Dancing Flames [Kasha, Kyo]

Here he was. While he was keenly aware of one's power growing as a result of releasing a zanpakuto he could not speak to have experienced it himself when many Koizumi opted to their hakuda and so his body lapsed when his mind commanded him to move in appreciation of experiencing the difference.

He had to retreat hastily which made him take a nick in the process that he hadn't accounted for in his attack plan. It was messier than he'd have liked as opposed to the methodical approaches he worked with, it actually kind of annoyed him to have his momentum interrupted and it showed on the face that rarely expressed much under its make-up for a brief instant.

This meant he'd opt to start again by taking a different stance than the one he had opted to in the initial attack. It was a different approach to combat that was meant to focus on evasion and exploiting his target's blindspot through the fusion of his teacher's Shouen and his Jatouen. Her fire reiatsu taking the form of haze rather than flames which he borrowed to amplified the effect.

Souka: Ika Kamae [双火異化構え. Twin Flame: Defamiliarisation Stance]

it wasn't meant to be exerted offensively. It surrounded his entire body in a haze that made the stance difficult to track as if he were a mirage.

This stalemate between the two of them had paid off for Kyo, a gonging sound echoing through the air as he finished spinning his spear, taking up a more combative stance now, though still keeping the spear held in one hand. This evasive nature was certainly going to make life harder for Kyo, though at the same time, he wasn't intent on simply letting something as inconsequential as a distortion in his view get in the way. Even as he stepped forward, a flurry of stabs shooting forward effortlessly with only one hand, Kyo began to speak.

"Scattered on the corpse of beasts. Sharp tower, red crystal, steel ring."

He was pushing himself, that much he knew. Perhaps more than he ought to have. Even so, he would rather push himself too far than know he had not given his all to this match. Yellow reiryoku crackled around his free hand, but he didn't dare let up the assault with his spear.

"Move and become the wind, stop and become the calm."

If he were more skilled, he could have cast this faster, but that was simply not practical. Casting it at all, while he was maintaining the offensive, was difficult enough. He simply had to maintain his focus for now.

The flurry met the haze, Kasha focused on dodging the oncoming strikes and leaving it a blur to conceal his movements. So as Kyo started chanting Kasha opted to interrupt it in the same way. While an incantation was good for getting the full worth out of the spell, Kasha only needed his to disrupt it and power was not his consideration.

"Hadō #1, Shou"

He stated as his hand became parallel to the spear for a moment and tried to shoot Kyo with enough force to blow a human off their feat with the sudden force. Maybe that was too ambitious but even if he insisted on keeping his position the young Koizumi's hand was directly pointed at the diaphram.

By his assessment of the human body the attack was tailored to put his friend in a tricky situation. The more Kyo resisted the force, the more likely it was to knock the air out of his lungs with the incantation he was chanting but if he surrendered the surefooting it left him vulnerable for a follow-up.

Kasha continued to impress, in ways Kyo knew would have disheartened lesser men. However, one such as he could only be impressed by the sheer competence on display by his best friend, by the man he was more certain than ever was qualified to be his future vice captain. He had two options here; either eat the spell, and likely keep his position, or step back and maintain it to lessen the weight of the spell. It was the Sawachika way to stand one's ground, after all, to remain solid in the force of all obstacles.

That was why Kyo allowed his footing to shift, moving with the impact of the spell and giving up his position. It was not a typical approach to combat for him, but he was demonstrating his own growth, the fruits of his own training.

"The sound of warring spears...fills the empty castle! Hadō 63: Raikōhō!"

Despite his incantation, Kyo's focus had still wavered, and he was still far from a master of kido application. The spell crackled and sparked across his arm, and though it shot forward, it was radically weaker than such a spell should have been, even at his own level. He would have like to follow up, but he couldn't afford that. Instead, he simply brought both hands to his zanpakuto and watched for whatever offense inevitably came.

He was persistent, it should've been expected that Kyo would elegantly navigate the stagger. Was this arrogance on his behalf? Did he consistently undermine Kyo's efforts even if he had held such reverence for them in the Shin'o Academy? Watching him proudly declare he would climb the mountain but always expecting that he was just climbing up the same section.

Or was he undermining himself by still holding back? He could've mustered far more than a simple kidou spell to attack Kyo but he had opted for the most simple solution against a foe that excelled in fundamentals.

