Cry! Fight! Stand Tall! Captain of the Fourth! (Elyss/Hanako)

The Big Woman

Hanako Yamada

The terrifyingly cold and bright eyes stayed on Elyss, although Hanako felt the presence of her troops all around.

“No one who can kill you? Don’t fool yourself. Look around. There are nearly two hundred of them now. They didn’t kill you because they still see you as a fellow Shinigami.”

A wave of emotion, strong as a current of the unending ocean, trying to sweep Hanako of it#s feet, washed through her mind. She saw before her eyes all that she once believed this other woman would be, all that she was striving for herself, and what Elyss had seemingly decided to throw away. Why was she here? What was the purpose behind her actions? Or was her mind working in a dark place were reason, no purpose, was needed any longer?

“I already know that you killed him.”

Hanako’s voice cut through the air between them like razor blades. Yes, she had known. And she had wanted to confront Elyss since the first moment. But she hadn’t done so, because it was First Divisions job, and she had to deal with the fallout of Elyss’ deed. But now ELyss had invaded her territory, attacked her people. It gave her the right to defend herself and her Division.

“You’re mad. I still don’t know what you really want and I don’t know if I care any longer. If you so desperately want blood…”

Slowly Hanako reached down and drew her sword. Wrath made her skin feel hot. It seeped out of her, made the air around her boil and glow with the sheer intensity of emotion. Her reiatsu rose, sprang forward and pushed back against Elyss’ like a glacier breaking free. She could feel it now in her own bones, feel how broken Elyss was. She should feel pity towards the other woman, but she simply couldn’t bring herself to it. There not only was the anger, the hatred, but also an incredibly strong feeling of duty, of honour. There before her was a danger to her, her division, the Soul Society and the Gotei. Everything she knew, everything she loved and everything she worked so hard to build. If there ever had been any doubts if she was in the right spot, as Lieutenant and current Acting Captain of the Fourth Division, they were erased now. The determination she felt streamed through her veins like a stream of molten metal. She would never give up on her Fighting Fourth.

Meanwhile the Shinigami of the squad withdrew to a safe distance. They still surrounded the area, still had their swords in hand, but they felt this wasn’t the right time to interfere. The lust for blood, the blood of the redhead, was still in their eyes. But the sight of the broken Elyss and Hanako in her wrath was a terrifying sight most of them hadn’t encountered yet. At least not inside the apparent safety of the Seireitei.

“If you so desperately want blood…let me be of assistance.”

Hanako bared her teeth and it was the grin of a tigress ready to pounce and kill.

“Live, Bakumusha!”

A stream of energy flowed out from her and within fractions of a moment her sword glowed in a bright light, which encased her, shrouded her from sight for a brief instant. When it receded again Hanako held a giant sword, made from tightly interwoven roots, with a dangerously gleaming steel edge. A dark chain, connected to it’s pommel, was wound around Hanako’s right arm, while her left was covered in a full sleeve of armour. Through all it she could feel Bakumusha sharing her resolve, fortifying and multiplying it.

She vanished, only to appear high up in the air in the blink of an eye. With might she threw her sword downwards, directly towards Elyss.

The Big Woman

Hanako Yamada

“Don’t flatter yourself!” Hanako yelled back. “This is the fucking Combat Division!”

This arrogance! There was no telling if Elyss actually believed what she said or if this was just a game to her. A game where she played the villain, complete with the mockery and all. In any case, it was a deadly mistake to underestimate any member of the Combat Division, only because she or he didn’t hold a seat. Every single member of the division was well trained, and stayed well trained. Hanako didn’t care much for protocol with her own subordinates, as long as they observed it with members from other divisions or superiors above Hanako herself. But what she didn’t forgive was slacking off. Keeping the Fighting Fourth where it was wasn’t enough. Stagnation was not satisfactory. Constant improvement, from every single one, was the only way forward. It didn’t have to be much all at once, but the steady ambition to become better was an unwritten law, which Hanako lived and breathed every day, to set an example. And not only that. Her troops weren’t only trained as duelists, but as an army as well, so that the whole of their forces would be far greater than the sum of its parts. That was what Elyss would stand against, if this wasn’t a one on one now. A whole standing army, well trained, prepared and several hundred strong. And each and every one of them had a score to settle with her.

But since it was a one on one they stood back and watched. Probably unnoticed by both fighters was that several Shinigami, proficient in kido, had begun to erect barriers like blankets, or umbrellas, over the direct vicinity, to limit the danger the two women would be able to do.

“...You’re wide open, Hanako.”

