"Kyoraku! Jushiro! Where are you!!!"
Kisuke shouted, drawing Benihime to meet Senbonzakura head-on.
Clang—
Steel rang against steel.
The stroke missed, and around Senbonzakura bloomed a thousand graceful petals, drifting down to lash toward Kisuke like a storm of pink blades.
"So it's Shikai (Initial Release) already..."
Kisuke's temple throbbed. He had no choice but to release his own zanpakuto and mix Kidō into his exchange with Senbonzakura.
"Nake, Benihime (Sing, Crimson Princess)!"
"..."
"Eh? Sode no Shirayuki, are you betraying us zanpakuto spirits!?"
The palm-sized queen-bee fairy, Suzumebachi, whirled around Sode no Shirayuki at dizzying speed, shocked.
"Did you forget how those shinigami oppressed us—how they enslaved us!?"
Since Muramasa freed them, Sode no Shirayuki was actually the first to "betray" the spirits. Suzumebachi could hardly believe it.
"I haven't betrayed the zanpakuto..."
Sode no Shirayuki held her pure-white blade and said calmly, "But the man I want to help is Cole. For that, I'll cooperate with the shinigami."
As she spoke, her snow-white blade fell.
"Renji's Bankai..."
Ichigo stared at the giant bone serpent, hefting Zangetsu with a sigh.
"Zabimaru, you really want to fight me? Honestly, I've awakened a new power lately—it's very strong."
"What nonsense are you spouting?"
"Looking down on us, Ichigo!?"
The baboon king and snake woman stood upon the bone serpent, glowering at Ichigo, then drove the great serpent forward.
The bone serpent threw back its skull and roared, jaws yawning toward Ichigo.
"Hikotsu Taihō!!!"
Ichigo sighed. He didn't even Bankai; his left hand raked across his face and a white-and-red Hollow mask formed.
"I'm playing double fish logic...?"
Tessai rubbed his brow at the two little blue-haired boys before him and ventured, "Sōgyo no Kotowari, how about we just sit a bit and not fight, okay?"
The twin blue boys blinked.
Unohana regarded the beastlike, burly man before her with puzzlement. "You... are you the zanpakuto of Eleventh Squad's Ikkaku?"
"That's right!"
The beastlike man charged in with fanatical grin, brandishing his blade. "My name is Hōzukimaru—I was born for battle! Unohana, come fight me!"
Unohana cocked her head and slowly drew her sword.
"..."
Uryu, Chad, and Orihime moved to meet a cluster of vice-captain-class manifested spirits.
Cole, meanwhile, was a bit dazed as he faced a tall voluptuous woman and a small one at her side.
"Katen... Kyokotsu!?"
"Yup. Got a problem with that?"
The explosively curvaceous Katen slung her long sword over her shoulder and eyed Cole with clear displeasure.
"No, no problem..."
Cole muttered, a bit speechless. "Honestly, I'd always assumed male shinigami would awaken male zanpakuto, and female shinigami would awaken female zanpakuto..."
Hearing that, Katen perked up, itching to roast him. "I thought so too, but that Shunsui is such a lecher—his inner world's even a little gir—"
While Katen spoke, Kyokotsu's figure flickered and appeared above Cole.
"Takaoni!"
Her short blade hacked down like a falling guillotine.
Cole did not hesitate; he raised the Ruyi Jingu Bang to meet it.
Clang—
The impact thundered through the staff. The weight in that blow made Cole's face tighten as his arms sank a few centimeters.
"Heavy strike!"
He felt this stroke from Shunsui was almost no less than a cut from Yamamoto.
Katen blinked in surprise. "You actually blocked it. Impressive—I thought that one would split you in two."
Face dark, Cole shoved Kyokotsu back. "You two—if you want to fight, fight. Don't cheap-shot me."
Katen smiled as if to quip again—then slashed.
"Bushōgoma (Lazy Spinning Top)!"
White, frigid wind rampaged, condensing into two invisible blades that sheared in from left and right.
"Danku (Severing Void)."
Cole spoke lightly.
The wind smashed against an unseen wall and stopped.
Elsewhere, Kisuke fought and shouted at once, "Cole, be careful of Katen Kyokotsu—it's a rule-type zanpakuto. One slip and you die."
Talking, he even gave Cole a quick primer on those rules.
"Katen Kyokotsu turns children's games into reality. Step into its reiatsu range and you're forced to play. All rules are set by Katen Kyokotsu."
"Win and you live. Lose and you die—even its master, Shunsui, isn't exempt."
"But the games aren't fair. The wielder knows the rules better and can switch games at will, so they've got the advantage..."
"Kuchiki, can't you make this guy shut up?"
Katen glared at Senbonzakura. What rule-type blades had most was rule power; once others grasped those rules, your power dropped by a third in a straight line.
The samurai-armored Senbonzakura said nothing, only intoned coldly, "Bankai."
"Senbonzakura Kageyoshi."
Gigantic silver blades rose from the ground, then with a breeze dissolved into a myriad pink petals dancing on the air.
Kisuke's scalp prickled.
As he'd said, his blade specialized in support, not slugfests. Senbonzakura, unfortunately, was a straight-kill type.
Cole listened, thoughtful, and even asked in passing, "Then what was that 'Takaoni' Kyokotsu just used?"
Kisuke backpedaled and yelled, "That's the high-ground game—if our side stands higher than the enemy, our slashes get a massive boost..."
He didn't finish before the petal tide engulfed him.
"So, the higher wins?"
Cole nodded in realization, ignoring Kisuke's peril to glance at Katen Kyokotsu with a sigh.
