Toshiro moved quickly, tapping the tip of his zanpaktou to the ground before swinging upwards to form an ice shield.
"You have Shikai, yes?" Toshiro questioned Karin casually as though he was asking for the time, the sound of shadows spearing the ice thunderous.
"Of course I do!" Karin bristled.
"I suggest using it."
He turned away and broke the ice shield once the barrage of shadows had stopped, leaping through the shards and clashing blades with the red-head.
"Smart-ass." She spat. "Rage through the Land, Homuratei!"
Her katana formed into a rapier and the cold lifted some as her fiery power started to counter it. Toshiro put her at Third Seat level at the least. She was growing fast.
"Fire and Ice?" Gralio seemed mildly interested. "What a combination."
"I've got more than fire!" Karin snapped, swinging her rapier around her and creating a whirlwind of flames. "Blazing Twister!"
She sent the fiery tornado at him, Toshiro moving quickly out of the way, but he didn't seem all that impressed. He lifted the shadows up and had them spin the opposite direction, clashing with her attack and nullifying it.
"What?" Karin looked startled, not thinking that was possible.
"Try again." Gralio sneered.
Scowling fiercely, Karin Flash Stepped forward and struck at him with her blade. He blocked easily, not putting as much effort in as he had with Toshiro. She tried again and again, but he so easily blocked each one he looked almost bored.
Gralio snapped to alertness as a different blade came his way, dodging Karin's to instead block that one. He had the shadows form over it to trap Toshiro in but they froze over and snapped away as the boy pulled back for another strike. At the same time, Karin went for a strike at his back. They had him trapped, and knowing this Gralio flicked his free hand upwards. He vanished in shadow and the Reapers blades clashed. For a moment Karin could feel just how much strength was in Toshiro's strikes, her hands stinging as she held her grip on the blade, before he pulled his blade back and searched for their demonic opponent.
"I see the darkness in your heart, boy." Gralio's hissing voice echoed around them. "How fare the nightmares?"
The young Substitute turned to her partner with some concern, noticing a tightness to his jaw that meant he did not like the question being asked.
"A demon's fun is another's torture. Shall you be my fun?"
"You act like a demon yet you're not." Toshiro called out into the darkness. "However much you want to be one, you can never reach that goal." Silence. He'd hit a nerve. "I'm sure Dethmaiyn promised you something but if I know anything about people like him it's that he's a fake, and will give you nothing."
"Oh, the Dark Master will keep his word." The shadows shifted as Gralio returned. "Any promise he makes is fulfilled. He has given me the powers of a demon as he had promised, but until I bring him you I cannot become a full demon. Lies do not leave his lips."
"Dethmaiyn was saying something like that." Karin told him quietly and Toshiro frowned. What kind of person couldn't lie?
The two of them held their blades at the ready as Gralio brought the shadows to him and cast them outwards. Toshiro once more brought up the ice shield to prevent the shadows from reaching them.
They went right through.
'What!?' Stunned, he couldn't move away from the shadows as they latched onto him.
Pain shot through his body as the Fear took hold, the darkness twisting into horrible shapes around him and fire burning in his veins. As quick as he could he stamped it down, turning worriedly to Karin. She had no experience fending off the darkness.
The girl's eyes were wide with fright, mouth open as if to shout. Her hands shook as she dropped her zanpaktou, horrors he couldn't see haunting her vision and preventing her from seeing reality. There was no way she could fight through it as he had, no way she would even know how. Her whole body shook and she looked ready to cry, making Toshiro scowl angrily.
"Reign over the Frosted Heavens," His voice seemed to snap Karin out of her trance and she blinked a few times, "Hyorinmaru!"
The difference in power between the Shikai she'd seen before and this one was immediate as his Spiritual Pressure pushed her to the ground and made her shiver with cold.
'Raise yours as high as you can!' Homuratei demanded and her master obliged, the heat managing to protect her from the Ice Prince's freezing rage.
A crystalline ice dragon shot forward from his blade towards Gralio. The man growled and cast out more shadows, shattering the dragon only for it to reform, made mostly of energy. This startled Gralio and he hardly had time to dodge.
But instead of moving further away, he appeared next to Toshiro with a smirk, blade going for the throat.
Metal hitting metal echoed sharply as the young prince managed to block the blade and push it away, clashing blades with the being of darkness and drawing him away from Karin. He attempted to catch the man in the chain-blade but only succeeded in latching onto his arm. He pulled the chain tight, keeping him in place.
