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Toshiro finally ended his raging phase, the effects of his squad powers have worn off. It allowed him to think. He hated how short his berserk phase was. It was annoying. His power phase was taken form him. Sharp pains from his shoulder caused him to get dizzy. He was losing blood... Kevins blade has pierced his armor. He needed a way to strengthen it. His bankai was still in its initial phases. He reached up to his shoulder with his hand and froze over the wound to stop the bleeding. Taking a breath, he knew what he had to do to finish off Kevin. Not truly knowing the man's strength, he wouldn't know if this would affect him at all or badly hurt him. What was this? A familiar form of reiatsu appeared. Daven Moto? The head shinigami of the Sereitei... a rush of relief rushed over Toshiro. From the rumors he has heard, Daven was shut off in his office. He felt his reaitsu spike and lower. Then... Nothing... absolutely nothing... What the hell happened? He would have to deal with it later. He still had to deal with Kevin. Kurai was suddenly battling the weak arrancar Artemis. She was mocking him. HJe even heard Artemis threaten her with Toshiro's death. This boy? Please... he doesn't know who he is dealing with. Looking back at Kevin, Toshiro gave him an acid glare. He raised his reiatsu levels to their highest levels focused them to a set point. "hanjimono-tomoshibi" He muttered. He raised his right hand and a pure form of ice in the shape of the cube formed. 26 identical pieces added to it. making it into a perfect cube. Infusing it with the rest of his reiatsu the ice grew larger and slowly started pulsing. He looked at Kevin and sent it at him. The cube broke into 27 individual pieces and circulated around him before attaching to him and exploded. Toshiro was thrown backwards into a wall and was blinded by the blinding lights. Hoping that this attack would at least hurt the man.

((Well, I'm through waiting. Feel free to follow, Mocka, Raw, and Slash.))

As another Shinigami showed up and began cutting into clones, Jan couldn't help but groan to himself. Whatever. I guess I can accept some collateral- Jan's brief thought was cut off when a third Shinigami appeared, snatched the first two, and hid them behind a protective barrier. "Hah! Thanks, new guy! Now I can do this without killing your underlings!"

Letting the star expand, the light it produced began to redshift and release it's outer layers of gas. The star began shrinking, but the expelled gasses formed by the nuclear fusion reaction in the core were more than hot enough to affect the entire area around them. Noting that the rock walls near the start had already begun to get white-hot and melt themselves, Jan smirked with satisfaction. There's no way this is large enough for a real significant attack, and I can't just blow it without the extra power of Bankai... But this should do it.

After a long while (enough for those other posts to happen), the star had released it's gasses and been reduced to a glowing dot in the middle of the hall. The ceiling, floor, and walls of the hallway around them had completely melted away, revealing the foundation both underneath and above, but the walls had melted away to provide a direct path out. As the small dot of light cooled and Jan released it from the control of his electromagnetic energy, it fell to the ground and hit the patch of exposed stone, embedding itself in. After all, it was the remains of the star core: Highly-pressurized lead and other heavy metals, creating an extremely dense ball. "Well, what do you think of that?! I'll melt Las Noches off of this plane of existence!" Calling out triumphantly to the Shinigami behind him, Jan ran to the stairs leading up and out of the maze.

((Exit to Courtyard.))

((Thanks Jan! It was about time we got out of here anyway! ))

Damn Vizards! Mock said as he clenched his right fist. His right arm was stretched in the direction of the flare, and hovering in the air in front of his fist, was his solid shield.

As the heat from the nuclear fusion began to approach the three Shinigamis, an aura of flame was made visible, surrounding the shield. The shield, that once was made of ash, fractured in to small pieces, each of those tiny portions containing a fraction of the shielding aura. Thus, the mantle of fire was spread to all sides, fully covering the Shinigamis that were against a wall.

As both heat waves collided, sparks of reiatsu were sent flying, and a firewall of intense blue flames was produced in the mixture of both reiatsu-infused fires. The ash from Mock's Zanpakutou was now so thin, that it resembled a cloud of dust encircling them. Although the hot gases from Jan's dying star had not reached the Shinigamis, the heat produced by the shock of the opposing forces - at an atomic level - was still enough to affect all of them (though their bodies wold not be harmed by them).

Mendokusai ne... Mock said, as the star finally died and he sighed with relief, while cleaning the sweat from his forehead... Vizards are such a pain!!!... He said out loud to himself, but in response to Jan's comment...

Looking over his shoulder, MockaDash addressed both Shinigamis that were behind him... I'm going to follow him into the next room... I felt Daven's presence a while back... You two can follow me, but you'll be on your own from now on!!!

Having said that, and not looking back to see if the other Shinigamis were following him or not, Mock took the staircase out of the maze.

