Casually Sinister

[Divus]

The neutral purity of the white corridor was demolished as the darkly garbed figure entered, his boot cracking the rock beneath it with it's powerful heel. His uniform was torn, and dyed black, with the unmistakable odor of blood, so strong it sent a metallic taste through the mouths of those who smelt it, much like fresh blood, but cold and empty. This unmistakable character was obviously the almost infamous Quinta Espada; Divus. Although he was in the middle of the power range among espada, as numero cinco, his darker traits were well known among all. His dark eyes, their only possession being their empty gray pupils, scavenged for the purpose of Divus's visit. The walking avatar of murder embodied strolled about the room, grinding his black nails together to make crude scratching noises. A twisted smile stretched upon his face. "Numero Tres.... where are you?" Divus asked aloud, not really expecting an answer. He felt a superior reiatsu nearby, most likely the one he was searching for. She was not within his sight, and so Divus leaned against a wall, biding his time patiently as he waited.

[GoldenKitten]

Torre had been in a relatively good mood that day, few of the arrancar had asked anything of her or even approached. She attributed this to the recent lack of forwarding missions in the real world but that was just fine by her. The less she had to break her own code of honor the better and since most missions requested by the “leadership” tended to break that code it fell into an obvious culmination of “The less missions the better”.

Anyhow as such she found herself wandering the halls of Las Noches, Desperado and worse yet Calixta found her all to easily when she resided within her quarters. The harder she made it for them to locate her the more chance they'd just drop the mission on one of the other espada. She despised the foolish attacks they often asked committed and of course as had so far been kept an unknown amongst the other espada save Desperado she utterly refused the killing of innocents. Of course this as mentioned was only known by their leader, he had kept her little secret in exchange for her cooperation in future attacks upon the shinigami.

She of course loathed this agreement but the simple fact was that though she hated the other arrancar, they were also the only ones who she truly fit in with. Though their personalities varied considerably the bottom line was that it was the only place where she was not ostracized or even hunted. She denied these were her reasons simply telling herself that if she tried to leave she would be hunted but in the end that wasn't her main concern, she was far to powerful for such a small matter to worry her. In reality it was because Torre didn't want to be alone, just like anyone else.

Alas despite these feelings she also found herself despising those she tried to be close with. Thus did a sort of sickness float over her when she heard a particular voice wafting through the wind, worse yet it seemed to be calling for her. It was Divus, the cinco espada and how she despised him and any of his kind. Oh he certainly put on a friendly face to his allies and she generally returned a false visage of the same demeanor as to avoid unnecessary conflict but in her heart of hearts she loathed him perhaps more than any other espada aside from Calixta and her dog Asmodeus. Kind as his front face might have been Divus embodied all she refused to commit in the flesh. He tortured and maimed and killed, he was indiscriminate and in her eyes at the very least had no form of honor. There was a wafting darkness about him and try as he might she could see through him on a level she doubted few other arrancar would even have acknowledged, so confined in their own little worlds of destruction were they that such evils might go unseen to them.

But that was beside the point and regardless of her feeling she gave a single sigh and then put on her happy face that she gave her “comrades”. It wasn't a joyous smile by any regards but it was a warm greeting one at the very least. She walked down the long hall she had moments ago been slowly pacing and exited out into a large room against one wall which the source of the foul energies contaminating the air leaned. She gave him an incredulous gaze momentarily before making her way across the open floor to stand before him. She didn't bother to offer her hand in greetings or any other such introduction but then with this man she doubted that was necessary. If he was looking for her she highly doubted it was to have an idle conversation about the never changing weather out in the white desert of Hueco Mundo. There were three reasons espada came together, to plot, to kill and on the rare occasion to challenge each other. She didn't know which of these Divus approached with but she would no doubt find out soon.

“Good day Divus...what can I do for you?”

She felt her previously good mood draining quickly.

[Divus]

Divus smirked at Torre's greeting. Despite her warm face, the anguish behind it was unmistakable, especially to a predatory soul like Divus. "Oh, well, why else would I seek out one of my dear friends?" Divus spoke with his malevolent, darkness-shrouded smirk. "I'm concerned for your well being." Divus added, maintaining his strange and almost sickeningly dark aura with consummate ease. "No doubt, your power shames mine and many others, yet..." Divus continued, removing the dragon skull from his belt, prying the clutching fingers off his belt that extended from it's mouth. "... Even the sharpest of the ten swords will grow rusty without practice." Divus spoke, his smile growing more twisted yet. The mouth of the skull opened, and Divus clutched the bone arm within it. A large, twisted metal blade quickly grew from the skull, but it was dull, obviously suited for training. From the looks of it, it couldn't even cut paper. "I'd be manic with joy if you'd honor me with a spar, to ease my worries." Divus finished, his dark smile growing ever more twisted. His evil presence began to fill the room.

