>>3446834
Now that you've convinced Ichigo to fight you, it's time to consider very carefully how you want to go about doing that. It's all about the self-improvement, for both of you, so the way you do things has to be geared towards that end.

His speed and reiatsu are both bound to be slightly greater than yours, but you have several advantages of your own. Even if he 'hits' you it's not a sure thing that he'll actually make contact. But being able to pull off the things you did in your own training would be a great challenge for you, so that makes it worth your time. The only question is whether he'll get anything out of it, which you reason is entirely up to him.

>Take the lead, go all-out and try to force him to do the same.
>Take it slow, get a better feel for how well he can punch now.
>Focus mostly on technique, even if it means 'failing' at first.
>Other?

>>3446843
>>Focus mostly on technique, even if it means 'failing' at first.

>>3446843
>>Focus mostly on technique, even if it means 'failing' at first.

>>3446843
>Focus mostly on technique, even if it means 'failing' at first.

>>3446843
>>Focus mostly on technique, even if it means 'failing' at first.

>>3446843
>>>Focus mostly on technique, even if it means 'failing' at first.

>>3446843
>>Focus mostly on technique, even if it means 'failing' at first.
Tatsuki is never gonna get anywhere close to the necessary powerlevels given the timeframe, so bootstrapping with skill and bullshit tricks due to how her power works in the first place definitely feels like the way to go.

>3d10, best of three
>DC 17, Crit 22

Rolled 4, 5, 4 = 13 (3d10)

>>3447246
Time to kick butt.

Rolled 9, 6, 10 = 25 (3d10)

>>3447246

Rolled 7, 10, 8 = 25 (3d10)

>>3447246

>>3447256
tatsuki is back in crit-town

File: 45767654653564.gif (1.32 MB, 272x320)

1.32 MB GIF

>>3447256
>>3447258

>>3447336
>>3447258
oh wow, might have posted at the same time as the original, took longer to actually show up

>>3447246
You decide that it makes very little sense to treat this as an actual 'match', since you're not as sure of your fundamentals as you want to be. It makes much more sense to focus entirely on getting your technique correct, even if it feels at first like you're “losing” against Ichigo.

It doesn't take long for you to get that sensation, since it turns out Ichigo is really strong.

In fact the first few times he throws a punch he just smacks you in the face, since you weren't quite quick enough to respond. It gets so bad that for a few seconds you actually have to block his punches with your forearms. Slowly but surely you start to get a feel for how quickly he can move, and your senses begin to alert you to what he's up to.

The positioning of his body still telegraphs which fist he's going to lead with the same as it would any other fighter... so far as technique is concerned he's nothing unusual or outlandish. And because of that, you can start to respond even despite the initial difference in speed.

“Wha...” he begins as his fist slides through your body, and with a wheeling movement the side of your fist meets his head.

You wipe a little fleck of blood from your nose with your fist. “I'm starting to get the hang of fighting you, Ichigo.”

“I can see that,” he grunts, rubbing the back of his head.

The next exchange starts with you striking him with a mass-enhanced blow that breaks his guard, then sliding through a kick meant as a retaliation. A kick of your own sends Ichigo crashing to the ground.

“That's pretty good!” he admits as you help haul him back to his feet. “It's actually kind of crazy how much you've improved since we were trying to rescue Rukia.”

“I partly have Rukia to thank,” you point out.

>Focus on improving your practical use of Shikai, press that advantage as hard as you can.
>Alternate between Shikai training and Jinzen, angle to improve your reiatsu as well.
>Work on Shikai and Jinzen a little, but also try to work on manifesting Tōōkenju's spirit.
>Other?

>>3447487
>Alternate between Shikai training and Jinzen, angle to improve your reiatsu as well.

>Alternate between Shikai training and Jinzen, angle to improve your reiatsu as well.

>>3447487
>>Work on Shikai and Jinzen a little, but also try to work on manifesting Tōōkenju's spirit.

