The Test of Strength[]
Ray was walking alongside the road as the sun was coming out, he was enjoying the scenary when he felt a familiar spirit energy appear behind him.
"Hey there Margin." Ray said smiling.
Margin stretched out his arms as he yawned. "Hey" he replied. His eye-bags were as deep as they can, showing how much Margin had stayed up for the whole night.
"Wow, were you up all night?" Ray asked.
"Yeah....Didn't think that there was still a bunch of arrancars around....What a pain." Margin said as he raised his left hand to the side and fired off a cero to an arrancar trying to snoop around. "So....What are you doing here?"
"I was trying to gather some information on the town beyond here but no luck so I'm heading back to my motel where Aki is." Ray said.
"Ray....What have you been doing recently?" Margin asked, noticing the boost in Ray's reiatsu.
"What do you mean Margin?" Ray asked.
In a blin of an eye, Margin appeared below Ray, attempting to pierce his flesh with his own hand. "You know what I mean..."
Ray easily grabbed his hand then used his palm to hit Margin a few feet away from him.
"I guess so, I have become stronger than you remember Margin." Ray said smiling as he cracked his knuckles.
Margin chuckled. "Great....Been aching to have a sparring match with you...Only if you agree that is.." He said in a pretty sinister voice. He saw Ray's hand, the one which grabbed his own, dripping in blood as it was lacerated the moment he touched him.
Ray looked down at his hand and smiled then concentrated some reistu into it making it heal like nothing ever happend to it at all,"Fine with me, It's been a while since i had a good sparring partner." Ray said as he threw his stuff aside and drew his zanpakuto.
Margin sighed as he saw Ray's hand healed. "Another one of those regen abilities, pretty annoying if you ask me..." His hand then was about to grab Ray's head.
Suddenly out of nowhere a spirit lion appeared in front of Ray as it took the attack then Ray smiled as he shunpo'd around leaving behind much more replicas than ever then half of them went in for the attack while the others went running behind them.
"Shunpo eh?" Margin himself started running around, but not fast enough to create after-images. "One....Two....Three......." He counted as he took down each and every Ray in sight one by one with little to no effort.
Suddenly out of nowhere they started fighting back by swinging their swords at Margin.
Margin smiled as they did so, but he decided to keep his blade sheathed, this is barely a challenge for a guy who could take down dozens of arrancars in one night. Using speedy hand combat, all the replicas was thrown away.
Out of nowhere Ray appeared behind him then slashed his back and shunpo'd away,"Haven't you ever heard of a distraction?" Ray said smiling at Margin.
As Ray landed on his feet, his head was suddenly smashed in the ground while Margin's hand was holding it. While he was still holding him, Margin charged a black cero on his palm. The Margin he just slashed bursted with chains. "Ever heard of clones?" If ever Ray doesn't do anything, his head will be blown into nothing.
"Haha." Ray laughed and out of nowhere a spirit lion appeared from his back and pushed Margin hard into a rock breaking it,"It won't work on me, and btw your hand-to-hand combat doesn't really hurt me anymore." Ray said smiling.
"It doesn't hurt? I doubt you'll be saying that again..." Margin stood up and as he did, blood spurted from Ray's mouth. "Shinigamis use shunpo, arrancars use Sonido, demons use Kogeru, even quincies have something like that but....I don't...use....one.."
Ray just casually looked at the blood and laughed,"Wow I'm impressed but like i said there's no real point anymore." Ray smiled big showing his fangs as he then shunop'd way faster this time than even Margin could see.
Margin waited for Ray's next move, nothing could surprise him, nothing... His ready for anything.
Ray slashed at Margin then disappeared in a flash.
Margin didn't even look at the wound, he didn't care. Ray's reiatsu was still there, he can feel it. He remained still and waited for Ray again.
"Wow, you won't even do anything." Ray was sitting silently on a rock a few feet from him.
Just as Ray finished what he just said "-ing" A cero was already fired off towards him and it will hit him if he doesn't move in a split second.