"Where are you demons hiding?" Toshiro questioned now that he had the man trapped.
Gralio gave a barking laugh.
"You think I'm just going to tell you that!?" Gralio let the shadows crawl up his body. "A little ice isn't going to make me talk."
Faster than the prince could pull the shadows converged on the ice and broke it apart, freeing the man from losing an arm and forcing the chain-blade off. Toshiro brought it back to him and scowled.
"Not that I'd say anything anyway." Gralio vanished into shadows again.
Karin stood again, still a little shaken up and tried to find him. Since sight was clearly not to be trusted here, Toshiro instead closed his eyes and attempted to pinpoint Gralio's next arrival point. He could sense the shadows shifting around them, trapping them in one continuous loop of darkness, just like the field he'd trained on in the Five Trials to control his Spiritual Pressure.
"Can you fight me and protect another?" That hissing voice sneered.
Toshiro quickly changed position, now standing back-to-back with Karin, not wanting to give the man a chance to get her in the back. Hopefully she was fast enough if he came at her from the shadows. He could feel her shaking slightly at his back and frowned, worried.
Karin saw red and lifted her zanpaktou just in time to block that horrid black blade. She was pushed up against the Ice Prince behind her from the force.
Toshiro turned, putting an arm around her to keep her steady while stabbing at the demonic shadow master with his longer blade. He felt flesh give beneath his sword and saw Gralio scowl as he returned to the shadows, releasing Karin from the pressure of his blade. They'd finally managed to wound him.
"He's strong." Karin growled, readjusting her grip on her rapier. Toshiro removed his arm from her and went back to searching for Gralio by his Spiritual Pressure.
This time the demon man came at Toshiro, their blades clashing harshly. While the white haired prince was distracted by his blade, Gralio brought up the shadows to spear him. Seeing these black blades, Karin moved quickly to break them. But there were many and she could not destroy them all, not even when she released a wave of fire upon them. However, her attack brought the spears to Toshiro's attention and he forced Gralio back to block the stray ones from reaching him.
One broke through his defense, creating a deep gash in his left arm. It hurt terribly but he didn't let it break his focus, freezing the wound over so as not to bleed out despite the numbness it brought to his arm.
"I win."
Teal eyes widened, not wanting to know what he meant by that.
As he turned around to check on Karin, he saw she was trapped in shadows, Gralio holding onto her shoulders. She looked furious and struggled to break free, but there was a desperation to her movement that also hinted at fear. This wasn't a vision; he had the Fear firmly stamped down.
"Your move, Ice Prince." Gralio sneered, tightening his hold. Karin flinched as his sharp nails began to pierce her skin.
Toshiro's grip on his blade tightened, a scowl crossing his face, before he lowered his blade. If looks could kill the glare he sent at Gralio would have made him drop dead right there.
"Hehe, so easy." The red-head smirked widely, looking smug. "Shall we play a game? Who will give in first?"
The shadows acting as a gag moved away from Karin's mouth. She opened it to spit profanities back at the demon, and maybe a few at Toshiro for giving in so easily, when she felt claws dig into her shoulders. Instead of swear words, a scream came from her mouth.
"Stop it!" Toshiro snarled.
Laughing madly, Gralio stopped for a brief moment to gloat. Karin let her head fall, shaken up by the immense pain that had just burned through her body. At the sight, the Ice Prince snapped.
Gralio lost sight of the white haired boy and frowned, wondering how he'd escaped his senses.
"Bankai." Startled, Gralio turned to see Toshiro behind him just before ice-water exploded outwards.
Using the shadows to escape, Gralio left the girl behind and moved away from the frozen area, cursing himself for letting his guard down. Had the prince been holding back still? Scowling, Gralio looked back to where his target was.
Feeling very pressured at the moment, Karin had a hard time staying conscious, though she did notice someone was holding her, someone with very cold arms. She managed to look up at Toshiro, noticing a calm expression that contrasted the fury in his eyes. His ice wings were spread out behind him as he hovered above the ground.
"Hmph, considering the amount of power you're displaying I'm surprised you haven't snuffed her life out yet." Gralio teased, hoping to snare the prince into making a mistake.
"I'm focusing my Spiritual Pressure away from her." Toshiro replied.
He gently set Karin down but did not move from her side, his blade in hand.
"I had hoped to avoid using Bankai." He continued, standing. "But thankfully your shadow world keeps it from doing any damage to the World of the Living."