>>3447487
>>Alternate between Shikai training and Jinzen, angle to improve your reiatsu as well.
I don't want to try to manifest Tookenju's spirit just yet, that seems like putting the cart before the horse.

>>3447487
>>Work on Shikai and Jinzen a little, but also try to work on manifesting Tōōkenju's spirit.

>>3447487
>>Alternate between Shikai training and Jinzen, angle to improve your reiatsu as well.
as >>3447505 said, one foot in front of the other, there would be no guarantee tatsuki can get to bankai in time for it to matter and even then, using it could be another thing entirely
better work with what we have the fundamentals down

File: 1439598894364.png (208 KB, 600x450)

208 KB PNG

>>3447487
>>Focus on improving your practical use of Shikai, press that advantage as hard as you can.

Heya, glad to see a live post! Hope life is treating you ok.

>MFW Critsuki

>>3447487
>>>Work on Shikai and Jinzen a little, but also try to work on manifesting Tōōkenju's spirit.

>>3447487
>3d10, best of three
>DC 16, Crit 23

Rolled 7, 10, 10 = 27 (3d10)

>>3449259

Rolled 10, 7, 10 = 27 (3d10)

>>3449259

Rolled 6, 5, 2 = 13 (3d10)

>>3449259
>>3449259

File: 856765476543654.gif (1.19 MB, 498x298)

1.19 MB GIF

>>3449262
>>3449263
Another one?

>>3449259
Writing. This may take a while thanks to my gorilla hands and this tiny touchscreen.

>>3449280
You should get some tips from GDQM, he runs saiyan conqueror quest purely from his phone. 85 goddamn threads.

>>3449280
After what feels like ages spent alternating between jinzen and intense sparring with Ichigo, where "giving as good as I got" is the best you can really aspire to, your daily routine suddenly and dramatically changes.

You're in jinzen, more or less relaxing and recovering after an exchange that ended with you breathless and flat on your back, when your zanpakuto approaches you.

"Hard loss?"

You grunt from the tatami, barely willing to move. "Would you expect any other kind?"

"Not really," she shakes her head, sitting next to you. "Your reiatsu has improved."

"Kind of you to say," you reply. "I'm happy you noticed."

"So, would you like to learn something new?"

You shrug. "Like what?"

"I was thinking a false Bankai."

>Yes.
>Are you sure that's fine? What would even be involved?
>I feel like our efforts are better spent mastering Shikai.

>>3449347
>>Yes.

>>3449347
>Yes.

>>3449347
>Yes

>>3449347
>>Yes.
>What would even be involved?

>>3449347
Hell yes

Also, your name makes it like your sitting on a throne made of Nokia block phones

>>3449474
You've heard of the Iron Throne, but are you ready for the iThrone?

>>3449347
>I feel like our efforts are better spent mastering Shikai.

>>3449347
>>I feel like our efforts are better spent mastering Shikai.
>>3449347
No half-measures, though I can see where the wind is blowing.

>>3449347
>I feel like our efforts are better spent mastering Shikai.

>>3449347
"I'm interested," you quickly admit. "What's involved?"

"You have to pass a test that I've just made up," she informs you. "Prove to my satisfaction that you [i]deserve [/i]for me to make an exception for you, to go out of my way to accommodate your shortage of time by half-assing what should be our greatist technique."

"And so what kind of test have you come up with?"

"You're not going to like it..." she warns you, her tone ominous.

And then she abruptly disappears, as though she was never there to begin with. Like you woke up from a dream to find yourself back in Karakura town, surrounded by students on their way to class.

"What the..." you mutter with a frown as Orihime passes you by.

"Good morning, Tatsuki!" she greets you cheerfully. "Something wrong? Let me guess, you skipped breakfast again didn't you?"

"Yeah," you reply lamely, recalling Tououkenju's warning to you. "Something like that."

"That's fine, I brought some extra day-old melon bread and natto that we can share! It's really good!"

