Night of Bloody Myst

Midnight: Hong Kong
"Sometimes a dance with the devil is just fine for the saint, depending on whom that devil is."

A lone man stood atop the roof of one of the skyscrapers admist the Kowloon area, eyes downward, his face hidden beneath a mask; dyed in a color of pure white and blood red, the mask of a vanguard. The eyes were stoic, the presence itself was dull as the void, simply thinking. His soul resonated protection for the human race, prejudice for souls that dare trespass on Human territory. The lights of the city below hiding the residents within the cascade of complexes. The figure breathed in the still air, he had chosen to take up the role to destroy those that threatened humanity's way of life.

He had became it's protector.

He had became it's judge.

He had become it's guilotine.

The man that resided at the top of the skyscraper was the head of the Illuminati; Jian Xia. The barrier that would break the bridges of the cycle that the Shinigami had formed. And break any that dared entered his reality.

Myst was far from home, unable to take the same path of bloodshed that marred the trails her footsteps left behind her. She hungered for something different, a new victim had to be chosen, a new drink to add to her expansive list. Of her many titles, few ever had reached out this far from her area, making it the perfect place to feed. Her blue eyes shone in the light cast down from the moon above, but only for a moment. A cloud eclipsed the luminous sphere, darkening the world. Wasting little motion, she jumped from building to building, looking for a perfect person to feed from.

Jian's inhaled deeply, taking in the many spiritual signatures of those that had been under his protection, as well as those in the Illuminati. Each one had specific colors as they entered his mind, each scent so different that he could tell each signature specifically to that person. And those that he could smell... and had no recognition of...

His eyes widening slightly as the venomous scent of bloodlust filled his head, malice, ambition; it was addictive to breath in. But Jian knew better, exhaling the intoxicatingly putrid scent as red smoke from his nostrils. Groaning with disgust: some form of spiritual abomination had dared cross into the sphere of his realm. His soul resonated more densely, bouncing off the structures, warning his followers that a signature had been felt, even if it meant risking his own position being revealed.

"Time to judge..." eyes filled with a fiery contempt, he waited for his foe, looking towards the direction of the blood lust.

Myst could feel a spiritual power moving closer and closer to her. It was strong, but nowhere near some of the things she'd fought before. She readied herself just in case her initial assessment proved false. In the years of performing a nightly feasting on human and Shinigami who crossed her path, she had learned, always expect the unexpected.

The Illuminati head looked onward, he would soon see his foe, and remove it. Exhaling and inhaling in a meditative flow, he calmed his spirit, balancing out his wavelength, focusing down his sight to where he would see his opponent in the far distance, occular improvement through spiritual augmentation.

"Pity something so preety hides such ugliness..." Jian perferred honesty, even if it mean crushing expectations and dreams, honesty in life and in battle. Those that hid under a carde of tricks and a mask of emotion were unworthy of even challenging him.

And from that distance, he was sure his foe could see him as well. Raising his hand upward, he pulled back two of his primary fingers, beckoning her to come towards him. Calling her.

Myst noticed a man in the distance, although it really wasn't that far. Whereas the world was dark to any below her, she saw as if it were day, naturally augmented sight was indeed one of the perks to being what she was, and that was a Reikon Kyuuban, although anyone outside the loop refered to her as a vampire, a true terror of the night.

She noticed the man raise his arm and motion for her to come closer. She would oblige his request, jumping and flipping through the air with grace fit for a dancer, not a cold, lifeless killer in the body of a young woman.

Jian just waited and watched as the girl took such a fanciful display to approach him. "No need for theatrics or flattery..." he despised that sort of thing, grunting with arrogant disdain. "I am Jian, judge of China, vanguard of the human realm; Illuminati." not bothering to hide what he was, he had told many a foe this before their demise, this was no different.

"Who are you." not a question, more of an order for a name.

"I go by many names. You would know me as a Vampire, a Demon of the Night, ectera and so forth. But, to answer your question entirely, my name is Myst Kagekyo. It's a pleasure to make your aquantence Jian." she replied, smiling kindly.

His expression hidden underneath his mask, had it not been there, Jian would have granted her the view of a smirk. "Vampire?" it was a good thing his mask didn't conceal his voice. "Ha!" beginning to chuckle heavily, enjoying the words that he heard. How absurd, it was even funny to hear it coming from her. His laughter unstopping, he added, "Now I've heard everything..." he needed a good laugh.

Rolling his shoulder, cracking his aching shoulder and neck in sequence. Eyes full of revived humor, "Truly, a unique tell-tale..." brushing off the lower half of his dusty shirt and pant legs, his stance slowly relaxing.

"You don't believe me? Oh, don't worry, you'll learn soon enough. I take it you don't believe much, do you?" Myst asked, relaxing as well.

"No, I believe in plenty. Vampire is just a little far out in my field of belief..." his chuckling ending, his voice gaining the staleness it once held. Unsheathing his blade, Baxian. "I will kill you..." Smirking, "I must ask you one thing before I end your life..." whiping his palm across the blade to clean off anything that might have been on it.

Eyes sparkling in the moonlight, the only feature shown with his mask on. "Virtue, or Vice?" holding the blade casually, pointed downward. Walking off the top of the building, his footsteps producing rippling rings of golden light, allowing him to walk towards his opponent through this open space with no opposition.

"What do you mean by that, human? Are you asking if I am good or evil? I am neither one. I will kill until the end of time, my body forever youthful, but, I do not kill those who have done nothing to warrant death. A criminal is sitting in a prison cell on Death Row. Tomorrow night, I will gladly drain his body of blood, and he knows it. I do the public a favor, killing scum, while I take the ruby-red elixer that sustains him."

"It's not what I asked, but I'll accept it either way... just know I am the judge here." Jian crouched his body into an attacking position, light gleaming off his blade. Turning his body low, pulling the blade beside him for the motif attack of a samurai. "Ready yourself." with his pre-warning done, he vanished, leaving behind golden particles of where he had once been. His body reappearing behind his foe, larger ripples reappearing behind his back, angelic halos formed. Seperated by a paper's width, his breath audible from where how close he had become.

