Re: Strongest Under Heaven[Rio, Shura]

Mon May 08, 2023 2:42 pm

Strongest Under Heaven[Rio, Shura] - Page 3 H52_ehgfwhvjown

RIO SHIHOIN

"If it's a test of durability you seek, you will find that Tetsumaru's defense is unparalleled."

Rio boldly stated those words it as if it was an immutable fact. She wholeheartedly believe in her Zanpakuto and it's overwhelming capability. In a matter of pride, she would not yield either. She spent her entire life to prove her worth, and as far as she was concerned, losing this battle was not an option. The obsidian chain fell to the ground after it carried out it's intended purpose, settling beside it's wielder in preparation for another form shift. With hammer and shield in hand, Rio softly tilted her head in curiosity.

Noting the increase in spiritual pressure emanating from Hakaishin's blades, the Shihoin woman stepped forward, maintaining an unwavering glare in her golden eyes. A confident grin curved across her lips as she contemplated her next movement. Gathering all four weapons around, Rio would combine them into the shape of a large than average obsidian shield, placing the newly formed defense forward as she beckoned the woman forward. In a contest of offense versus defense, Rio Shihoin would not lose. Firmly believing that as though it were a rule of the universe, she welcomed Shura's challenge.

"Very well. Defense versus offense. Strike at me with everything you have to offer. I shall respond in kind."

SHIELD OF THE SHIHOIN | End Post

Mon May 08, 2023 3:26 pm

TAGS; - here NOTES; - Tenbatsu - 3 Posts Remaining WORDS; - here MUSE; - Strongest Under Heaven

Unparalleled? Was that so? Perhaps it was unparalleled... but if it was, that extended only to those she'd fought against so far, because as far as Shura was concerned that didn't apply to Hakaishin or Shinmetsu Tei. However there was but a single way to actually tell who was correct in this, and it seemed Rio was all too happy to test that theory herself! All four weapons recalled to her side and merged together, the Ultimate Defense against the Ultimate Offense.

As the two squared off, Rio planted herself firmly and accepted the challenge officially, causing Shura's grin to widen. She grasped the chain of her Zanpakuto both hands this time, the two axes resting side-by-side now, before starting their spin once more. Shura's legs moving apart as her stance lowered and prepared itself before launching herself forward. As soon as she got near enough to Rio, she pushed off the ground to throw herself into a spin as well, turning herself into a spinning vortex before the axes themselves were slammed with full force against that obsidian shield.

Techniques in use:

made by RR of DD, steal and i will sentence you to the true death!

Mon May 08, 2023 4:11 pm

RIO SHIHOIN

No more words were offered, no more declarations of victory were proclaimed. All that mattered now was this moment. An otherworldly clash between two offense and defense. Overwhelming force. Immovable Object. Nothing else mattered to Rio at the moment. The surrounding squad members, the expressions of awe, the aggression in Shura's voice. Nothing. In other words, she was in a state of absolute tranquility. Nothing would perturb her, and the only existence that mattered was the zanpakuto held tightly within her grip. Closer, closer, closer...

Shura rushes in with a speed more furious and fervent than before, offering her all to cut down Rio and her shield down in a spinning vortex of relentless fury. To meet her with equal force, Rio would offer the peak of her physical prowess to guide the obsidian shield forward, placing her reiryoku unto the entirety of the shield's construction.

Step after step, she charged forward to push the woman back, as though she were trying to overpower her, aiming to press her further backward. Fortifying her shield as it was, she would doubtless bring everything to bear to show her the gap that exists between them. In order to achieve victory, one must hold an overwhelming sense of belief in oneself. That is what it meant to be the strongest, proving superior again and again until there was undeniable proof of your might.

SHIELD OF THE SHIHOIN | End Post

Mon May 08, 2023 5:28 pm

TAGS; - here NOTES; - Tenbatsu - 2 Posts Remaining WORDS; - here MUSE; - Strongest Under Heaven

In all earnest, it'd probably been months, maybe even years since Shura had to push this hard or go this far in a fight. While her fight against Kanae certainly had her using the Tenbatsu, it ended shortly after that and truthfully it didn't push her. Most of the standard hollows that appeared in the World of the Living had barely the durability to withstand her sealed Zanpakuto, let alone Shikai or Bankai. Outside of the fourth, there were hardly any that could push her like this, whether it was due to them being significantly more powerful or simply too weak to do so.

