Raise Your Spirits [Murasaki, Erika]

There wasn't any more time for fun little quips or comments from Murasaki now, as Erika entered into her own release. As much as she liked talking about all these things, she knew to take things serious when it was time to. If Erika wanted to put it all on the line, Murasaki would do the same thing.

Her eyes followed the woman as she came closer, and as Erika struck out toward her with the sealed katana, she knew exactly how this would go. The invisible nature of the blade hadn't been especially helpful against a woman who knew swords so well, and so rather than accepting this, she simply dropped Hakusenkō, a tactic she'd long since considered to be a valid approach rather than simply being something she had to accept in fights. Of course, even that tactic didn't prevent her from being injured, but it kept her shoulder from being completely impaled. It was just a deep cut, one she would be able to at least work around.

"I guess I gotta put it all on the line, huh? That's fair. I'll show ya somethin' nobody's seen yet, then."

Taking a single deep breath, Murasaki held her blade in both hands, confidently and in a remarkably orthodox stance. If Erika wanted to face her at her fullest potential, then it was only right she match that commitment.

"Renha Kessougen."

With those two words, the world around them changed. The searing flames, the ancient woods, the soaring mountain peaks. The rural Japanese countryside had been all but lost, and in its place was the endless plains of Murasaki's own being. Beneath those blue skies, on a sea of endless green, there was only Murasaki and Erika.

"Make your move, Erika. I'm ready."

So this was to go beyond Bankai. The Shikokai, Tsubaki was the only other person that she personally knew to acquire such a release form as this and Erika had never witnessed that. This was the power beyond her own, she could never acquire this for it was the merging of zanpakuto and shinigami. She was versing a shinigami that was trascendent and so she looked at the sealed sword fondly, hesitation was written on her tanned face while she felt her eyes become a little more wet.

"You're right."

Erika took the sword and let out a small smile. She felt so close to her despite the fact that she wasn't here anymore, dead or alive. Gone but this remained.

"The sword of your predecessor and my mother, the sword of Tsubaki Koezuka. The woman who's Gotei you must surpass."

She closed her eyes while reciting that all too familiar phrase, there was no need to but for this particular sword she had to.

"Forge, draw, rend. Sōtsume Kōshin."

The sword split into two, the sword that embodied her mother's zanpakuto as it glowed with iridescent energy. She took a stance and waited for a moment, resignation in her eyes like she knew the outcome but completely resolved in her next action.

Feet kicking off the ground and her two swords swinging downwards at two different angles at Murasaki's shoulders. Hoshigatawakiri the cuts were mirrored by seven other strikes, a total of sixteen strikes all made with as much resolve and strength that she could muster to eviscerate the captain commander from all angles.

It was powerless against a Shikokai for this brief moment though she felt like she was at an older time, a time when she felt like Erika Koezuka and not Erika Masamune.

Murasaki had felt the nature of Shikokai only once before, when she had finally managed to achieve it. But here, now, when faced with someone else, she realized exactly the level that it placed her at when compared to others. Even despite that, however, it didn't change who she was. It didn't change the respect she had for Erika.

She knew, before Erika even truly moved, that she was coming. She could feel every faint motion she made, the energy moving around her, could sense the speed and the power that she had behind her. Avoiding those slashes would have all too easy like this, but Murasaki knew that would have been disrespectful. She told Erika that she would give this her all, and she wouldn't back down from that. Instead of fleeing, she simply stepped forward to meet Erika, to pass by her and make an attack of her own.

"Kochuu Kyokiri."

It was not nearly so flashy as the Ikkyou Issen, not nearly as overwhelming as the Manmaioroshi. A slash that did not cut even a single hair on Erika's head, which would leave her standing no worse for wear than she had been before Murasaki matched her strike. But, standing behind the woman now, not yet looking toward her, Murasaki took a single deep breath, as the very space around Erika trembled. The air itself had been cut, and for the briefest of moments, there had been nothing but a vacuum surrounding the woman.

Murasaki would not cut down a friend. But she would certainly show just how far she had come, how prepared she was to prove her strength.

Ah, she couldn't respond to such an impressive display of swordsmanship. To rend the world apart around someone with a slash that did not harm a single hair on their head but to cut the very air out of their lungs, no her whole body felt a moment without air, could the blood in her arteries even be oxygenised for a brief moment. She almost wished that Murasaki had cut her somewhere but it would be dishonest to try and say say this technique wasn't far more impressive than any scar the woman could leave on her body.

"I see."

She looked up at the sky for a moment to smile again. So this was the power that she couldn't touch? Shikokai. For a brief moment she wished that she could remain here looking at it just a little longer and maybe try and reach for the Shikokai. What would her zanpakuto look like if she had a true one? What form would it manifest instead of Sokobie, the shallow reflection.

"Well, I suppose your resolve has crushed my own... My ten-thousand swords are your's until I pass and they will not dull, Mura- Captain Kagayaku."

Erika sighed as she said it. It felt surreal to imagine going back to that place but for a moment she was free of grief, bitterness and cynicism. There was no fear for that place or anything really. She just felt satisfied after this fight for the moment and would continue to.

More happy than she'd felt in a long time.

Smiling to herself, Murasaki brought her blade to its sheath, putting the sword away and allowing the endless plains to recede once more into her own being. She turned to face Erika, her cheer still visible as she looked over the woman who she'd asked to join her.

"Just call me Murasaki when it's the two of us. Even if you're my Vice Captain, you're still my friend."

She was glad, at least, to see that Erika was willing to come along. She'd even admit that she appreciated Erika's professionalism, that it was the exact kind of outlook that she'd asked Erika to join for. But she wouldn't be keeping up her end of this friendship, this professional partnership, if she didn't try to keep things chipper and bright. Right?

As the Shikokai disappeared so too did her Sayadoji and the two weapons she held. A little sad that they had lost but it was inevitable really, against that kind of foe. Oh well, she was happy that they had been able to see use again since they represented that woman's legacy.

Looking around though she was a little surprised to see that the fire had been simmered down. No, extinguished and there was a bit of snow around them. It did remind her that Hyorinmaru had still been left to its own devices and must've caused it while they were inside Murasaki's Shikokai. The icy sword quelling the flames and freezing the water in the air while Murasaki's bankai had been absent. How convenient.

"Alright, Murasaki."

She admitted that it was said mostly as a acceptance of their agreement. To acknowledge that was kept her word and was honourable about it, when she said things she meant them.

"Well, I suppose I'll need a shihakusho again. I've grown quite fond of this get-up though. Anyway, we can discuss that later I believe there were still dango to eat, right?"

Erika didn't want to make it clear that she simply adored dango and there was still a teashop a little ways off which had somehow escaped the brutality of their fight.