|
This article, StarBlaze, is property of Ten Tailed Fox |
|
This article, StarBlaze, was added by Silver-Haired Seireitou who determines its usage on this wiki. |
| ← | → |
For the fight between Seireitou and Vladik... a different format for this chapter!
For the Sake of Vengeance[]
Vladik Volkov listened carefully as Seireitou Kawahiru spoke to a now unconscious Raian Getsueikirite. The Sōzōshin had arrived on the scene just in the nick of time, saving his Shinigami friend from certain death. Oh, how he hated Shinigami. They were like the roaches and vermin; when one went down, another would rise to take its place. The situation was the same here. Vladik looked back to eye Abram, who was still on the ground behind him. Other than a few bruises and scrapes from the fight he'd engaged in with Raian earlier, there was no sign of immediate danger to him. That being said, as he turned back to see the anger and outrage in the silver-haired man's eyes, he could tell that would not long be the case.
"Abram," he spoke softly, his deep voice vibrating in his throat. "Go. I alone will face this man."
Abram's initial reaction was one of concern. He had seen Vladik get serious many times — too many to count, at that. Nevertheless, he knew that this time could be different. If he left now, he may never see Vladik again. He knew the man his friend faced. Seireitou Kawahiru; the Shiroyasha. A Yonkō considered by Akujin, their leader, as one of the Four War Potentials for the strength of his Bankai. The task ahead of Vladik was certainly fatal. The slightest misstep and it'd all be over. Vladik must've seen the concern on Abram's face, because he quickly spoke up;
"Do not concern yourself with my fate." he reassured Abram. "I know well the danger my foe posses. I am not afraid. Now go. I could never forgive myself if you were to die because of my own mistake."
Seeming to take this a bit better than he had Vladik's earlier command, Abram got up from his place on the ground, and, using Hirenkyaku, fled the scene. Vladik kept his eyes glued to Seireitou, not letting a single inch of his frame out of his field of vision. With a single movement of his right arm, he let his Quincy cross slip from its position on his upper arm, now allowing its chain to hang loosely from his wrist.
"Turn away if you value your life, Shinigami." Vladik declared, finally ready for confrontation. "If you fight me, I will destroy you and your friend there."
The silver-haired man's eyes were hidden in the scope of his bangs, having neither turned his head nor moving his eyes to acknowledge Vladik's words. Having picked up his sword by the handle after throwing it to halt the Quincy's progress, he had resigned himself to accept what was happening. Raian was the true hope for this world. And as both his friend and a former Captain of the Shinigami's militant heart and soul, it was his duty to carve the way for Raian. But now, this Quincy... This man named Vladik stood in the way. From these thoughts, Seireitou finally spoke.
"I think you would be the one who'll be destroyed if you attempt to face me." the silver-haired man spoke with a strange... clarity in his voice.
Unlike what one might've thought, his words were not angry. Nor were they the same brand of tomfoolery that this man was normally capable of. Simply nothingness. An unusual emptiness was emanating from his soul. Turning away after speaking his retort, Seireitou went over to the damaged body of Raian. He held out his hand and narrowed his eyes, utilizing a simple Kidō that would've altered the flow of air in Raian's vicinity. It was a weakened Tenran spell, having generated a wind strong enough simply to raise Raian's body without causing any pain or injury. The wind carried Raian's body toward a nearby rock formation, which then seated him down gently. Once the deed was done, Seireitou turned his body around and faced down the Quincy enemy. His facial expression changed somewhat. It was no longer apathetic. Now it retained some sense of composure. A calm composure knowing that Raian was now out of harm's way. "True warriors always rise to a new level of power when forced to defend themselves. I hope, in your case... that it'll be enough of a power increase to not die from my attacks, Quincy-san." he firmly stated.
Vladik let Seireitou's words go right through him. He didn't care for the man's idle threats. He was confident in himself. Even the Yonkō would kneel at his feet. Nothing would stop his advance. Spiritual particles began to attract to the ornament in his palm, igniting the crystalline center of the cross in a calming blue aura, before expanding outwards and then leaping to his other hand as well. This aura soon took form and solidified, completing itself in the shape of two wakizashi; Vladik's Spirit Weapons. He then began to absorb spiritual particles en mass, condensing it within his body before releasing it in a large eruption.
