Tournament Round 1. Katsu vs Izumi

Katsu slowly descended and lightly stepped on top of the shifting sands on the balls of his feet then too the heels as i looked over the everlasting desert with a smirk.
"so this is it huh?"

katsu had chosen this as the site of his match.
slowly letting himself pace around a small area as he awaited for his opponent. his uniform whipping around in a gust of wind while he looked up into an eternal night..

The sound of sonido could be heard over the desert wind as Izumi suddenly appeared on the field. With a slight movement of her right wrist, a blade sprang forth, one foot in length. As the wind howled and pushed her hair to one side, she smiled at Katsu. "I doubt you can even touch me."

tilting his head in a polite manner.
"it would be my pleasure to prove you wrong, es-pada"

not wasting any time, he shunpo'd 5 feet to izumi's left side and kicked off for more momentum as he quickly thrust his right palm toward her ribcage.

Laughing, Izumi flipped forward towards the attack and landed behind Katsu. By using her surpass speed ability however, Izumi's attack power was reduced significantly (strength down to 4). Since her attack would only serve to cause the slightest scratch if that, Izumi decided to taunt him a little more. Perhaps he would leave an opening. "Missed me."

"hm..being faster then me is an impressive thing to be sure."
katsu draws his zanpaktou and thrusts toward her, however making a faint and shunpo'ing right above her as he explains
"Binding arts: number 9. Restraint"

Dodging the blade, Izumi was almost caught by the binding art. With another sonido she changed location, but when she reappeared, she had a change of appearance. Her mask had reformed over her face along with a white, insect like armor over the rest of her body. Protruding from her back was a set of wings, similar to those of a dragonfly. From under her left sleeve, a second blade extended. "I was hoping to keep that game up, but it seems you're too tricky for that."

Although Katsu couldn't see it, Izumi was still smiling under her mask as a low hum filled the air and 5 copies of herself separated from the original. All 6 Izumi's spoke at once, "Guess we're done playing." Not even awaiting a response, they all vanished and reappeared in a six point formation around Katsu and stabbed inward.

"danpen!!"
katsu's Long naginata appearing in his hand as the multitudes of izumi's encroached ontu him, he spun his naginata fast , useing the length significant length difference of the weapons to keep there attacks at bay. while above his head a powerful whirlwind whirlwind formed that trapped the six figures inside with him. one of the blades managing to get through his defense, causing a long but insignificant cut on his shoulder.

Izumi's smile vanished once she realized that she wouldn't be able to move as far. Keeping her illusions up and spaced evenly around her opponent, Izumi could at least still hold the advantage that the Shinigami wouldn't be able to tell which one was really her. Once again sacrificing her strength to increase her speed, Izumi awaited the Shinigami's next move.

"so now theres six of you es-Pada eh? the more the merrier"

Katsu stopped spinning is zanpaktou slowly as his eyes darted from one to another, trying to figure someway to tell them apart,
damn.. shes to fast for me to hunt down one at a time. it would take an eternity..

the whirlwind still spinning at full strength as katsu disappeared with a shunpo and reappeared above the swirling vortex, pointing the blade of his naginata down into the center. Instantly the top of the whirlwind culminated and enclosed on the blade. creating a viscously spinning dome of thin wind blades.

with a sharp twist of his zanpaktou katsu forced the the dome to start rapidly enclosing from every direction upon all the izumi's inside.

With the wind itself carrying blades, Izumi had to make a desperate move. Dropping the illusions to focus more on evasion, the espada made short sonidos in a sporadic pattern, trying to dodge the invisible blades of air as she tried to get closer to Katsu in the center. Some attacks she was able to dodge, others hit her, piercing her armored hollow skin. Approaching her opponent, Izumi ceased using surpass speed and struck forward with both blades, which unlike the previous attack, a piercing force erupted from each blade, hitting what was beyond their physical reach. As she did this however, even more blades of air hit her. If she forced her way out of the vortex however, there was probably no way she could get back in to harm him.

From amidst the winds katsu moved slightly the side to avoid a deadly blow the would have severed his wind pipe, the other blow digging into his shoulder, the blood spilling out and being carried in the wind.

slamming the end of his weapon into the ground and dissolving his whirlwind all the blades of wind that were once being carried round and round shot out like shrapnel from a grenade in every direction.

"you wounded me es-pada, congradulations."

Fortunately for Izumi, the scattering of the wind blades sent them in a less clustered arrangement due the fact that they went now in so many directions. One managed to strike her in the back of her left side while another ricocheted off her mask, causing her to flinch. Dropping her resurrection, Izumi's armor crumbled and she was left with only her right handed blade. Her face however, once again carried a mischievous smile. "I should congratulate you for the same. Shame one wound didn't do the trick. I should have started with this next move." She shrugged before continuing. "Maybe it would have saved me some time." She winced slightly at a cut in her shoulder. "And some pain."

Almost immediately, Izumi reentered her resurrection form. This time however, she seemed much stronger. "Allow me to show you something I like to call blade speed." She didn't tell him, but now she could incorporate her surpass speed ability into powerful attacks. No amount of protection would protect the shinigami from her next attack besides an impressively quick dodge. In a flash, Izumi had moved in front of Katsu and aimed a blow with her reformed left blade directly at his sternum. This would indeed be teh quickest way to determine if the Shinigami had any more tricks up his sleeves.

Katsu had barely any time to think let alone to react to izumi's actions. once her visage appeared he front of him he had only enough time to twist slightly to his right, her left hand blade burying itself into his stomach almost an inch as katsu left hand shot up and stopped it from protruding inwards any further as katsu fingers wrapped tightly over her hand,

blood spurting out from his wound as he forced her blade out, twisting the tip away from himself as he remembered all to well the last attack he fell victim too.

his hand began to squeeze her knuckles together, intent on breaking every bone in the hand that wounded him.
simotaniously he said with a devilish malice toward his opponent,
"oh but the pain's only begun! Bankai!!"

a shockwave errupting as the strength he was squeezing izumi with more then quadrupled.

Izumi winced as Katsu applied a great pressure to her hand. Tensing the muscles in her left hand, she was able to reduce some of the damage, but ultimately she could feel a finger or two break. Luckily she didn't need them to use her weapon. Raising her right hand, Izumi brought the blade down over Katsu's arm while pulling back sharply. If he wished to still hold on, he would lose his arm.

[95 timer points]

Katsu let go satisfied with his work as izumi's blade force him to release her.
katsu now sporting four new pieces of dark armor around his arms and shin as he turned around swinging his now double bladed naginata in a fast sideways cut aimed accross her stomach.
trying to force her out of range of her smaller daggers.

Izumi's current form was nothing easy to predict. As Katsu swung his blade, she vanished and reappeared facing the shinigami's back much faster than either shunpo or sonido would allow. Raising both of her arms up, pals and blade edges out, she broght them down across Katsu's back, crossing both arms with the follow through, creating an x-shaped slash.

[80 Timer Points]