A Hand's Duty to the Head. [NDE,R]

[Hokori Kuchiki]

Thread Title: A Hand's Duty to the Head. [NDE,R]
Participants: Taihō Kasumi’Oji, Hokori Kuchiki
World: Soul Society
Death Setting: Non Death Enabled
Rating: R
Location: The location takes place in a bunker underneath the squad five barracks. This is a special bunker, able to be used as a captaincy level training facility. It allows for the room to become something completely different. To describe it, it's much bigger on the inside when activated. It can be anything, but in this simulation it is a perfect stone floor. There are Ruined walls scattered about, but the room seems to go on forever. Because it must, that is the room beneath the squad 5 barracks used today.
Special Conditions: None.
Circumstances: Hokori Kuchiki Captain of Squad 5 and Left hand of the Head of the Kuchiki, Sozen Kuchiki has requested the presence of Taihō Kasumi’Oji. Taihō Kasumi’Oji, Captain of squad 8, and Right Hand of the head of the Kasumi’Oji, Azumi Kasumi’Oji to train in "The Room" as two cut from the same type of cloth. They are the hands that protect their heads. And so it begins.

[Taihō Kasumi’Oji]

Foot steps echoed up and down the long flight of stairs, as Taihō Kasumi’Oji, the Right hand of Azumi Kasumi'Oji, slowly descended to her scheduled meeting with Hokori Kuchiki. Hokori was known as Sozen's Left Hand, a fact which was not lost on Taihō as she glided down the steps to her fate. It wasn't difficult to surmise what he wanted, though he hadn't stated it directly when he requested her presence. He wanted to spar, to test her mettle and, by extension, the strength of his family compared to hers. Both were the second in command to the heads of their respective families, which would imply that they were of comparable power. The one who won this little duel would, in effect, show that their family was just that much stronger than the other's. 

SPOILER: Click to show

If that's the case... Taiho mused to herself, her expression stony as thoughts whirled about her head, I'll crush him. Nothing can stand before us. Nothing can threaten us. I'll flatten him, and put the matter to rest once and for all. It wasn't a matter a hubris that lead Taihō to think this way; it was her duty to eliminate threats to the family, and she considered the Kuchiki family to be a threat. To her, that was all that mattered. She would defeat Hokori because she had to. There was no other option. It was with these thoughts in mind that Taihō walked down the stairs, toward the impending battle. The pre-destined battle. Her life and Hokori's life had both lead them to this point. It was fate that they fight, and it would be fate that would lead Taihō to victory.

She reached the bottom of the stairs, and found herself in a massive room. The walls stretched away into infinity, and the ceiling was a white glow far, far above. Taihō paused to allow herself a moment to appreciate the scene before her. It was certainly impressive. Moreover, it was an ideal battle ground. Vast open spaces, dotted with ruinous structures to provide cover, concealment, angles of opportunity. Taihō with no bystanders, there was no risk of unwanted collateral damage, a small relief to Taihō. She would level a country to achieve victory; a few dozen innocent lives meant nothing to her. Literally nothing. They might as well be sheep, or blades of grass. They existed to die. However, it would cause trouble for Azumi and the family if Taihō murdered innocent civilians, so she was grateful she didn't have to worry about that.


"You requested an meeting." Taihō said, not a question but a statement, as she stepped forward into the room. She could sense Hokori's presence in the room, and moved toward him with the slow, implacable pace of an executioner, a guillotine blade being lifted high above the Kuchiki's neck. "I am here, Kuchiki-san. Would you like to engage in trivial pleasantries, or shall we get this over with?"

SPOILER: Click to show

Strength - [200 -> 100] Points

Speed - [300] Points

Spiritual Pressure - [300] Points

Reiatsu Strength - [400 -> 1000] Points

Light Aura - [0] Points

Dark Aura - [100] Points

Instinct - [125] Points

Senses - [125] Points

Energy sensory - [150] Points

Healing Expertise - [0] Points


Total SP: [1600]

SPOILER: Click to show

Abilities

• [Weapon: Swords] [3]
  
  
• [Weapon: Scythe] [3]
  
  
• [Battle Analysis] [3]
  
  
• [Stealth] [3]
  
  
• [Strength of Will] [3]
  
  

[Hokori Kuchiki]

SPOILER: Click to show

Some Time Ago... -Kuchiki Manor Library; 1:27 AM-

Rain... Oh the dreaded rain, and the lights barely able to shine in the darkness. Lightning flashed across the sky and thunder followed immediately after. The library was mostly silent, with the crackle of wood in the fire place. Books lined the walls with endless subjects. If you wanted to learn something of anything this was the library for such things. There was movement, once and then twice. Two figures were in this lonely silent library. The first man was incredibly handsome. He sat in a high backed chair, his posture regal around six feet tall and muscular. His hair fell around his face darkening his features giving him a handsome face a sinister look. Crimson red eyes and a smirk watched the other figure. The second figure was around the same height as the first, with hair combed lightly back, glasses rimmed the man's face as neon eyes watched the fires dance. There was no humor on the face of the second man, and it was clear in the light he looked... worried.

"Have you heard the news? They grow."

The first man chuckled, "Perhaps I should host a ball this month to celebrate good tidings." The second man didn't turn to face the first, but his posture spoke volumes of uneasy consent to the first man's words as well as mild irration. He never seemed to take these things seriously. The head crossed his legs and folded his hands in his lap, his contenence never changed or altered itself. The second man pondered the first's words, but it was true. They had nothing to fear from the Kawada during their rise to power perhaps he felt the same way here and now. If only he would speak seriously. It was always this way, even when they were children. He found it so hard to take things seriously. To hell be damned even if the second man was learning to loosen up a little, this was after all a serious matter.

The left hand, Hokori Kuchiki, the Book Keeper, tilted his head slightly to the side as he peered at Sozen. "The new one, Taihō Kasumi’Oji, they say she killed Rave. He was one of the strongest captains we possessed, which is troubling." Sozen's face never lost the smile, "These rumors are unfounded, though to kill Rave would indeed be an impressive feat." Hokori agreed, Rave for all his vices was an impressive captain. Very Powerful, very aware. "And there is the other thing..." They both fell silent; Hokori was not one for unpoetic speeches. "I can feel it growing inside me, the anger and the madness..." The gaze deepened and for a moment the Kuchiki's eyes changed color, growing into a sinister orange, his reiastu darkening. There was no change to Sozen's expression, it lasted for only a moment and Hokori's reiastu halted. He took a deep breath, his reiastu and eyes returned to normal, "I need to know what she's capable of."

Sozen's smile returned as he stood up, "If that is the case, of course you may engage Taiho in combat. I would warn you only that she is even more powerful than Azumi, and that it will be difficult. If you believe yourself capable, then I trust your judgment." He turned and walked out of the library, leaving the second man to his thoughts. There would be planning, scheming, and all sorts of things to be done. If there the rumors were true, then even a spar could end in his death. He turned back to the fire, thinking of Amaya, of Rena, of his father and of Sozen. Yet the uneasy feeling the Kasumi'Oji made him feel would not recede. He couldn't get it out of his head, the voices whispered, and he whispered back.

Present -Squad 5 Barracks-

---

Hokori was waiting, in the simulation he created for today's event. He was acutely aware of the placed ruins as he saw to them all himself. The lights had yet to fade into a replica of the sky. Even in this simulation there was substantial ambient reishi enough that air ground could be achieved without any special effort. Hokori internally smiled, that was something he had provided as a bonus. The reason being to Hokori that Captains were so rarely sent out into the land of the living it would be nice to remember the feeling of such combat. His standard apparel was as spectacular as any other day. His glasses were tinted in the light, his hair combed back and styles with only the barest amount of jell. His Obi and Hakama were pristine, as was his sash carrying his zanpakutou. Upon his feet were his socks and sandals. In his inner pocket was a small metal orb, his convert a weapon.

He thought back to the other item in his breast pocket, his notebook. This notebook was everything he had painstakingly been able to uncover on Taihō Kasumi’Oji. There was little on her style of combat but snippets and her release, nonexistent. The only standard fact he had been able to pull was that it was a very destructive zanpakutou. He would need to avoid it at any cost if it was released should it come into play. At least until he could figure out what it did, and then perhaps destroy it. Taihō’s reputation reminded Hokori of his old captain. Sayuri-Taicho. He was a monster, knew he was a monster and reveled in the fact he was a monster. He did so in the name of his curiosity, and in doing so unlocked many secrets but at the cost of what many would deem his humanity.

He's energy sensory picked up something, it was...sickening? No, it was... her. It wasn't reiastu really that he was feeling. It was as if he could feel the outright displeasure of Taihō as she walked in the room. Maybe that wasn’t right, maybe… maybe it was himself. He was weary of Taihō Kasumi’Oji and because of that. The whispers in his mind began to sink in, he wanted them to stop, needed them to stop. He begged them to, yet only laughter ran through his mind as he watched Taihō approach. There was nothing on his face to give away distress, he had held fast to his training. He used to be the calm collected one, this was a little ridiculous, but he was distracting himself only slightly and focused on the captain that was moving towards him.

He noticed two things immediately, first, she was tall. Much taller than most women ever wanted to be that was discontenting, to say her being smaller would have been a smaller relief would have been something. Her arms in that scenario would have been shorter than his and given him a bladed advantage. As such he believed she might even be an inch taller. The second thing he noticed about her was the oversized coat she was wearing. It was honestly a little ridiculous. Either she was hiding something under that coat, or she was scared to show her face as it was clearly covered up. Hmmm, Hokori made note of this. Her steps were careful measured; there would be little she would give him. But he knew what to look for, and it would be what would allow him to test her ability.

“You requested a meeting.” She spoke and her voice betrayed nothing. No anger, no sadness, no boredom, nothing. She was a slate. Hokori had been able to ferret out a little and was able to distinguish she was not emotionally crippled like Shade Kawada. She was just shielding her emotions? Hokori could guess that would be true, his own face betrayed nothing of his thoughts. His eyes were observant, his lips curled into a smile, small and polite. He took in her statement and could tell very little on her speech patterns, he wanted to get her to talk but to do so would be a sign of weakness or floundering for the Kasumi’Oji. He would have to take it with a grain of salt. His face still composed and showing no sign of his internal dilemma. His polite smile grilled into him by his teachings as a child faded into a calm look of serenity. He was focusing himself for the task ahead.

His voice was calm, polite and forward, "Thank you for coming Kasumi’Oji-Taicho." He snapped his fingers and the landscape changed, the lights faded into a sky, the sun unmoving from a high noon setting. The walls that formed the room disappeared. The room became an infinite courtyard ruin, save the door which took on a whitish sparkle. Upon closer inspection, Taiho could see there were flecks of stone in the varnish giving it a metallic mixed with wood look. There was sekki sekki stone in the door’s varnish and a consistent hum of reiastu around the frame. It was the only clue to the infinite landscape Hokori had created. This was the secret strength of his barracks; he could house the training of his entire squad or prevent needless damage and loss of life. His accidental casualties were something that had always troubled him since his battle against the Septima Espada Myza Synderfel.

“I am here, Kuchiki-san,” again no tone or conveyance of emotion as if nothing at the moment mattered. “Would you like to engage in trivial pleasantries, or shall we get this over with?” She was straight and to the point. Hokori's face never changed but he couldn't deny he enjoyed it. Even if she was a slate, her words made her sound confident as if this was nothing more than an appointment. "You seem confident; Kasumi’Oji-Taicho, please show me how confident you are." His sword hand reaching across and grasping the blade while still in its sheath. He gripped it tightly his animal like senses taking in the captain’s posture. He listened to her heartbeat, breathing, and even took in her stance to predict how she would step when she attacked. His energy sensory was scanning her for reiastu expenditures. "Come."

