Crossroads Collision, When Titans and Gods Clash!

This article, Crossroads Collision, When Titans and Gods Clash!, was added by Seireitou who determines its usage on this wiki.

This article, Crossroads Collision, When Titans and Gods Clash!, was added by Mangetsu20 who determines its usage on this wiki.

This article, Crossroads Collision, When Titans and Gods Clash!, was added by Blankslate who determines its usage on this wiki.

Crossroads Collision, When Titans and Gods Clash!

Challengers Arise! Black Storms Gathering!

It was a eeire and gloomy evening in the World of the Living.

In the large and distinguished countryside of Japan, some thirty or forty miles away from the city of Hiroshima, light grey clouds gathered in the skies above, shadowing the land and diminishing any sign of color or cheerful activity in the large foresty mountainside. The area was soaking wet and muddy, and thunder and lightning struck in the distance. It was clear that a storm had occured recently, but to some, it was far from an ordinary one.

Whoosh!!!!

Quickly moving between the branches of the various trees and creeks within the forest was what could only be described as a black shadow, moving at speeds that the human eye would consider impossible to see. It moved quickly through the various woodland structures before stopping in the middle of a fairly sized clearing of grass. It stood straight up, revealing a black kimino with a grey belt of sorts starting from an armor piece on his right shoulder and extending down to his lower left hip. On his back and attached to the belt was an average length katana with a sea blue handle and a hexagon shaped tsuba, it's blade concealed within a sheathe of similar blue shade as the handle. His hair was fairly neck length and solid white, flowing around the back of his head to the gentle breeze of the wind flow.

Akira stood motionless in the clearing, his head tilted down and his eyes closed as if he was in a deep state of meditation. Back at Soul Society, he had heard reports of strange storms taking place within this section of the World of the Living, storms that felt more spiritual and created rather than being born of nature. He had suspected that something sinister was amist, and decided to do an investigation into the phenomenon that was "off the record."

But as he had suspected for a while now, he wasn't alone, despite preferring to be.

He let out a sigh, before looking up at the sky and opening his eyes to reveal a blue shaded, disspassionate gaze. "Come on out Shiroi. I know you're there."

"Oh darn it!"

A feminine voice came out of the trees just behind him, revealing a youthful appearing, beautiful young woman with a similar kimino to Akira's, only sleeveless and with long fingerless gloves, as well as a long red scarf around her neck. Her brown hair extended down to her upper back, and her hazel eyes looked over at Akira with slight seriousness. "I still don't see how you are capable of feeling my prescence when even my comrades can't." she said with a slightly annoyed tone.

"Your comrades don't have the training that I do." Akira said back, resuming his previous face and looking back at the ground. "You can come on out too. If she came, I doubt she came alone." he said to a familiar presence that he suspected was in the forest just behind Shiroi.

"Tch,"

SFT!

"...I guess watching her breaks my cover too," a black, non-Shikhakusho garbed young man emerged from the shadows within a flicker of motion that was nigh-silent. His sandals clapped against the grass with even quieter grace, as his black hooded cloak flourished around him in the wake of the wind that billowed around the countryside, faint sounds of rumbling and distortion of spiritual pressure within the atmosphere caused Shindō's eyes to knit together in further concern, "and I'm guessing that's the appearance of this so-called, Spirit Storm everyone's been having, huh?"

"Yep..." Akira began, putting his hands in his pockets and looking up at the sky. "Now that I'm closer to it, I know for sure this isn't another one of Kaze's mad experiments like Shiroi thought. This is a feeling that's....unfamiliar. I haven't felt anything like it before."

"And that just gave you the notion to come out here by yourself?" Shiroi added, crossing her arms and cocking an eyebrow at Akira. "You could get in some serious trouble doing that y'know. But then again, you've done it before and somehow gotten away with it."

Shindō sighed, looking towards Akira as he crossed his arms in knowing, "And I'm guessing you were discussing this supposedly classified piece of intel that even the D.C.O. made sure didn't get leaked to the majority of the Gotei 13?"

"You know me." Akira said, still looking up at the clouds with a curious gaze. "I know an incident in the making when I feel one. I didn't need some special report to tell me something was amiss."

"Riiiight," Shindō said with a smirk before shaking his head, turning back to the storm, "just a bit of spying on a top secret debriefing within a secured D.C.O. briefing room that was only reserved for D.C.O. and invited personnel."

Shindō narrowed his eyes, percieving there was far more to this storm than meets simple visual and sensory perception. With a brief blink of his eyes, a pair of three-pronged comma red eyes stared into the mass of Spiritually atmospherically distorted stormhead. Within it, he saw immense electrical energy being channeled within the storm, within a single minute spot that strangely looked like a...

"Oh hell!" Shindō swore as he opened his mouth, drying as he suddenly percieved what the source of these Spirit Storms were, as he backed up slowly from the spot, irrelevent due to the nature of the threat, "we have to get out of here!"

Akira's eyes widened and he instinctivley lept back from his spot, using the back of his right arm to take Shiroi with him as well to avoid what he perceived as an oncoming attack.

...

"Whatcha looking at?" A voice suddenly penetrated the air, moving so fast that not even Shindō's Tamenkyōme could trace its movements or its direction.

"What the hell?!" Shindō retorted lowly, turning around as he looked all over, then suddenly whirled around...to see a muscular, spikey haired man with a pair of round-lensed shades and a confident smile enamoring him. His body didn't appear to be anything other than humanoid, but the level of power seemed to be enormous, the Spiritual Pressure he witheld would've indeed made standing near him a task for even Shindō and Akira's caliber.

"You like the view or something, cause you guys are just gawking at my little surplus makes me a little defensive," The newcomer said in a jocular, yet underlying menace as he stuck his hands in his pockets, not even the least threatened by the three of them. Or at least, not acting like it yet.

Shiroi could feel herself shake in the wake of the power that this new being wielded, her own spine turning cold as just standing in this particular spot was becoming a chore for her. What was he?

Akira however, retained a much more calm exterior in slight contrast to his comrade's. Standing straight up and looking at the newcomer with a stoic gaze, also unintimidated by the man's power, despite feeling it's crushing gravity. "Am I to assume that you are responsible for these odd weather patterns?" he asked, retaining a cool expression with half lidded eyes, his figure or his tone was serious and strict, but held no threatening traits.

"Odd weather?" The newcomer continued to smile, asking in a coy fashion as he cocked his head and nodded towards the large thunderhead above them, "I don't see anything odd about a little storm..."

"Don't play coy with me!" Shindō hissed in a cold, vengeful gaze as his unique eyes blazed hotly upon him, "you were the focus point for most of the countryside's Spiritual Energy as well as the atmospheric disturbances that's created massive storms across the World of the Living. Who are you...Arrancar?"

"Hehehehehe!" The newcomer chuckled in a evil, yet amused tone as he lifted his hands from his pockets, sashaying his body in a offhandish way, "close, but not quite, Soul Reaper...Shindō Takuji," he smiled in a further bit of glee as he earned a dialated stare of disbelief from the Soul Reaper, "my name is Tome Kūgun, and I am simply a tourist of this amazing country, and I speak very little Japanese, so please don't rush your tongues like they do in the movies."

Akira's gaze didn't change, his white hair flowing with the wind still as he looked at this...Tome Kugen with suspicion. "I'll take that as a yes."

Tchick, scrrrrrrch!

"I'm going to give you, one chance, whatever you are," Shindō said to Tome, the latter now bearing a bored expression on his face as if he heard this kind of thing before, the former unsheathing his Zanpakuto from its sheathe in a slow, threatening manner, "to leave now and cease your activities-!"

"Or what?" Tome asked in a bored, now mixed with humored grin as he took steps towards the Soul Reapers, moreso to Shindō than anything, as his hands were held out wide with his body exposed and vulnerable, "you gonna stick me with that fancy looking stick of yours?! Go on! Try it! I bet you'll be in for a shock of your life!"

Shindō's eyes widened slightly before narrowing, then moving towards the being with assumedly unparalleled speed at and leaped up into the air, slashing his blade towards his shoulder, aiming to cut through his jacket into his torso...

SLASH-SCRRREK!

...only to be met by one of the hardest known forces he had ever encountered, causing his eyes to truly dialate in shock as his own blade was blocked by his own body. Without even moving. He even noticed a small cut that sliced his own sword-wielding palm from the impact, dripping morbidly to the ground in little ominous drops.

"Oh dear," Tome looked at him with a now concerned tone as he momentarily looked at the blade that was embedded between his jacket and ontop of his resilient skin, grasping it fluidly without hesitation, "it seems that you've cut my jacket."

CRACK-WHOOMPF!

"I REALLY LIKED THAT JACKET!" Tome yelled out, as he spun his right foot out and caught Shindō by the gut, causing the latter's eyes to roll, saliva to puke out, and his body to careen for a good distance away and slamming into a hillside with a incredible crash, in the wake of a air rupturing shockwave that would knock the other two Soul Reapers' bodies to the ground had they not steadied themselves.

"Wah!" Shiroi yelled out as she held her arms out in an x shaped position, the force of the impact flinging her into a tree before she slowly fell onto the ground, wearily picking herself up from the unexpected display of force. "A...Akira. We have to get Shindo and leave! He's too strong for us!"

Akira found himself skidding his feet along the ground, doing what he could to keep himself steady, though doing even that felt like a chore to him. When he finally stopped nearly five feet in front of Shiroi, Akira grasped his blue handled blade and slowly pulled it out of it's sheathe, his eyes locking onto Tome's with dead seriousness, his voice carrying a similar effect. "Shiroi. Go check on Shindo. Make sure his recklessness hasn't gotten him too banged up."

Shiroi simply sighed, knowing that arguing with the stubborn white haired boy would be pointless. He's never listened to her advice anyway, why would he do it now when he has the chance to fight a strong opponent?

Whoosh!

With a Flash-Step, she appeared next to Shindo, crouching down and holding out her hands should he need help to get up. "Are you alright, Shindo-san?"

Akira's blade was next to his side, still retaining his pose as he looked on at Tome. "My apologies. Shindo has a habit of jumping to immediate conclusions and shooting before he asks any questions." he said in his normal accented voice.

Shindō coughed as he began pulling himself out of the hole, not taking the hands offered by the girl as his cloak ruffled and flourished aroud him as he took berated steps out, "I-I'm fine, dammit!"

Tome's eyes glared at Akira as his glasses slid down the bridge of his nose a inch, showing his violet slitted pupils at him, glowing crimson with anger, before he simply raised a hand towards Akira. In the form of a finger gun, he then imitated a "bang" of the forefinger retracting, as he said, "Apologize for this, asshole!"

VR-BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAM!

What was fired almost simultaneously from his finger tip was the large gait of a incredible high-pressurized, high temperature, searing Cero, in the form of a dark red with black outlines as it roared out in the sense of almost a wrathful beast was out to destroy Akira. Ripping across the landscape for a good distance, it seared off the tops of hills before crashing into a dip in the valley...

KRRRRRACK-BOOOM!

...creating a incredibly tall pillar of crimson flames, rippling the countryside with its aftermath of pressurized ripped air buffets and heat that set a great deal of grass on flames from its intensity.

Shiroi quickly held out both hands, letting them bristle with electricity before she called out. "Danku!" Thus creating a large clear wall of kido magic to protect herself and Shindo from the onslaught of the attack's aftermath.

Akira's eyes widened suddenley at the great display of unmistakable Hollow like blast of energy. This man...this thing...was part Hollow, but it was no pure Hollow itself, nor did it bear the appearance or aura of an Arrancar. This being was something else entirely.

Within a split second reaction, Akira leaped over the massive Cero, letting it utterly devestate the beautiful forest just behind him and create it's massive column of red fire, the crimson energy reflecting in Akira's eyes as he grasped his blade with both hands, letting it glow with a blue and cyan aura, before flipping forward and then slicing his blade towards Tome.

SSCHHOOOOOOSH!!!!!!!

"Getsuga...Tenshō!" he yelled out as a rather large wave of blue energy shot out from the instant of the slash, flying towards Tome's form just before it....

BOOM!!!!!!

Slammed into Tome's general area and then released it's own column of blue and cyan energy, not setting anything around the area ablaze like the Cero, but still making a rather large field of destruction.

WOOSH!

Tome deftly leaped to the side with amazing speed, not employing any useage of high-speed technique as he avoided the blast of Getsuga Tenshō. As his eyes watched the whole thing unwravel, unknown analytical deductions and post-quantum algorithims allowed him to sift through his mind and memory, deducing the technique and origin of its attack. If not allowing him to find out the true form of this technique, he'd come up with his own natural conclusions with his incredibly heightened perception.

"That technique...," Tome said allowed, before his body propelled itself from the ground like a bullet towards Akira, moving at a speed thought almost nigh impossible by any ordinary being, "are you of the Kurosaki bloodline, runt?!"

SWISH!

Tome launched a spear-handed strike, using the incredible density of his naturally resilient skin while heightening it with physical force, it became as sharp as any other blade would be, as he aimed it towards his shoulder or at least to clash with Akira's Zanpakuto high cutting power.

Akira looked on at him dispassionatley, before looking as if he was going to prepare another Getsuga Tensho, what with his blade beginning to radiate it's signature blue and cyan energy, spiritual energy particles flaring from it like an electric conduit before he brought it down upon Tome's hand.

SSSSTRRRICLAANG!!!!!

The two attacks clashed with a great deal of Spiritual Power, creating a massive gust of wind that ruffled the trees below and even forced Shiroi to choke for breath.

As their "weapons" locked in place, Akira stared into Tome's eyes. "Perhaps I am of the Kurosaki line. I like to think that I am. But we didn't come here to discuss family trees now did we?"

