Kojiro felt feelings enter his mind he knew were not his. He could feel serenity that had no place in his mind, a technique tainted by it's owner, and he knew whose emotion were so calm. He despised people who would interupt his duels with an assault on the mind. He'd run into several Yamanaka who'd tried.... it hadn't ended well. He thought in response to Zume's unwelcome intrusion. And here I was assuming you were a wise man, but here you are, looking into what you don't understand. The incoming shrinking spirals were the least of his worries. They dared pass through mother Earth, when his large rock style dictated it. His hands lazily started making a series of 6 handsigns, then repeated them quickly. His focus wasn't on countering the jutsu, he had it covered. Earth Release: Moving Earth Core He had hoped to save that as an ace against his opponent later, but it couldn't be helped. He could feel the circles moving, and if they were fashioned after how he imagined, that would stop them. The technique however was countered, by Kojiro himself with a second release of it, moving in the opposite direction. The technique generally elevated or lowered the terrain around the user in a square box. Kojiro had used it to elevate the terrain, then pushed down on it with an equal force. That would compress the earth itself, making it much harder to pass through, and more importantly the compression would grab the circles by the sides, not head on. Kojiro imagined front and end of the cirles were the hard part, probably bladed to pass through without difficulty of the objects they passed, they probably had enough power to cut Monohoshi Zao. But from the sides, they would be vulnerable, and in addition, if they were curved, they would take even more damage from the earth pressing from above and below, unbending it. The sheer movement, should it fail to stop it, would also threatened throw off their little perfect circle, and have them crash into eachother. Kojiro's focus wasn't on that however. It was staring at Zume, his killing intent took on a new form, a new terrifying form. Mere fear was something that a few men could indeed take straight on, but there was something more from a constant assault on one's psyche from more and more directions. His killing intent filled every recess of his mind, taking all of his focus to not be overwhelmed by it himself. He projected it straight at Zume through his eyes, whose bright blue sage color had become frieghtening, increasing it and renewing it constantly to redouble it's effect. As long as Zume was saw his eyes, the intent would increase with each renewing, and while doing so relieved Kojiro from the last wave as he made a new one, but the old ones would linger, and continue to build on Zume as long as his attention was on Kojiro. Seeing every detail of Kojiro's eyes would also increase it, as was an increased perspective as he would notice every single detail of it more than most, affecting him more than most. In addition, him reading Kojiro's mind would double whatever hit he was taking from the standard killing intent. The intent would intensify to a madness, flashing every fear a man could have of the line between life and death. Not only of the initial feeling of simply dying, but the thoughts of those close to them fading, thoughts of life becoming terrifying itself. It would build and build til the many thoughts driven by the intent would drive a man to madness, tearing his psyche to shreds. In essence, as long as he kept looking, and reading, Zume was putting himself in greater and greater danger from reading what what Kojiro assumed he wouldn't understand. The intent didn't come from chakra, or from mere thoughts, or hormones, or atoms, or things the eyes could see or be helped to see, but a flash of Kojiro's soul at it's most viscious. Even if Zume had the most steeled will on earth, and the effects were paltry, they would only keep building, and all his observations skills would only increase the speed of the threat. To keep looking would not end well. "I am not a sage of a mere animal, I am the sage of humans, that allows me to feel very deeply the emotions we have. We too belong in nature, at our very core, we are part of it. The very soul is natural. I came here seeking a natural fight, not to be examined."

