Chiaroscuro: Retribution

Part 1
"Surely you do not care about the property damage I cause, Herr Gardesoldat", commented Anders Schäfer.

An endless stream of spiritual energy bullets fired from his modified weapon was showering the entire area with its destructive glow as he was attempting to shoot down his opponent, Satō Shingen.

"Sheer quantity won't score you a victory here", Satō spoke in the distance, uncaring whether he was loud enough to be heard by his opponent, but obviously annoyed with the state of the battle they were in. Light raced across his blade while his attention drew to the distance, his senses having picked up a truly massive spiritual power elsewhere in the Seireitei. When his gaze returned to the onslaught of arrows that were poised to skewer him, he found them frozen in place. Nonetheless they were precise, each and every one would have been a killing blow or so he estimated just from the sheer dozens he could see that were aimed at vital parts of his body. It was something worth complimenting, though he didn't voice it.

Wasting no more of the little time this specific ability granted him, Satō flash stepped across the battlefield. The gap between the Shinigami and the Quincy had been closed in a single bound, distances were easier to travel when the concept of time no longer existed after all.

"A fight is measured by the skill of its participants, not the amount of useless rubbish they can fling", said the man as he drew up in front of the frozen Anders, he wouldn't hear what Satō had to say immediately, rather he would experience a rush once time had caught up of everything spoken at once. "You have sixty seconds, or I will draw this fight to an abrupt end", the moment his declaration had been made time began to return to normal, the sea of arrows plowing towards whatever they may. The Shinigami transported away with his, it wouldn't be fun to make things too easy after all.

A faint frown appeared on Anders' face once he was capable of acting again. Nevertheless, he merely proceeded to continue his cannonade, now seemingly firing in random directions.

"What you say is true, Herr Gardesoldat", he remarked whilst unleashing countless arrows upon the already devastated battlefield. "You underestimate me, though. I am no mindless brute. Everything I do in combat has a meaning to it."

Then, he abruptly halted the barrage and bent his right hand in the elbow, pointing the crossbow upward.

"Zitadelle von Feuer", he declared in a solemn tone.

A single flare burst forth from the crossbow with a characteristic whizz. Subsequently, it blew up high in the air.

Without a warning, the entire area was drowned in blinding light as a wall of aquamarine flames enclosed both combatants in a large, glowing dome.

"Now you might ask yourself, why would a ranged fighter trap himself with a swordsman like that?", he said whilst reaching with his left hand to a container strapped to his belt. "And the answer is..."

"Bankai."

The air around Schäfer began undulating. When his Reiatsu signature changed, the medallion he had retrieved from the container shone momentarily before transforming. Then, it took the shape of a giant sledge hammer with a furnace-like head, the exhaust pipe mounted at its back spewing crimson flames with a loud roar. A raging blaze engulfed the Quincy.

"Ōkina Chikaku Kanetsuro", stated Anders as he slammed the ground with the stolen Bankai.

The ground below Satō cracked immediately, fissured by a web of gleaming cracks. Suddenly, an immense column of flames erupted upward, seemingly enveloping him with its incinerating fury.

Recalling the swirling vortex of madness he had been surrounded by not even a day ago Satō was yet again amused by the events going on around him. He supposed such things were the natural result of a fight involving someone who could seemingly move where ever he wanted at anytime, though confined spaces didn't do much to stop him. He had been further drawn in when Anders had somehow drawn out a Bankai, for a race that was supposedly superior they had a horrible way of showing it through their own merits, but the Royal Guardsman would applaud him nonetheless. If for nothing more than the conviction he seemed to hold for his cause.

He ignored the flames as they rose up at first, making no attempt to stop them as they engulfed his body. He stood calm within whilst his spiritual power attempted to resist the intensity of the flames. Inevitably, his resistances failed, his skin began to burn and his robes ignite, in but a moment the knot holding his hair in a tail melted away allowing it flow loose. Then he made his move, the slightest motion of his sword created a crescent which was immediately consumed by the flames but not destroyed. With Shunpo Satō freed himself from the fissure, bounding on Anders in an instant. He carved another slice through the air, the second blade now acting as a portal for the flames consuming the first, sending a crescent-shaped beam of concentrated fire at his opponent.

