Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2021 15:04:14 GMT -5
The last weeks have been nothing but hell for Camila. Having made the choice to leave Soul Society, her run-in with that one hollow-esque man, among other issues, she truly began to struggle with where she was. As much as she hated to admit to it, she needed to get stronger through that Shinigami side of her; she needed to find a way to transcend where she had currently stagnated regarding her overall strength. She needed more power. Almost immediately, her mind had jumped to one reasonable conclusion; one that so few Shinigami actually managed to obtain: Bankai.
Camila sighed as she opened the door to the apartment she was currently renting, with a plastic bag full of groceries. This is truly what her life had quickly become; she was living as a human again. She didn't necessarily need to eat or sleep, but over time she had felt the desire to do so; something about embracing her humanity. Truth be told, Camila had desired to be able to live a normal life again, free from all of that spiritual bullshit that seemed to plague her existence. Knowing that was very much an impossibility at this point, she began to do what she could in order to get stronger; accomplish her goals that required her to be strong, and then do what she could in order to never have to use those powers again.
After she put away all of the foodstuffs she'd just bought (namely instant ramen and energy drinks), she threw herself down onto the couch in the front room, and thrown her face into her hands, letting out a deep sigh. Quit your complaining, she heard a voice in her head say, this is the life you wanted, right? Free from those damned chains in the Seireitei, and living how you personally see fit? Why are you complaining? If I were in your position, I'd be rejoicing over the newfound freedom you've since obtained.
Lord, he was getting more and more talkative with each passing day. What was up with him recently? "I don't need your reassurance, Albin," Camila shot back aloud, her voice somewhat muffled because of her hands, "I'm quite content with life at the moment, thank you very much." The very moment she had finished speaking, she heard a snicker come from her inner hollow. Yeah, I'm sure you are. You know that I can read your every thought, right? I know exactly what you want deep down, and I can help you get it~
Camila couldn't help but chuckle to herself at the thought. Could he really help her accomplish the goals she wanted to get done? She'd certainly have to find that out. "Oh yeah?" she asked him, "and what might I 'want deep down' that you can help me get, Albin?" I think we both know the answer to that; what you really want is that Shini- "Alright! Alright. You've made your point." And with that being said, Camila's face was a deep shade of crimson, blushing furiously. She forced herself to sit up, and closed her eyes. "How exactly do you plan on helping with that, anyway?" Once again, there was that same annoying chuckle that came from Albin. Well, there was one thing in particular I was thinking; are you familiar with a Shinigami's second-stage release? That of Bankai?
Her eyes immediately shot open. This, this was certainly a possibility she hadn't considered. She'd heard rumors of those who left Soul Society, their Zanpakuto being destroyed. That thought alone had made her wonder why she was able to retain hers, let alone still have access to that of Shikai; since she left, she'd thought Bankai was out of the question completely. Maybe not? "I'm very familiar with Bankai, Albin. What exactly are you saying?" She'd started to grow used to the incessant chuckling. I could help you with that, Cami~! All you've gotta do is let yourself enter that little world I call my home, and I'll show you everything there is to know about that little power boost you're wanting~
She sighed as she once again closed her eyes, and began to focus without so much as a response from Albin. She'd entered her inner world once before, and that was during her process to unlocking Shikai right after she fought the Octava Espada. In truth, she rather enjoyed the appearance of her inner world. It was one she was more than happy to enter when she didn't have to deal with Albin. Unfortunately for her, though, it seemed like today was going to be one absolutely filled with seeing the damn man. She did what she could to mentally prepare herself, before taking the time to enter her inner world.
"Why, hello there, little Cami," Albin had spoken, now standing in front of her as she opened her eyes, standing in the center of that same grand ballroom she'd loved to see, "It's been a while since we've had the opportunity to see each other face to face, hasn't it? Last time we met like this was what, almost two years ago?" She simply nodded. That had sounded pretty correct, but truth be told she wasn't counting. "Well, I'm going to let you know here and now that this little 'training' session is going to be quite different from what other Shinigami have and will go through for achieving that of Bankai; none of that 'true name' bullshit is gonna be necessary here."
She grew weary by the ever-growing disturbing smile on Albin's face. "Alright, jackass, what's this going to entail?" Albin held his hand to his chest in a mocking manner, his smile now changing into that of a smirk. "You wound me with those words of yours, Cami. Though, to answer your question..." As he paused, he held out his hand, and an exact replica of Camila's own Zanpakuto had appeared into his hand. Almost immediately, he unsheathed the blade, and bolted straight for Camila. As though her life depended on it, she found her own Zanpakuto sheathed on her hip, and immediately drew it in order to block the incoming attack. "We're going to have a little bit of fun, and I'm going to do what I can to make you as conforming to my goals before I give you this little power of mine!"
As her blade clashed with his, she began to struggle quite a bit. He was certainly stronger than she was by a long-shot. That was to be expected, as his build was already much more muscular than hers, it was no wonder he had the strength to back that up. He began to push himself forward step by agonizing step, forcing Camila to back up slowly in the process. She tried to resist his strength, but it heavily seemed like she wasn't able to do so. Through much more effort on her part than he had been putting in, she was able to only slow his advances.
"Please, Cami, is that the best you can do?" He asked mockingly, "Surely you're better than that! I've seen how you fight, I know exactly what that body is capable of; especially after that little rampage you let me have against Ailene!" Those words made her shudder, and she ended up losing her balance, quickly falling to the ground. Almost immediately, he tried to plunge his blade into the ground, aiming straight for her head. She'd taken the opportunity to roll out of the way, and quickly stand back up again, though her breathing was already starting to grow ragged.