"Hmm, interes-" he cut off, his movement stopped, his body stalk still though the oval shields around him continued to rotate rapidly. His eyes were staring directly ahead, even though Kojiro could not see them, and his mind, which had been working quickly before, briefly went into overdrive. First connection to the soul body was made, as Zume's mind dwelled in two places: In the void, and in his body. This also the method by which he was capable of reincarnation. He had been bound to the void, much like his elder brother, but luckily he had noticed the connection earlier and deduced how to control it, rather than be trapped by it for eternity. His brother, through his tampering, was not so lucky, for Zume had known him to be a threat to the world long ago, and so had crippled his reincarnation. Nonetheless, as Zume accessed the portion of his soul which remained in the void, whilst his psyche was bombarded by killing intent and sheer terror, he cycled between the two, drew the information he needed, and then ceased conscious contact. This took only 3 seconds, but his immobile status did not change. 10 more movement patterns externalized from his blade, reinforcing his barrier and expanding the wind field an additional 5 meters, making it a total of 10 meters in radius. At this point the wnd within the field was moving at roughly 30-50 mph, picking up dust and debris freely. This decreased durability and increased the likelihood of being hurt by the flying objects. If Kojiro had not stepped back he would be inside the wind field. As all this occurred Zume's mind filtered through persona, his mind's second layer beneath the false conscious and subconscious mind that each of the persona--essentially artificial personalities--utilized for thought. Had the man's attack not come from a deep and core source it would not have penetrated past said layer as it was doing. His Archetypes, similar to persona, but in truth the aspects of him that seldom changed even when his surface personality did, were in a stark panic at the fourth wave of killing intent. As the fifth came...it did not hit them. His mind went silent, the serenity and killing intent begotten from him vanished. His expression became blank, and his eyes, if they could, began to emit a feeling of complete emptiness--not apathy, but an even deeper lack of substance. 6 of the shields thinned more, becoming bladed, but still flat, almost like certain flower petals, but with bladed types and slightly twisted forms about the middle. They began rotating, gradually picking up speed till they were just a blur like the shield that protected Zume. At first the field of wind decreased in radius by 2 meters, then it thinned from a dome, to a much thinner oval formation on its outer edge, but a warped dome 2 meters in. Its outer edge expanded and as it passed through a tree, the tree was cut in twain. As it fell it was sheered into more pieces. Zume had made his defense an offense. He began to walk. "Well done, but beware. You are now no more than an insect in my eyes, one that serves no purpose to me, and continues to pester me--biting where it can. What would one do wish such a creature, I imagine?" His voice cut through the wind like a knife, as he directed the sound waves with tiny particles of void chakra, guiding them throug the mire and right before the sage of humans. It was as if he spoke to Zume face-to-face. He released 10 more movement patterns, but they remained invisible and physically unmanifested around his form. Kojiro had passed the second test, but would he survive the class?

Kojiro saw the wind pickup around the man, expanding slightly. Kojiro was still weary of being touched by the man after seeing what he had done to his Earth Release: Earth Flow Wave. He hopped slightly, landing on top of the circles that had been stopped by his earth technique, then bounded off them hard to the right, giving himself a bit more distance from them as he bounded the right. Then something peculiar happened. He felt a profound emptiness around the area. Their battle had scared away, or killed, any wildlife that had been around, and now Zume's serenity and killing intent left, leaving him alone it felt like. For a minute he thought he'd killed the man with his killing intent, with a heart attack or the like, but then he realized the man was still there, especially as he spoke, seemingly right next to him though he felt nothing. Zume was there, and yet.... he was not. Kojiro had the oddest sensation that he was looking over a precipice by looking at this man... He no longer felt emotion, even with his sage mode ramping up his latent ability to feel them. For a minute, he felt concern that he could not feel the man anymore, then that turned to excitement. Once again, it would be nothing but his skill that could possibly lead him through the day. "I accept your analogy, afterall even an insect may be venomous enough to kill, and if I have bitten where I am able, and scamper off before you can step on me, what would happen I imagine?" Kojiro landed 90 from where he had been, and swung upwardly with his Nodachi, cutting through the ground below him, and yet no ground was touched, the blade of his Nodachi instead disappated as it touched the ground, spreading to the wind, continuing the long blade until it had entirely vanished, with Kojiro holding with his hands nothing but a handle into the air. He watched as Zume's new shell cut a tree almost effortlessly. "My friend, if you wish to live, surrender now, and do not walk a single step more. I have come to quite like you during this little skirmish, and now I have to say, give up. I feel like I'm staring at a precipice staring at you, but I do not fear for I have bridged many before."

