New Dawn, New Skill [Closed/Kasumi]

Daily, piles of papers came in and piles of papers went out of her current office. So many things needed to be checked, approved, denied, reconstructed and reformed that Kasumi was slowly getting insane. It was probably for the best that today, even if this early in the morning, she would get the chance to take an hour or two to forget the files on the transferring members and the vague information on the possible whereabouts of the Seireitei's most wanted. For just a little while she could escape the madness of her desk, the stream of officers at her door and the sore state the realm was still in. Perhaps being outside, on the training ground, would give her a clearer view on the matters surrounding her. A small glimpse at the future was all she asked for, because at the moment she was running blindly into the unknown, and the fact that she was dragging the entire Gotei with her wasn't something she could completely forget.

'It's only natural to worry, as long as you-'

Don't hesitate too much

She had no time to hesitate, no time to waste wondering if what she did was right or whether people liked it or not. They would get used to it, because everything she did was for the future.

Exiting the building she walked around the corner to find one sleepy Shinigami crossing her path with cautiousness and curiosity marking his face. Once their gazes met he bowed. By now she knew that it was simple formality, and at the moment she didn't mind, but it would have to change sooner rather than later. She could bet that it would – people always needed time to get accustomed to rapid changes – that's why she silently nodded in response and continued her walk toward the training ground.

The Shinigami was already there. Katir, Malix. A young member of the Fifth, a man Kasumi hadn't seen in flesh until he had entered her office with a request to teach him Shunkō. A blunt request, but one she didn't want to reject. Nagisa had been right, with Kiriko gone, Kasumi was the one to carry on the legacy the oldest Chinda had created. Aside from that, the technique was a powerful tool which could come in handy in battles. As a member of the Fifth, Malix would have to deal with being on the front line way more often than most from the other divisions. Hence, helping him to gain a skill to keep himself safe with while doing his duty and protecting his fellow Shinigami was something she wanted to make time for.

“Good morning,” she spoke to the man, waiting for him to get up before continuing. “Glad to see that you're on time.”

From the files on him through which she had quickly scanned the prior evening, Kasumi had a rough draft about his skills and the level they were at. Of course, he had spoken about them during the previous encounter, but having another opinion on the young Shinigami was always handy.

“Let's get right to business.” She said without moving an inch. Remembering the way Kiriko had taught her, she planned to use a similar method in an attempt to pass the knowledge onto Malix.

“To start with, I want for you to keep in mind that Shunkou is art. Every user uses it the way it suits them the most. If you want to learn more than just the basics, you have to allow for the technique to take shape. You can't fight the flow, you have to learn how to work with what's the most natural to you, even if it doesn't seem that way at first.”

While she hadn't quite worried about how much Hebi diverted from the Shunkō Kiriko used, she could remember that Weylin had been struggling somewhat with making the technique his own by trying to mimic its creator a bit too much. Of course most of his struggles probably had had to do with him being a Quincy – their manipulation of reishi and the various techniques already etched into their body, mind and soul, had complicated the learning process. Even so, he had, in the end, managed to work out a stable version which suited him. And Kasumi believed that in time – and with quite some work – Malix would too.

The idea of putting him up against Shigure later on briefly floated through her mind, but that was something she could toy with later. For now, the man had to learn the basics.

“To start with, I would like for you to pick a Kidō spell you know you have good control on,” she wondered if he would go with Bakudō or Hadō, while in her opinion Bakudō would be easier, she knew that it wasn't about the spell itself.

“one you can create without firing. Just bring it to life and keep it in your hands instead of letting it burst free. I want you to feel the way you're channeling your energy and where it comes from.” Nodding, the Captain watched her new student with a somewhat curious gaze.


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One of the things she had been going over recently, aside from the piles of reports which grew like mushrooms after multiple rainy days nowadays, were the Hadō spells. During her time at the Academy Kasumi had been preoccupied with various other things and had mostly abandoned the practice of Hadō; a mistake she was intended on rectifying as soon as possible, even with the scarce amount of free time that she now had she would have to refresh her vague knowledge of the offensive Kidō type. Seemingly small things like these could turn out to be rather important, especially with her current position. There truly was no saying what could come in handy at some point in time, perhaps even in the near future, and the young Captain wanted to be at least somewhat prepared for whatever awaited her down the road instead of leaving everything up to Fate.

