[BSD-RP] The Valley of Screams

[Shinigami]

As Kyomu spoke, his examinee remained still, patient, waiting for his proctor to say all that he desired to say in that moment. He did not seek to rush the battle, to capitalize on any perceived openings in the Captain’s stance. Smart. Still, it did nothing to curry the favor of the dead pan Kyomu. His lack of action along other things told the Young Lord volumes.
Stance, noted.
His inaction, noted.
His breathing pattern, noted.
His height, the length of his arms coupled with the length of his unusually long blade...noted.
All things coalesced together, information for the Captain to exploit. With blade drawn, and ultimatum presented he remained patient for the boy’s response. He stood there, waiting, observing, extrapolating detail after detail from Nibui’s every action, inaction, microexpression, breathing, flow and rhythm of his reiatsu, all towards the inevitable end of this farce of a battle.
“Nothing you’ve said is new. I will respect you due to your position and strength, but I dislike you.”
A response. Kyomu’s cold expression persisted, his left hand dropping to his side in response. ’I See’, he thought to himself. It was regrettable to say the least, but not unexpected. He’d offered the boy an out, given him a chance to live on, to train harder, to gain more experience and perhaps try again in the future. Nibui had chosen to cast aside that possible future, in favor of what he perceived to be a quicker path to his goal. Very well, if death is what he sought, than Kyomu would oblige.
Unlike the other Captains who could have overseen this portion of the exam, Kyomu was no fighter or martial artist, he was an assassin, a killer. Kyomu practiced and honed his craft on a regular. Be it a simple spar, or a mission, he always targeted the vitals, a serpent going for the kill. Today would be no exception. Nibui had forfeited his life over to Captain Mukuro. Unfortunate.
The man’s right hand held firm to his zanpakuto, left hand veiled by the sleeve for a single instant before reappearing though slightly distorted for the briefest of moments, fingers slightly unfurled. It was an act that ran concurrent with Nibui’s first step. Black blurs, three in total streaked and whizzed soundlessly through the air. Given the rapidity of their travel and the almost negligible space between the two combatants, one was hard pressed to gauge the trajectory of any one of them, let alone all three. The right eye, the left jugular vein, and the fingers of the right hand, all appeared to be the targets of choice on Nibui’s smaller frame.
A second’s worth of time, no — less than even that was all it would take for contact to be made. Faster still was Kyomu, his image already at Nibui’s side, his 3 O'Clock to be precise, his previous place of rest now absent of the man’s form. Genzōken, cleaved through the air in passing. Moving as silently as its master, and just as swiftly as well. The aim of the strike seemed simple enough, to cleave through Nibui’s jugular and his right carotid artery, all with the swing of his sword. Nibui had been calm, and vigilant this is true...but Kyomu’s body offered little to nothing to telegraph his motives or his targets of choice. Even now one couldn’t guarantee how committed to this act the Captain was. All points were irrelevant for the one on the opposing end. Nibui would need to notice and react to not only the trio of threats that appeared to target two of his vital points and the fingers of his leading hand on his blade, but do so while maintaining visual or at least a sense of awareness of Kyomu and reacting to both him and his swinging blade that seemed to far outpace what should have been the initial threats to deal with. If he had an instant’s worth of time to defend all if not just one or two of the three targeted areas, he had even less time than that to react and respond to Kyomu’s cleaving blade.
The match was well on way, the battle begun — would it end in kind? All with a single step.

 

[Shinigami]

So it had begun and one of the two combatants seemed a lot more intent on finishing this encounter as swiftly as possible than the other. Nibui had not quite, anticipated, such an action from Kyomu, but it was not to say that it wasn’t considered. Head to head combat was not the Captain’s focus, unlike Nibui, who was very much focused on such a form of fighting. He had very little options in where to drive this confrontation if he could at all guide it, in fact, he had but a single one if he intended to keep fighting. To force Kyomu into a more direct assault.
