It seemed to surprise the Arrancar, the fact that Sumoki had opted to take a more tactical approach was clearly not a part of his overarching grand plan or whatever. The man blew a hole through the ground, falling through it before entering his Resurrection. His Reiatsu poured out and Sumoki was immediately caught off guard by it. He gasped, visibly a bit shaken by the display before quickly recomposing himself. This was an Espada.. This is what they were capable of, this is what they felt like.. What the hell had his Captains been dealing with all these years?.. Had they really spent their spare time dealing with beings such as this?..

He looked to his Zan Spirit for wisdom, waiting for it to whisper something meaningful and perhaps even helpful into his ear. He stared at it, optimistic that it may finally come in clutch for him as it appeared before him brandishing a fireman's helmet and boots. It was a pair, black as coal. "Only you can prevent wildfires.."

A small red burst of anger appeared above Sumoki's head, and a fit of smoke and steam poured out of his ears. "YOU MOTHERFUCKER!" It was around this time the man burst out of his hole, rock smashing it's way through as shards of earth launched their way towards Sumoki. One scratched Sumoki's arm, and another piece found itself lodged in his calf. He grimaced, letting them fall out as he Shunpo'd towards the left, throwing out a smoke ball as he did this to cover his movement. "Alright.. gotta think.."

Wayland listened as the Shinigami was taken aback by his sudden actions as he let out a roar of rage. He was able to tell that one of the shards of earth was able to connect with its target and lodged itself in his body. Wayland decided that he would let the battle end in in the next few minutes after he had pushed the Shinigami to the brink of death. Only then would this man be worthy of his role in Wayland's plan.

Wasting no time, Wayland immediately activated his Slag on the earth chunk stuck within his opponent. The man would feel the shard rapidly heat up before unleashing an explosion 1/4 the size of a Cero but with the same amount of power. Wayland knew that even if his ability fully connected it wouldn't be enough to push the man where he needed to be. In response to this notion, Wayland stopped his right foot onto the pillar of earth below him causing a humanoid made of earth to burst forth from the ground completely inanimate. In succession, Wayland used his Smithing to reconfigure the material the humanoid was made out of it to remove most of the impurities leaving behind a humanoid of mostly iron. Wayland then placed his hand on the humanoid which immediately came to life with a jolt. From the smoke cloud below, a fleet of rock based Crucible replicas floated upward around the pair and began to orbit them. The humanoid quickly snatched one of the rock war hammers from the air and swung it over its shoulder as it and Wayland peered down into the smoke.

"Go now and make him worthy."

After Wayland finished this order the humanoid stepped forward sending a signal down the stone pillar to activate Smithing on the ground below. This caused the earth in the immediate area to pulse in a wave like manner which created a strong wind that would surely interfere with the smoke to some degree. The humanoid then began walking forward into the air as slabs or rock rose to meet its feet. How would the Shinigami respond to an entire army made of the environment?

The earth chunk exploded as Sumoki went to remove it, seemingly dealing a bit of damage on the way out and burning him but it wasn't enough to worry about. Everything was still in tact and for now he could move.He did have to give the pain a moment to register, seemingly taking it in with the rest of his feelings presently before advancing. Sumoki saw the army of earth appear beneath him, the rocks coming to life and dawning their arsenals were truly something to behold and the dispersal of his smoke made for a particularly annoying unveiling. Thankfully, he had a back-up plan and it was a bit harder to interrupt. Sumoki Shunpo'd twice into the air to ensure some distance from the ground below, he stuck his tongue out, jovially pointing at the Arrancar's army. "Come now and make me worthy eh!? Ha! Like you could ever!"

Sumoki twirled his two knives around in his hands before beckoning the Espada onward. "Let's get this over with, one on one Espada."

More streams of Reiryoku began to surge into Wayland as target seemed to brush off the damage from his Slag. The iron humanoid tracked the Shinigami as the smoke dispersed revealing his location. As the humanoid beared down on its target a formation of stone hammers swung at around him creating an arc 25 meters to either of its sides. Just as the humanoid was above the man several of the stone hammers launched downward colliding with the ground. On contact, the hammers further spread Wayland's influence as the earth around the Shinigami cracked and split upward toward him in jagged segments. During this time, the humanoid had leapt from the floating stone slabs, that he had walked across, downward while bringing its own stone hammer overheard to strike the Shinigami. This series of attacks was further extended by the stone slabs themselves elongating into 10 centimeter in diameter spears that followed closely behind the humanoid at frightening speeds.

As Wayland's humanoid initiated the infal standoff, Wayland once again used Cast Die to construct a second, identical humanoid. The second humanoid and Wayland leapt downward to the the ground before Wayland grabbed the humanoid's arm and rapidly spun before launching it toward the Shinigami. However, about 10 meters out, the second humanoid smashed into the ground and vanished and Wayland had used a series of Sonidos to appear 25 meters behind the Shinigami as additional hammers continued to rise from the ground.

