Gambit's Gear

"I told you...if you learned Bankai, I will show you some of my power. I'm only as old as you are in Visored years. That doesn't mean I'm weak though. I am an incredibly powerful being who can show you a large variety of things. Just like Khione has his way of testing you, I have my own. By learning Bankai you have proven to me that you can master powerful abilities and techniques. This gives me the confidence to believe that you can master what I wish to show you. Of course....You do understand that if I show you this ability...I will use it against you from now on. I will only get more powerful. The stronger you, the stronger I get." She chuckled. Sombra's flowing red hair covered her face as bit as her dead eyes bore deep into Riox's soul. He stood in front of her on top of the tallest building in all of his Inner World.

"I accept."

She smirked a bit as if everything was coming together nicely. With a hand motion she signaled for him to don his mask. Particles energy began to gather on his face forming the all white mask with sapphire blue lines running down the eyes. He put the mask on and his reiatsu boomed for a moment before he got it under control. The second the mask fit over his face shadows wrapped around his being and changed his attire. His eyes flashes bright for a moment before settling back down into a shining emerald green. He looked at Sombra and she nodded in approval. She was fighting hard to not just devour his soul. She needed power though. She would only grow if he grew. So she needed him to learn her powers so that she may use them against him one day.

She stepped forward to him and pointed at her shadow. "Shikaku is the name of this ability . It is without a doubt an ability you will enjoy. It grants you complete control over shadows and darkness. It allows you to mold it as you see fit, but even more impressive is that it changes with you. It will be stronger when you are in Bankai than when you are in Shikai. Observe..." She snapped and from her shadow a large blade formed. It was incredibly fast. Riox didn't even see it go from her shadow to his throat until it's tip was drawing blood from the front of his neck. "Shikaku...assassin....Blades are what you should use it for, but like I said. It's manipulation of darkness. You can make whatever you so choose, however a blade is how this ability works best. Now then...clear your mind...."

Riox closed his eyes and focused on nothing. It was just like his first time mastering the control of snow from Khione. So clearing his mind was no issue. He had to do it in order to command the snow and ice around him. It was required in order to prevent his own attacks from harming him. "I'm ready..." Sombra chuckled and smiled. She moved to him and whispered into his ear. "Feel the darkness around you. It's cold embrace, the lack of life, the absence of everything required to survive. Feel it and enter it's domain...Shed your skin and embrace death itself..." Riox kept his mind blank as he focused his energies on the lifeless forms around him. He could feel them, it had a sound to it...but it was a hollow and broken sound. It echoed inside of his head and he drew on that power there. It felt similar to when he would command snow.

His eyes opened up as he drew on the shadows around him and he saw a blade rise out of his shadow. It was shaky and he dropped it after a few seconds but Sombra nodded. She could feel him understanding the basics of Shikaku. "Yes....Almost." She could feel her own power slowly starting to rise. If Riox could manage to get a grasp on Shikaku, then she would instantly know it's ins and outs. She would have it mastered, and she would use it to rip his soul from him. Riox centered himself again. He thought of everyone back at the Soul Society. All those fools who wanted to make fun of him for joining the 2nd Division, a "selfish and cowardly" choice. He would make them all pay. He would show them all that he was not to be trifled with. Shikaku was a deadly ability, and one befitting an assassin such as himself. He could see how it would work in his mind. It was a controlling ability such as the ones Khione held. All he had to do was to exert his will upon the darkness, force it to bend to him.

"Shikaku..."

His voice was dark and murderous. As the word left his lips he could feel a cold connection to those soulless life forms around him. The shadows, the darkness, he could feel them bending and melting into his will. They were extensions of him now. They were his puppets. It was exactly like controlling the snow. He looked at Sombra as he raised a darkened blade up. She was smiling a blood thirsty smile as she looked back at him. She now had full control of this ability and she had plans to use it against him. Riox released Shikaku and Sombra clapped slowly. "And there you have it....For now anyway. Before I rip your pretty little soul out of that pretty little body of yours..."

A blade shot out from the shadows. Riox countered with his own shadow blade. Several other blades launched from the surrounding area. Riox turned his blades into a dome and protected himself from the attack. He looked at her with narrow eyes. "Bitch...." She shrugged and smiled. She launched several other blades at him and he turned one of his blades into a wide flat whip. Riox's shadow whip wrapped around the blades and stopped them. From that shadow Riox manifested a second blade that came out and struck Sombra. The speeds at which these shadows materialized and mobilized was intense. Riox had never had to work so hard to keep up with anything like this before. Sombra smirked and shook her head. "Beginners luck...one day....One day, Visored..." She faded and he was expelled from the inner world.