Bring Forth The Pain [PG13, NDE]

[Zou ۞]

Thread Title: Bring Forth The Pain: Kaen vs Mooks
Participants: Kaen Youji, Mooks
World: Soul Society
Death Setting: Non Death Enabled
Rating: PG-13
Location: In the battlefield of Seireitei where an invasion by a masked man is happening.
Special Conditions: This is a "Mass Battle" for Kaen Youji. He will not engage any RPCs. Per popular demand these NPCs for the sake of the thread will be referred to as Mooks.

He will instead engage many NPCs. There are four waves to deal with for a total of 191 NPCs. Stats will not be listed except for four of the mooks, who are "unit commanders." All others will tell which stats they have in advantage and disadvantage over Kaen.

The first wave consists of 100 mooks. They are all class 5-4 and have no stat advantage over Kaen. Defeating them will lead to a class 4 mook boss who will have stats and a thought-out power. Rank level 2.

The second wave consists of 50 mooks, class 3. None have superior stats to Kaen. The mook boss at the end will have stats and a thought-out power. Class 3. Rank level 2.

The third wave consists of 25 mooks, class 2. They have superior sensory stats to Kaen and are inferior in all other regards. They end with a class 2 mook boss who will have stats and a thought-out power. Rank level 2.

The final wave consists of 12 mooks, class 2. They have superior sensory stats and spiritual stats to Kaen, but inferior physical stats. The mook boss will be class 1 with stats and a thought-out power. Rank level 3.
Circumstances: The masked man's invasion has gone well for him. The gates of Seireitei were blown open. Death rains from his mighty white battleship in Rukongai. An untold army of Mod Souls are locked in a stalemate battle against the Shinigami in Seireitei. Squad 4's barracks have been destroyed and the masked man is rumored to be in the process of destroying Squad 1. His identity is still unknown.

Kaen Youji is a Vice Captain who has arrived at the battle to help in holding off the army of Mod Souls. Can he survive against overwhelming foes and odds?

[Kaen Youji]

Seireitei was under attack. Again. Reports were still scattered, but apparently a masked man had struck Soul Society, leading with him an army of mod souls. This did not bode well for the shinigami. Though they outnumbered the attackers in their entirety, the attack had come as a complete surprise and many of the divisions were still being mobilized. Geeze. An attacking force of this size.... To attack unannounced like this? What the hell is Squad 10 doing? Kaen thought grimly as he sped through the winding corridors and passageways of the Seireitei. He'd designated orders to the Seated officers of Squad 7 to prepare their subordinates to defend the Squad HQ, while he took to the front lines to buy time for the defenses to prepare themselves. He had faith in his subordinates. Even Kimiko, though Kaen lacked anything resembling respect for his Captain, was quite powerful. Kaen acknowledged her strength at least, and knew that any mod souls that made it past him would have a frightful opponent to contend with in her. He just hoped squad moral would stay up. After his rather public decrying of Kimiko in their last battle.... Kaen knew he commanded a lot of respect in the squad, despite his lackadaisical mannerisms for serving in the same time as Enma and Rin. Publically defying Kimiko like that, he knew would cause a hit to squad moral. But he hoped in this trying time, that the squad would hold it together and deal with the threat as it came.

The good news of the labyrinthine layout of Soul Society was that it would be very hard to flank Kaen's position, for someone unfamiliar with it. The corridors also funneled opponents so defensive efforts were made easier, and it would be harder to slip past him. But as Kaen heard the tramp of approaching footsteps of many oncoming foes, and, even with his limited reiatsu sensory abilities could feel the waves of assailants that came to attack his home, thoughts of protecting the squad, squad moral, even who the attackers were began to fade into the background of his mind. These things started to become less and less important, as Kaen stood, one man against nearly two hundred. Kaen had fought multiple opponents before. He'd participated in a few hundred man Kumite's. He'd faced strong foes and weak foes. He'd never fought something like this. The thrill of the oncoming battle had his blood rushing, and his soul was burning as hot as any flame of his Zanpakuto. Alright then old geezer! Shall we show these invaders what Squad 7's Vice Captain is capable of!?" "Hoho! We'll defeat them all and get popular with all the ladies in Soul Society!" "Not.... quite what I had in mind, but if you keep focused for this one, I'll see what I can do, eh?" "We'll burn them to ashes!" Kaen grinned. "That's the spirit!"

Powerful leg muscles pushed Kaen up into the air, landing on the roof of one of the dividing walls of Seireitei's labyrinth. From this vantage point he could see the oncoming tide of attackers. He saw it and grinned. "Alright you lot!" He bellowed at them. "Who here thinks they can take Kaen Youji's head!?" Kaen was appropriately geared for battle today. He wore a vest of chainmail underneath his shinigami uniform, to ward off any lucky blow that the foes managed to get past his guard by virtue of sheer numbers or an unexpectedly skilled adversary. He had his Esteemed Hammer hanging from his belt, and even was carrying his reiatsu orbs in case he exerted too much of his spirit energy. Watching the oncoming horde, Kaen's hand raised to his back and drew out his zanpakuto. Only a short sword, but he felt that would be plenty. Against numbers like these, Kaen couldn't afford to hold back. He needed to dispatch these foes as quickly as possible, so that he could go out to join other fronts against the invasion. The longer he dallied in this battle, the more shinigami might be dying elsewhere. His stamina was vast, but fighting was exhausting and he expected it might be beyond him to defeat all of these opponents with his bare hands. Or at least, to prevent them from reaching Squad 7's Barracks. Kaen grinned broadly. "Anyone who doesn't feel like dying today should start the other way, cause I'm not in a merciful mood today! Ready or not fuckers here I come!" He exclaimed, crying out his challenge, as though it were a foregone conclusion that the horde would be wiped out to a man, if they did not retreat.

Kaen dropped down from the wall to face the horde in the corridors and stood his ground as they charged him. "Burn. Hachiryuu." He intoned, raising his sword. His reiatsu blazed, red and strong, as his zanpakuto took on its sealed form-- that of a silver protective arm guard on his forearm, black flame patterns decorating it. A rather plain and ordinary looking shikai. Very non-threatening. But while Kaen's face was still exuberant, there was a look of what almost looked like pity in his eyes. "I'm very sorry about this. I'll make it quick for you." He informed the approaching army, as he lifted his left arm-- the arm guarded by his Zanpakuto, while his right fished for the hilt of the hammer on his belt, gripping it by the leather strap attached. His eyes focused, as thought waiting for some sort of signal. The mod soul army was a mere twenty feet away. Then all hell broke loose.

"Burn." Kaen stated. Instantly, a colossal wave of flame erupted from his hand. The blossoming wave of death swept the corridor, nearly filling it from side to side, washing over the mod soul's ranks, and penetrating up to five or six ranks into it. Though Kaen's unshaped flames were weaker than his shaped ones, against this level of foe they were more than capable of doing the job, and between forty and fifty yards beyond Kaen had just been turned into a scene out of hell itself. Those in the front lines would likely have been incinerated to charred skeletal figures instantly. Those behind them, would follow quickly after. The most horrible fate was reserved for those near the back of his inferno, as they were engulfed in flames and would have just long enough to realize their fate, and perhaps experience the agony as their flesh bubbled, blistered and charred, whilst their mad flailings set more of their comrades alight, and their screams of torment perhaps informing the rest of the forces that they had picked a very poor route to attack Soul Society, and that there was no backing out now. Kaen had turned the entire battlefield in front of him into a scene out of hell itself, a single opening attack that had almost unquestionably massacred dozens of unfortunate mod souls. And yet despite the pity in his eyes as he listened to their tortured screams there was no mercy. There would be no escape from the blaze. Between the corridors, the size of the blaze and the sheer numbers of the attackers, attempts to avoid would only result in mod souls getting in each other's way. To make matters worse, it was likely that the oncoming horde of mod souls would, unknowingly continue to drive their own forces forwards into the burning hellpit that was left in the wake of Kaen's attack. For fire does not merely burn out and vanish. Even in the wake of Kaen's attack, flames would linger in the form of burning corpses and anything flammable would continue to burn-- a continued threat to the oncoming horde.

You did this to yourselves. He thought. You chose to come here. You must accept the consequences.[/i] With the size of his initial flame, it was probable that Kaen had just taken a noticeable chunk of the mod soul army facing him. Despite there being more on their way, this display of power (and horrific demise their comrades suffered) was certain to unsettle the remaining forces at the very least.

Shikai Posts: 1/10
Reiatsu Remaining: 1350/1500 (-150 for Shikai)

SPOILER: Click to show

{Stats and Abilities}
• [Martial Art- Karate] {4}
• [Pain Tolerance] {3}
• [Martial Art-Jiujitsu] {3}
• [Analyzing] {2}
• Hakuda {3}
• Zanjutsu {1}
• Iaido {1}
Total: 18

[[Strength - 300 Points (600)
Speed - 375 Points (750)
Spiritual Pressure - 200 Points (150)
Reiatsu Strength - 400 Points
Light Aura - 45 Points
Dark Aura - 55 Points
Instinct- 175 Points
Senses- 100 Points
Energy sensory - 50 Points
Healing Expertise - 0 Points
Total: 1600 SP]

[Zou ۞]

The Vice Captain that had arrived came into the middle of a battle when many other Shinigami had been defeated. Like the Mooks that he now encountered the Shinigami had been of abysmally low rank and power. They had been fodder. They had been slaughtered like fodder just as the Mooks would be when Kaen's fire came to the forefront of the war. "Alright you lot!" began Kaen's challenge while drawing the attention of those many Mod Souls. "Who here thinks they can take Kaen Youji's head!?" A discordant cacophony of unsynchronized replies met his challenge. The most prominent of these was the erupting wave of Mooks with Australian accents demanding, "Mine?! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine!" Kaen's challenge had been accepted. They came at him in droves at first. Twenty surrounded him the first time he attacked. In a moment they were turned into ashes and burned away. This did not yet deter the next twenty who felt themselves wiser and more cunning than their predecessors.