SPOILER: Click to show

Strength - [100] (50) Points

Speed - [400] Points

Spiritual Pressure - [300] Points

Reiatsu Strength - [400] (800) Points

Light Aura - [25] Points

Dark Aura - [75] Points

Instinct - [150] Points

Senses - [150] Points

Energy sensory - [100] Points

Healing Expertise - [0] Points

Total SP: [1600] Points

That's all for the template. There are a LOT of stats, but don't get choosy and just give some to all. The result could be quite negative.

Abilities

[Battle Skill: Sword] [3]

[Battle Skill: Hakuda] [3]

[Mental Skill: Battle Analysis] [3]

[Physical Skill: Acrobatics] [3]

[Body Skill: Pain Tolerance] [3]

[Mental Skill: Memory] [1]

[Taihō Kasumi’Oji]

(OOC: I'm bad at these honorifics. Taicho is captain, right? That's what Wikipedia says, anyway. I guess I'll use that instead)

With a snap of Hokori's fingers, the landscape changed, becoming vast expanse large enough to field armies in. Taihō's expression remained unchanged, but she mentally rolled her eyes. Are all of the Kuchikis this needlessly extravagant? The battlefield was fine as it was. Maybe he's trying to impress me? She frowned slightly, not that Hokori would be able to tell, with her face hidden by her collar. It was excessive displays like that which made Taihō dislike the other Noble families. They just had to one up one another. It was sickening. But, Taihō didn't let her eyes display the emotion in her heart, and even the fragmentary frown was gone after just a moment. By the time she spoke, it was with the same soft, empty voice she had used before. Beautiful, but hollow, like the echos of a symphony. That was Taihō. The shadows of something that had once been so brilliant.

"An impressive display." She noted, with about as much interest or sincerity as one commenting on the weather. Her indifference might annoy Hokori, but Taihō didn't care about that. She wasn't trying to aggravate him. In fact, she didn't even consider how her words might affect him. Such was the life of a psychopath; she had no understanding of what another person might be feeling, no way of considering their emotional state. Though she didn't know Hokori's thoughts, and he would most likely never learn how accurate those thoughts were, Hokori's theory that Taihō was wearing her coat to hide something wasn't inaccurate. She was hiding something...herself. Her coat was a shell, a physical embodiment of the cold, desolate wall Taihō had built around her mind and her heart to shield herself from the world around her.

"You seem confident; Kasumi’Oji-Taicho, please show me how confident you are." As he spoke, Hokori reached for his Zanpakuto, but didn't draw it yet. Taihō came to a stop, maybe a dozen feet from the Kuchiki, her almost soulless gaze locked on his eyes, not his hand. "Come." He said that with the confidance of one who had born to succeed. He had never known pain, real suffering. Taihō didn't know this for certain, but, that mattered little. All of the Nobles were the same. Only Taihō and, she was forced to grudgingly admit to herself, Azumi, had known real pain. So of course he was confidant, and of course he mistook her words for confidence. What she felt was so much more complicated than that.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Music}

"Confidence...has nothing to do with it." She said solemnly, as she lifted her right arm, holding it stretched out in front of her. Her sleeves were longer than her arms by far, leaving half of the sleeve hanging toward the ground, but that didn't seem to deter her. For a second, it seemed like nothing was going to happen, but suddenly, without any sign from Taihō, a sword appeared above her hand, which she caught with the grace of a skilled swordswoman. It was a beautiful blade, exquisite in every detail. This was to be expected, of the weapon of a Kasumi'Oji. Their clan had once forged weapons for the Spirit King himself. Though many of the old masters had been killed or fled during the family's fall, there were still those who knew the secrets of the family. This sword had been crafted in the ancient forges of the Kasumi'Oji clan with one purpose in mind: To destroy anything that stood before the family.

However, it was the not the beauty of the weapon that Hokori would notice first. No. It was it's size. All told, it was right around seven feet in length, taller than Taihō herself was. It was so long, it would be difficult to walk with, even if she wore it on her back. She would need an assistant just to draw it from it's sheath, which was why she summoned it the way she did. it was a Kido she had created, which was used exclusively to summon her blade from it's resting place in her chambers, and to return it from whence it had came. And so, with her blade already drawn and in hand, Taihō began once again closing the distance between herself and Hokroi.

What happened next, however, was not something he would be expecting. Not in a million years.

"Now you see me..." With those simple words, the battle began. Before Horkori's very eyes, Taihō would vanish from sight, evaporating like a desert mirage. But not only that, but all sound vanished, as did her Spiritual presence. To Hokori, it would seem as Taihō had left the room. It was like she was gone. But, nothing could be farther from the truth. Nothing had happened to Taihō; it was Hokori who had been affected. With the words "now you see me", Taihō activated the simplest of the Kasumi'Oji Mind Hana. Spells that had been crafted to bend the mind, and soften enemy resistance. All the spell did was switch the enemy's perspective of what was and what was not important. Taihō was still there, right where she had been a moment before, but Hokori's mind had been tricked into ignoring her. He didn't see her because his brain no longer considered her relevant, meaning that she might as well have been invisible.

With that done, Taihō altered her course to the right, circling around to flank Hokori's position. He would be oblivious to this, of course, unaware of her location unless she did something so noticeable, his mind would be forced to acknowledge her. Something like attacking him directly. Once she was in position, to his right and just slightly behind him, she fell upon him like a hawk upon a mouse. The haze would lift from Hokori's senses, revealing Taihō to him again as she moved into a fierce, heavy handed sequence of attacks, vicious hacking attacks meant to cleave the other Captain in two. This carried on for a few moments, before she smoothly transitioned into a sequence of rapid thrusts and light cutting attacks. With the length of her sword, Hokori would be forced to back away, or risk being bifurcated, or impaled. Taihō was unrelenting, however, pressing steadily forward to keep the distance between them to a minimum. Before Hokori could adjust to her thrusting attacks, she switched to another heavy style, driving forward with enough power to carve through stone. This was the only the first step, however, in Taihō's plan. This was her asking a very simple question. How do I kill you? That was what Taihō wanted to know. And she would keep attacking until she felt she had an answer.

"This is my confidence, Kuchiki-taicho. How does it feel?"


Reiatsu: 3000-150=2850

[Hokori Kuchiki]

(OOC: Yes, Taicho is Captain. I just enjoy using it with certain characters Hokori interacts with.)

SPOILER: Click to show

Hokori waited, to see if Taiho would step forward and begin the assault that would be their match, she did not however she lift her right arm, It’s giant sleeve completely covered her hand and draped down . Hokori noted the length of the sleeve and was immediately aware of the possibilities that ran through his mind. Before however he could fully ponder such complications a blade appeared in her hand. It was a gorgeous blade. However, even with a distance of twelve feet, Hokori could have taken a single step forward and slashed out and struck her blade. It was enormous, over six feet long in reference to just the blade. The guard was almost nonexistent, and even as Hokori’s blade seemed to shine in the light, her blade seemed to darken the light in the area. Yet another thing they seemed to defer on, Hokori could see and assume that the blade was heavy wider in the blade to sustain the wait without becoming brittle and cracking from extended combat.

Her guard was merely a little golden hexagonal band with a few hollowed out circles. The blade he now noticed upon closer inspection was silver, making it odd. Hokori stance was more focused on a normal blade fight. It had been a while. But he had fought a large bladed user before; it would merely be a little more difficult to maneuver. However he was sure he possessed the needed skills to fight evenly with such a blade. Though it wasn’t just the blade he needed to watch, it was the user. He was still able to hear her heart and breathing, watch her stance and eyes as they swept over him, even smell her scent. It was odd, cool but not intoxicating, almost like freshly laundered clothes but stronger to him. It made her unique in this simulated battleground but among a crowd he might not have been able to pick her out.

He however stopped his musing as she took a step, and then another. His eyes locked onto the visible point of her face, she spoke out once again, “Now you see me,” and then something miraculous happened. She began to fade away, it was impossible but she vanished. He pushed out his energy sensory but felt nothing, His eyes could catch nothing, no sound, no sight. He was alone, “But you’re never alone…” Shut up! He pushed the thoughts out of his head and momentarily breathed in deeply centering himself. He pushed out with all his senses and they couldn’t find her. He could smell the old stone, his body cologne, and the strong scent of freshly washed… and then it was gone. Wait…, he let himself smell again not focusing on anything in particular. He could smell the scent of fresh clothing that was not his, Ah I see. So that’s how it works. She had cast some sort of kidou on him, shielding herself from his sight hearing and energy sensory.

The one thing that it didn’t do was stop scent passively; even as Hokori attempted to passively scan the area for everything as a whole with his eyes, ears, and energy sensory, it stopped him from seeking her out. When he thought about her in relativity to the scent, it he forgot it’s comparison to her now. But because he had made the comparison before, he was able to put to and two together logically. The smell was stronger meaning that logically she was closer. But he wasn’t sure where she was or how she would attack. This was a prudent attack strategy with the aim to set the battle momentum in her favor something he could respect but couldn’t allow. His mind quickly analyzed all the favorable options he had at his disposal. Most were surprisingly free of reiastu expenditure; he would just have to make sure not to be caught to off guard during those first few crucial moments. After all, such a blade wasn’t something he wanted to get caught on unprepared.

---

SPOILER: Click to show

Kuchiki Training Grounds – Some 200 Years ago.

“Get up Hokori, Your training session is far from over.”

A teenager was slumped over clutching a katana. His glasses were eschewed on his face as he looked into the older man who loomed over him. Hokori Kuchiki’s breathing was ragged and pain wracked his limbs. His training garb was in taters, shredded on his body and the ground around him. Blood streaked his clothes and all over the ground. His father flicked his oversized Odachi causing his son’s blood to spray across the ground. Hokori’s blade had blood on its surface, but as he gazed up at his father with ragged breathing, he knew it was only his own. His father was faster and stronger than he was. He struggled to a kneed before his head became light and he feel backwards landing on his rear and wincing.

He gasped as his father’s arm and blade lashed out and he received another cut on his face, this time on his left cheek. “I said get up. I will not ask you to do so again.” Gravitational pressure flooded the training grounds forcing Hokori flat on his back gasping for air. He screamed out and began choking as his body failed to inhale. It lasted for a minute, before ending. He rolled over; a moan of pain escaped his lips. He was cut on his right bicep and down his right forearm with a deep cut to his left forearm. He had been cut across the lower part of his chest and his abdomen had been pierced on his left side. And there were little cuts along his legs and hakama. He was light headed and his limbs were shaking, he struggled to his feet. His father looked displeased, or Hokori assumed he did as his vision was blurring. There were two of his father at the moment, and he could tell he was growing weak from his blood loss.

“Disappointing, Hokori I expected more from your training. You are the left hand, your purpose is to guard Sozen when he becomes head. This is a pitiful showmanship, I believed more of you.” Honestly at this point Hokori felt his hormones coming to the surface. “Believed what? That I’d want to be carved up, this training is-.” He cried out as a blade cut him deep across the chest, he wheezed. “I don’t remember asking you to speak. Now take your stance, and let us begin again.” His father left no room for argument and Hokori no time to complain. Once more he was upon the father was on the son, He brought the Odachi down looking to cleave Hokori in two. Hokori sidestepped and jumped away attempting to take himself out of the blade’s reach, however this proved futile. The blade was simply too long for him to properly evade his father for more than a few paces before being overwhelmed.

