Clear (Gin) (Open/High Risk Entrance)

"What am I doing, Mugen....what have I accomplished? My legacy consists of leading that hideous organization, and pretty much just going around fucking over people whenever something major happens. Why do I even bother having this power, if there's no real reason to use it?"

"You sound pathetic right now. Don't you still want to fight that little birdie you met all those years ago, for the last time?"

In the middle of a vast wasteland littered with the occasional half-dead plant, as well as a random boulder or two, a single green-haired man dressed eccentrically was laying down on the ground, staring at the sky and shining sun up above him. He was pretty much motionless in his current spot, and everything around him seemed to be as well which was odd for this area. Usually, massive Hollows, Arrancar, and all other sorts of spiritual creatures and beings would be rampaging and causing wanton destruction, but at the moment everything seemed even somewhat peaceful. With his Zanpakutō stabbed into the ground a few feet away, the green-haired man known as Stefan Soan seemed to be talking to himself...though in reality he was speaking to the sword itself, which actually seemed to be speaking back to him. However, outsiders wouldn't realize this and would likely assume he was merely a crazy man in a crazy location, speaking to himself in a crazy manner. Stefan closed his eyes, sighing greatly as he did so, and began to speak again.

"No....that boy turned out to be a huge disappointment. Not who I thought he was. Regardless, it seems like the world has moved on without me. I'm back to where I was five years ago, a wanderer without a purpose. Wait.....I sense someone nearby....something seems vaguely familiar about his Reitsu."

Rolling over, Stefan brought his hands underneath him and pushed up, climbing to his feet. After he was back up on his own two feet, the seaweed-haired Vizard brought his hands to his clothes and began wiping the dirt off his clothes, not that he actually cared. He was merely doing it out of habit. Stefan turned his gaze to the direction from which he sensed a rather strong spiritual being moving about and, apparently, eliminating the weaker and lower level beings in the area. Apparently whoever it was disturbing Stefan's peace, they were being aggressive in their attempted elimination of the local cannon fodder. He didn't really mind though, everything was still pretty quiet around him....however with Stefan standing up now, and not so relaxed, it became abundantly clear why things were so peaceful. In a diameter of roughly an entire football field, it was as if a nuclear missile had gone off and had just cleared everything away. There were no signs of life whatsoever, not even the smallest of plants or insects, and all rocks above ground seemed to have been removed completely from the area. Outside of this area, there were a few Hollows here and there but every time one stepped without the boundaries of Stefan's Reitsu they seemed to instantly be disintegrated completely, disappearing from sight. By releasing a relatively small amount of his power, Stefan was able to keep all outside low level creatures away from him, giving him time to relax. However, this made him rather easily sensed by stronger individuals.

"You realize if they get any closer, you should just destroy them right? Might as well, you're being annoying and boring. Give yourself something to do."

Noticing the strange man get closer and closer to his location, Stefan still had yet to tense up in preparation for the worst. Born, bred, and raised in the flames of combat, this Vizard was no stranger to having to fight enemies no matter their strength or race. With this in mind, he wasn't even slightly worried about potentially being confronted by someone who would declare him their opponent as if they did, he would be ready to instantly react. However, based on the man's introduction and behavior, it didn't seem like he was being openly aggressive. In fact, the strange being that stood a football field's worth of distance away from Stefan seemed...defensive. Many of the people he had associated with for the past four years were all extremely aggressive, being initiators of combat with Stefan so this was a little odd to the ex-Monsuta King, especially considering what the man had been doing to the locals not moments before. When the man finished his introduction, Stefan decided to respond in kind.

"You're really gonna ASK if I'm friendly or not? Not only that, but you think some random stranger is supposed to give a shit about your titles? This is the Wastelands of Earth, brother. Where you're from and what you do is irrelevant. But since apparently you care about that garbage, my name is Stefan Soan. I don't have any titles at the moment, though you might know me from my old connection to the Monsuta. Regardless...."

As Stefan said this, he started making movements, initially walking over to and gripping the handle of the katana currently stabbed into the earth nearby. After doing so, he promptly yanked on it, tearing it from the ground. Now carrying his Zanpakutō, Mugenku, Stefan turned to face his adversary and began walking towards him at a pretty relaxed pace. However, this was clearly a form of aggression meant to antagonize the Hohl Arquero as Stefan was wielding his Zanpakutō without it being sheathed. Showing is aggression even more, Stefan released more of his spiritual pressure in a pretty large burst, crushing and compacting the earth beneath him with every single step he made. The pressure very quickly grew until powerful winds also pushed out from his location as he moved, and even the earth began to shake and quake a bit from the power pushing on it. The local environment had gone from relatively quiet and peaceful, to destructive and volatile relatively quickly, displaying the Vizard's power to the strange Quincy who had disrupted his alone time. In just a few moments, Stefan had already cut a bit of the gap between the two until he no longer needed to amplify his voice using his Reitsu.

