Hot Rocks (R, NDE)

[Yetsuna Yishnir]

Kaen was proving to be a fast and reactive opponent. Yetsuna was causing juts of earth to come springing out of the ground at a fairly fast 800 speed and he was dodging them with ease, and that was something that took more then just speed, it took a trained, focused mind. Considering all of his physical abilities, and thus far lack of use of spells Yetsuna was edging more and more confidently that Kaen, at least without his release, was a physical brawler with a high emphasis on speed and strong counter attacks. If her hunch was right the easiest way to deal with him would typically just be to keep him out of range, but his ability to react to incoming attacks made the strategy difficult to utilize considering he could dodge almost anything she threw at range.

Instead the easiest way would be to try and retaliate with her own abilities when Kaen came in close to attack, trying to find way to catch him off guard and capitalizing on that moment, but this was something easier said then done. Letting him get in close posed no small amount of risk to her. Even with her armor he could still do damage, plus, considering his inclination for physical combat, she was willing to bet he wasn't a bad grappler, which was something that her armor couldn't protect her against very well. Her release was designed to absorb bursts of force, not prolonged pressure to areas like her joints, granted the full plate design could somewhat hamper the ability of other to manipulate her body this wasn't entirely full-proof consider the flexibility of her armor.

She had an idea to try and get the drop on him, but involved her giving away a property of her release she liked to save for when she needed some kind of clutch defense, her armor defensive summon ability. When Yetsuna needed a fast defense against an attack she could summon a block of stone instantly as a means to protect herself, and it was easily one of her releases better attributes. If she used it correctly she could exploit an opening during Kaen's attack allowing her to get a strong attack in, but at the cost of one of the aces up her sleeve. Weighing her options and what she had figured out of her opponent so far she decided it was worth the trade off, Kaen didn't seem like the big attack type, and even in he did have one, she had a feeling it would likely come at a speed she wouldn't be able to deal with anyway.

Kaen closed in, Yetsuna making it just difficult enough for him to get close so that she didn't give away she was letting him in, he tripped her and went for his initial attack which was met immediately with a block of stone. Her sword turned to sand and immediately dashed towards Kaen chest forming into a large fist-like projectile, then things got really interesting. Kaen not only recognized the threat, but he also managed to react to her attack, no small feat considering the short time he has to do both. As the stone turned to sand and started to go past her chest Kaen shot out his hand at what she would have guessed was close to full speed. While his hand was fast she was able to track it and just barely stopped herself from instinctively summoning some stone to defend as he instead went to try and hook her arm.

Just as he began to apply force to her body to reverse her momentum from backwards to forwards in what she guessed was an attempt to throw her into her own attack the stone would make contact with his ribs hitting the man with a heavy 800 strength attack, likely enough to cause him to go flying back. Yetsuna herself had not had any chance to respond to the arm lock the man had put her in so there were several scenarios that could play out depending entirely on how Kaen reacted to the surprise attack from Yetsuna.

Reaitsu: 7845/8000

(OOC: I'm REEEEEEEEALLY bad at the speed stat comparison game, if you think what I have in unfair or doesn't match up please tell me so I can fix it, I promise I won't be hurt)

[Kaen Youji]

"Kuh!" Kaen let out a pained exhalation as Yetsuna's stone struck him in the torso, like the blow of a mace. It had been a direct hit, and yet Kaen hadn't gone flying. He'd held his ground. Additionally, there hadn't even been the sound of bones cracking. There had been a curious sound though-- the sound of metal ringing, as her projectile had struck Kaen. An instant later, she would see why. Her attack had torn open Kaen's uniform, revealing glinting steel underneath. An array of steel ringlets, interwoven together into a fine mesh beneath the Vice Captain's uniform. Kaen had been wearing a concealed vest of chainmail. It had helped him withstand her attack without suffering serious injury, but even so-- that vest had not been made to withstand attacks like Yetsuna's. A single blow had caused substantial damage to the vest, and though Yetsuna likely couldn't see it under the vest, Kaen was badly bruised beneath it. A direct hit like that would probably have fractured or broken a rib had he suffered a clean hit without the vest. As for why he hadn't gone flying? Two reasons. The first was that, while not possessing the impact force of Yetsuna's stone, Kaen was still quite strong and actively resisted the blow, tensing his body against the impact. Ordinarily this would likely still have slammed him back a few paces. However. Kaen was holding onto Yetsuna as an anchor, and he had a very strong stance. As such, Yetsuna herself helped to stabilize Kaen, allowing him to roll with the blow and continue his technique, throwing his elbow strike as planned at Yetsuna's temple, while his free arm grabbed Yetsuna's exposed arm, extending it out across Kaen's own chest. A lever for him to use as he saw fit.

"You mentioned there were Squad 4 Medics here, right?" Kaen commented, almost idly. A possible distraction to Yetsuna, drawing her focus away for a split second. However. One would assume that she would answer in the affirmative, and if so....

"Good." Kaen stepped behind Yetsuna's nearest leg, and extended the arm that had struck her with an elbow strike only moments before, driving his forearm into Yetsuna's throat and/or jawline, casting the woman backwards over the leg he had just stepped with. Jiujitsu's back throw. A simple but efficient technique that would, if executed correctly, slam Yetsuna into the ground on her back with considerable force. If Yetsuna was unfamiliar with breakfalls, then there was a good chance that she could crack her skull on the ground. But Kaen wasn't too worried. She'd shown her ability to create sand, therefore he expected she could lighten the impact. Even if she couldn't, her own physical strength and durability meant that this was unlikely to cause serious damage. It'd hurt, probably, but Kaen would be honestly astonished if this even knocked Yetsuna out, given what he'd already ascertained about her abilities. But he wasn't done. If you might recall, Kaen had used his free hand to hook Yetsuna's trapped arm. He was still maintaining a hold on it.

In a flash of movement, Kaen used the arm that was hooking, to pull Yetsuna's arm straight, and then slammed a palm strike just below Yetsuna's elbow joint, at the exact point needed to break the arm. Even if Yetsuna summoned her rock armor to stop the palm strike, it would not stop her from the leverage breaking the elbow joint. And Kaen wasn't even done yet. Having broken Yetsuna's arm, he started to move back. Away from her? Before his leg swept out in a sudden darting motion to kick under Yetsuna's torso and send her flying airborne with tremendous force and impact strength. How effectively could Yetsuna defend herself in mid-air he wondered? Assuming his kick had managed to launch his opponent skyward. Yetsuna was at her most advantageous on the ground. And while neither Karate nor Jiujitsu specialized in aerial battles, he was still depriving Yetsuna of a major component of her offense and defense. Despite his focus on attack, Kaen was making sure to stay wary to the possibility of Yetsuna launching attacks from the ground itself, and was constantly on watch to retreat at the slightest inclination of an attack from below.

Reiatsu Remaining: 1400/1500

[Yetsuna Yishnir]

Yetsuna stone projectile found it mark square in her opponents ribs, but rather then the thud of stone of flesh there was a ringing, one she knew well; it was metal against stone. The realization only took her a fraction of a moment to come to, "The bastards wearing armor of his own," she thought with surprise a mild amount of admiration, this meant that she was gonna have to change how she was going damage. Typically when she fought using her stone she relied on blunt-type damage, it was easier to make and control overall, plus blunt damage was easier to pair with large area attacks, but against chain mail blunt wasn't going to cut it. Kaen's style of armor was best against cutting and bludgeoning damage, it's design allows the force to be distributed over a wide area, which to break his armor she'd have to change over to piecing style damage. Luckily she had a weapon in mind and it was a personal favorite of hers; spikes knuckles.

The revelation of Kaen's armor wasn't the only thing that surprised her, the man also managed to take the full force of the blow, not even stumbling back, which, even using her as an anchor of sorts, was an impressive feat, and spoke volumes about his ability to take damage. As the stone fist finished burying itself in his torso the male shinigami began his counter attack, bringing his elbow around to strike her in the temple, a fairly effective place to attempt to go for a strike, Kaen seemed to target the weak point in the body. She just barely saw his elbow whipping around, "Shit" she exclaimed mentally as she instinctively summoned another block of stone to try and guard her head, though due to the proximity and speed of the blow it wouldn't be anywhere near thick enough to actually stop the attack.