It was clear that Kyomu would be vastly superior in mobility through out this event, though it was yet to be seen how their blade’s movements would compare. Nibui had never been extremely mobile, instead focusing his speed mostly on his strikes and his ability to react. This would play a crucial part in the outcome, though it would not be the sole player. The abundant and extremely dense nature of Nibui’s Reiryoku were quite a defining feature of him, one that he so craved not to use in fear that he would perhaps cause harm to those he had no intended to harm. He feared he lacked control over it, despite the obvious fact that he was more than capable of exerting an impressive control over such spiritual power.
His planned steps, regardless of where they had stopped could all function and be used for the exact idea he had initially wished to attempt, though it would never get to that point. He would need to alter his approach at that very moment. With a blade in hand, there was no longer thought behind his actions, replacing that were his natural instincts, which he relied on heavily and this would be displayed. It had all begun with that single step, which in turn was replied to by Kyomu, in a rather annoying manner. A combination of ranged and close quarters combat that assumedly would prove quite effective in most cases. With his attention dragged away from Kyomu’s face entirely and focusing on the entire body, his eyes would catch something, minute as it may be, it was something in the end. A motion from the Captain’s left hand, while brief and almost instantaneous, it was there and as if that action had never happened, Kyomu had vanished from sight only to make himself known to Nibui’s right side. The motion of the hand, whilst almost blurred due to the speed, it was mostly visible to Nibui. To retract within the sleeve and reappear as if his fingers had flicked outwards, toward his opponent, there was very little actions that would require such movements. Though he could only assume something had been flung in his direction, he would not be given enough time to study what, the distance between them was too small and more importantly than that, Kyomu had also advanced. At a faster pace than what was presumably thrown, he had already appeared next to Nibui and had taken to making his attack, a blade aiming to slice cleanly through some of the bodies weaker and vital points.
To react to both threats would be an ordeal but something that was possible regardless, though Nibui would have to ignore his habit of not using his Reiryoku. It was at the very moment that Nibui’s foot had made contact with the floor that his counterattack would begin. As if his foot had carried an absolutely ungodly amount of weight, upon contact with the floor, the ground beneath himself and Kyomu would crater in a ten meter radius with Nibui as it’s center point, this effect on the surrounding area would cause the level they were fighting on to drop quite a bit, about two meters if not a little bit more. This was not an effort of a physical feat but rather his Reiryoku. Even in such circumstances where he had been restricted to the point he was at now, It would still compete with those within the Captain’s ranks. As he reluctantly allowed and manipulated his Reiryoku, a dome of his crimson spiritual power would plow through the area in all directions from him, with enough force to effect the ground to such effect. Whether it was the force produced by the unnaturally dense Reiryoku, or the cratering of the ground beneath him, Nibui had hoped to knock the Captain either off balance or to push the man completely away from him. Such force impacting someone would be more than enough to blow someone away, with more than likely, a few broken bones. Though, one could never anticipate what might happen to someone on the level of a Captain. Regardless of what happened to Kyomu, his objective would be complete.
Simultaneous to the release of his Reiryoku, he had initiated the same slash he would have attempted had he not been interrupted. However, had Kyomu not been affected by the power exerted by Nibui, he would have found himself closer to Nibui’s blade and as such, more susceptible to being struck directly. Once again, a flash of metal, identical to what would have come previously, that slash covered the now even shorter distance between the two, though the aim had changed now. Noticing the Captain’s intention’s Nibui had taken to a more aggressive attitude, perhaps the whispers had begun taking their effect on him due to the situation? Much like his interrupted attempt would have been fatal had he stepped forward just another step, this motion was intended entirely to carve through the Captain, from the right hip and up toward the left shoulder, seperating a man in two. It was obvious to those watching from an outside perspective, there had been very little done by Nibui to influence the attempt on his life by Kyomu’s blade, apart from the Reiryoku released and the possible effect on his balance from the cratering of the land.
