Shedding A Sinful Shell [Kokuto, Natasha, Lilith]

He had been researching potential methods for a while, and the day had finally come. Thankfully, he hadn't been alone in his search, with Natasha, Lilith, and to a lesser extent, Johann, offering information and eventually, a solution.

Lilith, a Shinigami that had spent a significant amount of time among Quincy and knew quite a lot, was both overseeing the process and acting as someone for Kokuto to tire himself out. From what Lilith, Johann, and Natasha had said, they were taking from the process that some Quincy used to regain their powers: exhaustion, followed by a precise shot from an arrow from a Spirit Weapon.

Though, rather than regaining powers, this was needing to be more precise to cleanse his soul of impurities. With Natasha's Spirit Weapon being a gun, and thereby compressing the typical size of an arrow, she was well-suited for the job, and willing to help out.

Orange, silver, and blue flames crackled idly as Kokuto continued to push forward. He could hear his pulse pounding in his ears, his breathing was heavier, though any sweat that would have formed was quickly evaporated from the heat of his body. His skin had gradually begun turning red, the roots of his hair had shifted from black to white, and steam poured from his body.

So, Kokuto was working his way through the first part of the solution: exhausting himself. He continued to charge at Lilith, holding nothing back as he hurled blue and silver flames alongside punches, knees, and kicks. It felt like his body was boiling from the inside, but, it didn't matter. He was used to this, and, right now, if it meant that he would have a chance of ridding himself of this, he'd take it.

The appointed day was here. Natasha had volunteered, along with enlisting some assistance from Johann and Lilith, to help Kokuto cleanse the demon within him. She had to imagine Lilith, a woman she was only meeting now, had her reservations about it, and even she wasn't entirely sure how this might go. Sure, she'd bore witness to when a Quincy needed to regain their power after using Letz Stil back in the day, but attempting to purify a demon was equal parts unprecedented and unfounded.

There were two ways of looking at this, though. She reckoned they'd succeed and Kokuto could embrace the livelihood of a Quincy, or he could die and they'd be short of another Vandenreich member. Though she made no secret about her disdain towards demons, Kokuto was genuinely a good guy at heart who was trying plenty hard to erase that part of his existence.

She would do her best to make sure this works. As such, she'd prepared the ideal bullet for the occasion, leveling her rifle on the two of them as she waited for the ideal moment to let the bullet fly and strike Kokuto clean in the chest with pinpoint accuracy. His life was riding on this. To be anything less than careful would be fatal. Fortunately for him, they didn't call called her a sharpshooter for nothin'. And there wasn't a shot she didn't like when she put her mind to it.

Kokuto had seen and been through a lot in his life, but, the situation in front of him...with Lilith effortlessly dodging him, barely seeming to break a sweat, it reminded him of the attack on the City of Lights, how outclassed he had been against Ichigo. While he still kept a cool head in reflection of the situation, that feeling of powerlessness still was present in his heart.

It drove him to try even harder, flames ejecting from his arms and legs to make his attacks even faster and hit harder. He wasn't the fastest, but, if he did hit something, it was going to be packing one hell of a punch. More silver and blue flames spewed around the area with every swing, eventually summoning his sword to give him further reach and added attacking power.

Even if it wasn't necessary, despite his usual go-with-the-flow nature, Kokuto still felt a desire to push himself, regardless of the situation.

Kokuto wasn't surprised that she out-maneuvered him, even with what seemed to be a lack of full depth perception. But, he wasn't expecting her to suddenly hit the back of his neck and chastise him for using a weapon. He could tell she was holding back -- both a good and bad thing. Good because he wasn't wanting to be put on death's door, but bad because the goal of this was to exhaust him.

So, as he complied -- the sword vanishing from his hand as if it was never there -- a surge of blue flames erupted from Kokuto's back, acting as both a method of attack and propulsion as he whirled around and forward with an elbow strike aimed at her stomach. Steam rose from his body as the air began to distort from the heat, but Kokuto remained unfazed and continued onward.