Rida darted in close to Torin and unleashed a flurry of quick jabs. Torin brought up his zanpakto and blocked the blows, but the punches had incredible force and his arms went numb after only a few strikes. As his guard faltered Rida drew back his fist for a reverse punch, his hand was engulfed in flame as he threw the punch, as the blow hit Torin's blade there was a violent explosion that sent him flying.

Torin flew backward and landed flat on his back, then skidded for several yards before coming to a halt. Coughing up blood, he used his sword to pull himself to his feet. "that's... not good..." he panted as he felt air rushing through parts of his body where it shouldn't, he had several broken ribs and one of them had pierced his lung. The air he breathed was rushing out the hole and into the rest of his body, causing it to inflate and... Torin shook his head, he didn't want to think about that, he had bigger problems on his hands then bleeding.

Rida drew back his fist and his hand became engulfed in flames again, without moving closer he threw the punch and a wave of firey energy surged towards Torn

Torin tried to move out of the way, but his injuries stopped him. "well f***" he cursed as the flames engulfed him and he blacked out.

Torin awoke in the ruins of an ancient city made of crystal. Broken archways and pillars were scattered haphazardly, but they were obviously the remains of structures that would have inspired awe in all who saw them if they were still intact. Some structures, even in their dilapidated state, still managed to be awe-inspiring.

"Where am I?" Torin wondered "Could this be... my inner world? I was expecting something less beautiful and fancy."

Torin wandered through the city and looked around, strangely ,even though there was no sun, there was still plenty of light to see by. Torin moved towards what he judged to be the center of the city, as he got closer the buildings he saw were more and more intact, though none of them were ever completely untouched by the destructive effect of time.

Torin eventually reached a large building that looked much less ruined than the others and decided that it must be the center of his inner world, if that's where he was... He entered and gasped in awe at what he saw. If the rest of the city had been beautiful, this building was crafted by gods, the walls were a giant rainbow colored mural of genius artistic beauty, the crystals were shaped so that when the sunlight shone on them they acted as prisms and made the colors despite their natural lack of color.

Torin frowned, "sunlight? but there's no sun here?" he said with consternation. It was at this time that he heard the singing, he realized that it had been there all along, but he had been unaware of it until right now. The song was haunting yet sweet, joyful but depressing, it had no words but it told the stories of a thousand epic poems, the notes were discordant but still harmonious. All of the contradicting qualities made the song by far the most beautiful thing Torin had ever heard.

Torin looked to find the source of the singing. On a broken ledge of a second floor balcony sat a radiant woman with wings made of pure crystal. Light shone from the wings in a rippling pattern, almost as if through water, and made the wings shimmer and appear to be made of light.

"h-hello?" Torin called "are you... my zanpakto?"

The woman stopped singing and looked at Torin with her sky-blue eyes. "So you finally heard my song and answered my call, yes Torin, I am -" she said in a melodious voice. She was no longer singing, but her song seemed to resonate in the crystal ruins despite this. Torin listened as intently as he could, but the song drowned out the woman's name.

"I'm sorry, but I couldn't hear your name, I suppose you need to test me first." Torin said

"Indeed, you know that all soul reapers must earn the name of their zanpakto, you are no exception." the woman said

Torin nodded "I expected as much, name your test and I shall give it my all" he said

The woman pointed to a massive crystal pillar that had appeared outside, "climb to the top of that tower and you shall pass, if you fail you will die by Rida's hand, I shall await you arrival at the top" she said, then she flew away.

Torin made his way to the base of the tower and looked up, the handholds were numerous, but their transparent nature made them difficult to see. Undaunted Torin began to climb, he just had to take it slow and look carefully at where he moved his hands and feet. By doing this he made steady progress up the tower. However, when Torin had gotten halfway up his zanpakto spoke...

"Now your true test begins." the woman said

Torin had been squinting to see his next handhold, when suddenly the pillar burst into radiant light and blinded him, making further progress impossible. To make things worse, the handholds Torin was already using began to crumble away, threatening to make him fall if he did not move quickly. Torin desperately tried to see another handhold, but to no avail.