As suddenly as the block appeared it turned into dust under the male shinigami's elbow strike, reducing the impact some before it found its target in the side of Yetsuna's skull. Between the stone and her own spiritual pressure she managed to muster enough to a defense to stop herself from getting knocked out cold or causing her to go into a dazed state, but it still landed cleanly, "Argh." The blow caused her head to snap to the side, straining the muscles in her neck as the prevent her head from spinning to far and causing a fairly severe headache to form almost immediately, neither thing lethal, but both painful. The blow staggered the girl for a moment and ability to react impaired for a brief moment as her brain absorbed the force of the attack, and in that moment Kaen seized an opportunity to grab her free arm.

Once situated in a position he content he asked her a question, "You mentioned there were Squad 4 Medics here, right?" he asked her rather passively. There were a few implications that could have been taken from that question, but few of those mattered, it provided the short time she needed to fully regain her wits. With a half smile she replied, "Yeah, I'll make sure to call em for you after were done," her voice friendly but resolute, she wanted to win, she hadn't had to fight this hard in so long and she loved it; the thrill of fighting someone stronger. The same moment she finished speaking, and just barely beating Kaen's move to take the side step around her, the large stone that was still buried in his chest and the fragments of stone she had summoned thus far began wrapping around him.

Quickly the stone work itself around Kaen's shoulders and upper arms, forming a make-shift straitjacket that would prevent him from moving any part of his arm above the elbow. Proximity would already make escaping her trap difficult, but its superior speed would likely make the task even more difficult; unless Kaen managed to escape before the stone wrapped around his shoulders he would find no escape, not even a shunpo would get him out of it as it was now attached to him. There were few options for Kaen, if he used a step technique just as the stone began to move he'd be just barely able to escape, but he'd lose his grapple on Yetsuna, he could retain his grapple, but in doing so potentially make himself a fairly easy target, or he could pull another trick from out of his sleeve and somehow defeat her stone and retain his grapple.


(OOC: The stone is probably around the realm of about a foot and a quarter thick so somewhere around 950 durability to break)

[Kaen Youji]

(ooc: Sorry for the long wait. Life got really busy).

The elbow strike landed solidly, and Yetsuna rallied from it. Kaen's eyes gleamed. While it was possible Yetsuna was feinting to lure him in, and deliberately inhibiting her cutback to deploy a trump card down the line, his elbow strike had clearly hurt her. And he hadn't felt the tingles or bruising he'd have expected from a high cutback level opponent. So. It's mostly the armor then. Kaen thought. Yetsuna's bluff had paid off. While Kaen did not entirely discount the possibility of Yetsuna possessing a high enough cutback to stop an attack, what this had done, was caused Kaen to safely file the possibility under low-priority. Something to keep an eye out for, and be prepared for the consequences of it if he was wrong, but not something to inherently plan around. And that meant the Darting Swallow would work on her, if need be. Good. Yetsuna responded to his question, however, with confident banter, and Kaen couldn't help but grin. He'd noticed something. The stone that had struck him, hadn't fallen to the ground. She's planning something He noted. That was when she attempted to make her straitjacket. Ahh.... I see. That's dangerous. And very effective for a sparring match. It's much safer than my technique, which means she can deploy it far more freely! Kaen observed, impressed with Yetsuna's application of geokinesis. But it wasn't going to work on him. At least not this time.

The instant Yetsuna attempted to bind Kaen with this technique, the Shinigami disappeared again. Where to!? Yetsuna wouldn't even have time to blink before she got her answer, as a roundhouse kick slammed into the back of her head at full speed, though at half strength. This was only Shunpo, not Senka, as before, so there would be a momentary blink between the motion and the kick, unlike Senka in which the two motions were simultaneous. However, the distance covered was so minute (merely moving to Yetsuna's opposite side, in range of his kick), and Kaen's physical speed was significant enough that the difference was almost purely academic. His kick was travelling three times faster than Yetsuna, so it was doubtful she'd even be able to turn her head in time to track his attack. From Yetsuna's perspective, the most likely scenario was that Kaen's disappearance would be seemingly simultaneous with the impact at the back of her head, sending the woman crashing forward, from the force of a 300 strength kick, nearly 50% stronger than her. Like his previous attacks, Kaen's blow was expertly placed, though differently in this case. His previous attacks had all been aimed at critical points. While the back of the head was indeed a devastating point to be struck by so powerful a kick, Kaen had deliberately avoided hitting the base of her skull. A hard impact there ran the risk of separating the brain stem and could potentially kill someone. Especially when hitting with as much force as Kaen was. Instead, he connected with the flush back of Yetsuna's skull, where the skull would absorb much of the impact, but the force would still send her brain bouncing around the inside of her skull like a pinball. It would also send Yetsuna crashing forwards, her face on a direct express course with the ground. Unlike Kaen's previous blow that had sent Yetsuna flying, where she had at least been moderately upright, even attempting to cushion her landing with sand was likely to be an extremely painful experience as not her armored soles, but her face grated across whatever she conjured up to absord the impact.

In truth, Kaen expected the battle to end there. A blow like that, while not lethal, was almost certainly a knock-out blow. But he had not realized that Yetsuna's cutback was stronger than he realized. While her brain playing pinball would definitely leave a mark, and have some lasting damage for the remainder of the battle, it was not impossible her cutback could reduce the force and mitigate the damage sustained from the blow to some extent. However, Kaen would have succeeded in making a second stretch-- creating distance. In fact, he wasn't planning on sticking around. The instant he landed his kick, his opposite leg kicked off the ground, causing the Vice Captain to spring back, making absolutely sure he was outside of Yetsuna's manipulation zone. True, his kick was probably sufficient to blast Yetsuna out of the zone anyways, but there was no harm in being cautious, if, by some miracle she withstood or countered the blow.

"You're quick witted, and sharp tongued. I like that. You're deserving of the title Vice Captain." Kaen complimented. Geeze. So many dangerous runner-ups coming in the wings. Squad 7's languishing status filled him with sorrow and guilt, but Soul Society itself was growing stronger. A part of Kaen did wonder, deep down, if it was not that Squad 7 was becoming weaker, but that other Squads were rapidly catching up. Then he pictured both Rin and Enma in his mind, and dismissed that notion. No. Kimiko still could not live up to Enma's example, in Kaen's mind, just as he could not live up to Rin's. But he also knew that he was the next best thing, and so until someone tore the position from him, he would protect the honor of Rin's position with everything he had. And not just his. He would defend the pride of Squad 7! He could not allow himself to give a poor performance, or lose here. Even in sparring. "An Empress always wins. It's only natural, ne?" Kaen smiled in spite of himself. "That's right Rin-fukutaichou. And while I'm not an Empress, I am still fighting in her stead. I fight not just for my pride, but for yours as well. I'll protect your Legacy. Don't you worry. If it's all I can do, I will do that much!

Reiatsu Remaining: 1350/1500 (-50 for Shunpo)

[Yetsuna Yishnir]

Yetsuna saw the grin Kaen cracked when she replied to his question, it seemed like he enjoyed her response almost as much as she did, but she didn't take this as a signal of a lowered guard, Kaen was obviously too good a fighter to do such a thing. Seizing the brief moment she regathered her wits and launched her own attack attempting to place her opponent in a straitjacket. If her move worked, and she had a good feeling that it would, that would mean the fight would be hers, and then would mean she had taken down one of the top ranked shinigami in the Gotei. It was true Kaen hadn't used his release, but even without him resorting to it, her managing to take him down still measured no small feat, more so considering her relative newness to the rank of Vice Captain.

Her trap quickly move in, moving faster then even Kaen was possible of, she watched the stone begin to wrap around him, and then he disappeared. Yetsuna knew he had used a step technique almost immediately, managing to take advantage of the ever so slight moment between her traps execution and completion, and just as quickly as she realized what he had done she prepared her own to move. She had no idea where he had moved to or what his next move was, but in the middle of a fight she had developed an instinct to move when she saw an enemy use a movement technique so that her opponents couldn't get a clean shot at her, but just as she prepared to move she felt a blow in the back of her skull, he had managed to move faster then she could react due to their close proximity.

Kaen kick hit her in the thickest part of the skull and immediately sent her falling forward into the ground. She could practically feel her brain rattling in her head due to the trauma from two repeated blows to the head in such a short period. Her spiritual pressure was doing a hell of a job keeping Kaen's blows from being direct shots, but a hit to the head was still a shot to the head. As she raced towards the ground under the force of the blow she instinctually manged to throw her arms out to break her fall, and while they managed to absorb some of the shock the force drove her hand deep into the ground and her face into the stone.

