[BiTPR2] Renewed Revolution: Spirit World IV

[Frozen_Feet]

So, Jehoel needs to concentrate to keep that attack following its target. Good to know... unfortunately, stopping to make this observation allows Jehoel to catch Niklaus off-guard. There's a sickening crunch as the impact breaks his teeth and jawbone, despite his Blut Vene, and knocks him back by several dozen meters. Yet, when he gets the wind back under his wings, the injury has almost recovered. Niklaus meets Jehoel's eyes for a split of a second, smiling - then, the air quakes as he uses a Reishi platform to leap and accelerate towards the Arrancar, attempting to tackle him and grab him around the waist.

[Dorizzit]

Jehoel isn't used to having his attacks simply shrugged off, and the fraction of a second his confusion lasts gives Niklaus the opening to tackle the powerful Arrancar. Jehoel does have enough time to brace himself against the impact, however, so he only skids back a few feet in the air. He immediately grabs Niklaus by the shoulders and begins trying to dislodge him. Whatever the Quincy is attempting, it isn't what Jehoel wants.

[Frozen_Feet]

Niklaus took his fight to Hueco Mundo for a reason. On Earth, where his body was made of matter and Reishi was sparse, that punch would've ended the fight. There, he was just an old man - a powerful one, yes, but he might've never wholly recovered from even the injuries Margrave caused.

But here, where his body and everything around him is Reishi? Here, he is a beast of God. Still not strong enough to wrestle Jehoel to the ground, unfortunately. But this close, he has other avenues of attack. The iron halo above his head, floating mere inches away from Jehoel, begins spinning. The Arrancar can feel its power pulling at his skin and blood. Niklaus leans against Jehoel, trying to get the halo to make contact and saw through his opponent. Once, Jehoel used a drop of his blood to revitalize Tetsuhiko naito from their injuries. He probably doesn't want Niklaus benefiting from it via Sklaverei.

[5a Violista]

[Hueco Mundo]
Roof of Las Noches
Meanwhile, the Nachfolger Valentina is holding grabs the hand rubbing her throat... with an arm that wasn't there a second ago. Something is off. A halo of blue energy is forming above her. The wings of her Vertrauen are reactivating and flailing against Valentina. The stone below them is being devoured and turned into raw materials to repair her lost leg and arm.

A similar phenomenon is going on around the other three surviving Quincies. It's as if they've been caught in Niklaus's Vollständing somehow, and now mirroring what he just went through.

Valentina might just find herself having to do more than just watch.

[Hueco Mundo]
Roof of Las Noches

Valentina is, at first, confused. What? How? What is happening? She tries to make sense of it. Her grabbed hand lowers and pulls away from herself, so she can see what is going on. "Hey, you shouldn't do that," she says.

With her hand that isn't grabbed, she reaches for her katana. She swings it at the flailing wings (mostly just to push the wings away out of her face), even as she pulls away to give herself more space.

She looks around, and there's now four of these...here. Not including Niklaus, over there with Jehoel. Her heart sinks: she's going to have to deal with these. "Stop," she says, even as her breathing quickens as panic starts to set in. She can't let them interfere with La Primera Espada and that Quincy; alone by himself, he's strong enough. "Make it easy on yourself and just surrender already." She needs to put space between them. Maybe - no...definitely she'll have to reactivate her Resurrección. "Please, stop."

She jerks at her hand to get it away from the quincy's.


Down on the Battlefield

***

[strawberryman]

[Hueco Mundo]
Down, battlefield

Caeyrn notices Demetrio's eyes. He tries to remain neutral, but seeing that proves that even if spirits are no longer completely human, they can be at least...half-human.

Half a human is still human enough. More than some other people he's met before.

The Frenchman gathers Reishi under his feet, and uses the Quincy technique Hirenkyaku to move quickly forward. He stops momentarily Demetrio, and says, "Start to make your way back to regroup." Basically the same thing he's been saying to other Quincies. They're stronger as a group.

Caeyrn moves towards Quidel and watches that Arrancar closely. His Soul-Cutting Shield is at his right hand, and his swordlike crossbow in his left. No armor on yet, though. "What sort of beast are you?" he shouts at the Espada; it's always good to know what kind of dragon you vanquish.