"Thanks, but I'm trying to cut back on the sugar," you quickly lie. "Training, you know."

If this is Tououkenju's doing she has a particularly good grasp of Orihime's broken taste buds.

Playing along you rush to beat the bell, only to find your homeroom empty.

"Hey Hime, do you know..."

But she's not here either.

>Call out for Tououkenju to get to the point.
>This must be a combat scenario, get ready to be attacked.
>This has got to be more complicated. Look for any details you've been missing.
>Other

>>3452066
>This has got to be more complicated. Look for any details you've been missing.

>>3452066
>This has got to be more complicated. Look for any details you've been missing.

>>3452066
>This must be a combat scenario, get ready to be attacked.

>>3452066
>>This has got to be more complicated. Look for any details you've been missing.

>>3452066
>This has got to be more complicated. Look for any details you've been missing.

>>3452066
>>This has got to be more complicated. Look for any details you've been missing.

>>3452066
>3d10 best of three

Rolled 2, 9, 3 = 14 (3d10)

>>3454264

Rolled 5, 9, 8 = 22 (3d10)

>>3454264

Rolled 9, 5, 1 = 15 (3d10)

>>3454264

>>3454264
It can't possibly be so simple as a setup for a straightforward fight between you and Tououkenju... if that was her objective it would be easy to simply demand a match and have it over with.

No, your zanpakuto went out of her way to show you all this, so there has got to be a point to it somewhere. And so to progress you're going to have to find what it is that Tououkenju intends for you to find. That obliges you to do a little detective work, like the buildup to a reveal that you might see in a bad horror flick.

The first thing you do is check the adjacent classrooms... empty, of course. Not like you expected anything else. You compare the time on the clocks to find that they all agree: 9:15am, give or take a few minutes. The phone lines are dead, and upon closer inspection you find that the lights aren't actually working either. Which could be both connected: no power means no landlines.

Your cell phone isn't getting a signal either... why would it , considering where you really are?

"Hello?" you call out as you pace the empty halls. Real or not, the situation is eerie. "Anyone here?"

You step outside, and have to take a pause to figure out what it is that's bothering you now... no traffic noise? Not just that, no pedestrians walking past the fences. Not even birds, or the sound of the wind. It's oppressively warm and humid, and the air is so still that it's threatening to smother you.

Maybe head into the kendo club building across the field, get inside where you'll at least be in the shade.

You pause again when you notice that the door has been left not quite closed.

After peeking inside, you quickly slam the door shut.

"Ah, so you found them," a vaguely familiar voice addresses you. "And here I was hoping to have time to mutilate them so that they would be unrecognizable."

You turn on your heel to spot a tall man in a white haori, his hair slicked back with a sword in his right hand... and Orihime's limp body thrown over his left shoulder.

Head down, her empty eyes stare through you from out of the dangling waterfall of her hair.

>Attack, maximum prejudice.
>Demand to know why he's doing this.
>Demand to know what kind of sick joke this is.
>Other

>>3454405
>>Demand to know what kind of sick joke this is.

>>3454405
>Demand to know what kind of sick joke this is.

>>3454405
>Demand to know why he's doing this.

>>3454405
>>Demand to know what kind of sick joke this is.

>>3454405
>>Attack, maximum prejudice.

>>3454405
>Demand to know why he's doing this.

>>3454405
>Demand to know what kind of sick joke this is.

>>3455798
>3d10 best of three

Rolled 9, 10, 7 = 26 (3d10)

>>3456211
watch my 1's!

>>3456211
dice+3d10

Rolled 8, 2, 8 = 18 (3d10)

>>3456211

Rolled 10, 2, 3 = 15 (3d10)

>>3456211

>>3456211
"What the hell kind of sick joke is this?" you demand bitterly, glaring at Aizen to try as hard as you can to avoid Orihime's eyes.

Aizen shakes his head. "That's the wrong question, ryouka girl. The correct question is why am I here at all?"

You scowl. "I guess you aren't, are you?"

