A Bastard's Innovation [Closed.M]

There were plenty of reasons to be out in the desert. Fewer now that he was responsible for Sekai...and given that everything that she had been doing since she had come to Las Noches, there were very good reasons to stick around and make sure she was okay. Creating that massive golem had been pretty damn scary, and given that she had nearly lost control of her powers and very nearly brought down Aya's tower...not the best start. Which was why he was training her, to make sure that she never lost control like that again. It had the small side bonus of helping her to fight to...which was the real reason he was doing it. She needed to learn how to fight. Problem was, Takua had never taught a Mortal how to fight before, and the kinds of abilities she had were fairly different than the ones he had. Disadvantages of being different races, and the Spiritualists being a fairly disparate group.
 
Which was why he was out in the desert, thinking. Well that and needing to eat, but he'd already done that.
 
He had to come up with ways to train her that weren't simply to focus on the fundamentals of combat. Which she needed as well, but he had those down pretty well. Attack, block, dodge. It was the dodging part that she had trouble with, as well as attacking, if only because she was so empathetic. But honing her movement was something that needed to happen. Even if she wasn't a speed demon like Aya, she still needed to be able to know her way around a dodge. So far he'd been focusing on actually teaching her how, since even the basic principles of a Step seemed to be beyond her...but with all of her power focused so much in Earth, there had to be something there that he could use. Besides, she wouldn't be fighting in the sky as a human, the fall might kill her...and it wouldn't even touch someone like him. No, she'd be next to the source of her power if she could help it. So her Step might be heavily linked to the earth.
 
...maybe he should have her try that next. It would make sense, after all, for her to take power from the Earth even when she was running or dodging. All humans did it, but she could take it to the next level. He'd been so caught up on the standard way of doing it, trying to teach her how to use something like Sonido or Shunpo, that he'd completely neglected to think about her own skills...the unique factors that made up Sekai. That was silly of him.
 
Takua walked across platforms made of Reishi as he made his way across the desert, not bothering to walk directly on the sand but rather just above. It made for easier walking and honed his skill with Sonido all at once, and since he was completely suppressing his reiatsu from other people sensing him, it wasn't like any prowling Hollow was going to notice anyhow. No one in all of Las Noches could hide from him yet, and he liked it that way. Not that he was even thinking about slowing down his evolution in his Pequisa. Some might have thought that he had gone far enough, learning to completely suppress his reiatsu and teasing out secrets that most would never even dream of seeing. But even if he could tell anyone in Las Noches how to get the most out of their Pequisa in ways that they had never considered before, that wasn't enough.
 
Stagnation meant death. Reaching the pinnacle of your abilities meant you were ripe for the harvest.
 
Which was why Takua wasn't surprised to feel the distant reiatsu of an Arrancar out here...or, perhaps, a Vaizard, but the likelihood of that was low. The desert was, in general, both an eating place and the private lab of anyone trying to invent something new. And the reiatsu that he could feel coming from the distance was definitely active, but not frantic. Not someone in combat, but someone actively using reiryoku. It was nearly a test for himself to see how much he could tease out of the spiritual pressure...which was definitely powerful enough to be one of the Espada, or nearly so.
 
He knew most of them by now, but this signature was unfamiliar to him. He'd met Erasmus in the throne room. Rania and Miki he had visited personally. He served under Aya. That left Yaksha Dokuja, and Souta Suzuki. Of course, he was far enough out in the desert that this could be a totally unaffiliated Arrancar...which would make any kind of encounter rather festive, to say the least. But nearly all Arrancar joined Las Noches because it was the city for Arrancar. Besides, the reiatsu was somewhat familiar enough...familiar enough to say that he had felt it before at some point. Never met the man before though. Las Noches, then.
 
Curiosity drove Takua closer to the source of reiatsu and as the distance shrunk the details blossomed like flowers in fast forward. This energy was certainly Cero, or at least a derivative of it. Held close to the body until it was suddenly released...he wasn't sure, but this reminded him of something entirely different. It seemed that the practitioner was developing it though, since the molding of the reiryoku was hardly stable. In fact...Takua was surprised that he even had hands anymore. Good enough regeneration could take care of that, or Hierro, but otherwise it'd be reducing his skin to little more than ash. With further mastery it wouldn't, but until then...
 