Of course, there was always the potential that Kyomu had been knocked further away, the force was more than enough to do so to most men. Had it occurred, Nibui’s slash would have still occurred, only missing it’s mark but instead acting as a step up for the next motion. Disappearing from where he was within the crater, Nibui would put to use his impressive, but unmastered Hohō. Reappearing right before the Captain, face to face with him. Having followed through with the motion of his initial movement of his blade, he would have brought both hands, continuing their masterful grip on the hilt of his oversized blade, bringing them over his head. As if an executioner putting to rest a criminal, the following strike was true, pulling down with a great strength and speed, another flash of silver, however this time it had been accompanied by a similar crimson Reiryoku as the dome that had been released earlier. The blade alone, unassisted, would have been enough to cleave the majority of resilient opponents in two, aided by his potent and naturally compacted Reiryoku however, this would split the most durable of opponents, along with splitting the floor beneath them as if trying to create a ravine before himself.
Truly he was adamant to continue if he had gotten to the point where he had abandoned his disgust for taking a life. Either that or he felt as if he couldn’t do it, and some presence had begun to make their own greedy advances, looking to claim something.

 

[Shinigami]

The thralls of combat, a gluttonous monster that had consumed countless men and women alike who answered it's siren’s call. It excited the flesh, caused one’s blood to boil, and in those fleeting moments of primitive euphoria — became the undoing of those unable to resist its allured as they threw caution to the wind to indulge in slaughter. Was Nibui of such a breed of men? It certainly seemed so, despite the boy’s demeanor, it seemed he abandoned the few choices he had, and for what? Perhaps Kyomu would ask him when this was all over.
One step, the distance bridged, with one breath it could all be over. Nibui, despite applying for Captaincy did so with little to no confidence, and traveled to these barren lands with even less confidence. There was no forethought, no strategy, no plan of action. It was as if the boy came bearing nothing but fragile hope on his shoulders, and a sword as long as his insecurities.
It became clear to the shinigami that he needed to act, and quickly so if he were to avoid any fatal harm to himself. The ground beneath the two sunk and cratered further into the valley, both Kyomu and Nibui lowered another two meters in a circumference of ten. In perhaps an act of self preservation the boy’s reiatsu erupted, though the Anken’s targets were altered, the projectiles continued on course. Their advance was halted from the crimson dome of spiritual power, causing them to ricochet off into varying angles.
’This is-’ He thought to himself, noting the density of the spiritual power being exerted from the boy, perhaps his only redeeming quality. Still, as great as it was, unexpectedly so, it was insufficient in dealing with the current threat. Perhaps had Nibui rid himself of his self imposed restrictions on his power, those tarnished rings binding him things would be different — but such was not the case. His powers restricted, he faced Kyomu, clothed in his uniquely woven garments. The fibers did more than just insulate the Captain’s own spiritual power, veiling it from others...it also weathered foreign spiritual power, resisting and obstructing it to a degree. Kyomu, the man garbed within these very fibers, continued onward. Though the reiatsu ruffled his ensemble and weighed heavily on his very bones, he would neither stay his hand or withdraw his blade.
Encapsulated and empowered by his own reiatsu, both man and blade continued along their course, contending against Nibui’s reiatsu weakened twice over by the trinkets decorating his ten digits, and the Kuroro (黒絽, Lit “Black silk”) of Kyomu’s garments. From Nibui’s 3 O’ Clock he moved to his 4 O’ Clock...then 5 O’ Clock. The blade aimed at his jugular and carotid artery had been discreetly altered, a slight shifting of his hand. Genzōken’s tip tore through flesh, cleaving cleanly through the boy’s levator scapulae.
