual because she fought with her Zanpakutou backward rather than like everyone else who held their swords forward instead. She stood rather upright, like she was waiting for something to happen, not prepared to fight at all. She looked back over at Masuto wondering if he would do the same, draw his own Zanpakutou and get this fight underway.
"On the contrary," he said as he shook Sophia's hand. "I find these battles to be really useful in learning how to adapt to different fighting styles. The lessons we learn in these matches can be the difference between life and death on the battlefield. Personally, I'm grateful for the opportunity. Though, we're each entitled to our own individual opinion. So yes, let us begin."
Masuto released his firm yet friendly grip on Sophia's hand and leapt backwards to put some distance between himself and Sophia. His face displayed an eager grin as he faced her and slowly drew both blades simultaneously for dramatic effect. Gotta give the crowd a good show while I'm at it, too, he thought as he chuckled at his actions. But, enough of that. Let's get serious and get this going.
He crouched down and sprung toward his opponent, covering the last bit of distance between them with a shyunpo intended to exit behind her. As he exited the shyunpo, he planted his foot and redirected his body's momentum back toward Sophia as he swung his blades toward her horizontally across his body.
'Too easy...' Sophia thought as she saw the horizontal attack her opponent opened with. With a few motions, Sophia kicked the ground and pushed herself back, bringing her right arm across her body rather gracefully in the process.. The hilt of her sword no longer ran along her arm as she had it before and the blade now appeared perpendicular to her arm. She coiled her arm and then released it outwards, connecting with Masuto's own Zanpakutou, defending herself from the longer blade which would reach her as she moved backwards. It was only the tip that connected slightly but could not afford to take any chances.
It appeared as though Masuto was well planted when he began his attack, meaning that so long as Sophia could knock him off his feet she'd get the chance to attack. Her left hand suddenly rose from her side, fashioned in the position of a gun, pointing directly at Masuto. Her eyes trained on the center body of Masuto, she began chanting, " Converge light into spaces of darkness... Hadou #4, Byakurai!"
Masuto brought his blades around in front of him to defend against any immediate attacks that Sophia would retaliate with as his inital strike missed. Sophia put some distance between them and immediately raised her left hand, two fingers pointing directly at Masuto.
Kidou...! he shouted in his mind as he recognized the type of attack his opponent was about to use. He had no idea what spell she would be casting, but judging from the way her fingers were pointed at him, he guessed it would be a blasting spell. Knowing that trying to block the blast would be a bad idea that would cause him more damage than good, Masuto began rolling to one side as Sophia finished her incantation by calling the name of the spell.
As Masuto was exiting his roll, Sophia's Byakurai grazed his right shoulder, causing a trail of crimson rivulets to trickle slowly down his arm. If she's anything like me, that was just a preparatory attack to knock me off guard, he thought grimly as he gritted his teeth to deal with the pain and raised his blades in front of his body once more. Almost like fighting myself...
'If I let him sit there, he'll come at me again. I should just let him come at me again once he's ready. But that would be too reckless, perhaps. I should go at him directly but two swords offers little chance at me defending myself. I wonder...' Sophia thought's trailed on as she considered the possibilities of what exactly she would do next. She had simply stood there once she finished moving backwards. Masuto was ready for an attack himself, but Sophia knew little of how to deal with people with two swords. New ground hopefully.
'End this now and go back to read!' Sophia decided, disappearing using her Shyunpo. She traveled around the arena until she found herself directly behind Masuto. Again, her left hand in the formation of a child like gun, she pointed her fingers toward the back of his right shoulder, hoping that even if she bruised the shoulder, he would like trying to attack with right arm anymore. Her face was smooth, emotionless as it usually was, intent on the focus of winning, she one again began chanting, " Converge light into spaces of darkness... Hadou #4, Byakurai!"
She's just standing there, Masuto observed as he watched Sophia to await her next move. She didn't capitalize on that little opening her kidou made, so she's got to be thinking of what I'd be expecting. So let's see...what would I do that I would least expect? That would be another...