[GoldenKitten]

The tone in her fellow espadas voice did not go unnoticed by the tres espada but she chose to ignore it. Torre watched Divus prepare himself for the battle he was obviously looking for. The option hadn't been beyond the scope of Torre's plausible scenarios but it was certainly one of the rarer choices a fellow espada looked for, especially in her. She was in the perfect position to avoid such confrontations, the uno espada and the tres espada were rarely challenged. All the lower numbers loved to have at one another and the occasional usurper first tried their skills out on the dos espada. However few of these attackers saw fit to go through the tres espada and most of those comfortable in their weak position never saw to challenge someone of her skill. After all there was something about that magical “Top Three” that stuck in peoples brains, perhaps through long lives of competition where the top three are usually awarded and considered the best, even in death few people saw fit to challenge such a triumvirate. Yet here before her was one such challenge.

Oh sure he hid behind the false prospect of a training bout but the challenge was clear enough. In truth Torre cared little about her position within the hierarchy of Las Noches but she also realized the benefits it brought. Amongst the previously mentioned items it also meant she was never questioned, she was only able to continue working with her “softer” touch for innocents by being above common questioning. Her position as the tres espada allowed this and it had been the foundation upon which she had rationalized her aggressive response to previous challenges. This response was often surprising to her challengers as though the true extent of her leniency was not made known she was still widely regarded as the kindest and softest of the espada, which was of course true. What she was not however was weak, and hundreds of years of iron will crushing her instinctive hollow side within her had given her a harsh battle persona. She preferred to be kind, but she had developed the honor and the code of a warrior and when this honor was challenged she responded as any warrior would.

Torres demeanor did not immediately change but there was a detectable murmur in the surrounding reiatsu that constantly leaked from her body. She rolled her head in its socket and began backing slowly away from Divus while giving out one long sigh. Reaching behind her back as she finished putting a slight gap of a few meters between them she lightly wrapped her left hand around the hilt of her massive cleaver, the hilt in itself was longer than Divus entire weapon. She brought her eyes lazily up to meet the other espadas gaze and her eyes rolled slowly over him in no coordinated fashion though in reality she was sizing up every immediate weakness he had.

“Seriously huh?” She commented quietly.

Her reiatsu immediately burst and rocketed to enormous levels though to show her control over her power none of it was visually impressive, instead all focused within her and not leaking out. The crevices in her armor and along the edge of her blade glowed a deep purple for a moment before dissipating as the only sign as to what was happening, as they dissipated her eyes began burning with an inner-purple, a sight usually reserved when facing an enemy she had particular disdain for. She wrapped her hand firmly around her cleavers hilt and them whipped it around and to her side, slamming it into the ground next to her whereupon she spun it over to its dull side though unlike Divus blade even this blunt side was still quite dangerous. The impact of the blade hitting the ground formed a huge crater in the tile there and a blast of air and debris was sent out from the simple motion. Shards of rock flew past Divus while strong gusts blew past him and in the meantime blew Torres hair up into the air while she tilted her head back and stared him down with her glowing eyes. As the winds dissipated she brought one hand up in front of her face and nonchalantly tossed the gauntleted hand out toward him as if to say he was nothing, she then spoke in a far firmer voice than before.

“If that is your wish Cinco espada, you may commence your attempt.”

[Divus]

Divus and his expression did not change the slighest, despite the waves of powerful reiatsu, and the shards of rock that zoomed past him as Torre formed the large crater with only a single move. Divus was well aware of his opponent's strength, superior to his own; yet he had no care what so ever. "Oho, that is an impressive weapon you have there..." Divus commented, smirking. His hair and pupils began to slowly turn red. "... Be gentle with me, I bruise easily." Divus spoke jokingly. His own blade began to grow, although not quite to the extent of size of Torre's, it was certainly much larger and broader. The skull grew as well, sprouting several out of it that covered Divus's arm like a gauntlet, closing their mouths, yet not piercing his skin; they had merged with his arm. His hair and pupils then finally took a complete shade of red, and the excitement could be felt in his reiatsu. Raising his weapon slightly above the shoulder and aiming it forward, while moving his right knee in front of his left, he placed his left hand an inch above his right shoulder; a strange stance of the Shiro Tennma Kenjutsu. He seemed to be waiting patiently, showing no emotion in his facial expression, only the twisted malicious darkness shrouding the entirety of him could be seen in it.

[GoldenKitten]

Locked and moved to dead threads.