Samurai vs Cheetah

[Hotaru Kuchiki-Masurao]

Thread Title: Samurai vs Cheetah
Participants: Hotaru Wakashi, Caedir din Sahra
World: Soul Society
Death Setting: Non Death Enabled
Rating: PG
Location: The wilderness outside of Rukongai surrounded by trees, sunlight and birds.
Special Conditions: N/A
Circumstances: Hotaru is out in a clearing in the forest around Rukongai training and unbeknownst to her, Caedir was in the area exploring. They happen to run into each other and then from there, no one knows...

[Hotaru Kuchiki-Masurao]

Hotaru Wakashi found a pretty nice clearing to start her work. She knew that she needed to train more to rise in the ranks of Soul Society and achieve her ultimate goal. She found a tree that she could work with. She took her sword off scabard and all. She unsheated her sword and wanted to try something new. She had heard of people attacking with scabbard and sword. She turned her sword to the blunt end and struck the tree.



Next, she tried with both. It showed her that her left arm was much weaker than her right. She laid her sword down and replaced her scabbard. Before she tried that again, she would hit up the gym and strengthen her left arm first. She picked her sword back up and cleaned off all the dirt and prepared herself again.



She struck the tree multiple times. She tried a different form each time, seeing which one would work best. She struck the tree, making no real damage. She decided to concentrate harder to see if that would help her. It did, but only a little bit. She was starting to think that she would never get stronger. But, she knew that patience is a virtue. While she was training, she thought she saw someone in the bushes. Even if she made it up, she figured that she would ask who was there anyway. "Hey, is anyone there?" She waited to see what would happen.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Stats}
Strength - [(140) - 25%] (105) Points.

Speed - [(120) + 35%] (162) Points.

Spiritual Pressure – [(130) - 25%] (97) Points.

Reiatsu Strength – [(120) + 35%] (162) Points.

Light Aura - [70] Points

Dark Aura - [30] Points

Instinct - [50] Points

Senses - [50] Points

Energy sensory - [50] Points

Healing Expertise - [0] Points

SPOILER: Click to show

{Skills}
[Weapons: Swords] 2

[Pain Tolerance] 2

[Bleeding Tolerance] 1

[Illusion Resist] 1

[Damage Recovery] 2

[Poison Resist] 1

[Learning] 1

[Battle Focus] 1

[Caedir din Sahra]

It was just another day for Caedir, really. With no jobs from the post office at the moment, the feline had naturally taken to the woods, as he normally did with his free time. Though many human hobbies and oddities amused him, and certainly served as entertainment to pass the time between jobs, observation rarely rewarded the Beast-Clan cheetah with a meal. Occasionally Caedir could beg a few scraps off of a particularly generous human, but the feline preferred to make his way to the woods anyway, perhaps capture a wild rabbit or three for food. It hadn't been a difficult task, really; with his speed, most prey couldn't begin to outrun the cheetah, and he had bagged himself two rabbits and a pheasant he had been lucky enough to come across. Now, like all felines, he wanted to find somewhere away from attention to eat his food in relative comfort.

Climbing up a nearby tree had been ideal, and Caedir quickly found himself lounging on a leaf-covered branch, hidden from view. Biting into the pheasant's feather-coated hide idly—cooking was not a skill that came naturally to Caedir, and so he ate most of his food raw unless others prepared it for him—the cheetah mulled over his day, thinking of the words he had learned and trying to commit them to memory. It was a common exercise over meals; the feline wasn't very intelligent, nor was his grasp of language very acute. But he did try, every day, to learn a bit more about the words that humans spoke to one another, learning them piece by piece and starting to relate them to actual concepts. His understanding and grasp of the human language was still infantile, but he was starting to pick up finer points more quickly as he became more experienced with it. In a way, Caedir's intelligence was very childish at times.

