The Man, The Myth, the Teacher [Henrex, Nanashi]

Seeing him unsheathing his blade immediately caused Nanashi’s eyes to widen. A brief moment of confusion before a slow grin spread across her face. Of course, he’d had plenty of reports about her spars after all. Did that mean he felt he would need his weapon?

”I’m glad you’re taking this seriously. It’d suck if you had an excuse if you lost!” she promptly crowed before her body suddenly zigzagged towards him! A sudden dizzying flurry of short ranged shunpo towards his direction. Afterimages of the pink-haired woman closing in on him. No less than three rapid feints executed before she sprang up and THREW her weapon at him! That blade flying towards him at full force!

It really wasn’t anything he couldn’t follow. Naturally. But it WOULD show off her talent. They were short, erratic, not even of a uniform speed. But they seemed effortless! The flurry of perhaps more than fifteen steps all in the span of a second and following that throw of her weapon she finished closing in and swung! Conpressing her own reiryoku along her knuckles in anticipation of potentially striking that sword. Naturally Henrex was hardly gonna go slicing her arm open on purpose, but if he DID block with that blade he’d find his blade struggling to bite as deep as it should!

But no doubt he’d already have known just from reports: Nanashi was Tough as hell even without reinforcing her body.

Nanashi grinned as he flung her weapon to the side, and blinked, surprised when he promptly caught her fist! "HUP!" She called out, twisting to try and sen her fist into the man's wrist while he had a hold of her knuckles. But well, she didn't get much time to see if it carried through as he released her and suddenly unleashed that surge of spiritual energy! The sheer sensation of that energy washing over her was a lot all its own, and as she was sent flying she gritted her teeth and CRACK! She formed a small film of spiritual energy behind her to stop her backwards motion. Promptly just breaking through it before twisting in the air and crouching. A panel of spirit energy forming beneath her feet as she bunched up the muscles in her legs, refusing to even hit the ground before launching herself back at him!

An arm crossed infront of her as those needles sank through her sleeves and into her arm. Biting in, but not getting terribly deep into the flesh before she closed in on the man! But rather than attack, she planted her foot on another spirit platform before vanishing! Another sudden burst of shunpo to scatter a handful of afterimages around him, before skidding to a halt behind him. snapping her fingers, and winking directly at him. "Yōjutsush!" She declared!
But of course she hadn't actually been winking at him. But that sword of hers on the ground opposite of him. Which promptly dissolved into a fine golden dust before promptly taking a new shape. A hammer with a sturdy two-grip handle sticking out of the ground just at his back. Just before pointing at the man with a grin. CRACK! The energy of a Sho promptly was aimed square for the center of the man's chest as Nanashi attempted to shove the man with the incantaionless, nameless Sho spell. Making up for the reduced potency by simply PUMPING a good chunk of spiritual energy into the attack. Enough that the Sho itself had swelle enough to collide with almost Henrex's entire body if it DID connect. On any normal person, they'd have been shoved onto the handle of the weapon and had the wind knocked out of them.

But one that came with a sudden SURGE of Nanashi's spiritual energy that came with the release of her Shikai.

She couldn't help but get pumped! She knew he was holding back. Well aware that he could have just used more strength to stop the slide of his body along the ground. But still, the fact that he was lowering himself down gave a DEEP sense of accomplishment! That even though he was lowering himself so much, she was still managing to surprise and impress him! She didn't care if it was cheap. Every step was a win. Every modicum of accomplishment was another inch she could pull toward her goal!

And as he moved to fling those needles once again, she didn't even block them this time. Gritting her teeth as those needles thumped against her, before she shot towards him! Closing the distance before grinning, and a red glow coursed over her body. "Geki!" She declared, and then there was a THWAP as that repulsive energy flung the needles from her body, firing them in an inaccurate shotgun spray from her chest. A distraction as she shot around him, another flurry of shunpoone way before she suddenly zipped to his opposite side! Faking him out this time as she skidded along the ground, that Hammer now in one hand as she planted her palm into the ground and suddenly a pulse of her spiritual energy coursed along the ground, the sand rippling as it began to swirl inward and collect at her palm. Changing shape in much the same way her Zanpaku'to had! That hammer dissolving as well as it too began to reshape, that gold dust mixing a bit with the sand moving around her as the objects dissolved from their original shapes.

