Sofia Montero [Approved 0-4++/0-3++]
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Sofia Montero [Approved 0-4++/0-3++]
Mon Oct 24, 2016 6:08 pm
[PLAY POSTING MUSIC]
THE QUINCY PRODIGY
» Name: Sofia Montero
» Titles: "M" The Melody, The Quincy Prodigy
» Age: 23
» Gender: Female
» Affiliation/Rank: Vandenreich, Sternritter Grandmaster
» Physical Appearance Description:
Sofia is a woman of fair height, standing at about 5’7 ft tall. She’s usually considered to be tall for a lady, although she has met quite a few taller women during her travels. Being rather lithe at 150 lbs, she displays a slender figure with a very thin waist that tapers around her obliques, displaying what causes the illusion to some of her being thinner than she is. Despite it however, her feminine legs display a rather different reality as her thick womanly thighs lead to very long looking legs. Her bosom, never having been her best asset is usually left semi exposed by clothes that enhance their size as an attempt to make them seem bigger. While definitely not flat chested, she wouldn’t be considered someone that possesses large breasts. As a rather stark contrast, her butt is usually praised for its rather sizable and well shaped curvy figure. Easily attracting the most eyes, she’s fully aware of the nature of her large plump derriere.
Though at one point she enjoyed the habit of keeping her hair long, it's been almost a decade since she abandoned that practice. In an effort to avoid being disoriented or held back in battle as well as her musical progress, Sofia opted to cut it short a long time ago. Instead, her silky soft strands of ebony hair are cut short enough to reach just about neck length. Rarely choosing to accommodate her hair or design it in a specific fashion, she prefers it to let it hang loose, only combing it to the side to prevent it from obscuring her sight or the fine lines of her face. Though somewhat light skin toned, she displays very subtle hints of a dim olive skin complexion. Her eyes display a very warm tonality, with a mix of hazel and honey like hues that seem embedded with subtle russet brown undertones.
As for her clothes, Sofia likes to maintain the motto that functionality, comfort and purpose are essential and precede and supercede fashion and style. As such, she tends to prefer clothes that are not only comfortable but simple to put on and off. She prefers clothes that allow her and even help her due to her daily duties, and that do not interfere with her style of combat. Though she rarely wears dresses and skirts, she’s not a tomboy by any means. The nature of her work and her dealings, simply have created the perspective in her that she can benefit herself more by wearing something else. Instead, she’s usually seen wearing a shirt under a jacket, and pants. Most times her clothes reflect her loyalties and as such display the typical Quincy colors of white and blue. Most, though not all of her jackets display the symbol of her pride, the Montero family shield. Her outfit is usually completed with the occasional black boots, gloves, and sometimes even a hat. As the Captain of the Jagdarmee of the Vandenreich, her professionalism as well as her choice of clothing and behavior are usually watched. As a result, she tries her best to follow the rules and present herself in the best manner to be of pride to her family’s lineage and to all of her men.
» Physical Appearance Image:
» Personality:
At first glance, Sofia is someone rather easy to approach. She will willingly go out of her way to help her peers and those in need, and she’s not beyond getting her hands dirty if it means understanding the root cause to someone’s problem. Beyond being easily approachable, she is someone that demonstrates some sense of care for the problems and the misfortunes of those acquainted with her. However, though she freely surrenders a bit of herself out to the public, the majority of the intimately personal and truly treasured details of her personality are shrouded in mystery to most, safely away from prying minds.
While she doesn’t believe she has anything to hide, Sofia is extremely selective of the people she allows to enter the trusted inner circle that guards her most personal and vulnerable thoughts. In a way, Sofia resembles the very instrument she loves: the violin. Managing to play a few sounds, or even achieving a few notes is relatively simple despite a lack of training or familiarity with the instrument. Likewise, she makes no attempt to stow away her ideas when it comes to being present or helpful when someone needs her. In essence, its relatively simply to talk to her. Truly knowing what makes her tick, what she loves, and what she truly desires however are endeavors few, if any, could claim to have seen through with success. Just like with the violin, truly mastering the instrument and being able to play masterpieces with elegance requires years of training, and talent.
Despite the seemingly easy going and amicable persona, Sofia can be very serious and strict at times. She believes everything needs rules and regulations for it to function properly and efficiently. As such, she makes a conscious effort to always play by the rules, abiding by the procedures set by those with more authority. She would always try and follow the regulations even if at times certain rules might seem to make no sense. She also tries her best to get others to follow the law and rules just as she does. In her mind, a lack of organization is simply a problem waiting to happen. When thinking of her heritage, and the unfortunate history of her proud race, she attributes their demise largely in part to the lack of organization. While there were certainly other, more powerful factors at play, and there was a pretty solid organization in the past, it wasn’t enough. She believes a goal that merits success, requires a plan. She also believes a plan that merits results requires order and organization. And so, she tries to live her life following sets of rules to avoid potential chances of deviating and causing unneeded problems for herself and those that depend on her.
So strictly attached to following the rules, Sofia also believes that punishment is not only necessary but required. While she believes that rules are made to avoid problems, she also believes that there needs to be a result that comes about when the procedures are not being followed. As such, she is not against punishment of any kind, so long as it was stipulated as so, and the culprit was fully aware of the consequences. In fact, she would be the first to present herself for sanction or punishment if she ever went beyond the lines of what was considered lawful. Nevertheless, Sofia believes in fairness. Though every broken rule requires a consequence, she’s strongly against the idea of being cruel just for the sake of personal satisfaction. She doesn’t enjoy hurting people. She however would not hesitate to punish the culprits of the non conformance to the full extent reflected by the consequences of their acts of non conformance.
Focused as she is in achieving results, it comes as no surprise that she’s very determined and hardworking. Whether it be playing music on her violin or trying to perfect a certain area of her combat training, Sofia rarely ever gives up until she has seen success or passed out trying. Regardless of how long it takes her, she has been known to spend hours in front of a music booklet until she has learned and memorized a difficult recital. Likewise, when duty doesn’t call for her to be elsewhere, she’s usually the first one to arrive at the training grounds and the last to leave. With more knowledge and skill within the fields of music and Quincy training than she could ever hope learn in her lifetime, Sofia makes a noticeable and conscious effort to get as close as possible in both until she achieves a feeling of fulfillment.
Though she tries to move forward in life to pursue her goals through means that rely both on talent and power, there are certain things that tend to hold her back. Pride was always a value instilled in her by her family as something to be acquainted with. Her family, the Montero, possessed one of the longest Quincy legacy that spawned centuries of stories. That legacy of pure blooded Quincy had instilled pride in their successors as the key to move forward. As such, it's no surprise that pride plays such a large role in her life. Though she’s not racist by any means, she does believe in Quincy superiority and prides herself in being what she is. Through what she was taught, the Earth belonged only to the Humans, and the other lesser races were simply uninvited abominations thought to bring about the end of times. As for Quincy like herself, she deemed them to be the evolutionary answer to an Earth that clamored in pain, wishing to be rid of the stigma of the dark demonic beings. And so, with a clear picture of the role of Quincy in the world, she’s usually very friendly at first with her own kind. With as few Quincy as there are, she believes they need to regroup under one banner, with very specific and strict rules if they are to survive and restore ownership of the Earth to the Humans. She’s not beyond speaking or socializing in other ways with the rest of the races however. She just simply believes that at their core, they’re not to be trusted, and while some of fair character may indeed exist, she tends to reserve judgement for the majority of them.
As her goals revolve around both the future of the Quincy and her musical inclinations, she is quite apt to develop a keen interest with anyone that possesses a similar interest or talent in either of them. An invitation to rehearse a few songs or have a spar have actually been some of the most memorable and anticipated dates she has had. Dates is as far as she has gotten in any kind of romantic affair however. While there has certainly been plenty of people she has found likeable and appealing in different departments, she has always backed away from pursuing a relationship. In part, she fears for failure, and in part, for success. As used to being successful in most things she does, she could be lead to believe that having a romantic misfortune could throw some unneeded chaos into her life. She’s fully aware that the core essence of her personality is not easily understood, if anything because of her denial to allow others to approach her in that regard. However, she’s also terrified of being successful in a romantic relationship. The potential results of what a time consuming relationship could bring about have been the cause of nightmares to her. The thought of abandoning or falling behind on her music or her training for a relationship that may or may not go anywhere have been some of the reasons why she’s never had a boyfriend. And while she’s not beyond flirting, she exercises extreme caution when doing so. For the most part she will refuse to flirt purely out of a professional reason, but those that somehow managed to come close enough to be considered friends could witness the elusive and awkward attempts at witty, flirtatious behavior that’s so deeply embedded and stowed away within her.
» History
Sofia Montero was born in Valencia, Spain, in April of 2394. She was born the only child to Rodrigo Montero and his wife Lucrecia Montero as well as the sole heir to her family’s wealth and rich heritage. Her family possessed a long history of being associated to wealth and untold power beyond those which stemmed from financial riches. For centuries, her family had stood with the Quincy, providing the best of their pure blood lineage to serve the cause of the Wandenreich. Even during the times of Yhwach and the Quincy Genocides, the Montero family stood strong, valiantly defending the views of the Vandenreich until their very last breath.
Though the family history of the Montero was one that hung by the threads and chains forged by its ancestors, and stained by the blood they shed, a common value continued to move them forward: Pride. Ever since the first Quincy in the family, Pedro Montero rose to prominence centuries before, he would declare an ideal that would be carried on to future generations. In general, the Montero believed Humans to be the supreme race. To many other races Humans could not be any weaker. To many, Humans simply lead trivial, short and insignificant lives, making up stories to feel like they belonged, and blaming single entities that they could fight instead of working together. While the assumption wasn’t far from the truth, it was a mistake to think Humans were alone in such a predicament. Throughout history, many other races suffered from the same ill fated lifestyle. The Quincy were a testament to the foul decision making of races that thought they were superior. At one time it was the Shinigami, but with the uprising of different and darker races, like the demons, the balance of the world seemed to hang by a thread.
From the start however, the Montero thought differently. They believed the shorter life span of humans, compared to other races, allowed them to experience feats of the mind and the soul few beings could truly understand. And with Humans being, in their view, the epicenter of creation and transition to most other races, it only helped to support their view. As far as Quincy themselves, the Montero saw their lineage and other pureblood Quincy as a step above and beyond even humans; an evolution of sorts. They believed that Quincy would be the weapon and the spearhead that would one day place Humans at the top where they had always been meant to be. While some Quincy in the Vandenreich shared the ideal, not many believed it as the Montero did. And, wary of other lesser races and the treasonous nature of those abominations, the Montero developed a keen sense of awareness that helped them survive through calamities many other pureblood families simply could not.
While plenty members of the family perished throughout centuries of war, genocide and persecution, there was always at least one heir to the Montero preserving the family name. The legacy would continue on until it arrived to Sofia. Her parents Rodrigo and Lucrecia had been trying for years to conceive a child but every effort had proven in vain. The miracle of Sofia’s birth was the news that became a source of happiness to the family although with a rather bitter aftertaste. While they had indeed managed to bear a child, it was just a girl. Although her parents did not disliked or resented the baby for being of her gender, there was no doubt they were disappointed, and would simply have been much more satisfied had they conceived a male that could actually afford to carry on the Montero name.
Sofia would be raised with the same affection and care as a son would have. Despite having been gifted with the miracle of a child they couldn’t conceive however, her parents kept trying for a boy. The thought that they could be rewarded with a heir that was a male was simply too much of an incentive to pass. If their efforts failed however, Sofia’s parents had already decided for her to be married to the heir of another pureblood Quincy family of comparable lineage, authority, and wealth. The name and legacy of the family would then be on Sofia’s hands since lately it had become customary to allow the strongest of the couple to carry on their family name. And so, despite their continuous efforts to try for a boy, Rodrigo and Lucrecia would make sure to instruct Sofia as she grew up. If she was to be the only chance for the Montero to carry on their name and legacy, then she needed to learn fast to avoid disappointing and killing her long and prestigious heritage.
From a very early age, Sofia showed signs that were indicative of great intelligence. Simple puzzles that were often given to kids much older were easily solved by her at an earlier age. She also managed to be able to stand, walk, and talk much more readily than most kids. The most shocking and noticeable talent of hers however had to do with music. Ever since she was able to discern sounds, she would turn and follow the music. Whether it stemmed from the TV, a recording or something else entirely, Sofia had always been drawn to the sounds of music. While at a very young age, she was still unable to dance or sing eloquently, she did short clumsy movements fitting of a baby to attempt to dance. Since she was still far too young to start any kind of real Quincy training, her parents bought her all the items necessary to nurture her musical learning. They even hired the best tutors available to ensure she was taught by the best. While they had enough money to spend and waste in such things, her parents would soon come to regret the decision they had made.
By the age of three, Sofia was already able to play numerous simple songs on the violin. She was even able to, with some fair amount of minor mistakes, play much more difficult and rigorous pieces. Her skill and fame was so much for someone her age, that she was often performing in front of crowds, leaving them in awe and mesmerized that a child her age could play with the talent and grace with which she did. Her performances would set the stage for expectations that pretty much required her to become a wonderful musician as an adult, or otherwise suffer the consequences of disappointing those that followed her progress ever since childhood. Her growing talent and fame did not sit well with her parents however. While they were proud and glad that their child was able create such marvelous music and amaze so many, the Montero were not musicians, they were Quincy. Her parents feared that by letting her become too accustomed to music and the violin, she would never be able to amount to the potential she could have as a Quincy.
And so, at the age of five, she would officially start her Quincy training. By then, her skill with the violin was undeniable. She could perform some of the most difficult pieces without almost any mistake. In fact, had it not been for the rarity of her extremely young age, she would have easily been able to afford a seat at some of the prestigious orchestras. Even at that age, her skill wasn’t much lower than a fairly accomplished adult violinist. Regardless, from that point on, Sofia would need to learn to balance her studies of the Quincy with those of the violin. That’s what she thought. If her parents had their way however, she would have never touched a violin or a violin bow again.
At the start, Sofia found the training to become rigorous, difficult, and simply no fun. After all, though she was of fair age, most prospect Quincy children, however rare those days, did not start their training until they were at least a few years older than she was. In her case, her parents were forced to train her at that age. They didn’t just see it as something helpful, they saw it as necessary. Their daughter was becoming too used and endeared to the violin and the life of a musician at such a young age where it could have jeopardized their real goal of extending the Montero’s strong Quincy lineage.
Since Sofia was still a bit young, she wasn’t expected to be able to summon a spirit weapon. Instead, she was taught how to use a physical bow and arrows so that her ability with it and her marksmanship could improve. Beyond archery, personal trainers were hired so that she could exercise at a level that was sufficient and challenging for her age, in order to set the foundation for her progress down the road. Unfortunately, Sofia was not able to reflect the same skill and talent in physical activities as she did playing music. While she indeed tried, she simply did not enjoyed it, and her performance suffered as a result. She wasn’t inept in areas of physical exertion or taxing of stamina however. She simply did not display the same innate talent that she had with the violin. With determination and a resolve to finish so that she could get to her violin rehearsals, Sofia was able to put up with the exercises, and met the expectations of her physical training, albeit barely. Her parents, though unhappy with the influence music and the violin had in her, had seen it as a powerful tool to help her achieve more. Little did they know, that with time, it would also help her accomplish feats no one in her lineage ever had.
By age seven, Sofia was already engaging in more formal Quincy training.Early in her training she had shown bearing proof of her pure blood Quincy lineage by awakening her Blut. Though it was still unrefined and she could barely control it, she most often attempted to try and make use of its defensive capabilities. Beyond that she had been taught how to gather reishi around her, and use it to summon a spirit weapon. Much like with physical exercise, initially, Sofia found it extremely difficult to do so. Her bows would be weak and flimsy and only remained long enough to fire about half a dozen Heilig Pfeil (arrows) before vanishing. Her physical training had also been advanced to fit the rigors her parents expected of someone her age. However, their expectations were set far too high. The style of training and dangerous environment she was trained under were fitting for someone much older than her. Repeatedly, Sofia found herself, in privacy, depressed and angry at her results. She was used to being a prodigy and to the sensations of applauding regards albeit in music. Likewise however, she always strived to have a near perfect performance in everything she did. Either because her parent’s tasks and tutors proved to be too demanding or whether it stemmed out of a lack of talent in herself, she did not amount to what she thought she could. Though she was able to pass all her tests and meet up to her struggles, it wasn’t enough. She was used to going above and beyond, and it angered her that she couldn’t do the same during her Quincy training.
On a rainy afternoon, when practicing her violin for what little time she was allowed, Sofia made a stark and shocking discovery. While thinking of her Quincy training and reading a music sheet, she was able to materialize a violin bow made of reishi. It was flimsy just like her Quincy Heilig Bogen (bow). The realization that she could do that brought an instantaneous smile of happiness and fulfilment. She liked it. From that day on, in secrecy from her parents, Sofia would practice every chance she had to be able to summon a reishi violin bow that looked better and lasted longer. Though she continued her Quincy training, the events she did on secrecy had their effect. During her training, she was able to summon the Quincy bow extremely fast, and even surprised her parents and tutors with the outstanding skyrocketing development. Her quincy bow however, still needed a lot of work. While she was able to maintain it for considerable amounts of time thanks to her daily practice summoning a reishi violin bow, the practice she delegated to it had not improved her ability to refine the Quincy bow itself.
At around the age of ten, Sofia was already able to materialize a violin bow that looked no different from a real violin bow. She always wished she could show her parents but doing it would have been a grave mistake. Through the progress in her own Quincy training, she was finally able to materialize Quincy bows that were near perfect in construction and that lasted just as long as her violin bow. She still didn’t enjoy using it as much as her violin bow, but those were things she kept to herself. She even figured out she could use her spiritual violin bow to play her violin. She just needed to be calm, and let her reiryoku be still. When she did so, she was able to play just as well as she could with any regular violin bow. She never did use her spiritual violin bow to play in front of her parents however as the risk was simply too much.
Just before her 11th birthday, Sofia was informed she was going to be tested in a different way. She was brought out to a large grassland in Cantabria, Spain along with her tutors. There, without explanation or former warning would reveal and break a Hollow bait, setting the stage for the inevitable. Sofia would not fight on her own however. Her tutors would fight alongside her to keep a watchful eye on her moves and how she behaved in the hectic tempo of combat. Naturally, the young girl was scared. Though her training had always kept her on her feet, requiring to think and move fast to avoid failing and a punishment, the test was completely different. Though her tutors were there to protect her, her life could easily hang by a thread.
The first few Hollows to come out seemed of relatively low power, and were rather easy to dispatch. With her Quincy bow in hand, she jumped, sped and twirled with a grace that was reflective of such a talented and graceful musician. From time to time however, her elegant movements seemed unnecessary, and she would find herself cornered by a Hollow, just to be saved by the Heilig Pfeil of one of her tutors. For the most part, she was doing alright. She wasn’t old enough where she should have been able to take on every Hollow on her own. Rather than stopping however, the Hollows kept coming. While starting to get tired, it seemed her recurrent training summoning her spiritual violin bow had paid off since her Quincy bow showed no signs of flickering or disappearing any time soon.
The newer waves of Hollows were filled with beings of greater power, malice, and violent intent. Sofia would find herself running and dodging more than she had to earlier. And while her tutors had no problem keeping up, they could hardly manage to defend her with the same leisure and degree of ease as they had been able to before. Cornered once more by a group of Hollows, in an angle far beyond the helping reach of her mentors, she would cover her head, closer her eyes, and cry. In a moment of inner solitude, desperation and seeming hopelessness, all Sofia thought was the one thing that made her happiest. Thinking of the times she had played beautiful pieces and how she felt, even if for a brief instant at the time, was enough to give her the encouragement she needed to survive. Against the face of adversity, Sofia would allow her Quincy bow to vanish, and it's placed materialized her violin bow.
Lost in a sea of overflowing emotions, she felt like she drowned in ideas and thoughts she simply couldn’t understand. With a swift movement of her spiritual violin bow, she would be shocked when a sonic wave, filled of sounds of music crashed and swept away the Hollows that had cornered her. It was then that Sofia became acquainted with the rare ability she possessed. With her skill as a musician, she was able to move her violin bow over the air, already filled with her spiritual energy to cause a variety of effects. At the moment, Sofia did not understand her powers fully. But, curious and determined as the genius musician she was, she intended to rehearse in battle, and to improve. And so, darting from place to place, she noticed she could create different effects depending on how she slid her violin bow or how fast or slow, or even how repeatedly or scarcely she did. Soon, the Hollows would disappear as would her tutor’s doubts about her skills. Her parents would be notified about her amazing performance as well as the unique and unorthodox look of her violin bow.