"Go to hell!" Camila shouted, as she followed in suit and charged at him, preparing for an overhead strike against Albin. A horrendous grin grew on his face as he effortlessly deflected the attack, and shoved her back with the pommel of his sword. "That was nothing!" Albin shouted angrily, "You'll be lucky if I don't end up killing you before this is all said and done if you keep trying to fight like that! Fight like you mean it! Like your life depends on it!" Those words had caused her to remember her fight with Beast; those were almost the exact same words he had said against her. She gripped her blade tighter, and once again charged at Albin.
This time, she was going for a strike to his side, through his core, and once again, he effortlessly blocked her advance, this time with one hand on his blade. With the other, he grabbed Camila by the upper arm, and threw her over his shoulder. Good lord, he was significantly stronger than he had been letting on. She'd need to be careful, as she realized that a head-on approach like that wasn't going to work anymore.
As she caught her balance in midair, and dropped to the ground, she once again continued to charge at him. He lowered his stance. "Please, Cami, when will you fucking realize that this isn't going to work for you? Give it up already!" Though, she had another trick up her sleeve instead this time. She wasn't going to rush right in this time, and instead she was going to try to trick him; to distract him with one movement, and prepare a different attack than the one he was baited into thinking she would.
As she grew ever closer to him, ending merely inches from him and going in for another strike, Albin reached out to try to grab her Zanpakuto mid-swing. "Gotcha!" he shouted, before quickly realizing that all of his effort had been for naught, as she made clever use of a Shunpo as a way to sidestep and maneuver herself around him. Pressing a two fingers into his left shoulder, she began to pump reiatsu into her fingertips. "Gotcha," she simply spoke back as a bolt of golden lightning shot through his shoulder and into the air in front of him.
She took a step back as he turned around, and reeled from the hit, with his shoulder being freshly blasted open. He plunged his blade into the ground, and used two fingers of his to wipe some of the blood onto his hand. "Well, well, would you look at that," he said, unrooting his sword and holding it in front of him, "someone finally managed to land a clean hit on little ol' me. Well, let's see if you can do that again this time!" Once he finished, he seemed to break out into some sort of cacophonous laughter; like he had some trick up his sleeve.
She knew exactly what he was going to do. In turn, she also held her blade in front of her, and prepared to do the exact same thing. "Tell me, Camila," he began to say, catching Camila off-guard due to his lack of using a nickname, "what's the name of that sword of yours?" She stared at him, confused for a moment. What did that have to do with anything that had been going on? Her Zanpakuto's name had always been Buveur de Sang, hadn't he known that? What was the significance of that comment? "Well, isn't it odd that Buveur de Sang isn't also my name~?" Gods, he was right. A wave of confusion and concern rose over her, as Albin continued to speak. "How on earth could that make sense, little Cami? Have you thought of the possibility that I'm not the original source of that power of yours~?"
As he finished speaking, his blade had taken shelter in a deep black shell of reiatsu that began to form around it. Within seconds, that shell deteriorated, and revealed Camila's Shikai. Her mind began to panic almost immediately. "Make them bleed, Buv-" Her words were immediately cut off by a sanguine lance, one of those created by Albin, smashing into her blade and sending it flying from her grip. "Ah, ah, ah," Albin taunted, "you goal now isn't to fight me, Cami. You've always been so good at taking hits and healing right back from them, so in turn, this is what you're going to do..."
As he paused, he charged her far faster than he was before in an attempt to blitz her. The moment he was upon her, he went for a horizontal slash right at her throat. Thankfully she was able to duck in time, but he curved his arm downward to swoop through her core. Once again, she managed to get out of the way through a clever application of Shunpo, one that allowed her to launch herself upward faster than he could slash at her. From here, she applied the use of a Shunpo Karin, looking to stomp down on Albin's head.
Thankfully for her, he wasn't fast enough to get out of the way in time, and ended up taking the hit full-force. Unfortunately for her, though, that hit meant next to nothing to him. In turn, he grabbed her by the ankle, and slammed her straight into the ground. "That was a nasty little trick there," he said, poising his blade to pierce through her, "but I'm not going to fall for some fake-out like that again!" With that said, he jammed his blade downward, as he ran her stomack through with his Zanpakuto.
At least, that's what would've happened if it wasn't for Camila's quick thinking in a time of crisis. While he had been speaking, she'd been mentally preparing the incantation for her favorite Bakudo; #79, Shibarikuyou. As she held her hand out while he went to pierce her, eight black suns had simultaneously appeared around his body, giving Camila the perfect time to escape as he was unable to move. She quickly scrambled from underneath him, and bolted for her sword. "Damn you!" he shouted, as she grabbed her Zanpakuto and held it out in front of her. "Make them Bleed, Buveur de Sang!"
As she spoke those words, her blade had also transformed into its Shikai form. She took a deep breath, as her bakudo that had captured Albin had finally shattered. Instead of charging her, her simply stared her down, a look of unnatural aggression on his face. "Well, well, well," he spoke, "someone must think she's hot shit now, huh? After pulling a stunt like that, you must feel so proud of yourself. Well, let me tell you, Camila, after I'm through with you, you'll be nothing more than a red spot on pavement." His words had made her shudder.