The next burst of fire decimated them too. They all started to cry out in pain. They were beginning to experience fear and demoralization but it did not matter. Kaen's fire was very quick and the attacks were very large. Soon a hundred lowly Mooks had tried to attack Kaen and had fallen to his fire and been turned into ashes. They had not fared well against him. But this was not enough to demoralize their unit commander, the Mook Commander, who was either extremely powerful or simply very arrogant. When their ashes were blowing on the wind Kaen would hear his laughter and then see him appear facing the other side from Kaen so that they were exactly parallel to each other. The Mook Commander was a big, bald and beefy man with hairy forearms and an enormous nose and fat lips. He was much taller than Kaen was. He stood triumphantly with his arms against his hips whilst he cackled. "THOSE LOSERS! LOSING TO A MOOK LIKE YOU!"

"BEHOLD, KAEN YOUJI! I, MEESTER DOKTER, WILL BE YOUR UNDOING!" The Mook Commander held his arms out and produced two dozen floating blue flower petals which glowed with reiatsu and pulsed with an obvious power. The flower petals were dancing around him and begun to spin. They were very fast, moving at around 600 speed. No wonder he had been able to defeat the lowest ranked Shinigami and command his fellow Mooks. He had seen Kaen's fire but he had not been impressed. Large scale fire abilities were something that he was used to. As with many other villains he would soon explain aloud to his opponent in a long winded manner why he was used to that ability and why he was so confident of his own power. One of the petals drifted toward Kaen and exploded very far above his head. It was not range to strike him but the explosion was pure fire and was the size of a Bala.

A new petal appeared next to the Mook Commander. "I CAN SUMMON OVER TWO DOZEN EXPLODING PETALS! AND WHEN I DIRECT THEM THEY MOVE FASTER THAN ANY SEATED SHINIGAMI! WHEN I DIRECT THEM WITH MY HANDS THEY ARE TWICE AS FAST! YES, KAEN YOUJI, STARE THEM IN THE EYE. I AM MEESTER DOKTER, THE MASTER OF EXPLOSIONS! NO ONE CAN RIVAL MY BEAUTIFUL DANCING FLOWERS! HAAAA HAHAHAHAHAHA!! AHA!! HAAAA!!!" The flowers continued to spin around the Mook Commander who continued to speak. "Yes, now Despair, Kaen Youji. Despair at your folly for challenging me! But worry not for I will make it painless with the great speed of my flowers. No one can dodge them! You will be dead in the blink of an eye!! HAHAHAHAHAHA!" He directed his arms toward Kaen and the flowers flew forward at 1200 speed. They were faster than Kaen's normal movement. That much was true. But to call them the fastest?

Mook Commander's Remaining Reiatsu: 1950 Reiatsu

SPOILER: Click to show

Non Typed. Class 4.

Strength: 50
Speed: 50
Reiatsu Strength: 200
Spiritual Pressure: 200
Instinct: 50
Senses: 50
Energy Sensory: 50
Healing Expertise: 50
Total SP: 700

His power allows him to summon exploding flowers. He is using the strongest version of that right now. In the past they were slower with smaller explosions and he could not direct them. Now he can summon a dozen for 50 reiatsu each time and they move at 600-1200 speed and can be directed by his hands.

[Kaen Youji]

Kaen stood amidst the carnage he had just wrought singlehandedly, when a deep bellowing laugh echoed out, as Kaen noted a rather prominent individual had just come out to challenge him, mocking him for his performance. Kaen took note of the dead and dying Shinigami and his eyes darkened with anger. This was not the sort of thing Kaen generally allowed to happen to his subordinates, but it had clearly occurred. He hadn't been able to protect them, so... now? Now he was going to avenge them. This large bellowing man might have amused Kaen on another day. He had personality, one could certainly say that much. Kaen might have reveled in the idea of fighting him for awhile were they in smaller company. But with an army of mod souls at his back, and shinigami being endangered, Kaen's eyes focused in on him. The fire of battle was still raging strong in them, but it was clear that Kaen saw him in much the same light as his subordinates. Still, there had been a momentary lull thanks to Kaen's efforts, so he could afford to take a moment or two longer to hear out the man's monologue. He saw as he produced a dozen floating, glowing flower petals, and manipulated them telekinetically. Interesting but what can they do? Kaen wondered just long enough for the commanding officer to detonate them. So. They were bombs. Good to know. Kaen would have to avoid contact with them.

Then the man went on, boasting that he could summon two dozen of them, and that he could direct them faster with his hands. "Is that so? That's quite a beautiful power." Kaen informed him in a tone speaking of respect for his foe's courage if nothing else, to face him in single combat. It would have been too easy to face him amidst his swarm of underlings. "But...." Doctor hurled his flowers at Kaen. Kaen grinned in answer, pinpointing each of the petals as they hurtled towards him. They'd been spinning so they were clustered together, and flying at him in a straight line. Kaen lifted his hand again, and unleashed a short blast of fire from his palm to strike the incoming petals. One of three things were likely. The petals might break formation to avoid the fireball, in which case Meester Doktor would be vulnerable to it. The fire might simply consume the petals and continue on target. Most likely, Kaen expected the petals to explode on contact with the fireball, and the ensuing explosion would set off a chain reaction and detonate any that were not struck by the fireball. The results of this would only affect his follow-up move slightly.

Presuming that the petals would likely detonate and disrupt his flame's path, the instant after they detonated, Kaen would unleash a variant of Senka. Barehanded that is. Opening his hand into Karate's spear hand strike, he would drive the tips of his fingers straight into Meester Doktor's chest with his immense strength and speed that dwarfed his. Someone with a power like that.... Probably didn't have the greatest physical endurance or toughness. They were used to evading attacks. Though Kaen didn't necessarily expect his spearhand strike to necessarily kill the Mod Soul, he had held nothing back and anticipated it would at least incapacitate him briefly. In actuality, Kaen would not be entirely surprised to find that his spearhand did not merely strike the Mod Soul's chest but punctured it, his tremendous strength shattering the sternum into pieces and stabbing into the Mod Soul's heart. A quick pull and Kaen would rip the organ clear out of his body, springing backwards as he did so-- anticipating a last desperation counterattack. "....You're too slow." He stated coolly, crushing the heart in his hand like a grape, and glancing aside to see if the next wave was incoming.

If the petals did not detonate on his flame, truthfully, the only serious change to this, was that his Shunpo would be at an off line angle to intercept Meester Doktor as he attempted to evade Kaen's fireball. Evasion would be almost impossible. Even with a stepping technique of his own, Meester Doktor was too slow to avoid, to intercept. The gap in their speed was too vast. It was not impossible that Kaen might be singed by rushing through the immediate aftermath of an explosion, but serious injury was unlikely. Even though Meester Doktor appeared a fool, Kaen was trying not to take him TOO lightly, despite his attempt to dispatch the man in a single, lethal blow. Still. Kaen couldn't afford to expend too much effort on a man like him. Not when there were many more mod souls left to defeat before the day's end. Assuming that his attack had effectively eliminated the unit's commander, Kaen would immediately begin to mobilize and move out to engage the next wave. There was no time to waste.

Shikai: 2/10
Reiatsu Remaining: 1250/1500 (-100 for Senka)

[Zou ۞]

SPOILER: Click to show

{Play this}

"UWAAAAHHHHH!!!!" The Mook Commander exclaimed when Kaen attacked him. It all happened so quickly that he still had time to scream and a few more seconds still to live after his heart was ripped out. His body fell over and slumped down. It slid off of the roof which he had been standing on and then descended back to the ground where it would join bodies of Shinigami and Mod Souls alike while battles continued to rage on everywhere. This was probably the most thorough invasion the Soul Society had undergone since the war against the Vandenreich some brief years ago. A band of Mooks saw that Meester Dokter had been defeated and their voices grew harsh. Some were appalled and scared because of his defeat. Others were laughing at his failure. He had been a Commander but to some he had been weak, incompetent. Now Kaen might find himself on the defensive while more Mooks started to attack him.

It was a band of fifty that had just appeared to fight Kaen now. Noticeably they were all faster than the other Mooks that Kaen had just disposed of. They were also all faster than the Mook Commander had been. Three appeared behind Kaen. They were still slower than him, but where before he had been an infinite demon of superior speed now they were all at least half his speed or maybe even a little bit more. The three that had appeared behind him all launched different kinds of attacks. One of them (Mook A) went to skewer his back with its hand, using a snake head fist. It was possible that it was trying to target his soul chain since it was attacking the small of his back with such a move. The second of those three (Mook B) created a small fireball that released instantaneously at point blank range toward the back of Kaen's head. The fireball was fast like a Bala from a practiced Arrancar. The third of these attackers (Mook C) slashed at Kaen's side with a large sword.