He hit the ground once more, “Hokori you ignored what I taught you, what your instructors taught you. When you have a short sword, get in close. If you have a long sword, stay in range of attack but out of range of retaliation. I offer you that advice once more; no longer will I baby you. Now get up.” Hokori struggled to his feet. There was a danger, he wasn’t hurting anymore. Which meant he was getting to the point he was losing to much blood, but to run away from his father during training would be the peak of disgraceful. Furthermore it would bring shame upon himself, His parents, and the household. He slumped up, his form was pitiful and his stance was sloppy.

Daemon wasted no time in attacking; he brought his blade across in an attempt to bisect his son. Instead Hokori stepped forward and brought his blade to the weakest point of force in the blade. It was sloppy and he was still pushed back, but he was able to read his father well enough to nullify the strength of the blade before it gained anymore momentum. Hokori looked at his father with a fierce glare, but his father merely stared impassively at him for a few moments. They were in a bind and he seemed to be reading his son, yet after only a moment he pushed his son across the bloodied stones. Hokori was wheezing and his vision was going black, “That’s enough, we’ll begin again tomorrow.” He flicked the blood again from the blade and turned walking out of the training grounds. Medics rushed in as Hokori lost hold on his body and fell to the floor. His father had nearly killed him, yet deep down Hokori understood why it had to be done.

Healing Kaido and medicine had to be applied and Hokori slept through the rest of the night and the next morning. His body was sore and he was hungry but he rolled almost directly out of his bed, bandaged and stitched up. He picked up his blade, passing his mother in the hall. There was a fiercely protective look on her face, but it softened when it saw him. “Good morning Mother.” He said with a smile. As he passed she stopped him and placed a hand on his cheek, “Be careful.” He dropped his eyes and gripped his blade’s sheath tighter. “Of course mother, I will.” He smiled and nodded on, she dropped her hand and he hurried to the training grounds. Walking onto the stones he noticed they were imperiously cleaned. His blood had been removed along with his clothing scraps; his father stood holding the Odachi. His obi and hakama were a grey made of rough silk. Hokori was dressed in the same attire except for his bandages covering his chest arms and legs. There was even a surgical patch on his cheek.

His father offered no words mere took his stance, Hokori moved into position falling into his stance. He watched his father. The both of them circling the other. Daemon staying out of Hokori’s strike zone but within his own attacking distance began a perilous onslaught of stabs. Hokori sidestepped, jumped forward diagonally rolling onto his feet, and brought his blade forward blocking the strikes before they began to gain serious momentum. He began to see the muscles cord in his father’s arm and anticipate how he would strike. He even began to apply the Kuchiki Rosenblade, each time his father would strike. The problem was that his father was used to the style and therefore able to counter his counters and he still incurred slight cuts on his person.

But the difference, for the first time in two days, Hokori could go on the attack. His father was able to defend. But in close quarters combat against someone with a smaller sword you didn’t want to let them that close to you. Your ability to respond could become slower than your opponent due to your blade being unwieldy. Daemon attempted to retreat to a safe distance but Hokori pressed into him. Giving him a small cut into his right forearm, his right side, and his left thigh. Their speed was formidable, and it was good form despite Hokori being hungry, exhausted, and injured. After a few hours they called a break, Hokori grabbed a cup of water and downed it before washing his newest wounds under the water. Then proceeded to be bandaged.

On and on they trained for 3 years, Hokori being grilled into fighting against Long blades, Large blades, Thin Blades, Hooked blades, Short Blades, Thick Blades, Double edged and Single edged blades. He became masterful in being able to identify, use, and know counters to each particular blade. Hokori was the left hand of the Kuchiki after all and it was his duty to know these things and to protect the head from things he shouldn’t be counted to deal with. His opinion of his father shifted little, he had respect for his father and his teachings. His maturity grew as he learned what this was for and what made him require the training. He spilled his blood every day for three years, and he was made better for it, stronger.

---

SPOILER: Click to show

Hokori relaxed himself, his stance taking precedent. He couldn’t be hasty here, but he knew how to deal with such opponents. Though he hadn’t fought a captain level adversary with such a weapon in a long time, he would be foolish to think that a big blade was all it took to be a captain. His mind focused and his instincts took over as she fell upon him to his right. He turned and in a movement that outpaced even her own. He closed the already tiny gap and side stepped the first slash. She brought the blade toward him in a hacking blow, and its form was good, excellent even. But a number of problems arose during the second slash, Hokori analyzing the way she moved and the form of sword style she used could see the trajectory of the blade and with his speed backed up and ducked the cut once he was sure he could do so safely, bending with a flexibility that even Taiho would be jealous of.

This pattern continued, Hokori noted her attacks, would move forward toward her or slightly away and sidestep, duck, and even flip over her swings to prevent himself from being cut. He had the capacity to bend himself near in half to avoid the swings and if he was unsure he would be able to make certain dodges, he increased his speed, but for the most part he matched her speed to conserve his stamina. From what Hokori noted, about three fourths of his speed was her maximum and she would have to use conscious full effort to keep up with him at this pace, any slower and she’d never even come close to hitting him. His face was calm and focused, there wasn’t a smile or a frown. No, he had fallen into a sort of battle trance, one that he listened to his instincts and his body. He had been trained for such battle, they were useful in ducking, dodging, and sidestepping any attacks.

His facial expression was almost robotic, his mind going on autopilot to after a few moments she transferred into a sequence a light slashed and stabbing, they had moved a few feet and were nearing some of the ruins but had yet to actually get to them yet. During this He accelerated to his full speed, enough to get out of most of her blade’s range before slowing again to around a speed stat of 300. Now she would not catch him without using shunpo, which she chose not to do. He was also careful to avoid eye contact, the last time he was looking at her she vanished and he wasn’t sure of the full capabilities of that technique or any others she may have possessed.

Her stabs and light slashes were ineffective as he would dodge them sidestepping, ducking, weaving, and avoiding them using superior speed if need. He watched her use her sword and again noted her exceptional skill with a blade, he was just as well with reading blade work and possessed the body that was flexible, lithe, and bending. He could hear her heart rate increase and her expended breath. He noted his own deep breathing but he also noted she was expending much more effort than he at the moment. She was also chasing him, her steps full of purpose and left little error in her footing. Her stabbing and light slashes faded out again as he made note of two styles she possessed. He pressed out with energy sensory and his senses. This was the moment, she brought her blade high and brought it down at him stepping toward him. She had made a slight mistake, he had stopped moving during her strike until around the blade was six inches from him before he disappeared and her blade came crashing down impacting the ground once more.

“This is my confidence, Kuchiki-taicho. How does it feel?”

Suddenly her face was blinded as Hokori gripped his blade once more. He appeared right in front of her to her right in his Iaido stance. He had used the Shukuchi-Ho to traverse the distance in split second. His blade flew out of his sheath at a speed stat of 300, refracted light poured from the blade into her eyes blinding her through the entirety of the slash, it look less than a second for the blade to strike out cutting deep into her upper sword arm and chest and return into a flourish. The purpose of this counter attack was to attack during her attack when she brought her blade down. Her free hand was on the other side and the sudden intense burst of light would be disorientating throwing her slightly off balance. Attempting to use shunpo would throw her even more off balance. “Howiado No Ken: White.” He murmured.

Hokori then flipped sideways still facing Taiho putting the world upside down for a moment above her down crest arm and very blade as he began his assault anew, He landed lightly on his feet, the blade form transitioned and he attacked at a speed stat of 300 a vicious series of stabs. Each stab began refracting light into her face repeatedly, before beaming out as a streak of light this light coated the blade and extended the apparent attack range. The light wouldn’t harm her of course, it was just light. But in her disorientation it would be difficult to react as skillfully and as correctly as she would want. But he wasn’t just doing this once. He was doing this multiple times. Allowing for multiple flashes of light to her eyes if she wanted to try to keep seeing and fighting. Little by little it would cause her mental pain and her balance would soon falter without fail. “Howiado No Ken: Red.”

He followed her during this form, keeping his closeness and dodging counter attacks by using his flipping sidesteps and ducks while seamlessly counterattacking using the Howiado No Ken: Red. His shoulders were back, his feet spread apart and his attacks were full of accuracy and lethality. He didn’t lose his focus on her form and the light blinded her from making direct eye contact with him, so he had no trouble looking at her as he attacked her. This was only his opening sequence, and so he was anxious to see how she would fair against it. He kept his senses, instinct alert and energy sensory actively scanning. He wasn't going to underestimate her.

[Taihō Kasumi’Oji]

He's very nimble, to dodge my attacks so easily. I'll have to try something different if I want to catch him... This is what Taihō thought as she finished her attack sequence, and began to move into another one. She reasoned that it would be Hokori's agility, not an kind of raw power, that would make him dangerous int his fight, and knew she would have to find a way to counter his mobility if she hoped to win. This was just a guess, of course, but she felt it was an accurate one, based on what she had seen so far. However, what she saw next changed everything. Mostly because all she saw was a blinding flash of light, which left her seeing stars and disorientated. She stumbled, as her normally flawless foot work was thrown off by the distraction, then felt a sharp pain in her chest and arm. She had been cut by Hokori's blade. The Kuchiki had drawn first blood, leaving a wound that, while not to deep, lit up Taihō's senses with pain. How long had it been since she had taken a hit in combat? fifty years? A hundred? It was so unusual to her, it took her a moment to recognize what had happened.

In that moment, her blade sailed past Hokori, striking roughly against the ground, sending a dull shock through her already aching arm. She let out a breath, and noticed how fast her heart was beating. She had dived in, perhaps to aggressively, and was paying for it now. However, she still had plenty of steam left to fight, and not a moment to lose chastising herself. Hokori had gone on the offensive, forcing Taihō to react. Fortunately, she had an ace up her very long sleeve. Well, she had several actually-you could say she had stacked the deck in her favor-but this one would be particularly useful now.

"Now You See Me..." Once again, Taihō would vanish from Hokori's sight, disappearing like a bad dream. Perhaps he had believed that by avoiding eye contact, he would render himself immune to the technique. Perhaps he hadn't. Either way, the fact was that "Now You See Me" had no such requirement; it didn't matter if eye contact was made or not. She could use it to vanish either way. And that was what she did, disappearing from before Hokori's very eyes.

Of course, that wouldn't do anything about Hokori's attack, unless it caused him to stop prematurely out of surprise. That was possible, but it wasn't Taihō's intent. She used the technique to cover her as she evaded Hokori's attack; she wasn't fast enough to avoid the attacks by herself, and trying to Shunpo while disorientated and half blind would only make things worse Instead, she vanished from view, and lept back two, three times, using the fact that Hokori wouldn't be able to see her to slip past his attacks and out of his range. He's a skilled opponent, this Left Hand of the Kuchiki Family. That attack would've ended the fight...had he not been fighting a Kasumi'Oji. Unfortunately for him, we don't break so easily. Although Hokori would likely be able to detect her presence again, using a method that at the moment baffled Taihō, it wouldn't matter. She waited just a moment for her vision to return to normal, before launching her counterattack.

