Riox Valintine; The Winter Storm

Riox is a bit eccentric. He is also prone to mood swings. One moment he may be casually bumpin' to the beats in his MP3 Player, he may be laughing and casually making jokes with you, his eyes may warm, kind, caring, and light, but in the blink of an eye, usually his own, he can turn into a ruthless and cold beast. What triggers these mood swings is nothing in particular. Riox only has so much kindness to give, and he gets bored of playing nice.

Honestly, Riox is just a manipulator. He knows the value in knowing people, but sees no point in friendship. People are so easily turned upon one another. Brother can be made to fight brother, son against father, friend against friend. It's pointless to let anyone get so close, in his opinion, but he can play nice...when it stands to benefit him. Negotiations, politics, etc. etc. those are his strong points. He knows it's a game, it is all a game, and he knows how to play the game as well. But every player has to stop playing at some point.

When he feels like being your "friend, and that word is used very loosely, he can be one of the best. His voice is soft and caring enough that it almost drips with empathy with every word he speaks, his blood red eyes are a shade away from seeming naive. His lips curl into a smile that floods over into his eyes. He will go out of his way to pause his activities to confirm that you are okay. He would not wish his "friends" to fall ill to sadness.

On the other hand, when he doesn't wish to be kind, generous, and pleasant...Well he isn't. Not much to say about that. He is just unavailable emotionally, he doesn't wish to be bothered with words period actually. Several people have actually been attacked by him for annoying him when he is in one of his "moods".

However, regardless of his moods his personality is always a calculating one. It could have come from his trust issues, or maybe him basically raising himself, or potentially the Onmitsukido. Wherever it came from, the fact remains that if you need a plan that has a fair amount of risk but a great reward, you talk to Riox. He understands the give and take of the Game. That's why he plays it. To him lives, things, are nothing but toys to be used and sacrificed as needed. Yes, that does make him a bit of a monster, but sometimes you need a monster on your side. He's willing to do what it takes to win. He has no qualms with playing hardball with the enemy, or dancing with the Devil. He will happily put someone at risk if it means he, or his allies, may gain some sort of advantage over the enemy. It's just what he does. Always the manipulator, and always a Game player.

In life Riox was born to a wealthy family. He was given a life where he would not need or want. Toys, education, and influence were tossed at his feet. He lived in a delightfully sized house, with delightful keepers for the interior and exterior of the property, he had loving parents who would have given their lives for their son. Yeah his life was pretty boring. He maintained his grades though, understanding the importance of a solid education, but he spent a lot of time in the streets gambling, picking pockets, basically being a hoodlum. It was a good life.

His choice to follow the street urchins caused a riff between him and his family. He didn't care though. Even at a young age he didn't like perfection. He ran into his first trouble with the law at age 11. He got caught in a street fight with a local boy from school. He had never seen his parents so furious before, he had never seen them so dismissive of the cause. Internally, Riox cursed his parents. He was an outcast at school, forced into the arms of Life's Underworld because of them. Because of their choice to have a child, a child born with abnormal eyes, he was mocked, teased, ridiculed, beaten, tormented, and lowered because of his eyes. He hated them for giving him this genetic flaw, but he would never say so aloud. So he struck out in his petty ways.

When he turned seventeen he began sneaking into clubs. Using his looks, those same eyes he cursed also made some women, and men, swoon. He in those six years he turned from actively lashing out at the world to playing the Game. Convincing his parents he was a changed person, showing the world he didn't care about their lowlife insults, and defeating his enemies with smiles. So he played along with the rules, sneaking into clubs, smoking, drinking, gambling when he could. The hand of Lady Luck was usually resting on his shoulder.

Within the same year he picked up, or rather resumed, his pick pocketing as well as picking locks. While he was above petty thievery these days, he still indulged in it every now and then. His body was slowly conformed into it's peek athletic form. He and his friends, all now more..."respectable" members of society...publicly anyway, would partake in weekend trips to the city to do some parkour. His mother hated that he did that, still finding it to be beneath their status, but his father thought it was good that he was doing it. Mainly because Riox hated to do sports.

By the time he reached the age of twenty-three, he had his bachelors in Psychology and was certified in music as well as philosophy. He was on a weekend trip with his friends and had been issued a challenge by them. First one across the city won, last one had to buy dinner. Dinners were never less than 80 bucks when it came to them. He was not going to lose this race. His body was pushed to it's limit as he moved from wall to wall, roof to windowsill. He rolled, jumped, flipped, slid, climbed, he dominated his terrain...until his terrain dominated him.

