Holy Wings Dipped in Black [Amaranta, Khaana]

The sudden SMASH into the base of the tree was enough to cause the ground to crunch up around them! But surprisingly, the tree still managed to stop them from going clean through! These weren't flimsy buildings from earth after all. these big, hukling things were sturdy, and at least the sheer impact wasn't enough to plow through one. But all the same, The massive structure began to creak.

The sudden flash of the blade connecting with her spear was enough for Khaana to hiss out, narrowing her eyes as that spear suddenly glowed FIERCELY! A sudden blistering energy coursing along it's blade as Amaranta drew her sword back. Only for Khaana to sweepin in and THRUST! The moment that blade was out of the way, she aimed to plow that weapon into the Lioness's side, pinning the woman to the base of the tree as that sword SLAMMED down, crackling into the barrier, which managed to hold up under the strain! That incredible barrier managing to congeal around that blade before concentrating and exploding! A singular line of force. Not the explosive expansion it was normally capable of, but a concentrated spike aimed into the woman's hand, aiming to send that blade FLYING as those wings LUNGED down, aiming to slash down either side of Amaranta's body, those sharp feathers aiming to RACE down either of Amaranta's shoulders, attempting to rip through flesh whilst leaving a series of thick blade-like feathers embedded in the woman's body.

Of course, that expanding barrier meant that Amaranta's fist slammed clean into Khaana's frame. A sudden BURST of force that cracked that armor and caused a sudden GUSH of blood down and over the woman's wrist, as that limb cracked that outter plating. Thanks to her being in her released form, she managed to not simply be punched clean through, but the re was still noticeable damage as Khaana narrowed her eyes and FLARED those wings! Aiming to RAM the woman up the length of the tree. A sudden shunpo aimed up along the surface of the trunk, that sudden burst of movement with her wings aiming to push and carry Amaranta straight up, before WRENCHING, aiming to throw the lioness into one of the massive branches in the canopy, potentially causing some chunks of the wood to rain down.


"Don't look down on me Amaranta! You couldn't face me before without your release. And that lost you our last fight. Or are you keen on an excuse to be put in your place?" She shouted after the woman. Those wings FLARING wide, challenging the Arrancar.

AMARANTA VALERIA | BURNING LIONESS

There was a noticeable shift in ferocity that Amaranta simply couldn't ignore. Incomparable to the last time they fought. An aggression that demanded equal effort lest she find herself defeated before she could mount a more proper offensive. The unrelenting charge carried her through a seemingly endless array of massive spires, forcing the leonine woman to defend herself in preparation for a counterattack. The path of Amaranta's zanpakuto was altered a second time by Khaana's barrier, the resulting clash repelling her blade off of its telegraphed course. No! It was more than that. The barrier functioned as both defensive measure and counterattack! Rebelion was sent flying off into the distance, temporarily leaving the woman without a weapon.

In exchange for drawing contact with her fist, Amaranta wasn't too taken aback by the current course of events, her intent wholly on pushing the woman as far as she could go. Of course, so far, she seemed to be the one pushing her back - quite literally. The sharp protrusions from her feathers didn't dig too deeply into the woman's flesh as a result of the leonine woman manipulating her hierro, but that didn't mean she escaped entirely unscathed. The array of crimson lines opening up across her shoulders and arms were proof of that.

At the end of Khaana's offensive, Amaranta emerged from the wood she temporarily found herself buried under, cracking her neck as she gazed at her opponent high above, offering a bold grin in response to her challenge. Calling her zanpakuto back to her hand, Amaranta pointed at the woman perched at the canopy above the forest, her blade lifted high in the air.

"Don't get ahead of yourself, you damned brat. I wanted to play with you and enjoy my meal a little bit, but if your ready for a swift defeat, then who am I to deny you, huh!? Fan the Flames, Rebelion!"

In that instant, a golden orb of energy swept across the forest of menos, temporarily enveloping her body until it slowly vanished in a flash of golden wisps, revealing her ceaselessly incandescent form. Lowering her body, she kicked off from the ground at a devasting pace, unleashing a large ball of flame from her palms toward Khaana. Naturally, she expected the woman to use her barrier to defend herself, and so, without even pausing for a moment, she vanished and reappeared at the woman's back, positioning her finger forward like a gun.

"Cero Gun!"

An enflamed ray of energy formed at her finger, deployed at high-speed with the intent to strike her in the back if she proved defenseless after her fire attack.

Warcry | END POST

A score. She managed to deal some damage to Amaranta and send the woman flying up and into the Canopy, the Mod soul herself charging up the length of the tree, already intent on meeting her halfway!

