Captain vs. Captain
Who: Kenpachi and Byakuya
When: January 22
Where: The arena
What: Kenpachi and Byakuya's fight in the third round of the tournament.
Warnings/Notes: Violence, some blood, and some vulgar language.
Byakuya stood on one end of the arena. Slowly, carefully, he drew Senbonzakura from its sheath. From what he'd seen and heard, this fight would be his most difficult yet. He did not doubt that he would have to call on Senbonzakura Kageyoshi once again, but he would wait until he had no other option before doing so.
Kenpachi unsheathed his battered sword with perhaps the least detectable falter in history--as close as he could come to “shuddering” in excitement. Regardless of his appearance--a perspective from which his opponent was beyond underhwelming--Zaraki knew from uniform that the man was a Captain. He intended to test their shared rank.
The announcer shouted over the crowd. “READY… START!”
At the sound of the command to fight, Byakuya acted, opting for a technique that had been thoroughly ingrained into his muscles by decades of use. He moved forward at top speed, so fast that he was rendered invisible to the untrained eye. Byakuya appeared right behind Kenpachi, half-turned toward him, and let loose an upwards slash at Kenpachi's exposed back.
It halted against another sword. Kenpachi had swung over his shoulder to block without looking. “Nice speed,” he remarked before lifting his blade in a hard uppercut, grinding noisily against Senbonzakura.
Byakuya was launched backwards by the strength of Kenpachi's cut, as Kenpachi whirled around to charge sword-first, appearing to make contact; however, Byakuya seemed to flicker away--it was an afterimage. Byakuya appeared suddenly next to Kenpachi and slashed at his side.
Kenpachi grabbbed Senbonzakura by the blade, cutting his hand ever so slightly, and swung at Byakuya's opening, an exposed right flank.
Acting quickly, Byakuya spun, taking a minor cut to his side and pulling Senbonzakura free at the same time. He then launched a horizontal slash using his momentum, but Kenpachi too did a half-spin to block again, now leaning into the clash grinning.
Byakuya realized just how dangerous Kenpachi was in close range. He felt he had no other choice than to resort to distance attacking, so he put as much ground between himself and Kenpachi as possible via shunpo.
"Engaging you in close-range combat will leave me too damaged," Byakuya said. "I would prefer to be at full strength for my next fight. Fortunately, I have other means of attacking.
“Che,” spat Kenpachi, his entertainment fading. “S’a bad idea.” He raised his sword to a rest against his shoulder, waiting.
Byakuya, however, ignored Kenpachi's remark, and held Senbonzakura upright in front of him, its hilt over his heart. "Scatter...Senbonzakura."
Senbonzakura's blade broke down into a thousand smaller blade shards that, to the casual observer, looked like cherry blossom petals. Byakuya then directed the blade shards to swarm Kenpachi and attack him from multiple angles. Much to Byakuya's astonishment, however, the blade shards did not so much as scratch Kenpachi.
Kenpachi blinked his exposed eye, momentarily unsure of what had just happened. Realization dawned visibly, and the bored frown broke as he cracked up. He laughed raucously as Byakuya stared daggers at him from across the arena.
Byakuya glared at his opponent. "Why did Senbonzakura have no effect? I demand an explanation."
Kenpachi stifled his laughing slowly, wiping a nonexistant tear of hysteria from his eye simply for the condescending effect. “What’re you, retarded?” He straightened up, once more evidently upset at the direction the fight was taking. “You don’t even remember how spiritual pressure works?”
Byakuya narrowed his eyes. "Spiritual pressure?”
“Che, talk about basics. You and me both have plenty; it’s our power. When people fight, who gets cut and how bad depends on spiritual pressure.” Kenpachi stretched out for emphasis. “What I’m saying is, the amount I exert unconsciously is more than all those sad-ass little pink things.”
"So the individual blade shards lack the necessary spiritual pressure to break your skin," Byakuya said. "An increase in the number of blades will help with that, however." He then held Senbonzakura at arm's length, blade pointed down, and as he released his grip on the zanpaku-to, muttered the word, "Bankai."
“Huh?” Kenpachi grunted.
Senbonzakura slowly plunged into the ground, rippling it like water as it buried itself entirely. Then, two rows of gigantic blades appeared behind him. "Senbonzakura Kageyoshi," Byakuya said, and the blades all dissolved into blade shards. Once again, Byakuya directed the blade shards to swarm Kenpachi.
Kenpachi was caught in the attack before he knew what had happened. He was aware only of a world of glowing pink; he still wasn’t being cut, but it felt oddly like he was being buried alive; he could push the shards away to move, but it was stifled. Annoying shit, he thought. Slowly, he worked his hand up to his face.