She wasted no time, though, and immediately began to charge him down. The moment she was upon him, she went straight for an upward slash, one that had been effortlessly parried by him. In turn, she quickly prepped and launched four sanguine lances at point-blank range. Though, similarly enough, those were met with his own lances which had been made for the sole purpose of deflecting hers. Unfortunately for her, neither attack worked there.
From there, Albin shoved her back with his blade, forcing her into the air as he created not four, but ten lances, each one hovering around him. In a matter of seconds, he launched each one, one by one straight into Camila's abdomen. Each and every one connected, as the force of each lance was enough to shunt her ever so slightly into the air so that the one right after could connect. After the final lance had struck its target, Camila turned herself around in the air so that her back would make impact, and crashed to the ground.
Albin began to slowly walk over to her, and pointed his blade at her. "Aww, looks like little Cami wasn't hot shit after all," he said, as one final lance had formed over his shoulder, "how about you stop fighting me? Let me take control? Better yet, how about I make you!?" Naturally, the plan for Albin here was to fire off another lance straight at her, and aim to once again finish her off, but Cami seemed to be like that of a cockroach; she just wouldn't die. Even though she had ten of his lances leeching off of her, and driven through her, she was still somehow able to move.
"You just don't get it, do you Albin?" She asked, as she slashed through each lance in one movement, causing them to break apart and liquify, "I've come way too far to let you take all of this from me. I'm not going to let you just take over. Any time you may think you'll stay in control, I promise you it won't be met without opposition." With that being said, all of her injuries began to automatically heal themselves, as she felt herself gain a burst of energy; thus was the way of Vampiric Healing. "I'm only going to keep getting stronger. I'll learn how to use Bankai from you, and I promise you that I will put an end to your torment!"
As she finished, Albin looked like he was going to pop a blood vessel in his forehead. He was seething with anger. "Fine then," he said, moving his blade as though he was going to run himself through, "you want Bankai? WELL THEN HERE'S YOUR FUCKING BANKAI! DRAIN THEM OF THEIR ESSENCE AND CONSUME IT ALL, GOUGE DE SANG!" As he finished shouting, he forced his Zanpakuto into his abdomen, as his entire body erupted with a tremendous amount of black and deep red reiatsu. It continued to swirl around him, letting out a torrent of raw energy; hollow energy.
Camila held her free hand in front of her face, as this torrent of energy was even growing to be a bit much for her to deal with. She winced as just the pressure released from his transformation seemed to be damaging to her very being. Not seconds later, this wave of pressure and energy began to dissipate, and in front of her stood Albin; clad in a thin red layer of armor, and with a new blade in hand. This blade was absolutely massive! It was far larger than the blade she had been used to using in Shikai; this was easily a bastard sword.
As Albin stood, reeling from the strain he had put on his own body, he gripped the blade with two hands, and pulled it from his chest. Almost immediately, the wound patched itself up, as though it hadn't existed in the first place. He exhaled heavily, as he stared at Camila. "You're going to regret the moment you ever decided to piss me off, Camila." With those words, he seemed to disappear from her vision, and reappeared nanoseconds later inches from her face. While he was effectively on top of her, he reeled to the side with the massive blade, and aimed to once again swing it through her core.
Thankfully she had the reaction time in order to block the strike with her own blade, but it was far from enough to withstand the force of the swing as she was launched into the wall of the ballroom. From there, she fell to the ground as Albin slowly began to walk toward her. "What the hell was that!?" She coughed out, "Is that what Bankai does to someone!?" Albin couldn't help but smile. "No, not someone, Camila, me. As he finished speaking, he was once again on top of her, and aimed for an overhead swing while the girl was still on the ground.
While she'd be able to parry the attack, the sheer force of the attack would hit her like a truck, and once again smash her into the ground. He took a step back upon noticing she tried to force herself up off the ground, and pretty much let her do so. Once again, her wounds had been healed thanks to her Shikai, as he once again swung at her with enough force to throw her into a different wall. She wasn't so sure if she was ready to be able to keep taking hits like that.
She couldn't keep this up. She was beginning to struggle to stand in general, let alone fight. "What's wrong, Camila?" Albin shouted, "can't stay level-headed enough in order to keep up a steady defense? Good! If you want to get anywhere, give up the fucking strategy talk! You're not meant for that; you and I both know that! You're meant for the rush of combat, the feeling of blade on blade, the slashes at your skin and your victim's!" She shuddered at the thought as he slowly began to approach her once more. She really couldn't take many more hits from him; she could only heal herself so much.
"Let loose, Camila. Let your emotions run wild; lose control. You'll be able to do so, so much more while you're acting in impulse, and not these stupid fucking strategies of yours that never seem to work. You need to let that beast inside of you out! You need to let me out! And if not me, learn to act on your own instinct! Have you noticed that every time you've been in some sort of life-or-death situation, it's been me there the entire time? I've been the one to fucking pull you back from death? It's about time you started learning how to do that on your own. Now; come at me like you fucking mean it! You heard the release command, pull out that fucking Bankai and come at me with everything you've fucking got!"
She had enough of his endless rambling. She was downright furious with everything that he'd been saying. Fine; he wanted her to let loose? To stop thinking and act on some sort of primal fighting instinct? Then she'd do exactly that. Standing up on her own, she took a deep breath as she assumed the same stance that Albin had earlier; the one where he pierced himself. His eyes lit up with excitement and thrill. "DO IT, CAMILA!"
