The Clash of Souls [Arianda]

Africa was... a very large continent to search. Exacerbated only by the fact that she could barely sense others without no small amount of effort. The search for this hole that had opened up was a difficult one for a lone former Shinigami and truth be told she wasn't feeling all that jazzed about this continued seemingly pointless search. Alas she had no time to contemplate the worth of such a search, being on her own meant that she had to take anything she could as far as helping the world.

That being said, the amount of hollows that plagued this region was definitely far too many to be coming from just Hueco Mundo and so that was what she used as her lead, if the amount that were around increased then she must be headed in the right direction, though admittedly their strength was... very unnatural even for hollows. She'd fought many in her time, and felt the strength of those even more powerful than most Arrancarr, yet these hollows had strength that could rival Gillian-class if not higher. As far as she could tell however, most of the ones she fought were nothing more than the typical hollow.

The last time she encountered something like this was well over a hundred years ago, when Aizen was still around... But he was locked up as far as she knew, he couldn't be behind this... right? If he was behind this that meant the Gotei United had collapsed and those within the Maggots Nest were somehow freed again. She doubted this was the cause however, such a thing would've surely caused more than just stronger Hollows to begin appearing. No this had to be an outside influence causing this, perhaps a Hollow or Arrancarr remaining from when Aizen led Hueco Mundo? He did have several extremely powerful hollows in his followers and there was one that seemed to create Hollows. She'd assumed they Gotei had taken care of that particular one, but perhaps they had missed it and it still lurked out there somewhere. "Maybe I should return the Soul Society... Maybe they'd still be willing to help me with this and give me some kind of information..."

While she was in the midst of her musings and thoughts she had little time, let alone desire, to try and sense the things around her for the next hollow. Truth be told she was growing increasingly impatient with how large this continent was. However, She didn't have to worry about that for too long as something crashed into her and sent her flying into the ground, sending up a large plume of dust and debris. Her natural instincts had let her shield herself from most of the brunt of the blow, and as a result the impact with the ground felt way harder than it normally would. "OW! THAT HURT!" She cried out, rubbing her head as she launched herself out of the hole and right back towards whatever had hit her, both Zanpakuto drawn just as the Hollow itself came charging back down at her. She felt a bit embarrassed that a hollow had snuck up on her, but woe was the one who neglected their training she supposed.

Still she couldn't be distracted, and the clash against the hollow was one mostly of stalemate attacks or minor back and forth scrapes. While she aimed primarily for the mask, the hollow was relatively adept at avoiding such a strike or at least avoiding any that would be fatal for the hollow. Fuurinji was also weary, as all Shinigami were, of striking it with an imperfect cut, such a thing would lead to the mask breaking but only to reveal the human face underneath and that was something she didn't want. Not only was it painful for her, but to hear the hollow cry out with a scream like that would likely be unbearable for her.

However just as its fist clashed with her swords they both felt something truly MASSIVE headed straight for them, and almost at the same time as it appeared, she felt a sudden release of pressure against her blades and instead of the hollow being in front of her, there was someone, or something, else. A female by the brief moment she got before she too vanished and a large explosion was heard from the hollow crashing into the ground. "Who... What?"

It thankfully wasn't *too* difficult to find where they had gone, the massive power reading she was feeling wasn't even making an attempt to hide itself in any way, plus it wasn't long before she heard a female voice calling out for a Shinigami to come and purify the hollow. Fuurinji used her Shunpo to move down to the ground, roughly twenty meters or so away from the two before making her way with some due caution towards the woman. Fuurinji wasn't stupid, weak sure but stupid definitely not. Even as terrible as she was at sensing, the gap between herself and this new arrival was like her and a Taicho of Eld.

First things first, she made one swift strike directly down the middle of the hollows mask, splitting it in two and purifying the soul trapped within before being sent to Soul Society. She didn't sheath her blades however, nor did she back away from being a mere five or so feet from the woman in question. To say that the mere presence of this individual caused her hands to tremble would be an understatement. "And who might you be? You're no Shinigami or Hollow, and you don't appear to have a Quincy Cross anywhere on your person unless you have it tucked away rather well." One thing that might be odd about Fuurinji for the new arrival, was that her eyes were completely covered by a thick black cloth, all but ensuring there was no way she could actually *SEE* anything, and though she had two Zanpakuto's, her outfit was not that of a Shinigami, either of Eld or of the modern era. Instead she wore a long, thick black trench coat that came up to cover her neck and no sleeves, her pants were thick black slacks and the boots she wore resembled that of a cats foot though it had a raised heel and, unlike the rest of her outfit, was seemingly made of some kind of metal.