The pink blob that had encased him glimmered more strongly for an instant, before it erupted in a continuous wave of yellow light. The blades were repelled as if by a strong wind, blowing past their master and in every other direction in scatters. Kenpachi let go of his eyepatch, and it slapped back to his face, his aura subsiding as it was drawn quickly to that point and disappeared.
“Next,” Kenpachi uttered boredly.
"Fine, then I will alter my strategy," Byakuya shot back. He began grouping the blade shards together, and shaped them into arrows. Byakuya then had the arrows strike Kenpachi.
Kenpachi was caught off-guard by the increase in power--the arrows broke the skin as they barraged him, lodging lightly in muscle. He didn’t move immediately, grunting at the dozens of punctures and the pink shafts of light still protruding from them.
Surprised that Kenpachi was still standing, Byakuya decided that arrows must not have been big enough. He dissolved the arrows, and this time, formed the blade shards into spears. Once again, he launched the spears at Kenpachi.
Kenpachi knew now that this tactic could harm him--and that if arrows managed to break the skin, spears wouldn’t be so easy to shrug off. He rushed his opponent, doding as well as he could--still, he grimaced as lances grazed his face or impaled a leg or in the side (those being yanked out and crushed in his bare hands immediately). He reached Byakuya intact and took an angry slash.
Once again, however, Kenpachi only succeeded in hitting an afterimage. Byakuya appeared at the other end of the arena.
Kenpachi looked back across the field of spears jammed into the ground to find the other Captain. “Dammit to fuckin’ hell! Knock that lame shit off!” he shouted.
"Winning requires more than brute strength," Byakuya said. "If your foe has any sort of speed or strategy, there will be nothing you can do."
Kenpachi reigned in his temper, deciding to toy instead with Byakuya’s. “Che, tactics I can deal with. Chasing rabbits around while they shoot pink shit at me ‘cause they’re afraid of a real fight… that just gets annoying, ya know? USE A SWORD, COWARD!”
Byakuya's eyes narrowed at the insult. "You will regret that," he spat, and as if in response to his anger, the spears floating in the air turned into swords. Unlike Senkei, however, they were not neatly arranged into rows, but rather hanging at odd intervals in the air. Two swords also formed in Byakuya's open hands. Rather than moving in close, however, Byakuya began to launch the swords through the air at Kenpachi.
Kenpachi glared at the swords rushing through the air. “Not what I fuckin’ meant, and you know it. Fuck this.” He reached again for his eyepatch and this time cast it to the ground for the remainder of the fight. Spiritual pressure thickening the air, he slammed the ground with his full strength, sending a tremor throughout the arena and knocking most of the audience off their feet. Byakuya’s swords lodged in shafts of rock jutting out around the impact point.
Kicking the rocks out of his path, he dashed with increased speed at Byakuya, hellbent on having a swordfight up-close. Rather than an afterimage, he was blocked by a real sword, and for a time, they clashed blades as he wanted. Without the eyepatch, he had a marked upper-hand.
Byakuya, while keeping Kenpachi busy, simultaneously used the remaining blade shards to re-form the spears discreetly. He positioned them directly above Kenpachi without his noticing, and launched them straight down. This resulted in Kenpachi being pinned in place through non-vital areas.
Kenpachi made a deep noise that was partially a cough, complete with blood. He stared pure, concentrated death at the effeminate man in front of him.
"You are immobilized," Byakuya said, letting the two swords in his hand dissolve. "Those spears have penetrated various arteries in your body, and if you move, your bleeding will be accelerated. Forfeit, and the match will end without your passing out. Either way, the victory is mine." He then turned away. "After all, there is only so much a brutish rogue such as yourself can do against someone who, simply put, has more class and a refined style of fighting."
Kenpachi’s vision began to lose focus. He had little time, and needed a clear shot. He tightened his grip on his sword.
At that moment, Byakuya's ears picked up a tearing sound and ringing bells. Curious as to what could have made those sounds, Byakuya turned around--in time for Kenpachi to slash Byakuya all the way down the torso.
Blood exploded from the points where the spears had been dislodged, and for a split second, Kenpachi’s clarity increased just enough to see the enormous gash down… the right side of Byakuya’s chest.
“…missed,” he managed in the tone of a far more coarse word. The hulking shinigami collapsed, sword slicking out of Byakuya’s gut at an angle on his way down.
The crowd went silent instantaneously, and the announcer broke the spell with hesitation. “WE HAVE A WINNER!”
Byakuya had won. Unfortunately for him, though, he had not escaped unscathed. Staggering, he began to make his way to the arena exit. However, as he reached the doorway, the blood loss caught up with him and he passed out himself.