That sudden explosive outburst of Reiryoku certainly caused the woman's eyes to narrow in he rbeastlike form. Bracing herself as that sudden explosive wave rippled outward. She gritted her teeth and promptly that Field FLARED around her, wrapping around her body. She knew that Amaranta would be goaded into an attack, and just like clockwork, she watched as that enormous ball of flames suddenly exploded in her direction. IT WAS FAST! She had to brace herself as that powerful surge of spiritual pressure blared out and launched in her direction, crouching down slightly as that field expanded! slamming into that incoming ball of flame as a bubble emerged around her body!

And then she sensed Amaranta behind her. SHIT.

The sudden blare of a Cero from behind caused her to tense up, twisting in time for those attacks to SLAM into her Seraphim Field at the same time! And that field promptly cracked! Plowing through the barrier itself and flooding the inside with that explosive energy, having not expected to take two attacks all at once, Khaana wasn't able to adjust the field strength in time! The tree was ROCKED with that sudden explosive blast! Kicking out chunks of wood and dust as the tree was promptly blown in half! The entire upper half of that massive tree starting to creak! A few loud SNAPS as the branches attached to the canopy gave out, and suddenly started to lean! The upper half of the tree was coming down!

And it was from that dust that Khaana's clawed hand suddenly lunged out. Shunkc of her armored frame not just cracke,d but properly missing as she attempted to CLAMP onto one of the feathers buried in the woman's shoulder. PUSHING that sharp edge deeper into the woman's shoulder before her eyes narrowed.

As a shadow swept across Amaranta's feet. And three of her Living spears promptly erupted from that shadow! Aiming to skewer the Lioness as they burst from the ground as the Spear in Khaana's hand pointed at the Lioness, lighting up along it's length, as if ready to fire one of those concentrated beams. .But instead f a ranged blast, a brilliant blade of energy promptly BURST from the speartip! Extending the range of the weapon and aiming to stab straight into Amaranta's chest. A considerable attack, but hardly anything that would put Amaranta down for good. Especially as that hukling top of the tree came down on them! Forcing Khaana to release her hold on the spears and promptly Shoot off to the side! Launching herself toward the falling Tree with a powerful beat of her wings, riding that upper trunk toward the ground, clearly hoping that Amaranta would be left stuck, so that massive trunk would slam down and swat her toward the ground as Khaana herself crawled around it's length, making sure that she'd land ontop of that falling trunk rather than the other way around!

She was panting, and bleeding profusely from several spots, but that was nothing new. she was constantly being torn open in these fights, and already that flesh shifted, those armor plates moving around to cover up the holes in her frame left by those attacks. Keeping her Reikaku trained on Amaranta, fully expecting another surprise.

AMARANTA VALERIA | BURNING LIONESS

A victorious grin set in against her intense features, but she knew wholeheartedly that those sequence of attacks were enough to subdue her monstrous beast of a boss below. Her theory was proven correct as that titanic hand reached out to grab onto her frame. Possessing nary an intent to let her grab onto her so easily, Amaranta countered that streaking arm with an explosive fist careening toward her clawed hand.

An explosion would accompany the strike as it connected - if it landed successfully - executed with the intent of forcing her further off balance. Of course, regardless of the result, her eyes widened the moment she noticed her secondary offensive from below. Living spears skewered her body with relative ease, eliciting a shit-eating grin from the leonine woman in response.

"Heh! Tricky as always, you damned brat."

Sapphire eyes widened in excitement as she felt the next sequence of Khaana's offensive in the form of an offensive blade through her chest. A considerable attack, indeed, enough so to earn a downpour of blood from her mouth. Yet, the excitement hadn't lessened in the slightest, even as her body was seemingly left at the mercy of the large trunk. Seemingly was the keyword here, though. There was no way in hell she would give the prize of victory over to this woman so easily, not yet!

Lifting her arms upward through physical force alone, spurred on by maddening excitement, Amaranta carried the wood along her frame as though it were little more than a twig. A surprise would come in the form of her swinging that bad boy through the air with her on top of it, catapulting that son of a bitch through the air as she leapt forward, running along its length to meet her head on, opening her maw to form a luminous ray of fire along the outlines of her mouth, releasing another orb of conflagrated energy. Charging ever forward still, her voice booming with endless laughter.

"Dance for me, brat! Come on! I'm not like those hollow below! You can strike me down all you want, but I'll hunt you down until I've conquered my prey!"

Warcry | END POST

That sudden strike to her wrist cause a PANG of tension through her body, wincing as the sudden lunge was deterred, and a sudden spray of flesh and blood was drawn from her limb, right before those blades suddenly erupted from the ground, slicing into Amaranta before she darted away. The sudden swerving of the Tree as it came down serving to hide her as she looked over her shoulder. Sharpening her Reikaki to sense the arrancar suddenly twisting to slam her hands into that falling trunk! The sudden enormous strength of the Arrancar managing to all but stall that falling trunk before she was suddenly racing along it's surface! A snort as she turned in time to spot Amaranta suddenly charging her way. The air around her BUZZING!