Aizen's phantasm tosses the image of Orihime's broken corpse aside, where it makes a very convincing thud. Whether or not you're aware of the fact that none of this is real, it almost may as well be with how convincing it all seems.

"To answer your question, I'm here for the same reason I have done everything else. Quite simply, I require all of Karakura town to be sacrificed."

"This is your mind making the scope of that reality clear to you. Everyone you know is in that building, or at least parts of them are."

"That much is obvious," you growl back. "What do you get out of this? What's the point of it all? Why involve so many innocent people?"

"Why are you asking me?" he replies quizzically. "I am just a shadow of Aizen Sousuke. If you want any real answers you should ask the real Aizen Sousuke."

"So what exactly are you good for, then?" you demand.

"I could ask you the same question," he counters. "What do you intend to do, ryouka girl, without that second-rate, borrowed sword of yours?"

You reach instinctively for the sheathed sword that should be at your left hip. You say "should be", because it's not.

>Attack him anyway, even if it's just a nightmare you can't let him get away with this.
>Try to get your zanpakuto back, it has to be in this nightmare somewhere.
>Run. You can't do any good here, so get some distance and devise a plan.
>Other

>>3456250
>Try to get your zanpakuto back, it has to be in this nightmare somewhere.

>>3456250
>>Try to get your zanpakuto back, it has to be in this nightmare somewhere.

>>3456250
>>Other
Even if this is a test from your zanpakuto, it's still your Inner World. Do you even need to physically locate your sword rather than just willing it to appear?

>>3456298
while i agree with you, i think tatsuki is too new to all of this, she doesn't have the instinctive mastery of the spirit world that riku has

>>3456304
Yeah I was worried about that but decided to be overly optimistic instead.
>>3456298
Ignore this, changing my vote to
>>Try to get your zanpakuto back, it has to be in this nightmare somewhere.

My original vote is probably way too advanced for her to pull off.

>>3456250
>>Try to get your zanpakuto back, it has to be in this nightmare somewhere.

>>3456250
>Try to get your zanpakuto back, it has to be in this nightmare somewhere

>>3456250
>3d10, best of three

Rolled 9, 6, 10 = 25 (3d10)

>>3457840

Rolled 7, 4, 5 = 16 (3d10)

>>3457840

Rolled 4, 3, 9 = 16 (3d10)

>>3457840

>>3457840
If your zanpakuto is a part of you, and you're correct in your assumption that you're still inside your own head, then it stands to reason that your zanpakuto must exist in this nightmare realm someplace. Although you're a little surprised you reached that conclusion so quickly it only gets you halfway to a solution: you still need to find out where it is.

As you dodge a half-hearted swing of Aizen's sword you realize something else. While your reiatsu sensing ability isn't great to start with everything in here is all you anyway. So even assuming that Tououkenju's reiatsu feels ever so slightly different than yours you probably couldn't sense it anyway. Knowing that, there's only one way Tououkenju could possibly expect you to succeed: placing her blade somewhere significant.

"Running already?" Aizen taunts you. "I suppose there was bound to be a part of you that is afraid of a battle that will risk your life. After all you're no warrior. Unlike Captain Kusajishi or Captain Shihouin your idea of fighting is as a sport, a children's game compared to the life a shinigami leads."

You duck under another swing. "How could someone like you think to defeat someone like Aizen Sousuke when they failed to?"

Fair as that point may be, you ignore it as you sprint for your first guess: the dojo where you and Ichigo trained as kids.

You don't even bother with the door, only slowing slightly as you dive through the window in a hail of sparkling glass. In here, maybe...

"Looking for something?" Aizen taunts you as you realize that of all the likely- looking weapons on the wooden racks none are YOUR weapon. "Tough luck, it seems it isn't here."

Not in the dojo... maybe you should have guessed it wouldn't be that easy.