True enough Nibui’s well of spiritual power was impressive, and his reiatsu dense and pressurizing to boot, and truer still was the boy’s ability to seemingly adapt, moving to cleave through Kyomu with the distance between them so negligible. Perhaps a different or less opponent might be hard pressed against such...odds, but against a trained and disciplined killer like Captain Mukuro, he’d need more than that. Nibui’s main reliance appeared to be in the quantity of his reiryoku. A formidable weapon if properly used. Had it been exerted during Kyomu’s movement to his side perhaps then it would have been enough to force his proctor to alter his plans a bit — however, by not only allowing Kyomu to take his side, but to remain stationary as well, he was practically offering his body up to be cleaved. Despite the pressure exerted on him, all the Captain needed to do was continue forward, forcing Nibui to continue following through with his stroke in order to catch up to him who’s path ahead and behind Nibui remained unobstructed. There was nothing to stop his sword’s advance, nor had Nibui done anything to limit the Captain’s actions or options.
The pain of having flesh and muscle sliced through if not excruciating enough, would be doubly so as Nibui was undoubtedly still in mid-swing. Blood would spurt from the open wound, plenty of blood at that. The injury was sharp, efficient, and would see to it that the boy’s right arm was useless for the remainder of this little bout, all things considering. Kyomu himself would be about a meter and a half at the boy’s 5 O’Clock, the fingers of his left hand holding a total of four anken this time, released them with a casual flick of his wrist. The projectiles danced through the air within the boy’s blind spot. Two of the anken appeared to target the left and right shoulder, respectively, while the course of the other two seemed to be the left side and right side of his waist. If not too distracted by his injury, he’d have a single breath’s worth of time to notice and react to the spiraling blades, or risk having them embedded into his flesh. Monitoring his every move Kyomu continued to circle the boy’s back, sticking to his blind spot, the fractured shadow of his blade splayed along the ground alongside his own. His pulse still steady, nigh nonexistent along with his breathing. Still absent of any discernible presence impassive eyes watched indifferently at the would be Captain. Despite having such a small body, it housed quite the reiryoku, he would take that into account.
It would take nothing short of a miracle to alter Nibui’s fate, ironic — the very thing he needed, was the very thing he so desired to aid him in passing this exam.

 

[Shinigami]

For a brief moment, Nibui believed that he had been too stubborn for his own good, perhaps he had truly ended the road for himself in his bold act of retaliation against the Captain’s advance on him. It was clear what Kyomu’s blade was initially targeting but something had changed, although it was not due to Nibui’s own efforts. Perhaps the Captain had experienced a slight change of heart with how to deal with the situation, a stroke of luck if nothing else. Despite such a streak of luck, there was still a positive to his efforts, he had negated the projectiles that would have otherwise buried themselves within his body. As with most situations, however, when you tend to one issue, another arises to take its place. Life is never without a looming threat. Sometimes, it may be a threat of a lesser degree and vice versa, which would this turn toward? A greater or lesser issue?
His realisation of the wound inflicted on him was instantaneous, the nigh on crippling pain that wracked his body at that very moment was in some form or another, a wake up call. The pain that riddled his body was not one he could hide, his otherwise exhausted looking expression would form into a grimace of pain accompanied by a large involuntary inhale as the pain took him by surprise. He could not limit himself in such a situation, in the face of real threats, there was no space for error, nor was there a place for his idealistic views. He would need to repay Kyomu with the same kindness he had been shown if he was to prevail. That being said, he had already been given a rather large penalty to continue on with, the loss of his right arm. Having been mid way through his swing and losing a majority of control in that arm, it would not drop to his side, but instead seemingly following the blade to the end of the swing. The left hand though remained firmly attached to the handle of the Zanpakuto, not quite completing the swing and instead halting it mid-way through as if currently still assisted by another hand. The swing of his right arm however, only further exacerbated the pain, feeling as if the muscles and flesh of his intended to split themselves even further apart with the momentum.
