Turning back the hands on the clock a little bit, Claire's group came face to face with one of the Gotei 13 founders, Sakahone Saizou, and one former and legitimate Kenpachi, Kuruyashiki.
Instead of directly attacking after the rescue of the Arrancars, Tanis landed not far from the two Shinigami who seemed to be observing her too.
Claire, on the other hand, flew past them and took some distance from them. The tall, muscular Shinigami with dark messy hair turned in Claire's direction before muttering something to the wrinkly, old Shinigami before following her.
Claire already expected this because she knew that fighters of their caliber would always want a one-on-one battle. But even if one of them didn't follow her, it would be her disadvantage because she'll be able to support Tanis from a distance and will even be free to observe their abilities for her [Worthless].
The old Shinigami watched his partner leave before turning his attention back to Tanis who was scratching her nose while shaking his other limbs, "...You're not a Hollow."
Tanis looked up at him while trying to shake off the poison in the air, "What gave it away?"
"If you're one, you won't even be able to move around like what you're doing right now unless you have significantly more Reiatsu than me."
Tanis turned her head to the Arrancars who were being treated and muttered, "I see. So this poison is tailored for specific use."
"And? What are you?" The old Shinigami wasn't exactly expecting her to answer his question because that's her current advantage so he used the time he had to study her physiology in greater detail to find out what could take effect.
But contrary to that, Tanis stood straight up, placed both of her hands on her waist, and with shining eyes, she gleefully announced, "A Dragon!"
The old Shinigami was startled for a few seconds before he smirked, "Understood. That explains the strange flame that doesn't contain any Reiryoku. I never thought the likes of you could speak or come in humanoid forms, though. Although they don't really affect the cycle of souls, just them touching a Human is enough for them to go berserk and destroy things around them. So unlike on the other side of the world who chooses to rear them because they don't have enough power and resources to fight against Hollows, we saw them as pests and chose to annihilate them instead."
The old Shinigami that his story would rile her up and that would allow him to see some openings, "Is that so? I'm Tanis Belial by the way.", contrary to his expectations once again, the young lady Dragon just brushed off his statement and instead, introduced herself.
"Sakahone Saizou. Pleased to meet you." The old Shinigami also introduced himself. And when he heard the explosion from far away, he asked, "Shall we start?"
Tanis lowered her stance and Saizou also put forward his Zanpakuto in anticipation.
The two of them were silent and unmoving for about ten seconds until the ground under Tanis' feet cracked, "Hmmm?"
The next second, Tanis' face was already in front of Saizou, "!?"
Saizou hurriedly raised his sword to block the punch aiming for his face. But since he was taken by surprise, he wasn't able to secure his footing and went flying.
While trying to adjust his posture, he found Tanis suddenly appeared on top of his head. He gritted his teeth and bent his neck as fast and far as possible.
Tanis missed by less than an inch and wanted to follow up with another attack but her target suddenly disappeared and she missed again. Saizou was able to land on his feet and despite the awkward position he's in, he was still able to Flash Step away.
Saizou reappeared a few meters away and slid his feet across the ground.
After confirming his location, Tanis gathered her strength in her leg once again to pursue her opponent, "!?" But just as she was about to kick the ground, she felt something amiss and hurriedly raised his scaled left arm. The next instant, she felt something sharp cut through her scales and she had to redirect her momentum to the side before her wrist was fully bisected.
As Tanis wasn't able to carefully control her strength, she ended up tumbling in the air and on the ground, kicking up dust and even knocking down a few trees on her way. However, what was important is that she was able to get away and she was able to eventually land on her feet.
Tanis hurriedly looked up, still confused about what happened, and saw that the 'old Shinigami' that slid started disappearing in fumes and the one who attacked her from behind was smirking at him, "Your instinct and reactions are good... But you still don't know enough."
The next moment, a sharp pain attacked her left leg and when she looked down, she saw a blade sticking out of it and already disintegrating into fumes, "!?"
Without any hesitation, Tanis gathered her breath again, but instead of aiming at Saizou, she directly aimed downwards even with the risk of burning herself.
Saizou saw what she was trying to do and immediately jumped back with the smirk disappearing from his face, 'She really does have good instincts.'
Tanis' Dragon breath hit the ground and lit up all of her surroundings in blue flames, creating a flashy explosion that scorched any standing plants and turned the ground into lava.
But along with the natural environment, Tanis also burned away all the poison in her surroundings.
The flame finally disappeared and left Tanis standing on a puddle of lava with some scorched marks all over her body.
"Good call." Saizou complimented as he landed not very far away from her, "I'm indeed creating my clone and blades through the poison in the air." He then looked down at her feet before continuing, "But you really are one strange being. You have an incredible defense that you can even dip your feet into a molten rock yet you don't have that much resistance against Reiatsu. At most, you're below the Lieutenant level. If you were at least Captain level, I would never be able to create blades that close to you."
Tanis didn't say anything and just jumped away from the puddle of lava.
Even then, Saizou continued speaking, "However, I'm not really good with blades and in essence, I'm still a poison user."
At the same time, Tanis lost the feeling in her left leg and her knee buckled, making her kneel on the ground. It didn't stop there as her left arm also dropped limp without any indication of it moving.
"You're an interesting young lady," Saizou suddenly appeared not far from her, "But I don't need to take more baggage. Be a good girl and drop dead."