Silently, Takua approached from the cover a nearby dune. Close enough now to see the man, who was indeed an Arrancar, and to see the punch that shot a Cero into a nearby sand dune. Echolocation kept him out of line of sight for now as he considered what to do. Cero was his specialty, and even at a glance he could understand several of the issues that were keeping this Arrancar from creating a solidified form of this technique. Oh it was stable enough to stick to him, and even to launch, but there wasn't any pow to that power. Which was a shame, really.
 
...enough of a shame for him to help?
 
There were plenty of reasons for him not to. But a few reasons propelled his feet over the hill. First, this was fascinating. The man was creating something which was, if he wasn't mistaken, an Arrancar take on the Shinigami Shunko, using the far more catastrophically destructive power of Cero instead of Kido. Takua was constantly looking for ways to improve on his own Cero, and helping the man perfect this would help the Fraccion himself. Analyzing a new technique and helping to craft it would help him train Sekai as well, especially since helping this Arrancar would require a fine understanding of the spiritual composition of the formation of the Shunko. The man would be his testing ground so that he could help out his Mortal friend better.
 
First, though...if this Arrancar was training all the way out here, anyone he thought was spying on him probably wouldn't be taken all that well. Which, translated from Arrancar, meant that there might be a fight. So to defuse something like that...he'd have to be a little preemptive. His voice was calm and reasonable as he spoke, walking casually on reishi platforms down a nearby sand dune, head turned to regard the one that had been recently plated with glass. “Impressive. Apologies for the intrusion, but I noticed you practicing and wondered if you wouldn't mind some help.” A faint smile crossed his face as he turned his head to regard the Arrancar. If he wasn't wrong, this would be Souta Suzuki, the Sexta...given that he was an Espada, it wouldn't be unusual for him to know about the man. Recently restored to his rank and come back from seemingly nowhere at that. Other than that, Takua didn't know anything about him that weren't simple rumors.
 
Above all else, his stance was nonthreatening. The Arrancar, whoever he really was, wouldn't be able to detect Takua's reiatsu, but the Fraccion could detect his...and it wasn't too far off from Takua's own. That was good, just in case this all went south. But once this awkward phase at the start was done with, hopefully someone's blood wouldn't be staining the sands.
 
WC: 1420 | GP: 28 | Total: 28

More than a few things became clear in the seconds after he spoke, the Arrancar spinning around with a Cero aimed at Takua's head. The blind Arrancar didn't flinch, taking the opportunity to watch the burning reiryoku glide along the arm until it coalesced into a Cero at the end of the hand. It wasn't the smoothest thing he'd ever seen, roasting the arm underneath with every inch that it moved. Because, he could see, the draw of energy was grinding into the limb below and unleashing the energy there, instead of gathering it into the Cero. Plus...all kinds of energy was being lost off the top, which all went on before he had gathered any of it into the Cero itself.
 
His lack of panic was due to the lack of stability of the Cero itself. Gillian menos class, but no higher. Not someone who used Cero a lot, at least not with any refinement. But the sense of power from the man clearly meant that he had proficient with something else. If Takua had to guess, using his fists instead. That was the only rational explanation for why he was gathering such tremendous destructive force to his fists. Unfortunately for the Espada, Takua was singularly unimpressed by the Cero that was being pointed his way, not even bothering to tense up. If it came down to it, he would annihilate it with a few moments of concentration and the launch of a Cero himself.
 
Rage came from the man, so he clearly didn't like the interruption, or whatever other offense he had cooked up in his head. A few other emotions, mostly frustration. Hell, he didn't even need the sense of empathy that came from his reiatsu perception either, it was written all over his face. As was arrogance and an ego the size of a blimp. All in all, a typical Arrancar then, if at a level of power that was decidedly atypical.
 
Which would make this a pain.
 
But helping him craft this Cero of his, formalizing it into something concrete and truly usable, would be something else again. It was an application of Cero that he had, admittedly, never thought of. Actually, you'd have to be downright insane to even consider it, but here the man was, coming up with it. Trying to bind one of the most destructive forces in the universe to his hands.
 
All of which made him innovative, if insane.
 
