returning

Miraya hadn't actually thought that she would have time to sit there and try to figure out what exactly was going on. Any opponent would be foolish to allow something like that so easily. This guy certainly wasn't that. Almost every single one of his decisions had been well aimed to fight her. She hadn't exactly been able to take it easy since their fight had started but neither had she been forced to go all out yet. She thought she would be able to continue at least for now without going that far. If somebody was strong enough to make all these creations and control them so well he would probably have a few more tricks as well that might force her to. She didn't waste much time searching out once she noticed that there were more attacks incoming.

She had to decide what exactly to do about these attacks. The first one was on its way at her right then while the other two were clearly working their ways towards doing the same thing or at least something similar. There was some significance about the fact that the one she hit didn't have an actual body. If the person had traded places with one of those Samurai things then maybe that wasn't the one. Regardless it seemed likely that she would have to deal with all of the creatures anyway. One of them wasn't going to just stand by and let her search out were somebody could be hiding at. At this point she did have one ranged option to deal with these things making their ranged assaults.

The major problem with her ranged option was that with them spread out like this she would only be able to use it on one of these things. Which one should she target with it? There was the third one that had already launched an attack. If she targeted that one maybe she would be able to stop the attack that it had already sent at her. The second one was damaged so there was a greater likely hood that she could destroy it with the attack but she was sure she would be able to destroy one anyway. She would definitely be able to stop that ones attack though. The first one wasn't ready to attack just yet but certainly would be soon. Which one should she target with this move of hers. It was certainly challenging to decide.

Even if she did destroy the third one there was no guarantee that its attack would stop so she would have to figure out some way to deal with it. That having been decided she had two more to choose from. The second one had weakened armor which meant it would be taken out of the fight more easily then the others. She pulled back her right arm preparing to launch off her volley of bala's. With her arm charged like that she could pull off 10 at a one time that would likely all of them hit her target. She was sure it would be enough to finish off any one of the three. She punched her arm forward sending the bala attacks at the first on that had just been freed from the shinigami burden. It would likely be slower to respond then the others since it was just coming back in. The second one she could take out easier later since it was weakened which should make it a one on one.

With her own attack taken care of it was time to deal with the attack coming at her. She would have to be careful since her right arm's charge would be consumed by her attack with those bala. She would have to rely on her left arm to defend herself from it. She saw the straight forward one coming at her and she decided to simply side step it moving closer toward the tree. She wondered where the second blade was at not realizing it was behind her just yet. She raised her left arm to strike down at those black tendrils to see if cutting them would affect the blades. It was at the last moment that she noticed the other blade coming at her from the side. She tried to maneuver her gauntlet to block the damage but only managed to direct it to a different location. The blade would graze along her just above her hip.

She knew that there wasn't much time before that second one fired at her and she had to act fast. She grabbed the tendrils from both attacks quickly with her right arm and with the left moved to cut through them. Maybe if she could cut the connection between the Samurai thing's body and its blades then it wouldn't be able to use them anymore. She knew that the second one would probably be launching its attack at her. It would likely try something very similar to what the first one had. With her injuries it was risky staying up on the branches of the tree where she had limited maneuvering space. She would drop down from her perch and start moving toward the second Samurai with the ruined armor. Planing to use her gauntlet to stop at least one of the attacks it would launch soon and trying to minimize damage from the second one. She would punch her blades into the second samurai's body before relaxing her fist inside it which would cause the blades to explode outward flipping through the air cutting everything in their path until they would come to rest on on her forearm rather then on around her fist.

Before the Samurai near 'Arron's' now fading body had a chance to really get in the fight it was taken out of he battle. Styn had a panoramic view of the creature's final moments. From the Samurai who had actually managed to land a blow, Styn was able to watch as Miraya readied her strike, while dodging and deflecting. He had wondered when the infamous arrancar energy attacks would make an appearance, and honestly there wasn't much Styn could do to defend against them. His summoned creatures had always been more moving targets then self sufficient battle partners. Despite their power tier, they had very little beyond general abilities to grant them an edge.

