[BSD-RP] The Valley of Screams

[Shinigami]

As Yamato’s tail was pierced by the crystal beneath him he felt a draining feeling coming from the crystal as both he and it rose up. Acting quickly, he cut off his tail as soon as he felt the drain so only a minuscule amount of his Reiryoku was drained before jumping a hundred and eighty feet up above the other crystals. As he rose the base of his tail had already stopped bleeding though it would a little bit before it regrew completely. Swinging his chains and hooks he quickly converted a hundred feet of the crystals below him into Ricin powder while the rest glowed briefly before exploding in a rather spectacular detonation with what would’ve been blinding light though thanks to his Filters the light amounted to little more than a glow sticks worth as he dodged the few crystal shards that could reach him from that far down and that far away.
Due to the explosion below the Ricin powder was spreading through the air covering a three hundred foot area below Yamato and would likely remain airborne unless a strong wind picked up and whisked it away elsewhere making it a dangerous and lethal location for Higen to go into. Drawing his Shikai towards him the chains wrapped around his arms drawing a small amount of blood as the two hooks gently bit into the nape of his neck before releasing his Bankai.
“BAN...KAI!! HIDORA!!”
As his Shikai turned to mist and formed Hidora midair Yamato landed on Hidoras back as Hidora landed onto the crystal free and Ricin filled zone his four heads constantly breathing out the deadly green fog concealing both himself and Yamato in a green shroud. Though Yamato himself couldn’t see through the fog with his eyes since it was so dense his secondary vision easily picked up Higens Reiryoku. Pulling out the launcher he had loaded earlier he configured a few settings on it before firing it with a small ‘piff’ sound coming out of it as two balls and disks shot out of it. Both of the balls would curve to the right and left of Higen the right one slightly higher than the left while the two disks were coming from the left and right diagonally from above to below where they would be just above the two balls.
If any of these disks or balls hit Higen or exploded and any of the shards hit him he, his Zan or both would become poisoned by Yamatos poisonous and highly condensed Reiryoku stored in them even if the balls, disks or shards never pierced Higens skin as all it took to transfer the energy was physical contact and though a Zan would normally not be poisoned by this attack the disks and balls had travelled through the fog and thus absorbed its properties doing so. Should Higen dodge this attack the angles of the balls would pop up the disks and send them tumbling wildly before both pairs detonated sending shards everywhere.

 

[Shinigami]

In a quick succession of moments, Higen had seen the shikai of his opponent and released his very own shikai in response. Upon first inspection there was only confusion regarding the usage of his combatant’s zanpakuto. He was yet to see anything outstanding that gave the slightest indication of its abilities. The serpentine shinigami had his tail severed by the crystals and took a mighty leap into the air, his body shifting and contorting to create a whirlwind of chain and hook, sweeping through the field of crystal while quite literally converting it to dust. Higen was sure to avoid the chains himself, but they seemed to naturally graze far over his head with little to threat to him. In the instant that a powdery substance began to administer itself in the area Higen’s muscles in both his feet and legs constricted, blood coursing through them as his figure faded from view due to hurried shunpo. The act was soundless amidst the vast destruction that ensued, his body materializing from a single stride one hundred meters backward. It was hard to identify Yamato’s actions from such a distance but became much easier at the sight of a massive reptilian creature appearing somewhat beneath him.
Higen was unsure what the hell was happening, but was certain it couldn’t be good. In the same instant this was perceived his hands, previously coiled at his sides came crashing down in front of him into the barren landscape. A small cloud of dust consumed the once shiny gloves that quelled with Higen’s reiryoku. The moment they met the turf an entirely new bed of crystal appeared beneath both Yamato and the creature, little to no space in between each of the jagged crystal spires that welcomed the beast back to the ground. The field was littered with these spikes, and consumed an area more than twice the creature’s size, each sharpened point facing its underside with the same height as the former. Not only were the crystals impregnable, but the momentum, weight, and size of the creature falling from the sky would only expedite and enhance the imminent skewery. On top of this, its height seemed less that of the crystals’ maximum height, allowing them to go directly through to also impale Yamato who had chosen to mount the monstrosity.
Simultaneously, regardless of if the creature was destroyed or not it too would find the reiryoku within it to be sapped, increasing exponentially with each crystal that meets with its flesh. Regarding the field of crystals below it, there were well over three-hundred of them total. Yamato’s position on the creature’s back would more than likely even limit his ability to quickly see the crystals beneath his pet’s mass. Even if he could, to turn them into powder like he did with the previous would not only take some maneuvering around his own creature, but would also require the halt of any actions he’d already begun to perform. From a rather safe distance, Higen observed, a palm opening in preparation for the crystal’s contact with the beast so he could incur concurrent detonation upon the ingestion of its reiryoku.