Takua's mind was already moving, thinking through ways to bind the energy to keep it from escaping...but most of it came down to something far simpler. It was the Espada's own Cero that would need to improve, the mastery of that energy would lend itself well to creating this. What was fortunate for this Arrancar was that Takua had already worked on training two other Espada very recently in how to use Cero and Bala, so taking on a third student, however involuntary, wouldn't be an issue.
 
The man's arms finally lowered and the Cero vanished, and with that too went the encasing of Cero on his arms. Which was fine, Takua had already gotten all of the data that he needed. The swirl of reiryoku would have been far more difficult to analyze were Takua not practiced at exactly that, a little skill he'd put into practice when he'd created The Living Gift about a month back, and then again with both Rania and Amaya. The initial difficulties he had had with The Living Gift had paid off in spades, and now he could quite easily see how the man had handled crafting it. What he didn't see, yet, was how the Espada had activated it, but with a little time and understanding, plus some trial and error, Takua was fairly certain that he could have reverse engineered it.
 
Thankfully, he didn't have to.
 
He had to admit though, it had been rather impressive. Not that he could see it, but the feel of it on the other man's arms. All the more reason to help, once he got past this initial hostility.
 
And there was that aplenty.
 
The laugh was...if Takua was feeling charitable, best described as 'unpleasant'. The blind man didn't care that he was being approached, the same pleasant expression remaining on his face the whole time. Intimidation was fairly standard stock, but it just failed to hold up. He'd been through too much recently, with the fight in the throne room, experiencing Tova's reiatsu twice, Amaya and Aya quarreling, to be afraid. Threatened was another story, but more in the way that warned of an approaching fight than of a predator who had the upper hand.
 
So now his goal was to make sure that that didn't happen. A fight would ruin the chance for him to help.
 
So he ignored the blatant antagonism entirely, tilting his head slightly as he looked at the man. Well fine, if that was how he wanted to play it, that was how they were going to play it. Clearly he didn't care, or didn't understand, what Takua's suppression meant, because he was acting like he could crush Takua like a bug. That much was obvious with the constraining of his reiatsu, something that Takua didn't even notice anyways.
 
The hardest part, Takua thought, was going to be controlling his sarcasm so he didn't needlessly antagonize the man.
 
So he was still polite, his voice calm and seemingly unaffected by the Arrancar's threats, “Well, that was my goal, so those terms are completely acceptable.” If Souta could follow up on them, that was. At the very least, Takua was sure that he could give the man a run for his money.
 
...although now that he was in close, it had become obvious that the man's hands weren't actually hands at all. They were...shards of something, interlocking with cracks that were barely visible to him. It was actually his Pequisa that had picked up that something was different at all, not finding the flesh that it had expected, but something that thrummed with power. Interesting...the Fraccion wondered what they would do in a fight.
 
Returning his attention to the other Arrancar, Takua inclined his head slightly. “I am Takua Megiddo, Fraccion to the Primera.” And this was likely Souta Sexta after all then. Lovely. Raising his head back up, his head orientated as though he could truly see the Sexta's eyes, he spoke again evenly, “But yes, quite so. Creation of something new. Of something to do with Cero. Which I'm rather good at.”  There was no brag in his voice, just a statement of fact.  Because it was true, and if Souta doubted that, he'd see quite clearly for himself in a moment.

It was the work of a split second to restrain his reiatsu under the cover of his suppression, backing it down to the level that he had been only a week ago, before he had awoken his Resurreccion. All he needed to do was to separate part of his power from the rest of it, holding part of it in reserve, closer to his core. The rest would be far more easily detectable...and usable. Which was all part of the ploy of appearing weaker than he was.
 
So that Tova didn't notice and ask him to be an Espada.
 
It'd come in handy soon enough. Better to do it now. “So, how will I help you? I'm going to help you make a better Cero. And then I'm going to aid you in constructing something new entirely. So now that we have that out of the way, how about I create a Cero and start?” He never lost that quiet confidence or the polite way he spoke, but Takua was more focused on Souta than it might appear. How this progressed was entirely on the volatile Arrancar.
 
Which meant, quite frankly, that the blind man expected this to come to blows at least once. It was only natural for Arrancar, and on another level, it'd be nice to let Souta know that he wasn't dealing with a weakling. On the other, showing off his strength so much was something that he wished to avoid.
 
