Iron Champion: Kaen Youji vs Gilles

The first thing that Gilles noticed when he awoke from the warp induced blackout was that his Seele Schneider was missing. "I'm ruined, absolutely ruined! How am I to be a Musketeer without my blade? Humph. But no matter, I must persevere for the good of Der Kaiser." Despite losing access to his blade, he still felt in his soul that he had gained something from the loss of his blade. When he had fully mourned the passing of the piece that made him look like a true musketeer, he began to look around a bit. "It... It is pretty warm here. This amount of clothing is a bit much." Shedding his large feather hat and his big flowing cape for a slim pair of pants and a loose shirt, he looked less like a Musketeer and more like a French traveler. Wandering forward through the hot sauna like dojo, Gilles would know of Kaen's presence and race long before Kaen knew that the Quincy was even there. "Shinigami insect, Stand down or be slaughtered in the name of the Extermination. The King's Key must belong to the Emperor."

((OOC: Gilles will be considered Class 1 and Rank level 3 as he is a Vandenreich Captain that is Class 1))

"You amuse me, boy. You think that a man of my caliber would fall victim to a jest? I would release my bow if I felt that it was necessary. I am however interested to see that you know of other Quincy. Then you should know what these are." Shaking his arm out, Gilles revealed his Quincy cross that was tightly tied to his wrist. It was a closely guarded secret, how to make the artifacts that absorbed reiatsu the way that they did, and what came next was even less well known among the Shinigami, or at least Gilles assumed that it was. "Spirit Fragments are much less common, and are much more powerful than the peasant's cross." There was a burst of reiatsu and the face of the Quincy was equipped with a rather strange looking mask. On one side of his face was a futuristic monocle that had strips of fabric that wrapped around his head. The other side had a mask that conformed to the side of his face, and was pure white, like of the Phantom of the Opera.

"The old meets the new, that is what my Spirit Fragment represents. The old ways of the Victorian and the modernity of technology. It's all very philosophical. As for my bow, why would I need to release that when I'm an expert at Ginto? My signature technique will be more than plenty." The whole scenario was a lie. A subtle lie, but a lie none the less. Gilles had shown his Spirit fragment, but that was only half of what was currently on his head. The monocle half was his bow released to the second stage of Letz Stil. What would keep Kaen from understanding what happened would be his low level of Energy Sensory, and the mixed signals that were happening. Both the Spirit Fragment and the Bow release would have given off a burst of reiatsu, and having only 50 Energy Sensory would keep him from understanding, hopefully.

Spirit Fragments were always different from Quincy to Quincy, so having seen one before hand wouldn't really help the Shinigami. The Stern Ritter was often really good at deception, especially when his enemies were often ignorant and under informed on their enemy. The Vandenreich had come from nowhere and using weapons and tactics that the Soul Society had never seen, they had tore it to the ground. Well, parts of it. The Extermination was not yet over, and here was proof. Some Shinigami had survived with enough strength to enter this tournament. "You should stay your blade before you..." Without warning, and without much of an indication of to how, Gilles disappeared into thin air. There was the small sound of something passing by Kaen about two feet to his right, but beyond the noise of something moving, there wasn't anything for the split second in between the Quincy's words. "get hurt."

It had been nearly instant. One moment Gilles was standing in front of Kaen, the next he was behind him. He hadn't done anything threatening yet, merely stated that Kaen would do well to not underestimate the man in front of him. How he had teleported had been simple. His bow allowed him to create invisible beams that could start from anywhere within a yard of him. He had sent out an arrow to past by Kaen, which had been the sound that he might have heard, and then he had used a secondary ability of his arrows. He had converted his body to reiatsu and then merely rode the beam to the new location. It had all been done so fast, and for someone of considerably less sensory stats it'd be hard to react. How would Kaen deal with an enemy who could seemingly go from one point to the other without using their main powers?

Remaining Reiatsu: 4090/3500 (-10 Class 7 Arrow, +500 Quincy Cross, +300 Spirit Fragment, -200 Letz Stil Level 2)

"Squad 7, Vice Captain: Kaen Youji. You don't have to do the same. It's a formality among the Gotei 13 to ensure our opponents know the name of the one who defeated them!" The words echoed in the mind of the Stern Ritter. You don't have to do the same, you don't have to do the same, you don't have to do the same... What was he, some honor-less mongrel? The nerve of the Shinigami dog. "Pierre Descartes is my given name. G is my Designation." That'd give Kaen something to think about. Shinigami, especially the more analytical ones, liked to pore over the smallest of details. The Vice Captain before made judgments of Gilles' words to him, identifying the member of the Vandenreich as a Quincy. So a random piece of information might make Kaen ponder a little and come up with an amusing comment on the matter.