He couldn’t say he was surprised by the skill of the Captain. The intense, sharp pain delivered by the Captain was a reflection of just how sharp he himself was with that unassuming blade of his. Blood spurted heavily from the severed flesh and muscle as Kyomu passed by to move toward Nibui’s blindspots. Simultaneously to this, Nibui would need to cancel this out, Kyomu was already more than capable to deal with his opponent without being in their blindspot, this was something Nibui needed to sort instantly. In synchronous action with Kyomu attempting to move to Nibui’s blindspots, Nibui would pivot his entire body to the right, following Kyomu’s path to keep him completely within sight at all times, or at least as best he could. As he followed Kyomu, that same motion from before, a flick of the wrist, flinging those pesky blades through the air once more with their target in such close quarters. This time however, the action was far less discreet than it had previously been. With a prior knowledge of what was to come, more or less, Nibui had been gifted another chance to react, hopefully, he would act sufficiently this time around.
As if fate had been against Nibui, it seemed that his reaction to the four projectiles was too slow. Carving through their path as though there was nothing to even slow down their momentum. Appearing to pierce through flesh, muscle and bone with an unlikely ease. This however, was only a momentary event. A mirage produced through a feat of speed , something this Captain specifically would be all too familiar with. The hope was not to fool the Captain but something else.
At the very moment in which Kyomu’s anken had made ‘contact’ with the illusory copy, the examinee would make his presence known once more, not a copy or clone but the flesh and blood version. With his feet a foot apart and his knees bent, lowering his already small stature down noticeably closer to the floor, he had taken his stance, not but half a meter between himself and his examiner. Nibui’s body was not facing directly towards Kyomu but rather his right side of his body was what was pointed toward him. The now currently disabled right arm hanging limp to his side as his a crimson ichor poured from the rather devastating wound, partially along his back and arm. The left arm however, had taken a position all too similar too what the stance Kyomu had initially taken, holding the blade parallel to his chest. The tip of the blade at a lower angle, pointing toward the floor between Kyomu’s feet.
There was not a moment between his appearance before Kyomu, and the motion of his singular functioning arm. A crescent shaped upwards slash, As though he had never lost the other arm to begin with, this motion was just as refined as any other he would make. His motions were definitely refined, to a point of complete mastery, the same could not be said for his decisions in some scenarios, as had just been displayed. This cleave of his blade had a clear intention but at a moments notice, it’s trajectory could be altered. In its set course, the blade had been intended to rend a number of targets in a single upwards motion. The starting point of this course was the left half of the Captain’s abdominal muscles with the finishing line being set just past the clavicle of the Captain. Nibui had no intention of holding his Jubokko back at any point during that attack. With these intentions, there lay potential to sever not only the left half of the Captain’s abdominal muscles but also the left pectoral muscle along the way. Despite this already ambitious attempt, this was not the full story.
He had hoped to have learnt enough from his previous display with his Reiryoku and in the back of his mind, there was a sliver of faith. This morsel of hope rested on the idea that the Captain had the assumption that Nibui’s rings were the only limiters that had been placed upon him. In unison with the resurgence of his true body and the beginning of the movement of his blade, his own self-imposed limiter on his Reiryoku would have been released. This self-imposed limiter had served as most of the limitations he had possessed and with its disappearance, perhaps the balance of this duel would shift to a more equal footed state. With such a limitation released, his Reiryoku would not simply swell, but expand and explode outward as though it was a wild beast, and quite literally so. More than doubling in volume, the density and power behind this spiritual energy seemed to increase accordingly as well. Though these were not the only things that would grow.
With such a sudden peak in power, Nibui had to take as drastic of an advantage as he could from this time. At the moment in which this Reiryoku was liberated, a concentrated, crushing pressure would be exerted from Nibui. Similarly to his prior display, the environment surrounding the two would be forced to alter and change. Not simply breaking stone and rock but pulversing it within the area. The ground lowering once more but something would appear to be different this time around. As if it had not cratered around the two but instead, it had flattened out? At first glance, perhaps it could be taken that way, the truth on the other hand, was not so. As far as the eye could see for the moment, the earth had been shattered, collapsed and folded underneath the absolute pressure that it had been subjected to. For a mile or so, the effects of his Reiatsu were prevalent, sinking the level of the floor by a more than noticeable five meters. Despite the obscene coverage of his Reiatsu however, it was odd. A single point had been the target of oh so much more. A feat of which Nibui was proud of, his control over his Reiatsu allowed him to purposefully target specifics and at this moment in time, that specific was Kyomu.
