Swordsman's Resolve

Tue Aug 29, 2017 2:52 am

Ryuzaki

Artist: Nujabes/Idst - Song: BattleCry - Word Count: 365

Ryuzaki sat in his room on the floor, legs crossed, hands in his lap, and concentrated entirely on his Zanpakuto. Recently he'd gotten much better at communicating with Asanagi, but he still had much to learn, so contacting him was never a speedy process. He kept this up for upwards of twenty minutes before he started to feel his vision fading. It mainly started in the corners of his vision, with a few black splotches further towards the center here and there. He let this sensation continue unabated, and very shortly after it began he found himself completely in the dark. When he saw again what he saw was not his room but his zanpakuto spirit's inner world. He'd been here several times now, and the black sand and constantly blowing wind had become a welcome sight. He enjoyed spending time in this inner world, it was strangely calming like nothing else Ryuzaki had ever experienced. He saw Asanagi standing not too far off in the distance and began to make his way towards him. As he turned Ryuzaki could see that Asanagi was holding what appeared to be the sword version of himself. This was interesting, he didn't often get to see Asanagi wielding a blade. He knew that Asanagi knew much more about his future abilities than he did, and he was eager to pick his zanpakuto spirit's mind for more answers, although he knew that it probably would not be that simple.

"Asanagi, can you teach me about what my blade can do? I haven't made much progress. Better yet, can you show me something it can do?"

Asanagi looked Ryuzaki directly in the eyes and smiled, as if he'd been waiting for that question. He walked slowly closer and held the blade out in front of his body in a fighting stance.

"I'll show you exactly what abilities this blade has, but only if you can push me hard enough in a duel that I see it fit to use them. Let's see how proficient you've become with the blade. You should be stronger now after that strange woman helped you."

Tue Aug 29, 2017 12:01 pm

Ryuzaki

Artist: Nujabes/Idst - Song: BattleCry - Word Count: 592

Ryuzaki laughed, remembering the absurd encounter he'd had in the forest, and drew his sword. It would be an interesting experience to duel Asanagi, he was sure that there was much he could learn from his zanpakuto spirit, he was unsure whether or not he'd be able to stand his ground though. Although he hated to admit it, he wasn't exactly the strongest shinigami, he'd been training constantly to improve himself, but when it came down to it he still didn't possess that much power. Ryuzaki placed both hands on his sword, then looked up towards Asanagi.

"Alright, I'm ready whenever you are."

As soon as he finished speaking Asanagi was airborne, he'd already covered about half of the distance between them. Ryuzaki brought his blade up to block the swing directed at his face just in the nick of time. He wavered for a moment, but with a bit of effort he was able to force Asanagi backwards and regain some of his space. Not wanting to lose the opportunity, Ryuzaki immediately launched in to a flurry of blows, hoping that the sheer volume of attacks would work to his advantage. Unfortunately his swings lacked strength, and they were far less accurate than they could have been. The best he managed was a glancing blow off of Asanagi's shoulder that did virtually no damage at all. Exhausted from his rapid fire, yet ineffectual, display Ryuzaki attempted to disengage for a moment, hoping to catch his breath. Asanagi however had different ideas, and decided to pursue him. Ryuzaki was able to gain a small amount of distance, but eventually Asanagi got fed up with his running, and with a burst of speed appeared directly next to him. He was quite startled by this, as he hadn't seen Asanagi display any ability to perform shunpo or whatever the zanpakuto spirit equivalent was. As Asanagi slowed to a stop next to him the spirit went into a lunging attack, nearly spearing Ryuzaki in the mid section. He was able to knock the blade off of it's path before being seriously injured, but Ryuzaki still sustained a moderately sized wound to his stomach, directly above his belly button. He'd already been outmatched, but now that he was injured Ryuzaki began to wonder more and more just how he would be able to coax some more information out of Asanagi. The zanpakuto spirit came at him once more, this time launching in to his own flurry of blow, but this attack was much more refined. Ryuzaki felt like he was in a blender, Asanagi's blade was nearly slicing him to pieces, and it was coming from every direction. He dodged more than he parried, but to his surprise he was able to block a few of the more persistent attempts. Regaining a bit of his confidence Ryuzaki held his ground, and even started to get in a few blows of his own. They continued this exchange for several minutes before Asanagi leapt back and with an impressively clean motion sent a burst of air in Ryuzaki's direction. He'd seen Asanagi do this before, but still didn't have a grasp on it. The air took the form of a blade, and possessed a surprised cutting force. Ryuzaki attempted to block it, but he wasn't able to keep his balance and shortly after found himself sprawled out in the sand. He could see Asanagi standing over him, just a few feet away.