As for Fuurinji herself, the ears that sat atop her head were more akin to a felines, and despite her somewhat shaky hands her posture remained firm and undeterred despite the clearly overwhelming presence in front of her. She was either incredibly brave, or incredibly stupid.

The woman was quick enough to respond with her name, though Fuu's ears twitched when she paused and claimed to be a mere traveler. No mere traveler was this powerful, whomever this was she was something well and truly beyond a traveler of any kind. "Then at the very least you are not an immediate threat." She said in response to Ari's note about what would happen to a Quincy Cross. She swiftly flipped both of her Zanpakuto's around and slid them into their respective sheaths. "Rogue Shinigami? Tch." There was some very clear venom and animosity in her tone at those words "I'm nothing like them, a Rogue Shinigami is naught better than Sosuke Aizen and deserves naught but immediate death. Such a threat is not to be tolerated under any circumstance." She was grinding her teeth pretty hard at this point, her stance about such a thing being made perfectly clear.

"My name is Fuurinji Wakaba, Shinigami of the Gotei 13. Neither enemy nor ally of the Gotei United on account they are led by naught more than Shinigami who are too weak to reclaim the glory of Eld. I am of the same category, too weak to reclaim that glory. Thus I cannot return to Soul Society until such a thing is achieved. They offered to let me back in when they first created the Gotei United, I refused." That same venom and animosity was still present, though somewhat more subdued as Fuu herself truly had no ill will towards the Gotei United. She understood what they were trying to do, but they clearly weren't a Gotei that she thought was worthy of her blades.

"As for what I'm doing here, I heard of a catastrophe that happened here wherein an entire city was swallowed whole and Hollows began pouring out of it. Though if someone as powerful as you is here, I'm extremely surprised that the Gotei United hasn't made their presence known already. Or perhaps they have and their strength is far weaker than even I had suspected... in which case it only further proves their incompetence." Fuu paused for several moments, concentrating to try and figure out if she could feel any other Shinigami anywhere within the vicinity they were, but upon not feeling any her attention turned back to the woman "So why is a 'traveler' here in Africa?"

"You are correct, they are not weak and their skill cannot be overlooked. Of that I am certain, but glory is not something I seek for if it was I would have rejoined with the Gotei United." She said plainly, dismissing the notion that she sought glory. Her eye did twitch however when she was called out for being blindsided by a hollow, and admittedly she should've seen it coming. Although she took some offense when she noted that she wasn't in a position to call them incompetent.

"And just what the hell would YOU know of incompetence!?" She snapped rather swiftly, practically interrupting the woman "I know better than any of them what incompetence looks like! Sosuke Aizen played the entire Gotei 13 for fools right under their nose and even the Captain-Commander himself fell for it! Incompetence is something I know with first hand experience! Being incompetent doesn't mean you aren't good at fighting, or aren't exceptionally powerful beyond your years!" Her hands went back to resting on the hilts of both of her Zanpakuto's at this point, her right hand squeezing down tight on the hilt itself with a flicker of black energy erupting from her hand "They attempt to remake the Gotei, they attempt to mimic a fraction of what Sotaicho Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto made! They fail to do any of it for that is all they do. Attempt. I seek to bring back the TRUE Gotei 13 that the Sotaicho had built, A Gotei where the Captain's do not tolerate the shit like this catastrophe! A Gotei who would immediately make their presence known and crush any and all resistance without mercy like they did to the wretched Quincy who destroyed countless innocent souls because they thought themselves the true arbiters of the cycle of life!"

Her body now turned entirely to face towards the woman "A Gotei who would immediately crush people like Sosuke Aizen without hesitation and not allow him to become so powerful he can no longer be killed and must instead be sealed away!" Her right hand came up in a fist, that same black energy from before starting to flicker to life all around her hand and wrist. "So when I say that the Gotei United is incompetent I do not care about their personal power, I care about what they're doing about the destruction and devastation that has wracked this world over and over! Aizen, Yhwach, World War Three, The Demonic Incursion, All of them would've been put down before they came to power if they treated those threats like they had with the Quincy's in the first place."

