Shinigami Tournament of Power Stadium

[Bloodedge]

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4145/35769294655_905ce26d74_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/WuNZ7P)

[Apollymi]

Weeks after the initial idea was floated around the Shinigami Women's Associate there was a gathering at the stadium created just for this event. Such a place was crowded elbow to elbow with Shinigami who'd turned up to watch the coming battles in the Tournament of Power. Each Division had a section, with front row seats for Captains and their top five seats. As it was late in the day the semi-final round for the Seated Officers was beginning to take place. The match was being announced, by a blond haired woman with sharp eyes. "Ladies and Gentlemen!" the announcers voice was broadcast through the entire stadium by use of a high powered kidou spell which allowed her every word to be heard by every person in the area. "Today we've seen many good battles but the final is coming. I am your host, Sakaki Yoko and I invite you to help me cheer on our final competitors!" said the woman as she pointed a hand towards the eastern wing of the stadium, "From the 12th Division, and up-and-comer with much potential, finding herself at the rank of 5th Seat after just a week of being in the Division. She's shown us skill in many forms of combat, the Skillful Scientist Niwatoko Benihime!~" chimed the woman, a small redhead soon emerged from the side of the stadium her eyes darting about. She didn't know how she'd come to be a participant in this thing, but apparently it was necessary, her entry was even paid for by her Captain who seemed to simply want to see what the girl was capable of against someone in a not entirely friendly match up. The woman sat in the first row of the Twelfth Division's Section a glint coming off her glasses. "I wonder... if she'll use it now. I understand enough of who she is now... to have pretty much figured her out, Clever as she is, she can't hide forever..." the woman mumbled to herself. But if one needed any evidence of what the girl intended to do here, they needed only look at the placement of her Zanpakuto which was hanging from her right side to be drawn and used as if she was a completely normal fighter.

"And in this corner, a special treat. The mysterious stranger from the Kidou Corps, a hidden threat among us perhaps? Nothing is known about this individual except that they seem to be among the most capable individuals we've seen. Making it through the preliminary rounds without so much as breaking a sweat. Come forward, Stranger~" the woman chimed holding out her hand to the western side of the Stadium.

[Bloodedge]

As the announcer's hand pointed toward the western end of the stadium, a member of the Kidou Corps emerged. He did not wear the most commonly seen garbs of the Kidou Corps, but instead wore all white with a much shorter veil over his face. Still, his entire head, and most of his face, were covered. Unlike standard members of the Corps, he also wore a pair of white gloves, making his eyes literally the only thing not covered, though even they were hidden behind shadows. Upon reaching the ring, he bowed to his to-be opponent. One would note that, despite truly being a Shinigami, this individual from the Kidou Corps wielded no Zanpakutou.

[Apollymi]

Benihime also bowed to her opponent. This mysterious Kidou Corps person was among the best of the fighters she'd seen. She was actually sort of looking forward to this particular battle, though there was something she'd noticed in watching his earlier matches which made her feel strangely about him. He was far too familiar to her... but she'd have to confirm such a thing before she'd speak on it. The bow taken care of the host of the battle took center stage to finish the announcement. "Alright, you two know the rules, anything the pair of you knows you can use, just no intentional killing of each other. And of course, have fun... BATTLE!~" and with that the blonde woman disappeared from the arena. Benihime stood a bit straighter bouncing on her toes and rotating her shoulders.

"Hm, still no Zanpakuto, is that a secrecy thing?" she wondered aloud but to no on in particular, at this point, she had no qualms about rushing forward her use of Shunpo would instantly bring her to her opponents left side as she aimed to swing her right leg into his person at the mid section, this hit intended to send the young man flying across the ring. The battle was already underway she figured she may as well get a proper physical stretch out of it.

[Bloodedge]

The member of the Kidou Corps had nothing to say in response to Benihime's question to the universe at large. He merely stood in place as the battle officially began. Even as Benihime rushed to his left side, he wasn't incredibly mobile. Only his left hand moved initially, creating a barrier beside him to guard against her kick attempt. In the meantime, the veiled male used his right fore and middle fingers to draw symbols made of blue Reiryoku in the air. By pointing over Benihime's head afterwards, he conjured a sphere of condensed water above. "Hadou no Hachijuu: Aoikyūtai," he said. With that, the water sphere would explode, unleashing an omnidirectional, torrential wave meant to consume the entire ring. Due to his barrier, the man himself was guarded from this; such was his plan all along. The barrier was battered by the tidal wave, but also split by it, only to reconvene and continue just past the Kidou Corps member's person.

[Apollymi]

Benihime found her kick not making its home, such was to be expected by anyone not a complete bore. After all, she'd started every fight she'd had in the exact same way, if the last person she fought wasn't ready for that, it would have been a bit disgraceful. Even so, this man's speech made a slight upturn to the young woman's lips, "Answers that question~" said the young woman who seemed to be amused at least a little, until of course a swirling ball of water appeared over her head, "Kuso," the single swear left the girl's mouth as she moved, while she did so she began casting a spell to offer her some level of protection from the currents headed straight for her. "Bakudo no Nanajuusan: Tozansho," a crystal pyramid formed around her at the far end of the ring where she subsequently reinforced the barrier with her own Reiatsu to avoid it shattering under the pressure of the wave. This of course only worked on the side she was facing but it was enough to protect her for the most part. 'It figures, I am having a happy easy set of fights, making Ayatsuki-taichou wait on something that isn't gonna happen, and possibly winning. Only to get faced by the one person who can probably make me do the one thing she wants,' the young woman thought as the Kidou subsided and she allowed the barrier to shatter as well. 'Yare yare, I'd hoped our next meeting would be something more normal and fun...'

[Bloodedge]

The hand this man previously used to create his spell soon pointed its palm toward Benihime. The torrent began to fade, freeing him to banish his barrier. "Hadou no Hachijuukyuu: Hyougai Seiran." At his command, a massive wave of ice erupted from his hand. On its way toward Benihime and her barrier, it merged with what remained of the water torrent to become even more powerful.

[Apollymi]

Benihime assumed there wouldn't be an immediate let up, and she wasn't disappointed when as the waters faded and her barrier crumbled it was followed up immediately by a spell which aimed to freeze any and everything, including but not limited to her. "Haien!" there was an explosion of flames around the young woman which aimed to give her a bit of protection against the immediate ice, but she knew that this wouldn't be enough not with the ice combining with what was left of water created by the previous spell. "Hadou no Nanajuusan: Soren Sokatsui!" she chanted with both her hands together pushing forward a great wave of energy which was likely more than she'd attempted in quite a while. Even so, she was able to create a bit of space to slip through, which she charged forward drawing her weapon. Its ebony blade glinted in the light as she found herself in front of this young man and immediately aimed to slash him with the weapon in her right hand across his chest, moving at an upward angle while she began to spin. But soon enough as her hand was moving away from the initial slash and her body spun, she switched the hand her Zanpakuto was in, to her left and she aimed another slash this one downward as if she intended to leave a cross shaped scar across his chest. If she kept trying high level Kidou, she'd exhaust herself, a quick shift was how she tried to give herself breathing room.

[Bloodedge]

The Kidou Corps member still had not moved. Even so, a combination of spells allowed Benihime to slip through his most recently used spell. When she did, she approached him with a drawn Zanpakutou, prompting him to raise both hands in preparation. Small barriers appeared on each hand. With these barriers, he was able to use his left hand to parry Benihime's initial slash, and his right hand to redirect the secondary strike. He then lowered his hands, dispelling his barriers in the process. It seemed he was no longer content to continue this battle, so he began walking away. Such a thing was a message, which he was certain would be received in some way. Regardless, his willing exit of the fighting ring would be the official offering of his forfeit.

[Apollymi]

Benihime was soon confronted by an odd happening. As her coming slashes were met by barriers she fully expected to have a think of a way around such a fighting style, but instead of having to do that, before she could even think to launch another attack the young man dispersed his barriers and made a willing exit of the arena. The announcer just didn't know what to make of this, "Ladies and Gentleman it appears the Mysterious Stranger is forfeiting what was a thrilling match," the woman said. Benihime on the other hand sheathed her weapon. This was the second time such a thing had happened to her, and as such she couldn't help but understand the message. And while it didn't change her outcome she fully intended to carry on with her current plan, in order to do what she needed to do. 'You know, it's selfish of you not to fight fully when your opponent gives their all.' the voice in her head whispered to her. A minor chuckle came from the young woman as she turned to exit the arena. 'Yeah, I know... I'll fight him with everything I have eventually, but in front of the entirety of the Seireitei isn't the right space. These people don't deserve to be graced by your presence~' she said which only caused the Zanpakuto to laugh. 'You better be glad I like the idea of showing off in the darkness and your shameless flattery. Benihime be careful... at some point you'll have to decide if you're really okay with this path you're taking us on... it's lonely,' finished her Zanpakuto as Benihime turned to walk away from the arena. "I suppose Niwatoko Benihime wins by forfeit," the young woman didn't have it in her to turn back, as such she waved her acknowledgement and aimed to exit the arena.

[Bloodedge]

Early on the next day, the first fight of the semifinals' last round was about to begin. In this fight, one participant was the sole remaining competitor of many who'd entered this tournament from the 11th Division. Most within the audience would not have been surprised by this fact, as this particular young male was the 11th Division's 4th Seat, Koiso Ryohei. The brown-haired lad was rumored to wield a Zanpakutou that would not be suited to any division other than that which he was a member of, but it had yet to be unveiled here in this tournament. Perhaps today would be the day. Regardless, he now stepped onto the fighting ring to take on the next challenge, hoping to get a bit more enjoyment out of this match-up than the ones he had previously.

[Apollymi]

This same day, a woman with pink hair pulled up in a messy ponytail entered the battle field as well. She had a tattoo like marking on her face and one of her eyes covered by a patch. The layers of her outfit all seemed fine and she kept a sword sheathed on her left hip, her left hand hovering over it. If one closely looked at her right, they would notice nothing of a limb there, and the sleeve of the right side blowing in the wind. Even so, she seemed to be excited, and fully ready to start this battle and she knew if no one else had provided her any real sport, someone of the 11th Division could. She was a former member of the 11th Division herself, and was more than well aware of the power which its higher seated members boasted. "Let the battles of the 4th Seats begin!" the announcer said before disappearing and the woman had a single leg slide forward as she prepared. "Oi, Ryohei... let's have some real fun." said the young woman before she took off. During her run forward purely on physical speed she drew her katana and immediately aimed to slash at the young boy from his right to his left side. This was her chosen battle greeting of the day....

[Bloodedge]

The announcement of the battle's beginning brought a toothy grin to the mouth of Ryohei. His opponent's words thereafter gave him an incredible surge of energy via anticipation. "It will be my pleasure..." he spake in an eerie tone. During her approach, he unsheathed his own sword in a mighty sweep. He did this with enough force to meet the pink-haired woman's forward momentum, slamming his sword into hers. With this standoff occurring, Ryohei took a step forward while pushing against her Zanpakutou. Only then would his sentence reach its proper end and segue into additional speech. "Ketsugama no Baiken! I never thought I'd get the chance to clash with you after you left. This really gets my blood pumping!"

[Apollymi]

It would seem that the young man was on the same line of thought as Baiken was herself. Beyond this he met her coming slash with his own weapon, she couldn't help but find it amusing that he spoke of her using a name she no longer heard with the regularity or weight it once carried. A cheeky smirk appeared on the woman's face as she took a step forward shifting her grip on her blade so that she could try and slide it further down and around the boy's sword before aiming a follow up strike his way and aim to put some space between them, with a slash that would either cut into the flesh of his torso in a diagonal from his right to his left or cause him to move away from it. "I haven't heard that name in ages... but I'm always up for a good fight!!"

[Bloodedge]

As Baiken's sword slid down his blade, Ryohei rotated his to meet its movements. He quickened the turn of his own sword just before the blades were parallel, allowing him to be holding it upside-down against Baiken's slash attempt. Once again, there was a brief standoff due to this. "Haven't lost the thirst with those scientists, huh? Good!" he said while taking a step back, clearing his blade of Baiken's and allowing the latter sword to finish its arc through thin air. An immediate step forward would ensue, leading him directly against Baiken's left side with his sword sweeping through the air toward her abdomen, aimed while the momentum of Baiken's slash remained.

[Apollymi]

The arc of Baiken's sword was allowed to finish, but she soon found the young man had instead of moving away, tucked himself further into her left side. This shifted what she could do, because she had to hold her sword with her left hand. Beyond this there was a sword headed for her torso and apparently nothing she could do about it, until of course, a clawed hook emerged from her empty sleeve to catch the blade. The sound of metal hitting metal was one which was unmistakable as Baiken aimed to use her left leg to try and sweep the young man off his feet, thus freeing herself to take a step and change the grip of her weapon to a normal one in preparation for the coming onslaught.

In the crowd during this fight, a certain redhead had started in her seat at the front row of the Twelfth Division's section, but currently she'd shifted so that she was sitting on the banister which over hung a lower section her eyes glued to the brutality of the fight taking place. Presently, she was eating several sticks of dango. "Sugei!~" the young woman chimed seeming to find something of great interest taking place before her. 'Gratuitous violence Benihime, didn't know this was something you liked.' mentioned the voice in her head.

[Bloodedge]

Ryohei's slash, upon reaching the end of its arc, gave him a sensation he knew all too well. However, it was not at all the sensation he had been going for; this was a defense set up by a weapon. 'Nani?' he thought. Ryohei knew it was virtually impossible for the woman to guard using her sword from this angle, but he had certainly made contact with metal. During his moment of surprise, Ryohei's equilibrium was thrown off as his footing was taken from underneath him. Allowing his momentum to carry him into a roll, he righted himself quickly, only to realize thereafter that Baiken had moved away. It was then that he saw how she defended herself: the chain dangling out of her right sleeve. His lips curled upward into a wicked grin. "Hoh? Not so armless after all, are we? That's a dirty trick; I like it."

[Apollymi]

"Oh you think that's a dirty trick, Ryohei?" Baiken asked seeming to think nothing of it. In fact, she seemed to think of it, as making up for something she'd lost. Something she seemed to take much better than the other person who'd ended up in a similar situation. "I still haven't gotten used to it yet... it's been almost six decades," said the woman as the chain rose back into her sleeve. It was the benefit of bedding oneself with scientists, there was always a work around. Always something which can be done to fix yourself when you have a misstep. She saw that the boy had recovered quickly had she been any slower that could have been a secondary grevious injury. Still, she couldn't help but smile as she held her sword out in front of her. "Alright, I'm warmed up now... whaddaya say we skip the appitizers and go straight for the main course," she stood her Reiatsu beginning to pulse, a blood-thirsty and ominous aura. The main rule of this tournament was that no one was supposed to die, and she had the perfect answer for that... and someone worth using it on. "Nomihosu...." her sword transformed at this point into a triple scythe with all its blades on the outside, a long chain connected to one end of it. "Chidamari." she finished as she swung the long blade out towards the young man seeming to start a rampage as she aimed to have it slash across his chest. "She's thirsty... and your blood will do just fine!~"

While this happened Benihime seemed to be enthused, she'd stopped with a dango just shy of her mouth as she saw the claw like gadget fall from the sleeve of her fourth seated peer. "Sou ka, I was right, I am the only normal seated officer left in this division." she said mostly to herself but surprisingly enough the Twelfth Division Captain was leaning against the banister right beside the young woman and seemed to choose this moment to speak up. "Ah, don't say that... Tatsu-chan is perfectly normal..." she said which made Benihime narrow her eyes slightly. "Sure, he is... what with the striking resemblance he bears to a certain 10th Division Vice-Captain and his intimate knowledge of Zanpakuto behave. I swear... his is bonded to him in a way I couldn't possibly fathom~" said the redhead which in turn caused the Captain's eyes to widen. She didn't know when this woman stood up, but she definitely wasn't used to people sneaking up on her. As such she felt her statement was a bit of payback for the intrusion. "Hm... you're cleverer than I thought. And I had you pegged for a genius to start with..." said the Captain. "Arigatou gozaimasu... also... sumimasen." she said to the woman who looked confused. "I thought about it more and I shouldn't have lied to you..." said the young woman her Captain then pushed glasses up on her face. "You're all about your privacy, I figured that out already... it's fine. We do what we think is necessary to further our own goals, but you could have just said you weren't interested in the promotion... I'm fine with that... but you only spur more curiosity by hiding," said the Captain as she paused taking out two pink lollipops and having one for herself and giving one to the girl.

[Bloodedge]

"Sou ka. Still, that's not the reason I haven't seen it before now, is it?" Ryohei asked. He had observed bits and pieces of Baiken's earlier battles during the down-time from his own, and at no point had he witnessed the use of this tool. It was always possible that he'd simply missed the parts where it was used, but he doubted that was the case. In fact, he attributed it to the same reason he had yet to unleash his Shikai outside of a few select missions. Speaking of Shikai, Baiken's next statement implied a use of hers, and her following actions gave precedence to this idea. He had yet to see with his own eyes the sickle which gave Baiken her epithet, and now that he saw it, he understood everything. This obviously was not a weapon meant for fighting; it was one meant for maiming. "Now we're on the same page," he said while switching his katana to his left hand and raising it high overhead. His Reiatsu flared with a crimson aura surrounding him, converging on the sword in a manner akin to blood travelling through veins. His Zanpakutou was virtually screaming as he issued its command. "Buttegire...!" The blood-like glow around his katana suddenly seemed to crystallize, as if coagulating until it became metal as the blade grew out and around. This process turned his weapon into a cleaver with diamond patterns along its blade, which extended itself downward to parallel the handle. "Kubikiri Orochi!"

With his Shikai now in hand, Ryohei slashed out against Baiken's Zanpakutou once more. In this particular case, due to the strange form this sickle had, his cleaver clashed against its center blade, leaving its outermost blade the freedom to stab through his pectoral. A simple, more forceful push removed the blade from his flesh, but Ryohei thought something was a bit off about being struck by this weapon. He couldn't quite tell what it was just yet, but he figured he would find out soon enough. "First blood. I expect nothing less," he said. In the next moment, Ryohei was gripping his weapon with both hands. Using the extra strength from this grip, he aimed to push Baiken's scythe away, only to immediately follow with a slash that would travel from her left shoulder to the bottom-right side of her rib cage.

[Apollymi]

"Of course not, I've been beating people one armed... I'm sure you've noticed," she said to the boy. It was true, the battling spirit was lacking in quite a few ways from most people. It didn't take much to physically overpower most of the people she'd been up against. But when a battle like the one presently happening was up on the table, nothing was off-limits. Regardless this young man seemed to be up to the task of joining her in a battle of their Shikais. She also noticed that he hadn't used his prior to this moment, and she wasn't upset about this, when you can win without using it, then it's fine, but... Zanpakuto were individuals and some of them really liked to fight, hers was one such as this and so were the ones which belonged to most true members of the 11th Division.

He met her with the release of his weapon and when she saw it, she was in awe of it. It was something which resonated through most of the crowd as they seemed to get really into this fight by virtue of what was going on here. As Baiken's blade was blocked the outer most made contact with the boy's flesh. He commented that he expected her to take first blood, and if they were being honest so did she. "Chidamari is a greedy woman, she'll have her fill of blood whether it's mine or yours doesn't even matter!" What happened next was the young man using both his hands to force the woman away and follow up with a strike meant to slash at the woman from upper left to bottom right. She was indeed pushed back but the blades seemed to glide back down, at a much quicker pace allowing her to absorb a bit of the slash diverting its depth just a bit, though not its path. The wound became a bit more shallow and a spurt of blood escaped the young woman coating one side of her weapon. "Sugei!~ It's been a while for something like that..." she mentioned as she changed something about her fighting stance as she stood, the chain which had previously emerged from her sleeve came out instead as a strange connector bit which connected directly the end of her Zanpakuto, securing it for use as a proper weapon. "Come on!~" she said her missing right arm swing the blade back around as she wrapped the cord of it around her left hand swinging the entire weapon around in front of her like it was a kusarigama only much larger than any standard form of that weapon.

[Bloodedge]

"I'd be disappointed if Ketsugama no Baiken couldn't manage at least that," he commented. Following the success of his most recent attack, Ryohei found that his opponent was altering her fighting style in some way. Ryohei leaned forward at a sharp angle as he began running toward Baiken. During this movement, his arms were loose and billowing, leaving the cleaver he had to occasionally scrape against the floor. Ryohei veered right on this path, carrying him in an arc toward Baiken's left side. Once there, he twisted his upper body counterclockwise just enough for his limp right arm to swing around like a whip, due to the weight of the Zanpakutou at the end of it. His grip remained strong as his cleaver carved through the air on its way toward Baiken's upper arm.

[Apollymi]

"Oh? Looks like I got things to live up to..." said the woman as the young man took off towards her once again. This time there was something strange about his posture, but Baiken had more than enough battle sense to be ready for it. As he arc'd towards her left side seemingly in an attempt to rid her of her only functional arm, she pulled down hard on the chain connected to the end of her scythe causing it to slam into the sword as she backed away from it. This would save her arm from damage but also allow her to shift her grip on the chain, so that her weapon shifted the direction it was coming down in, allowing her to turn and kick it with the bottom of her clog straight up, intending for the butt of the scythe to smash into the boy's chin this maneuver would end with her pulling on the chain once more to spin the blades upward and leave a series of deepening gashes on the underside of his jaw as the blade spun once.

[Bloodedge]

Ryohei's attack was once again deflected by use of the chain Baiken replaced her arm with. He was still not deterred, and intended a follow-up slash in the other direction, but a pause was forced by the sudden impact of the scythe's handle against his chin. "Hngh," he grunted, following the connection. It was then that an additional maneuver from Baiken resulted in her scythe applying three gashes along his chin, taking an appearance reminiscent of claw marks by the end of the assault. Blood poured down his neck, with some blood dripping directly onto the ground. Finally, Ryohei knew what the strange sensation he felt earlier was. He contemplated his while cupping his left hand under his chin, watching his own blood pool into his palm. 'This is too much blood for cuts this small,' he thought. Nevertheless, since he was in such close proximity, Ryohei took the opportunity to spin himself clockwise, aiming to use the momentum built up from his next slash to push through Baiken's defense, if any were prepared, and aim the whole of his blade at her abdomen.

[Apollymi]

Baiken found completion in her maneuver and if she didn't know this by the feeling of her weapon's sudden stop, she knew definitely that his flesh had made contact with its blades. This had the effect of making the young man bleed rather freely. Of course she knew this would happen it was what her Zanpakuto actually did. Such things were hinted at by the name. Still she couldn't help but smile as an immediate counterattack was launched. Ryohei spun moving his blade around as he did, and though Baiken prepared she shifted her weapon to try and have it block her other side, but there was hardly enough space, she would subsequently be struck past the shaft of her triple bladed scythe. "Ugh..." she huffed in pain. She'd managed to block most of the damage but was pushed away and began to bleed even over the blade of her own weapon. "Ryohei, you've really gotten good!~ It's exciting~" the woman said, as she tried to recover, by her own approximation she had quite the open and gaping wound in her side, but it wasn't quite enough to make her stop fighting yet. Given her general appearance one could tell she didn't give up very easily. With that in mind pink reiatsu began to flare around the woman as she prepared for what would likely be her most decisive maneuver.