Masuto's eyes widened as Sophia disappeared into a burst of shyunpo. He felt her reiatsu burst behind him as she exited the step and began her incantation. Hurriedly, he twisted his body around to the right to respond to her attack. He held his blades close to his body as he turned. As he was halfway through his turn, Sophia completed her incantation and fired off another blast of Byakurai. The blast hit his wakizashi square in the center of the blade. Surprised at the force of the impact, he instinctively let go of the hilt of the weapon. Fortunately, his letting go of the blade prevented it from breaking under the impact, but it was sent flying across the arena.
Oh well, no matter, he thought as he finished his pivoting motion by swinging his zanpakutou around in a wide arc toward Sophia's midsection. This is how I began to learn how to fight anyway.
"Well played, Sophia-san," he said with a roguish grin as he brought his zanpakutou to a defensive position in front of him. "Your attacks are quite...disarming."
"You'd do well to dodge my Kidou, it will hurt if it ever connects," Sophia commented, pleased that the silly little wakizashi had been tossed to the side. All that was left now was an actual fair fight one sword on sword. But now the problem was with Masuto's quick moves and while she watched her Kidou travel she had lost track of Masuto.
Sophia lurched her right side up quickly, making sure her Zanpakutou was parallel to her body. Her other hand was placed on the lower portion of the blade in preparation for the attack about to hit her. It was a horizontal slash she couldn't dodge from any angle, thus she has moved her sword to protect herself. Once the two beams of metal finally connected, Masuto's swing overpowered Sophia's a bit, his blade barely touching her clothing. Luckily Sophia's bracing was just enough to stop Masuto's attack, but not enough to stop him from cutting into her obi-san sash and a bit into her robes.
He was close, so she couldn't get her left hand up to fire a Kidou at all with the force of his sword still trying to push through. Sophia realized that she might as well try to get up close and personal now that it was a fair fight. She nudged her body to the left a little and shoved back to the right, hoping it might be enough to break the deadlock the two of them had.
Her might was just enough to push him aside, and Sophia pulled her body free to attack. Her right foot stepped backward, pointing her left side toward Masuto. The Zanpakutou was steady in the air and connected to Sophia's right arm, extended out some. She then turned her body to the right pivoting on her left foot so that when her right side appeared, she would be swinging her blade at Masuto, similar to the horizontal slash he just attempted to use on her.
Ha, excellent, now we're into a close quarters game. At least I'm keeping her from using her kidou. I've always got that up my sleeve too if I need it.
When Sophia pushed off in a rotating motion to break their blade contact, Masuto grinned. She's going to come back around. Let's try this... He moved his zanpakutou along with her motion to simulate the spinning motion she would likely be expecting from him. Instead of spinning, though, he stepped backwards and slid his zanpakutou blade off hers, crouching and building reiatsu in his legs as he did so.
As Sophia turned her back to him, he leapt into the air, flipping upside down above her as she completed her rotation. She swung her blade horizontally as he expected, and as she completed her slash, he twisted his body so he faced her for his landing. As he landed, he slashed downward toward her left shoulder with a brief glint of bloodlust in his eye.
" Crap.... was the only notion and thought inside of Sophia's head when she realized Masuto coming down. This wasn't going to be good if he took off her left arm. She leapt forward, dodging the sword coming down on her just barely, a few strands of hair left behind as she dodged.
With a little distance between them, Sophia could use Kidou again. She stretched her left arm out again, aiming her gunlike hand back at Masuto. With a little distance between them, she figured a little trick might work. As soon as she could injure him, then she'd take out her Zanpakutou's true form, but not until she injured Masuto or he pulled out his first. There was enough time to bring it out. Nothing had really begun to happen yet, so there was still time.
Once her aim felt correct, she began chanting again, " Converge light into spaces of darkness... Hadou #4, Byakurai!"
The shot of energy simply traveled in the air, launching toward the right side of Masuto. She figured that if it came to his right side, he'd have to dodge left, so she'd have another Kidou traveling that same way the moment the first was launched. Thus as he dodged the first, he'd run in to the second. She then repositioned her arm and pointed her fingers a few inches away from the left side of Masuto and chanted again, " Converge light into spaces of darkness... Hadou #4, Byakurai!"
