"Oh?"
In response to Shunsui's regret-laced words, Mazuru remained eerily calm.
Shunsui squatted low, his twin blades of Katen Kyōkotsu plunging firmly into Mazuru's shadow beneath the searing Hueco Mundo sun. His eyes didn't waver as he continued, voice quiet but resolute.
"If I had known back then that you harbored such ill intent... if I had known you would one day betray the Soul Society, I would've stopped Nanao-chan from getting close to you—no matter the cost."
The name Nanao caused the faintest flicker in Mazuru's otherwise unreadable expression. A tremor, so brief it vanished like a speck of dust under a sandstorm. Yet when he spoke, his tone held its usual indifferent chill.
"But there are no 'ifs' in this world, are there?"
"...Yeah." Shunsui muttered. "No ifs."
If only. If only they'd made different choices—perhaps the tragedies wouldn't have unfolded the way they did. But regret was a currency they could no longer spend.
"You already know you can't stop me for long." Mazuru said, turning his gaze toward the horizon. His voice carried the soft resonance of inevitability. "And the reason you came to Hueco Mundo this time—you know it's doomed to fail."
Shunsui smiled, lips twisting wryly beneath his straw hat. "That's not necessarily true..."
He rose to his full height, his shadow stretching under the unforgiving Hueco Mundo sun.
"Maybe you've grown too arrogant, Mazuru. Maybe it's because you became King of Hueco Mundo, or maybe it's because you took down old man Yama that you've gotten overconfident."
His voice hardened. "But this time, I came with determination."
With that, Shunsui launched himself into the air.
Hueco Mundo's atmosphere, thick with spiritual particles, usually made airborne movement for shinigami more difficult than in the world of the living or Soul Society. But for this technique, altitude wasn't optional—it was essential.
"Takaoni!"
The air crackled as he invoked another of Katen Kyōkotsu's game-based techniques—"The one who stands higher wins".
From his elevated position, Shunsui swung his twin blades. Wind-sharpened energy erupted outward in scything arcs. Reinforced by the game's rules, the power behind the wind blades became monstrous, capable of tearing apart even a captain-class opponent.
Below, Mazuru's body still bore the remnants of the earlier Kageoni. But as Shunsui rose, the dark blade disappeared from his body, and his wounds quickly began to seal over, his High-Speed Regeneration activating like clockwork.
He raised his arm, summoning a crimson slash of spiritual pressure to intercept the incoming attack—but to his surprise, the slash crumbled under the weight of Shunsui's technique. The wind blades cut through it as though it were mist.
With narrowed eyes, Mazuru followed up with a second slash—sharper, heavier, laced with killing intent.
*Boom!*
The wind blades collided with the red arc in midair. Dust and white sand exploded outward in a wave of force. Mazuru was forced to prop up a wall of concentrated reiatsu to shield himself.
As the sandstorm gradually settled, he looked toward Shunsui, his expression betraying a sliver of surprise.
"You really held back a lot back then." Mazuru muttered.
He couldn't help but recall the day of his captaincy assessment. It was Shunsui who had tested him, long ago. That version of Shunsui had used some of Katen Kyōkotsu's games—Kageoni, Takaoni—but the power he wielded then wasn't even close to what he was showing now.
"Back then, you were just a junior." Shunsui replied, voice tinged with faint melancholy. "And you had ties to Nanao. I went easy on you."
He sighed. "If I'd known you'd betray us... maybe I wouldn't have let you pass that assessment."
Mazuru shrugged lightly. "It sounds like you really do regret it."
Shunsui chuckled bitterly, recognizing his own contradiction. Only moments ago he'd said there were no 'ifs', and yet here he was, once again speaking in hypotheticals.
With a sudden burst of Shunpo, Shunsui vanished in a swirl of sand.
*Whoosh!*
He reappeared close to Mazuru. "You're not enough to handle this alone!"
A tempest of spiritual pressure surged outward from Shunsui, razor-like wind blades cutting in every direction.
Mazuru's crimson blade flashed. One swing—two—cutting clean through the storm. The next instant, his form streaked forward, blade raised high as he clashed directly with Shunsui's dual swords.
"Is this all you've got, Kyouraku Shunsui?" Mazuru asked, his voice casual even amidst their violent exchange. "I thought you'd bring something new."
"I'm an old man now." Shunsui replied, parrying another strike. "We leave the new tricks to kids like you. But I still have one big advantage—"
He raised one of his blades. "—I've got extra blades."
In his right hand, spiritual pressure rapidly gathered.
"Hadō #78 — Zangerin!"
A crescent blade of Kidō light burst forward at point-blank range.
*Bzzzt!*
The Kidō attack sliced directly through Mazuru's midsection. Before the damage could fully register, Shunsui leapt high once more.
"Takaoni!"
Another mighty wind slash descended. The twin attacks—a precise Kidō strike and a high-advantage Zanpakutō game—hit simultaneously.
*BOOM! BOOM!!*
The blasts erupted with seismic force, consuming the space where Mazuru stood in fire and flying debris.
For a few moments, silence returned to the desert. The wind howled softly.
Then, through the smoke, Mazuru emerged—his clothing torn, blood staining his chest and arms—but alive.
More than alive.
Already, his wounds were sealing shut. Tendrils of regenerative energy knit his flesh back together at an unnatural pace.
"High-Speed Regeneration... so it's really it, huh." Shunsui whispered, his eyes narrowing.
He'd suspected it during their first exchange—when the Kageoni failed to hinder Mazuru for long. But now there was no doubt. Mazuru had absorbed not just the powers of an arrancar, but all the abilities of arrancars—specifically Beelzebub.
Shunsui's heart clenched with conflict. He'd heard Mazuru say before that Beelzebub was merely "a part of his soul". But seeing him actively use hollow-based abilities... it made the betrayal all the more real.
"You could've dodged those attacks." Shunsui said after a beat. "But you took them head-on. Was it to show me something?"
"Of course." Mazuru replied, raising his blood-red sword.
"You said I'm still young... So let me show you what the next generation can really do."
He raised his left hand slowly.
A faint hum began to vibrate through the air.
From his fingertips, a crimson sphere began to take shape—pulsating with raw, destructive energy. Its light cast long shadows across the sand, dancing on the curvature of the desert dunes.
Shunsui tensed.
The crimson sphere in Mazuru's hand grew brighter. The air around it shimmered and fractured, distorting with unstable spiritual pressure. Even from a distance, Shunsui could feel the heat of the technique burning against his skin like a second sun.
"Consider this is a gift from Beelzebub himself." Mazuru said softly.
And then, without warning, he launched it.
*****
Support me on my pat reon and gain early access to my creations.
https://www.pat reon.com/RroY28 (remove the space)
You can access up to 30 advanced chapters.