He placed his other hand on the back of his weapon's upper blade, before speaking.

Tome's eyes dialated the moment he spoke, knowing the name and the entiriety of the technique through and through...and what it would do when fired without a swinging motion at point-blank range.

"Getsuga....Tenshō..."

BOOM!!!!!!!

He then released another powerful blast of blue energy from the weapon up close upon Tome, intending to do as much damage to the foe as he could while in his current Zanpakutō state.

Within the steaming hazy aftermath, it looked like the point of which his hand had been touching his Zanpakutō remained true upon it. But within the haze of super-heated air, showed a relatively unharmed Tome, with his eyes narrowed and a sly smile enamored on his face, in a almost mocking fashion.

"I think its entirely relevent, Akira Takuji," he said with a snide tone, as his hand now twisted around and grasped the flat edge of both sides of his enemy's weapon as he forcefully pulled it to the side, "considering that certainly didn't feel like a real Moon Fang, Heaven Piercer. So," he raised his opposing hand, crackling in dark crimson energy as it prepared for its attack, "how would you feel if showed you...what a force of nature can do that surpasses that outdated technique?!"

WHIZ!

Shindō's form appeared swiftly behind Tome a few meters higher, swinging down a now crackling, lightning infused blade towards his exposed back, "Scream, Kirin!"

SPRRRAAAAAACK-CLANG!

Another form shielded him within a moment's notice, unsheathing his sword only slightly as it blocked the weapon's power and radiated past his body and not anywhere near Tome.

"I apologize for interrupting without introduction like this," the silver haired young man spoke as he held his crimson sheathe and medieval styled weapon partially out of its sheathe while it effortlessly blocked the heightened radiated cutting power of the Soul Reaper's, "but my brother seems to be in the middle of something, so I suggest not pissing him off further by attacking him from behind like a coward!"

Akira's eyes widened in shock at seeing how his attack had done hardly any visible damage to his foe. His Zanpakutō, Shagetsu, was in a constant state of Shikai release, which meant that any attack that he had done with the weapon would be at great power.

But then his face went to a cool and calm one as he let the attack come for him, already not having enough time to evade the powerful blast. This would seem like a suicide move to most, but it was far from it in actuality.

Tome briefly smirked at seeing his compatriot butt in, before unleashing a his left palm with a blinding release of concussive force within a single strike. A Bala-enfused punch.

BRACK-POW!

"HA!"

Shindō's eyes narrowed, his Tamenkyōme's comma eyes spun slightly seeing another bout of deep, resonating spiritual power within this man as well. With a sudden even greater burst of electric energy, Shindō yelled out as a mighty surge of electric power was released against him, shouting aloud, "Out of my way!!!"

SCRRRRCRACK-BOOM!

This caused the other man to be forcefully sent back a dozen meters, with no real concern etched on his face despite his seeming predicament, as he grasped his sword again, speaking aloud, "That's pretty good...nothing I haven't seen before, but its still good."

"SHUT UP!" Shindō shouted as he moved towards him with renewed speed, gathering heightened amounts of electric energy within the air around his Zanpakutō, aiming to strike him with another surge of electric power.

"You don't understand," the man spoke, before unsheathing his sword in a swift motion....

CRRRRAAAAACK-SPHRT!

...releasing a yellow-tinged fissure of Spiritual Power from his blade, in a much wider arc and gait than even Akira's Getsuga Tenshō, nearly totally encompassing Shindō in its wake and mass of incredible power. "I gave you a compliment...because I don't think many Soul Reapers are capable of my interest...until I met you, Shindō Takuji."

SLAM!!!!

The man's fist slammed into Akira's chest with enough force to send a mighty gust of wind out from behind him, and he even grunted from the sheer force behind the impact.

But his form had a strange blue outline to it now, his eyes glowing with the same shade of blue and a slight smirk on his face as he appeared relativley unharmed.

He then let his blade glow with the same energy as before and then placing his palm on Tome's chest. "Kyosei Yashi."

ZZRWHOOSH!!!!!!

A mighty gale of blue spiritual energy suddenely burst from Akira's palm, having enough force to send even the most durable of opponents flying from his vicinity. Hopefully, it would be enough to where he could possibly go help Shindo. As far as Akira was concerned, he certainly looked like he needed it.

Even within the massive fissure of power, a bright blazing blue light emerged with a screaming intensity, as lightning seemed to shroud his very essence and created a electromagnetic shield that forestalled the harmful Spiritual Energy. Shindō's being radiated a powerful Spiritual Pressure, and his body soared down towards the nameless foe, swinging back and forth with his Zanpakuto only to be met with a skilled counters that was only knocked back slightly in the air from the ferocious set of attacks.

Tome's eyes crossed inwards, as he felt the wave of spiritual energy, like a tornado of sheer concussive force, send him sprawling across the air. However, even as he did this, he smiled as he simply exerted a blast of crimson spiritual power from his backside, causing a rift of pressure within the air that halted him indefinitely, as well as propel him back towards Akira with amazing tenacity.

"Trying to get me away so you can help your pal?! I wouldn't suggest it!" Tome moved at lightning speeds, swinging his fists with incredible speeds as well as his feet, intending on battering him relentlessly with a number of "steel"-like hits as well as possibly slice him up with his finger nails or the edges of his hands themselves, like makeshift blades.

Akira's gaze remained serious as he set into trying to parry and deflect the onslaught of following attacks, but this foe was still a mystery to him. He was missing several of the fists and strikes, causing them to hit his torso and other areas with force that actually caused some bits of pain in him, despite his energy coated shield.

BOOM!!!!

One particular punch slammed into his chest, causing a wad of spit to fly out from his mouth as he spiraled towards the ground, slamming into a group of trees with a large column of dirt and debris.

"Akira!" Shiroi yelled out, whipping out her smaller, red handled Zanpakuto and Flash Stepping near his vicinity, standing over the rather large crater and looking at Akira's bruised form with concern. "Are you alright Akira?!"

The boy picked himself up, a few bruises on his face and other parts of his form as he looked back up at Tome. "Damn....I wasn't expecting it to be that strong..."

Shiroi then sighed, looking at him now with dissapointment and slight annoyance. "Why can't you and Shindo just stay out of trouble?"

WHIZ!

"Don't be too hard on the guy," Tome said as he appeared just behind Shiroi, looking down at Akira partially as his shade-hidden eyes looked at his nails, in a mocking way to see if he broke a nail or got dirt within its cracks. He added insult to injury by smiling knowingly, "after all...despite how incredible his control over his Zanpakutō's shielding ability is to aggressive force, nothing is unbreakable."

Meanwhile...Shindō's battle with Hiroi had been all but a strongarm game. With whoever would land the first blow to take the fight out of him. Currently, Hiroi seemed to be matching move for move without effort against the seasoned Takuji Elite with ease, while Shindō could barely keep up with his insane speed with using the Tamenkyōme.

"Give up, Shindō," Hiroi said as backpedaled away from his enemy, skating the air with mere spirit energy planes he created upon instinct, holding his scarlet sheathe in one hand while holding his sword in the other, "you must realize that even someone with your skill, all you'll be doing is wearing yourself out..."

"Don't patronize me!" Shindō shouted violently, raising his Zanpakutō into the air, summoning some of the raging course currents of negatives of electricity within the storm head above. With a high pitched electric whine coming from his Zanpakutō, he suddenly swung it down within a instant, "Sandā Gakudan!"

CRRK-KRACK, BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOOM!

Within a series of sizzling, high-pitched electric sounds, fifty lightning bolts surged from the heavens towards Hiroi, the vast crackling light display may cause any onlookers to pause with uncertainty or fear from the raw power the lightning orchestra would have upon its targets.

Hiroi, however, looked unphased within the oncoming assault of lightning strikes, and began zig-zagging with wild abandon, moving to and fro throughout the air, actually dodging the attacks with extreme skill and high perception. With slight flickers of blinding movement and employment of spiritual energy, Shindō could see for certain...that he was using Flash Step to augment his already considerable speed.

"It should be impossible to dodge all this lightning," Shindō said with a narrowed, hesitant gaze as he prepared himself for another high powered bout with this incredibly skilled entity, "but he's doing it...as if he's practiced dodging lightning before, and mastered it. That sounds ridiculous!"

Shiroi's eyes widened as she felt the being's presence just behind her, but she didn't show any fear. Instead, she whirled around and held out both hands. "Horin!" Her hands began to crackle with orange energy before shooting out two long and electricity covered orange ropes of sorts that immediatley wrapped around Tome, intending to lock him in place.

Akira then whirled himself around and, with his sword now glowing once more as a result of keeping his Getsuga Tensho's energy within it's blade, swung at the man's head, aiming to either lop it off in one swing, or do as much explosive damage as possible while up close.

"Tch!" Tome clicked his tongue as he kept his eyes on both of them while appearing offhanded earlier. Seeing them move was almost too easy to predict. The binding orange tendrils he grasped into one hand and held them tight, despite a few of them wrapping around up his arm and around his shoulder. Meanwhile, he backhanded the Getsuga Tenshō infused Zanpakutō with his hand, causing a burst of force to rush from the other side and around Tome when preforming the maneuver, showing true the factual power behind the latter technique. As it streamed blue energy around him, lighting up his shades in a dramatic view, he smiled with a amused grin, "if you really need someone as low-skilled as this gal to face me..."

YANK!

"...then you should just give up while you can!" With a wrenching, strongarmed yank with his arm, he swung the still attached ropes bound to the caster's hands up in to the air before pulling it down for her to crash behind them a few dozen feet away. Meanwhile, he swung his right foot up and shin-kicked at Akira's ribs, intending on utilizing a perfectly executed amount of tacticle force to send the other Soul Reaper hurtling away.

"You're probably wondering..."

Hiroi spoke as he stood again at the same altitude as Shindō, with no visible damage to his person as he looked onwards to the Lightning-nature Zanpakutō wielder,

"...why I can dodge lightning with such ease and perception?"

"I was about to ask that," Shindō's black-crimson eyes narrowed at him, smirking a little that this entity was bothering to reveal his methods to a tactician such as himself, "but I didn't know you had that much respect for me, so I decided to stick to fighting rather than useless banter."

"My brother, Tome," Hiroi spoke as he held his sheathe and sword in opposite ends in a crouched, sword fighter stance, "he's the one who taught me how to do it. Its quite unfortunate that we had to be opponents," he dashed onwards, swinging his blades with incredible speed and force, pushing back Shindō with sheer tenacity, "I think you would've stood a better chance against Tome, in my honest opinion."

Shiroi was obviously sent flying into the ground by his move, but Akira had it worse.

BOOM!!

"UGH!" he grunted out, as the kick felt as if it shattered his rib cage and then sending him flying through an entire line of trees, smashing into the side of a large mound with a massive crash of dirt and debris.

Picking himself up wearily, Akira was breathing heavily, saliva mixed with hints of blood dripped from his mouth, holding onto his rib area with his left hand and his entire body bruised and scarred. That attack had nearly crippled him. He knew now that he couldn't afford to hold back at this point.

He grasped his sword with both hands, letting it bristle with more energy as he held it high above his head. The area around him began to shake and tremble, the spiritual energy from the weapon clearly being far more powerful than other previous attacks that it shot our earlier.

"Getsuga....." he began, his arms beginning to tremble from all the power that he was putting into it, energy particles raining around and striking the earthe around his vicinity. Gritting his teeth and letting his eyes get wider with sheer determination, he swung the weapon down.

"...TENSHŌ!!!!!!!!!!"

SHIRRRRRBOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A truly massive gale of deep blue energy was let forth from the blade's motion, shaking all of the area around him as if an earthquake had struck the land as the mighty torrent of energy came towards his opponent, and created an almost deafening explosion of sheer blue energy that reached up to the skies and could be seen for miles on end.

Tome's eyes widened with pleasant surprise as he saw the man build up Spiritual Power enough to release such a devestating attack. As the attack rushed towards his position, his shades actually began to crack in the wake of the high-pitched roar that barreleed towards him.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHA, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Tome laughed aloud with a exhilerated rush as he saw a actual attack coming from his opponent for the first time. Raising not one, but both of his fingers in their iconic finger pistols, he raised both of them at the same time, and shouted out, "THAT'S more like it! BOOM!"

VRR-BOOM-BOOM!

KRRRBLAAAAM!

As the initial explosion had been blue to Akira's eyesight, two massive and collected dark crimson pillars of spiritual energy wrapped around and dissipated the bulk of the technique, igniting it 15 meters short of the destination it ached to reach, causing a brown-tinted veil of flames to crawl up into the sky. Tome then took time to walk dramatically through the pillar of flames, exuding his own Spiritual Pressure this time, as that shook and parted the flames before him, oozing a silver bodied-dark red outlined aura around his body as he walked casually and threateningly towards Akira.

Within only ten foot steps, he had completely dissipated the flames caused by their collided powers, and his body drew closer and closer, his Spiritual Pressure becoming more and more dense and overwhelming as he didn't hold back. The atmosphere above responded violently, crackling lightning and thundering chaotically, causing flashes to illuminate and cast shadows over the figures below, even as Shindō's own collosal battle waged high above in the sky.

"Do you understand now, Soul Reaper?" Tome asked with a serious, thick tone as he smiled at him, his shades intact yet cracked from the earlier collided forces, "I was holding back cause I was trying to measure the depth of your capabilities. And...if you keep up doing what you just did, I might even enlighten you and show you half of my true powers."

Needless to say, Akira was dumbfounded as to how his most powerful attack had been so easily parried. His face was kept steady and cool, though one could see a twitch of tiredness in his eyes.

He then held his sword pointed towards Tome's approaching form, his body bristling with energy before his eyes began to glow, his hair slowly beginning to stand up as he uttered one word from his mouth.