No matter what Kaen did, be it dodging or blocking, he was then attacked by five more. Two of them were in the air diagonal left over head to either where he stood or anywhere he moved to. They (Mook D, Mook E) shot at him with different projectile attacks. One of those projectiles was a Kunai that actually moved as fast as Kaen's Shunpo. The other was a bolt of white lightning that moved at half that speed. The Kunai was aimed at his throat and the lightning at his forehead. They were both deadly attacks that could cause him some serious damage. That wasn't the only thing that was coming for Kaen though. No matter where he went or even if he stayed in place, eventually he would be back on a roof or the ground. When that happened hands would reach up while covered in lightning and try to grab his ankles. If they succeeded he would be pulled in and trapped there with only the neck up remaining. And he would be numbed and shocked. (Mook F)

Then came another attack from a Mook that had what looked like a huge metal cannon. (Mook G) The cannon was charging and then it produced a huge blue laserbeam that was faster than Kaen's Shunpo and stronger than his highest offensive stat. That would be while he was trapped in the ground or after he countered it. At the same time two more Mooks would appear on either side overhead and slash at him with bladed weapons. (Mooks H, I) There were many attacks that were coming for Kaen. Some of them were dangerous and some were not. Some of them posed more risk than others. This newer group of Mooks was stronger and a bit faster and more intelligent than the others that he had already dealt with. It was plausible that some of them might dodge his initial attacks. He had to try just a little harder against them. They were obviously of a higher caliber than the last batch. Would this be where Kaen Youji was finally overwhelmed?

[Kaen Youji]

No rest for the weary, or so it seemed. No sooner had Kaen dispatched the commander when he was beset by a new group of mod souls. Not that he was necessarily surprised, nor tired yet. Afterall the battle had only just begun, and thankfully, none of the adversaries had proved particularly challenging. That seemed to be changing though. The new wave of attackers seemed somewhat more competent than the last, and were already displaying unique abilities. On top of that they were using effective group tactics, attacking from multiple angles. Kaen undoubtedly could have defeated any of them in single combat of course, but this wasn't single combat was it? It was a battle, and Kaen stood alone against the tides of foes. However, while before a simple assault, employing his full power had been sufficient, now he was going to have to employ some semblance of strategy. Beginning with the first three that attacked him. If his opponents were going to attempt to use flanking maneuvers, Kaen immediately began moving to make that much harder. As he noticed them coming around him, Kaen turned to his side, and charged Mook C, his sideways charge evading the snake strike aimed at his back, and turning what would have been a direct hit from Mook B into a glancing hit to the shinigami's shoulder. Kaen winced in pain, as the fireball burned right through his shihakusho, searing his shoulder badly, but not enough to outright inhibit the shinigami's fighting. Not with the level of pain tolerance that Kaen possessed. In answer to the cut to his side, Kaen brought his protected arm up to his shoulder, and swung it in an arc to intercept the blade, hammering it aside, and possibly smashing right through the weapon with his immense strength. But that wasn't all he did. As he brought his hand up to his shoulder a stream of fire blossomed out in a stream from his Zanpakuto, which Kaen swept at from side to side, as he followed through the deflective arc. Not a tremendous threat for the mook who's sword he was blocking, but a considerable issue for everyone to Kaen's left and right, which included Mooks A and B.

As far as Mook C was concerned after the deflection, Kaen immediately followed it up with a powerful palm strike aimed at the Mook's chest, shattering his sternum and ribs, and hurling him backwards into, and hopefully, through the Seireitei labyrinth wall behind him. Kaen immediately then began to shape a new flame into a round-shield, as new Mooks rushed in to fill the gap left by his previous attackers (assuming he had managed to land hits on either of them with his Zanpakuto). At the same time, he continued his charge towards the wall, to put it at his back again, and prevent being completely surrounded. This wouldn't prevent the five next mod souls from assaulting him. He noticed the ones airborne ones first preparing a pair of projectile attacks. "Tch." Kaen growled, and stopped his charge with a powerful stomp into the ground to halt his momentum. As Kaen's foot struck the earth there was a tremor that erupted around his vicinity, that would unbalance or knock over any mod souls that were not standing stably. Additionally, his stomp created sufficient force to throw up debris around him, making aiming projectile attacks much more difficult. Kaen swung his zanpakuto in front of his face, just as his shield stabilized. It was a curved shield, like the Greek Hoplon, though somewhat smaller, only about three feet in diameter. Stil, it would be sufficient to intercept the projectile attacks from Mooks D and E. It was about an inch and a half thick at the center of the shield, and grew thinner out to the rim. The lightning and kunai would strike the surface of the shield and merely be stopped by it in the case of the lightning (unless the lightning was boosted beyond the strength of one of Kaen's shaped flames), whilst the kunai would glance off regardless of its speed. Without even pausing a moment, Kaen then, from behind the shield, generated a fireball which shot out at both airborne mooks. While they were in midair there would be no way for them to evade the fireball headed at each of them, primed to burn them to ashes.

Which left Mook F and G-- well, actually. Mook F had likely already been dealt with, when Kaen had performed his stomp to slow down the rate of his attackers. Mook F had been attempting a subterranean attack. Though Kaen was unaware of Mook F's presence, his stomp had likely had lasting implications for the unfortunate Mod Soul, as the tremor that would have offbalanced or knocked down any mod souls standing on the surface would likely have crushed Mook F to death if he were in the near vicinity of Kaen while underground. So that left the cannon. Kaen caught the blue glow of it charging and grimaced. "Oh that does not look good." He said. Any attack that required a charge-up did not look good at all. A charged attack was generally going to be leagues above an ordinary one. But Kaen had dealt with fast and powerful attacks before. Attacks too fast to dodge and too powerful to block. He knew the weak point of such attacks, the sole way to evade a move when such an attack was unavoidable. The weakness of this kind of attack was....

Kaen vanished.

This was the art of Shunpo. The Shinigami Flash Step. As fast and powerful as the cannon shot was, if Kaen used Shunpo before it was fired-- while the weapon was still charging, then there was nothing the gunner could do. Such powerful and fast attacks were still limited to the skills of the person firing it. If they couldn't target you, then their devastating attacks were about as useful as a water pistol. Kaen had employed this strategy even against such attacks before. Hibiki. Akeru. Hiro. Aimo. These fighters had possessed attacks of such devastating power that Kaen could not have hoped to defend against them, but simply by moving before they could fire, he had survived those battles. And the simplest and easiest blind spot to exploit, was behind the shooter.

Kaen landed on the Seireitei wall behind the gunner, hand raised up, behind his blazing shield. "Hey there." Kaen taunted with a cocky grin. "How's it goin'?" Before the gunner would even have a chance to rotate the cannon to face Kaen, a roaring fire would blossom from the front of the shield to engulf the cannon, gunner and anyone unfortunate enough to be standing near either of them. Hachiryu had a six inch creation range. Within six inches of the Zanpakuto, Kaen could create and shape a flame. While the boss of his shield was too thick to enable proper flame shaping without interfering with his shield construct, there was still enough space to shoot his conventional fire blasts from behind it. Conventional, yes, but effective. Hachiryu's shaping abilities granted it an immense level of versatility, but in a pitched battle like this, its most deadly power was simply the ability to hit large groups at once, and render entire areas of the battlefield difficult, if not outright impossible for enemy combatants to move through, without catching fire. With the cannon and its gunner likely incinerated by the blaze, Kaen's eyes swept the battlefield to check for similar emplacements, using the advantage of height that perching upon the wall of the Seireitei granted him. He moved his shielded arm like the barrel of a gun emplacement, launching fireballs into any group of mod souls he could spot, either scattering them like leaves, or else inflicting heavy casualties.

Despite the burn on his shoulder, Kaen felt he was doing alright at managing his stamina and endurance. He hadn't yet been forced to exert himself too much, and though his breathing was becoming heavier, and sweat was beginning to form on his brow, he was still capable of continuing to fight without serious impediment. Which was good. He had to pace himself. No doubt there would be other elites in the group to come. Kaen had to conserve his energy for them. He couldn't afford to burn himself out against these cannon fodder mooks, despite them growing more powerful, with each wave.

Reiatsu Remaining: 1200/1500 (-50 for Shunpo)
Shikai: 3/10

[Zou ۞]

SPOILER: Click to show

"GAAHHHH!!!" Mooks A and B screamed as they were taken out. Mook C seemed fine for a second. He grinned when Kaen grabbed his sword. Mook C expected to be able to land a strike the way that Kaen had just done but Kaen was too fast. Mook C was even in the middle of making a similar strike when he was hit. Kaen's strike however slammed him in the chest. "UGGHH!" he roared as his bones shattered and he flew back. To his credit he was durable and he might not actually be dead, though incapacitation was a guarantee as he went flying. That effectively took care of Mooks A, B, C. The next two mooks, D and E, were hit by Kaen's fireballs and went up in flames. They were obviously very dead. The others were starting to look surprised or demoralized at how Kaen was so easily dealing with them. No one looked quite as brave as they had a few seconds earlier. That wasn't including what happened to Mooks F or G.

Mook F exploded into blood from Kaen's stomp. It looked effortless even though it was accidental. Then when Kaen appeared behind the cannon he was face to face with Mook G, who turned with horror on his face. "IMPOSSIBLE!" he screamed as Kaen dispatched him. The next batch of flames after that was successful in defeating over twenty Mooks. Now in this little platoon only about twenty remained. They were Kaen's next attackers, Mooks 1-20. Now that they had seen what happened to their friends they knew that they couldn't hold back. It was time for everyone to attack Kaen at the same exact time. So they did. Mook 1 appeared in front of Kaen with a step technique and tried to stab him in the throat. Mook 1 was almost as fast as Kaen but was just a little bit slower. The same was true of Mooks 2, 3, and 4, who appeared with 2 behind him 3 to the left and 4 to the right. They were all slashing at him with swords.

