Northwest Seireitei

[Adonai]

---

His eyes widened with surprise as exerting his Reiatsu was not enough to drop the hammer as he thought it would. As a result he would be struck by the blunt object and sent crashing to the ground, losing his foot in the process. Anyone still alive from Third Division had their heart sink into the pits of their stomach witnessing the old man take a beating in such a ghastly way. The villain, Kenpachi Kennta, seems to have triumphed this day escaping with only burns to show for his misdeeds. With smoke covering the old man's body the Kenpachi lands near him looking over him triumphantly instead of finishing the job.

”Always…”

The rocks around them begin to levitate.

”Destroy the head!”

The old man yells with life and vigor to spare as his inverse gravity takes hold and Kenta finds himself flying towards the sky. Oto begins to slowly stand to his feet, coughing up blood as his Shihakushou top is now nonexistent with only his burned and bruised torso being exposed. Yes, the catastrophic damage the Kenpachi thought he had inflicted had been dispersed and minimized, though his ribs were broken and organs were still damaged they will remain within his body. The Reiatsu of the old man had been honed for defense rather than offense, should its effect on gravity ever fail then the sheer density of it shall disburse any damage that hits him to minimize said damage. His gambit to use his Reiatsu proved to be the right call. With Kenta flying towards the sky Oto pressed the advantage, adrenaline in his veins giving him time to ignore all the pain. This isn’t the first time he has been in this bad state and it won't be the last, he has tasted defeat, and he knows how to rise back from it.

The Final Gamble

The ground cracks beneath his single foot and he launches himself into the air in a mix of physical prowess and Shunpo. The closer he is to Kenta the stronger the repelling force of his Bankai becomes. He takes aim with his blade but keeps out of range of the Eleventh Division Captain, giving himself enough space to react to any ranged attacks he may throw. Kenta would see a flame burning in the eyes of the old man that was not seen earlier, the flame of battle, the flame of a man who is staking his entire life on this battle without a shred of self preservation in mind. Kenta continues to find himself flying higher and higher into the sky with Oto casting Kido for himself to launch off since within the Soul Society the ability to create Reishi platforms is impossible. What was the Old man’s goal here? Was it to just drop Kenta on his head from an impossible height? Maybe so, it's not something that would be impossible to pull off.

Higher and higher they climb, both of their Reiatsu flaring like beacons for all to witness, it is almost certain at this point only one signature will be capable of returning to the ground in this final clash. Will the Old Man’s experience and wisdom nab him the win or will the ever calculating mind of Kenta put an end to a relic of history?

---

​

---

---

 

[admins]

It wasn’t everyday that someone survived a direct hit from Takaijigoku (高い地獄, high hell), and yet here Oto was as Kenta expected him to be, laying on the charred earth; strange, though, that the Old Man was not at the brink of death. Was it a miscalculation on the Kenpachi’s part?

“Haaah?”

In the end an inconsequential musing, for the Old Man’s Bankai’s powers were finally made evident. Along with every other aspect of the world, an invisible yet powerful force lifted Kenta into the sky. The Kenpachi’s bewilderment came along with a healthy dose of excitement, for a master of the Demon Arts could easily distinguish between Zanpakuto and spell; the realization that what he was experiencing was something he’d never experienced before came to him quickly, and for that he screamed out in pure joy.

“This is what you’ve been holding onto for so long?! HAHAHA! YOU ARE FULL OF SURPRISES, GRAMPS!”

And so as Oto intended, the Kenpachi flew higher and higher up into the dark skies overlooking the Seireitei. With his Shikai gripped tightly did Kenta’s gaze lock onto the now risen Oto, eyes never leaving the crafty geezer as he jumped from makeshift Kido platform in tow. Of particular note to the Kenpachi, was that as his opponent neared, did the force pushing against him increase. A gravitational power whose epicenter was Oto, and the closer one got to the epicenter, the stronger the force. Interesting too that the Old Man kept a distance away, even under these circumstances…a particular tidbit that had the Kenpachi eager to understand.

With a gleeful grin did Kenta utilize his battle-tested and honed body to shift his position, so that even though he was being repelled upwards, he now faced downward toward the oncoming Oto. With hammer at his side, and the head of the Zanpakuto facing up, did the weapon glow an intense orange; a deafening explosion later, and the immediate sky above the Kenpachi’s feet was lit a hellfire orange. The counter-force provided by the eruption propelled Kenta down and within a second he was upon Oto, hammer mid swing seeking to strike at the Old Man’s left side, glowing the same intense orange as before.