With a cero perhaps, he might have managed to take a glancing blow with some quick maneuvering. However, this overwhelming assault from a shotgun blast of balas, was just too fast for the Demon Knight to do anything other then hope that the innate toughness of the imagined armor was enough to survive the attack. Jumping back proved to avoid one of the ten bursts of force, but that hardly helped, as the detonation was enough to throw the Samurai off balance. After that, Styn got a front row seat to nine fast moving balls of volatile energy as they exploded all over the target's body. Although still invisible, the Demon Knight winced in sympathy as bits of fragmented armor and black fleshy bits went flying in all directions.

Even as Miraya was taking the fight back to the first of the Samurai she had injured moments before, she was allocating the time to cripple the one who had landed a glancing blow just moments before. It was possible for the beast to retract its blade arms, but the Samurai was given no time to do so. Miraya easily snared coils from both arms in a firm grip and severed them. Acidic blood probably covered her, as the cuts gushed like a severed artery, but it was nothing powerful enough to burn through her hierro. Without the added weight, the black coils were quick to retreat into what remained of the creature's arm plates, but the beast looked at the least stunned by the damage.

The final Samurai manged to get off its attacks only to have one of them completely deflected. The second would most likely manage a minor gash on Miraya's arm as she seemed to lack that powerful hierro glove on both hands. It was either that or to take the quick moving mass straight to the chest, as she seemed uninclined to alter her forward momentum. In fact, her speed was such that even with the last Samurai taking a powerful leap backward, it was not able to get its blade arms retracted in time to avoid its death blow. Punching back into the summonings insides through the open hole, Miraya unleashed what seemed to be a fragmentation grenade of blades from her gauntlet arm, completely shredding her last functioning foe.

Once more this would no doubt result in a heavy dose of the beasts acid blood, but she could take a certain satisfaction as it flopped, twitching to the ground. The game it would appear, was over. Not an unexpected outcome, but hopefully Miraya wouldn't be too upset about the subterfuge. Although his current position was actually behind the arrancar, Styn was quick to dismiss the sight veil that had shielded him so far. Of course there was nothing he could do about the cloaking of his Za Koa signature, as that was an innate effect of remaining in his shifter form. He could however announce his presence in other ways.

The Demon Knight began a slow clap as he made his way to stand before the only remaining Samurai, and this one was crippled to boot. He suspected that Miraya would have been quick to face her last existing threat in any case, but when she spun about she would see Styn there waiting for her. "Quite impressive Miss Miraya, quite impressive indeed."

Styn stood not quite six feet tall, taller then average perhaps, but not in a way that stood out. His medium build accentuated his averageness, he wasn't quite slim, but fell short of heavily muscled. Dark green hair only an inch or so in length, could possibly be a dye job. Pale violet eyes, while a questionable fashion choice, were not outside cosmetic modification. Both ears came to slight point at the apex of their arc, something easily overlooked. His teeth might be a bit sharper then normal for a human, but they retained the same basic shape and placement. The demon's nails also came to a point and were thicker then common, but were by no means long talons or claws. All and all - discounting Za Koa which was naturally suppressed in this base form - Styn would go unremarked in most locations. Unchallenged was another story entirely.

The Knight of the First Circle sported a dark green business suit, almost black outside of direct light. The pale violet tie was clearly meant to bring out his eyes, which were somewhat concealed behind a pair of gunmetal gray glasses with translucent bottom rims. Black dress shoes capped out the attire, with especial detail paid so that the combat boot soles didn't look out of place. Still the effect lacked a certain something. First of all, his white button down shirt was untucked, which his unbuttoned dark green jacket didn't quite conceal. His tie was loosened at least an inch, and cocked slightly to the left. His pants looked a bit rumpled and his shoes were scuffed. In addition his eyes had heavy dark bags under them and his stare was half lidded, giving him the appearance of someone tired or sick.

Anticipating some sort of violent reaction to his words Styn would be quick to interrupt any sort of aggressive response, holding his hands in front of him in a universal gesture of disarmament. His face would also reflect a genuine look of apology. "Please stop a moment to hear me out. We serve similar masters," Styn continued with a respectful nod. "Styn of Shadow Fall at your service, Knight of the First Circle. I couldn't help but notice your boredom, and as I was in the area, I thought to alleviate it. I hope you'll forgive my little deception."