There was another brief moment of daze, as her head absorbed the shock from the two hits, but overall Yetsuna was surprisingly well off given the appearance of the hit she had just taken. Her spiritual pressure had once again prevent direct contact to her head and had softened the blow to an extent that it was far more manageable, but this wasn't to say she got away unscathed. While her wits returned quicker due to the more robust nature of where the blow had landed it still sent her brain rattling inside her head and left her ears with a ring in them. Two blows two her head in such a short time was taking its toll on her, she was coherent and still functioning, but for a brief moment she found it hard for her to move, forcing her to lay there as she tried to force her body to move. She wasn't gonna end the fight here, she refused to let herself do that.

For a few seconds Kaen could reasonably be under the impression that he had managed to knock out Yetsuna, but eventually she'd finally be able to force herself to shift. She with drew her right hand from the depths of the dirt before placing it in a clenched fist on the ground as a leverage point to begin picking herself up. Slowly she got to her feet as she fought against her own mind's protests of continuing and the ringing in her ears. She manage to get on her feet in an uneasy manner as her sense of balance was still returning, but once she found her footing she'd turn to face him, a stream of blood falling down the right side of her face where she had collided with the ground, "I could say the same thing to you," she replied to his compliment, though there was a noticeable shift in her voice from before, it sounded a bit harder, more resolute and focused, then eariler.

"But we both know there's more to being a Vice Captain then just that," she continued, as she spoke Kaen would easily begin to notice the air around them saturating with her reiatsu, making the area feel heavier. The female took a deep breath in to try a soothe some of the pain in her mind and to prepare herself for her next move, "You ready for round two?" she'd ask him her voice still hard, but at the same time friendly. She was sure she knew the answer, "Then let's begin," said ending both their brief respites from combat. Immediately Yetsuna slammed her fist into the ground causing the ground from under her radiating outward to turn into loose sand. As her fist hit the ground several large chucks of sand flew into the air and hovered there for a moment while she returned to her full height. Quickly the floating pieces of sand converged on her, two segments closing in on her hands swirling into spiked gauntlets the covered most of her lower arm. Two other segments targeted her legs forming a set of greaves that covered the one her armor naturally came with, and a final piece of sand targeted her head, forming a fairly thick helmet which covered everything but her face.

Whether Kaen had figured it out or not Yetsuna had pulled out all the stops to fight him. She had turned the entire fighting surface around her into loose sand to inhibit his mobility and to make her burn more stamina to move, she had also begun using one of her personally developed techniques, Reiatsu Resistance, to further make Kaen extend himself to maintain the high speeds he had been using thus far. She deployed a helmet as a counter measure to the fighting style that Kaen had thus far had been using as well her stone armor around her arms and legs, which on first glance seems like it would be a detriment to her, but in reality allowed her to fore herself to move at far higher speeds then she could on her own, albeit at the risk of internal injuries. All of this because she felt that Kaen was an opponent that was worth trying to beat.

[Kaen Youji]

Yetsuna had gotten up again. She'd made no bluff about her toughness. But that actually made things harder. Against an actual enemy, Kaen could continuously ramp up his force without any consideration for his opponent's toughness. Against Yetsuna, however, continuously increasing the strength at which he hit her could seriously injure or kill her. She was proving to be a tenacious opponent, that was for certain. And she was ramping up the difficulty, it appeared. "Oh my, this is troublesome." Kaen responded as Yetsuna found her balance again. She was clearly hurt by his attacks, but wasn't letting it slow her down. Pushing past the pain and keeping on coming. An admirable approach, and Kaen knew that he'd also have to ramp things up to take her out. "I see your determination and your skill, and I will acknowledge it." He told her, reaching to his back, and drawing his zanpakuto in a single motion. It was a short blade-- a mere two feet in length, with the curved Japanese design common to most Shinigami Zanpakuto. This was a Kodachi. A short sword. Kaen felt a heaviness set in; similar to Gravitational Pressure, but it wasn't identical. "Interesting." Kaen noted. Probably a technique Yetsuna had devised herself to take advantage of.... And then the penny dropped. Kaen smirked a little. The only way someone was exerting this much pressure with their reiatsu alone, was if their own spiritual energies were substantial. That meant that Yetsuna had a much stronger Reiatsu than had been revealed... or her reserves of Spirit Energy were massive. In any case, this meant that Cutback was a real possibility-- likely held back in reserve for the same reason Kaen was pulling his punches. But that also meant that it could be deployed at a moment's notice, and that Kaen's finishing moves were not going to be able to take.

Well. That wasn't entirely true. Kaen still had a myriad of grappling techniques at his disposal. However, Yetsuna's Geokinesis made that sort of approach extremely difficult. She could freely control the rock around her, and closing for a grappling fight could prove extremely challenging and difficult. Spikes could erupt from her armor, or she could use it to ensnare Kaen again. It had been difficult to break the rock before, and even if he could do so again, Yetsuna could doubtlessly take advantage of the time it would take him to actually break free. He needed ways of fighting from a distance, or to penetrate Yetsuna's cutback. He needed a way of defending himself even if he was immobilized. A way of piercing her armor. And fortunately for Kaen, he had a tool that did all of that. Kaen fluorished his Zanpakuto before flipping it into a reverse grip as Yetsuna crafted her stone gauntlets, and turned the area around her into sand. She was clearly trying to force Kaen into a battle of attrition to win. Well. That only further spurred Kaen's choice. The Shinigami leaned back slightly. "Are you ready for the Final Round?" He responded. Then kicked.

An explosion of sand blasted out from the ground in front of Kaen in a powerful wave, aimed directly at Yetsuna, propelled by incredible force. A blinding attack, meant to hide Kaen's movements. This much Yetsuna would likely discern. The question would be, how would Kaen move from there? Would he come at her from the left? Right? Above? Straight through? Her answer would come in the form of a dim glow briefly visible behind the sand. Kaen had released his Zanpakuto. And he had done so wordlessly. There was an inherent implication there, that might have terrified Yetsuna were she able to consider it. The ability to wordlessly release one's Zanpakuto was an exceedingly rare talent, typically only possible by Shinigami that had formed the closest bond possible with their Zanpakuto and could draw from it all of their power. In general and for the most part, the only shinigami that could wordlessly release a Zanpakuto.... Were those who had attained the power of Bankai.

Kaen wasted no time in following up his sand wave with a proper attack. His Zanpakuto was amazingly versatile, but it came with one major flaw. It became predictable. Its abilities very quickly became figured out by a savvy opponent, and while there were virtually infinite possibilities available to Kaen with his Zanpakuto, anticipating each of those possibilities became much easier once someone had worked out its basic abilities. Kaen's Zanpakuto could create and shape flame, and its shaping capabilities were spectacular. It did not merely settle for weaving Fire into vague shapes; a magician's parlor trick, but could grant flame shaped in this manner the properties of the objects Kaen shaped them into while still retaining the properties of a flame. It might shape a flame into a blade-- perfectly capable of cutting and parrying an opponent's strikes, burning them simultaneously. It might become a shield, that could repel a projectile. On another occasion, a gauntlet that could enhance Kaen's blows to the same extent that one of steel could. Although he had never truly attempted it, Kaen could even shape his flame into a liquid. Fire in liquid form. But despite this versatility, once its nature became known, an opponent would become wary of it. Knowing Kaen could create a flame for any given situation could lead to an opponent becoming wary in any situation. Whereas one of the most potent aspects of Kaen's Zanpakuto was the ability to take an opponent by surprise, with a form they did not expect.

It was with this notion that, shielded from Yetsuna's eyes by the sand wave, Kaen began to craft and shape a flame even as he released his weapon. As the arm brace with a black dragon pattern formed on Kaen's right arm, a spiralling, thin flame, the width of a human forefinger began to take shape. It extended out and coiled around his arm, a barbed tip forming. Kaen had shaped his flame into a long, corded whip, with a barbed tip and in a blur of motion he followed his sand wave, casting his arm. The blazing whip hurtled from his arm, piercing through the sand wave just as it would overwhelm Yetsuna, cracking fiercely against Yetsuna's face, with a small but potent fireball erupting from the tip as it struck. One of the limits of Kaen's Zanpakuto was that he could not create or shape a flame outside of a six inch radius from his Zanpakuto. But there was a loop hole. By maintaining a constant connection to his zanpakuto, Kaen could treat any shaped flame as an extension of the Zanpakuto itself. Thus he could still alter or shape this whip as he needed to. Or produce flames from it. It was certainly more limited than what he could normally achieve but it was still extremely effective. Thus Kaen set up his bluff. As far as he was concerned, to Yetsuna's eyes, his Zanpakuto would appear to be a whip of flame, attached to his forearm-- capable of creating small explosions of fire from its tip.