Kenta’s widened and gleeful eyes locked onto that of the Old Man’s, excited to witness the geezer’s final gambit.​

 

[Adonai]

---

“This is what you’ve been holding onto for so long?! HAHAHA! YOU ARE FULL OF SURPRISES, GRAMPS!”

The Kenpachi screams with joy as he is propelled higher into the sky with Oto watching in silence. Kenta surmised that the closer he got to the old man the stronger the repelling force became but this information will do him no good. So excited to test what the old man had in store for him he recklessly charges at him, this much was expected. Otokogi fully understands his Bankai well enough to know that someone of considerable strength can push through it. It’s happened before and it's happening now but he has had countless centuries to know and understand his Bankai and as a result Kenta’s movements mean nothing to him. The downward force of his explosion delayed the inevitable by only so much as he tried using the same blitzing attack on the old man again without a single attempt of hiding his hand.

“Bakudo #8, Seki.”

The old man calls forth a spell as he raises his left arm to repel the incoming hammer strike. Kenta would have to be careful because even if he sets off an explosion it would be repelled by the Kido spell, but being careful is not something he is concerned with.

Icarus Incarnate

With the attack repelled and with Kenta being so close he too is forced away from Oto who suddenly goes into a free fall. His left eye is blood red from the resulting impact of the deflected hammer strike, whose shockwave still managed to strike him.

”Education time youngster. The walls of the Seireitei are made of Sekkiseki which creates what, around the Seireitei?”

The question is posed to Kenta far too late as he recklessly allowed Oto to force him so high into the sky with his last attack further jeopardizing his position. By the time Kenta looks back he wouldn’t be able to see it, that invisible barrier that instantly vaporizes Reishi upon contact, the Shakonmaku (遮魂膜, Soul-Warding Membrane; Viz "Soul Shield Membrane"). While it is true denser forms of Reishi can survive contact with this barrier for a certain amount of time this is a fact that is useless for Kenta who cannot control the density of his own Reishi, such a thing is beyond the abilities of a Shinigami, no matter how strong they are. He may be able to get out a shred of a word before he is reduced to nothing more than a memory along with his Zanpakuto.

The old man falls freely from the sky, his grip on his blade slacking for a moment before his hand tightens around it once more, he still has to survive this fall and can’t risk relaxing just yet. His Zanpakuto shifts back into Shikai to aid in his self saving efforts as he begins to use a string of Kido spells.

Bakudo #75, Gochūtekkan.

Using this spell he summons five iron pillars that free fall with him followed by using his Zanpakuto ability to shift the flow of gravity downward to force them to fly down ahead of him. He swings his blade upward to shift it again to force the spell to hover in place, this is when blue Reiryoku would begin glowing in his left hand as he extends it.

”Bakudo #37, Tsuriboshi.”

The Reiryoku fires from his hands as a blue light of energy before expanding between the pillars to form a rubbery substance for the old man to land in. As much as it physically pained him to do so, he curled up into a ball as best he could to protect himself from any further damage he may endure. There may have been other spells he could have cast but they would have been more of a gamble and at this point he is done gambling. He lands between the pillars, stretching out the rubbery substance of Tsuriboshi. The substance retracts slowly so as to not launch him back out and once secured he releases his Zanpakuto ability on the pillars to allow them to continue their plummet. It crashes into the ground, a cloud of dust rising up around the impact site with surviving members of the Gotei Thirteen rushing over to see if Oto survived.

The sight was grim to look at, his torso blackened and burned by explosions, his left arm discolored and damaged from a shockwave along with the left side of his face being damaged the same way. He was even missing his foot which looked like it was torn off by a wild beast. A Shinigami kneels beside Oto and tries to rouse him awake.

”Lieutenant Aijō! Say something! Anything! Someone get Fourth Division or whatever is left of them, get someone!”

The Shinigami would feel a hand lightly rest on his shoulder, to get his attention.

”Quiet down, will you? Your shouting is doing more damage to my ears than the Kenpachi did to my whole body, hehe.”

His response alone would have been enough but his injection of humor was enough to ease the minds of those around him. He was in a bad way but so long as he remained there receiving minor healing from the Shinigami around him he wouldn't pass on. Otokogi’s part in this war, whether he liked it or not, is officially over.

---

​

---

---