Seaside Fight Night: Kanae vs Kokuto

A single match in the Seaside Fight Night didn't provide remotely close to enough information on the Vandenreich's capabilities. Especially as Kanae had left her match with the Natasha woman thoroughly unimpressed. She could not believe such a widespread and large organization could only offer that Quincy. Surely they had more dangerous weapons, she thought.

And so, Captain Nagoshi Kanae registered once again for a Seaside Fight Night exhibition match. The organizers seemed surprised she had returned given her sour mood at the end of her last fight, but they didn't give her any grief over it. They simply accepted her registration and told her she would be matched against a member of the Sternritter, the Vandenreich's military arm, named Kokuto. Evidently this person was lower ranked than Natasha, a fact which annoyed the Captain as she stepped onto the stone pavilion and awaited her new opponent.

Despite his victory against Fuuen, Kokuto still had the desire to fight. So, registering to fight against a...Captain of the Gotei. Hoo boy, this was probably gonna be a rough one. He didn't recognize the name, so, he didn't really have a whole lot to go off of when he went to the pavilion. As he walked out, there were some in the crowd that were far more excited than others. A surprisingly mixed crowd, compared to what he had seen and heard before.

What kind of reputation did this woman have that garnered a rather...less than stellar reaction from everyone else. His expression shifted to one of curiosity as he looked at his opponent. She didn't seem to be a raw strength kind of fighter. She probably was more built for speed, and, given that she was a Shinigami, he had a hunch she was probably good with her sword.

Just to be sure he was prepared, a flash of red energy coiled around him as he activated his Devil Skin, and summoned Rakshasa's Claw in one of his hands.

"'Yo. You're my opponent, huh? What did you do to make the crowd so damn quiet?"

What is that..disgusting...smell? What sort of freak did they pit us against, Kanae?

Good question, thought Kanae as she watched her chosen opponent arrive to the pavilion. She watched in silence as this Kokuto person listened to the mercurial audience and summoned what appeared to be a jagged-edged obsidian sword. Kanae and Tosatsusha knew right away that weapon was no Zanpakuto, ruling out both Shinigami and Arrancar as possible identities. He also didn't have that living stink that was so pervasive among Quincies. So then, what was he...?

"So silly, you shouldn't assume they're whispering about me. You're the strange one, after all. I'm just a simple Shinigami of the Gotei. You're....something else." Clear disdain dripped from every word Kanae spoke. Her confusion about whatever Kokuto is didn't prevent her from believing whatever he is, is disgusting. To put ever further emphasis on her revulsion, Kanae scrunched up her nose as she addressed the man, as if he was giving off some vile odor.

Well, this certainly wasn't going to be a fun match. Kokuto clicked his tongue, lifting the sword onto his shoulder as he looked at her with a curious expression. She hated him so much, but she didn't even know what he was. How sheltered had she been? Demons had infested the world for so long, it was hard to find a single person that didn't know about their advent and control over the Human World.

"Crowd seemed to like me in my last fight. Then again, I was fightin' some prettyboy, so maybe some of that was the ladies goin' nuts for him. But, if you really don't know what I am, I'm a Demon. Reaction's pretty typical, not a lot of people like 'em."

Kokuto sighed softly, readjusting the weapon on his shoulder. He couldn't really blame people for not liking him, most people didn't like demons these days, no matter how much he tried to do for the others in the Vandenreich.

But, if this woman didn't know about demons, and presumably also didn't know about the Fourth World War, or any of the other major events involving them, her disgust was more confusing. Seemed like there was more wrong with her than just good ol' fashioned racism.

"But, if you wanna try and hurt me, you're gonna have to do a lot more than that. Mind tellin' me what division you're the head of anyway, Ms. Captain?"

That explains it then, it's one of those gross things you read about. Tch. Shame we can't kill it. Between this freak and the Quincies, the world really has gone to Hell Kanae.

It wasn't that Kanae disagreed with her Zanpakuto partner, but to her even a creature like this was only a modicum worse than the idiots in Soul Society. All of them deserved to be put to the blade. Still, she couldn't help but marvel at the strangeness of this thing standing before her. Though she had read about them, her knowledge of Demons was still incredibly limited. Kanae wondered if the usual methods of killing would work on it. The prospect of having a new kind of thing to kill, and figuring out all the different ways it could die, was an enjoyable thought for the Captain.

"Fascinating. It speaks like an actual person. I wonder, does it bleed like a person as well?" said Kanae, treating her opponent like the animal she believed him to be. As her violet gaze narrowed on Kokuto, her malevolent spiritual pressure expanded rapidly to the point of whipping up gusts around her. Kanae would show even Demons are prey to a true predator.

"How adorable! You even know about the Gotei. I wonder, were you perhaps taken as an infant and raised in civilization? A successful experiment, perhaps. Of course, a beast raised by people is still a beast. To answer your question, I am Nagoshi Kanae, Captain of the Fourth."

