A Daytime Wander (Lerna, Armina)

Brows raised slightly as the Fourth Seat made note of her previous life in the rukongai. One of those huh? She'd certainly met a few types like her. The kind of individual who slew others as easily as she breathed. Always a pain in the ass to work with. Fourth really was full of charmers wasn't it?

"That right? Well I can see how that'd make sense." She hummed, eyes shifting up as she watched the woman charging towards her. At an ....interestingly slow pace. Giving her time to react was she? No, Lerna's eyes narrowed as she focused on the way the woman was moving. Interesting. That veil around her twisted and shifted, forming a bubble around her as that hammer launched itself down. And the instant it made contact, the alcohol promptly flash froze, locking in place, and freezing around the hammer itself.

CLANK!

The sound of ice cracking, but refusing to break as that hammer connected with her armored hand, but barely scratched it. Primarily because the Hammer had been slowed to a stop. Her frozen venom acting like a vice. She'd adjusted the structure so that it simply formed a ring, an once it froze, that ring became a solid struxture rather than just some bubble that would shatter without resistance. And of course, Lerna herself clamped a set of glass-coated claws onto the hammer itself. Both the ice, AND Lerna's own strength keeping that weapon in place.

"Rough matchup." She chimed, pointing her spare claw towards Armina as flamed bloomed at the tip of that claw. Toned down, of course, for the purposes of the spar. "Shakkaho." She recited, before aiming to blast the woman square in the chest with that burst of flame. the actual heat itself toned down, enough to singe at best. Instead, she'd channeled that energy into concussive force, resulting in a loud cracking BANG as the Spell went off. Even if Armina avoided it, the shock of that explosion would ripple outward to try and send the woman flying. Point blank it would definitely daze her something fierce if she was some average division member. But well, Lerna was still holding back. Not being aware of how durable the girl was, she hardly wanted to blow her head off by accident.

That said, she did NOT have an intention of releasing the woman's weapon. Curious to see how they would react to her attempt at disarming them. Would they abandon their weapon? Or would they eat the spell to keep their grip?

Oh?~ This girl seemed as durable as SHE was. A flash of a smile showing across her lips as she TIGHTENED her grip on that weapon. "Not even a step? Pretty unCOOL my guy." She grinned. Venom slashing outward from around her frame as those Chains erupted from the woman's zanpaku'to. Freezing on contact, but still blocking them from coming anywhere near Lerna herself.

Hm? Eyes shifted up when she notice frost creeping from the head of that hammer along her frame. a sort of creeping cold that resisted her movements. Ah, so her Zanpaku'to slowly froze her opponents. A lot more interesting than she thought. "Huh, a Kido type Zanpaku'to eh? Not bad at all." She noted with a sly smile.

CRACK!

That Glass-clawed hand of hers lunged forward to grab Armina by the throat. At full speed. The lines of frost that had been attempting to slow her down were simply powered through with her own, sheer, raw strength. Strength she used to clamp her claws around the woman's neck, since she didn't seem intent on letting go of her weapon, as a smile flashed across her features. "Not even a peep? Cmon girly, don't give me the COLD shoulder~" She cooed to the woman before she viciously wrenched upward. Breaking the Hammer from the ring of ice, and slamming Armina THROUGH the arch that had previously held the woman's hammer, and then straight into the ground in the blink of an eye, intent on cratering the woman into the ground if all went as planned.

Of course, she wasn't unscathed, ripping through that frost still had taken effort. And thin red lines traced where that frost had been covering her. Honestly if it weren't so cold, she'd probably be bleeding from the spots.

"Burning Vines creeping up the tree to Nirvana. Gnashing Teeth bared toward the Five Pillars of Tyranny." She began to chant, steam coiling along her frame as she did so.

That smile of hers widened as she watched Armina peel herself up off the ground. Still silent? Shame, and a bit boring, but well she supposed the girl was just someone who focused on her work. That smile widened all the more as the woman seemed to clock the spell she was chanting. Oh? A shunpo? Now that was something that brought a nice big smile to her face as her eyes darted to track the woman's motions. Huh she really WAS a lot slower than her. So much so that she turned and held a hand out towards Armina the instant that the woman appeared behind her. Not having lost her for a second during the step as that smile of hers widened.

The sudden flurry of chains launched towards her were met. Her body shifted in a vicious blur, lunging into those oncoming chains as she met them halfway, slamming her palms into the icy chains and clamping her fingers around them as they locked around her palms.

Hadō Fifty Five. Tsuzuri Netsukumo 綴砕流 _{(Bound Burning Sky)}

She declared the spell as that burning spirit energy promptly was ripped inward from the air, spiraling around her palms before flooding along the length of the chains. While it's weaker cousin Tsuzuri Raiden was more commonly known for channeling electricity through a medium, this spell operated in similar, grander fashion. A surge of flames racing up the length of the chains towards Armina before erupting in an explosive cloud of burning ash and flames around her, packing CONSIDERABLY more oomf, having seen how well Armina had taken prior attacks. Fully intent on stunning the woman just before her following move.

A shunpo of her own to close the distance midway through the spell. Having torn her glassbound claws from the chains, leaving bloody cracks along the palms, her body was shifted sideways as she aimed to slide in next to the other officer. After all, even using a higher level spell, she didn't imagine that her own Kido would be able to push the woman properly.