[Bloodedge]

Ryohei's momentum continued until he faced Baiken directly, managing even to see the line of blood trailing between his blade and her abdomen. The mere sight of this brought another grin to the male's face. "Heh! I was always good. I just wasn't enough of an idiot to challenge you without a Shikai. 3rd Seat against an 8th Seat with an Asauchi? I'm thirsty, but not suicidal," he said. Soon, Ryohei decided to straighten his posture and let his blade hang at his side. A deep inhale preceded an equally deep exhale, which was accompanied by a rise in his own Reiatsu. "You look like you're trying to end this," he observed. If his assumptions were true, and Baiken intended to take this battle to its climax, Ryohei would meet that resolve posthaste. His already bleeding wounds began to bleed more excessively, contrary to the normal effect of one exerting their Reiatsu whilst wounded. The blood pouring from him also seemed... somehow thinner than it had been previously. Whatever the case, he held out his blade, pointing its tip toward Baiken with his eyes glowing all the while. "In that case... I'll hold nothing back against you. The shield is gone, Ketsugama no Baiken. You'll be the first to see what I can do when I don't care what happens to me!"

[Apollymi]

This young man seemed to have a good eye for battle. At the time when they'd both been members of the 11th Division and Baiken still had the use of her dominate arm, she might have really killed him in battle regardless of the skill he'd always possessed. Even so, she admired his spirit as a warrior and when he mentioned that he thought she was trying to end this a bit of a smirk crossed the woman's face. "There is only so much blood that can be split without this whole thing spinning towards the 'we're trying to kill each other' range. My Captain wouldn't like it, if it went too far off course," the woman said. Regardless of her present situation she'd come to respect Ayatsuki Akiko greatly specially for the development of her 'Demon Tool'. Moving right along, it seemed the boy was now ready to meet her, his own Reiatsu flaring and it taking a rather strange effect on his body. 'That isn't right, blood doesn't thin at this point... it should be clotting,' she thought. It was quite strange, Baiken specialized in knowledge of blood and had done all the experiments and studies on it in her time in the 12th Division, but she'd never seen anything which would cause this sort of thing.

Still now was the time, and with that in mind and her preparations made she launched herself forward, aiming a mighty slash across the young man's person. The blades of her weapon seemed to have been reinforced by the blood previously spilled making them sharper, straighter and more deadly as she decisively aimed to cut the young man from his left hip up to his right shoulder in what had the potential to be a rather crippling blow, even if it was blocked.

[Bloodedge]

As Baiken darted forward, Ryohei did the same. A rather glorious moment was the result of this, as it seemed the two were moving in unison; however, this was simply the nature of battle with such individuals at each other's throats. As opposed to his previous limp arm, Ryohei now held his sword with purpose. Still, the stance he held with his blade at his side left no visible ability for any defensive maneuvers from the young man. As he mentioned in prior moments, though, the metaphorical shield was no more. The thinning of his blood had been the result of his Zanpakutou, which took the iron from his own blood to make the cleaver far stronger, almost as if applying his own Reiatsu to the physical aspects of the blade.

Ryohei's attack was very much a gamble. Ignoring the attack of Baiken, he raised his cleaver overhead with his right hand, aiming to bring it down with great force. He paid no heed to the slash of hers meant to begin at his left hip; his own point of focus took precedence over that and everything else. His slash aimed to carve into Baiken's upper left shoulder and disable her arm entirely. While this attack occurred, Baiken's slash began to make its way up his torso; but time would tell if said slash would make it all the way...

[Apollymi]

The most glorious of clashes soon occurred as Baiken found herself having what appeared to be an orchestrated dance between herself and Ryohei. His offense however didn't seem to care much about his own well being, and with that in mind his own blade was soon brought down upon the shoulder of her only functional arm. As such the slash which was aimed to go up his body would fall a bit short leaving it a bit deeper at the hip and shallower towards the middle of his chest where it stopped. The blade making contact with the young woman's shoulder, would soon enough cause a massive spurt of blood to release as her own blade came to a stop, she simply couldn't push it further, the tendons in her arm wouldn't allow it. "Sou ka... ya' got me then... next time," she said. The glorious end of this battle, left the young woman with her only arm unusable and as such her blade would have to be drug along with her body as she fell to the ground, even she couldn't stay awake following the secondary bit of massive blood loss.

The whole of this event was watched with extreme fascination by the young red haired member of the Twelfth Division. She hadn't moved from her perch and her eyes were unblinking. 'Sugoi... I've never seen anything like that before,' the young woman thought to herself, beginning to feel a tingle of excitement about her upcoming battle. She now knew who her opponent would be and she was quite excited as the host announced it. "The winner is, Koiso Ryohei!!~" she said going back to address the crowd. "That was an intense battle, but there is still a battle yet to be finished, tomorrow will be the decisive battle between the seated members, be sure to come back!!" said the woman as she announced the end of this day's events and gave a bit of forgoing excitement for the next day as well.

[Bloodedge]

Even though he'd managed to halt the progress of Baiken's scythe blades, the wound he received at the lower left end of his torso bled profusely as the pink-haired woman fell and her blade emerged from the gash it created. Ryohei stumbled away, seeming to be on the verge of losing consciousness. However, his blood thickened again, and suddenly the massive amount of blood loss no longer seemed to bother him at all, even though it certainly continued. "Sugoi..." he said as his heavy breathing steadied. As he walked toward the edge of the arena, he paused over Baiken momentarily to share with her a secret. "Your Zanpakutou forces excessive bleeding, huh? That's interesting. You'd have got me if my Kubikiri Orochi didn't affect the iron in my blood cells," he said. With that, he left Baiken alone, needing medical attention of his own if he was to be in top form for the next day's match.

On the very next day, Ryohei stood in the ring once more. His next opponent was one he knew little to nothing about, but she had apparently been granted 5th Seat in the 12th Division immediately after joining, which was nothing to shake a stick at. Ryohei, however, had every intention of testing this one's mettle regardless of her peculiar ranking situation.

[Apollymi]

The next day, Baiken sat in her designated seat three down from her Captain watching the match to come. She was at least familiar with the new 5th Seat of the Division but she hadn't actually witnessed her fight at all. In fact, she wasn't sure anyone in the division had aside from the way she'd carried herself in previous matches. Even so, Benihime soon found herself standing before Ryohei as the announcer gave her final words after introducing the pair of them. "And it all winds down to this ladies and gentleman. The fight of the Seated Officers comes down to, the 11th Division's Fourth Seat, Koiso Ryohei, and the 12th Division's Fifth Seat, Niwatoko Benihime. We've seen some exhilarating matches from both of these participants and personally can't wait to see which of them comes out on top." she said getting ready to exit their arena. "You know the rules, play nicely~ BATTLE!" she announced before fleeing, leaving the pair of high seated officers to stare at each other. "Yoroshiku~" said Benihime she'd never met this individual before so she figured she'd not be rude. And unlike the other times she'd appeared the angle of her sword had shifted, she was presently wearing it to her left so that her hand could rest on the hilt as her hip flexed outward. Such a manner of carry was fairly unorthodox for a katana but her sword was a bit different from most standard katana so it wasn't really a problem. What could be noticed by some is that she hadn't carried it this way prior to this moment.

[Bloodedge]

Ryohei patiently awaited the announcement that the battle could commence. Once it was given, he stepped back with his left foot, and took hold of his katana's hilt with his right hand. "... Hai. Yoroshiku," he said in response to Benihime's greeting. Without further hesitation, he began running forward. His katana was drawn en route to Benihime, and held out to his side as per usual. Upon reaching the redhead, Ryohei swung his blade upward at an angle, letting its tip scrape the arena floor at the start of its arc. If this swing was successful, his blade would slice from Benihime's left hip to her right shoulder. Something was strange about this movement, though. One would perhaps note that Ryohei's grip on his weapon in this moment was not quite as firm as it probably should have been for such an attack.

[Apollymi]

Benihime was greeted in return, and after what she witnessed yesterday she was almost certain this young man was out for blood. As if to further prove this Ryohei was soon running at her with a bit of ferocity, his sword carried limply at his side, a little too limply. 'Hm... that... is strange... I wonder what it means,' the young woman thought, but knowing the arc the sword would take she had plenty of time to draw her weapon from the sheath at her lower back with her left hand in an arc from the side before spinning the blade around once before causing it to clash with the boy's before it could reach her hip. She also took a preemptive step back as she cast a Kidou spell with her right hand. "Bakudo no Ichi: Sai!" such a thing would cause the boy's arms to clasp tightly to his body thereafter if it happened to work and give the young woman a bit of time to think.

[Bloodedge]

The slash he aimed to begin the fight with was parried by Benihime's freshly-drawn blade. Interestingly enough, this was exactly what Ryohei anticipated, hence his loose hold on the hilt. The moment the parry took place, his katana slipped out of his grasp. It was his intention to catch his sword mid-air in a reverse grip, but Benihime's quick cast of a binding spell stole the opportunity from him. Suddenly, it was as if his wrists were strongly magnetized to one another. They both hastily clenched behind his back, but Ryohei was far too much of a proverbial animal in battle to give up his onslaught because of some pathetic Kidou. If he could not grab his airborne sword with his hand, he would find another method. Still moving forward, Ryohei opened his mouth as wide as he possibly could before chomping down on his Zanpakutou's hilt. With the blade pointed toward his right, he lunged at Benihime again, jerking his neck left to aim a quick slash at the left side of the redhead's face.

[Apollymi]

'Anticipation...' she marked the thought about the expectation of her coming block and now knew what to look for if she needed to use a similar tactic. Of course, all thought of cataloging important information for later use against other opponents, was soon lost as the young man had his arms tied behind his back by her kidou spell only to subsequently bite down on the handle of his weapon and aim to slash her face with it by a twist of his neck. "WHAT THE FUCK!" the young woman's reflexes allowed her to dodge away from the slash and a use of Shunpo took her far enough away to give her a chance to recover the look on her face, but she couldn't help but be utterly surprised, as strands of crimson fell away from her face. If she'd been any slower she'd have had a secondary scar on her eye. "Ano... I don't even know what to say about that... I had a nice plan worked out and that... just fucked everything up," the young woman seemed to have slipped a bit into speaking a bit more like she hadn't graduated at the top of her class but instead like the rough little street kid she'd been in the Rukongai. Still she held her weapon out in front and took some mental notes. 'Next time I use a kidou, use a stronger one. His instincts are something beyond comprehension... "Sugei!" the last part of that thought seemed to be aloud as Benihime seemed to shift her motivations a bit in this fight.

[Bloodedge]

Benihime's surprise meant nothing to the 11th's 4th Seat; he only felt his own disappointment at the fact that he had not drawn blood from his efforts. Still, the redhead moved away from his location after reflexively dodging the slash. This was not something Ryohei would easily allow. As such, he immediately utilized Shunpo of his own to track her down, stopping just shy of her person from behind to aim a downward slash from her right shoulder to the bottom of her left shoulder blade.

[Apollymi]

When the 4th Seat of the 11th Division also used Shunpo, Benihime didn't seem too surprised. In fact she didn't move at all initially and waited until she was sure, and just as she felt a prickle along the back of her neck she spun her body clockwise to try and meet the blade which was coming from her right shoulder across to her other shoulder. Her immediate response allowed for a bit of a lessened blow, but she'd still felt the blade make contact with the flesh of her shoulder, this time closer to her actual arm. She'd managed to save her back but it seemed Ryohei had managed to draw first blood. "So, drew first blood then," she said as she shifted the grip on her weapon and aimed to move the boy's sword out of her way so she could jump over his head and aim a concise kick at the back of it with enough force to send the young man rolling forward several paces.

[Bloodedge]

Ryohei felt the sensation he had been seeking with his slashes, along with the sensation of another sword against his own. The following pressure against his katana forced it away, but also forced his gaze in Benihime's direction. As a result, he saw Benihime hop over his head, and followed the movement of her foot as she aimed to kick him. Forward he went, forcing a headbutt into the bottom of the redhead's moving foot that was initially meant to make contact with the back of his head. Following this, he pushed further, aiming to withdraw quickly and leave Benihime momentarily stranded in the air as his blade came slashing toward the bottom of her foot.

[Apollymi]

'Did he just...' the girl didn't seem to be able to properly think as her foot didn't meet its intended target but instead met the man's forehead with a bit of force. She couldn't help but think her usual tactics weren't really up to the level of intensity. Since she didn't get to kick as she wanted to her body started on a backward bend which would have immediately turned into a flip, but the sword coming her way made her reach for her right foot with her right hand instead. While she was midair and curved like a circle she gave the name of a kidou spell. "Seki!" such would allow her to repulse the impending sword and herself with a blue ball of energy granting just enough power to blow her and her opponent apart. "Woo that's brisk~" she said. She was getting excited, fights didn't usually require such quick thinking from her, and as they continued she started to get more and more into it. Her maneuver would end in a flip with her right hand making contact with the ground before she righted herself with her sword still in her left hand.

[Bloodedge]

When his blade was met by a spell meant to repulse, Ryohei narrowed his eyes. Opening his mouth, he allowed the sword to be launched away without him; due to its angle, it went spinning behind the male until embedding itself in the ground several meters away. Benihime herself had moved away again during this time, leaving Ryohei to focus his Reiatsu until the spell restraining his arms was broken. With the use of his hands, he raised his left to his jaw and jimmied it until it popped on either side. "I'd rather not be forced to do that again," he said as he turned away from Benihime to walk toward his fallen sword.

[Apollymi]

Benihime was surprised that the 11th Divisioner took such advantage of the spell she'd used to avoid injury. Beyond this he was able to actually break the Kidou spell he'd been put under mentioning that he didn't want to have to hold his sword in his mouth again. "Hai hai, I'll keep it in mind when choosing next time~" said the girl as the man turned his back and headed to retrieve his sword. Everything in the young redhead's body tensed, turning away from her was kind of a serious thing to do, she could attack him. 'He's weaponless, it would be really easy to just...' she exhaled letting go of the initial feeling. She wasn't here to assassinate anyone, as such she shouldn't take this fight like she was just trying to end his life. Perhaps, this was what she needed to help her figure out the fun of fighting without the intention of killing, because she usually didn't get to do both. "That's a lot of faith you got there..."

[Bloodedge]

Uninterrupted, Ryohei sauntered over to his Zanpakutou and retrieved it. He turned to face Benihime after doing so, only to hear her claim of how much faith he apparently possessed to do such a thing. "Faith? I expected you to attack. Your mind might not be that of a swordsman, but you've got the heart of one at least," he said as the sword in his right hand was brought across his chest to be held at the left side of his body, as if he were preparing a mighty slash. "Buttegire..." With this word, Ryohei slashed the air with his katana, causing it to morph over the course of the movement into the large cleaver that was his Shikai. "Kubikiri Orochi. You've shown me honor, so I'll honor you by fighting with my full power."

[Apollymi]

Something about Ryohei's words struck a cord with Benihime. In fact, it seemed to make everything clear, about what was wrong currently between her and Daiki, and the problems she'd been having to adjusting to her life while she was in the Academy. It was like a light switch was turned in the girl's head and in those very intelligent eyes was a hint of the fire which had been in them before. She was also rewarded with the sight of the young man's Zanpakuto, something she hadn't really expected him to use, but given his line of thinking she understood completely.

"Sou ka, I think... you just fixed my relationship... arigatou gozaimasu~" Benihime said as she began to hop back and forth switching her body up and gaining a bit of flexibility as she did so. She'd not been using any form of combat to the full force of the ability she had, for a very long time, because she thought she owed it to everyone to give them a chance. But... that was a wrong way of thinking... people deserved to know where the bar was... how far they needed to reach. How to face a challenge head on. "I'm ready," the redhead said, her Reiatsu flared for exactly one second in a visible crimson burst before she took off. At her full speed utilizing Shunpo she'd appear at this young man's left hand side at a speed which most would think impossible and immediately following this movement she aimed to slash this young man thrice. Once in a diagonal up his left arm up to his shoulder, where she let go of her Zanpakuto allowing it one spin only to catch it with her right hand as she spun around his rear. Once there, she aimed a slash down from his left shoulder to his right hip before dropping her weapon into her left hand once more to aim a quick slash around his right side, having her weapon aligned with her forearm for whatever reason.

[Bloodedge]

"... What." This was the only thing Ryohei could think to say when Benihime spoke of her apparent fixed relationship. He had no clue whatsoever what she could have meant by this, but that didn't really matter at the moment. In response to his release of Shikai, Benihime flared her Reiatsu for a minimal amount of time. What followed was an amount of speed he had yet to see, and had not expected to see, in the Seated Officer segment of this tournament. One could even call it more accurate to say he still didn't see such speed now, as he was incapable of following the redhead's movement to his left side. "What?" he said when a sudden slash mark appeared on his left arm. "What!?" he repeated as another cut reached his back. At this point, however, he was able to anticipate a pattern in these attacks. With that being the case, he slashed upward with the cleaver in his right hand, doing so just in time to intercept the third slash he couldn't see coming. Now that his blade was pressed against Benihime's, he looked in her direction and narrowed his eyes. "So, this is what you've got? I didn't expect you to be faster than Baiken, but..."

Ryohei's own Reiatsu suddenly climbed to its peak as his right arm tensed. He focused his strength and pushed against Benihime's sword with the intention of parrying it. If he managed this, his next aim would be to take advantage of the moment in which balance was typically lost due to this maneuver, by aiming to slash the left side of Benihime's fore, from left hip to left shoulder, with a swift upward movement of his cleaver. "It's exciting the hell out of me that you are!"

[Apollymi]

Benihime heard the word, 'what' exactly three times while she moved. She understood completely, he wouldn't understand the reference to the young man who was her boyfriend, after all they'd only just met. The other two however he seemed to understand well enough by virtue of his ability to meet the last strike she'd attempted to give him. Instead her blade met another and she found herself smiling at the young man before her. She wasn't surprised by this at all. In fact, she'd expected this, given what she'd understood of his abilities. "Sou ka, glad I can be a somewhat interesting opponent for you~" she said of the young man's apparent excitement at facing her. When he pushed back against her she didn't bother trying to block the movement, in fact she let her body go a bit limp, so that she could use the momentum to bend at her waist at the last possible second at the start of the slash, this would allow her to avoid the upward movement while transitioning herself into a trio of back flips which would end with the young woman several meters away. "Whew, that was pretty close, I like those instincts of yours though~" the young woman spoke her Reiatsu flaring, knowing that she was considerably faster than her opponent, at least on the surface she had a bit of a plan, even so it would only really work if she was in close proximity, and that would put her in a world of danger.

[Bloodedge]

It seemed Benihime's reaction time was not sacrificed to create the raw speed he had witnessed. She had managed to lean away from his attack, but Ryohei would not allow the back-flips she performed afterwards to give her any breathing room. With his cleaver still overhead, and while Benihime was flipping away, Ryohei ran forward. By the end of the redhead's flip trio, Ryohei was standing right in front of her, bringing his weapon down. This slash started where its predecessor ended, but was performed diagonally to end with the cleaver being transferred to Ryohei's left hand. At such a moment, he would then aim to slash again from his left to his right, switching the weapon into his right hand for a final diagonal slash toward his upper left.

[Apollymi]

Benihime soon found she wouldn't be given enough real time to contemplate her next move. From this moment forward her movements would be based solely on her own instincts which would create an interesting reaction as she found the young man to be standing before her when she finished her series of back-flips. 'Shit.' the only thought she had as tossed her sword up to her right hand to fend off the coming attack, while this happened she formed a ball of crackling yellow energy in the same hand. She'd also subsequently follow around the young man's blade around through all of its strikes with the chime of metal heard in their wake, while she was steadily pushed back. A golden triangle of energy was created by the time she stopped the last strike. "Bakudo no Sanjuu: Shitozu Sansen!" this would send the arcs of energy forward into the young man, and since there were no nearby surfaces her hopes were that they'd simply carry him off at a distance which would leave her standing with both her hands meeting at the wrist her left hand atop holding her sword her right hand below pointed towards the ground. As she started a chant for a high powered Kidou of a very different variety than she'd been shown using.

[Bloodedge]

Three slashes were made in total, and three times, Ryohei's sword clashed against metal. He immediately followed these parries by raising his Zanpakutou and pouring his Reiatsu into it. "Ikke-" Whatever he intended to say and do was cut short by the 5th Seat's binding spell. Golden triangles of Reiryoku crashed into each of his arms, as well as his midsection. Even though they could not bind him against anything, they forced him away from Benihime and halted his attack before it could properly begin. Even when he eventually stopped, his arms were still stuck in their outstretched position due to this spell. As such, he forced his Reiatsu to rise higher yet, and the bleeding from his wounds strangely began bleeding profusely. "Korikatamaru Kubikiri Orochi..."

[Apollymi]

"Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man!" Benihime's chant got to this point and her opponent was taken off by her previous use of kidou. Such a thing caused a blue ball of energy to appear between the palms of her hand hovering out in front and it grew as she continued the chant noting the stop of her opponent as well as hearing his voice. "On the wall of blue flame, inscribe a twin lotus. In the abyss of conflagration, wait at the far heavens," she finished the incantation as the man named one of his Zanpakuto abilities. She had no idea what it did, but she couldn't risk having to experience it at a closer range. "Hadou no Nanajuusan: Soren Sokatsui!" this caused the blue energy from her hand to explode outward in a twinned burst aiming to engulf the young man before her with massive burst of this energy that maintained enough force to have blown a hole in a solid building. Benihime paused her stance slightly defensive as she waited to see what became of her opponent.

[Bloodedge]

The bindings upon Ryohei's limbs were beginning to budge as he forced his arms forward. He could feel the spell bending, breaking, albeit not soon enough. The incantation Benihime recited was that of a high-tier spell, which saw its launch as Ryohei was seeing signs of his success against the Bakudou. There was a shining moment of the Shitotsu Sansen shattering, but in the same moment Ryohei managed to free himself, he was consumed by twin waves of blue Reiryoku. Seconds passed, and eventually, the spell and debris both cleared. Ryohei stood hunched over in a crumbled segment of the arena floor; the male himself was covered from head to toe along his fore with ash and burns.

In spite of the most recent successful assault of Benihime, Ryohei rushed forward as if unhindered. His sword was pulled back, then immediately swung forward when he reached Benihime's location. On its downward path toward the redhead's torso, one might take notice of the difference in his cleaver's blade; it was now somewhat jagged, as if it had been worn down over numerous uses despite its perfect condition mere moments prior. At the same time, though, it could be noted that Ryohei's movements were quite a bit faster and more powerful than they were when his Zanpakutou was in better condition.