[EXITS to Courtyard]

[yeah sorry about that]

"I leave you alone I can see there's nothing else to do here now that you have calmed down, but I can't keep the kid in check if I don't exist when he's out."Artemis said turning around to leave, but then he remembered what Zane had told him about a guy names Sin and his son.

This might be a long shot but they might know each other so I possibly use it against her.-

"Well I'll guess I will go find someone else to fight maybe the son of this Sin guy I have heard of anyways see ya later"he said before sonidoing up to stairs out of the maze.

[exits to cause someone else hell]

Slash nodded to Mocka, understanding that that was the reason why he detained him, so he waited until the flames of the star just becane that, flames wiith amarked burn on the floor. This was his time to move as he quickly flew past the burn mark towards the stairs to see that Verdugo was gone again.
"Espada, come taste my blade" he muttered, taing the first step onto the stairs.
He then ran as fast as he could, climbing the stairs quickly; ignoring the burn as he advanced, until he could taste fresh air and saw the door.
He then bust out of it, entering the roofless elclosement, out into the night's air.
[exits]

The arrancar who had been harassing Kurai had left, but she hardly noticed his departure. Her attention was instead riveted to Toshiro's and Ogato's battle with the vaizard Kevin. She knew the vaizard was massing a powerful energy, knew it was directed at Toshiro and Ogato.

Move... Why was there such a gap between her brain and her body? Move. She was fast enough to take Toshiro's cero. She could be in front of him in a heartbeat. No, half a heartbeat. So move!

Her limbs remained locked, transfixed by the wave of energy she felt gathering in Kevin's palm. The energy was directed at Toshiro, her Shiro. I want to stop it. I want to... But Toshiro was already moving, creating barriers against the Gran Rey Cero's power. Then he was in front of her, and the burning scent of his ice was in her nose as he raised a wall of ice in front of them both.

Through the rumbling of the cero and the ear-piercing shattering of ice around them, Kurai might have screamed Toshiro's name, but the sound was swallowed up in the din.

And then Toshiro was falling, and Kurai collapsed to her knees next to him. "Toshiro," She breathed, gently turning him face up. His skin was cold, and she desperately pressed her hands to the gaping wound in his shoulder. Blood continued to pool between her fingers.

Kurai was dimly aware that someone was calling her name. Kuraime-sama, come... Some part of her was struck by the weight of the honorific. No one had ever called her 'sama' before... The booming voice demanded attention, and she lifted her muted gold eyes, now overbright with tears towards the shinigami who'd called her name. Rawtoon, she remembered his name was.

As if a switch had been turned on, Kurai's hands started moving, almost of their own accord. She used her makeshift blade to hack strips from the bottom of the haori Toshiro had thrown over her earlier. She folded it carefully and tied it over Toshiro's shoulder wound. She felt blood soak the fabric faster than she would have liked but it was better than nothing.

With care to the wounded shoulder, Kurai shifted Toshiro's unconscious form over her back and lifted him into a fireman's carry. It was comforting to hear his heartbeat--however faint-- pounding next to her ear.

Kurai took a step towards Rawtoon's outstretched hand, then paused, addressing him, "Rawtoon, we need a medic for Toshiro, or he won't make it. Unless you know any healing kidos... Only Ezru has healing facilities I trust outside of Soul Society..."

Tenrai turned from his position when he felt a sudden spike in a spiritual pressure know to him. His face lit up in horror when he saw who it was and what was happening. His former Lieutenant was falling at the hands of a vizard. He suddenly began taking steps in that direction before his logic caught up to him. "If Toshiro cannot hold him in direct assault, what chance do you have." Obiki asked Tenrai in his mind. A smile flickered onto Tenrai's lips. "Who said anything about a 'direct assault'?" Tenrai asked back.

He shifted his footing and found a clear path to the backside of the Vizard, and began to slowly make his way down it. He lowered his spiritual pressure as to give no sign of the attack that was quickly forming in his mind. "We fight not to win this battle ourselves, but to give the shinigami a chance to win. If we loose our lives in the ordeal then so be it as long as they live." said Tenrai in his mind. He made the statment as much to himself as his zanpakto.

Still follow his chosen path Tenrai came to his chosen spot. An open spot in the endless maze directly behind Toshiro's opponent. When he again looked there was another shinigami holding his former vice in her arms. It appeared that Toshiro was almost out of the fight. "We need to distract this guy as long as possible to give Toshiro time to make himself right." said Obiki and Tenrai merely nodded silently.

He crept up and then suddenly lunged himself at the Vizards backside, giving a large roar as he neared his opponent. His plan was to tackle the man and use his large body to keep it a close fight with no zanpakto, since they were pretty much useless at the moment.

((Sorry for stepping in but you looked like you could use a rest Toshiro, however short it may be lol))

[Hahaha thanks Tenrai! I guess I'm known as a midget around here now... whee ]