Arc 2 Prologue: Dire Straits [PG13, NDE, Medium-Hard]

[Iro Kuchiki]

Takashi dodged, which was to be expected, but what he said in passing made Iro's blood boil. "Have you perhaps forsaken your soldiers, Kuchiki-taicho? Adalo... These were not just soldiers, these were people. And not only were they people, but they were people with names, with lives, deserving of respect. Also... the closest Shinigami were two miles away, standing outside the influence of his Intimidation Hana. "Those were your comrades, foolish child. You should know them better than to think they are useless..." Having literally two miles of advance notice, the Soukahou blasts were already diminished severely by the time they reached the ranks of shinigami. Not only that, but the ones who would have got caught in the blast had no problem dodging by their own power.

Iro had nothing to worry about when it came to collateral damage.

Takashi would soon find out that Soukahou was not without control. As he dodged, Iro stopped firing temporarily, the flames still coating both weapons he held, though. As his disgraced cousin came out of his Shunpo behind the Captain, wind whipping up plenty of dirt as he traveled exceedingly faster than Iro could hope to, the elder Kuchiki used his enhanced instincts to enact a proper defense, counter, and attack all in one fluid motion. Out of his back he flexed his reiatsu, pushing it outwards forcibly to slam into Takashi's sword. With the insane difference in Reiatsu Strength, Iro would utterly annihilate the Sakugen that was running through the blade. If Takashi didn't think quickly, or retract his attack, he would suffer cutback with his bare blade hitting Iro. If he tried to refresh Sakugen, he'd simply waste reiatsu because Iro would flex again using his highly honed Instincts.

But that was only one part of the maneuver Iro was working on. With his left hand he stopped the spinning of the blade, the sword pointed off to the left and back of Iro. But that wasn't the attack. No, out of the tip of the blade shot out a blast of Soukahou backwards, aimed right for Takashi. Shunpoing straight backwards would only have him getting caught up in the large attack. Using Shunpo to the left would cause him to bisect himself with the ten foot blade in his way, but using Shunpo to the right side would help, but then he would risk coming in contact with Iro's counter attack from his right side. Using his Acrobatic flexibility, he used Shunpo Karin to send his right arm backwards at 1000 speed, having his flaming ten foot blade swing at Takashi's right side. If he used his sword to guard, he would risk damaging the blade further, or having it break entirely, and that wouldn't deal with the Soukahou blast coming at him from the front either.

All in all, Iro wasn't messing around. He worked to cover all his bases and keep Takashi on his toes. One slip up and the former Vice Captain would fall.

Remaining Reiatsu: 5950/7500 (-100 Shunpo Karin)
Combat Post 3/8

[Sozen Kuchiki]

OOC: Currently Takashi's post.

[Takashi Kuchiki]