[Apollymi]

A successful attack came from Benihime's high usage of Kidou, even so, her opponent didn't appear to be terribly phased by it. In face, he seemed even more ready to battle with a boost in speed and power that she'd not thought he had left within his person. She had to give him much credit, because she didn't assume most would get up after a fully powered up level seventies spell. 'Damn, I should have gone for the eighties...' she thought as she brought her weapon above her head to stop the downward swing of the large clever she found herself taking a deep breath to steady a momentary double vision. He was still way more powerful than she thought he'd be at this point."Your sword... looks... like it's been through hell," she noted as she held out her unoccupied right hand already glowing crimson. "Shakkaho," at this distance the spell aimed towards the center of the young man's chest would cause him burns, though given her close proximity, if he didn't back up she'd also be caught in it as well. She didn't seem to mind this however, a gentle smile appeared on her face as she fully found her bearings and wondered how much more of this ridiculousness the boy could put forth.

[Bloodedge]

"Maybe it has," he replied. In the face of Benihime's next spell, Ryohei did not even consider moving away. In fact, he continued to push forward in spite of the flames consuming his torso. His cleaver pushed harder against Benihime's katana, causing the former to be split in half by the latter. However, his movement continued in an effort to slash down Benihime's torso with what remained of his Zanpakutou. If he succeeded in this, there would be an immediate follow-up along the inverted path of the previous slash. The difference in the second strike would be that the cleaver would have returned to its previous length after drawing blood; this would allow an easy attempt of deepening the wound and returning the cleaver to the way it had been even earlier, without the jagged blade.

[Apollymi]

Ryohei's response was to keep his place and take the burns which came from the young woman's rather speedily cast, Kidou. Beyond this he snapped his blade clean in half trying to push past it which it did, causing a slice to appear on the girl's abdomen which immediately caused her to shift to the right of the blade. Though it drew blood she avoided the deepening stab and got to watch as the blade reformed itself. "Sugei, your Zanpakuto uses blood to heal itself... with the iron?" she asked seeming to find it strange that one had abilities like this but still managed to use them while not killing people. Still there was a very strange thing that had happened and it made her wonder...

She spun her blade around twice, with the blade pointed towards the young man and aimed to stab it into his right side, whether it made contact with flesh or blade, her follow up would be to cast a small Kidou spell. "Tsuzuri Raiden!" this would cause an electrical charge to spread from her weapon, either directly into his person or into his weapon and thus channeled into him.

[Bloodedge]

Ryohei's initial slash drew blood, allowing his Zanpakutou to regenerate its broken blade immediately. The second, however, did not make impact. As such, the cleaver remained in the worn state it had been in since Ryohei showed an increase in his physical ability. "You noticed," he said as Benihime's katana spun. He accepted the blade to his side without a care, taking it as a point of leverage to ensure an attack of his own. Once the sword buried itself in his flesh, his own sword began sweeping through the air toward Benihime. Ryohei could see his victory taking place in this moment; however, the great deal of tensity that occurred due to the sudden electrical surge sent through his body caused his arm, and everything else, to stop moving. "Hrngh... guah!" he muttered as he underwent a much stronger form of electrocution than what the spell normally produced. Prior to this battle, Ryohei had yet to encounter a large weak point in his Zanpakutou's abilities, but he was now thinking he'd found one worth being mindful of.

[Apollymi]

"Of course," Benihime said. Her observation skills were pretty good, if she had to say so herself. Beyond this point her sword soon found its home in the young man's side, but he didn't initially seem to realize how much of a hardship he'd suffer because of it. His body was a fairly good conductor of electricity with the extra iron running through it, and as such he experienced even the weaker version of the Tsuzuri Raiden spell a heightened amount. Soon enough his entire body stiffened thus saving Benihime from what would have been a very grievous wound and a rather humiliating defeat. "You're a scary guy..." she muttered, "But a totally worthy opponent," she sighed, knowing it would do no good unless she aimed to utterly dismantle this young man where he stood. She withdrew her sword in a single deft stroke with her left hand she'd subsequently spin the blade around in her hands as she remained before her opponent. The final blows of their battle she tried as a series of strikes issued by the young woman in sequence. Tossing her blade up into the air as as she aimed to deliver a quick palm strike with her left hand into his right side further exacerbating his wound, then a flat palm to the underside of his chin with enough force to completely jar him. Her final strike would be a sweeping kick with her right leg aiming to send him crashing to the ground, in the time it took her to catch her blade.

[Bloodedge]

Soon enough, Ryohei was subjected to the sensation of the sword being pulled from his side, only to have the open wound exacerbated by a palm strike immediately afterward. This occurred just as the feeling was beginning to return to his body, making things a bit worse as the combination of strikes followed. The blow to his chin raised his head, as well as his body. Widened eyes stared into the open sky above the arena before things began to move by his vision due to a kick which send him hurdling into, and across, the arena floor. Numerous rolls ensued to end in Ryohei dropping his Zanpakutou upon losing consciousness. By the end of everything, Ryohei was at the very edge of the arena, slowly rolling the rest of the way off the ring.

[Apollymi]

As Ryohei rolled towards the end of the arena the fans came to a standstill. And soon enough, the announcer was back, finishing up the last of the announcements. "There we have it folks. The end to a rather stunning match," she said as she stood beside Benihime as the young woman sheathed the Zanpakuto she'd just caught. "Our winner in the Seated Officers round of the Tournament of Power, Niwatoko Benihime!" and just like that the young redhead was acknowledged by the crowd as the winner of the tournament of seated officers. "Come back tomorrow as we start the Vice-Captains and Captains rounds of the Tournament!~" the blonde haired woman said as she practically dismissed the crowd.

The next day a full set of crowds were gathered to watch the starting rounds between both the Vice-Captains and the Captains. All seated officers from multiple divisions were apparently present and betting on their 'chosen' people to win. There was an excitement among the crowd which caused the entire stadium to buzz with energy. This was a good day. Beyond the first few fights, there was now a fight taking place, which involved the Vice-Captain of the Seventh Division, a young woman named Kyoyama Michi and the Tenth Division Vice-Captain, Kumori Raizen. "Alright folks, it seems like this fight is starting to get serious!~" the announcer chimed as the entirety of the Gotei gathered to watch this battle. The blonde haired young woman stood with a hand on her hip, her eyes narrowed at her opponent. "Kaitou... Juzuichiren," the long nodachi she carried along with its sheath transformed into a set of rosary beads with numerous individual beads connected by a red tassel which she kept near her right hand.

[Bloodedge]

The next day, Kumori Raizen stood before the 7th Division's Vice-Captain in the first round of the Vice-Captains' bracket. The fight had progressed a fair bit already, though Raizen himself had pulled off nothing more than low-level spells and Hakuda combat up to this point. Now, he observed the release of his opponent, Michi's, Shikai. He greeted this release with a smile while casually standing with his hands against his hips. "Shikai, huh? Those beads suit you, Kyoyama-fukutaichou. Sumimasen... I can't show you my Shikai just yet," he said, raising his right hand to wave it about for emphasis. "Surely, though, there's something I can do to make it up to you. Dinner later?"

[Apollymi]

Michi couldn't help but have a bit of a chuckle. This was one of the freshest Vice-Captains in the Gotei presently. Only displaced by the addition of the 12th Division's new Vice-Captain. Even so, he didn't really seem to be putting too much strain on himself at present and beyond that, still had it in him to flirt. "You can't show me your Shikai, but you're offering to take me out to dinner? Something about that seems off, Kumori-fukutaichou," she said as she lifted her fore and middle fingers causing the double strand of beads to surge forward in an attempt to slash Raizen from right to left across his chest. "Shouldn't go out to dinner with sketchy men, my mom taught me that~" she said, with a small smirk, even so it didn't seem to matter to her that she wouldn't be seeing Raizen's Shikai. As far as she was concerned this simply increased her chances at victory as those who didn't use their Shikai tended to over estimate and over exert themselves.

[Bloodedge]

"Of course. I just feel it's a bit disrespectful to withhold my Shikai, so in exchange, I'll buy you a meal. Besides, shouldn't a pair of Vice-Captains get to know each other after a fate encounter in the first round of a tournament?" he asked. With that, he brought his right hand forward, flicking his wrist to silently cast the ninth Bakudou spell, Hourin. This caused an orange-hued tendril of Reiryoku to whip outward from his hand and wrap around the coming beads to keep them from his person. In conjunction with this, he made use of another unspoken spell: the twelfth Hadou, Fushibi. This spell produced a flame which rapidly spread down Raizen's tendril, threatening to spread along Michi's Zanpakutou and engulf her as well. This was Raizen's answer to Michi's Shikai; since he would not release his own, he would instead step his own game up - so to speak - by utilizing spells without even speaking their names, something which he had developed during the previous year when he was in the Shinou Academy. "Sketchy? I feel like I should take a bit of offense to that. Don't worry, though; I'm still up for dinner."

[Apollymi]

"A bit disrespectful, not to bear the embodiment of your soul to a perfect stranger? Not really... I'm a pretty transparent person, but I also understand not everyone can be that way," the Seventh Division Vice-Captain said. She could understand why some chose to keep their Shikai to themselves, she wasn't at all offended by the idea, so long as the person who took such a practice didn't have a problem making up for their short comings. But beyond this there was now a mass of fire crawling towards the blonde woman up the beads of her stopped zanpakuto connected to an orange rope which she recognized as a combination of two lower level Kidou spells. Her eyes widened at this new development, seemingly stunned that anyone could accomplish such a thing, "Zenki! Goki!" she stated, this caused two large Ogres to appear from the flaming beads and stopped the spells ability to further push up her weapon. In doing so she lost a great number of the beads which normally made up the length of her weapon, but she was fine with this as she gained something else entirely. "Yare yare, I was hoping not to have to do that... also... What? You use Kidou without speaking?!" she seemed utterly surprised by this. She didn't shun the use of kidou herself, but she only knew of the original ways to shorten Kidou and gain effectiveness. 'No wonder he made Vice-Captain straight out of the Academy, this guy is ridiculous.' she thought. This was something entirely different, even as she stood with two large ogres at her size, one blue and one red both easily double the size of a large human being with demonic looking faces, she wrapped the rest of the beads around her fingers and pointed towards Raizen. "Take offense or not, it's okay. Additionally if you wanted to get to know any Vice-Captain, including the ones you have fated match ups with, I'd suggest attending the Vice-Captain's meetings~" she commented as the shield wielding blue ogre and the battleaxe wielding red ogre both let out a harrowing cry.

[Bloodedge]

"It's not that I mean to be opaque... I can't use my Shikai because I'd like to enjoy this experience. We're not allowed to kill, but I don't want to break anyone either," was his response to the matter of his hidden Shikai. While his flames made their way along Michi's Zanpakutou, two beasts produced by the latter stopped the former's progress. Raizen raised a brow when this occurred, as the ability this young woman's Zanpakutou possessed was proving to be intriguing already. "Hai. Well... some spells. I find myself struggling to cast higher levels at full power without a name. This one, for example," he said as his left hand rose. It seemed that, one way or another, he would soon have to be dealing with these ogres. So... he chose to do so right away. "Souren Soukatsui!" With a single hand, Raizen cast two large and extensive waves of blue energy, perfectly separating them in such a way as to attempt engulfing the ogres simultaneously. "I never said any Vice-Captain. I'd rather be a bit more selective than that."

[Apollymi]

"Sou ka, I guess that reasoning is pretty sound. Arrogant, but sound," said the Seventh Division's Vice-Captain. It was amazing to her that the young man thought himself incapable of enjoying the fights he had lined up if he had to use his Shikai. Of course, he was presently holding her off without much of a problem and given that it seemed that she couldn't really talk too much smack about the young man's ideals. Soon enough the young man was exemplifying his ability to cast Kidou Spells by using one she hadn't thought anyone would use with such blatant disregard. Specifically it engulfed her two ogres, both of them seeming to catch fire and explode in the face of his spell, but she apparently didn't seem too worried about this. Both of them seemed to fall to the ground in a spray of beads which cased the young woman's left hand to begin to spin, as it did the beads gathered adding themselves to the ones which were presently wrapped around the fingers of her right hand. "Selective? Vice-Captains are already rather selective. There are only 12 who aren't you~" she jested as the beads finished coming together and seemed to hover around her person. Now she had to contend with fighting without her ogres and it would be a few moments before they could be remade. Even so the beads floated in chains about her person as she aimed another attack at the other Vice-Captain. She allowed her Reiatsu to flare about her person in a teal cloud as she pulled on the tassel end of her beads causing them to whip about in a seemingly ridiculous manner, several dozen slashes were aimed at Raizen's fore, as she flooded her Zanpakuto with her own Reiatsu to enforce the strength of the hits.

[Bloodedge]

"Yep. And only one of those twelve is you, so stop beating around the bush and have dinner with me!" he said in a state of mock deject. Michi went on to attack again, in spite of her ogres being destroyed so soon after their creation. Raizen didn't seem all too worried about the increase in her Reiatsu, nor the quantity of things attacking him. In fact, he rather calmly clapped his hands together. "Hyapporankan," he said. As his hands separated, a rod of white Reiryoku formed within them. Raizen held said rod as if it were a polearm, spinning it in front of him and using it as a catalyst for another spell. "Enkousen!" The spinning of the rod created a golden shield upon reaching a high velocity. This repelled Michi's beads as they came, but Raizen then triggered the true ability of his first spell. The single spinning rod split into one hundred, resulting in a gigantic wall of rotating shields. Raizen seemed to have mounted an incredible defense in doing this, but his true intentions would be revealed when the shields faded, and the rods kept spinning. A wide grin was upon the white-haired man's face as he spoke the name of yet another spell. "... Tenran." With this, he once again used the rods as a catalyst. Each of their rotations caused the production of a widening tornado, threatening to tear asunder the fighting ring in front of Raizen, and even threatening the arena's bleachers and the individuals placed within them.

[Apollymi]

Michi chuckled just a bit... "Wow... that's a bit extreme. You seem kinda set on this... sure." she said as her barrage took place. Of course, this was met by more Kidou which initially didn't seem so bad. "What?" she asked seeming to find the combination of spells to be a bit outlandish. Even more so than that, she was soon bombarded by a myriad of tornadoes multiplied by the number of rods created by the initial spell. Her eyes widened as she immediately called all beads back to herself and wrapped them in a dome around her person, sealing herself in for the duration of this rather intense attack. 'This is utterly ridiculous, how did I get stuck with this crappy match up first?' she questioned herself mentally. Noting to herself to be extremely cross and vocal at the next Women's association meeting.

Meanwhile the audience seemed to be scrambling to protect itself from the coming barrage. Various high level barrier spells went up at intervals about the entire stadium. But the only person who didn't seem too flustered was the young 5th seat of the 12th Division. She was sitting right on the edge of the banister over looking the entire fight with wide eyes. And upon seeing carnage coming her way had taken it upon herself to cast a barrier for her own protection which didn't require her to move. "Bakudo no Nanajuusan: Tozansho." she said creating a giant inverted crystal barrier around herself so she could stay seated and keep watching. Her mind already aflutter with the excitement of this match. 'Sugei! That's the coolest thing ever! I wanna do stuff like that!~' she thought to herself as the match progressed.

[Bloodedge]

"You won't regret it," the male spoke of the apparent agreement to his offer. It was then that his spell barrage took place, being defended against by Michi's efforts using her Zanpakutou as a spherical barrier. Seeing this, Raizen pointed in her direction with his right fore and middle fingers. "Is that going to be enough? Daichi Tenyou!" This spell of Raizen's caused the levitation of the broken stadium, as well as previously unbroken segments beneath and around Raizen himself at the time. They were all launched forward telekinetically by the spell itself, but they were also accelerated greatly by the preexisting tornadoes. "How long will that shield hold?"

[Apollymi]

Michi was now barricaded within her Zanpakuto having a conversation with the 10th Division's Vice-Captain, who was apparently pleased at the idea that she'd agreed to his proposed dinner date. "Mm-huh, whatever you say." said the young woman. As they continued the barrage had extra pieces added to it by way of a new spell which picked up debris and added them to the tornadoes making them fly even faster. At the question of if her barricade could withstand it she only smiled. "It will last as long as I need it to~" she said with a slight upward inflection. Of course, she fully intended to try not to keep such a barrage, and holding out against it wasn't suiting her Zanpakuto either. "Zenki, Goki!" she said once more as the ogres both reformed the shielded one appeared in front and began moving forward, while the one with the battleaxe stayed behind and batted debris away from the young woman, soon enough her fingers were laced in between her remaining beads once more and she launched herself forward making use of Shunpo. Upon coming to a stop just meters before the young man, Michi named a kidou spell which would cause dozens of her beads to glow. "Hadou no Sanjuuni: Okasen!" this caused several dozen of the beads to glow with the yellow energy which would further explode into individual large arcs aiming to engulf the young man before her in multiple sources of the energy and threatening to completely engulf his person.

[Bloodedge]

"Will it? Good; I'd hate to actually pummel you with these rocks," Raizen said. Michi would then go on to summon her pair of ogres once more, and use them to push against his combination of spells. 'Sou ka,' he thought upon seeing their second summon. It was not long before Michi freed herself from his assault and appeared before him with one of her own. Raizen's eyes widened when it became apparent that she, too, was using multiple points of focus to channel her spell. He dashed back as the blasts began, holding out his hand toward Michi. "Danku!" he said, though nothing appeared between him and the blasts. Raizen was consumed by the onslaught, but his spell had a greater purpose; it had been triple cast, with one tall barrier formed behind Michi, and two others connecting to it on either side to create a box open only at the front and top.

Raizen soon emerged above the waves shot by the 7th's Vice-Captain, having his limbs tucked into his torso as a way of lessening the impact the spell had on him. His right arm, however, was free of this tuck, and that hand held a sphere of golden electrical Reiryoku. At the height of his jump, he cleared his vision and pointed this sphere toward Michi. "Raikouhou!" With this, an electrical blast would emerge and threaten to consume the blonde, with Raizen having set up the trio of barriers as a way of sealing her range of movement.

[Apollymi]

Michi scoffed as the young man mentioned that he didn't want to pummel her with rocks, and couldn't help but think that if that wasn't something he wanted to do, he probably shouldn't be doing it. Regardless of this point in semantics it seemed that she'd had at least some success her barrage eventually leading the young man into a forced movement but not without taking the hit. This would have lead to happiness except... 'Where's the barrier?' she mentally questioned as she moved back into it, only to look above and seen the gathering electrical energy. Her eyes widened as she realized he'd only taken the hit to have an opportunity to trap her movements and almost guarantee an attack. 'Crap!' she called both ogres back to herself as she was engulfed in a Raikouhou. She'd be stuck in this blast for the duration of it, surrounded by a dangerous electrical charge until Raizen stopped it. And once he did and the smoke cleared the girl would be seen, having taking only mild damage unto herself, but having used her entire Shikai to defend herself, she was left with a broken nodachi for her troubles. Soon enough she stood and sheathed what was left of it, which was only a tiny bit of blade and the handle dusting herself off. "You broke my sword." she said, knowing this match was decided, if she couldn't take this young Vice-Captain with her Shikai, she had no hope of taking him otherwise.

[Bloodedge]

Raizen's blast connected without worry of going out of control, thanks mostly to the trio of barriers he put in place. When he landed in what was left of the arena, Raizen saw the emergence of Michi from the electrical explosion. He watched as she sheathed her broken nodachi, and once that was done, he placed his hands against his sides again. She thought to note the fact that he'd broken her sword with his attack, causing the white-haired male to chuckle. "So... dessert's on me, then?" was his response.

[Apollymi]

Michi seemed to think about it for a second. "I'm not into sweets. But whatever makes you feel better..." said the young woman. She looked to the announcer and gave a nod. "And that's it folks, the winner of this round is Kumori Raizen!~" and with that this particular round was finished. It would take a little time for the crew to come in and repair the arena floor, but soon enough that would be done, and a new battle would be taking place. The announcer stood at the ready, announcing a different kind of battle.

"The next round will be a face off between the new Vice-Captain of the 12th Division, Tatsuya and the Ninth Division's more veteran Vice-Captain, Minami Setsuko!" she said announcing the next two fighters with the same amount of gusto she'd managed to show through the entire first rounds.

[Bloodedge]

Later that day, one of two combatants standing within the new combat ring was another white-haired individual. The young male worked his arms out of over-sized sleeves to reveal a black headband, which he proceeded to tie around his head. "Ohayou gozaimasu, Minami-fuku~" he said to his opponent while standing erect. This boy wore no Zanpakutou on his person; he seemed more geared toward Hakuda-based combat due to the long, padded, fingerless gloves he wore beneath the sleeves which normally covered his entire arms.

[Apollymi]

"Ohayou, Tatsuya-fukutaicho~ That title is like a week old or less yeah? But you were one of those Academy prodigies... I'm sure you're up to it~" said the Ninth Division's Vice-Captain. She was used to mobilizing at a single moment's notice. In fact, she tended to take everything at the absolute head on most method she could do it. In fact, as proof of this she was carrying her entire sheathed Zanpakuto in one hand as she approached. The pure white sheath with its white hilt and double pronged guard. "Alright you know the rules~ Fight!" this came from the announcer who soon disappeared. After Tatsuya's preparations were made the respectful Vice-Captain of the Ninth Division gave a bow, then drew her weapon. She had no intention of holding anything back here. "GAISU!~" she said causing her sword and sheath to transform into a large double edged scythe like knife which had a large handle wrapped in the white which was previously her sheath complete with blue runes and three large spikes at the handle. "Bakuzan!" and just like that the young woman launched herself forward at tremendous speeds aiming to slash the young Vice-Captain across his fore from his left shoulder to his right hip in a single deft motion.

[Bloodedge]

"Hai. About a week," the boy replied. He was prepared to begin this battle after waiting for so long, and it seemed his opponent was keen on starting the fight without the restrictions of a sealed Zanpakutou. When she approached with her released blade drawn, Tatsuya bent at the waist and twisted to his left before rising again, allowing him to curve around the swinging weapon. Once his posture was back to its natural standing state, his left arm softened and extended with the intention of coiling around and binding Setsuko from the bottom up. If he managed this, he would immediately follow with a discharge of electricity from his arm to inflict damage upon his opponent.

[Apollymi]

Setsuko's eyes widened at the blatant show of flexibility used by the youngest Vice-Captain. "Nani?!" the woman seemed to be legitimately surprised by what came next, which was the extension of Tatsuya's arm and the subsequent wrapping of it around her person. Restricting her movements in a fairly strange way she was soon shocked and stunned enough that she couldn't immediately move. She would be at the mercy of this technique for at least a few seconds, until she could build up the Reiatsu to overpower her muscles and force herself into movement again.

