Chapter 4: Petals in the Wind (Part 1)

The (in)famous Avengers, known for saving the world (and often causing much environmental destruction in the process) on multiple occasions were needed once again. This new threat was something else, no doubt. Even if it meant relying on a bunch of ragtag heroes piled into a team that saved the world from God-knows-what.

Rallying Black Widow, Hawkeye, and Captain America was no problem. They were all trained soldiers (two of them were master assassins, for God's sake!), so when duty called, they answered. Sure, one was a beautiful and deadly Russian assassin lady who probably could kill her target with just a nail file, another was a handsome yet skilled archer who used a variety of arrows for his purposes, and the final one was a supersoldier who had spent the majority of his life in unintentional cryogenic sleep.

Rallying the others was a more… interesting story. Iron Man was a billionaire playboy who really didn't give a damn half the time. However, this time, he did care. The mysterious soldiers that had been consistently attacking the Earth as of late had attacked Stark Tower, and taken another arc reactor and a strange thing he had found and thought was worth keeping. The Hulk could only be in play when his other self was beyond pissed. However, Bruce had seen the damage these soldiers caused to areas around the world, and had no problem finding the required rage. Then, the thought of Thor came around.

"Where's the Thunder God?" Tony asked, noticing a lack of blond men in the room with thunder powers.

"Not sure. We'll find him eventually." Black Widow replied, leaning on the roundtable…

Thor was used to wandering Midgard at times. It was relaxing (depending on where he was at the time), and he needed that at times. It was refreshing to walk amongst a quiet forest at night, the sounds of frogs croaking, birds chirping, and a nearby stream flowing making a relaxing, gentle symphony. To be safe, he always kept his beloved hammer with him. He may be practically a god, but he still needed to be able to defend himself incase he was assaulted.

He was deep in thought, letting the natural symphony relax him. However, he was suddenly jolted out of his thoughts by a surprise force sending him flying into, and through a tree. As he skidded across the ground, he lost his precious hammer for a moment. However, as he knew, it could be recalled at will, so he simply willed it back into his hand, and it came. He immediately got into a fighting stance. He looked around, trying to find the source of the strange invisible force that had attacked him.

"COME OUT, YOU COWARD! YOU, WHO DARE-"

"DO NOT DARE TO CALL ME A COWARD, YOU ASGARDIAN WORM!"

He turned to see the source of the voice. He then knew exactly what had happened upon looking at his assailant.

She was clearly a woman, and a woman of status at that. She wore a black samurai-like outfit, with a sleeveless white trenchcoat-like overcoat. A scarf was wrapped around her neck. She wore a sapphire pendant with a symbol carved into the back that he could see because a wind that came from seemingly nowhere was blowing the pendant around. A white belt was tied around her waist, and it held a sheathed katana. The sheath was a simple, tan color. The handle of her katana was a light purple with dark tan diamonds running down the wider sides, ended by a dark tan rectangle. Well-kept black hair that was shoulder-length was being blown about by the same wind that was blowing her pendant about. Slate grey eyes looked down on him with such animosity that it could be felt from miles away. He knew exactly what was going on.

"A Kuchiki Clan descendant? You're quite brave to actually challenge me to a battle!"

She hissed, and made a 'tch' noise.

"Brave? A poor choice of words, but fitting for disgusting, bloodthirsty, drunken filth like you!" She said incredulously, glaring at him. This clearly irritated the Thunder Prince.

"What did you just call me?!" He yelled, getting angrier by the minute.

"You heard me, you lowly worm!"

"Lowly worm?! How DARE you accuse me, Thor, of being some filthy criminal!"

"It is what you are! You frolic amongst humans like they are the same as you! You even pretend to be some hero! DISGUSTING!"

"And you think you're above me?! You are a woman with a sword and delusions of grandeur!"

"You DARE to accuse me of being delusional?! Clearly, Asgardian worm, you have forgotten your place in society!"

"It is YOU who has forgotten the true meaning of nobility!"

"Don't you speak of nobility to me, filth!"

She drew her sword, and leapt from her perch, charging down on Thor. He blocked it with Mjolnir, sparks flying as the sacred sword met with the sacred hammer. The sheer force from both her spiritual pressure and his power was enough to knock several surrounding trees down, flattening the area. He managed to force her off, but she backflipped and recovered with ease. She seemingly disappeared, before attempting to slash through his armor, the blade managing to make quite the dent in his right side before he punched her back. This didn't phase her for a second. She went for the other side, again seemingly vanishing into thin air, and this time, succeeding in cutting off part of the armor. The blade grazed his skin, and he hissed in a bit of pain.

He responded with a harder punch, and called forth the lightning that trademarked him. He sent a powerful bolt in her direction, but she simply used her little trick, avoiding it entirely. It struck a tree, knocking it down. She tried to cripple him by surging her spiritual pressure to levels that would be more than enough to suffocate a human and could even make a Menos-class Hollow tremble, but he countered by surging his own power. It was enough to level several more yards of forest. He took advantage of the moment it took for her to regather herself, and hit her hard with Mjolnir. She responded with a slash to his right abdomen.

It was certainly on now. She was bleeding from her right forehead, where the impact from Mjolnir was enough to pierce her normal spiritual pressure barrier and give her quite the injury. He was bleeding from his right abdomen, the nature of her sword being strong enough to cut his Asgardian hide and give him a deep laceration unlike any other. She held her hand to her forehead for a moment, before looking it down and seeing the blood. He had been forced to clutch his side for moment, and then saw the blood. The two locked eyes.

"This has gone beyond family honor. You have just made this personal, Kuchiki girl!" Thor growled.

"That is my line, you lowlife imbecile! You have left me no choice but to unleash my true power in order to kill you!" She hissed.

"You will be the one to die!" He snapped.

"Chire, Senbonzakura!" She exclaimed.

She let go of her sword as she called its name. It seemingly disintegrated into thousands of tiny pink flower petals, but in reality, they were tiny, razor-sharp blades. She narrowed her eyes, and surrounded herself with her blades.

He responded by raising Mjolnir into the air. Dark clouds gathered around, thunder resounded, and he called forth a massive bolt of lightning. He surrounded himself with the lightning he called down.

The two locked eyes, glaring at each other. They then leapt off the ground, preparing to continue their fight…