Only those too weak to create their own path depend on others to do it for them, she bitterly thought while remembering most of her life as a game she’s played with little to no purpose. Above that, she’s always had too many expectations when it had come down to those close around her, but none of those people actually owed her anything. She had given what she could and taken what she had wanted, and while her strategy hadn’t quite changed so far, she thought to be doing the right thing by adding in the interests of the Seireitei, the whole realm even, to her own desires. If she could keep the two balanced - better yet, if her desires were linked to the bettering of the Gotei and therefore everything the military organisation had their hands on, then things couldn’t go wrong. Everything she did was because she actually believed it to be for the better, and nobody was going to stop her with sentimental arguments which had, throughout the history, led to a lot of decisions based on pleasing others. Fortunately, Kasumi wasn’t here to please anyone, sh-.

Before any more of the somewhat somber and slightly aggressive thoughts had started to consume her, she let her attention shift to the Hadō spell that was rapidly forming underneath Malix’ breath. The bluish hue of of the Byakurai and the telltale structure of the spell gave away the Hadō before the incantation was finished.

Interesting, she thought to herself a moment before the reiryoku string burst toward the sky. It soon vanished without a trace and left Kasumi wondering if Malix would opt for the same spell again or try to change the nature of the Kidō in hopes to make it easier for himself. She didn’t have to wait long for her reply, because some seconds later the man was already forcing out another Byakurai - this time a weaker one, with less bottled up reiryoku and lesser chance to erupt - which, sort of worked. The energy was left dancing around his fingertips and Kasumi nodded with a certain degree of approval.

“Keep it up, reform the Byakurai, force it into another shape, it’s good practice.” She said while crossing her arms in front of her chest. A brief, inward, hesitation had her unfolding her arms a moment later.

“Let it burn around your fingers, yes, like that,” Her voice was calm, it was hopefully guiding him as she brought up her right hand between them. Slowly the silvery strings of Hebi covered her pale digits. They peacefully curled, tightened and emitted a faint glow while coming from her skin.

“Now, try to trace down the source where the energy is coming from. You have to understand how it’s being guided through your body, and more importantly where, exactly, the change from the pure reiryoku you push outwards into the world and the final manifestation of the Kidō happens, which is different from the source you get your energy from.” Waiting for a sign to see whether or not he understood what she was trying to convey, Kasumi allowed for Hebi to pull back beneath her skin in a network of silvery veins.

While she wasn’t sure how he visualized his powers, his energy or anything else, she sort of hoped that everyone had a vague technique like she did - one that helped you to reach deeper in order to channel more energy when necessary.

“Once you’ve found it, pull out a small part of it, guide that bit of energy through the Kidō, see what happens.” Taking a step back, she waited. There were a couple of options from here on; the spell might erupt in a violent outburst proving lack of control, it might fade - because of his shift of concentration, become bigger or change into something less akin to a Kidō and more to the source of his reiryoku flow.


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It was interesting to watch his spell turn smaller, flatter. The ability to will a Kidō into such a state, especially one not made to be static, showed skill from his side, and Kasumi felt a certain degree of pride at the way this young Shinigami was grasping the basics she spoke of so quickly. The small, accidental explosion didn’t take away the fact that he rapidly repeated the process of forming another Kidō on the tips of his fingers. He was tenacious, she had to give him that, and it was a good sign.

Slowly the next spell grew into a sphere, it curled and coiled, reminding Kasumi of Hebi when she charged one of the long ranged attacks. Still, where her Bala-like creation would sizzle, Malix’ spell didn’t make any sort of sound. It simply rolled into the palm of his hand and peacefully stayed there, unnaturally still for a Hadō.

“That’s decent,” she nodded, eyes shifting from the Kidō to the Shinigami’s arms, and then further up. While her gaze was directed on the man, she wasn’t really looking at him, instead of that she tried to trace the flow of his energy which manifested in the form of a ball. As he gradually started to tap into the reiryoku needed for the Kidō’s creation, she managed to get a vague idea of how the stream worked. A shame she had never furthered her ability to read others and pry into their being.

It’s never too late.., the thought made itself know before vanishing without a trace.

