"Surrender. You know you don't stand a chance with me here." Kuruyashiki Kenpachi held his Zanpakutō horizontally and said in a deep voice, "I won't be soft-hearted this time."
Opposite Kuruyashiki, the white kimono Azashiro Sōya wore out of the Senzaikyū didn't have a single speck of dirt on it. He didn't look like a fugitive at all.
"Soft-hearted? I certainly hope you won't be."
As Azashiro Sōya spoke, he suddenly bent down. The Zanpakutō at his waist left its sheath, its tip drawing a white crescent moon in the air. Immediately after, his left hand also gripped the hilt, slashing down fiercely. The two crescent moons intersected into a cross, rushing right in front of Kuruyashiki Kenpachi in the blink of an eye.
"Born of auspicious slaughter, respect the gloom and bid farewell to aging." Like a drawn blade, Kuruyashiki Kenpachi's eyes suddenly sharpened. "Garaku Kairō!"
A massive roar echoed out. Even Uesawajiri Tama, waiting dozens of miles away, could hear it clearly. That heavy, suffocating Reiatsu seemed to tear at the sky, stretching the clouds above Uesawajiri into thin lines that surged into the distance.
"Looks like the Captain is truly angry this time," Uesawajiri muttered to himself. Although Squad 11 believed Azashiro Sōya was the most likely candidate to inherit the title of Kenpachi, it was only a possibility. Others had zero chance; Azashiro had a ten percent chance, nothing more.
Kuruyashiki Kenpachi was simply too strong. One of the lifelong wishes of this seventh-generation Kenpachi was to nurture someone capable of defeating him and becoming the eighth-generation Kenpachi. Uesawajiri didn't think the actively provoking Azashiro was that person—at least, not yet.
However, the actual situation wasn't what Uesawajiri imagined—that Azashiro would be swiftly dealt with by Kuruyashiki Kenpachi. Judging solely from that brief exchange, the two were evenly matched.
The two incredibly powerful slashes had reduced the area between Kuruyashiki Kenpachi and Azashiro Sōya to barren earth. Two wide, deep fissures connected the two men like train tracks, leaving it uncertain whether Kuruyashiki or Azashiro would be the final destination.
At this moment, a tall wall composed of thirty-three white spheres stood in front of Kuruyashiki Kenpachi. It was this wall that had blocked the previous slash.
The spheres, each the size of a brown bear, rotated once to reveal bizarre faces on their opposite sides—faces consisting solely of gaping maws filled with razor-sharp teeth. They slowly scattered, floating around Kuruyashiki Kenpachi like a pack of obedient, hungry puppies.
"Garaku Kairō. It truly is a sight I haven't seen in a long time." Azashiro Sōya looked at Kuruyashiki. Those spheres were the Shikai of Kuruyashiki Kenpachi's Zanpakutō, widely known as the strongest biological-type Shikai.
"Which is why I said I wouldn't be soft-hearted this time!" Kuruyashiki Kenpachi replied coldly. He pointed his index finger at Azashiro Sōya. As if sharing a telepathic link, the five spherical creatures beside him opened their mouths and charged straight ahead.
Azashiro Sōya's Zanpakutō flashed, cleaving the spherical creature in front of him in half with a single strike. Pushing off his heels, he retreated, dodging the sharp teeth snapping from his left and right. Holding his blade horizontally, he unleashed a full-moon slash, simultaneously slicing open the mouths of the two ambushers behind him.
Kuruyashiki frowned at the sight. It wasn't because his Zanpakutō was damaged; if Garaku Kairō could be destroyed so easily, it wouldn't deserve to be called the strongest biological-type Zanpakutō.
Garaku Kairō, divided into white spheres, possessed its own consciousness to attack targets and could automatically regenerate using his spiritual power. As long as he, the main body, didn't fall, Garaku Kairō would never stop.
