Kajitora was again surprised, his enemy was unscathed. How was that possible? He remembered the sand shield that he had witnessed earlier, could have been the thing that saved Shikyo? He put such thoughts on hold as he saw his opponent appear on the ground. And soon after the shards of glass were coming again. Damn it, Kajitora thought, if I get by those things I’m done for. With was last precious seconds he had left, he positioned himself at an angle that he could hit the shards and also hit Shikyo…with his last move. He had scorched the sky and now he was afraid he would have to do the same to the ground. That’s all his Shikai was capable of: Destruction. Large, widespread, charcoal burnt destruction. Kajitora, however; never wavered to use it due to Suzaku’s pleading for conflict and war.

As soon as he has simply repositioned himself, Kajitora took aim and fired. “Molt, Suzuaku!!!” He could feel Suzaku’s spiritual energy burning within the zanpakutou so much so that his hands felt as if they were on fire. The zanpakutou glowed a bright red and began to tremble as the mammoth spiritual energy of Suzaku focused on the tip of the blade in the form of a large red ball. It grew to the size of a basketball immediately and then shot forth from the sword like a laser beam. The wide beam of pure spiritual energy darted over and threw the shards, destroying most on contact but not all of them. The beam raced down at Shikyo, after escaping the vision limiting of the shards. If Shikyo was anywhere near that beam, he wouldn’t be feeling any good in the morning.

The shards that were outside of the beam’s radius punctured Kajitora as he hovered in the sky. They had caught his in the legs and one spiraled hitting him in the gut. He placed his hand over his bleeding stomach and it returned in front of his face with red fingers. Great, Kajitora began thinking as he descended; all I can do is blow stuff up and get injured. I need more strength, more power! He smashed into the ground, his legs giving out immediately on impact and he fell face first from there. On the ground he stared at his zanpakutou, cursing it. Why? Why won’t you give me anymore power?

It was difficult to remain calm as the crimson beam spiraled through his glass shards, descending from the sky reminiscent of some sort of divine wrath from above. However Shikyo stood motionless on the ground, clearing his mind, searching for how he was going to escape the attack. His opponent had fired the beam from his blade, the power behind it immense and Shikyo wasn't arrogant enough to think that whatever destructive kidou he knew would be able to negate the attack. But at the same time he couldn't simply stand here, waiting to be attacked, he had to try some sort of defense. A light clicked on his head as he knew exactly which kidou would fit this situation.

Shikyo also knew that after this, if his opponent had survived his attack, he would have to resort to using his fighting skill and swordsmanship since he was about to use the rest of his spirit power. "May the bucklers of the Holy Knight grace my forearms! May the boots of ten tons grace my feet! May these Angel's Arms hold me in my place so I may stand steady against all odds! Bakudo #7: Steadfast" Shikyo announced. Shikyo bent his knees as he placed his forearms in front of his face while a white light illuminated his outline. The light grew brighter as the fiery beam from Kajitora grew closer until it collided with Shikyo. The strength of the attack was more than Shikyo anticipated and he was forced back a few feet as the attack resolved itself. As the crimson bream subsided, Shikyo could smell the burning skin on his arms and visually, black smoke escaped from his wounds.

The pain that surged through his body caused him to clinch his fists as he tried desperately to block it out before looking upward to see Kajitora falling from the sky and crashing into the ground. Shikyo started to slow walk toward his opponent, trying to determine, and hoping for both their sakes, that the battle was over.

Kajitora sat up, cradling Suzaku in his arms. His eyes shifted from bright red with his resolve back to what appeared to be black. He simply sat there, and smiled as he bled out, “That was fun!”

He looked down at his zanpakutou and then back at Shikyo, “Good luck with the application and congratulations. I think Squad 10 will be in good hands.” He smiled his childishly wide smile and he looked up into the scorched sky, which seemed to have an eternal black smoke mark carved in it. “May the gods have mercy on whoever we are called upon to fight together against, if that were ever to happen.” He almost chuckled but the bleeding in his chest stopped him with a sharp pain before he could injure himself more.

Kajitora’s eyes rested upon the crater his last attack had made before returning his glaze to Shikyo. As he held his blood in, trying not to bleed to death he joked, “Man, I could really go for an apple juice right about now.” He sheathed his sword from sitting position, causing him to bleed even more. He hoped a squad 4 member would come or something but he knew he wouldn't make walking to their barracks.

Kajitora:
+1.5 Kidou
+1 to Spirit
+2 to Intell



Shikyo:
+1 Kidou
+.5 Intell
+1.5 to Spirit