But she wasn't just gonna stand idle.

She suddenly stood up straight, and darkness flashed across her sclera before her spiritual pressure SPIKED once again. But this time, MUCH higher. She got a hefty boost from her Shikai, but this was JUSt as substantial, as a mask burned into existence over her face.
"Annihilation Blast." She growled, grinning behind the mask as she brought both hands up infront of her. Energy suddenly RIPPING inward to spiral toward her joined palms before BLARING out! A cannon of spiritual energy in the form of a cero raging in the man's direction as Nanashi decided to let it rip and use that energy boost she got from her Mask! One that would promptly detonate on impact, causing a sudden vertical plume of sand and flames once it hit.

Nanashi's mask was already peeling away and dissolving when she watched that Cero of hers suddenly jackknife up into the air and roaring into the sky. Her eyes a little wide when she saw that spinning veil of energy that had deflected it! Holy shit that was aweSAH! Her eyes dudenly widened as the Captain suddenly appeared infront of her and swept her legs! A soft GUH Escaping her as er legs were swept from under her! Her head reeling just a little at the display of speed as she found herself in mid-air, falling! Or well, she WOULD have been falling "ACK!" She yelped out as , before she even hit the ground. Henrex grabbed her by the arm and FLUNG her across the arena!

UNLIKE before, she didn't actually stop herself, and in that sudden startled jar from coming down from her Mask boost, she promptly went flying clean through a bench, ripping it clean in half before stumbling another couple meters! Managing to roll to her feet, panting a bit as a gre sharp bits of wood stuck to her. But she brushed them off. The wood leaving a few bloody spots, but nothing that actually seemed to bother Nanashi. She'd slammed through her fair share of wooden or other types of furniture or structure at high speeds before. It had in fact been a very formative time for her!

All the same, she let out a WHEW and flashed Henrex a smile. "Hah, as if you would have let it explode down here." She smirked, but did note maybe she should have toned it back a little. Those twisting forms finally finishing taking their shape. Nanashi thrusting her hands into the mess of sand and golden dust as at long last, the items would take their shapes. Her Zanpaku''to taking the shape of a spear, and that chunk of Sand having hardened and formed into a solid Buckler shield now hefted at her side. A playful smirk flashing across her face as she promptly raised her weapons. Clearly intent on changing up her strategy. If nothing else, her Zanpaku'to certainly seemed to match her unpredictable nature. And well, someone of Henrex's level would clearly notice that the sand was behaving differently since it had taken it's new shape. He'd be able to feel that it was reinforced by Nanashi's spiritual energy.

"Congradulations n surviving the opening act! Are you ready for Round Two?~"

Nanashi smiled from ear to ear as Henrex seemed to relish in the challenge she presented. She was actually pretty ass at wielding qweapons. But thankfully the things produced by her Zanpaku'to felt more like extensions of herself than anything. Well, at least until she got a bit better at fancy moves. But she pushed that thought out of her head and brandished her weapons as she watched his own.... transform? Her eyes widened in surprise, startled by the sight of Henrex's own weapons shifting. Tch, leave it to him to have something so equally cool!

"Less talk, More punching!" She shouted just as Henrex unleashed that strike! If he werne't holding back, she'd have been ended immediately, but as it were, she managed to steel herself and bring that shield to bear. A loud THOCK as that sandstone shield slammed into the incoming blade, redirecting it as she herself CHARGED in! A sudden shunpo to close the distance, before she STABBED forward! Keeping that shield up and jabbing around the weapon. Nothing insane. A few testing stabs at the ankles and then the shoulders. Testing his own defenses while keeping her own up. Definitely a much more defensive attack than one might have expected from her! But this was an attempt to show her skills! Spinning and whipping her spear about! flicking to jar the path of that serpentine blade, all while her shield would be up to protect her as best she could. All culminating into a dizzying buzz of action as she slowly began to speed up her motions!

What started as a few random, tewsting little jabs soon turned into a flurry of stabs, and if she was allowed to ramp up, soon she began to blur, rapid jarring shunpos aggressively used to strafe and shift in and out of range! Admittedly, a bit useless against an opponent who could probably read her moves like a book. But still she poured on the pressure!