A couple days before Seiji embarked on his epic quest to go meet his father Ika Mazi, the young-looking Shinigami was standing in a large open area commonly used for combat demonstrations and sparring purposes within the Seireitei. His hands were resting on his waist as he looked down at the scattered and groaning Shinigami before him. Slowly they began to stand up then shuffle away as a badly made poster fluttered past declaring Seiji was accepting challengers all day today. "Barely a warm-up... Yaaaaaawn!" Seiji called after the group of young Shinigami who had come here in hopes to earn a little bragging rights because they assumed the Vice-Captain's laziness was a reflection of his combat potential. Big mistake on their part.

Shielding his eyes with one of his hands, the young bastard of the Mazi clan sighed and muttered to himself, "Anyone gonna manage to give me a challenge? I mean really, some of those guys really ought to go back to the Academy and study for another 100 years."

He didn't intend to arrive. Really, he didn't, but the call of a challenging fight was any warrior's weakness. So when the others were pulling themselves out to get treated at Squad 4, Draiden was walking in, armor already on. "A bit cruel to say, don't you think? Not everyone can be as skilled as you are." Draiden reaches for his blade and quickly draws it. "If you're truly looking for a good fight, then look no further. I'm Draiden, and I am looking forward to an honorable match." He has heard of this young man, if only a little, and was sure he didn't hear much of Draiden himself either. After all, Draiden was probably considered just another member of Squad 11.

The sun shines off of his black suit of armor. A crowd slowly begins to gather, wanting to watch and see how this unfolds. "Shall we remain with out sealed Zanpakutou? It matters little to me." Any blade in Draiden's hand was an equally deadly instrument of war. Hopefully, this would be a pretty straight-on fight. He'd hate to end up working around Kidou, he always found it's use... distasteful.

"Perhaps, but somebody worth my time just arrived, so I don't see a problem with it." Seiji shrugged, the gesture not much more than lip service towards his next opponent. This guy, Draiden, seemed to be roughly in equal strength to him. Seiji struck a thoughtful pose for a moment, gently tapping his chin with his finger as he watched the crowd gather around them in a respectably wide circle around the designated arena. "Well, you appear to be here with armor... Hmmm, but my abilities have something of a 'Splash Zone' as it were. Wouldn't want to accidentally cold burn anyone here, right?" As he spoke, Seiji held up his free hand as a ball of liquid swirled into existence just above his palm. It was a silvery-white fluid that gave off a smoky white gas but Seiji didn't appear affected at all.

"My name is Seiji," Spoke the man with a grin while drawing his blade and uttering, "Bring about the endless cold, Reikokuna Ginko!" His Zanpakuto morphed into metal gauntlets which covered his hands and forearms while his clothes morphed into skintight metal armor. "At the end of the day, I guess I'll just attempt to restrain myself. However, be warned! If you want to watch this bout then I suggest you back up. Like, way more. That's the splash zone right there." Seiji yelled out his warning in a booming voice, and all the spectators immediately dashed off to a safer viewing distance.

"Much better. Now then... Release your Bankai and come get some." Seiji grinned, taking on a fighting stance while performing the classic two finger taunt with a grin.

Did he hear this correctly? Surely the wind must have picked up, but if it didn't then... "March Forward, to Glory, Hijiri Senshi." Though his armor looked much the same, his sword was now divided into two. One of which he kept in his right hand, a European-style double edge longsword. The other, an executioner's sword, sat at his hip. "There is no need for Bankai when we are only sparring, we go to first blood is drawn."

He gives a small bow before raising his blade and placing his other hand upon the handle. He begins with circling towards the male's right, examining the man's stance. The man was cocky, but it wasn't arrogance. If it was Draiden would have found too many holes in Seiji's guard. As it was, there was little. This took only a second before he rushes in, the armor doing nothing to slow him down. He swings from overhead, aiming to cut into the male's left shoulder. He wasn't too worried about hurting the guy, after all he could get healed at Squad 4. He does not stop here though, and delivers a second overhead strike before releasing his hold on the blade with his left hand, bringing it up for an uppercut at the man's jaw. His stance after this shifts, knowing the man was going to counter. Draiden was a warrior that lived, died and lived in the afterlife by the sword. One never kept the fight in their favor entirely. If you did, then  you were going right into a trap. And so, he was ready and alert for the retaliation to come.