Holding her free arm out and pointing toward the ground Hokori stood upon, she whispered a single word: "Calcitro." Although Hokori might've been able to hear the word, he wouldn't have noticed it thanks to "Now You See Me". Unless Taihō spoke directly to him, or did something so obvious his brain would be forced to notice it, then nothing she did or said would be recognized by him. And so he would probably be very surprised when the ground bucked under his feet, the stone floor cracking, then bursting upward as something rose up out of the ground. It was a tentacle, ten feet long and five feet wide at the base, covered in small red eyes and thick armored plates. It wasn't so much emerging from the ground as it was growing from it, feeding on the nutrients in the soil beneath the floor. Almost immediately, it would lash out at Hokori, seeking to wrap itself around his waist, and crush him with it's colossal might. The plates had a durability equal to Taihō's Reiatsu Strength, and the parts that weren't armored were to meaty to cut very deeply into anyway. If Hokori let it grasp him, it would shatter his pelvis and his lower spine in it's grip, before lifting him into the air, and slamming him down with enough force to break every bone in his body. Even if he did escape, the tentacle would strike out at him within it's reach, instinctively seeking to find him and break him. Since Taihō had no intent to kill the other Captain, the tentacle wouldn't go that far, but being caught by it would almost certainly be the end of the fight.

Reiatsu: 2850-150=2700

Life Force: 3000-600=2400

SPOILER: Click to show

{Calcitro Stats}Strength: 800
Speed: 200
Reiatsu Strength: 0
Spiritual Pressure: 0
Senses: 150
Instinct: 150
Energy Sensory: 0
Healing Expertise: 0

Life Force: 1000 (Used as Health)

Soil Life Force: 1000 (5/5 posts of Tentacle Life)

[Hokori Kuchiki]

Hokori's eyes were focused, his arm steady as he brought himself forward to cut into Taiho. Her stumble was expected and therefore calculated in his draw of the blade. The cut was deeper than Taiho believed, due to a simple fact. The Howiado No Ken Style took advantage of the stumbling and disorientation that accompanied being attacked by it. Hokori was well aware Taiho could stumble and had bhad targeted a vital battle point. His blade at sliced into her upper arm and chest. His blade had sliced the upper bicep muscle and tendon. Along with a smaller cut to the tendon that connected the chest muscles to the arm. This meant that it would be hard to lift a jug of milk, let alone her massive blade with that arm anymore. She might be able to do so but would require switching her stance to wield her blade in her off hand with her main hand as a support.

He landed with a flip and she spoke, “Now you see me,” as he began his assault with his Howiado No Ken: Red. He had been moving forward as she started to fade from view and struck out once twice three times stepping forward as she vanished. Three times he struck as she faded and three times he felt impact before she vanished completely and he halted his attack. She should have moved as she faded or at least attempted to block while her spell took effect, he noted. He listen, he had pierced both sides of her abdomen and once in her small intestine. He flicked his blade clean of the blood and sheathed his blade. Watching the courtyard, he pressed out of his sense of smell and could faintly smell the fresh clean smell but there was more. There was a smell of blood, and lots of blood. He scanned the courtyard and could actually see the blood.

Well… That’s interesting. He thought, he of course couldn't see or hear her, couldn’t sense her with his energy sensory. But Hokori patiently waited until he saw the splatters of blood. There was a clear trail of blood leading behind a set of stone wall ruins. Blood it seemed once it had left her body and leaked onto the landscape also was noticeable. For the first time since Taiho arrived, Hokori smiled. A true smirk that was devious and worthy of his cousin Sozen crossed his lips. The blood on the ground was much more than he could have created by the wounds he had inflicted and it was pooling at a much faster rate. So it’s taking effect. By the time that she had leapt back to her safety, she’d have realized it. Her heart was beating abnormally fast and her focus was beginning to crack. Blood was pouring from her wounds, and when she whispered he did not hear, however to cast her Genesis Art would be much more exhausting then she realized.

Her body’s energy would have expended three times the amount of stamina to cast the spell a single time and her stamina loss from the blood loss was happening at an exponential rate as well. Hokori was watching the trail of blood lead to the largest blood splatter. The ground began to shake, what…?! The earthquake of course gave him pause but not enough to matter he was able to keep steady with his mastery of balance using his acrobatics skill. He stepped off with the reduced earth steps again, landing 20 feet away forward and away from the creature that burst forth from the ground. It was massive, the tentacle. Worthy or a captain but it was stuck and couldn’t reach him now that he was this far over. He looked over at the largest blood splatter and spoke.

“That trick doesn’t work anymore. Your blood is a tell tail sign of where you are. While it is a marvelous technique, it only had one good use here.” Throughout this speech he kept his wits about him and still paid attention to the tentacle, he was sure it couldn’t move and was rooted to the place it had shot up through the ground, but he wasn’t taking any chances, if he had to move and avoid it he would. But as it stood he was now in clear control of this fight. “I do apologize, Taiho Kasumi’Oji, for what is about to happen, but you are an extraordinary specimen, I look forward to breaking you.” His reiastu pushed out again encompassing the area in the sickening radioactive feeling, having no innate RS, the tentacle being alive could feel the pressure being exerted on it and reacted as if it was being attacked. If she gathered her strength and focus to push out her reiastu she could also repel the feeling easily. But until she did she’d feel it too, the sickening pulse of a rusty knife in her stomach, causing her stomach acid to churn.

Hokori waited for her reaction, he was ready with his left hand on his hilt and was more than capable of drawing his blade in a reverse grip fashion. However it was more than that, it was the principle of the matter. Taiho was being shown emotion through fear and fatigue and pain, at least that was Hokori’s goal and he was staying calm on the inside despite what his exterior was showing. Putting on a good show, something his family had taught him since childhood. Who knew it would serve him now against the Kasumi’Oji hand. This was a test to see what she would do, the clock was ticking and she had to be smart about her next couple of moves, or else they would be her last.

Remaining Reiastu: 2200/3000

Speed Hana #7: Onotokawahasha Post Count: 1/5

[Taihō Kasumi’Oji]

The faintest shadow of a frown passed over Taihō's face, as she realized almost immediately that she had been hit, not just once, but three times. Three dull aches had formed in her abdomen, warm with the blood oozing out of her body. That was going to become a problem, but it wasn't a major one yet. If Hokori thought making Taihō bleed would slow her down, he was sadly mistaken. She had suffered far worse than a few stabbings over the years. And every time, she had killed her attacker. It wasn't that she was immune to the pain, or the blood loss. No, she felt those as sure as death. The thing was, she simply didn't care. Taihō never gave up, even when it hurt, even when it was hard, even when all she wanted to do was die. As long as her family still needed her, needed her strength, she would keep getting up. Hokori was about to learn this the hard way.

Stepping forward to where he would be able to see her, Taihō let the vale concealing her location drop, revealing herself to Hokori. As he had predicted, there were three bright red spots on her Captain's coat, and a pool of blood forming at her feet. But, if he was hoping for some sign of fear, or anger, or anything, he would be disappointed. Taihō's gaze was steady, and composed. She looked relaxed, almost bored, as she gazed at him coolly.

“That trick doesn’t work anymore. Your blood is a tell tail sign of where you are. While it is a marvelous technique, it only had one good use here.”

"You're right. That technique is only really useful once, before the enemy adjusts to it. You're very observant." As Taihō spoke, Hokori would at last find the sign he had been looking for, though it was a tad underwhelming. Her voice was a touch softer then usual, with an edge that would barely cut the flesh of a newborn. It wasn't much, hardly anything at all really. But it was there. Taihō was starting to get worked. She felt a deep exhaustion settle in her bones, and realized it was an unusual feeling. The battle had only just begun, but she was already beginning to feel winded. Blood poured from her wounds, despite being relatively minor, int he grand scheme of things. Something unusual was going on, and Taihō was fairly certain Hokori had something to do with it.

“I do apologize, Taiho Kasumi’Oji, for what is about to happen, but you are an extraordinary specimen, I look forward to breaking you.”

Then, she felt it; the wave of sickening Reiatsu emanating from Hokori. Like a chemical spill, it made her nauseous, and seemed to aggravate her already sore wounds. Is he trying to intimidate me? How...cute... Taihō gathered her own Reiatsu, and let it out in a palpable wave across the battlefield. It engulfed Hokori, overpowering his own Reiatsu in an instant. Her power was far superior to the Left Hand of the Kuchiki clan's, equal to the likes of Sozen Kuchiki and Kuroi Naito. Taihō wouldn't be able to crush Hokori with her power, as Sozen or Kuroi would've been able to, but she could flood the battlefield with an intensely intimidating aura. Her Reiatsu was drenched in six centuries of pent up blood lust, an overwhelming murderous urge to destroy. Sozen used the strength of his Reiatsu to encourage obedience. Kuroi used it to instill despair in his foes. All Taihō was interested in was killing. Not out of anger, or fear. She didn't even want to kill Hokori specifically. She just wanted to kill. She wanted to hurt people, make them scream. She wanted to burn everything to the ground. Hokori would feel that in her Reiatsu.

"Break me? What do you know about breaking people?" Taihō's voice still had the almost imperceptible edge to it, but her expression was still as cold and remote as a mountain fortress. "You have to be broken...before you can break someone else. Have you ever been broken, Kuchiki-taicho?" Taihō started toward Hokori with short, even steps. The battle was getting out of hand, but it was still well within Taihō's capability to win. "Calcitro" She again evoked the technique to summon tentacles. However, this time, it didn't burst from out of the ground, but from Taihō's own body. Without warning, a thick tentacle emerged from her right shoulder, ripping through the sleeve of her coat. Unlike the one from before, this tentacle was directly under Taihō's command, an extension of her own body. Carefully, with the restrained power of a sleeping giant, she wrapped the tip of the tentacle tightly around the hilt of her sword, before letting her right arm drop uselessly to her side. She might need it later, but she doubted. Raising the blade in her new appendage to point skyward, she started toward Hokori, and with a voice like death, she spoke.

"Harvest, Mikadzuki"

SPOILER: Click to show

At once, a horrific scream erupted from the blade, like a legion from hell roaring into battle, like thousands of innocent souls being tortured to death. It was the sound of something evil being born. At the same time, the Zanpakuto twisted, and morphed, becoming a wicked scythe. The shaft of the weapon was eight feet long, made of a blacked and slightly twisted wood, as if taken from the limb of a scorched tree. The blade was exquisite, showing the expert craftsmanship of the Kasumi'Oji weapon smiths, and was also truly horrifying at an imposing sixteen feet long. Shaped like a crescent moon, the blade was so dark it seemed to draw in light, except for the lunar calender carved along the edge of the blade, which shone with a golden light. This was Mikadzuki. To anyone else, it would've been impossible to wield. But to Taihō, it was as light as a feather.

I enjoyed fighting you, Kuchiki-taicho," Taihō lied casually as she advanced. As she spoke, she hefted the scythe in her tentacle arm, ready to strike. Hokori might think the tentacle would be inferior to a regular arm, but he would be wrong; while it was indeed slower than her own limb, it was also far more powerful, and just as nimble and dexterous as a human hand. She would suffer no disadvantage for fighting this way. "However, I will have to cut this test short. Goodbye." Taihō attacked, using a Shunpo to close the distance before engaging Hokori in a whirling dance of death. She attacked cautiously this time, instead of with the fierce ferocity of before. With her every action being more strenuous than normal, and with her wound protesting angrily with every motion, she couldn't afford to hurl herself into battle this time. But, she didn't need to. As she attacked, slashing high and then low, left and then right, near and the far away, sometimes with just her tentacle arm, sometimes with both limbs, with no identifiable patter between swings, she let the blade touch the ground once, twice, three times. And that was all it took for the virus to take hold. At each point, a six cubic inch section of the ground would turn black, and begin to writhe grossly. It had begun. The beginning of the end.