"Ban...kai."

WHHOOOOOM!!!!!!!

A giant column of blue spiritual energy shot into the sky, growing in size and causing yet another shaking sensation along the earth's surface. With a wave of his hand, Akira disspelled the column, revealing his new form.

He now wore a tattered black robe of sorts with flaring, ragged and torn ends, a black hood on his head with his white hair emergy from it's sides. Black pants extended down his legs on down to a pair of solid white boots, his right arm sleeve apparently torn off. On his exposed arm was a black ribbon of sorts that wrapped around his arm twice before extending around in behind his back, floating around gently with the breeze. The ribbon was attached to the back of a white gauntlet on his right hand, and on the other end of the gauntlet was a black hexagonal shaped tsuba with several black spikes on it's top and side parts. Out of the middle of this tsuba was a glistening and razor sharp silver sword, slightly longer than it's sealed form with an appearance much more similar to that of a Daito.

"Kodai Shagetsu" (lit: "Ancient Shielding Moon")

"A Clad-type Bankai, eh?" Tome asked in feigned interest, arching a brow as he briefly crossed his arms over his chest, tapping his left foot in emphasis, "and that's nice Spiritual Pressure you got there, reflects a good amount of Spiritual Power you got left in your body. Though, it's still going to be hard to fight me with the wounds I gave you beforehand. But enough about the obvious..."

Tsk, shhhhhhhhink...

"...I might as well give you some credit to your best skills and draw my sword," Tome said with a anticipatory grin as he fully withdrew his wakizashi from his waist, its square designed pommel and simple designed hilt resembled that of a Soul Reaper's Zanpakuto, but yet..., "its been ages since I've had to use my Zanpakutō against an opponent, but I guess getting the shine off this blade is good excercise, nonetheless."

SWISH-SWISH!

Tome swung it a few times with little exertion, testing out its weight and speed before employing his tactics and mindset around this particular weapon. He dug the sole of his boot into the earth as he stretched into a ninja-like sword stance, beckoning Akira with his free hand, "C'mere and try to land a single blow on me, Akira-boy!"

Akira's form, despite Tome's previous assumption, showed no signs of damage. Akira's face was still slightly bruised, but his body was otherwise still intact. His face was just as serious as before, his eyes half lidded as he spoke in a dead solemn voice. "No. Why don't you quit playing predator and actually come for your prey instead of letting it come to you for a change?"

"Heh, if you insist," Tome said with a low tone, his eyes suddenly narrowing into slits behind his shades, before his body stopped pulsating Spiritual Pressure altogether. In fact, he almost stopped all external senses that someone could pick up on...

WHIZ, BOOM!

Within a instant he disappeared within a flickering motion, propelling his feet off the ground that left a large shockwave from the sheer force and speed from his own inertia movement.

SNATCH!

And within that instant, Tome managed to grasp Akira's face and fling him across the fields with incredible force, while shouting, "Made you look!"

However, it wasn't Akira's face that Tome grabbed.

sssssssss....

It was an afterimage, one that faded as soon as Tome's hand went though its face.

Akira was now standing on the limb of a tree that was just behind Tome. "Try again."

"Huh?" Tome had grasped the air too much, causing a snapping motion that cracked the air, sending it billowing around him. He then coyly looked around with his head, raising his hand to make it as if he was trying to really find him, "where did that bugger go off to? How much faster did he just get? Oh wait..."

BZZT!

"...I can move faster than that," Tome said in the wake of what sounded almost unmistakenly as a Sonido. The speed was incredibly heightened, almost so much that even in Akira's Bankai enhanced state of mind, he would find it nearly incomprehensible to follow his movements. "Silly me, huh?!"

SLAP!

With a backhanded movemet that happened just as fast, he aimed to smack him off the lone tree within the field of grass, aiming to send him hurtling across the other small cluster of foilage and into the hillside.

BOOM!!!!

The hand slammed into Akira's back with great force, causing a great billow of air and wind to surge onto the ground in front of him. Akira himself went flying towards the ground as well, flipping around violently, before-

CCHRRR!!!

BOOOM!!!!!

He landed on the ground with pinpoint accuracy, skidding on the ground briefly before springing back up towards Tome, his expression not changing in the slightest as his speed reached levels that even the most experienced and hardened of foes would have difficulty keeping up with, before delivering a powerful and accurate left sided swipe across Tome's chest with his new and amazingly sharp, durable sword.

CRK-TIIIIING!

"You're quite a hot tempered one," Tome said with a smile, as his wakizashi Zanpakuto blocked the new Bankai sword with ease, albeit held only a few inches away from his chest, "but you forget I got one of these pieces of fancy metal as well..."

CRRREAAK!

"Do you honestly believe you Soul Reapers were the only beings capable of challenging entities that ravage the world out of sheer hunger?"

CRRREAAK!

"Did you think that just because you have a Bankai, means that you're special?!"

CRRREAAK!

"Well, guess what, Soul Reaper?!" Tome finally had a now malicious, snarling visage, as with each push he managed to push Akira away with him with only one hand, scraping his body across the air as he used his own innate physical force to overpower the Bankai garbed Soul Reaper. Then, briefly behind his shades as they cracked further, was a dark crimson light that lit up so swiftly, it was within a blink of an eye.

"YOU'RE ALL FOOLS!"

VR-BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM!!!

Within that instaneous heartbeat of space and time, two orb sized Ceros suddenly blasted out from his shades and engulfed the whole space with incredible speed and power, all done within a effortless exertion upon the now berift of shades entity.

The Cero's completley over encompased Akira's form, ravaging the land behind him and causing all worlds of damage. Akira was undoubtably vaporized by the powerful attack....

...or so it would appear.

"Getsuga...."

A surge of black and blue electricity began radiating from the spot that Akira was in when the Cero "hit" him, before a massive fang of similar color comepletley destroyed the onslaught of Hollow energy and flew down Tome's chest with unbelievable force and explosive output, Akira's form revealed to be unscathed and glowing with a blue aura.

"...Tensho."

"Oh c'mon-!"

GRAPOW!

The force of the Getsuga Tensho struck him full force, not even bothering to block the force of the attack, as his body flung from the tree he stood on and into the hillside. Within moments a dark blue-black explosion of energy exploded the hill, followed by a mushroom cloud of blue-orange and yellow flames, that discharged a powerful series of winds that blew everything within a 30 meter radius away, before rending the earth beneath it asunder with powerful force.

As the flames crackled, and time seemed to pass by, it seemed all was still and calm.

Then...a pulsation like none other emanated...cracking and shaking the air, even going as far as splitting the earth within the blast radius, as burgundy tendrils snaked around the air, emanating from a jacketless man, with eyes burning with a stoic, cool and refined bloodlust, and Spiritual Pressure that would make even the most seasoned of Captains twitch with uncertainty.

The Getsuga Tensho tore through his dark red sleeveless shirt, and incinerated his jacket...but his skin barely had a mar upon it, despite it should've having an affect on him, all logical presumptions ended there.

"Hey kid," he said with a cool, yet almost tauntiung voice even as he bore no smile on his face at the moment. He raised a hand in a beckoning gesture, "throw that at me again, this time with full power...and maybe you'll actually kill me, or I'll kill you...if that's honestly....all you got!"

WHOOSH!

Akira disappeared and then reappeared just in front of Tome just as the word "got" left his mouth. Within a second, Akira placed his palm firmly upon Tome's chest, staring into his bloodlust filled eyes with slight amusement, but with no smile.

"Kyosei Yashi."

BOOM!!!!!

Akira then released another massive concussive force of energy up close upon Tome's form, intending to send him careening through or deeper into the hillside that they were on.

SNATCH!

Within the moment the concussive force washed over Tome's body, Tome snatched Akira's wrist, putting incredible force within his vice grip enough to yank him with his body as it skid across the earth a few more meters, but managed to only move a little distance. Despite the earlier show of what the Getsuga Tensho did, he didn't budge hardly at all like before...as if he couldn't be moved!

SLICE, SPRRAAAAAAAACK!

With a single slicing movement towards Akira's chest, he released a fissure of energy even greater than his other partner had shown before, and without care, the arc engulfed a near 180 degree radius and was almost impossible to avoid. He would show him true pain, if it meant getting his true powers out. Tome wanted a challenge...and he wouldn't be played by mere Bankai tricks.

Akira's teeth grit as the arc of energy slammed into his shield covered body, sending him flying past his original position only seconds earlier. When he finally stopped, he looked on a Tome with a disspassionate expression. "I doubt very seriously that I will show you my true powers. By the time that I would have, I would more than likely be dead. Someone like you, to me at least, isn't worthy of seeing true power, especially if it's something that they want."

"Are you fucking with me?!" Tome snarled out, before smiling widely as he bore his bloodlustful eyes upon Akira's form, raising his hands in trembling emphasis of his battle-hardened passion, "this life, this world...its all a complete f'reaking joke! The only reason powerful beings exist is to exert their power and test their mettle. Its the call...the rage that burns within every warrior, and that hidden desire of seeing your opponent's blood spill across the ground and see their life slip away from their meatsack of a body! If nothing else, why hold back under some arrogant pretext of honor or nobility?! If you ask me, you're acting like a complete freaking fool by adhering to such antiquated principles and guidelines! This isn't a simple matter of beating another brute or thug with mediocre skills. Oh no...this...is a fight to the death!!!"

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

Within that last word and emphasis, a bright light below the clouds emanated with incredible force and power, creating what looked like a miniature sun with such bright light and intensity, sending waves of heat and winds buffeting down into the earth below. Within the flowing tendrils of mass of solar energy spiraled a fire covered being...the being none other than Akira's brother, twitching and near motionless as his body smashed into the ground without fault, a mighty fissure of earth and flames sprang up in the wake of gravity's pulling collision.

"And I'm going to kill you," Tome raised his hands swiftly into a boxing stance, with burgundy sparks flicking off the edges of his fist as he readied his attack, "and take great pleasure in it!"

"Tormenta de bala!...."

BAP-BAP-BAP-BAP-BAP-BAP-BAP!

Within a series of blinding fist strikes sent by Tome in Akira's general direction...

BRACK-BRACK-BRACK-BRACK-BRACK!

...a tidal wave of bowling ball sized burgundy Balas were sent soaring over the horizon towards his opponent, leaving large exhausts of concussive power, exploding dramatically with each of them landing and screeching across the air, causing an effect of a large waft of earth being uplifted and ripped apart by the energized, condensed projectiles.

Akira's eyes widened in horrified surprise, not at Tome's attack, but at his brother's form slamming into the earth just behind him.

"Shindo!" he yelled out as he promptly used his Flash Step to close the distance between him and Shindo's lifeless form. Holding his sword high in the air with both hands, his back facing Shindo, the area around the blade began to be consumed in a black and neon blue energy, before he swirled the blade around him, creating a massive sphere of similar colored energy that barely withstood the onslaught of Bala attacks, it's form distorting for each attack that hit the barrier.

"Getsuga Tengoku!"

While in side the barrier, Akira removed his white glove, and stabbed his blade into the ground, maintaining the field of energy while he quickly went to his brother's side, using his left hand to pick up the latter's head.

"Shindo?!" he yelled out, briefly putting his ear to his brother's mouth before pulling back and looking into Shindo's face once more, shock and worry filling his eyes. "Shindo, answer me dammit!!" The situation was looking dangerous. The area inside the barrier shook around violently for every Bala impact, the booming noises distorting his hearing. He didn't have many other options besides leaving the barrier with Shindo, but he was desperate to see his brother's condition.

Shindō grunted and growled, as he struggled to push himself off the ground despite the pain and exhausted energy he had, "You...idiot," he muttered as he looked up with a angry glare at his brother, snarling, "don't take...your eyes...of your enemy...for my sake!"

Within mere moments of the Balas break within their firepower, Tome revved his feet against the ground...

BZZT!

...and reappeared behind Akira as he was bent down and shielding both himself and his incapacitated brother. With a rearing fist, and a smile, Tome smashed his knuckles towards the barrier covered bodies with incredible power, shouting with glee as he did so.

With a quick motion, Akira called his blade back to his hand, letting the gauntlet slip onto his right hand and it's ribbon wrapping around his arm as he did so. The blade then slowly slid out of the gauntlet, hanging by it's ribbon while Akira held the latter piece in the other hand, swinging it around in a rapid spinning circle like a flail. The blade began to glow with a blue light, and Akira's form began to bristle with energy. The attack he was about to use could kill both himself and Shindo if it wasn't used properly.

Tome's fist slammed into the barrier with enough force to crack it, slowly giving way to reveal Akira and Shindo. However, Akira had flung the weapon straight at Tome's direction. As soon as the barrier would give even a glimpse of the two Takuji Elites, the blade went straight through the hole, and went straight for Tome's chest.

"Hakai Getsuga."

BOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A monstrous blue explosion erupted from the impact, the barrier shattering completley and forcing Akira's cloak to flair around violently, the area around the two of them shaking violently from the destructive attack.

It almost seemed that Tome was done for, as the blade that was sent throwing towards him couldn't possibly be avoided upon a minute detail of monstrous Spiritual Power packed into a condensed form...and then released within a mere instant, could it?

"You're as reckless as ever, I see," Shindō said with a grunt, now standing fully to his feet, albeit with a little cumbersomeness in doing so, holding his Zanpakuto to his side and ready while looking onwards with Onyx eyes instead of his occular Kido, to conserve his Spiritual Energy reserves, "but...did it work?-"

"My my," Tome said with his hands now shoved into his pockets looking totally as if he hadn't even been hit by the attack at all. With a sneer, Tome asked coyly, "what happened there, I wonder? Have you been getting slower, Akira-chan? Or...could it be I have perfectly analyzed your Spiritual Pressure, muscular instincts, and even your strategies to a point where you can't touch me?"