Masuto let out a grunt of frustration as Sophia barely dodged his attack yet again. Come on, Masuto! he yelled at himself mentally. You're the fourth seat of the ****ed Eleventh Division! You should at least be able to cut something other than her god ****ed clothes!
Masuto rolled his eyes as Sophia began chanting the incantation for her third Byakurai spell of the fight. Another one? Oh well, at least she's giving me a chance to get the timing down. He rolled out of the way of the first blast to his left as she was finishing the first incantation and the first blast sailed past him and crashed into the arena wall, splintering the rock that composed it and sending fragments of its surface falling to the arena floor.
He exited the roll and readied his zanpakutou as was his standard tactic, looking up toward Sophia as he did so. His eyes widened, however, when he saw her fingers pointing directly at him, releasing a fourth Byakurai blast. The energy came speeding toward him, connecting with his right side, leaving a large gash on his midsection in its wake. Jolts of pain coursed through his body upon the impact, causing his vocal cords to involuntarily release a loud scream. Blood sprayed forth from the point of impact, staining his robes and the arena floor with its deep red essence. He staggered backwards a step, dropping his right foot back to brace himself and held his zanpakutou in front of him, preparing for her next move.
'He's quick, but not that quick. But I got him good that time. He won't be moving quickly anymore, he's all mine, Sophia secured the victory in her mind. And now, the playing was over, it was time to get serious. Sophia could see the bits of hair that had been lopped off. Not a lot, but enough to make her upset.
"The end is near... Prophetize!" Sophia announced, her Zanpakutou began glowing as it was encased in a bright blue glow. Soon the blade began to expand into a long, thick blade. Two feet longer and the width of a human hand, the zanpakutou's blade stopped growing, and the glimmering blue glow from before slowly began to dissolve off the blade, revealing the new blade underneath. Once in its new form, Sophia called out to the blade, "Rutsokishi."
She knew that at some point Masuto would move and warrant the need to injure him further. She moved back an odd distance to roughly thirty feet or so, leaving appropriate room between herself and Masuto. Once she deemed her range acceptable, she plunged the blade into the ground. As it touched the ground, the blade continued to slide into the ground, leaving no marks or signs on the ground from where the sword's blade disappeared into. As soon as the blade touched the ground, a blue glow appeared from underneath Masuto.
"Oh ho," Masuto remarked as Sophia released her zanpakutou. "I wonder what this could be?"
His eyes widened as he saw the enlarged blade show itself as the blue shell splintered away. Quite a formidable blade, he observed, nodding his head. I wonder what sort of ability that thing has...if it's anything like her, it's going to have some sort of trick behind it.
He watched closely as she put even more distance between them than was already present. Long range...kidou? he thought, tighting his grip on his own zanpakutou while hurriedly running his mind through the possibilities of the nature of her zanpakutou's ability.
His curiosity was soon sated as Sophia turned her blade upside down and thrust it into the ground. Ground! he shouted internally as he dove to his left, realizing how unsafe staying in one place for long once Sophia inserted her blade into the ground.
Sure enough, just as he started his dodge, Sophia's blade rose out of the ground. He tried to lift his leg to avoid it, but failed as its broad tip slashed along the inside of his shin. His lower leg became a stream of blood as it trailed down his leg, seeping out onto the arena floor. He staggered a few steps to regain his balance and looked over at Sophia. "Interesting ability you've got there, Sophia," he commented. "I can see I can't take this much longer without getting serious myself. I hope I don't disappoint you here."
I was hoping to not have to do this, but just to be safe... he thought as he muttered an incantation to himself.
"Kill the senses, deaden this body! Restrain any pain that could be inflicted! Bougyoudo number thirty-four, Threshold!"
As he completed the incantation, a green glow surrounded his body and the pain from the wounds he had already sustained melted away. Now to really get things going...you ready, Hi no Tama?
"Ready whenever you are, Masuto," Hi no Tama's voice echoed in the back of his head, the adrenaline flow in his veins increasing even further.