As he was eating, however, the feline found his thoughts interrupted by a loud sound, a thunk of something solid striking another object. Curious, Caedir crept along the branch, making his way towards the sounds. Eventually, after leaping from tree limb to tree limb, he came upon the source of it. A young-looking human female in black robes was attacking a tree with a metal stick, the same ones that Caedir had seen other black-robed people using. Okami had tried to teach the Beast-Clan feline what those people in black robes were called, but the word was particularly long, and Caedir was still trying to learn it. The metal sticks were called swords, but there was some other big word that Okami used to describe them as well.

So why was the woman attacking the tree? Had it done something to offend her, or was she trying to knock something down? Caedir watched for a few more minutes while the young woman struck at the trunk repeatedly, sometimes in different ways, but always hitting the mark. What exactly was she trying to accomplish? The feline was confused even after observing for a few minutes, and finally ended up dropping down to the brush, getting closer to see if perhaps another angle would help him better understand the black-robed woman's objectives. Of course, it did little in the end, as he saw the same thing; the woman struck at the tree trunk again and again using her metal st—her sword, Caedir corrected himself quickly—to do so.

“Hey, is anyone there?”

Caedir's ears perked up at the remark; he must have been careless in his observation, so distracted by the woman's actions that he hadn't attempted to remain hidden. He should have been easily able to hide, had his attention fully been bent towards doing so. Oh well, no help for it; after a moment, the cheetah poked his head up over the bush he was hiding from, ears laid back as a warning should the woman prove herself to be hostile. He stepped out from the bush, a few stray leaves still clinging to his tattered and worn clothing, hand-me-downs that had been discarded from other humans. Caedir's eyes were flat with caution, though there was still curiosity in them; he really wanted to know what the woman had been doing.

But first, he started the conversation with his usual line, his tone a soft baritone with a hint of growl behind it. “...Who you?”

SPOILER: Click to show

{Caedir's Stats}Strength – [300] (300) Points

Speed – [350 x 1.5] (525) Points

Spiritual Pressure - [200] (200) Points

Reiatsu Strength – [50 x 0.7] (35) Points

Light Aura – 100 Points

Dark Aura - 0 Points

Instinct – [150] (150) Points

Senses - [150] (150) Points

Energy sensory – [100] (100) Points

Healing Expertise – [0] (0) Points


Total SP: 1300 Points

SPOILER: Click to show

{Caedir's Skills}

• [Acrobatics] 1
  
  
• [Martial Arts: Hakuda] 1
  
  
• [Stealth] 1
  
  
• [Battle Focus] 1
  
  
• [Learning] 1
  
  
• Damage Recovery 1

(OOC: Make sure to include your skills at the start of a thread as well.)

[Hotaru Kuchiki-Masurao]

She saw a head pop out of a bush at her question. It was a cat, that was for sure, but she wasn't sure which kind of cat. Since she is from Japan, she had never seen that type of cat before. Though, she made it her mission to learn more about stuff like that when she made it to the academy. If she remembered correctly, though, this species was called a cheetah, native to Africa. She wondered how an African cat managed to get here, but this was Soul Society, anything was possible.

When he stepped out of the bush to confront her, she wasn't too surprised by his build. He fit all the characteristics of his breed. It was just amazing to see such a glorious cat up close and personal. She had always loved cats, but never got to see any of the wild breeds up close and personal. She had to restrain herself from actually reaching her hand out. But, she kept her face plain, and wanted to see what he wanted.

Then, he spoke a line of english. She could tell that he didn't know the language very well. But, she would never hold that against him. She sheathed her zanpaktou and extended her right hand out. She close-mouthed smiled to him and said, "Hello, my name is Hotaru Wakashi, a shinigami with the Gotei Thirteen. If you don't mind me asking, what is your name?"

[Caedir din Sahra]

A name, a title; neither of them meant a lot to Caedir. The name he tried to remember, but it was already slipping past his short-term memory, too many sounds for him to easily remember. It was about as long as Okami's name, but the feline Beast-Clan had been required to say it several times just to commit it to memory once, let alone keep it there. So instead of worrying about it, the feline associated the woman with her black robes and left it at that; it was unlikely that they'd meet frequently, and so he had no real need to learn her name in the long-term, right? Instead, he was more concerned with her question, which had a simple string of words that he could easily recognize and reply to: a request for his name.