Tue Aug 29, 2017 2:03 pm

Ryuzaki

Artist: Nujabes/Idst - Song: BattleCry - Word Count: 913

Ryuzaki pushed himself up off of the ground into a seated position. His sword had been knocked out of his hand, and lay a few feet to the right of him. He stood up, brushed away the sand that had clung to his clothes and skin, and slowly made his way towards his sword. He could smell the salt in the air as the wind blew up from the sea, and it was just a bit colder than he would have liked, but this was no time to think about that. The moment he laid his hands on his blade Asanagi was bolting towards him once more, this time however he managed to execute a surprisingly effecting parry, more out of luck than anything else really, but it was still exhilarating. As he knocked Asanagi's blade out of the way he prepared a counterattack, but Asanagi was much quicker than him, and knew much more about sword fighting as well it seemed. His blade almost made contact with his opponents chest, he'd been swinging his blade vertically and would have given Asanagi a gruesome cut if he hadn't blocked it. No matter what he tried, he wasn't able to land any truly useful blows. Ryuzaki guessed that they'd been at this for maybe fifteen or twenty minutes. He couldn't be sure, but he was starting to feel winded and he knew that twenty minutes was around the time that would probably start happening if he was fully exerting himself. Asanagi was a tougher opponent than he expected, and he didn't think there was much he could do to win the fight, but he could definitely hang on for a while longer yet. Their blades clashed a few more times before Asanagi overpowered him, and he was forced to the ground once more. He heard Asanagi speaking to him as he pushed himself off of the ground yet again.

"You still have no idea what you're doing, it's obvious. You should start paying more attention to what others are doing instead of focusing entirely on yourself, then maybe you'll pick things up more quickly. Do you notice how differently you and I wield this blade? Your strikes are slow and clumsy, and half of the time they aren't even properly aligned. That's no way to win a battle."

Ryuzaki listened to his zanpakuto spirit, but it wasn't like he didn't know that he should learn from others. It was simply hard to focus on what his opponent was doing while he was trying to stay alive. It took all of his concentration to parry and dodge the various attacks that were thrown at him, but he also knew that this was only because of how inexperienced he was. With time his reactions would come more naturally, and he'd be able to focus more on what was going on around him, not just on his own blade and how he was going to counter the next thing thrown at him. He managed to gain a bit of distance and explain this to Asanagi, who could also see that Ryuzaki was just about at his limit. With that, Asanagi called the duel to a momentary halt.

"Sit down right over there and watch me while you catch your breath. Pay attention to how I swing the sword, which parts of my body stay perfectly still, which parts move as I swing. Think about what muscles I'm using to add strength to my swings and compare that with how you swing your blade. "

Ryuzaki collapsed on the sand, relieved that he could finally rest for a time. After a few moments he pulled himself up to get a better view of what Asanagi was doing, and began paying close attention. The way that Asanagi wielded his weapon made Ryuzaki think of a great master of the blade. He exerted no more strength than he needed to, and his swings traveled exactly the distance he meant them to. Perhaps the most impressive thing of all though was the swiftness with which he executed all of this. Ryuzaki wasn't sure if he'd ever be able to match this kind of awesome display. He sat quietly and watched Asanagi for a little over fifteen minutes before the zanpakuto spirit stopped, and looked over at him.

"There, now do you have a better idea of what you should be doing?"