But he was not there.

"You do not listen", Shingen could hear from behind as he felt some strange sensation surging through his body.

He found himself paralysed, caught in a web of  attached to the fingertips of Anders' right palm. Meanwhile, the massive sledge hammer the Quincy held in the left hand swiftly smashed into the Royal Guard in a sweeping motion, releasing a burst of flames as it struck his body.

"Where are you looking?", a golden edge fired past Anders, just barely missing his neck. It too embedded itself in the air, far ahead of the previous that was currently emitting its beam of fire, this new blade consumed the continuous beam as Satō appeared far off to the side of Anders and what appeared to have been himself, the Quincy's attack destroyed him, a dispersing clone no more physical than the wind. Satō created three blades at specific angles as he moved along, each of them now firing their own beams of fire upon the Quincy.

"Sklaverei."

All three columns of flames vanished upon reaching a certain distance from Schäfer, as did the golden crescents left by Shingen. Utterly torn and converted into particles of spiritual energy, they were all readily absorbed by the Quincy. His body was outlined by the gleaming excess of power it had accumulated.

"Your ability is useless", he stated sternly. "You are merely postponing the inevitable."

Whilst saying that, he rapidly fired a burst of three Heilige Blitze, all of them aimed in different directions. Surprisingly, none of them targeted the Royal Guardsman. At least directly.

All of the crackling projectiles bounced off the surface of Zitadelle von Feuer and ricocheted toward Satō with tremendous speed.

And once again they stopped. This time Satō intended to leave a message, one that would perhaps get the man's attention. He closed the distance between them in a flash, with Anders frozen and incapable of activating either his Blut Vene or Sklaverei it was a simple matter of swinging his blade to open a cut on his face. He drew back, further than he had been previously to avoid the incoming arrows and whatever possible secondary effect they had. With that he'd let time return to normal.

"I'm sorry, Quincy, but as long as I hold this sword then this battle will only have one conclusion", time was ticking and as much as he disliked making use of that particular ability he wanted to end things quickly and he wasn't one to make false promises.

A single vein bulged out on Anders' forehead as he noticed the streak of blood on his cheek.

"You dare mock me like that, du Scheißkerl!?", he seethed.

The air around him started undulating noticeably with a loud, static sound. His body once again began glowing, this time much brighter. Flames erupted with a roar from the exhaust pipe of the stolen Bankai, engulfing him, and his blood vessels gleamed ominously with his aquamarine spiritual energy.

"Zieh zu!", he exclaimed.

Afterward, the dome of solid flames began decreasing, inevitably diminishing the space available to both combatants within.

"Lord Bane saved me from the spiral of despair! He gave me power and gave me purpose!", he yelled at the Royal Guardsman. "I shall not disappoint him!"

Then, with an abrupt motion, he launched his furious attack.

Turning around his own axis, he swung the huge sledge hammer and launched a giant block of smouldering ashes at Shingen. Meanwhile, his Reiniger shot three crackling orbs of electrified energy at the approaching surface of the Zitadelle von Feuer. As the technique fired by the Bankai was closing in to its intended target, the trio of Hagels bounced off the gleaming walls and exploded, unleashing innumerable arrows of light in all directions, the only area not covered by their range being the Quincy's own body.

The Shinigami made a near 360 degree spin on his own axis, sweeping his Zanpakutō through the wind, even a motion so smooth and light was enough to draw power from the blade, in all directions, blades of light were loosed to postpone if not halt the oncoming onslaught.

A blue light engulfed his hand whilst he jutted it towards the earth, "Sōkatsui", he stated simply. The light covering his hand turned furious, expanding out from his palm rapidly before turning into a simply massive pillar of energy. It carved a hole in the earth, much bigger than Satō or his opponent. Without a single pause in his movement, the Royal Guardsman leaped into the whole only to instantly turn back during the descent. "Bakudō #81. Dankū!", a near entirely transparent barrier formed in front of him blocking off the hole's entrance, during his continued descent into the cyllindrical crater he had formed, Satō made sure to generate several more, going so far as to over extend himself with their generation.