“Me... I Caedir.” No, no, he was doing it wrong again. Caedir cleared his throat and tried again, remembering what he had been taught. It was supposed to be the “right” way to say it like so. “Sorry. I... am Caedir...” There, that sounded right; though he was just parroting what he had been taught to say, the feline Beast-Clan was slowly learning to speak in more understandable sentences, picking up smaller nuances of the language system. His introduction, along with his attention span, was brief and soon he moved onto a new topic. “You black-robe woman. Why hit tree? Tree bad, tree hurt?” He was legitimately confused, if his tone was any suggestion of his thoughts.

Walking over the tree, Caedir looked at it carefully, looked at the dents made from the sword's impact into the trunk. The dull end of the weapon didn't bite into the wood, but had left several marks nonetheless. Not understanding, the cheetah backed up a half-step, getting himself into position as he decided to attempt something. Tensing his strong legs for a moment, Caedir brought one up in a powerful kick as the other pushed into the ground, claws digging into the soil for support. The strike was staggeringly fast, as was expected with Caedir's high speed, but even more the strength behind it was astounding. Nearly three times as strong as the black-robed woman, the cheetah struck a blow that not only made the entire tree shake, but give a loud snap as the bark splintered for a good foot around the impact point, a large crack appearing in the wood. The feline winced slightly from the bruise that the impact had left on his foot, but only shook it slightly, walking back away from it with no sign of a limp.

“Tree strong. You strong?” It was an invitation of sorts from Caedir to the black-robed woman, a challenge to see if she too was as strong as the tree that could withstand his blow. “Want fight, show strong?”

[Hotaru Kuchiki-Masurao]

She watched and waited for his response. She could tell that he was thinking about the response pretty hard. She had never seen someone like him before and she thinks she remembers hearing something about this in the academy. But, she couldn't really think on it right now. She made a mental note to definitely look it up once she got back to the squad.

She heard that his name was Caedir. "It is nice to meet you Caedir." He asked why she hit the tree and if it was a bad tree. She was about ready to say something when he stepped up to the tree. He took a stance and kicked the tree just once. What she saw was amazing. With the one kick from him, the bark splintered a foot from impact and shook the tree. She thought she was strong, but he was stronger.

He then asked if she was strong and asked for a fight. He wanted to see how strong she really was. It seemed like he would be a good challenge. Also, if she wanted to beat the Vice Captain, she needed to fight against strong opponents. "Sure, we can fight. I'm excited to see how much I've improved." She got into her fighting stance and waited for him to get ready. She would never fight an opponent unprepared. It's not honorable.

[Caedir din Sahra]

Hotaru may have believed in honor, in fair play between two combatants; she had certain principles that some might see as noble. Caedir had no such qualms, no sense of “fairness” when it came to combat. Combat, for an animal, was a matter of life and death, a means of survival; even in competition to prove you were the better, the one in control and in power, strength meant survival. Opportunity meant survival. And so it was without hesitation that he lunged forward even as she prepared herself, getting her stance ready. There was little warning as the cheetah suddenly shot across the space between them in a heartbeat, his exceptional speed hard to keep track of. Just his running pace was equivalent to a student's Shunpo, and though even a moderately fast runner could pull ahead of Caedir's pace with a step technique, it was still a staggering base speed.

In that moment the cheetah had closed the distance, and already his foot came up in a powerful blow, the right foot lifting up from the ground and striking at Hotaru's head. The attack, too, was incredibly fast, and Caedir's body twisted almost naturally to accommodate the shift of balance, his torso leaning back and his other leg digging into to the ground, claws finding purchase to further secure his balance as his weight shifted with the movement. If his blow was not dodged or countered, Hotaru would find a strong hit connecting with her skull, one that could easily damage it with a full hit. Even a partial against the side of the head would disrupt her balance, as the damage to an eardrum would have the black-robed woman unable to keep on her feet without difficulty. Dodging would be vital, lest Hotaru be at an extreme disadvantage right at the start of the fight.