If it wasn't made clear at the beginning, by the end the other woman would have a pretty good idea of how Fuu felt about Quincy's, constantly referring back to the massacres' and seeing it as the Gotei in its prime and a Gotei 13 that wasn't incompetent. "Glory is a side effect of doing your job correctly, of putting down anything and everything that dares to try and disturb the balance we have worked for thousands of years to try and maintain! Yet ever since Aizen the peace we strove for has been getting farther and farther from reach and if it's allowed to continue at its current pace the balance and peace we Shinigami strive for will be all but impossible to attain."

""THE QUINCY WERE GIVEN THEIR CHANCE TO LEARN! They were TOLD what they were doing, they were WARNED they were going to destroy EVERYTHING! And what did they do? Continued. Continued DESTROYING the Souls, those killed by the Quincy can NEVER come back! They're gone from existence itself!" As she snapped back, she could hear both of her Zanpakuto Spirits telling her she needed to calm down but she wouldn't be calmed at this point.

"You don't need to KNOW something is coming to be able to crush it when it arrives! We knew nothing about the Quincy's when they appeared, but we told them to stop, we told them what they were doing was bad and they continued so we put them down like the dogs they are because they refused to acknowledge their motives led to naught but DESTRUCTION!" Despite her words however, the baleful aura was still noticed and it did give her pause, her left hand not moving from the hilt it was gripped upon primarily because of it. "After Aizen's betrayal Shinigami trained solely to defeat him, if they had kept that same gumption, Yhwach wouldn't have been able to do what he did. If they had kept it up further, World War Three never would've happened! And the Demonic Incursion? They wouldn't of even considered invading Soul Society. But they didn't, plain and simple. They were seen as a target that couldn't stop them, and so the demons invaded."

As Ari continued to talk, Fuu was hesitant to respond admittedly. The baleful aura that surrounded her was a constant reminder on its own that there were things that she couldn't fight right now. But at the same time her anger was bubbling to the surface. She was conflicted between continuing to argue and leaving, yet she also felt that if she left she was giving into this woman's words and admitting she was wrong. But to do so, would to admit that the Quincy's weren't villains. It wasn't that she thought Ari's words were outright wrong, there was wisdom within them... But from what Fuu understood of Quincy's, they weren't the whole truth, which meant Ari was wrong not Fuu.

"Shinigami and Shinigami alone were given the power to Purify hollows, not a single other race was granted this power. Shinigami alone were tasked with purifying hollows and protecting the balance. If that means we must kill those who desire to disturb and disrupt that balance, then that's what we Shinigami MUST do! It isn't about what we want or what we think, We have a duty and job given to us by the Soul King himself, to fail that is to betray the Soul King himself!" While her hand lowered and her posture was visibly shaken, she still refused to back down. "Does this new Gotei even follow the Soul King? Do they even teach new Shinigami about his vital and pivitol role in maintaining existence? That Shinigami alone possess the ability to purify the soul?! I don't speak out of some cocky arrogance like that of Sosuke Aizen, Our duty is one that has always been ours and NOBODY else's! Aizen thought he could replace the Soul King and nearly succeeded because the Sotaicho didn't put him down when he had the undeniable chance atop Sokyoku Hill. You say it isn't simple yet it would've been if Shinigami stuck to the Divine Duty we ALONE were tasked with!"

With that she grabbed the small object that clung to her wrist and began to slowly remove it, and with it the flickering Reiatsu began to grow all across her body "This kind of thing would've NEVER happened had they not limited our strongest and most talented fighters like the detestable Zaraki!" She tossed the object away, causing her Reiatsu to spike while also becoming far too wild to pinpoint exactly how strong she was though she was still a far cry from Arianda.

"Peace is paved with the blood of all, Humans, Demons, Hollows, Quincy, And even Shinigami! Peace is won by forcing it upon those who would refuse to accept it by any means nessecary!" Both hands were now placed upon the hilts of her Zanpakuto's "No matter who they are." In stark contrast to the rest of her rant, the last four words were said with a type of calm one normally only sees within the eye of a storm. A quiet fury.