The former Shinigami ladies didn’t dally around. Yoruichi’s lightning fast Shunpo closed the distance between her and Kazuya in an imperceptible instant. She threw a kick at him, her leg snapping in an arc so fast it tore through the air with a sonic boom, electric arcs trailing her heel.

At the same instant, Lisa’s gigantic polearm descended on his head like a hungry guillotine.

Kazuya stood stoic, his arms arrogantly folded across his chest. The shimmering blades hovering beside him morphed, coalescing into formidable shields that materialized just in the nick of time.

Electrical currents cascaded from Yoruichi’s extended leg, a furious tempest of lightning battering against his shield. Sparks flew. Lisa’s polearm clashed against the second shield, her blade rebounding as if it hit an unyielding wall.

Refusing to be stopped by a mere shield, Yoruichi shifted her stance and unleashed a whirlwind of kicks and punches, each strike accompanied by the dazzling white lightning. Her Shunko mixed the power of Kido spells and fighting techniques into a killer technique — the peak offense a Shinigami could show with their body.

Yet, each scorching impact seemed to evaporate upon hitting the shield.

Lisa, grunting with sheer determination, swung her polearm around, flipping it to its other end; it was armed with a small but insanely heavy ball designed for crushing.

With a yell, she slammed it against the shield.

The shield held fast. It would have been odd if it hadn’t; these very shields had once fended off Kazuya’s own devastating power. And he was stronger than Barragan in terms of raw spiritual power. Yoruichi and Lisa were strong, but they were still around the level of a Vasto Lorde.

A smile flickered across Yoruichi’s face, her eyes twinkling with excitement rather than frustration. If nothing else, she relished the unwinding of her muscles against the shield. “Take this!”

In contrast, Lisa’s frown showed the frustration anyone would have when facing an unbreakable shield. Though she had yet to unleash her Bankai, she sensed that even that might be inadequate. Her Bankai boosted her fighting prowess, not her overall destructive power. And she required overwhelming destructive power to breach his shield.

Vaulting off the unyielding shield, she ricocheted off the ceiling, flipping mid-air to descend like a human missile. 

“Smash him!” Yoruichi cheered, quickly sidestepping the targeted area.

With an impact likened to a mini meteor, Lisa’s Zanpakutō collided once more, creating a resonant clang so loud it felt as though their very bones had rung like a gong. Thus, a radial shockwave rippled through the underground chamber.

Kazuya casually flicked his wrist, the shields evaporating back into the blades whence they came. “Jeez, you went all out, huh.”

Lisa, panting heavily, shot him an icy glare through the gaps of her dissipating Hollow mask. Her Zanpakutō returned to its original form, and she sheathed it back with a crisp motion. “What a stupid shield.”

Yoruichi deactivated her Shunko, and her electrical aura slowly dissipated. “Your Hollow powers are anything but defensive in nature. Why do you have a Support-Type Zanpakutō?”

“Zanpakutō are a manifestation of a Shinigami’s desires,” Lisa said. “A coward who hides behind his shield — I’d say so if I didn’t know any better.”

One needed extreme courage to pose as a Shinigami in the Gotei 13 while being a Hollow — the very beings Shinigami purified.

“His shield is meant to protect,” Yoruichi said. “What I don’t understand is the number of shields? You’ve got like five lovers. Two shields can’t guard that many hearts.”

He laughed at her skepticism and snapped his finger. One of his fingers caught fire, disintegrated, and morphed into a third blade. 

{These energy swords are a big part of our existence. We have to name them appropriately. Honō no Dōmyaku (Flame Artery)... let’s shorten it to Enmyaku.}

Yoruichi looked intrigued. “Sacrificing your body — that’s smart. Messed up but smart.”

Lisa adjusted her glasses with keen wisdom. “True love is selfless. One must be prepared to sacrifice everything. In this case, your own body.”

“If by my life or death I can protect someone, I will,” he whispered a quote from the Lord of the Rings, which resonated nicely with the theme of his Zanpakutō. “The more I want to protect, the bigger price I’ll have to pay.”

