Bleach:Re Chapter75. Hunt to be Hunted by SKurasa on DeviantArt (original) (raw)

I was standing in the middle of the street, my left arm covering my face from the flying sand and dust. Narrowing my eyes, I tried to take a look at who or what had just arrived. Nothing but a thick wall of smoke was covering my whole field of vision.

- Found you. - ?!

A voice. An angry voice was the only thing I heard for a short moment. It seemed to be a man's voice as it was rough and quite low in tone. Of course it was coming from the one thing that had just landed nearby. But at the moment, there was nothing but silence as I stared the shadowy figure slowly forming front of me.

- A new challenger, eh… - …

Rushing out of the smoke, that man used what seemed to be a Shunpo to appear right behind me. My eyes were wide open as I was barely able to understand what had just happened. I only felt a quick breeze next to my head and quickly turned around to face him.

- Uh…

He was a tall and seemed to be around his thirties as Human. His face was gaunt and he had a thin beard around his mouth and cheeks. His shaved hair on the sides of his head was some light brown in colour while his mohawk on top was made of pure black hair. But his most distinguishable trait was the three scars running along and over his left eye, looking like claw markings.

Aside from that he was quite slender but yet muscular as the sleeves of his kimono were rolled up to his shoulders, similar to a sleeveless top. On his left arm were some kind of bandages firmly tightened while on the left part of his chest was the kanji « 11 » tattooed.

The most frightening part was the fact that he actually had two weapons, one in each hand. While the left one was holding an army-knife, the right hand had a regular Katana similar to most zanpakutos.

- Eh… I would say « Pleased to meet you » but I don't think the feel is shared. - Indeed it's not.

The Shinigami barely tilted his head to the side as his strong eyes narrowed towards me.

- I am Kyôren. Tsujôheki Kyôren, the 3rd seat of the 11th division. - 3rd seat… Uh? - I already know what you're thinking. And let me tell you, you're wrong.

I opened my eyes wide in surprise when I heard him speak. Did he really guess my thoughts?

- You're thinking that « A 3rd seat isn't much of a big deal », right? - … - I actually understand your point of view. Since you arrived here, not only you did defeat a Gatekeeper you also did fight against a captain for a short moment. Captain-Shikei on top of that. As such, you must think that a 3rd seat is somewhat similar to an unranked soldier. - So what? - As I told you, you're wrong. I am Kyôren, 3rd seat of the most brutal division of the Gotei 13 as a proud Dual-Wielder.

My hands tightly holding on to my sword, I slightly lifted it up unconsciously.

- A Dual-Wielder? - Yeah. You probably noticed but I'm holding two Zanpakutos at the moment. Even among the whole Gotei 13, it appears to be something quite rare. Back then, only two Captains were Dual-Wielders. Now, I am too. - ... - Well, prepare yourself, Ryoka. Here I come! - !!!

As he jumped, Kyôren lifted both of his blades above his head, ready to cut down everything on his way. Of course, I immediately used the Asauchi that I had picked up to defend myself. At the moment when the blades collided a loud screeching noise shot up in to air accompanied by the discreet cracking sound of my sword, already shattering after just one hit. The ground lifted up and the tiles under us exploded due impact.

- Ugh…

The wind howled and squalled from the encounter of our blades. Our reiatsus slowly growing stronger by every passing second. The raw strength of Kyôren attack was enormous, it was able to completely pin me down to my spot. I didn’t have way to escape under the pressure of the attack. His blades resting against mine only few inches away from my head.

- (What's that... That's the first time I hear of « Two Zanpakutos » … Shiro never even told me a word about that. Is that really that rare…)

Kyôren quickly removed both his blades from mine to then attack multiple times at insane speed, altering with both weapons. I was totally cornered with defending being the only option. Not a single marge of attack.

- (Now that I think of it… Shouldn't his blades be the same even if he's a dual wielder…? After all, a Zanpakuto is a Zanpakuto. Dual or not, it should stay the same in the sealed state…)

There were nicks and cracks all along my blade. Of course an Asauchi couldn't hold long against someone hitting with such force and twice in a row that's it.

- (If what I'm thinking is true… Then it means he already is in Shikai. And it that's the case, he's actually coming at me with all his might. Then…)

With a wide motion of my arm, I gave my best to deflect Kyôren's blade and stop his attack. It wasn't mean to hurt him but simply to stop him, much to his surprise of course. And it actually worked. With that simple move of mine, his knife was blocked and he immediately took a step back to be at safe distance from me.

- Ok, ok! That's fine with me if you have two weapons. Such a weak Shikai won't be enough to hold me long! In a few moments, I'll be able to counter-attack! - Hm?

Rather than surprised, Kyôren seemed not to understand at all. He looked at me with a weird glare painted on his face.

- Don't tell me…HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! - Hrm?!

Out of nowhere, the Shinigami simply burst out to laughter when he heard my words. As one would expect, he was making fun of me, making fun of my words.

- Of course, of course, that's a natural feeling. Facing something you don't understand, you guessed those were my Shikai. But sorry once again you're wrong. That's my Zanpakuto in its simplest form, its sealed state. - WHAT?!

Crossing both his weapons before his face, Kyôren's glare was piercing as he started to build up his Reiatsu. The ground started to crack and the wind got violent around us.

- I don't think that I need it against you but well. Let me reward you from getting so far... - UGH!!!

His blades were covered by a layer of Reiatsu. Kyôren looked at me one last time before muttering those words;

- Sakarau, Tekisha … ((逆らう, 適者 – To rebel, Survival of the Fittest)