He had gathered from the previous attempt that the Captain would not become a victim so easily. While not completely aware as to how and what methods of prevention Kyomu possessed, he was confident enough in what he had attempted that this would not be as trivial for Kyomu as it had previously been. For any without an outstanding resilience, a Reiryoku comparable to Nibui’s or some countermeasure, such as Kyomu’s, such force being imposed upon them would not end well for that party. Being forced to the floor was but the least of one’s worries. The sheer pressure, without being a specific target, that alone would be enough to bring bones to a point of snapping and shattering, organs and flesh would compress slowly, the rest is down to one’s imagination. A terrifying prospect to be sure.
As this all went on, that something that had been pestering, prodding and testing the Shinigami seemed to be put at bay. The actions now taken and planned by Nibui were less than fatal but still intended to inflict an excruciating amount of harm. The pain that had been fed to him by Kyomu was both a warning and a wake-up call. Despite his constant commitment to the action at hand, there now lingered a sense of regret, not at what he had gotten himself into, but simply that he could have potentially fallen into something worse, from his perspective. Through out this entire counterattack, Nibui's eyes had been glued to Kyomu since the moment he had begun pivoting his body to follow the Captain. And although he had not said it aloud, there were a few words he had let escape his lips, an apology of sorts. To both himself and his opponent.
"I apologise, I wasn't feeling all myself for a moment."

 

[Shinigami]

Cold steel cleaved seamlessly through flesh — Nibui's expression betraying him, exposing the pain that coursed from the wound. The boy still mid-attack brought it to a forceful end, blood spurting and flowing from the still open wound, the arm that was aiding him up to now, loose..lifeless. Kyomu continued along his course, body becoming slightly misshapen in several places throughout his transit. Nibui seemed to understand the risks and dangers of allowing the Captain to take his back, attempting to deter such a fate he pressed through the pain, turning keep his proctor's image ever in his line of sight.
The vigilant Nibui studied Kyomu's movements, ever on the move. He watched the Captain's hands, movements that seemed less concealed than before, move to flick the projectiles towards the injured and bleeding examinee. The projectiles that moved along their set course, appearing to target the left and right shoulders and waists respectively would....not. Curving around Nibui's image the anken arced as they spiraled through the air. Kyomu's expression left unchanged.
Ting, TING
Metal struck metal, two of the anken striking their counterparts to alter their course while still mid-flight. The image of Nibui, lagging behind his movements would undoubtedly eventually fade away, after all...it was but a temporary mirage. The anken's purpose was never meant to be so direct, Kyomu having long since mastered their use as well as sleight of hand was able to alter and adjust the way he launched the small hidden blades. One blade ricocheted spiraling toward's the Captain's left the other towards his right. He expected the boy to put up some resistance after receiving such an injury. What were his options? Immediate retaliation. Would he take to the skies for a downward slash? No, unlikely. It left him too wide open, little room for maneuverability, and the boy hardly seemed the type. Perhaps a surprise attack from behind? No, never that. It would take someone greater than Nibui, and still lesser than Kyomu himself to have a chance of accomplishing such a feat. The quickest routes were to his sides, but would Nibui favor the left or the right? The Captain could ponder, and speculate and take a guess, but he was never one to leave things to chance. If he could not pick a side, then he would choose both, and both he chose.
