The man hissed as his eyes were splashed by the acid Ika had redirected towards his eyes, and as he brought another ton of blood to his face it seemed as though his eyes were cleared at least in part. He then more or less ran blood over his body in a chemical shower of sorts, and the blood seemed to almost... heal him? That must help with the regeneration process for the Espada, which would make sense given his current state, but even then it wouldn't be fast enough to counteract Ika's acid... The man’s skin seemed to be beyond thin at the shoulder and the right side of his face... You could see that across the man’s shoulders he had incurred at least second degree chemical burns or worse, and it was still dripping down his back... The Arrancar was barely capable of putting up a blood buffer to protect him from the over-abundance of circling Acid that made up Ika's patent ability, Acid Saturn...

As the Espada continued to make his move Ika smiled in his general direction as they were both closed in by the twenty foot wall of Acid he had formed. It wasn't thick sure, but it didn't really need to be at this point, after-all, it burned no matter how much touched you... Graven dodged by moving to the side in order to avoid Ika's Cero, but the acid and explosive splatter seemed to eat up a good portion of the left part of his body. He was at least covered in second degree burns on the majority of his body at this point, and the wear and tear of the battle was very clearly showing itself on the man’s face. As was the sweet look of doubt that seemingly crept out of nowhere to grace the Espada's face, though he was sure he'd try to no-sell it.

The man’s tail had made it past Ika's initial defense, but unfortunately for Graven, that meant that it was essentially covered in acid and as Ika looked into the man’s eyes, he yanked his arm up to expose the acid-weakened portion of the tail, and cleaved it off with one swing of his Zanpakuto, though it did succeed in parrying his initial Zanpakuto strike. Though the tail wasn't as powerful as a Zan, Ika found it far harder to cut through than he would have ever expected, especially given that it had already been weakened. "What's the matter Espada?! Not used to being overpowered?!" The man’s Blood Crescent had worked, and he took that opportunity to stand before Ika, about ten feet in front of him, using Sonido to remain proximal, but he was no longer within the ring and Ika put his acidic walls back down, as though he were inviting the man back inside.

The acidic rain seemed to bubble off the man’s umbrella, and Ika had it slowly begin to drip off as though it were real rain, but this would only last for a second... As the man Sonido'd back twenty feet to prepare his attack, Ika smiled in his general direction, as every drop of acid falling from the umbrella, would now launch at him from varying angles. The drops that were falling from the umbrella would be aimed at the eyes in order to blind the man permanently, and the drops that were on the ground would be launched in order to cling to the man’s legs. All others would be launched at his body in random splattering angles. Ika hoped that this would be enough to distract Graven from the attack, but if it wasn’t...

The man seemed to be locking on to Ika using Pequissa, and Ika knew that though he was no-selling it, he was certainly feeling the effects of the battle thus far. As the razor thin line appeared and started heading in Ika's direction, he could say little more than a muttered "shit." He had been trying to recuperate from the burns he had suffered mere seconds before, and as he tried to use Sonido to avoid the attack he noticed a ripping sensation in his left-arm, and then he noticed that his left arm, from the elbow down, had been summarily removed. He let out a pained grunt, and looked towards the man, as his arm dripped acidic blood to the ground with every beat of his heart... “This is what I get for toying with you eh? Whatever, I’ll show you how this REALLY works…” Ika had continued Sonidoing as his arm was severed from his body, and as such he was able to avoid the outwards shockwave of the attack, though it still sent him back a little bit as he hadn’t quite braced himself properly.

Beginning to use regeneration to form a new arm, Ika smiled slightly, and from the stub that was his arm from the elbow down, he formed an Acidic Scythe. The Serge Kinetic Constructs would prove their usefulness, and he would staunch the bleeding by blocking off where the blood could actually exit from. (Blood stoppage for dummies, clog that sumbitch!) He then smirked towards the man as he could see he was beginning to heal from the wounds on the front. That was of course, until the man would proceed to notice that there was more to this battle than he might think... The rain was about to let up, but on the final downpour Ika would once more take all Acid that was level with the shield or had an angle on him (So a lot) and Launch it towards Graven once more emphasizing the eyes, the throat, and the legs as primary targets though plenty was splattered towards the arm and stomach regions as well...

