It was Dawn, the sun was just beginning to rise and it's ray reflected on a certain man, the man was tall, wearing a well made suit with a white shirt inside, a black blazers on the suit and a black gloves, a white cross on his neck which carried an insignia of his race(W), a white Mask covering his face with the same Insignia. 

The new morning dew dropped on his polished shoe as the man who is known as a being that hunts good and bad, anywhere his Emperor pointed his sword that was where he went, he was the Leader of the First Jagdarmee, the Jagdanführer; Julian Brant.

Julian Brant inhaled the morning air for the very first time in almost 200 years. Much had changed since his arrival, he was the person unleashed to calm a calamity down, he is the one the Boogeyman fears, anywhere he goes was left with total destruction. Julian had been asleep for about 500 years because he was not needed, but now he is needed.

His feet stepped on the desert sands, the aridity was apparent and Julian could take in the dry air. Having teleported himself to his present location with the Sun gate's aid, his eyes scanned the area for his target. Was it near, or close? Time will tell.

The order had come in with all the urgency of a blazing inferno - or at least, that's what it felt like as the overly-bright screen of his cell lit up to scorch his retinas as he was about to check the time. It was a tragic end to an otherwise quiet night of patrolling. Pursing his lips and sliding a finger behind the rim of his goggles to scratch at the deep bag under his left eye, Takasugi mourned the potential loss of his usual resting hours. It was a priority 2 message, delivered with all the bells and whistles he would come to expect of a minor incursion - the contents however, had him squinting as the sun gradually came up over the horizon.

An entity of considerable strength had been detected emerging from seemingly nowhere some miles south of the great Nile, far into the reaches of the Sahara. It hadn't moved location, and its intention was unknown, though the message speculated it was likely to be some sort of hollow. Takasugi was to investigate and, where absolutely necessary, intervene until such a time the level of threat could be accurately designated. The message then went on to instruct that, should the target be Quincy, they be eliminated with extreme prejudice. Takasugi sighed and cracked his neck, the dull thumping ache behind his eyes threatening a day of discomfort.

Summoning a Senkaimon, he stepped through the Dangai and into the material world of the living. High above the sands he slowly turned around in midair to analyse his surroundings - with dunes on all sides, and the cool evening air rapidly giving way to the heatwave of the day, he was reminded that he didn't really 'do' sand. His target, though, appeared to be entirely unbothered as he stood atop a dune a fair distance away. From his vantage point, it became clear to him that his day was about to get a hell of a lot worse. He called out in the near-silence as he dropped to the ground, the sand underfoot shifting with a whisper. "Let it be known I have nothing against you, friend. I have my orders, as you no doubt have yours!"

A few minutes after his arrival, a being whom he could not sense appeared before him, at about 100m away from his current location. His eyes squinted and his right brow raised unintentionally, however his interest was peaked. Well that was until the man spoke and his demeanor was colored dark.

"Such Hubris, You sound like I am at your mercy. I'll give you a minute to call for backup."

Julian said, as his icy voice rang across the desert field. He had been angered by the man's hubris. But his patience prevailed over his thirst for the man's blood. A giant bow would manifest itself before him and Julian waited for the Man's decision to call for backup.

"Just stating facts my friend." Takasugi responded, rolling his shoulders. Something almost familiar sparked under his skin at the idea of intentionally antagonizing his adversary - a faded memory of a time when he answered to a hardened criminal as a family man through and through with little by way of conscience. He forced the feeling aside, duty, honor and responsibility taking its place. The quiet distress he felt when he realised it didn't quite leave him feeling as warm and energised didn't quite make it to his face, which remained aloof and neutral as he took a step forwards towards his enemy.

"Spiritual combat is no place for a human, Quincy as you are. My orders are clear - exterminate you. If, however, you were to simply vanish, that too would be acceptable."

Takasugi watched as a giant beast of a bow materialized in the Quincy's outstretched hand, and he raised an eyebrow. It was an impressive specimen, far larger than the typical weapon of the Quincy, and with it came a potential draw strength that might easy put others to shame. He whistled lowly to himself, the same phantom excitement he felt before rising in him alongside the level-headed discipline that had been beaten into him in the Academy. It tasted far sweeter than it should have, by rights. By his side, his fingers twitched, itching to move.

"Impressive. Very impressive." He meant the words, too. There wasn't an ounce of sarcasm to be found, the sentiment instead subtly respectful. "Though your offer for backup is generous, I feel you're underestimating me slightly. Oh well."