But out here in the desert, so many days away from Las Noches, maybe it would be safe.
 
Maybe.
 
WC: 1372 | GP: 27 | Total: 55

Souta clearly wasn't happy, and also wasn't sure that Takua could make do with his promises of showing him a better Cero. Unfortunately for the Espada, he was also very, very wrong about that, but looking at it now, Takua had to wonder...was it better to keep himself under his true power? Souta hardly seemed the type to suck it up and tell the King, and they were days away from Las Noches. Far enough away that Takua couldn't detect what was going on there, and by extension, far enough into the deep desert that Tova wouldn't be able to detect him either. Which left the other reason for this trickery, and that was to make sure that if someone went up against Aya, she had an unexpected helper, who could fight against enemies that threatened her.
 
So then, was Souta someone that was a threat to Aya?
 
Depended on whether he turned her gaze on her, Takua supposed, but certainly his reiatsu level wasn't a threat to her. All in all, the risks were pretty minimal. The benefits? Either Souta was going to feel threatened by Takua's actual level of power, or he was going to respect him for what he could do.
 
Not yet. The timing wasn't right, if he was going to do it. Takua didn't quite have enough reason to drop the deception, but he did have reason to drop the suppression and unfurl his reiatsu. “Fine. This is your Cero.” Takua didn't even bother raising a hand, didn't bother moving from where he stood. A ball of pure white energy formed just off of his right shoulder...and in many ways, Takua hurt to create it. It was just so bad. Energy stagnated, fought itself, leaked from that ball in so many ways that it practically offended his sensibilities to form it. In comparison to Souta's own Cero, it was...exactly the same, if less powerful.
 
Even worse, it didn't have Takua's signature fire surrounding it. It was amazing just how quickly he had come to get used to the reflexive addition of his purifying fire to his Cero. Now, it was actually a conscious effort not to fuse the two together to make a whole that was better than either on its own. But he let that thought fade away. Something for another day perhaps, but not right now.
 
“It's decent. But you leak energy, some of it acts at cross-purposes, and when you fire it, its structure isn't as formed as it could be.” Off of Takua's left shoulder, another Cero appeared. This one the same as the first...and neither of them fired, neither of them even quivered under Takua's control. This was his beast to command. “First, set up an energy flow inside,” and as he said that, the Cero off of his left shoulder began to do just that. The reiryoku whirled, keeping it inside, away from the edges. “Second, draw in more energy from the world. That keeps it from leaking away by keeping up pressure.” The draw of power was only somewhat visible to the naked eye, it would take actually looking at the reiryoku involved to see the drain on the surrounding reishi. Rather than any sudden surge of power, it was stable up until the moment of firing. “Third, you need more of an internal structure, especially when you fire. It can be chaotic when you form, but to hold its own against a counter or even reach them fast enough, you need to hold it together.”
 
In a split second, the Cero on his left whirled and compressed, drawing in more power, forming itself correctly. This was Takua's basic Cero, one that needed no time to charge and could be launched in an instant. The difference between the two was obvious, and hopefully Souta was perceptive enough to spot the difference. Both Cero fired at once away from one another. Takua's own Cero struck first, ripping through a sand dune with form, precision, and speed. The one he had copied from Souta struck later, impacting with far less concentration but just as much power. But that power was spread out across a wider area, fading away at the edges as it lost harmony.
 
“You see?” The question was asked perfectly seriously, without mockery or superiority. It made him sound like a teacher instead, especially as he continued, “For what you're doing, an orb is just wasted time, but the aura on your limbs will still function the same way. So even if you're shotgunning the Cero off your hand on impact, the principles still apply.”
 
Souta had had a heavy aura of bloodlust around him as well that Takua hadn't mentioned, a not-so-subtle indication of what would happen if the Fraccion didn't manage to follow through. If this wasn't enough to convince the Espada that Takua knew what he was talking about, then he'd probably have to ditch the limiter he'd placed on himself and really prove that he understood and knew. Even though he was watching himself to make sure that he wasn't...well, needlessly sarcastic. Souta didn't seem like the kind of guy who cared for those kinds of things, especially when agitated and looking for an excuse to murder.
 
Which, actually, brought up a good question. Why was Takua helping him if that was his reaction?
 