[Bloodedge]

Tatsuya's arm continued its electrical surge on Setsuko, and he intended to continue having it do so until his victory was sealed. However, the female Vice-Captain proved strong enough to break free of his grasp, much to Tatsuya's dismay. His arm returned to its natural state and disappeared into the large sleeve which housed it when this occurred. His expression at the time was not quite related to the occurrence; instead, it looked as if he were receiving an answer to some question that hadn't been verbally asked. "You can do that? Sugoi. Why isn't she using it?"

[Apollymi]

"Who are you talking to?" asked the Vice-Captain of the Ninth Division. To be honest, she didn't know the young lad had that much reach on his abilities, given that it was already time to change tactics, before he could spring anything else upon her which might jeopardize her chance at winning. Still she wasn't willing to wait too long to find out the extra information, once she fully had all feeling back in her limbs she leaned forward, slamming the base end of her sword against the ground specifically in her own shadow. "Rengoku!" she stated. When she did this, and pulled her weapon back up, a set of chain links were attaching to each other as she pulled them out of her shadow. Eventually the chain was wrapping around her multiple times and once there were several cycles around her she began to spin her weapon around by the chain. "Alright again then," she said tossing the spinning weapon at high velocity towards Tatsuya as if she intended to pierce his chest with it, her fingers splayed along the chain that she might shift the direction of the weapon at a moment's notice.

[Bloodedge]

"Bakuzan," was Tatsuya's single answer to the woman's question. Setsuko went on to make use of her Shikai's special ability, causing Tatsuya to grin. "There it is!" he said. As the sword came his way, Tatsuya raised his right arm. Six white snakes suddenly emerged from his sleeve, boasting greater size than the norm as they extended forward. Three of these snakes bared their fangs to bite Setsuko's sword and stop its progress toward their master, as well as any ability to immediately retract it without significant effort. The other three continued stretching toward the woman herself. When their mouths opened, double edged jian-style blades emerged, coated in a poisonous substance and threatening to pierce Setsuko's left shoulder, right shoulder, and left side simultaneously.

[Apollymi]

"Bakuzan? You're talking to my Zanpakuto?" Setsuko seemed stunned. Such a thing seemed to be well outside the realm of normal possibilities. Surely the lad was kidding, it wasn't actually possible for him to speak with another person's Zanpakuto. Beyond this her weapon was stopped by a strange usage of snakes, which seemed to come out of nowhere, causing the young woman's eyes to widen quite a bit. Three of them seemed content just to stop her weapon's progress and keep the young woman from retracting her blade, while the others seemed content to try and injure her at various points on her body. Unlike most, this didn't seem to worry the young woman at all, with the special ability of her Zanpakuto active, she could easily defend herself from the coming poisonous blades. Her left and right shoulders, as well as her left side, were all protected at the last moment by the lengthening mass of chains which wrapped around to entangle blades and stop them from further encroaching upon her person. "Alright... you're going to have to explain... I'm so confused," she said having seemingly reached a stalemate.

[Bloodedge]

"Hai," he said. The snakes Tatsuya produced continued to grip Setsuko's blade, but the remaining three seemed to have been stopped by the shadow chain she had around her. A slight twitch occurred in the boy's arm, as if he were adding his own strength to all of the serpents in attempts to push harder using them. During this time, a discussion between the two competitors would apparently begin. "Explain what? Why are you confused?"

[Apollymi]

"Okay, don't know if you know this... but it's really unusual for someone to say they are talking to someone else's Zanpakuto. They talk to each other from time to time, but usually not their wielders," the young woman said. It would be more than obvious by this young woman's speech that she had no understanding at all for the kind of being Tatsuya was. In fact, she was very straight forward in her way, so she didn't even stop to think that something might be wrong here. Soon enough though, the young man flexed seeming to add strength to the push against her chains, but she could do that as well, her reiatsu glowing around herself and reinforcing the chains so that they would not give to physical strength alone. She also took the opportunity to apply a firm yank backwards in order to try and pull her blade free.

[Bloodedge]

"Is it?" Despite Tatsuya's pushing, his snakes remained ineffective. What's more, Setsuko managed to jerk her blade away, snapping the fangs of two snakes and seeming to cause the boy some small amount of pain in the process. These three snakes retracted themselves into Tatsuya's sleeve, while the others continued their efforts. "What's Zetsuei? She won't tell me," he wondered. Apparently, Setsuko's Zanpakutou was content to mention its form and primary ability, but nothing more than a name regarding something else it had to offer.

[Apollymi]

"Yes, it's really weird!" proclaimed the Ninth Division's Vice-Captain. This fight was a bit unsettling, to the young woman but at least she managed to pull her blade back, but not without noticing a slight change in the demeanor of the young man. 'Ano... is he connected to the snakes?' she wondered internally. There was only one real way to test such an outlandish theory. Beyond this the boy went on to mention 'Zetsuei' which immediately caused Setsuko's eyes to widen. "What? I don't even... I... " she stumbled over her words because it truly wasn't a question she expected to be asked, it seemed to take her a few seconds, but eventually she seemed to get herself together enough to properly be able to respond to the young man before her. "Zetsuei... if I explain it... becomes difficult. I'll show you instead," she stated, while actively twirling her now reclaimed weapon. This time it spun much faster as she launched it back through her own barrier of chains without disrupting it, appearing to once again be aiming to strike the young man with the weapon from a distance, but instead at the last possible moment before it would have touched his person, she pulled back on the chain, changing its trajectory so that the weapon would launch itself into his shadow, aiming around his left shoulder. If she succeeded in this she'd say the attack's name. "Zetsuei!" causing a wound to appear in same place on his body.

[Bloodedge]

It seemed Setsuko would sate the boy's curiosity by demonstrating the aforementioned ability of her Zanpakutou. He watched as her blade came toward him, and was more than prepared to deal with it... until it changed its course and embedded itself into the floor next to him instead. Tatsuya seemed even more curious by this, but the moment Setsuko spoke the name of her ability, blood spurted from his left shoulder as a deep stab wound appeared there. 'Nani!?' the boy thought as his eyes widened and his snakes receded into his sleeve. With his right hand no longer being used offensively, he used it to cover the wound he had suddenly obtained, aiming to limit the bleeding as much as he could. "Sou ka. That's hard to deal with."

[Apollymi]

It seemed her demonstration had done its purpose. Providing the young Vice-Captain with a sneak peek at the ability her Zanpakuto possessed but apparently didn't bother sharing with him. Beyond this it seemed to go even farther, allowing her to gain the first injury on Tatsuya, pushing her one step closer to the victory she wanted to claim. With him now holding his wounded shoulder, she yanked back on her weapon again, finding it within her grasp within a matter of seconds where she took it by its actual handle for once. "Sumimasen, it's a strange ability to use without going for more lethal damage, so I wasn't going to use it," she said but thinking about it, she'd done it pretty good job of it. "But... I think I have a bit better control of it than I thought," she said, though she'd developed this skill quite a long time ago, she'd gone without using it in friendly combat because it was more dangerous to other people than she thought necessary for training purposes. Surprisingly enough, this young woman didn't go for another immediate attack, instead she was content to see what the young man had to offer. "Well, I've shown you mine... your turn~"

[Bloodedge]

Tatsuya was facing a rather bothersome ability to deal with in the form of this Zetsuei technique. He remained still for several seconds after taking the attack, only to eventually remove his right hand from the wound and produce numerous additional snakes from his right sleeve. These snakes quickly turned on Tatsuya himself, biting numerous locations along the boy's body. This caused him to fall forward onto the floor within a matter of moments, as he seemed to have been affected by a venom of his own choosing.

[Apollymi]

Setsuko soon got to watch as the young white haired lad let himself be bitten by numerous snakes. She'd instinctively fallen into a defensive stance, but her defense soon became utter confusion as the boy turned his own abilities against himself. "Nani?" she questioned soon enough but before she could get an answer it appeared the young man was unconscious and falling towards the ground. There was literally nothing Setsuko could do about this, as she didn't intend to attack anyone while they were already down. She sealed her Zanpakuto, having it reform its sheath and long blade and sealed them together. The crowds were stunned into silence as the host tried to make sense of what she had just witnessed. "I don't know what happened folks, but it appears, Tatsuya-fukutaichou is down for the count..." she said seeming stunned by this happening. "I guess, that means, our winner is Minami Setsuko!" she chimed apparently this would be the end of this match. Though this was the second occurance of someone just giving up the announcer supposed she couldn't really argue with that fact that he'd faced a daunting ability to deal with.

[Bloodedge]

Tatsuya's state of unconsciousness was not long-lasting, though it plagued the boy long enough for him to be considered the loser of this match. He stirred moments after Setsuko was deemed the winner, and when he rose, Tatsuya appeared to have his wound sealed by some form of accelerated healing. "Ano... I lost?" he asked. "Whatever. I probably wasn't going to win against that anyway." With that, Tatsuya was content to vacate the arena and allow space for the next, and final, fight of the Vice-Captains' bracket.

Several minutes later, a blonde male with a short, thick ahoge stepped onto the ring. He wore the badge of the 6th Division's Lieutenant, a thick red sash to hold his Zanpakutou in place, black boots, earrings, and a red rope tied around his neck. His expression upon entering the arena was a bland one, seemingly devoid of emotion. Whatever sort of fight he was meant to have, he apparently wished only to get it over with.

[Apollymi]

It seemed that Tatsuya was able to rise again, unfortunately enough, it didn't seem to be in time to receive the right to continue with the match. Apparently he was fine with this though and both he and Setsuko exited the arena, Setsuko wondering what kind of weird thing that kid had been trying previously and thinking it might have been a good idea to have another go at him some time later on.

Soon enough the next match was starting and one blonde haired lad was already approaching the arena. A blue haired lad was also doing the same with golden eyes and a bit of a sleepy expression with a frown. He didn't seem to be much bothered about anything, though he couldn't have been more displeased about his initial match up. 'Ugh, this is horrible... that guy is so....' whatever word he was going to use to describe the other lad in his head soon enough he was standing right in front of him. "Ladies and Gentleman our final match in this round of the Vice-Captain's bracket. We've seen some very exciting and... unorthodox matches today, and I'm sure this one will be no exception. The Vice-Captain of the 6th Division, Noguchi Shisui and the Vice-Captain of the 13th Division Aoki Shichiro!" the host finished getting ready to depart. "Alright you two know the rules. BATTLE!" and just like that another match was about to take place, and Aoki found his hand hovering over the hilt of his Zanpakuto, figuring that he might be able to swing a bit of an advantage so long as he released first.

[Bloodedge]

From the moment he looked upon his opponent, Shisui's eyes never left the man. He also never moved until the announcer spoke the word "battle" to the competitors. At that point, he spoke first. "Gomennasai," he said softly. He could see the blue-haired male reaching for his Zanpakutou, and was prompted to quickly do so himself while charging forward. Upon drawing his wakizashi, a tongue of flames wrapped around it, growing rapidly until consuming Shisui's entire body. "Ban... kai..." While Shisui was still clad in the fires of his Zanpakutou, the blade itself emerged in the form of a large, black sword aimed to slice Shichiro's right side as Shisui passed him by. Even if this attack were to miss, the pure heat emitting from this blade was enough to extend the range beyond the visible limits of the sword, and the flames around Shisui were fanning out to reach for Shichiro's full body as well. As far as Shisui was concerned, though, a positive note could be taken by the fact that any inflicted wounds would be immediately cauterized to prevent any sudden death by his opponent bleeding out.

[Apollymi]

Shichiro looked at the young man before him, and the eeire feeling he had prior to this was finally quantified in a single word, 'bankai'. This was something the young man really couldn't have been able to prepare for, as he turned towards the blonde haired man and tried to back away he was already consumed by heat and flame, his right side burning though he wasn't really sure how. It seemed like this was over before it'd even started and he soon found himself falling to the ground. 'I... knew he was weird...' thought the young man as he fell into unconsciousness. The entire crowd was silent so silent one could hear a pin drop.

Benihime sat atop her perch and though she probably wasn't the first voice to be heard, by the time the mumbles of the crowd picked up once again hers was rather clear to those around her. "Naw, fuck everything about that!" she said seeming not to understand what she'd just witnessed. Most people had been showing their skills, trying to at least put on a show or hide a little bit, this Vice-Captain came out, with his apparent bankai and all but demolished his opponent in less than three seconds. "I can't even... I'm not fighting him," the young woman said as the announcer went on to give a rather stunned crowd an announcement of victory. "There we have it folks, something none of us were expecting. Our winner by an obvious landslide, Noguchi Shisui!" hosting woman said.

[Bloodedge]

When Shisui made footfall, the flames around him began to fade. The full form of his Bankai would remain unseen, as the disappearing fire was joined by the resealing and sheathing of his Zanpakutou. He went on to leave the ring, having obtained his first victory of the tournament the way he intended. As he walked away, his gaze traveled to the location of his Captain in the 6th Division's designated section of the arena seats.

Some time later, another crushing blow-out in the tournament - this one from the first official fight of the Captains' bracket - saw the 4th Division's Captain fall to the likes of the 10th's Captain. This led them to the next battle, in which a green-haired male with a hooded yellow cape emblazoned with the mark of the 6th Division, stood ready to battle.

[Apollymi]

As Shisui walked off the 6th Division Captain was calmly sitting in the first row of that section. She looked to the young man with similar impassive eyes and gave a singular nod of approval to him, knowing he would understand the message behind it. After this she went on to watch the crushing defeat of the 4th Division Captain by the 10th Division Captain, which went about as well as anyone expected it to.

The next match up, was one between the 3rd Division's Captain the currently cloaked Yuuki Terumi and the 12th Division's Captain a young pink haired woman who soon enough made her way to the stage and pushed tiny spectacles up onto her nose. Though she'd been the one to make these brackets, she would have chosen a different challenger for herself. "Yuuki-taichou, long time no see~" said the young woman as she stood at her end of the arena. After she spoke the host gave the last of the announcement. "You two know the rules! BATTLE!" and just like that the pair was left to fight each other.

[Bloodedge]

"Hai, hai~!" the man named Terumi replied with a wide grin. It had indeed been some time since his last encounter with this particular Captain. Moving right along, though, the battle was called rather quickly. When it was, the man spoke again. "O-ne-gai-shi-maaa-suu~♪" he sang nonchalantly. Strangely, even though the fight was now on, Yuuki made no efforts to attack the woman before him.

[Apollymi]

"Doesn't move... you're still weird, Yuuki-taichou~" said the Twelfth Division's Captain. Still she wasn't one to let such an obvious opportunity pass her by. Instead she reached into the sleeves held to her arms by giant gold rings and pulled out a small item which looked a bit like a double sided shuriken with deep blades and held it in her right hand. Several others appeared from it, and began to take off aiming to but not to attack Terumi. These small blades had an interesting property, as they moved forward they seemed to create their own gravity, increasing the pressure around the arena by a variable amount presently about twenty times what was normal. She was developing a plan and it was necessary to keep speed variables to a minimum as she lost out on that battle.

[Bloodedge]

"You're a cat," was his response to being called weird by this particular Captain. Since Akiko took the first move, Terumi was able to watch what she chose to do. Her choice involved reaching into her sleeves to retrieve her already-released Shikai. "Hoh? Are we skipping the petting then? Your loss," he said. As these shuriken moved closer to him, Terumi suddenly began to feel weighted, until such a time as he felt like he weighed nearly 3,000 pounds. As much as he exerted his Reiatsu to fight against this effect, he could not keep himself from crumbling to at least his right knee. He would have used at least one of his hands to support himself, but instead, he used both to draw the twin wakizashi that were his Zanpakutou. "Kamikorosu," he said as he spun the pair of blades. The wakizashi shrank in unison, each taking the form of a curved butterfly knife with a double-edged blade. After releasing, Terumi continued spinning the knives. "Jasou. Kousou." As he spun the knives about, Terumi performed tricks which continuously opened and closed the weapons. These movements caused slicing waves of pure force to emerge each time, and at an incredible velocity that trumped even the speed of his Shunpo. Since he could not easily reach Akiko in this state, he aimed to send numerous waves of different angles her way, while also aiming a few at the pieces of her Zanpakutou.

[Apollymi]

"Am I? Hadn't noticed~" the 12th Division Captain said with obvious sarcasm. Still it seemed that Yuuki was at least effected by her Zanpakuto enough to feel the exceptional weight being created by it. He went on to comment about the apparent skip of petting which made the pink haired woman's eyes widen and her ears twitch only slightly. "Don't say that like that... you'll get my hopes up, Yuuki-taichou," the woman said as he seemed to recover enough from the constant pressure to be able to release his Zanpakuto. "Predictable," she managed to say holding up her right hand in front of her immediately after... "Danku," this would immediately cause a large barrier to erect itself directly in front of the young woman as the 3rd Division Captain began using his Zanpakuto to try and harm her from a distance. Her unoccupied hand on her hip she stood just watching putting together a strategy while fragments of her Zanpakuto were batted away by Terumi's attacks, likely allowing him a bit more freedom of movement as the woman didn't immediately try to put them back.

[Bloodedge]

"You're the one at fault. Can't pet a cat if it hisses at ya' first." Though Akiko erected a barrier to protect herself, Terumi's extra slashes managed to free him from enough of her Zanpakutou's influence to allow some movement. With this freedom, he stood. Shunpo wasn't worth the effort so long as Akiko could alter gravity so close to him at any moment, so he chose instead to go for raw power. Massive amounts of energy gathered in each blade of his Zanpakutou as he flipped and spun them again. "Hadou no Nanajuuhachi: Zangerin!" The spell Terumi chose was one which normally launched outward from a Zanpakutou with enough power on its own to level buildings, but in the special case of Terumi's Shikai, he simply gained greater advantage. His ranged slashes went out once more at the maximum strength along with the added power of the spell. His aim this time was not to attack Akiko or create space for himself, but instead to slice through the pieces of her Shikai using his ability at maximum velocity.

[Apollymi]

"Oh please... as if a bit of aggression is any reason not to try," Akiko said, seeming to find this line of banter amusing enough to continue it regardless of the rest of the conditions she was presently facing. And speaking of things she was facing her opponent chose to use a spell which subsequently powered up the blades which he was using. Forcing them to move at fast enough speeds to properly slice through her suspended weapons and not just knock them off course. Akiko's eyes widened just a bit, because she'd expected him to try to do something about that which she used to alter gravity, but she hadn't expected such a novel execution. "Impressive~" she commented not seeming to be worried about the destruction of multiple pieces of her Zanpakuto. In fact, the small shuriken she held in her hand soon began to spin in her palm as she created dozens more which flew off around her specifically before she began spinning just one finger around the center dial. "You know, I thought being a participant in this would just be annoying... but now I think... it might be fun~" she said before stopping the one twirling finger to reverse the gravity around her blades as she sent one directly for the center of Terumi's chest, from this distance she didn't actually intend to hit him, but instead, push him back and she aimed to do this with a simple command. "Juuryoku." the statement she'd aim to toss Terumi clean across the arena, a bit like a rag doll.

[Bloodedge]

"Ain't it?" he asked in response. "I don't really like the idea of my face getting clawed up, though. I'll pass 'til I can come up with a bowl of milk." Terumi watched the result of his most recent attack, taking solace in the fact that the separate blades Akiko unleashed were now in halves. Even though he'd managed this, there were soon even more to deal with. Terumi sighed as one was launched toward him. "That's a really annoyin' sword, ya' know?" was all he had to say. With that, he spun his blades again, sending slashes behind him to dice up the arena when he felt the gravity taking effect again. Since it was now going against him, he kicked up enough rubble to catch himself numerous times as he fell sideways, as if he were simply falling toward the ground at incredible speeds. Halfway along this trip, he looked up from his own perspective, sending slashes through the slabs he'd already passed to target Akiko again.

[Apollymi]

"Milk?!" the Captain of the 12th Division seemed to be quite amused by the idea. She was way to easily distracted by things she liked to think of anything other than a warm saucer of milk for herself a bit after this. Maybe as a prize for victory, maybe to nurse her defeat, not that either reason really mattered. Beyond this the man seemed to rather easily fall prey to her abilities, going so far as to state that her weapon was annoying. "Is it really? I thought I was a bit lacking compared to everyone else I've seen~" she said. Though she understood her own abilities to a fine point, she also was under the impression that other people might be able to easily get around what she had to offer. But she supposed that would require them having as complete an understanding of her weapon as she did, and that generally did not happen. A large number of her previously created blades seemed to over back towards her person without her having to say so, in doing so they all gathered before her creating a physical barrier for the coming slashes, doing so seemed to offer Terumi a bit more relief, as she kept them hovering her near person thereafter for some unknown reason. But she did so to buffer herself, taking a moment to create even more blades and leave them hovering behind others. Leaving them doubled for whatever reason, but not attacking more.

[Bloodedge]

"Lacking? Yare yare daze." Soon, Terumi was able to land on the ground, thanks to a loss of Akiko's gravity effect that had been plaguing him. Now that he had some ability to relax, he went about regaining his composure over the course of a few moments. "Sumima, Aki-tan~" he said while righting his hood. Terumi then stood with his knives brought together, one closed, and one open with its blade facing away from the other. "I can't keep dealin' with this sorta thing. Bankai," Suddenly, Terumi's Reiatsu rose exponentially; his green aura spread from his body and blades, coating both as they morphed together and enlarged. His closed blade became something like a snake's head, while the other simply became a single blade the size of the original butterfly knife. These two segments were connected by a black-and-green chain of sorts, made from Terumi's Reiryoku. "Kibao no Muchi." At the declaration of his Bankai's name, Terumi slipped his hands into the pockets of his cloak. The chain of his Bankai encircled him numerous times as the snake's head swayed to and fro. "Kousou," he said, prompting the snake to lunged toward Akiko with its chain extending to make the range possible. Halfway toward the woman's location, the snake's mouth opened, allowing it to attempt biting into her torso with fangs no less sharp and deadly than the waves he utilized with his Shikai.

[Apollymi]

It seemed that Terumi didn't much agree that her abilities were lacking compared to that of her peers. Of course, it seemed that the young woman wouldn't really be capable of commenting on that, as the man took the opportunity of her let up on her offensive to fix himself up visually and release his Bankai. The sudden influx of Reiatsu was enough to give Akiko a bit of pause though the entire time she seemed to be quite amused by it. 'Right on time...' she thought, though she wasn't entirely sure of what she'd soon be up against, it didn't much seem to matter to the young woman. "Has the nerve to talk about not petting a cat that hisses at him... has ordered a snake to bite me twice. The irony of this situation cannot be understated~" the woman said as she soon found herself at the wrong end of a snake mouth. Though this time she was ready the doubled blades previously created by her Shikai all seemed to fly into the mouth of the snake at once. Her aim to pin its jaws open at least for a moment. "At this rate, I'm going to have to do something drastic~" the pink haired cat woman said.