Here we go... Masuto grinned as he raised his zanpakutou into the air.
"Tengoku kara sagare! Hi no Tama!"
Masuto's zanpakutou suddenly burst into flame, the release of pressure creating a gust of wind that whipped his ponytail in the air behind him. The blade underwent its typical transformation, the crescent blade forming at the tail end of the weapon. As the transformation completed, Masuto whipped the weapon around to in front of him as the flames lowered to a constant smoldering, crackling in the air.
"Now let's get this going," he said loudly as he began charging toward Sophia.
"I would expect nothing less of the 11th Division. A Kidou to ignore pain... That would be the style of the 11th. Ignore the pain to just keep on fighting. But I bet you aren't that good at Kidou, and despite how strong you are, it will wear off sooner than you think. Se let's add some wounds," Sophia explained her conclusions and lifted her Zanpakutou out from the ground.
She jerked her right arm forward, and opened her hand as she did. The hilt of the sword spun in her hand and she caught it so that she now held her Zanpakutou forwards rather than backwards. She then quickly began making various swipes at the ground. Like a whip in her hand, she made various slashed in to the cement ground below her from every angle. Each of the slashes at the ground left no marks on it, but each pass through the ground was just as effective. They were various efforts to cut up Masuto's feet and legs, rendering him unable to move. She knew they wouldn't have a major effect on him, but if he broke something, regardless if he could feel the pain or not, he'd still notice he couldn't dance around anymore.
"I'm not that good with kidou, eh?" he responded as Sophia drew her zanpakutou back through the ground. "I think you'd be surprised at just how good with kidou I am. It may not be my specialty, but I'm not completely ignorant of it, either."
Masuto lifted his left hand and held it with his palm facing Sophia. Suddenly, however, Sophia shifted her grip on her zanpakutou so she held it like most normal people held their zanpakutou and started slashing at the ground. Oh ****, looks like I'm not going to have time for that now, he thought in panic as he barely avoided the first slash of the projection of the blade.
Sophia continued slashing at the ground relentlessly, adding a number of shallow cuts to Masuto's legs as he mistimed an occasional dodge or simply misjudged the blade's position.
Dammit, she's too ****ed efficient at this range. I've got to close in on her! It's risky, but it's my only shot.
Masuto started screaming and charging at Sophia, doing his best to dodge the slashes that continued relentlessly to target his legs. As he closed to half the distance they had between them, he waited for Sophia to complete a slash, and shyunpoed the final distance to exit just behind Sophia. As he exited, he poured some extra reiatsu into Hi no Tama and slashed toward her midsection, his zanpakutou's flames dancing wildly as he did so, hungry to taste his opponent's flesh.
Her only focus was on how she planned on cutting Masuto. But once she saw him closing the distance between them, Sophia began to worry a little. Not by much though; her Zanpakutou's ability was just as effective from a distance as it was from up close. The advantage was hers since no one could easily predict where Rutsokishi would come out from. Once Masuto disappeared and used Shyunpo, she worried. She looked both left and right as quickly as she could, expecting to see him come from either of those sides. Instead, he appeared behind her, raising his fiery sword and slicing downward.
He was quick, too quick for Sophia who was unprepared. She only realized he was behind her a second too late. A pain at the back of her shoulder that felt like a searing coal, slowly dragged down her back to her left hip. It was a horrible pain she wasn't accustomed to feeling. Her face cringed and the look on her face might have been the only expression of emotion in the entire fight. The sudden breeze across her back made her feel exposed. The slash across her back had cut a large gash in the back of her robes, and unintentionally cut the back of Sophia's bra. She nearly fell forward trying to focus on escaping before she was hacked again.
Darting forward, Sophia felt the support of her breasts weaken. She held her chest with her left arm while she turned around and glared at Masuto. Her eyes squinted as she tried to fight the pain on her back. She had to slouch a little since the pain was too much for her to stand up as straight as she had before. It was like a bitter taste in her mouth, getting this searing pain in her back that felt like it was on fire as well. Sophia sucked in the air as she tried to block the feeling of pain on her back. She stared back at him, as though to say 'How dare you do that...'