Quidel counters the bala barrage with his own, staring down the new opponent with predatory eyes. "I am no beast." Another ray of light shines on Caeryn, draining his energy slowly but steadily. "I am an Espada. And it would be wise to lay down your arms or leave. Continuing will only lead to your destruction."

[AnimeKid]

[Hueco Mundo]
Las Noches Roof

Jehoel simply watches as Valentina intervenes into the fight, interfering with his opponent's attempt to kill him. The ancient Hollow remains in a sitting position, keeping his leg free of the ground as it regenerates flesh over the bone that had stood exposed mere seconds ago. On his face, a small smile begins to appear, radiating triumph.

The Ground

Isalda does not attempt to block, instead just twisting her body acrobatically out of the way of Kyoki's slash. After a second, she pushes off of her grip on the shield and backflips through the air, landing agilely on the ground. Kyoki may notice that even after only a few moments of contact, Isalda has burned a set of five deep holes in the buckler. It won't matter this time, due to the liquid nature of Kyoki's shield, but her defenses may not prove as effective against Isalda's attacks as they have been in the past.

Across from Kyoki, Isalda grins insanely.

"I was right. This will be fun."

Holding out a hand, Isalda summons a spiral of flames around it. After a moment, the attack explodes into a concentrated lance of white-hot flames towards Kyoki.

Kyoki looks shocked at how Isalda could have managed to do damage to her blood. It was almost inconceivable to her. Luckily a quick shout from Ragunaroku jolted her back to reality as she tried to use a sonido to dodge Isalda's flame lance attack. She then quickly launched her offensive back shooting forth her bloody Needles from the cut in her wrist at her opponent.

[Queen of Thorns]

[SPOILER][Soul Society]
Outside the Commander's office

As Ayaka is on her way through the adjacent Vice-Commander's office, she might notice two out-of-place people there. One of them is very pale, with a green tinge to their skin, wearing a white labcoat, with black hair and mismatched eyes (one is green, the other blue). It is diligently organizing various stacks of papers on the Vice-Commander's desk and writing things down, both on paper and a computer. It is an artificial soul called Lily, who has been doing the bookkeeping and secretary work associated with the Vice-Commander's position while Koutarou has been looking for someone to fill the spot. It will probably help Ayaka get accustomed to her new job and office once her nomination is sealed.

The other person is a humanoid Hollow, roughly the size and shape of a 12-year-old girl, sitting on a chair in a corner. It is one of the (currently) 56 beings collectively known as "Nanashi", or "Nameless". It is dressed very much like a Shinigami, even carrying a zanpakuto in a lacqured black sheath. Its black garb is tied around the waist with a red sash. It waves cheerfully at Ayaka as she passes... maybe. It's hard to tell its emotions through the skull mask. Lily occasionally gives it murderous glances.

Once Ayaka gets out, she might note there's another black-clad humanoid sitting cross-legged just outside the main building doors. It has snakes on each shoulder and its hair is made of snakes of bone. It is utterly still, and someone has encircled it with red & yellow warning tape.

Ayaka stops as she sees the folks in the Vice-Commanders office, giving a friendly, but a bit wary, wave.
"Hello, are you guys helping out around here?"
She asks, instinctively smoothing out her skirts.
"Can I assist in any way?"

[Frozen_Feet]

Ayka fiddling with her skirt doesn't go unnoticed by Lily. The sour look on the artificial soul's face implies it finds Ayaka's attire altogether indecent and unfitting of someone of her rank. Or maybe it's just in a bad mood for entirely unrelated reasons. It's not like anyone has ever seen it in a particularly good mood during its short lifespan. "I am taking care of paperwork left behind by the former Vice-Commander until the time a suitable successor is found, yes", it replies laconically, then nods at Nanashi's direction. "That is only here because no-one thought to order it anywhere else."

"Hi, I don't think we've met before", the small Hollow exclaims, jumping off from its chair and walking to Ayaka, offering its little hand for a shake. "What's your name?"

[Dorizzit]

Hueco Mundo
Roof

Jehoel shows no reaction as Niklaus' assault begins to rip apart his very body. Flakes of skin begin to tear from Jehoel's face as the halo pulls closer, but the ancient Arrancar's expression never wavers. After resisting against Niklaus push forward for a few seconds, Jehoel suddenly pulls back, trying to drag both combatants through an opening Garganta.