"Your zanpakuto's busted—so many weird tricks. People won't even know how they died."
Katen smiled with crescent eyes. "Rather than talk, aren't you worried about your companions?"
Cole's reiatsu had spread into a web; he clearly grasped the battlefield. The two sides were roughly even—in fact, his side held a slight edge.
Kisuke looked miserable, but he was Kisuke; his life wasn't in danger. Only Kyōka Suigetsu merited real attention—the blade hovered in the air, watching. But Yoruichi had her eyes on it.
Cole inhaled, slid both hands to the butt of his golden staff, and grinned.
"Rule-type blades are strong. But not unbeatable. Otherwise the Captain-Commander would be that old lecher Shunsui."
Katen and Kyokotsu's faces tightened.
Kyokotsu said coolly, "Cole, what are you planning?"
Cole's reiatsu spiked. Threads of black-red spiritual power burst from him, staining the blue.
Evil, dark pressure seeped across the sky.
The corner of his mouth curled. He laughed.
"Ever heard the saying—one force crushes ten tricks!?"
In an instant, he completely hollowfied; his pressure rose another thirty percent—wild and terrifying. The golden staff in his hands expanded tens of thousands of times in a blink—
A sheet of golden radiance pouring down from the heavens.
Katen and Kyokotsu blanched, instinctively stepping together. "This lunatic..."
Rule-type zanpakuto were not invincible.
When the gap in power was too great, they could not drag the foe into their games at all. Take Yamamoto for example—if he swung in Bankai, whatever your rules were, all would burn to ash under those flames.
"Ka—Kageoni (Shadow Demon)—no, too late..."
Katen and Kyokotsu stamped down; their figures melted into their shadows.
Cole's giant staff strike hit empty air—so he simply extended the Ruyi Jingu Bang further and swung straight down again.
Boom!
The golden pillar smashed into the bone serpent of Zabimaru. From afar it looked like a heavenly column with a white bone snake stuck to it, dragging that snake as it swept toward Kyōka Suigetsu.
Ichigo sucked a breath, scalp numb, pointing frantically at Zabimaru.
"Cole!! Cole!! It's cracking! Stop!! Renji's zanpakuto's gonna break!!!"
He could see the dense web of fissures spreading across the serpent's bone plates. He'd been too scared to push his Hollowfied power to the second stage for fear of breaking it—then Cole whirled one swing and nearly blew Zabimaru apart.
"No time to worry!"
Cole roared, hauling the golden cudgel to smash down on Kyōka Suigetsu.
He would shatter that absurd zanpakuto first.
Fury flashed through Kyōka Suigetsu's eyes. It drew and met the incoming cudgel.
Boom!!!
The deafening blast rolled out. Kyōka Suigetsu's face twisted; a vast, boundless power crashed through its wrist like breaking bone.
"Graaah!!!"
The roar split the sky—but even so, Kyōka Suigetsu couldn't hold. It was swatted away and blasted thousands of meters back.
Across Seireitei, the golden staff that pierced the heavens could be seen from every corner—even by the shinigami there.
"Cole's here!!"
Ikkaku's eyes lit up. He tried to stand at once—pain exploded and he collapsed again, caught by Yumichika.
"Calm down," Yumichika sighed. "You were carved up by Sōgyo no Kotowari three days ago. You're not healed."
Ikkaku's body was wrapped head to toe in white bandages, blood still seeping. Yumichika glanced at his own arm—nearly cleaved through by Tosen's Suzumushi.
Panting beside them, Sajin said, "We need to go support them or they won't stand a chance."
Shunsui grimaced, looking at his zanpakuto. "This is a mess... over there we're fighting our own blades."
Before, if your zanpakuto proved strong, every shinigami would be happy. Now, there was only helpless laughter. The stronger the zanpakuto, the greater the threat when manifested—even past its master's own lethality. And Kyōka Suigetsu was in play.
In the earlier First Division battle, the blades went all-in with Bankai, and the shinigami were pummeled into retreat, forced behind wards of Kidō and barriers just to hold out.
All of them were seriously wounded.
Soi fong was injured too, but her eyes shone as she stared skyward, full of confidence. "Cole traded blows with the Captain-Commander. A mere Aizen zanpakuto is nothing. Look—Kyōka Suigetsu's already been swatted away."
Renji muttered from the side, "Getting swatted... also includes my zanpakuto. He almost smashed it to pieces."
"..."
They all felt like crying. If an outsider shattered your zanpakuto, its power would vanish. No Shikai. No Bankai. Your strength fell off a cliff in an instant.
Even Shunsui couldn't help a weary sigh. If Katen Kyokotsu were broken, he'd be a captain without a Bankai.
"Let's go. Take a look."
Soi fong gritted her teeth and stood. Her left leg, slashed to ribbons by Senbonzakura, screamed with every step.
Shunsui clenched his jaw and nodded. Then Toshiro, then Sajin—they rose one after another.
They were Gotei shinigami; they had their pride. How could they sit back and let an outsider save Seireitei while they coasted?
"Cough—cough—I'll go too."
Jushiro hacked violently and forced himself up. Shunsui nearly had a heart attack and pressed him back down. "Rest. Otherwise I'm afraid you'll die halfway there."
Jushiro's body was bad enough; earlier Hyōrinmaru had carved two strokes into his back that nearly froze him to death on the spot.
Just then, a wrathful bellow rolled from the sky.
"Muramasa-sama! What are you doing? You haven't settled their zanpakuto yet!?"
Shunsui and the others froze. A bad feeling surged up their spines.
"You can't be serious..."
(End of Chapter)
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