She switched her Zanpakutou over to her left hand that continued to hold her breasts. She launched her right arm forward and presented the palm to Masuto. Bits of energy slowly began forming in Sophia's hands as she chanted, "The wave crashes down from the heavens, breaking apart the crags of restrain. The clouds split and rise and the skies turn as the heralding of doom begins," As the energy collected in her palm she aimed directly at Masuto and shouted out, "Hadou #44, Raiden!"
Masuto's moment of bloodlust peaked as he felt his blade cut into Sophia's back. The pungent odor of scorched flesh filled his nostrils as the flames instantly cauterized the wound on his opponent. His moment of sadism passed quickly, though, as Sophia turned toward him, holding her chest together with her left arm.
Blood filled Masuto's face, turning it bright red and burning beneath his collar as he realized the...collateral damage his attack caused. His mouth worked to apologize for the damaging of her bra, but the high levels of adrenaline that were still present in his system prevented his mind from working properly.
Her rage-filled reaction didn't help Masuto's cause either, as he rushed to try and sputter out an apology. "I...I..."
His attempts were cut off by her beginning another incantation. This one sounds different...and at this range...I can't dodge...shii-iit!
Panicking, Masuto gripped his zanpakutou tighter and drew it back. In a last ditch effort to counteract the spell, he thrust his zanpakutou forward toward Sophia's shoulder. God, I hope this works...! he thought as he shut his eyes tightly and turned his body to try and avoid the brunt of her attack.
No sooner had Sophia finished incanting the words to her Kidou than she suddenly felt a pain running through her left shoulder and out the back. It was very similar to the first one across her back, but this time it was like her entire left arm was on fire. Before she realized it her right hand had wavered and began projecting downward, firing into the ground.
Much like a bomb going off, an explosion of energy hit the center of the arena, cracking the floor and causing all the dirt and dust flying in to the air. The debris that flew up and crackled on the ground as it landed shot even more dust up into the air. The dust and dirty slowly landing on the ground made it difficult to see what had happened to the two combatants.
When the dust began settling, two people could be seen. Both seemed to breathe heavily, extensively damaged and barely standing up at best. Sophia's left shoulder was bleeding profusely through her robes, bits of blood falling into the dirt below her feet. Her left arm dangled at her side, and her right arm held her Zanpakutou which also lay to her side. Sophia locked her vision on Masuto who stood across from her. She wanted to do something, but the combined pain from her back and shoulder annoyed her greatly. She wanted to strike him down, but she wasn't sure if she even could. All she knew was that she couldn't let it end here, she could still fight!
The explosion of kidou energy being slammed into the ground threw Masuto backwards through the air, struggling to remain upright as he sailed across the arena floor. The thick cloud of dust and dirt hung in the air for a few moments, making it difficult for him to see his opponent. Still, his eyes remained transfixed on the location he last remembered seeing Sophia.
Gradually, the cloud settled down, revealing the still-standing silhouette of Sophia. Masuto stood, panting heavily from the toll the fight had taken on him already. And it still wasn't over. It appeared as though both of them had a bit of a fight left in them, even though they had both expended a great deal of energy to this point. These next few seconds are going to determine the outcome of this fight...Masuto observed as he staggered slightly, a few droplets of blood trickling down his left temple. Well, I guess it's just up to us to finish this. It's a shame, though. I doubt there's much for us to learn by finishing this fight. We're both too tired to make a serious, concerted effort at thinking our actions through. But whatever. It's time to end this.
Masuto gripped his zanpakutou at his side tightly with both hands. Gathering his reiatsu together, he poured it into the blade. Hi no Tama's flames danced wildly in his hands as Masuto stared intently at Sophia's form across from him.
In an instant, the fiery shinigami was a blur of motion as he began to charge toward Sophia. He trailed the weapon behind him with its crescent blade pointing forward. Just as he reached Sophia, he snapped his arms to his front, slashing toward his opponent with the crescent blade. As he did so, he snapped his wrists forward as well, smoothly transitioning into a similar forward attack with Hi no Tama's main blade.