“Hold it in one hand, now make another one.” Raising up her other hand, she let the Hebi strands flow from her skin looking like vapor about to drift away before curling back down and wrapping around her fingers. Letting both of her hands be equally covered, she watched him in silence until two spheres of more or less the same size had come into existence.

“Now, try to let go of the Kidō’s limitations, you don’t need that exact form for Shunkō.” Willing the strands around her right hand into a ball, she allowed more reiryoku to push it up until it seemed to float above her silver-covered hand with just a small string connecting the two.

“It has to be natural, free of anything forcing it off balance.” She paused, the ball of reiryoku uncoiled into a couple of sizzling snakes before sinking back into Kasumi’s skin. The gentleness of Hebi’s caress was back; minor sizzling and thing strings reminiscent of cobweb.

“Whenever it’s not you’ll lose too much concentration trying to maintain it, which will cost you the battle.”


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Make another one? Guess pushing ones limits of concentration was necessary to learn this ability. With the first ball now sitting in the palm of his right hand, Malix raised up his left. Following the same motions as with the first one, he let his mind visualize the spell again. Not bothering with the incantation to try and focus on filling it with more Reiryoku than Byakurai. The flow felt much slower, sparking to life a second sphere. Small at first, like a BB that radiated static. The color was different as well, it had a slight pinkish tone to it.

Closing his eyes he'd try to maintain even focus between keeping the first product in control, and slowly growing the second one. Within a minute or so, both spheres sat in his palms. Aside from the color variation, the second orb seemed much smoother, due to smaller amount of electrical current than the first one had. Opening one eye at a time to examine his work, he noticed a humming sound. Due to the spheres being quiet, it was his grasp on them that let him hear the faintest buzz through the vibrations traveling through his hands.

Again looking at the young lady's demonstration, he paid careful attention to his hands. Not wanting them to detonate like the earlier attempt. "Limitations of Kido?" Now he was slightly confused, did she mean the spell he had mixed the Reiryoku with? or was it something else entirely? Though the former seemed likely, he wanted to be sure. Her point of it being natural solidified the answer, now it came down to how he would do so. Should he start over and try forming the spheres with just the pure energy? or maybe try to let the Byakurai spark out of his current ones?

Seeing as how the second one was more Reiryoku, he figured trying to reabsorb the Byakurai from it would be simpler. Due to having zapped himself intentionally in the past to numb his pain, the familiar shock would be less likely to disrupt his focus. Despite trying to just remove the Kido from one ball, he felt the sting of electrocution in both hands. Sparks and bolts launched themselves into his forearms, leaving black scorches scattered across his flesh.

Unwilling to lose his focus, Malix's jaw clenched while trying to keep the sharp stings of pain from overwhelming his thoughts. Wisps of what seemed like cotton candy were pulled by the strands of energy jumping into his body. Both spheres now more uniform in color, sharing the oddly neon pink hue. The man shook his head after feeling the last bits of, what was now mostly static, depart from the balls of mist like consistency.

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With the Kidō spell being pulled from the sphere and the raw reiryoku clearly becoming dominant, Kasumi smiled. This was exactly what she was looking for. In her experience it was easier to create first and manipulate later on whenever it would become necessary. Once your reiryoku was under your complete control, you would become free to mold it in whatever form you wanted it to be. With Shinigami being familiar with Kidō it was easier for them than some others, especially Quincy whose very nature argued against techniques like Shunkō had it hard when learning them. Still, Weylin had succeeded to an extent, which simply showed his level of ingenuity.

Blinking a few times, Kasumi concentrated on the pink hue in front of her. Bit by bit Malix was progressing further, it seemed that they should be able to take it to the next level quite soon.

“Get used to the feeling. I think that you’ve understood how to separate the spells from the energy you use to create them.” Repeating the idea – the principle, she hoped that he would remember her words during the next part of their little training session.

“Now, let the orbs go.” Nodding toward the pink energy, she waited for it to disappear.

“You don’t want to ‘smear out’ the energy across your body. It’s not some sort of Bakudō. In order for it to work well, you have to drench yourself with the reiryoku. It comes from the inside,” she tapped her sternum with her right hand in an attempt to indicate where the power would come from. “you let it seep through your body, just like you’ve let it form in your hands.”

Letting the Hebi strands lit up beneath her skin, she turned her arm for him to see the silvery veins crossing the surface of her pale arm – she really appreciated the sleeveless haori.

