Shinigami
Administrator
Perception versus Perspective
The separation between the two often inconsequential, the line dividing them blurred, distorted..nearly invisible. How many years, how many centuries has Eizoku lived alone, isolated in a world displaced from time? Training by his lonesome to hone his abilities as a shinigami, to tighten the bond between him and his zanpakuto. With his shikai one may imagine the world around him to be dull and grey, his perception of the world slowed down to a crawl, his mind constantly racing. Perhaps without even knowing it, the young soul had become an island unto himself…
Stepping out from the Senkaimon, Eizoku stands as he often does, within his world where he alone reigns supreme. With his shikai active, as a master of time everyone else in his eyes were mere insects. He could see anything, everything and because of this, hubris had been born. The man was proud, confident, arrogant in his powers for who alive could contest the powers of time? Yet, such has happened, twice within his lifetime. One by way of the strange Vasto Lorde he had faced within the Dangai, the other by way of his Captain, both times shattering his perception of himself and his abilities. Yet the timekeeper persists, he retrains himself, and reforges his faith in himself and his abilities once again. There wouldn’t be a third time..there couldn’t be a third time. Knowing of his proctor's reputation it only made sense that he would seek to weigh down his steps, if even only by way of altered perception.
Out onto the valley, standing elevated in the air grants him an aerial perspective, and from that perspective with his shikai active he perceives his proctors movements. An altered perception serves as kindling to the flames of confidence burning inside the testee. He assesses the situation and boldly moves to execute his plan. Making use of his second blade to accelerate his movements, he propels himself forward moves to intercept his proctor’s trap, cut himself, repurpose the trap laid out for him, cast his kido while also severing the arm of the speed born double. By now what should be transpiring is the ignition of the wires along with the forceful transportation of the Phantom. As expected, as always everything was going his way, according to his plan and his design.
Until it didn’t
Lilac flames, as beautiful as they were deadly temporarily tint the surrounding valley in its royal glow. The sound of swooshing is partially lost from the roaring of the kidō born flames, wires whipping about frantically as though they had been given life and were thrashing in torment, in agony from being consumed in these demonic flames. The heat rises creating a haze that distorts the air, and despite being incredibly short lived, it is a scene sure to be long lasting in the eyes of any who might bear witness to its birth. Yet something is missing from the equation, that something is...Kyomu. It is a realization that is aligned with the feeling of a portion of space within Eizoku's domain being removed, the distorted world briefly aligning itself within the eyes of the young warrior. A silent and seemingly unmoving Kyomu viewable perhaps over a hundred meters in the air, and perhaps over half that distance up ahead. Genzoken can be seen resting within his presumed dominant hand, the scene of his haori swaying in the air.
Eizoku had taken what he believed to be the proper precautions against his opponent, consider everything during his trek towards this condemned valley of bloodshed. It's unfortunate that his shikai 一 when active creates a domain around him. It is this very same domain which the Captain hopeful relies on, that simultaneously betrays him. Surrounding him in an expanded field, while true it does slow down its master's perception of the world considerably with one blade and accelerates his own movements with the other, it also guarantees that the domain’s reiatsu ensures that Eizoku will always be felt well before he himself is ever actually present.
Overconfidence in his abilities over time has caused the shinigami to, as always, believe what he perceives and what he does and will do to be absolute. Eizoku perceives that he has been behind his proctor this whole time, and in this he is correct...though not in the manner he would think. When the would be Captain steps out into the valley, with his shikai active, with his position a hundred meters out and up he is afforded a rather generous and unique perspective; one where he has an aerial view from that stance, and one where the world around him has been diluted. This vantage point allows him to spot his proctor whom he cannot sense and cannot hear. While limited to only sight for the moment, especially given the distance between them, he perceives that alone would be enough, Kuronosu drastically slowing down the movements of the man heralded as the Seireitei's fastest. Studying the Captain's decelerated movements, he takes little time to conjure up a stratagem of sorts, and takes even less time to execute it. Exploiting the other blade in his hand to augment his every act, he propels himself into action.
He sees the movements of Kyomu that, to a layman appear harmless, perhaps inconsequential but when slowing everything down he is able to see what perhaps no other person might be able to 一 the sight of Kyomu casually flicking an anken here and there while seemingly walking. Following the movements of the anken as he continues to step while physically accelerated with decelerated perception he catches hints of the wires tracing back and forth between the canyons. The Chronomancer takes further advantage of his altered state, moves to intercept the trap strewn for him, carefully cutting himself and even more carefully lacing the wires with his blood, casting Rikujōkōrō to bind the man while also conjuring orbs of arc, casting Haien to ignite the wires with his blood, while also setting up his own array to act as the medium for Sentan Hakuja, and slashing through the arm of the proctor.
