Night 42: Rooftop - Residential area between Germaine St and Bohr St

[hajike_tobiume]

[from here]Momo landed on the rooftop of one of the houses across the street from the bookstore. Fingertips digging into the shingles to stop her momentum as she slid out of the flash step, Momo's vision swam and she coughed harshly, spitting blood out of her mouth. She stayed kneeling once she came to a stop, leaning against the stone of the

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[hajike_tobiume]

As the undead knight's lips moved, Momo caught the intent behind it. The duty-bound side of her was relieved as it meant she could put Signum to rest while her soul was still her own, yet it made the side of her that valued friendship protest in agony. How could she destroy someone who was a friend, someone who was still there? Signum was strong, surely she could overcome this is she'd somehow managed to overcome death? Yet, the question remained if the knight had indeed overcome death. Momo had seen, felt, the knight's spirit threads cease as she died. She had known Signum's death had come. But... if Landel could force her healing kidou to harm instead, could he not possibly fool her senses?

You don't have time for this, the duty-bound side of her said. She was shinigami and this was a soul in the process of corruption. Friend or not, especially friend, Momo could not let this happen. She firmly believed Signum would not want her soul to endure more than it had to, to have everything that had been noble and honorable in

[hajike_tobiume]

The voice in her head jarred her, Momo visibly flinching at how raw the knight's voice was. She wasn't a stranger to mental communication, but it had been a while since she'd be subjected to that particular kidou as it was generally used to coordinate division-wide tactics. The entire Fifth hadn't been mobilized in years...

She wasn't sure why the knight had not cut her down when she'd been given the opportunity, the usage of her kidou weakening her, but she wasn't about to complain. The shinigami got to her feet, spitting out a mouthful of blood in the process, and stood as tall as one under five feet could manage. Something about this encounter had woken Momo up out of whatever state she had been in before. She was still struggling under the burden of her failures, but she knew she could not allow herself to fall into inactivity, allow herself to waste away. The knight before her had given her life to ensure Momo lived. She could not dishonor that sacrifice any longer

[blazing_general]

And she still rose. That much was good... the attack she had connected with had not been the strongest, but it had inflicted damage enough to put her fitness to continue in question, and the knight wanted, needed to continue.

"You seem to think... something that was done... her, but she is what became... me. Even if this... her corpse, I am none... a ghost of the past. She and I were... -ure of duty, proud, but in... only war. ...were ignorant, Hinamori, and in... betrayed our highest... life we lived. We burned, and that... the ones we swore to... And yet, I became her. ...cannot save... Hinamori. I am... I have already been saved."

"Hinamori," she spoke one last time into the shinigami's mind, voice strangely clear as the fires and sword rose together, "Save thyself."

[hajike_tobiume]

The more the knight's voice resonated in her mind, the more Momo thought her head was going to explode with as raw as it was, making it hard for the shinigami to understand some of the words. It was painful, like a fire crackling across her thoughts, but they were flames of destruction, not the flames of rebirth Momo was used to with Tobiume. The more she struggled to comprehend every word, the more the pain reflected on her face, but she knew this was important for Signum never wasted words.

Save thyself. Momo needed to remember who she was - all of her, even the parts that were missing. Tears slid down her face as understanding found its place in her eyes. "Forgive me, Signum... and thank you," she told the knight as the flames surged and the blade readied. There was no hesitation in Momo once she finally figured out what she really needed to do

[blazing_general]

Forgiveness was not something she needed. She had been beyond forgiveness all this time; her crimes were too weighty for the words of another, even her beloved master, to dispatch. All she had wanted was a life worthy of the time she had been given, and that had already come to its end. This old self was twice dead...

But there was a price to pay for awakening such a spirit, particularly one that had loved battle in life. The conclusion was only natural...

And just as natural was to strike before the completion of a spell. Momo's bait had the desired effect, and the sword slashed downward.

[hajike_tobiume]

The shorter incantation finished as the sword descended upon her.

"Bakudou #8: Seki," she finished, bringing her right hand up as if to catch the flaming sword. At contact, a thin shield of reiatsu formed to stop the blade. The shear strength behind it forced Momo down to one knee, but that was okay. She needed the knight's blade to be in a lower position where the knight did not have as much leverage.

Two more words and the spell the shinigami had used to bait the knight with was finished and the glowing glyph was quickly drawn in the air. "Bakudou #9: Geki."

From above, a red light engulfed Signum as the spell took form. The knight had been susceptible to the arm bind, but this bound more then just the arms, but the entire soul itself. It never lasted long, as there were more advanced kidou for long-standing paralysis, but Momo didn't need it to last very long. She just needed a few seconds.

[blazing_general]

The sword stopped at the barrier for only an instant as the knight twisted, slashing the sword across its length, and tore through the thin shield by weight of muscle and magic. The obstacle dispatched, the sword began to come around again...

And froze as the second spell arrested her movement. The knight seemed to wither under the spell, flesh suddenly blackening around her wounds as the fire within fought against the confinement of its immobilized body, but the spell held for now. Whatever strengths death had given to her, the resilient, adaptable spirit that had overcome the spell used in their earlier battle was not among them. She burned, but the outpouring of energy against her bonds was straightforward...

[hajike_tobiume]

Momo coughed, blood bubbling from her mouth, but she forced herself to move. She needed to finish this now, while her bind still held and the knight was immobile. Her hand moved to the hilt of Laevatein and grasped it. The sword's heat seared her palm, burned her hand, and Momo could not hold back the cry of pain.

Don't let go now, shinigami, she told herself. Remember it's just fire. Only fire. Burned hands like this was something she had suffered while learning her shikai with Tobiume. It was probably something she'd continue to suffer once she got her beloved zanpakutou back and tried to master her bankai. It was just fire; she could handle fire

[blazing_general]

So at the very end she'd run dry, hadn't the last bit of magic she needed to disarm the knight cleanly. Fighting for the sword like this was no good... a knight of Belka would not easily relinquish her weapon, and in death, all pain subsumed by the inferno, it was all the more impossible.

It was unfortunate that she could not overcome this on her own, but then she was not an appropriate test for young Hinamori just yet. The girl could not give her the kind of death she had given... what had his name been? He had also lived beyond death like this, she remembered. She had delivered her message, but for the message to live she was going to have to tarnish her pride a bit.

It was well enough. She'd always been holding herself back with the others; one last time for this purpose wasn't so bad...

She let go of the sword, and raised her fist to strike. Also like him... if she had to die empty-handed, she would at least die striking out.

[hajike_tobiume]

It was the shunpou, Momo realized, that was the root of why she was failing to pull the sword from Signum. Had she not used it, knowing now that it had probably not been necessary, she could have had just enough left to destroy the knight's hand. Still, she did not give up but struggled and endured the superheated metal. She almost lost her grip when it got hard to breath as more blood slipped from her mouth, but she brought her other hand up against the back of the blade to help her grip.

The bind was starting to fade, and she'd not disarmed the knight. Eyes narrowed in painful determination, her mind raced to try and find a way in her state to finish this. Suddenly, she felt the weight of Laevatein in her hand, fire racing down and around her hands, and her eyes snapped up to the knight. She didn't understand why Signum had relinquished her sword, but Momo was not going to waste time figuring it out. This was the moment.

With a battle cry to push herself through the knowledge that it was Signum, she swung the sword with