Battlefield

Isalda counters the attack by releasing a fan of flames from both hands, incinerating the needles but failing to progress afterwards. Snatching the cross off her wrist, the Quincy snaps it half down the center and generates a pair of pistols which she proceeds to use to launch salvo of shots at Kyoki.

[Frozen_Feet]

[Hueco Mundo]
Roof of Las Noches

The change in direction is so sudden Niklaus doesn't manage to react, and is pulled to the Void with Jehoel.

Meanwhile, the four rejuvenated Nachfolger surround Valentina, each of them having manifested a long lance of light for a weapon. They circle her like hunters might circle cornered prey, looking for an opening to strike at her. Their spread wings are so large and give off so much light that they effectively obscure what's going on beyond their circle from normal sight. Valentina might catch how Jehoel pulls Niklaus through the Garganta, though.

[TherianTheorist]

Soul Society
Headquarters - Bureaucracy

Kaoru sighed, why hadn't someone warned him about this?

As far as he could tell, the Gotei Reservoir was called in just to expedite the slight backup caused by the sudden paperwork increase from recent events which included, but were not limited to; the creation of a new several new squads in only a short period of time, followed by the escape of the 'Hollow King', the opening of peaceful relations with Hueco Mundo, the post of Captain-Commander changing hands twice, and the Soul Society's recent forceful relocation into mortal world.

And that's how he ended up here, ferrying absurdly high stacks of paperwork around the Command Division. This stack in particular was heading the Captain-Commander's desk.

And so, he approached the doors to Ishinomori Koutarou's office, seemingly left open by whoever derived the last stack of papers.

"Hello?" He wasn't sure if the Captain-Commander was actually present on the other side of the stacks of paper that had already arrived. Hopefully he was, or he'd have wasted a perfectly good greeting. "This should be the last of it."

[Kuroimaken]

[Soul Society - Commander's office]

As it turns out, Koutarou had just stepped out of the office for a moment. The laws of comedic timing dictated he return exactly in time to unwittingly give Kaoru a bit of a shock by saying, "You can put those on the corner of the desk over there."

It may, or may not, cause Kaoru to drop the stack entirely.

If he turns to face his Commander, he will find that his countenance looks rather tired. There's an attempt to disguise bags under his eyes, but it's clear he didn't sleep well last night. Such is to be expected from his position from time to time, but the stacks of paperwork are not exactly standard for Koutarou. Even during his time in his previous job, he was envied by many Gotei officers for the swiftness and expediency with which he dealt with the boring part of the job, freeing the two previous Commanders for other duties - his pen was faster than any sword in Soul Society.

So, clearly, something was amiss.

[Draken]

[Hueco Mundo]
(Torahiko and Helena)

Helena burrows into the sand and out of the way o the shots.

"It wouldn't be much of a show of my true abilities either way. I am a healer, not a shock trooper."

How her voice travels clearly past the sand is a mystery, perhaps it simply comes from her aura? Perhaps the briars can talk?

"Well, I suppose I can demonstrate applications of battlefield engineering instead."

Walls of thick, blood-hued thorny vines erupt in a vast ring around Torahiko, growing upwards into a dome. Maybe he is fast enough to flee the structure before it closes.

[TherianTheorist]

[Soul Society - Commander's office]

As it turns out, Koutarou had just stepped out of the office for a moment. The laws of comedic timing dictated he return exactly in time to unwittingly give Kaoru a bit of a shock by saying, "You can put those on the corner of the desk over there."

It may, or may not, cause Kaoru to drop the stack entirely.

If he turns to face his Commander, he will find that his countenance looks rather tired. There's an attempt to disguise bags under his eyes, but it's clear he didn't sleep well last night. Such is to be expected from his position from time to time, but the stacks of paperwork are not exactly standard for Koutarou. Even during his time in his previous job, he was envied by many Gotei officers for the swiftness and expediency with which he dealt with the boring part of the job, freeing the two previous Commanders for other duties - his pen was faster than any sword in Soul Society.

So, clearly, something was amiss.

"Commander Ishinomori!"