The next few years would see Sofia overcome plenty of obstacles, and pierce right through new thresholds of power. At around the age of 13, Sofia was a highly accomplished combatant, and her skill was befitting and even exceeded some of her renowned ancestors. Her parents were long aware of her continuous devotion to music after bearing witness to the specifically related and unique abilities she had in combat. As such, they did not stop her from pursuing an interest in music so long as she continued pushing herself in her Quincy training. Through her own rehearsal and experimentation, she had discovered her Heilig Geigenbogen (holy violin bow) was an extremely efficient and versatile weapon that suited her to perfection. By holding on to the stick part of her geigenbogen and pulling on the reishi string, she could fire her arrows with ease. By extending the handle so she had enough space to fit her han. Likewise, extending the frog part of the violin bow created a small handguard, and by hardening the reishi string and the geigenbogen altogether, she could use it as a sword. It actually looked a lot like seele schneider. Of course, her unique and most powerful ability was the gift of being able to project a variety of effects through the use, rhythm and tonality of the music she created by sliding her violin bow at different tempos on her reiatsu infused surroundings.
Sofia had found her own way of approaching combat. By thinking of every battle as if it was a stage, she was able to run and pace herself and her choice of attack and defense with grace and elegance. In essence, it wasn’t much different than playing her violin. She simply needed to follow the right tempo and make the right movements to ensure a positive and beautiful outcome. It was thanks to her affinity towards music and the fact that her geigenbogen made it easier, that she was able to further her own skill in other areas. Swordsmanship had become a very common practice, almost as much as archery. And with Quincy being somewhat at a disadvantage in close quarters, it was seen as not only necessary but mandatory that she knew and was pushed to excel in that specialty. While Sofia trained a lot with seele schneiders, since her geigenbogen allowed her to use it as a bow or a sword, she did most of her practice with it, occasionally double wielding a seele in conjunction with her geigenbogen.
With her parent’s influence, they were able to find, convince, and afford the most capable and accomplished tutors that specialized in different aspects of Quincy combat. She would have her own tutors, one that would help her swordsmanship, archery, her speed, and one the dominion of over reishi. Though her parents tried to get her a tutor to help her hand to hand combat improve it was in vain. She simply did not have an affinity for it regardless of their best efforts. And, even with the best of intentions, hand to hand combat training was hurting her in other areas of her training beyond the bruises and keeping her from playing the violin and exploring her unique power. As such, though she trained in hand to hand combat enough to know the basics, it had never progressed nearly as much as her other areas of expertise. Once her powers became equivalent to those of a fairly successful adult Quincy, she would see her training tests and tasks exponentially rise in difficulty once again. Sometimes she would be pit against her Quincy bow tutor using only her geigenbogen as a sword. On other occasions, to deny her the chance of becoming comfortable, she would be pit against her swordsmanship tutor using only her bow, while forbidden from creating any real distance between each other. Alternatively, sometimes she would be pit against both of her trainers, while being denied weapons and relying on solely her speed as a means to remain unharmed. The trainings were meant to emphasize those areas of combat to encourage her to grow stronger. Unfortunately, hand to hand combat was never her strong suit. She knew enough to fend off most basic attacks and even escape the majority of locks. But, beyond that, her skill in hakuda paled in comparison to her mastery of the bow and arrow, and the sword.
At around that time, at an age where she was able to think more logically and efficiently than when she was younger, she started being instructed in several Quincy spells involving Ginto. Sofia found she didn’t dislike the area of expertise at all. While definitely different than music, a Quincy could ideally create art through the spells they casted. At the time, she was mainly being taught the basics and how to progress through the more difficult spells. One day how however, she wished to become strong enough to create her own spells, just like she created her own marvelous pieces when she played the violin. While simple techniques like Heizen and Wolke were mastered effortlessly, more difficult ones like Sprenger took much longer for Sofia to completely perfect. As far as her unique ability, Sofia was forbidden from using it against her tutors. It was highly unpredictable and dangerous, and could easily place them in harm’s way. Instead, Sofia was allowed countless hours every day to practice her own unique skill on her own, and in privacy. Frankly, her unique ability was far more developed than any other of her skills. Since she could pretty much create music, the love of her life, by using an ability that stemmed from it was not only necessary but loved and practiced with an astoundingly high frequency. She was able to create weak but fast traveling waves, and powerful but slower moving ones as well that could work as either a form of attack or defense. She was even able to create waves of music she could ride, like tangible waves through the use of different strokes of her geigenbogen on her unique reiryoku. And while Sofia was quickly advancing on her way to mastering her unique ability, she knew and worked to uncover details of her skill that were still shrouded in mystery.
While still not quite an adult at the age of 15, Sofia possessed many qualities and skills that in the eyes of their family, already made her deserving of one. Though her parents had not been able to conceive another child, they were hardly as worried as they were when Sofia was born. Their daughter was strong, and she had nigh untold potential. Even at her young age, she had already managed to come close to some of the strongest members of the ancient Montero Quincy lineage. Throughout her training, the use of Blut had been encouraged systematically to get her to adapt to the disadvantages between the two forms of Blut. She also had her unique, melody related ability that was nonexistent in anyone else in their family. It was rumored that during the times of Yhwach, there were members of the Vandenreich that held abilities that were unique just as Sofia’s. They were renown for their power and their ability to exert change and drive forth the Quincy ideals. Her parents had no doubt that if continuously nurtured, Sofia could help bring peace, stability, and dominance to the Humans alongside her Quincy brethren, and shine new honor on the Montero family name.
Being so close to her adult years, and having proved herself worthy in training, her parents saw her fit to attempt a famous and important Quincy Trial: Mastery of the Sanrei Glove. Sofia was presented with a sanrei glove that had been gifted to their illustrious family by the Vandenreich in the past. While she wasn’t filled in the details, she imagined the glove likely belonged to one or two of the most powerful Quincy of her lineage. When the aspects of the trial were explained to her, Sofia had primarily one fear. She was told that most likely she would incur injuries to her firing hand. The idea scared her to no end. The possibility of the training affecting her musical hobby terrified her. But at the same time, she had a duty to her family and a destiny to fulfill. Beyond her fear however, the test didn’t seem all that difficult. In her mind, simply maintaining her geigenbogen for a week, firing arrows repeatedly didn’t seem too unruly. She had however severely underestimated the suppressive power of the sanrei glove.
Just days after, Sofia, her archery tutor and a few of the family’s servants would travel to Navarra, Spain. There, everyone but her would stay at a very luxurious cabin. As for Sofia, she would spent the whole week in a beautiful area known as the Nacedero del Urredera with no one to keep her company but a servant that would come once a day to feed her without interrupting. The area was known for its small but fresh water flowing waterfalls, and the turquoise waters that made the environment befitting of a lovely dream. Once she was situated, Sofia would waste no time and summon her geigenbogen, ready to start.
As soon as she had started, Sofia found it extremely taxing to even summon her violin bow. It was a shocking realization since she had become so proficient at its use and ease of maintenance. Regardless, the first day went without any issues. The second day however, everything would turn upside down for her. On the day prior, she had thought of the things she wanted to do once she was done. She thought of the concerts she had ahead, and of her family. During the second day however, she noticed her mind was already devoid of anything of meaning. Instead, she found herself staring solitarily ahead, as she continued to fire arrows from her violin bow as frequently as possible. She was hungry all the time, since the servant only came to feed her once a day. She was beyond bored. And more importantly, her hands were already starting to hurt. Even without going halfway through the trial she was already lamenting within herself and wishing she hadn’t ruined all hopes she had of continuing to play the violin.
On the third and fourth day desperation started to set in. She would count the second and the hours seemed to turn into days. The pain was agonizing, but it had become a form of white noise, or rather background feel. She would disregard the pain for instances just to be reminded by sudden, sharp waves of pain. While she was being fed once a day, she had not been able to sleep. Her eyes were tired, her body was aching, and she had difficulty even maintaining the proper posture. It was at that moment that Sofia had an idea that seemed just crazy enough to work.
Right after she had fired one of her arrows, she pulled and flicked the reishi string of her geigenbogen. It was not unlike the way she played her violin. While for the most part, a violinist played by sliding the violin bow over the strings of the violin, the musician could also pluck the strings of the instrument to make different and uniquely sounding melodies. When she plucked the reishi string of her violin bow, she noticed she was able to create a musical noise just as she could when sliding her violin bow over the air around her. Beyond that, the arrow seemed to shift and hit several feet away from her intended target, almost as if the musical ability had pushed it elsewhere. With that realization, there was a newfound energy and resolve within her, and a spark in her eyes. She lived for the excitement of the moment, and reveled in mastering new musical pieces when one proved too difficult. At the time, she found herself in a situation that was not unlike it, and that involved music to boot. With it, her focus returned and she was able to continue on determined to push on and complete the trial.
That day, and all throughout the following day, Sofia would change her style of training in her way to master the Sanrei Glove. Staying still, and doing nothing was not like her at all. Instead, she used what energy reserves she had left while drawing from her own willpower and jumped, ran, swirled and twirled in different directions. She would aim at random areas and pluck her geigenbogen’s strings repeatedly after firing. With her own control over her abilities, she would will the musical waves in a hurry to shift the direction of the arrows and guide them straight into the trees or the targets she intended to hit. To remain true to the style of training however, she wouldn’t stop, and would fire consecutive arrows after using her ability. While she was surely tired, the excitement of the developments she had made, and the subtle differences in music she could create by simply plucking at the reishi string at different tempos had her more than entertained. Through enjoyment and sheer power of will and effort, she continued to exceed her own expectations during training. Eventually, she was stopped by her archery tutor. It had been nine days since she had been there. The prerequisite was seven days, and while he congratulated her on lasting that long and going beyond, he suggested she stopped. Otherwise, she could create further muscle tears and damage that would be nigh impossible to heal from. In an effort to try and make sense of better judgement, Sofia would agree, and head home with him.
The results of her training would be bittersweet. On one part, exponentially higher levels of power and control as well as stamina pushed her to new thresholds of might. Beyond it, her skill in gathering and maintaining reishi around her was beyond what either of her parents had ever witnessed before. Unfortunately, she spent a good couple of months without being able to play to the best of her capabilities or performing in planned orchestral concerts. While she could hold her violin and her violin bow well, doing unorthodox hand maneuvers or plucking far off strings repeatedly was far too uncomfortable. Though the pain would subside in months, and she would return to playing as she usually did, it was sort of an awakening for her. Sofia loved music, and it had become a central part of her life as a Quincy. As it turned out, every great thing required some sort of sacrifice, so it would be another one of her life goals to figure out how to balance her love for music and the way of the Quincy, to complement and contribute to each other.
The mastery of her sanrei glove would bestow on Sofia new thresholds of power and the chance to continue to bridge the gap between the things she wanted. With time, she would find that gathering reishi was an extremely painless task. Because of the ease and the talent she had shown as a prodigy, her father would entrust her with an anecdotal story of her family’s past. There were rumors that one of the most prominent members of the Montero family, Augusto Montero had been a considered a prodigy just like herself centuries before her time. It was told that he his mastery over reishi was such that he could create things for various purposes. The idea seemed feeble to Sofia at the start. Quincy were already able to create a variety of tools from reishi, namely their spirit weapon. However, the question would remain in her mind as to just what her predecessor could do, and what she could actually create if she put her mind to it.
She knew that Shinigami used their kido for a variety of purposes. They used some kind of school or method for defensive purposes, and some for offensive and healing. The Quincy repertoire was much more limited as there was just so much one could do with reishi. The fact that she had never seen anyone try to get extra creative with reishi was all the input she needed. Sofia was an artistic mind that lived for training and her music. Her versatile and unorthodox geigenbogen was a testament. And, with her natural affinity for reishi manipulation, she decided to try and create art through a craft that stemmed from something other than her skin with the violin.
Her first attempt would be at replicating Quincy pentacle out of reishi. Actually doing it was extremely easy. However, the construct had no substance behind it. She barely found any difficulty in the creation of the construct but that was primarily because of the weak nature of the latter. In her efforts to make art from her new tests and experiences, Sofia would aim to try something new in her training with her tutors. During one of her sessions where she was not allowed any weapon, and sent only to run, using her hirenkyaku to avoid potential harm, Sofia would attempt to test her hunch. By condensing a lot more reishi behind the Quincy pentacle she created, she focused, made it sturdy and strong, and used it to block the incoming barrage of spirit arrows from her tutor. Though the Quincy pentacle managed to block all incoming arrows with ease, Sofia found herself breathing heavily right after using it. Though creating the construct while on a calm state was rather simple, using it in the heat of battle was still difficult for her. And, with the notion that there was still a lot of improvement she could make to her discovery, she would continue to refine the skill.
Soon, she was able to create not just one but two Quincy pentacles. While she never showed any interest in creating any more than two, she never stopped believing there was more she could do to increase the difficulty and the use of her first creation. Her work wouldn’t stop with pentacles however. With time and dedicated training, and with the help of her prodigious talent for learning, Sofia was soon able to create a variety of items. From reishi blades, pentacles, and even walls, she was able to use the constructs for a variety of effects. Strangely enough however, most of her work with her reishi manipulation techniques revolved around defensive tactics. It was not unlike her use of Blut. While she was capable of using Blut Arterie and Vene, she had a preference and an affinity for Blut Vene. With her reishi manipulation techniques, she simply saw defense as more needed for her. She felt comfortable with her attacks as they were with her arrows and her geigenbogen. Ultimately, Sofia would come to discover another source of enjoyment for her. In a life where art and amusement went hand in hand, Sofia was thrilled to discover she could continue to create art not just in music, but in the creation of her reishi crafts as well.
During her training, Sofia discovered she had a passion for art that extended beyond the musical wonders she could create on the violin, and the abilities she crafted as an extension to the latter. She loved music primarily because of the beautiful and exuberant pieces she could create. The idea that she could create new and beautiful art through the fruits of her craft always drove her to continuously improve her musical talents. Likewise, Sofia discovered that she could also create art through different means in different areas of her combat training. She would attempt it by first making the basics hers, and then exploring technicalities until she could create a beautiful craft she could call her own.
During her training with her swordsmanship tutor, she noticed that initially she didn’t make as much progress as he had hoped for her. It was not unlike her unfortunate past with hand to hand combat training however. Simply, the tutor expected her to rely on the strength of her blows to push a target back and assert her dominance through power with her blade. However, that was completely unlike her style. And, once she was able to come to terms with what she enjoyed, and what felt more comfortable during the hectic state of battle, she was able to make great strides in development. Just like she had her own style of finger placing on the violin, and the unique movements when she played with her violin bow, she was able to find her own unique take and preference for bladed combat. Rather than going all out with strength, an attribute she didn’t excel in, she decided to go a different route. Leverage, momentum, turns, and graceful movements would allow her to use those advantages in her favor whereas a reliance on strength on her part would have done her no good. Likewise, by exploring and replicating the calm, and fluid movements she used during her violin recitals, she was able to create a just as smooth and fluid bladed combat style that was truly her own.
Sofia would make use of the vast knowledge of her swordsmanship tutor and the experience he had in the numerous belligerent conflicts of his past. However, rather than copying his own style, she would introduce several aspects of her own that clicked with her and her fluid musical preferences to create something new and innovative for her that worked best for her own personal needs. Though she used her geigenbogen the most during her bladed training, it was not unlike her to switch to using one of her seele schneider as an alternative. She would quickly discover that speed was an nigh perfect replacement for the strength she lacked. While never quite able to completely replace strength, she was able to close the gap in skill and the pressure applied against an opponent by using surges in speed and greater momentum. She would try and focus on tight but smooth bladework that emphasized a lack of exposure to incoming hits. Despite it, her progress on her Blut would allow her to resist some of the occasional hits she received. Granted, though her tutor did not wish to kill her, he wasn’t opposed to maiming her if she made a mistake that deserved said punishment as a result. Though Sofia would never purposely allow herself to be hit, she did try her best to perfect her Blut to minimize the chances of a grave injury. During certain intricate and beautiful movements where an opponent’s counterattack could land, she would readily prepare and use her Blut though sparingly, to minimize the chances of an injury. Rather than using her own force, she would try to find ways to use an opponent's attack strength against them. The complete domination of her opponent's movement was key, and her one of her ways to shorten the gap between the strength she lacked and victory. Because of her style, it required quick reflexes, and a very fast and fluid positional transition to allow her to minimize the chances of disarmament that would be even more important down the road.
In combat, she started focusing on the balance of her blade and her body. She noticed that moving in battle was definitely not unlike playing her violin. Though she was a prodigy and genius with the violin, she was fully aware it was very simple to make mistakes in that area as well. Plucking the wrong string at the wrong time, sliding the violin bow too slow or too quickly over the wrong strings at the wrong tempo could cause a melody to sound horribly. Bladed combat turned out to be almost the same. Through her style, she discovered she enjoyed and preferred her movements to follow focused, and elegant transitions that prioritized the unilateral balance of her body and footwork to outmaneuver her opponents. The wrong step, or a movement made too early or too late could have spelt misfortune for her. As such, she tried to be as careful and fluid in her use of a blade as in her use of a violin.
When she became accustomed to the idea and the concept of bladed combat she prefered, Sofia started to become comfortable with the idea of using two blades at once. Being ambidextrous was nothing new to her. Having had use both hands, one for the violin bow, and one to hold the violin and pluck the strings for years had made it a naturally easy and smooth transition. Dual wielding a seele schneider and her geigenbogen was quickly deemed to be one of the best decisions she made. Since mastering dual wielding would be a bit more difficult, she found that whenever she returned to training with only one blade, she would have increased concentration and a much easier time controlling her pacing. She continued to make recurrent use of fluid and smooth movements, relying on speed, momentum, and economy of motion rather than brute strength to stand up to, and sometimes even overpower those of greater physical strength.
Just like when she played the violin, Sofia never seemed to be distressed or alarmed whenever she used her blades. She always appeared calmed and steady, replicating the quiet and calm postures of a violinist performing an orchestral piece. In fact, her tutor and her family would often compliment the beautiful bladed style of her that seemed to be indicative of someone that danced rather than fought. Her artistic mind simply pushed her to explore and developed new ways to better her bladed work. Her emphasis however stemmed not out of a desire to be the strongest, but rather to create art as she did with her music. Through simple but clever tactics, soon she was able to easily keep up with her tutor. Switching back and forth from blade to dual wielding and vice versa thanks to her geigenbogen, she was able to keep her opponents on their toes at all times. Even when using two blades at once, Sofia would switch up between two variations. Just like when performing a musical piece, there were aspects of songs that required fast high paced beats, and some more slower or refined tempos. She would find the perfect transition for her during bladed combat by switching from continuous dual wielding front faced assaults, to simply attacking with one blade leaving the other for defensive purposes. The simultaneous and quick change from the stance of precise and calculated attacks and defense to continuous attacks and vice versa often threw her tutor off balanced. She would go from attacking and defending at once, straight to a counter strike. It required a fluid and smooth transition from pressing a calculated assault and parrying an attack, to a quick and unexpected counter strike. Through the fruits of her labor and the masterful results of her artistic craft with a blade, soon, she was able to best her own tutor as well.
Continues
THE QUINCY PRODIGY
[center]Artist: N/A - Song: N/A
THE QUINCY TEMPLATE
Quincy Profile
クインシー・レース
クインシー・レース
I. Basic Information
» Name: Sofia Montero
» Titles: "M" The Melody, The Quincy Prodigy
» Age: 23
» Gender: Female
» Affiliation/Rank: Vandenreich, Sternritter Grandmaster
» Physical Appearance Description:
Sofia is a woman of fair height, standing at about 5’7 ft tall. She’s usually considered to be tall for a lady, although she has met quite a few taller women during her travels. Being rather lithe at 150 lbs, she displays a slender figure with a very thin waist that tapers around her obliques, displaying what causes the illusion to some of her being thinner than she is. Despite it however, her feminine legs display a rather different reality as her thick womanly thighs lead to very long looking legs. Her bosom, never having been her best asset is usually left semi exposed by clothes that enhance their size as an attempt to make them seem bigger. While definitely not flat chested, she wouldn’t be considered someone that possesses large breasts. As a rather stark contrast, her butt is usually praised for its rather sizable and well shaped curvy figure. Easily attracting the most eyes, she’s fully aware of the nature of her large plump derriere.
Though at one point she enjoyed the habit of keeping her hair long, it's been almost a decade since she abandoned that practice. In an effort to avoid being disoriented or held back in battle as well as her musical progress, Sofia opted to cut it short a long time ago. Instead, her silky soft strands of ebony hair are cut short enough to reach just about neck length. Rarely choosing to accommodate her hair or design it in a specific fashion, she prefers it to let it hang loose, only combing it to the side to prevent it from obscuring her sight or the fine lines of her face. Though somewhat light skin toned, she displays very subtle hints of a dim olive skin complexion. Her eyes display a very warm tonality, with a mix of hazel and honey like hues that seem embedded with subtle russet brown undertones.