An explosion of reiryoku tore away from Vladik's body, channeling itself into a massive pillar of blue flames, which ascended into the skies of the Rukongai, obliterating any cloud formations in its path. This pillar would burn anything that touched its flames, except Vladik himself, who stood in the pillar's center, glaring out at Seireitou with malice and ill-will. He wanted to crush Seireitou. To render him unable to ever pick up his sword again. The Shinigami had to be purged, and Seireitou's death would be a step closer to that goal.
"True warriors always rise to new levels of power when forced to defend themselves, you say?" he finally spoke, his voice booming over the roar of the flames that surrounded him, "Your arrogance blinds you. I am all the defense I'll ever need."
Having said this, Vladik, never being the one to attack second, raised his right wakizashi, still well within the flames of his holy pillar of fire, and pointed it directly at Seireitou. How he longed to incinerate the silver-haired man; blood, flesh, and bones. That dream, that vision, would become a reality this day. With a mental command unheard by anyone but himself, Vladik unleashed a stream of highly condensed blue flames from the pillar, aiming to obliterate Seireitou's sword arm from existance. Subconsciously, he knew the attack wouldn't work, but observing Seireitou's movements, actions, and reactions were crucial to obtaining a win against a foe of such power. Vladik, after all, was not one to underestimate his foes.
Seireitou watched as the blue flames ascended to the heavens, already understanding that this Quincy was not one for jokes nor one for warming up. The death in the Quincy's eyes were about as raging with anger as the blue flames he was producing. But as magnificant as the display was, that is all it was. A display. Or so it seemed. Once Vladik had sent off the torrent of intense azure flames, it was clear what the Quincy was doing. And Seireitou was not going to allow him to make a move.
"Attō... shūhen." came the silver-haired man's whisper.
From the silver-haired man's person, an aura of white flames had erupted from his body. Flames as white and bright as the Shiroyasha's hair itself had erupted from his person and flew outwards in a similar current-like form. And in that instant... the flames of blue and white collided with one another, forming a large crashing sound as the clash had occured. This stream clash continued for quite a few moments, until Seireitou rose his left hand, and snapped his fingers. Aiming for the point of collision, a spark of white spiritual energy formed at the moment of the snap, and at that designated spot... an explosion of white flames reacted with the blue and white collision, causing the entire flame engagement to explode violently outwards. This caused both of the combatants to lose sight of the other, these ricocheted flames had caused a devastating firestorm of sorts to envelop the battlefield, raging wildly. Seireitou clapped his hands together, and generated a light blue rod of energy which, once thrown, separated into multiple rods of energy. This was the Hyapporankan.
Throwing it into the flames, some of the white and blue flames had covered the rods, lighting them on fire. As they exited the massive firestorm, now completely enveloped in intense flames, charged onwards, aiming to take down the Quincy opponent. But Seireitou wasn't finished. Once he sent off those energy rods, he thrust his arms forward and sent forth another Kidō that activated the moment the rods had escaped from the firestorm they were thrown in. Seireitou generated a large whirlwind from his hands through use of Tenran, forming a wide tunnel as it crashed into the flames. These winds, being strong enough to fuel flames, carried the flames and forced them to contort to the shape of the windstorm Seireitou had decided upon. This now powerful combination of wind and white-blue flames also began to charge forward, but being so wide as they were, they were forming a massive dome-like shape as they were being sent toward Vladik. In this sense, if those flame-covered energy rods did not strike down their target, no matter what direction Vladik attempted to dodge the spell-created rods, he would be struck down by the intense whirlwind carrying the flames of blue and white.
Vladik neither looked shocked or distressed. The data Akujin had provided him had briefly outlined the white flames of the Shiroyasha. It was said that they were purifying flames that could purge anything that it lit, even if that object was composed of other flames. Kidō had also not come as a surprise to Vladik. He had come to this battlefield to deal with Raian, who was known among the Yonkō for his use of Kidō, so he was already intending to fight an extreme form of Kidō, even if he hadn't planned on Seireitou being its caster. Casually, Vladik reached into his coat pocket and removed four small tubes. He despised Gintō, as he viewed it as primitive magic. Nevertheless, he could employ it with a mastery few Quincy displayed.
