[10th Division] Courtyard

[Bloodedge]

"Good," was all Raizen had to say. It seemed Saya would be the initial aggressor in this battle. Raizen had no problem with this, but he did take issue with the amount of ability she showed with her first move. In the time it took Saya to spin, Raizen flipped his katana to a reverse grip, and held it out against her blade. "There's no use holding back so much," he stated while using his ample strength to push against Saya's weapon with his own, aiming to back her down step by step with his efforts.

[Apollymi]

To be fair, Saya was indeed skill checking this young man. Though she'd heard quite a bit about him, she'd never witnessed it for herself, still as his blade met her own in the reverse grip and he pushed against her, his words met her ears. "Suit yourself..." as the young man used strength to try and back her down step by step, she allowed her upper body to go a limp. This would make the initial push likely more than was expected, but this was done by Saya completely on purpose. She'd use the force of his push against her to rather quickly arrange her sheath against the ground, the palm of her left hand balanced over it and she'd flip over spinning her left hand and the sheath rather rapidly aiming to quick spin kick the young man, using both her feet in alternating strokes several times before he could recover from the lack of her blade against his to push. Whether she succeed in this or not at the end of the maneuver her she'd end in the crouched position ready to use either her blade or its sheath against the young man should he come any closer.

[Bloodedge]

"Hmph," Raizen muttered in response to the statement of Saya. Her reaction to his pressing was skillful; letting her body fall through to gain momentum for a counter did indeed send him forward at a faster than expected pace, removing his sense of balance. Raizen, however, quickly reacted by lodging his downward blade into the ground to support himself with haste, allowing him to push away from the Zanpakutou and fall back into place with only Hakuda to rely on. By the time he righted himself, Saya's maneuver left her delivering a series of kicks toward the man during another spin maneuver. He crouched beneath the woman's legs, remaining there for the duration of her assault, and when she landed, he aimed his left palm forward. Silently casting the first Hadou spell, Raizen unleashed a quick burst of pure kinetic energy from his outstretch palm the moment his hand was righted, aiming to blast Saya away and grant him the freedom to dash forward and reclaim his sword. If such were to occur, he would use this moment to continue his forward momentum with an upward slash aimed at he front left region of her torso. Otherwise, he would simply remain at the ready to defend himself.

[Apollymi]

Saya's eyes widened ever so slightly at the boy's reactions to her maneuvers. There were few in range of her skill set who could react in such a way, given this she knew that she wouldn't have much choice in the matter of holding back. She was further surprised when none of her kicks made contact and instead the Vice-Captain of the 10th Division was crouching below her legs giving him the space needed once she righted herself to aim a palm towards her which blasted her away without direct contact. 'No,' she thought coming to one conclusion about how this was done, and the thought of it was just a little bit frightening. Even so she was indeed blasted away, though not quite as far as she would have expected. Very similarly to how Benihime reacted to being blasted way the woman took her time in the air to rather gracefully right herself giving the young man enough time to retrieve his weapon, as she brought up both her sheath to defend from the coming sword slash while still having her sword free. "Kids nowadays got some strange skills, casting Kidou without words is kinda scary..." said the woman as her sword arm came forward as she aimed to force away his blade with a quick outward sweep of her sheath and immediately follow up with a downward slash from his left with her blade.

[Bloodedge]

Raizen's forward movement with his sword was left to a clear path, much to his satisfaction. When he reached the former Vice-Captain, though, his blade was met by the sheath of her Zanpakutou to halt its movements. "Is it? I like to think it's one of my more modest skills," he commented. When Saya's sheath pushed his blade away, her sword came down at his left side. Raizen utilized the momentum put in place by the sheath's push to twist his body to the right, only to add a shift forward to this movement. This resulted in the blade passing through the air behind him. Once it cleared hip level, Raizen aimed to quickly pull the sheath from his obi and swing it toward Saya's lower right side, aiming to both wind and repel her. "I've been assuming you also have a list of unorthodox abilities others may not be privy to."

[Apollymi]

"That's a modest skill?" Saya was surprised but not by much. The more she saw of this man's combat the more she understood of why her former protege had chosen to fight him. And she couldn't agree more with her choice, the thought alone left the young woman to smile. As her blade traveled through air given the young man's movements she let it go mid-motion only to toss her sheath into her now empty right hand and capture her blade with her left instead. She'd use it to meet the sheath of Raizen's weapon aimed to wind her in a set of movements which were graceful and practiced. As this happened she took a single step back and switched the position of the sheath of her sword with her sword holding both at her sides. Raizen's words were ones which hit her ears and made the woman shake her head from left to right. "You're wrong about that... try again," she said, and this was also honest, Saya had no specific unorthodox techniques nor abilities. As if to make this obvious she braced herself and then took a step forward, it was a singular use of Shunpo which she used to close the distance between them, closing the gap almost instantly and immediately launching into a spin which involved a downward slash of her blade from his left to his right and also a spinning kick aimed downward from left to right as she completed the spin with her alternate leg. These movements were quick and fluid as she aimed to maim the young man with a deep slash but also add blunt force trauma around the same space.

As she watched this fight, Benihime came to several conclusions about her Master, and as she thought about this her eyes widened. She'd figured with her leg back she'd do something amazing, but she wasn't sure how she'd missed what this woman's actual talents were before. 'Damn shame, that had to be a bitter pill to swallow. No wonder she kept trying to get rid of me,' the young woman thought. Even so she was content to watch and see the limits of this woman's abilities, and at the very least, catch a peek of her Zanpakuto.

