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Well, time to get going, he supposed. There was nothing of any real interest going on around here any longer, and there were other things he could do in order to occupy his time. It was a rather tedious sort of occupation compared to what he used to have, but nothing was perfect. With that thought and done, Rednal finished his meal and stood up, trying to decide what the best thing to do was. Maybe he'd go down to Earth and observe what was happening there... so things would be in the records properly, as it were. He chuckled quietly as he walked away from the dueling zone.

A girl in one of the odder outfits Soul Society had quietly practiced her technique in an empty ring. Unlike most Shinigami, she actually wore armor, which in this case had been specially designed for her. Though she had been alive and fighting for a long time, there was no such thing as to much practice. If she was ever going to match him... well, she couldn't slack off for even a single day. The air rippled slightly with the force of her blows.

(( Oops. ^^; Ah, well. ))

"New is... not the word I would use." she answered dryly. She'd been a part of that particular Division for a rather long time now, going here and there on missions. Soul Society had its philosophers, its charismatic leaders and its risen-through-troubles-to-fame icons. Not to mention the researchers and paper-pushers. Then it had people like Sayo, who were extremely good in about one area and not much use anywhere else. Sayo broke things, mostly Hollow's masks (but occasionally buildings scheduled for demolition), to get her pay. For her, though, this was mostly just continued training, chasing after the shadow of the only person she respected. The same person she hated more than all others. There was another ripple through the air as she slashed down with her blade, well away from the visitor.

"And?" the girl inquired simply. "I'm the Lieutenant. Not an acting one, however." the girl wasn't much of a leader, though she had met and talked with the best. She was high-ranked in 11th Division simply because of the fact that her physical strength was in severe excess of her physical form, and if she got serious, this was notably multiplied. She was almost always serious while on missions; unlike those whose goal was to have fun fights, when on missions she simply worked to kill her enemies as fast as possible. People who were expecting their foe to hold something back tended to get in a lot of trouble when she came at them.

"I am Sayo Ak'Thias. If you wish to test yourself, then come at me." was her simple answer. Neither part of her name would mean much except to those who had studied history; her last name was not the result of marriage, despite an ill-thought-out attempt once, but her way of remembering the first Captain she served, long since dead. Her first name had no special meaning attached to it. Calmly, she got into a ready position. While her usual style was to launch herself at the enemy (Rednal had called it a 'Sayo-doken', whatever that meant), she was quite capable of defending instead, which was about all she really needed to do in a situation like this.

Sayo's blade, had it been going slower, might have flashed. As soon as his weapon was in range, the girl's own had shot out to smack it aside. This might not have done too much to start with, except for the fact that Sayo was very strong. Unless the other man was quite a lot stronger than he seemed, even such a basic blow would send him stumbling to the side. Still, the girl brought her sword across horizontally anyway, and a ripple shot towards the acting Captain. This was not a special technique of any sort; it was a shockwave created by her swinging her sword through the air, a mundane phenomenon that would still hurt to get hit by. She was far from full-power, though, not even releasing her weapon, so it would be nowhere near fatal. Bruising, though, was practically guaranteed. Melee offense, defense, and speed were her areas of expertise.

The girl's blade had come dangerously close to cutting into his chest before he had jumped away. The sad truth was that the girl was not very subtle. She didn't try to worm her way around powers and look for the weak spots; she simply slammed into it with as much force as necessary, and this tended to be very effective on bindings. She didn't have much delicate skill, but she did have plenty of brute force. Besides which, this man didn't have nearly enough power to stop her with just his reiatsu alone. She'd been in the presence of far, far more and not crumbled. She had more herself, come to think of it. She just wasn't using most of her offensive power. After all, this was a friendly match, not an execution. "You are weak." she answered simply. She spun around, unleashing a shockwave in all directions. If he wanted to get close, he'd need to go through that. And once he did get through (admittedly not a difficult task at this level), then...