Spiraling their way, the force of the ricochet doubling their speed all while Nibui himself manifested at Kyomu's side, his left to be precise, blade well in motion — Swift, seamless, intent on cleaving cleanly through Kyomu. It was an act that mirrored the shinigami's opening gambit, almost exactly so. The anken's journey was a short lived one, the boy's reiatsu erupting from him, in greater force and ferocity, terra forming the valley beneath its fury, and consequently crushing the dancing blades before they could complete their trek. Rock and stone was pulverized, flattened cleanly and evenly further into the ground, sinking further and further still, dominated by the boy's spiritual pressure. Near the source of this oppressive force, seemed worse for wear. It seemed the boy intended to not only cleave through his proctor, but to limit his movements with his reiryoku. Interesting.
"Ugh-!"
A sound, four meters to Nibui's 9 O'Clock. The Captain's image directly before the shinigami was cleaved through flawlessly without fail, yet no blood stained the blade of his zanpakuto, the pressure focused on the object of Nibui's perception causing the image to collapse and disperse beneath its weight. Kyomu seemingly stood in place, his right hand clinging to Genzōken, its fractured shadow now absent from the valley's floor. His already fierce visage had grown increasingly more vicious, pupiless eyes leering at the boy. Bones creaked and cried out in agony, knees doing their best not to buckle, their fate uncertain should they yield. Spiritual power coursed through every fiber of his being, augmenting his strength ten, fifty, a hundred fold to aid him in protesting the domineering pressure while his special attire struggled to resist as well, faltering at the proverbial seams. Where his reiatsu was once imperceptible, it now roared, becoming a visible force around the Captain, just barely keeping him from being flattened. Still, this was not enough to shift Kyomu's perception of the boy.
Memories of his days of youth, still a child were ever present with him. How many times were his boy's broken, forcefully shattered only to be mended and shattered again? How many times had his flesh been pierced and flayed, restored and pierced again. How many times had his breath been robbed from him, taken to the precipice of life and death, then forced just beyond its threshold into the abyss, and brought back again? No, Kyomu was no stranger to pain or torment, he was well accustomed to such, intimately so.
It was evident that the boy was more blessed than Kyomu in regards to reiryoku, a point he was well aware of. This current display of spiritual pressure, though greater than before by many folds, did nothing to reinforce that mark. Kyomu needed no further convincing of the boy's well of spiritual power, nor did he need further example or displays of his reiatsu. He was curious what Nibui was able to accomplish with such a blade, the answer seemed to be....nothing.
'Your confidence appears to in this boundless amount of spiritual power. Very well, I shall rend it asunder.'
Words spoken in confidence to none but himself as he moved to offer his reply to the boy's performance. It wouldn't take long for Nibui to recognize that Kyomu was no longer present before him, in fact, he had not been for some time. Moving, accelerating attacking and moving still, altering the cadence of his steps enough that his image remained visible for sometime, pausing only due to this abrupt shift in pressure, imposed by the examinee. His movements were limited, but not completely robbed from him. Fingers and hand shifting, causing Genzōken to appear to only dip down towards the ground a inch or so a single time with the limping of his wrist, and concurrent with that dip, a thin pellucid ethereal line of sorts passed soundlessly through the space before Kyomu in a linear path. Concurrently a second line, just as immaterial as the other passed through the space — still in a linear path before the Captain, its path however horizontal, intersecting and moving in concert with its counterpart. Both just over thirty meters in length, traveling without opposition. The already abused ground, beaten and pulverized by Nibui's reiatsu would split cleanly along the path, the reiryoku terrorizing the valley would also be split wherever this cross shaped haze so passed, sparing both the valley and kyomu from further abuse, Nibui too would be rent asunder should he remain where he stood.