It was obvious that Caedir wasn't holding back for the first blow; he wanted to see just how strong the woman was, and if she couldn't avoid even the first hit, the cheetah was not going to be pleased. He didn't know what abilities the woman had, whether she could move quickly and avoid the hit, or else use some technique to block and counter him, but either way, it was a powerful start. There would be no coddling or holding back in this combat; the Beast-Clan cheetah was serious.

[Hotaru Kuchiki-Masurao]

She was getting ready in her stance and the cheetah was already coming at her. She could barely see his movements, he was so fast. She kept that in mind for future reference. He was definitely too fast for her to easily dodge him. He had aimed the kick at her head. She knew that if she didn't dodge the blow, it was going to be pretty painful.

Right before it connected, she Shunpo'ed to avoid the attack. Where she reappeared was closer than she hoped the cheetah would think. She appeared right behind the cheetah and immediately slashed at him with her sword. She reappeared facing him, doing a side slash from left to right. She hoped that she was quick enough that the attack would hit its target.

Reiatsu: 920/970 Shunpo

[Caedir din Sahra]

Hotaru quickly avoided Caedir's attack with a flash of speed that he had not seen before, the woman disappearing and reappearing to the feline's right, behind the rising foot. The cheetah's sharp senses and quick instincts allowed him to spot the flurry of motion, but committed as he was to his action, he couldn't just cancel his kick. Instead, the feline moved into his kick, leaning back as his leg rose higher than its initial path into a full split for Caedir. As he did so, he leaned back, one hand hitting the ground, followed by the other. His kick stopped at the peak of its ascent, he was in a position to throw his leg backwards and tilt his body back onto a full handstand that quickly became a back handspring. That leap had Caedir's body above the slash of Hotaru's blade, and the feline landed on his feet even as she finished her slash, turning to face her. He was fast and perceptive; these two things would put Hotaru at a disadvantage.

Still, Caedir had respect for the woman's speed, as she had practically vanished with how quickly she had moved. The feline was slightly confused, though; the black-robed woman hadn't shown any sort of speed when she was striking at the tree, yet here she had moved with incredible celerity. Her attack had been relatively slow, and Caedir had been able to keep up with it. Was the woman holding back, afraid to hurt him, or was there something special about her movement that allowed her to keep ahead of him? Curiosity and confusion furrowed the cheetah's brow into a frown, one that his opponent would likely see, but not understand. It was hard to understand such infantile thinking, almost as hard as it was for Caedir to interpret what had just happened. After a moment, though, he struck again.

This time the feline leapt forward in another burst of speed before bringing his right leg up above him like a split, and then down in a powerful ax kick that would strike at Hotaru's left shoulder with enough force to break the bone if the attack connected. Even a partial blow would be enough to numb the limb, weakening her grip on her weapon with that hand. Of course, the woman had shown that she could avoid his attacks before, but Caedir didn't care; he was going to attack again and find out just what it was the woman had done. He wanted to know how she had moved so quickly.

[Hotaru Kuchiki-Masurao]

She watched as Caedir was able to jump over her attack. She couldn't believe his acrobatics. She knew that cats were acrobatic, but jeez. He landed his flip quite easily and then turned to face her. She knew she had her work cut out for her now. Though, it seemed like the speed she was able to use confused him. He had obviously never seen a shinigami use shunpo before. He was probably used to being the only speedy one.

She thought she saw something weird go across his face, but she was already trying to think of how to try to at least hurt him. She knew there were great gaps in their power and she had to start thinking outside of her little box. She took a few deep breaths while she was trying to figure this out. Before he actually started his attack, she thought of something that might actually work against him.

While Caedir was running towards her, she moved her unsheated sword closer to her body. The sword's orientation was blade side up, facing the sky and both hands on the grip of her sword. She saw his right leg move up above him to its max. She then moved she sword up a little bit, to about her chest, so she would be able to move it when she needed it. She saw that he was aiming for her left shoulder.