[Bloodedge]

"Nani?" Raizen seemed somehow bothered by Saya's claim that he was wrong. From what he'd heard of this individual over the years, she was her own type of legend, the creator of multiple Captain-class Shinigami, and a favorite to be one in her own right. Her next move would be one he inspected more carefully than others. There had to be something strange going on for her to speak this way, and when he looked for the oddities, he found out what she meant. His sword was swept through the air to meet Saya's blade and slow its progress long enough for him to side-step right and avoid its edge, as well as the following kick. This was accompanied by a full counterclockwise spin by Raizen as his own sword slid away from Saya's. He stopped once he was cleared of this assault. "Sou ka. Your movements are far too practiced; I should have noticed before. Gomen... it looks like one of us isn't quite ready for this battle yet."

[Apollymi]

Raizen seemed to be stunned by what Saya had to say about not possessing any unorthodox skills. And she noted in him then, the same thing she noted in her favored pupil. A close analysis of her own abilities as seen through her next movements. Unsurprisingly enough he dodged very deftly away from her and afterwards she stood. Her brow raised curiously as the young man mentioned her practiced movements she nodded. "There ya' go," she said as he acknowledged the one thing about Saya which set her apart from others. "But there's no reason to think you aren't ready," she said not seeming to understand the ambiguity of his statements. She stood at the ready facing him once more as if waiting for something.

Benihime watched from above, mumbling the conclusions she'd come to as if there was someone around to hear them. "Saya-sama, is quite practiced. She may even be a Master of All Shinigami Combat and a Maker of Captains. But that is because she's simply had more than enough time to learn and master the basics of all combat. That's why she can teach anyone what the Academy does and probably better. She's a living course in Zankensoki mastery but..." she paused looking at the woman and feeling her Reiatsu. Benihime had spent much time studying feeling of Spiritual Pressure, it was one of her many topics of study, in this moment she realized why her mentor had been older than her previous Captain. "She's hit the upper edge that skill alone can take her, with an inability to master the techniques of those various schools of combat. It's why she can pick people who'll be Captain, it's the difference between practice and instinct. She can see it, because the latter is what she lacks," she said looking over the edge of her knees from her perch on the roof.

[Bloodedge]

"Iie," he replied. With Saya returning her stance and offering this statement, it became more than apparent that she thought Raizen may have been admitting his own weakness against her. "I don't mean to mislead you. I just..." He trailed off there, seeming disheartened by this revelation. He'd hoped this one could be used as a milestone. Suddenly, it seemed as if something within Raizen's soul broke, and his self-imposed Reiatsu cap was released. This left him able to put forth massive quantities of Reiatsu as he sheathed his sword, staring blankly across the courtyard at his opponent. "Kiyou Shibari," he said, causing the materialization of eight miniature black holes around where Saya stood, with a ninth that would appear at her torso. In spite of Raizen's incantation abandonment, this spell carried incredible strength; enough to hold a low-tier Captain. This was Raizen's only action, and with it, he felt his message would be relayed properly.

[Apollymi]

Raizen said no to the assumption that Saya had about his feeling unready. And she was soon to be let know why this wasn't the case. Her misunderstanding of this situation was showcased in ultimate form by the unsealing of this man's Reiatsu froze Saya in place. Such a feeling was massive and it became obvious that Raizen had been limiting himself for the entirety of this fight and probably most others he'd participated in. Saya's eyes widened as she simply couldn't believe what she was witnessing, if not for being paralyzed by the massive feeling of his power, she likely would have fallen. Unfortunately she wouldn't be given this opportunity as the young man went on to use a Kidou spell, without the incantation and a high level one at that. This created several black holes around the woman and one in the middle of her chest. "Bakana!" was all she managed because there was literally nothing she could do about this. "So you're that strong, sou ka. Scary, Kumori-fukutaichou," Her body was now suspended and kept her up, it looked like this fight was over. 'Himotoya-taichou has my bad habits, picking kids that will be able to beat her once their skill level catches up to their instincts. And this kid is already monstrous... good.' she thought seemingly unable to free herself.

Benihime watched the way this ended and though she expected some sort of massive blow out, she didn't expect that this woman wouldn't even get to use her Zanpakuto. Beyond this, the use of Kidou by the Vice-Captain of the 10th Division made the girl's eyes widen as she held out a hand in front of her. "Sugei!~ That's really cool. I wonder if I can.." she remembered the incantation for all spells, she'd just never bothered trying most of them because she didn't initially have the power to make them, as she thought this the pinkish glow of a black hole started before her and she stopped it with a huge grin on her face. "Sou ka, I'm that strong now, huh?" she said.

But before anything else could happen, Saya began laughing, it was almost hysterical. This drew Benihime's attention downward. 'Oh? she's got something else maybe?' she thought as she watched as Saya began speaking after her mild outburst. "I didn't think I'd have to do it," she said her Zanpakuto starting to glow an eerie white color. "Sake..." she muttered and the glow solidified "Hanakamemushi," she finished. This happened several insect like creatures emerged from the sheath and the blade of her weapon, they began floating about her, eating away at the various black holes which made up the kidou which previously imprisoned her. "Yare yare, kids these days.... ya' know it isn't over yet," she mentioned, as the insects finished eating away at the black holes a small burst of Saya's Reiatsu was enough force to finish the situation. It broke her free of the Kidou so seamlessly used by the Vice-Captain of the 10th Division.