 

[Shinigami]

As Yamato and Hidora fell towards the ground from two hundred feet above Yamato’s ability to sense Reiryoku detected the now familiar energy signature of Higens crystals below them. ‘Again with those crystals, why can’t he come up with something a little more unpredictable than this?’ Turning all four of his heads below them Hidora breathed forth his sickly green breath onto the now forming crystals below and around their position and as his breath touched them they melted into a black and bubbling tar like ooze of his own creation called The Devil’s Tar.
This poison had simple yet terrifying effect, anything it came into contact with was converted into more of itself and if a living being touched this substance they would find their body would quickly begin to liquify within eighteen seconds after exposure. The Devil’s Tar went to work, quickly forming a quagmire below Hidora and Yamato and as they landed the quagmire had extended to a hundred meters wide and ten feet below them though when Hidora landed in the muck his feet didn’t sink downward and instead acted as if the top of the quagmire was solid ground.
Just before he hit the ground Hidora raised his heads with his breath still streaming forth with the sickly green fog granting him and Hidora cover for a hundred meters around before turning his heads skyward. His breath rocketed into the air as green clouds started to form above both Yamato and Hidora though it had not yet reached above where Higen stood. Twelve seconds after the green clouds formed a green rain would start to fall with the same properties as Hidora’s breath. So long as at least one of Hidoras heads would continue to fire his breath skywards the could would continue to grow outwards at the pace of ten meters per head every six seconds.
As Hidoras breath shrouded them both Yamato sighed as he looked back at his regenerating tail, ‘Time to stop playing defensive and show Captain Higen what we’re truly capable of.’ As he thought this Hidoras tails arched over them both much like a scorpions and fired a dozen of his two foot long, barbed and hollow spikes with a prearranged payload from each tail towards Higen and his general area. Should even one of them hit Higen the barbs would rend his flesh with gaping wounds, should he try to smash them with his armored gauntlets the barbs would break open and Hidoras blood would spill out only to vaporize into huge ten meter wide clouds of enhanced Mustard Gas and should he dodge them the ones that hit the ground would release the same Mustard Gas over an area ten meters wide per spike that hit the ground.

 

[Shinigami]