As soon as he found a way to counter he was already under more assault. One powerful bolt of lightning that was faster than Kaen's step technique but had Byakurai level offensive ability came for his chest (Mook 5) while a tidal wave of water was coming at his back (Mook 6), along with a spear toward his right shoulder from diagonal above (Mook 7) and then a ball of acid on the other shoulder from the opposing direction (Mook 8). Even with all of that, Kaen wasn't done. Mook 9 and Mook 10 were both animal types and they were on all fours. They were both as fast as Mook 1 and one was covered in lightning while the other was made of metal. They were both sprinting on all fours toward Kaen's legs. If they hit then there was no telling what might happen to him. He was bound to be hit by some sort of injury in this scenario and it wasn't even done for him yet. Mooks 11-20 still had to attack!!

When Kaen had dealt with Mooks 1-10 he was already under assault. Mooks 11-16 would appear surrounding him and attacking him with a mix of fireball spells or slash attacks. After that Mooks 17-19 would appear above him and all of them attacked him with spears toward the face. What Kaen would probably notice was that the teamwork had improved drastically again and now he was in actual danger of suffering one or two more minor hits. It still wasn't anything that he couldn't deal with. Mook 20 however did something unexpected. He appeared in front of Kaen at the very end of all the other Mook attacks, then his body inexplicably and instantaneously exploded with the force of a grenade while he was inches from Kaen. This suicidal attack was probably hoping to finish Kaen or weaken him enough that other Mooks might be able to take him out. The Mooks were getting stronger but getting through here meant that this platoon was finished too.

[Kaen Youji]

They weren't stopping. Their attacks were becoming increasingly desperate, but they weren't stopping. Kaen sighed. "Gotta hand it to Las Noches. They managed to find a wonderful batch a' Darwin Awards winners right here." He said. "Since you're all scrambling for a fiery death.... I'll be sure to oblige!"

SPOILER: Click to show

As Mooks 1-4 appeared and slashed at him from all sides, Kaen answered their slashes quite simply. He ducked. Dropping low to the ground, all the slashes aimed at his torso and head whiffed over his head. A few of their blades probably clashed above him. Didn't matter. Kaen raised his arm in the air, and released a three hundred and sixty degree pulse of fire, emitting flames from all sides of the armguard, immediately immolating the four mod souls around him. By raising his arm in this manner he had also, luckily brought his shield up at an angle to intercept the lightning bolt that had lanced at his chest, the attack striking the shield, but likely failing to penetrate it. A Byakurai wouldn't be able to break through one of Kaen's shaped flames. Kaen's ears picked up the sound of rushing water, as he moved his shield to deflect Mook 7's spear, and he turned his eyes back briefly to see the rushing wall of water. "Oh you have got to be kidding me." Fortunately, glancing back also allowed Kaen to see the ball of acid flying ahead of the tidal wave, moments before it struck.

The tidal wave crashed over Kaen's position. The mod soul using it though, while it was a powerful attack, it was a spectacularly terrible one for the attacking mod souls. The tidal wave had struck from behind Kaen. Kaen had been facing the bulk of the mod soul's forces. This meant it was on a crash course trajectory with the rest of the mod soul army. Whoops. Things got worse, when one factored in the beast-type mod souls charging at Kaen. One of them was covered in lightning. Uh oh. Regardless of the results of the wave on Kaen personally, it would likely crash over the two beast mod souls, and conduct the electricty of the one to hit every other target hit by the tidal wave. Which given the size of the attack, could well have been the majority of mod souls 11-20 who were looking for their opening to attack.

On a positive note, it would at least have put out the fire on what was left of mod souls 1-4.

On a less positive note, it had failed to hit Kaen. The moment Kaen had noticed the tidal wave, he'd used Shunpo to launch himself straight up into the air, avoiding both the wave and the ball of acid at the last moment. A poor defensive position to be sure, but given the circumstances, an important one. He didn't know how strong the mod soul that had launched it was, and didn't want to test whether his fire could evaporate the wave or get doused by it first. Besides, from up here, it limited the options of the mod souls to attack him, and Kaen's shield could cover most of those angles at once. The only alternative would be if the mod souls tried to launch themselves airborne as well. A suicide tactic for certain as there would be no recourse to avoid Kaen's fireballs in the air.

It was likely that at least some of Mooks 11-20 had been dispatched by the tidal wave. Speaking of which... Kaen glanced back behind him to check for the mod souls that had launched the tidal wave and acid ball respectively, launching a series of fire balls at them, to hopefully dispatch them, though at this distance, if they were as fast as the others, they might survive. Kaen growled in annoyance. The tidal wave user could be troublesome. Very troublesome, if not dispatched quickly. But Kaen had more pressing concerns for the survivors of Mooks 11-20 would quickly attack him.

It seemed they WERE opting for suicide attacks. "To throw your lives away so carelessly... just to land a single hit?" Kaen asked them in a disappointed tone. He was surrounded and dodging in midair was going to be difficult. Maybe impossible. But he had one trick that the mod souls didn't know about yet. A few actually, but only one of which would be relevant in this exact moment. He quickly followed the glow of the fireballs, and swung his shield to intercept them. His shield may not have completely covered his body, but it would be sufficient to intercept attacks from two of the mod souls at once, and immediately countered with a fire blast from the center of the shield as before, to incinerate those two. The other three would be more challenging. Kaen twisted his body, away from one of the mod souls, the attacker's blade barely scraping his injured shoulder, and drawing blood from the burn. As to one of the others, Kaen free hand went to his belt and drew out his Esteemed Hammer, whipping the mallet around to deflect mod soul 15's sword swing, and countered with a roundhouse kick to the mod soul's body that-- perhaps to the horror of his comrades, would act in the same manner as a scythe. Kaen's physical strength was so great that to a non-physically oriented attacker, his leg possessed such force as to tear through the body like a great messy blade, albeit, perhaps, a very dull one. If the mod soul was "lucky" he may have possessed the physical strength to withstand the kick and avoid bifurcation. In that case, he would have to settle for broken ribs and being sent flying. Literally. As the group was in the air, the mod soul had a good chance of clearing a full kilometer before impacting the ground at high velocity. At the same time, Kaen swung his shield about to shoot another blast of fire into the mod soul that had cut his shoulder. With three incinerated and one dispatched by his kick, that left just one.

Mod Soul 16 however, struck his mark. His sword struck against Kaen's torso... and stopped with a quiet clang of striking metal. Kaen grinned. "How unlucky." Kaen's hammer whipped up into the mod soul's face, crushing his skull and killing him instantly. The glimmer of steel rings could be seen beneath the tear in Kaen's uniform that the sword strike had slashed open. Kaen was wearing a vest chainmail under his uniform, sneaky bastard that he was. While it couldn't hope to stand up to particularly heavy attacks from high level opponents, against low-caliber foes like these it would suffice to repel a simple sword blow. Still. It wasn't something Kaen planned to abuse. In this case, taking the hit had been unavoidable. Kaen was in a bad spot, in mid-air, without Advanced Air Ground to help him. He'd been forced to rely on it. Against Mooks 17-19 he didn't need it. He raised his shield above his head, angled so as to deflect the thrown spears, and returned fire with a blast of fire for each of them. They, like Kaen, were in midair. They were susceptible to the same problem he was. They couldn't dodge. No doubt the mod souls were beginning to expect the fiery devastation from Squad 7's Vice Captain by this point, but that didn't help them while they were in midair, and unable to avoid it.

That left Mod Soul 20. Kaen was quite surprised when he suddenly teleported in front of him. "Ah shit!" Kaen rammed the shield into the mod soul, in an attempt to shove him back and away from himself, expecting some point blank attack. He wasn't disappointed. The shield took the brunt of the mod soul's self-destruct, but Kaen's flame constructs weren't indestructible, and sacrificial moves like this unquestionably contained immense power. The blast tore apart Kaen's flame shield, dispersing it, but the shield saved Kaen from far worse injury. Kaen's Shihakusho was blown from his torso by the attack and the concussive force hurled the shinigami towards the earth at a high velocity, his torso singed by the absorbed blast, though his chainmail was still intact. Damaged now, and the links were broken in some places, but intact. Kaen hit the ground hard, the earth shattering around him on his landing, pure ingrained martial training leading him to perform a breakfall as he struck the ground to mitigate the damage of the fall. While this certainly helped prevent injury to any vital parts and avoided broken bones, it was Kaen's immense physical fortitude that had saved him. Without that, his breakfall would have been little more than a wall of plywood against a hurricane. However, it served its purpose, and though Kaen was definitely hurt by the fall, he was not seriously injured. He rose up, checking to ensure that the tidal wave using mod soul and his acid spraying friend had been dispatched earlier. If they had not been, then before either would have a chance to use their powers again, Kaen would launch a wide blast of flame at one, and hurl the Esteemed Hammer at the other like a projectile. The hammer, notably, flew far faster than any of Kaen's flames, propelled by the Vice Captain's formidable strength, and would incapacitate or kill the mod soul on impact, possibly flying right through them, if they weren't strong enough. Either way, it was unlikely that those two would be a problem anymore.