She turned and opened her hand in Amaranta's direction, the air suddenly thick with her spiritual pressure, focusing her barrier infront of her, before warping it. The barrier suddenly turning inside out to lunge forward! Surrounding Amaranta in a bubble, a sudden SPIKE of energy as she concentrated and strengthened the barrier! And it was in that moment that thorns would erupt from the spears stuck in Amaranta's body. Those multiple lengths coiling around her body, attempting to lock her in place as they suddenly began to glow! The energy inside of them, which normally would be used in order to fire their beam attack, instead promptly detonated, the Lances suddenly exploding violently from inside of the woman, causing a violent BURST inside of the barrier, as Khaana attempted to set off the lances AND Amaranta's cero within it's confines. OF course, the barrier would crack, and explode. It wouldn't be able to contain that sort of blast for more thana few seconds. But for those few moments, Khaana intended to cook Amaranta in that contained explosion,her wings coiling around her body as that epxlosive force broke through her Seraphim Field, washing over those durable wings, keeping herself anchored as the trunk slowly started to swivel from the force! Spinning slightly as they began to near the ground.

And it was just before that trunk crashed into the ground that Khaana promptly darted, speeding off toward another tree and landing with a half-crash, crouching along the surface of the tree, panting. She had used a tremendous ammount of energy, tch. She always did. It was a struggle to maintain her released form whenever she fought Amaranta. She had to put out so much energy just to match the woman's attacks. But she was so close. She could FEEL it. Even as she felt as if she were close to being completely gassed. She HAD to push herself! Turning her attention to a nearby corpse, she SHOT herself towards the thing and peeled her mouth open, CHOMPING into the flesh and starting to rip away bits of the thing. Her reikaku keeping sharp, knowing that Amaranta was liable to show up, she just needed to replenish a bit of her energy. Hopefully that attack would have been enough to stun her long enough for her to recover!

AMARANTA VALERIA | BURNING LIONESS

Tch! There it was again! That goddamned barrier. The elusive opponents always annoyed her the most. Why couldn't they simply stay in one place and let her hit them? Barriers, veils, cloaks, all of it amused and annoyed her in equal measure. What the hell was it with those bastards, right? Her relentless charge was met by an enclosing barrier. She hadn't even paid any particular heed to the various spikes protruding from the spears, each gouging and tearing through flesh, soundly compromising her hierro. After all, how could one contend with an attack that affected one from the inside?

No one. No one except Amaranta of course! Through sheer physical strength, mania roaring through every fiber of her soul, she attempted to charged forward, aiming to dart through that barrier and strike her again. Those spears would halt her movement enough to avoid the worst case scenario for Khaana as the barrier closed around her. Like an animal being boiled alive in a trap, Amaranta was forced to deal with the heat of her cero and the resulting detonation of those spears stuck within her frame. Even inside the barrier that became a boiling pot of raging energies - she roared with joy, entertained by the battle, by Khaana's ability to think on her feet. Blood poured from her mouth as her lips twisted into a grotesque grin. An expression of a relentless beast given form.

She would not falter. She would not fall. Her body was cast out once the explosions concluded, but rather than fly like a ragdoll, she landed onto the ground, marveling at the grisly wounds and scars on her tall frame. After loosing some crimson-colored spittle from her mouth, the leonine woman grabbed onto another massive spire in the forest, displaying her monstrous strength by lifting it off of the ground as her perquisa quickly alerted her to Khaana's location.

Vanishing and reappearing above, displaying a manic tear of a grin, she swung the large tree upward, kicking it forward with thunderous speed.

"TIMBER!"

Laughing as if every wound she suffered so far was inconsequential, she formed a large flaming sword resembling her zanpakuto. Bloodied, yet unbowed. A heated predator desperately starved for its hunt. She poised her blade in preparation, noting any disturbance in movement as she soared around her, releasing flaming crescents of energy to alter and throw off her concentration.

"Come on now! I'm not gonna let you fill your belly and recover that easily, Princess!"

Warcry | END POST

That manic laughter certainly wasn't a surprise. She knew that Amaranta was one to enjoy this kind of conflict. And as a matter of fact, if the woman was a bit more relentless, she had no doubt she would just be absolutely outclassed. No, to put it more accurately, she WAS being outclassed. Anticipation. Preparation. Strategy. She was clawing at everything she could to possible match Amaranta, and even as she tore into the hollow's flesh, it wasn't enough to bring her back up all the way. She was losing this little contest. That much was clear as Amaranta roared with laughter through her injuries and suddenly Khaana saw that trunk swing in from the side.