Confidence, not arrogance, of this it was certain. However, there remained no barriers, no inhibitions, no care. He could not die. Not because his body was immortal, but because his soul was. Dying here against a worthy opponent, if the man indeed was, would not bother him in the least, but not continuing with victory in sight would indeed bother him, for the next time he returned, this man would be past the peak of his skill, whereas he would only surmount the one he now knew once more. No, backing down was entirely pointless, there was no need and no purpose in the action. With the fading of Kojiro's weapon, Zume knew that there was far more to his actions. As if each thing had been done with meticulous precision. He felt as if surrounded on all four sides. Four sides, four tools, now three. Precise movements, positioning. A warning to him from his enemy. Whatever this man had planned, or set up, which he was beginning to sense on multiple levels as he considered it, it was big and it was meant to finish him. Very well, if that was the case, then there would was no time for quarter. Four unseen handseals, Hipparu no mukō kara(引っ張るの向こうから 'to draw from beyond'), the mist spread, and then dispersed, disappearing into his surroundings rapidly, spread even more effectively by the wind around him. Seijou no nentou karada(Purity of the Mind and Body), now utilized on the very particles of mist he had spread abroad in his surroundings. Sixteen handseals, Tamashī no yōki – Hankō-ko o chūshō-ka shita mono(魂の容器 – 反抗子を抽象化したもの 'Soulless vessel – Abstraction of the defiant child'), it formed beside him, then vanished into one of the invisible movement patterns, which immediately relocated itself far from his current location, half a mile in distance to be exact. "Drifting throughout, space and time dare not grace thy silver flesh. I implore, may I receive thy guidance, Ōku no iroai ni musuko." The blade, once whole, became scattered. All, but two of its many movement patterns, the chakra that made up the blade's physical manifestation, split from its form. The circular formations that had attacked Kojiro faded and returned to Zume in an instant, vanishing. 221 patterns of chakra in total, 1 that had been sent away, 2 that retained the blade's shape, leaving 218 patterns for him to utilize. With that the torrent of wind ceased, dying instantly as his barrier demanifested its physical shape, revealing the last pure Tatasuko in all his empty majesty. "Then come, land a blow, I dare you," there was no emotion, no expression upon his face or in his mind. He had spread his arms wide as if to make himself a target, before lowering them, the emptiness now spread throughout the area. "Should you land it, you will not be the first to lay true a killing strike upon my form. As before, it will not be my end, come mortal, show me your worth," it was a lie. While Kojiro would not be the first to land a killing strike should he manage it, he would never be capable of such. This was not his own arrogance, which dictated to him this answer. No, it was the mere fact that Kojiro had no way of detecting the single movement pattern that held within it, something precious. It was the fact that the sky itself had become his domain with the spread of his mist throughout. It was that he had pushed Zume all the way to his core, and brought such a terrible thing out to play in a world where emptiness was unwelcome...feared. No, his blow would not land. With this thought in mind, he held a single handseal in his left hand, at his side, there was a flicker, and he began his wait. Whatever was coming, would hardly matter now.

Kojiro sighed as soon as Zume said to land the blow. This was it. Either he would end this fight now, or he would be ended. The edge of fate was ready to fall. As soon as it was said, Kojiro jerked his sword up another inch. "Mountain Cutter." The red color under his eyes moved slightly as if he had trouble keeping sage mode going under all the stress he was going through. He hadn't spent much chakra in sage mode really, but now his technique was guzzling it faster than he was certain he could handle, but against an opponent like this he had no choice. He had it in his capacity, but using so much of his body's chakra at once, in sage mode no less, was no small feat. The four points created a diamond, with Zume in the dead center. Again, the simple name belied it's strength. Zume had guessed right from his tools he'd placed, they hadn't been accidentally thrown away full of sage chakra. From the four different point, a piece of the earth shot up, the moved towards the center, forming an X, closing in on Zume. The feel of the technique was similiar to Hill Cutter, but on a completely different scale. The Earth shot up in fine particles that shot violently with a vibrating edge. Each 'edge' was 5 feet across, but would still cut most things in between to ribbons. The initial earth becoming shot into the earth launched all the tools into the sky, though they were thrown outside of the technique. The Tessen, being the smallest, was launched the farthest, flying over the technique itself to the other side, with the Kodachi and and Sheathe spun wildly in the air as well, off to the sides. They earth continued to shoot upwards in a geyser like an X-shape making a constant cutting stream into the sky. Kojiro seemed confused himself at the scale of the attack as it continued to grow, pulling the ground HE was on into the sky. It took a great deal of focus for him to control the thousands sections of the attack around him alone trying to drag him into the center. The geyser pulled everything to the center of it, slicing it to ribbons.. He used an additional portion of chakra to shift his blade a small bit to shift the earth he was on a tad so that he wasn't sucked into the center, which was hard. The edged sucked everything to the center before cutting it to ribbons as it dragged it higher and higher into the sky. The geyser was soon half a mile across. On the ground the technique started enlarging, pulling in more and more ground from the sides around it to maintain the X, turning the ground from an X to a ♦ as it pulled in more and more earth. The technique pulled more and more things into itself. The sheer scope of the attack was almost inhuman. Zume was in the worst section of it as well, the center, where earth would rise up from all directions, threatening to sandpaper him out of existance.

