Field Experiments [Camila/JT]

[Raphael Laurent]

Raphael had only recently returned from his week in the wilderness, learning as much as he could about the power of soul command and his own fullbring. While both he’d been successfulo at both of his original objectives, he’d come up with a power of his own that he was trying to perfect and while it had been partially successful, there were issues with it. The biggest problem, he’d found, had been that he didn’t know how dense the actual core of reiatsu needed to be in order to deal sufficient damage to spiritual targets. This was a significant hurdle, as he’d need to know how dense it needed to be in order to keep from needlessly damaging the spiritual ecosystem of Earth. Even the spirit world had its own order and balance that needed respecting, after all.

To such an end, he needed a test subject of some kind. Unfortunately, he didn’t want to get on the bad side of the shinigami, at least not until he had some way of vanishing into the ether of Earth, nor did he want to experiment on a soul that was a human, at one point. They didn’t deserve that. Sent to Soul Society or Hueco Mundo? Maybe, but not ripped apart. Especially not when he didn’t know exactly what it would do to the experimentee. Thus he knew that the only option was a hollow, a weak one preferably. He only needed to know how powerful the energy needed to be formed in order to start ripping apart a spirit, after that he could develop the actual power of it further.

Standing within Karakura, he knew that the spiritual radar would give him an idea of where one was, should one be around, and he happened to be in luck. It was in a vacant lot, fairly removed from prying eyes of the locals and with it being nearly eight at night, he was certain that he’d be fine to do his experimentation. He didn’t need anyone bothering him, that would only delay the process and his note taking. Pulling out his phone, he tapped into the network to track its location and make sure he kept it was staying in the same place. He went into a nearby building, went up to the roof and with a slight swish and a green column of light in his place, he was gone.

He was halfway across town when he found it, still in the same lot and eating a human soul it seemed to have finally caught. Grimacing a bit, he leapt down into the area. It was a very weak hollow, probably only recently hollowfied. That was a pity. Not that it was so weak, but that it was so young and was about to exeperience more pain. But, the world was sometimes a cruel bitch. It smelled him, turned to look at him and then rushed him, not understanding what was going on. With a stomp of his foot, the air around him suddenly was expelled outwards, creating a dome of kinetic force that launched the hollow backwards. When it landed, Raphael held out his hand and then closed it in a fist. The ground wrapped around the creature’s legs and arms and hardened, trapping the creature on the ground, immobile and helpless. Then, he pulled out his phone and turned on the voice recorder function.

“This is Raphael Laurent, preparing to run experiments on hollowfied spirit form. Purpose of experiment is finding density of reiatsu based energy capable of causing sufficient damage to spirt-forms. Density of energy usage will be measured in newtons.” He paused the recording and stabbed a small box into the ground beside the hollow then he started the recording again. “This is largely due to the inherent nature of reiatsu, as an energy source, as well as its behavior when released into the outside world from a body.” Holding out his hand he created a small orb of reiatsu similar to the “spirit waves” technique and held it in front of the box. “First experiment. Reiatsu density equivalent to 0.1 newtons of force.” Then he jammed it into the leg of the hollow, watching intently. The creature wailed in a bit of pain, but as the orb finally dissipated, all that it had was some light bruising, as if he’d punched it a bit. He held up his phone. “0.1 newtons caused only minor abrasions. Results, 0.1 newtons of force is ineffective. Will increase to 0.2 newtons.”

[Deleted]

Having spent far too much time shopping around Karakura over the last few weeks, Camila knew that she very desperately needed to get her ass into gear once more. She couldn't afford to continue sitting around and doing nothing while in the Human World. She needed to continue to refine her combat skills, and keep her mind sharp; Especially while she feared being hunted by the Seireitei. She needed to do what she could in order to keep herself safe as much as possible. That said, night was perfect cover for her to stay away from prying eyes of those that might've been spiritual in nature. Either way, it was still an opportunity for her to let loose and fight without holding back, granted she could find someone to go all-out against.