i'm indestructible! ♕ take a last look around while you're alive. ▼ The traitor didn't pay particular attention to the words his now former Taicho spoke of. The Kuchiki by blood was now fighting with his relative which perhaps made this a greater struggle. Takashi was only lost in the heat of battle now. Though he had initially been able to get out a word; now it was different. The man was an assassin and that was his primary goal through and through. The man was heavily focused upon this task now. It seemed Iro was now also ready to execute some maneuvers. Takashi lowered his sword upon Iro, but soon felt the man's reiatsu pouring through his body. This would be a taxing effect upon his stamina but was enough to have Takashi pull his sword back. His eyes narrowed the instant that it was pushed back, kicking off his left foot, the few inches it would take to utilize his top speed; pulling in his right hand to stop the momentum of the blade; twisting counter clockwise. He was now behind Iro, his left hand placed upon the man's right shoulder. There was no attack of any sort here; he had simply placed his hand upon the man. This was in essence to stop him from turning or feel in case Iro decided to do so. It seemed logical as reiatu collected in his hand; he had to make sure Iro was not up to something else. This man possessed a great deal of reiatsu and who knew just what he could do. Takashi's sword was now vertically standing to his right, his right arm pulled back. His sheath was now near Iro's lower right hip. The attacks seemed to be simultaneous and Takashi would make his moves at the same pace. The first was the blue fire which blasted out from the man's left hand a few feet away. From the right, he could feel the man's right hand rocket out. The 1000 speed right arm was coming at him the quickest. To this, Takashi did one thing...stand there. Indeed, Iro's hand would push out at 1000 speed. It would be met with Takashi's bare blade which was held vertically upwards. Iro, with no control of his arm, would feel the arm be sliced off. In addition, Takashi allowed his left foot to smash against the ground, the side of the heel smashing down and the foot in an arc in front of Iro's foot (in case he tried to shuunpo). The ground would instantly become unstable, crumbling on the back of Iro's right foot. This would cause him to further become off balance, making shunpo near impossible (with the rocky ground under him). The sword was stretched out by Takashi's arm so it would be cut before the blast of reiatsu. The reason this wasn't subjected to cutback because Takashi hadn't made an attack. Cut back would be suffered for physical attacks utilizing equal and opposite reactions. For Iro, to raise his foot and step down for Shunpo was out of the question. In addition, calling out his release would still be too slow due to the movement he was executing. He could try for another kido, however, the speeds to execute it would be unrealistic. The two attacks Takashi made, combined with the speed of Iro's arm (which was only perhaps 6 inches away from the man's sword in a 90 degree angle). In the end however, after Iro's hand would be sliced, Takashi would push off his left foot towards Iro's right side. He would hover, have been blasted (and accelerated) by the attack which came towards him. The fire ball would crash into Takashi's left side, leaving mid first degree (low second degree) burns all around him. This was the price for the attack. Iro's right hand for Takashi taking the man's attack in full. The power would push him away From Iro. He went tumbling until he was able to get to his feet from the roll pushing off. He was breathing heavily now, but still able to fight. The words emitting from his mouth were nothing but: "Caste Out...Zaibatsu". SPOILER: Click to show 400/1000 Reiatsu: -400 Shikai ♕ profile | notes: Sorry for the delay. I was doing a bit of things which got hecktic like CIU's and questions. I'll be quick now, sorry again! STATS & ABILITIES: strength - 400 points (1000) speed - 400 points (1000) spiritual pressure - 100 points (200) reiatsu strength - 33 points (67) light aura - 65 points dark aura - 35 points instinct - 100 points senses - 100 points energy sensory - 50 points healing expertise - 0 points total SP: 1400 current skills: (15/15 SKP spent) - martial arts: [hakuda] (3) -strength of will: (3) -battle analysis: (3) -weapon [sword]: (4) - battle focus: (2)

[Hotaru Kuchiki-Masurao]

Hotaru slowly started to walk up towards Sozen after he had nodded in her direction, giving her acknowledgement that she was there. She definitely didn't want to sneak up on the Head of her family, especially after what she had seen done in this dungeon. More specifically, what she experienced. She walked slowly and while walking forward, she noticed the red circle with weird markings. But, she also noticed something else. It was around the same area that she herself had trained in.

She could still remember clearly, just by looking down at the floor, where she was laying in pain from all the torture training she endured through Sozen and his 'other self.' She could phase out the circle and actually see herself on the floor in pain. Right now, she was just imagining how she must've looked while she was writhing in pain on the ground just from Sozen's spiritual pressure alone. She cringed a little just at the thought of Sozen standing over her while she had to deal with all the pain.

What had unnerved her the most about the experience was feeling the pain of stab wounds that honestly didn't exist. All of it really didn't exist, but just feeling wounds like that with nothing there to do it was probably the worst. Then, she needed to shake herself to keep her composure. She still couldn't believe what Takashi was doing, betraying all of Soul Society like that. It didn't surprise her that he went after a Captaincy, but to do it that way? Just not right.

She couldn't believe someone that wanted to change Soul Society decided to betray it by stealing the Seki Seki walls. Also, she was surprised that he would betray Sozen like that. She was sure that Takashi knew as well as she did what would happen if someone betrayed the family. He just committed a death sentence. Especially if Sozen used his 'other self' to do it. It would be pure torture for the man. But, maybe, that's exactly what he deserved.

So, while her mind wandered, she ended up behind Sozen, but off to the side. She didn't want to impede his vision on the markings. She did look at the the floor and had never seen these kinds of markings before. But, she hadn't really studied any kind of markings like that before. Sozen then told her that this must've been the place where he summoned all the monsters to distract the entirety of Soul Society to take the Seki Seki walls. She moved closer to just look at them. It was fairly intricate and must've taken awhile.

When Sozen turned around to look at her, she was a little surprised by the sudden change. Though, what she saw in her Head's eyes was determination. Determination to, what she assumed, was to fix the damage one of their family members had done. He said that the family was at a disadvantage and because of this she was to be sent on a special mission. This mission was to assassinate Satsujun. Her eyes got a little wide and she controlled her mouth from not opening.

