Sacrificial Lambs to the Slaughter [Safira, Open to 2]

As the large head parted its jaws and unleashed a torrent of emerald flame, Yuuto cover his face with his arms as it was quick to overwhelm the spear, eventually, but briefly, coating him and leaving him riddled with burns, though they were quick to begin repairing. As he moved his arms, he noticed the dragon heads had vanished. Was it just some kind of additional flourish to her attack?

Given the miasma she was quick to set up, it was obvious that she intended to stall them for as long as possible. Either for her compatriots to ensue as much destruction as they were able, or for something else that they had yet to see, he wasn't certain. But, nonetheless, it was certainly a problem.

Then, his head turned up to see the sigil above him. He kept himself ready for whatever may come from it, but froze at what he heard Ouroboros say. Spare half of them? Then, it clicked. There were dozens, potentially hundreds of Shinigami that likely had this same thing over them. Instinctively, Yuuto began to charge electricity throughout his body, ready to move in an instant.

'Stop, Hisakawa.'

The voice of his Zanpakuto Spirit was stern in his head, feeling as if it had a hand on his shoulder to emphasize its words.

'Not now. Their lives cannot be placed in priority.'

He wanted to argue, to scream and curse at his own spirit, to reinforce that all life was sacred. Yet, they both knew that life would continue, that it would find a way. If he left this creature here, far worse would come, and even if he did shift to rescue, there wasn't a guarantee that he could save them all. If nothing else, there was the opportunity to attack and disrupt her before she had the chance to unleash it. Right now, he needed to be decisive and steadfast.

Despite his heart screaming to protect those who couldn't, Yuuto remained focused. One of the three visible rings slowly began to move in front of him, and, with a flash of azure, he shot through it, taking in a deep breath as he fired forward at mach speeds, driven even further by his travel through the ring. However, rather than remain in close proximity, Yuuto aimed a flurry of electrified slashes at her jaw and throat, the attacks coming out in a flash as he sped past her, only breathing again once he had come to a stop by Byakuya's side.

When the first Rikujōkōrō hitting and then the full powered second striking the Arrancar as well, she would be held in place for a while. Since there was no attempt to dodge it, that was a hint to Byakuya and Yuuto that she wouldn’t need to dodge.

With the appearance of the sigils above his head and the other Shinigami around him, Byakuya raised his zanpakuto. “Scatter, Senbonzakura,” the nobleman called out, causing the blade to shred into cherry blossom petals. For weaker people, they would find these difficult to see, but that wouldn’t be a problem here. The petals were immediately on the move, as was Byakuya. He shunpo’d, moving himself away from the sigils to observe how they behaved. Would they follow his movements or could they lock on from a distance? Was there something else they would do?

Either way, his shunpo was accompanied with a swing of his shikai-released hilt. Thousands of petals shooting toward the arrancar in an attempt to shred her where she stood. Where this attack was implemented was on the opposite side of Yuuto’s incoming attack, sending a countless number of petals, each a razor of its own.

In the blink of an eye, Yuuto had slipped away from the sigil overhead, easily avoiding the oncoming beam of energy that tore down from the sky. Despite his focus on the battle in front of him, Yuuto could still sense the chaos around him. Years of refinement and understanding allowed him to pinpoint the energies of the various Shinigami scattered throughout the Seireitei.

Yet, one that roared so loud was of particular note: Hakuyou. From what the Arrancar in front of them said, neither of them could sense a Hollow near the source of that sudden eruption of power. He could, however, sense something else that caused the fire in his eyes to alight with an even deeper hate and rage. The usual gentle and calm voice of the Captain spoke with absolute animosity and venom as the name passed his lips.

"Nagoshi."

He had never trusted her, not from the very moment he saw her. He had been watching her under Murasaki's orders, and while he, infuriatingly, never found any direct evidence that would incriminate her beyond his own suspicions in that time, this was different. There was no possible way this could be a coincidence, Kanae's Bankai, on top of Hakuyou's. He knew that there always had been a serpent in the garden, it was only now that he had any semblance of proof.

The storm above them rumbled and raged, now finally at its full might. Thunder roared and lightning crackled as Yuuto's fingers turned bone-white at how tight he was gripping his sword as he lifted it to the sky. No more testing the waters.

"Bankai, Toriun Ikazuchui."

An explosive torrent of pressure, a bolt of lightning, and the sound of crashing, roaring thunder screamed through the Seireitei as Yuuto was suddenly enveloped by the gold-white light. The four rings behind him doubled in capacity, with half of them immediately drifting toward Byakuya, with Yuuto designating him as the ally, the 'lord' to control half of the rings of his Bankai. The nobleman was one of the few people who knew of his Bankai in any level of intimacy, a secret that was kept even closer than the creature that lived inside him.

The four rings behind the Captain suddenly unleashed a powerful, directed blast of concussive force toward the Arrancar, buffeting the air around them to create a shockwave that sought to blow away the miasma around Safira, as well as to momentarily stun her and deafen her from the sharp sound of a thundercrack.

Moving away from the sigil’s attack was a simple action, a shunpo carrying Byakuya a few feet away as it fired. In that moment, many lives were lost and weaker reiatsu were snuffed out in a single moment. Those lives were not on Byakuya or Yuuto, as far as the nobleman was concerned. An Arrancar was a monster, and Shinigami understood their jobs came with risk. However, that did not mean the needless loss of life did not cause a rise in anger in Byakuya Kuchiki.