So, when the leg had just started to come down, she moved her sword to her left shoulder. While she did this move, Caedir's leg was still in movement. By the time she was done, she had the blunt end of the sword resting on her left shoulder, which was his target. The blade of her sword was facing towards his incoming leg, being braced by both of her hands. She prayed that this tactic actually worked.

[Caedir din Sahra]

Hotaru's defense was simple, yet effective; a blade placed in the way of Caedir's kick would have his leg cut open, a counter that would not only use the feline's speed against him, but take little to no stamina on the woman's part. To someone with higher analysis skills, it would be impressive in its simple efficiency. To Caedir, however, it was a dangerous object placed in his way, and instinct kicked in. High mental reaction time and strong senses allowed the Beast-Clan to see what was coming, to see that his leg would come down on the metal stick. He knew that the objects hurt, had seen them cut into things before, and he did not want to be injured in such a way. So he acted quickly, reflexively, little thinking involved in his decision.

To an untrained eye, it would seem as though Caedir had simply fallen over. His left foot, the one that had been on the ground, no longer brace itself as it slid forward, causing the feline to fall backwards. Though it didn't stop the momentum of his downward kick, the feline's body had changed in its angle, and as a result his leg was further back than it had been during the kick. His attack missed completely, and indeed the cheetah crashed to the ground. He had thrown himself off-balance on purpose, throwing out his leg from under him as he tried to get away from the blade that had been placed in the path of his kick. Thankfully, it was easy enough to roll backwards and get his feet beneath him, but the time spent avoiding and repositioning himself was time that Hotaru would be given to either attack or prepare to defend again. It was an advantage, a temporary one, but one the black-robed woman would get a chance to make use of rather than having to defend against his assault.

[Hotaru Kuchiki-Masurao]

She watched as the leg was getting closer to her sword. So far so good... Then, it happened. She watched it happened, but in all honesty, she didn't think it was possible to get out of her defense. She gave the cheetah credit. He was impressive. If she ever had the chance to fight him again, she would have to keep in mind his speed and his great agility. He didn't make this fight easy, that's for sure.

She watched as the left foot slide forward and he fell backwards. In the fall, it gave his right foot, that was in the middle of the axe kick, plenty of space to land away from her bladed shoulder. It was frustrating, but this is the only way she is going to get better in fighting. She just took a breath and got her brain to work. She thought about how he would be able to land and she thought she had something figured out to at least try to addle him some more.

She watched as his right foot was crashing down towards the ground. While this was happening, she turned her body clockwise so her body would be facing his right leg when it landed. She also gripped her sword with both hands and held it near her chest. Once his right leg finally crashed on the ground, she moved her left foot out of reflex. She didn't want it to get smashed. Right when she lifted her foot out of reflex, as fast as she could, she would try to stomp down on the top of his right foot.

It should make a T, hoping to smash the top of his foot perpendicularly. While she tried to stomp on the top of his foot, her sword was is motion. She would move it up quickly to gain momentum. Then, she would pull it down towards his foot. Her hope is to slash it off like the axemen do in the forests with trees. She wanted to hit it strong and hard, making a clean cut. She just hoped that she would be able to pull this off.

[Caedir din Sahra]

Hotaru's counterattack was swift; immediately her foot came down, stomping down on Caedir's own. The feline's strength was greater, and he tensed his muscles to reduce the impact, but the blunt force and weight behind it still hurt. Letting out a growl of pain, the cheetah looked up at his opponent, already picking apart her movements. She wasn't stepping about quickly as she had before, meaning that either Hotaru was confident and did not need to use that quick motion, or else there was a limit that prevented her from moving at that speed at all times. Caedir, while not the sharpest tool in the shed due to his feral nature, knew how to observe and gauge patterns in his prey, adapting his combat to perform at his peak. He was a predator in this battle, and he would not become the prey himself.