As for her clothes, Sofia likes to maintain the motto that functionality, comfort and purpose are essential and precede and supercede fashion and style. As such, she tends to prefer clothes that are not only comfortable but simple to put on and off. She prefers clothes that allow her and even help her due to her daily duties, and that do not interfere with her style of combat. Though she rarely wears dresses and skirts, she’s not a tomboy by any means. The nature of her work and her dealings, simply have created the perspective in her that she can benefit herself more by wearing something else. Instead, she’s usually seen wearing a shirt under a jacket, and pants. Most times her clothes reflect her loyalties and as such display the typical Quincy colors of white and blue. Most, though not all of her jackets display the symbol of her pride, the Montero family shield. Her outfit is usually completed with the occasional black boots, gloves, and sometimes even a hat. As the Captain of the Jagdarmee of the Vandenreich, her professionalism as well as her choice of clothing and behavior are usually watched. As a result, she tries her best to follow the rules and present herself in the best manner to be of pride to her family’s lineage and to all of her men.
» Physical Appearance Image:
II. Personality Traits
» Personality:
At first glance, Sofia is someone rather easy to approach. She will willingly go out of her way to help her peers and those in need, and she’s not beyond getting her hands dirty if it means understanding the root cause to someone’s problem. Beyond being easily approachable, she is someone that demonstrates some sense of care for the problems and the misfortunes of those acquainted with her. However, though she freely surrenders a bit of herself out to the public, the majority of the intimately personal and truly treasured details of her personality are shrouded in mystery to most, safely away from prying minds.
While she doesn’t believe she has anything to hide, Sofia is extremely selective of the people she allows to enter the trusted inner circle that guards her most personal and vulnerable thoughts. In a way, Sofia resembles the very instrument she loves: the violin. Managing to play a few sounds, or even achieving a few notes is relatively simple despite a lack of training or familiarity with the instrument. Likewise, she makes no attempt to stow away her ideas when it comes to being present or helpful when someone needs her. In essence, its relatively simply to talk to her. Truly knowing what makes her tick, what she loves, and what she truly desires however are endeavors few, if any, could claim to have seen through with success. Just like with the violin, truly mastering the instrument and being able to play masterpieces with elegance requires years of training, and talent.
Despite the seemingly easy going and amicable persona, Sofia can be very serious and strict at times. She believes everything needs rules and regulations for it to function properly and efficiently. As such, she makes a conscious effort to always play by the rules, abiding by the procedures set by those with more authority. She would always try and follow the regulations even if at times certain rules might seem to make no sense. She also tries her best to get others to follow the law and rules just as she does. In her mind, a lack of organization is simply a problem waiting to happen. When thinking of her heritage, and the unfortunate history of her proud race, she attributes their demise largely in part to the lack of organization. While there were certainly other, more powerful factors at play, and there was a pretty solid organization in the past, it wasn’t enough. She believes a goal that merits success, requires a plan. She also believes a plan that merits results requires order and organization. And so, she tries to live her life following sets of rules to avoid potential chances of deviating and causing unneeded problems for herself and those that depend on her.
So strictly attached to following the rules, Sofia also believes that punishment is not only necessary but required. While she believes that rules are made to avoid problems, she also believes that there needs to be a result that comes about when the procedures are not being followed. As such, she is not against punishment of any kind, so long as it was stipulated as so, and the culprit was fully aware of the consequences. In fact, she would be the first to present herself for sanction or punishment if she ever went beyond the lines of what was considered lawful. Nevertheless, Sofia believes in fairness. Though every broken rule requires a consequence, she’s strongly against the idea of being cruel just for the sake of personal satisfaction. She doesn’t enjoy hurting people. She however would not hesitate to punish the culprits of the non conformance to the full extent reflected by the consequences of their acts of non conformance.
Focused as she is in achieving results, it comes as no surprise that she’s very determined and hardworking. Whether it be playing music on her violin or trying to perfect a certain area of her combat training, Sofia rarely ever gives up until she has seen success or passed out trying. Regardless of how long it takes her, she has been known to spend hours in front of a music booklet until she has learned and memorized a difficult recital. Likewise, when duty doesn’t call for her to be elsewhere, she’s usually the first one to arrive at the training grounds and the last to leave. With more knowledge and skill within the fields of music and Quincy training than she could ever hope learn in her lifetime, Sofia makes a noticeable and conscious effort to get as close as possible in both until she achieves a feeling of fulfillment.
Though she tries to move forward in life to pursue her goals through means that rely both on talent and power, there are certain things that tend to hold her back. Pride was always a value instilled in her by her family as something to be acquainted with. Her family, the Montero, possessed one of the longest Quincy legacy that spawned centuries of stories. That legacy of pure blooded Quincy had instilled pride in their successors as the key to move forward. As such, it's no surprise that pride plays such a large role in her life. Though she’s not racist by any means, she does believe in Quincy superiority and prides herself in being what she is. Through what she was taught, the Earth belonged only to the Humans, and the other lesser races were simply uninvited abominations thought to bring about the end of times. As for Quincy like herself, she deemed them to be the evolutionary answer to an Earth that clamored in pain, wishing to be rid of the stigma of the dark demonic beings. And so, with a clear picture of the role of Quincy in the world, she’s usually very friendly at first with her own kind. With as few Quincy as there are, she believes they need to regroup under one banner, with very specific and strict rules if they are to survive and restore ownership of the Earth to the Humans. She’s not beyond speaking or socializing in other ways with the rest of the races however. She just simply believes that at their core, they’re not to be trusted, and while some of fair character may indeed exist, she tends to reserve judgement for the majority of them.
As her goals revolve around both the future of the Quincy and her musical inclinations, she is quite apt to develop a keen interest with anyone that possesses a similar interest or talent in either of them. An invitation to rehearse a few songs or have a spar have actually been some of the most memorable and anticipated dates she has had. Dates is as far as she has gotten in any kind of romantic affair however. While there has certainly been plenty of people she has found likeable and appealing in different departments, she has always backed away from pursuing a relationship. In part, she fears for failure, and in part, for success. As used to being successful in most things she does, she could be lead to believe that having a romantic misfortune could throw some unneeded chaos into her life. She’s fully aware that the core essence of her personality is not easily understood, if anything because of her denial to allow others to approach her in that regard. However, she’s also terrified of being successful in a romantic relationship. The potential results of what a time consuming relationship could bring about have been the cause of nightmares to her. The thought of abandoning or falling behind on her music or her training for a relationship that may or may not go anywhere have been some of the reasons why she’s never had a boyfriend. And while she’s not beyond flirting, she exercises extreme caution when doing so. For the most part she will refuse to flirt purely out of a professional reason, but those that somehow managed to come close enough to be considered friends could witness the elusive and awkward attempts at witty, flirtatious behavior that’s so deeply embedded and stowed away within her.
III. Character History
» History
The Montero: Birth of a Disappointment
Sofia Montero was born in Valencia, Spain, in April of 2394. She was born the only child to Rodrigo Montero and his wife Lucrecia Montero as well as the sole heir to her family’s wealth and rich heritage. Her family possessed a long history of being associated to wealth and untold power beyond those which stemmed from financial riches. For centuries, her family had stood with the Quincy, providing the best of their pure blood lineage to serve the cause of the Wandenreich. Even during the times of Yhwach and the Quincy Genocides, the Montero family stood strong, valiantly defending the views of the Vandenreich until their very last breath.
Though the family history of the Montero was one that hung by the threads and chains forged by its ancestors, and stained by the blood they shed, a common value continued to move them forward: Pride. Ever since the first Quincy in the family, Pedro Montero rose to prominence centuries before, he would declare an ideal that would be carried on to future generations. In general, the Montero believed Humans to be the supreme race. To many other races Humans could not be any weaker. To many, Humans simply lead trivial, short and insignificant lives, making up stories to feel like they belonged, and blaming single entities that they could fight instead of working together. While the assumption wasn’t far from the truth, it was a mistake to think Humans were alone in such a predicament. Throughout history, many other races suffered from the same ill fated lifestyle. The Quincy were a testament to the foul decision making of races that thought they were superior. At one time it was the Shinigami, but with the uprising of different and darker races, like the demons, the balance of the world seemed to hang by a thread.
From the start however, the Montero thought differently. They believed the shorter life span of humans, compared to other races, allowed them to experience feats of the mind and the soul few beings could truly understand. And with Humans being, in their view, the epicenter of creation and transition to most other races, it only helped to support their view. As far as Quincy themselves, the Montero saw their lineage and other pureblood Quincy as a step above and beyond even humans; an evolution of sorts. They believed that Quincy would be the weapon and the spearhead that would one day place Humans at the top where they had always been meant to be. While some Quincy in the Vandenreich shared the ideal, not many believed it as the Montero did. And, wary of other lesser races and the treasonous nature of those abominations, the Montero developed a keen sense of awareness that helped them survive through calamities many other pureblood families simply could not.
While plenty members of the family perished throughout centuries of war, genocide and persecution, there was always at least one heir to the Montero preserving the family name. The legacy would continue on until it arrived to Sofia. Her parents Rodrigo and Lucrecia had been trying for years to conceive a child but every effort had proven in vain. The miracle of Sofia’s birth was the news that became a source of happiness to the family although with a rather bitter aftertaste. While they had indeed managed to bear a child, it was just a girl. Although her parents did not disliked or resented the baby for being of her gender, there was no doubt they were disappointed, and would simply have been much more satisfied had they conceived a male that could actually afford to carry on the Montero name.
Sofia would be raised with the same affection and care as a son would have. Despite having been gifted with the miracle of a child they couldn’t conceive however, her parents kept trying for a boy. The thought that they could be rewarded with a heir that was a male was simply too much of an incentive to pass. If their efforts failed however, Sofia’s parents had already decided for her to be married to the heir of another pureblood Quincy family of comparable lineage, authority, and wealth. The name and legacy of the family would then be on Sofia’s hands since lately it had become customary to allow the strongest of the couple to carry on their family name. And so, despite their continuous efforts to try for a boy, Rodrigo and Lucrecia would make sure to instruct Sofia as she grew up. If she was to be the only chance for the Montero to carry on their name and legacy, then she needed to learn fast to avoid disappointing and killing her long and prestigious heritage.
The Wasted Talent of the Prodigy
From a very early age, Sofia showed signs that were indicative of great intelligence. Simple puzzles that were often given to kids much older were easily solved by her at an earlier age. She also managed to be able to stand, walk, and talk much more readily than most kids. The most shocking and noticeable talent of hers however had to do with music. Ever since she was able to discern sounds, she would turn and follow the music. Whether it stemmed from the TV, a recording or something else entirely, Sofia had always been drawn to the sounds of music. While at a very young age, she was still unable to dance or sing eloquently, she did short clumsy movements fitting of a baby to attempt to dance. Since she was still far too young to start any kind of real Quincy training, her parents bought her all the items necessary to nurture her musical learning. They even hired the best tutors available to ensure she was taught by the best. While they had enough money to spend and waste in such things, her parents would soon come to regret the decision they had made.
By the age of three, Sofia was already able to play numerous simple songs on the violin. She was even able to, with some fair amount of minor mistakes, play much more difficult and rigorous pieces. Her skill and fame was so much for someone her age, that she was often performing in front of crowds, leaving them in awe and mesmerized that a child her age could play with the talent and grace with which she did. Her performances would set the stage for expectations that pretty much required her to become a wonderful musician as an adult, or otherwise suffer the consequences of disappointing those that followed her progress ever since childhood. Her growing talent and fame did not sit well with her parents however. While they were proud and glad that their child was able create such marvelous music and amaze so many, the Montero were not musicians, they were Quincy. Her parents feared that by letting her become too accustomed to music and the violin, she would never be able to amount to the potential she could have as a Quincy.
And so, at the age of five, she would officially start her Quincy training. By then, her skill with the violin was undeniable. She could perform some of the most difficult pieces without almost any mistake. In fact, had it not been for the rarity of her extremely young age, she would have easily been able to afford a seat at some of the prestigious orchestras. Even at that age, her skill wasn’t much lower than a fairly accomplished adult violinist. Regardless, from that point on, Sofia would need to learn to balance her studies of the Quincy with those of the violin. That’s what she thought. If her parents had their way however, she would have never touched a violin or a violin bow again.
At the start, Sofia found the training to become rigorous, difficult, and simply no fun. After all, though she was of fair age, most prospect Quincy children, however rare those days, did not start their training until they were at least a few years older than she was. In her case, her parents were forced to train her at that age. They didn’t just see it as something helpful, they saw it as necessary. Their daughter was becoming too used and endeared to the violin and the life of a musician at such a young age where it could have jeopardized their real goal of extending the Montero’s strong Quincy lineage.
Since Sofia was still a bit young, she wasn’t expected to be able to summon a spirit weapon. Instead, she was taught how to use a physical bow and arrows so that her ability with it and her marksmanship could improve. Beyond archery, personal trainers were hired so that she could exercise at a level that was sufficient and challenging for her age, in order to set the foundation for her progress down the road. Unfortunately, Sofia was not able to reflect the same skill and talent in physical activities as she did playing music. While she indeed tried, she simply did not enjoyed it, and her performance suffered as a result. She wasn’t inept in areas of physical exertion or taxing of stamina however. She simply did not display the same innate talent that she had with the violin. With determination and a resolve to finish so that she could get to her violin rehearsals, Sofia was able to put up with the exercises, and met the expectations of her physical training, albeit barely. Her parents, though unhappy with the influence music and the violin had in her, had seen it as a powerful tool to help her achieve more. Little did they know, that with time, it would also help her accomplish feats no one in her lineage ever had.
The Spiritual Musician
By age seven, Sofia was already engaging in more formal Quincy training.Early in her training she had shown bearing proof of her pure blood Quincy lineage by awakening her Blut. Though it was still unrefined and she could barely control it, she most often attempted to try and make use of its defensive capabilities. Beyond that she had been taught how to gather reishi around her, and use it to summon a spirit weapon. Much like with physical exercise, initially, Sofia found it extremely difficult to do so. Her bows would be weak and flimsy and only remained long enough to fire about half a dozen Heilig Pfeil (arrows) before vanishing. Her physical training had also been advanced to fit the rigors her parents expected of someone her age. However, their expectations were set far too high. The style of training and dangerous environment she was trained under were fitting for someone much older than her. Repeatedly, Sofia found herself, in privacy, depressed and angry at her results. She was used to being a prodigy and to the sensations of applauding regards albeit in music. Likewise however, she always strived to have a near perfect performance in everything she did. Either because her parent’s tasks and tutors proved to be too demanding or whether it stemmed out of a lack of talent in herself, she did not amount to what she thought she could. Though she was able to pass all her tests and meet up to her struggles, it wasn’t enough. She was used to going above and beyond, and it angered her that she couldn’t do the same during her Quincy training.
On a rainy afternoon, when practicing her violin for what little time she was allowed, Sofia made a stark and shocking discovery. While thinking of her Quincy training and reading a music sheet, she was able to materialize a violin bow made of reishi. It was flimsy just like her Quincy Heilig Bogen (bow). The realization that she could do that brought an instantaneous smile of happiness and fulfilment. She liked it. From that day on, in secrecy from her parents, Sofia would practice every chance she had to be able to summon a reishi violin bow that looked better and lasted longer. Though she continued her Quincy training, the events she did on secrecy had their effect. During her training, she was able to summon the Quincy bow extremely fast, and even surprised her parents and tutors with the outstanding skyrocketing development. Her quincy bow however, still needed a lot of work. While she was able to maintain it for considerable amounts of time thanks to her daily practice summoning a reishi violin bow, the practice she delegated to it had not improved her ability to refine the Quincy bow itself.
At around the age of ten, Sofia was already able to materialize a violin bow that looked no different from a real violin bow. She always wished she could show her parents but doing it would have been a grave mistake. Through the progress in her own Quincy training, she was finally able to materialize Quincy bows that were near perfect in construction and that lasted just as long as her violin bow. She still didn’t enjoy using it as much as her violin bow, but those were things she kept to herself. She even figured out she could use her spiritual violin bow to play her violin. She just needed to be calm, and let her reiryoku be still. When she did so, she was able to play just as well as she could with any regular violin bow. She never did use her spiritual violin bow to play in front of her parents however as the risk was simply too much.
Just before her 11th birthday, Sofia was informed she was going to be tested in a different way. She was brought out to a large grassland in Cantabria, Spain along with her tutors. There, without explanation or former warning would reveal and break a Hollow bait, setting the stage for the inevitable. Sofia would not fight on her own however. Her tutors would fight alongside her to keep a watchful eye on her moves and how she behaved in the hectic tempo of combat. Naturally, the young girl was scared. Though her training had always kept her on her feet, requiring to think and move fast to avoid failing and a punishment, the test was completely different. Though her tutors were there to protect her, her life could easily hang by a thread.
The first few Hollows to come out seemed of relatively low power, and were rather easy to dispatch. With her Quincy bow in hand, she jumped, sped and twirled with a grace that was reflective of such a talented and graceful musician. From time to time however, her elegant movements seemed unnecessary, and she would find herself cornered by a Hollow, just to be saved by the Heilig Pfeil of one of her tutors. For the most part, she was doing alright. She wasn’t old enough where she should have been able to take on every Hollow on her own. Rather than stopping however, the Hollows kept coming. While starting to get tired, it seemed her recurrent training summoning her spiritual violin bow had paid off since her Quincy bow showed no signs of flickering or disappearing any time soon.
The newer waves of Hollows were filled with beings of greater power, malice, and violent intent. Sofia would find herself running and dodging more than she had to earlier. And while her tutors had no problem keeping up, they could hardly manage to defend her with the same leisure and degree of ease as they had been able to before. Cornered once more by a group of Hollows, in an angle far beyond the helping reach of her mentors, she would cover her head, closer her eyes, and cry. In a moment of inner solitude, desperation and seeming hopelessness, all Sofia thought was the one thing that made her happiest. Thinking of the times she had played beautiful pieces and how she felt, even if for a brief instant at the time, was enough to give her the encouragement she needed to survive. Against the face of adversity, Sofia would allow her Quincy bow to vanish, and it's placed materialized her violin bow.
Lost in a sea of overflowing emotions, she felt like she drowned in ideas and thoughts she simply couldn’t understand. With a swift movement of her spiritual violin bow, she would be shocked when a sonic wave, filled of sounds of music crashed and swept away the Hollows that had cornered her. It was then that Sofia became acquainted with the rare ability she possessed. With her skill as a musician, she was able to move her violin bow over the air, already filled with her spiritual energy to cause a variety of effects. At the moment, Sofia did not understand her powers fully. But, curious and determined as the genius musician she was, she intended to rehearse in battle, and to improve. And so, darting from place to place, she noticed she could create different effects depending on how she slid her violin bow or how fast or slow, or even how repeatedly or scarcely she did. Soon, the Hollows would disappear as would her tutor’s doubts about her skills. Her parents would be notified about her amazing performance as well as the unique and unorthodox look of her violin bow.
Once a Prodigy, Always a Prodigy
The next few years would see Sofia overcome plenty of obstacles, and pierce right through new thresholds of power. At around the age of 13, Sofia was a highly accomplished combatant, and her skill was befitting and even exceeded some of her renowned ancestors. Her parents were long aware of her continuous devotion to music after bearing witness to the specifically related and unique abilities she had in combat. As such, they did not stop her from pursuing an interest in music so long as she continued pushing herself in her Quincy training. Through her own rehearsal and experimentation, she had discovered her Heilig Geigenbogen (holy violin bow) was an extremely efficient and versatile weapon that suited her to perfection. By holding on to the stick part of her geigenbogen and pulling on the reishi string, she could fire her arrows with ease. By extending the handle so she had enough space to fit her han. Likewise, extending the frog part of the violin bow created a small handguard, and by hardening the reishi string and the geigenbogen altogether, she could use it as a sword. It actually looked a lot like seele schneider. Of course, her unique and most powerful ability was the gift of being able to project a variety of effects through the use, rhythm and tonality of the music she created by sliding her violin bow at different tempos on her reiatsu infused surroundings.
Sofia had found her own way of approaching combat. By thinking of every battle as if it was a stage, she was able to run and pace herself and her choice of attack and defense with grace and elegance. In essence, it wasn’t much different than playing her violin. She simply needed to follow the right tempo and make the right movements to ensure a positive and beautiful outcome. It was thanks to her affinity towards music and the fact that her geigenbogen made it easier, that she was able to further her own skill in other areas. Swordsmanship had become a very common practice, almost as much as archery. And with Quincy being somewhat at a disadvantage in close quarters, it was seen as not only necessary but mandatory that she knew and was pushed to excel in that specialty. While Sofia trained a lot with seele schneiders, since her geigenbogen allowed her to use it as a bow or a sword, she did most of her practice with it, occasionally double wielding a seele in conjunction with her geigenbogen.
