Sleeves Wet with Dew [Fuuen, Erika]

The moment Erika stepped toward him, her grip changing, Fuuen knew that the Koushuu Kajikazawa would never be able to catch her off guard. It was, after all, too all-encompassing a defense, one that covered all possible angles but not one which could answer a single defense. Instead, as she stepped forward, he stepped directly toward her, closing even more space when that would typically be considered ideal for a blade of Yuudachi's length. However, it would still be enough to change their spacing by a matter of inches, shifting the balance of their distance and allowing him to continue drawing the Yuudachi. Rather than swinging it in its round arc, however, he performed the Ninth View, Bishuu Fujimigahara. Drawing the blade out from his back, it immediately arced outward using the long notch cut into its sheathe, a vertical slash that could have parted even a river in one motion.

This was a gamble, yes, but in a match such as this, treated as a true bout even if it was not one, he knew that she would have no recourse but to step away from him, much as he had none but to create this situation. He could not match her speed or her footwork, but if she intended to keep him trapped here, his blade would only cut into her in turn.

Very exceptional work. He had not heard wrong when it had been said she was one of the masters of swordplay here in Soul Society. He doubted that simply relying on the Thirty Six views would be near enough to even come close to matching her, but that was just as well. He did not intend to idle about and merely utilize what he already knew.

A swift transition, Erika dropped the katana and reacted in kind to the downward cleave that forced her to move but she had no interest of leaving the space of Fuuen. The boundary had been defined and she would put the pressure by taking advantage of his longer blade's downside - even if he seemed eeriely uncomfortable about using that absurdly long sword in her such close proximity.

The dropping of the katana though demanded that she adapt and Erika did not proclaim to be a master of any single weapon. If it was in the shape of a sword then she wielded it like an extension of her own body compared to Fuuen wielding a sword that seemed to be an extension of his soul. As she sidestepped and turned in the same motion to avoid the downward cleave and face him. The process of advancing again made her attempt to place her foot on the back of his blade and keep it trapped against the ground.

A brief thought of how she might've reacted in this situation came to mind, drop the blade and back off while taking the enemy's discarded katana and continue fighting, he was attached to this sword though and she wondered just how he'd respond to her offence as the wakizashi's short length attempted to take advantage and be pointed at his neck which would've been impossible had she kept hold of the longer sword.

How would he respond though to an opponent that sought to disarm him?

Fuuen was impressed at how quickly she'd reacted, even knowing how good she was said to be. His familiarity with his own blade was perhaps his greatest advantage in this bout, his instinctive grasp of every factor of the blade, how it bet, how it moved. He would have to take the fullest advantage of that if he intended to even match her, much less to best her.

As her foot moved to trap his blade against the ground, he knew that it would be too long an effort to move it away, and perhaps more importantly, that it would be nearly impossible to move it in any direction that she could not still simply step onto it. So, instead, he twisted the blade, the edge no longer pointed down, but now directly upward toward the woman who had moved to step onto it, and he followed up that gesture by actively moving the blade to meet her step, his body moving only the barest necessary degree to avoid the blade that would otherwise pierce into his neck.

Would such a strike truly injure her? Fuuen doubted that, even if she were not sufficiently skilled to adjust her step to avoid it and prevent either of their blows from landing. Even if in skill they were somewhat comparable, the question of outright strength was another one entirely. He doubted he could cut through her even once if it was a genuine duel, but it did not change that this was the most correct course of action for his approach. She had pushed his style to adapt, to shift, and that worked well for him.

He noted that he had nearly entered a different stance simply by merit of how the battle had gone. He did not mind that, did not mind potentially utilizing more than simply his Thirty Six Views. If anything, he welcomed the thought. But he did not dare think too far ahead. A master did not plan every step of a fight, for that was to apply only one's own understanding to an opponent. That was inviting overconfidence, nothing more.

There was a level of refinement that was beyond what was expected, such as the ability to instinctively rotate one's blade flawlessly like that and change the attack that went against momentum. Had she commited to standing on the blade then she might've lost her ability to stand by the wound, were he more powerful her leg could've been split down the middle.

Erika didn't back off though because it would cost her balance too much to try and change position , instead she tried to raise her leg against the upcoming blade, dropped down since she missed his neck and strike the wakizashi into the yuudachi to meet the blade - pushing it down and letting her not be thrown off by her awkwardly positioned leg which would return to a more comfortable one assuming her success.

Her lower position once more put her katana in reach though and if he let her, she'd reclaim her longer blade.

The reality of the situation was, of course, that Erika was stronger than Fuuen, and he knew that it would not be feasible to simply push the Yuudachi upward when her blade met his. Besides, his was not a sword that was intended for clashes, and he once more rotated the weapon such that the flat of the blade was against Erika's wakizashi rather than the edge. That was enough that he could pull it away, taking a single step backward that he knew provided an opening for her to grab her own weapon.