SPOILER: Click to show

Even as Taihō continued her attack, continued pressing toward Hokori, the black pools on the ground began to spread at an alarming rate. They were small now, but it was easy to imagine how rapidly they would begin to consume the battlefield. And Taihō kept attacking, trying to catch Hokori just once with her blade. A cut, a scratch, a glancing touch, one instant of distraction was all it would take, and he to would be infected with the virus. And what did the virus do, you ask? Why, it's simple. The virus would destroy every it touched. That was why Taihō's Zanpakuto was so dangerous. She didn't manipulate anything, or create any kind of magical effect. She just destroyed. And that was exactly what she would do to Hokori.

"Horu" She breathed the word, soft as a butterfly's roar, and flooded her Scythe in Reiatsu. A hazy black and violet aura appeared the blade as she moved into her next attack, aiming to bifurcate Hokori with a single strike. If he blocked it, he would be struck by a force equivalent to the strength of the tentacle plus Taihō's Reiatsu Strength, launching him like a missile into whatever happened to be behind him. If he dodged it, but stayed within striking distance, she would continue to press forward, trying to catch any part of Hokori's body with he virus laden Reiatsu Haze around the blade. And if he fled, well, Taihō had a few surprises in store for him in that case, to.

Reiatsu: 2700-50-150-200=2300

Life Force: 2400-600=1800

Soil Life: 800/1000 (4/5 posts for grounded tentacle)

Virus:

Ground Infection 1: 6 Cubic Inches, 2 posts to spread, 3 to destroy 

Ground Infection 2: 6 Cubic Inches, 2 posts to spread, 3 to destroy

Ground Infection 3: 6 Cubic Inches, 2 posts to spread, 3 to destroy

Total Ground Infection: 18 Cubic Inches.

[Kento Waffles]

Random Input: Hell Girl AND Magnolia? Swag.

[Hokori Kuchiki]

Hokori watched the captain’s form, his breathing was returning to normal from the expenditure of an immense amount of reiastu. His legs were aching a little, but nothing too serious and he was sure that this fight was beginning to actually end. His reiastu was twisting on Taiho, when her reiastu was forced out over the battlefield. Murderous Intent poured out of the captain, but at a cost. It would have taken great mental focus and actual physical effort to push out her reiastu thanks to his technique. But it was more than that, Hokori had forced her to expend stamina over something trivial, and that trivial expenditure was actually more clearly written on her face then she’d ever imagine. He could hear her ragged breathing and hear her heart beating rapidly.

His technique was working, and it was working well. Her hair was matted and there was clearly sweat on her body. He could see the shaking of her body as blood and life left it. She tried her best to look bored, cool, collected. But instead all the Kuchiki saw was a women attempting to overlook her wounds and her own exhaustion and it was going to cost her dearly. “Break me? What do you know about breaking people? You have to be broken… before you can break someone else. Have you ever been broken, Kuchiki-Taicho?” The next few moments were a blur as Hokori’s mind began to go to war with itself. He wanted to rip her to shreds, to kill her and rip out her heart and drink its hearts blood, and yet the humane part of him wanted nothing more than to look on in pity, disgust, and remorse at both himself and at the Kasumi’Oji girl in front of him.

His more evil intentions won out, but only just. He would show her the true art of breaking, and would break her in such ways she had never been broken before. The scene for this was set, he just needed one more attack to do so and what was more he had a good idea of what to do. She walked towards him and murmured “Calcitro.” Another tentacle burst forth from her shoulder and ripped her coat apart. Hokori could immediately see a worse change in the stature of the Kasumi’Oji. Her already pale body became ghastly white, her hair seemed to lose its luster and her form slumped. It looked like even without the sustained blood loss and stamina being eaten up that she was dying.

What he didn’t know was the massive stamina cost that the tentacle normally cost had been multiplied by three and now had been spent twice. Mathematically, spending stamina in a numbers game she had spent more stamina than her body could actually handle with spending life force without actually dying. It was a wonder she hadn’t died actually, but the results were clear as day. And she just kept pressing forward ignoring what Hokori was clearly seeing was dangerous. “Harvest, Mikadzuki.” A scream pierced the battleground as her blade she wielded in her tentacle transformed into a wicked sixteen foot long scythe. Its shaft was eight foot long, but it was the way it seemed to draw in light and yet still show light in a lunar calendar form.

That blade…, I cannot be touched in any way by that blade. If I do, I’m surely going to die. He was sure of it. He didn’t know what it did, but he was sure that it fell within the touch equaled death kind of zanpakutou ability category. “I enjoyed fighting you Hokori.” She huffed out, it seemed casual but the exertion was evident in her heavy panting and her sweaty brow. She wasn’t fooling anyone, if she wasn’t frustrated with this outcome she was lying to herself and if she wasn’t then she was just lying to the Kuchiki. He didn’t care if she lied to him. The outcome would be the same, it was already becoming apparent but Hokori couldn’t afford to show hubris yet. Until his enemy lie defeated before him he would remain steadfast and focused.

It was time to be resolved to the next phase of combat; Hokori slowly drew his blade pulling out his sheath as well. Touching hilt to sheath he murmured, “Inscribe. Wan Shi Tong,” reiastu flared out of the blade and sheath as it transformed. It grew to become seven feet long, with the blade a foot long as well giving it a grand total length of around eight feet. Its section pieces were retracted putting it into a spear form. Each section was a charcoal like wood; it began to spread his releases’ power on to the battlefield. Taiho couldn’t smell it yet because she was too far away. But the fragrance he had chosen this time was the smell burning flesh. It was a disgusting smell, and he was sure as soon as she was within range she would smell it. But he wanted her too, he wanted her to know it was he who was doing this to her.

“However, I will have to cut this test short. Goodbye.” The Kasumi’Oji captain stepped off with a shunpo and closed the distance right into the range threshold of his power. Hokori spread his feet into his stance once more and retreated. Her tentacle was slow. Even slower than before but he could feel the power of the swings it produced. He ducked sidestepped and flipped yet again over these attacks, producing yet more superior speed and acrobatic prowess and flexibility. He had to admit, it was a little harder to read the attacks being directed towards him because of the unusual weapon nature and his training to combat scythe wielders were not fresh on his mind but it was easier because of the sluggish nature of the attacks and his ability to outpace her even at full healthy strength and speed. Every swing tore at her already depleted stamina and he could watch her begin to waste away.

However, he did note she would lightly cut into the ground and little squares of black would be produced from the tiny cuts. He dodged away, taking her away from the squares and the previous tentacle. She seemed determined to cut him, and that’s why he resolved he would not be cut. He wouldn’t be touched. But even as he did so, so much information was being processed into his mind. About the concepts of what she had learned and her memories and it was an indeed horrible life to live. A touch of regret passed over Hokori’s heart, fleeting before the oncoming storm as he chose how he would shift her. How he would break her and his time was now. She drew her scythe back as she spoke. “Horu.” And reiastu flooded her scythe’s form.

However instead of bringing her scythe forward she lashed out with her left foot with a kick. A proper hakuda kick, textbook out of the academy that all shinigami were taught to give a bare grasp knowledge in case they were disarmed. Her mind had wanted to slash with her scythe and she had been trained taught what a scythe slash meant. And so in her assault at the last minute Hokori has shifted it to the knowledge of how to kick. When she decided to try to slash him with her scythe, her foot lashed out to kick him instead and he was ready. He was expecting it, and so his final dodge had put him on the outside portion of her leg and he brought his shikai down in a vicious swing severing her bundle of calf muscles effortlessly. Blood sprayed from the wound and before it could even touch the Kuchiki he was five yards away with the reduced earth steps.

She wouldn’t be able to walk anymore, without her calf her body just couldn’t support the weight of her normal body let alone her tentacle in addition. It was also observant to say that a wound would be very painful, to the point of screaming. Taiho, Hokori had learned lacked any form of high pain tolerance like he himself had not early in his life. She hadn’t gained the skill in it and so all of her wounds up until now were pouring over her psyche overloading it with pain. Of course she was a captain, but spending more reiastu would put her under while this damaged. Spending more of her life force would put her under if she was lucky and kill her if she wasn’t. But it was just the pure fact that even pushing out her reiastu passively would be too much for her at this point, and so he was absolutely certain that her wielding her shikai would be impossible. Though he had all but made it impossible, as each time she thought to wield it. One of her feet would kick out, or attempt to given her injured calf.

Hokori stood there watching and then he spoke, his reiastu gave his voice a passive magnification. Empowering his speech through it, she would now hear. She would now see, “You asked if I had ever been broken. Taiho, I have been broken by forces that would make the things you have seen look like a trivial thing. I have been broken by the devil himself, Lucifer broke me. Not once, but twice. Let me show you, let me show you exactly how the King of hell likes to toy with the minds of men.” His reiastu pressed out again flattening her, and there was a mix of gravitational pressure this time. The reiastu wasn’t following its proper formatting either. It wasn’t a pool of acid and it wasn’t causing her to be sick. No, it was much worse than that. It started out as a whisper. “Taiho…,” growing louder, “Taiho…!,” screaming out in pain now, “TAIHO… TAIHO PLEASE HELP ME!”

The tentacle would have dropped the scythe at the reiastu pressing down on it due to it having no innate reiastu just like the first. But there were important things to think about, the screaming wasn’t stopping. It was Naomi, her childhood nanny and wet nurse. She was screaming out for Taiho to help her and Taiho couldn’t help her, she couldn’t do to what her body had already endured. With her eyes open she’d be able to see black smoke and the smell of brimstone, and could hear her father’s voice. His cruel taunts and commands as she was tortured, slowly with hot coals, placed on a bladed rack and left to slowly bleed out and die, stabbed and clubbed leaving her dying of internal injuries bleeding out. Falling, falling endlessly into a black flaming pit, with no hope to escape, her final words, “Taiho… why didn’t you save me…? I hate you…”

The images shifted, to her. She was just as radiant just as beautiful. She had succeeded, Naomi was a alive and beside her and she had claimed the title of head. She was sitting before her people when she heard it. “You are not the head; you are nothing but a bastard child of the Kasumi’Oji. Behold family! Your true heir to the family, head of the Kasumi’Oji! Azumi Kasumi’Oji!” Her sister stood there radiantly beautiful, proud and regal and so much more than Taiho could ever be. Whispers carried through the hall; of course Azumi was the true heir. How could Taiho ever compare to her? What was she thinking trying to be the heir? It wasn’t her place, and her father’s voice rang in her ears. “You… You are trash. And trash… trash gets thrown away…” Everything in her life was a lie as the reiastu changed again showing everything rotting away to nothing but bones as monsters became noticeable to the energy.

Horned demon men and scaled lizard monsters. Living shadows with white faces and needle like teeth. Endless amounts of creatures and demons, all shrieking and howling, looking around at Hokori and from him to her. They were looking at her and threw her in her mind and behind her eyes she saw the fires burn. She saw hell, and it was showing her true agony. Broken misery in hell that awaited people like her, she who killed without remorse for the sake of killing others. She wanted to break him and taunted him that he had never known true pain or horror. He had watched horrible unspeakable things not once but twice at the hands of hell. And now his reiastu was pouring it over her body and into her mind.

“I am the book keeper, the keeper of the hell tomes! You will know true pain! You will know true agony! You will BREAK!!!” his voice thundered, his eyes glowing bright reddish orange all traces of the normal neon green were gone. He had pushed her into a corner and left her with nothing to defend herself. Now, this battle was over and his. Her blood caked the stones and mixed with the black slime which Hokori stayed well away from. And if she was unlucky she’d kick out and cut herself on her own blade, she was half dead, and he was ready to finish the job if she didn’t stay down.

