Kaen vs Kubi round 3 [NDE]

[Kaen Youji]

[This is the third match between Squad 7's third officer, Kaen Youji and Squad 11's Vice Captain, Kubi. The battle will take place in an open field, with very little obstructing terrain. Kubi may have the first post.]

[Deleted]

It was a clear, pleasant day in the Rukon, the yellow sun bathing the world below in light. It was still early, the early morning crispness still present in the air. Outside the 3rd West Rukon was a beautiful golden park, rolling waves of golden grass, a beautiful pond in the center, and a flat marble area surrounding the pond. A man, with dark brown hair that fell to his shoulders, broad, tanned shoulders, and arms that resembled a linebackers dreams, stood surveying this entire scene, a broad grin on his face. A black long coat was hanging over his shoulder, and on his hand was a black glove with a badge on it. The only thing that wasn't black in his entire ensemble was a bright blue blade on his belt. Enter Kubi Tsure, Vice Captain of Squad 11.

His voice, deep and masculine but thrumming with levity, rang out. 'Well, shit. The flamehead really knows how to pick where to fight, huh?" His grin grew, if possible, even wider; it seemed in danger of swallowing his eyes. He bent down and picked one of the pieces of straw, twirling it in his fingers for a brief moment before flicking it away. From an inside pocket, he pulled out a cigarette and a lighter. He didn't smoke much, only to calm his nerves. And boy was he nervous.

This was the third fight between he and Kaen, and destined to be the most epic. The first was when he was only an academy student, and the second was interrupted mid-way through. But this one ... this one would have in interruptions. He was strong now, and his division was competent. He was needed for nothing currently, and left orders not to be disturbed. A delighted thrill sprang into his eyes at the prospect. "I'll make you release this time, Kaen. I swear it." Smoke billowed from his lips, brown eyes watching it disappear into the sky.

"I'll have to stay near the water ... this straw is highly flammable. If I make him release ... well, I'll have a drastic disadvantage. Of course, if he's like most Soul Reapers, he won't set it on fire in case it would spread to the houses over there ... which I could use to my advantage. It's not quite high enough to hide myself in, but high enough to impede movement ... shit. In release, he has a ranged advantage; a big one, I might add. He's faster than I am, but I'm stronger ... I could survive a hit from him, but if I hit him once, he's done. Same goes for release ... I have more experience, but he has more skill ..." A grin spread across his face. Out loud, he said, "This is going to be fun."

He straightened and, with exaggerated care, put on his Shikahusho. He leaned back in the grass, partially shrouded from sight. He closed his eyes, waiting for signs. He was sitting in a very relaxed position, his legs spread, one arm behind him to support his body, the other on his right knee, resting. His breathing was regular and even. His vital signs slowed, his eyes were closed. He was in a meditative state now, awaiting his opponent for a battle of the ages.

SPOILER: Click to show

Strength - 300 (525) Points

Speed - 200 (120) Points

Spiritual Pressure - 200 Points

Reiatsu Strength - 200 Points

Light Aura - 50 Points

Dark Aura - 50 Points

Instinct - 150 Points

Senses - 50 Points

Energy sensory - 0 Points

Healing Expertise - 0 Points

Abilities

• [Street Fighting] II
  
  
• [Pain Tolerance] I
  
  
• [Mastery of Self] II
  
  
• [Mathematical Prediction] II
  
  
• Battle Analysis II
  

[Kaen Youji]

"Oh, you showed up?" Kaen asked as he strolled onto the battlefield. As per usual, he was garbed in his loose fitting pants, that nonetheless, did not billow out wildly like those of most shinigami. His gi had the sleeves torn from them, exposing his bare arms. His shortsword zanpakuto was slung across his back inside of a katana sheath. The better to deceive opponents with the speed of his quickdraw. All in all, Kaen looked way too casual to be walking into a fight with a Vice Captain. But that was just how he was.

"Well, we've wasted enough time with pleasantries in our last two matches huh?" He commented, stretching his legs a bit, and then rolling his shoulders, as if to warm up. "This'll be the third time we've had a round. Let's see how much you've improved!" Kaen remarked, a grin flashing across his features in anticipation of Kubi's attack. He rolled his neck from side to side, creating a loud crack, as he popped the vertebrae in the neck.

