[Invite] Bankai Training Act III: Reiryoku

"I suppose before I ask, I should explain a few things..." Mitsuoki admitted, seeing as he just randomly abducted Shiro. "This is a crater I found while looking for a suitable place to train outside the eyes of my peers. I have used kido to place several barriers around it that prevents others from entering through standard means. These barriers also prevent spiritual pressure and scent from escaping, which makes it so any hollows in the area are not alerted to my presence." If Shiro had looked around, she would notice that no barriers were actually visible. This was because Kyomon and Shallow Grave were both completely invisible. "I have been using that meteorite over there to train my techniques to a point where I may fire them quickly with relatively little effort; but, there are some techniques that require an assistant. As for how I moved you so far... The Kido Corps is responsible for transporting Shinigami between worlds, as well as a few other responsibilities that are unrelated. Moving a single target sixty or seventy kilometers while staying in the same world is rather simple- especially when that target is not expecting it."

Mitsuoki sat down on the metallic ground of the crater and reached into his kimono to withdraw several scrolls. Laying them on the ground would reveal them to be his study notes, showing several decently drawn images of a generic human figure with energy around them. Another had notes written on it, and another had images that looked more like an molecule composition chart. "I have created this technique that allows a degree of defensive superiority when combatting energy based attacks. I require someone to constantly fire attacks at me in order to finish its creation. This is the request I have of you." If Shiro had expressed concern for his well being, Mitsuoki would say "I will be fine."

Mitsuoki knew that he would need some time to adapt to Shiro's attack, so, when she stepped back, he flashstepped even further. She was relatively close to the middle of the training crater, and he was at the very back of it. His spiritual pressure extended out far enough for him to still feel her, so he would be able to adapt to her attack. It was something that Mitsuoki didn't tell anyone, that his spiritual pressure had no direct effect on combat. It didn't make people weaker, it didn't make them slower, it didn't shut down other's abilitys... No, his spiritual pressure was an extremely advanced form of radar. He kept this a secret so no one would know, not even thirty seven. He turned his back to her and reinforced the wall as a precaution. He then turned to face her and took his own defensive stance. He had a foot back to help him adjust to the force of an incoming attack, a foot forward to balance himself. One hand was extended towards Shiro, showing that he was going to block the attack without his zanpakuto.

He watched Shiro forming the attack and began feeling the energy of it. While she was forming it, Mitsuoki had paid attention to the density of the spirit energy contained within it. It felt like a Cero and looked like one, too, with how much energy she was packing and how long it took to fire it. When the attack left her hand, he immediately noticed how fast it was, as fast as a bala, and quickly put up a kyomon in front him to absorb some of the impact. He had sent a pulse of energy up his arm that had the same energy signature as the attack, but was flowing in the opposite direction. The attack hit his kyomon and his hand almost immediately after, only getting reduced a little bit, but still hitting him. Mitsuoki took the rest of the attack and was sent flying back, hitting the multiple layers of kyomon he set up and cracking three of them.

He slid down and landed on one knee, hunched over with his hand on the ground to stabilize him. It was a lot harder than any cero he'd taken before, even after being slightly weakened twice, and left him panting. He began talking under his breath, saying "Not fast enough, energy spiral was lacking, and the second burst was delayed due to hesitance." He closed his eyes for a second while he visualized the attack, viewing himself in third person to get a better idea of how it looked. "My arm was too rigid, unable to transfer the remaining energy. I'm lucking it's not broken. Stance was too wide, so I was thrown off. I'll have to adjust." He opened his eyes and stood up, taking another defensive stance and adjusting his stance to bring his defending arm back a little and tightening his feet. "Shiro! Again!" he hollered from across the expanse.

A bala moved at twenty time the speed of cero, and fast enough to break the sound barrier multiple times. Half of that speed was still enough to break the sound barrier, and reacting to it from short range was challenging. Mitsuoki had raised an eyebrow when the barrier was erected since he hadn't any idea why she was using a seemingly defensive technique. However, when he felt the density of reishi increasing behind him, the hairs on the back of his neck began standing on end. On instinct, he turned, removing one foot from the ground as the world began to slow. He saw the energy coming towards him and his left hand, the hand that was originally held back and not used for blocking due to having a marginally slower reiryoku transition rate, had gone up with the energy beginning to shift from his right side back to his left.