>Try your apartment, where you and your mom live.
>You had an instinct that it had something to do with Ichigo. Follow that.
>Try to think of where Tououkenju would go... maybe start by considering your own personality and Riku's.
>Other

>>3457903
>>Try to think of where Tououkenju would go... maybe start by considering your own personality and Riku's.

>>3457903
>>Try to think of where Tououkenju would go... maybe start by considering your own personality and Riku's.

all that while dodging Aizen's attacks, not an easy task

>>3457903
>Try to think of where Tououkenju would go... maybe start by considering your own personality and Riku's.

>>3457903
>>Try to think of where Tououkenju would go... maybe start by considering your own personality and Riku's.

>>3457903
>Try your apartment, where you and your mom live.

>>3457903
>Try to think of where Tououkenju would go... maybe start by considering your own personality and Riku's.

>>3457903
>>Try to think of where Tououkenju would go... maybe start by considering your own personality and Riku's.

>>3457903
3d10, best of three

Rolled 4, 6, 2 = 12 (3d10)

>>3459746

Rolled 1, 1, 4 = 6 (3d10)

>>3459746

Rolled 6, 1, 5 = 12 (3d10)

>>3459746

Rolled 4, 6, 10 = 20 (3d10)

>>3459746

>>3459746
Best of first three? Darn, just missed it.
>>3459788

>>3459746
Your first thought is to consider where you would go in Tououkenju's position, but that line of thinking quickly reaches it's end as you admit that in her position this IS where you would go. But then again your zanpakuto is not you, she's her own being with priorities and presumably considers different things to be meaningful and significant.

She's also as much a product of Kusajishi Riku's work as she is of your own nature, meaning she may think more like Riku in some ways than you.

Trouble with that thought being you hardly know Riku when it comes down to it. So how would you even begin to know where Riku would go if she were a sword with a point to prove?

"You seem distracted," Aizen Sousuke taunts you. With a pained yelp his blade bites into your shoulder.

You curse loudly. "That hurt!"

"Of course," Aizen muses, everything about his tone continuing to taunt you. "I would suggest not letting me kill you here. Who knows if you would wake up after such a defeat?"

Can you really be killed like this?

"If you're doubting me," Aizen guesses your mind, "then you should be aware that training for Bankai is a business where one's life is on the line... another area where a shinigami is your natural superior. A Captain is one who has above all else defeated the weakness within them at great personal risk."

>Don't let him distract you, you're still pursuing the right strategy.
>You could fight before Tououkenju, and you can still fight now.
>Who does this guy think he is? He's just a noisy expression of your self doubt... put him in his place.
>Other

>>3460029
>>Who does this guy think he is? He's just a noisy expression of your self doubt... put him in his place.

>>3460029
>>Don't let him distract you, you're still pursuing the right strategy.

>>3460029
>>Don't let him distract you, you're still pursuing the right strategy.

>>3460029
Who does this guy think he is? He's just a noisy expression of your self doubt... put him in his place.

>>3460029
>Who does this guy think he is? He's just a noisy expression of your self doubt... put him in his place.

>>3460029
>>You could fight before Tououkenju, and you can still fight now.
This option interests me.

>>3460029
>Who does this guy think he is? He's just a noisy expression of your self doubt... put him in his place.

>>3460029
>Don't let him distract you, you're still pursuing the right strategy.

Don't lose your cool now.

>>3460029
>3d10
Best of four

Rolled 4, 3, 5 = 12 (3d10)

>>3462134

Rolled 7, 10, 5 = 22 (3d10)

>>3462134

Rolled 9, 8, 3 = 20 (3d10)

>>3462134

Rolled 9, 5, 2 = 16 (3d10)

>>3462134

>>3462134
"I see," you muse, turning to face him head-on. "So that's what you really are... my weakness."

The frown you receive in return is too cold to be called a scowl. "What?"

"You're talking like the self-doubt that's holding me back. That's why you killed everyone I know, it's why you've gone to the trouble to lecture me like this. You're what's been holding me back."