Ah. Amaranta really was way too fast. She had been busy eating, and the tree didn't have a spiritual signature. And so that tree hit her dead on. A loud, thundering CRACK as it slammed into her and plowed her clean through the chunk of rock she'd been eating near, slamming her into the ground and coming to a skidding stop.

Fuck.

That hit had rattled her. The blunt force going through her whole body had rattled her pill. It wasn't JUSt her gigai. She'd FELT that. And she shakily pried herself up off ot the ground. Blood spilling from the cracks and gouges in her massive form. She had to reach deep. She had to muster up SOME energy! And so she slammed her hands into the ground, and that shadow SWELLED. An enormous dark spot that consumed the area around her, chewing up the terrain rich in spiritual energy. But rather than forming a Seraphim. That material was pumped into her body. That dark inky mass crawling up her frame, her breath coming in heavy pants as her spiritual pressure began to well up. And that frame STEAMED. Before she finally found her focus. And in that moment, that shadow formed a sphere around her. And then it SHRANK. From being more than fifteen meters across. To suddenly no more than a couple. That sudden increase in density caused a sudden rushing SHOCK of air to tear through the forest!

_{Crk. Krik.}

Cracks slithered across the surface, before finally that tiny ball burst. A sudden gush of black fluid erupting before raining downward in black fleet, hammering the ground as Khaana's form emerged. That same armor, compacted around the same size of her normal form, a return of that feminine frame, this time wreathed in wings stained black.


She finally felt....complete.

AMARANTA VALERIA | BURNING LIONESS

Oh. This was an interesting turn of events. Her body suffered the full brunt of that tree toss, but her body did lay in defeat. No, an entirely different phenomenon unfolded as a shockwave of air roared across the forest. The rise in spiritual pressure did not go ignored. In fact, it only made the leonine woman all the more excited as she rushed forward to approach shadowy sphere that contained her boss. Whereas there once appeared to be a gargantuan frame, her body now appeared as if it had returned to its natural state.

The form Amaranta was most familiar with, albeit with noticeable additions her sapphire eyes began soaking in with each glance. Tilting her head in curiosity, she stepped forward to observe her closer. Was this the product of all that training? Keh, it was almost adorable the way she appeared, a far cry from that monstrous armor she wore moments ago. Already, her mind was shifting through the possible capabilities Khaana now possessed. Holding her flaming sword at the ready, she wasted little time in offering playful commentary.

"Look at you, growing up right before my very eyes. Or would one call this growing down? Heh, hell if I know. How do you feel, Princess? You sure as hell look different."

Warcry | END POST

She couldn't help but smile softly, that thick armor wrapped around her body slowly tightened, a sudden loud HISS escaping her body as steam coiled around her frame. "I'm glad you're impressed. I really don't know if it will make much difference. I'm almost completely out of energy. But I think I have just enough juice in me to send a message." She panted softly, a slight sneer coursing across her lips as s those wings twisted along her frame, dislocating from their sockets and growing in length before giving a powerful PUMP, vanishing from the woman's sight as she closed the distance between herself and Amaranta. One arm cocked back, the armor on her hands compacting into pointed claws before she SLASHED down.

There was no energy. No special effect. Using her own sheer physical strength, she aimed to cleave down and rip a clean line from Amaranta's shoulder down diagonally to her hip, the force from the strike causing a sudden loud BOOM as it cratered the ground. No fancy moves, nothing new. She had only just managed to muster this form. All she could hope to do, was do as much damage as she possibly could before she collapsed.

But she wasn't upset about that.

She wasn't going to win. But she didn't care. Every fiber of her being was alive.

AMARANTA VALERIA | BURNING LIONESS

"Go ahead, then. Give me your best shot."

Amaranta, wounded as she was, felt as though she could go on for hours. The blood that poured from the gaping wounds in her tall frame left her quivering with excitement to continue, yet she remained fully aware of Khaana's condition. Khaana confirmed that she couldn't maintain this form as it was given her grand expenditure of energy, but that was precisely why Amaranta stood there with a challenging grin, arms wide open as she tapped at her belly. It would be a scar of tribute, a celebration of her evolution.

A reminder of this day. Grinning from ear to ear, she felt that cleave cutting deeply through her flesh. From shoulder to hip, a spray of blood gushed like a sanguine fountain, painting the ground in heated shades of crimson. Of course, that didn't mean she was giving her the fight. Not by any measure. She simply welcomed her strike wholeheartedly, wearing a proud expression across her face.

Cocking her own flaming blade upward, she retaliated by leaping forward to return the favor, aiming to cleave her sword across Khaana's frame. Curious to at least sample what this form had to offer in terms of durability. If it had anything to offer yet at all. Either way, she wasn't walking away from this day dissapointed.

Warcry | END POST