Seaside Fight Night: Mizu vs Ehefra

MORIKAWA MIZU

In her training Mizu had often been told by some people whoever strikes first is at a huge advantage because they can apply pressure and dictate the action, while others believed allowing your opponent to attack gives you an opportunity to respond and take advantage of them. In theory both sides of the debate had good points, and as a young trainee barely in the Shin'o Academy, Mizu had no clue what would work best in actual battles. With time came experience, and with experience came a better understanding of what to do in practice.

Yet at this moment Mizu was lost on what to do. She had confidence in herself and her Shikai, but she had been caught off guard during reckless attacks before. It didn't help that Ehefra was doing Soul King-knows-what with the strange clock, though she could at least surmise it involved raising her energy level. Having no real way of raising her own power, Mizu finally decided testing the waters was her best course of action. She raised her bladeless weapon and uttered a spell's command "Hadō #58: Tenran - Apply Ice!" From her Zanpakuto a twister was suddenly whipped up and it swiftly expanded outward. The wind was chilling to the point of freezing the ground beneath it, as well as causing chunks of ice to form from moisture in the air within its mighty gust. The wind and ice chunks continued towards Ehefra as Mizu sought to envelop her completely within the spell's clutches.

TAKING IT SERIOUS | END POST

Whew.

A soft sigh escaped Ehefra's lips as she let her whole body relax. She was tired, and as she watched Mizu take that moment to prepare a spell. She wondered what would happen if she just.....stood here. Let the match end. Just take the hit and go down. Ahh..... to be done with this whole thing. At least she was getting good data right? The thought crossed her mind as she saw the collection of spiritual energy. Those sharp eyes of hers weren't focused, but she still saw the shift in the spiritual energy around Mizu just before that freezing air rushed her way.

Right... Ughhhhhhh.... She imagined the effort it would take to beat down this girl in a spell fight. Yea... no.

Her eyes gleamed, and inan instant, those soft glowing hues burned a trail to the side and around that sudden surge of reiryoku. A hirenkyaku aimed to blitz around. But she didn't dodge to set up a spell of her own. In her own, knockout, fuck-ass tired mindset, she beelined straight for Mizu herself. Her eyes narrowing. She shot in, arm cocked back, and another rail formed, waiting for Mizu, she knew this woman was gonna fucking dodge back. IF she went in fast enough, they wouldn't have time to use a defensive spell. And so, Ehefra primed herself, cocking her arm back, waiting until Mizu started to dodge. And then, aiming to suddenly crank up her speed. Her body a blur, using that spell she'd woven to speed herself up, along with her blut, aiming to snag Mizu before she could properly distance herself, and grab the shinigami by her face. And if that succeeded? Any notion of defense would be abandoned. That shikai. A counter spell. Ehefra intended to take whatever damage was necessary as that SHEER monstrous strength of hers, augmented with Blut would be used to try and lift Mizu clean off the ground, and then Ram her face-first into the stadium. With enough force that she HOPED the shinigami would just pass out on the spot.

But. Well.
If that failed, she could always do it again.
Harder.

MORIKAWA MIZU

The miscalculation on Ehefra's part was automatically assuming Mizu would dodge just because she's a spellcaster-type fighter. Unfortunately she had goaded the blond Shinigami into releasing her Zanpakuto, and now there was no need for dodging. Not when I have Shōsenmaru at my side! she thought as the Quincy dodged around her Kidō, evidently aiming to strike at her directly instead of from afar.

When Ehefra neared Mizu's location, the latter waved her blade-less Zanpakuto with a flourish. This caused all the many hundreds of crystal shards that had scattered upon her Shikai releasing to suddenly levitate and spin around her like a vortex of glass. Then, with one more flourish, Mizu surrounded Ehefra, who was aiming to grab her, with crystals and ordered them to crush and eviscerate her from all sides. Most of the rest of the crystals were sent at the Quincy in a torrent of shards meant to both damage and knock her back as well. Mizu had no intention to fight at Ehefra's pace or on her terms.

TAKING IT SERIOUS | END POST

Ah.

So thats what those did.
She had expected some sort of energy attack, when in fact, she was simply smothered by the sudden massive rush of sharp crystal blades. There was a loud, wet crunch as they slammed in from all directions. A loud crash as what few blades that didnt slam into her body promptly plowed into the ground beneath her, causing a sudden surge of dust and debris as Ehefra was promptly snared before she could even reach the woman.

She tasted copper.But she refused to drop. Her eyes set on Mizu as a sudden SPIKE of spiritual energy from the woman ripped outward, flexing her reiryoku to send several of those crystals shooting back out of her body. Her own sheer strength amplified by bloot cracking the crystals as she bulled her way toward Mizu, claws crackling into place over the tips of her fingers as a growl built up in her throat. A burning surge of adrenaline and excitement that pumped through her. She promptly vanished, aiming to rip her arm downwards with all of the strength she could muster. Her own poor reishi absorbption hadn't even been utilized. The claws on the ends of her fingers were her own reiryoku. Aimed to slash down Mizu's front and try to at least land a more solid hit on the woman.

Before that second wave of crystals rushed in.

She was slammed from the front and sent back, skidding across the arena before finally being slammed into the ground by that torrent of crystals. The hot shine of bright pink was matched only by the sudden ghastly spray of red that now littered the ground as Ehefra finally landed on her back. Thin crystal shards littered her body. Stuck between her ribs, in her legs and arms and shoulders. Ehefra.... blinked.... and in a sudden nauseating wave of fatigued she caught herself staring up at the sky, wondering if she hadn't JUSt been leering at the shinigami. It took her a moment to parse as she looked up at her hand, covered in lacerations and a few chunks of crystal embedded in her wrist. Ah... that was.... that was pretty bad.

But she had to get up.

At least that's what went through her mind before her head thumped against the ground.
Passing out as the displays up above promptly marked Ehefra as Knocked out.

MORIKAWA MIZU

Mizu remained confident in her own abilities, though not confident about Ehefra's. She was still unsure of the woman's powers, knowing little about their unique characteristics or efficacy, and so she put her absolute all into this latest attack with her Shikai. Determination coursed through her as she sought to cause enough pain and damage to force Ehefra back or even to surrender, if possible. The Vandenreich Administrator was proving a tenacious fighter in her own right as she pushed through the wave of crystal shards to land a blow with all her might.

Even with all her effort and energy put into stopping Ehefra, the woman still found a way to close the remaining distance between the two and swing her Reishi claws with all her might. Due to having sent out all her crystals, Mizu could not reform her Zanpakuto's blade in time to guard against the woman's blow and so she instead opted to use her only remaining tool: a thin Kidō barrier with her left arm braced behind it. This lackluster barricade proved only successful in preventing her body from being sliced into ribbons as it immediately shattered, sending the force of Ehefra's attack into Mizu's body with little resistance. The power of the blow was enough to knock her off balance and even send her skidding a dozen feet across the dusty stone pavilion.

Gasping desperately after having the wind knocked from her chest, Mizu struggled to pull herself to her feet after being knocked on her rear by Ehefra's ferocious attack. Her left arm screamed in pain and she couldn't be sure it was not broken in one or more places. Despite her vision reddened with pain, Mizu could make out her fallen opponent's form laying on the ground where they clashed and knew she had come out on top. There was no time for celebration however as medical staff rushed the pavilion to ensure Ehefra's safety and check the damage to the arm Mizu found herself clutching. "You really did not hold back on that attack, Kleinmund-san.."

TAKING IT SERIOUS | END POST