Ryuzaki had learned much from watching Asanagi, but he was still completely exhausted from their earlier bout, he just hadn't had enough time to recuperate yet. His eyelids were growing heavier every second.

"Asanagi let me show you just how much I learned from watching that. I'm going to have to take a nap first though, I've already been training since this morning, and I've got no energy left to fight with."

Asanagi sighed as Ryuzaki laid himself out on the sand. As he did so he began to think. He was in his zanpakuto's spirit world. His body shouldn't become exhausted so easily here, should it? Maybe he was suffering from some sort of mental fatigue. Or maybe his brain was just trying to process everything he'd learned in such a short time, and needed to take some time for its self so that he could show improvement sooner. Either way, he was out cold.

Thu Aug 31, 2017 9:04 am

Ryuzaki

Artist: Nujabes/Idst - Song: BattleCry - Word Count: 744

Ryuzaki sat upright violently, he felt that he'd had a nightmare, but he had no memory of his time sleeping. Asanagi stood above him in the same position he'd been in when Ryuzaki had passed out. It seemed as if he hadn't moved a muscle. Ryuzaki stood, grabbed his sword, and stared down Asanagi once more.

"Have you been standing there that whole time? Come to think of it what do you even do when I'm not here? There's nothing around for miles in this place.

"Nothing around for miles? You're looking at everything that exists in this world. Water, sand, wind, storms. That's all it is for a thousand miles, that's all it is forever. There's no end to this beach. When you're not here I meditate. What else would I do? Enough with the chatter."

Ryuzaki got to his feet, took his zanpakuto in his hand, and readied himself to once more clash with his surprisingly skillful zanpakuto spirit. As their blades met Asanagi deftly maneuvered his so as to just barely manage to nick Ryuzaki. He received a nasty wound to his cheek, and the blood didn't seem like it would stop anytime soon. The scent of iron filled his nostrils, and occasionally the taste of blood filled his mouth as a rogue stream found its way over his lips. Ignoring his recently sustained injury Ryuzaki fought on to the best of his ability. He wasn't sure why, but he felt that he now had a much better ability to defend himself against Asanagi, occasionally even gaining the upper hand. Was the spirit taking it easy on him, or had he really improved this much in such a short amount of time? It was hard to believe, but Asanagi seemed to be exerting himself just as much as he had been previously, so it was the only conclusion that Ryuzaki could draw.

"I can see your confusion. You wonder how you've managed to match me so quickly, is that it? Well, technically you haven't. You've adjusted to fighting in this world, you are not restrained by the limitations of your body, and so you can experience the greater control you could have over the blade, if only your body would cooperate. You have a better understanding of the sword now, but it will only grow as you practice after you leave this place."

Their blades clashed several more times, clanging loudly as the did. Suddenly, Ryuzaki saw an opening that he wouldn't have noticed previously. Even if he had noticed it, he wouldn't have had the skill or speed to act on it. He did notice it though, and weaving his blade through Asanagi's defense he landed a solid strike. The zanpakuto spirit showed no sign that the blow had effected him, he only lowered his weapon and smiled.

"And so you've learned everything that I have to teach you at this time. I fear that you are still not ready to learn the abilities of this sword, but if you continue to hone your mastery of the blade, then you will reach that level soon. "

Ryuzaki was somewhat disappointed, as the reason he had come in the first place was to discover the abilities of his Zanpakuto, but he couldn't really complain. He greatly valued the training he'd just received, and he trusted that Asanagi would tell him when he was ready to know. He thanked Asanagi for his help, then sat one the black sand and meditated once again. Within moments he found himself sitting in his room once more. It was always easier to leave than to enter, he'd noticed. Over the next week or so Ryuzaki took every opportunity he could find to test his skills with the blade. Usually he just practiced his form on his own, but he was able to arrange a few practice matches in this time, and came out on top in each of them. With every day that passed he could see that his actual skill with the sword was resembling the skill he'd displayed when battling Asanagi more and more. Little by little, he raised his ability to the same level he'd shown previously, and even a bit beyond. Pleased with his efforts, he began to wonder in which other areas he still greatly needed improvement.

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