Natural Born Killers (Kao)

Kaoseu grinned, and was just about to launch into another attack when the steady flames around Sal flickered, as if blown by some ghostly whisper of wind, and began to fade, only to burst forth even further.

Several things began happening at once; Sal's eyes began looking much like Kaoseu's own yellow eyes, and his face began to exude a dark light, as a liquid to match began seep from his skin, forming what Kaoseu could only describe as a shoddy, jagged Omega symbol. Without any form of warning, the liquid erupted, as if forcing it's way out of Sal's body, and covered the entirety of the man, clinging to him like liquid metal.

Silver teeth, devoid of lips to cover them, matched with a rather cruel shade of green, added with the steadily shifting metallic substance gave Kaoseu a firsthand look at just what it was about Sal that seemed so eerily similar and disconcerting, all at the same time. He was, in as many senses of the word as possible, though still not quite, a Vizard.

With a chuckle, Kaoseu's Inner Hollow received the message as if it had been spoken directly to him.

"Loud 'n' clear, but I don' feel like playin' much longer right now, but I'll be sure ta pay ya back a visit in a lil, aright?" His inner Hollow, Heiwa, replied, knowing Kaoseu couldn't channel him much longer.

In a blur of single motion, Kaoseu was off, Flash Stepping forward consecutively as fast as he could muster the speed. Upon the first of the four Flash Steps betwixt he and Sal, Kaoseu turned himself in a violent spin, slashing with his blades, and sent off three sickles of highly concentrated ultra-violet light, hot to the touch, at Sal's left side. In the second it took to fire them off, he was already in his second Flash Step, still spinning like a top, but now on the right of Sal, and slashed out three razor thin, highly solidified crescents of Shadow, disappearing in the third Flash Step. He reappeared, this time in the air about 10 feet in front of Sal, and was milking the use of his Vizard mask for as much as it was worth, amassing a circle of ultraviolet rays that set the ground ablaze in a perfect circle, with Sal at the middle, flames licking 30 feet in the air from the sudden burst to life, and at the same time, Kaoseu used every last shadow cast by the flames to create about twenty small, flat discs, each about as big around as the opening of a small cup, and sent ten flying from above and and ten from the back.

With the last of the energy from his Vizard mask, he kicked his speed into overdrive, and made one last Flash Step, closing the distance between himself and Sal and leaving Sal no other place to go except towards Kaoseu as he spun like a Texas Tornado, ready to puree whatever came in his path that was incapable of defending itself. Kaoseu let the momentum carry him as he felt Heiwa's influence fading and his mask crumbled to dust in the extreme wind. He was now, basically, defenseless, until he could bring back up the energy to use his Vizard mask once more, unless he used his Bankai, which he currently did not want to divulge, though with Sal's obvious change, Kaoseu may be forced into divulging more than he deemed necessary.

It was strange, to smile and yet not smile. Sal's mouth moved under the grotesque skin but it did not, it remained as unreadable as ever when Kaoseu's inner Hollow responded as clear as day.

That was all the pleasantries that were given between the pair as Sal's deadly opponent made his move, a blistering flurry that Sal would have little hope of following without the power of Abaddon.

The blades ripped towards him and Sal flicked his Claymore vertically to ping them aside and just as quickly lashed a talon of Fire up wards to cancel the deadly rays. He flipped backwards and secured himself in time to meet the remainder of the onslaught.

The three shadow blades were difficult to follow, the moons rays casting shadows of its own on the broken land scape and so Sal managed to deflect just one while the other two cut deeply into his side forcing a grunt from his lungs. He had to remain focused however and rode the wave of pain, allowing his senses to follow his Vizard Foe as he vanished once again.

The ground around Sal suddenly burst into flames, the heat reaching an unbearable level as the focused halo of light fried the air and sent a torrent of fire roaring up around him.

Sal saw the shadows shift unnaturally as they were bent to Kaoseu's will, he prepared himself focused his energies and whether Kaoseu realized it or not he had in fact given Sal a slight advantage.

The void discs came thick and fast and Sal let a roar puncture the air, throwing his hands above his head and then bringing them back down as he tilted his upper body. The flames around his body reacted, snaking out across the ground they quickly infected those around him and the circle rose up and closed into the dome of fire. Sal compacted the make up of the flames, pushing each atom closer and closer until it were almost like a wall, a literal shell of fire.

The discs pinged off into the distance and Sal released his hold, panting from the exertion, such extreme use of his powers was still a challenge that he had yet to master and it was to be his undoing it seemed.

One momentary slip of concentration allowed Kaoseu to get inside his guard as the fires dissipated, his blades sparked as they met the hard metal skin of Abaddon and Sal found himself juddering backwards from the continuous impact until finally with the last rotation the Vizard struck true and slipped through the black metal cutting a wound across Sal's chest that just as quickly vanished as his unnatural armor sealed itself closed.

The green eyes set within the blazing white mask seemed to pour every ounce of agony into Kaoseu with its stare. Sal worked better with pain, pain drove him, it had defined him and eventually it would destroy him. Not today.

Sal lunged forward like an animal, throwing his Claymore in the air he sped forward on all fours, his talons ripping up the scorched ground and pounced like a lion, the Flaming Claymore caught in his spell fired down from the sky like a missile toward the now unmasked opponent.

