Water, Fire, Frost. Fight! (Africastrophe) IV

Joshua let his feet find solid ground once more as the rhino-like Hollow dissipated, scanning their surroundings a moment as well though in his case he was more on the look out for ‘vultures’; other Hollows or combatants that might want to take advantage of the distraction the large Hollow had provided to move in and strike. When no threat immediately jumped out of the dust and debris, Joshua turned his eyes back to Akira as the man spoke up. Akira seemed to have the sum of it, though he did earn a scoff of derision from Joshua at the ‘duty-bound’ comment.
“Seems we agree; this ain’t the place for us to be fightin’. Truth be told, I was gonna suggest as much before our uh...interruption,” the red-haired man said, a strangely lax expression on his face. Granted, it was rare that Joshua dropped his smile for very long even in situations such as this.
“Even if we didn’t have someone dropping motorcycles out of the sky near us, there is plenty else to handle without us needin’ to add to it. Besides, yer doing good work helping contain all this it seems. Call it a truce fer the day?”

SIGURD

END POST | MONEY TALKS

AKIRA TAIRITSU

The motorcycle driving individual wasn’t anywhere to be sighted? Peculiar.

Joshua kept speaking, though truth be told Akira couldn’t deny that there was an element of knowing how his ilk operated. If he acted in accordance to a truce, he’d use his energy and be left for the Gotei to drag him back or in a situation like this, a corpse. There wasn’t anything on his person to indicate being a member of the Vandenreich either. Hrm. A soft smile greeted Joshua, though lifting his overcoat up a bit to rummage around for something.

."Truce sounds rather beneficial, it’ll allow us to gather our Be-Byakurai.”

The fingers behind the overcoat pointed. A sudden surge of blue energy tore straight through the white concealment, a modified version of the ability that if landed wouldn’t focus on a concentrated puncture would but instead traverse the impact area and follow nerves to create spasms! Akira didn’t know the strength of this individual nor did he intend to find out for this moment, hoping this would allow him to gage some baselines.

The change in attitude felt...strange in this situation. He’d been met with cold stoicism at best thus far, bordering on targeted hostility when they’d been dealing with the large Hollow. Granted, if Akira was going to abide by the truce then maybe this was closer to what he’d be like when he wasn’t at cross purposes with someone.

Against a greener combatant, Akira’s feint may have worked. In a different time and place, much the same. Joshua, despite his lackadaisical appearance, was alert and ready. Honestly he was more alert for threats from other directions such as another motorcycle, or maybe someone who try and drop an airplane on them next? This was not the first time though someone had feigned politeness or friendliness and pulled a blade on him though.

Or, well, a bolt of lightning in this case.

Regardless, there was a flicker of motion from Joshua as he moved to the side out of the path of the bolt. Joshua looked off after it a moment, some small part of him hoping to see an enemy struck down that had been sneaking up on him. The rest of his mind knew better, and he let out a sigh as he turned back to Akira.
“Little wonder most don’t bother tryin’ to talk to ya if you go around dragging yer own word through the mud. If you wanted to do this anyway, you should have just put yer cards on the table.” the red haired man said as he took an odd stance, bladepoint trained onto Akira as his sword was held parallel to the ground. He slid his left hand along the blade till it came to the end, fingers following the blade to point at Akira.
“And for what its worth, duty ain’t go shit to do with what follows. I just don’t like people that hurt my friends. Byakurai!”

Joshua didn’t expect his own spell to do any kind of damage; its purpose was to give Akira something else to focus on, even if only for a moment. Joshua launched himself forward, following the path of the spell as he waited to see if Akira blocked the spell or dodged it. By then Joshua would have closed in and launched his attack.

He’d go for Akira’s hands.

A sufficient injury would hinder the man’s ability to use Kidō against him, and if he could succeed in taking one or both of the man’s hands then he’d be much easier to manage. So, if Joshua manage to close the gap would slash at the man’s hands. What he’d found when he went looking indicated that Akira was a Kidō specialist, so he’d have to use his own close quarters combat as quickly and ruthlessly as he could to neutralize it.