The words came from Elyss, spat out before Hanako like an insult, just an instant before the red haired catapulted herself upwards into the air and towards Hanako. She was looking down, seeing the familiar face come closer. She saw the intent to kill in her eyes. A murderous lust, a madness, trickery or something totally different. It didn’t matter.

“You wish…” Hanako hissed.

With one quick movement she yanked on the chain, using the weight of the blade to pull her into a spin, turning her left arm towards Elyss, just in time…

The hit was still brutal. The impact Hanako felt even through the armour was like half of a mountain thrown against her. Even Bakumusha couldn’t hit any harder than this. Or if he could he had never done so.

To soften the blow somewhat Hanako didn’t push against it, didn’t create a platform under her to stand on in midair. She let herself fall, let the momentum of Elyss’ strike carry her away, out of the other one’s reach.

While she flew, time seemed to slow down, almost to a stillstand. She saw Elyss in perfect clarity. The murderous intent in her eyes, the sword in her hand. She’d never seen Elyss use her blade before. Her arm hurt. She didn’t believe it was cut, but the armour was probably chipped at the impact site, and most of the force had still translated though it.

>>Pain can’t hinder you.<< was there suddenly a deep and calm, but infinitely powerful voice that spoke to Hanako, and Hanako alone. In her mind she saw a towering figure, clad in an old, deep red Samurai armour, straightening itself and raising a giant sword into a dark sky above a lonely clearing in deep and misty woods.

And time resumed its normal course.

With an unarticulated warcry Hanako hanako spun around and grabbed the chain with both hands. Bakumusha instantly changed its trajectory, coming around in an arch, around Hanako and back towards Elyss. At the same time she channelled energy through her arms, through the chain and into the blade, to release it when the giant sword was to cut through the point in space Elyss occupied at that moment. It would release an icy blue blade, made from icy blue energy, that would travel another 30 feet. It was the Shigure Shinrin Ryu, Third Form, a technique she had learned from her late Captain, possessing the same cutting power as the physical blade it was released from. And if it would cut Elyss in half, ending her rampage here and now, it would be like a piece of poetic justice dealt.

Yet Hanako didn’t stop there. While stopping in mid air, she shortened the bakumusha’s chain a bit, brought the blade close to her, so she could swing it in circles, creating a zone in which the hollow howling of the sword, cutting through the air, promised a quick but painful end. Then she launched herself back towards her opponent.

Practically invisible to the naked eye, thanks to the sword constantly moving, a few small flower buds had begun to form all over the tightly interwoven roots that made up bakumusha’s body.

The Big Woman

Hanako Yamada

For a brief moment, a mere fraction of a second, Hanako almost believed that Elyss would really take the attack head on, let it slice her in two, and end it right then, right there. Could it actually be true that this wasn’t just a sick game, a broken mind hungry for chaos and destruction, but someone indeed tired of life, seeking to go out with a bang?

No, it wasn’t at the last possible moment Elyss turned herself away and let her fall, downwards and back to the ground, while Hanako was still being carried upwards. WIth a slight movement of her wrists Hanako changed Bakumusha’s angle and let the momentum turn herself around, so she would be facing her enemy again. At that moment she felt something on her back.

At first she felt nothing serious, a tug upwards, going across her back. Then the pain came, a sharp, burning sensation, following the path of that tug. Almost immediately, Hanako felt something warm and wet trickling down her back and slowly seeping into her clothes. She didn’t need to see the cut, or the sword that was hurtling off into the sky behind her, to know what had happened.

The pain…she needed to fight through it. Fight through it, take it with her and use it. Use it as a weapon. Let it fuel her rage and give her power. She clenched her teeth and forced herself to a grin. But again it wasn’t an amused one, but the terrible and terrifying grin a helpless animal would see shortly before it got eaten by a predator.

Meanwhile Hanako, too, plunged back towards the ground. She shortened the chain once more and with her right hand only she brought Bakumusha into a motion that painted a deadly cross before her, while her armoured left arm was held in front of her. Her eyes were on her target. The movement burned, her back screamed in pain. It flew through her body like liquid fire, but instead of letting it slow her down, she focused on the source of it, on the one that had caused her pain.

When Hanako hit the ground the swinging sword in front of her would rip open the ground, tear apart the stone, dirt…and maybe Elyss.

And on Bakumusha more and more of the small flower buds appeared.