...to be fair, Takua regularly killed and ate Hollows, but most Arrancar didn't have that self-imposed ban on their feeding habits. To Souta, he would just be a conveniently timed meal and a way to shut Takua up about anything he'd seen. Arrancar were nothing if not violent. But Takua didn't like that part of his race...not normally.
 
Was his curiosity and desire to learn really big enough to ignore something like that?
 
WC: 958 | GP: 19 | Total: 74

Souta was actually surprised by the sudden wave of Reiatsu washing over him. It was nothing impressive, maybe half as strong as Souta himself, but it was leagues above what he was projecting earlier. Was Souta really that bad at detecting reiatsu, that he couldn't see past such a simple suppression? One of these days he'd have to work on that. But with his new power level, maybe he could teach Souta something. He'd definitely be a better distraction if Souta had to kill him, maybe even surviving a punch.

He began to demonstrate a cero, saying it was just like Souta's, before pointing out everything wrong in it. As much as he wanted to, Souta couldn't really say he was wrong. His Cero were sloppy. He focused more on pumping them out fast and blowing up as much shit as possible with them which led to them not being very focused. Takua was making a second cero, detailing how he was improving it compared to the first, and even Souta could tell the difference.

It's not like he'd ever devoted time to practicing his Cero. This is the first time he's really used it as anything besides a big ole fun laser, so making it better was never too important.

Both cero fired now, the second one moving faster and simply ripping straight through a sand dune, blowing it apart in all directions before continuing on. The first hit second, simply creating a crater on the dune. It was clear which Cero was better.

God. Fucking. Damn it.

Souta hated having to admit he was wrong. But he'd made no real progress in far too long, and here comes a long some one who can actually help him. Did he want to beat Tokiyo with this enough to actually take his help?

Shit.

Yes.

Souta sighed loudly, crossing his arms across his chest. This sucked.

"I fucking hate you right now. First off, let's get clear that the only thing I hate more than you right now is what I'm about to do."

Souta closed his eyes briefly, drawing a deep, calming breath, that completely failed it's intended purpose. He was still pissed about having to do this, and the breath was released as an aggravated shout.

"Fuck this pisses me off almost enough to just kill you anyway. Whatever. You're better than me at cero, and I'm completely stagnating right now on getting this style combat ready. I want your help. If you tell anyone that I asked for your help, It will not end well for you, because while you may be better than me at cero, I'm better at killing than you will ever be."

His right hand shifted to his hip, as his left drew itself through his hair, Souta breathing loudly. "That actually made me feel better. Imagine that. So then, Takua Megiddo. You said you'd help me, and you've proven you've got the skills to do it, and I said that if you did I'd not kill you. Sucks for me, I'm a man of my word.

So, since I'm not going to kill you, let's get started on completing this work of art, sensei."

