Light and Dark: Requiem of Swords

The red, radiant afternoon sky loomed over a large forest. A sound of sword piercing through flesh could be heard a mile away. The sound lead to a lone shinigami with a blade through a bison-like hollow. As he pulled out his zanpakuto out of the still carcass, the hollow disintegrated. The man looked up at the sky, with a bothered look on his face. He had short, messy blond hair that was in a layered fashion with dark, sapphire eyes that had some sort of sadness that lingered in them. He was taller than the average soul reaper, about 193 centimeters tall. He hoisted his blue and red kite shield on his back as he sheathed his zanpakuto into it's scabbard.

"I guess that's the last of them," he said to himself as he started walking away from his current location.

The man brushed some of his blond locks to the side in order to see where he was going. He could feel the nightly breeze blow on his person, making him regret coming to the world of the living with only his tattered, sleeveless shihakusho. As he pressed on, he thought about his assignment that was given to him by the captain. He looked around himself to see that he was in a field of dandelions. He clenched his fists as he scanned the area for anything suspicious, then he closed his eyes to sense for anything abnormal.

The Demons. They were once Hollows, after a fashion. But only the first generation of them. The rest were various other beings, nothing in common except that now, a unique class was made. Hell-Hunter, a breed made to serve the ruling caste. One of these men selected for such work was Jin Kanpa. The man was killing time by roaming the land, waitng for his master's orders. His purple hair obscured his slate grey eyes, and he wasn't paying attention to where he was going and bumpped into the Hollow-killing Shinigami.

"Sorry sir, I wasn't watching what my feet were doing nor where my mind had been." he said, typically obscuring his meaning.

The Shinigami looked at the mysterious man in front of him, only shooting a smile at him.

"Don't worry about it. Heck, I should be the one apologizing to you. I was focusing on finding something," he responded to the man in front of him. But just then, a realization had hit him like a ton of bricks.

"Wait! You can see me? Heck, how did you even bump into me," the shinigami interrogated in a suprised tone.

"I'm a being of spiritual matter coagulated in the bowls of Hell. I can do all sorts of stuff you'd never expect. I'm not a Shinigami, nor am I a Hollow. What I am may surprise you." Jin replied in a straght forward manner, rare for him to do.

It took a bit for the Shinigami to take all that in, for the man that stood right in front of him was something that he never heard about before. He gulped even more when the word "Hell" entered his mind. His face became more serious when he started sensing an abnormal aura eminating. He could feel the aura almost touch him.

"So you must be this disturbance that the captain was talking about..." the Shinigami said as his fists clenched gently.

"Who are you," he said in a more demanding tone.

"Last name, Kanpa. First name, Jin. And who might you be?" he asked, obviously baiting the man.

At last it struck the Shinigami. The man in front of him was in the reports as a possible suspect for the disturbances. He was a figure to be aware of, and at times, must neutralize. The Shinigami regained his composure as he stared down Jin.

"Gabriel Leonheart. Shinigami Lieutennant of the Seireitei," the Shinigami responded, trying to remain calm.

"I need to watch myself. I might be dealing with one of them. A Hell Hunter," He thought to himself as he remained on guard.

"What's got you in a bunch? I can read you like a book Mr. Leonheart. You're scared. But not because you don't know, but because you do. Not many of my kind are given leway to move about without Bael-sama's leave. Only the oldest of my elite race may strut about upon all Creation as they see fit. This is your first time seeing one of us in the flesh, isn't it?" Jin smiled, the fact he was getting to a Lieutennant was exciting to say the least.

"Who said..." Gabriel said softly as he took a deep breath. He knew that Jin was already getting to him, but there was no fear within him. No, it was a feeling that he rather loathed to have. The very feeling that he had in his days of being a bloodthirsty Warrior. The Shinigami's bangs covered his eyes as he was trying to find a reason to start a fight other than just for the hell of it. Then it came to him.

"I WAS SCARED!?" he shouted as he swung his zanpakuto at the figure infront of him.

Kogaru. The Devil's own technique. In a flash of fire, Jin was gone. Another flash and he was behind Gabriel. "Didn't your mother tell you not to play with over sized kitchen knives? Seriously, you could poke your eye out with that thing." he mocked, manafesting his own Zanpakto. The entire construct was made of bones, of what, no one could be sure. He took a combative stance and smiled. This guy had some fight, and a good challenge was exactly what he needed.

Gabriel pivoted to face his opponent. He grabbed his kite shield with his left arm and pulled it from his back. He then got into a stance where his shield was up and his Zanpakuto was in position of thrusting. The Shinigami shupoed to Jin's left side, looking for an area to attack at. He brought his arm to his opposite shoulder as he made an attempt to slash Jin's left kidney.

