Tiger-Crane Strike [Shishiyuki, 4th Division Open]

It was the mark of an exceptional warrior to so turn a damning injury into a counterattack, but simple respect for her opponent did not mean Shishiyuki was willing to cede even a single millimeter in this bout. Rio's efforts had shifted rapidly into grappling, it seemed, which was not an unreasonable approach given the flow of combat. However, as her leg was swept to the side, Shishiyuki did not simply allow it to occur. Rather, she moved her leg willingly with it, her hand shooting to the ground to catch her own weight as she fell. A precarious situation, and Rio was still striking downward.

Hakuda, however, was not the only technique within Shishiyuki's repertoire. The Koizumi family's Mukokyu Ougi, the Breathless Esoterica which required only gestures to be cast alongside martial arts, were well within her grasp. One, in particular, was precisely what she needed. With her one remaining hand, Shishiyuki unleashed the Shimetsukai, and her body began to grow to a heat so intense that even her own body was not exempt from its power. Her captain had not been so severely injured by this spell, but Rio Shihoin was not Elyss Kishimoto.

Even as her body rapidly grew to incendiary temperatures, Shishiyuki was not finished. Her single hand was still free, and she spoke again as her now-outstretched palm angled to face toward Rio.

"Hadō 28: Urin."

A sky-blue burst of energy quickly shot toward the Shihoin, but as it did so it expanded rapidly, taking the form of a large disc as it attempted to slam into her. Of course, Shishiyuki had put herself into an even more precarious situation with all of this effort. Balanced on one hand, maintaining offense instead of trying to gain more proper footing, and with an impact she couldn't simply ignore on the leg Rio had struck.

This was the sort of bout worth talking about. The sort she would not forget.

As expected of an exceptional warrior, Shishiyuki gave her no inch in this duel. Even in a moment where she believed she had secured some measure of an advantage, the tide of battle remained unturned. A loss of balance did not prove Shishiyuki's undoing. If anything, it became a detriment to Rio. In the blink of an eye, the Koizumi's body turned incendiary, transcending the natural temperature beyond what should have been reasonably achieved outside a zanpakuto. No matter how resilient her body was, it was simply unfair to ask her to maintain a decisive hold on Shishiyuki when her hands were already compromised to a degree, to say nothing of the immense heat radiating from this woman's body.

Furthermore, the sequence of her counterattack was unfinished. The free hand remained open. At the single utterance of a spell, a large disc of sky-blue energy expanded outward to slam directly into her body. Momentarily, Rio found herself torn between wanting to press her advantage and push through this repelling force through sheer willpower, but she recognized that the heat would only wear against her body if she persisted in such a single-minded objective. To lose early would be unbecoming of this battle and a dishonor to the woman who had come to assess their division. Reinforced by that single thought alone, Rio focused a significant portion of her strength into the arm that remained locked around Shishiyuki's leg like a vice grip, attempting to swing the woman even as her own body was being pushed back by the force of her Hadō spell.

Whether that proved successful or not, Rio would still be sent back all the same, releasing that grip to allow herself some distance from the other woman. Across her arm and her palm, there were noticeable sears and burn marks trailing lines across her arm. It was a pretty grisly sight, certainly, but Rio paid it little heed. At this moment, the only thing that filled her spirit was the excitement of competition. An incredibly difficult foe stood before her, and she wondered if she could defeat her even now. It was a sensation she longed to experience again, and here she was, standing before the head of the Koizumi who was an exceptional warrior worth her weight in gold. Drawing her blade, pointing it upward to the sky, Rio uttered the release phrase of her zanpakuto.

"Harden... Tetsumaru!"

A single sword transformed into four obsidian blades held together by a chain, each hovering at her back. Rio positioned two above her hands, molding their form into the shape of obsidian sleeves around her arms. The last two remained at her back. With this, at the very least, she could increase her chance of defending against this woman's devastating array of techniques, all while being able to employ some tricks of her own. Turning to face her again, Rio beckoned Shishiyuki to come in for the next attack, a wide curve of a grin against her normally composed features.

