Up near the mountain top of the mountain was a plateau, where Rina stood silently waiting. A shadow behind her began to stretch and expand then seemingly sprouted upwards. After a bit longer that shadow solidified into a humanoid shape that stood at roughly 6'2 tall, the man had short black hair, and blue eyes that seemed to be as empty as void.
Rina could sense him, the feeling of staring into the abyss of the deeper parts of an ocean intensifying as he inched closer. She heard him use his thumb to push the tsuba of his sword up a little, she heard the sound of the steel scraping against the inside of the scabbard as the blade was drawn and as soon as he swung, she spun, ducking down low. The blade sword over her head, and the man looked to her wide eyed.
For her part, she showed no emotion as she looked to the man and stated, "you may be the Shadow King, but you can't hide from me."
"So you keep claiming," he growled before re appearing beneath her as a shadow and trying to grasp her. She easily maneuvered into a hand stand, evading the attack. She then pushed off the ground, twisted in mid air to land on a rock a little away from him.
The man glared at her. Then he lunged forward as he exclaimed, "die you vermin!"
The woman smirked coyly and didn't respond as she met the void of the man's cold eyes. The clang of steel against steel rang out between them as she blocked his latest attack not with a sword, but a knife. He realized the hidden weapon came from the barrette that held her hair back. She gave a slight laugh as she quipped, "don't count your chickens til the eggs hatch."
The man's eyes widened as he observed her, 'how is this even possible? This sword is genuine Zanpakuto, that pitiful knife shouldn't be able to hold it back! My blade should be slicing through hers like a knife through butter.'
Rina gave a small smirk as she inquired, "wondering how I can hold back your blade with a knife, huh?"
The man's face became expressionless as he observed her intently. She extended a single finger towards him, and in a flash of white light he was pushed back away from her. He found himself unable to move and glanced behind himself. He recognized the spell as being ambush flare, but the orange rope of energy was intricately woven, forming a net behind him. She held up an open calm just a little away from him and announced, "Sokatsui."
A large blast of blue flame-like energy collided with the other spell, resulting in an explosion around him. While that occurred the remaining portion of the mountain above them gave away, breaking down around the man. She stayed unwavering from her spot, letting the debris fall around her, and well aware that the fight wasn't over.
From the base of the mountain, Ace saw a few bits of the rock debris tumbling down. The Lynx gave a slight roar at the sight. The fire fist looked back, telling the massive cat to stay behind and wait for him to come back. The lynx's face seemed to sadden at the idea but obeyed moving off a little bit away from the mountain and laying down to wait for his Captain.
Ace glanced up and strategically moved up the mountain side, silently thanking all of his year growing up on Dawn Island, scaling the mountains there as he moved upwards.
As he continued ascending, he found a spot where he'd be able to jump and use his flame abilities to propel himself to the top ledge. He kept moving towards his intended goal with renewed determination. His eyes widened when he saw a blast of what seemed to be white lightning coming from the spot, he had reasoned she had to be. His brow furrowed while his nostrils flared, and he resisted the urge to call out to her. He wouldn't risk her opponent knowing that he was there.
On the ledge the fight had resorted to empty hand combat, with both of them evenly matched. The man chuckled a bit as he reached for her throat. She saw the attack coming and thrusted an open palm forward, with her palm facing the ground. This caught his fingertips, bending them back on his hand until he screamed out. She then kicked him back away from her, back onto the rubble from what was once the mountain peak.
He looked to her as he got back up, exclaiming, "this is impossible! There's no way a lowly Rukon rat could be this strong. I am the first son of Lord Aizen! I should easily be the victor!"
"Blah, blah, blah, cry me a river. You and your father are very much alike. You're both pathetic," Rina shot back while rolling her eyes at the drama that had fallen out of the man's mouth.
He snarled at her, bearing his teeth like a rabid animal about to charge. She smirked before offering, "if you're really wondering why you're struggling to best me, I'll tell you."
She brought up her palm, using another Sokatsui blast to counter the golden blast of an Okasen spell that had been sent towards her with ease. She regarded the man and stated, "you assumed that because I was born in Inuzuri that my mother is a former human who died in a living world and ascended to Soul Society, but that isn't true. She was born there. Her mother's name, was Setsuna Kobayashi."
"The founding Kido Corps vice kido chief," the man voiced his realization.
"You're correct," Rina confirmed. She smirked while she continued, "and while I have my mother's surname, it doesn't change the fact that my father was also born in Soul Society. So you see, I'm not an average Rukon brat. I'm a true blood Rukon brat. Throw in that while I attended the academy I also received private tutoring from the Kuchiki family as well as the deadliest swordsmanship master amongst the founding Captains-"
The man's eyes were now as wide as saucers, he began to sweat however when she concluded, "one other thing—your father isn't the only one who lied about his Zanpakuto abilities—although I'm a bit astounded, he never caught on."
"My Zanpakuto allows me to utilize the abilities of other Zanpakutos by mirroring their power. Her name is Tamashi no Kagami, literally 'Soul Mirror', but of course I didn't want your father knowing of my ability. For that reason, whenever I used my blade in a fight I stuck to one ice type that was considerably powerful—Yukihyo—my grandmother's blade."
"Too bad ice forms shadows," the man taunted as he sent another shadow towards her, he was shocked however when flames intercepted the shadows, blocking them from progressing towards her. Ace stood at the top of the pile of rubble and looked down at the man with a smirk. However, he lost his smirk when he heard a woman's voice demand, "What the hell Ace?!"
He glanced over to see Rina red faced with rage, he swore if it were possible steam would be bellowing out of her ears and nose. He was taken aback by her inquiry and shot back, "what? Can't a friend help another friend out?"
"YOU IDIOT! You damn fool! You'll get yourself killed," she ranted. Ace laughed and reminded her, "not likely. I am fire itself."
This seemed to amuse the man as he cackled something about fire and ice. He went to move towards Ace, but before Ace could blink Rina was in front of him, standing in mid air. In that moment he realized one key thing, she may have told him what she could do—but he'd never seen the extent of her skills before.