With her parent’s influence, they were able to find, convince, and afford the most capable and accomplished tutors that specialized in different aspects of Quincy combat. She would have her own tutors, one that would help her swordsmanship, archery, her speed, and one the dominion of over reishi. Though her parents tried to get her a tutor to help her hand to hand combat improve it was in vain. She simply did not have an affinity for it regardless of their best efforts. And, even with the best of intentions, hand to hand combat training was hurting her in other areas of her training beyond the bruises and keeping her from playing the violin and exploring her unique power. As such, though she trained in hand to hand combat enough to know the basics, it had never progressed nearly as much as her other areas of expertise. Once her powers became equivalent to those of a fairly successful adult Quincy, she would see her training tests and tasks exponentially rise in difficulty once again. Sometimes she would be pit against her Quincy bow tutor using only her geigenbogen as a sword. On other occasions, to deny her the chance of becoming comfortable, she would be pit against her swordsmanship tutor using only her bow, while forbidden from creating any real distance between each other. Alternatively, sometimes she would be pit against both of her trainers, while being denied weapons and relying on solely her speed as a means to remain unharmed. The trainings were meant to emphasize those areas of combat to encourage her to grow stronger. Unfortunately, hand to hand combat was never her strong suit. She knew enough to fend off most basic attacks and even escape the majority of locks. But, beyond that, her skill in hakuda paled in comparison to her mastery of the bow and arrow, and the sword.
At around that time, at an age where she was able to think more logically and efficiently than when she was younger, she started being instructed in several Quincy spells involving Ginto. Sofia found she didn’t dislike the area of expertise at all. While definitely different than music, a Quincy could ideally create art through the spells they casted. At the time, she was mainly being taught the basics and how to progress through the more difficult spells. One day how however, she wished to become strong enough to create her own spells, just like she created her own marvelous pieces when she played the violin. While simple techniques like Heizen and Wolke were mastered effortlessly, more difficult ones like Sprenger took much longer for Sofia to completely perfect. As far as her unique ability, Sofia was forbidden from using it against her tutors. It was highly unpredictable and dangerous, and could easily place them in harm’s way. Instead, Sofia was allowed countless hours every day to practice her own unique skill on her own, and in privacy. Frankly, her unique ability was far more developed than any other of her skills. Since she could pretty much create music, the love of her life, by using an ability that stemmed from it was not only necessary but loved and practiced with an astoundingly high frequency. She was able to create weak but fast traveling waves, and powerful but slower moving ones as well that could work as either a form of attack or defense. She was even able to create waves of music she could ride, like tangible waves through the use of different strokes of her geigenbogen on her unique reiryoku. And while Sofia was quickly advancing on her way to mastering her unique ability, she knew and worked to uncover details of her skill that were still shrouded in mystery.
The Coming of Age
While still not quite an adult at the age of 15, Sofia possessed many qualities and skills that in the eyes of their family, already made her deserving of one. Though her parents had not been able to conceive another child, they were hardly as worried as they were when Sofia was born. Their daughter was strong, and she had nigh untold potential. Even at her young age, she had already managed to come close to some of the strongest members of the ancient Montero Quincy lineage. Throughout her training, the use of Blut had been encouraged systematically to get her to adapt to the disadvantages between the two forms of Blut. She also had her unique, melody related ability that was nonexistent in anyone else in their family. It was rumored that during the times of Yhwach, there were members of the Vandenreich that held abilities that were unique just as Sofia’s. They were renown for their power and their ability to exert change and drive forth the Quincy ideals. Her parents had no doubt that if continuously nurtured, Sofia could help bring peace, stability, and dominance to the Humans alongside her Quincy brethren, and shine new honor on the Montero family name.
Being so close to her adult years, and having proved herself worthy in training, her parents saw her fit to attempt a famous and important Quincy Trial: Mastery of the Sanrei Glove. Sofia was presented with a sanrei glove that had been gifted to their illustrious family by the Vandenreich in the past. While she wasn’t filled in the details, she imagined the glove likely belonged to one or two of the most powerful Quincy of her lineage. When the aspects of the trial were explained to her, Sofia had primarily one fear. She was told that most likely she would incur injuries to her firing hand. The idea scared her to no end. The possibility of the training affecting her musical hobby terrified her. But at the same time, she had a duty to her family and a destiny to fulfill. Beyond her fear however, the test didn’t seem all that difficult. In her mind, simply maintaining her geigenbogen for a week, firing arrows repeatedly didn’t seem too unruly. She had however severely underestimated the suppressive power of the sanrei glove.
Just days after, Sofia, her archery tutor and a few of the family’s servants would travel to Navarra, Spain. There, everyone but her would stay at a very luxurious cabin. As for Sofia, she would spent the whole week in a beautiful area known as the Nacedero del Urredera with no one to keep her company but a servant that would come once a day to feed her without interrupting. The area was known for its small but fresh water flowing waterfalls, and the turquoise waters that made the environment befitting of a lovely dream. Once she was situated, Sofia would waste no time and summon her geigenbogen, ready to start.
As soon as she had started, Sofia found it extremely taxing to even summon her violin bow. It was a shocking realization since she had become so proficient at its use and ease of maintenance. Regardless, the first day went without any issues. The second day however, everything would turn upside down for her. On the day prior, she had thought of the things she wanted to do once she was done. She thought of the concerts she had ahead, and of her family. During the second day however, she noticed her mind was already devoid of anything of meaning. Instead, she found herself staring solitarily ahead, as she continued to fire arrows from her violin bow as frequently as possible. She was hungry all the time, since the servant only came to feed her once a day. She was beyond bored. And more importantly, her hands were already starting to hurt. Even without going halfway through the trial she was already lamenting within herself and wishing she hadn’t ruined all hopes she had of continuing to play the violin.
On the third and fourth day desperation started to set in. She would count the second and the hours seemed to turn into days. The pain was agonizing, but it had become a form of white noise, or rather background feel. She would disregard the pain for instances just to be reminded by sudden, sharp waves of pain. While she was being fed once a day, she had not been able to sleep. Her eyes were tired, her body was aching, and she had difficulty even maintaining the proper posture. It was at that moment that Sofia had an idea that seemed just crazy enough to work.
Right after she had fired one of her arrows, she pulled and flicked the reishi string of her geigenbogen. It was not unlike the way she played her violin. While for the most part, a violinist played by sliding the violin bow over the strings of the violin, the musician could also pluck the strings of the instrument to make different and uniquely sounding melodies. When she plucked the reishi string of her violin bow, she noticed she was able to create a musical noise just as she could when sliding her violin bow over the air around her. Beyond that, the arrow seemed to shift and hit several feet away from her intended target, almost as if the musical ability had pushed it elsewhere. With that realization, there was a newfound energy and resolve within her, and a spark in her eyes. She lived for the excitement of the moment, and reveled in mastering new musical pieces when one proved too difficult. At the time, she found herself in a situation that was not unlike it, and that involved music to boot. With it, her focus returned and she was able to continue on determined to push on and complete the trial.
That day, and all throughout the following day, Sofia would change her style of training in her way to master the Sanrei Glove. Staying still, and doing nothing was not like her at all. Instead, she used what energy reserves she had left while drawing from her own willpower and jumped, ran, swirled and twirled in different directions. She would aim at random areas and pluck her geigenbogen’s strings repeatedly after firing. With her own control over her abilities, she would will the musical waves in a hurry to shift the direction of the arrows and guide them straight into the trees or the targets she intended to hit. To remain true to the style of training however, she wouldn’t stop, and would fire consecutive arrows after using her ability. While she was surely tired, the excitement of the developments she had made, and the subtle differences in music she could create by simply plucking at the reishi string at different tempos had her more than entertained. Through enjoyment and sheer power of will and effort, she continued to exceed her own expectations during training. Eventually, she was stopped by her archery tutor. It had been nine days since she had been there. The prerequisite was seven days, and while he congratulated her on lasting that long and going beyond, he suggested she stopped. Otherwise, she could create further muscle tears and damage that would be nigh impossible to heal from. In an effort to try and make sense of better judgement, Sofia would agree, and head home with him.
The results of her training would be bittersweet. On one part, exponentially higher levels of power and control as well as stamina pushed her to new thresholds of might. Beyond it, her skill in gathering and maintaining reishi around her was beyond what either of her parents had ever witnessed before. Unfortunately, she spent a good couple of months without being able to play to the best of her capabilities or performing in planned orchestral concerts. While she could hold her violin and her violin bow well, doing unorthodox hand maneuvers or plucking far off strings repeatedly was far too uncomfortable. Though the pain would subside in months, and she would return to playing as she usually did, it was sort of an awakening for her. Sofia loved music, and it had become a central part of her life as a Quincy. As it turned out, every great thing required some sort of sacrifice, so it would be another one of her life goals to figure out how to balance her love for music and the way of the Quincy, to complement and contribute to each other.
Art Beyond Music
The mastery of her sanrei glove would bestow on Sofia new thresholds of power and the chance to continue to bridge the gap between the things she wanted. With time, she would find that gathering reishi was an extremely painless task. Because of the ease and the talent she had shown as a prodigy, her father would entrust her with an anecdotal story of her family’s past. There were rumors that one of the most prominent members of the Montero family, Augusto Montero had been a considered a prodigy just like herself centuries before her time. It was told that he his mastery over reishi was such that he could create things for various purposes. The idea seemed feeble to Sofia at the start. Quincy were already able to create a variety of tools from reishi, namely their spirit weapon. However, the question would remain in her mind as to just what her predecessor could do, and what she could actually create if she put her mind to it.
She knew that Shinigami used their kido for a variety of purposes. They used some kind of school or method for defensive purposes, and some for offensive and healing. The Quincy repertoire was much more limited as there was just so much one could do with reishi. The fact that she had never seen anyone try to get extra creative with reishi was all the input she needed. Sofia was an artistic mind that lived for training and her music. Her versatile and unorthodox geigenbogen was a testament. And, with her natural affinity for reishi manipulation, she decided to try and create art through a craft that stemmed from something other than her skin with the violin.
Her first attempt would be at replicating Quincy pentacle out of reishi. Actually doing it was extremely easy. However, the construct had no substance behind it. She barely found any difficulty in the creation of the construct but that was primarily because of the weak nature of the latter. In her efforts to make art from her new tests and experiences, Sofia would aim to try something new in her training with her tutors. During one of her sessions where she was not allowed any weapon, and sent only to run, using her hirenkyaku to avoid potential harm, Sofia would attempt to test her hunch. By condensing a lot more reishi behind the Quincy pentacle she created, she focused, made it sturdy and strong, and used it to block the incoming barrage of spirit arrows from her tutor. Though the Quincy pentacle managed to block all incoming arrows with ease, Sofia found herself breathing heavily right after using it. Though creating the construct while on a calm state was rather simple, using it in the heat of battle was still difficult for her. And, with the notion that there was still a lot of improvement she could make to her discovery, she would continue to refine the skill.
Soon, she was able to create not just one but two Quincy pentacles. While she never showed any interest in creating any more than two, she never stopped believing there was more she could do to increase the difficulty and the use of her first creation. Her work wouldn’t stop with pentacles however. With time and dedicated training, and with the help of her prodigious talent for learning, Sofia was soon able to create a variety of items. From reishi blades, pentacles, and even walls, she was able to use the constructs for a variety of effects. Strangely enough however, most of her work with her reishi manipulation techniques revolved around defensive tactics. It was not unlike her use of Blut. While she was capable of using Blut Arterie and Vene, she had a preference and an affinity for Blut Vene. With her reishi manipulation techniques, she simply saw defense as more needed for her. She felt comfortable with her attacks as they were with her arrows and her geigenbogen. Ultimately, Sofia would come to discover another source of enjoyment for her. In a life where art and amusement went hand in hand, Sofia was thrilled to discover she could continue to create art not just in music, but in the creation of her reishi crafts as well.
A Graceful Combat Style
During her training, Sofia discovered she had a passion for art that extended beyond the musical wonders she could create on the violin, and the abilities she crafted as an extension to the latter. She loved music primarily because of the beautiful and exuberant pieces she could create. The idea that she could create new and beautiful art through the fruits of her craft always drove her to continuously improve her musical talents. Likewise, Sofia discovered that she could also create art through different means in different areas of her combat training. She would attempt it by first making the basics hers, and then exploring technicalities until she could create a beautiful craft she could call her own.
During her training with her swordsmanship tutor, she noticed that initially she didn’t make as much progress as he had hoped for her. It was not unlike her unfortunate past with hand to hand combat training however. Simply, the tutor expected her to rely on the strength of her blows to push a target back and assert her dominance through power with her blade. However, that was completely unlike her style. And, once she was able to come to terms with what she enjoyed, and what felt more comfortable during the hectic state of battle, she was able to make great strides in development. Just like she had her own style of finger placing on the violin, and the unique movements when she played with her violin bow, she was able to find her own unique take and preference for bladed combat. Rather than going all out with strength, an attribute she didn’t excel in, she decided to go a different route. Leverage, momentum, turns, and graceful movements would allow her to use those advantages in her favor whereas a reliance on strength on her part would have done her no good. Likewise, by exploring and replicating the calm, and fluid movements she used during her violin recitals, she was able to create a just as smooth and fluid bladed combat style that was truly her own.
Sofia would make use of the vast knowledge of her swordsmanship tutor and the experience he had in the numerous belligerent conflicts of his past. However, rather than copying his own style, she would introduce several aspects of her own that clicked with her and her fluid musical preferences to create something new and innovative for her that worked best for her own personal needs. Though she used her geigenbogen the most during her bladed training, it was not unlike her to switch to using one of her seele schneider as an alternative. She would quickly discover that speed was an nigh perfect replacement for the strength she lacked. While never quite able to completely replace strength, she was able to close the gap in skill and the pressure applied against an opponent by using surges in speed and greater momentum. She would try and focus on tight but smooth bladework that emphasized a lack of exposure to incoming hits. Despite it, her progress on her Blut would allow her to resist some of the occasional hits she received. Granted, though her tutor did not wish to kill her, he wasn’t opposed to maiming her if she made a mistake that deserved said punishment as a result. Though Sofia would never purposely allow herself to be hit, she did try her best to perfect her Blut to minimize the chances of a grave injury. During certain intricate and beautiful movements where an opponent’s counterattack could land, she would readily prepare and use her Blut though sparingly, to minimize the chances of an injury. Rather than using her own force, she would try to find ways to use an opponent's attack strength against them. The complete domination of her opponent's movement was key, and her one of her ways to shorten the gap between the strength she lacked and victory. Because of her style, it required quick reflexes, and a very fast and fluid positional transition to allow her to minimize the chances of disarmament that would be even more important down the road.
In combat, she started focusing on the balance of her blade and her body. She noticed that moving in battle was definitely not unlike playing her violin. Though she was a prodigy and genius with the violin, she was fully aware it was very simple to make mistakes in that area as well. Plucking the wrong string at the wrong time, sliding the violin bow too slow or too quickly over the wrong strings at the wrong tempo could cause a melody to sound horribly. Bladed combat turned out to be almost the same. Through her style, she discovered she enjoyed and preferred her movements to follow focused, and elegant transitions that prioritized the unilateral balance of her body and footwork to outmaneuver her opponents. The wrong step, or a movement made too early or too late could have spelt misfortune for her. As such, she tried to be as careful and fluid in her use of a blade as in her use of a violin.
When she became accustomed to the idea and the concept of bladed combat she prefered, Sofia started to become comfortable with the idea of using two blades at once. Being ambidextrous was nothing new to her. Having had use both hands, one for the violin bow, and one to hold the violin and pluck the strings for years had made it a naturally easy and smooth transition. Dual wielding a seele schneider and her geigenbogen was quickly deemed to be one of the best decisions she made. Since mastering dual wielding would be a bit more difficult, she found that whenever she returned to training with only one blade, she would have increased concentration and a much easier time controlling her pacing. She continued to make recurrent use of fluid and smooth movements, relying on speed, momentum, and economy of motion rather than brute strength to stand up to, and sometimes even overpower those of greater physical strength.
Just like when she played the violin, Sofia never seemed to be distressed or alarmed whenever she used her blades. She always appeared calmed and steady, replicating the quiet and calm postures of a violinist performing an orchestral piece. In fact, her tutor and her family would often compliment the beautiful bladed style of her that seemed to be indicative of someone that danced rather than fought. Her artistic mind simply pushed her to explore and developed new ways to better her bladed work. Her emphasis however stemmed not out of a desire to be the strongest, but rather to create art as she did with her music. Through simple but clever tactics, soon she was able to easily keep up with her tutor. Switching back and forth from blade to dual wielding and vice versa thanks to her geigenbogen, she was able to keep her opponents on their toes at all times. Even when using two blades at once, Sofia would switch up between two variations. Just like when performing a musical piece, there were aspects of songs that required fast high paced beats, and some more slower or refined tempos. She would find the perfect transition for her during bladed combat by switching from continuous dual wielding front faced assaults, to simply attacking with one blade leaving the other for defensive purposes. The simultaneous and quick change from the stance of precise and calculated attacks and defense to continuous attacks and vice versa often threw her tutor off balanced. She would go from attacking and defending at once, straight to a counter strike. It required a fluid and smooth transition from pressing a calculated assault and parrying an attack, to a quick and unexpected counter strike. Through the fruits of her labor and the masterful results of her artistic craft with a blade, soon, she was able to best her own tutor as well.
Continues
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Re: Sofia Montero [Approved 0-4++/0-3++]
Sun Oct 30, 2016 8:56 pm
[PLAY POSTING MUSIC]
THE QUINCY PRODIGY
» History Continued:
She continued to grow within her family to become the strongest Quincy to ever grace the Montero name. At the age of 17, she had grown up into a strong, beautiful and dependable woman. Soon, her parents got to a point where they couldn’t even say they would have wanted a boy. With Sofia’s innate power, she was bound to be able to carry on the family name. She continued to rehearse and practice her skill with the violin daily, just as she would with her Quincy training. Every week she would have at least one recital where she awed the audience every time. As far as her training, she had progressed further ahead than ever. In every training session, she would face off against both of her tutors using only her geigenbogen as either a bow or a sword. When using her geigenbogen as a sword, she would make recurrent use of her skill with Blut. And though she was capable of using both Blut Vene and Arterie, the majority of the time and her greatest ability lied in the defensiveness of Blut Vene. Though she was skilled and graceful enough to parry, deflect and avoid most hits, her Blut Vene aided her greatly. She was easily able to resist most moderate, and even some dangerously powerful hits with her Blut. Regardless of which form of her weapon she used, bow or sword, she limited to one or another in spars and never even had to resort to her main ability. Despite it, she always practiced it as it was, being based on music, a source of gratitude, enjoyment, and relief. It was also her preferred method for defending the family mansion against some of the recent threads of the lesser races.
With the drums of war sounding ever closer, the Montero knew there was not a lot of time left. It was rumored that the Demons were coming, and that time, they would conquer and remain. Staying behind, while glorious would prove to be fatal and unwise. It was pretty much within the Montero’s bloodline to be proud, but also to be wise and seek survival to fight another day. Despite Sofia’s interest in fighting to defend their home, she was cautioned not to. She was told her goal was to seek out the Vandenreich. She needed to find them. She needed to join them. She needed to help them push the Quincy to victory, and push aside the lesser races so the Humans could once again reclaim the Earth that belonged to them.
On the year 2411, the Demons would see their forces invade, and conquer Europe. Spain unfortunately, was not exempt from the demonic calamity that befell the continent. In an attempt to enhance their chances of escape, the family would separate. Sofia was sent one way, and her parents would go a different route. Most of the servants would be left to their own accords, some attempting to flee with them, and some elsewhere to avoid the wrath of the beasts. While her parents did not perish that day, that was the last time Sofia would see them. The chaos that ensued from the plethora of races in conflict made a possible reunion far too unlikely. Though bitter, her path was set, and she was welcoming of it. Her family, though elsewhere, trusted in her to carry on with everything she had learned. They trusted her to be as strong as she could, and continue to make her family name proud.