'This is the end, just embrace it. It will be over soon,' Sophia told herself, watching the fiery blade whizzing through the air toward her. Masuto was quicker, stronger, and a better fighter than she was. All her efforts to survive were for nothing if she couldn't even beat the people who stood in her way. Sophia's eyes were that of contempt not for Masuto, but for herself. She stared head on as if she were facing her death with open arms.
'Wuss!' a voice from inside Sophia's mind called out. As it did, her eyes widened as if an epiphany came over her. Sophia quickly realized Masuto was coming at her, his blade right on top of her, ready to strike her down. Her right arm shot upward, her Zanpakutou raised horizontally. As she moved her foot back and allowed her left arm to dangle at her side, she blocked the attack as best she could, her arm shaking as she forced the fiery blade from touching her.
The fire reflected off her glasses, her eyes behind them put all her strength into surviving. She ground her teeth together as she tried to keep Masuto's sword at bay. Her vision crept from side to side, gauging her surroundings as best she could. She could see the rubble near her; the craterlike arena was full of rocks scattered everywhere. Sophia began pushing back against Masuto, forcing his blazing sword away from her.
As she pushed forward, she was unable to push Masuto's sword away. She slipped backwards against the force. With her Zanpakutou clenched in her right hand, she had just enough power to deflect Masuto's Zanpakutou before her back collided with a large slab of the once-solid arena floor behind her. With the angle at which the slab was against the ground, her body seemed to lie on the slab effortlessly. As she landed, her head was knocked back against the slab of cement, rendering her unconscious. Her right arm laid limp on the side of the slab of rock, Rutsokishi dropped into the ground, blowing out of the slab of rock Sophia lay on. The blade shot toward Masuto, digging into his right thigh.
A searing pain shot through Masuto's entire body, radiating from the point of Sophia's zanpakutou's entry into his already cut up leg. It didn't help, either, that the effects of the Threshold spell wore off just as he was making his strike. The suddenness of all the pain from his previous wounds and this new gash caused his body to freeze up, every sungle muscle clenching in protest of the pain that flowed throughout his entire body. As Sophia fell unconscious against a section of the arena floor upturned by her previous misdirected kidou blast, Rutsokishi shrank back down to its original form, sliding out of Masuto's leg as it did so.
As the blade exited his leg, it was as though a switch was turned that told all the muscles that had been clenched so tightly the moment before to let go of all their tension. He collapsed to the ground, holding his still-burning zanpakutou in his left hand. Come on, Masuto, get up! he instructed himself. You can still stand, so get up!
Slowly, Masuto lifted his left hand and stabbed the tip of Hi no Tama into the arena floor, using it as a support to help him stand. Slowly and shakily, he managed to get back to his feet, staggering about for a few steps as he rose. After a few moments, he managed to right himself and drew Hi no Tama's blade out of the rocky ground.
He looked over at Sophia and finally noticed that she was completely unconscious, lying against that upturned section of rock. Realizing that their match had drawn to a close, Masuto walked as steadily as he could--which wasn't very steadily at all given the condition of his legs--toward Sophia's limp form. As he did so, he held Hi no Tama in the air and sealed it once more. The blade exploded in a burst of flame similarly to its release, but this time the flames died much quicker, the power it held when released absorbed back into its original form. Masuto slid Hi no Tama back into the sheath on his hip and turned his attention back to Sophia.
"You fought very well, Sophia," he spoke to her unconscious form in admiration. "You showed a great deal of ferocity and intelligence in your attack plans. You also know your zanpakutou very well, which shows me that you two have spent a good deal of time together. You're a great asset to the Gotei, Sophia. I congratulate you on a job well done."