Waiting the rest of the day away, Cami spent most of her time working out in her apartment until dusk. She'd absolutely need the cover of night in order to do what she could to keep Shinigami off of her tail. Once that night hit, she left her apartment, locked the door, and took a deep breath. She clenched her Zanpakuto tightly against her hip, as she made her way into the town. She didn't bother to suppress her spiritual pressure in the slightest; no, instead she'd let it run wild, giving off much more of a hollow-like signature than one of a Shinigami; after all, Albin was the sole reason she was able to keep her powers to begin with. She no longer carried a trace of Shinigami reiatsu, and that was something she was rather proud of to this point.

Almost immediately outside of her complex, her attention had been brought to a rather smaller hollow seemingly scrapping through body of a soul it had just consumed. The hollow itself didn't seem to be anything worthwhile, which ultimately was all the better for Cami; there was no doubt in her mind that other hollows were going to prey on this little one, and that just gave her the opportunity to take those hollows down. She'd get kills and practice, while this hollow got the option to consume anything that Camila actively struck down. It was more or less as symbiotic relationship that the two had unknowingly formed, and it was one that benefitted both quite equally.

At least, it would've, if it wasn't for a rather unforeseen party entering the equation; some Fullbringer that came from seemingly nowhere. While she didn't bother to mask her reiatsu, Camila decided to lie in wait in order to see what this Fullbringer was up to with this hollow in mind. Unfortunately, just as he appeared, he aleady seemed to be going in for an attack against it. She gritted her teeth. Surely he wasn't the type to take advantage of such a blatant difference in strength like that? She'd just have to wait and see, especially in order to get a feel of how strong this Fullbringer truly was. Once she had the information she needed, she'd blitz the man in order to protect the hollow.

Almost instantaneously, the man had pinned the poor hollow down, and had immediately begun to seemingly test some sort of attack against it. What the hell was this? Who the hell did he think he was? This was another living being! One that had been a victim of circumstance, and one that she was not going to sit idly by and watch suffer at the hands of this asshole. Upon thinking enough is enough, Camila stood up and immediately entered the situation with a Shunpo-aided strike against the man. She wasn't going to give him the time to react if she could help it, as she was here to get stronger to begin with. After trying to strike at the man, she simply stared him down, sheathed her blade, and readied her hand at her Zanpakuto's scabbard on the off-chance that she needed to draw it once more. "I've no clue who you are, but you're dead wrong if you think I'm going to sit by and let you torture another soul like that. If you're looking to continue, you'd better be willing to raise a blade against me, first; Camila Adaronde, Honorary 'Hollow'. Who might you be?" 

[Raphael Laurent]

Raphael watched as it started to respond, only mildly more acceptably to 0.2 newtons, when he suddenly felt someone coming at him. He felt the hit before he saw it coming and he slid a ways away from the hollow, and scrambled to his feet. Yet what showed up was something that was as aggravating as it was satisfying: a shinigami. He found it odd that one was just patrolling at the same time that he’d been working on his ability, but he didn’t let it bother him. As she kept a hand on her blade, he eyed her with disinterest and a bit of irritation.

Torture another soul? Doesn’t she understand that I was going to kill it when I was done regardless? I’m not a quincy. I can’t destroy souls… But when she described what she was, his eyes widened and he began to laugh. It started off slow and kind of low in pitch, but it quickly rose to a manic almost high pitched cackle. After a few seconds, when he calmed down, he simply smiled at her, while holding up his left hand, with the ring on it. “Fascinating. And noted. As far as names go, I suppose it would be rude of me to not introduce myself. Raphael Laurent. Fullbringer and, honestly, a little tired of spirits coming to our world. I don’t understand why your…adopted kind and shinigami can’t simply kill each other in your own worlds, you have to use OURS as a battleground.” He sighed. “Forgive me for rambling.”