When: January 22
Where: The arena
What: Kenpachi and Byakuya's fight in the third round of the tournament.
Warnings/Notes: Violence, some blood, and some vulgar language.
Byakuya stood on one end of the arena. Slowly, carefully, he drew Senbonzakura from its sheath. From what he'd seen and heard, this fight would be his most difficult yet. He did not doubt that he would have to call on Senbonzakura Kageyoshi once again, but he would wait until he had no other option before doing so.
Kenpachi unsheathed his battered sword with perhaps the least detectable falter in history--as close as he could come to “shuddering” in excitement. Regardless of his appearance--a perspective from which his opponent was beyond underhwelming--Zaraki knew from uniform that the man was a Captain. He intended to test their shared rank.
The announcer shouted over the crowd. “READY… START!”
At the sound of the command to fight, Byakuya acted, opting for a technique that had been thoroughly ingrained into his muscles by decades of use. He moved forward at top speed, so fast that he was rendered invisible to the untrained eye. Byakuya appeared right behind Kenpachi, half-turned toward him, and let loose an upwards slash at Kenpachi's exposed back.
It halted against another sword. Kenpachi had swung over his shoulder to block without looking. “Nice speed,” he remarked before lifting his blade in a hard uppercut, grinding noisily against Senbonzakura.
Byakuya was launched backwards by the strength of Kenpachi's cut, as Kenpachi whirled around to charge sword-first, appearing to make contact; however, Byakuya seemed to flicker away--it was an afterimage. Byakuya appeared suddenly next to Kenpachi and slashed at his side.
Kenpachi grabbbed Senbonzakura by the blade, cutting his hand ever so slightly, and swung at Byakuya's opening, an exposed right flank.
Acting quickly, Byakuya spun, taking a minor cut to his side and pulling Senbonzakura free at the same time. He then launched a horizontal slash using his momentum, but Kenpachi too did a half-spin to block again, now leaning into the clash grinning.
Byakuya realized just how dangerous Kenpachi was in close range. He felt he had no other choice than to resort to distance attacking, so he put as much ground between himself and Kenpachi as possible via shunpo.
"Engaging you in close-range combat will leave me too damaged," Byakuya said. "I would prefer to be at full strength for my next fight. Fortunately, I have other means of attacking.
“Che,” spat Kenpachi, his entertainment fading. “S’a bad idea.” He raised his sword to a rest against his shoulder, waiting.
Byakuya, however, ignored Kenpachi's remark, and held Senbonzakura upright in front of him, its hilt over his heart. "Scatter...Senbonzakura."
Senbonzakura's blade broke down into a thousand smaller blade shards that, to the casual observer, looked like cherry blossom petals. Byakuya then directed the blade shards to swarm Kenpachi and attack him from multiple angles. Much to Byakuya's astonishment, however, the blade shards did not so much as scratch Kenpachi.
Kenpachi blinked his exposed eye, momentarily unsure of what had just happened. Realization dawned visibly, and the bored frown broke as he cracked up. He laughed raucously as Byakuya stared daggers at him from across the arena.
Byakuya glared at his opponent. "Why did Senbonzakura have no effect? I demand an explanation."
Kenpachi stifled his laughing slowly, wiping a nonexistant tear of hysteria from his eye simply for the condescending effect. “What’re you, retarded?” He straightened up, once more evidently upset at the direction the fight was taking. “You don’t even remember how spiritual pressure works?”
Byakuya narrowed his eyes. "Spiritual pressure?”
“Che, talk about basics. You and me both have plenty; it’s our power. When people fight, who gets cut and how bad depends on spiritual pressure.” Kenpachi stretched out for emphasis. “What I’m saying is, the amount I exert unconsciously is more than all those sad-ass little pink things.”
"So the individual blade shards lack the necessary spiritual pressure to break your skin," Byakuya said. "An increase in the number of blades will help with that, however." He then held Senbonzakura at arm's length, blade pointed down, and as he released his grip on the zanpaku-to, muttered the word, "Bankai."
“Huh?” Kenpachi grunted.
Senbonzakura slowly plunged into the ground, rippling it like water as it buried itself entirely. Then, two rows of gigantic blades appeared behind him. "Senbonzakura Kageyoshi," Byakuya said, and the blades all dissolved into blade shards. Once again, Byakuya directed the blade shards to swarm Kenpachi.
Kenpachi was caught in the attack before he knew what had happened. He was aware only of a world of glowing pink; he still wasn’t being cut, but it felt oddly like he was being buried alive; he could push the shards away to move, but it was stifled. Annoying shit, he thought. Slowly, he worked his hand up to his face.
