For Germans who like card games..

A small trickle of cigarette smoke wafted through the air, lightly obscuring Ika's face while announcing his arrival to the battlefield before him. The haze of night and blood stained the air something fierce, and the only thing shining through it was the light smile of a man all too familiar with the stench. "These Quincies sure do know how to put on a show eh?.."

He took another drag off his cigarette, slightly moving his head to the left to dodge the oncoming arrow from a Quincy who was feeling luckier than they should've. A wicked gleam filled Ika's eye to the brim as he flipped a card up in his hand, the glint of the fire catching the Quincies attention as he Shunpo'd behind the man. "To think a soldier such as you could bother to feel lucky on a day such as this. Perish for it."

As Ika finished whispering into the man's ear the card would come back like a boomerang, ripping through the Quincies chest before gently depositing itself into Ika's hand. A satisfied smile formed across Ika's face as the man's body fell to the ground and sporadically sputtered its last petrified convulsions. He used the man's body as a make-shift chair, sitting on it with his elbows on his knees as he waited for something more interesting to catch his eye. Hopefully, an opponent worth a few minutes of his time.

Johan clicked his tongue in annoyance at the rash move the Quincy had made. He'd very explicitly told them not to attack until the threat the Shinigami posed was properly assessed. With a little Hirenkyaku action, the German Quincy stood before Ika and gave him something of an appraising look. His gaze flicked over to the now-dead soldier and he sighed, sounding much like a father learning his child isn't doing well in school.

"Young and rash, it would've been the death of him eventually. While it galls me to say this, I suppose I can look on the bright side and say you've done me a favor. That attitude would've gotten far more people killed in the long run." Johan's lips curled slightly in distaste. "Dummkopf. In any case, Shinigami." Johan held a hand out, his hand cannon materializing with the sounds of shattering glass and bursts of light. Even for this time period, the piece appeared rather advanced. Though that was really more Johan's aesthetic choice. How was he to know that it was a much more efficient gun design? "My name is Johan. Johan Dämmerung. I would be... Honored, if you were to grace me with your name."

Ika looked up lazily, loading a card in his sleeve as the Quincy began to slowly but surely appraise the situation in front of him. It was nice to meet someone who wasn't interested in shooting first and asking questions later, hell the man seemed understanding in regards to the corpse Ika was currently using as a seat. "Arrogance is the undoing of weaker men, that's been true since the beginning of time. Just a shame he couldn't learn it before it cost him."

By this point, Ika's eyes had been drawn to the technological marvel forming in the Quincies hand, it was a gun instead of a bow but it appeared to be far ahead of it's time, it was an impressive sight to say the very least. "You want the honor of hearing my name, yet I don't see much reason to give that to you." Ika stood up, using his back leg to kick the body behind him aside. He took another drag off his cigarette before tossing it towards the dead Quincies body, igniting it with a snap of his fingers as it slowly began to melt away. "But I suppose since you were nice enough to give me something to do I'll tell you. My name is Ika Mazi. Let's get this over with, shall we?"

"Ah... This could be a problem." Johan remarked to himself, his German accent giving his words a noticeably guttural tone to them. This man, Ika, had very easily melted the body of his now-deceased subordinate. Granted, anyone with a decent level of spiritual power could do that. However, what got the sweat really beading on the back of Johan's neck was this guy's power. The quality and density of his Reiatsu was far higher than he had any ability to handle normally. Dammit! Johan twitched his eyelids, his gaze focused over Ika's shoulder where the rest of his team sat some distance away. Not far enough, in his opinion. With his signal for them to skedaddle properly communicated, Johan weighed his options.

Outrun him? Unfeasible. Tie him down for at least a bit of time? Unfortunately, it was looking like that was gonna be the case here. "Here I am, acting this way. Tch, I'm no guardian angel though..." Johan decided to start things off simply, forming a mirror of Reishi behind Ika and firing a single bullet right at the mirror. He knew it was well-within Ika's capabilities to dodge such a thing, his only hope was to continuously catch the shinigami by surprise, force him to adapt and stay on the back foot. Hence, should the bullet be dodged it would simply redirect to Ika's next location once pinging off the mirror. Just to be safe, Johan created 2 more mirrors behind him and fired a couple shots at them as well. For most, this level of precision and timing would be nigh impossible. For him though, it was child's play.