His body crouched down behind Myst, he perpared to bifucriate her from the waist across. Blade slicing through the air without the slightest of noise.

Myst used Ketsueki Butōkai, the Reikon Kyuuban equal to Shunpo, dodging the strike with ease. "Really? A simple slash? Is that the best you got? Some judge you are. You've yet to accuse me of any crimes." she said, a playful, humourous note in her voice.

Jian inhaled the air, standing back up as he glanced towards his foe over his shoulder. Scents of the dead, of blood, of lust. "You have the aroma of hundreds dead, the corruption of bloodlust. Even if you are what you say you are, you are an impure creature of darkness. And you are tarnishing my land." Jian couldn't stand blemishes on it either.

Turning back towards her, "You are accused of murder. Human and non." even if she was to feed on spiritual beings, she was a threat to Fullbringers, Quincies, and the spiritually aware humans in the city below. "And that is more then enough for me to judge you."

"Now that you are judged, you are to be punished." blade pointing towards her, he fanned the blade over his head in a slow arcing motion. Baxian's technique was in use. Duplicates of his chosen weapon formed wherever he just swung the blade, appearing similiar to how after-images formed. They stayed in mid-air, pierced in the spiritual particles, staying rooted till he needed them. Grasping one of the duplicated blades, Jian pointing the dual-wielded blades towards the vampire.

The first of his many bag of tricks.

"Your defense?" perparing to strike once more.

Myst chuckled darkly. "Like I said. I only kill those who deserve it. Otherwise, it's just a sip or two. Never enough to end their lives. I'm not that evil." she said, drawing her sword. She started walking around, her eyes trained on the masked man. "Oh, as to the charges brought against me, I plead guilty, Your Honor."

Good.

Jian grinned wickedly underneath his emotionless mask, "Now I can stop my own theatrics." throwing the two blades towards his foes, spiritual strings forming on them, their purpose would remain hidden until he needed to reveal. Grasping two more blades of Baxian, he performed a front flip. Throughout this mid front flip, his body dissappeared in a ripple of refracted light.

Gripping his swords tight, his body did not appear beside, behind, or above Myst. But from below came the spiraling enemy. His two blades from before still sailing through the air would perfectly intersect with his attack. Using the combination to throw his enemy off balance and off guard. Not to mention the blinding light from the capital city of China below, being directly out of sight was even a greater cheap shot. His own attacks would pierce her legs.

Myst attempted to jump the two blades and attack Jian when he least expected, but the moment she cleared the swords, the man vanished. Hurridly, she mentally focused on where he might be. ''He's good. I think he's a skilled warrior, but he makes too many judgemental mistakes, assuming I'm evil and all.'' She started moving, trying to avoid being in one spot for too long, keeping herself wary as Jian could strike at any moment.

That was when she realized he had been below. Her left leg gave out under her, a small, easy to mend slash mark oozed blood. He's faster than I gave him credit for, like my brother.

Jian looked towards her as he pierced her legs, body vanishing once again, he reappeared infront of his enemy, the ripples appearing all over the field, stabbing forward. With that motion done, he again vanished, body appearing behind his enemy, slashing diagnolly. A blitz attack, meant to keep his enemy off guard, each next attack coming from another odd angle, none orthodox or plain.

As long as he threw her off, it didn't matter what she could do to counter.

Myst blocked the first blade with her own, the ring of clashing swords and scraping metal loud in her ears. Upon seeing his body flicker away, she instinctively rolled away and stood up. She would have to resort to her usual, long range combat.

Holding out her hand, Myst prepared her dreaded signature attack, the Kyūketsuki Ga Satsuei, a crimson wave of blood and spirit energy, creating a deadly beam. The blast fired straight at Jian, the scarlet glow illuminating the sky.

Jian watched as the deadly crimson wave vibrated the air around her, the amount of spiritual power held within the beam would deal a hearty amount of damage to him. Little time left to dodge, he grasped his sword in both hands; taking a horse stance with the blade directly infront of his body. "Caelo Iura: Way of Castitas!" The virtue of Chastity, his soul's personal field grew larger and larger, vibrating differently then it once had. Electric bolts seemed to fizzle across the sphere of his personal soul.

His soul then became visible to the world.

A large sphere of golden spiritual energy all around him, words in various languages of KEEP OUT appeared all over it, encircling it. The air around his field bounced off. As would the incoming attack. This technique was utilized for defensive purposes, to reflect spiritual based attacks, as well as melting away at spiritual beings.

Once the beam impacted, it would simply reflect off of his shell.

A bright explosion illuminated the heavens in it's fury, leading Myst to think that it was a successful attack. As the smoke cleared, she realized the error she had made. A barrier had taken the entirety of the attack, and showed no visable sign of damage. "Clever. I commend you for that, human. Surely, without that interesting defense of yours, this would have been over too soon for my tastes. After all, what's a hunt without a bit of challenge?" she asked, using it as both a compliment and a taunt.

Jian eyed her over, rolling his shoulder, his field staying erected, dusting off his chest as he stayed within the safety area. Planning in thought, he looked to her, "You're rather incompetant if you think I'd appreciate a compliment from you."

Swinging Baxian lazily around, casual and uncaring. He at last pointed it to her, "And creature of the night, you will soon realize that I am the one hunting you." his tone stayed dry and without a flicker of regret, he was going to make sure his prey was going to feel fear for the first time in her life, if she hadn't already...

Myst ran in, sword raised. She kept an even, quick pace up until she reached Jian, and slashed horizontally, virtually the same tactic he had used at the start of the duel.

Jian grimaced once she had entered his field. "Little girl... do you think my technique is limited to deflection? It's called Chastity for a reason..." the Illuminati-Head parried the blow with glee. She had fallen prey to the illusion of his technique. "I told you... you are mine!" he used one hand to grasp his foe's arm with his, forearms pressed together. His finale to keep her in the field, he stabbed his own arm, as well as her own, effectively handcuffing them together.

"So, how much more does a 'vampire' need blood then a human, tell me this, predator?!" his voice harsh and cruel, the field would dissolve her, only spirits were effected by Chastitas's power.

And now, with blades linking them together, he didn't plan to pull it out.