Kokuto had a bad feeling about this one. As she spoke, his expression shifted -- looking more serious, rather than curious. The girl was talking about him like he was some animal, or a test subject in a lab. Admittedly, it was a bit more original than how most others talked about him, but, he had a feeling that it wasn't an act strictly in place for demons. As Kanae unleashed a torrent of violent spiritual power, Kokuto's expression was unchanged.

That was, however, until she announced her division, as well as musing about how he knew about the Gotei. Instead, he started snickering, before eventually escalating into laughter. Lifting the weapon from his shoulder, Kokuto idly spun his sword in a circle at his side. The serious look shifted to a confident grin, and his own spiritual power erupted. Though considerably lesser than hers, the arena inside the barriers immediately began to heat up, akin to walking in a desert.

"Nah, this beast crawled right outta Hell, just to beat your sorry-lookin' ass!"

He would be lying if he wasn't a bit worried. From what he heard, the Fourth Division was designated for combat, not too dissimilarly to the Vandenreich's Sternritter. With that in mind, she probably was one of the strongest people there, outside of their leader.

'Ugh, fuck. Dunno how much of a chance I stand against someone like this, but, let's see if the bite is weaker than the bark.

Kokuto stopped his idle swinging, holding his sword out to her and lightly tilting it up a couple of times, aiming to taunt and goad her into attacking.

'Come and get it, bitch.'

Though such laughter from a mongrel like this creature was annoying to Kanae, she remained unimpressed by his reaction to her goading. Evidently, she thought, this one is not right in the head. This didn't surprise her given the blood in his veins. As he released his own spiritual pressure in response to hers flooding the area, Kanae brought her right hand up to her mouth and feigned a yawn, which seemed to rouse the audience a bit.

"Thank you for giving me a return address for your corpse, creature."

Kanae gazed at Kokuto's casual swinging of his weapon with a look of boredom on her face. The idea of killing something she had never killed before was interesting, but the reality of the situation preventing such murder was a disappointment in this moment. Kokuto's blatantly obvious attempt to goad her into attacking would only prove partially successful as while she didn't rush forward recklessly, Kanae did raise her right hand and point at the demon before making her intention clear "Hadō #4. Byakurai." From the tip of her finger fired a concentrated beam of blue energy on the level only a Captain could manage, which rocketed toward Kokuto at high speed. Being struck by a spell with so much energy packed into it would be highly dangerous.

So, she did have some trash talk in her, after all. At least his goading seemed to be somewhat successful as Kanae lifted a finger, pointing at him. As she did, Kokuto's grin faded, and the idle swinging came to a stop, moving his sword to a more defensive position. From what he knew about Shinigami, there were a few options that they had, swordplay, hand-to-hand, and their own spellcraft.

While he was pretty confident in his ability to handle either melee or ranged combat, he wasn't going to kid himself and say that he could take on a Captain easily. So, as the crimson glow of his Devil Skin brightened once again, Kokuto braced himself as she fired a beam of energy at him. A burst of flames erupted from his hand to aid him as he slipped to the side, quickly avoiding her attack.

Without a moment of time wasted, Kokuto pointed his own finger at Kanae, grinning as he fired a thin, concentrated beam of silver-white flames. It wasn't nearly as powerful as her Byakurai, but it certainly was not something to sneeze at, especially with how hot these flames burned.

"Hmph." uttered Kanae as she watched the demon first dodge her spell then respond with an attack of his own. As his own energy beam careened toward her, she kept her finger raised and fired off a second Byakurai. Their attacks collided midair between them, swiftly erupting into a small and short-lived explosion that gave way to a plume of black smoke. Kanae's visage would be hidden from her foe as the smoke spread between them.

From the smoke on Kokuto's side a handful of azure beams would pierce the vale and pummel his location. Kanae had fired a total of twelve more Byakurai at her target, easily sensing him through the haze of smoke to aim true. Sure he could dodge one, but a dozen? Kanae had her doubts such a feat would prove quite as easy.

Well, she sure didn't seem to be impressed. Tough crowd. He didn't get much of a glimpse before the stage was covered in smoke, but it didn't take a genius to sleuth that out. But, as the smoke clouded his vision, he wasn't going to just sit there and give her time to prepare. With a quick burst of orange flames from his hands, Kokuto surged forward in a burst of speed.

As Kanae released the next flurry of attacks, Kokuto used more bursts of flame to push him from side to side in attempt to dodge -- all the while shifting his sword between hands to do so -- but it wasn't enough, and his Devil Steel was impacted, small cracks forming as the blasts made contact. It didn't stop him though, and he kept pushing forward.

The temper line of the sword began to glow orange as Kokuto lifted it upward. Forgoing creating additional momentum, he suddenly tore the weapon down, striking with force comparable to a tank round. In addition to the slash itself, Kokuto unleashed a thin wave of flames from the sword, intent on burning and melting everything in its path.