"Won't you feel a greater sense of accomplishment if you dealing with an army instead of just one man?"

Reiryoku began to surge through the Espada as Sumoki seemingly brushed off any damage he had received from the prior attack. The man tracked Sumoki as the Smoke unveiled him, seemingly prompting him to launch his entire arsenal in Sumoki's general direction. Stone hammers swung down at him, prompting Sumoki to Shunpo out and up from the scene of the immediate collision in order to avoid it. Hammers struck the ground below as Sumoki began to once more veil himself in smoke, and this prompted Sumoki to think a bit more critically about how we gas going to approach the remaining attacks. The series of attacks to follow was frightening, but Sumoki had his out. He would wait for the man, and just as he arrived..

Sumoki began to Shunpo out of the smoke as he ignited the 100 meter cloud with a Gran Rey Explosion. All the hammers and spears and even the man within would be scorched with a Gran Rey Cero level of damage, and Sumoki himself was no exception to this. His legs were charred, having received no less than 1st degree burns and in some spots they were closing in on second degree. His body had avoided some of the explosion through the Shunpo but his lower torso had still bore the brunt of it and he found himself sprawled out on the sands below, barely able to lift himself. The man did some dance routine, a vanishing act and a series of Sonido's that didn't seem to accomplish much other than misdirection as Sumoki once more opted to obscure himself in smoke. As the hammers rose from the ground Sumoki would send the burning ashes from his previous ignition towards the man, trying to scorch what was left of him if possible.

This fight needed to end, and soon..

As the Shinigami began his evasive actions, he unleashed a monstrous explosion just was Wayland and the first humanoid neared the man. The humanoid was immediately destroyed but Wayland had just enough time to react. On instinct, Wayland moved one of the stone hammers in front of him and rapidly reconfigured it to a aorbround himself while simultaneously activating Temper on it. Although he didn't have enough time to stack Temper to fully mitigate the explosion's damage, he was able to cancel a Cero's worth of it as the tempered dome gave way at the last second leaving Wayland with burns and damage that started to heal thanks to his high-speed regeneration.

In the next moments the Shinigami attempted a counter attack as Wayland used Sonido to move around him while continually healing. Although he was injured his counterpart was far worse off. It came as no surprise that the man veiled himself in smoke again and in fact Wayland had anticipated it. Despite sustaining considerable damage, the Shinigami was still a force to be reckoned with as he launched the burning ashes from the previous attack towards Wayland and so the time came. The humanoid that had embedded itself in underground before the final engagement began had spread Wayland's influence to encompass the area under both Wayland and the Shinigami. The earth shook briefly before a pillar of stone erupted from under Wayland launching him into the air over the incoming ash that collided with the base of the pillar releasing a burst of vapors as it began to melt the rock. At the same time several the underground humanoid rapidly resurfaced beneath the Shinigami whose location was revealed thanks to his contact with the ground below him. The humanoid wrapped its arms around the man's waist shooting the pair into the air and out of the smoke putting them at the same altitude as the incoming Wayland.

As the Shinigami would look to Wayland he would see a horrifying sight. Wayland had charged a Cero Oscuras in his right hand and was reaching towards the man's head. Wayland's hand clasped its target's skull as black ropes of Reiryoku swarmed violently around it. Wayland transferred his momentum into the man ripping him from the humanoid's arms as it shattered into fragments that fell from the sky leaving Wayland and the Shinigami hurdling downward. Just as the duo were about to make contact with the sand, Wayland threw the Shinigami about 20 meters away from him and discharged the Cero Oscuras out to the right easily obliterating an entire group of sand dunes. Wayland closed his eyes and let out a breath as he released his Resurrection and pulled open his coat exposing his chest.

"That was quite a magnificent battle I must say but I'm afraid things have drawn to a close. Now serve your purpose and be the tool that controls my chaos."

Wayland looked at the man silently and awaited his fate.

Sumoki had been launched around and thrown around in this fight and seemingly the hits were not going to cease. As he was launched into the air he felt the man trying to intercept him. Somehow the man honed in on his position through the smoke, it was a fancy trick but Sumoki knew one that was fancier still. As the man went for his big combo throw featuring a Cero Oscuras Sumoki simply vanished in an explosion of ash and smoke, charring the man as he tried to make contact and sending Sumoki barreling towards the smoke that had accumulated several meters away from their current position. Sumoki Shunpo'd back and away, watching as the Cero Oscuras launched itself towards the sand dunes. What a fucking disaster.. And then, the real weird moment.

The Espada was inviting Sumoki to kill him, just to tear him asunder and let this whole thing end. It was an invitation that was well received and Sumoki immediately Shunpo'd forward, buring both daggers up through the mans chin. What a weird fucking battle this had turned out to be..

-thread end-