"I am thoroughly enjoying this bout. Come, Shishiyuki. I would enjoy nothing less to see even more of your technique in action. The refinement, the training... If I am at all worthy, then show me what else you have to offer!"

It was bold to request such a thing, and that likely didn't make the battle any easier for her, but it was fun. A battle that would remain within her memory long after today. A duel worth a thousand words. One she would not soon forget.

It was perfectly fine, so far as Shishiyuki was concerned, to allow herself to be thrown, taking a moment to correct her stance as she caught herself with her hands. The burns she'd received from Shimetsukai were no small matter for her, and she quickly allowed her body to be overcome by the Suzukaze, much of her spiritual expenditure temporarily used to heal her wounds. It was a temporary measure, but a useful one even so.

Even moreso, she realized, as Rio released her zanpakuto. Things were certainly growing all the more intense. Ought she give this woman her all? Shishiyuki knew that to do so would certainly turn this from a mere uneven match to something far more decisive. And, yet, a worthy opponent had demanded to see what else she could give. Her smile growing, Shishiyuki simply shrugged as her Suzukaze ended, and as she once again returned to her stance, the wings of her shunko, like ever-cresting waves in the sea, shot from her back, filling the air with a far greater spiritual pressure that made one feel as though they might begin to drown.

"So be it."

She stepped toward Rio with one step at her full speed, no intention of anything but a direct assault. That was the nature of Kyokushuretsu Kongou Ken, absolute destruction through extreme violence. The moment she was in range, Shishiyuki's right fist shot toward her opponent with extreme mastery, empowered tremendously by her overwhelming shunko. Then again, and again. A flurry of dozens of blows snapped through the air as each one readied to crush the warrior before her, no longer merely testing but truly fighting.

Hyakumon Senha (百悶千破 - Hundred Agonies, Thousand Breaks).

Every fist carried with it ever-rotating reiryoku, intent on ripping Rio's own energy out from her body upon contact. Such an offensive was one that Shishiyuki did not utilize outside of genuine bouts, simply by merit of how brutal it was. But this foe had requested to see more, and had shown herself a worthy opponent. Anything less than an earnest effort would simply place Rio in the same category as the rest of this subpar successor to the 11th Squad of old, and such was simply not the case.

Rio prepared herself the moment she accepted her terms, honored to know she was worthy of the greater mastery of her technique. Shifting her body forward in preparation, the Shihoin knew that demanding the Koizumi's best surely meant she ought to offer her own in return. As it stood, Tetsumaru's initial release and the full scope of her martial prowess was the ideal path to victory, the sole factor to which she believed she could emerge victorious, and even then, in the face of that mastery, she wasn't entirely sure that would be enough. And yet, that only made it all the more entertaining. Somewhere deep in her soul, her heart burned for the experience a battle of this nature brought.

No longer did her mind reflect on what led to this point. What mattered now was the presence of an incredible opponent. Golden eyes remained poised as Shishiyuki shot forward to envelop her in an all-consuming wave of blows, amplified by the transcendent nature of her shunko. The ferocious violence behind Shishiyuki's next technique was a calamity of no small import, rendering all techniques before now mere child's play in comparison.

Filling the obsidian sleeves with steely reiryoku, Rio shot her fists forward to meet the woman head-on, executing a flurry of strikes in return in a bold attempt to match the pace of Shishiyuki's assault. The ever-rotating flow of her fists ate away at her sleeves with sheer brutality. Rio reformed them every instant they were torn apart, reinforcing them with her energy to avoid her fists and arms being crushed.

Energy was being torn out at an alarming rate. In the face of that assault, she stood firmly, opposing the woman with everything she had to offer. Aiming to match her blow for blow. During the exchange, in an attempt to shift the tide in her favor, she swung her body inward to close the distance, allowing one of the blades at her back to travel in an arc toward her leg, morphing the blade into a chain that sought to temporarily bind her in place. This, naturally, meant the sleeves would be slightly compromised with the repeated devotion of energy through multiple channels, but Rio was wholly prepared for the risk if it meant landing a veritable blow.