Remaining Reiastu: 2050/3000

Shikai Post Count: 1/10

Speed Hana #7 Onotokawahasha: 2/5

[Taihō Kasumi’Oji]

It was true. Taihō was growing tired. She felt her heart pounding in her chest, felt the ache of her wounds, and felt her breath straining in her lungs. The battle wasn't going the way she had hoped. That much was true. But if Hokori thought she was even close to defeat, he had another thing coming. She was strong. Not just strong of body, but strong of heart as well. Hers was the kind of strength, of raw willpower, that went behind phrases like "Let there be Light." It would take more than just a few stab wounds and an energy draining ability to push her to her limit. He might have expected her to shake from exhaustion, for her voice to tremble with emotion, but she still wore the same, blank expression as she attacked, as if nothing extraordinary had happened thus far.

"Inscribe, Wan Shi Tong."

Hokori released with own Zanpakuto as Taihō pressed her attack, revealing an eight-foot long, spear or naginata type weapon. It was impressive looking, except when compared to Taihō's scythe. So...A primarily melee based release? No...that doesn't seem right. Throughout this battle, he's avoided direct confrontation, attacking only when opportunities have presented themselves. So...it likely has some other ability." As Taihō thought this to herself, she became aware of a strange odor, like the smell of burning flesh. Like the smell of corpses roasting over the fires of hell. It might have disgusted others, but Taihō barely noticed it. It was a smell she was quite familiar with, and it had long ago ceased bothering her. However, she did note that she only smelled it when she was near Hokori; logically, he was producing it somehow.

Unfortunately, Taihō lacked the senses to perceive the source of the smell; a gas that was being released from Hokori's new weapon. She had no idea that the gas was there, or that it was the key to Hokori's Shikai release. However, it was there, surrounding Hokori in a cloud, and expanding outward across the battlefield. And as Hokori dodged Taihō's scythe swings, as her blade passed through that cloud of gas, Hokori would notice something horrific happen. The gas that touched her blade would become visible, and turn black. It wouldn't lose it's properties, but it would become noticeable. What was worse...it had become infected. It didn't matter if Taihō knew something existed or not; all that mattered was that her scythe touched it. That was all it took for the virus to spread. Hokori was wise to avoid her blade. Unfortunately, he had made the fatal assumption that Taihō had to target something specifically to harm it. He had made the fatal mistake of thinking that her ignorance of his ability would shield him from her attacks. It didn't matter if she couldn't hit him, for she could still hit everything around him. And he would realize why Taihō was known as the Herald of Death. For if he touched any of the infected gas, if even a single atom of it met his skin, he would become infected as well. And that would be the beginning of the end for him. It was inevitable, like death itself.

As Taihō attacked, about a dozen six cubic inch black clouds appeared, sections of Hokori's gas that had been infected. At the same time, the wind generated by Taihō's swings stirred up the cloud, spreading the infected portions around in wakes trailing off her blade. As Hokori felt the wind ripping away from her blade, the virus laden gas would touch his skin. He was very agile, and managed to avoid most of the virus through sheer dumb luck. However, just when he might have thought he was safe, the virus would touch his right hand, turning the flesh black. It had begun. 

However, while this was happening, Taihō had continued attacking, and was preparing a bifurcating strike against the Squad 5 Captain. Or at least, that had been the plan. However, at the last moment, something truly unexpected happened. Instead of bringing her scythe down, she lashed out with her foot. It was as if her limbs had rebelled against her, choosing this, the worst possible moment, to make their treachery known. Hokori was prepared for this, and easily dodged around her impromptu kick, slashing her across the calf as she did, earning a stifled yelp of pain, almost a snarl, from the Captain and bringing her toppling down on to one knee, using her good leg to stabilize herself. What was that? Why did my foot lash out like that? Was Hokori involved?.  As she thought this, she let her scythe down from it's raised position and allowed the Horu aura to fade, careful not to let the blade touch her body. He must have been. He was completely prepared to take advantage of the situation. Is that the power of his Zanpakuto?[/color] As she thought this, and Hokori began to speak, Taihō noticed the black clouds hanging in the air, and the black mark on Hokori's hand. It doesn't matter. He's already dead.

“You asked if I had ever been broken. Taihō, I have been broken by forces that would make the things you have seen look like a trivial thing. I have been broken by the devil himself, Lucifer broke me. Not once, but twice. Let me show you, let me show you exactly how the King of hell likes to toy with the minds of men.”

Again, Hokori exerted his Reiatsu upon Taihō, but this time there was something different about it. There was pressure involved, gravitational pressure, as if Hokori were trying to crush her with his Spiritual Pressure. Was that honestly what he was trying to do? Taihō was prepared to dispel the pressure, when she heard it: screams. Voices.


“Taiho…,”

“You… You are trash. And trash… trash gets thrown away…”

Taihō heard them, the voices form her past. Her beloved wet nurse, Naomi, and her farther, the former head of the Kasumi'Oji family. She saw them, right before her very eyes? How was this possible? How could they be there? They were both...

"Dead. You're both dead. Father killed you, remember Naomi? He thought it would make me stronger…he had no idea how correct that was. And as for you father...Azumi killed you, remember? She butchered you like a hog sent to market. She didn't even bury you. So...you can't be here..." As Taihō spoke, her voice dropped from soft to almost silent, a thin, razor-wire whisper sharp enough to draw blood. With a simple exertion of will, Taihō flared her Reiatsu, and dismissed the illusions, shrugging aside Hokori's feeble attempt to crush her with his power and stamina draining ability he had used on her at the same time. Did he really think so little of her, to think that she would be so easily defeated? She was among the mightiest beings in not one, but three worlds. Did he really think he would be able to do more than briefly inconvenience her? If so, he was about learn how foolish he really was. As Taihō's Reiatsu pushed out across the battlefield, forcing away not only his illusions but also the stamina draining effects he had placed on her, she turned her gaze toward the Squad 5 Captain. It wasn’t, however, angry, or spiteful, or anything of the life. Annoyed. That was about the most you could say about Taiho’s expression. She seemed annoyed with Hokori. In truth, she was furious, but she had never been the expressive type. Layers of conditioning, forged by the miseries of her life and tempered by her deep psychosis and mental instability, dulled her responses to emotional stimuli, and this was no exception. And so, it was with a look of annoyance that Taihō turned toward Hokori.

“I am the book keeper, the keeper of the hell tomes! You will know true pain! You will know true agony! You will BREAK!!!”

“You think very little of me, Kuchiki-taicho, if you think you've won. You’re arrogance…will cost you dearly.” Taihō spoke in her normal soft, implacable voice, as cold and inevitable as a glacier grinding down the Earth itself. Hokori had already made one fatal mistake, and now he was making another. Taihō was tired. She was hurt. She was not beaten. All this time, Taihō had been studying Hokori. To her, this wasn't a fight. It was as experiment, a test to see what the Kuchiki could do. She had learned a great deal about him, enough to make a few educated guesses about him and his fighting style. Since Taihō had only noticed the smell of burning flesh after he released his Zanpakuto, she reasoned that the smell was a part of his Shikai. Furthermore, her own Zanpakutou had infected some kind of gaseous matter near him as she attacked, indicating that there was a body of invisible gas surrounding him. Finally, it wasn’t until she had noticed the smell that Hokori did…whatever he did to make her kick at him, rather than swing her scythe. She didn’t understand the details of it, but it seemed reasonable to suggest that Hokori’s release made a gas which in some way interfered with the signals coming from her brain. Very tricky.

If it was a gas, than it had to obey certain laws of physics. A cloud of gas could only have a finite volume, and would have to expand outward to fill that volume, becoming less dense as it did so. It made sense that Hokori would know the approximate volume in which his gas could exist and still remain dense enough to be useful, and that he would attempt to keep Taihō within that range while minimizing the risks to himself. As such, Taihō reasoned that he taken the position he had not by chance, but intentionally; although she had no way of knowing the range of his power, the fact that Taihō could still smell the gas told her she was still within range, probably closer to the edge of his power in order to reduce the risk to Hokori himself. As such, all she would have to do to negate his ability would be to move to a position where she could no longer smell the gas, then immobilize Hokori in some way. Hokori would probably think this beyond her. He was wrong.

Pushing off with her good leg, Taihō used a Shunpo to move to behind a ruined wall about a dozen feet to her left, and a little more than twenty feet from Hokori. It was painful, to be sure, since she was forced to use both her injured limbs to help stabilize herself as she moved. It wasn’t her most graceful Shunpo, but it was effective. As Taihō moved, she put her skills in Stealth to use, masking her Reiatsu, the sound of her arrival at her destination, eliminating all indications of where she had gone. She was too far away for Hokori to smell her, which was probably how he found her before, especially given the odor of the cloud surrounding him masking her own scent. Taihō had even accounted for her bleeding, since the inertia from her sudden movement would keep the blood from leaving a tell-tale trail to her position. Hokori would be hard pressed to find Taihō, but of course she could still see him. She had spent decades learning how to see without being seen, and it wasn’t hard to avoid Hokori’s notice.

“Anima”

Gesturing faintly at the ground just behind Hokori, Taihō muttered a single word, but it was so quiet it would be utterly impossible to hear. At once, a thin golden beam snapped from her finger to the ground, traveling at a speed of 1000. Hokori was fast, and his senses were sharp, but even he would be hard pressed to respond quickly and accurately to the beam; more than likely, it would be over by the time he thought to move. The battle would at once shift in Taihō’s favor.

As soon as the beam touched the ground, a hand would emerge from it, made of stone and earth, and would wrap itself around Hokori’s ankle, holding him in place. Quickly, a figure would pull itself out of the ground, grappling Hokori as it did and wrestling him to the ground. What did this figure look like? Why, Taihō, of course. It was a copy of her, molded from stone and dirt, void of expression and bereft of clothing or weapon. It wasn’t merely a creature under Taihō’s command, however, but a fully sentient being that had been called to life by Taihō’s power. This was the might of the Kasumi’Oji clan. Let the Kuchikis keep their records and pretend that they were mighty; only the Kasumi’Oji family held the power of life itself in their hands.

Although Hokori was faster than the clone Taihō had created, he was tired, and not suspecting such a thing to occur, which would impede him in his efforts to dodge it. Fighting it off would be difficult, given its superior strength, and it would be especially difficult since Taihō wasn’t done with him yet. From her hiding spot, careful to keep herself unseen, Taihō cast her gaze upon Hokori. “Uteki” She spoke the word, again to softly as to be all but unnoticeable even if Hokori wasn’t dealing with the Anima copy, and an orb of black Reiatsu, outlined in violet, formed just in front of her eyes, then rapidly shrank down to the size of a raindrop. That’s right. A raindrop. In just a moment, it had been compressed to the size of a raindrop, and this was then launched at Hokori at a speed of 500, aimed right for his solar plexus. If it hit him, it would strike like a thunderbolt, impacting Hokori with a force equivalent to a 1000 strength attack, strong enough to do more the break bones. It would punch a hole bigger than his head into his torso, ripping him in two with a single strike. It wouldn’t be instantly lethal, but it would be more than enough to end the battle in Taihō’s favor. Of course, using the technique would have it’s consequences for Taihō, ripping at her internal organs and causing her to bleed internally. However, it was a price she was willing to pay to obtain victory.

Reiatsu: 2300-50-300-400=1550


Life Force: 1800-400-200=1200


Virus

Ground 1-3: 6*3=18 Cubic inches.
One Post to spread, Two to destroy.

Gas 1-12: 6*12=72 Cubic Inches
Two Posts to Spread, Three to destroy.