It seemed that the reality of the situation had just begun to hit the Quincy, his eyes widened and his accent became thick with concern, guttural in it's nature and sound. Ika's spiritual pressure wasn't his greatest attribute, but it was in excess of anything this Quincy had likely been able to deal with in his time in the Human World, yet it seemed that Johan was more interested in looking through Ika towards..

Aha, his team.

Ika turned around, waving hello at the Quincy behind him as a card began to form in his hand, ready to be cast in their direction to obliterate them on impact. Thankfully for them, the card found an arrow lodged through it, much to Ika's very apparent chagrin. "Now friend, I was just going to startle them a little and you've ruined that for me. I-"

Within less than second two more arrows redirected towards him, forcing Ika to slice one with the card remaining in his hand before destroying the other as it was on it's way out the opposite mirror by throwing said card in it's direction. Ika's face was now gripped less with amusement, and more irritation. "Frankly, I think I've already run out of patience for these games Quincy. Let's see if your team can escape before you join your friend there in death.

Ika immediately Shunpo'd forward, throwing a punch at the mans stomach at full force before coming up the pipe with a knee aimed at the Quincies jaw. If either or both of these strikes hit, the Quincy would almost certainly have been sent flying. "Show me what you've got, Quincy."

"Tch." Johan clicked his tongue in frustration as Ika very easily sniffed out his intentions. Granted, someone this high-ranking was bound to be perceptive. Being aware of your surroundings was important for beings who could fly, and therefore fight in three dimensions. Especially in this one's case, as he seemed to fight with... Flaming playing cards? That had to take the cake for the most bizarre Zanpakuto he had ever seen, and Johan had killed his fair share of Shinigami along with the old woman.

Ika was fast, that was for sure. The whiplash of Johan's thoughts was almost as great as how he was about to feel. Sure, he managed to avoid a body-blow, but the follow-up knee to the jaw was devastating. Johan flew backwards, somersaulting in the air before managing to create another small platform of Reishi under his feet, ending his flight. Turning to the side with bloody lips, Johan spit out a couple teeth. He'd been caught off-guard, a mistake he'd certainly need to avoid. Anyone who's body was even a bit less sturdy than his would likely have teeth shards in their brain. Cycling the energy in his body, Johan activated Blut Vene, his skin glowing with the criss-crossing blue lines before he drew a Seele Schneider and pointed it at the Shinigami. "That all you got? Frankly, I'm disappointed." Johan followed his taunt up by firing a couple Heilige Pfeil right at Ika, and then fired one in each direction he could think of being approached. Below, above, behind, each with a mirror to bounce the bullet back at his opponent.

Ika figured the next offensive would be a bit more pronounced, particularly when the man proceeded to be forced to spit out his teeth. The site of blood and attrition was enough to bring Ika a bit more excitement, but he wasn't dumb enough to play this game without having an answer. Ika Shunpo'd into his face, but was instantly struck by an arrow coming down from a mirror above him. A grimace marked Ika's face, and he immediately decided to Shunpo back out and to the left, dropping a card down in front of the Quincy as the smoke from the now singed ground began to work it's way up into the air around the Quincy. "Join me for a hand Quincy.."

By this point, Ika would continue to burn the ground around the Quincy's feet, allowing his own mirrors to coral the smoke towards his nostrils and once the plan worked, well, he was going to be seeing some crazy shit.. Five Ika's would appear, one at all angles, and the hope was this would give Ika a much easier path to victory. "If you keep firing like a drunken fool, I won't even need all 52 cards to get rid of you, what a shame that would be eh?.."

Johan coughed as the smoke foul smoke wafted into his nostrils, making his eyes water a little as he was forced to inhale the noxious fumes from the Shinigami's weapon. Immediately, his vision blurred for a moment before a series of five Ikas appeared, surrounding him. His mind began to race, trying to figure out how this had occurred. Shinigami were well known for their order, training, and discipline. They had honed their abilities to the absolute limit, particularly their movement techniques. This sort of speed-based illusion wasn't likely to work on him, however. Focusing on his sense, Johan felt a sort of swimming disorientation. He could vaguely sense the direction ika was in - left, he was fairly sure - but whatever was in that smoke had temporarily fucked with his senses. Clicking his tongue, Johan performed a hirenkyaku up into the air, creating a new mirror below him and firing off five Hieiige Pfeil to try and redirect the bullets towards his opponent. However, his aim was likely to be off as his mirrors' aiming capabilities were tied so directly to his insane sensory power.