“That’s why I needed you to know where it comes from and how to pull it out in its raw form.”

Slowly the silvery veins appeared to glow stronger, brighter – and then the energy was back, silvery strands coiled around her limb, snuggling up to her skin in an almost tender way.

“Try to coat your hands, and preferably arms too.”


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It was probably not his brightest idea to let the Bakudo zap its way back into his body, though there was no turning back now and he'd have to continue the rest of the days work with burns peppering his hands and forearms. The advantage to this would be the additional pain would help keep this thoughts grounded and his focus more on what was happening before him. As per the young Commander's orders, he let go of his Reiryoku orbs to let them fade into the morning air.

Now the focus was strictly on Reiryoku, although Malix did have an idea on how to draw it out on its own, to do so with the right intensity or control might prove difficult. Her choice of descriptive words did suggest an idea, the words drench and seep reminded him of gasoline covering and soaking into a piece of timber. No doubt the Captain probably had her own visual when she chose those words but regardless the mental image had taken ahold, and with his next task given.

Malix closed his eyes to concentrate, like before he envisioned a liquid. Slowly he let it flow from his center outwards through the mental pathway he provided to his arms. In just moments his fingertips felt as if they were being filled from the inside, the level slowly rising knuckle by knuckle. After a minute or so, it felt as if the entirety of his forearms and hands had been filled with the energy. Now it was time to let it 'Seep' through his flesh. As if a flame had been ignited across his skin he felt a warmth coat his arm.

Open eyes saw the faint wisps of pink dance off his limbs and drift lazily into the breeze. Unfortunately the process felt particularly draining, his head was left spinning a bit. Unwilling to let this be the stopping point he did his best to conceal his obvious wear for the day while trying to make the wisps thicken and his arms emit more Reiryoku.

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“Yes, just like that.” She encouraged him when the reiryoku started to seep from his hands. “Very good.” It was, she didn’t lie there, there was no need to. Bit by bit he was getting the basics right, hit the targets she set out for him – flexibly changing his workings as she gently guided him forward. She was glad to see him making progress so fast, it proved to her that this wasn’t a waste of time. Should he had no talent for manipulating reiryoku whatsoever she really wouldn’t have continued to poke him. Everyone had their own preferences and skills.

“You don’t have to make it more powerful yet, just make sure that it stays. It has to endure when you do things, but first you have to be able to control it without thinking about it all the time.” She reminded him, being pretty certain that he knew but simply wanted to show her his best.

“Spread it out more.” It would take its toll on him, still, he had to bring forth more of his stored energy and link it to the already existing web. As far as she remembered it would be hard to even out the layers, at first. Then, the struggle would fade bit by bit with practice. For him to have shown up this early and willing, she was pretty certain that he would train enough to master it in time.

“Once you’re mostly covered, I would like for you to try to move around a bit.” Standing still wouldn’t do him much good. Of course one had to go step by step, but she was curious to see how far he would – and was willing to – go.

’Are you planning to pressure him?’, Vör asked and Kas gently hummed in response. Forcing him to overdo it was a bad idea, but having him perform some basics while trying to maintain Shunkō seemed reasonable.

Taking a stance, she put her hands up in front of her and motioned for him to hit her. “Punch me.” The Captain ordered while waiting for Malix to get comfortable enough with his flaring reiryoku to make a move.


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It was time to work on endurance. Upon the Captains command Malix willed the mist to spread. Rolling across his body like an ominous wind. Swirling and hugging ever thinner across his chest, then around and down to his legs. Now it looked like heat rising from his body despite the color.

With no focus on intensity, his mind simply focused on the continuous hold. It stole a lot of his attention, so he hoped the thinnly held layer would help prevent burning up all of his reserves.

A strange sort of euphoric tingling sensation began to settle over him, feeling the actual Rieryoku as a still foriegn thing in this state. Yet he took his steps, getting a feel for it. Twisting and stretching his limbs in hopes of gaining familiarity. A few spots wisped clear as he moved, as he noticed he willed more to eminate, until he could maintain the form and move. The result gave him a soft glow. It pulsed in soft ripples as it tried to even itself out.

