The Sweet Trap of Work [Kyo, Makoto]

Makoto's plan had been entirely effective, and Kyo flew backward, his whole body recoiling with the force of the blow. Unlike last time, he wasn't quite able to catch himself, and it took a few moments for him to collect himself and stand upright. Anything more complex than that for hakuda likely wouldn't be in his league, and the Kousho had already been about the extent of advanced ability that he had in that field. Kido? His understanding was serviceable, if basic, but he didn't quite think there was much application of that in a fight.

That left only one other shinigami art at present. On one hand, Kyo didn't exactly feel as though he ought to be drawing his sword against a vice captain, but she had told him to use everything he had. To avoid using zanjutsu would have been disobeying orders, and refusing to acknowledge his own growth as a shinigami. So he drew his zanpakuto, taking a deep breath as he did so. After all, he'd yet to reveal to anyone that he'd made this progress. Now was as good as time as any though, wasn't it?

"Here I am! Fuurinkazan!"

The blade in his hand quickly changed its form as Kyo's spiritual energy spiked, the spear rapidly taking shape in his hand as he readied his stance. If she wished for everything he had, then Kyo would give it, and he stepped toward her with new resolve now, spear aimed squarely for her.

After all, Kyo wasn't under any particular illusions that she'd be harmed even by a direct blow.

So he knew the name of his zanpakuto? Well that was unexpected for her, a seated officer possessing their shikai was hardly anything out of the ordinary but it was far more rare to see unseated shinigami that possessed the name of the spirit. She'd have to reciprocate then, it would be rude not to even if it made the gulf between them as wide as it was from the beginning.

"Scatter across the four winds and rejoin to reveal all of creation, Shimensoka."

She pulled the sheathed sword from behind her waist and held it out in front of her. The wakizashi turning into the shape of her own spear, well it seemed that she'd be seeing just how proficient he was with that spear. Around her appeared the four additional hands that idled, perfect replicas of her own ones which held the spear towards him.

On one hand, Kyo had to admit that it was more than a touch daunting to know he was at this point facing a vice captain in shikai. However, that wouldn't stop him from giving this his all, and he began spinning the spear in his hand, body tense and ready to move at a moment's notice. True, he was fairly open to attack right now, but he still had one free hand, and he pointed it toward the vice captain as he spoke, the strain of her previous beatings already somewhat obvious in his voice.

"Passage of light, totality flickers! Hadō 4: Byakurai!"

It wasn't spectacular, particularly as his other hand had still been focused on spinning his zanpakuto, but it was better than nothing, and he was still ready to step away from any imminent danger that came his way. This was easily the most strained Kyo had ever been in a bout, but that was just as well. All of it was just more information on how much more he had to grow.

As he presented the kido spell towards her one of Makoto's generated hands moved in front of her to block it with an open palm. The faint smile on her lips growing as the hand let it burn it with the lightning bolt, she felt the pain like it had struck her own hand but she was not willing to show the feeling of electricity through the phantom hand.

The other three ones moved to strike though, flying towards Kyo like they were ready to barrage him with a flurry of blows. All capable of being conduits for her Hakuda to become four-times as effective and without even needing to move. The power of her Shimensoka was supposedly quite obvious but the power of his Fuurinkazan was not so obvious - it was a name that could mean a lot of things and the name did not always give an idea of what the zanpakuto did.

She'd wait to see what he was planning to do but he prioritised spinning of his zanpakuto. She was expecting it to potentially be a wind-type zanpakuto or something related to spinning it. That much was for certain to her. If she were not here to assess and it was a genuine fight then she'd try to interrupt it properly but she was curious to see what he could do with it.

It certainly didn't surprise Kyo to see that she could so effortlessly dispel the kido he'd cast, but that wasn't his chief concern at present either way. He stepped away from the incoming hands, though he couldn't help but feel as though he was being given more space than he should have been. Either way, he wasn't going to simply give up on the opportunity, and as the end of his spear began to glow, he stopped spinning it, the zanpakuto briefly making a sound as if a gong had been struck.

Well, now he was a bit more prepared, but he didn't imagine that approaching the vice captain was going to be any easier just because he could hit a bit harder now. He returned to his stance once more, spear gripped firmly as his eyes studied Makoto's form, the hands she was controlling, all of it carefully committed to mind. Kyo was an architect, after all, and he watched for any opening or weakness.