Kaoru suddenly turns around to face him, and in the process drops the papers, as comedic probability would predict, scattering them across the surrounding patch of floor. He immediately crouches down to start gathering them, before anything gets stepped on. "I'm so sorry, this is all my fault, they're-" His rapid stream of apologies comes to halt when he registers Koutarou's state. "Are you okay?"

[Hueco Mundo]
(Torahiko and Helena)

Helena burrows into the sand and out of the way of the shots.

"It wouldn't be much of a show of my true abilities either way. I am a healer, not a shock trooper."

How her voice travels clearly past the sand is a mystery, perhaps it simply comes from her aura? Perhaps the briars can talk?

"Well, I suppose I can demonstrate applications of battlefield engineering instead."

Walls of thick, blood-hued thorny vines erupt in a vast ring around Torahiko, growing upwards into a dome. Maybe he is fast enough to flee the structure before it closes.

While the Soldat is rather fast, he couldn't reach the edge while the vines are still low enough to cross. Any impressive leaps he might preform would be mostly horizontal, and he didn't have the ability to walk on air like so many others. Maybe he shouldn't have wasted so much energy in his last evasion?

With moving over the thorns ruled out, the boy switches to considering ways through them. Shooting the plants was presumably ruled out by the failure of such tactics just earlier, and a lack of other weapons on his part put a swift end to that train of thought.

That meant that the dome was successful in it's presumed function of a prison.

Torahiko wanders the borders of the dome, it just felt... anticlimactic.

"If only I had more experince..." He continued, looking to the keychain he holds.

Spoiler: Green sparks shower from his hand.

Show

[Hueco Mundo?]
(Indulgence of Memory Eater)
Monsters dominate the view, windows to the outside world open and close too quickly to see the other side, it's all moving too fast to see. No, that's not quite right, events begin to overlap and warp as conflicting scenes take up the same space, these scenes are all from different places, different times, the backdrops are just so similar that they can no longer be differentiated.

He was looking into the past. The sand here, this was it's '"memory" wasn't it? How may hollows are recorded just here alone, their stories carved into these tiny grains?

Too many to ever watch. It's not like it could help him, either. No matter what the watcher saw, there's no way he couldn't copy their techniques, he didn't have the powers they did, nor did he have the same type of body.

"If only I was as strong as one of those monsters, this wouldn't have happened" The watcher said.
“So you finally admit it?” The commentator replied.
"I can't bring myself to surrender that easily."
“Oh really then, want me to make it harder for you?”
"No."
“Then why not just say it?”
"...Fine, I'll admit it. I'm jealous of the others, Humans, Quincies, Spirits, Hollows, as long as it would let me reach what I'm looking for, I want power like that."

"Once, there was a small monster, who was always chasing after his shadow... An image of monstrous horns.
He chased it through the clouds, and wrapped his claws in lightning... An image of monstrous limbs.
He chased it through the rain, and hardened his scales against the drops... An image of monstrous eyes
He chased it through the sun, and wrapped his fangs in flames... An image of monstrous wings.
He chased it through the fog, and melted away his presence... An image of monstrous talons.
He kept running until he caught his shadow, and swallowed it whole... All reaching for a distant star.
...'To know the world, is to want it' He said." What did they find?

"I understand now." He keeps his guard up for whatever happens next.

"If I'd accepted it before, would I have had a better chance?" He doesn't care who hears him anymore, it's not as if anyone could understand anyway.

[Kuroimaken]

[Soul Society - Commander-General's office]

Koutarou offers a tiring, reassuring smile to Kaoru as he starts to profusely apologize. "You seem surprised to see me in my office. Don't worry, I've made the occasional blunder of dropping paperwork back in the day, too."

Kaoru's question does make him arch an eyebrow, though. "I'm fine. Why do you ask?"

[Dorizzit]

[Las Noches]
Hueco Mundo -> The Wastes

After a few moments, the Garganta spits Jehoel and Niklaus out onto the sands of Hueco Mundo far away from Las Noches. Jehoel uses the impact onto the ground to slither out of Niklaus' grasp, gliding to the top of a nearby dune before landing momentarily in a crouching position. He almost instantaneously rises to his feet, running his fingers through his hair once. Above, lightning rips through the clouded sky, arcing among the clouds. The flashes periodically reveal Jehoel's dispassionate face. Thunder rumbles, but no rain falls yet despite the pitch-black clouds.