As he shouted, Camila ran herself through. Almost immediately she began to cough up blood, as she shouted as loud as she could; "DRAIN THEM OF THEIR ESSENCE AND CONSUME IT ALL, GOUGE DE SANG!" As she finished speaking, she began to erupt with bright red reiatsu, forming a pseudo-shell around her as her spiritual pressure released outward in tremendous volumes; quite similarly to how his had earlier. "Excellent fucking job, Cami!" Albin shouted, as he began to charge through the volume of spiritual pressure, and straight for the girl.
As soon as the waves cleared, and she stood standing properly, the wound in her chest had been completely healed, and in her hand stood a new sword; one she'd have to wield with two hands. She stared him down, a dreadful, angry look in her eyes. Within seconds, she was upon him this time, bolting at astronomical speeds through the use of a Shunpo, and aimed for an overhead slash once more. Naturally he deflected it, but this time instead of going for another slash, Camila made clever use of a Shunpo Karin to kick him in the jaw while their blades were locked with one another.
Taking the hit head-on, Albin's head bent backward as he was sent back a small distance. Without letting up, Camila landed on the ground, and once again broke into a charge against him. He assumed a defensive stance as she went in for another strike to his left, while firing off five lances to his right. Albin had decided to block to sword swing, but ended up taking all five lances straight to his abdomen. With that, she backed off for a moment. "Excellent work, Camila!" he shouted, as he made use of a Shunpo to appear behind her, and go for a slash against the nape of her neck.
Before he managed to connect, though, a steel-like substance began to form by her neck to block the strike, and then quickly took shape to cover up the rest of her body; it seemed to be some sort of suit of armor surrounding her. She turned her torso, and went in for a right hook straight to his jaw, this time sending him flying. She took a deep breath, and the armor quickly fell off. That'd be something new she had to work on, but interesting nonetheless.
Forcing himself to stand up, Albin turned to face Camila once again, though a look of excitement flashed on his face, as opposed to one of anger. From here, he'd once again look to engage the girl with a Shunpo, though flash-stepping ever so slightly above her, as to let his body and in turn blade drop down from the air for an overhead slash. Fully expecting something from him, Camila threw her blade up into the air, as a way to reflect the incoming strike from her inner hollow.
Holding the clash for a few seconds, Camila eventually put all of her strength into her sword and looked to push Albin off of her blade. He didn't resist, and instead used that force behind her sword to push himself into the air. "Nice work so far, Camila, Albin said, as twelve of his own lances appeared behind him, "but you're going to have to do a hell of a lot better if you're looking to come out on top here!"
With that being said, Albin instantaneously fired off all twelve of these lances, aimed straight for Camila and the area around her. No matter where she went, she'd be forced to take at least one of these lances at full-force. Unfortunately for her, that's exactly what had happened. Managing to dodge all but one of these lances that had lodged itself in her left shoulder, Camila immediately backed off, and held her arm to the wound, looking to rip the lance from her skin.
As she was doing so, she began to felt heavy pressure from the lance, as it leeched out a rather significant amount of her own reiatsu. Starting to feel drained from the encounter, Camila gritted her teeth and ripped the conjured weapon out. Her eyes returned to Albin, once again teeming with hatred for him at the moment. Focusing her reiatsu, she began to form that same armor around her. She'd need a way to keep her own defenses stable if she looked to come out of this fight victoriously.
With a Shunpo to once again close the distance, Camila positioned herself right below Albin and used her free hand to grab at the man's leg. Forcing her reiatsu to surge through his leg in a similar fashion to what he had done with his lance, Camila began to sap not reiatsu from Albin, but his own vitality in turn. From there, she did what she could to throw him to the ground, and summoned a lance on her left side.
Almost immediately after he was thrown into the ground, Camila launched that lance into his foot and through the ground, managing to keep the hollow pinned there. Following this same process over and over again, Camila conjured three more, and pinned each and every one through all of his limbs. "You listen here, asshole," Camila started, "I'm already on top here; you've just proven that you can't come out on top anymore here. Now, shut the fuck up, and back the fuck down. I'm through with this petty bullshit. As usual, expletives began to flow like water from the girl's mouth while angered.
Reeling back her blade, Camila began to immediately cleave down into Albin, who had been bound by her blades. He winced, but otherwise had no reaction to the hit. From there, she slashed at him again. And again. And again. By this point, his body had four massive gashes through the center of it, and she jammed her blade into the ground. "Tch, is that the best you got?" With these words spoken, Camila held her hand in front of Albin, and immediately began to force his wounds to close up and heal. Smirking, Camila then responded. "With the hell that you've put me through over the years? Not even close."
From there, a vicious pattern that had begun to repeat itself over and over again started. Camila would cleave into Albin five to ten times, heal up all of the hollow's wounds through her own release, and then continue to cleave into him. This process had to have continued for a solid thirty minutes without fail, until Camila began to eventually tire from the amount of reiatsu required to keep the act up. Soon enough, the lances holding Albin down faded away, as Camila stared at him, her angered expression still persisting and her breathing speeding up rather rapidly.
In time, Albin stood up, and turned to face Camila. "Congratulations, Camila, you appear to have finally unlocked that Bankai of yours, thanks to help from me of course. You're finally ready for me. I hope you're prepared for what's to come~." As he finished speaking, she began to quickly feel her vision fade out. She couldn't keep herself up any longer within her inner world, and, within a matter of seconds, tumbled straight to the ground and blacked out almost instantly.
