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 Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2011 7:15 pm
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Shan didn't reply, as it wasn't his nature to talk in battle. So why did he talk before? Obviously not to create a conversation he had no intent of pursuing. Yes, it was so odd that he would speak like that. Unless...
The evidence of what Shan's plan was would become evident the second that Atsuma struck. If the clones had taken the time to notice, perhaps they might have spotted it earlier. When they attempted to p***k his neck, he did not bleed as was expected. But in the heat of battle, who notices the little things? But the true surprise came when Atsuma appeared to attack. "Saiseki Koutetsu." A flood of rock from beneath came up and covered his body in the stone equivalent of armor; the precursors of which being the small rocks that protected Shan's neck. He felt the clone's movements the second Atsuma created them, an unfortunate side effect of his abilities. He had covered his entire back in stone, just in case, which is why he hadn't moved in the first place. His slow movements would have made it too obvious.
The large blade sunk into the thick slab of rock, piercing much farther than Shan would have liked; but it was a hasty creation. The impact ran through the rock and sent thick cracks throughout. It was an impressive strike, and Shan was glad he blocked it. But he wasted no time, and the second it impacted, he left the stone form alone, and the stone formed around the blade, keeping it stuck in the rock.
Shan ducked down in his encompassing, hollow shield of stone, and muttered to himself; the sound lost in the echoing resonance of the armor. "Koudo Chuuten." A ring of spiked earth exploded around the armor, impaling anything that was caught in its radius. The stone armor crumbled afterwards, Shan bounding out of it quickly to prevent an attack, landing a short ways away. Well, that cat was out of the bag. Now Atsuma would know what Shan could do, but he also learned a valuable lesson. There was no way to hide from Shan.
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Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2011 7:51 am
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Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2011 12:18 pm
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A tall pillar of stone where Shan used to stand would be his only clue. High above the blast he had made his refuge, shielded by altitude from the fiery blast below. Truly his mastery of the element of earth was his only saving grace in this battle. He couldn't imagine the burn marks and utter physical destruction that he would have suffered had he not an escape. As if a testament to that fact, the bottoms of his shihakusho were tattered and charred, still red a little from the singeing.
"Monosugoi Sasu." The ground beneath Atsuma exploded simultaneously, rocking the whole area. Rocks flew everywhere, dust shrouded the entire arena, making everything impossible to see. The ground became unstable, making footing difficult and moving even harder. Unless you controlled the element of course.
A dark figure appeared in the settling dust, wielding two enormous mauls of almost grotesque size, mounted on giant gold poles. "Come and get me, child." He dared, not moving his colossal bankai into a defensive position, almost inviting attack. "Come to your doom."
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Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2011 12:39 pm
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Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2011 5:39 pm
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In the heavy dust, Atsuma barreled straight at Shan's shadow and swung at him, his sword cleaving deep into his side. But as Atsuma began to swing, as the blade was just about to hit, two things happened. One, it became painfully obvious that the deep shadow of Shan, in the dust, wasn't Shan at all. A rocky duplicate. And if that was the case, where was Shan? The answer to that question came immediately afterwards. After Atsuma had committed himself to the strike, with absolutely no chance to adjust his momentum, both of Shan's heavy mauls soared downwards from a different location, making it perfectly clear that the thing he attacked was not Shan Hokori and he was in for a world of hurt. Even if he wasn't crushed under them completely like a bug, something would get smashed; something would pay the price.
It might have been harder to hit him, but Atsuma lit himself on fire like a lantern in a foggy night, ensuring his accuracy. Everyone always believed that the earthen element was weak, that it was far inferior to the others. Shan Hokori was proving them wrong.
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Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2011 5:58 pm
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Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2011 6:22 pm
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Shan had to give it to Atsuma. His ability to bend the laws of physics and change momentum midair was astounding. But it was no matter. Atsuma was still underestimating him. Which in and of itself was more useful than he could have imagined. He surprised that Atsuma was able to pinpoint his exact location, seeing as his reiatsu was actually deep in the ground instead of inside himself. At least this was the case in release, and especially so in Bankai.
"Dragons. How cliche." Shan muttered. "Tenchu." A whole series of earthen pillars appeared directly in front of the dragons, breaking them up as they splashed against the stone. The pillars began to show the faint hints of wear from heat, but the pillars curved on top of the dragons, slamming down and wrapping around to create a airtight dome of earth. Given how hot the dragons are supposed to be, their air would be out almost instantly. Shan sweat a little, unable to completely resist the effects of the heat, even though he was a ways away from the blast itself.
But that wasn't it. As the pillars began to suffocate the dragons, he spoke again. "Koudo Chuuten." Spikes shot up from beneath the trio of Atsumas without warning, not even the sound of shifting earth. Since they were busy yelling at him, it was their fault that they kept giving him opportunities such as that. And their own fault that they kept underestimating his abilities. The thin crust of the earth kept miles upon miles of molten rock at bay. What were three fiery dragons?
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Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2011 6:35 pm
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Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2011 8:22 pm
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Shan did indeed survive the tornado, managing barely to stay one step ahead of the giant swirling vortex with the use of shun-po and the use of his own zanpaku-to abilities to propel him forward. On more than one occasion the flames caught his uniform, and flames licked against him so he had to launch himself away further and take the time to put it out. It was a giant, fiery game of cat and mouse. And despite his excellent training and powerful zanpaku-to, he was starting to get tired.
He decided to give up trying to stay in the arena and jumped outside it, and he started to run through the grass as it grew around the beautiful arena. He heard the crackling pop as the grass behind him was eaten by the hungry whirlwind of destruction. He didn't want to do this, but it seemed his only option. And the reiatsu of the tornado had begun to wane, but something deadly pulsed within. As he ran, he disconnected his reiatsu as it flowed through the earth, letting it course through him once again, renewing him completely. The Heavenly Requiem was a move he didn't often use, but this seemed like the best moment to use it.
And then the tornado exploded. He was a fair distance from it, as was Atsuma, so he was hurled a tremendous distance away, screaming through the air like a bat straight out of hell. The rest of his clothes, minus a few scraps that clung to him for dear life, had been completely incinerated. Burn marks covered his body where the explosion had singed him, and he knew the impact would eventually hurt worse than anything else.
He sealed his zanpaku-to, and sheathed it. The mauls would do him no good any longer, and he would hate to survive the landing only to be killed by one of his own mauls. He plummeted towards the earth, muttering a few words to himself. Casting his hand out in front of him as if that was going to save him, he screamed into the howling wind as he careened towards his doom.
A flash of demon arts, and a giant net appeared beneath him, softening the landing as he crashed into it. And through it. And straight into the ground, rolling over and over again until he came to a halt. He groaned, almost positive that he had broken every bone in his body, including some that he didn't even know existed. But he was conscious. Barely, but he was conscious.
"I...give you...my...regards...Atsuma. Well fought." He gasped, completely unable to move without pain. He would have to wait for his spiritual body to heal naturally, or for someone from the Fourth Division to finally respond to that violent and brilliant clash of reiatsu.
"Let's...never...do this...again." He groaned, definitely noting his shin bone was outside of his body. Delicious.
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Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2011 7:32 am
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Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2011 11:48 am
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Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2011 11:55 am
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