Seemingly loosened up, Kaen slid one foot back into a casual fighting stance. His hands were down however. Why was that? Was he underestimating Kubi based on their last battle? Or perhaps he was trying to bait him into an attack while he seemed undefended. A cocky grin was evident on his features, further supporting the idea that he seemed to be underestimating Kubi. Then he began to shift his weight back and forth, staying light on his feet, as if prepared to dodge.

Which was it? Overconfidence? Or a trap. There was only one way for Kubi to find out, of course. Would he risk Kaen striking first? It was then noticeable, that, as Kaen shifted back and forth, he was slowly but surely, shuffling towards Kubi. An agonizingly slow, but steady approach that would, given time, place him into striking range without the risk of simply charging in to attack. Reactions would be much faster that usual. Despite the cocky smirk though, Kaen's eyes were clearly determined-- assured of his odds of winning. Afterall. He hadn't been lazing around since their last match.

Well. Yes. He had been. Kaen lazed around a lot. But he'd been training hard too! He'd improved in leaps and bounds since the two last met. How much had Kubi improved since then? This too, Kaen was ready to see. The third and final battle between the two had now begun.

SPOILER: Click to show

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

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

[Deleted]

A sound alerted Kubi to a presence, which turned out to be his opponent, Kaen Youji. A grin spread across the Vice Captains face as the third seat spoke. With a roll of his eyes, he slowly stood up, his eyes narrowed on the vice captain. One more drag on his cigarette, and then he flicked it ... right at the third seats face. IF he didn't dodge, it would hurt him. It was a purposefully antagonizing move, meant to anger the third seat.

Kubi spread his arms, his shikahusho missing the sleeves. "C'mon. Ya didn' expect me ta fall fah ya bait, didja? That's jus' stupid." He spoke, his tone light and mocking, his face stretched in a mirthful grin. Then he crossed his arms. "Le's be frank here. Ya know ya gonna win. I know ya gonna win. Ya pro'b'y on'y showed up ta teach me a le'son or some shi' like tha." Then, his eyes narrowed tighter, dark orbs on the brink of madness. His tone changed as well, becoming much more cold. "But I will give you a fight worth remembering."

And just like that, his tone was normal again. During his speech, Kubi had kept an eye on Kaen, and had noticed something; thanks to his Mathematical Prediction, he had noticed changes in velocity and position, and from that knew that Kaen was moving towards him. Kubi rolled his eyes. "Ya really eager ta get started? Fine." And just like that, he stomped. His foot carried considerable force, shattering the ground around him and sending a shockwave of earth outwards from him, carrying enough force to at least make Kaen falter.

Kubi settled into a stance he had assumed many times; his right foot in front of the other, his body centered, one hand fisted near his chest while the other is held out in front him, his body angled towards the enemy. It was a martial arts stance. Yet Kubi had no skill in Martial Arts. No, rather he had taken this stance to attempt to fool Kaen into countering. The difference between them was simple; Kaen was a Martial Artist which, while powerful in it's own right, follows rigid instruction and set's of motions. Kubi is a street fighter. Skilled street fighters are some of the most powerful fighters in the world, as the unpredictable nature and anything-goes nature of their combat is near impossible to fight against. And Kubi knows this. So he waited, a grin on his face and the light of battle in his eyes.

[Kaen Youji]

Kaen didn't even bother with a real motion to deflect the cigarette. He merely leaned to the side and let it pass him by. Kaen smirked a little, but didn't reply to Kubi initially. His stomp caused a miniature quake, but Kaen sank down into a low karate stance and maintained his footing. One hand pulled back on his hip, the other extended at a downward angle. Kubi reacted by entering his own stance. And then, finally Kaen found himself a single step's distance away from Kubi. Still he hadn't attacked, and the smirk grew further. "What's wrong? Are you planning for me to put you down without even throwing a punch? I thought you wanted this to be a fight to remember? The way things look, I'll take you down without even having to draw my sword." Kaen taunted.

