Shun
New Member
What could he possibly have been thinking? Perhaps it was his pride as a soldier, his stubbornness to not get anyone else involved in this mess, or his sheer stupidity that led him here - to the stadium that once held the Grand Tournament of Seireitei of all places. As he made his way into the worn-looking grounds, he could still make out the signs of warfare from formidable opponents such as the likes of Faust or Simeon. No amount of repair could wash away the evidence of those fights those years ago, and as he waited for the appearance of a particular shinigami, he was almost entranced in a way at the thought of how thrilling it may have been to have been apart of something like that. That age was long gone though, replaced by a new generation that was still trying to find its own feet.
The notion was quickly trashed though as a very familiar presence revealed itself. There was something different about it though. Unlike last time when the grey-eyed soul reaper was flaunty whilst flaring his hefty spiritual pressure, he was actually cloaking his reiatsu. No, it couldn’t have been that. There almost didn’t even seem to be a single trace of reiatsu resonating from him as if he never had any to begin with.
“Well you’re awfully prompt. I would have thought you would have taken your sweet time to get here,” the ebony-haired shinigami said coolly. “I guess this is one other thing I should commend you for.”
Eyebrows furrowing in irritation, Ryoujin unsheathed his cleaver. “Like I told you before, there’s a time and place for bullshit, but right now, I’m afraid I don’t have that sort of time.”
“Easy now, there’s no need for-”
Before Kyoshiro could so much as finish his statement, the pink-haired speedster bridged the distance between the two within a nano-second, his blade already arcing towards the other shinigami’s shoulder in an attempt to dismember him. Rather than accomplishing that however, Kazeoni’s flight was halted by a mere index finger.
Eyes shooting open in alarm, Ryoujin attempted to force his blade down into the man’s flesh, but his zanpakutou wouldn’t budge. Using his free hand, Kyoshiro wagged his finger condescendingly as if he were chiding a child for his disobedience.
“You can’t possibly hope to cut me the way you are.”
The words stung. In fact, it seemed to have more of an effect on him than he would have thought so much so that he hadn’t even registered the incoming strike. Launched back from a devastating and gut-wrenching kick, he spat out blood as he rolled along the pavement haphazardly. When the third-seater finally came to a stop, he instantly spurred himself back into battle, this time passing right through the guard captain’s flank in the all-too familiar Flash Blossom movement. Unlike his last effort, he successfully managed to cut his adversary although it almost seemed like the man wanted to give him the satisfaction of drawing blood. In the end, as lethal as the blow might have been for any other foe, it didn’t really amount to much of anything besides blood spewing forth. There was no howl or even a grimacing look of pain on Kyoshiro’s face. In fact, the deranged man was smirking.
“Are you done yet?” Kyoshiro yawned, provoking Ryoujin’s animalistic mindset even further. In a flurry of strikes, he attempted to cut down his enemy, but the fluidity of his motions gradually began to become lackluster. When his onslaught slowly died down, he once again found himself on the receiving end of the guard's strikes, and to top it all off, Kyoshiro still didn't even need to resort to using his own soul slayer.
"You Blood Templars all talk. Your conviction means nothing against someone infinitely times stronger than you, but I digress. I didn't come here to rebuke you. What if I were to tell you that I knew who blackmailed you?" Kyoshiro asked, his words lingering in the air for a long time as Ryoujin soaked in this new bit of information.
"What could you possibly even know?" Ryoujin said through ragged breaths, exhaustion already having reached him. "All you and the Courts do is falsely accuse and then carry out sentences."
"Hah," Kyoshiro began, laughing boisterously. "You just don't get it? All of the clues I've given you. Have you even read the reports about that massacre that took place a few days ago. No... don't answer that. Of course, you didn't. Let me show you then."
When it seemed like Kyoshiro would use his arcane abilities to bend reality once more, Ryoujin could only watch as the man began to shapeshift. In moments, the mastermind assumed a very thorough impersonation of him.
"..No fucking way. It was you...?" Ryoujin muttered, gripping his zanpakutou tightly. All of that torture, that foul stench permeating the entire prison compound, the lack of any sort of sustenance, the overally shitty conditions that he had to endure for the past week...this man was responsible for all of it. When he received no response from him, the pink-haired youth registered the only subtle difference between them. Besides all of his other physical features, the only aspect that didn't resemble him were the charcoal colored eyes that Kyoshiro had. Like before, the man didn't seem to be able to control his powers to their fullest extent.
"That's right. If anyone bothered to notice, they would have realized that I was a mere phony; however, that just goes to show how ignorant the Gotei has become. It's all gone according to my plan. Didn't you even stop to wonder why I coincidentally detained you not even a half hour after the incident took place?"
As memories flooded back, Ryoujin tried to make more sense of the explanation he was being given. Grey eyes. How many people with grey eyes had he crossed paths with from that time until now?
About a good dozen or so.
"You impersonated more than one individual. That old man that just so happened to pretend to be drunk - that was you. And countless others before that. You've been stalking me this whole time!?" Ryoujin asked incredulously, more disturbed by that fact than the possibility of his life being in danger.
"That's right. I've planned this weeks before, making sure that there wasn't even the tiniest flaw in my calculations, and what do ya know? Everything worked out more smoothly than I could have even hoped for," Kyoshiro said as he reverted back to his true form. "And who knows how much of what you've been experiencing as of late is real or not. For all you know, I could have been any number of your friends."
Although it was quite clearly exaggerated and forced, his psyche prevented him from discerning that. Prometheus had already shaken him greatly in Hueco Mundo, and despite mind games becoming a modus operandi as of late, he was just as affected if not even more so than every other time prior.
"...Scatter Kazeoni!" he exclaimed, as five scythes appeared around him. As he shunpoed fowards once more for a clash against Kyoshiro in order to overwhelm him with his own zanpakutou and the weapons that he had called forth, the guard captain stood stock-still, not flinching even the slightest as all of the blades skewered him right through. As a blank expression washed over his face, it seemed like the battle had ended abruptly. Unfortunately, things in life weren't so simple.
"For someone who boasts about his speed, you're awfully slow to me," Kyoshiro muttered as he revealed himself from the use of Corpse Step, a technique that only a few in Soul Society even knew how to use. "Destructive art sixty-one, Homurahana."
As the rose petals scattered about and attached themselves to Ryoujin's shihakushou, they instantly flared to life in a chain reaction, resulting in a combustion that shook the grounds and sent smoke and debris everywhere. As the dust settled, Kyoshiro clutched the collar of his robes and practically raised him from the ground as if he weighed like a feather.
"It'd be great to kill you right now, but what fun would that be?" the prison captain began, "For now, I'll let you live that is if you manage to survive from this. When you wake, you'll realize that I've struck some very vital nerves in your body. But if you do live, know that I granted you mercy for the sole purpose of seeing whether or not you can grow stronger the next time we meet. After all, in that aspect, we're one and the same. You also lust for a worthwhile battle, am I right?"
Dropping the battered and bloodied body, Kyoshiro watched gleefully as Ryoujin through will power alone managed to retain his consciousness for just a bit longer.
Before Kyoshiro's visage disappeared into the distance, the man quickly added, "Oh, I also should let you know that your name's been cleared along with any other crimes you've been charged with. If you're thinking about reporting me back to headquarters, there's no use. The truth's already been revealed.
Ironic, isn't it? Guard Captain is now a wanted convict on the loose. That'll surely make a headline for the Gotei Times. Anyways, sayonara."
[ ...End ]
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