Shinigami Tournament of Power Stadium

[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.