The Coronation of the New Kenpachi

Deep in the darkest recesses of Seireitei stood a structure shrouded in mystery. It was a place that served one purpose, to bare home to violent acts. The earthen floor, and stone walls has ancient stains on them, of a dark sickening brown color. To anyone who had tasted the bitter bile that was battle, they would know the horrendous stains were that of blood that had long since spilled here.

This building, that only two people at a time knew about was the chamber of the kraken. This was the title given to it long ago, by a Captain Commander whose name had long since been forgotten from the minds of those dwelling in Seireitei. This place's one purpose was to test the one who dared to hold the title of Kenpachi. Here they would fight the current Captain Commander. It was their job to teach the budding Kenpachi the art of killing. If they succeeded, they would truly be worthy of the title Kenpachi, if they failed, they payed with their life.

Setsuna stood twenty-five yards from the one and only entrance to this vast training ground. She didn't wear one of her normal expensive suites, but something had hadn't worn in years, her battle gear. Setsuna wore a tight black cat suit, with a crimson red belt tied around her waist. At Setsuna's side was her zanpakuto. She had one thing on her mind, and that was to fight the new Kenpachi, to push her to her limits, and to train her to use her skills to master the art of killing, if not, she was fully prepared to take the woman's life. She'd have no regrets.

A sound of boots stepping across stone echoes through the silent building as Kenpachi Kai Rin enters as well.

She knew well why she was here, and knew that it would likely be very dangerous for her... even she doubted she could take on the Captain Commander if she got serious. She may be able to bloody her nose a little, but in the end, in a serious fight, she's sure that the Sotaicho would have several very deadly tricks up her sleeve that she could easily use to eliminate the Kenpachi. She didn't doubt she'd probably done it before.

Rin was dressed in different clothing than usual, her uniform replaced with a strange black gi, modified subtly to allow her more freedom of motion, which would be very helpful given her generally very small form. She wasn't the physically strongest Kenpachi ever, but she was rather close, and she was damn fast, too, given that her small frame gave her more agility than a physically larger person. And it lowered her centre of gravity, too, meaning that it would be harder to throw her and the like.

She doesn't speak, just stands across the room from her, hands clasping in front of herself as she bows to her.

"Sotaicho."

Setsuna nodded at Captain Kai Rin as she entered the secret Kenpachi training ground. It had been a long time since Setsuna had had to step foot in this place. It had been almost a thousand years since she had trained the previous Kenpachi. The man Kai Rin had defeated. He was a good captain, but his long run as Kenpachi had made his ego to great for his own good. He thought himself invincible.

"Thank you for coming young Captain Rin. I'm glad you made it here in a timely manner."

Setsuna gave the girl a weak smile. What would happen here wouldn't be pretty, or anything worth smiling about. There was a very good chance that the young woman wouldn't leave this room alive. Which truly was a disservice to squad 11.

"I hope you have prepared yourself for what will transpire in this vast cavernous place. I ask that you please keep in mind that you're going to have to fight with every fiber of your being, for this is truly a fight for your life. If you don't show the skill of a Kenpachi, or the ability to learn the art of killing, then it is my oath sworn duty to kill you. You do understand this, don't you Captain Rin?"

Setsuna didn't want to kill this young captain, but she would have to fight her as if she did. These battle always reminded Setsuna of Him. When she was just a vice captain, the very first Kenpachi saved her life. Before him, squad 11 was just an ordinary squad. Ozakai Kenpachi was the most vicious and blood thirsty fighter Setsuna had ever seen. He would disappear for several weeks at a time in search of new opponents, only to return unsatisfied. He did this until they day he died, when he finally found the opponent he had been searching for. The opponent who could kill him.

Setsuna mentally shook herself back into the present, and drew her sword from her side. She nodded at the young captain, and then shot forward, aiming her sword for the young woman's neck.