He was expecting Shiro to use a sensible attack, one that came from the front, where he could physically see it and have enough time to react to reduce the power if needed. Shiro had not done this, she had instead sent an attack to a part of him that had a slower channel of reiryoku, and had no reiryoku at all due to it being on the other side. Because of that, when the attack moved towards Mitsuoki at faster than the speed of sound, he had only enough time to begin channeling the energy. The attack shot past his finger tips, tearing through his forearm before hitting his upper arm and the wave of his own reiryoku that was traveling down it. The result was severely cut fingers and a large gash down the length of his arm that was already bleading profusely. Since he was in the process of turning, the attack sent him flying backwards off balance and sliding on the ground. As Mitsuoki let out a cry of pain so incredibly loud that his vocal chords couldn't vibrate fast enough to produce any sound at all, Shiro would feel an overwhelming spiritual pressure crushing down on her. Within that pressure, she would feel the absolute strongest amount of rage and despair, equivalent to what the man she just wounded had been feeling.

Mitsuoki had writhed in pain on the floor, curling his toes and shutting his eyes as tight as possible while gritting his teeth. His other hand was shakily trying to make its was to his zanpakuto and had gone so far as to touch the hilt before he passed out from the pain. His eyes were dull as the dead, and he wasn't breathing. It was only after a matter of seconds that his zanpakuto completely disappeared, leaving an empty sheath. "Hmmm... Mitsy really should have told the human what to do." a female voice said in a cutesy tone, the source of which was kneeling over Mitsuoki. "It was not expected that she would use an attack that he could never possibly block." a much deeper, masculine voice called just before the spirit had manifested himself behind the girl.

The male spirit was clad in black armor with a samurai sword at his waist, one that looked exactly like the one that Mitsuoki normally had. The girl wore a very frilly dress and had blonde hair. She began poking Mitsuoki's cheek while saying "Poke... Poke... Poke... Poke... Poke..." and stopping after the fifth, each poke creating an eclipse shaped tattoo. The bleeding from his now wounded left arm had stopped immediately. Tasogare crossed his arms over his chest while looking down at Mitsuoki. "Wake up, soul reaper." he commanded. Mitsuoki hadn't moved. Akatsuki had then said "Smack!" and slapped Mitsuoki hard enough to produce a very loud sound that echoed through the training crater, he still didn't wake up. Akatsuki puffed her cheeks while pouting. "Stupid Mitsy! It doesn't hurt that muuuuch!" she shouted. "Fine! I take the ouchies away!" she added. Akatsuki stood up and crossed her arms under her chest while keeping her cheeks puffed. The five tattoos on Mitsuoki's cheek glowed and the soul reaper opened his eyes. "Akatsuki, Tasogare... Please inform me that I have not been kissed by either of you." he said, clearly joking. "The human has damaged you." Tasogare stated in a blank tone. "YEEESH!!! She made a foul play and sent an attack from behind! You should kill her! Cut her heart out and paint Las Noches with her blood!" Akatsuki shouted while pointing her finger at Shiro. Mitsuoki had sat up and rubbed his head before looking at his arm. "The wound is not worthy of a death penalty, Akatsuki. It was my fault for not providing instruction and expecting her to know better." he said in his standardly cold tone. "It would seem that my brachial plexus has been disabled." he added upon realizing that his entire arm was paralyzed.

The tattoos on Mitsuoki's cheek glowed once more and Mitsuoki had altered his nervous system so the chemo-electrical signals would circumvent his right side brachial plexus. It would result in slower arm movement, but he would still be able to move it. At the same time, he increased his own metabolism to aid in repairing the damaged nerve faster. Shiro would see Mitsuoki's fingers begin moving, immediately reopening the wounds. A couple of drops of blood would come out before it had reclotted. "Shiro, that was an incredibly terrible idea." he said in a tone that lacked any emotion for her to gauge Mitsuoki's level of anger off of. At the same time, his spiritual pressure had leveled out and reflected no emotions either. "I am attempting to create a technique that no other individual in existence, that I may consult, currently knows. I was barely able to reduce the damage of your first attack from over fifty meters away, and you decided to fire an attack that is half as fast, coming at me from less than a quarter of the distance, in a direction that I was not prepared to block. Had your attack been any stronger, I would not have an arm and I would be obligated to stop being a Soul Reaper. I would essentially lose the only thing I have left- my identity. Please bear the repercussions of your actions in mind for the future. That lightning attack is best reserved for after I am able to use my technique."