Now for the challenge, with orders to strike Malix took a breath and readied himself, as his breath finished filling his lungs his right hand rose up. A lungue of his right foot launched him at the Captain, swinging his fist foreward towards her chest. His actions paced so his foot would hit the ground soon after contact with his knuckles. For a brief moment the infant shunko flaired up around his hand and his leg he pushed off from.

Now he needed to brace for a counter attack, for if she dodged he needed to be able to bring up his own defenses, and possibly an immediate second attack. These thoughts and actions, were more reactionary and second nature compared to the coating of mist along him.

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Carefully she studied his motions. The stance, his turns, the way his muscles must be working in order to perform the certain movement – Kasumi committed it to mind, trying to gauge where he stood right now. Obviously he was quite good at hand-to-hand combat which caused her to gently smile. The moment he came into motion she let the smile spread further. His reiryoku moved with him, spreading and growing as he dashed forward. In return, she let the lines beneath her skin to come to life. Silvery strings shifted; a layer of Hebi skin – present and protective, always.

Crossing her arms in front of her she let his fist collide with her forearm. The power behind the blow was enough to cause small pieces of stone to come flying from the ground. She appreciated his lack of hesitation. He appeared to be focused on only one thing, which was the way it was supposed to be.

Without waiting she twisted slightly to the side and pulled up her leg between them before rapidly extending it toward his stomach in the form of a kick. The sole of her foot was ready to slam right into his torso what caused her to wonder if his Shunkō would hold itself against her bare handed attack.

The haori’s sides fluttered lightly as Kasumi moved. It felt good to be able to stretch her legs a little. Twisting she jumped back, landing a couple of steps to the man’s right side. Her eyes were on Malix as she rolled her shoulder a couple of time while waiting for him to make his move again. They would have to clash a couple of more times to see if his Shunkō was holding up, after that she could ask him to fuel it a bit more. It would be interesting to see how much energy would still be left.


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His knuckles connected, feeling the shock of the strike move through his arm as he pushed. The exerted force helped place him an arms length away, but not out of the range of the oncoming kick. With little time to react, Malix shifted his weight to his toes as the strike connected against him. Letting the force of momentum and his lack of grounding to let him move backwards, his knees buckled as he balled up his body to roll. Hitting the ground only to roll back and place his hand above his head to push off of a flip back onto his feet.

It hurt yeah, but rolling with the strike prevented unnecessary damage than if he had kept himself grounded. Soon he noticed the distinct lack of the draining sensation he'd felt up to this point. The shroud of the shunko had dissipated. It was unsure weather it was the hit, or his shift of focus which caused it to lose form, but it mattered little as he let his mind resume the small bit of focus to reinstate it.

Flaring up again, his blue eyes relocked onto the young Captain. Quickly shrugging off the discomfort on his chest he kicked off the ground and lunged forward once more. Keeping himself low as he dashed to her right side and swung his left fist to connect with her knee. Propping his own leg out to quickly pivot out from in front of her should this attack fail, in order to move out of the way of a counter attack where his right fist hung at his side ready to respond.

Not letting the shunko flair at his fists this time in order to keep it even across his body. Hopefully doing so would allow it to hold longer and the session to continue. It proved difficult, since every mock and real fight he'd been in he'd kept focused on just his attacks. This only made it a challenge he wanted to overcome even more. The strive to become better and stronger than he'd been previously, willed the man to keep it up as long as possible.

Even though this course would surely take its toll on him later, it was all necessary. Even when he was recovering, he pushed himself and this would be no different. Well maybe the bit about being hospitalized again.

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The bits of reiryoku around his body flickered, but that in itself wasn’t a disaster. His concentration appeared to be back in no time, which was good. It did look like Shinigami a certain type of advantage because of their Kidō training. Hers had been even greater because of the lack of any training, really. Should she have been acquainted with her powers quite well, like most other spiritualists, then learning from Kiriko might have been harder. She could see that clearly now, but didn’t get too much time to think about it.

His fist was sailing toward her, and she soon realized that it was heading for her knee. Letting her eyes scan his body, she let the possible scenarios flash through her mind. Quite some, she decided. He seemed to be prepared and enthusiastic, skilled, too. Hence, with a widening grin, she pushed off as well, bringing her knee forward in order to knee him right in the fist.