However, if they had been dispatched by his earlier flame blast, then Kaen wouldn't need to bother and retain hold of his secondary weapon. Or, one might suppose, tertiary weapon, as Kaen's body itself served as an effective secondary once he'd released. Kaen's breathing was much harder now, the extended battle and the injuries he'd received now starting to take their toll on his stamina. He was still capable of fighting, but he knew that at this rate, he'd at least need a breather after he finished the group here, instead of simply rushing off to another division to support, as he'd originally planned. Bugger... these guys are really annoying He thought as he began to shape a new flame, creating a blade, about the length of an arming sword, protruding from his zanpakuto. "You holding up alright, partner?" "Better than you boy! Keep your wits about you! The last group had a commanding officer, and that was probably not the only one!" Kaen nodded, watching his surroundings. "Yeah... you're probably right." He said, taking the momentary pause in battle to take a breather.

Reiatsu Remaining: 1150/1500 (-50 for Shunpo)
Shikai: 4/10

[Zou ۞]

SPOILER: Click to show

{Play this}

Kaen had succeeded in defeating all of the Mooks thus far and had sustained minimal injury during that time. Irregardless it did not mean that he was off the hook. That breather which he so desperately wanted would not come. Instead what happened next was an especially fierce looking Mod Soul appeared to his side. This Mod Soul was somehow different. It seemed more powerful and more focused and in control of its powers. It might even be the unit commander for all of the other Mooks that he had just defeated. This particular Mook had orange skin and was wearing a shihakusho that was a very deep, dark blue. If not for the different color schemes he could possibly have passed for a Shinigami. This was especially true while he was Kaen's exact height and had flaming yellow hair that was short but spiked. His eyes were white but he did not appear blind. When he appeared to Kaen's side it was to attack with his massive weapon.

He carried a very large, oddly shaped sword that was longer than his body and had twice or more the width of a regular Zanpakuto. Its handle was wrapped in white cloth and the sword itself went straight from hilt to blade, there was no guard. This huge sword was coming at Kaen very quickly the moment that Mod Soul appeared. If the Mook's attack if it hit Kaen would bisect him from the waist down. However no matter what Kaen did, the Mook withdrew and produced a second slash attack. This one was strong too and was aimed at cutting into Kaen's chest. If that missed or failed, it didn't matter. The Mook continued forward and dug his blade into one of the nearby walls, carving through it with ease. This would bring an entire large section of the wall down on Kaen while they were in a very tight hallway space. The Mook had somehow maneuvered them into this tight area for the purpose of that attack!

Unlike the previous commander this Mook was quiet except for grunts when attacking and wielding his weapon. He did not introduce himself and he had a very serious look on his face. He held his sword in a two handed grip. Something in his eyes also suggested that he was struggling with some aspect of his power. He may be focused and stronger but something seemed to be beyond his control. Whatever it was he was more dangerous than the other Mooks until now. If Kaen guarded any of the strikes then he would realize that this Mook's sword slammed very heavy. If Kaen was just a few years younger and less trained or experienced than he was now then he would have absolutely been pushed back by the might of that blade. It seemed to carry not just physical strength to it but a spiritual weight that defied even stronger opponents like a Shinigami Vice Captain. This Mod Soul was something new to the battle.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Mook Commander 2's Stats}

Rank Level 2 Spirited.

Strength: 200
Speed: 200
Reiatsu Strength: 300 (450)
Spiritual Pressure: 200 (300)
Instinct: 100 (65)
Senses: 100 (65)
Energy Sensory: 0
Healing Expertise: 0
Total SP: 1100

[Kaen Youji]

Kaen was breathing somewhat heavily. This had been a rough go. To an extent, he was actually relieved that he was only fighting one opponent at the moment. It would give him a moment to recover. Or at least avoid expending too much energy. With that said... his current opponent had the confidence to face him alone. Which meant he was probably a chip above the rest. "Not gonna give an old soldier a chance to rest?" Kaen joked, as the Mod Soul readied his massive cleaver of a weapon. When his response failed to elicit an answer, Kaen frowned. "Ah, that's boring. Just want to cut me up huh?" He commented, as the mod soul charged him. He was fast enough, though not nearly as fast as the previous mod souls that had just attacked Kaen had been. Slow enough, at any rate, for Kaen to fight him with only 300 speed. Conserving his energy. Conserving his strength. The mod soul was performing a horizontal slash at waist height. With the length of the mod soul's sword, that would be troublesome. However. If the mod soul intended to gain an advantage by exploiting the reach of his weapon, he was sorely mistaken. Kaen's own Vice Captain, Rin Minamimoto had wielded a nodachi and had been very skilled in exploiting the reach of her weapon against an opponent with a shorter blade. Kaen was used to fighting against long melee weapons. Albeit, perhaps not ones of this size. Rather than retreating, Kaen answered the mod soul by stepping in with a low and stable stance, bringing his Zanpakuto shielded arm to clash against the mod soul's. Against an opponent with long reach, one needed to close the distance! What long-reaching weapon's like this Mod Soul's gained in measure, they sacrificed in short range combat. If you got too close, the weapon was useless. Kaen would block the blow and move in against his opponent, rapidly closing the distance and taking the advantage with his own hand to hand fighting skills. In theory anyways.

In practice, Kaen was quite surprised by the force behind the mod soul's blow. Indeed were it not for his own immense strength and strong stance, the attack likely would have staggered Kaen. As it was, while the blow did not pierce his Zanpakuto, Kaen still felt his feet skid slightly away from the blow, pushing him about a foot to the side. But the blow was stopped all the same, and the Mod Soul would have to regather for a second try. And the Mod Soul didn't disappoint, regathering himself for a second blow at Kaen. This time, though, Kaen was ready for him. Low horizontal blows were troublesome, as overleaping them or ducking under them left you vulnerable. Attacks at chest height, were quite a different story. Kaen's motions were fluid and quick. As the mod soul drew his blade back for the second blow, Kaen stepped in. While he was moving at less than half his top speed, he was still faster than the mod soul. As the mod soul began to swing down at him, Kaen thrust an arm out and jammed the mod soul's arm, planting his palm firmly against the mod soul's nearest forearm, and stopping the swing in its tracks. At the same time, he charged into close quarters. Too close for the mod soul to easily counterattack. The mod soul's swings were heavy but that was likely a trait of the mod soul's sword-- not the mod soul himself. Besides. Even if it was, Kaen's block was intended to stop the attack before it could gather sufficient momentum. Kaen's elbow struck out, slamming into the mod soul's sternum with his full strength. Something was getting broken here. Might have been a few ribs, might have been more, but this blow was certain to break something. And wind the mod soul.

But this time, Kaen did not kill him. A few mod souls for interrogation would be useful after the fact. This one wasn't particularly talkative but... He knew that if Squad 7 couldn't elicit something out of him, Squad 6 certainly could. Kaen wanted to disable this one. Not kill him. Less than a heartbeat after his elbow strike to the sternum, Kaen grabbed hold of the forearm he had jammed and pulled hard, off to his side. Dragging the mod soul off balance. At the same time as he did this, Kaen side stepped to the mod soul's opposite side, bringing his leg sweeping low across the ground to trip the mod soul and sending him staggering face first into the wall he had aimed to cut (which, courtest of Kaen's block and then attack jam, was likely still standing). Exposing his back to Kaen. As he executed this maneuver, Kaen had begun shaping a new flame around his Zanpakuto. A shortsword, extending from his wrist. To call it a sword blade, actually, was likely an overstatement. The blade was only about a foot and a half long. A long dagger would have been better. But it was long enough to do the job. Like a flash of red, burning lightning, Kaen sent a debilitating slash through the mod soul's spinal column-- aiming to sever it through instantly. The blade was short, so it would not likely cause severe injury to any vital organs. He was unlikely to bleed much either, as the blade cauterized the flesh and bone it cut through (though this WOULD make repairing the bone VERY difficult without extensive surgery). But a severed spinal cord was.... not good, to say the least. Kaen had aimed to render this mod soul quadriplegic.

Final result, if all went according to plan? A broken sternum, some fractured ribs, a broken hip, and a severed spine. This commander was not going to be standing up anytime soon. Just for good measure though, as the mod soul would fall, Kaen threw a quick and vicious knife hand strike to the back of the mod soul's neck. This time he held back. Considerably. Kaen was only using about 250 strength for this to avoid actually breaking the mod soul's neck and potentially killing him by accident. Fractures were possible, but death was extremely unlikely. This was just to ensure the mod soul fell unconscious on top of everything else. You never know. Kaen had once fought with a severed spine in the past. He did not preclude the possibility the mod soul could as well. Better to knock him out now, and ensure that didn't happen. Having dispatched the commander, Kaen inhaled, then exhaled deeply, stepping away from his unfortunate opponent. While it had not been quite so nearly as quick as his fight with Meester Doktor, it had been considerably more devastating. The first commander had been wiped out in an instant. This time, Kaen had simply walked all over the Mod Soul Commander, without him even being able to put up much of a fight. A feat of skill, rather than strength. Kaen looked in the direction of the Mod Soul army, if any had arrived.

"....I'm feeling merciful, so I'll give you one final chance. Anyone who wants to run for the hills, do so now. Or you will die." He said. "I'm not offering it again. Anyone who sticks around, I'm gonna assume has a death wish. I've already lost track of how many of you bastards I've killed, so." Kaen smirked, a dark smirk. "None of you are taking me down. I've been holding back until now. That's gonna stop if you keep coming. Understand?" He told the army. "Anyone who continues fighting me after this is going to die in vain." As if to demonstrate his point, Kaen raised a hand. Several flames began to form around it. Forming into short javelins. "Run away." Kaen ordered the assaulting army, already prepared to launch his attack.