Then he sneered at her. “Also, a blade? Please don’t be so irritatingly pedantic. This isn’t the medieval era or even the rennaissance; humans don’t use swords anymore. Nor do I carry a gun on me. Nor did I particularly expect getting into a true fight out here in the middle of nowhere. This wasn’t torture, by the by; it was a simple experiment. Once I’d finished, I was going to send the cursed thing on its way, where it could be killed and devoured by others of its kind or purified by shinigami. The spirits of the other worlds don’t hold much stock, in my opinion. Look at yourself, for instance! A shinigami calling themsevles an honorary hollow, scolding a human for experimentation on a creature that, normally, would hunt him. The irony is too stupifying.”

“The only reason that this thing is even the subject in the first place is because of the fact that it’s the first one I happened upon. I would’ve done the same, even if it was stronger. If I had other things to test it on, including materials, I would’ve done so.” Suddenly he covered his mouth. “Oh, wait! This is the WORLD OF THE LIVING!! There ARE no other readily available spiritual materials. Ya know, I put up with a lot of bullshit from you spirits, the hollows and the shinigami, and sometimes it just gets a LITTLE irritating. You all are dead and don’t belong here. BUT there are more of you all than there are of us and there are advantages that both spirit-forms have over us humans. I’m simply working on evening the playing field.”

[Deleted]

To say Camila was taken back from this man's words would be a severe understatement. She certainly didn't expect someone to be nearly as talkative as he was, and while she was far from against it, she'd need to tackle everything as it came in regards to information. Throughout certain points of his speaking, Camila had decided to interject comments in order to make sure her points were getting out, and that she wouldn't forget them later. Firstly, was the topic of introductions. "As far as names go, I suppose it would be rude of me to not introduce myself. Raphael Laurent. Fullbringer and, honestly, a little tired of spirits coming to our world..." Once he finished, she went straight to commenting on it. "You're fine dude. That said, believe me; this world is just as much my home now as it is yours. I'm not exactly keen on wanton destruction myself."

His next point was one that confused Camila the most. Not necessarily because of the points he was making, but more because of how those points clashed with her own interpretations and experiences. Just about everyone she'd met thus far had all used some sort of blade, or at the very least a melee weapon of sorts; hell, even the Quincies she'd fought in the past used a collection of melee weapons! Just what was this guy on about? "For the record, the only thing that separates you and I from something like a true hollow is the bestial nature that the newer ones hold; they're still souls. They still have emotions, and they still feel pain. Doing what you're doing on a poor soul like that just because it's a hollow is unacceptable, and something I'm personally not going to stand for. And by the by; I don't associate with that hellhole of an afterlife of the Seireitei for my own reasons; I'm not much of a Shinigami anymore as it stands, save for the similarities that I share with them in regards to how I fight."

"Also... What? You said it yourself; there's more of us than there are of normal humans. There's no reason that you can't test.... whatever it is you're looking to test on a Quincy or hell even a Shinigami for all I care. I'm not going to let you beat something that cannot reasonably fight back within an inch of its life, though. If you want something to test that little attack on, then you've got someone right here." From there, Camila entered a defensive stance; one that likely held roots from Hakuda. "If you can land those hits you're looking for on me, then great, you'll have your results. Otherwise, you aren't doing shit to that hollow." With that, Camila smirked back toward Raphael.

Simply put, she was here to train, and she'd be damned if she wasn't going to walk away with some kind of training out of it. That said, why not help someone that could teach her a thing or two about fighting a Human World Dweller? She had little to no experience against any of them, let alone specifically a Fullbringer, so this was a great learning experience for her. Not to mention that by giving him an incentive, hopefully she could convince him to participate? Nothing was official of course, but still, she'd hoped he'd bite. "If you're looking to even the playing field, Raphael, I can certainly give you a bit of information regarding what I know about Shinigami weaknesses and areas that could be exploited. If that's what you're after, I'd absolutely be willing to aid you wherever I can; Gods know I'd be willing to take any opportunity I can to get back at those self-righteous sons o' bitches."

[Raphael Laurent]

He stretched a few times and pulled out a notebook and began to make some small notes; this world was as much her world as his? That was an obvious inaccuracy. Her current form wasn’t born into this world, whereas his was. He began to think she more meant that she’d left and was living on the same plane as he was, but he didn’t think that she exactly had gotten what his point was. He’d meant that she was not born there, that she’d never really lived there before this time. Though she could’ve been there longer than he was aware of.