After escaping, Sofia would spend the next few years looking for the Vandenreich. The task was not simple in it of itself. The organization had received multiple defeats on its past, and though many thought it to be defunct, she knew better. They would be difficult to find, but she knew she would find them one way or another, sooner or later. During her trek to them, Sofia continued to improve her skill. During her journeys, she would have the chance to test her abilities in training, and against the mindless beasts that sought to cause harm onto her and other humans. She even managed to awaken the fabled ability known as the Vollstanding. With it, Sofia was able to access new tresholds of power she never even though she could possibly attain. Unfortunately, she did not meet a lot of indivudals who could stand up to her, let alone her vollstanding. As such, her training and perfection of her newly found art was usually delegated to practices on her own, or against some of the Quincy she has met along the way. Her Blut had advanced to such levels that her attacks caused much more damage, while alternatively sometimes she was able to resist incredible amounts of pressure while seemingly unharmed. With her musical ability, she learned how to make specific music waves through detailed movements that would ignite and explode when near a source of reiatsu other than her own. Her swordsmanship had also seen new thresholds of improvement, and her aim and control of her musical powers continued to impress even her. And, with more time and targets to experiment on, Sofia was even able to use her skills with Ginto techniques to create her own uniquely personal attacks and defenses by mixing ginto with her own abilities. Though she knew of no one in the Vandenreich, Sofia was certain she would be accepted. She might not have been the strongest Quincy alive, yet. But she knew, as the strongest Montero to have ever lived, that her abilities made her unique, powerful, and instrumental, and required in the quest of reclaiming the Earth for the Human and Quincy dominance.[/color]
» Equipment:
Quincy Cross:
Violin: Sofia often keeps with her a violin with its violin bow in a rather nice case. While she can play music to her heart's content by using her geigenbogen, and even without the need of a violin, she still keeps out of nostalgia. Being one of her most beloved pass times, she will often resort to playing a variety of beautiful and intricate pieces as it calms and relaxes her with its soothing tunes as well as those around her.
Custom Seele Schneider Set (5): It didn't take long. Most of the items and even some of the techniques used by the Quincy seemed archaic and as such, rather dated. Sofia had always been one that enjoyed the renaissance and the creation of art through almost any means, though primarily through music. Though her tinkering started with her reishi manipulation techniques and the ginto, it quickly moved on to assess certain items in her arsenal that were very obviously lagging behind. One of them, was the Seele Schneider.
Using her own artistic and creative skills, her wealth and her resources, she was able to create a prototype Seele that fit her needs. Keeping the prototype largely a secret, the intention was down quite purposefully as not all would look kindly on the changes she made to it. In essence, the hilt is made from soul synthesized silver that's been treated and enhanced to be both stronger and more durable than a normal seele's as well as up to par in both categories with more apt weapons like zanpakutos. Alterations were made to the energy output of the "blade" to change its hue as well. Instead of the typical blue hue, her Custom Seele projects a green looking "blade" that resonates as they typically do.
A couple of modules were fit into the handles of the Custom Seele to be able to control and exert minor changes, though there's still space for a few more modules. For instance, the typical length of the blade may be controlled at will to be anywhere from half a foot longer to half a foot shorter than its typical standard length. Other than shock factor, it is simply a means to distract opponents in close combat. More importantly, beyond retaining the Seele's own unique traits, her modifications allow it to store some of the reishi it pulls in periodically. As such, every three posts, enough energy has been stored into a Custom Seele to produce a minor wave of red reishi to wash upon the foe. Behaving somewhat like lava, the reishi is extremely hot and burning to the touch, easily able to burn through most forms of defense, utilizing the seele's properties to push away energy bonds as a conduit for its effect. The wave is not made of fire however, it is just red energy that looks like it and possesses effects that are quite burning in properties.
Unfortunately, each seele needs three posts before enough energy has been gathered for it. And beyond that, each individual Custom Seele is only capable of creating just enough wave to be around the size of Sofia. For instance, most often, each Seele will only produce a wave that's roughly two meters in diameter, which is just beyond her height. Using two seeles in battle would increase the diameter of the wave to four meters and so on. As another downfall, after each use, the Custom Seele require yet another set of three posts before they're able to use the wave again. If Sofia however decides not to use the wave at all, allowing enough energy to charge for six posts would allow two uses before the cooldown of three posts kicks in. If desired, the ends of the hilts may be connected to make two seeles be one double bladed item. And going off the versatility of her own spirit weapon, any custom seele, either on their own or combined can be used as a blade, an arrow, or by pulling on the reishi around them in combination to her own skills, even a Quincy bow as well.
Ginto: As a way of being prepared, Sofia never leaves without a handful of Ginto tubes. While she may not use them often at all, they are the means to keep on fighting should she ever found herself in critical and peculiar circumstances.
Ginto Sphere: Onyx : The first in the line of Ginto Spheres. The technology wasn’t all that high end, and it surprised her that other Quincy had not attempted it yet. Perhaps they had and she was simply unaware of it. For the most part, Ginto techniques were seen as a relic of the past, rather weak and obsolete. And quite frankly, when compared to the feats spiritually strong beings could perform with other techniques they really were. The Ginto tubes however were rather limited in how much reiryoku and/or reishi they could contain inside. As such, they were limited by the amount of power each technique had from its individual catalyst. And even a step further, there were just a finite number of Ginto a Quincy could realistically hold in both hands, usually around six, without resorting to a different technique to increase this number. That’s how Ginto Spheres came to be. They were simply spherical orbs that though not too big to be obtrusive could hold as much as the combined amounts of the volume of 20 Ginto tubes. The portable fashion, and the much larger amount of reiryoku and reishi stored inside allowed for more room to create techniques that were simply limited in the archaic form of Ginto tubes. Primarily made as a form to continuously enhance her own artistic creations and with a mentality that lately borders on the insane, Sofia has purposely chosen to keep the advent into these spheres only to herself.
Ginto Sphere: Onyx was her first attempt to create a rather useful technique that she simply had no means of using quite as easily with her Ginto Tubes. By activating the sphere and throwing it, a flash of light seems to erupt from within the sphere, attracting and pulling in any one energy technique. The Onyx Sphere doesn’t quite absorb, dilute, or destroy the technique however. Instead, it works as a fusion between reiryoku and reishi activation to create something not too far unlike a black hole. All it really does is change the trajectory of said energy attack to a different location. By throwing an Onyx Sphere at a technique and throwing one elsewhere, Sofia could control the location at which the technique would exit from. Granted, assuming she does not toss a second sphere, the location of the exit of the blast will be randomized away from her: be it somewhere in the vicinity, against her foe, or unfortunately against an ally. Against opponents weaker than her, there’s no need to toss a second sphere since by only using one, she’s able to send the technique where she wishes. In a way, the use of her unique ability, The Melody, continually creates a field that’s embedded with her energy so long as she lives that’s continuously flowing around her. That’s what enables her to control the direction and location with the Onyx Sphere as a conduit to realize her technique.
Unfortunately, Onyx Sphere is not without its own number of drawbacks. Regardless of whom it is used on, the amount of energy needed to create its effects do affect how often the sphere can be used. With a successful use of one Onyx Sphere, Sofia may be able to use it once more, with a single sphere, and induce a two post cooldown after that second use. If however two Onyx Spheres are used at once in an effort to control the exit point of the technique except when fighting someone weaker, then a three post cooldown would incur instead. There’s even one more caveat. When fighting against opponents that are more than one tier above hers, two Onyx Spheres must be used at all times to warrant its effects. And even then, using two of the spheres would only allow for the randomized chance instead of having the luxury of picking, as she wouldn’t be able to project her will on the energy around her when it's overwhelmed by one obviously stronger.
Ginto Sphere: Zaffer: The second in the line of Ginto Spheres, Zaffre was also the first failed attempt in the line of Sofia wanting to create art as she saw fit. By using her skill with Ginto, amassing as many as she could fit into the Zaffre Sphere, and using the size enhancement technology obtained through Hebi and primarily her own energy as a catalyst, she planned to create something worthy of praise. Her idea was to create a powerful, beautiful, and majestic musical being that would aid her in combat. However, something went extremely wrong. Likely due to the influence of the Eris Seal on her augmenting the troubled mindset of a Quincy in her own spiraling descent, caused the technique to develop into something darker and rather macabre. Though still artistic in its own right, there’s a different pride about its creation, and Sofia is not so keen on showing it unless it's truly necessary, as it's an art that showcases a horrific look that’s quite in contrast to her original trek for beauty in art.
Upon throwing the Zaffree Sphere, the energy contained within creates a kind of chemical reaction when exposed to the energy signal of Sofia’s in her own surroundings. It causes the sphere to implode, and water-like energy to drip out of it before turning dark blue as if influenced by a form of energy that’s anything but pure malign. Upon imploding, the remnants of the sphere raise up into the sky, creating a monster that resembles a dark shell containing an even darker pearl-like head within. The monster is rather large, with dimensions that near 40 meters in diameter, and answers to the name of Basatan. When summoned, Basatan possesses a 0-5 tier, and while it cannot use the same abilities as her, he has a number unique to himself.
Crustacean Transdifferentiation: [Passive] Certain marine creatures undergo a form of cellular transmutation that allow them to go from an elder form to a child form, be it to a polyp state or otherwise. Rather than becoming younger itself however, Basatan uses the energy around him in the chaotic fusion of it and Sofia’s to allow him to continuously regenerate its body to the form and the way it was upon summoning despite the severity or magnitude of the attack. This means he’s able to heal areas of its shell or other parts in great haste, and even regrow areas if they were to somehow be ripped off. Of course the technique is not absolute by any means. While it seems to be able to regrow almost anything through any means, it is severely hampered. Since it uses his own energy and Sofia’s own to allow this, the duration of this summon is much shorter than it would’ve been without the unique ability.
Water Ensemble: Taking dominion over water, Basatan is able to create and control water around him. And, being allowed a lesser use of Sofia’s The Melody so long as she wills it, he’s able to intertwine the two to create unique effects. Whether it is more powerful waves, or sharper strings of puncturing or concussive water beams, he’s a force that serves to contribute to her own arsenal.
Horn Drill: The main and signature move of Basatan, he’s able to create a rather large and sharp drill measuring about 20 meters in length. The drill is poised right above its head, and can be fired at will at whichever maximum speed The Melody can reach be it in base (Mach 3) or Vollstanding (depends on mastery). The drill spins at extremely fast speeds, and seems to present the Crustacean Transdifferentiation as his body to allow it to travel to its intended location. The speed at which it travels simply revolves and redirects most energy attacks around and away it. Upon impact, the Horn Drill will pierce, and as the name implies, attempt to drill its way into and through the target to create quite the catastrophic and likely deadly result. Due to the magnitude of the technique, this is something that cannot be done freely and as often as possible however. Unfortunately, the effort this takes and the drain it causes on Basatan only allows him to be able to perform it twice per battle.
Beyond that, though she tried, Sofia has not been able to allow Basatan to remain out in the field for more than eight posts. It seemed as though pushing it further would be way too dangerous for herself and produce effects that she simply would not be able to recuperate with ease from. As such, once the posts have elapsed, Basatan will simply laugh a thunderous roar and disappear into a cloud of smoke. Attempts to try and use the Zaffer Sphere to resummon him will be in vain, since the energy required to perform it makes it impossible for the beast to revisit the field in the same battle after the duration of his stay has elapsed.
Ginto Sphere: Vermillion: The third model in the line of Ginto Spheres, Sofia has once again managed to overcome the difficulties to create something new and innovative. Ginto Sphere: Vermillion is the first of her attempts at creating something that’s neither designed for offense, nor completely devoted to stop an advance either. By using the success she had on her previous two models, Ginto Spheres Onyx & Zaffre, the Quincy prodigy decided to test just how different and unique of an effect she could create from Ginto technology. The result is a red sphere, just smaller than her fist, and not unlike the look of the previous two models besides the color difference. Within it, large amounts of reiryoku from Ginto and her own energy were fused in near perfect reaction for the desired effects.
When used, the sphere implodes into a subtle red smoke. The action doesn’t damage Sofia or the opponent at all, as it is simply harmless noise. The red hue of the smoke is not too thick either so visibility is completely unaffected by this technique. Within a matter of seconds the smoke dissipates. And though nothing seems to have occurred, the next available violent interaction or clash between the musical prodigy and her opponent would trigger its ability. Vermillion creates a form of paradigm, where Sofia’s energy signature is the stable basis of balance. Every other force or form of energy, regardless of type of construct is treated as different and foreign so long as it’s not created by her. With that, Vermillion is able to instantly swap the qualities of two different forces, Sofia’s and someone else’s temporarily.
For instance, should Sofia and her adversary be running towards one another with a knife on hand, and the opponent happen to be much faster than Sofia, then Vermillion could switch the speed of the current action to reverse the outcome and grant the slow speed, and the speedy lethargy. Unfortunately, the Ginto Sphere: Vermillion is limited to one attribute at a time and only one attack or force at a time. What that means is that in the same scenario, Sofia could either swap the speeds of the incoming attack with her own or she could swap the power being delivered by the thrust of the knife. However, unfortunately, it cannot do both. So an extremely powerful and fast attack faced up against a weaker and slower attack, would result in one of the two attributes being changed, though it would still retain one of them as well.
When using two Ginto Spheres: Vermillion at once however, the effects change some. Instead of swapping attributes of incoming forces, instead, using two would create what she calls one of the best tricks in the book. When an attack that has any form of damage or debilitating potential is used while two Vermillion spheres are present, then if Sofia uses an attack that doesn’t induce harm or any debilitating form of damage will cause hers to always land first despite the speed of the attack or the enemy, or even the nature of either. Of course, the ability possesses great risk and disadvantages for Sofia. If she accidentally uses any form of damaging or debilitating attack after using Vermillion and before its effects are underway, then it would be as if nothing had happened, and the events would transpire as they would. However, it doesn’t stop there. Should Sofia use an attack that’s damaging but that it’s also stronger than her opponent’s, then the effects are reversed and their attack hits Sofia first regardless.
A successful use of either a single or double Ginto Sphere: Vermillion would also incur a 3 & 6 post cooldown respectively.
Ginto Sphere: Nagini: The fourth installment in the line of Ginto Sphere models. Sofia has ventured even further into her craft by making use of her masterful control over reiryoku and her dominion over reishi to create something truly awe inspiring. By meshing her skills with the remaining influence from the Seal of Eris, the size enhancement technology obtained from Hebi, and the progress and technology of her gintos and soul synthesized silver, she managed to create an item to build on the success of her second model, Ginto Sphere: Zaffer. The sphere is much larger than a regular ginto tube, filling the hand nicely. On its inside, it stores the contents of several ginto tubes that were infused and manipulated with her own energy to engineer the desired effect.
When tossed, the sphere breaks open into a beam of blinding silvery light that quickly turns a dark hazy gray, before finishing into a cloud of black smoke that disappears rather quickly. At its wake, a rather large beast that goes by the name of Nagini is created. The creature is an extremely large basilisk, with a total length from head to tail of about 50 meters. The basilisk is able to speak every language that Sofia is capable of speaking herself. At the same time, Nagini is able to communicate with Sofia via the hissing sound typical to snakes. While the basilisk is active, the Quincy prodigy can communicate with the snake through either means as well as a two-way telepathic link.
Slithering Smog: At any time, Nagini can spew out a strange dark purple haze of smog with very peculiar characteristics. For starters, the basilisk itself makes use of Sofia’s ability of The Melody in the technique as a form of conduit. It makes sense since she developed the unique technique to be perfectly suited to her own individual needs and skillset. As such, the smog is able to travel up to the same speed as her Melody. Beyond obscuring sight, the smog has the ability to shelter and hide Sofia’s and Nagini’s spiritual location by creating a spiritual resonance that’s similar enough to throw off even the most dedicated of trackers. However, opponents who possess a reishi manipulation higher than hers would be able to locate the Quincy as they would normally through her energy.
But more importantly are the debilitating effects of the smog. Right after using, the smog encompasses an area of 30 meters in radius, and for every post thereafter the radius of effect is expanded by about 50% up to a maximum area of just around 100 meter radius at three posts. The fog cannot last any longer and as such, it cannot expand further. Any individual caught in its range is affected either through aspiration through the nose or absorbed through the pores in its gaseous form. Of course, only Nagini and Sofia are safeguarded from its effects due to their spiritual signal. Within the first post, a target would find themselves a bit dizzy, nauseous, and more prone to misaiming or misjudging direction by sight. After the second post, the target would experience numbness throughout their body which concentrates in one specific limb they cannot move, like an arm, or a leg. At the last post, the fog’s effects would leave the target paralyzed for one post after it has dissipated as a prey before the eyes of its predator. Once the extra post has elapsed, the target would be able to resume their activities normally without being hindered.
Corrosive Fluid: The skin and the inside of Nagini is filled with an extremely corrosive and destructive compound that’s specifically design to eat away and corrode any spiritual signal upon proximity that is neither Nagini’s or Sofia’s. For the most part, the technique is used to combat and defend against spiritual base attacks and forms of defense by exploiting and corroding through them. However, when it comes to spiritual beings, it is not as powerful. For starters, instead of dissolving and eroding everything upon contact as it would on an energy construct or technique, against another individual, the corrosive fluid would be restrained to only affecting the specific area it made contact with. It cannot expand through that singular contact alone. Beyond that, the fluid has an extremely short half-life. It’s the main reason why it’s so effective against techniques and constructs yet not quite the same against people. For instance, if an individual were to, through any particular method seal off or maintain the area of effect, the fluid and its effects would only last for an additional post before evaporating. Those whose tier exceeds hers however are merely presented with third degree burns upon contact instead of the thorough corrosion that would’ve occurred otherwise. Both Nagini and Sofia are immune to the detrimental effects of the fluid.
Skin Shedding: At any time, Nagini can shed its skin in numerous ways for different outcomes. For instance, in a rather grotesque but useful maneuver, a seemingly new Nagini can exit rapidly out the mouth of the original. This causes any wounds or damaging effects that had been inflicted upon it to heal. At its wake, an extremely large and somewhat see-through shell of its former self it’s left to its own devices. Caution needs to be exercised however as the discarded shell can blow up at either Nagini’s or Sofia’s discretion by combining the attributes of its toxic body with the elements of her reiryoku. Likewise, Sofia is offered a similar treatment in a manner that’s nonetheless strange. By literally swallowing her up and spitting her out, Nagini can heal Sofia of any wounds or damaging effects she received. If desired, Nagini can maintain Sofia inside for up to an additional post at a time. And beyond that, once the Quincy is spat out, the fluid of the basilisk is smeared all over her skin and her weapons in a rather different way, providing the benefit of its corrosive attributes to any other being she touches or that touches her, or that is hit with her weapons or its attacks for the next three posts. Unfortunately there is its fair share of limitations. For starters, Nagini may not shed its skin until at least one post has elapsed since it last did so. And as for Sofia, the action of healing her with the fluids it’s still taxing enough that she cannot be healed in that manner for two posts after being healed by it.
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In essence, the large basilisk Nagini became the embodiment of an animal that represents many of the same elements and qualities that Sofia saw in herself; hence the reason she engineered the technique as such instead of a sheep or a cow. The basilisk displays both raw power in its attacks yet extremely fast speed to match Sofia’s own. It moves with an unyielding grace and a lethal intent that’s just impossible not to compare to the renditions of her art and her creativity centered style of combat. Nagini’s tier is about 2-3 or so. And unfortunately, as one of its biggest downfalls its duration. Because of the taxing amount of energy and effort required to use Ginto Sphere: Anthracite, not only can Nagini only remain in the field for a maximum of ten posts, but Nagini can only be summoned once per battle.
Size Adjustment Button: This button applies a special 'effect' to whatever it is equipped to. As long as the object it is equipped to is related to the user's person and uses their reiatsu through it, it is able to interact with the user in the correct manner.
When the user presses on the button, it floods their reiatsu into their body itself, causing for it to expand. It creates a kind of spiritual 'armor' all around the user's body, allowing for to seem as if it is growing exponentially. As long as the user keeps supplying energy, their perceived size will continue to grow, until they are able to rival buildings, up to a maximum of 100 meters at tier 0-2+. At tier 1-1 the user is able to safely grow to 50 meters, and gains ten meters for each whole 'level' above that.
The amount of mass that the user has at their disposal does increase significantly, resulting in the force of physical attacks also rising. It would take a bit more out of the user to wield that much more of their body, naturally, but the effects would generally be considered worth that cost. If the user stays within this form for less than three posts upon the initial activation, they are able to press the button twice in a thread. Otherwise, they are only able to activate it once. In addition, if they stay in this form for longer than six posts, it performs a large drain on the user's energy to keep maintaining the enlarged state, consuming more and more energy for each post after that. For the most part the button is safely attached to her Quincy cross unless she applies it elsewhere.
Regalia Name: Rona
Regalia Type: Noble Mythic
Regalia Travel Form Appearance: During most occasions, Rona takes the form of a rather ornate and expensive looking ring. It seems to be made out of highly prized and sought after materials, namely gold and silver. The tonalities are presented in a way that speaks to both its artistic portrayal and beautiful craftsmanship. In addition, one area of the ring is lined up with a row of multiple small diamonds of the purest kind. And to finish off the piece with a more personalized look, the ring possesses an emblem a letter that can read either M or W depending on it is looked at. Regardless it’s a befitting symbol for Sofia as it indicates both her letter M, for The Melody, and the letter W, for the Wandenreich.