Sal spun in the air, the talons ripping outwards like a crazed demon trying desperately to claw Kaoseu asunder. The living metal moved to his commands, two thick coils firing outwards and stabbing into the ground as he flipped head over heels and catapulted him forwards, retracting and planting themselves again and again as Sal spun through the air sending slashes and kicks with blinding speed at the head and chest of his enemy like a hell born arachnid.

All of this happened in the span of time it took his sword to reach the impact zone and with one final flurry Sal commanded the metal to vault him into the air. With a somersault he caught the Claymore in its descent and plummeted towards the ground before plunging the blade into the ruined earth and unleashing a monstrous explosion of fire that blew out from him like a shock wave of destruction.

If Kaoseu had thought his onslaught was impressive, he would have been in awe at the primal fury unleashed by Sal in his backlash. As if they were butterflies, he batted aside the crescents of ultraviolet light, and even canceled the heat each produced with his own flames. The sickles of shadow were a different story, as he only managed to get at one of them, the other two cutting into his side. Kaoseu watched all of this progress as he was in his cyclonic rage, and even managed a grin at Sal's use of his flames to cancel out the last two of Kaoseu's attacks, making his plan at least partially successful, occupying the claymore-wielding super-demon just long enough for Kaoseu to get inside his guard.

His strikes pinged against the metal skin of Sal's body, and rang through the still night air, each peal like that of a funeral bell, but in a bit more of a rapid succession. Kaoseu felt his rotational speed slowing as friction brought it down, until finally, with a lucky break, the skin did just that; he managed to slash through, and, from what he could tell, wound Sal, though the metallic skin instantaneously sealed itself once more. Kaoseu's primal gaze fixated on the purely agonized eyes of Sal's inner demon counterpart, and the Shinigami's resolve faltered for half a beat, all it had time for as Sal immediately launched into his phase of the attack as soon as Kaoseu touched down.

Roaring across the earth like a true animal of predatory nature, Sal tossed his blade and resorted to all fours. Like something out of a manga, Sal began to rotate midair, and the coils of metal that were sent from him put him in double rotation. Kaoseu looked at the incoming whirlwind with a look that he spoke at the same time.

"...Shit, Ban-...!"

Managing as best he could, Kaoseu repelled strike after strike, taking claw to the chest, a kick to the jaw, followed by another to the abdomen, and a raking double strike, three fingers under his right eye stretching down most of his cheek, and one gash across the bridge of his nose, the expanse from midway between both eyes before he had managed to mutter the next part of the utterance. He had to hurry, or he wasn't likely to make it.

"Ban-!"

Again, he was assaulted by more of Sal's fury, the onslaught showing no sign of ending any time soon. His face was beginning to swell slightly as he took another kick to the left side of his face, and heard a loud crack from his ribs, a sure sign a few were broken. As if answering his unspoken prayers, Sal's movements decreased, and he launched himself into the air. Kaoseu took this opportunity to enact his plan, his last resort.

"Ban...!" he began, watching Sal, and then realizing that the man had not had his blade this entire time, he gaped, seeing the large, flaming thing bearing down on him. His breath caught in his lungs as he began building up his Reiatsu to release his Bankai, and he shook his head, regaining composure, but it was just about to late. It happened simultaneously; Kaoseu managed out the final syllable, and Sal bore down upon him with all the might of Thor when he wakes up in the morning to find he's out of Cornflakes and Beer.

"...-Kai!" an explosion the likes of a small atomic bomb resonated and shook the surrounding area. Kaoseu was lucky and unlucky in two senses. The first, he had managed to escape utter annihilation at the intense burst of flames and raw power put forth by Sal's destructive blade, however, he did not manage to escape all the damage produced by such a tremendous release of power. He could feel his face stinging, raw and red from the heat, and he felt a bad burn up his right arm. However, he was still able to fight, and fight he did.

Not waiting for the smoke to clear, Kaoseu Flash Stepped into the air and sent wave after wave of 10 sickles of shadow into the haze, until the smoke began to part from the sheer number and amount of air disturbance. At this point, He Flash Stepped back to the ground and used his Bankai to the max, creating a dome over the two of them out of Shadow to it's full strength, equal to 5 inch piece of Cast Iron, but reinforced with his own Reiatsu. The dome measured about 50 yards across and roughly 12 feet high, restricting their movements. The only light at all was that given off by Sal's fiery glow, which was cut mildly by the amount of smoke retained in the structure.

"And now we play the waiting game..." Kaoseu thought. He'd be able to see in the darkness using his unique abilities, but Sal would have more trouble... Except that he now realized there was no one else within the dome. Silently, he withdrew the fortress, not wanting to believe it. The entire area had been scorched, a massive crater gaping in the earth, at the center of which he now stood. And that was all. Sal was nowhere to be seen. He knew the man was not dead, it'd be too simple. However, he had never even noticed an escape. Without a word, he released his Bankai, and brought his Spiritual Pressure to a minimum level. He turned to walk away from the scene before too many Hollow or Shinigami showed up, then stopped when he noticed a small bundle on the ground, a torn piece of clothing that had been neatly folded around its contents. Upon unwrapping the parcel, Kaoseu let out a chuckle. Inside were a few coins and some bills, just enough for a few drinks. He got the message loud and clear, and, sheathing his Zanpakutou, a grin slipping onto his bruised and bloodied face, he made way towards the distant lights of town, a few pints sounding more than good at this point. His heart raced, knowing he'd forever remember Sal Norangachi, and with a saddening feel, knowing that he would probably never cross blades with him again. [End]