Hokori:
Right Hand: Six Cubic inches.
Two Posts to spread, Three to destroy.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Anima Stats}
Strength: 100


Speed: 300


Spr Pr: 0


Reiatsu Strength: 0


Senses: 125


Instinct: 125


Energy Sensory:

150


Healing Expertise: 0

[Hokori Kuchiki]

OOC: Let me say i loved your counter, truly worthy of the fourth strongest captain. I thought i would have to bankai in response, but i think this post works out nicely instead. Also, i looked up some new OST to use for this post. Thanks for challenging me to look outside my comfort zone for new tunes!

IC:

SPOILER: Click to show

“You think very little of me, Kuchiki-taicho, if you you think that you’ve won. You’re arrogance… will cost you dearly.”

So much to inscribe fear, so much to inscribe despair to this Kasumi’Oji. Hokori thought to himself has he ducked, dodged, and sidestepped her attacks. His attack had severed her leg muscle, and because of that she was in a pool of blood. Good all according to plan, his reiastu had. Wait, he looked down and noticed his hand had turned black. Shock registered on his face, he had noticed that his gas had become tinted black and had taken steps to avoid the altered gas. It seemed, her scythe could infect his shikai’s gas, and through that to him. He had to work extra hard to dodge the dozen little black miasmas of virus particles and the scythe as well. It seemed he hadn’t succeeded; his hand while functional wasn’t its regular color. That meant whatever her zanpakutou did, she had managed to touch him.

Touch equals death, he couldn’t be cut by that scythe but the scythe had cut his shikai’s ability and turned it against him. He frowned and forced himself to calm down; he was getting too riled up. He had tried to break her and all it had done was inciting her and make him over excited. He needed to take this seriously. After all, she was rumored to have killed Rave. To kill Rave meant she was strong, and he wondered if this was what happened. Black skin that spread until he was just a rotting black corpse, an image of his body, withered and dry, black as pitch flared through his mind and he was afraid. His Shikai’s scent shifted to the perfume that Amaya always wore when they would spend time together, well it was a mixture her perfume and her natural smell. It calmed him down and allowed him to focus.

During his moment she stumbled up and used a shunpo on her good leg to flee away. She left no blood trail, and to his surprise, he couldn’t see or hear her in the noon day sun. He was impressed, stealth was something not commonly seen outside of the second division. He was moving away from the gas spinning the shaft and creating an air current to blow away the black miasmas. He turned taking note of the battlefield and all of the blood that was coating it. He began to press out, looking searching with his energy sensory. If he was lucky, ah yes, yes he was. She was still released, and because of this her reiastu couldn’t be masked. He knew where she was, knew generally at least. Though he gave no indication of the fact he knew. He wanted the element of surprise; he was regaining his composure and his expanded energy and had noted that it was slow but he had expanded around one third of the amount he possessed. But he had been conserving his stamina for most of the fight. Most of it he hadn’t even been moving at full capacity.

He ached a little, but no more than one would after a mile run and his breathing wasn’t more than a minor labored prospect. He was actually doing well, though his hand troubled him. He was sure to end this he would have to ascend to the next level; he would have to make her see that even if she could keep fighting that it was pointless before his abilities. His reiastu began to spin around his feet, knees, and elbows, he had reiastu traveling through his hands but was waiting until he had begun phase two. His razor lotus, the ability to spin reiastu at key points of his body, creating spinning drills of reiastu that were strong enough to deflect blades and pierce easily through flesh, stone, and if his strength was great enough even spiritual steel. He waited, for her to act. Looking around, when he saw a golden beam being shot at him from her location, he had made sure that no matter which way he turned her location was in his peripherals.

He noticed and reacted to the golden beam that was being shot towards his location. He noted that from its trajectory that it wouldn’t hit him, but it was aimed for behind him. His mind was sharp and his instincts told him to move, but he delayed as he wondered why aim such a thin beam not at him but behind him. Unless when it hit behind him it would hinder him, he pulled away and took too long to do so. A stone hand broke free from the bricks and soil and reached for him. He twisted and it missed his ankle but went to grab his foot. However he never felt it, the fingers and then the hand were shaved away layer by layer into dust and bits of stone leaving only a wrist behind. His eyes widened, as a stone version of Taiho began ripping herself out of the ground. Unarmed, slower, and without any real mastery of hand to hand combat Hokori began to take her apart.

She tried tackling him to the ground and he twirled the shaft of his shikai as he round house kicked her head reducing it to rubble and leaving her headless and stumbling. He activated the Assassination Hana number two: Gyo his sense of sight became three hundred and sixty and could even see Taiho hidden, his energy sensory was enormously powerful and was detecting the nuances of her personality, her history, flashes of her thoughts, what she wanted to do, and even her release’s power and properties. Hokori’s stomach grew cold when he learned what her release did. He had the mental processing speed to do this in only a couple seconds. He led the headless stumbling towards the real Taiho giving her the best target in the world and giving her a false expectation that he was preoccupied.

He was forcing himself out of the headless statue’s range at about a speed of three hundred and fifty, dodging it when he noticed with both his senses of energy sensory that she had fired her Zanpakutou technique Uteki, Four… He let it get within five feet of him and shunpo’d immediately to the right at his full speed. It was the first time that he had actually achieved the full natural speed he possessed in this fight. The place he had landed put him ten feet away in line of sight of Taiho, she could see him, and he could see her. “Haien.” A violet blaze of reiastu shot from his hand, and when I say shot, I mean shot as in it took on a beam like quality from the speed it possessed. He had fired Haien in conjunction with Speed hana 5: To giving it a speed of double his shunpo speed which was eight thousand speed stat.

He inhaled from the sudden exertion, and the pain in his head giving him the warnings of a soon to be headache. But his attack had proceeded the moment he had exited shunpo. She was still recovering from firing her technique which he had counted on. Her technique mind you, had impacted the stone duplicate. Utterly obliterating its chest cavity and sending stone pieces everywhere, he was a bit sturdier than that stone and the force needed to crack and destroy stone was less than half that was provided. He had just used her to destroy her own technique. But he was sure as a captain she would see and try to analyze his technique the moment he came out of shunpo. But the pain of her internal organs bruising and bleeding and having no pain tolerance would cause her a moment’s hesitation and before she could think to use any form of technique, her torso would have been impacted due to the raw speed of the technique.

The kidou would have thrown her into a wall, causing her coat, her shinigami top, and her breasts and abdomen to be reduced to ash and scared, burning flesh. Hokori would be able to see her insides and hear her heart’s arrhythmia from being struck and smoldered. He had just hit her with a technique that was faster than her own step technique by two and a half almost three times. It would leave her unconscious or near unconscious and on death’s door. But she would be alive; he was sure as she possessed remarkable strength of will. He had observed this when he had insight into her mind during gyo’s duration. It was something to praise, her ability to get back up but her chest being destroyed and putting her on the verge of death would put her release into a sealed state. If it did not seal, he would be ready to strike before she recovered fully and deal a finishing blow. But he was sure that this fight was coming to a close.

His body ached, and he had a headache, and he was sure that he had been pushed. But this was the result; he was the Sozen’s left hand. He had been around and seen more than every other noble figure but Sozen and Shade Kawada in their generation. He wasn’t about to be shown up by someone who had waltzed in and expected to easily defeat him. He knew now if she sealed her release he would be safe and if not, he’d have to cut off his own hand to save himself but at the moment he was just beginning to be moderately exhausted. He’d yet to be cut by the enemy, or even really effectively damage. The virus though, was of course a concern but he still had a few tricks up his sleeve if this fight was continuing and he was sure that even her innate strength of will would be hard pressed to battle through the mist of pain to fight with a chest injury of that stature.

Remaining Reiastu: 1400/3000 (-150 For Assassination Hana #2: Gyo, -50 For shunpo, -150 for Hado #54: Haien, -300 for Speed Hana #5: To)

Shikai Post Count: 2/10

Speed Hana #7: Onotokawahasha Post Count: 3/5

Haien Speed Stat: 8000

[Taihō Kasumi’Oji]

Taihō felt a thrill of pleasure as she watched, from her concealed location, the collection of miscalculations and bad assumptions that would lead to Hokori’s downfall and, quite possibly, his demise. He had entered this battle with caution in his heart, but caution alone wouldn’t save him now. Although the battle had been going his way for quite a while, that all changed now. Taihō’s tests were over. She had learned everything she needed to from this encounter. Hokori was powerful, to be sure, with a fascinating ability which Taihō found herself wishing she had the time to study in detail. However, that would have to wait for another time. For now, Taihō would have to content herself with watching as he tried, and failed, to counter her attack, watching just in case he tried something else to save himself, though it would be unlikely he would be able to do so. Taihō watched, her expression unmoved despite the pleasure she felt, as Hokori fell.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Music to Commemorate an Enjoyable Fight}

It began when the Anima clone of Taihō first emerged from the ground, reaching up toward him with a hand of smoothly animated stone. Although he was faster than the clone, his curiosity had gotten the better of him, like that metaphorical cat, and he found himself caught in it’s vice like grip, not by the ankle as intended, but by the foot, which would work just as well. Although Hokori attempted to use his Razor Lotus technique to protect himself, he made one critical mistake: While he was indeed skilled in the use of a sword, his lack of ability with his Shikai’s pole-arm like form made it impossible to use the Razor Lotus correctly. So, while he was able to deal some damage to the statue, it wasn’t nearly what he had anticipated. Instead of losing a hand, the Anima just lost a few flakes and chips from the outer surface of its stony flesh, meaning it was more than capable of grasping and holding onto Hokori’s foot.

As the statue rose, reaching up toward Hokori’s shoulder, the Captain did something that Taihō found very…unusual. Taihō found herself wondering what was going through Hokori’s mind as he spun around, lashing out at the statue’s head with a savage looking round-house kick. Was he trying to knock it unconscious, or take its head off? Or was his purpose so abstract, it was beyond fathoming? In any case, Taihō felt reasonably certain that, while Hokori was certainly in prime physical condition, he was in no way up to the task he was undertaking, whatever it was. She was not disappointed in this thought, as even from her hiding spot she heard the sharp crack of Hokori’s shin snapping in two against the stone flesh of the statue. It would have been an even more crippling injury than the one Hokori had paid Taihō earlier; though it would have been astonishingly painful and very impractical to do so, she at least could, in theory, walk a short distance on her bad leg as it was. Hokori, however, would be incapable of taking even a single step on his broken shin, and would only maim himself further if he tried. However, that was the least of his problems.

The Anima statue was unrelenting, pressing it’s attack as if oblivious to Hokori’s attack. And rightfully so; it was a construct of smoothly, fluidly animated stone and earth. It was a single, solid mass, a sentient being given life and will by Taihō’s Genesis Art, at the cost of a piece of her very soul. It would take more than a simple kick to the head to deter it. And so, as Hokori dealt with the aftermath of his kick, the Anima rose quickly and easily out of the ground, placing it’s free hand on his shoulder to pin Hokori in place. While it was true that the statue lacked hand-to-hand fighting skills, it’s far greater mass and strength, coupled with the pain and general disorientation Hokori would be feeling from his failed kick, were more than enough to counteracts his attempts at escape. In short, Hokori was held in the line of fire as Taihō’s Uteki projectile, possibly one of the most violent attacks known in Soul Society, hurtled through the air toward him. And the sad ting was, he wouldn’t even know it. Uteki was, as the name implied, the size of a raindrop, and it traveled at a speed of 500, making it difficult for even the most observant of individuals to track. Throw in the fact that Hokori was facing the wrong direction now thanks to his spinning round-house kick, and he would have no way of preparing for the destruction about to be wrought upon him. Hokori could have, potentially escaped with a Shunpo, but now that the Anime had him in its grip, he would never be able to pull himself away.