He stood at the bottom, breathing heavily, sweat and heat exuding from his body in exhaustion. There were five barriers in place as he noted, it was unlikely that they would stop the Quincy should he have chosen to absorb them but they would slow him down until he realized they were present. With that thought, he repeated the process that had brought him down here, his fist turning blue with Reiryoku flowing around it. A tunnel he had formed, right beneath the battlefield.

Meanwhile, once the devastation above him finished, Anders landed on the severely scorched ground, unfazed by the heat and smoke emanating from it. He took several heavy, but rhythmic breaths. Then, the air around him started glittering as the Zitadelle von Feuer was dispersed and sucked back into his body.

"I do not understand your behaviour, Herr Gardesoldat", he said in a calm manner. "I thought you had been sent here to protect this place", he continued as he fired a powerful energy bullet in the distance.

Soon afterward there was a sizeable explosion, the ground shaking slightly in its wake. Before its glow receded, Schäfer had shot another Heilig Blitz. Several other buildings far away were vapourised in its blinding flash.

"I thought you had been sent here to defeat me."

He lifted the Reiniger at an angle and fired a long burst of bullets of spiritual energy. Rather than dart straight toward the sky, their trajectories bent downward. Subsequently, they fell on the ground in a shower of light, eradicating an entire estate in one fell swoop.

"Yet all you do is to struggle fruitlessly and run away, as if trying to stall me", he carried on, walking slowly through the ruined district. "But time is on my side, Herr Gardesoldat."

When he was saying that another thunder rocked the murky heavens. Soon afterward plentiful small, orange lights appeared suddenly, dotting the dark bellies of the billowing clouds.

"Soon, you shall realise how grave a mistake you have committed", he finished with a grim smile, his blood vessels now gleaming with the flow of Reishi.

His own refusal to break his word had forced him underground, though he couldn't help but take everything the Quincy was saying as little more than hot air. Did he not understand the point of a deadline? Did he simply believe it was a bluff? Whatever the case might have been, time was surely not on the side of the Quincy. It never had been.

His hand shot upward, a blue light just barely keeping pace with the motion, engulfing more of the earth in a second hole that rose up just behind Anders. Satō rose from the crevice in seconds, landing on the cusp of the edge just opposite his opponent.

"Maybe you're right. Maybe I should have done this right from the start," Spiritual Pressure emanated from the man's body, multiple pulses rocked out around him in every direction, blasting the earth away and creating a crator within which Satō now stood. A shockwave, its ends made of energy rippled across the ground. The world seemed to cycle through times as if it no longer knew which was which. The ground shattered and renewed itself, or it did the opposite. The Quincy would see his Vollständig, remove itself only to be donned once again. The wound on his face would heal and re-open, his hair would gray and his flesh rot, only to return to a full and healthy state. Within himself the Reishi had absorbed fluctuated, his Heilig Pfeil would return or release, the barrier that he had just taken in would even reconstitute itself.

The only constant was the rippling feeling of Satō's spiritual pressure, it stood at its peak, reverberating through out the entirety of the Seireitei like a beacon. The man himself had aged considerably, as if he had just added a thousand years to his flesh. There were wrinkles across every part of his skin, his hair had greyed and turned sickly. His left eye had glazed and become unusable. At his side stood a set of armour, made up of lamellar plates and other assorted pieces of a 's, it wore a faceplate shaped like the mouth of an , but even so it was clear that the armour had no wearer, the spaces in the face plate and helmet were empty.

It closed in on Satō, clutching on to the hilt of his Zanpakutō which had begun to crack across the blade, visible lights of gold piercing through. "We are with you", the armour spoke, its voice an inhuman hum in the air.

"BAN-""-KAI!"