Dust flew up once again, spreading across the area, away from them. She had to give him credit for the potential bruise on her knee. It stung, and her grin grew even wider as she noticed his Shunkō to still be intact. He wasn’t trying to pump too much energy into his hands now, instead, keeping it equally spread across his body. Kasumi certainly approved of that. For now, he didn’t need to use the outbursts in order to fight – this wasn’t about injuring her, it was about enduring.

“That’s better,” she encouraged him with a quick nod. “Keep going.” The Captain then added before jumping back a couple of steps.

A couple of moments later her stance indicated that she was ready for another attack. Countering was possible, and so was blocking. Dodging might do less good right now than attacking would; she wasn’t entirely certain. Then again, dodging on his part would still need a fair amount of concentration, at least at the moment. Unless.. Shunkō has to endure, this meant, that she had to push him instead of letting him come at her – it was more than obvious, and she felt silly for having confused herself while thinking in stupid, little circles.

Shifting her gaze, she watched him closely. It was time to proceed.


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There are two types of cracking you hear from your knuckles, that satisfying pop when you do it yourself. And the more painful one involving hitting something, the latter is what Malix was feeling as Kasumi's knee smashed into his fist. The crunch like sound meshed with the sound of impact, as his forward momentum prevented his swing from stopping as quickly as he would have liked. As he winced in pain, his shunko flared up for a brief moment. Pulling his fist back to quickly shake off the new pain, he quickly took a step back to regain some focus.

The minor injuries started to become distracting, not from the pain, but more from annoyance. Being annoyed presented another problem to the already divided attention of the young warrior. On top of trying to maintain a steady concentration to maintain the Rieryoku, whilst the pain tries to will him to let loose. All in the midst of a mock battle to get him used to the split mentality. 

Judging by the widening grin upon the Captain Commander's face, she was at least pleased with the results thus far, either that or she was silently mocking his inability to land a direct hit. It was hard to tell for the young warrior. With the next declaration for attack, Malix slowly walked a half circle around the woman. Closing some of the distance as he did so, all while trying to clearly think of his next course of action. 

With his mind made up the man let himself circle back to her front and quickly rush in, rearing up his right fist up next to his face. He begins to swing it while kicking off the ground with his left leg, quickly switching from his punch to drive up his right knee in anticipation of a block to break. If there was none then his strike would hopefully provide an opening as his right hand rears back for a second time. Even though this wasn't about trying to hurt or injure her, the more effort exerted would help strain and test the Shunko. So the added effort, although risky, seemed worth it in the long run.

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Taking notice of his injured hand, she felt proud of the fact that he didn’t quite right away. If her memory was right, Victoria had given up without even trying. Not that this was a fight for a seat – this was something akin to training, but the other fight could have easily been the same thing. Except, the ‘wolf of the Fifth’ hadn’t dared to take a bite. She had spoken of respect, of how playing games when it came down to serious business wasn’t her thing, but in Kasumi’s eyes it had been self-preservation. There would have been nothing wrong with giving your all against a stronger opponent – that way, the younger Shinigami wouldn’t have been forced into messing around in an attempt to see the wolf bare its teeth.

With thoughts still dwelling on the past a little, she watched him circle her. His motions reminded her slightly of that of a predator. Perhaps a somewhat nervous one, if she thought about it. When you circled someone that close to you, then you were already noticed. This only left one option in Kasumi’s mind: see what your opponent’s made of, and Malix did just that.

Rushing in with his fist up high he pushed off again. The fist was sailing for her, and Kasumi leaned slightly to the side in order for it miss. The knee that followed hit her in the side, but she didn’t move. Jahada did its work in mostly absorbing the damage which would have been a bruise otherwise. This gave her the opportunity to let her left arm fly forward – palm ready to catch his fist. Without waiting for him to either punch or pull back, she pushed off herself and aimed to slam her forehead into his face.

She didn’t close her eyes, because she didn’t want to be caught off guard by any of the tricks he might still have up his sleeve. Besides, should it hit and cause his nose to bleed, she would need to pull back in order to keep herself from getting dirty.


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How odd, Malix was sure his knee struck solidly, yet she seemed unfazed by the whole thing. Normally this would be something he would have thought on to figure out how it was done, but when his fist got caught and followed up with a head butt, suddenly it seemed unimportant. The shocking impact made his ears ring as he felt her forehead smash against the bridge of his nose. At the last second he'd tilted his head down to prevent any chance of bone shards being forced upwards unintentionally.