"...you've disturbed my peace and quiet. I'm not really a fan of people doing that, buddy. And even though I can't place where I recognize you from, I'm still gonna have to destroy you for doing so."

The green-haired Monsuta King listened to the words of the Quincy oddity before him with very little worry, despite the thread of death that passed by his lips. The corners of Stefan's mouth slowly bent downwards, forming a slight frown born from disappointment. The very fact that Cero had said he would try to kill Stefan to protect himself and his allies made it blatantly obvious he wasn't the type of person to enjoy combat, the rush of battle, the idea that at any second you yourself could end up on the wrong end of a blade and face down dead a mere moment later. Knowing in just a few seconds this place would become a battlefield, Stefan drooped his head, facing the ground at a downwards angle. As he did so, he took in a large lung-full of air, held it, then breathed out a moment later. He was both mentally and physically preparing himself for the upcoming glory of battle he lived for. This would be a clash that would live on in legends and as the scars that would plague this land by the end of it...this would be great.

Stefan immediately sensed the creation of what appeared to either be new entities entirely, clones, or mere shadows of Cero Telca. However, it was clear they weren't speed clones and the more likely scenario was that they could be used for combat, so the Vizard readied himself for Cero's next move by spreading his legs slightly, bending his knees, moving his right foot slightly forward, and holding his Zanpakutō with his right hand near his left hip. This was a battle stance that would give Stefan the ability to easily react to anything Cero threw at him, giving him a slight defensive edge against the Hohl Arquero. Sensing movement behind himself, Stefan immediately used his right foot as a swivel, swinging his Zanpakutō in a wide arc until he had turned one hundred and eighty degrees, holding the hilt of his sword while his left hand was placed behind the middle of the blade to make his defense more stable. While the power from the simultaneous attack from the echoes was noticeable, Stefan was able to cleanly block their assault without hesitation or negative consequences, despite the vibration-like strikes they had used. However when they dispersed, the Vizard's eyes widened slightly as he noticed what both Cero himself and his echoes were doing.

Seeing the echoes begin to unleash volleys of spiritual energy-based arrows, Stefan spun around once more in order to face his primary opponent. As he did this, he gripped his Zanpakutō upside down with both of his hands this time, raised it above his head, then slammed it down into the ground with devastating force, leading to not only the surrounding earth being shattered and cracked, but even causing the entire battlefield to shake momentarily from his sheer physical strength. As soon as this occurred, the Zanpakutō released a huge amount of what appeared to be a black liquid-y 'energy' that shot out of the cracks he had just created, completely enveloping and covering Stefan and his weapon in a ten foot diameter. As the arrows the echoes shot out hit this big, shadowy "blob", they seemed to keep going, disappearing completely on contact into the depths of the darkness. However, this was not the only location of this dark, sinister Void matter...a mere moment after the arrows began to disappear, the ground underneath every single one of Cero's currently existing echoes suddenly cracked open, revealing more of the shadowy ooze that also proceeded to envelop them as well, however instead of protecting them like it had done with Stefan, the echoes were crushed with an extremely dense force that would lead to nothing but their absolute pulverization.

Afterwards, the void 'energy' sunk back into the ground where each echo was, as well as from covering Stefan himself until all of it was gone and all that was left was the Vizard, his Zanpakutō, and a fierce look on his face. His gaze was drawn to Cero himself again, this time with the Quincy in his cross hairs. Bringing his Zanpakutō up, he ran his left hand across the entirety of the blade's length which had the odd effect of charging up a truly massive amount of void 'energy' across the weapon. The result of this was what appeared to be pitch-black "electricity" that shot out randomly, striking the ground and area around Stefan. This energy seemed to volatile, dense, and powerful that individual bolts shooting from the blade were enough to create even more cracks in the earth, causing wanton destruction. This was an ability specific to Stefan, known as Raitongiri Imbue, one of his more devastating techniques. However, the obvious goal of this ability wasn't what Stefan was aiming for. Instead, he was prepared to counter the arrows Cero himself was beginning to shoot at him. Raising his Zanpakutō up with the tip to the right above his head, Stefan immediately swung the weapon downwards and diagonally to the left. What this did was pull all of the extremely powerful and volatile void electricity imbued in his Zanpakutō to the very edge, and then unleash it in a massive blast that released as a huge arc. Racing forward, it tore through and obliterated the arrows Cero shot from his Quincy Bow, wiping them off the face of the Earth. However, the huge wave kept going in force, exploding into a massive burst the second it would come into contact with Cero and his echoes, likely completely destroying the clones and potentially causing large scale burns and trauma to Cero himself if hit directly. At the very least, the local terrain would be damaged severely, scarring the battlefield.