As swift as a fleeting passing thought they traveled — unimpeded by such hindrances as pressure, gravity and other material restrictions. Running in tandem with and behind this ghostly trail of severance was Kyomu, the pressure around him dispersed from the passing of the severing haze. A moment, an instant, a fraction of a second — none seemed to do the speed of the assault any justice. The instant Nibui recognized and perceived kyomu's displacement, his reiatsu would be severed along the path of these spectral passing boundaries, spiritual pressure rent asunder forced to disperse from such swift and infallible severance. He would be forced to make an instinctive choice move back while keeping his body and thus, his center of gravity lowered to avoid the horizontal passing, or move forward in kind by a meter to avoid being split in two. His choice was, irrelevant, Kyomu's blade passing through to cut along the path that Nibui needed to travel to avoid being split cleanly through. From right to left Genzōken soared, gliding seamlessly through the air, seeking to pass through the boy's spine and come cleanly out the other end, or so it appeared given the blade's trajectory. A meter, if not less of space was between them, Kyomu faced with the examinee's only operable arm. A suicide attempt perhaps, as Nibui was certainly able to retaliate the moment his proctor dared enter so close a range, and towards his current sword arm to boot. It mattered not, a boundary also passed in a space two meters from Nibui's back, severing that path of retreat, perceivable only after perceiving Kyomu's initial passing slash upon his person, the Captain appearing to be behind Nibui while still occupying the space beside him.
While the Kyomu at Nibui's 9 O'Clock was cleaving horizontally, the Kyomu at his 6 O' Clock was swinging vertically, blade still in right hand descending effortlessly towards the boy's skull to split him down the middle, bound by neither weight, nor gravity, nor pressure or friction. Running synchronously was a third blade arcing across Nibui's chest, a third Kyomu appearing at the boy's 3 O'Clock. Neither of the Captain's trio of images held any discernible presence, their attacks prepared to dance through him the moment anything is recognized amiss, all running seemingly concurrent with one another.
Perhaps Nibui could display some level of speed equal to or higher than what he had used before when seeking to evade the rather conspicuous assault from Kyomu? An attempt could be made, but unfortunately for him Kyomu would not allow him to evade him so easily. He had not given chase before as there was no need to, it was never from a lack of ability. As great and powerful as Nibui's reiryoku was, it betrayed his movements, his actions, and his position regardless of the speed of his expedition. The moment he moves to distance himself, Kyomu would pursuit him with greater fervor, his false image left to linger behind with Nibui's, should the boy opt to indulge such thoughts.
The boy was blessed with tremendous amounts of reiryoku, and as a result almost unimaginable reiatsu, surely he could use that to tilt the proverbial scales in his favor. That too would be a short sighted ploy. He had used that little trick with his reiatsu twice now against Kyomu, even if he could exert power grander and more devastating than both prior displays Kyomu would not allow it. The moment his reiatsu even slightly fluctuated the Captain would move to rend it asunder once more and continue to press his attack.
What of the path ahead? His Three, Six and Nine O'Clock were all covered, being fiercely assaulted — simultaneously with one another based on perception. His Twelve O'Clock remained seemingly free and unobstructed. If the path behind, left or right was cut off, then ahead seemed the likely course of action. As obvious as it seemed, still there lurked a sense of foreboding about such a laid out path. One could practically see the image of their body being bisected the moment they ventured beyond three meters, an inexplicable feeling. Regardless, a choice needed to be made, and it needed to be made quick. Nibui had launched his attack, committed to the swing and was unopposed by his target in that regard. He had released his mental and emotional inhibitions restraining his power, focusing it upon that same target, his current source of misery. Though Kyomu was unable to restrain his voice from the sudden pressure that Nibui had exerted, he was trained and disciplined enough to continue his mission by hook or by crook, that same grunt though announcing both his discomfort, pain and momentary location, would also be the auditory marker for Nibui to find some path of escape. Witnessing or perceiving one Kyomu, meant being flanked on three fronts, seemingly simultaneously. From the beginning to even now, Nibui had committed to two things; the arcing swing of his sword and the prideful display of spiritual pressure. Though the Eleventh Squad had gained a reputation for being sword swinging simpletons, surely a man aspiring to reign over such a rag tag group could display something more than this. Such were the thoughts and beliefs of Captain Mukuro.