Shikai: 5/10

[Zou ۞]

What Kaen would see next was twenty six of the Mooks moving toward him in a calm walk pattern. They were in rows and lines five by five with just one Mook at the head. The Mook ahead of them had glossy white skin and was dressed in a black trench coat and fedora. The aura that he gave off was much more powerful than that of any of the Mooks behind him, themselves all a touch up from even any of the Mook Commanders until this point. None of them looked disturbed by Kaen's words or what he had done to any of their comrades up until now. They were programmed to die in battle without hesitating. Fear did not exist in the masked man's soldiers. They would die fighting just like many of the Shinigami that faced the masked man would choose to die just to slow him down a little. These Mooks would die just to weaken Kaen until they could kill him. Other Vice Captains and Captains were probably experiencing the same kind of battle.

All twenty six Mooks disappeared. They had all used some kind of stepping technique. Their total speed came up to around 80% of Kaen's speed. This was a faster unit of Mooks. (#1-25, + Mook Commander) Mooks 1, 2, and 3 were the first ones that appeared near Kaen. Mook 1 was at close range. He was holding a sword made of purple fire and he swung it at Kaen with the hope of cutting open Kaen's chest. He was almost as fast as Kaen and it looked like he might have 80% of Kaen's strength too. Mook 2 was a mid range. Mook 1 was to Kaen's left and Mook 2 was behind him. Mook 2 had a crossbow made of electricity and had it aimed at Kaen's back. When the arrow fired it had speed that was twice Kaen's step speed. If it hit him he would be electrified all over his body and numbed while it penetrated through his back and out of his stomach and left a gaping hole. Mook 3 was to Kaen's right at long range and looked to be aiming some sort of sniper rifle at Kaen's skull.

Mooks 4, 5, and 6 were all in a triangular position at super long range. They were all cross legged and meditating. Mook 4 had a purple aura, Mook 5 had a yellow aura, and Mook 6 had a green aura. The Mooks attacking Kaen had lights of these colors coming from their bodies too which meant that Mooks 4-6 were using aura techniques to increase the powers of their friends somehow. Kaen would find out soon enough. Mooks 7-9 were in the same positions as Mooks 4-6 but at even farther range. They were standing but they weren't doing anything but observing. Their roles weren't known yet. While Kaen had a lot to defend against that wasn't everything yet. That also wasn't all of the Mooks but 10-25 were nowhere to be seen yet. Until Mook 10 surfaced from below Mook 1 after Mook 1's attack was blocked or dodged. Mook 1 was suddenly shot into the air out of the way and Mook 10 emerged. This would save Mook 1 from an immediate retaliation against that position.

At the same time the Mook Commander came into view. He was facing Kaen from far away with a wide smile on his face. He didn't look like he was attacking yet. Kaen would be dealing with the other Mooks first. That was what it looked like until things started to seem strange. Blood seeped into Kaen's right eye from his brow suddenly when Mook 1's attack had finished. It might seem because of that like it was one of Mook 1's effects even though it was the Mook Commander. Kaen's concentration might also be broken and thrown off because he was suddenly blind in the most unexpected way. He hadn't been hit by anything like that so he shouldn't be bleeding there, but he was. He wasn't even cut. Blood was just forming. A voice was also talking inside of his head and drowning out the voice of his Zanpakuto and his own thoughts. "Iiiiii miss you. Iiiiiiii miss you. Wheeeeere are you? Wheeeeeere are you? Kaaaeeeeen Youji. Kaaaaeeeeeen Youji?"

SPOILER: Click to show

Class 2 rank level 2. Soldier. 1300 SP.

Strength: 100 (65)
Speed: 50
Reiatsu strength: 400 (700)
Spiritual Pressure: 250
Instinct: 150
Senses: 150
Energy Sensory: 200
Healing Expertise: 0

---

[Battle Analysis] [2]
[Stealth] [2]
[War Strategy] [2]
[Battle Focus] [2]
[Learning] [2]
[Memory] [2]
Calm Mind [2]
[Stealing] [2]

[Kaen Youji]

(ooc: Damn, took me a lot longer to reply to this than I thought. Sorry. Weeks have been busy).

Kaen's warnings went unheard. So be it. The ground would be littered with burning corpses at the end, but his foes had made their choice. No step technique, or unique power was going to change the outcome now. Mercy disappeared from Kaen's eyes, as Kaen allowed the anger at seeing his slain comrades blossom and fill his heart. "Fine. Make your peace then." He stated, as the Mook's launched into their step technique. Kaen didn't even wait for them to emerge. Compared to him, these Mooks were slow. Too slow. Kaen had shaped a total of six javelins and he launched all of them while his enemies were still in mid-step, tracking their movements and firing the javelins right in their trajectory. His targets were Mooks 1 and 3, each receiving three javelins apiece. If their step techniques had been their natural speed they might have stood a chance of dodging them, weaving out of the way as they moved. That was not the case. With only a few unique exceptions, Step Techniques traveled in a straight line, to their destination, with no deviation possible. The mod souls had no chance of evading, and Kaen's javelins impaled both Mooks 1 and 3 through their torsos. Though the javelins were not large, none of the six being much longer than two feet long, they were propelled with ample force to pierce deeply into his targets. Both mod souls struck by them would be struck out of their Steps, the javelins buried in their torsos, puncturing all manner of vital organs, from the lungs, to the kidneys, to the liver, to the heart, depending on how lucky Kaen had gotten with his shots. Regardless of whether vital organs had been pierced or not, the javelins would then immediately combust, creating miniature flame blasts from each. None of the blasts would be particularly devastating on their own, to a high level opponent, but to the mod souls they would likely be the finishing touch that would bring the two down immediately.

Mook 2 was not lucky either. As he attempted to get behind Kaen, Kaen's free hand snapped out and grabbed him by his head, abruptly halting the mod soul's momentum, and then completely reversing it as Kaen slammed Mook 2's head into the hard, unforgiving ground, turning his skull and brain matter into a fine red paste, if he wasn't lucky enough that having his momentum shattered in such a way had not broken his neck. Kaen's eyes showed no pity for this mod soul, burning with anger, as he immediately moved on to the next target with furious precision. Kaen could see Mook's 5 and 6 by their auras and lifted an arm. He shaped an exploding fireball and fired it at Mook 6 first. At such long range, precision was not possible. Not for Kaen anyways. So he settled for a heavy hitting attack that would explode and incinerate Mod Soul 6 on impact. As he shaped the next fireball for mook 5, however, Mook 10 burst out beside him. Kaen barely spared him a thought, beyond the barest hint of surprise, his leg snapping out in an immediate side kick that would shatter Ten's ribs and send him flying back, through one of the Seireitei's labyrinthine walls. Then Kaen fired his shaped fireball at Mook #5. Kaen began to scan for further opponents, but not immediately noticing Mook 4, due to the triangular positioning of the three causing that one to be behind him. Besides which, Kaen's attention was drawn to the Mod Soul commander. He seems more cautious than the rest. He's actually engaging me alongside his subordinates. Kaen thought, before the warm feeling of blood started running down his brow, surprising the Vice Captain.

What the hell? He thought, lifting his guarded arm to his forehead, feeling for a cut on his forehead, but feeling nothing. "What the hell did you just do?" Kaen asked, trying to wipe away the blood and preparing to attack, before a voice cut through his mind. And judging by the purple text, it might be reasonably assumed that Kaen would recognize the voice. And it caused him to freeze up at the first intonation of it. "What...?" Kaen said, confusion racing through his mind. He stepped back from the Mook Commander in uncertainty, the first genuine retreat Kaen had initiated, and looked about for the source of the voice in his mind, in doing so, catching sight of Mook 4's green aura. His bloodied hand snapped out and shaped another fireball, firing it in the direction of Mook 4's green aura, though this was more hastily created than the previous ones and would not pack as great power. And in his distracted state, his aim was not as good, the fireball flying a little bit low. Rather than striking Mook 4 directly as his fireballs at 5 and 6 had, it would instead explode on the platform below him, only putting Mook 4 at risk of catching fire from it instead of being outright incinerated as his comrades had been, and giving him some means of escape if he was not so lost in meditation that he did not notice the attack.

Of course, even if the fireball did take out Mook 4, that still left 7-9 and the Commander. And.... whatever that voice in Kaen's mind was. That's not the voice I think it is, right? He thought again. Though he was still fighting, it was very clear that the edge had been taken off his attacks for the time being, by this psychological attack.

[Zou ۞]

SPOILER: Click to show

{Play this}

Mooks 1 and 3 were both safe. Mook 1 and Mook 3 had been intercepted mid step technique but Kaen had neglected that they were being supported by support troops. That was when clear colored shields made of glistening reishi particles materialized instantaneously even while Mook 1 and Mook 3 were in the middle of their stepping techniques. The javelins struck and combusted against the shields yet Mook 1 and Mook 3 were left free of damage and unharmed. Mook 1 arrived at his position at the same time as Mook 2 while Kaen was grabbing a hold of the skull of Mook 2. Mook 2's skull would be crushed and he would be defeated. However Mook 1 would succeed in attacking as Kaen would be in the middle of dealing with Mook 2 and then trying to fire off attacks at the next few Mooks. The sword strike connected at chest level and drew a spray of blood while Kaen fired off an attack at Mook 6. Kaen was strong but he had committed to attacks too early.