But that didn't matter, not now. It was strength against strength, a matchup that was even for all involved except the ground beneath their feet that cracked and gave way against the two as they pushed against each other. Each step one took, was a step the other took back, with each gaining minimal ground against the other. Sparks of fury were flung from the impact of the Axe against Shield, and neither were willing to give an inch... for if they did, the other would surely take a mile and then some.

Almost in spite of the dichotomy of the two, the way each reinforced their Zanpakuto's was nearly identical, flooding it with their own Reiatsu to further empower it. Perhaps the only difference was the manner in which each did it, Rio's acting more as a two way system and Shura's acting more like a funnel with no cap... A process that, once started, simply couldn't be stopped.

Techniques in use:

made by RR of DD, steal and i will sentence you to the true death!

Tue May 09, 2023 9:04 pm

RIO SHIHOIN

In a momentous clash where neither woman offered the other any quarter, Rio remained steadfast in her motion. Against the fury of Hakaishin, Tetsumaru remained unbent in the contest of offense and defense, thrumming with spirit power and iron-forged will. Push forward. Press Forward. Go Forward. Never wavering, never stopping for a single moment.

Golden eyes burned with fury as the Shihoin woman kept moving forward, bearing down on the raven-haired woman with the gaze of someone who demanded victory, from herself and her zanpakuto. No matter how it began, Rio fiercely sought to finish it with the ideal definition of might.

Precisely because she finally came to respect the type of will this woman had, she wished to show her where she still needed to go to stand at the top. She wanted to be surrounded by strong division members, yearning for a vision where everyone could grow together equally regardless of their beginnings and origins. She would push all of them, but right now, at this moment, she wished to push Shura. She would not falter. She would not fall!

SHIELD OF THE SHIHOIN | End Post

Wed May 10, 2023 11:31 am

TAGS; - here NOTES; - Tenbatsu - 1 Posts Remaining WORDS; - here MUSE; - Strongest Under Heaven

Why does a Shinigami fight? Is it because of necessity? desire? passion? Because their superiors tell them too? Or was it something rooted deep down within them that drove them to seek ever greater heights? Was it seeing their comrades striving for it? It was a question that most all Shinigami asked themselves at least once in their life, sometimes twice or more... but always at least once.

For the First Born of the Kurata's, it was a desire to be worth something... an intense desire to simply be the best, to be the only thing that was ever required. It was a need that had always fueled her actions, a need to protect the one and only thing that she'd ever come to truly care about that wasn't herself. He was the entire reason she'd even worked to attain her Bankai in the first place, to attain the strength that so few Shinigami ever even had the ability to achieve.

Now she had strength, strength that went beyond the pale of the average Shinigami. Strength that she knew made others envious, strength that inspired those around her to seek greater heights. She'd gone from needing to be inspired, to being the one that inspired, and now the one standing before her was showing her that she wasn't done, she couldn't be done, even with her titanic might there was still yet things she could not budge when bringing her all to bear.

Where her fight against Kanae was one of instinct to fight the strongest... This fight was a different beast all-together. She wasn't fighting because she felt like it was what she should do, nor was she fighting because she thought Rio to be some kind of icon of strength. This was a fight between Warriors, two bastions of power honed through decades, neigh centuries of battle. The drive to keep pushing not just themselves forward, but those around them forward.

Even as Shura felt the throbbing pain that wracked her body from the siphoning of her Reiatsu, she had to ignore it. To give this her all was the only thing that mattered, she had to know if there was truly something out there that she couldn't cut even when she brought her all to bear against it.

Techniques in use:

made by RR of DD, steal and i will sentence you to the true death!

Wed May 10, 2023 4:55 pm

RIO SHIHOIN

Bastion was indeed an apt term to describe these resilient fighters. A tremendous axe of fury clashing against an immovable shield, unbending and unbowed. Though she had never truly questioned the woman's worth to begin with, Rio applauded her effort here. Perhaps, to some small degree, she even felt a sense of kinship. As a woman who spent her entire life proving her worth and defending an entire family, honoring their name when the head of the clan ran away from the responsibility herself, she could understand what it meant to have pride in one's skill, to cry out to the world that "I think, therefore I am."

She was the Shield of the Shihoin, through and through, and even at her deathbed, that would undoubtedly be the mark she left on history, the symbol she embodied in this division, and so on. Shura was wholly capable, easily worth her respect simply by merit of her unyielding spirit - a spirit she could feel through Hakaishin's fury.

