Defrosted [Fantasia, Demonica]

"Stronger..."

A shocking, incredibly loud sound echoed throughout the area, before being swallowed up by the howling winds. A massive boulder had just exploded, its smaller pieces smashing against snow and chilled stone walls before tumbling down, and down, and down. They rubble continued to bounce down the side of the mountain until the white mask of the blizzard had completely hid it, and silenced it. A blue-haired woman looked over the edge, and found nothing left of the large rock she had just pummeled to oblivion. She would brush off a bit of the frost that had stuck onto her glove and then readjust it on her hand to make sure it was secure and that no cold was sneaking in to brush with her skin. She could break such a large piece of rock, larger than her with ease, yet was it enough?

"...Faster..."

She looked up, further towards the sky. She would crouch low, building up latent power into her knees before launching up, moving like a dark blur through the bleached winds. One step was all it took to scale hundreds of meters at a time. She would only touch back down for a second before blasting off with the tips of her toes again, leading her to nearly reach the summit of this icy mountain within moments. She was moving at such a breakneck pace that it was difficult to see what approached her, especially with the snow obscuring her vision. That is why she was not prepared for when she came racing toward a stone jutting out of the mountain. There was no time to change her trajectory, or to draw her sword at this speed. So... she simply braced herself.

"...Harder!"

Fantasia smashed straight through the obstacle elbow first, the frosted rocks scattering through the air like the debris of a firework. The youth would catch her footing with the sole of her boot and then come tumbling onto a strangely level surface, coated thickly with snow. She looked up, and realized that there was no more of the mountain to scale; she had reached the top, sooner than expected. That was right... the summit had been previously destroyed when last she was here. She had battled a mysterious figure, and the battle resulted in quite the fierce collateral damage. It was a nostalgiac memory, albeit one she had trouble remembering since it was so long ago. That figure... she was only a blur in Fantasia's memory now. The details of the battle... too foggy to recall in detail. She was simply human.

No matter, she wasn't here to reminisce. Someone as weak as her... needed to train, and keep training until she couldn't feel the sensations in her arms and legs. She'd been introduced to a whole new level of power and yet it still was so far away from the top. There were still evils she couldn't stop, and this fact wittled away at her, despite Varius' words of comfort. This old training grounds, in the living realm... when she wasn't training alongside the Shinigami, she could exercise here, until she was satisfied with her progress. She would stand, unsheathing her silvery blade with a dull metallic tone, extending it out away from her into the snowy atmosphere. Surely now, Varius would crack a joke about how cold the weather was up here...

But he didn't, which was unusual. Maybe he could sense Fantasia's seriousness to improve.

.

The malice-sated spiritual signature of demonkind struck her at nearly the same time a chilling feminine voice did, and Fantasia's reaction was intense. Light infused into the metal of her blade to cast a light among the otherwise obscure, just as she swung the slender weapon in a circle around to face the source of both unexpected phenomena. Meanwhile her other hand, the left, folded all but the first two fingers against her palm and jabbed outwards in the same direction, causing Fantasia's spiritual energy to surge forth with invisible forces. A tunnel was carved out of the blizzard, catching the mysterious being within. There was now nothing in between them to hide each other from view, their visages clear as daylight. While Fantasia maintained her energy, the snow and hail would not step in the way, instead forming an entropic cylinder around them.

''How do you know our name?!'' were the first words Fantasia shouted to her, after a short pause of confusion. The female before her was someone she clearly did not recognize, and yet she spoke familiar of Fantasia. The fact that she could discern the signature of a demon on this entity only further troubled her, as one of their kind was as likely to become friendly with her as a hollow was. Trickery and psychological games were well-acquainted concepts with demons, as far as her research has turned up. She was not about to simply take this girl's word for truth so easily. Believe she was rejecting her blood? Nonsensical at this time; Fantasia answered with hostility, clearly shown by the down-turned corners of her lips and fire in her azure hues. ''Who, or... what do you think you are?!''

There was a decent distance between them, large enough for Fantasia to react if she was rushed down, but short enough for her to easily close it in the blink of an eye. Not for a second did she believe the Demon's innocence, and thus her body showed clear indications of tensions. She was more than ready to strike, and to fight for her life. In a way, Fantasia felt the irony in that she had asked for something along these lines; a challenge. If there was some sort of god in the sky, then this was His answer to Fantasia's unsettled thoughts. If such was the case, then this enemy was no ordinary enemy, but something very powerful and something very meaningful. She didn't know what to believe in this case, and she could sense Varius' confusion on his end as well. Perhaps they were both just actors in this game of fate.