With his right hand Styn gently tapped the only remaining Samurai, unraveling the Za Koa that bound its structure together. In a matter of moments its physical form bled back into the shadow stuff of its creation. In addition the remaining bodies, to include 'Arron's' form, also dissipated in a similar fashion. "There, I assure you that you have not a single enemy remaining Miss Miraya," Styn finished with a nervous adjustment of his glasses. The rest would be in the arrancar's hands to decide how she would proceed from here.

Miraya hadn't expected her maneuvers to actually end the fight but it seemed as if those samurai things were taken down by what she had done. She took a moment collecting herself checking her body by feeling it out. She knew that she had some injuries and she was breathing a little hard. It was probably a combination of being injured and have just fought with these creatures. She knew that she would be okay in the end. Maybe she would need to get some healing done but she wasn't sure if it would be necessary. She stood up looking at her gauntlet on her arm. Normally this was the time where she noticed the blood covering her arm. It was the only thing she ever really felt after a fight was the blood running down her arm. This time that blood was strange. It was burning some gaps in her cloths but her hierro seemed strong enough to stop it from doing much more then that.

It was then that someone walked out from hiding to stand next to the last standing samurai even if it was useless to fight. She wasn't expecting the man behind this whole thing to simply walk out. She raised her left arm her hand in a fist so her blades surrendered her fist. She was gathering energy in the middle of the blades before her arm was even up pointed at the man. She wasn't as good at cero but still it would be effective. His first comment could be taken as mocking her which she didn't really care about but he had sent those things after her which probably meant that he was an enemy. She barely saw that he was holding his hands up before she was ready to fire and stopped. She didn't release the energy though. It was only moments away from being ready to fire but she didn't gather any more energy yet. He would definitely see that she was holding it ready.

She listened to his words as he explained himself to her. So this man was in Shadow fall was he. That meant he was likely a demon. He didn't appear like much at the moment but surely he was stronger then he looked like. He had created those things and she could be sure that it likely wasn't his limit. He was stronger then he looked of that she was sure. On top of that she knew for a fact that this guy wasn't even injured yet and she was. There would be a limit to how effectively she would be able to fight him right now. It probably wouldn't be a good idea to even try anything remotely like fighting. If he wanted to fight her she needed to be ready though and she would give it everything she had.

"You saw my boredom you say. All of this was some way of letting me have some fun. Was it good for a laugh for you? Honestly you failed to even so much as challenge me with this display of yours." she told him not easing even a little bit. She was ready for him to come at her even having him said that he wasn't her enemy. She didn't trust people that well even if they were supposed to her allies. It was impossible to know exactly what somebody was thinking and even if they were supposed to be an ally there would be times that people would either turn on you or leave you if it helped them.

"Forgiving you for what you did would imply that I am mad about it. I assure you I am not. But you claim there are no enemies left but you did send these things on me. Even if you have some reason for it that tend to make someone believe that you are in fact an enemy." He had caused that last samurai thing to disappear but it had been useless by that point anyway and it could have been using his energy to keep it on the field for all she knew. She couldn't be sure if he was going to try on turn on her and attack. She didn't plan on attacking him at that moment right now though. She wasn't sure about him but she wasn't sure about her ability to beat him either. "So where do we go from here?" She would ask him still holding that energy ready.

Styn shrugged his shoulders casually. "I can't say that I wasn't enjoying myself. I'm only sorry that my performance was so inferior. I hope this doesn't ruin your opinion of me Miss Miraya." The words could easily be taken as mocking, but the look in the Demon Knight's eyes was sincere. He could certainly feel anger and was capable of becoming upset, but wasn't inclined to take offense. Besides, he'd hardly expect an arrancar to react in any other kind of manner. All of this past encounters with the hollow sub race had traveled similar routes after all.

It wasn't like arrancar had a monopoly on arrogance either. Demons were often more then willing to engage in similar pissing contests. It wasn't really so much about Styn's confidence as it was him just being a generally even tempered individual. In the past he probably wouldn't have even gone so far as to engage in combat, however trick some it might have been. A simple trap or illusion would have been preferable. Lately Styn found it easier to succumb to some of his chaotic impulses though. Fighting topped the list.

It was clear that Miraya didn't trust this situation one bit, and the demon really didn't have much he could do to put her at ease. Centuries of experience were most likely warning the blank faced arrancar not to let her guard down. Styn hardly felt that shedding the Cloak of Shadows would help her feel more comfortable. Either she thought he was lying about being a member of Shadow Fall, or she had a lack of faith in the current alliance between demons and hollows. Suddenly being confronted by a tier 1 level power signature wasn't going to grease any wheels.