"What is power?"

[Frozen_Feet]

Before coming out in public as the leader of the reviwed Zerreißen Himmel Entwicklung, Hein put up a nice front before the other Quincies. He spoke of how they should abandon their differences and work out as one family again, how they should let go of their grudges towards the Shinigami and how violence was never a solution save for against the inhumanity of Hollows. He acted like he really meant it, too.

Of course, Niklaus new from the start that it was an act. Because Hein himself could never let go. Not of his grudges towards the Shinigami, and not of his grudges towards other Quincies who had abandoned his family in their last stand. They say that if you want peace, you should prepare for war, but Niklaus knew Hein wasn't building an army in the shadows for peace. Yet, before the call to war came, he, too, adopted a guise of civility. Serving as Hein's butler when not training the soldiers, living a fairly normal life, a non-violent life.

It was nice, pretending to be part of the world again. Pretending to be one of the innocents, the good guys. Like his dark past was finally behind him. He was a new man, after all, with a new name.

Of course, it couldn't last.

Sometimes, Niklaus hoped Hein would just die. Hein was growing old and frail with age. Niklaus even entertained the thought of murdering him. It would've been easy for him. That way, the call to war would've never come. He could've ended the madness.

But he didn't do it. Because, in the end, that madness was the only thing bringing them together. Him, Hein, all of the soldiers and other Kaiserlich Rössel. And looking at the other Rössel, Niklaus felt they too must've known, even if they never admitted it. The outspoken ideology of ZHE was just a facade. In truth, all the Quincies under their banner were fighting for their own reasons. Kummerows, for their love of Hein and each other. Merkel, to be the knight of her childhood dreams. Akira for the rush of adrenaline. Alpha-1, because their goals coincided her perverse programming. Belenus, because it was a way to get his family together again.

And Niklaus himself, because it let an old soldier to pretend to be a hero one more time.

In the end, Hein did die before seeing the fruits of his own labor. But as Niklaus found his body in the old cathedral, he knew it was too late. The damage was done, there was no stopping the juggernaut they had put in motion anymore. In for a penny, in for a pound.

---

[Somewhere in Hueco Mundo]

Niklaus stands up, folding his wings. It's not a good weather to be flying around. He turns to face Jehoel, somewhat bemused his opponent is asking a question. With a smile, Niklaus shrugs. He could say unifying warring families was power. Or cheating his enemies to fight each other while he pursued another goal was power. Or surprising Jehoel with Hein's cane was power. Or crushing a man's skull with his bare hands was power.

And it would all be besides the point. What power is, is the wrong question. The real question is whether he has power, and whatever power happens to be, this fight will decisively answer that question.

So, Niklaus remanifests his rifle, but this time breaks off the bayonette. It grows into a real sword in his left hand. What remains of the Silber Gewehr reforms into a crossbow and Niklaus shoots a torrent of Heilig Pfeil at Jehoel. Invidually, his arrows aren't much more than bee stings to the mighty Arrancar, but it's not like he has to spare his ammunition - here, in this world, where anything is ammunition to him.

[Dorizzit]

[Hueco Mundo]
The Wastes

Jehoel's face breaks into an approving, hungry grin at Niklaus response to his question.

"Good answer."

He lifts one hand towards the sky. With extraordinary speed, a torrent a water twists from the clouds above and interposes itself between Jehoel, carrying away the the first section of the barrage. By the time the shots can penetrate, Jehoel has vanished. His presence makes itself known a moment later, however, as a deep, crushing Reiatsu permeates the battlefield. Jehoel's raw power beats down on Niklaus like a tidal wave, and the Quincy can feel the terrain shift under his foot as the sands become soaked despite the lack of rain. Jehoel's voice echos down from the sky.

"Power cannot be so easily described. It can take a thousand forms and a million variations. Knowledge is power. Reiryoku is power. Experience is power. Subtlety is power. Even weakness itself can be power, in the right hands. To blind yourself to any form of power is to invite your own death. And no one form of power can ever be so great as to render oneself invincible. Defeat. Death. These are signs of weakness. It only takes one mistake to have everything ripped away from you. You're a warrior; you should understand this truth as much as anyone. Mere survival is a show of power. The strong thrive. The weak die. Even in the soft existence that so much of the Mortal World has become, these principals still ring true. They have simply altered their form.