As the trigger was pulled, the flames ignited, the blade drawn, the shade closed his eyes and waited till the attack was nearly to him. Then there was a brief flicker, likely hidden by the dust from Kojiro's very own attack, after which it hit--head on. From far far above the storm of cutting dust, Zume watched, held aloft by the sky's breath and surrounded by the non-physical movement patterns of his blade, which faded and flashed in and out of existence to ward off any wayward dust from his aggressor's attack. Such a simple maneuver, yet it proved effective. He noted Kojiro rising through the mire of dust and destruction and it was at this point that he whirled his blade, gripped his offhand, and shifted the shape of his blade into that of a spear. He then dropped it, point downwards and aimed at Kojiro's head from above. 100 of the movement patterns remained around him as defense and the wind carried him higher into the air. The other 118 of them linked to the spear even as the sky itself thrust the weapon at faster speeds, wind increasing its speed and acting as a tempest that offset the dust once the weapon entered it. Perhaps the most dangerous aspect of the attack was not the spear itself, but the 100 unmanifested patterns of chakra that were ready to become physical at a mere thought from their master: Zume. They were arranged curved blade whose arms extended out for 50 meters radially about the spear, though invisible and non-physical for the moment. Half of the blades went clockwise and the others went counter clockwise, intersecting one another in a variety of places. What was to happen depended entirely on whether Kojiro dodged or not. As this attack was executed Zume, still in the sky, gathered winds from the four corners with the chakra he had distributed earlier, using the void's pull to manipulate the wind as if it were his own affinity. Even if Kojiro managed to avoid death, it would find it soon. The sage had dealt an attack that, to the shade's eyes, clearly drained him of almost the entirety of his chakra. Even with him still in sage mode and absorbing chakra the man would not pass out, and could continue fighting, but would be incapable--most likely--of pulling off anything so flashy again. Though, he had to admit, even in his current mind state, that the attack was indeed impressive. That much he would give the man, but only that much.

Kojiro felt something profoundly wrong as he felt his technique go off without so much as a hitch, other than he himself being dragged into it. If something had blocked it, as he had expected, the blank space would have given it away on the earth, and Zume wouldn't have just gone unresisting. That man was too strong for that. Above him his tessen fell, right towards him. Finally, some relief, I couldn't hold this technique as strong as it is for much longer as I am Kojiro glanced upward, though he couldn't see Zume at his current height he saw the wind disrupting the dust slightly above him, though the technique was too well held together in it's X to be merely blown away, though a hole that quickly reformed itself was left in it's wake. Was Zume that far above him? That seemed impressive. Kojiro couldn't even see him, but the details of where the gust was gave him a good idea of the direction of the man at least, still above him. Oh good, I don't have to maintain control of the technique, it's headed upward anyways. I don't have to changed direction or anything Kojiro snapped the tessen out the air with his dominant hand, and swung it at his feet, freeing himself from the suction of his own technique, starting to fall out the air. Kojiro continued falling along it as the Spear came at him. Again he filled his tessen with chakra, and slammed it forward with such precise timing that it reflected how long he had spent with the weapon. As soon as the spear touched the chakra, he snapped it open, causing it to violent be flung to the side, seperating the force that drove it in two, and sending it flying to left, straight into the dust X technique, if Kojiro was lucky, sandblasting it to oblivion. He quickly shut his fan again, ready for more projectiles as he fell. Kojiro's eyes dimmed, turning back to brown, with no red underlining, and his sword changed from a red ito to a black one. Around him, silver dust started to gather, leaving guiding the technique and slowly regathering into his blade once more. The technique itself was still held together by the massive volume of chakra in it, and it's direction, continuing it's upward course. It was probably going to reach a few miles in the air before it stopped. It did however stop growing. The ground stopped feeding it, leaving a massive crater from where the technique had shot out of the ground. It slowly spread dust in the air around the area, still coated in his chakra. The X took up 1/2 a mile across, and 3/4 a mile long. It was no longer under Kojiro's control however. Kojiro shook his head at the thought. He wished he could reenter Sage mode in an instant. "And so the hunter becomes the hunted."