There would be one small mercy for Hokori, however. Taihō, not wanting to incite the anger of Sozen, who was one of the only people in Soul Society who could pose a real threat to her, had aimed to merely horrifically cripple Hokori, not kill him outright. It would take months for him to fully recover from the Uteki strike, but he would survive. Probably. However, he might wish to die, after what would happen to him.

Uteki was a very unusual technique. It was formed from Taihō’s super-condensed Reiatsu, and represented a massive amount of energy forced into a very small space. The result of this was that when it hit something, it hit hard, with the force of a much larger object traveling at a much greater velocity. It struck like the fist of an angry god, crushing buildings and shattering the Earth. It was an attack better suited for cracking open fortified installations, and one could make a very strong argument that using it against a single person was, to be blunt, overkill. This was exactly why Taihō was so fond of it. Beating an opponent was one thing; destroying them was quite another. That was what was going to happen to Hokori. He would be shattered, left with no possible way to fight back, with his very life on the line. The battle would be over, unless Hokori pulled something dramatic out of his hat.

Slamming into Hokori’s back, Uteki pierced his flesh like a spear piercing a fish, slipping into his body without any resistance, leaving an almost imperceptible hole in the small of his back. It was so quick, so effortless, he probably wouldn’t even be able to feel it as the tiny drop entered his body. Likewise, he wouldn’t be able to feel the shockwave the impact created, ripping outward from the point of contact, simply because it ripped apart his nerve endings faster than the pain could reach his brain. It was an explosion of pure destruction, an expanding sphere of raw kinetic energy with the equivalent to a 1000 strength blow, gouging out a massive cavity in Hokori’s back. The force of the strike was so great, it nearly tore the Squad 5 Captain in two, with just a few tattered strands of flesh holding him together. His stomach was gone. Just gone. His lungs had been perforated rather severely, but still functioned well enough for Hokori to breathe weakly. His heart, clearly visible near the roof of the gaping wound, was already darkening, it’s entire mass having been heavily bruised by the traumatic impact. Blood simply oozed out Hokori’s body, as the full magnitude of the injury settled on his mind. Shock, horror and pain would grip him in unison, as he realized exactly how bad things had become for him. But the worst was yet to come.

Almost immediately, black marks would appear all over Hokori’s chest. The Harvest Virus had taken hold. Taihō’s very Reiatsu was laced with the virus, and that Reiatsu, in the form of Uteki, had infected Hokori’s body, saturating his torso, or what was left of it, with the virus. Already it was beginning to spread, and would very quickly consume his entire body, before reducing it to a black viral sludge. That was Hokori’s fate. To be dissolved into nothing more than a foul soup of viral matter. All of his knowledge would be lost, as his body was annihilated by Taihō’s virus. That was true nature of Taihō’s Zanpakuto, Mikadzuki. It destroyed. And now, it had destroyed Hokori Kuchiki.

As Hokori writhed in the Anima statue’s grip, Taihō stood shakily, using her scythe as a crutch as she made her way toward Hokori. She was still wary; this was a Captain of the Gotei Thirteen, after all, and it wouldn’t do to underestimate him. In addition, he was a Kuchiki, and they were well known for always having another trick up their sleeves. So, Taihō stopped a careful distance away from him, within his line of sight, but far enough away to give her a chance to react to anything he might try. Still, she didn’t expect much from him at this point. His spine had been all but obliterated, meaning he couldn’t walk for sure, and might even have trouble moving his arms. There was little he could do at that point to fight her.

”This has been a very educational battle, Kuchiki-taicho. I would be very interested in examining you and your release in greater detail at a later date. I hope you survive until that time.” At this, Taihō turned, and started toward the exit. As she did, however she kept her wits about her, and her Zanpakuto released, just in case Hokori tried something.

Shikai Duration:3/10

Virus

Ground 1-3: 12*3=36 Cubic Inches
Zero Posts to Spread, One to Destroy

Gas 1-12: 6*12=72 Cubic Inches
One Post to Spread, Two to Destroy

Hokori Right Hand: Infected.
One Post to Spread, Two to Destroy

Hokori Torso: Infected
Two Posts to Spread, Three to Destroy

[Hokori Kuchiki]

OOC: Reading your post, I’d like to offer a point of clarity. The Kuchiki Razor lotus has nothing to do with my Shikai. I understand your logic and point of view with that I lack points in a 7-section staff. But the razor Lotus is purely based on Hakuda skill which Hokori has a 3 in. For further clarification I’ll post a link to the razor lotus. But it will become possibly obsolete as the Fighting style Techniques chart is implemented and I’ll be making it into a fully functional non-release technique. I do hope that clears up some of your confusion. Also on a point of his kick, when he kicked he actually used his foot as a contact point due to the fact he was trying to use the razor lotus to destroy the statue head. Not kick it with his shin. So I’ll be shifting some of the damage below in my post. He never impacted with his shin for a point of clarification. But a broken foot still hurts …

IC:

Hokori grunted in pain, why because his razor lotus was weaker than he remembered. Generating reiastu as a general move wasn’t able to create his desired result. In failing to do so caused him to actually be grappled with the statue. His kick while unbalanced still connected there was a splitting crack as his foot was fractured. He had pain shoot up his leg as the heel of his foot was lined with a fracture. He could see the destabilization of his razor lotus and feel Taiho powering up her attack. This was due to the fact that the Assassination hana: Gyo was still working. He was in pain, and sweat drops poured out from his forehead in the exertion of the pain of the attacks blowback. He landed and struggled as the statue began to hold him. He knew that this was the opening for a counterattack she would be expecting and he had already had Gyo activated in response during this moment.

Unfortunately for Taiho, she wasn’t aware just how potent both his senses and his Energy sensory were at that moment. His sense of sight was so strong he had a three hundred and six degree vision, and due to the potency of the energy sensory he not only knew what Taiho’s release did, he was able to interpret the attack that she was sending his way through the nuances of her thoughts and surface memories. His speed naturally was of course a static four hundred and with his senses being eight hundred he was able to make sure he was able to track the attack. One thing Taiho must not have been aware of, Hokori had fought and kept track of opponents and techniques traveling over three times the speed of her release technique. Combating them, wounded and while at a disadvantage he had been able to come out on top. Today would be no different.

His eyes were hard with fury at himself and at this kasumi’oji. She just didn’t learn when to quit, so as the rain drop was flying towards him, he uttered, “Bankai.” His reiastu exploded outward, a physical mass of reiastu poured out of Hokori’s very form and in doing so he freed himself. The explosion of reiastu was enough to blast the anima statue off of the captain’s form. And at the same time it blasted the uteki slowing its progress allowing for Hokori to balance and step away using shunpo. Before it continued and slammed into the statue that had been thrown off the captain. It of course had its torso destroy by the impact of such a powerful technique. But the release of Bankai had been more than enough to give Hokori an opening to escape once more putting this fight in his favor, He landed in front of Taiho a mere three feet away and due to this, it was over. She’d notice multiple things both obvious and glaring and some only trivial to the passerby. And some things she wouldn’t notice at all.

His Shikai was nowhere to be seen. It had of course faded into obscurity when he had activated Bankai. Tendrils of light, pure thoughts had actually erupted from both the statue and Taiho as the Bankai had activated. Sixty yards long and a meter thick, they were by no means subtle and there were four on Taiho and the Statue. On Taiho and he statue at each cardinal direction, abdomen, sides, and back each trailing around to move towards Hokori at a speed stat of four hundred to touch the captain and allow him to administer his dark power. The problem Taiho faced, was that Hokori knew where she was from the moment she had landed, without special kidou or techniques. Masking reiastu was impossible while released and when within Hokori’s sphere of influence it was even more impossible. As he was coated in the beam, balanced and graceful even on one foot, Hokori watched as taiho’s tentacle wrapped it’s way around her scythe and began hacking herself into pieces starting with her good leg cutting deep into the calf watching her fall to the ground. It was reflexive and unstoppable. He was furious, and he was going to while still keeping her alive, he was going to make her regret ever entering this room.

Everyone has to breathe and it was this reflexive, instinctive principle that Hokori shifted. Breathing was something that was reflexively learned the minute, the very second we’re brought into this world. It happens without us even thinking about it, and therefore is something most people over look. Of course it is possible to learn to hold one’s breathing but at the moment due to Hokori’s earlier active technique, that was impossible. She was panting for breath at an accelerated rate. And it was because of that, this was the perfect ploy. Her mind’s instinctive knowledge of how to breathe was replaced with the instinctive knowledge of attacking herself. But because he wasn’t aiming to kill, he inserted the knowledge with a subtle intent of inflicting damage and pain and crippling wounds. Not to kill, so with every moment that her brain would want to draw in her panting breath. She would cut, crush, choke, claw, and slice herself causing infection, bleeding, and destruction. She would be covered in gore of her own making.

A dangerous thought, was her body was still breathing, it was true suffocation wasn’t an issue. She just couldn’t seem to do anything in response to this form of assault. Because each time she could possibly think of a way to assault the Kuchiki captain her body was already still trying to cripple itself. Releasing Bankai, in Hokori’s opinion would be even more dangerous. Due to the fact, if she had her Bankai at her disposal, it would just begin hurting her as well. Making it an unwise decision and one that Hokori knew would be a thought to cross her mind. He stepped off with a shunpo and landed thirty feet away the tendril connected to her form still covering his form and feeding him all of her knowledge. Her language, history, memories, techniques, release, even her most intimate recesses were his now. That was the power of his Bankai, to know and to change to his benefit. What was the strangest part of this moment was every moment in her memories was altered to match his changed. Bankai changed memories to match changes he made and make every change he made seem like it was a natural thing.

He landed and waited for her to cut herself into pieces until she lost consciousness, if she released Bankai, the wires would cut her into pieces until she lost consciousness and her release sealed itself. He was ready, he could alter and shift her mind at his leisure and whatever ploy she could possibly cook up now would be destroyed. Anything she could possibly think to do, he could stop. Nothing was outside of his spectrum of control, and that was why he was the left hand of the Kuchiki. When Sozen needed something to die, if push came to shove Hokori made sure it died. If he needed information and didn't mind the extravagance, information was obtained. Hokori was perfect for his duty as the left hand to the head and Taiho would do well to remember this no matter what happened, no matter what she was able to do he would stop her and make sure that it was futile. His body was coated in sweat and he his mouth was tight with the pain of his fractured foot, but he was dealing with it. With his ability to tolerate extreme amounts of pain to the point of life threatening wounds while hindering him didn’t take him out of a fight, and so for the moment his focus and clarity were still better than Taiho’s even before she had begun to mutilate herself.

Remaining Reiastu: 1500/3000 (+300 for Speed hana 5: To, +150 for Hado #54: Haien, +50 for x1 Shunpo, -300 for Bankai, -100 for x2 Shunpo)

Bankai Post Count: 1/10

[Kento Waffles]

Participants have come to a standstill in the thread as a result of implications, and so essentially, I think that, given the amount of work you have both put in, it's fair to say that the two combatants, Hokori and Taiho, after a ferocious battle, realized that they were doing a great amount of damage to the area around them, and decided, albeit on unfriendly personal terms, to cease combat for the greater good. Result, this battle is thus agreed upon as a draw.

+470 CTP to Taiho Kasumi'Oji.

+680 CTP to Hokori Kuchiki.