Chapter 19: Clash of Shikai's

Parrying the blow away Mitch took a swipe at Ania who teleported away as she emerged behind him and went to stab him in the back. The feeling of the blade piercing something was felt as she guessed a clone but looking closer there was only his robe on her the end of her zanpakuto. Confused she turned around to see Mitch standing there in his robe and unharmed as he smiled "Black Op Arts 3: Molting Cicada, a special technique I was taught by Yoruichi" Mitch raised his hand as a red fire cannon flew out forcing Ania to side step it leaving her wide open as he raced in faster than she could detect and slammed into her with his full force.

Managing to bring Kanzen Bi up she blocked Ashura's strike but the strength at which Mitch hit her caused her to keep flying back as he continued to push with his blade until she slammed into a mountain causing it come toppling down onto her. Standing back from the wreckage Mitch raised his blade in the air as it began to heat up and glow a bright red colour "INCINERATE ASHURA" swinging his zanpakuto down a huge fireball slammed into the wreckage causing an explosion.

A body came darting out of the wreckage at a super-fast speed as a pink and black coloured reiatsu blast hit Mitch who managed to raise Ashura up and block part of it throwing him back slightly. Landing on the ground she pointed Kanzen Bi directly at Mitch "What technique is that?" Juunsui Yuga, I fire a reiatsu blast at super speed, it may lack power, but it takes them by surprise". Impressed with her ability Ania disappeared and re appeared directly in front of him as she began swinging her blade at fast speeds which he only just managed to parry away.

Taking a stronger and much slower swing Mitch ducked under the blade and shooting a fireball from his blade that thudded into Ania's chest and sent her spiraling into the ground. He had only put 25% of his power into the attack as this was sparring and he wasn't trying to burn or maim her, as Ania lay on the ground she tried catching her breath "Boy fighting Mitch is tiring work but I can't give up now" she thought to herself jumping back up to her feet.

Looking around she couldn't find Mitch anywhere, closing her eyes she tried sensing out his reiatsu but found he was managing to hide it from her. "Having trouble locating my reiatsu are we?" a voice came from behind her as she slashed her blade only to find no one was there "I figured you were good at sensing reiatsu so now I'm concealing it so you can't find me, bet it's pretty annoying not being able to see me and only hearing me" he spoke in a taunting manner as Ania slashed the air where she assumed the voice was coming from.

"I thought I told you to take this seriously!" she yelled out as laughter rang in her ears "I am taking this seriously, I call this messing with your mind, now you'll grow aggravated and make a stupid decision. I usually don't do this to all my opponents unless I really want to make them angry which makes the fight more fun". Mitch re appeared in front of Ania with a battle grin plastered across his face while Ania smirked right back "Alright if you're going to use your skills then so will I" stabbing Kanzen Bi into the ground she chanted out "Gouka Shinkirou" on command a bright pink light erupted from her zanpakuto and slowly began to spread out over the battlefield.

In a matter of seconds it covered a quarter of the battlefield as Mitch gazed about in this pink mist finding he couldn't see Ania anymore and opened up his senses readying himself for whatever ability her zanpakuto had unleashed upon him.

While Mitch was stuck inside the thick pink mist Ania was standing just on the outskirts of it her eyes shut tightly and hard in concentration. "Now let's create some lovely images that I'm sure Mitch will enjoy thoroughly" she said as the pink mist began to glow off her, focusing her mind she began to create images of desire and beauty that Mitch would be distracted by.

There was movement in the shadows that Mitch picked up as he leapt forward to attack he was shocked to find Ania standing there with her katana sheathed and smiling at him a strange way. "Uh what exactly are you doing Ania generally you use a sword in a fight" he said walking back slowly as Ania casually walked towards him "Come now Mitch must we fight what about that old saying make love not war" she said smiling sweetly and looking innocent.

Mitch was totally confused by her sudden change as he watched her vanish from his sight only to re appear behind him as a soft hand slowly moved over his back and started rubbing his stomach as she whispered softly into his ear "Come on now Mitch put away that sword and we can have some fun instead of training. I'm sure you would like that more wouldn't you?" she said seductively before nibbling on his ear. Completely baffled by her mood Mitch didn't have a clue what to do in this situation "Heh nice joke Ania but seriously if you want to train get off me" "But I don't want to train, I want to feel your hard body pressed against mine" as her hand slowly started to move further down his stomach.