He was moving up a wall to get to the roof, but when he grabbed hold of the windowsill it gave way, and he plummeted to his death. Whoops.

Awakening in a place that was as dirty, lawless, and filthy as he had lived his childhood was like a dream come true to and for him. He ran around the Rukongai play dice, cards, spending most of his free time on roofs and relaxing in the sun. It was a paradise. It WAS a paradise, then some Hollow came around, and began to ruin things for him. Hollow attacks were becoming abnormally more frequent. While they didn't always happen, the attacks were like a twice a month venture. Just enough to get everyone a bit shaken up and afraid to play cards or dice for fear of the game being interrupted. Hardcore gamblers would not hesitate to use the distraction to steal other player's money. Riox would not hesitate anyway.

After about several months in the Rukongai he was approached by some guy in a black dress. "Yeah?" Was the only greeting he got. A few of the towns people whispered among themselves. So disrespectful, Riox was, to this stranger. The man in black just seemed displeased that he was even bothering with someone like Riox, as if he was above him somehow. But indeed, Riox had gone his entire Afterlife so far without knowing of Shinigami. Usually when Hollow attacks happened he was searching for dropped coin and thus heavily uninterested in anything else. "You're being offered a chance to rise above your existence...And you greet me with such disrespect?" Riox only arched a brow at this man. Who was he to tell him how to act? His father or mother? Nope. So he was nobody then.

The gambler dismissed the man with a wave of his hand. It was at that point the fight broke out. Fist flew through the air, and Riox displayed his agility, but against a trained fighter he didn't last too long. The man wasn't sad he lost though, no, he was interested now. It was all apart of the Game. Play nice with those who have power. Play nice until you have power of your own. Riox nodded his head in yielding. "You mentioned a chance to excel?" Riox asked with a smile.

It was plenty unorthodox. It was far from the average recruitment. But Riox had been watched for long enough. Riox wasn't the average soul. His reiatsu was noticed the moment he entered, but so was his abnormal personality. Any idiot with half a mind could see that a direct approach was not going to work so greatly on him. Riox is a player of the Game, but he isn't alone.

His time in the Academy was littered with fights. So many arrogant and smug idiots, all Riox wanted to do was get in, get out, and be on his way. The lummoxes and crude brutes around him were his motivation to get the hell out. He worked hard, often forgetting to eat and or sleep for days at a time. The more he learned the more he loved the art of Hoho and Hakuda. Zanjutsu is...okay, but he was never really thrilled with sword fights. Kido had it's uses, but in the end it was just not terribly thrilling. He didn't get the rush from Kido that he did in Hakuda, but he did love the whole...magic aspect of it all.

His marks in Hakuda and Hoho were above impressive. Effortlessly at the top of his class, and it was around this point in time that his personality began to change. He lost all of the glitz and glamour of the kind Riox. After a year in the Shinigami Academy, he had hardened into a cutthroat beast. At that point it was only another year before he was done with the Academy. Graduating in 2 years, an accomplishment that few actually perform. And he only managed it because he was so determined to get away from his idiotic classmates.

The day he graduated, he was asked to report to the 2nd Division Barracks. Best day of his life. The Onmitsukido were his desired squad. He didn't waste any time getting to the barracks as soon as possible. As soon as he stepped onto the grounds he was ambushed by several members of the Onmitsukido. His red eyes cut between each of them. They charged upon him at the same time, and he took a moment to evade each of their attacks. Despite their desire to attack him at the same time, possibly to overwhelm his senses as that is what he would have done, he took them on one at a time. Managing this by disorienting two of them and fighting whoever was standing, they were all defeated shortly after he was jumped.

Upon the defeat of the three people he was approached by another, a guy who seemed to carry himself in the most bastardly way possible. Riox knew him. Their paths had cross around the Seireitei here and there, but they had never spoken. Riox folded his arms as the guy smirked. Was he going to challenge him too, or were they going to stand around have a staring contest.

Several hours later Riox had donned a Shinigami outfit with the Lieutenant badge around his arm. He wasn't happy though. He was not expecting to have such a meeting with the Captain. But apparently he needed a, as he put it, "secretary who could fight" Riox didn't want the position, but he had just floored the Third, Forth, and Fifth seat with minimal effort, and there was no way he was going to be subjugated to serving someone who had lesser skills than he. All the same this was a temporary arrangement anyway. He was placed as Lieutenant for his skill alone, but the Captain had just gotten word of his marks in the Academy. Riox had the capabilities to be a Lieutenant, but in order to prove he had what it took the Captain believed he should just throw him into the water and see if he would sink or swim.