"No way!" Shindō muttered lowly as he raised his Zanpakuto up, clasping it with both hands as he tried to ready himself for an attack by their enemy again.

Akira sneered slightly, secretley taken aback by the fact that Tome emerged unscathed from his most powerful melee attack within his arsenal. He kept himself within a battle stance, still keeping enough energy to last him for quite a good while.

"Shindo," he began, his eyes not leaving Tome for a second, his expression and voice as serious as they'd been so far this day. "Go back to Soul Society. Warn someone, Ryouken, Kukkyona, hell even the Commander needs to know about this. I'll hold them off as long as I can, but this is your only opprotunity."

"Like hell!" Shindō growled, taking a step forward to put himself in between Akira and the monster of an opponent, "I'm not going to turn my back...against both my Pride as the Elite of the Noble Takuji Clan...and leave my own family to die a pointless death!"

"What makes you think we'll just let you leave or even have that opportunity?" Hiroi spoke, shimmering into view after he had begun a slow, casual descent from the high atmosphere.

"Dammit!" Shindō growled, seeing their predicament is even more dire than he would've liked. While he had yet to release his Bankai, the feeling within the atmosphere and the way this other man seemed to move with ease from his lightning-based strategems...makes him think using a Bankai would be more wasteful than beneficial at this point.

"Face it kidos," Tome said with a feral smile, crossing his arms over his chest, "we're entities that truly ascend into the realm of godhood that not even the strongest of Soul Reapers can claim. I've been holding back this whole time so I can gauge your potential and strength. But after all this nonsensical arrogance and defiance, I'm starting to believe that there's no more enjoyment to be found here."

At this point, the lightning began crackle and reverberate within the atmosphere to a incredibly violent extent, with monumentous black clouds that blotted out any light other than the continuous, instaneous flashes of lightning throughout the air that emanated thunderous orchestra within its magnificentally dramatic light show.

Akira simply held his ground, not bothering to argue with his brother. He simply nodded at Shindo's statement, looking back up at Tome and Hiroi with his same serious glare. If they were lucky, Shiroi had recovered and already gone to warn Soul Society.

"I'm sorry father." he thought to himself with regret. "At least Emiko will be in better hands."

If he was to die here, it would not be a death of cowardice or begging. He would die fighting for what he believed and what he loved.

He would die next to his brother.

The Arrival of a Silver-Haired Man

Within the chaos of the current happenings, the sounds of clapping hands could then be heard, drawing the attention of those around.

"Hoo boy. You don't see fights like that anymore," stated a silver-haired man with a small and "well-groomed" mustache who was standing a ways off from where the battle had occured, and its participants and witnesses were still hanging around. The silver-haired man jumped off from the upper region where he sat, watching as the events prior to his outing had occured and appealed to his interest. Whoever he was, he was interested in the strong.

Akira's eyes suddenley widened in hearing the voice of the newcomer, quickly turning his attention in the man's direction. At this point in time, Akira's senses were so worn out from having to feel energy of all worlds of different types, he could hardly tell what kind of energy this man possessed.

He lowered his stance somewhat, knowing that Tome and Hiroi would more than likely be focused on the newcomer as well. "Can we help you with something?" he asked in his normal voice, not carrying a hostile tone as his facial expression was normal and half lidded. "This isn't really the best place for bystanders to be right about now."

Shindō didn't even bother addressing the man, for he somehow got the vague sense he knew this man. Not like actually meeting him but in a sense possessed a similar...aura, as a old mentor of his. Is it possible that this man, came from the same family? He almost doubted himself, considering how lax the newcomer's attitude was when approaching them, but nonetheless kept his guard up in the event he came under his own battle with the stranger.

"Huh?" Tome suddenly looked bored at the approaching newcomer, "where did you come from? If you haven't noticed, it isn't really safe for little guys like you....," he then made a shooing motion with his hands, "please leave. I've got no particular interest in you."

Hiroi's eyes suddenly narrowed upon the newcomer's arrival. From the way this man moved and acted, it was as if he had been watching for some time and only now decided to reveal himself. How could they not sense him up until this point? Hiroi made sure to keep his hands on his Zanpakuto's sheathe and sword, aiming for the chance to extract this newcomer if that's what it takes.

The silver-haired man bore a slightly bored, yet relaxed, smile on his face as he faced the group. "Me? I'm just a stranger walking by. I was going to pick up the new issue of Shōnen Ju-" but his words were cut off immediately as a large-breasted woman with purple hair stood behind him and smacked him at the back of his head. "Idiot! You were supposed to pick up sake, not magazines!" she retorted, with a clearly annoyed but obviously carefree look, just like this silver-haired man was. "My apologies, Saori-san." the silver-haired man stated with a feigned sense of regret, almost as if to appease her. The man then looked at the others, regaining his original personality of calmness and bore. "So, who are you lot?"

Akira simply retained his serious and calm expression, keeping his eyes half lidded while his white hair gently flew around within his black hood to the wind's sudden calm breeze. He couldn't tell just how strong these new comers were, but there wasn't any point in burning any more bridges at this point in time. "My name is Akira Takuji."

Shindō wasn't as receptive, but then spoke with authority, "I'm Captain Takuji and representative of the Noble Takuji Clan. This isn't any of your concern and I suggest you leave now before you get involved."

"Another one?" Hiroi muttered himself dryly, shrugging as he held his weapons ready but aloft at the moment. With the rate this kept up, they might actually bite off more than can chew...or there will be a lot more explosions resulting in body parts flying everywhere.

"Yes yes, I can see you know how to mask your presence and all, but I don't real-" Tome began saying, before his eyes suddenly dialated and his "heart" beated a notch higher. His eyes began widening as his mind made scans and his own form of Pesquisa read the sheer vastness and depth of this man's power. What seemed to almost be sweatdrops trickling down his scalp, turned his previously bored expression into one of excitement and thrill, "wait...I know who you are...Seireitou Kawahiru."

"Bingo. My name is indeed Seireitou Kawahiru." the silver-haired man spoke, while the woman then stood up next to him. "I'm Saori Sumeragi." she answered. Seireitou hid both of his arms inside his bell-shaped sleeves, looking out at the lot of them. "I see, I see. So, Akira-san, Takuji-san... and the rest of you are probably either suffering from a very specific case of amnesia or just plain rude."

Akira's eyes immediatley widened upon hearing the name "Kawahiru" come from the mouths of the others. He had heard stories, often called legends of the Kawahiru clan. He specifically remembered one story that his father used to tell him when he was just a boy, about a powerful warrior who was known primarily as "The White Demon," otherwise known as Seireitou Kawahiru.

In response, Akira went to a bowing stance, his sword in the ground and his eyes closed. "Lord Kawahiru..."

"So," Shindō then looked at him with a bit respectful light, but chose not to humble himself than he already is, "what brings royalty to watch our struggles against these particularly interesting strangers?"

"Please do explain," Tome said with a eager grin, splaying his finger tips against each other and held them just below his lips as he urged him verbally, "I'm dying to know exactly what brings you to the middle of nowhere, with a terrible storm that could be life threatening if you don't seek cover soon."

Seireitou scratched his head in response. "Royalty? Man... you guys are slow. I gave that title up a long time ago. I'm no longer Seireitou of the Kawahiru Clan, the Royal Family of Soul Society. I'm just... Seireitou." he answered. He then peered over to Akira, and with a movement that would be undetectable by anyone there, he appeared before Akira, holding the latter's hand in his own. "Geez... kids like you should pay more attention to when your wrists get dislocated. You'll end up with arthritis by age 30." he stated, making a jerking motion as if he was snapping the man's wrist off; the real intention, however, was to snap the wrist back into position, something only capable by a master bone-setter.

Akira was taken aback by Seireitou's motion, initially his wrist seemingly snapping and sending a short comical sense of pain through his arm. However, it only lasted for a few seconds before the entire body part went into a very relaxed state. "Um.....sorry about that...I haven't been keeping up with the royal families affairs recently...."

Shindō sighed, "I don't really care if you give up a title, you're still blood related to that Clan, THE only Clan to reach Royal status. But that's besides the point..."

Tome twitched, not liking the fact that he wasn't being forthcoming with his intentions, he asked him again, "You still didn't answer my question, plain Seireitou. Why are you here?"

"Eh?" Seireitou muttered, rubbing the back of his head while wearing his signature bored facial appearance; complete with dead-fish eyes. "You guys woke me up from my nap. It's sort of like being stung by a bee without realizing it was a bee at first. You look around to see what caused that annoyance. Ergo, here I am." he answered.

Akira simply let the two of them talk, inwardly wishing he had never bothered coming out to investigate these storms in the first place.

Shindō growled at the retort given by Seireitou, moving towards him letting out a snarl, "Well why don't you go back to take your damned nap?!-"

WHIST!

"GRK!" Within an instant, Tome moved beside Shindō within a blink of an eye, slamming his palm into his gut and sending him hurtling across the landscape, sending a number of uprisings of grass and earth before causing a pillar of ground to spurt up a dozen meters high away from the others.

"Shaddup!" Tome said with a bored look on his face before he turned around, dusting off his hands undeterred by the fact he sent one of the sibbling Reapers without a moment's thought, he smiled at Seireitou, "if that was the best excuse you got, Sei-teme, you must be a lot more stupid than you look. What you really want is to stretch those old bones of yours and flex your muscles against a real threat. Isn't that right, Sei-teme?"

Seireitou's lazy eyes peered over to Tome, and retained his "uncaring" facial expression. He hid his arms within his bell-shaped sleeves and stared at him, obviously annoyed. "I get it, you know japanese honorifics. Besides, why are you condescending? Did your mother not give you enough attention growing up?" he remarked.

Akira immediatley Flash-Stepped to Shindo's position, crouching down and feeling his condition with his hands. "And here you call me out for being reckless. Your temper still needs adjustment if you ask me." he said in a jocular town, knowing his brother would come out alright.

Shindō winced slightly before revealing a cracked barrier he placed over his chest, that had been breached slightly, feeling it with caution in case the entity really did punch through, "I'm measuring his strength...while that newbie idiot is buying us time...I think...I can beat him. All I need is an opening," he opened his eyes, instead of showing Onyx orbs, they were now the crimson and black comma signs of Tamenkyōome, "and I can land a blow to him he'll find more than tickling!"

"Oooh! That hurt!" Tome mockingly held his hands over where his heart was, splaying his fingers across his muscular chest before clapping with a smile on his face, "that's right! You don't know who I am do you? Well, just for further reference in the event of further miscommunication...I never had what you would call parents. In fact, I don't even think my creator could even be given the respect to be called a father.

My former reference was known as #13 of a race that was dubbed by our creator as the Bijounaga. He had a few brief clashes with the Gotei 13, from what I can recall, before whatever was left of his creations were either destroyed, purged, or fled from his petty control. My name is Tome Kūgun," he briefly gestured to Hiroi, with a lazy hand, "and that fiery upstart partner of mine, is named Hiroi Kyozai, formerly also a Bijounaga. The only real reason we're here," Tome said with a release of his arms, as lightning danced and crackled high above them, striking penetrating dramatic shadows and illuminations over them all, "is to weed out the strong from the weak, and to have a hell of a fun time!"

Seireitou remained unfazed by this display, retaining his relaxed appearance and even the way his body was standing revealed that he was treating this as if he was in front of a classroom full of students, ready to learn and have their initial perception be shattered. "Since we're getting all of our emotions out in the air, I'll tell you three things I don't like. One, girls who get all crazy about school festivals. Two, boys who take advantage of a girl's excitement over a school festival in order to explore their hormonal instincts. And three, teachers who pretend to not notice any of this foolishness." he explained. His eyes deviated toward the man addressed as Hiroi, and then back at Tome. "In addition, children shouldn't be playing with fire. Since you don't have parents, don't expect me to kiss your burn scars." he continued.

Akira could hear the words spoken by Seireitou, smiling in amusement at the two Hollow like warriors. "Verbally owned." he thought to himself.

He turned his attention back to Shindo, his expression now serious as he helped his brother to his feet. "Shindo. There isn't any holding back in this situation. In Shikai your efforts have been futile. My Bankai was able to at least burn the one called Tome."

He then smirked. "Besides. We already know that my Hollow mask looks better than yours. Let's see if Kirin looks better than Shagetsu." he said in his normal tone, still messing around with Shindo like they normally do. This light heartedness was normal on Akira's part. Even in the face of absolute despair, he always managed to crack a smile, and throw a joke or two out in the air.

Shindō twitched, flailing his arms as his brother broke the mood that he'd successfully established, "Idiot! I was up in this Kick-Ass mood and you broke it with your stupid, tasteless jokes! URGH! Can't you know the meaning of timing?!"

After breathing to a calming state, still taking in Tome's unusually high and dark aura he emanated with his ocular Kido, he spoke with a sincere caution, "There's something really wrong with using lightning around that guy...its as if...there's something off with what he's been doing to the atmosphere above us...I dunno. Maybe, I can try it, but I don't know if he'll simply cause by Bankai to be negated or something. I've never really experienced this kind of trouble before..."

Tome gave Seireitou a blank stare, believing Seireitou was taking them way too casually. With a breathy, sigh, Tome picked his nose while looking at him with half lidded eyes, "You know what? Here I thought you were going to taunt us into some sort've enraged state and throw crazy asskicking at you, or at least challenge us into a actual dueling combat. But all you do is bring your tsundere girlfriend and then act like you're doing a fucking kiddy chore."

PTOOH!