Myst felt the barrier dissolving her body, although it wasn't as rapid as she had feared. The stabbing pain in her arm was the bigger threat at the moment. "Simple, we don't have a protien in our cells that you mortals have, and this lacked protien is what drives us to attempt to gain it, and become complete again." she said, pondering a way she could escape the death trap she blindly wandered into. ''I have to catch his eyes, or else my hypnosis won't work. I need a backup plan, or else. ''

Jian began to laugh heartily, "If that's the case, then you're about to become my personal pincushin..." seemingly to pull out Baxian, however, he was just replicating it's form. One blade still connecting them, his grip tightened, turning into a vice. "Soon my aura will burn through your pathetic body... and you'll be bleeding out your skin pores..."

He perpared to stab her again, his gaze locked with hers, thrusting it forward to impale her near the ribs, where an artery lay.

Myst's hypnosis, known as Kuro no Me, activated with a mere thought. "You're gonna stop that attack of yours and let me know. C'mon, you can't resist following my whims. Drop the sword you're holding and pull your other one out of our arms, so we can continue our little game." she whispered in Jian's ear.

Jian's eyes dilated, sharpened; effects of a hypnotic or drugged effect. "Nnngh..." his body fidgeting, his soul wanted to resist the manipulation that was trying to control him. It would be unable. Baxian's tip was at her skin, and all he had to do was thrust it inward.

But he couldn't.

Retracting the blade, he grit his teeth, unable to resist. Slowly, he pulled the other blade out as well, dual-wielding them in either hand. Looking to her, he offered a reluctant smirk. "Clever little witch." his soul adapting to the wavelength, it wouldn't take much longer to break free of the spell.

Myst escaped the barrier while Jian fought off her hypnosis effect. She looked at her forearm to see where she was gouged. "That's the sweetest thing anyone's ever said to me." she said after making sure the arm was still usable. It was, slightly, but it wasn't perfect, just enough to continue the fight.

Jian would break free as soon as she lost her gaze from him, which she had just effectively done when she glanced to her own injuries. "I will kill you." his own blood dripping out freely, he didn't care. No regenerative properties of his own, he wasn't phased regardless.

The cold eyes of the vanguard glanced towards her with a fierce intensity. "Caelo Iura: Way of Industria." soon, his blade began to emit a violent and aggressive spiritual frequency. The energy pooling from his soul grew stronger, and emitted bolder and bolder onto Baxian. At last, it stabalized, and revealed it's true nature. Baxian had a rotating energy, serrated and jagged, outling his weapon.

A spiritual buzz-saw, made for carving bones and deeper. "So... with your body weakening, and I highly doubt vampires use Zanpakuto, or have any form of Hollow abilities..." he grinned, shrugging off his raincoat, letting it descend to the city below, something he had kept since his youth from his father.

"I doubt you'll get any more powerful then you already are. And if you're limited to spiritual techniques, then Chastity should be more then enough to fend off your attacks..." guessing more and more, he let some of the bloodlust from her scent fill his head, fueling his desire to wreak havoc on her, to destroy her with sin and virtue. With his Order.

The chain saw energy hummed and jirated, making a racket of grinding noises, he looked to her. "If that's the case, you'll never beat me." launching himself at her once again, his body rocketed towards her, rings of golden light under his feet to accelerate him. Swinging Baxian vertically upward with a fervor to tear her into shreds.

Myst sidestepped the attack and smiled again. "Light the Sky, Gesshoku." she said, before reading the gauge on her sword. As always, it read one-fourth full. "I take it your barrier only works on attacks from the outside?" she asked before moving away from any sudden attacks.

He looked to her, watching as she evaded his attacks. He wouldn't give her the pleasure of an answer. "So tell me, creature of the night, is that a gift from a victim? Or are you lying to me about you being a vampire?" not that he doubted she made up an excuse for her actual race.

The blade hummed lightly, grinning, swinging his blade rapidly in the air, copies of Baxian's saw blades were sent out, flying serrated disks all shredding the sky apart. And they would do the same to her. He would need to reveal on of his Sin's soon, if the event grew dire.

"If your first guess was correct, I'd never even be able to use Shikai. Your second one is false as well. I hypnotized you with just my eyes, didn't I? Truth is, I never said I wasn't part Shinigami did I?"

"Believe me, there are many a Kido technique... hypnotism isn't limited to simple offense and defense..." he had learned enough about Shinigami in his battles and interrogations to understand them. "Truth being, you haven't really told me anything believeable since you've entered my realm."

The blades all spiraled towards his foe, causing anarchy, with him now standing still. He smirked, looking down to his injuries. Way of Industria: Temperance allowed him to regenerate passively, along with enhancing his blade, it was a great trade off, and he doubted she'd notice anytime soon.

Myst could almost predict where the swords were headed, her supernatural sight giving her plenty of time to duck and weave, but one of the blades cut her shoulder, almost at the neck. ''SHIT! That was close, and I can't expect to swing with all my strength now...clever bastard.'' "You still don't trust what I said? All you've done is utterly disable my good arm, until I have a chance to feed. Well, disable is a strong word. More like prevent my full use of it."

Taking a deep breath, she again spoke, this time a chant of sorts. "Three powers, seven sins, seven virtues. Torture and anxiety, grant thy wish, quench thy thirst with the teeth of Gluttony!" As she spoke, the blood rushing from her wounds started to vaporize in the air, effectively, the same blood she had been losing could be absorbed back into her body now, healing her wounds in the process, leaving only a painful memory where once, a missing chunk of flesh was restored in form. However, such a clean injury was not without lasting pain. One could compare it to a paper cut, a thousand times worse. However, to Myst, all was well, as her arm was again usable like before, thanks to a simple spell.

Jian began to laugh almost violently, something had elicted the joy. And it was clearly the display of irony. Her chant: her aspects of virtues and sins were so close to his. But she was a pathetic exampler of them. His voice hackling the very air, energy in the air around him vibrating; his aura growing. The pressure increased slowly. "That's Gluttony?!" "Are you really serious about fighting me?!" getting into an aggresive battle stance, he pointed his blade towards her.