Perhaps the hand he'd already struck. If nothing else, he'd already hit it, and the other three were out of place. So he stepped forward again, another basic flash step, and stabbed forward as intensely as he could. Realistically, even with the doubled might of his zanpakuto's strikes, he didn't really think he could match up to the vice captain, but that didn't matter.

"Shide."

As he advanced the hands all exploded, only one was relevant though to the fact that the damaged hand was the only one nearby and so it became a bright ball of white-red flames and exploded as if she had cast a shakkahou in the immediate vicinity. The other three harmlessly exploded where he was previously but Makoto was unfazed by the loss of her shikai's constructs.

She could've reformed them again but the usage of her additional hands wasn't necessary, she wanted to see how he performed wielding that spear. It made a bit more sense, if she had to venture a guess he gained something by spinning the weapon and then did something afterwards but what that entailed was a mystery. So she parried his spear and tried to knock the shaft aside, following through with the spear to try and strike his arm that was wielding the shikai.

Damn it. Kyo grimaced to himself as the hand exploded, feeling the burn of the explosion move over him. However, that wasn't going to stop him, even if it was profoundly painful. He only had so much opportunity to utilize his shikai's ability before he needed to charge it again, and he wasn't going to let that go to waste. As his spear was parried, he was at least able to move his arm enough that Makoto's strike wasn't as severe as it otherwise could have been. It still struck him, however, and he felt blood pour over his arm as his hand was cut open.

That was fine, though, he could work with this, at least for now. He simply gripped his spear more tightly to make up for the blood, and stabbed forward again, despite not having quite enough range. Rather than bother to try and strike with the tip of his spear properly, he simply allowed the built up energy to strike outward, creating a beam of light that, at least for the moment of that stab, radically lengthened his effective reach.

She had demanded his all, so he would give it.

There it was. Makoto was wise enough to be able to determine his effective reach and that she was out of it. He could not advance on her person without having to clash spears but he demonstrated what exactly his shikai did now and as that beam of light shot out she stepped back a couple of metres with shunpo.

"Shide."

Once again four hands materialised in front of her, all in front of the beam of light but incompletely formed by the time that they were impaled by the beam of light so they lacked the same mimicry of her durability 1:1. That was fine though, they were made just to serve as cushioning so that when the beam finally touched her - what was left of it - there was just a small hole in her shihakusho and a light graze visible underneath.

"So that's your power. I am correct that it can only shoot in a straight line?"

Perhaps with training she could anticipate that he might be able to manipulate it better with more practice to accomplish truly devastating maneuvers but he was likely still learning his own strengths and weaknesses with it.

Kyo certainly wasn't pleased with the blood pouring from his hand, but for now, it wasn't much. Pulling off the ribbon that kept his hair in a low ponytail, he wrapped it around his wound, making a tolerable bandage for now.

"That's correct, ma'am!"

Of course, it wasn't the full scope of what his zanpakuto could do, but he hadn't managed to utilize the other boon it offered. Rather than continue to speak, Kyo once more lowered himself into a position ready to move at a moment's notice, muttering the incantation to a kaido under his breath as his free hand moved over the injured one. He'd have liked to start spinning his weapon now, but he couldn't multitask at that level, not yet anyway. That was something to plan for.

For now, all he could do was wait, heal his hand, and watch the vice captain to see what she would try to do, if anything. Even this basic kaido was, after all, part of his full potential. Kyo had no intention of leaving anything unused if he could help it.

Her hands advanced, rushing towards the figure of Kyo with two on each side. Their goal was simple to disrupt the momentary reprieve he had with a flurry of blows aimed at different angles but they were nothing more than a distraction for her to use her shunpo and dash towards him and reach out to try and place two fingers on his sternum.

"Ki - Kiribi"

All at once she'd sent her reiatsu into his system and jumpstarted his soul sleep, the kind of move that would make him a bit stronger and show better results for his kaido but she had placed him on a timer if he couldn't reclaim control of his own body. She had lit the fire and now she wanted to see how he did when he was seeing an increase in his performance in exchange for having it on her timer.