Rio's defense was exceptional, but Shishiyuki was not someone who could be stopped by merely "exceptional" defense when she was fighting in earnest. Even as Rio defended with both hands, Shishiyuki had continued to use only her right hand for the entirety of her assault. That proved to have been only more worthwhile a decision as Rio began a counteroffensive, and to bring oneself closer to Shishiyuki in a brawl was inviting disaster.

The 7th's vice captain made no attempt to stop Rio's shikai from locking her in place. No, on the contrary, Shishiyuki allowed herself to be bound down, and a grin cut its way across her face. She might have even made a brief comment, but no, there was no time for words in a real bout. As the flurry from her right hand finished, her left now rocketed toward Rio with force that she doubted many in the Seireitei could match. It would likely have been enough to force even her to step back; that is, if she were not chained in place. Instead, she and Rio were stuck together, and so her opponent was little more than a veritable sandbag as the most extreme technique yet burst forward, empowered to even more intensive heights by the raw power of shunko.

Shokkotsu (蝕骨, "Eroded Bone").

A single blow, a refinement of Ikkotsu utilizing mastery of all the Koizumi family's martial techniques. An expression not simply of Kyokushuretsu Kongou Ken, but of the whole of the Ichibyou Senkuka. Spiritual energy spiraled straight forward, a line of raw force intense enough that it cleaved a line through the earth behind Rio herself. Sheer destructive power intent on overwhelming the opponent, crushing their body from the inside and turning those who could not withstand it into little more than dust; such was the nature of the Shokkotsu.

Shishiyuki's relentless offense exceeded the rate at which Rio could feasibly reinforce her sleeves, forcibly tearing away at her energy reserves like a violent whirlwind. She had exceeded in locking her in place, and that feat should have welcomed some form of celebration, a golden opportunity to throw her off balance and shift the tide of battle in her favor. That would have been ideal. And yet, this battle proved to be no place for ideal results; Shishiyuki simply fashioned the minor impediment on her body into another technique borne of transcendent mastery. Indeed, with them bound together in a manner such as this, an immediate counterattack was practically infeasible.

Of course, Rio accounted for that risk. In the next moment, Shishisyuki's strike would likely ring true, but that didn't mean the Shihoin would simply remain stationary either. Like bolts of lightning sweeping through the air, her arms shot forward in a defensive guard, her body assuming a defensive position in a courageous attempt to withstand the full scope of her attack. What a foolish move that proved to be. Like sheets of paper being torn to shreds of minuscule pieces, the obsidian sleeves that covered her arms were blown away by the spiraling blast of spiritual energy swirling around the Koizumi's fist.

In what could only be described as the sound of shattering glass, the bones and sinew that composed the structure of her arms were shattered on the inside. Those mangled pieces of flesh attached to her sockets could no longer be called arms. Rio simply didn't have the time to evaluate the damage as her body felt a doubled impact from the sheer magnitude of the strike itself. A generous amount of spittle mixing with blood dribbled from her mouth as she stumbled back. Golden eyes held in a daze, shifting between the realm of unconscious and conscious space. No, she could not fall here. Not without one strike. The strength and mastery that came with countless years of refinement - she wanted to challenge it even as her mind faltered and her body crumpled.

Biting her lip enough to draw blood, and by extension, reinforce her current state of consciousness, Rio shot forward, using her mangle pieces of flesh called arms to control the trajectory of her remaining obsidian blades. The chain that held Shishiyuki's body in place, empowered by the remaining particles of her spiritual energy, morphed into a sphere, aiming to entrap her body. The blades that remained at her back subsequently transitioned into a large blade resembling a guillotine, and with a swing of her her entire body, she commanded that blade to drop from above to cut into some portion of Shishiyuki's body.