Weapon Form: When called into its weapon form, the ring glows and disappears before appearing once more in the form of a sword. It’s a one handed sword with a deep and dark ebony handle and a pommel at its distal end that seems to be made out of highly polished and smoothed out diamond. The diamond piece looks as though it could take an accessory like a ribbon or a cord if she so desired. Interlaced at the proximal and distal end of the handle are intricate and ornate golden inlays that add flair and class to an already dazzling weapon. Towards the top of the handle, the golden inlay transitions into what appears to be the design of a winged creature, made in its entirety out of gold. Though the nature of the figure is largely unknown, Sofia understands it as the deity or personification of what Rona represents. From where the head of the figure is placed, a light glow and smoke of a blue colored hue seems to emanate, almost resembling the mist at the end of a waterfall, but much darker as if it belonged to the sea, at a far off and uncharted island.
And extending out from the hilt, a sizable blade with a prominent belly finishes what’s already an artistically prominent weapon and culminates it into a truly innovative artistic wonder. Though there are patterns along the length of the blade, is the high polished shine and glow of its edge that catches the most attention. Still, one ought to take caution and avoid dismissing the sword’s capabilities based solely in its artistic design and its intrinsic beauty. After all as expected, beyond serving as a blade should, and aside from its own individual and unique abilities, Sofia may freely choose to run any of her own techniques through the weapon.
Ranged Elements: To follow suit with the versatility of her equipment, the weapon can be fired as an arrow would from one of her bows if she so desires. However, as a built in mechanic of the blade, should the sword be separated from Sofia in any way, she can will for it to dematerialize and materialize back into her hands.
Abilities:
Beauty Projection: This ability unfortunately cannot be used by Sofia in Rona’s weapon form. It can only be used when Rona is in her Origin Form. In essence, when Rona is faced up against spiritual creations whose gender are unlike hers, her beauty is projected in a rather unnatural way, causing the creatures to be compelled to not just stop their attacks against her but also to protect her, be it from their master or anyone else. A spiritual creature in this sense is something other than the player controlled character, be it a monster they create, a horse they ride, or a clone they make. The actual central character is unaffected. However, the ability possesses a long list of caveats as is to be expected. For starters, as explained, the ability is only accessible by Rona, and only in her Origin Form. Beyond that, female spiritual creatures are not the only one unaffected by the ability. While androgynous or multi gendered creatures would still be affected by the fact that their gender is indeed different, creations with no gender to begin with, like robots or machines would be spared from its effects. Under no circumstances can this ability affect the player character. And even more, despite the technique being effective for as long as Rona out in the field in her Origin Form, spiritual creatures under its effects whose tier exceeds that of Sofia will be exempt, and become able to regain composure after just three posts regularly, and five during Vollstanding to account for the excessive surge in spiritual energy. And unfortunately, though the time afflicted may seem lengthy, it truly isn’t, since once the allotted posts have elapsed, said spiritual creature would not be able to be affected again in the same battle.
Wings of Judgment: During either its Weapon Form or her Origin Form, Rona is able to project and manipulate a plethora of feathers that take on a very peculiar set of attributes. In weapon form, Sofia merely has to point or swing the blade. In her Origin Form, Rona will usually flap her wings to cause its effects although she doesn’t necessarily have to, as simply willing it can suffice. In any case, the motion creates around 500 feathers per time used. Each feather isn’t very big at all, averaging out about three to four inches in length, and about one inch in width. And though momentarily they may appear to be of a gray like hue, contact with the reishi or reiryoku around them causes them to reflect and glow in a way that makes them appear as though they were made of a silvery white light, almost resembling a form of angelic snow.
The feathers however are manipulated into becoming an odd but highly resistant and powerful spiritual alloy that although certainly resembling a form of metal, cannot be fully categorized as such, as it’s truly something else entirely. However the look and the inherent sharpness of the feathers are very obvious once they’re used. They’re all sharp at the tip and along both of its lengths. And while the feathers may be fired into one singular spot, or made to cover a wide area when fired in an arch, they’re nonetheless able to be controlled by either of them. In essence, either Sofia or Rona can manipulate the multitude of feathers to be used as either a form of offense or defense under a variety of circumstances. And during Origin Form only, Rona may apply that same ability directly onto her wings to use them as large blades. Unfortunately, the technique does come with its own lengthy set of limitations. For the most part, only a total of 1,000 feathers can be controlled.
Music Blasts: Either from the blade in Weapon Form or from her mouth in Origin Form, Rona is able to project an extremely loud sound that’s comparable to a form of song that’s simply played way too high. The sonic blasts do not contain any mass and therefore do not possess any density; all they do is pressurize the air and push forth the waves of sound at extremely fast speeds. The ability can only travel up two speeds of Mach 2 typically, and Mach 4 in release. Despite the musical nature of the ability, the sounds are rather loud and deafening, almost like a Banshee’s screech. In fact, the decibel count it’s so high that it can shatter any glass construct with ease.
The main goal of the blasts is to weaken incoming energy attacks, and it does it quite well. That aspect can be turned on and off, so the technique can be used simply for its destructive aspect without necessarily relying on its foundational motive. For instance the technique is only able to destabilize and break down energy attacks from foes whose energy is severely below hers [where their tier is below hers]. Unfortunately, foes whose energy is on par with hers [matching tier], would find their techniques travel unhindered by the aforementioned result. It does however result in a somewhat weaker technique as the music blasts still manages to upset the rhythm of the incoming attack. Still, the effect only works for one technique at a time. As such, multiple techniques faced up against her music projection would only amount to one of them being destroyed. And what’s more, when faced with foes of truly abysmal energy by comparison [opponents whose tier more than two above hers] then the difference in power is simply too much, and all the ability can accomplish is moving or altering the direction of one technique in the slightest noticeable bit. And it doesn't end there, while the music blasts can be used at any time for its destructive concussive effect, the energy destabilizing aspect is subject to a three post cooldown upon successful use. The only circumstance that sees change is when she accesses her Vollstanding. as the number of affected techniques increasing to two, to account for the massive and additional amounts of energy that allow for such a thing, and the cooldown reduced to two. Only when used during her one release form, and against those whose tiers are below hers, would they incur a form of subtle disorientation from the sounds overloading their hearing, though it would only last for about two posts.
Gift of the Sirens: In mythology, Sirens almost always resided in islands, by the cliffs, and rather near the water where they usually led victims to their death. At will, Rona is able to control existing bodies of water or create it herself. Either through her mind or through the sword in Weapon Form, Rona is able to either utilize the available moisture in the air or water in her vicinity. If need be however, the ability literally exchanges reishi in the vicinity or reiryoku from Sofia to convert it into water. It’s almost as if Rona was trying to recreate a visualization of her home through any means necessary.
The water can be controlled to be fired like straight beams, or in the form of bubbles or any aspect Sofia desires. In doing so, she’s also able to manipulate how thick or thin, or long or short the projections of said water techniques are. Following suit with the versatility of water, and Sofia for that matter, the variety of constructs and possibilities with the ability enables her to make use of it in either an offensive or defensive manner. However, there are limits as Sofia can’t simply create an ocean’s worth of water with a single swing. Per post, Sofia is only able to create up to an Olympic pool’s volume of water. And interestingly, so long as the technique is active Sofia is allowed the ability to breathe under water, much like Rona can in her Origin Form.
Origin Form Appearance: Rona’s Origin Form is that of a Siren. Standing at just around 6’0” feet tall, the half woman half bird creature seems as elegant as it is powerful and beautiful. Speaking of the latter, though beauty is in the eye of the beholder, Rona tweaks that notion just so. In essence, though she does appear to be fairly good looking, her mythical race has the unique trait of appearing beautiful to anyone, no matter what. The dark color of her feathers is nicely matched by the similar hues of her hair. And with skin as fair as Sofia’s, the golden ornament on her head seems not only reminiscent of the gold accents on Sofia’s main Quincy uniform but also as a way to denote Rona as queen among the Sirens, just like Sofia views herself as queen among her people.
» Skills:
Master Archer:
From an early age, Sofia has been trained as a Quincy. She actually started training much earlier than most out of their parents fear that her love and talent for music would push her to pursue a life that revolved around it. With a tutor specifically assigned and renowned in the skill, she would be under constant tutelage for years. Through repeated practice, she was able to get sufficiently proficient where she easily hits the targets she aims at. As more time has passed, hitting the bullseye in the run or on uncomfortable positions has become no more difficult to her than doing so upright. Thanks to her geigenbogen and the fact that its familiar shape translates so well to other aspects of her life led her to practice a lot more. Sofia has even managed to heightened and perfect her skill in archery by purposely making her shots more difficult. Using her unique ability, The Melody, she purposely changes the trajectory of the arrows to be able to hit oddly positioned targets. Though it works differently, it has helped her to hit targets when simply using her geigenbogen with much more ease.
Expert Swordsman:
Sofia has gone from being a student of the blade, to truly understanding it through, and even beyond to create an art out of it. Though her geigenbogen can be used as either a sword or a bow, she usually starts most spars treating it as a sword. In combination, she usually employs a selee as she’s extremely proficient in dual wielding blades. When left with only one, however, her redistributed focus and attention allow her to be even more precise. By studying her swordsmanship tutor lessons and his experiences, Sofia was able to think in retrospect and slowly discover the style that would suit her best. Rather than strength, she focuses on speed, momentum, and graceful and sometimes unorthodox movements to overpower her opponents. Just like she had her own style of finger placed on the violin, and the unique movements when she played with her violin bow, she was able to find her own unique take and preference for bladed combat. Rather than going all out with strength, leverage, momentum, turns, and graceful movements would allow her to use those advantages in her favor whereas a reliance on strength on her part would have done her no good. By exploring and replicating the calm, and fluid movements she used during her violin recitals, she was able to create a just as smooth and fluid bladed combat style that was truly her own.
She would prioritize tight but smooth bladework that emphasized a lack of exposure to incoming hits. Through her style, she discovered she enjoyed and preferred her movements to follow focused, and elegant transitions that prioritized the unilateral balance of her body and footwork to outmaneuver her opponents. Just like when she played the violin, Sofia never seemed to be distressed or alarmed whenever she used her blades. She always appeared calmed and steady, replicating the quiet and calm postures of a violinist performing an orchestral piece. when using two blades at once, Sofia would switch up between two variations. Just like when performing a musical piece, there were aspects of songs that required fast high paced beats, and some more slower or refined tempos. She would find the perfect transition for her during bladed combat by switching from continuous dual wielding front faced assaults, to simply attacking with one blade leaving the other for defensive purposes. The simultaneous and quick change from the stance of precise and calculated attacks and defense to continuous attacks and vice versa often threw her tutor off balanced. She would go from attacking and defending at once, straight to a counter strike. It required a fluid and smooth transition from pressing a calculated assault and parrying an attack, to a quick and unexpected counter strike.
Amazing Violinist:
From a very young age, Sofia showed interest, talent, and skill in music in general. That talent and interest would be put into intensive training with the violin. Thanks to her innate gift, she was able to become quite proficient with the violin at an early age. And in her teens, she was already considered as good as a professional musician. Her dedication and drive in the musical field were such that it became the means through which she was able to perfect her Quincy training. Music helped her understand and get used to summoning her spirit weapon. Fate would have it that her own spirit weapon would be closely related to music as would be her own unique power.
» Quincy Skills:
"M" The Melody:
Sofia’s own unique ability is known as The Melody. Her own personal reiryoku allows her to use her body, or most often her geigenbogen as the catalyst of her ability. Primarily related to music, Sofia is able to create musical waves that can be used in a variety of ways. Though Sofia can certainly use her ability without her geigenbogen, by simply using her hands, she prefers to use her spirit weapon as it reminds her of playing the violin. By making short and rapid strokes with her Geigenbogen, Sofia is able to fire waves of musical melodies that though somewhat weak, travel extremely fast. Likewise, by doing a longer, less hurried stroke with her geigenbogen, she’s able to fire a musical blast of devastating power albeit traveling at much slower speeds. They behave not unlike the relationship between the cero and the bala of the Hollow breeds. Though both powerful and useful in their own way, they each trade power or speed in exchange of more of the opposite.
The musical waves however are controlled by Sofia’s mind. Unfortunately, while she is able to control and direct musical waves that are slow traveling she cannot fully control musical waves that travel at exceedingly fast speeds due to the reaction time needed to do so. She is however able to affect all of her abilities initially despite of speed. That means that while she may be able to shift a very fast musical wave as soon as she fires it, she wouldn’t be able to control it further thereafter. The musical waves cannot be seen since sound is not a visible tangible material. It is however able to be heard. The audible aspect of her ability can actually benefit those keen of hearing. Not only will those around her hear the melody of her ability, but they would be able to notice differences in the tunes and the beats of each. While the same move would not likely be played the same way, similar moves would have very similar tempos. Fast attacks would display fast strokes, and slow and powerful attacks would display longer notes. Likewise, continuously short bursts of uninterrupted beats of musical tunes would likely result in equally similar short bursts of very fast but very weak musical beams.
For the most part, the power of her ability relies on the concussive power of the abilities kinetic energy. It is the force of the musical blast hitting against an opponent that drives the force, like a hammer. However, by swinging her geigenbogen, Sofia may be able to slash a musical wave of varying power and speed that its very sharp in nature. Rather than hitting and pushing away, an attack like that would be meant to meet and slice what lied before it. Her musical ability bears great resemblance to her spirit weapon and its versatility. The latter it's able to be used as both a sword and a bow. Not unlike it, her ability allows her to mold it to fit her needs, just as she’s able to play the right notes on her violin to listen to the music she wants to play. Because of the nature of her ability, it is not unlike Sofia to use her musical power to run some of her reishi or ginto techniques through it. And, though used sparingly, she may also use her ability to create literal waves of musical melodies she can ride, as if surfing the noise. As a general rule, the musical abilities created through The Melody can travel up to speeds of Mach 3.
Masterful Reishi Control:
Since very early, Sofia demonstrated a talent in gathering and maintaining reishi around her. Despite her reputation as a prodigy, it was music and her artistic mind that allowed her to become as proficient in the discipline as she is. Initially bored and without a will to want to summon the standard spirit weapon, she found solace and enjoyment in the fact that she could create a violin bow with the reishi around her. Through years of endless practice since she loved to practice with the violin, she would end up discovering her violin bow would become her main weapon. It was thanks to the near endless practice that she was able to become so accustomed and adapt to gathering and manipulating reishi with such ease. Once she had mastered her sanrei glove, the journey became even more thrilling as she found it easier to summon her weapon and create constructs out of the reishi around her. The art that she loved so much in music, and the new techniques she created with Ginto created a curiosity in her as to the different things she could create by manipulating reishi. Refusing to allow other races to move ahead unstopped, like the Shinigami and their kido, Sofia vowed and succeeded to create art as she did in music, through the works of her craft in reishi manipulation. She would succeed in creating several utility techniques that took advantage of her innate talent absorbing and manipulating reishi.
Heiligen Torspiegel: By concentrating the reishi around her, Sofia can create up to two silvery white Quincy pentacles not much bigger than her. The Quincy pentacles will hover in the air at two locations of her choosing. One of the pentacles attracts spirit energy, be it reiryoku, reishi or different kinds of spirit energy altogether. The other Quincy pentacle simply expels it. As such, the two pentacles act as a form of gate or a door. While one pentacle would attract a blast, the latter would be redirected to come out of the second pentacle at a different location. Unfortunately, the technique is limited in several ways. Once the location of the pentacles have been set, they can no longer be shifted around. Her pentacles can also only last for about three posts. And because of the amount of reishi needed to create and maintain them, they are subject to a two post cooldown after they’ve dissipated.
Heiling Schutz: (passive) Continuously, Sofia allows a very thin film of reishi to cover her skin and all around her body. It helps by adding a simple and subtle extra layer of defense to incoming attacks. While she relies on her Blut occasionally, Heiling Schutz allows her to have an extra layer for cushioning damage. The ability is not enough to stop attacks or damage from blows that would be extremely hindering in nature, but at the very least, every potential chance for harm is at the very least minimized in the slightest in some way.
Himmelstor: A towering gate about 50 meters tall is erected in front of Sofia. The wall is largely bare, seemingly constructed out of pure white reishi, with nothing but an embossed Quincy pentacle right at its center. Himmelstor is meant to be Sofia’s attempt at an extremely efficient form of defense. Several meters thick and embedded with a lot of reishi as well as her own reiryoku, she’s able to hold off attacks from beings up to a tier higher than her without the wall being destroyed. For the most part, the wall is able to sustain and control damage for up to two posts after use before dissipating. However, while Himmelstor would be able to stop an attack from at most, an individual two tiers above hers, the technique would cave down right after cancelling the attack. Regardless, because of the powerful needs of such a construct, Himmelstor is subject to a three post cooldown after use.
Himmelstor - Heiligkeit: The technique, which translates roughly to Heaven's Gate - Sanctity, is the most recent gift from Sofia to the Wandenreich. It's creation was thanks to the knowledge of her own technique, Himmelstor, as well as her own mastership and dominion over reishi and reiryoku. By infusing their own reiryoku with the reishi around them, the Quincy can create a large, 10 meter tall gate of silvery white light, with edges that seem to be made of an out of this verse white material with carvings that are more fitting of scenery depicted in renditions of heaven. The door is a form of gateway or passage to almost anywhere in the verse. Those of 0 tier can simply use their reiryoku for its creation, although adding the surrounding reishi makes it both faster and smoother in its delivery.
However, the technique has a number of limitations on top of the securities and countermeasures Sofia engineered into it herself. For starters, the technique can only be used by active Quincy members of the Wandenreich. And while whomever creates the gate can allow others to travel with them, they must still be Quincy at the very least to be able to pass through. Beyond that, most regular Quincy are limited to traveling through the door only to get around the world of the living. To enter a different plane like Soul Society or Hueco Mundo, the Dangai or the Demon World requires approval from either a Captain or above. The exception to this of course being Sofia, it's creator. However, 0 tiers are able to use the gate to travel anywhere they desire as they're not only powerful, but deemed capable and trustworthy under specific circumstances. Still, they should still take caution as certain worlds are less forgiving to their kind. The gate cannot be used to facilitate or compliment combat. Instead, it is simply a means of accessing locations that would otherwise be too difficult to get to. And finally, since it is not a technique written in stone or a book handed down, Sofia must teach the individual in a one by one basis before they're able to do it on their own.
Heiling Hieb: [passive] By continuously gathering reishi around her weapons, Sofia is able to either thrust or swing one of her seele Schneider or her geigenbogen resulting in a reishi blast being shot. Thrusting would result in a blast that’s destructive in nature but with an emphasis on its piercing and concussive capabilities. Likewise, when slashing, the ability surrenders its concussive and piercing abilities for the chance to slash through the sharp crescent wave of concentrated reishi. Since Sofia is able to fire arrows through her bow, she delegates the use of this technique usually for the times when she’s strictly using her blades.
THE QUINCY PRODIGY
Artist: N/A - Song: N/A
III. Character History
» History Continued:
Goodbye to a Life, Hello to Another
She continued to grow within her family to become the strongest Quincy to ever grace the Montero name. At the age of 17, she had grown up into a strong, beautiful and dependable woman. Soon, her parents got to a point where they couldn’t even say they would have wanted a boy. With Sofia’s innate power, she was bound to be able to carry on the family name. She continued to rehearse and practice her skill with the violin daily, just as she would with her Quincy training. Every week she would have at least one recital where she awed the audience every time. As far as her training, she had progressed further ahead than ever. In every training session, she would face off against both of her tutors using only her geigenbogen as either a bow or a sword. When using her geigenbogen as a sword, she would make recurrent use of her skill with Blut. And though she was capable of using both Blut Vene and Arterie, the majority of the time and her greatest ability lied in the defensiveness of Blut Vene. Though she was skilled and graceful enough to parry, deflect and avoid most hits, her Blut Vene aided her greatly. She was easily able to resist most moderate, and even some dangerously powerful hits with her Blut. Regardless of which form of her weapon she used, bow or sword, she limited to one or another in spars and never even had to resort to her main ability. Despite it, she always practiced it as it was, being based on music, a source of gratitude, enjoyment, and relief. It was also her preferred method for defending the family mansion against some of the recent threads of the lesser races.