Well over the time that he was allowed to play Lt. He did his duties rather well. Slacked on some paperwork here and there, but overall he maintained his position rather well. His "beloved" (that word is said with heavy venom) captain allowed him to remain in this position. While Riox tolerated the man, he didn't respect him, nor did he liked following his orders. It would take several hundred years for Riox to even give a hint of a smile to the male. The Game was not played with him. Why should it be? He already had the best possible seat in the house. He had power, he had connections. There was no need to charm this man for anything other than childish, and petty, fun...which was beneath Riox at this point in time.

Several hundred years later and Riox had made a name for himself within the Gotei 13. He had lead several Black Ops assaults on Hollow attacks in the Human World as well as Hueco Mundo which is where he proved just how much of a gambit he really was, and solidifying his nickname. While he displayed high leadership skills and tactics, he had been known to risk the lives of one or two members to achieve the ultimate goal. He never planned for the one or two members to be killed, though sometimes they were, his plans did account for death so regardless of if they lived or died the mission was sure to succeed. If anyone needed something to get done regardless of the costs, they often were guided to Riox. His Captain was kind of the same way, but Riox got the feeling he was a shade less caring about the lives that got risked.

As the saying goes: "He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster." True words, even for the self-righteous Shinigami of the Gotei 13. After centuries of combating, evading, counter-attacking, and being around Hollows temptation set in. Not only with Riox but his captain as well. Riox knew that power doesn't just fall in your lap, often times leaders, pioneers, must break rules one holds close to touch the stars, to be a god! Many nights were spent without sleep just combating the foes of Hueco Mundo. Eventually this curiosity bared it's fangs and took to the light. His desire for power was by no means something outrageous or out of control. But it was, as all power games are, dangerous.

Once he admitted his curiosity to his Captain he had sealed his fate, and trust, in the man. This turned out to be his biggest mistake. Riox was confronted by the man with a threat of jail time. Riox was a risk, and his captain wouldn't allow it. The Lieutenant wasn't happy with this turn of events. He used honeyed words to calm his Captain, to reassure him that things would be fine. Riox was not going to go down that road. When this did not work, Riox made a power play. He didn't want to be Captain, but killing this man was the only way to keep him quiet. Riox summoned all the Captains and Shinigami he could and there in front of 300 people, he slew his master in order to keep him quiet. Throughout the fight the man tried to tell the others that Riox was dangerous, that he was going to break one of their most sacred laws. Riox stopped him every time with a variety of brutal strikes.

After he was made Captain, Riox began reworking the system. He needed new men and women under him, and he needed to bide his time for a while, gain the trust of his fellow Captains. The Onmitsukido was never known for such a brutal and terrible power play. So why had Riox done it? Many people asked him this. He would always just smile politely and respond in kind "Would you have trusted me at your front and watched me at your back if I had not?" Most people didn't blame him. Over time they all settled down about it and moved on. Riox was dispatched to various parts of the world to handle a multitude of situations. His unique Zanpakuto complimented him and his play style, which gave him the ability to be very very useful.

About two hundred years into his captaincy, Riox finally discovered a way to obtain the power he sought. He needed help though. He needed someone within the 12th Division. This wasn't an easy task at all and highly risky. It began with a few studies on his target. He began to collect data on him, his patterns, his habits, what he liked, by the end of a decade he had an entire profile built around this particular Shinigami. Riox then engage the 12th Division member and began to whisper silk words into their ear, he gained their trust, he helped them out, he was there when required. In time, Riox dropped the bombshell. He asked for assistance with moving up in the world. Riox said that he needed help though, and assured him that with his new found power he would keep both of their secrets safe. It took a night of arguing, but in the end Riox won. Riox made sure to keep him quite by blackmailing him. If he so much as thought of exposing him, Riox would make sure that the scientist would beg for death.

Later that year they had their goal in sight. There was a serum made from things Riox really didn't care about. As long as it worked, he'd be a happy Shinigami.

That night they made their way to Hueco Mundo, where they could test this thing without fear of Shinigami meddling. Riox rolled up his sleeve and took the shot. At first he felt fine, there was no pain, no suffering. There was nothing but a massive void in his mind where he usually felt his Zanpakuto's presence. He was ready to kill the Scientist when he was overcome with a heavy power. It froze him, gripped him in frozen claws. He was driven mad instantly. The Scientist packed up his portable lab and stood a good distance back as Riox exploded with a dark malicious energy. His body began to change, it began to turn monstrous, but the process was slow. The process was also being fought. His body roared and his head was pounding as a battle raged within his mind for control.