“As far as what separates you and I from them, we will have to agree to disagree. I am aware, however, that they have emotions and feel pain. The reason that I’m doing this isn’t because it’s a hollow. Were it not for the fact that Shinigami would potentially investigate such an action, I would have had no qualms about using a Shinigami either. Other than the Shinigami institution there, I didn’t mind the world of Soul Society itself. It was a rather nice place, reminding me of what we oftentimes the world is theorized to have been before we created so many cities.” He scribbled down that she was a potential Shinigami defector.

“Well, as far as the quincy I would have to kill them first. A Shinigami or perhaps even a normal soul would’ve worked. That would’ve been easy, had your friend here NOT EATEN the soul that they did. The only thing that I need to do is figure out how dense the reiatsu needs to be in order to rip apart a soul. Now, if you were paying attention, which I don’t think you were, I need to figure out in newtons how dense said reiatsu has to be. Given that it’s not a true attack, trying to hit you with it will do nothing, since I won’t be able to measure how strong it needs to be.”

He smiled. “Now, that being said, I’ve never gotten to face off against any creature such as a Shinigami before. If you’re planning on being a hollowfied spirit-form ally, you’re going to need to be strong. I’m more than willing to train with you to make us both stronger. It would be a wonderful way to test out your own power.” And he held up the ringed hand again, prepared to summon his fullbring when suddenly a much better, almost poetic, thought came to his mind.

“Or… We could also take advantage of this…unique encounter and utilize such a test upon a Shinigami. A chance for you to get some satisfaction and a chance for myself to complete my tests.”

[Deleted]

"Now, if you were paying attention, which I don’t think you were, I need to figure out in newtons how dense said reiatsu has to be. Given that it’s not a true attack, trying to hit you with it will do nothing, since I won’t be able to measure how strong it needs to be." Camila was genuinely taken back by this comment. He needed to figure out in what? "I, uh," she stuttered, "I would've never guessed you could quantify reiatsu in newtons. Kudos to you for that one, and even more kudos for being able to actually measure that." While she didn't quite get all of the scientific talk, she had a general understanding of what he was saying, and truly did respect him for an accomplishment like that, no matter how significant or otherwise it might've been.

"I’m more than willing to train with you to make us both stronger. It would be a wonderful way to test out your own power." Cami's eyes lit up at the sound of this. She'd grown to enjoy fighting quite a bit over the last hundred years she'd been brought into the afterlife, and was generally always up for doing so. She smiled and held her hand close to her blade. While not looking to threaten Raphael right away, she wanted to do what she could to show her interest while not being outwardly aggressive about it. Just a simple gesture to show her interest in that suggestion was all she really needed; nothing more, and nothing less was necessary.

Camila smiled upon hearing Raphael's closing words. "Well, why don't we take up both options? Sure, it'll take a bit more time to do, but not only will you get the information you're looking for, I'll be able to get more combat experience than I had originally expected, and you'll be able to square off against someone with the abilities of a Shinigami. Ultimately, we'll both be getting more out of this than would normally be said. So, what say you, Raphael? How about we take the time to engage each other as a warm-up of sorts, and then fight alongside each other once we're both aptly prepared to take down a Shinigami, hopefully with relative ease?"

Camila truthfully rather enjoyed this plan. She liked the concept of being able to tear down a Shinigami, but was rather worried that she might've missed out on a rather useful sparring partner, should she decline a spar against the Fullbringer. That said, she was willing to accommodate either way. Any bit of time spent engaging in a fight was more than enough for her, as she'd still be able to get at least a semblance of practice in against someone, and truth be told she was somewhat content with that. Though, she would've loved to see what he was capable of nonetheless; truth be told, she's never had an encounter with a Fullbringer that she could remember in vivid detail, aside from her family when she was originally living.