Takasugi measured the distance between him and the Quincy with a slow exhale of breath. He calculated the energy output he would need to move well and truly clear of whatever arrow might be fired- so long as it was standard, anyway. He had heard tales of the Quincy possessing a wide variety of techniques, and it was clear by the sheer monstrosity of the other produced that he needed to add additional buffer to his predictions. He decided he would wait to release his Shikai, wait for the other to make the first move... wait and see what could be seen, as much as he was able.

He did not need his warning, they never do actually, a fact that has been made known to the man many times over. Julian raised a brow as the man before him stood in awe of his bow.

"Blame your ignorance."

Julian said with a steady voice, his Blut Artery activated upon manifesting his Bow, he would let loose 200 arrows made entirely of reishi. With his environment possessing abundant reishi, Julian lacked no means for attack.

His arrows blurred as it moved so fast that it could tag even the most skilled master in shunpo, It's destructive power was enough to reshape a mountain. If the Shinigami was hit, it could be devastating.

Still, he was not done yet, the 200 arrows he released were only meant to serve as a distraction, and cover His opponent from reading his true intention. Julian would employ the full extent of his god-step, fully showing his expert use of his movement and in one burst, he would appear beside the Shinigami after his arrows had already served it's purpose, the Jagdanführer would whip his hand in an attempt to smash it into the Shinigami's left rib using his right fist. His fist packed enough power to blow away a truck in one go.

With enough energy gathered and concentrated to aid in his maneuver, Takasugi moved as a blur directly upwards towards the sky. His natural speed, combined with his masterful control over shunpo and his near-instinctual ability to gather spirit particles under his feet left something of a spectacle to behold. He was aware he had many, many weaknesses, and his overall prowess as a Captain was to be considered lacking in more than a few areas, but he prided himself on being in the absolute highest percentile of the Gotei leadership when it came to maneuverability and pure talent for speed. He shot into the air in several short bursts, the spirit particles under his heels providing an anchor-point for his next burst - such was his speed it appeared as though he were constantly climbing into the air without interruption.

He hadn't predicted such a massive amount of arrows to fly almost as quickly to where he had initially greeted his attacker, but it had occurred to him that in such an open area as their battlefield, they would meet in close quarters sooner rather than later. As the arrows blasted up a phenomenal amount of sand far below, obscuring the battlefield, Takasugi felt the Quincy rush to meet him with a blow he preferred to avoid altogether. He pushed himself even higher with an explosion of shimmering black reiatsu that reflected the sun as gasoline might, and as it evaporated Takasugi moved clear past Julian's fist even higher. Behind him, he felt the ripple of impact - such was the force of those knuckles that he almost lost his footing in the air. He recovered, a hand inside his uniform to grip at the handle of his tanto.

He had changed his mind.

"Obfuscate, Kijin no Zetsubō."

There was a whisper - a vacuum of soundlessness as the air shook with invisible weight. His eardrums rang in his skull as his tanto, not even yet unsheathed against this mighty foe, evaporated from his grip. Ten transparent claws materialized around his knuckles, the length of them a rich purple; shimmering in the light as though made of glass, Takasugi flexed his fingers and stretched his arms to either side of him as his shunpo slowed some hundred meters above Julian.

"I hope you won't think less of me for subjecting you to this, friend." Takasugi called out, gathering energy beneath his feet once again. With his release to shikai came the natural boost one would expect and this only further amplified his potential. He moved even faster than he had on the ascent on his way down - not needing to gather steps under his feet as he went, he plummeted to the ground in all the time it took him to exhale. He shot straight past Julian, claws outstretched to slash and test his Blut, the blades a deadly blur - indeed, such was the rate he moved he couldn't afford the thought to target any particular part of his enemy.

Fast! Julian's eyes widened a bit as he watched the Shinigami masterfully evade his arrows with such skill and precision. From his movements alone, it spoke of what a seasoned warrior the man was.

Again the man evaded his punch with Shunpo, the second time in a row it happened. It begged the Question on if all the man knew how to do was to run. 

"Again you flatter yourself." Julian shot at the man's unnecessary concern for him. The man had Released his Shikai, his aura changed, his appearance changed and his knuckles seemed to be covered with a transparent blades.

"That's one sharp looking fingers you've got there. Come at me!" Julian called out to his opponent, and in doing so, the man shot at him with a speed Julian's eyes could follow. He had reached the highest pinnacle of Archery that he could snipe a moving rabbit a mile away, his reaction was as fast as Lightning!