"I'm glad to hear that you seem to bear my actions no ill will. However, I'm unwilling to believe that there is nothing at all that would assure you of my good intentions. Unfortunately I can't for the life of me imagine what words it would take to achieve such an effect. So I won't bother with any more words, I'll just say that I owe you one. What you choose to do with this favor is your business."

Reaching into his pocket Styn pulled out what looked to be a clear plastic disc. If Miraya was particularly observant she might notice that the inside of this object was filled with microchips. A whisper of demon magic carved a red rune on both sides of the coin sized plastic. Immediately the chip darkened as the device activated in response to Styn's Za Koa. Fingering the device for a moment the Demon Knight's gaze rested on the arrancar. His actions were slow and smooth, offering no particular aggression.

"I can take my leave of you and you'll have lost nothing but a bit of expended energy. The worth of my word will be proven when or if you should choose to redeem this token. Keep it with you or store it somewhere. I won't lie, it will let me know where you're at and give me a vague idea of your current physical status. It can also be used to contact me where ever I might be. A boon from a Demon Lord is nothing to scoff at I would think."

Styn flipped the disc toward Miraya with a flick of his thumb. He intended to wait and see what she had to say to this, but it was becoming apparent that his presence didn't seem welcome. It might have been a good idea to have left her to her own devices, but he couldn't deny that it had been refreshing to see that the Espada had such a skilled subordinate. In these turbulent times it was never a bad prospect to look toward the future. Styn himself had grown in power uncommonly fast, and there was no reason to start making enemies now. He could very well be looking at the next Primera Espada.

Miraya stood there watching this demon waiting for him to make some form of move. It wasn't so much that she didn't believe him or didn't trust the alliance between their races so much that she simply didn't trust much of anything beyond herself. Trusting someone could leave you vulnerable far to easily and that was something she didn't intend to do. Someone that you trusted could turn on you just as easily as someone that you didn't trust but if you don't trust them you will at least be expecting the betrayal. He wasn't move against her in any way which seemed strange to her since he had launched that attack on her with those creatures of his. Maybe what he said about just trying to entertain her was the truth. She wasn't sure about that though.

She listened to him trying to get her to accept that he was actually trying to help her out but he was correct that words probably wouldn't do the trick. She knew that most people held at least some form of selfish desire no matter how good willed their actions seemed. He said something about a favor which she wasn't exactly sure what that meant. He was willing to help her out later if she needed it. She watched him slowly pulling out that strange disc and telling her what it would do. She caught the disc as it flew threw the air finally pulling her eyes away to look at the thing briefly.

She wasn't sure how she felt about it. It would allow him to know where she was and what state she was in. It could be used as a trap to try and destroy her when she was weak our be used to save her if she was in trouble. On the other hand she could try to use it to destroy him with a trap if she felt it was absolutely necessary. She wasn't sure she wanted to actually fight this guy just yet. Those things he had created were beaten easily enough but she got the feeling that she hadn't seen anywhere near his limit for what he could do. She wasn't sure if she could trust this gift of his but if she refused it he may take it as an offense and decide to attack her after all.

Thinking about it for a little while she came to the conclusion to keep the dumb disc thing. It may let him know where she was what state she was in but she could get around that. If he could use it to attack her when she was weak then she would just have to make sure that she was never weakened. She would have to train herself to become stronger so that she would be able to defeat anything that came at her so that she would never have a vulnerable moment for him to take advantage of. She didn't know for a fact that this disc was a trap but if it was then she would be ready to defeat it. Besides maybe someday she would find a use for this demon. She closed her hand around that disc lowering her arm releasing the energy stored for the cero.

"Very well then. I will keep this thing for the time being. Know that if you try to use it against me I will do everything in my power to destroy you. Until we meet again Styn was it?" she would say preparing to open the way back to Hueco Mundo behind her. She wasn't planning on staying long. It was possible that those in the city would have felt this little skirmish and come to investigate. She intended to be long gone before that happened. "I wouldn't advice staying around to long. But I don't really care one way or the other." she said as she started to step back into her Garganta notably not turning away from Styn while she does so.