It appeared Kubi had grown stronger, in regards to pure physical strength. But if he wanted to face Kaen in a contest of strength, he would be in for an unpleasant surprise. Kaen was giving Kubi a few more moments to compose an attack strategy. For some time he'd been developing techniques to take himself to a whole new level of power. His inability to use kido was beginning to catch up with him. Against the foes expected of a Vice Captain, such a weakness needed to be dealt with. For awhile now he'd been developing a whole slew of new techniques, and now was the time to use them!

[Deleted]

Kubi's eyes widened infinitesimally. "He shouldn't have been able to weather that blow ... unless ..." Kubi felt like hitting himself. "Of course ... dammit. Of course he got stronger ... I was counting on him being weaker than me, but from the looks of things ... he's stronger ..." Kubi's face twisted in a grimace for a brief instant before settling back into it's normal, amused lines. "Well, there's nothing for it now ..."

And then Kaen spoke. And Kubi laughed. "You're a spunky one, flamehead." The nickname and the general lack of formality for one of his own permission was, of course, disrespectful, and a challenge to the Vice Captain. Kubi grinned as him ... then shunpo'd, flinging himself backwards to land, with a massive splash, in the middle of the shallow pool. Hopefully, Kaen would follow him. The water would slow down both of their punches.

Then Kubi spoke. "You're getting cocky already, flamehead. Ya haven' even landed a blow and already ya sayin' that ya can kill me? Really? Tha's called hubris, and 's killed be''er Soul Reapers th'n ya." His voice was antagonistic. "So if ya think ya tough enough, come 'n have a go." Kubi settled back into his stance, the water flowing around his ankles as he watched with narrowed eyes where Kaen would be.

Remaining Reaitsu: [-50] 1,950/2,000

[Kaen Youji]

Kaen watched as Kubi Shunpo'd into the pond. "Really? Yare yare... this is troublesome isn't it." His confident eyes became bored, as he approached the pond. "As I see it, you're the challenger here~ If we walk outta here now without even throwing a blow, it looks like I take the win, on account of our last two rounds. And I don't think you want it to end on that note do you?" But despite the bored look in his eyes, there was something else. As if Kaen knew something that Kubi didn't.

The shinigami stopped at the edge of the pond. "I was simply giving you a fair shot, before I take you down~ If you'd rather I not do so, that's fine. But nobody won a fight just by defending!" Kaen remarked, and stepped into the shallows of the pond. No deeper. He didn't have to. All Kaen did, was kick upwards. As he did a geyser of water exploded upwards, hurtling at Kubi like a cannon blast. This wasn't a technique. This was nothing more than pure strength. Kaen had kicked water at Kubi with so much force that when it collided with him, it would be akin to a physical blow!

However, naturally, Kaen's strength would be greatly diluted by the water, and it would not cause great harm to Kubi when it landed, but it would sting, and possibly even off-balance him. This was an intimidation tactic. A showing of power, that Kaen could turn even something as simple as water into a devastating weapon against his opponent. "I'm just trying to be a nice guy. I'd start working to make this interesting, before I get bored~" Kaen taunted, with a dangerous look on his face.

[Deleted]

Kubi saw the water coming. There were many things that Kubi could do. However, Kubi instead preferred to show off his own immense strength by weathering the blow. As the water approached him, he crossed his arms in an "X" pattern. As the water hit his crossed arms, he swung his arms out. Due to Kaen's diluted strength and his own, the water blast was decimated, sent scattering across the surface of the water, creating ripples across the surface of the pond.

Kubi grinned. "Shit, you're boring this time 'round. What happened, ya get neutered?" Then he was serious, his voice quickly slipping to become cold and remorseless. "There is no need to 'be nice' to me, flamehead. If you don't want to be bored, then fucking fight and quit bein' a puss. I know my limitations. I know what I can do. If throw the first punch, I will lose this fight." His voice was measured and cold.

However, just as quickly as he had slipped into that cold demeanor, he slipped out, his customary grin sliding into place. "So c'mon! I'm gettin' bored here! This water ain't fucking warm ya know!" He slipped back into the stance he was in, his eyes watching him intently. IF he moved, he would know. His eyes studied him, from his stance to his shirt, watching for the minute muscles twitches that would indicate movement. He was ready to fight.