The heat of battle was smoldering; and even still, not a single bead of sweat seemed to fall from the Captain’s brow. His haori still fluttered off behind his person, and he’d even still had on his Shikashuhou. This collection of things were an indication to all those familiar with him that he hadn’t felt the fire of this battle as of yet, and wasn’t sure if he’d ever. Focused eyes fought through the small clouds of dust kicked up in the distance between them, never losing sight of Yamato or his beast, but simply gauging them as the actions took place in such a small window. A brief retreat into thought took place as Higen began to ponder in the space of an infinitesimal moment. Whatever the beast had been, Yamato was smart enough to summon it against a destructive foe like the Shining Captain. This alone showed indication of the combatant’s confidence in his pet’s durability. There had to be more to it, he thought. A mad scientist like his adversary could have applied any number of modifications to the rampant creature. The safe approach would be to utilize his bankai and pummel both it and Yamato into oblivion. No, that may have been the most unsafe thought yet. It was a test, after all. The objective was to push the contenders to their limits, not to bend stretch and break those limits beyond repair.
He had to contain himself and overcome, this was not the time or place for such power. The World-Breaker would continue his rest, and for now, the Shining Captain would paint the battlefield with his luminescence. One of the creature’s many heads tilted downward, from its mouth spewed a ghastly green breath. Higen was unaware of its composition until its reiryoku met with the crystals themselves. This stalagmite-esque crystalline stone unique to Hitsumishi has its growth increased exponentially when ingesting foreign sources of reiryoku. This, combined with the undaunting and masterful control of reiryoku and his own zanpakuto allowed Higen to continuously expand the crystals through the wave of green breath. Some still fell victim to the breath’s effects, slowly melting down, while others did not, but instead continued to grow at an increased rate. The consistent emission of one’s own reiryoku assisted in this process, and as the creature continued its descent, a plethora of crystals would meet its flesh. It may have seemed effortless in the moment, but Higen could feel the resistance vicariously through his crystal spires. They’d pierce its bottom side, and extended all the way outward onto the top of its back, sure to reach Yamato had he chosen not to dismount.
The usage of the crystal spikes may have seemed redundant, but was just in fact Higen’s favorite shape to manifest his zanpakuto’s abilities in. One of its core abilities was the creation of inescapable crystal masses, able to leave a target completely petrified. The moment the spikes made contact the reiryoku of the monster would begin transference. This process would only act as fuel for what took place immediately after contact. From each crystal spike inside the massive target would sprout additional crystal, spreading seamlessly throughout the entirety of its body mass, enveloping the creature in whole. The constant feeding of reiryoku from its body only assisted in speeding up this process. Thick blocks of emerald coiled around all of its necks, completely inhibiting its ability to tilt them downward to continue breathing, only to encompass each of the heads right after. Its tail, legs, and any other part of its body would suffer the same fate. Had Yamato remained stationary he too would join the exhibit. Beneath the surface of the crystal the creature would still live, however, but remained unable to conjure any movements or actions.
Higen’s palm remained opened, and with just the clasp of it he could level the Valley of Screams as far as the two of them could see. The amount of reiryoku he’d absorbed to this point and continued to absorb while the beast was in its crystal coffin was insurmountable. If detonated, Yamato could die at such a range, the swell of volatile energy consuming him entirely with no room to escape its reaches. Higen was unsure if there’d be anything left, but this was not something he’d wished to do. After all, he hadn’t come here to kill, but his intentions could easily be turned into a “mistake” had there been a lack of compliance.
"I think that’s enough!"
He yelled at such a distance, without ever taking his eyes away from his opponent’s direction. One clasp of the hand was all it took, and he’d find out if there would be anything left for him to bring back to Soul Society. Truth was, he’d seen most of what he’d come to see today, and had no intentions of gravely hurting Yamato outside of his own wishes. Yamato was in need of a lesson in both patience and hubris, and this was the first and perhaps, the final test.

 

[Shinigami]

Yamato had been confident that Hidora could convert and melt the crystals with ease and while some of the crystals did indeed succumb to Hidoras breath the vast majority somehow managed to withstand the breath rapidly multiplying and beginning to shoot up and through Hidora. Thinking quickly as the crystals approached Hidoras heads and not wanting to take any chances Yamato having already flown way above the crystals gave Hidora a mental command.
Without a second's hesitation the inner head on Hidoras right side bite off, and threw the outer right head in one quick and precise motion up to Yamato half a second before the rest of Hidora was crystallized. As soon as he grabbed Hidoras already regenerating head Yamato used a quick Shunpo to move five hundred feet above the crystal in case another explosion was about to happen.
Suddenly he heard Captain Higen shout, “I think that’s enough!” Relaxing slightly but not completely at ease he called back to the Captain, “Is the test finished?” Yamato had hoped he had done well enough to at least earn a high spot but as this fight showed he had relied too much on his abilities and had almost paid an unbearable price for it. He still had much he could learn if Captain Higen was willing to teach him after this.