"How can I advance when I can't even see where I'm going?" Torin asked as his left foot found itself standing on air.

"The same way you can go through life when you don't know the future, the same way you can fight even when your survival is certain, you must have faith and carry on no matter the circumstances." the woman said

"faith in what?" Torin asked as his right foothold began to crumble away.

"Faith in yourself of course" the woman said simply, as if it were obvious

"what is that supposed to mean? I have plenty of faith in myself! I've trained nonstop to get stronger so that I never have to doubt myself!" Torin said "but climbing when I can not see where to put my hands just isn't possible!"

"You claim you have faith in yourself, but you doubt yourself almost constantly, you blame yourself for the death of your friends and refuse to trust in yourself because of that. If you had as much faith as you say then you would know for a fact that you had grown strong enough to not fail them again." the woman said

"But what if..." Torin began

"Your objection proves my point, your doubts make you fearful, and your fear makes you act serious and uptight. You must tell yourself that no matter what, these things are reality. If your friends are in danger, you will save them. If your home is in danger, you will protect it. If you fight a foe for either of these goals, you WILL win. You must believe these things to be true, you must believe that you will not let yourself down, and as an extension of yourself you must believe that I will not let you down. If you can do this then let go and prove it! Do this and my power is yours." the woman interrupted

Torin was down to one handhold now, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then laughed "you know me so well it's scary, but you are a reflection of my soul, so I shouldn't be surprised. You hit the nail on the head, I had lost faith in myself, but thanks to you I have regained my faith. Thank you for that." he said as he let himself fall.

The woman laughed as well "well then listen closely Torin, my name is..."

"Your name is..." Torin said

"Kessho Satsujinsha!" they said in unison.

Torin awoke in the real world, his injuries had disappeared, and in his hand he held a beautiful blade made of crystal. It was larger than his normal sword, and it shone with the same rippling light as the woman's wings had.

Rida smiled and pumped his fist triumphantly "alright Torin! way to go! Now we both have our shikai!" he said, then looked at Torin with a mischievous look in his eye "you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Torin laughed and said "You bet I am"

Torin looked at his now released zanpakto, "so what are your abilities?" he asked mentally

"They are simple, but it is important you understand them" Kessho Satsujinsha said "You have three powers, the first is that anything you cut will turn to crystal, the second is the ability to freely control any crystal you create. You can make them attack, defend you, or simply grow and turn more things to crystal."

"and my third power?" Torin asked

"You can let your blade absorb our spirit energy, then swing it to release a dense beam of energy that will cut all in it's path, it will also turn things to crystal, so it makes a good counter for anyone trying to keep their distance from you." Kessho Satsujinsha replied

"I got it, let's begin" Torin said as he hefted his sword, despite it's huge size he found it to be almost weightless and could wield it with one hand. He did a couple practice swings, then swung it down to his side. Torin charged Rida and slashed upwards across his body, cutting the ground in the process, the rocks he cut turned to crystal and grew into a spear of crystal that rapidly grew towards Rida to impale him.

Rida retreated from the slash and smashed the crystal spear coming towards him before it could do any damage. Then closed in with another flaming fist, but when he thew his punch he hit a 3 foot thick crystal wall. The explosion from the blow surged around the wall and carved deep groves into the ground. When the smoke cleared Rida had to throw himself backward to dodge Torin's counterattack. Backflipping away to get some distance Rida charged two flaming fists and threw his waves of fire at Torin. He realized close combat with Torin was near impossible now, so he'd have to stick with this attack and stay away.

Torin grew another wall of crystal, but the second wave shattered it and nailed him head on. As Rida charged another wave Torin raised his sword over his head. "Kurisutarubimu!" he said as he slashed down and fired a beam of energy towards Rida, Rida fired his own wave of energy and the two attacks clashed. After a moment Rida's attack gave way and Torin's attack exploded towards Rida. When the smoke cleared Rida was knocked out.

Torin resealed his zanpakto and walked over to pick up Rida "good job buddy, thanks for your help." he said as he brought Rida home.