Kenpachi Kai Rin remains silent. This was not a time she thought to speak, or of much else but the inevitable, of what she knew to be true. Of the purpose of this place, of this bloodstained ground.

This was the court of nature, and in nature's law, there is only one rule: Kill or be killed.

She waits.

and waits.

When the Sotaicho attacks her, she does not move with the normal brutal grace that she normally displays, direct and destructive, but with a different kind of force, one much more subtle, and much more potent.

She knows that this is a foe that could kill her. And so she fights with all her soul.

The young Captain spins on her heel, whole body shifting, her arm moving to the Sotaichos and stealing her momentum from her, the combined force of her whole body's motion and the Captain's swing concentrated into her fist as she rams it into her stomach with enough force to tear through a tank's armor before she moves her stance again, returning to a ready stance.

"I am aware."

Setsuna knew exactly what would happen when she launched into her attack. She knew what kind of fighter the new Kenpachi was, but she had to try and get a sense of her base level strength. Had Setsuna wanted to, she could have avoided this attack with relative ease.

Setsuna felt the woman's hand connect with her stomach. She was strong, very strong. Setsuna could tell which route she'd have to take with her. Setsuna pulled her arm away from Kai Rin as she took her normal stance again. Setsuna smiled, this time because she knew this would be a fun battle.

"You were just as I thought you would be young captain."

Setsuna held up her zanpakuto before her, it's stark white blade almost seemed to glow in this dimly lit room. A strong wind began to glow around Setsuna as her reiatsu began to fill the room.

"Chissoku sa seru, Shi o motarasu mono!"

Setsuna was engulfed in a mass of whirling wind. Kai Rin would no longer be able to see her until the mass of wind died down. When it did, there was Setsuna, standing with no sword to be seen.

"Now, let's stop toying around."

Setsuna threw up her arms, and an extremely powerful gust of wind exploded from around her. The force of it was strong enough that it would easily take the young captain off her feet, and slam her into a nearby boulder.

She leaps back as the Sotaicho releases her Zanpakuto, knowing that it would be rather bad to be caught unawares to the attacks that might come for her if she was unwary... And then she sees it, her keen senses picking up on how the wind disturbs the air and the dust, using all her strength to leap to the side and behind that nearby boulder, hoping it would blunt the impact of the wind. That would probably help.

And hey, being in that position helps in another way, too.

"Roar, KOKEN!"

A sound of tearing stone, of violent moving, and Rin lifts and pivots, the stone whistling as she sends it flying at the Sotaicho with all the force of her body, now multiplied tenfold by the linen wraps that encircle her forearms and hands, her fingers the only parts not entirely covered by them. She expects her superior to dodge, and should she do so, Rin would move immediately, her foot planting in the ground before she moves through the space between her and the Sotaicho in mere moments, driving her knee into her gut, pivoting, and slamming a fist into the side of her head.

Setsuna watched as the boulder flew towards her after the young captain released her zanpakuto. This was a very interesting ability of hers. It appeared that the young captain's zanpakuto, increased her physical strength. This certainly would prove to be an interesting fight.

Setsuna didn't move, instead she mentally threw her razor like wind towards the boulder. When the boulder was at the peak of it's arc through the space in which it flew, it exploded into a shower of pebbles. As those pebbles hit the air the invisibly buzzed about Setsuna, they simply turned to dust.

Setsuna used the air around her to lift herself into the air, flying high above the young captain. Setsuna eyed her, and then shot forward at blinding speed, kicking the young captain across the face. Setsuna could hear the razor like air the encased her body slice into the flesh of Rin's face.

Setsuna jumped away from Rin, not allowing her to touch her. She would be interested in seeing what the method of attack the young woman would devise next.

She feels the Sotaicho rushing past her. She would counterattack, Rin knows it. Her arms raise, intercepting the kick and deflecting it, the combined protection of her Zanpakuto and her natural barriers reducing the blow to mostly blunt impact. Of course, her small frame doesn't take even that impact without some movement, being forced back, the ground under her buckling as she's forced back against it with a grunt, feet digging into the ground.

next... Her mind rushes through a thousand possibilities, a thousand methods of attack...