"Bankai," there was a massive influx of Reiatsu from this woman as well, and a sudden feeling of overwhelming pressure would accompany it as she crushed the core of her Shikai within her hand. Doing so caused her body to be encased in a rush of flame like material and when the young woman emerged from the center she seemed to have a large halo behind her and her right hand (the one previously holding her Shikai) had a giant glowing symbol on the back of it, similar to the dial previously used to manipulate gravity. Her left arm seemed to be normal sized but also covered in the same material. Her own body, was presently floating off the ground as her very large singular flaming tail seemed to shift about just a bit. "Chikakukaidokagizume..." she finished calling the name of her true power which seemed to solidify it in some way. Given her current floating state, her very body was emanating anti-gravity at present, and the large ring behind her back pulsed this, which she aimed to use to cause Terumi to float once more, as she floated towards him, if she reached, she'd extend that glowing right hand and press it into his chest, multiplying gravity for him specifically so that he'd crash towards the ground once more in a single touch.

[Bloodedge]

Terumi's Bankai had its mouth forced to remain open, but the eventual release of Akiko's Bankai allowed it closure from its position at her earlier location. "That's a freaky arm," was all the green-haired man had to say about the appearance of this Bankai. "It's givin' me the creeps~" Soon, Terumi was levitating due to a removal of gravity in the space around him. This didn't seem to bother the Captain at all, but when Akiko approached with her hand extended, the other end of his chain moved. The blade at the tail of his Bankai took its position in front of his chest, with its sharp end toward Akiko. If she wished to progress and subject him to this gravity by touching his chest, she would first have to deal with the blade threatening to cut through her hand to allow passage. Meanwhile, the head end of Terumi's Bankai was continuing to move along the same path it had earlier, picking up velocity en route to the arena stands. Just before reaching any spectators, it disappeared, seeming to become the chain alone traveling into a void space. The head instantly reappeared in the air above Akiko, coming down with the intention of biting her head from above.

[Apollymi]

"Oh cut it out, you're gonna give me a complex..." the woman said, at the mention that her Bankai's form was apparently 'freaky'. Even so it seemed she wouldn't immediately be allowed to deal the damage she intended, the tail end of the man's Bankai being used in the manner of a spike to keep the young woman from wanting to directly apply pressure to him through her original means. Even so, she didn't seem at all bothered by this and instead seemed to look at him curiously. She'd not failed to notice the movement of his Bankai had continued, and it only made her curious about how far it could go, but knowing there was no real danger to the crowd she could only do one thing, gamble on the direction the strike would come from. 'Assuming it can't come back the straight way it came, that leaves forward, already guarded by snake tail over his chest, up or down, because left or right are too easily defensible. Heads a knockout strike so...' within a few seconds of mental dialogue the young woman raised her right and slid her body gently to the left, allowing a raising of a singular pillar of stone from below enough to clog the open mouth of the snake once more. Doing so however lost her the immediate advantage of holding Terumi hostage, or so it would seem. "Eeeh, that was close! That's pretty dangerous, Yuuki-taichou, a head strike at that speed would have knocked me out cold, at the very least~" the young woman mentioned. Instead of aiming to push her hand into Terumi, she instead lifted her right hand again, which would cause a second pillar of the ground to rather suddenly rise beneath the man aiming to batter the man from below with blunt force without changing the overall use of the gravity she was presently subjecting him to.

[Bloodedge]

With Akiko occupying her otherwise free hand against the serpent's head, Terumi was all but clear to begin his onslaught. This may have seemed momentarily halted by the ground being risen to slam into him from below, but in fact, the snake head had already vanished once again. This had occurred during the attempt to keep its mouth ajar once more. As Terumi was launched into the air by Akiko's secondary pillar, the head of his Bankai reappeared through another tear in space at Akiko's rear; its aim this time being to latch onto her lower torso by sinking its fangs into both of the woman's sides. "Should have taken it. My Kibao no Muchi don't slow down 'til it bites what I sick it on."

[Apollymi]

A frown came to Akiko's face in this moment, as she was already on the path to thinking the thing that Terumi was explaining about the nature of his Zanpakuto, mostly because it had already disappeared, though it'd left Terumi himself rather open to attack. "You're making me move around too much, Yuuki-taichou. I'm not into all this exercise," she mentioned as she immediately increased the gravity around herself, causing her body to plummet towards the ground at rapid pace, dodging the closing jaws of the snake chasing her by a mere hair's breadth. Of course, this was an ongoing gamble, as she was sincerely only left with one choice, which was trying rather starkly to eliminate Terumi before she was herself eliminated. Her own thoughts being that even if it could infinitely chase her about, there had to be a limit as to how long it could do so, she simply had to get the timing of her movements perfectly and use the time in between attacks to continue battering the 3rd Division's Captain. As part of this, her last ditch effort began, the increase in gravity was immediately directed at Terumi who'd so recently had a pillar battered into his being, her next aim was to slam him into the already raised, pillar, increasing the force upon him so that he'd smash all the way through it until he reached the ground once more.

[Bloodedge]

"Really?" he replied. For one who claimed to not be into such exercise, Akiko seemed to be getting around just fine. "I thought cats liked to run around a lot." The woman's evasion left the snake head a clear path toward Terumi's chest, and at the velocity it moved, it seemed as if it would bite him. Just before making contact with its master's body, it tore through space again. 'Wait,' he thought. His Zanpakutou had yet to make any sort of resurgence this time around, but there were now three locations where its chain was present; all of which were in the immediate area. With gravity being applied to him again, Terumi crashed into the pillar previously used to strike him, and was forced through it into a hole in the ground. A cough escaped him, and with it came a spurt of blood. However, as he lay there still, he grinned. "Ayatsuki-taichou~♪" he sang when the coughing stopped. Suddenly, the head of his Bankai appeared again to Akiko's right, aiming to simply pass by her. Over the course of three seconds, it would vanish and continue reappearing to leave a total of eight segments of its chain behind to surround the woman at all angles. "You stayed between Kibao no Muchi's chains. My Zanpakutou ain't the venomous kind of snake," he said. Just then, if Akiko had not found her way out of the trap, the chains which crossed through space at numerous points would be pulled together, defying reality itself in Terumi's effort to bind her in place. If this happened, the head would appear above the pink-haired Captain once more, coming down with its jaw unhinging and the head itself enlarging to swallow her whole. Anyone who found themselves consumed by Terumi's Bankai would be subjected to a raw, offensive Reiryoku around them, as if being digested by the serpent.

[Apollymi]

"Really, I have a hovering chair for day to day movements~" she mentioned as if this was a very normal thing. To be perfectly honest, the Captain of the 12th Division wasn't really much of an outdoors person, nor the wandering and roaming type of cat. This fight would be all the exercise she'd need for years, and she'd been trying not to do much and it was proving to be quite the challenge. It seemed she was finally getting some reprieve, as she actually managed to make a connecting hit on the 3rd Division's Captain, that being said he was still grinning, and his Bankai seemed to still be on the move. As she stood still, she watched as a chain came from her right with the head attached and passed her. She watched this happen again, and again, and again. A total of eight times seeming to be amused by it in her stationary position. It was mentioned as she stood and watched these moving bit of chain that, the Bankai held by the Captain of the 3rd Division wasn't venomous, it became obvious in this moment that there was a trap set, and she'd already fallen into it. A bit of a smirk came to her face as she realized she was unable to move by the binding of these chains. "You don't say... welp... this isn't gonna be pleasant huh?"

The woman's rhetorical question was followed by her being swallowed whole by the Zanpakuto and thus subjected to the Reiryoku raw within its body. 'Huh, I suppose there are a couple of things I could try...' she thought as she balled herself up quite a bit pulling tail and legs and her over-sized arm into herself to help protect from the raw energy she was surrounded by.

[Bloodedge]

"Nah... it'll be fine," he said. Now that the snake head had consumed Akiko, as well as its own chains, the blade at its tail end fell to Terumi's side. Within the serpent, the chains which bound Akiko would soon absorb into her body, along with the Reiryoku which bound her. Soon enough, all the energy which created Terumi's Bankai was gone, with the only traces of it to be found in Akiko's body. The snake head, once this process was done, would collapse on the ground. In this time, Terumi managed to pick himself up and regain his composure from the previous attacks against him. "Mendokuse~. Looks like my Bankai's dead. What a shame; guess I have to fight without it~♪"

[Apollymi]

"I don't believe you..." Akiko mentioned but soon after she was swallowed she was also released, what a very strange sensation that was, as she rolled out and on the ground surprisingly enough on all fours, as if she needed to balance herself. This was only made stranger by the extremely long arm on her right side. Soon, Terumi claimed his Bankai was dead, Akiko had plenty of time to think while she was being digested and had a more than reasonable idea of what was actually happening. As such she immediately dialed up gravity, but surprisingly enough she directed this inward at herself, causing her own knees to buckle under the weight of the gravity, but her aim was to force whatever out of her body, which should be the only reason she could affect herself with her abilities in such a way. This cemented her idea and allowed her to feel quite clever in this moment. "Yuuki-taichou, that is a bit dishonest, and extremely invasive," she said as she then aimed to force gravity out of herself while explaining how she'd come to this conclusion. "You have a whole snake thing going, constriction, biting, swallowing prey whole and all that jazz. This, 'dead' snake of yours doesn't make sense. It just ate, a pretty hefty meal I might add. It shouldn't be dead, though I am guessing it's a bit too big to move right now, which begs the question where is it?" the woman said as she pulled a singular lollipop out of her own sleeve and began consuming it.

[Bloodedge]

Akiko once again utilized her gravity manipulation ability, but this time, Terumi was not subjected to its power; it was herself she aimed to afflict. During this time, Terumi's eyes narrowed. Akiko would find herself unintentionally exuding a black and green Reiryoku the likes of which previously belonged to Terumi's chain. It would leak out of every pore before rising above her in the form of three large, serpentine constructs. With gravity taking hold, they would be weighed down over the 12th Division Captain's head. "You're it~♪ My Zanpakutou ain't fond of showin' itself to everybody. It's gotta get intimate with ya' first, so it skins itself while it gets inside ya'. Now ya' can see~"

[Apollymi]

Soon enough by making herself become affected by gravity she was able to see for herself what she'd been infected with. It truly was the Bankai of Terumi, as it had a green and black coloration to Reiryoku which leaked out of her person. "Eeew, this is super invasive," the woman said, as giant snakes of energy were apparently over her head and soon enough aiming to crush her where she stood. But instead she held a hand up over her head causing a singular pulse which would seem to affect the gravity of just the energy above her head, suspending the trio of beasts in the air above her head, while not allowing them to come crashing down on her. "Yuuki-taichou, you're making this really complicated for me," she mentioned seeming to find it strange that the man had such an ability as this as she moved the lollipop in her mouth around with her tongue she did something which would likely seem strange she shifted her monstrous hand towards the ground aiming to cause a pulse of energy from her Bankai. "Juuryokuha," she mentioned naming the attack. Instead of generally increasing the gravity of the area, her focus would instead be to use the gravity she controlled to harden the air directly in front of and on top of the Captain, following the motion of her hand from the top of the man's form to the ground. To have that sort of finite control she had to move her index finger straight down and use her middle finger curved as her arm made the downward motion. This would cause those hardened blocks of air to combine aiming to crush the man as the one at his fore would aim to push him back into the perfect position for the the secondary one to crush him from above. With a speedy strike she was hoping would maintain enough force to render the man unconscious without causing him marring injuries.

[Bloodedge]

"Your last Vice-Captain was a cyborg," was Terumi's response to claims of his Bankai being invasive. Akiko managed to stop her previous efforts to force down the serpents, but Terumi had another plan for them in mind. Such a plan, of course, required him to be mindful of his own situation, though. The next phrase spoken by the 12th's Captain was one which spawned some form of attack, and given the nature of the woman's Zanpakutou, its effect went unseen by the man. He suddenly found himself being forced back, and though this was nothing out of the ordinary for what he'd become accustomed to in this fight, there was something much more pressing happening immediately after. After being forced away, he was pressured down by something he could not describe as increased gravity, or even Reiatsu. This was more like a large, heavy object was being dropped on top of him. Before Terumi could rationalize it, the sudden blow from above did, as expected, jar him in a manner that his consciousness slipped. He managed to recover slightly, albeit not before falling to his knees with what seemed to be a case of vertigo plaguing him.

[Apollymi]

"I created him as a cyborg, it wasn't like he started off as something else. He was grown specifically to be that~" she said, clarifying that her creation of a Cyborg Vice-Captain wasn't at all invasive, it was simply a matter of science. "Speaking of, I really need to remember to check on him, I got upgrades in mind for his next incarnation~" Not that this would really matter much as it seemed her plan to trap the Captain of the 3rd Division went off pretty much without a hitch. Though he didn't fall completely to the blow he was surprised enough by it that it was jarring enough that she felt it would be possible for her to finish the fight without having to devise much more of a plan than what she'd already done. "Juuryokuha," the statement was made as she raised her arm once more this time bringing downward just her index finger, in the hopes of crushing Terumi once more with the hardened block of air. In his current condition she figured it would be enough to end the fight, and assure her victory.

[Bloodedge]

If Terumi had any retort for the matter of Akiko's former Lieutenant, he would not be of the proper state of mind to say anything of the sort. Worse yet, Akiko took advantage of his present weakness by utilizing the same attack method again. The second crash of hardened air left him in a brief stupor the likes of which he had never experienced, and with it, he fell to the ground. His Bankai remained active, but Terumi seemed to be out of commission indefinitely.

[Apollymi]

"And we have a winner!! The Twelfth Division Captain, Ayatsuki Akiko!~ Congratulations," the announcing woman said as Akiko finished her lollipop. All the fun of this endeavor had already passed. And as she'd been announced the winner after her final attack, Akiko sealed her Bankai placing her sword back within its sheath within the depths of her modified coat. After this, she simply turned away with a small smile on her face, apparently rather happy with her victory. She headed back off in the direction she'd come from, knowing Terumi would be cleared from the field by someone else in the next few moments. And this would be the end of this match. Soon enough though another would be starting.

After a passage of time a young woman with black oval frame glasses would be seen. She stood in the arena having been introduced as the 5th Division Captain Litchi Fayeling, and she was facing the Captain of the 7th Division. With her already the released form of her Zanpakuto, which was a large bo which she was standing atop balanced precariously enough. It would seem this match was already underway and that the climax was on the horizon.

[Bloodedge]

Across from the 5th Division's Captain, Litchi, stood the black-haired male Captain of the 7th Division. He had been introduced by the name Mutsuki Kagura. He, too, showed a released Zanpakutou at this time. His Shikai took the form of a large zweihander with edges that were parallel instead of coming to a point. He had taken a knee and held his sword with the end of its blade pressed against the arena floor, as if to guard himself using the large weapon. From this resting point of his, he held up his left hand and closed his left eye, seeming to be scoping out the woman in front of him. "I might have been wrong. I'm thinking it's an E now."

[Apollymi]

"We are in the middle of a battle, Mutsuki-taichou," the woman said crossing her arms under her rather large bosom as it was too large for her to cross them over it. "The least you could do is focus on the battle at hand, and not trying to estimate my cup size," she finished as she flipped off her precarious perch, sending her weapon forward with gentle tap of her toes. This would cause the large bo weapon to spin four times as if it aimed to thrash the Captain of the 5th Division, but this wasn't the case. By the time the spin was completed, Litchi herself would be moving to the man's left hand side taking the weapon up in her hand so that she could aim several quick jab-like strikes at the man's body from his left with the red tipped end of her weapon. One at his torso, one to his legs and then a final one aimed at his head.

[Bloodedge]

"Oi, I'm focused! If I'm going to hit you, though, I have to get past those giant barriers first, right?" he replied. When Litchi's staff was kicked his way, Kagura prepared his weapon to deal with the projectile. This was all for naught, as Litchi moved to recover her own weapon before any impact was made. This maneuver resulted in the woman being at Kagura's left side, ready and willing to begin her onslaught. Kagura had little option but to immediately shift himself to the right, placing himself at the opposite side of his blade once more to have it take the battering of Litchi's bo. In the meantime, Kagura channeled his Reiryoku into his blade. "Ryuuha Gokuenjin!" he called out. At the end of Litchi's assault, he slid his sword forward against the ground. This launched a trio of dark spires with the consistency of fire, all toward Litchi. The spire at the center aimed to damage her directly, while the other two moved along either side of the woman to prevent any movement to either side. In the meantime, Kagura picked up his weapon and hopped up with a forward rolling flip, bringing the zweihander toward Litchi from above. "Ryuuou Zangaoushou!" With this attack, he also charged his blade with dark Reiryoku. With his downward slash would also come a crashing wave, stretching all the way to the edge of the ring whether the blade itself was avoided or blocked.

[Apollymi]

"Mutsuki-taichou, they aren't barriers," she said seeming to find the man's line of thinking to be flawed in some way. Litchi understood that she was about average as far as Captains were concerned. Likely considered scary by most seated officers, but in a fight against certain Captains she was almost guaranteed to lose. Still she didn't have much time to think about his, as her own assault was soon deflected by the Zanpakuto of the 5th Division Captain. Soon enough she was dealing with one of the abilities of Kagura's Zanpakuto, which created spires of dark fire like energy. She soon found herself surrounded with one at her fore and one on either side. She used her Zanpakuto to bash at the spires directly by switching her weapon into the horizontal position she aimed to disrupt the energy to the left, in front of, and to the right of her in that order. Though by the time she was done handling this there was already another attack coming her way. Mutsuki himself was launching his body downward along with his sword bringing this time a wave of energy along with the sword slash she was prepared for. She'd moved her Zanpakuto to block the slash but there was nothing to be done about the energy wave which persisted afterwards. She'd find herself engulfed by said energy, taking serious energy and breathing deeply by the time the attack ended. She'd tried to use her own Reiatsu to take some of the sting out of the attack, even so, she'd find herself exhausted and injured as she couldn't completely overcome it.

[Bloodedge]

"Lie all you want!" replied Kagura. His combination attack seemed well-organized enough to accomplish something against this woman, but still not to the extent that he could feel he had won this battle. Keeping this in mind, he pulled his sword back after completing his slashing movement, holding it in his left hand with its end pointed toward Litchi. "Ryuubakusen!" he exclaimed as his right hand touched the base of the blade. By sliding his hand along the side of the zweihander, Kagura collected the blade's dark energy and sent it forward in a swirling vortex. This maintained the power of his other attacks, bar the melee damage, while having the speed of his unhindered hand for its launch. If it reached Litchi, the woman would find herself quickly engulfed by the darkness and pummeled by its power until it naturally faded away.

[Apollymi]

Litchi held out against the initial attack but as Mutsuki gathered the darkness from his blade she knew she was in for even more of a barrage. This had to be timed perfectly or she would only suffer more. As such she looked up from her dust covered state and tossed the bo she used as a weapon into the sky. Just as the vortex of darkness would have reached her, she said a word which enveloped her in Reiatsu. "Bankai!" a pillar of purple Reiatsu escaped her practically nullifying any potential damage from the oncoming assault. When it cleared her weapon was nowhere in sight, "Daisharin Matenbo," she completed the clause and if one were to look up they'd see a mighty nine spoke wheel over the arena. One which was now gently spinning and at a downward movement of her hand would cause a gigantic version of her original bo to drop from above. The first of which would be aimed directly atop where the Captain was currently standing, aiming to knock him out with the sheer power of this Bankai. Of course, this was a rather risky maneuver as Litchi's Bankai would only be useful until the nine spokes were all used up, but it was one she had to take as she was currently backed into a corner.

[Bloodedge]

Kagura's most recent attack seemed to be right on track for furthering his goal of winning, but a sudden burst of Reiatsu from the other Captain nullified the effects of it. At the same time, Kagura heard the words which explained why this occurred; Litchi had chosen to unleash her Bankai against him. There was no immediate sign of its form for Kagura, but when Litchi moved her hand, it became obvious that something was coming his way. His immediate answer was to look up, which put the coming bo in his view. His eyes widened, but all he could do was bring his sword between himself and the weapon attacking him. Even with the strength of his Shikai, the zweihander Kagura wielded was shattered by this impact, letting the bo pass through and strike his chest, albeit with the brunt of its force reduced. With the wind being knocked from him, Kagura hurled blood as the pieces of his sword fell to the ground. "Guah... Fuck! That's... that's pretty rude. Can I call time-out?"

[Apollymi]

Litchi was happy that her attack seemed to have an immediate effect, dropping down upon the 7th Division Captain and shattering his blade. He seemed to take a reasonable amount of damage from it as well, though he didn't lose consciousness as she anticipated and thus left her in a very strenuous predicament. He then went on to call her rude, and claim the need for a time out, which caused confusion in the young woman. "I am not rude, Mutsuki-taichou, and while I a timeout would be nice right now. I really can't allow it," she said marking her words with the drop of another of these large bo, which also aimed to fall atop the man before her at the same speed and force, as the first and hopefully with the more fruitful effect of felling him as a result. She knew she was working on borrowed time, and as such would rather not push herself to the absolute limit allowed by her Bankai.

[Bloodedge]

"Y'know... I was hoping you'd say the exact opposite of..." He paused, needing an additional moment as he coughed blood once more. The 7th Division's Captain seemed to be having a few breathing troubles. "Ugh... that. I think there's a rib in my lung," he concluded. With that, he raised the remains of his weapons, gripping the hilt with both hands as the broken blade faced the next bo launched by Litchi. "Bankai." Kagura's Reiatsu spiked as a dark red glow consumed his weapon and body. The handle of his zweihander grew to the height of the man himself, and the blade took the form of a monstrous feline head with glowing red, round eyes, and ears which curved upward and slightly in. Litchi's second bo slammed into the feline face, and this time, was deflected by a strength which rivaled its own. "Douten Gekijintan!" By pointing the end of his new weapon's head toward Litchi, Kagura suddenly released a surge of Reiryoku which traveled toward her. It was horizontal, aiming to cut where it made impact, but its range would prove to be limited to about four times the length of Kagura's body before it returned to his weapon.

[Apollymi]

It seemed that there had been a great injury suffered by the man before her, and Litchi wasn't unsympathetic. "Sumimasen," she apologized, ever polite. Soon enough though there was another problem to deal with, though she'd tried to end things quickly, the unveiling of the 7th Division's Captain's Bankai would leave her secondary bo unable to make contact with his person. Litchi's eyes widened as the man used his bankai to deflect her own, as if it wasn't something she expected him to be capable of. She tsk'd knowing the effort was wasted and that she'd lost one of the limited number of these manifestations she had. There was also the problem of the coming wave as the second bo disappeared as the first had without any provocation after contact was made. This caused Litchi to have to jump back aiming to pull down another to block herself with, leaving her down three of these manifestations. But even with it coming down, it wasn't exactly made to be defensive, it was sliced clean through and kept going to her own person. She took the brunt of Kagura's attack and found herself tumbling away as the third manifestation disappeared into thin air, heavily bleeding from a wound across her midsection which stopped just shy of making her spill her guts in the most literal of ways. A cough came from the young woman also filled with blood, and her vision blurred, she tried to push herself up, but her body couldn't take the damage, and she ultimately collapsed.