"I will show you what Gluttony is...!" What my sister used to be... his soul darkening, the pressure dropping, gravity increasing massively around his being. The aura changing color, from a pure gold and white to a deep and endless black and blue, flames bursting all over his body.

Jian was building up his power. He would show her the first of his sins: to transform into the beast that all spirits and attuned humans must face. His swords all vanishing, his back drooped down, face facing down towards the city, hunched over in pain as the transformation was setting in.

"Vitia Capatilia: Way of Gula!"

The presence of a Hollow emenanted from his soul, it was changing him. His prime sin was gluttony, the hoarding and feasting on power and life excessively. His voice howling out, the Illuminati mask once worn cracked, a mass of bubbling bone pushing it apart. His Hollow Mask forming.

It would form the visage of a Judge-Magister, the same bubbling Hollow bone formed over his neck and shoulders, adding to his protection. The clothes he once were meshed into his being, forming his new skin. Two clasps formed around his wrists, connected by a stocks where ridicule was given to the wicked. Where the head would go was where his Hollow Hole was located. Sleeves extended, three piercing eyes formed as symbols on their ends.

Energy spiraling towards him, Jian's own soul devoured it heartily, fueling him with the power to change into the creature he was becoming. "This is Gluttony!" The form of his Hollow self, the Vasto-Lorde: Gula. It was once the form that his sister had fought him in.

And now he would use it to show this creature of the night fear. His right shoulder and right eye pluming with flaming black energy, pressure pooling into it as blue ash and smoke.

Myst couldn't even drop to her knees. It was like staring Death in the face, after Death himself looked in a mirror. In short, fear wasn't the word do describe it. She had force herself to draw breath, the gripping terror nearly suffocating her, and that fear would only continue as the transformation finished. She had likened it to Death before, but now, it was as if God Himself had shown her Hell made manifest on this Earth.

Finally willing movement, Myst ran as fast as she could away from the behemoth, praying that its speed would be nothing thanks to its size, and hopefully, she could plan an effective counter.

Jian didn't need speed to catch prey.

Several Garganta portals began ripping apart the area, formed by him to use against her. Extending his sleeves infront of him, Baxian's weapon production became associated with his very soul. Chains with a beheading cleaver-gullotine at the end of them, entering the first portals, and exiting out to entangle and tear apart his escaping foe.

"Where do you think you're going...?" he intended to gorge on her powers, and there would be no escape. The spiritual weapons soaring across the dimensional rifts at amazing speeds. Jian-Gula could form as many weapons and chains as he wanted. If he could even glance her, the new Hollow Jian would be able to drain her of her energy.

His laugh tore open the clouds, revealing the full moon...

Myst was almost ensnared by the deadly weapons, the devestating cleaver-heads coming close to her before any timely escapes. However, they were nearing more and more, and she knew that avoiding forever was not possible. So, she prepared another of her spells. "Three powers, seven sins, seven virtues. Fear and anxiety cement, frail heart, cold as stone. With Sloth, fall into the abyss and lie in darkness!"

When she called for the spell, it created a membrane akin to Jell-O around her body, sending the blades bouncing off, rather than marring her skin.

Allowing his shackles to fade into residiual energy, closing the portals he had once opened. He began to open his mouth, licking his lips. "What a tasty looking technique you have there..." his mouth containing the jagged rows of teeth of a shark; an abyssal maw, flames flicking from it, a blue glow emitting from his gnarled smile: his pools of hungering gluttony.

Extending his arms, several Garganta portals began to open all around his opponent and her technique. Opening a single large dimensional gateway infront of him, charging up a condensed ball of reishi infront of his face. Then he howled out, "KYAAA!" the beam exploded in a wide arc, piercing into the entire Garganta opening...

And exiting as solid beams towards the shield, hoping to break it.

"Three powers, seven sins, seven virtues. Overlooked and abandoned, sorrowful heart, unclasped hands. Through reversal, allow Envy to eviscerate thy enemy!" Myst chanted yet another spell, feeling the drain finally catch up to her. Rather than the blasts hitting her, they were pushed back as her energy rushed outward, flaring and shoving the attacks back at their source.

Jian-Gula looked to his own blasts returning to him so easily... opening his mouth, "You ever heard of the Cero Doble...?" inhaling deeply as the blasts of turmoiling pressure was ripped from it's path and into his gullet. His chest and stomach expanded to a dramatic amount. Then something signified it's release; cracks formed around his neck and shoulders, where the Hollow bone was strongest, flaming indigo reishi steaming out.

And at last; the expasion of his body vanished, along with the blast of the Cero Doble being returned to the sky with twice it's power it once held. The clouds formed around the beam like the eye of a hurricane. Winds began to gust, the glass of the uppermost levels of the skyscrapers shattered from the sheer concussive power he had just redirected.

Licking his lips, he cooed delightfully, "Too bad I can't eat my own energy, now isn't it?" A small 'burp' of energy snuck through the ravenous grin, bare minimal leftovers from the snack he had been forced to waste on the atmospheres.

Myst declied to add that she was able to eat hers like candy, or if she could absorb his attack head on, she could use it as her own. "I normally don't want to use my true form against a human, but I gotta make an exception for you." she said as rose colored reishi ran wild around her, turning into a deep carmine until it faded, just as it had appeared, revealing that the vampire Queen now had glaring red eyes and white hair. "Sorry Jian, I can't let a monster run wild anymore."

Jian looked to her, his head tilted. "Do you even consider what you are facing...? This is only one power of the Virtures and Sins..." his tone growing colder, he wanted her energy. He had to consume her... to feast on that succulent energy. "Not to mention; I haven't even released my Fullbring..."

Slowly, Jian-Gula began to inhale and exhale deeply, maneuvering his arms forward, the stocks inbetween them solid spiritual energy coated with his Hollow bone. The hole in the center where a head would go; was his Hollow Hole. "Time you get eaten, it'll be a good change, I think..." No one judges me...

Waiting for her to make the next move...

Tables Are Turned
Myst jumped around the area, her new speed unlike what she had unveiled before, which was only a fraction of her real power to begin with. She charged a KGS, one that was almost double the size, and a power increase to match. The large blast would be impressive on it's own, but comared to the previous attack, it was nothing at all.