With his thumb, he quickly removed the cap on each of the tubes, and swiftly tossed them into the air. As if by some supernatural command, the tubes arranged themselves into a cubical pattern just outside the wall of flames produced by Vladik's Heiliges Feuer. As soon as he had done this, he brought his arms into a cross-like formation, with his right hand pointed completely up, and his pointer and middle fingers also pointed towards the heavens. As he did this, the tubes released their liquid reiryoku contents, creating a barrier of blue energy that engulfed the oncoming wall of wind and flame-coated Hyapporankan.
"Heizen..." he breathed, almost in a whisper.
As he uttered the activation word, everything within the perimeter of the barrier, flames, Tenran, and Hyapporankan included, was completely purged; obliterating it from sight and mind. With the threat to his person effectively neutralized, it was once again Vladik's turn to go on the offensive. Leaving the comfort and protection of his pillar of holy flames, Vladik charged mercilessly forward, like a beast lunging for its prey, and, with just a few applications of Hirenkyaku, closed the distance between he and his foe. Crossing his blades in an X-shaped formation on either side of his body, Vladik unleashed a cross-chop aimed to bifurcate his legendary foe in one fell swoop.
With a sudden motion of the arm, Seireitou blocked the twin-bladed assault using the sharp end of his own blade, using the fist of his left hand to support the blade on the other end, against the blunt side of the katana of course. Seireitou stared into the eyes of his enemy. They were cold eyes... Ones full of a past with pain and a present filled with anger. Seireitou knew that Vladik must've suffered plenty in his life, but that had no bearing on this fight. He was an enemy that had to be slain. That was all. Using Kidō once more, without the need for body movement, a small wind ball was centered between the two men, generated from a smaller-scale Tenran spell. As quick as it appeared, the wind exploded, forcing both of the men to fly backwards respectively. Once this occurred, Seireitou decided to move on the offensive. Charging toward Vladik with a powerful Shunpō, he began to slash his blade in several different directions at a high speed that would appear as simple blurs to most warriors, with the intention of cutting Vladik to several pieces of bloody flesh and limbs.
Vladik caught himself as he was thrown backwards, and spun around so that he could be prepared for his opponent's next move. He was smart in doing this. Seireitou had decided to go on the attack. He had seen how the Shinigami had looked at him; pity had briefly flashed in his eyes, before they had again been hardened by combat. Or maybe it was sympathy. Either way, Vladik felt a wave of disgust come over him. No Shinigami should feel anything for him. They shouldn't feel anything at all to begin with. They were genocidal, murderous monsters and everyone of them deserved to die a cruel, lonely death. As Seireitou moved to attack, Vladik's eyes darted back and forth, enhanced by his beastly senses, allowing him to catch each of his blade's subtle movements.
Allowing the blade in his left hand to dissolve, Vladik infused his veins with reiryoku, activating his Blut Vene. With precision rarely seen in a human, Vladik predicted the course of Seireitou's katana and caught it with his free left hand, his skin protected from the blade's sharp edge by Blut Vene. Vladik tightened his grip on the blade, holding it completely still so that no sudden movements would rip it free of his grasp. He also had to protect against the Zanpakutō's abilities should its owner release it while in his grip, so he flooded the sword with reishi particles he was gathering from the environment, with the intent of throwing off the spiritual energy harmony between blade and master. He knew Seireitou was not accustomed to being confronted so directly. Though the man was powerful, it was because of this power that few dared get so close to him in open combat, and, therefore, would not be accustomed to having someone so close.
With his right hand, which was still clutching one of his wakizashi, Vladik swiftly, in one fluid motion, brought his blade to bare, pointing it directly at Seireitou's chin. As he did this, he expression remained cold and uncaring. He wasn't about to let his emotions cloud his vision. Without warning, he gathered reishi at the tip of the wakizashi, unleashing Heilig Pfeil at point blank on the Shinigami's head, aiming to completely blow it off the silver-haired man's shoulders.
The silver-haired man was caught by surprise, if only for that moment. It was unheard of for anyone to catch the Shiroyasha's blade, bare-handed, much less a Quincy. But as unpredictable was it was, he had no time to allow himself to be overtaken. He remained unfazed as Vladik's blade neared his chin, merely staring at him, but once the tip began to emit a blue light. Seireitou immediately recognized it as the initiation of the Quincy arrow technique and knew how to respond. Using his free arm, he performed a twist of his arm, forming a ninety-degree angle between his forearm and biceps, doing an inward block with a closed fist against the flat side of the blade. Doing so caused the blade to point outwards, away from Seireitou's face, the arrow shooting out into the skies. It was a Karate technique that Seireitou employed. One that allows a Hakuda Master to deflect blades and other weaponry. Vladik was highly misinformed if he thought that his opponent was vulnerable at close-range. He was dealing with the Hakuda Grandmaster of Soul Society. Close-range was his specialty.
