The Marvels of Magic

Kazuya was nervous, mere hours before he'd volunteered to lead the task force that would enter the human world in search of answers on why the Visored met their end. He hoped to see his old teacher, again too, a Kidou Master, killed by some nobody, it couldn't be true. No, Kazuya was absolutely certain that he still lived. However, following his volunteering he'd be stricken by an uneasy feeling of self-doubt and anxiety, though he did his best to conceal his emotions behind a mask of stone. This was no time to second guess himself, that he knew, which was why he'd arranged for a sparring match between himself and the illustrious Fumio Enomoto, one of the Corps finest mages.

There would be no humans or Hollows that could even compare to an accomplished master of the noble arts, this he knew as fact. In comparison to their power, all else was merely desperate grabs at power, but he knew where it's true allegiances lied, and no amount of mindless swordwaving or brute fisticuffs would get them there. The time had come to test his mettle and hone his mind against a fellow master, and he relished the opportunity to test his prowess against someone who knew to appreciate his craft. There was hardly a point to making a show for mindless swines after all.

Walking through the hallways of the Kidou Corps headquarters, the man took notice of, as he always did, of the Shikigami who performed the menial chores. There they were, paper mannequins holding broomsticks and other cleaning objects, brushing away dirt and other impurities from the floor while others of their kind polished it reflected the mages that scuttled around in the hall. Running from Division to Division, tomes and grimoires stacked high in their arms. Some were in a hurry, others took their time and walked with their noses buried in some book or scroll, attempting to descipher some ancient secrets or what-not.

Each of the mages were dressed in billowing garments of all colors imagineable, their robes of silk, satin or velvet and held together by large obi sashes much like his own clothes. Although they prefered to wear lighter clothing while out doing work in the Seireitei, they prefered wearing clothes that were every bit as opulent and immaculate as their chosen craft while in the Headquarters. There was no way around it, most mages had a flair for theatrics and the excessive.

Reaching the end of the hall, he opened a set of large doors and went inside the massive room...

In the Hall of Martial Magic
The room was named aptly, for it was the centerpiece of a large arena drawn by the Joujatou corps as a training ground for Kido Specialists seeking to learn how to better manipulate their talents for combat. It was also open for senior members to test one another in a sparring match, or stimulate intense scenarios through arcane diagrams that produced illusions when commanded to. But for the sake of this match between him and Fumio, those glyphs had been deactivated for the time being.

The arena was held inside a massive translucent barrier, with benches arranged on the outer perimeter for less skilled members to spectate the matches of those who entered. Due to the fame of both combatants in this case, most of the benches were filled with hopeful new recruits and a few older and more experienced ones. The floor was made of a form of enchanted crystal which was naturally resistant to arcane energies, and was inscribed by various pentagrams and arcane symbols to fulfill it's function. The moment he entered, a rush of energy flew across the soon-to-be-battlefield and several of the glyphs in the floor began glowing with magical energies.

Kazuya walked to the middle of the room and put his arms behind his back, awaiting his soon to be rival. Once he had arrived the room would change into a random form of terrain in order to make their battle more realistic and interesting. Space was rarely and issue, as the barrier was in essence a bounded field, and therefore the arena was not privy to the sort of laws the rest of the world abided by.