Hey, You, Whatcha Gonna Do? (Murasaki, Stefan)

For just a short, brief moment Stefan was reminded of his elder brother in this Gotei Captain who couldn't be any more different from the man. The lack of emotion and utter absence of any kind of Reiatsu or energy were both calling cards of Mifune Soan, a swordsman Stefan had spent much of his life in the shadow of. As a Shinigami in the Gotei, forever chasing levels of power he could barely even fathom at the time, and now as a fully matured Vizard warrior still knowing his brother was the only person he could even consider a rival to the title of greatest swordsman in the world; the rivalry that had long dictated Stefan's life was a thing of the past, a relic of a time when he was not the man he is today. Or was it? His opponent's change in demeanor and Spiritual Pressure sparked something inside the Free Union leader, a fiery torch of disdain and wrath which had long since been put out by the level of control Stefan had over himself. Despite being as different as she was, this passing and momentary resemblance to this forsaken Soan could not go unaddressed.

To almost any other the speed with which Murasaki burst forth would be startling, shocking even. But to Stefan Soan, a man with considerable speed of his own and, more importantly, had a long standing rivalry with perhaps one of the fastest men in the world, Colin Washi, such a thing would not strike any fear into his heart. There was no longer any room for him to be impressed by this challenger, no thought spent on her current capabilities. All that remained in the legend's mind was displaying exactly what she put on the line by risking and changing herself in such a stark way. To him it was folly to forgo everything and revert to such an emptiness as she had, a belief one could find a bit strange coming from a man who literally controlled Void as his primary power. Perhaps only the one closest to absolute emptiness could see the truth in avoiding it where possible.

The Gotei Captain's brisk pace would be met by an explosion of speed from Stefan himself as he set off like a bullet, cutting his foe off before she could close the gap entirely. Seeing the opening in her stance he brought his Zanpakuto from below, allowing him to strike the tips of first her main hand blade and then that of her offhand; the resulting CLANG reverberating throughout the massive training room as the swords were forced upward and away. Instead of dropping the parry and attacking in Murasaki's opening, Stefan merely followed through with the arc with which he swung his blade so that it continued past her head. However instead of a swishing sound from slashing the air, the precise moment Stefan's blade stopped touching Murasaki's, a cannon-like blast of sound exploded out from the motion. This was a result of the Vizard choosing to multiply the force of his attack by over twenty times once he was sure the parry completed.

The initial intention of his response was to defend from and push away his attacker, and thus only used a microcosm of the strength available to him; the second was to send a message. The true strength of Stefan Soan would be put on display for Murasaki to witness as wind and pressure would whip up around his blade like a jet engine running at full speed, likely resulting in her being swept off her feet or made unsteady enough to make a follow up attack from the Shinigami irrelevant. Unfortunately for his bank account, this increased force would also result in a massive slash of air hitting and splitting everything in the direction of his Zanpakuto's arc, cutting directly through to the building's roof over a dozen stories above, and all the way to the street in front of it. As if an earthquake had suddenly broke the structure apart, chunks of stone began falling from the shattered ceiling and alarms began ringing usually reserved for indicating an attack or natural disaster.

Whether Murasaki would be left in shock or still ready to continue desperately battling was momentarily irrelevant to Stefan as he spoke loud enough to be heard over the continued collapse of the building he called home. "I can imagine how much it hurts to know no matter how you try, you could not even cut your opponent. Truly, I can. But just so we're clear, abandoning yourself and throwing away your power won't get you any closer to drawing my blood. At first I thought you resembled me, in a way...now I see you go down the path of my brother. Nobody has seen it, but I am capable of entering a state not entirely unlike what you are right now...with one key difference. Instead of simply stripping away all that you are, mine empowers the best of what I am. In this state I still feel the blood of a warrior who's put everything on the line boiling in my veins, pushing me forward and to new heights. Whatever you've done to yourself now is...empty. I can feel it. It's not the way, young one. Abandoning what makes you who you are out of desperation just makes your sword ugly and stained."