Setsuna's Zanpakuto controlled the wind. It was powerful, but she seemed, despite her skill with it, to not use it with much subtlety. She had not detected a single one of the myriad subtle defenses a Wind-user could bring to bear against her.

She vanishes once more, flickering in and out of existance seemingly at random, her Shunpo, as well as her naturally incredible speed making her all but impossible to detect, her very passage upsetting the delicate balance of winds around her and the Sotaicho, her every step causing more and more chaos and instability in their currents.

Trying to use the wind against me...how insulting.

Setsuna closed her eyes, letting the threads that tied her to oxygen fill her mind. She had a mental image of Rin moving around the room. First, Setsuna took hold of the oxygen in Rin's legs, causing her to stop moving instantly, then Setsuna focused on the captain's arms. The young woman looked like an x, with her arms raised and her legs wide set.

Setsuna casually walked forward, no emotion on her face. Setsuna wasn't worried in the least about approaching the new Kenpachi. She knew no matter what tactic Rin tried, she'd never free herself from the grasp Setsuna's zan had on her. Setsuna made it seem as it she were bound by the wind, so Rin wouldn't know the true nature of her zanpakuto.

"You need to take this battle more seriously. The wind is my minion. It does my biding."

Setsuna pulled her arm back and punch a hole through Kai Rin's chest. Setsuna's fist went all the way through the young captain's back. Setsuna reached up with her bloodied hand and grabbed a fist full of Rin's hair, jerking her head back. Setsuna ran a fingernail across the woman's throat, leaving a thin red line across her skin. Blood began to bead at the surface. It wasn't anything to worry about, but enough to get Setsuna's message across.

Setsuna pulled her arm back through Rin's chest, while doing so her hand glowed with a blinding light. Once her hand was through Rin's chest, there was no sign that there ever was an injury there except for the rip in her clothing.

Setsuna spun and kicked the woman in the center of her face. Air swirled around Setsuna bringing her high into the air, several feet above the young captain. Setsuna snapped her fingers, releasing Kai Rin from her chains.

That... was painful.

No matter. Forget the pain. Forget the suffering. Forget the memory of injury.

focus.

Serious? She was more than serious.

Kenpachi Kai Rin was PISSED.

She stands up, and if her Reiatsu wasn't so dense, it would be fairly exploding by now. As it was, it had become so thick that it was actually visible, a faint blue tint covering her skin.

Slow. So very, very slow.

Utter calm.

She exhales.

Three Minutes. Maybe more.

That's my time limit.

Can't give her a single opening. Have to end it...

She doesn't breathe back in, leaving only enough air in her lungs for one, final word.

Setsuna wanted her serious? Then that's what she'd get.

"BANKAI!"

Even as she speaks the word, she rockets upward, one hundred times her already rediculous force launching her up with so much raw force that it creates a vacuum around her as she moves. Linen wraps thicken, knotting, changing just as her Reiatsu does, burning around her like golden armor, knotted ropes of it lashing out at the Sotaicho, seeking to hold her, even if but for a moment.

Then she strikes.

One hundred times force.

One hundred times speed.

One hundred blows in the space of half a second, fast enough that they blast even the air itself away from them as she rises to meet her.

Setsuna closed her eyes as the young captain shot up towards her, moving at a blinding speed. Setsuna was not worried, the young captain was reacting just as she'd hoped. There was potential in Kai Rin, she just needed to have it drawn out.

Setsuna opened her mind to the wind, the young captain was making enough of it with all her movement, and that vacuum...Setsuna's body lost it's substance and vanished in a breeze as Kai Rin launched her assault on her.

"Young captain, don't be so quick to run head first into battle. It may work on many, but it shan't work on all. The art of killing doesn't work when you yourself are killed."