Sighing from the rather large energy expenditure he had just experienced, Stefan brought himself to a more at-rest stance with his Zanpakutō now once again held at his right side. His sleeves were now charred and blackened, as well as being torn in various places, due to the sheer power of the condensed void 'energy' he had just formed and unleashed. He now awaited to see what would become of his opponent, and if this battle would continue on.

The ex-Monsuta King watched in anticipation as his current opponent did his little shenanigans, including him dodging the massive attach Stefan had just sent reeling toward him. Disappointed he wouldn't get to see the man try to defend against the Raitongiri attack, as it would assist in gauging the Quincy's general power level, Stefan grimaced at the man's reaction. Due to dodging out of the way, the blast kept going until eventually it just exploded into an utterly massive burst of power, completely consuming over a football field's worth of area about two hundred meters from where the two fighters were currently located. Everything the explosion touched disappeared instantly, so now there was just a humongous crater nearby. That, however, was not the first and would not be the last scar this location gained from this conflict.

What was now on Stefan's mind, however, was not the explosion that occurred half a second ago...no, instead it was the Quincy oddity that seemed to be using trying to bumrush him directly. By pointing his Zanpakutō with the tip downwards to the left, and the edge oblique, the seaweed green-haired Vizard was able to rather easily parry the blow the Quincy attempted to land on him, knocking the man's blade away from him as he ran past Stefan. Speaking up momentarily, the Vizard said loudly "Iaijutsu...really? So telegraphed..." By parrying the blow, he was also able to smoothly transition to another stance facing the new location of his opponent, blocking the blow and turning around in one motion. As he did so, he watched as the man seemingly ran up air, ignoring gravity. However, what stood out was the flare of energy that the Quincy seemed to be gathering and charging. He very clearly wasn't going to just continue his assault using only his Zanpakutō. Seeing the man try to slash downwards at him, Stefan very quickly prepared a countermeasure against this.

With a great big smile across his face, the Vizard King swung his katana Zanpakutō with his right hand upwards to meet and block the forceful blow from the Quincy. This resulted in a clash strong enough to create a sonic boom that shot out and crushed the earth slightly below Stefan, cracking it in various places again. However, he stayed stable rather easily. What was noticeable about this clash however was the energy the Quincy that had been charging inside of his mouth....Stefan was prepared, though. Moments prior, when he first noticed the gathering of energy by his opponent, he very quickly charged up an extremely large amount of volatile void 'energy' into his left, free arm. This Raitongiri energy appeared similar to before, pitch black with a very slightly purple outline, and electric-like in nature. What was important was the fact that Stefan, with a blinding speed not even Cero's eyes would likely be able to keep up with, shot his arm upwards towards the Quincy. As this occurred, all the 'energy' in his entire arm condensed and moved to his hand, and more specifically his palm.

A fraction of a second so minuscule even a specialized device wouldn't be able to keep track before Cero released his energy, Stefan reached up and covered the Quincy's mouth with his left hand, completely preventing the blast from unleashing. With a thunderous and overwhelmingly powerful grip, Stefan held his hand on the man's lower face for just a moment before suddenly the void he had gathered became volatile and exploded outwards, clashing with the energy inside the man's mouth. This caused a burst explosion many times more powerful than the blast Stefan had previously released, overwhelming both of the combatants. Due to it being point blank, as well as being a clash of both their powers, it would be extremely unlikely for Cero to block or reduce the damage he would sustain. However, this applied to Stefan as well. With the blast bursting outwards to the size of the nearly an entire football field, though more condensed than the previous explosion, Stefan and Cero were launched away from each other at extreme speeds. Stefan was shot into the earth below, and Cero, after likely suffering injuries, would be sent in the opposite direction. Everything in the area was torn asunder by this blast, scarring the battlefield once again.

When the smoke began to settle from the huge clash of the two fighters, Stefan was groaning slightly as he kneeled down. There were some noticeable changes to his appearance. All of the clothing on his left arm and the left side of his torso was completely gone, destroyed utterly by the power of the Raitongiri he had formed. His arm was also blackened from burns, especially his hand, and it appeared to hang loosely instead of as if Stefan had control over it. Rising from his position, Stefan stood standing once again. After sheathing his Zanpakutō, he brought his right hand up to his left shoulder and with a single movement, appeared to push his shoulder back into place as it had been dislocated from the power of the clash with Cero. He flexed his arm after doing so, making sure it was still workable. Despite these injuries, Stefan stood with a smile on his face, glad he had found a suitable opponent for himself.

"Phew....that was rough. My arm actually hurts. That hasn't happened....since that crazy lunar dude. Not bad, Quincy."

