Limitations [Solo]

Maybe all of her theoretical scratchings were implausible, maybe on paper it just didn't work out. But when had she ever settled for defeat? Was she really the type of person to give up, now that the going got tough? Straightening her spine, Kiriko hissed through her teeth as a pulled muscle clamored for attention. This certainly wasn't doing her any good. Throwing her efforts into exhausting her body, into pushing past some imaginary line to get better at something she was never equipped to do to begin with. No matter how hard Kiriko trained, there was a true limit to the amount of power she could wield on her own. Her very body limited that power. She would never be the stereotypical Captain, never be the type of person who could strike out and shatter mountains from muscle alone. But she could be something better, something far more deadly.

Hahaue gave no moral support, a noted absence when the Inner Hollow was so used to piping up whenever Kiriko got discouraged. Was that a sign? Did Hahaue really think it so evil of Kiriko to strive for power just to reach her goals? To end a friend's life? It wasn't out of anger, or rage, or hatred. Or even pain. Kiriko had to fight Sakamoto, had to overcome her, and terminate her existence. That was the way of things, part of her duty. When a friend stepped out of line for everyone's sake they had to be pushed back into place. It was not personal in any sense of the word, more devoid of emotion in all actuality. And perhaps that was why Hahaue was so upset with her, letting her silence speak where she knew her voice could never really penetrate. Aneue would have been giddy with joy, had the sword spirit been talking to her. Pleased to no end that they were finally going to take “revenge” against the one person who had so shamefully beaten her in an honest battle. Maybe it was good that she was gone then, that Aneue had receded into oblivion. Kiriko wasn't sure she could have put up with that goading right now.

Exhaling with precision she felt her body realign and the tension flow from her rigid stance. To reach perfection she had to put aside all of these issues. To swat them away like the little buzzing mosquitoes that they were. Lock them away in their place. Hahau might disprove, and Aneue might be trying to terrorize and take over her mind, but those were lesser concerns in the big scheme of things. Today she would consciously make the decision to ignore them, fully and completely. Whatever else the world asked of her, Kiriko was capable of sacrifice. Who needed to be whole when you could resolve the world's issues by being broken?

Closing her eyes, Kiriko fell into a soft meditation, recalling all of the images and diagrams she had drawn behind closed doors. Shunko. At its core it was a re-purposing of reiatsu. Taking the literal force from the energy itself and applying it to the body. A Shunko aura was created when all of that force was coalesced around the body, giving explosive power to any direct blows. But that energy was multipurpose, faceted. It was the power of Kido, both Bakudo and Hado alike, even Kaido at its wildest reaches. She didn't have to limit it to only force like she had been doing. Kido was the art of making impossible things happen. And a Shunko aura was the impossible. That energy, that reiatsu, had all of the same flexibility as a Kido spell. She just had to figure out how to pull it out. To extract it. To manifest it.

No... That wasn't right at all. She didn't want to create, because that would merely result in a stronger aura. In more explosive strikes. What Kiriko needed to do was harness what was already there. Bring it in. Adapt it. By its very nature the aura already had the components she needed. Kiriko had felt it before, when creating the aura her body grew quicker and more durable. And that was just by having all of that reiatsu surround her. What if she did the opposite? What if she allowed it to suffuse her own body? Just like that practice so many months ago, only more advanced. What if she took the very power of Shunko and pulled it inward so that it expressed not as an aura around her but as dynamic force within her own body?  

WC: 764 | GP: 10 | Total GP: 20

She wanted precision, perfection, ease of handling. But all of that wouldn't remove the biggest flaw of Shunko. The flashiness. If she could learn to pull an aura inward though, everything would be crystallized. The whole effort, matured. Something like that, it would be eternal, never wavering. She could carry around Shunko at all times, and no one would know. It truly would be as if she had gained that fabled strength she had always wanted so badly. Latent energy like that would never have to be released... It would only perpetuate in a cycle, continually feeding power and force to her very musculature system. The glow of a Shunko aura would instead filter through every fiber of the body, enhancing and empowering.

With a deft twist of her concentration she called upon the energy inside of her to burst outward. The loud crackling noise heralded her aura as brilliant dark purple flames leapt into the air all around her. She was surrounded in force, and it was a lively sight to see that aura snap and bite at the world. This was force, power, violence. But what was required now, was subtlety. Flexibility. More, more, more.

Tugging on the explosive energy, Kiriko fed it back into her body, containing all of that fury inside her own flesh. She had done this before, in order to increase her speed exponentially. But that idea hadn't panned out in the real world. It was too hard to cage her aura, too shaky of a reaction. In theory it had been great, but Kiriko hadn't managed to control herself long enough for success. This had to be different, but it didn't immediately feel that way. Instead she was aware of a burning sensation as all of the smothered vigor fought back against such tight confines. Shunko was meant to breath, to flare, to blast, and it didn't like being held inside.

She focused on what she felt. That was the key. Understanding her own body mechanics, her own internal structure. The flow of power. Kiriko stood there in silence for a long time, the minutes stretching on by. She closed herself off, cutting away all distractions until all that she felt was her own body. The rhythm of her heart beat, the pulse of her blood flow. The crackle of her aura beneath her skin. In a burst of enlightenment Kiriko realized the flaw. She had pulled the aura inside her, but she hadn't focused it. She hadn't given it an outlet. Instead it stayed crouched, crushed between her skin and muscles. And the build up was agonizing as more and more energy flowed into that small space.

Tugging again at her faithful reiatsu, she slowed down her breathing until she could even sense the way the energy moved throughout her body. The path that reiatsu itself took within her. That was the path she needed to take. Just as veins and arteries carried fresh blood and oxygen depleted blood along the same paths so too must she create a convector to circulate her aura. To ingrain it into each fiber of her being, each muscle and tendon. It wasn't supposed to stay up at the surface, to pool and collect and solidify. That path might create an armor somewhat like a Hollow's Hierro, but it wasn't her goal today.

Pulling and winding her way into the bubbling aura, Kiriko forced the energy back into the same tunnel it originated from. At first it was a fierce struggle, wading in against the waves of reiatsu already pouring out. Like trying to shove a toothpick up a waterfall. Then she relaxed, loosening her grip and allowing her entire body to soften. She was always so tense, but that wouldn't help here. Kiriko had to learn how to calm her body down. To unwind.

As soon as she had done that the flow eased up, and Kiriko was able to struggle but force her aura back through the same channel it had come from. Up and up and up, through her chest, around her heart, down her arms, into her very fingertips and then down to her toes. The aura cradled her body, curving through bone and seeping into blood. It was saturation at its most potent. She fell silent, letting her force over the aura lessen until she wasn't even controlling it anymore, just observing. The cycle Kiriko had engendered continued on without her input. Reiatsu flowing outward to transform into a Shunko aura and then flowing back inward to completely surround every part of her internal body.  

WC: 764 | GP: 10 | Total GP: 30