Suit Up! [NDE, PG-13]

[Hokori Kuchiki]

Unfortunately for Kagami's wishes by committing to his actions to escape, and using his time and focus to jump through mirrors and create other mirrors to get to the other side of the rock. He had committed to those actions during the moment of Hokori's attack, therefore he would not be able to simultaneously now that the action had passed, be able to place mirrors. His strategy was therefore rendered null and Hokori's plan to destroy the rocks went off without a hitch. However Hokori noticed that Kagami was getting adjusted to attempting to fight in the new destroyed battlefield he could feel a surge of reiastu, though nothing happened.

Unfortunately again for Kagami, there was no solid stable surface underneath Hokori directly for Kagami to apply the mirror he wanted to. As well as attempting to see all the way down to the thermal vents during the dust and debris kicking up would be impossible. And so Hokori watched Kagami get ready for the battle. Now with only his sword and his kidou, though Hokori didn't know it. Applying mirrors to the rotating stones would be all but impossible but with his acrobatics fighting on his battle field would be pretty simple. There was ample time for Kagami to attempt to try a counter attack and yet nothing came. There was only some nonsensical spout about something regarding something called a Hobbit? What was a Hobbit? Was it what Kagami though he was? Obviously nothing Kagami compared himself to could be worth anything, and if he was comparing himself to it and it was better, he shouldn't have tried in the first place.

Hokori kicked off the rock he held and twisted on the thermal updraft landing upside down on the stone above Kagami's and balanced on the stone allowing him to place his feet on the rock and his Staff helping him to balance himself out. He pointed his hand at the vice captain and a mass of flames erupted at once like a buckshot once again in the shape of grooved drills rotating against the currents of air. The heat and fluctuation caused him to immediately step off again. He smiled, for Hokori's attack put Kagami in a very bad position. His speed was reduced due to the ability to actually walk or run was taken away and these flame drills would easily pierce through the stone he was on. He couldn't escape with his mirrors, which left only a few options. He was also still dealing with the blood from his chest wound which would hamper his motions as well. What would he do?

Shikai Post count: 6/10

Hado #86: Soukahou Post count 3/5

[Douma]

Kagami felt Hokori’s presence draw closer, and he knew that his time was running out. The Vice Captain was a sitting duck clinging to a less-than-reliable stone shield that Hokori could easily destroy. However, the Vice Captain did have one slight advantage; he had an escape route. Because Kagami hadn’t changed his position since the rock platform was destroyed, he was still at the edge of the air vent. Therefore, Kagami just had to wait so that his retreat was timed perfectly. Because the rock Kagami stuck to prevented Hokori from getting a visual on his target, all the Lieutenant had to do was wait until the Captain charged his reiatsu, signaling that more flames were coming.

In the moment before Hokori released more flames, Kagami would pull his blade out of the rock and push off of it with his legs, sending him to away from the air vents that held him in the air. Kagami would be accelerating toward the ground. However, he would finally have the ability to summon his mirrors. Kagami would summon two mirrors flat on the ground, one where he would land and the other two hundred meters away from the air vents. By linking the two mirrors, Kagami would be able to fall into one mirror and leap out the other, forcing gravity to work against him and slow him down. Kagami would continue falling back into the mirror and reemerging out the other until the height to which he was thrown would decrease to about ten meters. He would end the link when he was over the far mirror and recover by landing directly on his feet.

Hokori’s view of what Kagami was doing exactly would be obstructed by the debris, but he would be able to sense Kagami’s reiatsu signature hopping between two locations for about eight seconds before he settled further away. The Vice Captain’s goal was getting to the ground where he could fight properly, while Hokori held all the cards in the air. Now, the leader of the Fifth Division would have to join Kagami on the ground if their battle was to continue.

Reiatsu Remaining: 6125/8000 (-50 for two mirrors, -50 for image link)

[Hokori Kuchiki]

SPOILER: Click to show

Hokori’s smile became more pronounced; the wall of flame drills spun and destroyed the rock with little resistance. Rubble, dust and embers floated in flux as the thermals caused them to rise. There they danced around Hokori in a mesmerizing form. It was truly beautiful. But it was largely irrelevant in the comparable pleasure the captain felt when he sensed and felt through energy sensory the Vice-Captain move as he blasted his flames. Kagami didn’t realize that Hokori had taken a vertical attack position and was full able to see the vice-captain. It was true that thanks to his forewarning Kagami would be able to dodge the spinning drills made of flames. But there was an innate problem with his plan that he probably hadn’t forseen. His want to get back to the ground would have been obvious, and therefore something that Hokori was watching and waiting for.

The captain was watching and waiting for Kagami to make another mistake and this was that moment. The vice-captain had leapt out of the vents range of vertical propulsion, and the refraction of mirrors could be seen in two places. Hokori noticed this though after the fact. Knowing that his opponent would make a bid for more familiar combat territory made it easy to guess and prepare to act accordingly, which Hokori did. He leapt out of the vent as well following the vice-captain, his hand extended. His reiastu shuddered, and ten drills flew out single file, but it wasn’t the number or even the power they possessed that they were shocking. It was the speed. Kagami was falling fast it was true, but his speed was a glacier to the speed of the drills. It looked like green lightning from the rise and fall of the shapes of the drills.