As the man seemed to think his regeneration was going to do him some good, Ika launched all the acid from the ground around him back onto it's place to stunt the regeneration if it found it's way home. The Acid was removed sure, but it was never actually destroyed, which was about the only way one could truly deal with it.. As the rain had made Ika's new backyard, Ika pushed the man towards the center of the acid stained field by Shunpoing to his left, and slashing at him with the acidic arm that was now serving the purpose of blood preserver, and acidic danger device, and the solid blade was slashed towards the mans rib-cage. Impact would cut the man pretty deep, and if ti was deflected the man would once again be subject to acidic splatter of the worst variety..

For the final act, Ika smirked ever so slightly and brought his arms up, as all acid within a 50 foot radius (so about half the current battlefield and about half the current acid on the field..) Began to become vapor, raising as vapor would, and maintaining the same burn it carried as a liquid.. The gas would be a little green in color, but the man would burn rather quickly, every little speck of gas, would burn as though it were the liquid.. He rose it quicker than normal gas and made it function more like steam.. Hoping to burn the Arrancar out with relative quickness.. "I've got more than you think Graven... you'll die for your confidence.. after all.. Hueco Mundo or otherwise, there's only one king.." Smiling as the acidic gas would proceed to follow the Arrancar around, Ika would finish his statement, "And it's about time you saw that it's ME!"

The man fired his Cero from the two-thirds of the tail he had left, and felt hundreds of pinpricks of acid fly in his general direction.. the ones hit his legs with near flawless precision, burning them like the man would undoubtedly be incapable of believing. Sure it would only impact the skin for now, but boy was it softening him up for Ika bit by bit by boring bit.. The chemicals flew towards his eyes and though he was lucky the first time, he wouldn't be as lucky if he just let it stain his view once more.. Thankfully for him, he was smart enough to put up a wall of blood to block the oncoming Acid as best he could, and thus he effectively protected his eyes..

The barrage had went through but Ika truly doubted that the man could be overly pleased with the damage he'd done. Sure he had gotten rid of Ika's arm, which was laying on the ground beside Ika, but he hadn't actually done much other than that, and seeing as Ika had effectively replaced his arm with an acidic scythe.. The man couldn't be happy with his chances by this point, and he could see that the man was glowing with rage and frustration both in equal measure.. A smile parted Ika's lips as the mans position was soon to be compromised yet again..

As Ika launched his last torrent of rain at the man every drop headed towards Graven with relative Impunity, the man couldn't use Gemolos to get away at this point, and he was clearly getting tired with every move he made. Ika was too for sure, but it was simply a very different scale.. he had been conserving energy relying on more practical means of combat, where as the Arrancar was using every trick he could find in his little bag of them.. If the man was hit it would surely end in his death, but he was smart and though his control over the Negation Wall was fading visibly, Ika watched as he used it to form a dome around himself, mostly protecting himself except for the few drops that struck his face, effectively burning the Espada once more where his skin was finally starting to heal..

As the Espada let his guard drop ever so slightly he was blindsided as Ika's Scythe cut into his side drawing blood once more, he had used Sonido to get away sure, but Ika was finding his mark once more.. Doubt was clearly continuing to flood the mans mind, his conscious was overwhelmed with thoughts of losing Ika was sure, and the fight was not going in Graven's favor at this point.. His Rieatsu was failing him, it seemed less dense, less tense, and more over lower quality.. He was being strained with the constant regeneration he was doing..

He wasn't smart enough to pace himself, where Ika was barely regenerating anything other than that one arm.. Unfortunately, the man wouldn't have time to decide what to do next before Ika would opt to flip his shit upside down once more.. The man was on the ropes, and Ika himself was unaware that he would have anything else in store and as such? He went for the kill.. The attack would be beyond risky given that the mist would effectively evaporate a lot of Ika's Acid that he had brought into play, but he had faith that it would work at least to some marginal extent.. If nothing else, it would add something else that the Espada had to worry about..

A green mist enveloped a circle about one hundred feet in in diameter all around as Ika turned lots of the liquid acid to a gaseous form. The mans defenses were penetrated, he was burning, his blood walls dissipated as his skin was continuously marred by the acidic gas.. He tried to Sonido to get out of the mist but it was to very little affect, his arm was burned nearly to a crisp from the acid. His teeth were grinding against themselves, he dropped to his knee and Ika would immediately Shunpo forwards and aim a punt towards his head to further drive the power gap home. "You should have just let me kill you earlier, we could have avoided all of this and you wouldn't be in such pain Espada.."