Even as Hotaru stepped on his foot, Caedir braced himself; he had the strength to pull himself free, or lift Hotaru's weight off of him by kicking upwards with enough force. However, the feline instead rested his weight on his arm and twisted his body, bringing his left foot up even as his right hand came down beneath him, causing his right leg to twist. His foot would quickly connect with Hotaru's right arm if she did not dodge the attack, and given the force behind it, the bone in her arm would likely break clean in half if the strike hit. Additionally, the force of the kick would have her other arm knocked to the side, causing the black-robed woman's sword to strike the ground instead. The force of impact would be so great that unless Hotaru braced herself, her other arm would likely be injured as well, though not with a broken bone.

Even as his attack struck, Caedir used the arm that was beneath him and braced himself, bringing his right leg up in a powerful kick to pull himself free. The angle wouldn't be good for a solid hit, but with the feline moving beneath her foot and another attack incoming, it would be enough to set her off-balance. Once the cheetah's kick was complete, his other hand would slip beneath him and press up against the ground, pushing him up into a kneeling position where he could much more easily stand from. It took a split second for him to get to his feet again, ready for his opponent's next attack. He was starting to breathe heavily, though; he'd have to slow his exertion slightly to maintain his stamina, lest he tire himself out before too long.

Before they continued, though, Caedir had a question. He had not followed up on his attack because he wanted to know something. “How you move fast? You move slow, but move fast, then slow again.”

[Hotaru Kuchiki-Masurao]

Once she started to execute her attack, she heard him growl out. It was one small victory for her that she was even able to hit him once. It made her feel better about her fighting skill. When he looked up, however, she could tell he was analyzing her. Cheetahs in the wild were in the top of the food chain, with the other big cats that shared their home, as well as other carnivores, like hyenas. She could tell that the predator in him was staring her down, showing definance to her. He was not going to back down and he would not be made weak.

While her attack was being performed, she could see that Caedir had made a decision on what to do next. She was really curious what he would think up. She didn't have to wait too long. She watched as he put weight on his arms and twisted his body, bringing his left foot up to try to kick her in her right side. Right when she saw that, she also noticed that he was preparing his right foot that was under her to kick upwards.

So, Hotaru was stuck between two kicks, one from the right side of her and one from underneath. She had to react quickly, since his speed was the biggest advantage he had against her. She tried to think quick, but this time, she couldn't think of anything that could counter something like this quick enough to be effective. Instead, she jumped up. She was able to jump high enough to avoid the kicks and then created a stepping ground.

She lightly landed on it and was thankful she didn't get hit by either of those. She looked down at him while he went into a kneeling position and then stood up. She did notice one thing about him. He couldn't keep this up for much longer. He was starting to breathe heavy. She knew in the wild, cheetahs only had top speed for a few minutes before they completely tired themselves out. She wondered if he had that kind of limitation and it seems like he does. She wondered how long he could kept the speed up, since he's been going full speed for the entire fight.

She saw that he didn't try to attack her while she got away. He asked her how she moved so fast. She would move slow, then fast and then slow again. He must not know about shinigami abilites. So, he lives in Soul Society, but doesn't know basic shinigami skills. It was interesting and she would definitely need to look this up. "Well Caedir, I used a technique that was called Shunpo. It gives me a boost of speed when I need it. It's a basic shinigami technique that we learn in our Academy."

She waited on her stepping ground, looking down on the battlefield and waited for him to make a move.

OOC: Reiatsu 845/920 for Stepping Ground

[Caedir din Sahra]

(OOC: Pardon the delay; being laid up sick in bed for a weekend is not conducive to much writing.)

Again, Hotaru dodged, surprising given that Caedir was extremely fast and her mental reflexes were average at best. Still, her jump upwards was uninterrupted as the cheetah pulled back, taking a few moments to catch his breath. If he hadn't noticed that he was wearing himself out with his rapid attacks, the cheetah probably would have tired himself out in a few more exchanges. As it was, Hotaru was being far more energy efficient, at least for now. The cheetah, being as feral-minded as he was, wasn't mentally equipped to fight attrition; his species in particular worked in quick bursts to catch their prey before they could get away. Seeing as Hotaru had evaded his fast maneuvers twice—one of which was surprising, given the difference in their speed—she was currently winning the battle without having landed a solid strike besides stamping on his foot earlier.