''We do not have a reason to fight you, creature... yet,'' Fantasia admitted, still pointing her finger and sword at her like readied daggers. Her tone was completely serious and lacking any sort of cordiality. ''But perhaps that is why you are here, isn't it? It is because of us that you stand before us, and it is a challenge we must overcome. That is the conclusion we have come to.'' After stating this, she would open her palm up and thrust it forward vehemently, causing the tunnel of empty air to rapidly expand outward for a brief moment, casting aside the winter winds and striking the Demon with a dull pulse of kinetic force—an intimidation. Then she grasped her Zanpakutō with both hands and pointed its tip upwards.

''If that is so, then we shall not go easy on you.''

.

Intimidated not by Fantasia's show of force, the blue-haired girl was not very surprised. The being was in all likelihood acclimated to power. Especially if her presumption was true, before her stood one of an equal level or greater than her own. Scare tactics held no place here, it seemed, so she did not need to use them. Only action was necessary, and it was her true capability that would be tested. Her palms loosened and tightened around the Paragon's grip, finding a comfortable in-between. Her mouth opened to release a pent-up breath, before beginning to regulate itself for the battle to come. Either of these actions were inconspicuous in contrast to the volatile atmosphere around them, but they helped the girl in small ways. She was concentrating; meditating, trying to cast aside the excessive noise of the world and attune her senses to her own self and the demon's self.

Her eyes closed for a long time as the winds howling dwindled into a slight whisper, the blanket of white fog clearing away; meanwhile, the sound of her own breath was deafening, and the sight of the being before her was like a torchlight in the darkness, every detail immensely apparent. It was as though she had just stepped into the eye of the storm, where the chaos was calmest. With newfound vision, she witnessed her foe, a woman who had changed from one unrecognizable form to another, and sought recollection from Fantasia. She stared at her with wide open eyes, but no recognition came, no matter how long she looked. ''It does not matter to us what form you take, demon. You are, who you are, and if you were drawn here to contest us then we will oblige.''

Then a wicked force struck back at her, causing Fantasia to cringe and shut her eyes as wind blasted into her face. Then there was a clear wave of heat—nonsensical in this terrain—that further pushed against her. causing her cape and loose bits of clothing to flap wildly behind her. Whatever energy source the demon was using, its scale would suddenly increase dramatically, almost causing the youth to stumble in surprise by sheer shock factor. She had made herself clear; she wouldn't be extending mercy either. When Fantasia reopened her eyes, there was a slight blur before she witnessed what had occurred. The snow in the air was gone, having turned to steam for just a moment before condensing almost as quickly...

It was now raining upon them heavily.

This surprise would last only a moment until the one who called herself Demonica delivered an attack, causing Fantasia to regather her focus and steady her stance. The thoughts of her mind fell behind the pace of her body. She would only raise her weapon slightly before slashing downwards through the air; it seemed as though she had struck nothing, but it was the demon's indirect assault that would be bisected by the sharp edge of the blade. A clean cut—no collateral damage, meaning nothing that wasn't intended to be sliced had not been touched. ''Our memories of the past are dull and blurred. It is so difficult for us to retain them. Even if you indeed had met us in the past, that memory has long been deserted. A result of our instability...''

Immediately after granting such an insight into her character, Fantasia would let go of her sword with her left hand and thrust it out once more like an animalistic claw. Force rocketed out, taking form, and this time it was much more sharpened and dense. It would be invisible until it made contact with Demonica's barrier, after which the barely discernible outline of a giant's hand would be seen intensely gripping the force field as though to crush it. Fantasia narrowed her eyes and broke a sweat across her brow as she was clearly struggling, these efforts being reflected as the phantasmal hand pressed in on the shield from all sides. If no progress could be made, then she would simply pull in her hand, thus drawing both the woman and her barrier straight towards her.

That's when she grasped the Paragon with both hands and pointed it forward like a lance, intending to pierce. She kicked off with her back foot through the rain, empowering her weapon with pure white light to increase its cutting power. The forces would collide, and Fantasia intended to impale her target right through the shield, through her gut. Where blunt force failed, Fantasia figured a sharpened edge would not, especially with the multi-thousand ton weight behind the weapon.