The pink blob that had encased him glimmered more strongly for an instant, before it erupted in a continuous wave of yellow light. The blades were repelled as if by a strong wind, blowing past their master and in every other direction in scatters. Kenpachi let go of his eyepatch, and it slapped back to his face, his aura subsiding as it was drawn quickly to that point and disappeared.
“Next,” Kenpachi uttered boredly.
"Fine, then I will alter my strategy," Byakuya shot back. He began grouping the blade shards together, and shaped them into arrows. Byakuya then had the arrows strike Kenpachi.
Kenpachi was caught off-guard by the increase in power--the arrows broke the skin as they barraged him, lodging lightly in muscle. He didn’t move immediately, grunting at the dozens of punctures and the pink shafts of light still protruding from them.
Surprised that Kenpachi was still standing, Byakuya decided that arrows must not have been big enough. He dissolved the arrows, and this time, formed the blade shards into spears. Once again, he launched the spears at Kenpachi.
Kenpachi knew now that this tactic could harm him--and that if arrows managed to break the skin, spears wouldn’t be so easy to shrug off. He rushed his opponent, doding as well as he could--still, he grimaced as lances grazed his face or impaled a leg or in the side (those being yanked out and crushed in his bare hands immediately). He reached Byakuya intact and took an angry slash.
Once again, however, Kenpachi only succeeded in hitting an afterimage. Byakuya appeared at the other end of the arena.
Kenpachi looked back across the field of spears jammed into the ground to find the other Captain. “Dammit to fuckin’ hell! Knock that lame shit off!” he shouted.
"Winning requires more than brute strength," Byakuya said. "If your foe has any sort of speed or strategy, there will be nothing you can do."
Kenpachi reigned in his temper, deciding to toy instead with Byakuya’s. “Che, tactics I can deal with. Chasing rabbits around while they shoot pink shit at me ‘cause they’re afraid of a real fight… that just gets annoying, ya know? USE A SWORD, COWARD!”
Byakuya's eyes narrowed at the insult. "You will regret that," he spat, and as if in response to his anger, the spears floating in the air turned into swords. Unlike Senkei, however, they were not neatly arranged into rows, but rather hanging at odd intervals in the air. Two swords also formed in Byakuya's open hands. Rather than moving in close, however, Byakuya began to launch the swords through the air at Kenpachi.
Kenpachi glared at the swords rushing through the air. “Not what I fuckin’ meant, and you know it. Fuck this.” He reached again for his eyepatch and this time cast it to the ground for the remainder of the fight. Spiritual pressure thickening the air, he slammed the ground with his full strength, sending a tremor throughout the arena and knocking most of the audience off their feet. Byakuya’s swords lodged in shafts of rock jutting out around the impact point.
Kicking the rocks out of his path, he dashed with increased speed at Byakuya, hellbent on having a swordfight up-close. Rather than an afterimage, he was blocked by a real sword, and for a time, they clashed blades as he wanted. Without the eyepatch, he had a marked upper-hand.
Byakuya, while keeping Kenpachi busy, simultaneously used the remaining blade shards to re-form the spears discreetly. He positioned them directly above Kenpachi without his noticing, and launched them straight down. This resulted in Kenpachi being pinned in place through non-vital areas.
Kenpachi made a deep noise that was partially a cough, complete with blood. He stared pure, concentrated death at the effeminate man in front of him.
"You are immobilized," Byakuya said, letting the two swords in his hand dissolve. "Those spears have penetrated various arteries in your body, and if you move, your bleeding will be accelerated. Forfeit, and the match will end without your passing out. Either way, the victory is mine." He then turned away. "After all, there is only so much a brutish rogue such as yourself can do against someone who, simply put, has more class and a refined style of fighting."
Kenpachi’s vision began to lose focus. He had little time, and needed a clear shot. He tightened his grip on his sword.
At that moment, Byakuya's ears picked up a tearing sound and ringing bells. Curious as to what could have made those sounds, Byakuya turned around--in time for Kenpachi to slash Byakuya all the way down the torso.
Blood exploded from the points where the spears had been dislodged, and for a split second, Kenpachi’s clarity increased just enough to see the enormous gash down… the right side of Byakuya’s chest.
“…missed,” he managed in the tone of a far more coarse word. The hulking shinigami collapsed, sword slicking out of Byakuya’s gut at an angle on his way down.
The crowd went silent instantaneously, and the announcer broke the spell with hesitation. “WE HAVE A WINNER!”
Byakuya had won. Unfortunately for him, though, he had not escaped unscathed. Staggering, he began to make his way to the arena exit. However, as he reached the doorway, the blood loss caught up with him and he passed out himself.