Gilles was all about amusement. He participated in the Extermination just to see Shinigami think themselves better than him and fail. He wasn't an intimidating man. Without his musketeer garb he looked a bit on the silly side, as just the simple clothes were on, and he was only above average in height. When his enemies looked at him in his feathery hat and clothes straight out of a book or movie, they often laughed. They often laughed until their throats were pierced and they choked on their own blood too. However... This Youji Vice Captain was different. He hadn't laughed when he saw the disrobed Quincy. He hadn't been overly surprised when Gilles showed his Quincy cross and had a mask appear on his face simultaneously. He hadn't even been shocked when the Stern Ritter teleported.

Kaen was an enigma, an unknown variable. Gilels wasn't really sure how to deal with his reactions. Most Shinigami were all like "blargh, Quincy, must destroy" But Kaen just seemed to be there for the fun, and to protect his home from being invaded. After the interchange of names and the first impression of Kaen formed, the Shinigami began to charge. Head on confrontations were rarely effective against Gilles, however the Vice Captain was faster than any enemy the Quincy had faced before. Before Gilles had a chance to teleport away far enough to dodge the charge, Kaen was upon him. As the Vice Captain's leg kicked out, the Quincy seemed to explode. His pressure and reiatsu power rose up considerably as Kaen kicked. "Blut Arterie." Simultaneous to the activation of Blut which doubled his reiatsu abilities, an invisible beam appeared next to Gilles leg in the path of the Shinigami's kick.

It wouldn't be hard to kick through the arrow, as it wasn't boosted in reiatsu strength by blut, so Kaen had both superior reiatsu strength and strength than the arrow. It would cause minor bruising to kick through it, and he'd still be able to carry through into Gilles leg if he wished, or was unable to retract his attack. When he did contact the Quincy, he'd suffer a backlash of energy due to the cutback effect, but with blunt attacks it wouldn't be significant. He'd probably cause bruising to erupt over the entirety of his leg due to the extreme difference in Spiritual Pressure. None of those would be difficult for Kaen to deal with, but the attack would still cause problems for Gilles. At such an extreme force, the bones in his leg would break, despite the beam taking some of the blow. Gilles would find his legs being slid out from under him, and there was little he could do.

As a dabbler in the art of Acrobatics, Gilles did have one trick that he knew how do do. As Kaen knocked Gilles legs out from under him, instead of crumpling to the ground the Stern Ritter let his hands out and bent his body in order to facilitate the execution of a cartwheel. But that was for show. Ignoring the Pain in his leg with his expertise in shrugging off pain, he fired another arrow. This arrow was now much stronger than the previous one, and originated an inch away from Kaen's chest and was fired off to pierce through him. With the natural durability of shinigami this wouldn't do much, however it would be exceedingly painful and surprising to suddenly have a hole open up in your chest. And once again, Gilles was gone, teleporting by way of the arrow that had just cut into Kaen's chest, and ending up twenty feet away.

Remaining Reiatsu: 4150/7000 (-500 Blut Arterie, -200 Letz Stil 2, +500 Quincy Cross, +300 Spirit Fragment, -40 Class 4 arrow
New SpPr: 700
New RS: 700

OOC: I fired two arrows last post, and only deducted for one, so I just pulled the reiatsu out of this posts amount

A little movement kept Kaen from being pierced in the chest, but instead in the side. It was of no consequence to Gilles where he hit the Shinigami, he just found satisfaction in the growing red spot on the Vice Captain's white uniform. "Point, Pierre. This is where you say Touché, Shinigami." Fencing was something that Gilles quite enjoyed, and while he wasn't an expert at it, he still was familiar with the etiquette and the terminology. For him, fencing was less a way of fighting but more a way of life. While it wasn't as obvious, as his clothing and saber were not present on his body, he desired to look like a Musketeer and act the part as well. So when he told Kaen that he should call out a fencing term, he wasn't being haughty, he was simply stating that he wished to treat this conflict like a fencing match.