She didn't know much about the man, but she knew the name. She also knew that he was the leader of Xcution. This meant that he had to be powerful. She had met one member of Xcution, Pavel, and he was a monster with physical strength. For the man to be able to lead him, she couldn't imagine how much stronger the leader was compared to Pavel. She was surprised, but, it was her next mission. She closed her eyes and when they opened, showed her own determination to Sozen. "I accept the mission, Sozen-sama. When do I need to carry it out?" She told him that she would do what the family needed and not betray this family. She told the truth and would gladly give her life if the family needed her to. Even if this was a suicide mission, she would do it for Sozen.

[Iro Kuchiki]

Rather than dodge, Takashi stepped closer to Iro. This was problematic, potentially, but not incredibly worrisome. The traitor to the family had ensured that he would get hit by at least one of the attacks coming at him, but the way his sword was positioned, Iro's Instincts and Analysis skill could see that his wrist was headed straight for the extended blade. It was too soon to stop the Shunpo Karin, but that didn't mean that Iro could do nothing about Takashi's attack. With his accelerated instinct, he mentally willed a Bakudo to form. Enkosen was a weak kidou, and it would be even weaker due to the fact that Iro had not said the incantation or have any skill in doing so mentally, but despite its small size and weak shell it was perfectly sized for what Iro needed. Its low class needed no real charging time, and Iro's instinct made the reaction time nearly non existent.

The Kuchiki Captain's arm slammed into his own Bakudo at 1000 stat speed, jarring his arm and making it come to a stop long enough for him to retract his attack. He had to make it hit his arm, there was no other way. If he had tried to stop his sword with the Bakudo, the weak nature of it would just be sliced cleanly through, making Iro's hand still able to be cut off cleanly by Takashi's maneuver. So, while Iro kept his hand attached to his body, it wasn't without a cost. His wrist seemed quite worse for the wear, bruised and possibly even leading to fractures in the bone. The wrist was not a very durable part of the body, and Iro had just subjected it to a lot of force.

Takashi too had taken some damage, burns from the Soukahou that had struck him directly in the unprotected side. He had (wisely) used that attack to help him get some distance from his former Captain, and attempted to activate his Shikai. With Iro's Intimidation Hana still active, it would have a delay to it, as well as doubled cost. The doubled cost would no doubt be crippling to the man who had so little energy to burn, which would put him at more and more of a disadvantage as the battle continued. Iro, however, knew that this battle couldn't continue to rage on for too long, lest he wear himself out. It had to accelerate, and accelerate it would.

"Traitors to the Kuchiki and to the Soul Society don't deserve to know the name of the Zanpakutou that strikes them down."

Because Iro had unlocked Bankai, he and his Zanpakutou were connected to the point where a wordless Shikai release was possible. The Captain clicked the sheathes back over the ten foot blades, causing them to fold up and be back to just handles. Takashi would then witness the familiar sight of Iro's Zanpakutou exploding, even while still in the scabbard, coating his former cousin's arms in a thick black liquid. "You've yet to even see what this release is capable of. You will learn to fear it."

Remaining Reiatsu: 5700/7500 (-100 Enkosen, -150 Shikai)
Shikai: 1/10
Combat Post: 4/8

[Sozen Kuchiki]

“It won’t be any time in the near future,” Sozen said with a dark smile, the sort for which he was famously feared not only on the battlefield, but in politics. For recently, it was not on the battlefield that Sozen had found the most success, but in the halls of politics, where he had forced the passing of policies which had altered the structures of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads, thus far positively. He was a scary person for that reason. He could pass what he wanted when he wanted. Sozen looked at Hotaru, red eyes meeting those of one whom he had taken in, and he approached her, getting closer, so that when he spoke, his voice was still strong, but far quieter, almost a whisper.

“You will need to train,” Sozen said. “You will need to get faster, and you will need to learn how to utilize not only Kuchiki Hana, but techniques which take advantage of lightning.” It seemed that Sozen had a very specific plan, though he elaborated no further for Hotaru. Rather, he turned away from her, still with a smile, and looked at the circle on the ground which had most probably been used for the Shokan summoning. Sozen turned away, deciding to leave this circle on the floor. Well, it was red, after all. If anyone ever challenged him here, fighting on the floor was already off-limits. Also, it was a summoning circle. Because of it, if Sozen were to delve more into Shokan, couldn’t he summon things?