All five of the Ika's Johan would be seeing were currently laughing, and as he Hirenyaku'd into the air Ika was almost certain to follow as the arrow Johan had launched was just off course enough to be disregarded for a frontal assault. Ika would launch one of his cards at the Quincy's center-mass, hoping that his disorientation from the other delusions he was currently dealing with would be enough to render him less effective, and less capable of actually dealing with them.

Ika for his own part in this was simply baiting out an option, whether the move hit or not he was almost certain that the Quincy was going to have to create some meager level of separation, and Ika would reciprocate by Shunpoing right back on top of the Quincy before he could get his goofy mirror setup back up and running in an advantageous position. Upon landing wherever the hell Johan would move himself to (even if it was back to where he already started) Ika would go for a straight kick at the mans chin, hoping to yet again push him back so he could pounce on him. The key now was to stop him from setting his base, and that was exactly what Ika intended to do.

Johan couldn't deny it - he was getting beat into the dirt. This psychedelic was wrecking havoc on his ability to actually.... Do anything. The illusory Ikas were laughing at him, and it was grating his nerves. He was jockeying for position with the Shinigami, and the man wasn't granting him an inch, he was being pushed backwards more and more. Well that ended here. Johan grit his teeth, drawing deep into the wellspring of power from within. With a cry, His skin first began to cover itself with jagged blue lines, just barely in time for when the card slammed into his midsection. His clothes had a very distinct hole there burnt into them, and his skin was looking a little crispy, but otherwise he was fine. The real surprise was when silver flames formed around his body before dispersing to reveal glowing silver plate armor covering his body.

Unfortunately, all that standing still got him a solid kick in the chin, the layers of physical protection mitigated the damage somewhat but Johan still felt the cracks in his jaw. Luckily for him, Ika was right where he wanted him. Through the fading haze of the hallucinagenic smoke, Johan fired off five shots towards the Shinigami in rapid succession, all clustered together enough to bounce off the mirror he formed behind them. Granted, the angle was a little off so whether or not he hit the man was a toss-up.

Techniques Used:

The man had ascended into his Letz Stil, silver flames adorned his body to announce his change in form but Ika found himself uniquely undeterred. The five Ika's stepped back, two of them being picked off by the arrows fired off by the Quincy before him. One of the arrows clipped the real Ika, slicing his calf open in a really ugly way but it wasn't so bad that Ika couldn't grit his teeth and bare it. He used this moment to appear behind the Quincy, slinging two cards at the mans shoulders hoping to do some damage from behind. Ika was on cruise control by this point, no resistance offered by the Quincy to this point had been worthy of note and as such he decided that it was probably time to end things..

Both cards returned to his hands, forming in front of him as a twinkle appeared in Ika's eye, flames floated into the air, forming a thick cloud of smoke which promptly spelled out. "You're dead"

The hope was pretty obvious, he wanted to psych the Quincy out and end this soon. Staying in a deathmatch like this longer than you had to was never a good decision, and so Ika found himself preparing to go for the kill. "I won't even need 52 of these cards to send you to the grave, Quincy."

Johan tried to twist his body to avoid the cards, but was only partially successful. The thin rectangles sliced through his armor like paper, a clear testament to their power, even ripping through his Vene-enforced skin on his left shoulder, though Johan managed to keep the right shoulder mostly intact. Unfortunately, the armor there was cleanly ripped through as well. The wound was pretty bad, he would bleed out fairly quickly if he didn't either end this or escape somehow, and the former option was highly unlikely.

"So, it comes to this then?!" Johan cried out through a snarling grin, raising his weapon one more time and firing off a single, massive, Gran-Rey burst of energy. Not willing to simply leave it at that, Johan formed a curved lens in the trajectory of the mirror, the bolt seeming to compress down into a thing line as it's power seemed to almost double, absorbing ambient energy as it passed through the glass. And just ot be safe, the Quincy formed a reflective mirror in the bolt's path as well. "Dance for me, Shinigami!"

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