"I'm the only one telling you what is TRUE!" he snaps. "You know it, I know it, that damn sword of yours knows it!"

"You don't know me," you glare back, angry on the inside but managing to project confidence. After all... you're right about him. That's also a thing that you know. "Even if it meant fighting alone I'd still have to try, and I'm NOT alone."

"You may be reasonable, hell you might even be right. But none of it matters because this is what I HAVE to do. There's no place for fear... no place for YOU."

You can finally hear her again as you scurry away, one step ahead of death by the blade at each turn.

How could you not hear her before?

How could you not have known?

"Given up again?" he sneers, having backed you into a dead-end street in a residential neighborhood between the school and the Kurosaki Clinic. "You talked a good fight, but in the end all you managed to do was prove me right."

"Now die."
>1/3

>>3462250
"You? But... but why?"

"Don't get the wrong idea, dork. I just did what I had to. That's all."

"What're you talking about? You didn't have to beat those big kids up, but you still..."

"Weren't you listening? I just said I had to... I can't stand it when whimpy boys like you cry."

"I wasn't gonna..."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah! I was trying to thank you, but now I don't feel like it!"

"Good! Cuz being thanked by a wuss like you would just be embarrassing anyway!"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"Then I'm just gonna have to get strong enough to MAKE you LET me thank you!"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"I'd like to see you try, wussy boy!"

"You're on, Oni-girl!"

"O-oni-girl!? I'm gonna make you regret that!"

"Aaahh! I'm sorry senpai! I went to far, so please don't... ahhh ahh aaaahhh! Somebody save me again!"
>2/3

>>3462287
"Pummel, Tououkenju."

That's right... this is where that silly childhood rivalry with Ichigo began. After you beat up those wannabe tough guys you spent more and more time with him, helping him catch up until he could actually give you a run for your money.

It was probably also where you started developing powers of your own... powers that eventually became Tououkenju.

>Fight "Aizen" using Tououkenju.
>Shinigami combat is all about reiatsu.
>Hang on to your reminiscing for a while longer.
>Other

>>3462303
>Fight "Aizen" using Tououkenju.
We got our sword back, now let's use it.

>>3462303
>Hang on to your reminiscing for a while longer.

>>3462303
>Fight "Aizen" using Tououkenju.

>>3462303
>>Fight "Aizen" using Tououkenju.

>>3462303
>>Hang on to your reminiscing for a while longer.

>>3462303
>>Fight "Aizen" using Tououkenju.

>>3462287
Oni-Girl a CUTE!

>>3462303
>>Hang on to your reminiscing for a while longer.

>>3462303
>3d10 best of three

Rolled 1, 10, 2 = 13 (3d10)

>>3468814

Rolled 1, 10, 6 = 17 (3d10)

>>3468814

Rolled 7, 2, 9 = 18 (3d10)

>>3468814

>>3462303
Now that you have your sword you're complete again. A part of you has been restored. And so you turn to face this part of your own soul that's wearing Aizen Sousuke's face to try and intimidate you.

"I'm not afraid," you insist. "You're just an unwelcome guest here, causing trouble."

"That's easy for you to say," he sneers. "But is that enough? Do you really think you can beat me so easily?"

"I dunno," you admit. "You wanna find out?"

As it turns out yes, he does.

He instantly siezes the initiative, aiming for the base of your neck. You let the blade slide through you and try to catch him under the jaw only to be rewarded with pain.

"Soukatsui!"

Aizen's shadow blasts you with a familiar spell, leaving you almost entirely open to his follow up attack. The edge of his sword nearly severs your neck again, but you manage to get your sword in position to protect yourself. Instead of the edge of his zanpakuto what hits your neck is the side of your own.

"Byakurai!"

>3d10, best of three

Rolled 2, 5, 3 = 10 (3d10)

>>3469107

Rolled 7, 9, 5 = 21 (3d10)

>>3469107

Rolled 4, 4, 6 = 14 (3d10)

>>3469107

>>3469107
As the Byakurai passes through you, there's a nagging feeling in the back of your mind. When the fake Aizen uses Shakkahou that feeling resolves into certainty: a Captain should know more powerful kidou than Soukatsui, but this Aizen hasn't used anything like that.