The man's hand blurred towards Julian, choosing to attack the Quincy directly and without any form of aim, Julian's Blut Vene switched itself on, as he used his left hand which he coated with enough Reiatsu to counter balance the bladed knuckles, as he shot his left hand forward to parry the man's fist away from danger zone and with his Right hand which was also coated with his Reiatsu, Julian would attack at Lightning speed in an attempt to deliver an uppercut right at the man's Jaw, packing enough strength to smash a steeled door open.

He would Simultaneously, as he delivered his punch, release another 200 arrows, by manipulating the reishi in his surroundings. This time controlling the said arrows with his left index finger, making sure that they follow the man wherever he goes, should he choose to run.

Quick thinking on the spot couldn't account for every possible outcome of an action that wasn't originally a part of his plan. He hadn't picked up half as much speed as he had wanted to the time he intended to pass Julian by, and it was no surprise that the Quincy was skilled enough to not only deflect his attack, but pose a very serious threat in close quarters. A split second decision, and Takasugi chose the lesser of two evils. He banked on Julian switching to Vene from Arterie, at least until the man knew his physical capabilities a little better and knew enough about the Quincy to know both couldn't be in use simultaneously. He knew Julian would likely sacrifice offensive power for defensive in that moment, thus lowering the terrible potential of those fists. He was, thankfully, right, though he couldn't shake the feeling that he was engaging with an enemy he would be better off avoiding altogether. He felt Julian's parry, rather than saw it as their reactions to the other melded into a blur, and made his choice regardless of the consequences. He allowed the deflection without retaliation, using the momentum of his own body and the smooth, easy finesse of his opponent's masterful block to continue flying past the man. The choice allowed him to avoid the target of the second punch entirely, and it was one he was thankful for, for even if Arterie was not activated the blow would have caught him entirely unprepared. Takasugi felt Julian's knuckles whizz up from under his jaw, straight past his temple as he narrowly avoided the hit. But not quite. Not entirely.

A searing pain shot from his right ear and across his face as even the slightest touch, the most minute contact of his opponent's thumb grazing him tore one of the silver rings from the shell of his ear and sent it flying off in the same direction of the deflected arrow. He didn't have time to ponder that this unknown Quincy had flicked away not only his earring, but a small chunk of the helix entirely.

But, the madman wasn't done, it seemed! Takasugi landed in the sand on all fours, speckles of blood almost unseen against the red tint of his goggles. Immediately, every single arrow that Julian had released bombarded his location from on high, trapping him. With every arrow precisely designed to target him, there was an explosion that kicked up a cloud of sand that obscured everything within a 30 meter radius in all directions. From high above where Julian still stood in the air, it would look as though Takasugi had been consumed by a giant outwards-expanding bubble of glistening white sand and shards of glass where the impact of the arrows had heated up the top layer of the dune enough to make it bubble, crack, and finally shatter.

When the sand fell back to the earth, and all had settled, all that could be seen was a black smear of wet liquid far below, shimmering in the sun as the sand boiled around it. And a smell. Like something rotting in a dark, forgotten place. A chill rippled from below, and then the sand exploded upwards again with a wave of vile stench, each grain sticky with a repugnant oil, until the giant lock of hair that had burst from under the sand gained a layer of dune as armor and whipped back and forth like a giant, razor-sharp finger. To and fro it went from the hole it erupted from, the finger of hair beckoning this way and that, and at the tip, Takasugi panted, his skin pale and white and shining with exertion and nausea, smeared with the same black mess that coated the rest of the hair. "...Don't ever say I didn't apologize in advance. This shit doesn't come out of white so well." 

In the moment before those 200 arrows had hit their mark, Takasugi's tendrils of hair had burst from the shadow his near-prone body had produced and had yanked him deep below the sand to safety. It showed in the way the sand clung to his skin... and poured thickly out of the sleeves of his now filthy haori.

"Ho?" Julian said calmly as he observed the Shinigami counter his arrows with his Zanpacktōu abilities which was in the form of hair. Not only was he skillful enough to change his momentum mid flight, to ride on Julian's parry; like a skilled dancer, now hairs? What more could the man show Him. Would the man entertain Julian more if he is pushed more?

It had been decided, he needed more entertainment. On his Giant bow manifested two Great Arrows, the arrows so big they dwarf Julian. This arrow was called Sankt Bogen, and it had the power to blow off a mountain in one go, and Julian called forth two.