In the split second his binds were broken and the explosion occurred, Byakuya’s eyes widened and an instinctive Danku appeared between him in the blast. Though, it would crack and shatter a moment later under the pressure of the Arrancar’s power. That fraction of a moment give Byakuya enough time to shunpo backwards, a single burst of speed taking him as far as he needed to go to avoid the explosion. Once it ended, a second one brought the man right back to the field.

Byakuya only recognized a few of the reiatsu scattered across the battlefield, and even then, he couldn’t quite match them to familiar faces. There were two energies, far off in the Rukongai, that briefly caught his attention, but he refused to divert too much of his focus in that direction. He needed to focus entirely on this battle, especially since this Arrancar had proven herself to be cunning. Safira at least earned the respect of his full attention, despite being just an Arrancar.

The release of Yuuto’s four rings to his control was always an interesting feeling. They reacted differently than his own power, but he had gotten the hang of them in the past, at least when utilizing them with more basic controls. Shunpo’ing backward and creating a good distance between him and Safira, Byakuya put a ring right behind him and another right in front of him. The final two were above his head, but intentionally angled away from him. Byakuya held his zanpakuto in front of him, the tip of his sword aimed at the ground before he let it fall.

“Bankai.” The appearance of two lines of swords going back an innumerable amount of times appeared before they all shattered and created what would be an unlimited number of bladed petals. The reiatsu that both of these men released could overwhelm the area, especially with Safira’s own power mixed into the lot. Without any hesitation, Byakuya immediately took advantage of the rings.

The potency of Byakuya's bankai was increased when the petals flew through all but the one that was behind him. Speed, power, petal amount… all increased and rocketing in three pillars, at three different angles, toward Safira with the intent of shredding the Arrancar and overwhelming her. At the same time, Byakuya erected a sheet of reiryoku, very similar in creation to Danku, within the ring behind him as a way of defending himself with these rather strong enhancements.

A possibility that Yuuto had kept in the back of his mind had come to fruition. The feeling had always nagged at him, but, the reality of it, for a brief moment, made him worried. However, it did not keep him for long. The moment the creature moved, Yuuto's body, charged with electricity, rocketed off, the step that carried him such a great distance sounding akin to the thundercrack that tore through the air mere moments ago. One of the rings that followed him began to shift its position to in front of him, finishing its motion as he arrived at his destination.

"Oh, no you don't."

A quick, deep inhale during his movement, and Yuuto's body appeared behind Safira, a ring now positioned in front of him. But, he didn't dare stop. As the space between them rapidly closed, Yuuto's leg suddenly lashed out with a simple, but powerful kick that carried enough force to level several buildings, made even stronger and faster as it blinked through the ring in front of the Captain.

He had no intention of allowing it to get away, nor control the situation. That kick was fully intended to do as much damage as possible, as well as send her crashing into the ground, back to where she had just dashed away from. With a quick use of Cloud Step, Yuuto pushed himself backwards a bit to get out of range of the miasma and breathe, readying himself to defend and attack once again.

Byakuya would not let this wicked creature find a new area to target more Shinigami with those sigils. Utilizing the combination of his own bankai with the enhancements of Yuuto’s, multiple large streams of petals rushed over the area Safira attempted to run, blocking her path as they collided at a point in the “middle”, and spread out to create a thick wall of sakura blossom blades.

If Yuuto, did indeed succeed in kicking the Arrancar, she would find herself kicked into this massive wall of thousands of knives, where her body would be shredded or she would be stopped by the sheer potent strength of his now enhanced bankai.

Byakuya reached out his hand, utilizing this movement to speed his bankai up even more than they already were, creating an intense rush of pink sakura blossoms as they rocketed around the battlefield. Taking a moment to reposition himself, and the rings of Yuuto's bankai, Byakuya insisted on keeping the same distance between himself and Safira that he had before, closing the extra distance she had created by attempting to flee. And in it all, he remained stoic, observing Safira closely and taking note of her changes in behavior and these...growths.


Gōkei | Round 1 | Complete

As he lashed out, even in that brief moment, he could sense the resistance, as if a magnet was pushing him away, as energy itself feared going near her. As she was sent away, he noticed something as the wall of petals crashed into her -- many of them seemed to bend around her. He wasn't sure how exactly it was happening, but there was no mistaking that something was at play there.

In a flash, Yuuto began closing the distance, but, rather than continue moving, he stopped abruptly, instead raising a hand in front of him. The four rings that traveled behind him suddenly glowed a bright white and blue, shifting their form into a flock of electrified birds. As they scattered, the air was suddenly filled with the sound of crackling. They were quick to surround the forming sphere of petals, reverting to their prior forms after.

As if on cue, thunder rumbled overhead, the darkened sky flashing with light, before white-blue bolts suddenly crashed down, arcing and curving to fit themselves within the rings as they passed through. The lightning surged and screamed as the sphere of blade-petals was electrified, creating an even greater danger not only for when the nobleman's technique finalized, but overall.

He spared no word for the Arrancar's boasting. He could practically taste the woman's pride and self-assuredness. There was always a place for one's pride, but, to combine their strengths, it lead to an even greater fruit blooming with the right care and knowledge.

'How ironic. So much pride, yet refuses to face the idea of death with grace and dignity. The arrogant always end up being cowardly underneath.'