[BSD-RP] The Valley of Screams

[Shinigami]

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The young soul retrieves his Zanpakuto and once again believes time is on his side as he launches himself back once he has a grip on his blade once more. Did he not notice it? The odd glow emanating from his blade? Did he not once take time to think about why his blade was glowing? Taking a firm grasp of the blade in hand he believes he is ready to continue the bout, to finally give it all he’s got. This is a false hope, something Tenzen poisoned him with by allowing him to retrieve his Zanpakuto. He is still young and has much to learn when it comes to combating a Captain. He watches Hiroka discard his arm, narrowing his eyes as the boy makes a gesture with his blade.
”Hadō #31...”
Perhaps Hiroka wanted to put on a show or display of some king by activating his Bankai considering how he stared down at Tenzen as if his display were to be a cause of worry or concern. His pressure increased, an obvious sign that something was about to happen something was going to take place and yet Tenzen remained still, unphased and unmoving. He could see the glow in Hiroka’s eyes, the power that was surging through him was enough to create such a glow, sadly he will never see the release of his Bankai as Tenzen had seen enough.
Mercy
”Shakkahō.”
Whilst holding his blade in his left hand his left arm and the left side of his torso would suddenly explode. The damage dealt did not come from an external source it, instead, came from within a spell triggered from within his body by the Kido Corps Commander. Any surge of power he may have been building would possibly vanish as his blade falls down from the plateau he stands upon. Did Tenzen truly cast the spell within the body of Hiroka with such accuracy? The answer is both yes and no and the details to the answer for this question are laced within events that took place early in the bout. When Hiroka was spinning his blade with the cloth Tenzen had severed it with his Katana while it was clad in a white glow, a white glow that transferred to Hiroka’s Zanpakuto. Kido Displacement, there are very few who have seen this personal technique of the Kido Corps Chief used and lived to tell about it, though they may have no idea what it even is. In Hiroka's haste to recover his rigged Zanpakuto he allowed the hidden spell to be transferred into his body. Kido Displacement works as Tenzen channels a spell within himself, a separate spell or in his Zanpakuto and once one of these three things makes contact with another object or person it is transferred until Tenzen triggers it. It traveled from Tenzen’s blade, through Hiroka’s cloth, into his Zanpakuto and finally into Hiroka himself. Had he been more observant he would have found something amiss with his blade early on as it was glowing on the ground, more so he never questioned why the retrieval of his blade was such a simple task.
The left side of Hiroka’s torso would have it’s innards damaged and exposed from the Hado exploding. An odd twist of irony that it was an explosion that was his undoing. Tenzen casually swings his Zanpakuto releasing a crescent arc of golden mist to land upon his opponent’s blade. He learned that by separating wielder and weapon causes a violent explosion and so he wishes to prevent that from happening again. He leans forward on his toes and flickers from his standing spot to stand beside Hiroka.
”We are finished here.”
The spell he was chanting has its energy released into the air with the sky and clouds returning to their original stark blue and fluffy white colors. He even disengages his Shikai to sheath his blade and cast Goyōgai (五養蓋, Five Support Cover) on the boy to keep his body in stable condition until they return to Soul Society. There is no kindness in the casting of this spell, it is done as a necessity to keep the soul alive so he is not charged with his murder. An act done out of selfishness rather than kindness.