Tasogare had let Mitsuoki explain the dangers of what Shiro had done, rather than him doing it on his own. "Mitsuoki, you will rest and let your arm recover. I have increased your rate of healing by two hundred fold, it will only take an hour. If you leave this place before mastering that technique, you will have failed me." The armored spirit said. Mitsuoki would simply say "Acknowledged." and nothing more. Mitsuoki had then spoke up again, saying "These two are my zanpakuto spirits, Akatsuki and Tasogare. My weapon has numerous effects. The ones being used at the moment are completely disabling my pain receptors, rerouting the channels that my nerves send mobility signals through, increasing my natural healing rate, and forcing blood clots. Normally these effects are random, but at times I may consciously invoke them." Akatsuki had turned away from Shiro, letting out a "Humph!" while turning her nose up. "I still say you should at least remove her arms!" to which Mitsuoki said "No."

"Shiro." Mitsuoki said to try and get her attention. He would turn to look at her with a cold expression, the same as always, and say "I am to remain out of training for an hour, so your punishment shall be allowing me to use your being as I please." in a completely serious tone. He would pat the ground next to him and say "Sit, please." in a fairly calm tone. Assuming that Shiro had sat with him, Mitsuoki would shift away from her just a little bit before letting gravity take him and dropping his head on her lap with his eyes closed. He would then turn so he was facing up and open one of his eyes. In a calm tone he would say "This is your punishment." before closing the eye again.

While laying there, Mitsuoki would say "Shiro." once more to get the human's attention. "I wished to ask this previously, and am still curious. Why is it that you wish to visit the Soul Society? I do not believe visiting to thank someone while still depending on another to be truly the reason. If you were fully independent, I would be able to accept it, but such is not the case. So, the truth, please." his tone would imply that he fully believed it were a lie, but also that he wasn't made about it.

The girl was curious about the Soul Society. She had heard of what others said for the place, but never actually laid eyes on it herself. Mitsuoki had nodded in agreeance when she said that it sounded like it was full of life, or what one could equate to the Soul Society's variant of it. The story she told him this time was more believable than the last. If someone had required a life saving, they would only seek out their savior when they were strong enough to stand on their own feet. Naturally, if they had crossed their savior on their path to becoming that strong, they would normally thank them, but rarely did anyone make it a goal to find them. "It is a most interesting place when compared to Hueco Mundo. However, it is not as impressive as the world of the living, in my opinion."

Mitsuoki hadn't elaborated on the statement, as usual. The Soul Society was largely divided amongst itself. The Soul Reapers were their own organization, the Kidoshu were their own organization, the souls in the Rukon Districts were left to govern themselves, the nobility in the first set of districts were a completely different system... Everyone was trying to survive but no one worked together. The humans had at least some form of unity when in times of need, but those in the Soul Society didn't have that. Mitsuoki would quickly fall asleep and his zanpakuto spirits would vanish, returning to his inner world. Shiro would be able to see that the wound was indeed healing rapidly, far faster than it would without kido, which would prove that what Tasogare said about making him heal faster was true. After an hour, there wouldn't even be a scar. Mitsuoki would wake up after that time and sit up before asking "Are you ready for another try?"

Shiro had said that she wasn't sure if she was ready to keep going. Mitsuoki hardened his gaze, giving her a firm, but not judgemental, and certainly not cruel look. "Shiro." he said to call her attention to him and away from her nerves. "Fear is a natural reaction to have. It is because of fear that we make decisions resulting in our survival. However, we cannot let fear rule us. I am not afraid of you or your power." Mitsuoki held his hand out to help Shiro get up. "So long as you stick to using attacks that I can see coming, you have nothing to fear."

Mitsuoki had actually analyzed Shiro's attack when it hit him. The fact that it originated from the barrier meant that it required that barrier to fire. It wasn't particularly strong since all it did was create a cut rather than completely destroying his arm. In theory, he could create a field of kido around him that causes the attack to begin breaking down to its base components. But first, he would need to get this first technique out of the way. Afterwards, he could expand it to create an entire kido. If Shiro had agreed to keep going, then Mitsuoki would have her go back to the middle of the training crater and assume his defensive stance. If she hadn't agreed to keep going, he would let out a sigh while also not looking her in the eye, but rather, closing his eyes and trying to think of an alternative.