[Raphael Laurent]

Watching her, he couldn’t deny that he didn’t get a good feeling from her; she felt exceedingly hollow-like, more so than he was expecting. Maybe she spent a great deal of time in Hueco Mundo and it did something similar to living in a house with a horrible stench? He didn’t know if it worked like that, but it was the best explanation that he could really come up with. Her praise on figuring out how to both measure and quantify the strength of reiatsu signatures didn’t sit too well with him either. She already felt like a combo of the two things he didn’t like, Shinigami and hollows. Why would she care if a human figured out how to measure reiatsu? It was steps in the right direction for HIM but her?

She seemed to be quite happy with his suggestion of the two of them training, though he couldn’t decide what would be quite best for the two of them. Perhaps a light sparring? He sighed, scratching his chin and watched her, curiously wondering what she would want to do. He thought that she might want to do one of the two, but she quickly surprised him by suggesting that they do both. They would start with some sparring, to loosen themselves up, and then they jump a Shinigami and Raphael would then perform his experiments. He sighed, slowly.

He nodded a few times. “Hm. That sounds good.” He snapped his fingers and the earthen binds that held the hollow down and they snapped like rubber, letting out the creature. “Only one condition.” He held up a finger. “If a hollow shows up and attacks normal people, I will have to stop it. That’s the entire reason that I have these powers. That is what I swore to myself when they finally awakened. Otherwise, I’m all in.” He smiled. “So what kind of warm up spar did you want to do? I’m good with some limbering up, since that’s what I really need. I’m more than happy to show you some Soul Dominance. Name your rules.”

[Deleted]

Upon hearing Raphael agree, her eyes lit up with excitement once more. She began to jump around a bit to loosen up her legs, as she continued to listen to Raphael's one condition. She nodded the entire time, agreeing to his words. "Hey, that's perfectly fine with me. So long as you're not wiping them off the face of the planet, we'll be good, y'know? That said though, you seem pretty cool, so I'm not going to go batshit or anything in case that happens anyway. Either way, I'm hyped up for this! It's been waaaay too long since I last got the opportunity to have a good fight, y'know? Plus a get a good feeling from you anyway so I'm game for this!"

Calming down a bit with the jumping and putting a finger to her lip, she stared into the sky in thought. "Hm..." she said aloud, "I guess I hadn't really gotten that far. I'd love to see what it is you mean by Soul Dominance, though, that certainly sounds interesting! Unfortunately I don't have too too much that I can show you regarding a Shinigami's powers, but I could always show you Shikai or Bankai if you'd like to see that. If not, I won't hold it against you though, especially regarding the latter; it can be a lot at times." She chuckled to herself. "That said, though, how about just a simple spar? First person to yield is where we end it?"

Jumping a foot or so back, Camila once again drew her blade and entered a readied stance. She wasn't going to release or anything for the time being; not until she got a confirmation from Raphael that he was alright with her doing so. After all, this all was just a warm-up. Ultimately it was up to him how that went, and she didn't want to press any boundaries; not when she already tried to kill him not moments before. She smiled thinking about that; how she ended up making that mistake moments ago, and where they were now. If only others were this... forgiving. If only she could get this level of niceties from those she wanted to keep in her life from her time in Soul Society; from Celes. She shook her head from side to side, and continued to eye down Raphael awaiting a response. 

[Raphael Laurent]

Putting his hands into his pockets, he watched as she bounced around on her heels a bit. Raphael stretched his shoulders out a bit, getting himself ready for a bit of combat. He wasn’t nearly as powerful as some of his friends, but he felt like he needed this. Just a bit of exercise was what he needed and, thankfully, Camilla hopefully would assist him in getting this little bit of a workout. He even nodded at her insistence that he not completely annihilate the hollows, should they run into any. That wasn’t so much his concern. “I getcha. Keeping them from devouring humans is my main concern; even though I know that I can’t protect everyone, I protect people that I can.”

“Hm. I’d say we simply start here, for now and, if it gets a bit more intense, we can really use our weapons.” He chuckled as she said that soul dominance sounded interesting. It didn’t sound like she knew what exactly it was about and wondered if she’d ever really confronted a fullbringer before. This would definitely be educational for the both of them and Raphael was greatly hopeful that it would indeed do so. “That works for me. I’m more interested in learning how you fight. Other than that? If it gets a bit serious we can show off our weapons and what they do.”