 

[Shinigami]

Hiroka held confidence in the activation of his bankai though its release had been interrupted by the activation of a remotely triggered kido. One that carried an unavoidable presence due to its point of origin. This surprised the young shinigami since he hadn't known that such an ability existed, let alone what he had overlooked to allow something like that to happen. It was true that he had never clashed with someone who held such prowess with the technique and his knowledge was scarce on anything above the midrange of spells. Had it been earlier in the fight? Or when he had retrieved his weapon previously? It was truly an oversight that came with consequence. The execution of the remotely activated Shakkahō could have easily caused an instantly fatal blow, though be it from Hiroka's resistance to explosions or the mercy of Tenzen, the damage proved to be minimized to some extent.
His eyes shifted to the heat-filled weapon that was yet again dispatched from his grasp. Carrying the last of his will, he extended a binding from his leg to coil around the hilt of it. He closed the gap between himself and his opponent, swinging one last kick towards the man. His blade followed through dragged along by the reiatsu-infused wrapping. Hiroka released the grasp of the weapon, bracing himself for what followed. The power that built within the zanpakuto from the attempted release of the bankai had heated the weapon just as the full consumption of his weapon's smoke would do. A brilliant flash rung out from within his molten weapon, triggering another powerful eruption of flame and smoke only a few centimeters from Tenzen. The shockwave that followed propelling the greatly weakened Hiroka to the ground below, his feet barely managing to catch his fall. Gliding backwards upon contact with the ground, burrowing into the stone beneath him. His gaze watched as Ikarihime flew from the explosion and stuck into the ground a decent distance away, smoking from the emission of the thermal energy it had just put out.
His vision split between a state of focus and distortion, feeling darkness soon encroaching upon him. Before now he held such a disinterest in the practice of kido. Though now it was clear that even if he did not intend to make use of it, he certainly knew he had to pursue knowledge of it even if it was to simply know how to better face off against it. His existing knowledge of the art had carried him through previous conflicts, though this was one that his narrowing versing left him aware of his present limitations. If he were to achieve his goal of testing the limits of his kind, this was not something that could repeat again. His legs grew shaky from the combination of his adversaries last spell and the blast of his own shikai. Hiroka dropped to his knees prior to collapsing to the ground beneath him, his last observation being the pluming smoke above. His view fading to black as he laid upon the ground, while his displaced weapon reverted to its sealed state where it laid struck within the earth. Regardless of what followed this, it'd not discourage his pursuit for becoming stronger, nothing could shake that goal. It was his personal purpose to live up to that, for himself and for his late sibling. And if given the opportunity he'd happily welcome a rencounter with Tenzen.

 

[Shinigami]

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The hidden spell is triggered, Hiroka suffers critical damage and still chooses to press on, still chooses to fight back instead of laying down. A dying gasp of an action, a futile attempt to get one last shot in against his proctor, was this what Eleventh Division has ingrained into its members? It is certainly an admirable quality but it is one that Tenzen cannot understand as he was taught a very different prospect in regards to battle, survival above all else. Right now Hiroka is showing a clear disregard for his own survival and the Captain cannot fathom it in the slightest.
A strand of cloth extends from Hiroka, snatching up the weapon he had just lost, Tenzen sighs. He watches as Hiroka seeks to use a final maneuver against him but it is no technique, no hidden ability, it is but an act of desperation. Tenzen is never one to bet everything on one plan even if it was an assured one such as his Kido Displacement technique, had he willed it the young soul would be on the ground with an exploded head instead of an exploded arm and torso. But the question is, how fast is Hiroka moving in this injured state? Both arms were removed by quite violent means and his torso has taken quite the blow externally and internally. With all these things considered Tenzen taps into the single Hoho technique he has at his disposal, Utsusemi (空蝉, Cast-Off Cicada Shell; Viz "Cicada Shell"). This advanced Shunpo technique allows the user to move at speeds fast enough to produce an after image of themselves to fool attacking opponents. However, in this instance, it is not going to be used to fool Hiroka, instead it is being used for it’s sheer speed.
Tenzen meets Hiroka at the halfway point or perhaps a bit sooner than that, his Kido Corps Haori left behind in the place where he once stood. His Nodachi gripped in both hands as the boy is attempting to follow through with his kick, Hiroka has dedicated everything to this maneuver and with no arms or kido skills to speak of he is a wide open target. With a swing of his Nodachi, Hiroka is bifurcated at the waist. His kick follows through, just without his upper body and with it flying off behind Tenzen the explosion meets its old nemesis, Millón Escudo. A bigger, more chaotic explosion does not mean it is stronger and as such it is not focused. Had any of his explosions been used with more focus in mind, this Kido may have not held up as long as it has. As such it is drawn in and repelled much like the others were. What’s left of him is caught by Captain Oda, specifically he is being held by his hair. Another Shunpo is used to take him back to the ground where he is tossed and has Tenzen’s blade hovering near his throat.
”The test is over. Continued resistance will be considered criminal and you will be executed.”
Goyōgai is cast on Hiroka to place his body into stasis to keep him from bleeding out and dying. At this point it will take the combined efforts of the Twelfth and Fourth Divisions to restore his body back to normal. As for Tenzen, he’ll have to worry about getting a stern talking from the Priestesses about getting his Haori destroyed yet again.