It felt like hours, but it was only about 8 minutes before there was a small, but powerful, explosion from his location. When the sand settled he was curled up in a heap. Small jolts of pure energy rolled down his body but otherwise he seemed fine. He looked at his tattered clothing and heard the roar of a few near by Hollow. He searched within himself but didn't feel his Zanpakuto's spirit. There was only a dark presence. His Zanpakuto still radiated life, and he still registered as a Shinigami, so he knew that the Spirit was still alive. But where had he gone?

The Scientist had to run some tests on Riox, so Riox had to defend them which was, admittedly, difficult. His body felt like lead and his reactions were sluggish. In the end though he managed to slay the handful of Hollow foolish enough to make an attempt at them. The group lasted a week, he sent over daily reports to Soul Society claiming to be on a covert mission. This would cover their tracks for a while and keep people off their backs. At the end of this, Riox killed his ex-fellow Shinigami. He had to. Loose ends were never an option, and in Hueco Mundo it could easily be reported as a death in the field.

Riox walked through the desert that was Hueco Mundo. It was such a depressing place. It was monochromatic, oddly beautiful, but still...it had a depressing desolate undertone. He couldn't begin to explain how lovely it was. He loved Hueco Mundo for this reason alone...That hopelessness it instilled, that feeling that there were more dead bodies here than living, brought out the inner monster in everybody. Step onto these sands and you abandoned your mask, your play, you were now on the same playing field as those that you claimed were enemies. A fierce roar penetrated his thoughts. His dead eyes cut the sky. How many Hollow had he paralyzed with his eyes alone? How many had fallen pray to those red irises on a black sclera? He smiled lightly.

His leather trench coat rested on his torso, but his chest was bare and exposed to the chilled winds. He had a pair of black straight jeans, skinny jeans were just stupid to him. Straight jeans highlighted his long legs perfectly and didn't restrict his movement. His feet were bare though, not bothering to protect them. Why should he? The roar ripped through the dark sky again. A Hollow dropped from the dark backdrop of the sky. It looked like a gargoyle. "Shini-" It's voice was deep and rusty. Riox wasted no time though. In one swift movement of a Hoho he had sliced the beast in several different areas. He was walking on the other side of the fallen Hollow with his blade sheathed and a chuckle touching his throat. "Gami? Wrong...Dead dead dead dead dead wrong...." He whistled to himself as he entered the Quartz forest to return to his abode.

Shikaku’s ability comes in the form of manipulating Shadows according to Riox’s will. Riox will use his mind to manipulate the shadows (it is a possibility to use his hands as a medium and doing it this way actually increases the speed and reaction time of the shadows, reducing the lag time), thus inducing certain effects. Shikaku which translates to assassin acts just like an assassin would, swift and deadly. The shadows of Shikaku are able to extend and retract within the fraction of a second. The shadow blades are able to extend up to 80 meters, at the same speed. The impact of each strike is also quite powerful. Shikaku is also able to create multiple blades, reaching up to 20 blades. Riox can manipulate the shadows in such a way, so that they can act like a whip. Or even a snake that seizes it's prey and coils around it. Riox will at times use his will in order to increase the width and shape of the blades. The purpose of this is to allow for defensive maneuvers, as the shadow acts as a strong shield against enemy attacks. The shields can expand themselves enough for a dome, but this will take several blades to perform this little trick. The shadows can of course cut; pierce its target, swiftly and with great force. Riox is quite capable of manipulating the movements of the blades. This allows the man to do a multitude of things through sheer manipulation alone. These shadow blades are of course as hard as a Zanapakuto. <---This is applicable for Shikai and Sealed only. Bankai details are a bit different. In bankai the shadows can extend up to 700 meters with insane speeds (less than the time it takes in Shikai) and hold much more force. Riox is now able to convert and intertwine his own blood, so that the Shadows obtain a bullet like effect. They become almost Cero like, albeit they don’t actually explode. But rather causes blunt force drama, even lacerating the opponent upon contact.The speed at which Shikaku moves can of course be avoided. A simply a well timed use of a technique such as Shunpo should be sufficient.

Wraith's Wail takes the form of black Cero like orb, that is fired from Riox's hands or mouth. It acts like a Cero and is generally the size of a Cero. However this dark sphere is coated with what seems like spikes rotating rapidly. Roar of the Deep, unlike a Cero, doesn't explode it instead cut, slice, dice and even lacerate the victim upon contact. Roar of the Deep has enough power to blast through buildings with great force, destroying what it comes in contact with. The technique is twice as fast as your regular Arrancar Cero and seems to be quite powerful. There are also times when Riox will crush the orb with his foot or hands, to drown out the sound of the beam being fired. Riox will at times manipulated the Cero to change the direction in which it moves. This allows Riox to guide the blast, giving him the ability to catch an opponent off guard.