She jumped approximately a food away, drawing her blade and lowering into a fighting stance. Raphael, for his own part, didn’t alter his stance away from having his hands in his pockets and relaxing a bit. He was ready, oddly, to be fight against her. “I hope that you’re not expecting me to be like other sparring partners. I’m just a normal dude, like I said I really don’t have any kind of weapons. At least, not the kind of weapon that you’re going to be thinking. Whenever you’re ready.”

[Deleted]

Taking a deep breath, Camila focused on her opponent. In truth she wasn't entirely ready for a fight without her release, but she'd manage. She was far more concerned about the problems with going all out, the enemies it might end up attracting, and the like. The benefits of holding onto her release far outweighed the benefits of using it at the current moment, and that was something she'd just have to live with. Otherwise she'd be putting not only Raphael and herself in danger, but others that could've been in the area. She very much wanted to remain on Raphael's good side, so she decided against doing something that reckless for the time being.

Once she head him speak the words "Whenever you're ready", the girl immediately went to close the distance between the two of them through the use of Shunpo. Moving at speeds most-easily quantified as 2000, Camila threw her body downward upon closing the distance almost to that of a crouch against him. Her best option for the time being was to apply pressure from close range; seeing as he put his hands into his pockets, she made the call that he had to have been some sort off ranged combatant, and would have to act accordingly. While she was crouched in front of him, Camila took her blade and arced upward in front of her, looking to cleave at Raphael's chest.

As her sword went up and through the air (as well as hopefully toward Raphael), Cami did what she could to force her arms back down as fast as she could in order to land another hit on the way down. She wasn't too worried regarding the amount of damage she did to the man, given that her powers allowed her to heal injuries anyway if need be; there was very little chance that he was going to take a fatal injury, and even if he did, she wasn't going to let him die. Smirking at the man after she made her slashes, Camila took a step back to try to take a quick breather. She wanted to give him an opportunity to retaliate if possible, and was willing to push herself to the edge if need be.

[Raphael Laurent]

She seemed to use whatever the shinigami version of Bringer’s Light was, as she was in front of him within seconds. As she came to a stop he noted that she was in a crouching position, and she made to swing her blade up trying to cut through his chest. Raphael, noting that she seemed to be quite apt to combat and fast to make the first move, did something similar to her, using Bringer’s Light to dash only a few feet backwards at a speed of 2000. This would put him out of range of the first, as well as the second, strike that she attempted. Then he noted that she simply only took a step back from where she’d been. Then she seemed to…stop, as though wanting for him to counterattack.

That was when he realized that she didn’t know how to fight a fullbringer, or that she’d never fought one herself. Keeping his eyes on her, Raphael tapped his foot on the ground. There was a second where nothing happened and then, suddenly, a slab of the ground in front of her swung upwards like a trap door that had been sprung, flinging up at a speed of 325. “I do hope that I don’t surprise you. Need to be careful when you’re fighting a fullbringer. Just like I’m trying to be careful while I’m fighting a shinigami!”

[Deleted]

Unfortunately for Camila, she had no way of truly being able to predict a hit from the ground like the one she'd just taken. Being forced backward a few feet, only being kept of of the ground because of her stand, Camila grunted from both the shock and the pain from the surprise attack. After it was all said and done, however, she was smirking. Simply put, it was a clever hit. She chuckled to herself a bit, before calling out to the fullbringer. "Tch, good hit there Raphael! Can't say I was really anticipating anything like that, good on you!" As she finished speaking, she listened to what the he had to say, and nodded. Truth be told, he wasn't wrong for taking the actions that he did.

That said, she needed to come up with a game-plan. She needed some way to try to catch him off-guard if she could help it. But how? He'd dodged the first attack, so his ability to either predict strikes, or react to them was certainly something she'd need to be weary of. Not to mention that cocky stance of his; he kept his hands in his pockets! How was he supposed to fight like that? Didn't he have some kind of weapon to use? Remembering back almost one hundred full years ago to when she was alive, even she had a weapon at the time. Just what was this man plotting? What was he capable of? She hated that she couldn't get any kind of sound read on the man.