Yet, there were some obstacles that would remain, and at this moment, she resolved to be the obstacle she still needed to overcome, one of the pinnacles she ought to reach moving forward. Filled with the iron-forged will and spirit power of it's wielder, Tetsumaru did not yield, did not falter. A soft crack may have shown, but it was quickly rectified within an instant, carried forth by it's master's will. To her, defeat was not an option. This shield was akin to her existence, equal to her overwhelming pride as a member of the Shihoin clan.

SHIELD OF THE SHIHOIN | End Post

Wed May 10, 2023 8:20 pm

TAGS; - here NOTES; - here WORDS; - here MUSE; - Strongest Under Heaven

To give it ones all was what it meant to be a Shinigami... No, it was what being apart of the Fourth Division, The Single Best Squad in the entire history of the Gotei! To give anything less was to mock its very foundation, to mock those that came before, that exist now, that would come in the future. That was a simple fact of life here within the Fourth Division!

"HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Like the sound of a rumbling storm and the boom of thunder Shura let out a near deafening war cry with her final push, pulling her axes back for just a moment before giving one final roaring slam into the Shihoin's shield. The sound of the cracking of thunder erupted outwards with the sharp, nearly blinding flash of light as the axes came full force into the might Tetsumaru. For most the results of the final clash would take several moments to actually be visible, the two warriors no longer locked in a stalemate.

For her part, Shura was launched backwards at the moment of impact, sent hurtling through the air some thirty to fourty meters before she came crashing down into the ground. Like a stone skipped across a lake she bounced several times off the hard and cracked ground, stopped only by one axe being slammed into the ground. However even as she came to a stop against the ground, Shura did not rise from it. But the damage she'd suffered from the resulting clash, and from the siphoning of her Reiatsu, was evident on the pavement she'd been skipped across.

Cuts, scrapes, and gashes littered her frame, yet despite the tremendous pain she was surely in, both hands remained firmly grasping the hilts of her Bankai. In spite of everything, and the pale complexion her skin now had she was clearly not one to want to give in or give up. She was certainly still alive, the fact her bankai was still around was evidence of that all on its own. However even so, Shura's form did begin to rise a few moments after having come to its complete stop slow and shaky as it might've been. Her head, however, did not lift from its tilted position, her hair falling in front of her face to obscure whatever might've still been visible beyond the blood that covered it.

However, beyond this her body did not move, standing tall and defiant as it might've seemed that was its last movement. Whether she was actually conscious, was another question entirely. A question easily answered by any who might've approached her, and the lack of response she gave.

Techniques in use:

made by RR of DD, steal and i will sentence you to the true death!

Wed May 10, 2023 9:29 pm

RIO SHIHOIN

In the midst of the roiling energies that blossomed between the two of them, Rio had remained steadfast until the very end. Each division member found themselves awed by the sight, frozen in place as they witnessed the tumult of iron and fury unfolding before their very eyes. After that destructive whirlwind cleared, Rio emerged. Golden eyes witnessed the woman fighting on until the very end, glimpsed her body brutally skipping far across the barracks.

It was a grisly sight, to be sure, but even at the very end... the Kurata woman stood tall. Even in the face of defeat, her form remained defiant. She was bloodied, battered, bruised, scarred... and yet she remained upright. What else could she offer, then, but her applause? It was a fine showing. She had pushed her well beyond what she actually intended, but that was far from a stain on her pride.

After all, she was a woman who sincerely desired to stand to be a catalyst for improvement to her fellow division members, a symbol of strength that stood beside their captain. There would be no ill will to be found in her mannerisms as Tetsumaru returned to it's sealed state. Rio sheathed her blade, vanishing forward to appear where Shura stood as all the other division members remained speechless. Sparing a stern gaze toward all of them, she simply instructed them to do one thing. Applaud her for her efforts, let her defiant stand have a meaning, and respect her for her performance. Stepping forward, Rio would pat a hand on the woman's shoulders, uttering the words, perhaps, the woman had fought to hear.

"Stand proud, Shura. You proved your worth. I look forward to fighting beside you as my third seat. As reckless as you might be, you pushed on until the very end. And for that, you have my respect. Now then. See to it that she gets healed up, and don't hesitate to give her praise. She certainly earned it."

With that, she walked past the woman, thoroughly entertained by the battle she had participated in today. If Shura was anything to go by, Rio had a great feeling about her division's prospects moving forward.

SHIELD OF THE SHIHOIN | End Post