[Kaen Youji]

Kaen sighed. "Whatever you say. I was giving you a fair chance..." Kaen cracked his knuckles. "....because that's what I wanted it to be. A good fight. Well. If that's the way you want it, then I guess I'll end this." He stated, approaching Kubi, moving deeper into the pond. Even at its deepest, it barely reached Kaen's knees, and, with his physical strength, wouldn't impede him much. "Just know I gave you a chance. What happens next is on your head." He pointed out.

At less than five feet away, Kaen struck. To Kubi's eyes, Kaen may as well have become little more than a flicker of movement. A flicker, was perhaps the best word for it, as to call Kaen a blur of movement wouldn't have done how fast he was, justice. In a lethal and devastating blow, Kaen covered the gap between them and struck at Kubi's Saketsu in less than the space of time it would have taken to blink. Just as Kaen's physical might had grown, so too had his speed. Kubi didn't have the speed to react to Kaen's attack, and it was doubtful that he had expected Kaen's speed to have improved this much. In comparison to their last match, Kaen's speed had nearly doubled! With Kubi's own speed, following Kaen's movements, let alone reacting to them and defending against them would be nearly impossible.

In a flurry of motion, Kaen struck four more times. The second blow, a spearhand strike towards Kubi's throat, then instantly shifting from the spearhand, into an elbow strike to Kubi's temple. The third strike came from the opposite hand, in a palm hit to Kubi's Hakusui. He concluded with a two handed clapping blow on Kubi's ears, to destroy his opponent's equilibrium. These blows would be certain to daze Kubi. Indeed, his opponent was durable enough that Kaen couldn't hope for a knockout on the first hit. But the spearhand blow would have caused an intense pain, and likely caused an involuntary gag reflex, forcing Kubi to sputter for breath, and the blow to his temple and ears respectively would leave his ears ringing, equilibrium completely disrupted and dazed. A lesser foe than Kubi would have been rendered completely unconscious, and a lesser foe still probably would have been killed by this attack.

It was probable that Kubi had retained consciousness, but in such a state, it was doubtful that he would be able to respond adequately to future blows from Kaen. Survival. With his first attacks that was the mindset Kaen had intended to hammer into Kubi. If this didn't crush the idea of victory, not much else would. Kaen had deliberately allowed Kubi the chance for the first blow, for this reason. Not as a trap, or anything of the sort. It was because those were the only attacks Kubi would have gotten this fight. Kubi didn't want Kaen to pull punches? So Kaen wasn't going to. He was going to attack Kubi until he fell, in a relentless onslaught of blows. Make him release? At this rate, Kubi would struggle to make Kaen draw his sword!

Remaining Reiatsu: 1480 (-20 for Gokuinken)

[Deleted]

Kaen didn't take his bait. Aw. And it seemed to have inspired some sort of short monologue. As Kaen talked, Kubi's eyes waited ... and watched ... and waited some more, his senses and instinct stretched to their limit. "Just know that I gave you a chance. What happens next is on your head." That was it; those were the words. As Kubi watched, Kaen moved ... and he was so bloody fast! By the time Kubi started moving, Kaen had already arrived, his powerful arm knocking into Kubi's shoulder and spinning him around; however, due to the lack of resistance Kaen would be expecting, Kubi would have time to initiate a shunpo to disappear out of there.

Kubi's shikahusho was ripped, the sheer power of Kaen's punch at the angle it was ripping off cloth. The large hands of the Vice Captain gripped his shoulder in pain. "Fuck." His eyes narrowed as he watched Kaen ... and then unsheathed his blade. A single finger ran up and down the bright blue blade, intense eyes watching a bead of bright red blood smear across the flat of the blade. Then he glanced up, and Kaen would behold the eyes of a madmen; intense and unfocused, as wild as a beast and close to snapping.

And the spoke. "Months ago ... I married ... Mashiro ... she was pregrant ... then Kuroi Naito ..." Kubi appeared to be stressed to the point of snapping, seemingly uttering random words. Then, his head snapped up, his eyes focused and controlled again; but his aura grew dark. "I promised her that I would never release first unless I would die." Kubi smirked. Then in a voice as soft as the drop of a feather on water, he said "I guess I'll have to break that promise, love. Wound, Joo Bachi!"