With the dust clearing away, Stefan had clear view of his opponent once again. It seemed as if he had taken at least some damage, and appeared to be in pain as well, so the Vizard King considered that previous clash to be at least somewhat successful. However, that wasn't what was interesting to the man. The primary consequence of the massive blast that excited Stefan was the fact that the man appeared to, at least somewhat, be regenerating the main injuries he had sustained a mere moment ago. This was one of Stefan's favorite characteristics to face in battle, because not only does it make the fight usually drag on longer, but it makes the fight more difficult as well. Though the real reason this excited him was because it would mean he could continuously beat on the Quincy without worrying about him getting instantly wiped from the fight. This reason was actually why Stefan decided his next move would be to actually start taking this fight completely seriously, as while Cero had shown he himself is a capable fighter, he instead wanted to make sure he could start using bigger and stronger attacks due to this new revealed information. On this basis, he began to act quickly.

Bringing his right hand to his left hip, Stefan Soan once again drew his Zanpakutō from it's sheath, lifting it up in front of him. As he had done earlier in the fight to active his Raitongiri: Imbue ability, he brought his left hand to the base of the blade and ran it along the flat side facing him. However, there was one immediately obvious difference between now and before. When he had performed this motion before, pitch black electricity-looking energy had appeared along the entire blade. This time, the energy was bright white, denoting a different type of ability. This was because Stefan was not using his Raitongiri this time, no there was no Void 'energy' involved. Instead, the Vizard King had gathered up a massive amount of Kido energy within his body and then released it into the blade of his Zanpakutō....forming the legendary Roaku technique. Known as the Zanjutsu equivalent to Shunko, the combination of Kido and Hakuda, this was a power on a whole other level compared to Raitongiri: Imbue. The energy flowing in, around, and from Stefan's Zanpakutō was extremely condensed and intense, striking out and causing damage to the terrain as well as creating a very heavy aura across the entire battlefield.

Despite having only seconds to recover from their previous clash, Stefan readied himself to once again do battle with the Quincy who was still trying to regenerate as well. After switching to a more aggressive stance with his legs spaced apart and his Zanpakutō on his left side, suddenly Stefan disappeared from where he had just been standing. To nearly all onlookers, the Vizard wouldn't even appear visible as he rushed forward. However, the result of him moving extremely quickly while Roaku was active would be very clearly evident. After initially leaving his position, a massive blast of power began tearing apart the ground as he ran over it. Huge chunks of earth shot out of the ground, creating what appeared to be a streak of rock and energy tearing apart the battlegrounds in the man's wake.

About five yards from Cero, Stefan whipped his sword arm upwards, bringing his Zanpakutō above his head. This accomplished two things, the first being the most destructive: A huge amount of energy was sent from his blade, reeling towards the Quincy. This highly destructive force was even stronger than the Raitongiri Stefan had sent at him near the beginning of the fight, however this time it was nearly at point-blank range; Second, it allowed him to ready the next part of this assault. When Stefan reached his target, whether he had attempted to dodge, which would be unlikely, or block the blast, he would be able to strike downwards with all the force he could muster into one massive downwards swing with the full power of his Roaku-imbued Zanpakutō. The sheer force of the swing would be enough to easily go toe to toe with a full strength attack from Zaraki Kenpachi, and with the added Kido energy this hit would be extremely disastrous if taken directly without any reaction.

If Cero took this hit directly, it could very well end his life in one hit. However that was unlikely, so assuming he tried to block it with just his Zanaputo, a more probable result would be massive damage to both his Zanapakuto and his body from the force and energy of the swing. If he attempted to dodge it, due to Stefan finally moving at his maximum speed as well as the explosive power of Roaku, it's extremely likely Cero would at the very least be caught in the area of effect damage this strike would unleash. The environment would also be damaged much more heavily than anything previously used in this fight, causing destruction on the magnitude of a full force Bankai from a powerful Captain. Whatever the result, Stefan grinned through the pain that was sent reeling through his left arm as he had not yet fully recovered from the previous clash. However, this pain would be nothing compared to what would happen if Cero somehow took the full force of this attack without dampening it in some way. Even if Cero had released his power into a higher form, taking this hit directly would be disastrous for the young Quincy, though it could help reduce the overall damage from it.

This battle had awakened something in Stefan that had not seen the light of day in over two years, something that only came alive during the heat of combat between two very powerful combatants. Despite having a slight advantage, Stefan still saw the potential in Cero as an opponent, so his blood was boiling at a level that made him seem possessed by a mad demon of war. This battle would determine if Stefan's endless training and growth from his mere beginnings as a traveling hermit, to his membership and eventual leadership of the once-great Monsuta organization, to his current iteration of nonstop battle and evolution was worth it. Stefan felt it....he felt the heat. He felt the fury. He felt, in every atom of his existence, alive.