Setsuna froze the girl's muscles again. Stopping her in her tracks. From behind Setsuna slit the girl's throat, and watched as the life left her body. With one quick motion and a burst of light the girl was alive and well.

"I will keep killing you, and reviving you, until you know this. Unless I see that you will never learn..."

With those words leaving Setsuna's lips, she vanished into thin air once again, moving seamlessly around the room. She watched Kai Rin's every movement, ever twitch of her muscles.

Frozen again.

Killed.

No wind to steal away from her...

Wheels turn.

Thought.

What... what could it be...

Her power...

She'd lied.

"Naughty, Madame Sotaicho..."

She grins.

"Not an ounce of air around me... But you still stop me. You say your power is wind... But it's not, isn't it?"

Analyze.

Find what she was doing... what could it possibly be...

"At least... not entirely..."

"So... what's your secret, ma'am?" She grins, thinking.

"Perhaps something in the air? Something I can't get rid of, something I..."

Her grin widens as possibilities come to her.

What was air?

What did her body hold the same as air, even when no air was present? "Oh, you naughty, naughty thing..."

She laughs, eyes narrowing.

"Blood... my blood, isn't it? Or..."

She laughs more.

"the Oxygen IN my blood... hehe... the breath of life~"

Setsuna re-materialized, slowly clapping her hands with a smirk on her face. Kai Rin was more perceptive than she thought.

"Very good Kai Rin. You are the only living person to guess what my shikai can do, we'll you almost have it."

Setsuna extended her right hand and made a come hither motion with her index and middle fingers. The oxygen in Kai Rin's lungs, and the oxygen around her flew to Setsuna. Setsuna reached out, finding the oxygen that flowed in Kai Rin's blood, and used it to destroy the muscles in her legs. Setsuna watched as the young captain, who was no longer able to hold herself up, fell to the ground.

"You see, I not only control the oxygen in your blood, but the element in general. I can sense it's presence no matter where it is. See, the ground you're laying on is rich in iron. That iron has begun to oxidize, which is why it has orange specks in it."

Setsuna snapped her fingers and the ground beneath Kai Rin exploded around her. It had been a long time since Setsuna was able to flew her muscle, even if this was just a taste of it.

"The art of killing is simple. Most people think you kill someone through their weakness, and this is partly true, but if you know the art of killing, killing your equals and your lessers is child's play. The art of killing is to attack with ruthless determination, and end it quickly. It's to assess their weaknesses before the battle begins, and use it to steal their lives away. This is something every Kenpachi must know. It's when a Kenpachi becomes weak that they begin to purposefully drag fights out, and this is ultimately how new Kenpachi's are born."

Setsuna formed a blade of air in her hand, and it looked like a completely grey long sword. Setsuna raised the blade and sliced Kai Rin in half at the chest.

"Bankai."

As soon as Setsuna went bankai she healed Kai Rin with it's powers. She was healed almost as quickly as she was sliced in half.

"This training proved to not be as necessary as I thought, but use it as motivation to get stronger, to get better. I owe you an apology Captain Kenpachi. I underestimated your ability to analyze changes around you. I promise, that won't happen again."

Then Setsuna sealed her sword, ending it's hold over the elements, and she turned to leave.

"Oh, and Captain, everything that has happened here today, it is not to be spoken about again, and if it is, I won't revive you the next time I kill you."

With those final words, Setsuna took her leave.

"You need not worry, ma'am."

She smiles a little at her, the bands upon her arms flashing and returning to their sealed form.

"The next time I speak of this day..."

The look in her eyes is one of complete seriousness, of a promise made, not a threat.

"Is the day I kill you."

She turns, pacing out after her.

She had a lot of training to do.

Setsuna took a quick glance over her shoulder at the young captain, a small smile crossing her face. As Setsuna started up the stairs that let to the exit, a soft chuckle escaped her lips.