In a bright blue flash, followed by a cascade of blue stars, Kubi's right arm was covered in a blue gauntlet. He clenched his fist, the metal plates clinking as he did so. Then Kubi grinned. "I doubt I'll win Kaen, but one hit and you die." And then, with a Shunpo, Kubi flashed forward and up, coming out of the Shunpo with his fist cocked and ready, swinging down onto the head of the Vice Captain.

If he missed - which was likely - he would impact the ground ... and a large crater, five feet in every direction, including down would form. Kubi jumped to the top of the crater and grinned, separated by ten feet of hole. "Mugen no Kokucho." Suddenly, green stars began to swirl around Kubi's gauntleted fist, a cocky grin stretching across his face.

Remaining Reaitsu: [-800] 1,150/2,000

[Kaen Youji]

Kaen could have easily adjusted his punch to hit Kubi in the Saketsu, regardless of his attempt to deflect the blow. But he didn't. He wanted to see what Kubi could do. However, he did not employ the Sealing Fist as he had originally intended. Martial Arts were about efficiency. No sense in wasting energy, and so he only added the reiatsu to his strike right before impact. The moment Kubi had moved his target from his Saketsu, Kaen had already determined not to change his punch into a Sealing Fist strike, to conserve reiatsu.

Kubi escaped with Shunpo out of the pond and Kaen followed suit, the legs of his pants wet. Also wet socks. Ick. He didn't Shunpo out, he merely hopped out. Water resistance? Unless Kaen was two hundred feet below the surface, there was no way there was enough water pressure to cause anything of the sort. He merely smirked as Kubi began to release. "Well well. Looks like I'll get to try out that move afterall." He remarked, as Kubi launched himself at him.

Kaen spread his footing a bit and brought up both hands, palms open, and seemed to visibly relax. Despite that, his eyes narrowed in focus as Kubi unleashed his Shunpo. Perhaps it was then that Kubi would realize it. Or perhaps not. Kaen could track him in Shunpo. Not merely see him use it, and ascertain where he'd land, but he could actually follow Kubi while the shinigami was in mid-Shunpo! The gap in their speed was THAT immense, that even Kubi's Shunpo could, at best, be considered "moderately fast" to Kaen.

Either way though, there was a punch to be thrown and that punch had to be evaded. Kaen did not use Shunpo himself, but as Kubi appeared in front of him and threw his punch, Kaen hurled his body to the side, the punch narrowly missing him. The exaggerated evasion placed Kaen beyond the range of the crater, and the impact appeared to have staggered Kaen, as for a brief moment it looked as though he was off balance. "Aiyaaa..... that was scary!" Kaen remarked. "I thought I was gonna die!" He added, keeping his hands up. He seemed to have been shaken by the attack, but was that genuine? Or was he just playing with Kubi? Either way, there probably wouldn't be a better opportunity to attack Kaen than this. Even so though, with the gap in speed, Kubi would have to bring out his best attacks to land a blow on the swift 7th officer.

Reiatsu: 1500 (+20 for never using Sealing Fist)

[Deleted]

A frown creased Kubi's face, the mask of mirth slipping from his face to reveal something different, something dangerous ... something primal. Behind his eyes were the eyes of a man a hair's breadth from slipping into madness. His lips curled up as Kaen mocked him. Normally, these things wouldn't affect him; but as of late, he found himself more susceptible to some opponents - namely Kaen's - advances. His eyes narrowed as he watched Kaen. "There is no way I can defeat him ... but I have to try. He hasn't even released yet. I'm hopelessly outgunned here."

With a growl, Kubi spoke, his rough voice carrying over the field of battle. "Tch. You're a right slimy git." He said, his voice darkening in anger. "Not tha' ya can help tha'. Fire fuckin' sucks in and of itself." His voice was taunting. "There mus' be a reason ya don' release. Scared o' fire? O' perhaps ya ain't as powerful as ya assume." His face grew dark. "Release against me. Allow me to bear witness to the power of the 7th division." His voice mocked him.

[Kaen Youji]

Kaen sighed and shook his head. "You don't seem to get it do you? I don't just release on command. Right now, you're not even worth drawing my sword over. You want to see my release? Earn it. Because there's no other way you're going to see it. Right now, there's no reason I need my release to defeat you, from what you've shown me. If you hope to even see me draw my sword, you'd better change your tune. I'm not giving you anything. You want to see me draw my sword? Force me to draw it. You want to see me use even my shikai? Force me to use it. You're a Vice Captain of the Gotei 13, you should be at least able to do that much. But I'll tell you this. Taunting and whining at me isn't going to make me draw my sword."