At the end of this the announcer popped back up. "Wow, what a turn around folks. And a stunning conclusion for the last match of the day!! The winner of this round is the Seventh Division Captain, Mutsuki Kagura!" the announcement was made and medics would soon be found on the field ready to assist this pair who seemed to be a bit worse for wear than others who'd fought this day. "Remember to come back tomorrow for the next set of rounds!~"

[Bloodedge]

A day later...

The second phase of the Vice-Captains' bracket was underway. Following the defeat of the 8th Division's Vice-Captain, Koudama Youmu by the hands of the 11th Division's Kiryuin Satsuki, the crowd bore witness to a battle of the 1st Division's Yoshitsune Benkei versus the 10th Division's Kumori Raizen. The former stood battered and bruised with a nodachi in hand, its blade glowing brightly enough to nearly blind viewers. "Your ability is... disturbing to say the least, Kumori-fukutaichou," he said to the white-haired man, who seemed no worse for wear for the battle at hand. "I thought to be able to draw your Shikai out. I am remiss to say that even I may be no match for one such as yourself without taking things a step further."

"You flatter me, Yoshitsune-fukutaichou," Raizen replied. The expression he wore, while not one of disinterest, did not make him seem particularly thrilled for this battle. He had gone mostly untouched for the duration, but now, Benkei held his blade overhead. "BANKAI!" he said. At the same time, though, Raizen clasped his hands together with intricately intertwined fingers. What he did next would silence the audience immediately. "Bakudou no Kyuujuukyuu: Kin." From the ground around Benkei, black spiritual fabric emerged to quickly ensnare him by wrapping his arms and pinning them behind his back. This alone stripped him of his sword and halted the release of his Bankai, but iron shafts placing themselves along the four strips of fabric also brought the man to the ground immediately. He was left swordless and bound while Raizen exhaled deeply and stepped forward. "Ninety-nine!?" Benkei questioned. "Hmph. They were right about you, Kumori Raizen. You're cut from a different cloth than the rest of us." While the fallen Vice-Captain spoke, Raizen finally unsheathed his katana. For the first time since his days in the academy, his blade was revealed, and it glowed with a mysterious aura despite being in its sealed form. His path took him past his opponent, but his final words would serve to end the battle officially. "Hadou no Juuichi: Tsuzuri Raiden," he said prior to tapping the bindings of his own creation with the tip of his blade, causing a powerful surge of electricity to travel through the sword and binding spell. Benkei experienced electrocution in this moment, and it seemed to have been focused to the perfect amount that the veteran Vice-Captain of the 1st Division was left incapacitated.

[Apollymi]

The crowd watched stunned into silence as a Vice-Captain managed to perfectly execute a level 99 Kidou spell against what had to be a much more experienced opponent. Beyond this point, the man seemed to worse for wear after what had been a rather arduous battle for Yoshitsune. Soon enough that man was pinned and completely incapacitated. Medics moved forward as the announcer reappeared after it was obvious the other man wasn't going to get back up. "Alright ladies and gentleman it seems we have a winner. After a stunning match, the Vice-Captain of the 10th Division progresses to the Semi-final, congratulations, Kumori-fukutaichou~" the announcer seemed just as happy about ever outcome, but keeping the crowd in good spirits was her job. Soon enough though there was a bit of a surprise announcement.

"Ladies and Gentleman don't move from your seats just yet," she mentioned as medics moved the fallen First Division Vice-Captain out of the way and the stage was clear. "It seems the first round of the Semi-final is about to start right now, in a wild card match which includes the winner of the Seated Officers' Challenge!~" the announcement caused a bit of a stir. The crowd hadn't expected this, but the Captain of the 12th Division sat in her section with her legs crossed looking rather pleased with herself as she enjoyed a lollipop. "Niwatoko Benihime the Fifth Seat of the 12th Division... has chosen, Vice-Captain Kumori Raizen as her opponent~" the woman said as people stared. The way this tournament was set up, each of the semifinal rounds would need to have an additional person in them in order for the final match not to be a three-way free for all battle. The free-for-all was something to be avoided as that much power would be something most were incapable of staying to watch. This way also got to give the winners of their brackets a way to gauge themselves against what should likely be their peers. In the case of the Seated Officers' winner, they'd be able choose a match against an already exhausted opponent and likely pull a win if they were tactical. The same would also take place in the Captains' Bracket around the Semi-Finals match, not that anyone needed that information immediately.

From the opposite end that Yoshitsune Benkei has been carried off in, a red haired young woman made her way forward. Her hair held up in a ponytail with fringe in front of her face and over her left eye. More over, instead of the standard Shihakusho, the young woman wore a set of well wrapped white bandages around her chest, and on her feet instead of shoes. Her ensemble however did include the normal hakuma given to Shinigami, albeit a bit larger than what was necessary for her small frame, so they hung off her hips just a bit. Along the small of her back, with the hilt facing outward the ebony-bladed Zanpakuto she carried with her at all times. The young woman soon enough was standing before Kumori Raizen with a smile on her face. "You can use Bakudo 99?! I'm so jealous, it was awesome though!~" the young woman chimed seeming to be really excited about the match she'd just witnessed. She seemed to think about it a bit and calmed down just a tad. "Congratulations on your win, Kumori-fukutaichou, yoroshiku~"

[Bloodedge]

Raizen had barely gotten a chance to sheathe his sword before the tournament's announcer declared a wild-card match that was to include himself and the winner of the seated officers' tournament. He turned around to find out that his opponent would be one Niwatoko Benihime, whose name he recalled from somewhere he could not quite place. Soon enough, though, the young woman herself was joining him in the tournament ring. While he had seen a few examples of customization to the standard Shihakushou, Raizen's first thought about this one's appearance was that it took things to a new level, so to speak. Raizen was eventually greeted by his to-be opponent in a strange way: one which praised his Kidou prowess. "Oh. Arigatou gozaimasu, Niwatoko-chan. You're the one from this year's first class, right? Congratulations on the early graduation," he said. With that out of the way, he stood with his left hand atop the hilt of his sword in a resting position. "Yoroshiku onegaishimasu."

[Apollymi]

Soon enough Benihime's greeting to the Vice-Captain of the 10th Division was acknowledged, and he went on to apparently recognize her. She seemed to think about it oddly but she supposed her current claim to fame was her early graduation. "Hai, that's me, arigatou gozaimasu~" she said accepting the congratulatory statement about her early graduation. Though she supposed it was quite a feat, it didn't really feel like anything. Then again, nothing really felt the same anymore. That thought made a slight dimness appear in the young woman's eyes, like a bit of the excitement had left her feeling a bit emptier than when she'd started this conversation. One that was always present just below the surface. Regardless of this fact she studied Raizen's stance and found it amusing, as she stood with both hands on her hips waiting for the end of the announcement of the match. "Alright ladies and gentlemen, our combatants are ready and the stage is set. The 12th Division's Dexterous 5th Seat, against the Prodigal Vice-Captain of the Tenth Division!~" she announced seeming to feed into the crowd and making Benihime wonder where she got the list of words she decided to apply to people. "Combatants know the rules..." she stated holding both hands in the air and right before she disappeared one word left her mouth. "BATTLE!~" this caused Benihime's left hand to begin resting on the hilt of her Zanpakuto, but she didn't attack immediately.

[Bloodedge]

When the announcer declared the beginning of battle and vanished, neither opponent made any immediate moves. Silence fell upon the arena, and a gentle wind blew. After a matter of seconds, Raizen broke the silence with his words. "You waited through the other two fights, choosing to face me. Interesting. What is it you wish to learn?" he asked. One would note that during this stand-off, Raizen's Reiatsu seemed to decrease drastically. By the time it stopped doing so, it seemed a far cry from that which would be expected of a Vice-Captain, instead seeming to belong to any run-of-the-mill seated officer. "Could it be that you're curious to know why someone else in this tournament refrains from using their Shikai? Iie... that could be a reason, but it's far from reason enough to choose this fight. Go on, then. I'm curious too."

[Apollymi]

Benihime stood still that hand still hovering over her blade, and much like she'd noticed prior to this moment, the amount of Reiatsu this man seemed to have, adjusted quite a bit before the start of their battle. 'Oh, that's really interesting~' she thought enjoying this, but it seemed that Kumori Raizen was quite clever beyond what most would have as their expectations. Her eyes widened just a tad at the mention of her hidden Shikai, but she'd already figured out that her Zanpakuto looked far too unique for most not to think she possessed a Shikai. "That, is an intense amount of power suppression, I wonder how and why, you do that?" she questioned of what he'd done, she still hadn't moved though the breeze around her shifted crimson locks around her face, showing the scar across her left eye. His questions were very valid ones, and quite spot on, as such she decided to answer him. "I think we're a bit similar, Kumori-fukutaichou. If I was trying to win one, just to make a point, I would have faced off against the 11th Division's Vice-Captain, I could have pulled a win against her." she said in a rather matter of fact way. "I didn't want to face, the 6th Division's Vice-Captain, because he only sees the end of things. If I have to lose, I should get something out of it. At this point, he ends things so quickly no one knows what's going on... well, mostly anyways. And yes I realize the 6th Division's Vice-Captain hasn't fought today yet, but... given what he's done, I don't see the girl from the Ninth Division actually topping that one~" she said of her two other options for potential opponents.

She was quite sure, that her reasoning was becoming clear, if it wasn't already. He was the most similar to her, so she was most likely to learn something from him in a fight, even if she didn't win. Beyond this, their potential likeness spawned a bit of curiosity in her and this was an easy way to sate that. She couldn't help but close her left hand around the hilt of her blade, preparing for battle properly. "And normally I'd be curious about why you don't use your Zanpakuto, but there could be a few of reasons for that. You could be used to fighting without its abilities, and find it hindering in some way," she said. "It could be impossible to use properly within the parameters of this tournament, trying not to kill with certain things can be unnecessarily challenging~" she theorized. "Or... you don't want anyone to figure out what it does yet," she finished with a cheeky smile. "I respect all of those reasons... or whatever other reason you might have, should you feel inclined to share it~" her Reiatsu flared momentarily as she finally drew the ebony blade at her side straight up into the air where it gleamed in the sun, allowing it a half second spin before her hand closed fully around the hilt in a backward grip and she aimed to appear at the man's left side within a second swinging the blade upward in a quick fashion in the space created by his hand resting on the hilt of his blade, as if her intent was to cut his arm clean off at the shoulder.

[Bloodedge]

"Sou ka. You can sense it," he observed. He recalled a particular amount of skill by way of Kidou when this one was present for his special class in the academy, but the ability to quickly determine the recession of his Reiatsu was a different matter entirely. Benihime went on to explain why she chose this fight above the others, even going so far as to draw conclusions about the battle that had yet to occur. "A seeker of knowledge, then. I had you figured for a scholar of sorts," he said, shifting his gaze to the redhead's lower left side as her hand gripped the hilt of her weapon. "You didn't have that scar on your face last time, and you have a much better look in your eye now. Because of that, I'm willing to wager we're even more alike than you think." Benihime also shared her thoughts on why Raizen may have been concealing his Shikai, but mentioned nothing about her own not being revealed. Of course, the way she spoke gave Raizen some insight as to her own reason nonetheless. "Those..." he said during the young woman's movement to his left side. When she appeared there, Raizen would already be looking over his shoulder in her direction. A flick of his left wrist moved his hand in a way that allowed him to tap the side of her blade as it rose, shifting it off its path enough that it would fall shy of cutting him. While this occurred, he continued speaking. "... are a lot of reasons for you to hide that Shikai of yours. If you find your Shikai to be a hindrance, you are insecure about your own natural abilities. If you believe you cannot utilize it with restraint, then you must have a habit of holding yourself back due to the final reason... You don't want anyone to figure out its abilities because even you are in awe of its power."

[Apollymi]

"Yes," the young woman seemed a tad apprehensive in this moment. It was rather strange for her to be making observations about a person while they were also making observations about her, the entirety of this experience was a bit surreal to be honest. "Scholar? Hmm, can't say I've ever heard that before..." she said of this apparent descriptor as a seeker of knowledge which she obviously couldn't deny. She did like knowing things, and figured the knowledge possessed by Raizen could be used by someone like her. Beyond this it seemed he'd noticed the physical changes to her appearance despite only seeing her a total of twice before this. When he mentioned that she had a better look in her eye now, and that they were similar because of it. Her right brow rose, in question of this statement. "I can't say I know what you mean by that..." Benihime said genuinely. It was a strange thing to say and she had no idea what it meant, but something about it made her heart skip a beat. 'What the hell was that?' she thought distractedly before continuing on with her attack only to be further surprised as Raizen's eyes met her own giving her more than reasonable idea of the base amount of speed he possessed. Her sword strike was me with his bare hand shifting it out of the way of himself before assigning her potential reasoning to her with a rather astute bit of accuracy.

She couldn't hide the surprise in her widened eyes as the man completed his clause and deflected her incoming attack. After the moment of shock wore off the young woman withdrew standing back several meters and tossing her blade back and forth between her right and left hands a smirk replacing her previous shock. "Alright, ya' got me. I didn't expect that," she said seeming to gather herself back to the face she normally wore. "Those reasons are very easily applied to me, though I didn't expect such an instant application. Obviously, I've been missing out on clever conversation~" she chimed. It was obvious that Raizen was perfectly capable of keeping up with her, she knew he had an advantage in kidou, and he was probably a bit better in all other skills too. Their match was one which was definitely not weighted in her own favor, but... something about that was exciting for her, for the first time... in a long time, it was obvious to her she couldn't win.

[Bloodedge]

"Don't you?" he questioned further, choosing to focus on the mentioned similarities between the two, and his own assertion of the expression Benihime held now compared to her earlier self. Her latter clause would not be met with any form of retort. While Raizen made the decision that he should be at least a little active during this chat, he also chose to clarify his meaning from earlier. "Your eyes say you're alone," he said. In that moment, the image of Raizen where he stood flickered and faded, as Raizen himself sprung forward at an incredible speed with his gloved right hand open and reaching out for the redhead's face. With this, he intended to grip her by the face and drag her through the air, covering only her left eye as to look into her right eye during the movement. "The only place you can call home now is your inner world, and even that gets lonely. You keep trying to fill the void inside yourself, but you don't even know where to start looking. That's what I see when I look at you now," he said. With that out of the way, and if his grip connected and remained, he would push his arm forward in an effort to launch Benihime the rest of the way across the stadium.

[Apollymi]

Benihime found this conversation to be a bit beyond what she expected. Battle banter wasn't usually so distressing. In fact, this man rather accurately put together the young woman's mental state, and the general state of her being without seeming to need much effort to do so. The statement that her eyes said she was alone made them widen, and for multiple reasons as the man's visage flickered out of existence. 'Shit!' her eyes immediately moved, trying to figure out where he'd gone, but before she could process the answer to this Raizen was already before her gripping her by the face and moving her body through the air as he did so. While looking her in her right eye the man went on to explain what he meant by his statement, if she had any immediate thought to retaliate her body wouldn't allow it. In fact, what Raizen had said in these moments was the most perfect description of her feelings since the day her entire family was slaughtered that she could have ever imagined existing.

"Sou ka..." there was an intense amount of understanding in this young woman in this moment. Because she realized in order for him to understand that much, he had to know what it was like, to lose everything that could have mattered. She realized that this point he must have been an orphan too. So, similar to his own logic she figured they were much more alike in the way they understood the world now, than the normal person would ever understand. She didn't get much of a chance to express this though, as she was soon launched off of him in the opposing direction. A small smile coming to her face as she was quite relieved that someone else understood without her having to try and explain it. As she flew backwards she found it in her body to right herself before she would have crashed into the side of the stadium, meeting it instead with both of her feet and bending her knees to absorb the impact which was still jarring enough. She kept a tight grip on the sword in her right hand and took a deep breath, if she was going to try anything it would have to be in a single moment of perfect timing, which would require her to find it.

[Bloodedge]

"Hai. It takes strength to wear that face every day." After launching Benihime toward the wall, Raizen continued gliding forward at a slowing pace, slipping his hands into the pockets of his specially-designed hakama. He vanished while moving, employing Shunpo to carry himself around to Benihime's left side when she stopped herself. He whipped his own body around counterclockwise a single time, ending with his right leg stretching outward to kick the redhead back toward the ring floor at a downward angle. "So then... what does this Zanpakutou of yours do?" he asked. Benihime may have begun using her sealed blade, but Raizen's curiosity was toward the power hidden within the weapon. "Surely you've come up with some way to use it without exposing all of its secrets by now."

[Apollymi]

She couldn't argue with Raizen's initial statement. It took most of what she had to keep moving feeling the way she did most of the time. Even so, it was a tiny bit comforting to know someone else knew this struggle was like. Moving right along, by the time she'd recovered the strength necessary to move her legs, she'd already lost sight of the Vice-Captain once more. This wasn't really something she was used to at all, and it made her close her eyes and take a deep breath, taking a page from the Fourth Seat of the 11th Division and not looking for him, and instead relying solely on her own instinct to shift her person left to lessen the impact of the kick which would send her flying back towards the center of the ring as she blocked with both her arms behind her sword.

Even so the momentum of his turn caused her to fly back and downwards near the center of the arena, but given her ability to block she managed to catch herself flipping off her right hand as she brought both feet to the floor. "Kumori-fukutaichou, I didn't expect you to be so curious~" she mentioned as she reversed her grip on her blade in her left hand. Her right hand curved around the outer edge of the blade as if she meant to hide it. "Of course I have figured it out now. Not like I had anything better to do in the last week, and it will get Ayatsuki-taichou to leave me alone. So, I'll show you~" her own Reiatsu flared at this moment as she drug it across her blade with her hand shadowing the whole thing. "Tenchikaimei..." as the action was completed the blade grew by several inches and seemed to hollow out. Its hilt turning the crimson of her Reiatsu as it gained a dark purplish black energy about it. And if one was truly observant they'd notice the smallest of shifts in the young woman's own shadow, like a single second of expansion before it settled. "Yakouboku~" as she was finished she leaped forward towards, Raizen her sword moving upward in a slashing motion from his right hip towards his left shoulder. But at the last possible moment, she utilized a Shunpo would would lead her to his rear, switching her own stance so that she was instead plunging the blade forward with both hands on the hilt, as if she intended to bury it within the left side of his lower back and have it emerge just below his ribs. One would find, even if this maneuver was blocked somehow that the blade itself would still be trying to move forward, like it was trying to disintegrate that which it made contact with by no force or exertion of Benihime's own will.

[Bloodedge]

"What a coincidence; I didn't expect to become so curious," he replied. Even with her defense being prepared in time, Raizen managed to launch Benihime toward the ring once more. Afterwards, he followed suit. The next act of Benihime was the highly-anticipated release of her Shikai. Raizen stopped in his tracks to view the unveiling of Benihime's Zanpakutou, and he found its appearance to be just as intriguing as he'd hoped. Though most were likely to miss a few notable things about this release, Raizen grinned as he came to realize something about this weapon. "Hoh? That's interesting," he commented. Immediately following this release, Benihime launched herself at him. Raizen's left hand emerged from his pocket to draw his own katana with a backwards grip, but it seemed her initial slash was not to be regardless of her approach. 'Ah... of course,' he thought. Without bothering to follow Benihime's movements, Raizen then turned 180 degrees, resulting in him facing Benihime just as she emerged from her Shunpo. With his eyes on her sword, he dragged his own across his torso with its tip pointing down, clashing it against Benihime's and continuing his turn ever so slightly so his body slipped between Benihime and her outstretched weapon. At this time, he came to another realization. "I have to admit, I'm surprised. You don't actually control the darkness at all, do you?"

[Apollymi]

The Vice-Captain of the 10th Division seemed to have a funny reply to the idea that he had become curious. A small giggle escaped the young woman, "Kukukuku~" in response to his statement. Raizen also seemed content enough to watch the release of her sword without doing anything to stop her from taking the action. Her attack launched, she even managed not to be terribly surprised when he was soon enough found facing her even though she'd moved behind him. "Ya' know, I am really not used to people being faster than me. It's kinda shocking~" she said though she generally expected Captains and the like to have obvious advantages over her, but, for someone who'd graduated a mere year before her, it was a bit outlandish to say the least. Beyond this, the young Vice-Captain, even managed to completely figure out the nature of her Zanpakuto, without her having to explain it in anyway, the girl's eyes widened just a bit. "Kumori-fukutaichou, you're outrageously clever~" the young woman stated in appreciation of him as a person, before going on to confirm that which he'd already figured out, not even bothering to ask for his confidence in this matter figuring they were enough alike that he wouldn't spill the beans on her. "Iie, I don't control the darkness. But that makes sense when you think about it, people aren't scared of the dark, they're afraid of what's in the dark~" she said, having their swords meet was an interesting shift of two colors which seemed to be distinctly contradictory, even so with Raizen standing so close by, she'd be crazy not to keep up her offensive. As such she drew her blade back and moved into a slashing motion as if she intended to leave a deep cut across his chest drawing her blade downward once more from his right shoulder to his left hip, the shadows on her blade seeming to dance around as this happened teeming with energy which wanted to disintegrate what it made contact with. Though even more accurately than that, they were hungry and wanted to eat.

[Bloodedge]

"I've been hearing that a lot lately," he replied to Benihime's acknowledgement of his mental capacity. Truth be told, he'd heard these words on a near-daily basis since entering the academy, but that didn't matter now. At the moment, the matter worth addressing was that which concerned Benihime's Zanpakutou and its abilities. "You're right. A lot of things go missing in the dark, only to never see the light again. The darkness alone can't be blamed for that," he said. Benihime went on to continue her offense from this close range, slashing out at the Vice-Captain's torso. Her attack cleaved through his chest, drawing a great amount of blood as he began falling back. However, at the same time, Raizen's blade would appear at the nape of Benihime's neck from behind. He appeared at her rear, entirely unscathed as the injured image of him faded away. "Since you showed me yours, I'll show you mine. Mezamette." The glow of Raizen's blade intensified at his command as the entire weapon underwent a quick metamorphosis. It took the shape of a khakkhara with six spear tips beneath its head. The head of the weapon itself held within it a red eye with a black X upon it, and upon the release of this Zanpakutou, the eye would be positioned to look directly into Benihime's face. "Mugen. You know, we'd make an interesting combination. My Mugen could easily add to the things hidden within those shadows of yours."

[Apollymi]

"I bet~" she said. One such as Raizen was likely to hear such praise, likely from other people of high intelligence who were just as stunned to find someone of noteworthy praise around. Regardless of this fact, it seemed Raizen understood her meaning about the darkness, and knew of the potential dangers of things found in said darkness. Surprisingly enough, the young woman seemed to make contact with the man for the first time, probably the first real hit against him of the entire tournament, only... it wasn't as it seemed. Because as her slash completed and blood came spurting out and Raizen was tossed back, he was also at her rear.