Kaen's target had been Yetsuna's face. Even if Yetsuna had warded off the blow or evaded it somehow the end result would still be an explosion of flame at the apex of the whip crack, and that blast of flame, right in her eyes would seriously impair her vision. It wouldn't likely permanently damage Yetsuna's eyes, but it would likely blind her briefly, forcing her to shut them and wait out the agonizing pain of the incandescent blaze that had erupted right in front of her, simultaneously blinding her with light and drying her eyes in a single instant. This explosion also caused the whip to rapidly repel backwards, winding itself back around Kaen's arm. Kaen was going for a mid-ranged attack, striking from just outside of Yetsuna's zone of direct control of her stone, setting up his bluff with his whip, while he looked for an opening to end the fight. Reiatsu Resistance would certainly take its toll, but this approach would also go a long way in conserving his stamina.

Reiatsu Remaining: 1200 (-150 for Release)
Shikai: 1/10

[Yetsuna Yishnir]

Kaen began to draw his blade as Yetsuna began setting the area for their next, and most likely final, round and immediately Earth Queen had a strong idea on what he was planning on doing. Kaen had proved to be a smart opponent, adaptable, well prepared, and analytical, and unless she was giving him too much credit she was sure that he had figured out that he wasn't going to break physically break her armor, even with his zanpaktou, which meant he was likely going to release. As the realization came over her she smirked slightly, punch for punch she was worse off then her opponent, but even still, she had managed to make him release and that was something that she could take some strong pride in.

With a kick of his foot Kaen shot a large blast of sand up into the air, and even with his enormous strength there was no way that there was enough force to carry it the distance and actually cause damage, so it was obviously an attempt to obscure her vision, unfortunately for him he had made a rather poor choice of material to use. As the sand began to fly up, before it even managed to finish hiding his figure Yetsuna willed the sand out to the side, breaking his attempted trick in an instant, but as the sand flew away Kaen no longer held his sword, rather a black vambrace hugged his arm. It seemed like her hunch was spot on meaning a new challenge had been added to the fight.

By nature Yetsuna was very reliant on her release, it was her offense, defense, and utility, and it was a fair part of the reason she had lasted as long as she did, but it left her at a slight disadvantage now. She had shown a fair amount of her hand leading up to this point, so Kaen had gotten a fair gauge of what she could do, but she knew little to nothing about his release. She knew beforehand he dealt with fire, but to what end she wasn't entirely sure, for now the only thing she had to go on was the whip, but that didn't exactly feel right. If the whip was the release, then why the vambrace? It was more likely the vambrace was the actual physical, manifestation of the release, like her armor was for her, and the whip was an extension, but she still didn't know to what end.

For now she knew a whip favored ranged combat, and under normal circumstances she would have just closed to gap to make the weapon hard to use, but Kaen was likely a larger threat up close then at range and she still didn't have any real idea what his zanpaktou could do so she could easily go running into a trap, for now she'd just stick with range as well. Kaen launched an attack, hurling the tip of his whip towards her and to counter she was going to use something she hadn't used in a rather long time.

As the whip traveled it would be intercepted by the rapid appearance of a large ornate stone pillar appearing in the center between the two of them. There would be a short linger, a delay as Kaen likely tried to figure out what the pillar was, then, just as suddenly the pillar disintegrated turning into a roaring sand storm that would begin attempt to rip and tear at the black haired man's flesh. If she had desired she could have caused glass shards to form in the storm, but she decided against it, she wanted to beat the man not kill him.

[Kaen Youji]

Yetsuna's reaction to Kaen's whip had been everything the shinigami had expected, from the parting of the sand to the interception of his whip. Both had merely been experiments. Testing her reactions. By kicking up a sand wave, Kaen had indeed hoped to disguise his attack, but he was also seeing if Yetsuna could manipulate earth even under the stress of an opposing force. Even if it lacked the ability to damage, one of Kaen's kicks imparted significant force to overcome with her Geokinesis. But she had managed it anyways. Information for later. Secondly, her defense against the whip. Though Kaen would have liked it to be closer to her face, he accepted this as it was. He'd hoped for Yetsuna to attempt a close range defense and consequently been blinded. However, summoning a stone pillar as ornate as that, was a surprising feat. That's an advanced creation ability to use on such short notice. She's not done that before. Kaen thought. There's more to this. Kaen kept his hand up as his whip recoiled and began to shape a new flame. Nothing special or fancy. He was shaping it into a ball, that would explode on contact. Simple and basic. And one of the great things about Hachiryuu was that a simple construct like an exploding fireball took almost no time at all to shape. The whip remained coiled around Kaen's brace, but the actual forming of the fireball would be hidden by the giant stone pillar. What would be Yetsuna's next move, when their vision of each other was impeded? Kaen was certain to stay light on his feet, so that she did not trap him again. Then he saw the pillar start to crumble. There! As the pillar crumbled, Kaen fired the ball of flame. Unless the building sandstorm had sufficient mass to cause the fireball to stop and explode against it, as the pillar crumbled into sand, Yetsuna would be greeted by a beachball-sized fireball flying directly in her face, with very little time to spare to create a defense, and which would explode with considerable force. Kaen's shaped flames were stronger than his shaped ones, and stronger still, that his reiatsu led others to believe. Although it was a minor difference, shaping a flame increased its power by about 20%. Some might not consider this substantial, but this DID mean that Kaen's shikai shots were hitting with a Reiatsu Strength of about 480, instead of 400. And Kaen wasn't holding back much on this one either. He had fired a fireball that would create a fire blast at Hachiryuu's hottest temperature-- about 5100 degrees Fahrenheight. Sand itself turned into glass at 3200 degrees Fahrenheit. In short, Kaen's shikai was generating flames nearly twice that hot. Any sand that was in the path of his fireball would be vaporized, failing to impede the attack. And Kaen had launched this attack right through the center of the forming sandstorm. The result was that while the sandstorm would almost certainly go off, it would be severely weakened in scope.

As far as confronting the storm itself, Kaen sprang back away, creating distance as the attack reached out towards him. His eyes flickered to the spectators. Surely Yetsuna wouldn't allow the sandstorm to extend beyond the ring they were fighting in. Of course, Kaen refused to endanger them by seeking cover amongst them, as well. The Shinigami chuckled to himself. "You damn bitch." The phrase, although crude and aggressive was spoken with a light, and surprisingly jovial tone, as of someone who had been surprised by a chess move they hadn't seen. Yetsuna had picked the battleground very well for her Zanpakuto. In many cases, Kaen could have used a tree, or some manner of obstacle for cover to limit the angles he had to defend. Yetsuna's sandstorm wasn't going to allow him that. This was a massive open battlefield, with no cover whatsoever. As he retreated, Kaen's whip repeatedly flicked out into the sandstorm, creating repeated blasts of flame, that continued to eradicate the particles of sand that comprised it, as well as creating blasts that would disrupt the storm in the points struck. But these were barely stalling measures. While Kaen might have mitigated some of the sandstorm's intensity, his paltry basket-ball sized explosions couldn't possibly be expected to counteract a storm this massive. No, his retreat and his attacks were built to stall just long enough that he could finish shaping a new flame.

Because as he whipped at the sandstorm, a new flame had been beginning to be shaped around his arm. It was huge. Stretching broadly, extending until it was taller than Kaen's entire body, and curved around it defensively. It was a massive and ungainly tower shield, and Kaen finally, at the most extreme point of the storm, stopped and planted the shield onto the ground, well outside of Yetsuna's range. Kaen's retreat had been quite significant, and he needed a moment to recuperate. He'd sprang nearly one hundred feet away from Yetsuna before planting his shield. Although it did not completely surround Kaen, it still curved to protect the Vice Captain's sides. Kaen planted the shield against the grain of the sandstorm, so that its whipping, deadly winds would strike the shield first. The intense heat of the shield would operate much like his fireball earlier, serving to destroy the sand particles as they struck it. Even if Yetsuna's attack threatened to erode his defenses, Kaen could use his flame sculpting to repair the shield as it was damaged. Breaking through one of Kaen's shaped flames via erosion was an extremely difficult task due to this ability. Kaen took a moment to take stock of the situation, while he caught his breath from the brief sprint away from Yetsuna's sand storm.