Ray sighed and deflected the cero like it was nothing,"What is with you anyway?" Ray asked.
Margin faced Ray, a crackling sound can be heard as he did so, images of Margin can be seen everywhere, doing the same thing the orginal is. His bangs covered half of his face horizontally, making it unseen. He walked towards Ray while every step of his made a small crater in the ground.
Ray just glared at him as the area he was standing on was starting to crack and the air was getting heavier and heavier.
A grin is then seen as Margin fired off several more of those ceros, trying to completely destroy his target.
Ray just looked at them as he broke them down into reistu then absorbed it into his body making him more stronger, then he shunpo'd fast and attacked Margin with his sword.
Margin held Ray's hand and stared at his eyes. He decided to pull his blade, and slashed Ray vertically.
Another spirit lion appeared blocking the attack as Ray then got out of the grip and slashed Margin and kicked him into a wall.
As the smoke from the collision faded, Margin's hand went straight ahead towards Ray's face, grabbing it. He then proceeds into doing what he is famous for: Head slam. TTTSSSSHHFFF....
Ray took the attack but not before he slashed Margin hard and kicked him straight into a wall before rocks came crashing down on him, Ray panted as he used his reistu to heal but only enough to stop the bleeding.
"I'm getting really irritated now Margin!!!" Ray growled as his spirit energy climbed.
"Oh come on, Ray, you were pretty clam just now..." Margin's body was trembling, he was feeling excited somehow. His head was bleeding, along with his arm. Ray did give him severe punishments but its not like he can't take it.
Ray started gritting his teeth as he heard this and somehow was able to summon his spirit energy into his body before he went in for another attack.
All this fighting, boiled Margin's blood up. He was happy about it, its been a while since he last faught something *real* but it not like his planning on losing.
Ray slashed at Margin.
Margin just realized that he wasn't really slowing Ray down, was he really that strong? But that's the thing that makes it fun. And Ray haven't even release yet but in the contrast so is he. "This is really getting excited..."
Ray shunpo'd behind Margin trying to get an attack from behind.
Using his fast reflexes, Margin was able to block the attack and get Ray in a sword lock. "So...That's the best you can do?"
Ray just glared at him then twisted his sword to knock out Margin's sword as he went in for another slash.
Margin threw his blade and blocked Ray's sword using his foot. He then prepared a dual cero right at Ray while his busy blocking his foot.
Ray let go of his blade then sweep-kicked Margin's standing leg as he jumped to grab his sword to then go in for another attack.
Ray must have forgotten the cero he was charging and this one was no little puppy. The cero he just charged was enhanced and took the appearance of a cero oscuras which was fired right at Ray's face.
Ray moved his head as the cero blasted right beside his ear, then he jumped back and just looked at Margin with the look of emptiness.
The cero hit a nearby hill which caused it to be destroyed, causing a large explosion. "Aren't you releasing, Ray? This is getting us nowhere if your just gonna stand there.."
"Why should i, you're not releashing so it'll just be wasting my time against someone who keeps holding back." Ray told him.
"I see....We're doing the same thing, trying to wait for each other....I guess i'll take the first step..." Chains started covering Margin's arms and chain links are scattered everywhere. "Sorry, my release isn't that fancy as you think it might be."
"Never cared about how a release is, Unleash Kyuukyoku Raion!!" The black energy warped around the sword making it longer.
Margin made the chains to circle Ray and cover every open spot. And all at once the chains compressed, anything in it would surely be crushed if not, burned to death. That is if Ray can't do anything to escape.
Ray spun his sword around causing more black lions to appear as they pushed back the chains long enough to jump away while at the same time launching a few more towards Margin at extremspeed.
With ease, Margin's chains destroyed all the lions. Suddenly, Margin felt his heart beating hard, like its going to rip its way our of his chest. He felt an intense pain that made him fall on his knees. All of his chains started gathering on his right arm.
Ray glared at him then went to go check on him,"Hey what's wrong?" Ray asked.