In unison they spoke, tendrils of light forming out around either figure before they were simultaneously consumed in a single towering inferno of golden energy. It fluctuated and pulsed as if it had a heart beat. It flooded into the sky, pushing around the clouds, like pouring water changing the flow of whatever sat in it. When it had dissipated the sky had gone black, a sea of clouds now hiding any light behind their all encompassing dim.

His youth had returned, his injuries were gone, and his attire renewed with the addition of several plates, suspiciously similiar to those of the armour that had helped him further release his weapon. His Zanpakutō was now a beam of pure golden energy, almost like a Seele Schneider if not for the obvious shape of a. Sharp fragments of the former silver edge remained within its new blade, floating in place, clinging to a single axis.

"I would consider myself a fair individual, I may have been chosen to guard these grounds and stop all who might bring chaos, but I would not break my principles for my duty", his voice had taken on a dual-tone, part human and inhuman, one a voice with an obvious origin, the other seemingly reverberating within the mind of whom he spoke to; Anders.

"I gave you fair warning, as long as my blade remained in my hand this battle would end only one way, you chose to ignore that fact", he rose his blade, afterimages following each instance of motion.

"Dangai no Iryoku...", he started. A sharp and visible wind picked up around them, Satō stood static within, the only thing unaffected by its grip. The world appeared to be shifting, the various areas of destruction that had been created were slowly returning to their previous states. As if Anders and Satō had never even fought.

His Vollständig no longer active and the stolen Bankai sealed in the round medallion he held in his left hand, Schäfer turned around slowly to face his opponent.

"I shall remember you", he declared in a tone difficult to decypher, looking him straight into the eyes.

"I will hope that serves as a deterrent then", his eyes closed for a second, his mind suddenly fluttered with every memory that concerned the Quincy, those that belonged to Anders as well as the memories of those he had interacted with in one way or another. "Rimen", the Quincy exploded into a cloud of dust, blown away by the forceful wind pushing through out the area.

He would find himself renewed within a place of his past, the moment preceding his death, only the circumstances that would cause his descent into Hell were not present. A mercy of an unusual sort, for his memories were not changed.

With a decidedly simple motion, the Bankai ended. The terrifyingly bloated spiritual pressure vanished in an abrupt instant leaving Satō kneeling on the ground, completely and utterly exhausted.

The myriad of orange lights scattered across the black vault of heaven shone ominously.

Part 2
Over on the other side of the battlefield all that one was able to see was rising dust and the massive form of Tinieblas thrashing about wildly, fighting two small individuals furiously.

"DIE!", Tinieblas roared as she continuously fired numerous jet black Balas from her tendrils.

"Tch, Bakudō #81, Dankū", Kurokawa Tadayoshi, shouted over the sound of the numerous balls of spiritual energy being fired. A near transparent wall appeared between the Arrancar and both Tadayoshi and Ikiryō Kuragari, however, after only a few seconds the wall started cracking and subsequently shattered under the pressure of the numerous attacks, the explosion sending both Captains flying backwards.

"This is...ridiculous.", Tadayoshi groaned as he staggered up, his large blade was slightly damaged due to the strain of his last attacks and only a small portion on his mask still covered his right eye.

"We need a strategy...we can't keep fighting her head on.", Ikiryō stated, while less worn out that his partner due to him removing his mask, he had sustained a lot more injuries, with his Shinigami uniform in tatters.

"I have enough energy to hold her off if you want to use your special Cero.", Kurokawa proposed, his hollowfied eyes locked onto the monster that was above them.

"It's as good a bet as any at the minute.", Kuragari replied sheepishly, he re-summoned his mask in preparation as Kurokawa subsequently removed his and got into a rigid stance.

"Reiatsu Douka.", he said firmly, his body started to glow orange with reiatsu, just as it did the reiatsu started flowing into Kurokawa's Bankai, causing it to also glow. When it had been absorbed, Kurokawa charged at the stoic Tinieblas, who had been waiting for the Captains to make their move.

"There you are!", she grumbled loudly, she swung one of her tendrils in the direction of Kurokawa, who promptly sliced it off with his Reiatsu-enhanced blade.

"WHAT!", the arrancar screamed in a mixture of mild shock and anger as she watched her now separated tendril fall to the ground below.