With another twisting motion of his arm, he thrust his fist outwards, using a combination of his own force and the power generated from the torque force of the arm twist, preforming a highly-empowered and advanced Ikkotsu for Vladik's head at a speed that would make his previous sword slashes seem slow. If struck, it would cause Vladik's head to most likely explode into tiny chunks of blood and flesh, for nobody could take on the force of the Ikkotsu neijing technique head-on without succumbing to serious injury and death.
Vladik, surprisingly, however, stood completely still as the blow connected with his forehead; causing a sickening crunch to ring out on the battlefield. Yet, after the move had been completed, the Quincy was still standing, not a drop of blood on his forehead. The skin on Vladik's forehead exuded the image of spidery veins crawling all along the impact zone: Blut Vene. What had the Shinigami expected, after all? At full power, Blut Vene was strong enough to completely negate the attack of a Shinigami's Bankai. An Ikkotsu was inconsequential compared to that power. Despite this, Vladik had to admit the man was better up-close than he had previously thought.
Releasing Seireitou's blade from his left hand, Vladik sprung his trap. Aiding his speed with Hirenkyaku, Vladik whirled around, spinning completely past Seireitou's right side, and stopping himself when he was directly behind the silver-haired man. As he did this, two arcs of highly condensed flames launched from his Heiliges Feuer pillar, attacking Seireitou from the front. Meanwhile, Vladik had materialized his left wakizashi once more, returning him to two weapons, were he again made a bifurcating sweep, attacking Seireitou from behind.
An attack from the front and the back? A bold move. Seireitou knew, if anything else, that this Vladik was no beginner in the combative arts. Among nearly every single move this Quincy was making, none of them were wasted. Seireitou was merely that skilled to dodge and block them respectively. Against any lesser opponent, Vladik would most likely have overwhelmed them from the get-go. That being said, Seireitou was not concerned. None of the movements that this Quincy was making, flashy as they seemed, posed any serious challenge. But at the same time, something was off. Seireitou had noticed it the moment he locked eyes with his Quincy foe. Vladik was not looking at him. Rather, it was a hatred that was not focused on Seireitou, but on Shinigami themselves. Vladik was not looking at his opponent; not at a spiritual level. And against a dangerous opponent like Seireitou, a mistake of that magnitude is all it takes to lose one's life. Whatever the case, Seireitou knew he had no more time to spar with this Quincy foe.
Using a powerful kickoff with the assistance of Shunpō, Seireitou activated the Sekienton spell. At the moment of kicking off from the ground, thus escaping the scope of both the blue flames and bladed assault, the smoke Bakudō had taken effect, shrouding the entire battlefield underneath Seireitou as the latter flew up into the skies above, causing Vladik to also become enveloped in the smoke due to his close proximity from before. But this spell was strange. The color of the smoke was not the standard red, but it took on a violent color. The smoke had been poisoned by Shimoku, causing the spell to take on the properties of a very powerful poison that even Shinigami would become overwhelmed by, becoming weakened within their bodies.
But it wasn't just that. If it were just the Shimoku spell, then the smoke would've taken a dark purple color. But it was light violent instead. The Inemuri spell had also been imbued into the smoke spell. In addition to the possibility of being poisoned, if breathed in, Vladik would have also fallen asleep at the most extreme case, or at least had succumbed to becoming drowsy. A combination of this and a powerful poison would be capable of killing most people, even Shinigami officers, but Seireitou knew better. If anything, this was going to merely slow down his Quincy attacker.
Seireitou gathered reishi underneath his feet, looking down at the three-layered spell he had cast over Vladik. Not to mention, those blue flame projectiles were en route to strike their castor if Vladik hadn't watched out, and due to the smokescreen of Sekienton, that would not be easy to determine. As he looked over, he released the Shikai of his Zanpakutō, Hanullim, evident by the shift in coloration from its standard colors to a more golden hue.