Jian looked to it, there was no way he could dodge it in time. Calling upon his wells of power, he attempted to open a Garganta portal infront of him to consume the blast and redirect it. However... it's gaping shadowy maw did not form quick enough. The KGS pierced through the skies at speeds and force he could not calculate in time... The blast would rip his Vasto-Lorde form into pieces of it's former glory.

His eyes being blinded by the light, he shielded what he could with his arms, concealing his face from the deadly blow.

An eruption of crimson and teal energy soaked the world. Coloring it with the polar opposites. His voice screamed out in anguish... immense pain filled his body. Gula would be unable to consume it fast enough. Soon... the epilogue of the blast; the results appeared.

Jian's body fidgeted, his entire right shoulder, arm, chest, and even the right half of his mask was completely blown away by the vampire queen's KGS. Blood seeped from his lips as blue ichor, his single eye that was left dilated, the puil shrank down to the tip of a pen, vibrating in the cage of white scalera.

Gula could say no words. Too much pain to fight off; only gritted teeth and the hissing sound of his soul burning from the powerful condensed technique.

"And that, is why you need to learn to dodge, rather than just consume. Your size is what allowed me to win right then. Size means nothing if you can't get out of the way. Now then, why not try something new? Something smaller maybe?"

His vibrating pupil focused in on her, infinite rage ran a muck in his soul. Barely uttering the words, "Because... I d-don't need..." his soul sent out a pulse into the air. A ripple wavelength going around, "To..." it soon ceased. It was a call, a pull. The energy that once destroyed him slowly gathered to Jian. His mortal wounds would heal; Hyper Regeneration, a trait of a powerful Hollow. Bubbling bone and the sound of shifting bones, bones made anew. His skeletal frame first... then the skin and outer layer of his body. Rebuilding the justicar-robes he once had.

His voice grew stronger, and at last... the mask he had recently felt destroyed. Was restored. But he was weak, "My sister had a terrible problem when I fought her while she was in this form..." "She could regenerate any lost organs..."

Jian could not retain this stance of gluttony anymore. The robes faded from his body, as tiny particles, flower petals in the wind. Soul resuming it's natural state, a golden and white, his mindset return to the proper form. No longer blinded by anguish, rage, and hunger.

"But I shall grant you your wish..." Baxian formed once more in his hand.

"Typical humans, you never know when you're outclassed. Yet, I always admired that in my food, a bit of gumption never hurt anyone." Myst remarked. Holding her sword at the ready, she ran in, ready to cleave at him, now that his defenses were down, she had the advantage.

Jian performed a reversal; a technique simple and consised. It was easy to perform as long as his enemy was close enough. Awaiting the last second of their approach, it allowed him to speed up his movement, and waft around his enemy, slipping right around their body and behind them. A motion so elegent, he wished it didn't appear as such. Theatrics disgusted him.

Looking over his shoulder, he performed a blind-shot, a horizontal stroke with Baxian to decapitate his foe. He could waste no more time. He had limits on his generation of energy, infinite, but the amounts he could produce at a time were limited. No time for a technique of reishi.

As soon as Myst was aware of Jian's movements, she began another spell. "Three powers, seven sins, seven virtues. Abandonment and denial, grant thy wish, steal with blood-stained hands, with naught but Greed in mind." she said quickly. Her body seemed to flicker in place, before disapearing altogether, leaving no trace she had ever stood there. Her form seemed to appear from thin air a few steps beyond Jian, within range of his sight and hearing. Problem was, his human senses probably couldn't keep up with her explosive speeds after using that particular spell.

To preserve herself, Myst canceled the spell, leaving her exhausted, but able to continue, for a time.

"You look tired..." stepping forward, he sheathed Baxian in place. "Time to shut that preety little mouth of yours... otherwise, you'll just keep wiggling that fancy little tongue of yours to cast those spells..." his fists glowed with a bright energy. A pure white, he smirked to her.

"Funny thing being, you know I specialize in close combat by now. Not so funny thing for you; you're running low. I can't." Reishi on his fists, his soul would grant his physical blows to disrupt the flow of an opponent's spiritual network, preventing concentration and focus. Disrupting techniques, devestating their pools of power.

He sprang forward with a howl, "Raaagh!" appearing beside her, a constant ripple of energy was floating directly on his back, rings on his feet as well when he needed speed. If he made contact with the punch; he'd make it nearly impossible to even think of an incantation.

Myst was on the defense again, Jian overwhelming her. Because she had assumed he was just a human with spiritual powers, she was at a horrifing disadvantage ever since. She wasn't prepared to dodge, she had heard his approach and his roar. Having a bad feeling about his fist, she had no choice but moving to the air above, drifting back and up, "Gotta...Think...Faster." she panted, the battle's toll obvious on her face, in her motions, her voice.

"To be honest... tacking your body to a wall in my room doesn't sound so bad now... or perphaps I should keep your soul in a jar? What do you think...?" Jian's soul was growing more sinister the weaker a foe got. He was a vindicator and the raging fury of his people that have been preyed on by invisible force for far too long. Perparing to break the distance once more, his feet rocketed him up to her each time she evaded, keeping a constant offensive.

All he needed was one hit.

"Heh, too late for you." Myst taunted, somehow able to keep going despite the pain, exhaustion and fear pounding through her mind. She was too tired to cast another spell, or even use her most simple skills, and yet she wanted to keep away from Jian, her very being protesting the idea of death. Her will to live kept her body moving and dodging the fist, something telling her to wait until the time was right to counter.

It Rises
Jian vanished, reappearing directly infront of his foe, intercedeing with her path. Cold eyes boring into her, a glowing pillar of light formed at his fist. "You have been weighed..." gritting his teeth, howling out in rage. His pressure growing for the moment of impact. I will shatter her soul...

Showing his piece-de-resistance, he formed the same speed augmentation rings of the Fullbringer behind his shoulder, elbow, and fist. The sheer force of the acceleration caused his arm to blur, fading from sight, mere lines. Jian's body like static, stance stable, he brought his fist down to finish her down. The beacon of light behind his arm screeching like a rocket, burning the entire sky behind him apart. "You have been measured...!"