"Beings from hell don't belong here. Leave here at once," Gabriel said in a more demanding tone.

Jin parried the strike like it were child's play. "And if I don't listen? What's the worst you can do? I work for the God of pricks! As long as I am useful, no one can kill me, mortally wound me, anything. I have a supernatural 401k." Taking advantage of the opening, he actually mimiced Gabrial's attack, a straight thrust.

The strike met his shield as Gabriel gathered Reishi to his Zanpakuto's blade, making it glow a light blue color. He aimed it at Jin, more importantly, his chest.

"There's a first time for everything! Tengoku no Dangan," he shouted as he fired a blast of his reishi at his opponent.

The Shinigami landed on the ground as he looked at the cloud of dust that was at the location of his advisary. But he still kept his shield up as he scanned the surrounding area.

"Did I hit him? If I did, did I wound him? What if he dodged it and possibly escaped within the dandelions? Damn, need to keep my guard up," he thought to himself as he looked back at the cloud of dust.

Jin was standing there, looking at his side. Part of it was blown away, graphically showing his ribs. His flesh started sewing itself together, reparing the wound, or at least starting to. "Good aim kiddo. Not many people have injured me to the point even my healing is stummped. It'll heal in time, but still. Congrats." he said, turned around to walk away, or so it seemed. Taking a step, he uttered his release command. "Wreck, Rinka."

With that, his bone-like sword became a scythe made from spinal bones, a skull and a femur. Jin turned around, using the momentum to increase the power, and his weapon grew longer as he moved, almost like it were expanding.

Gabriel looked at the expanding scythe Jin was carrying. The Shinigami could also feel the sudden increase in his reiatsu. He soon snapped out of it and went back to his calm demeanor.

"Thanks for the compliment. You aren't bad yourself, considering that you can regenerate," he responded to him as got back into his stance.

He gripped his own zanpakuto tight as he dashed at his enemy. He raised his arm to his opposite shoulder in an attempt for an horizontal slash. There was one thing that was on his mind right now. He thought that if one technique would've brought this guy into his shikai mode, then he wouldn't have to put much effort in this fight.

The scythe blade grew more and it seemingly streached up and blocked the incoming strike. "You've got something on your mind. Penny for your thoughts?" Jin said, moving backwards, the scythe handle elongating as he moved.

Gabriel landed on his feet beside Jin, getting up and pointing sword at his enemy.

"Why...aren't you attacking me yet? Usually in a fight the opponent fights back," Gabriel said in a rather annoyed tone.

The Shinigami sent a barrage of slashes at Jin, hoping to hit him.

Jin parried or blocked outright most of the attacks. A few of them cut into his body, a few on the still healing side-wound. At that point, he readied his attack. Swinging his scythe, he tried to bury it in his enemy's shoulder. "I was waitning, that's why!"

The scythe made full contact into his shoulder, but it did not go too deep to where it disabled his arm. Right then, Gabriel realized it was that easy for him to walk into that trap. He couldn't help but feel like an idiot, heck, a blood thirsty animal even. The pain signaled to his brain, causing a low, but soft grunt to be heard. In an attempt to escape, Gabriel punched the scythe out of him with his shield arm. Then he went for a vertical slash coated with reishi.

Jin took the hit intentionally, giving him time to pull his blade back together. Another use of Kogeru allowed him to warp behind Gabrial, and hook his scyhe around the man's neck. "Don't worry, I won't kill you. Just like you can't kill me." he added, before moving again, stretching the weapon out again.

"Good, I wasn't in the mood for killing " the Shinigami responded as he shunpoed out of his reach. He looked at the extending scythe coming right at him. Refusing to be tricked again, he raised his sword above his head. Then he thrusted it into the ground, pouring reishi from it.

"Tengoku Supaiku," Gabriel chanted with a grin on his face.

A pillar of holy energy erupted from the ground in an attempt to counter the oncoming attack.

The sycthe blade was rent from it's handle, shocing Jin greatly. He rationalized it as the shield being solid meeting his fast, forceful strike, creating the problem. It was that and the fact he was out of practice. He then began his transformation into a Demon, turning his hair white and altering his appearance, giving him wings and a gatling gun growing out of his hand. "So, this is a lieutenent these days. It's been a while since I fought one." he said, taking on a serious tone.

Gabriel witnessed as his opponent's shape was changing. He was just awestruck by the power reiatsu eminating from him, something that was expected from a creature he never met before. Gabriel also noticed on how the opening on his side was fully regenerated.

"So, this is what I'm dealing with now," he said to himself, in a tone that was close to a fearful one.

He rose up and swung his long sword around his hand before raising it out, with his left side facing towards his opponent. His eyes were full of vigor. "Come! Feel the might of a Lieutennant Shinigami!"