But that didn't mean Garaku Kairō was fragile. To be able to sever them with a single strike meant the Reiatsu on Azashiro Sōya's Zanpakutō was likely approaching the level of the Sōkyoku. This was not something an ordinary Zanpakutō could achieve. Compared to when he first achieved Shikai a hundred years ago, Azashiro Sōya's progress was nothing short of astonishing.
Kuruyashiki waved his hand, leaving only five spherical creatures by his side. The other twenty-eight joined the siege against Azashiro.
This put Azashiro Sōya in a grueling position. These spherical creatures weren't just mindless beasts that only knew how to swarm and bite. Their coordination made Azashiro feel as though he were facing an invisible swordsman wielding twenty-eight sharp blades, executing twenty-eight different sword techniques, and attacking from every conceivable angle in a bid to take his life.
"I told you, you don't stand a chance!" Kuruyashiki Kenpachi crossed his arms. Watching Azashiro Sōya dart around, looking far more ragged than usual, he said indifferently, "Stop doing meaningless things, Sōya."
"I didn't think much of it when watching before, but dealing with it myself is quite exhausting." Azashiro Sōya mocked himself, the light on his blade brightening a few degrees. "It seems cutting these things down is useless no matter how many times I do it. To defeat the pack, I must first take down the leader!"
Gripping his sword with both hands, he unleashed dozens of rapid thrusts in Kuruyashiki's direction in an instant. Blade-shaped beams of spiritual power shot out like bullets, knocking aside the spherical creatures in front of him and hurtling toward Kuruyashiki.
Immediately after, Azashiro swung his sword backward with his right hand. A white spiritual slash formed a temporary barrier, hindering the little monsters behind him. Seizing this rare opening, he charged straight at Kuruyashiki Kenpachi, who had only five spherical creatures remaining by his side.
Although the other spherical creatures quickly gave chase, they were too far away to help in time. The previous clash had already proven that a mere five spherical creatures couldn't possibly stop Azashiro Sōya!
"How naive!"
Not just the five spherical creatures beside Kuruyashiki Kenpachi, but all thirty-three of them opened their mouths wide, contorting themselves into hemispheres. Their densely packed teeth gleamed like scattered stars dotting the perimeter of a pitch-black sun.
"Suishin Kairō!" Kuruyashiki Kenpachi extended his right hand and clenched it fiercely, shouting in a booming voice.
The stars merged, connecting into countless parallel rays of light. Thirty-three claw marks from nameless beasts intersected with one another, forming an airtight, giant net that cast itself over the struggling little fish named Azashiro Sōya.
The dozens of light beams in front of Azashiro were the first to be sliced apart, dissipating quickly like white sea foam.
Suishin Kairō was an advanced application of Garaku Kairō. It was a technique that transformed the teeth—Garaku Kairō's primary offensive weapons—into high-density Reishi and unleashed them as slashes. During an invasion of Hueco Mundo, Kuruyashiki Kenpachi had once used this move to reduce hundreds of Gillian, along with their Ceros, to absolute dust.
At this moment, Azashiro Sōya seemed to have given up all resistance. He stood amidst the Suishin Kairō with his sword held horizontally, looking as if he were in a daze.
Continuous *pfft, pfft* sounds of escaping air echoed from within the net. Kuruyashiki frowned; those were not the sounds produced by Suishin Kairō.
A sudden chill crept up his spine. Kuruyashiki subconsciously leapt to the left. In the exact spot he had just been standing, a sword mark appeared out of thin air on the ground.
"As expected, defeating you with just this is a bit unrealistic."
The Azashiro Sōya trapped within the Suishin Kairō smiled. Under Kuruyashiki Kenpachi's astonished gaze, he dissolved into a mass of white spiritual power and seeped into the ground.
A pitch-black hole abruptly appeared beneath Kuruyashiki's feet. A cold gleam flashed, bringing with it a spray of crimson blood. Unexpectedly, the first to take a hit was Kuruyashiki Kenpachi.
"To defeat you, I have to do it myself!" The ambusher slowly raised his head. It was none other than Azashiro Sōya, who had just disappeared.
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