In fact, he's only using kidou that you've seen Kuchiki use against you.

So he's a copycat, and nothing more... not even a particularly good copy of Aizen Sousuke at that.

His eyes narrow as you parry a swing of his blade, distributing your mass to sweep him away with one arm.

"You're growing bolder," he sneers. "If you think that you have suddenly found a way to win prepare to be disappointed."

"Quit trying so hard," you sigh dramatically. "You don't scare me and it bothers you, I get it. But keeping up with the act isn't going to change anything."

>Use Tououkenju to get behind him for a lethal strike.
>Pass through his next spell and use it as cover to attak from.
>Raise your reiatsu as high as you can and overpower him.
>Other

>>3472182
>>Pass through his next spell and use it as cover to attak from.

>>3472182
>Use Tououkenju to get behind him for a lethal strike.

>>3472182
>>Pass through his next spell and use it as cover to attak from.

>>3472182
>>Pass through his next spell and use it as cover to attak from.

>>3472182
>>Pass through his next spell and use it as cover to attak from.

>>3472182
>>Pass through his next spell and use it as cover to attak from.

>>3472182
>>Use Tououkenju to get behind him for a lethal strike.

>>3472182
>3d10, best of three
Currently phone posting on a train, so expect brevity.

Rolled 3, 9, 6 = 18 (3d10)

>>3473782

Rolled 9, 9, 1 = 19 (3d10)

>>3473782

Rolled 3, 1, 2 = 6 (3d10)

>>3473782

>>3473782
You decide to respond to Aizen's copied attacks with a tactic that worked against the shinigami he's copying them from even before you spent all that time improving with Tououkenju herself. The next time he tries a Soukatsui you cleverly shift your physical presence and dive straight through it.

Emerging from the other side you leave Aizen no time to respond.

Your blade slices across his chest, opening the front of his shihakusho and leaving a trail of blood.

He leaps backwards to reposition himself, but you press him hard. A punch here, the odd kick there... it finally feels like the momentum is yours for the first time in this fight.

Perhaps that excitement is why you catch yourself overextending, realizing too late that you've given Aizen an opening to strike at your left hip.

>Let it slide through you, strike at the top of his head
>Parry it, enhance your strength and break his arm.
>Accelerate around him, and drag your sword through him
>Other

>>3473974
>Accelerate around him, and drag your sword through him

>>3473974
>>Accelerate around him, and drag your sword through him

>>3473974
>Let it slide through you, strike at the top of his head

>>3473974
>Accelerate around him, and drag your sword through him

>>3473974
>Accelerate around him, and drag your sword through him

>>3473974
>>Accelerate around him, and drag your sword through him

>>3473974
>>Accelerate around him, and drag your sword through him

>>3473974
>>Accelerate around him, and drag your sword through him

>>3473974
3d10, best of three

Rolled 9, 9, 2 = 20 (3d10)

>>3475854

Rolled 3, 5, 10 = 18 (3d10)

>>3475854

Rolled 1, 7, 9 = 17 (3d10)

>>3475854

>>3475854
With a burst of speed you accelerate almost instantly, not so much swinging your sword as letting it follow you and dragging it through Aizen as you pass him by. The effect is that you take his arm with you, blood trailing in a lazy arc as the amputated limb struggles initially against gravity before it succumbs.

His sword was in that hand, leaving him open for just an [i]instant[/i]. But somehow, he manages to evade your second strike... perhaps it just took you too long to raise your sword again and reposition yourself to take his head to add it to the arm you already removed.

"How is it possible..." he wheezes. "How could some stupid, insolent [i]human girl[/i] do this to [i]me[/i]!?"

"Because there is no [i]you[/i] here," you explain. "There's only [i]me[/i] here. I'm the one in control, not you."