Rather than obliging, he held out his hand and fired a barrage of lightning blasts from the gun-like appendage. Jin's previous personality was gone, no longer was he joking, but he was out for blood.

Before Gabriel could react, the bullets had hit him dead on. However, they didn't go through, pushing the Shinigami quite the distance. He looked back at Jin and used shunpo to get behind him. The shinigami pointed his sword at him yet again, charging up for an attack.

Jin growled as he noticed the sword. He rolled away from the tip and fired a few more rounds, hoping to throw Gabriel off enough to disturb his charging.

Gabriel, seeing the bullets managed to place the shield infront of him. He flew back, almost in a backflipping fashion before landing on his feet. A shock of pain shot through the shinigami as he observed his shield, which had a few, but serious dents. He also felt a cold feeling flowing down his forearm, which happened to be the blood coming from the punctured skin that the dents had caused.

"I guess it's time to take it up a notch," the Shinigami said to himself as he recovered from the pain. He lifted his sword so that one side of the blade was covering his face. He closed his eyes and place his forehead onto his Zanpakuto.

"Show me the light... Alexandra!!!" Gabriel chanted as a bright, divine light covered him. After it disapated, the Shinigami had a now shorter sword and shield, but this time, the handle of the sword and the trim of the shield are royal blue. The Shinigami soon got back into his battle stance, looking at his opponent with serious determination.

Because of the unique structure of his left limb, if and when the duel came to blows, Jin would be at a disadvantage. "I thought you wanted to fight, not stand around and give me a death glare." he taunted, keeping his gun-growth at the ready.

The shinigami raised his sword above his head, glowing with holy energy. Then he thrusted it to the ground at a rather fast speed.

"Don't worry, you'll see it soon," Gabriel muttered in response. A large shine revealed itself as it entered the ground.

"TENGOKU SUPAIKU DANMAKU!!!!!" the shinigami chanted with a fiery passion. Then, one pillar of light, two times larger than an average Heaven Spike in Alexandra's sealed state. Then it suddenly disappated, only to be followed by another one. Then another one, then another one after that. With each one that kept appearing, it got closer and closer to Jin.

Jin smirked as he saw the attack. It's size was nothing to be sneezed at, and neither was it's speed. It reminded him of five former Hell-Hunters he had known who turned against their creator, Bael. The five were powerless against him and yet on they fought, eventually overcoming the tyrant. But that was in the past. Time marched forth, leaving him little to survive the incoming blast. Crossing his arms, he took the brunt of the attack head on. After the smoke cleared, he was still standing, alhough his mask-like face had chipped, revealing his pale skin underneath in varous places.

The Shinigami shunpoed behind Jin, scanning for the perfect place to strike at. He cocked his arm back, spotting the designated zone and plunged his sword with incredible speed.

Jin tried to get away from the sword, but in the process, his wing was severed. Unlike his human-like form, wounds brought on this state were unable to heal, at least in this world. The blood oozing from the cut was a violet color. Rather than shooting just a few bullets from his hand, he charged a shot that was larger and stronger than the usual six that he fired at a time.

Seeing this, Gabriel shunpoed out of the Hell-Hunter's sight. He reappeared infront of his opponent, arm raised in a cleaving-like position. A vision came to him, reminding him of his early shinigami days. The sight of a group of six, with him in the middle fighting against one mysterious hollow. Vasto Lordes level to be exact. Another image came, revealing him and another survivor, mourning their fallen comrades.

"It's time to end this!" the Shinigami shouted and swung his sword in the direction to Jin's neck, in an attempt to cleave it right off. The Shinigami could feel it. He felt that victory was within his grasp.

Jin was more focused on how the punk Lieutenent got in front of him than the sword cleaving down. "Don't expect this to be over. My Lord will restore my body. I will rise forever more." he said, just as the blade severed the major veins and nerves in his neck. In his death, flames licked his corpse, burning the shell away, leaving his body for a moment before it too was ashen. His last words echoed on the breeze. To anyone not like him, they would seem a lie, but he knew the truth more than many, except a particular emo with a God-complex who was amung the ranks of the damned.

Gabriel looked at his opponent as he disappeared. At first he was surprised that a creature such as him existed. But now... he felt something else. Estatic really. This was so new to him. Hell-Hunters, a dark lord, it didn't matter. All that matter was that the Shinigami had an interesting fight. He had let out a sigh however, for he knew that he would have to report back to Central 46.

He opened a senkaimon, a gate that a Shinigami could access to from the Seiretei to any destination that one desired. He turned one last time, with a smile on his face.

"Thank you for the battle, Jin Kanpa," Gabriel said in a rather respectful manner. Then he made his way back to the Seireitei as the gate closed behind him.