With his command, Julian released the two mighty arrows, which moved at a speed which could even tag the greatest of masters in speed, Their offensive power backed by Julian's Blut Artery, and also the mixing his Reiatsu with the arrows. One Arrow power alone is equivalent to Kidō 90 as well as the second too.

Should contact be made, the Shinigami would find himself reduced to smithereens as the whole Desert Landscape before Julian would be reshaped, a large Sink hole would be created upon where it's impact would be, and a mushroom cloud would arise from it's explosion.

Takasugi grit his teeth and swore under his breath as the massive bow was brought up to aim at him and two freakishly large arrows nocked themselves, both steadied by the frankly frightfully masterful hand that guided them. The moment they materialized, the shinigami knew he had to act, lest he blow half his energy trying to outrun the damned things. Would the quincy ever run out!?

Takasugi swung his arms wide, as though preparing to embrace the dual arrows and inhaled, the somewhat playful quirk of his lip vanishing as a deep scowl took its place. "Hitotsume-"

His reiatsu flared wildly about him as erratic as the whips of hair that lashed about his waist, massive in appearance but generating no detectable output of power, and he paused, bracing himself as much as he could before Julian could fire.

"Nadegiri." 

The word was spoken tonelessly, as though he were disappointed in himself for having to use a technique he utterly prided himself on having as part of his arsenal. Only... his arms came forwards simultaneously, claws slashing through the air with all the grace and finesse he could muster, but the fingers flicked forwards individually, each charged with his attack. One by one, each finger aligned with the others in front of him, a gradual fan of blades with each finger moving independently until both sets of claws pointed at the quincy in front of him. A fraction of a second before the arrows were let loose to rend destruction to all in their path, ten individual instances of Hitotsume: Nadegiri shot forwards. Each slicing beam of condensed and deadly reiatsu shot forwards as though they were an extension of Takasugi's claws, each hitting their target one after the other in blast after blast of echoing heat - the arrows themselves, then in flight and well over halfway towards their destination in a mere fraction of a moment. Takasugi threw up a wall of thick hair in front of him, the reverberating shock-wave still managing to reach his location as he felt the ten slashes of reiatsu hit the approaching arrows, one after another, until there was a deafening crackle of static and they exploded into twin bursts of terrifyingly lethal reishi. There was enough distance between the blasts and Takasugi for him to avoid taking the full brunt of the force, with the residual energy buffeting against the strands of his barrier losing some of its destructive force as the wall sucked it away to nothingness. Takasugi jumped backwards to avoid the dangerous bowing of the structure as it finally, finally ceased the attack, leaving an even worse stench of burning hair thick in the air.

He broke into a breakneck shunpo, only coming to a stop when he was face to face with his adversary. His mouth was dry, and the sun was starting to scorch his face, and Takasugi, Captain of the 3rd Division, had seen enough to know that this target that had been so carelessly thrown his way by Central needed to be brought low and removed. His skin prickled with anticipation as he span on the spot in a clean circle, one set of claws giving way to the other as he struck twice in quick succession mid-step, the blows quick, clean and aimed somewhere below the ribs. Behind him, sticking closely to his him where his shadow was the darkest, a thick blanket of foul hair had plastered itself to his back, ready at a moments notice to retaliate to any retaliation.

It appeared as if he and the Shinigami were the only ones in the world, the only ones that mattered. Events occurred as though they were slow before his eyes and probably it would be the same in his opponent, but in real time everything would have happened in a flash.

The Shinigami released a big blade slash in quick succession, a quick draw which shattered this causing the arrows to explode. With Julian in close proximity of the explosion, he made a single word.

"Blut Anhaben." Julian said in a calm voice as a black dome of reishi enveloped him, blocking out the explosion, and eating it up. 

The Shinigami was not done, Julian called off his Shield, to face the Shinigami's onslaught. He attacked in almost the same fashion as he did previously, only this time, he had a particular target in mind. 

Having experienced and seen this method of attack once, having also seen and experienced the man's use of hair. Julian used left hand which was coated with Reiatsu, and his Blut Vene switched back, to block out the man's slash, and would step into the man's zone; as he would use his right hand to release a thread like Reiatsu[1] which would spread out, having a length of a car, possessing a 50m range, at breakneck speed and at point blank range.

"Split." He would say as cold like, as he would move to split the man into three tiny versions of the Shinigami, with the man's powers also cut in half.