He flicked his nostril waste across the air towards the grass before looking at him with crossed arms. He then rolled his neck to the side as he aimed his finger at him, "Ah what the heck, maybe it'll work," he then cocked his finger back within a instant...

VRBLAAAAAAM!

...firing a wide gait of a burgundy Cero, its power and mass easily taking the form of a skyscraper, intending on wiping out him and the woman that stood wordlessly next to him. The explosive power, would be nothing to sniff at, but Tome threw it on impulse to see if he could gauge the reaction timing of the supposed "White Demon" from the first Soul Reaper War.

The Start of a Dangerous Encounter

With a nonchalant motion, he placed his hands inside the pockets of his haori and shut his eyes as the immense burst of energy was nearing his being. Closer and closer, it neared...

"Danku." was muttered.

Immediately, a solid wall of transparent energy was summoned to the forefront and caused an enourmous explosion when the Cero made contact. In the aftermath of this storm of scattered debris, the visible form of Seireitou and Saori behind this mirror-like wall was shown; both of them unscathed and the mirror wall itself stood its ground, revealing to have been dealt a small crack at its midsection, but remained standing nevertheless. Seireitou slowly opened his eyes, but kept his hands inside his pockets. "Saori-san, please step back." he requested, as Saori would take a few steps to her right, remaining outside of Seireitou's arm range. In turn, Seireitou eyed his attacker, Tome. "One who is easily aggitated into resorting to violence was often said to be neglected, and because of this, they seek to be taken seriously and to be given attention... like a one-year-old puppy. I assure you, I will not be giving you what you seek." he explained. Despite the gravity of his words, he still retained his same facial expression.

Akira simply sighed, also eyeballing the fighters, though his eyes flinched upon seeing the Cero impact with the wall of Kido energy. Seeing all of these powerful warriors battle.......was stirring something inside of him...something he was all too familiar with...

"Heeeeeeey buddy...." a voice echoed in his mind, causing him to place his left hand up on his head and wince in pain. "D-Dammit....Butt out of this....! I've told you....before....you're not getting out again....!" he said, appearing as if his was arguing with himself, thought his right eye was slowly beginning to Hollowfy, the black tar like shade slowly creeping into the white of his iris.

"C'mooooooon...." the voice continued, joking around in a sadistic manner. "This crapsack Inner World of yours is getting soooooo boring! Lemme out for just a bit and have a little fun will ya? These guys are soooooo much stronger than all the other shit you've been fighting! Besides, if the white haired freak doesn't do anything......I WILL!!!!!!"

Akira's pain began to get worse. Unlike a good majority of the other Takuji Elites he had trained with, Akira always struggled to maintain his Inner Hollow's insane antics, as it was far stronger than the average Inner Hollow. It was only a matter of time now. Akira had already been reckless in containing him in the face of powerful warriors.

He could only hope the Seireitou would end this fight quickly, because if he didn't, his Inner Hollow would.

Shindō's eyes observed the explosion with caution, but not before he felt something slightly distort within his nearby sibbling's Spiritual Pressure. His black and red eyes widened with a sudden knowing as he saw Akira's struggle, laying a hand on his shoulder while he spoke with reserve,

"Are you going to manage? I can put you out if you don't think you can handle this...can't have you risk of going berserk on the countryside," he said slightly jocular before noting the condition they were both in.

Tome didn't even register Seireitou's words, he simply stared at him for a few seconds, waiting for him to finish speaking. Then, with a few casual steps forward, Tome's pocketed form flew forward with incredible speed, showing a far cry to what a mere Flash Step would do, as he appeared right in front of the barrier, his fist already en route towards the crack within the barrier...

SLAM! CRACK-WHAM!

...and proceeded to initiate enough physical force to crack the slightly webbed transparent barrier, before smashing it into thousands of spiritron particle fragments, sending his unscathed fist moving at tantamountal speeds towards Seireitou's sternum, intending on sending him flying.

"Quick acting tough and get your hands dirty, bastard!" Tome allowed himself to shout, but it was out of more gleeful anticipatory enjoyment than any real anger.

Just as the tides of the water swiftly move around to avoid, rather than engage, the rocks in their path, Seireitou's left foot quickly moved behind his right, side-stepping successfully to dodge the incoming punch. "Not bad." he commented, his hands still hiding in his pockets. With another step, the man's body began to fade away, as if he was turning invisible. "But you'll need to do better than that." came the voice of the silver-haired man as he completely faded away.

Saori, on the other hand, walked over to the mental-struggling Akira. "Sōten Kisshun." she mouthed, and a large lavender barrier enveloped the young man. "Don't worry. Within my barrier, I can suppress foreign spiritual energy from what I can only assume is an inner hollow. Rest assured." she stated, as her attention then shifted to the current battle. "So, he's already using this technique." she thought to herself.

Before Saori acted, Akira winced and chuckled wearily towards Shindo. "You know that would only make it worse. You know that my Inner Hollow was worse than the others. Remember our first Ressurecion training session? I still think they're making repairs..."

Shindō shook his head, sighing mirthfully, "That was a damned good training arena too. You'd think after all this time they'd make them more resilient, but noooo, they say, 'Its good as is.' Pffft," blew his bangs up in thought of this, muttering, "damned upstarts wouldn't know a good barrier if it was shoved up their asses."

But then, he felt the barrier come over him, and hearing the woman speak about it's functions. Slowly, the black in his eye ceased consuming his eye, but it didn't retract. He breathed a sigh of relief in response. "Thank you, but are you sure it can last?"

"It doesn't matter," Shindō said as he noticed Hiroi walking towards them, his sword already unsheathed and his scabbard held in the other hand as if it was a secondary weapon, "it doesn't look like he'll give us a chance to recover."

"Saori Sumeragi, please step aside," Hiroi spoke with a serene, even tone as he held his sword to level towards the two Takuji Elite youths, "I'm here to finish what we started. I don't wish to involve you unnecessarily."

Elsewhere...Tome wasn't going to be underestimated so easily.

"I wasn't even trying!" Tome barked out with a laugh as he turned towards the shimmering form of Seireitou.

Tome followed his target's form with his eyes, his own irises glowed burgundy within mere moments before he discharged them towards the area he felt him in. His heightened senses and combined with his advanced useage of Pesquisa allowed him to track the whistful form of Seireitou, firing Balas with incredible potency and accuracy, intending on keeping him on his toes throughout this exchange.

With swift movements, using no wasted effort on his part, Seireitou dodged the Hollow-esque energy attacks with strict ease. In the midst of small breaks in between each volley of Bala blasts, Seireitou's form appeared beside Tome, his hand grabbing Tome's wrist, thus halting the next intended volley of attacks. "Your stance is weakening..." he softly muttered.

Elsewhere, the barrier was working its magic, and slowly, but surely, the black parts of his eyes were retreating, bringing him to a spiritual state of inner balance. Saori smiled warmly, and looked over to Hiroi with closed eyes. "I'm sorry, but right now, he's being treated. It is not morally correct to attack someone when they're being treated. Right?" she would calmly state, but once her eyes opened, a sense of fear spread through all those paying attention to her, just as the Shinigami of the fourth division feel when their Captain uses the same tone of voice. "Understand?" she asked, retaining this fear-striking tone of voice.

"Phew...." Akira breathed relaxed and calmed, though his Inner Hollow's consistant cursing and barking for being denied release was irking him somewhat.

"Saori-San...." he said calmly, his face serious though his friendly smile remained. "It's fine. I think I can manage-" but then his words cut themselves off when he felt her odd and fearful aura, quickly silencing himself and letting the two converse. He wasn't very good with girls, but he knew not to irk one when she was being dangerous.

Tome at first looked stunned, Seireitou's hand clasped over his wrist and halted his movement momentarily. Then, Tome's eyes narrowed and he smiled maliciously, "Am I?!" as the spot where Seireitou's hand clasped suddenly energized within a moment...

SHIIIINK-RRRRRRRRZZZZ!

...and formed a energized blade from his skin, forming a terrifying pike of spiritual energy condensed and sharpened enough to slash through hardened high quality defenses and barriers with ease. Within that movement of his wrist, however if it was a guarunteed hit or not, Tome swung on the soles of his feet, swinging his fists with incredible versatility and power, switching to a boxing stance within that moment as he discharged a number of high speed/powered punches towards Seireitou's form.

Shindō narrowed his eyes at Hiroi, but sudden uneasiness of retorting to this unwanted benefactor caused him to recoil. Whatever this woman was, he didn't want to get on her bad side, so he stuck with gathering his Spiritual Pressure and stamina for a rebuttal against this unknown attacker.

Hiroi's posture remained stoic in the face of such incredible killing intent and malicious aura, but his eyes narrowed to take slight caution against her. He then raised his sword to her, speaking evenly, "If that's what you believe, Saori, then I will kill you to get to them. Prepare yourself,"

WHIZ!

"...for I won't warn you twice," he whispered as he moved with incredible speed, appearing by her left flank as he swung his sword towards her torso in a diagonal arc, releasing a torrent of spiritual energy in a mighty fissure that dwarfed a oncoming meteorite, with sheer cutting and incendiary power behind it.

Two War Fronts: Seireitou vs Tome & Saori vs Hiroi

The first cut was a hit. A small cut on Seireitou's cheek appeared from the result of the initial assault. But this was all Tome would be given. Seireitou immediately entered into high gear, evading each and every punch thrown at him by the man. He was, after all, renowned as Soul Society's Hakuda Grandmaster. Such a feat did not escape his ability. But dodging would only last for so long, and now it was time for a change of direction. The final dodge he made was, not back, but forward. He immediately entered into Tome's personal space. Tome's momentum from the barrage of punches he was throwing would not allow him to easily dodge this incoming attack, if dodge it at all, considering Seireitou's speed and masterful ability. And blocking a master's attack is instant suicide. Seireitou thrust his hand, held in the knifehand strike position, aiming right for Tome's chest.

Saori did not pay much heed to his threats, considering them empty. She stood still, as another lavender energy shield appeared, blocking the attack and brushing it off as if it were a feather hitting cement. She would only smile softly. "You know, as you may have assumed, Kawahiru-kun is much stronger than me. That is a given. However, he dislikes shedding blood, and refuses to kill. He believes that the loser of a fight may become stronger than their opponent, supposing they walk away alive. I, however... do not have that same preconception about an opponent. Nothing but Kawahiru-kun could stop me from killing you should you make me engage in battle. But Kawahiru-kun is preoccupied at the moment, meaning nothing here stands between me killing you... except for your own decision to stand down." she declared.

Akira simply listened to Saori speak to Hiroi, shocked that the woman was so capable of disspelling such a powerful fissure of energy. Hearing her words regarding Seireitou, he was...surprised at how similar he and the Kawahiru were in terms of fighting. Akira loved to fight, sure, but he never really enjoyed a battle that was between himself and a foe that he knew had to be stopped. Even then, he would refrain from killing said enemy, and even going as far as to forgive them for their actions and bear no grudge afterwords.

He smiled slightly. Seireitou sounded like someone that Akira could really look up to. Almost as much as his father before him...

"Shindō..." he said, not looking at his brother but merely speaking, hoping that he would know what he meant without having to say it in front of Saori and Hiroi. "...there is one thing that we could do, should the chance arise..."

Shindō looked to his brother, giving a raised brow towards him as he lightly regarded his former opponent with a different light with the fierce, infamous woman standing before them, "And that would be...?"

Hiroi's eyes dialated slightly at seeing the reaction/timing of the woman before him. Without any visible handsigns, utterances, or barely a recognition of spiritual energy being dispersed to create the barrier at all, the woman managed to deflect the arc of energy he knew had sufficient force to force back a Lieutenant with ease. Apparently, it was poor judgement on his part, for releasing such a poor minimal attack towards her.

"I could care less if you intend to kill or maim me, Saori-dono," Hiroi spoke with a cool, yet spiteful tone as his eyes burned brightly towards her, "cause I'm here to kill you, and those men you're protecting. So whether you like it or not..."

SWING-CRACK!

"...you put this upon yourself!!!" He declared out murderously, swinging his sheathe with enough force behind it that he shattered the barrier from which she used as a shield, aiming to knock her aside along with the initial move. However, not stopping with just that, he swung his Zanpakuto within sync of his sheathe's attack, and dropped it down in a overwhelming vertical downwards attack.

The effect behind the force of the instaneous slash of steel, caused a uproar of landscape due to the atmospheric collapse from the strength initiated by the swing, causing a gait of four meters wide to be ripped apart from the utter power of his sword swing, intending on taking her hard from the start. Whether adjustments needed to be met, would be determined within the follow-up maneuver of the female Soul Reaper.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl as Tome took in each and every movement of the renowned master of Hakuda tactics and techniques. Every twitch of muscular contraction, every shift of his shoulders, every bound of his legs and twist of his torso, all being taking in a incomprehensibly detailed spectrum within Tome's mind. To study about a living legend such as the "White Demon" was one thing, but to fight one was an entirely different matter. Luckily for Tome, he had always enjoyed "on hands" experience over video and written lectures on techniques and teachings.

So, even though this initial set of barrages he predicted were not going to be enough to actually overwhelm such an opponent, he did so as a preliminary series of analysis and "on-hand" studying of his opponent's movements, as well as any odd quirks he may yet know of or unintentionally reveal.

Within the forward momentum that the white haired man used to close the distance and land a devestating counterattack, Tome's eyes directly aimed down upon the incoming arm...lighting up his irises, within fractions of time any living entity would normally would need to consider a decisiopn and employ it, Tome discharged a twin set of Balas...

BRACK-BRACK-BOOM!

...at point-blank range at the incoming appendage, using the momentum of the explosion combined with his own impressive speed to send himself backwards away from the offending limb, scraping the heels of his boots to slow his retreating form.