With the drums of war sounding ever closer, the Montero knew there was not a lot of time left. It was rumored that the Demons were coming, and that time, they would conquer and remain. Staying behind, while glorious would prove to be fatal and unwise. It was pretty much within the Montero’s bloodline to be proud, but also to be wise and seek survival to fight another day. Despite Sofia’s interest in fighting to defend their home, she was cautioned not to. She was told her goal was to seek out the Vandenreich. She needed to find them. She needed to join them. She needed to help them push the Quincy to victory, and push aside the lesser races so the Humans could once again reclaim the Earth that belonged to them.
On the year 2411, the Demons would see their forces invade, and conquer Europe. Spain unfortunately, was not exempt from the demonic calamity that befell the continent. In an attempt to enhance their chances of escape, the family would separate. Sofia was sent one way, and her parents would go a different route. Most of the servants would be left to their own accords, some attempting to flee with them, and some elsewhere to avoid the wrath of the beasts. While her parents did not perish that day, that was the last time Sofia would see them. The chaos that ensued from the plethora of races in conflict made a possible reunion far too unlikely. Though bitter, her path was set, and she was welcoming of it. Her family, though elsewhere, trusted in her to carry on with everything she had learned. They trusted her to be as strong as she could, and continue to make her family name proud.
After escaping, Sofia would spend the next few years looking for the Vandenreich. The task was not simple in it of itself. The organization had received multiple defeats on its past, and though many thought it to be defunct, she knew better. They would be difficult to find, but she knew she would find them one way or another, sooner or later. During her trek to them, Sofia continued to improve her skill. During her journeys, she would have the chance to test her abilities in training, and against the mindless beasts that sought to cause harm onto her and other humans. She even managed to awaken the fabled ability known as the Vollstanding. With it, Sofia was able to access new tresholds of power she never even though she could possibly attain. Unfortunately, she did not meet a lot of indivudals who could stand up to her, let alone her vollstanding. As such, her training and perfection of her newly found art was usually delegated to practices on her own, or against some of the Quincy she has met along the way. Her Blut had advanced to such levels that her attacks caused much more damage, while alternatively sometimes she was able to resist incredible amounts of pressure while seemingly unharmed. With her musical ability, she learned how to make specific music waves through detailed movements that would ignite and explode when near a source of reiatsu other than her own. Her swordsmanship had also seen new thresholds of improvement, and her aim and control of her musical powers continued to impress even her. And, with more time and targets to experiment on, Sofia was even able to use her skills with Ginto techniques to create her own uniquely personal attacks and defenses by mixing ginto with her own abilities. Though she knew of no one in the Vandenreich, Sofia was certain she would be accepted. She might not have been the strongest Quincy alive, yet. But she knew, as the strongest Montero to have ever lived, that her abilities made her unique, powerful, and instrumental, and required in the quest of reclaiming the Earth for the Human and Quincy dominance.[/color]
IV. Equipment
» Equipment:
Quincy Cross:
Violin: Sofia often keeps with her a violin with its violin bow in a rather nice case. While she can play music to her heart's content by using her geigenbogen, and even without the need of a violin, she still keeps out of nostalgia. Being one of her most beloved pass times, she will often resort to playing a variety of beautiful and intricate pieces as it calms and relaxes her with its soothing tunes as well as those around her.
Custom Seele Schneider Set (5): It didn't take long. Most of the items and even some of the techniques used by the Quincy seemed archaic and as such, rather dated. Sofia had always been one that enjoyed the renaissance and the creation of art through almost any means, though primarily through music. Though her tinkering started with her reishi manipulation techniques and the ginto, it quickly moved on to assess certain items in her arsenal that were very obviously lagging behind. One of them, was the Seele Schneider.
Using her own artistic and creative skills, her wealth and her resources, she was able to create a prototype Seele that fit her needs. Keeping the prototype largely a secret, the intention was down quite purposefully as not all would look kindly on the changes she made to it. In essence, the hilt is made from soul synthesized silver that's been treated and enhanced to be both stronger and more durable than a normal seele's as well as up to par in both categories with more apt weapons like zanpakutos. Alterations were made to the energy output of the "blade" to change its hue as well. Instead of the typical blue hue, her Custom Seele projects a green looking "blade" that resonates as they typically do.
A couple of modules were fit into the handles of the Custom Seele to be able to control and exert minor changes, though there's still space for a few more modules. For instance, the typical length of the blade may be controlled at will to be anywhere from half a foot longer to half a foot shorter than its typical standard length. Other than shock factor, it is simply a means to distract opponents in close combat. More importantly, beyond retaining the Seele's own unique traits, her modifications allow it to store some of the reishi it pulls in periodically. As such, every three posts, enough energy has been stored into a Custom Seele to produce a minor wave of red reishi to wash upon the foe. Behaving somewhat like lava, the reishi is extremely hot and burning to the touch, easily able to burn through most forms of defense, utilizing the seele's properties to push away energy bonds as a conduit for its effect. The wave is not made of fire however, it is just red energy that looks like it and possesses effects that are quite burning in properties.
Unfortunately, each seele needs three posts before enough energy has been gathered for it. And beyond that, each individual Custom Seele is only capable of creating just enough wave to be around the size of Sofia. For instance, most often, each Seele will only produce a wave that's roughly two meters in diameter, which is just beyond her height. Using two seeles in battle would increase the diameter of the wave to four meters and so on. As another downfall, after each use, the Custom Seele require yet another set of three posts before they're able to use the wave again. If Sofia however decides not to use the wave at all, allowing enough energy to charge for six posts would allow two uses before the cooldown of three posts kicks in. If desired, the ends of the hilts may be connected to make two seeles be one double bladed item. And going off the versatility of her own spirit weapon, any custom seele, either on their own or combined can be used as a blade, an arrow, or by pulling on the reishi around them in combination to her own skills, even a Quincy bow as well.
Ginto: As a way of being prepared, Sofia never leaves without a handful of Ginto tubes. While she may not use them often at all, they are the means to keep on fighting should she ever found herself in critical and peculiar circumstances.
Ginto Sphere: Onyx : The first in the line of Ginto Spheres. The technology wasn’t all that high end, and it surprised her that other Quincy had not attempted it yet. Perhaps they had and she was simply unaware of it. For the most part, Ginto techniques were seen as a relic of the past, rather weak and obsolete. And quite frankly, when compared to the feats spiritually strong beings could perform with other techniques they really were. The Ginto tubes however were rather limited in how much reiryoku and/or reishi they could contain inside. As such, they were limited by the amount of power each technique had from its individual catalyst. And even a step further, there were just a finite number of Ginto a Quincy could realistically hold in both hands, usually around six, without resorting to a different technique to increase this number. That’s how Ginto Spheres came to be. They were simply spherical orbs that though not too big to be obtrusive could hold as much as the combined amounts of the volume of 20 Ginto tubes. The portable fashion, and the much larger amount of reiryoku and reishi stored inside allowed for more room to create techniques that were simply limited in the archaic form of Ginto tubes. Primarily made as a form to continuously enhance her own artistic creations and with a mentality that lately borders on the insane, Sofia has purposely chosen to keep the advent into these spheres only to herself.
Ginto Sphere: Onyx was her first attempt to create a rather useful technique that she simply had no means of using quite as easily with her Ginto Tubes. By activating the sphere and throwing it, a flash of light seems to erupt from within the sphere, attracting and pulling in any one energy technique. The Onyx Sphere doesn’t quite absorb, dilute, or destroy the technique however. Instead, it works as a fusion between reiryoku and reishi activation to create something not too far unlike a black hole. All it really does is change the trajectory of said energy attack to a different location. By throwing an Onyx Sphere at a technique and throwing one elsewhere, Sofia could control the location at which the technique would exit from. Granted, assuming she does not toss a second sphere, the location of the exit of the blast will be randomized away from her: be it somewhere in the vicinity, against her foe, or unfortunately against an ally. Against opponents weaker than her, there’s no need to toss a second sphere since by only using one, she’s able to send the technique where she wishes. In a way, the use of her unique ability, The Melody, continually creates a field that’s embedded with her energy so long as she lives that’s continuously flowing around her. That’s what enables her to control the direction and location with the Onyx Sphere as a conduit to realize her technique.
Unfortunately, Onyx Sphere is not without its own number of drawbacks. Regardless of whom it is used on, the amount of energy needed to create its effects do affect how often the sphere can be used. With a successful use of one Onyx Sphere, Sofia may be able to use it once more, with a single sphere, and induce a two post cooldown after that second use. If however two Onyx Spheres are used at once in an effort to control the exit point of the technique except when fighting someone weaker, then a three post cooldown would incur instead. There’s even one more caveat. When fighting against opponents that are more than one tier above hers, two Onyx Spheres must be used at all times to warrant its effects. And even then, using two of the spheres would only allow for the randomized chance instead of having the luxury of picking, as she wouldn’t be able to project her will on the energy around her when it's overwhelmed by one obviously stronger.
Ginto Sphere: Zaffer: The second in the line of Ginto Spheres, Zaffre was also the first failed attempt in the line of Sofia wanting to create art as she saw fit. By using her skill with Ginto, amassing as many as she could fit into the Zaffre Sphere, and using the size enhancement technology obtained through Hebi and primarily her own energy as a catalyst, she planned to create something worthy of praise. Her idea was to create a powerful, beautiful, and majestic musical being that would aid her in combat. However, something went extremely wrong. Likely due to the influence of the Eris Seal on her augmenting the troubled mindset of a Quincy in her own spiraling descent, caused the technique to develop into something darker and rather macabre. Though still artistic in its own right, there’s a different pride about its creation, and Sofia is not so keen on showing it unless it's truly necessary, as it's an art that showcases a horrific look that’s quite in contrast to her original trek for beauty in art.
Upon throwing the Zaffree Sphere, the energy contained within creates a kind of chemical reaction when exposed to the energy signal of Sofia’s in her own surroundings. It causes the sphere to implode, and water-like energy to drip out of it before turning dark blue as if influenced by a form of energy that’s anything but pure malign. Upon imploding, the remnants of the sphere raise up into the sky, creating a monster that resembles a dark shell containing an even darker pearl-like head within. The monster is rather large, with dimensions that near 40 meters in diameter, and answers to the name of Basatan. When summoned, Basatan possesses a 0-5 tier, and while it cannot use the same abilities as her, he has a number unique to himself.
Crustacean Transdifferentiation: [Passive] Certain marine creatures undergo a form of cellular transmutation that allow them to go from an elder form to a child form, be it to a polyp state or otherwise. Rather than becoming younger itself however, Basatan uses the energy around him in the chaotic fusion of it and Sofia’s to allow him to continuously regenerate its body to the form and the way it was upon summoning despite the severity or magnitude of the attack. This means he’s able to heal areas of its shell or other parts in great haste, and even regrow areas if they were to somehow be ripped off. Of course the technique is not absolute by any means. While it seems to be able to regrow almost anything through any means, it is severely hampered. Since it uses his own energy and Sofia’s own to allow this, the duration of this summon is much shorter than it would’ve been without the unique ability.
Water Ensemble: Taking dominion over water, Basatan is able to create and control water around him. And, being allowed a lesser use of Sofia’s The Melody so long as she wills it, he’s able to intertwine the two to create unique effects. Whether it is more powerful waves, or sharper strings of puncturing or concussive water beams, he’s a force that serves to contribute to her own arsenal.
Horn Drill: The main and signature move of Basatan, he’s able to create a rather large and sharp drill measuring about 20 meters in length. The drill is poised right above its head, and can be fired at will at whichever maximum speed The Melody can reach be it in base (Mach 3) or Vollstanding (depends on mastery). The drill spins at extremely fast speeds, and seems to present the Crustacean Transdifferentiation as his body to allow it to travel to its intended location. The speed at which it travels simply revolves and redirects most energy attacks around and away it. Upon impact, the Horn Drill will pierce, and as the name implies, attempt to drill its way into and through the target to create quite the catastrophic and likely deadly result. Due to the magnitude of the technique, this is something that cannot be done freely and as often as possible however. Unfortunately, the effort this takes and the drain it causes on Basatan only allows him to be able to perform it twice per battle.
Beyond that, though she tried, Sofia has not been able to allow Basatan to remain out in the field for more than eight posts. It seemed as though pushing it further would be way too dangerous for herself and produce effects that she simply would not be able to recuperate with ease from. As such, once the posts have elapsed, Basatan will simply laugh a thunderous roar and disappear into a cloud of smoke. Attempts to try and use the Zaffer Sphere to resummon him will be in vain, since the energy required to perform it makes it impossible for the beast to revisit the field in the same battle after the duration of his stay has elapsed.
Ginto Sphere: Vermillion: The third model in the line of Ginto Spheres, Sofia has once again managed to overcome the difficulties to create something new and innovative. Ginto Sphere: Vermillion is the first of her attempts at creating something that’s neither designed for offense, nor completely devoted to stop an advance either. By using the success she had on her previous two models, Ginto Spheres Onyx & Zaffre, the Quincy prodigy decided to test just how different and unique of an effect she could create from Ginto technology. The result is a red sphere, just smaller than her fist, and not unlike the look of the previous two models besides the color difference. Within it, large amounts of reiryoku from Ginto and her own energy were fused in near perfect reaction for the desired effects.
When used, the sphere implodes into a subtle red smoke. The action doesn’t damage Sofia or the opponent at all, as it is simply harmless noise. The red hue of the smoke is not too thick either so visibility is completely unaffected by this technique. Within a matter of seconds the smoke dissipates. And though nothing seems to have occurred, the next available violent interaction or clash between the musical prodigy and her opponent would trigger its ability. Vermillion creates a form of paradigm, where Sofia’s energy signature is the stable basis of balance. Every other force or form of energy, regardless of type of construct is treated as different and foreign so long as it’s not created by her. With that, Vermillion is able to instantly swap the qualities of two different forces, Sofia’s and someone else’s temporarily.
For instance, should Sofia and her adversary be running towards one another with a knife on hand, and the opponent happen to be much faster than Sofia, then Vermillion could switch the speed of the current action to reverse the outcome and grant the slow speed, and the speedy lethargy. Unfortunately, the Ginto Sphere: Vermillion is limited to one attribute at a time and only one attack or force at a time. What that means is that in the same scenario, Sofia could either swap the speeds of the incoming attack with her own or she could swap the power being delivered by the thrust of the knife. However, unfortunately, it cannot do both. So an extremely powerful and fast attack faced up against a weaker and slower attack, would result in one of the two attributes being changed, though it would still retain one of them as well.
When using two Ginto Spheres: Vermillion at once however, the effects change some. Instead of swapping attributes of incoming forces, instead, using two would create what she calls one of the best tricks in the book. When an attack that has any form of damage or debilitating potential is used while two Vermillion spheres are present, then if Sofia uses an attack that doesn’t induce harm or any debilitating form of damage will cause hers to always land first despite the speed of the attack or the enemy, or even the nature of either. Of course, the ability possesses great risk and disadvantages for Sofia. If she accidentally uses any form of damaging or debilitating attack after using Vermillion and before its effects are underway, then it would be as if nothing had happened, and the events would transpire as they would. However, it doesn’t stop there. Should Sofia use an attack that’s damaging but that it’s also stronger than her opponent’s, then the effects are reversed and their attack hits Sofia first regardless.
A successful use of either a single or double Ginto Sphere: Vermillion would also incur a 3 & 6 post cooldown respectively.
Ginto Sphere: Nagini: The fourth installment in the line of Ginto Sphere models. Sofia has ventured even further into her craft by making use of her masterful control over reiryoku and her dominion over reishi to create something truly awe inspiring. By meshing her skills with the remaining influence from the Seal of Eris, the size enhancement technology obtained from Hebi, and the progress and technology of her gintos and soul synthesized silver, she managed to create an item to build on the success of her second model, Ginto Sphere: Zaffer. The sphere is much larger than a regular ginto tube, filling the hand nicely. On its inside, it stores the contents of several ginto tubes that were infused and manipulated with her own energy to engineer the desired effect.
When tossed, the sphere breaks open into a beam of blinding silvery light that quickly turns a dark hazy gray, before finishing into a cloud of black smoke that disappears rather quickly. At its wake, a rather large beast that goes by the name of Nagini is created. The creature is an extremely large basilisk, with a total length from head to tail of about 50 meters. The basilisk is able to speak every language that Sofia is capable of speaking herself. At the same time, Nagini is able to communicate with Sofia via the hissing sound typical to snakes. While the basilisk is active, the Quincy prodigy can communicate with the snake through either means as well as a two-way telepathic link.
Slithering Smog: At any time, Nagini can spew out a strange dark purple haze of smog with very peculiar characteristics. For starters, the basilisk itself makes use of Sofia’s ability of The Melody in the technique as a form of conduit. It makes sense since she developed the unique technique to be perfectly suited to her own individual needs and skillset. As such, the smog is able to travel up to the same speed as her Melody. Beyond obscuring sight, the smog has the ability to shelter and hide Sofia’s and Nagini’s spiritual location by creating a spiritual resonance that’s similar enough to throw off even the most dedicated of trackers. However, opponents who possess a reishi manipulation higher than hers would be able to locate the Quincy as they would normally through her energy.
But more importantly are the debilitating effects of the smog. Right after using, the smog encompasses an area of 30 meters in radius, and for every post thereafter the radius of effect is expanded by about 50% up to a maximum area of just around 100 meter radius at three posts. The fog cannot last any longer and as such, it cannot expand further. Any individual caught in its range is affected either through aspiration through the nose or absorbed through the pores in its gaseous form. Of course, only Nagini and Sofia are safeguarded from its effects due to their spiritual signal. Within the first post, a target would find themselves a bit dizzy, nauseous, and more prone to misaiming or misjudging direction by sight. After the second post, the target would experience numbness throughout their body which concentrates in one specific limb they cannot move, like an arm, or a leg. At the last post, the fog’s effects would leave the target paralyzed for one post after it has dissipated as a prey before the eyes of its predator. Once the extra post has elapsed, the target would be able to resume their activities normally without being hindered.
Corrosive Fluid: The skin and the inside of Nagini is filled with an extremely corrosive and destructive compound that’s specifically design to eat away and corrode any spiritual signal upon proximity that is neither Nagini’s or Sofia’s. For the most part, the technique is used to combat and defend against spiritual base attacks and forms of defense by exploiting and corroding through them. However, when it comes to spiritual beings, it is not as powerful. For starters, instead of dissolving and eroding everything upon contact as it would on an energy construct or technique, against another individual, the corrosive fluid would be restrained to only affecting the specific area it made contact with. It cannot expand through that singular contact alone. Beyond that, the fluid has an extremely short half-life. It’s the main reason why it’s so effective against techniques and constructs yet not quite the same against people. For instance, if an individual were to, through any particular method seal off or maintain the area of effect, the fluid and its effects would only last for an additional post before evaporating. Those whose tier exceeds hers however are merely presented with third degree burns upon contact instead of the thorough corrosion that would’ve occurred otherwise. Both Nagini and Sofia are immune to the detrimental effects of the fluid.
Skin Shedding: At any time, Nagini can shed its skin in numerous ways for different outcomes. For instance, in a rather grotesque but useful maneuver, a seemingly new Nagini can exit rapidly out the mouth of the original. This causes any wounds or damaging effects that had been inflicted upon it to heal. At its wake, an extremely large and somewhat see-through shell of its former self it’s left to its own devices. Caution needs to be exercised however as the discarded shell can blow up at either Nagini’s or Sofia’s discretion by combining the attributes of its toxic body with the elements of her reiryoku. Likewise, Sofia is offered a similar treatment in a manner that’s nonetheless strange. By literally swallowing her up and spitting her out, Nagini can heal Sofia of any wounds or damaging effects she received. If desired, Nagini can maintain Sofia inside for up to an additional post at a time. And beyond that, once the Quincy is spat out, the fluid of the basilisk is smeared all over her skin and her weapons in a rather different way, providing the benefit of its corrosive attributes to any other being she touches or that touches her, or that is hit with her weapons or its attacks for the next three posts. Unfortunately there is its fair share of limitations. For starters, Nagini may not shed its skin until at least one post has elapsed since it last did so. And as for Sofia, the action of healing her with the fluids it’s still taxing enough that she cannot be healed in that manner for two posts after being healed by it.
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In essence, the large basilisk Nagini became the embodiment of an animal that represents many of the same elements and qualities that Sofia saw in herself; hence the reason she engineered the technique as such instead of a sheep or a cow. The basilisk displays both raw power in its attacks yet extremely fast speed to match Sofia’s own. It moves with an unyielding grace and a lethal intent that’s just impossible not to compare to the renditions of her art and her creativity centered style of combat. Nagini’s tier is about 2-3 or so. And unfortunately, as one of its biggest downfalls its duration. Because of the taxing amount of energy and effort required to use Ginto Sphere: Anthracite, not only can Nagini only remain in the field for a maximum of ten posts, but Nagini can only be summoned once per battle.