Due to having a dual reiryoku system and thus a dual reiatsu, his powers are vastly increased now. Even the most basic of his attacks becomes a truly terrifying thing now. This not only applies to his kido, but his natural abilities and strengths as well. This also extends outward into his Zanpakuto abilities too.

Shunpo works by manipulation of reishi under the user's feet. Mixed in with his naturally cold reiatsu and he can solidify the pressure to become actual ice. This isn't like Khione's ice that will freeze you, but it can penetrate and cause some heavy damage if you're not careful. The ice that forms is small and shoots out all around him. They look like needles to people who can see them. They onyl go as far as his Chill's radius is. After that they basically melt instantly regardless of weather.

There is always a five foot radius of cold weather that surrounds Valintine's body when his Zanpakuto is released. This area is calledh is Chill. It is cold enough to cause the area around him to snow as water moves through the air. The purpose of this zone though is not pretty snow. Those who are present in the Chill for long enough will begin to suffer from Hypothermia. After two posts of being inside this zone, one will begin to shake violently as they body temperature drops. After three tops you will become disoriented and confused, possibly losing sense of what is going on around you. After four posts you will have lost all feelings in your limbs, fingers, and toes. Once five posts have passed you will have full blown Hypothermia. In order to reverse the effects you must be outside of the zone for half the posts you were inside of it. Once it hits five posts though, it's irreversable. Your tempetrature is too far gone to go back up without medical or supernatural means (i.e. If you had a fire zanpakuto that surrounded you in fire, or some such thing.) However even with those thigns, the air around Valintine is too cold to actively sustain a fire or heat source.

With a swipe, or thrust, of his blade, Valintien can create more snow. How much snow he can create is limited only by how much energy he has on hand. Even so, he can create millions upon millions of snowflakes with ease and still go on to fight. This isn't because he has an immense about of reiryoku in his system, though he does, it's because the burden of making snow is split between him and Khione. It is Khione's energy that provides the snow flakes with it's attributes, and it is Valintine's energy that gives it physical form. This snow is directed with his blade. It's response time is less than .1 seconds. The snow moves at rather fast speeds, but is limited by how much he is trying to move at one time (not the sum of all the snow moving, just he total snow he is moving in that grouping. Meaning he could have three piles, and all three piles will move at various speeds). The snow also holds the property of being something like razor blades. Incredibly sharp, and highly compressed, razor blades. This compression of energy into a single "saw" like object makes Khione ideal for dealing with barriers, shields, or an Arrancar's skin. Not only is it sharp though but it can freeze. It's freezing potential is minimal at this stage in the game though, even under the effects of Chill. It would take a large amount of snow to freeze a person's limb as well as about two posts of continuous exposure.

The effects of Chill have not changed, but the range has doubled.

Valintine can dismiss his blade, causing it to turn into snow. This will allow Valintine complete mental control of the snow around him, able to direct it with his hands to make the reaction time less than .001 seconds. Directing it with his mind makes the snow with a response time of 1.0 seconds. Despite the delay it does allow for Valintine to catch enemies off guard more easily. He can form a replica of his Zanpakuto blade from the snow to create more snow if need be as well.

This basically changes his attacks to ice. All he needs to do is say "Ice Form" before or after the attack and it will function as normal, but with ice instead. The ice works the same way as the snow except rather than cut it is made to pierce and will freeze over a lot more quickly than his snow.

Val's abilities tend to stay the same, with the obvious power increases that take place from Shikai to Bankai. The snow that is created could now completely freeze an entire opponent while before it would be hard to freeze a limb. Cutting power has increased. The blade itself is lighter.

When the blade is swung, used in a stab motion, or flicked an arc of ice energy may be fired out from it. The arc's size is large, being the size of a king sized matress. The blast or arc of energy will lash outwards from the blade, and will attempt to maim, shred, cut, slice, saw through, or enter the body or object of whatever the ice happens to make acontact with at that time. It is believed that this Zanpoktou at close range is able to practically cut through any object that isn't a zanpoktou, and is launched at him. Making the overall deadliness of the Zanpoktou as a whole incredibly dangerous. As he could potentially surge forth enough energy from the blade to cut through a series of buildings. He may do this with his hands as well if Synergy is in effect.