Well, there was one more trick Caedir hadn't pulled out. The black-robed woman had revealed her ability to step quickly—something she called “Shunpo” and then followed up with a few words he didnt quite understand—and now had shown that she could fly, at least to the simple cheetah's mind. That meant that, much like the mask-creatures Caedir had hunted before, Hotaru had many unique abilities that could make her dangerous. She hadn't seemed hostile at first, but after what seemed to be an attempt to chop his leg off with her sword, the feline was a lot more uncomfortable around her. It was quite possible that she was no longer a curiosity, but a threat. A threat warranted a flight-or-fight response, but in Caedir's case... he was confident he could win the fight.

Suddenly, Hotaru would feel Caedir's Reiatsu flare up. The feline wasn't aware of the concept of spiritual energy, at least not with the depth that humans understood it; he understood natural energy, the body's energy. In his own way, Caedir equated Reiatsu to be almost like his physical stamina, as he grew tired the more of it he used up. It was like a second pool of energy, a second wind of sorts, and that was the only way he could think of it. But that was all trivial; the fact was that despite not understanding it, Caedir had some control over his Reiatsu. Sure, it wasn't a fancy or elegant control, as his spiritual energy fluctuated up and down at random, but it was still an ability that allowed him to unlock a skill available to Beast-Clan members only: Yaseishin.

The Beast-Clan Release was a simple thing, especially in Caedir's case; it was a physical transformation and augmentation. The fur on his feet and legs turned to a gray color, the black spots still visible but faded against a darker color than the normal yellow. The same color change crept up his legs and up across his torso, covering his stomach, chest, and shoulders in the same way. The fur thickened and hardened, becoming more durable; the feline's coat became thicker, sturdier, and spiritually durable; it would be far harder to cut into the regions that were altered. The arms and head were still exposed targets, but the rest of Caedir's body might as well have been coated in spiritual steel armor for what it was worth. This changing also strengthened and enhanced his muscles, not increasing his physical strength but making him more durable, able to use his body's new abilities to the fullest. Finally, the last visible change was in the form of two discs on either side of Caedir's feet, made of a material that looked almost like bone; they spun rapidly, with no apparent effect, yet they were the weapon of Caedir's Yaseishin.

Suddenly, the cheetah's foot came up right in front of Hotaru, and there was a rush of wind; it seemed as though the discs were ejecting air backwards, while his foot also displaced it upwards. Indeed, that was the ability of Caedir's Yaseishin: displacement. With air being forced away in both directions, it left a large void, devoid of any air, one foot in width and two feet in length. While it seemed like an odd ability for a Release's weapon, Caedir had just created a void, one that would immediately be filled as nature rushed to fill in the gap. The air would suddenly compress towards that spot as the hole in space was filled, and the force of it was such that Hotaru would even feel the tug dragging her forward. With the void having a pull force of 400, and the woman's Strength being a little over a fourth of the void's, Hotaru would even find herself being dragged forward rapidly off of her stepping ground. She could create more, wasting Reiatsu to stay above the ground, or she could let herself drop down; either way, she wouldn't be able to change the direction of her movement. Even a Shunpo wouldn't get her away, due to the physical strength of her legs not being enough to let her accelerate into a step.

Even as Hotaru was being pulled forward, Caedir was moving in the same direction; he thrust his right leg forward, letting the pull of the vacuum accelerate his kick further while his Yaseishin-enhanced claws allowed his left leg to dig into the ground, preventing him from being pulled into his own vacuum. This created an insanely powerful blow; Hotaru was being pulled forward at 400 force, while Caedir's own foot was moving forward at that same force, with his own strength behind it. A collision was inevitable, given that the void would likely tug Hotaru off-guard. With insufficient strength to avoid the pull of Caedir's void, and no way to change direction, all she could do was try to figure out a way to block the blow before she was struck, an attack that would likely shatter ribs and do some internal damage, given the potential force of Caedir's kick.

Remaining Reiatsu: 1800/2000 (-200 for Class 6 Yaseishin)

Yaseishin: 1/3