Her eyes widened ever so slightly because she hadn't seen him move, hadn't any clue when he would have gotten there. "Kukukuku~ That's awesome~ I gotta figure out how to do that~" she chimed, apparently forgetting if only for a moment that she was in the middle of a battle. But what she did get to see was the mysterious glow about his blade, which had made such interesting contrast with her own dark weapon, though this time at her own neck which was a shock the likes of which she hadn't experienced in quite some time. Again, a strange occurance happened where her heart skipped a single beat, as if there was something truly frightening about what was happening here. He even went on to say that he intended to show her his weapon, because she'd shown him hers. "Sugoi~ I was trying to decide if that released form was a staff or a sword~" she said thinking about it more a staff made sense given what she'd seen of his young man. Still she was now eye level with something completely strange as Raizen went on to mention that the pair of them would make an interesting combination. "Oh? The dreamy kind or the infinite kind?" was her immediate retort before her gaze shifted. "Oh, well, doesn't really matter, sounds like it'd be pretty cool regardless~ If ya' wanna try out that combination sometime let me know. You're more likely to be busy than I am, and I'll be rather easily found in the laboratories of the 12th Division," she said a small smile appearing on her face. She had no idea what he had planned next, but she was very sure their time together would be drawing to a close. 'Tch, what a shame, I think I was actually having fun...'

While all of this happened the announcer seemed to be going quite crazy from the sidelines. The entirety of this Tournament these two people hadn't even shown an inkling of Shikai, and now they'd both revealed their forms at the very least. The 5th Seat of the 12th Division even seeming to put up a good fight against a man who so dominated the entirety of his own bracket of the Tournament. "Ladies and Gentleman, I don't know what we're witnessing here today, but it's something we've never seen before!~"

[Bloodedge]

"The dreamy kind of infinity, of course~" was Raizen's response to the young woman's query. Even with a sharp blade no longer at her neck, Benihime seemed content to cease making any sort of move. Perhaps she expected the end of the battle to come, or perhaps she simply waited for some opportunity. Either way, Raizen's intentions remained, and he began by stepping around to Benihime's fore. "You've already been introduced to the labs then? You may be seeing a lot of me, in that case. Ayatsuki-taichou and I have been working on some... very interesting experiments, so to speak. If you're good enough, maybe you could be involved as well. As for now..." As he spoke, Raizen raised his weapon to point its eye toward Benihime. The black stripes forming the X around its eye faded away, and as this happened, Reiryoku filled the eye. "The announcer is hyping us up. We may as well give them a show worth seeing, right?"

[Apollymi]

"Oh, well that makes perfect sense doesn't it~" Benihime said, she seemed to be at an interesting point in this battle, acknowledging fully that there was no way she could win, but holding out for perhaps one last surprise. It seemed that Raizen was familiar beyond the norm with the set up of the Laboratories apparently having some dealings with the Captain of her Division in some scientific matter. A bit of a smirk came to the young woman's face, as it was stated that she might be seeing a bit more of him because of this, "Hm, sounds like fun. Oh, and arigatou gozaimasu~ you'll likely be the reason I get my lab~" she said thinking of what her first work would be, now that she'd had a chance to properly face the young man before her, she was more certain of the things she wished to research and create. Sure enough the announcer seemed to be giving the crowd a bit of hype at their upcoming exchange and as Raizen was now before her Benihime took the opportunity to spin her sword around.

"Hm, I suppose she is, I got this one thing... it's really kinda early to use it, but... what's going on there is likely way worse~" she said her gaze flickering over the now exposed eye on his khakkhara. With that in mind there was a gentle pulse in the shadow beneath the young woman, specifically as her blade just barely grazed the ground, this would hint ever so slightly that something tricky was afoot. As a darkened shadow of the girl's own Reiatsu seemed to appear round her, snuffing out the light ever so gently causing distortions in her own shadow below. Everything would settle around the young woman, and she would take the gentlest of breaths before exhaling and at the exhale she moved, this time using the shadow as her method of teleportation, this was something she realized she could do, but didn't really have a name for, her zanpakuto spirit giggled in her head, 'Really, you're going to try that now? Not even going to ask me first if you should... jeez you're tough to look after... That attack's name is...' the spirit said as the young woman disappeared from sight only to emerge from Raizen's cast elongated shadow. "Yamiuchi," it was a word whispered as the girl reappeared fully seeming to have moved as fluidly as she would have in Shunpo but without the obvious directional turn. Her sword swinging horizontally from left to right as she aimed to cut Raizen across his back while avoiding whatever attack he was planning to unleash her way.

[Bloodedge]

After becoming visible, the black Reiryoku emerging from Raizen's khakkhara began wafting around the tool in erratic streams. Raizen awaited the use of whatever Benihime had to offer, and when she called out the coming ability's name, she revealed it to be some sort of teleportation via shadows. "Sou ka. I understand now. That would be very dangerous against most fighters," he said as the Reiryoku pouring from his khakkhara began to flare. The moment Benihime fully vanished into her own shadow, Raizen made use of his own ability. "Uroborosu..." he spoke calmly. With his weapon held overhead, Raizen called forth six large, eel-like creatures of black Reiryoku. They came from each of his khakkhara's spear tips and swarmed around him. Having come to an understanding of how this ability would work and be utilized, he looked toward his own shadow to see the redhead emerging from it, and when her blade came his way, one of the eels whipped around to bite the blade of Benihime's Zanpakutou and halt its movement toward Raizen's flesh. Two of the others simultaneously came crashing down from above toward Benihime, threatening to engulf her with the equivalent of a Reiryoku blast far beyond what one should expect of even a Vice-Captain's Shikai.

[Apollymi]

"Hai, glad you understand~" she said, seeing this happen in this moment and having the young man turn to react to her coming let her know that her thoughts about this ability weren't at all misguided. If one was clever enough to think of the simplest way her Zanpakuto could work, they'd be perfectly capable of countering her at least when she moved, she'd have to think of a better way to use it. Or, only use it on stupid people, but that would be a thought for another time, as giant eel like creatures soon found themselves, biting into her blade and stopping the momentum of it from the slash she was trying. Even so, there were more of these creatures than the ones at her fore, all she could do would be to try and displace a bit of the blast coming towards her from above, her right hand extended upwards a small ball of blue energy could be seen just before impact was made. "Soren Sokatsui," she uttered at the last final moment, giving the energy some opposition on her end by way of the Kidou spell which was blue fire on a doubled scale and allowing herself a smaller window of harm. Though it didn't clear her completely from the massive blast. It would give her a tiny bit of clearance just enough to hang on to consciousness, as her battered body fell to the floor. The young woman would disappear into the blast, and only when the dust cleared would she be seen lying on the floor for the first time of this entire event. She looked up towards the sky her vision blurring. 'Ah, that's what that's like, I'd sort of forgotten.' Her body was rather thoroughly beaten and she didn't even try to move, actually it hurt to think about moving at this point. 'I think I like that guy...' she thought in this moment which only made her Zanpakuto laugh. 'That's the second time you've said that about him... ' and with that the redhead's eyes closed and she fell from consciousness, her Shikai returning to its sealed ebony blade.

The announcer appeared again, just as excited as she was the first time. "Alright folks it seems like we have a winner. After a valiant effort by the Niwatoko Benihime our Wild Card Match ends with a victory for the Vice-Captain, Kumori Raizen! The second of today~ What will it take to stop this guy ladies and gentleman, only time will tell~" concluded the end of the match. Medics would be along to rather quickly move the young redhead from her place on the ground to the Fourth Division for treatment which she hadn't needed for the entirety of the Tournament thus far.

[Bloodedge]

"Still conscious?" Raizen asked in rhetoric when everything came to a halt. At the very least, this one showed enough capacity to survive in a last ditch effort, which was itself something credible. As such, when the medics approached the ring, Raizen held up a hand to pause them. "Iie. Save your efforts," he said. After clasping both of his hands together, Raizen opened them to produce a glowing green Reiryoku which fell upon the 5th Seat like a shroud. Over the course of about twenty seconds, this spell would restore and bolster Benihime's Reiryoku and greatly reduce the severity of all wounds. It seemed to work in a way very similar to one particular lollipop created by the 12th Division's Captain, albeit with heavy traces of Raizen's own energy. "That should do. Take this gesture, since I seem to have gone a bit overboard at the end there. But, since you won't be in the infirmary for the rest of the day, care to join us for the Captains' battles?"

[Apollymi]

Benihime's final conscious thoughts were interrupted by the words spoken by Raizen. He then went on to cloak her in energy which was very much his own, but the effects of it made it so that the girl didn't lose consciousness though her blade remained sealed. It seemed that she'd be alright, in fact as her energy returned her hand seemed to tighten around her blade and she sat up, stretching before she sheathed it. "Sou ka, it's a bit like strawberry~ Arigatou Gozaimasu~" she said thinking of the feeling to be like one of the lollipops that her Captain had given her during her first week, while also thanking the young man for fixing her up. It seemed that Raizen thought to fix her up for going overboard with his final attack, such a thought made the young woman chuckle, because it was obvious to her at least that he could have beaten her at any point in time without doing anything he'd done. Beyond this, he seemed to want her to join him to watch the rest of the matches for the day which she could see no problem with. "Hai~ Sounds like fun~" the young redhead said as she rotated her shoulders and pulled herself back onto her feet. She'd accompany Raizen for the duration of the Captain's Battles, if only because she found his company entertaining. They'd spend this time together through the fight between the Sixth Division Vice-Captain Noguchi Shisui and the Ninth Division Vice-Captain Minami Setsuko, which ended exactly the way, the redhead had expected it to. "Called it." she said before happily having at a dango she'd procured at some point while she waited.

Soon after several battles took place between Captains at the same level. A harrowing battle between the Captain of the 10th Division and the Captain of the 2nd Division took place, but much like the battle between Benihime and Raizen, the winner of that battle was very clear from the start. With the Second Division's Captain, being carried off soon after, and the rather youthful Captain of the 10th, looking innocent. 'Hmm, maybe I did a little too much...' she thought as their fight ended. Only to move on to another soon after. "Alright, never seen anything like that before either... winner Captain of the 10th Division, Himotoya Saori!! Next up, Captain of the Sixth Division, Tamamura Tamao, against, the Captain of the Twelfth Division, Ayatsuki Akiko." One would soon enough see Tamao stepping into the center of the arena, but Akiko was no where in sight. "Woooh, go, Tamamura-taichou~" screamed someone from the crowd. This someone had a lollipop in her mouth and was currently beyond amused. She seemed to be watching this fight as everyone else was, but she was actually the Captain of the 12th Division. Tamao looked up to find the younger Captain seemingly amused, her eyes narrowing just a tad as she communicated with the other young woman. "Ayatsuki-taichou, you aren't going to come down here are you?" she asked of her finding it amusing. "Of course not, I'm a genius, unparalleled for the most part, and I'd need way more than a day. And a bunch of weapons they won't even let me attempt to invent to beat you. You got this, Tamamura-taichou!" the Captain of the 12th said. In truth her own abilities were all but useless against this match up and as such she didn't really find anything about it which would make her want to participate. "You heard her she forfeits," said the Sixth Division Captain who seemed to be fine with her victory. "Alright then, winner by forfeit, Captain of the Sixth Division Tamamura Tamao!~ Don't get upset though, up next... the Captain of the Thirteenth Division, Namikaze Minato against the Captain of the Seventh Division, Mutsuki Kagura," the announcer said.

[Bloodedge]

At the end of the Captains' bracket second round, two male Captains faced one another. In the midst of this battle, the raven-haired Kagura stood with his Shikai's zweihander form held against his back. Various small cuts were upon his person, but he seemed mostly stable. At the other end of the ring was Minato, formerly seen in a match against the Captain-Commander of the Gotei 13. He may have won such a battle without actually felling his opponent, but in this case, he seemed to have the upper hand. In his right hand, Minato wielded his sealed Zanpakutou; it bore the appearance of a tanto, and he held it in a reverse grip. "Yare yare, Mutsuki-san. Don't tell me you're tired already?" he asked. Though he was just as damaged as his opponent, Minato could be regarded as the one with the high ground due to the amount of energy he seemed to have remaining. "Keh! Don't get too full of yourself, kid. It took a while, but I'm used to those quick moves of yours now. Unlike most of these guys, I know how your Shikai works. You won't be getting the jump on me again this fight," Kagura boasted.

In response, Minato tapped his right foot against the floor, toe-end, repeatedly. At the same time, he began tossing his tanto into the air and catching it by the hilt each time it landed. "Oh, I know. I figured it would just get harder; especially with you avoiding Bankai to keep yourself fast. You made a crucial mistake, though, Mutsuki-san. You underestimated a member of the Onmitsukidou, and former or not, that's not a smart move. My Zanpakutou isn't as simple as you think. I slipped into Shikai for a split second when I gave you that scar across your back." The moment these words were spoken, Kagura's eyes widened. At the same time, Minato's airborne tanto transformed into its Shikai form: a weighted kunai with three prongs to its blade, and a strange seal on its handle. Since the aforementioned cut across the 7th Division Captain's back, Minato's Shikai had placed a seal upon the man's body that was identical to the one on its hilt. After activating his Shikai again, Minato caught the weapon and immediately appeared at Kagura's rear. This was no mere Shunpo, but instead an instantaneous teleportation that transcended space and time. His eyes were narrowed when he appeared this way, and suddenly - without any signs of Minato performing any additional movements - Kagura fell to the floor. "Don't try getting up. I've severed all the tendons in your body. You fought well, but it's over now."

[Apollymi]

"Sugoi!" Benihime watched the entirety of the fight between Minato and Kagura, seemingly stunned by its conclusion. At the end of this round it seemed there was another announcement to be made. as the semifinal round of the Captain's bracket was determined it had turned into a three-way free-for-all which obviously wasn't going to be allowed to stand. "Hmm, so who are you gonna fight, Kumori-fukutaichou?" asked the redhead as she figured the next round after the completion of the Vice-Captain's tournament would be the winner's choice against a Captain. Mostly because she was curious and knew this day's events were coming to an end.

"The winner of this round Captain of the 13th Division, Namikaze Minato!~ Come back tomorrow for the conclusion of the Vice-Captain's bracket and some more combat action in the Tournament of Power!!" the announcer said, denoting an end to this days match up.

[Bloodedge]

At the end of the final battle of this day, Raizen found himself sat beside his most recent opponent in the stadium. He had expected this outcome of all the Captains' matches, but he was quite surprised by the power each of the three remaining Captains possessed. Even his own Captain had managed to intrigue him, but now, the red-haired 5th Seat of the 12th Division questioned his choice of opponents in the next day's battle. "You're assuming my victory against Noguchi-fukutaichou? Well... between the three, I would have to say my choice is Tamamura-taichou."

Surely enough, the next day would see Raizen felling the 6th Division's Vice-Captain in the finals of the Vice-Captains' bracket, only to stand in the arena the day after to await his chosen opponent.

[Apollymi]

"Naw, you got that one. I got a good feeling about it~ Tamamura-taichou, huh? That will be interesting to see~ I'll be rooting for you, Kumori-fukutaichou~" said the young woman. As their day would end, the next day she'd be rewarded with a win of the 10th Division's Vice-Captain over the 6th Division's Vice-Captain just as she had anticipated. She sat once again, perched on banister of the 12th Division's section, directly in front of the seat she would have normally taken as fifth seat. She was exceedingly interested in this match, though she'd originally planned not to watch anymore after her participation ended, she felt obligated to see how far her most recent opponent could go.

Meanwhile after her Vice-Captain was felled, Tamamura Tamao found her way to the arena. Large sleeves billowing from her Shihakusho, as she carried her Zanpakuto tucked into her obi on the left side, in the standard way. It appeared she'd been called upon in this Wild Card Match up, against the young man she'd seen a couple of times before this moment. "Kumori-fukutaichou, I was a bit surprised that you chose me, though admittedly not as surprised as I was that you beat Shisui... without the use of your Shikai even," she stated finding his choice in opponent to be a bit odd. She thought he might have been more inclined to fight one of the others. That being said, it wasn't as if she wasn't curious enough to want to know the limits of this young man's power. After all, he'd gone through the entirety of this tournament without the use of his Shikai, with the exception of the match up against the 5th Seat of the 12th Division. A match up in which he obviously didn't need the power he'd used to overcome her. Whatever the case might be, she thought the young man interesting enough that she might enjoy this battle. "Ladies and Gentleman, the wild card battle between these two is about to begin. We have before us, the Winner of the Vice-Captain's bracket, Prodigal Vice-Captain of the 10th Division Kumori Raizen!~" she said of that young man before turning her attention. "His chosen opponent, the Captain of the 6th Division, who strikes fear into the hearts of even other Captains, Tamamura Tamao~" the statement made by the announcer made the Captain of the 12th wrinkle her nose a bit. "I wasn't scared, damn it. I just know when I can't win, no need to be carried out on a stretcher like some people~"

[Bloodedge]

As Raizen stood before the 6th Division's Captain, he grinned lightly. The woman apparently thought his decision to face her strange, but thought it to be even stranger that he'd bested her Vice-Captain. "For what it's worth, he was strong. I'm sure that bodes well for the fight we're about to have, Tamamura-taichou," he said. Since the announcer had yet to declare the beginning of this battle, Raizen took a bit of initiative in preparing. He swiftly ripped away the top half of his shihakushou to reveal what he wore beneath: a white mandarin collar kung fu majia that was both sleeveless and backless. For this event, he also wore ballooning hakama instead of the norm, and a pair of tai chi shoes. With his shihakushou out of the way, he revealed a hair-tie which he immediately used to pull his white locks into a ponytail. When that was done, he lowered his arms and performed a few preparatory stretches. "Onegaishimasu."

[Apollymi]

"Oh?" Tamao's response was genuine. She found it strange that someone else would call her Vice-Captain strong after having beaten him. Of course, she supposed this young man was well beyond anything which could be considered normal, the newest 'early graduates' of the academy all seemed to be this way. But it seemed they were simply cut above the rest and the Academy itself had nothing to do with this. Strange as it might be, she got to see preparatory exercises from this young man which she hadn't witnessed in any of his other matches. "Sou ka, so you are also hiding skills then, very well," the woman said. Soon enough the announcer was ready to do what she should do best. "Alright, one last thing before this fight, because of the difference in power between a Captain and a Vice-Captain, the rules stipulate that, Tamamura-taichou cannot unleash her Bankai, doing so would be an automatic disqualification. Nor is she allowed to use her Shikai, unless her opponent uses Bankai, or again, another automatic disqualification~" the announcer said which made the smallest of smiles came to the pink haired woman's face. "I know the rules. I am the one who came up with them after all," she said which made the announcer go pink in the face. "Hai! Alright BATTLE!~" and with that the blonde haired woman disappeared from sight and the Captain of the 6th Division reverted her attention to the young man, who'd gone through a couple more changes in appearance since the last time she looked. "Hmm, is this to indicate some level of seriousness previously unseen? That's curious, come then..." she said waving him towards herself leaving her sword untouched for the moment.

[Bloodedge]

"I wasn't hiding much of anything," Raizen replied. "Using what I had to offer would have gotten me disqualified." With that said, Raizen's stretching came to an end. The timing could not have been better, as the announcer was presently mentioning another rule, which Raizen had recently skimmed before entering the arena this day. Once the announcer disappeared, Tamao gestured Raizen toward her, prompting no immediate reactions from the man. "Mendokusai. Host! If I were to use something with the strength of a Bankai, might I ask that it be considered the same for rulings?" he asked. He would await the announcer's response, but regardless of it, he knew exactly how he would be opening this match.

[Apollymi]

Before the match could even start Raizen was proffering that Tamamura be allowed the use of her Shikai against an equivalent to Bankai technique which Raizen apparently wanted to use. The blonde haired host found herself looking a bit confused and then gave a nod, going to look into what the actual hosts of this event would say. "Give me just like a minute folks we need to check the rulings," she said, disappearing she'd go to both Himotoya and Ayatsuki as they were supremely listed as the people running this event. Ayatsuki looked at the blonde woman and then down at the pair supposedly set up to fight while Benihime turned her attention to her Captains words. "That should be allowable, it isn't a bad idea to include Bankai equivalent techniques. His Kidou prowess alone he should count as a Bankai equivalent, but double check with Saori-chan and see if she likes it." said the pink haired cat woman. There was a quick nod from the host which caused that woman to disappear from in front of Akiko and reappear in front of Saori. Saori was sitting in the Captain's seat of the Tenth Division's section with her face all puffy because this match hadn't started yet. Though she'd picked Raizen herself for her Vice-Captain, she was also curious about the things he'd been working on. When the host went on to explain what Akiko wanted to announce as far as the rulings were concerned Saori just huffed. "Hai hai, if Aki-nee says it's okay then it works for me. Come on, lets see the match." she said sounding somewhat annoyed. About a full minute after her initial disappearance, the blonde woman made it back to the center of the arena. "Sheesh I am way too old for this sort of things folks. According to the hosts of this event, the extension of the rules requested by Kumori-fukutaichou is allowable. If he uses a Bankai equivalent technique, Tamamura-taichou, you're allowed to use your Shikai~" she said. "And with that the match is back!~" and she disappeared once more.

"How considerate of them, Ayatsuki-taichou and Himotoya-taichou are such nice people," she said though her tone was flat she really meant this. As for Raizen's reasons for not revealing any of his other abilities during his other matches in the tournament she could only chuckle. "Hmm, I suppose that is as good a reason as any," she commented lifting her right hand and motioning towards herself. "Come then, you've gotten your wish for leniency in rulings against me. For whatever reason you wanted it, arigatou gozaimasu," she said.

[Bloodedge]

Several moments passed, but at the end of the wait, Raizen's wish was granted. So long as he made use of something which could be considered equivalent to Bankai, his opponent of this round would be permitted Shikai. Phase one of Raizen's plan was, with that, complete. Now, to begin the battle in the face of Tamao's beckoning, Raizen inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly. Abruptly thereafter, his arms raised to either side and Reiryoku emerged from his back and arms in thin streams with an electrical consistency. After a moment of preparation, this Reiryoku exploded outward, cackling about and even tearing asunder the arena floor nearby. Following another deep breath, Raizen compressed this energy, granting an electrical glow to his entire body while maintaining a bit of the bulk on his back and shoulders. He seemed more immediately interested in his own state of being here at the beginning, but a slow raising of his fist toward Tamao came with a few words. "Sorry for the wait. It's still hard to control," he said. With that, though, a blast of electrical energy surged from his fist with intentions of engulfing and damaging the Captain ahead of him.

