Printable View
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.
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.
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.
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.
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...'
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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....
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!"
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!!"
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.
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.
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."
"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.
"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.
"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.
"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.
"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.
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.
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.
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!"
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.
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...
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
'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.
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.
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.
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.
'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.
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.
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..."