Kurokawa didn't respond to her confusion, instead he raised his blade to strike the Arrancar, noticing his notion, Tinieblas blocked the attack with a number of her other appendages. As Tadayoshi's blade hit them, instead of being effortlessly cut off like before, the tendrils were able to block his blade without injury due to Tinieblas' concentration.

Meanwhile, Kuragari had not moved, he was busy concentrating, charging up a Cero initially close to his chest, as the Cero increased in size he then started to also charge another attack, this one took the appearance of a pitch black hole in the fabric of reality. As the attack was making its iconic screeching sound, it started to merge with the already created Cero, giving the composite attack an indigo outline and a low pitched hum as opposed to the previous screeching sound.

"Cero Deshaciendo.", Kuragari uttered ominously.

Just as he did so, Kurokawa landed beside him, his sword was no longer glowing with Reiatsu and he now sported a fairly large shoulder injury. The two exchanged brief glances as the barely injured Tinieblas started to move rapidly toward them.

"Do it now!", Kurokawa shouted, Kuragari, heeding his comrade's advice, fired off his unique Cero at the massive Arrancar, however, both of the Captain's failed to notice Tinieblas charging her own pitch black Cero with a number of her tendrils.

"!", she screamed as the pitch black Cero shot forth from her numerous appendages, laughing inhumanly as the two extremely powerful techniques clashed.

For a while, the two beams of murky energy struggled against each other. However, soon the ominously humming Cero fired by Kuragari overpowered Tinieblas' own technique. Too fast for her massive form to avoid, she was struck by it in her right shoulder before the resultant explosion engulfed her.

"Hadō #73, !", exclaimed Tadayoshi.

The large wave of light blue energy hit the Arrancar quickly, not giving her time to recover after the previous blow.

"That should hurt her a bit", commented Ikiryō, breathing rhythmically. "We've got to think of a better tactic, though."

"Yeah", agreed Kurokawa. "I think..."

"I hate you."

The statement uttered by Tinieblas reverberated through the battlefield, its dark and intense tone much different from her recent fury. The two Captains immediately braced themselves for what could come at any moment.

"You think you're all noble and heroic", continued the giant Arrancar.

Her horrific released form emerged from a large crater shrouded with dust. The damage she had sustained was heavy, but her enhanced regenerative ability was rapidly healing the wounds and regenerating lost tentacles.

"But from our perspective, you're nothing but harassers."

Two of her many elongated appendages lashed toward the two Shinigami abruptly. Kuragari evaded a powerful strike thanks to a rapid Shunpo manoeuvre, whereas Tadayoshi shielded himself with a non-verbal.

"Why do you persecute us!?", bellowed Tinieblas, stronger emotions once again apparent in her voice.

Kuragari plunged at her, his left hand raised in preparation for attack. She tried to swat him away, but a blurry blade of split reality cut her black tendril swiftly. Subsequently, she lashed with another set of tentacles, but they were suddenly bound by a fired by Kurokawa.

"Why do you keep hunting us!?", yelled Tinieblas.

Ikiryō charged forward, but was hit unexpectedly by yet another of her writhing appendages. As he was flying backward, Tadayoshi momentarily lost concentration. Then, the Arrancar woman tore the Bakudō spell and launched a single, big Bala blast at the man, who was knocked on the ground by its explosion.

"Why do you kill our comrades!?", she roared.

The large jaws of her skull-face opened, and the tips of her numerous tentacles all pointed in the same direction inward; a big, swirling orb of dark energy began charging in front of her. The two Captains quickly regained their stances, just as her attack was ready to fire.

"Cero Maremoto!"

A massive wave of dense spiritual power cascaded towards the two Captains, its wide arc almost impossible to outrun. Gritting their teeth, both Kuragari and Tadayoshi prepared to face the imposing threat.