The Big Woman

Hanako Yamada

There was some distance between where Hanako now stood on their battlefield and Elyss. Or where she had been a moment ago. It was unthinkable that she would just stand there and take what was coming. Elyss was strong, yes, but not that strong. It would simply be foolish. Even if some kind of honour would be served by blocking instead of evading. Hanako would understand that, she herself tried to live by a warrior's code. Yet a code and honour was only words, a theory. During combat they meant much less. It was one thing talking about what one would do or not do on the field of battle, or how one behaved in a controlled training situation. Actually being in battle was something totally different. Following some false sense of honour in the wrong moment could mean the difference between life and death. There was also duty. The duty of a Shinigami. Hanako was a Shinigami, even a Vice Captain of the Gotei. Her duties were clear, not only towards the Soul Society in general, but her Division specifically. She led the division, she provided for it…and she protected it. If her people would fight and die at her command, it was only just and right that she was prepared to do the same on their behalf. But not die needlessly, not when it could be avoided. Evading an attack might be seen as cowardly…but if it brought victory, how much would valour in the eyes of the enemy be worth? The task would be complete, the duty satisfied for the moment. There was the real honour.

The question was how much of these concepts would be applicable to Elyss. She was here seemingly without reason, or if so a reason that existed only in her mind. Anything was possible.

Hanako pulled on Bakumusha’s chain, testing if it was loose or maybe stuck in the ground. There was a hard resistance, so probably the latter. That could prove to be a problem, but the question was, where was her opponent?
Some of the dust in the air cleared, lifted and drifted outwards, now obscuring both hanako and Elyss from the view of any spectators. In return Hanako could now see Elyss.

Her eyes widened. What a monster this woman was! Not only had she indeed taken the attack, the full force of it, she hadn’t even released her Zanpakuto, breaking the sealed sword against her Shikai in the process. This madness! This absolute insanity! How could she do something like this? It was absolutely unnecessary, illogical and straight up dumb.
But then again the strength this person possessed. The giant sword was stuck deep in Elyss’ right shoulder, but she was still standing and mocking. And her hand was holding the chain, tugging on it as if testing.

Hanako’s eyes became hard again. Whatever compassion for Elyss she might have felt for a moment there, it was gone again. She suspected what was coming now.

And she was right. The soft tugging on the chain, testing out its strength and connection to Hanako, suddenly turned into a brutal pull, designed to yank Hanako forward, if not her arm straight out of it’s socket. Air cracked and ground broke, spreading even more dust and debris in the air. But Hanako wasn’t yanked forward into Elyss’ outstretched hand. The pull was so powerful it surprised her, even knowing, or at least guessing, what would come, jerking her arm forward and forcing her to make a step forward. But then a short mental command sufficed and Bakumusha’s chain lengthened, taking the pull from Hanako and allowing her to jump back and increase the distance between the two women. The chain was still flying towards Elyss, propelled by the immense strength she had used to pull it, but she could lengthen the chain to three hundred metres, if necessary, and she didn’t need that much.
She saw Elyss falling away from her, the dust beginning to soften her silhouette, partially hiding her, though not as much as the outside world beyond their dome of dust and destruction. It was a neat coincidence.

Hanako wasn’t afraid of fighting up close. She was just very aware of the difference of powers between her and Elyss. She was raw strength, unfathomable and unstoppable. Hanako knew she couldn’t hold a candle to that. But she wasn’t here to show off her impressive skills. She wasn’t in this fight to satisfy Elyss’ sick needs. She was here to defeat her. She was here to fulfil her duty.

“Saku!”

All over the big sword that stuck in Elyss’ right side, the small flower buds opened. Every single one of them and all at once. Little lotus flowers, a deep, beautiful purple, suddenly bloomed on this weapon of death and destruction. It wasn’t as much as there could have been, maybe two thirds, but still quite many.
Immediately after the flowers opened they expelled a large cloud of pollen, like bright yellow dust, expanding to a cloud of roughly 30 metres in an instant.

And then it ignited and exploded in a roaring fireball. While all spectators from the outside could simply see the fireball through the dust that had already been in the air, Hanako could even feel the heat on her skin and had to cover her face with her armoured arm. She herself had only seen Bakumusha’s true ability a few times. Too destructive and too devastating was its effect. And that didn’t only include the explosion.
If Elyss had been still in the middle of it when it went off, she would not only have taken the brunt of the explosion, but also her memory would be altered. In fact this effect would strike her if even the tiniest flame of the explosion touched her. Elyss would forget everything about the dust, the explosion, and the effect that altered her memories itself, leaving only a recollection of the sword and it’s physical combat capabilities. Even the flowers were burned away after the explosion. She would be left singed and burned, hurt by something she’d have no memory of.