Put simply: power is earned. True power cannot simply be given. A child with my power would be dead within a year or never accomplish anything, too afraid of their potential to ever achieve it. Power can come to an individual through no effort of their own, but unless they earn it with their own merit it will all fall to nothing in their hands. The lucky simply lose what they were given. The rest die. Power is a mantle. A burning flame that must be ever tended to, lest a single moment of unworthiness let it consume its wielder.

As an individual grows more powerful, the nature of their power will shift to reflect them. Look no further than your own weapon. The released Zanpakuto of Shinigami, or the sealed blades of the Arrancar are no different. You can tell much about an individual from their weapon."

[Frozen_Feet]

Niklaus begins to sink, the ground becoming like quicksand as the invisible downpour soaks it. His aim is shot and he stops firing, unable to track Jehoel as he struggles to regain his footing. He spreads his wings several times, only to fold them back each time, the downward pressure being too high to overcome.

So instead, he uses Hirenkyaku, lifting himself above the roiling landscape. He looks up questioningly, eyes squinting as if to avoid getting water in his eyes. What is the purpose of this speech? Why does his opponent find this necessary for him to hear?

Niklaus finds little point in it. In his view, all are where they are more or less due to whim of God; look close enough and even the strength of a hard-working invidual like himself was made possible by luck at birth. More concern to him is that he can't find his opponent. His sight and sense of smell are made useless by the weather; he has to rely on hearing and feeling movements of Reishi. It would be an ideal opportunity for Jehoel to strike from a dead angle. Niklaus tightens his grip of his Seele Schneider, preparing for exactly that.

[Dorizzit]

[Hueco Mundo]
The Wastes

Despite the opportunity to strike, Jehoel makes his presence obvious. The clouds above swirl into a massive spiral, a consistent corona of lightning illuminating Jehoel's presence in the very center of the contained storm. In his hand, he holds his zanpakuto, extended in front of him and held parallel to the ground. It is not, as Niklaus might have expected, any kind of impressive weapon. A simple knife, the tip cruelly hooked over the dull end of the blade. If Niklaus has ever seen a gutting knife, the shape will be instantly recognizable to him. The thunder roars, but somehow, Jehoel manages to make his voice rise over the cacophony, still speaking in the same measured tone.

"This is the shape of my power. It is not a weapon, and I lack the skill to use it as such. Your rifle, the guns and bows of your soldiers, and the blades of my own: these are the shapes taken by the power of warriors. Focused edges reflecting the might of the bearer, to be used to kill an opponent. You Quincy are not so different from Hollows; both are born to bloodshed, the potential inherent to our very existences. Death at the hands of either is the end of the soul in question, whether exterminated by your arrows or dissolved in a Hollow's gullet. And both end the lives of other thinking beings for reasons thought to be necessary, be it self defense or hunger. By choice or necessity, the life of Hollow and Quincy alike creates warriors, trained to fight and kill their enemies."

The lightning fades, returning all to darkness.

"I. Am. Different."

Mixed in with the slick feeling of Jehoel's reiatsu, Niklaus can feel the first physical rain drops begin to fall from the clouds.

"The spirit weapon, be it zanpakuto or cross, takes the form of a weapon suited to the bearer to give them one more advantage. Another tool they can use to overcome an opponent. Mine has no such use. The only purpose it has is to prepare the corpses of the slaughtered for consumption. For I need no such advantage in combat. I am no warrior. I am a hunter. And there is no power in any world that can render me otherwise. The victory of the warrior is a test of skill. A contest with his opponent. The dominance of the hunter is never in doubt. The only question is whether the prey lives or dies.

By coming here, by facing me, you have made your choice.

Rise. Leviatán."

From the clouds, a silver streak flies to the ground. If Niklaus can track it, he can see it's Jehoel's knife. The instant the zanpakuto impacts the ground, it vanishes into a newly-created pool of water, which ripples briefly as Jehoel himself follows like a bolt of lightning. The water spreads, until a small lake has grown into the melting sands beneath Niklaus. Immediately, the intensity of Jehoel's reiatsu doubles, or even triples, slamming into Niklaus with almost tangible force. At the same time, the clouds above finally open up into the promised storm, sheets of rain collapsing down from above on Niklaus as if the sky itself were falling. With a bestial, echoing roar, Jehoel breaks the surface of the water, barreling towards Niklaus with immense speed and cavernous jaws open.