"SHIT!" The pain is something even Margin couldn't withstand. He started releasing somekind of reiatsu that started destroying everything in the area, consuming it slowly. Blood spurted from his mouth and his right hand is being lacerated by his chains.
Ray knew something was happening as Ray began to focus his own energy into Margin's to try and supress the power.
It was no use...Margin's reiatsu..no..its not even something to called as *reiatsu*. Its very existence threatens everything, its sole purpose was like to destroy and dominate. Those who can feel this *reiatsu* might feel like there whole body is being surrounded by electric currents.
Ray felt the current of electircity but somehow was able to conduct into the ground by using the spirit energy to guide the electricity through Ray's body and into the ground cancling it.
All the *reiatsu* Margin emitted all went into his body at once, it caused him even greater pain as his body changed bit by bit. His eyes became large and became all white, his body became more muscular and his skin color changed into dark blue. His tounge sticked out and has somewhat became longer. "Krrghkkkrr...."
He jumped high and clinged on to a nearby ceiling.
Ray jumped back as he looked at this new being that was standing right in front of him,"Margin, is that really you?" Ray asked gripping his sword just in case something would happen.
Margin tried resisting the urge to kill Ray but it was no use as his body is moving on its own. Margin disappeared and reappeared right in front of Ray, Its claws about to hit Ray.
Ray flinched but was able to dodge the attack with his instincts, he then realized that in order to snap Margin out of it he would need to fight at equal terms as he focused the spirit energy around his blade causing the entire area to become heavier.
"BANKAI!!!!!!" The black energy manifested from the sword and became an energy lion that swallowed Ray whole and merged giving Ray his Black armor form of his lion.
"Kyuukyoku Mitsugumi Raion!" Ray got down on all four's and waited for Margin to attack.
A reddish-black electric currents that is seemingly made of Margin's reiatsu started to destroy most objects it touches. Margin was conscious of his acts, only he can't control his movements. Was it his hollow's fault, no he felt different, he knew his hollow would never do such acts. But who could be responsible of this acts? Only one way to find out. Margin entered the core of his soul as he leave all the rest to Ray.
Ray kept on attack on attack as he and Margin kept on clashing and clashing with their claws, suddenly Ray used shunpo and tried to get in a attack from behind.
Margin instictively block the attack from behind and even tried to use a counter by charging a cero out of nowhere.
Ray spun around the cero avoiding the damage and knew that this was not a joke and that if he was going to knock him out then he would need to do it now, Ray focused the energy around his entire body as it made the armor start warping into diffrent positions around his body
Now Ray had less chest armor and more bigger leg armor as the claws actually became part of his hands.
"Sokudo Saidai!!!" Ray smiled as in one blink of an eye he was gone.
Margin's intincts in this form was on its highest, being able to sense almost anything. Evident of this as he caught Ray almost instantly with his claws but before he could do anything more, his form shattered, returning to his human form. Although there were slight changes, his right hand now possessed an armored gauntlet as his zanpakuto was lost. He removed his hand on Ray's and stared at him blankly. "Sorry..."
Ray looked at Margin and sighed then dispursed his energy back into his body returning to his normal form as he sheath his sword and sighed,"Well Margin as much as i would love to continue, You need to control that power." Ray said sighing.
Margin felt different about having this gauntlet, its very heavy....well, its too heavy for even him as he fell down to the ground with his head first colliding on the floor, leaving a small crater. "Owiieee..."
"Haha, come on." Ray helped Margin up.
Margin was unable to freely move his right arm because of this gauntlet and sighed as he tried to stand. "What a pain this is..." The gauntlet was shown to release a certain kind of reiatsu that had rejected Ray's hands after he tried to help Margin, giving it slight burns. "Wierd....:
"Huh, well I might not be able to move it but I do know how you'll be able too." Ray focused the resitu around the entire area into the Gaunlet of Margin's as it collided but not before Ray was able to seal up the power making it easier for Margin to move.