Myst swung her sword at the glowing fist. "You have been found wanting!" she yelled back, finishing the quote. Every last ounce of her power was put into the swing. If her gambit paid off, only time could tell. If she succeeded, her life was still valid, and if not, she pretty much lost, making her existance forfit.

And as empowered fist met bloody Zanpakuto, Jian's soul called out. Power beyond belief poured out into the atmosphere upon the impact. Their very souls collided, a typhoon of violent red and white energy encircled them, tearing apart reality. Boom! the sound deafened all other noises as the blast, their united cry would evaporate the city's lights below. Jian felt his soul surronded by various scents: rage, desire, greed, fear, willpower, courage, and determination.

As the blade met his fist, carving into it, only protected by the pillar of reishi he had formed to save it. Blood began to float without shape or form between them, zero gravity in the insane asylum of pressure they were formed. Every droplet that escaped from his body due to the incoming explosion was turned into a tiny crimson mist. The heat from the blast alone was searing, a torturing instrument used on his flesh. His mask keeping any direct heat off, his mouth was a vibrant growl.

Jian pushed forward against the sword with all his remaining spiritual power. The rocket of rippling energy would in his hopes; shove her to the earth below... to drive her body across the skyscrapers rooftops.

Myst could feel the horrific heat make the blood in her veins boil, destroying cells which regenerated at the expense of yet more blood. Cracks appeared along the Zanpakto she carried, the sword that represented the power of her soul made manifest. The destructive energy Jian's fist emminated piled on more and more damage. Eventually, the law of physics finally kicked in, the explosion's shockwave sent the Vampire Queen hurdling to the buildings below at a high speed. Drawing the last of her willpower, she halted the fall and spun around, lowering down to the building at a much slower pace.

The Illuminati's cold eyes peered downward, breathing heavy as he had once again poured his reserves into the attack. The generator-trait of his soul would allow him to pass through the fatigue... but he would have to wait or retreat if she kept surviving as she had. It was too strenous on his body and mind.

But he could not fail to defeat her. And if he fell; the other Illuminati were already alerted to her presence. Only kept back by the battle going on now...

Breathing heavier and with more pain, lungs on fire, nerves on estacic adreneline. Blood smeared all over the left side of his face, pooling from his forehead and near his eye. Slashes from the pressurized winds had left his clothes a tattered mess. The energy in itself had left him physical burn marks.

"... in what world could you ever defeat me?" letting go of focus to walk on air, dropping down to the same skyscraper his vampiric Queen had decided to descend to. The scent of weakness filled his head, coming off of her. Jian presumed he was the victor. Just gazing to her, standing several feet away.

"You ask in what world I could beat you? In my world, my kingdom. All creation once bowed to my kind, and soon, I will return the Kingdom of Blood to its rightful place. Unless I kill you, of course. You're too strong to die by another's hands. For a pure human, a Fullbringer if I heard you correctly, you pushed me to the brink of death as if it were nothing." Myst replied. Like Jian, her clothes and body were a mess, tears in her shirt, holes in her shorts, streams of blood that oozed from any and every injury, and burns traveling up and down her body, remnents of the prior clash. How she stood at all was beyond reckoning. Her best guess was sheer will to live.

Her pulse and breathing were dangerously low compared to what it should be, along with a pain that repeated itself with each intake of air.

The head of the Illuminati glared to her, "You think too much about it." unsheathing Baxian, swaying it back and forth. "I usually like to take a prize from my fallen victims..." looking at his mask through the reflection of his weapon. Breath lightening up, he glanced around. He knew she was a worthy opponent.

"But this battle is not over." rolling his shoulder, the weapon of his soul gleaming in the moonlight. His body glew with a bright energy, opening his free hand's palm towards Myst, "Caelo Iura: Way of Caritas." the healing energy of charity flowed into his opponent. It would renew both spiritual and physical injuries, regenerating flesh, bone, and muscle. Resupplying her spiritual reserves. Charity worked both ways... it would heal him back as well in both areas.

"I want my people to see my mercy..." Jian wasn't known for it, and he didn't plan to ever shed light on it out of battle. Rarely ever within. His Illuminati members were down below on the streets, gazing upward to see the battle to which non-spiritual humans could not see. There were awaiting to see the victor.

"You will fight me once more Vampire Queen."

"I could say the same about you, Fullbringer." Myst replied. "Although I do thank you for healing me. For an enemy to do so even when on the verge of winning is a rare thing indeed."

"I only give it to those I wish to make an example of." Swinging Baxian back and forth, he began to pace slowly, like an animal waiting for it's prey to make the next move. "You should be better perpared I hope..." looking towards her, turned sideways to her.

"I'll even give you the next shot..." smirking towards Myst with a wicked intent.

''He wants me to continue the assult? He will learn his foolishness.'' Myst thought, focusing for the battle to come. "Bouyou." she whispered, revealing the third technique of her Zanpakto. The blade glowed with a strange light, seeming to lengthen and widen as well, making it many times it's original size, easily triple in both dimensions.

Wasting no time, now that she was fully restored by Jian's power, she closed the gap between them and tried to carve his flesh with the giant sword.

Jian gazed to her, pulling Baxian upward diagnolly, calling upon it's very nature to multiply and duplicate it. The blades stayed aflot infront of him, levitating without so much as a sliver of focus. Closing his mind from any distractions, he freed his spirit from any restraint. Hammering the blades he had once created, launching each of them towards his foe as a deadly storm of katana's.

The blades whirled about at high speeds, hoping in his heart to impact or dissuade her from reaching him. Baxian was a blade of a singular talent; but it was a deadly and intricate one at that. And Jian as it's master could utilize it as no other could.

Katana's hissing through the air, he hoped renewing her would not prove to be his undoing in the near future he had in the battle ahead. Jian would not allow himself to lose. He could not; for his pride would not allow it.

Myst saw the blades and knocked many aside, some grazed her lightly, causing minor, if any, damage. Now that she was at full power and in her transformed state, for the first time since a few friends who honestly asked her, she had a chance to truly test the limits of what she had become.

