[Invite] Two Spirits, One Trial - Bankai

He let out a slow breath while thinking about how he still felt like he was inferior to her, and a light chime eminated from his zanpakuto. They gave off a gentle glow that faded before the two spirits appeared standing in front of Mitsuoki. The first was a young woman with blonde hair that was extremely long, dangling down to her rear end. Atop her head was a red ribbon tied in the exact middle of her crown. She had magenta eyes and rosey cheeks, as well as an extremely friendly expression on her pale face. Her attire was a white dress with a great deal of frills. Pink lines accented the shoulders and over that dress she wore a pink vest that had a plaid pattern on it. For whatever reason, the zanpakuto spirit also wore a matching tie to go with the ensamble. On her feet were a pair of matching slippers with stockings that blended well with her skin tone and ran all the way up to her knees. This spirit was named Akatsuki, which translated to 'Dawn' and she was a being that seemed to represent ideals. She was violent and unforgiving, selfish, and always thinking of things that could never happen.

Tasogare had asked if he was ready to begin, to which Mitsuoki had stood up and, in a bold, confident, and determined voice, confirmed that he was ready to start his trials. Tasogare had been the one to explain the rules of his bankai trial. There were two zanpakuto spirits so Mitsuoki would be obligated to satisfy both of them with two separate trials. It was understandable, so Mitsuoki didn't protest it at all. He was not even surprised by the news. Tasogare had also gone on to tell Mitsuoki that he would be free to choose which trial he would undertake first, leaving the other spirit's trial as the default last one. It was then that Akatsuki had advised doing Tasogare's first since his was the one that Mitsuoki was least likely to screw up. Mitsuoki had given no comment towards Akatsuki since he was not sure what either of their trials were at this point in time, only that Akatsuki had believed that her own would be the more difficult of the two. Tasogare had replied to it by telling Akatsuki that her trial would be easier since Mitsuoki had a very simple method of beating it, if he chose it. This made Mitsuoki raise an eyebrow.

Mitsuoki looked down at the two swords that were rested across his crossed legs and gazed at them with a heavy hearted expression. He didn't know which trial to take on since both of them were much more difficult than they seemed. He highly doubted that Akatsuki would just let him put enough marks on her to invoke the Change of Heart ability, that would be much too simple. She was also the more combattive spirit between the two, so she would likely have extremely powerful fighting abilities. His usual tricks wouldn't work against her, either. Then, for Tasogare's trial, Mitsuoki would have all of the questions that he had been wanting to get answered, answered. He questioned if he was even ready for that level of clarity. He was unsure if he would be able to handle the information he was given, or if he would be so greatly weighed down by it that he would be unable to combat Akatsuki. No, it was not the question of IF he could handle what he found out, it was the knowledge that he would not be able to handle it at all. The events of his past life tied in so greatly with his present life that it effected his zanpakuto. There was only one logical choice.

The words that Mitsuoki had spoke only served to make Akatsuki annoyed with the soul reaper. She told him that Change of Heart was a technique that was made to reflect his most hated thing about life. It was made so he would be able to survive any fight, no matter the enemy, so long as he was willing to use it. It was at that point that Mitsuoki interrupted Akatsuki and said that he was completely unwilling to use such a shameful technique. Akatsuki had let out a frustrated sigh. She considered his words to be an insult to her since that technique was part of who she was, who both of the zanpakuto spirits were. The fact that he hated it to such an extent that he would risk death was insulting, and him calling it shameful was even worse. She had said that she can not force him to use the Change of Heart ability on her, but he also would refuse to teach him Bankai if he did not use it. Mitsuoki had thought that she would try to force him to use the ability, so his reaction was that the point of a bankai trial was to force his zanpakuto into submission. So, since she did not want to submit to his desire to learn bankai, he would fight her until she did.

Mitsuoki would quickly form energy around his body and let it explode behind him, acting as a propellant to shoot him forward at a blinding speed. Akatsuki had already appeared above the soul reaper while he was in the middle of the technique and planted her foot in his back, sending Mitsuoki to the ground. He had hit the ground hard and, due to his momentum, began flying across the crater's floor, bouncing like a rock on water while doing so. Akatsuki had given him no time to finish his flying lesson and had flash stepped to stand in his way and grab Mitsuoki by his throat, stopping his momentum entirely. She shouted at him, declaring how much she hated that he constantly ignored her suggestions. She then hit him in the stomach with her knee, forcing the air out of Mitsuoki. His neck was released just before Akatsuki rammed her balled fist into his face, sending him flying back to land on his back. She looked down over him, watching his hands to notice that he was still holding on to his zanpakuto. She told him that he wasn't even worthy to touch her weapon, let alone worthy to use her power, and tried to kick the sword out of his hand.

Mitsuoki was quick to get back to his feet, he had already known that Akatsuki would not be giving him time to collect his thoughts. This knowledge proved useful when Akatsuki appeared directly above him, dropping her heel on his head. Once again, Mitsuoki was forced to use his zanpakuto as a shield to block the girl's foot from collapsing his skull. Another crater was made where Mitsuoki stood, sinking deeper as Akatsuki continued putting pressure on him. Mitsuoki was gritting his teeth from how hard it was to stop the drop kick. He already had the fifth tattoo in place, it was on her fist, where it appeared back when he blocked her punch. That was the true strength of the zanpakuto. Whichever blade he used, so long as it made contact with his opponent, a tattoo was left. However, Mitsuoki had noticed that at no point did Akatsuki display any signs of any effects being pushed on her. Mitsuoki quickly figured out that there was no effect since Tasogare only pushed his effects if Akatsuki had pushed her's, and she had not used any of them as of yet, so Tasogare did not feel the need to use his. That meant that Mitsuoki would definitely need to think of a new way to fight, without relying on his zanpakuto's abilities so much.

It was cyclical. Akatsuki would use her flash step to escape Mitsuoki's vision and appear in a random location. Mitsuoki would use his reflexes and ability to sense his surroundings and barely be able to block her incoming attack. Then, Akatsuki would use her flash step again just to come to the same end. She gave Mitsuoki not a single moment to make his own attack. Her every attack that was blocked was followed by another attack from a different direction that would only be blocked and followed up by another attack. Mitsuoki was standing still at this point, constantly moving his one sword to block each and every incoming attack while trying his very hardest to find an opening to make his own from. Tasogare had moved from his spot in the middle of the crater to the far end where he leaned against the wall and watched Mitsuoki blocking in vain. He had said, under his breath, that Mitsuoki should have done his own trial first, since that would have given him the knowledge necessary to defeat Akatsuki in battle. Since Mitsuoki chose to fight without knowing a single thing about his enemy, he would have to struggle to come out on top.

The tone alone had let Mitsuoki know that Akatsuki was planning to make things much more complicated now that he forced her to pull out a weapon. In her other hand appeared a sword made entirely of her own spiritual energy that was modeled in the same shape as her actual sword. Mitsuoki readied his blades and narrowed his gaze on Akatsuki. A flash step backwards would be used to dodge his zanpakuto spirit turning around and slashing at him. He then used the same technique to move foreward and attempt to slash the blonde haired woman, only to have both of his swords blocked by just one of her own. Sparks were created from the two three blades colliding at the spot where they touched, and Mitsuoki had immediately known what was to come next. He wasn't psychic, he was just a very logical man. Both of his hands were occupied and only one of Akatsuki's was in use. The spirit energy sword had been swung and Mitsuoki had quickly pushed off the ground and performed a front flip over Akatsuki. He began crouching down while spinning around, attempting to slash at Akatsuki only to have the spirit flash step out of the way of the attack and come out unscathed.