As though she'd been out for a few seconds, Camila shot up, and awoke on her couch once again, taking rapid breaths and gasping for air. She'd done it. She'd unlocked something she'd never thought she could ever reach; Bankai. She couldn't help but smile. Though the process was absolutely exhausting, and even though it had felt like a dream, she was confident that every last memory of her inner world was real; it felt the exact same as it did from her Shikai training.
Camila sighed as she opened the door to the apartment she was currently renting, with a plastic bag full of groceries. This is truly what her life had quickly become; she was living as a human again. She didn't necessarily need to eat or sleep, but over time she had felt the desire to do so; something about embracing her humanity. Truth be told, Camila had desired to be able to live a normal life again, free from all of that spiritual bullshit that seemed to plague her existence. Knowing that was very much an impossibility at this point, she began to do what she could in order to get stronger; accomplish her goals that required her to be strong, and then do what she could in order to never have to use those powers again.
After she put away all of the foodstuffs she'd just bought (namely instant ramen and energy drinks), she threw herself down onto the couch in the front room, and thrown her face into her hands, letting out a deep sigh. Quit your complaining, she heard a voice in her head say, this is the life you wanted, right? Free from those damned chains in the Seireitei, and living how you personally see fit? Why are you complaining? If I were in your position, I'd be rejoicing over the newfound freedom you've since obtained.
Lord, he was getting more and more talkative with each passing day. What was up with him recently? "I don't need your reassurance, Albin," Camila shot back aloud, her voice somewhat muffled because of her hands, "I'm quite content with life at the moment, thank you very much." The very moment she had finished speaking, she heard a snicker come from her inner hollow. Yeah, I'm sure you are. You know that I can read your every thought, right? I know exactly what you want deep down, and I can help you get it~
Camila couldn't help but chuckle to herself at the thought. Could he really help her accomplish the goals she wanted to get done? She'd certainly have to find that out. "Oh yeah?" she asked him, "and what might I 'want deep down' that you can help me get, Albin?" I think we both know the answer to that; what you really want is that Shini- "Alright! Alright. You've made your point." And with that being said, Camila's face was a deep shade of crimson, blushing furiously. She forced herself to sit up, and closed her eyes. "How exactly do you plan on helping with that, anyway?" Once again, there was that same annoying chuckle that came from Albin. Well, there was one thing in particular I was thinking; are you familiar with a Shinigami's second-stage release? That of Bankai?
Her eyes immediately shot open. This, this was certainly a possibility she hadn't considered. She'd heard rumors of those who left Soul Society, their Zanpakuto being destroyed. That thought alone had made her wonder why she was able to retain hers, let alone still have access to that of Shikai; since she left, she'd thought Bankai was out of the question completely. Maybe not? "I'm very familiar with Bankai, Albin. What exactly are you saying?" She'd started to grow used to the incessant chuckling. I could help you with that, Cami~! All you've gotta do is let yourself enter that little world I call my home, and I'll show you everything there is to know about that little power boost you're wanting~
She sighed as she once again closed her eyes, and began to focus without so much as a response from Albin. She'd entered her inner world once before, and that was during her process to unlocking Shikai right after she fought the Octava Espada. In truth, she rather enjoyed the appearance of her inner world. It was one she was more than happy to enter when she didn't have to deal with Albin. Unfortunately for her, though, it seemed like today was going to be one absolutely filled with seeing the damn man. She did what she could to mentally prepare herself, before taking the time to enter her inner world.
"Why, hello there, little Cami," Albin had spoken, now standing in front of her as she opened her eyes, standing in the center of that same grand ballroom she'd loved to see, "It's been a while since we've had the opportunity to see each other face to face, hasn't it? Last time we met like this was what, almost two years ago?" She simply nodded. That had sounded pretty correct, but truth be told she wasn't counting. "Well, I'm going to let you know here and now that this little 'training' session is going to be quite different from what other Shinigami have and will go through for achieving that of Bankai; none of that 'true name' bullshit is gonna be necessary here."
She grew weary by the ever-growing disturbing smile on Albin's face. "Alright, jackass, what's this going to entail?" Albin held his hand to his chest in a mocking manner, his smile now changing into that of a smirk. "You wound me with those words of yours, Cami. Though, to answer your question..." As he paused, he held out his hand, and an exact replica of Camila's own Zanpakuto had appeared into his hand. Almost immediately, he unsheathed the blade, and bolted straight for Camila. As though her life depended on it, she found her own Zanpakuto sheathed on her hip, and immediately drew it in order to block the incoming attack. "We're going to have a little bit of fun, and I'm going to do what I can to make you as conforming to my goals before I give you this little power of mine!"
As her blade clashed with his, she began to struggle quite a bit. He was certainly stronger than she was by a long-shot. That was to be expected, as his build was already much more muscular than hers, it was no wonder he had the strength to back that up. He began to push himself forward step by agonizing step, forcing Camila to back up slowly in the process. She tried to resist his strength, but it heavily seemed like she wasn't able to do so. Through much more effort on her part than he had been putting in, she was able to only slow his advances.
"Please, Cami, is that the best you can do?" He asked mockingly, "Surely you're better than that! I've seen how you fight, I know exactly what that body is capable of; especially after that little rampage you let me have against Ailene!" Those words made her shudder, and she ended up losing her balance, quickly falling to the ground. Almost immediately, he tried to plunge his blade into the ground, aiming straight for her head. She'd taken the opportunity to roll out of the way, and quickly stand back up again, though her breathing was already starting to grow ragged.