{The Enmyaku travels so fast it may as well be Sonído. One of them can protect multiple people if attacks come at different intervals.}

‘Hmmm. The true value of my Shikai is in my mastery over the timings and my decision making.’

As he focused, one Enmyaku dissolved and returned to his finger. In essence, the Shikai temporarily transformed his entire body from the inside out, letting him convert parts of his bodies to form Enmyaku, which could then be converted into shields or muskets.

{It’s so limited.}

‘That’s just Shinigami’s Zanpakutō in general.’

Every Zanpakutō was powerful but limited in the way their abilities worked. The Resurrección acted oppositely as they merged with their host, allowing them to fully control its power. The Resurrección had one limitation — they lacked the potential to grow alongside their host in the same way as Zanpakutō.

None of the rules applied to him with the existence of Tsubasa and Nami.

As he reached out, the Enmyakus flew into his hands. He looked at Lisa, the Visored who could sidestep the rule imposed upon typical Shinigami. “Maid-chan, pay close attention to what I’m about to do.”

With a flick of his wrist, Kazuya combined the Enmyakus into a single, larger blade, plunging it deep into the center of his chest. The flames coursed beneath his skin, threading through his very being before converging into the sword. The blade expanded, its length almost rivaling that of Lisa’s Shikai.

‘Nami, start your engine,’

{As you wish, Partner.}

The color of the flame morphed, now radiating a dark, malevolent carmine that seemed to channel Nami’s intrinsic violence. The energy flooded his senses, saturating his mind with the sheer fervor of destruction. He would have lost his mind if he lacked a strong willpower. This much was made clear as he merged with her flames.

{Let the chaos flow through you!}

‘It’s no surprise you’re violent all the time.’

In the same process as Tsubasa’s Shikai, the flames detached and morphed into two separate Enmyakus. These, however, bore the menacing carmine hue.

Lisa crossed her arms, a sharp look in her eyes. “It’s disturbing watching a friend commit you know what.”

Yoruichi chuckled. “Those blades look a little different. If I had to guess, they have offensive powers now.”

“Exactly,” he said, as the Enmyakus whirled around him, finally settling into his hands as curved daggers. Each hilt was set with a crimson gem, pulsating softly. “Wow, they look weak.”

In an act of defiant response, tongues of flame erupted from each dagger, searing the ground. The momentarily contact evaporated left two long gnashes on the ground, each deeper than a meter.

{The only counter to my flames is… dodge… or offset them with Reiatsu of higher level.}

He didn’t expect any less from Nami. In a fight where people can use high-level movement techniques, it will be hard to consistently land hits given the daggers’ range.

Yoruichi blinked at the destruction of his flames. “Your Zanpakutō has so much potential. The only downside is the long time to switch forms.”

Lisa walked back until she was over a hundred meters away from him. “Is this what you wanted me to see?”

He laughed at her cautious, unwilling-to-get-burned attitude. “Do you know how I changed my Zanpakutō?”

“Merging it with a different flame? Why do you have two different flames in the first place?”

Both Yoruichi and Lisa were curious as the destructive flames of his Shikai reminded them of their Captain Commander. Yet the supportive nature of his other flames was something they had yet to see.

“That flame belongs to my Hollow side — my Resurrección if you will,” he paused for a dramatic moment. “I know you’re afraid of your Inner Hollow, and reasonably so. The fact you dominate it to make it a weapon shows your great willpower.”

Lisa remained skeptical. “What are you getting at?”

He tossed the daggers in the air, letting them return to the Enmyaku form. “Your hesitation is stunting your growth. If you want to grow beyond the limits of Shinigami and Hollows, let your Inner Hollow develop.”

Lisa’s eyes widened, shocked at his audacity at suggesting such a thing. To every Visored, their Inner Hollows were shackles, preventing them from returning to their respective positions in the Gotei 13. They despised the malevolent spirits residing in their Inner Worlds.

“It’s your choice to heed my advice or not.” He shrugged/ “So Yoruichi, wanna fight some more?”

Yoruichi’s gaze flicked from a visibly unsettled Lisa to him, a mischievous smile curving her lips. “I’m down for some action.”

“Good, I’ll use my Resurrección now.”

Glorious_Milfhunter

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