His tone was a lot calmer now, it's usual cocky self. Everything he said almost sounded like a joke, if it weren't for that slight, bloodthirsty undercurrent to it all. Souta Suzuki had a killer's voice, and it was hard to hide. The sheer amount of snark and sarcasm when he called Takua teacher again was absolutely impossible to hide in comparison.

~~~~~~
WC/GP/TGP 611/12/60

The blind man knew within seconds that he'd managed to convince Souta that he could help. It was the way his reiatsu shifted to frustration that made it obvious, a tint of sourness over having to admit that Takua had what it took. If it had crossed the line into just anger, without frustration, he'd have to fight right now, but the frustration would only be there because he was going to have to admit it. Not that Takua was any less prepared for a fight, but at least it was looking more and more like he could walk out of here without throwing down with the Sexta Espada. Handy, that. The Fraccion did not, however, smile just yet. The last thing he wanted to do, really, was provoke the man with insolence. Souta definitely seemed like the kind of man who could be provoked rather easily, so...
 
Sure enough, the taller man was giving in and letting the older Arrancar help teach him. What was obvious, though, was that he wasn't happy about it. The same bloodthirsty, angry tone carried with him until the very end, when he finally lost the anger and came back with an arrogant smile instead. Not that he lost the subtle undercurrent of violence in his voice, or even in his reiatsu. Clearly Souta meant every word about killing Takua if he spilled any of his secret, and very probably even if he failed. Which, of course, meant that the blind Arrancar couldn't fail. But Takua didn't mean to fail, not with a problem this interesting ahead of him.
 
Which only left the why. Why was he helping Souta? The only real answer was that this problem, as it were, was that interesting. Or maybe he was just checking out what kind of man the Sexta was...getting a grasp for how much power he had so that if a fight broke out later, Takua would have an idea of what was coming. And of course, helping to design this new technique would help Takua counter it in the future...if he were so inclinded. And if Souta ended up on the same side of the battlefield as Amaya, then Takua would have helped to create what he would use.
 
He smiled and nodded, acknowledging the threats and then brushing them to the side. He didn't need to think about them when he was trying to work like this. Instead, he simply spun up another Cero, far slower this time so that Souta would have a chance to feel what he was doing with it. Or, at least, if the man used his Pequisa, he might be able to. He spoke cheerily, ignoring the bloodlust and the sarcasm the best that he could, “Right. Well then, if we're going to start, try to guide the energy in a regular Cero. It's a matter of will and a bit of control, just make sure that its energy doesn't collide with itself. Follow my lead for an example. After that, can you show me how you activate your work of art?” There wasn't a drop of sarcasm in his voice to be heard, no matter the temptation. And it was there. Work of art? Really? Maybe the man just hadn't named it yet, no matter how much it felt like a Cero version of Shunko.
 
Takua already had a few other ideas. Creating the sphere of energy was unnecessary. Souta already had the energy gathered, he simply needed to project it. There was nothing in the rules that said Cero had to be from range, and he'd already played around a few times with projecting them from the palm of his hand. With a little work, he could combine the experiments he'd done with that to the aura of Cero that was being created, it should be feasible to blast a Cero out while hitting someone...
 
Maybe. Regardless, it was Souta who'd need to show him how he created that aura, and then Takua could progress from there. “Also, have you ever shot a Cero off without using the orb to concentrate it?” If Souta had, this would go quicker. If he had and it didn't work, this would become far more complex.
 
But then, he did like a challenge...
 
WC: 706 | GP: 14 | Total: 88

The annoying part was that there were parts of this that Takua couldn't really help with. Well, he could, but his default was that his own Cero wouldn't burn him, fused as it was with his fire. And while he had certainly turned that off, for the moment, so that Souta wouldn't see it (the man couldn't emulate it, it wouldn't help him improve), it was such a reflex that the Fraccion simply wanted to let it coat his Cero. He wouldn't have to burn, no matter how close his own Cero got to him, no matter if it hit him. Souta, on the other hand, didn't have that luxury.
 
The Sexta was, on the plus side, improving slightly. Takua might even hazard to say readily making progress on improving his Cero. Since he seemed to be doing well enough for now, the blind man turned his attention to the other subject at hand. The man didn't want to activate it for whatever reason, possibly secrecy or simply because he wanted the advice to try it himself. So Takua would need to do this from scratch, figuring out how to do this Cero Shunko himself. Or at least how to improve it, make it workable. Thankfully, he had a fairly good idea how he could make it have the impact that Souta needed out of it.
 
One hand left the Cero spinning. The other hand was raised slightly, pointing down at the sand but at an angle. After all, it wouldn't do to blow his own leg off. He could regenerate it, but still. Power spun up, but no orb formed as he drew in the surrounding reishi of the rich Hueco Mundo air. Instead his hand began to glow...or rather, a flat plane of energy in front of his hand began to glow. It was there for exactly one second, building up toward the charge and then erupting like a wall of buckshot toward the sand below and to his right. When he was done, there was another crater in the ground, grains of sand slowly filling in smaller pits within. “Since you'll be hitting them anyways, long distance is unnecessary. Use it like a shotgun, if you're aware of that Mortal gun. Gather your power a few inches from your hand, imagine squishing it between an immovable wall and your hand, and then remove that wall. That's the feeling you need.”
 