Kaen sighed. "I used to think you were a little bit interesting." He commented, lightly hopping over the pit that Kubi had just punched into the ground, intent on landing right in front of Kubi. "It would appear I was mistaken." He finished, his eyes suddenly looking rather bored. "It's evident on you, clear as day. You're scared. You're scared of even throwing a punch. You've already given up. Someone like that, has no right to see me even draw my sword." Kaen stated.

His strike was quick, as expected. Two blows flashed out from each of Kaen's arms, to catch Kubi across the face and in the solarplexis simultaneously. The Yamazuki technique of karate, a simultaneous striking technique designed so that even if one of the blows was blocked, the other would still connect. And Kaen wasn't done. He lowered both hands to be little more than an inch from Kubi's torso, and then unleashed another technique. The one inch punch. Considered a parlor trick by most, and useless in an actual combat situation, Kaen's sheer speed made it effective, increasing the rate at which he could throw his punches.

The one inch punch's principle was simple. By using proper technique, one could perform a full power punch on a target, even if they only had one inch of space to punch them in. Because of this lack of distance between his fists and the target, it meant that Kaen was now firing punches into Kubi's torso startlingly fast. He was already more than six times faster than Kubi. Ordinarily, this meant that he could throw six punches in the space of time that it would take Kubi to throw one, and still have time to dodge. But, with the shortened distance, that number was increased substantially. Using the one inch punch to increase the rate of his punches, Kaen could easily throw dozens of punches before Kubi could complete one.

[Deleted]

The words reached Kubi's ears; contrary to popular belief, Kubi was not a guy ruled by his emotions. Very rarely do insults affect him, and this was one of those times. The few things that could pique his anger were not mentioned. Kubi started to laugh. "Scared? You think is fear! This is joy!" He laughed again, the mad, frightening sound rising and falling; he was obviously at his breaking point. "I don't fear you! Very few things do I fear. Very, very few." He got lost in memories.

Quickly though, he snapped out of them. "I love battle! I don't throw a punch because I know it would be over too soon! One hit and I kill you! Hahahahahahaha!" It was at that instant that Kaen struck. Kubi's eyes widened as the infinite amounts of strikes started pounding into him; thankfully, his physical strength was near enough to Kaen's to not have his entire chest completely destroyed by the rapid, powerful punches. However, that's not to say it didn't hurt. By the time Kubi's slow self was capable of drawing together the necessary movement to shunpo, his entire torso - and face - were bruised, almost beyond recognition.

A shunpo blasted him backwards. His breaths were heavy and short, his eyes drooping as the purple bruise spread across his cheek. It hurt to breath. "You're ... far stronger than I remember." He wiped a trickle of blood off the corner of his mouth. "Shall we get serious?" Another Shunpo sent him launching forwards; but not towards Kaen. Rather, he went past him and landed, with a mighty splash, in the pool of water at the center of the courtyard. And then, he punched. Not straight done, no, but at an angle. His zanpakutou power blasted a huge wave of water towards Kaen; one that would very simple to dodge.

But it obscured Kubi. The massive blast of water, moving rather fast, soared towards Kaen. His timing impeccable, he shunpo'd out of the pool, sliding to a stop just as the wave of water would reach them. His fist would be swinging in a powerful haymaker towards Kaen's head, his knee jutting upwards. His left, the non-gauntleted, reached behind Kaen and grabbed his head, holding it tight. If his fist hit ... well, that would be the end of the fight. It seemed Kubi had finally gotten serious.

Remaining Reaitsu: [-150] 1,000
Shikai: 3/10

[Kaen Youji]

Seemed Kubi was starting to break a bit. How disappointing. Kaen's Yamazuki into his slew of one inch punches all connected with Kubi, and although he Shunpo'd out, the damage would have been done. It was true that Kubi had grown in strength, but with their strength so comparable, the amount of blows Kaen was slamming down on him were going to cause damage regardless. What Kaen couldn't do with quality, he was doing with quality. After taking these dozens of punches, it was very likely that Kubi would be left with some seriously bruised, possibly even fractured ribs. The heavy breathing made this even more likely.