Realizing the futility of fighting physically against such a high level of cutback, Kaen's drawn sword disappeared in a flash of light. No longer was the blade present, but a silver gauntlet was wrapped around his hand. "Most Shinigami take pride in the precious names of their Zanpakutou. But you, you don't even care enough to announce its splendor. How sad a relationship you must have with your blade. Is it truly a companion, or rather just a tool?" With a push of his hand, Kaen sent a wave of flames towards the Vandenreich. As if the Bikram Yoga chamber wasn't warm enough, a massive wave of flames had to be added as well. Gilles wasn't about to wait to become charred or try to block it, he was getting out of there. His beam shaped arrows could start from anywhere within a foot of himself, so he practiced a bit of deception once more.

Two lasers were fired. One went straight up, putting a hole in the floor above them, and one went straight down. The latter arrow, the one going into the floor beneath Gilles and Kaen, started a foot beneath Gilles feet, so as to not leave a hole in the floor. When Gilles teleported again, he went downwards, but the hole that suddenly appeared in the ceiling, dislodging a good amount of debris and dust, would make it appear that he went upwards. Not knowing the extent of Kaen's ability to sense energy, Gilles had to work fast. If the Shinigami relied on his eyes over his energy sensory, he'd be safer, but there was still the slim chance that the Vice Captain wouldn't fall for this ruse. He hadn't demonstrated that he could see the invisible arrows, but the Stern Ritter couldn't take any chances. He fired another arrow directly at Kaen's location while using Movement to get back and away from the arrow.

If Kaen stayed in the same approximate area for just a few seconds, he'd be hit by another beam around his mid torso. If he moved, then the arrow would be curved in order to get as close to him as possible. If it pierced him, or even if it got close, the entire beam would explode with the force of a grenade. The extremely long, relatively, explosive would tear apart both the floor Kaen was standing on, as well as the part of the floor that Gilles had been near. Even if Kaen wasn't hit by the explosion, he'd still have to worry about falling two stories straight down, which wouldn't be comfortable when he landed. This attack was fast, silent, and mostly drowned out by the large wave of fire that was passing through the higher floor. It would be gone before Gilles was able to fire off the shot, because the Quincy wanted to get out of the way first, but the counter attack would quickly follow Kaen's attack.

Remaining Reiatsu: 4065/7000 (-40 Class 4 arrow*,-500 Blut Arterie, -200 Letz Stil 2, +500 Quincy Cross, +300 Spirit Fragment, -20 2x Class 7 arrow, -25 Movement, -100 Class 3 exploding arrow)

Already moving away from his own arrow that was planned to detonate, Gilles had no trouble effortlessly ceasing the step from Movement and initiating a step to Hirenkyaku as the wave of flames passed by him, increasing the heat in the area even further. Already sweating from just the natural heat of the sauna chamber, having intense fire added to that was just stamina destroying. Thankfully for Gilles, his methods of fighting did not need for much moving around. Teleporting via his arrows, though draining spiritually, took him momentarily away from the heat. Yet even that effect wouldn't last long. The Shinigami seemed to have the upper hand in this environment, as he was so used to being around heat that he could simply ignore it. Hopefully that even while ignoring the heat, he'd still start to feel drained by the thick stuffy air. He'd been doing a lot more running around than Gilles had, but the Quincy wasn't nearly as in shape.

Cursing his frail physique, Gilles thought quickly to formulate a plan. He couldn't go toe to toe with Kaen, and his high powered explosive didn't do much as he just sensed his enemy crash across the room and have some sort of barrier appear in front of him. The Quincy's extreme energy sensory could tell that there was something in front of him, that it was stronger than he personally was, and that it was made of reiatsu, and he just guessed that it was made up of fire, seeing as that was what Kaen had been shooting at him in massive blasts. The Stern Ritter quickly thought of his options. Going in head on meant coming in the path of the barrier, as well as the direction from which the Shinigami could incinerate him with the incredibly hot blasts.

Coming from behind was probably predictable, though teleporting might help him. Granted all that teleporting would quickly tax his stamina and he'd be spent far quicker than his opponent would. He could swap Blut Arterie for Blut Vein, meanwhile using Gate, which would keep him safe from any physical attacks that Kaen was capable of, however those flames were the real challenge and Gilles doubted his Blut. No... How could he doubt Der Kaiser's power. Blut was made up of the Holy Essence of the God King, it wasn't that it would fail, but that Gilles wouldn't be strong enough to use it to its full potential. Yes, that had to be the reason that Blut was not the answer to this dilemma. Hmm, all that the Vandenreich Captain could think about was a basic frontal assault, from behind.