Statistically, they were travelling at twice Hokori’s shunpo speed, which was a speed stat of eight thousand. They were expertly aimed to pierce and drill straight through his back and lower spine, of course being flames they’d cook and cauterize his body as they destroyed him. The resulting pile up of flames would cause a huge explosion of fire around his body. Soukahou that produced flames that would burn his clothes to tatters and melt the rest to his skin, hair would be singed off and muscle and bone would be burned. Not to mention massive internal damage, as well as you guessed it his suit would be ruined! Everything fell into place the moment that Kagami decided to attempt to not only escape the vent he had chosen for a battlefield, but not even to try to distract Hokori to give him the time needed to escape.

Of course, Kagami might wonder how Hokori was able to speed up the flames to such a degree. It was simple, Hokori had trained studiously in the arts of the Kuchiki Family’s Speed Hana Kidou. Arts that took the concept of speed and applied it in various ways, such way were simple as increasing his own physical speed, to increasing the speed of his steps to out match even Sonido. There were of course much more sinister concepts of speed that could be applied to increase the speed of projectile kidou, to increase the drain of stamina on the body leading to increased breathing, blood loss, and body exertion, and finally the concept to infinite speed up death taking an opponent’s life. This style of Hana was a chess style and needed to be implemented at the right time for maximum efficiency. This Kidou, Speed Hana number Five: To, was used to increase a projectile kidou to the speed of twice the user’s current shunpo speed.

Engulfed in flames and completely charred, Kagami would hit his mirrors and pass through before being ejected and landing 200 meters away on the hard ground. Hokori extended his arms and legs before firing his Shikai back into one of the heavy rocks floating in the vent causing him to arc his descent landing to a skidding stop. He held up a hand as the kidou on it extinguished, and from the air perfectly timed his suit jacket slid onto his arm and his body. Shifting his retracting staff to his other hand, he finished putting his suit jacket on and fastened his buttons. He had nothing truly to say to the vice-captain now. This fight was over; Hokori noted he was probably at fault for not holding back but immediately disregarded the notion. Kagami was… mildly powerful. The captain noted, very unrefined and unpolished so to speak, but there was potential, obviously as the strong man took him as a vice captain.

He walked across the wasteland to the body of the vice-captain looking on with a blank expression, his anger satisfied. That darker part of his personality was sated, he was tainted and attempted to stay light but was pulled into the dark. He noted the charred skin and muscles, and when he was within range, if Kagami was still conscious shifted his mind to the sensation of pain he learned when he was young was the sensation now of lethargy. He was after all a captain and merciful. He was putting Kagami into a deep sleep, using his own pain as a catalyst. After he did so, he pulled out a phial and filled it with some of kagami’s spilling blood before capping it and putting it in his breast pocket. Hokori sent word via hell butterfly and had Kagami transported for treatment.

This was going to be the end of their contests of suits, Kagami; Hokori noted was disadvantaged by having something to prove and wanting to prove he was superior. By the time he realized the tables were turned on him it was too late. He would of course be given treatment and Hokori would fund it himself as penance for letting the influence of the tomes make him damage someone who was an ally to that extent. But it wasn’t all bad; he had a phial of blood to test some new techniques now. Hokori, late that night in the library, smiled. Perhaps the part of him that was born from that experience wasn’t all bad. After all, he knew how to get things done.

Remaining Reiastu : 1800/3000

Shikai Post Count: 7/10

Soukahou: Ended

[Douma]

Kagami knew how big of a risk he was taking by exposing himself in the air without any means to dodge an oncoming attack. However, he didn’t expect the Kuchiki’s flames to speed toward him so quickly. In a desperate attempt, Kagami took a leap of faith - pun intended – and got burnt - pun intended. In the end, Kagami’s body was scorching, leaving him with injuries more severe than anything he had suffered in the past. In truth, Kagami was very close to death. His breathing was heavy and his skin was a bright red and, in some areas, even a carbon black. He was finished, but why was he fighting to stay conscious and keep going?

This was a very different Kagami from the normal self-centered Vice Captain who cared only for himself and knew when to save his neck. Before the battle began, Kagami knew that he was outmatched. Before the first attack, Kagami knew that he wasn’t going to be able to defeat the Captain. However, he knew he had to give it everything he had. It was a learning experience, and Kagami discovered that his fighting style needed direction and focus, but the most valuable piece of information that he learned is that he could not take on the Kuchiki family head on. He would get pounded into the ground to the point where he could no longer breath before they put him out of his misery. But he had to try for the same reason that he was fighting to stay awake.

Kagami didn’t know what was going on around him. The world was a hazy blur, a high-pitched ringing echoed in his ear, and ever inch of his body burned with the heat of one-thousand suns. But Kagami had only one image in his mind. He saw a woman with a kind face, dazzling pink gemstone eyes, and golden wavy hair descending to the middle of her back. Kagami had to wage war on the Kuchikis to even get a clue as to where the only woman he had ever truly loved was, but he was too weak at the moment. The Vice Captain was crushed by the weight of his eyelids and descended into the void of unconsciousness. But he had a final thought before he fell into the slumber:

Next time, if Hokori’s standing between me and Manami, I’ll won't lose…

[Takashi Kuchiki]

+ 580 TP Hokori (+100 Victory factored in)
+ 590 TP Kagami (Spacing Paragraphs well)