"That's absurd!" he insists. "Even if this [i]is[/i] your own inner world you [i]know[/i] that Aizen Sousuke is stronger than you are, so I should be stronger than you as well."

"Then maybe I'm stronger than I thought," you realize. "That's the one possible explanation. If you're a product of my own subconscious mind, making something that I think is going to be stronger than me, then if I'm actually underestimating myself..."

"That's even [i]more[/i] absurd!" Aizen's shadow insists angrily. "You're not Kusajishi Riku, you cannot simply solve absurdity by adding [i]further[/i] absurdity!"

You stare at him, then shake your head. "Watch me."

>Take off his head.
>He's you, merge him with the ground.
>Phase your sword into his skull.
>Other?

>>3475952
>He's you, merge him with the ground.

>>3475952
>>He's you, merge him with the ground.

>>3475952
>>He's you, merge him with the ground.

>>3475952
>Accept him as part of yourself and merge him with Tououkenju

>>3475952
>>Phase your sword into his skull.
Ah, phasing.

>>3475952
>He's you, merge him with the ground.

>>3475952
> He's you; merge him with the ground.

>>3475952
3d10, best of four

Rolled 10, 9, 2 = 21 (3d10)

>>3478035

Rolled 10, 8, 7 = 25 (3d10)

>>3478035
watch me ruin this roll call

Rolled 4, 2, 8 = 14 (3d10)

>>3478045
RUINED

Rolled 1, 2, 8 = 11 (3d10)

>>3478035

>>3478045
Well, I'mma go get some ingredients I need to finally make my dinner and then fake Aizen gets fucked.

>>3478058
aren't we in need of another roll, since >>3478052
isn't linked to your post?

Rolled 5, 5, 9 = 19 (3d10)

>>3478081
>>3478035
Better?

>>3478084
wasn't sure how Queens rules are on this

>>3478089
technically it wouldn't count, but the outcome wouldn't change so nobody would care anyways.

>>3478035
This isn't the traitor Captain Aizen... in fact, he's not even a person. He's a part of you. Which gives you an idea for how to beat him once and for all.

It would be easy to just merge him halfway into the ground and leave him there, it's well within your power. But you're afraid that might only offer a temporary peace from this nuisance, so your plan has to be somewhat more ambitious.

Instead of doing the violent thing, you steal his reiatsu.

Aizen's eyes widen as he realizes what you're doing. His first indication that something is very wrong is that his shoulder starts to blur and run like a bad watercolor painting, his color swirling towards your zanpakuto.

"... no..." he growls, glaring at you angrily. His growl soon builds into a bellowing roar.

"NO!"

He attacks too late, his strength has already begun to leave him. You backpedal to maintain the distance, and by the time he catches you his entire sword arm simply flows into your zanpakuto's blade instead of slicing across your body as he intended.

"I will not be defeated like this!" he screams, raising his left palm. "Soukatsui!"

Instead of blasting you, the kidou simply becomes a part of your strength. Soon after his left hand and arm follow. He leaps away from you, but his legs have begun to blur as well. He stumbles and falls with no hands to catch himself.

"You think you have won?" he hisses. "No, this is not a victory for you. This is simply continuation, a chance to die another day. Nothing has changed."

"You are still not powerful enough to defeat Aizen..."

His words are cut short as you wipe away his mouth, followed by his head and shortly after that what little remains of his body. All that remains is an inert smear on the ground, like the outline of what was there before... like one of those ancient cave-paintings of peoples' hands.

"Maybe you're right," you shrug. "But maybe you're wrong. I'll never be able to live with myself if I never know, and I'll never know if I don't try."

When you open your eyes, Kurosaki Isshin is waiting for you with a heavy growth of stubble. How long has it been?

"How did it go?" he asks.

Before you can reply, a familiar voice replies for you. "Judge for yourself."
>TBC in the next thread

>>3478195
Thanks for going with my idea and thanks for running.