Upon landing from the hirenkyaku, Gilles cast another arrow, this one curving to go up through the hole in the floor that Kaen's flames made and go directly at him. Having a decent margin of superiority in reiatsu strength due to the power of his Emperor running through his body, the Quincy hoped that it would simply pierce the shield in front of Kaen, passing straight through and hopefully striking him in the chest. With his boosted reiatsu strength, the beams of his arrows should be pretty thick, easily an inch or two in diameter, and being pierced through wouldn't be very comfortable. Trying to recuperate from the step techniques and the uncomfortable heat of the area, Gilles refrained from doing anything more unless he needed to react to an attack from the Shinigami. Still two floors beneath his opponent, the Captain knew that he was yet at risk from being immolated.

Remaining Reiatsu: 4065/7000 (-50 Hirenkyaku,, -500 Blut Arterie, -200 Letz Stil 2, +500 Quincy Cross, +300 Mask Fragment, -50 Class 3 arrow)

OOC: This post is cinematic



Kaen was fast. Too fast. He moved past the arrow when he noticed his umbrella was pierced through, and moved to face Gilles head on. There was a smug smile on his face as he looked at the Vandenreich Captain, or so the Quincy interpreted his face to be. "Sorry I took so long. Shall we resume?" Gilles tried to spit to the ground in disgust, only to find that his mouth was extremely dry and what came out of his mouth only dissipated in the heat of the chamber. He went to raise his arm up to dismiss the Shinigami with a wave of his hand, but his limbs felt like rubber and the action was very forced and floppy. "Of... course... I'm not... done yet..." However, the Quincy felt very drained, and was starting to doubt if he could survive.

Kaen charged forwards with his impressive speed, and Gilles could only stand his ground. Teleporting as much as he had made him feel weak and unable to force his body into a reiatsu state. But he could multitask, and he could react with ease to the motions of his opponent. "Gate. Blut Vein." A swirling of reiatsu was forced out of his arteries and into the veins of his body, reinforcing his skin while his reiatsu strength fluctuated a bit but remained at the same level. This would save him, it had to. Kaen was too weak to stand to the strength of Der Kaiser's essence. As the umbrella approached Gilles, the temperature rose higher and higher, and the Stern Ritter began to sweat more and more. Head held high, he stood strong, defiant, like the Glass Castle should. He would weather the storm.

Kaen crashed into Gilles with his umbrella, and the latter was pushed backwards but was unharmed as the flames dissipated against his Blut. Stepping forwards, the Captain weakly grabbed the Vice Captain by the throat. Being taller than Kaen by half a foot, Gilles portrayed a moment of intense strength. "Pulley." Boosting his strength to nearly athletic levels in an attempt to gain the upper hand, the Stern Ritter picked the Shinigami up by the throat to look him in the eyes. He began to try to speak again, but found that his mouth would not form words. Blood began to seep from his mouth as his words became garbled. The thick red liquid was spat into Kaen's face as Gilles sank to his knees, still holding the Vice Captain's throat however Kaen's feet were now firmly on the ground again.

"Too... much... Too much heat... Too much... burning... My insides... My Blut... My King..." More blood was coughed up, and at this point Kaen's throat was released as Gilles collapsed, his hands sinking to the ground. If the Shinigami was a proud man, it would seem as though the hurting Quincy was unintentionally bowing from the pain and the suffering. After having a coughing fit that stained the mat underneath them, upon recovering from that he began to speak again. At this point, his skin looked visibly red from the heat of both Pully, Kaen's flames, and the chamber itself. "Pushed myself... too hard..." Struggling to try and rise, and failing, the only solace the Stern Ritter had was that his arms were still holding him up, preventing him from flat out collapsing into a kowtow, which would be extremely shameful.

Gilles' skin actually burning off his body, destroyed by the reiatsu that he tried to support it with. The close proximity to the flames that were multiple thousands of degrees in heat had bypassed the Blut and caused his body to overheat. Not realizing this, and stubbornly using Pulley to force his physical prowess up, he had inadvertently only accelerated his death by raising up his body temperature further. His body was slowly burning from the inside out, causing internal bleeding in the parts that hadn't yet turn to ash. When he coughed and spat this time, it was black from the ashes of his internals that had mixed into his blood stream and gotten everywhere at this point. He had enough time to utter one last remark before dissipating into pure ash. "Gilles, G, The Glass Castle has fallen. The walls of Der Kaiser have been broken down, and the King's Key is once again out of his reach. May the Emperor curse your eternal soul to damnation."