Realizing that by getting close to Jian, she opened herself to attack, Myst calmly pointed the massive weapon at the man and the elongated part of the blade launched at him, almost as if she were mocking his own attack, one large sword rather than a hundred small.

Jian looked to her, barely dodging the attack as it elongated through and past his blade-storm. The tip of the blade piercing his shoulder, creating a large wound, allowing the air to travel through. Jian back peddeled as quickly as he could, pain filling his mind as it did so. The Illuminati was not perpared for the technique's surprise, Jian gritted his teeth.

"I won't let my guard down so easily again..."

Bringing his blade up, he smirked. "You should know. They can go much faster." refining his spiritual pressure in Baxian, he formed a sword yet again front of him, not bothering to change his stance or move past where he back peddled to. Infusing his might with the next strike, he struck the duplicate like a bullet, sending it just as fast as one towards her.

Myst couldn't dodge the sword, it was traveling too fast, nor could she block it in time. It razed her left upper arm, splitting flesh and muscle, almost cleaving to the bone. ''If I'm right, the fewer copies he uses, the stronger and quicker the attack. This game's getting better with every turn. What else do you have human?'' she wondered in her mind. "We both got cocky it seems." she said.

Raising her sword in her right hand, the gold edge soaked in blood, it seemed to gleam in the light cast down from the heavens. "Hoshi." With a swing, a small, fireball looking blast flew at Jian, ready to explode should anything come in contact.

Jian watched the ability come forward, perparing to move around the flaming bolt that would surely deal more damage then what he could sense. A series of rings formed in sequence, the first under his feet. But the next ones in sequence formed in several key locations. Jian had mastered his Fullbring, his power using this varient was beyond his peers and fellow Fullbringers. Stepping on the first set of ripples, he launched himself, rocketing past the fireball with a spiraling side flip, hitting the second set of augmented ripples, launching him forward. The third set was infront of Myst by a few feet. Stepping on the third 'panels', he launched himself in pole-vault above and behind his foe, the fourth and fifth ripples keeping up his speed, causing his appearance to fade, body like static.

At last, Jian made contact with the sixth ripples, making a samurai strike horizontally to where Myst's waist would be. He hoped to hit the artery and leave her bleeding out like an animal in a steel-trap.

Myst kept her sharp eyes on the rapidly moving Jian, turning as he lept over her. With a sudden motion, she gripped his sword, stopping his movement. Blood dripped from her palm, darkening the Illuminati master's sword. "I'm surprised you thought you could evade my eyes. You didn't expect I could see you, like last time you tried your fancy speed. You forget, I wasn't fighting at my peak like I am now." she taunted, letting go of the weapon and shoving him away, using only a fraction of her power, she was afraid of causing lasting injuries to the man.

Jian watched her, smirking. "I never make the same mistake twice." planting Baxian's blade into the ground below, he grasped it with both hands afterwards, using his momentum to swing him around, using the ripples he had once used so recently to boost him around, producing two additional swords to commence close quarters combat once more.

Slicing upward with one blade, then downward with his left, a scissor motion.

Myst backstepped, but she wasn't fast enough. The two swords cut two parallel lines on her chest. Taking advantage of Jian's opening, she aimed a punch at his masked face. She was hell-bent on showing the masked man exactly what happens when a Reikon Kyuuban fights at full power.

Jian couldn't stop; he was too far in the attack. He would pay the consequence, to be hit in return by her fist. The blow smashed his facial defense, splintering it and shattering it into pieces all over the area. A majority of it carved into his face, the fist included. Blood, and damaged bone; Jian's payment for misjudging her power renewed.

Being sent back, body rolling a few times before going still. Slowly picking himself up, dust all over his clean white shirt, and his jeans ragged. The mask was left in fragments at his foe's feet... Only the mouth-guard was left. The Illuminati's eyes flashed towards his enemy. Burn marks, scar tissue, a large one in particular running vertically doen his face, another scar going directly across it. Forming what was a gnarled cross. The burn marks themselves covered his throat, mild-medium. Someone had meant to send him a message in the past.

"You... will pay for that..." gritting his teeth, he pulled out his box of toothpicks from his back pocket. Opening it up, he emptied a vast majority of them into his hand. Keeping his actions hidden from her. The box was eternal; like Baxian, any amount could be poured out without end.

At last, he pooled some of his energy into the individual miniscule make-shift weaponry. Flinging his hand full of wooden tools; super-charged with pressure. They would be as spiritual senbon; needles that would incise into flesh. Spiritual armor-piercing rounds. Searing through the air at amazing speeds, they would reach their target in the blink of an eye.

Jian knew Baxian's capabilities. The eternal toothpick container was where his Fullbring was oriented from, he could make swords out of the toothpicks. The very sword Baxian was nothing more then a toothpick in weapon form, spiritually amplified a thousand fold to become a real instrument of destruction.

Myst looked at the scarred face, every burn and scar clear to her as if he were standing only an inch away. She felt as though if the wounds could speak, each story would be more frightning than the last, and even the first would be full of terror.

If only she hadn't been paying attention to the gnarled and burnt face that once hid behind a mask, she would have seen the toothpick blitzkrieg that just slammed into her flesh, tearing through what was in their way. A thousand droplets of blood rained onto the building on which they stood.

Taking advantage of her wounds, Myst prepared to launch the most dangerous attack she possessed, a spell of unimaginable power. It was worse when one realized she didn't have much control over it. "Three powers, seven sins, seven virtues. Deny and perish, tormented soul, broken heart. With Hell's witness, the flames of Wrath's pyre, ignite once more!" As she spoke, the blood formed a sphere that she added energy to, and the unstable mixture exploded, crimson flames spread around the duo, waiting for but a moment to strike at Jian, lashing at him, raining on him, doing everything and anything to harm him.

"Baxian, Grant Justice!", Jian called out, it was an immediate effect. No burst of power; no changing of form. Only his soul shifted, only churning within him, granting him new access to his innermost techniques. And it was now that he had to use them. "Kuo Luo!".

The Sixth Immortal. One of light.