Of course, Souta would already have the energy there. That was the point of the Shunko. Fortunately, Takua had practiced Shunko a touch ever since he had seen Miki perform it. The theory should be the same, gathering incredible amounts of spiritual energy and infusing them into the limbs. In this case the energy was already condensed and amplified by Cero. Hitting the target should cause an instantaneous release of the energy, doubling up on the power...or perhaps just increasing the effects of the strike. “But you'll have already accomplished the first step of that. And the wall should be their body when you impact it, right? So you release in the moment you strike, or the moment afterward, blowing a Cero into the area you just hit with a fist.” Well, that was all good theory. But it was also quite possible that Souta wanted range out of it. In that case, he'd have to work on something else...but if he wanted range, he should be fine with a regular Cero instead of this new way of doing things.
 
Takua smiled wryly, “Try that, and demonstrate it. Unless you really want to see me try to recreate, what, a week or two's worth of creation and experimenting?” In time, he likely could. Whether it would happen right away was another matter. Seeing Souta activate it himself would finish off the final piece of what he needed to do- although he imagined it wouldn't be incredibly unlike Shunko.
 
WC: 651 | GP: 13 | Total: 101

Finally. It had taken a while for Souta to finally give in and show the activation, but he had. Not without telling Takua that the shotgun approach wasn't good enough, but that was okay. After all, it wasn't his technique, and if a swift blast of energy wasn't what the Sexta was aiming for, then that was what he wanted to cook up. After all, this Cero wasn't for him. Although, quite frankly, he wasn't sure why Souta had insisted that the shotgun approach wasn't powerful enough. It should be.
 
Oh well. He could work on that problem in his own time. For now, he had the actual activation to look at, as well as how the Espada wanted to use the Shunko derivative. Which wasn't terribly surprising, all in all, for the form that it took. A Cero that, instead of breaking out, wrapped around the man's arm in a swath of destructive energy. Not bad at all, really. Certainly it was better than the last time he had seen it, even just a few minutes ago. The energy shifted and flowed, moving just above the arm instead of diverting into the flesh of the man who used it. It took a lot of energy, and a lot of effort by the looks of it. But it would easily make an impact.
 
Of course, once Souta used it as a shotgun, Takua could see what the problem was. Still not enough control, all of its energy was expelled as something for show. Maybe he could master that later, after he had more experience with it. Or he could ignore it, because he had found something that would work better for his own purposes. Takua was, of course, familiar with the concept of a flamethrower...that he was a living one made him appreciative of what the Sexta was doing in many ways.
 
The Fraccion's smile grew as he watched that streamer of power rage through the air. Now this was something worth creating, especially for a man who was clearly focused on his two hands and feet. “Impressive.” There was no trace of sarcasm to be found, only genuine respect for something that had finally started to really come together.
 
Of course, now that he had seen the damn thing, he could make a few other pointers. Well, to be exact, he had one more thing to offer other than what he already had. Not that Souta had mastered it all, far from it. The Arrancar still had a long way to go if he wanted get anywhere close to Takua's level of skill with Cero. But the rest would come with practice instead of someone barking at him, because experiencing what worked and what didn't could get you a lot farther.
 
“Yeah. That's a huge energy hog, right? Cero sucks in energy during the start, everyone learns that fast. While you're using that power, use the back end of it to draw in naturally occurring reishi. Use it for power or fuel, take your pick.” He stood for a few moments more, head tilted slightly to one side as he considered the man's Cero. There were a number of other inadequacies and inefficiencies littered across the technique, but communicating it was another matter entirely. Besides, most were related to his lack of control and needed more practice before he could take care of them. But there was certainly a point at which Takua knew that it would be 'good enough' and Souta wouldn't want to make it perfect.
 
Eventually, the Fraccion shrugged, “During the moment of release, try packing in more of your reiryoku or at least keep it contained more. It's slips here and there, which weakens the blast. Experiment with how you construct the energy before you fire if you can, so that it holds itself together better when its hitting their flesh. Most of the rest of it, though, is just practice and control, and it's not as though you're not already on your way there. Other than that, you're probably don't need any more help at this point.” The smile cooled a touch. Souta was really picky about someone else helping him, and at this point it was probably better to return the reigns to him and let him finish up.
 
Takua's own experimentation could wait until he was back inside of Las Noches. The idea of creating a Cero that spat out a constant stream of destruction, pushing someone back and away, was somewhat tempting. He'd have to see what he could do with that. Maybe lots and lots of little Cero all built up into a river of power? Or could he take what Souta was working with here, and use the back of the Cero as a vacuum to gather fresh reishi particles for use?
 
Ahh, choices...
 
WC: 805 | GP: 16 | Total: 117