“Takashi is engaged with Iro right now, isn’t he?” Sozen asked Hotaru. Assuming she gave an answer, or even if she didn’t, Sozen spoke again soon after either in response to her or as additional musing. “We should go to where they are now. Kenryoku Kawada will also be on his way very shortly.” Kenryoku, whose physical prowess was superior to even Takashi’s. If that Captain arrived, with his aggressive hate for Kuchikis, his paranoia, and his skill, he might very well kill Takashi. Perhaps Sozen wanted to stop that. Or perhaps he was planning on assisting. Or perhaps he was going to help bring in Takashi by stopping Kenryoku before a killing blow, thus capturing this protege. Sozen’s motives, however, were always a mystery. “Let’s go,” Sozen said.

Meanwhile, over where one would find Iro and Takashi, one would also find Adalo De-Mona, grinning and sitting there as the two fought. No one dared to attack Adalo. Anyone who would have would have found that their blades broke against him anyway, and he didn’t need to fight back. He actually just looked lazy, like he had no intention of doing anything while Takashi and Iro fought. But, he did seem like he had the intention of speaking, because as they got into battle, Adalo spoke again. “Oh no... You’re both scaring me.. What is this tension? Are you going to kill each other...?” Adalo smiled after he asked this, because it seemed that nothing would please him more than one of them killing the other.

[Takashi Kuchiki]

i'm indestructible! ♕ take a last look around while you're alive. ▼ (Forgive me for being a loser. I'm back to speed now) The Kuchiki Traitor would finally feel his release coming towards him; delayed by some time as it fully enveloped him. He felt his sword shift as his right hand held the Gladius facing the man. The left hand held the elongated dagger near his chest. There was a moment as the men faced one another. Takashi the Traitor was still nearly 20 or so feet away from Iro. His body was now scarred a bit from the explosive blasts of fire that consumed him. He took a few seconds to catch his breath. His strength coupled with his strength of will allowed him to push on and not be effected fully by the draining effects. He took his time while the man spoke and unleashed his shikai as well. He watched the black liquid pour all over the Captain and then envelope him. Truth be told, Takashi did want to fight for some sort of honor. That 11th division coat would indeed be something of a trophy to him. It was his goal to be able to take it, and he wouldn't let go of it soon. He heard the voice of Adalo, the Primera who was holding his own against everyone. It seemed his presence alone was enough to make everyone cower in fear. Takashi himself could feel some sort of strange presence that he held. For now though, it was in his best interest to tune it out. It was bad enough that the melee Hana was still active. Although slowing Iro considerably, it seemed he had ways of making up for his lack of prowess in speed. Thankfully, Takashi had superior offense on his side. He was able to balance things well. The last time they fought, Takashi learned another thing about Iro. It was that the man would tire from battle. He knew Iro knew his weakness well, as such, he always had a calculative plan to figure out how to combat his own weakness. In any case, Takashi's main focus would now be defeating Iro. Perhaps there was something to it, the reason he wanted to win so badly. Much like there being some sort of shriveled up honor among even the most vile of people. Though it was fickle and degraded quickly, there was just something about it that appealed to him. As such, Takashi would make sure to keep on his feet. As soon as Iro had released and spoke to him, he was on the attack without warning. Takashi didn't speak nor let anything happen as the gladius he had held up instantly grew to to 20 meters with a flick of his wrist. Takashi's Shikai didn't allow any gap in its elongation; it was instant switch. As the wrist flicked, it would give the Gladius Takashi's strength in its hit. With such intense speed compared to Iro's 100, it would make dodging significantly harder. Given the gap of time as well, it would be a bit difficult to have things block as suddenly. There was one more factor to consider as well. Iro was actually fighting further into his limits as well. He had been combating for more posts; being pushed again. These factors would make things much harder to deal with. The horizontal hit was intended to hit Iro's chest. The attack would simply push him back and not cut him; seeing as the man had armor on. However, the intent was to connect with a strong hit, perhaps an internal shockwave if generated correctly. The key was to strike Iro with such force that it would cause further damage to his lungs. Why was Takashi targeting those? He recalled from the previous fight that Iro had coughed rather readily. There seemed to be something wrong with the Taicho. He wasn't sure exactly what it was. However, regardless of if they were in tact on not, someone who couldn't breath, couldn't fight well. Thus the attack came in, Takashi simply looked towards Iro; not saying anything to him. However, his gaze seemed to be something synonymous to some form of confidence. ♕ profile | notes: No Reiatsu cost. Shikai: 1/10 STATS & ABILITIES: strength - 700 points (1400) speed - 600 points (1200) spiritual pressure - 750 Points reiatsu strength - 900 Points light aura - 65 points dark aura - 35 points instinct - 450 points senses - 100 points energy sensory - 50 points healing expertise - 0 points total SP: 2400 current skills: (15/15 SKP spent) - martial arts: [hakuda] (3) -strength of will: (3) -battle analysis: (3) -weapon [sword]: (4) - battle focus: (2)