Ika would then Shunpo forwards to kick him once more, hopefully into the wall, "If you had just laid down like a good pup, I wouldn't have to do this.." As the man would look towards Ika, with eyes as defiant any he had ever seen, he stood up slowly, shaking and barely avoiding the stumble Ika was expecting.. "Oh, the dog still stands.. here I thought I had already put you down by sheer accident.." The man grinned as a fighter would in the thick of combat, before a new burst of Reitsu came from the mans body, effectively dissipating the acid that had begun to envelope him for burning purposes.. Unfortunately for him, Ika's trick wasn't over. Ika liquidated the acid, and launched it towards him once more, just as he had earlier, hoping for a similar or better result..

He was getting tired, he'd have to resort to.. yes.. This would be a first but.. He needed to dig deep for this one.. As the torrent darkened the sky and the blood fell in heaps, Ika couldn't help but smile. He formed acid once more and soon.. His body was enveloped with the body of a Hollow.. His sword was a tinge longer and larger in general.. His armor had thickened almost unbelievably, as it became covered in thick Heirro.. His smile crossed his mouth as one might expect.. His shielding took on the form of his Acid Armor.. "Let's end this Gravel Fel, the Cero Espada dies today.." Ika knew not of fear for any man or Hollow, nor Shinigami if they were feeling froggy.. He knew only of victory, and murder, and that was all he felt he would ever need to know.. It's all he'd have to for now as well..

Graven's Reiatsu reserves were running low, this much was an irrefutable truth, but Ika's were not too far behind.. The Espada's appearance was more animalistic than before, his hair was longer and his eyes looked as though they were dripping with blood.. His lower half was covered in snow white fur, and his hands and feet were clawed, and looked as though they could pry the flesh off of ten men in one strike.. His healing had sped up a bit as one might expect, and the callouses on his hands began to resemble the padding one might expect from paws.. His canine teeth graced his toothy smirk and his confidence was perhaps a little too heavy given the ass-kicking he had been receiving up to that point..

"Oh what, now you think because you're on your last leg you've accomplished something? Foolish Espada... beyond foolish.." The man walked forwards and began to speak about Ika as his hunting partner.. Foolish boy.. Ika would smirk in his general direction before speaking. "Hunting partner?.. You don't understand me Espada, not on your best day could you keep up with me in regards to a hunt, on your best day, you were always my prey.. and it's about time you realized that the hard way, pup!.." He then smiled, before looking towards him, the rain was blocked by essentially, an acidic umbrella and Ika's own Acid Armor which would more or less filter the blood and any other liquid off of him.. "Well, if you want to die sooner as opposed to later I'd be a bastard to deny you that privilege.."

The Espada's heart was beating at a rather rapid clip, his chest could nearly be seen moving with every second the battle went on but such anxiety was not a sign of strength, but of weakness.. Ika's heart knew not of excitement.. And it wouldn't know of it on this day either, his relative calm was only matched by his coldness.. But perhaps Ika was simply lying to himself, this fight was the most alive he'd felt in years.. And like that, Ika lent his conscious ever so slightly towards his Hollow side and well.. That would only lead to the amplification of Ika's worst characteristics, the ones that made him a killer, a maligned man.. an outcast, a pariah in every sense of the word but now.. Now this man would bare the brunt of it..

The man didn't seem to want this fight to end but as all good things had to, this would need to meet an end and in Ika's eyes, it would need to end now.. As the man charged forwards, Ika maintained Acid Saturn and formed a wall once more, hoping to force the man to part it with his blood. The Acidic gas that remained was fizzling against his skin but it was only the liquid acid that Ika was using now. As the man closed in with his right arm closed, Ika had already planned his attack.. He formed a cannon, a 30 by 30 blast of acid the second the man got in close, he would close off the walls and force the man to pick his poison.. Ika would tank the claw to his ribs if he had to but this man would be taking the equivalent of a Gran Rey Cero made of acid right to the front of his body if he did.. if he got out he looked like he'd at least be receiving 2nd degree burns.. This.. This could be the end of the fight.. Or it could be just the beginning..

The man was burning all over as he removed himself from the wall that was more or less Ika's version of an acid shower on the man. The kick had a lot of power behind it, but as the man went Segunda it didn't seem to matter much.. The man proceeded to crack his neck a bit while Ika was talking, seemingly waiting his turn like a good little pup.. The acid was beating batted away by the blood currently.. The man seemed to sigh softly as Ika spoke, before the ring of acid re-appeared of course, and well before it became a wall again.. He seemed to create a coating of blood to part it long enough to slip through.. The man swore to himself as he punctured Ika's ribs.. The man then formed a Cero Oscuras to deal with Ika's Gran Rey.. "Shit!" was all Ika could muster Shunpoing back as his attack released and caught the Cero Oscuras...