Saori continued revealing no surprise or fear to this through her unyielding facial expression, as when the attack made contact, it sliced her in two. But this was as deceiving as it looked. Her body had shifted into several cherry blossoms, scattering in the air from the force backlash of Hiroi's attack. These flower petals soon reformed behind Hiroi into her form, placing her hand upon his shoulder, which seemed to startle him, even if only by a small margin. "I told you, while making me fight will result in your death, Kawahiru-kun's feelings toward the matter are far more important to me than a useless battle that proves nothing. I suggest... you pay attention." she explained, her attention focusing on Seireitou's fight.

Truly, Tome's "counter-counterattack" to Seireitou's counterattack was ingenious, and definitely the result of countless hours of training and true mastery of spiritual energy flow. But this didn't mean anything.

Saori formed a soft smile on her beautiful face that could sink spirit ships (cliche, but true nevertheless). "Just watch."

In the very last moment of those Bala and Seireitou's thrust coming into contact with one another's force...

"...This is truly the power."

The collisions of these forces came closer and closer, with the thrust immediately freezing in the space it was in prior to Tome firing his point-blank Bala.

"Of the Shiroyasha, "Silver-Hairs" Kawahiru Seireitou." Saori finished.

This was going by milliseconds at a time, or perhaps nanoseconds. But such time is nothing to a master like Seireitou.

Without an utterance, in the very nanosecond that the energy of the Bala blasts exploding in Seireitou's face, there it was.

No one could have expected it, but there it appeared. Danku.

A thin mirror wall instantaneously appeared right in the small narrow space between Tome's Bala explosions and the position where Seireitou halted his thrust, forming this wall of thin-yet-unyeilding defensive power to separate their existences from their close proximity, and the Bala blasts exploding with great force, but because of this powerful wall, Seireitou merely stared at the bright lights occuring from the energy of those Balas from the safety zone behind his mirror wall, exploding right up in their castor's face.

Akira's face became deadpan and annoyed, only somewhat glancing at the display of power. "Uh, the reason we became Elites to begin with?"

"Oh," Shindō said, owlishly blinking before slapping his left palm upon his face, "sorry forgot that...I was kinda zoning out watching these guys tangle with each other. Exactly how do you propose we reintegrate into battle, dear brother?" He then asked in a slightly expectant, if not slightly sarcastic tone of voice, being a little annoyed he was treated with such dry disappointment.

Hiroi was certainly surprised. Even as his eyes registered the whole process, and compiled hundreds of factors and variables, it was still almost impossible to comprehend...that his opponent shifted its entire spiritron structure into another substance, and then shifted it to another location without any harm happening to the practitioner. This was certainly giving him a chill up his spine as a hand laid upon his shoulder, but it was mistaken as fear. It was chills of excitement...!

"Wrong move," Hiroi muttered, as his eyes glowed brightly yellow, and his backside where she stood...suddenly discharged a gust of violent energy, conducting his spiritual power to a potent condensed form to force the woman off his body and give him some space. Swinging around in tandem of the maneuver, he aimed at her location with the edge of his sheathe, electric yellow energy crackled as he barely uttered within the pulsation of its discharge, "Raikōhō!!!"

CRRRACK-BOOOM!

The sheer discharge of the explosive power happened within a near instaneous gesture. This began causing a large electrifying and surprisingly full-power employment of the Kidō, causing a pillar of electric yellow energy to cover the large radius of impact within the wake of the attack.

"DA FUK?!" Tome uttered aloud as he felt his head throw back and his heels grind a few feet from the force of the attack, remarkably such a minute distance for the rate of power he put forth, before spitting and spatting comically with no real damage marring the surface of his face, "that was f'ing fast, snow cone! Barely saw it emanated from your spiritronic pores," he then narrrowed his eyes and regarded Seireitou a little differently as he stuck his hands in his pockets, "to think you could pull a barrier up that fast...I thought no entity beyond my kind can pull off those feats borderline insane prestige."

As the massive electrical discharge blast neared Saori, resulting in its awesome explosion of energy, a soft utterance of a word... or rather a phrase was stated in response. "Shiten Kōshun." Immediately, just as before, a large lavender shield appeared between Saori and the attack deployed by Hiroi. But defense wasn't the shield's only purpose. As the energy swirled and encircled the shield like that of a whirlpool formed during hurricanes, the attack returned outwards in several beams of electricity, all aiming for Hiroi but some where merely exploding in various directions.

Seireitou merely closed his eyes and gave off a small chuckle. "That's cute. I'm almost surprised at how unaware you are to those better than you. Have you been living in a cave reading Shōnen Jumps all day?" he mused.

"Gee I dunno, brother." Akira smirked, resting his blade on his right shoulder. "Maybe whenever the hell we want?"

"Hey!" Tome shouted, pointing at Seireitou with angry eyes behind his shades, comically displaying a pulsating vein as he yelled back, "I happen to LIKE Shōnen Jumps as a way to pass the time! Where did you get your getup, gramps, the Bishounen catalogue?! You're so last millenia, gods, why are all Soul Reapers so old fashioned?!"

Hiroi sidestepped the cascading erratic energies effortlessly, but narrowed his eyes and heard those words emitted from the woman's mouth. His mind began replaying the two sparse moments she's used the technique, and studied from countless angles within his mind, looking as if he was staring her down on the outside with a deadly glare.

"If you insist," Shindō said as he placed his hand on his forehead, dragging it down within a show of black and white energy, forming vampiric-like alabaster hollow mask, "this will be a way to flex these augmented muscles, anyways. Let's go!"

SHFT!

"?!" Hiroi's eyes suddenly widened, as he felt a familiar signature of Soul Reaper hybrid powers mingling with a Hollow's. Turning around, he saw Shindō's body leaping above him, arcing his released Zanpakuto with blackened electric power as it was discharged towards his body, creating a incredibly devestating shockwave in his wake.

Out of the steam and exhaust of the explosion, Hiroi came out lightly tingling of electricity as he moved just out of the way with a smooth finesse, "These Reapers have Hollow powers...I should've known better that these were Takuji Elites...!"

Seireitou bore a deep grin, his face quickly depicting that of a famous meme. "Someone's quick to anger!" he remarked, giving off a chuckle. He then placed his hands into his haori's pockets and eyed the boy down, but then his eyes turned to the action occuring near the duo. "So... are those guys always so trigger-happy?" he would ask.

Saori, in contrast, bore a face that depicted her deep annoyance. She gave up on trying to convince them of nonviolence, and simply, flashed away to a cliff nearby the location, sitting down in a criss-cross position. With a sigh, she grabbed a small pot of sake from her belt, uncapping the top as she took slow but steady sips from the jug, breathing out the alchohol deeply as she finished. Her cheeks quickly reddened, but her concentration did not dwindle. She would now leave these kids in Seireitou's hands.

As soon as Hiroi moved out of the smoke produced by the explosion, a Hollow Mask wearing Akira flew towards him below. Akira's form was so close to the ground, his chest was practically grazing the grass, but his speed was full of grace and precision, stopping just below Hiroi's waist and slashing his weapon across the man's back with a great amount of force.

Hiroi spun around and sent out flat of his palm with enough precise force that it stopped the blade, albeit, created a fountain of sparks and a slight graze across his skin. Glaring, Hiroi slashed downward upon Akira's form with enough force to cause the earth to rupture five square meters effortlessly, "I have no time to play around with you two!"

"Look at me when I'm talking to you, Bastard!" Tome's angry thoughts flared within Tome's skull as glowered at the White Mane warrior.

Tome's anger did not lessen when Seireitou laughed at him and even dared to turn his face from registering him. Utilizing immense force and speed, he jettisoned off the ground he stood with inhuman speed, moving in a blur that only his opponent would barely recognize. Thrusting a fist out to catch Seireitou in his midsection, he intended to send him barreling across the air, with enough force to create a disruption of air pressure that would sound akin to a thunderclap and have enough internal jarring to liquify organs past his skin. If it landed...

The Silver is Serious

As if by a sudden change of character, Seireitō's facial expression took an immediate change. He was no longer goofy and fun-loving. He was now serious. Without needing much effort, he bent his back a bit, holding out his palm to grab the attack Tome threw for him. It wasn't surprising. The Hakuda Grandmaster of Soul Society would obviously have immense strength, surpassing even the supposedly strongest. Seireitou stared straight into Tome's eyes, both of which were exchanging the looks of killers. "Alright, I won't play around any more. If it's a serious fight you want, then you'll get it." he confessed. The force of Seireitō's spiritual pressure had immediately began to boost upwards, forcing the very ground near them to quake.

Saori had turned over to Hiroi and Akira. "I suggest you two get to safer ground. When Kawahiru-kun gets serious, there will be no guaranteeing your safety." she announced.

With a kick downward, Seireitō utterly devastated the bedrock underneath the two fighters, forcing both of them to back up. From within the smoke, the hue of red spiritual energy could be seen. "Shakkahō!" But not one. No. Several blasts of red energy erupted from the smoke, all aiming for Tome.

Akira, of course, wasn't one to completely disregard an elder's advice. Upon seeing Seireitou's display of Kidō prowess as well as his deafening spiritual pressure come to the surface, he glanced over at Shindō. "Well...she seems to have a point. What do you think?"

"Fine," Shindō spoke, turning his hidden, feral grin as his Visored mask's properties revealed his black-white electrical aura of an impressive height of Spiritual Pressure, crackling around himself and the landscape, "I don't think we want to rewrite...the maps too much with all of us in one area anyways!"

"I agree," Hiroi spoke, as he turned his gaze briefly to Saori, before narrowing his eyes, "but after I'm done with them, I'm coming back for you, Saori Sumeragi!"

SHFT-SHFT-SHFT!

And within an instant all three combatants, including the unknown enemy, vanished via respective Flash Steps, leaving Saori and the two nearby incredibly destructive prone warriors.

Tome grinned a feral, toothy smile as he saw the famed "White Hairs" Seireitou actually become serious. He quickly righted himself after behing thrown, quickly landing only a handful of meters away, "About time you decided to skip all the kiddy shit! Time to dance!" His own body began to be enraptured by an electrical, magnanimous Spiritual Pressure of his own that caused it to clash with each other. Fissures of steam boiled from nearby, explosions of rock erupted as their energies combatted each other.

When the enemy struck the bedrock and split the earth upwards, it only served to excite Tome's wanton for battle and blood in their upcoming, serious engagement. Then, the enemy struck first...in the form of a storm of rapidly thrown Kidō aimed to strike multiple times through the shadow of the smoke.

"Come on!"

With a rapid, one-two, punches that discharged Balas that struck each of the Kidō bullets in midair, causing concussive shockwaves to buffet wind in a near torrential feel through their rapidly scarring environment.

"Show me what you're made of, White Hairs!" Tome shouted out, as he reared back his fist immediately after countering the last of the Kidō bullets, letting loose his crimson, electrifying fist...

"Tormenta de Bala!"

BA-BA-BA-BA-BA-BA-BA-BA-BA-BA-BA-BA-BA-BA-BA-BA-BA-BA-BA-BA-BA-BA...!!!

...before unleashing dozens, to nearly hundreds of compressed, condensed spheres of energy with enough concussive force behind each one of them to make even the likes of Seireitou to feel the wind knocked out of him, with reapeted and nearly unstoppable force to devestate the landscape behind him for a good stretch, as well as the air above.

These blasts entered into the white smoke, still present in the battlefield, forming massive vacuum holes in the smoke, clearing it slowly away part by part. But even when the smoke vanished, the silver-haired man was nowhere to be seen.

"Moeruchūshin."

A spark could be heard. A simple spark. But that which came with the spark... was nothing simplistic.

Massive bursts of white flames had started erupting all throughout the battlefield, coincidentally forming what appeared to be a large ring of fire, surrounding Tome. Seireitou was right above, his palm aimed right for Tome. "Attōshūhen." he stated calmly. This was yet another burst of white flames, but different somehow... They were... more dangerous. More powerful. More spontaneous. Less controlled. This huge wave charging forward like a forest fire happening in mid air, falling down like rain, aiming to wipe out Tome with a single strike.

But the assault wasn't over. Not by a long shot.

Appearing a ways off, Seireitou appeared behind Tome. Distance, 15 meters. In his right hand, a mass of bright lightning was discharged from the palm, striking the ground right behind Tome, causing the dirt underneath to become unearthed, forming a very thick dust cloud that enveloped the man.

Unlike Tome, whom was within the smoke caused by the initial Kidō assault, and thus did not know from what angle Seireitou would attack, the latter knew exactly where Tome was. With a flash step that would make anybody doubt Seireitou was ever standing in his prior spot to begin with, the silver-haired man then appeared to Tome's left, throwing a roundhouse kick with immense speed for the latter's head whilst also forming a small orb of blue energy in his left palm.

Tome's eyes focused on the white flames with a deft, analytically unparalleled perception. Watching the formation of the flames he could tell within moments, his mind slowing time around him down to speeds indescribable to others. As his superior eyesight gazed at the flames, he could tell it was indeed a higher echelon of destructive energy, most likely rooted from Kidō. Even as he saw the patterns unfold in the flames and how they manifested, Tome allowed himself to reemerge into the present speed, smiling darkly as his gaze saw the spark fly towards him.

BWHOOOOSHHH!!!

In what appeared to be a undeniably conquest by his opponent as the flames flourished out brightly, even as the latter moved to lay a follow-up attack it was already too late.

SPRAAAAAAAACK-WHIZZZZ!!!