.

It wouldn't have been exaggeration to declare that there was a lot of force behind Fantasia's sword. If the attack had been directed down into the peak of the mountain then likely the summit would suffer much further damage than it already has, trimming the height of the peak once again. The fact that it was focused all into a single fine tip made it even more dangerous; Fantasia knew this would pierce most foes all the way through, among the various defenses they also possessed. So it was completely unrealistic in Fantasia's mind when her enemy offered only a single digit of her hand to stop such a brutal stab, effortlessly freezing her weapon in place without giving a single centimeter of ground. It was so unexpected that as Fantasia's body continued forward with the thrust, she ended up hitting herself in the stomach with the butt of her own sword.

''Hunh?'' was her only utterance, completely unheard due to the deafening shockwave of all of her attack's force being diverted in all other directions besides the one she meant them to travel in. She looked at the Paragon's blade, refusing to move forward, then upwards into the Demon's eyes with a tinge of anger. She was being spoken to by something that clearly considered itself a mentor, or at the very least an exemplar. Yes, Fantasia viewed her as an obstacle to be overcome, but to be treated as a larva yet to have been developed was insulting... very much something to be expected from the wicked and unpleasant. The one who called herself Demonica was only useful to her as a challenge to be struck down.

And to think an illusion of speed would fool her was just another illustration of that. As soon as the pressure was relieved from her sword, her spiritual sense was extended and the demon's position was pinpointed in an instant; the most obvious place she could appear. It was more the way that her foe decided to attack her that surprised—and, disgusted—her. Her foot rose and was about to fall like a hammer on top of her, something that could easily be dodged by Fantasia in her current state. However, if the attack missed then her heel would strike the mountain and cause excessive damages to the landscape. To cause this wanton destruction meant that the demon clearly did not care of the world she resided in, likely because it was not her own.

''NO.''

Fantasia's voice was not a request, but a command. Her sword brightened considerably with white light as the girl infused more spiritual energy into the weapon, accelerating its speed as she swung it around to intercept Demonica's falling axe of a foot. Her weapon couldn't even be tracked by a normal eye, leaving only an arc of light to trace its trajectory. It would seem instant, the action, as the Paragon caught the base of her heel horizontally and then Fantasia prioritized absolute strength in order to redirect her foot to the right. Her own legs would bend under the power of such a strike, and she couldn't stop the ground beneath her boots from cracking either. Yet the result, as her weapon came to the apex of its swing, would be that a blast of kinetic force would surge out in that direction and completely distort the space for a brief moment. The rain too would clear out of the way of the kinetic force as well, before shortly returning. And Demonica's foot would not land on the ground but instead be thrown to the right and left in the air.

''Don't. You have no right to ravage a land not your own with your reckless attacks. It is not something we will allow, demon.'' With that, she brought her weapon back to the forefront, already in preparation for the next assault. She employed the style of Kaifu Kuryoku, the resilience form—the idea was to become the eye of the storm, where her enemy represented the storm. When a flurry of kicks was unleashed her way, the Paragon swam fluidly through the air while releasing a trail of light like a comet's tail, singing melodic metal tones with each swipe. Demonica's every strike was not met, but brushed away by sideways counters, never truly meeting any force head-on. Only the damp air would feel the brunt of that.

When the barrage would finally come to an end as she tried a different approach, Fantasia would glance in the direction she came from, bringing the Paragon up to bear towards her. The metal gleamed with brilliant energy, stored from dynamism of their exchange. The energy within was not only her own, but Demonica's as well, and using that energy... As she charged headlong at Fantasia, three bursts of light would eject from the weapon and three figures would appear around the enemy as though they had utilized the speed of shunpo. Demonica was suddenly running into a net of swords that aimed to trip, push, and spin her into a disarray. The straightforward rush was turned into sloppy tumble through the air, caused by the now four duplicates of Fantasia guiding her that way... upside down.

The degree by which the demon's opposing force increased should have been shocking. With four bodies now on the battlefield, Fantasia's power logically would increase by four times. But, more than that, the presence of these clones increased that power in the others as well, combining into a rather exponential growth. As for an exact calculation; four clones meant that each individual's capability would have doubled, making Fantasia's side variably eight times greater than a moment ago. It made the previously impossible idea of moving this obstacle, now possible, with only just this extension of her body.