"Hadō #32, Okasen.", Kurokawa said, placing his hand on his Bankai's edge, the sword absorbed the Kidō, glowing yellow while doing so, he then proceeded with his preperation, "Bakudō #81, Dankū.". As the Kidō flowed into the Zanpakutō Kurokawa started to struggle keeping the spells contained due to his previous exertion of spiritual energy. Meanwhile, Kuragari joined both of his hands to the tips of his fingers, he then proceeded to aim at Tinieblas.

"Now!", the 2nd Division Captain shouted urgently, despite Tinieblas being far away from the two Captains, the Cero had made an impressive amount of progress towards them, almost looming over them.

"Tenma Jumon no Yūgō!", Kurokawa had swung his Bankai horizontally, releasing the combined forces of his Hadō and Bakudō, in response, an extremely large and wide transparent barrier appeared between Kurokawa and Ikiryō and the Cero.

As the Cero collided with the massive barrier, it created a sound that resembled that of an explosions, the Cero seemed to roar with power, trying in earnest to break the powerful barrier, however, just as the barrier started to falter, the Cero finally stopped, finally breaking the barried and causing a large explosion in the air, which signaled Kuragari to move into attack. Using Shunpo, he maneouvred over to where Tinieblas was, his arms raised and his attack charged, it shrieking loudly above him.

"Konzetsu!", he exclaimed.

He fired his technique, it hitting the Arrancar squarely in the torso. She howled in pain as she flew back, her torso had an extremely large gouge taken out of it by Ikiryō's attack. However, despite its effectiveness it wasn't enough to completely finish the job.

"Crap, I can't fire another, I'm too worn out.", Kuragari said weakly, wheezing slightly due to his exertion, while his Bankai was still out, the Shinigami showed signs of extreme stress. However, he was interrupted by Tinieblas, who had regained her composure.

"Why do you think that we're monsters, when all you do is slaughter us the same.", Tinieblas said, her voice, while calm, still had a hint of pain and anger, both Kurokawa and Ikiryō responded in silence, staring up towards the giant Arrancar.

"You know that killing our comrades won't bring yours back?", asked Kuragari in a tone resembling a tense whisper.

His Hollow mask had cracked in a few places and then fell off, revealing his strained face covered in drops of sweat.

Tinieblas glanced at him attentively. The large wound in her abdomen had been regenerating, but at some point the process stopped, particles of her body slowly falling off and dispersing into dust.

"I know", she replied. "But I can't stand the thought that their murderers are still alive."

Suddenly, she lashed at the Second Division Captain with all of her tentacles. Completely surrounded, Ikiryō had little choice.

"Borei", he uttered.

Several appendages had phased through his momentarily immaterial body and smashed into the ground, carving deep ditches in the already cracked pavement. Kuragari jumped into the air, but found himself targeted by another set of tentacles. All of a sudden, though, a Hadō fired by Kurokawa exploded on Tinieblas' side, throwing her off-balance. The tendrils missed Ikiryō, who promptly took advantage of the opportunity.

"Bunkatsu Genjitsu!"

There was no time to react. The humming blade of split reality had pierced the Arrancar's chest, and its tip emerged from her back. Tinieblas uttered some guttural sound as all of her writhing tendrils dropped limply to the ground.

The blade disappeared. Kuragari leapt backward, quickly increasing the distance. That was unnecessary, however, as the two Captains observed the giant Arrancar fall heavily to her knees. Streaks of gaseous spiritual energy began emanating from her bulky form. Her large head, composed from the three composite skulls, cracked, revealing her human face. Soon, her Resurrección was completely gone.

She then looked at the Shinigami, suddenly smiling.

"I am free", she expressed in a state of elation.

Her body glowed, and subsequently was blown to dust. The Captains remained observing that spot for some time, panting heavily. Their Bankai dispersed, and they sheathed their sealed Zanpakutō.

"You know", said Kuragari eventually, a grim expression on his face. "Somehow, I don't feel satisfaction from this."

Part 3
"Fight between spiritual beings is that of Reiatsu versus Reiatsu", stated Hikari Maebure. "So don't let the looks deceive you; my base power is easily comparable to that of my former Shikai."

He looked at the two members of the Royal Guard and the manifested Zanpakutō spirit with an ominous smirk on his scarred face.