Masuto shrugged his shoulders as he heaved a deep sigh, looking around the arena before continuing. "You did get one thing wrong, however," he said as he struggled to kneel beside her. When he finally dropped to his knees, he rolled her over on her side so he could get at the major wound he had inflicted on her back. "You assumed that because I specialize in heavy combat that I'm not very good with kidou. However, I have actually been studying some kidou on my own, believe it or not. I taught myself this one for exactly this type of situation where I am fighting another shinigami with my shi kai and successfully land a blow. It's not that impressive a kidou, but it should help you until they can get you to the Third for complete treatment."
Masuto closed his eyes and gathered kidou energy into his hands. Using the visualization aids he had practiced so many hours both in his room and in the training barracks, he formed the energy into an orb as he began the incantation. "Pull together world beyond. Come forth into my hand. I call upon that which is outside of the boundaries, to restore that within! Gather here to heal! Chiyudo number thirty-four, Ukiyo-Tama!"
As he completed speaking the incantation, the orb finished forming in his hands and he pressed his hands forward, forcing the energy into Sophia's back. He watched on, pleased with his efforts as the healing energy filled Sophia's body and worked itself through her wounds, cleaning them from the impurities that had gathered there during their fight. As the energy faded down, Masuto settled Sophia's body into a more comfortable position to try and alleviate any pain she might feel if she were to awaken. He then brushed his hands together, pushed on his knees and rose to his feet once more, this time a tad bit more steadily than the last.
When he regained his balance again, his eyes scanned the arena floor until his eyes locked on to the wakizashi blade of his that was resting on the rocky ground in front of the judge's stand where Jinsoku sat. He walked slowly over to his weapon, stumbling occasionally as his legs were still pretty damaged and painful. In spite of the pain, he pressed on to where his weapon sat and bent over to pick it up when he reached it. Turning it about in his hands, he examined the blade to assess any damage that had been done to it and any repairs he would have to perform later on to correct the damage. Looks like that kidou blast took a toll on the blade. Oh well, at least it didn't get shattered like it could have. I can fix this later on tonight, no problem.
After taking inventory of the condition of the weapon, he slowly slid it into the sheath that rested across the front of his midsection and tilted his head up to look to where Jinsoku sat. "Could you make sure she gets to the Third as quickly as possible, sir?" he asked the man who had watched over their fight. Turning his head to look back toward Sophia, he added, "She's taught me a great deal today, and I would hate for her to be in pain for long."
Not waiting for a response, Masuto turned and walked out of the arena as the crowd watched on. A buzz of conversation hung in the air surrounding the crowd as he made his not-so-grand exit and headed back toward the Eleventh. It would be folly for him to believe he could make it on his own without getting patched up himself, so he resolved to make the healing area in the training barracks his first stop when he arrived back in the division. Plus, the sakura grove in the barracks would be a lovely sight to soothe my nerves as well.
He sighed a sigh of relief as he walked down the steps that led to the arena. You taught me a lot indeed, Sophia. Thank you. I hope I can repay you sometime...
Although Masuto had already proceeded on his exit, there was no further need to bring out the healers required. They were all on standby, already rushing to tend to the poor Sophia's injuries.
Stupid Masuto... mused Jin briefly. I doubt he'll make it far... especially after pushing himself so far... he and Sophia put on a **** good fight though, that's for sure. I'm surprised that they didn't kill each other in the process... So reckless.
Motioning his hands towards the medical crew, he waved and pointed at the bleeding Masuto as he limped out the arena. Words were no longer necessary amidst the exuberant cries of each and every spectator over the fight. Jinsoku smiled for a brief moment.
Then again, I think every time I fought in Sou Kyoukou, I gave it my all. I was willing to give my life to prove myself. And in their eyes, in their actions, I could see it too.
The Tenth Division Captain and moderator of this bout stood up from his seat. His eyes wandered across the whole arena in one moment before throwing his arms out in a wide gesture.
"The winner! Masuto Ono of the Eleventh!" he howled, as the crowd once again cheered to this obvious statement.
Tilting his sake decanter to his lips, he glanced as the healers began their work upon Sophia. I wish she didn't get injured like that... but Masuto was honestly the better fighter... I guess I'll have to not just owe her for before, but to train her... you better watch out Sophia... he giggled for a moment.
You too, Masuto; when we meet, it'll be fun.