As the girls would slide under and step past the entity they had vaulted into the air, they each turned their glowing weapons towards her and threw menacing glares in her direction. Just four, they thought, meaning that despite the initial odds, this fight is absolutely possible. We will bring out an entire army to defeat her, if necessary. We will show her the meaning of a stampede...

''From one: an army. You will know just how much stronger we can be!''

.

Four different instances of Fantasia; four bodies, but all of them connected to one consciousness. As the one on the far left took a tempered step forward, blinking, breathing in a controlled manner through her nose... it was no different from a normal human being controlling the various digits of their hand, but scaled up. It just a part of Fantasia, and not an individual by herself. To refer to her, one had to acknowledge her as all copies present. That was the crux of the girl, defining her lifestyle, mannerisms, and character. She always spoke as 'we' and 'us' because that was the proper way to refer to herself; something... plural. Not all that Demonica saw was even the whole of it. Fantasia's consciousness extended beyond the millions and billions, approaching infinity. These bodies were just yet to be created, and resided latent within her mind until then.

Four sets of trained eyes focused in on their opponent, giving Fantasia four different points of view on her. Every action she made was under a scrutinizing gaze. Tensions were high-strung, the clones ready to move at the flick of a wrist. But instead of something so subtle, the demon before them seemed to become a nova of force, pulverizing the foundation they stood upon before any of them had a chance to react. Only after the initial surge struck them would Fantasia catch herself and move to the front of her group; the Paragon swung forward and then began to spin in front of her like a fan against her palm. She was not even moving the weapon between her fingers anymore—rather, through her concentration and willpower, she was causing the weapon to spin by itself. THe living weapon gave off its brilliant white glow and continued to pick up the pace, blurring itself into the solid shape of a disk. The spiral would create a barrier, blocking the extreme forces and allowing her companions behind her to more easily find their footing.

Then like a monster emerging from the darkness of night, their foe materialized through the storm of water and snow. Fantasia would actually feel the impact upon her blade before she saw it; Demonica's blow stopped the spinning of the Paragon completely, deafening her hearing with the metallic tone of her weapon vibrating. Thankfully, Fantasia had not been holding her weapon in this case, or else the jarring impact might have injured her arm. What shocked the girl was rather seeing Demonica being able to stop all the built-up momentum from the Paragon like she did, causing her eyes to widen infinitesimally as their faces came so close to each other... before she vanished again.

'Formation,' the blue-haired girl communicated to her clones through thought, the response being much quicker as such. They wasted no time for even this short a distance, using the Shinigami skill Flash Step to position themselves all together in a tight ring, facing outwards with swords at the ready. Their field of vision covered any angle that their foe could arrive from. That is why, when she tried to insert herself between two of the clones, she found her chest smashed inward by the two glowing blades of her targets, already prepared to intercept her. The weapons had moved as fast as Demonica had, if not faster, and once again there had been that luminescence emanating from them during the maneuver. It would seem that Fantasia could empower the velocity of her weapon with spiritual power in much the same say one did their body during Flash Step. She could cause the Paragon to move faster than the limits of her own physical form.

No small victory was completely and utterly in her favor, however, as both of them had been intending to cut through Demonica with the additional power they had expunged. Rather, the blades refused to draw even a single drop of blood from the durable body of the demon, only managing to thrust her away from the group. Subsequently, a wave of exhaustion would strike these two clones and cause them to gasp and stumble. There was a moment of confusion among Fantasia, as a seemingly invisible force had robbed half of the clones of their stamina. There was a faltering in their formation, and Demonica now sought to take advantage of it as she collected energy into the form of a shadowy conflagration, intended for them. One of the duplicates that hadn't been hit by the enervation would push through the other and launch herself to the front just as the massive attack was launched. This clone was prepared to sacrifice herself in order to stop the threat, building up energy of her own in front of her as she charged like a bull. But then, to her utter dismay, Demonica smashed her own attack between her two palms.