[Apollymi]

Raizen went on to perform an ability which Tamao hadn't personally witnessed but had heard about at the discussion of the new Second Division Captain. A bit of a smile came to the woman's face as the young man's power seemed to rend ground beneath him asunder as well as leaving bits of the electrical energy to fly about without any regard. The woman found her eyes narrowing ever so slightly. "Sou ka, you've been training with Han-taichou, I see." she said as electrical energy was discharged her way, aiming to engulf her, which it did, for about a second before her own Reiatsu flared to life nullifying any impending damage. The weight of this woman's energy was enough that it should have been suffocating to the weak, staggering and causing a bit of fear in most, who could withstand its weight. "That is fairly dangerous, I'm a good person to test it out against, but you might be underestimating me a bit, Kumori-fukutaichou," she stated plainly. She moved forward then, intending to rush the young man with her physical speed alone, which was still frighteningly fast, and kick out at him in a swift sweep from left to right with her right leg with enough force that he could potentially be sent flying away from her and into the nearest object which could stop him leaving a massive impact.

[Bloodedge]

"Sort of. I stole the concept of the technique, but I could not get to this level of expertise without a bit of help," he said regarding Shunkou, the technique he had procured via interesting means from the 2nd Division's present Captain. When it was claimed that he was underestimating his opponent in this match, Raizen's expression did not seem to change at all. "Iie. I don't think I've underestimated you at all." With Tamao quickly closing in on him, Raizen raised his left hand as well to prepare a defensive maneuver of some sort. When the pink-haired woman reached him, the kick being sent his way was met by both of his hands. Raizen could tell that this force would have normally been enough to break bones when blocked in such a way, but his Kidou augmented his physical abilities enough that he was merely thrown away. During this movement, he performed a series of backflips to right himself upon reaching the ring's edge. From this distance, he leaped into the air, then unsheathed his sword and threw it with a single motion. It was sent rocketing at a downward angle toward Tamao's head; at the same time, Raizen descended back to the ground and began running toward the woman.

[Apollymi]

A small nod came from the woman to express her understanding of his meaning. This new generation was full of rather odd characteristics among its youth. With this in mind she wasn't really upset by the knowledge that he'd developed this technique of his, and gone to someone who'd also developed it to learn it a bit better. Beyond this he seemed capable enough to at least take the kick she'd offered with all of the force behind it, and still be able to recover and counterattack. "That's impressive," the Captain of the Sixth Division said seeming to find the boy's tactics amusing as he jumped into the air and launched his own Zanpakuto down towards her head her right hand swung upward and knocked if off course as she took several speedy steps towards him, during which she drew her weapon aiming to slash the young man's fore from left to right in a diagonal from his shoulder to his hip. Such a movement surprisingly enough, was done with the blunt side of her sword, and wasn't meant to cut, and instead would come with enough force to shatter the bones of the young man's chest under normal circumstances.

[Bloodedge]

"Is it? And here I thought you would be the one to not be impressed by something I've done," Raizen stated with utmost blandness in his tone. When Tamao took off toward him, it became fact that the two were running toward each other while Raizen's repelled sword flipped in the air. His eyes were not initially on his opponent during this charge, but instead, they darted around the area surrounding Tamao instead. When they returned to her, a grin crossed the Vice-Captain's lips. When her sword was drawn, Raizen continued his forward momentum while ducking low and weaving in the direction her slash began in, sending him beneath the arc of the blade and around the pink-haired woman in one swift movement. From her rear, Raizen snatched his own Zanpakutou out of the air and spun around to face her. In doing this, he jammed his blade into the ground and used it as leverage to shift his momentum and raise his body, kicking out with both feet toward Tamao's back to knock her away. "Forgive my rudeness, but I'm acutely aware of your ability to cut me without dealing a fatal wound. I'm sure you know how much time is lost when you switch your blade to its dull side like that. After our last meeting, do you really think I need the additional handicap?"

[Apollymi]

"Oh? A hit that should have broken bones and jarred you didn't. Even I am not that callous," she seemed to find that statement a bit strange. She was usually impressed by the things other people did, she just had a very different way of showing her appreciation for them. Beyond this the young man seemed to find it in him to avoid the coming slash she'd had prepared for him and even launch an immediate counterattack which included planting his sword in the ground and aiming to kick her in her back with both feet to knock her away. Instead of being kicked, the pink haired woman took a couple of steps forward looking back over her shoulder as the young man stated he knew of her abilities and took some sort of issue with the extra handicap. "The time lost is done on purpose. I don't know how much of a handicap anyone needs. But, ask and you shall receive, no complaints about the outcomes though..." the Captain of the Sixth Division as her sword flipped around with a great deal of ease.

Since the young man before her apparently didn't want any more handicaps, she didn't bother trying to give them, she moved with the quickness that she hadn't previously shown her blade moving effortlessly as she swung her blade arm several times so fast that it could not be followed. It was aimed concisely to slice across Raizen's chest horizontally, vertically up his left arm, and straight down his right leg, if this maneuver worked properly, all of them would appear to have happened at the same time.

[Bloodedge]

"That's what I thought you'd say," Raizen said regarding Tamao's decision. Now that her blade was drawn, and being used as intended, Raizen could properly see his opponent in her natural state of preference. When he righted himself, he prepared to take her next assault. 'A swordsman's arrogance... nothing like the previous battle. Frontal attack is the obvious choice,' he thought. With that in mind, the Vice-Captain held out his left hand to create a rectangular green barrier in front of himself. Not only was this charged with the electricity of his Shunkou to deliver a shock upon impact, but another spell was silently melded into the already nameless barrier: the 8th Bakudou, Seki. This resulted in a shield which, if Tamao's attack continued into it, would repel the blade on each impact to prevent the shattering of the barrier itself by preventing her sword from continuing through it. All the while, the barrier would also be delivering the Shunkou's electrifying attribute directly into Tamao's body. Even though the Captain held an obvious advantage in the movements of her sword and the strength of her strikes, Raizen figured this to be an ample defense against any frontal assault she could muster from this range. "No complaints here. I have a certain knack for making up for my disadvantages."

[Apollymi]

Tamao's attack continued, but instead of her initial strike finding its home within the young man's flesh, it instead struck a barrier. Such a thing was almost unheard of. Of course, such a thing came with the widening of the woman's eyes as she found her sword didn't shatter the barrier but instead was rebounded off it adding an electrifying effect as well since the boy was still using the Shunko form he'd possessed since the start of their battle. It would be in this moment that she'd realize how such an individual had come to easily beat her Vice-Captain. Her own body was seemingly paralyzed at least for a few seconds until she raised the output of her Reiatsu. "Sou ka," she jumped back then, no longer following thorough with her attacks for not wanting to be electrocuted any further. She'd needed to force more of her Reiatsu out just to push past the initial feeling of numbness, and while she did this she just allowed the glow to continue to grow. "Alright, that's different," she said choosing to be the first person not to just call the young man clever.

"Almost toppled by my own arrogance, I can't really allow that though..." she said. And in this moment the woman's Reiatsu rose a bit more, flowing to surround her in a controlled pink glow as she let go of her sword at the fore of her person it seemed to be dropping out of arms reach. "Habatake," the energy she was releasing seemed to begin solidifying eventually encapsulating her blade before it could reach the ground. The form energy took seemed to be a demon bird mouth which held the sword connected to the woman's right arm. "Tengu..." she was still a swordsman at heart, and as such Tamao wouldn't lower herself to attacking an opponent from the rear. Instead she simply compensated so that she would not have to feel the effects of the young man's magical barriers.

[Bloodedge]

The use of Raizen's barrier succeeded in deterring the Captain, granting him some additional leeway while his Shunkou faded away. While he had developed some ability to use Shunkou without tiring over recent months, he had begun to feel enough of its effects that he did not wish to risk overexerting himself. "Really now? It would be quite a feat to overcome something like that." What Raizen bore witness to next was the release of the Captain's Shikai. He had yet to face such a thing, and the idea of doing so now was intriguing, to say the least. The sight of the Reiryoku cloud forming a construct to link the woman's sword and arm was one he seemed particularly interested in. Without further ado, he removed his own blade from the ground. "Mezamette..." Raizen's own Reiatsu glowed white around his body, albeit with a purple gleam taking over as his sword transformed into the very same khakkhara he made use of two days prior. "Mugen. Uroborosu." Raizen wasted no time before summoning all six eel-like creatures of black Reiryoku from his weapon. They all spanned around him in somewhat of a defensive swarm, but the head of one in particular pointed toward Tamao. "It's about time. I only held my Shunkou for so long to bait out your Shikai. I'm doing a bit of an experiment."

[Apollymi]

Tamao watched this young man let his Bankai equivalent release fade away after the emergence of her Shikai. He then went on to release his own Shikai, something he hadn't bothered doing against her Vice-Captain, and something that Tamao had only witnessed once, against the young redheaded Fifth Seat of the Twelfth Division. This was something she thought she'd get to see, but not at such an early point in this day. "Oh? I get to see it too..." she said aloud only to have Raizen go on to explain that he was intending to draw out the use of her Shikai all along, for some sort of experiment he wished to perform. She could only assume the young man wished to face a Captain's Shikai, as it was the one thing he wouldn't have normally been allowed without having a Bankai within the confines of this particular event. A smirk came to the woman's face as she touched her face with her left hand rubbing it and seeming to be a tiny bit flustered. "Kids these days are way too precocious," the woman mumbled as she found herself staring at the energy construct created by the young man's Shikai. "Ah, oh well, I suppose there isn't any harm in it..." she assumed this young man wished to test his Shikai and as such she'd give it a proper test. Her stance changed just a bit as she drew back her actual right arm and shifted her right leg forward bending at the knee. The arm which was constructed and holding her weapon also came backwards mimicking it. She then pushed forward at a speed which would likely be unseen to cut the construct which looked at her for whatever reason first, and then aim to cut down all the rest around the young man within the same instant though each strike was distinct and clearly its own from Tamao's perspective. Her point was to test them and see the kind of strength they maintained, without aiming to damage Raizen directly.

[Bloodedge]

"Of course. I'm not so arrogant as to believe I could accomplish anything against you without it," Raizen asserted. With his own Shikai solidified, he held the khakkhara upright with its base tapping against the arena floor. "Onegaishimasu. I'd hate to miss the next Calligraphy Club meeting due to injury." Just then, the swift movements of the 6th Division's Captain resulted in the shredding of one eel, followed instantly by the other five. While this managed to tear them asunder, being mere energy instead of traditional constructs, they quickly reformed. In the case of these creatures, one could most accurately refer to them as individual waves of energy meant for attack, though they were somehow restrained to movement and form determined by Raizen himself. After this concept was revealed by Tamao's actions, Raizen chose to send the group of eels forward with intentions of consuming the woman with all six at once. Much like before, one could note a strange fact about the quality and quantity of Reiryoku in these "blasts," as they somehow seemed more suited to be of "Bankai level" than even Raizen's Shunkou.

[Apollymi]

"I suppose that is a good thing..." the pink haired woman said. As she watched the creatures she'd sliced up float about in a variable cloud of energy before reforming. This made the woman a bit curious, her eyes widening if only for a second because this was not quite the reaction she was expecting. "Well, I could just not aim for your arms," she said completely serious in her reaction. Soon enough the reformed eels were coming towards in her a numerous quality. Initially she seemed to think about cutting them again, but something she noticed about the energy coming towards her made her Reiatsu flare to life. 'That isn't possible...' she thought, the construct on her arm shifting around creating a large shield backed by the woman's own Reiatsu in order to keep them from pressing forward anymore.

But, strangely enough, the woman seemed to be taking a lot of energy to hold back the force of the wave, though she did it. When it finally cleared, she'd be seen balled up, being blocked in by the energy of her Shikai which was thoroughly cracked but still holding. She stood extending her arm and feeding more energy into it reforming the shape of her Shikai's extra bits so that the Tengu was reformed, like an extra wing. "That attack was stronger than it should be, given it is part of your Shikai. And really dangerous, I'm surprised your opponent from the other day was able to get up after that, even with help," she stated as she soon enough dashed forward, her power overflowing as she aimed to use Shunpo for the first time in this endeavor appearing directly to Raizen's left and slashing horizontally into his left side, this maneuver would be sharper than a normal cut, and enough to cleave into the Vice-Captain's side though it would stop before it would reach anything truly vital.

[Bloodedge]

"True. That could prove problematic, to say the least." In the face of his Shikai's onslaught, Tamao met Raizen with a barrier form of her own release. While using this to defend herself, she chose to comment on the unnatural strength of Raizen's ability for its release level. "It is a bit powerful, but also the only attack my Mugen will give me. I figured that was a fair trade," he said casually before moving on to the matter of his former opponent. "I only used two then." Just then, Tamao made use of her Shunpo ability to reach Raizen's left side. His eyes widened when his senses picked up a trace of her, and his left hand rose to prepare a barrier. Sadly, he simply could not keep up with the woman's obviously superior speed, and his blood was drawn for the first time over the course of this tournament as a result. The male's eyes widened further yet as he stumbled to his right, twisting counter-clockwise to aim his left hand and cast a hasty spell. "Haien!" As his hand swept through the air, a sphere of purple Reiryoku formed within it to be launched speedily toward the woman in such close proximity to Raizen's person. Its purpose was to engulf, explode, and incinerate on impact. For an individual of Captain level, Raizen anticipated less than the norm, but theorized that its power would be capable of staggering burns in the event of a proper strike.

[Apollymi]

"Hm, that's more distressing..." she said, given that the young man only had one ability for his release, she could easily assume that it was strong because it was the only form of attack the weapon had. That seemed to be the case with Zanpakuto over all, though there were a few exceptions to this. Even so, the knowledge that he'd apparently taken it a bit easy against his previous opponent was good news for the 6th Division's Captain, who liked the idea of the young being at least semi-responsible with their strength. When the other barrage finished, Tamao found herself being watched by the young man as her sword found its home within his side, that being said she was quite impressed that he'd found her before she'd moved away after completing the action. He even took it a step further, and aimed to defend himself with a rather dangerous kidou spell. Even so Tamao didn't seem phased at all. In fact she simply drew her weapon back in front of her, causing a shift in the shield like ability so that it was before her instead of around her, allowing for a defense from the flames. Within a second of this she'd moved again via Shunpo and could be found at Raizen's right side, swinging her sharpened sword once again, this time at a downward angle as if she intended to cut his hip and immobilize him, being very careful to avoid his arms for the reasons he'd previously listed.

[Bloodedge]

From Raizen's angle, he could only see an explosion taking place at Tamao's location. This let him know that she had not moved, but gave him no information as to whether she had been struck by his spell, or if she had guarded against it somehow. This was a rather precarious situation he'd found himself in; he'd lost the ability to keep ahead of the Captain mentally to overcome his speed disadvantage, and he'd done this simply by losing track of her with his own hasty movements. This sort of mistake would cost him immediately. Suddenly, Raizen found himself buckling from his right side as another wave of pain struck him at the hip. Down to his right knee he went; it seemed he was not faring well, despite his understanding of the differences between himself and Tamao, and his ability to normally make such differences work in his favor. 'Chikushou. Not yet...'

"Hadou no Kyuujuu: Kurohitsugi!" Raizen shifted his left hand to the side which this new slash had come from, conjuring a large, black box of energy in hopes of encasing Tamao in it before numerous spears appeared around the box to pierce within it as it collapsed on itself.

[Apollymi]

Tamao knew her sword had made contact even before the boy's knee buckled under the weight of the downward cut. This was a very interesting moment for her as she got to see how the young man acted while under pressure. Surprisingly enough, this wasn't something seen in any other point in this tournament, as he'd all but dominated everyone else in his own class. As he turned towards where she now stood, he aimed to encase her in a rather precarious Kidou spell. She would have been surprised by this kidou spell usage from anyone else, but she already knew he was capable of this much, she'd seen it now... twice. As the black coffin surrounded her, Tamao's visage began to disappear, but in the moment before the box would reach its closure, the smallest of smirks would appear on her face. She pulled her sword arm back in that moment and then slashed horizontally from right to left, across the entirety of the box dispersing the spell before the spears could even happen. "Kumori-fukutaichou, are you stressed? That spell seemed a bit desperate..." she said as calmly as she had everything else, she'd said this day, she stepped forward again, using her innate speed to reach the young man's fore. Her sword arm moved forward again, still encased in energy which she used to slash forward, this one aimed at Raizen's chest, diagonally from his left shoulder to his right hip, with enough force to stop just shy of cutting into bones. True to her word she didn't aim for his arms at all.

[Bloodedge]

Raizen's widened eyes narrowed when he looked to his right, seeing the level 90 spell shatter by the Captain's blade. Her words which followed were bothersome, but not exactly inaccurate. The white-haired male found himself needing a moment to recovery, though even with a quick cast of Kurohitsugi, he had not gained this. Before he could consider what would come next, Tamao was at his fore, spewing his blood for a third time with a slash down and across his torso. As he saw his own blood spray out in front of him, his eyes widened once more. Already down to one knee, he stumbled down more until his right hand released his khakkhara and planted itself on the ground. His breathing was labored; the unfocused spells and the damage he'd now taken had not aided his retention of stamina. There was, however, one more thing in his arsenal. When next Raizen looked up, his sclerae were blackening, and a white, plaster-like Reiryoku substance was beginning to build up on his face. He retrieved his weapon and rose, his own energy then flaring and becoming visibly darker as it exceeded quantities previously shown by some Captains within the Gotei. "Konbanwa. I'll be your opponent now." The voice used was Raizen's own, but there was also the sound of another that seemed to speak simultaneously. Without further ado, Raizen aimed the bladed base of his khakkhara toward the abdomen of Tamao in a stabbing motion, using an astonishing amount of speed, and somehow finding the movement natural enough that he showed almost no signs of moving; not even his breathing shifted as the weapon moved through the air toward the woman.

[Apollymi]

With the connection of her last strike, Tamao seemed to be under the impression she'd all but won. The third spray of the young man's blood would be avoided by the woman as she stood over the stumbling Vice-Captain. "Kumori-fukutaichou, you're quite strong. You might even rival one of us in a couple of decades. Experience though... tends to separate individuals like us, at least for a while," she took a moment to explain as her weapon came to rest at her side, but strangely enough something different happened. Instead of a reply from the young man, she got to see a new thing all together. She got to see a mask forming on the young man's face and blackening sclera. The quality of his Reiatsu, felt suddenly like that of a high class Hollow, and was powerful enough for the woman's eyes to widen and her entire facial expression to change. "BAKANA! That isn't possible..." she said, drawing back her weapon, even she was caught completely off guard with the natural movement speed of the young man before her as his mask formed. Beyond this she soon was stabbed through, with a motion so cleanly done she couldn't have even tried to manage a dodge of it. The blade went clean through her person, but instead of backing away, she kept a grip on the staff blood falling from her mouth. "It's against the law for anyone to acquire the powers of a Hollow. Kumori-fukutaichou, these powers are that of a Hollow and there isn't any way to deny it," she said.

From the crowd, a woman know wearing a sleeveless Captain's Haori marked with a two approached at a speed which wasn't likely to be registered by anyone. Her blade not drawn but a spinning kick being aimed into Kumori Raizen's face from a standstill between him and the Captain of the Sixth Division. This kick would be delivered with enough force to create a sonicboom upon impact shattering the sound barrier. "She's right, Raizen-chan. Gomennasai, but I have to take you into custody. Protecting the peace of the Seireitei and capturing those who break the laws dictated by the Central 46 is the job of the Onmitsukidou," this would be said as a group of others also closed in upon him. If the kick of the Captain of the 2nd Division were successful, it would end with several members of the Onmitsukidou descending on the Vice-Captain of the 10th Division with the crowd being stunned into stillness by this occurance.

[Bloodedge]

A wide, toothy grin crossed the Vice-Captain's face as his khakkhara found itself within the lower torso of his opponent. This grin was soon obscured by the development of the Hollow's mask upon his face. "Against the law? Sorry; I don't know shit about your little laws. You woke me up for the first time in a while, so I'm just here to get some exercise!" Whatever the Hollowfied man intended to do at this point was brought to a swift halt by the newest Captain of the 2nd Division, who appeared in the heat of the moment and delivered a kick to the mask forming on his face. It seemed entirely ineffective for a moment, but the sonic boom caused by the kick's force passed through, shattering the mask and blanking Raizen's mind long enough to fully incapacitate him. His hold on the khakkhara was released as he lost consciousness, falling to the ground as his Reiatsu returned to its normal resting state.

[Apollymi]

With Raizen out the Onmitsukidou moved in to take him into custody. The injured Captain of the Sixth looked at the new 2nd Division Captain seemingly wary. "Are you really going to take him into custody?" she asked of the Onmitsukidou's head. A look passed Juri's face and she simply nodded. "Yes, regardless of my former ties to him and his family, my job now is to maintain the peace and safety of the Seireitei, as a whole, even from him," she said though she sincerely regretted having to perform such an act. In all actuality, his Hollow Reiatsu should have called for his immediate dispatch as if he was a Hollow. Juri knew and understood this and as such, her incapacitating him immediately would allow for a trial and further explanation of his case. She could only hope that Raizen hadn't gone down the same path as the rest of his family, something that shouldn't even be possible considering.

Saori watched this entire thing in horror and soon appeared at this woman's side. "You can't have my Vice-Captain, I don't know what that is, but he hasn't done anything wrong." she said to Juri which made the black haired woman look to the hooded Captain of the 10th. "That isn't my decision to make Himotoya-taichou. It is something you'll have to take up with the Central 46, and it is definitely something we can't continue discussing here..." she said giving the nod for Raizen to be taking off to holding until a meeting with the Central 46 could be convened. "But..." the Captain of the 10th was about to continue, but was interrupted by a strawberry lollipop entering in her mouth. "Shush, Saori-chan, it will be fine. Han-taichou still has a soft-spot for the kid, knocking him out cold before he could be executed on the spot and all~ Come with me to talk with the Central 46, we'll get him out." she said with a bit of assurance, while Juri managed to look the tiniest bit sheepish, having her motives figured out so immediately by the Captain of the 12th Division. For whatever reason, Saori frowned and then relented all while Tamao watched. "Fine, but nothing else happens until he gets out..." she seemed to be quite set on this. She couldn't say one way or another if the child had done anything wrong. She found it quite unlikely that even a shady character like Akiko had done this... so she'd simply leave it to the younger Captains to figure out what was afoot here, and do only what was necessary when she was ordered to. She then staggered away to have members of the 4th Division join and try to help her. The end of this round of the event was something that even the announcer didn't know how to explain. "Sorry folks, I got no idea what happened here, but it appears this match is over. I don't know if the next rounds will be starting anytime soon, you'll have to stay tuned for details," she finished. There was unrest among the members of the crowd, in all but the 12th Division's section, as Benihime watched this entire event unfold she was only made more curious by the transformation the 10th Division's Vice-Captain had undergone. 'How did he even...' she wondered. She had well over the regular amount of sensory skill that most Shinigami maintained, and there was something about this which felt, even more strange than she'd imagined it could. This would be something she hoped she was allowed to look into.