"Strike fast. Strike unexpected. Don't hold back. Don't drop your guard", he added menacingly.

"Just drop dead", retorted Kimiko Kōtaku as she was drawing her sword.

With a swift motion she lifted the katana two-handed above her head, and then made a powerful downward swing.

"!"

Enhanced by her ample spiritual power, the simple slash carried enough force to launch a potent vertical wave of devastating energy. Within a single second it reached the Tsumikami and hit him with an earth-shaking might. Still, the man emerged unscathed, the shadowy form of Jamansim having had taken the brunt of the attack on its crossed forearms.

"Hadō #63, !", continued Kimiko.

She then fired the yellow lightning bolt, engulfing Hikari and his Karadawaru spirit in a sizeable explosion. In addition, she provided an opening for Duo Wen Tian, as the cloud of smoke caused by the Kidō would conceal her movements.

A short ways away from the fighting, Wen Tian had been dancing around within a small cloud of dirt that refused to return to the ground, it contorted and twisted in various ways like a snake formed of particles, as did the diminutively sized woman. "Tian, be serious!", called her manifested Zanpakutō, prompting an unusually immediate reaction from the Royal Guardswoman.

"Haiii~", she cheered whilst drawing up an exaggerated salute towards Chigusari. She just as quickly dropped into a combat ready stance, tapping her left foot against the dirt before making a sharp swing with her leg. It was far from being close enough to hit the former Sōzōshin, but the markings now covering her body reacted by emitting light.

Hikari could feel a faint inside of him, it stood apart from his own, different and frighteningly heavy. As that energy faded, every bit of energy within him suddenly became like it and then he was hit with the full force of that ominous weight. As if he had just been smashed into with several trucks, he was suddenly knocked back several feet in the opposite direction of Wen Tian's motioned footwork.

"Clever", he commented, the expression of slight surprise on his face suddenly replaced by a smirk.

An orange, hexagonal Kidō barrier had materialised on his back, then flickered several times before shattering to pieces.

"You think I'd come unpre...", he started.

He was interrupted by an unexpected, screeching sound. When he rapidly turned around, he found Kimiko had busted through the shroud of darkness composing Jamansim's form and impaled her Zanpakutō through another barrier, which was protecting him from the front. Despite the ferocity of her thrust, the shield managed to stall her long enough.

Maebure swiftly raised his hand and aimed his palm at her, prompting her to widen her eyes. A brief flash of celadon colour followed, and there was a large, elongated explosion. Kōtaku had vanished.

"Focus on the target, make your next move", Chigusari continued as a voice only Wen Tian could hear, keeping her attention on the enemy rather than the possibility that her teammate had just been vaporized.

Though his back was open once again, Wen Tian ignored it in favour of striking at his flank, using the further interruption garnered by her comrade to make her move. She struck his wrist with a flat but jutted palm strike that while light from her perspective would feel like a sword trying to rip between the bones of his wrist and hand. She was quick to keep moving, gripping the powerful sinner's arm in order to hoist herself over him. She gazed at his head with a serious look which shattered in moments with a rather goofy looking grin. "Hello~", she greeted before passing across to the opposite arm.

She rolled off of the tall ashen-skinned figure, landing in a crouch beside him. Jumping from her perch she launched at his other arm whether it be raised still or reclining, and shot out her own in an attempt to hit that wrist as well.

Suddenly, she disappeared under a giant, shadowy fist. Jamansim's strike pinned her, and then pressed into the ground with terrible force. The earth cracked and uplifted as a potent tremor caused by the powerful reverberated across the rocky plain.

In the following instant, both the dark summon and its master vanished with a faint sound.

"Interesting", remarked Hikari as he materialised a large distance away, regarding his right hand attentively. "It seems you've sealed the Reiatsu vent in my wrist."

"Duo!", exclaimed Kimiko when she abruptly appeared beside the crater created by Jamansim's hit. "Are you all right?!"

The left sleeve of her kimono was singed, but she did not appear to had taken any actual damage.