Realizing that he likely wasn't going to close the distance himself, Camila decided to take to the air this time via Shunpo. The goal was to position herself in the air above Raphael, while also prepping a strike of sorts. Crouching down on the ground, Camila launched herself into the sky at a speed of 2000, similarly to how quickly they had both moved a second ago, and let gravity do the rest of the work for her. As she dropped through the air, she tried to spin herself a bit, as to build up slivers of extra force for the incoming strike. Even if she got one full rotation out of it, that'd be more than enough; she wasn't looking to do anything too crazy.

When she finally came close to the ground, Camila launched her sword into the pavement where Raphael had been standing, causing the ground around her to crack slightly upon impact. She certainly wasn't the strongest individual, but that wasn't to say she was weak either. While she was certainly looking to land a hit here, that wasn't exactly the main purpose of the attack; she'd wanted to see just where the Fullbringer tried to escape to after slamming into the ground. Surely there had to be some pattern to his actions? Only time would tell, and she'd need to take every opportunity she could in order to figure out just what he was about.

[Raphael Laurent]

He couldn’t help but wince a bit when Camila took the hit. When practicing that little trick, he’d smacked himself in the face so many times that he could still feel it in his nose. But he couldn’t back the smile when Camila said that it was a good hit. He wasn’t much of a fighter, he knew that much; at least not by standards Camila would most likely consider a fighter, but he knew that he could do…other things. That was one of the biggest challenges, though: adapting to the way that this woman fought. It was very much like Luca, if Luca had a sword, and that didn’t make him too much happier. She was only marginally faster, though.

After his counterattack, however, she seemed to be doing much the same thing as he was: analyzing her opponent, figuring out his pattern and how he did things. Raph still had his hands in his pockets though, not wanting to overdo things. He wasn’t fighting for his life and didn’t need to go all out, at least not unless she did something insane. Unlike most beings, Raph didn’t have a weapon; he really hadn’t been lying when he’d told her that. He wasn’t a warrior. He was a survivor. He wasn’t a fighter. He ENDED fights as quickly as he could.

He watched as she launched herself high into the air, and then started to drop, spinning a bit near the bottom. Centripetal force, eh? Not a bad tactic, all things considered. Right before she would cleaved through him, he leapt back just barely managing to get out of her attack radius. Though, the spinning had done a fairly good job, and as he noticed that his shirt had been cut across the chest and a minor gash appeared on the right pectoral he winced a bit and shook his head.

Not wanting her to get the idea that all he was going to do was fight her from far away, he once more used Bringer’s Light, making himself move at 2000 once more, moving first towards her, but angled slightly to her left. Then, right as he passed her, he changed direction, sliding a bit as he turned and stopped, before once more firing right at her back. This time, his hands came out of his pockets as he suddenly swung a punch at her back, but was ready to leap away, in case he needed to again.

[Deleted]

As she landed her strike against the ground, she couldn't help but smirk at the fact that she landed a cut - while not major, t'was a cut nonetheless - against the fullbringer. She was glad to see she was able to even slightly return the favor against him, even if she couldn't land a good hit quite yet. Didn't matter in her eyes, though, she'd just patch 'em up after this was all said and done. That said, she wanted to take the opportunity to use these hits to her advantage for the time being. She wasn't going to release quite yet, and would take the opportunity to continue hopping around and trying to hit him, but for the time being she was going to just play it safe.

She'd need to take the opportunity where she could in order to plan out her attacks rather than swinging recklessly; that didn't seem to work for her at this point. She'd need to analyze where he was going to be, and when. That said, she was caught off-guard completely the moment Raphael went in for an actual melee strike. By the time he was already behind her, and effectively 'nothing personnel kid'-ed her, there was nothing she could do but shift ever so slightly to make sure that he didn't actually hit her spine or anything. Instead, she took the punch to her shoulder, and lurched forward a bit on impact. She chuckled to herself and she turned as quick as she could as he was clearing distance between the two of them.