Fortunately Kyo had stepped back which meant that the kido spell was not point blank, and so he stepped to the side with the rush of lightning making his hairs stand to attention at the proximity to it.

Still in the Ika Kamae, the young successor reached out so that it looked like he was trying to slip beside the spear to attack Kyo until the haze would prove a misdirection when Kasha wanted to grab hold of his foe's weapon to use Kyo's strength to his advantage.

Kasha's hand firmly around the shaft, and so he'd use it to lever himself to deliver a burning double kick to the big man's chest.

A lesser man would have simply made an effort to evade that double kick, to avoid injury to himself in such a heated battle. But Kyo was a man who knew that injury always came in a true bout with a worthy foe, so such thoughts failed to cross his mind for more than the most fleeting moments. Kasha's strike made impact, and left no small mark upon Kyo's chest.

However, commitment to such a strike was its own risk. Kasha had leveraged himself against that spear, and as such, it meant there was ample opportunity to whip his friend toward the jet black stone floor. Kyo's zanpakuto moved far less like a spear in that moment, and far more like a hammer. If Kasha did not make an effort to move, it was wholly possible that Kyo might simply shatter him with this strike.

So be it. This was the nature of a true battle.

He lurched with the shaft of the zanpakuto after delivering his attack. He would be crushed if he didn't relinquish the spear but as he was being thrust towards the ground he had a window to exploit. What could be interpreted as careening towards the ground became his advantage as he got dangerously close to it but his feet had not moved from being close to Kyo after kicking him in the chest.

So a brush of Kasha's foot against Kyo's thigh was all be he needed as a foothold to use shunpo as a means to launch himself a few metres back. It was hardly the most graceful of escapes and anyone with some wit about them could tell despite Kasha making it look graceful by planting a hand on the ground and flipping onto his feet with the momentum.

While Kasha would claim himself as the faster of the two he was not so confident in being able to dance around Kyo and wittle him down at the aching pain in his body that came from his opponent's retaliation. It had not even connected but the force and speed that Kyo had used gave him a mild whiplash and pain throughout his limbs.

They were quite evenly matched, and Kyo could tell that without needing to think about it for even a moment. That thought brought a smile to his face, despite the severity of the battle and the pain that radiated through his whole body from the intensity of Kasha's offense. He wondered if it was within his capabilities to win this match, knowing that there was possibly no opponent who was more familiar with his abilities. He could not match Kasha in speed, or in technique, that much was certain.

He could only rely on his most fundamental abilities, then, the physicality that he had honed rigidly since he declared that he would one day reach captaincy. With one step, he moves as if he meant to stab at Kasha yet again; yet the moment his foot struck the ground, every muscle in Kyo's body tensed, flexed, and all at once shot his zanpakuto toward Kasha like a javelin, the spear careening toward him. Yet Kyo did not stop moving, following behind it intent on slamming into Kasha with his shoulder like a rolling boulder.

Fast as the wind, tranquil as the forest, hot as flames, sturdy as the mountain. All brought to bare in one straightforward offensive, the nature of a man put into this final effort.

So it would be like this then, his delicate features grew fierce at his oncoming friend while sidestepping the oncoming spear but he could not evade the man that followed. He was moving with as little effort as possible so he could not concede the ground he had laid claim to. There was nothing gained in running and hiding.

"Bakuen - Iro Bakufu (色爆風, Colourful Blast Wave)"

He declared to Kyo with his open palm meeting the man's shoulder to have the fiery reiatsu explode in an array of blues, oranges, and whites to blow them both away from one another. He was not a person that relied on his own strengths, he couldn't be in this situation. He had to use the previous generations of his school and their violence if he wanted.

What a hypocrite that he was.

What an impact--and one profoundly unlike what Kyo had come to expect from his best friend. He might simply have been impressed, but he knew waht a prideful man Kasha was. If he'd held something like this away for so long in a serious bout, it wasn't something he would have wanted to use.

Wincing as he caught himself, eyes studying Kasha, his thrown zanpakuto, and the arena, Kyo took in everything about the situation. He was an analytical man, and he understood the whole of a battlefield with little difficulty. His severe expression softened, after a moment, and a laugh escaped him, loud and full of joy.

"It looks like I lose this one, Kasha! You've really got a leg up on me."

All at once, Kyo fell to the floor, sitting down and looking up at the roof above. Damn. He'd have liked to perform better, but it was just a sign he needed to improve even more.