AKIRA TAIRITSU

To waste time with idle words as of right now was a death sentence.

Akira’s eyes glimmered lightly at the flicker of Joshua’s speed, an evident superiority in that department which would prove unfortunate for him should it be used. There was a few mutterings as an idle Bakudo spell began forming, a mockery of Blut though it was being combined with something else, a volatile variation of Sokutsui. It was basic combat to disable a Kido practitioners hands, banking of this Shinigami to take little known about him and act on it accordingly.

It was then his body shifted, turning and twisting whilst the overcoat fluttered and a sudden surge of reiatsu flung unseen through the air at the Byakurai! He might notice the strength of it being drastically reduced, words of power being surgically eliminated by an inlayed custom spell. The spell that got him the title of Kido Killer. The sign of it being reduced though didn’t mean it was vanquished, Akira’s blade being grasped by the right hand, midnight blue wrappings imprinting in his skin.

Dammit. He was quick.

Joshua closed the distance with relative ease, blade shifting down to strike at each of those hands and Akira feigned an idea of desperation, raising the left upward to block, whilst the blade dealt with the vastly weakened bolt with a strike. His strength brought him to a knee, though with such distance, Joshua may notice the bubbling of flesh and sizzling of blisters. In an instant of contact, seal meeting blade, did the fiery explosion of a Hadō: Sokatsui which had been inlayed between thin seals. The raw heat and his lack of mastery over inlaying of spells though let it seep and still elicit damage from layers of flesh.

Ouch.

The Sokatsui itself had been modified, blasting out in a destructive crescent tidal wave as it sought to act akin to such motions, rising decently high and in a C like motion before crashing down into the ground below. Akira didn’t know if Joshua was quick enough to survive being entirely incinerated by it but he also didn’t intend to follow through if he was injured, afterall a warzone was occuring. Why would he waste more energy than necessary?

His eyes remained vigilant, looking for signatures as the Vizard muttered through pained hisses, blade close to his mid-section defensively after.

."Your colleague lacked open mindedness, my condolences on her thoughts being lost to the wretched Society that governs all with an iron fist. Forgive me if you have been returned to the Soul Cycle, I truly believe this was due to her shortsightedness and not out of duty..”

“Don’t hide behind other’s actions to justify yer own; you may have gotten a foul hand, but you are still the one who chose the play the cards,” came Joshua’s voice, more than two dozen yards away as the flame and dust of the kido spell ended. He reached up, grabbing his hat and looking at it a moment.
“Damn, I like this hat,” he grumbled aloud, fixing Akira with his gaze and a confident smirk.

Let’s go back for a little context.

Joshua’s blade made contact, but something was wrong. Akira’s blocked the strike, and some part of Joshua’s brain noted the wound that did not match his attack, but more of his senses were tied up in the wave of energy that rushed outwards. That...that was a neat trick, and a concerning one in this moment. The soukatsui rushed out and rose up, a wave of destruction that sought to grab him and wash him out. Joshua’s response was more instinctual than thought out, because there simply wasn’t time for thought. Joshua faded back and down before launching himself straight back with a Shunpo. Even at the speed Joshua could muster, the flames of the spell wrapped around him. Joshua came to a sliding halt out of sight of his opponent for a few moments as the destructive spell ran its course. He was smoking, his clothing damage and several burns on his body. And he was smiling.

His roots from the Rukongai and the old Eleventh Division were showing.

With Akira’s statement, and Joshua’s answer, we find ourselves back in the present. Joshua placed his hat back on his head. Despite standing there with those burns and a close call with much worse injuries, Joshua’s smile stood plain as day on his face. There was something hard in his eyes though, something offended and annoyed that could not entirely overcome his excitement at the fight but also could not be fully suppressed by it.
“I don’t know all yer circumstances, and I don’t need to hear ‘em now. My point is that these are yer actions. You chose to call truce then immediately betray it with a cheap shot.”