He'd put significant distance between himself and Yetsuna. Although his shield appeared a stationary defense, Kaen was perfectly capable of moving with it, though its size and weight would make any particularly agile acrobatics difficult unless he first discarded it. Yetsuna's own vision was likely obstructed by the sandstorm, so she'd be quite limited in her own offensive abilities. She couldn't lash out blindly at Kaen, and at one hundred meters, Kaen was reasonably confident he was outside the range that she could manipulate earth. He was certain he could reasonably wait out the sandstorm from this distance while recovering his strength. And once he had defended it once, he now knew the signs. Yetsuna would not likely be able to use it again so freely. Of course, he expected Yetsuna could probably manipulate the sandstorm as well. His defense would hold up for the moment, as he crouched behind his barrier against the sand, but if Yetsuna could change the angle, Kaen knew he would likely take some damage before he could reorient it to intercept the new angle. And if Yetsuna continuously changed the angle of the sandstorm, assuming she could, Kaen knew he would suffer quite a bit of attrition damage. The problem, was that the moment the sandstorm died down, and Yetsuna regained her visibility, she'd definitely notice Kaen's tower shield that he had created, and from that point, it would not be difficult to understand the full and true nature of his Zanpakuto. However. For the moment, she did not, so his tower shield defense should have been suitably unorthodox to temporarily deceive her as an extremely unlikely variable.

Unfortunately, Kaen was fighting blind in the storm, just like Yetsuna, so he was forced to wait it out for the moment. His ears he kept active, and although he could not see through his tower shield itself, he kept the watching his back, and above him, to watch for any change in the sandstorm current. Alert, and active. Ready to move at the slightest sign that things were about to go badly.

Shikai: 2/10

[Yetsuna Yishnir]

(OOC: Sorry for the delay I kinda dropped off the site for a bit)

Like she figured Kaen's attack bounced off the pillar she had summoned, but she noticed something as it did; when the whip made contact there was a small explosion, that was something she was going to have to be wary off. As her opponent reset himself the second part of Yetsuna's attack began with the pillar falling apart and turning into a sand storm, but no sooner had the pillar disappeared then she found a bright orange light traveling towards her, Kaen launched an attack of his own. Under normal circumstances she might have been hard pressed to raise a defense or dodge in time, but she was literally surrounded by earth on all fronts. Quickly some of sand in the air solidified, turning into a shield against the fireball. With another explosion the fireball made contact with the stone wall, radiating a fair amount of heat, but unknown to Kaen, that heat had no effect on the sand.

Off in the distance Yetsuna could see the occasional bright orange light cut through the sand as she assumed Kaen was mounting a defense against her attack. Then she noticed another bright light, brighter then the one that had been launched at her just a moment ago, though this time it seemed to remain stationary. After a few short lived seconds the storm would die down, disappearing just as quickly as it had started, now leaving the two of them facing each other in an open sand landscape. The quickly decay of the storm would likely mean Yetsuna would get a look at the fiery shield he had deployed to protect himself against her attack, "A whip, a projectile, and now a shield?" the female thought to herself, starting to get a read on his powers, "That fire is showing the same versatility as my earth, he's either got a list of things he can do with is fire or he's a mancer like I am" 

Regardless of whether or not she caught a glimpse of the shield she'd address him regardless, "You toughed that out better then I figured you would," she'd comment passively, noting the little to no damage he or his clothing had suffered during the storm, so even if she didn't see the shield she knew he had some trick up his sleeve. Not only had he actually weathered her attack, during that time he had managed to distance himself from her, likely in an attempt to gt away from her technique, but that only played to her benefit. Kaen was a fast opponent and, even with her reaction time being fast, having him up close was straining to react to, keeping him at bay gave her more time to react to him. Yetsuna so far had shown the better ranged abilities with the fact that she could control the earth under Kaen's feet, so far she had seen a whip and a projectile from him, unless he had  another trick up his sleeve, keeping Kaen at range only played to her benefit.

Reaitsu: 7445/8000
Atlas' rage: 200
RR (two posts): 200

[Kaen Youji]

(ooc: No worries, I've had similar hiatuses as well)

Kaen had only gotten a glimpse of his failed fireball attack in the sandstorm, but he had a good enough eye to judge that his fireball had exploded well before making contact with Yetsuna. So she'd intercepted it? It made sense, he supposed. Attacking into her sandstorm was going to be very difficult indeed. Fortunately, the no-sell had been mutual. Yetsuna had stopped Kaen's whip and fireball combination attack, while Kaen's shield had stopped her sandstorm. However, Kaen expected it had been a more arduous task for him to stop the sandstorm, than for Yetsuna to stop his attacks. "Hah... You're selling yourself short. That was quite an attack." Kaen noted. Indeed, if it hadn't been for the sheer versatility of his powers, he would have been badly injured, or completely exhausted. Any other fire user would have been shredded by Yetsuna's attack. "Remind me that I owe you one." Kaen noted to his Zanpakuto, before beginning the next phase of plans. He'd distanced himself from Yetsuna, but at long range, there was really no way he could attack her. Yetsuna did not have a highly mobile fighting style. Kaen was impressed how well she'd taken to her element. Sturdy and patient, like the stone she used. He also noted that she seemed to still be going strong. Sure, Kaen was still in pretty good shape right now as well-- nothing more than a light sweat on his brow, but the difference was that Yetsuna had been utilizing her release from the start. She'd been going at a much higher pace than Kaen this whole fight and still looked reasonably unfazed. Either she was very good at bluffing, or her reiatsu reserves were monstrous. A contest of attrition wasn't going to go in Kaen's favor. He couldn't simply try to stalemate the fight, that would only help Yetsuna when his release burned out. But closing in was dangerous too.

Kaen briefly considered using the Darting Swallow on Yetsuna, then set aside those thoughts. While the technique could very well penetrate Yetsuna's armor, it was a restrictive move to use in sparring due to how precise Kaen had to be with it. Especially against someone like Yetsuna, whose command of Earth would allow her to continue fighting even with severed muscle groups. Cut too shallow, or avoid critical points and the technique amounted to nothing more than some flesh wounds against a durable opponent. Do it for real, and it could kill her. And Kaen definitely didn't want to do that. As a result, it was, at best, a move of last resort. But that didn't mean he didn't still have options. Yetsuna had not immediately followed up her sandstorm, so Kaen attempted to take the initiative. She'd seen his shield now, so she had some idea of the flexibility of his zanpakuto. "Ah well, here goes." Kaen noted. Then cast his arm forwards and sent the tower shield flying at Yetsuna at a much faster velocity than the fireballs from before. Which made some sense. Kaen's physical strength was tremendous so he could pitch a physical object at an incredibly fast speed. Once it left the vicinity of Kaen's Zanpakuto, the shield would dissipate shortly, but it would have enough time to land a powerful hit against Yetsuna before that. But the shield was only a prelude. A distraction, for the real show.

"Here's something I've been cooking up for awhile. This'll make for a great field test." Kaen noted, as he began to shape a new flame. "Napalm Strike!" He declared. This wasn't a real technique of Hachiryuu, so there was really no need to call out the attack name. But hell if Kaen didn't enjoy having fun with a sparring match. Whether it was playing up a twisted variant of drunken fist against Rin, deliberately fighting with his arms bound against Senshi, or declaring a Kamehameha wave against Akeru, Kaen really just tried to enjoy himself in fights, even as he pushed himself to the next level. Kaen thrust his hand out in front of him, and flames swirled into a fireball. It started the size of a tennis ball and then began to grow. Baseball sized, then bigger. Basketball sized, then bigger, finally stopping at the size of a beach ball. Kaen had his arm held below his eye line so his view wasn't obstructed, and still allowed him full reaction time. Then he attacked. Rather than firing the fireball all at once however, it flew off in a wide, machinegun-like scatter shot, of smaller, golf-ball sized fireballs. Quality attacks hadn't worked, so was Kaen attempting quantity? Overwhelming Yetsuna's defenses rapidly by peppering them with mass fired attacks? Except, something was off. Kaen was firing off dozens of small fire "pellets" (to call them fireballs would almost be overstating their size), and yet only a few were actually on target, due to the wide scatter. Was he weaving a net to entrap Yetsuna? If Yetsuna deigned to block any of the flames, she'd find that unlike his prior ones, they didn't explode or dispel on contact. Instead, these flames would stick to whatever they struck, and continue burning. And growing. Acting like real fire, as it was. This could be a real problem if any of the wide scattering flames hit Yetsuna directly, as they would need to be put out immediately, but the missed shots also scattered across the ground around Yetsuna, quickly turning the battlefield about the opposing Vice Captain into a raging inferno. Despite this, Kaen was being careful not to hit any spectators, but even then, it was likely many of them would have to back off from the sheer intensity of the heat. Was Kaen attempting to beat Yetsuna's defenses by burning through them?