Size Adjustment Button: This button applies a special 'effect' to whatever it is equipped to. As long as the object it is equipped to is related to the user's person and uses their reiatsu through it, it is able to interact with the user in the correct manner.
When the user presses on the button, it floods their reiatsu into their body itself, causing for it to expand. It creates a kind of spiritual 'armor' all around the user's body, allowing for to seem as if it is growing exponentially. As long as the user keeps supplying energy, their perceived size will continue to grow, until they are able to rival buildings, up to a maximum of 100 meters at tier 0-2+. At tier 1-1 the user is able to safely grow to 50 meters, and gains ten meters for each whole 'level' above that.
The amount of mass that the user has at their disposal does increase significantly, resulting in the force of physical attacks also rising. It would take a bit more out of the user to wield that much more of their body, naturally, but the effects would generally be considered worth that cost. If the user stays within this form for less than three posts upon the initial activation, they are able to press the button twice in a thread. Otherwise, they are only able to activate it once. In addition, if they stay in this form for longer than six posts, it performs a large drain on the user's energy to keep maintaining the enlarged state, consuming more and more energy for each post after that. For the most part the button is safely attached to her Quincy cross unless she applies it elsewhere.
Regalia Name: Rona
Regalia Type: Noble Mythic
Regalia Travel Form Appearance: During most occasions, Rona takes the form of a rather ornate and expensive looking ring. It seems to be made out of highly prized and sought after materials, namely gold and silver. The tonalities are presented in a way that speaks to both its artistic portrayal and beautiful craftsmanship. In addition, one area of the ring is lined up with a row of multiple small diamonds of the purest kind. And to finish off the piece with a more personalized look, the ring possesses an emblem a letter that can read either M or W depending on it is looked at. Regardless it’s a befitting symbol for Sofia as it indicates both her letter M, for The Melody, and the letter W, for the Wandenreich.
Weapon Form: When called into its weapon form, the ring glows and disappears before appearing once more in the form of a sword. It’s a one handed sword with a deep and dark ebony handle and a pommel at its distal end that seems to be made out of highly polished and smoothed out diamond. The diamond piece looks as though it could take an accessory like a ribbon or a cord if she so desired. Interlaced at the proximal and distal end of the handle are intricate and ornate golden inlays that add flair and class to an already dazzling weapon. Towards the top of the handle, the golden inlay transitions into what appears to be the design of a winged creature, made in its entirety out of gold. Though the nature of the figure is largely unknown, Sofia understands it as the deity or personification of what Rona represents. From where the head of the figure is placed, a light glow and smoke of a blue colored hue seems to emanate, almost resembling the mist at the end of a waterfall, but much darker as if it belonged to the sea, at a far off and uncharted island.
And extending out from the hilt, a sizable blade with a prominent belly finishes what’s already an artistically prominent weapon and culminates it into a truly innovative artistic wonder. Though there are patterns along the length of the blade, is the high polished shine and glow of its edge that catches the most attention. Still, one ought to take caution and avoid dismissing the sword’s capabilities based solely in its artistic design and its intrinsic beauty. After all as expected, beyond serving as a blade should, and aside from its own individual and unique abilities, Sofia may freely choose to run any of her own techniques through the weapon.
Ranged Elements: To follow suit with the versatility of her equipment, the weapon can be fired as an arrow would from one of her bows if she so desires. However, as a built in mechanic of the blade, should the sword be separated from Sofia in any way, she can will for it to dematerialize and materialize back into her hands.
Abilities:
Beauty Projection: This ability unfortunately cannot be used by Sofia in Rona’s weapon form. It can only be used when Rona is in her Origin Form. In essence, when Rona is faced up against spiritual creations whose gender are unlike hers, her beauty is projected in a rather unnatural way, causing the creatures to be compelled to not just stop their attacks against her but also to protect her, be it from their master or anyone else. A spiritual creature in this sense is something other than the player controlled character, be it a monster they create, a horse they ride, or a clone they make. The actual central character is unaffected. However, the ability possesses a long list of caveats as is to be expected. For starters, as explained, the ability is only accessible by Rona, and only in her Origin Form. Beyond that, female spiritual creatures are not the only one unaffected by the ability. While androgynous or multi gendered creatures would still be affected by the fact that their gender is indeed different, creations with no gender to begin with, like robots or machines would be spared from its effects. Under no circumstances can this ability affect the player character. And even more, despite the technique being effective for as long as Rona out in the field in her Origin Form, spiritual creatures under its effects whose tier exceeds that of Sofia will be exempt, and become able to regain composure after just three posts regularly, and five during Vollstanding to account for the excessive surge in spiritual energy. And unfortunately, though the time afflicted may seem lengthy, it truly isn’t, since once the allotted posts have elapsed, said spiritual creature would not be able to be affected again in the same battle.
Wings of Judgment: During either its Weapon Form or her Origin Form, Rona is able to project and manipulate a plethora of feathers that take on a very peculiar set of attributes. In weapon form, Sofia merely has to point or swing the blade. In her Origin Form, Rona will usually flap her wings to cause its effects although she doesn’t necessarily have to, as simply willing it can suffice. In any case, the motion creates around 500 feathers per time used. Each feather isn’t very big at all, averaging out about three to four inches in length, and about one inch in width. And though momentarily they may appear to be of a gray like hue, contact with the reishi or reiryoku around them causes them to reflect and glow in a way that makes them appear as though they were made of a silvery white light, almost resembling a form of angelic snow.
The feathers however are manipulated into becoming an odd but highly resistant and powerful spiritual alloy that although certainly resembling a form of metal, cannot be fully categorized as such, as it’s truly something else entirely. However the look and the inherent sharpness of the feathers are very obvious once they’re used. They’re all sharp at the tip and along both of its lengths. And while the feathers may be fired into one singular spot, or made to cover a wide area when fired in an arch, they’re nonetheless able to be controlled by either of them. In essence, either Sofia or Rona can manipulate the multitude of feathers to be used as either a form of offense or defense under a variety of circumstances. And during Origin Form only, Rona may apply that same ability directly onto her wings to use them as large blades. Unfortunately, the technique does come with its own lengthy set of limitations. For the most part, only a total of 1,000 feathers can be controlled.
Music Blasts: Either from the blade in Weapon Form or from her mouth in Origin Form, Rona is able to project an extremely loud sound that’s comparable to a form of song that’s simply played way too high. The sonic blasts do not contain any mass and therefore do not possess any density; all they do is pressurize the air and push forth the waves of sound at extremely fast speeds. The ability can only travel up two speeds of Mach 2 typically, and Mach 4 in release. Despite the musical nature of the ability, the sounds are rather loud and deafening, almost like a Banshee’s screech. In fact, the decibel count it’s so high that it can shatter any glass construct with ease.
The main goal of the blasts is to weaken incoming energy attacks, and it does it quite well. That aspect can be turned on and off, so the technique can be used simply for its destructive aspect without necessarily relying on its foundational motive. For instance the technique is only able to destabilize and break down energy attacks from foes whose energy is severely below hers [where their tier is below hers]. Unfortunately, foes whose energy is on par with hers [matching tier], would find their techniques travel unhindered by the aforementioned result. It does however result in a somewhat weaker technique as the music blasts still manages to upset the rhythm of the incoming attack. Still, the effect only works for one technique at a time. As such, multiple techniques faced up against her music projection would only amount to one of them being destroyed. And what’s more, when faced with foes of truly abysmal energy by comparison [opponents whose tier more than two above hers] then the difference in power is simply too much, and all the ability can accomplish is moving or altering the direction of one technique in the slightest noticeable bit. And it doesn't end there, while the music blasts can be used at any time for its destructive concussive effect, the energy destabilizing aspect is subject to a three post cooldown upon successful use. The only circumstance that sees change is when she accesses her Vollstanding. as the number of affected techniques increasing to two, to account for the massive and additional amounts of energy that allow for such a thing, and the cooldown reduced to two. Only when used during her one release form, and against those whose tiers are below hers, would they incur a form of subtle disorientation from the sounds overloading their hearing, though it would only last for about two posts.
Gift of the Sirens: In mythology, Sirens almost always resided in islands, by the cliffs, and rather near the water where they usually led victims to their death. At will, Rona is able to control existing bodies of water or create it herself. Either through her mind or through the sword in Weapon Form, Rona is able to either utilize the available moisture in the air or water in her vicinity. If need be however, the ability literally exchanges reishi in the vicinity or reiryoku from Sofia to convert it into water. It’s almost as if Rona was trying to recreate a visualization of her home through any means necessary.
The water can be controlled to be fired like straight beams, or in the form of bubbles or any aspect Sofia desires. In doing so, she’s also able to manipulate how thick or thin, or long or short the projections of said water techniques are. Following suit with the versatility of water, and Sofia for that matter, the variety of constructs and possibilities with the ability enables her to make use of it in either an offensive or defensive manner. However, there are limits as Sofia can’t simply create an ocean’s worth of water with a single swing. Per post, Sofia is only able to create up to an Olympic pool’s volume of water. And interestingly, so long as the technique is active Sofia is allowed the ability to breathe under water, much like Rona can in her Origin Form.
Origin Form Appearance: Rona’s Origin Form is that of a Siren. Standing at just around 6’0” feet tall, the half woman half bird creature seems as elegant as it is powerful and beautiful. Speaking of the latter, though beauty is in the eye of the beholder, Rona tweaks that notion just so. In essence, though she does appear to be fairly good looking, her mythical race has the unique trait of appearing beautiful to anyone, no matter what. The dark color of her feathers is nicely matched by the similar hues of her hair. And with skin as fair as Sofia’s, the golden ornament on her head seems not only reminiscent of the gold accents on Sofia’s main Quincy uniform but also as a way to denote Rona as queen among the Sirens, just like Sofia views herself as queen among her people.
V. Natural Abilities & Skills
» Skills:
Master Archer:
From an early age, Sofia has been trained as a Quincy. She actually started training much earlier than most out of their parents fear that her love and talent for music would push her to pursue a life that revolved around it. With a tutor specifically assigned and renowned in the skill, she would be under constant tutelage for years. Through repeated practice, she was able to get sufficiently proficient where she easily hits the targets she aims at. As more time has passed, hitting the bullseye in the run or on uncomfortable positions has become no more difficult to her than doing so upright. Thanks to her geigenbogen and the fact that its familiar shape translates so well to other aspects of her life led her to practice a lot more. Sofia has even managed to heightened and perfect her skill in archery by purposely making her shots more difficult. Using her unique ability, The Melody, she purposely changes the trajectory of the arrows to be able to hit oddly positioned targets. Though it works differently, it has helped her to hit targets when simply using her geigenbogen with much more ease.
Expert Swordsman:
Sofia has gone from being a student of the blade, to truly understanding it through, and even beyond to create an art out of it. Though her geigenbogen can be used as either a sword or a bow, she usually starts most spars treating it as a sword. In combination, she usually employs a selee as she’s extremely proficient in dual wielding blades. When left with only one, however, her redistributed focus and attention allow her to be even more precise. By studying her swordsmanship tutor lessons and his experiences, Sofia was able to think in retrospect and slowly discover the style that would suit her best. Rather than strength, she focuses on speed, momentum, and graceful and sometimes unorthodox movements to overpower her opponents. Just like she had her own style of finger placed on the violin, and the unique movements when she played with her violin bow, she was able to find her own unique take and preference for bladed combat. Rather than going all out with strength, leverage, momentum, turns, and graceful movements would allow her to use those advantages in her favor whereas a reliance on strength on her part would have done her no good. By exploring and replicating the calm, and fluid movements she used during her violin recitals, she was able to create a just as smooth and fluid bladed combat style that was truly her own.
She would prioritize tight but smooth bladework that emphasized a lack of exposure to incoming hits. Through her style, she discovered she enjoyed and preferred her movements to follow focused, and elegant transitions that prioritized the unilateral balance of her body and footwork to outmaneuver her opponents. Just like when she played the violin, Sofia never seemed to be distressed or alarmed whenever she used her blades. She always appeared calmed and steady, replicating the quiet and calm postures of a violinist performing an orchestral piece. when using two blades at once, Sofia would switch up between two variations. Just like when performing a musical piece, there were aspects of songs that required fast high paced beats, and some more slower or refined tempos. She would find the perfect transition for her during bladed combat by switching from continuous dual wielding front faced assaults, to simply attacking with one blade leaving the other for defensive purposes. The simultaneous and quick change from the stance of precise and calculated attacks and defense to continuous attacks and vice versa often threw her tutor off balanced. She would go from attacking and defending at once, straight to a counter strike. It required a fluid and smooth transition from pressing a calculated assault and parrying an attack, to a quick and unexpected counter strike.
Amazing Violinist:
From a very young age, Sofia showed interest, talent, and skill in music in general. That talent and interest would be put into intensive training with the violin. Thanks to her innate gift, she was able to become quite proficient with the violin at an early age. And in her teens, she was already considered as good as a professional musician. Her dedication and drive in the musical field were such that it became the means through which she was able to perfect her Quincy training. Music helped her understand and get used to summoning her spirit weapon. Fate would have it that her own spirit weapon would be closely related to music as would be her own unique power.
» Quincy Skills:
"M" The Melody:
Sofia’s own unique ability is known as The Melody. Her own personal reiryoku allows her to use her body, or most often her geigenbogen as the catalyst of her ability. Primarily related to music, Sofia is able to create musical waves that can be used in a variety of ways. Though Sofia can certainly use her ability without her geigenbogen, by simply using her hands, she prefers to use her spirit weapon as it reminds her of playing the violin. By making short and rapid strokes with her Geigenbogen, Sofia is able to fire waves of musical melodies that though somewhat weak, travel extremely fast. Likewise, by doing a longer, less hurried stroke with her geigenbogen, she’s able to fire a musical blast of devastating power albeit traveling at much slower speeds. They behave not unlike the relationship between the cero and the bala of the Hollow breeds. Though both powerful and useful in their own way, they each trade power or speed in exchange of more of the opposite.
The musical waves however are controlled by Sofia’s mind. Unfortunately, while she is able to control and direct musical waves that are slow traveling she cannot fully control musical waves that travel at exceedingly fast speeds due to the reaction time needed to do so. She is however able to affect all of her abilities initially despite of speed. That means that while she may be able to shift a very fast musical wave as soon as she fires it, she wouldn’t be able to control it further thereafter. The musical waves cannot be seen since sound is not a visible tangible material. It is however able to be heard. The audible aspect of her ability can actually benefit those keen of hearing. Not only will those around her hear the melody of her ability, but they would be able to notice differences in the tunes and the beats of each. While the same move would not likely be played the same way, similar moves would have very similar tempos. Fast attacks would display fast strokes, and slow and powerful attacks would display longer notes. Likewise, continuously short bursts of uninterrupted beats of musical tunes would likely result in equally similar short bursts of very fast but very weak musical beams.
For the most part, the power of her ability relies on the concussive power of the abilities kinetic energy. It is the force of the musical blast hitting against an opponent that drives the force, like a hammer. However, by swinging her geigenbogen, Sofia may be able to slash a musical wave of varying power and speed that its very sharp in nature. Rather than hitting and pushing away, an attack like that would be meant to meet and slice what lied before it. Her musical ability bears great resemblance to her spirit weapon and its versatility. The latter it's able to be used as both a sword and a bow. Not unlike it, her ability allows her to mold it to fit her needs, just as she’s able to play the right notes on her violin to listen to the music she wants to play. Because of the nature of her ability, it is not unlike Sofia to use her musical power to run some of her reishi or ginto techniques through it. And, though used sparingly, she may also use her ability to create literal waves of musical melodies she can ride, as if surfing the noise. As a general rule, the musical abilities created through The Melody can travel up to speeds of Mach 3.
Masterful Reishi Control:
Since very early, Sofia demonstrated a talent in gathering and maintaining reishi around her. Despite her reputation as a prodigy, it was music and her artistic mind that allowed her to become as proficient in the discipline as she is. Initially bored and without a will to want to summon the standard spirit weapon, she found solace and enjoyment in the fact that she could create a violin bow with the reishi around her. Through years of endless practice since she loved to practice with the violin, she would end up discovering her violin bow would become her main weapon. It was thanks to the near endless practice that she was able to become so accustomed and adapt to gathering and manipulating reishi with such ease. Once she had mastered her sanrei glove, the journey became even more thrilling as she found it easier to summon her weapon and create constructs out of the reishi around her. The art that she loved so much in music, and the new techniques she created with Ginto created a curiosity in her as to the different things she could create by manipulating reishi. Refusing to allow other races to move ahead unstopped, like the Shinigami and their kido, Sofia vowed and succeeded to create art as she did in music, through the works of her craft in reishi manipulation. She would succeed in creating several utility techniques that took advantage of her innate talent absorbing and manipulating reishi.
Reishi Manipulation Techniques
Heiligen Torspiegel: By concentrating the reishi around her, Sofia can create up to two silvery white Quincy pentacles not much bigger than her. The Quincy pentacles will hover in the air at two locations of her choosing. One of the pentacles attracts spirit energy, be it reiryoku, reishi or different kinds of spirit energy altogether. The other Quincy pentacle simply expels it. As such, the two pentacles act as a form of gate or a door. While one pentacle would attract a blast, the latter would be redirected to come out of the second pentacle at a different location. Unfortunately, the technique is limited in several ways. Once the location of the pentacles have been set, they can no longer be shifted around. Her pentacles can also only last for about three posts. And because of the amount of reishi needed to create and maintain them, they are subject to a two post cooldown after they’ve dissipated.
Heiling Schutz: (passive) Continuously, Sofia allows a very thin film of reishi to cover her skin and all around her body. It helps by adding a simple and subtle extra layer of defense to incoming attacks. While she relies on her Blut occasionally, Heiling Schutz allows her to have an extra layer for cushioning damage. The ability is not enough to stop attacks or damage from blows that would be extremely hindering in nature, but at the very least, every potential chance for harm is at the very least minimized in the slightest in some way.
Himmelstor: A towering gate about 50 meters tall is erected in front of Sofia. The wall is largely bare, seemingly constructed out of pure white reishi, with nothing but an embossed Quincy pentacle right at its center. Himmelstor is meant to be Sofia’s attempt at an extremely efficient form of defense. Several meters thick and embedded with a lot of reishi as well as her own reiryoku, she’s able to hold off attacks from beings up to a tier higher than her without the wall being destroyed. For the most part, the wall is able to sustain and control damage for up to two posts after use before dissipating. However, while Himmelstor would be able to stop an attack from at most, an individual two tiers above hers, the technique would cave down right after cancelling the attack. Regardless, because of the powerful needs of such a construct, Himmelstor is subject to a three post cooldown after use.
Himmelstor - Heiligkeit: The technique, which translates roughly to Heaven's Gate - Sanctity, is the most recent gift from Sofia to the Wandenreich. It's creation was thanks to the knowledge of her own technique, Himmelstor, as well as her own mastership and dominion over reishi and reiryoku. By infusing their own reiryoku with the reishi around them, the Quincy can create a large, 10 meter tall gate of silvery white light, with edges that seem to be made of an out of this verse white material with carvings that are more fitting of scenery depicted in renditions of heaven. The door is a form of gateway or passage to almost anywhere in the verse. Those of 0 tier can simply use their reiryoku for its creation, although adding the surrounding reishi makes it both faster and smoother in its delivery.
However, the technique has a number of limitations on top of the securities and countermeasures Sofia engineered into it herself. For starters, the technique can only be used by active Quincy members of the Wandenreich. And while whomever creates the gate can allow others to travel with them, they must still be Quincy at the very least to be able to pass through. Beyond that, most regular Quincy are limited to traveling through the door only to get around the world of the living. To enter a different plane like Soul Society or Hueco Mundo, the Dangai or the Demon World requires approval from either a Captain or above. The exception to this of course being Sofia, it's creator. However, 0 tiers are able to use the gate to travel anywhere they desire as they're not only powerful, but deemed capable and trustworthy under specific circumstances. Still, they should still take caution as certain worlds are less forgiving to their kind. The gate cannot be used to facilitate or compliment combat. Instead, it is simply a means of accessing locations that would otherwise be too difficult to get to. And finally, since it is not a technique written in stone or a book handed down, Sofia must teach the individual in a one by one basis before they're able to do it on their own.
Heiling Hieb: [passive] By continuously gathering reishi around her weapons, Sofia is able to either thrust or swing one of her seele Schneider or her geigenbogen resulting in a reishi blast being shot. Thrusting would result in a blast that’s destructive in nature but with an emphasis on its piercing and concussive capabilities. Likewise, when slashing, the ability surrenders its concussive and piercing abilities for the chance to slash through the sharp crescent wave of concentrated reishi. Since Sofia is able to fire arrows through her bow, she delegates the use of this technique usually for the times when she’s strictly using her blades.
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