"I'll time out for a while, Jamansim will take over for me", stated Maebure in the meantime, drawing some intricate patterns on the right wrist with his left index finger.

Kōtaku lifted her head only to spot that the Karadawaru spirit had aimed one of its clawed palms at her. All of a sudden, a of flame-like scarlet energy erupted in her direction. The entire surroundings became noticeably darkened in its wake.

"Bakudō #81, !", countered the Royal Guardsman.

A large, semi-translucent rectangular barrier towered over her and the crater to the side, shielding the area from the devastating beam. Soon afterward, it was struck with the full might of the Hadō.

Cracks began appearing on it immediately.

"Shit...", cursed Kōtaku before using Shunpo to hastily retreat.

Within the following instant the barrier was consumed whole by the blast, which subsequently carved an enormous, triangular ditch in the wasteland. Kimiko landed a considerable distance farther, looking around in an attempt to find her colleague.

Wen Tian huffed outwardly, a small billow of dirt breaking free of her lungs to create a small cloud that passed Kimiko's side. The shorter woman had appeared from a large hole in the ground behind them, her skin riddled with splotches of dirt and deep red cuts. Her hairclips had broken off, leaving a raggedy mess of hair flowing behind her, just as well her oversized haori had been lost as well.

"Plan A was a bust, huh?", she spoke with cheerfulness and a toothy grin that could make one forget that she had even been damaged. It sure looked like she wasn't feeling any pain at least.

Appearing from the original impact crater that Jamanism had unceremoniously shot Wen Tian into was Chigusari. His hands were wrapped in an impressive amount of chain that quickly grew to impossible when he swung his arms in an attempt to bind the shadow-like creature that served as Hikari's hound. "I'll bind him, focus on the other one before he finds away to fix his arm!", he yelled to the two Royal Guardsmen.

"All is dust, Murasakizuishō!", exclaimed Kimiko.

The blade of her Zanpakutō had momentarily taken an amethyst, crystalline form before it dispersed into a glittering cloud of dust. The cloud burst forth rapidly, approaching Jamansim as it was being bound by Chigusari's chains. The Karadawaru spirit flexed its muscles once tied up, straining the chains so much they emitted a loud creak. However, the amethyst dust had already closed in on him.

"", said Kōtaku whilst making a slashing motion with the hilt she held in her hand.

Her Shikai immediately condensed and mirrored her manoeuvre, striking at the base of Jamansim and by extension, its master who stood inside the murky silhouette.

Then, there was a flash. The Karadawaru spirit's body was abruptly enveloped with. Not only it had deflected Kimiko's attack, but the current subsequently surged through the chains held by Chigusari, all the way to their wielder before striking him with a potent lightning.

His body faltered for a moment before he adjusted to the flushes of high powered electricity rushing through him. The parts of the chains touching Jamansim began to glow in response, strengthening in equal measure to his spiritual power, creating a defense that would be beyond his capability of breaking. Though that spelled harm for Chigusari as well if he meant to continue with attacks like that.

"It'll take more than what you've got, you overgrown shadow", he marked with defiance. Just then Wen Tian appeared above the materialized Karadawaru, her leg covered by its own field of electrical energy of a purple hue. She brought down her leg in a powerful axe kick whilst roaring, "WEN TIAN CHOP!", rather dramatically.

POP!

Jamansim vanished the moment her leg touched the top of its one-eyed head. And as she was descending in her technique, Duo suddenly heard the swish of air sliced by something metallic from behind.

Though the effects weren't going to be felt by its intended target, the kick had connected for what little good that would do. A spiraling plume of energy surrounded Wen Tian before exploding outward, providing a cushion if not outright knocking away the oncoming attack.

Unhindered, the gently curved, black blade of Hikari's cut through the shroud swiftly. However, before it was able to deal any potential damage, a large cloud of sparkling dust fended him off. With the quiet sound of Shunpo he retreated about a dozen metres.

"You've won Game One", he commented with a wry smile. "Game Two: force me to release my sword."

Saying that, he pointed the tip of the sabre at Duo Wen Tian and promptly shot a wide beam of dense, black energy.