The resulting detonation sent the destructive dark attack in all directions without prejudice, annihilating the mountaintop moreso than it would Fantasia herself. Rather than focus her strength into a singular point to take out her enemies, this demon was just attempting to cause collateral damage. Immediately following her surprise was a flare of anger, twisting her expression into a scowl. She would accelerate her speed, sending her coursing forward with a sonic boom, her body glowing with light. This lone light easily smashed through the unfocused attack like a spear, and crashed into Demonica light a meteor with all the power she had, her left arm taking the brunt of the impact. She would attempt to shove the both of them straight off the top of the mountain, which now blackened with the demon's wicked flames. The clone would bite down on her own teeth, gritting them hard as she experienced the pain of her arm being mutilated upon contact. Splashes of blood erupted between them, the limb now a mangled and eviscerated mess, but Fantasia could only leer into Demonica's dull eyes with anger.

''This was not part of our fight!'' she shouted into her face as she swung her other arm on her face, smashing the butt of her Zanpakutō straight into her nose, pushing her away from Fantasia in mid flight several meters, but still within earshot. ''This land is not your foe, we are! Do you really have such little control over your power? Can you not help yourself from the destruction?'' After yet another exchange of words, Fantasia propelled herself toward Demonica again, slashing upwards with the Paragon to send her into the sky. Her weapon glowed more brightly than ever, teeming with the energy of hostility; feeding off the intensity of the fight. It would unleash a powerful strike, powerful enough to move mountains, mountains such as Demonica. Unlike her, this force was honed for one purpose, with no excess force. To move her away from this mountain.

But given that Fantasia couldn't fly, the lone duplicate lost her momentum and began to fall down, down to the side of the mountain. Her bloodied arm flapped uselessly in the descent, a trail of blood following her all the way down. She looked up at Demonica with nothing but fury in her eyes, not even blinking. The expression on her face had a voice of its own, silently screaming at the demon: 'What is wrong with you?!' There was no beauty, no honor, no grace in the way Demonica fought. It only spurred Fantasia to push harder against this obstacle, but these extreme emotions threatened to take control of her. She wished this to be a clean contest, but clearly she had expected too much from a villain. These were her thought as she helplessly fell towards a hard, unforgiving slope of the mountain...

Her body was cushioned by the arms of a clone before crashing against the ice and the stone, her legs and back consoled by the warmth of her own embrace. Repercussions... doppelgangers that could be created from the damage withstood from an enemy. Fantasia sensed the dull throb of her left arm, agonizing with the last few nerves it had remaining, feeling the sickly crimson liquid ooze over her flesh. Due to the conflict and pain caused by their clash, the girl could use the energy that sparked between them as a resource to create more clones. That is why she was saved from the fall, as she'd duplicated in mid-air so that she could be caught.

''Seven,'' she counted, extending her senses out to feel how many clones of her were present now. There were the two down the declivity of the mountain's summit, where the snow was still snow rather than rain, and the black flames had not reached. Then there were five atop what remained of the mountain's peak, one being recently created from the fighting there as well. They stood safely between two burning pyres, protected by the clone whom had charged straight through Demonica's attack and split it down the middle. She grit her teeth again as she was lowered to the ground, caressing her injured arm and allowing her cerulean bangs to fall over her eyes as she looked down at the snow. ''Tch... We can't stop her if she aims for the mountain... but we will make this monster rue her actions when all is said and done.''

Then, looking up with piercing red eyes, she shouted towards the heavens where Demonica hung. ''YOU HEAR THAT?! WE WILL MAKE YOU REGRET YOUR DEMONIC NATURE!'' The voice was amplified by her very power, creating a shockwave that reversed the torrential flow of rain and snow. The particles that once were falling down now rose up higher into the air, carried by Fantasia's voluminous declaration. Spiritual energy coursed out over the mountain, surrounding it with light for several seconds before dulling. Then as the light faded, nature resumed its rightful course again. Fantasia's action... Demonica would now sense the presence of even more clones. Copies that seemed to emerge from the snowy mountain itself, an additional five to the already-present seven, for a total of twelve. It may not have seemed like a great deal, but with each of these clones the power of all would rise at an exponential rate, seeming to be stronger simply due to the presence of allies. The original four, together, caused the overall power of Fantasia to increase by eight times. Now, with twelve, the level of reiatsu had risen to fourty-eight times.

This number would only continue to increase at an alarming rate, as each clone added an ever greater surge of power to Fantasia as a whole. But how would such be stopped when it was conflict and hostility that drove this wild force? The more intense this battle became, the more imposing this once average Shinigami turned into. Fantasia was demonstrating to her opponent why she was classified as a tier zero warrior.

.