[Frozen_Feet]

When Niklaus spots Jehoel, he knows he made a mistake. He should've shot Jehoel immediately when the Arrancar was burned on the ground. He had his chance to win then, and he didn't take it. Now, he's fairly sure he can no longer get out alive of all this, even if by some miracle he'll take his opponent down with him.

But it was a good mistake. Because without it, he never would've been pushed to his limits. He never would've seen this. Things would never have gotten this exciting.

Niklaus glances at his weapons. Hmmm, yes, they are weapons of civilization. But they're no longer in civilized lands, are they? Niklaus shrugs and drops them down in the roiling sand. They vanish in a glint of silvery light. Then he lifts his hands up... and claps to Jehoel, his mouth grinning wide. It not audible through the storm, but Jehoel can tell Niklaus is laughing. Their armies are elsewhere, now. They're no longer soldiers of opposing sides. Now, it's personal. Just them, man to man, monster to monster.

It's a good speech. Great intimidation. On some level, Niklaus feels he can sympathize with Jehoel. He's been there too, absolute in his superiority. A hunter of men. A beast of the jungle. It reminds him of the time he put a gun on his temple and pulled the trigger to cow that young soldier.

But Niklaus wouldn't be so quick to declare a hunter's dominance is never in doubt. There's one case where it is contested: when the prey is an apex predator itself. Not that he has a chance to voice that thought. His hat is blown away and he's knocked backwards by the pressure. The rain beats hard on his wings, forcing him to crouch.

And then Leviatan leaps from the waves. Niklaus lets himself turn upside down in the air and jumps straight down a split-second before the mighty jaws close around him. He makes a splash as he shoots into the water, turning around to see the massive serpentine body rushing above him. His wings make it hard to swim, but he surmises that's the least of his problems as he braces for Jehoel's next attack.

[AnimeKid]

Hueco Mundo
Roof

Jehoel shows no reaction as Niklaus' assault begins to rip apart his very body. Flakes of skin begin to tear from Jehoel's face as the halo pulls closer, but the ancient Arrancar's expression never wavers. After resisting against Niklaus push forward for a few seconds, Jehoel suddenly pulls back, trying to drag both combatants through an opening Garganta.

Battlefield

Isalda counters the attack by releasing a fan of flames from both hands, incinerating the needles but failing to progress afterwards. Snatching the cross off her wrist, the Quincy snaps it half down the center and generates a pair of pistols which she proceeds to use to launch salvo of shots at Kyoki.

Kyoki frantically waved her sword around in an attempt to block the shots that were fired at her. Despite how erratic the movements seemed she actually managed to block a good number of them, with only a few striking her. She grit her teeth in slight pain from this foe's ability to somehow manage to get past her blood. Still, the fact of the matter remained that this wasn't working. She needed to end this quickly before she got really hurt. Gripping her blade tightly she spoke the words needed.

"Provoca el final, Ragunaroku!"

With and explosion of reiatsu Kyoki's power grew. A third arm made itself known on her person by her blood ripping out of her shoulder and forming into the limb. A pair of katanas manifest themselves in each free hand. Now she was ready.

"Screech Alpha!

You have no idea what kind of trouble you're in b*tch!

With both their battle cries Kyoki slashed forward with Ragunaroku's original blade, reiatsu gathering around it. The energy takes the form of a deformed dragon-like mouth and then is launched towards her opponent.

[Kuroimaken]

[Soul Society - somewhere in Rukongai]

It's a pretty busy afternoon at the Shirobeko pub. Patrons are shouting loudly and celebrating... nothing in particular, it seems. Most of them are merchants formerly oppressed by the Yi Family criminal syndicate. With them gone and the diminishing space in Soul Society, new business opportunities are emerging - for all of its societal crisis, the Rukon's economy is actually thriving.

Off in a corner, a weary-looking old man puffs on a pipe.

A younger, frazzled man approaches.

"I come from the scarabs. You should know they have the bird."

"Thanks. Sorry you had to come all this way just to tell me that." The old man replies.