One chest slash wasn't enough to finish him, and his fireball successfully struck and killed Mook 6 with a devastating explosion. However Kaen wasn't through yet. Mook 3 had gotten to position too while Kaen was dealing with Mook 5 and Mook 10. Mook 10 was kicked and all of the bones in his body fragmented while he was blasted away and killed simultaneous to a fireball ending the life of Mook 5. However Mook 3's sniper attack would still hit Kaen since Kaen had failed to stop him because of the earlier shields produced by allies. A blast of electricity identical to Tsuzuri Raiden would numb his body and shock him very uncomfortably while stunning him. That was when Kaen would experience the blood at his brow and the voice in his head which caused his fireball at Mook 4 to teeter off. Mook 4 was able to use a step technique to dodge it because of Kaen's focus being damaged by the voice inside of his head and the blood leaking into his eyes.

Mook 4 had deactivated the aura to escape and this meant that Mook 1 would now be unprotected. However Kaen was a little distracted himself. The voice again. Kaaaeeennn... Why did you let me die? This time there was no mistaking who the voice was. Kaen had a few connections with people during his time in the Gotei Thirteen but none had been more important to him than that of his Vice Captain Rin Minamimoto. His holding the position of Squad 7 Vice Captain, his respect for Enma and his demand for a proficient and strong Captain of his once golden glory Squad were all because of Rin-Fukutaicho's influence on his life. Even now he was stronger than she had been and he couldn't realize it. The voice was not possible to mistake because an image of her flashed before his eyes when the blood blinded him again from continued dripping. For the second he was blind her face was visible and covered in blood. It implored him to explain why she was gone.

Kaen help me... It's so painful and lonely in the darkness. It hurts so badly when you're DEAD. At the time Mook 4 was regaining position to reassert the green aura and Mook 1 was slashing at Kaen's back now in an attempt to create another huge and bloody wound. While he was distracted and shocked it was improbable that he would be able to counter and likely that he might just take the hit. Even if he didn't and he could power through it to fight, the next thing that passed through his mind was going to be enough to shock him into taking a strike. Mook 1 committed to two slashes. One was on the back and the other was a step around to slash against Kaen's chest again to make an X mark and draw a lot of blood. At the time that Mook 1 stepped away from a successful or failed back slash for his second chest slash, Kaen would feel something worse than just Rin's voice and worse than seeing her face.

The next image that played before him wasn't when he was blind. It was in the middle of the battlefield and it was vivid, as if it was happening for the first time and right before his very eyes. It would be so captivating that he might not even see Mook 1 slashing at his chest. Why did you let him kill me? Kaen had only seen him a few times but he would recognize the cloak and masked figure of his former Captain, the Lord of Hades, Enma. He would also recognize Enma's cursed black Zanpakuto running Rin through the heart while blood dripped from her lips and her shirt started to stain from the attack. Rin's head turned to gaze at Kaen in the eyes while blood kept leaking into them from the non cut on his forehead. She spoke out loud so he could see her mouth moving. "Why did you let him betray me? Why did our Captain KILL ME?" Did he know the truth that Enma really had killed Rin? Had he suspected? If he did then this was to hurt. If he didn't then maybe even more.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Play this}

While that was happening and after Mook 1's chest slash, Mooks 7, 8, and 9 took action. So did Mooks 11-15, all of whom appeared around Kaen. He was surrounded by Mooks 1, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15. They all had different attacks. Mook 1 went to stab Kaen in the gut. Mook 11 attacked with a savage blob of acid at Kaen's face. Mook 12 shot at Kaen with twin pistols that released small bullets made of reishi with speed equal to Kaen's step technique. Mook 13 had a spear and tried to stab Kaen in the back. Mook 14 was weaving hand signals of some kind. Mook 15 was inhaling quickly. The actual oxygen around Kaen was being sucked up so he wouldn't be able to breathe while Mook 15 was inhaling. They were all attacking while Kaen was being plagued by more visions. Enma had stabbed Rin and now he was speaking to her as well. "Rest in peace, Rin. Even if you were sent there by the Devil."



Mooks 7, 8, and 9 put their hands together while this was all happening. An explosive surge of reiatsu yielded a huge blue dragon overflowing with gold reiatsu. Gold reishi sparks flickered on its body. It had glowing green eyes and stared down at Kaen with a gaping mouth. A giant stream of blue fire rushed down at him from the sky. It was strong enough to destroy and wipe away any fire he produced at that moment and it was fast enough that it was worth 95% of his step speed. He had to counter that while contending with so many attacks at once and he had to contend with more of Rin's interference in his fight. Kaen you've let my Squad become weak... You've become weak. Why are you such a disappointment to me? And there was more. A flashback for Kaen of a battle in which his own new Captain had turned to leave with things inconclusively a stalemate. How could you let such a weak failure take over the Squad I loved more than anything?

[Kaen Youji]

It seemed Kaen had underestimated this wave of opponents. The support between the groups was better than previous groups and although individually none of them were anything special, as a group, they were formidable. Formidable enough to have stopped his fire attacks at least. This was also the first group to include dedicated support combatants. That could be problematic. His lack of good judgement had cost him, as Mook 1's blade slashed into Kaen's chest, and the shinigami braced his muscles, reducing the damage as much as he could. Still. It was a clean hit, and he suffered a large wound, blood spraying out from him. But it was not an incapacitating one. Though Kaen would certainly need to have it looked at later, he could still finish this battle. Mook 3's bullet struck Kaen and he felt a crackling of electricity surge through him, prompting a cry of shock from the Vice Captain (no pun intended), as his muscles spasmed and froze up. "Son of a..." He growled, his legs quivering with the shock. This shock had further instigated Kaen's inability to properly hit Mook 4. But Kaen had other pressing concerns to deal with. As mentioned above, this was the moment that blood leaked across his eyes, and the voice of Rin Minamimoto echoed in his mind. "Fukutaicho..." Kaen murmured, momentarily stunned by the confirmation of exactly whose voice he was hearing. The face that he saw.

That wasn't to say Kaen had stopped fighting. Though his combative abilities were unquestionably dulled by this, as well as the numbing shock from the bolt, he was still capable of movement, and so he did, shifting, and moving around to keep himself mobile. A harder target. He flinched as she accused him of letting her die. What? That's not... With his free hand, Kaen furiously tried to wipe the blood out of his eyes so he could see. A sharp pain lanced up his back. His chainmail was still mostly in-tact on his back, most of the damage it had previously taken from the blast affecting it on the front. But it wasn't a perfect defense. Far from it. Though it dulled the swing from Mook 1, the blow parted the mail all the same, slashing across Kaen's back. A shallower wound than it should have been, but still very painful. Kaen lashed out, instinctively. The blindness and Rin's torment were definitely taking the edge off of his technique, but the Vice Captain still had three things going for him. One was over a century of martial training, that had been impressed so deeply into muscle memory that he barely needed to think about executing moves with at least a semblance of solid technique. Second, was that distracted or not, he still possessed immense, herculean strength. And third, was that he was still incredibly fast. In fact, his disorientation was for the worst in Mook 1's case, for his reaction was entirely based on instinct. The moment, he felt the pain surge up his back, Kaen spun around with a full speed, spinning back fist. His aim was off, but his power and speed were not. He overestimated the distance and rather than hitting Mook 1 with the back fist, his tensed forearm smashed viciously across Mook 1's jaw with his full 600 strength behind it, potentially killing Mook 1 outright if the barrier was not up in time, and even if it was there was potential for snapping Mook 1's neck, or at the very least sending him flying and causing serious internal damage.

Fukutaicho, I... Kaen shrunk under the accusation of allowing his Vice Captain to die. Under her plea for help. What was I to do.... How.... How do I...? Kaen, normally so confident. So reckless. He was cracking under the pressure. Fortunately, dead or not, Mook 1 was likely in no condition to perform his X cut after Kaen's counterattack, though the shinigami was definitely staggering, from the wound in his back, and from his own disorientation. Kaen threw a hand out, with a wild fire burst in the approximate direction of the Commanding Mod Soul, though this time it went wide, and struck nothing. As he did this though, Kaen found himself in the middle of a battlefield. A very, very vivid vision. He was very dimly aware that he was still moving, unconsciously, stumbling out of the way of the acid blob by sheer chance, it missing him barely, instead, searing his shoulder with a glance. Pain that Kaen barely felt. Kaen saw Rin there. He saw his Captain, Enma as well. He saw Enma's blade pierce through Rin. And Kaen stopped.

....No.

Mook 12's spear pierced through Kaen's back, passing below his ribs, and piercing out the other side. Instinctively, Kaen's hand clasped around the spear, gripping it like iron, but this was, truthfully nothing more than an instinctual response. In the prison of his own mind, Kaen had barely noticed the spear sticking out of him. Nor did he notice the reishi bullets that hammered into his torso, spraying blood and forcing Kaen to stumble.

No.

Kaen barely even noticed the oxygen getting sucked away, as Mook 14 had begun weaving hand signs.

No.

Kaen's hand raised into the air. The hand around which his Zanpakuto was clasped, sturdily. Fire exploded out of it in an omnidirectional blaze that turned everything within approximately ten meters of Kaen into an inferno. If Mook 1 was lucky, he would have been sent flying by Kaen's backhand and would be clear of the attack range. Or perhaps he'd be killed. Still more fortunate than the current Mooks being bathed in Kaen's fire. Every Mook near Kaen, 11-15 was about to be completely consumed by a fire that blazed at temperatures over 5000 degrees. Even if Mook 4 was able to protect any of them, he couldn't protect all of them. Mook 15 in particular was especially unlucky, as his attempted inhalation would result in him pulling Kaen's fire into his own mouth, obliterating his insides first, and offering him an especially horrible demise. Kaen was still blinded by the blood, as much as he tried to wipe it away. He was incapable of precision targeting right now. Wide sweeping area of effect attacks were all he could do right now. He needed space. He needed time. And he felt a massive surge of reiatsu, that managed to trip his danger senses even through the mind screw he was shattering under, as his world crashed down. Kaen didn't know what was going on. But he needed to escape. To get out. To clear his head before coming back for a second round. The Mooks had been coming in wave after wave. Well maybe Kaen needed to come at them in waves as well. He needed a moment. Any moment.