"Go to hell!" Camila shouted, as she followed in suit and charged at him, preparing for an overhead strike against Albin. A horrendous grin grew on his face as he effortlessly deflected the attack, and shoved her back with the pommel of his sword. "That was nothing!" Albin shouted angrily, "You'll be lucky if I don't end up killing you before this is all said and done if you keep trying to fight like that! Fight like you mean it! Like your life depends on it!" Those words had caused her to remember her fight with Beast; those were almost the exact same words he had said against her. She gripped her blade tighter, and once again charged at Albin.
This time, she was going for a strike to his side, through his core, and once again, he effortlessly blocked her advance, this time with one hand on his blade. With the other, he grabbed Camila by the upper arm, and threw her over his shoulder. Good lord, he was significantly stronger than he had been letting on. She'd need to be careful, as she realized that a head-on approach like that wasn't going to work anymore.
As she caught her balance in midair, and dropped to the ground, she once again continued to charge at him. He lowered his stance. "Please, Cami, when will you fucking realize that this isn't going to work for you? Give it up already!" Though, she had another trick up her sleeve instead this time. She wasn't going to rush right in this time, and instead she was going to try to trick him; to distract him with one movement, and prepare a different attack than the one he was baited into thinking she would.
As she grew ever closer to him, ending merely inches from him and going in for another strike, Albin reached out to try to grab her Zanpakuto mid-swing. "Gotcha!" he shouted, before quickly realizing that all of his effort had been for naught, as she made clever use of a Shunpo as a way to sidestep and maneuver herself around him. Pressing a two fingers into his left shoulder, she began to pump reiatsu into her fingertips. "Gotcha," she simply spoke back as a bolt of golden lightning shot through his shoulder and into the air in front of him.
She took a step back as he turned around, and reeled from the hit, with his shoulder being freshly blasted open. He plunged his blade into the ground, and used two fingers of his to wipe some of the blood onto his hand. "Well, well, would you look at that," he said, unrooting his sword and holding it in front of him, "someone finally managed to land a clean hit on little ol' me. Well, let's see if you can do that again this time!" Once he finished, he seemed to break out into some sort of cacophonous laughter; like he had some trick up his sleeve.
She knew exactly what he was going to do. In turn, she also held her blade in front of her, and prepared to do the exact same thing. "Tell me, Camila," he began to say, catching Camila off-guard due to his lack of using a nickname, "what's the name of that sword of yours?" She stared at him, confused for a moment. What did that have to do with anything that had been going on? Her Zanpakuto's name had always been Buveur de Sang, hadn't he known that? What was the significance of that comment? "Well, isn't it odd that Buveur de Sang isn't also my name~?" Gods, he was right. A wave of confusion and concern rose over her, as Albin continued to speak. "How on earth could that make sense, little Cami? Have you thought of the possibility that I'm not the original source of that power of yours~?"
As he finished speaking, his blade had taken shelter in a deep black shell of reiatsu that began to form around it. Within seconds, that shell deteriorated, and revealed Camila's Shikai. Her mind began to panic almost immediately. "Make them bleed, Buv-" Her words were immediately cut off by a sanguine lance, one of those created by Albin, smashing into her blade and sending it flying from her grip. "Ah, ah, ah," Albin taunted, "you goal now isn't to fight me, Cami. You've always been so good at taking hits and healing right back from them, so in turn, this is what you're going to do..."
As he paused, he charged her far faster than he was before in an attempt to blitz her. The moment he was upon her, he went for a horizontal slash right at her throat. Thankfully she was able to duck in time, but he curved his arm downward to swoop through her core. Once again, she managed to get out of the way through a clever application of Shunpo, one that allowed her to launch herself upward faster than he could slash at her. From here, she applied the use of a Shunpo Karin, looking to stomp down on Albin's head.
Thankfully for her, he wasn't fast enough to get out of the way in time, and ended up taking the hit full-force. Unfortunately for her, though, that hit meant next to nothing to him. In turn, he grabbed her by the ankle, and slammed her straight into the ground. "That was a nasty little trick there," he said, poising his blade to pierce through her, "but I'm not going to fall for some fake-out like that again!" With that said, he jammed his blade downward, as he ran her stomack through with his Zanpakuto.
At least, that's what would've happened if it wasn't for Camila's quick thinking in a time of crisis. While he had been speaking, she'd been mentally preparing the incantation for her favorite Bakudo; #79, Shibarikuyou. As she held her hand out while he went to pierce her, eight black suns had simultaneously appeared around his body, giving Camila the perfect time to escape as he was unable to move. She quickly scrambled from underneath him, and bolted for her sword. "Damn you!" he shouted, as she grabbed her Zanpakuto and held it out in front of her. "Make them Bleed, Buveur de Sang!"
As she spoke those words, her blade had also transformed into its Shikai form. She took a deep breath, as her bakudo that had captured Albin had finally shattered. Instead of charging her, her simply stared her down, a look of unnatural aggression on his face. "Well, well, well," he spoke, "someone must think she's hot shit now, huh? After pulling a stunt like that, you must feel so proud of yourself. Well, let me tell you, Camila, after I'm through with you, you'll be nothing more than a red spot on pavement." His words had made her shudder.
She wasted no time, though, and immediately began to charge him down. The moment she was upon him, she went straight for an upward slash, one that had been effortlessly parried by him. In turn, she quickly prepped and launched four sanguine lances at point-blank range. Though, similarly enough, those were met with his own lances which had been made for the sole purpose of deflecting hers. Unfortunately for her, neither attack worked there.