"These codes bug me a lot more. Are you ever gonna drop them?"

"Not on your life."

Quick as he appeared, the frazzled young man is gone, and the old man downs another cup of sake.

[TherianTheorist]

[Soul Society - Commander-General's office]

Koutarou offers a tiring, reassuring smile to Kaoru as he starts to profusely apologize. "You seem surprised to see me in my office. Don't worry, I've made the occasional blunder of dropping paperwork back in the day, too."
Kaoru's question does make him arch an eyebrow, though. "I'm fine. Why do you ask?"

"I've never seen you look tired before, so I thought something might be wrong." While he speaks, Kaoru is still doing his best to get the papers back into something resembling a stack, alternating his gaze between Koutarou and the floor.

"Or maybe wrongness is relative, and the amount of paper here is actually the thing that deserves questioning. What do you think?" He picks up his pace, his arms becoming a blur of sleeves and paper. It's hard to tell whether he's being overly serious, or treating this mishap as a game.

[Kuroimaken]

[Soul Society - Commander-General's office]

Koutarou actually seems both mortified and amused by Kaoru's comment.

"You know you've hit rock bottom when you need someone else to worry about your health and productivity both." The young Commander responds.

Well, the previous Commander could afford to delegate his paperwork to me. I would then delegate further down the line if needed... but when I got to the job I almost completely forgot about it...

He does seem to appreciate the effort Kaoru is putting into things, however.

"Kaoru-kun, right? Reservoir division?"

[Dorizzit]

[Hueco Mundo]
The Battlefield

"Too slow, mothaf****!"

Isalda launches herself into the air, flipping upside down. Crossing her wrists, she points both pistols at Kyoki.

"Judgement of Gomorrah!"

Numerous fist sized meteors form in the air around Isalda, quickly launching into a torrent of flaming hail directed at Kyoki.

The Heart of the Storm

Niklaus will find that the water itself is actually only a few feet deep; enough for him to submerge himself, but only just. More interesting is the fact that Jehoel doesn't follow him; the massive blur visible through the surface of the water instead begins circling in the air above, the tremendous fins lining Jehoel's body rippling in an odd motion that apparently allows him to fly. Jehoel lazily traces a full circle around the water, remaining just under the clouds. Lighting falls from the sky, a few bolts even striking Jehoel himself, but none hit the water. For almost a minute, nothing happens.

Then, Jehoel fires a cero from his mouth tracing its way through the center of the lake, bisecting it momentarily with a wide path of glass before the waters fall back into place. Niklaus, if he avoids the Cero itself, will find that the waters have become boiling hot, and the water level has lowered by several feet as steam erupts from the water into a massive cloud, concealing Jehoel and Niklaus both from being seen.

[Frozen_Feet]

Niklaus lies on the bottom of the shallow lake, gazing up, pondering. Then, he grabs the bracelets around his wrists and takes them off. His iron halo stops spinning and sinks. The water around his wings begins to boil as the wings combust in blue flames.

A few seconds later, Jehoel shoots his Cero. A minute passes. Then, a figure leaps out of the steam covering what remains of the lake. No, wait... that's not correct. It's more like the figure is made of the steam, with blue light or flame burning within. It coalesces in a shape of man, looking up to see where Jehoel went.

[Dorizzit]

Jehoel had not initially altered his movement, still circling in the sky in order to acquire a better vantage of the battlefield. When the figure emerges from the steam, however, Jehoel descends, falling from the sky with far more grace than he flew. The titan's landing is almost gentle, and he immediately slides into a coil around a nearby dune before arching his neck to look at the new form in curiosity.

[strawberryman]

[Soul Society]
(Court of Pure White (And more recently, a ton of trees))

A lone senkaimon opens up, on this not remotely busy day, and out of it steps...

Momoka! No doubt, followed by Setsurou. She sighs as a breeze brushes her hair, looking back to her friend (and more).

"...I have to meet with the Commander, and I have another meeting scheduled besides. So... I take my leave." There's a moment where her look implies a silent gratitude underneath her mask, but just as quickly she turns and begins her walk to command.

[Kuroimaken]

[Back to Soul Society]

"Don't worry. I'll bring you takeout later." Setsurou jests back.

And then he heads for... MedLog of all places. wut?