"Damn!" she shouted, "caster's got a bit of a punch to 'em! Certainly wasn't expecting that one!" Crouching down ever so slightly, Camila took a quick second to focus on her opponent, before launching herself forward with 2000 speed, still perfectly matching the fullbringer at full speed as well. Perhaps they could use that to their advantage when fighting alongside each other? She'd have to see what they could do together first. That said, this burst in movement speed wasn't the only one she was going to make use of; instead, she was going to implore the use of another similar techinque; Shunpo Karin.

Pulling her arm across the front of her body with a slash toward the fullbringer at speeds equal to how fast she was just moving, Camila tried to make another strike against the man. She'd hoped she was quick enough this time in order to land a hit against him, but she likely wasn't going to be doing something like that again; as she reeled from making her strike, she winced in pain and grasped at her shoulder with her free hand; the hit against her not seconds ago had to have hit a nerve or something. Trying that again would've dealt far too much damage to herself, and she was not looking to deal with that hell again any time soon.

[Raphael Laurent]

Shallow as it was, Raphael winced at the slight cut upon his chest. It wasn’t horrible and he’d certainly taken worse, but he knew what they could do. I could go sceptic if he wasn’t careful… Thankfully he didn’t have to worry, too much, about that. He wasn’t a field medic, but he could do basic first aid when he got home, at least assuming she didn’t have any capacity to heal. Regardless, he hoped that their little spar didn’t derail his attempts at experimentation too badly.

He watched, as she moved herself to the side in time to avoid his punch, taking it to her shoulder instead. Raphael was fairly impressed with her tactical decision. He knew that shinigami underwent specific training to be able to combat hollows and so, on occasion, sacrifices had to be made in order to be a good warrior and sometimes the important thing was deciding what could be sacrificed in order to do what needed to be done and she was no different. She was sacrificing her shoulder for the sake of her ability to keep fighting. In some ways, he was concerned that such a reaction would be overall detrimental, but perhaps she had some kind of other power that he didn’t know about. He knew that she was keeping her weapon concealed, which he didn’t mind. He wasn’t really a weapons kinda guy, in all honesty.

“Like I told you, I don’t use any weapons. Not normal ones, anyways. Nor do I really know any fighting techniques or martials arts styles. Without a doubt, it’s my biggest weakness. All the power of the living universe, no major combat skills, beyond some basic stree brawling.” And he chuckled, he couldn’t help himself but find her enthusiasm for combat just a bit infectious. Still, they were in the middle of a training session, so he readied himself again, as she began to move fast again, but this time something was different. He didn’t realize what had happened, before he fel the pain along his arm, and felt his left arm was suddenly unusable. He looked down and realized that she’d gotten a clean hit on his arm and had injured him to the point where he couldn’t use it. The realization then magnified the pain and he took a deep breath to keep from passing out.

Instinctively, he used bringer’s light again, dashing away and gaining some distance. He reached to his left arm and felt where she’d made the wound. He did his best to stay calm, forced down as much of what he was feeling as he could, but there was a rage and panic that suddenly built up in him. He would use even more of his power, despite how tired he was already feeling. Dashing away once more, he landed on the side of a building and subsequently forced himself to stand on the side of said building. Millions of years of evolution, thousands of years of polite society, all of it washed itself away in seconds and he allowed the rage to escape. In his working right hand, energy swirled and gathered. For a brief few moments, Camila might be able to feel the familiar tinge of hollow reiatsu as a disc formed in the palm of his right hand. He threw it at her and it went flying, but never quite reached her. He focused harder, his rage and bland wrath controlling his thoughts. The disc, as it flew towards her would suddenly transform in shape and design as it transformed into an enormous two headed dragon with four legs, two wings and two heads. It glared down at Camila and then looked back at Raph. He breathed heavily, as though gasping for air, and said one word: “Attack.” It then turned back to Camila, almost looking like its two heads were smiling and took one ground shaking step forward.