As the incoming lightning bolt veered towards the earth, it suddenly arced upwards and then towards Tome's form, forming an electrical surging motion towards what looked like a white-flamed aura that enraptured Tome's being. The energy, the very fine fabric of the Kidō themselves if seen closely, were absorbed at a rate higher than any Quincy could be capable of. The after-affect of such absorbtion revealed in a white flame, yellow-lightning covered form of Tome, whom brimmed with earth-shattering, air-distorting pressure with eyes that glowed a menacing glee.

As Seireitou's kick came towards him, Tome allowed his forehead to move towards the foot and head-butted it with ungodly force, aiming to snap the man's leg back if not shatter it from the force he now possessed from the energies he "borrowed" from the White Hair's flames. He even smiled gleefully as he moved with a series of near unavoidable movements, as he surged a white-flame covered fist with force that ripped up the landscape by the tons behind Seireitou, aiming to strike him in the midair suspended chest, if not totally rip through any barrier he would instinctively raise to protect himself.

But it was no good. Seireitou's eyes widened instantaneously, the fire intensity in his eyes rivaled only by the force of his strike. His kick continued forward, slowly but surely pushing back the headbutt of the Bijōnaga. "Challenging a Master's kick with your head? Horrible mistake. People die making mistakes like that." he so coldly put. The free hand, not holding the orb of energy, went forward to grab Tome's wrist. With his head held in place by the colliding force of his kick, and holding Tome's wrist, Seireitou thrusted the Hadō in his hand for Tome's chest. Whether or not it did damage was irrelevant, as Seireitou made the distance he was hoping for. As he was sliding back from the explosion, the palm that had held the Sōkatsui that he had just fired was still aimed for where Tome was standing. Forming yet another snapping hand gesture, he formed yet another spark of white flames, forcing them to erupt violently at Tome's location.

"The head is the strongest part of the body. If one can utilize it correctly in motion, it doesn't matter what it gets hit with, everything will have no effect instead of taking it stationary," Tome smiled carnally back, uncaring that the Hakuda Grandmaster was able to push his head back if only by a small margin. Even as Tome noticed Seireitou's hand grasping his wrist that was covered in the White Flames, he was puzzled how the man's hand remained unmarred. The Sokatsui washed over him like the wind, with no residual effects that could harm him but naturally broken down and absorbed into his already growing aura of Spiritual flames and lightning.

Even in the wake of another burst of White flames...

FWOOOOOOSH-ROAAAAAAR!!!

...only increased the fuel of Tome's personal fire, as a ghastly, overtowering aura of pale flames billowed up and around him, with lightning coursing around its perimeter, showing a glowing red-eyed Tome at its epicenter as he stared unamused and dauntless in the face of the legendary warrior.

"You don't get it, do you?" Tome began to speak, his tone guttural and gratingly irritated by his enemy's tactics, "I studied the very aspects, the very spiritronice makeup of your generic Kidō as well as that Kidō derived white flames. I can instinctively absorb your incredibly destructive energies as well as read your Spiritual Pressure's pulse...if you even knew your Spiritual Pressure had a pulse...and see your movements and attacks before they come into contact with me. Your White Flames just made an excellent addition to my unfathomably large arsenal...I thank you...now..."

SSSSSSHFT-CRACK!

"...goodbye!!!!" Tome moved with excelling movement that had somehow gotten extranormally faster than what Seireitou had witnessed. Within the gap of his two words, Tome had managed to move directly in front of Seireitou as if time had stopped. In that gap of time, Tome grasped the hilt of his Zanpakutō and swung in a Masterfully employed Iaido maneuver, employing a bountiful blast of a differently composited white fire, electrical energies, and Tome's exceedingly unlimited Spiritual Power towards the famous Yonkō's chest. The diagonal cut of power seemed to erupt the very landscape and blind any observer nearby as its flames and concussive force ripped a hole with incredible depth as well as carve a trench in sync of the slash that seemed to stretch beyond the eye's reach, making a makeshift, charred canyon in a single attack.

"...You're the cocky one." With an almost sudden motion, the ground beneath Seireitou cracked in two, the silver-haired man disappearing before the strike even began to make it's way close to him. It was that technique, the one that surpassed the Shunpo. Known only to the Masters themselves... the Shukuchi. Seireitou was upside down, right above that of Tome. With a sudden jerk of his left hand, Tome's strike was forced to hit the ground, causing yet another explosion that resulted in earth being smashed into a dense cloud of dust, surrounding Tome yet again. Still tugging with his left hand, Seireitou began to descend toward Tome, landing about five meters away from the latter's back. Tapping his left wrist with his right hand, a spark of white spiritual energy discharge began to fly from Seireitou's hand to where Tome was supposedly standing. But this attack... resulting in an explosion unlike anything before. A massive column of spiritual force climbing to the heavens, wiping away any clouds that happened to be unfortuate enough to be in the way. From a far-away glance, it could be safely assumed that Tome was eradicated down to his last particle of being. What an ending that might have been. But as Seireitou knew all too well, this story was far from its final chapter.

With a wave of his right hand, the trick was uncovered.

"Recall my earlier action, Tome." referring obviously to when Seireitou gripped Tome's enflamed wrist.

A trail of golden chains, formed by the Bakkudō spell Sajō Sabaku, was now visible. Held by Seireitou's hand, shown that it was wrapped around Tome's wrist. "Using Kyokko, the "bending light" spell, I hid the chain after forming it. From the fight after that point up until now, I had placed a blocking seal on the outlet for spiritual pressure that are on the wrists for all spiritual beings, even you Bijōnaga, due to your similar anatomy. Up until now, I was using your own energy that was being blocked up by my seal, and just now... sent a spark of my own energy to initiate the explosion." he explained, as the energy that was hopefully destroying Tome began to slowly disperse. Seireitou looked coldly onward, awaiting for his first chance to visibly see the damage he was able to inflict. "If you thought that stealing my white flames technique would win you this fight, you're dead wrong. I was not named the Shiroyasha, the white demon, if I could be overwhelmed so easily." he remarked.

"Dammit!" Tome swore lowly as his opponent yet again defied the logic of ordinary mastery within combat. Having barely caught onto the movements made by the Shiroyasha. It was when his hand was tapped he noticed almost upon instinct what his opponent had just done, and what was really going on. It only took moments after the earth blew apart that his enhanced senses allowed him to catch wind which direction his opponent went, widening his eyes as he suddenly noticed the abnormality being channeled by his enemy.

"SHIIIII-!"

Moving with all the deftness in speed, Tome jettisoned from his location...

BOOOOOOOM!!!!

...before a gargantuan, skyscraper sized pillar of destructive energy formed where he was standing just moments before. As he leaped out of the farthest-most perimeter of the pillar of light, Tome's fiery-electric aura was gone, as it was used to mostly shield himself from the immense-level attack. His Hierro, being by far one of the most durable in comparison to any Arrancar in existence, was nearly cooked as several scalding burns were spotted on his shoulders and the skin of his neck.

As his opponent began lecturing him, as well as revealing the near obviousness of what had happened, Tome looked at him with a bored expression. Raising the Sajō Sabaku bound hands, he began his rebuttal as he clenched the blade that was still in his right hand, "You'd be right in nearly everything you just said, Sei-jaki, except, I'm not very ordinary myself. One..."

CRACK!

"...try to use better binding spells," Tome spoke in a chiding tone, as he snapped the yellow chains into pieces without effort, "if I could punch through a Level 80 Bakudo, what do you think a lower level Kidō was going to do for you?

"Two, if I was an ordinary spirit, having these seals in my wrists would've caused me to spontaneously combust from the inside out, and yet, that hasn't happened. Why, might you ask? Its simple really," Tome then stabbed his blade into each wrist as he talked, having deliberately lowered the density of his Hierro to allow himself to delicately pry out the yellow disks that were in his body before flicking them away, "my body has more than two outlets for my Spiritual Power and Pressure. For you see, I need a way to control my Unquantifying amounts of Spiritual Energy, or else I could potentially release such a devestating amount of power...well, it wouldn't be good for either of us, I'll tell you that.

"Three," Tome grabbed his charred, ripped jacket with his left hand before throwing it to the wind, showing only his black muscle t-shirt, as well as the obvious wounds closing up within seconds back to normal, including his wrists, "I've been studying your tactics. Each one has allowed me to understand you a little better, fight you a little easier, and comprehend your movements. Also," raising his hand, left hand, a blue distortive Cero began to grow past the point where it was man-sized and up to fifteen meters in radius in a matter of moments, "I'm not bound by limits. I'm what you call...the limitless warrior!"

SPRAAAACK-WHOOSH!

Discharging at incredible speeds, faster and too irregular for even a opponent of Seireitou's caliber, the Gran Rey Cero moved with such destructive power and precision that it would reach him in the manner his own detonation of skyscraper-sized spiritual explosion had. This power was intending on ripping apart the spacial fabric around the warrior and creating a crater of such depth and width, it would almost appear a meteor would have landed in the once green, lush valley, under the roaring thunderstorm above them.

But Tome knew better than Seireitou to fall for a single attack.

Moving with incredible, adapted speed he saw Seireitou preform just minutes ago, Tome appeared above Sereitou's position, leveling his hands into finger guns at where the explosion would be but aim for the movements Seireitou would make to evade....

VRRR-BLAM-BLAM-BLAM...!

...discharging volatile Cero, after Cero, after Cero at a near machine gun pace, erupting the landscape outside the blast radius into flames, as Tome's eyes narrowed and had lost any glee it once had. He intended to bury this Demon, and he wouldn't be satisfied until he saw a mutiliated corpse, let alone ashes in confirmation of his demise.

"Agh!" The first of the multiple Cero made their target. Seireitou's shoulder revealed the burnt spot where the attack struck, but a seasoned fighter of his experience would not allow one strike to hinder his movements. Using a Shukuchi with even greater force than before, preventing any more Cero from making their intended target, Seireitou appeared right above the firing Tome. Slamming both feet against Tome's back, he propelled himself further up in the air while forcing Tome to descend in Seireitou's former location due to the opposite force of the kick-off.

"Did you think that spark was just to trigger the explosion?!"

Snapping his fingers, golden chains erupted from both of Tome's hands, tying his arms up with the opposite end of the chains striking deep into the ground, as if to anchor Tome in that spot. The spark from earlier was apparently yet another "Kidō within a Kidō", Sajō Sabaku being hidden in that aforementioned spark, serving two completely difference purposes; the very definition of killing two birds with one stone. Waving his other arm, in a lightning-speed quick manner, he formed eight black energy balls where Tome's anchored arms were, emitting a strong and nonuniform gravitational field, the field lines aimed in all manner of directions that would prevent this Bijōnaga's immense physical strength from escaping, aiming to keep him there and only there. After all, if Sajō Sabaku alone could not hold back this beast, these two Bakudō working together could.

And not a moment too soon. The moment that gravity field was enacted to anchor Tome down, the Gran Rey Cero fired by Tome, not even seconds prior to this whole event, struck its intended location, resulting in an explosion just as massive as the ones that came before it. After all, Tome fired it with the intent to kill the Shiroyasha, and if the attack had truly hit its master, as Seireitou intended, Tome would most likely not walk away from this unharmed. Seireitou remained high in the air, reishi at his feet to keep him positioned, watching as Tome's own attack had devastated the spot where Seireitou had anchored him to. "It's your own fault, Tome. Flaunting your strength and using such straightforward assaults... Fighting like that, you never stood a chance against me." he stated simply, his eyes merely watching onward.

"Always freakin-!" Tome began cursing as Seireitou, while satisfying that a single hit landed upon the latter's person, was not enough to stop the man from escaping the clutches of the Gran Rey Cero moving a lot slower than Tome would've liked. Then, the stupid Soul Reaper kicked off his shoulders, pushing him closer to the incoming Cero he launched as well as bound him with another set of Kidō chains.

"Aw, c'mon!" As soon as Tome spoke he tried to flex his limbs to break free of the powerful binding spell...until eight black holes erupted around and ontop of his body, "SHIT!"

Turning his gaze towards the incoming Cero, Tome knew he had limited options. While he had yet to release his Zanpakutō, he'd rather not utilize it either to give Seireitou another upper hand as he hadn't even drawn his own Zanpakutō. That, and even Tome had a Code of Honor that made him refuse to utilize it simply to survive his own technique as well as it being embarassing. He could always use that, but then it'd be simply overkill...but then the realization dawned on Tome.

He never thought about until now, and Tome knew that since he made sure it had to hit the target before detonating, he could sure as Hell do it! With a wide feral smile, Tome looked up at Seireitou with a pair of narrow, challenging eyes before winking at him, "What can I say? I may fight dirty sometimes, but even I have standards!"

With that said, Tome opened his mouth, utilizing a powerful and unknown suction as the large Cero zig-zagged just mere feet from crushing and detonating with extreme prejudice uintentionally against its own practitioner. What appeared before Seireitou's eyes looked almost unfathomable as Tome...was swallowing the Cero whole, its erratic energies distorting the Bakudo holding him place. After he ingested the whole Gran Rey Cero, he exerted a bright white flame from his body and smashed both Bakudos holding him in place, sighing with relief.

Turning his gaze back to the White Demon, he smiled ruefully, "Hey you..."

BZZT-BZZT!

"Hiyah!" Tome seemed to appear via Sonido with a speed rivaling the Soul Reaper's Shukuchi, swinging his right fist in what appeared to be a powerful strike. However, the true danger was the real bodied Tome that appeared but two meters away from his opponent...

BLAAAAAAAAARGH-CRRRRZ!!!

...before discharging a Black Gran Rey Cero right into the Silver Hair's back, with such a grand gait and speed outmaneuvering even the Tome "Clone" in front of the latter's eyes, that it would rip him to shreds while scarring him, while hurtling into the distance and creating a gargantuan explosion, officially twice as large as the bomb that would've gone off at Tome, detonating at a cluster of mountains in the distance...