Regrettable that the young warrior would overplay his hand so, perhaps what is even more regrettable is the powers of Kuronosu that he has become overly assured of. With all that he has planned, and all that he has perhaps considered, what he may not have considered is how his own preemptive release could perhaps signal his arrival to the Captain, and concurrently the start of the test. Kuronosu's domain that constantly encapsulates its master in its temporal bubble announces Eizoku's arrival before Eizoku himself physically appears, allowing Kyomu to both discern his point of arrival, set his array with the casual flick of his wrists and displace himself through the valley floor 一 all at a pace that from an observers perspective appeared slow, yet was fast enough to outpace his very image causing it to dawdle behind the path of the man himself in the form of a tangible double. What this implies is, that from the point Eizoku had stepped foot into the valley, and gazed down to see the man, the actual Kyomu was already transposed outside his point of vantage. What this further meant was, that the actions Eizoku had viewed were those of the echos telling him what had already happened, and though it allowed him to locate the trap set for him, remained ultimately inconsequential to Kyomu who was not overly reliant on it to begin with. As a professional, the Captain takes into account the potential for things to go wrong, and thus never places all his eggs in one basket, never becomes overly confident or assured in his success, only ever assured after the job is done, and the corpse confirmed. While he may not be able to kill his examinees, he maintains that same sense of professionalism during the performance of his duties.
Eizoku's feints had been largely predicated on his proctor actually paying them any mind, on them being viewed, ensuring they were focused on the afterimages but what did it matter to the man who was not in a position to face them to begin with? Eizoku believed he had been playing the role of observer, he'd perhaps be surprised to learn, it was, as it had always been..the reverse.
Within his temporal bubble, the moment he had observed the suspended Captain watching him impassively, he'd also note the gradual propagation of dusky pink smoke in front of the man, a man who seemed to be splitting into two as though by way of mitosis. Thanks to Kuronosu he is afforded the time to witness the swelling of the sporadic veil as it consumes both the image of the men and the surrounding space. There is much for the former third seat to consider in his next steps. He knows that with his zanpakuto actions are viewed much slower in his eyes and his limited proficiency in the art of Hohō are greatly augmented, but by now he also may come to realize that Kuronosu will physically slow down whoever and whatever finds itself breaching its borders, but the reverse also meant that so long as his opponent remained outside of that area of control their own movements would be unhindered. He was facing a master assassin with his shikai's domain telegraphing his every move, his every position while the man in question was in turn telegraphing...nothing, with the ability to stay outside of that sphere of influence. Young Yugameru was for the moment, completely reliant on being able to perceive Kyomu's actions that had been slowed for him, so...what would he do if he couldn't perceive them? This is perhaps his proctor's line of thinking and the reason for the use of what one can believe to be the Phantom's favored spell in his limited repertoire of kido.
The smoke churns and billows, an almost palpable deluge seemingly befalling both the Valley, and Eizoku as well, born from nothing and anchored to nothing. In shikai, Eizoku believed himself to be placed on the same playing field as other prominent shunpo masters. While perhaps equal to his estranged former Lieutenant Arashi Suta...how did he fair against the Seireitei's Phantom? Yes, he has been lagging behind this entire time. Mentally he perceived himself multiple steps ahead which has as a result physically placed him multiple steps behind. There was still a chance though. True his shikai that he believed placed him in an advantage placed him at a disadvantage against his proctor so long as he remained outside of its physical influence and could easily pace and place himself strategically to remain outside of his domain, if the Captain truly wanted to make any leeway, it also meant at some point he would be forced to close the gap between them.
'When your enemy is certain you cannot act, victory is within your reach.'
Since the start of the match, Eizoku has been certain that he could see everything, that there was nothing the Captain could do that would elude his temporal powers, his vision, or his blade...his schemes. It is that certainty that will lead to his demise if he chooses to cling to it.
Like Quote
Overconfidence in his abilities over time has caused the shinigami to, as always, believe what he perceives and what he does and will do to be absolute. Eizoku perceives that he has been behind his proctor this whole time, and in this he is correct...though not in the manner he would think. When the would be Captain steps out into the valley, with his shikai active, with his position a hundred meters out and up he is afforded a rather generous and unique perspective; one where he has an aerial view from that stance, and one where the world around him has been diluted. This vantage point allows him to spot his proctor whom he cannot sense and cannot hear. While limited to only sight for the moment, especially given the distance between them, he perceives that alone would be enough, Kuronosu drastically slowing down the movements of the man heralded as the Seireitei's fastest. Studying the Captain's decelerated movements, he takes little time to conjure up a stratagem of sorts, and takes even less time to execute it. Exploiting the other blade in his hand to augment his every act, he propels himself into action.