 

[Shinigami]

護廷十三隊

 

[Shinigami]

“ Lieutenant Omoni Hageshi of Fourth Division. Your victory against corruption in the land of the living has not gone unnoticed. It has been determined that you are worthy of progressing to Captaincy and are hereby summoned ordered to the Valley of Screams on this day at 0800 for a test of your qualification.”
The paper crinkled loudly as it collapsed under the force of her closing fist. Alone in her office, Omoni uttered a guttural growl and tossed it furiously into a bin in the corner of the room. Her great mahogany desk appeared to shrink in comparison to her large form that rose from it onto her feet. So this was it. This was their final resort. They had to command her to take up arms and participate in that damned exam because she refused to do so on her own accord. Her freedom of choice being wrenched away was bad enough but to think she’d end up in a position that she had always despised for herself it was safe to say Hageshi was livid. After all, they hadn’t even told her who was going to fight her!
“ TCH.”
Fine then. FINE THEN. She’d not sit there and grumble about the situation. She was going to take control. She was going to rip the reigns out of the hands placing her into the path of scrutiny and what was sure to be a significant clash of insurmountable power. Such resolve bubbling to the surface changed it’s form from rage to excitation and now, Omoni forged forth motivated not by animosity but by a call to action she had not seen in some time. She was going to enjoy this, whomever her opponent turned out to be she was bent on an unwavering conviction to see that they would provide her with the satisfaction she’d been seeking since tangling with that spawn of hell Togabito in the land of the living. Her door slammed shut at her back as she whisked away down the nearest hall and out of fourth division into the seireitei.
From there...well…
“ Dumb thing’s broken again, whata’ piece a’ JUNK!”
The Denreishiki clattered onto the ground for what would be it’s fifth and final time left behind by a fuming Omoni. Finally abandoned so that it could slip away into eternal peace like so many that had come before it. However, because of this blight Hageshi ended up arriving on the field an entire hour late for her test. Whether her opponent would still be waiting for her was up in the air at this point. Would they be aware of how often this sort of thing happened to her? Would they even care?

A couple of broken walls later, Hageshi finally appeared emerging in the distance. Smoke from a cigar clenched between her teeth billowed out and wafted around her person. Where there had been traces of annoyance in her expression, there was now an ever growing spark of elation. The closer she had come, the more vivacious her insatiable desire to be witness to her examiner’s show of force had grown. Lumbering on, her cerulean gaze lifted in order to gather a view of who it was that would be awaiting her arrival. For a minute she couldn’t see anything past a cloud of dust blown wildly about the valley but...was someone there?
“ KEKEKEKEKE! I bet they left, ya took so long gettin’ here...bet their thinkin’ HOW RUDE n’ ditched ya!”
Deep within the spiritual realm came a familiar cackle. Truly her weilder hoped that wouldn’t be the case for if it was then she would be forced to hunt them down and their fight would have to be commenced elsewhere. Even with this possibility, unbothered by the empress’s common scorn Omoni continued to trek along until something or someone sought to stop her.