"You're ... far stronger than I remember." Kaen sighed. "Of course. Unlike you, I don't retrain myself, I train myself." He stated. "Unlike you I don't constantly rethink my approach to combat. All approaches are equally valid, but you'll never learn how to make them work, if you keep going back and rethinking yourself." Kubi stated he was getting serious and launched himself into the pool. "Show, don't tell." Kaen replied boredly.

Kubi created the massive wave of water that blasted towards Kaen, following it up with a Shunpo. The 7th squader sighed. "And this is why your retraining will cost you this battle." He remarked. Kubi's speed was too low to compete with Kaen, without some manner of bridging the speed gap. Shunpo literally wasn't enough. Shunpo didn't enable the user to attack, save for rare exceptions (like Kaen himself). You had to break Shunpo to launch your blows. But the kicker was this-- Kubi's Shunpo wasn't fast enough that he couldn't be seen. Kaen's eyes could follow the blur that was Kubi in mid-Shunpo, and anticipate his move. "Well. This will give me a chance to try out that." Kaen mused, spacing his legs, just as Kubi emerged from the Shunpo.

Kaen could picture it now. A perfect sphere around his body. Kubi was attacking him, and the water was descending. The moment the water touched the sphere, Kaen was aware of it. The moment Kubi's own fist touched the sphere, he became aware of it. His left and right hands were stretching in, trying to take hold of Kaen. He was trying to knee Kaen at the same time. Kaen was taking in a dizzying amount of information at once, but, more than that-- Kaen was PROCESSING that information, at an equally dizzying rate. This was the strength of his technoique-- the Barrier Stance. Creating a mental sphere around the user, in which the user tightly constricted their focus, to allow faster processing and reactions to any movement that occurred within the sphere. It was allowing him to process Kubi's attacks, and come up with countermeasures.

The solution was simple. Kaen outright ignored the water. It was nothing more than a splash. The pond had been relatively shallow, and so, over such a distance, the splash would be nothing more than a distraction, safely ignored. As Kubi's left reached out, and his right crossed in, Kaen's own limbs blurred before Kubi's eyes. Two outside chest blocks, would send both left and right hands flying away from their intended targets, completely deflected. Kubi possessed immense destructive force in that right hand, sure enough, and blocking it head on, would be folly. But Kaen could easily DEFLECT the blow, without much effort, and his speed advantage allotted him the time to do so. Kaen's nearest arm to the knee strike flickered down in a Gedan Bari block, slamming the attack aside, and, as Kubi was standing on only one knee, having his leg knocked away like that would probably unbalance him terribly.

"Your flaw was in sacrificing so much speed for strength, without discovering a way to seal the gap that would inevitably form against faster opponents. You can't trade speed for power! Not against me!" Kaen declared, flashing into a counter attack. A jabbing Oizuki punch flickered into Kubi's face, to draw his attention. The next instant, Kaen had stepped in close to Kubi, his left arm overhooking Kubi's right arm, and pulling it in tight to his side. This way, Kubi would be unable to attack with his zanpakuto.

Kaen wasn't done. While he had gripped the limb, his own right hand had been up to defend an attack, but he was about to change that, moving completely into offense. His overhook on Kubi's arm shifted, shooting his left hand under it, while still using the arm itself to trap the limb.His forearm was placed underneath Kubi's elbow joint. Kubi's arm could bend UPWARDS in this situation, but Kaen was about to do the opposite.

Kaen linked his hands, and leaned backwards, pulling his arms up, and, effectively, turning Kubi's arm into a giant lever. Kubi was strong, sure enough, but this was human physics. Kaen's entire body was putting pressure on the elbow joint, pushing the joint up, but the forearm down, in a manner that the human body was incapable of bending. An armbar technique. But this was not a sport armbar, like one might see in standard Jiujitsu competitions, this was an armbar applied in combat. Excruciatingly painful, and near instant. Kaen was not slowly applying pressure to the joint, to force Kubi to tap out or submit, he was "rushing" the pressure to outright snap the joint, before Kubi would have a chance to retaliate.

Barrier Stance: Post 1

Stats within the sphere
Instinct: 350
Senses: 200