Rin's voice echoed in his head. Squad 7 had become weak under his watch. He was.... a disappointment. How could he allow a weak failure... how could he allow Kimiko... to take over Rin's beloved squad.

Dragonfire engulfed Kaen and burnt him to ash.

------

Or had it? Kaen felt a vicious impact as he tripped and hit the ground upon landing, Rin's words echoing in his head. He'd fallen down after initiating Utsusemi. His fastest step technique. More than twice as fast as Shunpo, Utsusemi left a realistic afterimage that could even react and seem to be struck by an enemy's attack. He had no idea where he'd gone, but it might have bought him a few more moments than he otherwise would have had, if the Mod Souls believed they'd wiped him out. Blood still covered his face. The spear still jutted out of his stomach. But Kaen had, with his Utsusemi, managed to put a good amount of distance between the Mod Souls and himself. He weakly stumbled to his feet. Weakness not of the body, for despite his incredibly severe injuries, Kaen was not yet incapacitated. True, he was impeded now. A spear through the gut will do that to you, as will the two slashes he'd withstood from Mook 1 and the reishi bullets he had taken. But out of the fight? No. No he wasn't. But first... First....

First Kaen needed to come to terms with what he had just seen. The echoes of Rin's accusations filled his mind, and his eyes watered slightly. "I.... It can't be..." He groaned. "That can't be what happened.... It's.... a lie... It has to be..." Kaen denied it with his mind, willing himself to believe otherwise. He could not believe that Rin had died at the hands of the man she had idolized. He could not believe that for all the time after that he had served under her murderer. He would not believe it. But it stuck in his mind. He could not dislodge it. And what she had said about his Squad... That was true as well. He'd failed Squad 7. He'd failed Rin. Kaen's heart sunk in his chest. He had failed. Darkness filled Kaen's mind and his soul. "Fukutaichou.... Rin..." Kaen croaked in a shuddering voice. The darkness that filled him wrapped inky black tendrils around the Shinigami's heart. Spoke poisonous words into his mind. "Do you... really feel that way?"

Kaen's Utsusemi had carried him airborne, and put a number of Seireitei's walls between himself and the Mod Souls. It would probably take them a few moments to locate him, and slightly longer still to reach his location, especially if they believed him to have been taken out by the combination attack that had culminated in the dragon. His Utsusemi had carried him about a kilometer away from them, before he had hit the ground, utterly fouling his landing in his blindness and mental disorientation. "Rin..." Kaen said, again, focusing in on the Mod soul's reiatsu. While his ability to sense reiatsu was not honed, it was hardly as though the Mod Souls were hiding theirs. Kaen began to advance, still trying to wipe the blood from his face. Perhaps it would be easier now, that he had broken line of sight from the Mod Soul commander. Whether it was or not, Kaen began to head back into the fray again. If he was unable to see, even now, his hand would extend forwards, and upon feeling a wall obstructing his path, Kaen's left arm struck forwards, shattering it, and leaving a hole for him to pass through. He did this with the next wall. And the next.

The Darkness swirled within Kaen. And then recoiled.

Anger filled Kaen now. It's your fault. He thought. Fueling his confusion and dismay, and despair into a blind fury. "Your..... Fault..." Kaen echoed his thoughts. If he had cleared the blood from his eyes, there was not only no mercy in them anymore. There wasn't even pity. Nothing but blind hatred now, that was a sight that had never before filled Kaen's eyes. Rage. Kaen advanced slowly but surely, and then finally, smashed through the final wall separating him from the mod soul's reiatsu. If he regained his sight, he might even have been able to track their location by Mod Soul 4 and the summoned dragon. Kaen stood in the ruins of the wall. Defiant. And angry. "Which of you.... is doing this?" He demanded of the assorted Mod Souls. "Who here.... dares to use her voice against me? Use her image to do this to me?" He snarled at them in a terrifying fury. Kaen's reiatsu blazed around him, an incandescent red glow. He reached his right hand down to the spear that was in his belly. And ripped it out, pulling it the rest of the way through. He grunted in pain at this, but quickly lowered his left arm to the wound, and a hot blaze seared the wound closed to prevent him bleeding too badly. It was unquestionably something Squad 4 would need to check and soon. Kaen wasn't worried. Right now he wasn't holding his life too highly. And besides.

This wasn't going to take much longer.

Reiatsu Remaining: 650/1000 (-500 for Utsusemi)

[Zou ۞]

SPOILER: Click to show

{Play this}

Kaen did succeed in incinerating some of the Mooks. Mook 1 was killed without mercy and so were Mooks 11, 12, and 14. Mook 13 and Mook 15 received Mook 4's shield. After Kaen escaped and collected his breath the blood leaking into his eyes stopped and the voice of Rin disappeared too. He would have a moment of silence to rest and process everything that had happened. Two slashes, one to the chest and to the back. A stab wound from a spear. A burn on his shoulder from a graze with acid. Burns from the electricity. Numbness from the electricity. But he was Kaen Youji, Vice Captain of the once greatest Squad 7. He had great physical strength and he also had great tenacity. He could fight through this. He had fought through worse than this. He had fought with lost limbs and with a shrieking sound splitting through his brain. He had fought with a damaged spine. He had been near the end of his life and still fought.

He was strong. The question was whether he was strong enough to fight what remained of the masked men's forces that wanted to hurt him. They had come at him in wave after relentless wave. Even his pause to catch his breath only did so much for him. When he came back in filled with rage he was greeted by the grins of all of the remaining Mod Souls. Mooks 7, 8, and 9 were still there and so was their dragon. Mooks 4, 13, and 15 were there. Mooks 16-25 had joined the show now and looked threatening. No one was more threatening than their commander. He took a step forward when Kaen demanded angry questions and he bowed. All of the Mooks were sneering at Kaen when he came back. He had killed many of them but they saw how beaten up he was now and how mentally unhinged he had become by their current commander. They were reasoning that he wouldn't be too difficult of a battle.

Now that Kaen was back in range of the Mook Commander the blood began falling from his forehead again and into his eyes. The voice of Rin Minamimoto returned to his mind. We were the greatest squad the Gotei Thirteen had ever seen, Kaen. How could you let that slip away? The beaming Mook Commander bowed low to Kaen. "Her voice and image?" he asked. "Oh, so you see a girl?" The Mooks around were all laughing at Kaen. If Kaen looked around he would suddenly notice that he was the last man standing. There were other battles being waged all around the Seireitei by other Shinigami and Mod Souls, but in this section of the battlefield, the Mooks had succeeded in killing the Shinigami that had been here alongside Kaen. A dozen of their corpses littered the ground and Kaen was suddenly desperately alone. This part of the battlefield was quiet now except for the laughter that mocked him.

"I'm sorry." the Mook Commander told Kaen. "My power isn't the ability to insert falsehoods into your brain. My ability is special. I bring truths that would hurt you to light. That's all I do. I find truth things that you are or aren't aware of, and I bring them to life so that you can suffer for knowing them." That was a wide stretching ability. In Kaen's years he probably hadn't heard of a power quite like that before. Maybe the Mook Commander was lying to cause more pain. Maybe he wasn't. Since Kaen didn't know, he would always have doubts about whether what he saw was really real. He didn't have the answers. He didn't have closure. And the way the Mooks were all leering maliciously at him said that there might be some truth to their commander's story about his power. Maybe they were finding Kaen pathetic for everything they had just seen him do when handed the truth.

Do you know what happened to me when I died? I became trapped in someone else's Zanpakuto. I became alone in an unfamiliar inner world. And now even she's dead and the memory of me is gone for good. Kaen was alone in the battlefield when they started attacking him again. Mook 4 was still support, but Mooks 7, 8, and 9 created another dragon. That made two. Both of them hovered above ground with their flapping wings and discharged blue fire down on Kaen. Their fire was even strong enough to burn away his. Whatever he did to try to get away he was followed. Mooks 13 and 15 appeared again. This time they were both holding swords and they both tried to slash at him, one in the back one in the front. Others, 16-25, had seen that he could create waves of fire around himself for protection and so they were more careful to attack from the long range to make it harder for him to counter them.

Mook 16 fired a blob of blue liquid at Kaen. It was surprisingly fast and had the speed of a Bala. Mook 17 clapped his hands together to create a very small cage made of lightning around Kaen and the Mooks attacking him up close. The cage appeared out of nowhere and it had unknown durability. If anyone touched it then thousands of volts flooded into their body. Kaen might be trapped there. The cage went up at the same time that the blue liquid blob fired at him. Mooks 18, 19, and 20 all had projectile weapons that looked like guns. They shot bullets at Bala speed toward Kaen. All of them were different bullets, though all the guns looked like sniper rifles. One bullet was made of reishi, one was physical, and one was fire. Mooks 21-25 all appeared around the cage that Kaen was in. Mook 25 didn't do anything but Mooks 21-24 all fired offensive spells at him that would burn or penetrate him if he was hit.

KAEN WHY DID YOU FAIL ME?