"Black Iron Maiden: Heavenly Execution, Earthern Burial...!"

A loss was certainly on the horizon, and this was little more than a last-ditch effort to display her tenacity, to strike true and show her one more brilliant display of Rio Shihoin's will. Her division was watching, and even in a defeat, she wanted to embody the symbol of her namesake - Shihoin Aegis.

Shishiyuki respected Rio, certainly. That was why she had utilized her utmost, and it was why she would continue to do so until the very end of this bout. Bound in this jail of onyx, the vice captain took a sharp breath inward and closed her eyes. It wasn't simply that she didn't need to see what she was striking; to rely on her eyesight would have only poisoned her focus on the blow itself.

Reiryoku focused inward, the flow of not only her energy but her shunko shifting around a single hand. The wings of her shunko did not properly shift, but an undoubted vortex of misty energy had manifested around her forearm, her hand hardening with reinforcement upon reinforcement. As the guillotine came down, Shishiyuki's fist flew upward, meeting the blade head-on.

Mukai Hitohira (無悔一片, "Remorseless Single Leaf").

Energy condensed into a single point, all for the purpose of one technique. A strike which was unilateral, decisive in its absolute destructive power. There would not be another blow made in this bout, for Shishiyuki had devoted every fiber of her being, every particle of her reiryoku, into this single impact.

She did not doubt her own victory. But she was not content with allowing this victory to be anything less than her greatest possible effort. It was a matter of pride in herself, a commitment to what she had sworn to do. If the world around her could not match her fists, then she would simply show them how wide a gulf there was between herself and everyone else.

Those of true mettle would see it merely as opportunity. They would, in time, give her all the more reason to grow further.

Repeating that same display of mastery refined to its utmost limit, Shishiyuki once again proved that she was the superior fighter in this bout. For every attack Rio launched, the Koizumi head answered. The calamitous fist met the obsidian guillotine. A final struggle against defeat faltered before otherworldly offense. Shishiyuki's decisive strike promptly ended any further resistance. Since the breadth of her energy had been offered unto that final attack, to say nothing of the maelstroms of energy that tore away at every fiber of her reiryoku, she could no longer maintain her release state. The guillotine blade was shattered, and the sphere collapsed, freeing Shishiyuki from its hold.

Rio's expression danced between prideful disappointment and genuine admiration toward an opponent for a fine duel. Losses were never entirely welcomed affairs, but there was always a silver lining, at least from her perspective, that one could learn even in the bitter taste of defeat. She needed to grow stronger. There was a pinnacle she wanted to reach, a gap she wanted to fill. Greater explosiveness, greater wit, greater technique... she wanted to reach it and a pinnacle stood before her, steeled of spirit and adamant of mind. For her sake, a defeat of this nature was necessary, far more than anyone surrounding her could imagine.

To the observers who watched, Rio simply stood tall, smiling gracefully through blood-colored lips. Every bone in her body longed for the sweet release of rest, but she would deny herself rest until she was either knocked unconscious or this woman walked away from their barracks. No matter what division, her pride would never allow her to fall even in a loss. Even in a state that one might call hideous, she defiantly remained upright through nothing else but sheer force of will.

True fighters fought on until the very end, after all. Shifting her mangled pieces of flesh upward, Rio stood there, prepared to face this woman if she intended to finish the job and ensure her body hit the ground. In reality, though, her body had faltered to the ground, betraying her will. Like an anvil released onto one's shoulders, the pain of forcing her body to remain standing hit her body like a tidal wave. Even so, her golden gaze traveled upward to focus on the raven-haired woman.

"How shameful. Even my best techniques proved ineffective against you. I genuinely wish I could have put on a better display of my own in the face of such prowess. Even so... I had fun. The Seventh are in capable hands. If you welcome my presence in battle again, I will challenge you as many times as necessary until I consider myself an opponent worthy of matching you in combat, Shishiyuki."