"Adhesive flames! What do you think?" Kaen asked, with a grin. Hachiryuu was, of course, not limited to merely hard constructs and regular fire. As long as Kaen could conceptualize a concept it was easy to give that property to Hachiryu. Sure, something super intricate and mechanical like a tank, or a gun or some concealed weapon contraption would be beyond Kaen. Even land mines were probably a bit out of his depth. But a simple concept like "explodes on contact", "hard as steel" or in this case "sticks to whatever it hits" were very easy properties to apply to his flames with a bit of shaping. Despite his attack however, Kaen was conscious of Yetsuna's ability to counterattack without the need for gestures. As long as he was on the ground, he had to assume Yetsuna could attack him at any time, and be ready to move at a moment's notice. Kaen looked like he was having fun, but even as he joked and acted like he was messing around, his mind was playing a constant chess game with Yetsuna, trying to anticipate her options. Which were worryingly numerous as long as he was on the ground.

Shikai: 3/10

[Yetsuna Yishnir]

Yetsuna chuckled lightly as Kaen complimented her previous attack despite him managing to weather it without much of an issue, "You could have fooled me." She knew going into this fight that she was up against a strong opponent, but he was proving to be even tougher then she had originally envisioned; he had tanked a hit from her stone dead on, which should have hurt like a mother, regardless of armor, his speed was enough for her to lose track of in extreme close quarters, and his resourcefulness was proving it difficult to get any hit to land meaningfully. Overall the fight so far seemed to be going in the direction of a battle of attrition, see who can wear the other down first by whatever means they could, but for once she wasn't entirely sure that it would work out in her favor. Kaen seemed to be going as strong as he had when they had first started and was showing little signs of slowing down, and he had managed to do as much damage to her as she did to him, but with a lot less reiatsu being used on his end. 

When it came to reaitsu expenditures Yetsuna was fairly accustomed to using huge amounts at once in an effort to establish a battlefield that favored her fighting abilities, so thus far none of the expenses she had racked up really hurt her excessively, hence why she was still going strong, at least for now. So far her body, despite a ringing headache and a sore gut, was still going fairly strong because she hadn't placed a large strain on it, but that was because her powers had been picking up the slack, and that was where her problem was likely to come in. Having to keep up with Kaen's speed, as well as having to think on the fly, and controlling her powers were all mentally exhausting, and while she had gas in the tank, there was no way that she would be able to go forever, and at some point her reaction speed was going to slow, and that's when she knew Kaen could end the fight, meaning she had to take him down before then. 

As their short reprieve from combat began to come to an end Kaen made a comment before flinging his fire shield at her at an incredible rate of speed, allowing to quickly close in, but there was still enough to distance between the two of them for her to dodge by simply using a shunpo. Using her step she only shifted a few feet to the side to keep the shield from hitting her, she saw the black haired man preparing something, and she didn't want to attack without knowing what he was doing, it could easily just be a trap to lure her in. The man said a few more words before shouting the name of an attack, a relatively cartoony thing to do, even by her standards, but it did make her give a small chuckle mentally. As he finished shouting a large number of small fire balls began to fly towards her with the accuracy of someone firing bird shot at long range, making the attack wide and hard to dodge. She could have summoned a shield to defend the attack, but she didn't know just how strong the attack was and she was loath to break eye sight with Kaen for long for obvious reasons, instead she just opted to move upwards.

Using her manipulation powers on her boots and gauntlets Yetsuna forced herself into the her rapidly to dodge the attack. She could feel her legs strain slightly under the intense force placed on the suddenly, but there weren't at any risk of damage yet, though extended application of forces like that would probably end up snapping her shin if she wasn't careful. She watched as the firemancer's little fireballs landed all over the field where she had been, though rather than a bunch of mini-explosions like she had been guessing instead the fire just landed and spread out slightly from its point of contact, turning her end of the battlefield into a hellscape of fire. Even from the air she could feel the heat from the fire below her. Now it seemed like Kaen was trying to leverage of her powers benefits against her: her armor.

While her armor provided an amazing defense against attacks it, like most armors, was very susceptible to heat, namely sweating out the wearer, and it seemed Kaen was privy to this fact. Fortuitously for her dealing with a tactic like this was fairly simple; just move the fire. "Not bad, seems like it would be a problem for most people to deal with in a fight," she said as she swept her hand out across the front of her body, causing the earth underneath where she was to begin to shift outward in a circle and taking the sticky fire with it, giving her a safe place to stand once more and removing a bulk of the heat. While the feat may seem impressive, she was only controlling the top most layer of sand to conserve her strength. The spectators, at least those remaining at this point, were given more then enough time to escape the blaze as she pushed it away from her, though they would likely feel the heat at their backs.

"But I'm not most people," she'd comment coyly with a smile as she slowly floated down to the ground.

[Kaen Youji]

Oh! That was a surprise! Yetsuna was avoiding his fire attack by... flying. "Ahh... I see how it is..." Kaen noted. So Yetsuna's armor was considered an extension of her powers. "That's no good... Even if I disable an arm or leg, you'll still be able to keep moving them, by manipulating the armor. That makes things more difficult..." And he wasn't exaggerating. In sparring matches against such determined opponents-- and indeed Kaen was no stranger to fighting a determined opponent, he could usually overcome that determination without inflicting lethal injury by attacking their limbs. No matter how determined you were, barring a certain black knight, you couldn't keep fighting once your arms and legs were taken out of the equation. Unless, of course, you were someone like Yetsuna or Kaen. "How troublesome."

It also appeared Yetsuna had seen through his Napalm Strike™ and identified its real purpose. While it was true that Yetsuna's armor was resilient, and might even be able to shield her from being burned through his flames, heat exhaustion was a real thing. And the other thing was oxygen. Even Shinigami needed to breathe, and fire ate up air at an incredibly quick rate. Surrounding Yetsuna with flames, had she continued her relatively static fighting strategy, would have caused asphixiation in a fairly short period of time. And even if she'd taken note and run out, it could have forced a hasty move, and created an opening. She did well to recognize the purpose, and the moment Kaen saw her rising up, he recognized that she was likely going to put out his flames. She manipulated earth afterall, and there was more earth here than fire. Overturning soil to bury his pyrotechnics was what she was probably going to do. But, that was fine. Even though it wasn't as hasty a move as he'd hoped, Kaen had his opening.

In Kaen's mind, Yetsuna had made two mistakes. One was a relatively small mistake in science and the other was a tactical error. Neither of them were tremendous, but a small crack in her defenses was all Kaen had been looking for, and her move had given him what he was looking for. The first error was in evading his flames by going up. While it kept her clear of any burning, hot air rises, and this would briefly amplify the temperature as she went up, until she reached a certain point. In and of itself, this was not a critical error, and normally wouldn't matter much, as she had quickly cleared out the flames to create a clear patch of earth. No, that wasn't the crack in her defenses. It was a contributing factor. It was a distraction, drawing focus, and forcing Yetsuna to draw her primary focus to the ground below her. Splitting her attention between her opponent and the earth.

Her second, and more dangerous mistake, was lifting herself airborne. On the ground, Yetsuna had a clear advantage. While it was clear she could create her earth as well as manipulate it, her ability to impede any charge and cause all manner of hazards, to attack from below at any given moment, with no warning... Forcing her opponent to divide their focus across every possible angle of attack, was a tremendous strength. In the air, however, she had only her created stone to use, and at that exact moment, had not generated any hovering around her. Kaen knew that once he targeted this weak point, he wasn't going to get another chance. She wasn't going to expose this opening again, once he took advantage of it. So he had to act now.

Kaen vanished-- Was it Senka again!? No! Flash Step! Kaen appeared airborne right beside Yetsuna on her left, and threw a forceful shot below her ribs with his right forearmarm, the arm his Zanpakuto was wrapped around, at full speed and full force. At this distance, Yetsuna would be hard pressed to stop it completely, and the pain would be agonizing from a blow like this, pain that would have completely incapacitated a normal human. It was like getting hit by a bus. But Yetsuna wouldn't go flying this time. She wouldn't go flying, because at the same instant that Kaen struck with his right, his left arm grabbed Yetsuna's nearest shoulder, bracing her against his own attack!? Certainly the left slap would be jolting and possibly distracting, and yes, bracing her would force her to take the force of his punch more directly, whereas flying back may have allowed her to absorb some of the force. But it was still a strange choice on Kaen's part as a good shot to Yetsuna might have struck her even further skyward. That, of course, was because the punch was only a prelude to Kaen's proper attack.