He saw that the attack was being prepared and could feel the reishi composition of it. It would seem that Shiro was hesitating to fire, no, the pause was too long. She was waiting for Mitsuoki to be ready, this time. Mitsuoki inhaled and let out his breath slowly while adjusting his stance and focusing on the attack. "Fire!" he shouted, letting Shiro know he was ready. Once she released the attack, he could feel the reishi becoming less dense than before to create a watered down version. Normally he would have issues with someone holding back against him, but in this case, it was welcome since his technique didn't work much if at all against the first.

This time, when the attack hit Mitsuoki's hand, it did the usual explosion that caused the upper half of his sleeve to completely torn off. However, as Mitsuoki was resting on one knee, panting from the adrenaline rush that normally came with staring down such a powerful attack before taking it head on, he noticed something on the ground that Shiro would also see. There was a very thin trail of crystal-like shards leading from Mitsuoki to Shiro, following the path of her attack. "We're making progress." he said under his breath. Mitsuoki stood up again with a few bruises on his face and right arm, taking his defensive stance again and shouting "Again!" with a more determined, but still partially cold, expression.

Mitsuoki had felt the reishi density of Shiro's attack getting even less powerful. There were different kinds of attacks. There were attacks that once you ran out of energy, you couldn't use it at all. There were ones where you could use it endlessly, at the cost of your own life force. There were ones you could fire a specific amount of times, regardless of energy. Then, there were ones that got weaker with each shot. The hour of rest Shiro had gotten should have reset her timer if her's was the latter type, but they each kept getting weaker, meaning that she was deliberately reducing the power. "Shiro, keep the power the same as last time, please." he would say loud enough to be heard across the expanse of the training crater. If Shiro had expressed concern over it, Mitsuoki would say "If you reduce the power of your attacks every time you fire, then I'm not actually making progress with this technique." at the same volume as before.

This time, when Mitsuoki said "Fire" and Shiro released the attack, its power would be reduced by Mitsuoki's technique even further and more of the crystal shards would be on the ground. He would also take significantly less damage than before. After which, Mitsuoki would shout "Again! With the same power, please." while assuming his defensive stance. When Shiro was ready, Mitsuoki would shout "Fire" to have her release the attack. The attack would be turned into more crystal shards, with the remnants of the last attack vanishing. Once again, Mitsuoki would say "Again! Same power as the last one, please." while preparing himself. He would let her know when he was ready and this time, Shiro would notice the attack wouldn't explode at all. This time, when it touched Mitsuoki, the entire attack would stop in the air before shattering into thousands of those crystals that quickly dissipated. "Okay, let's take a small break." he would call out so Shiro and him could recover some of their energy.

Mitsuoki had sensed that Shiro was charging energy, but she wasn't aiming at him. She was aiming at the ground, something that could break the barrier he put down there and possibly attract hollows to their location. He was getting ready to bind her in place to stop her, but she seemed to have changed her mind on her own, negating the need for such actions. He moved over to a part of the crater that was shaped like a two-person loveseat with an angled back rest where he took a seat before calling to Shiro, saying "Shiro, would you mind coming over here, please?"

When Shiro got over to him, she would find a surprise waiting when he stood up to have her turn around. He would then grab her and pull her to sit on him, turn in the seat so they were both putting their feet up on it, and have her in the same position they were in at the theatre. Just like back then, Mitsuoki would gently tighten his grasp on Shiro to hold her warmly. "This is much better." he would say in a relaxed tone. "I feel much more at ease under the night sky in this world... but a part of me still feels uneasy. Holding you like this puts that part at ease. It is most relaxing." he would explain before relaxing his body more and resting his head on the backrest. If Shiro had been paying attention, she would feel that she was sitting on him.

He would be there for around ten minutes before his arms shifted from holding Shiro's waist to being laced across her shoulders where his head would relax and rest on, cuddling the human while he was taking a nap. He would remain in that position for another twenty minutes before he began waking up, continuing to hug Shiro by her shoulders while looking over her head at the crater with a groggy expression. He then looked down and paused, staring at Shiro for a few seconds while dots began connecting. His arms then released the human and he said "My apologies, I did not mean to hold you in such a restricting position. It must have been quite uncomfortable." in his usual cold tone. "Let us continue where we left off. I'd like you to begin using the full power of that attack from the same distance so I can adjust my technique properly, please."