Seiji groaned in annoyance as Draiden refused his Bankai challenge. As the knightly Shinigami bowed, Seiji did the same whilst muttering to himself, "Guess we dial it back... Ginko." His hair lost it's silvery-white luster and the cold gas that was rolling off of his body seemed to disappear before he got back into his stance. Seiji slowly turned his body, making sure to keep his left shoulder edge-on with Draiden before the the bulky armored lug charged at him with surprising speed.

Seiji's cool gaze observed calmly as Draiden raised his longsword overhead and swung it down for a slash at his left shoulder. With a quick and precise snap of his arm, shoulder, and torso, Seiji stepped forward and used his gauntlet-glad hand to push the trajectory of Draiden's strike further to his left and evade the blow. Seiji moved with a fluid sort of grace and used the momentum of his forward step to try and slam his right knee into Draiden's stomach. Seiji then quickly pulled his right leg back and disengaged by sliding back a step while that strange fluid from before whirled in Seiji's left hand and morphed into a standard-shaped mace. The young Shinigami swung the weapon in an arc, smacking the longsword to the side once more. However, the motion overbalanced him a tad and he took the uppercut chin-on with a grunt. "Heh... Nice arm you got there..."

Seems the man was okay with Draiden's refusal for Bankai. Nice, the man was understanding at least. Better than his fellow Squad 11 members, who would complain constantly about his refusal to use his Bankai in training with them.

So his first slash was met with less than success. Expected, the first strike never usually hits. The man's leg connects with Draiden's gut, though the armor absorbs most of the blow. He works through the still-winded feeling left by the kick, his second swing knocked away with his uppercut landing shortly after. Draiden smirks under his helm. "Likewise, your kicks are firm..." Speaking of, as they were still close Draiden goes for a sweeping kick at the man's leg. A sweep that was followed by a rapid flurry of attempted stabs at the man's limbs since he doubted he would actually trip the man up. While it would make keeping the man on the defensive easier on Draiden if he did trip him, he didn't rely on it. The swift and not overly damaging(If any landed) would last for just a few seconds before a powerful horizontal slash was sent Seiji's way.

This was turning out to be an excellent match! Truly, it's been too long since he found someone that knew how to handle a proper sparring match. No attempted backstabs, no pesky Kidou, and no awkward range ability to work around.

Seiji tossed the impromptu weapon aside and it splattered back into the liquid on the ground several feet away while giving off extremely cold gas. Though he could create a good number more of them, each one had very limited durability. Not to mention, Draiden seemed to be having fun and so was Seiji. It would honestly be a shame if he went all out and ruined the fun of this shared moment.

However, that didn't change the fact that Seiji needed to shift the tide and take initiative of the battle. Take the napkin first, so to speak. He needed to do something unexpected, something outside the box... And he got his answer as Draiden went for a sweep kick. Seiji lifted the leg closest to the sweep kick and purposely shifted his center of gravity so when the strike connected, he fell onto his back. Not wasting a single second, Seiji flexed his spine and lifted both legs up while aiming a double kick at Draiden's stomach once more while simultaneously hopping back into his feet. The young Shinigami then held his gauntlet clad arms up in a guard position and used them to defend from the flurry of heavy piercing strikes Draiden unleashed. He then took another quick step in close, throwing an uppercut aimed at Draiden's chin. Seiji hoped that keeping himself this close to Draiden would impede the man's ability to unleash the full extent of his swordplay, while he could wail on him with his fists.

Land the kick once, shame on Draiden. He wasn't about to let it land a second time, not this soon after the last at least. He side-steps as the male kicks out, the man undoubtedly landing on his feet. His flurry of stabs is met by the male's gauntlets, and was followed with the uppercut knocking his helmet clean off. The helm, too damaged to remain now leaves Draiden's head exposed for a time. However this does not slow him down any, and soon a punch was sent out of his own, one aimed right for the center of the male's chest. While he wasn't able to stab due to how close Seiji was, Draiden could attack with his blade in other ways.