[Hotaru Kuchiki-Masurao]

Hotaru continued her determined gaze towards Sozen. When he started to smile, she knew that he was pleased with her answer. But for her, this assignment told her a few things. It told her that Sozen trusted in her abilities enough that she would be able to take down someone as important as him. She had no idea how it would work, but she trusted him to not put her in harm's way. Sozen was ruthless, she knew that, but when it came to his family, he was different. She knew that he would never put a family member in harm's way unless he knew that they would be able to make it out. So, she would make it out, even if she thought she couldn't.

He looked at her and told her that it wouldn't be in the near future, which was actually a little bit of a relief to her. She knew the strength of that man, and she knew she would need to train to even try to come close to hitting him. Of course, her facial expression didn't change, but she felt a little weight leave her shoulders. She had time. She needed time. She would need time to clear her mind of all that was going on and center herself for this mission. She continued to look at Sozen while he walked towards her. She was still asking herself why her. Why would he choose her for a mission like this? Why not pick another Kuchiki that was stronger and didn't need the training she did?

She trusted his judgement, but she still didn't completely understand. She watched every deliberate move that he made, making sure to try to tell if anything in his movements would tell her something about the man. Nothing did. She still kept her steady gaze, but now doubt started to creep into her mind. One big doubt came to ahead though. If Takashi hadn't betrayed them and Sozen still wanted this man taken out, would he have still come to her? She highly doubted it. Takashi was a skilled warrior and even though she had fought in the wars, she was still trying to get used to fighting with a living weapon like her zanpaktou and against other very skilled fighters.

She thought about this while he stopped next to her. Her eyes looked over to her right, without moving her head. She wanted to make sure that she could hear him in case he said anything. He whispered to her that she would need to train to get faster and to start using techniques that would use lightning. She waited to see if he would say anything else and he didn't. She didn't know if he knew that she couldn't learn Kido. How could she learn new techniques that incorporated lightning when she couldn't use Kido? She had no other idea of how she could incorporate lightning techniques. Before she could say anything, he turned, looking at the circle before walking away.

She looked over her shoulder at the circle while Sozen asked her if Takashi was fighting Iro. "Yes, Sozen-sama. When I left to follow you here, they were fighting." He then continued, saying that they needed to go where they were since another captain, Kenryoku Kawada, was on his way there as they spoke. She assumed that the captain was there to take down Takashi. Maybe Sozen wanted to get there first to take care of Takashi himself or something. She looked back at the circle. She knew nothing about summoning demons, but she assumed the circle wouldn't cause any trouble until it was activated by something or someone. Sozen wouldn't leave something harmful and dangerous in the basement, would he?

Once Sozen told them to go, she looked back towards him, "Yes, Sozen-sama." She gave one look over her shoulder at the circle before turning around and walking out of the basement, up the stairs and back outside. Once she got outside, she could feel the reiatsu almost like a pressure on her. She looked over to where she sensed it and could definitely see the ravages from the fight from her. Sozen was already going towards the fight, so she followed suit, trying to keep up with him as best she could. She appeared next to Sozen wherever he stopped and she looked at the scene before her.

She knew that Takashi was strong, so she wasn't surprised that he had learned his Shikai release. His release was interesting, just forming two weapons, but she knew first hand how deadly Takashi would be with two weapons. She then looked over and saw that Iro had released his Shikai as well. She had never seen it before and it was interesting to see. She didn't know much about its power either, so she wouldn't say anything more about it until she saw its strength firsthand. She put her hand on her zanpaktou, touching Rivu~aiasan so they could talk about the fight among themselves. She avoided looking at the Primera. He freaked her out a little too much to actually look at him straight on. After looking them over, she turned to Sozen. "What will happen now, Sozen-sama?"

[Amagai Kuchiki]

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