"Alright this is getting incredibly weird and fast" Mitch said as he managed to release Ania's grip on him and jump away from her. "What's the matter Mitch aren't I what you always wanted?" she said frowning slightly as he just grinned "I don't think there's a correct answer there". Unsheathing his blade he raced towards Ania and sliced cleanly through her stomach as she vanished in a puff of pink smoke before he yelled out "Alright that's enough Ania your illusion may have worked at the start but I figured it out so just release it and save me the effort of breaking out". As soon as he had finished talking he spotted multiple clones of Ania coming into view as they all started walking towards him.

"Come on Mitch would you pass up the opportunity when there are so many of me" they all said in unison surrounding him as they began stroking and biting his face, hair, arms and chest. "God damnit I know this is an illusion but it also feels so real" Mitch said as he almost was about to give in to this mirage of beautiful women but finally came to as giant flames erupted around his body, rapidly his reiatsu began to rise before he let out a giant roar releasing it all as a huge fiery explosion engulfed Ania's pink mist making it all dissipate away leaving him standing there with Ania only a few meters away grinning at him wickedly.

"So how did you enjoy my gorgeous mirage technique back there? Looking in on you I could tell you did" she said laughing as Mitch chuckled sarcastically "Ha, ha take advantage of your beauty how cheap, but it's effective so I'll give you that" done with the talk both of them picked up their blades as they readied themselves to begin the fight again.

"If you want I could send you back in there for a few more moments with myself?" "Nah I'm good I'd rather prefer the real thing to an illusion if that was the case" "Who said I wasn't inside the mirage?" While Ania was focusing on teasing Mitch he was off in his own world as that sudden explosion of reiatsu and mere moments of being deceived by her illusion caused a dark familiar feeling deep inside of him to suddenly resurface and begin to grow.

"Um earth to Mitch hello?" Ania had noticed he was merely staring directly at the ground not moving despite all her teasing while there was a fluctuation happening with his reiatsu and what she felt like dark undertones to it.

Taking a step forward she was about to wave her hand in front of his face before he viciously swung Ashura at her with his full force as she blocked the strike but was sent staggering back. "My, my did I strike a nerve back there with that show of myself?" Ania joked as Mitch merely grunted and glared at her. Forming his hands into an X shape he began chanting a kido spell "Raging fires of the north combine with the fire and sun god to obliterate the earth, Destructive Art 88: Fire Blast". A giant X shaped flame spewed forth from Mitch's hand as it raced towards Ania at a fast speed, from a distant the blast didn't look to big but as it grew closer it slowly began to grow from the air until it was huge and Ania realized to late she couldn't shunpo away in time, the explosion from impact sent her crashing into a cliff with falling debris burying her underneath.

Managing to pull herself free Ania felt numerous tiny scratches on her arm along with a gash on her forehead while her robe was slightly cut and singed from the blast, standing back up Mitch suddenly appeared and grabbed her violently by the throat before lifting her up into the air. "So how do you plan on getting out of this one" he said in a dark sarcastic tone increasing the grip, as the air began to slowly leave Ania's throat she tried to wrack her brain on how to escape because in the back of her mind she thought Mitch might not release her as he was acting very unlike himself.

Slowly she began to lose consciousness as Mitch finally let go as she dropped to the ground clutching her throat and sucking in deep gulps of air. The cold yet also somehow warm steel of Ashura was pressed against her throat as Mitch traced the outline of her throat with his blade "One little flick of the wrist and your delicate neck will be pouring out blood it's that easy" he spoke in a calm and almost scary tone now.

Grabbing the blade Ania went to move out of the way but a devastating kick to her stomach knocked the wind from her as she was sent rolling across the dusty ground. Gazing up she saw one different thing about Mitch now, his eyes were slowly turning black as his iris which was usually blue was now blood red. "What the hell is happening to him" she thought to herself as he stood over her battered and bruised body smirking down at her.

Quick as a flash Ania fired off a Juunsui Yuga blast into his chest knocking him to the floor and giving her enough time to stand up and charge at Mitch as she swung her blade down towards his head. The blade was caught midair with his bare hand as he twisted Ania's wrist causing her to grimace in pain but she refused to let go, using her free hand she pointed two fingers at Mitch and fired off a white lightning spell into his upper arm as blood erupted from the tiny wound.

The spell had fazed him slightly releasing her from his grip but what occurred next left Ania in complete shock. This weird white stuff began to form on the edge of Mitch's face but as it grew and spread across his face it formed slowly into half of his hollow mask. Then the strangest thing happened as his voice changed to a dark and sadistic tone "Finally! After all these years he drops his guard and I'm FREE!" Mitch or whoever he currently was locked eyes with Ania as she noticed the kind caring eyes of Mitch were replaced with dark and dangerous looking ones.