"Don't get cocky, brat." Gralio lifted his hands and the shadow world itself shifted around them, forming into twisted figures. These shadow beasts approached them, Karin shakily reaching for her zanpaktou despite how hard it was to move.
"Frozen Prairie." Toshiro moved the tip of his zanpaktou along the ground around him.
The black ground glowed icy white as his Spirit Energy coated it before freezing over and shooting upwards into vicious spikes. Those shadows not speared in the crystalline ice were frozen to the spot by the overwhelming cold and shattered by the force of his Spiritual Pressure. The only part not frozen was a circle around the creator of the ice and the person he wanted to protect.
Gralio scowled at this display, not having heard of such a move. They had looked into his powers and abilities so as to better defend against him if he got strong, finding what his weak points were for each attack. But this attack they did not know.
"Since you won't talk I should remove you from this realm." Toshiro's voice had a deadly tone to it.
"Oh I'm not done yet!" The red-head snarled, skin turning black in spots and eyes lighting up with an evil flame of malice. The already long claws extended and as he grinned his fangs were prominent. The demon was showing through. "Don't worry prince, you won't die, but I'll give you a good beating!"
Multiple black blades hovered behind him and shot forwards towards the pair. Calm as ever to control the flow of his power, Toshiro lifted the blade upright and put his left hand over his right, the sword becoming coated in frost.
'What's he doing?' Karin wondered.
The blades were coming closer. Toshiro tossed up his own and caught it backwards in his other hand before stabbing it into the ground.
"Glacial Dragon Breath."
A wave of white light shot forward from the point of impact, scouring the blackened ground and freezing the air it touched before shattering into deadly ice shards. The shadow blades were swept away by this torrent of frozen light, shattering like the rest to join the gathering ice.
A little panicky now, Gralio used a wall of shadows to stop the attack from reaching him. He smirked in victory, thinking he'd avoided the rather brutal looking attack and preparing to leap at the prince. He jumped into the air, a maniacal grin on his face.
"Glacial Dragon Breath: Shattered Roar."
The ice shards that still lingered in the air flipped around and came rocketing towards the airborne shadow master.
"Impossible!" Gralio screeched.
His cries of pain echoed in the darkness as countless shards of ice pierced flesh and bone. Soon they stopped and a body hit the ground. Gralio lit up in black flames and quickly disintegrated, just like the demon Karin had killed. She watched their opponent disappear with slight awe, having watched the entirety of the attack. Ichigo had never mentioned an attack like it.
She heard ice shatter and turned to look up at Toshiro, his Spiritual Pressure lightening up as he toned it back down with the removal of his Bankai.
"Are you alright?" He asked her, kneeling next to her.
"Y…Yeah." She nodded, still a little star struck.
He turned to the wounds on her shoulders, holding his hand up to one of them and performing Healing Kido. This seemed to bring her out of her trance and she noticed the frozen gash on the arm he held up.
"These are just scratches; you should get Dad to look at that." She told him, pushing his hand aside and pointing to the wound she had spotted.
"As long as it's frozen I'll be fine, I can wait." He replied. "I need to find Nakryin to get the Fear out of you."
"And you."
He gave a light sigh at her attempts to make him the worse off victim when clearly she was having trouble focusing on reality and bleeding a little too much from the stab points on her shoulders. Before she could protest he picked her up bridal style, further proving his arm was fine with the ice on it, and attempted to search for a way out of the darkness. He had thought it would disappear with the death of Gralio.
"I can walk." He heard her growl and looked down at her.
"I think you'll find you can't." He replied.
"Won't know until I try."
"I'd rather not risk it."
Attempting to lighten the mood, and not liking that saddened look on his face, she smirked.
"What's with that face? You almost look worried about me."
"Because I am." His tone was soft and wiped the smirk right off her face.
He found the weak spot with which to break away the world of shadows and sent an energy dragon rocketing towards it, not looking her way at the moment. Just as well, she looked stunned and was blushing ever so slightly. It was the first time he'd sounded so…weak. Perhaps that wasn't the right word, but it was the only thing she could come up with. He'd shown his vulnerable side to her, if just for a moment.
She had no more time to dwell on it as the shadows dispersed and her brother's concerned cry of her name reached her ears.
Not the best at writing battles...I never make them long enough...anyway, Gralio's dead now, one less creepy demon guy after them. And a little fluff at the end ^^ Enjoy!