Downwards movement, an alteration in course taken into mind, then a sudden shift. Deflected, but no matter, for as the spear was hit to the side, its course changed to a diagonal one. However, before it could move even a foot from Kojiro due to the sage's Tessen strike, the blades manifested, solidifying from the spear and moving outwards. Due to their length(50 meters), and new position because of Kojiro, they would pierce him less than 2 seconds after they'd begun manifesting, which was roughly 1 second after the spear had been struck. The blades were manifesting in such a way that when they hit Kojiro they would strike him square in the chest and likely pierce right through him as they continued to solidify. Zume on the other hand, noted the upwards expansion of the dust and created his moving barriers once more, thus time using the remaining 100 movement patterns. This create a secondary sphere of wind around the sphere of rapidly rotating void chakra. When the X of dust engulfed him it would be diverted first by the wind, thrown about, or at the least a gap made around Zume's protective measures, and any that got past that measure would simply be thrown aside and simultaneously blocked by the sphere of rotating voidal patterns. "Check-..." he began, waiting to see if Kojiro could evade his attack.

Kojiro eyes saw a sudden movement coming from the spears, and decided a sacrifice was needed then. It was mostly based on the destruction of his Flowing Wave from earlier that made him determined not to touch Zume's chakra personally if at all possible... in this case 'if at all possible' might sting. Kojiro waved his opened fan downward with a fluid motion from having opened it, ending with the fan facing him. Earth Style: Gaia's Breath Blades of dust, weakly formed, partly from the speed of the technique, partly for convenience formed quickly and slammed into Kojiro, sending him flying downwards towards the ground and under the forming blades at a 135 degree angle sending Kojiro flying downwards at an angle to evade the spears. The spear itself would probably land in the last of the wave upwards probably being sandblasted from existance, or at least thrown upwards. Though at this rate, nothing was going to surprise Kojiro of what Zume was doing. The technique of Gaia's Breathe hitting Kojiro did minor damage, and though they hurt, the cuts were relatively small, but the technique was made weakly, and aimed mostly at the sheathe of his Kodachi in his robe. Kojiro looked up to see how Zume would be dealing with the earth sent to cut him to ribbons. He was a bit shocked to see the top of his technique starting to get thrown around everywhere in the sky. Kojiro gave a grudging acknowledgement to Zume. "I couldn't have imagined he'd be so strong. I'm not even sure I could imagine someone being that strong. That technique may be new, but I expected it to be more damaging." The technique would keep firing upwards for another few moments, though Kojiro was in no condition to add to it. The dust likely continue to scatter from the sky, covering the entire area in a cloud of dust. Kojiro swept his tessen under him, softening the ground as he hit it, landing slightly to the side of the massive abyss that had been formed by his Mountain Cutter, his sword continuing to draw in the rest of itself to reform, while at the same time drawing in natural energy. Kojiro smiled a bit. "Well now, this is challenging. I've got to overcome a power I haven't yet been able to imagine, with my chakra low. Glorious. I'm not so helpless anymore though."

As Kojiro managed to dodge, Zume began his descent, the spear continuing to fly down till it was struck by the final wave. As this occurred the spear was whirled about and upwards in the currents till Zume, rather quickly, tired of watching it. The weapon dematerialized, then emerged as if from nowhere, returning to his hand in its blade form once more. Zume, having noted Kojiro's location, re-calibrated the sphere that surrounded him. He removed several of its components, changing the size and shape of others to compensate. He then removed himself from it, allowing it to rapidly accelerate downwards towards the Sage. Should he move before it landed, its trajectory would alter to compensate. The attack could only be effectively avoided several moments before it struck. Zume on the other hand waited. He saw the danger in returning to the ground, but also saw the potential in doing so for his own attacks. He knew Kojiro could track his movements via the dust, though there was less of it in his general vicinity. He knew it could be used for further attacks, but he also knew that he was most deadly when he could attack from mid-range. He began preforming handseals. He could use that technique again, but doing so would mean sacrificing a large portion of his chakra, which was risky. His opponent was running low now, but the man was a sage and with his blade, he could absorb the surrounding natural energy. This would mean that Kojiro could regain his chakra stores in combat, whereas he could not. Troublesome.