SHEOOOOW-BWOOOOM!!!

And within a fantastic light show, a large sphere of destructive energy leveled into the earth in the distance, sending destructive buffeting winds for a great distance.

Tome was quite the challenge. Seireitou found himself generally impressed by the man's durability and determination. Such resolve is difficult to find in one so young. But that arrogance would need to be corrected. He wasted no time. Having known about the afterimage technique due to his extensive knowledge, trying to strike down the fake Tome in front of him would've been foolish to even consider. Seireitou knew that a Shunpō retreat from such close a range would be futile. In the best case scenario, he'd get a painful scorching across his back just as he escaped the blast radius. Not a postively excellent outcome. But then... He was a master of the martial arts. Retreat is never the answer. With a sudden drop of his center of gravity, Seireitou's knees lost their resistance to gravity as he began to plummet to the ground but at the same time he pushed down on his sword's handle, causing the back end of the sword's sheath to fly up, striking Tome's wrist dead-on. It was enough to push Tome's hand straight up toward the heavens, just as the massive Cero blast exploded with immense force and energy, causing the ground and subsequent skies to shake from the energy exerted by the Black Gran Rey Cero attack.

But Seireitou was not done, quite yet. With a kick-off from his position, using his right leg, Seireitou twisted his body in mid-air by about a hundred-and-ninety-five degrees, holding his hands at the side of his waist. Energy began to gather between his palms at an alarming rate. Just as his feet touched the ground and his body turned the full rotation for his body to directly face Tome, all in the matter of a second at most, he thrust his arms out to deliver a huge powerful burst of spiritual energy, moving outwards at a high speed, the width of which was about three times the size of either Seireitou's or Tome's bodies, meaning even if Tome noticed the attack or even was able to discharge his Cero quick enough to dodge it, he would not evade it completely. An explosion rang across the field as the energy attack connected, causing Seireitou to be even further pushed back from the force of the destruction. But did it connect with Tome? Seireitou could only watch to see if it truly made contact with his opponent... In the meantime, Seireitou clapped his hands together to prepare for the worst.

"Dammit!" Tome swore aloud as he saw Seireitou divert the aim of his Sonido Gomelas to take the hit without even slowing the target down. Even as the Cero streaked off in a blinding arc, he moved to follow the path of his enemy. Taking his eyes off of him would be his worst mistake, he realized that from the beginning when he took him on as his opponent. 

What Tome would see below the earth, as the great Shiroyasha committed a stance, his eyes widened suddenly at seeing the gathering of potent spiritual energy within his palms. The fact that he was planning to use that, made him suddenly realize that it was direct similar technique to his own variant. A potent condense release of the most powerful kind: a discharge of Pure Spirit Energy.

SCRREEEEEEECH-FWHOOOSH!

As the beam would collide with Tome's proximity, what Seireitou and all others surrounding the landscape would feel for miles would be unprecedentedly horrific. A pure column of Spiritual power erupting at the focal point of contact against the Reikihari, not firing against it, but merely allowing it to pass Tome by as nearly all of his peripheal and front Spiritual Pressure valves released the potent current of energy. Within the same concept of a certain martial art, Tome utilized the method of his own Spiritual Energy to create a powerful current to allow the energy to flow around him rather than taking it head on. 

And when the blast receded, Tome counterattacked...

SPRACK-VOOOM!!!

...with his own blast of crimson Spiritual Energy from his left palm, with a smaller width but a much more potent condensation of energy and volatility. The explosion would spread out, and it guarunteed a much faster approach time towards his enemy. Tome made sure to follow up directly after the attack dissipated, his eyes and senses locking onto his target swiftly and made sure to strike him before he would follow up with an attack of his own.

Hakuda vs Hakuda

Following the destruction caused by the collision of their attacks, the smoke had blinded both combatants for quite a long period of time. But from within the smoke, Seireitou's voice could be heard. "It appears Kidō leaves us at a standstill. Even my Reihikari proved to just add more fuel to the flames. Therefore, I will have to show you..." he explained, bending his legs slightly as he crossed both of his arms in front of his chest in an "x" formation, with the front of his fists faced outward from his body.

"...why they call me the Hakuda Grandmaster of Soul Society." he finished.

With a sudden break of his stance, he thrust his right fist out at the cloud of smoke. And with the thrust, a force escaped from it which punched a hole straight through the smoke cloud, revealing Tome's location almost instantaneously. "Ikkotsu." he whispered, thrusting his left fist now out, aiming directly at Tome. The outburst of neijing force erupted from his fist at a speed far too quick to be dodged, even by someone of either Seireitou or Tome's speed. Should it hit, it would most likely punch a hole through Tome's stomach. Or, at the very least, cause internal damage within the Bijōnaga's body. As he let that force escape his fist, he resumed his position. Awaiting to see if this attack made contact or not, Seireitou continued to speak.

"You appear to believe that because you fight using Hakuda, just as I do, that we are on a level playing field. But you're mistaken, Tome-san. This is where I will show you just how far outclassed you are." he declared.

This time, he thrust both of his fists outwards, delivering a pair of drill-like neijing pulses through the air with the Ikkotsu technique from both fists, aiming to crush Tome with both of them, which if the first attack made contact, would very much put Tome in a very bad position right now. But Seireitou wasn't done. Using this opertunity, Seireitou wasted no time. He would put the rush on Tome and made him regret dealing with a Master of Seireitou's skill level. He flashed forward and reappeared right at the forefront of Tome's being, both of the silver-haired man's hands in a knife hand form, striking Tome with several hyper-speed fingertip thrusts, each bearing devastating strength. But this wasn't the real danger. For one of Seireitou's speed, just one visible fingertip thrust, could conceal a hundred of them. And every strike hidden within a strike, and so on, were all aimed at Tome's body.

"SHI-" Tome didn't have time to register the first attack, as he instinctively raised his Hierro and strengthened his stomach muscles against the oncoming attack he barely had time to evade. But the instinctive block didn't help, as he felt the force jar his insides so much they might as well been struck by a steel beam. Feeling himself cough up both saliva and blood, the latter for what seemed like the first time, Tome grasped his gut with his left hand, as he saw Seireitou move to make the next blow. 

Barely twisting his body to evade major damage, he felt part of his upper right shoulder ripped out, and then part of his lower left abdomen crushed inwards, causing him to stagger back even further. Still, Tome knew retreat wasn't an option. Knowing the full danger of being struck any further, Tome swiftly settled into a stance, despite his injuries and bared his eyes at the incoming Seireitou. 

As the swarm of finger attacks came towards him, Tome swung out his fist, aiming to miss Seireitou's head by just a fraction, purposely allowing him to get close enough to almost make contact. And then...it happened.

BOOOOOM!!!!

All of Tome's physical power, imbued as well with a pulsation of Spiritual Pressure, blasted out like an enormous strike from all angles of his body. The incoming Neijing attacks were repelled, and the assumed opponent would be for the first time struck back, intending on utilizing the masterfully employed, simplistic technique to counter his complex series of attacks. The shockwave itself would clap the air and pummel the landscape and air in all directions, due to the immense force behind his punch. 

But his pulse was for naught. Once the shockwave was released from Tome's body in the direction he had desired, it had quite literally pulled a 180. In complete reverse, the shockwave bounced off of the close-range standing Seireitou and collided against Tome like a thousand bricks being slammed into him, completely destroying the landscape below and behind Tome as well as potentially, and most likely, destroying Tome's own body with a reverberation of neijing force and spiritual pressure.

Once the deed was done, Seireitou used flash step to garner a distance between the two. Tome was most likely surprised by the situation, but Seireitou had knew what happened; it was most certainly no fluke. It was the Kaerikotsu. The strongest of Seireitou's Hakuda defensive techniques and a deadly one to be used in a fight against an opponent of Tome's physical force. Every ounce of Tome's physical force which was sent out with a pulse of spiritual pressure as well, aimed originally for Seireitou, had now been returned in full to Tome, the exact amount of force colliding with the Bijōnaga and most likely destroyed the man's body, given how strong this Tome was physically. Seireitou stared at the destruction Tome's own physical force caused to the area and to Tome himself due to his recklessness and softly spoke.

"You fight only with instinct. Perhaps, in some ways, that is an admirable trait in a Hakuda fighter. But not a Master. Masters are those who abandon reason, instinct, logic... and even truth. For those are nothing but limits that restrict the Master. The way that you fight is akin to that of a mutt blindly following the word of its master. That's what you are, a puppy-dog. Without even considering the circumstances, you charge in headfirst, letting your instinct be the master calling the shots." he started, shutting his eyes.

"But you see, demons think a bit differently. Not bound by instinct. We're fully aware of the damage we cause... and enjoy every moment of it. The mistake you made, puppy-dog... was stepping into the ring with a demon. You're out of your league here, hound." he finished, re-opening his eyes with a cold glare, typically uncommon for this silver-haired man.

"Fuck...you...bleach...head..." Tome said with a bloody smile, standing in the air before him, brutalized in such a grotesque fashion as holes and blood covered him head to toe, with most of his torso ripped to shreds and his body shaking as he stood, "you think...just because...you done a little...damage...that...I'm out of...the game?!" 

What happened next looked unfathomable. Within a mere few seconds, his torn body began to stream out a series of muscular tissue, sealing it up, regenerating ruptured organs, and replenishing the skin that had been shredded by the relentless series of attacks. Tearing off his torn muscle shirt, Tome wiped the blood away from his mouth as he looked renewed and ready to battle Seireitou once again. 

"Thanks for showing me those techniques...I don't think I could've learned them without being pummeled so relentlessly as you did, hehe!" Tome chuckled as he stood bare chested before the White Demon, renewed in fighting spirit as he pocketed his hands and awaited his opponent's declaration. 

Round 2...?

Seireitou crossed his arms in front of his chest in a comfortable manner and looked toward the combatant. "You need to work harder on the bluffing, Tome-san." he expressed, closing his eyes. "You might be able to heal your injuries and perhaps you have a nearly limitless stock of spiritual energy... but to the eyes of a Hakuda Grandmaster like myself, I can see the true damage. The stress I've exerted on your pressure points has caused them to nearly collapse. Your meridians have suffered the greatest damage. The repeated strikes of neijing I've inflicted upon you have caused your energy pools to become distorted and wild within your body. If I continue using neijing assaults, before long, your entire body will collapse into a pool of blood under the weight of your very own massive internal spiritual energy." he stated. Once more, he reopened his eyes, he let his arms fall at his side, resuming his relaxed bodily composure. "The entire balance of your body's spiritual polarity was thrown off by me during this fight." the silver-haired man continued to speak.

"I commend you for wishing to continue this fight, but... if you continue fighting me, you're going to die." he coldly stated, walking to the side, ignoring Tome for a moment as his eyes gazed over to Hiroi and Akira, whom were quite a distance away. But even so, his following words were focused toward all three of them. "Tome-san, Hiroi-san, and Akira-san. You three have proven to have impeccable merit in the combative arts. But it would appear that all three of you have yet to realize your potentials. Therefore... I will offer you three the chance to train under me at the Kawahiru Dojang. I'll make sure that you all..." Then his view gazed over to Tome. "Yes, even you Tome... All of you realize your true potentials and become far more powerful." he finished.

Saori's eyes, at the news of this, glistened with a playful joy as she had appeared behind Hiroi and hugged the man, allowing her breasts to press up against the man's back, her eyes closed as she revealed a joyful smile. "Isn't that wonderful news? You three will be able to train at the Dojang and become far stronger." she explained with a cheerful voice.

Akira's hood was torn off, and his mask was only partially intact from the battle with Hiroi. Various bruises and burns were on his Bankai's robes, but he was still standing. Previously, his gaze was focused only on Hiroi, but upon hearing Seireitou, his Hollowfied eyes couldn't help but look over at the older man. "Train...with you?"

"Her clevage is crushing my back," Hiroi thought with annoyance, sweat rolling down his scalp as he felt uncomfortable such a strong and powerful entity was acting so carefree. The fact he never had emotional or physical contact with a female until now, only made it worse, as his cheeks flushed a foreign crimson and his eyes squinted in protest, "her body is...warm...no! Must not think these things! Must not allow her wily ways to consume me!" 

Shindō's mask dissipated due to the shock of what he was hearing. It seemed not only had the infamous Shiroyasha defeated their opponent soundly, but offered the opportunity to train with him, alongside their enemy, in the infamous Kawahiru Dojo. The only problem...is that Shindō despised the way they freely drank there, and how the teachers operate within such a place of "learning." Then again...he may not have any choice...

Tome smiled, lowering his fists as he suddenly let out a boisterous laugh, "Oh that's great! Genius! You sir must be an incredible idiot! You just saw through my bluff and didn't strike to kill me, and even gave me a chance to be taught by you? What's to stop me from killing you after I'm done learning from you, or for the other matter, what's to stop you from killing me, Bleach Hairs?!"

Seireitou paid heed first to Akira's disbelief. "Yes, training. You'll be able to more finely use your Hollowfication abilities under my training." he explained as his eyes went to Hiroi, whom was suffering a common stressful moment held by most straight males. "He seems busy. Heh." he remarked as he looked toward Shindō. "You as well, Shindō-san. I'm sure you could use the training as well." he continued. But then, his attention went toward his opponent from just a moment ago. Seireitou himself bore a light smile in response. "I don't know, Tome-san. But you're more than welcome to try and kill me once you've gotten strong enough." he egged him on. "I'll be sure to thoroughly train you... in the art of killing." he explained, turning his back on the four of them. Activating a Kidō spell of his own design, he opened a large rectangular-like spacial portal, akin to a Garganta. He then turned to the four of them. "Are you all in agreement? If so, enter this portal so we can make it to the Dojang." he finished.