Now stunned, the warrior had to wait the few seconds it took for his body to register everything once more. From his vision trying to refocus, to the now intensifying sensation of pain pulsing from the bloody mess that has become of his face. Instinct mostly took over as his free hand raised itself between them and drove his fist to meet her chest. The bubbling rage from the accumulated pain caused the Shunko to pulse radically over his whole body. Though seemed to concentrate heavily over his fists more than anything. Sloppy work, but after slowly getting used to the idea of the task, it seemed to at least prove he was grasping the basic idea. Even when his senses are overwhelmed by various injuries.

Without waiting to see if his next move would connect or not, Malix twisted his body in an effort to throw more power behind his strike, while attempting to pull his other hand free. If he happened to put her off balance in the process then it would be fine as well. Though at this point, the increased pain dredged up the not so distant memory of his fight with the flame wreathed Arrancar. He being caused pain, without being able to dish it back out. The thought was infuriating, and even now when there was a clear difference between the scenarios, he couldn't help but to feel that same sense of worthlessness as before.

A heavy shift in attitude could be noticed from the young warrior as the tone of the area switched from training, to that sickening pressure of ill intent. For the next few moments, or however long his opponent let it last, the 5th squad member only wanted to dish out pain.

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She let the power behind his blow carry her back a couple of steps. Dust curled around their feet when the two opponents moved. There was some blood on his face, but Kasumi only had eye for the reiryoku wrapped around his fists. Even now, during a moment of surprise and pain, he managed to maintain the necessary flow of energy to keep the technique more or less intact. It was pleasing to see.

What happened next was less fun and caused a small frown to form on the Captain’s face. With his next move Malix’ attitude shifted dangerously. She could sense a mixture of anger and despair coming off him in waves. Something was seeping from his skin, aside from the Shunkō. Malice, she realized as his fist tore itself free from her grasp.

“Oh?” The sound held a small amount of surprise. His reiatsu seemed to press slightly further and Kasumi decided to block the next hit. Using her forearm to catch the blow, she narrowed her eyes a bit while wondering what had brought forth this type of demeanor.

Unable to feel anything aside from his presence, she doubted that it was driven by something else. Besides, the idea of a potential Vaizard agreeing to train with her while having no real control of their condition seemed silly. One had to be dumb, or unaware. So, unless this would turn into the same fiasco Chie’s challenge was, she didn’t think that his intent had anything to do with losing his mind. Probably only a lack of discipline when it came to fighting.

’Haven’t you thought that it might come from his will to fight? Gathered anger of battles lost? The need to take on his opponent even when the odds are against him?’ Vör was amused, but serious.

Due to some reason Kasumi had quickly narrowed down her thought regarding the matter, but that didn’t make them any more true than Vör’s. It was odd, really. And she wondered if it had to do with her busy schedule. The lack of sleep might be clouding her mind, giving her the wrong impressions too fast. She would have to pay attention to that possibility.

Blocking another hit, she then decided to knee him in the side. Curious about how his defense would work now that most of his power seemed to be concentrated around his fists, she hoped that his desire to hurt wouldn’t prevent him from making the right choice.


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It was unfortunate how his control seemed to fade, despite his training he still acted like a child when it came to losing. It wasnt always this way, going through the academy and even when he helped the newer members of the Fifth train, he used to be in control. Used too, it seems combat does change people.

With each slam of his fist, it felt intoxicating. The urge to cause pain grew not from rage, but pleasure. Yet his attacks seemed to leave no mark. For a brief moment he wrestled back control from the beast of rage. Until the knee to his side knocled the wind from him. The Rieryoku shell being blown away from that spot for a moment before his control was lost again. Sending a flair of energy to harden at the point of impact. Trying out of instinct to midogate the damage while his body twisted, stepping back to let tje blow spin him around,adding to the inertia of his next swing. His fist flying wide for the womans head.

Malix knew that last hit he took slowed him and left a gap in his defense, yet despite that he did little to guard it. Too focused on attack to care about being hit. The Shunko energy seemed to peel from his fists and feet to center on his torso and head to aclimate his lack of defensive actions. Was it the best course? No but its what his instincts willed his body to do. 

Wc-251
Twc-4094