Reaper Sparring

"Damn. He's going on an assault," thought Nikolai as he embraced the double slash with his Zanpakuto.

Shadow continued his advancement, rapidly slashing Nikolai with his two blades at incredible speed.

Nikolai kept shifting the Torch Blade in various directions as he put up a defensive.

Shadow's series of strikes did not relent. He also tried to aim a few strikes toward Nikolai's hand that wielded the sword.

Goddamn it. Now to figure out something: Nikolai took six Shunpo steps to appear in the background where he was standing.

Shadow darted after the Shunpo user, resuming his constant assault.

The blades clashed as Nikolai continued his defensive. "Should I use my Shikai?"

"This is getting nowhere..." Shadow muttered as he assaulted his enemy. Holding one of his blades against Nikolai's Zankaputo, Shadow said "Strike from the Shadows - Phantom." Releasing the sealed power from his swords, Shadow then struck the shadow on the ground with his other sword. "Ghost Stab." The sword's tip entered the shadow and rose up under one of Nikolai's feet.

The tip pierced Nikolai's foot, but not after he took one step away to create distance. Now it looks like he won't be able to do this on sword force either. "Rise From the Depths of Hell..." A crimson aura surrounded both Nikolai and the sword, and a fire erupted from the handle up, just waiting to be released.

Shadow could sense a boiling inferno rising from Nikolai and his sword. The other trainees looked on in surprise as they too sensed the power of Nikolai's hellfire. "Demon Cutter." Shadow fired several crescent energy waves toward Nikolai.

"Toochi.....No......Burreido...." The inferno turned into an extremely large flame, big enough to consume a portion of Moon Academy, and flowed through the sword, swallowing the crescent waves as if though they were food.

Shadow could feel the blaze of Nikolai's Shikai release from feet away. Shadow jumped back, but the massive projectile went straight for him and he could feel the burning pain of the high temperature of the inferno when it neared him, burning into his clothes. Upon landing, Shadow immediately used Shadow Meld into the ground to avoid the blazing projectile. In his shadowy 'pocket dimension', Shadow looked at his chest; there was a big hole torn in his clothing and in the middle of that hole were minor burn marks. He then looked at Nikolai, calmly waiting for his reaction.

The flame dissipated, and Nikolai looked to see Shadow, nowhere in sight. "He must be waiting for me to lunge."

Shadow reappeared from the shadow behind Nikolai to slice his rear.

Nikolai felt the cold steel Pierce his waist, yet was unfazed as he saw the blood.

Shadow then proceeded to use a close-range Demon Cutter on Nikolai.

When the Reaper got into close proximity, Nikolai had no hesitation in creating a torch flame, all the while saying "Rise From the Depths of Hell"

Shadow immediately entered the shadow below him once he sensed the inferno build up again.

When the fire dissipated, Nikolai took six Shunpo-powered steps to make ten feet of distance.

A small shadow was formed fifteen feet away, and Shadow's head slowly emerged from it.

Nikolai hid in a tree, to create stealth.

Shadow's head sank back into the ground after seeing that Nikolai was not present, but several trees. Shadow quietly reappeared on highest branch on one of the trees which was draped in darkness, canvasing the area and eventually spotted Nikolai; he should have known better to hide from a stealth expert. Shadow then used Phantom's power to create a small shadow near Nikolai while quietly moving from tree branch to tree branch to get closer to his opponent.

"Perfect," Nikolai thought as he took one large Shunpo-induced step to appear right in front of the Reaper, forming a vertical slash at the torso. The reason Nikolaiwas able to see him was because he could track the mana flow of others, a powerful ability learned at the academy.

Shadow was surprised to see Nikolai suddenly appearing in front of him to slash, despite his stealth ability. This miscalculation cost him as he was cut square in the torso. Shadow grunted as he seemingly fell off the branch, only to slide under it and stand upside down beneath it. "Did he... track the energy coming off my sword? The power it emits is very soft... but I had no idea it could still be traced." Shadow quietly thought.

Nikolai cleaned the blood off of his blade. "That was too close. However, as long as I can track his spiritual energy, I can see where he's coming from."