Kojiro felt Zume's..... things heading down towards him, as well as noting the spear disappearing physically before reappearing in Zume's hand. He felt excited to see Zume now on the offensive. Kojiro figured getting the man to that point was no small task. Kojiro took the few moments he had as Zume descended he had to take inventory. He stuff the tessen back into his damaged robe, and ripped off the part of his robe where the sheathe to his Kodachi had been. It was tattered and likely to hurt Kojiro if he kept it on. The sheathe flew off the robe. The ripped robe was tied quickly around his mouth It was only a bit before the.... things were upon him. Kojiro grabbed his Nodachi with both hands, and cut once at the ground beneath him, towards the abyss. The Earth beneath him groaned as he did so. He stood ready for the movements coming at him. Mere moments before they would reach him, the earth would collapse, pulling him towards the abyss, and hopefully out the way of the.... things. The earth was steadfast, he could depend on it, it was a much safer abyss than Zume. Kojiro sighed. He didn't have enough chakra to counterattack at the moment. It was boring to sit around making as little action as possible.

The attack seemed to strike, but he noted the collapse of the ground beneath, An interesting trick, he thought quietly as he observed from on high. He had finished the hand signs by then of course and as such he initiated the technique, knowing full well its cost.

Another Zume would spawn below, emerging from the movement patterns he'd utilized for attack. The blade had vanished from the original, who remained aloft in the sky, ever watching. The gale about his body however, ceased, and he became empty once more. Dust would flow about him, and through void, appearing to move naturally from Kojiro's perspective. The dust, in various ares throughout the sky, became thick enough to make it impossible to pierce with the naked eye.

Zume had vanished.

---

Standing upon the ground several meters from where Kojiro had caved in the earth beneath him, Zume's eyes took everything in. The mist exuded from his body, forming a light blackness in the air within a foot of his person. "I see you favor the mother's embrace," he stated, drawing his blade from thin air as he had before. The movement patterns that had made an attempt on Kojiro destabilized and shot through the air, merging with the blade and vanishing into its form.

He reversed his grip and let his arm fall to his side, the blade's tip gently trailing against the dirt as he walked forwards. The mist coalesced around him, swirling lightly, though seemingly unaffected by the light wind that had began to form in the last few minutes.

Perhaps taking things slow was the better option.

Yeah, that fight died, we'll declare undeclared. But me and Yosh wanna fight again, and so we will Bleach verse, lieutenant level.

Captain Ryuunosuke stood atop an office building, listening as the rules were explained. He couldn't leave unless Captain Harime was dead. On one hand, no one would blame him in this situation. On the other hand, she owed him 50.

He looked at Harime with a raised eyebrow with a face that was otherwise indifferent.

"Can't leave while my opponent's alive? Why on earth would I want to hurt this lovely young captain here? I vote for peace."

As he said that, under his breath he muttered as quickly as he could, a quickly little protection. And by protection, it was apt to do a grevious amount of damage should someone activate it. He was going to feel sorry if any harm came to his 50, but stopping harm to himself seemed more important.

_{"Flames of passion, rise up, burn those who trespass the God’s realm, #60, Kazan *cough, cough*"}

Ever so slightly, kanji barely marked the rooftops, barely visible, like a shadow. He held the same expression, as if he was innocent and hadn't done anything at all. Agni waited to see what would happen, though his Zanpaktu voiced to him

'Great job on making peace, jackass'

---

Noting the rules, Harime drew her blade, practically ignoring Agni's words. He was just an obstacle in her path now. "I'll deliver your body to those who care for you," she said coldly, an inch of her blade slipping back into her sheath. "Tesselate," she drones, the blade coming back from its sheath, reiryoku now trailing from its tip "...Reitō seishin(冷凍精神 'Frozen spirit')." With the wisps emergence, her blade shimmered, and her reiatsu spiked.

Her blade now at her side, the wisp having drifted from it, the captain began walking towards Agni. The two were atop different buildings, so her path took her into the open air, which she walked upon, its reishi supporting her. Clothes drifting around her in the light breeze, her windswept, she was a striking figure to look upon, and the small trail of ice that the wisp left behind only served to enhance her beauty as the light hit them, thus crafting a subtle glow.

It seemed her title was a fitting one.

Agni's eyebrow raised to it's peak as she declared him an obstacle. Silently one hand grabbed the sheathe of his sword, his thumb against the guard.

"Leaves me with a problem. Do I send yours to your division, or the whorehouse?"