From there, Albin shoved her back with his blade, forcing her into the air as he created not four, but ten lances, each one hovering around him. In a matter of seconds, he launched each one, one by one straight into Camila's abdomen. Each and every one connected, as the force of each lance was enough to shunt her ever so slightly into the air so that the one right after could connect. After the final lance had struck its target, Camila turned herself around in the air so that her back would make impact, and crashed to the ground.
Albin began to slowly walk over to her, and pointed his blade at her. "Aww, looks like little Cami wasn't hot shit after all," he said, as one final lance had formed over his shoulder, "how about you stop fighting me? Let me take control? Better yet, how about I make you!?" Naturally, the plan for Albin here was to fire off another lance straight at her, and aim to once again finish her off, but Cami seemed to be like that of a cockroach; she just wouldn't die. Even though she had ten of his lances leeching off of her, and driven through her, she was still somehow able to move.
"You just don't get it, do you Albin?" She asked, as she slashed through each lance in one movement, causing them to break apart and liquify, "I've come way too far to let you take all of this from me. I'm not going to let you just take over. Any time you may think you'll stay in control, I promise you it won't be met without opposition." With that being said, all of her injuries began to automatically heal themselves, as she felt herself gain a burst of energy; thus was the way of Vampiric Healing. "I'm only going to keep getting stronger. I'll learn how to use Bankai from you, and I promise you that I will put an end to your torment!"
As she finished, Albin looked like he was going to pop a blood vessel in his forehead. He was seething with anger. "Fine then," he said, moving his blade as though he was going to run himself through, "you want Bankai? WELL THEN HERE'S YOUR FUCKING BANKAI! DRAIN THEM OF THEIR ESSENCE AND CONSUME IT ALL, GOUGE DE SANG!" As he finished shouting, he forced his Zanpakuto into his abdomen, as his entire body erupted with a tremendous amount of black and deep red reiatsu. It continued to swirl around him, letting out a torrent of raw energy; hollow energy.
Camila held her free hand in front of her face, as this torrent of energy was even growing to be a bit much for her to deal with. She winced as just the pressure released from his transformation seemed to be damaging to her very being. Not seconds later, this wave of pressure and energy began to dissipate, and in front of her stood Albin; clad in a thin red layer of armor, and with a new blade in hand. This blade was absolutely massive! It was far larger than the blade she had been used to using in Shikai; this was easily a bastard sword.
As Albin stood, reeling from the strain he had put on his own body, he gripped the blade with two hands, and pulled it from his chest. Almost immediately, the wound patched itself up, as though it hadn't existed in the first place. He exhaled heavily, as he stared at Camila. "You're going to regret the moment you ever decided to piss me off, Camila." With those words, he seemed to disappear from her vision, and reappeared nanoseconds later inches from her face. While he was effectively on top of her, he reeled to the side with the massive blade, and aimed to once again swing it through her core.
Thankfully she had the reaction time in order to block the strike with her own blade, but it was far from enough to withstand the force of the swing as she was launched into the wall of the ballroom. From there, she fell to the ground as Albin slowly began to walk toward her. "What the hell was that!?" She coughed out, "Is that what Bankai does to someone!?" Albin couldn't help but smile. "No, not someone, Camila, me. As he finished speaking, he was once again on top of her, and aimed for an overhead swing while the girl was still on the ground.
While she'd be able to parry the attack, the sheer force of the attack would hit her like a truck, and once again smash her into the ground. He took a step back upon noticing she tried to force herself up off the ground, and pretty much let her do so. Once again, her wounds had been healed thanks to her Shikai, as he once again swung at her with enough force to throw her into a different wall. She wasn't so sure if she was ready to be able to keep taking hits like that.
She couldn't keep this up. She was beginning to struggle to stand in general, let alone fight. "What's wrong, Camila?" Albin shouted, "can't stay level-headed enough in order to keep up a steady defense? Good! If you want to get anywhere, give up the fucking strategy talk! You're not meant for that; you and I both know that! You're meant for the rush of combat, the feeling of blade on blade, the slashes at your skin and your victim's!" She shuddered at the thought as he slowly began to approach her once more. She really couldn't take many more hits from him; she could only heal herself so much.
"Let loose, Camila. Let your emotions run wild; lose control. You'll be able to do so, so much more while you're acting in impulse, and not these stupid fucking strategies of yours that never seem to work. You need to let that beast inside of you out! You need to let me out! And if not me, learn to act on your own instinct! Have you noticed that every time you've been in some sort of life-or-death situation, it's been me there the entire time? I've been the one to fucking pull you back from death? It's about time you started learning how to do that on your own. Now; come at me like you fucking mean it! You heard the release command, pull out that fucking Bankai and come at me with everything you've fucking got!"
She had enough of his endless rambling. She was downright furious with everything that he'd been saying. Fine; he wanted her to let loose? To stop thinking and act on some sort of primal fighting instinct? Then she'd do exactly that. Standing up on her own, she took a deep breath as she assumed the same stance that Albin had earlier; the one where he pierced himself. His eyes lit up with excitement and thrill. "DO IT, CAMILA!"
As he shouted, Camila ran herself through. Almost immediately she began to cough up blood, as she shouted as loud as she could; "DRAIN THEM OF THEIR ESSENCE AND CONSUME IT ALL, GOUGE DE SANG!" As she finished speaking, she began to erupt with bright red reiatsu, forming a pseudo-shell around her as her spiritual pressure released outward in tremendous volumes; quite similarly to how his had earlier. "Excellent fucking job, Cami!" Albin shouted, as he began to charge through the volume of spiritual pressure, and straight for the girl.