That was, however, perfectly fine with Fuuen, for his blade was already now in the perfect position to assume a stance wholly different from his typical one. The Eighth of the Ukiyo Hakkei, the Returning Consort. His blade was pointed low, toward the ground, and his gaze was nearly empty. His stance was almost shy, reserved, and he looked squarely on the defensive. However, his actual body was still tensed as ever, and his attention was wholly on the opponent. But his now-lowered face, and his empty gaze, obscured what it might have been that he was watching most closely.

The truth, of course, was that he was watching Erika in her entirety. Watching every facet of her stance, her style, waiting for any opening in her next approach. The Returning Consort was a defensive style, built on careful study, on an almost cruel willingness to let the opponent throw themselves into danger. He supposed that sort of cruelty had defined the fallen swordsman from whom he had inherited it, but that was only more reason for him to refine it into something elegant in its own right.

Hand gripping the katana and once more entering the fight, what a peculiar stance. She couldn't say that she'd ever seen a person attempt this kind of empty position - it was unnerving but in her heightened state of focus she rotated to swing at his ankles with the katana and try to intercept whatever counterattack or move that would be made with the wakizashi. It was in this kind of situation that her short stature was beneficial by being closer to the ground.

Most people were taller than her and so it was a nuissance to need to go low to attack but this sword wasn't with that downside. It was as long as Fuuen was tall, if not more and so she knew that the blade would be able to still attack her from his position without making him need to overly commit to try and strike with it.

Her katana though was meant to force him back further or even jump into the air, the kind of jumping that left them exposed and unable to react from the air.

Both the mastery of his opponent and her usage of two swords meant that the Returning Consort's typical defenses were not quite as immediate as they otherwise might have been. Most foes were not nearly so fast as to move through his reach unimpeded, and even Erika was still, in theory, able to be caught by the blade. However, she had put him into the very same position that he himself had utilized only moments before, demanding that one either back away or accept mutually grievous injury.

So, indeed, he stepped back, knowing fully that it would only be to his benefit for now, using his sword only to strike against the wakizashi that would have stopped him. His blade was long enough that he could keep it at a distance while his still stepped back, and while he knew that there was no chance he could outright disarm her simply with this, he could at least keep that blade busy until he'd gained a bit more acceptable footing.

So he took two steps back, eyes still low, and Erika's short stature made it all the easier for the Returning Consort style to function. However, he knew that it would not be easy for him to stay on the defensive forever, but he was not going to simply shift into a new stance for no reason. Better to wait for the right opportunity.

Once more back to a state of neutrality as Fuuen receded and kept her from advancing for the moment. Erika took her own opportunity to rise from the ground and take up a more relaxed stance. Their more orthodox styles were quite equal, she wondered if her usage of katanakaji would trivialise his own skills or he would adjust as required. Maybe it was more arrogant of her to think the former, pressure him anyway, by its unpredictability and being so detached from any conventional methods of swordplay.

She wasn't here to utilise that particular attribute though, it was a test of skills which were grounded in the simplicity of their current swords and an expression of such.

Erika adjusted herself again briefly before advancing, deciding to lunge at him with the tip of her katana aimed at his forehead, the wakizashi already moving to ready it for intercepting whatever pathway that he might strike from due to her committed strike.

Using the two swords was difficult and required her to concentrate, they weren't being used in tandem as they should as a set rather Erika took advantage of her ambidexterity and focus to wield them as two separate swords.

There it was, the faintest hole in her approach, the simple disconnect between the two blades in her hands. It was true that in some cases, that would have been a tremendous benefit, and even Fuuen knew that, had he not already been prepared to take in the whole of her style at once, he would not have noted such a thing. As she struck out, he noted that such an attack, a stab toward his upper body, was something he could remember vividly.

And, much like it had been ready for the tsuki thrust, the Returning Consort was wholly prepared for such a forward assault. He took another step backward, this time accompanied by one to his right, moving only closer to the wakizashi to throw off the arc of any swing it might have taken. It could certainly intercept his sword now, but as he stepped, his blade moved upward as well, the edge cutting toward the sky and, by extension, toward Erika.

His step had brought him far closer to the wakizashi, and improved his own leverage in the event of an impact now. Even if she chose to block the strike, he would have been curious to see if her sword could prevent a full strike.

As the defensive trap was sprung, she opted on a retreat similar to Fuuen. As he stepped back, she jumped backwards and felt the small snick of steel against the front of her thigh barely scratching her but the blade's length made it difficult to fully avoid even as they both split away. While the jump was in a way done to protect herself, its true purpose was to have her be able to get back the distance to discard the wakizashi and katana in her hands.

At her feet was the third sword that she had brought in the nodachi and so she would change her style completely on him again. This time taking up a stance where her nodachi was held up with its edge towards the sky and blade pointed at him.

Like his Returning Consort she also opted for a defensive stance to test the waters of how his style compared with a relatively similar size disparity. Her nodachi was almost as large as her though it was no trouble at all for her to wield. Maybe if she was a human it would be inconvenient.