Hachiryuu could generate a flame anywhere within six inches of it. While it could not create a flame inside of solid objects, or in liquids, Kaen did not require line of sight to where he was creating the flame. This meant, that as long as it was within six inches of his Zanpakuto, Kaen could create flame within any open space, no matter how small. He could create fire in a locked safe, a sealed mug, a closed CD case... or the gap between Yetsuna's armor and skin. "Really sorry about this." And then a blast of flame would flare up inside of Yetsuna's armor, at a point nearest Kaen's arm, launching through and searing her torso, cooking the woman inside her own armor. With the limited air inside of Yetsuna's armor, assuming there were no gaps in the suit to feed it would mean the fire would quickly go out on its own, for two or three seconds, the inside of Yetsuna's armor would be a blazing inferno. Kaen wasn't using his hottest flames-- he didn't want to incinerate Yetsuna. And at this range, if it got to be too much for her, he could instantly put them out. He didn't want to kill or cripple Yetsuna-- especially with so messy a way as fire. But she'd earned enough of his respect that he didn't see any reason not to fight at his best. This was his mark of respect for his fellow Vice Captain. This blazing inferno of unbelievable agony, inside her own armor. Introducing a new aspect of his Zanpakuto at this juncture already.... And between Kaen's speed, and his flames below providing a brief, but crucial distraction, preventing Kaen from achieving that vital six inches would be extremely difficult, while Yetsuna was airborne.

"No... You're not most people. You do the title of "Vice Captain" proud." Kaen responded. "That's why I won't pull my punches with you! I can't afford to!"

Shikai: 4/10
Reiatsu: 1150 (-50 for Shunpo)

[Yetsuna Yishnir]

As Yetsuna began lowering herself from the air she saw Kaen disappear briefly, she knew he had used some form of hoho, though which one she had yet to determine, but even so she wasn't overly concerned. Kaen easily had the advantage in speed, but even then she had had some difficulties tracking him, and that was because of their proximity to each other. Earlier when the two of them had been in close quarters when he used a step technique she was given very little time to think and react, but now there was some distance, and even if it wasn't enormous it gave her just that bit of extra time to think and react, and that was all she needed. She both heard and saw Kaen reappear off to her left side, a move probably meant to take advantage of the fact her left hand was her off hand and would harder to defend with.

Using the stone that encased her arms Yetsuna quickly swung her left arm around to impact Kaen's own, overpowering it and causing the punch to miss its mark and glance off the armor with only minimal force imparted. As her stone encased hand pushed her opponents the stone would also leave her arm and wrap around Kaen's encasing it and then cementing it in place. With his right arm immobile and taking advantage of both the literal and figurative momentum she had, she brought her right arm around to hit him in his lower flank, hoping to avoid his armor, but even if she didn't the small spikes on the edge of her fist would ensure that she managed to break through it to do some decent damage. With Kaen held fast and with some luck recoiling even slightly from her hit the female shinigami had one more trick up her sleeve.

With an immense burst of reiatsu she summoned a giant stone sphere around them, hollow internally, but thick. The sphere would lock out all light and render sight useless for combat, but that was of little concern for her. After the sphere's establishment Yetsuna would shunpo away from Kaen and towards the edge of the sphere, something she could manage because she knew its dimensions. Once at the outer edge she would move through the shell and back the outside world and the light before addressing her opponent, "You're trapped," she would say, her voice reflecting pride, but also the effort she had just excreted. "You won't be able to get out of there unless I let you, yield the match." While she couldn't be 100% certain about her containment, she felt fairly confident in it's overly thick two foot walls, and considering that so far Kaen had been unable to fracture her stone at its strongest she doubted he would be able to get out of there.

Reiatsu: 4685/8000

[Kaen Youji]

Yetsuna had a pretty good game plan. And as a finishing attack, in this sparring match it would have been effective. The sole flaw in her gameplan, was in switching, even briefly, to hand to hand combat. Taking the fight to Kaen's home court. While Kaen did not practice Muay Thai himself, he was familiar with the ins and outs of the fighting style, and had seen it before. And no matter the stylistic alterations, a punch was a punch. At at Kaen's level of martial aptitude read the punch coming. Her speed increase was surprising, but not unexpected. Kaen had long since grown accustomed to how fast her stone moved, and he could have guessed that she could telekinetically manipulate her armour to move faster. Her sword was clearly able to be manipulated by her abilities, why not her armour as well? In short, none of Yetsuna's techniques (save one but we'll get to that) were outside the realm of Kaen's expectations, and he'd long since planned answers to her counterattack, even before he'd initiated his original strike.

With respects to Yetsuna's punch, Kaen needed to change surprisingly little. Mostly because Yetsuna's deflecting move had impacted right over Hachiryuu itself. Not only did the metal arm brace absorb some of Yetsuna's frightful power, but it got the ideal contact Kaen had been looking for. Change... of plans. As Yetsuna's arm struck Kaen's aside, Kaen unleashed his flame blast. Yetsuna'd spared herself some damage to the torso, but instead of her torso being bathed in fire, it would be her left arm instead, as Kaen generated a devastating hot blaze inside of her armor and out. A torrid wave, that engulfed the entire armored limb, and possibly confusing Yetsuna as to why her flesh would be as blasted and burned by the flame as the outside of her armor. It actually did quite well to disguise how Kaen was getting his flames past her armor. But of course, that was only stage one of both of their plans at this point. Both were aiming to end the sparring match, exciting as it had been.

The moment Yetsuna had gone to engage Kaen in hand to hand combat, Kaen had begun to focus. While his martial abilities outclassed Yetsuna's by a considerable margin, his earlier armbar attempt had proven to Kaen that wasn't enough. In close range, Yetsuna was as dangerous as he was. She could unleash those point blank blasts of stone, and at the speeds they came in, it would be very difficult, even for Kaen to avoid them if she launched them in volleys. He needed an edge if he was going to fight her in close. In Kaen's case, that edge came in the form of his specialized, and personalized Hakuda fighting form, the Flowing Water Stance. Flexible and defensive, it was a modified, if not improved variant of his barrier stance, sacrificing the near omniscient awareness of his surroundings (and therefore the bolstered senses) for heightened reaction speeds and unparalleled focus. Even so, it was something of a defensive technique. While it didn't outright inhibit Kaen's offensive technique, as only his reactions were bolstered, it gave him no advantages on the offensive. But it was exactly what Kaen needed in this instance.

As Yetsuna's blow connected with Kaen's, his flame burst was not only for damage, but also to assist him in drawing his arm back from Yetsuna in a snapping motion, faster than she'd seen him move yet. It was even slightly faster than Yetsuna's stone, and with the momentum given to his arm by her punch, Kaen was able to combine this with his reaction speed boost to avoid having his arm ensnared by her stone trap. His arm had suffered some bruising under the armored brace from the punch of course. Kaen hadn't gotten out unscathed. But he'd probably emerged from that particular exchange a little better off than Yetsuna. But that did leave her incoming right hook to the body. Kaen needed to maintain close quarters for his finish. He began to shape the residual flames from his counter-counterattack into a deadly sickle blade emerging from his forearm, pointing downwards, not unlike a weapon held in reverse grip. In order to shape this weapon as quickly as possible, Kaen redirected much of his focus to it, and allowed Yetsuna's blow to pierce his guard, her fist slamming into his abdomen. While this still hit over his chainmail (as the chainmail vest covered his entire torso, it would be almost impossible to avoid hitting it with any blow aimed at that region), this made little difference. His chainmail simply wasn't built to withstand the augmented hit Yetsuna struck him with. The links cracked and broke under the impact, only able to take the edge off the blow. Not nullify it completely. The chainmail was about as useful in stopping a hit like that as a winter coat. That was to say-- somewhat useful, but not a gamebreaker.

Kaen rolled with the punch, as Yetsuna stabbed him, shifting sideways in midair, as her spikes punctured his skin. He didn't want to have to deal with her suddenly lengthening her spikes into giant wolverine claws on impact, so he rolled and turned away from the blow, using a sharp turn of his body to force her fist to glance off of him after impact. His sickle blade was completed and open and free, but he was wide open to a third strike from Yetsuna if she tried to do so. Or. Well. Mostly open. But it seemed Yetsuna had a bigger plan. Even with Kaen's mediocre, if not below average Energy Sensory, he detected a huge surge of reiatsu from Yetsuna. "Oh, this is gonna suck." But as Yetsuna formed the sphere, Kaen launched his own finishing attack. There was a subtle flicker of movement from Kaen's right arm, even before Yetsuna had a chance to Shunpo. That was the only warning she'd get. In fact.... even if Yetsuna had tried to Shunpo away, it wouldn't have been enough. This was Kaen's Darting Swallow Cut. Kaen's sole original sword technique. As a hand to hand specialist, part of the value of this technique relied on the element of surprise. A finisher from Kaen would likely come from some kind of a punch or kick? Or maybe a fire blast, considering his Zanpakuto. But even past that... this technique was formidable.