As soon as the waves cleared, and she stood standing properly, the wound in her chest had been completely healed, and in her hand stood a new sword; one she'd have to wield with two hands. She stared him down, a dreadful, angry look in her eyes. Within seconds, she was upon him this time, bolting at astronomical speeds through the use of a Shunpo, and aimed for an overhead slash once more. Naturally he deflected it, but this time instead of going for another slash, Camila made clever use of a Shunpo Karin to kick him in the jaw while their blades were locked with one another.
Taking the hit head-on, Albin's head bent backward as he was sent back a small distance. Without letting up, Camila landed on the ground, and once again broke into a charge against him. He assumed a defensive stance as she went in for another strike to his left, while firing off five lances to his right. Albin had decided to block to sword swing, but ended up taking all five lances straight to his abdomen. With that, she backed off for a moment. "Excellent work, Camila!" he shouted, as he made use of a Shunpo to appear behind her, and go for a slash against the nape of her neck.
Before he managed to connect, though, a steel-like substance began to form by her neck to block the strike, and then quickly took shape to cover up the rest of her body; it seemed to be some sort of suit of armor surrounding her. She turned her torso, and went in for a right hook straight to his jaw, this time sending him flying. She took a deep breath, and the armor quickly fell off. That'd be something new she had to work on, but interesting nonetheless.
Forcing himself to stand up, Albin turned to face Camila once again, though a look of excitement flashed on his face, as opposed to one of anger. From here, he'd once again look to engage the girl with a Shunpo, though flash-stepping ever so slightly above her, as to let his body and in turn blade drop down from the air for an overhead slash. Fully expecting something from him, Camila threw her blade up into the air, as a way to reflect the incoming strike from her inner hollow.
Holding the clash for a few seconds, Camila eventually put all of her strength into her sword and looked to push Albin off of her blade. He didn't resist, and instead used that force behind her sword to push himself into the air. "Nice work so far, Camila, Albin said, as twelve of his own lances appeared behind him, "but you're going to have to do a hell of a lot better if you're looking to come out on top here!"
With that being said, Albin instantaneously fired off all twelve of these lances, aimed straight for Camila and the area around her. No matter where she went, she'd be forced to take at least one of these lances at full-force. Unfortunately for her, that's exactly what had happened. Managing to dodge all but one of these lances that had lodged itself in her left shoulder, Camila immediately backed off, and held her arm to the wound, looking to rip the lance from her skin.
As she was doing so, she began to felt heavy pressure from the lance, as it leeched out a rather significant amount of her own reiatsu. Starting to feel drained from the encounter, Camila gritted her teeth and ripped the conjured weapon out. Her eyes returned to Albin, once again teeming with hatred for him at the moment. Focusing her reiatsu, she began to form that same armor around her. She'd need a way to keep her own defenses stable if she looked to come out of this fight victoriously.
With a Shunpo to once again close the distance, Camila positioned herself right below Albin and used her free hand to grab at the man's leg. Forcing her reiatsu to surge through his leg in a similar fashion to what he had done with his lance, Camila began to sap not reiatsu from Albin, but his own vitality in turn. From there, she did what she could to throw him to the ground, and summoned a lance on her left side.
Almost immediately after he was thrown into the ground, Camila launched that lance into his foot and through the ground, managing to keep the hollow pinned there. Following this same process over and over again, Camila conjured three more, and pinned each and every one through all of his limbs. "You listen here, asshole," Camila started, "I'm already on top here; you've just proven that you can't come out on top anymore here. Now, shut the fuck up, and back the fuck down. I'm through with this petty bullshit. As usual, expletives began to flow like water from the girl's mouth while angered.
Reeling back her blade, Camila began to immediately cleave down into Albin, who had been bound by her blades. He winced, but otherwise had no reaction to the hit. From there, she slashed at him again. And again. And again. By this point, his body had four massive gashes through the center of it, and she jammed her blade into the ground. "Tch, is that the best you got?" With these words spoken, Camila held her hand in front of Albin, and immediately began to force his wounds to close up and heal. Smirking, Camila then responded. "With the hell that you've put me through over the years? Not even close."
From there, a vicious pattern that had begun to repeat itself over and over again started. Camila would cleave into Albin five to ten times, heal up all of the hollow's wounds through her own release, and then continue to cleave into him. This process had to have continued for a solid thirty minutes without fail, until Camila began to eventually tire from the amount of reiatsu required to keep the act up. Soon enough, the lances holding Albin down faded away, as Camila stared at him, her angered expression still persisting and her breathing speeding up rather rapidly.
In time, Albin stood up, and turned to face Camila. "Congratulations, Camila, you appear to have finally unlocked that Bankai of yours, thanks to help from me of course. You're finally ready for me. I hope you're prepared for what's to come~." As he finished speaking, she began to quickly feel her vision fade out. She couldn't keep herself up any longer within her inner world, and, within a matter of seconds, tumbled straight to the ground and blacked out almost instantly.
As though she'd been out for a few seconds, Camila shot up, and awoke on her couch once again, taking rapid breaths and gasping for air. She'd done it. She'd unlocked something she'd never thought she could ever reach; Bankai. She couldn't help but smile. Though the process was absolutely exhausting, and even though it had felt like a dream, she was confident that every last memory of her inner world was real; it felt the exact same as it did from her Shikai training.