He was launched back 30 feet, at least.. And collecting himself from the ground he couldn't help but notice that his lungs had been punctured from the mans arms, and his mouth tasted of blood.. His body once more had sustained second degree burns from the neck down to his ankles.. He groaned slightly, pain was rampant.. He needed to stop the bleeding as best he could..Ika proceeded to form a club made of Acid with his Serge-Kinetic Constructs, but this was not for combat.. He grunted a bit and gritted his teeth, as he slowly shoved it through the hole that extended through him, and he snipped the edges a bit, hoping he had more or less made something that could stop the blood pouring out of him in the short term..

As Ika looked up towards the smoke, he noticed that the mans arm had been severed from above the elbow, just like Ika's.. "Hey buddy, need a hand?.." Ika couldn't help but laugh, but the bloody taste in his mouth didn't exactly appeal to him at this point.. He spit out some of the built up- blood in his mouth, and a tooth.. It'd regenerate too eventually.. He had at best 3rd degree burns on the bulk of the side of his body that was closest to the blast, and his Rietsu was still strong but he could tell it was waning more than he cared to admit.. Ika was trying to regenerate the holes in his side so that he would not bleed out, since he didn't really need lungs anyway.. The man was clearly preparing for something Ika couldn't afford to allow.. And his Regeneration was beginning to work on his arm a bit better, and the wound was clearly closed which for the most part eliminated his risk of blood-loss..

The mans back was clearly in pain and formed a temporary arm made out of blood, for whatever good that was going to do him... panting heavily and more or less gasping for air that he didn't actually need, Ika looked towards the man who clearly, had something up his sleeve.. It wouldn't matter now though.. He used Sonido to move forwards, "Bakudo 99, KIN" he would then hopefully have locked the man in position as he used Shunpo to go backwards, grabbing his arm and holding it.. "Good night! Hado 96, Itto Kaso!" Ika coughed up blood as he said this, and his arm turned to ash.. "Shit.." he then watched as the entire arena was plastered with what looked like fire, cleansing that arena.. Ika was blown against the wall, coughing up blood at a rather heavy rate.. No way the Espada had survived that.. he hoped.. He laid back against the wall.. Sword at his side, peering towards where the man once stood.. was that it?.. Was it over?..

As the Bakudo tied the Cero Espada down to the ground, Ika knew the deed was done.. This fight was over the second his arm turned to a charred black mess.. And as it did his arm regenerated, as he had been waiting for it to do.. The irony was great as he watched the man get blasted to oblivion, but not before launching a final Gran Rey Cero in Ika's direction, a final act of defiance.. Ika saw it coming and if not for the fact that he had recently entered Full hollow Form, he would be dead.. Thankfully he had the raw Reiatsu left to simply use Sonido to get away as the Gran Rey Cero propelled him forwards the slightest bit.. His ribs were starting to heal now finally, getting back to proper form.. The hole was starting to close since he had been holding his hand on it with healing Kidou.. He was drained.. At best, Ika had one or two attacks left in him.. 2 or 3 moves.. This man had taken him to the edge..

The man dropped his Zanpakuto having returned to his sealed form.. He fumbled for it, incapable of holding onto it it seemed. "Fights over Graven enough's enough. Let me  put an end to this.."Then he grabbed his sword and held it to his chest, Ika remembered hearing the vague norse references and figured that it was probably something religious.. He grabbed Graven's hands and opened them, placing the sword in his hands.. "Good fight old friend, for a pup you had some fight to ya.." Ika then coughed, again tasting his own blood and spitting it on the ground beside him, the ground hissed as the acidic saliva did it's best to dissolve it.. Ika was back to his normal, sealed form just as Graven was.. He removed his hand from healing his side for a brief second.. "Gonna put you out of your misery now.. Strike out and I'll end you without allowing for you to maintain your pride and dignity.. Valhalla awaits the tale of the king of Hollow's now sleep." And with that Ika formed a gun with his fingers and put it to Graven's head. "Hadou 4, Byakurai.. Good night."

#KO.

NEXT TIMEEEE ON DEATH BATTLE.

Just kidding. Good fight, I've said it in the chat but I just wanted to leave my thoughts on it here. It kept me invested despite the length which means at least in my eyes, it really was great. The result I think made us both look very good respectively, and yeah. You RPed very well, and improved over the course of the fight..

So, take solace in that.

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