For a split second, Kaen's right arm moved as fast as Yetsuna's Shunpo (or nearabouts), delivering three devastating slashes in the blink of an eye. And unlike his previous moves, this time, his Zanpakuto's flame blade cut through Yetsuna's armor like it was rice paper. Darting Swallow Cut was an all offensive technique that increased Kaen's cutting power immensely, at the cost of defense. At the moment of his strike, Kaen's flame blade, normally possessing a mere cutting power of 480, nearly tripled to 1200! Enough to slash through Yetsuna's armor like it wasn't even there, and moving three times faster than Kaen's normal speed.

The first cut slashed down across Yetsuna's legs, cutting across the top of both limbs in a single cut, hewing through the woman's quadricep muscles. The second, Kaen drew back across Yetsuna's midsection, slashing across it diagonally, from her right hip to her left shoulder, and then a third slash would slash across her forehead. The last cut in particular was intentionally extremely shallow so that Kaen did not kill her. Nonetheless, the implication would be clear. If Kaen had chosen to, Yetsuna's head would have been split in half. So quick were these three slashes, that to anyone looking, including Yetsuna herself, the wounds would appear simultaneously, blood spraying all about. Kaen had cut too quickly for even his flame blade to cauterize the wounds created. Slicing through Yetsuna's quadriceps as well would mean that any step techniques would be virtually impossible. The woman would only be able to move her legs with any semblance of agility through her armour manipulation. The slash across her midsection was just a flesh wound, but would be bleeding profusely, and threaten blood loss if she could not stem or block the bleeding quickly. And the cut to her forehead, aside from being a warning as to what Kaen could have done, would also cause blood to flow freely into Yetsuna's eyes, making visibility extremely difficult. To say nothing of the brief, but intense burns her left arm would have suffered. At present, Kaen estimated that only her right arm would be functioning at regular capacity.

With that said, were Yetsuna to try to counter-attack in the instant that Kaen threw his Darting Swallow, or the instant either preceding or following it, the shinigami's defenses would be down and he would undoubtedly suffer a serious injury from the counter. In fact, as she landed, she might even be able to attempt to meld through her stone again (though at this range, Kaen might have had a window to continue). Technically speaking, Yetsuna probably wasn't incapable of fighting. Really, with her armour's abilities, Kaen wagered it would be impossible for the Darting Swallow to prevent her from fighting without killing her. And he definitely wanted to avoid that. Severing muscle groups, forcing bloodloss and killing visibility was about the best he could manage. Any further and he'd have to go for blunt force knock-outs, which would be a real challenge. The question lay in Yetsuna's hands, if she wished to continue after Kaen's Darting Swallow.

Shikai: 5/10

[Yetsuna Yishnir]

In an instant everything seemed to go both right and wrong, not just for her, but Kaen as well. Her initial move to deflect the punch directed at her side went well according to plan, the high speed of her manipulated stone outclassing even Kaen's ridiculously high speed, allowing her to catch his forearm with a solid "thunk" as metal met stone. Just by the feel of contact she could tell the damage caused was to be minimal, but at the same time, this had only meant to serve as a set up, so any damage she did with this was merely a bonus. Then things shifted towards Kaen's favor. As her arm pushed and the stone began to ensnare the man she both saw and felt a flash of fire, though something was weird about it. The fire was a quick burst, so brief that her armor managed to shield her from a majority of the effects by the laws of physics, except for one small area; around her wrist.

The females armor was a surprisingly snug fit, adhering closely to her frame and, had it not been a release, would rendered most movement all but impossible due to its design, but, obviously, this was not the case. In order to maximize protection without sacrificing mobility her armor had the unique "ability" to warp and bend as she did, allowing her to move as easily as she did in her street clothes. This sung fit played well, albeit unplanningly, as a defensive measure against Kaen's attempted generation of fire within her armor. There was indeed fire generated within the suit, its hot flames licking her wrist and lower forearm briefly but intensely, burning the flesh and causing a some pain, but the fire ended there. With such narrow confines and a limited oxygen supply it was quickly snuffed out. While burns weren't in her normal wheelhouse of wounds to deal with pain was pain, and that was something so was fairly skilled at rolling with.

To her dismay her attempt to pin Kaen in one place by trapping his arm had failed, with him pulling her arm back in a burst of speed that superseded even her stone, so unless Kaen had been hiding his real speed, something that seemed unlikely considering he probably would have shown it before now, or he had some trick up his sleeve she wasn't entirely aware of. As her fist began to come swinging around a suspicion to take hold; rather then avoid her attack he had begun to do something with his shikai. She didn't know what he was planning, but either way she didn't wanna find out if she could avoid it, so in a last second tactic shift she changed the form of her gauntlet in an attempt to ensure she was going to knock him of balance. Rapidly the stone at the front of her gauntlet shifted from a small set of spiked and a fat, though small blade. Instead of just punching and retreating she was actually trying to slice out a chunk of flesh.

The newly formed blade pierced armor, flesh, and bone, and just as she had been planning to commit on a hard follow through on her attack for maximum damage the black haired man began to turn with the blow. This worked into her favor slightly for as he rolled the blade would bite into more flesh, generating a larger gash, but it was fairly small compared to the harm she would have been able to do if she had been able to follow through. Regardless, she had no intention of sticking around to see if he had actually been dazed; so immediately she set the second part of her attack into action by expending a normal shinigami's entire reiatsu pool to generate her ridiculous sphere. It seemed like she had managed to shift the fight back into her favor, now all she had to do was get out. Immediately as she finished expending the reiatsu to generate the sphere she began to pool the reiatsu for a shunpo, she felt a surge of reiatsu from Kaen as he countered.

In less than an instant Yetsuna felt three attacks, one on her leg, one on her shoulder, and a final one across her brow. Despite the overwhelming speed on the attack and her inability to react his attack would end surprisingly little damage. Despite the huge increase in his attack power, the fiery blade he generated lacked the power actually cut into her armor and reach her skin, though it was sufficient enough to overwhelm its defensive abilities as well as the stone protecting her head. The first to attacks would be stopped by the armor, though a majority of the force would still be imparted on herself rather then her armor, and his final attack on her brow would meet minimal resistance as it cut through the stone protecting her head. 

With an angered yell the female exclaimed her pain from the attack, he had definitely caused her no small amount of pain, enough that even she was overwhelmed by the pain she was in, which was no small feat. But in that same moment she saw a chance; Kaen appeared to be exposed. Her pained exclamation turned into will fortifying yell as she launched an attack through the mind numbing pain. She lashed out with her right hand, its blade shifting back into spikes, as she attempted to strike Kaen's chest again, square in the center. The spikes were ample enough to piece the armor and even dig into his sternum, but they stopped short of reaching his heart. As the punch would find its mark she would continue to drive it through, in an attempt to overpower Kaen and force him to back off.

As she tried her best to retaliate against Kaen with a heavy punch she also began constructing the sphere, making it close in on the two of them. The last attack on her leg had made shunpoing away difficult without further sending herself over the edge, so if she couldn't get to the edge of the sphere it would come to her. Moving its full speed the sphere's inner perimeter was upon them in a flash, and has it continued to close in Yetsuna simply phased through her stone, but Kaen would find himself stuck as the stone began to envelop him, rolling over his limbs and making movement impossible. On the outside of the sphere once free of the stone the female's injured leg would buckle as the strain of the attack and combat caught up with it and she stopped using her powers to support herself for the moment.

Her breathing moderately ragged from both pain and exertion she uttered a few words to no one in particular, "Got...you.....you bastard." She was beginning to feel the blood on her brow start to trickle down her face, so she used her powers to move some of her earth towards the wound to act as an artificial clot so that she could still see, she was confident she just won, but that didn't mean the match was over just yet. With a deep breath she raised her voice so her prisoner could hear her, "Yield," is all she would say as she caused the stone to constrict slightly to apply pressure inside, not enough to do damage, but enough to drive home the point that she could probably snap every bone in his body on a whim.