He attempts to slam his pummel down on the male's shoulder, followed by a punch sent at the opposite shoulder. He swings his blade after, chopping with the blade twice times for the male's shoulder. This was an exciting match, one he was enjoying immensely. And yet... it felt off. The man seemed to be holding back, probably on his Shikai abilities. He leaps back to put some space between them. "We cannot call this a proper fight if you aren't going all out. Use your sword's abilities, and I will do the same." This man had his respect for not underhandedly using his Shikai abilities underhandedly thus far, but it was time to step this up. In his right hand Draiden began charging Spirit Energy, and it was glowing brightly. However, the man could feel that it wasn't much.

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Seiji grinned as Draiden avoided the stomach strike. He would've been a tad bit disappointed if it connected a second time, considering this one was a bit on the obvious side. Seiji let out a loud yell as his fist connected with Draiden's jaw, knocking the helmet right off as it clattered to the ground somewhere behind them with a satisfying clanking noise. Distracted by the sound, Seiji reacted a second too late as a punch slammed into Seiji's chest right below his collarbone and caused him to take a step back so as not to fall over again. In the process, he managed to evade the pommel strike and extra punch to his shoulders, though his close-up advantage was gone now.

Seiji whooped with delight, even though making the sound caused a bit of an ache in his chest, as Draiden brought his longsword hammering down towards him while sweeping his hands above his head and to the side in a drawing motion as a spear of liquid nitrogen materialized in his hands. The Shinigami used the shaft of the weapon to block both sword-strikes before it splattered uselessly onto the ground in a puddle of smoking liquid nitrogen. "Fight seriously, eh? I hope you don't come to regret those words." With Seiji grinned while crossing his arms over his chest with his fingers flat and together. With a sharp grinding noise, 3 inch long claws extended from the tips of Seiji's fingers. He then uncrossed his arms in a quick motion, the sound of cutting air sweeping over the two combatants. "How would they say it in your time again..? Right! Have at thee!"

Seiji thrust an arm upwards, the air above it swirling and condensing into a massive, 40 foot diameter, 100 gallon sphere of liquid nitrogen which he simply allowed to drop down over the two of them with himself as the epicenter, should the mass of liquid fall fully onto Draiden it would deal 2 Cero's worth of damage. Otherwise the liquid nitrogen would deal second-degree cold burns with it's absolutely frigid temperatures. Seiji didn't let up in the slightest, rushing forward with a Shunpo and aiming a thrust of his bladed hand at Draiden's cheek. First blood was first blood after all.

Win or lose, Draiden would never come to regret fighting an opponent at their fullest potential. When the man created those claws, Draiden readies his blade with both hands. The man speaks, with words Draiden is all too happy to return. "To glory, friend!" From there, he was sure this would be a tough battle.

Tough was the right word, for after their verbal exchange the male created a massive sphere of that liquid he made his weapons out of. It couldn't be good to remain close, and using Flash Step he moves back, out of the range of Seiji's attack. As with most elemental manipulators, he was sure this liquid did nothing to Seiji, and as such brought up his left arm. Before it was created a dark shield made entirely of Spirit Energy. Though those claws were as tough as Zanpakutou, his shield could tank some powerful Kidou. He uses the shield to knock the man's claws out of the way, following up with a sword swing of his own aimed for the man's gut. It was a quick follow-up move he hoped would score a small hit, but wasn't about to rely on it to end this.

His blade quickly begins to glow, just as the shield breaks apart blocking the attack, but he doesn't attack quite yet. He Flash Steps to behind the male, where he creates and throws a small bright sphere of Spirit Energy at the ground near the male's feet. Upon touching the ground it releases a bright flash of light that, if the male didn't take the right precautions, would be temporarily blinded for a short time while his eyes recovered. Draiden would remain unaffected through all this, and quickly rushes in with his blade for a stab at the man's cheek.

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