Joshua wasn’t going to let Akira get a quiet back and forth so he could set up another trick. Joshua disappeared, using a Shunpo to try and close the distance. This time Joshua aimed to overshoot Akira, appearing behind him in what appeared to be an attempt at an attack. Instead Joshua would attempt to follow Akira’s movement as pivoted to keep Joshua in his line of sight, and he’d go for a quick strike at Akira’s right leg.
“These actions ain’t anyone’s responsibility but yer own.”

SIGURD

END POST | MONEY TALKS

AKIRA TAIRITSU

Wait.

He’s alive?

Akira couldn’t help but be impressed by the speed of Joshua, feeling the burn markings across the forearm which decidedly was painful. This isn’t good. The Shinigami shifted his blade in a slanted position across the chest, left hand raising though about the stomach, guess that was out of the window. He blinked and Joshua was gone.

Fuck.

Then he manifested behind him, bringing a blade down against the left which was successful in nipping the leg a she turned, much faster than Akira can right now physically handle. It was then boss music flared into his mind as something straight out of an anime or manga came to light, a huge figure bringing a sword easily his own side in a brutal full rotational move.

There he is, motorbike man.

."Bakudō #39. Enkōsen!”

He modified the spell as it flared to life, spinning rapidly though decidedly diverting the momentum so upon point of contact it would reflect it in a makeshift parry upward, hoping to divert this brutal kinetic energy upward and catch Sigurd offguard! Regardless though, Akira did find himself physically weaker and even upon impact did it shatter after the modification had either succeeded or failed, bringing him back across the ground with a brutal skidding against the floor below. He was hoping Joshua could retort with a potential opening caused.

Akira hadn’t realized though about the bruised wrist from taking a greatsword into account, causing it to lock up, knee grazing and Joshuas wounding had crippled his ability to navigate at high speeds. Ugh. Handling this affair was going to be one of major caution.

Joshua’s strike found some purchase, which would have been a nice setup for him to continue putting on the pressure. He hadn’t been planning on killing Akira after all. Really he wasn’t even terribly concerned about dragging him in, warrant or not. He’d only intended to rough the man up some since the opportunity had presented itself, at least once Akira had backed out the truce. None of that quite mattered in the face of a armor-clad, greatsword-wielding surprise.

A new card had been dealt to the table.

He’d been closing in for another strike when a new energy arrived on the battlefield, and Sigurd launched his attack. The armored man spared only a handful of words before he attempted to cut both Joshua and Akira in half. Joshua twisted, bringing his own blade up and trying to shift his weight and motion. Joshua managed to interpose his blade between the oncoming one and his own body, using his left arm to reinforce the block. His footing was off though, not to mention the other thing Joshua divined from the strike; this man was more skilled than himself. While Joshua managed to keep himself from getting properly bisected, he felt the hot lines along his forearm and bicep that told him he’d been injured.

Joshua let himself get thrown by the strike, rolling with the momentum of the strike to get some distance between himself and the newly arrived threat.
“Was wondering when the vultures would move in; I take it that was yer bike then?” Joshua asked, glib words as he sighted onto the new enemy. Akira had been caught in the attack as well, thrown further from the looks of it. Odds were high that once Joshua engaged the new enemy Akira would launch another attack to try and catch the both of them. He’d have to account for that.

Beyond their current battlefield, a new and terrifying power descended on the field.

Well, with that card now on the table it wasn’t likely anyone would be paying much attention to this little scuffle.
“Then let’s take this more seriously; Sing in Their Bones, Naru Kōri.”
At the words there was a flutter of energy and Joshua’s Zanpakuto shifted. He didn’t wait for the transformation to finish before he started moving though; Joshua used shunpo and closed the gap with Sigurd again, then held a moment. At an initial gauge Joshua guessed he had about as much strength as the new opponent, but that Sigurd held an advantage in pure skill. He’d have to bank on his speed then to try and create an opening, so he went for this feint; at Joshua closing the distance, he expected Sigurd to react with sudden and targeted violence. He’d aim to redirect the incoming attack with a parry and go for a blow on Sigurd’s arm.

SIGURD

END POST | MONEY TALKS