With that he began an incantation for a single spell under his breath, his other hand moving to his handle, putting him in an Iai stance as he chanted.

He watched Harime carefully. She wasn't a captain for no reason. He had experience, but she had raw talent.

---

A small smile touching her lips as he attempted an insult, it was cute. "Don't worry, you won't need to worry on that," she replied, her smile remaining as she walked through the air, progressing slowly. Meanwhile the wispy embodiment of her spirit, Seishin, drifted about, scattering tiny shards in a myriad of directions. The wisp seemed to fly back and forth, in lines that almost overlapped eachother. The resulting effect manifested as layers of ice crystals drifting down through the air.

Harime herself seemed only to respond to Agni, almost as if speaking only when necessary. Was there a reason for it?

"You're awful fond of kido, aren't you," she commented, tilting her head to the side slightly, her sword arm relaxed. The fingers on her other hand seemed to almost bob and weave to a tune. It, to others, seemed an odd habit of hers as she did it in and out of combat. However, it turned out that it was actually a measure to manipulate the ice crystals her shikai released. While at the beginning she had been entirely incapable of moving the tiny crystals at all, now she could manifest small amounts of her reiryoku and use it to pull and maneuver individual crystals. It didn't allow for much, but it served as a useful trick at times.

As such, a thin ribbon of ice crystals had been attached to the base of her zanpakuto's hilt. She allowed Seishin to fly over the blade, and the “ribbon,” so as to solidify the ice and make its growth limited in a manner of speaking.

Her fingers continued to move.

Even to Agni, who did not know her well, the motion would likely appear meaningless, in fact it would appear more so precisely because he didn't know her well. Had he known her he would have known that she was not one for wasteful actions.

Then again, if he had it would mean that the habit was likely to be seen as one of the chinks in her armor of perfection. Amusingly enough, it was the views of others that had built her up as a “perfect,” person, not her own proclamation of such. She was not arrogant, even if she was haughty at times.

She knew her strengths...and her weaknesses. Though not perfectly of course.

---

Agni didn't have a reply to Harime. In part, he felt she was an enemy, both to him and to the Seireiti. Anyone who would be that willing to strike down an ally was no longer one. He had no banter for that. The main reason though was he was busy chanting.

He admitted he didn't know much about Harime, but he doubted she was wasting time. He supposed she was, like him, preparing an attack.

This battle, and he now knew it was that, would be determined by whose strike landed. So he struck.

Unsheathing his blade in an Iai fashion, he screamed the name of a kido.

"#33, Sokatsui!"

A wide arc of pale fire flew out the blade at Harime. Despite it's wide arc, it wasn't very concentrated. It was strong, Agni was competent in kido, but it wasn't a full strength spell. Deflecting it, or dodging to the side would be fairly easy.

It was not the kido he had been chanting. Silently, he unleashed the one he had been chanting. Behind the flame, his hand on his sheathe formed a rod within the sheathe, and threw forward. The rod multiplied by the dozens.

#62, Hyapporankan

The rods flew forward in an expanding angle. The weaker kido obscured the larger one, making it a surprise right behind should she dodge or attempt to deflect.

Harime was right about one thing, Agni was fond of kido. His zanpaktu was powerful, too strong for him to exercise much control on it. Kido gave him that control. He had played with fire too many times.

---

Narrowing her eyes at his silence, Harime mentally commanded Seishin to spread more crystals, but now in front of her as well. She wanted to know if there were tricks up his sleeve.

It turned out there were as the man slashed, his voice ringing out. In the same movement the arc approached her. Her smile remaining, Harime reversed her grip, hopped upwards and let the weapon's tip just barely graze the spell. The ice, as if devouring the substance, spread over its surface with great haste, freezing it solid in a matter of seconds. However, it was both this maneuver and her dispersal of ice crystals that allowed her to locate the second spell that trailed just behind the first. To this her response was simple, she twitched the fingers on her free hand.

Each of the bars of kido diverted their course away from her, and flashing in the light were bits of ice upon their forms. They had collided with the ice crystals she'd laid out before her.

Meanwhile, ice began to touch the tops of buildings and streets, blanketing the landscape below slowly in a curtain of chill. Perhaps it would soon become clear to Agni that he was not facing someone with just raw talent.

She continued to approach her opponent, choosing to fall back down to the same elevation as before and walk on the air towards him. He hadn't released his blade yet, but that could be solved soon enough.