Orochitaki 蛇滝 _{(Orochi Current)}

Switching to Hakuda, Lerna turned her back towards Armina and executed a string of back and hook kicks, bulling the woman back along the sand as her Venom coursed along her frame, leaving splashes of that alcoholic poison with every strike, aiming to soak the woman before she followed. One heel rising straight up into the air, that venom flowing up the length of her leg to her heel before she swung it back down into a powerful chopping axe kick. Flexing her reiryoku at the very last moment.

Of course this wasn't the venom from before. It didn't burn and eat through Armina like the other stuff had. Instead, with that flex of spiritual energy, instead it ignited, erupting into a burst of flames so that when that kick struck the Fourth Divison member, the alcoholic fluid would ignite into a wreathe of flames, scorching the woman's body whilst that heel drop aimed to slam her back into the ground.

Takitenka 滝点火 _{(Current Ignition)}

Oh?
The slam of her heel connecting with Arima's palm caused her to perk up. That veil of alcohol coursing down the length of the other woman's arm, but well. She didn't get TOO much time to do much. "Oh you're good to talk now huh? About ti-" WHAM! Being reeled in, Lerna raised up her arms in a guard, eyes staring Armina down as she was thrown and slammed onto her back on the ground. Yea, she was a lot faster, but she wasn't stronger than the woman. She narrowed her eyes for a moment and that glassy armor on her forarms hardened, locking her hands and wrists in place as Armina mounted her. And quite suddenly she was being pummeled into the ground. Narrowing her eyes as those strikes rained down on her.

Thick. Hard. Cracking snaps of knuckles connecting with her armor, and a few punches striking through her guard to slam into her chest or face. But Lerna wasn't just SITTING there. Every time that a punch slipped past her guard, she snapped back. Countering with hard snaps of her clawed fists into Armina. But she didn't go for the face or chest. Instead she snapped quick, sharp punches to the insides of the woman's forearms and biceps. Aiming to bruise and beat the woman's muscle, intent on wearing the woman down as several cracks formed in that glass armor. Blood seeping through slightly. Under normalc circumstances she could take a lot of punishment. But Armina was STRONG. and in Shikai at that. And the cold was making her glass a bit more brittle than normal.

"Oh ya like it hot huh?"

Armina certainly seemed to be enjoying herself. With all those punches at close range, she might not even notice that it wasn't just her chest now. Her fists. Her legs. Every inch of her was now soaked in the alcohol that Lerna's own body constantly produced. And just as Armina's fists were about to slam into her arms once again... she snapped them down. Opening herself up for those punches to connect directly with her face. One hand snapping to the front of Armina's Uniform to grab a handfull of cloth. The other lamped around one of her thighs. Holding her in place as Alcohol SURGED in around them. Swarming around them and forming a bubble around the two of them. Sure, Armina would probably freeze it, but that didn't matter. It was highly flammable, and freezing it just meant more shrapnel once it ignited.

The hand clutched to Armina's chest would tighten, and a single claw would pop up, pointed at the woman's face as a sly smirk as a tight little sphere of flames popped up at her fingertip.

"Shakkaho~"

Unless Armina planned on cutting off her leg, she wouldn't be escaping the blast as Lerna's spell ignited, causing that alcohol to burst into a bright pillar of flames. Of course, it would be QUITE devastating by itself. But Armina's ice would stifle the explosion quite a bit. So rather than potentially doing TREMENDOUS damage to the both of them, It would simply cause a blast of heat and ice shranpel, leaving the two of them in a crater of booze, water, and glassed sand. But nothing that would incapacitate either of them.

And Armina would definitely be able to tell that Lerna had held back.

"Oh."
Oh.

Both Lerna and Sōteiken shared a moment of surprise as rather than just eating the finisher, Armina promptly grabbed her face and locked lips with her, and briefly stunning Lerna. For no other reason than the fact that Lerna had to fight her old instincts, the instincts to clamp her teeth into the other woman's face and rip off a chunk. All the same, her spell fizzled out, properly interrupted. She was being kissed. She was being kissed in a way that frankly she had not been kissed in quite some time.

The veil of venom around them shifted, the smooth surface churning a bit to ...uh... hide this turn of events from the spectators as Lerna's mind attempted to digest the situation. She wasn't exactly familiar with shinigami mating rituals. Had her grabbing the woman's uniform been some sort of signal she put out by accident? Were her taunts suggestive? As far as she knew, she may very well have accidentally put out signals she wasn't aware of. It's not like Asami had really given her a lot of instruction on the subject. Either way, it seemed abundantly clear that Armina was putting the fight on hold. Well that just wasn't gonna do.

HEr grip shifted from the woman's uniform to clamp around Armina's throat. A shift of her hips, pushing the woman up off of the ground and using her grip on the woman's thigh to twist and pin them beneath her, attempting to peel her uh... mouth, off of Armina's as she pulled her head back and pressed down on their throat to give herself a moment. Once she had a moment of freedom she sucked in a bit of air.

"Welp. That is not the kind of surrender move I'm familiar with. As uh, much as I appreciate your interest. You're pretty hot yourself. I'm gonna have to ask you to hold off on that thought until we're not in front of a bunch of our subordinates, yea? Now I think we both know that If I finish my spell, your ass is cooked, if you went and pulled a stunt like that. So, shall we call it my win?" She ventured diplomatically, alleviating a bit of pressure on the woman's throat so they could respond. But she didn't release them.

Nah, she wasn't about to get sucker punched.