Grasping Baxian, he took control of his power. Swinging his sword towards each of the incoming blasts. Kuo Luo granted him the ability to manipulate light, refraction, reflection. And right now, he was distorting the field, alternating the paths of the incoming blasts, sending them in various paths. Manipulaing the very space itself to bend to his will, he caused the incoming Wrath to pummel into one another. No one could be harmed in this city... even at his own life's cost.

However; calling upon the glory of an Immortal drained it's host. And he could not defend himself from the incoming shockwaves. Pummeling him into a series of buildings, he had kept the attack of the vampire condensed in a refracting sphere, imploding it and exploding. Dealing significant damage to the top of the roof, as well as sending him sprawling.

He was not dead, but he was too drained to keep this fight any longer. Kneeling on a pile of rubble; the leftovers of a destroyed abandoned hospital, he grimaced in pain. Smoke, stone, ash, pain, agony; all of which he could feel, smell, and hear. It resonated in the area. With that thought in play; the remainder of Jian's mask, the mouth-guard, fell off.

His Acoloytes watched from afar... awaiting to see what would occur next now that their leader was injured.

Myst's legs were shaking. If Jian hadn't contained her spell, the entire city would have been at risk. Just the shockwaves from his counter pushed her away, finally slamming into a building a few feet back. Finally picking herself up, she was aware of the damage she could have caused, especially as the spell escaped her grasp. One of the tendrils of fire had coiled around her arm. The crimson flame had burned for only a moment, as the shockwaves had created a gust that blew them out, but the damage had been done. It wasn't enough to totally destory the appendage, but it would take draining not just blood, but an entire soul, to remedy.

It Falls
Jian looked over to her from the distance, enhancing the nerves and cells in his eyes once more with spiritual power to obtain the view of his opponent and her current status. Yelling out, "You done... yet?" standing back up slowy, coughing up some blood, drenching the front of his shirt. Sustaining too much heavy damage, his throat was emptying out it's gorey contents. Splashing a dye of red onto the stone infront of him. Whiping his chin with a weakened hand, cringing.

"Cause I can go on forever..."

Quickly, the acoloytes of the Illuminati; what appeared to be average humans with little more then the insignia of his organization tattooed on their shoulders. "Sama, are you all right...?" helping him stand up the best he could. "Sama, we can go and finish the monster off1", All fullbringers, all spiritually empowered humans. But each would not be able to stand up to their foe.

Jian cut them short, "Shut up.. you fools will just get yourselves killed; leave your families broken..." "Stay back, all of you..." glaring at each of them with a pride, rage, and worry he had not felt in a long time. He was protecting them to the bitter end.

"I said... are you done yet, Vampire?!"

"You can't even stand without support. Do you want to cause your comrades needless sorrow by continuing this battle?! If you think you can, then come. But I can see, you are close to death, and you will not survive. Your friends would probably be able to avenge you, but can you take that risk? Leave and let me find somewhere to feed in peace. What I must do wrings the very core of my heart, but I must pay the price to use those unholy blood-flames." Myst called back at him, holding up her burnt hand, causing skin to split from skin, sending tributaries of blood down. "I know it seems selfish to say, but you failed this time."

Her transformed state faded, a sign of her waning powers. The blood flowed from her desolate arm, charred flesh now hanging limp at her side. To say she was exhausted was an understatement. Pain, fear and what could best be said as a dearth of energy pervaded her mind.

"I do not expect you to even understand why I do what I do... you are a genetic mistake. A flaw on the physical world. Earth does not need, or want you. No spiritual realms do." Jian grit his teeth, blood seeping through it, and down his chin. "I shall gurantee you something, the next time your signature so much as stinks up my atmosphere; I will find you..."

Jian prayed she would not run...

"I will not kill you though... I will gurantee you a long life; a bloody doll for a decoration on my wall..." growling out, he pushed past his subjects, his pressure spiking. Even if he died, he would kill her. "Do not attempt to get on a high horse with me! I will tear your heart out and leave it hanging so you can see just how close to death you are; but I'll never grant!"

Spitting out the remainder of blood in his mouth, he grasped Baxian tightly. Howling out with rage, full of pious, vendictive anger, "I will make you suffer, as my race has been forced to underneath the spirits! As my sister suffered, and mother and father suffered! You are no different! Myst, Vampire of the Night...!"

Jian was pulsing with but a flicker of energy left. Only enough for one more attack. Then his immediate death afterwards. He could not perform it. But his soul showed it; to the visual eye, it was no longer the protected and justice guise it once hed. But the wrapping around it vanished, a mouth seemed to form, a maw, howling out in anguish and primal wrath. Jian could not feel it; nor sense it. Nor could his followers.

Only an astute eye.

His ferociousness was prohibited by his weakness. He could not move; not attack. Or death's door would open, and he would face the fate of becoming a spirit. That he could not do. Jian, the Vanguard of Earth, was powerless to defend for once. Only his voice could be carried on.

"Then next time, bring all of your hatred, your dispair, your sorrow, and try again. But, Jian, I will do the same. Next time, one of us isn't gonna survive it. If you don't come at me with the intent of dying to protect, you will die with nothing to show for it, am I clear?" Myst responded, turning away. She felt pity for the human, the one who's hubris and goals had almost led to not one, but two deaths that night. "Remember Jian, one tiny mistake, I'll drain your body and soul."

"I plan to..." turning his own back, he signaled for his Illuminati to gather back up, they would finish off the weakened Myst if she presumed too much and decided to stay. Limping off, the Illuminati had met a stale-mate. He was sure that the next time they met, it would be just them, no by-standers.

And he would make all those threats reality.

Don't you ever doubt it, vampire-bitch... eyes half-lidded, two of them guided him away, using a teleportation technique to take him to a safe zone.

Sirens filled the air, police, military, ambulances, fire crews, all due to the wreckage they had caused. The rest of the acolytes vanished, they would make sure to keep track of Myst if she stayed... and if she ever came back; they would alert their leader.

Myst took her chance and fled. She had to find a soul to feed on, and use that power to fix her arm, but with all the eyes watching her, she no longer felt safe to feed in the city. the pain that circled her arm was ungodly, blinding even, and yet, she ran, trying to escape the ever watching eyes of that group.