He sees the movements of Kyomu that, to a layman appear harmless, perhaps inconsequential but when slowing everything down he is able to see what perhaps no other person might be able to 一 the sight of Kyomu casually flicking an anken here and there while seemingly walking. Following the movements of the anken as he continues to step while physically accelerated with decelerated perception he catches hints of the wires tracing back and forth between the canyons. The Chronomancer takes further advantage of his altered state, moves to intercept the trap strewn for him, carefully cutting himself and even more carefully lacing the wires with his blood, casting Rikujōkōrō to bind the man while also conjuring orbs of arc, casting Haien to ignite the wires with his blood, while also setting up his own array to act as the medium for Sentan Hakuja, and slashing through the arm of the proctor.
Regrettable that the young warrior would overplay his hand so, perhaps what is even more regrettable is the powers of Kuronosu that he has become overly assured of. With all that he has planned, and all that he has perhaps considered, what he may not have considered is how his own preemptive release could perhaps signal his arrival to the Captain, and concurrently the start of the test. Kuronosu's domain that constantly encapsulates its master in its temporal bubble announces Eizoku's arrival before Eizoku himself physically appears, allowing Kyomu to both discern his point of arrival, set his array with the casual flick of his wrists and displace himself through the valley floor 一 all at a pace that from an observers perspective appeared slow, yet was fast enough to outpace his very image causing it to dawdle behind the path of the man himself in the form of a tangible double. What this implies is, that from the point Eizoku had stepped foot into the valley, and gazed down to see the man, the actual Kyomu was already transposed outside his point of vantage. What this further meant was, that the actions Eizoku had viewed were those of the echos telling him what had already happened, and though it allowed him to locate the trap set for him, remained ultimately inconsequential to Kyomu who was not overly reliant on it to begin with. As a professional, the Captain takes into account the potential for things to go wrong, and thus never places all his eggs in one basket, never becomes overly confident or assured in his success, only ever assured after the job is done, and the corpse confirmed. While he may not be able to kill his examinees, he maintains that same sense of professionalism during the performance of his duties.
Eizoku's feints had been largely predicated on his proctor actually paying them any mind, on them being viewed, ensuring they were focused on the afterimages but what did it matter to the man who was not in a position to face them to begin with? Eizoku believed he had been playing the role of observer, he'd perhaps be surprised to learn, it was, as it had always been..the reverse.
Within his temporal bubble, the moment he had observed the suspended Captain watching him impassively, he'd also note the gradual propagation of dusky pink smoke in front of the man, a man who seemed to be splitting into two as though by way of mitosis. Thanks to Kuronosu he is afforded the time to witness the swelling of the sporadic veil as it consumes both the image of the men and the surrounding space. There is much for the former third seat to consider in his next steps. He knows that with his zanpakuto actions are viewed much slower in his eyes and his limited proficiency in the art of Hohō are greatly augmented, but by now he also may come to realize that Kuronosu will physically slow down whoever and whatever finds itself breaching its borders, but the reverse also meant that so long as his opponent remained outside of that area of control their own movements would be unhindered. He was facing a master assassin with his shikai's domain telegraphing his every move, his every position while the man in question was in turn telegraphing...nothing, with the ability to stay outside of that sphere of influence. Young Yugameru was for the moment, completely reliant on being able to perceive Kyomu's actions that had been slowed for him, so...what would he do if he couldn't perceive them? This is perhaps his proctor's line of thinking and the reason for the use of what one can believe to be the Phantom's favored spell in his limited repertoire of kido.
The smoke churns and billows, an almost palpable deluge seemingly befalling both the Valley, and Eizoku as well, born from nothing and anchored to nothing. In shikai, Eizoku believed himself to be placed on the same playing field as other prominent shunpo masters. While perhaps equal to his estranged former Lieutenant Arashi Suta...how did he fair against the Seireitei's Phantom? Yes, he has been lagging behind this entire time. Mentally he perceived himself multiple steps ahead which has as a result physically placed him multiple steps behind. There was still a chance though. True his shikai that he believed placed him in an advantage placed him at a disadvantage against his proctor so long as he remained outside of its physical influence and could easily pace and place himself strategically to remain outside of his domain, if the Captain truly wanted to make any leeway, it also meant at some point he would be forced to close the gap between them.
'When your enemy is certain you cannot act, victory is within your reach.'
Since the start of the match, Eizoku has been certain that he could see everything, that there was nothing the Captain could do that would elude his temporal powers, his vision, or his blade...his schemes. It is that certainty that will lead to his demise if he chooses to cling to it.
Like Quote
